Chapter 29: Quest

Chapter 29: Quest

I set out before dawn, right before the sun had begun to rise above the horizon. Purple hues splashed across the sky mixed in with red and blue as the morning sun made its presence known.

Labby sat on my shoulders, her nose sniffing the smell of the grass carried by the early morning breeze. The Qi was gentler this early, less turbulent, and I could still sense the hints of Lunar Qi from the night present in the air.

I’d packed my pills for the day, letting an old man know I may be out for a while. I’d wondered if leaving Labby behind would be the better choice, but with her excitable nature and how she loved to stick by me, I ended up deciding to take her with me.

“Labby can take care of herself!”

She protested with a squeak, and I laughed in reply as she thumped her feet in protest. Light sparks of lightning crackled around and I pet her head gently.

“Should I leave you back home then? You can take care of yourself after all, so there’s no need to bring you along with me, is there?” I said with a slight smile.

“Labby wants to go with the Great Master, but she can also take care of herself. Labby is stronger now too!” she exclaimed as sparks crackled across her once more and I shook my head. I couldn’t deny her growth with her breakthrough. Her Qi now changed as well with her new insight.

I continued on my way, bickering with Labby and answering her questions about the things I’d been teaching her. The sect gates appeared a few minutes later, my gaze falling upon the boy’s figure standing in the distance.

I saw Yi Liuxiang turn towards me as he sensed my presence. Hurrying slightly, I walked closer as he greeted me with a slight bow.

“This one thanks Senior for accepting this one’s offer,” he said, and I nodded. “Zhi Zhu greets senior, and his spirit,” I heard a voice whispering, an odd high pitched and clicky sound coming from nearby.

My gaze shifted to the large black spider on Yi Liuxiang’s shoulder, that I’d somehow mixed in with his long hair. I felt the hair on my arms rise for a moment as eight eyes stared at me.

“Labby doesn’t like Zhi Zhu,” Labby spoke in my mind, crackling nervously with sparks. Taking a moment to hide my surprise, I nodded to the spider as I saw it click its jaw

“I should be the one thanking you for the opportunity. I probably would’ve been lost all by myself if I’d been trying to earn the sect tokens,” I replied as I heard Labby squeak.

“Also, you really don’t need to be so respectful. I’m not much older or higher in cultivation. You can call me Lu Jie, I won’t mind,” I told the boy who stared at me silently for a moment. I wasn’t used to being called Senior. The term made me feel extremely awkward.

“If Senior says so,” the boy said, and I wanted to sigh.

“Not if we run, I suspect it’ll be midday by the time we arrive,” the boy said and I stared at him. Guess we were sprinting a marathon.

***

The wind blew up hair as the hills passed by in a blur. Labby had returned to sitting comfortably in my pouch. Qi thrummed in my body and I marvelled at the ridiculous speed both of us were running at.

I really hadn’t been doing much physical work or testing my limits as a cultivator. Something that I should probably rectify. The cold breeze against my skin with Qi pulsing in my core as the world seemed to fly by, was a sensation that I found difficult to describe and I almost found myself laughing. I was almost tempted to let both my arms up in the air, behind my back like a certain ninja. It’d be far too silly but the temptation was strong.

Time had passed by in a blur, with some conversations happening here and there for the first few hours, before I’d simply enjoyed the silent change of the scenery, admiring the strange spirit beasts that went about their lives every so often.

“Senior looks pleased,” Yi Liuxiang commented, and I turned to look at the boy. His hair was tied together in a tight knot that let the lush black hair down to his shoulders now, as they flew in the wind behind him.

“I don’t get the chance to run like this too often,” I replied, not feeling even slightly out of breath.

“It is indeed quite pleasing, isn’t it? Just letting yourself out in the wind, free of the restraints of the world. Almost as if we were the wind itself, blowing freely wherever we wished to be,” the boy said. I smiled, a bit surprised at the casual language he had switched to, but glad for it nonetheless.

“It is quite pleasing, yes. Something you do often,” I asked the boy and saw his smile falter for a moment.

“This one wishes, but no. Opportunities are rare and few, and this one isn’t esteemed enough to serve as a messenger to the lords, the task often left to higher realm cultivators,” the boy said.

“Lords? Are you perhaps from one of the larger clans?” I asked the boy, who continued to run in silence for a moment.

“This one’s father is,” the boy said, before falling quiet.

The answer was obvious enough and I made no further comments on things.

“Taizhou is close,” Zhi Zhu whispered as I turned. A shallow stream stood in our path, far in the distance, beyond which I saw the village of Taizhou start to appear.

“Labby wants the lotus!” Labby said, crackling with sparks as I felt her excitement speeding up a bit.

It was time to begin our quest!