When the three had relaxed, they each stood up from the ground they lay on. Nine was fine and Ten would recover soon enough so long as she was able to stop moving around so much, but Thirteen felt unbelievably exhausted.
The moment he stood, his entire body felt cold and his head dizzy. The world shifted in his view and before he was aware of it, Thirteen had been caught falling by Nine. It felt like every moment of exertion was catching up to him at once.
Helping the others recover wouldn't exhaust him. While Nine had been heavily bruised and wounded, Lukas had held back and not broken anything, still scared to kill the children. Meanwhile Ten had only bruises, cuts, and two fractures, which were still healing even now.
It was in healing himself that Thirteen had overdone things. With a healing attribute and his cultivated regeneration, Thirteen's body had an unbelievably high capability to self heal. He had made the most of this and forced himself to heal as quickly as possible when in a near fatal state, expending practically all of his stamina and exhausting his body to a dangerous extent. Pushing himself any further now would damage the baseline of his life which had become the core of his cultivation.
Unfortunately there was nothing to do about it now, as his vision faded and his body went limp, supported by Nine.
When Thirteen awoke, he found himself inside a tent, laying under a thin fur cover. Drowsily turning his head to the left, Thirteen found Ten already asleep beside him, an anxious expression on her face.
'It's still night? I feel like I slept for ages. Perhaps it's the next day?' They had packed a single tent for this journey, not planning to need it. After all their plan had them stopping at every village and town on the way to avoid having to sleep by the roadside. 'Are we camping because of me? I suppose it would be troubling to explain an unconscious child who won't wake.'
Thirteen got out from under the blanket slowly before setting it back down for the sleeping Ten, and then made his way out of the tent. It was dark out and he tried to employ lifesight to combat that, but was immediately met with a wave of fatigue.
'Okay, I get it.' he thought to himself.
"Ten?" A voice called.
"No, just me." Thirteen found Nine by an active campfire. They would normally keep watch in the dark with their supernatural senses but it was a very frigid night, so that wasn't much of an option.
Sitting by the fire next to Nine, Thirteen warmed his hands as he spoke.
"How long has it been?"
"I don't know. 12 or 13 hours maybe?"
"Any problems?"
"Not really. The horses were fine, just a little spooked from all the noise. We haven't moved far, just enough to be safe from any vengeful monkeys."
"You think there are still more in there?"
"I don't know. But we saw how many Lukas Junill killed, if there are already that many then why not more?"
"I guess. That village might be in trouble."
"Probably. But that's not our business."
Thirteen frowned slightly "You wouldn't help them?"
Looking Thirteen in the eyes, Nine replied after a brief pause. "We are not free to do as we please."
He looked back to the fire and continued, "In exchange for everything we are given, we act as tools of the kingdom. If they decide to grant you certain freedoms then you can do what you want, but otherwise, we should just do as we're told."
"...I don't like that at all."
Nine smiled. "Of course not. So make yourself important to them. So important that only you decide how you act. One man, an army. Remember?"
"Four's attitude is rubbing off on you" Thirteen said with a smile.
"Not quite."
Silence passed as Thirteen kept Nine company during the watch. He had slept for so long already that he felt it a waste to do so again.
"Have the horses been unloaded?" He asked Nine.
"Yeah, by the tent."
With a nod, Thirteen went to find one of his packs, in which his cultivation resources could be found. He wouldn't be able to use his own lifeforce to cultivate his baseline, as it was still in the process of recovery. But what he could do is absorb the energy of a lifebloom to help speed up his recuperation.
And so he did just that, as he sat silently before the campfire with Nine.
After an hour or so, Thirteen stopped as the lifebloom was depleted, and instead retrieved the book he had brought with him, The Story of Creation, straining his eyes to read under the light of the campfire.
"With every new generation of spirits born, Existence would flourish. And yet, no spirit within Existence could ever leave her bounds, for even the four Primoridials who created her, after descending into Existence and gaining form, were forever trapped within her.
"Existence became the container of reality, and the wall that separated all things from whatever lay beyond. Every spirit born, no matter their generation would add a new layer to the container that was existence. These layers, that would later become known as the planes of existence, were each immaterial things, overlapping each other like the translucent layers of an onion. At its very core, surrounded by the many planes of existence, in direct result of them all, was the Material Realm.
"When man would walk the Material Realm many eons later, they would discover and name the many ethereal, unreachable planes of Existence, the Spirit Realm. And so for the mortal man, the spirits each would come to resemble a peculiar trifecta of entities; A plane of existence, a spiritual being, and an embodiment of the Dao."
Thirteen was very curious about the spirits. It was an old legend, older than the advent of qi in this world, or the appearance of Outsiders, and yet it mentions the Dao so directly.
According to Nicholas, the 'Dao' was like the word 'Cultivation' in that it meant different things for different people. Whether it was the heavenly rule that governed the way of nature and reality, or whether it was the ambiguous way in which sentient life should seek to live, or any other belief. The words 'The way' would always crop up.
Nicholas had said that the Dao affects all cultivation paths, but only Qi cultivators are required to develop an understanding of it. It was for this reason they were often called Daoists, while body cultivators were simply 'Augmenters'.
As Thirteen remained lost in thought, Nine stood up from beside him.
"I'll be heading in now, it's Ten's turn to keep watch. You should get some sleep as well."
"I'm fine" Thirteen replied, "I might head in later."
With a nod, Nine returned to the single tent and was soon followed by a drowsy Ten leaving. Pausing for a moment as she suppressed a mighty yawn, Ten looked to him in surprise.
"You're up!" She called
"Good morning."
Smiling, she sat next to him, where Nine had been moments before, and greedily absorbed the heat of the fire. "Are you okay?" She asked.
"Just a bit tired, I'll be fine. You?"
"A bit sore, but I think it's mostly healed." She moved her shoulder in circles to prove her point.
"I'm glad to hear it." He smiled.
Returning his gaze to the fire, Thirteen let his thoughts wander. He thought he would be more reluctant to return to the estate, but he was surprisingly looking forward to it. While the freedom this mission brought was great, it was very easy for his days to feel monotonous and wasted. He would ride for hours, stop at a random village, read, cultivate, sleep, and repeat. He missed the everyday improvement, the constant grind and the packed schedule.
'I still have this though' he thought to himself as he began to meditate. He didn't cultivate, he simply meditated as he followed that simple breathing exercise. In this empty state of mind, Thirteen lost track of time, simply enjoying the peace and warmth of the fire as his eyes remained closed.
It was a weight on his shoulder that woke him from his trance. As he turned to look, he found Ten leaning on his side, her hands grasping his arm as she looked at the fire.
"I'm really glad you're okay." She said in a voice so soft he could barely hear her.
For reasons unknown to him, Thirteen found that he was holding his breath, staring at her for a few seconds before she released his arm and sat straight once more.
"I'm going to patrol quickly, I'll be back soon." She said as she stood to walk into the woods without looking back, leaving Thirteen confused at his disappointment.
The night passed peacefully after that. An hour or so after Ten returned, Thirteen had to retire to the tent, feeling the fatigue kick in once more. When he woke, it was already late in the morning and Nine was cooking two birds, now unrecognizable with their feathers pulled and bodies processed and cooked.
Ten sat eagerly by the fire, waiting for them to be ready, and Thirteen opted to sit by her.
Today would mark the beginning of their journey back to the estate, and a strict schedule was no longer necessary. That said, habits were hard to break, and Nine in particular could be a bit controlling, so they ended up agreeing to a general timeline for their travels.
It would take more than a week to get back, and during that time Thirteen decided to read what remained of The Story of Creation in hopes of getting a better understanding of what this 'dao' was.