- Host's Mind: Layer 2 -
Sitting on a newly manifest chair in the shape of a bowl, Hive began to speculate: "As far as Hau Zhe, Shi Zhe, and Xue Jia are concerned, Xie Ling is definitely not Master; this means he either killed Master or he is Master's servant..."
Messaging the temple of his nose in confusion, Demon interrupts Hive, "Why do the others think that Xie Ling isn't the master?"
Hive shook the top half of his body, mimicking the shaking of a head. "He only found out about the old scientist deceiving him two months into experimentation. That alone was suspicious; however, that's not the reason they would all think he's a fake. It's actually much simpler. When he introduced the new scientist, Xue Jia, he proved right then and there that his abilities were fake. Only in this world are wills solid; therefore, by introducing him as a solid entity to the rest, he revealed Xue Jia to be a will made of this world. This means he didn't actually kill the old scientist; instead, he put a cover on top of him, like a bedsheet or a mask. The real owner of the body wouldn't be restricted by such things."
Demon nodded in understanding before popping a piece of charcoal into his mouth and chewing. "Hmm, it's strange, though..." He muttered between crunches.
"What's strange?"
Swallowing the charcoal with a gulp, Demon dropped his feet on the table as he leaned back in his seat. "It's strange. Based on what I can see from Xie Ling's every action, he definitely thinks he's the master."
Both Hive and Shadow narrowed their eyes as they went into deep thought. The more they thought about his actions, the more he seemed suspicious; the more they thought, the more they realized that Demon was right. They then turned their narrowed eyes to Demon in surprise.
Whenever Demon heard something he didn't like, he was always the first to show a clear distaste for it, never hiding emotions; this made both Shadow and Hive look down on him with a false sense of immaturity, or rather, incompetence. To them, Demon was like a stubborn mule who only saw the world from his perspective.
But now they realized that Demon's actions weren't akin to those of a stubborn mule but rather of a lazy lion. Demon never cared what others cared about him because, in his mind, they were nothing but the appetizers before the big meal. A cunning king would act calm and collected because he didn't want others to realize their intentions. But someone with a natural talent for being a leader would look down on a problem no different than when he decided what to eat in the evening, calm and relaxed. Able to make a clear-minded decision within a moment's notice.
If Hau Zhe's talent was perception and Shi Zhe's talent was combat, then Demon's talent was to be a king. Not to lead, as that would be more akin to the army general; rather, his talent was more akin to never being let lead astray from his ideals.
"What?" Demon said with a raised eyebrow.
- Tie Clan: Market District -
Standing in front of the empty plot of land, Xie Ling nodded his head. "After making that contract with Vai Tao, I learned of the Tie clan's many power struggles. I learned of Heaven's Will. I also learned that there are indeed hundreds of methods to hide from it. And lastly, but most importantly, I learned of a method to make contact with it, although it's a little expensive. Until then, I can't do anything too big, less I want to invite Heaven's rage to be brought down upon me."
Xie Ling bent down on the ground and picked up a pebble before placing it carefully into one of the claws.
This action wasn't hidden, as it caught the attention of every elder, each coming to their own conclusions as to why he would do such a thing.
"I would like to visit some of the outer areas of the clan." Rising back to his feet with his back still turned to the elders, announced Xie Ling.
- 15 minutes later: Tie Clan's Whispering Forest -
Standing in front of a forest, Xie Ling heard hundreds of voices in his ears. "I've heard of this type of tree. I believe it's called a Whispering Tree."
Nodding their heads, one of the elders stepped forward with his hand raised high, pointing it at the leaves of the tree. "You're very knowledgeable; as you can see from the telltale appearance of the Whispering Tree, its trademark leaves are shaped like the ears of a fox."
Ear-shaped leaves. A skinny trunk covered in bark bent inward like the slightly gapped lips of a prostitute woman whispering in the ears of their next gold mine. The branches stretched out and drooped down, with holes dotted across them. When wind entered the holes in the branches, it would travel through the branch to the trunk of the tree and produce its well-known whispering sound.
This tree wasn't particularly dangerous, as its main diet was the same as any other tree: water, sunlight, and, lastly, soil enriched by the corpses of animals that tried to utter their last sentence from lips starved for water.
One of the elders took out a storage-type Gu and released a baby fox from it.
- -
Upon falling to the ground, the fox looked forward; its eyes stopped on a Whispering Tree. Not wanting to go that way, it looked back and saw all the elders plus a man clad in claws.
Neither path looked safe to the fox, so it sat there unwilling to move until one of the elders activated a Gu worm, shooting a metal spike into it's hip, forcing the limbs of the fox to move against its will to walk into the forest.
Making it ten feet into the forest, the fox had regained control over its limbs. Immediately, it tried to bolt for the exit; however, after taking ten steps, it was lost. Only trees in every direction.
Looking at the fox running in circles, one of the elders spoke, "This is the Whispering Tree's ability. By attacking the senses of any creature that enters its domain, it can then entrap the creature, making it think it's running in a straight line, when really..."
Instead of continuing his words, he pointed at the fox running in circles to finish his words for him.
Xie Ling nodded as he bent down and picked up another rock before snuggly placing it inside one of his claws. "It is so focused on running the maze that it isn't capable of looking for the cracks in the walls."
Under everyone's gaze, Xie Ling walked into the maze, dropping rocks along the path toward the fox.
From this, the elders split their reactions into three groups.
One group of elders had looks of confusion, waiting to see what would happen.
Another group of elders had a look of realization at the ingeniousness of Xie Ling's solution to the problem.
The last group had already either thought of this or done this before and were waiting for Xie Ling to realize that there was a reason Demonic Gu Master's all around the southern border had heard of Tie Clan's Whispering Forest.
Standing above the fox, Xie Ling reached down and picked it up. Upon standing up, he felt strange, as trees were the only thing in his vision as far as he could see.
He looked down; however, instead of seeing the rock he'd dropped along the way, only grass and tree roots revealed themselves before his eyes.
Taking a step forward, Xie Ling felt something come over him again.
Xie Ling couldn't tell what was going on; however, to the elders, it was clear.
Instead of taking a step forward like Xie Ling had intended, from the moment he raised his leg to the moment he put it down, his hip turned sideways, and his foot hit the ground about 60 degrees from his intended destination.
Of course, such a powerful effect naturally has a huge weakness along with it. The very key to fixing the problem was in the name. The Whispering Tree's attack affected its target through sound, so in order to not get trapped, all one had to do was block their ears; however, once one was trapped, such a method would no longer work.
However, Xie Ling didn't want to do that; he wanted to, on a deeper and more fundamental level, escape the trap. After being in this world for 11 months, Xie Ling still hadn't gained any attainment in any path. Don't get him wrong; he wasn't naive enough to believe he should have achieved master attainment in any given path; however, he fundamentally had nothing. And his only clue to attainment was the fact that it came from experience. And what better way to get experience than the real deal?
Taking in a deep breath from his nose, Xie Ling smelled the earth and the slightly damp leaves from the trees. His eyes focused on the moss growing along the edge of the tree. Air traveling between the gaps in his fingers. The chirps of birds came from all directions. Were those sounds made by the trees, or were they also victims of the trees? Xie Ling didn't know the answer, nor did he care.
Taking a step forward, his step this time only turned 50 degrees. Taking another step, it was again reduced to 40 degrees. Xie Ling, by no stretch of the means, was an expert at solving puzzles; however, he was an expert on how the mind worked. Every step he took, he noticed how the changes took place.
Closing his eyes, Xie Ling pondered, "At first, I thought the effect of this forest was like Rule Path, making it nearly impossible to escape once ensnared; however, it's effects are more like Information Path. This forest doesn't forcefully turn my foot; it instead messes with the communication process, distorting it. When I tell my foot to go straight, these trees take that command and change it to ensure I stay stuck here. There is a slight problem though; the more conscious my movements are, the easier it is for the trees to change my movements, meaning the more I think, the harder it is to escape, making it difficult to figure out how they work. Shi Zhe!?"
Shi Zhe was currently cutting himself to feel some semblance of reality when he heard Xie Ling call to him. "Yes?"
"Do you think you can deal with this?"
Taking a look at the forest from the body's eyes, Shi Zhe replied, "If I break every tree, then maybe I could escape. You seem to think that trees only affect conscious thought, but that's a false assumption as they also affect unconscious thought. Just look at the fox as an example; it was also stuck. To escape, one would need to trick both their conscious thought and their unconscious thought."
Looking at the fox in his hands, Xie Ling narrowed his eyes before a look of realization appeared on his face.
Trees covering his view from near to far, he took a step. Turning his hip a full 180, he planted his hip forward while swinging his arm.
Most of the elders raised their brows at Xie Ling's weird movement, one of them asking, "What's he trying to do?"
A middle-aged elder narrowed his eyes. When he was young, he would often come here to practice cultivation, as he wanted to become a Sound Path Gu Master just like his father. Stroking his deep charcoal-black beard, he spoke up, "He's using momentum from the steps that would have brought him deeper into the forest to instead pull him out."
Pivoting his foot and swinging his hip, Xie Ling felt his body move in a specific direction. However, just as his body moved in one direction, he would then change his movement to another direction, constantly changing his posture and balance. "These trees command both my body and the fox's body to move in specific ways; however, they don't actually pull or push me in certain directions."
An aged elder with a hunched body took a step forward as he asked, "Based on your experience in this forest, do you think this method will work?"
"Hmmm, I don't believe so. This isn't something as simple as tricking the Whispering Tree, because the tree doesn't have sentience. Instead, you're tricking the ability of the tree."
All the elders nodded at that response. If it were a puppet master turning Xie Ling's limbs as he walked, then it would be possible, depending on the skill of the puppet master, to outmaneuver him. However, these trees weren't puppet masters; their abilities came from nature itself. Just like a naturally born Gu, you can't trick nature. That's like trying to confuse gravity by walking in a strange way.
As they were nodding at how fast Xie Ling kept coming up with new ideas, one of the elders suddenly raised his arm, pointing at Xie Ling. He shouted, "He's doing it!"
Looking like a man trying to squish hundreds of bugs beneath his feet, Xie Ling moved rapidly; with every step forward, he corrected his movements hundreds of times. His body swayed left and right, and his arms swung outward. The fox, clutched in one of his hands, looked like it was about to hurl from all the swinging.
"Huh!" shouted one of the elders, catching the attention of the rest. Pointing at the fox, he explained, "Every step he takes, he moves the fox in sync, making the trees correct both his movement and the foxes, cheating the ability of the trees!"
Most of the elders raised their eyebrows in confusion when another elder spoke up. "By swinging the fox back and forth along with him, the Whispering Tree's ability will try to move him to keep the fox in the forest, which in turn will give him a small window to ever so slightly take a step closer to the exit."
With his mouth agape, the elder, who used to play in the forest when young, muttered, "Who is this man?"
Upon landing his foot outside the forest, Xie Ling opened his eyes to see the elders, all their expressions either showing shock or admiration.
The ones showing shock quickly corrected their expressions, showing smiles of respect and admiration, turning the atmosphere into one of calm and tranquility.
Claps echoed outside the border to the Whispering Forest.
Xie Ling in turn showed a gleeful smile like a child that had earned the praise of their father; however, by no means was he actually pleased with himself; he gained no attainment, not even a piece of attainment.
Within eleven months of being in this world, Xie Ling had reached rank-5, overpowered and killed an expert rank-5 Gu Master, and gained useful knowledge on how this world works. If it were just about anyone else, they would be filled with pride; however, Xie Ling wasn't proud; he knew full well that the only reason he got this far was from a lack of defensive methods against his ability within the rank-5 range. Most rank-5 Gu Masters wouldn't have killer moves that are constantly active, let alone ones against Emotion Path, especially because Gu Worms were expensive to buy and raise. That was unless they knew, particularly that an emotion path cultivator was hunting them down.
Once someone reached the widely speculated rank of Gu Immortal, defense against Emotion Path was not only a must but also a default, as their Dao Marks had a natural defense against not only other paths of their type. Now Xie Ling's ability wasn't of Emotion Path, so it was questionable whether or not Dao Marks would defend against it, but their was still a fat chance in hell that just about any Gu Immortal would not have a Killer Move to defend against Emotion Path Attacks or anything that mimics Emotion Path Attacks.
Raising his hand and scratching the back of his head like an embarrassed student being praised by their seniors, Xie Ling handed the fox to the elder who had released it. "Shall we take a look at some of Tie Clan's other attractions?"