Mother Lode

Luo Shuchang laughed, shaking his head.

"No more than the risk we took, today," he said, "Though, this time, we'll have the benefit of knowing that, beforehand."

"Hmm..."

Ryker rubbed his chin, thinking it over. On the one hand, he *did* almost die here, tonight. On the other hand, he was still alive, wasn't he?

"Okay! If it's just this much, then I might as well help out!" he finally said, nodding his head resolutely.

"Good. If I have your help, we can completely stop those Great Void Sect intruders, and Long Meiling won't have to worry about her engagement."

Luo Shuchang pulled out a jade talisman, handing it to Ryker.

"Crush this talisman on the day before the exhibition," he explained, "I'll come pick you up, and we can execute the first phase of our plan. The second phase, during the exhibition, will be the most important, however."

"Uh, you still haven't told me what the plan is, yet," Ryker interrupted him, raising his hand.

"Ah, right," Luo Shuchang said, realizing what Ryker said was true.

"Sorry, I don't usually work with anyone else, so I forgot."

He scratched his cheek in embarrassment, letting out a fake cough before continuing.

"The crux of this operation will be to capture the elder they send as a replacement for Chen Liwei," he started to explain.

"Since Chen Liwei was killed, they'll likely send someone even more powerful, perhaps a late-stage Nascent Soul expert. However, it would be ideal to capture this elder, since that would be the most convincing evidence that the Great Void Sect is up to something big. We can then take that evidence to the Zhou royal family."

"Okay. So how are we gonna capture them?"

"I'll prepare some means for that. I was too stingy in my preparations, this time, but I'll go all out on this next operation," Luo Shuchang said.

"Your job will be to distract this elder while I set up the formation to capture them. Unless I find a better method in the interim, you'll need to keep them busy for around 10 minutes."

"Uh, and they're gonna be even stronger than this guy?" Ryker asked, pointing at Chen Liwei's body with a grimace.

"Don't worry, we won't need to fight to the death, this time, so they won't do anything crazy like detonate their golden core," Luo Shuchang answered, smiling reassuringly.

"They'll still be plenty powerful for you as you are now, though, so I would recommend you break through to the Foundation Establishment realm, as soon as you can."

"Got it."

Ryker nodded in agreement, thinking about how this 'breakthrough' stuff will work. He remembered Bestie saying something about why he couldn't break through, just yet... But he'd forgotten the exact reason.

Luo Shuchang just smiled, patting him on the shoulder amicably.

"You're a very interesting man, Ryker," he started to say, turning to leave, once more.

"Most people wouldn't even bat an eye to someone else's plight, like this, but you rarely hesitate to get involved."

"Haha, was that a compliment?" Ryker asked, resting his hands behind his head and grinning.

"Hm, I suppose it is."

A gentle breeze swept through the trees, the leaves rustling softly in the pale moonlight. Luo Shuchang looked to the moon partially hidden by the forest canopy, seemingly lost in thought.

"Just make sure you're looking out for yourself, at the same time," he eventually warned, "If you go around helping with abandon, people are liable to use you. That goes for me, as well."

"Hm, but you don't seem like you're all that bad," Ryker said, crossing his arms.

"...Well, our goals align, at the moment, so of course I wouldn't make things too hard for you," Luo Shuchang said in response. His smile remained friendly, though he looked off into the distance as he continued.

"Just think of it as a friendly reminder. The world of cultivation is rarely forgiving, after all."

With that, Luo Shuchang activated his Void Crossing Steps and disappeared from Ryker's view, leaving nothing but the wind in his wake.

Ryker pondered his words, for a moment, before eventually shrugging his shoulders and starting his own trip back to town.

"This place really is different from home, I guess," he said to himself, thoughtfully. He'd have to keep Luo Shuchang's advice in mind, for the future.

--

"Man, I'm exhausted."

Ryker returned to the Long family estate, taking a discreet backdoor entrance usually used by Long Meiling. He was sore all over after his brief fight with Chen Liwei, and all he wanted now was to collapse onto his bed.

"And just where have you been?"

As he passed through the doorway, however, he heard Long Meiling's voice behind him, sounding somewhat aggravated. He turned to see her leaning against the wall, having been waiting for a while based on her annoyed expression.

"Oh, hey Meiling. I, uh... Went out for a walk?" he answered with an awkward smile. Meiling just gave him an unimpressed look, making him scratch his head in embarrassment.

"...Guess there's not really any point in hiding it."

And so, he started to explain the events of his night, starting with his encounter with Luo Shuchang.

--

"Hm, I can't believe he's been hiding so deeply, this whole time."

Long Meiling looked down in thought, sitting cross-legged on her bed. They were currently in her room, the closest place to the secret entrance, and continuing their discussion about what Ryker had been doing.

"I can't believe how much he looks like me," Ryker said from his position laying down on the floor, "We could be, like, brothers or something. Or cousins, at least."

[That is rather strange,] came Mini C's voice from the compad, [Next time you see him, try and get a strand of his hair or some other DNA sample.]

"Uh, that would be kinda weird, wouldn't it...?"

"More importantly..."

Long Meiling's stern gaze fell on Ryker, crossing her arms.

"What do you think you're doing, going off on your own, like that?" she chided, lips curled into a frown, "You couldn't even tell us before you left?"

"Sorry, I got caught up in his pace and kinda just went with the flow, after that..." Ryker said with an apologetic look.

"You're too carefree about these things. What if he had malicious intents? Do you think you would have been able to defeat him?"

"I'm reflecting on my actions..."

Ryker kneeled on the floor as he accepted Long Meiling's scolding. This extremely effective form of appeasement was learned from experience, him having been subject to an innumerable amount of his mother's scoldings, back home.

{W-well, all's well that ends well, right?} Bestie's voice interjected from the compad, trying to change the subject.

{Didn't you say you took a bunch of their storage rings, Ryker?}

"Oh, right!"

He dumped out his bag, revealing about a dozen storage rings that rolled out onto the floor.

"I never got a chance to check out what was in them, so let's take a look, now!" he said cheerfully, excited as always at the prospect of free stuff.

Let's not mention that he actually had to work rather hard for these...

"Since they're from Golden Core and Soul Wandering cultivators, the contents should be quite extravagant," Long Meiling observed, forgetting her anger somewhat as her curiosity took over.

"Let's see, guess I'll just dump everything out of them..."

Ryker started fiddling with the multitude of rings, managing to dump out their contents one by one, gathering them in a large pile.

{Wow, there's so much!} Bestie exclaimed, watching the already sizable pile of loot grow larger and larger as Ryker went through each ring.

Eventually, the last ring was emptied of its contents, leaving a plethora of cultivation items in the middle of the room.

[...This amount is a little exaggerated, isn't it?]

"...I would agree."

Long Meiling stared at the huge pile of weapons, artifacts, and cultivation resources in awe, even feeling a strong sense of greed overcome her, for a moment.

However, she shook it off, glancing at Ryker as she did so. This stuff was rightfully his, seeing as he was the one who risked his life for it.

But, if she could perhaps get just a small portion...

"Ahem, so, what do you plan to do with all of this, Ryker?" she asked, clearing her throat bashfully. She felt a little awkward about asking for something, here, but with such high quality items sat right in front of her, she couldn't help but feel a tiny bit of greed.

"Uh, I don't even know what a lot of this stuff does, so no idea, yet," he answered, grinning.

"You can take some of it if you want, though."

"Really?!" Long Meiling responded a little too quickly, eyes lighting up in excitement.

"Sure. You've helped me out a whole bunch since we got here, so think of it as me paying you back!" he said with a big smile.

Meiling nodded and gulped as she turned to the giant pile of loot, taking a deep breath to steady herself.

'Okay, only take a little bit...' she thought to herself, trying to reign in her desire even as she was presented with countless treasures a mere Qi Gathering cultivator like her likely wouldn't see for several decades.

Although most of the experts Ryker robbed were of average talent, the Great Void Sect still seemed to be rather generous with their resources, perhaps speaking to their prosperity. There were some elite disciples thrown in with that group, as well, so there were some truly splendid items amidst the pile.

'Only... A little bit...!'

It was truly difficult for her to restrain herself, right now!