by Virlyce
The crane-like man grunted. Three bolts of red lightning struck the white light at the same time, cracking it. Everyone operating the barrier spat out a mouthful of blood, the sound of groaning accompanying the splattering of liquid. Was it just me or did that lightning have killing intent? And that killing intent was clearly pointed at me, not Lucia.
“Whew, good job, everyone,” Lucia said, clapping her hands together once. “You saved the altar. That’s what you wanted to protect, right?”
But Lucia. The tribulation wasn’t finished yet. The storm clouds were swirling around and around, forming a vortex above the temple. Red lightning streaked back and forth across the sky, gathering in the center of the spinning clouds like a ball. Then purple lightning surged towards the vortex from outside of my view, dyeing the ball of lightning black.
“This isn’t a saint-realm tribulation anymore!” one of the operators of the barrier shouted as he climbed to his feet. “If I stay, I’ll die! Forgive me, Senior White!”
“Forgive me, Senior White!”
The ten or so people who were operating the barrier rose to their feet and fled, rushing out of the temple’s entrance. Mm, they were spineless despite having the strength of a legendary-realm expert. Perhaps I should call them saint-realm experts? After all, when in Flusia, do as the Flusians do.
“What about your disciples!?” the crane-like man shouted. His face was flushed, and veins bulged against his skin as a storm of qi flew out of his body, reinforcing the barrier. “If the transportation array is destroyed, how will they return?”
As expected, the people who ran away didn’t respond. Only the old lady and the crane-like man were operating the barrier now, and they didn’t seem to be in good shape. Another two balls of black lightning had formed in the clouds. Does everyone go through a tribulation when they become a saint-realm expert? Maybe it only occurs on the Immortal Continent. It would explain why this man has a barrier specially made to counter tribulation lightning. If one of their disciples broke through to the saint realm inside of our pocket world, then a tribulation would be waiting for them when they came out. Of course, I could be completely wrong, but if I’m right, then this tribulation’s for the three of us: Lucia, Puppers, and me.
And what was Lucia doing? Oh, she was going through all the treasures I stored inside her interspacial ring before I transported us here. And … she took out an instant-teleportation button. She only has three of those, all of them taken from Cain. Lucia wrapped her arm around Ilya’s shoulders and whispered into the poor demon’s ear, “If the barrier breaks, we’re teleporting away.”
“I refuse to run away from a measly saint-realm tribulation!” the crane-like man shouted. He raised both his arms up, and hundreds of shining weapons appeared out of nowhere, surging past the barrier and towards the storm clouds. Like a provoked lion, the tribulation roared in response, sending down the three balls of black lightning at the same time. The weapons and lightning collided.
The crane-like man coughed out another mouthful of blood as all the weapons he had sent into the air were destroyed, but at least, they had destroyed a ball of lightning as well. Then the two remaining balls crashed against the barrier, shattering it and drawing out another mouthful of blood from the crane-like man. The old lady from the Star Phoenix Sect let out a pitiful scream as she exploded. She literally exploded into a bloody mist. Holy crap. If one of those things hit Lucia…! There was still one ball of black lightning left! Dodge it, Lucia! Dodge it! Too bad she can’t hear me.
Lucia stiffened like a frightened squirrel, her arms jerking upwards to her chest like a t-rex. The instant-teleportation button in her hand flew towards the ball of lightning and collided against it. The lightning swallowed it up as it rushed towards Lucia’s head. Doomed. She was going to—the lightning disappeared. …It’s gone? Don’t tell me the button teleported it away. I think…, I think it really did. But the teleportation range on those buttons aren’t very far….
With a thundering crash, the temple’s wall shattered as the ball of black lightning surged towards Lucia once again. Luckily for Lucia, but unluckily for Senior White, Senior White happened to be in the way of the lightning and Lucia. He screamed as the lightning made contact with his body…, and then he exploded, taking the lightning with him.
Lucia stared at the bloody puddles on the ground. One belonged to the old lady from the Star Phoenix Sect, and the other belonged to Senior White. She cleared her throat and looked up at the sky. The tribulation clouds were gone—only a blue sky could be seen. Lucia blinked and pinched Ilya.
“Ow!”
Lucia nodded. “So I’m not dreaming.”
“Why’d you pinch me to check if you were dreaming!?” Tears poured down Ilya’s face. “I wish this was a dream! You, you—guah!” She sobbed as she bent her legs and buried her face into her knees.
Oh, the lightning restraining my core was gone. It seems like I can exit mini-DalDal now. That tribulation really was meant for me, huh? Well, it’s a good thing there were some kind strangers willing to help us out. Perhaps this world is friendlier than I thought. …Who am I kidding? Would a friendly world explode people with lightning?
***
I nearly pooped myself. That black lightning, wow. If I didn’t freeze up and accidentally throw away the instant-teleportation button, then I’d probably be dead. Even if I crushed it like I planned to, then that ball of lightning would’ve followed and zapped me. I mean, I was totally planning on teleporting the ball of lightning away. Aren’t I a genius? …I’m scared. What kind of world did Durandal force me into!?
“Lucia.”
Speak of the devil. Where was Durandal this whole time?
“Don’t look so angry.” Durandal patted my head and rubbed my ears. It’s hard to be mad at him when he does this. It’s not fair. But I’m still mad! …Mm, a little more to the left, please. “I couldn’t come out to help you because of the lightning.”
“Is that a saint weapon spirit!?”
Hmm? Who was eyeing Durandal? The people who had run away from the barrier were crowding around the entrance to the temple. What were those glints in their eyes for? Oh! The selfless senior’s interspacial ring! I almost missed out on this. It’s a bit bloody, but I’m no stranger to blood. I’ll check what’s inside after I leave all these prying eyes. “…I should remove the witnesses.” Isn’t that what Durandal had taught me?
Durandal stopped patting my head. Why? He drew his weapon, dashed towards the entrance, and shouted, “Breaking Blade!” Weird. He didn’t use up any of my qi at all, but there was plenty of qi inside his attack. Durandal can only use qi from his owner or from spirit stones, and all our spirit stones are in my interspacial ring. Don’t tell me he found a new owner.... Which bitch stole Durandal from me!? Whose qi is he using!?
“Ah! Lucia! You’re crushing me!”
Oops. I squeezed Ilya’s arm a bit too hard. I forgot to let go of her after the generous senior exploded. What was I thinking about before this…? Oh, right. “Durandal!”
Someone screamed, but it didn’t last very long because a head flew into the air. Gah! Why is Durandal murdering people!? We just had to silence them! “Wait! Durandal! What are you doing!?”
Durandal paused, and the remaining people at the entrance froze as well. “Didn’t you want to silence them?”
“Well, yeah, but we can just cut their tongues out, right?” Without a tongue, people can’t speak. Then no one will know. Mhm. …But tongues grow back, so I’ll have to get Ilya to cast an anti-healing spell.
“And if they write out a message?”
Ah, right. I forgot about words. How come other people can read and I can’t? Life’s not fair. “Then we’ll cut off their arms too.”
“They can draw on the ground with their legs.”
“Cut those off too!” Why are there so many ways to communicate a message!?
“They can answer questions by blinking their eyes. One blink for yes and two blinks for no.”
“Pop their eardrums then.” There has to be a way to silence someone other than killing them! I don’t want to be labeled as an evil person the instant I enter a new world. I have to be stronger than everyone in the world first before I can be evil! Then no one can punish me. Right, I have to lie low and become stronger, strong enough to destroy that tribulation lightning with a sneeze at the very least!
“But, ah, what if they use the tops of their heads to write out a message in the mud?”
“Then cut their heads … off.” Wait a minute. I feel like I’ve been bamboozled.
Another person screamed as his head flew into the air.
“Durandal!”
“What? I’m just following your orders.”
“I didn’t order you to do anything!” I was just answering questions! Those weren’t orders!
“If I may suggest a solution, Madam Squirrel.”
Hmm? What was this person’s name again? Black devil’s shoe? “Alright. Let’s hear it.” I’m open to suggestions, unlike Durandal. He pretends to be open to my suggestions, but he ignores them and does whatever he wants instead. For a while, I wanted to train him like I trained Puppers, but I don’t want to break Durandal’s soul. …I broke Puppers’ soul? Who said that? I treat Puppers very nicely! I feed him a meal every other month!
“We can swear oaths to the heavens like so,” the shoe person said. “I swear on the heavens that I will never let anyone know of what has occurred today. If I break my oath, then let the heavens strike me dead!” A beam of light fell down from the sky and illuminated him.
…Did he really think that’d work? “Sorry, but I don’t believe in, uh, the heavens.” Even Ilya can make herself light up like a flashlight. How dumb did this person think I was?
The shoe person furrowed his brow. “But it really works.”
“Prove it,” Durandal said. He pointed his sword at one of the trembling people. “Make an oath to the heavens and break it. I want to see what happens.”
“But, Senior, if I do that, I’ll die!” the man said.
Durandal sighed and another head flew into the air. Stop killing them! “Look,” Durandal said. “If these oaths really work, then only one of you has to die instead of all of you. Aren’t I a generous man? I’ll let you decide who will make the oath between yourselves.”
The shoe person stared at me with a strange expression. “Like I thought, you’re perfect for the Shadow Devil Sect. No wonder why your heart devil qi is so thick.”
A shiver ran down my spine. Was I being recruited? But I don’t want to join a Shadow Devil Sect! It sounds so ominous! That’ll definitely get me hunted down by other people for being evil! While Durandal handled silencing the people, I decided to think ahead and figure out what to do for the future. “Are there any good sects?”
“Good? The Shadow Devil Sect is one of the five fingers of Kong County. Only the other four fingers can see eye to eye with us. Everyone else is below us.”
“Err, that’s not what I meant by good. You know, good, like, uh, loved by the people kind of good.”
“The Shadow Devil Sect is loved by the people. People love strength. Millions of cultivators flock to our sect every year for our entrance examinations.”
“Millions?” Ilya asked. Hey, it looked like she finally recovered from whatever she was suffering. She just hadn’t been herself recently. An Ilya that isn’t doubtful isn’t an Ilya at all. “That’s impossible.”
“I’m not lying,” the shoe person said. He glared at Ilya before snorting. “Just a mortal-realm junior, what would you know?”
Ilya rolled her eyes and tugged on my sleeve. “You know, the population in our world was close to two million people. Now he’s saying millions of people go to his sect yearly. Think of how big our world was and how much space is required to host millions of people.” Ilya stared into my eyes. “I believe even someone like you can figure it out.”
…You know, math isn’t really my strong suit. But Ilya believes in me! So I’ll just read her subtle hints that are yelling at me to agree with her. “Ilya’s right. Do you think I’m dumb?”
Black devil’s shoe cleared his throat. “Your world is a tiny one. Very, very tiny. If—”
BOOM!
Holy crap! That was loud. …What was that? Durandal was standing by a pile of ashes, nudging it around with his sword. “Huh, interesting,” Durandal said with a nod. “Those oaths really work.
Oh, those ashes used to be a person. Err, did I say I didn’t believe in the heavens? Ah-ha-ha, it was a slip of the tongue! I swear! …But not to the heavens. Please don’t zap me.
***
Why me? What did I do to deserve this? I want to go home. This is all Cain’s fault for telling Durandal how to get here! The instant I entered a new world with Lucia, lightning rained down and killed someone above the legendary realm. I feel like a child forced to write a thesis to graduate from an academy. I’m not prepared for this at all! Please, if there’s a lord out there looking down on everyone, there’s only one thing I ask: let me go home.
I sucked in my breath to gather my courage. “Excuse me, Black Devil Shu.”
“Like I was saying,” Black Devil Shu said, “your world is very tiny compared to this one.”
“That’s not what I wanted to ask about. Is there any way for me to return to the pocket realm?” Surely there has to be. If it opened once, it can open again. Besides, the people inside have to leave too, right? That definitely means there’s a way back in!
“Return? Yes, of course,” Black Devil Shu said. “You just need an entry pearl created by a sky-realm expert. Sky-realm experts can open pocket realms quite easily.”
It’s that easy? There has to be a catch. “Do you have one of those pearls?”
“No. Kong County is given ten entry pearls every five hundred years. One is used per pocket realm.”
“Given? By whom?”
Shu coughed and turned his head to the side. “Kong County doesn’t have any sky-realm experts. We’re part of the King Province which has nine other counties the same size as ours under its governance.”
This place is way too big. Though, this person could be lying to me. He does have an extremely sketchy-sounding name. “In other words, for me to return home, I need to find or become a sky-realm expert.”
“Precisely.”
It seems like it’s going to be an extremely long time before I can see my father again. If nine circles encompass the mortal realm, then it’d make sense for each realm to be nine circles as well, right? Then I’d need 28 circles…? I guess the only thing I can do is cling to Lucia and wait for the day she becomes a sky-realm expert. I … never thought I’d be rooting for her to become stronger.
“W-we can’t do that!” someone shouted.
Ugh, what was Lucia doing now? She and Durandal were standing in front of the poor natives of the Immortal Continent with their arms across their chests. She really likes copying him; I wonder if she does it consciously. Lucia snorted as she leaned forward and squinted at one of her prisoners. I describe them as prisoners because, for some reason, they don’t want to run away. If they scattered, I’m sure a few of them would survive. The man gulped audibly, and Lucia patted his shoulder while asking, “And why can’t you?”
“We already gave you the tribute! Please, let us off!” The man dropped to his knees and hit his forehead against the ground. The natives really like kowtowing, huh? Don’t they feel any sense of shame?
“Excuse me, Madam Squirrel,” Black Devil Shu said. “What seems to be the issue now?”
Lucia puffed her cheeks out and glared at her captives. “They won’t give me their stuff!”
The men made noises of disagreement. “That’s not true! We gave her the proper tributes!”
“Tribute smibute,” Lucia said and drew her sword. “When I demand all your items, you give me all your items! Don’t think I’m dumb enough to believe you only have pouches of spirit stones on you.”
&nbs
p; “Ah, Madam Squirrel,” Black Devil Shu said. “Common etiquette in the Immortal Continent is to take only the tribute while robbing someone. Taking anymore can incur the wrath of the sects behind them. Or it can bring about a lifelong grudge that has to end in one person’s death.”
“If someone’s dying, it won’t be me,” Lucia said. “And they swore to never speak about today’s events! No one will know if I rob them.”
“Madam Squirrel, the tributes are already five percent of their net worth. As a rogue cultivator, you don’t want to make enemies so early on.” Black Devil Shu smiled at Lucia, trying to placate her. Too bad Lucia only had eyes for Durandal. And Durandal was an even greedier monster than Lucia.
Lucia’s eyes widened. “Five percent!? That’s…, that’s…! Ilya!”
Hmm? Why is Lucia bringing me into this!? “Y-yes?”
“Is five percent a lot or a little?”
I couldn’t stop the sigh from leaving my mouth. Was five percent a lot? It depends on who you ask. If I had to give up five percent of my net worth to save my life, I’d do it in a heartbeat. So no, it wasn’t a lot at all. Even fifty percent wasn’t worth much. Heck, I’d give up 95% of my net worth to return home right now. “It’s a little. Very, very little. You should ask for twenty times more.”
“You hear that?” Lucia asked, glaring at the captives. “I want twenty times more than five percent of everything!”
It’s not something to be flattered about, but I really like how Lucia trusts me when it comes to important decisions involving numbers. Would I ever betray Lucia by shortchanging her while watching over her finances? Hell no, I’m not an idiot.
“But that’s demanding everything from us!”
Everything except your lives. Which are the most important things, right? I gave them a completely fair price.
“You can keep your underwear,” Lucia said with a nod. “I’m not a pervert.”