Unfortunate Transmigrator

30

Unexpected Answers

I

Tian Jin stared up at the man in golden robes on top of the magical cloud, his eyes narrowing. An inner elder of the Blazing Light Sect was at least at the fifth level of the Red Spiritual Realm. Tian Jin didn’t have any confidence facing a fourth-level redsoul, let alone a fifth-level. He glanced at Hao Zhen and Duo Lan and saw that they were both also frozen in pace, their eyes on the inner elder.

Fighting wasn’t an option—that much was clear. Even if they all acted together, they wouldn’t be able to do anything to an inner elder. Running away wasn’t an option, either. Even if they could somehow put enough distance between themselves and the elder to take off running, the man would be able to catch up to them in moments. Not even an eleventh-level redsoul could outrun a magical cloud.

At that thought, Tian Jin went still. They didn’t need to run. Tian Jin had his own magical cloud—the one that used to belong to Ke Li. It was just that he hadn’t thought much about it these last few days, as they hadn’t needed it. Tian Jin tightened his hands into fists, thinking fast, the beginnings of an plan forming in his head.

The inner elder finally stopped his magical cloud’s descent a few feet above the ground, his golden robes lightly swaying in the wind. His expression somber, the man first looked at Tian Jin, then at Duo Lan, before shaking his head. “It truly is a pity that two promising disciples like you two have to die,” he said, sounding genuinely regretful.

The next moment, before Tian Jin could react to the elder's word, Hao Zhen’s voice sounded in his head. “I’ll buy us time. Try to think of something. If there’s something you have—some kind of trump card or secret weapon—please use it.”

A sound-transmission.

Startled, Tian Jin glanced over at Hao Zhen, just in time to see him moving his right hand into his pocket. The next moment, the other boy spoke up.

“I’m sorry, Elder, but I’m not quite sure what you’re talking about,” Hao Zhen said, his voice a little shaky. He was looking straight up at the elder, his expression a little pale, a frown on his face.

The inner elder, who so far hadn’t looked in Hao Zhen’s direction even once, gave the shorter boy a glance. “Don’t play the fool, boy,” he said, his voice turning severe.

Hao Zhen became even paler. “I…” he trailed off, shaking his head. “Why are you working for Du Qing?” he said instead.

Tian Jin returned his attention to the inner elder. The man was frowning, giving Hao Zhen a look of distaste, as if he had just eaten something bitter. “I am not working for Du Qing. I am not that boy’s lackey like the six fools you three just killed. Make no mistake, I simply agreed to do him a favor.”

Hao Zhen maintained an impassive expression as the elder admonished him, and once the man was done, he simply asked, “Then why are you doing him a favor?” It was clear that Hao Zhen was putting on a strong front—his pale skin, trembling hands, and shaky voice gave it away. Tian Jin was still surprised at how well Hao Zhen was doing, however—and that he was even doing this in the first place.

Having been around Hao Zhen for a couple of days now—and even lived with him—Tian Jin had already caught on that Hao Zhen hated being the center of attention. Right now, however, that was exactly the position the other boy had put himself in.

Hao Zhen was doing his best—doing his part. Now Tian Jin had to do his. He began wracking his head. Hao Zhen had told them to use any trump cards they had. Tian Jin didn’t have any idea what a trump card was supposed to be, but based on the rest of the sentence he guessed that Hao Zhen was asking him if he had any secret weapons.

Tian Jin went through all of his possessions in his head, but nothing that could turn this situation around came to mind. In his spatial ring, he only had a few barrier, fireball, and explosion talismans. In terms of pills, he only had recovery, healing, and cultivation ones, and the only magical artifact he had was the sword he used—a common red-grade sword. Everything he had, he acquired after joining the Blazing Light Sect.

The only thing he owned that he hadn't gotten in the last two to three months before was the plain, rusty ring his master had given him right before passing away, but as far as Tian Jin could tell, it wasn’t even a magical artifact. He inspected it thoroughly in the days following his master’s death and found nothing special about it.

But Tian Jin had to think of something. There had to be some way out of this situation. He refused to believe otherwise. He couldn’t just give up and wait for his death—not when all he needed was a way to delay the elder or keep him occupied just long enough for him, Duo Lan, and Hao Zhen to get on his magical cloud and fly away.

Tian Jin gritted his teeth. He had gone through too much to simply die here. Everything else aside, his family had yet to be avenged, and he wouldn’t rest until Chi Huo and the Chi Clan paid for what they had done—until they were dead and buried.

No matter what, he could not die here. He wouldn’t accept that.

Tian Jin’s felt his heart racing in his chest, a hot feeling building up inside him. He took in a deep breath.

Even if Heaven wanted him dead, he would not die.

A burning sensation in his hand drew Tian Jin’s attention, and he glanced down at his right hand. His eyes widened. The ring his master had given him, which usually just sat there, motionless, was shaking.

Just what—

Suddenly Tian Jin caught a flash of movement out of the corner of his eyes. Sharply looking up, he saw a dome of white light appear around the elder. Tian Jin then noticed that Duo Lan had her arm raised as if she had just thrown something. Between her and the elder, floating midair, was a talisman.

“Take out your magical cloud!” she cried out at Tian Jin as she ran toward him.

The moment Duo Lan said that, Hao Zhen, who had also been staring at the now-sealed elder in a daze, also set off running toward him.

Although Tian Jin didn’t know what had just happened, he knew that now wasn’t the time for dallying. He quickly started channeling spiritual power into the red bracelet on his wrist, and the next moment, the bracelet began breaking down into thick, solid red smoke, which billowed out of his sleeve and began taking the form of a red cloud in front of him.

Hao Zhen and Duo Lan reached him just as the cloud finished taking shape.

The next moment, Tian Jin heard a cry of rage from the elder. “This! This is!”

Tian Jin glanced at the golden-robed man, and saw that he was glaring at Duo Lan.

“Who are you!” the elder demanded, his face red, livid. “How did you get your hands on a Radiant Light Imprisonment Talisman?”

“That’s none of your business!” Duo Lan snapped at him. Then, ignoring the man, she nodded at Tian Jin and Hao Zhen. “Let’s go. That’ll only hold him for an hour at most.”

“I…” Tian Jin glanced at the imprisoned elder, and then at Duo Lan, who had already hopped on the cloud and was looking down at him impatiently, before jumping onto it himself. Hao Zhen followed suit a moment later.

Tian Jin then started channeling spiritual power into the magical cloud, and they quickly rose into the air, ascending higher and higher until they were above the gigantic trees.

Tian Jin looked around the vast sea of green formed by the canopies of the trees around him. There were no other magical clouds in sight, the other inner elders probably patrolling other areas of the forest.

He had a lot of questions in his mind, but before anything else, they needed to get moving, and for that, a direction was needed. “I think we should head deeper into the forest—where the inner and prime disciples are,” he said, addressing Hao Zhen and Duo Lan. They looked at him attentively. “I don’t believe Du Qing has gotten any elders on his side there, and even if he has, the elders there shouldn’t be able to act too freely because of the tighter surveillance.”

If the talisman Duo Lan used could indeed keep the elder imprisoned for an hour, Tian Jin reckoned that’d be enough time to reach the deeper regions of the forest. That wouldn’t have been possible on foot, but it was definitely achievable with a magical cloud.

Duo Lan readily nodded at him. “That’s also what I had in mind.”

Hao Zhen didn’t answer immediately, a thoughtful look on his face. Moments later, however, he also gave Tian Jin a nod. “Let’s go with that.”

Nodding back, Tian Jin then concentrated on the spiritual connection between himself and the magical cloud and then willed it into motion, steering it deeper into the forest. The magical cloud began moving, its direction set, and Tian Jin sat down, Hao Zhen and Duo Lan doing the same.

Tian Jin noticed that his master’s ring had stopped shaking and that it didn’t feel warm anymore, but he could worry about that later. Now that their course was set and there wasn’t anything else they could do, it was time for a conversation long overdue.

Tian Jin focused on Duo Lan. “That talisman you used,” he said, not bothering to mince words. Duo Lan started, snapping to attention. “Where did you get it?”

Hao Zhen gave Tian Jin a glance before also turning his head toward Duo Lan. For a moment there, Tian Jin had been afraid Hao Zhen would once again decide to postpone having this conversation, but this time around the other boy didn’t say anything.

“I…” Duo Lan looked at them in surprise, blinking. Then her expression turned into frustration and… confusion? “Wait—this isn’t how this works. You aren’t supposed to ask that question!”

Tian Jin blinked. What?

Out of all the responses he had been expecting from Duo Lan, this wasn’t one of them. Hao Zhen looked similarly stunned, his eyes wide as he stared at Duo Lan.

“I thought it was just a one-off of some sort last time, but…” Duo Lan glanced at Hao Zhen, frowning. “You two—you actually notice it?”

“Notice… what?” Hao Zhen said, slowly, his eyes narrowing slightly, his look of confusion changing into one of suspicion.

“Well, the odd things I do, I guess.” Duo Lan’s frown deepened as if she was struggling to translate her thoughts into words. “Sometimes, I do things that… Well, are… strange, or at least are supposed to be. But so far, besides you two, nobody has ever pointed it out. They just… don’t notice it. Like just now—other people wouldn’t have found anything strange in me having a Radiant Light Imprisonment Talisman.”

Tian Jin looked at Duo Lan blankly. He had absolutely no idea what was going on. He turned to look at Hao Zhen to see if the other boy was making any sense of the situation, and saw that Hao Zhen was gaping at Duo Lan, his expression one of shock.

Then Hao Zhen abruptly turned toward him. “Do you— Have you also experienced that?” he asked, his gaze piercing.

At that, Duo Lan gave Hao Zhen a rather startled look, before also shifting her gaze to Tian Jin.

Now Tian Jin really had no idea what was happening. “What do you mean?”

“What Duo Lan just said about others ignoring things that they were supposed to find strange,” Hao Zhen said. Tian Jin had never seen him look so serious, so intense. “Has that ever happened to you?”

“I don’t—” Tian Jin paused, the rest of his sentence dying in his throat as he took a moment to actually consider the question. Although he had never paid attention to it before, he could remember a few instances in which something like that happening—such as when he accidentally slipped a secret of his to another clanmate but they didn’t react to it, or when he told his parents about something his master had told him but they simply glossed over it as if they hadn’t heard.

He had never really paid attention to events things before, but now…

“I think it has,” Tian Jin said, his confusion becoming even greater, though now for a completely different reason. There was clearly much more to the situation than he had originally assumed.

Hao Zhen inhaled sharply, his eyes widening. “Oh,” Hao Zhen said, an overwhelmed look on his face. “Oh. Oh.” He reached a hand up to his face and rubbed his forehead, shaking his head, his eyes still on Tian Jin and Duo Lan. “So you two… I see. I mean, that explains some things, but how… Why…” Hao Zhen murmured. It was as if he was having a conversation in his head and only saying snippets of it outloud.

“Er… Hao Zhen?” Tian Jin said, now not just confused, but also concerned for his friend. “What are you talking about? What’s going on?”

Duo Lan was looking at Hao Zhen oddly.

Hao Zhen closed his eyes, taking a deep breath, before shaking his head. “I… Where do I even… No.” Hao Zhen paused, shaking his head again. Then he focused on Tian Jin. “Look, remember when you asked me before why I was acting strange, and I told you I couldn’t tell you the truth yet because I didn’t really understand what was going on?”

Tian Jin nodded his head, thinking back to the conversation they had on their first day back on the sect after returning from the mission, just after leaving Duo Lan’s house.

“Well, it’s related to that,” Hao Zhen said. “And I still don’t really know what’s going on, but I think it might be better to tell you anyway,” he continued, before glancing at Duo Lan. “And you too. But it’s something… well, big. Really, really big, and I don’t think now—while we’re running away from an inner elder—is the right time to tell you. I also still need some to think of how to say it.” He paused, his expression thoughtful. “Once we’ve dealt with the matter of the inner elder, once we’re no longer in any immediate danger, I’ll tell you. Can you wait?”

This was something Tian Jin had been curious about for a while now—something that occupied his mind even more than Duo Lan’s real identity. But he had waited this long, so he could wait a little bit more. “All right,” Tian Jin said.

“Thank you.” Hao Zhen then turned toward Duo Lan. “Now, there’s just one question left. Who exactly are you?”

Duo Lan blinked at him. Then she furrowed her brow. “Wait, how come I have to tell my secrets, but you can—”

“Because I don’t know what effect what I have to say will have on you two,” Hao Zhen cut in, looking straight at her, “so I’d rather not take any chances and leave it until we’re not running for our lives. Your identity, on the other hand, is something we do need to know right now, because it might just be the key to turning this situation around.”

Duo Lan blinked at Hao Zhen, giving him a blank stare, clearly taken aback. Tian Jin also looked at Hao Zhen in surprise. Hao Zhen had never stood up to Duo Lan like this before.

Hao Zhen, however, ignored their looks of surprise and pressed on. “So?”

“You…” Duo Lan hesitated, before cutting herself off as if thinking better of it. Then, to Tian Jin’s surprise, she sighed. “All right.” She took in a deep breath, then said, “My name’s actually Lan Yue.”

Tian Jin stilled. Lan, that surname, wasn’t that… “You are…”

He and Hao Zhen had already theorized that she was someone who belonged to the upper echelons of the sect, but if she was surnamed Lan, then there was only one person she could be related to.

She nodded at him, her nose crinkling in distaste.

“Yes. My father is Lan Xing, the leader of the Blazing Light Sect,” Duo Lan—or rather, Lan Yue—said.

She didn’t sound—or look—happy about it.