บท 21: Dong Jie - Cao's History.

"Elder, Shu Li is here!" Dai Niu shouted outside of a door inside the mansion of Cao Yang, the village elder and owner.

He and Shu Li had rushed here as soon as possible, Shu Li didn't believe it at first because of how long it had been since the request was sent out, why now of all times? He felt nervous as they waited for a reply from the other side of the door.

"Remember, don't say anything you don't need to, he seems a bit troublesome…" Dai Niu whispered to him.

Shu Li nodded, in the room before him was the previously mentioned cultivator currently with Elder Cao.

"You can come in!" A voice came from behind the door, it was Elder Cao's sounding slightly nervous as it cracked slightly.

The two outside looked at each-other then Dai Niu entered first, opening the door carefully like it was the most precious treasure, Shu Li followed after with a slightly eager light in his eyes.

'A cultivator… This will be my first time seeing one since that day' The memory of that small group slaughtering tens with ease flashed in his mind, this time it wasn't an enemy at least so he couldn't help but curious about them.

As they entered the room they saw Elder Cao standing facing outwards looking through a window, he wasn't looking at anything in particular but rather it seems he was doing it to reduce his nervousness.

The room was rather fancy for a place in this small village, it had carefully crafted furniture, adornments with silver and gold and small pieces of art on the wall, this was definitely one of the most valuable rooms in the elder's house, however Shu Li's eyes weren't fixated on the shiny items stacked everywhere, they were locked on to a figure seated on the other side of the room.

It was a man wearing a high quality robe that was white with yellow highlights, on the chest was the character for 'Earth' proudly standing out, his head wore a Daopao and his face came with a classic black moustache resembling a cat fish's whiskers.

His beady brown eyes observed the two people that entered, his eyes locked on to Shu Lu after a second as he smacked a small metal fan he had in to his other palm.

"You're Shu Li?" His slightly croaky voice leaked out of his mouth as he looked down his nose at Shu Li.

Shu Li nodded "May I ask who you are?" He replied in returned trying to speak amicably.

"This man is Dong Jie, he came from the capital-" Cao Yang had finally turned around and attempted to introduce the man but-

"Wrong!" The man named Dong Jie yelled, slightly displeased.

"W-wha- H-huh? May I ask what I got wrong sir?" Elder Cao seemed to almost jump out of his skin as clear panic set in.

'You just told me your name, how could I have got it wrong!' was what he thought.

"The capital? Don't joke, let me guess when you talk about the capital, you mean Rockfell City?" He asked the elder with a sneer.

"I-is that not so?" Elder Cao spoke nervously.

"Let me put this straight, you bumpkins may refer to that place as the capital but there is only one true capital, Rockfell is merely the main hub of the Earth region!" Dong Jie explained.

"M-my mistake" Elder Cao apologised, but internally he thought 'Isn't that just nit-picking?'

"I'm not done yet!" He snapped "I also didn't 'come from' Rockfell either, that place is a mere mortal city, don't insult me!" He stopped and pointed towards to symbol on his chest.

"This region is under the protection of the Trembling Earth Sect, and I'm a member of it, we're far above even the city lord!" He said with pride, leaving the other three surprised as they'd never heard this bit of information.

'Trembling Earth Sect? There's such a place in this region? Do all cultivators come from there then?' Shu Li thought 'But… are all of them like this guy? I can't help but feel a bit… underwhelmed'.

"Oh! Thank you for telling us this! My apologies for not knowing, I'll remember this for the future!" Elder Cao acted like he was truly grateful for being told that but inside his thoughts didn't differ from Shu Li, Dai Niu was the same though he stayed quiet in the back.

"Well, normally mortals aren't allowed to know so it's no surprise" Dong Jie said as he casually followed up.

'Then why did you just tell us?!' The three retorted inside their heads.

"Now that introductions are over…" Ignoring their internal strife Dong Jie carried on, he looked over to Shu Li once more.

"You, you're rather arrogant for a mortal, are you not?" He spoke with a mocking tone as he smirked at Shu Li.

"What… do you mean?" Shu Li managed to hold in his annoyance to reply.

'What's this guy going on about?'

"Hmmm well I can't explain everything but for now I'll say we didn't come here because of the request you sent"

""Huh?"" Both Shu Li and Dai Niu let out a slight gasp of surprise, they had assumed that was the reason he came, they couldn't think of any reason otherwise.

"Well, there's a lot going on right now; I was going to come here anyway so I decided to check if there were any request in the area, we found your little letter and I couldn't help but look up your name since you included it, I thought maybe it was someone important, after all you seemed to think so" He spoke in a casually mocking tone as he half-heartedly looked at Shu Li.

"Not only that but when it was ignored you even asked that Yun Fu to get the city lord to bother us! You know for a mere mortal criminal you really do have some gall."

Shu Li froze for a second on the word 'criminal' before he took a breath and calmed himself.

"You should be glad I don't really care for hunting mortal bounties, it's quite old but it's still active you know?" He goaded Shu Li on waiting for a response.

But Shu Li didn't react, instead he was silent for a few seconds before staring Dong Jie dead and the eyes and questioning-

"So, are you going to deal with our request?" Without missing a beat.

"…You're still asking that after all I just said?" A peeved expression rose on Dong Jie's face as he waited for a reply.

"…" But none came, instead a deadlock was formed between the twos gaze.

"Hmph, so you have some guts." He smacked his metal fan on the arm of the chair before unfolding it and covering the lower part of his face, his goading expression disappeared entirely, and an entirely different air floated around the man.

"There isn't enough information, and even if there was the culprit is long gone" His gazed matched Shu Li's once more but this time it contained a commanding aura.

"You should have some useful info though, no? Anything helps, we think it may have some connections to what we're looking in to right now" He asked, no ordered Shu Li to respond.

"Yes" Shu Li didn't waste any time, he replied.

'He's suddenly like a different person, if it helps at all I'll tell him everything' He thought.

"Seems you understand" The cultivator nodded his head once more.

Elder Cao and Dai Niu were both left into dust as to the sudden change in the conversation that went on without the input.

…

Shu Li proceeded to explain everything about his past and his relation to the assumed culprit, Tai Min, it was a long conversation that lasted nearly an hour of back and forth, but in the end Shu Li bowed and took his leave, and Dai Niu was asked to leave soon after.

"That man wasn't too bad; pity he has no cultivation talent" Dong Jie said with a sigh.

"He has his son though, what about him?" Elder Cao spoke for the first time in a while.

"A tiger doesn't necessarily beget a tiger… but I'll give it some thought" He whispered the first part to himself before replying, he then looked over at Elder Cao.

"Now then, as for my original intentions here" His fan clapped shut startling the elder.

"W-what can I do for you?" The old man was rather worried, he had no idea how he could help a real cultivator, he only hoped he didn't want his wealth!

"I came here looking for someone" His eyes gleamed as he eyed the old man.

"Looking…? I'm terribly sorry but I'm just an old village chief, I don't think I'll be able to help too much…" Elder Cao explained.

Dong Jie merely sighed before beginning a narration.

"Quite a few years back a pair of stars began to rise in the cultivation world, they came from humble beginnings and quickly became known throughout the five regions, a pair of cultivators bonded using a unique method, they were stronger than most others at their level." A slightly melancholic tone filled the room as he spoke.

Elder Cao was confused when he started talking, yet he felt it get more familiar as he spoke.

"It was unfortunate, just as they were beginning to reach new heights they suddenly disappeared, gone like a shooting star in the nights sky, however after further investigation it was found that they had failed in the cultivation method causing a backlash and mortally wounding them both."

The old man now tightly clenched his fist and jaw as he listened to the story.

"Turns out they hadn't realised a flaw in their cultivation method, it relied on a constant bond between two and the sharing and cycling of energies, yet a simple mistake ruined that balance, they had a child." Dong Jie turned to look at the elder how was now trembling with anger.

"You're here for my granddaughter?!" Cao Yang yelled, throwing all formalities out the window, his eyes tinged with red from anger.

"Yes, where is Cao Meili?" No fear or surprise visible in his eyes, Dong Jie stated his goal.