After having his door fixed and spending a week studying Intermediate Formations, Li Ao once more accepted ‘Let Them Sleep’. Depending on his current performance as a Foundation Establishment cultivator, he wanted to decide on a Soul Magical Art to purchase.

Thinking so, he pressed on the silver framed portrait and vanished from his room.

He appeared within another dark, wide room full of bone dust and waltzing green ghosts.

*Beginning Mission: Let Them Sleep*

*Objective: Lay down the roaming servants and residents: 0/143*

*Mission Difficulty Evaluation: Laborious*

Raising his dark brown eyes from the notification, Li Ao watched a hundred servants dance around him in a reverie.

They swirled, pulled mist-like blue silken clothes after themselves, each step elegant.

‘’God has given, Heavenly Son said,

One thousand bulls of divine blood,

One thousand eagles of divine blood,

And one thousand snakes of divine blood...’’

Away from the whirlpool of movement, a few hundred meters up stood a small stage—the diamond ledge protruded out of a high-floored room where a veiled red ghost sang poetry.

Behind her, twelve warriors armed in crimson armor held candelabras, shining white light on her red skin.

Below, on a dark podium, sat six maids, holding big zithers, flutes, and bells, accompanying the eight armed woman poet.

‘’Each gift more splendid than other,

Arms of Immortal Blood, shields of Immortal Skin,

Armor of Immortal Bone, desserts of Immortal Flesh,

Heavenly God said, ‘You who take after my image, grow—’’

Li Ao took a deep breath and closed his eyes. The spiritual pressure from this crowd made his circulation err and almost reverse—the soundwaves clapped in his ears.

‘The song is poisoning my soul.’

He could feel, in the back of his head and at the bottom of his spine, a chill creeping up to his heart.

‘Who is she?’

Apart from the amalgamated head servant, the songstress was the first non-humanoid he saw in the remnants.

She had eight arms and three heads—the one on right hummed alongside the song, the one on the left accompanied as chorus, and the one looking down at Li Ao shouted out the words.

‘’...O’ Heavenly God, my father in image,

When you gave birth to me, was I willing for it?

When I was made out of mud and divine blood,

Was I willing to be made of it?

When you gave me Immortal skin, flesh, bone, and blood

And bestowed upon me magic to think, fashioned me sixteen arms,

Made my ears sharp, my eyes keen, my mind clear,

And heralded my name with your title...’’

Staring through the moving crowd at the songstress, Li Ao saw a certain clarity within her gaze.

His Qi and Blood kept circulating even then. He took a step forward and flicked his sleeve.

Silver mist poured out and formed a long, ancient lance, rumbling.

Behind the songstress, the guards each moved forward. The dancers halted, the song stopped—

‘’Little lamb.’’

Li Ao glanced at the muttering songstress.

‘’Wherefrom you came to our home?’’

She wasn’t a normal ghost.

She was a ghost cultivator—bound by obsession to existence, but free of its control. Unlike her servants and guards, she could think.

Her cultivation stood at the second-level of Foundation Establishment, and the rest remained at the thirteenth-level of Qi condensation.

Gripping his lance, Li Ao stood ready to lunge away.

‘’Stay your hand, and mine people shall do the same.’’

Saying so, she waved her four right arms. The guards took a step back; dancers below bowed at him, raised their skirts, and skiddled to retreat away.

Now Li Ao stood at the center of this crowd, fifty meters away safe and clear, but also a prime target for any distant strike.

Putting all of her hands on the railings, the veiled songstress spoke in a soft voice. ‘’How did thou arrive at our home? What instrument or personage brought you to this sealed off world?’’

‘...what do I say?’

Li Ao glanced up and down around him, but he found no sign of danger. The rest of the people remained deathly still and silent. The lively aura around the room disappeared.

Feeling lost, he let out a sigh.

‘’I don’t know.’’

The songstress put four hands over her hidden mouth.

‘’How have you found your path here, then? Mayhaps you were taken a hold of by a spatial crack?’’

His expression strange, Li Ao watched her tapping fingers. Each hand had six.

‘’Oh, poor lamb of god, what has become of our legacy for children to stumble upon this dreadful place. Not even thirty years of age, a babe in the cradle almost! Poor babe, poor child, how were thou raised to this age? Blue Spirit thou hast become, yet none of thy arms or heads have grown—which irresponsible Great Spirit have taken care of thy raising? What lower realm hast taken thy care...’’

Cheeks twitching, Li Ao waited five minutes for her to finish her talk.

‘’...utter disappointment. Oh, but little lamb, you haven’t told me how you came to be here.’’

‘’You didn’t give me a chance to speak...’’

‘’My, thou cannot understand it—it has been so long since I saw someone alive!’’

‘’How long?’’

‘’Since I was alive.’’

‘’...’’

‘’Well, how have you come?’’

‘’I was teleported.’’

‘’Through?’’

‘’I don’t know how it works. But I’m not lost.’’

‘’...’’ Raising her arms, she placed all fingers together before her chest. ‘’You have arrived with a purpose. Aided.’’

Li Ao nodded.

‘’Which lower realm has sent you?’’

‘’Not a lower realm.’’

‘’Not one? Are you not of Heavenly God’s Abode?’’

Li Ao nodded again.

‘’Phew!’’ She let out a deep breath. ‘’Thou should have told me much sooner! My poor heart almost burst in worry for thou.’’

‘’What did I even do to worry you?’’

‘’Does thou not know how us spirits grow?’’

For a moment, she fell silent. Li Ao could feel the warmth of the burning candelabras. Their soft crackle echoed in his mind.

‘’What is thy purpose?’’

‘’To lay you to rest.’’

‘’...oh my.’’

Li Ao followed the turn of the songstress' head to look at her gaze.

There was a gigantic gate, bent and torn, with an enormous serpentine skull hanging from its gaping hole. Beyond it stood deep darkness.

Before the skull laid a hill of broken bones and rusted armor. There were no signs of strikes on them.

Only, all of them seemed to be crushed in an organized manner.

‘They died from the beast’s emanated pressure.’

The beast was the same one he entrusted to Li Anjing. The size seemed a tad bit larger. That explained the cause of death.

A nascent soul cultivator’s unshackled presence was the same as a mighty hammer strike.

Unless enough people of lower cultivation banded together to resist, most would end as pulps of flesh and bone.

It was a painless, yet terrible death.

‘’Why would thou want that?’’

‘’It is my mission.’’

‘’Why would thy superior wish so?’’

‘’I don’t know.’’

‘’Young lamb, blindly following orders are no good.’’

She spoke in a worried voice, swaying her index fingers like a teacher.

‘’Thou art young. Too young even for Spirits. Yet thou are bestowed so much might to hold. Thou must be careful about how you use it and what you use it for!’’

‘’I gained my power.’’

‘’Hast thee?’’

Seeing Li Ao’s disgruntled face, Songstress let out a pleasant laugh.

‘’What makes thee so incensed?’’

‘’You are implying I didn’t work for what I have. I did.’’

‘’Did I imply only that for you to take notice? Furthermore, did I say thou didn’t work for it? Have I spoken as thee have repeated?’’

Li Ao’s cheeks twitched.

‘’I said you implied.’’

‘’I myself know what I have spoken, young lamb. Besides, which life has not worked for what they have? Being bestowed does not mean thou had no hand in receiving it.’’

‘’Okay, ghost, can’t you just pass on? Why are you trying to give me advice?’’

‘’So thou understands my intention.’’

Li Ao could feel her smile behind that veil. Planting her hands in a melodious fashion in front of her chest, her voice turned softer.

‘’I shall pass away, if you wish. I did before. Now, it will not be much different. Only thou art young, and the first one to speak with me since mine passing.’’

‘’It is my gratitude that provokes guidance, not ridicule.’’

They shared a look for a few moments.

At last, Li Ao sighed.

‘’Thank you.’’

‘’Not worth any gratitude, young lamb.’’

This narrative has been unlawfully taken from Royal Road. If you see it on Amazon, please report it.

‘’Then...do you wish me to end you?’’

‘’What dreadful words! End? I did not imagine thou so violent—though I should have from thy overbearing entrance...’’

‘’...what the fuck am I supposed to do, then!?’’

She pointed her fingers at him, then at above. ‘’Language, young lamb! Heavenly God does not appreciate rudeness in his home.’’

Li Ao’s eyes flashed. ‘’Who is he? Is he the owner of this castle?’’

‘’Heavenly God is the God of Heaven, lord of the Higher Realm—he is the father of all creation!’’

Songstress seemed more than zealous as she spoke of ‘him.’

Li Ao also found an answer to one of his questions.

‘’God of Heaven, Heavenly God, are they both the same?’’

‘’Heavenly God is the God of Heaven, yet God of Heaven is not always Heavenly God. But, say, thou wishes to let me sleep?’’

‘’Exorcize, to be precise.’’

‘’Exorcize, end, why shalt thou use such abusive words? Is sleep not pleasant? Sleep is respectful. Have you seen how dead spirits float within the clouds? It is as if they sleep.’’

‘’How beautiful it is to sleep and dream.’’

Li Ao glanced at the mission’s description.

*Let Them Sleep*

*Description: One mistake, one million lives. Lay those eternal protectors to rest.*

The choice of words should not be a coincidence. There were few coincidences in a cultivator’s world.

‘What does the Universe want?’

‘What does it wish to achieve?’

Was there some goal to achieve? Not something to be gained, nor an improvement to be made?

Or was this mission not about any gain or goal, but to simply help?

To repay for something? To repay them for their duties as gatekeepers?

There was a gate mentioned in several notes he found. None of them said what it was, where it led, or what it contained. Only that it must be sealed and protected.

Yet, none who talked about it remained behind. Those who ‘protected’ didn’t seem to exist as ghosts.

Li Ao wasn’t a ghost, of course. He had no great obsession in him, and he was still living. He only had an idea of what kind of a person he could become. For that, he needed strength, so he chased after what gave him strength.

This kind of character, perhaps, couldn’t understand why someone like the Songstress could remain behind.

She seemed cheerful, died without pain, and even in her passing remained singing. What kind of regret could she leave behind?

‘’How do I let you sleep?’’

‘’Listen.’’

Her arms moved about in the air, her three heads spoke at the same time.

‘’Listen, and remember if thou can. I would rest easier if you spread it too.’’

Li Ao pointed his spear at the bowing servants. ‘’What about them?’’

‘’They want to dance. They want to be part of the song, the show. Those girls, too,’’ she leaned over to glance at the dark podium. ‘’They want to be heard.’’

‘’It is a terrible feeling to be not known, young lamb.’’

‘’My guards are my guards. They shall remain so long as I am here. With me gone, they will be gone. Such devoted lambs they are.’’

Her words caused the crowd to ripple and tremble. Dancers began to rise and round where Li Ao stood.

The armored men placed their candelabras on small stools and kneeled behind her. They planted broken swords and empty hilts in the ground with thuds.

From the podium, a soft melody began to play.

For a moment, Li Ao thought otherwise.

He thought that these may have been tricks to let him drop his guard. Perhaps she would wear down his Soul and Spirit with her songs, then butcher him where he stood.

He thought that he should move. He should raise his spear, burn the whole group in a strike of Hellfire, then one by one destroy her guards.

He should shoot straight where she stayed and pierce her heart, then return with his bulk of coins to spend.

But that moment passed, and he did nothing.

Even if everything went wrong, he could retreat.

So long as he could retreat, there was nothing to worry about.

Sensing his easing nerves, the songstress let out several ‘’Aaahs’’ and ‘’Ooohs,’’ to test her voice.

Then, with a clap of her, one of the dancers moved forward. She brought a short, decorated diamond chair for him to sit.

‘’I must apologize for the lack of refreshments.’’ The songstress said.

‘’I’m okay.’’

Sitting down, Li Ao dispersed the Aura Weapon. The silver mist cloaked his figure as a thick layer of protection.

‘’Since thou know nothing about us,’’ she said, then clapped again. ‘’Let me sing thou of us, and our father, and Heavenly Son. Thou heard some of him with thy arrival, hasn’t thou?’’

‘’Is he Heavenly God’s son?’’

‘’Yes. He was to be the next God of Heaven...’’

‘’What happened to him? Or to you?’’

‘’I do not know.’’ She bowed her head. ‘’Heavenly Son suffered from a mysterious illness. There were many disasters happening at that time, and court members died strange deaths almost every hour.’’

‘’Someone from the Six-Fold Immortal World came to help him. I sang for her, too. She was young, not even as powerful as Generals. I also do not know how she helped since I am but a songstress...’’

‘’I don’t remember anything else. We were practicing when I heard some rumblings, then a boom. When I turned to look, I was dead.’’

‘’...thank you.’’

‘’No matter. Mine people are ready.’’

Li Ao saw a smile flash under her swaying veil.

‘’Are you, little lamb?’’

Li Ao nodded.

The dancers got on move. Circling him like a flood, they whirled and took small leaps across the room. The ladies on the podium began to play—a lone flute, then a calm string.

Songstress’ left and right heads began to hum. Steps turned into a rhythm, her hum turned into a hymn, then a bell struck, and she sang.

‘’First he came, God of Heaven, Heavenly God,

Son of Universe, Father of Life,

He who was beget by the dark void

And begat all life and spirits.

He, given no name by the Universe,

Titled Dear Father by his children.

He pulled light from the sun, scoured planets,

He searched for green and blue.

He drew power from constellations, brought stars together,

Merged dead rock with moons, asteroids, abandoned children of void.

He made shapes of them round and straight, and he grafted them

Into land, into hills and mountains.

He shed his blood, O divine blood of the Heavenly God.

He bled seas and oceans, carved rivers for them to flow,

Fashioned shapes and sizes for all kinds of life,

So that there might not be a lone one to love, but many to cherish.

Grass and trees, fishes and birds, toads and turtles,

Bulls, phoenixes, spirits, he created them all equal in love.

He gave some consciousness, most silence of mind,

And spirits the power to command them all.

But Heavenly God had no match, no peer,

For he ruled them all, and ruling was no love.

He wished to be loved, then to love again,

A thousand years he watched spirits grow.

A hundred years he watched beasts frolic,

For ten years he became a tree, for a year a grass,

For a month a hawk, for a week a mice, for a week a bug,

Then for a day, the world.

He saw the world he made in its entirety,

He who shed his blood and tears for its being,

He who saw everything there was in the universe

Except one in his image.

Great spirits gathered around him,

Held him by his despondent arms

And raised him to the sky, traveling a thousand mile

To carry him forward to that great lake.

There, Great Spirits spoke: O God of Heaven,

Father of Life, Son of Universe, look upon your image!

You are the perfected one, most handsome in face,

Most shaped in body, mightiest of stars!

You are of Immortal skin, flesh, bone, and blood,

Bestowed with magic to think, fashioned sixteen arms,

Made sharp in ears, keen in eyes, clear in mind,

Heralded by your children in the Universe's stead.

Heavenly God, God of Heaven, Father of Life!

Look upon your chiseled, perfected image!

For you who is neither bound by time nor might,

How can there be room for despair?

Heavenly God remained silent, ignored instructions of his children.

For a thousand years he stared at the great lake of his blood,

Then at the last dawn of the last year he woke up.

His eyes keen, ears sharp, mind clear, he stood straight.

The great spirits turned unto him, and he addressed to them:

O children of earth and stars, you revealed to me

What I should have done, gave me guidance,

Addressed my troubles, truly befitting of a child!

Henceforth you shall be beacons of wisdom,

Rulers of heaven and earth, wise Great Spirits,

You who revealed to me what my own mind couldn’t think,

Be proud and stand straight. Your father is not lost yet.

With his speech, the great spirits wept,

They clung to him like flies, and for a year they remained

Until Heavenly God moved again. He drew water

From the lake and used his power of faith.

In his image, he fashioned a son for himself,

Made him of Immortal Skin, flesh, bone, and blood,

Bestowed him magic to think, fashioned sixteen arms,

Made his ears sharp, eyes keen, mind clear.

He heralded him in the name of himself, Heavenly Son,

Child of the Universe, Successor of the Divine Blood,

Loved one, dear one, innocent one, curious one...’’

‘’...and Heavenly Son said, was I willing...’’

‘’...Arms of Immortal Blood, Shields of Immortal Skin...’’

‘’...Look at the spirits, flying over the clouds, carefree.

How I wish I could be as they were,

That I could sleep and dream

Rather than travel the stars and think.

I wish I could have never thought at all.

I found no use of it, nor joy of it,

For thinking is poison upon my clear mind

And you make me drink it O’ Heavenly God, my father.’’

‘’Heavenly God said: O’ Heavenly Son, my pride,

My treasure, my dear life, my own blood, my everything.

I made you not out of selfish desire and suffering

To have my company for an eternity.

For those such as you and I, what is time?

Eons can pass within a blink of our eyes. Eternity is a sham.

Yet no, it is no poison. It is a joy to be alive!

Have you seen how the dead remain sleeping?

Not even I know what is beyond the last dream.

Reincarnation, transmigration, fixation, fates of all kinds,

People stumble upon them as fate wills it.

Yet can there be one certain of what fate wills of them?

I made you as I made all life,

I poured my blood, I shed my tears,

But most importantly, I gave my love!

I created all life equal!

Not in form, not in shape, not in size,

Nor in strength, nor in time,

Neither in mind, neither in heart,

But wholly equal in love.

Equal in capacity to love...’’

‘’...O, son of mine, shed no tears.

For every life there is a woe,

Time it is for the mortals, beasts, and spirits.

For us, too, born of the universe, have a bane.

Stars are not spared of it, nor are planets.

Universe, too, is mourning, waiting for its end.

But fear not for the end, for life is but a dream,

Fear not for me, I shall simply go on to my last dream...’’

‘’...eons passed, and Heavenly Son,

Now heralded Heavenly God, God of Heaven,

Protector of the Gate, Immeasurable Sun,

Thought of his late father.

He consulted his subjects, his fellow siblings,

The Wise Great Spirits, Beacons of Wisdom,

Those who guided his father and granted him life,

And they took him to the great lake to show him his image.

In his image, Heavenly God fashioned a son for himself...’’

Four hours later, Li Ao watched the dancers turn into flutters of ash after each word. One by one, the crowd thinned, and the dancing figures vanished.

He ignored the blinking notification in his sight.

Smiling, resting their hands, the ladies on the platform flashed out of existence. Their instruments rolled over their chairs with thuds.

With the songstress’ last hum, the guards behind her keeled over, then fell. Ash spurted out of the holes.

The songstress cast them a single look, then turned to face him.

‘’That ball...’’

Even while her red skin began to glow, the songstress could resist going away. She had her gaze on the giant orange ball Li Ao procured in the middle of the story.

‘’It can only record pictures.’’

Planting his hand on the surface, Li Ao circulated his Qi. Images of the ghosts’ performance began to appear mid-air. Most blurry, some fine, they flashed one by one.

‘’...that is fine, too.’’

Focused on the flashing picture, her form blurred, then turned into ash and dispersed.

When Li Ao retrieved the orange gem back, he appeared within his room, alone. Moonlight, as always, shone through the window.

He cast a glance at the rewards and chose to accept them.

A book and a two-page note appeared on his knees. First one was ‘Hymn For Our Father’, containing the entire poem sung by the songstress.

The note was another memoir from Heavenly Son, and it contained a missing part of the recipe from the last note.

Once combined with other parts, he could create the blueprint for what Heavenly Son called a ‘Sublime Sphere’, a defensive artifact.

He looked over it once, stored it away, then opened the poem book to look through again.

He read until dawn, and as he read further, his expression turned strange.

‘’Did she skip some parts?’’

None of it was terribly important, mostly paraphrasing previous conversations and such. Since the poem was performed as a song, it was natural to have certain parts repeated for proper flow.

‘’What a considerate person...’’

Laughing, Li Ao stored the book away and began to circulate his Qi and Blood. A white flame popped around his body; it blinked, swayed, and spat out fumes of green and red mist out of his body.

After all, hours of listening corrupted almost half of his soul...

It took him a month to get rid of the contamination, and once he did he opened the missions tab and went straight back in.

He still had a magical art to buy!