153 Chapter 152: Blood Blades shenanigans (1/2)

After the meeting, Elder Hai Mo dismissed us, but not before assuring us that he would gather everyone in the Blood Blades the next day.

”I'll send out a mass email tomorrow morning, and have everyone gather on the day after tomorrow. That should give us ample time to prepare.”

While I nodded, I glanced at the book he was reading when we entered, and unsurprisingly enough, it was a book on Spirit Engravings for battle-automata. Evidently Elder Hai Mo was taking these battle-automata thing seriously, and was preparing a major lesson for all of us in the Blood Blades, disciple or master.

”Can I join in too?” Tang Qi Hong asked eagerly. That was the whole reason why she tagged along in the first place – to learn Spirit Engraving for battle-automata.

Elder Hai smiled indulgently and nodded. ”Of course you're welcome to join us.”

”Thank you!” Tang Qi Hong was delighted. ”I will see you in two days' then!”

”I'll be glad if you can join us.” Elder Hai nodded. ”But make sure you don't neglect your usual forging practice!”

”I won't!”

Hearing that, I squirmed a little uncomfortably. Unlike the diligent Tang Qi Hong, I got too carried away with the battle-automata that I had forgotten about my other forging responsibilities and practices. I couldn't help it. In addition to experimenting with the battle-automata, I had Blood Blades combat practice. I was trying to do too many things at once, and I just couldn't cope. Unlike Mary Sue protagonists, who seemed to have the time to do practically everything – Li Xiao Yao from Zhan Long was a prime example – I was a realistic, average guy who had to struggle with time management and too much homework. Besides, Li Xiao Yao was ridiculous. The bastard spends over 12-18 hours a day playing some virtual reality game, but somehow still has time to hang out with beautiful girls in the real world, work as a police officer as a side job (read: participate in SWAT missions even though he technically left the force a while ago) in addition to his full-time bodyguard duties, and attend classes in college. And sleep. Yeah, maybe the world in Zhan Long had over 24 hours a day, and people didn't need to sleep as much in that world. I don't know. Not to mention, despite doing nothing but play games, by virtue of being an ex-SWAT member, he could somehow remain super-handsome, fit and in good shape. And despite being jobless, homeless and sleeping on a park bench in the first few chapters to gaming in a capsule for pretty much his entire waking life, he still manages to somehow get all the girls. No, I'm not being salty, I just found the sheer unrealistic self-insert wish-fulfilment power fantasy extremely hard to believe. Not that I was one to talk, but at least I wasn't crushing 10,000 people with just a group of 10, or staying in good shape despite spending more than half my day playing games daily. And I certainly wasn't an ex-SWAT member, but a former graduate student who was poor, weak and stupid to the point where my advisor basically gave up on me.

Unfortunately, I couldn't attend classes in Wu Ling Academy, travel back to Tushan, deal with the battle-automata, spend a couple of hours doing martial arts training, and then still have the time to do extra forging stuff (okay, I got my priorities wrong, the battle-automata should be the extra stuff, not my usual forging practice) all in the same day.

”You okay, Fei Wu?”

Tang Qi Hong noticed that I was scowling, and couldn't help but be concerned. I immediately forced a smile over my face and nodded.

”Yeah.”

”Don't worry about Liang Shao Yang. I don't think he's stupid enough to try anything. Father is keeping a close eye on him.”

”I'm relieved,” I muttered sarcastically. ”But I'm not worried about him. Sorry, I was just cursing Li Xiao Yao inwardly for being such a Mary Sue.”

”Who?!” Tang Qi Hong's eyes widened.

”Nobody,” I quickly said, and then turned to bow respectfully to Elder Hai. ”I look forward to your guidance.”

”Don't worry about it. It's only natural that we teach the disciples of our sect. We're not like the Azure Water Sect. We actually teach our disciples directly instead of just giving them contribution points and leaving it to them to redeem techniques and learn on their own.”

”What's the point of joining a sect then if they're left to learn on their own?”

Elder Zhao asked, confused. Elder Hai shrugged.

”I don't know. You should ask Jian You Tai Xu. Perhaps it's for prestige, or just to move the plot along.”

Was it my imagination, or was Elder Hai breaking the fourth wall after reading Eternal Reverence? Nah…it can't be.

”I'll handle the grounds and book a venue for your training sessions, Ah Mo.” The middle-aged lady spoke up with a gentle smile.

”Thank you, Rong'er.” Elder Hai smiled at his wife. ”I'll leave the booking of the venue to you then. The main sect hall would be the best place because of its size. I'm hoping for a place where all the Blood Blade members can fit in.”

”I'll make sure you get it.”

Hai Rong nodded and disappeared into the room, presumably to book the venue online. Everything could be done from home these days, it was really convenient.

After the pleasantries, the three of us left Elder Hai's house and proceeded down the Flame Volcano. Shortly after we made our way down, Elder Zhao parted with us, saying that he needed to meet up with Shen Cha in his office.

Given how the elders' residence (which doubled as their offices) were clustered in the same area, it was only natural that he separated from us at such an early stage. Tang Qi Hong's inner sect disciple residence was just a bit further down, but obviously the inner sect disciples didn't share the same status and amount of prestige as the elders. Consequently, I could escort her back to her place, with the two of us alone together.

”I can't wait!” Tang Qi Hong stretched herself cheerfully, beaming as she looked forward to the battle-automata lessons. I nodded.

”Yeah.”

”This is all thanks to you! I have no idea how you managed to obtain all those battle-automata, but thanks to you, Nine-Tailed Fox Sect is strengthened considerably!”

That statement caused alarm bells to ring. Tang Qi Hong just tripped some ominous flag – and the timing of my discovery of the battle-automata and my subsequent sale of them to the sect was too fortuitous. If my knowledge of xianxian novels was correct, then this heralded a sign that our sect was going to be attacked by a great force in future. The battle-automata would come into play here, as part of our defense against that immense assault.

The only question was who would be behind that assault. The Divine Shadow Sect? A coalition of demonic sects? And when did they plan to attack us, exactly? On the bright side, we were guaranteed some peace until we finished learning how to Spirit Engrave and control the battle-automata, but obviously I couldn't tell every Blood Blade member not to learn how to Spirit Engrave and control the battle-automata.

They would just laugh my reasons off and tell me I read too many wuxia and xianxia novels. Which I did, admittedly, but in what seemed like cruel irony, they would be telling me to stop mixing reality and fiction together.

On the other hand, if we were to follow the rules of such fiction closely, then our victory over the enemy would be inevitable, and I shouldn't have to worry about the conflict in the first place. Perhaps Zhu Jiao would swing in like the Messiah-like protagonist that he was and save our sect from the enemies, even though he wasn't actually part of the Nine-Tailed Fox Sect. Then again, not being a member never stopped protagonists from meddling and saving the day…

”I'll see you in class tomorrow then!”

Stopping in front of her residence and completely oblivious to my pessimistic misgivings, Tang Qi Hong smiled brightly and waved before she entered the inner sect disciple dormitory. I nodded and then turned to proceed toward the apartment complex housing all the members of the Blood Blades.

The apartment complex allocated to the Blood Blades was further down the Flame Volcano, and my journey back to it brought me past the plaza floating atop the lake at the foot of the volcano. Even now, there were still many martial artists gathering at the nine Spirit Engraved Pillars in hopes of trying to achieve enlightenment.

I could still sense the dreadful entity dwelling at the bottom of the lake, sealed by the Spirit Engraved Pillars, but far from being discouraged, it was still trying to reach out. If I tried to probe the Spirit Engraved Pillars, it would become aware of my existence and try to possess me. Even though I had gotten a bit stronger than last year, I wasn't stupid enough to take unnecessary risks.

That said…once I reach the required level, I'll attempt to communicate with the entity sealed inside, and if necessary…I'll add more layers of seals.

Unfortunately, I was still quite far off from being able to do something like that. Shaking my head, I spared the group of people massing around the Spirit Engraved Pillars one last glance and then left them to whatever they were doing. Most of them clearly hoped they would be lucky enough to trigger a response from the ominous Spirit Engraved Pillars, and refused to give up. If I hadn't felt that menacing presence, I would probably be one of them too.

But one of these days I would need to confront that demon and resolve this matter once and for all.

Before I entered my apartment, Tong Xue popped his head out of the neighboring apartment and called out to me.

”Wu! You're back!”

”In black,” I replied humorously. Tong Xue stared at me, puzzled, obviously not getting the reference. Without a neuralyzer, sunglasses and a suit, I couldn't show him, so I just waved as a friendly greeting.

”What's up?”

”Well…why don't you come in and chat?”

”Sure.” Without any real reason to refuse, I stepped into his apartment when he beckoned me. It seemed a bit messy, so I had to step around discarded belongings before settling down on a chair not far away.

”It's been about a year since we joined the Blood Blades, eh?” Tong Xue leaned on the luxurious-looking couch. ”It feels like only yesterday when we met Sect Lady Da Ji and talked to Elder Zhao about our entry…and when I told Lian Rou about it.”

”Yeah.” I nodded somewhat indifferently, not as hung up on nostalgia as he was. But now that he mentioned it, it really had been quite a while.

”It feels great, not needing to waste time on forging spirit artifacts and Spirit Engraving!” Tong Xue rolled over on the couch lazily, almost like a cat. I scowled at that.

Unlike Tong Xue, I had chosen to remain in the Spirit Engraving and blacksmithing classes in order to forge my own weapon. Even though it was not necessary for me to do so, I preferred to take a crack at it myself.

In the past, I had naively tried to craft rifles and ranged weapons like guns, but that was nothing but a far-fetched dream. Since everyone could effectively shoot qi blasts out of their hands, there was really no need for guns or ranged weapons. I had attempted to refine the concept to render guns more like conduits that could amplify the firepower of those qi blasts, much like spirit arrows or spirit swords that enhanced the wielder's melee capabilities rather than functioning as simple weapons, but quite clearly I had failed.

Qi bullets were fine and all, but unless they were more powerful than the qi blasts that we could fire out of our bare hands, it was a waste of time and space crafting rifles and carrying them around. For some reason I was unable to replicate the enhancement effect of spirit arrows or the melee weapons (people could unleash even more powerful qi blasts with swings of their swords, for example) for the guns.

This was so unfair. If I was a protagonist of a xianxia or wuxia story, I would be revolutionizing weapons technology with my modern knowledge and overawing everyone with my invention of guns and rifles. Too bad reality was never that convenient, and I was stuck being a mediocre, low-ranking blacksmith who was unable to fulfil his ideals.

”Oh, right…so were you able to forge your Spirit Weapon that you wanted to? You said you got that last component you needed from the Nascent Soul Stage Practitioner's tomb. It's been a week since then. How is your progress?”

”Um…ha ha, well…I kind of put it on the backburner for another project…”

Laughing sheepishly, I bowed my head in embarrassment. Tong Xue shook his head in disapproval.

”As Blood Blades, our status is equal to inner sect disciples. We get first priority to receiving high ranking Spirit Artifacts, armor, equipment and Spirit Weapons that the inner sect disciples forge. We can use as much Spirit Materials, Spirit Pills and Spirit Medicine as we want in order to increase our combat ability.”

”Nope to dope.”

”Uh, what?” Tong Xue stared at me curiously. I raised both hands and shook my head firmly.

”The whole Spirit Pills and Medicine thing sounds suspiciously like doping. And I don't trust doping. There will be side effects in future, and I honestly doubt it's so simple to improve your cultivation and boost your strength just from consuming pills. Usually those are steroids and they will harm your health in the long term if you rely too much on them.”

Tong Xie looked as if he had a headache, but he knew better than to argue with me on that. Instead, he sighed.

”Fine, but my point isn't the Spirit Pills and Medicine. What I mean is that you don't have to invest so much time and effort into forging your own Spirit Weapon, you know? You're a Blood Blade now. You can just ask someone from the inner sect to forge a Spirit Weapon for you. I'm sure Qi Hong will be happy to craft you a suitable Spirit Weapon if you ask her to.”

”Nah, I want to try something out for myself.” I shrugged. ”If I fail, I can always ask Qi Hong for help then. Otherwise I would prefer not to bother her.”

”Dude…if you are out for a mission…just like during that expedition to the ancient tomb last week – what are you going to use? Those cheap-ass swords that you've been using for a year? They'll break anytime now.”

”They already broke,” I told him, half-amused and half-annoyed. Tong Xue threw his hands up in the air.

”See?! I told you so!” he glared at me. ”Then what are you going to use? Hmm…well, you're not entirely helpless. I remember you're pretty good with kicking techniques too. But you don't have specialized boots…”

”Qi Hong gave me enchanted shoes.” I pointed at my shoes, which had Spirit Engravings on them to ensure they didn't wear down so easily, and enhanced their durability tremendously so that they wouldn't get destroyed whenever I kicked a powerful enemy. ”They are more than sufficient for my needs. You know her skills.”

”Lucky bastard.” Tong Xue sulked. ”Even Lian Rou has not personally given me anything to use for combat.”

”You could ask her.”

”…I did.”

Despite raising my eyebrow, from Tong Xue's sullen tone I knew better than to ask. Furthermore, I did have the Azure Lotus Sword that I acquired from the frosty chamber in the ancient tomb, but I wasn't stupid enough to show that off to my friend when he was in a bad mood. It would feel too much like showing off.

Well, he would find out eventually, but even so, I would prefer to keep my Azure Lotus Sword as much of a secret as possible. I could take an enemy by surprise by drawing it when he or she least expected it. And keeping them in the dark about what weapon I owned was one way to ensure that I preserved that element of surprise.

Instead, I decided to change the subject.

”Speaking of missions, we won't be getting any soon. Not until Elder Hai assigns us our personal battle-automata and teaches us how to Spirit Engrave them. He plans to give the Blood Blades control over an army of battle-automata.”

”Huh? What are you talking about?” Tong Xue stared at me blankly. I grinned knowingly.