“Settled your stuff already?” Kong Rong asked and Jin nodded his head, but he knew he was still waiting for Jin to either confirm or deny his earlier statement.
“My bad, I erm… Don’t you laugh at me! I just thought of something about ley lines explanation and needed to record some of my thoughts quickly. I thought I can perhaps use that as part of my plans for a new ‘dungeon raid’ if you get my drift. hahahah!” Jin replied, adding that he was too embarrassed to be seen recording his sudden pangs of inspiration as weird, so he decided to go around a corner and record his plans.
However, Jin was never great at lying, and Kong Rong could immediately pick up that the Dungeon Supplier was not telling the entire truth. But decided not to bother to pursue. At the very least, based on the State Agent’s experience, Jin was not lying straight at his face, and that still retained the respect he had for the little Royal Panda Clan Member.
“As for my plans… Well, you can see it for yourself. I have quite the unique dungeon supplier store. And I wish to grow it out at a national and then international scale. It would be a lie that I would not want to have the Panda Clan to regain its old former glory, but right now, I would rather focus on my shop. If the clan growth comes in the same direction as my shop’s expansion, then I will gladly embrace it.” Jin truthfully admitted and Kong Rong finally gave a relaxed smile.
“Then all your crazy dungeon instances finally make some sense. It would definitely be a pity for you to stay in Shenzhen and not spread your wings or in this case, dungeon instances to the rest of the country. And if possible internationally.” Kong Rong happily replied as he cleaned his fingers from all the leftover chicken wing oil. He noticed that Jin had left out the word ‘Royal’ indicating that he saw the Panda Clan as something else.
“However, I must ask. Have you ever hated the name Royal Panda Clan? Or do you feel resentful that being born in such a clan?” The State Agent questions were out of the norm for Jin but the dungeon supplier understood where he was coming from. History had always been written by the strongest and unlike the Royal Zodiacs, Jin had the whole story from the bitter old System. So, instead of bitterness and anger that was expected from the last surviving Royal Panda Clan member, Kong Rong sensed something much more.
“It’s more like it just sounds so odd to me. Heck, I only found out recently after the death of my Grandpa that I apparently belonged to a Clan with ancient roots which no one ever knew about. Growing up, he never revealed those things to me, and he just left me his inheritance, assuming that I would like to take it as it is. He just shoved that kind of deadweight responsibility to me, telling me to get revenge for our ancestors.” Jin replied as he sat beside the duo and poured himself a shot from the bottle of whiskey too.
Even though he never liked the taste nor the notion of drinking, Jin picked the cup up and drank it with all his might. The bitterness and dryness of the alcohol were terrible as if he was putting cardboard into his mouth and swallowing it whole.
“I do not wish to speak ill of the dead, but he’s an idiot,” Jin said out, but both men could still see the clarity in his eyes when he proclaimed that. In fact, those pair of eyes got even more decisive when Jin opened his mouth.
“Following the footsteps of my grandfather or the ancestors that came before me… it just sounds unnecessary. I don’t plan to fight them if that is what you were worried about. Instead, I plan to honour my heritage by creating a Panda Clan that is worthy of my respect and that of the public. So, if you plan to treat me as an enemy of the state on that grounds, you better prepare because I will fight against you with all my might!” Jin firmly declared, and Kong Rong understood why he took that shot of whiskey.
Doing so must have just been to ease his nerves, so he could send the declaration of challenge to him, a Lawman of the Country, a respected person standing at the top with power, privilege and money. Thereafter, Jin already poured himself another shot of whiskey and downed it in order to hide the shame of uttering something normally so out of character for him.
“Hahahah!” Kong Rong loosened his shoulders and just laughed. “You kidding me? Do you really think you have the power to take on the Royal Zodiacs? Have you forgotten what happened to your grandfather?” Kong Rong’s words had confirmed that there was indeed someone who actually remembered the actions of Ming despite the System’s time reversal.
“Looks like the Royal Archivist can manage to retain her memory after all…” Jin mumbled as his resigned look changed to that of a cornered animal. Ironically this time it was Kraft who broke the tension, by ‘accidentally’ using too much force when he downed his whiskey shot, breaking the glass. He broke out in laughter over his clumsiness and excused himself as he went to get a replacement.
“To manipulate time and space, storing historical information was vital in order to make sure that the caster could retain her sanity. Thus, the System believes, the Royal Archivist must have stored her memories in a secured position within the Dragon Ley Lines or a Dragon Ley Node so that in case of any change in time, she would be able to retrieve her memories from the original timeline. But that’s to say the original timeline…” As the System attempted to babble on in an attempt to calm Jin further down, Kong Rong raised his hand and showed his palm towards the Panda Cultivator, as if signalling him to halt his actions.
“I assume that was the sort of reaction you have expected from me, right? However, I believe that you are someone worthy of my trust, so I wish to help you.” Kong Rong told him, and Jin was unable to sense any malice from him.
At that moment, that palm immediately turned to the ceiling while he pointed upwards. Suddenly chi was gathered within his index finger while he drew an imaginary circle with his chi. That was when Jin realised that Kong Rong was about to do something unthinkable, there was no way he could believe it.
“As these two gentlemen my witness, I hereby invoke the oath that my actions, be they direct or indirect, will ultimately not harm Jin’s livelihood and his way of living.” Kong Rong spoke as Kraft gritted his teeth for he too understood what the State Agent was doing.
“That’s an Oath that invoked the Heavenly Five Element Tribulations.” Jin thought to himself. He knew the implications of the Heavenly Five Element Tribulations, and so did Kraft. Yet, both knew that those Element tribulations would only be effective on ‘average’ ordinary folks.
To people like Kong Rong, who was a State Agent, he probably went through torture both physical and mentally that would put him way above average citizens. However, Kong Rong suddenly changed his oath invocation a little which was new to both the Panda and Fox. The Royal Dragon Zodiac Cultivator put his other hand out, and it started forming a dragon silhouette in front of him.
The bloody dragon silhouette circled around Kong Rong as it bit him on his neck causing more blood to emerge and forming even more dragon silhouettes which continued to encircle him and bite at every portion of his body. Just when Jin worried that Kong Rong might die of blood loss the oath invocation was suddenly over, and Kong Rong sat on the high chair with wounds all over him.
Jin immediately took out a potion and quietly offered it to Kong Rong, yet the State Agent refused and told him that he would be fine after a quick breather. True enough, his wounds suddenly healed by itself and Kong Rong appeared fine and dandy, as if nothing had happened. Jin then noticed that there were no bloodstains on the ground nor on his clothes.
“You… Did you just strengthen Heavenly Five Element Tribulation Oath with a Chi Execution Promise?” Kraft asked with a grim face.
“Heh. For you to even know this taboo oath making, you are definitely not someone I should underestimate.” Kong Rong answered Kraft’s query with a smirk.
“Now you wish to revise your impression of me? That is a little tad too late, isn’t it?” Kraft replied solemnly. Still, the reason for making such a Taboo Oath boggled Jin’s mind whereas Kraft already had his own thoughts on the matter.
