Seeking His Wives, Seeking the Dao

When Luo Tianshen suggested a walk, he meant going all the way to the center of Luo Shen City.

It was late at night, and the city streets had long since emptied of pedestrians. Only the spirit lamps hanging beneath the eaves swayed gently in the night breeze, casting a dim yellow light over the flagstone road. Old and young, one ahead of the other, walked through that light without a word. The Luo River flowed quietly beside them, its surface reflecting a sky full of stars. Now and then a fish leaped from the water, sending ripples spreading outward, and the stars filling the river shattered along with them, then slowly pieced themselves back together.

As they passed through a small street, Luo Tianshen suddenly stopped. On the corner stood a little stall that had yet to close. A charcoal brazier stood in front of it, with several skewers of beast meat roasting over it, sizzling with fat. The meat was golden brown, sprinkled with a layer of bright red spices, and its fragrance carried far through the air. It was Crimson Feather Beast meat. Xiao Yan recognized the stall. When he first entered the city, he had caught Luo Lan snatching a skewer from a child here, and the two had come to know each other through a fight.

The stallholder was an old man dozing at his post. When he saw someone approach, he opened his eyes in a daze. Once he saw who it was, fright drove the sleep from him at once, and he scrambled to his feet. "Clan... clan leader..."

"Two skewers," Luo Tianshen said.

Trembling, the old man handed over the two largest skewers and refused to accept payment no matter what. Luo Tianshen did not argue with him. He took a few dozen Spirit Coins from his sleeve and placed them beside the brazier, then accepted the skewers and handed one to Xiao Yan. Xiao Yan took it and watched the drab-clothed old man stand on the street corner holding a skewer of glistening roast meat. Luo Tianshen took a leisurely bite, chewed a few times, and nodded. "Still tastes the same."

Xiao Yan stared for a moment, then could not help laughing. He took a bite too. The meat was hot and fragrant, and the spices were so fiery they made his tongue go numb.

"That boy Luo Lan has loved this since he was little," Luo Tianshen said leisurely as they walked. "His parents were away all year, and there was no one to look after him, so he ran to this stall every day. He couldn't afford any, so he squatted off to the side and smelled it. Later, I secretly gave the old man some Spirit Coins every month and told him to give the boy a skewer whenever he saw him. Even now, that boy thinks it was because he was so endearing."

Xiao Yan bit into his skewer and looked at the old man beside him. After a long while, he said softly, "He doesn't know?"

"No need for him to know." Luo Tianshen bit off the last piece of meat and casually tossed the bamboo skewer into a basket by the roadside.

When they reached the center of the city, Luo Tianshen stopped. Before him stood the white jade statue of Luo Shen. Xiao Yan had seen it when he first entered the city. Back then, he had only just awakened from unconsciousness, his injuries had yet to heal, his strength had fallen, and he had been in a sorry state. Looking at the thirty-thousand-foot statue from halfway across the outer city, he had felt as small as a speck of dust. Now, standing beneath the moonlight and looking at it again, he still felt the same way.

It was a goddess clad in a long dress, its skirts billowing around her. She held a sword in her right hand, its tip angled toward the ground. Her left hand was raised gently, palm upward, as though holding something, or perhaps soothing something. Her face had been carved so indistinctly that its features could not be made out. Yet within that haziness lay an indescribable beauty that made one's heart bow before it. It was not a fragile beauty, but the beauty of one who stood with a sword, guarding a realm beneath heaven.

Luo Tianshen sat down on the white jade step at the statue's feet, paying no mind to the night dew covering it. He casually patted the place beside him, and Xiao Yan sat down as well.

"This statue is of the Luo God Clan's ancestor," Luo Tianshen said slowly, gazing at the goddess's impossibly distant face overhead. "The clan's records say she was the first clan leader of the Luo God Clan, and the only person ever to manifest the complete Luo God Dharma Body."

"The Luo God Dharma Body?"

"Upon reaching Sovereign, one can cultivate a Dharma Body," Luo Tianshen said. "The Luo God Clan has a Dharma Body passed down from our ancestors, called the Luo God Dharma Body. But it is too difficult. All these years, apart from our ancestor, no one in the clan has succeeded in cultivating it. I have not even found the threshold."

He paused, and something indefinable flashed through his clouded old eyes. "The elders in the clan say that only a woman can cultivate the Luo God Dharma Body to its fullest. Unfortunately, my branch of the family has no daughters."

Xiao Yan glanced at him but did not respond. The night breeze blew past, and the spirit lamps at the statue's feet flickered, stretching their shadows long. After a while, Luo Tianshen spoke. "Boy."

"Mm."

"What did you come to the Great Thousand World for?"

Xiao Yan was slightly taken aback. It seemed no one had asked him that since the day he woke up. A Heng had not asked, Luo Lan had not asked, Elder Qin had not asked, and even he himself had seldom thought about it. He had simply kept going: assimilating, refining pills, fighting, saving people, moving forward, always moving forward. He raised his head and gazed at the sword-bearing goddess for a long time before slowly speaking. "To seek my wives." Luo Tianshen said nothing, merely listening in silence.

"I have two wives. We came together, but we were separated in the planar passage. One is to the east, and the other is to the south." Xiao Yan took the two pieces of Soul Jade from his robes and held them in his palm. "The one to the east-her imprint has been trembling constantly, as if she's in pain. The one to the south-her imprint keeps flickering, as if she's fighting for her life. I have to find them."

Hearing this, Luo Tianshen looked at the two jade pieces and nodded. "What else?"

Xiao Yan pondered for a long moment. "To seek the Dao. In the place I came from, I had already reached the end of the road."

His voice was calm, as calm as if he were speaking of someone else. "Dou Qi, Dou Zhe, Dou Shi, all the way to Dou Di. Across the entire continent, there was no one left who could fight me. I stood at the end and looked ahead, but I couldn't see a path. So I came here, wanting to see where this path could lead from there."

Luo Tianshen turned and looked at the young man sitting beside him. His delicate features seemed a little pale beneath the moonlight, but his eyes were startlingly bright. After a long while, Luo Tianshen suddenly smiled. It was the first time Xiao Yan had seen the old man smile. The smile was faint, so faint it was almost imperceptible, but the deep and shallow furrows on his wrinkled face all smoothed out.

"Seeking your wives, seeking the Dao," he repeated softly. "Good. Better than I was in my youth."

Xiao Yan raised an eyebrow. "What did you strive for when you were young, Senior?"

"To beat that old bastard from the Blood God Clan," Luo Tianshen said mildly.

Xiao Yan was taken aback, then could not help laughing. "Heh, you certainly speak plainly, Senior." Luo Tianshen did not take offense. He simply gazed at the statue and said leisurely, "We've fought for most of our lives. I've beaten him, and I've fought him to a draw. Now that old bastard has started playing dirty tricks behind my back again."

At that, his faint smile gradually faded. "Xue Shi confessed everything." Xiao Yan's gaze sharpened slightly.

"What happened in the Luo River Abyss was that mad dog Xue Li's idea. That old bastard from the Blood God Clan knew and did nothing to stop it." Luo Tianshen's voice was frighteningly calm. "The blood they used for the blood sacrifice was gathered bit by bit over three years by that beast Luo Ping. He collected the blood of seventeen clansmen. Luo Shi and Luo Wen are dead. I cannot let this pass without going to demand an explanation."

Xiao Yan was silent for a moment. "When?"

"Tomorrow morning, I'll take Xue Shi to Blood God City."

After some thought, Xiao Yan took the dark red blood jade he had seized from Xue Shi out of his robes and offered it with both hands. "Senior, take this with you as well. It bears Xue Li's imprint, and another far stronger than his. With both a witness and physical evidence, the Blood God Clan won't be able to deny it."

Luo Tianshen accepted the blood jade and lightly brushed its dark red surface with the pad of his finger. His brow darkened slightly, and he tucked it into his sleeve without a word. Xiao Yan frowned as well and said carefully, "Senior, if the Blood God Clan dared make a move in the Luo River Abyss, they must have expected you to come demand an explanation. If they've made preparations, once you leave the city..."

"Luring the tiger away from the mountain?" Luo Tianshen glanced at him.

Xiao Yan nodded. Luo Tianshen did not answer immediately. He gazed at the statue for a long time before slowly saying, "I've considered it. But boy, some pits you have to jump into even when you know they're there. Luo Shi's and Luo Wen's parents knelt by the river all day today. You saw them." Xiao Yan fell silent.

"Luo Yan is in the city, as are the city-protecting grand formation and the several thousand people of the Luo God Clan." Luo Tianshen rose and brushed the dew from his clothes. "Besides..."

He looked down at Xiao Yan, a meaningful light flashing through his clouded old eyes. "You're no pushover yourself, boy."

Xiao Yan opened his mouth, but in the end he only gave a bitter laugh. Luo Tianshen said nothing more. He turned and walked leisurely back the way they had come, his hands clasped behind his back. After a dozen or so steps, he stopped again without turning around. "Boy."

"Yes?"

"How much longer until you've assimilated it?"

"Two tenths remain," Xiao Yan said. "A month, if it goes quickly."

"You'll leave once the assimilation is complete?"

"I will."

Luo Tianshen grunted in acknowledgment and continued walking. His drab figure gradually receded beneath the dim yellow lamplight, and his voice drifted back from afar. "Come find me when you leave. I have something to give you."

Xiao Yan sat at the statue's feet, watching the figure gradually recede, and did not get up for a long time.

Early the next morning, Luo Tianshen left the city. He took no attendants or elders, only a Blood God Clan steward bound in iron chains, his face deathly pale. With the blood jade serving as evidence tucked into his sleeve, the old man and his prisoner left through Luo Shen City's west gate and walked away, step by step, along the main road to Blood God City. At the gate, Luo Yan and several elders saw them off. Xiao Yan stood among the crowd as well, watching the drab figure gradually vanish into the morning mist at the far end of the road.

Xiao Yan withdrew his gaze and turned to head back. After a few steps, he suddenly paused and raised his head, looking toward a distant hill west of Luo Shen City. The hill was covered in wild grass, with nothing else in sight. But just a moment ago, his Soul Power had caught a trace of presence. It was so faint it was almost imperceptible, yet within it lay a decaying chill, like that of dead wood, and an old stench of blood so thick it would not disperse. The presence had lingered on the hill for an instant before dissipating like a wisp of smoke.

Xiao Yan stood where he was, gazing at the empty hilltop, his eyes gradually narrowing.