章節 154: Casual Tea With A Tree (1)
Arriving at the sight of Ed's disappearance after a hurried journey, Ku Jian stared at the entire landscape with a frown.
"What happened here?" she asked. The entire stone plane was gone. Only but a mighty wide sinkhole too deep to see into remained.
"No one knows," the cultivator by the side answered.
"But cultivators were there, right? Didn't anyone see anything?" she asked slightly dazed.
"Of all the cultivators in the East Lands, only the weak below spirit-awakening did not join the fight. All the powers gathered, those from spirit-merging all the way to their clans and sect protectors on the heaven-seeking stage. Only those who did not join the fight survived. In one day, all the powers in the east lands had vanished," the boy explained.
"Why would they all gather in one spot?" the blood witch asked, "Even taking out their clan protectors?"
"There was already word that the boy was dangerous. The Three had instructed that no one should confront him till they arrived. Apparently, the Fu clan disobey and fought anyway. The other powers had come to rip the profit, most said. No one knows why they appeared. Most people say someone had set a trap for them all to appear at the same time," the boy shivered slightly, "Can I go now?" he asked a question even he had the answer to. The next second, what remained of him was a pool of blood.
"Where could he be?" Ku Jian asked madly.
"Calm down, Jian," the blood witch called to her.
"All the way to heaven seeking, they actually came in such numbers? Brother Ed must have been overwhelmed and needed to go all out," she ranted.
"Jian, breathe,"
"What if he is injured somewhere or," she froze.
"He is probably still alive and well," the blood witch said, only then did Ku Jian look at her with hopeful eyes.
"That Brother Ed of yours is not the energy manipulator, is he?" she asked and Ku Jian nodded.
"This was not done by cultivation," she said.
"How do you know?" Ku Jian asked, "You talked about it being one and the same, how can you tell?"
"Calm down, I am not making it up to trick you. Yes, cultivation and magic could be considered one and the same, but very different. The cultivator trains his being and raises his consciousness to the understanding of the laws that bind all things. The energy that runs in them, and fights with the knowledge to unravel them, the space between you and I, the trees bending just right to the wind, all imbues laws woven with energy. The greater he understands, the stronger he is. By raising one's consciousness, one grows bigger than certain things. To lift a hand and lift a mountain or step into the sky or split the oceans in two," she explained.
"Get to the point!" Ku Jian's patience could no more stand this lecture, causing her to sigh.
"Even though the energy is one and the same, the source though is one for debate; in magic, one operates upon grace. The grace that flows through one's being can be accumulated as one learns. Instead of raising your consciousness to achieve great things, one manipulates things already great to their will. We do not unravel things bound with the strength of a higher mind, we command things bound to unravel to our will. A higher state of mind is not needed, but the ability to share your grace with all around and bind them to your spell. That is why most here call it energy manipulation. This ground was not unravelled by a force greater in understanding of itself than it. This ground was willed to bend. This is magic," she explained.
"So, Brother Ed probably did not fight so he is," she paused then panicked, "If Nti Anem had to fight, then brother Ed must have lost. That Nti Anem always leaves the fight to brother Ed," she started to rant and the blood witch sighed in frustration. This kind of apprentice, what did she do to deserve her?
"That energy manipulator, he is strong," she said, "Do you believe he would let you Brother Ed die?" she asked and Ku Jian calmed slightly. That was true. That boy followed her brother Ed everywhere. He was asked by that old pervert to do so, right? There is no way he would let anything happen.
"Have you calmed down?" the blood witch asked and Ku Jian sent her a glare.
"Now, tell me about this energy manipulator," she said and Ku Jian paused.
"Why are you so interested?"
"The kind of energy rift left behind; that boy, are you sure he is human?" she asked.
At this moment, the Nonhuman being talked about was staring into the distance. He looked back at Ed's form lying unconscious behind him and pulled a flute from thin air and started playing. The soft music filled the distance and the trees seemed to sway to its seductive tune. The sound penetrated Ed's being and reached him inside a great darkness. He opened his eyes to nothingness and listened.
"Flute," he muttered and looked into the dark. He was not sure where he was. He was not sure who he was. All he knows is that he sleeps and is awoken by a flute and returns to sleep after the flute is gone. He looked around the darkness as usual and made to close his eyes. Only for a voice to moan in the distance. It was this voice as usual. It sounded like a whaling ghost. As usual, he got up and walked towards it. There was nothing ahead. No up, no down, no air; a great nothingness and a moan in the distance. He walked and walked till he stood before a familiar tree. Its dark spiky branches stood unmoved. This tree was the cause.
"You," Ed said and stared at it for a while, before turning to leave.
"You will die huh?" the tree spoke for the first time. It seemed to grunt and drawl as though words were heavy for it. Ed now knew nothing or he would have thought it odd that it could speak.
"Oh," he too drawled.
"You are getting less solid every time you come,"
"Solid?" Ed asked the tree blankly.
"You forget too. You don't even remember me after seeing me every day," the tree drawled without emotion. Ed stared at it for a while, his mind, blank as usual. Not even wondering how a tree could speak and where its mouth that continued to speak was.
"You will die it seems,"
"Die?"
"Again too," the tree answered as the flute in the distance stopped and Ed fell back into sleep.
For how long slept this time, he did not know, it also did not matter. The flute sounded in the nothing again and he opened his eyes. He walked the distance towards the moaning again and stood before the tree.
"You are the one that moans?" he asked.
"You are dying," the tree said.
"What does it mean to die?" he asked the tree.
"What a topic...mn... for some, their body dies," It said.
"What is a body?" Ed asked.
"Yes, a greater topic. The body houses the being... for some, it is flesh for others... hmmm,"
"What is a being?" Ed asked.
"Yes, a great topic, the being. It is to be a piece of that which is," the tree said and the flute ended, carrying Ed back to sleep.
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