Chapter 27: Unexpected Encounter
Back on Xing Chen's lone peak, where his residence resided, Chu Qiang had come back with his reports.
The disciple, upon his arrival before his master and teacher, kowtowed once to the ground in a respectful greeting after a few months of being away. Along with his master, Tian Mie, the former's fellow brother was attending the meeting between both.
The last time Gudu's friend came to visit the peak was when they had both discussed the grave injury upon his whole arm and how a baby came about to block him from searching his spirit.
Back again after 6 years, Tian Mie looked as though he hadn't changed a bit, even his eyes expressed the same vitality as back then.
Xing Chen on the other hand, had his form wither quite a bit over time probably caused by the strange occurrence to his arm. Ever since that fateful day, his condition looked no better and worsened with each passing year. To avoid any complication and useless gossip, he secluded himself all this time in his abode, hiding from the eager tongues.
Still confident in his plan, he kept it intact and avoided amputating it until he was desperately sure there was nothing that could ever heal it or revert it to its original state.
"Master!" he first greeted him, stood upright and clasped his hands to address the other person in the garden. "Honoured Tian Mie!"
"Welcome back my disciple" Gudu nodded and ushered to a seat, pouring him tea as he joined them upon the outdoor table.
The 7 stringed Guqin was playing by itself, relaxing the atmosphere.
Upon seating himself, the disciple grabbed his cup of the brew and sipped slowly. His complexion brightened a little bit towards the cheeks and he left out a sigh of deep relief.
"Thank you for the tea, master."
"A trivial thing" the two other men handled their own drink and sipped. "Now, tell me. What news have been found regarding our little protégé."
"You wouldn't believe me if I told you" his cup unglued from his lips, "I don't know how you came about him, but this boy is full of wonders."
"Hm? How so?" Tian Mie who had only ever heard about him as a baby was naturally the most curious.
"As a start, this boy has already mastered three techniques without proper qi circulating through his body and reached the first bottleneck of his cultivation at the age of 6. He trains daily and has been practicing the Shui's sword style for the past three months."
If you looked at the two masters' faces, you'd see one that was shocked lifeless and the other grinning in a satisfied manner.
While Tian Mie couldn't believe what he was hearing, Gudu Xing Chen on the other hand was shining brighter and brighter after these promising reports, as if his dire state was never as it was. His plan wouldn't be far from granted if that pace was continued as so.
"Good. If all goes well, he should be breaking through his first layer soon" the master of this peak took back to drinking his warm tea now that good news were discussed.
He was awfully calm for someone who had just heard that such a young person was able to advance in the dao, even though the usual norms were close to teenagers at the age of fourteen approximately. It was almost as if he was already aware of the raw talent this child could exhibit.
"Did you relay to him my message? That he should come visit me upon his first breakthrough?"
"I did."
"That's good, then—"
"But" the other was stopped, his hopes had wandered towards no ill news, "something he said quickened my worries, master."
His satisfaction cut short, he and his esteemed friend quietened, the garden bereaved of their voices but not of the music played by the instrument on the jade platform.
If it worried Chu Qiang, one whose premonitions were regularly true, then even his master should be too.
If the latter had not decided to hear him first, his disquieted demeanour would have already kicked in and he would have panicked. His arm was at stake after all.
"When I first met him directly following the attempt on his life, Lei Ba, without my intervention or hints mentioned your encounter with him when he was a baby…"
"W-what?" Tian Mie choke on his tea, soaking his clothes. "What does this mean?"
Xing Chen was quite lost in his thoughts. His hand to his chin, he analysed what was said.
"Are you absolutely certain that is what he told you?"
"En, master. After telling him that you were the one to send me to watch over him, he directly asked me if you were the one that attempted to spy on his spirit when he was born."
"Those are his exact words?"
"E-En, they are…"
Silence reigned anew and the three cultivators even denied themselves another taste of the tea. Even though Chu Qiang knew of this fact earlier on, his expression was nothing different from the others present with him.
It was a reaction anyone would uptake when faced with such information about a child that hasn't yet made it through the first step in this world.
This troubled them greatly.
"And I forgot to mention—"
"There's more?" Tian Mie was going crazy with all these things about this so called Ke Lei Ba. No wonder his friend was so interested in him and adamant on helping him every step of the way.
Heck, even he wanted to meet and possibly form friendly ties with such an outstanding youth.
"He is also in possession of an artefact called the Myriad-Faceted Temporal Bell, as the Shui's appraiser called it."
Apparent on their dumbfounded faces, it was evident that they had no clue of the origin of this artefact, nor have they heard the mention of it in their whole lifetime.
"Where did he procure it?"
"I have no idea. It was in his possession when you assigned me to him."
"Curious…simply unfathomable…"
Even as the pot was yet plenty, their bodies were dishevelled and no longer in the mood for tea. They simply sat, cross-legged and their consciousness wondering about this peculiar person. The older cultivators have lived quite the fair amount of time and have never encountered such an outstanding being.
Where had all this excitement been hidden from them during the span of nearly a century?
"And if my assumptions are correct, he is the only one able to wield the spear too."
"The Chi Xue Qiang? The one lodged in the district near your peak?"
"En, my friend. That same crimson blood spear fell from the sky the day that our esteemed guest was born" he revealed something none has yet to revel in.
Such a thing wasn't coincidental.
"After everything that I've heard, there's no way that this is a coincidence" the guest had been bombarded with enough theories and occurrences that his mind would burst upon any more.
"I thought so too."
"Where is he today since you're not watching over him?" it was a question Tian Mie had to ask since Chu Qiang was currently with them.
"Last I checked he went into the forest to hunt a beast—"
It was like a tingling coursed through his body which both masters noticed at once. They felt some kind of message travel inside this area and enter the consciousness of the disciple sitting before them.
His concerned frown was not a good omen.
"Speaking of this brat, he's in trouble again."
"Did your divine sense tell you anything?"
"Not really, master. It's just that his heart is beating so fast and his qi is circulating much quicker than usual so I assumed so."
Nothing more was added.
He excused himself from the table and went for the exit, whistling as he did so. He had seen enough times to know that this brat, regardless of his good opportunities, had a knack at finding himself in trouble.
Just before reaching the gateway at the edge of the peak, the sky changed in colour in a matter of an instant, shade covering the whole city and its surroundings. Even in such an exotic world, skies that converted into darkness in the middle of the day without any clouds or sun setting was never a good sign.
"That's strange."
But not as strange as what happened next.
In his line of sight, exactly seven columns of light tore down from said darkened heavens and ravaged the distant lands underneath them. The beam was so bright that even a cultivator of Qiang's calibre remained fazed for a couple of seconds before regaining his vision.
After their onslaught ended and the particles of light slowly vanished, a fear of dread installed in his heart, nearly asphyxiating him even when he was so far from the manifestations.
"What in the name of everything that is heavenly…" his hand clenched to his chest, his heart's rate a thousand fold faster than ever before.
But as struggle crept up on him, his mind wandered towards one of the places those beams were brought down.
"No…that's where Lei Ba is…"
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"Shit"
Back at the forest, the hundreds of lizards ogled me with fearsome dilated pupils, horizontal slits eager to eat me up.
Standing over the corpse of their kin, I did not move, fear of an outbreak ensuing. No matter how fast I was, hundreds of the same beast that eluded me for the past earlier minutes were not easily outran. And the matter of where I would go was amidst too.
If I decided to retreat towards the house, then everyone would be trampled by a horde of angry lizards. Even if the people I knew were strong enough to handle themselves, the other neighbours were not as capable.
It was weird though.
With their advantage in numbers, why were they hesitating? Some even looked towards the sky rather than me.
A few of the scaly lizards had taken it up themselves to retreat slowly, one leg at a time.
Was I this scary? Surely not.
Something bigger was going to happen but I did not know what…yet.
"My senses are tingling…" my hairs straightened up in goose bumps and I felt the ones at the back of my head itching.
Suddenly, without warning, the lovely blue sky of today darkened instantly without any clusters of clouds covering it. The sun was covered in a matter of a blink and soon darkness befell all of what my eyes could allow me to see.
Fearful, the lizards dispersed unorderly and vanished behind the edge of the trees from beyond the lake in this open space. Not a single one lingered and I, as stupid as I was, froze in my place without even thinking of retreating.
A column of light came down over the waters, waves rippling abnormally around it. A myriad of beams trickled down through the column, blinding my eyes for a minute or more had I not steered clear in time.
Distress gripped me, my body begging my mind to flee. But I remained in place, immobile, an upheaval of calamity materializing steps away from where I quavered terribly.
"D-d-don't tell me…" my breath was not catching up, "n-n-not now…I'm not ready yet…"
The light show concluded but the world was ever darker.
I raised my fading gaze towards what was left behind in the wake of this disaster and there it was…floating above the surface of the crystal-clear lake, a towering monster elevated.
A multitude of horns and antlers…a terrible fanged maw…glistening reptile yellow eyes and a serpentine tail…
I saw this atrocity before. I dreaded its coming for years.
"It…" my tongue yet twisted and turned.
A terrible roar broadened out of it, my ears numbed in the process.
"It came…"
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*Check the very first chapters at the very beginning for the Index*
CREATORS' THOUGHTS 
CJJChedid
CJJChedid I am terribly sorry for the long wait.
i bring back to you the chapters of my novel and i hope you enjoy it.
Many thanks for reading.
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