Yue had the slightest smile on her face. “It almost feels like we’re traveling the world. It wouldn’t be half-bad if we didn’t have to worry about dying at every turn.”
“It might not be the most accurate representation, though,” I admitted embarrassingly. Even though I based the third arc off of the world’s various wonders, I had never left China. In fact, I rarely left Shanghai.
“A place like this would be in shambles now,” Yang said softly, the wonder apparent in his voice as he looked around. He leaned down and stepped toward a stand containing a plethora of beautiful necklaces.
As he approached the table, a burst of blue sparks appeared under his feet. Instantly, a hoard of demons erupted from the ground, their multiple hands breaking thrugh the ground and clawing for him.
Yang used his staff to shoot himself into the air before swinging it in a small circle, killing all of the demons in an instant. The turned into gray ash fluttering to the ground by the time he landed.
I let out a low whistle. “Wooow, very impressive. I didn’t know a pest controller could get such reflexes in such a short time.”
Yang rolled his eyes at me, but there was a small, proud grin on his face. He picked up one of the necklaces containing a beautiful blue stone. It was unlike anything I’d ever seen. The stone itself was a deep blue color, but there were pieces of royal blue specks and light blue metallic pieces all inside.
We all walked over toward Yang. I made sure not to step on the ash of the demons, instead lowering my head politely over the pile.
[Divinity Supreme Commander of the Heavenly Hosts praises Disciple Peijin’s respect!]
[Divinity Supreme Commander of the Heavenly Hosts sponsors 5,000 stars.]
Sometimes I felt bad about practically sucking Archangel Michael dry of his stars, but when I rememebered how ridiculously wealthy he was, it suddenly seemed fine.
I was now standing at Yang’s side.
“Woah!” I leaned over, staring at the stone. “What kind of stone is that?”
Yang picked it up and held it to the light. “Isn’t it stunning?”
Amelia squeezed in beside Yang, her eyes locked on the sign and reading it using Translator. “It says it’s imported from Okinawa. It’s called ‘Firefly Stone.’”
“Okinawa?!” Yue said with excitement, quickly looking for a purple bracelet. When she found one, she held it up. “Peijin, do you think this would look good on me?”
I nodded. “It’s the same color as your skills.”
I paused for a moment, staring down at the display before my jaw dropped in excitement. “Yang, can you pass me the blue ones? Those will look good with mine.”
Amelia strained to peek at all the ones on the table. “Yue-ayi, which one would suit me?”
Yue brought a hand up to her face, thinking carefully. “Maybe red.”
I let out an audible scoff of disapproval. “Are you kidding? It’s definitely blue.”
Yue scrunched her nose. “I was going to say her color is blue, but you already picked that one for yourself.”
“There’s dark blue and light blue,” I retorted, pointing at the table’s display. “Light blue suits Amelia perfectly. It’s the same color as her eyes.”
“I like red more,” Amelia answered.
“Ha!” Yue laughed, picking up the smallest red bracelet they had and sliding it over Amelia’s wrist.
“Whatever. Wei, what color are you getting?”
“Yellow.”
“That’s a good one for you,” I agreed.
“Shouldn’t I get yellow?” Yang asked.
“Oh, maybe,” I said, thinking hard about his question. “But I’ve always associated you with orange.”
“Orange? No way. What about me is giving off orange?”
“Your eyes,” I answered without thinking. “Everytime your eyes catch the light, they become a deep amber.”
Yue nodded her head. “I agree with Peijin for once. It’s orange.”
Yang stared blankly before turning red, grabbing the orange bracelet silently.
[Observers Chat]
StanDon: So cute!! They all having matching charms TvT
Socrates: Aww. All their picks really fit them well.
CoffeeCatering: I sure hope nothing bad happens after such a nice scene…
Napkin: Omg like if someone steps on a trap and blows up
StanDon: Okay so why are we saying such sad morbid things now
Napkin: Just being honest… it’s been suspiciously quiet
Polling ongoing…
- 14%
- 65%
- 21%
[Divinity Supreme Commander of the Heavenly Hosts is giggling at the scene playing out before him.]
[Divinity Supreme Commander of the Heavenly Hosts sponsors ‘Peijin’s World Dominion 5,000 stars.]
[Divinity One Who Fights in Front scolds Divinity Supreme Commander of the Heavenly Hosts for spending money like water.]
[Divinity Supreme Commander of the Heavenly Hosts says he can afford to.]
[Divinity Spirit of the Jade Moon reminds Divinity Supreme Commander of the Heavenly Hosts about his legal fees.]
[Divinity Supreme Commander of the Heavenly Hosts flushes out of embarrassment and says they’ve already been paid off.]
[Divinity Great Sage Equaling Heaven is stunned that the Divinity Supreme Commander of the Heavenly Hosts made a smart financial move.]
If you discover this tale on Amazon, be aware that it has been stolen. Please report the violation.
Divinity Great Sage Equaling Heaven says that the Divinity Supreme Commander of the Heavenly Hosts is infamous for making horrible financial decisions.]
[Divinity Supreme Commander of the Heavenly Hosts Says Divinity Ears that Hear what Comes on the Wind bullied him into paying off his legal fees before the interest could accumulate.]
[Divinity Great Sage Equaling Heaven is stunned to hear the mention of the other divinity.]
[Divinity Great Sage Equaling Heaven asked when the two became friends.]
[Divinity Spirit of the Jade Moon is shocked by the apparent friendship.]
[Divinity Ears that Hear what Comes on the Wind says the friendship formed after the karmic ordeal with Yue’s dungeon room.]
[Demon Abyssal Kraken of Black Seas asks if Divinity Ears that Hear what Comes on the Wind has been okay since sending out their recent distress signal.]
[Divinity Ears that Hear what Comes on the Wind nods and says it was fired on accident.]
[Demon Abyssal Kraken of Black Seas is incredibly relieved.]
I turned to the messages, cocking my head as I scrolled through them.
Divinity Ears that Hear what Comes on the Wind? What a long name. I was struggling to remember which god this name could be referring to. They were certainly not a major character in Surviving My First Run.
This god clearly had incredible hearing given their title. They were also friendly with the Kraken. The kraken was generally well-liked amongst everyone given their more humble and shy demeanor, but for a demon and a god to be on such good terms was still an impressive feat. It was likely then that this divinity also had something to do with the seas.
Since Sun Wukong and Chang’e both recognized and were surprised by the relationship between Archangel Michael and this divinity, perhaps it was a Chinese god. Chinese gods of the sea…
There was the benevolent Mazu, one of the most well-known Chinese sea goddesses that protected humans. There was the fearsome Gonggong, who wreaked havoc. There were also the Dragon Kings, one for each China sea.
“Ah!” I exclaimed outloud, turning to the rest of my party. “Ears that Hear what Comes on the Wind is Shunfeng’er.”
“Um, who?” Yue asked.
“He’s a Chinese sea and door god,” Yang answered. “They’re divine guardians of doors and gates, like the ones you might see when entering a temple. Shunfeng’er typically accompanies Mazu, who is a powerful Chinese ocean deity.”
I nodded in agreement. “They’re not as powerful as some other gods, though. Maybe Shunfeng’er got caught in a precarious situation and released a distress signal.”
[Divinity Ears that Hear what Comes on the Wind insists that the distress signal was an accident.]
[Divinity Supreme Commander of the Heavenly Hosts confirms this.]
[Divinity Supreme Commander of the Heavenly Hosts says he will introduce ‘Peijin’s Wolrd Dominion’ to Divinity Ears that Hear what Comes on the Wind.]
I perked up at the message and nodded enthusiastically. I was never going to turn down a good networking and star opportunity. The more stars the better.
Polling ongoing…
- 27%
- 55%
- 18%
I cocked my head at the results. It increased significantly just from my little interaction with the party. I guess that’s what the observers and gods wanted to see more of.
“Alright, alright. We’ve wasted enough time. Let’s find Ruoming,” I barked out the order, swirling Zhige in my hand confidently.
I squatted lower, tensing the muscles in my legs before I jumped high into the air, taking in our surroundings.
Further up was a massive white and domed building. Various pillars surrounded it and raised dozens of feet into the air. It was a truly stunning feat of architecture.
Yue squinted as she strained to see the building. “Five hunderd stars says that the node is in there.”
“And who do you think is going to take you up on that?” I answered, “It’s obviously in there.”
A flurry of blue sparks flashed beside Amelia, the dire wolf appearing. It lowered its nose to the ground, sniffing furiously before it chittered at Amelia. She gave it a slight nod but said no more.
I brought my hand up to the back of her shoulder, lightly squeezing it. “Is it in that direction?” I asked, knowing that she could confirm it with the wolf.
Amelia shrugged my hand off. She didn’t even reply with her words, giving nothing more than a faint, but affirmative, shrug.
I nervously looked up at Yang, my eyes practically pleading with him. He raised a brow at me, as if asking what I had done now.
I shrugged stupidly. Yang deadpanned at me before bringing his hand up to cup Amelia’s cheek, gently rubbing his thumb across it affectionately. “We’ll be relying on you, Amelia. You’re the only one out of all of us who can actually locate the nodes, so let us know if we’re doing something silly.”
Amelia looked down and nodded. It seemed like she planned on staying silent again until she finally spoke up. “Okay.”
[Observers Chat]
StrawG: Awwww (TvT) Amelia is my favorite of all the kids. That’s the only reason I’m voting for this party
Nipon23: i’m voting for this party because i don’t want the next fight to be booooringgg
StrawG: I would be devastated if anything happened to Amelia. We need to do our part to level the playing field!!
PinkPineapple: Am I the only one feeling optimistic for Peijin’s party… Peijin has more grit
Nipon23: yeah you’re the only one
Socrates: I believe in Peijin!! Obviously Feiyu is an all-star disciple and Ruoming is just on a tier of his own, but Peijin’s resilience is why she keeps winning
Nipon23: peijin?? resilient??? that girl has a mental breakdown at the slightest inconvenience or human interaction
Socrates: And she still survives! That’s resilience and why it’s fun to watch
PinkPineapple: True dat
Nipon23: she’s brainwashing all of y’all smh
SnaggleTooth: Peijin can brainwash me. She’s bad
StrawG: What???
I quickly clicked the glowing white X at the top of the screen to shut the chat.
“Zhige, pinky promise you won’t snap?”
The red eye squinted at me like it was grinning.
“Grow longer but stay thin.”
The blade shifted instantly, representing a staff more than anything. I held it out in front of me, dragging it across the ground to sense for traps. The moment it came in contact with the ground, a giant hole opened out beneath me.
I let out a surprised yelp as I looked down, noticing a raging river that was ready to sweep into the underworld of the Arabian Coast.
Yue quickly stabbed through my hoodie with the tip of her spear until I was hanging on the end of it like a kitten grabbed by its scruff.
At once, my hoodie began to thrash violently, furious at Yue. Yue quickly flung me back up, and I shot her a thankful look.
“Zhige. A bit longer please.”
Zhige obliged.
“Yang, use your staff in the same way.”
We headed toward the building just like that—the two of us dragging our weapons on the ground to check for any traps and rescuing one another from the ones we did stumble across. We slowly headed to the dome.
Miraculously, it still seemed like there were no mobs. The number of traps decreased as well until we were hardly running into any. Perhaps someone already controlled that node, and that was why they were spawning at such a minimal rate. That was my only working hypothesis.
The closer we got to the dome, the more I could feel a rumbling beneath my feet.
“Do you guys feel that?” I asked.
“Nope.”
We continued to advance. The rumbling only grew even stronger. I perked up.
“Did you guys feel it this time? It just happened again. I swear that the ground is shaking beneath us.”
“So, that’s actually called an earthquake,” Yue said facetiously. “And, I still don’t feel a thing.”
“Shut up. Wei, did you feel it?”
He paused and went as still as a statue; he must have been focusing all of his energy into sensing any anomalies. A few yellow sparks flew off of him as he used his spiritual energy to increase his sensitivitiy.
The ground rumbled again.
The white band wrapped around Wei’s forearm began unwinding like a snake getting ready to strike.
“It sounds like footsteps,” Wei finally said.
“Footsteps?”
“Yes.”
“That’s the worst thing you could have said. Those are footsteps? It’s like an entire earthquake.”
Yue looked increasingly confused. “I still can’t feel what you guys are talking about.”
“Honestly, I can’t either,” Yang answered.
Amelia reluctantly nodded.
“Are you all being serious?” I asked.
“If anything, things feel eerily silent,” Yang said. “Hasn’t this entire arc so far been painfully easy? Maybe it’s because we leveled up so much in the last dungeon room, but this room doesn’t feel like much of a challenge so far.”
“I agree,” I said. “But I can only imagine it ramping up.”
Nothing Yang was saying was untrue. I fundamentally agreed with him. In Surviving My First Run, this was a frantic and violent room. However, it was feeling more like an incredibly stressful vacation rather than an apocalyptic challenge.
The ground rumbled. This time stronger as I felt it throughout my entire body.
[Divinity Supreme Commander of the Heavenly Hosts has granted all members of ‘Peijin’s World Dominion’ a miniscule amount of spiritual energy.]
At once, the rumbling became apparent. Amelia, Yang, and Yue all jumped, surprised by what now felt like the constant trembling of the ground.
So, it was only detectable if someone held a certain thresehold of spiritual energy, which was why Wei and I felt it first.
“The ghosts?” I speculated outloud. “But are they trying to hide from—”
The sound of deep, banging drums rang out from all around us.