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Chapter 262: A Cultivator’s Guide to the Galaxy
🕑 Added 2023-09-16 17:36:01 +0000 UTCThe sky flickered with red and purple gasses in the far distance, as if the clouds had retreated deep into space. Under that sky, Sophina’s estate was serene. Creeks pulsed with water, plinking as it fell from stone to stone, while small animals darted left and right, coexisting with the many servants and cultivators wandering the premises.
Jack took a deep breath. This would be the last time he saw this place in a long while—if ever. He hadn’t even managed to fill his cellar…but that was the cultivator life. Always traveling. Always fighting. Always pushing forward.
Putting his sentimentalism aside, Jack crossed the last mile to reach Shol’s cabin, where he found the monk waiting with arms crossed before his door.
“Jack,” Shol greeted him.
“Shol,” Jack replied, landing smoothly. “Thanks for waiting.”
“No problem. I also had some things to do.” He looked over Jack, who carried nothing but the robes on his body and whatever his pockets could fit. “Are you ready?”
“I was born ready.”
“Excellent, because so was I.”
“How are we getting to Hell?”
“My contact responded already,” Shol explained. “We have to reach the Belarian Outpost in the Animal Kingdom constellation. From there, we will travel to the Eternal Gate, a smaller outpost connected to Hell. It is there that we will meet my contact.”
“So we have to get that close to Hell by ourselves? What if we are spotted?”
“Don’t worry. We’ll get a Disguise Pill for you, and even if an immortal recognizes you through the disguise, they will not dare act with me present. Neither the Belarian Outpost nor the Eternal Gate are considered private territories, so there won’t be many checks.”
“I see.”
“The only problem is that we need to get a starship. We may not find one later, and mine is in for repairs, so come and we’ll ask Okmer to—”
“I have a starship, actually.”
“You do?” Shol raised a brow. “A real one?”
“What do you mean?”
“Can it teleport?”
“Yes.”
Jack had never used his starship’s teleportation function, but Old Man Spirit had mentioned its existence.
“Then, great. Nice thinking, getting one ahead of time. As expected of my former student.”
Jack laughed. He waved his sleeve and a small, needle-shaped object flew out, enlarging to the size of a proper starship. “We call it the bromobile,” he said proudly.
“Hmm.” Shol inspected it with curiosity; from its cyan walls, to the flat behind, to the windshield, which he rapped with his knuckles. “Solid construction. Where did you get this?”
“Trial Planet.”
“Ah.” He didn’t press the issue further. “And I suppose you call it bromobile because you and Brock are bros, and because this starship is a mobile object.”
“Kind of. Ever heard of Batman?”
“Who?”
“Nevermind.”
Shol gave the starship a final, appraising look, then nodded. “Very well. I approve. If you’re ready, we can be off.”
“Alright!” Jack smiled. “Shol. To the bromobile!”
“I…am already here?”
Ignoring Shol’s questioning gaze, Jack laughed and opened the sliding door. Inside the starship, the two had just enough space to be comfortable—a far cry from the spacious Trampling Ram.
Thinking to that point, Jack couldn’t help wondering what happened to the Ram and the rest of its crew. The last he knew of them was that they’d run away, heavily injured after Captain Dordok was captured by the Hounds.
Did they survive? he wondered. Or…
“I like your furniture,” Shol said, finding a slim seat and reclining into it. The back bent slightly to accommodate him. “Oh… This is nice.”
“Glad you like it, Shol, because from this point onward, you are officially promoted to my sidekick.”
“What? I am your venerable senior. If anything, you are my sidekick.”
“Oh yeah? Where’s your starship? Your sholmobile?”
Shol grumbled. “I would never give it such a dumb name.”
“And that’s why you are the sidekick. You lack imagination and grumble a lot, with a witty line here and there. You’re perfect.”
“I have received better compliments. Now, if you’re done spouting nonsense, take us to the Center Moon. We can teleport to Derion, and from there, directly to the Belarian Outpost.”
“You know what? I just had an idea. I think I will take us to the Center Moon, from where we can teleport to Derion and then the Belarian Outpost.”
Shol closed his eyes and sighed. “Is it too late to change my mind?”
“Yep. Off we go!” Jack placed his hand on the helm and it shone cyan, the starship smoothly rising off the ground and catapulting itself into the sky. Thanks to its Dao enhancements, the acceleration hit them muffled, letting furniture and cultivators remain in their spot.
Once again, Shol nodded in approval.
“What did Master want with you, by the way?” he asked.
“She showed me a supernova.”
“She did!?” Shol’s eyes widened for a moment before narrowing back down. “I suppose that’s to be expected. Her reputation is riding on your success as well. However, to witness a supernova up close… Did you develop the Supernova Dao Skill?”
“Not yet. But I got some insights. In time, I think I’ll manage it.”
“That’s excellent!” Shol’s voice was colored with excitement now. “It’s a supreme skill. If you really can master it, it will help a lot… The reason Qian is stronger than me is precisely because of this skill.”
“Really? I assumed he was a swordsman.”
“He is, but so what? He has a slashing variant.”
“Oh.”
“A few centuries ago, Master also took me to watch an explosion…” Shol said in a low voice, then shook his head. “But even now, there is always something missing. A final insight to tie everything together. Perhaps this adventure will be the turning point I need to figure it out.”
“I believe you can do it. Do you often go out to adventure, Shol? Or do you cultivate in the sect?”
“In the sect, mostly. Not because I want to, but because my responsibilities as a deacon hold me back… Plus, there aren’t many places in the galaxy for someone of my strength. Inter-faction tournaments and sparring against my fellow disciples is the best I can get.”
“Hmm. I understand the difficulty of finding a place to train, but as for those responsibilities… If it’s holding you back, why do you remain a deacon? Why not resign and go explore the galaxy?”
“What bullshit are you spouting now?” Shol snorted. “I have my honor. The faction helped me become who I am—without them, I would be nothing. When the Exploding Sun and Master Sophina invested in me, it came with the unspoken agreement that I would pay back that investment by working for the sect. I can’t just take what they gave me and walk away. What sort of person does that?”
Jack didn’t reply immediately. He gazed deeply at Shol, taking in his orange robes, the goatee, the hard lines around his eyes and mouth. He thought back to when Shol was teaching him. This was a harsh man, both to others and himself. A man who would rather break than bend.
Jack could respect that. The Fist stirred inside him, pulsing with approval.
“Come to think of it,” he asked, “I’ve never seen you fight, Shol. What’s your Dao?”
Shol stared aggressively for another moment, then relaxed. “Explosion.”
“Ah. It suits you.”
“Idiot disciple. Of course it does,” the monk responded harshly, but cracked a smile. “And you are quite a fistful yourself.”
“Thanks!”
They lapsed into silence afterward, each lost in their own thoughts. The solar gasses flowed beyond the windows, an ever-changing kaleidoscope. Before long, they landed on the Center Moon.
“Don’t forget about this,” Shol said, handing Jack a familiar pill. Jack ingested it immediately. In moments, his hair grew longer, his body got shorter, and his muscles lost some volume. Moreover, his facial structure warped and clicked into a different configuration, making him seem like a totally different person.
“Man,” Jack said in a slightly altered, natural-sounding voice, “no matter how strong I get, Disguise Pills remain creepy.”
“A necessary evil, not-Jack. You look great. Let’s go.”
They disembarked, and Jack pocketed his starship as they approached the teleportater.
The minute they spotted Shol, every guard and attendant stood at attention. “Deacon Shol!” they called out. “We pay our respects, sir!”
“At ease,” Shol replied easily. “Teleport us to Derion.”
“Yes, sir!”
As he stepped into the teleporter, Jack mentally bade farewell to the Exploding Sun. It had been a pleasant and fruitful month. Who knew if he’d ever make it back?
No, I certainly will, he realized, eyes hardening. Because Brock is here. And I would never leave him behind.
Space swam around them, and in the next moment, they were hurtling through the stars. Gasses and meteors and solar systems passed them by as the endless galaxy shrunk to accommodate their trip. No matter how many times Jack witnessed this, it remained extraordinarily beautiful—as well as humbling.
When space stabilized, they were in one of the many teleporters of Derion, the poison planet.
Jack expected a multi-day wait here, as had happened the last time he passed by. However, the moment the guards caught sight of Shol, they stood at attention just like the ones on Center Moon.
“Deacon Shol!” everyone called out, and the busy teleportation hub skidded to a halt.
“At ease,” Shol growled. Everything continued like nothing had happened, except for the reverent gazes they received and the peak E-Grade guard who rushed to assist them. “We’re going to the Belarian Outpost,” Shol informed him.
“Of course, sir. Please, come this way.”
Jack was speechless. No buzzers, no waiting in line, no fees, no questions. This was the luxury of the powerful!
“Hey,” he whispered, sneaking up to Shol’s side, “are you going to receive this kind of attention everywhere?”
If so, that would be troublesome. They were trying to be low-key.
“No,” Shol replied simply. “Few people will recognize me outside the Exploding Sun territory.”
“That’s good.”
Following the guard, they instantly cut through a long line—to everyone else’s frustration—and entered the largest teleporter around, a behemoth with a radius of several dozen feet. They were surrounded by large crates stacked almost to the fifteen-foot-high ceiling, as well as people of all species and levels. Jack inspected them—none belonged to the Animal Kingdom faction.
“Merchants,” Shol explained, waving one of them away when she tried to introduce herself.
Once again, space warped around them, and they launched through the galaxy at even greater speeds than before, zooming past stars and every other kind of stellar object. They crossed an entire constellation in moments, appearing at the Belarian Outpost, near the very core of the Animal Kingdom constellation.
Jack could scarcely believe they’d traveled so far in such little time. In his mind, he was still at the Center Moon.
This was his second time at the Outpost. The first had been when he went to Trial Planet with Gan Salin. Unlike that time, however, he now had time to look around.
Unlike Derion, the Belarian Outpost was efficient and neatly organized. The Animal Kingdom’s tyrannical administration had its benefits; people crowded in rapidly-moving lines, the bureaucracy kept to a minimum to facilitate speed. Feshkurs ran left and right, using their powerful, boney gray bodies to unload crates off teleporters and load them with new ones.
However, despite the seeming efficiency of this teleportation hub, Jack noticed one teleporter with a massive, slow-moving line in front of it. A quick scan revealed that everyone on that line was E-Grade, and they didn’t look particularly rich, either. In typical Animal Kingdom fashion, the Belarian Outpost had just thrown everyone unimportant in one line to make things easy for everybody else.
“We can get through here in moments,” Shol leaned in to explain, “but if you’re poor and weak, it could even take you a month. The Animal Kingdom is no place for losers.”
Jack nodded. There was no point in thinking about this further; he already didn’t like the Kingdom, so their blatant elitism changed nothing.
Shol led him to a particular teleporter with slightly more guards stationed around it, all of them D-Grades. Before Jack had time to panic, they were stopped by a towering feshkur with a sledgehammer strapped to his hip. “You have a disguised immortal with you,” the feshkur said. “We must see his real face and Status first.”
“I am a Deacon of the Exploding Sun, here on official business,” Shol retorted. “My companion would like to remain anonymous.”
The feshkur scanned them both, then turned to his fellow guards and exchanged a few glances. “Okay,” he said, stepping aside, “but be warned that your companion will need to drop his disguise before accessing any Animal Kingdom core territory.”
“Noted.”
Jack held back the sigh of relief that almost escaped his mouth as he followed Shol into the teleporter. “That was close,” he said mentally, not daring to whisper.
“There was no need to worry. Our factions exchange anonymous representatives all the time,” Shol replied. “You wouldn’t imagine the kinds of business some C-Grades are up to.”
“Do I want to know?”
“No.”
“Good.”
Space warped around them. Jack sensed it through his newfound awareness of the Dao of Space, a methodical tearing of the veil behind which hid nothingness.
Wait a moment, he realized. If this teleportation works the same way as mine, why isn’t it instant? How can I see the stars and space in-between as I travel?
Before he could consider the issue further, space was torn asunder, and he was once again launched through the stars. Next stop, the Eternal Gate. And shortly afterward…Hell!
