“You guys suck, and I need to stop that from being a thing. So, tonight, when we set up camp and everything, we’re gonna find ways to make you less of a dead bison weighing people down and more of a dead rat. They’re lighter and are much easier on the spine, hip and back.”

Feng Yu, as well as everyone else, looked back at Long Di with a mixture of shock, confusion, and shame. “Come again?”

****

Countless lanterns and lamps lit the streets as night covered the land to close the curtain of day.

The activity in the streets below was much more bustling than what was seen in Black Stone City.

Here there were numerous cultivators of varying strengths walking around. A stark contrast to the city that Long Di and company were used to.

Near the centre of this lively city was a large and luxurious hotel. A figure could be seen looking out the window with a complicated expression. The figure’s chin rested in her hand as she stared at the ongoings within the city.

There were vendors selling their wares to those who were interested enough to stop and look.

Other stalls had food of all kinds being displayed. The steam rose into the air and carried with it the aroma to stir the appetite of any passerby.

“Sigh…”

The figure that was at the window issued a sigh that culminated into a hazy fog before her. The coldness of night caused her dark purple skin to be a few shades lighter.

Of course, she was a cultivator as well, however; she didn’t erect any defences against the cold, wanting to feel its chilling embrace.

Whether it was to feel something apart from what plagued her mind, or if it was something else, this was something that not even she herself really knew.

Knock, knock, knock.

A knock came at the door, arousing her from her rumination.

“Who could that be?” Her brows furrowed in confusion, as she wasn’t expecting anyone to know where she was, much less visit her. Plus, this was a hotel, so that means whoever it was that was coming came for her specifically.

She approached the door in a wary manner. A weapon suddenly materialized in her hand, which she brandished and had at the ready. She wasn’t paranoid, she simply knew who she herself was and that, as much as she hated it, brought about a lot of trouble.

“Uhm, miss? Are you there?”

“Hm?” The girl recognized the voice. It was one of the workers here.

Her guard fell a bit, but she didn’t put away her weapon. She slowly opened the door to reveal what appeared to be dirt in the form of a human. This was a clay demon, and also the one the girl met in the lobby earlier when she just arrived.

“What are you-”

She was just about to ask him what he wanted when she realised two other characters behind him. They were both the same species as her, but much advanced in age.

“You…!”

“Young miss, please return with us!”

“He is right, young miss! This habit of yours places you in great danger!”

Slam!

Without giving them a chance to speak further, the girl shut the door in their faces.

“Ugh! How did they find me so fast!? Dang it!”

Bang! Bang! Bang!

“Young miss, please don’t be unreasonable!”

She knew their nature. Ignore them long enough and they’ll leave. Of course, this also meant that she would have to deal with them watching over her with all the hair-raising intensity of an S-Class Stalker.

Sure enough, after a while, no more noises came about. The peace and silence were what she really sought. In any case, at least she didn’t have to deal with them quite literally breathing down her neck… those were strange days.

“Now I can-”

Knock, knock, knock.

“What the…!?”

She flew into a rage when came back to her senses and rushed to the door in that same fit of anger.

She opened the door in a huff, “I will legitimately stick the imperial treasure so far up your aaaaaaand who are you!?”

Standing before her were not the two old men she expected, but a girl. A girl with a petite figure whose grey curly hair reminded her of the stormy clouds of yesteryear. She exuded an otherworldly aura, as if she was a banished immortal of sorts.

‘Hold on, where are the two old geezers? Knowing those two, they would never allow someone they don’t know to approach me like this.’

This thought immediately raised a red flag in her mind and triggered a need to erect her defenses, or at least that would have been the outcome until the new arrival opened her mouth.

“Hello, my name is Mina. I am a goddess, an actual one too. If my memory serves me right, your name is Yaomu Shou, right? Now, forgive my bluntness, but where is the sentient cancerous tumour known as Long Di right now?”

…

“Achoo!”

“Gesundheit!”

Long Di looked at Feng Yu in surprise, “Did you just speak German?”

“What are you talking about?” Feng Yu looked completely confused, “I-I just sneezed after you did.”

“That’s a very articulate sneeze you got there. I mean when you sneezed, it actually sounded like a… you know what, forget it. Let’s get back to what we were discussing.”

Long Di, Feng Yu and the others were huddled around a campfire and were discussing the cultivational future of the young disciples.

“Alright, so you guys need to get much stronger. Now I got a lot of stuff from the not-relic but the problem is that you guys are not strong enough to use any of these treasures, and the ones that are safe enough to use will be wasted on you as is, so hear me out.” Long Di paused for a moment while he figured out what to say.

“Yeah, if I could get you guys to destroy your own cultivation bases real quick, that would be grea-”

“Done!” Before anyone could react, Lang Tie was about to cripple himself.

Smack!

“Ow!”

“Are you braindead, you fool!?” Feng Yu slapped the young demon in the back of the head to stop him from continuing.

Her back was drenched with cold sweat at not only Long Di’s brazen request but also Lang Tie’s decisiveness.

He was just about to abolish years' worth of cultivation after just a word from Long Di. How in the world would she explain this when they got back?

“Long Di, don’t you think you owe us some sort of explanation.” She turned back to Long Di with a serious gaze. “Don’t you think we need to hear some sort of explanation for why you would even think to ask us such an unreasonable request?”

“I don’t! Again!” Lang Tie bellowed before picking up from where he left off.

“Why you little!”

Bam! Smack! Bang! Boom! Pa!

“Sorry about that,” Feng Yu quickly took out a handkerchief to wipe her hands before carrying on. “Now, about that explanation.”

Long Di’s expressionless eyes shifted to the bruised, unconscious and maybe comatose body of Lang Tie, then back to Feng Yu who apparently adopted a habit of his.

“Did you get less ugly? Because you are-”

“Long Di.” Feng Yu called out as Shen Ling giggled beside her.

“Alright, all jokes aside, I’m not going to be staying here with you guys. I’ve got places to go and a friend and an animal to meet. Pebbles is my best friend, so I need to make sure he’s safe. Regardless, even though I will be leaving, I will need allies in the future, I think, and you guys, well, you’re not terrible at being people, so you’re good enough candidates.”

“Oh wow, your standards are at being people and our current rank is that we are not terrible at it. You’re making me feel real proud over here.” Feng Yu said in a voice that oozed sarcasm.

“Well, don’t go overboard. I’m not gonna always praise you guys like this. Anyway, here is the thing, I am going to be doing some big things in the future and though I will not be asking you to keep up with me in all that I do, I do need you guys to be the best version of yourself. This is also to make sure you are able to protect yourself when the time comes,” explained Long Di.

“Isn’t it a bit too selfish to impose your needs onto us? Don’t get me wrong, while I am thankful for the things we’ve experienced because of you, I don’t think it’s fair for us to unconditionally listen to you for what you consider as a better cultivation opportunity just so that you can use us at your whim later on! We may not be so-called geniuses, but we still have our pride!” Feng Yu didn’t realise that her voice rose at some point till she was shouting at Long Di.

Long Di’s expression didn’t change at all, he simply listened to her till he was done. He only decided to calmly reason with her, “Do you remember earlier today when that old man brought up something called clan extermination even though I was the sole one that did anything?”

“But you are not a part of our cla-”

“You’re too naive.” Long Di shook his head. “They don’t care about that. The purpose of clan extermination is to set an example so that even if others don’t care about their own life they will have to think about the lives of their loved ones.”

His words caused whatever reasons she wanted to ring up to be caught in her throat. Long Di didn’t end it here, he went on, “Heed my warning when I say that you guys are implicated by virtue of association. I wouldn’t be doing such a thing if I didn’t have to. You all shouldn’t have to suffer because of me, and whilst I do need allies in the future I have no intention to force you guys to help me. However, you are in danger because of me, and my actions in the future and your refusal to cooperate in this will be detrimental to your survival.”

Drops of tears appeared in the wells of Feng Yu’s eyes, “Y-You did this on purpose! You planned to use us all alon-”

“Enough!”

A shout from the side ended Feng Yu’s accusations before it went too far.

“B-But junior sister Ling, he-”

“We need Long Di, I know this. If he didn’t come here, we would drown in negativity till we’re no more.” her cute face was puffed up in anger.

Feng Yu was shocked that Shen Ling would defend someone else like this. However, she was not aware that this was the abyss ghost race’s instinct to protect the positive causal effect any action caused and what Long Di brought with him was the biggest positive causal effect she had ever seen.

“Listen.” Long Di intervened, not wanting to be the reason for the two girls to dislike each other. “I don’t do well with people and don’t know how to say things that will get you to like me or trust me.”

This was the first time that Feng Yu heard such a solemn tone from Long Di ever since he arrived.

“However, I want you guys to live, because you deserve to. I will need your help in the future to drown my enemies in blood so that you don’t have to.”

When Feng Yu heard Long Di, she descended into silence. A short moment later, she felt a soft hand take hers into a gentle squeeze.

She looked to the side to where her junior sister sat, Shen Ling looked back at her with concern.

“We need him, senior-sister,” Shen Ling said. “And considering all that he achieved, I don’t think we have any reason to distrust him.”

“Sighs…”

Under the onslaught of Shen Ling’s gaze, Feng Yu eventually relented her earlier stance, and she had to admit that what Long Di said made sense.

“Fine, we’ll listen to what you have to say. However, if we don’t wish to do something because we think it’ll cause more harm than good, you can’t force us. Deal?”

Feng Yu held out her hand, waiting for Long Di’s agreement.

“Sure, deal.”

Feng Yu wasn’t sure, but she could have sworn that she saw the slightest show of emotion on Long Di’s face, it was so imperceptible that it could probably be described as his face twitching.

“So what are you gonna want us to do?” Feng Yu asked.

“Well, destroying your current cultivation is only one aspect. “Long Di clarified. “I’m also going to need to take a look at your current cultivation method so I can improve it.”

“You can do that?” This time it was Jia Yan who spoke, this was the first time since night he opened his mouth.

“I can… well, should be able to,” Long Di shrugged.

“How are you going to help them get a better foundation?” Shen Ling’s soft voice came through.

“Oh, that’s easy.”

Krssh!

Grey tribulation lightning danced around Long Di’s arms causing a feeling of dread to well up within the hearts of every conscious person present.

“So I’m going to shock you guys until you get… y’kno, better.”