Chapter 23 #5
Ya Ling’s smile wavered, a sudden pallor coming over her features before she shook her head in wonder. “And yet you actually managed to kill it.”
Alex blinked, opening his mouth, knowing he should say something as Ya Ling, Linnea, and the others stared so pointedly at him.
Even Tang and Wu Xien were gazing at him like he was a living legend come to life.
Ya Ling’s thoughts were suddenly so clear in his mind’s eye that he was forced to look away.
“Where’s Kuaisu?”
“Stable,” Ya Ling whispered. “But Lao Tie’s potion, marvelous as it was for closing the ugliest wounds and forcing intestines back where they belonged, couldn’t regenerate missing flesh.
Only fuse and reset and stabilize the flesh you already have.
Tears can be mended, wounds sealed, but it can’t grow back a missing limb.
Even Tang will need to see a healer once we leave to make sure his insides are truly stable and he can eat and defecate without growing terribly ill.
And Kuaisu is, for the moment, crippled.
Rachel hid her by the maze entrance, surrounded by protective vines and a ward that makes even me look away. ”
She flashed a rueful smile. “In truth, Alex, we had to come back inside or leave as fast as we could. It’s just too cold.
Even colder than it was before! And too much protective gear was destroyed.
And when Linnea’s communion with you made it clear that there was only a single enemy to face and that you were in dire peril—as was our foe—the choice was clear. ”
Lao Tie nodded. “Please rest, my friend. You’ve done well. Incredibly well.” He gave Alex a comradely pat on his shoulder. “Rest. We’ll take it from here.”
Alex opened his mouth, only for Ya Ling to gently touch his lips with a smile. “I think you’re on the verge of—how did Grandfather put it?—a Fool’s Folly after embracing whatever insights actually allowed you to take out that… thing.”
She shuddered even as Rachel raced up to him and clasped his hand, her eyes twinkling with unbridled joy as Alex felt himself wrapped in a gentle hammock of woody vines cushioned by cotton balls.
“This forest is so alive, Alex. And it likes you so much! It’s so effortless to embrace the element of Wood, here.
And I went up so many levels!” She all but squealed with joy.
“Don’t worry, I invested it in my elemental affinities, this time.
Sand was already at Level 3 from my time as a caravan guard.
And pushing Wood to Level 5 gave me a free rank of Earth!
I’m betting if I get Sand to 5, earth will automatically go to Rank 3 or 4! ”
Alex smiled fondly at his friend, feeling so many words of gamer wisdom tickling the back of his mind, yet for some reason he barely had the energy to do anything more than yawn as he slipped into a drowsy doze.
And when he felt Linnea somehow curling up on the viny hammock next to him, he was too tired to fight it. Didn’t want to fight it.
So hungry to be held. Cherished. Loved.
Yet the pressure in his Dantian made it clear that there would be a terrible price to pay, as it shifted ever closer to its deadliest configuration.
A configuration now part and parcel to his soul.
A configuration that would hopefully reveal itself to be nothing but a boon…
Once he hit Gold.
His final thoughts as he surrendered to the same oblivion he sensed so many souls falling into were a promise to himself that it was not the end… only the beginning.
One hundred fifty million souls that might one day be reborn anew.
An event horizon might forever keep them from ever inhabiting the worlds of warring pantheons, but nothing said they couldn’t be reborn into the realm he had forged for himself.
It was only when he slipped into a restorative sleep so vital even to Silver cultivators daring to ascend as fast as he that Fate’s mischievous machinations added a delightful twist that would change absolutely everything.
Words he only registered when he woke up with a gasp exactly eight hours later, gazing at a near-naked Linnea looking back at him so raptly, even as he felt no twinge to his Dantian at all.
“We did it!” she whispered with a gloriously happy smile.
Alex felt a surge of absolute panic with those words, frantically checking himself to golden peals of laughter, realizing to his relief that he felt… just fine?
“No, silly. Not that!” Her eyes twinkled with mirth when she whispered in his ear. “Though I wouldn’t mind a bit.” She stood up and gave a sinuous yawn, cracking her back before pecking his lips with a kiss that tasted of cherries, sunshine, and happiness.
“I mean we found a core! And Lao Tie is absolutely ecstatic!”
Alex blinked, then nodded. “Well, excellent. I take it that Gold-tier beast actually gave us a clean core? And thank goodness it didn’t break!”
Ya Ling made an appearance at that moment, frowning down at Linnea only for a second before flashing them both a teasing smile. “Looks like you two got your beauty sleep. So, are you ready to return to the palace and be feted as heroes by the king?”
Alex blinked. “What? I thought Lao Tie wanted to explore this place and make the most of this fortuitous encounter? Maybe see if we could discover an inheritance…” He flushed, suddenly shameful.
“But you’re right. We have injured friends who need healing, and you were all gracious enough to wait until I actually had a chance to fully recover before pushing onward. ”
“We did, indeed, my dearly beloved kung fu brother!” Lao Tie enthused, making an appearance with his bloodstained robe and oddly worshipful gaze. “For we have done it! We have done it, and so must now be at our absolute strongest!”
Alex blinked. “You found a spiritual treasure while I was sleeping?”
Lao Tie’s smile grew as he presented a prize that left Alex breathless, filled with a sudden mixture of awe and dismay, as he feared poor Sunlay was going to be furious with him, very soon.
Even if they had pulled off a miracle.
For the massive core glittering with such pristine clarity without a single crack, inclusion, or flaw was nearly the mirror of the one that had saved Liushi.
A pristine Water core of Gold.
“With this core, we can save our entire city!” Lao Tie gushed.
“And now you get to marry the princess!” Linnea declared happily, earning a silent groan from Alex.
Yup. Sunlay was definitely going to kill him.