4. Currents

Omaia rode a golden cloud over the sea, heading for the landmass on the other side. She could sense people there, unlike the continent where the peach tree was. That place was barren and boring. She wondered why it was so empty, then decided that she didn’t care.

It wasn’t that important to her how ‘Little Bug’ governed his world. She’d already gotten the one answer that she cared about, which was just to make certain that all of the corruption was really gone and that the Xian Lord wasn’t responsible for it in the first place. It had only taken one look at the young man when she’d arrived to know that much, which meant that the rest of the visit could be spent having fun.

So she traveled, not bothering to go so fast as to break the sound barrier but still quickly enough to cross the sea in a few hours. When she reached the other side, she began immediately searching for a golden path cultivator, only for one to pop up to investigate her by himself.

He had not sent his true body, but an avatar of himself as a younger man. He had muscular arms with a shirt that was torn to show them off, and on his side he wore a long curved blade. His straw conical hat kept the sun off his head, but it also hid his features. Omaia was annoyed because she was considering changing her age on their meeting. Being a girl was fun and put her opponents off their guard, but being a maiden had it’s own pleasures.

Abruptly making the decision, she changed her avatar from that of a nine-year-old to that of a twenty-one year old before. Her dress changed from a childish play dress into a flowery robe fit for any court in the nine dimensions, and her face was pale and beautiful

She had restricted herself down to the golden path for this encounter, and she was curious to see how he would respond to her beauty. Omaia sat on her cloud and waited to be addressed.

“You enter the lands of Nonpo,” the man said, his voice carrying clearly. “I humbly request that you state your business and your identity.”

“Are all guests of the land of Nonpo questioned so?” she asked.

“We have not extended an invitation at this time, so you are not a guest yet,” the man answered.

“I have guest rights from Little Bug, the ruler of this world,” she argued. “Therefore, I am a --”

“We do not recognize the rule of Little Bug in Nonpo. We are a proud and fierce people, and we will not bend the knee to him, nor the Many Peaks Alliance, nor any other force from the west. If you are their delegate, then we request that you leave,” the man said sternly.

Omaia’s eyebrow twitched, and she tugged at her power. The man staggered as she gave off the aura of a platinum path cultivator, something which he had never experienced at this distance. He looked up at her, wide-eyed with shock.

“I believe that we have gotten off on the wrong foot,” she said. “I am here as a guest from beyond the stars. If Little Bug has yet to conquer this continent, that is fine. But I wish to explore, and I do not care for your petty politics to get in my way. Now stand aside little man. I want to have some fun.”

“O-of course,” the shaken guardian said. “If I may escort the young mistress, simply tell me where you wish to go.”

“That is better,” she said, grinning. “Let’s do something fun. What do you do for fun in the land of Nonpo?”

“I-well, there is theater and opera,” he said.

“Excellent! I enjoy both. Let’s do that.”

~~~~~~~

“Father, father! The fate of Nonpo is changing! They weren’t supposed to change the fates of mortals but they have,” Atla said, pouting slightly.

“How has Nonpo’s fate changed?” I asked.

“They, well, they do what you want them to do instead of walling themselves off like before,” Atla admitted. “So it’s a good change, but they’re still breaking the rules.”

“I knew when I set them loose that there would be ripples from their actions, Atla,” I assured the world-child. “Let’s review what’s happening in Nonpo together and see whether this is actually a broken promise, or whether they have simply altered the base of a mountain by changing the location of its peak.”

“That’s not how mountains work,” Atla protested.

“It’s a metaphor, beloved one.”

“Oh.”

~~~~~~

Shisuke was shaken. His world was shaken, his foundation cracked, and his path forever altered in a second.

Nonpo had seen a few undead rise years ago, but Shisuke and his followers had put them down quickly before it had become a problem for the land. He had heard of the trouble in the west, but had assumed that they had simply allowed the problem to get out of control rather than nipping it in the bud.

That wasn’t a problem for the land of Nonpo, and so they had remained isolated.

Stolen content alert: this content belongs on Royal Road. Report any occurrences.

Then came the night without stars. That had been most concerning. But in the aftermath, the Qi gathering formations that had strangled Nonpo and the other lands in the east had inactivated, and instead began injecting immense amounts of Qi into the environment.

This was good, and the clans and sects of Nonpo were even now frantically working to claim the newly enriched real estate from the peasants who had been denigrated to the lands of low worth in the previous generations.

Of course, the entire world was affected so, so he and the other leaders of Nonpo had not sought to capitalize on the opportunity with expansion. Rather, they had too much newly enriched land right at home, so why bother?

Instead they had continued to seal their borders and reject outside influence. When the ‘Peach Blossoms’ had arrived, Shisuke himself had turned them away with a display of his strength. He had thought to do the same with this latest interloper.

But she outclassed any threat that he had previously seen.

That she had the power of the ascendant was obvious, and he wondered what she was doing on a backwater like Atla.

Unfortunately he didn’t presume to question her after her display of displeasure earlier, and he didn’t dare interrupt her while she was entertained watching the traditional plays that he had arranged through an avatar at the last moment. The first play was atrociously performed, using a mixture of understudies and actors who had been cobbled together at literally a moment’s notice, but their guest hadn’t seemed to notice.

The quality of the acting improved as the mortal acting troupe got their feet under them. That they were performing for a single cultivator they knew quite well, and they were determined to impress, knowing that displeasure could forever alter their fate for the worse.

But Omaia was clapping with excitement as the fake-swordsmen circled each other and shouted off their lines, so Shisuke hoped that she had been appeased by the showing.

“It has been a long time since I enjoyed performance like this,” a new voice said, and Shisuke turned to find a teenage boy sitting in the audience with them. Which was impossible, because Shisuke would have sensed even a mortal approaching. However, to his spiritual senses, there was simply nothing there.

“Who are you? How did you come in?” he demanded.

“My name is Little Bug,” the new guest said. “I am not really here. I’m watching from another place. But it’s impolite to spy on my guests, so I figured I’d make my presence known.”

“That’s not exactly a requirement, if you’re using your world-senses to spy you don’t have to announce it. Even if we are guests,” Omaia said. “Just don’t peep on us in the bathroom!”

Little Bug chuckled. Shisuke realized that, at the moment that Little Bug had revealed himself, the avatar of the beautiful young lady had turned into that of a child in a play-dress. He rubbed his eyes.

“Tell me, how old is your own core world, Omaia?” Little Bug asked.

“Oh, it’s about eight billion years old, but it’s only been awake for a million years or so,” she admitted. “I have ruled it for about sixty thousand years is all. I inherited it from my grandmother, who inherited it from her grandmother, and so on.”

“I see. Does your world talk very often?”

“I’ve only heard his voice three times in my life,” Omaia admitted. “He spends most of his time sleeping.”

“I see. Thank you, I was just wondering how long before Atla stopped chattering so much. I love them, but they require most of my attention, so I apologize if I’m not being a very good host,” Little Bug said.

Shisuke blinked as he tried to follow the conversation between the most powerful cultivator he had ever met and a ghost who wasn’t really there. He could see Little Bug, and hear him, but every other sense that he had was insisting that he was alone with Omaia.

“I’ve heard of that. You can just ignore it, you know? It’ll figure things out on its own,” Omaia said.

“Oh, I have no intention of doing that,” Little Bug said. “I’m very much invested in Atla’s growth. And now that I have sufficiently appeased Atla that it was us who has altered the course of Nonpo’s future and not just you, I will be retiring. Shisuke, I will send one of my disciples to discuss compensation for Omaia’s visit at a later date, if that pleases you. As we have stated before, we have no intention of subjugating Nonpo, but we do need to discuss it’s place in the world to come.”

Then the illusion vanished as though it had never been there.

There was not even a trace of Qi in the entire display. Whatever it had been, it was something--

“Astral projection,” Omaia said. “It’s different from Dao Avatars. No less useful, since you don’t need to cross the distance yourself to arrive at your destination, but then you can’t exert any force either. But for messages and conversations, it’s very handy. That such a young boy has mastered it already is slightly astounding.”

Shisuke turned back to his guest and found that she had resumed the guise of the beautiful maiden.

“How long can these actors perform?” she asked.

“If I order them to, they will go through their entire repertoire without rest,” he assured her.

“I believe that Little Bug would be annoyed with me if I allowed you to make them do that,” she said. “Please instruct them to inform us before they have reached the point of exhaustion. Request that they try to time it with an exciting part, so that they may pick it up tomorrow and finish on a high point.”

“You will be spending the night? I shall make arrangements immediately,” he said.

“Don’t bother. I’ll be sharing your bed.”

Shisuke flushed, but didn’t argue.

Sometimes it was best to simply go with current and allow oneself to be swept away.

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