âHey man,â Jack said, stepping to the side of Starhair. âCan I ask you something?â
The other cultivator didnât turn his head. His voice came aloof, almost dismissing. âWhat is it this time?â
âWhy are you being a dick to me? I donât remember doing anything to offend you.â
Starhair gave Jack a long stare, not replying. Jack scoffed.
âNot that I particularly care,â he added. âIâve had my fair share of assholes. Itâs just that weâre stuck here for a few days, Iâm annoyed that my cultivation is slow, and I figured that maybe asking you would ruin your mood.â
Starhair snorted. âOf course itâs slow. The B-Grade is adjusted for difficulty against a cultivatorâs potential. With your stupidly large inner world, it wonât surprise me if you remain at the early B-Grade forever. It would suit you just right.â
âWe both know that wonât happen. Iâll find a way.â Jack smiled. âIs that it, then? Youâre jealous?â
âPlease.â
âThen what is it?â
âYou killed a family friend of mine. A C-Grade from my galaxy. You know who Iâm talking about.â
Jack scoffed again. âI havenât the slightest idea. Iâve killed lots of people.â
Starhair turned quickly, his galaxy-like hair whipping around. His eyes shimmered with anger. âDon Cranxiao, you imbecile. A heir of the Iron Fist Empire. He was from the Hammerhead Galaxy, same as me, as you very well know.â
Jack blinked in surprise.The name was familiar, from a long time ago. When he first arrived at the Cathedral, Don Cranxiao had been an obnoxious, low-level bully. He was sheltered by his high-rank cousin, Baron Longform, and he often beat up or stole the Dao Stones of the bottom-rankers. Heâd eventually made the mistake of messing with Jack, who executed him in a public duel. It was what kickstarted his whole enmity with the much more dangerous Baron Longform.
In Jackâs mind, Don Cranxiao was nothing but a throw-away minor villain, one of the dozens heâd faced throughout the years.
âFirst of all,â he said, âI donât give a shit about which galaxy you come from, let alone Cranxiao. Itâs my first time hearing about a Hammerhead galaxy. What stupid name is that, anyway? Second⊠Really? You were friends with that clown? He was nothing but a little bully. I know youâre an ass, but even you can do better.â
âDonât insult the dead. Cranxiao was a family friend. I had the implicit responsibility to protect him,â Starhair said, puffing out his chest. âBecause you killed him, I received the chastised by my galaxyâs A-Grade overlord.â
Jack couldnât help it. He laughed.
âWhat are you laughing about?â Starhair said, frowning deeply.
âI just canât,â Jack replied, still laughing. It wasnât out of mockery. This justification was so jarringly soft, so ridiculous, that heâd been ambushed with laughter. âLet me tell you something, Starhair,â he said, wiping a tear off his eye. âYou and I are not the same kind of people. Iâm a warrior, and you are just a spoiled, powerful brat. Do you know what happened between me and my last real enemy? He tried to enslave my planet. I killed his son, his best disciple, humiliated him publicly, cracked his Dao, and got him exiled from his family and home faction. In retaliation, he yet again invaded my home planet, abducted my son and killed him before my very eyes, then orchestrated a massive hunt for me. I had to go through hell and back to recover from my sonâs death and gain the power to face that man and his backers. Our conflict was the focal point of a constellation-wide war with casualties numbering in the tens of billions. In the end, not only did I defeat him and kill everyone who supported him, not only did I destroy a B-Grade faction with a million years of history, but I also forced his millions of descendants to change their last name so he would dishonored for eternity.â
Jack had stopped laughing. He wasnât angry, just amused. Meanwhile, Starhair had gone pale.
âSo you can understair, Starhair,â Jack continued calmly, âthat when you use your peanut-sized brain to insult me only because you received a scolding from your galaxyâs big daddy, you do not intimidate me. Iâm not even offended. You are so refreshingly mild that all you achieve is to amuse me. If you want my advice, give it up, turn your life around, and stop being such a little bitch.â
Starhair took a moment to compose himself. He seemed both mortified and angry. âI donât need your advice,â was all he managed to say.
Jack laughed. âJust stay out of my damn feet,â he said, walking away. âClown.â
He approached Brock again, ignoring Starhairâs burning glare on his back. Brock, whoâd listened to the conversation, shook his head. âWhat a silly little bro,â he said.
âI heard that!â Starhair called out, only to be ignored by both.
âI guess thatâs one worry off my head,â Jack said, shrugging. âWhat are you going to do now? Meditate on your Dao?â
âYes. Time is precious. We must work hard.â
âAgreed.â Jack sighed. âAfter everything that happened, not having a time limit over our heads feels pretty nice, but we shouldnât laze about.â
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Brock gave him a good look. âAre you okay, bro?â
âYes. Itâs all in the past now, but thank you for worrying.â
âItâs my job.â Brock nodded. âOkay. Iâm going to meditate.â
âSee you, bro.â
Brock made to walk away. In the same moment, space warped between them. Elder Boatman appearedâthe clone who was driving their ship. âDisciples,â he said in his gravely voice. âI have some time. Letâs talk about your paths.â
âOh, hi Master,â Jack said.
âHello, Master Grandpa Dead. Thanks for the peanuts. They were very tasty.â
âNo problem. Brock, you go first. Tell me about your inner world.â
The brorilla grinned. âOkay! I have the bro world. It is gold and big. All my bros live there.â
âAs phantoms, I assume?â the Elder asked.
âYes. All real bros have phantoms in the central temple. There are also brorilla bros flying around.â
âThatâs so much more than mine,â Jack said. âI just have a meteor and empty space.â
âDifferent Daos manifest differently, but it doesn't mean much,â Elder Boatman explained. âDoes your inner world feel stable, Brock?â
âYes.â
âGood. Thatâs an important point. It means you can just focus on gathering energy. Not by yourself, obviouslyâthe New Cathedral contains many resources which I suspect theyâll let you use.â
Jack and Brockâs faces lit up. âThank you, Master!â Jack said.
âDonât thank me. The Arch Priestess controls these things.â Boatman waved a hand. âWhat Daos do you focus on, Brock?â
âBrohood.â
âJust that?â
âYes. The rest of the Daos are just helpful bros.â
Boatman sighed. âThatâs good. I would normally be worried, but since youâve reached this stage without a problem, brotherhood must be one of the rare Daos which can be cultivated by themselves.â
âOf course. Brotherhood is everything.â
âFor the early B-Grade realm,â Boatman advised, âyou should try to exercise your Dao as much as possible. Make bros. Do things with them. Help them and have them help you. I donât know if the New Cathedral has any Dao Visions suitable for you, but your path is very simple regardless. Just stay pure and true.â
âOf course. Thanks, Master Grandpa Dead.â freÄnovelkiss.com
âAnd stop calling me that.â
âOkay, Master Bro.â
Boatman closed his eyes and released a long, tired sigh. âNever mind. Call me whatever you want. Now, Jackâyour path is significantly more complicated than your brotherâs. I understand that you cultivate Life and Death alongside Time and Space. Is that right?â
âRight,â Jack replied. âThe Fist is the core of my Dao, and it represents Life. The rest are built around it. Life and Death are my primary duality, and Spacetime is secondary.â
Boatman nodded. âYou understand it is a difficult path. Even most Archons only pursue one or two Daos to the apex. You want to go for four, and you have very little time to do so because of the looming war. Tell me the truthâis there any way I can talk you out of this?â
Jack grinned. âNo.â
âOkay.â Boatman sighed. âThen, hereâs what you need to do. Pursue Life and Death concurrently. Use all the time and resources you can on those two Daos, making sure you reach as far as possible and that they remain balanced. Spacetime will hopefully follow by itself. Itâs okay if it lags behind a bitâyouâll have time to make up for it in the A-Grade.â
âYes, Master.â
âAs for your cultivation, there is no point wasting your time, as youâve no doubt realized yourself. The process would take tens of thousands of years for each minor realm. Just look for treasures and other opportunities to advance quickly. I want your Dao to remain as your focus, at least for now.â
âOkay.â
âGood. Youâre listeningâthat already surpasses my expectations. Tell me about your Class.â
âItâs something called Paragon of Cultivation,â Jack explained. âA Legendary Class.â
âLegendary?â Boatman raised a brow. âWhat do you mean?â
âThatâs its tier. Itâs not King, but Legendary. I think thatâs better.â
âAre you sure? Iâve never heard of anything like that.â
âThe System said itâs because I pushed a new boundary in cultivation, opening the path for future generations.â
âHmm. Well, yes. That makes sense. Itâs just that Iâve never heard about it.â Boatman raised a hand to scratch his pale head. He seemed intrigued. âThen again, you did reach ten thousand miles during your breakthrough. I guess itâs possible. You wouldnât lie. Based on your description, such a Class should have been awarded to other cultivators in the past, but Iâm not surprised it never reached my ears. People tend to keep their Classes a secret. It can serve as a clue about their strengths and weaknesses.â
Jack shrugged. âI donât know if itâs a big deal or not, but the Class did come with certain benefits. It gives me more stats per level. It also grants me a top-level Dao Vision at every minor realm, and it came with a skill which lets me contact an Immortal directly to receive guidance.â
âContact an Immortal?â Boatmanâs eyes widened. âThatâs important. Immortals possess virtually infinite knowledge and resources, and they almost never accept disciples. Having one of them as your mentor would be a huge dealâand, depending on your allegiance, maybe not something youâd want to share. That would explain why there is no mention of this Class in the Churchâs records. Itâs an easy path to treasonânobody would reveal this.â
âUh.â Jack scratched his head. âIâm not planning on actually contacting the Immortals. Iâm not a traitor.â
âI know you arenât. Itâs a good thing you let me knowâa direct channel of communication to the Immortals could be a strategic advantage, if you donât mind sharing this with the Arch Priestess as well. But it probably wonât work unless youâre inside System space.â
âThen itâs useless.â
âWeâll see. There are some things we can do. Those Dao Visions you mentioned should also need the System to work. They obviously arenât stored in the little System core inside youâyou will need to be in System space to receive them.â
âWhat!?â
âDonât worry. I told youâthere are things we can do, but weâll need to reach the New Cathedral first. Just focus on your Daos for now. Stabilize your foundation. Get ready to leap forward once you receive those Dao Visions. Each will only be about a single Dao, anyway, so most of the heavy lifting will be done by yourself.â He sighed. âSee how easy this would be if you focused on just one or two Daos?â
âPerhaps, but I think I can handle four.â
âWhat else I can do except believe in you?â Boatman shrugged. âThatâs all I had to say for now. If there is nothing elseââ
The starship shook. The teleportation was cut short. Jack looked out the window and saw the inside of pulsating suckers surrounded by bright pink flesh. Something had grabbed their ship and ripped it directly out of the deep spacetime layers. Something big.