To Leo’s great regret, the most interesting part of the night ended with the crowd dispersing. The ten or so women who stayed behind seemed to be somewhat old and watching their parts jiggle was not as fun. Fortunately they didn’t know what the little fatty was thinking and since he silently gaped with eyes wide like saucers at everyone, they couldn’t get offended even if they wanted to.
For the next part sect master and his father gave instructions which left most of the elders speechless and excited at the same time. From what it looked like they were going to prepare for a war or an invasion even though both leaders denied it.
One should to note that for many cultivators who practiced the voodoo techniques, properly processed mass casualties could become a boost in their power. This was also the main reason why lady Evelyn, the sect master of the Sacred Order hated the Voodoo Sect to the bones. Unfortunately or fortunately for the Voodoo sect – as long as they remained a righteous sect, at least formally, there was nothing she could do. In addition, since the Voodoo sect was specializing in alchemy, they had quite a few connections in the mortal realm and even in the Immortal Alliance there were a couple of people who could put a word for them.
“Alright, if there are no more questions, all dismissed. The upcoming month is not going to be an easy one.” Sect master Maramasa intended to conclude the meeting, but then his eyes landed on Leo who from boredom had fallen asleep, this time on his own, “I almost forgot. I need someone … no, maybe even two people, who could teach the kid the so called ‘main dialect’.”
Seeing the expressions of the present turn weird, Maramasa snorted, “Obviously none of you! Didn’t you listen to what I said before? You have more important tasks to fulfill! Do you have any spare disciples capable of teaching? The ones who are not … khem … as productive otherwise?”
After a brief period of silence one of the elders sighed and said, “Sect master, I guess I’ll have to assign two of mine …”
While some of the other elders sighed in relief, one suddenly said with a smile, “Elder Ido shouldn’t be the only one who takes the glory. I have a good for nothing that would fit the role of a teacher in this case.”
“Great!” Sect master said and slapped his thigh signaling the end of discussion while elder Ido sent a look of gratitude towards his old friend. Everyone quickly dispersed leaving people on the platform and the two elders behind.
“Elder Ido, elder Faluno! I don’t care how you do it, the kid needs to speak the main dialect fluently within a month.” The sect master instructed.
“Can we use some of our medicine?” Elder Faluno asked.
“If you really need to, but only the cheapest stuff. We need the resources for ourselves.” Sect master Maramasa said, “And no funny stuff! We need to return the kid alive. That’ll be all! Take him away!”
“Finally done.” Maramasa said with a sigh when there were only four people left.
“Father, aren’t we taking things too far?” The eldest youth asked, “The nearby sects will surely think we are preparing for an invasion or a takeover. It is not possible to keep a project of this size a secret.”
“I’ll deal with the local politics. A couple of sacks with spirit pills and we might even get a few allies. Unfortunately the threat we are weary of comes from much further away.” Maramasa said.
“You mean … but the Immortal Alliance doesn’t meddle in the business of the mortal realms!” The youngest jumped in.
“That is only the formal position, Mumasa. The Immortal Alliance is ran by a bunch of ancient monsters who consider themselves gods and like to stick their noses everywhere. In fact, they most likely consider the whole universe their playground. Of course, when someone is on the level where they could almost ignore the Heavenly laws, they are allowed to be arrogant.” Maramasa explained, “But I do hope we are exaggerating things. Unfortunately this time we’ll need to take some precautions.”
“What do you have in mind, father?” The eldest youth asked.
“The sect master’s position is hereditary, that is why you, Uwataga, will stay here with us. After all if you want to become the sect master one day you need to gain the respect of our people. Simply being strong and handsome is not enough.” Maramasa said with a sad smile and his eldest son seriously nodded.
Then the old sect master added, “Mumasa, you have an incredible talent and your potential is endless. Not only your cultivation aptitude almost guarantees that one day you’ll become a true immortal, the mutation of your wind affinity element provides you with intellectual gifts others can only dream of.”
Hearing this the youngest grandson’s expression didn’t change – he wasn’t shy of his talents nor was he conceited because of them. Uwataga, on the other hand, proudly looked at his younger brother and patted him on the shoulder.
“We can not risk your future because of a little struggle in a mortal realm, this is not where your destiny lies.” Grandfather continued, “Therefore I’ll send you to visit my old friend, just for a year or maybe two. In the worst case scenario I’ll go and pick you up after all calms down here ...”
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“No, let’s make things clear!” Maramasa interrupted his father, “In the worst case scenario no one will pick you up and you won’t ever return here! Don’t give me that look! And before you’ve become a true immortal, don’t you even dare to think of revenge if anything happened with us or the sect.”
Seeing his son’s discontent, he added, “Don’t worry, maybe it’s not that bad. But there are few things I want you to remember. First of all, the Immortal realm has its own rules. The Nascent soul stage cultivators are basically just a common folk there, to not speak about anything below that rank. When you arrive, you’ll have the status of an ant and your pride might become your greatest enemy.”
“You’ll also have to hide your regular appearance, Mumasa. It’s better if others don’t know your origins.” The old sect master said, “The talisman we crafted you should keep on you at all times. Even though it’s not anything unique, it’ll hide your true cultivation up until you form your golden core. There are many envious people in the world and a fourteen year old peak Foundation establishment stage boy is too eye catching.”
The four stood there in silence for a while and only the sound of distant ocean waves smashing against cliffs disturbed the night. The bonfires had gone out some time ago and the east lighting up indicating the arrival of the morning.
“Sigh, and one last thing, Mumasa.” The old sect master spoke, “For the next five days I’ll impart you the most precious techniques we have gathered and developed throughout the years. While you won’t be able to learn them properly, your incredible perception will allow you to at least remember the principles so you could cultivate the ones you deem worthy later. Let’s go. We don’t have much time.”
The two brothers didn’t really understand why their father and grandfather returned in such pessimistic mood. While the Voodoo sect was not the strongest, it was definitely in the top five. It had two Nascent soul experts and a couple thousand disciples who wouldn’t hesitate to die for sect in addition to the alchemy knowledge that guaranteed the backing of quite a few other powers.
But Maramasa and the old sect master knew how the world saw many of their voodoo arts and clearly realized that not only the Sacred Order, even the Immortal Alliance might prefer to eliminate a sect that was hard to control even if it was this small. And while for now there was no direct threat, they both had this distinct premonition of an upcoming disaster.
Leo had other worries though. He was woken up by someone brutally throwing him in a tub full of cold water, afterwards pulling out and rubbing all over with something that felt like a burning sand, and then throwing back in the tub. He didn’t even managed to blink when he was pulled out again and dried up with a rough cloth and put on a short skirt as if he was a girl. Of course, he saw everyone wearing those around here, but it still felt incredibly uncomfortable – and that was for him, a person who had lived for half a year butt naked.
When Leo came to his senses, he realized that he was mistreated by two guys, probably twenty odd years of age. It was impossible to tell where their tendency for cleanliness came from, because their bodies were dirty, the long hair unkempt and oily and their teeth yellow.
They currently were standing near a small hut made of mud and it was surrounded by several dozens of tubs of different sizes. There was a strong medicinal aroma coming from all sides that even a breeze from nearby ocean couldn’t blow away.
Seeing Leo longingly stare at the waves, the two guys suddenly grinned at each other and began pointing at the water while angrily shouting. When the kid didn’t show any reaction, one of them grabbed him by the armpits, carried to the side and put in the grass.
Then the two pulled out some fruits and bread and began to wave around while and taking bites now and then as if showing the food was incredibly delicious. For some reason they closely resembled the apes Leo lived with and because of this hilarious thought he couldn’t hold back a burst of laughter.
At first Leo intended to simply ignore them, but then the two got angry and one even smacked him. Luckily from who knows where a tall lady with long black hair falling down to her waist, probably in her forties, showed up and smacked the backs of the heads of both of them and right after came over to Leo and gently caressed him saying something in a sweet voice. From what it looked like she was clearly their mother and the two got scolded for torturing their guest.
Leo sighed realizing this was probably the family he’ll have to stay with for now or maybe even for a long time if he gets adopted. The lady had really nice things that slowly swayed when she moved, but seeing how strict she was Leo suppressed the urge to stretch out his hand and feel them.
Her ‘children’ were not so easily scared though.
“What the hell did you that for?” One of them shouted.
“Who the f*ck are you?” The second one joined.
“What do you think you two morons are doing?” The lady straightened up while putting her hands on hips, “You’re supposed to teach the kid, not torture him!”.
“Easy for you to say! It’s not your ass on the line!” The first guy retorted.
“What did you say?” She got even angrier.
“I’m … I’m sorry …” The first guy stuttered. Her backside was quite large and round and apparently for her it was a touchy subject, “We just figured out that fear and hunger is a great motivator …”
“Sigh, no wonder elder Faluno sent me over. He mentioned that elder Ido might need someone to help to save his face.” The woman said.
“What do you even know? This kid is an idiot! We have to …” The second guy begin to say, but the lady nonchalantly slapped his forehead.
“The two of you are the idiots! No wonder you were tasked with this while the whole sect prepares for war!” She said.
“And you? Why are you here then?” The first guy retorted again.
The woman blushed at them pointing out her being only at the Qi gathering stage at her age otherwise she would’ve needed to join the others in preparation. But then said, “At least I don’t have to wash bathtubs all day!”
“Ye, what do you do?” The second guy grinned.
“I’m elder Faluno’s bookkeeper!” She proudly said and the two guys finally shut up.
While the two of them were also hopelessly stuck at the Qi gathering stage, the bookkeeper of the elder responsible for the supply storage of the sect was a big-shot in comparison.