One good thing about having the Lost-Cloud Moon all to myself, was that I could introduce new forms of life to the moon with little worry of causing problems by releasing alien life to the world below. Of course, I still tried to be careful, planning five steps ahead, and only choosing lifeforms that wouldn’t bring calamity if they somehow slipped past the numerous restrictions and wards I’d set in place to keep them on the moon.
Yet, having everything up on the moon, physically separate from Nine-Clover still helped a great deal. It was easy for me to alter the spatial warping that tied the moon’s surface with the planet’s surface and set various filters and firewalls in place, so the fact that space between Nine-Clover and its third moon, were partially merged, was a non-issue.
Today, I was putting a whole bunch of new fish, larva, and eggs in the ocean I’d created in the Lost-Cloud Moon. Maybe it’s because I married numerous women whose true-forms involved the manifestation of some form of tentacle, but lately, I found that there was something beautiful about cephalopods, and I’d gotten into breeding and rearing various kinds of giant squid, giant octopus, and Kraken. I also liked starfish. I’d always liked starfish.
There was this one particular species of not-quite sapient psychic starfish that I’d discovered thousands of years ago, and then inadvertently cultivated into a fully sapient race. While that was a horrifying mistake for me, and a big close-call for the cosmos, the fact that as a people, the Null-Brisingida, were a forward-thinking, largely peaceful, race of pretty cool individuals.
It was a bit like texting and driving, which is very much a bad thing, accidentally driving off a cliff because you weren’t paying attention, and then ending up landing safely on a road below. If you’re sane and reasonable, you’ll probably be horrified by what happened and almost happened, but there’s no denying that your heart’s pumping just the littlest bit, and you kind of wish you could say at least some of that was on purpose.
Anyway, so, I was finally filling up my ocean and salt-water lakes with life. Next, I intended to focus on my fresh-water lakes. Maybe connect them with some rivers that I’d spread across the moon’s surface using cool, water-based, designs. Oh, I know….I could probably use water and the life within those waters as a medium for some grand enchantments. It’d be neat to look at, but wouldn’t hurt the things living in the rivers I’d have to create to make the massive runes and sigils that would make up the enchantment.
“You…” said a voice. Nearly starting me into tossing down the bucket of spiny fire-element sea-stars onto the ground.
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I turned around and was surprised and a little bemused to see there was a guy standing behind me. A familiar face that I hadn’t expected to see ever again. Technically speaking, I had known the guy was there all along. However, there’s no real difference between not-seeing someone, and being so aware of someone’s presence that you kind of forget about them.
Plus, there were constantly people and creatures moving through the rest of the strange region down in Nine-Clover, and I allowed some of them to wander into my sanctuary, because I saw no reason to completely isolate myself and keep them off my moon. Partially, because I kind of liked having them wander through, take some benefits from all the work I'd done, and appreciate the beauty of the environment I created. I get a similar sense of satisfaction when people took in the environments I created within the Empty Dream.
Of course, there “were” areas that I purposely made impossible for people to enter. And my Empty-Clockwork wardens and gardeners would urge out those who overstayed their welcome, or tried to overexploit the animals and plants within my Lost-Cloud Moon, but for the most part, I was taking a live and let live approach to things, because I usually only got visitors every few centuries or so. Even now, the last time I saw this particular face was a little over 200 years ago. He was younger then. There were fewer wrinkles in his face. He wasn’t rocking the mustache and beard he currently had, and there were definitely none of the streaks of gray that I saw now. Yet, I definitely recognized the man.
“Hm…So, you came back…Well, if you’re here for a fight, I hope you’ll allow an old man to limber up first…It’s been a while since I’ve done anything requiring any real exertion…Oh, and let’s get away from here…I just finished putting these fish in their bowl, and I’d like them to settle in first,” I said. Calling over some of my Empty-Clockwork Workers to have them finish the process of introducing new sea life to my oceans.
As soon as I finished speaking, the man cupped his palm and bowed. Then with a voice that was far too loud considering that we weren’t all that far from one another and both of us had enhanced senses, he bellowed
“Senior, thank you for your beneficence!”
Which was the point, where I realized, with some slight disappointment, that the young man that I’d *booped* into the oceans of Nine-Clover centuries ago, to let him cool his head a bit, had come back to chat, instead of coming back for some ill-fated, ill-conceived, plot of revenge. On the one hand, looking at the man’s data, I was glad to see that the man was exactly as decent and good-natured as I had judged him to be, centuries prior. At the same time, I’d been a bit bored, and what was the point of living in a xianxia world, if you couldn’t take part in a little, good old-fashioned, face-slapping. Oh, well…
“Alright then…If we’re just going to be chatting, we might as well do it over a pot of tea,” I said. With a sigh.