Chapter 136: This Young Master Is Not A Puppet

Chapter 136: This Young Master Is Not A Puppet

They had ascended atop a wooded hill and, from the cover of the brush, looked down on the trial grounds that Xie Jin had been so adamant about bringing them to.

On his hands and knees, Xie Jin looked toward the ruins with awe. Its beautiful.

As a fellow enjoyer of architecture that had been dipped in time and left to dry in the seasons, Chen Haoran had to agree with him. Nestled within a valley was a large gray step pyramid, tall enough that clouds gathered around its top. Each layer had been coated with beds of moss, small trees, and crawling vines that bloomed with pink flowers. The layers were perfectly divided in half by a long unblemished staircase of green marble that led all the way to the top of the pyramid, where an open door flanked by two curling snake statues awaited. Cresting the edges of the pyramids square peak were two stone snakes devouring the tail of the other.

Around the pyramid were the remains of lesser buildings, both in scale and resiliency. In its shadow, whatever accent they were to be to the pyramids glory was instead a faded, forgotten thing. Now the remnant masonry and reliefs stood thrice hollow: by the people who abandoned them, by the jungle that invaded and stole away their furnishings, and by the march of time that had taken the rest. The air cracked intermittently with shards of rainbow color like the whole site had been covered in a dome of it that had now been shattered.

The decay was not a damning thing, however, instead, it added a decadent historicity to the near-untouched pyramid. The contrast in conditions created a tempting invitation to all who sought to satisfy their curiosities of times long past. It was old. It was awe-inspiring. It was beautiful.

Its occupied, Bao Si dryly noted.

It was crawling with soldiers.

The Garrison had taken to the pyramid like ants to their ant hill. Red-clothed soldiers scurried amongst the ruins and the steps of the pyramid. Whatever they found growing on or around the pyramid was marked and guarded till dedicated personnel covered head to toe in silk coverings came and collected it. There were other less uniform masses of bone-wrapped Southerners and foreigners alike who scrounged the periphery like scavengers picking a clean corpse. In front of the Garrison troops, the cultivators were cowed and leery of engaging. When a meal was on the line, however, even a scavenger was willing to swipe at a lion. There were some collisions between soldiers and cultivators when a treasure of some kind had been discovered, often leading to short exchanges of flashy techniques until one side decided the trouble wasnt worth it. It was less fighting and more like birds showing off their feathers. There were some deaths, however, unilaterally on the cultivators side when some hotshot overestimated their ability.

But look, Xie Jin said, pointing. Theyre letting anyone walk into the pyramid.

It was true. Soldiers and unaffiliated cultivators alike ascended the stairs and entered the top of the pyramid without obstruction. Chen Haoran observed the back and forth of the treasure-seekers outside the ruins and the scramble of non-Garrison cultivators to enter the pyramid like it was a train on last call. He frowned. Its unorganized.

Not the soldiers, of course. They moved with a discipline he viscerally recognized from the way his body flared with phantom heat. It was the situation itself that was a mess. Having been subject to the Garrisons various curfews and checks his entire stay in Zumulu, he was surprised to see them allow such a disorganized state of affairs.

Phelps trilled softly, and he pressed himself flush to Chen Haorans back, claws digging into his shoulders. Chen Haoran had long drawn a cloak over him in an effort to hide the sloth, and evidently, Phelps decided it wasnt enough as he became unnaturally still.

Chen Haoran looked up.

There were two men flying in the air. One stood ramrod straight with folded arms upon a sword. The other was wrapped in twirling purple and green silk streamers that flared out behind him in an artistic impression of butterfly wings. They were too high up in the air for Chen Haorans sense to judge their level, but he did not need it: Crystal Transformation Realms, the both of them.

Bao Si clicked her tongue. What sort of checks do they need with two Crystal Transformations watching over? Once the trial is over, well be lucky if they let us keep our storage bags, let alone anything we might gain inside the ruins.

They wont go that far, Xie Jin said. Hearing him, of all people, defend the Empire was a shock. The Garrison still uses levied cultivators to explore other ruins and unknown areas. Who will work for them if theyre so openly robbed? Theyll take a cut of what we gain at most.

Theyll take the river and leave us a well more like, Bao Si retorted. Well go in and potentially risk our lives for a pittance to bring back to the tribe.

Then we just have to use the good things we find while were inside the trial, Xie Jin said. So long as we get stronger, its not a total loss.

Ah, the arrogance of youth. Young man, I have to admire your moxie. That being said.

Chen Haorans jaw twitched open and then slammed shut hard enough that his teeth sounded like a sharp chime when they clashed together. There was a split second of numbness, and Chen Haoran finally opened his mouth under his own power

and screamed.

He bent over and fell to his knees, his liquid qi turning over in choppy waves as his control wavered. When he opened his mouth, coughing and howling, blood poured out into a puddle, and half of his tongue fell in the middle of it. The sight of stupefied Chen Haoran, enough that he even forgot his pain for a brief moment. His cocoon burst. Liquid qi flooded toward the frozen forms of Xie Jin and Bao Si. In the moment Chen Haoran failed the Yellow Dragon took over the reins, reasserting control of the out-of-control liquid qi and pulling it back into his body. It coldly glared at the crystal statue all the while.

As I was saying. Despite the grievous trauma, Chen Haorans voice still came out normally. Consider yourselves conscripted. Cooperate with the Garrison inside the trial, and youll be allowed to keep 30% of the total number or value of what you may find inside.

Xie Jin and Bao Si, now evidently frozen by something beyond fear given the lack of reaction on their part, said nothing and yet still gave the speaker that stole Chen Haorans voice an answer anyhow.

Excellent! I recommend quickly entering the pyramid. While the Concealment Formation has been broken, the others are very much operational. Soon enough, the trial ground will attract the miasma from the Tenth Green Hell and fill the entire valley. I imagine it will be quite the stampede to join the trial once we inform hangers-on. Best of luck.

With the presences final words Xie and Bao Si were released from their spell and they rushed to Chen Haoran.

Brother Chen!

Chen Haoran!

Chen Haoran sat numbly on his knees, pale and sweating bullets. He didnt, couldnt respond to them. His qi blunted the effects of the pain before long and almost immediately halted the bleeding, but it could not regrow a tongue for him. He needed his other Rewards for that, and yet he couldnt find the will to do so at all.

Bao Si dropped to her knees in his blood without caring how it ruined her dress. She scooped up his tongue with hands wreathed in purple miasma that turned an earthy yellow and covered it with both palms.

Xie Jin, she barked. Revitalization. Xie Jins own hands first glowed purple, then turned a spring green, and he wrapped his hands around Bao Sis. The two miasmas mixed and combined into a dull yellow-green before Bao Si ripped her hands away and revealed a yellow-green tongue clenched between her fingers. She turned to Chen Haoran. Open your mouth.

Chen Haoran obeyed the order, and Bao Si stuffed his tongue back in, wiggling it around to ensure it was in place. The miasma they covered the tongue with spread throughout Chen Haorans mouth and the other half of his tongue. It was no longer poison, however. Now it was medicine. The Yellow-green miasma jumped from one half of his tongue to the other, and through that bridge, his qi surged and bolstered the framework the miasma created.

After an agonizing moment, Chen Haoran opened and closed his mouth. He swished his tongue around his gums and across his teeth. He licked his lips. He tasted blood and spat it out. In the span of minutes, they'd reconnected his tongue like it had never been lost.

Bao Si and Xie Jin stepped back a few paces. Phelps slowly floated over to their side, his fur a bit singed but fine.

Brother Chen? Xie Jin quietly called.

Chen Haoran raised his arms and slammed them into the ground. The earth cratered, blasting away the brush and exposing long-buried roots of trees that now had no purchase and were sent tumbling over. Phelps reacted instinctively, pinching Xie Jin and Bao Sis collars with his claws and floating them all away as the ground beneath them gave way and crumbled. Chen Haoran exhaled heavily with such force that the clouds of dust kicked up in the aftermath were blown away. He leaned back on his haunches, alone in the depression of earth he created.

Fuck!