Lin Shao did not know what this test would entail, but he didn’t like the sound of it. He knew that there must be some hidden agenda behind the cultivator’s supposed kindness, and the “test” was at the core of that agenda.
Without a second’s hesitation, Shao started walking toward the Patriarch’s home in the center of the village. His progress was seriously hindered by the large crowd that was heading in roughly the same direction. Shao could see Shen Jian’s back disappear from sight as he made his way to the Patriarch’s home unhindered. The crowd moved away as Shen Jian and the clan Patriarch walked by.
The cultivator carried a large saddlebag over one shoulder, and Lin Shao wondered what tools of torment could possibly be contained within. Everyone else in the village might have been fooled by the cultivator’s false demonstration of generosity, but Shao wasn’t. They were all the same. This cultivator was just like the one that had killed his parents fourteen years before, and it was only a matter of time until he showed his true colors.
Leaving the iron staff on the ground near the stables, Lin Shao slowly made his way to the Patriarch’s home. By the time he reached the large three-story building that towered over every other structure in the village, a long line of villagers had formed outside of the Patriarch’s door.
Shao took his spot at the end of the line before he saw someone who was already leaving the Patriarch’s home. It was strange. The tests must have started less than a minute before. The process couldn’t have been that strenuous if it only took seconds to complete. Lin Shao immediately abandoned his spot in the line and jogged up to the person leaving the Patriarch’s home.
As he got closer, he noticed that the first person to undergo the test was the tailor’s wife, Yang Chin Shihan. She didn’t seem injured or upset, but she did seem a bit confused. Lin Shao wondered if the cultivator had used some technique to harm Chin Shihan’s mind.
Coming to a stop in front of Chin Shihan, Lin Shao bowed respectfully and asked, “Please excuse my insolence. Could you please tell me what happened when you went inside of the Patriarch’s home?”
“Oh?” Chin Shihan said, smiling. “I see you’re curious about the cultivator. Well, don’t start any unnecessary rumors, but I saw what was inside of that pouch the cultivator gave Patriarch Guanyu. It was filled completely with gold coins. You could buy half of the village with…”
“I meant…” Lin Shao cut Chin Shihan off, a tone of harshness momentarily entering his voice. He cleared his voice, and, with a much more respectful tone, said, “I apologize. Would you please tell me about the ‘test’ you underwent?”
Shao did not care at all about the money in the cultivator’s pouch or the items in his saddlebag. He just wanted to hear about what the cultivator was doing to the villagers, and any time that Chin Shihan spent gossiping was a moment that Shen Jian could be harming other people.
“The test…” Chin Shihan muttered as if the test had temporarily slipped her mind. “Oh, right. Shen Jian told me to pick up some wooden blocks. Two of them changed color, and then I left.”
Lin Shao frowned at this information. That was it? The cultivator had traveled for several days just to have the people of Bluecrest Village play with some wooden blocks? It didn’t make any sense.
Shao returned to the back of the line, where he waited impatiently with crossed arms. The other villagers around him were talking excitedly. The fear that had suffused the village just minutes before had transformed into happiness. Everyone expected the visiting cultivator to steal from them in their most optimistic predictions, and the more pessimistic among them expected much worse. Not even the most foolishly hopeful villager would have expected the cultivator to give more than he took.
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That anxiety was quickly disappearing, and the villagers were becoming convinced that they had met the kindest cultivator in the world. The festive air growing in the line only increased Lin Shao’s skepticism. He would only be happy once he determined the purpose behind this strange test.
After more than an hour, Lin Shao reached the front of the line. Finally, after waiting for an eternity with nothing to keep him company but his unsettled mind, Shao passed through the front door of the Patriarch’s home.
The scene inside was not what Lin Shao expected. A long table had been set up near the entrance. On that table, ten wooden blocks of the type that were typically used as a child’s toy had been stacked on a large silver plate. Behind the table sat Yang Feng, the daughter of Patriarch Guanyu. She seemed to be writing names on a long piece of parchment that had been placed on the table.
Beyond the table, Shen Jian and Patriarch Guanyu were playing a board game that Lin Shao did not recognize. Several dozen black and white stones were arrayed on a wooden board between the two men like troops facing each other on a battlefield.
Shen Jian was in the middle of a sentence as Lin Shao walked in. He said, “...have come out here years ago. If I hadn’t volunteered, the test probably would have never gotten done.”
“If you’ll permit me to ask, why did you volunteer?” Yang Guanyu asked.
Shen Jian snickered before saying, “The truth? Just know that if you ever repeat what I’m about to tell you to another cultivator, they’ll kill you. I’m here because I need a break from the hierarchy and strict social rules that come with being a cultivator. Every social misstep becomes a death match. Every perceived insult becomes a rivalry that only ends when the other guy is dead. Half the cultivators on this damn island want me dead. Here, at least, I don’t have to worry about every schmuck with a sword vowing vengeance upon my entire bloodline.”
Lin Shao listened carefully to this interaction, and much of his hatred for Shen Jian fizzled. It sounded like they had a shared hatred of cultivators. Shao hadn’t considered that it could be so difficult to exist within the social system of cultivators.
He stared at the back of Shen Jian’s head for a few seconds before Yang Feng cleared her throat and gestured toward the pile of blocks. Lin Shao bowed and muttered a quick, “Sorry.”
Lin Shao picked up one of the wooden blocks, and it immediately darkened as if a coat of varnish had been applied. He picked up another one, and it too changed color.
“Please continue picking up blocks until one does not change color,” Yang Feng said politely, though it was clear she had said that hundreds of times in the past hour.
Lin Shao picked up a third block, then a fourth. Both blocks immediately changed color. That was slightly unexpected. Chin Shihan said only two blocks had changed color when she underwent the test.
“Your name?” Yang Feng asked once she saw the fourth block change color.
“Umm, Yang Lin Shao.”
Yang Feng wrote his name on the piece of parchment, and Lin Shao noticed that his was only the seventh name to be listed. Out of the more than a hundred people who had already undergone the test, only seven had “passed.”
Lin Shao picked up a fifth block, which also changed color. It was starting to get difficult to hold so many at once. He picked up another, then another, then another. Eventually, his arms were completely filled with darkened blocks, and none remained on the plate.
“Now what?” Lin Shao asked, worried that he had done something wrong.
Yang Feng looked equally confused. This had clearly not happened previously. She turned toward the two men playing a board game in the corner and asked, “Excuse me, Shen Jian. What should I do if all the blocks change color?”
Even from behind, Shen Jian’s shock was palpable. He immediately jumped to his feet and turned toward Yang Feng and Lin Shao with fervent speed. With a disbelieving look in his eye, he walked up to Lin Shao and looked directly at the blocks he held in his hands.
“Fifty? Really?” Shen Jian said, clearly in disbelief. “In Bluecrest Village?” He almost seemed offended at the prospect. “Come in, boy. We have a lot to talk about.”