Chapter 518 — Pi Yun's Secret

"The Congregation of All Things Perishing came first," Pi Yun said, shaking his head. "That was when I was very young. To be honest, I truly did want to be an orthodox druid at first—and I really was of the Heart of the Forest school. But fate is an unreasonable thing... Famine struck my town, a crop failure caused by magical corruption. Conventional druidic spells had no effect at all. Even my mentor eventually ran off. No one could do anything—until a druid from outside solved the problem. So I followed that new druid and became his apprentice. Only later did I learn that he was a Grove Shepherd of All Things Perishing."

"And then you joined the Congregation of All Things Perishing?" Gao Yang looked into Pi Yun's eyes, unable to hide his curiosity. "Then how did you come to join the Sleepers?"

"At first I believed the Congregation's technology could heal the land, solve famine, and let me learn true knowledge. But later I found they were nothing but a pack of madmen. So I took advantage of an exchange opportunity to join the Sleepers—the Sleepers' memory vault holds the richest knowledge in the world. Dream magic was never my forte, but I was keenly interested in their other knowledge..."

"And then you found they were another pack of madmen," Gao Yu said. Pi Yun's youthful experiences could not possibly have been so simple, but clearly the man did not wish to go into such detail, so he let the topic slide. "You left the Sleepers? And then?"

Pi Yun spread his hands. "Then? Then I ran into a clumsy little thief, and following him I took in a chattering half-elf with no respect for her elders whatsoever."

Gao Yang was speechless. Then he smiled. "I thought you'd join the Children of the Storm too, seeing as you've already joined two of the three sects."

The Children of the Storm, eh...

A look of reminiscence flashed across Pi Yun's face for an instant, then he shook his head with a bitter smile: "I did look them up, as it happens. But I never learned to swim, I get seasick, and above all I couldn't stomach raw fish, so it never worked out."

Gao Yang: "..."

This utterly unseemly old druid—a swindler and a con artist, flippant to the core, a man with no respect for his betters—had once lived a life of magnificent upheaval.

Though Gao Yang did harbor some interest in the obscure yet sweeping life Pi Yun had lived, the old fellow's manner made it plain that he was doing his utmost to skirt that part of his past, so Gao Yang merely nodded. "You've broken away from them now."

"Broken away many years ago," Pi Yun said evenly. "Honestly, I've almost forgotten that I was ever one of them. That augmented man who blew up on the docks gave me a real fright—I thought they'd finally come knocking. As it turned out, compared with a minor figure like me who defected halfway, it's you, a historical figure stepped straight out of legend, who draws their attention far more."

"One thing has me curious. Are you really just a tier-three low-ranking druid?" Gao Yang looked Pi Yun up and down. "Your true..."

Pi Yun smiled faintly. "Two defections come at a price. As I am now, I really am nothing but a tier-three low-ranking druid."

"...I see." Gao Yang accepted the explanation. Beyond the floor-to-ceiling window behind him, the laughter and commotion rising from the courtyard grew livelier by the moment.

He asked, "Does Amber know about your past?"

"She doesn't, and I don't want her to," Pi Yun said with a shake of his head. "Joining the Dark Cult twice is hardly an honorable record. I don't think I've ever done anything cruel or unjust, but I still want to keep that part of my past walled off from Amber's life—her life ought to have nothing to do with such darkness. She should be carefree, free of burdens, never living in fear, and she should receive a good training and education..."

"Put it this way—she treats picking locks as an everyday thing, and she'll even crawl into other people's ancestral graves to pry open the coffin lids. I'd say the education you and her adoptive father gave her may not have been all that good..."

Pi Yun thought it over. "...There's something to what you say."

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