Chapter 161 – Eternal Range (III)

Chapter 161

Eternal Range (III)

Long Tao paused, his brows furrowing into a point.

Something felt… off.

He was extremely familiar with every aspect of his own cultivation–down to the last tiny mote of Qi he absorbed. As such, he knew perfectly well how quick (or, rather, slow per his own standards) his cultivation was.

Suddenly, however, it was faster.

And not by a small amount that could be waved off by natural fluctuations of Qi, no. It was by an extremely noticeable amount, the kind that would require an extremely high-grade array to replicate. Even if he wanted to create such an array, he actually couldn’t; the materials required were so beyond this corner of the world that there was a chance people here didn’t even hear of any of them.

All the same, he tried again–and it persisted. The increased speed was about a quarter more than his usual one.

“Eh? Why am I cultivating faster than usual?” Dai Xiu’s voice startled him as he left his small ‘room’ in the tent and found other kids already standing there, discussing it.

“You too, Senior Sister?” Xi Zhao said.

“What about you, Junior Sister?”

“Same,” Wan Lan replied, seeming confused as well.

“Senior Brother Tao, do you know what’s happening?” His eyebrows twitched for a moment as he found himself stumped.

He prided himself on always having an answer–yet, now, he… didn’t.

And… well, Dai Xiu, Xi Zhao, and even Light gasped in shock at his silence, as though his not knowing was otherworldly. Which, in their defense, it was, in a way. He who had experienced every storm of the cosmos now couldn’t explain why everyone suddenly started cultivating faster.

That was when the tent flaps parted and a tired-seeming figure walked in.

… that was the only explanation. But… how?

Just how?

Though Long Tao was very much aware by now that this strange Master of his had the ability to manufacture arts (within some constraints that he was yet to fully comprehend) and that he even hid a few strange artifacts that could not be explained simply, this went… well beyond all of that.

This was altering the very nature itself, something only those at the cusps of becoming Emperors could just faintly do. Even Emperors and Empresses had finite restrictions on their ability to alter the laws of nature, as ‘playing’ too much with them always resulted in a massive, and oftentimes deadly, backlash.

“What’s wrong, everyone?”

“Ah, Master! We’re all suddenly cultivating faster and trying to figure out why!” Dai Xiu replied.

“Oh, that. Don’t worry about it.”

“Eh? Master, is it your doing?”

“Ah, of course! Of course it was Master!”

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“Hm, it makes sense.” No, no, it doesn’t! Long Tao screamed inwardly, feeling his heart thump just a decibel louder than usual. “Of course the Master has the means to do this.”

… Long Tao watched in abject defeat how everyone just accepted it nonchalantly–even Wan Lan, to a degree–that this aged, bearded figure smiling faintly can alter the laws of nature for their benefit.

No, no, no.

It was one thing to create arts, entirely another to do… this.

No, wait, maybe it is an art? Long Tao mused inwardly, figuring that it would probably last for a little while and eventually disperse.

Twelve hours later, the night had fallen, everyone was either meditating or sleeping, and Long Tao was on the verge of ripping out his hair.

It was still there.

Twelve hours.

There was no way that it was some random art. The man did, indeed, somehow manage to alter the laws of nature, but also to such a focused spot that, even as they moved, the effect persisted.

None of the other kids seemed to find anything untoward about it, but Long Tao…

He took a deep breath and calmed himself down. He’d already decided, a long while back, to take this strange Master of his to the Haven and find him an Immortal Seed. But… he now began to dream and harbor thoughts that he had otherwise buried, even in his past life.