Jin Huang buried Boff and Gwen himself.
Sitting between their grave mounds, he sighed.
"I wish I could have been even better friends with you. And... I wish I had gotten that sandwich you promised me, Boff."
Hei Shisan, Lu Chen and Shen Wuyou buried the others. After a while, Jin Huang stood up and approached the group.
"Sorry I couldn't answer your questions about Lin earlier. There was just too much to explain."
They all nodded, except for Qin Shuyue who braced herself for horrible news.
Jin Huang took a breath and his spatial ring flashed. The next second, he was holding a silver sword with a golden hilt, inscriptions all about the blade.
It was Excalibur.
"This... is Lin." Jin Huang offered with little confidence they would believe him.
They blinked.
Suddenly, the sword lost some of its magnificent lustre, and seemed to dim just a little. Following that, Lin manifested before them all, waving.
"Hi!"
After some explaining, they came to understand that Lin was Excalibur's 'item spirit,' and that Excalibur itself was a very high grade of spirit tool.
"So, Lin," Hei Shisan drew close, hand on his chin as he procured a long and slender sword.
"Do you think this sword is... sexy, perhaps?"
Lin pretended he didn't hear, instead choosing to ask for the details on Jin Huang.
"Well," Cho Yanshi started. They were now gathered around a fire on the outskirts of the valley, in the opposite direction they had come from.
"Jin Huang isn't normal. Just like you are an item spirit, he is a... dao spirit... or something like that."
"What she's trying to say," Lu Chen cut in, "is that Jin Huang's body is special. It doesn't function like a regular body, which houses a soul. His body houses a dao in spiritual form."
"In order to do that, his body needs to be very, very special."
Lin nodded, "I think I get that. He has a magic body and a magic soul. But what's this stuff about him having multiple past lives?"
Cho Yanshi reclaimed her position as keynote speaker, saying, "Well, just like souls enter the cycle of reincarnation, Jin Huang does as well. However, his is a lot more controlled, and infinitely more complex."
Lin listened attentively, as if he was afraid to miss even the most minute detail.
"I understand," he finally said, turning to look at Jin Huang.
"I guess it explains, in part, why Arthur was so special. He was this dao in human form. The Supreme Immortal. A fitting title for him."
Qin Shuyue leaned in smilingly, "Tell me about Arthur. What was he like?"
Lin laughed, "Oh, Arthur. In a lot of ways he was similar to Jin Huang. In his younger days, perhaps even more so. Unfortunately I only knew him when he was well into adulthood."
"In that time, Albion was a chaotic place that saw little peace. Kings fought for land and resources, and wars were waged against entire peoples. Many of them were driven to extinction, because they dared to practice their beliefs."
"Magic was looked upon with intense hatred, and the King of Camelot found himself cursed with a magical child. Arthur. Terrified of news spreading, but unable to kill his own son, the King sent Arthur away to live with the peasants."
"The boy grew up with nothing, and no idea of just how special he was. His magic caused him quite a lot of trouble, I was told. He spent many of his formative years running for his life."
Lu Chen cut in, "Who told you these things?"
Lin shushed him, "I'll get to that part."
Lin continued, explaining that Arthur eventually ran and hid amongst a tribe known as the Druids. They took him in, and taught him how to better harness his magical energy.
"It was there that Arthur made his first and oldest friend. A boy called Emrys, who would later become the greatest Warlock in all of Albion."
They all recognized the name, and also thought back to the staff that had opened the tomb for the trial to begin.
"His true name... was Merlin."
Lin told of Arthur and Merlin's adventures, and they laughed, cried, cringed and winced. Eventually, he told of Kilgharrah's Prophecy that led to Arthur taking his rightful place as King.
"Knowing the people would never accept him otherwise, Merlin and Kilgharrah devised a plan without Arthur's knowledge. They created a Legend, and paved the way for Arthur to become it."
"The Legend of the Once and Future King."
"The sword was created using the greatest magic Kilgharrah and Merlin were capable of. It became a symbol of hope in Albion's darkest hours."
"The sword was plunged deep into a magical stone. The promise of a better and brighter future would come along with whoever could free it."
"Arthur refused many times. He had no wish to be King- he never did. But he also knew how great Albion's need was. He was tethered to this land in a way that no one else was."
"He sacrificed his freedom the day he chose to free the sword. From that day on, he was Albion's King. He united the kingdoms through countless battles, won every war he fought, and ushered in an era of peace that would have lasted his lifetime."
"He made many friends during those years- his trusted knights among them. Perhaps the greatest of his friends was Mordred, Arthur's only equal on the field of battle."
"Before I could manifest in this form the way I do now," Lin gestured to himself, "Arthur spoke to me many times. He wished he could leave Camelot- leave Albion. Travel with his friends and see just how large the world truly was."
Lu Chen and Cho Yanshi gave one another a look. They had not heard this side of Mordred's story.
"Arthur always dreamt of that day. He came so close, too..." Lin sighed, filled with emotion.
"Then, everything fell apart. Seemingly out of nowhere, a nation of strange beings rose in the south. They marched on Camelot, led by an inhuman king."
"Inhuman?" Lu Chen frowned. "What were they?"
Lin shook his head, "I cannot say for sure. There's nothing like them in Albion. They were a strange mixture of human and beast- all of them. To say they were more like one than the other would be disingenuous."
"They were... hybrid beasts. They spoke our language, but also a language that no one else understood. Their king was the closest thing to a human among them, but even he was wholly animal-like. Some kind of... monkey."
A sense of unease overcame Lu Chen, but he did not say anything yet.
"Did Arthur ever cultivate?" Jin Huang asked a completely off-topic question.
"Cultivate? You mean, like, farming the land?" Lin asked.
"No. I mean..." Jin Huang fell into thought before saying, "Did Arthur ever eat any weird plants?"
Lin gaped in confusion, "Uh... not that I know of?"
"Hmm," Jin Huang pondered once again.
"Anyway... After that nation of beasts appeared, they waged war against and defeated Arthur. As far as I know, almost everyone perished in that final battle."
"Merlin and a few others survived, and laid King Arthur to rest." Lin took a deep breath.
"The sword was placed in his tomb. Ever since then, Merlin's spell has called out to the swordsmen of the land, subjecting them to the sword trial and allowing me to choose from amongst them."
"With Arthur gone, someone would need to ensure that Albion did not descend into chaos again. Those people are the Heroes you have heard of. Honorable men and women who reminded me of Arthur."
"Of course, none of them were as much like Arthur as you, Jin Huang. You are exactly like him, the way he was before the weight of responsibility forced him to change."
Digesting the information, the conversation soon died down as they all pondered. Lin sat and stared at the fire; it was unknown what he was thinking about.
Suddenly, Jin Huang perked up.
"I get it now!"
They looked at him, some curious, others like Qin Shuyue already massasing their temples.
"King Yama told me something similar. He said that a past incarnation of me also wished to be free, but was unable to escape that fate. The same way that Arthur sought freedom, but needed to step up and be King."
"What are you getting at," Qin Shuyue frowned.
"If following Dao is like walking a path, then what if cultivating the Supreme Immortal Body requires me to follow a very specific path? A path that my past selves might not have been able to follow."
Jin Huang's eyes sparkled.
"What if I'm the first incarnation to check all the right boxes?"
Hearing his words, they all thought about it. Bouncing around the ideas in their heads, it didn't seem too improbable.
Then, Cho Yanshi spoke up.
"The final entry in the Journal... If you're right, then it might make sense."
She moved, the pale leather book appearing once again.