PtM Book 16 - Chapter 8: To Heal a Soul

3/4! Fast on the last one's heels!

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Cha Ming woke in a small artificial space. His body hurt, his head was killing him, and breathing proved extremely difficult. Daylight,he thought, looking around, and tried to rise, only to find out that he couldn’t.

He didn’t panic. If that past month had taught him anything, it was that panicking never helped. So instead, he calmly took in his surroundings.

This place... was a bedroom. A small, cozy bedroom with hardwood walls and linen curtains. He was currently lying in a dangerously comfortable bed he suspected was a trap.

The decorations in the room were simple. There was no one in sight, but he didn’t trust his eyes. The thought of probing his surroundings with his soul force came up, but his instincts kicked in and saved the day.

The room was familiar, yet that did not reassure Cha Ming. It felt incongruous with his current nature. The uncomfortable feeling grew as he scanned the walls and saw a series of old-fashioned photographs. They all depicted a human-form demon with black and white ears and a black and white tail. Huxian, he realized. That part brought him comfort.

There was also a twisted to the pictures, he realized, starting form the earliest’ pictures where human form Huxian was crawling around as a baby. There were pictures of Cha Ming feeding him with a bottle and him crawling around.

The pictures were obviously non-sensical because such a thing had never happened, but they teased laughter out of his ragged soul for the first time in months.

Laughing hurt, both physically and spiritually. Yet the more he laughed, the more he found the grayness in his spiritual sea receding to give way to a glowing iridescent ember.

Some memories returned. Just a few. Enough that the surroundings began to feel comfortable. And with them came pain, a moderate dose of it compared to what he was currently feeling.

There was something invigorating and inspiriting about seeing a picture of toddler Huxian riding a tricycle for the first time, or jumping out of a swimming pool soaking yet, or seeing him fight child over the ownership of a giant lollipop.

Minutes passed before Cha Ming fully calmed down and took stock of where he was. He was in the Heartforge Realm. Huxian had taken him here. He was not dead, which was a good thing. He had survived the entrance trial, albeit with great difficulty.

But he did not feel safe. He could not feel safe. The strange gray mist that had allowed him to survive, the savagery that had invaded his spiritual sea, was still there, and it didn’t trust what it was seeing.

But he was safe. He was here. Huxian had brought him here. He was lying in a bed with a fluffy pillow!

But he wasn’t, because anything could happen, anytime, anywhere.

His breathing began to quicken, and his thoughts became erratic. He didn’t know where he was. He didn’t know who he was. What was happening? What was going on? Why did he feel this way? How did he feel?

His body and his spirit began to convulse, and fortunately, Cha Ming was already on a bed.

The door swung open then, and an old man in doctor’s robes rushed in and placed his hand on Cha Ming’s forehead. Cha Ming did not like strange people touching him, so he tried to push the man away, failed, then lashed out with his Savage Deity Aura.

The man seemed to have expected this, however, and not only did his aura fail to push him back, the man pushed back against his aura, then proceeded to spiritually pack it up and shove it back into the Savage Deity Seed in his spiritual sea.

Only then was Cha Ming able to regain his higher-level faculties and realize that the man was a doctor and was here to help him. “Sorry,” he said, then slumped back into the bed.

The doctor nodded and began to form hand seals to produce glowing runes that he placed on Cha Ming’s body. Then then summoned a dozen silver needles, which he somehow sent directly into his spiritual sea.

They pierced his soul like a pincushion, immobilizing it before another smaller needle jumped in and began sewing Cha Ming’s soul with a red and silver thread. The doctor pulled Cha Ming back together with the speed of a seamstress but the skill of a surgeon. When he was finished, the trembling in his soul lessened, and the pain he felt receded accordingly.

“How do you feel?” the doctor finally asked. “Better? Worse?”

“Like I got thrown around by a violent ape and shoved through twenty buildings,” Cha Ming replied honestly.

“That sounds like a significant improvement,” the doctor said. “Well? Are the rest of you going to loiter around or will you be coming in?”

A Buddhist monk and a Daoist priest entered the room.

“Greetings, benefactor,” the monk said amiably. The Daoist priest smiled kindly but kept ramrod straight. He wore a Daoist cap and kept a fan in one hand and his other arm crossed behind his back.

“Well, what are you waiting for? We don’t have all day,” the grumpy doctor who’d yet to introduce himself said. Now that Cha Ming looked at them, they all looked quite similar.

“Are you three brothers?” Cha Ming asked.

“Why yes, we are,” the monk said. “We are known as the Yi Brothers. My oldest brother, who just administered treatment and who lacks for manners is called Yi Sheng. I am called Yi Fu and this wonderful priest is called Yi Dao.” Cha Ming’s eye twitched at the naming scheme – felt like a terrible linguistic joke. “I have come here to perform a service to aid your soul, and would like your permission to access it.”

Cha Ming felt a lot more comfortable with this individual. “What will you do?”

The monk summoned a golden pagoda, which radiated healing light. “I will send this artifact inside your spiritual sea and apply gentle pressure to your soul to accelerate its healing.”

“Then please, go ahead,” Cha Ming said. The doctor, Yi Sheng, grumbled about wasted time and money. And points, whatever those were.

A light appeared inside Cha Ming’s spiritual sea, and that light grew to become the same golden pagoda the monk had showed him. It floated above Cha Ming’s freshly stitched soul and forced it down into a cross-legged position. It could no longer move because of the pagoda and the pressure it exerted, but that same pressure seemed to close his spiritual wounds and keep them shut.

“Since my brother monk was kind enough to explain, I will do so as well,” the Daoist Priest said. “I specialize in angelic spiritual arts and have noticed that you have forcefully shattered your wings to boost your combat prowess. Very foolish, by the way.”

“The situation was desperate,” Cha Ming said. Those brought up terrible memories, memories he and the gray mist forcefully suppressed.

“It always is,” the Daoist Priest said. “Trust me, I’ve seen many such cases. Now please, open up your spiritual sea. I will help alleviate the symptoms of having done so.”

A jade angel with four pairs of wings entered his spiritual sea. Its jade light was soothing, and under its guidance, two pairs of phantom wings appeared at Cha Ming’s back. The impression of a third also reappeared.

The angel then used its spiritual force prod Cha Ming’s soul and make him aware of the source of his soul damage. The runes for the Thirty-Six Heavenly Transformations Technique in his spiritual sea had fractured. So had his angelic ideal, the ideal of hope.

The angel and the light assured him that the damage was only temporary. Not all hope was lost. There was light in this world, and where there was light, there was hope. He could and would recover, and in fact, he was already healing.

Just this knowledge was enough to slightly solidify the phantom. They were dull and completely lacking in energy. But they were there, and he felt that with time and effort, they could recover.

“You originally had these wings, so it’s quite easy to reform them,” the Daoist said. “Now that they’re back, how do you feel?”

“Like I might actually be able to recover,” Cha Ming said. The wings weren’t just a manifestation of his angelic ideal – they helped anchor him and guide his actions.

“What you consumed when you broke them was not your merit, but a portion of your will,” the Daoist priest explained as the jade angel left his spiritual sea alongside the monk’s golden pagoda “Although the Thirty-Six Heavenly Transformations Technique can be used in such a way, make sure you follow the actual technique next time.” Cha Ming had never heard of such a thing, but the man did not seem keen on explaining.

Huxian entered the room then. He was carrying a tray of assorted foods, which he plopped onto Cha Ming’s bed. There was also a steaming cup of coffee, which Cha Ming raised presumptuously, looked at the doctor, then slowly raised to his mouth. Seeing that no objections were raised, he drank it. A healing warmth filled his soul and mended it, just little.

“Yes! You’re alive and you woke up! And you’re well enough to drink coffee. All is right in the world.” Huxian couldn’t contain his excitement and began to explain what was for breakfast.

Cha Ming rapidly wolfed down the food before replying. It took all of thirty seconds now that he could properly move without damaging himself. He then looked up at the doctor guiltily. “Apologies for lashing out, Doctor,” Cha Ming said.

“It happens all the time to us Spirit Doctors,” Yi Sheng said. “You learn to simply ignore uncooperative patients, or knock them out if you have to.”

“We were compensated for our work, so we won’t complain,” the Daoist Priest said.

“I did not get paid,” the bald Buddhist monk in orange robes clarified. “My master sent me to aid Uncle Master Sun Wukong’s student, so I could not refuse.”

Cha Ming grimaced as he rolled a shoulder, then another. His head still felt like he’d put it through an orange press. “How am I? Just give it to me straight.”

The three brother exchanged an uneasy look. “To be perfectly honest, we’re surprised you are alive,” Yi Sheng said. “Even more surprising is that you survived the Heartforge Realm’s entrance trial. That should have killed you if the soul trauma didn’t.”

“We believe it has something to do with the aura that’s territorially occupying your spiritual sea and clouding your memories,” the Daoist Priest said. “It’s an aggressive aura, but it’s highly geared towards survival, and did what it had to in order to protect your soul.”

“It is not a kind aura,” the Buddhist Monk added. “Not righteous in the least bit. I wonder if sending you here with such a thing was the right decision. But then again, this is exactly the kind of thing Uncle Master Wukong would do.”

“Yeah, yeah. We already know he’s not doing well,” Huxian interjected. “We knew that months ago. The question is how we fix him.” Cha Ming looked up at the three physicians expectantly.

The trio grimaced in unison, and Yi Sheng spoke first once again. “Your soul is mostly stable, but its condition will worsen if it is not treated. It is beyond my ability to heal, but I can recommend a better physician. Alternatively, you could eat a rare treasure like a reincarnation fruit, but such things are expensive. Either way, you lack points.”

“Yi Sheng’s stitches, Yi Dao’s reshaping of your wings, and my pagoda alleviated most of the symptoms and fixed immediate damage, but are not a long-term cure,” Yi Fu said. He placed a box and a censer in front of Cha Ming. “This medicinal incense will also help with the pain by dulling your memories and emotions and therefore allow you to partially separate yourself from your trauma. It’s not much, but it’s what I can give. Anything more… will require points, I’m afraid.”

“Ultimately, your best path forward is to cultivate your soul,” Yi Dao said. “It must be done using a mild method. The Daoist Soul-Grinding Refinement Art, for example, is completely out of the question. Your Thirty-Six Heavenly Transformations Technique is sudden, but not too violent, assuming you used it properly.

“It would also be best if you replenished your angelic ideal – the will and belief responsible for your angelic endowment in the first place. You should also accumulate merit. Lots of it. Merit is the best medicine for the soul, and can heal any amount of damage.

“Alternatively, you can also obtain other techniques or make offerings at any Daoist temple. But these things require points that you don’t have. Please don’t take it personally.”

That was third time in a row that points were mentioned, so Cha Ming couldn’t help but ask. “Points?”

“Oh, I remember now,” Yi Sheng said. “He was sleeping when the Heartforge Spirit explained. But regardless, I’m sure his demon companion will fill in the gaps.” He then turned to Huxian. “There. Your friend his patched up for now. This is all we can do for the time being. Be sure to come to us with more points if you require additional treatment. And if you’re looking for a full recovery… three million should do the trick.”

Huxian winced when he heard this. Apparently, three million was a lot of points. “Fine. We get it. We’re poor,” Huxian said. “Whatever happened to universal healthcare?”

“This is the Heartforge Realm, not the Seven Heavens,” the Yi Sheng said. He turned to leave with the others but stopped inside the doorframe. “Oh, I should probably tell you what things you shouldn’t do to make things worse, shouldn’t I?”

“I believe that would be the ethical thing to do, brother,” Yi Fu said.

“Very well,” Yi Sheng said. “Hm… No soul scanning. No spiritual attacks. Try not to get hit by soul attacks either. You should probably get a soul protecting treasure for that. Or you could make yourself one. As for crafting, try not to use your soul as a compression medium if you know such techniques. Limit yourself according to your qi cultivation.

“Other techniques should be fine, unless, once again they are overbearing. You must absolutely not use any soul burn techniques under any circumstance, for any length of time. Unless you’re looking for the sweet escape of death, of course, because that would be the inevitable result of such an act. Hm… What am I missing?”

“I believe brother Yi Sheng forgot soul splitting techniques and aura manipulation techniques,” Yi Dao, the Daoist priest said. “He seems to be practicing the Seventy-Two Transformations technique, and that has a splitting ability that requires affixing a portion of one’s soul.”

“Yes, don’t do that, obviously,” Yi Sheng said. “At least not until you get yourself a soul anchor.”

“Soul anchor?” Cha Ming asked.

“That would be the most efficient way to stabilize your soul,” Yi Fu explained. “There are many Buddhist Arts which can be used to anchor your soul to a physical object, like a soul sealing pagoda. Evil and Holy Spirit Arts could also be used to build a phylactery, I suppose, but I would be reluctant to recommend you use such objects.”

“I suggest using a seal to affix your soul, personally,” Yi Dao said. “But I am biased towards the Daoist arts.”

“Regardless, no aura manipulation,” Yi Sheng said. “Until you get an anchor, and the same applies to soul splitting,” the Spirit Doctor said.

“What about my Savage Deity Aura?” Cha Ming asked. “It’s treated me fine so far.”

“That…” Yi Sheng nodded reluctantly. “That is an exception. It has a soul strengthening effect and specializes in concentrating your aura, not manipulating it. But do remember that overusing that aura without a stable soul will have consequences.”

“It would be best if you stopped using that aura entirely,” Yi Fu said.

“I am of the same opinion,” Yi Dao said.

“I think it’s a pretty good aura, actually, assuming he gets a soul anchor and starts healing,” Yi Sheng said. “So. I think that should about cover it?” his two brothers nodded, and the three of them left Huxian’s dwelling.

Cha Ming leaned back in his bed once they were gone. His head was not feeling well. As for Huxian, he walked over to a chair beside the bed and collapsed inside its fluffy softness. Then the walls melted, revealing a large mansion with many rooms, including a very impressive larder and kitchen.

“Well? What do you think of my new digs?” Huxian said. “This is privilege, my friend. Gold-ranked privilege.” He held up his invitation medallion to the Heartforge Realm. It was a gold medallion.

Cha Ming held up his own Heartforge Token. It was clear and shone with different colors depending on how you held it. “I think I have a residence inside this.”

“Nice,” Huxian said. “I heard about that token from Wei Longshen and that prince from the Crimson Lotus Empire. It looks pretty sweet!”

Cha Ming massaged his brow. “Huxian, I have no idea what’s going on. Where am I? How did I get here? What are these points?”

“You want the long story or the short story?” Huxian asked. He motioned with his hand and summoned an espresso machine. A big one. He made them both a giant mug of it.

“Short please,” Cha Ming said. His head was still pounding, and he still felt off. Numb. Like he was only half a person. A lot of him was on auto-pilot, and it was not a good sensation.

“Short version it is” Huxian said. He pushed off a wall and his chair slid over towards Cha Ming’s bed thanks to the rollers on its underside. “Thing happened. Things I won’t mention. You were not in a good way. Everyone was worried and didn’t know what to do, because you wouldn’t move or wake up.

“Uncle Master Wukong decided that while it was probably best if you took your time to heal, the entire Inkwell Plane was on the brink of war. And since most of these wars started with the change to the Dao Origins, it would be best if you weren’t there. Since he’d come to the Heartforge Realm before and became one of Patriarch Heartforge’s personal disciples, he used his one-time invitation privilege to start another round of Heartforge Trials for you.”

Cha Ming closed his eyes. “What terrible decision.”

“You were going to die if he did nothing, Cha Ming,” Huxian said. “And it’s not like he didn’t send you here without help. You’ve got more benefits that most would get when they get sent into the realm. I got invited with a high-level invitation that gives me points every week, a discount, and an awesome residence. A bunch of other people you know where also sent here.”

There was no changing it, so Cha Ming moved onto the next most important thing. “What is the Heartforge Realm?”

Huxian blinked. “Right. You didn’t even have time to look it up.” He summoned a few pamphlets and looked through them before finding one and tossing it to Cha Ming, who opened it to reveal the shadow of two mountains. “The Heartforge Realm is basically a training ground run by an eccentric old man. His entire goal is to train up heroes and villains. Strong people.

“Every time he opens up the place, he sucks in the brightest geniuses in a bunch of transcendent planes then spits back out the ones who survive. Most of them proceeding to turning their transcendent planes upside down, after which they ascend and get recruited by some high-level immortals.”

“So I should want to be here,” Cha Ming said. “Under normal circumstances.”

“Yes,” Huxian said. “In fact, I’m already seeing the benefits!”

Cha Ming had noticed there was something different about him. He inspected his aura and discovered something troubling. “You look weaker. A lot weaker.”

Huxian scratched the back of his head and looked away. “I kind of gave up away my God Beast Bloodline.”

“You what?!” Cha Ming said, springing up. “Why would do that?!”

Huxian teleported above him and pushed him back down onto the bed. “Don’t worry, I have a plan. I did it on purpose. It wasn’t taken from me. It’s like I said, I gave it away.”

“But why?” Cha Ming asked.

“Watch!” Huxian said. He held out his hand and began doing something very normal. He was folding space into a physical shape, much like origami. The result was a block of spatial glass.

“Am I supposed to be impressed?” Cha Ming asked.

“Hey! This is stable, and I’m just getting started!” Huxian said. “I can make other things too – look at this.” He concentrated this time, and his dominion began folding space again. It created a much sharper object with a handle. A dagger.

Huxian tossed it out at Cha Ming, who caught it. “See? Stable. It won’t dissipate like it normally would.”

Cha Ming frowned. “Do that again.” He focused on the process this time. “You don’t have a dominion anymore. You have a domain.”

“Correction,” Huxian said. “I have both a dominion and a domain, and I’m not sure what to call it. Domainion? Control Region? Awesome space?” Cha Ming groaned. “I think Demon-Dao domain is what they usually call it. But yes, that’s what I have, and this only the first step. I’ve officially carved my core. Which wasn’t possible when I was a God Beast. But now it is.”

Cha Ming was suddenly enlightened. “You had trouble with your God Beast Bloodline because of your ancestor and wanting to stick it to him. But your bloodline was too strong, so you couldn’t become a Dao God.”

“So I got rid of it,” Huxian said. “Now I can cultivate the Dao and learn instead of having all my abilities handed to me.

“Like a real cultivator,” Cha Ming said.

“Demonic cultivation is perfectly legitimate, thank you very much,” Huxian said. “But yes. I can now understand what’s going on instead of just feeling it and pushing things along with my blood. It follows that said understanding will allow me use my demonic bloodline better. So in a sense, I’ve given up nothing but a bit of strength now so that I can gain greater strength later. And more importantly, freedom.”

Cha Ming thought that was neat. He could get behind freedom. He could also get behind this cool residence. The see-through walls were interesting, and he wondered how that applied to the bedrooms.

The windows were also variable, and were tinted to allow vision only one way. Wei Longshen and Xing Tianlong were waiting outside while drinking tea, but Cha Ming wasn’t in a hurry to see them. “What about points?”

“Patriarch Heartforge basically runs this place like a game,” Huxian said. “There are trials that you can pass for points, and people with different invitations can get points passively. Every week, there’s a battle trial you can participate in, which gets used to rank us according to combat strength. The top finishers get bonus points. There are missions for points, and you can also trade for points as well. Some people have even started loan sharking, but we’ll see how that turns out, because enforcement is very difficult here.

“And what can you get for these points?” Cha Ming asked.

“Anything, really,” Huxian said. “My kitchen upgrade needed points, for example. If you wanted a technique, even an immortal grade technique, you could trade points for it. Or for a recipe or a blueprint or to read a book. Literally any technique is up for grabs. Biggest selection anywhere, hands down, including the immortal realms. You can also get cultivation resources. Special herbs and medicinal pills. You can hire teachers. You can even pay people for favors.”

“And just to confirm,” Cha Ming said. “We’re here for sixty years.”

Huxian grimaced. “Yeah. It’s a long time. Uncle Master Sun said he’d take care of things on the other side, but I see what you mean. I left all of my friends back on the Inkwell Plane, you know.”

Cha Ming closed his eyes. “Sorry about that.”

“Don’t be,” Huxian said, waving him off. “This is basically a real-life training montage. All we need is a bit of music and a recording crew, and we’re all set.”

Yet it was one thing to hear him say it, and another to know how he truly felt. Through their bond, Cha Ming could feel the guilt he felt towards his friends, just as he could feel the concern and care Huxian had for him as well.

Life wasn’t perfect. Sometimes it wasn’t possible to accommodate everyone.

“We’ll be back soon,” Cha Ming said to Huxian. “And stronger than ever. The Inkwell Plane better watch itself, because when we come back, we’ll be taking it by storm.” He shivered then, and exhaustion began to set in. He felt cold. Exhausted. Worn out.

A familiar warmth flowed out form Huxian and into his own spiritual sea. “Don’t worry about my things,” Huxian said. “They’ll be fine. They have my network. They have their own things to do. In fact, maybe separating for a while is a good thing. It’ll let them be themselves a little more than when I’m around.”

Cha Ming nodded and yawned. “I’m… I need to get some sleep.”

“Yeah, I can see that,” Huxian said. “I’ll tell those two you’re too tired today. But you should know that when I found you, Wei Longshen was already there stabilizing your soul with his soul piper abilities, and Xing Tianlong had already run off to find that Daoist Priest.”

“I got it,” Cha Ming said. “I’ll thank them when I wake up. But sleep first.” He closed his eyes, and for the first time since leaving the Inkwell Plane, he drifted off into peaceful rest.

***

Cha Ming woke up three days later feeling significantly better. His shakes were gone, and his headache had subsided, so he got out of bed, washed up, and made his way downstairs to where Huxian was entertaining guests in the living room..

Or was it upstairs? It was difficult to say, because Huxian’s residence weird. Weird in a good way.

“Breakfast is up!” A plate flew his way. Cha Ming caught it deftly with his hands and took a seat beside the three other people at the table, Wei Longshen, Xing Tianlong, and to his surprise, Petros Sullivan.

Cha Ming gave them a quick nod before turning his full attention to his full plate of food. It was delightfully meat free and filled with spiritually dense ingredients.

He couldn’t help but wolf it all down and reach for seconds from the large platters at the center of the table before turning his attention to the three guests.

“You, my friend, look like you just came back from the wilderness half starved,” Petros said.

“And you look surprisingly well considering the difficulty of the trial,” Cha Ming said.

“Survival is what I’m good at,” Petros said. “I managed.”

“I didn’t I’d see you here, Petros,” Cha Ming said. “No offense.”

“None taken,” Petros said. “I didn’t get many points for my small victory, but I lived, which is more than what half of those who entered can say.”

“Points again,” Cha Ming said. “Sorry, but I still know nothing about all of this. How do I find out how many points I have?”

It was Xing Tianlong who answered. “Just touch your invitation medallion to your forehead and you’ll get a briefing on everything.”

Cha Ming did so and discovered a point total as well as an itemized list detailing gains and expenditures. He’d started off with zero points but had received 10,000 points a short while ago. Apparently it was a trial bonus, and he wondered what had qualified him for a bonus when he’d almost died.”

“You should have gotten ten thousand points from the trial, according to the rankings,” Wei Longshen said. “Tied for first place with three others, which is impressive given how badly mangled you came out.”

“I think that might be because I had a heavy handicap and entered the realm wounded,” Cha Ming said. “Cao Wenluan?”

Wei Longshen’s jaw clenched, and Cha Ming remembered there was no love lost between the two of them. “Only slightly lower than you, unfortunately,” he finally said. “I heard you might have ambushed him and caused him heavy losses in the end. Or so the rumor mill says.”

“I overestimated myself, but got lucky and foiled his plans,” Cha Ming said. “Two more seconds and I would have died.”

“Cao Wenluan eating a loss, however slight, doesn’t happen very often,” Xing Tianlong said. “So I think that deserves a toast.”

“Toast?” Huxian said in a panic. “One second!” He rushed over to the kitchen and retrieved a plate of toast and spreads, then he rolled his eyes when he saw that Xing Tianlong had taken out a jug of wine. “Oh. That kind of toast.” He summoned a few mugs of coffee. Xing Tianlong eyed his dubiously, but since Huxian was the host, he put away the wine jug. Wei Longshen and Petros drank from their cups with practiced ease. As for Xing Tianlong, he took a sip, grimaced, then immediately put it down.

“I’ll take a proper beverage, thank you,” Xing Tianlong said. Huxian replied by summoning a kettle of hot water, tea leaves, and a small cup, and Xing Tianlong proceeded to ignore them and break open his jar of wine. “To good health and to survival!” he said. Cha Ming, Huxian, and Wei Longshen sighed and took a sip of their coffee. Petros looked at them strangely, then lifted his cup a little later. Being from Mendin, he wasn’t familiar with the drinking customs of the Crimson Lotus Empire.

“You’re wrong though,” Cha Ming said. “I have nine thousand points. Some of my points were deducted for maintenance.”

“Maintenance fees?” Petros said. “What, you don’t get a fancy bonus like all these big shots?”

“I don’t know if I’d call a five hundred points a month fancy,” Xing Tianlong said. “But I suppose it’s better than nothing.”

“I may get five thousand points a month for sitting on my thumbs,” Huxian said. “But that’s a gold invitation for you.” Petros scowled and doubled down on his free breakfast in irritation.

The fact that he was here was frankly impressive. Unless something had changed, his ranker abilities should still be suppressed. He’d lost them fighting Artemis’s avatar, back when… back when…

“It could be a few things,” Huxian said. “My guess is that it has something to do with your residence. We’ll need to set it up to be sure. But first, breakfast. And coffee. Delicious coffee.” Cha Ming could get behind more coffee.

It turns out that everyone from the same plane were neighbors. As for the neighborhood, Huxian turned his walls semi-transparent to show it to him. He then proceeded to explain how the Heartforge Realm was split into two factions: the angelic faction, which resided on the jade mountain, and the devilish faction, which resided on the ochre mountain.

A total of fifty-one cultivators from their plane had survived the entrance trial. To Cha Ming’s surprise, only 21 of them had chosen the angelic faction. Of them, Cha Ming only knew these three and Huxian.

“Did any other Daoists from the Crimson Lotus Empire make it out?” Cha Ming asked.

“Aside form Cao Wenluan, a few,” Xing Tianlong said. “He’s on the ochre mountain, by the way, as are his goons. Out of the one’s who came with me and Longshen, one Daoist and one demigod barely made it.

“So that brings us up to a group of seven. Unless you have any other acquaintances?” Cha Ming asked.

“We do not,” Xing Tianlong said.

“I made a few friends in the demon trials,” Huxian said. “Two of them were from the Inkwell Plane.”

“Oh?” Cha Ming said. “They wouldn’t happen to be beautiful women that happen to have fallen for you and have the right alignment for your friendship formation, would they?”

“Eh… well… fallen for me?” Huxian said, scratching his head. “Probably not. I can never really tell. Anyway, it doesn’t matter because they’re not part of my team. Not yet at least. It’s a work in progress.”

Cha Ming looked to Petros. “How about your crowd?”

Petros snorted. “My crowd? Last I checked, I was communicated. Also, it appears that the few others who came suffered from terrible misfortune during the entrance trial. None of Jezeriah’s respected rankers made it, as opposed to the three from Harid Dej on the ochre mountain.” He sighed. “I don’t regret coming here, but I the more people I see, the more I realize I’m at a terrible disadvantage.”

“If there’s anywhere that can fix that, it’s this place,” Huxian pointed out.

“Truly?” Petros asked.

“It’s why my teacher sent me here,” Cha Ming said.

“I’ve done some research as well, and it is said that Patriarch Heartforge will never invite anyone without potential,” Wei Longshen said. He hadn’t spoken much, and Cha Ming couldn’t blame him, given how he’d acted last time.

“Thank you for your kind words, everyone,” Petros said. He drained his coffee cup and stood up. “It’s nice to see you again, Clear Sky. I heard you were hurt, but I see that the rumors were over-exaggerated. Since you’re out of bed, I can feel relieved getting back to training.”

Wei Longshen looked about to say something, but Huxian glowered at him, and he chose to remain silent.

“We should go as well,” Xing Tianlong said. “We’ve confirmed that you’re all right, relatively speaking, and there’s training to be done. Come find us if you ever wish to talk or discuss anything. I predict the trials in this place will be difficult, but there’s no reason not to reach out if things prove too difficult.”

Relief washed over Cha Ming as the three visitors left. He might have looked all right on the outside, but interreacting with people was still too much. The doctors had done much to alleviate his symptoms, but his auras were still warring in the background, and his memories were still spotty.

Even so, it was nice to be back in civilization. Nice not have to eat demons to survive. There was coffee here, and Huxian’s company, and with time, he was sure that he’d stop being wary of cupboards and small rooms. Walls especially.

“So,” Cha Ming said. “Residence?”

Huxian nodded. “Residence. If it’s costing you a thousand points a month, it’s gotta be cool.”