Chapter 218: Fun and Games

Yang Xiu’s eyes widened at the sight of the beauty before her. She wasn’t sure exactly what the device did, but it certainly looked interesting. And considering that Master made it, the treasure surely was unfathomable.

He was smirking at her, meaning that he expected her to ask him how to use the treasure. When she opened her mouth to do just that, though, she realized that, as his top disciple, doing so would be a failure. She should figure it out by herself!

From the shape and feathers, it looked like two red phoenix wings joined together. Wings generally went on a person’s back, but the device was too big to be put there. Besides, it was made of metal that didn’t look like it even flexed, much less flapped.

Hmm.

Her first clue was two platforms complete with straps. She put one of her feet in each and strapped them in, using the leather provided, leaving her to stand astride the device.

Now what?

She reached out with her spiritual senses, finding a coin box similar to the ones Master used on most of his devices at the back of the treasure. Inside pulsed two sources of qi—Gravity, which she was well acquainted with as Master used it all the time, and Wind, one of the five primary elements. The presence of those two particular elements combined with the wing shape told her what the purpose of the device was—flight.

Yang Xiu clapped her hands together in excitement. Yes! The thought of flying through the air like a bird was amazing, and the feat would otherwise remain beyond her abilities until she reached the next major realm years and years from now.

She cupped her hands. “Gratitude, Master.”

He grinned.

With the purpose of the device figured out, she just needed to determine how to actually use it. There had to be a way to control the flow of qi from the coin box. Probably two levers or buttons, one to adjust Gravity flow and the other Wind.

There was obviously nothing near her hands, and she doubted he would have required her to bend over to make the treasure move. That left her feet.



She examined the area near her toes as being the most obvious location, and she was right! The front of each footrest was articulated. By pressing her toes down, the front would depress like a pedal. Using her superior agility granted to her by her Spiritual and Body Cultivation, she applied the slightest bit of pressure with her right toe.

The tiniest strand of Wind qi flowed from the back of the device.

Hah! Right toe for acceleration and left toe for lift. Perfect.

Yang Ru was still staring at his identical device, having not even gotten on it yet.

“See you, Brother,” she yelled as she simultaneously pressed both pedals.

The device shot forward and up. Without her preternatural reflexes, she probably would have crashed into the crowd, which would have been so, so embarrassing and might have hurt someone. Instead, she soon got the hang of it, using her left toe to adjust her height and the right to increase and decrease her speed.

It didn’t take her long to escape the confines of the amphitheater, dodging colored light orbs as she did, and zip around above the sect grounds.

As a Foundation Establishment cultivator in the first minor realm, Yang Xiu was fast. Her peak Bronze Body Cultivation added to that speed. Her qi aspect relating to slippery ice made her even faster still. All that to say that, when she sprinted, she could cover ground at a rapid rate.

The device Master had given her dwarfed her top speed. Flying on it was the single most exhilarating thing she’d ever done.

To steer to the left, she simply had to lean in that direction. Same with turning to the right. Acceleration using her right toe was fast and smooth, and easing up on it completely would cause her speed to fall.

The trickiest part was using the Gravity boost with her left toe. Pressing down would quickly make the device leap several tens of yards higher, which made for a very bumpy and disconcerting flying experience.

She discovered two methods to decrease elevation. One, she simply leaned forward, which tilted the front of the device down and made her move toward the ground. The second was to completely let off the pedal with her left toe, which made her drop like a stone.

The first time she did that was an interesting event indeed.

Overall, she found the device’s operation to be easy and intuitive, and using it was the most fun she’d had in a long time. It was definitely the best birthday present she’d ever received, and she would have said that even if it wasn’t the only one she’d ever received.

A case of literary theft: this tale is not rightfully on Amazon; if you see it, report the violation.

Jin LiJuan had eaten a piece of the cake that Master had created and, surprisingly, had found herself enjoying it, even the really sweet icing. Especially the really sweet icing. She glanced at the huge dessert in wonder as she considered if there was enough left for her to have seconds.

The longing in her eyes must have been apparent because Master soon came to her with another slice.

“Like it, huh?” he said.

“Yes, Master. Gratitude.”

“Good job completing one part of the mission I gave you.”

Ah yes. Her mission to eat cake. As Master would say, “Check.” That still left to play, to have fun, and to be a kid. Ugh.

She had, of course, played at the orphanage. Some. Back when she was five or six. But she was no longer a child. In three years, she would be considered an adult.



Jin LiJuan sighed. But she supposed she wasn’t an adult yet, and she had made a promise to him. Multiple promises. If he wanted her to play, she would play.

After eating her second slice of cake, savoring each mouthful, she looked around, searching for people her age who might be playing and quickly spotted a small group of around a half-dozen children who were using an empty section of the seating to chase each other. Having grown up on a farm outside the wall and, after going to live at the orphanage, not having exactly socialized much with the villagers, she didn’t recognize any of them.

Their game looked dreadful. They simply ran around with no purpose, touching each other. But joining in would surely fulfill another of Master’s orders. If she could just plaster something akin to a smile on her face and pretend to laugh sometimes, hopefully that would be enough for him.

Ganzou was napping on the floor at her feet, and she gently picked him up. Unfortunately, her movements weren’t quite soft enough, as the wolf pup woke, gazing up at her with wide eyes. From experience, she knew the beast wanted to lick her face, but it didn’t make the attempt. From its experience, the pup knew any such effort was futile.

Jin LiJuan made her way over to where the children were playing. Most were at least several years younger than her, but there was a boy that appeared to be near her age. They were almost certainly all mortals.

She cupped her hands and inclined her head, giving him much more face than he deserved. “I am Sect Member Jin LiJuan. I wish to join your game.”

The boy tilted his head to the side. “Is that your dog?”

“It’s not a dog. It’s a wolf. And yes, it is mine.”

“The grownups let you have a wolf? Why?”

Jin LiJuan frowned. “That is not any of your business. May I join your game?”

The boy shrugged. “Sure. Anyone can play. But if I was you, I wouldn’t go around claiming to be a sect member. Mother says that cultivators can be mean. They might get mad if they hear you say that.”

Her frown grew. Not counting the orphans, most of the villagers accepted into the sect had been older. After all the town elders were chosen, the mayor selected mostly people who had professions that could help the sect advance. Some of those brought along their apprentices, but by and large, children and new adults had mostly not yet been made members.

“Do you not see that I wear the sect robe?” she said through clenched teeth.

“Yeah. I figured you have an older brother or sister who let you wear their spare.”

No one not a member of the sect could wear the robe, but she supposed a boy from the village would not know all the rules. To him, it might seem reasonable that a sibling would be allowed.

She clenched her fists.

His doubt, though understandable, made her seethe. She wanted—no, needed—to prove him wrong.

As cultivator in the middle stage of the Qi Gathering realm, there wasn’t much she could do to show him her power. She was slightly stronger, faster, and tougher than she otherwise would have been, but with her low cultivation and damaged spiritual circulation, she hadn’t yet reached remotely superhuman levels yet.

Her first impulse was to call over one of the older cultivators to verify that she was, in fact, a real sect member, but having to rely on a senior like that would be a huge loss of face for her. Even if the boy and the several other children that had gathered around them by that point wouldn’t understand that loss of face, she would.

As she considered what to do, Ganzou squirmed in her arms, and she let him jump down.

The children were clearly both fascinated and a little scared of the pup, who at the peak of rank two emanated a small bit of menace that mortals could pick up on. Not that Ganzou held any ill will towards the kids; Jin LiJuan had impressed upon it that mortals were not to be harmed, and she believed that it understood the lesson completely. Still, it could not help but produce the air of danger simply due to its rank.

“May we pet it?” the older boy said, showing himself to be braver than she would have expected.

Uh. That was a good question.



Ganzou looked back at her and let out a soft bark. The beast was a smart little thing and understood most of the words spoke around it. That sound told her that he didn’t mind.

“You may, but one at a time,” Jin LiJuan said. “Be gentle.”

Not like mortal children were likely to hurt a peak rank two beast, but there was no reason to take chances, either.

Ganzou turned out to be a big hit with the kids, with them petting and hugging him. As Jin LiJuan watched them, she couldn’t help but grow a little jealous, wishing it were that easy for her to treat the beast like they did.

Why did everything in life have to be such a struggle? Given the option, she would have definitely chosen to strain herself with cultivating day after day rather than trying to figure out how to deepen her bond with a beast.

But no one said life was fair, and she’d already been spared being doomed to the life of a mortal by Master healing her. Now, she was being granted the opportunity to soar to heights only Master and Senior Brother Fatty Ren had achieved among the sect members. She’d be an idiot not to embrace the chance.

Regardless, that struggle was not the task she’d been assigned for the party. No, she simply had to play. Have fun. Be a kid. Which didn’t seem any less difficult to her than bonding with the beast.

Ganzou proved himself to be smarter than she was and started chasing one of the little kids. The girl was scared at first, but when Ganzou simply tagged her with his snout and ran away, she realized the game.

The children scattered, all but Jin LiJuan, who was barely paying attention when the girl dashed over and tagged the cultivator.

At first, rage overcame Jin LiJuan. How dare a mortal lay a finger on her!

But she quickly remembered that the game was the entire reason she’d approached the group in the first place. Getting mad about being included in their play would have been even more idiotic than not embracing the opportunities she’d been handed.

With a sigh, she chose the older boy as her target and raced after him.