Sylver stood up from his shadow-made seat as Mora, Faust, and Xalibur approached. His expression was perfectly calm, both of his eyes were in their respective sockets, and his face looked the way it had been before someone spat acid onto it.

Sylver held up his notebook and gestured at the symbol marked on it.

“The White Genesis sect? What about it?” Xalibur asked, and Sylver felt a great weight descend onto his shoulders.

“I’ll pay you the remaining 30 grams of red jade a little later, but can you answer me one thing right now? When the [Hero] passed through here, was the White Genesis sect one of the sects he visited?” Sylver asked, even if he was already certain he knew the answer.

But instead of saying “Yes, I even heard a rumor he fucked up his sword there,” Xalibur instead said:

“We haven’t had a [Hero] come here in over 100 years?” Xalibur said, and Sylver felt the weight on his shoulders somewhat lessen.

“They’re the most powerful sect, aren’t they?” Sylver asked, and again, Xalibur surprised him with his answer.

“It’s debatable, but I wouldn’t say they are. They’re in the top 50, that’s for certain, but they’re not even close to the top 10,” Xalibur explained, as Mora lowered Faust from her back, and the man just barely managed to stand on his two feet.

Sylver was about to ask something he had promised himself he would forget about, but he simply bit down on his tongue before the words had a chance to form. He didn’t draw blood, but it wasn’t a pleasant experience either.

Xalibur’s dog, aptly named, Dog, walked through the broken double gates and found a large stick in the burn pile to chew on. Given that it was strong enough to bite through Sylver’s skin, why it wasn’t biting through that stick with a single chomp, was a mystery. The animal looked a little livelier than it had been, and even the patches in his fur had somewhat filled out.

Sylver’s worry, because of the way Ria had described the enormous mansion that was directly on the line Edmund’s tracker had made, was that this giant mansion was home to the strongest cultivators this country had to offer.

“You told me the people here are all thieves,” Sylver asked, even though he somewhat already got an answer.

“They are,” Xalibur answered.

“From what I’ve seen so far, they’re mostly crippled children,” Sylver said.

His tone was perfectly neutral, he could tell there was something he was missing and chose to believe that Xalibur hadn’t simply lied to him.

“You didn’t ask me to find you a sect of grown adults, you asked, and I quote “a sect that doesn’t have any allies, only enemies. One that could be robbed without anyone raising a fuss.” Even if you were to slaughter all of them, no one in the red rim would raise a fuss,” Xalibur answered, and Sylver couldn’t figure out if he should laugh.

“How exactly does a group of crippled children make a living by stealing from other sects?” Sylver asked, and Xalibur answered without any pause to think it over.

“I don’t know,” Xalibur said with a shrug of his shoulders.

“They’re practitioners of the [Lunar Tide] technique,” Faust interrupted before Sylver could continue his questioning.

“Certainly feels like it,” Xalibur said, with an understanding nod.

“Faust?” Sylver asked the tired-looking man.

“It’s a cultivation technique that turns your conception vessel into a valve. They store all of their Ki within their governing vessel, skipping their conception vessel entirely, and when needed, release it all at once,” Faust explained, while Sylver did his best to jog his memory regarding what conception and governing vessels were.

“Next time you ask me about something magic-related, I’m going to use the fanciest terms I can think of,” Sylver said, as Faust closed his eyes for a moment.

“They build up strength over time. It’s called the [Lunar Tide] technique because it can be extended to be as long as a month. They build up strength for a month and release it in one day. Or, that’s what they should be doing,” Faust explained, and Sylver could do little but furrow his brows at him.

“Not with the amount of Yang in the air here. They’re not waiting long enough for it to build up,” Xalibur added, but Sylver kept staring at Faust.

“You said they’re crippled children. Without a functioning conception vessel, their bodies aren’t getting enough Ki to grow, or repair themselves. The [Lunar Tide] technique is meant to be used over long periods of time, by fully grown adults, whose bodies are done growing,” Faust explained, and made a slight gesture with his eyes towards Xalibur.

“Would you mind waiting here for a bit?” Sylver asked the one-legged Xalibur.

Sylver gestured with his hand towards the soil near him, and the earth rose into the shape of a couch. Sylver gestured with his hand again, and the grass trapped within wove itself around the mound of dirt, until only bright green grass could be seen.

Sylver walked over to Faust, and made the man a seat out of his shadow, and floated him alongside him as they walked towards the house.

“So they are powerful, but only after they’ve had enough time to build up their strength?” Sylver asked, and Faust nodded along.

“Not if the amount of tainted Yang is anything to go by. It’s like… I can’t tell how many, but one of them is at the edge of dying. They’re like balloons that are being blown up and deflated, slowly becoming bigger every time they are filled, stretching the material, up until-”

“Pop…” Sylver finished and waited for Faust to continue.

“Did you let them live because they’re children? I don’t mean to offend you but-”

“Then don’t finish that sentence. I’d like to ask something of you Faust, but I want to emphasize that I’m asking, as opposed to telling, or ordering… Could you handle them for me?” Sylver asked, and could tell by Faust’s soul’s reaction he misunderstood him.

“By handle you mean-”

“Yes, you guessed right, by handle I of course mean to teach them, train them, and make them into the kind of men and women I could trust with my life,” Sylver said and felt Faust’s soul release the breath it had been holding.

“It’s funny that you said that. Because I had a thought while I was waiting for Dog to get healed. Do you know what women are attracted to, more than anything else?” Faust asked.

Sylver had seldom heard a good answer to that question.

“A nice face, good manners, and an optimistic outlook on life?” Sylver guessed, even as Faust shook his head.

“Power. They’re attracted to power. And while I’m going to be powerful after a bit of cultivating, what I really need to have women flock to me, is social power. I can feel it in my bones Syl. This is it! This is my version of Bruno’s fucked up spider hybrid army, that made Tera practically wet herself the first time she saw it,” Faust explained, as Sylver continued walking alongside the man and managed to successfully keep a straight look on his face.

As long as he’s motivated, does the why matter? Sylver wondered as he waited for a couple of seconds, before speaking.

Sylver decided that correcting Faust’s assumption that Tera was attracted to Bruno due to his army was wrong and that she was likely more attracted to the process itself, rather than the resulting army, wouldn’t do him any good.

More than that, the skip in Faust’s step, even though he was currently sitting, was a massive improvement, even if Sylver didn’t particularly like the reason for it.

Sylver scratched his chin and traced his finger along the thin line around his neck.

“I have a condition,” Sylver said, as he stopped walking and moved Faust so they were face to face.

“Anything,” Faust answered.

“If you’re taking responsibility for them, you take responsibility for them. If this place gets attacked while I’m gone, I expect to see your corpse at the bottom of the corpse pile. I want to know that if I leave them in your hands, you’ll die before letting something happen to them,” Sylver explained, and his opinion of Faust increased as the man responded without having to think it over.

“Of course. I wouldn’t have it any other way. I know I’m not… I know I don’t seem as mature as Bruno is, but I promise you, I’m not doing this for the fun of it. This is it, Syl. I can feel it,” Faust said, with his hands weakly spread out on either side of him.

“You just said you’re doing this to attract women to yourself,” Sylver added.

“I swear on my name I will take this seriously. I’ve done this before. I’m sure of it. I must have. At least a couple of times. If I don’t do it, who will? Do you even know how to ease their conception vessels open? Do you even know what a conception vessel is? How many extraordinary meridians there are? How many standard meridians? What the difference between positive Yin and-”

“No, Faust, I don’t. I never researched cultivation all that much, because I normally snapped my fingers and the man armed with the path of the 9,000 punches dropped dead before he was done explaining how great his technique was,” Sylver said calmly, as Faust took a breath to calm himself and spoke with a less condescending tone of voice.

“I can do this Syl. I know enough cultivation techniques that I’m certain I can find a good fit for everyone, I know how to train people without killing or crippling them, and you trust me. Who else are you going to leave with them? Spring? Ria? Have Lola send you someone? Who?” Faust asked, and stopped talking just as he started getting condescending again.

“Faust… Don’t ever talk to me like this. We are two adults, having a conversation. Forgive me for saying this but you sound like a child convincing his parents to buy him a toy… What you’re saying is correct. I don’t know who else to ask to do this for me. And I do trust you,” Sylver said, calmly, quietly, in a relaxed and gentle tone of voice.

“I’m not… I don’t…” Faust took another deep breath, “I’m sorry. I sound desperate because I am. This is my element Syl. I know what I’m doing. And if everything goes well, I’ll be able to attract and marry a woman who isn’t going to see me as some kind of monster. I saved her, and she was afraid of me,” Faust explained, as Sylver figured out the odd sensation he kept feeling coming from Faust’s soul.

At least now he knew what happened with Faust’s fiancé.

“I’m going to say something, and you’re going to think I’m wrong. And when, eventually, what I’m about to say comes true, I’m not going to rub your face in it. I want you to know I want the best for you, Faust,” Sylver said, as Faust just stared at him.

“Just say it,” Faust said quietly, almost under his breath.

“You won’t be happy with a woman that loves you because of your power. That, I promise you,” Sylver said and could see that glint in Faust’s eye.

He wondered if he himself had that same glint when Nyx tried to get this message across to a much younger Sylver.

“Will you let me make this army for you?” Faust asked as he stretched his hand out towards Sylver.

For all of his experience, in his heart, Faust was still the same scared child that had nearly killed Bruno back in that dungeon.

“I’ll let you know after I figure out why Xalibur thought they were thieves. Something here doesn’t feel right,” Sylver answered calmly, and turned Faust, and his outstretched hand around, and continued walking towards the house.