Spoiler: April Fool's Chapter

In the dead of night, Lao Chen visited Wu Shan in a golden imperial carriage where an infantile golden dragon swirled about. He lay on a bed, convalescing after having been administered quality medical care after the battle. He was awake, but he stared at the ceiling, frowning.

“I heard, father… They’re making me into a Lotus Bud…” Wu Shan murmured. Lao Chen shook his head.

“No. They can’t make you do anything. Not while I’m still alive. Even if I have to spirit you away someplace else or make peace between our Jade Empire and the Azure Empire, I will never allow them to force you into becoming a soldier. Not on my life.”

“But…” Wu Shan sighed as he sat upright. “I’ve been thinking, father. I think I enjoy prostituting myself.”

Lao Chen nodded. “Is that so?”

“Yes,” Wu Shan affirmed. “I enjoy whoring myself. You’ve taught me many valuable things through the years, things that I will never forget. My principles and morals come before needless sex… but there is a client lurking at my doorstep, begging to fuck me…”

Lao Chen sighed. “The Seeker of the Dao of Lust… You know, you could just turn him down. He’s a major perv.”

Wu Shan scoffed. “Of course I know that. But at the end of the day, some people will never become normal. I feel obligated to do something. It’s my body, too, father!”

Lao Chen grimaced. “Being a prostitute is nothing like how it is romanticised, son… Although you join for a higher cause, you will always be the puppet of a higher power, and such individuals are prone to STDs. Is that what you want? STDs?”

Wu Shan frowned. “Why do you distrust the the Seeker of the Dao of Lust so much?”

“Because it isn’t logical to put your trust in people you have never met!” Lao Chen exclaimed. “He could be the vilest being for all you know! Who knows? Perhaps even in the grand scheme of things, in the bigger picture, you’re just another fling for him? Have you ever considered how much of a manslut you are?”

Wu Shan stood up. “I don’t think I agree with you, father!”

“Then don’t!”

Both parties remained silent while Wu Shan looked away, hurt evident in his expression. Upon seeing it, Lao Chen’s heart became heavy.

“Son, I’m sorry-”

“You’re right…” Wu Shan nodded. “I don’t have to agree with you.” Barging out of the carriage, Lao Chen was left alone, an emptiness forming a pit in his stomach.

April Fool's. Here's the real chapter.

In the dead of night, Lao Chen visited Wu Shan in a golden imperial carriage where an infantile golden dragon swirled about. He lay on a bed, convalescing after having been administered quality medical care after the battle. He was awake, but he stared at the ceiling, frowning.

“I heard, father… They’re making me into a Lotus Bud…” Wu Shan murmured. Lao Chen shook his head.

“No. They can’t make you do anything. Not while I’m still alive. Even if I have to spirit you away someplace else or make peace between our Jade Empire and the Azure Empire, I will never allow them to force you into becoming a soldier. Not on my life.”

“But…” Wu Shan sighed as he sat upright. “I’ve been thinking, father. I think I enjoy fighting.”

Lao Chen nodded. “Is that so?”

“Yes,” Wu Shan affirmed. “I enjoy fighting. You’ve taught me many valuable things through the years, things that I will never forget. My principles and morals come before needless violence… but there is a threat lurking at our doorstep, threatening our way of life…”

Lao Chen sighed. “The Azure Empire… You know, they are people as much as you and I are.”

Wu Shan scoffed. “Of course I know that. But at the end of the day, some people will never become our allies. I feel obligated to do something. It’s my Empire, too, father!”

Lao Chen grimaced. “Being a soldier is nothing like how it is romanticised, son… Although you join for a higher cause, you will always be the puppet of a higher power, and such individuals are prone to corruption. Is that what you want? For your prowess to be used for evil and greed?”

Wu Shan frowned. “Why do you distrust the Jade Emperor so much?”

“Because it isn’t logical to put your trust in people you have never met!” Lao Chen exclaimed. “He could be the vilest being for all you know! Who knows? Perhaps even in the grand scheme of things, in the bigger picture, we are the true villains? Have you ever considered that truth might have been withheld from you?”

Wu Shan stood up. “I don’t think I agree with you, father!”

“Then don’t!”

Both parties remained silent while Wu Shan looked away, hurt evident in his expression. Upon seeing it, Lao Chen’s heart became heavy.

“Son, I’m sorry-”

“You’re right…” Wu Shan nodded. “I don’t have to agree with you.” Barging out of the carriage, Lao Chen was left alone, an emptiness forming a pit in his stomach.

--

The golden dragon that swam in the air around the carriage was conflicted. It’s owner, Wu Shan, was leaving the carriage, but it had also been given strict orders not to leave the carriage by him.

Loyalty won over as it flew over to follow him. Wu Shan was pleasantly surprised by its presence, but it couldn’t erase the pain in his heart.

“Jinlong… how’s it going, little buddy?” He scratched around the two-meter long dragon’s neck, eliciting yelps of delight from it.

The dragon was an excellent breed, caught in the outskirts of the World’s End. Because Zhang He did not want it for whatever reason, the dragon went to Wu Shan for the taming, and after initiating a soul contract, the dragon’s loyalty was assured.

Wu Shan didn’t know where he was going, only that he needed some fresh air. Thus, he simply sat next to a pond in the Inner District, watching the water reflect the resplendent night sky as he contemplated.

“It’s crazy, right…?” Came a feminine voice from behind him. Wu Shan didn’t have to turn around to recognize the feminine voice. It was Shao Lei. “Lotus buds? It’s everything I’ve ever wanted and more.”

Wu Shan remained quiet, taking a deep breath. “I guess,” He whispered.

Shao Lei came closer, sitting herself next to him. “You don’t look very well, ‘Storm Fist’. What’s the matter?”

Wu Shan frowned. “What do you care?”

“Easy there, I was just asking, but… you’re right. I don’t really care,” Shao Lei shrugged, a playful grin on her face.

“Well… I had a fight with my father…”

“So what’s the matter?”

“He doesn’t want me to join the Lotus Buds,” confessed Wu Shan. “He distrusts the Emperor to be a competent commander.”

“I don’t, either,” Shao Lei admitted.

“Huh?” Wu Shan looked at her incredulously. “Then why do you want to become a Lotus Bud?”

Shao Lei scoffed. “Resources, of course! Do you realize how far along the Martial Path we can get with what they provide us? Pills, elixirs, sparring opportunities, Magical Beasts to tame! It’s a haven for those seeking personal power.”

Wu Shan frowned. “So you’re joining for self-centered reasons?”

“Eeyup,” she chirped.

“And what if the Emperor orders you to do something you’d rather not do? Like, purge a whole township because of signs of rebellion?”

“Then I’d desert, but that’s unlikely to happen as long as you’re a Lotus Bud, you know. They aren’t deployed for any armed conflicts under any circumstances bar training activities.”

“Once you become a Lotus Bud, you’re sworn to service for a century after graduation. Deserting right after graduation…? I don’t think I could live with myself,” admitted Wu Shan after some thought.

“You do you, ‘Storm Fist’. Principles can get in the way, ya know.”

“Hah!” Wu Shan laughed. “My father would throw a fit hearing that. He’s a stickler for principles. And unfortunately, I am too.”

“You know,” Shao Lei smiled. “You’re not half that bad after all. Hey, I’m making a group with Zhang He. A faction, if you wish, if we are to avoid the bullying and hazing. And… I feel magnanimous enough to extend you an invitation.”

Wu Shan grinned. “Really? You’re making me the leader?” Shao Lei shoved Wu Shan light-heartedly.

“Dream on. It’s a partnership. That means everyone has a say.”

Wu Shan rolled his eyes, but nodded. “Then I accept your invitation, Senior Sister Shao Lei.”

--

Lao Chen was at the top of the highest Star Pagoda, keeping Yi Ming company.

“I really didn’t anticipate this… that my son could be this hard-headed…”

Yi Ming shook his head. “You don’t trust his judgement?”

“He’s uninformed,” Lao Chen sputtered. “He shouldn’t even trust his own judgement. I mean, this goes against everything I’ve taught him.”

“Everything?” Yi Ming looked skeptical.

“Well,” Lao Chen grinned sheepishly. “Not ‘everything’, but a lot nonetheless. I taught him independence, free thinking and principles. To surrender his abilities to someone he doesn’t even know? And for what, to defeat some unseen enemy because obviously peace is out of the question?”

Yi Ming held his hand up. “Let me tell you something the wisest man I’ve ever met told me some time ago. Maybe you’re wrong?”

Lao Chen furrowed his eyebrows. “…I’m… wrong.” For a pregnant moment, Lao Chen mulled over it. "He's getting himself into something stupid..."

"But if it's his choice, and it's his life, why should you be the governor?"

Lao Chen contemplated as he looked at the bright and boundless stars above. Besides the bright and magnificent ones where the relatively dim and unassuming ones. The younglings beside the giants. All they needed was time to grow and they would become just as resplendent, if not more. But the Dao of a star did not entail constant guidance, and neither did any Dao for that matter. A Dao was a personal matter that only that person can pursue, never to be taught to others.

“I don’t think I’ve put enough trust in my son.”

Lao Chen closed his eyes and grasped for the Dao. His Dao. The Dao of Dreams.

The people of Gold Stone City, himself, and even the Yi Ming all registered under the all-seeing eye of that mystical Dao. Them, and their dreams. Wu Shan sat alongside Shao Lei next to a pond. Their dream was big, larger than themselves, a conflagration in an ocean of candle-lights.

And within these dreams, Lao Chen could feel a small Dao Seed forming the precursor to whatever Dao they would seek in the future, and Wu Shan's was growing. His decision would come to affect his future prospects, but for better or for worse, Lao Chen had to accept that fact.

"I think it's time to let him grow. Independently of me, that is."

Yi Ming nodded. "Yes. That would be for the best"

Lao Chen grumbled a little. "Though... I would have loved to have spent more time with Jinlong. What a magnificent beast it is."

"I'm sure you'll find something equally magnificent, my friend. I'm sure you will." Yi Ming consoled.

--

Far away, atop a dense layer of cloud, one man stood. He displayed not a single emotion on his face but stillness. The long, golden robes extended far beneath his feet, emulating his long, golden hair that stretched to his lower back.

The man’s face shifted into a grateful smile as he clamped his hands together. Then, he separated them into fists only to raise two fingers on both hands, then four.

With a swipe of both hands, a large character shone far up in the sky, pulsing in an effervescent green.

仙

The cloud floor underneath began to swirl into a red hurricane as a figure blasted out of it. The figure revealed itself as a woman wearing a fiery-red martial arts outfit contrasting her pitch black hair and eyes. Contrary to the golden-haired man’s smile, hers were the eyes of suspicion.

The clouds began to swirl once more in a mixture of gold and white as a woman exposing her bust burst up over the clouds, her face donning a forlorn smile.

Several other figures burst up simultaneously. A man covered by the purple sheen of lightning, another woman wearing an outrageous wig and long, red robes and a rice-paper fan covering her mouth, a boy-child, and a triplet of near-identical ladies that were only differentiated by the colour of their garb.

And, as though commanded, they all waited for the golden-haired man to speak.

“Two Dao Seekers have joined our folds. There’s no doubt you have felt the two ripples in quick succession of each other, is there?”

The silence was his answer.

“Thanks to my quick reaction, I’ve sealed the ripples to stay within the Jade Empire lest our enemies discover our step forward. This is great news. We have waited for this for several thousand years, well before the founding of our Jade Empire. Thanks to this, our schedule has advanced.”

The golden-haired man paused and sighed for a moment. “As you all know, with the arrival of two Dao Seekers, the Xian Seal grows thicker than ever. They fog our Dao with their very presence.”

“An obstruction to Immortality,” said the boy-child. “We need to take action!”

The woman with the fan huffed “Immediately!”

The lightning-covered man spoke. “…Is our objective not to destroy the Xian Seal? If their presence fuels the seal, we should get rid of them both immediately.”

The Great One shook his head. “Although that vindictive wretch did what he did, we should not allow our actions to bend to his desires.”

The half-naked woman spoke tonelessly “We shouldn’t allow him the pleasure.”

The lightning-covered man spoke again. “The Xian Seal has limited our numbers for millennia. How have these new arrivals managed their achievement?”

The Great One’s expression shifted to sheer rage, confusing the eight before him. “It must be one of the Shaolin.”

“What?!” The fiery-dressed woman snapped. “The Shaolin were confined in the End of the World Ten-thousand years ago by the Immortal Doyen! How could they possibly wander into the Land of Mortals?”

“This,” Began the Great One “leads to my next theory. Our Dao Seekers might have a special physique. When the Shaolin conducted the Great Experiments all those millennia ago, there were still remnants of those damaged and malformed humans to this day, scattered across the immensely large Jade Empire. Those with Physiques that rejected Qi lived short-lived lives, unable to reproduce their defects, but there existed those neither gifted nor deathly, but unable to form cultivation bases due to incompatibility with regular cultivation methods. Now, perhaps these individuals existed in a closed-off community, and perhaps they managed to obtain Cultivation Methods that fit them, which would coincide with the Divine Ripple we all sensed ten years ago. Perhaps the Shaolin human weapons are finally coming into fruition?”

The triplets sneered all at once as the middle one spoke. “It all comes down to Physique and natural talent in the end, huh?”

The Great One nodded. "If man cannot do, we create that which can do. Such is the Dao of Humanity. To cultivate the impossible, make it possible through innovation."

The Great One smiled once more. “For now, those two only have one future. To join us.”

“And what if,” the young boy proposed. “They do not?”

“Well,” the Great One suggested, smiling warmly. “Naturally, we’ll make sure that they do not oppose us by any means necessary. Of course, if that fails…”

The Great One’s smile vanished. “We destroy them. Simple as that.”