Stuff's Been Happening

*To be read after Chapter 40 - To Embark on Dao-Discovery*

A while ago, the Ancient Village...

Once Logean Wuji and his procession of students had left the ancient village, Ling Ji'er and Ye Hong looked to the three that remained. Xiao Wanshou was flat on the ground, face covered in froth. Gouki had his arms folded, a look of slight relief but also apprehension. Zhou Mantiao was near Lin Fei, looking around with a bit of confusion.

As for Lin Fei, he was on his knees as joyful tears fell from his eyes. 'So, I am not to die this day. Ah, heaven! Ah, God above! I thank you!"

Ling Ji'er walked over to Gouki. In her mind, her mission was clear.

Beforehand, Logean Wuji had talked with them about what they were to do in the event of his departure. Though he would also be spiritually present, his physical form would not be there all the time. Therefore, they were to act on his behalf as he had given them the authority to.

"Mister Gouki, we should get this over with as soon as possible. Sir Wuji informed us there wouldn't be much time."

Saying such, Ye Hong and Ling Ji'er brought Gouki and Lin Fei over to the stone islet, which was where they were instructed to conduct the transferal of rights. As the water had drained out of the pond, they were able to walk across the damp tiles and stop just before the islet.

"Before the Young Master of the Logean Clan, I Ling Ji'er..."

"I, Ye Hong..."

"...do act on his behalf and name Sir Gouki chieftain of the Logean Mountain Village."

Once they said this, the stone chair on the islet glowed briefly. On it now was a glowing serpent, partially coiled up. It found Gouki and slithered over to him, then he picked it up. As it wrapped itself around his huge arms, Jormy-Worm said, "I am one of the clones of the Midgard Serpent, Jormungandr. My purpose is to remain with you as your right hand man, but also to relay information to you from my true self, who is with the Young Master."

Gouki nodded, a bit flustered beneath the surface.

Xiao Wanshou twitched on the floor, his limp body trembling a bit before his eyes shot open and he started coughing violently. Flying up, he looked around and found the others standing off to the side. Wiping his face with his shirt, he got up, dusted himself off and ran over to them.

"Ah, fellow villagers, what's good?"

Zhou Mantiao saw him going toward them and waved, "Xiao Wanshou, right? They're performing some kind of ceremony or something."

"Oh, word. So what are we supposed to do."

Zhou Mantiao shrugged, "I don't know, wait I guess."

Gouki and Jormy-Worm departed from the islet, leaving in the direction of the mountain trail. Ye Hong and Ling Ji'er then returned with Lin Fei to the square, approaching Zhou Mantiao and Xiao Wanshou.

"Mister Mantiao, Mister Wanshou, you are honored guests on Sir Wuji's mountain. We are to provide you with these," Ye Hong produced two silver armbands from his spatial ring, giving one each to the two of them.

"These are Wishful Thinking Bracers," Ling Ji'er said, "they will provide anything you can think of."

Hearing this, the faces of Zhou Mantiao and Xiao Wanshou lit up for largely different reasons. They received their armbands with grace, hiding their desires as best they could.

"Your residences in the inner ring have been prepared. Please follow us to them.

Later that same day, in their respective homes, Zhou Mantiao and Xiao Wanshou were testing their armbands.

Xiao Wanshou: "Wishful Thinking Bracer, I want Hatsune Miku to be my girlfriend!"

Wishful Thinking Bracer: "..."

Xiao Wanshou: "Er, okay then! I want a Hatsune Miku inflatable doll!"

Wishful Thinking Bracer: "G-granted..."

Zhou Mantiao was sitting in his living room. He had cleared most of the antique furniture out of the way and was preparing himself to make his wish.

"Wishful Thinking Bracer," he called, "give me a large pile of gold coins." He shut his eyes, half-doubtful half-unable-to-contain-himself. After a while, when he hadn't heard the sound of coins falling to the floor, he opened his eyes.

As if it were waiting for this, the Wishful Thinking Bracer's mechanical voice spoke, "Amount specified, 'a large pile,' is unacceptable."

"Eh?" Blinking, he realized that it was an err on his part. Clearing his throat and taking a big gulp, he muttered, "....twenty thousand?"

"Granted." Instantly, a large pile of shiny clean coins materialized in the air and fell to the floor, satisfying Zhou Mantiao desire just the way he had envisioned it. At first, he seemed horrified, but then his horror made way for the uncontainable greed rising within him.

With a dark face and a bright white smile, Zhou Mantiao begun.

"One hundred thousand!"

There was a loud crash of coins, so loud that Yan Longxi in his home could hear them. As he quietly sipped his tea, a massive boom sounded and his house shook a bit. He almost spilled his tea due to it, so he glanced in the direction of the window with furrowed brows.

He suddenly heard a crazed shout, as if a deranged psychopath were raving about something.

"Gimme, gimme! More, more, more! Monay!"

Yan Longxi shook his head, going back to sipping his tea and muttering, "I say, the youngsters these days are rather daring..."

"ONE HUNDRED BILLION!!!"

Following that, the most resounding, powerful and earth-shattering explosion rocked the inner ring. Yan Longxi hot jasmine tea fell from his hand and landed on his night-clothes.

"Good heavens! What madness is this!"

He stuck his head out the window, looking over at his neighbor, Zhou Mantiao's, house. In the inner ring, the dwelling places were all palace-like ancient architectures. However, Zhou Mantiao's living room was nowhere near large enough to house that many gold coins.

Suddenly, a shadowy specter appeared out of thin air an materialized into a fat ninja. He leapt into the air, diving toward the sea of coins that now lay strewn about. "What a steal! I, Ton Lon, am a rich man! Ahhhahahaha!"

In the moonlight, Yan Longxi saw a devastated area of house and the soft glow of golden coins, and an excited obese ninja trying to stuff his skin-tight ninja suit with as many coins as he could. His brows twitched and he frowned, but after taking a breath he went back inside to change his clothes and get more tea. "Not my fucking problem..."

As for Gouki, he was given a task by Jormy-Worm. He was to go to the back of Mount Logean, firstly, and access a place called 'The Low.'

Many, many years ago, in an era of expansion, the cultivators of the Qin Realm travelled to a faraway continent and found an entirely different race of beings. These were strange elves, with large wings like moths or butterflies, and few like feathered birds.

Jormy-Worm took it upon himself to explain to Gouki, who was now approaching the back of the massive mountain.

"Like all things in the human world, the elves were seen as an element to exploit. Their land, women; treasures- everything. Of course, when the elves fought back they were labelled criminals. Threats to realm and so they were outlawed by a world that hated them for no reason. None at all."

Gouki listened grimly. The area was grassy and overgrown, but he chopped his way through the growth with his palm.

"There it is."

Ahead of him, embedded in the rock face, was an emblem decked with various jewels, all of which glowed once it sensed Gouki and Jormy-Worm's arrival.

"Baobao, it is I."

Gouki looked on as the emblem, Baobao, glowed brighter. Baobao responded with a scoff, saying, "If it isn't the earthworm! Why are you here now, you turd? Who's that with you!?"

Gouki took a step back, slightly unnerved after using his divine will to sense the power of that emblem. He concluded almost instantly that, before that emblem, he was not even comparable to an ant.

"I'm under orders from the Young Master himself. You dare hinder me?" Jormy-Worm's eyes glowed, and a strange pressure immediately fell onto the emblem. This was a bit of Logean Wuji's aura, acting as his seal of approval.

Baobao groaned, then hurriedly said, "Okay, okay! I apologize, Young Master! I'll open!"

Gouki was taken away, sent to The Low.

...

The Proud Heaven Empire, within the Royal Pagoda...

The smoke old man was still in meditation, however his mind and heart were unsettled. Ever since Logean Wuji's declaration to the realm days ago, he had been unable to calm himself down. 'If I cannot condense my second smog-body, I won't be able to fend off against a fly, far less a Logean.'

As he tried to force himself to meditate and calm his energy, a figure gracefully entered his room from the outside, gliding down onto the balcony and walking through the open doorway. They were silent, silky streams of blue and white cloth blew in the easy night breeze as they stopped a few feet away from the smoky elder.

"I see you're still struggling with that cultivation technique, Emperor Jue."

Hearing a strange woman's voice, the smoky figure of the old man shook and his red eyes snapped open. "Who dares!?"

Billowing forward, his body of thick smoke morphed into a massive arm that stretched forward, shooting through the still air in order to kill whoever it was.

After chuckling coldly, the woman seemed to blink out of existence, leaving a trail of icy residue and snowflakes in her wake as she evaded. The old man reformed from the smoky arm, standing where the woman once stood. He glared behind him, his facial expression stiff but clearly one of anger.

"Snowfall Sect? Just who are you?"

He looked and found a veiled woman, but he could not see through to her face even with his divine will. The woman stepped forward, into the moonlight shining in through the doorway, and said, "Come now Emperor Jue, don't you recognize my voice?"

The woman then promptly removed the veil, showing her black eyes, strong jaw and pale face.

"You... It can't be..."