Chapter 94 - Like a Mortal (1/2)

There was no shadow of a doubt, the two presences in her divine sense were mortals. Instantly, she probed them and their possessions.

One figure was tall and burly, with facial features that seemed to be primitively carved out of stone. The other one was exactly the same but smaller.

”A father and a son with axes, this deep into the forest. They are cutting wood” Shin Sumi had seen the long handles and sharp metallic faces strapped to the men's backs.

The two mortals were still quite far away and were completely oblivious to Shin Sumi's presence. On the other hand, the latter had completely analysed them, what they had and what she would do.

”They don't have a mule or a cart which means they will transport the wood by hand. Their home is close-by!”

”This one'll do,” the men stopped before they reached the end of the path where Shin Sumi was.

Now that she was in the mortal world, she reminisced a bit about the ways of mortals, while patiently waiting for the lumberjacks to work their way through a trunk.

Cutting wood, for starters, seemed a bit strange to her now. It had been a long time since she had seen fire come out of a pile of logs. Paper talismans were much easier to use.

How could she have forgotten such trivial aspects to daily life? She remembered the pile of wood that her father would regularly buy for their own home. It was only thanks to that pile of wood that Shin Sumi ate hot meals and sometimes even took hot baths, back in East Seaside Village.

In the winters, when the wind whistled and would make people shiver, the Shin family would spend time close to the hearth of the main room, depending on the flames for heat.

”They wouldn't turn their back on a young girl lost in the woods, would they?” she asked herself in a low voice.

She had realized that she hadn't eaten a proper hot dinner in almost a year. Cultivators, past a certain point in cultivation, didn't need to rely on food to survive. Spirit plants and fruits were often eaten only because they provided slim boosts in cultivation.

Eating for survival was a thing of the past for her, but eating for p.l.e.a.s.u.r.e was an activity she found herself missing. More importantly, in order to reduce the use of the precious stock of wood, people would only cook a single meal for everybody and thus eat together. Sharing a meal with another person was another aspect she missed fondly.

Shin Sumi waited for the man and his son to finish cutting the fallen trunk into smaller logs. The boy insisted on holding one himself, his arms tight around the piece of wood that looked almost bigger than him. The father took the other four, his muscular frame a sign that it was a regular occurrence for him.

Finally taking a step forward, Shin Sumi soon entered the two men's sight.

”Father! Look” the boy's voice rose in a surprised pitch that could only be achieved by a man who had not reached puberty yet.

”Don't point your finger at a person, son. That is impolite.”

Shin Sumi was surprised. The man seemed more well spoken than she had expected.

”My apologies on behalf of my son, fair lady. This is quite the remote location for a stroll and Wuike is not used to seeing people like you.”

Shin Sumi had not spoken a single word yet, as the man bowed his head lightly, encouraging his son to do the same. ”People like me?” she thought, wondering what the man meant by that.

”Are you perhaps in need of a place to stay? Or are you looking for the way to the nearest city?”

Shin Sumi was perplexed. As if the man had read her mind, these were the two things she was wondering about.

”I humbly thank you for your hospitality, sir. This stupid girl lost her way and is not used to small forest paths” Shin Sumi refered to herself and responded to the man's bow in kind.

”These woods are treacherous and an awful lot of young people tend to get lost in them, it is only natural to provide help when I can. Come along, my and Wuike's house isn't far.”

The man turned around and started walking. The young boy, Wuike, looked at Shin Sumi for a few seconds more, his eyes darting up and down her figure before he followed his father.

Folding her hands in her sleeves, Shin Sumi quickened her pace and followed as well.

She broke the silence after a few minutes, her curiosity of the man's last few words being too important to ignore.

”Sir, what do you mean when you say that a lot of people get lost in the woods?”

Turning his head to look at her with the sincere smile of a father, the man replied, ”Youngsters from as far as Rishen City or the old Baijo town sometimes appear in these woods, lost like young sheeps in the same path as the one you took. This is partly why me and my son go up there to cut logs.”

”Listen, young lady, I ain't one to ask questions, whatever brings all of you up here is none my problem” the man's rough speech sometimes betrayed his nature as a man of the country despite his best efforts to control his language. Self consciously focusing on his words, he continued, ”I simply offer my assistance when I can, to make sure none of you get eaten by wolves at night.”

The man's simple way of phrasing his thoughts somehow warmed Shin Sumi's heart. It was clear that this man and his son were not cultivators but Shin Sumi knew what the man meant by his words.

The direction she had taken had been in a straight line from the end of the stairs leading to the Dark Sky Starry Sect's lower valley. She remembered when she climbed these stairs a few years back and Fen Wudao's words that she could choose to leave at any time.

In all probability, the man next to her had seen many people who had turned back during their climb and ended up in the forest near his house. From what she knew, the Inner Sect disciples would often carry missions out of the sect and bring back young mortals with potential to become cultivators.

Only a small portion of them would end up becoming Honorary Disciples whereas the other would have to find their way back to their home.

Many of them had ended up walking in the same way she was now, relying on the hospitality of the lumberjack. Possibly many Liquid Realm disciples leaving the sect for missions had also taken the same path.

It was probably the strong auras of these individuals that had dissuaded the man from asking too many questions about his occasional sudden guests.

”I see. In this case I won't bother you for long, sir...?”

”People call me Wuije,” the man replied. Shin Sumi noticed that he didn't ask for her name back on purpose. The less the man knew, the better he seemed to be.

Shin Sumi made a mental note to leave the man a spirit stone, a spirit plant or something to repay his kindness when she would leave.

They had followed the forest path for about half an hour when a small clearing appeared in sight. A rather crude but welcoming wooden house stood in the middle of the clearing. In front of it, the path suddenly became larger, telling of the fact that the man was often travelling to other cities.

The lumberjack most likely provided wood for the neighboring cities. Pointing to the cart, the man spoke to Shin Sumi, ”if you wish to share our humble supper and roof, I can bring you to a city tomorrow. Old Ren is waiting for his monthly supply, which takes me as far as the Hoyan River.”

Shin Sumi considered the offer. She was initially going to share their supper before leaving, but the proposition was tempting.

The Dark Sky Starry Sect was already looking for Bai Fulong after finding Elder Zhu's body, but nobody was looking for Shin Sumi. And even then, Fen Wudao had assured her that the Patriarch would delay the search outside the sect.

Seeing no reason to rush things for now, Shin Sumi graciously accepted the offer.

To a cultivator like her, it was almost exciting to spend a day as a mortal in the company of this man and his son.