80 The East II (2/2)
Sylve nodded her head as her eyes narrowed in focus. ”This does align with what few records we have of Xia. The empire only ever graced us with one visit, when their admiral Zheng came with a small fleet filled with riches and eastern culture. Clearly, they wished to trade, but alas, after that single visit, Xia never came back.
But from what little we do know, it was known that the admiral remained youthful even at eighty, held immense might and prowess in a strange magic that none now can fathom.”
”That's interesting,” said Li. So just a hundred years ago, Xia was still doing well enough to send an envoy halfway across the world. He shelved that information for later, when he would try to contextualize it with what he knew about the empire's demise.
For now, he would try an experiment of his own.
”Knowing your curiosity, I'm assuming nothing will stop you from wanting to learn this cultivation?” said Li.
Sylvie nodded instinctively, but then said, ”The manuals hold so very many pages. It would be impossible for you to translate them for me. I could not burden you with such a workload.”
”Take it easy. For this, I'm not going to be translating. I'll offer to teach you directly.”
Sylvie sat still in numb shock for a few seconds. ”But...surely that will steal too much of your time?”
”You're not expecting me to drop everything I'm doing to teach you full time, are you?” Li pointed back to the main roads where the herbalist's stall was. ”I have that thing to run and the farm to manage, though Old Thane helps me out quite a bit. No, if I am going to teach you, it'll be taken slow, over a long period of time. Little lessons here and there when you're in town and when work is slow.”
”Even for that, I would be eternally grateful.” Sylvie trembled in happiness as she bowed her head up and down. ”To be able to learn something new, something that may make me stronger, would fulfill all my wishes.”
”This isn't exactly wish fulfillment. Everything is done in my spare time. It will take you a very long time to get through the manuals, and realistically speaking, all the effort is on you to learn. Functionally, I'm just a translator, not a teacher. Now, hand the manuals back to me again so I can refresh my memory until you leave town.”
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When Sylvie left practically skipping for joy, Li looked down at the manuals in his hands. They were thick paperbound books wrapped in faded gold string, and in surprisingly good condition. Unlike the scrolls, their pages were pristine and preserved, obviously enhanced with magic in some capacity.
Li had not told her the full truth about what was in these manuals. He had told her they spoke of the east's destruction, sure, and, as was his intention, it did sway her from wanting to visit the continent. What he had not told her was that the destruction was not a phenomenon, it was a person.
A single cultivator who had risen to the top at any means possible, toppling warlords, dragon kings, and, eventually, the divine emperor. The manual even spoke about how the admiral had been called back to assist his emperor against the threat, and his lack of return to the west indicated how thoroughly the east had been razed.
Though, considering this mystery individual hadn't crossed the ocean in near a century, it was likely they weren't an immediate threat or perhaps not even alive.
Li was still absolutely confident that he was the strongest existence in this entire world. He had power to level most of it, after all, and, judging from context, the east was not that much stronger than the west. There were two distinct cultures and factions warring in the east, one utilizing Elden World abilities and the other cultivation, and they were seemingly rather evenly matched.
Considering the scrolls spoke of the sword saint class as the pinnacle of might, it stood to reason that nothing in the east would far exceed that realm of strength, and that realm was laughably below Li.
But it was still good to be cautious. Li took a more laidback approach to the heroes here because he knew he far outclassed the strongest hero they had, and if the duchess did truly have a convenient way of mobilizing a hero that could harm or incapacitate him, then she would have done so.
He did not concern himself too much with the squabbles and scurrying of ants beneath him.
But the east was still a little more unknown. He would see if Sylvie could cultivate and observe how the powers worked. How they interacted with magic. Mostly out of curiosity, really, not to mention it did not hurt to help her. Unlike Azhar who had wished for Li to wave his hand and grant them eternal protection, Sylvie had put in real effort to both obtain, translate, and train with the texts.
Li stood from the fields, glancing at Zagan's sleeping form. He was reminded of the potentially approaching demon king from the west.
So a potential enemy from the west and from the east, huh?
Li shrugged before he made his way back to the cottage. He did not worry, nor did he think much. The way he saw it, he would live his daily, peaceful life, and if either demon king or top cultivator wished dearly to die, then all they had to do was make their way to the farm where they would hopefully make for some good fertilizer.