Boss Tang rode his ship to the end of space, wanting to run as far away as possible from the harbinger of death.
“Bah! Bah! Bah!” Boss Tang slapped himself and complained: “Why did I hold this auction, damn it, to lure this disaster out of them all. I guess you get burned eventually when playing with fire.”
His tough position required him to carry out this plan. Alas, it failed to attract anyone outside of Li Qiye.
“Who are you trying to lure out?” A leisurely voice sounded behind him.
Boss Tang nearly jumped up after hearing it and thought about running. Alas, Li Qiye was already standing behind him.
“Man, please, you almost scared me to death.” Boss Tang sat down on his seat with a pained expression.
Li Qiye pulled another chair over and sat down in front of him. He said with a smile: “You’re too ballsy for that.”
“No way, I’m a coward at heart. Just the sound of you coughing breaks my courage.” Boss Tang complained.
“A coward wouldn’t have excavated this tree.” Li Qiye said.
“Young Noble, please don’t misunderstand.” Boss Tang became anxious and raised both hands in protest: “I didn’t do that, I’m on your side.”
“Oh? If you are on my side, why did you run when you saw me as if I’m a ghost?” Li Qiye questioned.
“It wasn’t like that, I was just too excited to see you and my brains broke down. This damned ship malfunctioned and spatial leaped out of nowhere. Idiot ship, I should just throw it away.” Boss Tang defended himself.
“If I remember correctly, I had personally blessed this ship.” Li Qiye smirked.
“Uh, maybe it wasn’t the ship’s fault, it’s me, my mind has been rotting all this time.” Boss Tang immediately corrected himself.
“If it’s rotted, maybe I should fix it for you.” Li Qiye said.
“… Let’s not do that, I still need it to live.” Boss Tang said seriously.
“Okay, enough of this nonsense.” Li Qiye gently patted Boss Tang’s cheek and said: “Your father didn’t raise a coward. There is a reason why you fled to Eight Desolaces and then the six continents.”
Boss Tang stood there in silence as memories of his father resurfaced.
“What’s the matter? It’s not like you had a choice on who would be your father.” Li Qiye said: “Plus, the three geezers didn’t mistreat you either. If they had any prejudice, you wouldn’t be alive to dig up the tree.”
“You’re right, Big Brother.” Boss Tang took a deep breath and looked up, changing his demeanor.
“Let’s get to the main point.” Li Qiye said: “What actually happened?”
“Brother, you were amazing and brought unprecedented peace and prosperity to the world.” Boss Tang said bitterly.
“Doesn’t seem to be the case right now.” Li Qiye said.
“A monster appeared.” Boss Tang said: “I don’t even know how to describe it, no one could stop this devilish cultivator who seemed to be backed by immortals.”
“And the geezers?” Li Qiye became serious.
“I don’t know, several devastating battles occurred and nearly reduced everything to dust. I barely made it out alive.” Boss Tang waved his hand.
“What’s the origin?” Li Qiye stroked his chin in contemplation.
“I don’t know, the geezers might but they didn’t tell me. I had to prioritize my own survival and escaped the moment when things went wrong.” Boss Tang said.
“The destruction is immense?” Li Qiye said softly.
“Shattered worlds and dead emperors. A lot of rebuilding occurred only to be destroyed by more conflicts.” Boss Tang shrugged.
“And the old geezers?” Li Qiye asked.
“Different and conflicting information. They might be dead or have actually won, I don’t know.” Boss Tang said.
“Mmm, I can see that you didn’t give up. Your effort has rewarded you with this tree.” Li Qiye took the tree and carefully examined it.
Boss Tang chuckled dryly and confessed: “I followed the clues from a map left by my old man when I was younger. As I tried to survive in our broken world, I wondered if I should have brought more money from home, the only thing I had with me was the map, so I followed it, hoping to find something to escape abject poverty.”
“You really didn’t see any of the old geezers?” Li Qiye asked again.
“No, my destinations were all destroyed, I can’t say for certain about the rest.” Boss Tang said.
“Strange.” Li Qiye murmured: “In theory, such an existence should not be possible in your world.”
“There were many legends.” Boss Tang elaborated: “A peerless genius, more amazing than any progenitor before, even the Prime Emperor or whatever couldn’t hold a candle to this being. Some believed that it’s an immortal reincarnated, destined to bring either a wonderful blessing to the world or absolute destruction.”
“A reincarnated immortal?” Li Qiye’s eyes narrowed and a smirk appeared on his lips.
“Honestly, I just don’t know.” Boss Tang said: “In my opinion, only you can straighten things out now. Otherwise, it’ll be a ruinous mess forever.”
“Did you meet this being?” Li Qiye asked. [1]
“Brother, I was scared out of my mind at the start, there was no way I would want to meet an immortal.” Boss Tang said.
“Is that so?” Li Qiye stared at him.
He couldn’t handle Li Qiye’s gaze and had to tell the truth: “I only caught a glimpse from a distance. The immortal probably didn’t care about an ant such as myself so I was spared.”
“What is your opinion?” Li Qiye asked.
He paused for a long period before answering: “I’m not sure.”
It can be hard to make great work when its stolen from bit.ly/3iBfjkV.
“You’ve met the old geezers so there is a comparative insight.” Li Qiye pressed on.
“It’s hard to say, so mysterious and strange, unlike any other cultivator. If I have to describe what I saw, I would have to start with the assumption of immortals existing in our world. I’m not saying that this person was an immortal, but you know the legends of being blessed by one? This person was worthy of being blessed, at the very least.” Boss Tang said.
“Blessed by an immortal.” Li Qiye murmured: “So it is indeed the case.”
“I’m not to be blamed for this. Invincible masters tried everything and then afterward… there was no afterward for them. You can’t expect a small upstart such as myself to do anything outside of running after sensing danger. I can rule a puny village, not anything else.” Boss Tang smiled bitterly.
1. I have to use neutral pronouns because we don’t know the sex so there might be some unnatural dialogue/paragraphs ☜