Story 10 - The Spy Who Rocked Too Hard (Part 43/52 🎸) (Patreon)

Author’s Note:

Thank you for being the best readers on Patreon! Here is the link to the Google Docs for those who prefer it.

Part 43

From my flying sword, I frowned down at the crowds that littered the festival like ants. One of these assholes might be the man we were looking for. Of course, searching for him would go so much goddamn faster if we knew a general location, but we’d start here.

So that outside vendors could participate, the festival was located in front of the sect, next to where the trials for rogue cultivators took place. Technically, the practice ground where I performed for the first time was where our concert would be held later. It had already been fixed up by dread painters and outer sect disciples to look like the classic concert grounds that I’d described to Pearlescent Rose.

It had seating, aisles, and a standing area right in front of our epic spiritual wood stage. Using some illumination pearls and metal tubes, I created moving spotlights that some desperate Qi Condensation cultivators would control for a few contribution points a day. 

I had also thrown together a formation on a stone that produced a fog illusion as a cheap fog machine. While that didn’t sound like much, the combined effect was going to be badass! 

Probably. 

I hadn’t had the chance to test everything out. 

Most importantly, I taught Shadow Panther and Three Drops how to control the projector I created so that they could turn it on when I gave the signal. When projected onto the beautiful life-size glass statue of myself that I’d created, the hologram looked perfect. 

Had I accidentally introduced complex glass sculpture creation to this universe? Yes. Did I give a shit? No. Frankly, it had been so easy to just grab some sand from Fairy Lake and melt it into clear glass with my furnace and formations that I’d forgotten about this era’s lack of complex glass works.

I had also pre-recorded myself playing our entire set and had already tested it out with my band. 

Of course, they had asked about how I made the glass statue and projector, but I had no time to explain, so I’d had to ignore their questions.

… It had been a fucking busy-ass week.

Little Spring flew over to me from the other side of the festival. “Sister Linlin. I don’t think we’ll see him from up here. We should probably get a closer look.”

I grimaced. Technically, I should be able to find the guy using my divine sense. Unfortunately, I could only do that if I wanted everyone in the goddamn sect to know I was a rude bastard who was searching for someone. Basically, to use my divine sense the way I’d need to would bring too much attention to us, and, as spies, we couldn’t afford that.

Damn it.

I landed at the festival’s entrance, where disciples and vendors hawked food, talismans, and pills. 

Lines of beautifully dressed cultivators in varying colors casually walked down large rows of tents and booths. The scent of roasted melon seeds and cooking spiritual meat wafted through the air and mixed with the perfume of the ladies who passed by while fanning themselves.

“Sister Linlin, are you okay? You look like you’re going to be sick.”

::I really want to use my cleaning technique on everything.:: Was it just me or did the soul healing I went through make my need for clean worse? Maybe I should add the Dao of Perfect Cleanliness to my Unlimited Dao? Fuck. Whatever. I’d deal with this dirt existing near me. “I’m fine.”

He paused like he didn’t trust that I wouldn’t start scouring the whole festival. And I wasn’t sure he was wrong about that. 

He pointed to a tent that sold snacks.

“Let’s check out the stalls. I hear there are visiting merchants from all over the continent.” ::And if we pretend that we’re tourists we can look around for that guy without looking suspicious.::

I nodded and followed after the brat, even as I carefully examined everyone I could see. Mostly, I watched how they moved. While it was easy to disguise someone’s exterior, it would be very difficult if they tried to do the same with their habits.

Little Spring, meanwhile, seemed to be having the time of his life, going around to every vendor and buying one or two things from them. He even picked up two sticks of bright red spiritual tanghulu and handed me one.

After using my divine sense to make sure they were safe for the kid to eat, I gave in to my need and scoured the two sticks of candied fruit with my cleaning technique. The booth’s immortal chef glared at me when he noticed.

What? Who would be crazy enough to trust food from a vendor here?!

Aside from... apparently most people. Fools! All of them.

Little Spring sighed and took a bite of the red candied hawthorn.

I stealthily handed mine to a Qi Condensation girl who wouldn’t stop staring at them and drooling.

The brat rolled his eyes and put his away.

“Sister Linlin, I think your paranoia has become worse.”

“Good. Paranoia helps you survive.” In this fucked up world, anyway. Not necessarily in my original one.

We moseyed over to the next stall. This one had scarves and inexpensive cloth armor. Not as good as I could make, but not terrible for the realm of most of the cultivators here.

Just as I ran my hand down a beautiful white scarf, I noticed Little Spring stiffen. He suddenly grabbed my arm so tightly that If I hadn’t gone through body cultivation, he would have left a bruise. But that didn’t matter, because he was hyperventilating. And from his energy fluctuations, I could see that he was on the brink of a cultivation deviation. The last one he had was when he’d just started cultivating. If he had another now, I wouldn’t be able to unravel it the same way, so he could start over again. This would permanently damage him!

The bath had messed with his energy, so it was reasonable that the warring energies within him would make it easier for this to happen. I should have warned him.

But why was he going through this now? What was the trigger? I had seen this kid weather trials, win tournaments, kill assassins, and cry over my almost-dead body. But I had never, not in all the time I’d known him, seen him react to something so strongly.

I immediately followed the direction his shocked and terror-filled eyes were staring.

[Image Link]

A white scarf. Just a simple piece of silk... with a blue wave symbol carefully embroidered into it. Had I ever seen that before? No. Wait, no. It did look familiar.

Fuck.

I pulled his hand off my arm and maneuvered him behind me to break his line of sight from the symbol, stopping his near deviation. I called for the busy merchant.

She walked over with her hands clasped in front of her. “Customer, you had a question?”

I wrapped the soft silk scarf around my hand and hid the symbol. “I didn’t expect to see something of this quality here. Can you tell me about it?”

The kid grabbed the back of my robes for support.

She sniffed. “Customer, I’m afraid you can’t afford it.”

Bitch.

I scanned the scarf with my divine sense and noticed that, yes, it was an incredible piece of defensive clothing for someone in Golden Core. But thinking I couldn’t afford it? Hah!

I flashed the merchant a high-tier spirit stone before returning it to my ring. “Do you want to say that again?” 

Someone nearby said, “I could have sworn I felt a very pure spiritual energy.”

I ignored the crowd. “Tell me about it. Now.”

“Customer! I’m so glad you’re interested in this. It is our finest scarf.”

“Where does it come from? And did you buy it off a grave robber?”

The merchant choked.

Ah, maybe I shouldn't have said that. I just had the random thought that looting the corpses of our enemies was natural in this fucked up universe, which meant that everyone was a half-step away from a grave robber. Or maybe we should call ourselves extra-early archeologists?

Never mind, it shouldn’t count if they weren’t buried yet.

“Of course not! I’ll have you know that this is from a clan that resides in...” she leaned closer and whispered, “The Secret Island of Immortals.”

The fuck is... “What is that? And where is it?” I had never heard of it. While this world was too big for me to know every nook and cranny, surely one of the assholes I knew would have talked about some place called the Secret Island of Immortals.

She grinned. “I’ll tell you... but you have to buy it first.”

This motherfucker.

“How much?”

“Just that thing you showed me and an extra mid tier spirit stone.”

A goddamn rip-off. Maybe I should strangle the girl until she gave up the information? My finger twitched.

Little Spring must have come to his senses, because he stepped in front of me with his fists clenched behind his back. His knuckles had turned white. “That’s too much! How dare you try to scam my junior sister!”

“Ah, hold on. But it’s really worth a thousand and one mid tier spirit stones.”

He rolled his eyes but didn’t even come close to looking at the scarf. “And who would waste such a good spirit stone on this? Are you crazy? And the way I see it, this could be counterfeit. Give it to us for 500.”

“Hah! It’s worth 800 at least.”

“600.”

“Listen here. I brought this across our entire continent, from the northernmost mountains all the way to this southern peninsula just for this festival.”

“I doubt you could sell it for 800, even if you went to one of the larger sects. If you don’t sell it to us, it will rot in your inventory for a hundred years.”

“Are you cursing my business?” Her face turned red from rage.

I grinned. “Only if you don’t let us buy it.”

“It also came from a suspicious source. Some secret island we’ve never heard of?! Ridiculous. I’ll give you 650 for it.”

“700, you brat. No less. And I'll have you know that I bought it from the craftsman herself.”

“A likely story!”

She looked like she was about to explode. Then Little Spring pulled out a bag with 700 mid tier spirit stones and she immediately calmed down.

“Now tell us about the clan this came from.”

“Fine!”

She grabbed for the money, but the kid held onto it without letting go. He raised an eyebrow at her.

The merchant huffed. Her thin fingers did not release the bag.

“They live on an island that floats all over the world, crossing every ocean, so it’s impossible to know the exact location at any time. While there are several clans on the island, the Blue Wave Clan is the biggest and richest. But what’s really unusual, is that the children born there are all Golden Core cultivators from birth. The clans there also have the highest number of Immortal Ascension stage practitioners of anywhere. More than even the Golden Dragon and Indomitable Will Sects put together and multiplied by ten.”

Well, that had to be an exaggeration. If it wasn’t, then it would have been impossible for that fucker Bloodsword to have succeeded in his revenge against that clan during my past life. Something I know he did… At least I thought he had. I hadn’t really paid a lot of attention to him back then. Frankly, as his harem grew, I became more and more disgusted with the donkey-brained master-fucker. During the last two or three hundred years of my life, I barely had any contact with him at all.

I glanced down at the kid, who had paled. 

“The island is temporarily near the northern part of this continent, but it will move sometime in the next ten or so years, and who knows how long it will be before it resurfaces? So this really is a one-of-a-kind scarf. But that’s all I know. Again. The clans from there are very secretive.”

The kid released the bag and grabbed the scarf before angrily shoving it inside his storage bag. He then marched out of the festival.

Damn, this wasn’t a good time for the kid to get emotional. We still had to find the scroll guy. But... fuck it. The exchange likely wouldn’t take place until the battle of the bands, anyway.

“Hey.” I pulled Little Spring off to the side where large stones perfect for sitting on were set up. “Let’s talk about what you found out.”

He nodded, sat down, and put his face between his legs. 

Okay. It was worse than I thought.

I hesitated, then awkwardly patted his back. “You want to tell me about it?”

He shook his head. Then nodded.

Oh, come on. Pick one.

“Sister Lin...lin.”

::Just say it.::

He sat up. ::This is the same symbol of the clan that sent assassins after my mother and me.::

Yeah, I figured that out. But it was good to confirm it.

I used the cleaning technique on my hands. ::So, what do you want to do?::

::I don’t know. But if everyone on the island starts at Golden Core, then the only way to get my revenge... Sister Lin. It feels impossible. Especially knowing that, even if our sect teamed up with our rival, we’d still have no chance against them.::

::That’s hearsay. All these places pretend they’re beyond powerful or have a large amount of high realmed cultivators... but the ones who are actually that impressive? They don’t really exist. What you need is more information before you believe anything that woman said.::

He let out a long breath, then nodded. ::You’re right. I should do my own research.::

::Besides, I was once at the Immortal Ascension stage. I was one of the most powerful human cultivators in this world. Shouldn’t I have heard at least some rumors of this place if it was so impressive? Yet some back alley merchant knows what I don’t?! Ha!::

He laughed. ::You’re right! They probably aren’t anything much. But, I still want to head to the north to do reconnaissance on them.::

I guess I had to face the fact that, even if my actions changed things from my past life, it wouldn’t remove the motivations of each person stuck in this fucked up Xianxia me. That included this kid and his need for revenge. 

::Well, even if they aren’t as powerful as they claim to be, I still think you should wait until you’re in Nascent Soul or Immortal Bone Creation before you start digging into this clan. Better yet. Wait for my information-gathering company to get off the ground. Then you can secretly find out what you need about this silly Island of Immortals from the safety of our Indomitable Will Sect.::

He blinked, then scowled. ::Sister Lin... you don’t have an information gathering company.::

::You brat! Did you forget that Nascent Soul senior I spoke with before the Indomitable Will sect trials? Fellow Daoist Black Jade?::

::Who?::

Really? I knew it had been years since we entered the sect, but someone so memorable, the man who created the infamous Black Jade Information Guild in my past life, would surely stick out in someone’s mind.

Well, maybe it was just me. To this brat, hearing about him now was like reading the tenth book in a web serial only to come across an obscure reference to some random guy the protagonist met in the fourth chapter of the sixth book. 

::Well, by the time we get back to the Indomitable Will Sect, my information guild I’m part owner of will be all over the world. You can use it to research the Blue Wave Clan. You don’t have to do everything right now. Do it when you’re powerful. It’ll be easier.::

He sat up. His shoulders had relaxed and his face looked less pale. ::I’ll… think about that, Sister Lin.::

Then he jumped a little. “Oh! I almost forgot again!”

“Forgot what?”

His eyes sparkled. He touched his storage bag and pulled out a beautiful hairpin that reminded me of an alchemist’s fire. Or maybe the fire of a forge? It was a sky rank spiritual tool and had a detailed enchantment on it.

Wait! Was this kid gifting his older martial sister a defensive hairstick? I needed to call the sect’s enforcement squad because I was just attacked... by adorableness.

I cleared my throat. “You didn’t have to.”

He grinned. “I know! But...”

Things were getting more dangerous. A war might happen soon, and he wanted me to be a little safer.

“I understand.”

I lifted my hand to reach out for it... just as a mousy girl’s delicate fingers shot forward and snatched my new hair stick before I could touch it!

That. Fucking. Bitch!

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Author’s Note: 

Sorry. Not sorry.

Thank you all for reading! You are the best readers a writer could ask for!

Thank you for your patience! My jaw feels much better now, though I still have to be wary about what I eat to avoid making my condition worse. Basically, nothing too large or chewy. I also have a minor cold, but I’ve already taken two weeks off, so I’m pushing through this to get this chapter out to you.

To slightly make up for missing the last two weeks, this chapter is about 1.5x a normal-sized chapter… I also wanted to end it right there. >.> 

You see, one of my favorite Epic Fantasy trilogies, The Night Angel Trilogy by Brent Weeks has something similar happen to the main character... (I never forgave the character who snatched the thing they did, even if it was helpful in the end.) Anyway, I have some unresolved frustration with that part of my favorite epic fantasy. So much so, I wanted to share a fraction of it with you all.

Don’t worry though. I’m not a complete writerly sadist like the wonderful Mr. Weeks.