STNS: Chapter 373 (Patreon)

They sat around the campfire--him, Huo Shuchang, and Huo Yulie. Youmei was still unconscious. The giant panther’s head rested on Wu Jian’s lap, and he stroked her head and ears, which twitched as though she were ticklish.

No one was saying anything. Huo Shuchang stood before the fire. A cauldron full of bubbling liquid hovered over the fire, set up on a tripod. He added ingredients from what they foraged one by one.

Huo Yulie sat beside Wu Jian, not quite close enough for their thighs to touch but close enough to feel each other’s warmth. She was staring at Youmei. With her mask removed, he could see the combination of worry and envy on her face. He understood the worry, but envy? Did she want a lap pillow too?

“How is she?” asked Huo Yulie.

“Youmei is fine. She’s just resting now,” Wu Jian said.

“That is good. I was worried.” Huo Yulie paused. “She is a yāomó panther, right? I’ve heard of them. They are extremely rare magical beasts that are said to be nearly extinct.”

“You are correct.”

“How did you come to acquire her?”

“Through luck… or maybe fate.”

It wasn’t much of a story, but he told it anyway, about how he and Wu Meiying had been playing a game of tag in the forest and came upon the injured Youmei. He made sure not to mention Wu Meiying by name since they couldn’t afford to let people know of their relationship yet. However, he did his best to be open and honest. Huo Yulie listened with rapt attention, and even Huo Shuchang was keeping an ear to their conversation.

“I didn’t know any of that,” Huo Shuchang said after a moment.

Wu Jian shrugged. “That’s because you never asked.”

“That’s true,” Huo Shuchang laughed. “Anyway, stew is ready.”

He and Huo Yulie were each given a bowl of stew. Wu Jian looked into the bubbling red stew and wondered if this was lava. It wasn’t melting the bowl, but it looked like it might melt his esophagus if he took a bite. He glanced at Huo Yulie, who lightly blew on her spoon full of boiling red stew, then took a bite. The way her eyes lit up let him know that she liked it.

Down the hatch…

Wu Jian blew on his stew, then inserted the spoon into his mouth, blinking only slightly as the full burst of flavors resonated inside of him. This meal was quite hearty and delicious. It was also quite spicy. The spices caused his tongue and top of his mouth to tingle, but rather than making him want to stop eating, it just fueled his appetite.

“Seconds please!” he and Huo Yulie said at the same time.

Huo Shuchang grinned. “Seconds coming right up!”

Wu Jian had four more bowls before he was satisfied, and Huo Yulie had six. He was surprised such a petite woman could have such an appetite. Youmei woke up some time after they began eating--he assumed the scent roused her--and demanded food as well. She wound up eating more than all of them combined. Poor Huo Shuchang had the least amount of food since he’d been busy serving it up to them.

“We need to decide on our next course of action,” Wu Jian said after they had finished eating. Youmei was once more resting her head on his lap.

“Right. What should we do? That’s a good question.” Huo Shuchang sat with his legs and arms crossed, a perplexed frown marring his face. “The purpose of entering the Realm of Sacred Flames is to help cultivators increase their cultivation and grow stronger, but there are many ways to do that.”

“What do you want to do, Jian Wu?” asked Huo Yulie.

Wu Jian glanced down at the purring Youmei. “I’d like to help this one grow stronger.”

Youmei had originally been stronger than him, but her cultivation had stagnated because they weren’t able to focus on her growth. Now he had far surpassed her in cultivation. He was worried that she wouldn’t be able to keep up once the situation became dicy again.

“Ideally, I’d like to help her reach the Deva Realm,” he added.

Huo Shuchang stroked his jaw. “The Deva Realm, eh? That’s the realm where a magical beast gains a human form. I wonder what Youmei will look like once she’s got it? I imagine she’ll be quite young.”

Youmei’s voice was high-pitched and childish, so the assumption was natural. Wu Jian also believed Youmei would look quite young.

“The best way for a magical beast to grow stronger is to have them eat a variety of natural treasures and the spirit cores of other magical beasts,” Huo Yulie said. Her expression brightened. “We already have several spirit cores from those Blaze Lions you defeated, and they are all at the Deva Realm. Why not feed those to her?”

“You have more food for Youmei?” asked Youmei.

“Not quite food… but something that will help you grow stronger,” Wu Jian said.

Wu Jian held out his hand with the storage ring on it and summoned a Blaze Lion spirit core. The burning red core resembled a molten ball of flame and emitted heat to match. Just holding it in his hand caused smoke to waft from his skin. He had to coat his hand in chi to protect it. Could she really eat this? He worried it might burn her throat on the way down.

“Sniff sniff. Sniff sniff. That smells delicious…”

“Does it really?”

“Mmm. Youmei… is suddenly really hungry again.”

Youmei had raised her head the moment he summoned the spirit core and began sniffing it, her stomach rumbling. She gave the spirit core an experimental lick, but she jerked back when her tongue nearly caught fire.

“Ack! It’s hot! Youmei burnt her tongue!”

As Youmei turned to him with tears in her eyes, Huo Yulie explained, “You have to coat the inside of your mouth, throat, and stomach in chi to properly swallow that. You’ll get burned otherwise.”

“Think you can do that, Youmei?” asked Wu Jian.

“Mrrr. Youmei will try, but she will hate you if she gets burned…”

Wu Jian felt rather than saw the chi Youmei began circulating through her body. He could sense through his perception into the Dao of Space the chi that suddenly coated her tongue, mouth, throat, and stomach. Youmei was still tentative after getting burned. She licked the spirit core again, and when she didn’t burn herself, slowly took it into her mouth and swallowed the thing whole.

Everyone waited on baited breath.

“Well…? Do you feel any different?” asked Wu Jian.

Youmei didn’t say anything at first, but instead, she lifted her head and released a loud belch, flames jutting from her mouth. Wu Jian was so shocked he almost fell backward.

“Spicy,” Youmei mumbled into the silence.

***

In a cave several li away from where their battle had taken place, Shen Yunhai and Huǒ Pànguó sat around a small fire. Huǒ Pànguó glared into the blazing flames. His thoughts were consumed by what had happened. They had gone to kill Jian Wu, confronted his sister, and then nearly lost when their target emerged from his cultivation stronger than ever before. Even remembering what happened caused him to shudder.

How can anyone grow so strong so quickly?! It doesn’t make sense! He’s only at the first subrealm of the Deva Realm, dammit!

“That was pretty dangerous, huh?” Shen Yunhai said with a laugh. “I never expected that boy to get so strong simply by stabilizing his cultivation. I wonder what method he uses to cultivate. It must be incredibly powerful.”

“Stop laughing. This is all your fault,” Huǒ Pànguó snapped. “If you had just done your job and killed Jian Wu, none of this would have happened.”

“Oh? My fault?”

Shen Yunhai turned his gaze on Huǒ Pànguó, who suddenly felt like he’d been frozen solid. There was no anger or hostility in his expression. However, Huǒ Pànguó felt a subtle and deadly pressure emanating from the older man’s gaze. It felt like his heart was being squeezed into a fine paste.

“Who is the one that failed to destroy the barrier Jian Wu was hiding behind while I engaged that phoenix girl, hmm? You say this is my fault, but you had a job to do, and you failed to follow through. Do not try to pin this on me,” Shen Yunhai said with a mild-mannered smile that belied his deadly intent.

“But… but even so…” Huǒ Pànguó tried but was cut off.

“Of course, I might have been able to do this all on my own if I was allowed to kill the phoenix girl. I don’t normally confront people so openly like that. Well, we’re gonna have to kill her now.” Huǒ Pànguó paled and bit his lip, causing Shen Yunhai to grin, and this time, it was filled with malice. “I hope you don’t get cold feet. You have nowhere to go now. You’ve raised your hand against your family’s prized prodigy. Even if you return, banishment is all that awaits you. They will cripple your cultivation and kick you out of the clan. You no longer have anything left to lose.”

Huǒ Pànguó gritted his teeth as he struggled with the fact that this man was right. He had raised his hand against his father’s prized daughter, someone so precious that she was almost never allowed outside of the Phoenix Sanctum. His father cared more about her than anyone and anything. He didn’t know why since his father treated her so harshly, but he would banish anyone who tried something. Huǒ Pànguó once had an older brother. The man had tried to lay his hands on Huǒ Yulie. His cultivation was crippled and he was banished from the clan. Their father was the one to personally destroy the man’s dantian and meridians.

Dammit… all I wanted was for Father to recognize my talent and efforts.

“Huǒ Yulie has always been more important than you. She’s stronger despite being younger, has more drops of phoenix blood, and has mastered more techniques,” Shen Yunhai listed off all the things that made his younger sister better, causing him to glare at the older man, who saw this and chuckled. “I understand, you know? What it means to be seen as inferior to someone else. I once had a master whom I cherished very much. My master had two pupils. At first, we were like brothers, but over time, my master began to favor his other pupil, to the point where he started to neglect me.”

Huǒ Pànguó thought the man might be lying. It didn’t sound like he was lying, but Shen Yunhai was an assassin from a dark sect, an organization that operated outside the boundaries of conventional society and engaged in forbidden and otherwise sinister practices. While normal cultivators had a moral compass and followed certain laws, members of a dark sect pursued power at all costs, disregarding morals and ethics. They were willing to employ any malevolent means to achieve their goals.

“What did you do?” asked Huǒ Pànguó, curious despite knowing this might be a lie.

Shen Yunhai grinned. “What do you think I did?”

Huǒ Pànguó furrowed his brow. “K-killed your fellow apprentice?”

“Ha ha ha. Well, you’re not wrong. I did kill my fellow apprentice, but not before delving deep into forbidden knowledge. You see, my master was also a part of my family. They’re long gone, so I doubt you’ve heard of them, but my family was quite famous a long time ago. We had accrued many books on cultivation, including some that were forbidden. They were sealed away from prying eyes, having been deemed too dangerous to use. I broke the seal of those forbidden text and learned everything I could before using that knowledge to kill my fellow pupil. I was sadly unable to kill my master at the time and was forced to flee. That was such a long time ago. Ah. Now I feel nostalgic.”

This man is insane…

Looking into the man’s eyes, which seemed trapped in euphoria, Huǒ Pànguó realized that teaming up with this man had been a mistake from the very beginning. He had let his jealousy and envy get the better of him. If he could go back in time, he would have never agreed to listen to that man’s request. Even being ignored by his father was better than being in the situation he was in now.

There’s no medicine for regret, Huǒ Pànguó thought bitterly. While diseases and injuries could be effectively treated through alchemy, the feelings of regret stemming from his own reckless behavior could not be so easily alleviated. What made this entire situation worse was that all of this was his fault.

He had made his bed, and sadly, all he could do now was lie in it.