The taxi driver looked absolutely terrified, instinctively looking at Zhao Bing through his rare view mirror, it was then he noticed the sage and he visible flinched. Zhao Bing pitied him, the man was in fourth tier so, he couldn’t really sense the true strength of the people invading but he could sense them in relation to himself and that enlightened him on his situation.
“Drive or I will kill you here, I will rather not have to do that.” That proclamation effectively woke the taxi driver from his panic and he did as he was told. As the car began to move, the man adjusted the rear view mirror “Aa for you Mr. Bing, move and my friend will kill you. I can’t have the governor alerted to my presensce here.”
“Patriarch Shi, always a pleasure. Don’t you worry about that, I have no illusions that I could escape successfully.”
“And you shouldn’t. Where is the child?”
“My nephew? Why do you ask?”
“Ah! You will forgive me then Mr. Bing, for I do notthink we would have a very fruitful conversation as we are now. Maybe after I have collected a few fingers off you, you would be more willing to have a fruitful conversation with me.”
Zhao Bing forced out a dry chuckle
“Patriarch Shi, always the joker. I believe our conversation is flowing adequately right now, don’t you think so?” He asked trying to inject a little mirth into his voice but no reply came back regardless.
The tale has been taken without authorization; if you see it on Amazon, report the incident.
…………………….
Gabriel had come up on top of monk Chen’s meditation rock, it was early, so early that the morning still looked like night and the day made it so his schedule was empty, so he decided on an impulse to meditate. Monk Chen’s rock was special and not just because the rock was flat, smooth or comfortable to sit on. The stone was powerful, the shear amount of aether within the rock, stored up from its close proximity to the elder monk’s meditation and any other monk that might have used it before him and the decades in which it has been used for this purpose had turned it into something of a pseudo artifact for aether gathering, increasing the speed, quantity and ease of meditation. So yes, the rock was growing on him as well.
Getting comfortable on it, Gabriel gradually cleared his mind of all his thoughts and focused only on his breathing as the air came in and went out of his body. Gabriel sensed the aether after a few moments of focus, as it swirled into and around his body before flowing out with each breath. He could feel no core within his body to store it. His cores had apparently being sealed to save his life so he had begrudgingly come to terms with it, not happiness no, just acceptance. This technically made meditation pointless to him since it’s main aim had been lost but he still continued to meditate once in a while since he could still train his willpower and it improved his control for when -he hoped- he would eventually got his aether back.
He lost himself in the repetitiveness of the task, enough that he didn’t notice when the sun rose up fully in the sky or when the four children strolled into the compound and settled down around him. At the beginning, they were quiet, careful in their activities and conversations so as not to disturb him but as the time flew on, they lost themselves in their play and soon enough it got to him. Their play rousing him from his meditation, opening his eyes he spied the four children talking and playing amongst themselves, totally ignorant to his awakening.
