New House

Raizel lay on the bed and stared at the ceiling. He turned to a more comfortable position then closed his eyes. After a while, he sighed and opened them. 

It was futile, he knew. It was already morning. The sun on the horizon cast its rays upon the bed through the curtain as if reminding him to stand up and be more productive.

He tried to ignore its voice as he ignored the two persistent auras in front of his door. They had been there for at least two hours. 

He could recognize their auras, the Salvatore family, huh. He had no desire to mingle with such affairs. With that, he changed his position and continued his war with the ceiling.

An hour passed...

Those two annoying auras were still outside, however, a more annoying aura approached even faster. It was filled with blood and death. Raizel sighed and took all his time as he got up from the bed. He even remembered to straighten his bedspread and fold the covers before leaving the room.

He opened the door. The two men that came to look for him yesterday were petrified. Sheer terror and fear were in their gazes as they stared at Simon.

Simon was standing outside and seeing him smiled a little. "I came to give you the key to Oliver's store." He passed a little bronze key to Raizel, "Do you need help packing?"

Raizel looked over to ensure that it was Simon, not Peter. Was something wrong with him? When did cultivators start needing help to pack?

Simon probably misunderstood his gaze because he said, "Surely, your spatial device cannot carry everything?"

Raizel's face twisted for a bit. In fact, his spatial ring can carry this entire house and still have a lot of space remaining. But that was probably not normal. "Thank you." He managed to say before shifting a bit so Simon could enter.

Simon's gaze didn't once move to the two men that were standing beside him. This action did not make Raizel raise an eyebrow.

Some cultivators were cut off from the mundane world and was indifferent to their affairs. Others were extremely cold and disdained the mundane. However, Simon went a step further, to everyone not living in this alley, he faced them with only one face. Cold disdain. Well, it was none of his business.

Raizel followed after Simon losing the door behind him. Simon passed him a bag while he watched the talisman hanging in their showcases.

Raizel opened the bag and took out a food box with six steamed dumplings. 

"Excuse me." He said, picking one and started eating. Though he does not know how much they cost, he knew he was not going to pay Simon back for it. 

Raizel took his time to finish his breakfast not sparing a glance at the older figure who watched him. When he was done, he looked at Simon, "Take care of everything in this room. I will handle the other room."

Simon stared at Raizel, a little shocked. He didn't know whether it was because of the orders that seemed to flow naturally from his mouth, the trust he had in him not to take one of his talismans or taper with his talisman materials. 

Perhaps it was because he looked a little better than he had been since he arrived here, a far cry from the despairing youth he was last night in the Dead forest. Simon smiled and started putting the glass boxes into his spatial wristwatch.

Raizel came out of the room. The shop was clear. He looked around to ensure he was not forgetting anything. "Let's go."

****

Raizel stood in front of the one storey building. It was much larger than his house. Remembering how small the house he lived in before looked like, he gave Simon a look. 

Simon shook his head, "That was the biggest house remaining. Others are much smaller than it."

The house had a storefront that led to a much larger interior. It was a little dusty with broken pill bottles littered everywhere. Raizel waved his hand and the room was as clean as new.

"You don't need to change anything. Just hang the boxes as they were." 

Simon lifted a brow but did as he was told. 

Raizel wandered the ground floor. It had a smaller room with scorch marks all over. This was probably Oliver's pill room.

There was also a small modest kitchen. Raizel looked around the kitchen. It was completely untouched.

Unfamiliar objects were carefully arranged side by side. His eyes went to the white large box by the corner, he knew that one. It was the refrigerator used to store boxes of ice cream. He did not know how to properly use most of these pieces of equipment in the kitchen but he would learn.

Thinking of the delicious ice cream, he recalled the bag of sweets and chocolate he bought yesterday. He opened one and popped it into his mouth, sighing at the sweet flavour.

It was quite true that the world has changed and moved on without him but maybe it was all bad. A home huh? He opened the kitchen door and stepped into the backyard.

Raizel's eyes narrowed. He had not been so bothered when they ransacked Oliver's garden. After all, he did not know that the house will become his.

The right side of the garden as the most affected. It was in complete disarray. He sniffed, there was still some leftover scent. It was most probably used for medicinal herbs.

His eyes went to the left side of the garden. In it, blueberries, strawberries, and raspberries grew aplenty, dotting bushes of green with shiny spots of red and blue. 

Although a lot of fruits were missing, a lot was still remaining. Raizel reached out and plucked a plump red berry, popping it into his mouth. His eyes brightened, it was really sweet but a little sour.

He picked the blueberry. It was sweet as well, not as sweet as the red one. He sighed, it was really unfortunate, he had no talent in the art of growing herbs and crops.

"You are here." Simon said as he watched Raizel. 

Raizel nodded. He was still complementing what he should do to the garden. His spiritual energy entered Simon's body as it searched if he had what he was looking for.

Not finding what he was searching for, he withdrew.

Simon stared at him fixedly. There was no hint of anger in his voice as he said, "That was incredibly rude. In most places, it can be counted as a criminal offence."

Raizel's face turned a little embarrassed. He was used to checking other people sea of consciousness. His position as the White Peak Eldest Senior Martial Brother and later as the leader of the Extermination team allowed him to do that.

He had actually forgotten that consent was required to probe one's sea of consciousness with your spiritual essence.

The Sea of consciousness was a cultivator's lifeline. Not only was it the place where all the spiritual energy from the meridians are converted to spiritual essence, Floating just above the sea of consciousness is the soul. 

It was also the soil in which the Dao seed grow. The innate Dao Seed was right in the middle of the sea and other acquired Daos scattered across the Sea of consciousness. 

it was so important that unless one had someone's absolute trust, there was no way they would allow another person's spiritual essence to enter their sea of consciousness and will defend themselves if attacked.

Of course, this only pertained to a situation where both counterparts were of similar strength. A stronger person could easily overpower the other person, crippling or killing them in a second.

Raizel cupped his fist, "Fellow Daoist, my sincere apologies."

Simon chuckled before waving his head, "It is alright. However Raizel, you are something else. I did not notice you entered till you were about to leave."

Raizel lifted his head. Simon was an extremely talented man. Although his spiritual essence was restricted to the Dao Flowering Realm, his innate Dao Seed was Void. Other people would not feel his spiritual essence entering their sea of consciousness since its attribute was nothing, just emptiness. 

Simon noticed it. What a good seedling! 

"Allow me to make reparations. From now on, mediate in the Dead Forest."

Simon was shocked but he decided to remind this odd cultivator, "The Dead Forest does not have any spiritual energy neither does it have any death aura. I can't imagine comprehending the Dao of death in such a place." There was no reason to hide his innate Dao from someone who just took a trip to his Sea of consciousness.

Raizel almost chuckled. These words were so familiar. And just he replied as he had to that person, "There are different kinds of deaths."

Simon repeated his words, he seemed to catch something but he could not fully grasp it. Keeping the words to ruminate over later, he said, "About the garden? What are you going to do?"

Raizel just stared at the garden, his gaze blank.

Simon laughed again, finding his confused face a delight, "You know, Peter would cultivate the land for you...for a price."

Raizel clenched his fist. Peter, that money-grubbing man!