Chapter 359

Ghosts of the Mine (V)

The path up the mountain started ordinary, but I immediately recognized that it wasn't going to be a quick or an easy one; the mountain itself was layered in how steep it was, going from almost near flat to sheer drops in the span of twenty yards, with varying degrees of trees and vegetation occupying the space.

As I suspected, we made our strides along the path that curved far out and then far back in and so on and so forth until some point up above where there was a passage between two sides.

There was one thing that I was deeply conscious of--Long Tao had mentioned a mine in this place, and though he didn't really elaborate on what was in it, if he brought it up... it meant that there was something there. The issue will be the newcomers, so hopefully, they'll speed off at some point when I tell them I'd like to stay for a few days with the kids to 'experience' nature.

If they choose to stay with us, well, I can only hope that Long Tao will sneak off and grab whatever money he can from that place, because we're going to be needing a lot of it. A lot. Not just for the kids' cultivation, but I suspect that our traveling arrangements will cost a pretty penny in the near future, and, for now, that pretty penny isn't something I can afford.

I mean, if I sold everything I've come to be in possession of, we might be just fine; but I always run the risk of some of that crap being associated with trouble. Like that boat I got from the hundred-poisons-flowers-something sect, I could probably sell it for a couple of hundred thousand Spirit Stones, but what do I do if it's in the vicinity of the sect's Disciple or Elder? Even if the guy who came after us was a fake, that's a stroke of luck I'm not willing to lean on twice in a row.

Even as we started the climb, the 'relationship', if you could call it that, between the six newcomers and us remained the same; they led the charge at the front, and we followed behind them in silence. 𝑓𝘳𝘦𝑒𝑤𝑒𝘣𝘯ℴ𝘷𝘦𝓁.𝑐𝑜𝑚

It didn't take long for me, in particular, to recognize the sheer unnatural aspects of this place; within the first half mile of our journey, as we were still making it up the side of the path fanning out, the thinning trees began to thicken and become a bit of a colorful thicket. Despite them clearly being the same type of tree, it seemed to come in seven different colors.

What's more, the canopies were inconsistent as well, though fell into a pattern; on the left side were mostly conical and pyramidal shapes, while to the right were the weeping and spreading sorts. The leaves would gently scatter with each gust of wind, a melding of colors akin to just randomly throwing them onto a canvas.

Red, green, stark teal, white, violet, marigold, and a particular type that seemed almost like a gem, as it had a 'glassed' surface with light scattering into the dozen or so shades of pastel yellow.

There was also a rather strange hum to the way branches would dance against the wind, a natural melody of sorts that made for not only a visual but also an auditory spectacle.

"Master, this place is beautiful!" Dai Xiu commented.

"It really is," I said. "This really is the kind of place a man hopes to be buried in?" Those were mostly my inner thoughts, to be honest, and they probably should have stayed as such since the reaction to them, well...

"M-Master...? No, no, you can't die! You will never die!"

"Master, please, share your sorrows with us! Whatever it is, we will do anything in the world to help you!"

"Yes, yes! Who made you sad? Tell us now, and we'll immediately bring their head to you! C-cleaned, of course! No blood, none at all!"

"..." I looked oddly at the gremlins that crowded me, as it seemed everyone except for Long Tao and Lao Shun was convinced I wanted to die. The worry in their gazes was genuine, perfused with legitimate ache, so much so that it made me feel guilty... but also happy.

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... and a bit depressed. It made me wonder... did anyone back on Earth grieve like this for me? Maybe. By the time I died, I wasn't exactly close with my family; after Yas, I just... shut down. They tried, they really tried to get through to me, but I was just a void of nothing at that point in my life. And, as they kept shouting into the void, fewer and fewer remained toward the end... until I just became a thing they checked up on once or twice a year to make sure I was alive.

Sometimes, I fear this entire thing is just a dream my brain made up in a desperate attempt to give me some closure as I lie dying on my kitchen floor because I stood up too fast and had a stroke or something. But moments like this, when they look at me with those big, dog-like eyes full of worry, convince me it's real. Dreams, however beautiful they may be, can never be this real.

"You lot really think so little of me, huh? It seems only your Senior Brother and Uncle Pills have any faith in me... ah, I am so disappointed..."

"N-no, Master! We believe in you!"

"Yes, yes! We... we just worry. You're so kind and so generous that we worry..."

"Yes, yes, we worry!" I could merely smile at them; the truth is that, for better or for worse, I do still think about death frequently enough.

The idea that I've become an 'immortal' hasn't really settled in and probably won't until I'm eighty and still moving around like a twenty-year-old. The way everyone here and I view death is probably very different, and I'm guessing that the thought of being buried in a place like this never even crossed their minds. But... it really would be nice.

Yas and I talked about the natural burial, but I barely had the headspace to process that she died when it happened, let alone any strength left to convince her extremely religious family not to properly bury their daughter and to instead make her a tree pod or something.

"Don't worry too much." I tousled Xing Feng's and Light's heads as they had all but climbed on top of me, smiling. "I won't die before I get to see just how amazing you all become."

That seemed to persuade them a little, but the inbound whispers about 'Book of Immortality' and 'Pill of Eternal Life' told me that these buggers didn't seem willing to ever let me die.

It's sweet... I think. Or horrifying. Certainly one of the two.

As the day wound to its end, we finally came upon the curve in the path that coiled back around toward the lake. Honestly, I'm not even sure just how the day passed, as I was too engrossed in watching the trees 'bleed' different colors.

The group of six in the front paused, and the woman told me they'd set up the camp for the night, which was my cue to turn toward Long Tao, who'd already started the fire.

... for one reason or another, he seems to have really taken a liking to cooking. I'm not complaining--I never liked cooking, and having a legendary monster of all people be our chef... wow. If these people knew, I truly wonder what their reactions would be. I imagine the kids wouldn't care and would just tease him for being old, but Lao Shun and the six others... phew. Let's not go there.

"The kids seem to really cherish you deeply." The woman walked up to me as I stared at a willow-like tree with scarlet leaves fluttering off its thin branches.

"Ah, too much, sometimes."

"Ha ha ha, no such thing, in my experience," she added; though they kept their distance and still never revealed an iota of who they really were, she did drop her guard a bit more around us (or, well, me, to be more specific). "Children, especially, do not give their unconditional trust so easily. Especially to someone who isn't a parent. That trust is harder to earn than climbing ten thousand mountains like this."

"Do you, too, have a horde of overly attached children that you've run away from for some peace and calm?" her lips stretched out into a smile as she looked up at the tree as well.

"Unfortunately, no," she said. "The kinds of people who can rear children and kindly bring them up... they aren't all that common." I arched my eyebrow, to which she merely chuckled. "Masters are plenty, yes. But... hmm. It's difficult to describe it; perhaps once you've ventured out with the kids a bit more, you will see it. Disciples respect their Masters deeply, and venerate them just as much, but I get the strange feeling your kids don't venerate you," she added. "They simply... love you."

"You don't love your Master?" I asked.

"... I feel a great deal of things toward my Master," she replied somewhat vaguely. "But, no. I can't say that love is one of them. Ah, right, the reason I came over. Though we're still at the base of the mountain, Demonic Beasts are relatively frequent here, too. My men will be on the watch, but I still wanted to warn you, just in case."

"Ah, thank you. We'll be on the lookout, too. You come through here often?"

"Hmm, occasionally?" she said. "Not that often. I will finish setting up camp and join you for dinner."

"Of course."

As she left, I frowned a bit; she went out of her way to warn me, which meant that these wouldn't be just random wolves or dogs. It meant that there was a chance some beast might actually slip past her.

Alright... I guess I'll not be cultivating, meditating, or sleeping until we get to the other side. Let the fun begin... I guess?