An Immortal's Retirement: To Achieve Peace

I walked through the forest with the group of maidens. Mei Shan and Lin Tai led us through the woods, while the other girls: Xi Lu, Rin Wi, Yai Mien, Mei Vil, and Bri Lou all walked to the side of me, though their stride was a little further behind mine. I didn’t really know where we were going. I had been cooking breakfast this morning and saw them all outside standing in a row.

The girls hadn’t really explained much and had just asked me to come along with them. And it was rare for them to ask anything of me, so I complied without question and went along. But we’d been walking for over an hour and I was starting to get a little curious.

"Where are we going?" I asked them.

"It is the Divine Beasts honored master. They ask for your presence," Lin Tai answered.

"The beasts?" I questioned.

The divine beasts had mostly kept to the forest, hiding in small cracks and fluttering about here and there. I did get some whiffs of sparring going on amongst them, but I really couldn’t be bothered to step in for stuff like that. As long as no one died or was brutally injured, it really wasn’t a problem for me. Violence was an ever-present aspect of nature, they were used to fighting to survive and I couldn’t really expect them to not have some form of hierarchy, so I let them be for the most part.

Some of them did leave the forest regularly and had even taken to watching the villagers as they worked. One pheonix, in particular, had taken to perching above the local bakery and singing for the villagers like a sparrow. In return, the little bird would get some fresh bread from the bakery, the old baker Tam Chu had even given her a cute pet name. And I had seen that arrogant dragon swimming around in the pond like a thin overgrown worm. He called himself King of The Central Dragon Pond.

"They seem to have reached some political impaction and seek you for guidance," Lin Tai clarified.

"Politics?" I asked. "With beasts?"

Lin Tai nodded in response.

"They didn’t explain all to me but from what little I did hear, it seems that they are having trouble with resource distribution and creating a consistent power hierarchy," She explained.

"Interesting, do you have any knowledge of politics Lin Tai?"

"I was trained in bureaucracy honored master," she answered.

I knew the girls had a number of talents, but I hadn’t ever bothered to ask what they were. I would keep that in mind.

Beasts did sometimes have to work out politics, but most of it revolved around territorial lines and the general rule was that the strong got their pickings first while the weaker ones could take what was left behind.

But that only applied to forest beasts and beings confined within a certain territory. Divine beasts were beyond that. They would have laid in the endless expanse of space where the closest living being would be billions of light years away, but I guess being confined to this forest made them act in a similar fashion to regular spirit beasts.

After a few more minutes of walking, we finally arrived at a large clearing. The area was cleaned up and the ground was leveled. It lacked deformations and the grass was trimmed to the perfect size.

The clearing itself was littered with hundreds of tiny animals. Miniature divine beasts had all gathered there. There were tiny elephants with even tinier galaxy-like structures circling their tusks. There were lions with manes of nebulas and pods of whales that swam in the very fabric of space and time. But the numbers didn’t stop there. Tiny blinking eyes stared at us from the trees and the forest floors. There was more hiding outside of the clearing and the forest lit up like a starry night with their presence.

It must have been a bit much for the girls. Being stared at by a small army of gods would have shaken many, but most of them glanced past the girls and directly studied me. And though they were small, their mere presence caused a weight of laws and power that sank reality into a pit. There was light prodding and poking of the metaphysical sort. A bit of abrasive qi here and there, an unwinding of the space-time surrounding me. Nothing that amounted to a direct challenge, more like a glaring look from across the room, in a cosmic god-like way.

I glared back.

The beasts quickly settled down, and the world warped back to the way it was. The animals parted into two separate aisles, giving me a direct view of the center of the clearing. There was a stump there about the size of a small house and the center had been carved out into a mini stadium-like area with a small platform at the bottom.

The workmanship was shoddy. The carving had been made with a purpose in mind and had no care for aesthetics. It lacked that human touch that cared about angles and appearances. But what it lacked in beauty it made up for in power.

Within the small coliseum was a group of the most powerful beasts in the forest. Every being there was at the tenth rank or higher and they each stared at me fiercely.

We desire a conference, the dragon declared.

"Is this about the pond? Because honestly, those kids have been pissing there long before you ever claimed it."

I do not care about those minor filths, the dragon replied.

"Oh," I said, somewhat disappointedly.

"Then what’s all the fuss about?"

The phoenix, who now resembled a very red woodpecker flew up and above the small coliseum and up at my eye level. She then settled herself, landing on a small platform of solidified qi, higher than all the beings below her.

There is a need for balance, and as the maker of this place, the duty falls on you to keep it.

"Is that so?"

The little bird stared up at me defiantly. There was a little bit of fear and trepidation in her eyes, but there was some sort of confidence there too. A belief that I would do as she asked.

"Well," I said staring down at all the beasts beneath me. "What’s the problem then?"

As the array grows in power, so does the ambient qi in the valley. We believe that the natural flora and fauna of this region will receive a lot of this ambient qi and blossom into useful resources.

"Ah… and without the ability to fight or use your strength to determine a permanent hierarchy you need another method of settling disputes. You can fight, but no actual threat to life, the fighting never really ends. And since you can’t fight over the resources, you need to figure out a way to distribute them?"

The phoenix looked at me and gave a slight bow with her head.

This stump beneath me was but a normal tree a week ago. But it had a lucky spurt of qi and sprouted into an evergrowing oak.

I studied the tree stump and could verify what she was saying. I had assumed that one of the beasts had made the tree grow in such a fashion, but it seemed to be natural. Well, as natural as a tree suddenly feeding on an influx of qi could be, but it made sense, the stronger the creature the stronger the qi they produced. That was the reason the Divine Beast Emporium had based itself upon a giant eldritch monstrosity of the seventeenth rank. The array that contained the thing had been devised by a previous Array King and even though there were dangers to be expected if the array containing the beast ever broke, they were willing to risk it to reap the rewards.

And my array was doing something of a similar thing. It lived, it cultivated, and it produced.

"Interesting…" I said, looking down at the huge stump.

"Did it produce any fruit?" Lin Tai asked.

The beasts all turned to her and glared. The phoenix looked disgusted that Lin Tai had even dared to look in her the eyes, much less open her mouth. Pressure fell on the girl as the beasts stared and the weight of their presence was bared on her shoulders as she struggled to look up.

"I- I- I- apolog-"

Before Lin Tai could apologize, I pushed back.

The phoenix fell from the air, slamming against the forest floor. There was a light thud that could be heard all throughout the forest as the flying beasts found themselves dropping like poisoned flies. The ones that had been on solid ground now found themselves struggling to stand and every beast in the area had their heads against the floor, giving a somewhat informal kowtow. The thing was though, their heads were aimed in the direction that they were glaring at, which happened to Lin Tai.

"No need Lin Tai. I think they’re the ones who should apologize for not answering the question, especially when you’re gonna be in charge of creating a system to distribute these resources."

There was an intangible scream that seemed to echo throughout the place as the beasts all reacted to the news. Reality bucked as every single one of these beings tried to shake off my grasp on them in protest. Space and time confounded and the thin sheet of existence was stretched.

But there was nothing they could do.

"Wh- What?" Lin Tai asked.

"Well you have the training and you do seem to show interest in the subject, so I figured you could come up with a solution."

"But- but- but-"

"Unless you don't want to?" I asked.

Lin Tai looked at me, and then at the phoenix on the floor, and then back at me.

"It would be my honor to help these Divine Beasts in their endeavor."

"Not help," I corrected. "Lead."

Lin Tai frowned at my words but gave a resolute nod.

"I shall… I shall lead them to the best outcome."

I looked towards the beasts, slowly letting up the pressure and allowing them to raise their heads.

"I know I can’t force that instinct out of you, so I’ll explain it in a way you can understand. Here your strength means nothing, and for all you have, you are nothing without your strength. Lin knows about governments and management, which is worth more than what the strongest of you can offer in this situation, and this in a way is strength. She is your better."

But she is weak! She would have died a thousand times over if not for your protection! The dragon roared.

"And you would have died already if she had," I replied.

It is the strong that should lead.

I sighed.

"Then think of this as the strong leading. If might makes right, then I am might and I make right."

The animal stared at me fiercely, as if contemplating taking his chances in battle, and then he lowered his head in defeat.

I sighed. I felt bad, in a way. I was forcing humanity onto creatures that were inherently not human. To them, right and wrong were instincts meant to be used and thrown away. They lived in the cruel and amoral world of nature, where the right thing was ensuring your own survival. It was survival of the fittest that guided them, and yet here I was pushing my own beliefs onto them.

I looked at the little coliseum that they had made.

"What’s that all about?" I asked.

We created it as a place of gathering. We sought to discuss this distribution in a reasonable manner.

"That sounds awfully human-like of you."

None of the beasts responded.

The idea was proposed by a chick in the phoenix’s flock. None of us cared for the idea but none of us cared to stop it.

I looked around and saw a small chick on the ground huddling behind the coliseum. I recognized it. It was the same phoenix that would sing in front of Tam Chu’s place. She had even let Tam pet her a couple of times. I took a second to think.

"Lin Tai, I have only a few rules on the distribution of resources. One, it can’t be based on strength. Two, it must be fair to every beast the best it can. And three, let the beasts themselves have a say in it, though you’ll be able to veto them anytime."

Lin Tai stood there, giving me what must have been the most stressed-out smile I had seen in the past millennium, and nodded.

"I shall do as you request honored master!"