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“–Eradicator of Entire Race Trees. The reason so little Qi remains in the air compared to the great yester days of past legends and primordial beings that fought for domination. That there is my greatest nightmare.”
Jun struggled to speak coherent words as she stared at the most frightening thing she had ever seen in her short life. At no point had she ever felt such terror fill her entire being. Not when her Mother had been slain before her eyes nor her father turning into a dry husk while trying to summon their most recent Hu ancestor. This fear was a primal thing beyond her understanding.
She had seen the evils of Demonic Cultivators and the likes of Dong ZhenKang and the promises of ruin he made to her.
Defeated Shao Yating, fighting against his tide of darkness and dead, and nearly gave up life before being woken by the Spirit of her Master's legendary sword.
None of it could compare to the sensation she felt here.
Nothing greater except…
Her eyes drifted to the stoic, unimpressed look that rested on her great Ancestor’s face. The slight frown of disdain and disappointment in what he saw resting within the crater as though he was expecting more. Expecting something dangerous or enough to give him a slight thrill. This was nothing to him. His words rang true in her mind, he hadn’t been exaggerating or stretching any truths. Everything he said was exactly as he said it.
“Affect me?” he did not even deem the conversation worthy of turning to face them then. “What could affect me in this here world? Qi?” Then he began listing forms of power she had never heard of. Things beyond this world. “Ether? Mana? The universe is filled with endless types of energies and I’ve come to master the majority of them. Dao? Enlightenment? The world itself works to contain my mere existence, much less what would happen had I desired destruction.”
What was a Calamity before an ancient one that preceded even its existence.
He had said it a few times already. Words she would've never taken at face value before this very moment. He mentioned that he was here before the Primordial Eras itself, walked amongst beings that predated the existence of this world. All of which had been offhand comments in regular day to day conversations. It had not made sense to her back then in the courtyard of their broken home at the Silver Mountain Gang’s bandit town.
Nor when he gave hints of such power in the odd circumstance, but it should have been obvious.
The Black Widows not surviving for a moment before him.
Cai Xuefang running with his tail tucked between his legs and saving Shao Yating from her attack.
Dong ZhenKang’s boot licking.
The changes to their Hu clan’s ancestral tree after just a few months.
The heavenly rice and medicine.
Weapons beyond her greatest imagination.
And much much more.
The signs were always there and yet, they had all been blind. Her great Ancestor had reached a height beyond anything this world could offer.
Yet, the question remained in her mind, refusing to go away no matter how hard she tried to erase it.
Why did he come back? Why is he here?
Her ancestor had claimed he had come here only to find peace and Jade Beauties if his whisperings to himself and Shui’s testimony were true, but that was difficult to believe. What type of monster, that had lived for tens of thousands of years, looked down upon a literal Calamity, and made everyone worry by merely existing would enter a world like theirs and want himself mortal or weak cultivator Jade Beauties when there were far more applicable people in his original realm.
Wait a minute! I-I remember Shui said he was injured or something like that? I don’t recall.
“No point in wasting time just gawking. The things dead, it wont suddenly come to life and attack us. Let’s explore the area.” Her ancestor turned around and began to head down into the crater.
Jun gave Rong and Shui, both hiding behind her, a nod. They nodded back, blood slowly returning to their faces seeing how confident their Ancestor was.
Rong turned into his giant form and picked them up. He struggled to keep his physical form, but was resolved enough not to embarrass himself before their master and end up failing him. Jun could feel his overwhelming amount of power surrounding her and Shui. Protecting them from the corrosive and deadly Void Qi that rose like steam from the dead corpse of the First Calamity.
The battlefield was scarred with thousands of fissures, smaller craters, and cuts that still vibrated with blade Qi. Each one still had the essence of their original owners and were deadly pockets of compressed energy waiting to explode, except that they all faded away into nothingness as soon as her Ancestor walked directly through them. Rong made sure to follow his footsteps exactly as he placed them. Though he was struggling, Yin Hu’s strides were incredibly long, they quickly learned.
Jun stayed as still as possible and kept surveying the area as they moved closer and closer.
Yin Hu was searching for something. What that could potentially be, they had no clue. Not even Rong, as well acquainted with the First Calamity as he was, could figure it out.
Shui stayed irrationally quiet and obedient. She would whisper to Mr. Mo Mo every once in a while, but otherwise said nothing else–
Jun blinked.
System…
Error…
Words appeared before her. A strange string of letters in a language she could not understand, yet she knew what it was saying somehow.
Applicable System User Detected…
The world flashed white around her for a second, before vision returned a moment later. This time, the words started appearing everywhere around the entire crater. They surrounded the dead corpse like an array barrier, coming in and out of existence. Thousands upon thousands of different languages, though unlike the ones that appeared directly before her, she could not decipher what they were saying.
She didn't understand what was happening around her.
Jun looked back towards Shui, in case she had seen the letters and words as well. The little girl would not be able to contain her curiosity if something that odd happened around her. Jun found her still as quiet and meek as before, proving that only she was seeing whatever this was.
Master would know.
“Rong,” Jun said as she looked up at his face. “Hurry to master. I have an important question I need to ask.”
“Okay.” Rong nodded and began to run towards Yin Hu.
Her Ancestor noticed, stopped walking and turned around to them. “Everything alright?”
“Master. I have a question.” She shouted from a small distance, knowing he could hear her. Rong was still a bit far away.
Yin Hu nodded.
“I-I see words? They’re floating–”
Her ancestor disappeared from her vision. Her eyes drifted to the side to find him standing next to her, eyes burning with intensity directly focused at her. “Don’t look at them!”
Rong and Shui shouted, startled. None of them had seen him move, not even the ancient Spirit that had stood tall against a Calamity already.
System User LK(33818)jj27hU81!
Do you wish to accept the System and enter the Tutorial!
Endless power awaits!
Riches greater than your wildest imaginations await!
Rewards beyond the realms of your existence shall arrive before you for your mighty deeds!
Yes -
No -
Jun snapped her eyes shut. The words remained in her vision, her heart began to thunder in her chest. Her mind growing foggy as fear flooded her senses, she had never heard or seen her Ancestor react that way. Terror from a Calamity? That was nothing to what she suffered now.
“If the words persist, make sure you don’t focus on them and whatever you do dont accept anything it offers you. They are nothing but problems and significant suffering and will lie to you and promise things they cannot fulfil.”
His deep voice centered her spiralling mind.
“I-It's asking me if I want to accept something called the system,” Jun stumbled over her words.
“‘Yes’ or ‘No’?”
Jun nodded.
Her Ancestor’s hands rested upon her shoulders. She could imagine his intense gaze boring into her head and staring at the same words she was seeing. “Select ‘No’.”
Jun did exactly that. The message wavered before her like a rippling like a quiet lake after a rock was thrown in it. Then it disappeared like it had not arrived. Only darkness remained in her vision with eyes closed, her trembling slowly easing away. She opened her eyes and met her master's. He nodded to her with a warm smile. Jun surveyed the surrounding areas and searched for the thousands of words that had surrounded the area.
Nothing of that sort remained.
Her own personal calamity had been averted. Whatever this system was had made her Ancestor react in ways she had never expected. It was an innocuous danger she would have accepted had he not been around to protect and save her from its horrors.
And horrors it would have been if his sudden reaction had been anything to go by.