Chapter 13

I make my way through the market, using my psychic energy to guide me smoothly through the crowd. I also move more swiftly than I have, weaving effortlessly through. It’s astonishing what can change in a single night. The pull of energy grows stronger as vendors shout over the chatter specials and unique items at prices that seem to change every second. I slow my pace as I eye the stalls where the pull is the strongest. A stall stocked with odds and ends sits between two weapon stalls. I look over the wares, spotting several strange items. A comb with a crystal flower blooming on the handle gives off a strange feeling like it wants me to hold it. To take care of it, to love it, to give it all that I am.

“Hey!” A sharp ‘thwack’ hits my hand, snapping me back to reality. It looks like I tried to grab it. That was incredibly strange.

“Sorry, I don’t know why that happened.” I rub the stinging welt on my hand. The vendor grimaces, eyeing me up and down.

“I’ll have you know all of these items,” He leans in conspiratorially, dropping his voice to a whisper. “are [Artifacts]!”

“So what kind of [Artifact] is that comb?”

“It’s a comb once used by an ancient princess who brushed her hair every time she finished cultivating! Eventually, the comb absorbed the Qi of the princess that would remain after she cultivated. Thus, it became a treasure that could enhance one's beauty and charm!” I’m not sure how a comb can enhance someone's charm or beauty, nor how a comb can even absorb ‘Qi’. But the feeling I get from it is not a pleasant one. I look over the other items, statues, and scraps of cloth and leather with a couple of rusted knives mixed in. Some look just like junk he picked up somewhere traveling. While other stuff gives me an eerie feeling. My eyes fix on the sole book in the stall. Its cover is worn and old with obvious weather damage to the pages. I carefully pick it up, turning it over in my hands.[Heavenly Lighting Kings Record], the name clicks something in my mind. I have to have this book no matter what.

“How much for this book?” I grab my money pouch ready to toss him the whole thing if I have to.

“That?” He points to the book in my hands with a grin.

“Yeah, I can offer you twenty-five [Spirit Stones].” This will be roughly half of my fifty-six in total. It will hurt my savings quite a bit but it will be worth it, I can feel it.

“Hm, I went through a lot of trouble to get that book. Twenty-five is just too low for the danger I had to endure, I would have to sell it for two hundred. Though since you seem like a nice guy, I can sell it to you at a discount for forty.” That would be almost my entire savings.

“What about thirty?”

“Nope.”

“Thirty-five?” He shakes his head. I sigh in defeat before reaching into my pouch to pull out the forty [Spirit Stones]. Before I can hand them over, Coachman Cai grabs my shoulder.

“There you are! What are you doing over here?”

“I had to buy this book,” I lift it up for him to see. “I feel like it’s calling me.” Coachman Cai looks at me in surprise at first before resolve hardens in his eyes.

“Very well, before that,” He turns to the vendor “you and I both know that book is worth five at most. Look at how badly damaged it is, not to mention it's completely covered in dirt. It’s like you picked it up off the side of the road today and put it among your wares!”

“Why you-” Coachman Cai flares his ‘Qi’ a bit, cutting off the vendor’s protests. The vendor visibly shrinks back, gulping in fear. Coachman Cai pulls out five [Spirit Stones], dropping them in the vendor's lap before steering me away back to the cart. The crowd from before has dissipated, leaving us with a clear road ahead. We start back off as I carefully dust off the book. The cover is still in one piece despite how old it looks. I can feel a large amount of ‘Qi’ inside the book itself. Like it’s a container to an infinite well of ‘Qi’. I carefully open it to the first page, the pages feel dry and ancient. I try to read the first sentence of the book, only for my excitement to fade. Based on its name, it’s a [Thunder Qi] cultivation art, which is supposed to match my own ‘Qi’. The only problem is I have to reach the first level of [Fundation Building]. Since that’s still a ways off, for now, I store it in my trunk. Having not done it in a while, I decide to do some equipment checks. Taking apart and inspecting my guns, combat suit, and other items. I start with my guns first, counting the bullets I still have. My combat suit is an easy inspection since it's the one thing I can’t have damaged no matter what, so I check it every day. The other items are the journals I’ve been keeping lately. To ensure no one can read them but me, I’ve written everything in English. They even packed my charcoal pencils wrapped in a piece of cloth.

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I shift through the stack, I haven’t written in a couple of days so why not do it now? I pull out my most recent journal and a short charcoal pencil, jotting down the past couple of days' events. It’s a little hard to write in a shaking cart even with a desk to use. I spend about five hours writing in my journals before going back to cultivating. Now that I’ve done it a couple of times, it's become much easier. However, the pace has slowed down by some. I’m only thirty percent of the way to level two after four hours. The evening is approaching with the cool air of night creeping in. We come to a stop in a wooded part of the road, a small grove of trees grows in the middle of the road. Though there are too few to call it anything close to a forest. Coachman Cai hops off the cart and pulls down a large bag he keeps upfront with him. He pulls out a sleeping mat and blanket along with basic cooking utensils. I watch him set up his camp for a bit before eying the portion of rice I’ve left alone. I hadn’t cooked it yet since I didn’t have anything to start a fire with. I grab my ration bag and the pot and water, walking over to the now beginning embers of the fire Coachman Cai has started.

“Mind if I cook some rice?” He looks at me and then notices the food and pot in my hands.

“Go right ahead, though I wouldn’t cook it all if I were you.” He scoots over to make space around the small fire. I set up my pot and fill it with water, sitting back for it to boil. I look over at Coachman Cai, roasting a piece of meat he bought before we left the market. We sit there in silence, cooking in the quiet night until we have both eaten our fill.

“So, are you just a coachman for the [Heavenly Stars Sect]?” He cocks an eyebrow.

“It’s the whole truth, what did you think only disciples of the sect cultivate?”

“No, just it seems that since you're in [Foundation Building] you should be doing something more for the sect than give rides to people.” He chuckles heartily.

“Hahahaha! Very true indeed!” He claps me on the back. “ However, I was a coachman before I reached this level. A master of the sect taught me the fundamental art of the sect, [Universal Star Art]. They gave me a home.”

“A home, huh?” Could the people of the New Republic really say we had homes? We constantly dealt with overcrowding in the tight spaces underground. It got bad enough that we had to have four to five families in a single domicile. Illness and filth were becoming worse by the day. We didn’t even have the start of a plan to deal with it.

I gather up my stuff, leaving the pot to cool. Stuffed with food now, I quickly stash my food away before finding a secluded spot not too far from the camp. My muscles are still a bit sore from doing the punches series, but since the other series are just as long as this one, I have to stick with it until I’m stronger. I start going through the first set of punches slowly, letting my body feel every movement I make. On the second set, I go a bit faster, this time trying to maintain speed while letting my body feel every movement. Finally, on my third set, I attempt to complete the series in one full chain. That last set feels impossible right now, as I can barely do twenty percent proficiently.

Once I finish I’m drenched in sweat while panting hard. This time my body feels like the jello paste we ate in school. I stumble to the cart, nearly ripping open the waterskin before chugging down half of the water left. My stomach rumbles loudly again, causing me to reach for the food bag. This is definitely one of the reasons most people don’t or can’t become cultivators. The amount I’ve been eating the past couple of days has been much more than I’ve ever eaten. I splay out on the bench as my breathing comes back to normal and my heart stops pounding in my ears. Once I’ve cooled off enough, I sit up again looking out at the window into the sky. Ever since I’ve come here, I’ve had to keep my guard up in case the Sun Lords were here too. But I still haven’t seen even a trace of them anywhere. Despite this world having its own issues, it feels brighter here. All I can remember from childhood until my enlistment was cold rock and steel hallways with fluorescent lights flickering overhead. The surface wasn’t our friend and the underground cities we built feared that they might be found any day. It was hell, even with our freedom from their occupation, the Sun Lords never stopped trying to control us. A flash of memory crosses my mind, screaming and smoke with clanking metal. I shake my head, clearing my thoughts away.

I haven’t forgotten my homeland, or what I fought for in the past. I haven’t forgotten all those who fought by my side. But if this world is far enough from Earth that the Sun Lords haven’t reached it, will I ever be able to honor all those things? I have no mission anymore, left alone in a strange place. Will I find a mission here as well? Maybe I’ll even find a real home here instead.