Shu He lent on a tree as he caught his breath, the weather had taken a turn for the worse as light rain pattered on the dirt and ran down his conical hat, he had run as far as he could for a day straight without stopping, even going as far as to consume a couple Qi Puddle pills to refill his reserves.
The reason why he ran was that he had a bad feeling, the moment he realised that he could sense the location of the lens his, he also realised that, until that point, whoever originally owned it could track his location.
And that definitely wasn't the bandit boss- It was whoever requested them to capture all the villagers.
'Chances are, it's someone from a black sect… I know my current task is to investigate traces of them in, but I'm not going to walk around with a target on my back!'
He considered then and there to throw the lens away, but after inspecting it as close as he could with his 'sense', he couldn't detect any traces of Qi other than his own anymore, it's unlikely that it could be tracked down now.
Plus, it was an item that served as proof of their actions, and it in itself was a valuable piece, if he handed it over to the sect when he returned he felt he'd get some decent contribution rewards.
As for keeping it himself? Why would he? He had no use for it, and his 'sense' did more than enough for him.
He exhaled and steadily breathed in having relaxed his body enough, he had easily run 40 miles or more, making up most of the distance to Redaloy already, though he had not taken a direct route there and instead headed north-west.
"I should be fine now…" He stood up, expanding his senses as far as he could like a radar to search around him, there was not a single person in his vicinity within a 300 meters circumference, only signs of small wildlife at best.
"…Safe, for now" He walked under the shelter of the trees that bunched together creating a makeshift shelter and pulled the map out of his backpack, he needed to find where he was.
"I followed the river west at first up until about… here?" He murmured, tracing his path until he reached a landmark he recognised on the map "And then headed north-west… it's mostly forest but I did notice some signposts along the way…" he looked closely, luckily the map the sect gives is one of the latest versions and marks where signposts are and their orientation.
"I should be around…. Here" He pointed at a forest region, the drawn trees matched the type of trees around him, so he felt it was correct, so he had a general idea of where he was.
"Where's those ruins…" He muttered to himself, looking around the landmarks on the map, many of them weren't labelled if they weren't considered important but they were at least shown with a small illustration.
The only problem was that Shu He didn't have time to ask more about the ruins with his abrupt departure, so he could only guess.
'A hill? Doubt it… a large tree, no… is this a gravestone?' He looked with doubt at a little picture that resembled a stone slab, curved at the top and straight at the bottom.
He frowned before he closed up the map, noting the location of the weird stone.
'It might be, guess I'll take a look'.
A detour may shake someone off him if he was being followed, but most of all Shu He was intrigued by the idea of ruins, it was the first time he'd come across such a thing in this world after all, he had a supressed desire to learn about this worlds history after all.
…
It didn't take long for Shu HE to find what he was looking for.
At least, he thinks he found it.
"What the hell?" He exclaimed as he rubbed his eyes to make sure he was actually seeing what he was seeing.
He was definitely looking at some ruins, there was a lot of stone, a building that was torn apart and crumbling, barely any of the original structure actually remained, just crumbled stones that used to be a roof, the lower portions of pillars, the floor…. Except there was one big oddity.
"Why's it on it's side?!" He questioned, hoping someone would pop out of nowhere and answer him.
Yes, the 'building' was placed like someone had flipped it on to its side, or rather its front as the rear end of the building was high in the sky.
It was also partially buried in a large hill that its base was attached to, the grass and vines from it clinging to the stone as if it didn't want it to fall.
Shu He decided to get a closer look, it was still raining so he could use the overhang from the hill for shelter anyway, as he got closer he could fully judge that it was about 6 stories high vertically, as he walked 'inside' he couldn't see much of interest.
It was just stone, there wasn't any other decoration or objects of colour left, based on what he was seeing these 'ruins' were very old, he wasn't sure quite how old but definitely more than a hundred years.
He glanced at the exposed insides of one of the stone pillars and frowned, taking out his sword Enduring Edge and poking the stone with its tip, dragging it across; Even after that not a single bit of dust came off it.
'It's hard!'
The stone definitely wasn't normal stone, the Enduring Edge could easily cut through normal stone.
'Even though its so hard, this place was devastated like this…' He looked around 'Just what happened?'
Shu He also had a thought, normally stone would be eroded over time so you could judge how old some buildings were, but with this stone it could be more than 1000 years old, and you wouldn't be able to tell!
Shu He's eyes gazed at the remains, tracing up the walls as he looked at the cracks and holes as he tried to put together an image of the ruins former beauty.
But then, he looked up.
And froze.
There, at the top, or rather the bottom of the ruins was a pedestal, and atop that pedestal was the 'grave' that was pictured on the map.
Shu He was immediately entranced.
Amidst this wreckage of a ruin, filled with dust and a story that told of great devastation, it sat there completely pure.
Untouched, unblemished, like it existed outside the rules of this world.
He felt like something resonated within him as the stared at the 'grave', no, the stele.
He didn't care about anything else anymore, he wanted to get to that stele.
Without hesitation he began jumping on the wrecked building, using the debris as a makeshift ladder as he scaled his way up towards the stone slab, his eyes fixated like he had just seen his long-lost lover appear before him.
And soon, his feet landed on the back of it, and he felt chills pass up his body.
'What is this feeling?'
He didn't understand what the sensations he felt meant.
All he could tell was this stele was important, that there was something to it that didn't meet the eye.
He looked down at its pure white surface, there wasn't a single mark, not even dust rested on its surface; Yet there wasn't anything on it.
It was the back side of it after all, based on the placement it may have been an object of worship at some point, so if it had text it should be on the front.
Or so Shu He assumed.
He grappled the smooth edge of the stone and dropped, hanging off it and then looked up at the other side that was covered in shadows.
"What?" He blurted out.
It was blank!
'Is this actually just a normal stone?! Am I going mad?!' He thought to himself as he stared intently at it, trying to see if it just had really hard to see text on it, but no, nothing.
There wasn't a single inscription on it, nor patterned engraving.
He pulled himself up and sat down cross legged on the rear side of the stele, pondering what to do.
'… Qi maybe?'
He placed his palm on it and channelled his azure Qi into it, but the moment it got near the stele it rebounded like they were oil and water, Shu He frowned.
'It's not something that requires blood right?' He thought, inwardly rejecting the idea of testing it as he shook his head.
'I wouldn't risk another contract; I still don't know what that old geezers one did…'
He tapped his head in thought 'It shouldn't be something simple, some average villagers know about this place so the cultivation society here definitely does as well, they would have tried everything if they were interested in it'.
'If I'm having this weird reaction to it, it's because of one of my unique traits'.
He looked at his hand, then at the core flame resembling a seed resting in his core area.
There could only be one answer.
A drip of sweat fell down Shu He's brow, he was worried.
'I hope this doesn't strain my soul any more…' he thought as he placed his hand back down and channelled a small thread of Golden Qi into the stele, and the moment they touched-
It got absorbed.
Quickly, a small stream of Golden Qi rose out of Shu He's core causing him to panic, yet the stele let out a warm golden glow in return causing him to feel relaxed and comfortable, like he was in the care of a loving mother.
And then-
A golden-white light lit up the area, engulfing Shu He in its radiance before it suddenly dispersed.
'?!' Shu He quickly realised; he couldn't move.
It wasn't just that, the gentle rain that was pitter pattering had ceased.
The wind that was whistling in his ear had ceased as well.
He could barely see it, but in his peripheral vision the droplets of rain outside had stopped moving, suspended in mid-air.
This situation… felt familiar to Shu He.
All too familiar!
All those years ago, back when he first started cultivating and experimenting he made a mistake with the Golden Qi, yet a strange old man appeared out of nowhere and healed him, leaving some cryptic words before disappearing in to thin air!
'Will he appear again?!'
But then, he saw a person appear in front of him, his head was allowed to shift slightly to get a better look.
He was a fierce looking man with long black hair, piercing silver eyes and a maddening grin plastered on his face.
He was also standing in mid-air, while also being semi-transparent.
'A ghost?' Shu He felt shivers up his spine, but then looked closer.
The man's eyes weren't focused on him, they weren't focused on all, it was like he was staring at something vague… almost like he was looking into the distant future.
"AHAHAHAHAHA" The man suddenly laughed, his boisterous voice filling the area like an emperor announcing his arrival, he held his hands out like a villain as he did so.
And then he stopped abruptly, his face turning grim.
"I, Long Tian, am dying!" As he spoke it was like the world turned dim to mourn his words, then he put his hand on his chin and thought "No, I'll be dead by the time someone gets this".
He then chuckled.
"Yes, even I have fallen prey to those beasts".
"And so, on my death bed I leave behind this stele, inside of it is the technique I developed to perfection" His eyes gleamed with confidence before dimming again.
"Though, it didn't save me in the end" He shook his head "In the end, no one is truly invincible".
'What is this guy talking about? What beasts?!'
"AND SO!" He suddenly shouted; Shu He felt his head rattling from the sheer force of the noise.
"To you, fellow sage that has discovered my remains, I entrust with you my technique and our future".
Shu He's heart skipped a beat, he could tell the man wasn't actually here, but the words he said caused him to shake, he felt like he had been entrusted with something from across time itself.
The man, Long Tian turned in the air and looked up, his gaze piercing the heavens above them.
"I wonder… by the time this is found, will my name resound around the world, or will I be forgotten to the annals of time…"
And then he sighed a sigh that was filled with pain, reluctance and then acceptance that dissipated into nothingness.
And then he disappeared.
The stele below Shu He began to shine brightly once more as mountains of text appeared on its surface, dancing like it was happy to be free as it slithered into Shu He's hand and up his skin, eventually reaching his glabella where it disappeared in a glow of light.
Shu He felt it all happening, it wasn't painful at all but rather pleasant, it was like he was reading a grand book that he had gotten lost in, time passed by as the text entered him like an endless river.
He truly didn't know how long it had been since this started, he felt it could be months, even years, yet he didn't care; He was lost in the sublime meanings of the text, even if he couldn't understand it all just glancing at it gave him a deep sensation of joy.
And then, it ended.
He collapsed on to the stone stele's back, his eyes wide open and shaking, a hint of drool dripping from the side of his mouth.
The stele had turned dim, no longer the pure white it used to be.
And all that was on Shu He's mind was the name of the technique he had just received.
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