Volume 2 Side Story 6: Ghost In The Tent

Luo Yi was sipped on her fresh cosmic mineral-flavored lava tea while her senior brother hammered out his pent-up frustration on a Titanhide boxing bag.

Bang!

At the very last punch, the dry skin of the Titanblood Rhino split apart, and Xing Ji's fist disappeared inside the boxing bag, causing a small flood of Stormcast Dust to spill out.

Grimcing, Luo Yi slammed the teacup down.

"Senior brother, you're acting more like a spoiled brat than I ever do. Why did you get so worked up over a destroyed legacy? It's not gonna come back. Sit down and think about the future."

"Do we have one? A future?" Xing Ji threw his hands up in the air and kicked the boxing bag away. The air swept up the dust from the ground, gathering them behind his foot and leading every grain back inside. The insides of the spacious tent returned back to its pristine appearance.

"Sister Yi, if we lose this planet, our last connection to our ancestors shall fall into the hands of our enemies. How long have we been enduring, planning to make a glorious return and claim our position in the heavenly court? Yet here we are, being forced to watch as the very foundation of our return gets stolen by a dynasty of cursed abominations."

Xing Ji gripped his own long hair and seemed to contemplate ripping some off to vent. Luo Yi intervened before he could try it.

"Have some trust in little Ce. He knows what he's doing. His little excursions around the archipelago have borne some fruit. Even if we lose the planet, I think he and I can at least ensure that we have a secret passage into the shattered microcosm."

"But what about your own lives? Shangguang Ce is still a rookie, both in terms of orthodox cultivation and ghost cultivation. Do you think he can fend himself off when Nocturna soldiers surround the archipelago?" Xing Ji asked.

"Hell, can you guarantee your own safety? If a monarch notices you, he'll instantly know that you're a ghost cultivator. Nocturna Overlords are as crazy about hunting us as the legitimate ones throughout the macrocosm."

Luo Yi's eyebrows jumped.

"They're sending a Solar Monarch to conquer a mere planet? That's a bit of an overkill, right?"

Xing Ji scoffed. "If those bandits know anything at all, it is how to conquer territories. I'm sure they've met their fair share of Primarchs who can defend his planet well."

"But there aren't any Primarchs in this one, though," Luo Yi said in a tense voice. "Would there even be so many different sects with conflicting interests if a Primarch was controlling the entire plane? We'd have been united and prepared for the invasion; not frolic around in a meaningless tournament to come to a decision."

"Don't ask me. If they have a monarch to spare, why not play it safe? I would've chosen to send one too if I had Monarchs under my command."

The tent fell silent, except for the occasional faint noise of shouting coming from outside.

"By the way, what's the deal with that girl accompanying Shangguang Ce?" Xing Ji suddenly said. "She didn't quite strike me as an innate ghost cultivator. Felt more like a..."

He trailed off, speaking more with his eyes than his tongue. Meeting his gaze, Luo Yi shook her head minutely.

"He wouldn't explain, I asked. The two of them have some sort of a special relationship."

Xing Ji's mouth curved upward, eliciting a derisive chuckle from Luo Yi.

"No, it doesn't seem romantic yet," she clarified herself. "Shangguang Ce trusts that new recruit way more than her, and he barely knows that kid. Hong Wei is becoming more and more suspicious of the fact that both Shangguang Ce and I manipulated her into giving away the Essence Assimilation Crystal. If she's smart, she'll eventually realize that he knew about that kid's recessive constitution. What sentiments she holds towards little Ce will become clear once that confrontation breaks out, hehe."

"...Speaking of him, have you tested his aptitude for cultivation? What's your evaluation?" Xing Ji asked, choosing to ignore Luo Yi's black-hearted tactics.

Luo Yi shook her head again. "Don't get so excited. He's quite talented, exceptional even in the early stages of Ghostsight development, from what Shangguang Ce told me. But he hasn't taken a fancy to our path of cultivation. And he will most probably get crippled due to some issues in his innate physique."

"...Damn it!" Xing Ji slammed the table again. "What was the benefit in recruiting him, then?"

"Beggars can't be choosers, now, can they? We've got to take every new seedling we find, talented or not." Luo Yi ignored his frustrated glare and continued to speak her mind.

"Besides... That boy has quite a personality. People like him won't ever let a profitable opportunity pass by, no matter how low he has to stoop as long as it serves his plans and interests. But he will only act that way once pushed to a corner. Until then, his true face as a rat without a bottom line won't come under light."

"Are you sure you're not talking about yourself?" Xing Ji said in a scathing tone.

"...Senior brother, how can you be so rude to your cute junior sister?" Luo Yi pouted after a momentary pause.

Sneering, Xing Ji stood up and began to pace around, seeming deep in thought. But indistinct sounds of somebody shouting continued to float into the tent from outside. Seeing him growing irate again, Luo Yi suggested, "Why don't you just go out and do what the kid wants?"

Xing Ji sighed and poked his head out of the tent, gazing at the lone young man in the distance.

"Stop yelling, brat! I can't help you go back to your home planet! Someone else will take you there. Wait in absolute silence until then, or you'll spend the remainder of your life here!"

The young man named Shi Xian bowed in a thanking gesture and quietened down.

A/N: This is the last side story of volume 2. I'll begin updating Chapters of Volume 3 from next week.