As it turned out, to cut through a foot thick layer of coal was not an easy task, but in the end Leo was rewarded with a tender and juicy chicken meat. He was reluctant to try out the cat’s meat since he considered cats really cool animals and in the end decided against it – there was plenty of chicken meat after all.
While having tasty meat for every meal was fancy, the best part of the oversized beasts being dead was that Leo could finally have the two magic cultivation places to himself. Obviously, the one the cat previously slept on was damaged beyond repair, but there was the other one with the canopy. Truth to be said, Leo even found that one to be better because he finally had a roof over the head. In addition, the chicken’s nest turned out to be a nice bed as well.
From that day on Leo once again became a cultivator. Of course, he still couldn’t find the fire spark he longed for and it became harder and harder to look for it since there were countless purple lightning bolts in his consciousness and their numbers for some reason continued to constantly increase.
But that only meant he had to put more effort into the cultivation process. He had all the necessary prerequisites though – including the special magic cultivation place and the huge pile of meat that for some reason never went bad. The only downside was that he had to walk and swim for every meal but in return he got ‘all you can breakfast, lunch and dinner’.
There was an unexpected bonus to all the daily swimming – the dark substance covering Leo’s body soon began to fall off on its own. It was much faster than the previous time and to his great delight Leo finally could recognize his own reflection.
Because of the amount of the food he consumed that reflection day by day started to become rounder and rounder, but he himself didn’t notice how he got back to the chubby form. Since he still could easily scale trees, swim and run, he was definitely in a good shape so he didn’t worry much if the belly grew a bit rounder.
Leo’s lifestyle was simple and careless, but incredibly monotonous as well. While he didn’t intend to let down his father and the cultivation part was a must, eating the same food every day became boring. Of course, if anyone knew he was complaining about eating rank seven beast’s meat on a daily basis, they would’ve slapped him dead, but there was no one around to inform Leo how good he actually had.
Just to spice things up he sampled the fruits that grew on the leafless trees, but they were only seven in total and even though he ate one a day, they inevitably lasted only for seven days.
Leo didn’t know that after eating each of the fruits he passed out for at least four to five days and he actually spent a whole month unconscious while hibernating and digesting fruits of the Divine tribulation tree, but it was not like he was rushing anywhere. Of course, he was once again wasting precious cultivating resources, but a man’s gotta eat, right?
To his great regret Leo was not taught how to count and he didn’t know how long he had spent on the island, but this was a sad day. Yesterday evening he cut off the last piece of the chicken meat he could find below the layer of coal and all that was left were charred bones and burnt fur and feathers. He still didn’t intend to try to eat the cat, thus with great regret Leo had to go back to eating regular birds who got electrocuted and fell in the lake.
Unwillingly he grabbed the sickle and decided to bring it back to the cabin to exchange for the chisel again. He didn’t need the rake with the long handle anymore since after eating the seven fruits he became almost completely numb towards the lightning charges in the water. Of course, because of the daily swimming he was quite resistant to the electrocution already beforehand, but eating those fruits had a miraculous effect. After realizing that Leo once again felt like slapping himself for not thinking of sampling them sooner, but there was no way to turn back the time so it was foolish to worry about that.
While continuously sighing Leo arrived at the cabin and went in when he heard a commotion outside. Through the open door he saw blinding flash of light and then there was a weird rattling sound, but when he ran out to take a look, what he saw made him fall on the butt, literally.
In the middle of the round platform four people were motionlessly standing in the air and looking back at him. The sun was behind their backs and Leo didn’t see that their faces had the same surprised expression his did, but from his point of view they definitely looked like some kind of deities. All four wore elegant robes of whitish color that made them look even more holy, but Leo couldn’t discern much in panic.
“What the f*ck?” One of the deities blurted out in a youthful voice.
Another one instantly smacked the first one on the back of his head and in an elderly voice said, “George, behave yourself!”
“Sorry, elder!” The first one immediately replied.
Leo, of course, had no clue what they were talking about since he didn’t recognize the language, but clearly these guys were some kind of big-shots. According to what his father told, the ability to walk on air signified they were at least Nascent soul stage cultivators and that meant they were super strong.
“I’m sorry, Sirs! I was just borrowing this thing! I’ll put it back immediately if you want to!” Leo said while getting up and politely smiling.
Stolen from its rightful place, this narrative is not meant to be on Amazon; report any sightings.
“What the f… I mean … what the hell? Is the fatty threatening us?” The guy named George suddenly began to laugh seeing the boy stretching out a hand that held a chisel.
“He obviously is saying he didn’t steal it, you idiot.” The third person, a young, pretty girl with long, black hair said with ridicule.
Her embroidered robe was quite a bit shorter compared to those the three men wore and showed her beautiful white legs up until thighs.
“Oh, Fan Lia, do you speak this dialect?” The elder asked in surprise.
“No, master! It’s just obvious – look at him.” She replied.
“Of course, you understand him, he’s dressed just like you! You’re probably relatives!” George tried to pay back.
Fan Lia blushed with anger seeing that actually the little guy wore a shirt with a symbol that closely resembled her family crest - the one she had on her robe, but before she could retort, she got interrupted by the fourth person.
“Enough bickering! You two – get the protective gear and go do the maintenance on the Divine lightning suppression formations. Report to us the moment you are done! I still want to get back home for lunch!”
“Yes, Sir!” The two youths immediately replied and went inside the cabin completely ignoring Leo.
“There should be instruction manuals elder Sigfried had written if you ...” The first elder loudly said, but the second one in annoyed voice interrupted him.
“Tillert, you’re pampering your students too much. Let them learn and figure out their own solutions to the problems they face.”
“Sieg, you said yourself you want to get back till lunchtime, didn’t you?” Elder Tillert was not insulted one bit and winked back.
“Fine, fine!” Elder Siegfried said and turned towards Leo, “And what in the world are we supposed to do with you? How did you even get here?”
Not expecting the boy to understand them, elder Tillert said, “I guess we’ll have to bring the fatty to one of the sects. Maybe he’s one of theirs.”
“Do you really think they sent him alone to this island?” Elder Siegfried asked and immediately continued, “You two! Keep your eyes open for other people. There should be more ... that is if the goldenglow tiger has not eaten them.”
A short moment later the two youths departed each towards their own direction, but elders sat down right on the platform. Leo finally got to see how one should’ve worn the clothing that was inside the cabin, but he couldn’t be bothered with that just as he missed the fact that the two youths flew away rather than walked or ran.
He had a really bad premonition of what was going to happen next. Especially because these guys were not some lame apes – there was no way for him to climb up a tree in hopes to escape.
The two elders with the stern faces also didn’t instill any hopes. Although they seemed to act ‘normal’ towards the two youths and each other, there was no telling how they would treat a strange child like him.
Just as expected, after brief period of six or seven breaths the girl and the young man returned.
“Elders! There’s a problem!” They shouted in one voice already from a distance.
“Fan Lia, you first!” Elder Tillert said in a calm voice.
He had seen way too many things in his life and if the two kids returned alive, what they considered a problem most likely was not actually such.
“There is something wrong on the island, but I couldn’t tell what exactly except that the fruits are missing.” Fan Lia quickly said.
Seeing it was his turn, George added, “The two beasts are dead … aaand the fruits are missing as well.”
Hearing this the two elders quickly exchanged glances and disappeared in opposite directions leaving only few words behind, “Stay here, don’t make any trouble!”
All this time Leo stood there without moving a muscle. From the side he looked like a scared chubby boy and he, in fact, was exactly that. His mind was a mess and he didn’t know what to say or how to act. Judging from the faces of these people the beasts were most likely in some way important and they kind of did die because of him, probably.
But then Leo realized – no one has seen him do anything bad! All he has to do was to tell the parts of his story that were true and didn’t implicate him with anything and that was it. In addition, these guys were cultivators of a high caliber – they wouldn’t harm a helpless child, right? Armed with the revelation he smiled towards the girl as politely as he could.
Unfortunately she didn’t pay attention to him at all.
“George, what exactly happened?” She asked.
“No idea. Seems like some time ago the two beasts had a huge fight and in the end they died in the waters of the Divine tribulation tree almost destroying it in process.” He explained.
Clearly they realized the seriousness of the situation since there was no sign of bickering the two had before.
“That doesn’t make any sense! Rank seven beasts are more intelligent than most humans! Heck, they are at least millennia old! With that experience …” Fan Lia said but in the end she could just helplessly spread her arms.
“Mhm. Something is fishy about all of this.” George agreed, “And the fatty being here also doesn’t make any sense.”
“You don’t have to worry about that.” Suddenly elder Tillert appeared at his side, “There are people whose job is to solve mysteries like this.”
Elder Sigfried returned soon after and only shrugged saying, “Let’s go.”
“What do we do with the kid? We can’t leave him here.” Fan Lia said and George already opened his mouth to blurt out some nonsense about the two being relatives when elder Tillert’s stern look forced him to keep the mouth shut.
“Obviously we can’t take him with us, but we should drop him off at one of the two sects.” Elder said, “And not a word of what you saw here. Until the assigned investigator has finished his job, we only did the regular maintenance and saw nothing out of order. Am I clear?”
Leo had no clue what the four were talking about, but few moments later he found himself hanging in the air above the platform while one of the elders held him by the hand. Confused he looked up at the elder only to be completely blinded by a flash of light a heartbeat later.