Elder Boatman grabbed a gum worm between two fingers, slurping it in. Jack cringed. The worm disappeared down the vampire’s throat, dead the moment he touched it.

“You have achieved great merit, Jack,” Elder Boatman said. “News of your breakthrough have spread far and wide. The failing morale of our army has temporarily recovered. You’ve given our cultivators a source of inspiration, and our enemies one of fear. You’ve also made me proud. Good job.”

“Thanks, Master,” Jack replied, trying to keep his mind away from how the Elder was still eating worms.

“Of course, everything has consequences,” the vampire continued. “The Immortals are aware of your existence, and they’ll do anything they can to exterminate you. Don’t be surprised when they send A-Grades to personally hunt you down.”

Jack stood straight. “I can handle it.”

“I know. But we can’t. My starship houses tens of millions of people, and I’d rather not invite the enemy’s full attention to my doorstep. Besides, if they really do find us, I may not be able to protect you. You will leave the Death Boat in a few hours and head towards the New Cathedral, our current headquarters. The Arch Priestess herself wants to see you. She may accept you as a disciple, so I suggest making a good impression. Maybe even wear a shirt.”

“What?” Jack said. “Hold on, I’ll be leaving? But I just arrived.”

“I’m sad too, my disciple,” Elder Boatman replied. “However, even if I hadn’t received direct orders, it would be irresponsible of me to keep you here. Protecting you is my duty as your master, but I have to accept I may not be able to. It’s a shame.”

“You saved my life,” Jack replied. “And Brock’s. We are extremely grateful.”

“It was nothing,” he replied, waving a pale hand. “Now, as I said, you’ll be transferring to the New Cathedral for training. Brock will join you, and I will also separate a small part of my soul to follow you and keep instructing you on the Dao of Death.”

“Part of your soul?”

“It’s called a clone. I believe you’re familiar with the concept. One soul simultaneously inhabiting multiple bodies. It’s the basis of all our communication systems, but that’s besides the point.”

Jack opened his mouth and closed it again. This was a little too much information. Had Elder Boatman mentioned he might be apprenticed to the Arch Priestess? The head of the Black Hole Church, who was most probably an Archon?

He shook his head to clear it.

“And I guess,” he said, motioning towards the Spoon Squad who were idling nearby, “they’ll be the ones taking me there.”

“Sovereign Heavenly Spoon and his squad are needed at the front lines. They’ve already wasted precious time here,” Elder Boatman said, striking the sovereign with a glare. The other man didn’t even pause eating. “You will be escorted by a different vessel. We won’t reveal the details until the final moment for security reasons. However, Envoy Starhair has also been recalled to the New Cathedral, so he will be joining you.”

Oh, fuck me.

Jack and Starhair locked eyes. The Envoy smiled grimly.

Wait. I’m also an Envoy now. Nice.

“I don’t know what’s going on between you two, nor do I care,” the Elder said. “We are fighting a losing war. We cannot afford infighting. I expect you to act as responsible individuals and put your differences aside.”

Jack raised his head. “Yes, Master.”

“Yes, Elder,” Starhair replied at the same time. He sounded earnest. Jack didn’t believe him in the slightest.

“Good,” Elder Boatman replied. “Meet me at the throne room in three hours.” He reached into his plate, grasping no gum worms. He’d run out. “Oh,” he said. Ten of them teleported from the bowl to his paper plate, then he abruptly disappeared. The bowl was now empty.

Sovereign Heavenly Spoon hissed. “I wanted those!” he said, then sighed in displeasure. He grabbed a large cup of tea and swirled it with the silver spoon which also doubled as his planet-eating weapon.

Jack swept his gaze over his fellow Envoys. Min Ling was the first to meet him. “We still have a date, cowboy,” she said. “You promised to spar with me when you reached the B-Grade. I’m right here.”

He grinned at her. “Do you really think you stand a chance?”

“Only one way to find out.”

Jack laughed. “Good! I look forward to testing out my powers, too.”

“We can do it now.”

“Sure. Just give me a moment.” He turned his gaze to another person. “Hey, Sage. Think I could talk to you alone for a minute?”

The homeless-looking man looked up. Just like every other time, he showed no surprise. The extent and nature of his powers remained a mystery to Jack.

***

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Jack and the Sage stood alone in a different room. There was another large window here, but no table, only a set of chairs at the back. The two men stood next to the window, gazing out.

“Do you remember what you told me once upon a time?” Jack asked.

“I’ve told you many things.”

“That your soul resonated with Enas. That you could use that connection to share in the god’s Dao and reach the B-Grade with basically no bottleneck. That the whole reason Earth was Integrated was because the Church wanted to find you.”

The Sage nodded. “That is correct.”

“But is it the whole truth?”

A pause. “Why do you ask?”

“I was stranded at a strange place for a year—a place called the Black Hole World,” Jack said. “It was occupied by the descendants of an old Archon, trapped there since the first Crusade a billion years ago. They had a stone tablet about that event. It portrayed the Old Gods and the Immortals, as well as their armies.”

Jack turned towards the Sage, then continued. “There was a person there, in the army following the Old Gods. A person who looked just like you.”

The Sage smiled. “It was a stone tablet. How accurate could they make the face of a small figure?”

“Don’t dodge the question, Sage. It was carved in great detail. That person had your likeness. What’s going on?”

The Sage remained silent for a moment. Finally, he sighed. “You shouldn’t have seen that,” he said. Jack instinctively raised his guard, but there was no attack coming, only words. “This isn’t really a secret. It’s just something we’d rather not share to the common cultivator.”

“Am I a common cultivator?”

“You were, last time we talked about this.”

Jack frowned. “Keep talking.”

The Sage sighed. “The truth is, I am not just a human whose soul vibrates with that of Enas. When he was trapped in the black hole, he was not content to remain there for eternity. Enas embodies the Dao of Life, whose core tenant is survival. Soon after his imprisonment, Enas split his soul in two, then shattered one half into innumerable tiny pieces. Those pieces were nothing but soul-infused collections of Life Dao particles. Over time, they slowly seeped out of the black hole, making their way through the universe and looking for suitable bodies. Of course, that was an extremely unlikely process, which was why Enas had created so many of them. There needed to be someone with a compatible soul, which was already extremely rare, and then there also needed to be a soul piece very close-by when that person was born. The fusion could only be carried out shortly after birth.

“A billion years later, those coincidences finally occurred. One of those innumerable tiny soul pieces happened to land on Earth, where it fused into a compatible baby. And thus, I was born. A human with a tiny, tiny part of a god inside me. However, even that part of a god’s soul is stronger than a mortal’s, so the fusion wasn’t perfect. I spent thirty-three years on Earth being insane as the two sides warred inside me. I had flashes and visions of things no mortal could witness. It was only when the Integration happened that an agent of the Church arrived at our planet, helped the divine part of my soul overwhelm the other, and made me into who I am today.”

Jack gave him a suspicious glance. “So you’re, like, a clone of Enas?”

“In the wider sense of the word. I possess my own personality and almost none of the god’s powers. What I do have is random visions, as well as an extreme affinity towards the Dao of Life. Specifically, divination.”

“Extreme affinity? Really? Nobody has mentioned your B-Grade breakthrough as anything outstanding.”

“Dao affinity doesn’t always translate into a deeper cultivation. In any case, it’s a good thing my breakthrough was low-key. It helped me avoid attention. My cultivation and combat strength—which has always been shit—are secondary. The real purpose of my existence is to remain alive, so the Church can use me as the key to summon the true soul of Enas outside the black hole.”

“What!?”

The Sage smiled, showing yellow teeth. “I am to be sacrificed. Thanks to me, the remainder of Enas’s soul and body will escape their eternal prison, reclaiming his rightful position as god king of the universe.”

“Wait. So the Second Crusade is happening to stop that?”

“No. The Immortals suspect some things, but they know nothing. The Second Crusade coinciding with my appearance is a humongous, terrible coincidence.”

“...How is that possible?”

“The Heavenly Dao works in mysterious ways, my friend,” the Sage replied with a sad smile. He put a hand on Jack’s shoulder. “The person in the tablet was another clone of Enas. Before his imprisonment, he was experimenting with infusing his soul into cultivators and controlling them. His fellow gods betrayed him before those experiments bore fruit.”

Jack wasn’t really listening. Various puzzle pieces clicked into place in his mind. “Is that why you wanted the Life Drop in Trial Planet?” he asked. “Because it was kind of your blood to begin with?”

“That’s right. I would be able to resonate with it and use it much more effectively than anyone else, including you…but, as I said, my combat strength is secondary. It was average back then, and it’s even worse now. A fragmented soul like me could never reach the A-Grade. I was supposed to take the Life Drop to the Church and help it find a suitable candidate, but I deemed you good enough.”

“Hmm,” Jack said. He frowned, saying nothing for a moment. He then changed the subject. “Still, man… You only exist to be sacrificed? That’s fucking sad.”

The Sage shrugged. “It’s not as bad as it sounds. I will reunite with my whole like a tributary flowing into the river. The person I am now will die, but my soul will live on.”

“...Oh.”

“Is that all you wanted to ask me?”

Jack looked at the Sage. This homeless-looking, yellow-toothed, rag-wearing man had always been an enigma. The more he learned, the more questions he had—some of which he felt were better left unasked.

Something wasn’t right about the Sage’s story. There was still something missing. He just couldn’t place a finger on what.

“Yeah, that’s all,” he finally said.

“Good. Then, let me give you a piece of advice before you go fight that little girl,” the Sage said, leaning closer. “Do you know why the Heavenly Dao sent that tribulation for you? During your latest breakthrough?”

Jack was immediately transfixed. “Because it’s an asshole?”

“Because you took a single step outside the lines. That by itself isn’t much, but defiance is a plague. It spreads from person to person, and one step turns into ten, which turn into a stampede. What starts slow can turn exponentially fast, and before the universe knows it, it might lose control of you cultivators. So, remember this, Jack. That was neither your first nor last tribulation. The universe will keep trying to take you down. If you do survive, however, then your defiance will become a superpower. You and Brock can spread that shit and change the world. Even the Gods are afraid. Don’t sleep on it.”

Jack stared into the Sage’s eyes, finding them glowing with a fierce, excited light. The next moment, it was gone. The Sage stood back to his full height, which wasn’t much. “Well, that was my advice, anyway.”

“Do you want to elaborate? That was cryptic as fuck.”

“You will understand when the time comes. Now go have fun out there. I believe your date is waiting.”