The Shovel System

"Be on guard, Junior brothers and sisters!"

The thick, masculine voice rumbles and shakes the shoddy lean-to. It continues, "We aren't alone, whoever's this deep into the forbidden zone has to be at least at the Forming Constellation level."

Jackie's ears perk up, while his mind whirs, 'How do I understand them?' His eyes dart to the new box on his interface, [Dimensional Translation, Consuming Shovel Points]

Jackie stays still while the heavy stomps of several massive footprints arrive behind his shelter. He sees clear lines pass through him and into the area beyond.

The lines warp and wrap along everything in sight, seeming to grope and feel their way along, yet pass through him as though he is a ghost.

"The Daoist must be out, be wary of arrays, but I don't sense anyone," Cautions the mighty voice. It receives a chorus of half-hearted affirmations from other powerful voices near him.

The voice commands a few moments later, "Junior Sister Willow, deploy your nine-trigrams darting shadows array here, and we wait for the Daoist to return."

The voice is greeted with a huff and a stomp that shakes the bed. "Fifteen medium grade celestial stones! Upfront, I've seen all the debt-sticks that you hold, Senior."

The Senior brother nervously chuckles, "What's a few spirit stones among discipl-"

"UP-FRONT!" Demands the musical voice of the senior sister.

The loud voice sighs in resignation and the sound of glass tinking fifteen times fills the air. "♪P.l.e.a.s.u.r.e doing business with you.♪"

Jackie stays frozen in place, ears stretching to hear any hint of violence. The sound of heavy stomping starts heading towards and around his makeshift shelter.

His eyes snap to the gem-like white feathers of the fifteen-meter tall swan that steps into his field of view. That large creature causes his heart to stop for a few moments until he witnesses the beauty that rides on its back.

She is at least nine meters tall, a true giant. She has sensual and s.e.xy curves wrapped up in her svelt black hanfu. The giantess sits proudly on her impressive mount; her face is adorably cute with phoenix eyebrows and plump lips. Her limpid glowing jade-yellow eyes give her other-worldly and dangerous beauty.

The hanfu has jade-green collars with mysterious occult symbols swimming across them. The buttons are l.u.s.trous gold and have the flourishes of a grandmaster. A palm-sized jade seal hangs from her belt and gently sways while her mount moves.

Jackie's heart restarts and hammers in his c.h.e.s.t. He can feel his veins regaining their youthful pulse at the sight of this woman, only to slow back down as clarity returns to his aged eyes. He glances at the head of the swan, meetings its eyes as it glares at him.

Hiss! The rumbling, alerting hiss of the swan causes the calculating woman on her back to draw out her spear and swing it around, along with the sounds of other massive beasts rushing into the camp to her side.

Jackie locks eyes with her, and she, him. He sees a translucent field burst from her and pass through him in moments, then swirl and keep trying to wrap around or latch onto him and continuously fail.

Her alert gaze turns into a frown, then she says, "Fellow Daoist, this is Twilight Sect's forbidden land, return what you have plundered or pay!"

She wields her ornate bronze spear oppressively at Jackie, causing his heart to jump into his throat. He recoils, "Yes ma'am! Just don't eat me!"

The rest of her cohort bursts into view at that moment. The men are all riding fifteen-meter tall toads of various neon colors, they stand between fourteen to nineteen meters tall.

They arrived just in time to catch his statement. They all look at him with the corners of their lips twitching, avoiding a smile. The biggest one, riding the biggest toad coughs, then wheezes out a booming laugh, "Gonna gobble him up, are you? Eh, Willow?"

He abruptly shuts up and takes a deep breath, another wave of clear energy bursts from him and swirls around and through Jackie. Jackie leans on his shovel and stands.

The big fellow is an absolute lady-killer in looks, yet wears white and green robes in the same make of the senior sister riding her swan. The big fellow rubs his glabella and closes his eyes in thought.

"Senior brother Long, I can't sense him at all, we need to be careful!" Whispers Willow in her booming voice, keeping her bronze spear intimidating Jackie.

Jackie holds his tongue, looking for a chance to escape the mighty giants sizing him up with calculating gazes.

The chance doesn't appear, Senior Brother Long's eyes pop open, and a tight smile plasters itself on his face. He nods and says, "50-50."

Willow blanks out for a moment, then her face turns deadly serious, "90-10".

"55/45"

"80-20"

"Deal!" The pair grasp hands in a rough handshake. Senior brother Long then says, "Pure body."

Jackie can practically hear the sounds of jaws dropping, and calculating gazes turning into penetrating stares from the surrounding group of giants. A shorter one, wearing glasses and a bowl cut suddenly announces, "I'd like to cash in that debt now, Senior Sister, 10%."

The happy woman suddenly turns pale, "Here? No no no, I'll pay spirit stones when we get back!"

"Haha, no, you don't have to go through all that trouble, dear sister, I wouldn't want to impose, 10% and that debt is wiped out."

She nervously laughs, "8%."

"Deal!" Smiles the giant, grinning like he just saw a new gold-mine with his name on it.

She lowers her head and sighs, shaking his hand, and turning to glare at Jackie, her gaze implying, how dare he ruin her plans.

She guides her mount closer, dropping Jackie into shadow. She towers above him, as big as a small house with her mount. "Get on!" She demands, her voice turning sharp as knives.

She waves her hand, and the air turns into stone steps that reach the mount's back.

Jackie pauses and looks uncertainly at the whole group, then sighs, 'I'll look for a chance to escape later, but, maybe it won't be so bad with them?'

He carefully ascends the stairs, using his shovel for help leveraging his slim body from one step to the next. He finally reaches the back of the enormous bird. The feathers are soft, warm, and supple under his hands and comfortable to walk on. "Ma'am, where should I sit?"

She turns her gaze down at him and points near the tail feathers. "Stay there, and don't get thrown off. Grandma Twilight would murder us! Haha, Pure Body, the disciplinary hall master will be pleased. So many Celestial Stones, heh heh heh." She licks her lips, laughing like a dirty old man.

Senior Brother Long waves his copper saber around, "Turn around! Mission postponed, let's get the goods to grandma twilight. Heh heh heh." He looks down at Jackie with implications.

They rush through the forest, eliminating any thoughts of leaping from the towering back of the Swan from Jackie's mind. 'We're going at least two hundred kilometers per hour! If I jump now, I'll become grandpa paste against one of the trees. I want one of those toads.'

The exotic trees blow past the Swan and her cohort of gargantuan-toad riding men. They blast out of the forest a couple of hours later and slow down.

They keep moving, and Jackie sees a town in the distance with many ordinary sized people going about their business, wearing Chinese-styled clothes. He also witnesses giants ranging from three meters to fifteen meters in height running around and peddling wares as their lives depended on it.

"Look, friend, you look dead tired! Life has you down, but my new Mighty Dragon elixir will have you fired up and ready to battle nine more times through the night, to ensure your lovely bride is a happy wife."

"Don't listen to him! Have you had trouble sleeping lately, your stone bed is too hard? Have you been looking for a solution? Well look no further, come come come, My Golden Mattress uses proprietary flexible jade to ensure even distribution of pressure points so that you wake up well rested and feeling like an emperor. That's not all! Stop by now, and I'll throw in..."

Jackie raises an eyebrow as he realizes that all of the giants are zealously hawking wares and services while chasing people around to try to get a sale by any means, short of extortion.

Dumbfounded and envious looks appear all over alongside calculating gazes that seem to say, 'Do I hold a debt jade over them? No? DAMN the heavens!"

Several hours pass and they soon arrive up a distant mountain, passing vast fields with many normal-sized folks working to grow mysterious and occult herbs and alchemical items. They ascend the mountain and arrive outside a massive cave.

Medicinal scents fill the air. Long sends in a wave of sheer energy that seems to flash and dance for a moment before vanishing.

He turns and waves to the rest, "Wait by the gates. Glasses and Willow, stay here for the transaction.

The rest of the party leave the three and Jackie, dashing into the distance.

The three giants turn their gaze towards the gaping maw of the cave. Soon, a towing shadow appears in its depths and gradually approaches, growing ever larger.

The shadow steps into the evening light and reveals a titan that stands twenty-two meters tall — towering over Long, Willow, and Glasses. She sends out a wave of golden energy that passes through and around Jackie.

She does it two more times, her dull eyes gaining a cunning gleam. She laughs, "Haha! Speak with that old coot. Take this." She tosses a golden jade token with a cauldron etched into its surface to each of the three, then waves her hand at Jackie.

Jackie feels vertigo as he flies off of the towering beast and zips through the air to land on the worn and rough hands of the towering ancient grandma. She smiles conspiratorially down at him with a mouth full of old crooked yellow teeth.