Book 3. The Long Journey. Chapter 217. Accumulated Experiences.
Having hundreds of thousands of people kneel in his direction and seeing even Emeric and Azuresky do the same, Laien couldn’t help but show a slightly weird expression. Thankfully, while he was still trying to figure out how to react, Yin woke him up from his stupor with a loud thought. The two of them exchanged a glance, then took out their respective weapons and turned towards the funeral pyres. Just like all those before them, they raised their weapons to the sky, then pierced the ground with their blades as they kneeled. Neither of them was entirely sure how this moment came to be, but despite feeling so lightheaded that they weren’t sure if they were dreaming or not, they both revealed small yet very genuine smiles as their hearts and minds relaxed.
Meanwhile, the expression on Azuresky’s face became less strained as he breathed a sigh of relief. He was seriously glad that those two boys appeared to have enough common sense to understand that everyone here wasn’t kneeling to them, but to the ideas Laien acclaimed. Had they foolishly remained standing, their triumph in the argument with that Flamesworth bastard would have turned into a huge faux pas, erasing most of the people’s goodwill towards them. Moreover, he himself would have been ready to teach them a lesson or two had they been arrogant enough to think that the likes of him, Emeric, and Mustafa would kneel before them just because of a few moving words!
“Tch.” Yet, despite the sour aftertaste from kneeling, Azuresky had to admit that Laien’s little speech made some impression on him. “If more youngsters in our countries had a mindset like his, we wouldn’t have to worry so much about future generations. That being said, Casimir didn’t mention this boy having such a powerful killing intent. There’s also the matter of that Flamesworth bastard accidentally mentioning an ‘alliance’… Just how much do they know? Who’s the mole?” He pondered for a moment. Then, thinking that it had been long enough, he stood up first, knowing that if he or Emeric didn’t do so, they might very well spend the entire night kneeling.
“The ceremony will begin soon,” he declared to all those gathered, once everyone got back to their feet. “Let us take this time to calm down and rememeber the fallen warriors who died in service of our countries,” he concluded briefly. Originally, he had intended to make a speech after arriving with the other three, but he could tell that attempting to move the crowd once more after that entire spectacle was pointless. He would have to resort to his authority as a Warrior-King to elicit a stronger response than Laien had gotten while settling for a lesser reaction would only serve to damage his pride as a ruler. Under such circumstances, he could only smile, thinking that while words were silver, silence was gold.
“Good job.” Alas, just when Azuresky thought he had been able to calm down, he saw Emeric approach Laien and pat the boy on his head. Needless to say, this unexpected display of affection startled not only him but also all of the people who knew Emeric reasonably well, with Anna being the prime victim.
As Emeric’s daughter, she remembered merely three occasions on which her father had patted her head, the first of them being when she broke into the Realm of Heroes, the second being when she acquired the second level of insights into the Aspect of Pride, and the third occuring just yesterday when he praised her for her choice to go with Casimir to help on Laien and Yin’s request. With how reserved her father was, she understood that it was a great display of affection on his part, so she had been very happy on all of those occasions. Thus, one could imagine how surprised she was to see this same stoic father of hers pat the head of a boy he had come to know just a few days ago.
To be perfectly honest, she came dangerously close to resenting her father for what she at first thought of as unjust favouritism. In the end, however, she was her father’s daughter. Getting swept up in her emotions and not thinking about the circumstances wasn’t something she tended to do. Thus, she soon concluded that it wasn’t that her father didn’t love her enough, just that his praise had a high price tag on it. She had to admit that the accomplishments of those two boys were very impressive, and her father obviously had taken a liking to them, too, with Laien in particular. As such, it shouldn’t have been very surprising to see him pat Laien’s head, or so she told herself.
“Go talk with your friend,” Emeric suggested to Laien and Yin, glancing in Arslan’s direction. “Once the ceremony starts, talking will be prohibited. Still, try to not make too much noise before then,” he advised, going out of his way to say things he usually wouldn’t care to remind people of. Still, he came to care far less about such details after his argument with Laien, so when Laien and Yin smiled and nodded at him, he found himself experiencing an unexpectedly happy and refreshing feeling.
At this time, from just a dozen meters away or so, three youths that wore insignias depicting clouds in the sky on their chests each showed a different expression. The older girl who appeared to be around fourteen years old displayed a slight smile, a cautiously intrigued look present in her eyes. On the other hand, the golden-haired girl who was probably around twelve years old had her cheeks flushed, albeit the smile on her face was far from a love-struck one. Finally, the golden-haired boy who stood right next to the golden-haired girl, and looked to be of the same age, was frowning ever so slightly. However, if one took a closer look at him, it would be easy to spot the anger lingering deep within his eyes and the stiffness of his face caused by his tightly clenched teeth.
However, since none of the three youths moved from their spots or called out to anyone, their reactions went pretty much unnoticed.
“Yo,” Laien said casually while giving Arslan a playful smile. He could have whispered, but he preferred to simply control how far his voice would spread with his spiritual energy. “Greetings,” he added and cupped his hands towards Mustafa and the four Lieutenants directly behind him, then nodded towards Sirius and his old bunch of seven guards. From beside him, Yin performed the same greeting, though without bothering to say anything. The two of them wanted to say hello to Reian, too, but he was standing further away to the side with an incredibly gloomy atmosphere permeating his surroundings, so they gave up on the idea.
“I must say,” Mustafa brought up after giving the two boys a nod. “Impressive speech right there. If I didn’t know you wouldn’t agree, I’d ask you to join my White Guard so that I could later make you into a Lieutenant,” he said lightheartedly, though with a hint of bitterness in his voice. Jasmine had been one of his lifelong friends. She was someone with whom he had built Makarash from the ground up. Having mentioned the position of a Lieutenant, even in passing, he couldn’t help but yet again grieve that she had truly died in this war. Naturally, the deaths of almost five hundred regular members of his White Guard pained his heart, too. However, not as a ruler, but as a person, he couldn’t help mourning Jasmine’s death the most.
“I’ll keep the offer in mind,” Laien responded tacitly. “How have you two been?” he asked, curious to learn how Mustafa and Arslan were doing.
“Given the circumstances,” Mustafa replied with a smile. “As good as we could be. We talked with Azuresky and Emeric yesterday, too, so it’s settled that tomorrow in the evening I’ll enter retreat for about a month. Those two want to finish the subjugation of the northern tribes as soon as possible, so talks of the alliance will be postponed until then,” he explained, guessing that Laien and Yin would like to know what their immediate plans were. To be fair, he had wished to spend more time with Arslan before going into a secluded retreat, but Arslan was too persistent in asking him about demerits to delaying his cultivation session. In the end, he could only agree to start it early.
“Thanks for letting us know,” Laien said in reply, though he tilted his head right afterwards, wondering why Mustafa and Arslan looked as if they saw a ghost. “Ah.” Then it occurred to him, causing him to chuckle in amusement. “Don’t mind me, I’m just in a good mood… though maybe I shouldn’t be calling it ‘good’, eh? Maybe ‘at peace with myself’ would be a more fitting way to describe it?” he elaborated and chuckled for the second time. Mustafa’s and Arslan’s expressions returned to normal just as he was finishing his explanation, and they even started nodding to themselves, as if saying, ‘Yes, that’s a more Laien-like way of speaking.’ He felt a bit annoyed by their responses, but the small feeling of discontent disappeared in no time at all.
“So? What about you?” Laien turned to look at Arslan. “Will you be coming over once your father goes into retreat?” he asked. He, of course, didn’t mind if Arslan came over earlier, but he wanted to at least know the day and the hour. It would be inconvenient if Arslan knocked on their door at the wrong time, for more than one reason, as far as the possibilities were concerned.
“Not yet,” Arslan said while shaking his head. “I want to talk some more with our Lieutenants before that. I want to spend one day with each of the four of them, so I’ll only come in five days. Well, in six, just in the morning,” he explained. He knew full well that he had a lot to learn if he wanted to succeed his father’s position in the near future, and getting to know the White Guard’s Lieutenants better would be a step in the right direction. He had already discussed this idea with his father, too, and had gotten his approval for it, so the matter was pretty much set in stone.
“That’s a good idea.” Laien nodded in approval, barely stopping himself from blurting out something like ‘that’s great’. He would rather avoid an awkward situation, not to mention that being asked what exactly he meant by that would have been way too embarrassing. Alas, even though he had managed to keep his tongue in check, both he and Yin ended up blushing a little since they had been exchanging their thoughts the entire time. They might have gotten used to the Spiritual Link by now, but there were some things that couldn’t be helped. For example, there was little they could do about how easily they affected each other with their moods, thoughts, and even momentary emotions.
“I think so too,” Arslan said with a bright smile and a knowing expression. “I want to keep spending some time with the Lieutenants every day later on, as well. I’ll also ask for their recommendations for new teachers from the White Guard members we have with us, and I’m planning to start training my martial arts regularly, too. I’ll be quite busy, so I won’t be tugging on your sleeves all the time,” he explained happily. He had learned the hard way how little he knew and how weak he was, so he currently felt a great need to improve. Moreover, he had seen that Laien and Yin almost never skipped their training routine, so even if he wanted to, he wouldn’t be able to spend all his time with them. Apart from that, he knew that Laien and Yin liked each other a lot, so he didn’t want to keep disturbing them all the time; though he was planning to keep the last reason to himself.
“I’m glad my son is maturing,” Mustafa cut in somewhat unexpectedly, a rare, wry smile present on his face. “But your father is a little hurt. You know you could ask me for teacher recommendations too, hm? Don’t be treating me like a dead man just yet; I’m not planning to die any time soon,” he pointed out playfully and tousled Arslan’s hair. The two of them exchanged a glance afterwards, but even though they were both smiling, there was an undeniable trace of sadness in their eyes.
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“Yes, father,” Arslan said as cheerfully as he could. “Please tell me about the good teachers, and once you’re out of seclusion, please teach me everything yourself,” he requested earnestly, with tears beginning to appear in his eyes. He had promised himself he wouldn’t cry like that in front of his father anymore, but he was having trouble keeping his emotions in check. He was overjoyed that his father’s life had been extended from two years to over ten years, but the thought of losing him far earlier than he could have ever imagined was terrifying for him regardless
“I definitely will,” Mustafa responded with a gentle smile. “But I don’t think I will be able to teach you everything on my own. I didn’t get to where I am by trying to manage the entirety of Makarash by myself, after all. What I didn’t know or wasn’t good at, I entrusted to reliable subordinates and friends. That’s why your two priorities should be to grow stronger and to make people follow you wholeheartedly. Everything else, while important, is secondary,” he elaborated on what, to him, was a casual thought. He was also sure that he had mentioned such things to Arslan more than once, so he only treated it as reminding Arslan of what he should have already known.
“I understand.” However, contrary to what Mustafa was thinking, Arslan made sure to engrave this advice into his heart very thoroughly. That being said, it wasn’t that he had been ignoring his father’s words on the previous occasions; he had simply ended up forgetting about them. This time, however, since the time, place, and even his emotions were all in accordance, the same words which had been valuable but casual advice before now became akin to a lifelong creed for him.
Soon after the talk between Arslan and Mustafa concluded, various attendants began moving towards the funeral pyres, giving the group no time to start another conversation. Still, having exchanged the most important words, none of the four felt regretful about the timing. Instead, all of them moved to the front and assumed positions in the first row. Mustafa and Arslan naturally intended to remain in front of the part of the pyre meant for their White Guard through the early parts of the ceremony and to only later pay respects to the fallen from their two allied factions. As for Laien and Yin, they shared Mustafa’s and Arslan’s intentions since they were in accordance with their feelings.
“Those are?” Laien raised his eyebrows, and so did Yin. They hadn’t been paying close attention to the pyres before, so they hadn’t noticed it, but once the attendants carefully tossed some fire elemental stones into the bottom of the pyres before quickly retreating down the slope, it became quite apparent. No natural fire could spread so quickly, even after being ignited by a bunch of low-grade elemental stones, so below all the wood, there was bound to be more of such stones. They quite likely had to be placed in a very specific way, or perhaps they had to be manufactured in a unique way since the new bursts of flames were strong, but no explosions happened. Like that, within seconds, the three huge pyres that were joined into one became a literal firestorm.
“Makes sense,” Laien mused after joining everyone in kneeling. “Even if they are dead, burning wood wouldn’t be enough to burn the bodies of powerful martial masters to ash. It also makes sense for the pyres to be at a higher elevation so that random gusts of wind don’t burn the people attending,” he thought calmly, the image of the fire devouring the wood and the bodies shining in his eyes. Sighing, he cleared his mind of unnecessary thoughts and chose to contemplate the past for a little bit longer. He had vocalized his feelings clearly enough in that argument from before, but he didn’t feel that such an angry outburst would be the right way to bid farewell to those who died.
Instead, he wished to think everything over once again, calmly and without hurry. He wanted to recall the time he had spent with those people, however brief it might have been. He also wanted to spend more time reminiscing about Jasmine, perhaps even thinking of such unnecessary stuff as what could have happened if she didn’t die. Above all, however, he wished that he could understand the thoughts of those who now lay amidst the flames, their bodies turning to ash. Just a little bit was fine, but he wished that he could understand what was going through their minds back then.
Whether it was for the sake of duty and friendship like Jasmine, for orders or revenge like Julien and his men, for camaraderie and their countries like the men of the White Sword and Black Sword units, or their leaders and a hopeful future like Casimir’s and Anna’s people. Each and every one of them was an individual; all of them were different. They had different pasts and they lived in different environments, yet they had one thing in common—for one reason or another, all of them had chosen to risk their lives, or even to throw them away, for what they believed was right.
And so, having settled into a contemplative mood, both Laien and Yin started pondering the same plethora of questions.
How exactly must the lives of those people have played out for them become who they were?
What could have been the key events that shaped their characters?
Based on their different beliefs and origins, how did those events make them feel, exactly?
What must they have felt… when making that one final choice?
And… as those who benefited from their sacrifices, how exactly should they themselves feel about it?
None of those questions were easy to answer, but in their focus, Laien and Yin failed to notice the passing of time. They kept staring at the flames with half-closed eyes, their gazes unfocused, their eyes dim. Before long, an entire hour passed, and the originally wildly burning flames died down almost entirely, mostly ashes remaining in the pit dug below the pyres. The commoners and even some of the students had departed the mountainside some time ago, having finished their prayers according to custom. Even some of the nobles had left the place, too, since staying too long for appearances alone was considered a bigger insult to the dead than leaving in a timely fashion, once one was finished with their internal monologuing, retrospection, or anything akin to that.
“They’re still like that?” Mustafa looked at Laien and Yin, then at his own son, and finally at Reian. He had gone to pay his respects at the other two parts of the pyre, but those four still weren’t done. All of them ended up closing their eyes, having remained motionless for the past hour. Had he not been able to sense that the Qi in their bodies was slowly churning, he would have started wondering if at least the three youngsters hadn’t fallen asleep. He was really curious if these four weren’t gaining some new insights through this contemplation, but he didn’t want to disturb them with his aura on the off chance that an outside stimulus would wake them from their breakthroughs prematurely.
As more time passed, more and more people started leaving the mountainside and returning to Academy City or heading straight back to their homes in different parts of the Holy Union. In the meanwhile, Mustafa was directly joined by Azuresky, Emeric, and Sebastian in their wait for the three youths to finish whatever they were doing. In the area nearby, a few more groups remained, intent on waiting until Laien, Yin, and Arslan awoke or until their leaders ordered them otherwise. Those groups naturally included Casimir and Anna, Mustafa’s White Guard, the remnants of the White Sword Unit, and finally Julien with his remaining subordinates. As for Azuresky’s, Emeric’s, Casimir’s, and Anna’s Royal Guards, the four had instructed them to leave early.
What came as a surprise to Sebastian was that Alexander also decided to excuse himself and left for the city with Eve. He had thought that Alexander would want to immediately get closer to Laien since it was so obvious he had grown fond of Laien’s strength and personality, yet Alexander appeared to have different ideas. “I was always good at reading people, but sometimes I don’t know what’s going through that boy’s head,” he thought while suppressing a sigh. He understood Alexander’s thought process—he wouldn’t have secretly accepted him as a disciple otherwise. However, the longer he knew the boy, the less he was able to predict what his actions would be. He knew that this likely stemmed from Alexander’s own version of the desired future, one that was different from his own.
“Still, I’m not worried,” Sebastian concluded in his thoughts. Ever since he’d had his first private talk with Alexander, back when the boy was still only four years old, one thing about this kid never changed. He would put the happiness of his immediate family above everything else, and he had later on proven many times that he wouldn’t push his own version of happiness upon his loved ones. So, since Alexander was an incredibly bright kid, he trusted him enough to let him act on his own.
While everyone was thinking about their own matters, another hour passed in the blink of an eye, and yet neither Reian nor any of the three youths betrayed any signs of waking up any time soon. Finally, after a few more minutes, the families of the fallen Royal Guards began approaching Laien and Yin. After stopping at a distance from the two boys, they either bowed or cupped their hands respectfully before leaving. Most of them wished to exchange at least a few words with the boys, especially with Laien, but it wasn’t to the point of spending an entire night on the slope of the mountain when an alternative existed. After all, it was known that Laien and Yin would be staying in Academy City for a few months, so they would have their chance in due time.
Once the third hour passed and the situation remained the same, Mustafa sent off most of his White Guards, having only the four Lieutenants and Sirius remain. Laien and Yin’s seven guards took this opportunity to return to Academy City, too, having gotten acquainted with some of the White Guards in the last few days. The group which remained, however, didn’t have any plans of leaving. Azuresky and Emeric knew they would have to get going sooner or later since they wished to return to the northern subjugation campaign, but they were determined to wait for as long as they could.
This determination of theirs proved to be necessary since, after the dust of the burned pyres and bodies was collected into urns, there was nothing left for anyone to do. Some of those waiting engaged in cultivation, others meditated or simply rested while dozing off. However, this calm atmosphere under the clear starry sky was interrupted at around two in the morning. Those with more acute senses noticed first, but Reian was beginning to emanate an increasingly powerful aura of the Profound Mystery of the Heavenly Tempest, the existence of which all those present knew about. Moreover, that growing aura of the Supreme Mystery of the wind element was accompanied by a mixture of a few powerful essences of Aspects, them being Wrath, Desire, and Love.
Those spectating couldn’t help but worry whether Reian’s wildly surging aura wasn’t going to startle the other three awake, but despite Reian’s overflowing aura stirring up wind all over the huge mountain they were on, the three youths remained unmoved. This in itself was surprising enough, but when much weaker, yet undeniably just as pure, insights of the Heavenly Tempest began spreading from Arslan’s body, even Mustafa couldn’t contain his shock, let alone the others.
“The jade slip?” Mustafa belatedly noticed that the golden jade slip appeared in Arslan’s closed hand without anyone being the wiser. It would have been obvious enough had Arslan used Qi to take it out of his interspatial ring, so did the jade slip come out on its own, stirred by Arslan’s breakthrough? “It’s the same Heavenly Tempest, but it’s different at the same time,” Mustafa mused, his gaze moving between Reian and Arslan. Reian’s overflowing insights gave him an uncontrollable, wild feeling, while Arslan’s were gentle and comfortable, as if they wanted to embrace him.
“Is it because of the Aspects mixed in?” he wondered. Reian’s aura was surging with the Aspects of Wrath, Desire, and Love, while Arslan’s was filled with an honestly shocking mixture of emotions. From what he could tell, apart from Desire and Awareness, which were the strongest in the mix, there were seven or eight more essences of Aspects mixed in. “But for them to appear all at once… was his state of mind too unstable before today, preventing him from taking this leap forward?” he questioned in silence. Tempted, he snuck a peek at Azuresky’s and Emeric’s faces, then smiled contentedly. The blank, utterly shocked expressions on their twitching faces, ones that showed that they truly didn’t know whether to laugh or cry, made him feel immensely gratified.
On the other hand, compared to the spectacle that Reian and Arslan caused, Laien and Yin proceeded to kneel for the rest of the night without creating any more shocking events. Right after sunrise, just like Reian and Arslan, they opened their eyes. This came as a slight disappointment to some, but they simply never noticed that, when Laien and Yin looked at the clear azure sky and the reddish sun that was climbing it, three colourful essences of Aspects flashed in their eyes. Thrice Empathy, once Pride, and once Humility; the three Aspects were either created or strengthened.
Just like that, since no one felt like speaking up first, the group spent a long moment in silence, observing the sunrise and contemplating their thoughts.