"… Probably!" Grandpa Ming shrugged as he sat down properly and breathed in the air.
"Did you not ask the System directly before?" Jin questioned as the White Tiger had relaxed and released his body even further.
"Of course, I did. However, the System was not willing to give me a direct answer. It would always divert the issue by claiming that 'User should rather train instead of worrying about blah blah blah'. It was super frustrating to hear that, but nothing I could do to make it spill the beans." Ming replied while rubbing his nose and cleared his throat. The memory associated with those words was not something the grandfather would like to remember much.
"Well, I can give it a try when I have the chance to ask the System about it," Jin commented as if he was not too worried about it for some reason.
"And if what you say is true… Then I guess it cannot be helped. I mean it would make sense that there had to be a trade-off for having something as powerful as a System. And now I think about it, I realised how the System never spoke of past users joining the collective form of entities. Would like to know how their past actions nearly sent the System into demise."
"Heh! Are you indirectly insulting that I am incompetent? Gah that I will admit there were things I was not proud of when I was young. Still, I am surprised you took this message so easily. I was expecting you to be shaking or filled with anxiety. Knowing that unlike those around you, if something were to happen to you might actually die."
"Hmm, I mean no one can escape Death forever. Maybe I am less shocked because I had way too many near-death experiences ever since I inherited the System. I don't really want to think about it. Besides, I place my trust in my comrades and believe they will come to save me no matter what." Jin replied while thinking of all the times where he nearly got killed.
"Is that why you wholeheartedly tried to save their worlds when it's not your responsibility?" Ming was also curious why he would do such a thing when he had no real obligations to do so.
"Wouldn't you have done the same in my shoes? 'If you have the power to save someone, you should do it with all your strength. If not, it's not worth living', right? Though… I have to admit that it did not click until Hou Fei told it to me so blatantly." Jin remarked, and suddenly the White Tiger growled softly at the spot Jin was scratching.
"'And the things you've invested and given to the people will be returned multi-folds.' Hahah! Glad to see, that you did actually learn some useful things from me before I was gone." Grandpa Ming appeared as if he had something else on his chest after all this.
What followed was a sudden silence. Jin could see that his Gramps was struggling about whether to tell him something important or not, so he just waited for Ming to gather his resolve.
"There is something you should know about the time reversal. It was not really me who had initiated it. After I had rampaged against the Zodiacs, all the System did was blare out alerts like an annoying cock screaming its lungs out before someone chopped its head off. Knowing that I could not be saved, Yuan she… sacrificed her Sub System module to ensure that I survived. After the System had learned about the Banned Emperor's involvement, it was ready to change the world's current history and allowed us to return back a few hours."
"A few hours? And that itself caused the System to go so haywire?" Jin questioned and Ming gave out a slight chuckle.
"I understand it might sound minuscule to you. But you have to understand it wasn't just a local time reversal for one particular area. Everything which happened in our universe had been turned back exactly 3 hours, 44 minutes and 59 seconds. The placement of the sun, the birth of a new child, the minutes before completion of an exam. Even something as grand as the true death of a star. Everything was pushed back. Memories were unwritten, and things that were supposed to happen did not happen. The scale of the things that had been reversed cannot be taken into account."
"But only you, the System and a few others should have memories with regards to that, right? Or are the things Wang Ba Tan said actually true? Does the Royal Dragon Clan have a person with the ability to have recorded that time reversal? The Royal Dragon Historian was it? Have people come to you and asked you about it?"
"For a Banned Emperor lackey, it is terrifying to learn that he is right." Ming sighed and nodded his head. Even when Wang Ba Tan was actively searching into Jin's memories, Ming was not just hiding. Like Kraft, he had used what the fox had taught him and extracted information whenever possible. When the Banned Emperor Elder thought he had the upper hand, Ming's smirk became wider.
"Well, the part about someone coming for it was something he made up. Still, a person with that moniker does exist and she might be someone who would know about the System or at least have an inkling of the existence of such a Super Entity. Also, that last part of his advice should be false. When the System states that there is a rule, then it doesn't lie. It seems to take those very seriously without breaking them… Even that time reversal had some very stringent conditions which needed to be fulfilled before it acted."
"But it is possible for the System to take control of the cultivators and treat them as moneybags?"
"If you asked me about it a few months ago, I would have answered that it would be highly likely that it might do so via a loophole. But now that Kraft told me about your interaction with it, the System seems to have mellowed down and is actively trying to work with you. There shouldn't be any real benefit for it to betray your trust again. Still, this is just the ramblings of an old man. If you want to clarify things, you will have to ask the source. Just be prepared the answer might not be to your liking." Ming commented.
"Whew. This is a lot to take in. I might have to reconsider the way I do things in this world then. First off, my cultivation isn't great enough and even if I can hit a high grade like I don't know… Grade 15 or 16? I alone cannot fight against the political forces brewing like an active volcano waiting for the right chance to explode."
"Are you going to abandon all your work?"
"Impossible. There is so much I have already done and still so much more that I want to do. I have been thinking for some time on how to expand. I just know that I won't allow myself to be used as a pawn by others. The teleportation device is way too dangerous to reveal to the public seeing how they could bring in troops and supplies so quickly to reinforce the borders of Huizhou. It might be useful, but if something like that falls into the Banned Emperor's hands we might have monsters popping out everywhere…"
"Every action has a reaction. That law does not apply only to physics but everything else in this world. Items are never at fault. It's the people who use it." Ming preached.
"And for an ambitious dream to be the World's Number One Dungeon Supplier, I have been thinking that my steps were too small. Mainly because my capital had been restricted. Now that I have a certain reputation and the resources in place to earn money, I believe I should start to make bigger strides. That is why when I wake up, I am going to change how to deal with all this." Jin stated with some resolution.
"That is if you wake up. From what I know, your body is currently in no condition to do anything grand." Ming shook his head for having to be the one to bear the bad news.
"That bad?"
"You think I am just keeping you here because I miss my precious grandson so much? Believe me, I have ways to entertain myself in here. Hehehe."
"Please spare me the details. But yeah, I thought you wanted to share things with me after that sudden Banned Emperor Elder surprise bash."
"If you really mean what you claim and you do want to change the way you are doing things, you still need the appropriate cultivation to do so," Ming stated as he clapped twice and the White Tiger sat back up sluggishly as if Jin had been a perfect plushie for him to snooze on top of.
"You might have had the Sword Saint drill you for the basics, but I am going to train you in my own Panda Sword Arts. Once you learn them, you will understand why I wrote that Astral Panda Cultivation Manual in a certain way." Ming spoke mysteriously as he summoned out a black and a white scimitar.
"Only when you truly grasp and master the concepts here and that manual, will you have the ability to make your own Sword Arts."
Ming's chi started to emanate through the mountains. A spiral of black and white chi burnt through his body and melted the snow around him.
Jin knew that his Gramps meant business.
"… Probably!" Grandpa Ming shrugged as he sat down properly and breathed in the air.
"Did you not ask the System directly before?" Jin questioned as the White Tiger had relaxed and released his body even further.
"Of course, I did. However, the System was not willing to give me a direct answer. It would always divert the issue by claiming that 'User should rather train instead of worrying about blah blah blah'. It was super frustrating to hear that, but nothing I could do to make it spill the beans." Ming replied while rubbing his nose and cleared his throat. The memory associated with those words was not something the grandfather would like to remember much.
"Well, I can give it a try when I have the chance to ask the System about it," Jin commented as if he was not too worried about it for some reason.
"And if what you say is true… Then I guess it cannot be helped. I mean it would make sense that there had to be a trade-off for having something as powerful as a System. And now I think about it, I realised how the System never spoke of past users joining the collective form of entities. Would like to know how their past actions nearly sent the System into demise."
"Heh! Are you indirectly insulting that I am incompetent? Gah that I will admit there were things I was not proud of when I was young. Still, I am surprised you took this message so easily. I was expecting you to be shaking or filled with anxiety. Knowing that unlike those around you, if something were to happen to you might actually die."
"Hmm, I mean no one can escape Death forever. Maybe I am less shocked because I had way too many near-death experiences ever since I inherited the System. I don't really want to think about it. Besides, I place my trust in my comrades and believe they will come to save me no matter what." Jin replied while thinking of all the times where he nearly got killed.
"Is that why you wholeheartedly tried to save their worlds when it's not your responsibility?" Ming was also curious why he would do such a thing when he had no real obligations to do so.
"Wouldn't you have done the same in my shoes? 'If you have the power to save someone, you should do it with all your strength. If not, it's not worth living', right? Though… I have to admit that it did not click until Hou Fei told it to me so blatantly." Jin remarked, and suddenly the White Tiger growled softly at the spot Jin was scratching.
"'And the things you've invested and given to the people will be returned multi-folds.' Hahah! Glad to see, that you did actually learn some useful things from me before I was gone." Grandpa Ming appeared as if he had something else on his chest after all this.
What followed was a sudden silence. Jin could see that his Gramps was struggling about whether to tell him something important or not, so he just waited for Ming to gather his resolve.
"There is something you should know about the time reversal. It was not really me who had initiated it. After I had rampaged against the Zodiacs, all the System did was blare out alerts like an annoying cock screaming its lungs out before someone chopped its head off. Knowing that I could not be saved, Yuan she… sacrificed her Sub System module to ensure that I survived. After the System had learned about the Banned Emperor's involvement, it was ready to change the world's current history and allowed us to return back a few hours."
"A few hours? And that itself caused the System to go so haywire?" Jin questioned and Ming gave out a slight chuckle.
"I understand it might sound minuscule to you. But you have to understand it wasn't just a local time reversal for one particular area. Everything which happened in our universe had been turned back exactly 3 hours, 44 minutes and 59 seconds. The placement of the sun, the birth of a new child, the minutes before completion of an exam. Even something as grand as the true death of a star. Everything was pushed back. Memories were unwritten, and things that were supposed to happen did not happen. The scale of the things that had been reversed cannot be taken into account."
"But only you, the System and a few others should have memories with regards to that, right? Or are the things Wang Ba Tan said actually true? Does the Royal Dragon Clan have a person with the ability to have recorded that time reversal? The Royal Dragon Historian was it? Have people come to you and asked you about it?"
"For a Banned Emperor lackey, it is terrifying to learn that he is right." Ming sighed and nodded his head. Even when Wang Ba Tan was actively searching into Jin's memories, Ming was not just hiding. Like Kraft, he had used what the fox had taught him and extracted information whenever possible. When the Banned Emperor Elder thought he had the upper hand, Ming's smirk became wider.
"Well, the part about someone coming for it was something he made up. Still, a person with that moniker does exist and she might be someone who would know about the System or at least have an inkling of the existence of such a Super Entity. Also, that last part of his advice should be false. When the System states that there is a rule, then it doesn't lie. It seems to take those very seriously without breaking them… Even that time reversal had some very stringent conditions which needed to be fulfilled before it acted."
"But it is possible for the System to take control of the cultivators and treat them as moneybags?"
"If you asked me about it a few months ago, I would have answered that it would be highly likely that it might do so via a loophole. But now that Kraft told me about your interaction with it, the System seems to have mellowed down and is actively trying to work with you. There shouldn't be any real benefit for it to betray your trust again. Still, this is just the ramblings of an old man. If you want to clarify things, you will have to ask the source. Just be prepared the answer might not be to your liking." Ming commented.
"Whew. This is a lot to take in. I might have to reconsider the way I do things in this world then. First off, my cultivation isn't great enough and even if I can hit a high grade like I don't know… Grade 15 or 16? I alone cannot fight against the political forces brewing like an active volcano waiting for the right chance to explode."
"Are you going to abandon all your work?"
"Impossible. There is so much I have already done and still so much more that I want to do. I have been thinking for some time on how to expand. I just know that I won't allow myself to be used as a pawn by others. The teleportation device is way too dangerous to reveal to the public seeing how they could bring in troops and supplies so quickly to reinforce the borders of Huizhou. It might be useful, but if something like that falls into the Banned Emperor's hands we might have monsters popping out everywhere…"
"Every action has a reaction. That law does not apply only to physics but everything else in this world. Items are never at fault. It's the people who use it." Ming preached.
"And for an ambitious dream to be the World's Number One Dungeon Supplier, I have been thinking that my steps were too small. Mainly because my capital had been restricted. Now that I have a certain reputation and the resources in place to earn money, I believe I should start to make bigger strides. That is why when I wake up, I am going to change how to deal with all this." Jin stated with some resolution.
"That is if you wake up. From what I know, your body is currently in no condition to do anything grand." Ming shook his head for having to be the one to bear the bad news.
"That bad?"
"You think I am just keeping you here because I miss my precious grandson so much? Believe me, I have ways to entertain myself in here. Hehehe."
"Please spare me the details. But yeah, I thought you wanted to share things with me after that sudden Banned Emperor Elder surprise bash."
"If you really mean what you claim and you do want to change the way you are doing things, you still need the appropriate cultivation to do so," Ming stated as he clapped twice and the White Tiger sat back up sluggishly as if Jin had been a perfect plushie for him to snooze on top of.
"You might have had the Sword Saint drill you for the basics, but I am going to train you in my own Panda Sword Arts. Once you learn them, you will understand why I wrote that Astral Panda Cultivation Manual in a certain way." Ming spoke mysteriously as he summoned out a black and a white scimitar.
"Only when you truly grasp and master the concepts here and that manual, will you have the ability to make your own Sword Arts."
Ming's chi started to emanate through the mountains. A spiral of black and white chi burnt through his body and melted the snow around him.
Jin knew that his Gramps meant business.
