Data-Driven Daoist

”Why don’t you look happy?” Tan Ruoxuan glared at them, her ponytail furiously milling in the wind. ”Your foes are captured. You can move back to your abodes.” She glanced at their getup. ”After returning from the Hidden Realm. It is a joyous occasion.”

She scanned their reactions again. ”So why look like wronged eunuchs?”

”Chief Tan.” Yu Han cleared his throat, schooling his expression. ”Who are the Three Leaves Two Branches Courtyard?”

”An insignificant group of herb-gatherers in the Outer Sect centrum,” Tan Ruoxian said. ”Based on natives born in the Sunken Mountains, rather than the Cultivation Seeds recruited externally like you.”

So they call external recruits Cultivation Seeds?

”And this Courtyard—were they planting the same trap talismans as the ones found in our huts?”

”There weren’t any Thunder Stun Manifestation Arrays,” Tan Ruoxian said. ”Only Formations, arrays, and talismans that hastened the rotting of harvested herbs.” She paused. ”What do you know?”

”I don’t understand.”

”Perhaps you are doubtful that these disciples are the ones who targeted you and your little miss.” She crossed her arms. ”So whom do you suspect? On what basis?”

”That is certainly not the ca—” Yu Han stopped and shook his head. They had agreed not to disclose the real issue with the Law Enforcement Hall. The Mad Bloodhounds were connected to a Core Disciple of a Core Clan, and if word leaked from the Law Enforcement Hall, the Mad Bloodhounds would be alerted.”Don’t you trust us?” Tan Ruoxian said.

”Of course we do!” Yu Han stressed. Where the fuck were you when Gong Muhua fucked me over? ”We thank the Senior Sister for taking care of the problem. Perhaps we can continue this conversation after returning from the Hidden Realm?”

The pony-tailed policewoman remained silent, as did the other four. Surprisingly, it was Fang Zhao who broke the silence.

”Is there a way we can go to the Hidden Realm unnoticed?” he said.

”You’ll have to use the same Realm Crossing Passageway at Triplet Horn Mountains,” Tan Ruoxian said. ”But the Law Enforcement Hall has its own Drizzles and corridor.”

”Like the hidden entrances to auction houses?” Fang Zhao asked.

Tan Ruoxian nodded.

”When we first entered the Sect, the Elders had claimed that none can challenge rookies,” Fang Zhao said. ”But instructor Gong Muhua had singled out Brother Yu and attacked him under a ridiculous premise.”

”The Law Enforcement Hall is aware,” Tan Ruoxian said. Her face remained stoic. ”Did you make a report?”

”Did he have to?” Fang Zhao countered.

Actually, Yu Han hadn’t made the report. The doctor at the Medical Hall had thought it to be hopeless, and Wen Liujie wasn’t confident enough either.

”No, he didn’t.” Tan Ruoxian parsed her lips. ”The Sect is undergoing restructuring, but there is much to be done.”

Fang Zhao looked at Li Yao, who shrugged.

”The Mad Bloodhounds,” Fang Zhao said. ”They had been following our movements before the Law Enforcement Hall took notice.”

I guess they’ve decided we can trust Tan Ruoxian, even if not the whole Law Enforcement Hall.

They explained what had happened, leaving out the part where they had knocked out one of the Mad Bloodhounds to plant false memories.

”That Courtyard has gotten on the ill side of nobles recently,” Tan Ruoxian said. ”Not that they’re afraid. I doubt they’ll be going to the Hidden Realm soon, though. From recent reports, all seven of their members are injured. And like a pack of blood-thirsty hounds, they move in together. Most so while monster hunting in the Hidden Realm.”

”What if they aren’t hunting monsters?” Yu Han asked.

”A curious inquiry,” Tan Ruoxian said. “They gather materials for the Liang clan. They have access to external missions just as the Night Alchemists. But I guess you’re not referring to that.” She thought for a while, then took out an object. ”Trust me when I say this. The Law Enforcement Hall can enforce the rules in the Sect premise without fail. But the Hidden Realm makes it trickier. It’s vast, with many unseen corners even by our doorstep. Ever shifting, ever changing. Unless there is undeniable proof, it’s hard to pursue a case. Take this.” She tossed the object to Yu Han.

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It was a transparent pyramid, as if made of glass. Intricate characters were inked on all four of its surfaces. On on surface, there was also a five-pointed star drawn inside a circle of characters.

Runes. Arrays. And Formations.

”This is?” Yu Han asked.

”A Jade of Moments. The actual name is a Sealing Sight Jade Slip.” Tan Ruoxian took out a similar pyramid. ”It can capture the events of reality and play them back later akin to a theatre. Like this.”

She did something, perhaps with her Qi.

The Jade of Moments glowed. Inside the transparent mass, a miniature scene of Tan Ruoxian explaining the Jade of Moments to the group popped up.

”...it can capture the events of reality and show it back later. Like this...”

Tan Ruoxian tinkered with the Jade of Moments, her fingers sliding in a specific patter on the pentagram.

The scene was then projected onto the pyramid’s exterior, an image rippling to existence atop its peak within an area barely two square meters. The image wasn’t holographic like the familiar memory pearl projections.

The miniature Tan Ruoxian played back the same line.

It’s not quite like the memory pearls. Yu Han nodded. Huang Niuniu clutched his sleeves, while Fei Rui tried to poke his ear.

”Since you can’t use Qi yet,” Tan Ruoxian said, ”you’ll have to touch a spirit stone to this ’start recording’ character.” She pointed at an unknown Chinese-esque character on the one of the tips of the pentagram. ”A Mortal Grade one will do, and you won’t need to keep holding it. The Jade of Moments will extract Qi and begin recording for a thousand breaths of time.”

That’s ten times a memory pearl’s capacity. ”How do they make these?” he asked.

”Ask the Formation Masters at the Liang Clan,” Tan Ruoxian said. “Even they might not know though. These are imported from outside.”

”The Sect doesn’t have a Formation Hall?” Yu Han asked.

”It did, and not merely a branch remains. If you’re interested in Formations, you can exchange some manuals with your contribution points at the Scripture Hall, or perhaps join a Pavilion or Palace. Is this important right now, though?”

Yu Han blushed.

”With their recent clash against the noble Cultivation Seeds,” Tan Ruoxian said, “we have a good reason to keep an eye out on the Mad Bloodhounds. We can’t stop them from entering the Hidden Realm, though, without a good reason. If you meet them, capture the moments in the jade.”

She showed Yu Han how to use it. In summary, there was a ’stop recording’ character that did as the name suggested; a ’reset’ character, where he had to hold a spirit stone for 17 seconds to delete the contents; a ’play recording’ character, where once touched with a spirit stone, the Jade of Moments would project the captured moments inside the pyramid; and a ’project recording’ character, that projected the recording outside of the pyramid. There were ’pause’, ‘restart’, and ’stop’ characters on surfaces that did not have the pentagram. They paused, restarted, or stopped the playback. If he stopped recording once, the next time he started recording it would append the newly recorded moments at the end of the previous one, until about 17 minutes of content was gotten.

But no rewind, fast-forward, or playback speeds. It can’t overwrite, either. What other features does VLC media player have? And YouTube? Ideas flowed in his head. I need to learn more about Array Formations. This is a market gap I can exploit.

Yu Han put away the Jade of Moments and they followed Tan Ruoxian down the Nest of Storm-like Heroes. She kept asking questions. Yu Han, Fang Zhao, and Li Yao supplemented their stories with whatever clues they could without compromising their secrets.

They didn’t head directly to the Outer Sect Centrum where most of the Halls, including the Law Enforcement Hall, were located. Instead they took a meandering path through the woods, passing by the base of two smaller hills. At the edge of the Centrum, they reached a lone dock with three Drizzles. As Tan Ruoxian neared, the disciple there—from the Law Enforcement Hall too, judging by his armband—gave her a bow.

They got into one of the Drizzles. The automated boat started moving. Away from the dock, past the river, through a small confluence, and on it went.

The valleys had long turned to rivers.

”What mission did you take?” Tan Ruoxian asked. ”Perhaps I can offer pointers.”

Yu Han handed her the mission notice.

Tan Ruoxian nodded. ”A safe choice for first timers.” She then went into detail of her own experiences in the Hidden Realm.

”If you come across more than a hundred of the bloodferms, leave the area. There’s must be a high level Redgrass Viper Hawk or Redgrass Beak Viper present. That means Levels 7 to 9 in the areas you’ll venture. If there are thousands of bloodferns, that indicates the presence of a top level Body Tempering beast. That’s level 10.”

The essential difference between these two beasts was that one was snake-headed bird, and the other was a bird-headed snake. Apparently these beasts could interbreed and the offspring could be either. Both had poisons that killed prey without damaging the body too much, by somehow turning off the heart while keeping the blood fresh. Was the poison a preservative?

It checked out with the story hinted at in the Four Meditations on the Hundred Thousand Waterways.

”What’s your relationship with Senior Wen?” Huang Niuniu suddenly asked.

”Do you know of the five core noble clans of the Sect?” Tan Ruoxian asked.

Yu Han, Huang Niuniu, and Li Yao shook their heads.

”Dong, Liang, Shu, Wen,” Fang Zhao said. ”And Tan.”

”Y-You’re a noble?” Huang Niuniu shrunk back from Tan Ruoxian.

”So am I.” Fang Zhao shot her an annoyed look. ”And so are you.”

Huang Niuniu wanted to protest, but Tan Ruoxian chuckled.

”Wen Liujie too,” she said. There was a slight undertone of grievance in her voice. ”But he doesn’t act like it. Neither does he want to be one.”

”B-But what’s, umm—” Huang Niuniu squirmed, using Yu Han’s fat body as a shield. ”Your relationship with him?”

”We’re to be married.”

The cow girl squealed, clutching Yu Han’s sleeves.

”Or not,” Tan Ruoxian said. ”If he cannot break through to Qi Gathering before he is thirty. His talent is Common, whilst mine is Profound. They’ll find another partner for me if he can’t.”

”That’s—”

”It was originally a punishment, meant to shun me away from the main branch of the clan.” Tan Ruoxian smirked. ”They want my children to be of lesser talent, but forcing me to marry someone so talentless that they can’t break through to Qi Gathering before thirty would make them lose too much face.”

”A-And do you like him?” Huang Niuniu asked.

”What is like and what is love?” Tan Ruoxian said. ”Our only passion is to defy the heavens and live to immortality.”

”So...” Huang Niuniu played with her fingers.

”I do,” Tan Ruoxian said. ”He’s a cute, grumpy little man.”