Headpats and a Collapsing Tower

There was a green dot hanging out with some neutral NPCs, so I went looking — and found the older sister I'd seen back at Gangso Castle. I'd meant to play dumb and slip past, but hiding has never been my strong suit, so of course she spotted me immediately.

The green dot started waving like crazy and calling me over, so without thinking I hopped onto the big disc that looked vaguely like an airplane. One glance at the minimap showed six neutral NPCs, and murderous intent surged up hard.

Killing them, though… never mind the green dot hating me for it — that late-stage Golden Core neutral NPC would probably just kill me right back. So I shoved myself practically into the green dot's arms, and she hugged me without the slightest hesitation.

Hmm. Not quite enough.

I carefully took her hand and set it on top of my head. Her eyes went round as she looked down at me, so I gave a little nod — and she broke into ‍‍‌‌⁠​​⁠‌​​‍​​‍​‌​⁠‍‌‍⁠⁠‌⁠‌‍‌‍‌‌‌‍⁠​‌​‌​‌‍‌‌‌⁠‍​​‌‍⁠‌‌⁠⁠a bright smile and started stroking my hair.

For some reason, getting headpats from a friendly NPC makes my whole body go limp and warm! Like the Slaughter Tribulation and killing intent that usually go hunting for living things like a hedgehog suddenly just… deflate.

"Your realm's risen again already, Yu Hee."

"Ah — Senior…"

The late-stage Golden Core neutral NPC — the green dot's master, apparently — spoke while she kept holding me and petting my head. I started to ‍‍‌‌⁠​​⁠‌​​‍​​‍​‌​⁠‍‌‍⁠⁠‌⁠‌‍‌‍‌‌‌‍⁠​‌​‌​‌‍‌‌‌⁠‍​​‌‍⁠‌‌⁠⁠answer, then just shut my mouth again because the headpats never stopped.

"I hear you've been going around killing cultivators lately. Didn't you take a Heavenly Tribulation or something?"

"There's a Heavenly Tribulation for that, Master?"

The neutral NPC shut the friendly NPC up with a look alone, freezing her in place. The headpats stopped, so I opened my mouth at once.

"Well, killing cultivators is the fastest way to grow?"

"Then why aren't you killing us?"

"Because of the green dot."

"Green…?"

"Friendly NPCs don't trigger Eok-kka events."

The neutral NPC frowned like the words meant nothing and the conversation had hit a wall. I ignored him and shook my head back and forth, demanding more pats — and only then did the frozen friendly NPC start stroking my hair again.

Honestly, the Eok-kka event had locked my terrain scouting at 0%, so I couldn't leave this map at all. Getting headpats from a friendly NPC was about the only thing that made the frustration ease up.

"…?"

What? The Eok-kka still has my terrain scouting at 0%. Without a base transfer I shouldn't be able to force my way across a map boundary at all. Even taking the penalty, you need at least 1% to shove through.

But there was no penalty alarm.

Just in case, I turned my eyes from inside the friendly NPC's arms — still hugging and petting me — toward the big disc, and opened the item window.

Ah. So the mount had Area Confirmation Mode built in. Honestly, it was weirder that the single best convenience mode in the entire pile of quality-of-life mods wouldn't show up somewhere.

The Xianxia Mode creator had just baked the mode straight into the mount system.

The mental shock rattled my entire Mental World. The light drained out of Hee-a's eyes and she went completely limp.

"Huh? Are you okay, Senior? Senior?! Master! Something's wrong with Senior!"

"There, there. Newborns have these little fits now and then. Come, hand her over."

"Huh? Who are you?"

An old cultivator appeared without warning on their own flying treasure, took the demonic immortal from his disciple's arms, and cradled her. Only then did Gang So realize that even with late-stage Golden Core senses he hadn't detected a thing — and he slammed his head to the floor in pure shock.

"This junior greets the Senior…!"

"This junior greets the Great Senior!!!!!"

Watching their master bow, the other disciples who'd been standing around blankly all dropped flat onto the flying treasure at once and followed suit.

"Ah, it seems I've frightened you all. I'll be on my way. This is a small token of thanks for looking after our newborn — don't refuse it."

"We can only be grateful for the Senior's grace…!"

"Heh heh…"

With a chuckle, the cultivator and the demonic immortal vanished. In their place, a strange piece of metal rolled across the floor and stopped at Gang So's feet.

The pure, bone-deep gold-attribute spiritual energy radiating from it made his skin prickle. He carefully picked it up.

A Nascent Soul cultivator. With most of the Nascent Soul seniors of the lower realm sealed away in secret realms, this might well have been the only one still moving freely — aside from the one shut away in seclusion — and he had been protecting that demonic immortal.

"Fortunate we didn't commit some terrible blunder."

"Um… Master…"

Thinking it over, the reason that Nascent Soul senior had shown them any favor at all was probably the bond between his youngest disciple and the demonic immortal. Gang So was just deciding he ought to give the girl something when his mind simply stopped — because of what she was holding out in her hand.

"Th-the Great Senior gave me something too…"

What poured from it was earth-attribute spiritual energy so overwhelming it made the metal in his own hand look like nothing. You could almost mistake it for a supreme-grade spirit stone — except the source was a tiny white fragment.

And more than that: from that little shard came a force of Law so fierce and clear that, standing as he was at the very edge of the Golden Core and groping toward the Nascent Soul, he felt it with terrible sharpness. ‍‍‌‌⁠​​⁠‌​​‍​​‍​‌​⁠‍‌‍⁠⁠‌⁠‌‍‌‍‌‌‌‍⁠​‌​‌​‌‍‌‌‌⁠‍​​‌‍⁠‌‌⁠⁠It belonged to a famous Transcendent Species.

"A giant's bone fragment…!"

Which meant that senior just now was either part of a Transcendent Species, or an avatar of one. Being able to hand out a body fragment that carried Law was proof enough of the theory.

And yet the Nascent Soul presence he had felt had been entirely real — too real for a mere avatar or fragment.

Gang So looked up at the sky and laughed weakly.

"We've stumbled into a great fortune…"

It wasn't a Law he wanted, and it wasn't one he cultivated — but he couldn't deny that simply keeping it near would be an enormous help in establishing his own.

"When we return, all of you are to shut yourselves carefully inside the castle for a while and do nothing but cultivate."

Heaven's will was unreadable. Of course it was — a late-stage Golden Core couldn't read a senior who had touched the Nascent Soul. The familiar red star was gone, so the demonic immortal had clearly left for good, but keeping their heads down for a while was still the wise choice.

Even if the bond that had touched them belonged to his youngest disciple, and not to him.

"Huh? Elder Togo? Why all the way into my Mental World?"

"Your heart is so fragile I grew worried. Was I being too much of a busybody?"

"No, nothing like that! I'm sorry for making you worry, Elder Togo…"

But losing consciousness out of pure rage at the Xianxia Mode creator for jamming Terrain Confirmation Mode into a mount — that part I genuinely couldn't help.

If I'd mashed the anger emote in there, I might have killed the friendly NPC with my own hands. So the best option was to spam the rest emote instead, burn through my mental strength in one go, and force a self-KO!

Of course, the real damage landed on the Mental World side.

When a mental shock rattles the Mental World, the Status Window — my innate ability — holds firm, and even if the Ocean of Slaughter heaves up a tidal wave it never quite overflows. The problem was my fragile Golden Core, and the tower that took the tsunami head-on.

The thought of Elder Togo seeing that half-collapsed wreck listing like the Leaning Tower of Pisa, bobbing awkwardly on the Ocean of Slaughter, was so embarrassing I covered my face with both hands.

"There's nothing to be ashamed of. This might even be a good opportunity."

"…Huh?"

"Let's build it properly this time, together. Would that be all right?"

"Of course it would! Yes!"

The offer to tear the half-wrecked tower down to the foundation and raise it again made me nod at once. I drew my fragile Golden Core down out of the protection of the killing-intent clouds still shaking the Mental World.

Then, through the Golden Core, I dredged up every last scrap of the tower's wreckage scattered across the Ocean of Slaughter. The tower had been built from my master skill — Chopsticks — in the first place.

The tower I'd made was a vessel for the enormous Slaughter Tribulation locked up when I activated my transformation skill, and also a kind of pump for hauling Slaughter Tribulation straight up from the ocean to cover the massive cost of using it.

So it had been simple, and efficient. But watching Elder Togo come all the way into the Mental World to help with the design, I could tell he was building a tower purely for the sake of Law.

It was my Law, so Elder Togo was only helping me get a feel for it — but still!

A tower meant not just as a vessel and a pump, but as a channel to hold and wield Law, inevitably had to be bigger than the last one.

I swallowed the tears that wanted to spill from sheer wastefulness, and tore pieces of the Status Window — the foundation of everything — up from the deeps of the Slaughter Ocean to widen the reef that would hold the tower up.

Not that I could cry anyway. Even in the Mental World, I don't have emotion expressions for tears!