This man was testing me, though I doubt he knew it.
"Oh, your kindness is abundant Kin Jey, but I don’t believe myself to be a man capable of many wives," I chuckled.
“Men, perhaps?” He asked.
“Oh no, I am not a carnal man, Master Kin.”
"A shame, then give them away to your family. They are of a delicate breed, born of our more fertile lines. I’m sure they will serve you well,” he replied with a nonchalant wave.
I couldn’t help but feel some sadness for the women at that moment. These people were born to be his toys, raised and taught and schooled to serve his every need. They worshiped him as if he were a god, and now he was throwing them away, donating them to me like they were nothing more than secondhand shoes.
"Well, I can not shame the scion of the Kin clan by rejecting such beauties. My clan will be most thankful for these gracious gifts,” I said with false humility.
I felt disgusted at myself for taking part in this but I didn’t really have any other options. Besides, I could give these women a better life. I knew plenty of matriarchal societies that would take them in and raise them as one of their own, but it still left a bad taste in my mouth to act as if I respected him.
The man waved off my compliment.
“It is not worthy of such gratitude, fellow Daoist. Though in truth, I should be the one thanking you for your patronage. Ah but I do have some urgent business to see to so unless anything else is necessary…?" He said letting the question hang in the air.
"Yes, yes, I thank Master Kin for taking care of my wares. May you have trust in your Dao and growth in your qi,” I said, giving him a half bow.
“And power in your heart and strength in your blade," He finished, returning the bow.
As annoyed as I was with the interaction, I wouldn’t be able to shave a single hair off of his body in this place. It was warded beyond reason, and it used runes instead of array points so I lacked the expertise to break through it.
The women, unaffected by their sudden transfer of ownership, followed right behind me. The one called Mei Shan walked with her head aimed at the floor and her footsteps remaining even, almost unnoticeable.
I tried to pry into her aura to see what she was feeling, but it was as still as could be. I frowned. Aura was hard to control. It was the qi that naturally leaked from your reservoirs and out into the real world. And because it was your qi, it reflected your current state of mind, if you were nervous, it would be nervous. If you were happy, it would be happy. It reflected your emotions and could even manifest them into actions if they were strong enough.
But there was none of that with her. Her aura remained calm and collected. There were aura cloaking techniques, but that wasn’t what was happening here. She wasn’t cloaking her aura, she was controlling it, which was akin to controlling your emotions themselves. The aura reflected the emotions and her aura reflected nothing.
"Mei Shan, right?" I said.
She nodded, tailing just slightly behind me.
"Do you have any family or friends here?"
She shook her head.
"No honored master, my sisters are all I am permitted to have," she said, gesturing to the bowing group around her.
I nodded.
"Then prepare my wares and yours, we will leave as soon as we can."
"Right now? Would you not like to rest or spend the night-"
"No," I interrupted. "I would like to leave as soon as we can, provided that it’ll bear you no troubles?"
She nodded, as if not having heard that last part, and left with her group. I waited for them in a very large room with a bed wide enough to build a house on. I had suspicions as to why, but I didn’t bother entertaining them.
That Kin Jey had been of the ninth rank and he was young too. I had done my research before coming and though I hadn’t initially recognized the man, I knew his name from some of the wider news distribution networks in the multiverse. I was personally subscribed to three news distributor sects and each had mentioned him in their report at one time or another, usually for suspicion of an unjustified murder or insulting a high-ranking sect member. In this world, the latter was considered the worse of the two crimes.
And taking all that information along with all of this. Well, it didn’t take a complex mind to figure out what was going to happen. The women, the room, the inquiries, all of it pointed to one conclusion.
“Oh well,” I sighed.
The women reentered the room. They had changed, now wearing less flirtatious and much more regal-like traveling clothes. Each of them also carried a minor spatial ring filled with their own supplies.
"Honored Master, we have gathered your materials," Mei Shan said, bowing down in front of me. Her hands were lifted above her head and carrying a small golden ring.
"Get up," I said as I took the ring to inspect it. I had already given Mei the payment for the items when I had asked for them, and though I could have paid a little less if I bothered to bargain, leaving this place took a higher priority. I looked around, scanning the girls who stood behind me. They were all at the peak of the fifth rank, which made sense, immortal servants were as rare as they were precious. But that meant that I would have to protect them through interdimensional travel.
“Do any of you know any voidwalker techniques?” I asked the group of women.
“No honored master, we were not meant to leave this realm,” Mei Shan responded.
Without a voidwalker technique, traversing the void was the equivalent of walking into oblivion. The void wasn’t some vast empty space in between universes, but rather emptiness itself. It was nothing. It lacked space-time and all of the other physical laws a physical body relied on to survive, so if I just took the girls with me. Well… they wouldn’t make it out the other end.
But that meant I would have to carry them in a life-storing spatial ring. There was nothing wrong with that, but it felt demeaning in a way, to transport them the same way I was transporting beasts.
“Alright, I’ll have you travel in this spatial ring then. It shouldn’t be too long, just a mere moment from your perspective.”
The women all nodded in compliance. It didn’t matter to them. I doubt anything did aside from my approval.
I waved my hand and all of them were sent into the ring. It was the ring the Beast Emporium had given me, and it was the only ring suitable for transporting that many lifeforms across the void. It would keep each life form separated in its own minor pocket dimension, and their safety would be guaranteed while traveling through the void.
Making my way out of the building was only the first step, after that, I had to navigate through the eternal metropolis and make my way to the outskirts of the city before I could take off. It was rude to fly through a place like this, and even if I didn’t give a rat’s ass about manners, the people here did and many had died for a lesser insult. I used movement techniques to travel through the millions of buildings that littered the place. The city must have had the surface area of multiple planets, and though it was a thriving goliath of the multiversal market, it still felt too big.
I finally got off of the planet and past the star system, going at speeds that light could only dream of, until the galaxy itself was visible. I kept on going and going until the galaxy cluster was nothing more than a faint shimmer in the sky and everything it contained seemed like a distant star. While the Emporium did technically own the realm, an endless universe was a tough thing to police. So there would be fewer eyes monitoring me out here.
Though that didn’t really mean much when I was in the same realm as a God-Imperium, but putting distance between me and the Beast Emporium was more of a show of caution rather than a protective measure. It would make it harder to follow me on the off chance that someone decided to tail me. I was being followed of course, but I had to act like I didn’t know that.
I pushed, weaving myself out of this space-time continuum. My own voidwalker technique kept me safe as I traveled through the void. Though at my current stage, I could travel through the void without and come out just fine, but most of my equipment would be destroyed almost instantly so I had to take caution.
Navigating the multiverse was actually somewhat intuitive. There was the term ‘The Fabric of Space and Time’ back on Earth. That saying actually had more truth to it than not.
Universes were like blankets, big thick eternal blankets. If you wanted to teleport, you would fold a small piece of that blanket in half and pierce through, popping out on the other side. The multiverse in comparison was like a giant stack of blankets, made up of infinite layers of individual space-time continuums. There were many ways to travel through it, but the most common one was to navigate from one known universe to another, taking small steps until you reached your known destination.
There was a reason for that. Even though the void didn’t have space or time, it did have a distance of sorts. It’s hard to explain in normal terms, but most cultivators knew it as relative existence. The void separated things. If there was void between two things, then those two things didn’t exist relative to one another. But the more void one thing ‘moved through,' the closer it got to another plane of existence, until eventually, you shared the same plane of existence as something else. It’s all very complicated, but the point is that one does not want to get lost in the void. There were monsters there, eldritch horrors of untold nightmares. Things like Killaguan and strong celestial beasts that could tear me apart with a mere thought. It was scary and dark, and it was the jungle to end all jungle. Overall, the multiverse was scary, and hopscotching to known universes was a proven way to keep yourself mostly safe and unharmed.
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Anyway, strange existential horrors aside, it was actually fun to hop from one realm into another. It took a bit of skill and finesse to actually figure out where you were heading and how to get there, that was the reason most people never found their way out of the lower realms, that or death.
Speaking of which, I paused as I leaped through what must have been the thousandth realm that I’d traveled through since I left the Emporium. One thousand realms, and yet they were still following me.
“Alright,” I said with a tired sigh. “Come out.”
I didn’t speak these words seeing as I was hovering in empty space. I merely projected them loud enough for the hiding idiots to pick up on.
"He he he," a slimy voice projected.
"Fellow Daoist’s abilities are truly capable, and to think I thought you just a fortunate vagabond."
Kin Jey stepped out from the void of space, his body materializing covered in ebony blue armor. The man looked different at the moment but only superficial. The kingly and regal robes had been switched for battle-ready armor, and his sword gleamed with starlight as if it was eager to cut. Aside from that, he looked collected and normal, as if he had been following me to give me back some spare change that I had accidentally overpaid.
His entourage followed behind him, each of them decked out in similar equipment, though none as flashy as his. There were men, women, and even beasts, though most of them had a small slave collar bound onto their necks. The strongest person here was of the eleventh-rank dwarf who wore a sleeveless armor set that extended into a kilt that covered his legs. He had no slave collar on.
“Why are you following me?” I asked. It was a stupid question. I knew the answer, I always knew the answer.
"Ho? Fellow Daoist, show some manners in your questioning. I am, after all, the scion of the Kin clan. Do remember that even if I can cut you down, there are many fates worse than death,” Kin Jey said with a smile.
I snorted. It wasn’t meant to be cold or mocking. I just found the kid’s ego to be a bit funny, but it made him frown really badly.
“I followed you to assure your safe travels, but it seems that you have spat in my face once more. For this insult, you shall die.”
********
Kin Jey frowned. He didn’t really need an excuse by now. His entourage knew the plan well, even if they refrained from discussing it openly. He would find a target and he would follow them to a place far outside his home realm, and when he felt they were open and alone, he and his group would strike under the pretense of an insult. And though none of that was necessary anymore, particularly with their well-hidden killings, old habits die hard.
The reason was generally something inconsequential, but it would be enough to avoid punishment within the sect if he was ever found out, though he rarely was these days. He had only been found out the first few times and after that, he had learned to hide his pursuits and make sure his killings happened far outside of his home realm, where there were no witnesses.
Kin Jey was talented in this regard. He could probably find fault with the way his shadow moved if he wanted to. This man, however, warnted none of his exaggerated reasoning. His arrogance and curtness were reason enough. The bastard stood there, surrounded, outnumbered, outranked, and yet not an ounce of fear or remorse. And it wasn’t an act either, his aura exuded weariness and irritation, as if this interaction was some tiresome errand he was just trying to finish.
“Well,” the man said with a tired tone as he stared into the sky. “Let’s get this over with.”
“Very good! Very very good!” said Lom Gont. The small dwarf stepped forward, his face burning red with fury. His eleventh-rank aura flooded the place, his strength pushing down on everyone except Kin Jey.
“I would ask for your name but it is fitting for you to die an unknown death. This Lom Gont will bring you to your end. You have courted death, but today she will embrace you.”
“Just hurry up already,” the man mumbled with clear irritation.
Kin Jey seethed. This arrogance, this self-importance, it disgusted him. How can one man think so highly of himself even in front of death? He was going to die, that was as clear as qi itself. And he had to have known that unless… No that wasn’t it. He would have known as soon as he met him if that was the case. But still, you never did know with those bastards.
“Before you die, I would like to know, do you pursue the Dao of Madness?” Kin Jey asked.
“Nope.” The man responded with an irritated look.
“Then where did you find it?”
The man looked at him curiously. “Find what?”
“Your arrogance,” Kin Jey said with a smile.
“I’m not arrogant,” the man replied.
“Oh?”
“Nope. I’m just honest.”
Kin Jey smiled and looked at Lom Gont.
“Make it slow,” he said, loud enough for the man to hear him.
Lom Gont nodded with a vicious smile. A cudgel materialized within his right hand and a long hooked blade on his left. Kin Jey smiled. The dwarf was capable of putting on a good show when he wanted to and this man seemed to bring out the desire in him.
“Wield your blade dreg, so at least you might die fighting.”
The arrogant bastard looked at the sword in his right hand. It was a thick double-edged longsword that had a rather uneven blade. That was strange. Kin didn’t remember seeing the man bring out a blade.
“Nah,” the man said, tossing his sword at Lom Gont.
Lom Gont snatched the weapon out of the air with anger. His muscles bulged and his qi flared as he held both his swords and his opponents in the same hand. Fury overtook his face at the disrespect, and Kin Jey smiled. This man was an eternal fountain of disrespect. If he didn’t have a reason to kill him before, he definitely had one now.
He couldn’t remember the last time he’d seen Lom Gont so furious. He had told the man to take it slow, but now he was worried that Lom Gont might not kill the bastard at all. There was a chance that he would take the man’s soul and store it in an eternal pain prison, gifting the arrogant bastard eternal torment. Oh well, pride has its consequences. The man had been warned, after all, Kin Jey had told him earlier.
There are many fates worse than death.
Lom Gont moved, slowly approaching the man through the void of space.
“Your arrogance truly knows no-” Lom Gont paused for a moment, and then, he bulged. His skin stretched from beneath his body and it almost looked like his bones were trying to make their way out of him. And then, the man popped. Black chitin-covered tentacles pierced through his skin and wrapped around his body and cocooned him in.
Kin Jey and all the others leapt, pushing themselves a good distance from Lom Gont. Thoughts ran through Kin Jey’s head as he backed away. What was this? What had happened? Had the man attacked? Did he have reinforcements?
“It can wield itself,” the man muttered tiredly.
Then the sword moved, making its way to one of the beasts with perfect accuracy. The edge of the blade split open, from one side of the hilt to the other, to reveal a large row of teeth, tongues, and flesh.
“An eldritch weapon!!” the beast screamed an instant before the blade's mouth came down upon them. Thousands of eyes bloomed on the flat side of the weapon, each of them peering into Kin Jey. He shivered.
“FORMATION!” He yelled, and all of his people surrounded him in a battle formation, every one of them covering him at all sides. Kin Jey shuddered. He had seen eldritch beings before. His ancestor had even tamed one, the Great Beast Killaguan. But this was different. This thing sought to kill him, and that was a whole new experience.
The man now had the blade in his hand. Though calling it a blade might have been too much. It was more of an amalgamation of flesh tied together at one singular hilt. It wreathed the man in eldritch fury, yet the man himself seemed undisturbed.
His face was unchanged. It was the same tired face he let out earlier. An annoyed frown.
“Speak!” Kin Jey yelled from his protective group. “Who are you?”
The man flickered and his entire left side of protection burst into a stream of blood and flesh.
“Scatter!” Kin Jey screamed as he pushed himself away from the group. But at this point, no one was listening to his orders. The man had attacked before they had even blinked, and while some were strengthening their defense, most were circulating their voidwalker techniques to push themselves out of the realm.
“Honorless bastards!” Kin Jey screamed as he too pushed to leave the realm. But before he could fully activate his technique, he heard a scream. One by one, every single person or beast who had tried to exit the realm simultaneously crumbled. Each of their body caved in on itself and into a circular swirling pattern until there was only a small ball the size of a sand grain left where they stood.
Kin Jey stopped channeling his own voidwalker skill and looked to the man. There were about seven of the original entourage left, and the strongest among them had already been killed. It was clear that Kin Jey had failed. And not only had he failed, he had failed exceedingly. Almost every one of his bodyguards were dead, and those that hadn’t weren’t worth bringing home. His sect would be sure to punish him for this.
“Honored Master, I see my flaws and apologize for testing your strength. But if you push forward, surely my ancestor’s wrath will fall upon you.”
The man frowned.
“Old Tai Jey? Please, I must have killed over ten of his descendants. That bastard doesn’t give a rat’s ass about you.”
“You dare!?”
“He’s got billions of descendants, a whole realm full of them. What makes you so different?”
Kin Jey was furious. Killing his men had been a severe insult, but this, this was worse.
“I am a direct heir, son of Lien Jo Jey and grandson of-”
“He’s got millions of direct descendants as well. And who cares if you’re an heir, immortals don’t age. It’s just a nice fancy title. Nothing more. At the end of the day, you’re just a little jewel on the old man’s neck, sort of like those women you gave to me actually.”
Kin Jey’s jaw tightened. Who was this man, to so brazenly insult him so? This arrogant self-righteous mite dared to stand against his Divine Beast Emporium. Kin Jey had been kind, but this was too far. He may have been of the ninth rank but he was no weakling, and regardless of this vagabond’s words. His sect did care for him.
Kin Jey smacked his chest and activated the hidden talisman within. It was a waste to use this attack on such a minor being, but his arrogance called for it. Strength filled his body as the talisman channeled some strange and unknown technique.
“You can only blame your arrogance!” Kin Jey shouted. “Let me send you to the depths.”
A light overwhelmed Kin Jey as the qi burst out of him and engulfed everything. He was fine and unharmed, but that was quite untrue for everyone else involved. The attack had been one of a sphere-like shape, directly annihilating everyone and everything it touched without discrimination. And it wasn’t small either, it had left him and trailed throughout the rest of the realm, killing all life within the universe.
Kin Jey turned to see the small floating remains of his entourage. They had no qi in them, and even their souls had been broken down into nothingness. He smiled. This was the second-best outcome, with no witnesses he could tell whatever story he liked. And though some in the sect would know, he wouldn’t be too scrutinized about the situation.
He waved his hands, collecting all the remains of his fellow sect members. His opponent must have died a long and miserable death, though he couldn’t see the man’s body anywhere. Maybe he hadn’t died. Perhaps the bastard was only half dead, floating somewhere through this space. No, Kin wouldn't be so lucky.
And then suddenly he couldn't move. The space froze around rendering him immobile and mute. There was a flash of blood from beneath him and an ache in his chest. Kin Jey looked down, and saw that where his chest plate should have been was the shiny edge of an eldritch sword.
“Dumbass,” the man whispered, and the blade was drawn up, splitting him whole.