Quest Maker: 398 (Patreon)

Title: The Setting

“Is that this location to your liking?” Bo Saixi inquires dryly with a tone so sarcastic that even Ja Sun cannot be oblivious to it—but he can act like it did, as he nods while staring at the open sea. Salty wind assails his senses as he breathes another lungful of it, enjoying the crisp freshness of the coast as opposed to the slight dampness in the air around the central settlements on the Island.

“Oh, yeah!” He smiles widely. It’s the dream!

“Why do we have to settle here when you can create pocket dimensions many times better than this?” Again, Bing Bing is the only one in the group to poke at his authority out of a moderately childish vendetta despite being older than a few of the clans existing in this world. The jade-haired beauty’s honeyed eyes regard the open sea derisively. “It was the same near the Lake in King’s Lair, too,” her words make others recall the silver-haired dragon waiting inside one of Ja Sun’s spatial artifacts.

“Because this is the dream right here!” Ja Sun announces boldly without taking offense—he is rarely offended, after all. His gold-green pupils eye the open coast as he chuckles, “A great view, a good home, good people around me, a healthy family, and an amazing house—I’d be a bitch not to enjoy all of it!” He recalls his one true ambition.

It’s not power.

It never was.

Power is merely a means to an end—his dream. And this view right here is the dream!

His words make others silent for a while. Others around him admit that stepping on the path of a Spirit Energy, man or beast, narrowed their visions to many things. Some chase and desire Power even now. Of course, there is nothing inherently wrong with that. But at this moment, the group cannot help but recall the fun they had in King’s Lair, and now, they cannot help but anticipate the delightful memories they will build here.

Perhaps, in the group, only one person understands Ja Sun’s current emotions.

“I expect a wide open roof,” mutters Qian Daoliu as he steps up beside Ja Sun, staring at the open sea, “to have a good look at the sea. You could use your powers to protect a small region ahead and layer beautiful corals that twinkle at night. The nights will be brilliant that way—a starry sea under the glimmering night sky. Of course, it goes without saying there won’t be storms around here.”

“Of course,” Ja Sun nods sagely, making others roll their eyes as he inputs. “I should be able to create an array that changes the property of the sand of the beach to mimic clouds in shape. It will let the kids shape the sand easier when they play.”

Qian Daoliu takes great offense at the idea.

“And let them skip past the early frustrations of building with sand and instilling them with patience? I expected more.”

The Beast Sage God strokes his chin thoughtfully, nodding, “Let’s do it like this. We keep the sand easier to shape but blow their constructs without their knowledge?”

Qian Daoliu and Ja Sun stare at each other before similar smiles adorn their faces.

“Great idea!” Admits the centipede enjoying Grandmaster of the group.

The others decidedly leave the duo alone as they start planning a variety of stuff to do with this ideally protected beach as Bo Saixi stoically steps back, observing their backs.

—“Granted, Tang Chen was a good friend and held the most potential among us. I can’t help but wonder if that was his greatest folly, too.”—

Bo Saixi recalls her conversation with Qian Daoliu as he described her only ‘crush’s’ demise.

—“By its very nature, Power alone accomplishes nothing. If a sitting rock becomes the most powerful existence in the world, it will remain a sitting rock. I admit, for the longest time, I envied Tang Chen. Even when I actualized my Law of Comfort, I wondered what Tang Chen would accomplish when he showed up eventually.”—

Her clear blue eyes stare at the duo’s remarkably similar and easy smiles.

—“But I don’t envy him now. Not because he’s dead. The selfish bastard kind of deserved it, but that’s not the point. I suppose it’s Good Karma in my books since I gave my two disciples the benefit of the doubt. They returned that gift by putting my heart at ease. If there is anyone who understands power alone is nothing—it’s them. And they taught it to me. Between my son and my arrogant student, I think one takes after me quite a bit. But I suppose my son has his own path to see till the end.”—

‘The two of them are more than master and disciple,’ Bo Saixi thinks with a pang of envy eating away at her heart. ‘And they know it.’

She looks away, seeing how Ah-Yin creates chairs out of flexible Blue-Silver variants for everyone to rest on as the pair’s discussion grows animated. Bo Saixi hears something about the Giant’s Forest and Ice and Fire Yin-Yang Well placed upon the Island, followed by a discussion of an elaborate open kitchen—things Bo Saixi cares little for, the realization of which strikes her deeply.

A Powerful Rock—Qian Xunji insulted her rightly.

What more was she—is she—if not a single-faceted mold of power with no other path until now?

“I cannot be your priestess,” the words escape her mouth quicker than she realizes as her blank expression morphs into a dignified scowl. Aside from the rushing waves, a heavy silence surrounds the region as Ja Sun tilts his head to glance at her despite not needing to do so—divine intent and all.

Saixi continues with a neutral tone, but the stellar aura of dignity rolling off her pores betrays her true emotions, “Your past conduct will be hard to forget. So, I will consider your action of giving me a new Martial Soul as an advance payment for freeing you of your mindless nature.”

She’s been struggling with it for quite a while. Sure, she decided to help Ja Sun, but this doesn’t change a lot of things about the situation. She just cannot become the Priestess of the man, pray for him aside from that one moment, and accept him as her lord in true right after everything he’s done. To do so would… well, all she knows is that it will take her a whole lot longer than she expected to settle into her new roles—whatever they may become. But for now, she cannot readily accept the role of his Priestess at the risk of falling on the list of people to have offended him.

Ja Sun nods, “Sure. If you’ve made up your mind.”

“Just like that?” Bo Saixi inclines her head as Ja Sun shrugs. “Do you think I’ll force a Priestess to perform her usual duties out of fear? And about your Martial Soul, don’t let it hang over your head. At the time, I would have done anything to piss Poseidon off. Fortunately for all of us, I’ve learned the error of my ways. I should have done what I did to steal things from Poseidon for myself,” he grins, his canines less sharp now that he is in his human skin, “and not to piss someone else off. Only my words should be enough for that.”

The former Priestess stands in her spot, lowering her head before sneaking a glance in Qian Daoliu’s direction, prompting him to sigh and shrug as the grey-haired man with bloody eyes questions. “Would you like to be the guest in our house?”

“Wait, do you have the authority to invite others to my house?” Ja Sun questions.

“Would you rather see me invite her to my room?” Qian Daoliu inquires.

“Hmm.” Ja Sun closes his eyes, muttering, “What a horrifying sight to imagine.”

The corner of Qian Daoliu’s lips twitch as he admonishes his student, “You’ll do well to learn to respect your elders and teach your son the same.”

“No, I mean,” Ja Sun blinks. “I can’t imagine your advances working when the younger you couldn’t get shit done. It will be heartbreaking to see you in the throes of rejection.”

Qian Daoliu can feel others trying to contain their smiles. Well, the ones who respect him control themselves, giving him face. But others?

Zi Ji’s laugh booms as Ja Yin and the rest are cut out of the same cloth.

“See?” Ja Sun looks at Saixi. “Words are enough for me and a good audience to increase the effect of my words. But I can say with experience that working exclusively under me is far better than working under Bibi. You can decide the rest for yourself.

Bo Saixi frowns, looking away to stare at the familiar figure of the former Spirit Empress as she lays beside Ah-Yin, her eyes closed.

“As I said, I can’t be your Priestess—”

“But you want to stick around me to have a good handle on what you’re dealing with?” Ja Sun cocks his head sideways with a smirk. “Ah, the good memories.”

Something about his stare and weird smile makes the former Priestess twitch as he chuckles, “I have a great affinity with women who think like that.”

Almost everyone behind Saixi thins their lips—because it’s true!

He has a GREAT affinity with such individuals of the opposite gender, the latest of it being the Silver Dragon King herself.

“If you want to stay, you’ll have to earn a living. We’ll figure something out.”

“What?” Saixi frowns.

“You don’t expect me to give you premium space created from almost-divine skills—for free, right?” Ja Sun shrugs. “And since you have no role to play at the moment, no matter how little, we’ll find one for you. Since you’ve been the Priestess of the Island for what is it? Hundred-something years?” She flinches as Ja Sun determines her appropriate age. Only Gods know why red freckles her fair face as he sniffs. “You wouldn’t have a good handle on ordinary chores. But don’t worry, you’ll learn.”

She resists the urge to groan as Ja Sun turns around completely, muttering under his breath. “Yep, I’m calm enough to meet my son.”

“Finally,” Ah-Yin smiles, standing up quicker than she cares to admit with a visibly excited look. “Ja Liang will be very happy to meet you!”

Ja Sun’s strength to meet ‘Ja Liang’ almost saps again.

Ja Liang…

‘My bloodline is cursed with the Ja name, huh.’

After all, he doesn’t imagine things getting better for his other children, or Ja Liang might grow to become a jealous bitch.

… Like Xunji?

Ja Sun shudders at the thought of his son becoming a murderous twinky.

… being murderous alone is fine.

***

Alternate Title: The New Territory; Bing Bing Raring for Spanking; Immature Loli Baba?; Daoliu Has Plans!; Daoliu and Ja Sun—Positively Happy to Make the Lives of Children Difficult, ehm, Filled With Lessons; The Parenting Method of the Divine!; Ja Sun’s Struggle to Meet Ja Liang is Real!; Saixi: I Can’t Be Your Priestess!, Ja Sun: Aight, You Can Dress Like One in the Bedroom, Saixi: What?, Ja Sun: What?; Ja Sun Truly Only Needs His Words; Not Even Daoliu is Spared; More Like Father and Son; Ja Liang Needs Attention; Xunji: The Perfect Bundle of Spiritually Charged Daddy Issues?; Ja Sun Being Wildly Discriminative Against the Otherwise Oriented; Ja Sun Doesn’t Kink Shame, He Merely Obersves and Insults; Saixi Falling For the Oldest Trap in the Book… Willingly; Female: I Will Observe What Makes You Special! Harem Mc: And Just Like That! *Wink* You Have Invoked the Trap Interested Romance Card!; A Rock; Power Alone is Tasteless; Measure of Power is the Measure of Man; Tang Chen Roasted to Afterlife; THE Dream!;