"How long has it been since I last saw you here, Long Yi."
The fool. I accidentally fell asleep and ended up in the world inside the demonic sword.
"Did you miss me?" I said, scratching under my chin. This place never changes a bit.
There was only blood red as far as the eye could see. Screaming human faces in agony. Various entrails underfoot. Hands and feet hanging from the ceiling. Eyes weeping blood rained down on me and the fool.
Does the fool not have a creative idea to make his world a little more pleasant to look at? Should I tell him?
"By the way, what if we add some green plants here? This place feels too boring to look at." I finally said, suggesting to the fool.
The fool grinned, a small grin that looked terrifying.
"You seem happy, Long Yi."
"Me?" I pointed at myself with my index finger. "Happy?"
The fool laughed. Then my legs were suddenly severed.
I became a man standing without legs.
"Yes, slowly you're starting to get feelings thanks to that girl."
The fool walked closer. Now he was two steps away from me. I could clearly see his naked body and his enormous, long trunk.
Why did he make his trunk so long and big? Even though he never uses it? Does he use it on the screaming humans here?
Whatever it was, he pulled my long hair upwards so my eyes were level with his.
"Should I applaud myself?"
The fool smirked.
"Try to applaud."
I wanted to applaud but both my hands were already severed.
"You're funny. Your humor is very funny." I laughed widely. "Hahhahaha."
"Hahhahahaa!"
He laughed with me.
"So that girl." I stopped laughing. The fool stopped laughing. "I didn't see her die beheaded. So your prophecy has been broken by me?"
"No destiny can be changed. No leaf falls before its time."
The fool said.
"So? She will still die beheaded? Then, what does that have to do with me? I still don't care about her."
"Is that really true?"
Then the fool showed a scene where Shun Jin and I were smiling beside him.
"I'm waiting for it, the day you become human. Is the day you die. Long Yi."
Then the scene changed to when I stabbed the sword into Rastella's heart and Rastella died in my hands.
"Love is one of the things you always consider cursed. You are afraid. You are afraid to be loved. That's why you killed her."
For some reason, I moved my body trying to bite the fool's nose without intending to.
But. My head was already severed first.
And when I opened my eyes, Shun Jin looked at me curiously with her hand on my cheek.
***
"Are you alright, crazy man?" Shun Jin asked. Hurriedly pulling her hand away.
Shun Jin's face and body were covered in sweat. She had just finished practicing sword techniques with Wu Tian.
We both were temporarily staying at the Misty Sword Sect, some of whose buildings were dilapidated and uninhabitable. I told Shun Jin to learn one or two sword techniques from the perverted old man since she would represent the Misty Sword Sect in the martial arts competition in Nanjing.
I shook my head. "Are you done practicing?"
Shun Jin nodded. She showed me one or two movements of the Misty Sword technique. Then she smiled and asked me, "How is it?"
I nodded slightly. "That's enough." Then I stood up.
We had been staying here for three days, and during those three days, Wu Tian taught basic sword techniques from the Misty Sword art.
Every time Shun Jin slashed, a misty smoke followed. Making Shun Jin's sword swings unclear and that would definitely be useful to fight her opponents in the upcoming competition.
"We'll leave tomorrow morning. It will take one week to walk to Nanjing from here."
Shun Jin nodded in understanding. She immediately went to wash herself and then packed her belongings.
Wu Tian, who had been sitting on the homepage, walked over to me.
"Your disciple, that girl has a plump and sexy body. No—ehem—I mean that girl has a flexible body and easily grasps the sword techniques I taught her. Whereas usually, an ordinary disciple would need a month to perfectly learn my basic sword techniques." Wu Tian said, stroking his long beard and mustache.
I grinned slightly. "She still needs a lot of practice. Especially in cultivation. She might be talented with the sword, but she still struggles to feel the flow of Qi."
Wu Tian nodded in agreement.
"If that's the case, why don't you train her with bochi jutsu?"
I glanced at Wu Tian. He said it with a straight face.
"Dual cultivation. Giving your Yang essence into her body through her body's orifices." Wu Tian shamelessly made a gesture with his index finger poking two fingers shaped like an 'o'. He was truly a perverted old man. It seemed that fifty years of secluded training had turned his brain into a gutter.
I shook my head. "I've never done it. Although I know how." That was half true. I had done dual cultivation before, but my partner died for some reason.
Wu Tian nodded and stroked his beard.
"You need experience. So, how about we both go to a brothel tonight? You're leaving in the morning, aren't you?" Wu Tian looked at me as if he was giving me the wisest advice from heaven. I just shook my head at his invitation.
"Does reaching the highest level of cultivation push your lust to the limit? You perverted old man?"
"Disrespectful. You'll know how it feels after fifty years of solitude, only hearing news from birds or snakes. Women and girls in my eyes now are like beautiful flowers. They soothe my heart and my thirst. And besides, I need descendants to help me rebuild this sect. A sect patriarch without descendants is a sect that will only last one year."
Wu Tian said with a serious face. From his eyes, a blazing fire of lust could be seen. As if fifty years of secluded training was oil to fuel his lust even higher!
I didn't really understand lust. It reminded me of that incident. The scene The Fool showed me just now.
Unconsciously, my hands clenched tightly.
"Even so, I'm glad that girl is with you, Long Yi. She makes you more human." Wu Tian continued.
I fell silent.
"Actually, how do you know me?" I asked suspiciously. Since our first meeting, Wu Tian had known my name and my alias. I wondered how much he knew about me, did he also notice the demonic sword I always carried? Or did he even know I was a demon? I hadn't asked him yet.
Wu Tian then pointed upwards.
"From the sky."
An ambiguous and brief answer. He then slowly walked into the sect building.
"I'm going to peek at that girl bathing."
He stated his intention.
I then tilted my head up to the sky. Blue and cloudless today, the wind was quite warm.
"Why don't you tell that perverted old man to repent, sky?"
Then Shun Jin's voice was heard.
"Hyaaa! Perverted old man!"
Thump!
***