Chapter 28

How to Accidentally Gift a Nuke(?)

Yue woke up to the crackling of the flame.

The first sensation she experienced upon opening her eyes was hunger--hunger so ravaging she felt she could devour raw tree bark just to satiate it. The second sensation, on the other hand, was embarrassment, soon followed by shame. Her eyes veered over to the side of the flame where she saw her Master pouring stew on a wooden plate. He must have just noticed her wake up, and had already prepared a meal for her--as though he knew... no, of course he knew, she laughed inwardly and bitterly.

Though she couldn't fully grasp the cultivation method, she, nonetheless, tried practicing its first movement--within mere seconds, she felt all of her Qi dissipate and her body give out, collapsing onto the ground and fainting. She briefly woke up when the animals came to pick her up, no doubt per her Master's orders, before fainting once again.

She struggled to sit up and, with shaky hands, devoured the meal in a mere few bites. Like a shy kitten, she extended the plate and, just before she asked for more, felt its weight increase. Thankful that her Master wasn't saying anything, she devoured the second serving as well, just barely feeling satiated at last.

To her shock, however, a quick look inside revealed that she'd made major progress in her cultivation--more than if she would have with her previous cultivation method in over six months.

Somewhat startled, she once again stealthily glanced at her new Master; there were many points of contention, she felt, but one thing was for certain: he was an enigma, one that glazed the eyes and hid unfathomable depths below. By her estimate--which was rough, at best, and outright childish at worst--her Master's cultivation method would rank at least as Peak Heaven Method, with a low chance of it even stepping into the vaunted realm of the Immortal Methods, those that only existed toward the norther portions of the continent, the Central Ashlands, where the Tier XIII Sects resided.

Every so often, she'd hear the rumors of the bigshots from the 'Holy Lands' descend onto the Lower Ashlands for one reason or another, accompanied by the rumors that they'd passed on Immortal Techniques to some random Disciple who shot through the sky overnight. How true those were, she didn't know, however.

"Do you want another plate?" her Master's words pulled her out of her thoughts.

"Oh, no, thank you, Master."

"You don't have to feel embarrassed," he said. "I, too, passed out the first time I tried it."

"R-really?" she asked, feeling somewhat excited.

"Hm, just one full circulation, and I was out." he nodded, smiling faintly. What do you mean just one full circulation?! You're making fun of me, Master! I barely did one hundredth of a full circulation and collapsed! Yue wanted to cry just a little bit, but held back. "Just take things at your own pace. There's no need to rush."

"... my Father always said the opposite," she said. "Sacrifice long-term goals for short-term gains. According to him, because the path of cultivation is so wrought with death, you never know which day will be your last. As such, gambling on you eventually becoming strong was stupid, and unless you were a vaunted child of the heavens protected from the cradle, you'd be stupid to try and aim for the top."

"It's not necessarily wrong," her Master said, his voice low and hung with depth. "But that sounds more like a mindset of a mortal rather than someone pursuing immortality. When you only have eighty years to live, every day counts. Every moment is precious. On the road of immortality, however, we forget; whether we focus on eventually becoming something, or being something today, we forget where we came from."

"..."

"But it is true that the heavens are partial," he added with a faint chuckle. "Not every person has the same starting point. The unfortunate, and often painful truth, is that how far you can go in life is determined at the day of your birth. Some, gifted otherwise, break the cycle and push past it... but most, most simply become a part of it. What do you want?" he suddenly asked. She was unprepared, but knew that she couldn't stay silent.

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"All I ever wanted, in life, was the strength and power to live the way I want," she said, biting her lip gently. "I've sacrificed everything along the way, all my future potential, in pursuit of it. But... it wasn't enough. That's why simply being here, for now... that's all I want. I will work hard to be of use to you--"

"--why?" he suddenly interrupted. "You just said that all you wanted out of life was strength to live independently. How is it different if you work for me instead of your father?"

"I..." she stuttered, unable to answer. He was right, she knew. She was merely substituting them.

"I didn't take you in as a Disciple because I expected you to pay me back in the future," he said. "And I don't expect you to give me anything in return. To me, that is what being a Master means. It's sort of like being a parent--you take it upon yourself to bring a child into this world, and it is your responsibility to take care of them, and pave a path for them. If you only have a child for the purpose of using it for your own means... what is even the point?"

"..."

"This forest will always be your home, Yue," he said. "But it will never, ever, ever become your duty or your burden, remember that."

She felt like crying, once again, but held herself back. She'd already cried one too many times in front of him--and, more importantly, in front of herself. It was one of those things she'd sworn she would never do, largely because of how much the entirety of her family abhorred crying... except for her grandfather.

In a few ways, she realized that the Master reminded her of him--even if her grandfather lacked the Master's enigmatic aura, the way they treated her was similar. In their eyes, she wasn't a tool or a weapon, and was simply a person.

"Nonetheless," she said, taking a deep breath and smiling widely. "I can at least make your life a little bit easier. I was planning on making a quick trip outside, with your permission of course, to settle the last few things that I have. Do you need me to buy anything and bring it back?"

**

Leo was mighty tempted by the proposition.

After all, there were hundreds, possibly thousands of things that he wanted to have. But he quickly settled his raging heart. Even if she had the money to buy it, just how much could a young woman even carry?

No, wait, aren't her clothes different than the ones she came in? Right! Those freakin' subspace rings or whatever! She must have one of them! Yeah, of course. Aah, stupid Leo. How could you for one second forget that? Didn't those two kids also seem to take things out of nowhere? Haah...

Having finished chastising himself, he mulled over what he needed by far the most for a second. The answer was rather simple--a bed and a blanket. While the makeshift bed and the pillow he was gifted were nice, they were not enough. He was someone who enjoyed the pleasure of a good night's rest, and one of the key aspects of it was a nice bed.

Besides that, he needed cutlery--knives, plates, cups, massive cauldrons even, where he could make large amounts of food fast, and then distribute that food equally speedily.

Clothes, of course, were another thing--he only had the robes, and they were beginning to suffer due to his navigation inexperience within the forest.

Tables and chairs--or, well, a table and a few chairs, at least--were another thing, but the issue was that he had nowhere to put them. Perhaps a gathering of tiny worker elves who would construct him a nice house and then just... disappear?

While fantasizing was nice, he did have to give her a list of things.

"Just some cauldrons where I can prepare meals for the animals," he said. He didn't want to demand too much--for a young woman who'd run off from her family, she likely had very little money to spare. "They don't have to be fancy--rather, just big."

"A-ah, so, you're giving me the permission?"

"You don't need it. As I said, you're free to come and go as you'd like." he'd already forgotten his speech when he took her in, and how she wouldn't be allowed to leave without his permission. And it seemed, based on her reaction, Yue did too.

"He he, alright," she chuckled rather... childishly, but it was somewhat sweet. "I'll depart in the morning."

"--right. While you're outside, don't practice what I handed to you."

"Why? Ah, right. Because I would collapse in hunger. I won't, I promise. And I'll be back quickly! A week, at most."

"Oh, right!" Leo exclaimed as he recalled something--a feather leisurely lying within his robes.

He had no means of using it, and from the looks of it, wouldn't have the need to do so for some time. Though he didn't know its effectiveness, he'd hoped it was at least stronger than Yue herself. And if not, well, she might be dull enough to consider it a practical joke (should she survive the encounter in which she was so desperate to use the item). Nonetheless, he pulled out the feather and handed it toward her.

"A good friend of mine gave me this after helping him," Leo smiled. "It only has three uses, however, so use it sparingly."

"O-of course, Master! What... is it?" Yue seemed to hold a certain level of trepidation over holding the feather, but Leo didn't ponder on it too much.

"One of his feathers," Leo replied. "It can attack thrice with the force of an Earthly Immortal."

"Y-yippe?!"

"E-eh? Yippe? What?"

"No, nothing. T-thank you, Master! I'll guard it with my life!"

"No, wait--it's supposed to be the other way around."

"I'd sooner die than let anyone else get a hold of this."

"I'm telling you--"

"--I need to rest. Please excuse me, Master."

"..." Did I hand her a nuke or something? Why is she being so weird about it?!