Another World Trip: Journey with My Cat and an Otaku Loli Goddess Chapter 133.1 - Primordial Law

Old Wu quickly helped Lu Pei off the ground, not realising that this kneeling gesture would be something that he, and he alone, could receive from someone like Lu Pei.

Someone who would rise explosively through the ranks like a shooting star, and stand by side with even the most arrogant sons and daughters of heaven.

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The wind was cool yet inviting, whilst the sun was scorching and unforgiving. The juxtaposition of the two resulted in the creation of a day where one would gladly accept the sun’s punishment to bask in the sweet relief the wind gave.

In an old rundown ruin that was once his bed for many hours following a terrible defeat, sat a figure silently in the lotus position with his eyes closed. In his hands was an old wrinkled scroll.

The paper was cheap and commonplace. A one-time use sort of thing for the wrapping of raw meat. The smell that wafted from it was indicative of its origin.

Trash… this was the perfect way to describe it. If it was left in the street, no one would spare it a second glance, as that was its place of residence.

Yet it was this piece of trash that was the reason for this person’s perseverance. For upon this time-worn page were a few scribblings of something most profound.

The Primordial Law.

{The Dao Produced One,

One Produced Two,

Two Produced Three

And Three Produced All things.

Find simplicity in the complex

Find complexity in the simple

One Is The Origin

The Origin Is The Truth

Expel Three And Take In One

For One Is Truth.}

This was a law of sorts that pervaded the cultivation world known as the Primordial Law. The Primordial Law was a strange existence within the cultivation world.

It existed since time immemorial. It was also passed down through the ages and is recognised as the starting line of cultivation.

Almost all cultivators were familiar with its words. It became something akin to a rite of passage for a cultivator to know these words.

Even Long Di came to know this Law after a while through virtue of his parents before he took his cultivation any further. This was because the Primordial Law was recognised as a sort of profound truth.

Strangely, however, the Primordial Law held another identity of being utterly useless on the trek to the peak. Because of its similarity to a cultivation technique in ancient standing, it was once considered as such.

As a result, the attempt to cultivate such a thing was done by the sages of times past and joy found those who realised that it worked. Yet, this joy left the sages as quickly as it found them.

The efficiency of its cultivation was abysmal and as such, it was seen as trash, with only its words speaking of some ultimate truth that granted nothing.

No one knew who wrote it, it was simply seen as that which came to be. Though cultivation techniques, even the lowest rank, were something that no ordinary person could get their hands on, the Primordial Law was an exception.

It could be found in every library, a commonplace thing even scribbled on a piece of paper used to wrap meat.

Having no money, and virtually no resources, it was this ‘technique’ that Lu Pei was currently cultivating. His bronze destiny, combined with the Primordial Law, resulted in a sorry display for cultivation.

A pitifully small amount of spiritual energy from the surrounding space entered his body. If there were anyone else here, they would have a heart attack from the lack of air from laughing too hard. That was how hilariously slow the spiritual energy was entering his body.

At this rate, it would take him twenty years to reach initial completion of the first vessel of the vessel qi gathering stage. Yet there was a stern expression of determination etched on his face.

Still, irritation crept in all the same. The futility of him being relegated to a life of mediocrity pained him.

“Damn it!” Lu Pei cursed as he lost his composure. A few months ago, his destiny was uncovered to be a Bronze Destiny. This disappointed him greatly, as he desperately wanted to be a cultivator.

So even though those who held this destiny never rose to be anyone great, he wasn’t resigned to the fact. So, here he was still cultivating the Primordial Law to no effect. He started his cultivation well before the Destiny Test, yet there was barely any increase in his cultivation base at all.

“Why!?” he cried out after throwing the paper away.

“Why can’t hard work pave the way for those who are willing to walk it!?” He punched the ground in frustration with tears pooling in the wells of his eyes.

“I want to walk the path of the dao for myself and for the father who took me in, yet the heavens gave me a destiny of obscurity! A cheap destiny with no way forward. Is this my life!? Does my determination stand for nothing!?”

Tears streamed down his face as sadness and frustration came together and rendered him immobile.

Then his shoulder slumped as he walked to the part of the ruins where he threw the paper. He took it back up and started to read through it, and began cultivating in silence and earnestness once more.

Three hours passed as darkness started to take the land in its slow embrace.

The lack of a roof kept him aware of the time, and he saw that it was time to go. He started to come back to the ruins ever since he discovered them for the first time.

He wasn’t sure why, but apart from the beating he suffered the first time, he felt oddly at peace here.

He got up and dusted himself off as he prepared to leave. “Don’t worry, father, I will rise to the top of this world. I promise you, no one will get in my way.”

“Is that so?” a creepy voice that danced in the darkness slipped out, scaring him silly.

“W-Who’s there!?” He looked around in a panic but saw no one.

“What a delicious fragrance. I smell the scent of a King on you. What a generation this will be…”

Lu Pei trembled each time he heard the voice. It was slick and smooth, as if oil dripped from each word. Yet, it was chilling and fraught with danger. He didn’t know why he felt this, but it seemed to be the case.

“What do you want from me!?” This shout took up a great deal of his courage.

“Oh? What can you give me, I wonder? A show perhaps?” the voice asked.

“I am no entertainer!” Lu Pei’s fear was disappearing as annoyance took over.

“Then what are you?” it asked, the playfulness in its voice slipping away.

“I am Lu Pei!” He said with pride.

“Doesn’t sound like much. Doesn’t seem like much,” the voice chuckled away in coldness.

“Just wait! In time, my name will be known far and wide!” he didn’t know if this was directed towards the voice or himself, but it needed to be said.

“Oh… my apologies, but I have not much time,” as this was said, one of the many shadows cast in the ruins began to move.

Before long, a tall lanky figure stepped out for Lu Pei to see and his expression made it known that his fear had returned.

It was an ugly thing, as it appeared vaguely humanoid with unnaturally long limbs. Its hands, if you could call them that, nearly dragged along the ground as it approached him. Black long nails as thin as a cicada wing caught his eyes.

There was a metallic glint to them that shamed even the sharpest of swords.

Its skin was pitch black and glistened even under the setting sun that painted the landscape red.

A smile lined with rows of teeth was plastered on its face as it looked at him. It was a Di Ming that greeted Lu Pei, not that he would know of this.

“So how about a deal, my dear King?” the Di Ming sarcastically asked.

Lu Pei’s entire body was shaking. He had never seen such a thing, and it terrified him. He felt what he knew to be the liquid form of fear, wanting to escape his lower body, but he took a shaky breath to steady himself in any way he could.

“Interesting… I can see why the mark found you. Is it you, though?” the Di Ming’s expression changed somewhat, not like Lu Pei could tell.

“W-What mark?” he asked in a cracking voice.

The Di Ming’s smile widened, revealing even more terrifying teeth. A blur was all that Lu Pei saw before its long clawed fingers were around his neck.

He couldn’t even react.

Its other hand pointed a single claw to his forehead, and before long, a golden ‘King’ character appeared.

It stared at the character in the space of a few seconds, seemingly lost in a memory of sorts, before it looked back at Lu Pei himself. “What are you willing to do to become strong?”

“Anything!” This answer banished his fear in an instant as it came out without him even thinking about it.

The Di Ming seemed to have expected this and brought its face closer to his before it said. “Let’s have a heart-to-heart.”

An apt choice of words as the Di Ming’s gaunt fingers left Lu Pei’s neck and touched the left side of his chest where the rapid beating of his heart could be felt.

Vrmmm!

A strange energy could be seen collecting on the claw that touched upon the ‘King’ character on his forehead.

The energy drilled into Lu Pei’s body through the ‘King’ character and before long, cracks appeared all over his body.

The twilight gave rise to a scream of pain that reverberated across the distant plains.