It had been such a long time Jin finally had a good night sleep. The moment he saw the bed in his room, Jin did not care whether the black sludge will flood in his place. He was somehow automatically been allured into the embrace of his bed.
“Had it always been this comfortable?” Jin asked himself, and when he closed his eyes, he did not think as much at all.
“It been a long time,” Ming asked as he knocked Jin with his hiking stick and Jin found himself abruptly awoken with layers of clothes on himself. He noticed he was in some enclosed tent with little space to even get up. If one wished to move out of the tent, he had to crawl backwards to come out of it.
When Jin realised it was Ming’s voice and he could know he was in his cultivation mode.
“God damn!” He said to himself out loud as Jin had forgotten that whenever he sleeps, he would be cultivating at the same time. However, for the past few weeks, the dungeon supplier had been using the high intensity sleeping capsule, which accelerated his sleep more often.
That only provided him sufficient rest and not enough to produce the circadian rhythm for dreaming, unlike this time when he came into the cultivation ‘stage’ with Ming around.
As he slowly dragged his body out of the tent, he realised that he was near the top of a mountain and Ming quickly gave him a pair of goggles to prevent the blazing sun and to protect him for the freezing winds.
The view, on the other hand, was spectacular. There were lower peaks and deep valleys all around the mountain which his tent was pitched at.
“What are we fighting this round?” Jin asked as he knew that he had the trial for the other three Cardinal Beasts. Ming did mention to him once, but he had forgotten which monster was it, and with no System reminding him, Jin could only hope Ming would not be so cryptic and give him the answer.
“Nah, I abandoned that Four Heavenly Beast route for the moment. That initially was to force start the development of your Maqi, but it seems someone else managed to do it for me.” Ming said with a slight sigh.
“And to introduce you a little to Demon Exorcists and hope that Grandma Yuan could take you in. But it seems like you managed to not only become one but a branch manager at that.” Ming knocked Jin’s arms as he said it. “Guess, Yuan was softer than I thought.”
“She is really a Tsundere, eh?” Jin asked, and Ming laughed loudly, which his voice was echoed back at the top of the mountains. He nodded his head and asked Jin to climb up with him to the top of the current mountain.
“So, what are you teaching me this time around?” Jin asked as he went into the tent and get the hiking stick as well as the backpack which Ming requested him to take.
“Not sure, to be honest. In these four months, you had grown tremendously fast that I am rather surprised by it.” Ming said as he led the way up to the mountain. The two reduced their conversations as they hiked up the remaining distance to the peak.
It may not seem as far from where the tent was pitched, but they had taken a few detours to ensure that the snow was solid enough to climb forward.
Unlike the last time, Ming always offered Jin a helping hand and gave him a boost whenever needed. There was this particular ridge where they had to jump a little to reach, but with all their heavy equipment, it was nearly impossible.
Jin tried to activate his Maqi as usual, but he knew it was somewhat futile whenever it comes to Ming’s unreasonable restrictions. Yet, it was a humble reminder that Jin was blessed with the System’s powers in reality.
In an hour or so, they finally reached the top and surprisingly, there was a steel bench which made Jin shook his head in disbelief. The moment they sat down, the cold winds were not as harsh as before, and the sun was only partially blocked by the clouds. It made that beautiful view from the top even more pleasant.
“Should I be aware that there is some meaning…erm metaphor or something attached to this mountaineering experience?” Jin asked as if there was some meaning to climb this mountain.
“Oh, just relax for god sake. If everything is laden with some hidden meaning, your life would always be miserable.” Ming scoffed at Jin and told him to not overthink. “Come to think of it… let’s just say some proper grandfather to grandson bonding session?”
“Heh, I rather you teach me something than do this. It’s so unlike you at all.” Jin replied as he breathed in the cold winter air. It was slightly tingling down his throat but equally rejuvenating.
“Hahaha~! That is quite true. But don’t you think it be fair for you to tell me the things you do? It is not fun trying to pry your memories or having that stupid fox coming in and bragging how creative you were in developing that tree mall.” Grandfather Ming took his goggles and gloves off as he blew some warm air from his mouth to warm his hands a little.
“Oh yea, if you were with the System, it would probably have shown you everything. Well, can’t you just pry my memories? Especially since our inheritance is a nosy group of ‘people’ and probably already knew about your existence.” Jin said as he placed his hands near his mouth and shouted at the top of his voice.
“I could, but what is the fun of that? Knowing the essential stuff is good enough. You are a dungeon maker, so naturally, you should be a storyteller too. You never know when you will write a biographical novel or maybe keep some good stories for your kids?” Ming suggested.
“Hmm…let’s say I am still alive after having the System for a long while, do I have to share the System with kids in the future? Or be like you? Make them inherit it? I mean, did great grandfather did the same as you?” Jin got curious and asked.
“Great Grandfather, huh? Actually, he died without knowing that he passed the System to me.” Ming said. “He never knew he had the System with him. For some reason, the System did not activate, and I do not really know the answer. Perhaps ask System when you get back?” Grandpa cluelessly answered and it only made Jin pondered.
“Alright, then can I ask. Are you truly a big shot general or some famous Demon Exorcists? Somehow, Hou Fei was quite regarded in his military field, but he downplayed the way you and him fought previously. What was like the significant turning point for your military career? Oh and speaking of which, have you fought any monster horde before? There seem-“
“Woah Woah! Stop right there, cowboy! You are shooting me with so many questions, I begin to think to have a chat with you is the wrong decision I made this time around!” Ming raised his hand and tried to take a pause.
“But it looks like you deserve to know a little about me since I brought you this mess,” Ming said as he pulled out a book and showed it to Jin.
It was a diary.
“This contains my life’s secrets. I give you 15 minutes to look through.”
“You are kidding me, right? 15 minutes? Judging by the additional notes and the thickness of this particular diary, I am basically swimming in the haystack to know what is going on with your life.” Jin complained as he casually flipped through.
“Well take it or leave it.” Ming tried to take the book back, but Jin held onto it, very reluctant to release it.
“I will read it. It is better than nothing. But can you at least point to the pages where – Oh, what is this? Your first meeting with Grandma…Yuan?” Jin said out loud and suddenly a cold frigid wind blow towards Jin which abruptly that page flew off into the wilderness below the mountains.
“HEY, THAT IS UNFAIR!”
“If you didn’t say it out loud, the wind probably would not have blown I guess?” Ming shrugged his shoulders with a smug smile.
“Then I shall go find it! It looks like this is one juicy secret you are quickly averse in sharing.” Jin said as he saw the page flew further down.
“Cough. Don’t blame me if you know, some beast appear or something.” Ming said, and Jin stuck his tongue out as he placed his large backpack to the ground as if he was looking for something.
“After all, this is my dream. I can do what I want.” Jin said as he tried to imagine a snowboard out from his back.
“You knew you are able to do that; you should have done it in the previous fight.” Ming scoffed, but suddenly a snowboard slowly emerged out of the backpack. He was slightly surprised Jin managed to create a snowboard out.
“I realised the moment I entered this place. I cannot feel my qi, nor the flow of Mana but for some reason. I can vaguely sense Maqi for over this entire area which you initially restricted. It did not take long for me to try and manipulate them.” Jin said, and Ming smirked.
“Guess Zeru did not teach you for nothing. I shall await that moment when you found out about my ‘juicy’ secret.” Ming replied while maintaining his sly smile as he shoo-ed Jin off and suddenly, the snow on the peak gave way immediately after his sentence.
“GRANDPA I WILL REMEMBER THIS!!!” Jin shouted as he fell along with the snow.
