Chapter 12 | Banished From The Hero Party

“Only in adversity are true feelings revealed. You have helped me, fellow- uh… Daoi-“

Theo raised a brow at the cultivator. The man noticed the expression and cleared his throat. He tugged on his robe and adjusted his collar.

“You wake up and the first thing you do is start delivering proverbs?” Theo asked. He shook his head in disapproval. “If you are so wise, how did you find yourself in this situation?”

The cultivator’s shoulders fell. He looked around the saferoom like a guilty little child. Theo realized he might have gone a bit too far when he saw the look on the man’s face.

“S- Sorry. I guess I was just—” the cultivator mumbled.

“It’s okay. Just tell us your name and your goal for being in the tower.” Theo cut him off. You’re making me feel bad. What are you apologizing for? I should be the one apologizing.

Theo was sitting on the bed, legs crossed, his hand supporting his chin. Satou was huddled in a corner of the room, seemingly intending to let Theo handle the conversation. The cultivator was standing in front of Theo, fiddling with the sleeves of his daoist robe.

“I’m Long Tian,” he said after taking a deep breath. “Tower, you say? Is this peculiar structure a sacred realm in the form of a tower? You fellows look like those weird magicians from outside the Great Boundary.”

Furrowing his brows, Theo turned to look at Satou. The assassin shook his head and raised his arms to his sides. So he has no idea what this guy is talking about either.

“What do you mean, the Great Boundary?” Theo asked. The cultivator tipped his head in confusion. Then, however, a scowl of realization blossomed on his face. He bit his fingernail and started mumbling as if he had lost his mind. He rambled on for a minute before he turned back toward Theo.

“I’m sorry, but what cultivation planet are we on? This is Planet Blue Marble, right?”

“What the hell is a cultivation planet? How is it different from a normal one?” Theo asked with his arms crossed. Terror filled Long Tian’s face.

“This… This is a lower realm? No, no, no…” He held his head between his hands. “That woman struck me down an entire realm?”

Suddenly, Long Tian sat down and crossed his legs. He closed his eyes, forming a hand sign. Then he reopened them a couple of seconds later.

“This qi density…”

Watching the cultivator spiral, Theo got up and stood by Satou’s side. He huddled close and started whispering.

“What do we do with him?” he asked.

“He seems like he needs help. I can’t sense any energy off of him.” Satou shook his head. Theo nodded along. Long Tian didn’t pose a threat to them, at least for now.

While they were busy talking, Long Tian had reached the end of his doom spiral. He walked up to them and did a deep martial bow.

“Please, weird magicians. I need to make it back home. Lend me a hand and this humble daoist would owe you for a lifetime!”

“Look, Long Tian,” Theo started with a sigh. “Even if we agreed, how the hell would we help you reach this… What was it again? Planet Blue Marble?”

“That…” Long Tian tried to respond. He bit his lip and frowned. Then his face lit up. “A teleportation array! There has to be one. Even a backwater cultivation planet would have one!”

Theo turned to look at Satou, who shrugged in response. Great. We know nothing to help this guy. Let me guess, he’ll-

“Then I have no choice but to ask the two benefactors to let me accompany them on their journey. My cultivation base seems to have dissipated, and this place is incredibly poor in qi. I do not think I will be able to survive on my own.”

Called it.

“I can barely understand half the words you are using, but we are willing to lend a hand,” Satou answered. It was as expected. With an archetype like that, it would have been weird if he hadn’t helped.

“Thank you, benefactors. Might I learn your names?”

“Satou Hiroshi,” the assassin answered. Theo kept staring at the cultivator with an indecisive frown.

With a sigh, he answered.

“Theo.”

Several hours of recovery and rest later, they set out once again. Their estimated arrival of “today” had turned into a “tomorrow maybe” because of the new member’s inclusion in their little party.

“I just noticed now, but we haven’t seen any entities for quite a while, have we?” Theo asked, taking a few quick steps to catch up to Satou. The assassin shook his head with a frown, but didn’t speak further.

“What entities are you talking about, something like magical beasts?” Long Tian asked. Theo raised a brow at Satou’s silence before slowing down, matching his pace with Long Tian’s.

“Uhh… Sort of? Not really, though. Don’t worry. You’ll eventually see.” It wasn’t like he could avoid entities completely before leaving the tower. The place practically crawled with those things. They had met one at least every couple of minutes. So far, that is.

Long Tian sighed at the answer. He gazed at the ceiling and frowned.

Reading on this site? This novel is published elsewhere. Support the author by seeking out the original.

“I can’t even see the stars here. I hope we can leave as soon as possible.”

“Yeah…” Theo mumbled along. For a moment, he too wondered how the sky of this world looked. Would it be the same as that of Earth? How about Long Tian’s planet? Was it even in the same universe?

“Say, how was that higher realm of yours? Got any stories to tell?”

Yes, he didn’t like Long Tian coming along, but that didn’t mean he hated the guy himself. Not to mention, he was curious about how a world of cultivation would actually work.

“Uhh…” Long Tian grabbed his chin and thought. “This might be a bit weird, but I don’t really know.”

“What? Did you lose your memories or something?” Theo asked. The guy did hit his head really hard while seizing back there.

“No, no. Nothing like that. It’s just that… I wasn’t allowed to go out until I reached Foundation Establishment. And I never really reached it…” he said with an apologetic smile. Theo raised an eyebrow.

“They restrained you?”

“Our sect’s patriarch, who is also my father, lived on the peak of the highest mountain,” he said, pride practically bleeding from his every word. Then, however, that smug smile was wiped off. “But you need to reach Foundation Establishment to use sword kinesis to fly. I couldn’t leave, rather than wasn’t allowed to. Yes, that would be more appropriate wording.”

“Wait. Am I getting this wrong, or are you implying that you have lived on top of a mountain your whole life? How old even are you?” Theo asked to clarify. He had read about sheltered young masters, but this was way beyond that.