Listen While Reading: 62. Warrior’s Heart

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Fang Shuan was standing outside of the dining room of the golden palace, his face expression showing clear conflict. He had done something unforgivable and ended up upsetting his master more than he ever thought possible.

He forcefully took a decision for her, looking down on her as a result. He couldn’t believe he did something so reckless and insolent. Perhaps he might have been an arrogant young master in his previous life, but right now, he was Anna’s servant, someone who had sworn his loyalty.

That she forgave him so easily was already incredible and showed how kind her heart was. But that didn’t mean her kind heart was foolish or ignorant. He ended thinking that because she was doubting what to do, she was weak and needed someone strong to step in and take the “right decision.”.

Which was wrong, of course.

“I am a failure of a servant,” he sighed, sitting down as he looked at the vast mountains, the cold wind making his hair, made of metallic strands, wave like a long river of glittering gold.

Ying Shen that had been in silence as he admired the view looked at the man. He hadn’t interacted much with him before, but he knew he was something connected to Anna.

He was some sort of magical being, yet also a cultivator from another world, someone connected to her through a bond similar to the one Beast Tamers do with their Martial Beasts.

However, unlike Anna’s other Beasts, such as Violet, Snow, and Shiro, he wasn’t an animal but a being akin to a golem made of gold, with a powerful soul, the soul of an ancient cultivator.

At first glance, he thought of him as someone strong and rather reserved, but as he saw his actions, he quickly realized he was prone to recklessness and to put words in the mouth of Anna, someone who disrespected her sometimes, even if unintentionally.

“Perhaps you are,” Ying Shen was ruthless with his commentary. “You’re someone that has come from another world with master Anna, yet the only thing you do is disrespect her decisions? Instead of letting her think and make her own choice, you stepped right in, hurrying her to decide as if you were a figure of authority for her. Perhaps you think that because she’s younger than you, but you have no right to make decisions for her.”

“…You’re right,” sighed Fang Shuan. “Perhaps because I saw Anna as someone young I must protect, I ended up thinking I could do such a thing. I feel so ashamed of myself… Any master of my world would have already killed their disciple if they ever acted in such a manner.”

“Anna… Master Anna comes from a much more merciful world, a world where people forgive more than in here,” Ying Shen said. “That by itself is already incredible, and one of the things that has made me trust her so much, to this extent… It is thanks to her that I was able to step out of the Heavenly Demon’s Inner Realm and know the outside world too. You should be a bit like me, perhaps. Appreciate what makes her special instead of thinking that those are flaws.”

“…You’re right,” Fang Shuan nodded, and then laughed a bit. “Hahah, you’re much younger than me, yet you’re teaching me a valuable lesson. Thank you, Ying Shen. This truly says a lot about perspectives and experiences, and how an old dog can still learn new tricks.”

“Hmm, just behave and be nicer, and don’t think you have a saying on what Anna must do,” Ying Shen commented.

“Yeah, I hate to admit it, but I indeed thought that my master’s personality, her gentleness, her warm heart, and her merciful compassion were flaws. Beautiful flaws, but flaws nonetheless. Which were sometimes needed, but not always,” said Fang Shuan. “And that it was my duty as her guardian to protect the beautiful flower she is from the harsh world outside. I was foolish and stupid to think that. The truth is completely different.”

“Anna doesn’t need anybody to protect her,” Ying Shen smiled. “In fact… She’s the one protecting us all the time. What we must do is not offer protection, but our help, our strength. She is strong and can take care of herself, but perhaps she can’t be everywhere all at once; this is where we enter. Or well, that’s what I believe.”

“Yeah, I am beginning to be enlightened by a young man’s words,” nodded Fang Shuan, laughing once more. “Thank you, dear friend. I’ve learned valuable lessons. I will apologize to Master later again and implore for her to give me a second chance…”

“You don’t have to be like that…” Ying Shen sighed. “Look, Anna already forgave you. She’s not going to feel well if you keep insisting about doing the bad thing. She’ll feel more upset than anything, guilty even, that she made you so sad. So she might even end up trying to apologize instead! Do you want to make her apologize for your own mistake?”

“Eh?! She’ll do that? Master Anna’s so nice…” sighed Fang Shuan, feeling moved once more. “T-Then what must I do?!”

“Just act cool, be nice, be gentle, and know your place,” Ying Shen smiled. “Serve her; do your purpose.”

“…I see,” nodded Fang Shuan. “Thank you for these enlightening words!”

Despite being someone raised inside an Inner Realm, Ying Shen was always someone who understood people’s moods and could easily read how their minds truly worked.

It was perhaps a skill that assassins developed to tell what type of person they’re dealing with very easily from just an interaction, or a few at most.

This is one of the reasons why he follows Anna; through his skills as an assassin, he was able to tell immediately that she was someone of good and brave heart.

Someone worth following, and someone worth giving your loyalty to!

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“Master Anna must be busy right now, so let us not bother her though, okay? Let’s enjoy the wind instead,” Ying Shen sighed. “It is very cold and nice… There was no such wind where I came from.”

“It is… indeed very nice,” Fang Shuan nodded.

Old and new cultivators, aligned for a single cause.

They might have different personalities and even moralities; one is arrogant and old, the other is humble, observant, and young.

Yet somehow, they complemented each other rather well, at least in their shared cause.

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(Anna’s POV)

As I left Zero One talking with my master, I moved to the garden, where Wai Tien was sitting cross-legged over a small stone, in the middle of a bed of colorful flowers.

She was breathing calmly, feeling the wind as she meditated.

Her Ki flowed through her Meridians slowly, forming the appearance of seven colorful rivers.

Her emotions were in the Meridian of her head, glowing with red and dark color.

She was slowly letting them go, the rivers of Ki beginning to “clean” it and make her feel slightly more at ease.

So that’s a Meditation Technique…

It seemed to really deal with the mind itself, which then was connected to the soul. It wasn’t a Martial Arts, but a Spiritual Art.

Spiritual Arts in Murim Worlds are the closest to “magic” you’ll find in these worlds. Some of them can deal with evil curses that can affect a person’s body.

When that happens, I suppose they could be called “Sorcery”, which is perhaps what the Heavenly Demon does with his Martial Arts.

Powerful Arts from the Venerables probably mix all of them together anyway: Martial Arts, Meditation Arts, Spiritual Arts, Sorcery, all of it.

I think the Heavenly Demon’s ancestor, that evil curse kin or whatever he called, was a master of curses and sorcery.

I suppose Spiritual Arts can lead to all sorts of interesting things. Sorcery is the “evil” branch of it, which deals with curses and things like that.

The Heavenly Demon probably designed his technique based on his latent talent as a Red-Eyed Black Crow; their Bloodline is probably naturally talented with Sorcery.

With such a gift, he was able to create a completely new Martial Arts, the Seven Cursed Seals, which, similar to Meditation Techniques, deals with emotions but twists them; the crazier they are, the stronger the technique becomes.

However, unlike plain Magic, which is directly connected with Mana, Spiritual Arts and all their derivations do not rely on actual Spirits or Mana like their name might suggest.

The name itself probably derivates from how these techniques deal with all “Spiritual”, such as the Spiritual Body of any person, their Minds and Souls.

Right now, Wai Tian was doing the complete opposite of what I’ve been doing… She was calming her emotions to better control them.

Meanwhile, what I did was go crazy and forcefully dominate them with just raw and sheer willpower, but I guess not many can do something so… insane.

Slowly, she opened her eyes, greeting me.

“A-Anna? Is that you? You’re back…” she said.

“Yeah, I’m back, finally…” I sighed. “I have a lot to talk about! The Heavenly Demon kidnapped me, you see. So I was inside his Inner Realm for two weeks.”

“Kidnaped you?!” Wai Tian almost had a heart attack. “W-What did he do to you?! Are you okay?”

She quickly ran towards me and started grabbing my shoulders and looking at my body, probably searching for wounds or bruises.

“I’m fine, I beat him anyways,” I smiled. “I won a spar against him, and then he became my master. And I learned a lot of things from him and came back.”

“Eh…?”

She looked at me as if her soul had left her body.

After the panic she felt, this response might’ve been a bit too much, maybe?

“Hahah, are you okay? I’m sorry for startling you like that,” I giggled, petting her fluffy head. “It’s alright, Wai Tian, I’m fine. How have you been so far?”

“I-I’m good… I am still processing what you just said, young lady Anna,” she sighed. “Ah, but you do feel even stronger than before. I can tell with just a glance!”

“Well, I am pretty strong now, yeah,” I nodded pridefully. “Anyways, just tell me how you’ve been already.”

We sat down over the garden as Wai Tian explained to me how she has been so far. Apparently she had a small spar against the Heavenly Empress herself!

“She said she wanted to see what I had gained from your sponsorship powers,” she sighed. “And she also said it was a test to see if I was worthy of becoming her second disciple.”

“Right, I can already guess how it went, but do you mind if I ask?” I wondered.

“Well, it didn’t go too well; at first I thought I was pretty strong! Those “Skills” I obtained from your sponsorship were very amazing! However, as I fought… I lost control of myself. My new Skills and my Martial Arts created a strange synergy that made my mind go rampant. I became furious, my mind… my memories of all the things I went through; it made me really angry, and I ended up embarrassing myself in front of master.”

“Wai…” I patted her shoulders. “But she’s merciful, so she decided to help, hm?”

“That’s right, I am forever grateful for her help,” Wai Tian nodded. “I’ve learned two Meditation Techniques, and slowly, I am dealing with this problem… I’ll do my best to be of help, Anna.”

“O-Of course, though there’s a little thing I have to talk you about…”

“Huh?”

Suddenly, Zero One walked into the garden with the Heavenly Empress.

“Who is she? She’s a bald ape like you?” wondered Wai Tian.

“I’m not a bald ape! It’s human; we’re called humans!” I said. “And yeah, no, she’s not exactly that either, but she does take upon the appearance of a human; they were her creators, the original dominant species of her planet, which I believe might be a parallel of mine.”

“Huh? What… do you mean?” Wai Tian wondered.

“Hi!” Zero One greeted Wai Tian with a smile. “I’m Zero One; nice to meet you! I’m an android.”

“Android…? Wait, a machine?!” Wai Tian almost jumped over her, but I stopped her.

“C-Calm down! It’s okay!” I said. “Master, can you help explaining?”

“Very well,” the Heavenly Empress stepped in. “Wai Tian, calm down and listen.”

We told her everything we could and slowly made her understand the situation. Of course, she had her own opinions about everything and didn’t trust Zero One at all, glaring at her with wary eyes while slowly waving her tail, a show of anger for felines.

“If Master and Anna say it’s okay, then… There’s little I can say against it,” she sighed. “Will she really be joining our training?”

“That’s right, for now,” the Heavenly Empress nodded. “Please, get along if possible.”

“I… I’ll try, I suppose…” She glared at Zero One with a lot of hatred, actually.

We’ll have to help her deal with her anger issues a bit…

After Wai Tian had her meal, we regrouped with my familiars and Fang Shuan and Ying Shen, introducing them to Wai Tian and the Heavenly Empress properly.

“A former assassin from that wicked family of the Heavenly Demon?” the Heavenly Empress wondered, analyzing the fox boy. “Very interesting! You do have quite the unique qualities and techniques. You did well in escaping such a wicked duty.”

“T-Thank you for your understanding, lady Heavenly Empress.” Fang Shuan was quite nervous when talking with the crane lady.

“So you say you’re young lady Anna’s servant?” Wai Tian wondered, trying to be friendly.

“Y-Yeah, well, I call myself like that,” Ying Shen nodded. “I’m still trying to improve myself, but it is nice to meet you, Wai Tian.”

“Likewise,” Wai Tian smiled back with a nod.

I guess they were good.

“Now, we shouldn’t waste more time; let’s go inside my Inner Realm,” the Heavenly Empress said. “We’ll go inside and rest for the rest of the day there, then the next morning inside, we’ll begin our training regime.”

Without further ado, we all entered her Inner Realm.

Honestly, despite everything, I was very eager to learn from her.

The Heavenly Empress Martial Arts might be able to complement my own original Martial Arts and finally help me complete it.

I can’t waste this opportunity!

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Guess what?!

NEW COVER!

Featuring Anna (center), Wai Tian (left), Yin Sheng (right) and Zero One (Above)

Source: Webnovel.com, updated by NovelKeep