16.1. Relationships and Seclusion

“…” Mue Dian watched silently as the group hovered above Blood Mirror Lake. Vibrant blue water hiding a bloody mist in its depths expanding in every direction for over a hundred kilometers.

Faust was rubbing his brows trying to talk to Damarius, who was being vague with what he actually wanted to stop here for.

The sky was an overcast gray almost as far as she could see. A few drops of rain were spitting down in a very light pour.

“So you need some Ruby Eyed Koi from here for your Bloody Star Spear Art?” Faust asked Damarius with exasperation, pulling down his face with his hands.

“I required a bloody eye from Blood Mirror Lake.” Damarius repeated, for what must have been the twentieth time. Faust threw his hands up in the air and moved his flying sword closer to the old alchemist, Dan Chen.

“I’ve never heard of this ‘bloody eye’. Have you?”

Dan Chen stroked the stubble of his beard for a moment, looking down at the water from his flying sword. “I believe that the eye of Ruby eyed Koi is sometimes described as a bloody eye… But I’m unsure what its use would be as an external material.”

Mue Dian looked away.

Sirius was making conversation with Phaleica and Sue Jane, who briefly glanced at her and Persius’s direction.

The two locked eyes for a moment, then Sue Jane gave a light scoff before returning to conversation.

Normally, Mue Dian would have called her out, but this time, she just looked down silently.

Persius had been rather silent the whole time, looking far off into the distance, while the 3 outer sect disciples that had been with them were listening animatedly to Satheon’s recounting of fighting a Flood Dragon.

For a few hours, the group stayed like that, until Faust finally called the rescue team and handed out some parchments with different symbols on them. The group then spread out into a large circle and blue mist rose from each of them before seeping into the parchment.

The ink symbols began to glow white before rising from the parchment. Faust made some hand signs and a circle of glowing blue Qi appeared, encompassing the glowing symbols.

Dan Chen began writing some symbols while Faust did the same on the other side of the circle, which slowly rotated. After a few minutes, the circle was filled up and Faust called everyone to just wait for a while until the formation array caught some fish and pulled them out of the water.

It didn’t take long for a small silver fish to shoot out of the water with a splash before coming to a stop in the center of the formation.

A few more fish quickly followed.

A 2nd level beast, a dark green serpent with some golden scales was also pulled thrashing and squirming out of the water. It went limp after a few moments when Yue Zong shot it with an arrow though.

After another few hours, several of the Ruby eyed Koi had been caught and the formation deactivated, with Faust, Sirius, Dan Chen and Phaleica sorting through the useful and useless low level spirit fish they had caught.

Not long after, the group was continuing towards the Clear Mirror Sect.

Seeing the group had become silent on the journey, Mue Dian glanced at Faust and Sirius’s backs.

She took a deep breath.

“Uhm… Sirius, Faust…” She called out hesitantly.

Sirius ignored her, but Faust turned and after a moment, slowed down a bit to fall back to where Mue Dian was. Sirius sighed and followed Faust.

Persius perked up and flew closer.

The four drifted a distance away from everyone else.

There was an awkward silence.

“Well?” Sirius asked annoyedly, “Do you have something to say or not?”

“…” Mue Dian’s instincts screamed to argue, but she resisted. After taking a deep breath, Mue Dian bowed while still on her flying sword.

“I’m sorry.” She said, her lips trembling as she spoke.

Sirius looked down at her, but didn’t say anything.

Persius also bowed deeply beside Mue Dian.

“I see…” Faust spoke, like he was regarding some ordinary piece of news.

His tone stung in Dian’s gut and she felt her throat choke.

“So dishonest.” Sirius spat, “You have the right idea but why don’t you be more specific. Me and Faust did everything we could for you. Did you know Faust burst into the Mirror Hall and had to interrupt the Nascent Soul elder there? Have you ever even stood in front of a Golden Core expert?”

“Huuu….” Mue Dian exhaled heavily, every word twisting like a knife in her gut.

“I’m sorry for not listening to you. I’m sorry for not using the foundation laying method you bought. I’m sorry for wasting all my merit. I apologise for not taking your warnings to heart.” Mue Dian apologised, squeezing her eyes shut.

“…” Sirius still looked at them with narrowed eyes, but her expression had softened from outright anger.

Faust was stroking his chin, his eyes unfocused, before he suddenly looked Mue Dian in the eyes.

“Then, what do you plan to do from now on? I have my own cultivation to focus on, a little sister I hope to support and I still need to help Sirius with correcting her current foundation. Among other plans I have.” Faust asked.

“…” Mue Dian thought for a moment, then opened her eyes and looked to Persius at the side. Persius met her eyes, then slumped his shoulders and sighed.

“We will stop taking any dangerous missions, any of which we will be required to fight Open Palace realm beasts or higher.” Persius spoke the longest sentence Mue Dian had ever heard from him. Or perhaps he had spoken more when discussing poison and medicine with Faust in the past.

“We will…” Persius sighed again. “Abandon combat as our primary immortal profession… And focus on another profession.”

Mue Dian scrunched her face tightly, not wanting to hear the words. She had spent the last 15 years honing her spear skills, she barely knew anything else. She would be starting from scratch, learning the same things as those Qi Refining disciples from the latest generation. At least Persius had dabbled a lot in poisons and medicine.

Still.

After the latest mission, Dian had realised her own weakness. She also understood why Sirius had led her to fight with Sue Jane— who was far from being considered strong, among the Inner Sect.

The Jade Toad had just been an early realm Open Palace equivalent, a barely 3rd level beast. But her own and Persius’s —what she now realised were 3rd rate foundations— had been too inadequate. When they had first been ambushed by the beast, Mue Dian had felt like she was only a half step Open Palace realm cultivator. Perhaps Faust’s honest opinion would be that she was.

Faust had always been picky, with strict standards and a severe level of perfectionism that bordered on being a heart demon.

Mue Dian looked up. Sirius and Faust were staring at her and Persius.

Faust sighed, letting his shoulders drop.

“That’s a good decision,” he said. The words were like a punch to the gut to that last bit of hope Mue Dian held. “Theres nothing that you can do now that you’ve already partially solidified your spirit body. If you stall yourself here and spend a few years researching, you may find a way to match a 2nd rate foundation. But… You should both think about what to do in the future… You won’t reach the Golden Core realm in your lifetime.”

“Ku!—” A choked sob erupted from Mue Dian but she forcibly suppressed it at the last moment. Faust had never been wrong. Ever. His judgment had been nothing but flawless in all the years she had known him.

Faust made some hand signs and a thin barrier appeared around the four. “It’s alright. We were all stupid at one point. Maturity and state of mind is one of the largest obstacles to immortality.”

Find this and other great novels on the author’s preferred platform. Support original creators!

Mue Dian couldn’t hold back anymore and burst into tears, sobbing.

Sirius looked away guiltily.

Persius was as stoic as always, but even he looked like he had had the blood drained from him.

Mue Dian didn’t know how long she was like that. She only knew that they had arrived back at the sect and Persius had offered her a handkerchief to remove the traces of tears.

⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀

Faust waited with Sirius inside the mission hall. The two waited silently instead of playing their good scholar bad scholar game. The rewards for emergency missions were already generous.

The rest of the group had already split up, returning to rest.

Persius had helped Mue Dian —who looked ready to collapse— back to her home in the Inner sect.

Thinking over the day, Faust was glad that he had talked to Mue Dian and Persius. Even if it was hard to listen to.

While waiting for the deacon to process the mission, Faust looked down at Sirius. She was resting against his side, staring idly at a corner of the hall. She had been rather clingy since the talk with Mue Dian and Persius.

Soon, the two left the mission hall after taking care of some minor details of the mission with the deacon.

They walked in silence for a while.

“It’s scary isn’t it?” Sirius asked.