v3c51: Whats New in Hong Yaowu (Patreon)

Sorry for the wait, everybody!

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It was always fun, going back home to Hong Yaowu, in Yun Ren’s opinion. He got to watch all the little kids shouting and clamoring at his arrival, he got to see his parents, and he got to go to his usual haunts.

Except…. It really wasn’t the village of Yun Ren’s youth anymore. The fields were all in different places and the houses had been either moved or built anew. Even after being here, and helping with a bunch of it, it still shocked him to see it come into view. The only thing that was the same was the Shrine where he had paid his respects to the funerary tablets clogging the walls of the shrine from the Year of Sorrow.

Jin and Meimei were introducing the old man to everybody, so that meant that Yun Ren and everybody else got to do the time honoured tradition of sitting around and talking about random stuff.

In their parents house of all things. Yeah. Ma and pops had a house now, with glass windows instead of the little cabin that Yun Ren remembered, with a room he shared with his little brother.

Gou had built it for them, and Yun had pitched in a bit—but it still felt a bit weird,

At least it was better than Gou’s little love nest on Jin's farm. Not that Gou’s house wasn’t super nice and all, but Yun Ren made sure to sit outside when he talked with his brother. Having a better sense of smell was great.. Until you smelled something you really didn’t want to.

To his brother’s credit, he aired out the house as best he could, but still. That was his baby brother, and he was proud of the guy… he just didn’t want to smell it, yanno?

Yun Ren took a swig of his wine, as he stared around at the table. Bi De, Tigu, Ri Zu, Xiulan, Xianghua, Bowu, and his brother.

“— I dunno why you’re askin’ my opinion on this, Bi De. I’m flattered you want it, really, but that crystal thing? It's your wheelhouse if you want to tell the old man about it.” Yun Ren said frankly. “If you think he can be trusted, he can be trusted.”

The rooster nodded. “I thank you for your honest words, Yun Ren.” the rooster replied. “What do you think of Master Shen Yu?”

“I don’t think he's that bad.” Yun Ren opined, from where he was leaning against the couch. “He even told me the best time of year to visit the Capitol, if I want to go.”

“You got that? He handed me a scroll that—ugh!” Gou Ren complained, his cheeks pink. “Old pervert, hes as bad as Meimei…”

Xianghua turned to Yun Ren’s brother, her eyebrow raised. “But we have used his gift twice already. The Honoured Grandfather was most kind with that present. You never would have considered using your tongue in such a manner without its guidance.”

Gou Ren looked like he wanted to die, as everybody else at the table started laughing.

There was a pop, as Nezan finally crawled out. He had yelped, and disappeared the instant Shen Yu had gotten near the farm, the weirdo.

“Well, look who finally decided to pop up again.” Yun Ren mused, as Nezan stretched.

“Indeed. I sensed he is preoccupied with other matters.” The fox said primly.

” Wassamatter? Scared of the old man?” Yun Ren taunted lightly. Nezan turned to him and raised an eyebrow, the white fox looking incredibly unamused.

“Dearest Nephew. I’m fucking terrified.” Yun Ren paused at the blunt admission, as did the rest of the table. Tigu leaned over and squinted at the spirit fox. “Men like that are butchers of the highest order. Forgive me for having a bit of self preservation. Besides…. He is no normal cultivator.”

“.... you know him?” Yun Ren asked.

The fox sighed, as he hopped up onto the table. “There were tales from the east, when I was with my dearest friend, and before I went to sleep. Tales of a cultivator with strength surpassing all others. Even we, in the wilderness of the Howling Fang Mountains, heard of them.” The room abruptly started to darken, as mist rose from the floor and an ominous wind blew.

The mood at the table suddenly turned a bit nervous, as Nezan stalked around the table, his eyes roving over them all. A chill ran up Yun Ren’s spine. “My friends— have you heard the tale about the end of the Lord Of the Volcano?”

Nezan abruptly turned and swept his tail, as the room suddenly became hot. It darkened completely, as Nezan’s eyes and markings burned orange and red.

“The Great Dragon that would make our dear Wa Shi look like an ant in comparison. Whose breath could ignite stone, and whose roar caused the earth to erupt!”

An ethereal dragon spewed out of the Fox’s mouth, roaring and coiling. His eyes burned with malevolence.

Nezan’s voice was quiet and sharp, his eyes glittering.

Gou Ren swallowed. “Yeah, I’ve heard of that, but what does that have to do with anything?”

Nezan smiled. “Tell me, what was the name of the man who slew the beast?” The dragon was challenged, by a single man, a sword shining in his hand.

They all looked at each other, before Xiulan spoke.

“Was that not done by Master Meteor Sword?” Xiulan asked.

Nezan stumbled, asn the illusion wavered. “Wha—no it… Okay, okay… lets try something else.”

The fox cleared his throat, and the room darkened again. How about… on the slopes of Mount Shifeng! Where the cruelest of Demonic Cultivators lived!”

“The Demonic Sect alliance?” Bowu asked, and Nezan’s grin grew.

The shadows lengthened, as cackling men with blood red eyes capered around the room. The wails of the damned caused chills to run up Yun Ren’s spine, as a horrific spiked fortress rose off the table. :”The Demonic Sect Alliance! Their fortress was unassailable, yet one man assaulted them!”

Xianghua cocked her head to the side. ”The Unrivaled Expert, Pure Sky?”

The fox fell flat onto his face,and the illusion failed. He glared around the table.

A colosseum appeared, like the Earthly Arena in shape. “The Champion of The Unrivaled Hidden Realm Tournament!”

“... what year? Xiulan asked. “There was Han Bing, Shan Yuan, Meng—”

“The man who conquered the Young Mistress Shuli of the Shrouded Mountain…?” The fox cut her off. A pretty woman with blonde hair and storm grey eyes appeared in a compromising position.

Yun Ren’s head tilted to the side, as Xiulan clapped her hands over Tigu’s eyes, while Xianghua inspected it with due consideration. The fox sighed and dissipated the illusion.

“Okay, you have to know this one. Who defeated Cao Jian at Chengdu?”

“The Conquering Blade.” Bowu supplied.

“No—!” The fox sighed with disgust, the mist and ominous atmosphere dissipating. The illusion twisted into a terrifying, demonic looking version of the old man. “Shen Yu! The person who did all these things was named Shen Yu!”

“Oh, so that's what you were getting at.” Gou Ren said with a nod.

“It's the Azure Hills, Uncle.” Xianghua siad, shrugging. “We are… insulated from the world, at least in matters of cultivation.”

Yun Ren chuckled as Nezan conceded the point.

“Ugh. This backwater. It was supposed to be this dramatic reveal, you know? The rising tension, the dawning realization….”

Bi De nodded his head.

“I thought the illusions were pretty cool.” Tigu comforted the fox.

Nezan sighed. “Thank you,” Summer’s Sky rattled at Yun Ren’s waist. The rhythmic tinks against the scabbard almost sounded like laughing. “Shut up, darling.” Nezan shot at the blade, before huffing. “The man we heard tales of was named Shen Yu. A man affiliated with the Cloudy Sword Sect.”

“But isn’t the Lord of the Volcano just… like, a legend? From the Age of Heroes?” Gou Ren asked, before Yun Ren’s brother seemed to realise that it was kind of a dumb question.

“Well, either it's coincidence, or there's another Cultivator in the Imperial Realm named Shen Yu who happens to be affiliated with the Cloudy Sword Sect.” Nezan snarked.

The table was quiet, for a moment, before Gou Ren shrugged again.

“Okay, so Jin’s Gramps is some legendary cultivator?”

“Yes. Shen Yu, the Unconquered Blade!”

There was silence at the table.

Xiulan sipped her wine.

Nezan sighed.

“...Fine. Maybe I overreacted. But what does a cultivator like that do, other than eat things like me?”

“I think he said he was gonna ask Elder Hong about that formation thing.” Yun Ren answered.

Nezan’s eye twitched. Xiulan smiled at the fox.

“You get used to it.” she said with a gentle voice, before downing the rest of the bottle.

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Shen Yu sipped his tea, as he sat at a mortal table. The house was well maintained, and smelled like medicinal herbs.

He was in the house of Hong Meiling, and waiting on her father.

Honestly Shen Yu had thought that a woman of Meiling’s caliber was at the very least from the city—instead of this absolutely tiny village.

It was truly tiny—yet filled with friendly mortals who wanted nothing better than to meet with Jin. It was bittersweet, to see his face light up, as they welcomed him like a son. Indeed… the village was probably everything Jin had been looking for.

Even Shen Yu felt at home, despite generally disliking these tiny, quiet places. If he was going to be around mortals, the city was the best place—there was always something new to do or see. Villages were boring and static compaired to the changing and growing cities.

Still, this palace hadn’t been too bad. Shen Yu had listened as Jin and his Disciple had gone over the ways they were improving crop yields, and reforging the place. The villagers themselves were clean, well fed, and not diseased in the slightest. They moved with vital energy as they worked.

All in all, not a bad place by any means. So Shen Yu has shared some food, and a few drinks with he mortals, before inviting Hong Xian to speak privately, father to father.

He considered it a good sign that both Jin and Meiling had, after a moment’s hesitation, allowed it.

That meant they trusted him at least with the mortal.

“Here is the original work that Meiling copied.” Hong Xian said, as he came back into the room. Shen Yu looked at Jin’s father in law with an appraising eye. Hong Xian was a shorter man, who had a scholarly aura about him—but interestingly, the man was not thin and bookish under his robes.

Hong Xian, who Jin had called ‘Pops’. His grandson seemed to have genuine respect for this mortal, beyond what was required by filial piety.

This was the leader of Hong Yaowu and the man who had produced Hong Meiling. She had little resemblance to her father, save for two things. The colour of their hair.. And the sharp intelligence in their eyes.

The fact that this man was a peasant headman was almost a travesty.

“Little Meiling says you were the one to first refine it.” Shen Yu stated. He had started with this. Getting down to such business such as a bride price immediately was impolite.

“Yes. I can't say I would have gotten far without my Brother’s help, however.” The man agreed, as he unfurled the scroll. “I do hope it doesn’t disappoint you too badly, Master Culti—Shen Yu.”

The Unconquered Blade nodded his head as the man corrected himself. Too much simpering when he didn’t desire it always grated.

Shen Yu stared at the healing formation that had been used to draw a small portion of the demonic Qi from his body, surprised by how… simple the concepts were. Shen Yu had honestly been doubtful about the Archive system. The Emperor had spent so much effort setting up what Shen Yu had considered largely useless. What could mere mortals hope to achieve, besides mortal things?

And yet, it had somehow crafted this gem. From what had been copied out of the works recorded history, the original concept had been created one hundred and fifty years ago in the Silver Strand— where it had been entered as an experimental text, and disseminated. From there, one part of the formation had been created in Raging Waterfall Gorge, and then the other in Yellow Rock Plateau. Finally, after decades of information being exchanged between archives, it had ended up in Pale Moon Lake City.

Shen Yu was stunned that a person would just… put out their life’s work like that instead of keeping it a secret, and allow any to add their thoughts. But that is what the authors of this formation had done. It had spread through the Empire, until it fell into the lap of a healer’s daughter.

And then it had been refined by two men as a project of interest. It was utterly baffling… and simultaneously, proof that the bastard had been right about these things. They actually did disseminate knowledge and enrich the Empire.

Hong Xian, in this little backwater, knew what germs were! Shen Yu wasn’t aware mortal medicine could even fathom the concept.

“I shall praise you for your work, Hong Xian.” he said after a moment. Shen Yu felt that he had been praising people a lot recently. Perhaps he was going too far in the other direction after Jin… but no. Hong Xian deserved this praise. His line obviously had intelligence and ambition. “This formation is… interesting.”

The man was obviously surprised. “It is? I would assume cultivators had better formations than this.”

“In this instance, for sheer simplicity of use… no.”

Shen Yu could not call the concepts completely revolutionary, but the application was certainly like nothing he had ever seen before. Then there was the fact that it seemed scalable. Better reagents in, better results out. Simple, and easy enough to use that a mortal could control, but if helmed by a cultivator, the results would be potent indeed.

It was not complete, either; and indeed, the base formation Hong Xian had managed to refine would only work in an area as Qi deprived as the Azure Hills— which is why the previous authors never did manage to get a working formation.

But the problem with simplicity was once it was laid bare… the ways to exploit any loophole was immediately apparent. Now that Shen Yu had seen it, there were indeed ways to circumvent or negate it. But that was the beauty of surprise. If Demons didn’t know that such a formation existed that could draw out their Qi… they couldn’t fight against it.

If this was spread far and wide, in time, the demons would counter it. But for decades… or maybe even centuries, this could be a possible weapon in the battle against Demonic Forces. It was something new that everybody would have to take into account.

If it was spread far and wide.

“I wonder what else could be hidden in the archives…” the man muttered. “It would take… centuries to go through everything, though.”

That.. might actually be something to do, to pass the time, Shen Yu mused. He would be waiting around, for at least a while to see Jin’s progress on his plan. Lu Ri would probably agree to help as well.

They spoke for a while longer on Hong Xian’s methodology in refining the formation. It was enlightening, how the mortal thought, and how he kept referring back to his training as a scribe, and the Archive.

But eventually, however, the small talk came to an end, and matters of importance came to the fore.

“I shall be blunt, Hong Xian. I have shamed my ancestors in not contributing to the bride price of my Grandson’s woman. I would rectify this. So let us speak on the price for joining our clans.”

The mortal paused for a moment, lifted his tea to his lips, took a sip with a thoughtful gaze, and then he set the cup back down.

“Jin paid for her hand, and I gave him my daughter’s dowry.” Xian replied. “To take more would shame the both of us, and it would imply the union between our families was somehow lacking.”

“You certainly have guts.” Shen Yu replied. He was almost impressed. That was the best reason he had ever heard to refuse a gift.  “I can appreciate that pride. You are correct. By offering more for the bride price at this juncture, it is an insult to my grandson’s ability to provide, and for the wealth of your clan.”

But.. the man before him was a bit foolish for refusing the boon of a cultivator.

“However…” Xian trailed off, before speaking again. “I would ask the Honoured Cultivator how much he intends to pay for Hong Yaowu’s medical consulting, and recompense for revealing the secret formation of the Hong Family.”

Slowly, a smile spread across Shen Yu’s face. This mortal…he got it. No wonder Jin held him in such regard, and even called him his father.

“I see! A hefty price shall have to be paid indeed!” Shen Yu Replied. “Tell me, what is the price for the medicine of Hong Yaowu?”

“What protection can you offer to my people and my family?” Xian asked, his voice serious. “I trust Jin’s abilities… but he cannot be everywhere at once. To not have a contingency plan would be foolish, would it not?”

“Indeed, Xian of the Hong Clan. Indeed.”

Both mortal and cultivator smiled at each other. It was refreshing, to have such a sharp, pragmatic mortal to speak to, as they hashed out their deal.

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The great thing about doing a web serial is doing a web serial. its fun and challenging.

Then Sometimes when You're working towards something, and somebody asks a relavent question about what certain characters are doing, and you realize "shit, they're right, I should probably address this"

That was what it felt like a bit trying to write this chapter.  I don't know if it turned out right, but it was fun to write!

Editors: Ayje