Chapter 25- The Foxes’ Tails are Hard to Hide

“A job that will only take a minute, Teacher?” Tian asked, all wide eyed innocence.

“Not much more than a minute, in the grand scheme of things. Considering the totality of the dao and the cycle of the universe. Do pay attention. You can’t always rely on a handsome face and quick wit to get you out of trouble, Young Tian.” Voidcatcher wagged a webbed finger at him.

Tian bowed apologetically. “Your student will remember!” He held the bow a moment longer, then looked up. “I’m being sent to my death, aren’t I?”

“Nonsense. If you volunteer, it won’t be me ‘sending you’ but you ‘courting death.’ And not just you. Your dao companion too.”

Tian thought that sounded much more plausible. “Teacher is a master of eloquence and vivid insight, Student is not his match. Could you just elaborate on what this… fun and exciting opportunity is?”

Merciless chuckled. It might not have been intended to be a menacing chuckle. “He didn’t say it was fun or exciting. Although I suspect it will certainly be exciting.”

Tian bowed politely to the monstrous elder. Auspicious beast or not, the Xiexi scared him.

“At our stage of cultivation, it is inconvenient for us to rush out of the Holy Land and take care of things on our own in the Low Country. That is what disciples are for, or in our case, students.” Voidcatcher was maintaining his genial voice. The hairs on the back of Tian’s neck, already raised, were now on full alert.

“You two are brand new sigh Heavenly Realm cultivators. Short on spirit crystals, weapons, armor, medicine, arts, everything.” Voidcatcher’s voice got even more genial, verging on chummy.

“Let me give you something in the way of a free tip. Just to continue being a good person after letting you cultivate in my garden. Young hero Hong, I believe you hold the money in your family? Kindly provide your husb- dao companion with a spirit crystal, and take one for yourself. Good. Now. Try cultivating your qi again.”

They did as they were told. The effect was significant. Even with the thick, qi filled air, the spirit crystals almost quadrupled their efficiency. They didn’t last long, however. Each crystal only held up for a few cycles of their arts. Once the crystals were empty, they shattered into grey powder. Tian and Hong shared a long, speculative look.

It really was easy to understand their seniors, once they stood in their shoes. Tian was finding banditry more appealing by the minute. Grandpa’s frequent exhortations to adventure and casual reminders that “Blood lubricates wealth, and eases its slide into your purse,” now seemed even more pointed.

Voidcatcher chuckled, clearly not needing to read their minds to read their minds. “Yes, that’s right. The Heavenly Realm is a mad dash for resources and accumulation, where every possible edge could mean the difference between life and death down the road. Not very far down the road either.”

He let the moment marinate. Tian sighed and cupped his fist. “What is it that we incapable students can possibly do for the honored teachers? And what shall our earnings be?”

“I have a descendant, quite distant, still living in the human realm below. I only consider those who manifest a trace of my bloodline to be a descendant, to be clear. He surely has fully human siblings.” Elder Merciless took over.

“He has no fate with immortality, though should he live through the current tribulation, he will likely achieve great things, for a mortal human. Heretics and foreign magicians are hunting him. More to the point, the people behind the heretics and foreign magicians are in the Heavenly Realm. Go kill them, see to it that he is reasonably safe from cultivators, or as safe as a mortal can be, and then you can return.”

Elder Merciless waved a paw, and a long, brutal spear landed on the ground with a thud. Tian could feel panic clawing at him at the sight of it. The spear head looked like a horn mounted on the end of a thick wooden shaft. Sheer fury boiled off it, and a desperate craving for slaughter.

“One of my old horns, shed when I was just a youth. I rewarded a student with it in the past, and they turned it into a spear. Eventually, the student died and the spear returned to me. I will give it to you in advance. You will need it.” The auspicious beast let them feel the force of his glare, nearly knocking out the two juniors. “I know you will complete the task perfectly.”

“As for myself? It seems that you only found half of my beloved disciple.” Voidcatcher sounded grimly amused by that fact. “I paid off… a certain diviner…”

Tian and Liren narrowed their eyes.

“Who is in no way related to that troublemaker Starsieve,”

They slightly relaxed, though there was still a certain tightness.

“And she determined that his other half is still in the human kingdom below, probably towards the south. Laying very low. He would be somewhere with decent qi density and notable good fortune in these unfortunate times.”

Tian nodded. “Like I said, I always liked Old Toad, and am happy to help him. Though… half?”

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“He reincarnated into two bodies, each holding a mix of his heavenly souls. Don’t worry about the technical details, you won’t touch on this stuff until you reach the Perfected Human Realm, or a bit later. Suffice to say, the cycle of reincarnation is not easily cheated, and it is not too surprising that his souls went a bit astray.”

Tian thought that sounded fair, in an insane sort of way.

“And our fee?” Liren asked.

“No payment in advance from me, I’m afraid, nor a weapon. Just a ring, a cutting and a book, yours when my beloved disciple’s other half returns to me.” Voidcatcher waved a webbed hand and behind him, a tree faded into existence. It had always been there, Tian knew. It was just that he had never noticed it before. Somehow. All hundred feet of it.