The Shamanic Billionaire

SIX: Warped City

The door clicked shut behind Cai, leaving him alone with a man he hadn't seen in over ten years. Amelia and Thane had just left, their faces twisted in a mix of anger and disbelief.

But Cai wasn’t bothered by it. A smirk crossed his face, cutting through the heavy air of the room.

“Thankfully, the Patriach isn't dead yet," Cai said, his gaze drifting from Grant who looked so unsure to Silas Arrows who looked like a wax figure. “Although his soul isn't in his body, I think I know how to trace his soul and bring it back to his body."

Grant pursed his lips, his heart beating against his ribcage. He wasn't sure if he had indeed gone crazy by sending his wife out.

"I need something he uses all the time," Cai said, his tone flat. "Something that holds his essence. Without that, I can't track where his soul’s been dragged off to."

Mr. Grant studied Cai’s face, clearly weighing his options. Fourteen years, he thought. Fourteen years on that mountain, and the elders even his Master had written him off as a dud.

He couldn’t even grasp the basics. Now here he was, talking about tracking souls. Was he just guessing? Despite his doubts, what Cai had done with that 'Master' downstairs was the only reason Grant hadn’t snap yet..

“His jade ring,” Mr. Grant finally said, his voice filled with uncertainty. He reached over and pried the heavy, deep-green band from the Patriarch's stiff finger. “He’s had this since before I was born."

Cai accepted the ring. It felt cold at first, but as he wrapped his fingers around it, a strange, electric spark vibrated through his palm.

He pulled the black bead from his pocket, feeling a flicker of anxiety… he’d never actually tried to bridge the realms before. He was winging it, relying on bits of Qilan mountain lore he’d picked up while the others were training.

He pressed the bead against the jade. Please work, he thought.

Suddenly, the air in the room started to warp. The light didn’t just dim; it seemed to bend. The bead pulsed with a low, thrumming blue light, stretching the shadows on the walls like reaching fingers.

Cai felt a sharp tug at the base of his skull, and then the room dissolved.

He stumbled, his feet landing on a ground that felt like cold glass. He was no longer in the suite.

Now he stood in a shadowy space of Lume City. The skyscrapers were translucent, glowing with a sickly white light. The streets twisted at impossible angles, and thick, black threads of energy snaked between the buildings like a spider's web.

It wasn’t just quiet; it was oppressive. He saw a foul, oily mist, corruption, oozing from the cracks in the pavement. The odour coming from all corners was bad, so bad that it wasn't hard to guess that this City was rotten beyond repair.

Somewhere in this chaos, a jagged, frayed silver thread led away from the jade ring in his hand.

There you are, Old Man, Cai thought to himself.

He wasn't here to observe the rot of the City.

As he ventured deeper into the warped city, the sounds of metal clashing against stone echoed through the alleyways. Cai ducked behind a spectral pillar, his heart racing.

Up ahead, three figures were locked in a brutal battle. They weren’t fighting the rot that surrounded the whole place, instead, they were surrounded by Scavengers, low-level spirit entities with elongated limbs and hollow eyes, hungry for stray energy.

Cai stood there, stunned.

A tall, muscular boy was unleashing electric-blue strikes that shattered the air around him. A wiry boy moved like a shadow, striking with a dangerous precision like it was no hardwork.

And then there was the girl.

She was mesmerizing, breathtaking and for a moment, Cai saw her moving in slow motion. He had heard girls in the city were pretty but this girl right here was beyond pretty. She looked like a gorgeous angel.

Even amid the chaos, she exuded confidence, weaving complex sigils in the air that exploded with light. Cai found himself captivated, watching in awe as she commanded the situation.

She was light-years ahead of the 'masters' he’d encountered in the physical world.

But then everything changed. Three Scavengers lunged at her from behind. She slammed a sigil into one, but the others were too close. She staggered, her foot slipping on a patch of spiritual decay.

Without thinking, instinct took over. Driven by adrenaline, Cai dashed from behind the pillar, the black bead in his hand glowing with blue light.

“Move!” Cai shouted.

He struck the ground near the girl, unleashing a wild wave of blue energy that sliced through the Scavengers like a hot knife through butter. The force sent a shockwave through the plaza, clearing the area in a chaotic blast.

The two boys froze, weapons at the ready. The girl looked up, her eyes wide as she took in the stranger who had just intervened. She glanced at the pure, smoking energy seeping from Cai's hand and then back at his face.

“Who the hell are you?” the tall boy demanded, his expression sour. He clearly didn’t like being upstaged by a newcomer who looked like he'd just stepped out of a luxury car.

“I’m looking for a soul,” Cai replied, trying to catch his breath. He wasn’t as calm as he sounded; his heart was still racing from that jump. “Silas Arrows. Any of you seen him, or are you too busy getting ambushed by these things?”

The wiry boy chuckled, but there was no humor in it. “An Arrows? You’ve got a long way to go, kid. Searching for a soul in this place is a death wish. There are tricksters everywhere just waiting to lead a 'rich soul' like yours into a trap.”

The girl dusted off her clothes and stepped toward Cai, her presence somehow making him feel both small and empowered. She didn’t regard him with the disdain that the boys did. Instead, her gaze was filled with curiosity.

“You’re tender,” she said, her voice a soothing melody in the darkness. “You have no idea what you're doing, but the way you wielded the bead... it’s powerful. Reckless, but powerful.”

She warned him that Silas's soul was probably deeper in the “veins” where the corruption was thickest.

As they spoke, Cai felt his senses sharpen even more. He could actually see the threads of the city now, pulsing in sync with his heartbeat. A wave of purpose washed over him... he wasn’t just a cast-off disciple anymore. He was in the game.

“I’m going in,” Cai declared, gazing into the dark heart of the city.

The tall boy scoffed and turned away, but the girl lingered for a moment longer. She glanced back at Cai, her eyes sparkling with a mix of mischief and danger.

“Don’t die too fast, mountain boy,” she said, leaning in slightly as a playful wink flashed across her face. “We might cross paths again later.”

Then she disappeared into the mist with the two boys. Cai stood there for a moment, the blue light of the bead illuminating the dark street around him.

He felt a thrill unlike anything he’d experienced on the mountain. He was finally awake, and he was ready to claim everything they had said he couldn’t have.