Advanced Cultivation Civilization

ACC Chapter 26 Tribulation(3)

"Handsome uncle. Are you a cultivator?"

For the first time in a long while, I had taken a brief rest within a mortal town, having chosen a secluded place out on the hill under a tree, with my back to the grass. I had been asleep, peacefully, and yet, a jarring voice from someone had still managed to find my ears.

"What?" I asked while opening only an eye. There was a brat, one of her fingers deep in her nose, wearing a little floral dress with a pair of shorts underneath. Her long black hair had been braided into many long lines down her back, interspersed with flowers in between.

Her dark eyes possessed curiosity and ferocity. This was a curious young mortal girl.

"Are your ears not working well, uncle? Are you a cultivator?" The girl repeated, her face scrunching up in annoyance.

"I am. And if you don't get out of my sight you might get killed. Do you want your mother and father to also meet the king of the dead?"

I spoke harshly, so that the girl would be scared off.

"King of the dead? That's a strange king. Who is he? What does he do?"

I sighed exasperatedly as the girl's eyes shifted into ones of intense curiosity as she squatted beside my face. The hunger for more was painted across her face.

"Brat. Go away! Don't disturb my sleep!" This time I infused some of my spiritual energy within my words, causing a faint blood red glow to surround me.

"Oh! What was that red stuff? Make more! Make more! Are you that king of the dead?"

When I was about to close my eyes, thinking that I had succeeded, she shook me vigorously. I sat up abruptly, and took in her visage. She had a large face that made her not pleasant to gaze upon, not to mention the finger in her nose.

"Tell me kid, do you really not fear me?" I asked with bewilderment in my voice. Normal kids were supposed to run away when I flared my aura. So what made this kid weird?

"Fear. You are a nice uncle."

My mind blanked at those words.

"Why do you think am nice?"

"Because... You are handsome."

"Kid. Not all handsome men are good."

"I know that uncle. Cheng is handsome, but he always kicks my toys in the trench."

"Then, why are you near me?"

"My friends said you were a cultivator. Those people fly around with swords. Do you have one, uncle? Can I fly on it?"

"Kid, you're getting on my nerves." I scratched at my hair, looking beyond her to catch sight of her so-called friends. The brats were at least clever enough to stay far away. But there were no adults on this hill, so far as I could see and sense. Didn't these people have some awareness of those demonic cultivators, not to mention the demon beasts. Of course, this area was peaceful, but that didn't make it immune to accidental encounters with any of those.

"Where are your parents?"

"Ah! My mom is going to kill me! Bye handsome uncle!" 

Her face changed at my question before she dashed away towards her cohort, after which, all the brats vanished, leaving behind the bare hill with only the dumbfounded me.

I had met many mortals within my life. Many many many...the numbers had been countless. And yet, all, with no exception, had shown a fear of cultivators.

But this little girl had just been curious. Way too curious!

Maybe I should have asked her name... Nah! It was better this way. Getting too attached to a mortal would only weaken me.

I stalked off. Now that the little brat had interrupted me, I wasn't in the mood to relax. I had to get to the later Foundation Establishment stage as fast as possible.

-----

I had been in seclusion for just a meager 30 years to breakthrough into the peak Foundation Establishment stage...and yet, the world had changed.

Like how the sprawling behemoth right in front of me hadn't existed in the past. It had been laid with something known as cement.

I had passed by a town and asked how buildings made of stone had come to exist, and that's what I had been told. They had left an impression, but this behemoth here, truly hit the mark in flabbergasting me.

The walls in my gaze stretched so high that I was sure it hadn't just been the work of mortals in building this.

"Hoh! You must have been in seclusion for the past few years, brother." A passerby, an itinerant cultivator like me, said from my side.

The woman had dark hair, which appeared to be unruly, and what really sold the itinerant cultivator getup, was her entire wild demeanor. Most sect cultivators were prim and proper bastards... In public.

"Now, don't look at me like that. I am not a threat. I just wanted to get to know a handsome guy."

"Yes, I have been away from the public eye." I answered before resuming my walk towards the city. I needed to be caught up on the latest news in the circle of cultivators. Maybe even see whether I could find some opportunities for my eventual tribulation.

I was certain that my strength was up there in the top among those at the peak of the Foundation Establishment stage, but I had to make foolproof preparations. After all, I had never even managed to be given the privilege of witnessing someone overcoming theirs.

"Hey! Hey! Why are you being rude?" The woman raced to catch up. She wasn't half-bad in appearance, and was about in the early twenties, but she could be older. We cultivators could slow our aging, not to mention the fact that women were more obsessed with that ability, usually turning back the clock to the limit.

"I don't congregate with unfamiliar people. I already have enough problems as it is."

"Come on, handsome uncle!"

The last words made me pause, echoing within my mind like the tolling of a bell. They were familiar, as if ages ago I had heard them before.

I turned around, with the woman spotting a shit eating grin while looking at me.

"Did I manage to jog your memory? Handsome uncle?"

"You are that unruly brat? The one who had her finger up their nose?"

"Hey hey hey! You shouldn't speak such lies!" She hurriedly came near me, attempting to cover my mouth and speaking the words through gritted teeth.

Even as she reached close enough for me to take in her visage, there was a struggle within me to reconcile a nose-picking brat with this grown woman right before me.

"Don't embarrass me here, handsome uncle. I already have a bit of reputation, which you might ruin."

"There are many questions I want answers to, let's head to a restaurant."

"Am not really interested, but I will humor you." I answered her.

Within minutes, we had reached the city gate, whose double doors appeared to be way too heavy for mere mortals to push open every morning and close every evening.

The brat, now a grown woman...whom I had forgotten to get the names of, paid a toll to the guards before we were allowed into the city.

"By the way, what's your name?"

"Renah Serenegrass. What's yours, uncle?"

"Taylor Whitmore. I don't see anything about you that says, 'serene.'"

When I said that in a teasing voice, her face turned away from me.

"Hmpf! That is the name my parents gave me. Even I have no clue as to why." She mumbled.

"Anyway, hasn't the world changed a bit too much?"

"Nah, all this was because some mortal discovered cement. Even the cultivators praised his inventing spirit. Do you know what's amazing? It was discovered just 15 years ago!"

"Hoh!" I made the sound even as I stepped upon the paved road, which was definitely far better than a dirt one.

Buildings, now of brick, stone and mortar, lined the streets, which was different from 30 years ago when wooden houses had been prevalent. Now, I couldn't even see any building made of wood. And then there were the tall buildings, composed of multiple floors as if they wanted to reach the Heavens themselves.

"It has been some time since I last ate something like a true meal." I spoke while dragging my gaze away from the streets to gaze at the girl turned woman. She was looking back at me, with some sort of blush coloring her cheeks, and yet, she wasn't turning away, just like before.

"Is there something on my face?"

"No, I am just happy to have met you once again, uncle. Ever since a passing itinerant fellow had taught me the basics of cultivation, I have been searching for you."

"Why didn't you join the Sects?" I asked to keep the conversation flowing. Her intense gaze was making it awkward for me.

"We cultivators have great memory. I remember the day I met you as clearly as if it were yesterday. With just a bit of deduction, I had figured out that you weren't part of any Sect. If I had joined one, my freedom would have been taken away... And I wouldn't have gotten the chance to look for you."

The last statement was uttered with her face away from me.