Chapter 144
Come to Die, Stay to Live
Ye Bao had chosen to die.
He'd chosen so a long while back, in fact, at the turn of his seventeenth year of life. There was seldom a reason to continue, after all; he was discarded at birth, raised by nuns besotted with sadism, beaten and abused until his tiny legs could finally lift him off the ground enough to be sent off to work.
At the age of seven, he broke an arm shuffling chunks of iron ore from the mine; at nine, a supervisor broke both of his legs because he asked for more food; at thirteen, he was taken in by the Madame and fed until he was plump, before being shuttled between deprived and demented, over and over, until he'd 'gotten too old'.
The last two years he spent in and around Yuvel, doing mostly miscellaneous work and begging; he was tired, desolate, and broken. Every day became a blur, and they all blended together into a painting of crimson. There was nothing for him, not in this world at least.
Thus, Ye Bao had chosen to die.
He'd mulled over precisely how to die for a long while. After all, he wanted to make some kind of a statement with his death; he didn't want it to be as pointlessly hollow as his life. He considered setting himself on fire, but he remembered how painful it was when he accidentally touched a boiling pot, so he decided against it. There were also considerations of hanging himself, but the thought of not being able to breathe terrified him. Additionally, there was also the case of Hou Qing who did try but failed in the setup, and, instead of dying, he merely became paralyzed from the neck down.
There were many other considerations, too, but none seemed... appropriate. Either they were too painful, or too subtle, or not grand enough. He could not find a perfect way to die.
Then about twenty days ago, he saw it--the strange stall with an even stranger plaque and a stranger still man behind it. The man was offering work with food and lodging, with the caveat being that the work was to be done in the Nameless Forest.
Work? Hah!
There was no work!
But it was perfect, Ye Bao thought. He finally found his perfect death. There, between the thick layout of the trees, in the lands unspoken and forbidden, he would meet his end; unfortunately, it would not be a statement, it would not be grand, and it would not change much. But he would be consumed by the ethereal spirits and eternally reside within them, however faintly.
For a nobody who had only suffered, becoming part of a Spirit was as grand an ending as he could have hoped for. Thus, he was the first to sign up; he didn't care for the pay or for the lodging... he just cared that he would finally die. Even when the man fed him food pellets, and when his scrawny, thin body finally gained some weight after years, and even as they came upon the forest itself, where he was the first to swear an Oath, and even as they trekked through the slightly uphill lands of the forest, its roots thick and round and everywhere, and even as occasional animals came upon them curiously... none of it mattered.
Ye Bao had chosen to die.
But his will wavered; it wavered with each step ever so slightly until he found himself balancing atop the equally divided scale. The scent of food in the bowl in front of him was... divine. Every bite felt as though the arms of Heaven itself fell down from the sky and cradled him as tightly and lovingly as they could. All his scars and wounds began to vanish, years and years of distortions being erased.
He was not alone, either; anywhere he looked, he saw expressions of utter delirium, almost akin to those he'd see in the dark, men and women consumed by chasing desires that would become their undoing. But rather than depraved, expressions here appeared oddly pure, smothered with a layer of childlike innocence and naivety.
Having eaten the entire bowl, he put it down and reached for the cup of strangely colorful liquid; he brought it up to his nose and took a sniff, the sensation burning through him like fire. And just like that, he felt it: Qi. His meridians, having been shattered a long, long time ago, began to churn, like roots of a dead tree being revived. He took a sip, letting the sweet, thick liquid pour down his throat, setting him ablaze.
As with everything, he was not alone; young or old, everyone felt it, the burn within. And that burn became a dantian, and from that dantian Qi surged like tidal waves, reforging the meridians. Without even meaning to, he'd become a cultivator... all because he drank some strange juice.
Clamor broke out, chatter among everyone, and Ye Bao found himself wavering.
Ye Bao had chosen to live.
"Alright everyone, if you're done," a voice broke through the ruckus, gentle yet powerful, drawing all attention to itself; Ye Bao glanced over and saw the man who'd poured them bowls and cups, a man referred to as 'Master Leo'. He was tall and muscular, his hair and beard wild and unkempt; and yet, there was a grace about him that was difficult to quantify. "Follow me."
More than that, now that Ye Bao had become a cultivator, he could see it—the faint rim of golden light pulsing around the man's frame, like a holy hymn sung into infinity.
Everyone slowly stood up and followed, their minds rattled in ways none ever expected. Ye Bao suspected that most had come here for the same reason he originally did: to die. Perhaps a few came out because they were so desperate and naive to believe their lives would turn different overnight, but they would be rare exceptions. Most were ready to embrace the soil of earth and vanish.
They trekked westward as far as Ye Bao could estimate, walking through a relatively carved-out path suggesting that it had been trekked many times before. Trees began to thin out, and air grew stingier, as it were, but there wasn't much visual difference; were he not following the man, Ye Bao was certain he would have gotten lost.
After about an hour or so of a relatively slow walk, they emerged onto a clearing—vast and wide and flat—as the man stopped, waiting for everyone to pour out from between the trees and onto the opening. By the edges of the flat there were bundles of materials stacked and lined up, neatly categorized, while on the other side there was a long, long row of mud huts, each identical to the other.
"It is precisely as old man Yang informed you," the man who went by Master Leo spoke out as everyone settled down. "For the time you stay here, you will be tasked with helping us construct quite a few buildings. As we are only beginning, and as we unfortunately were unable to recruit anyone who specializes further than manual labor, for a moment you will largely be tasked with constructing walls, digging up and flattening the earth, and other such minor tasks until we've recruited more people. As promised, you will be given three daily meals, and all of you will individually be assigned to one of the mud huts. They all have a bed, a chair, and a table; I understand that it isn't much, but I hope to remedy it in the near future.
"As you guys came a bit earlier than expected, we've yet to completely finish the barrels for you to bathe in, but I promise you they will be done by tomorrow. So, if you can be patient for one day, I'd appreciate it. You don't have to do anything today—simply get to know each other, your surroundings, and perhaps a curious animal or two that might swing by. However, I beseech you--do not wander alone outside this field, especially at night. While I can guarantee your safety within the confines of this field, it will be a bit more difficult outside of it. The forest is vast and home to many, many things, but as long as you remain here, you will be safe. Do not instigate any of the animals that visit; do not hunt—which bears repeating: hunting in the forest is strictly prohibited, and if you are caught doing it, if you somehow manage to survive, you will be punished.
"Your three meals will be delivered daily at sunrise, midday, and an hour past sundown. I urge you to elect one among you as a representative, and if you have any requests or questions, share them with the elected who will then inform me. For the most part, you will be working with Elder Ag, Elder Yang, and my two Disciples who will frequently visit. Unfortunately, if you wish to leave, you will have to wait a little while; if you try to escape... well, I wouldn't recommend it. As I said, though you've experienced the safety of the Nameless Forest, do understand that its stories exist for a reason. Do you have any questions?"
The world went quiet as everyone tried to process the speech. Ye Bao found himself rattled; three meals a day, a personal 'house', and even a barrel to bathe in... he was likely dreaming this. By now, they must have been culled by the Dark Spirits of the Forest, and he was simply imagining all of this, as there was no chance it was real.
"W-will... will you kill us? A-after, after we finish building?" Somebody raised a question that likely everyone was wondering. Master Leo smiled faintly for a moment before replying.
"No," he said. "When we are done, you will have a choice: you will either stay here with us and become an official part of the Sect in some capacity, or you will be granted permission to leave and do with your life what you will. I swear an Oath of my Soul."
"!!!" It was true, after all. All of it. The miracle. The unending doubt began to wither like a sunless flower as eyes lit up like festival lanterns.
"Alright, that will be all from me. Unless you have any other questions, I will leave you to it."
"C-can," Ye Bao suddenly raised his voice, almost subconsciously. "Uh..."
"Yes?"
"... can, can we apply as, as Disciples? In the Sect, I mean," he didn't know why he asked--there was no way someone who could survive in the Nameless Forest would be in want of someone with Ye Bao's wretched talent. And yet, he asked nonetheless.
"Of course," the Master smiled, and Ye Bao thought it the most brilliant smile in the history of Ashlands. "Anyone can apply. I don't care for your talent, or your roots, or even much of your past, to be honest. I only care about today and tomorrow and overmorrow, and the rest of the days. I look at the character, and I look at your heart; everything else is secondary."