Heaven's Golden Finger

Rising Cultivation

Damn that idiot Shidi of his. Why didn't he follow Shun into the auction hall like he was supposed to? Shun stood to the side, ignoring the stares as the others passed. Once fake Shirong got his slow-poke rear through that gate, Shun was going to twist his ear and kick his butt for making him worry.

The crowd thinned. Trickled to nothing. And still no fake Shirong. Now a chill ran down Shun's spine. "Where is he?"

"Where's who?"

Auntie Green's question was all the more frightening for its honest confusion. She really didn't know who he was talking about. Shun examined their surroundings; a richly decorated hall leading towards a much larger room. The scent of flowers filled the air and the murmur of the other guests could be heard in the distance.

Heaven and Earth my witness, let our fates be one. Shun could almost hear fake Shirong's soft prayer, repeated so many times. It was meant to protect Shun, but did it, instead, put his Shidi in danger?

Not too long ago, Shun would have been briefly tempted to leave Shirong Shidi to whatever trouble he'd gotten himself into. After all, if he really was the Chosen One, he'd fall into the cookpot of an ogre's granny, befriend her by some lucky chance, and wind up winning a Princess and a kingdom.

Now, having traveled with the boy, having grown to actually like this replacement to the original, he couldn't do anything of the sort. "Auntie, do you have a master?" he asked, trying to sound merely curious.

"Eh? Of course no...." Her voice faltered and she stared at him, her expression startled and a little frightened. "I... but... Who?"

A demon bound to a master would always feel the shackle on their spirit. From Auntie Green's reaction, she'd felt its presence, even though she couldn't remember how it'd come to be there. That meant Shirong Shidi was still alive, even if he'd been hidden from her memory.

"Where is he?"

A suspicious expression crossed Auntie Green's face. If he'd been anyone other than his mother's son, she'd have turned on him. Spells that blocked memories this way tended to be like that; protecting themselves from discovery by causing their victim to defend their new self-image.

Fortunately, even if he hadn't accepted his demonic heritage, Shun was the son of the Demon King. Not even a demon bound to a master could refuse him. Instead of going for his throat as imposed instinct demanded, she closed her eyes. "Outside the world."

Shun was startled. More than a little scared. How had that idiot Shirong Shidi managed to get himself dragged out of reality? And how was he to get to his Shidi before the damned fool got himself into worse trouble? Had he been taken to Heaven? Hell? Or was he simply trapped in yet another pocket world? Not this one, certainly, or Auntie Green would know it.

He turned his attention on the portal they'd stepped through earlier. It was fading, the faint double image of a mirror reflecting the room behind him and the room they'd come from earlier getting weaker. "Heaven and Earth my witness," he growled. "Where he goes, I go with him!" Without hesitation, ignoring Auntie Green's cry of alarm, he flung himself into the portal and focused his thoughts on joining his Shidi.

Falling, twisting and struggling, body trying to be too many things at once, he found himself hanging in darkness, contained within a delicate orb built of glittering white strands. They were trying to block him, trying to tangle him into a web that'd hold him back.

A voice spoke in his thoughts. No words, just images. He'd no place here. No right of entry. He must go back. Go back and wait his fate, for it was coming.