“Welcome, Sir Andren, to the Voodoo sect.” Maramasa politely greeted the visitor.
A short while ago one of the elders rushed in to his residence reporting a suspicious individual sitting on a treetop on a hill not far from the main entrance to the sect. The bald man dressed in monk robes was completely out of place, but seemed to be just a regular person.
Fortunately guards knew better than to try and shoo him away. The elder they reported to quickly found out the man’s name was Andren and that he had come to meet ‘someone’ here. Since the whole sect was in a somewhat emergency situation the event was immediately reported to the sect master who dropped everything he was doing and flew over to meet the stranger.
In this mortal world there were almost no religious sects and while quite a few monasteries existed, it was unlikely this man was a part of any. While he seemed to be a regular mortal, the fact that he casually stood at the top of a tree and swayed along the branches in the wind instead of falling off was a clear indicator his cultivation level was unfathomable, at least not to regular mortal realm cultivators.
“Greetings, sect master Maramasa.” The monk pressed his palms together and slightly bowed, “Sorry for the inconvenience.”
“You are being too polite, Sir Andren. We are not blessed to have an immortal visiting us very often.” Maramasa said and also bowed, albeit much deeper.
“I’m just a puny false immortal. Please don’t bother with it too much.” Andren waved him off with a smile that didn’t feel like an actual smile, “In order to not waste your time – may I talk to the boy?”
Of course, the sect master knew it was the polite way for the monk to point out he intend to waste his own time, therefore he said, “Please follow me, Sir Andren.”
Even if he wasn’t a true immortal, this person could annihilate the whole mortal realm on a whim and there would be nothing anyone could do. The fact that the Immortal Alliance sent over a person at his level indicated that something big happened on the island of Divine tribulation trees and this realization only increased the ominous feeling the sect master was having for the past month.
Even if the distance to the sect master’s residence was short, for some reason on the way Maramasa’s bad premonition only intensified. Although from an outsider’s perspective it might’ve only looked funny how he was flying at a fast pace and while the monk took slow steps on a thin air while casually keeping up, the sect master led the way with a grave expression on his face.
There was no need to suck up to the person who was probably several millennia old and had experienced more than all members of the whole Voodoo sect added together. The most respect the sect master could show was to comply and fulfill the monk’s requests as swiftly as possible.
The tea was just served when elder Ido arrived along with Leo in tow. The boy’s hair was still wet and it was obvious someone has tried to clean him up in a hurry, but before anyone uttered a word, the monk spoke.
“I would like to talk to him alone.” He said.
Muramasa forcefully swallowed the bitter knot that suddenly appeared in his throat. He was not used to getting ordered around in his own house, but it was not like there was a choice – he immediately left along with his father and few elders who were gathered in order to make the reception feel more formal.
In the spacious room only Andren and Leo were left. The boy knew this was the sect master’s residence after being finally introduced to the sect a couple of days ago and since the strange bald man casually commanded the sect master around, he was someone of high importance.
With how thin the boy got so quickly, Runamata, Bimpo and Onataka couldn’t go on with the deal they had, but luckily Leo was still a child. While it was hard to force him to sit and methodically learn, it was incredibly easy to keep him busy providing with other things to do. He had spent almost half a month on the ocean side of the sect and had seen only tubs and naked bodies, but while there were few pretty ladies he was gladly laying his eyes upon, he very much longed to leave or at least go and explore something.
After realizing this Runamata felt like kicking herself for not figuring it out earlier. She never had any children and had no clue how to manipulate them, but as it turned out all that was needed to tame the little rascal was to take him by the hand and guide around while telling silly stories and continuously feeding sweets.
For Leo it was an unexpected discovery to realize that the small jungle tribe he thought this place was turned out to be a real city or at least a large town, except it was located in the wild. The fact that the place was called a ‘Voodoo sect’ didn’t leave any impression on the boy and since he already knew everyone around here ran around half naked with tattoos all over their bodies the only things that interested him beside food were ranked beast mounts most of the elders had and the alchemy division.
You could be reading stolen content. Head to the original site for the genuine story.
Of course, both subjects soon turned out to be redundant because the magical science of alchemy was ‘hard and annoying’ and none of the beasts were ‘large chickens’. The last part stupefied Runamata to no end, especially after she arranged a roasted chicken for lunch, but the rascal complained it was too small and dry like a sand.
Be as it may, in few days while running around the tribe Leo learned more of the main dialect than spending over half a month diligently studying. Even though this didn’t make sense, Runamata was too tired to judge and when someone ran over telling her there was a man looking for Leo, the boy was cleaned and dressed up in a heartbeat. The only thing left for her was to pray she would never meet him again.
“Sit!” Andren pointed in front of him and Leo immediately obliged.
Then the monk lit up an incense stick he fished out from his robe and stuck the other end of it in the floor as if it was a nail. Leo watched it with his eyes wide like saucers how the flame appeared from nowhere on the tip of the monk’s finger and barely dared to breath. This was a fellow fire element cultivator! And he was much stronger than his father! Could it be that he would teach him a real fire technique now?
But then a sweet sandalwood aroma filled the room and Leo suddenly fell in a strange dreamy state. His whole body relaxed, but he remained in the cross-legged meditative position purely out of habit.
Somewhere in the distance he heard the monk’s voice asking, “What is your name, boy?”
“Leo.” Was the short answer.
“Where are you from, Leo?” Andren asked.
Leo’s vision was hazy and he had a head time concentrating, but the voice he heard was pleasant and friendly so he was glad to share, “My family lives in Farrand city. It’s a nice place. My moms and I like to go …”
“How old are you?” Monk interrupted.
He was carefully observing the boy and his reactions and there was a slightly worried look in his face. When he spoke to elder Sigfried from the Golden Hand society, the man told him they found a fat kid right next to the teleportation platform, but this one was as skinny as if he had been living on plain rice for two years. Of course, there was no way the Voodoo sect would try to hoodwink him and substitute the witness, but this was one of the many things that was wrong with this case.
“Hmmm …” Leo felt in thought while still in the weird dream state, “I think I was five when we left, but then I was very long time on the ship … good thing we had so much Firewater … and then I was on the island with apes … they are really strong and smart, and make a good Firepaste. Hmmm … I think I was six or seven years old at the time. Oh! And then I was on the island with the lightning … I was there one year … or two? And then they brought me here. I thought I was going to go with the two pretty ladies, but …”
Even though Leo’s blabbering sounded somewhat chaotic, the monk was carefully listening to him while following the slightest changes in the boy’s expression. He already had a clue what transpired on the island and this was the last piece of the puzzle.
Still, he didn’t intend to make mistakes or miss something, therefore patiently asked, “And how old are you now?”
Even while remaining in the dream state Leo began to count on his fingers and after a while said, “I think eight … or nine. I’m not sure. But maybe I’m four and am at home sleeping …”
Monk’s expression turned increasingly grave the more he heard the last part. The whole event had marks of the corrupted path all over the place, but this time his job was to investigate and not judge. Although as a proper cultivator of the righteous path and a Buddhist monk at that he would've preferred to strike the evildoers right away, he knew he had been too rash in the past and that was one of the reasons that led him to fail the immortal tribulation. He did survive though and became a false immortal, but it was a gift from Heavens allowing to make up for his own failures in the previous life and he was not going to accumulate bad karma just because of an impulse.
Andren talked to Leo for a while, but when the boy completely stopped making sense and began blabbing about domesticated animals starting a discussion with himself what is ‘cooler’ a cat or a chicken, monk gently tapped his forehead sending him in a deep sleep.
Afterwards Andren meditated for a brief moment with a compassionate expression all over his face and when the incense stick finished to burn, he deeply inhaled sucking up the strange aroma in the room and after the exhale the air seemed to become normal once again.
Sect master Maramasa, his father and several elders were patiently waiting outside the residence not daring to utter a sound. Of course, they couldn’t hear what went on inside, but even if they could, they wouldn’t dare to listen. One wrong word or movement and the whole sect could cease to exist and no one in their right mind would want to take such risks.
Even the residents of the sect including birds in the surrounding trees and bushes fell in a silent state. The news of an immortal visiting the place spread like a wildfire, but while everyone really wanted to take a peek how does one look like, all the sect members had enough common sense to remove themselves from the sight.
Fortunately the torture the sect master experienced while waiting at his own doorstep didn’t last for long. Soon the door opened with a screech and the monk slowly came out. To their regret hosts couldn’t read anything from his expression therefore Maramasa spoke first.
“How did it go? Can the Voodoo sect be of assistance in any other way?”
“Thank you, sect master Maramasa.” Andren put his palms together and bowed while slightly smiling, “This was just a brief visit and I have to hurry back.”
“Sir Andren, may I ask what exactly is going on?” Maramasa’s father asked, “We couldn’t get an answer from the Golden Hand association’s elders nor can we …”
“You’ll know when the time comes. My guess is that you’ll get an invitation to the hearing just like the rest of involved parties.” Monk interrupted and then after a pause added, “Now that I think of it there is one thing you could do or rather not do – please spare the kid. Let him spend the few months in peace. Buddha would appreciate that.”
“Sure.” Maramasa immediately agreed, but before he could say anything else, the monk vanished.