The Vault, The Stash And The Glyph
"So what will it be, Mr. Representative? Quick chop-chop or boom boom," the seer ordered.
For a while, there was a standstill, and no one did anything.
"I don't know what you're talking about. We have no such things," the jade-eyed Jaegal said.
*Boom*
A burst was heard, and one of the mine entrances spewed fire. The entire pit shook violently before stabilizing. Meanwhile, the seer nonchalantly picked his ear and nose.
"Give me half of all you have in your treasury as well, for wasting my time," the seer spoke up once again in a lackluster tone.
Met with impossible demands, the Jaegal refused to cooperate and fulfill the demands.
"Why are you doing this? We have no grudges, neither do we know what you're speaking of," the Jaegal protested.
*Snap*
The seer gave the signal.
Bham! Once again, the process repeated.
This time, however, the upper abandoned mine exploded, completely collapsing and increasing the size of the pit. People stationed on the edge fell into the collapsing earth. Those who used Qi to try and escape met a doom worse than those who did not. The entire mine shook violently, then came to a halt, weaker and closer to collapsing than before.
The seer tossed a spatial ring to the Jaegal, and then another as soon as he grabbed it.
"Full now," the seer said again, this time picking his nose.
"What?"
"The entirety of your clan's treasury. Give it to me," the seer said, annoyed and furious at the man for wasting his time.
"Well, then you bluff. You won't do it!" the man yelled.
And another cave-in occurred in the mid-floors.
"You want to go again?" the seer threatened.
Fearing further destruction and losses, the man ran off on his sword, not wanting to test the seer any further.
"We have secured the stash," said a shadow that rose from the ground.
"Great, let's go see it," said the seer as he marched off into the mine.
The mine was not in great shape. It was nowhere near as secure and fortified as the blueprints made it out to be. In fact, some parts were even worse off. Half-naked and chained slaves were everywhere, as were sacks filled with precious blue spirit stones.
Liu and Tang stood at the entrance to a highly secure vault.
"By the way, boys, feel free to use and take as many of these stones as you want," said the seer as he began to operate on the vault, attempting to crack it open.
To the seer's surprise, it was simpler than he thought. It only took a few minutes to open it up. Clearly, the people here had no safe-cracking skills as they preferred to bash them open. The protective barriers and talismans were useless when the safe could be opened with a passcode.
Beyond the door was a sight of heaven, with white powder filling the space like mountains of gold in a huge vault. The large space even had a throne, upon which sat a familiar-looking, scrawny old man surrounded by young women in a state of ecstasy.
*Ahem*
The seer interrupted the elderbraincell's revelry.
"Aha, I see you found my... stash," the elder said in a shaky, weak voice, which the seer was all too familiar with.
A ninja once again brought the stuff, and the elder once again smoked it.
"AAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAALULLUULLUULLULULULULULLU," the elder exclaimed.
The seer smacked his hand on his forehead and let out a sigh. "Not this shit again."
"What the hell, man? Is that why you knew all that shit? Why would you work for those idiots?" the seer exclaimed with a mix of sorrow and frustration.
"Know what? Fuck it, I don't care," the seer remarked as he walked back out of the vault.
"Wait, you can't leave without telling me a joke!" the enraged elder got off his seat, with ki bursting in all directions.
But it was too late.
*Wham*
The seer shut the gate on the elder's face.
"This stash cannot be the stash I am looking for," the seer said, pointing towards the closed vault.
"That is indeed the wrong stash. The real one is there," Liu pointed to a wooden door adjacent to the vault.
Beyond the wooden gate was the real stash - blueprints, scrolls, alchemy, and pill-making materials, and among them was the kitchen where they concocted the white powder of heavens. In the corner, Ai and Jaegal's family members were tied up, struggling to get free.
Right on the other side facing them was a big, black, and shiny wall with the method of manufacturing written on it.
--
Day 37, Year of the Turtle:
The ordinary-looking storeroom where records are kept had been turned into a cooking lab upon the discovery of this weird, shiny, indestructible black wall. The strongest have tried to break it, and the master craftsmen have attempted to use it, but to no avail.
Day 60, Year of the Turtle:
At first, it was just a rock we wanted to pull out and move as it hindered mining work. But then we discovered weird writing on it. Many martial artists visit this place in secret, attempting to decipher it.
Day 60, Year of the Turtle: Today, a breakthrough was made, and that is how we have come to call this unknown substance it talks of as the white powder of the heavens. I am unsure of whether it should be called so.
Day 69, Year of the Turtle:
It is surely the heavens who have sent this gift to us mortals out of kindness and pity. The substance is worthy of the name we had initially given it. This heavenly substance has surely descended from the sky. One strong snort and I am able to connect to the heavens and see the gods. How blessed am I to be able to meet them and talk to them! I am not worthy.
Day 96, Year of the Turtle:
We have discovered more writing on this black rock of heaven. It talks of some ancient history. I can't wait to see what the experts say about it.
--
Liu read out the diary entry aloud from one of the shelves.
"That's about all it says in this diary," Liu put the diary back in its place and went to the other corner of this slightly dusty and messy lab to read the writings that the man was talking about in his diary.
"After licking donkeys for a thousand years, I become the immortal sayian..." Liu read.
Slap
"There you go again with your horrible translations. Stop it. You are hereby banned from reading and attempting to translate ancient languages," roared the seer.
"Ay, don't slap him, you asshole! He was only trying to help," Lin Hua roared in response, grabbing hold of Liu.
"Apologies, miss. Would you be so kind as to do the honors of deciphering this glyph then?" the seer said with a constricted and constipated voice, holding back rage and cringe.
"Well, it's very similar to the scroll we read from in the Forest of Doom," Liu said.
--
"Thousands of years ago, the heavens were created by the Heavenly Supreme, a god among gods. After he created the heavens, the heavens, in turn, created the earth. One day, the Heavenly Supreme came to tread the land he had created, but his might was not withstood by the earth. And so, he created the nine realms, each following a hierarchy. From the weakest to the strongest. But the nine realms fought each other and were separated in pairs of two."
--
"Ah, nice mythologies. I like mythologies. Continue, please," the seer commented.
"That's it, that's all that's written," Liu replied.
"Wait, that does not make sense," Liu said. "We know for a fact that there is our realm, and above ours is the immortal realm, and that's it. Besides, his reason for creating nine sounds stupid. How does that help? Also..."
"Shut it, Liu. It's mythology. Roll with it," the seer interrupted.
And then Cao Tang entered with a burst.
"The Jaegal is back, and he brought back more than just what we demanded," Cao Tang said hastily.
"Course he did" replied the seer.