Chapter 871: A Hermit and a former Runaway talk under the moonlight
The Zhen Clan estate of Stone Claw City was buzzing with activity after the family meeting.
In a little under sixteen hours, the Zhen Clan elders and scions were going to raid the [Monkey’s Temple], a wandering ruins that had popped up in their own backyard.
A set of ruins that were so dangerous that it’s upper limit was somewhere pass the Aether Overlord stage!
But alas, the only way they would be able to access that kind of power was the main clan’s matriarch and she was all the way on another continent, and paradoxically, the only way they could get her to come over was if the Zhen Clan raided the ruins ahead of time and gather up some rare aether treasures that could help them out.
In other words, the Zhen Clan were, using the parlance of another world, in a catch-22 situation.
They needed a lot more power to raid the ruins properly, but they needed to raid the ruins in order to get the power necessary to raid it.
Not all was lost though, because not only did the Zhen Clan have a scion that was essentially an army of warriors onto themselves, but their guest warrior just so happen to be a rare double cultivator that could hit at the Overlord stage and possibly beyond that.
That said though…not everyone was thrilled about this plan.
To be more precise, the patriarch of the Zhen Clan had some…suspicions behind their need to raid the ruins.
The type of suspicions that warranted him asking the guest warrior a few pertinent questions in the dead of night.
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Following dialogue is in Tide Tongue.
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Not needed for language changes.
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“Hmmm. It is true what they say. The night air does feel different on other continents. How quaint.”
Under the light of a waxing moon, Hermit Zhong Wei was enjoying the unique night air exclusive to desert regions while sitting on an outdoor patio chair in the middle of a private courtyard.
As Hermit Zhong Wei was a guest in the care of the Zhen Clan, they had made sure to lend him usage of their finest guest POhouse. While they could’ve posted his bill up at one of Stone Claw’s inns, they had figured it was cheaper and less tumultuous to have him live on the estate’s grounds.
“Too bad I won’t be able to be enjoy this sight for too long.”
*Sound of a private outdoor being opened with force.*
Hermit Zhong Wei continued to quietly sit and be attuned with nature, as Patarich Zhen Shi entered the courtyard with a rather crossed look on his face. The hermit knew exactly why he looked so angry, but he still decided to play innocent and act like he didn’t. After all, venting one emotions was an important way of keeping a level head.
Plus, be kind of deserved the tongue lashing he was about to receive.
“Ah, Patriarch Zhen Shi. To what do I owe the-”
“Cut the shit, hermit. I know you’re lying about making a miscalculation about the materials needed to make the teleportation array. I’m here to ask why you’re lying about it.”
“Ah, straight to business. Like father like son, I suppose,” Hermit Zhong Wei commented with the slightest hint of amusement.
At the mention of the word “father”, Zhen Shi’s eye slightly twitched.
“But yes, you’re right. We don’t actually need any of those aether treasures within the [Monkey’s Temple], I can easily readjust the array with the materials we have on hand,” Zhong Wei freely admitted.
Zhen Shi was a little miffed that Zhong Wei didn’t deny his underhanded actions, but he opted to bite his tongue. As he had learned from his descendants, it was more beneficial to keep quiet when someone started spouting bullshit.
Granted, bullshit in this particular situation didn’t mean lies.
“Why? Why would you lie about needing those treasures? Actually, scratch that, why would you lie about needing assistance in securing those treasures?,” Zhen Shi asked as he thought about the matter further. “You already outmatch me and could easily wipe out the protectors of all those treasures with the greatest of ease. I may have not been back home for a number of years, but I still remember how back in my younger years hearing plenty about you, ‘hermit’.”
“Ah, call me flattered. I figured my name would fade into the darkness after I left the battlefield. Good to know I still linger in your mind,” the hermit chuckled at this little revelation.
With that moment of amusement out of the way though, he immediately decided to address the elephant in the room. Well, technically elephants.
“You’re not exactly wrong that I could easily take out all of those beasts and secure the treasure in basically half the time I estimated from working with you and your kin, but you and I both know how draining such an activity can be. I still have a duty to maintain as the tutor and bodyguard for the Imperial Princess, so I can’t just needlessly waste energy in the case an emergency arises.”
It was a bit of an open secret that while aether warriors of a higher tier were able to use more aether of a higher quality than their peers, it also took them longer to restore these levels to their peak in comparison to plebians. Evidently, this was why aether medicines designed to restore one’s aether or boost the rejuvenation process we’re always considered best sellers.
However, this still didn’t answer Zhen Shi’s other question.
“As for why I lied about needing them…well, I wanted to see for myself.”
“See what for yourself?”
“The truth of the rumors,” Zhong Wei answered in a matter-of-factly tone. “I wanted to see for myself, how the scions of the branch clan managed to beat out the main clan at their own competition. Well, more specifically, I wanted to see what was so damn interesting about that boy who managed to charm the princess. Hell, I wanted to see what made him able to bring Jinju Ren to her knees in battle.”
At the mention of his Fourth grandson, something deep within Zhen Shi’s soul stirred a bit in agitation in a protective manner. As this stirring occurred, a small wave of unknown energy began to emanate from his form before suddenly disappearing.
To most warriors, this energy wasn’t detectable.
To Hermit Zhong Wei though…he couldn’t but suddenly think of Zhen Xun Tian for some reason…
Hmmm.
“So that’s it? That’s the reason why you’re risking the life of my kin? Because you’re curious about what they’re capable of?”
“Well…not all of your kin. Just the one that seems to be an inexhaustible one man army,” Hermit Zhong Wei clarified. “Besides,if things do go wrong, I will take full responsibility and make sure everyone gets out safely.”
“Hmmm. Good.”
Zhen Shi was about to turn away and leave, due to just wanting to get a concession of safety secured for his descendants…but then Zhong Wei kept talking.
“Additionally…you’re not really allowed to judge me on that front.”
“What?”
Being called out in such a manner caused Zhen Shi to suddenly stop. He didn’t like where this was going…but he had a feeling this was something he had to hear.
“If you knew from the start that I was lying through my teeth, why didn’t you say anything to stop me?,” Hermit Zhong Wei retorted while getting out of his seat to stare Zhen Shi in the eyes in a challenging manner.
From an outside point of view, this moment looked as if a younger man was challenging his elder, and the elder was finally done with listening to the younger man’s shit.
In reality though, both of them were old bastards…but one had the built-in benefit of suddenly receiving a bit of a youth injection.
Sort of.
“You were there to see me make the array, you were there when I drafted the plans for the raid and throughout the whole meeting where I spelled out everything for how we were going to attack, you didn’t say shit,” Zhong Wei explained. “Which leads me to wonder…are you actually mad that I tricked your family into a raid that was more or less pointless, or is it about something else?”
“…”
“Be honest with me,” Zhong Wei said in a tone of voice that sounded slick and sinister. “You aren’t really that upset about me tricking you and your kin. If anything, you’re mad at yourself for being happy that this little lie of mine is giving you a chance to do something you’ve been wanting to do for a while.”
“And what’s that?”
“Testing a newly acquired source of power of yours,” Hermit Zhong Wei said with a level of certainity that made Zhen Shi uneasy.
“Tell me…where exactly did you get this power of yours? It feels… remarkably familiar.”
In this exact moment, Zhen Shi really really wanted to crack a fucker’s jaw open like a KitKat bar.
‘Thanks the gods for the sudden vocabulary boost, because now I can put my feelings into words.’
