Catching Up

Lee ran as fast as he dared down the dusty road with all the steamed buns balanced in his arms.

The town seemed to open up the further that Lee ran inside it, the streets widening, the market expanding out in front of him, more and more people finding themselves within Lee's view.

His eyes never strayed from the cart that the God of Strength was dragging through the town though.

He kept going at a slow and steady pace, never straying away from it as wide eyes children gazed up at him, admiring his strength and dedication, never looking towards the women who eyed him from the windows of tea houses and stores.

Lee felt an angry, burning feeling as he saw those expressions, but cooled himself down, knowing that the God wouldn't fraternise with a mortal unless for a very good reason as part of serving Heaven's will.

Every single decision that the Gods made was a right decision, after all.

Lee caught up to the God of Strength as he passed the half way point of the town and began on the path to leaving it.

Looking around him and the path going West, Lee made sure to analyse the buildings that he was seeing.

There was a large temple with red gates at the edge of the town and Lee could see the white robes of the servants who worked inside, the burnt orange flashes of the occasional monk's robes could also be seen through the window as well. Lee noted how they were all rushing about, here and there, as if they were panicking, and he almost slowed to a stop watching them.

He wanted to go and see what was wrong inside the temple, considering that despite the Feng Shui of the architecture and the décor, there was obvious chaos, the entire building leaking something negative and almost nigh demonic.

Suddenly, Lee remembered where he was, and that there was a God of Strength with him. They could easily solve the problem, before going on their way to the Ghost Village.

Lee sprinted to catch up with the deity, still pulling his cart, weaving in and out through the people of the crowd.

By the time he reached the God, Lee was panting, leaning over to catch his breath and barely holding onto the steamed buns that he was carrying.

"Hey, what's wrong?" the God of Strength asked Lee, turning over and looking down at him.

Lee decided not to waste any time and immediately looked into his eyes, simply declaring," The temple."

The God raised one perfectly smooth eye brow up, asking with his face what was wrong with the temple.

"Don't you feel it?" Lee asked him, looking upwards into his currently brown eyes, searching for some sort of answer within them.

"There is nothing wrong with the Temple currently. This mission that we are on concerns the Ghost Village, not the Moon Temple. The issue of the Temple may be resolved at a later date. The value of solving the woes of the Ghost Village outweighs the non-existent plight of the Moon Temple. Only when with certainty that lives will perish, will the Moon Temple become a priority of Heaven. We are seeking to save the maximum number of lives possible," the God of Strength proclaimed, his face stern and radiating power.

Lee looked into that face and desperately tried to believe those words. He tried to be moved by their power, tried to be filled with inspiration, but nothing of the sort happened. A rolling, sinking feeling formed in his stomach, and he tried to swallow some of the rising bile back down.

No.

No

Just when Lee thought that even if he had said nothing, he would still have companionship.

"I am the God of Strength, I exercise and display it. It takes strength to save lives. It takes strength to take them. The Ghost Village will be our destination, as it is the place where the most lives will be saved."

Lee's face twisted down, and his mouth snapped shut.

If they left the situation at the Temple now, then the problem would only develop and grow, possibly to engulf the entire town. It wasn't right, to Lee, to walk away from this whole situation, possibly abandoning the town.

All he could really hope for was the Temple itself sending a missive to one of the cultivation clans to help solve the problem, or for one of the higher priests coming to aid the small temple. The Town was in the middle of nowhere, it wasn't likely that particularly strong cultivators were going to be patrolling the area.

But Lee had already made his decision to follow the God of Strength and remain under his protection, and even if he wanted to do something to rectify the situation with the Moon Temple, he had no idea what he was doing.

He didn't know any cultivation. He didn't know any exorcism techniques. He barely knew how to fight, and his strength, in general, was abysmal.

"How do I get stronger?" Lee asked the God of Strength, next to him, still looking down onto the floor.

"How do I get stronger?" he repeated once more, his voice stronger, lifting his head up to stare straight ahead, eyes transfixed on the distant forest ahead of them, just a little bit outside the boundary of the town, where the path almost entirely disappeared, giving way to a small trail littered with sticks and stones.

"If you want to get stronger, then you can put your belongings on the cart, eat your supper, then help me pull this thing," the God of Strength replied to him, his voice slighter softer and more inflective.

Lee hurried and unwrapped his belongings, placing them on the back of the cart, taking out what he had placed in his cooking pot and replacing it with nine of the steamed, pork buns, hastily swallowing one of them, before shoving the whole mess under the tarp, placed over everything else.

Lee ducked under one of the wooden prongs which would be used to attach the ox to the cart, taking it from the God of Strength, and began pulling.

Even if his efforts were ineffectual.