The first light of morning slipped through the thin mist between the peaks and spilled across the bluestone flagstones of Yunkui Summit.
Pan Yinhu came out of the back kitchen carrying a tower of stacked steamer baskets, and the billowing white steam chased off the last of the dawn chill.
Soup dumplings with thin skins and generous filling.
Millet porridge simmered thick and glossy.
And beside them, a few dishes of cold-dressed shredded bamboo shoots, tart and bracing enough to wake any appetite.
Stars in her eyes, Ju Fufu slapped Miguel on the shoulder with one hand to tell him not to stand on ceremony, while the other had already fished a soup dumpling out of the steamer with her chopsticks and delivered it to a ferocious bite.
Watching her go at it, Miguel found his own appetite opening right up.
There was a reason people said you should always eat with someone who could really eat.
The food genuinely did taste better with every bite.
Once everyone had eaten their fill, a pale blue flicker of the Power of Creation swept over him and left not a spot of grease behind.
Miguel got to his feet.
“Thanks for the hospitality.” “I should be heading back.” He looked around the table at the five of them, master and disciples of Yunkui Summit.
Yixuan rose with him and nodded.
“I’ll see you off.” They followed the winding mountain path toward the side courtyard.
It was where Miguel and Yixuan had arrived by teleport the day before, a place almost nobody visited, which made it perfect for a quiet exit.
Ju Fufu bounced along at the front, her twin ponytails whipping through the air with every step.
She spun around and walked backward, both hands sketching the whole thing out of the air.
“You guys missed it yesterday!
I was standing right there holding a horse stance, and then, whoosh, this flash of blue light, and Master and Brother Miguel just popped out of nowhere!
Not a single sound!” Pan Yinhu, trailing behind, smacked his lips as he listened.
Beside Ye Shunguang, who still wore her usual smile, Ye Shiyuan pushed the half-rim glasses up his nose.
He said nothing, but the astonishment on his face was plain enough.
Miguel ambled along at the rear, listening to the girl embellish every last detail, and let out a quiet laugh.
The side courtyard came up quickly.
The easy mood began to draw tight.
They stopped.
Ye Shiyuan cupped his fists and bowed, solemn, to the young man who had brought hope to him and his sister.
“Mr.
Miguel, this Ye will carry your kindness with him always.
Whatever you ask of me from here on, I’ll do it, though it cost me a thousand deaths.” Pan Yinhu rubbed his thick bear paws together, bashful and earnest, and hurried to add his own piece.
“Next time you come, sir, send word ahead!
I’ll go down the mountain and lay in plenty of good things for you!” Ye Shunguang tilted her head up, a stubborn resolve burning in her ruby eyes.
“Big Bro Miguel, I’m going to train hard while you’re gone.
I won’t let you or anyone else down.” Miguel smiled and answered each of them in turn.
Before leaving, he took in the sight of them, this bright, uncomplicated little family of master and disciples.
“Come to think of it, this counts as my first proper visit.” His tone stayed light.
“And I was so busy mooching meals that I forgot to bring anything for the house.” That brought all of them up short.
Before anyone could get a polite refusal out, Miguel raised his right hand.
Snap.
The crisp sound of a finger snap rolled through the quiet courtyard.
An instant later, five prism-shaped crystals shimmering with a deep blue glow faded into being in the air in front of them.
Whatever they were made of, pure white and dark blue wove through one another inside.
At the very heart of each, a blue light of absolute purity had gathered.
Simply hanging there in silence, they gave off a strange resonance that settled the mind.
These were the life-saving treasures Miguel had compressed at extreme density out of the Power of Creation.
Creation Talismans.
“Just some trinkets I put together when I had nothing better to do.
Call them a housewarming gift.” He pointed at the crystals floating there and explained as though it hardly mattered.
“These are called Creation Talismans.
Once you put one on, it binds to your vital signs automatically.” “Basic functions are nothing fancy.
An across-the-board boost to your physical capabilities, plus rapid healing.
Roughly speaking, as long as you haven’t been blasted to ash on the spot, a missing arm or leg grows back in a few seconds.” He paused, propping his chin on one hand while he sorted through which features he hadn’t covered yet, and kept talking without looking up.
“Oh!
Right, there’s an unlimited stamina buff in there too.
When you’re outmatched and want to run, activate it with a thought.
Short-range spatial blink and flight are both on the table.” “And of course there’s the real ace for staying alive.
I sealed one time stop and one resurrection inside each of them.” “Those last two trigger passively, though.
You can’t call on them yourself.
Just think of them as a safety net.” Miguel nodded to himself and added, quite seriously, “Mm.
That should be about all of it.” “Oh, right!” “The talismans do have a cap on stored energy.
Run the basic buffs wide open and they’ll hold up for a month, no problem.
But once you’ve spent the time stop or the resurrection, you’ll have to come find me for a recharge.” A long silence settled over the side courtyard.
The rustle of wind through the treetops sounded unbearably loud.
The five standing in front of Miguel had no idea what their own faces were doing.
The sheer volume of information he had unloaded in a handful of seconds had sailed clean past anything they were equipped to process.
Even Yixuan, steady as she always was, had a trace of bewilderment surfacing in those golden eyes.
Rapid regeneration?
Time stop?
Raising the dead?!
Was this the sort of immortality the founding patriarch of Yunkui Summit had been talking about all those years ago?
A full half minute passed before Yixuan snapped back to herself.
She drew a deep breath and pushed the crystal in front of her straight back at him.
“Miguel, this is far too precious.
We can’t accept it.” Her voice was graver than he had ever heard it.
“You’re willing to deal with the danger hidden in the Azure Empyrean Sword.
Yunkui Summit already owes you a debt beyond measure.
Treasures of this caliber, we have no right to them.” Ju Fufu was practically drooling with envy, and she still shook her head hard enough to rattle.
“Right, right, right!
Brother Miguel, this stuff is way too valuable!
We just take little commissions down at the foot of the mountain, when would we ever need something like coming back from the dead?
Take them back, quick!” Ye Shiyuan and Pan Yinhu declined as well, one after the other.
Friendship was friendship, but nothing but taking would sour it in the end.
Miguel had seen this coming.
Rather than withdraw his hand, he paced a couple of unhurried steps and spoke at his leisure.
“Don’t be in such a rush to say no.” He pressed a palm down through the air.
“I have a perfectly legitimate reason for handing these out.” He pointed at the bluestone under their feet.
“You all saw the teleport array I left here yesterday.
That array runs entirely on my power, and without these talismans as an energy source, you wouldn’t be able to activate it at all.
I’m counting on being able to pull you straight over through it if something urgent ever comes up.” That gave Yixuan pause.
Miguel gave her no time to think it over, launching straight into his second argument.
“Besides, on top of the basic functions, I tailored a little something extra to each of you.” He turned his head toward Ju Fufu.
“Fufu, yours holds a full set of Physical Martial Technique Deductions, everything I’ve worked out over the years.
Just wear it and it’ll break moves down inside your head on its own.
Far faster than flailing away on your own.” Ju Fufu’s ears shot straight up, and the stars came back into her eyes.
Miguel turned to Pan Yinhu next.
“Brother Yinhu, yours has every preparation method I’ve collected for the rare ingredients around New Eridu, plus a genuine Complete Compendium of Culinary Arts.” Pan Yinhu’s throat bobbed as he swallowed hard.
Last of all, Miguel’s gaze passed over the others and came to rest on Ye Shunguang at the back.
The offhand manner fell away, and his voice steadied.
“As for Little Guang’s,” he said, weighing every word, “I poured a special protection into that one.
As long as you’re wearing it, any drain the Azure Empyrean Sword puts on you and any memory it strips away, right up until the trial formally begins, will be completely canceled out by that power.” Canceling out the drain of the Azure Empyrean Sword.
The moment those words landed, every one of them knew that refusing the talismans was no longer an option.
Ye Shiyuan stared at the crystal floating before his sister, his face heavy, the hands at his sides trembling past his control.
He lived every day on edge over her condition, terrified that one morning he would wake and Little Guang would have forgotten him entirely.
And now all she had to do was put this thing on, and before the trial she would never again suffer the torment of lost memories and stripped senses.
There was no better protection for her anywhere.
For his sister he would have gone to his death gladly, and his pride was worth a great deal less than that.
He was steeling himself to swallow his shame and accept when Yixuan, their Master, spoke first.
“Miguel.
This great kindness, I, Yixuan, will remember.” Behind her, Ye Shiyuan, Pan Yinhu, Ju Fufu and Ye Shunguang bent at the waist in perfect unison, without a moment’s hesitation.
“Our thanks to Mr.
Miguel for these treasures!” Faced with all that reverent solemnity, Miguel waved a helpless hand.
“All right, all right, just take them.
Bow any more and I’m the one who’ll be embarrassed.” The five Creation Talismans dissolved into streaks of light, sank unerringly into their bodies, then re-formed as ornaments worn close to the skin, each shaped to its owner’s nature.
Ju Fufu now had a pair of wrist guards, Pan Yinhu a copper-coin pendant at his waist, and Ye Shunguang an unremarkable little bead on her hair ribbon.
Vitality flooded through them in an instant, and all five stood there shaken to the core.
With the business settled, Miguel didn’t linger.
He turned his back on them and waved a lazy hand over his shoulder.
The pale blue Power of Creation welled up once more and wrapped his figure completely.
“Well then, everyone.
No need to come any farther.” His voice carried out of the glow, as unhurried as ever.
“I’ll bring those two youngsters by in a few days.
Brother Yinhu, don’t forget that feast you promised me.” The instant the last word faded, the space around him shifted faintly out of true.
A breath later, the light scattered.
The young man was gone, and not the slightest trace of Ether fluctuation remained in the air.
Yixuan watched the empty courtyard for a long while without moving.
“Master,” Ju Fufu murmured, fingers running over the wrist guards, “Brother Miguel is really, really amazing.” “He is.” Yixuan answered softly, a calm she didn’t even notice herself flickering deep in her eyes.
“With him around, maybe my elder sister, and Little Guang too, can have a new future after all.” ____ 👻🔥Here: Walnut-chan (P4treon)🔥👻 🔥 New history: Zenless Zone Zero: