The Shovel System

Jackie crosses his forearms and considers Silent Wolf. The towering and brawny old man begins quietly counting in his mind.

Silent wolf's c.h.e.s.t swells in and out with his adrenaline racing through his entire body, preparing him to confront or retreat against the colossal threat of Jackie Lewin before of him. He fixes his bloodshot gaze on Jackie's patient eyes. 'I will NOT allow him to spank me again!' Silent Wolf bawls in his thoughts.

One second passes by, and Silent's vigilance doubles as his rage plateaus. The young man slides his right leg back for support, keeping his eyes glued to Jacky. 'I'll act the moment he moves! This time I won't take my eyes off of him even for a moment.'

Another second crawls by while the two stare at each other.

Confusion fills Silent Wolf's mind while his adrenaline thins and his heart rate plummets. The young man's huffing lightens into normal breathing. His bloodshot-eyes gradually regain their color while the redness of his skin pales back to his natural tan.

The third second passes by. Silent Wolf has cooled off while Jacky watches him. Jacky then finishes counting in his head.

Jackie raises an eyebrow and says, "You will kill me if I touch your family? I understand. I admire you for that. Many young folks ditch their principles at the hint of danger, yet you are here, holding tall before me. I like you, young man. You are a genuine man in my eyes."

SIlvent wolf shivers with resentment and cries out, "You speak all that however you are the reason why we got booted out of the village! YOU!" The young man glares and then turns his back on Jackie. "Whatever."

"Quiet Bear, we'll make our home here. Get everything ready, " Silent wolf growls a command to his young wife. He walks over and accepts his swaddled son from her and then walks around to find a place to sit. He cups his chin, watching the lake, his wife, and Jackie.

Quiet Bear's eyebrows draw together as she winces an expression that says, 'sorry!' to Jackie before she quickly looks away and rushes to pulling material from the leather bags. She lays it all out and assembles a round frame out of ivory tusks, lashing them together with purple grass rope. She then dr.a.p.es the huge leather bag across it, fastening it in place to form a comfortably sized bone and leather yurt.

She takes a bone spade and digs out a pit at the center of the yurt, lining it with rocks and then places a metal disk inside. She lays a couple of bags of animal fat nearby. She puts a roasting spit over the firepit and lays out some bone tools on a leather satchel.

Quiet bear wipes her sweat with her small hand, then jams crossed tusks into the ground inside the yurt, hanging purple-grass rope between them to make two hammocks for sleeping and resting. She then moves the rest of the piles of materials into the yurt and organizes them.

Throughout the day she would occasionally pause to nurse her baby boy, then go back to work establishing their new home while her husband and Jacky observed.

The sun casts the firmament into reds and purples as it floats down towards the horizon at the end of the day.

Silent Wolf rises and stretches, walking over to the complete yurt, settling his hand on Quiet Bear's waist. Quiet Bear takes Solemn Wolf and steps inside the yurt to nurse the toddler.

Silent Wolf pauses at the entrance and spends a few seconds gazing at Jackie before walking into the Yurt.

Jackie strokes his beard and turns around to face the lake before sitting down into a cultivation position. 'I've got to get through to them... How can I cheat them into cheerfully learning from me?'

The morning quickly comes with Quiet Bear rousing up the earliest to take care of her fussy baby.

Quiet Bear steps outside into the predawn breeze, the fading stars still twinkle in the inky heavens overhead. 'Silent Wolf will be thirsty and want a bath when he gets up, so I should draw some water from the lake.'

She shoulders a pair of wicker-wrapped clay vases by the door and shifts to face the lake. Quiet Bear pulls a sharp breath and freezes, her peepers fluttering wide.

'Is this an Immortal?' She gawks at Jackie.

The three-meter tall beefcake old man has his wrinkly face turned upwards towards the distant constellations, and his eyes are firmly shut. Jackie is standing out on the middle of the lake, the gentle morning breeze c.a.r.e.s.sing his long white hair into dancing streamers behind his head. His robes gently sway on his body while he stands as fixed as granite.

A whirlpool of prismatic light cascades down from the very constellations above and converges on him. The lights dance and furl, converge and diverge, forming countless mysterious animals and scenes, etching a view of divine beauty into the young Quiet Bear's mind.

She witnesses the ghostlike scene of her parents the day before they never returned from their mission to attack rogue cultivators that were demanding ransom from the villagers. Her eyes grow misty, watching the scene as it descends from the heavens, witnessing the journey and despicable trap her parents had befallen. She then sees how they fought and inflicted mortal wounds on the rogue cultivators, paying life for life from the rogue cultivators.

Her nose gets stuffy, and she hiccups a small cry before wiping her nose.

The phantom vision bursts and converges with the other scenes and fantasies. The river of light pours into Jackie's sparkling body.

The first ray of sunlight blooms across the horizon and the river of starlight turns into a stream and then a tiny trickle, the final wisps vanishing into Jacky's muscular body a few minutes later.

Quiet Bear blinks and comes to, a little frustrated that she can't watch anymore. The girl remembers that she came out to fetch water! 'Oh nooo, I got distracted, ah, SIlent Wolf can't know... he'd be so mad. Jackie doesn't seem so bad to me... He's very mystical, unlike those other mean rogue cultivators!'

Quiet Bear hasn't realized that she has started believing in the foreign cultivator. 'Water' She thinks and draws a hot bath for her husband.

Across the lake in the foggy mist.

Jackie is standing sopping wet in the middle of his formation. He had swum back under-water after he finished looking mystical in the middle of the lake. He had been standing on the phantom shovel generated from his Shovel Stomp to pull off the trickery.

"Hee hee hee, No mistaking that expression, Quiet Bear totally thinks I'm extra mystical and wise." He strokes his white beard and narrows his eyes, "Now that leaves Silent Wolf. He is troublesome. Hmmm..."

"Heh heh heh... I have an idea." Jackie's eyes glow.

The towering old man's expression fills with conspiracy.

The corner of his lips curl up, "I'll just..."