Chapter 930: Hello Again, Willow Scale
*Bing-Bong*
As a reminder, <<>> will be used to denote when the Tide Tongue language is being used.
Thank you.
*Bing-Bong*
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[Alright, looks like the portal to Roaring Tide is almost completed. All the old hermit has to do is slot in that last rune.]
[Yeah…,] Hurricroak agreed, but trailed off her voice in a way that she wanted to ask something pertinent.
[Are we sure the maestro didn’t want us to modify that thing? I mean, a couple tweaks here and there, and presto! An even more potent teleportation array that can teleport whole ass armies!]
[Yes, he’s sure,] Nepherage rejected. [Besides, what use does the Zhen Clan have for an army teleportation array? Its main purpose will be essentially private use, and we can literally transform into objects that can be easily carried in bulk.]
[Well, yeah, but knowing the maestro, there’s going to be a situation on the other side of that portal that would definitely need the assistance of a full army. Or you know, all of us.]
[I…want to say that’s highly unlikely, but we did have to fight that SATAN Monkey thing not too long ago.]
[Been meaning to ask about him, why haven’t we buried a hatchet into his brain and used the leftover bits to either make a new kaijin or a piece of equipment that would probably be considered cursed by most other warriors?]
[Milord mentioned something about wanting to give Jinju Ren a chance to do her familiar contract thing with it before we do anything.]
[Ah.]
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As soon as Zhong Wei placed down the last line of the [Whirling Warp Array], a noticeable change could be felt in the surrounding air.
The flooded cavern’s air was already incredibly humid under normal circumstances, but the array’s presence made this humidity even denser than before.
Visibly droplets of water could be seen floating and flying through the air, before gathering into the center of Zhong Wei’s newly crafted array and forming into a giant ball of water.
This ball of water was initially the size of a goldfish bowl, but as time went on and as more and more water was drawn from both the air and the pool below, the ball of water grew to be about the size of a large boulder.
Most of the Zhen Clan members present were rather impressed by the appearance of the water ball, since this was the first time they had seen a teleportation type array in action.
The only ones who weren’t so awed by the moment were Patriarch Zhen Shi, because he was more worried about the people on the other side of the array, and Zhen Liu, because he had seen this kind of thing before.
Hell, he had seen it done better.
Nonetheless, he did make sure to act suitably impressed to blend in with the rest of his family.
Eventually, the ball of water stopped working to expand itself with the surrounding moisture, stopping at the size of an adolescent elephant.
Once at this size, the ball of water began to spread out into a giant, vertical disc-like shape, before spinning like a mid-air whirlpool.
As it spun, everyone in the room could sense that a new form of aether was filling the room, one associated with teleportation.
Once the energy had saturated to a certain point, the present warriors could sense that it now was possible to teleport to Roaring Tide.
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After answering the princess’s question, Zhong Wei redirected his gaze to Patriarch Zhen Shi.
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It honestly didn’t take that long for Patriarch Zhen Shi to make his choice, since he had already made a decision around the time the array started spinning up in the first place, but he still had to make it appear he put in some thought.
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[Wait a minute…do we count as individuals, or can we piggyback on the maestro carrying us like a backpack?]
_____A walk through a giant floating whirlpool and a few seconds later…_______
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Unlike the branch clan’s mildly slapped together teleportation room, the one in the main branch’s Blessed Willow Manor was a touch more elaborate and grand.
Instead of having their teleportation array inscribed on the top of a naturally occurring stone pillar jutting out of an underground lake, theirs was inscribed on a proper platform that was made of gold, marble and several other precious stones. As well, the aforementioned platform was situated in an elaborate room complete with pillars with carved dragon designs, murals depicting celestial beings and glorious wars and artificial waterfalls that filled an indoor koi pond.
On top of all that though, there was even staff on hand to handle people coming and going from this teleportation chamber.
Which is why, when the group consisting of Zhen Liu, Patriarch Zhen Shi, Princess Jinju Ren, Elder Zhen Long and Hermit Zhong Wei appeared from this array, they were greeted by an attendant who was pushing a cart full of towels.
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“Well, my underwear is soaked.”
“Unnecessary comment, but it’s honestly warranted at this moment.”
“Oh, darling! Here, let me help you dry off.”
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Hermit Zhong Wei had forgotten to mention that the [Whirling Warp Array] had a tendency to soak people down to their undergarments, who go through it without making the proper preparations. Under this condition, Zhen Shi, Zhen Long and Zhen Liu had arrived at the main branch’s teleportation chamber while looking like they had just rode a log down a waterfall.
That or he purposely forgot to mention this detail, but nobody could say for certain.
Regardless of any soaked garments though, under or otherwise, there were several items on the docket that had to be addressed in no particular order now that both the branch clan and the main clan had a means of transporting people in an expedient manner.
Granted, it had to be done in bursts but it was better than nothing.
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“Well, if you’re going to do that, I guess we’ll go see Matriar-er, Auntie,” Zhen Shi addressed his eldest son and grandchild.
As they were drying off, and as Hermit Zhong Wei and Princess Jinju Ren left to go handle their business, Zhen Liu decided to take this opportunity to ask a painfully obvious question.
“Grandfather, not that I don’t appreciate being one of the first to pass through our newly minted teleportation array, but why am I here first? Wouldn’t it have made more sense to bring another elder? Maybe one of my other cousins, like Zhen Hai?”
“Normally, yes, but you have something that your uncles and cousins don’t have when it comes to delaying with this side of the family.”
“Which is…”
“The matriarch’s interest.”
“Oh yeah…”
Zhen Long was originally going to protest what he sounded like favoritism to his ears to Patriarch Zhen Shi, but once he heard mention about the main clan’s matriarch, he clammed up.
Because as beneficial as it sounded to catch the eye of an Aether Overlord, there was something about the matriarch that made him uneasy.
Not in a bad way per day, more like…she was that kind of relative that he had difficulty dealing with.
In other words, he was more than happy to allow someone’s elses kid to deal with all of that.
“Now then, let us make haste. The sooner we meet with auntie, the sooner we can probably go home…maybe.”
As they would soon find out though, they were gonna be here for the long haul.
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[Huh…I guess we do count as being part of the lord’s soul.]
[Freaking told y’all.]
[Hello…Willow…Scale…]
[Ugh, why are we back here again?]
[Because we have unfinished business with a bitch with a stolen arm.]
[Oh yeah…side note, why didn’t the director use one of us to help repel the water from the array? Didn’t Logos and Pathos warn him that would happen?]
[I think he wanted to enjoy a moment of moist solidarity with his family?]
[That…sounded wrong.]
[Yeah, I realized it the moment those words left my mouth.]
