Chapter 26
Hallowed Paradise
Leo walked in the front, while the young woman followed behind in silence. He was quite shocked when he found her, but had gotten somewhat used to it by now. She looked to be in her early twenties, sporting long, slightly black hair and a pair of forest-green eyes. By all accounts she was quite beautiful, but there were still remnants of what Leo called 'kid's features' present--her cheeks hadn't fully flattened yet, her eyes were bereft of circles, and her forehead was simply too... smooth.
In his life, Leo had learned to love the developed canyons in the skin. Rather than flaws, they were carved medals of valor and honor which told tales survived by those bearing them. There was a transcendental beauty to them, one often unappreciated in the culture of trying to hide them in mad desperation.
And, thus, despite her being beautiful, Leo had already shuffled her into a different corner in his mind, one where those he'd looked over existed.
He walked at an even pace, occasionally reaching for the jug of water, and waiting for the pair of panthers to rejoin them. Luckily, the temperature was quite mild, perhaps high seventies, mid-eighties at the most, with low humidity--almost perfect conditions for a trek through the forest.
It wasn't long before he saw the trees gape and part, and the wide clearing came into view. As Yue stepped out behind him, she gasped in shock and awe, appearing short of breath for a moment. She walked past him and toward the edge of the pit, glancing down at the heavenly paradise. As before with her grandfather, animals paid a cursory glance toward her before ignoring her, leaving her to admire in shellshocked silence.
Leo walked up and stopped beside her, glancing down at where the earth swallowed the old man. The world moved on, as it always did, indifferent to the passing of life.
"... here?" she asked, her voice quivering.
"Here," Leo replied.
"..." he caught her teeth bite into her lower lip as she swallowed the words. Who would deny this paradise being the lasting tomb of someone they loved?
No matter how desperate she was to give him Ancestral Rites, ultimately, they were all rituals for the living. The dead, shorn of their voices, were unable to make demands for themselves--and living had it upon themselves to either listen to the last gasp of those voices, or ignore them. She, seemingly, decided to listen.
"--nobody else," she broke the silence. "Nobody in my family cared for me when they learned that my Spiritual Roots were merely average. My mother's love went entirely to my older and younger brothers, and my father immediately started shopping me around for a future marriage."
"..."
"It was only him," her voice fractured, and he caught tears coalescing at the corners of her eyes. He looked away and back into the pit, feeling the weight in his heart. "He'd hold me, tell me stories, myths, and legends. And he'd tell me that I was just as good as every other kid--better, even. He gave me a voice when the world wanted to take it away. Were it not for him, I'm certain my father would have married me off years ago. But he fought until his last breath to keep me independent."
"..."
"He wasn't a saint, I know that much," she chuckled, wiping her eyes. "But... I don't care. To me, he was the pillar holding up the skies from falling down. He was the fire burning brightly in the long night. And I... I didn't even get a chance to pay him back. Not in life, and not in death."
She fell down to her knees and wept openly, her sobs echoing out against the wall of the trees. Animals, one by one, left him and went over to her--Blackie licked the tears from her face, Milky snuggled into her lap, Hoot perched himself on top of her shoulder like a guardian, while Red used all his arms to hug her from the back.
They were not alone--critters, lizards, and slightly oversized insects emerged from the sky and the earth and walked and flew up to her slowly, trying to comfort her in their own little ways.
It was quite a sight, one straight out the certain type of movies. However, unlike the undulating joy and serene beauty within those scenes, here, there was only sorrow.
The cawing silence of the deafened forest became the solemn symphony to someone saying goodbye. Leo... was familiar, both with the cracked voice, with the pain writhing therein, and with the hopelessness felt at the moment. However, unlike him who was left alone to wrangle with guilt and regret, Yue was not alone--there was a world which embraced her, holding her while she cried out to the sky.
He, on the other hand, remained silent and at a distance. Never quite comfortable with grief, even his own let alone anyone else's, Leo found it easier to exist at the periphery--close enough to the people that they might invite him for jovial occasions, but distant enough that they'd hide their pain from him.
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It was some five minutes later that she seemed to exhaust herself, and when the animals began to disperse. Most retreated either into the pit or into the forest, though the few remained either around her or on top of Leo.
"I--I'm sorry," she mumbled softly, her eyes glued to the dirt beneath her.
"What for?" Leo said. "I've neither seen nor heard anything."
"I have a favor to ask." she said, standing up slowly and facing him. Her eyes were bloodshot red, face pale, and lips ever so slightly quivering.
"Hm? Anything." Leo replied.
"Please... let me stay here, and become your Disciple."
"..." Leo felt something shoot up through his stomach and into his esophagus. There was a level of earnestness in her eyes that he wasn't prepared for.
As before, glazing the eyes for a couple of days might be possible, but any longer than that and his façade would begin to crack. He was no mythical cultivator, after all--he was marginally better than an ordinary person, at best. However, beyond that earnestness, he also gleaned something else--desperation. It wasn't merely a desire, it was a desperate want. Though he didn't know the full story of it, he could guess a few details, namely that, if she returned, she'd become a tool she spent a lifetime trying not to be.
"I don't own the forest," Leo ultimately said, breaking the silence. "Or anything in it. You are free to stay here, of course, for as long as you want."
"Then--"
"--but as for becoming my Disciple, that is impossible."
"... w-why? Is, is it my talent?" she asked, lowering her head.
"No, of course not," Leo said. Though he wanted to tell her truth, his heart betrayed him. Even if he decided to live an honest life... "I am not ready to become anyone's Master," he added with a faint, soulful sigh. "One day, perhaps, if you still desire it." Leo paused suddenly, feeling an incoming headache--in addition to the fact that Yue hung her head even lower, a window appeared by her side, like a distant taunt.
[Rejecting her intentions will plant a seed of self-doubt that will become a Demonic Heart, ultimately causing her to enter Qi Deviation when trying to ascend into Spirit Creation Realm]
[Accepting her intentions and making her your First Disciple, you will learn 'Hallowed Paradise' Cultivation Method that you can hand down to her]
--the world was unfair, Leo garnered inwardly.
He was a liar and a cheat, a shadow hiding deep in the forest and away from the world, desperate to never be found. And yet, he was being asked to become the very thing he feared being.
How could he say no, however? Even if he didn't know the precise consequences of the Demonic Heart or the Qi Deviation, chances were that her cultivation road would come to an end. As for why she so desperately clung onto becoming his Disciple, he could venture a guess or two. It seemed that the meals he prepared and the juices he made had a certain effect on other cultivators that they do not have on him.
He couldn't precisely say what effects, but they didn't necessarily need to be massive--they could just be 'altering', something that is effectively rather minor, but because nobody in this part of the world can do it, the effect thus comes off as monumental.
"... fine," he said, sighing. "You'll become my First Disciple."
"--y-yes? Really?"
"Yes."
"Thank you, Master!" she immediately fell to her knees and slammed her forehead into the ground. Leo winced and wanted to tell her to stop, but it was pointless--she rammed it thrice so quickly he barely grasped it.
At the same time, he felt his mind expand from the corner, and a strange mantra emerge from the seeming nowhere. It was as though words and images and methods passed through a membrane from another world and directly into his psyche.
While he 'understood' the method on the fundamental level from the onset, it wasn't as though he fully grasped it. He felt lucky that there was enough 'room' in his mind to store all the new information, and once again thank the lucky stars he'd at least become a nominal 'Cultivator'.
"Let's go back," he said.
"Yes, Master." her countenance had changed--she seemed rather serious, if not obstinate, completely erasing the image of a broken, young girl... or, well, at least trying her hardest to do so.
"I will give you one last chance to pull out," Leo said as the animals began to follow them. "Being my Disciple means being unable to leave this place without my express approval. Most days will be spent in silent contemplation or aimless wandering. Can you endure that?" he gave one last, half-hearted attempt, though he knew by the look in her eyes that she would not be so easily swayed.
"... it sounds like heaven compared to the life waiting for me outside this place." Leo glanced back and caught a glimpse of the fading, pained smile. "Master, would you like me to hunt us a dinner?"
"No," Leo said quickly. "We don't hunt unless hunted."
"Uh--"
"--every animal you come across in this place, I want you to treat with the same respect you treat me with," Leo said. "I owe my life to them."
"..."
"So, if they ask you to do something, do it. They are mostly busy with eating the food I make and sleeping, so you won't be seeing them..."
While Leo went on to hold quite a lengthy speech about the animals, Yue silently observed the animals once again occupy the tall figure in front of her. Whether the man was truly just a Qi Condensation nobody, or a sleeping hermit of the legendary tales, she didn't truly care. Anyone with the ability to befriend Spirits broke down the standard understanding of strength--who would dare utter a word toward him, when he had an army of Spirits that would seemingly die for him?
She felt something rub against her leg, startling her and causing her to look down only to see the black panther--simply named Blackie (she'd already picked up on a few... oddities about her new Master, chief of which was his rather abysmal naming sense)--walking by her side. She bent over and picked her up, while the beast snuggled into her arms and immediately closed her eyes.
Life here, she felt, would be unlike anything she'd ever experienced--but she looked forward to it more than anything she did in her life. It only now dawned on her that she would also be able to visit her grandfather's grave whenever she wanted, and even perform Ancestral Rites.
She smiled, looking up past the trees and at the soul-stirring blue sky. Life was an unexpected journey for all those who dared run, and though for most of it she simply walked the road paved, now that she dared run, she found it alight with colors she'd never seen before. Her chest felt lighter, her lips freer, and her mind clearer--life wasn't a struggle, she realized... its circumstances, though, were.