Aimless Ascension

'Do I have to travel half of the world just for chocolate?'

"You can get it from the capital," said the old woman, much to Gale's relief. "As far as I know, cocoas are only grown in Green lake and Azure Park. Wayshire is too cold to grow it."

"That's good," Gale said, calculating in his head. The capital was barely half a day away, while the central domain was months away. As for Green Lake and Azure Park, they should be close too, inside the seven kingdoms at the very least.

Then he remembered he hadn't greeted her in the old way yet. Old elders like to have respect even if in pretence. But strength revered above everything else in this sick world. Well, she's a silver ranker which should be the apex of this valley. But Gale wasn't from this valley.

Though he wasn't at the apex of this world, he was still something. Ignoring all of Gale's fault, he was still a bona fide gold ranker and could still use spirit resonance, albeit limited because of the suppression. That could overwhelm many normal silver rankers in seconds.

Strength reveres above all.

After slight consideration, Gale complied, bowing his head with proper reverence. "Greetings, Elder Wang."

Nobody becomes small bowing their head, his master had told him on the very first day of his tutelage.

Nobody becomes small bowing their head to the right people, Gale had replied at the time. And bowed his head.

Wang Yushen was 157 this year. Still, she was left with a couple of good decades in her natural lifespan. She had spent the early period of her life in the relentless pursuit of the martial way.

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She came from an unattractive village nobody knew, travelled all over Tianhui, and joined a prestigious sect, which was literally impossible for someone like her. In her prime, everything went well after the initial struggle. She advanced to Silver over a hundred years ago, got married and had kids.

However, tragedy struck her out of nowhere. A devastating war broke out in the three kingdoms of Tianhui, Shah'anak, and Fa Omar. In the end, Tianhui came victorious, gaining an alliance with Fa Omar, the neighbouring kingdom in the west.

The war took away what Wang Yushen worked so hard for. Her husband and firstborn died in the war, leaving only an infant girl.

Still with a child, Yushen had something to hold on to. Eventually, she married again after a few years. Her second husband wasn't a soldier, but a physician, which seemed a good fit for her as she didn't want to lose anyone again.

With him, she came back to the village she had journeyed from. The unnamed village is now known as Wayshire town.

They established the house together, where Wang Yushen helped young boys and girls in the martial way and her husband helped the sick. They had spent about sixty years together and watched the place grow from a little village to a town of some renown.

Eventually, her second husband died too, not out of tragedy. His life span had been running out and to amend that, he tried a last attempt to advance to silver.

He failed.

Over the last hundred years, Wang Yushen lost other children and even grandchildren. But she eventually made peace with it. Even when some of her children got standing in a better place, she turned them down and remained in this town.

She still helped whoever needed in the martial way, though the demand was decreasing each year. The town was growing fast, or perhaps it was because she was old.

"Greetings, Elder Wang."

Wang Yushen lifted her head to look at the youth. A foreign face; not the first time she was seeing it, but it still felt odd seeing him here. What was even odder was the youth's beast. Throughout her years of adventure, she had seen plenty of intelligent beasts, some had even morphed into human skin, but never something like this.

There's something about the dog. It's like standing under a great bodhi tree or being under the grace of a benignant being. The kid possessed such an aura as well, though fainter than the beast.

That was the only reason why she hadn't stopped her great-grandchild when he played with the beast. Spirit beasts might be intelligent, but in the end, they were beasts. They were ferocious by nature, but the dog appeared only to be a big furry pack of happiness.

"You can call me Grandma like everyone else," Yushen told the boy, who waited for her response. "Sit down. We have much to talk about."

Gale abided, sitting face to face with her, a few paces away. Yushen didn't speak for a moment, as if trying to gauze his patience. Xiaolin prepared him a cup of tea, which he drank after thanking her for it.

"I have seen no boy capable of deep meditation in this town in decades," Yushen added nonchalantly.

"Boy?" the foreigner perked an eyebrow. He seemed a bit offended, completely overlooking the subtle compliment.

"To my age, you're a boy," she said.

"Then Xiaolin is probably a child to you," Gale retorted.

Wang Yushen gave the nervous girl a look. "True," she said calmly. "Her father was a boy when I taught him. He left to earn glory and eventually came back with a toddler, lacking a wife."

"It seems people tend to come here after chasing some glory," Gale said idly.

Yushen stared at him. "You're aware of the situation Xiaolin is in?" she asked, eventually.

Gale nodded.

"And you still want to buy the land?"

"Sure."

"Are you buying the land to gain something out of her?"

Gale was momentarily lost. "Like what?"

Wang Yushen raised an eyebrow. "You know what I mean."

Gale chuckled and shook his head. "Xiaolin's only a child, as you said," he said.

"Half of the boys attend the morning meditation session only to see this child."

The teenage girl, who wasn't aware of what the two of them were talking about finally understood and blushed, turning her head, looking for something to do. To her demerit, she found nothing.

"I won't hold it against you if you're one of those fools who fancied Xiaolin. There is no other fairer girl in this town than her," Wang Yushen paused to check his expression. Gale hadn't shown any sign of embarrassment, much to her doubt. "If that's not the case, then you're dumber than those fools."

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The kingdom's names weren't very Chinese, or xianxia-ish. Two of them may even seem like countries with a lot of oil. Just know that it's intentional.

The world is not entirely based on wuxia/xianxia themes.

Thank you Daoistwaterdrop for the review. Also to the other power stone donators. I'll try to write faster and upload more.