Chapter 321 – Truths and Lies (VII)

Chapter 321

Truths and Lies (VII)

They were monsters, all of them.

Lu Yuhan already suspected as much, but watching them battle had confirmed it–even if they were placed in the Order, they would be cultivated into Replacement Vessels rather than becoming Life Qi sources.

He’d spent every day since he saw that young boy draw out his blade trying to dig into their background, but… there was none. It seemed as though they truly were all Disciples of that less-than-ordinary-seeming man seated among the masses. There was nothing unique about him–not the appearance, not the cultivation realm, and certainly not the talent.

Comparatively, he was nothing against his Disciples–a pebble put up next to a mountain, even. And yet, they were all more than simply obedient.

Lu Yuhan was certain that the man had used some sort of Demonic Art to brainwash them or had used Mind-Twisting Worms or Parasites to instill that sense of loyalty in them, but… that wasn’t the case. The only trace of Demonic Qi that he could discern came from the oldest girl of the group, but that was simply because she was of the Demonic Cult. Though she hid her arts well enough through yet another, what the world could not see… how could he not?

“He really is amazing!” his daughter exclaimed. “T-they all are!” Indeed, they were. But Lu Yuhan worried.

… why were they here?

These were Fate-Shapers, as his Master called them–kids meant to distort and destroy the facade of reality, unmaking it and remaking it into the image they desired. They were not bound by the karmic laws, they were not chained by the Dao Laws, and they were not beholden to the same Heavens the rest of the world was.

And yet, they were here, in the backwater nowhere, playing at something only children participated in.

They didn’t need to be here–by all accounts, they should be heading for the Nirvana Frontier and assisting against the H’thaw’s Invasion, ripping through the cultivation realms until they were ready for their Ascension.

And yet, here they were, coincidentally at the same place he was.

While most might pass it off truly as that, a mere coincidence, Lu Yuhan wasn’t most people. He didn’t believe in the randomness of the cosmos–not to this degree, anyway.

He shifted his focus onto the last arena, where a girl that seemed no older than ten was facing a woman thrice her age. Grimacing faintly, he glanced to the side where he saw his daughter shift in her seat, leaning further forward.

“Did you have to pair a child against the Cruel Mother?” he asked.

“He he, isn’t that perfect? I need to see them. I need to see their perfection.”

“…” Lu Yuhan sighed.

Though he couldn’t claim to love his daughter as he had never loved anything in his life, he, at the very least, held more affection for her than anyone else. That was why he knew best just how demonstrably insane the child was. Incorrigible, in more ways than a few.

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The two on the floor chatted, as every other pairing before, silently enough that likely nobody besides Lu Yuhan himself could hear them.

“Little girl, why don’t you–” or, Cruel Mother, at the very least, tried to chat.