Chapter 11: THOUSAND-YEAR REMNANTS
The examination room was the result of a complex magical array. It would repair most damage and rearrange any triggered traps at the end of each test. Even the overall structure would shift somewhat with every activation.
This time, the array had assumed the appearance of a castle's dungeon. A long corridor, with columns of marble every dozen or so steps. On the sides were a lineup of narrow rooms; neglected jails with rusted bars and cracked floor tiles.
There was no natural light, as there were no windows. Only a few, rusty chandeliers on the ceiling would let out a faint radiance.
The stale air truly sold the test area as a prison.
Suddenly!
On one end of the corridor, in a cell missing its bars, a hexagram lit up and let out a dazzling light.
The bright glow was enshrouding a small figure, but it was too bright to see clearly. It took ten breaths for the glaring glow to subside. At the time it died down, the eight-year-old, golden-eyed boy could be seen standing atop the faded hexagram.
"I'll admit, I missed the babooning of foolish Mortal cultivators." Cheng Hao threw the huge backpack on the ground and couldn't help chuckling as he clutched a small belt pouch in his right palm. Adorning the small bag were several glittering runes: it was unmistakeably an Heaven&Earth Pouch.
It went by many other names too, such as a bag of holding or spatial pouch; these dimensional storages could stow innumerable objects in their small frames. The higher-end among them could even displace most of their weight. They were truly wondrous items, a product of advanced alchemy and spatial manipulation. Across the many worlds, cultivation methods and treasures might vary substantially given the difference in environments. However, there had never been a lack of spatial rings, pouches, amulets, and so on. To cultivators, owning a spatial storage was sort of an untold maxim. To filthy rich ones, that was.
As soon as he had seen the pouch on Liu Biao's body for the first time, Cheng Hao had immediately plotted to get his hands on it. To no surprise, daring to walk around with it in clear view, the guy wasn't exactly the brightest. As such, he had succeeded without a hiccup.
"An Advanced Stage Cultivator, robbed by a child with no cultivation... At this rate, I'll never run out of amusing tales to tell!" the boy mused as his experienced fingers followed the glowing runes. "Now then, what might we have here- Mm-mh..."
As Cheng Hao looked inside the pouch, he hummed pleasantly at the sheer amount of resources piled up in there.
But his smile suddenly fell, eventually culminating in an expression of disbelief and wonder.
To think even a fool like that narcissist had such a treasure on him!
Truly, this 'lowly world' never stopped giving.
He put his hand in the pouch almost in a trance and took out the small object that had immediately attracted his attention: it was a tiny, ceremonial blade less than a foot long; barely as long as an adult's palm.
The ceremonial blade was almost transparent, with the outermost layer sporting an intricate network of golden veins. The tiny crystal sword radiated an otherworldly light and, when Cheng Hao let go of it, instead of it falling on the ground as it should, the blade capriciously defied the pull of gravity. It floated soundlessly atop his fingertips, barely bobbing up and down every few breaths, but never any higher or lower than a few inches, from whence it hovered.
"Fortunate! How indescribably fortunate, truly!" As Cheng Hao said that, he smiled and happily sliced the skin on the side of his pinky finger, letting a drop of blood fall atop the floating blade.
The material was originally transparent, and crystalline in nature. As the drop of crimson blood flowed down the polished surface, its diaphanous depths were slowly stained an opaque gold.
A bright light spread with the youth and the relic at its centre. Soundlessly, it inundated the small cell and illuminated the dungeon, as it visibly morphed.
At a glance, one could tell it had grown more than ten feet long!
At that moment, Cheng Hao expertly waved his sleeve and the ten-foot-long blade liquefied into a golden concoction, bubbling as it whirled and splashed in midair. The child then decisively clenched his hand, and the liquid imploded and compressed, seething and boiling as it shrank, until it ended as a tiny marble. By then, it could once again be grasped between one's fingers.
This marble was completely golden in hue, with few imperfections on its surface, whereas whirlpools of bright and dark gold would occasionally swirl in its depths.
"That harlequin had a drop of blood from the Highest Realm? Was that guy from some incomparably high-status family? Could I have robbed the son of an emperor?" Cheng Hao shook his head immediately after, "I jest, of course. Even a hundred emperors pooling their funds would be unable to get their hands on something like this. He just stumbled into this single drop by chance and thought it to be just a small sculpture? Some random object?"
'That sounds most likely, given no Mortal would have known the first thing about recognizing or using it.'
As the child talked he would playfully let go of the marble and poke it: just like it had been when it was a ceremonial blade, the golden bead hovered in place. It gave the eerie impression that it was emitting a buzzing of sorts, cycling between high and low-pitched as it bobbed up and down.
"Indeed, it is as we surmised. The 'event' from a thousand years ago, told in this lowly world's annals of history as the start of its golden age of cultivation, was connected to my grand quest in the Higher Planes. I shouldn't be too surprised if remnants of that time appear here and there. But this Plane is truly so remote and mediocre that it's still difficult to believe the repercussions would reach here..."
Finally, Cheng Hao nodded, clearly pleased, and finished checking the content of the Heaven&Earth Pouch. "Call me kleptomaniac as you will, but this once you can only agree that this was the correct course of action. What says you, Goldy?"
"Goldy?!?" Suddenly, an enraged voice rang out from Cheng Hao's breast.
Not that his chest had suddenly gained life or anything.
Rather, the voice had originated within the front pocket of Cheng Hao's worn-out robes.
Immediately afterwards, a golden-scaled, reptilian creature slithered out of Cheng Hao's clothes.
Incensed, the small thing started angrily berating the boy, "Did you just call me Goldy? Your father might be Goldy, your grandfather even... But while the mighty me has many grand monikers and titles, I assure you this 'Goldy' of yours was never one of them! 'Goldy', he dares- Inexcusable! Youngster Ling, I'll have you know, this small stunt of yours has left me absolutely livid! I prohibit you from ever referring to me like that again!"
It looked like a small dragon cub, about a third of an inch tall and a foot long. Its body was sinuous and covered in golden scales. It had five clawed paws and its little head noticeably resembled that of a cute viper. The small snake also had a few adorable, pointy horns stemming from its nape. Strands of red hair also went from the top of its head down its neck, hinting at a mane like a horse's.
"Apologies, it rolled off the tongue... So catchy, in fact! Surprisingly, I didn't come up with it before. I wonder why?"
Cheng Hao chuckled and removed his ragged clothes. He ditched them in favour of a brand new blue robe he had discovered in Liu Biao's Heaven&Earth Pouch. The garb fit him loosely, so he had to roll back his sleeves aplenty. Fortunately, he found some trousers that only required some mild tugging at the waist.
"Oh! How about Gold'Er? Or Blindy? Blind'Er? If you ask me, all are suitable options!"
Hearing that, the golden dragon-snake glared at the boy's back with disdainful eyes.
"Not those either! Mmph! How reductive of my greatness and status! Do you perhaps not recall the meaning behind the colour of these scales? That one drop you have at hand spooked you just now? Few have seen as much Immortal Blood as I have, youngster Ling…"
"When I was at my peak I had been so big that a single finger could crush mountains and create oceans! Call me by my grandest moniker now, before I grow further incensed!" the small beast that wished to appear furious only managed to pout cutely.
At that Cheng Hao had to reign in his ridicule, opting to keep it for a less opportune moment. Still, seeing the expecting glare of the snake, Cheng Hao eventually sighed and looked at the small golden beast with a pained expression. "Alright, alright, I will call you by your true name, for this once..."
An evil glimmer betrayed his true intentions.
"Mister 'Blindlight Alldevouring Stormchallenger Thronebreaker..."
The golden snake's excitement soon was replaced by fury as he realized the course of Cheng Hao's thoughts, "Youngster Ling! You wouldn't dare-"
"...Awokenflame Rebellious Devourer Starextinguisher Nightbringer Arisenoath Killightning Ender-of-planes!' In short, you are just B-A-S-T-A-R-D S-N-A-K-E, aren't you? Ah, truly a grand moniker to be remembered! Who in the world came up with it, I ask? Couldn't possibly be… me?"
Blindlight's expression turned sourer by the word and he ultimately bared his toothless gums, his whole body squirming in visible pain. "AAAAAGH, NOT MY DARK HISTORY! Shut up, shut up! Just why won't you let this die, you irksome brat!"
"I still think of it as my best prank to date. Back then, it took you ten years to realize what exactly you were flaunting to the eight winds." Cheng Hao reminisced, "Your roars when you found out could be heard from a couple of Planes away, I was told."
The small golden snake glowed bright red from embarrassment, and then purple from fury. His learned, pompous facade had completely collapsed by then.
"Y-you shut up! Shut up, you ungrateful bastard! If it weren't for me, you wouldn't even have DREAMED of besieging Nine Heavens! I was the one that taught you and shared my Golden Gates of Old Qi! It was I, in all my kindness, that let a pathetic, trivial human mount me into battle! Is this how you repay me, you unfilial brute!" The snake frantically snapped back to regain some of its lost face.
When he heard that though, Cheng Hao's smile turned ice-cold. "You are also the one that claimed that Lord Tian's strength was weak for a Deity Stage Heavenly Beast, having yet to recover from the grievous wounds inflicted by Lady Fenghuang and Sister Ren Hong... You even urged me to fight him with a weaker cultivation base! You lazy snake, you might have slept for this thousand years... but my thousand years were spent looking at the empty sky of the underworld! If it weren't for the Spark, I would still be there, wasting my death away!" Cheng Hao fiercely rebutted, increasingly irate. Recalling the starless sky and the cries of the agonizing souls, a glacial shiver went down his spine.
Over and again, Blindlight's maws had opened only to close. All throughout the youth's accusations, he found himself unable to clap back.
"...that time, it had truly been my mistake. We had all underestimated how much of the former Heavenly Lord's might Tian had absorbed… We feared waiting any longer would be detrimental, but we weren't aware that we were already far too late. If I had been aware of it, naturally I wouldn't have spurred you on then. I am sorry, Xu Ling. I really am." The golden snake's expression darkened.
"...Whatever. Cheer up, it's not like would have died anyways. And it's Cheng Hao now. Cheng Hao." Cheng Hao shrugged his shoulders.
"Cheng Hao, you..."
"No worries. That time had been my fault too! After all, I should have never trusted the opinion of a Bastard Snake-"
"Aaah!!! Cheng Hao, you, youuu!!!"
The two erupted into a vicious brawl. They rolled and grunted on the ground, as Cheng Hao tried to catch and squeeze the snake, while the slippery beast artfully dodged and would bite at whatever exposed skin he could with its pitiful fauces...
"Ahem!"
Right then, a voice suddenly rang out from the corridor.
At that, the duo immediately stopped their movements: Cheng Hao, holding the snake's lower body with his left fist; the reptile, still struggling to bite that same hand with its tooth-less mouth. As one, they turned to look at the source of the sound. A few meters away, stood a vaguely humanoid figure.
"Uhm... Are you ok buddy? You have been talking to yourself for a while and said some really weird things... Something about some weird blood and a bastard snake..."
"Not! I'm NOT a bastard snake! I'll EAT you!" Goldy yelled.
"Shut up!" Cheng Hao hissed, his mood visibly improved. "He can't see your sorry self, let alone hear you! You are a Primordial Beast for Heaven's sake, only those directly connected through Karma with you can notice your actions. Rings a bell?"
"Tch. I'll bite an arm of his off, see if there's no Karma then!"
"You don't even have any teeth, you sorry excuse of a dragon!"
"..."
It was a critical blow.
The golden serpent finally fell silent; his gloominess rather uncharacteristic for the Ender of Planes.
Meanwhile, seeing that the youth in front of him had yet to answer, the humanoid figure asked again, "So... are you ok?"
"He's not! He's a huge bitch and the world's most undeserving, unfilial bast-GEH!" Goldy failed to squeeze out the rest of the words as the golden-eyed boy tightened his hold around the snake's neck.
"Blindy, I told you to shut up…"
"Kah! Cheng Hao, let me go, you villain!"
"I'll let you go, yes… but only when I reach a cliff that is tall enough! Be quiet now, Gold'Er, I'm trying to engage in a conversation between gentlemen here!"
"...should I just leave?" The puzzled creature was a two meters tall humanoid Spirit Beast.
It resembled a human but had a head vaguely resembling that of a rodent. It wore light leather armour and clutched a wooden club in its hands. Obviously, this beast was supposed to be some kind of trial for the new disciples' acceptance exam.
However, witnessing Cheng Hao's antics, it was very much stumped.
...am I really meant to make my move here?
CREATORS' THOUGHTS 
theonionjunktion
theonionjunktion And again, my inexperience gets the better of me. I wasn't expecting to reach the milestone this early, it appears I have to recalibrate the power stone milestones for next week.
Of course, though I might seem greedy (I'm merely ambitious), I'm also fair: as such, here is the fourth chapter this week, and I'll stick with the formula for the remainder of the week: 20 stones for a fifth chapter, 40 for a sixth, etc, get to voting!
Next week we'll be back to two chapters by default, plus a 3rd, 4th, 5th for 10, 20, 40 power stones, and even more if we hit a (collection milestones. See you all then!
Showeing you with as much Love as you do power stones,
The Onion Junktion's Cookie
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