Courting Death (A Xianxia Story)

[OverseerEX]

"Oh, truly?" The mention of my death seemed enough to pull him from his daydreams and my nightmares, leaving him simply disappointed as he looked up from the bucket. "That's unfortunate. You've always been a valuable assistant, your value would have only gone up."

Click to shrink...

Ah, Classic Mad Doctor. Well, classic cultivator, really. Author, you've done a wonderful job with this story. I WANT MORE.

I stared into the pond.
The carp stared back.
Am I going to regret this, Mr. Fish?

Click to shrink...

Mr. Fish, what is your wisdom? Oh, I can almost hear his voice through the text...

The fish gave me one last look before swimming off deeper into the pond that surrounded the garden I was in.

Click to shrink...

Mr. Fish: Stupid humans...

Death: saves an idiots life
MC: kills himself the exact same way to say Hi.
Death: "What the fuck?!?!"

Click to shrink...

Thanos: First time?

 

[Artemis]

The Seven Falls Sect's Hospital was in an uproar. Heads peered out from behind privacy curtains into the main hallway to watch as a screaming match capable of waking up the Heavens was waged. Mortal orderlies and nurses did their best to get out of the way of cultivators whose wrath had begun to eclipse reason. Patients were unceremoniously dumped out of their beds and searched on the spot as Doctors did their best to recover a fortune's worth of unfathomably powerful pills which simply did not show up.

And somewhere towards the entrance of the Hospital, an Inner Disciple rubbed his shoulder absent-mindedly, gaze turned towards the exit.

I killed him, Wenhua Gareth thought numbly. Without one shadow of a doubt, I know I killed him.

It hadn't even been a day since Gareth had felt that other Disciple's neck break underneath his blow. It almost feels like he's standing there again now, watching as the Outer Disciple bore down on him with speed that better approached Gareth's own. What had he been thinking, that grey-robed figure that had tried to challenge him, surrounded by that ridiculous aura of qi? What had been going through his head at that moment as he used the Sect's own Stance, without even a hint of modification?

What had he been thinking, to have that unsettlingly satisfied smile across his face?

For it to widen, even as Gareth's strike had taken his life?

Gareth had barely even been able to pay attention to Umzuli's bellowing admonishment at the end of it, of how he was above such things as to needlessly injure one of his juniors in a simple exchange of pointers. He simply stared at the broken body of a man he had fought twice now, and wondered what on earth had possessed the other cultivator to do such a thing. It was a question that kept ringing in Gareth's head, louder and louder with each passing second. And Gareth couldn't let it go unanswered.

It took some time to adequately receive Umzuli's rebuke, but in the end the Inner Sect Elder was understanding to a fault; a heartfelt promise by Gareth to take the other cultivator to the Hospital and do his very best to see the dead Disciple treated with honour seemed to satisfy the giant. The various Doctors seemed to have less faith in the matter, clearly looking at the corpse with little more care than a butcher looking upon spoilt meat, but the offer of a minor research grant from the Wenhua Clan's coffers seemed to be enough to encourage them to give a genuine attempt at learning whatever mystery was buried within the body.

And then just as Gareth had returned to determine what had been discovered, the Disciple who should by all means be dead had just run past him with nothing more than a momentary apology. By the time Gareth had been able to help the others who had almost been trodden over, either by the chaos that seemed to be swallowing up the Hospital or by the Outer Disciple's escape, the once-dead man was nowhere to be seen, and that question just kept ringing in the Inner Disciple's head.

Just what could possess a cultivator to do such a thing?

But the question would have to wait for a moment, as Gareth began moving deeper into the hospital towards the origin of the chaos. It was an unmistakable presence that drew him further in, one that so very clearly stood out even amongst the talents who had the right to call themselves Doctor. In that familiar aura Gareth could read the frustration, the indignation, the bloodlust, and so many all-consuming desires that it almost threatened to swallow up the world around it. But who else could have such powerful feelings than a cultivator who had somehow broken through to the Third Step at a mere fifteen years of age, who had spent the decade since embarking upon the Fourth Step of Soul Refinement at a pace that was utterly extraordinary?

In one of the central rooms reserved for the inner Sect alone, this genius stood by an occupied bed, verbally eviscerating some poor bastard who laid on the ground before her. "-me to simply accept such an utter failure in your duties? When the Wenhua Clan give so much to your pitiful clinic? Then perhaps you should accept that your life is simply forfeit, trash. If you aren't even capable of managing an inventory, perhaps I can turn you into a purse instead, one appropriately enchanted to never lose its contents. Perhaps then you'd finally be able to accomplish the task so simple that a mortal could see to it."

Gareth knocked at the entrance to the door, before dropping to kneel as everyone within turned their attention to him. "Young Mistress. Sister Wenhua Li. Doctor."

Wenhua Mei, the Young Mistress of the Wenhua Clan, currently standing over the poor Doctor, gave Gareth a soft smile. "Beloved! I didn't realise you were also coming to attend Sister Li's recovery. I thought you had some small matter to attend to?"

"I did, but I couldn't help but notice the commotion," Gareth replied, slowly standing to his feet again at Mei's gesture, returning the vice-like hug that strained his ribs. "Is everything well?"

"Well, this trash was just telling me that he'd misplaced the Sovereign Remedy that the Wenhua Clan bought from them! Go on, my future purse," Mei retracted her grip from around Gareth's sides, turning to her victim on the floor, "tell my Beloved exactly how careless you were with the medicine we graciously purchased from your disgusting institution."

The cowering Doctor was none that Gareth had met before, though going by his shattered hand it seemed he was new enough to not know when not to talk back to the Young Mistress. The tell-tale glow of a medical technique seemed to be doing its best to pull the bone splinters back together, but it faltered as the Doctor realised that another of the Wenhua had arrived to see to his punishment. Instead, the Doctor turned pleading eyes towards Gareth, hoping against hope that some reason would be seen.

"Doctor," Gareth said calmly. "For your sake, I hope that you have a good explanation."

The medical cultivator didn't hesitate to prostrate himself before the two. "Young Master, I am afraid I have no answer. The Ruby Tears of the Phoenix disappeared from my hands as I was carrying them to your Clan member. None of the orderlies or nurses have it, nor have they revealed knowledge of any other that would have it. Several other Doctors are searching even now for them, and I'm sure that we'll find them soon-"

"How did they disappear, Doctor?" Gareth interrupted. "Their recovery is one thing, but their loss is entirely more concerning."

"I'm so glad to hear your priorities, Gareth." came the cutting remark from the bed. Wenhua Li had managed to pull herself into a sitting position, content to ignore the gangrenous wound in her side to instead stare daggers. "Is the nature of the Doctor's failure somehow more important than the fact that they lost it in the first place? Or does family matter so little to you?"

"I'm sorry you feel that way, Sister Li," Gareth answered. "Perhaps I'm unaware of a vaunted family tradition to overlook such matters. It makes sense now how that Rot-Pronged Mudfrog took you off guard, if you were instead focused on the inconvenience of the Umber Marsh being wet."

The bedridden cultivator sneered, her qi rising up into a forming technique-

Gareth winced slightly as he felt his Mei flare her own energy, instantly overwhelming everyone else in the room with her own might. "Save it, Li. Beloved, darling, please don't provoke her. Besides, I'm sure the rubbish here will clarify matters soon."

The Doctor had done his best not to move from his huddled position. "Young Master, please forgive me, but I didn't see even a flicker. If some cultivator had stolen it, then they were utterly beyond my power."

"And you imply they were beyond my power, trash?" Once again, the room was filled with bloodlust as the Young Mistress of the Wenhua turned her rage on the Doctor, no longer a mere flare but an overbearing pressure that threatened to crush the one who had dared insult her-

Moving through the bloodlust with a well-practiced and hard-earned ease, Gareth rested a hand on her shoulders, pulling on it slightly. As the Young Mistress turned, Gareth relaxed the courtly bearing that had been driven into him, instead favouring the young woman with a buck-toothed smile. "Mei. Jus' let me handle this, yeah?"

The aura vanished instantly as his fiancée sighed. "Ah, my apologies, Beloved. You're right, this is beneath me. Sister Li, I hope you recover well. Beloved, I shall be off to meditate. If some interloper has managed to circumvent the hospital's security, please bring them to me so I can show them my displeasure."

Wenhua Mei left, wind kicking up behind her as her movement technique propelled her out of the room and down the hall towards the entrance. Waiting an appropriate amount of time for her to be beyond reach, Gareth kneeled down and slowly helped the Doctor to his feet. "Careful there. In the future, perhaps ask one of your seniors to handle the Young Mistress."

The Doctor hissed, his healing technique stuttering as his qi struggled to reassert itself within his own body. "They said that it'd be a learning experience."

And they've learnt to stay the hell away from Mei when she gets in a bad mood. "Please inform them that I'd appreciate their attention on this matter anyway. I'll look into the matter of what happened to the Ruby Tears."

The Doctor thanked Gareth profusely before leaving himself, likely to retreat to whatever corner of the Sect was furthest away from the Wenhua. Understandable, given the circumstances. With that, Gareth turned towards the last inhabitant of the room, whose qi had begun to rise the second that Mei had left. "I trust that you're still no closer to death than before, Sister Li?"

"I'm no Sister of yours, peasant," Li spat. "And you'll keep the Young Mistress' name out of your mouth."

"I have nothing but the utmost respect for the Young Mistress and her choices, Sister Li," Gareth said. "Including her decision to marry me. Perhaps you should consider doing the same."

The Wenhua Clan cultivator glowered, but thankfully did nothing else, allowing Gareth to leave the room behind. If she'd started a fight, then Gareth would have had to finish it, and he had no desire to be a kin-killer, not so soon after having gained kin to kill in the first place.

Frankly, he was glad he'd been able to avoid it for so long. Family was troublesome.

Still, it was his family now, and so he'd do his duty to determine what had happened. Ruby Tears were fairly expensive pills as things went, and if it weren't for the Young Mistress' tendency to get what she wanted he wasn't sure if the money would have ever been spared for Li's quickened recovery. But the money had been spent with nothing to show for it, and the Wenhua would not be denied their due.

Gareth spent the next half hour talking with every nurse and Doctor he could, Mei's outburst serving to encourage their answers. They were, unfortunately, much the same as he'd already heard; some of the nurses had also watched the container of pills vanish from the Doctor's hands, and others confirmed it had been there in the first place when the vault of valuable medicines had been opened. Some of the patients who'd been nearby had even felt the potent power of the container's contents, confirming it hadn't been some tactile illusion used as part of a heist in advance.

And all the while, the ringing in his head grew louder and louder, until he could ignore it no longer. Stepping away from an interview with a polite thank you, he walked along the hospital's halls, slowly retracing his steps back towards the entrance, then winding his way back inside along another route, away from the main bulk of patients. In these back corners dedicated to the care for Outer Disciples, Gareth descended a staircase leading down deep into the rock of the island.

At the very bottom was a room filled with tables marked with ash and blood, gruesome tools hanging from the walls ready to serve a foul purpose. Corpses sat atop those butcher blocks in various stages of disassembly, but one laid conspicuously empty. One that Gareth remembered laying the body of that strange cultivator upon. Scattered across the floor at its foot were shards of pottery, holding a faint echo of the contents they once held. And what had started as a warning chime had turned into a mournful peal.

Just what could possess a cultivator to do such a thing?

Gareth was starting to realise that his question had already provided an answer.

A Demonic cultivator is on the loose.

 

[Centergg]

Sadly for Gareth, the truth is much more strange than simple demonic cultivation.
I hope he will recognize what is going on and will not stay in the way of Love. Love IS the greatest power in the Universe for a reason.

That young mistress is yandere

 

[OverseerEX]

Honestly I would love for Ryan to actually tell Gareth the truth, and watch him be dumbstruck as brain.exe stopped working

It's not like anyone would believe him even if Gareth went around telling everyone, and from what we've seen of Gareth, he's not a bad dude by cultivator standards. He's actually on the more good side. Gareth would become Ryan's bestest of besties, and a person Ryan can confide to his uhh... extraordinary circumstances. Just a thought.

 

[Golgotha]

That explanation makes much more sense than reality, that's for sure

 

[Anti-No]

Gareth seems to be a decent guy, yes. But remember what kind of people most cultivators are. Gareth seems to be a flat out saint in comparison to most of them.

 

[Artemis]

On a small outcropping hidden away from the rest of the Sect, I told my story. For a few brief moments, I allowed myself to return to the glory days of first arriving at the Sect, to the initial insults I'd received and the promise I'd made to ascend to Heaven, no matter what came. I spoke of short-lived allies and bitter rivals, of a race to earn some worth in the Sect, to prove myself the best of the Outer Disciples using every last measure of grit and perseverance to reach the top.

I spoke of a dream that came crashing down. I talked about how those first six months had only served to sharpen the pain of the next thirty, bare survival made all the more sour in comparison to the life I'd had. And, at the very end of that painful drudgery, I explained how nothing more than a momentary brush against my betters had led to the end of that sad existence.

I awaited judgement.

Death clicked her tongue. "Sounds real tough, Ryan."

I slumped forward, hands braced against the mist-soaked grass. "Couldn't you at least do me the honour of treating my life with the smallest measure of respect?"

"Nah," Death flippantly replied, scratching her chin against the top of her scythe that leaned against her shoulder as she gazed off over the landscape beneath the falls. "Honestly, not sure what there is to respect. Do you know how many hundreds of thousands of young cultivators I've seen who were cruelly killed before their time by their seniors? If I had a yuan…"

"And that's it, then?" I pushed myself off the ground, staring at Death in disbelief. "This is barely a novelty to you, but weren't you the one who'd demanded to know everything about my life?"

Death shrugged. "I mean, I was hoping you'd reveal that you had some special heritage, or perhaps that you'd been granted a blessing of some kind from a spirit. But you're nothing special."

"Nothing special!?" I gestured towards myself. "Then how do you explain me still being alive, huh?"

Death harrumphed, still refusing to look in my direction. "The matters of Life and Death are none of your business, mortal."

None of my business!? I stepped forward and leaned into Death's view, hand braced on the bench she sat on as I glared at her over the top of her scythe. "I have died twice. It is absolutely my business. And if not respect then at the least treat me with the same straightforwardness that I've offered to you."

Death returned my glare with one of her own, slowly rising to her feet and forcing me to move with her as she did, her scythe now in her hand. "Oh? You'd make demands of Death? And what right do you think you have to my knowledge, Outer Disciple Ryan? What rights do you have to the mysteries of Death? To the fate of all cultivators?"

I firmly refused all her assumptions. "I don't care about any of that. Tell me, why-" I weaved my arm around the scythe, finger pointed firmly at her in accusation, "-do you look like a farm girl?"

Death choked, her breath caught in her throat. "That's what you care about!?"

"It's the only thing that doesn't make sense," I countered. "This entire situation can be traced back to that!" It just didn't make sense for such a pretty girl to be Death itself!

Death reeled back, retreating from my superb offensive manoeuvre. "I-I told you to stop that!"

"Then answer the damn question!"

"Fuck off!" Death began her counter attack, pushing me backwards with the haft of the scythe. "Seriously, what's wrong with you!?"

So many things are wrong with me. Even before I'd had my chest caved in by some noble. You certainly don't reach the Second Step in six months by being normal. But two and a half years of bare survival had only pushed me beyond what most cultivators would consider as merely 'driven'. I let her shove me a few steps back, but I only used that as an opportunity to cross my arms and look down at her. "I'm not hearing an answer."

Death watched me for a few moments, holding the scythe between us as if it was some sort of shield. But as my calm stare continued she sighed, letting the scythe drop to her side even as she wiped at her face with the other hand. "Gods…" she muttered quietly, before returning my look. "Because I am."

It took me a moment to connect her words to my own from earlier. "You're actually a farm girl. So you're…not the real Death?"

"Real as they come." She glanced down towards the scythe, tapping its base against the ground. "But I got the job from someone else. I think they'd be more what you expect."

In my mind, I could already see the figure; some black-robed individual towering over me, their scythe looming with a deadly promise, their head shrouded in darkness. And then I thought of this Death, standing in front of them with a job application in hand. The questions in my head multiplied. "...How did that happen? Did they just give you the scythe? Did they say they'd ever be back for it?"

"As for the how, I just happened to be in the wrong place at the right time," Death ran her finger along the blade. "And yeah, they did. Said they'd be right back after they milked the cows."

I glanced out to the world below, where the seven great rivers wound their way out towards the horizon. "Uh, out of curiosity, how long ago was that?"

She shot me a withering look. "A while. Any more questions?"

"Well, I mean," I tried my best to chuckle. "It's just, if I'm the first person to see you, am I meant to, what, take over? Is that what I'm meant to do?" Is that my purpose in death, now that my life is over?

Death's grip tightened on the scythe. "Every last living being on this planet will die, and the world itself will shatter, before I ever give this to a cultivator." She spat the word out like it was a curse, before glaring at me once more. "Do you even know what a cultivator does?"

My answer was immediate. "They challenge the Heavens."

"And what do they do on the way there?" She prompted me, gesturing out to the world, the razor curve of her implement tracing its way along where the sky met the earth. "Their gaze is so focused on what's above them, that they don't care a bit for what they trample over on the way there. Do you think I was being hyperbolic when I said how many hundreds of thousands of wannabes I've seen crushed by their seniors? How even that pales compared to the hundreds of millions I've watched, slaughtered like ants?"

The scythe cut down, as if to bisect the lands before us. "They take whatever they want. They do whatever they please. They think that their might makes right. But it doesn't matter how powerful they get, or how many more people they can kill: they will always be the absolute scum of the earth."

My eyes didn't once leave Death, watching the girl as she glared out furiously over the world, her blade looming over it. I could feel the truth in her words, in each exhale hissed out between gritted teeth. No matter how common her appearance was, or that she'd admitted to me that she'd come from a background just as low as my own, I could feel the weight of the role upon her shoulders, and how even the smallest fragment of that could force me to my knees.

"And those cultivators," I began, afraid of the question I was about to ask, "what happens to them when they die?"

Death's response was to laugh. It wasn't a pleasant thing, empty of any joy and filled with bitterness instead. When she finally turned to look at me, it was without a hint of that bloody rage she'd had just a moment ago, instead filled with a bone-deep grief and hopelessness that I couldn't stand to see.

"I don't know."

A few seconds passed, my tongue working in my mouth but unable to make a single sound. What?

Death just laughed again. "I don't know! Out of every single soul I've delivered to the cycle, I've never once had to deliver a real cultivator's! Of course, if you're young enough or weak enough, like you, then perhaps there's a chance that I can be pulled to the moment of your death to deliver you on to your next life…but no more than that. At some point, a cultivator is beyond my reach."

"But- no, hang on, just because a cultivator is immortal at the Third Step doesn't mean they can't be killed!" I don't know why I argued with Death, but the idea seemed- was- preposterous. "I've literally been up to my elbows inside their corpses!"

More than that- I'd watched as the bodies of unfortunate Disciples who'd been killed on excursions beyond the sect had been carted in. I'd seen just how empty their eyes were, their spirits having clearly departed to leave behind nothing but their corporeal shell.

"Just because they were killed doesn't mean they die," Death insisted, "and they're challenging the Heavens, aren't they? Perhaps the Heavens claim them in turn, as recompense for daring to defy them."

What do you mean, perhaps? "That's just a guess!" I replied incredulously.

Death snorted. "Like you can do any better?"

"I can do better than saying the Gods did it!"

"Then," her eyes narrowed, "prove it!"

I froze. Then, glacially, I lowered my eyes down to the scythe that was now pointed in my direction. I lifted my eyes up again, into Death's own. "What, exactly, do you mean by that?"

Death's eyes widened, and the scythe pulled up sharply, well away from my own body as she lifted out her free hand to wave at me in denial. "No! No no no! That's not what I meant!" She took a few moments to steady herself against her scythe, the blade looming above her head as she took a few deep breaths. She slowly collected herself, her face twisting in thought for a moment before settling on a serious expression that she directed my way. "I'm not going to kill you. But you promised me back there that you'd do anything I wanted in return for your life, right? So your life is mine to do with what I please!" The scythe came down again, the haft thumping against the ground as the girl stepped forward, nodding imperiously as if assured by her own decision. "So I want you to help me figure out why."

Another step. "I want you to help me figure out what they've done to put themselves beyond my reach."

Another step, now within reach. Her expression began to lose its impassiveness as anger began to sharpen her gaze. "I want you to figure out how I can stop them."

With one more step, she now forced me to pull back ever so slightly, only to halt me in my tracks as her free hand reached out to grab at my robes. I was forced to lean down to her height as she matched my gaze. "And I want you to figure out," Death said, biting out the furious words, "what it takes for these bastards to die!"

Unable to move with her grip upon me, forced to stare into her eyes as she made her deadly purpose known, there was nothing but a single thought in my mind. Beautiful.

The image shattered as the girl almost tripped backwards, fumbling with her scythe for a moment before catching it and glowering at me, even as her face slowly turned red. "I told you to stop that!"

"I can't help it!"

"Then start helping it!" She retorted. "Now focus! You cultivators have to know why you're able to avoid me. You mentioned the Third Step, right? How does it work?"

"I don't know," I admitted. "It's beyond my advancement. And it's hardly like they just have it out in the open for anyone to read."

But I could already see the parted waters of the Tzangtze in my mind, and feel the shadow loom over me. I could feel the stacks of scrolls surrounding me, trailing off into the halls that stretched for miles. And presiding over it all…

Death could feel the answer in me. "Where?"

"Not where. Who."

 

[Centergg]

Ah, this reminds about Terry Pratchett books. She's part time Death?

I think what thebactual Death already knows the answer, but let the girl indulge in her Quest.

I hope Ryan will not go bald and purple. For Love.


View: https://youtu.be/R0BLwPvXhcc?si=zc6F4o0U7HnVbVrs

 

[DALuc1f3r]

"And yeah, they did. Said they'd be right back after they milked the cows."

Click to shrink...

So, papa death went to go get the milk huh? Where have I heard that before

 

[Artemis]

There were a few problems that I'd have to resolve before I could return to the Library and seek out information on the Third Step. The first problem, of course, would be to properly disguise myself. I held no hope that my getaway from the Hospital was going to go unnoticed; even if they didn't keep track of the bodies of cultivators that entered the morgue, they'd absolutely notice the disappearance of a fortune in medicine, and it surely wouldn't take more than a few minutes for them to connect that with the strange disciple who'd shoved past everyone else to escape. And from there, it wouldn't take more than an hour for the news to spread across the entire Sect. If there was anything that could match the incredible velocity of a Cultivator in motion, it would be gossip.

As it was, there was almost certainly going to be a notice put out to bring in a certain Outer Disciple of approximately my height and features, to politely ask questions and then rip apart limb by limb. A fate I'd want to avoid if at all possible. Fortunately for myself, there was a solution; it just required debasing myself to levels as of yet undelved by any vertebrate.

But there were no lengths I was not willing to go if it meant preserving my own life.

"I can't believe what I'm watching," Death muttered, watching as I shrugged off my robes, tucking them behind the bench on the outcropping. "I suppose your senses have finally taken their leave?"

"Better my senses than my soul," I replied easily, standing and stretching in nothing more than the roughspun pair of shorts and torn shirt I wore underneath the heavy outer garments. To finish off the look, I ripped away some of the turf covering the outcropping and grabbed a handful of dirt, holding it out for a moment to catch some of the spray of the waterfall. From there it was simple to rub the mud into my hands and add a touch here and there to my face and limbs. With a grin, I spun towards Death, arms wide open. "So what do you think? Just some regular old farm boy I am, ain't I?"

Death rolled her eyes, hopping up to her feet and walking towards the bridge leading back to the Sect. "Come on then, farm boy. Where's this library of yours?"

"We're going to have to move along the main road," I answered, hands in pocket as I followed her, quickly ascending the bridge that led to one of the main islands. "As much as the Alley is more direct, it'd be too much of a hassle to deal with someone who's just had their door stolen and wants to take it out on someone. Here, this way."

At my direction, Death took a left, leading us both into the throngs that filled the boulevard that ran right through the Sect, the crowd immediately pressing against me to move forward. "So rather than get hassled by other Outer Disciples," Death wondered, sticking right behind me, "you think outright getting killed by some other cultivator who notices you is better?"

"That assumes they'd ever care to notice a mortal," I said, stepping to the side as a Disciple moved right through the space where I was. The blue-robed Disciple didn't even seem to notice as the mortals parted around them, and she certainly didn't look when one labourer went down underneath her feet, the sack on their shoulder spilling out onto the street. I quickly pulled the man to his feet, grabbing as many of the large round fruit that had rolled out to hand back to the man, glancing up at Death as I did so. "We're basically nothing more than part of the landscape to them."

"W-We're what?" Rather than Death, it was the man in front of me who responded, clutching at his side that the cultivator had stepped on.

"Just keep it in mind," I said to the man, quickly scooping the fruit into his sack before pressing onwards. Cultivators talking to themselves are eccentric, but I think I just look crazy.

Death's sharp laugh rang out over the street as she leapt over my head towards a cart, the driver not even taking notice as she settled down next to him to look down at me with a raised eyebrow. "And this has only just occurred to you?"

I'm probably the most reasonable cultivator that exists, I mentally argued with the person that only I could see, dodging around the same cultivator that had almost trampled me earlier, noticing the Outer Disciple they'd apprehended. The one in blue seemed to be gesturing towards some scroll in her hands, with the weaker cultivator simply shaking their head in denial. Both of them totally ignored me, so focused were they on the depiction of my own face on the poster.

"They didn't get your nose right," Death observed, "not nearly crooked enough."

Ha. Ha. Can you hear me laugh inside my own head? I kept walking past the cultivators, pushing past a few more haulers before cutting across the entire boulevard to hide behind the other side of the cart that continued to trundle along. Still, as confident as I am there's no need to push my luck.

It took another ten minutes of weaving through the crowds to reach the centre Isles, and another five minutes from there to carefully move along the less crowded streets that were mostly populated by other Disciples; on those roads I made sure to keep my head well down on, unable to hide amongst other mortals and instead hoping that my shabby attire and scruffy looks would do enough to dissuade a proper inspection. But fortune was on my side, even if Death wasn't, and soon enough I stood upon the faintly misted path, the Tzangtze rushing by on both sides as I looked towards my goal…

I took a slow, deep breath.

And my next problem. Sneaking beneath the notice of a few Outer and Inner Disciples was hardly even a challenge, especially with my own experience living as nothing more than just another insect to them; I wouldn't be so lucky in avoiding the Senior Librarian's notice. Especially if I made the foolish decision to simply stroll through the front doors up to his desk.

"What's the hold up?" Death nudged me. "Some bigshot cultivator inside you have to avoid?"

"That's the who, yeah," I nodded, allowing myself to fully exhale…and then inhale once more, filling my lungs as much as possible. There's not a chance that I'd be able to sneak by him.

"What, so you're going to fight him?" Death nudged me again, then outright grabbed my shoulder, pulling me to face her and her flabbergasted expression. "No, you're not that stupid, right? Are you expecting me to drag your corpse further into the Library or something? Are you actually that insane!?"

I couldn't help but laugh, losing all the air in my lungs. "Gods, no! Me, fighting Yun? There's not a chance!" I shook my head, grinning. "There wouldn't even be anything left of my body to bring back. It'll be over the second he sees me." It'll be over the second I even dare to step in through those doors.

"Then what's the damn plan, Ryan?"

Simple: I just won't go through the doors. I inhaled, closing my eyes and then stepped towards the side of the path, to the furious rush of water blasting right along the path.

And I dove in.

Instantly, I felt my body be crushed by the immense weight of water all around me, instantly pulling me along in its grip; there wasn't a doubt in my mind that I would have died if I was still an ordinary mortal, and even with my own advancement water was already forcing its way inside my mouth. But even if that half a year of cultivation was only barely keeping me alive-

-I did more than just cultivate! My eyes snapped open, my arm spearing out to grab at the bottom of the Tzangtze. My fingers pulled at the muck of the riverbed there, even as the current tried to wrestle me away, but there was nothing it could do to stop me from grabbing at the steel cable that had been buried beneath the constantly-moving particulate. I moved my other arm as well, securing my grip a little bit further up the cable, slowly pulling it out of its hiding place. And then, muscles flexing with the power that the Ruby Tears had granted me, I began to climb.

The Sovereign Remedy still lingered within my body, and I forced its power along my arms, taking its qi to use as my own as I fought against the Tzangtze, arm-length by arm-length. With the ridiculous medicine's power, all aided by my own strength as a cultivator on the Second Step, I was hauling myself so quickly that I was forced to shut my eyes again, ignoring the pressure as best as I could, focusing instead on each movement I made. One. Two. Three.

Fifty four hands later, I felt the current twist into an undertow, whirling water that threatened to spin me around, to knock me against the rock the Library was built into, but I kept going. Fifteen hands later, I felt as the strength of the current faded, only to be confronted with nothing more than my own lungs demanding that I give them the air they desperately craved.

And still I kept going. Nine. Ten. One. Almost. There!

And with a splash, I emerged from the water into warm air. Gasping for breath, I let go of the cable, falling onto the ground with a low thud, leaving the wall of water behind me.

And even lying there, coughing up the water that had managed to enter my lungs, I couldn't help but choke out a laugh. "Never thought- I'd actually get the, hah, chance to do that!"

Deep underneath the Library's entrance, in the long halls of shelves and scrolls, you could find long hallways where they had no wall but the Tzangtze itself, the only barrier being the scripted formations that kept out the humidity, and the assumed intelligence that would keep a visitor in. And with the very last of my yuan of my stipend, I'd prepared myself a way into one of those halls, anchoring a cable into the bedrock on the other side of the hall, just in case Yun had ever decided to bar my way into the Library.

And now, that investment had just paid off.

"How about that, huh?" I laughed again, wiping away the water at my eyes, coughing up the very last of the water to look towards Death. Instead, I looked up. And up.

Senior Librarian Yun grunted, pulling the pipe from his mouth to exhale a thick cloud of smoke. "Was wondering when you'd finally use that. Welcome back, Ryan."

 

[inirlan]

Binged and followed.

And hello Senior Librarion Not Wukong! I can see a few possible directions this could go, I wonder which it'll be. Or whether I'll be surprised altogether. Either way, I can't wait for the next chapter.

 

[OverseerEX]

"As for the how, I just happened to be in the wrong place at the right time," Death ran her finger along the blade. "And yeah, they did. Said they'd be right back after they milked the cows."

Click to shrink...

Ah, if this was modern times I'd imagine it like this:
Death, sitting in a tiny, gloomy office, dressed like a classic 2000s goth, smoking a cigarette:
"Listen, kid. I ain't have the time to be bothered by a nobody like you, got it?"
"Sign these forms and enjoy your new life, not that you'll remember anything from this one."
"I'm waiting for Manager Death to come back from his shift break, it's been like 3 kalpas already..."
"I need a fucking break too, goddamnit!"
"CEO Heaven has been really lax in his inner management these past few kalpas."

I would've thought that Death being a 'natural law' has to know the 'inner workings' of the world, so to speak, and know how, where, and when cultivators go. This makes it seem like it's outside her jurisdiction.

 

[Winged One]

This makes it seem like it's outside her jurisdiction.

Click to shrink...

But if that's the case, isn't it weird that nobody's told her it's classified, or at least to mind her own business?

 

[Golgotha]

This is really shaping up to be an interesting story.

And, sorta, makes sense why the librarian considered him a slacker. Could have came to the library to keep studying all this time and didn't!

(You know, ignoring all other concerns like not being physically strong enough to take the path or the time to do so)

 

[LunaMoth]

I've always been interested in Xianxia, but most stories set in the genre are extremely trope heavy and way too violent for me. I just honestly don't like progression fantasy that much which doesn't help my enjoyment of Xianxia that much either, seriously there is only so much fun to be had in characters getting stronger; a ton of Xianxias I've tried to read start out with a plot then devolve into the exact same story. (Sorry I just have gripes with the Xianxia genre, with that said)

I like how the focus here will seemingly be finding a way to court death, and that as far as I can tell that will involve deconstructing the genre a little.

 

[Artemis]

With a flick of his pipe, the smoke surged forward in hazy strands, thickening as they wrapped around my limbs and pulled me off the ground; there was nothing I could do as the smoke carried me up until I was just about level with Senior Librarian Yun's face. I didn't dare to move a muscle even as I felt the smoke sting at my skin, the air around me growing hotter and hotter as I beheld the Ape, who returned my gaze with an intense calm. The Librarian lifted his pipe once more to his lips, the bowl burning white-hot as he took another deep pull of whatever drug laid within.

And, with a deep exhale, Yun spoke. "You've made yourself into a real nuisance, Disciple."

I said nothing, keeping my breathing as even as possible, ignoring the awful burning sensation of the fumes as they hit the back of my own throat.

"It's been a long time coming." Yun only took my silence as permission to continue, gesturing towards the steel cable that laid discarded on the floor. "Can you imagine how I felt when I came across this pitiful attempt at circumventing the Library's security? As if the wards would not call out to their master to come and inspect whatever damage an unruly Disciple had committed. That holds for the walls of this place just as much as the scrolls, Ryan."

"But the violation of this Library was not all!" Yun continued, swinging his arms wide open, trails of ash following his fingers. "No, for now you've done more to shake the Sect than you have in the two and a half years hence. Plenty of others saw your face as you made your great escape, and it hardly takes a great mind to connect your hasty exit with the disappearance of the Hospital's reserves of our finest Sovereign Remedy."

Yun reached out with his free hand, and I held back a flinch as he poked a thick nail against my flesh. "And with that, you've made enemies of not just the Doctors of the Sect, but the Wenhua Clan itself; one of the great pillars that allows the Seven Falls Sect to stand head and shoulders over all others. And the other pillars will have no issue lending their support in hunting down someone like you."

The strands of smoke tightened further. "Do you understand, Ryan? You've made an enemy of the entire Sect, and they won't stop at having your head; they'll work tirelessly to get their investment back, use your very corpse to remake their medicine if they must. Do you truly think you stand a chance against them?"

I didn't have a way out. Yun had simply bound me too tightly, and even with the Sovereign Remedy there wasn't a chance I could escape without simply killing myself again. I was entirely at the more powerful cultivator's mercy. Every excuse, every reason shuffled through my mind as I did my best to think of a way out of this.

It was a mistake, an accident! I didn't mean to consume the pills, they were forced down my throat by Death herself. Yes, the actual representation of Death itself. That's the reason I can't die! Please, Yun, for whatever utterly unfathomably small amount of care you still have for me, can you please, please help-

I exhaled minutely. "Respectfully, Senior Librarian, go fuck yourself."

The hallway was dead silent. Behind the mammoth ape's body, I could see the newly-appeared Death blinking at me, dumbfounded by my words. That makes two of us.

And for Yun…

It started as a tremor. I could feel it through the strands of smoke that bound me, an erratic twitching that only grew stronger by the second. The temperature spiked upwards, leaving me panting for breath even as the air seared my mouth.The light-scripts along the walls began to flicker, as the very foundation of the Library began to shake, as if it those thousands of tons of rock above were about to fall and crush us beneath their weight.

"At long, LONG LAST! HA HA HA!"

That was what it was like to listen to a Cultivator on the Fifth Step laugh.

"I had truly given up all hope! I had believed that you'd consigned yourself to oblivion, to barely surviving through the day! Your last words just as well as confirmed that you somehow thought that accepting the boot upon your neck was going to see you through to the Third Step. But I was wrong, because you see it too-" Yun's lips pulled back in a wide smile. "-that you must challenge the very World around you, before you can ever be fit to challenge the Heavens."

The temperature of the air immediately fell to a pleasant, balmy warmth, and I was dropped to the floor without any ceremony, thankfully able to land on my feet without falling over. Yun had already turned, walking back down the corridor. "I've got some questions!" I called, hurrying after him, passing by Death and pulling her by her free hand, dragging her out of whatever surprise she still seemed to be in.

"And I have answers," he replied, not even glancing back as he led me deeper into the Library, pipe stuck between his lips. "I'm assuming you came here because you felt there was some scroll you felt would aid you? I must warn you, if you plan to learn some technique, then consider that your time here may be limited, and depleting your qi reserves at a moment like this would be ill-advised."

With the Sovereign Remedy, perhaps that wouldn't be so much of a concern- I shook my head, shuffling off that possibility. I already had a goal in mind. "Not a technique. I wanted to look at whatever the Library had on the Third Step."

Yun stopped in place, hunching over slightly and coughing, before turning to look at me with his pipe hanging low in his mouth. "There's challenging the Heavens and there's suicide," Yun began, pulling the pipe from his mouth and pointing it in my direction. "Just because you have been too cautious previously is no excuse to over-correct in the other direction. You are not ready for the Third Step, Ryan."

"I'm not trying to get myself killed," I easily agreed, ignoring the sound of choking at my side. "But there's something about the Step that I need to know." I did my best not to look at Death, only tightening my hand around hers. For some reason that just prompted her to start wriggling and pulling at my own hand, but I kept my expression neutral as I locked eyes with Yun, trying my best to convey how serious I was. "Do me this favour, Yun."

Yun lifted his pipe back to his mouth, chewing at the stem for a few moments as he considered me. Eventually, he sighed deeply. "If only…very well. We'll need to head further down, then."

With that, he turned forward once more, continuing along the corridor. I finally peeked at Death, who had resorted to using some strange technique to free herself, her hand phasing right through my own as she extracted it from my grip. She shot me a look as she cradled that still-transparent hand against her chest. "Not tryin' to get himself killed he says," she muttered, stretching out her fingers. "As if he hadn't just told some big shot to go fuck himself."

Well, what's life if you aren't willing to live it? I shot her a winning smile, before following on after Yun. After a small harrumph from behind, I heard Death begin to follow after, her shorter legs having to speed up slightly to keep up with the pace that Yun set. And I think…I'd forgotten that Yun was always like this. He wasn't always a big shot.

"Does it even matter? A cultivator is a cultivator, at the end of the day," Death said, gesturing with her scythe to the Ape in front of us. "Imagine what he had to do to end up like that."

Wasn't his choice, actually, I explained, looking over Yun's body, the oversized robes doing nothing to hide the fur that covered the librarian's body from head to weirdly dexterous toes. It was a curse of some sort. Don't know how he got it, but he said he got used to it at some point and doesn't want to change back.

"Cultivators are fucking weird."

On that, we agree. Our conversation closed just as we all arrived back in the central atrium of the Library. Yun ignored the main desk, instead swinging an arm out towards the Library's doors which swung shut with a tremoring thud. Next, he gestured towards the open space of marble and jade behind the desk. It was from here that most visitors to the library could stop for just a moment, looking up towards the stained glass sky, loomed over by shelves filled with countless scrolls, and feel at peace for just a moment.

Or maybe that was just me, I thought, spinning a coin on my necklace. Ever since I'd first arrived at the Sect and found my way to this building it had felt like the only place close to home. Certainly not for any physical resemblance, for any one of these strange, foreign scrolls was surely worth more than my family's life work. But it had been under Yun's stern instruction that I'd learnt to slowly decode and understand the contents of these scrolls and the characters written upon them, and I couldn't help but feel a small reminder of my life before with every sharp correction and every satisfied nod.

But Yun ignored the shelves as well, instead pointing directly at the floor. After a moment, the circular expanse of marble and jade began to shake, and slowly the tiles began to descend, starting from just behind the desk. The process only sped up as we watched on, the outer perimeter of the atrium forming itself into a staircase that spiralled down into the ground, quickly disappearing around the central marble pillar that remained at the centre.

"Usually, the Council of Elders will meet once a month to determine which Disciples show the most promise, and have proven themselves ready for the challenge of undertaking the Third Step," Yun muttered, moving to settle into his chair by the desk, the overbuilt piece of furniture squeaking softly as he got comfortable. Looking to the closed door, the Ape grunted. "In this scenario, I think we'll avoid unduly bothering them."

I bowed at the waist in the Senior Librarian's direction, perhaps for the first time genuinely meaning it. "Thank you, Yun."

"Don't mention it," I straightened to see Yun waving the thanks away, before he fixed me with a deadly look. "I'll have to kill you if you do. Now get going."

He's probably joking. I bowed once more, ignoring the Ape's displeased grunt, before jumping down into the stairwell, taking each step two at a time. Death followed right after, and with her steps following just behind mine, we left the high atrium behind, soon replaced by the endless light-scripts that hugged the spiraling ceiling above. Their soft glow guided us both as we descended deeper into the Library than I ever had before. It took over five minutes of constant descent before we finally arrived at the end, the spiral straightening out to lead down a few last steps, into…

Surprisingly small, I thought, as I looked around the room. Several plush chairs surrounded a low marble table, with light scripts standing on adjustable stands around them. The shelves were also much smaller than the massive stone constructs that sat above, each one only bearing a few dozen volumes in their cubbies. I walked over to one of the shelves, pulling one scroll free and releasing it from its case, scanning across the title quickly. "Considerations on Foundation Preparation before the Immortal Step," I read out loud, looking at Death behind me. "I think this is going to take a while."

"Then we have no time to waste," Death declared, tossing her scythe onto one of the chairs before walking over to a shelf, pulling out several scrolls at once and tossing them onto the table. I had to hold back from screaming as one sailed right over the table to hit the ground, the case coming undone and the parchment unrolling itself on the ground. Watching as Death proceeded to walk over it to sit in one of the free chairs with another scroll loosely held in hand, I turned back to the treatise in front of me, biting my lip and ignoring the awful crimes against literature occurring behind my back.

Gods, forgive me for this, I thought, carefully unfurling the rest of the scroll.

"Forgiven! Now get to it!"

 

[Golgotha]

"Forgiven! Now get to it!"

Click to shrink...

Death really is in a strange spot, in terms of self identity.
She's aware she's a temp, kinda resents it, sees herself at least to an extent as still a farmer, but also instinctively? (It might be a joke?) Considers herself a god with the authority that implies.
She's been at the job long enough to consider cultivators an affront to her position, enough that is a major driving force to her actions. But not so long that some mild complements fail to embarrass her.

A lot of layers to unwrap.

 

[LunaMoth]

A lot of layers to unwrap.

Click to shrink...

I think a lot of it is explainable by her being a Xianxia farm girl given the position, I'd assume silently resenting the existence of cultivators is a common thing for Xianxia normal people to feel; given how the large majority of Cultivators are little more than murderhobos no matter how much golden gilding and filigree they put on themselves.

 

[Anti-No]

I think a lot of it is explainable by her being a Xianxia farm girl given the position, I'd assume silently resenting the existence of cultivators is a common thing for Xianxia normal people to feel; given how the large majority of Cultivators are little more than murderhobos no matter how much golden gilding and filigree they put on themselves.

Click to shrink...

The murderhobos might actually mostly be the good ones. Because they remove monsters preying on the common folk while running around and killing stuff to get monster cores and similar components to sell, or for their drug lab. The big problems? The ones in their high castle just crushing everyone with impossible taxes while giving nothing whatsoever back, never coming down from their ivory tower... EXCEPT to blow up the village and every neighbouring village if someone sneezes wrong.

To me, it basically sounds like Ultra-tyrrany with a few extra helpings of corruption, class divides, more-or-less random pogroms and 'national olympics in power abuse'. Law? Justice? HAH! As if.

 

[LunaMoth]

To me, it basically sounds like Ultra-tyrrany with a few extra helpings of corruption, class divides, more-or-less random pogroms and 'national olympics in power abuse'. Law? Justice? HAH! As if.

Click to shrink...

I basically have the view I do of cultivators because almost every time I've tried to read an Xianxia that was just playing 'Xianxia straight', every cultivator sort of just wantonly murders other people with no good reason to do so, I understand its a trope of the genre but it makes its seem like every cultivator is completely insane in a bad way. The Xianxia that actually portrays cultivators as normal and helpful is usually some sort of deconstruction as far as I can tell.

 

[Artemis]

The hours passed by quickly enough, motivated by both the original goal of determining the secret of the Third Step, and also by the wish to put an end to the awful treatment of the scrolls, which soon accumulated in unravelled heaps across the floor. But even as I slowly learnt to ignore my pain at seeing the disrespect paid to such priceless treasures, I found myself falling deeper into the mysteries that had been laid out before me, hidden within the scrolls.

The vast majority didn't even cover the Third Step directly, if they mentioned it at all. Instead, I was treated to an absolute whirlwind of every aspect of cultivation that the Sect had determined an aspirant should know. I learnt about the effectiveness and importance of fire techniques, in more detail than I ever had before; I read through experiments that compared and contrasted different cultivation elixirs and their compatibility with actually living; I even stumbled across one old script that, incredibly, discussed the enhancement of the Seven Falls Stance to something even more costly and unwieldy, a technique that would serve as an elevated challenge to those that had advanced to the Third Step.

But on every tenth scroll I would slowly learn a little bit more about that next advancement, towards what I knew as 'Soul Anchoring'. Bit by bit, the Step unfolded itself before me, revealing itself as less as a jump and more of an utter chasm. Occasionally I would refer back to a reserved pile of documents to answer one question, only to be greeted by ten more.

And I feel like I could spend a decade contemplating some of them, I thought, tossing another scroll onto the pile. It had grown enough to swallow the armchair they'd taken over, until nothing could be seen but the occasional patch of fabric on the back or the ornately carved feet at the bottom. In comparison, I only kept three right by my side; the Considerations that I had first picked up, which had been something of a guiding star, another grim one called Techniques on Resisting Pain, which contained a suspicious number of references to the Third Step, and one last one that was infuriatingly called Yun's Hints. I could just see the Senior Librarian's challenging smirk at that one.

"Just a reminder that we won't have a day, let alone a decade," came Death's reply from across the room. I glanced over to where the manifestation of the end of all mortal things had somehow contorted herself into some upside-down posture, legs over the back of the chair as her head dangled off the edge of the seat, reading some scroll loosely draped over the blade of her scythe, which stood leaning at a slight angle against the table. Even as I watched, the scroll began to lose its fight against gravity and rolled off onto the floor, onto the growing mound of yet more priceless manuscripts. Death shot me a scowl as I hissed. "Oh, it's just some old paper and ink, get over it. Did you get anything?"

"Soul Anchoring is the first true challenge a cultivator faces, and the truest sign that they're worthy of their role," I answered wisely. "And apart from that pithy line, the rest is clear as mud."

Death groaned, her head lolling back to softly thunk against the plush chair. "Did cultivators decide that boring me to death was the best way to avoid me? Because it's fucking working."

"To be fair, even if none of them are being straightforward, there's a couple of hints." I slowly pulled out the dubiously named Resisting Pain. "This one makes it pretty clear that Soul Anchoring is meant to be more painful than any physical injury. Perhaps the Anchoring is literal? Maybe some sort of qi construct, a permanent technique that actively pins the body and soul together?"

Death waved her hand dismissively. "No mere technique is going to keep me from carrying someone's soul off to the Cycle, otherwise you'd just be able to ward a room and stay in it forever. Besides, a body and soul are normally plenty attached to each other, barring annoying exceptions. That's you, by the way."

I graciously ignored her comment. "Otherwise, it mentions that the process absolutely needs to be done in one go; once you begin the Third Step, you can't stop until you've completed it, and any interruption is…fatal." Immediately so, based on the descriptions here of spontaneous combustion.

Death sunk her head deeper into the plush with a relaxed sigh. "Spontaneous combustion is more common than you think. Can't exactly think of anything specific to that which would make sense."

I watched Death roll her head around in the soft velvet for a moment, reconciling the image of a girl enjoying such luxury with the horror of what she'd just said. I eventually decided not to reconcile it. "That's terrible."

"That's life!" Death sing-songed, looking towards me with a flat expression to contrast her voice. "Or death, whatever you prefer. Got anything else?"

"Just questions," I sighed, staring over the piles of scrolls, and the even greater number that were still within their nooks…and the girl amongst it all, almost looking like she was about to fall asleep, covered in a blanket of unfurled parchment. Of all of the mysteries in this room, she still remained the greatest, and the questions I had on the Third Step only seemed to grow dimmer in comparison to those I had regarding her.

"Well?" Death opened one eye, glancing at me. "C'mon, we don't have all day."

I rolled my tongue around in my mouth, thinking. I should probably just go for it. "I can't just keep calling you 'Death'. So what's your actual name?"

I was treated to the sight of Death tumbling out of the chair, scrolls catapulted across the room as she spun head over heels and collided with the ground, her legs slamming with a painful-sounding thud against the centre table. I didn't even have a chance to flinch in sympathy before the manifestation of death quickly scrambled to her feet, pointing at me furiously. "What the hell does that have to do with the Third Step?"

"I just thought it would be nice to know!"

"Then why'd you only ask now!?"

I swept my arms out, gesturing at the general state of everything. "I'm sorry, but we've been kind of busy!"

"Gods above!" Death dragged at her face with her hands, groaning as she slowly sat back down in her seat. She spent a few seconds collecting herself, murmuring under her breath while staring daggers at me. "Fucking…fine. Fine! Sure, it doesn't matter that the Cycle is literally falling apart, let's ask my name, shall we? Let's just distract ourselves from why we're here." Even as she spoke, she slumped further into her seat, until her chin was tucked in against her neck and her sharp glare had turned more into a sullen pout. "...s'isabla."

"Pardon?"

"It's Isabella," she enunciated, crossing her arms and turning her head away. "There. Congratulations, you know my name. Y'happy?" The girl quickly grabbed another scroll and focused on reading it, refusing to meet my eyes.

It left me with not much to do but consider Death- Isabella's answer. I hadn't known what to expect in the first place, so I couldn't say I was surprised by the name. Perhaps I expected something like a noble name? But no matter her current occupation, she'd never made an effort to present herself as anything other than just a farm girl. It was different, perhaps, than those names that dominated the Seven Falls Sect, but did 'Ryan' fit in any better?

"Isabella," I said, testing the name. "It's a nice name. Maybe Izzy, or Bella? But Isabella, it's…nice." It's pretty, I couldn't help but think.

The scroll crumpled in her hands slightly, but the expected outburst didn't come. Nor did I see any other sort of movement, beyond tense hands that ever so slightly shook as they held tightly onto the parchment. In fact, she pulled it closer to her face, hiding beneath the scroll and out of my sight. It was utterly unlike anything else I'd ever seen from the girl.

For a moment, I wasn't sure what to do. "Is…everything alright?" I ventured.

"Stupid," came the response, whispered only barely loud enough to be heard.

Back in slightly more familiar territory now. "I mean it. Well, the thought- I mean that too, I suppose, but I really do mean that Isabella's a nice name!"

"Not what I meant," she replied quietly, letting go of the scroll with one of her hands, allowing it to drop to hang from the other. And with the parchment now lying in a wrinkled blanket across her lap I saw Isabella's face, without any hint of fury upon it; just red eyes, with tears running down her cheeks. With a deep breath, she lifted her free hand to furiously rub at her eyes. "Just-" she coughed, sniffing. "I just forgot what it was like. To hear someone else say it." Isabella tried to laugh, the sound heavy with unwept tears. "It's been a while."

The first time I had seen Death, it had been as I'd laid dying on the floor of an arena, wondering why such a stranger would be there, surrounded by Disciples of the Seven Falls Sect. The second time, I'd known a little better, but I'd already begun to resolve that stranger in my mind as a divine being; their appearance was really just a reflection of myself. And the third time, waking up after my second death and being saved by her intervention, I'd barely had the time to do more than run, my mind clouded by the fog of death and the haze of drugs.

But now I sat in a room with Death, and I couldn't see the divine being anymore. Whatever pedestal I'd been putting on had, in this moment, disappeared, leaving behind just a girl who'd once lived the same life as me, working under the sun to scratch out a life upon this world. And no matter however many years she'd played her role wielding that scythe, she was still a person.

Her name was Isabella, and she was doing her best not to cry.

I stood up from my chair and walked over the mound of parchment, sitting myself on the armrest of her chair, wrapping an arm around her shoulders and pulling her in against me. "I'm so sorry, Isabella," I said. "You didn't deserve this. I'm sorry."

I felt her tense for just a moment, as the hand that had been crumpling the parchment moved to grab a fistful of my own undershirt. But, slowly, she loosened her grip, moving her arm around me to rest on my back as she buried her face in my side, not making a single sound even as Isabella shook with the burden of whatever weight she'd been carrying for an unfathomable number of years.

I didn't move a muscle, simply holding her there for the next few minutes even as I felt my own shirt grow wet from her tears. Instead, I just considered the scythe that still leaned against the other side of the chair, its cold edge gleaming underneath the script lights. It didn't move, or emanate some menacing aura, but I couldn't help but wonder if it was intelligent in its own way. You've claimed more lives than just what you've reaped, haven't you?

I felt a sobbing laugh against my stomach. "I d-don't think the scythe can hear you." Slowly, Isabella pulled herself away, grabbing the parchment in her lap to wipe at her face.

For once, I could ignore the sacrilege, focusing instead on the half-smile that had crossed the girl's face. "Are you going to be okay?"

She just laughed again, shaking her head as she dropped the tear-stained parchment to the ground. "First time in ten thousand years that anyone has asked me that. I think I'll be a bit better than I was before."

Ten thousand years? I forced the thought out of my head, doing my best to ignore the faint flicker of despair that crossed Isabella's own face. Moving on. I clapped my hands together, forcing her attention away from my thoughts and onto me. "Then I'm glad. Pretty girls shouldn't cry, and my mother would be furious if I'd been the one to make you cry."

Isabella blinked at me a few times, before a laugh escaped her lips. "You really don't hesitate to say such outrageous things, do you?"

"Cultivators do outrageous things," I shrugged. "Maybe more of those outrageous things should be complimenting pretty girls instead of challenging the Heavens."

She shook her head, the remaining tears now forgotten in favour of a bemused smile. "The world would be a better place for it." Once more, she took a breath, this time slow and smooth, the weight that had been hidden there not gone, but lessened. Slowly, with an exhale, the girl named Isabella took a step back, and Death emerged once more, ready to do her duty. "I think we've got all we can get from here. Which isn't much, but it's time we move on."

I nodded in agreement, sliding off the armchair. "Better get out of here before we overstay Yun's welcome." I took a moment to look around the room, trying my best not to grimace as I was forced to confront the state we'd left the library. "Though maybe we can delay leaving just for a bit, so he doesn't decide to hunt me down to repair the parchment with my hide."

Death just shook her head with a dismissive chuckle, and after a few minutes of quickly wrapping up and returning the loose scrolls we left the room behind, ascending the steps to the surface. It only took a few minutes for us to escape the glow of the script-lights and enter the embrace of the sun filtered through the stain-glass ceiling-

Soft words in a familiar voice echoed down the staircase at the edge of my hearing. "-enior Librarian, I apologise for the interruption in your work."

I instinctively forced myself against the wall, pulling Isabella with me. The avatar of Death didn't even get a chance to speak before I used my other hand to cover her mouth, cutting off her protests with a sharp shake of the head as I stared at her pleadingly.

Painstakingly, she pulled my hand off her mouth. "No one can hear me, dumbass. What the hell is the issue?"

Oh. Right.

The answer to Isabella's question came from above, as Yun's voice boomed throughout the library. "It is no issue, Junior Brother. What can I do for the Wenhua?"

"I'm looking for an Outer Disciple by the name of Ryan," said the voice of my killer. "I don't suppose you've seen him?"

 

[Centergg]

Dad!Death went to get milk 10000 years ago? I thought it was just a couple of months.

I am worried what happens to the world while Isabella is with Ryan. Did people doesn't die while she is here? Or does she have some colleagues and the whole Celestial Bureaucracy employ a whole Guild of Death Incarnates/Shinigami at behest of the Heaven? Was previous Death killed by some Culticator and that's why modern cultivators are cut from it?

 

[veekie]

A library first date. How novel.

 

[SoulCaptain]

Discovered. Fantastic premise. Binged. Thoroughly enjoyable story so far. Definitely going to keep following this.