v2c97: Reset (Patreon)

How do you go back to the way things were?

Can you? It was a question I grappled with as I wandered the hills in my backyard. The worst case scenario had come to pass, in my mind. Well, not the worst case scenario, but it was pretty up there.

The cat was out of the bag. The cultivators knew who I was. And not just the Cloudy Sword Sect, who I guess I could trust to be discreet or at least leave me alone. Every sect in the Azure Hills and the Shrouded Mountain Sect knew who I was.

I was no longer an anonymous farmer. I was a person of interest.

I had known this was coming, but didn’t want to admit it to myself.. My rice was getting too good. I was expanding the roads too much. There was no way I could have remained hidden forever.

Maybe I could have said no to Tigu, about going to the tournament. Maybe I could have tried not to grow my rice as well as it was doing.

Maybe those could have prevented the chain of events that had been set in motion. But they had happened and you can’t change the past.

Just as much as I couldn’t change the fact that I had killed a man and taken charge of effectively an entire province.

I didn’t regret doing that. Those actions… well, they had been necessary. I think.

The question was, what was I going to do now? I had a responsibility to my family. I had things that needed to get done.

But what to do about this whole thing? I had some brief respite now. I wanted to rest, but my mind kept on replaying and inventing new scenarios.

I sighed and kicked the ground as I heard Big D sound the call for lunch.

I wandered back home, still pondering the conundrum before me. Everybody else seemed in a relatively good mood. Meimei was already pouring over the new medical scrolls with fervor. Bowu apparently had bone shards in his cartilage and needed his kneecap broken and reset—both things Meiling never would have attempted without the Lowly Spiritual Herbs. She glanced up with an unreadable expression on her face as I approached before humming, a thoughtful expression on her face.

Bowu was sitting off to the side on the veranda. He hesitantly reached out a hand and patted Chunky. Bowu didn’t really seem to know how to interact with everybody. He was quiet and skittish… though Chunky seemed to be winning him over with sheer dogged friendliness.

Yun Ren was practicing with his sword and cursing at it occasionally. “So like hwa! And not haacha! Right?” he demanded of the sword.

‘Summers Sky postulates “Huwa”. This method of training and vocalization defies expectations. Interesting. Approval.’

I kept walking. I saw Babe come over with a look of interest in his normally placid face.

Huo Ten was checking over the crystal with Big D. The annoying chunk of rock was apparently nearly ready… after something almost destabilized it during the transfer. Apparently there was a lot more stuff in the thing than even Master Gen thought, and the crystal was different enough that there were some minor issues.

It shouldn’t be too much longer, the monkey had said. And Then we could see what this old thing was all about.

Xiulan and Gou Ren were both on food duty today, whipping up a light lunch for us all. It was tasty, but I spent most of lunch thinking about things again and then… I was out in the fields, doing the chores I had neglected in the morning.

Thinking. And when I finished with my chores… thinking again. Mulling over the paths available to me and getting steadily more frustrated.

My dark mood was interrupted by a voice.

“Oi! Jin!” Yun Ren called, holding one of my makeshift lacrosse sticks. I raised an eyebrow at him. I sighed at the expression on his and his brother’s faces. I kind of wanted to, but I had too much crap to think about.

“Not today. guys. I—”

“Chiiikennnn.” Gou Ren called. “Bok Bok Bok Bok!” I froze and raised an eyebrow at him. Really?

“Old Man is just tired, I get it. Too infirm to go at it with the boys, I get it.” He shrugged and smirked at me.

My eye twitched. Seriously? They were really doing this?

Their boasts were poor and annoying... and I kind of did need some stress relief. Smacking the two asshats around the field would probably be fun.

“Gimmie a stick.” I commanded, and my two friends whooped. I couldn’t help the smile that came to my face.

It was... surprisingly normal. Aside from us being faster and stronger than normal people. Neither of the Xong Brothers evidently wanted to escalate the situation, so there were no illusions… though Yun Ren had great footwork. Maybe it was all the sword practise he was doing? Gou was getting more and more solid too, to the point where he could take my cross-checks, even when I gave them a little bit of oomph.

It was… well. It was just like old times. Until we were interrupted.

“Ah! Can I play?!” Tigu asked hopefully, jogging up to us.

I acted immediately. “Yeah, you can be on my team.”

Tigu’s eyes widened, happily, and both brothers cursed.

The tide turned instantly against the brothers. Tigu was just way too fast for them to handle, though Gou Ren just tanked her checks and Yun could occasionally dodged.

But it was too much for them. I was actually starting to feel a little bad when Yun Ren hit the emergency button. “Washy! I’ll bring you with me to Pale Moon Lake City the next time I go, and you can pick out whatever you want!” he howled.

The sky darkened. Thunder cracked. A smattering of rain fell from the sky.

Washy descended from the heavens, his eyes burning with greed.

Things… devolved from there. Our little game started to draw more and more people, and started getting a bit out of hand. Chunky and Peppa joined our team, while Xiulan decided that she wanted to face off against Tigu again.

It was pure wild chaos, and I couldn’t help but laugh. Especially when Yin and Big D were trying to figure out how to use the sticks. It was super unwieldy for them and we didn’t have that many to begin with. So instead we switched to some kind of bastard love-child of soccer and rugby.

At some point the teams dissolved completely, each person just trying to grab the ball and run with it. Off on the sidelines, Meiling, Noodle and Bowu watched with varying degrees of interest. Bowu had finally let loose a bit, hollering and cheering.

Chunky got a bit too excited and with a mighty swing of his head slammed the ball into the air so high it was practically a speck. Everybody paused trying to see where it would come down… except for Washy, who flew up after it. I got an idea.

“Tigu’er.” I called as I crouched down, cupping my hands.

She turned to me, and then confusion turned to elation. The dragon spiked the ball back down. Tigu’s foot caught into my cupped hand and I launched her into the air.

The girl howled with laughter as she spun around like a top, before putting all her momentum and strength into her leg, smashing a shot straight into one of the goals.

The ball hit the ground so hard it exploded. The game stopped.

Tigu looked at her handiwork. “That was worth more points, right?” she asked hopefully.

I burst out laughing and ruffled her hair.

That… that had been a fun. I took a breath, and let it out, grinning all the while.

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It kept going. Bit by bit, little by little, I resettled into my life.

Chunky and Washy showed me around the mushroom farm, the logs so covered with fungus it looked like we were on an alien planet.

Big D performed the cognitive tests on the chickens with me and greeted each day.

Walking with Yin and trying to find something around the farm that she truly enjoyed doing.

Building up Gou Ren’s house and thinking about the tools that I would need in the future.

Yun Ren somehow finding Meiling’s bunny costume… and then tromping downstairs while singing a musical number, illusioned to look like a woman.

Nightly chats with an old snake. Talking about steam engines to a steadily more enthusiastic Bowu.

I lost terribly to Xiulan at answer go.

Reconnecting with Meiling. Our silly talks in the morning… and our… activities.

The little things.

One night, we all decided to camp out under the stars together. We laid down with our backs somehow all fitting against Chunky. The massive boar huffed happily.

Yun Ren told us the stories of his tribe, as he traced the constellations above.

It wasn’t that I wasn’t thinking about it… I just wasn’t obsessing anymore. Constantly thinking about the worst case scenarios.

I knew what I had to do. I had to ask the Lord Magistrate for lessons. I had to… well, I should probably look over gramp’s martial arts scroll just in case.

And then take things as they came. Or if I could, head them off before they began.

And I would have help. A rooster on top of a boar. Xiulan, her head on Meiling’s shoulder. Tigu listening raptly to Yun Ren and Gou Ren pulling a blanket over Bowu.

This was my path. A path that started when I decided I wanted nothing to do with the Heavens.

It was a pretty good one if you ask me.

I took a breath and closed my eyes, humming. I could also desensitize myself a bit. Go on another adventure, but this time… a place with smaller stakes. A little place all of us could go….

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It was a boring day. The sheep were out to pasture and the sun was beating down.

Zhang Fei the Torrent Rider sighed. He practiced his kata. He swung his stick. But even that was starting to get old.

He was interrupted by Shaggy, who starting to bark. Visitors? He pulled his mask down and hopped up onto the roof. His eyes scanning the horizon for—

His eyes lit up as he beheld a magnificent form.

“Master!” He shouted happily. Zhang Fei the Torrent Rider scrambled to his feet and jumped off the roof, landing on the ground. His eyes widened as he realized his Master wasn’t alone.

There was an entire group of people with him. There was a short woman with green hair, two pigs, the prettiest girl Zhang Fei had ever seen— and a fish in a jar.

“Greetings, my disciple. Are you well?” Master Bi De asked aloud. “I have abided by my promise. We have met again, haven't we?”

Zhang Fei smiled brilliantly and dropped into a bow. Shaggy Two yipped.

“So, you’re my disciple’s disciple, huh?” a man asked, amused. He was staring incredulously at Zhang Fei’s mask of power, clearly jealous of it. He was huge! The biggest person Zhang Fei had ever seen! He had a long piece of wood in his hand, curved into an oblong oval. “I heard there was something called torrent riding here, and we decided to check it out.”

Zhang Fei nodded, distracted.

“Ah, yes! This way to the village!” he said, waving them onwards and towards the gate guarded by Master’s talisman.

The group saw the talisman, and stopped in shock.

The giant of a man, the Master of Zhang Fei’s Master, began to roar with laughter.

The rooster preened.

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I apologize for the late chapter. Like Jin here, I had a bit of trouble figuring out the slice of life again, and had to do a bit of a reset. I didn't want to end the volume so heavily. Maybe it works, maybe it doesn't. But for the next volume, we're going back a bit more to some slice of life.

This months still has the epilogue, a kind of bonus chapter as well, and several I guess.... what ifs. Little things that perhaps got cut, or what things were going to originally be. Patreons will remain chapters ahead. so while the free release is going to hit the epilogue, the RR will get these smaller AU chapters before they proceed, keeping you all ahead in chapters.

That said: (there will be a post specifically about this) I will be taking the month of march off. I need time to recuperate and plan the next volume. I'm sure you've caught me slowing down a bit. I need some time to reset, finish figuring out a physical release and all that stuff, and all in all solidify things. There may be art posts, and possibly what a sample script for a webtoon would look like, but there will be no mainline chapters.

Thanks as always to the edit squad.