calaidi | [fic] A fish of a small stream leaping out, seeing countless branches (Part 1)

Fandom: Cultivation Chat Group (novel)
Characters: White Two, Senior White, Song Shuhang, Lady Onion
Rating: T

White Two has a few interesting dreams. Set during some vague time after chapter 1535.

Spoilers are actually through chapter 1543, because I just couldn't help referencing one of the greatest moments of White Two's very long life lol. But I wrote this mostly as a response to 1533-1535, and there's nothing deliberately referenced past 1543. (I also, uh, stopped reading at a Certain Point past 1543 so it wouldn't influence this at all, so...really looking forward to finally reading That now that this is finally done! 🙃 )

I realize this is a subject ripe for giving spoilers, and I really don't want them, thanks! So I'll be turning comments off for all parts. I hope everyone understands! :)

A fish of a small stream leaping out, seeing countless branches

Part 1: Two Whites vs one liquid metal ball

Someone was poking him in the shoulder.

White Two groaned, starting to claw his way back to consciousness. It felt like he might slip back under at any second, like something was trying to drag him back down into the darkness with every step.

He thought about just letting it. It was rare he could sleep so deeply, after all.

But that insistent poking at his shoulder wouldn’t let him. It was a rope tied around his waist, pulling him persistently upwards against the tide.

Why had he fallen unconscious in the first place...? White Two wondered once he was awake enough. This feeling of utter senselessness, of being absolutely and unnaturally dead to the world, was familiar...

But he didn’t remember passing out, much less what he had been doing right before that...

...That person was still poking at his shoulder.

“Are you tired of living?” White Two snarled. He finally opened his eyes and prepared to dispense with this guy who dared to interrupt the sleep of the ruler of the Netherworld Realm.

But then he froze.

The person sitting next to him was incredibly handsome, like an immortal who had been banished to mortal world. This person had eyes as bright as the stars and jet-black hair that fell to their waist and fluttered lightly in the wind. The body of this person possessed a magnetic charm, and no living creature could bare to look away from it.

The clothes this person was wearing were black and made from the pure energy of the Netherworld Realm, which had been condensed together.

In other words, this person looked exactly like himself!

White Two laughed and dropped his hand on top of his face. “You really did it.”

Now he remembered what he had been doing.

The battle to become the new Wielder of the Will had finally begun. White Two had been keeping an eye on it, and he’d whispered a few words of advice into Song Shuhang’s ear, but he couldn’t risk getting any more involved than that. Therefore, he’d come here, to the very heart of the Netherworld Realm, to wait for his new co-ruler to appear.

He was very interested in the process by which a new ruler of the Netherworld was formed. Last time, he’d fallen into a strange coma, and the ball of liquid metal had already appeared by the time he had woken up.

This time...he had also fallen into a strange coma.

He remembered watching the battle through the eyes of one of his projections.

Then everything went black. He’d been unconscious for quite some time.

Then someone starting poking his shoulder, waking him up. The process was already over.

White Two sighed. He was probably never going to be able to see it.

If it had been only once, he could have brushed it off as just a coincidence.

More than once, and he could only assume there was some purpose for it. He wouldn’t be surprised if he fell into a coma next time, too.

Perhaps...it had something to do with whatever method his counterpart had used to ensure that White Two wouldn’t disappear when he left his position.

He still didn’t know exactly what his counterpart had done, so he could only guess.

“Not a little sister,” White Two murmured with a wry smile. Not that he’d really been expecting it, but it certainly would have been interesting.

“I said I might not be able to,” the other ‘White’ said lightly. “How are you feeling?”

“I’ll be fine,” White Two said. He frowned over at the other ‘White’ and silently assigned the number ‘two’ to him. “You remember?”

White Two No. Two replied, “Only a few things. There are a lot of things even I’m not allowed to know. So I’m still very much the current ‘White’.”

No matter who or what he might have been at one time, he was still only the ruler of the Netherworld Realm now. They weren’t the Wielder of the Will themselves, and there would always be things they didn’t have the authority to know.

“Hm. Well, congratulations on becoming the Wielder.” White Two sat up and asked curiously, “How is little friend Song Shuhang? Do you know?”

Knowing Song Shuhang’s luck, he definitely would have ended up right at the center of all the mayhem, and he had probably been ganged up on multiple times too. It would have been like the first time White had ascended, only worse.

White Two had been very lucky to have Fellow Daoist Virtue fighting at his side at that time, and he had a hard time believing this White and Song Shuhang hadn’t teamed up in much the same way, but that didn’t mean Song Shuhang had come out of it uninjured, or even alive.

White Two No. Two faintly smiled. “Shuhang is fine. Or he was the last time I saw him, anyway. Actually, he was hoping we could visit him in his Inner World later, so you’ll be able to see for yourself.”

The corner of White’s Two mouth twitched.

For some reason, he felt that this request was not as simple as Song Shuhang just wanting to check up on a couple of friends.

Instead, it was probably something like: Wow, there’s really two of you now! Wait right there, I have to get a picture of this! Seniors, can you do some cool poses, too?

It definitely had the scent of Song Shuhang’s death-seeking all over it.

“I’m busy later,” White Two said.

“Hahahaha,” said White Two No. Two.

Then he pinched his chin and eyed White Two thoughtfully. “Before that, I think we have a different problem. What am I supposed to call you?”

“My name is White, so you can call me White,” said White Two. Wasn’t that obvious? “I will also call you White.”

“But if we both call each other ‘White’ or ‘Fellow Daoist White’, won’t that get confusing?” White Two No. Two said.

“Then you’ll just have to change your name,” White Two said with a shrug. “Try ‘Black’.”

White Two No. Two frowned. “Why should I have to change my name? I’m also White. Why don’t I call you ‘White Two’ like Shuhang does?”

“Absolutely not,” White Two said through clenched teeth. “I’ve had this name since long before you were born. If anyone around here should be ‘White Two,’ it’s you.”

“Technically—” White Two No. Two started, but at that moment, another voice echoed through the sky, cutting him off.

“WHITE!!! White, you bastard, I know you’re still here!!! Get out here!!! Today, I’m really going to kill you!!!”

It was a metallic voice, and on a surface level, it was robotic and completely emotionless. However, one could still clearly tell that its owner was screaming with rage.

White Two’s eyes brightened as he looked up at the sky. “Oh? That guy’s still here?”

He had thought for sure that the ball of liquid metal would disappear along with the previous Wielder. After all, White Two, who had managed to outlast his counterpart, was a very special case; most of the other rulers of the Netherworld Realm were not so lucky.

It had not seemed like the previous Wielder had any interest in saving its Netherworld counterpart, either.

Therefore, White Two had already given the fat metal ball a grand send-off and hadn’t expected to see it again.

“Oh, the other ruler of the Netherworld?” White Two No. Two said, also looking up at the sky. “Shouldn’t it have disappeared by now?”

White Two said, “Yep.”

White Two No. Two said, “It sounds like it has quite the enmity toward you.”

White Two said, “Yep. And when it sees you, maybe it’ll even get so angry that it’ll explode and leave nothing left, ahahahaha~”

White Two No. Two looked thoughtful. “Hmm, I’m not really interested in getting involved in another fight right now...but I do want to know why it didn’t disappear...”

Perhaps they broke something?

Or perhaps it really was because of the previous Wielder.

Either way, it might be a very long time before they got any answers if they didn’t actively look into it, and both Netherworld Whites were very curious about this matter.

White Two got to his feet and casually stretched his arms over his head. “Well, that fat ball’s never going to leave you alone once it sees you, so you’re going to get involved eventually. But it’s not that big a deal. At most, you’ll get locked in a stalemate with it for a couple decades.”

“Hm, I’d rather not,” said White Two No. Two as he, too, stood up. “All right. Is the problem that we all have the same authority and strength here? However, if the two of us work together, we should be able to overpower it for a little while, right? In that case, I don’t mind helping you fight it, if you’ll also help me capture it. I’m very interested in researching that metal ball, and I also have some enmity with it.”

White Two slowly smiled. “My dear Fellow Daoist White, I have been waiting for you to say those words.”

He opened a space gate into one of his treasure houses and pulled out a gleaming silver-white sword. In terms of quality, it was only slightly inferior to his own jet-black sword; it was just unfortunate that color of it didn’t suit his style at all.

White Two tossed the sword over to White Two No. Two and said, “Here, I’ll lend you this sword for now. If there’s any other weapon you want, just say it and I’ll pull one out later.”

White Two No. Two deftly caught the sword and gave it a practice swing. He looked very pleased with it.

White Two was also very pleased and said, “Let’s go! If that fat ball spots us first, we’ll lose the element of surprise. I can’t wait to see the look on that stupid ball’s face when he realizes there are two of us now.”

“If we’re talking surprises...” White Two No. Two smiled and disappeared, reappearing in the air some 200 meters away.

There had been no spatial fluctuations at all either when he had disappeared or reappeared, and therefore it was impossible to tell when he was about to vanish or where he might reemerge. It was also nearly impossible to block, even for a ruler of the Netherworld Realm.

It was exactly that [Space-Time Traversal] talent that belonged to the giant turtles of disaster. Not only had the main world White incorporated this skill into a few magical treasures, he had also learned it—and improved upon it—himself.

[I believe the metal ball has seen this ability before, but it hasn’t seen me use it,] White Two No. Two said proudly.

White Two laughed and moved through space to catch up with him.

Oh, this was going to be fun. That stupid fat ball wasn’t going to know what hit it.

The world was black again.

White Two furrowed his brow as he dragged himself back to consciousness.

That’s funny. Wasn’t I just fighting the metal ball with the other White? When did I lose consciousness...?

Let alone while the other White was with him, even if he had been fighting the metal ball alone, it should have been impossible for it to knock him out.

Likewise, it was exceedingly difficult for him to cause any real damage to the metal ball. This wasn’t only because they both had the same strength and authority as rulers of the Netherworld Realm, but also because of their own skills and innate abilities. The two of them were simply too evenly matched for either of them to allow the other to land a blow like that.

It was only through external assistance that White Two had been able to deal some major blows to the stupid ball. The other White should have been a game-changer.

But had the other White really been there...? His memory of it was beginning to fade, as if it had only been a dream.

Moreover, it felt like someone was staring at him.

White Two opened his eyes and looked around.

There was indeed a person sitting nearby watching him, his chin resting in his hand and looking very bored. As soon as he noticed White Two moving, that person immediately perked up and gave him a happy wave with a black-gloved hand.

“Senior White, you’re finally awake!”

White Two frowned and sat up. “Song Shuhang? What are you doing here?”

Weren’t they supposed to meet up with Song Shuhang sometime later? So why had he come all the way to the Netherworld Realm?

Song Shuhang should have been able to resist the corrosive effects of the Netherworld Realm better than almost any other other main world cultivator, but it still wasn’t a place he should come casually without White Two’s protection. It would still be harmful for him to spend too long here, and there was that fat ball to worry about as well.

That was, if the fat ball was still around. Even though he remembered fighting it with the other White, he was also certain it should have disappeared by now.

Song Shuhang replied, “Why wouldn’t I be here? I’m the ruler of the Netherworld Realm.”

Part 2: The Ninth Cultivator of True Virtue ▷▷