Chapter 0114
“You lying bastard. I knew we shouldn’t trust you. You were never a reliable person in the first place. How she ever came to love a bastard like you, I’d never know. She’d waste her time loving you. Even now, I can still her affection for you. You bastard! Bastard! Bastard! Bastard!”
Tempest realized Ugly went easy on her when she was in the Weapon Pavilion. There were fist size concave depression on Cardis face every time a punch landed. Cardis body is much stronger and hardier than Tempest and his regenerative ability is better than Wolverine on steroids. All the depression healed before the next attack landed.
Tempest knew there was a story behind Cardis. Who lives as long as he did and doesn't have a story to tell?
Apparently Ugly was, at one time, a part of that story.
Tempest also knew that had to be a huge misunderstanding somewhere down the line. It isn’t because Tempest believed in Cardis character. It is because she had a good grasp of the current Cardis character that she knew there is a huge ball of misunderstanding. A man with his personality will cause misunderstanding everywhere he went.
As much as she wants to separate the duo, she doesn’t want to get in the middle of at fight where Cardis takes a beating without fighting back. She might not live to tell the tale.
Therefore, Tempest used the best weapon in her arsenal, her smart mouth, “Wow, Ugly, I didn’t realized under that grimy exterior was the heart and soul of a fair maiden spurned by her first love. Beat him harder. The man whore deserves a good beating.”
“I’m male!” Ugly paused his beating to yell at Tempest, “What’s a man whore?”
“Ah your male? Ooohh, so this is the legendary boys love? Ugly on top giving a serious pounding to Cardis on the bottom.” Tempest affect a starry-eyed look fans get when they meet their idol or, in this case, a fujoshi when they see two guys show affections.
Tempest must have done a good job with her stint in acting because Ugly flew off Cardis and his behind a rock, like a chaste maiden caught a man spying on her bathing. “Stupid kid. Go wash your head with soap. Me and that… that..”
“Man whore?” Tempest supplied when words failed Ugly.
“That man whore has nothing in common with me.” Ugly thought about it a second and asked again, “What’s a man whore?”
In retrospect, introducing English slang to world similar to Chinese fantasy novel isn’t the wisest move. The confusion present in Ugly is one of many reasons why Tempest should learn how to shut up.
“A man whore is a man who goes from one woman to another without remorse.” Cardis shook the shock away he experienced when he met Ugly and answered Ugly’s question as per his habit.
Then again, maybe English slang is more prevalent than she thought.
“I knew it. You never loved her. After all she did for you, you are only using her.” Ugly sounded like he was going to flying into rage in any moment and attack Cardis again. He’s holding himself in check because of the Tempest innuendo.
“Who is her? And what happened? Cardis you first. Ugly has been yelling for the same thing over and over again and I want to get the bottom of this sometime this year.”
Cardis grimace at Tempest’s choice of words.
“The her Divine Might is referring to was my wife, Eva Engline Orinet.” Cardis started only to be interrupted by Tempest.
“Ugly over there is Divine Might?” Cardis nodded in confirmation. “Divine Might? You? What a pathetic name. You certainly don’t live up to your name. It might be better to call you Rusted. Rust? Rusty? Brown?” Tempest gave the weapon spirit a through once over, “Nah, Ugly is just fine. It's quite fitting for the current you.”
“You...you...you…”
“Foul mouth brat. Yeah, yeah, so what. Truth hurts. Live with the pain.” Tempest taunted.
“Enough Tempest. Do you want to hear the rest of the story or not?” Cardis put an end to the childish bickering. She might not want an explanation, but he wants to give one, if only to dispel the hatred Divine Might had for him.
“Fine.” So childish.
Cardis tale was cliche story Tempest read on the internet all the time. It was so sickening sweet it gave dentist nightmares. It was silly, sad and ultimately ends in tragedy.
Eva Engline Orinet was a beautiful cultivator Cardis literally fished from the river. He never asked how she got into the river and she never volunteered the information.
She was so ethereal to Cardis. The first time he saw her, he thought she was a celestial fairy descended from the heavens to beautify the world with her grace. Until she opens her mouth that is. In a way, she was like Tempest - blunt and vulgar.
She spoke her mind and did what she said even if what she said went against all the cultivation world. Eva was lovely as a flower, pure as gently falling snow and passionate as roaring flame.
Cardis inevitable fell in love with her.
Sadly, after her recuperation, she left the little hut.
It would have been fine if she stayed gone. Except Cardis, being the Son of Inferno at the time would be catapulted into the cultivation world whether he liked it or not. Years later, when he became a green mage did he meet her again. This time she was besieged from all side. Cardis played the hero that saved the beauty, rescue the fair maiden… over and over and over again.
She would die a thousand times if he wasn’t there to save her. Throughout the trials and tribulation, they fell in love with each other. They married in a grand fashion, since she was a genius groomed by a large sect and he a powerful mage who would become an immortal as long as he lived long enough.
Good times never last and misery comes in waves.
Eva’s many admirers flocked to the married and tried to court her, while woman surround Cardis like flies to honey. Their relationship wasn’t strong enough to withstand temptation.
Eva got into more trouble and Cardis couldn’t be around to save her all the time. He was recuperating from the previous time he saved her. Other men stepped in to save the beauty and her feelings started to sway.
They would fight and argue all the time between bouts of his recovery and her recklessness. He would accuse her flirting with other men while she would accuse him of sleeping with other women and trying to build a harem, which she would never stand for.
Ultimately, during the Devil’s Besiegement of the Cardinal Realm, Eva chose to fight with her sect while Cardis was grouped with the other mages. During the major battle, Cardis was wounded at the same time as one of her admirers, Dale Arvet. She chose to save Dale instead of Cardis and died in the process.
Ugly’s story was the same as Cardis in the beginning. They meet, and his wielder fell in love with Cardis. She was a cultivator with a long life span, and Cardis was a simple mortal who would die in a few years. She regrets leaving him, but she couldn’t afford to fall in with a mortal who would die in a few decades, leaving her to mourn his passing.
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Due to her broken heart, she became reckless, taking risk she shouldn’t have, making enemies left and right.
Her heart mended right away when the man who held her heart saved her from her enemies. She realized he was a cultivator. They can be together.
Except the man’s memories have dulled with time or perhaps their encounter was not memorable enough for him to remember the woman he saved. So she took more risk and got into more trouble because she knew he would come to save her. Their love was true, and they finally confess their feelings for each other and got married.
Then the bees and the butterfly began to swarm around Cardis. Monogamy wasn’t for mages, and polygamy was the normal in the Heavenly Mountains. The societal expectation wasn’t in Eva’s favor. The enticement came in droves. Eva would get jealous every time a woman got close to Cardis.
She took more risk and acted like a brat to get his attention. She knew she went overboard in her actions, yet she couldn’t stop herself. She wanted all of Cardis’ attention on her, and she’d do anything to get it. If she got into trouble, Cardis would come. She got into trouble a lot.
They’d continue the strange show of affections until the Devil Besiegement of the Cardinal Realm. The Elders and all the high-ranking cultivators at the time figured out a way to seal the devils in a small dimension. The core of the array maintaining the seal to the dimension would be a strong cultivator who can generate massive amount of energy needed to maintain the seal. High affinity mages were the best choice and Cardis was ‘volunteered’ for the job.
Eva found out about and tried to destroy their plan. She chased after Dale Arvet because he was the one they chose to execute the plan. She failed and was sealed in the small dimension with the Devils, where she remained until this day.
“Line is still alive. It is faint, but I can still our bond.” Ugly insisted at the end of his tale.
“Are you sure?” Cardis asked with a rare seriousness. Tempest wasn’t sure if he was asking if Ugly was sure about his version of the story or if Eva was still alive.
“I am her sword. Line might have wanted me to protect you, but I wasn’t going to break our bond for a user like you.” Ugly sneered. “I can still feel the bond.”
“Who was devious enough to manipulate everyone to their bidding, charming enough to attract a happily married woman’s attention and rich enough to fund the plan?” Tempest didn’t know the history of the Cardinal Realm. She didn’t know who could pull off a stunt like that over eight or nine thousand years ago.
“Tempest, even if Divine Might was telling the truth, a conspiracy on the scale we’re talking about requires massive amount of planning and a lot of resources to pull it off. There are only three people I know of at the time who could have pulled it off.” Cardis tried to explain.
“Oh good. You narrowed down the list of suspects.”
“What do you mean?”
“You said, only three people that you knew of could pull it off. You didn’t say it was impossible. Therefore, if three people could pull it off, it stands to reasons one of them did pull it off.”
“Why would they do it?” Cardis yelled. “There is no reason for them to do it. Crown was so in love with Eva, he’d do anything she’d asked him to. He’d never do anything to harm her, much less imprison her in a secret realm.”
“He would do anything for her but hand her over to the man she’s in love with. There’s your motive - jealousy.”
“But -”
“But what? Both of you aren’t lying. Fact 1 - Eva is in love with you. Fact 2 - Someone was able to mess with your head, feelings or memories or just plain maneuver you to see dubious circumstances and lead you to the conclusion they want you to draw. Fact 3 - Eva went missing. Fact 4 - Almost all details of the event was systematically erased. My encounter with Ugly was a lucky chance. No mage was going to chose him as their weapon since he already has an owner. I needed money, so I tossed everything into my space ring. He wouldn’t be here if I didn’t.”
“How can I tell your not lying yourself? You are on his side after all.” Ugly wanted Cardis to reciprocate his wielder's feelings. It is better than believing his wielder sacrifice everything for a slag man. Yet he was afraid to hope. He didn’t want to raise his expectation only to have it dashed over and over again.
“True Daughter of Storm. 100 wind affinities here. No one can lie to me. They can mislead me, sure, but an outright lie is impossible. Right now, both of you are telling the truth or your version of the truth. In fact, Cardis have a weaker version of this ability.”
The duo turned towards Cardis. Tempest was smug as if she figured out one of the greatest secrets in the world while Ugly was filled hatred. If Cardis had the ability to detect lies, then he should have known his wielder was innocent. Eva didn’t have to suffer the insecurities.
“I developed a weaker version of truth validation abilities within the last five thousand years.” Cardis admitted without hesitation. He has his shares of secrets, and no mage likes to expose their abilities lest they be betrayed. The ability to differentiate truth from lies isn’t a trump card he needs to hide nor does he need to hide anything from his Successor and his wife’s weapon spirit.
“So you admit there are problems with your point of views regarding this Eva woman right?”
Age old feelings made Cardis reluctant to agree with Tempest, but he had to. It was a truth he should not deny.
“Ugly believe his perception of the event to be the truth.” Ugly nodded vigorously. He was telling the truth, even if Tempest only believe it was his version of the truth, it was still a ‘truth’.
“If you are telling the truth and Ugly is telling the truth, then the third party must be lying. Heck, if the conspiracy was as a large as you imply, then a fourth, fifth and sixth party could also be lying to you.”
Cardis and Ugly looked at Tempest then looked at each other. They acknowledge Tempest’s conjecture. Ugly had no reason to lie. Cardis had no reason to lie. “Okay, then, stick your heads together and try to find out what exactly happened back then. I’m going home.”
Tempest turned around and walked away from her master and the problematic weapon spirit. She had her own problems to solve. She wasn’t going to add theirs to her already full plate.