Chapter 22: What it means to be human

Zhuge Yi adjusted his monocle as Anissa sat back on to the seat, taking a deep breath.

"I am no longer doubting your intentions, I have confirmed that you had no intention to gain an audience with me, one of my store clerks tells me you merely needed to use the teleportation array and weren't able to go since it was dysfunctional today."

"Thanks to the Clan Leader for his grace." Feng Zhiming and Anissa replied in unison.

"However, since you have helped my daughter, I am indebted to you so state your wish, she insists that I grant you something."

Anissa sat in the chair for a moment, receiving the entirety of the request from Feng Zhiming via voice transmission.

She cupped her hands and lowered her head.

"I beg the clan leader for his help in getting justice for my clan, if that is not possible please support the Circle of the Forgotten One, when I was alone and lost after losing my Clan the Circle helped me greatly and I joined their cause."

Zhuge Yi didn't respond immediately and took a moment to ponder her request.

"Regarding getting justice, naturally since he has targeted my clan we will investigate this Dao Lord Fury so I won't count that as your request. If I catch wind of the Circle you mentioned I promise to financially and socially support them. Let it be known that a Zhuge clan member has never been ungrateful in their life."

He suddenly stood up.

"Please excuse me, I have matters to attend to, stay the night and I will personally see you off to the teleportation array tomorrow morning."

Anissa and Feng Zhiming bowed to him before the old man from earlier entered the room and guided them out.

Zhuge Yi sat back down before gesturing for someone to appear.

"My lord." a figure fully covered in a green cloak replied as he bowed before him.

"Is it true that the Evermore estate has been destroyed?"

The figure disappeared for five breaths before returning and nodded.

"And is it true that this girl was rescued by this Circle of the Forgotten One?"

The figure disappeared for five breaths one more time and returned.

"From the best available information, the narrative is that she somehow ended up in a bandit camp and was set to be sold to the Dual Divine Demon Sect, however."

"However?"

"The bandit camp was burned to the ground, and the bodies of the bandits had been moved around to spell Circle Of The Forgotten One."

Zhuge Yi nodded while stroking his chin.

"It is rather interesting, the disciple of a prodigious swordswoman somehow exudes no sword intent."

The figure in the green cloak began to sweat.

"From our understanding, she met this boy after the church saved her, so it might be logical for him to not possess any sword intent yet."

Zhuge Yi was more content now that he had done some fact checking, after all what kind of businessman would he be if he tried to do business with someone he didn't know.

"Too much is happening all at once." he thought to himself as he gestured for the figure to leave.

…

At around midnight, Anissa and Feng Zhiming sat in a guest room, they continued their conversation from earlier.

"You said that Dao Lord Fury isn't targeting the Zhuge Clan?"

Feng Zhiming listened to her question as he ate some of the cake the Zhuge clan had offered him.

"I have methods to make people say things they wouldn't say normally, I used this to force the man to speak Dao Lord Fury's name."

Anissa understood at that moment, by making Dao Lord Fury an enemy of the Zhuge clan it gave them many benefits.

"This way the Zhuge clan will see me as an ally as I lost my family to their aggressor, this also means we won't spend resources hunting him down and the Circle of the Forgotten One will be allied with the Zhuge clan through a common enemy."

Feng Zhiming nodded.

Anissa felt like something had poured water over the fire in her heart and it slowly began to dim. The flame she had felt was growing ever so stronger was actually under control now.

"Do you feel better now? That heart demon nearly consumed you." Feng Zhiming put down the bowl of cake.

"I-"

"Don't misunderstand, I only wanted to ally with the Zhuge clan for their support, the fact that I managed to use Dao Lord Fury as the means was coincidence."

Feng Zhiming had noticed throughout his time with her that she carried a deep hatred, he knew from personal experience that hate with no hope to extinguish was merely a barrier that would halt your cultivation.

She had developed a heart demon, if this grievance was not dealt with or addressed it would truly cripple her, Feng Zhiming wasn't too concerned with it initially but after discovering her talent he wanted her to be in pristine condition.

Anissa had gained a semblance of peace for the first time since her Father's death, she felt as though she had made some solid progress in getting revenge.

Feng Zhiming got up from the twin bed he had been sitting on and sat next to her, the beds were merely there for appearances, other than Feng Zhiming who would sleep once every few days, cultivators at the Foundation Establishment and above rarely slept.

Now that her rage had finally subsided her fists that had always been tightened began to loosen. Now another emotion began to rear its ugly head, sorrow.

Feng Zhiming deployed his spiritual sense to form a noise cancellation barrier, it wasn't as subtle as one made with divine nor was it as durable, but it got the job done.

Anissa's expression began to slowly shift from relief to a shallow frown and some water started to trickle down her cheek.

Feng Zhiming had been prepared for this, he expected that after the flame of rage had softened the dam of tears would surely break.

"It was a tragedy." he said as he hugged her.

This was the breaking point for Anissa, tears began to fall from her eyes like a waterfall.

"I-I had spent so long so long cultivating to imp-impress my fath-father."

Feng Zhiming slowly patted her head as she cried on his shoulder.

"Now it fee-feels so usel-useless I wish I had spe-spent these hundred years with him, not cultivating!"

She tightened her grip around Feng Zhiming.

"HOW COULD HE LEAVE ME, HE HAD A LIFE SPAN OF TWO THOUSAND MORE YEARS! I SHOULD BE A MIGHTY CULTIVATOR YET I FEEL SO WEAK AND HELPLESS!"

The fluctuations from her aura began to damage the room.

"I DON'T WANT THE OCEAN SPLITTING SWORD ANYMORE! I DON'T WANT THIS SPIRITUAL AWAKENING CULTIVATION! I JUST NEED MY FAMILY BACK! I JUST WANT A LITTLE MORE TIME!"

Zhuge Yi looked into the room after noticing the damage and saw her crying, although he chose not to penetrate the noise suppression barrier, he could still guess why she was crying.

He looked down at his daughter, after almost losing her today he was feeling sentimental and had her sleep next to him as he cultivated, he couldn't fathom the thought of dying and leaving her alone in this world.

To protect her privacy he used his divine sense to reinforce the room and prevent it from shattering.

Feng Zhiming continued to pat her back as the endless tears gushed out.

"I ALWAYS WANTED HIM TO BE AT MY WEDDING, I WANTED HIM TO VISIT MY MOTHERS GRAVE WITH ME! I'M A CULTIVATOR, BUT I WAS ALSO HIS DAUGHTER!"

"The heavens are merciless." Feng Zhiming spoke in a soothing tone.

"IF I COULD TRADE REVENGE FOR MY FALLEN CLAN I WOULD, I HATE THIS FEELING, I HATE TO HATE! IT HURTS IT HURTS SO MUCH!"

"Unfortunately, the heavens do not barter, they only do as they please."

Feng Zhiming continued to console her as she cried her heart out.

He had known that this would happen from the moment he noticed her heart demon, because despite what they may want to believe cultivators were not gods nor were they some perfect being.

"WHY DO I FEEL LIKE THIS, I HATE IT!"

She tightened her grip even more, nearly shattering Feng Zhiming's bones.

"It's only human to feel."

Feng Zhiming knew all too well, they were only human after all.