A Waste of Time-Chapter 123: Fathomless Ember

“I’ve got to say… this mortal experience isn’t so bad.”
Ippo muttered the words as he stepped out of the bathroom, body still damp and steam clinging to his skin. Behind him, Yan Jia and Zhou Mei remained inside, taking their time after helping him scrub away the grime and stink he had built up from another long day of training. For now, his mischief was finished; he was clean, satisfied, and on his way to sleep.
Serving him was a simple matter—yet strange. Once, they had only ever bathed, guarded, and fed their true young master, Daemon. That had felt natural, proper. But Daemon was no longer with them, and in his place stood this clone. Ippo was different. Playful, shameless, and clearly the sort who would devour both girls whole the moment he matured.
“Humph.” Little Mei puffed her cheeks as she submerged to her eyes, blowing bubbles across the bathwater. Her gaze, however, betrayed her pout. It lingered on the soft, round curves of her elder sister Jia’s chest. “That jerk’s a pervert. He’s bullying us. Maybe I should’ve gone with big sister Xia instead… at least she gets to have fun with big brother Ru. It wouldn’t be dangerous to wander the streets at night with him there.”
Little one has no idea,
Jia thought with quiet amusement,
that Ippo already had his fun molesting Xia in the kitchen this morning. Food and pleasure—two instincts at once. Mei was too busy working to notice.
Yan Jia opened her arms, and Zhou Mei’s eyes lit up as she swam into her embrace. The little maid pressed herself tightly against her, unwilling to let go even an inch.
“Be good,” Jia whispered, stroking her hair. “We need to get used to it. Young master Ippo is just… expressing his emotions toward us in his own way.”
Mei only snuggled deeper into her sister’s warmth, while Jia’s thoughts turned wry.
Seems he isn’t the only one interested in my body.
Her fingers patted the maid’s head gently, but her mind drifted elsewhere—far beyond the bathhouse, beyond the Burning Dawn Dynasty.
Her heart carried her to the boy imprisoned in the Ten-Thousand Beast Mountain. Daemon.
The Solar Lotus Sect’s Entrance Competition is in two months. I need to make my final preparations before I begin secluded cultivation.
She sighed, her arms tightening around Mei.
But without him… it’s hard. When he was here, I could always look to him for advice. Whenever I felt lost, whenever I needed guidance, he was there. He was my anchor, my rock, the wall I could lean against for shelter.
The water lapped softly around them, but the emptiness of his absence pressed heavier than any tide.
Kai, on the other hand, was free as a bird.
After meeting with Manager Ling Sue and hearing her offer—prestige, esteemed status, the comfort of wealth—he pressed her for more. “What are your plans? What comes next?”
She answered without hesitation. “Crouching-Tiger City, to meet my superiors in the Seven-Gold Pagoda’s Main Branch. From there, the path will be yours to decide.”
Satisfied, Kai instructed her to send word ahead, to inform them of his arrival. Then he asked for a map—detailed, precise—and a modest loan. Nothing extravagant, just a couple hundred Bronze Coins, a dozen Silver, and a few Gold.
With those requests fulfilled, he voiced his gratitude, thanked Protector Fu Jian for his guidance, and bade them farewell. The next moment, he was gone, Teleporting to the furthest point away from Blue-Luan Town. From somewhere along the road that stretched between the town and Scattered-Woods Village, Kai began his journey, carefully memorizing the lines and markings of the map.
His destination: the nearest village along his route. He needed new clothes, a variety of sets for blending in—and beyond that, he craved the chance to explore, to taste adventure in this strange world.
“But first, I’ll pay the Nie Family a visit,” he muttered to himself. “Have them prepare Weapons for me to train with… or use, if trouble comes knocking.”
He was poised to Teleport again, straight to Nie Leixu’s Smithy. But he stopped, scanning his surroundings for a hiding place. Once secure, he let his awareness slip into the strange Space unlocked in his mind for the first time as he welcomed dawn.
A suspended path stretched before him, six tiles long. The scene was eerily familiar—identical to the memories he shared from Daemon.
“Good, you’re already h—W-what the—how are you even here?”
Ippo appeared, swagger and confidence painted across his face. At first he mistook Kai for Daemon. But the shared memories quickly corrected him. Shock widened his eyes.
Kai can access the System?
He clenched his fists. Unlike him—the great, unmatched Immortal—Ippo had never managed it.
“Bruh!” Kai smirked, twisting the knife. “I’m version 0.2. You? You’re history. I’m the future.”
The insult landed hard. Ippo’s face darkened. “I’ll kill you, you son of a bitch!” he roared, tackling Kai to the ground.
Kai rolled with the impact, cackling like a demon. “Roll.”
The Dice shimmered in his hand and vanished.
2–White.
Light swept him away. His body disappeared, leaving Ippo clutching only air.
“Roll, damn it!” Ippo shouted, his voice cracking with frustration.
The Dice appeared. He cast it, breath held. As he waited, his eyes darted around. To his left stretched an ancient graveyard, silent and suffused with gloom. To his right, a grassy field where a pink bunny stood upright, nibbling calmly as its big eyes watched him.
6–White.
“Fuck yeah!” Ippo whooped, pumping his fist in triumph as light swallowed him too. The path dissolved behind him.
And the bunny? Its fur rippled, body reshaping into a demi-human girl—soft pink hair, long ears, a cottony tail above her hips. Her lips parted, words carried off by the rising wind.
“Are these two going to be alright in…”
The breeze stole the rest.
Daemon felt relief when he discovered that Kai could access the System. Not because he disliked tending the Orc Camp or the animals—on the contrary, he had grown fond of it. The adventures he experienced as Asura, the grueling fights that pushed him to his limits—those had been painful, frustrating, yet strangely fun. Every time he endured, every time he forced his way through hardship and saw the result tilt in his favor, it left behind a calmness, a patience, a steady mind. It was why he could remain so composed now, even if in the eyes of the Ten-Thousand Beasts Mountain he was nothing more than a prisoner they could exploit however they want.
That was why he was thankful. With Kai managing things on the other side, Daemon could now give this role his full focus—the goal of understanding everything there was to know about the Mountain and the schemes being woven around him.
But here lay the problem. The only person he could interact with freely was Su An, and the information she could give him was limited. She was just an Outer Disciple, low in rank and shallow in knowledge. He also could not afford to take the initiative—no probing, no questions—because he knew he was being watched. Even without seeing it, without noticing how, he felt it. An elusive gaze always clung to the back of his head, the perfect blind spot. He tried subtle shifts, careful angles, never obvious—but the gaze never left him. Eventually, he stopped trying to expose it and simply resigned himself, sitting quietly in the Azure Lock Chamber with Su An as his only companion.
So he played along. He ate when she told him to eat, bringing joy to her face when she read positive signatures on the Formation nodes. He moved his body when she urged him to, and she smiled when she saw the life-lamp brighten, even slightly.
That fragile balance was shaken when Grand Elder Mo Qiuya appeared again.
Su An went pale the moment the old woman entered. Trembling, she scrambled to retrieve the sweets Daemon had given her—the gift he had passed on as the price of their budding friendship. “P-please take them back!” she pleaded, pushing the container into his hands. “Senior Mo would kill me if she finds out I took something that doesn’t belong to me. Quickly!” Her hands shook as she pressed the treats into him, but there were none left. She had eaten them. Only wrappings remained.
Daemon almost laughed aloud. He didn’t know whether to laugh or cry, so thoroughly amused by her terror yet unwilling to torment her further. She looked like a deer caught in torchlight, helpless.
“Who says they don’t belong to you?” he said, patting her gently on the head after rising to his toes to reach. “They were mine, and I gave them to you. Can’t you see? She gave me more this time without even asking what happened to the first. Of course she knows I must’ve passed them to you. She probably thinks you’re keeping them tidy for me, the same way Elder Bai ordered you to manage everything here. Even if she doesn’t think that, do you really believe a Grand Elder would lower herself to worry about something so silly?”
He smirked as Su An patted her chest, sighing with relief. “I’d feel bad too, especially since you liked them so much.”
“I-I don’t!” she blurted, cheeks flaring pink.
“Really?” His smirk deepened. “Good, then. I’ll keep all of them. It’s bad for a girl your age to eat so many sweets. You’ll get fat, you know.” He teased, scooping the pile of empty wrappers into his hand.
Su An blushed crimson, slapped at his hand, and scattered the wrappings to the floor. “Stop spouting nonsense! How dare you curse me like that? Two hundred laps, young man. Now!” She planted her fists on her hips, glaring fiercely.
“Aye-aye, sir!” Daemon answered like a soldier, snapping a salute before marching off. He dragged his feet playfully, kicking at every wrapper he passed.
Su An huffed, quickly gathering the mess before burning it all to ash with a flicker of Fire Qi.
This damn cheeky brat…
she thought, half annoyed, half flustered. Yet she couldn’t deny the truth. The sweets had tasted divine, and she had felt her Qi react faintly to them. Grand Elder Mo must have intended them for Daemon, for his benefit. Not hers.
Am I really going to be alright?
she wondered, unease tightening her chest.
Mo Qiuya isn’t known for kindness. She isn’t forgiving. Why is she acting this way?
Her mind flashed back to Ah Gui, dismissed without hesitation before Daemon even woke. But when she herself had been present, the Grand Elder had allowed her to stay. She had even given her a warm, grandmotherly smile on her way out.
What is going on?
Su An’s thoughts twisted restlessly.
I don’t know what to think anymore.
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