"Grandpa Jin, what happened to the orphanage behind your shop?"
The old man looked up at Xuhan with a confused expression. Han Xuhan's heart clenched as he interpreted the gaze he was facing. There was no sign of recognition in those eyes, those eyes that had looked at him with affection for as long as he could remember, belonging to the man who had been the grandfather figure of the entire orphanage for a decade.
"Orphanage? Where?" Craning his neck around, the old man peeked behind his shop and observed the empty field there for a second, his face puzzled.
"Young man, I think you got the wrong place," he said as he looked back at Xuhan.
"Ah, my mistake, then," Han Xuhan muttered as he turned to leave. Guts tightening, his mind compared the eerie similarities between the disappearance of Pine Town and the orphanage.
"Wait a second, kid. How did you know my name? I haven't seen you around here. A foreigner, aren't you?"
Xuhan didn't answer and rapidly moved away from the shop.
"Aunty Jing, do you recognize me?"
"....Are you new to the town, child? Did you visit my shop before?"
"Baldie Zhao, you remember this town ever having an orphanage?"
"What? Orphanage? There used to be one years ago. Didn't the chief get the governor's permission to use that building as his guesthouse? It's just outside the town's gates, near Lao Meng's restaurant."
"Not that one, Baldie. There used to be one behind Grandpa Jin's shop, remember?"
"Who are you calling a Baldie? Do I know you, punk?"
Every answer he got further darkened Xuhan's thoughts. After a stroll around the general area, he gathered his discoveries so far into a logical arrangement.
"First of all, no one remembers an orphanage ever existing here. To them, the area there has always been empty, and nobody is sure who owns the land there.
"Secondly, even though I have interacted with all of them for my entire life, they don't recognize me, which means whoever is behind this, they know about my existence, directly or indirectly, and could affect it too somehow. Yet I'm alive and unharmed whereas these people have been mindwiped.
"Thirdly, any physical evidence of the orphanage's existence, such as the sales record of nearby shops, wholesalers, and the customer lists of the town's public services, have been removed.
"For now, the only conclusion seems to be a large-scale memory wipe spell, as well as some incredibly detailed process of obliterating any clues related to the disappeared elements.
"In both cases, I escaped barely due to being absent. But more importantly, could these two incidents be linked?"
Han Xuhan's eyes narrowed into slits as he considered the possibility of an expert taking revenge for the Pine Town incident by wiping off Xuhan's 'home'.
"No, that can't be. The plot where the orphanage used to be has definitely been unoccupied for at least a couple of months, judging by the height of the grass and weeds. When Pine Town was wiped out, the land it left behind was absolutely devoid of anything like this. If this was an act of revenge, then they'd make sure that once I returned, I'd be able to link the clues together instantly. Casting a spell to make the grass grow artificially and hide the time of the disappearance would be counterproductive in that case."
This meant that the wipeout of the orphanage had happened before the wipeout of Pine Town. But why...?
He was the only cultivator ever to be selected from the orphanage in the last few decades. They didn't have any enmity with anyone influential either. The cultivator who had done this definitely belonged to a demonic sect. Since when were demonic cultivators so high profile? It had barely been three months since Xuhan started cultivating and he had already had multiple run-ins with them.
After a few more hours of fruitless investigation, Xuhan decided to return to the sect. He was not powerful enough to find more clues or chase after demonic sects for answers.
"Wait, that mad guy I met on my way here...didn't he say he sort of recognized me?"
Han Xuhan's steps faltered as the thought occurred to him. As a child who had lived in the orphanage, the memories related to his existence had been wiped out from everyone's mind as well. Yet that guy had actively spoken to him and provided such a critical message in an offhanded manner while posing as a madman...
Eyes widened, Xuhan used every bit of strength in his body to rush toward the street where he had met the "crazy" fellow.
But that corner of the street turned out to be empty.
"Hey, Uncle Zhang, where did that crazy guy weeping over here go?" He asked a nearby shop owner in a panicked tone.
"Where? That corner? I don't know. Haven't seen anybody crying in there since morning. Crazy guy, you say? Was he wearing any clothes?" The chatty hairdresser asked in puzzlement.
When Xuhan described the clothes that guy had worn, the shop owner shook his head.
"Only crazy fellow in this town is ol' Hui. He usually walks around naked."
Xuhan was familiar with ol' Hui himself. So he realized that it was pointless to continue the investigation anymore. That guy was his only source of a possible answer to this mystery.
Whether he had anything to do with the disappearance of Pine Town, however, remained to be seen.
....... ........... ..........
The journey back to the sect was uneventful. Han Xuhan stayed alert throughout, afraid that he'd get wiped out like the orphanage halfway. Slightly feeling relieved after reaching the sect, he inconspicuously slipped into his hut under the weak light of the dusk.
During his journey back, he had made some plans and sorted out his thoughts. There was no point in informing Xuan Zi about the orphanage. As it was tied to his origin, Xuhan felt that the information might be a bit sensitive, not to mention, Xuan Zi's offhanded way of handling the Pine town situation wasn't particularly encouraging. It had been an entire month since that incident and the mystery hadn't been cracked at all. What was the use of giving away something even more disturbing when it could implicate himself?
He would wait and see if the previous one ever got solved before deciding whether to reveal this one.
It was a rather selfish thing to do, probably. There was a tiny possibility that the disappearance of the orphanage could provide a critical clue to the investigation. But selflessness wasn't something Xuhan practiced much. So he went on about his business despite the tiny, uncomfortable feeling in the back of his mind opposing his decision of maintaining secrecy.
Sitting on his bed, he decided to draw up a harsher routine for himself. He could get his hands on as much resource as he needed for as long as the deal between the Holy Land and the Crimson Snow sect lasted. He needed to ensure that he reached a substantial level of power by the time he faced a new, bigger issue.
Xuhan was determined to investigate what went down in Pine Town and his childhood home. That would require a certain level of abilities far, far beyond his current self, perhaps even beyond the sect master himself.
"Why is it that the moment I became slightly self-aware, my chances of becoming a regular protagonist became ten times higher...? Did my self-awareness come too late? Was it inevitable the moment I set my foot towards this sect?"
Feeling a sour taste in his mouth, Han Xuhan patched up his new routine. If a normal outer court disciple saw the amount of resources he was planning on dumping on himself and his minions, they'd probably mistake the routine to be an expenditure record for his entire mountain peak. Han Xuhan was planning to pay for everything remotely useful during cultivation, and that was a long, long list.
Not enough qi inside the hut? Pay for the best type of formations!
The qi in the surroundings are lacking in quality?
Pay for the best type of purification and condensation gadgets!
Mind wanders frequently? Buy potions for concentration and clear thoughts!
Hip problems occurring after sitting too long? Buy expensive medicines to keep the hips unaffected!
Lacking inspiration and feeling tired after a long session? Buy the rejuvenation drink!
Random itches all over your body distracting you during meditation? Buy the specialized gadget that can detect that shit and scratch the perfect spot in an instant!
Sounds bothering you from outside? Expensive one-way formations shall block it!
Afraid of nature's call interrupting your immersion? Eat the expensive digestion-strengthening pills to make your body treat your meals like a drop of water in an endless desert. You'll not piss, nor shit...
For the first time in his life as a cultivator, Han Xuhan came to appreciate the vast list of tempting items sold by the sect in order to empty the pockets of the disciples. It further confirmed his suspicion that the creator of these items was a rich young master who had no idea how regular mortals cultivated.
Taking a large pouch filled with spirit stones in his hands, Xuhan went out to the sect's treasury again. By now, everybody there knew him due to his frequent visits. He had built up a reputation as a lascivious young master from a super-rich, anonymous clan.
Even when he had tried to convince them that his entire fortune was something he had earned himself, nobody believed him.
"Disciple Xuhan, your supplies ran out so soon? Didn't you refill your stock just last week? Can you even afford this?" Elder Shen asked in shock when he saw the list Han Xuhan had handed him.
Maintaining his silence, Xuhan sighed and absent-mindedly shook his left hand with which he had carried a fat pouch all the way to the treasury. The crystalline spirit stones within jingled, producing the sweetest of melodies.
Elder Shen's eyes started to gleam with an otherworldly light as he eagerly ran inside and instructed his assistants to gather everything on the list as fast as possible.
"The best goods for the best customers!" He yelled behind their back as they scattered across the treasury with hurried steps.
Within ten intense minutes, a gargantuan pile of resources, treasures, and gadgets was lying in front of Xuhan.
"Mm, good, good, good," Xuhan commented while nodding like an elder himself. Elder Shen energetically calculated the total expense and handed Xuhan the bill with his teeth flashing.
"Disciple Xuhan, the total is Four thousand and one sprint stones only. Since you're a VIP customer, I'll knock off that one spirit stone in the end and round up the price for you!"
Nodding as if satisfied by the quick service, Han Xuhan reached inside his pouch and took out...the medallion Xuan Zi had given him.
"Here is the payment, respected elder. Please verify it and return it to me afterwards. I've got places to be; I'm too busy these days spending spirit stones..."
Sighing ruefully, Xuhan left with the fat pouch jingling with his footsteps. Behind him stood a dumbstruck elder Shen whose hands were shaking as they clutched the medallion.
That night, the task administration pavilion welcomed in a man wearing a black cloak and a mask on his face. This was the sect's territory, so they weren't really afraid of being attacked by the secretive, suspicious guy.
"I'd like to issue a mission here," the man said in a muffled voice.
"Oh? Do you want to keep your identity anonymous, in that case?" The lead administrator asked. It wasn't a particularly rare happenstance to them. They encountered a lot of sect members trying to get the disciples to do jobs they didn't want to be associated with.
"Yes, of course." The man nodded as expected.
"Well, fire away the details," the administrator said as one of his helpers got ready to take notes.
"It is a very simple mission," the man said as he pulled out a piece of paper from his pocket. Taking it from his hand, the administrator found himself staring at a detailed sketch of an unfamiliar man.
"I need information on this man. Where he was seen last, if there is any locality he visits frequently, or even a way to contact him," the masked stranger spoke unhurriedly.
"Ah, that's not difficult. But what rewards are you offering for the mission?" The administrator asked, rather relieved that it wasn't anything too shady. Otherwise, he would have had to turn it down...depending on what price this stranger offered.
A fat pouch full of spirit stones fell on his desk as the anonymous stranger retracted his hands.
"That's a full one thousand. If they can get me a way to meet this guy, two thousand more will follow. It is unnecessary to contact me. I'll know when the mission is taken down after completion."
Leaving two gobsmacked disciples behind, the masked stranger retreated and disappeared in the dark night silently.
"...Inform the elder. We'll have a new mission topping the charts tomorrow," the lead administrator said after a short bout of silence.
"With a reward that high, I'm pretty sure some elder in need of cash is gonna snatch it up before any outer court disciple even notices it," his helper muttered in amusement.
"Grandpa Jin, what happened to the orphanage behind your shop?"
The old man looked up at Xuhan with a confused expression. Han Xuhan's heart clenched as he interpreted the gaze he was facing. There was no sign of recognition in those eyes, those eyes that had looked at him with affection for as long as he could remember, belonging to the man who had been the grandfather figure of the entire orphanage for a decade.
"Orphanage? Where?" Craning his neck around, the old man peeked behind his shop and observed the empty field there for a second, his face puzzled.
"Young man, I think you got the wrong place," he said as he looked back at Xuhan.
"Ah, my mistake, then," Han Xuhan muttered as he turned to leave. Guts tightening, his mind compared the eerie similarities between the disappearance of Pine Town and the orphanage.
"Wait a second, kid. How did you know my name? I haven't seen you around here. A foreigner, aren't you?"
Xuhan didn't answer and rapidly moved away from the shop.
"Aunty Jing, do you recognize me?"
"....Are you new to the town, child? Did you visit my shop before?"
"Baldie Zhao, you remember this town ever having an orphanage?"
"What? Orphanage? There used to be one years ago. Didn't the chief get the governor's permission to use that building as his guesthouse? It's just outside the town's gates, near Lao Meng's restaurant."
"Not that one, Baldie. There used to be one behind Grandpa Jin's shop, remember?"
"Who are you calling a Baldie? Do I know you, punk?"
Every answer he got further darkened Xuhan's thoughts. After a stroll around the general area, he gathered his discoveries so far into a logical arrangement.
"First of all, no one remembers an orphanage ever existing here. To them, the area there has always been empty, and nobody is sure who owns the land there.
"Secondly, even though I have interacted with all of them for my entire life, they don't recognize me, which means whoever is behind this, they know about my existence, directly or indirectly, and could affect it too somehow. Yet I'm alive and unharmed whereas these people have been mindwiped.
"Thirdly, any physical evidence of the orphanage's existence, such as the sales record of nearby shops, wholesalers, and the customer lists of the town's public services, have been removed.
"For now, the only conclusion seems to be a large-scale memory wipe spell, as well as some incredibly detailed process of obliterating any clues related to the disappeared elements.
"In both cases, I escaped barely due to being absent. But more importantly, could these two incidents be linked?"
Han Xuhan's eyes narrowed into slits as he considered the possibility of an expert taking revenge for the Pine Town incident by wiping off Xuhan's 'home'.
"No, that can't be. The plot where the orphanage used to be has definitely been unoccupied for at least a couple of months, judging by the height of the grass and weeds. When Pine Town was wiped out, the land it left behind was absolutely devoid of anything like this. If this was an act of revenge, then they'd make sure that once I returned, I'd be able to link the clues together instantly. Casting a spell to make the grass grow artificially and hide the time of the disappearance would be counterproductive in that case."
This meant that the wipeout of the orphanage had happened before the wipeout of Pine Town. But why...?
He was the only cultivator ever to be selected from the orphanage in the last few decades. They didn't have any enmity with anyone influential either. The cultivator who had done this definitely belonged to a demonic sect. Since when were demonic cultivators so high profile? It had barely been three months since Xuhan started cultivating and he had already had multiple run-ins with them.
After a few more hours of fruitless investigation, Xuhan decided to return to the sect. He was not powerful enough to find more clues or chase after demonic sects for answers.
"Wait, that mad guy I met on my way here...didn't he say he sort of recognized me?"
Han Xuhan's steps faltered as the thought occurred to him. As a child who had lived in the orphanage, the memories related to his existence had been wiped out from everyone's mind as well. Yet that guy had actively spoken to him and provided such a critical message in an offhanded manner while posing as a madman...
Eyes widened, Xuhan used every bit of strength in his body to rush toward the street where he had met the "crazy" fellow.
But that corner of the street turned out to be empty.
"Hey, Uncle Zhang, where did that crazy guy weeping over here go?" He asked a nearby shop owner in a panicked tone.
"Where? That corner? I don't know. Haven't seen anybody crying in there since morning. Crazy guy, you say? Was he wearing any clothes?" The chatty hairdresser asked in puzzlement.
When Xuhan described the clothes that guy had worn, the shop owner shook his head.
"Only crazy fellow in this town is ol' Hui. He usually walks around naked."
Xuhan was familiar with ol' Hui himself. So he realized that it was pointless to continue the investigation anymore. That guy was his only source of a possible answer to this mystery.
Whether he had anything to do with the disappearance of Pine Town, however, remained to be seen.
....... ........... ..........
The journey back to the sect was uneventful. Han Xuhan stayed alert throughout, afraid that he'd get wiped out like the orphanage halfway. Slightly feeling relieved after reaching the sect, he inconspicuously slipped into his hut under the weak light of the dusk.
During his journey back, he had made some plans and sorted out his thoughts. There was no point in informing Xuan Zi about the orphanage. As it was tied to his origin, Xuhan felt that the information might be a bit sensitive, not to mention, Xuan Zi's offhanded way of handling the Pine town situation wasn't particularly encouraging. It had been an entire month since that incident and the mystery hadn't been cracked at all. What was the use of giving away something even more disturbing when it could implicate himself?
He would wait and see if the previous one ever got solved before deciding whether to reveal this one.
It was a rather selfish thing to do, probably. There was a tiny possibility that the disappearance of the orphanage could provide a critical clue to the investigation. But selflessness wasn't something Xuhan practiced much. So he went on about his business despite the tiny, uncomfortable feeling in the back of his mind opposing his decision of maintaining secrecy.
Sitting on his bed, he decided to draw up a harsher routine for himself. He could get his hands on as much resource as he needed for as long as the deal between the Holy Land and the Crimson Snow sect lasted. He needed to ensure that he reached a substantial level of power by the time he faced a new, bigger issue.
Xuhan was determined to investigate what went down in Pine Town and his childhood home. That would require a certain level of abilities far, far beyond his current self, perhaps even beyond the sect master himself.
"Why is it that the moment I became slightly self-aware, my chances of becoming a regular protagonist became ten times higher...? Did my self-awareness come too late? Was it inevitable the moment I set my foot towards this sect?"
Feeling a sour taste in his mouth, Han Xuhan patched up his new routine. If a normal outer court disciple saw the amount of resources he was planning on dumping on himself and his minions, they'd probably mistake the routine to be an expenditure record for his entire mountain peak. Han Xuhan was planning to pay for everything remotely useful during cultivation, and that was a long, long list.
Not enough qi inside the hut? Pay for the best type of formations!
The qi in the surroundings are lacking in quality?
Pay for the best type of purification and condensation gadgets!
Mind wanders frequently? Buy potions for concentration and clear thoughts!
Hip problems occurring after sitting too long? Buy expensive medicines to keep the hips unaffected!
Lacking inspiration and feeling tired after a long session? Buy the rejuvenation drink!
Random itches all over your body distracting you during meditation? Buy the specialized gadget that can detect that shit and scratch the perfect spot in an instant!
Sounds bothering you from outside? Expensive one-way formations shall block it!
Afraid of nature's call interrupting your immersion? Eat the expensive digestion-strengthening pills to make your body treat your meals like a drop of water in an endless desert. You'll not piss, nor shit...
For the first time in his life as a cultivator, Han Xuhan came to appreciate the vast list of tempting items sold by the sect in order to empty the pockets of the disciples. It further confirmed his suspicion that the creator of these items was a rich young master who had no idea how regular mortals cultivated.
Taking a large pouch filled with spirit stones in his hands, Xuhan went out to the sect's treasury again. By now, everybody there knew him due to his frequent visits. He had built up a reputation as a lascivious young master from a super-rich, anonymous clan.
Even when he had tried to convince them that his entire fortune was something he had earned himself, nobody believed him.
"Disciple Xuhan, your supplies ran out so soon? Didn't you refill your stock just last week? Can you even afford this?" Elder Shen asked in shock when he saw the list Han Xuhan had handed him.
Maintaining his silence, Xuhan sighed and absent-mindedly shook his left hand with which he had carried a fat pouch all the way to the treasury. The crystalline spirit stones within jingled, producing the sweetest of melodies.
Elder Shen's eyes started to gleam with an otherworldly light as he eagerly ran inside and instructed his assistants to gather everything on the list as fast as possible.
"The best goods for the best customers!" He yelled behind their back as they scattered across the treasury with hurried steps.
Within ten intense minutes, a gargantuan pile of resources, treasures, and gadgets was lying in front of Xuhan.
"Mm, good, good, good," Xuhan commented while nodding like an elder himself. Elder Shen energetically calculated the total expense and handed Xuhan the bill with his teeth flashing.
"Disciple Xuhan, the total is Four thousand and one sprint stones only. Since you're a VIP customer, I'll knock off that one spirit stone in the end and round up the price for you!"
Nodding as if satisfied by the quick service, Han Xuhan reached inside his pouch and took out...the medallion Xuan Zi had given him.
"Here is the payment, respected elder. Please verify it and return it to me afterwards. I've got places to be; I'm too busy these days spending spirit stones..."
Sighing ruefully, Xuhan left with the fat pouch jingling with his footsteps. Behind him stood a dumbstruck elder Shen whose hands were shaking as they clutched the medallion.
That night, the task administration pavilion welcomed in a man wearing a black cloak and a mask on his face. This was the sect's territory, so they weren't really afraid of being attacked by the secretive, suspicious guy.
"I'd like to issue a mission here," the man said in a muffled voice.
"Oh? Do you want to keep your identity anonymous, in that case?" The lead administrator asked. It wasn't a particularly rare happenstance to them. They encountered a lot of sect members trying to get the disciples to do jobs they didn't want to be associated with.
"Yes, of course." The man nodded as expected.
"Well, fire away the details," the administrator said as one of his helpers got ready to take notes.
"It is a very simple mission," the man said as he pulled out a piece of paper from his pocket. Taking it from his hand, the administrator found himself staring at a detailed sketch of an unfamiliar man.
"I need information on this man. Where he was seen last, if there is any locality he visits frequently, or even a way to contact him," the masked stranger spoke unhurriedly.
"Ah, that's not difficult. But what rewards are you offering for the mission?" The administrator asked, rather relieved that it wasn't anything too shady. Otherwise, he would have had to turn it down...depending on what price this stranger offered.
A fat pouch full of spirit stones fell on his desk as the anonymous stranger retracted his hands.
"That's a full one thousand. If they can get me a way to meet this guy, two thousand more will follow. It is unnecessary to contact me. I'll know when the mission is taken down after completion."
Leaving two gobsmacked disciples behind, the masked stranger retreated and disappeared in the dark night silently.
"...Inform the elder. We'll have a new mission topping the charts tomorrow," the lead administrator said after a short bout of silence.
"With a reward that high, I'm pretty sure some elder in need of cash is gonna snatch it up before any outer court disciple even notices it," his helper muttered in amusement.
