Truthful Transmigration

Chapter 548 548

Rustling fabric against wooden boards was the first thing that tipped him off. Even so, he didn't make a move right away. John passively took in the actions of the assassin, feeling the fluctuations of spiritual energy they produced. As much as possible, he kept his breathing to the same cadence that he might have when asleep.

He could sense the cold metal of a sharp knife. Even without any particular spiritual energy connected to it, the fluctuations it caused in the local elements were sufficient for him to pick out. Then again, not many people would be able to do the same. It was a miniscule effect that mainly disturbed background elements, with the overall state of earth and water remaining almost stagnant.

The figure crept through the darkness. John could open his eyes and pick out a face, but such a movement would give him away. Instead, he remained relaxed- yet ready to spring into action.

Minimal spiritual energy was applied to the assassin's movements, the fluctuations deemed riskier than a slow approach. With only a few small steps remaining, it was the right call. Too much reliance on spiritual energy could make people sloppy.

A silent arm reached out. A small intake of breath. Steel touched his throat- then sliced. The surge of spiritual energy was a bit slow, but the knife wouldn't cut his flesh without it. A necessary action, even if John could easily match it.

"... did I do it?" a small voice asked.

"Boo."

"Ack!" Rukiye jumped so high she hit her head on the low ceiling of the hut John was staying in.

"You need to study principles of the darkness element if you want to do better than that," John commented, sitting up. "Also, you need to be able to see in darkness to pull something like this off. Especially if the floorboards are uneven."

The girl frowned. "It's not normal to perform so many body tempering adjustments."

John tilted his head, exaggerating the motion so she could hopefully see it in the darkness. "Do you want to be normal? Or do you want to become strong enough to kill me?"

He didn't actually intend to provoke her. That was why he didn't mention Rukiye's mother. It wasn't as if such trauma would disappear over the course of a month, unlike other things. For example, Rukiye's health had been restored rather quickly. Sufficient food and proper usage of spiritual energy would do that. Soon enough her weight would be back to normal.

Her hair was still often a tangled mess, with the excuse that she didn't need to spend time on silly things like hygiene when she could be training. Maybe John would have to teach her to do such things as training. Dealing with hair involved fine manipulation, so it certainly could be.

-----

Rukiye was a good student for the most part. After all, she was highly motivated to train and become stronger. She didn't like to admit her flaws, but she had little choice but to show weakness when compared to John. More than a century of training was a massive gap between the two of them. It was the sort of thing that could be demoralizing if one thought about it too much. So John avoided bringing it up when unnecessary.

It didn't really matter whether he had personally killed Rukiye's mother. In fact, it probably didn't matter if she was actually a good person. What mattered was that she was important to Rukiye.

The same was true of everyone else John had killed, most likely. It was a rare individual that didn't have a strong connection with somebody. Even the most isolated cultivator had friends… though not always the sort that would stand with them beyond the point of convenience. Either way, family was something you were born with even if many lost it far too early. Family formed a connection that couldn't be denied no matter how much people might want to.

If John were to judge his current actions, wouldn't it be appropriate to train everyone to give them a chance to kill them? Was it hypocritical to kill pretty much everyone else that attacked him?

Maybe, but there was a stark difference with developed adults who knew better- and had been warned. Even if Rukiye was able to cultivate- and cultivate well- her brain hadn't finished developing. Adults could still grow mentally, of course, but there was at least a general threshold that people were striving for. Besides, there weren't that many people with sufficient determination.

It wasn't just that Rukiye was weak enough she would likely never be a threat. Besides, John could foresee a future where his strength waned while hers continued to grow stronger. Was it a real possibility? He had no idea. Judging her capability to reach the Exalted Soul Phase before she was even twenty years old was a bit much, especially since he barely had any examples to go from.

-----

Finally, they were out of the Endless Swamp. They could have actually left some time earlier, but John had kept the pace of travel somewhat slower for the sake of Rukiye. The official reason was to visit more minor sects along the way, but he had wanted to get her as much training time in familiar elements as possible.

It wouldn't change the overall pace of the journey regardless. An extra week or two wasn't relevant when the whole project was going to take years- and that was a somewhat optimistic projection. While it shouldn't take long to negotiate with any individual group or region, some people got bogged down in the minutiae. Personally, John was inclined to give such people less favorable terms, and with the aid of Viriato he frequently accomplished what he wanted while they still thought they got the upper hand.

Rukiye was quiet as they boarded the ship.

Unauthorized use of content: if you find this story on Amazon, report the violation.

"What is it?" John asked.

It was reasonable for her to feel some trepidation at leaving behind her homeland for the first time. Of course, she had been far away from her original home for most of the journey- but still in a familiar area. Now, she was somewhere new.

"... I've never seen the ocean before," Rukiye commented. "It's blue."

John nodded. "So it is."

It wasn't a profound statement, but accurate nonetheless.

"I can see so far," she said. "Without… being in the sky."

"No trees in the way," John agreed. There were a few lakes of sorts in the Endless Swamp, but none they passed had been large enough to stretch out to the horizon without something visible beyond it. "I think the sea is beautiful."

-----

It wasn't long before John heard a horrible heaving sound. Not long into the trip, Rukiye had begun showing visible signs of queasiness, and now…

"I hate the ocean," she said during one of her few moments of stability. "I think it's out to kill me."

John hadn't seen a cultivator get seasick in a long time. Personally, he'd never had the issue- even in the most extreme cases like aboard the Wavecutter. That ship had been designed to accept the force of the waves and was not a steady ride at all. It had never quite flipped over, but it certainly got close to horizontal on many occasions. All that had been in stormy waters.

Here? They barely had much in the way of waves. The ship was traveling at a decent pace, but the swaying of the ship was pretty minimal overall.

John gave Rukiye a pat on the back. It might annoy her more than comfort her, but he had to try. He didn't actually know what proper advice was for people who got seasick, since he hadn't had to deal with it. Still…

"Pay attention to what is happening in your body," John said. "Especially in your head."

"Ugh. Can't you just toss me overboard?" she asked. "Pull me behind with a rope…"

"Ooh!" John said. "Wakeboarding?" he tilted his head. "That sounds kind of fun."

It kind of was, but John could move so much on his own that the speed was mostly irrelevant. It wasn't as good of a rush as flying could be. Still, it was different so that was something. It seemed that people who couldn't fly on their own found it interesting.

Renato looked at the board John had constructed. Basically just a way to latch shoes onto a surface. "So you're saying that you don't even have to use spiritual energy to avoid sinking? There's no way that's enough material to float, though."

John pondered for a moment. "Haven't you ever hit water while going very fast? It's closer to solid ground. In this case, you wouldn't be dropping into it but pulled into it. Don't worry, this ship is fast enough that it should work for you… at least without your armor."

They didn't exactly have ropes that were strong enough to hold that sort of tension anyway. It wasn't something they really needed on a voyage, as the standard ropes were more than sufficient to hold together. So unless they took some important part of the rigging out, they didn't have anything that could hold the hundreds of kilos necessary for Renato in armor. Adding his club would be another step worse, though he didn't need either when out on the water.

Eventually, he took his own turn. Renato certainly found it amusing, and he didn't have the sorts of elements where he would have experienced similar motion, so he seemed to enjoy it more than John. However, he was still an Ascending Soul Phase cultivator used to extreme activities. It was difficult to be that excited, even being dragged behind a very fast ship and doing flips.

Rukiye, however, was generally lacking in such intense experiences. After seeing at least some form of entertainment on the faces of John, Renato, and a few others… she was looking on curiously. When she wasn't heaving over the side of the ship.

"The motion will be different," John said. Clearly, she wasn't having success with managing her condition even on the second day. "You should try it."

She just frowned. "I'm not here to play around. It's not like it will make me any stronger."

"Oh yeah?" John asked. "You think you can hold onto that rope with your puny hands? Protect your legs from the shock of impacting the water after flipping ten meters into the air? If you can, how long can you do it?"

"Hmph. Something like that, I can do forever."

"Prove it."

Most of the others had been responsible for all of the effort of letting themselves out slowly, but John subtly helped bridge the gap for Rukiye. Unlike a speed boat, it wasn't exactly convenient for their sailing ship to start and stop. It was capable of doing so, but they had a journey to complete. A little bit of curving back and forth was one thing, but spending hours of their day resting and then accelerating was a bit much. John already had a reputation as an eccentric, but he would prefer not to be seen as frivolous as well.

Obviously people already thought him strange for training a kid that wanted to kill him, but that was just a sort of fearless confidence that was befitting of a leader. Maybe.

Once Rukiye was in place, arms outstretched and her spiritual energy fortifying her grip and legs, John let her be in total control. She had martial training, so her balance was excellent. She even controlled some of the water beneath her when she was faltering. Because the ship didn't make interesting wave patterns all on its own, it was up to her to find most of her own excitement by stimulating her own motion to either side.

In the name of training, John increased some of the turbulence behind the ship. It would be more fun for her, if she allowed herself to feel anything but tension. All she had was a look of determination… but at least she didn't look sick. It was amazing how a slightly different sense of control could affect things.

John did see a few flashes of a grin every once in a while before she stoically returned her face to a neutral expression. He was glad about that, though he did think her stubbornness was a bit much, both in that regard and in her unwillingness to give up. She had said she could do it forever, and she meant to try. As if that even made sense. John was going to cut her off when it grew dark, but she ran out of spiritual energy long before that. Her grip faltered as her still-strengthening muscles couldn't handle the pressure alone.

Determining the appropriate level of wipeout John should allow was difficult. Rukiye needed to suffer the consequences of her own stubbornness. But he obviously wasn't going to let her die- or leave her behind. So he dove in when she began to sink- unable to swim as she was used to because of her fatigue and her connection to the improvised board.

Being saved by John might be just the consequences she needed. And, he could give her an important reminder. "Rest is part of training, you know," John said. "No matter how well you draw in spiritual energy from around you, you can't act forever. Fatigue builds up in the mind and body."

She probably only half heard him in her state, but John wasn't expecting any sort of sudden jumps in progress from her. As long as he could help her work on herself a little bit at a time, he would be content. After all, he'd already committed to what he was doing, and would much prefer to see it though. However it turned out. But that was a long time down the road, even if she happened to eventually forgive his existence.