“You are a cultivator?” The young man assigned to my carriage as my servant asked. I mentally sighed. Was this how all my tutors felt when being asked questions they didn’t want to answer?
“Yes,” I replied. This place had horses, but they weren’t common. The cost to upkeep a horse wasn’t cheap. In the entire caravan, I was the only one who had a carriage. The young man was named Shao. A minor detail I did not need to know.
I was near the front of the caravan looking out one of the side windows as Shao sat with me. Once we stopped he would handle getting me food, preparing my bed, and anything else that I might want. I was the VIP of the caravan. While I could do that kind of stuff myself, I was not about to object to being assigned a servant. My hat covered my face, and my hands were folded into the sleeves of my robes.
“Everyone is talking about the bandits, but they say you will kill them all with your metal sword,” Shao said. He clearly had some kind of connections to get hired for this job and bothering me.
“Quiet, I wish to think,” I said. Thankfully that was enough to silence him. The carriage shook and jostled with each bit of movement. Since metal was highly limited, there were no springs. Without springs the ride was bumpy. The road was well paved, but it was no asphalt road. It used concrete flagstones.
These people built their infrastructure to last and be quite durable. I guess the Kingdoms or at least Wu didn’t want to have to go back and rebuild the road or a city after a century. It would be too much of an expense. I did note that the buildings outside Port Farsight were made of wood with concrete foundations. Not as durable or as nice as the buildings in the city, but that made sense. Wealth flowed towards cities, not towards farms.
There were fifty wagons that were part of the caravan, a hundred soldiers, a hundred baggage handlers, fifty archers, and one cultivator. Then there were the twenty or so wagons from independent traders who were striking out hoping to start making money and to use our caravan as a shield against bandit attacks.
“You look like you are about to burst. What is it?” I asked Shao.
“Can I see your sword?” he asked. It was resting on the seat next to me. I lifted it up and partially unsheathed it. “Amazing.” I then put my sword away back on the seat. My mind considered how cultivators would actually cultivate in this environment. There had to be some kind of treasure that had energy.
That was what I would need in large quantities if at all possible. Cultivators valued metal, so I would be able to trade. In fact the Sects were the ones who primarily processed metal ore. While this shipment was going to the capital, it would be appraised and then sold onwards to the Flame Sect.
With the processing device from the Ek, I could easily turn physical material into metal using my energy. I had tested it out while in Port Farsight. It was possible to get a bar of metal based on the accumulation of around a hundred of my days worth of energy. The time difference was really annoying mentally.
It wasn’t worthwhile in my mind. But if I was able to find another source of energy, possibly from the cultivators of this land, I could trade metal bars for energy from that source to produce more metal bars in a cycle. Eventually the prices would normalize, but there was a chance there was a huge market differential to take advantage of. It all depended on if there was some kind of energy source and cultivators were willing to sell it in exchange for metal.
Yang Heng had called my purchases trash, but sometimes the most powerful option wasn’t always appropriate. This place was the perfect example with how the hover craft stopped working and the lack of energy in the environment. Less of a lack and more of a drawing force that pulled away energy that wasn’t tightly held onto.
If there was anything with energy, I would have to look at how the energy was contained. It might be possible to learn something from the container that held energy. It would need to be unique to this Great World.
Shao was bouncing in his seat again. “How were you even assigned to me in the first place?” I asked.
“I am a grandson of Governor Chuanli.” That explained everything. It was nepotism and probably a grandson quite far down the line of inheritance like I had been when I was a child. That brought back fond memories. His grandfather was clearly giving his grandson an opportunity to try and impress me and hopefully gain some benefits.
“What sect are you from? Do you have any special moves? How do you cultivate?” Shao couldn’t contain his questions any longer.
“The Heavenly Alliance, some minor sword slashes, and with great difficulty,” I responded. While my answers weren’t truthful I did not feel like explaining the nature of reality to this child. Sometimes it was a good thing to be a frog in the well so one could be content. Knowledge he could do nothing about would only be a pointless burden.
Knowing that your life and destiny were in the hands of another, was not something that was easy to accept. Sure there might be spiritual beliefs and religion, but there was a difference between an absent god and knowing that your supreme authority was another cultivator. I had struggled with this for a long time while in the Forever City.
Now I knew truths. Not all the truths, or anywhere close to a full understanding of how reality, worked, but more than enough to be content with my understanding and come to terms with what I knew and how things truly worked.
Perhaps one day I would train an apprentice and answer their questions but that day was not going to be today. “You must have traveled quite a bit,” Shao said. Now I knew why my instructions regarding etiquette had told me to keep quiet in the face of a cultivator. I was beginning to become annoyed enough I might just toss him out of the carriage. In fact, that might be a good idea. “You must have had many amazing adventures. Can you tell me any?”
“Cultivation is boring and about silence, sitting still. There are few adventures. And if you do go on an adventure, you have done something wrong. Now let me think in quiet,” I ordered. Thankfully Shao shut up to let me brood some more about my current situation.
We came to a stop for the day. There was no evening, or sunset. It was just the rest period chosen after a certain amount of distance traveled. The caravan was not like a ship. There was no clock or other devices to give one’s location. Instead there were set distances and rest spots for the caravan that had been cleared during the construction of the road, that were spaced apart at specific intervals.
My carriage was in the center of the wagon ring along with the people and horses. The traders joining the caravan all had to camp on the outside of the wagon ring. If an attack did happen, they would be the first individuals targeted. With a group this large there were multiple sentries stationed around the area and scouts had been sent on ahead.
I rested in the carriage, while Shao prepared my dinner. The constant light from the Life Light was another thing I wasn’t fully used to. I liked an actual day and night cycle, not this constant white light. After enjoying my stew and some hard bread, Shao set up the bed in the carriage. He got to sleep outside in a tent.
The first four days of travel saw us pass various farms. After that point the road began to go up towards a pass between two mountains. There was an outpost there with some soldiers keeping an eye on the area and the road. That would take another three days of travel. Once we got beyond the outpost, that was where there were bandits.
There were villages out in the wilderness, but they didn’t pay taxes, they just tried to grow enough to survive. In more prosperous areas they would sell services to travelers moving along the main roads between cities. There would also be interior cities as well.
But out here, so far Edgewards in the Great World, there would be a long stretch of road and tiny villages with almost nothing. It was only when we began getting close to Port Nearsight would there be more farms and civilization. Not just whomever was trying to eek out a living in the wilderness.
Even if the majority of people didn’t want to be bandits, they had no other choice but to try and take the caravan to change their future. It wasn’t like the Kingdom of Wu would send out a punitive expedition of their military to purge these people. Eventually more would trickle in over a period of time and it would be like it never even happened.
In fact the bandits growing food in the villages was seen as a precursor to generating enough food in an area to build up another city along the road. If there was enough trade and movement along the road, then it was possible that would happen. Again, the main issue came down to food and how many people could actually survive out in the wilderness.
There weren’t large animals like deer in the wilderness either. At the best you would have badger like equivalents. The horse was the largest known land animal. There were claims that everything bigger had been hunted off in the distant past. It was possible, but unlikely in my mind. There were no deer or larger animals in the empty tracks of land I had crossed.
Most likely one of those legends or a false assumption these people had made about the Great World. What was most interesting was reading about their creation myths. I even used that term myth, for the more scientific texts I had read.
Apparently, the entire universe consisted of the Life Light, the Great World, and the void beyond the edge. There was a weird concept of gravity, instead there an attractive force downwards, not towards mass. The more I had read, the more everything felt like it was bizarre. People were trying to find meaning where there was none since this place was entirely artificial.
I had ignored such things back on the Continent, since they didn’t seem overly important, but now they brought me some amusement. The problem was, that it was beyond comprehension that any one person could build so much. Even with technology or energy it did not seem possible.
“What about mega-engineering? How does that even work to make bubbles?” I asked Yang Heng.
“With great difficulty. Often with the use of golems, repeating a process over and over again. There are both technological and energy varieties of these automations. Then it is just a matter of maintaining enough supplies for them to complete whatever task they have been assigned.”
“The Forever City used golems for maintenance,” I recalled.
“Exactly. No immortal cultivator wants to maintain something endlessly. At best they might be an absent caretaker. The challenge is creating a stable system that will never require outside intervention.”
With time being a non-factor, it was a matter of resources, knowledge, and interference if something could be constructed. It was simple enough to change one form of matter to another with energy. That was what the Ek could do and according to Yang Heng they were at the very bottom of the hierarchy of civilizations.
If there was a cultivator who was truly bored, they could have set something like this up. The biggest issue was the investment of resources and this place being discovered, and their hard work be stolen. That was why the factions of the Forever City kept a closer eye on the continents they controlled, to ensure that there were no interruptions to any of the resources they received.
How do you explain to someone that their entire existence is an experiment or the whim of another human being? It created a feeling of existential dread and terror. People weren’t meant to know that everything was artificial. Also, such claims would be met with skepticism and considered a conspiracy theory.
These people could point to millennia of history and various other pieces of evidence that this entire place was reality as they knew it. If there was anything beyond the void at the edges of the Great World, then it was unknowable. There was speculation there might be another Life Light or that the Great World might circle back on itself. Those were considered fringe theories. To say that an immortal cultivator or their super-organization built everything you see around you was basically the equivalent of saying ‘magic’.
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It was an answer that was not based on facts or reason. These people also didn’t have any interaction with energy beyond their cultivators, who appeared incredibly insular. There was very little written about actual cultivators or their practices. That was why my interest in these cultivators had increased by quite a bit.
If I hadn’t made a promise to protect the caravan, I would have gone on ahead, leaving them behind. The scroll I had received wasn’t really worth the hassle, but it would have been incredibly rude and beneath me to just return the scroll after reading it with no compensation, effectively breaking my word.
While I might not be the most truthful with all things, I wasn’t going to break my word to others if I could help it. I had a bit of pride in myself. For someone as strong as me to lie and cheat, would be embarrassing. If I wanted something, I had the strength to take it. Lying or cheating to reach the same outcome was one trait I had picked up from cultivation culture.
The strong had no need to break the rules. They made the rules, and it was the expectation of those weaker than them to follow those rules or fight. Also, however unlikely, it was possible that the cultivators of this place might get word of my actions. I didn’t want unnecessary drama to follow me once I got to the Flame Sect to get answers.
A horn sounded out. That meant the scouts had encountered something. I kept my leaned back, relaxed position in the carriage. I could tell Shao was looking out one of the windows in a concerned manner. The caravan then came to a halt. This was the ninth day of travel. The only thing out here was wilderness, towns barely surviving, and bandits.
“Cultivator Yuan Zhou, a large bandit army has gathered up ahead. Your assistance is required,” the soldier in charge of the caravan had come over to my carriage. I let out a small sigh and picked up my sword resting next to me. I then left the carriage and walked a short distance to the top of the hill.
Already soldiers were moving into lines, scouts were checking the flanks, and archers were lining up. At the bottom of the very shallow hill there had to be two thousand people. That seemed a bit excessive. I saw women and children among their number as well. While some of the men looked better fed, there was a lot of desperation from the people below us.
They had almost no archers, armor, or bone weapons. It was almost entirely wood, mostly spears. The main issue was the sheer number of people. The Governor had not been wrong. If I wasn’t with the caravan, his men would struggle to protect it. I let out a small sigh, since this would be a horrible massacre.
I advanced forwards and the soldiers parted in front of me to let me through. I kept walking along the road towards the opposing bandit army. These people were dirty, tired, hungry, and desperate. But there was no way I could change what was about to happen. Words would not work.
If words would have worked, they would never had gathered here to confront the caravan in the first place. Looking out from under the brim of my wide hat, I saw the fear increasing in these people. While they might have overly large eyes and translucent skin, they were still people. Desperate people trying to survive.
I paused when I was between both armies. “Drop your spears and leave. You will be able to keep your lives. If not, then I will slaughter you all. For my title and name are Cultivator Yuan Zhou,” I declared loudly. My words being carried in the frigid air.
There were shouts and jeers from the bandits. Several of them stepped forward, gesturing at me with their wood spears. The caravan was outnumbered ten to one, which was why I was needed for this. I drew forth my sword. The level 5 metal from a Continent an incalculable distance away and from my first master glinted in the white light of the Life Light.
The bandits appeared to be much more nervous as I continued my sedate advance towards them. “He is just one man! Even if he is a cultivator. The one who kills him keeps the sword!” One of the leaders of the bandits shouted out. A group of thirty rushed towards me with a war cry.
“One Swing To Sperate Heaven And Earth.” I swung just as the bandits were about to reach me. My blade cut through the air horizontally. They each took a couple more steps and then they all split in half. Their top halves continuing forward, separate from their bottom halves.
Blood and guts from the thirty bandits poured down upon the road and ground in front of me. There was another group of fifty behind them that all stumbled to a halt in their charge after they saw what happened to the first group. Before they could make up their mind on if they should attack or retreat, I was in front of them.
“One Swing To Sperate Heaven And Earth.” I did not need to say the words, but they helped me focus my energy how I wanted it to be used. Three people at the back were smart enough to drop to the ground in time. The remainder of their group was split in half as well, coating the ground with blood and viscera.
The worst part was that the people didn’t die instantly. They lived long enough to scream and plead before they bled out. It was horrible. This was why mortals were helpless against a cultivator in a fight. At a certain point the difference in ability was just too big to overcome.
While those two swings used up a tenth of my total energy reserves, these bandits did not know that. The bandit army was beginning to move away as I continued my advance. I heard a horn blow behind me. The soldiers and the archers from the caravan began to advance in my wake. Since I had clearly crushed the initial attack and was about to split the bandit army.
I thought for sure they were going to retreat after taking such losses. Losing around 80 people, or around 4% of their army without dealing any damage to me had to be shocking. Several arrows flew in my direction. I easily deflected them with my sword, mid-air before they could strike me.
“Spread out and attack! He can’t keep it up! With me!” One of the bandit leaders shouted and rushed forward. More people rushed forward as well, spreading out to try and reach me without being cut down first.
Why couldn’t they just retreat? I had warned them, and they had seen how I had killed their comrades. I didn’t like fighting. This was just a massacre, there was no way they could resist me. I easily deflected several more wooden arrows headed at me and let out a sigh.
Three bandits rushed at me from the front, while more spread out behind them and to the sides, but far enough away not to be worried about. I could strike at a greater distance, but I would use more energy than I wanted to.
Kicking off the ground, I darted forward and then to the side and then forward once more in a zig zag pattern. If these people blinked it would appear as if I had reappeared on the other side of the three people rushing at me. They took a couple more steps forward and then their heads separated from their bodies.
There were more screams and more of the bandits rushed at me. That was when arrows began to rain down from the archers that had been with the caravan. Now I had to watch behind me as well as all around. I kept moving forward and cutting down anyone in front of me.
It didn’t take long for me to leave a trail of corpses right through the center of the bandit army. Turning around and checking the situation behind me, it was going very poorly for the bandits. The soldiers had made a shield wall. With their superior equipment and training, they were easily cutting down the bandits in front of them.
Soldiers on the sides armed with spears on horses, were able to guard the flanks. The entire time the archers behind the shield wall kept firing arrows up into the air to fall into the mass of bandits. They were still attacking. It was complete and utter madness. They were willing to throw away their lives?
It was clear they couldn’t harm me, and the soldiers were too well prepared and organized. Any kind of regular army should have broken. Even crazy fanatics should have broken after losing a quarter of their entire army without dealing any serious damage in return. Was the number disparity that much to offset such a massacre?
I let out another sigh as more bandits kept rushing at me from the rear of their army. They had been split down the middle, now they had to divide their attention in two directions. Their morale was unbreakable apparently.
“You can’t win!” I shouted out. I just got war cries in response. My heart sank at that. There really was no other option. These people were going to force me to kill them.
Kicking off the ground again, I began to cut a swathe through the bandit army. One after another they fell. I felt sick at what was happening, but they just wouldn’t retreat. I knew this place only had the option for surrender between professional armies, but they could still retreat. I focused on killing the bandits rushing at me, but there was always more.
There was a brief lull in the bandits rushing at me as I caught my breath. Over half of them had been killed. The entire area was coated in blood and corpses. Still the bandits threw themselves at the soldiers. The shield wall had turned into a shield circle.
The mounted scouts were on the outskirts picking bandits off. The archers had run out of arrows and were supporting the shield circle. “Are you people crazy!?” I yelled out in exasperation. The only response was five more bandits breaking off from the encirclement and rushing towards me. They were more like zombies than human beings with how relentless they were in throwing away their lives.
I advanced once again, moving towards the encircled soldiers, cutting down the bandits. Once I got close enough I swung out with a projected slash once more, killing around forty bandits and relieving the pressure at one point on the shield wall. The soldiers cheered.
That was when the bandit army finally broke and began running away. The soldiers surged forward cutting down the fleeing bandits. The mounted scouts were particularly effective. I didn’t bother with chasing down the fleeing people. I just made my way back to the caravan.
“That was amazing,” Shao said with a big smile once I returned. It wasn’t amazing, it was horrible. For people to throw away their lives like that, when they knew it was pointless, left a bad feeling in my gut. The fact that I had killed hundreds didn’t help either.
“Why didn’t they retreat?” I muttered out loud. It was a rhetorical question as Shao handed me a canteen of water to drink from.
“They will fall prey to other bandit groups. A lack of food. Desperation. They are bandits, why does it really matter?” Shao asked.
“They lost two thirds of their army before they retreated. Do they not fear death?” I asked.
“To die under the Life Light, is to send your soul back into the cycle of reincarnation,” Shao replied. Desperation and religion, it still didn’t make any sense.
“It was the Kylo weed. Highly illegal, but the bandits grow it,” a caravan trader who was nearby commented. I looked at him. “Ah, my thanks honored Cultivator for saving us all.”
“Kylo weed, what is that?” I asked.
“A plant that removes inhibitions. It is illegal in the Flame Empire, except for very specific and regulated trade. Grows about everywhere too. Used on unsuspecting maidens and the truly desperate before a battle. Once you take it, you do not fear anything. Or at least not easily. Enough of them died, that they finally realized the battle was lost.”
“They didn’t realize that at the start?” I asked with a bit of shock. Even with a drug, I had made it clear I was unbeatable.
“That’s why it is highly illegal. You get crazy people who fight to the death like that. They know, but they don’t think they will die. It removes the fear of death. Once some bandits started running, it quickly became a logical issue where they didn’t have the numbers. As long as the possibility of victory was still there, they would fight until the end.”
“This isn’t in the histories I read,” I said to the merchant who was explaining all of this to me.
“It is not something Kingdoms would want to talk about. After the battle a tenth of those who took that drug, their minds will break forever. Either they will become comatose and waste away, or become rabid animals. Professional soldiers will fight until the end without it, since that is what they are paid for. But bandits, they have to use the Kylo weed to have the courage to fight and die in such numbers.”
“Why even take it in the first place?” I asked.
“They might not know. Or think it only boosts courage, not removes the fear of death. People talk, but there are a lot of stories about the drug.”
“Thank you for explaining, I am Cultivator Yuan Zhou,” I introduced myself.
“Trader Wei,” the merchant gave his introduction.
“I would have you join me for dinner, your knowledge has impressed me,” I said. The main reason was that I wanted to get my mind off the massacre of starving druggies. While no blood had landed on me, the screams of the dying still sounded behind me where the battle had taken place.
“I would be honored,” Trader Wei said.
“Prepare tea for two and then dinner,” I told Shao and handed back the water canteen.
“Of course,” he rushed off.
“I must admit, I have never seen a cultivator in action. I have heard the stories, but you were incredibly impressive out there,” Trader Wei said.
“Perhaps, but killing weak people is not something I enjoy or take any pleasure in.”
“I should be grateful for that.”
“So, what do you trade?” I asked the man.
“Gems, mostly sapphires from the oysters collected from the Sapphire Ocean. Hence the name. Here is one of the gems.” He pulled one out of his robe and handed the small gem to me. I looked at the cut bright blue gemstone.
“It is pretty. Deep color as well,” I replied and then handed it back. “Any practical use or just ornamentation?” I asked.
“Mostly jewelry and ornamentation. But there are some alchemical uses. That deep blue color is unique to the Sapphire Ocean and the oysters that make the gems there. That is a major export of cities along the coast,” Trader Wei explained as we made our way back to my carriage where Shao had set up a table and two chairs outside the carriage.
“I am guessing the Emerald Ocean is similar?” I asked.
“Indeed. There are professional gem smiths that can make whatever you desire. I am only a gem trader unfortunately.”
“Just one wagon?” I asked.
“The oysters have to be fished out of the water. Only one out of every ten thousand has a sapphire gem inside. I buy up all the gems from the fishermen that are collected. My one wagon is a huge investment. Once I reach Port Nearsight, I will take a ship to the capital. From there, I can sell the gems over the next decade while my son takes over purchasing more gems in Port Farsight. I will return with money, and the process will repeat.”
“That is quite impressive, and thank you for sharing,” I replied.
“It is an honor. If you don’t mind, why are you so curious? I would not think a cultivator would concern themselves over gems.”
“To take my mind off things and I always enjoy hearing about trade. Perhaps in another life I would have been a trader. But I am a cultivator instead. Do you know of any goods cultivators trade in?” I asked.
“Besides metal, there is nothing that comes to mind. But I only handle the gem trade, like my father did, and his father before him.”
“I am surprised there is that much demand,” I replied.
“The nobles have insatiable appetites. And I will probably sell three quarters of my supply to a long distance trader, who will head Lifewards. They will sell the gems piecemeal at each port they stop at along with other goods, unlike a dedicated trader like myself.”
We continued to chat as tea was served. I liked Trader Wei. He was a pleasant man who was quite knowledgeable about the topics he knew. He joked that it was because he did nothing but travel to various fishing villages and ships and chat with people. Trader Wei and the other independent traders also talked quite a bit. He had just been the only one brave enough to reply to my comments after witnessing what I had done.
I could respect his bravery in that regard. He might be a simple trader, but he was competent and well spoken. Both things I could respect about him. Also, he was better than Shao who asked me annoying questions when I brough up a topic.