Quest Maker: 423

Title: Xunji’s Marker

“I knew it! That rat bastard!”

“Vee~?”

Ja Sun blinks, glancing at Linda sitting atop his shoulder as he surveys his property. “A ratata? No? I mean Qian Xunji.”

“Eev?”

“You don’t know him,” Ja Sun shakes his head as he sits cross-legged on the grassy ground as a surge of Spirit Energy emanates from his being. “Veee!” Linda nods before settling. She didn’t need to accompany him, but he was glad she did. Nothing like a good company, right?

He smiles as his mood brightens slightly despite the ‘smelly’ mark left upon his Island.

Ja Sun admits Xunji is a shrewd cookie despite looking like a fruity one, so he had to believe Qian Xunji had some plan for revealing his hand by turning one of the Clear Sky Clan elders into a bloody dough. Ordinarily, an individual like Ja Sun would believe that Xunji’s actions were intended to spook him. He didn’t fall for it now, and he even had Bibi Dong’s, Yin's, and Daoliu’s council, who waited for a few days for him to spend his time and shower his wives with all the ‘affection’ he could muster.

They believed Xunji planted something the second he gave up on one of his pawns or his actions would not make sense! Ja Sun agreed.

Lo and behold—

A careful survey of the Island allowed Ja Sun to this spot as he slowly grinds away the hint of the Law of Blood staining the space. But unlike the trio, Ja Sun feels there’s more.

Xunji knows about his mastery of the Law of Blood and Space—Ja Sun is a master in one and a grandmaster in another. Blood God would never simply ‘mark’ the land for future acts. Maybe Xunji planned to use the marker as a makeshift coordinate to teleport his men to the Island. But Xunji is too clever for such a plain scheme.

“Or maybe I’m overthinking it?” Ja Sun frowns, mumbling, as he watches the deep-red stain materialize, akin to a kindling washed over by his Law of Sea. As it turns out, the Geographical Law of the Sea is rather convenient in ‘purifying’ afflictions. Its complexity at the early stage makes it more useful since Ja Sun’s comprehension of the Law of Fire is focused on the offensive instead of other support skills as he channels his focus more on the Law of Space and Time.

“Maybe that’s what Xunji wants me to do?—Wasting my time on schemes that don’t exist.” Ja Sun thins his lips before shaking his head. Would Xunji bet on his nature to give up a valuable pawn? Ja Sun wouldn’t, and he feels the Fruit God wouldn’t either.

Snapping out of his thoughts, Ja Sun stops considering Xunji’s plans. Instead, he stops using the recently comprehended Law of the Sea, letting the Bloody Stain fester. His frown eases, and his lips tug into a toothy grin.

Linda watches with rapt attention as Ja Sun sucks the stain of Blood Law with a greedy inhale as his fourth core—Beyond Evil—devours and crudely assimilates the law into his comprehension of the Law of Blood, requiring Ja Sun to ‘smoothen’ the ‘patch’ of his understanding over time.

‘Still feels great~!’ Ja Sun closes his eyes, feeling how sticky, corrosive blood can set itself up on the fabric of reality itself!

“Eevvv!”

“No,” Ja Sun opens his eyes with a smile, stroking Linda’s head. “I don’t eat it because it tastes good. It doesn’t taste like anything but satisfaction.”

Speaking of satisfaction, Ja Sun stops looking for more of Xunji’s tracks on his Island and focuses on the wedding gifts.

He has to say, inviting the beasts from King’s Lair is a lucrative deal. Those beasts get him hordes of ‘Rare’ and ‘Elusive’ Spirit Bones! The beasts went above and beyond this time since they knew they would be in the presence of their ‘Queen’ and honorable Ruler, who tamed said Queen. Well—his wife did, but they don’t need to know that. While Clear Sky Clan offered him rare minerals since that fell under their specialty, and surprisingly a spirit core, the Spirit Beasts gifted him two treasured herbs sent directly for Ah-Yin to nurture in her blessed land, three Spirit Cores from their successful hunts, and two Spirit Bones.

Ja Sun’s greedier half felt pity that none of the bones were 100,000-year-old. But his calmer half realized that such a score WAS the group of Spirit Beasts going all out despite their diminishing avenues of earning due to how much they spent on the gifts during his first wedding.

‘I should put a gap in my third marriage if there’s to be any. Letting the King’s Lair recover will be more profitable in the long run~!’

He glances at Linda ponderously while taking out a 3000-year-old Pink Baboon's Left Arm Bone. He plans to conduct another trade with Bibi Dong to exchange the Spirit Bones in his treasury for useful ones to devour and progress his growth of laws. The particular spirit bone in his hand doesn’t attune to any law Ja Sun practices. But he is sitting at such vast wealth that he feels like spoiling himself for once and see if devouring the usually lust-addled Pink Baboon’s Spirit Bone will have some ‘Positive’ effect on him.

“Linda,” his words attract her attention, “let’s practice again. Tackle that tree.”

Ja Sun may have taken—fuck that—Ja Sun’s ‘Half’ may have taken time to converse with all the otherworldly monsters to understand what their homeworld is like. In retrospect, he should have done this long ago! But he isn’t the kind to undersell his work. Hell! He is working on uncovering Xunji’s schemes as we speak!

He is somehow always busy! And if he isn’t active, he’s dragged into his lovers’ chambers like a thing to exploit… maybe he was exaggerating and playing the victim for the sake of it. To cut to the chase, Ja Sun has some understanding of what these ‘Pokemons’ expect from the humans around them.

He isn’t the one to lie—Pokeballs? Interesting!

But the applications are simple enough for Ja Sun to NOT delve into them for now. Perhaps later? Who knows. But the thought of confining the likes of Gu Yuena in a ball and lugging her around is more than arousi—INTERESTING! I-Interesting!

Still, Ja Sun took an interest in treating Linda more than a pet and decided to train her in every bit of free time he could possibly gain. Of course, the smart cookie he is, Ja Sun later let his other haf train Linda these past few days.

Eevee excitedly trills as she rushes against the tree with a warm glow of energy bursting out of her and fracturing the tree into splinters!

“Hmm,” Ja Sun chews on the spirit bone with audible crunches, letting the Beyond Evil Core convert the benefits into his body.

Was that increased activity in his scrotum he sensed?

Nice.

“Say, Linda. The older Eevees from your pack are oddly focused on friendship. I thought we were good friends already.”

Linda looks at Ja Sun with a broad smile as she nods.

“But you don’t feel anything strange? You already know what evolution feels like. Are you close to another variation of yours?”

Linda’s posture slouches as she whines.

“I’m not blaming you,” Ja Sun chuckles, patting his shoulders. “Come on. We’ll have fun as we look around for the Rat Bastard’s marks.”

“Vee~!”

“No, he wouldn’t like a Ratata.”

Ja Sun snickers while musing internally.

‘Does friendship release a stream of energy similar to Faith? It wouldn’t be odd. Master and Saixi comprehended the Laws based on specific emotions and Yuehua’s domain lines with a comparable branch of Law. Maybe there’s a Law of Friendship?’ The thought is inspiring. It takes a near Demi-God to sense Faith and a God to perfectly utilize such energy. Maybe there are more conditions for something like energy generated from one’s Friendship.

But such thoughts won’t spur Ja Sun to the point of dropping his current goals.

His path is clear—fusing with more Martial Souls and becoming a Grandmaster in his number of Laws for his ascension.

---

“What are these?”

Yuehua and Erlong reveal blank looks since they didn’t expect such a thing once Bibi and Yin called for them in the former’s bedroom. Yuehua honestly expected some form of meeting for ground rules since they hold similar positions in Ja Sun’s eyes, and truthfully, it won’t be any less expected from Bibi Dong. Not that any of them minds. Bibi Dong single-handedly ‘raised’ them! To say Bibi Dong deserves any less would be a lie.

But they find Bibi Dong and Ah-Yin practically grinning from ear to ear as they casually sit on the bed, not even putting a pretense of using their sofa, making Erlong and Yuehua sit near them.

“What do you think?” Bibi Dong cradles her belly with a smirk before scoffing.

“Another kick?” Yin inquires, casually touching Bibi Dong’s stomach.

“She’s a troublemaker,” Bibi Dong snorts with an amused smirk while Yuehua and Erlong glance at each other.

“You are gifting us Spirit Bones?” Yuehua clears her throat. “Thank you?”

“Did you expect some powerplay?” Ah-Yin inquires with a smirk.

“Not from you,” Erlong shrugs.

“Please!” Bibi Dong rolls her eyes. “I’m in no condition to scheme. Half the time, I feel like I need to pee even when I physically don’t have to, and the other half makes my breasts feel so weird that I can’t concentrate on meditation.” The woman grumbles. “I swear if Ja Sun isn’t her during my delivery, he’ll be sporting physically purple scrotum for a year!”

“Does it really feel weird?” Erlong mutters with a wary glance as Bibi Dong smiles at the Drake evilly.

“You’ll hate it. But you can reach Rank 90 before your children attract most of your attention. Use the spirit bone to your benefit and focus on cultivation in the coming months.”

Erlong and Yuehua blush. It would be stupid to assume Bibi Dong and Little Yin didn’t know about it.

Erlong glances at the Spirit Bones casually tossed on the bedsheet, questioning, “What Spirit Bones are they?”

“Did you pick a name?” Ah-Yin ignores the apparent play to change the topic as Erlong huffs. “No! I didn’t pick a name. We’re not even sure we’re pregnant.”

“Well,” Yuehua mutters awkwardly.

“What?” Erlong glances at Yuehua as Bibi Dong and Ah-Yin knowingly look at Pheonix.

“Sun told me that we’re pregnant before leaving. You were sound asleep at the time.”

Erlong purses her lips before glancing at her smooth belly.

“Huh,” she mutters. “So?” She looks at Bibi Dong and Ah-Yin. “I call that my kid is going to beat every one of your children’s asses!” Her grin widens as Yin shrugs, using her mastery of flames by an apt roast—“I suppose your kid will pick your slack.”

“What are these Spirit Bones?” Yuehua interjects, seeing how exhausted Bibi Dong looks just at the thought of an argument erupting near her. Sending Yuehua a grateful glance, Bibi Dong begins, “These two are Right Arm Bones. A 71000-year-old Sea Nymph Right Arm Bone for Yuehua, and a 68000-year-old Flame Corpse Right Arm bone for Erlong. Unfortunately, Grandmaster only knew the use of the Flame Corpse Right Arm Bone since it comes from Spirit Hall’s treasury.”

“And the other one?” Yuehua muses, already having an idea.

“It comes from Ja Sun,” Bibi Dong smirks. “I think he’s still shy about providing unsolicited gifts.”

“Unsolicited?” Erlong squawks in disbelief, making Yin roll her eyes. “Don’t be so melodramatic,” the Blue Silver Goddess chuckles drily. “You even have the leverage to trade more by exchanging your wedding presents.”

“Um,” Yuehua smiles awkwardly. “That’s what Erlong is trying to say. We let Ja Sun have our share.” She adds hurriedly. “He offered to share, but—”

“But?” Bibi Dong raises an eyebrow.

“We’re in love?” Yuehua gulps at the look she earns from Bibi and Yin as the more experienced Sister Wives glance at each other before sighing softly.

Of course, Yin’s words don’t befit her gentle, motherly expression.

“You dumb mother—”

So, Ja Sun wasn’t being shy and escaping early by gifting a Spirit Bone… he was hauling ass!

***

Alternate Title: Free Trace of Blood Law; Dragon Prince’s Supreme Talent; Taking That Bone; Overthinking?; Everyone Playing 4D Chess In Scheming; Ja Sun’s Daughter?; He Wants To Be The Very Best!; Ja Sun *In Near Future*: Gu Yuena! Use Moon Canon!; Gu Yuena Feels The Shift In Force; Every Villain’s Worst Enemy—The Law of Friendship; Training Linda (SFW); Bibi Dong About Concoct The Vilest Of Poison For Dem Balls; Ja Sun *Chuckles*: I’m In Danger; Pregnante Bibi Dong Needs Some Breast Service; Wedding Gifts; Ja Sun Planning To Earn From Marriage *Stonks*; Yuehua: We Gave Our Share For Love *Also Erlong: But You Said We’d Do It To Look Better In Ja Sun’s Eyes* *Death Stare*; Yin Gets It; A Troublemaking Daughter?; Erlong’s Kid Needs To Pick Mama’s Slack