Chapter 63 - Diego.

Xin left lady Kaitun's shop without buying anything. He didn't find anything underpriced he could flip for profit, and he had no need for her reagents, as most of the stuff she sold was beyond his reach. Since he already had all the breakthrough materials, he decided to save some money and spend them on dao shards and artefacts later.

"What was that move you pulled, Xin?" Lei asked Xin as they stepped outside. He was still confused by his friend's actions.

"Bodyguard, will you snitch to lady Kaitun?" Xin looked at Orange, who was leading them home, looking quite relaxed.

"Don't you dare, I've got my principles! Especially not after she forced me to leave. I can leave you two alone for a few minutes to let you chat, if my presence is such a problem."

"Fine, I'll speak openly. I made her think that I was a corrupt caravan member, asking for personal favours in return for accepting her mediocre organ pricing. In reality, I kept all the spirit stones for myself, and got a strong cultivation method on top of it. It's some good stuff, I am telling you."

"Is it about that thing? You know." Lei pointed towards Xin's neck. 

"Yeah, right. I'll tell you more when we come home."

"Well, I am impressed. You used this trick to abuse her lack of intel, and squeezed the benefits out of nothing. Squirt." Lei smiled, he was proud of his friend. 

"Well, I improvised. It's not like I used a sales technique I knew in advance or something."

"Well, you probably were in a similar situation before, and could probably recognise the pattern."

"Hehe, I was on the receiving end. That damn wooden sword, I'll tell you some other time. My eight years old heart was broken that day, I haven't been the same since."

"You always seem like you are stuck somewhere around that age mentally. Glad we found the culprit."

"Do you guys always insult each other like that? In this city, it's a good way to get a shiv under your rib." Said Orange. He found their banter rather grating.

"Well, I am glad to be fucking off soon. This city is a shithole." Lei replied in a bored voice. Xin wondered, will the bodyguard get angry at him? Usually, people were awfully protective of their monopoly on calling their homeland a shithole. 

"Yeah, it's cool when you can just leave, not everybody gets this chance." Orange averted his gaze. The trio turned into another alley. 

Suddenly, their path was blocked by a man, dressed in scrappy looking metal armour, covered with a hooded cape. He was chewing something, and his hand was on his sheathed sword's hilt.

"Hey, Orange. Fuck off." He said as he leaned the hood of his cape back.

He revealed a tanned face, with an elegantly shaven short beard, big brown eyes and black, curly hair, with just a few strands of grey. A southerner foreigner!

"Oh, hells. Sorry, guys, I am not paid for this shit." Orange took a spirit stone out of his pocket, threw it on the ground and hastily retreated. "That's a small refund!" 

Should we run? Should we fight? How strong is he, to scare a physical cultivator like that?

"Good afternoon, gentlemen. Name's Diego. Heard of me?" He asked in a baritone.

"Di E Go? Got it. I'm Wu Lei. That's Xin. Looking to chat?" Lei looked relaxed, but Xin compared his blank face to that of a bear, showing no emotion as he prepared to tear your head off. He exuded a subtle martial spirit, despite the opponent apparently being very strong.

"I'm looking to ask some questions. And I'd recommend not being lied to. There might be consequences."

"We'll answer to the best of our ability, as long as the questions are appropriate." Xin said. We shouldn't show weakness.

"Look, I am not good with double-speak, so I'll ask directly — did you people kill Little Mantis?"

"Why are you asking?" Xin's stomach dropped.

"Wrong answer. Did you kill Little Mantis?"

What xiandao rank is he? Or is he a physical cultivator? Xin looked at this man's build, he was in shape, but not too muscular. Doesn't mean anything, some methods don't make you bulk at all. 

"Are you his friend or foe?" Lei asked.

Meanwhile, a realisation dawned on Xin, and he started fuming. So much for privacy, the bounty was leaked two hours later! Fucking Aigul.

"Strike two. Listen, as I said, I am not good with your slanted eyed double-speak and save face games, you give me what I need, I don't spill your rice-filled guts on the ground. Got it, monkeys?" His patience ran out quicker than the pair expected, and he resorted to straight-up insulting them. It felt weird, being insulted for being a Clay Folk. Usually, the insults went the other way.

"Ha! The fuck? You got a problem with our people? Then why come?" Lei asked. "Oh right, you don't remember." Xin felt a heat emanating from Lei. Was he preparing Molten Heart as he taunted the foreigner? 

No, it doesn't seem like his blood is boiling. He's preparing that aura trick, trying to look much more powerful than he is! He used it the day Xin and Lei met, back in uncle Jun's hut! How strong will his aura look, after his rank one breakthrough? Peak rank two, Xin guessed.

The foreigner ignored Lei's mocking comment:

"A problem with your people? I used to love! Had subordinates, sailed the seas, visited different countries. All these memories, torn from my head! I don't remember anything, even the name of my sun goddess. What was my home city called, can you tell me? No? Then you better answer my questions, you inbred prisoners."

And he's blaming Clay Folk for this? Xin was confused.

"Prisoners? That's a weird insult." Lei raised his eyebrow.

"And who do you think you are? The immortal that created your world, where are they? The mists are leaky, you have beast tides and nomads arriving, your world is fucking crumbling, you don't see it, eh? Think the Edict can help you? The Edict, my ass. Now, did you kill the Little Mantis?"

"Listen, Di E Go. We are all born confused and die confused." Xin said. "I understand your frustration. But please understand, you come out of nowhere and start insulting us and making these weird claims about our world. How are we supposed to react? I'll answer your question, but you answer some of mine. Deal? And please promise to make this interaction peaceful."

"Oh, alright. You have a way with words, you do. That I remember about your kind, from before I arrived here. Fine, no violence today." He raised his palms. "Now speak."

"Alright, I killed him. And I sold his organs to an alchemist. He was a piece of shit, killed my master unprovoked. I avenged him and butchered Little Mantis like a pig. Do you want the details?" Xin prepared to fight. He chose a brave response to maybe shake the opponent's resolve.

The southerner smiled menacingly, exposing a fang made out of gold.

"I see. He owed me a lot of money, and you deprived me of an ability to earn it back. Should I make you repay me?"

"Not how it works, and you know it." Lei said. 

"It's might makes right in this city, have you forgotten?"

"Then you don't need any justifications, hehe. Please consider that my master is rank three, and that I am a member of Clay Nest's merchant guild. Why extort us? Let's cooperate instead." Lei's offer was empty, it was just a threat.

"Cooperate? I never fought a rank three guy, but I slice these Condensation fags for breakfast. Fine, that's all I wanted to hear, I think I am done with you."

"Did you forget? We had a deal." Xin reminded him. Lei put his wooden hand on his shoulder, as if saying "don't poke him".

"Oh! I see." The southerner raised his eyebrow. "You've got the balls, kid. Probably got some of our blood in you, eh?" He pointed at Xin's green eyes.

"No, sir. That's just an elemental bloodline. I am a pureblood Clay Folk, at least I think so."

"Whatever. Ask your questions."

"Your name is Di E Go. You remember it, from before crossing?"

"Wait, I expected you to ask about the city or something. There was no deal to make it personal! Eh, fine. Diego's the only name I remember. Could be mine. Could be the name of someone who fucked me over, for all I know. I carry it as mine, as it's the only thing I have."

"I see." Xin sighed. "But, you say you remember folks 'like us' from before crossing, what does it mean?"

"Listen, I know it's a lot to swallow, but you lot are kinda fake. My world is probably fifty times bigger than yours, at least that's how I feel about it. I recognize a lot of the stuff I see here.

The Emperor, your language, your retarded picture-letters. The coins, the costumes, I've seen it all before. Oh, and I certainly fucked your women before coming here. Our women's nipples are more pink in comparison."

"It seems you only remember the crucial information." Lei smirked. "Tried remembering a way home?" 

"My word is mine to take back. I said no violence, and I can also violate you if I change my mind. Are we done?"

"Sorry, no distractions from now on. Only polite and relevant questions." Xin raised his finger. "So, you remember some stuff, but it's never concrete?"

"Yeah, I remember a sun goddess, remember feeling warm as I prayed to her, but I don't remember her image. Or her tenets. But I know what I was, based on how I feel about things, I can… reconstruct a lot of stuff. Still, someone took a smelly dump into my skull, so now I can speak your language. My own language, no remnants of it left. Its name started with "p"... We had catchy songs… It feels like missing a limb."

Xin felt his eyes get wet. This person came close to attacking them, and insulted them as soon as they met, yet Xin felt nothing but pity towards him. In fact, he already gave him more pity than he gave Su Xing.

"This sucks. And who were you in a previous life?"

"I was a sailor, captained a ship. I remember having some sort of weapon, made me feel like I can outmatch anything your lot could throw at us. Sometimes, we plundered. I was rich, but now I don't care about this stuff. I know what matters now, and I have none of it. Even my youth is fading in this prison."

Xin felt something gripping his chest. Did I manage to make him open up?

"I see. What's that deal with a dead immortal and being captives? And the world crumbling?"

"Well, I came from the mists. Lived a year among nomads. They told me lots of stuff. This world is an egg, and cultivators refine a core inside of them until it becomes big enough to become another world. They think every world was refined like that, but my world is real and works differently. It's just a ball floating in space, and it spins around the sun. I remember it now... Weird."

"Why would the world be a ball and spin around the sun? The sun is much smaller than the world... And wouldn't the people get blown away by the motion? And if the world isn't flat, wouldn't people in the south just fall down? This is stupid." Lei rolled his eyes.

"It's not like I remember the explanation, even if I knew it. Still, what I am saying is your creator settled you here, like serfs, but he's no longer around. That's what nomads believe. They had a 'prophet' tell them this, a renegade from your capital. 

That's why they went to war with your Emperor, the first one. They stole a banner that does something with the mists, but couldn't come home anyway. So they used that banner to draw more nomads here. Most nomads aren't Mistborn, but are summoned from the sky, whatever that means. Hence Skyfolk, I guess. It's all a convoluted fucking mess. I've interrogated many people already, but not a single lead on how to come back home or restore my memory. It's been ten years, for fucks sake..."

"So, there is a bigger world, and our culture is a reproduction of another culture? Our empire is made in an image of another country? Our world is small and insignificant? Is that what you're saying?" Xin asked.

"Yes, exactly. You people are fake. I am still not sure you're real, that it's not all a dream, or a purgatory before the afterlife. Whatever, I have these powers now, and no one can bother me. Divine chosen, what a joke."

Xin was astonished. Shendao? This guy? Wields shendao powers? Certainly not a sanctioned bureaucrat, trained in the capital. So, a wielder of an extreme skill. And his skill is? Right. 

Xin looked at Diego's sheath again. He's probably a terrific fencer. Kills rank two masters? Didn't seem like a bluff.

"You gave me a lot to think about, Di E Go. I hope you abandon your ways and recognize us as humans, just like you. You know, I have my own hopes and dreams, and my own pain, too. Even if you are right, and I was born in an immortal's realm, it doesn't mean that I'm not human, or not real. You're depriving yourself of the life in front of you to live a life of anguish and sorrow. It wasn't your choice to be moved here. But it was no one's choice to be born. Life is a gift, no matter what. I think you know it, you're still clinging to it, aren't you?"

"An instinct, nothing more. I would end it if I could. But I am not giving anyone else the pleasure of taking it. My ruin will be mine, you get it? And if I make it out..."

"You'll what?" Lei raised his eyebrow. 

"Fuck it. Farewell, kids. I'll go get shitfaced." He put his hood on and walked past the duo, bumping them with his shoulders. He then quickly disappeared in the crowd.

"Rude." 

"Ha, he insulted you and called you all these things, so you pretended to not care, then worked him up emotionally, and stabbed him into the heart! Reminded him how shit his life is. True sadist, Xin!" Lei had his own interpretation of what happened. 

"You see me this way? I think I related to him. Lately, I've been thinking a lot about these outcasts. Not like a naive peasant girl does, with her stupid pity towards everyone. Oh, poor wolfie yaoguai, please let me scratch your head! Oh, poor southerner foreigner bandit, please give me babies! I can mend your soul's wounds! Lame.

Nah, more like... I understand what made them. I find them relatable. But some people, they are what they are, no matter what caused them to be this way. We should kill them like rabid dogs. You know what I mean?"

"Yeah… You know, this guy, he said 'when I come back, I'll...'. He won't do shit, I know his type, always with the scenarios where they aren't a miserable fuck. By the way, what was that line about wanting to get impregnated? Brother, your impression was eerily realistic, hehe."

"Hehe. Nah, I just meant a naive horny teenager, didn't mean anything more, really. Are you implying something?" Xin agreed with the comment about Diego, but decided not to develop this conversation further.

"Eh, whatever, I'm tired of banter. Just keep talking, I have a feeling you're about to give me a lecture. I'll listen."

"You, tired of banter? Impossible. What I mean is... You know, all that terrible shit. Clay Nest's crime, this damned city. The yaoguai, demonic cultivators, the Bald Retard sect, that business extortion we were a part of… Remember that girl, with a kid? In our lab. Shit like that, it's our social system. It's fucked. We are numb to evil, and let it flourish."

"Think a good emperor could fix it?"

"I don't care about good emperors, they aren't as important as people say. They even make people dependent, and when they die, the corrupt people exploit the systems they created. The taoist texts say: 'A good government is the one you don't notice'. Well, the issue with this is the fact that no one is taking responsibility for all the things I named happening. But they are happening, and other than causing suffering, they also undermine the whole society. We need a good government, and the one that is more involved."

"So, your solution is 'good government'? Sounds vague. The people in power are cultivators, they don't give a flying fuck about mortals, or even low ranked cultivators like me. There is no incentive for them to act otherwise."

"Eh, it's not a panacea, but good laws would help. Transparent systems, different factions balancing each other out. Stopping retarded highly ranked cultivators from having too much political power on behalf of being able to throw a giant fireball, for example. Could fix half this world's problems."

"Well, if someone with power isn't represented, they get pissed and start going to war with you. I'd rather have a rank four incompetent or corrupt governor than have them throw fireballs at me trying to become a governor."

"I get it, you change a thing and several more problems arise. This discussion is bound to become akin to a viscous swamp. Everybody has their own interests, and whatever system you set up, everyone will always try to exploit it or test its limits, chasing benefits.

And even those who are righteous and would want to stay righteous, they can't stand aside, and are forced to get their hands dirty, as their opponents would become too powerful otherwise. So the system is forcing people into becoming corrupt or being eliminated from politics. I'm not sure it's solvable." Xin sighed.

"I never discussed big politics with you. You seem to have thought about it a lot."

"It's true. When I was younger (not that I am not young), I had my fantasies of how to make the world a better place. Now, whatever solution I come up with, whatever idea I have, I understand that it would take my whole lifetime to make a small difference. And worst of all, people would hate you because they don't get you. You could spend your whole life trying to pass a law that protects the mortals from cultivator abuse, for example, and the mortals would lynch you for a pat on the head from those that kill and rape them every day. How does one not get demoralised?"

"Just don't. You do you, they can go fuck themselves. If you don't love them and don't believe in them, why do it, though? Stroke your ego? Forget it. I think we humans just aren't made to think about this stuff. You should think on a smaller scale, you know? Your friends, your family, maybe your clan or sect. And everything else, you react to it as it comes to you, in the doses that you can digest. 

You know who I hate? Those fucks in taverns discussing politics, unwilling to change themselves or do anything meaningful, but speaking about how that ministry should do this or that, and how we need to fire that guy to do that other thing. Retards, treating the whole thing as entertainment."

"Yeah, but you know, that's also something the corrupt bureaucrats say. The province is poor? Well, why aren't you donating to charity? There is a flood? Why aren't you volunteering to join a relief force? They take on a certain responsibility, then make a career out of avoiding it and blaming everyone else. And when you criticise them, they just answer 'start with yourself, go make a positive change instead of talking'. Those people are even worse than the people you described.

You HAVE to have people who enforce grandiose change, and enforce it preemptively, you have to anticipate trends and not just react to things. You NEED healthy policies, and you need ideals to bring the society together. If everyone followed your logic, the world would be one massive Clay Nest. Sorry. What you described is a good strategy for an individual in harsh times to follow, but I'm not sure society should embrace those principles. It's probably not healthy for your spirit to feel so detached from the grand scheme of things, either."

Lei smirked. Fucking Xin. I wanted to relax and listen to him babble, but he baited me into a debate!

"Eh, I get you what you mean, but many people have enough on their mind to worry about the fate of humanity. What I propose is a good way to live a life, I think. And even if you attempt to change things, there are so many scenarios, so many things to consider. Makes you feel... small? Feels like a shortcut to a life of regret. Hopefully, this coming war will refine our sect, maybe even the whole region. Elevate new competent people, expose corruption and unworking systems, this sort of stuff…"

"You don't believe it even as you are saying it. The war will elevate the corrupt, a few heroes will be paraded around like festival toys, the society will become poorer, more resentful and divided, and thousands of young people will perish without properly understanding what's going on.

Some will think themselves heroes, some will be scared shitless, it doesn't change shit. Everyone knows the war will be bad, no one is actively working to prevent it, everyone is working to prepare for it. It's bound to happen, and we'll also fight in it."

"Unless?" Lei raised an eyebrow.

"Unless what?"

"Unless we get the iron mantis from Qiang's bag, grab the spirit stones we just got and fuck off? We'll become rich, could just live elsewhere... I don't know."

"I thought about it. It was a fleeting thought and I chased it away. I appreciate that... you shared this impulse with me. Look, this sect, I value some people here. We can't hide from the bounty hunters they'll send after us, anyway. And we aren't at the bottom of the food chain anymore, we can now cultivate. And if we go elsewhere, who says the situation won't repeat? Remember, we still have to prepare for that dimensional invasion."

"Heh... So, it's all tragic and inevitable, but you aren't going to do anything to avoid being sucked into the epicentre?"

"I already retreated once. Lived a solitary life, away from people. So many opportunities missed — could have joined a caravan, had an offer to become an instructor's assistant in a martial arts school in Tealstone, could be a junior alchemist in the capital. Could be many things. Became none of them, fucked off and cultivated at turtle pace, fucking around, hunting, reading books and doing everything to enjoy myself, to get away from my inner pain. You know what? It worked, but for a time. I never felt fulfilled. Whatever I am doing now, I kind of do.

Those solitary years, I don't regret them, they taught me a lot. I walk a different road now, though. I WILL get stronger, I will get better. I know my worth and I want to claim my place at the top. Going to bed every day, knowing you've done your best — not a remedy for existential dread, but certainly makes it more bearable, brother."

"The bigger you are, the more chains there are that bind you, a lot of the time. You complain about no one working to prevent the war, but aren't you also doing nothing to prevent it?"

"Seems that's the case. By the way, I am glad that southerner didn't rob us. We're quite loaded down there." Xin tapped his bag, where his bag of holding was, in one of the hidden pockets.

"Hehe, I am also loaded down there." Lei tapped the groin area of his paints. "Weird guy, I agree. So, do we just embrace our role as small fry, and war it is?"

"War it is." Xin nodded.