Chapter 363

Ghosts of the Mine (IX)

Shuren hadn't really thought much of the strange group of kids since meeting them, save for the little cook that she grew to appreciate quite a bit. Though their talents might be decent for this corner of the world, in her eyes, they were simply destined to never make much of themselves.

As such, when she saw the kids head over to the Demonic Wolves, she signaled One through Five, as she wanted to earn the man's favor by saving them and have his Disciple cook a few better meals.

Though Demonic Wolves were technically just at the Foundation Establishment, what made them scary was that they fought as a pack--it was as though they had an Attacking Formation imprinted into their very souls, and they used it to fight well above their realm. As such, a pack of seven Demonic Wolves at the Foundation Establishment was actually closer to two or three cultivators at the Spirit Manifestation realm. Individually they may be weak, but as a pack, they were deceptively dangerous.

She'd never let the kids get truly hurt, just enough to earn some debt (and maybe a proper lesson in treating Demonic Beasts with some level of respect rather than talking about riding them), and chose to watch closely, ready to jump in at any second.

... her first surprise came when the young boy ripped a parchment that shot out sparks of silver light. For a moment she thought it was some kind of a talisman but quickly realized the energy wasn't Qi--but mana.

The boy was a Shaman.

And from the looks of it, a fairly skilled one, as the Word he just used was particularly powerful.

The second surprise came when she saw the two kids at the front move--both were young women, no, girls, even, and both seemed to be, at least partially, body cultivators. They crossed the distance of roughly forty feet in literally the blink of an eye, flanking on either end of the pack and punching out with their fists.

The ordinarily relatively thick hide tore open like that sheet of paper as the fists ripped through the wolves before the onslaught of Qi literally caused the beasts' bodies to explode.

"Hah, I was faster!" the older of the two shouted.

"Humph! Again!!" the younger one replied.

It was... a massacre; no other word for it.

The pack of wolves scrambled to get into formation, but to no avail; the two were too speedy, especially the younger one, who seemed to be moving like a ghost between the wolves, her fist a harbinger of nightmares.

Each one of her fist strikes tore open a hole in the wolf and killed it on the spot.

The older girl wasn't any worse; if anything, she was even more terrifying. Unlike the younger one, she didn't even bother dodging--she let the wolves bite, gnaw, claw, scratch, and poke as they'd like, yet none of it stuck in the slightest. The one time they managed to draw blood, the wound disappeared immediately, as though it were a mirage.

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With each passing second, Shuren's heart grew heavier; she glanced over at the man they called Master and saw he had a somewhat... tired expression. In that one expression, though, she understood everything; he likely knew just how terrifying the kids' talents were, but more so in the context of just how much envy they'd cause. And from within envy, there'd be anger, and from that anger, insecurity, and from that insecurity, jealousy, which would lead to far too many things to count.

"... hey. Aren't those kids kind of strong?" Two commented after a little while.

"Yea. I, I... I think they're stronger than... me?" Five stuttered out in shock, and she had to accept the reality that they probably were.

This time around, when she looked at the strange man they called 'Master', she had pity in her eyes; maneuvering even one genius was an abject nightmare, one she never wanted to experience again, and he had an entire platoon of them. All young, all hungry, all extremely talented.

Which begged the question: What kind of an eldritch monster was that man to have tamed them so perfectly? She shuddered, thinking back to her own words of warning to One and others that any manner of cultivators could be roaming the world disguised.

She didn't truly believe that the man and the kids were of that cloth; she merely said it because they'd done nothing wrong, and she didn't want to shed blood unnecessarily. But, perhaps her hollow words of wisdom may truly have saved their lives...

The wolves were killed in less than a minute.

... they had decent combat senses, especially the younger one. They moved with intent and purpose. It meant that they had participated in quite a few battles. Those instincts couldn't really be taught--they were beaten into bones during life-or-death moments.

"Hah, I win!" the older one proclaimed. "Looks like somebody will be massaging my shoulders for the next week~"

"Humph! You just got lucky that the last one was closer to you!"

"Ah, whatever comforts your mind, little sis; you're still massaging my shoulders."

"I won't go back on a promise! I'm just not sure my tiny hands are enough for those mountains you call shoulders."

"H-huh?! What did you say?!"

"What? You want to go, huh?!"

"Enough!!" The roar was perfused with anger, tiredness, and enough frustration to fuel a fire for years. It was loud and powerful, and its effects were so instantaneous that even Shuren shuddered. The two girls shook in place, their expressions morphing into ones of terror. However, it was a different kind of terror; they didn't fear that the man might beat them, or hurt them, or kill them, no.

They feared he might hate them.

"Master--"

"Enough!" the man repeated. "It's one thing if I indulge you when we are alone, but are you blind to the fact we have company?"

Shuren didn't think he was angry that they fought--children fight, and neither she nor any of the other five were particularly bothered by it. If anything, those five might have truly enjoyed the show.

He was likely angry that the two revealed the deeper waters he wanted to hide.

"Haah. I'm sorry for yelling," it was Shuren's turn to stumble.

"N-no, Master! Don't apologize! We truly deserved it!"

"Yes, Master. You should punish us severely." Huh? Were the kids truly the ones asking for punishment?

"No. First off, apologize to each other. Though we can all say hurtful things in the heat of the moment, the most important thing--the most important one," he emphasized. "Is that you immediately apologize."

"I'm sorry, Senior Sister. I was just mad. In truth, I want to have your shoulders one day, too..."

"I'm sorry, too, Junior Sister," the older one said. "You fought amazingly, and I really was scared you might beat me. You don't have to massage my shoulders."

... Shuren looked at the two young girls hugging and the man behind them looking over at her with a pensive smile.

There truly were all kinds of people in the world, she learned that day.