Book 3. The Long Journey. Chapter 204. Benefits of Trust.

“Really, really,” Mustafa replied with a laugh. He was somewhat amused by the expressions of shock present on the faces of those three youths, his son included, but he started explaining straight away. “Just like you guys are probably thinking, if I wanted to use the Qi which I’m mostly using to suppress the damage of my Qi Origin to cultivate that technique, I would just kill myself. Even if I cut off my Qi Origin from the Qi Path Refinement, which seems annoying but doable, I still wouldn’t be able to activate the technique since I wouldn’t have access to enough Qi. Similarly, if I attempted to use medicine to rouse my Qi to a higher level, it would disrupt my control too much and would only shorten my life instead. In other words, any brute-force methods are out.”

“However...” Mustafa’s smile quivered slightly when he noticed the annoyed look of impatience in Laien’s eyes. He had been planning to ask the boys if they could think of a way to create new Qi within one’s body without accessing Qi Origin, but he gave up on the idea. “Ekhm,” he coughed in embarrassment, only now realizing how seriously not just Laien, but Arslan and Yin were taking this discussion. The latter two were yet to show any obvious signs of displeasure, but he had a feeling that this too would soon change if he kept beating around the bush. After all, the three of them had gone through a lot to finally get to this point, so having him be all teacher-like was likely annoying.

“Well, to explain it briefly, what I lack at the moment is Qi, while I still have abundant vitality. In my youth I came across a technique that allows one to burn their life force in exchange for a great boost in strength, so even though I’ve never mastered this technique, I can carefully use its basic form to create more Qi for my own use. This way, I’ll be able to have enough Qi to keep holding up my Qi Origin in one piece and to perform Qi Path Refinement at the same time. Once I’m done with the session, which will likely take me about a month of constant cultivation, I’ll discard the overload of Qi from my body. With that done, I’ll have a much easier time holding my Qi Origin together. The method isn’t perfect and it will harm me in a few ways, but the benefits far outweigh the loses.”

Having elaborated on the crux of the matter, Mustafa thought that the emotions of the three boys would be somewhat pacified. However, contrary to his expectations, only Arslan looked calmer whereas Laien and Yin were staring at him as if they had seen a chicken turn into a phoenix. “Uh, is there something else you’d like me to explain?” he asked, admittedly not used to such reactions from children. Be it his old pupils whom he had trained or Arslan, all of them were rather level-headed. Although, it might just be that he had only taken level-headed kids to train personally, while Arslan simply took after him and learned from him while growing up. That being said, it didn’t change the fact that he was feeling quite awkward at the moment, what in itself was a great rarity for him.

“Explain?!” Laien uttered in a flabbergasted manner, his voice neither loud nor quiet. “Since when do techniques that can directly turn life force into Qi exist? They are supposed to rouse the already existing Qi by mixing with it! Not to create new Qi!” he uttered breathlessly, not knowing whether to laugh or cry. To be fair, unlike Yin who had a degree of knowledge in almost all fields related to martial cultivation, his conviction came mostly from… a gut feeling? Somehow, he knew that a technique like this shouldn’t exist in this world. Did Mustafa even realize what the implications of such a technique existing were? Forget the usefulness in critical situations, what mattered was that it was a way for martial practitioners to create more Qi without spending years on training and cultivating! And it was possible even with the rudimentary understanding of that technique!

What if someone had no choice but to quickly grow stronger but his accumulation of Qi wasn’t keeping up with his insights? What if someone was stuck at a barrier between realms and was about to attempt a breakthrough but wasn’t sure if he would be able to succeed or not? With the aid of that technique of Mustafa’s, it would become much easier for just about anyone to improve their martial cultivation beyond their bodily limits! It would be of no use if someone’s comprehension was lacking, but it would still be immensely useful! There was a price to pay, sure, but if push came to shove, there would be countless practitioners willing to trade their lifespan for strength.

“Why,” Yin began saying blankly, but then shut his eyes for a second and shook his head to clear his mind before continuing. “If you have a technique like that, why don’t the White Guards cultivate it? Jasmine didn’t know it even though she was a Lieutenant, a ridiculous technique like that… why isn’t everyone in Makarash taught at least the basics of it? Can it be that it’s just too hard to learn?” As he was speaking, Yin’s mind calmed down from the shock he had experienced a moment ago and he reached a conclusion on his own and asked in order to confirm it. Considering the amicable smile and a nod of the head which Mustafa responded with, he was right on the spot with his guess.

“It’s as you said,” Mustafa said with a smile that betrayed a little bit of helplessness. “This technique is just too hard to cultivate. All of the past and present Lieutenants were given a chance to cultivate it and at a time in the early days of Makarash, practically all of my White Guard tried to master it. Yet, up to this day, I’m the only one who achieved the most basic form of success in it. Everyone else failed entirely, so with time I only started showing it to the greatest of our geniuses. Reian has seen it and so has Sirius, naturally, but as you can see, they gained nothing. It’s not much of a surprise that they wouldn’t bring it up unless asked specifically,” he elaborated, glad to see that Laien and Yin both appeared calmer than a moment ago. He was grateful for the two teen’s ability to collect themselves rather quickly as it would have been quite a hassle to continue this conversation otherwise.

“As for your question.” Mustafa turned to look at Laien and gave him a gentle smile. “I don’t know either how can such a technique exist and I admit that it goes against all the knowledge we have of how last-resort techniques and medicine operate. However, since your Tome of Martial and Spiritual Transcendence exists, then why can’t other unimaginable things exist in the world, too? In fact, I and my White Guard managed to collect quite a few of such amazing but so far mostly useless artifacts and techniques over the centuries as we roamed the lands of Arkaria as we pleased,” he explained patiently, leading the conversation in a way he thought to be rather convenient. He had been intending to touch upon another very similar matter from the very beginning, so this would hopefully allow for a smooth transition and his words wouldn’t seem out of the blue and insincere.

“No, I get this much,” Laien replied dejectedly while shaking his head, for the moment unable to even care about the multiple potentially invaluable treasures which Mustafa mentioned. “It’s just that… I can’t believe I got so stuck thinking that the Tome of Transcendence won’t be of use to you that I wouldn’t have even mentioned it if not for Arslan,” he stated with a heavy sigh, feeling too down to even look up at Mustafa’s face. Had he gotten too arrogant again? He had been so sure of his assumption that to suddenly learn he had been in the wrong entire time was quite a blow to him.

“It’s ‘we’, Laien,” Yin mentioned with a wry smile as he placed his hand on Laien’s shoulder. Having managed to make Laien raise his head and even smile again as they exchanged a look, Yin relaxed as he felt Laien’s mood take a turn for the better. As far as Yin was concerned, taking responsibility for one’s own actions was good and all, but this time it wasn’t just Laien’s decision. He, too, had failed to imagine the possibility of Mustafa possessing such a ridiculous technique. And, to be fair, even if they had known that Mustafa could make some use of the Tome of Transcendence, he would have still been against showing the tome to him so easily. So, it would have still likely come to Arslan’s plea and the overall situation would have still played out in a very similar way.

Meanwhile, instead of speaking up immediately, Mustafa couldn’t help but smile as he watched Laien and Yin interact with each other. As the creator and founder of Makarash, he knew very well how valuable bonds of friendship were, so watching two youths he came to care about display their trust and understanding towards each other was honestly quite heartwarming for him. “You know,” he began unhurriedly once the two boys looked him in the eye once again. “Since the opportunity is here, allow me to clarify two things with you, ” he continued, all the while accidentally taking on a fatherly tone of voice despite his intentions being to merely speak in a calm and collected manner.

“First, Laien, Yin. it’s not only perfectly normal but also very smart of you to keep your trump cards secret. In my opinion, it was a very sensible choice to only show that tome to your closest circle of friends and to make a promise to keep the information to yourselves. Sharing things like your Tome of Transcendence with people willy-nilly would only result in either you getting betrayed or in information leaking in one way or another and the whole world hunting you down. Similarly, it’s expected that you haven’t heard of my Immortal Blood Arts since its existence is an open secret, making it the least likely thing for any of you three to be told about. Be it Sirius or Reian, they would have never thought to mention Blood Arts to you unless they were aware of the Tome’s existence.”

“In other words,” Mustafa laughed, his tone changing to a less serious one. “What I’m saying is that I don’t blame you two for your choices as I would have done the same if I were in your position. So, don’t blame yourselves or think about it too much as there’s no need for such things. As far as I’m concerned, you acted in a very sensible manner and you agreed to Arslan’s request when the push came to shove, too. I couldn’t be happier or more proud of all three of you for how all of this played out,” he said with a warm, content smile. Then, he chuckled silently and his smile grew wider when he saw Arslan flush in happiness whereas Laien’s and Yin’s expressions finally relaxed completely.

“As for the other thing.” As much as Mustafa hated bringing up something unpleasant now that he had finally managed to get the three boys to cool off, he preferred to smelt the iron while it was still hot. “It’s very similar to the first one, but I’d like all three of you to indulge me and listen since I do believe it’s something you either have already thought or will think about. After all, the three of you are smart kids, sometimes too smart for your own good I’d even say,” he mentioned with a chuckle. Thankfully, since the mood was right, he could tell that Arslan, Laien, and Yin all took his words calmly and were waiting for him to go on. Moreover, judging by the subtle change in Laien’s and Yin’s eyes, those two seemed to have guessed what he was about to bring up and yet they remained calm.

“You might,” Mustafa started saying, all the while having trouble with keeping himself from grinning too much. How long had it been since he found any youths to be so agreeable? For one of them to be his dear son and the other two his son’s good friends, he couldn’t be happier. “You might or might not have thought about it, but the meddling of the Guild of Shadows this time around was honestly quite extreme for their standards. The only explanation is that they had been conducting an important session of Shadow Trials… and before I continue, allow me to clarify. Were you two the ones being tested?” he asked Laien and Yin, wishing to confirm his suspicion. He was almost certain that he was right about it since it wouldn’t make sense for anyone else to be the object of Shadow Trials given how the overall war scenario had developed, but he preferred to ask than to not.

“Yeah,” Laien responded while scratching the back of his head. Had it been before the first part of Mustafa’s little lecture, he would have felt extremely bad at the moment. However, while the matter still weighed on his heart somewhat, just as it did for Yin, neither of them was dejected. “We knew that we were made to participate in the Trials even before we entered Eulene since we managed to pass the Trial of Strength back in the Anarchic lands and our examiner decided to talk with us for a bit. However, we didn’t think that the latter two Trials would end up dragging everyone around us into such dangerous situations time and time again. I apologize for that, truly,” he said quietly and soon was joined by Yin in their apology. The two of them felt incredibly bad for dragging so many people into their Trials and getting so many of them killed was even worse, but at the same time, they were very grateful to Mustafa for walking them through this unpleasant talk so skillfully.

To be fair, they were still nervous and it still felt bad to talk about the subject of Shadow Trials, but it didn’t weigh them down nearly as much as it would have had otherwise. They haven’t had much time to ponder those things since learning for sure that it was the Guild of Shadows who was pulling many of the strings behind the last war, but just like Mustafa said, they were more or less aware that in a way, they were responsible for all of it. Be it Mustafa getting crippled, Arslan being placed in danger time and time again, or many good people dying in order to protect them, all of those things could have been avoided had the two of them not appeared in the City of Palee and not ended up setting out on a journey with Arslan. Of course, they never went as far as to place the entire blame on themselves, but it couldn’t be denied that they had been feeling distressed over this matter.

“No need to apologize,” Mustafa said warmly. He felt weirdly content seeing Laien and Yin’s apologetic attitude, so if any doubts about whether he had truly chosen to not bear any grudge against those two had remained hidden in his heart, they were now all gone. “It’s not like you approached us with the intention of harming us. In the first place, you couldn’t have expected that those old freaks of the Guild of Shadows would go that far to conduct your Trials, either,” he reassured, speaking as much to Laien and Yin as to Arslan. His main goal in bringing this subject up was not merely to clear the potential darkness from the hearts of those three, but also to make sure that no rifts would be left in their relationship because of past unresolved or unmentioned issues.

“I thought about it,” Mustafa went on with the topic. “And I came to the conclusion that be it with or without you appearing in Palee City, I would have gotten crippled by Arakar regardless. I underestimated him and at the same time, I was overconfident myself. I got too used to being the supreme one on Arkarian lands and I paid the price for it. As for the clashes before the war and the war itself, it would have been a different story had you two abandoned your friends, but I can’t find a single word of complaint in myself knowing what you’ve done,” he elaborated, speaking from his heart the entire time. Be it his own overconfidence or the bravery displayed by those three, both things were undeniably true. With those kids having done their best to change a terrible situation into a positive one, and having thoroughly succeeded, how could he possibly hate them for that?

“So.” Mustafa smiled more brightly, glad to be almost done with the unpleasant subject. ”Just like with that tome, don’t beat yourselves up over the Trials or the Guild of Shadows too much. You too, Arslan. I don’t think that any of you is to blame for what happened and as I said, you all did your best to cope with those events. It was a bit of a gamble, but it was thanks to you guys being so stubborn about it that we took on the daring approach and you managed to make it pay off splendidly.” Having said this much, Mustafa chose to stop while he was ahead. The eyes of those three were clear and their expressions were calm, they were even smiling back at him and exchanging glances with one another. Since they were already feeling so well, he saw no point in repeating himself too much.

“Okay!” he said merrily and clapped his hands loudly, getting the three boys out of the pondering mood and back to reality. “I did say I was going to compensate you two twice over the value of whatever you showed me and I’m not planning to go back on my word. You could say that I’m being sly, but how about you first take a look at the Immortal Blood Arts? If you feel that you’ll be able to comprehend them to an extent, then I’ll bring out more of the artifacts and techniques I mentioned. If not, then we’ll look for some other way to settle our accounts,” he suggested with a hopeful smile. He didn’t quite want to admit it, but if those ancient things proved to be useless for Laien and Yin, then he would have trouble giving them what he had promised without driving Makarash into a financial crisis. After all, he wouldn’t go so low to just give the two any random stuff that would be useless to them just to pile up the value to a high enough point.

“Sure,” Laien said and nodded happily. “If just taking a look will be quick, then we can do that here. If not, then just show us that so-called Immortal Blood Art and we’ll see the rest in the Holy Union,” he stated with a smile. He had a feeling that those ‘mostly useless’ treasures of Mustafa’s would prove to be of great benefit to him and Yin since, objectively speaking, their level of comprehensive ability was higher than Mustafa’s. Disregarding the subjective impressions, he could be quite sure of that since Mustafa had only comprehended Seven Refinements to Immortality and not eight or nine. On a side note, Mustafa’s overall level of comprehensive ability or of broadly perceived ‘talent’ appeared to be a level above Magistrate Patrick’s, who had only ever been able to perceive Six Refinements of Immortality and had never learned the true secrets of the Tome of Transcendence.

“Here you go,” Mustafa responded, but then actually froze-mid motion only to smile helplessly and let out an awkward laugh. “Right, don’t tell anyone about this,” he said with a half-amused and half-self-depraving smile, then took off the golden interspatial ring from his finger and handed it over to Arslan. For a good few seconds, the three boys were started by the weird development until they remembered that Mustafa wouldn’t want to use up any of his Qi unless absolutely necessary.

“Um.” Arslan gave his father a troubled look. The interspatial ring which laid in his right hand felt very heavy as without a doubt, all of his father’s accumulated wealth and many of the most precious treasures of Makarash were contained within it. He could tell that his father had removed the imprinting on the ring so with a little bit of effort, even without having learned any Qi Manipulating Arts, he would be able to make it his own and take things out of it. It would still be quite a long time, however, before he would be able to take out the larger of the objects from his father’s ring.

“What should I look for?” Arslan asked, having collected himself and imprinted the interspatial ring. He wasn’t as skilled as his father in looking through those inner dimensions not to mention that his father’s interspatial ring was one of the best top-grade rings in the world with an inner diameter of almost two kilometres. Given the utterly humongous cubic space of the interspatial ring and the sheer number of items it contained, it was no wonder that he felt lost while looking into it.

“In the very center of the space, amongst the items there, there will be a little light-brown pouch with three jade-shaped stones in it. One blood-red, one golden, and one silver-platinum.”

“Mm… found it!” Arslan said after a few seconds and withdrew the entire pouch from the interspatial ring, placing it in his left hand. He then looked at his father’s ring, then at his father’s face, only to have Mustafa give him a meaningful smile. Knowing that he couldn’t refuse even if he wanted, Arslan placed his old interspatial ring into the new one, then slipped the latter onto the ring finger of his right hand. Miraculously enough, the interspatial ring grew smaller to fit his finger, at what ended up marvelling not only him but also Laien and Yin. Even the black gold interspatial ring of Laien’s or the golden interspatial ring of Yin’s, both of which were of top-quality, wouldn’t adjust their size in the blink of an eye and would take days if not weeks to do so instead. That interspatial ring of Mustafa’s, was it one of the treasures Mustafa had acquired in his youth, too?

“If you’re wondering,” Mustafa said with a smile. “It’s a ring I received in exchange for a large chunk of mysterious ore from the Holy Forge Union’s Divine Blacksmith. According to him, it’s amongst the ten best interspatial rings in existence,” he explained, seeing as the three boys were interested in the ring’s malleability. “But more importantly, go ahead and check out those three jade slips. Other artifacts I have would require you to meditate upon them for a long time before we knew if they would be of use or not, but those three should be faster. Just pick one and do the same thing you’ve had to do with the Tome of Transcendence, those jade slips have something similar to Intent within them, too,” he explained briefly. He wanted to mention that the jade slips were much harder to comprehend than that tome, too, but he figured that he didn’t have to repeat himself over and over.

Eager to follow Mustafa’s suggestion, Laien received the little pouch from Arslan as the two of them grinned at each other, both of their moods pretty much peaking. “Let’s see,” Laien mused aloud and brought out the three jade-like stones, slipping them directly into his left hand. Just like Mustafa said, one of them was blood-red, one golden and one silver-platinum. Interestingly enough, unlike with the Ancient Tomes, he felt nothing special as he held the three jade slips in his hand, almost as if they indeed were merely three ordinary pieces of fairly nice-looking stones. Yet, the more he looked at them, the more weirdly familiar he felt with the shape of the jade slips and ever so barely, he was starting to have a feeling that each of these three was hiding something beyond his comprehension.

“Lemme see,” Yin said and picked out two of the three jade slips from Laien’s hand. He left the blood-red one where it was, kept the silver-platinum one for himself and threw the golden one to Arslan, startling the five-year-old a little bit. “Let’s all try them out,” he suggested with a grin. It would be far more interesting if the three of them did look into those jade slips at once and then compared the results. And, by the looks of it, Laien and Arslan were in full agreement with him, so in just a few seconds, they all closed their eyes and focused on perceiving their respective jade slips.