"So, you're the lucky boy that managed to receive the inheritance, huh?" mused the cultivator as he watched him enter the tent, leaving the starlit hubbub of activity. There was a twinkle in his gentle blue eyes, and a teasing smirk adorned the cultivator's face.
It took a short time for his eyesight to adjust to the lighting of the tent, the light of the lantern refracted through his eyeglasses in a glare.
Observing the inside of the tent with his adjusted eyesight, he takes in the cultivator that addressed him. He was dressed in the black robe of the Black Leviathan sect, the white stripes along the collar, cuff, and hem that accented the robe contrasted with the blue sash tied around the cultivator's waist to signify his ranks as an adept of the sect. The sash suits him in the boy's opinion, it's color matching the color of his eyes and hair.
"Greeting, esteemed adept. This one is Lu Te-Nang," the boy bowed to the pair of cultivators, his untied long hair shifted to cover his face at his motion, his palm clasped over his fist in salute. Compared to the disciple that ushered him into the tent, these two warranted him to stick to proper decorum.
Rising to stand straight, Te-Nang's hand moved to part the cascade of hair with the color of plum blossom. Having no hair tie on him, the boy resigned himself to tie his hair by itself, feeling the headache of having to take care of it to prevent any damage.
"Blergh. So formal. You're no fun, kid," the man complained. Seated atop the cushion with one leg jutted out to support his returning arm, the guy slouched back with his other hand supporting his body weight behind him, betraying any sense of formality. "Gotta say, while it is expected for you as an exorcist to be more mature than your age would suggest, it is still surprising to see with my own eyes. Not everyone can say they have met a child exorcist," the man claimed with a hint of playfulness in his voice as his eyes scoured the boy's pre-adolescent face for any reaction.
Te-Nang doesn't respond. He schooled his face, trying hard to maintain a neutral expression lest he betray the vortex of emotion he tried to bury. He needs all the composure he can get, and letting any emotion influence him is less than optimal.
Besides him, the other cultivator watched all this happening in silence, her striking red eyes watching Te-Nang. Compared to her partner, her form was the very image of a proper sitting position, not a strand of her glossy black hair shifted, braided from her nape down until it ended at the small of her back. Her gazes peered through the lantern-lit tent, watching Te-Nang's every move. A sentinel standing vigil in these late hours.
"Come, then. Sit with us," the man urged, resigned to start the procedure after Te-Nang's refusal to entertain his teasing.
Not wasting any time, Te-Nang went for the prepared cushion. He took a seat on it, facing the two adepts of the Black Leviathan Sect across a low table. The pair waited as he took a proper kneeling position on the cushion. While the man had told him not to be so formal, it was hard to do so when he was under such scrutiny from the silent cultivator. Not to mention, while he was fussing over his sitting position, he could use as much time as he could to prepare himself for the upcoming talk.
A rhythmic tapping sound fills the silence as the man drums his finger on the wooden flooring of the tent. On the other hand, the girl watched the young boy with an impassive gaze, her hand resting atop the low table near a set of scroll and writing implements, ready to record the upcoming conversation. An interrogation.
Seeing that Te-Nang was finished with his scuffle with the plush cushion, the male cultivator addressed Te-Nang. "Let's get started then. Nice to meet you, Lu Te-Nang. The name's He Si-Wei. I'm here tasked by the sect to uncover the truth of what happened to the Inheritance realm. The one beside me is Shen Ya-Qiong, ready to record your account of the happening inside of the Inheritance realm. Do you follow?"
"I understand, Adept He, Adept Shen," Te-Nang dipped his head in acquiescence, swallowing his building nervousness.
"Good," the man nodded, satisfied with Te-Nang's answer. He then leaned forward, his supporting hand moved to rest atop the table, supporting his posture as he glowered at the boy. "But just so we are clear. The Inheritance realm was formed by the ascension of a former elder of our sect, the venerable ascendant Xi Nei-Guai. We know of his chi signature, and we know of its presence inside of you. You're a smart kid, aren't you? I'm sure you understand that the existence of the inheritance realm was important to the sect, so the collapse of the realm after you retrieve the inheritance is a very big deal. I hope you can give us your full account of what happened inside so that we can better understand the events that happened there."
Nodding his with much more vigor than needed, Te-Nang steeled himself. Just like what Adept Si-Wei told him, the owner of the inheritance that he received was an esteemed member of the Black Leviathan sect, so as an inheritor of the ascendant elder he did not worry that they would harm him. Not only is he going to become a disciple of the Black Leviathan sect, he is going to be a legacy disciple even, now that he is in possession of the elder's inheritance.
And even if some factions in the sect want to give him some trouble, he can put his trust in his mother's clan members inside of the sect to take his side and defend him.
Besides, he himself wants to make sure he looks good to the elders of the sect so that he can enter the sect as a disciple with some pride. While hiding the fact that he was the inheritor and lived as a normal disciple to avoid undue attention seems like a good idea, that possibility has vanished before he could even think about it.
With the sect already discovering the fact that he was the inheritor, trying to lie and make a made-up story would only sour his future relationship with the sect. Especially them, Te-Nang thought as he dared a glance at the stoic lady.
"We have done some background research about the expedition into the inheritance realm that you take part in," Adept Si-Wei started, leaning back from the table as he took a more upright position. Though with a jutted-out leg still. "It seems that they originally planned to only get advice from your uncle as an experienced exorcist and dream-walker, but then changed plans to ask him to join the expedition instead. Why did your uncle stay behind and send you instead into the expedition?"
Processing the raised question, the boy took time to find his words. "This whole thing about the inheritance realm," he started, trying to find a starting point for his story. "It started about several days before I turned twelve years old."
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"Little Nang, are you here?" called out the middle-aged woman, her voice bringing Te-Nang's attention back to the real world.
"I'm back here, Auntie Zhao," he answered his personal servant. Bookmarking the tome that he had just read, he placed the book on the floor beside him. Sitting in the corner of the library with his back slouched on the wall, the boy stretched his back to reawaken his stiff muscles. "Aah," he exhaled, feeling better after the stretch. Seeing that his eyeglasses were shifted after his stretch, he pushed it back to its proper position on his nose.
After a brief stop, the sounds of his auntie's footsteps resumed, getting clearer as its source approached the sitting boy. Sitting facing the aisle connecting the wall that he leaned on to the main hall of the library, Te-Nang saw the end of the aisle getting brighter as her auntie rounded the corner, holding an oil lamp to light the dark library. It was already dark, near midnight even as he noticed the remaining oil in his own oil lamp.
Under the glow of her held lamp, Te-Nang saw his auntie cross the aisle to approach him. Her face was frowning, the wrinkle in her face deepening with the shadow cast by the light of the lamp.
"Young master Nang," she began with a raised tone, but his auntie could only sigh at seeing the boy. Seated on the floor with books and scrolls spread around in a haphazard manner with a single oil lamp to illuminate his surroundings, the middle-aged servant can only take another sigh to release her frustration. "How many times do I need to tell you, little Nang, you need to stop reading books in the dark? It will ruin your eyes even further. You haven't even reached twelve years old yet, and look at how thick your glasses are. Do you want to ruin your eyesight that badly?"
The boy could only offer a sheepish smile at the now familiar admonishment. "It's okay, Auntie Zhao. In a few days, I will turn twelve years old and awaken my spirit roots, and become a cultivator. As long as I work hard and complete the Body tempering realm, I will regain my perfect eyesight once again," the boy assured.
"Tut tut," his auntie expressed, her forefinger wagged side-to-side in disapproval. "Young master Te-Nang, even if you will be able to restore your eyesight by becoming a cultivator, it doesn't mean that it is alright for you to ruin your eyesight like this. What would you do if you can't become a cultivator then? You will be left with ruined eyes for the rest of your lives, not unless you spent a ruinous amount of money to beg for a cultivator to restore it."
"But auntie, I am a child of two cultivator parents. I am guaranteed to awaken my spirit roots when I turn twelve years old," the boy responded, reminding his auntie of his ancestry.
"Hmph, this child. You need to listen first before you talk back. Hear auntie. If you keep doing this, sacrificing something if there was ever a reason that you think you could claim it back later, Auntie can't help but fear what else you will sacrifice again in the future. It's a slippery slope, little Nang. You get Auntie?"
"I do, Auntie," the boy nodded once, meek.
"Smart boy. Ah, how I wish I could have a child as smart as you. Those rascals I raised were more trouble than they are worth."
The tale has been illicitly lifted; should you spot it on Amazon, report the violation.
Hearing his aunties rant, Te-Nang couldn't help the smile that graced his lips.
After his mother's disappearance 10 years ago, Auntie Zhao has been taking care of him like he was her own child. Distraught at his mother's disappearance, his father chose to go to his uncle to beg him to take care of Te-Nang so that his father could go to search for his mother's whereabouts. His uncle agreed with much resignation.
As an unmarried man, his uncle has no experience a rearing a child. That's why he tasked Auntie Zhao to be Te-Nang's caretaker, a middle-aged servant who served at his household for years.
While she was officially Te-Nang's personal servant, Auntie Zhao is much more than a caretaker or babysitter for Te-Nang. She was his foster mother, a parental figure that he needed in his early years. Even after his father returned six years ago, after years of chasing the ghost of his mother's trail in futility, Auntie Zhao is still very much an important figure for him.
Reminded of the figure of his father, Te-Nang could only grimace, though it only lasted for an instant before he erased it from his face. When his father returned after being absent for years, Te-Nang didn't know what to feel. Anger, sadness, frustration, loneliness, envy at the other children for having their parents by their side. It was a vortex of myriad emotions that he didn't even know he had buried inside.
He was overwhelmed, and the only way he knew to let go of those emotions was to lash out. At the servant that worked at his uncle's household. At his auntie that had taken care of him since he was a toddler. At his uncle that had taken care of all his wants and needs, playing with him whenever he was free of his mountains of duty as an exorcist and dream-walker. He even had taken his time to teach and train Te-Nang in the art of dream-walking, and the art of exorcism by proxy too, though not after much crying and tears, begging his instruction.
It was a long time before Te-Neng was even willing to hear his father talk to him, even after his father tried his hardest to show his desire for reconciliation all this time. But over time, that pent-up emotion was exhausted, and what remains is a longing for his father's return to his life.
And now he was gone once again. His father only stayed for three years before continuing his search for his mother, finding a new clue after years of futile efforts. A promising one, he had claimed.
Te-Neng wanted to curse his father for being such an irresponsible parent. He wanted to hate him for dangling the young boy a promise of his dream, a happy ending where he could live happily with his father by his side, watching him grow up into an awesome adult. A cultivator, and a dream-walker to boot.
Te-Neng has never heard of the existence of a cultivator that can dream-walk, but it is understandable considering that most cultivators don't live in the mortal plane. They live in a different plane of existence from mortals, the ambient qi in the mortal plane too thin to support cultivation. But that just means that he can become one of the rare cultivators that can dream-walk. He can't help but be impatient about his twelfth birthday.
But in the end, he couldn't help but sigh. Even after his father's second disappearance, he still yearned for his second return, to attend his coming-of-age party as he awakened his own spirit root and become a cultivator like both of his parents.
No matter how many times he dreamed of a world where his father stayed behind, those dreams can never compare to the three short years when his father returned to his life. That's why he made a promise to himself, that if his father were to not come back by the time he graduated from being a disciple and become an Adept cultivator, then he would search for his father just like his father searched for his mother. Together, the two of them can search for his mother. If his father can't stay behind to be together with him, then he will follow his father to be together once more.
"Sorry about the rant, little Nang," his auntie said as she finished her rambling, bringing him back from his daydream to the waking world. "So, what got you so immersed that you read until this late into the night?"
Te-Nang opened his mouth to share all the interesting things that he had just read with his auntie, his cheeks tight as his grin threatened to widen more than physically possible. "Auntie, do you know-," the boy began, but was interrupted by the loud sound of the library door slammed open.
"Young master! Young master Te-Nang! Are you here?" asked the voice of the head servant into the vast library, his voice hurried as he scurried inside.
"I'm back here, grampa Bao," the boy answered the elderly man, feeling a little bit of deja vu at being looked for in a short amount of time.
Chasing out the irrelevant thought, the young master cannot help but be suspicious about the reason for the head servant's urgency. It was late, almost midnight even. While it was a usual thing for the head servant to search for the boy during the day, he had never done so this late into the night.
Casting a glance at his auntie, he saw his auntie shake her head at his unasked question. Whatever happened that made the head servant this hurried, it was not something that his auntie as the senior servant knew. So that rules out any kind of planned event, which means that whatever happened, it was an emergency that the head servant deemed urgent enough to look for the boy himself.
Without waiting for the elderly man to cross the library, the young master rises to his feet, walking through the aisle toward the hall with his auntie in tow. The moment the two emerged from among the towering bookshelf, the head servant reached them, his chest heaving and wheezing as his age caught up to him, holding the side of the bookshelf for support as he tried to catch his breath.
"Young master," Grampa Bao started, his words paused as he continued to catch his breath. Bowing his head at the boy, the elderly servant raises his head to look straight at the boy. "There was a messenger from the city lord's palace in the drawing room. He informed me that there was a mass outbreak of ghost possession, with an estimated number of more than a dozen incidents across the city. The city lord requested for all available exorcists to help the city garrison quell the outbreak. What should we do, young master Te-Nang?"
Hearing the news that the head servant brought, the boy felt his heart skipped a beat. The city lord requested for all available exorcists in the city to help quell the outbreak, but his uncle was absent. For several weeks now, his uncle had been away in another city, acting as an advisor in the planning for an expedition to an Inheritance realm of the elder of the Black Leviathan sect, the main supporter of their regional lord in the matter of cultivator-related conflict.
"Why would you tell me this, grampa Bao?" the young master asked the elderly man, his gaze shaking as he looked at the head servant for an answer. "As the personal aide of esteemed uncle, it is in your authority to inform the messenger of uncle's absence from the city. You wouldn't need to hurry yourself here to inform me and just handle the matter with the city lord's messenger by yourself, as was my uncle's expectation of you as a head servant."
Grampa Bao stood straighter and heaved a sigh. "That's the thing, young master Nang. Before Master Li-Qin went to join the expedition's committee meeting, he informed me that if there were ever an emergency that needed his expertise as an exorcist, I should ask young Master Te-Nang whether he wanted to act as the master's replacement or not. It seems that the master is serious about how the young master is ready to be the master's successor if the master were to retire after all. So, what would you say, young master?"
Seeing the boy had failed to respond to his question, the elderly man tried to grab the attention of the young master, waving his hand in front of him. But all of that was unnoticed the the boy as his eyes turned glazed. The world peeled away as the boy saw straight through the frail frames of the elderly man to look at something beyond the walls of the library. He sees beyond the material plane, at his own inner dreamscape where he can escape to any moment now as the night grows darker and his bed calls for its master.
A touch on his forearm jolted the young boy awake from his attempt to escape the situation. "Little Nang, are you alright?" asked Auntie Zhao, her hold on the young boy's arm was firm yet gentle, concerned at Te-Nang's zoning out.
"I'm sorry, Auntie Zhao, grampa Bao, I zoned out a little," the boy answered the concerned woman.
"Are you tired? Do you want to retire to your chamber?" inquired Auntie Zhao, the observant woman giving Te-Nang the escape he needed to save his face if he ever wanted to escape the sudden responsibility that now is placed upon him.
It was an enticing offer, and he only needed to say the word to be able to escape to the dream world. "No. I'm alright, Auntie Zhao. I'm not that tired yet," the boy rejected the offer, feeling thankful for his foster mother's support. "Auntie, what should I do? Should I accept the request, or should I not? I'm not sure."
"What are you so unsure of, Little Nang?" Auntie Zhao asked, her voice gentle.
"I'm not sure whether I can complete the request on my own or not. I know that esteemed uncle has drilled me about all the things an expert exorcist should excel at and he was satisfied with my performance then. But I'm afraid that I'm not ready for field practice yet."
"Little Nang," the middle-aged woman grasped the boy's hand with both hands, her calloused hand from years of hard work gentle. "I'm just a middle-aged servant with no experience whatsoever in matters of exorcism, so I don't think it is right for you to seek counsel from me regarding this matter. But unlike me, your uncle is qualified to do so. Moreover, like what head servant Bao had said earlier, master Li-Qin thought that you were not only ready to take on a real exorcist job, but the master was also serious about naming you as his successor. You were his protégé, little Nang, and it is no secret that Master Li-Qin has thought of you as a prodigy in this matter. So don't you sell yourself short, okay?"
"I-I see," the boy stuttered, overwhelmed at his auntie's word of encouragement. But she was right. Te-Nang was worried that he could not do a good job without his uncle around to supervise him and guide him, but it had been long since he needed one in their practice session anyway.
Exorcism is a matter of dream. When a ghost tries to possess a victim's body, it forces the victim to sleep so that they can trap them in a nightmare of the ghost's making, losing awareness of their own body as the ghost takes control over it. And inside the dreamscape, whether it is a dream or a nightmare, whether it is his own dream or not, Te-Nang has nothing to worry about.
He is only a child in the real world, albeit with memories of experience much longer than his own physical lifespan. In the dreamscape, ten hours inside was equivalent to one hour outside, so he had much experience already, trained since a young age as an exorcist as his uncle took advantage of the time acceleration to design simulation after simulation based on his own field experience. His uncle thought that all that experience had not only qualified him as an exorcist, but he also thought that the boy was already at an expert level already. There was nothing that he should worry about.
Taking a deep breath, Te-Nang exhaled a long sigh as he steeled himself. "You're right, Auntie Zhao. My uncle is my mentor, and I trust his word to guide me to become a great exorcist. And that means that I should trust his judgment as well if he thought that I can take over his job in an emergency." Looking at Grampa Bao, the young master looked straight into the elderly man's eyes, his gaze full of resolve. "Please tell the messenger that I accept the request, Grampa Bao."
"I will do as you said, young master." The head servant bowed, this time a little deeper than before, sensing that the young master he served had grown, requiring even more respect. Rising back up, the head servant turned around and exited the library at a brisk pace to accomplish his task.
Left alone with his auntie Zhao, the young master exhaled a long sigh, his shoulder slumped as if a heavy weight had been lifted off of it. "I'm proud of you, little Nang," expressed his auntie, her gaze softened as she watched the young master begin to come out of his shell.
"Thank you, Auntie Zhao," the young boy averted his head as he felt his face heating up. "I think I should prepare now for the job. Let's go to uncle's exorcist supply room, Auntie," Te-Nang suggested, changing the topic.
"Understood, young master," the middle-aged servant replied, the teasing smile that graced her face unnoticed by the young boy as Te-Nang strode forward with purpose.