《Reincarnation of the totem》


 Chapter1. A Broken Jar

    A soft, silent shower covered Jinghai town. Mist curling into graceful hands left behind a lingering caress over the mountain peaks. These mysterious mountains stretching farther down towards north of Jinghai, stood mightily ¨C as sturdy as soldiers overrun with a high-tide of powerful enemies - brave yet forthright. Quite alike in their forbearance, the overbearing mountains stood rooted overrun in the rushing waves of clouds and raining mist. Peaks after peaks were shadowed in the misty clouds and foggy screens, and murky downpour lingered further on, as if noting a silent plea of summer''s end.


    It was the ninth month of the new year; after three more the year would end. No festivity, no new remarkable gatherings. The town at this time of the year had fallen into a slothful air lulled by its wet lands and soaking greenery steeped in mud.


    Carriages and carts ¨C some dragged by hands, some pulled along by the might of beasts ¨C dragged along the road; often overturning in the ever-present knee-deep, muddied and rain-washed roads. Once stuck, one had to wait for hours awaiting some help of some kind to run down and push the wheels out of these tricky pits of unpaved roads.


    If one happens to meet with more unfortunate circumstances, the wheels might completely come off its axles in the exertion of vehement motion and be of no further use. The master would then await draped in his fur, sometime peeking through the carriages now wet bamboo screens and curtain, sometime cursing at the weather in an almost indecipherable tone, while seeking some warmth from his hand-held brazier inside the carriage; knowing all too well that he was hopelessly waiting hours before any help could arrive in any form.


    ¡°Ha, what a waste ¨C as if heaven mandates that my head smudges in mud.¡± The Second young master whispered to the wind, looking at the far-off road which led to Jinghai town gate.


    Often paper umbrellas could be seen floating in their colorful apparels from one end of the alley to another, but seldom out from the town gate, or even in suburbs. Festive reds, cheerful yellows and some supporting imitations of famous paintings - the umbrellas floated around like hundreds of flowers blooming in spring. From one shopfront, hopping to another ¨C hoping to remain as un-wet as humanly possible in such a cumbersome weather ¨C till the eves of all visible shop fronts were filled with random strangers seeking refuge or running away in haste. Few bare-bodied slaves too could be spotted, as they ran along these very paths rushing to help their master bear the weight of the carriage wheels stuck inside mud while he screamed his lungs out with anger.


    ¡°A carriage couldn¡¯t be arranged? Then why did you rush here without doing anything? Don¡¯t tell me the house has every carriage occupied ¨C what did you say? Every one of them is engaged? Ha! Taking me as a fool¡­¡± and thus his voice echoed in the valleys, losing its shrill timbre as it reached farther and farther down the south.


    In the suburbs of the town, down south, there it was the worst hit. The continuous rain of three weeks, unsparing of the day or night had seeped into fields stretching all around the valley. A gloom had settled down, cradled in the valley''s silence and resonating in its melancholic slumber. As far as the eyes could see, now the land appeared as a sea overarching the heavens. It stretched on and on, farther till it melted away down into the opposite range of bluish gray Mysterious mountains far into the southern horizon.


    Forest and foliage, fresh and lush green forked sparingly. The rain had washed off their dusty paleness and once again filled them with choicest of hues; the landscape had regained its mesmerizing colors. The blues of mountains were stark and sharply contrasted with the rolling white mist, while the sea-like fields were softer and reflecting, like a finely cut piece of an enamoring mirror ¨C capturing a piece of the moving heaven above in its breast. And when a soft shower fell over it creating round ripples¡­an unforgettable image was etched for some eyes.


    The greens could be said to have become a bit greener and the town livelier by the time the Second young master and his servants found their way out of the suburbs and rushed back into the town gate. Nearby stood a crowded pathway welcoming the arrivals of guests and Wei jia¡¯s most gracious servants bouncing on their eager feet.


    Despite the unfortunate weather, the roads were getting busier; even the small river outlet running through the middle of the town ¨C although flooded with muddied water and red of the washed down mountain soil ¨C was still getting busier with hoards of flower sellers, vegetable sellers all with their baskets of freshly picked bunches of water-lilies and lotuses, and leafy greens sitting atop their boats haggling with customers.


    Harkening of hawkers had pitched up a notch, while shaded mansions of nobles began to be filled up with a similar kind of chattering servants abound doing their morning preparations before any of the masters were to awaken. Rows after rows of maids and servants were filing here and there in a set rhythm, as if some hand was pulling their string from above, guiding them, restricting their paces, restraining their actions, keeping anyone from sticking out of tune. The rhythm itself was fine, but a strange artificiality dawned upon their features.


    ¡°No, no, no! Oh heavens! Hong Tao! Tao¡¯er look at your steps, will you? Look at the time! Look at what you have done! The mistress has been waiting for so long in the main hall now, her feet have gone cold. There have been no words for so long, no messages have been received from the Second young master. Would you care to rush out and look for Young Master and see where he is now? Why hasn¡¯t he come home yet? Everyone else is worried, but you. No, run for heaven¡¯s sake! The young master hasn¡¯t reached the house ¨C no doubt the carriage might have broken off near the town-gate again ¨C look at this rain, it doesn¡¯t intend to stop, does it? The soup will be cold by that time¡­¡±Unauthorized usage: this narrative is on Amazon without the author''s consent. Report any sightings.


    A silent pebble into the still waters.


    Still, like a timbre broken off in a jerk and rescinding in the same manner, a yellow tailed warbler¡¯s song broke upon the magnolia branch drooping under the shower. It wasn¡¯t the flowering season, yet its leaves shook with passion of quenched thirst; the day was mellow and the tune was heartening. Where did it break off to? It was a wonder¡­


    A little splatter of feet rushing back and forth and then silence lingered in the vacant courtyard. Then, files of maids dressed in fine silks of modest cut, went to east and to the west, to north and to south, and to each direction on their bidding. The rhythm had dawned upon them once more, all the more absorbed and grievous.


    Soon the houses of nobles and commoners alike burst out with vigorous rushing; the dawn had passed and noon approached fast. In stark contrast, the gloomy sky and muddied path sketched a wretched picture. The eaves of the roofs over many houses dripped with murky dark water-droplets, rolling down in sheets of silvery sparkling train, down the stoned marbled floors of the courtyards. A solemn picture yet equally mesmerizing in its unsettling uncanniness. A quiet descends and a shout emerges suddenly as if one has embroiled another in its existence, unceasingly mellow in its likeness.


    Through the shade of the free-floating curtains, sliding off the canopy of her bed, Wei Zhiruo lamented for a while, still lying on her aching back. Her mind though, rushing past the encompassing walls escaping all spatial fastenings put on her by those courtyard walls and forted manor, the town¡¯s walls and its mighty looking gates, its overbearing towers - some even now full of traces of ancient wars, scratches and mortified wounds passed down through hands of great men and mighty warriors ¨C rose up, flew high and looked down. She took in all this rushing vigor of the small town, its bitterness and sweetness, its multifaceted chaos and liveliness, she felt its taste linger on her tongue and felt its strain enduring over her ears. For a moment she ceased to be, but a speck of floating dust roaming over a halo of the past, present and future all melting in a single pot. A shadow engulfed her senses and then, as if chidding her willfulness her aching soul snatched her back. It was just, but in a moment.


    The figure on the bed shook with vexation; her breath coming out in clear, audible wheezings. Her pale face starkly contrasted with the black free-floating strands of her smooth long hair, while her poise ¨C leaning back on the wooden headboard, cushioned in cloud like pillows was quite easily distinguished against the almost paranoid staleness present in her eyes. Nothing betrayed her storm like emotions raging in her blood. But it was only natural - she thought.


    Flickering in the early morning sunlight, the dust floated around stuck in a grave prayer. The windows were parted open unceremoniously, without taking into account the health of the occupant, she observed. In fact, it made it all the more felt, those injuries ¨C for indeed the ache from chilly winds aroused her bodily instincts, making her battered state of health or pangs in her own flesh, feel like a silent blow.


    The windows in question, now slowly let in a faint drizzle and turbid smell of broken soil and crushed leaves; the faintly nostalgic smell tickled into her nose. The chill lingered over her pale skin, burning against her dull eyes. Dull, shadow less, mirthless, unapologetically apathetic.


    She felt it. She knew it too. This was not the place she knew of. This room, this boudoir.


    Somewhere in its corner lay a delicate piece of embroidered work, arranged with piles of colored threads, a wooden frame still mounted with a piece of fabric. An unfinished embroidered work. Pearl beads hanging around her bed enclosed the view along with the parted muslin curtains, soft and embroidered with silvery totems of birds and auspicious clouds. It rose with the blowing wind.


    By the window was the latticed wooden screen, crafted to section the room into chambers, hiding the bed from the direct view of the main door opening into the western walls. Crafted with luxurious rosewood, other latticed window screens were parted open letting in cold air. The room itself was full of a unique taste of incoherent extravagance and unpretentious barrenness, perhaps even a trace of simplicity in its similitude.


    Not like her small palace at all. Not even her mother¡¯s extravagant Jade palace or anywhere she was familiar with. It wasn¡¯t luxurious enough. Bright enough. Familiar enough¡­And the smell that wafted off from its nooks and crannies: it held a strange mellowness lingering over everything, something the hard history of the imperial power could never sustain in its possession. Its mighty walls were always bare of human touch, but this place, this chamber was altogether brimming with human weaknesses.


    ¡®No, it¡¯s not my palace,¡¯ Wei Zhiruo concluded as she lay languidly resting amongst soft pillows.


    It was unkempt as well. As if for a while, and quite recently too, it had been raided, emptied and abandoned. Many things appeared to be missing. Shards of broken jars were left strewn over the floor. Someone had raided the room, taken things and left it in disarray all too blatantly.


    The charms strung to the pearl strings suddenly burst into a tune, recapturing her wandering senses.


    Wei Zhiruo closed her eyes and lulled the deep ache in her heart to sleep. In fact, she knew something was off about the whole thing. The biggest giveaway had always been her body. Pale, small in girth, short and weak; she must be approaching seven but still not there ¨C yes, she was young, a human child again.

 Chapter2. A Past in Shadows

    Wei Zhiruo had spent most of her life like a rootless duckweed ¨C afloat a seamless dream. Seldom stopping to refrain her heart and listen to its quiet voices or to its urgent protests. As a result, when silence did dawn upon her, by chance and by good fortune, she was left overcome with resounding discomfort, fixed stiff in speechlessness.


    As the only child of her father, with a crown to claim ¨C more than that, a dream to fulfill; a dream that had been dreamt by so many souls, and by so many minds that its brevity was only more obvious, its enamor all the more grievous - a life with only her own wants and needs was completely foreign to her. Her birth was a callous cause; she was told that she was to be nothing but hope from day one.


    ¡°As our future queen, no...rather as the last seed of our bloodline - you cannot be selfish and only think of yourself. No! You must dedicate your life to regain us some hope. Child, I ask a lot of you - but you should know that since your Awakening, you ceased to be just a mere crown princess of our kingdom. Now, your duties lie elsewhere...in revitalizing our dying world-¡± A soft, apologetic voice reverberated.


    ¡°Why me?¡±


    Because an oracle had sentenced her to that fate, someone had answered. Right on the day she was born, she was declared the ¡®key¡¯ to revitalize her dying world. How would she do that? No one knew. But she must be able to do something and that was the most common belief of everyone.


    Growing up, she had heard of this grandeur of her fate. Of its wonder and how much luck she had because she was the last and the only one who could hold such a key to this glamorous fate-the last of her bloodline! She was to be the enigma, the only hope ¨C a hope for her clan, as well as all the people inside her kingdom alike. A hope that could bring them out of their senseless mortality and make them all Immortals again- place them at a pedestal from where the horizon would never shrink, and where the day would in its glory and glamor encapsulate power and eternal life for all and that, for eternity.


    Everyone had a share in that enigmatic dream. Maybe, in the beginning she might have held a place in it too-! Now, no more of that.


    For a while Wei Zhiruo couldn¡¯t help but refrain from remembering those things from her past life. She tried to stop thinking altogether ¨C a desperate move to shirk thoughts that never left her, but unfortunately she didn¡¯t succeed for long. There was an urgent need to sort out every possible mystery of her past life that was eating her up from inside.


    Alas! Finally defeated by all her own efforts that seemed to be going nowhere, she let herself fall back, wordless, over the canoe ¨C now, floating amidst huge blooms of violet water lilies . All while still refraining to accept that faint loss of connection her death had brought to her. That would definitely take some time, she thought.


    The flowers, though, were blooming spectacularly. Splattered amongst lotuses of warmer hues ¨C blossoming so sagaciously in their unaltered grace and purity, so brightly and breathtakingly in their bewitching potency, that it seemed for a moment at least, as if they were ready to transcend their mortal ties. Everything was just short of achieving a miraculous beginning - like her own life had this sweet morning.


    Wei Zhiruo straightened her neck, cradling them in between her folded arms. She was lying down with her back against a seldom used canoe. Probably abandoned by the shore.


    In fact, it was all chance encounter that she could have even found such a spot, so well-hidden and quietly tucked between abandoned courtyards, and ghostly looking chambers and corridors. Such was the state of abandon in here that she had even spotted a pillar almost leaning down, just awaiting a simple push to come toppling down with all its roof and walls! She had never seen such a state of ruin before. Not inside an inhabited place at least.


    While she observed her surroundings, Wei Zhiruo continued to struggle to control her thoughts. In a while, her body seemed petrified almost, not due to the cold of the night but her mind being forced to enter a state of deep meditation.


    If there was a person standing by the shore at this moment, he would in all faith - after ignoring those random flickers of agony, or twinges of great forbearance that emerged on her features ¨C take that child as the most fairylike observer of that beautiful nightscape and its various pleasures: the moon, and enchanting breezes swimming over senses...everything.


    Or maybe even a reluctant part of it. From afar this glimpse of her reverie filled desolation looked something of a lore. If one followed her tiny shadow flickering on silvery moonlit water, they might even hastily declare her a phantom or a nymph. Although neither of these descriptions would have suited her most in her detachedness or done justice to the workings of her consciousness embroiled in a storm. But it would suffice to capture that wandering imagery of which she became a reluctant part of.


    In that state of half abandon, enhanced by deep meditation, Wei Zhiruo was immersed in investigating every part of her own body; from her physical body to the state of her own soul. But while she was busy doing that, a range of ¡®thoughts¡¯ floating around herself kept filling up inside her. She felt herself becoming too stifled in them. To such an extent that she could hardly breath! She huffed, and broke out of her meditative state.


    The girl sat up and took in deep breaths to calm her mind.


    ¡®Now, there is no way but to let them go,¡¯ Wei Zhiruo thought.


    Although the risk of letting her thoughts loose were great and with tasteless aftereffects, she couldn¡¯t help but let them loose. Deciding that, she didn¡¯t wait for long.  A floodgate opened up and crushed through her pores. It was sudden. Several shock waves raged through her body and Wei Zhiruo hit the bottom boards with a thwack, falling right on the back of her head. She stifled a cry -


    She really had not anticipated this overcharged, zealous sort of thrumming anxiousness!


    She thought, and kept thinking of all kinds of things. And all she could do for some while was think¡­and think some more! Thoughts filled the crevices of her unaligned soul, some echoing with harsher intensity than others. If she were to escape from their clutches at this moment, she might as well have a better chance to just abandon her bodily cage! Thoughts fed her, clothed her and watered her self ¨C drowning her in themselves. What it exacted, it echoed and with unwavering force in belief. The cacophony of its rage dawned over a worn-out Wei Zhiruo. As she tried to balance her aching feverish body against the swaying boat, a torn and crushed soul thrummed and throbbed. Shivers never ceased wreaking havoc inside her body, she was shaking quite badly by the moment her thoughts properly found their usual pace.


    But before that it was painful, all white for some while. The implications weren¡¯t good ¨C a strong ache thundered through her body, almost dislocating her from her languid repose. If she hadn¡¯t been on the look-out for it, the silent night might have echoed with her resentful cry like a vengeful ghost!


    Fortunately, she had suffered worse - this little bit of discomfort could still be suffered through without crying. She clutched the boats side-boards and didn¡¯t let the raging waves of pain shaking her body affect the boats outside equilibrium.


    Wei Zhiruo opened her red eyes, filled with traces of water and flooded in pain. She had a hard time concentrating, but finally settled on one stream of thought rather than letting her mind do its thing and jumble up all sorts of information. She filtered images from her past life, shrugging away memories attached to them or the thoughts that floated on the surface.


    All those secret liaisons, holed up meetings with her loyal friends, or some moments spent under the warm light of her father¡¯s magnificent library - a piece of her heaven¡­


    Or a much warmer image of herself, sitting on a terrace basking in the sunlight of a clear Autumn day, brushing her fingers in white fur¡­a leaf fell, and she looked up and someone close to her said- ¡°And what about tea? Won¡¯t you have some of that?¡±


    She couldn¡¯t recall if she had agreed or not, or just sat there lingering in the soft sunlight, and let that peace fill her up to her brims. But this sudden image stuck in her mind. She forgot to breathe. When she took in a gulp of air to assuage her aching lungs, her eyes were too red to hold down tears trickling down. She forced herself to turn away and think of some other thing. The stream of thought lost its track, and she redirected them elsewhere.


    She ended up thinking about some of the past betrayals; some of them imprinted on her mind. Eyes still flushed with stale disbelief, and a mind winding through events of the past, Wei Zhiruo was painting each scene, each conversation, each insult she had heard.


    She tried to understand what had happened just a day ago, but which now was a matter of a previous lifetime. Hilarious.


    Wei Zhiruo knew for a fact that all those who had driven her past madness were somewhere else, not even here. And god forbid-! If ever there was a time which brought them in front of her again¡­but, it would never be the same. It will be long past her current suffering. It was worthless to chase a fate so clearly set in stone, right? She couldn''t just go back in time and make them suffer a fate worse than death?! Could she? What she had left for them as a part of her revenge should suffice - right, right?!


    Before waking up, she recalled, she was under the cursed altar of that pond in her own world. Chains abound, clutching her feet and hands dragging her down to drown in that sacrificial water. Not only pain, the shame of inevitability of all that had happened ¨C purging of the Sangtchi clan, the mutiny after her father¡¯s death, the enthronement of her step-brother instead of herself, or the council¡¯s decision to make her a sacrifice to seek Immortality ¨C all while no voice appeared to oppose them, no hand rose with arms to symbolize even a semblance of a protest...nothing.Support the creativity of authors by visiting the original site for this novel and more.


    These wounds won''t heal on their own, would they? No. But the thoughts must settle down to a silent whisper. Time will heal, like time does. Something magical had happened in between all those betrayals by the way. She was awake again, in this mortal shell. But how and why ¨C magical indeed, were the chains of fate which had dragged her to this bizarre place. Would she ever know its cause?


    A strange song seemed to have raptured amongst the night wind, amongst the grasses by the shore, and by the leaning willow¡¯s tresses; as if resounding with her wandering thoughts it rippled seamlessly and fed to her soul, easing some of its burden. The breeze felt sweeter with the gentle voice of rippling water, the moonlight ¨C like a heady mead. Wei Zhiruo glanced at the shore, her eyes a little less colder, while her thoughts settled down from their furious rampage. She remained silent like that, enjoying the medley of nature playing its perfect tunes.


    Wei Zhiruo lay back comfortably, cradling her head between her folded hands.


    ''Jinghai was it?'', she wondered. The people called it that. A small settlement of some thirty thousand people. She had counted the heads and was almost sure of that. She didn¡¯t know much about other things ¨C but the rain filled much of her first impressions. The continuous rain from morning to dusk had been a nuisance, as well as a strange phenomenon inside her mind. In the past, those familiar cold winds, the frequent snowfalls and untimely springs of her own Capital city was all she knew of. The humidity, the mourning in the air ¨C a strange melancholy that comes accompanied by a shower, rooted in no time, slipping down to her bones. Everyone of these sensations was new. Whether she liked it or not, she couldn''t form an opinion but it was a change she could deal with.


    Tonight, the rain had finally stopped. The night sky was uncharacteristically clear. The several weeks of downpour had grumbled down. From rolling mists and tumbling gray clouds, its majestic rage had softened to an amiable shower at noon and then, like a bad-tempered friend on his grumpy day off, it had swiftly flown off to distant lands, carried along by distant winds, in some delirium of an adventure, perhaps.


    On his leave, though, the weak sun had certainly dried off some of the earth¡¯s surface back to its original appearance. Yet some bespattered weeds and swamps of wetland, wet corners remained here and there. Some carriages carried by grumpy horses could still, by ill-fortune of their master or by their own good-humor, find several pits of their choices to overturn into. Though such a situation was tasteless for most who met them, accidents of this kind were far from being settled down, as soon as the rain stopped.


    Wei Zhiruo alone had seen two carriage accidents since opening her eyes this morning. These carriages were particularly headed towards this manor, rushing along with other such five and six specially crafted and suited carriages with elaborate emblems of clan holdings. One had overturned around the peripheries of Jinghai, while the other one had successfully driven off somewhat nearer to the town gate, but collapsed horrifically with an oncoming carriage just a little away from the manor.


    There was a great fuss at first. The mansion and its vicinity, buzzing with onlookers of every kind and nature had caught her attention for some time, especially the hullabaloo and festive shock that the accident caused in its surroundings. That was something new. She had observed them, the crowd, as some servants had waited and welcomed guests inside the manor, while some others had run around to arrange for a rescue and look after the terror-struck occupants who had escaped, fortunately, unscathed.


    ¡°Strange day,¡± Wei Zhiruo surmised, a little light heartedly, recalling the faces of some peculiarly dressed men in humble clothes and their guffawing faces as they pointed straight at noble men in clearly superior fabrics, laying smattered in mud, with noisy chatters of crowd and neighing of an angry horse in the background.


    Shaking off those amusing scenes from noon, she started looking around wherever her consciousness could reach at present.


    In her past life, her Spiritual consciousness had once covered even her whole nation. But since there were wounds visible and clear on her soul¡­she didn¡¯t think it could cover that much right now. Maybe after she picked up her previous cultivating techniques, it would heal on its own. But that would take very, very long mortal years¡­


    Although she did map out this complex town of Jinghai, with its many gatherings and peculiar architecture in the day, she hadn¡¯t tried to see what actually lay outside the fortress very carefully. There were several village settlements nearby in the suburbs, as well as a vast forest stretching out in the west from the brim of the northern mountains. The mountain range itself was majestic; cradling the whole valley in a half moon like shape, it stretched in the north and all the way down the east, into the south. It was a vast region, full of many peculiar topographical features, which she definitely couldn¡¯t map out in a single day, even with the help of her spiritual consciousness! Wei Zhiruo decided to do that in the following week. Right now, she just wanted to leisurely find something to distract herself. Either way, it was a good source of distraction.


    Actually, in such moments of thoughts exploding in her head, those thoughts dared not leave her sight and she of them, but in the midst of this tussle for power and sovereignty between themselves, she usually tried to find a distraction to ease some of those ravenous observations and stop thinking of at least some things, stop some images from haunting her endlessly. As such she didn¡¯t feel that she was wasting her time in fancifully chasing a fish. That fish just happened to jump out over a reflection of the moon - what a beautiful sight!


    In the mirror-like water filled fields of suburb, many small fishes and their fries had imperceptibly broken into hinterlands. Seeing them, she was unconsciously reminded of some more memories from home. Once, and only once, she had got the chance to observe them ¨C her human subjects from up close. The human in their breast, the culture and traditions of their humble selves, and the strange pride and vanity that divided them into groups ¨C she had found their children to be the most peculiar of the bunches. Children, who used to be delighted by the simplest of gifts and rejoiced in its easy gains ¨C particularly when the bounty had anything to do with hunting, climbing trees or catching bird¡¯s egg from the trees of their liking. She recalled back those simple faces and hearty smiles with a strange bewilderment.


    If this world had children who entertained in similar pleasures, Wei Zhiruo felt that the coming morning, with its warmer hues and softer showers and its uncountable promises of goods in form of warmer sunlight ¨C in all likelihood was going to welcome a hoard of children and all of them eagerly ready, prancing and rushing about those muddy waters in no time. They will be eager to catch some fishes: a game which promised them a taste of a one-time meal which would be filled with meat. A luxury in hard times. And hard times for some people seemed to never end. It was always hard times.


    ¡®The world is brimming with vitality, and yet strangely the spring is so far away,¡¯ Wei Zhiruo couldn¡¯t help but sigh, as she swept her spiritual senses all around Jinghai.


    Her spiritual senses swept over the farmers in their hot-beds, curled to early comfort. There were archers up in the high towers of the city fortress with their longbows polished and ready to move, gazing with their hawk-like gazes in ponderous doubts. And also those stiffly clothed guards yawning and scrunching their faces, walking around the town gate unbothered. Every one of them appeared unaware of the other and of her. Yet the moonlight was mellow and all embracing.


    Watching them, Wei Zhiruo couldn''t help but recall her own time as a human. Like people seldom do to call back certain deeply closeted and forgotten memories kept under locked up chests burrowed deeper into layers of forgetfulness ¨C she tried very hard to paint those hazy pictures.


    She actually did remember her own time as a human in her previous life. She was young, the memories albeit a little vague, were still in good enough state for her to assess them. It was a magical time when her own mind hadn¡¯t been so noisy, so full of ¡®thoughts¡¯. When it was nothing but clueless and in keeping of great calm ¨C although it was unflinchingly separated from the harmonies of the world, from its secret talks bubbling all around her, its reiterated joys and humble hymns that could be heard even in rustling winds; they were in no way as suffocating.


    She was unable to watch or hear the budding growth of a plant, or marvel at the churning of water and its majestic runes, or swirls of the cloud and its magical rules ¨C she was also not stifled under their overbearing presence! Just like now - she was drowning in them!


    Despite all that, she felt she was very lucky to have this ability. Having eyes that could see natural rules and runes and observe secrets of heaven and earth was not common. Even in her magical world, with endless tales of magical abilities and physiques that people could be born with, she had never heard of another soul having such weird abilities as her own! After reading several clan anthologies left by past ancestors, she not only never found another person like herself, she also found that feeling what both inanimate and animate things thought, was near to an impossibility, because that would mean a person was a recipient to what a ''soul'' thought or felt!


    This amazing talent had helped her great deal but¡­it was also painfully overwhelming at times. At moments like these, she couldn¡¯t help but wonder - was the pain worth it? The answer was almost always - yes; with exceptions being such moments where there seemed to be no end to these foreign thoughts. But still, she would never trade this magical aspect of herself with anything!


    ¡°Perhaps it became worse," Wei Zhiruo mumbled, ¡°because I changed back into a human?¡± But in the past when she was a human, there were none of these pervasive thoughts clamoring all day long, right?


    She distractedly thought of when it all changed.


    Once upon a time, long long time ago, in ages past and in some distant land, where common men and women dwelt and rejoiced in life, she too had been the daughter of such a common man. And she had nothing but thoughts of a common human. But then, like the fate of a butterfly that must break off its own cocoon to spread its wing, or die stifled in it¨C she had shed off her human limitations. Since then, that awakening, these thoughts had accompanied her, echoed with her, filled her with themselves and made itself heard and felt ¨C and little by little, with each passing moment, she had encompassed a gap between the capabilities of what was humane.


    In your lands, I stood forsaken


    Deeply grooved in your barren soils;


    With a soul maligned and a throat cut


    ¨Cwith all my voices undone.


    ¡°What an enchanting night.¡± Wei Zhiruo mumbled.


    It was a beautiful night indeed; a nightingale burst into one of the neatest of her songs, and the croaks of frogs appeared to be its accompaniment. Even pale moonlight wound its yarn and stars sparkled with unparalleled brilliance, peering through their mischievous eyes as if alluring their paramours. Even in Wei Zhiruo¡¯s stale eyes, one could peer brilliance, like thousands of scattered fragments had made its home there - settling blue and deep.


    A nodding head curled up closer. With knees drawn back, her back curling into a circle, the tiny figure fell into a trembling slumber full of thoughts and dreams, lulled by the gentle swinging of the water ripples.

 Chapter3. Some Star Fragments

    When she woke up, it was way past midnight, somewhere in between three or two in the morning.


    By the time the tides of pleasure brought by her short sleep waned, Wei Zhiruo felt she had sobered up a little. The sleep had washed away the remaining of her restlessness. Now, sobriety dawned over her in waves like an epiphany. It stole away the shivers, the pleasures and in its place left a cold, hard touch of reality. Thoughts filled her: her own, others, permeable thoughts echoed each other, resounded and ricocheted.


    Sobering up, Wei Zhiruo hid her tiny figure further inside the canoe, stiffening her body into an inconspicuous blob as she collected the events of the day, finally ready to analyze her current circumstances.


    She woke up. Was cared for by a maid in her courtyard. Those shards of broken jar had vanished by the time she was dressed and dolled up for any proper company and left to her own devices for the rest of the day.


    She recalled the face of that maid, and the only exchange that they had had in the day ¨C


    "Ninth miss, you must stay in your room, okay? Please don''t go out on your own, it won''t be good if Second Mistress finds out about it. It is the eldest master''s crowning ceremony and many families from around the county have come to pay a visit. Everyone''s been quite busy, you see. It is crowded and you usually don''t like these kinds of occasions, do you? You''re such a quiet child, may god bless you for that. You never give Tou''er any worries. Be obedient, miss, our second Missus said she will ask you out when it''s time for dinner. Then you can gift the young master with those embroidered kerchief you have made for so long! I must say, how happy he would be with you after that! It''s your Eldest brother''s most important moment in life! You wouldn''t want to ruin it, right? Is miss happy? If not, I could go ask mistress for permission¡­"


    A strange kind of schadenfreude had dripped from the maids seemingly well-intentioned words. Her eyes had almost narrowed down into a slit, especially showcasing her amiable cheerfulness, though. But a pretense was pretense. How dare it feel real?


    ''Snitch,'' Wei Zhiruo had summed up the role of that woman in an instant.


    She was this family¡¯s ninth miss and today she was ignored, remained confined in her chambers on the occasion of the coming-of-age ceremony of the house''s heir. It was a lot of information to take in at once.


    ''Unfavored or orphan? Perhaps, an illegitimate child?'' Wei Zhiruo had thought of many reasons for such disguised ostracization at that moment and even asked tentatively¨C


    "Will others be there? My sister¡­"


    "Eldest miss? She? Yes¡­of course she has to go. No other way about it. A while ago the royal edict came¨C all of us were so afraid, you mightn''t have an idea how much?! Aunt Jiang was so close to fainting ¨C for a long time she refused to get back to the kitchen at her post, but I think she was pretending for the most part. We had no inkling of what was to come, and everyone just thought about which kind of trouble the Master had put us into this time, but fortunately! Guess what? It was an edict of engagement! Your eldest sister''s going to marry a prince! Miss has been promised to the second prince, who would have thought of that! Although the royal family is so far away in the capital, far away from Jinghai, I heard that he had heard of our eldest miss¡¯s reputation. They had met by chance ¨Chow lovely is that¨Cand then the engagement was settled. The prince might come to meet our Young master and meet the family this time. A prince, must you know! Such an honor has been earned by Eldest miss for the family, how could she not be present there on such an occasion?! Of course she will be there tonight!"


    "Oh well¡­then, will my other sisters go too? Will you go there?"


    "¡­oh, they¡­"


    After that, there came no reply. Her maid had just continued twisting her long hair, twice her body size into an unfamiliar coiffure, adorning it with strands of jeweled ruby pieces, its end dangling down her earlobes, touching down her small narrow neck. Few carved pieces were stuck in between the rolled buns. The rubies in some of them, intricate though, were fixed on one end of a single silver piece shaped like a long needle, which was inserted to hold the bun in place.


    A small memory from the Original owner had reminded her that the ¡®needle¡¯ shaped ornament was called a ''hair-pin''. It served the same purpose as the decorated comb had done in her own world ¨C which was to hold hair in place. But she could clearly tell that it was uncompromisingly huge for her own head. Not her own for sure.


    After that exchange, there was just silence; no pretense of obedience was heard for a long time. With a stiffened and annoyed smile on her lips and dull light in her eyes the maid had slipped away quickly, reminding¡ª


    ¡°Ninth miss ¨C don''t forget, alright? You cannot come out to the banquet tonight.¡±


    If only this event had happened, it wouldn''t have mattered much to Wei Zhiruo.


    An abandoned child, uncared for by everyone is great news for her personally. She could spend time at her leisure and find clues about her surroundings without any worry of being discovered or treated as an alien, much worse like a pariah ¨C a straight-out coldblooded, body snatcher! Particularly, now, when what she knew was so little about this world, that every step she took was filled with a probable chance of being discovered as something not right, like an alien with no common sense or knowledge of norms.


    Although her age could act as a shield for such ignorance, putting it against such an affluent family as this where children are so precocious since birth ¨C the chances weren¡¯t slim at all! She didn¡¯t want to take her chances at being discovered by underestimating people of this world.


    Finally, she couldn''t be sure that her wayward emotions or streams of thought that phased like the moon, would remain unnoticed if she was under the gaze of others all day long. The Less the crowd around her, the better. Or she risked being declared insane. Being a closed off bastard was a great chance, an invisible role with little to no consequences.


    What had troubled her mostly was¡­an unfamiliar, unkind gaze that had been chasing after her since the moment that maid had left her courtyard! From that moment forward, a pair of cold, covetous eyes had been following her. Thoughts, unfamiliar, rootless and especially malevolent ¡ª so chaotic, that if they manifested in reality, they would look like an unscrupulous, unresolvable piece of jumbled up wool yarn, smothered in mud ¡ª had started filling up her room. This was deeply concerning, especially for her, who was so easily influenced by thoughts of any kind. Even a stone could raise a storm in her mind, if she chanced upon such a ¡®thoughtful¡¯ stone, not to mention that such malevolent thought had no root or meaning!


    It was all chaos, with no good thing in them for her to accept. If she let those thoughts enter inside her mind and influence her own thoughts, she would be plagued with chaotic, no-end-in-sight problematic thoughts all day long and that too with no solution to eradicate them.


    It was pure suffering and she just wanted to root it out from existence before it became a more serious problem for her. And, she wasn¡¯t just blindly chasing behind it. Wei Zhiruo had experienced a similar negative existence in her own world ¨C these ¡®negative thoughts¡¯ as she liked to call them, were a major source of trouble in her past life. She had learned by trial and error that simply erasing them the first time she encountered one of these was the safest method.


    There was no redeeming quality in such an existence. To her, it was even worse than a piece of stone. At least, a stone¡¯s ¡®thought¡¯ could give her an insight into what it felt, and what it thought of the surrounding world.  Sometimes, some of these could even turn into peculiarly great insights. But all a negative thought could do was malform other thoughts with chaos and infect them with similar chaos. In no time, all her thoughts will end up having no ¡®meaning¡¯ or ¡®sense¡¯ to them.


    Even setting aside her own personal preferences, she abhorred these ¡®negative thoughts¡¯ also because most of the time they originated in the human heart and with their chaotic nature knew no way of fitting with the rest of the natural order. In the ancient past, they¡¯d even caused a serious plague in the Middle World, causing endless nightmares in their surroundings, killing millions and injuring more!


    All day, today, she had just kept looking for its source, yet the strange thing was that it seemed to be especially alert of her combing spiritual consciousness. This situation of standing in the light, while her predator was looking up from somewhere, crouching in the shadows out of sight, was really unsettling ¨C more than being uninvited to a special family gathering or banquet.


    The last time she felt its traces was around this very area. Since it disappeared somewhere in here, she had just started exploring and then found this abandoned place and this pond.


    Wei Zhiruo breathed in the fresh cold air, her back straightening a little, losing their tension. A strand of her hair flew up in her inattention, blowing up with the wind. She didn¡¯t know when the hairpins and other adornments on her had come off by themselves, but now her hair flowed down like silken threads. That stray strand of hair flew and then suddenly touched the surface of the black water, creating a few ripples in it. She chased it blankly then looked up.


    She unabashedly stared at the sky filled with countless stars, flickering, dancing merrily. She eased her mind, letting her Spiritual Senses travel as it pleased.


    Waves after waves emerged from the depth of her soul. It rolled in small ripples, encompassing all that came in its way, like a misty cloud swallowing down hilltops and trees, herds of sheep and cattle asleep, inconspicuous housetops and rolling meadows and valleys. It submerged everything, intangible and tangible in its midst and rolled. Mightier and mightier waves emerged and followed. In a space, impervious to all, her spiritual consciousness was combing through the town once again.


    From the small inconspicuous corner of that manor, it trebled past its majestic walls and shadows, past its grooves, orchards and bamboo yards rustling in the mellow wind and past the small stream that ran along its boundary walls, creating invisible ripples and waves in its cold, dark water.


    It flowed like churning waves, rustling past Jinghai city fort, even past the mirror-like water filled fields of suburb, past all the way towards the cracks and crevices, snowy tops of the snow-covered Mysterious mountains!


    Her Spiritual Consciousness rose up like smoke and fume, and dark rolling tides of oceans¨C it brimmed over and bubbled, frothed and shattered its own loosening edges, finally merging into the wind. Once again ¨Cshe was snatched back by an aching soul at the most exhilarating moment.


    "Over-exerted, have I?" She questioned an unknown bystander. "But where are you hiding ¨C? How can you be so traceless? Not in this plane, are you?" To her, not finding its traces anywhere in the real world was tantamount to that thing having hidden itself away in another dimension or a place that was shielded from any prying Spiritual Consciousness.


    Spiritual Senses themselves were actually just a force-field, coming directly out of the soul.  When this force spanned out over an area, emerging from the soul, it could directly paint where other souls and objects coming under its path were situated at. It was just the simplest of the things it could do. It was this combing that allowed her to paint a clear picture of the world around her, filling in the blank gaps of her oversight, and helping her get the idea of what was happening all around her. If she concentrated hard, she could even spy a few words and conversations using it. Hence, how she came to know the name of this place ¨C Jinghai.


    This searching method was the most cost-effective investigation technique. All one needed was a strong enough soul to carry it out in detail ¡ªthere was no doubt in her soul being strong enough to attempt that ¡ªand a proper method. As a Rune-maker by profession, her job didn''t require a high-level affinity with surrounding elements, like those of Mages did, but it was heavily dependent on high comprehension ability and in turn, a very stable soul state and its flexibility. There might be some conspicuous wounds over her soul right now, but there was no doubt in her soul being able to carry out such basic functions like soul investigation.


    Wei Zhiruo kept searching for some while, but still had no clue about where that sight had disappeared so cleanly. But no, not everything was futile. When she was close to giving up entirely and going back to her chambers, she finally found some strange traces.


    There was a strange stone with Runes etched over it, embedded into the floor of one of the abandoned courtyards inner chambers. Although, she couldn¡¯t tell whether it was related to that thing that she was chasing, but any peculiarity was a step forward. Thinking like that, she tugged back her Spiritual Senses from elsewhere and concentrated hard over the specific area just above the pond. If she had found one, maybe she could find some other things here too?


    ¡°Good. It really is a Rune chain!¡± Wei Zhiruo exclaimed.


    She really found some more suspicious looking stones. They felt full of a strange and brimming energy, and when she touched one of them with her Spiritual Senses, she felt her Spiritual Sense tingling and a desire to ¡®suck¡¯ up the power of those stones grew wildly in her mind. However, she didn''t let her impulsive Spiritual Senses unconsciously absorb any piece of that energy, and instead became more alert. The situation had grown overly mysterious. Now, she didn¡¯t even have an idea about what these stones themselves were formed of!


    There were some six of these stones with almost identical Runes drawn over them. These specific stones formed a very conspicuous looking hexagon; each corridor, each chamber abandoned or occupied had these carved stones embedded into its floor. It was so conspicuous that Wei Zhiruo realized that each of them was encircling this pond as its center. This puzzled her more than it answered her questions.


    "What is this shape ¨C it tells a story, for sure. There is a law in it, a strange rhythm of sounds. A magnificent piece, but all too artificial. It''s hardly any different from a man-made structure, but if so, could the mortals here draw such complex structures and with so many resonating laws in them? Are there really native Rune-makers in this world too? How much more advanced are they from those of the Cuiping world?" Greatly puzzled by this new discovery, she looked at it some more, comparing them to her own original Rune''s or to those she had seen in her own world ¨Cthe Cuiping world.


    As her consciousness prodded and touched the small agate-like pieces of stones embedded into the floor, examining them from all sides and grasping their runes so intrinsically carved over yellow texture, she realized that it was actually a [gate] or an [entrance] rune, functioning as a ''opening'' to another dimension. After comprehending the meaning of the Runes, the next step was easy. Soon she touched their laws and found an entrance to the Runes fully functioning structure of synthesis, found a breach and entered.


    But the next development was completely out of her expectation. She didn¡¯t enter the proper space led by those stone¡¯s Runes but was instead, stopped in another space interface in the middle of the transit -!


    Her spiritual consciousness was cut-off by a strange force, and then she was surrounded in a strange field of energy! The sky was no longer the starry sky, the water was no longer that of a small pond ¨C no, it was much more unfathomable, more ancient and majestic.


    She found herself stranded in an ocean, sitting on a small canoe. The sky was full of swirling majestic Runes and clouds of vibrant hues looking chaotically similar to the cloud swirl of a nebula she had chanced upon in space. Equally vibrant and bursting with energy. The vortices of it looked so powerful, that her mortal body couldn''t help perceive its unfathomable power without shirking in quakes of passionate fear. It took great discipline and control from her side, to not just jump out of her skin!


    An ancient song seemed to appear out of thin air. Wei Zhiruo hurriedly looked up. The moon was nowhere, the sky a purple firmament. Next, she bent down to look at the water. Her figure  was now completely leaning against the canoe''s edges, dangerously leaning forward to face her shadow in the ocean water. It was a mesmerizing ocean of floating star fragments.This tale has been unlawfully lifted from Royal Road; report any instances of this story if found elsewhere.


    These were real star fragments ¡ªmilky white and burning bright ¡ª and they were floating in the ocean like pieces of broken iceberg! But they were hot ¨C actually too hot for the water to hold them without showing any reaction! When she neared some of them, she could feel their heat emanating from far away, yet when she was at a close distance to them, or when she touched them with her hands, she felt nothing. The same happened to the boat. Whenever those fragments touched the boat, they didn¡¯t do any harm to it; almost nothing happened, as if what the boat was wading through was just a sheet of some frozen fragments of icebergs floating in a real world ocean, leaving a clean black trail behind itself as it moved across it. Wei Zhiruo leaned further down to touch the ocean water itself- but she couldn''t hold it in her hands however much she tried. The water just slipped right through her hands like a cold liquid,  leaving no wetness on her palms!


    Wei Zhiruo was no longer rowing the canoe, but it never stopped moving forward, pushed by the ocean waves. Wei Zhiruo fell back on her bottoms, her ears keenly filling themselves up with that hollow, primeval song. The black of the water, the white of the star and the purple of the sky ¨C no words could ever claim to capture their grace, their magnanimity, the resounding majesty of nature, and what appeared in front of her eyes!


    The song though - was strange, yet familiar.


    You yourself might have heard its soft edges, its trebles and falls, its gratified rise and twisted maneuverings of passion, or encapsulated its emotions and its headiness in your reason. Yet, for unknown reasons, when tracing it back to its origin or from where it frothed, you''d have found its rhythm fading away and it appearing hollow like a carved flute. Emerging from the deepest, darkest corners of soul, yet so shallow and so flimsy as if it were made of a whim, or dream woven. So intangible that it seemed worthless to ponder over them. So, most people enraptured in such a euphoric melody seldom care for reason for their being even there. For one, Wei Zhiruo hadn¡¯t. In her case, her calm originated from her nagging doubt that it was just what she had read about - a piece of newborn world singing.


    "Bright." Wei Zhiruo echoed suddenly, her mind finally easing a little.


    That song swelled up in her mind, replacing her thoughts and fear of the unknown; her lips urged her to burst into them. A tune so, so mellow. Something familiar yet unfamiliar. But unconsciously, she restrained. She mumbled, hummed along that thrumming throbbing pulse in her red-blood and fed it back to heaven and her loosened thoughts. Unnoticeably, some strange runes started flickering in her blue eyes, the color of which lightened a degree, becoming an icy blue.


    Ah, how she remembered.


    ¡¸" There is a fond tale amongst travelers of the sky ¨C that when it is night and right time, when the wheels of fate have just attuned to rhythm of the sky, when two realms overlap ¨C in between them they synergize, they marvel and open up a space of their own, a space so volatile, so turbulent that no one dreams of staying longer than needed. But this space is a marvelous invention of true nature, a play of rules and heaven''s grace. If luck accords you a chance to travel therein, you must beware of its enchantments, it¡¯s ensnaring ¨C but also, stop a while, settle down and glimpse. Here the marvels of nature collude in a mystery, and here it sings a melody of order, primeval order and of life itself. If you capture those ¨C you will be born anew." ¡¹


    Ages ago, she forgot most of the struggle of her life, but not the little pleasures she stole in her father''s library. It was in one of its oddest-looking books she had found that passage.


    At that time, her clan hadn¡¯t been exterminated and she still hadn¡¯t traveled up into space to flee to the Middle World, or gone on any of her adventures. In fact, it was way before her Awakening into a being, much, much different from a human, from herself of the past ¡ª a true blooded member of the blood-clan.


    She forgot its title, but it was tucked in her memories as fresh as the rain of the day. Because it talked of strange lands and strange events ¨C it was no more than a book of fantasy to her. But no, look! Here she was in that fantastical notion of her childhood! That five-year-old girl would have been so pleased after finding that, unknown to her, in some lands there did exist an enchanting reality, matching those fantastical tales she had read about.


    Yes, a fleeting dream, or fantasies should be transient. Washed off by the next wave of the ocean called reality. But it just doesn''t sound pleasant enough. And for her, whose fate had never ebbed to set or froth at its edges ¨C reality was always the bitterest bite to her - fantasies of strange worlds had always been a constant numbing medicine. It lulled her aching heart to sleep. When fate left her to grapple with the deepest, darkest secrets all at once, she could always cut herself away by remembering one of these ¡®strange tales¡¯.


    Her...blood-seed had always had its own thoughts about things, and he liked to read things and people around her. With his help she too had found several ¡®enchanting¡¯ books and scrolls.


    Especially since she shed her human layers, it was more overwhelming than ever as her abilities surfaced and took over her life like a storm and there was no moment to breathe in peace and quiet. And in those moments of reorienting herself to her new identity, there too, books had helped her a lot. In the middle of a strange world full of ¡®thoughts¡¯ she was acquainted with even stranger creations in the book.


    What was the bird feeling today, and what did the westerly wind convey? Did the blade of grass like the warm sunlight, or the cloud humming a strange rhythm sounded full of life, or particularly sated today? She was full of their wandering ¡®thoughts¡¯. What was left of her own musing was how to chase a decent ¡®stream of thought¡¯ and stick to it, to appear normal in front of others. It was hard enough to hide all her abnormalities from others'' peering eyes, on top of that she also had to hide the existence of her blood-seed. In those chaotic days of struggling to stay afloat, some tales were her spiritual sustenance. Having them affirmed felt strangely fulfilling - as if she had succeeded in entering her own kind of world.


    She wasn¡¯t portraying her abilities as ¡®evil¡¯ or a source of all her pain. No, they weren¡¯t that at all! She had learned many, many things from them which she could never in any book of the world. All she had always been lacking was just restraint¡­or a way to reign them in to quieten them down.


    With so much surveillance and constant disregard of her own opinions, all her childhood she was never given a chance to study restraint, or find if such restraining techniques even existed. Later, the clansmen all died¨C her sole purpose thereon became revenge. For it she fled her birth world, found refuge in a foreign world and spent all her time studying, fighting, and struggling to survive under completely foreign rules. Learning restraint? How could she spare time for that?


    "But it all ended with death." She knew she wasn''t eternal and she knew that for a fact. Although her bloodline allowed her to enjoy the same long life span as some stars ¨Cbut it did nothing to make her undefeatable in front of others. If others killed her, she would just die. But before her actual death, it still felt so far away from her.


    She had seen death, played with it, felt its fangs and nurtured many bitter wounds. So many days she had woken up to attempts at assassination rather than to a birdsong, or a mother''s sweet chidings that she had lost count of such encounters.


    When she returned to Cuiping World ¨C she came back with a realization that she could die at any moment. She had spent hours and hours deliberating each of her actions, fearing that even one of her missteps would lead to the most humiliating ending. Many hours she had spent arranging little games of revenge between her maternal clansmen and others. She played well ¨C in that game of power, of control, but she also lost too many times. Each time was more humiliating than the other, each loss more dangerous than the previous one had been.


    Not being a human was no longer a statement of pride, but rather a chain for others to control her, a constant reminder of her ¡®fallings¡¯ that she had been turned into a pariah, the other to their altruistic selves! The ''key'' to the world''s fate must live ¡ªbut on what terms? That was completely under the control of the winner. And her clan had died defeated. There was no one left she could turn to for refuge! The burden of revenge was solely her own inheritance!


    Apart from killing her ¨C all of them could do anything to a ¡®war criminal¡¯ like her ¨C whatever they wanted. Sacrificing her pleasures was called a duty. She was sanctified, going against her was sacrilegious in front of the crowd ¨C yet, only she knew she was there to bear that assigned role of an all-forgiving, dignified ¡®fake saint¡¯, who had no power but to swallow all pains and harm they caused to her. A symbol of their influence and a trophy of their victory. Just because she wasn¡¯t a human, she wasn''t one of them, she didn¡¯t even deserve basic dignity.


    She played their games. She played till they in turn became the pawns in her hand. She wasn''t petty and returned what was due at the right time and in the right amount. What should come to them was only a matter of time. But in all this, she had never imagined her own death.


    In a world where her wishes were perfectly realized, she would have been wandering in space, like many of her ancestors had, with no abode, no destination in sight ¨C eternal as time. But she was chained and drowned, and drowned so well that all her plans couldn''t catch up with those people''s sinister cold hearts!


    She had forgotten how close it was ¨C that fang named death, how closely it had always placed its forefingers over her jugular veins. She had died so inconspicuously that it was funny and ironic.


    "Ha -"


    Nothing should have mattered anymore, now that she was dead. The moment she ceased to be something she was, she lost the remaining reason to pursue the past. Some of the threads of her past had been severed, cruelly cut off by an invisible hand, and she now lay gasping for breath like a drowning man, with not a shred of will remaining. The storm she had seen coming had come and gone long ago, but her battered self, it had no respite. She wanted to ask someone, was this the end? Was this the honor she was promised? How could she dare take a deep breath of relief when she didn''t get any closure? What about her dreams? What about that ''hope'' that had defined the majority of her past life ¨C what about the grand ¡®future¡¯ her clansmen had painted about her saving the world from decline and reinvigorating its magic? Why couldn''t her blood-seed save her or himself at the last moment?


    Why wasn¡¯t it still with her? Leaving her behind to fend for herself?


    "Look, father. This is the result of your painstaking dreams - how pitiful! Your hope, your people''s dream of reinvigorating a dying world ended just like that...some people were too greedy to let me live. Too greedy to let your people live. My blood and everyone''s hope, like dust, has settled in some past land. It''s so strange¡­"


    The song continued.


    She could try. Try to forget the agony, the powerlessness of watching her clansmen die one after another, butchered in cold-blood. She could try. Try to sleep off the past tiredness. Try to forget, a life spent on a knife''s edge, with lingering fear of being pushed down the cliff at any moment by her own sheer ignorance.


    Forget that piece of earth washed red, with her soles drenched in innocent blood as she screamed and begged an unknown god for help. Forget the shame, forget the pain and innocuous laughter of her enemies ¨C those burning fortresses and those wailing of her infant cousins, the wailing of that infant''s mother and the lamenting silence of that aftermath ¨C her demon, her nightmare.


    Shouldn''t it be high time to let it all rest? Her past life.


    ''Should I forget?'' A tiredness flickered on her face, muted in anger. She closed her eyes as her heart opened to that ancient rhythm, burning it in her soul, in her human blood. "Why? Why must I forget that shame? Although my revenge is already finished and made into a thing of the past¨C but does that wash away the pain left in the aftermath?" What a joke! Should she suddenly stop being herself if she had died once? For each day of her life, she will remember those faces - and curse and pray for each of those departed souls of her friends and enemies! She had a right to that.


    She might no longer be the Crown princess of her dynasty, the last of her lineage, but she will always remain burdened under a weight of past memories. Here, she was Wei Zhiruo. But she was a Wei Zhiruo who hadn''t forgotten her past life! This life could only carry that extra burden of a past life''s memories and hatred.


    She didn''t know why she came to this world. But she did know that every fate has its bearer. If fate has brought her here, then she must be needed here. Or had intercepted someone''s fate who was needed here. A fate, like a spider, was weaving invisibly and she was already affixed in its web.


    Although a rotten stench surrounded the air as if telling her, she had stolen someone else''s fate, that this life was not a life of her own keeping; someone''s fate was left unfulfilled to awaken her own. She wasn''t Wei Zhiruo who should have lived. But it was Wei Zhiruo who survived! If there was any stealing, it was a matter of chance. Her intentions were never included in any event ¨C as far as she was concerned, that made her innocent of charges of body theft!


    She had no qualms in occupying a body that was not done with her own initiative. And who could surely tell that she wasn''t Wei Zhiruo born in this soil, just that her soul was from a foreign land? At least, none of these humans she lived amongst could do that, just by looking at her face. Maybe after spending some time in her company, a seed of doubt may grow in their hearts, but no one in their right mind would ever come up with such a scenario of an ''alien'' soul replacing the original owner¡¯s soul, as the first reason for her strange behavior!


    Some doubts still came trickling down. She had seen the workings of her own mind in this strange situation¨C a strange set of Runes had sealed some of her own memories. She was sure, only she could have done that, written that piece of rune flickering so brightly over her soul. So here was the question? If she had just occupied this body, only this morning - then what could explain those Runes over this body? Why would she do such a thing, and erase all memories related to it¡­it couldn''t be because of guilt, right?


    Wei Zhiruo smote the tingling doubts in her mind. No! She wasn''t so unprincipled to shamelessly overtake someone else''s body. She should have some faith in herself.


    The song came upon a turn.


    It swelled like in the breast of a swallow, awakened at dawns-break. It was ready to prance, to emerge and spring forth the most luscious of bushes and amongst the greenest of boughs.


    Suddenly the canoe jerked to a stop, awakening Wei Zhiruo from her stupor. Her eyes turned round in surprise.


    All around her, wherever her eyes could reach, she saw an expanse of surface covered in more and more fragments of shining crystal-like stars or was it ice now, she wondered. She started sealing all these images in her mind and burning them into its deepest recesses. These were all virgin rules, and Runes... so primitive and violently chaotic that there was nothing on par with them; she might need the rest of her human lifespan to just comprehend even a couple of these successfully! If she lost this chance to capture their essence, she will not get another chance like this again!


    She was swift in her actions. She opened up all the apertures of her soul and mind together, and then unsealed the highest level of sense perception that a human could allow in her own apparatus. With her roaming Spiritual Senses, she first mapped out her surroundings, then sealed the birds-eye view of the star fragments into a corner of her memories to ponder later.  She repeatedly sealed, and sealed and collected without feeling any tiredness. In fact, a strange feeling of fulfillment brimmed in her heart replacing all the uncertainties of her new future, her loneliness in a new, and foreign world and that¡­faint loss of having left behind everything she had ever known.


    What she didn''t know was, unknown to her, her blood-seed sleeping inside her soul was also absorbing and burning all that it could find in the patterns in the sky, in the waters and the clouds independent of her consciousness. It worked like a thinking being, merging the highest rules and mysteries in itself ¨C as if sealing a memory!


    There were several of them, uncountable patterns to observe ¨Cthese fragments danced, swirled and floated over the water like the clearest, brightest and most resonant pieces of stars conjoined in visible constellations. She exerted and stretched the limits of her consciousness, reaching as far as possible while taking in all that she could.


    But her blood-seed was faster than her, quicker at perceiving than her and more far reaching than her.


    While Wei Zhiruo had seen and captured but a small encirclement of those rules, her blood-seed was already touching the edges of the ocean, the horizons where the purple firmament and the black sea merged into one and had even extended its filament down below towards the ocean-bed! Unconsciously, Wei Zhiruo''s blood-seed had escaped its restrictions and overreached human conception. It was like a hungry and thirsty beast, crawling on all fours, struggling to reinvigorate itself-! Pushing boundaries after boundaries as if it was its last struggle in face of an imminent death!


    The bloodline sang along the ancient rhythm, merging and manifesting its music in itself ¨C becoming one with that ancient behemoth. Soon it was full of rules and runes. Wei Zhiruo''s blood-seed had successfully recaptured those traces of patterns and etched it in itself, preserving the spectacular phenomena; those mysteries of time and space, the rhythm of the dawn of time, the marvelous infant runes with no parallel in the world and several incomprehensible laws! Everything, while she remained ignorant of blood-seed''s existence, or even the fact that it had survived!


    The heavenly song erupted once more, swelling sweeter and sweeter, with a heady affect over its listener. Its rhythm got mixed up in the waves, in the lolling of the canoe adrift a behemoth ocean, and those unknown fragments emanating light. The star light from her surroundings, though, reached her strikingly, filling her body with warmth and cherishment and a fulfilling sensation. She comfortably smelled of home, of belongingness in the mellow whiteness of the star like ice fragments, contrasted brightly with black water current. If she spent the rest of her time wandering in space, would it be as blissful as this moment? So fulfilling? Would she have been free like never before, accompanied just by her blood-seed -?


    "Plop!"


    Another sound jolted Wei Zhiruo into wakefulness. Something else had fallen into the pond ¨C the actual pond. She was back into reality before she could do anything, blowing in the cold wind. She didn¡¯t know how much time she had spent wandering in that space. She didn''t know what had caused that splashing noise, but couldn''t help feeling frustrated at being disturbed at such a pivotal moment.


    The song had died down abruptly, with no sign of awakening again. Wei Zhiruo couldn''t help feeling a little disappointed. Her connection to the mellow power of those stars though¨C was still there!


    "What¡­" She felt a strange connection between herself on the earth, and the stars above in the sky. As if she was drawing their light into her body, melting them into herself!


    Her connection with the outside heaven, with the stars...


    She jerked back to attention. ''Yes,'' clear headed now, Wei Zhiruo stiffly closed her eyes, as if the mountain had descended over her shoulders, pushing her downwards.


    ''My affinity with the stars¡­is still there. The bloodline!''

 Chapter 4.Wei Mansion

    On the surface the near outbreak of plague, and the raging famine in Yuzhou south of the Kingdom of Dajin, was of much concern to them. With its ever growing casualties and blood curdling human suffering at fore, it would have been only natural for Lord Wei to summon an urgent meeting of the Grand Elder¡¯s Council in Jinghai. And on the surface, it had. For a while.


    ¡°¡­since half of the Jinghai¡¯s well known personage were already present for my grandson¡¯s capping ceremony, it was only natural for us to proceed from there to these more secluded corners to conduct this formal affair. I beg your pardon, all too clear as I stand, that much of the theme for today''s table is unpleasant, sordid at best. The famine sees no respite ¨C and by this moment, the whole town of Anshui in Yuzhou has been completely barricaded for a while.¡±


    The location was still in Wei¡¯s manor premises; time, on the very day of that auspicious occasion.


    Like aged pieces of threadbare brocade, with their proper manners and airs, and silver hair crowned over their heads ¨C although not much could be seen in that dark chamber, but a sniff of resemblance, a repertoire of ease and discomfort at the same time hung overhead which could be easily gleaned; these men were seated with a shared sense of despondency.


    ¡°¡­though we see no results, as of what we had expected from such great a measure when barricading all human communication in there ¨C¡±


    This declaration cued some shifting in the audience; rustling of fabrics followed screeching of pulled out chairs, gasping of some sort, a cough or two accompanied clearing of throats. All instruments seemed to be being checked and ascertained to see them fully functioning for future use. The nervousness was palpable.


    ¡°Anshui, their inhabitants, and their recent antagonism ¨C we have plenty of time to talk about all that. But let¡¯s talk of this, unjust uprising we have been affronted with in the south first¨C¡±


    Warm chairs, biting coldness and darkness of a chilly, rainy day.


    The plague, as it turned out, was of less importance than the growing unrest in the southern Dajin; Lord Wei left no doubt in others'' minds of his growing concern over this particular event which he foresaw as a call of something more devilish.


    At that moment, the sunlight slowly crept down from the roof, stealing stealthily from the window panes, arousing every face to have a feature, all the shadows lost to show those haloed faces of twelve men in that cold chamber. Nothing pertinent, but age and authority, scowling or morose air lingered on the majority.


    ¡°Those barbarians in the south wouldn¡¯t agree to renew another Agreement Pact with our king - neither of their subordination to Dajin, nor the future extension of our monopoly over their markets; they were particularly unhappy with the current state of their affairs even before the famine at Anshui, we are told. Since this region lies under our jurisdiction, we were to negotiate with them in the coming winter, but no one could have foreseen such a bad turn of events. The famine followed the drought, a plague is at hand, the barricade can only save us only for a while before it becomes an epidemic. Now, we have been informed that we can see some uprising in nearby regions affiliated with the barbarian chief, over the rights of the Almenth plateau which has since the dawn of recorded time, served as our Dajin¡¯s exclusive iron mine. Furthermore," here he looked pertinently at someone at the end of the table with his eagle like sharp eyes, ¡°some young men from capital and Jinghai have added fuel to this raging fire, and the call for a separate recognition of this region has been successfully pushed anew inside the court. The age-old promise of the previous emperors is now being flagged and unearthed to ask for renewed recognition of this region as a separate country of its own; you go and ask them what they desire, more than ever you will hear them utter this common sentiment ¨C the fire clan of the south wants autonomy. As their ancestors had in the past. Many sides to look into, here.¡± Cough.


    With this bristling brisk introduction to current affairs, there was a moment of silence. A few coughs, a little movement in the dark ¨C yet no one rose to speak. Lord Wei seemed to be framing the next declaration, as his finger kept tapping rhythmically over the wooden tabletop.


    The court was still in chaos. The king was ill; the crown prince drowning in his own sorrows at the untimely death of his only offspring, the future heir to the crown, had relegated all his duties to others. An untimely nuisance but of a great consequence at present times. While the Dowager Empress Song ¨C a figure of constant disregard inside the court herself ¨C held a heavy title suitable to lead, but having no disposition suitable for that office or courage to set all things right, was finally left to her own comfort despite the urgency of the circumstances.


    As such, quite naturally the second prince ¨C the only other adult prince in the current Harem ¨C had to take over the great responsibility of directing the court at such a tense moment of outer and inner unrest in the nation. Although there were many supporters behind him, this sudden shift of power had clearly been abrupt.


    But Lord Wei, as he finished opening the meeting with all affairs explained to keen ears, had a niggling doubt which he did voice in shaded words and allusions ¨C his senses screamed of incongruity, and all incrementing evidence supporting his fancies aligned, he had found that the present of what he saw itself sketched a very different kind of reality. Rather than facing a mutiny of some sort in the south, he feared another kind of unrest coming at them even before that, something that was both out of his hand and completely unstoppable. And, specifically somewhere in the east.


    ¡°So, gentlemen, we must not forget the east as we wrestle with the south issue. We have such formidable neighbors like Temeir¡¯s losing their wars at present times there, it¡¯s only right for us to dwell some more on those grounds. With that, let¡¯s begin our meeting ¨C hoping that such great minds as are present with us today, with their keen insights on the raging pulses of the world will serve as bearers of better answers to our current predicament.¡±


    Lord Wei finished with his low voice, never halting in his languid tone. His eyes finally found all the occupants searchingly, trying to glean any recourse, any alternative that hadn¡¯t already sifted through his own mind. He did know a little more than he let on. There was much mischief in current affairs. Some from the court itself, while some certainly did come from a foreign interventions - some very powerful figure¡¯s were dictating orders, from whose influence no country could save itself. But he was also aware, the majority in the room had already gleaned some of that, if not all.


    In perspective though, if it were the intentions of the Gods above, then what could he, a mortal do? If they desired chaos, they got chaos; and when the battlefields strewn with broken bones and flesh of humankind, and rotting carcasses of once dignified men became an inevitability, Lord Wei could then at least save his conscience of having any heavy pangs by saying, ¡®look, they left me nowhere to go. I could have only done that, wouldn''t I?!¡¯


    A cowardly sentiment, but the times had chiseled out all his rough edges and left him with no impression of his youthful bravery in the face of injustice. And it wouldn''t even be the first time that such an incongruous event had been demanded off of him.


    He had sacrificed much; counted more black heads leaving under white sheets from under the glazed tiles of Weijia six-feet under the ground, than he cared to count. He hadn¡¯t let those deep losses stop him, why would the blood of others dyeing his lapel stop him now?


    Sometimes, even with his loyal heart bowed down in low obeisance to his great Masters in Heaven, with their omniscient gazes, and all knowing hearts, he was pushed to doubt if the Gods he had talked with were actual Gods, not demons themselves impersonating them. Now, there was no doubt left of their being the gods, or rather immortals; he could only mourn that he had met some of the most malevolent kind in the bunches. There was a decided selfishness of purpose in their brows and deeply entrenched indifference to human suffering in their dealings. Malevolent spirits, weren¡¯t they like that in old tales?


    But those cultivator¡¯s clearly promised them a home in Heaven. The highest glory, the medal that could only be earned by the greatest sage of the times, will fall into their hands! Mother goddesses Heaven¡­!


    Here, though, Lord Wei was aroused from his ponderings by a gentle tap.


    ¡°Lord Wei, are you sure that you have guessed it right? That there will be a war in Daxia? Between those mutineers and loyal supporters of the dynasty?¡± The speaker was a gentle looking man, his beard touching the table surface. His sonorous voice entrenched in worry captured everyone¡¯s attention. ¡°How will it affect us, if say, the last Jing landholdings in Daxia lose their current battles like the Temeir¡¯s had done near their western desert frontier¡¯s? Those Temple affiliates will surely want to enter Dajin by that time through our eastern Turin pass. Are we certain that the battle will not reach our frontiers too soon? Will the mutiny in Daxia settle down before it reaches us in the east?¡±


    ¡®Did the gods desire the upcoming war between Dajin and Daxia so bad, even at the cost of eventually burning out all their most fanatic devotees in Daxia?¡¯ this question seized their imaginations yet no lips dared to utter this blasphemy. No one even uttered the name of those people who had uprooted the stable old kingdom like Daxia, which had been neighboring them for centuries past, in just a matter of a few years.


    ¡°Unfortunately¡­I am not.¡± Lord Wei rubbed his face and then he stood up from his chair. He walked up to the window sill, peering through the gray lands. ¡°Yet I dare say, no one of us can be, Master Song. The things of our great Masters are not to be thought of by us mindless human beings, with all our limited human senses. All I can say is that, let¡¯s not rush to any conclusions yet. There is a need for preparations, yes, but let¡¯s steer clear from ¡®guessing¡¯ what their intentions are or are not.¡± There was no clue to be found in this decrepit consoling.


    But everyone heard the underlined meaning. ¡®If it¡¯s a war that they asked us to wage, what else could they do but prepare?¡¯


    Lord Wei didn¡¯t look sardonic, yet his words contained a strange flavor. Yes, it felt like helplessness to many ears. Something everyone in the room had been afflicted with once or twice in their small term in the office. Serving Gods was not a piece of cake ¨C they had to shut their eyes and cut their throats a number of times to just appear as decent unthinking slaves as much as they could¨C while still appearing useful. There was a fine balance to be maintained in their piety. ¡®It is nothing short of an art," someone deliberated on this.


    "True. What a disaster! We can only hope to see Daxia stand its ground if it can.¡±


    ¡°Their nobility might be in shambles but the martial strength should probably hold for a few more years - or are they even past that much? We cannot be certain of their victory, but we can pray for them to hold a while longer. Who would have thought, the mighty lions of deserts, those Temeir would lose?! If we fall like them¡­Dajin will not only fall to ruins, we would be shouldering millions of blood debts and a fate worse than death!¡± A weasel like man sported his caricature of a long face, as his mouth drew into a line with muted anger and his haggard sallow skin sagged further into his bones.


    "Guess who has a choice in this matter?¡± Another one, sitting beside him, couldn''t take much of this useless rhetoric. ¡°Neither did we in the past, nor do we now! Why worry about worthless stuff that only fate can decide? We are past the stage where talking about Daxia could have brought us some insight - am I right? It would be better to see if there is any agreement we can reach with those southern barbarians before they break out in struggle in our own frontier. If the war with Daxia is imminent, then a close friction with barbarians will only be a foolhardy expedition at this point... What we don''t need at this moment is an additional internal chaos weighing our minds with so much at stake!" Master Fang XueXian refuted while he looked pointedly at his weasel-like friend seated beside him, his hands still busy rotating his rosary bead.


    "By lord-! That wasn''t what I meant at all! If your glare means to remind me that fear mongering will not bring us anywhere - You are doing me injustice, if you phrase it like that, my lordship. In no way was fear-mongering my purpose by stating risks as facts; what I meant was for all of us to see what our future holds, if we are not careful with our steps - !" here though, he was cut-off from further explanation by another raised voice.


    ¡°On a lighter note, the matter of the second prince and your granddaughter¡­Lord Wei. Congratulations on securing close ties between Jinghai and Imperial City. With this fateful marriage, we can be more confident representing Jinghai, from our side better in the capital. No one can blame us for being abrupt in the court or lackeys of certain well known circle¡¯s. A legitimate connection between in-laws will weigh on our side more. More than any casual links we had forged over the years with all those delegates had done in the past.¡± Master Song tapped his fingers over the table as he said softly after some recollection.


    There were several humming agreements over this statement. Love this novel? Read it on Royal Road to ensure the author gets credit.


    ¡°It¡¯s all good and merry till it stifles out like another collapsed marriage we have just recently witnessed.¡± Master Rong had his head down, as if counting the lines engraved on his palms. ¡°When the Princess of Hunak was sent to Daxia, and married to their crown prince, no one could have imagined that a love affair of such a small woman would boil down to an outright mutiny¡­Lord Wei, can you assure us that what follows will not be something grimmer than our expectations of more benefit? The second prince is a man of great destiny, he will have more affairs even after this marriage. Loyalty to only one person throughout the matrimony - have you told your granddaughter that she cannot ask for that? Some women will be given as gifts, some earned in wars by her future husband. If your granddaughter turns out to be the kind of Princess of Hunak and seeks help from the Temple¨Ctch.¡±


    He shook his head, tutting at this imagined state of affairs. Many people turned towards him with raised brows. The tale of the forlorn princess of Hunak and her appeal in front of the Temple could be said to be the little spark of fire that had ignited the burning flames of civil war in Daxia. No one was unaware of this famous incident.


    ¡°That is a very foreseeable situation if this holy matrimony doesn¡¯t go as planned. All your children seem averse to happiness of this sort ¨C can we be assured that this child, this granddaughter of yours doesn¡¯t have a mind of her own and is well settled to sacrifice her happiness for the greater good? Because the second prince will never be only her husband but a far greater figure in our history of Dajin, the greatest to ever come!¡±


    As a previous Minister of Royal Affairs, old Master Rong was quite open to voicing his doubts about some eventualities. He was looking gravely at Lord Wei, his hands though, were now clenched under the table. ¡°Not that I am being overly fussy¡­ I assure you of that, I am certainly not. That my concerns lie in the troubles that might arise from any misconduct in this matrimony forged only for benefits, is only natural. If this marriage breaks, what we face is not only a tense connection with the Imperial family, few broken confidences between delegates but more likely the wrath of Gods. Who dares to cross them-or even think of that?! They have shown great concern for our second princes¡¯ marriage, have they not?¡±


    Here he stopped. His eyes were as dreamy as they were in the beginning. No one would ever discover, as the darkness covered under its folds, the lines bleeding on his palms, his nails broken from fervor clinging to his cloak.


    Lord Wei took a deep look at the languid old gentleman, his eyes a little more focused than it had been a while before. He walked back naturally to his chair, gently caressing the wooden surface of his chair, as he addressed others.


    ¡°No one should worry over this more than me, my Gentlemen. If you have concerns of this nature about my home, or its affair, I request you to cease them at this very moment. None of our daughter¡¯s have been taught to be brazen like that! Our Wei house had taken the pledge with the Gods, Master Rong, that we will be the leading family in Dajin ¨C the principal family that will assure them of the worship and sacrifices to the Moon goddess. Our loyalty to Mother Goddess and her delegates is not something anybody can question. ¡± Silence followed.


    ¡°I assure you; we don¡¯t take it lightly. The previous affairs as you might as well say out loud, between my youngest daughter Wei Cuihua and her childhood engagement with our highness the emperor which couldn¡¯t be fulfilled, was as much my Wei Jia¡¯s fault as it was your house¡¯s. We failed to secure a treaty by marriage fifteen years ago. Your son found it well in his sane mind to woo my daughter away and now we don¡¯t know where they both are buried! Jinghai faced several man-made disasters, uncountable sanctions, pushing its economy decades behind than it should be right now. The court was angry, the general populace furious. It was a personal loss ¨C no one seemed to recognize that! Understandable - but coming out from you? No. After that, for several years we were patient in our handlings. What my granddaughter has learned is the only virtue of a good woman, with no bad influence to hinder her mind. With no one hindering her in her simple ways, she will always follow what the virtues dictate.¡±


    The chair screeched at being pulled, and the sleeves rustled.


    ¡°I only want an assurance, and out of quite genuine concern.¡± Master Rong still maintained his outward peace as he calmly replied. ¡°Before the princess of Hunak was married away and accepted by Daxia¡¯s Imperial family, no one could ever think that she would beseech the Temple over such a small matter as taking in an imperial concubine, and that the Temple will answer to her prayers! In our time, even in Dajin, we have seen several new Temples springing up like mushrooms after rain, and one can just remember the turmoil one has seen happening in front of their eyes in Daxia and fear. It''s quite natural - my lord, if you ask me - that I fear that another besotted woman might implicate the whole country in her petty demands! Are you sure that she, your granddaughter, has no such seed in her mind?¡±


    ¡°What we have realized in our current marriage with the second prince would have been realized a decade ago, and that remains a fact, a shortcoming that is only human of me ¨C or you. But it was all a fault of chaotic circumstances and to say that any future conduct will be the same¡­? My granddaughter Wei Ziya, Old Master Rong, is a very sweet child who knows her own responsibilities and has been brought up as a candidate for this very marriage since her birth. She will never overstep her boundaries!¡± There was a decided air to this declaration.


    Old Master Wei continued as he sat down, ¡°and no, I don¡¯t think any refutation from your side will make that sordid event of the past, any less of your family¡¯s fault than it is, my dear lord, NO! As for your present concerns, we will fulfill our side of promise as we are expected to. We supply Dajin with sacrificial candidates to the moon goddess. We hold the ceremony in our lands and above all, we have kept this worship under cover - from even the eyes of those in the capital -! That is the least we can do for our heavenly Masters and for Dajin. Second prince will be our hope, our future, our light in these murky times of darkness which knows no light ¨C he will be the beacon of the new age that will lead us out of this mortal realm, and take our Dajin from a small place to the wider world of greatness¡­ Hope he is to be, of the whole wide world, no doubt in that of course!To doubt that our Weijia, with all our humble sacrifices will hinder that, is at best preposterous-! Or simply a negation of our pain! If men knew of his future greatness, they would fall down on their knees and kiss his feet with gratitude; and being one such man in knowledge of his future greatness, nothing I do will ever grieve me more than acting as a villain to his highness''s dream! The gravity of the prophecy, the voices of reason, the future, the prosperity of our whole world - all lie on his shoulders and this we at Wei house have known from the moment we came under this pact. So, DON¡¯T point fingers!You- are in no position to do that.¡±


    After a zealous refutation of the most vehement kind, Lord Wei didn¡¯t just stop there but followed with his own doubts. No one in the council was unaware of the small friction between the Wei¡¯s and the Rong¡¯s. It had its own long history of deep entanglements and grievances that had rooted way too deep in each generation of their clan¡¯s. It was only natural that the majority hesitated to meddle in this small, but private scuffle.


    ¡°¡­but Master Rong, will you please explain? Your constant protection of your offspring has proven to be a clear shortcoming instead. Everyone here will agree with me over this point. Your grandson was sent over to oversee a small frontier in the south ¨C look, what he had made out of this small event? Rong Yu Guang''s constant championing of those barbarians'' rights has brought us to our present dilemma. What about ancestral precepts of fulfilling vows and never supporting injustice, he asks, forgetting that our land will be embroiled in a mutiny if those barbarians were allowed to succeed as all other small clans affiliated to us will be demanding similar freedom from us, or that eventually this small fulfillment of a mere vow will break the harmony of our great nation and push it into another long dark age of land-struggle between different clans!¡± Silence followed.


    ¡°There are many who are peering at us like hungry lions, looking for a moment for us to slip and lose. A mere vow, can it replace the great duty we have to our common dream to maintain our Dajin¡¯s destiny as the greatest empire in the world? Can I ask as a member of this council, how have you allowed him in his capacity and allegiance, to mix with those barbarians in the south and keep doing that, and with so much audacity? If you were not a member of this council, I would have even doubted if your intentions held more than you let on.¡± The heightened voice had once more regained their previous calmness. By the end of his tense question, his slovenly pronouncement even caught others off guard.


    ¡°No trouble over that ¨C he will eventually do as bid.¡± Master Rong could only promise this. The blush that reigned over his cheeks was invisible in the darkness, yet few close to him still spotted his shaking body.


    ¡°We all hope so.¡±


    Lord Wei didn¡¯t dwell further in pressing this long-time adversary of his, as his mind was clearly preoccupied with graver matters. Just like that, the friction simmered off on its own with no intervention needed. The two gentlemen in the midst of the heady exchange settled down, while the rest murmured amongst themselves. For a while, the meeting seemed to have come to a halt. But soon, with his decided airs, and a penchant for wearing smiles at odd times, Lord Wei once again tapped the table with his iron goblet, calling everyone¡¯s attention.


    He smiled to himself and began, ¡°Everyone here to some extent is aware that the main reason for the establishment of this council was a need to channel a legitimate sacrifice for our Master¡¯s. At present our greatest utility lies in our being able to realize this job with greatest perfection. I hereby announce to the council with greatest satisfaction and delight, that another sacrificial ceremony for Moon Goddess will take place a year later, this time on the tenth month on the day the Star of Chaos meets the Constellation of Orion." He announced tersely, his eyes overflowing with pride.


    ¡°What?!¡±


    ¡°It¡¯s too soon, so soon¡­Why are they in such a hurry? It¡¯s not even a full cycle since the last occurred a decade ago ¨C and the tenth month -? The needed stars aren¡¯t aligned, nor the season right, is it just haste?¡±


    ¡°No - this event is going to be a unique one. As I said, this time, all we need is a Star of Chaos meeting the Constellation of Orion.¡± Lord Wei patiently replied.


    ¡°Are you sure Lord Wei?¡±


    ¡°Pretty much.¡±


    ¡°Tell me you are kidding! By God! ¨C we cannot do all this at once!? A war, and the sacrifice too! In the same year ¨C by god, it seems impossible! Just don¡¯t tell us that there is some more of this to come!¡±


    ¡°But we will have to.¡±


    This news finally animated the faces of all the council members. Everyone had a different reaction, but all supported a mixed kind of shock over their faces. The root of their worries being that a sacrificial ceremony of that grand scale needed elaborate preparations even before the actual event ¨C the previous ones had taken half a decade if not more to be fully prepared! And this year was soon to come to an end! They hardly had enough time to see all things happening perfectly.


    "We have been told to prepare two brides for Moon palace. My two granddaughters, Wei Zhiruo and Wei Lina have been prophesied as the Chosen ones this time around. The rest will follow the arrangements of the council, as planned in previous years but we can cut out some ceremonies to hasten the preparation. But before that -¡±


    Lord Wei looked up, taking a brief glance over the overcast heads of the twelve-member elder council. Every head at this moment faced him in apprehension: disagreeable ones, irritated ones, well-spoken or soft-spoken ones, as well as those who hardly spouted a word ¨C every eye at the moment rested on his figure with guarded emotions.


    ¡°- the God¡¯s have finally allowed our men to follow in a year to the lands above. Heaven¡­ is at hand!¡±


    There was something boiling in that madness, or the gravity with which he clipped those sentiments in his words. Yet, like a mirror, the same zealous emotion seized everyone in a moment ¨C the eyes were rounded and red, the breathing struck a notch higher, the shivering followed and many startled out of their chairs as if to take a deeper look at the speaker. So many hastily uttered ¡® but is that the truth - you are not jesting, my lord?¡¯ rang inside the chamber one after another. Although in return no words were said, but the expression - it alone acted as the best guide and made them all boil out in mirth! Even the most reticent Old Master Rong had his whiskers in twists, his bulging eye-balls flushed with tears.


    The sunlight peaked silently through the window pane, the gray receded into foregrounds and everyone could see the echoing, reverberating dreams of each other ¨C it was the dawn of destiny! The Heaven of the mother Goddess, the land of eternal prosperity where men could live forever and ever and death was an alien notion like a fleeting dream¡­


    ¡°Lord Zhang, have you decided on the future candidate to be sent back to the Cultivation realm of Heaven?¡± Someone hurriedly shook master Zhang out of his stupor. ¡°We have all made our selections ¨C even Master Rong had long started preparing for the upcoming departure whenever it was to come¨C you must know, we have not much time to dwell over it. However angry you are with your youngest son, to us,  he still appears to be the best candidate in all our eyes for accompanying the second prince.¡± Tulou Hu, the current head of Jinghai¡¯s Yamen shook up his close friend, inadvertently arousing several disinterested heads. Even Lord Wei looked up.


    ¡°Yes, my son Zhang YuShi will follow the second prince in his quest.¡± Lord Zhang replied in a small muffled voice, unclear whether with happiness or general indifference.


    Following this declaration, the council was once more abuzz with a pulse of general happiness. The expectation of this news was no less than the following hope they cherished in their hardened breasts, all beating with future uncertainties.


    ¡°Great! Great¡­we had expected something of this sort to tell you the truth¨C¡±


    ¡°Yes, a fine candidate! So, finally the last member of the expedition to ¡®Heaven¡¯ has been chosen now? Right in time-are we? When will they set-off? The date must have been determined, right, Lord Wei?¡±


    ¡°Two years, even less than that, maybe even the coming July. That''s why there is such a haste in this last sacrificial ceremony. Great thing, you have told us Master Zhang.¡± Lord Wei replied and stood up to address the final words. ¡°Several decades ago, in a battered cottage, some of us were present with our grandfathers, when that historical event took place.¡± Here in a ceremonial nostalgia, he spoke of the past, the hardships, and the toiling¡¯s of their ventures.


    ¡°When the heavenly Master promised us a path fifty years ago, we had taken it as a recourse to all the exploitation that had occurred over the years in Dajin , thoughtlessly. In that war plagued Dajin, in its several tribes all vying for a throne and its patched-up entity, our forefathers could only see the help of god¡¯s as to end at that - when the first king was christened an emperor of emperor''s! Our Dajin itself was born by the grace of Heaven! No one could imagine, neither us nor our forefathers, that one day, that promise, that vow of God would come down to this and allow us to peer through our hazy destiny as a man and come out of these heavy chains! Not only will Dajin become the leading force in this world - but more than that-! We will become the sole heir of our world, the country representing our world before Gods! With him, our second prince at helms, we will enter an era of influence, where we will no longer be paltry servants at call! We will be Masters of our fate, the divine will not be out of reach. To ask for a goblet of ambrosia to make us all immortals will not be a mere pipe-dream. Our world will have an heir, and we ¨C as the supporters, will forge our paths into Heaven itself! Our Second Prince will lead us to that. Our dreams have brought us to this day ¨C may our deities bless us that we succeed in saving our homes from the likes that we have seen, becoming the best guardians that we have set out to become. For Dajin, for our world¡¯s destiny - today, we have reached a milestone.¡± Lord Wei¡¯s resonant voice died down in a whisper as he raised a halting toast to all.


    ¡°The day we have been looking for, after so long¡­¡±


    ¡°Sigh¡­ah, what a time to be alive¡­!¡±


    ***

 Chapter5. Capping ceremony a Spectacle

    The well-lit rooms were filled with boisterous laughter. Young men in their silk apparels and fresh faces fluttered around like angry bees and flustered butterflies.


    The children were in their own worlds. The youngsters in theirs. Neither the youngsters nor the women inside the separate inner compounds took notice or heard the voices ringing aloud in the main hall, announcing the arrival of auspicious time.


    Some servants, though, were running around to bring the fastest news inside each occupied corner, for everyone¡¯s pleasure. As such, no one was completely unaware of ceremony preparations or when it began - solemn, rigorous ¨C and quite separated from all the festivity when it did.


    In the Main Hall itself, all the elderly members of the Wei clan had taken their places quite early, with their distinguished guests by their side, entertaining them with tea and carefully crafted delicacies, looking stately in their well-organized apparels and aged, wise looks. The visitors equally humored the host''s family with auspicious words and congratulations on the coming of age of the eldest son, the new heir of Wei Clan.


    Since it was a grand celebration, the plans for that day¡¯s banquet were quite long. The lunch, and dinner too were to be held in the Wei premises.


    Some faraway guests were still on their way, and the procession of gifts never stopped entering inside the manor with all its pomp and show; while the main gate was surrounded by a crowd of spectators - children and elderly alike - who stood and watched as various treasure boxes were carried in inside the towering gate. ¡°Is a certain big miss getting married today-?¡± seemed to become the most asked question.


    ¡°Of course not! It''s just the coming-of-age ceremony ¨C,¡± but many just heard it and let it pass unheeded. They enjoyed the cheer, and then danced around staring at any new big carriage joining in the line of grandly ensembled carriage trains. Even the cold downpour falling in short intervals could stop them from joining in the apparent festivity.


    As for the hall where the ceremony was to take place ¨C by noon, it had become a well-lit place filled with plenty of warm light wafting off in wisps from exquisitely crafted paper lamps embossed in their wooden frames. Some delicately carved palace lamps hung from over the roof. On such a gloomy day, with sunlight seldom creeping through its gray cloudy curtains ¨C these lamps were flourishingly lit and welcome.


    Four wooden pillars supported the beam inside the main Hall, reaching a considerable height enlarging the space inside ¨C so much that its opulence was all the more pronounced, even exaggerated. Few plinths supported a raised platform at its northern side, supporting a jade statue of the clan deity of the Wei clan; an assortment of delicacies was served around it.


    That was but a small corner, the rest of the hall was arranged with seats for guests facing a space opening up in the middle which was left as a stage. Although these small seats were at quite a distance from the inner circle of the deity placed in the north, all the guests had no difficulty in appreciating that towering Clan-god of this old family. Some even recalled its name ¨C ¡°Isn¡¯t that the incarnation of fire, God of fiery spirit, Chongli?¡±


    ¡°He is, indeed.¡±


    Only the head of the house could have a seat in close proximity with the clan god though, a well-recognized fact in Jinghai or most of the east of Dajin. Many reputed clans practiced this custom of honouring the guest by placing them at closest proximity with the clan¡¯s deity.


    If you were to go off into more outer parts of Dajin, your nearness with the central capital growing farther and distant, the most commonplace practices and traditions becoming all the scanter, it wasn¡¯t hard to spot a few heretic traditions like these. Although not many had a clan god of their own, the Wei¡¯s were amongst the oldest families which had kept this primitive practice alive.


    ¡°Master Huo this way! Here, all the guests are awaiting your arrival.¡± The caretaker carefully worded his greeting as he showed a certain personage into the hall.


    ¡°Good, good! Great ambience! I am fortunate to have been remembered by Lord Wei on such a grave occasion. You¡¯ll let him know of my gratitude, won''t you?¡± The man didn¡¯t forget to hold onto the old caretakers¡¯ hands and shook them happily as he moved hastily to join the rest of the company.


    The caretaker looked at his fat figure fading away and turned towards the next guest.


    In the hall, sliding wooden doors opened on all sides but the north, creating an almost open chamber, aired by chilling breeze and softer showers spraying at moments whenever the wind blew or the gate opened, which wasn¡¯t as infrequent as one would have liked in that kind of gloomy weather. But since some young servants were specially reserved to oversee that no door remained open longer than needed, not much inconvenience was caused to the guest.


    Majestic silver candelabras were placed at close intervals, luminously dampening the darkness, while a rich, woodenly scent diffused in the air, filling it with various emotions tied to languor¨C from comfort of taste to comfort of eyes, the details suited to every sensibility was provided for. Such was the great care taken by the host in making this manor¡¯s luxuries affable to general eyes, that on close notice even the sultry nature of the soft shower couldn¡¯t hamper the celebration. It was to be fully enjoyed with wines and people, every subject to be prodded and every new development in Jinghai to be shared about.


    The hall was full by noon. Maids sauntered around, carrying delicacies on silver platters balanced on their delicate arms; goblets of wine and their refill were to be provided at right times, pastries served at right places. At the center stage, elderly looking courtesans held a pipa, or a flute or zithers. There was no Suona in their hands - an absence that would have made many onlookers finally concede ¨C ¡°Alas! It really is not a marriage ceremony!¡±


    The courtesan¡¯s masterfully twisted strings to create magnificent waves in their listener¡¯s mind; while younger courtesans danced gracefully twisting their swan-like necks, waving scarves made of silk.


    Qianyuan dynasty, like its predecessors of Xian dynasty, still supported the coming-of-age ceremony to be held at the twentieth year of a youth¡¯s life ¡ªonly after this night, will he be counted amongst gentlemen.


    A farmer might celebrate such an occasion by adding an extra egg into his son¡¯s plate, while a merchant called the most reputable scholar to hold their son¡¯s coming of age ceremony. And as part of noble aristocratic lineage, whose forefathers had once even helped the current ruling family to get the hold of such a vast land as Dajin ¨C the Wei¡¯s weren¡¯t going to let this opportunity slide without showing their standing and prestige in Jinghai.


    On such a cheerful occasion, everyone of repute and status, accorded by their noble position or wealth were gathered therein sipping wine and toasting blessings.


    Master Wei was also sitting in the hall, hosting the event with appropriate smiles and gestures, receiving glad tidings and regards from all sides. He would show the appropriate amount of happiness, never holding his guest a while longer than needed.


    At this moment, inside the Hall sat Master Wei representing his father. The representatives from Magistrate, a couple of foreign dignitaries and some principal members of Jinghai Yamen, as well as highly reputed merchants were all resting close by, as did the chief members of four major families and nine famous clans of the town. They had just appreciated the sprawling manor¡¯s peach orchards and had finally returned with daunted spirits, when another bout of rain prevailed over them. It was quite a small company in there, studded with alacrity to pleasing and being in turn pleased.


    ¡°And so, we are once again in the grace of Lord Wei. No, don¡¯t stand young lad. There is no need for such a heavy salutation here ¨C is there?¡± An old man, in his textured silks and finely combed hair, toasted master Wei who was sitting with his friend.


    Old Master Yu had just come to perform the ceremonious greeting with the host and found him engrossed in a private conversation. He himself, quite weary of taking more time than an appropriate nod and small talk would take, didn¡¯t take the spare seat besides Master Wei and his friend when offered. Instead, he immediately started saying, ¡°The manor was quite a delight to see after such a lapse of time ¨C his lordship''s reputation of gracing his guests with his one true heart still rings as true as it had a few decades back. It quite reminds me of those times when he was still the Left prime minister in our majesty¡¯s court! Ah! What days. Your father, young friend Wei, was once famed as the most delightful host to ever grace the high society of the Capital. A personal loss which is still felt with great resolve on their part. But what a great occasion today seems to be for you? Good news from all sides! Just delight, great fortune has found your doors one after other, and aptly as it should! I don¡¯t see your son here though, that young lad seems to have slipped away? The time for the ceremony is coming closer, if I am not wrong?¡±


    ¡°Yes, he did go away for that purpose, Old Master Yu.¡± Master Wei replied while chugging the toast in acceptance. His lips showed the most solemn smile, his eyes empty of any merry affectations. ¡°My father will be here shortly, if you find it difficult to wait for him, I can ask the maid to lead you to a guest room. You can just take a break for some time.¡± An answer was given without being questioned.


    ¡°Good, no thank you for the offer. Although, as old as I am, I should gladly take you up on your words, but Jinghai doesn¡¯t occasion such a festive atmosphere frequently, does it? While he isn¡¯t here, there is no harm in enjoying such pleasurable company as we can find. Look there - did I spot the eldest son of the Minister of Rite?¡±


    ¡°Oh yes. Should I lead you over there?¡± he stretched his neck to see a group of people sitting and chatting at a distance.


    ¡°Don''t fret my dear. I will go ask him about his father in just a while - but how are you enjoying the company, Su Ruhui?¡± Old Master Yu turned to master Wei¡¯s friend. ¡°Not that I can find you anywhere else other than these festive occasions! Do come to Pingyuan, my dear. Its just a forty miles distance¡­a day on your fiery horse and you¡¯ll spend a fortnight of the best time of your life! I have recently added this amazing garden in my collection ¨C as I wrote to your father, Huoyu ¨C it has been constructed in my old clan house. A book brought by some barbarians from over the Great Ocean mentioned these hanging gardens - a mesmerizing collection of herbs and flowers were portrayed in one of their written accounts. I couldn¡¯t do it justice but I imagine that it does have some of the likeness as told in those stories. But a great traveler like you, Ruhui, must have seen wonders greater than that ¨C do come and tell me, how much worse I fare or is it worse than I had imagined it to be?¡±


    ¡°It''s always a great pleasure to see such amazing things like fantasy coming out of prints - I will come to Pingyuan just to see your garden¡¯s Old Master Yu ¨C one day when the day is agreeable to my sensitive nerves. I think much more than me, you like such gatherings more. Alas! They seldom occur in Jinghai, particularly in these times of the year ¨C it is always the rain! The devil!¡± The speaker was a slightly slovenly looking man, his countenance all agreeable, purporting fox-like glinting eyes. He raised his cup of wine toasting the man sitting beside him as well as the old gentleman.


    ¡°Oh, do you think so - I will wait, and hold on to this promise of yours. Looks like many friends have gathered today, is that person Qinan county magistrate? Yes, the one in green brocade- yes?! Let me greet them first, then. Once again, great day to you Huoyu. May many future days be like this for you.¡± saying this, he soon made himself scarce, having spotted an acquaintance and said his parting greetings. Master Wei received another toast.


    Master Su RuHui remained silent for a while and then once again broached a similar topic, engaging his preoccupied host, who was sitting with his back as straight as pine, looking deliberately down into his glass of wine.


    ¡°The rain turned out to be the worst one from over these years. Many counties complained of flooding, but Jinghai was spared much trouble fortunately. The rain seems a little softer today¡­hopefully the next few days will be graced with some more sun. Not that it might be the case. But by gods! One should see some of the sun in these times each day! The cold is chilling the bones. I feel almost starved of its presence!¡±


    By the end, he was even clenching his teeth.


    ¡°Ah¡­but I bet you will make yourself scarce the very next day crying about how hot the day is. I know you; you cannot persuade me otherwise.¡± Master Wei Houyu narrowed his eyes. ¡°If anything, if we were to go by your standards, we will still be having seasons fluctuate like moods. Thank god, we don¡¯t. Too much of this, too much of that ¨C all day long all you do is cry about something or other. And when it gets too bad, you pack your things and are on your way to lands only gods know of. For a person who had difficulty rising from his bed when asked to accompany to a nearby county ¨C claiming you are too bed-ridden to ride a horse - you do make long journeys across the world when in the right ¡®spirit¡¯ don''t you? Tell me exactly, how can you behave so extremely -? You travel to such far off lands and spend so much money over these worthless adventures, but when I have a small request, you are too good to rouse yourself from your bed? Or are those travel tales of yours a lie too? With a temper like yours, I can expect that. I don¡¯t know how you have managed to save the small amount of money that you have left in your purses. And no, I am not listening to your excuses. I heard Shijiazhuang reported a loss of over a thousand lives ¨CWe agreed to go and look at the situation in nearby towns. But the day changed into night, and you were still languishing in your beauty¡¯s arms. By god! Woe be me if I ever ask you to travel another day!¡±


    Master Su RuHui started laughing outright, genuinely looking surprised. He took a round grape and started peeling its skin off. ¡°It seems this time I have finally worn out your endless patience ¨C I cannot recall another occasion you had so much to say to me. The sweet-tempered playboy of Jinghai also knows anger? Which one of your endless secret lovers will believe the truth of this face of yours?¡±


    ¡°A feat unmatched. And for the last question - I can tell you the answer is none.¡± Master Wei turned his head away, his eyes a little colder.


    ¡°By gods! Yes! For the likes of me who will never step into a battlefield - unmistakably a feat unmatched! To make the always calm Master Wei show his claws...? Having made you speak to me in this tone is like seeing the sun rise in the west. When we were teenagers, I used to think that nothing could happen to make you smile less, and then when something did actually happen, I thought nothing could ever make you rise from that grave again. To see you like this is as if I have earned a medal of honor¡­alas¡­¡± Su RuHui half-jokingly said, gulping the peeled grape. It was sour.


    ¡°Did you hear of Shijiazhuang?¡± Wei Houyu turned again and asked, his voice softer than before. ¡°What does your information channel say?¡±


    ¡°Yes, nothing nice.¡± Su Ruhui replied. ¡°Rice ruined, no harvest in this season. Not counting the casualty of cattle and other crops, what do you think are the chances of that county approaching a famine? I think it¡¯s just a few months away from outright catastrophe falling on their heads! With an example of Anshui, it can only be worse if nothing is done now. But the court is in such a bad state - what can we expect? If not this year, next year will truly push Shijiazhuang to that. Can they be saved? ¨C hard to say that. But since the second prince is already overseeing Jinghai, with his recent arrival here, at least such misappropriation of aid that happened in Anshui from the court can be averted, right? What a loss though. We won¡¯t be seeing any good harvest until next year.¡±


    ¡°I heard something similar. The Magistrate just told me he was thinking of asking his majesty to lower the taxes for this winter, for both Jinghai and Shijiazhuang but then,¡± Master Wei lowered his voice further to a whisper, ¡°there happens to be a situation at present. Any tax reduction seems improbable in near future.¡±


    ¡°Is there¡­? Doesn¡¯t sound like a good situation to me.¡± A slightly softer voice replied.


    ¡°Does it not? You got the inkling, brother ¨C ah.¡± Master Wei shrugged.


    A small moment of silence interrupted their exchange.


    ¡°In fact, the court might as well be pushing for an increase in coming taxes, this February.¡± Wei Houyu looked towards where the magistrate¡¯s party was seated. ¡°It bodes no good news for the general populace by the looks of it. I don¡¯t know how your merchant friends are faring? Some must have started preparing for this loss? And don¡¯t tell me, something that can fall into my ears is still unknown to them! I cannot believe such lies.¡±


    ¡°They know. They might be unaware of the gravity of the ¡­situation, if they do know about this oncoming calamity. In fact, I cannot be sure. What is commonplace in such times are merchants hoarding their goods. Who knows whether they fear a drought in Shijiazhuang or have heard a very similar kind of news from the court? It doesn''t make much of a difference in my eyes ¨C the south suffered such calamity, how can east remain untouched? The traces are already unfolding in the west, as well as north¡­it¡¯s a drought year all over the place. Its just that the rain wouldn¡¯t stop somewhere, while some places have hardly seen any rain at all. However,¡± Master Su Ruhui looked up, whispering, reaching towards Master Wei¡¯s ears, ¡°that one over there seems to have done something last week.¡±


    They both abruptly looked in one direction.


    ¡°If you hadn¡¯t told me all this, I would still be struggling to guess why Li Mu had sold so many of his shares in the Local bank and hoarded all the barley in Jinghai. His stocks in the local mercantile communes were also liquidated. It made a great fuss - many shops were crying and counting their silver. One even got bankrupt - many people in the know are claiming that he is preparing a great gift for the second prince. For a while, I was even ready to believe that he was preparing to open a brewery! Is that improbable for such a sort of man? Whatever you tell me I think it is hard to grasp that he is preparing a gift- do such thick-headed men care for diplomacy? What gift for the Second prince-? But I now know, he is still far better than I give him credit for! He is definitely preparing a caravan to go to the south and to other places to trade. Barley is better than rice and wheat. People will trade that more readily. And I remember a year ago, people had too much of that in nearby places. Pity! - A brewery would have really suited his ways! Sleazy as he is, his wines would have been amorous. Heavenly. Tsch.¡± Su Ruhui''s disgruntled face tilted towards the grape plate as he picked another to gobble up the whole.


    He then looked pointedly at the small clique nearer to the entrance door, animatedly discussing today¡¯s fiasco of the horses, horsemen and the carriage owner. Boisterous laughter rang all around. ¡°Look at him, not a care in the world! Who could ever guess that just recently his wife died in childbirth? The least one can ask of him is to maintain a straight face for a while, not much to ask in my opinion. But you do know, the Li¡¯s generally treat their women lower than their mares. Pity, she was a beauty too¨C even I once dwelled over taking her hands myself. But she wedded this brute the next year. What does he have other than his money?¡±


    ¡°Some more of that? A good number of lands and mines? I heard another old paper making industry fell into his hands. With so many links in the south and southern mines ¨C he will earn every buck he is spending right now. He never was a simpleton that you usually make out of him.¡±


    ¡°Touch¨¦. But look at that face! Just those horse-like features will stop a woman from looking at him a second longer! But he has money. Forget it.¡±


    ¡°Ah ha! You look under pressure.¡± Wei Houyu looked up and chuckled. ¡°You still haven¡¯t sorted out your debts to him, have you? The treasurer of the Town bank was asking me about your health a few days ago, and no Li Mu was not there. But the treasurer did look pretty strung up ¨C he will be killed, I assure you, if you delay any longer - Li Mu was never famous for his compassion and great heart. It was only that poor man who agreed to give you such a huge loan, and now you will have no one to borrow from all over Jinghai.¡±Ensure your favorite authors get the support they deserve. Read this novel on Royal Road.


    Master Wei shrugged away his amused smile. He took up the empty goblet and filled it up with some more wine from the jade gourd.


    ¡°You know¡­this thing really exasperates me. That man never does anything right apart from causing trouble at the most ingenious moments. What else could you expect from this wretch? I will see what I can do. But you look like you will not help me, will you? I see it in your eyes.¡±


    ¡°If I can help, no! ¨C I will most likely not overexert my nerves. Your proportion of what constitutes a help is always awry. What I will spend on you might as well have entered the belly of a Whale. Wei Jia doesn¡¯t do such loss-making businesses.¡± As soon as Master Wei had started dwelling over this, he was abruptly stopped.


    A group of people, all looking well dressed and blithely pompous approached him. Heading this group was a man who wore a purple brocade and looked younger than both master Houyu and Su Ruhui.


    ¡°But where is the main character of our play? Your son Master Wei, I don¡¯t see him around here? Or does he, too, shy away from the company of the likes of you? What a shame, doesn¡¯t he see you as his father? But I am not too surprised ¨C I heard you earned yourself another title downtown - what was it again? Yes, the ¡®Richest Flower boy of Jinghai¡¯? Whoring all day long tends to make people renowned like you - does it not Master Wei?¡± he spoke flushed, his voice tilting into lisps.


    This grating voice roused both their attention as it continued to say. ¡°Here, here. Lord Wei has finally secured a worthy successor, people.¡±


    A peal of laughter came from a group following the man. Huang Dan proudly bowed to accept their amusement, and then raised a toast to the host of the banquet. ¡°You laugh, but it¡¯s no laughing matter here in Weijia. But fortunately, as late as it might be, at last - we can all say that the apple hasn¡¯t fallen too far from its tree. But some people don''t share such sentiments, do they?¡±


    His eyes were animated with a mischievous glint.


    Another person joined the ensemble, this time an ill looking, pale faced master Fu Anan. He looked at the surrounding crowd of men, and then the strange tone of voice of the speaker. He heard the crass exchange and then came forward to deescalate the situation.


    ¡°No, it''s not a laughing matter indeed. That drought-ridden small town near Anshui benefited greatly from Young Master Wei¡¯s benevolent service. We know that he is a hero, nothing short of a warrior of Dajin! With his heart in the right place and with such keen appreciation for his duties to the crown, we can expect great things from such a youngster! What a sensible young man! Worthy of his grandfather¡¯s high regard in all senses. To such a new addition to our Dajin¡¯s industrious halls of mighty, courageous and well-meaning fellows, let me raise this toast, everyone, so that we reckon his moral superiority, his courage that wanes in us. I will be glad if you will accept it on his behalf, Master Wei.¡±


    ¡°You overpraise.¡± Master Wei replied succinctly, yet the smile didn''t fade from his lip. No one could tell what he was thinking. But his companion seemed to have become a silent spectator, looking coldly at the exchange.


    ¡°No, I am only telling the truth.¡±


    A ceremonious exchange followed, yet was abruptly stopped again.


    ¡°Although,¡± Huang Dan said, ¡°I have complaints of you being an unworthy son to your liege, Master Wei, but I expect that you do cheer on for the general prosperity of your offspring in the unaltered corners of your heart?¡±


    Master Fu Anan rolled his eyes in his mind, then stopped talking altogether. This particular style of seeking a fight was no new thing for the people present there.


    Huang Dan, the son of Old Master Huang, a well reputed courtier, unlike his gentle father would always dirty anyone¡¯s reputation as he deemed fit. He saw no date, no time ¨C for him, a good brawl was good on any occasion. And to scratch healed wounds of his adversary -? How dare he not enjoy such a feast!


    Only Old Master Huang could stop him from his death seeking adventures.


    Many eyes lingered over him, fully expecting a scuffle. A few people tried to interrupt the embarrassing exchange, but couldn¡¯t stop master Huang Dan from saying all his displeasures, or utter profanity in such a company.


    Fu Anan, having seen that he was of not much use, decided to make himself scarce so that he wouldn¡¯t hear more than he should, but before he left, he gently whispered a few words in Master Wei''s ears.


    ¡°Don''t take him too seriously - and the people sent have replied. The old man held a meeting in the abandoned courtyards. Send Hong Tao. A man will receive the letter, a southerner.¡± It was a puzzling statement, but he didn''t explain much and ran away.


    Master Wei didn¡¯t seem surprised. He ignored other people, and turned to his friend. A shared sense of understanding flashed between them, and then they quickly looked away.


    He then turned to Huang Dan and said, ¡°That is only natural, master Huang. Whatever my shortcomings may be, a love borne for one¡¯s offspring is a gift of nature ¨C even my failures cannot dampen that spirit. I haven¡¯t suddenly become a brute with a stone for a heart.¡±


    ¡°I doubt it, Wei Houyu.¡±


    ¡°However,¡± Master Wei looked up and continued as if he hadn¡¯t been interrupted, still smiling softly, ¡°I am saddened at your singling me out like this. Who doesn¡¯t look for some pleasure in their small lives? It is in nature for us base humans to seek pleasure and avert from pain. Just like the time you went against the wishes of your mother and married a courtesan? The love might be there, but propriety was not - was it?¡±


    He straightened his sleeves.


    ¡°At least a marriage is a sacred ceremony - after worshiping before my clansmen, nothing is wrong in my actions. It''s you who should explain to your clansmen and father ¨C have you ever observed propriety? Of the many lovers, how many have passed the ceremonial acceptance in your Wei house? I seem to recall there has been no new concubine included in your family, but that beauty in the ¡®Pomegranate pavilion¡¯ is definitely yours!¡±


    ¡°But these have never troubled a soul other than mine,¡± Master Wei replied. ¡°What I do behind closed walls, remain mostly behind it if there are no other wandering snoopers.¡±


    Huang Dans colored and spoke more forcefully, ¡°What a great reply! No decent noblemen should be expected to be righteous by your standards and no sound mind should ever judge their wrongs? Snoopers¡­is that what you call your lord father when he asks and chastises you for your whereabouts? I wouldn¡¯t be surprised if you did master Wei.¡±


    ¡°Many in this hall claim that they are righteous noblemen. As you do ¨C master Huang.¡± Master Wei started, his deep voice overriding other voices in the hall. ¡°Not many can stand tall on your scrutiny master Huang, if you were to apply these same harsh principles as you do over my own actions to others in this small hall, yourself or even your companions. I cannot help but recount many familiar faces here, who were also enjoying a joyful night in the arms of a courtesan ¨C some quite blatantly, some shyly ¨C being in those brothels you so despise. Many here will agree, as they share similar experiences as mine, of what constitutes a human failing. If not in front of others, but they will do it in secluded, veiled parts of their hidden selves ¨C where the toughest kind of criticism dwells and assess one¡¯s own worth. Will you, then, have us all condemned as no longer human? As I am not the only one with such failing, you must forgive us all, or talk no more of me alone. I don¡¯t accept your one-sided study of my principles.¡±


    ¡°Now, now master Houyu. He is just a¡­a simpleton! Please don¡¯t say so many harsh words¡­!¡± Someone tried to interrupt looking red faced. He looked as if an insult had been personally thrown at him.


    Many other voices tried to interrupt Wei Houyu, but he still went on saying coldly ¨C


    ¡°When you mourn my dead reason, you should recall the pain your mother suffered through in all those years owing to your selfishness, or when you drove her crazy with your indifference. When you say of my unfilial self, you should ask of the graying hairs on your father¡¯s head! My mother never said a word against me, nor have I caused her tears, to tell you the truth.¡±


    ¡°How dare you bring my mother into this!?¡± Master Huang Dan reached out for master Wei¡¯s lapels, raising him to his eye level, peering into his eyes with deep hatred. If not for the hands pulling him back, he would have succeeded in pulling off Master Wei or giving him a punch on his face.


    Master Wei clenched the hands holding his clothes and twisted it around, arousing a shriek in return. He stood up, with his hands reaching out towards his sword laying at his waist.


    ¡°Master Huang Dan should hold the courage to hear the truth when he speaks so overbearingly. It appears to me that you are still unaware of rights and wrongs. When you so righteously break out in protest of my friend''s debauchery, please do the same for the men here who have done worse to their slaves and commoners. Now, no one is purer than others. If you go pointing finger¡¯s one is certainly going to come pointing at you ¨C But I hear no just criticism of that kind? When the great sages in the past talked of human nature, they never only talked of promiscuous sons, but also failures of masters in dealing with their servants, of dealings of husbands with their wives and of the kindness that froths from human nature that should be maintained between a slave and a liege! Who speaks with kindness to a servant? Forget being kind to slaves, who of us treat them more than a beast?¡±


    ¡°Well pointed out.¡± Someone couldn¡¯t help but agree with Master Su RuHui, ¡°Just recently, wasn¡¯t it your young nephew, Master Huang Dan, who kidnapped a village maiden? The whole family died as a result of such blatant plundering in clear daylight ¨C I wouldn¡¯t say more but please, don¡¯t play this hypocritical charade over here. This is a company of learned men.¡±


    Finally, this new revelation seemed to have sucked away all color from Master Huang Dan and some of the people following behind him. Deciding to not make things worse for himself, he turned to Master Wei and said spitefully -


    ¡°I will see how long you can support that face, Master Wei! You don¡¯t dissuade me. You will always be the same bug crawling in the lowest rungs of society as you were years before, a lunatic on the loose, eating dirt and whatnots. Everyone tells me you have healed, recovered, but look ¨C what does he have in his eyes? Does he look sane? Do sane people talk like this after being insulted? Do you see any change over his face¨C no color, no blushing. Doesn''t that remind you of stones? And he says he hasn¡¯t turned into one- what a farce!¡± Huang Dan pointed his fingers at Master Wei, then cleverly fell back on his feet. He wrestled his arms away from his captives and straightened his ruffled shirt.


    ¡°Literate people do happen to talk like me, Master Huang, if you excuse me. I am a scholar, even a stained one.¡±


    ¡°Unlike an imbecile like you, he does know words. Take my words if not his.¡± Master Su RuHui said as he took another peeled grape into his mouth.


    ¡°You-!¡± He once again lunged at them.


    There was much persuading done on both sides. For a moment it looked like it would end up in an outright brawl, but some sane people held both the parties down. Finally, under the coercion of having his father angered, one of the parties conceded a truce.


    As soon as the inflamed man had found his way out, persuaded by his company, the spectators all started moving away. ¡°What a character! He will die in some corner some of these days - if that hot temper doesn''t come flattening down, I tell you.¡±


    ¡°Indeed.¡±


    At this moment there was bustling outside and then the screens opened to let in a crowd of curious looking young boys.


    Young men in their silk apparels and fresh faces had sauntered inside the hall. As if they knew that a while later this Hall would welcome all the great men in town to hold the most renowned capping ceremony to ever take place in Jinghai¡¯s history - they appeared excited to behold such a spectacle! There was much to talk of at length here! What about those mighty wooden pillars, those gilded roof with exquisitely painted motifs in bright blues and reds and goldens, all those panels showing Buddhist motifs: there was the banyan tree, the otherworldly apsaras, the lotus blooms and the flying fishes all floating over the roof and the wooden walls, so ingeniously crafted that it made it look like it floated on its own! And that devious looking deity at the north? Of its huge glinting emerald body, its pot belly and huge ruby jewels in place of his eyes ¨C the clan god of Wei was not a common sight that anyone could glimpse on a normal day. Only occasions like this opened this hall and its various wonders.


    The arrival of auspicious time had long been announced. The ceremony preparations had long begun behind closed walls, someplace inside Young Master Wei¡¯s chamber.


    Soon, the voices inside the hall jolted a notch higher, abruptly becoming akin to noise ¨C finally all the great faces in Jinghai had appeared on stage! The Old Master Wei walked briskly along with his companions, all looking somber and grave, as they took to their seats at the highest table over the northern part of the hall. For a while there was only silence, till the old men were settled appropriately and then began another round of greetings and congratulations.


    Master Wei gracefully sat down once more. His friend had risen up to greet the elders, and another occupant had overtaken a seat on his left.


    It was Master Huo Yuxun, the newly arrived Chancellor, appointed to the county''s Yamen. The Magistrate had been quite smitten with this new addition to the town and had but good things to say about him. Of course! With a father as the Head of the Imperial Academy of Capital, his prospects are anything but successful. In fact, being sent to Jinghai was a sign of his lack of any favor thereof. Or perhaps, there were other intentions.


    Master Wei squinted his eyes thoughtfully while caressing the ring on his left hand.


    "My lord, there should be no doubt about the auspiciousness of this year for your clan! From being promoted to a formal member of the Imperial consulate to having an official position in the county, and now earning the Second prince¡¯s favor for your daughter - Such joyful news one after another - ha ha ha!" followed a well-natured laugh.


    "Your son too, I might say. I heard he had been accepted by Master Rong? The Head Teacher at Imperial Academy who had once taught the second prince in his early years? Congratulations to him and also you. Such a bright future you have in your children." Master Wei saluted Master Huo.


    "Where, where, he tries to follow in the precedents of those of his senior brothers, like that of your son. Yes, my son has just joined the academy, by the recommendation of his grace, his lordship Duke of Weizhou. Hopefully there will be such happy opportunities for him to celebrate further down in life.¡± There was much silence between them, but looking at his face, always ready to say something but refraining, master Wei couldn¡¯t help but finally ask him to confide in him.


    The confidence that was given was of such nature ¨C ¡°It might appear abrupt, but for the cheer in the air¨C what do you say, my lordship, could I have the grace to accept one of your daughter¡¯s hands for this son of mine? Again, quite an abrupt preposition, with nothing proper about it! There is no official gift, or words from the elders. But hear my reasons for this daring!¡± Here he tried to hide his blush, he looked around to see if any ears were at hearing distance. ¡°I have heard of their reputation spread as far as the capital. No doubt, such noble houses as of yours can guide but only such talented and capable youngsters! This is indeed abrupt, but a word from you will go a long way. Rather than a pompous show of elaborate rituals that will make all of it public, for both our privacy¡¯s sake and my deep hopes that you will agree and allow me to follow this proposal with all the legitimate ceremonies without the worry of dishonoring you; I finally decided over this crass method. I hope I haven¡¯t offended you too deeply?"


    Master Huo said this, in a melodious trill and a single breath, quite characteristic of himself; swiftly replacing another wet handkerchief in his hand-pockets. The heat of the moment had started to touch up to him. What else could be hoped of with all the braziers burning, and young and boisterous energy wafting from all around in the air? Deep inside he regretted his choice of place, as he began to feel the increasing need of fresh air! But¡­he did need this marriage!


    ¡°No, you haven''t. In fact, I like this approach of yours - as it keeps many things under cover. After all, it''s a matter of my daughter¡¯s reputation.¡± Master Wei assured as he looked on, bewildered. Never in his life had he seen such a¡­straightforward proposal. He really had to look afresh at the man who had uttered such madness.


    Apart from his stout figure one wouldn''t notice anything cordial about the man, or anything affable. His face, though round, didn''t give the feeling of being agreeable to any extent, while his jumping brows always peered with strained tolerance. The calculation could be seen flickering, sparkling in his round eyes - quite deep, but it was definitely there.


    Master Wei who was observing him with decided air, now felt completely speechless. How should he define such a man? Straightforward? Even that couldn¡¯t justifiably capture his image.


    "As for the proposal ¨C I think you are mistaken on some accounts. There will come a time, of course, when your son himself can find his names recounted among those well-known people of Dajin, he can truly ask for any hand in marriage around the world. It¡¯s not commonplace to enter the Imperial Academy. But I might add, regretfully as I do so, that the youngsters in my family are still too young. Marriage? I have never thought of that, I confess. You haven¡¯t spent much time in Jinghai I fear. I think you must be under some misapprehension about their ages. The oldest after Wei Ziya, the one engaged to the second prince is only a child of twelve. She doesn¡¯t enter society for two or three more years ¨C it¡¯s inappropriate to think of a future so far away from them. I fear I cannot betroth her before she is appropriately old. Jinghai has never favored child marriage - especially in recent years they have become much of a past relic. My father was a great proponent himself against such practices at his time at court."


    "Master Wei Houyu, there is no need to go so deep into this matter as thus, is there? I find it completely irrelevant as of what your father had previously thought regarding such noble and traditional practices of early engagement! You must realize, I come with the knowledge that one of your sisters did actually have a prior engagement settled at birth.¡±


    The man continued, saying, ¡°I am sorry to dampen your spirit with recollection of departed ones, but I have definitely heard, your sister was just ten when she was engaged to our emperor, wasn¡¯t she? Although the most unfortunate things happened to the maiden, don¡¯t tell me there is no precedent in your house! Because that would be a blatant lie! If it can be done once, why not twice - a promise suffices, I demand but a word of you. A little freedom for the young man and maiden to know each other¡­yes, is it difficult to grant even that? But the look in your eyes tells me you don¡¯t agree for even that somehow! I say, Master Wei. Let them be and decide who to love now. And such love as in their age, allows them to form a noble attachment for life! Far from impure alloys added in adulthood. I have personal experience, having grown up together with my wife. You must agree to this." There was much beseeching in his voice as he looked into Master Wei¡¯s eyes.


    "I hear you.¡± Wei Houyu replied softly, pronouncing each word clearly. ¡°I, to tell you the actual truth, am very insecure about my children¡¯s future. What with the death and disappearances of quite a few relatives of mine now, I can''t but be meddlesome for their security. You deem it all well and fine, but I see it as letting a child be separated from her home earlier than she needs to be! As a father of a daughter, what I send to you is a piece of my flesh. Any amount of time spent in their company is less, and just suddenly sending them away ¨C? Don¡¯t tell me you don¡¯t have such plans of taking her away to the capital. Because I will be the first to refute you. You come here asking them to be allowed to form a bond - but a bond can only be forged on constant contacts between them. If one remains here in Jinghai and another in the capital - what makes this relationship different from that of a cold contract? To inculcate this building relationship, you do have to bring them together or your whole belief behind early marriage lies null and void ¨C and inexcusable. You alluded right. My sister did eventually fall into a quagmire of her own making ¨C which, in my opinion, would have been completely averted had she been allowed to follow her heart. Engaged as she was as a child, she had no opportunity to grow and love her betrothed. For her perhaps, it was not more than a cold piece of dictate. I see it as an unfit folly. When she ran away from home, we only know the cause of it being a warm love she held from another gentleman. Imagine ¨C What a fierce struggle must have reigned over her conscience ¨C on one hand the dictates of morality, while on the other a deep human feeling that is never in our own control. No one seems to think of that. It''s been years but there is no news, no leads whatsoever. Though we know she was lost, we have taken her as dead, for all that matters! But can you imagine the pain it caused us all? And all this folly, just because of a prior engagement!¡±


    After a moment of silence, he turned and asked.


    ¡°Have your men in the capital found any leads in the case? About the one who kidnapped her? What about my youngest sister Hua''er¡­" Master Wei took a sharp breath and ceased to complete his sentence. He just looked down into his palm and awaited a cold sentence.


    ¡®Tch, pretentious as ever.¡¯ Master Huo''s eyes flashed with sarcasm but he soon melted it into a sympathetic face looking as the most empathetic well-wisher.


    "My deepest condolences for such grave loss! As for leads in the lost case, hope is all but futile alas! The previous six years stand too cruel for all the victims. No sign, and no leads about who did such heinous crime and now roams so free. But sometimes, such sadness is the affair of the world, isn¡¯t it? Everyone must suffer something or other in their lives to some extent, albeit varying by degrees. Such misfortune as falling over your sister is not common at all. But what with this much worry in your breast, one expects you will cease to let your sons out of the threshold for their safety altogether! I don¡¯t see you doing that, do I?! Why not give these young people a chance? Wei Lina, your daughter of whom I speak of in-kind regard is of noble birthright, with your Weijia¡¯s good nurturing. She will grow up to be a good matron, and I ask for her hands for my equally well-situated son! Is there any implausibility in this affair?"


    "Only that they are young. A few more years, perhaps, then they will have their own fate. I promise you that, when such a time comes in three years, I will remember your request and beseech my daughter to look all the kindlier at one of her suitors ¨C your son." He succinctly summed his refusal.


    "Alas! Such is the sad affair of worldly life then, we cannot expect everything to go aligned with our own wishes, however legitimate they may be. I am quite saddened now, Master Wei. You disappoint me. With my only son already in the academy, such happy relations escape my hands completely now. I tell myself, though, that I can live with this little disappointment and not over-exert on your sympathies, ha, ha.¡±


    Master Huo looked a little perturbed and soon shifted his embarrassment in looking out the hall. ¡°But there must be something happening with such noise coming from the garden, what do you say my Lord? You must know, all the young blood of the four major clans and nine families have joined tonight! Let me entertain myself by taking a look at what they are up to. Or you might want to join me in my simple pursuit?"


    Seeing no lead in the marriage talk, Master Huo ceased to be as enthusiastic as at the beginning. After hearing a certain denial, he stood up on his own. With a few more ceremonious exchanges, he emphatically showed his intention to exit the closed hall. The stout figure skidded off towards the open garden, without looking back at Master Wei even once, who seemed to be still lost in his ponderings.


    ¡°What a conniving man!¡± Master Su RuHui slowly found his previous seat while shaking his head. ¡°Sure enough - a fox father will only give birth to a fox-like son.¡±


    ¡°Ha¡­true. He is playing a long game, though. We have to see if we can spare some time to play along.¡±

 Chapter6. The White Lotus and A Murder

    Out in the garden, the young men had found many places for their amusement. With no respite from rain, some were setting up places to compete in their archery skills in sprawling gardens, shaded under cover of tents. While some in a quiet little pavilion standing tall beside a pond, sat discussing today¡¯s event. There were some twelve of them - dressed quite peculiarly from the rest that had come to the Weijia. For one, none of them had taken off their fur lined cloaks, or even made themselves comfortable by taking off their weapons - their swords clung to their waist, sheathed inside their silver covers at all times. A round cap, furlined at rims, covered their head and their hair braided in a single braid hung low down to their hips.


    The day was so murky, its pitty-patty showers and soft breezy caresses constantly chilling their faces. For a few, nothing flickered past to entangle their somber gazes; the weather could hardly save their small talks. How could the melancholic murkiness of a wet, sullen day be any good for any auspicious word? How could the nostalgic air that seeks solitary reprieve be a nice thing to observe upon, especially in the midst of that medley of jubilation that surrounded them? The occasion was such that no proper sentiment could be translated into words. As such, many of them lingered outside in the pavilion, forming their own small group.


    The moss covered marble pillars of the pavilion, the pathway leading into shrubbery full garden and leaning willows, a pond spread close-by at the feet of pavilion and ripples that formed therein at each falling raindrop...many eyes took it in and raised a warm cup of tea to their lips.


    ¡°I say - it''s not all that bad. This jinghai. If it weren¡¯t for Wei Yize¡¯s coming of age ceremony being so out of proportion, we could have enjoyed this trip a lot. For one, imagine if it was just a random gathering - this place could have made a perfect place to read some poetry.¡± Someone observed and a general hum of agreement followed. He stood beside the stone steps descending down into the pond, his boots almost touching the water, but he seemed unfazed whether they remained unwet or not.


    When others followed his gaze, they saw the green pond, with blooming purple lilies and white lotuses. Each droplet of rain pierced the water like needles, and endless round ripples merged- and then emerged like echoes from the bottom. The mist rising from the dark buildings surrounding the pond at faraway opposite shore, seemed to be rolling over the water surface. It was a beautiful moment to remain silent.


    ¡°Most definitely -yes. This rain, as bothersome as it is, seems to be made just for this place. Just this scene - how poignant is that? I should have brought my brush and ink.¡± Someone couldn''t help but sigh.


    ¡°Yeah, you¡¯re right. Damn, we forgot so many supplies back at school!¡±


    As if finding a small opening, a few of them started talking. There was much to be dwelt upon - all the popular news or one related to academic discussions, or which angry teacher was the worst and which sword style suited them best at that moment. Perhaps owing to the fact that some embarrassment of a sudden meeting had wafted away, the air heated up and the topics were skillfully maneuvered towards more colorful alleys.


    What else could substitute such perennial topics as swords and warriors, but maidens and their beauty, their virtuosity, and their characters? And so they talked about that. Did someone hear anything new from the scholar who released that pamphlet called ¡®Most influential beauties of the land¡¯? Was there a mention of the capital city, and its several newly acclaimed accomplished women?Was there someone in it who was completely a surprise? Were they in a relationship, engaged or married?


    ¡°They always lie - over there in these books from the capital! You know the capital people rarely acknowledge other beauties who don''t come from there. They will have you believe that the rest of Dajin is just full of one eyed maiden, all made of bulging noses and flesh bursting out if they could. It is their selling point at this point- call everyone ugly enough and, then highlighting the local maiden¡¯s to make everyone more enthusiastic to buy it. What do you say happens when someone actually falls into their illusion? Does such an idiot even exist?¡±


    ¡°The world is so large that you cannot definitely say there aren¡¯t. But, I guess at least the ones written by outsiders are better. Now all of them share the same titles for beauties. And you cannot deny why they would do that - it definitely adds to their credibility. The name did great justice to beauty Wei, the title White lotus certainly suits her.¡± A young man with his crimson cloak covering his broad shoulder nudged closely towards the pillar, leaning backwards for support. Luo Chen stood beside his friend - a tall young man draped in a silver, white fur lined cloak. ¡°There is some strange innocence in her eyes - I cannot clearly explain what. But when we met today, she felt like that pristine bloom gently cradling morning dew in her heart.¡±


    "His highness the second prince really appeared at the most opportune time. Before the flower could fully bloom in the spring, it was plucked off. Alas! What can one do but raise a toast to a missed fate." Yu Mingyang turned to catch the fleeting expression of loss reflected on his friend''s face.


    "Nothing unusual to me.¡± Someone quipped up from the other side of the pavilion. ¡°In fact, I had long expected something of this sort. With such caliber as he has, nothing short would have suited the status of either of them. Or why do you think people swear by the ¡®White Lotus of the Western Mountains¡¯? Not even the ¡®Peony of the imperial city¡¯ so celebrated could ever match her in her grace. And I heard - the beauty in the capital - is a childhood friend of his highness. Despite being so well learned, she was never betrothed to him, why do you think that is?"


    ¡°You talk of Miss Wei, I assume, when you all call her the white lotus. I still don¡¯t understand, what is this about those titles? Who keeps a record of these, and who even decided to come up with that?¡± A boy sitting with his ankles in the nearby pond with the soft shower wetting his cloak''s rims looked up at his friends standing beside him, some of whom immediately rolled their eyes at him and took a sip of their warm tea. ¡°Come on! Don¡¯t tell me it''s common knowledge. How could it be unknown to me if it were so popular - or a common knowledge so to speak- as you claim? All day long, there is someone calling Miss Wei the ¡°white lotus¡± and there just happens to be another one ¨C I don¡¯t recall the lady¡¯s name but it goes something like, ¡°the orchid of lone mountains¡± and whatnot. Although they sound poetic, who has so much time in their hands to dwell on these things? It exasperates me. That is such a confusing way to remember someone, if you ask me.¡±


    ¡°Not someone like you, at least. All day long, all I see you doing is nothing but plowing through those texts. You don¡¯t go to assemblies, never attend an informal meeting - how would you know what is common knowledge or not? Fine, good for you - you are a good scholar! But please don¡¯t expect others to be the same as you, alright? Normal people read normal things and people like you -? They read stuff in which not even a simile, nor metaphor comes even once, forget allusions to aesthetics and sentiments-do they even write of those? So, don¡¯t talk as you know what poetic expressions even mean, brother. You don¡¯t know anything of the sort. How could you know what "the white lotus of the western mountains¡± means? Don¡¯t pretend or you will only embarrass yourself, An Jin. We know what stuff you are made of.¡± A few of them burst out laughing.


    ¡°I do actually come across such expressions more often than you would guess. My books that you call dry are not that dry actually - they have a different sort of beauty. No, but in all seriousness brother Mo. There must be a book you all refer to - right? A kind that names these beauties in such a high handed manner? Because if it was spontaneous, you wouldn¡¯t all just come together to think of the same title, would you? Let¡¯s just say it happens in one case, but what about other such titles? It cannot be true for all! No way is that possible. That can only mean that you are hiding that book from me. Why ¨C? Because you are ashamed of it! Tell me, have I deduced this problem correctly?¡± In his anticipation to know the effect of his speech, An Jin dragged out his wet ankles and started dragging his friend to sit down over the carpet, his arms reaching over his shoulder in a half-embrace.


    ¡°Ah! You are such a pain!¡± Sui Mo exclaimed as he tried to wrestle his body away from his grip. ¡°It''s not like you can bully me into confessing something so untrue - okay?¡±


    ¡°No, I am not. And this is not bullying - I just know you are definitely doing something behind my back. Tell me which book is it in?¡± An Jin continued to drag his friend down, till they were sitting down over a thick carpet. A spread of platters full of desserts and small tea-cups and their refills stood together held in porcelain jars. Another brazier burned closeby .


    ¡°You are! Now, An Jin, let''s stop here. Okay, I confess. We did hide it from you in the beginning. And no, there is nothing shameful about it! We just thought you wouldn¡¯t be interested in these things so it didn¡¯t matter whether you knew of it or not. We just didn¡¯t want you to report us wasting our time in such activities to teacher Li. You can be a passive tattle-tale at times you know. Especially when you start chattering about things you like - or as in this case, dislike.¡±


    ¡°I do not! Don¡¯t hide things from me - I really never go telling all your secrets to everyone, you know. When we go back to Imperial Academy together, you can show it to me there. I don¡¯t think you have brought that book with you, have you?¡±


    ¡°No, of course not! How can you even think of that-!?¡±


    ¡°And he has successfully derailed our conversation. Just like always.¡± Luo Chen whispered to his companion, snickering at others'' antics. They too were now sitting over the carpet, leaning against the pavilion marble pillars.


    After some while, he himself couldn¡¯t help but discuss something different. ¡°Second prince¡¯s entourage hasn¡¯t arrived yet. Something must have happened to them. They would have reached before the ceremony began, but there is no sign. It''s already noon - what do you think might have happened to them? I don¡¯t think any of us has even received a letter of some sort?¡±


    ¡°There was a landslide in Shijiazhuang, I think. It''s a small town some miles away. I heard my old man talk about that on the way here. If anything, he must have gone there first to survey the disaster struck area. He will arrive here, if he has time. Of course, official duties are more important than a brother-in-law¡¯s coming of age ceremony. I still think this Wei house has made too much out of a personal ceremony - even my sister¡¯s wedding wasn¡¯t this elaborate and mind you, she was marrying the newly titled number one scholar of that year. I just don¡¯t know why our teacher¡¯s thought of sending all of us here first, though?¡± Yu Mingyang whispered. Although the others around the two seemed to be engrossed in their own conversations, many ears were listening to them. A few even stopped their own conversations, lowered their voices to hear some more.


    ¡°Ha -! Look at who¡¯s talking? As if brother - as if that could ever be true. You brother, know more than that. I know you. You cannot lie still till you have got your hands around those juicy details, or some nice gossip before you let anything rest. You don¡¯t seem restless to me, right now. It can only be that your old man slipped something more in his drunken stupor last night, did he not?¡± Luo Chen¡¯s guffaw followed his words.


    ¡°Fine! I will tell you then. It''s not that big of a secret, alright -?¡± Yu Mingyang bent down and took up a piece of dessert, completely unperturbed at being seen through. ¡°There just happens to be a plan for us in store. Are you happy now? Indeed there is - no, I kid you not when I say this. But the plans are not for here. We are to catch up with another entourage, and join them in the exploration of the ¡®Mysterious Mountains¡¯ of Jinghai down south. For whatever reasons, we are to tag along them. I only know this much. You know my old man seems to talk a lot when he is drunk, but actually, he will never say more than he really can let others know. Even if I make him drunk like a drowning horse, he will still not talk of those official secrets with me!¡± Yu Mingyang explained nonchalantly.


    ¡°At least you do know something.¡± Luo Chen tilted his head distractedly, while he drank some more warm tea to drive away the chills. ¡°It¡¯s a funny business, ha. Our grandfathers won¡¯t talk, our fathers are silent. But they all treat us like some porcelain dolls, always fussing about something or the other. I haven¡¯t talked to my father so much in eighteen years of my life as I did these past three months! And that says a lot about them, doesn¡¯t it?¡±


    For some while, they both stayed silent.


    ¡°It stinks of mystery. I don¡¯t like it. But what were we talking about? That ¡®White lotus¡¯ thingy, An Jin?¡± Here Luo Chen raised his voice to an eavesdropping An Jin, taking him aback. Although a little startled, An Jin raised his drooping head doggedly and met Luo Chen eyes as if to affirm while rubbing his nose in embarrassment.


    ¡°As you guessed, it is indeed a book. ¡®Three thousand blossoms¡¯ - is what it''s called and is kind of a long running series. Definitely a classic, mind you. The author has been running it for five decades now, and has remained anonymous for all this time. So, you know it''s old. Even my father used to secretly read them, when he was our age - maybe your father¡¯s might have done too? My mother would always become angry whenever anyone recalled a certain young maiden¡¯s title, you can guess why.¡± He chuckled a little and then continued, ¡°It came out in a recent volume, the ¡®White Lotus¡¯ thing. Dajin, Daxia, Qi, Jing, Xia, Wu, Samhan, Oserthim¡­ every known nation on our Tianxin continent, and their countless beauties were put together and then each ranked in a single list of some hundred people. They called it their special edition - if I am recalling it right. So the competition was brutal. You can just imagine its reach among young people and popularity, especially with maiden¡¯s- many will die just to see their names coming up in there for even once in their life. Someone tried to dig a little deeper into who the author was, but to his surprise found nothing - so, he went and wrote an article for the weekly pamphlet for scholars. So, now some people think it¡¯s a complete organization to be able to reach out into so many places, while others hold the opinion that the author must be a well-connected adventurer. But it¡¯s really funny to guess what their original purpose can be ¨C if they are a powerful organization that is, you know? That''s like hitting an egg with a sledgehammer - completely disproportionate. What can you do by recounting names of beauties of a certain place and of a certain period, make a marriage brochure out of them? If someone does have so many resources at hand, why don¡¯t they use it for something else?¡±


    ¡°How can you be sure that they actually don''t do something on the side? They might as well be running a secret alliance somewhere, funded by the sales of these books. What if what you think is a silly project of searching about a maiden''s name and qualifications, assigning them a title ¨C they are, in fact, doing something underhanded in secret and just pushing this book out to make money to support their actual cause?¡± An Jin interrupted. ¡°There are so many things that someone of their caliber can actually do. Don¡¯t you find it strange that people still haven¡¯t found their real purpose in all these years? Or who the author actually is?¡±


    ¡°Or,¡± Sui Mo interrupted suddenly, ¡°you are over-reading into it. They can just be a few merchants who travel all around and hear of ¡®beauties¡¯ from the people they come in contact with. And it does sell, doesn¡¯t it? People of all kinds buy into the fuss, and purchase the book. Just think about the profits. Many merchants will go to the farthest point of Samhan if needed, if they could be sure that something of that sort sells and sells fast. Let¡¯s not let our imaginations run wild, shall we?¡±


    ¡°A good point.¡± Luo Chen said. ¡°But let¡¯s talk about something else. We have been in Jinghai for some days now, almost a fortnight. Apart from seeing the actual ¡®White Lotus¡¯ and making an acquaintance with her, have you found something interesting? Heard any strange tales-?¡±


    ¡°What do you have in your mind? Like something other than soggy legs, weather-beaten bodies and continuous rain? If there was anything that could succinctly describe being here in Jinghai, these are the right words, I tell you. I have never been to a land as wet as this place in my life!¡± Yu Mingyang retorted.


    "What about murder? Will that be too macabre of a topic for present?¡± A boy joined them.


    ¡°Definitely, but who cares. If it''s between us, and no words go about, why not? Let¡¯s talk about that.¡± Luo Chen replied looking at the few faces that had come closer together. They were all from the same academy, Imperial academy - and there was no outsider at the moment. Although some of them had only come to Jinghai for the first time in their lives ¨C there were still many who were originally from this place. The speaker, Ji Si, seemed to have had something to do with Jinghai, either his father or grandfather was in the local Yamen.


    ¡°I heard, there was a maid found dead in her ladyship¡¯s courtyard. I don¡¯t know if it¡¯s true. It was all the rage of town a few days ago.¡±


    ¡°Which ladyship?¡± An Jin perked up. ¡°Amazing. A murder. Go on, tell us who was murdered? Who is this lady you speak of?¡±Stolen content warning: this content belongs on Royal Road. Report any occurrences.


    ¡°Who else? That white lotus, of course. The one by whose purity everyone swears by. Who would have thought that such an event would come out from the backyard of such an accomplished woman?¡± Before Ji Si could reply, he was interrupted by another gravelly voice.


    An Jin looked up at the slowly rising head of the speaker. He wasn¡¯t familiar with this person, Song Muchen. He was from another group, quite different from his own small circle of friends ¨C at least their group had never been as well renowned or popular, as the one in which Song Muchen belonged to. If he remembered correctly, many of the Second Prince¡¯s closest confidantes were in that group. Many people seemed to be coming closer once they saw who was speaking. They walked around and then sat in close proximity, as if quite interested in the talk.


    ¡°A maid got murdered. A waiting maid who had accompanied the lady Wei growing up. What happened- how do I know? Heard some rumors that some secrets were spilled? What was it about ¨C nothing that will see the light of the day in my opinion. But a washerwoman seemed to have been dragged to the Yamen a few days ago. She was yelling about how her sister-in-law was innocent and she had only talked of something when she was drunk; maybe it was the same case.¡± Ji Si continued to explain the events.


    ¡°Ah -! I was there! I was just in the opposite restaurant pavilion facing the Yamen. But I thought they were dragging a mad woman to do away with her, she didn¡¯t look right. I even heard someone swear that she was just a lunatic.¡± An Jin recalled. ¡°I searched a little deeper into it ¨C because I have seen mad people, and she struck me in particular. I don¡¯t know how, or why. But I went around and heard a little. Guess what? Her whole family had suddenly committed suicide. It was said that they were all very heartbroken by the sudden sinking of their small business ¨C the woman¡¯s father-in-law was a tofu seller ¨C with no one in the family left to support them, they could only seek death to avoid poverty. It will not take a genius to see that there was something fishy going on behind the scenes. Song Muchen, you seem to know more than that right?¡±


    ¡°I don¡¯t know, unfortunately.¡± Song Muchen spoke languidly, drawing out his words in slow, clipped tone. His eyes though seemed to have dulled, unfocused as if chained in a reverie. He turned his head to look at An Jin who had addressed him and replied. ¡°Only that the maid in waiting, was of lowly birth. No one cares if she died an unjust death, even I or any of us sitting here. I mention it because she was maid to her ladyship ¨C the eternally pure, ¡®White Lotus of the western mountains¡¯ and we people usually don¡¯t associate such an accomplished lady to deal with their subordinates in such a high-handed manner. That''s it.¡±


    ¡°No, you definitely know something more. Is it a hidden secret that none of us can know of?¡± someone prodded stubbornly. ¡°Come on ¨C have some faith in us, brother Song. We won¡¯t spread rumors. What we hear will always remain in our hearts. Promise.¡±


    An Jin agreed wholeheartedly. He was nodding his head while looking at the youths, now all gathered together in a small corner.


    ¡°I don''t know if it will help satiate your curiosity, but someone spoke of how the maid was found gossiping about a certain person here right? That is correct information actually.¡± Here he lowered his voice, taking in a white jade cup from the serving platters and filling it with some hot tea. After he had taken his time, seeing the growing anticipation in the eyes of his audience, he began in his nonchalant tone. ¡°There used to be a daughter of Lord Wei, something Hua, some kind of flower was in her name. Quite like lady white lotus. Beautiful. Skilled in four arts and could even talk down the scholars who taught her in the Clan school ¨C an accomplished scholar of his time, himself. Never heard of her elsewhere, I doubt any of you even know of her. I heard she was more beautiful than the purest of the snow, had hands that could paint worlds so mesmerizing the world wondered at its sublimity. The Duke of Weizhou seems to have collected some of her works before ¨C but again, no word about such an accomplished woman elsewhere.¡±


    Song Muchen stood up from his position and walked up to the nearby balustrade, he seemed to be gazing at the rippling waters of the pond. He had left the others pondering over this strange person they had just heard of. Perhaps even a bit about his strange state of mind. As many, if not all, had seen his disturbed expression. The company descended into silence.


    ¡°Tales, I say, some made up story resounding in the market among commoners. It has that crass element in it." Another voice barged in finally.


    ¡°How could such a famous person remain unknown? It''s almost like a fairytale, an apsara descending from heaven and then vanishing. Like, think about it! Even a fairy leaves behind a legend about her, after she is no more in this world. How come, we have never heard of this person? And she wasn¡¯t that far away from our generation either.¡± With his lips taut in an unbelieving smirk, Yu Mingyang picked up the kettle and began to pour himself a serving of tea. He nudged at Luo Chen who seemed to be deeply thinking of something.


    ¡°Yes, it''s too far-fetched. She must have a name in the ¡°Three thousand blossoms¡± at least? Did she?¡± Luo Chen agreed wholeheartedly and looked at the standing figure nearby.


    ¡°No, she definitely doesn¡¯t. I sent my servant to look into that. He said, there was no title in that generation from Jinghai or Dajin. ¡®White Lotus¡¯ seems to be the only earned title in years that came from Jinghai. And don¡¯t talk of being obscure -You heard me talk of her description from the commoners. She was anything but an obscure character. This amnesia regarding this daughter of Weijia seems rather a characteristic of the nobles and affluent people. The commoners talk a lot. And this makes it still stranger¨C that a maid who had accompanied her for so long would be silenced just for talking about a dead woman, about whom many other mouths can speak at random all over the place and whenever they want to.¡± Song Muchen walked up to his friend and sat beside him. His friend extended a cup of tea and pushed it into his hands, while asking - ¡°You seem sure - that, that is the reason she was killed for?¡±


    ¡°Kind of. I cannot imagine what else could be the reason. All the related people are dead - except that mad woman. Then the direct link is still with the backyard of Eldest miss Wei. If not killed by her personally - the decision to silence the maid must have come from inside the manor. But why do that? It''s all hushed up - like pretty much all the cases of big families.¡±


    ¡°But like you said, brother Song, it doesn''t make sense. Killing someone just to keep an open secret?¡± Someone in the crowd reiterated.


    ¡°It might be a common secret that everyone agreed to not talk about ¨C a taboo. Something ignominious would have happened for that to occur, but it''s not like our old men don¡¯t put restrictions on people, all the time.¡± Unknowingly it was Sui Mo who came a little closer to the truth. ¡°Just don¡¯t let men and women in noble houses talk about it. Then it eventually becomes a dark spot, with no common memory. What does it matter that common people know of this or not - in a generation or two, they too will forget all about it. Imagine if we hadn¡¯t heard of this¡­maiden here, who of us would be even interested in searching her stories up in the midst of commoners and what they thought of her? Who would have let us know of her existence to begin with? It''s definitely taboo.¡±


    ¡°Is that what you think? But apart from that, that woman¡¯s disappearance, doesn¡¯t that make you wonder? About what kind of disaster she might have caused to become a taboo? I wonder.¡± Song Muchen, sitting beside the shadowed youth, drawled as he twirled the porcelain cup in his hands while leaning half-heartedly against the pavilion wall. He had left behind the tea, and taken several gulps of alcohol. His head was swimming by now. ¡°I cannot help but wonder.¡±


    There was something in that strange pronouncement that everyone suddenly ceased to talk about and seemed to collectively gaze at Song Muchen. His strangely unfocused eyes, his weird smile or the strange way the light seemed to fall on his pale face ¨C the gray of the foreground seemed to seize him in its hold and steal away all emotions.


    All of them had been sitting down on the carpet spread against the marbled floor of the pavilion, many silver platters full of porcelain cups and kettles holding mellowest wines and best of the tea in them ladled there, accompanied by flower shaped pastries put in small servings. A vine of white button rose swept towards the eaves of the pavilion roof, overarching with the bougainvillea''s ¨C a breathtaking mix of white and red.


    "Where must she be? Where must she..." He sighed in a sing-song manner. ''Lie dead,'' he completed the sentence in his heart while thinking, ''as she deserved.'' Perhaps amongst the weeds, unknown, forever haunting a mound of forgetfulness. Just like in people¡¯s memories, forever sealed ¨C until someone brought it out to enrich a stale conversation over dinner tables.


    There was something strange in Song Muchen¡¯s eyes that was forbidding them from dwelling further into that topic. A few of them even rose up and walked away to escape the depressing atmosphere. Of the few who stayed, many refused to take part in the conversation while others simply began to pick up pastries, or pour tea and wine.


    AnJin exchanged a glance with Sui Mo. Yu Mingyang, although refrained from reaching out to Luo Chen, they both were frozen in their places and just kept nibbling at the small piece of cake for a long time. Everyone seemed to have realized that the beauty might as well have aroused a very personal recollection in this young master Song Muchen¡¯s mind.


    "Ceased to exist. Poof! Disappeared."


    Seeing no one ready to talk, Song Muchen animatedly swung the empty cup, his eyes crinkled with amusement. "As if the world had never known a person like her. Don¡¯t you find it interesting? Just like the son of the Rong¡¯s called Rong Chen? You might have never heard that Minister of Royal Affairs, old Master Rong, had such a son, have you? Someone who died a shameful death under his horse¡¯s hoof ¨C! Puch! Isn¡¯t that hilarious! A good horseman who had spent fifteen years on the battlefield - he died under his beloved horse¡¯s steps, his head smashed to pieces, his hands pulled off ¨C! A promising warrior fell off the horse and fell so steeply that there was left none of his ashes, nor a memory to recall in people¡¯s mind! Just like we never heard of a Cuihua from Weijia, we might never hear of a third young Master Rong. Can you believe it? The eldest Master Rong - Rong Shiwei swore that he would have Wei Houyu''s head to appease the soul of his dead brother. Such empty words had never been spoken in the history of the world! What do you say, my friend? Indeed, it''s a taboo - like many forgotten people, they too have been forgotten. Or how else could these hypocrites tear into the profit, without minding the shame."


    In reply, the shadowed youth, his friend, chuckled and raised his hands to get a cup of wine for himself. He had very pretty eyes, which were now glinting in the mist.¡°Calm down Muchen - it¡¯s not like it''s the first time. So many people¡­have been buried like this, it''s difficult to keep count.¡±


    There was nothing but silence in the gathering. Everyone was too embarrassed to continue in this all too personal talk. All of them could see that a pain nerve had struck Song Muchen''s heart.


    ¡°Interesting¡­observations. Taboo- that word does strike a cord. I cannot help but recall our history.¡± An Jin tried to say but halted. ¡°But yes, you, brother Song were quite right when you talked of this specific¡­attitude. Who cares what happens later when the victim was but a servant? The reason it would have been popular among the commoners is quite within this reason ¨C they don¡¯t differentiate in classes as much as we do. For them, perhaps the lady in waiting for a daughter from Wei house was as noble as any noble can ever be! They talk of us a lot, just like they talk of every strange thing happening, or of fairy tales. But for us ¨C who dwell on the decorum, the righteousness of our motives, a small servant losing her life is no news ¨C how strange is that? What is news is that she had been attached to someone, who did eventually with her class and rank, make a mere servant memorable for everyone. I don¡¯t condone murder, as I don¡¯t condone the hierarchy that we so deliberately emphasize in Dajin. Our ancients didn¡¯t live like this ¨C another forgotten piece of memory that now feels very close to the term ¡®taboo¡¯. When and how we forgot those traditions would be a very enlightening topic of study. If the murder happened in a certain backyard, or it happens to have long implications for our society, then it should be brought forth to light, like any case of a commoner attempting murder would have been. Our forefathers didn¡¯t envision the justice to be served only to a few, but does everyone here even know of this? That the great ¡®moral code of Dajin people¡¯ doesn¡¯t stem from nobility, but was given by a great farmer - who would have never condoned the hierarchy we support today. Did any of you know that?¡±


    ¡°I don¡¯t agree with that observation. How could our forefathers not understand order and structure? Hierarchy is a natural order - our inclination. Any society will be in chaos if they do not have the precept and order to follow.¡± Yu Mingyang said.


    ¡°You are correct - order and structure is important for a peaceful country. But imagine, a land where the men were warriors and females were the mothers of warriors - and everyone could gain respect after contributing something to the country. The land was for those who tilled and gave others food, the sword belonged to the blacksmith - till he parted with it on his own terms. As a swordsman, we cannot imagine not owning it. But our forefathers never owned a sword, they borrowed. That is why ¡®The Sandstorm¡¯ will always be Lu Ming, not the actual swordsman, Huang You!¡±


    ¡°If that is the state - it is no wonder we call it the black ages. That kind of society can only be endless war and strife, where no one knows his boundaries or his duty to fate and destiny. You talk a lot but what you talk about is a dream of many swordsmen, but a commoner cannot live a day in that ruleless world. True, our ancients never had the classes like we do now¨C no one was nobler than the other. But they had distinctions in the family ¨Cdidn¡¯t they? When Nuwa set out to make humans, though the soul was noble for all, some of the humans were truly born of humble soil while others of a finer kind! And they were given different roles. Heaven is for us all¨C commoners and nobles alike, but the roles we, nobles are born to are different from that of a commoner.¡± Yu Mingyang replied. He looked up at the silent master Song Muchen and the rest who, following the example of An Jin, began to withdraw into closer circles of two or three, each discussing their own things.


    ¡°But Nuwa was no goddess of our ancestors! Another piece of information not many in Dajin seem to know of! It might have been for those in Daxia, but Dajin always believed in a Mother goddess - the one who created the Moon goddess who we adore!¡± An Jin replied heatedly. ¡°The seven-day churning of the ocean in mother goddess¡¯s womb that became the amniotic fluid, out of which sprang out Tianxin, and other continents or the forging of souls in the water of Star filled River, or adorning OUR soul with flesh of Soulless Soil ¨C where do you see our ancestors differentiating amongst themselves? We were all born from the same river, our bodies from the same soil!¡±


    ¡°Stop quoting something that our scholars no longer believe in! What are you even reading, An Jin. Are you sure it''s not some heathenish account of Nuwa¡¯s creation?¡±


    ¡°You won¡¯t believe that this is a tale that all our people believe in - all the commoners in fact. Only we nobles and people who read, and maybe a handful from the commoners as well, take Nuwa¡¯s creation of us as the truth! And completely forget that there is another story - older and much nearer to our forefathers own beliefs.¡±


    ¡°Let¡¯s save this discussion for later, shall we? I am going out with Luo Chen. Those in the gardens are having some amazing games. Care to join us?¡± While rising on his feet, Yu Mingyang looked at his companion not wanting to get too deep in such uncomfortable conversation.


    ¡°You go. I will join later along with Sui Mo.¡± Though An Jin looked disappointed, he didn¡¯t hold Yu Mingyang back.


    ¡°We will wait for you then.¡±


    With that An Jin too stood up, joining Sui Mo who had his feet dangling in the cold water, his pants raised up to his knees. He was looking lazily at the rippling water, the nodding heads of blooming lotuses and some of their pods. A shy fish broke the surface and jumped.


    An Jin sat beside him, then similarly immersed his ankles into the water. They didn¡¯t talk. But An Jin saw this friend giving furtive glances at the two chatting lads in the back. Master Song seemed to have regained his earlier bearing. Or some of that.


    ¡°I forgot.¡± It was Sui Mo who opened up this time, although his voice was almost inaudible. ¡°I had a nanny from Jinghai. Growing up, she would talk a lot about this place. There was this major, major thing that happened here in Jinghai in the past that even my nanny had to be sent back. No one talked about it. It was something akin to a taboo ¨C I actually eavesdropped on my mothers and her maid¡¯s conversation, but I forgot what it was all about. I was furious they had done that to my mama and was so angry that I hid in her room and one thing led to another, but I remembered hearing a strange tale in there. I wouldn¡¯t have recalled it if it wasn¡¯t brother Song acting all so weird. Song Muchen''s aunt¡­ was once engaged with the erstwhile third son of the Rong''s who was crazy for beauty, Wei CuiHua, the youngest sister of Master Houyu. The strange thing is that - someone kidnapped Wei CuiHua. She had never been found since. A bloody tale of love that left everyone dead, I remember my mother talking. Don¡¯t guess me wrong, I didn¡¯t know the names of course, not many things were clear when I first heard them as a kid ¨C but later when I turned fifteen, I secretly met with my nanny to know how she was doing or why she had left. She was good, had earned enough money to settle down ¨C my parents, you know, are not that hard-hearted on their subordinates. She had no qualms in sharing what had caused her termination, you know. It was there I finally chained my memories of childhood to actual, real names and events.¡±


    ¡°Yes¡­it really doesn¡¯t sound like something our parents would be ready to talk of. It cannot all be far from the truth. I did actually know of a family feud between the Songs and the Rong¡¯s of Jinghai. It¡¯s quite common knowledge in the capital.¡±


    A cautionary tale. But for someone who had someone close linked to that story -? They both whispered amongst themselves, seldom looking at the man who was engrossed in his wine cup, Song Muchen.


    "The auspicious time has arrived; the ceremony is going to start. Do you want to meet with Wei Yize before he begins the ceremony? I think some of you haven''t gifted him yet. Let''s go, I¡¯ll show you the way." Rong Yichen, who was a well-known figure in the Imperial Academy, stood a few steps outside the pavilion. At this moment, he bent his head to lean in while facing his friends and inviting them out, unaware of the little incident that had soured everyone¡¯s mood.


    "Yes, the auspicious time." Song Muchen spoke with sarcasm filling his eyes, but still didn''t move. Rong Yichen gave him a puzzled glance, but no one came forward to explain.


    "We should go."


    Somebody finally spoke and rose up taking the lead.


    Soon the others filed into the well-lit Hall.


    The congratulations rang one after another. Laughter melted into cheers and toasts of wine. The elders had left the aisle for the youngsters to have more fun. Soon the garden was separated into two portions and the rhythmic files of maids and servants began from the inner chambers arranging colorful delights that tasted as heavenly as they appeared to be.


    Mesmerizing dishes and charming laughter of men and maiden, mingled in the air. The banquet wasn''t silent till late night, when the house once more descended in its gloomy appearance. As if the merrymaking had been but a part of the silent mourning that was still enduring on.

 Chapter7. Red lantern by the Pond

    That place was inside the eastern compound of Wei''s inner courtyard. Called the Eastern wing, it was primarily used as residence of daughters and young masters of the family. Each son and daughter had their own courtyards, with gardens and all its other amenities. But everyone in Weijia knew that the Eastern wing had a forbidden zone.


    Quietly tucked between falling walls and unkempt pathways, its position was ingeniously secretive. Surrounding it, that abandoned courtyard beside the pond, there were several linked courtyard houses close by. Each separated by small alleys and pathways, arched bridges and elegantly placed corridors supported by high pillars and overarching roofs with their eaves curled up towards the sky. At this moment, those eaves let down droplets of falling dew, pitter-pattering onto the marbled paths. A puddle had long formed just under it. Pitter patter, pitter patter it went - that was the only sound that could be heard tonight, the only sound audible in such deep hours.


    At day time, when light flooded its premises aplenty, these buildings with their sprawling gardens and tall pillars standing along alleys and corridors and disjointed but commonplace pavilions, gazebos for resting and lingering around at leisure; all of these formed quite a picturesque escape from limpid, mundane feelings of everyday life into more idyllic recesses of comfort. Especially in Jinghai, where the weather never resorted to being too cold or dry, every month was akin to spring or monsoon- Wei manor was delicately refined with the weather in mind, allowing every occupant to enjoy its various pleasures at all times.


    But at night, with its vast empty spaces and darkness enveloping everything and anything and with no human to add a tale to its tall walls - it appeared plagued with a morbid sense of maligned mourning. As if its stone walls were crying. Its high and curled eaves hung a pained soul. Its lament resounded in the wind, the anger in its emptiness; even the redness of festive lanterns of such a night that had passed tonight couldn''t ward off that melancholy. That ever-present emptiness.


    Unsurprisingly, no one dwelled here. Nor did any one dared to come close to it.


    Despite the proximity with those more bustling courtyards of older misses and young masters, with their crowds of slaves and servants filing in and out at all hours of night and day close by - this specific spot seemed to be cut-off from all that liveliness. Day or night, it remained forgotten. In fact, its walls had long formed cobwebs like those of an abandoned building, left to the mercy of time, and traces of dust settling down could be found everywhere. Its red pillars had their paints flaking off - its actual color only visible in remaining blotches. The roofs were beyond repair, and moths and termites had visibly eaten away a chunk of its previous architectural glory. Who might have lived in these walls before? That was something only a few people knew.


    At a nearby shore, grasses were as tall as an adult man''s thigh; their sharp blades made a slithering noise whenever the wind blew past the pond water towards them. To-night there was no such wind, or when it came it was too quick to die down. The dawn had yet to approach. The red paper lanterns were still hung outside, dangling down the eaves glowing in the dark. Their red reflection falling on the walls were mottled, sliding, often flickering once, twice in the soft breeze. One could even hear a crisp ringing of a bell coming from somewhere inside the gloomy chambers.


    It must be the hour when the darkness is as deep as can be imagined ¨C like blue ink softening into abyssal nothingness. Even the light of the lantern seemed to be being sucked off, an embrace all too suffocating to its existence. And there was no sound. Apart from that haunting pitter-pattering that never ceased to make its presence felt. No noise of crickets chirping, no rustling of the grasses. Only silence.


    "Plop!"


    Water. Cold and biting stung her. It was a torture to endure!


    "Why? Why should I endure this? Why? Why-Why-Why this fate? Why only me? No, I won''t accept this!"


    Someone had fallen into the pond and she was drowning. No one came to her rescue. At the moment of fall, waves after waves washed up to the shore furiously, washing the grasses into clumps of bowing stalks. But soon all the rippling waves and tremors settled down, like a river settling down after a piece of pebble fell into it. The previous silence gripped the scene at chokehold, stifling it as before. It wasn''t until fifteen minutes later that a pair of bony hands broke the pond''s stillness again.


    Those hands were like a ghoulish spirit breaking through its burial mound, ready to chew at the spectator. A figure frantically broke through, came out panting and gasping for life. Her white hands pierced the black waters, a head rose first then her shoulders emerged and then her nose came out choking over a mouthful of dirty water - all while frantically wading to stay afloat. Haggard and desperate, she remained engrossed in that heady adrenaline of having survived, panting for breath, then choking horrifically over it, and then gasping and panting some more while still pushing forward through the dark waters towards the shore.


    But it was difficult - the task to stay afloat. Her thick cloak seemed determined to drag her down under water, as did the weeds entangling her ankle bones. From the way she tried to swim, she didn''t look like someone who had ever come in contact with water, or had ever paddled in general. It was sheer desperation that kept her afloat. But fortunately, in a few minutes her white hands clenched the grasses over the pond''s shore and forced herself out. This brusqueness of her spirit abruptly ended as she toppled over, with the last bit of protest stifled out.


    Kneeling, Wei Ziya let out a silent cry. No sound came out at first through her strangled neck, yet her eyes were round and hazy and desperately roving in their places - forced to engorge, as the pupils dilated and wavered. Her whimpers finally reached her mouth and then like the most horrific song of a dying bird, her lips trembled and let out a cry. And what a cry it was - like a deer''s last breath at an approaching death. And then, she kept crying...crying her heart out. She knew not why, but she cried and kept crying for a long time.


    When the sound of her desperate crying ceased it was a long, long while later. Tears still dribbled down warming her cold cheeks, her throat now sore like a piece of sandpaper rubbing together. But having vented much of her helplessness, her frustration of a lifetime - Wei Ziya lay sprawled on her back gazing upward into the black sky for an unknown amount of time.


    Wei Ziya knew. Tonight, she got a bargain, she had saved herself. She had escaped a fatal point in her life. In her previous life - she remained undiscovered in this very pond till the next morning, and when she was finally rescued it was not herself. Everyone thought she just recovered from a coma; but only she knew...she had drowned that night, and was replaced by another woman¡¯s soul.


    That woman took away her body, took her name and used it as her own. She still remembered those seemingly parting words - "Don''t worry over your karmas in this world. I will take care of your family in your place and cherish them as you should have done yourself. Please go worriless on your journey to the netherworld and start a new life."


    These words were so final, so direct. As if she was destined to end everything that night, despite her body being still alive and fine. But Wei Ziya hadn''t died completely. She couldn''t just go off to some netherworld on her own, could she? There were no underworld guards to lead her straying soul, no light that transported her to life after death...nothing. She helplessly kept struggling on the verge of death, watching that alien soul pretend to be her. Watched her lie, kill and set fire to all things she loved!


    "Ha! What a Heaven''s Chosen daughter-!" Wei Ziya flinched, saying out aloud. "All along it was her! That famed shell of heaven''s daughter...it could only be me. A soul reborn in phoenixes fire, they called her, and what about me? That forgotten shell that was replaced by another soul? Who could have thought- the pure white fairy of the immortal realm was nothing but a cuckoo overtaking a nest?!"


    Heaven''s Chosen children. Wei Ziya later learned that these were considered the blessings of any world. If one was lucky to be born in years of heroes and heroines, they could achieve anything they ever wanted! Become like those supporting characters in a famous tale and go all the way to ascension, or be like those pitiable cannon-fodders, dying the most ignoble deaths! If someone fell into enmity with these Chosen people - his only end could be death. As if the world was a piece of a bard''s tale - and everyone else just puppets, waiting to bow down under the light of those heaven''s children. Only they were humans, everyone else a mere puppet in their story!


    Wei Ziya laughed. She had seen it play out too, a completely fantastical story. Watched that daughter of heaven reach an unparalleled position, since the day she took over her body. From a small mortal world, she escaped its demise and went to become a cultivator, joining the biggest sect in that Taiyuan realm of cultivation. She became the highly sought after cultivator, the only one who had become a Mahayana level ancestor in just a hundred years! She was the only student of an ancient immortal that had noble ties with the Spiritual realm which even cultivators dreamed of reaching in a lifetime. Her senior brothers were one of the most outstanding cultivators with huge cultivation families supporting them from behind! Highly qualified men sought after her; whether they themselves were already engaged or married, it didn''t matter much to anyone. High positioned women tore at her at any chance they got as if she was the bane of their lives, never minding their own positions and statuses. Whoever stood opposite her died or was silenced forever! Whoever stood with her, became the most fortunate person in the whole realm! Who else could be heaven''s chosen one if not her?!


    But Wei Ziya didn''t care. Neither for her nobility or fame, nor her endless struggles that earned her Immortality. That woman could dance her favorite dances all she liked; it didn''t matter to her. The world was full of geniuses.


    She didn''t envy their fates. She just hated - hated her! Hated her entitlement, her selfishness. It was because of that woman, her indifference that this small realm had taken its final gasp - her Jinghai was no more. Her world in which she had been born and grew up, watched people laugh and cry, cheered along with them... this world was torn and shredded to pieces. Only because this realm had long served its purpose with that woman''s entrance into the cultivation realm! Its humans were worthless, its animals just senseless existence and all it could ever be was a place to go in search of treasures. Soon enough, when the last bit of treasure was drained away - what was the need of a plane that served no purpose or benefit to them?


    That woman who called herself Ying Yueru, she clearly knew many things. Although Wei Ziya couldn''t peek into that woman''s memories, her actions had fully exposed that she could have done many things if she wanted to save this small realm.


    Afterall, among the Gods who controlled this world''s fate, there was definitely one who later became her future master-uncle''s, after worshiping her master as a teacher for life! But she hadn''t done anything. She had even fuelled the fire to end this world earlier.


    What about taking care of her karmas for herself? Wei Ziya, that helpless original owner of the body- she was long forgotten! That woman hadn''t even shied away from dirtying her hands while sharing those spoils from that final war! She hadn''t even flinched, hesitated just for a while, as she was piling up all that blood-sucked treasure into her coffer!


    After that defeat, nothing had mattered to Wei Ziya in those years, as everything she cared for was dead or destroyed. She couldn''t remember why she was so obsessed with living on. But everytime she deliberated vanishing, she found it pitiable. As if a piece of her world was caressing her head, saying -


    "O child, but don''t I dwell in thy heart? When you recall, I thrive. You see, after your death - there will be no one with my memory...alive."This tale has been pilfered from Royal Road. If found on Amazon, kindly file a report.


    With her death, that history of her defeated world would also vanish. As a silent witness of that year''s war between humans and ''gods'', as the lone survivor of her world''s tragic end - wouldn''t it be too tragic, that she too died so pitiably? Wasn''t the best value of her, a silent witness of that atrocity, that she reminisces about that piece of past forever? Forever echoing that final scene of death, of parting, that final flash of light when her realm shattered into arms of universe''s darkness?


    So, she had lived. But no one knew her, a certain Wei Ziya. Her name too was soon forgotten as the woman changed it back to her own. All relations dead, her birthplace blasted to bits - and she herself only able to watch like a bystander as someone else carried on a happy life using her body; she was like a lone star dwelling in endless darkness. Floating, floating forever with no strings to fall back on.


    Not tonight - that alien soul from another world, let''s see how she comes to this world this time around!


    "Oh, what a loss to the world would be her majestic love! Her endless fame and her lore. No one will recount her legends anymore - what a pity! All this, because she, that parasitic ghost couldn''t replace a fainted soul! Tonight, tonight she dies as I died. I Wei Ziya, mother goddess, lived a proud life, as you asked us. I waited and waited for justice. Then as a gift, let me relive that past of shame, of defeat...let me remember it...all alone in this new life."


    What about children of heaven? It wasn''t her own heaven to begin with, nor this world''s. Heavenly rule of this realm died the night this realm collapsed. Then why should it be her, who had to sacrifice her soul and body to hold that woman''s soul ¨C the ''chosen one'' of those invaders? For glory ¨C but whose? Clearly not her own, nor of this world''s! Whether it was the so-called ''heaven''s chosen one'', or that alien soul from ''another world'' - what do these titles have to do with this small realm? Nothing! And it wasn''t like there couldn''t be another chosen child of heaven if a single Ying Yueru dies! Someone will replace a mere Ying Yueru, right?


    "But...the master who played with the world is no more." She said and laughed which ended in a coughing fit.


    As Wei Ziya coughed, she recalled with tears in her eyes the exchange between those two lovers in the final year before their ascension. Before she was captured by that woman and given away as a prisoner to her well-wishers.


    ***


    "Ying Yueru-! It is only a matter of time, just a few more years." That man had embraced Wei Ziya''s body and cried. "Before long we will be legitimate lovers and no one will ever come in between us. After we have dealt with this rumor of divined Heaven''s daughter - we, yes, you and I will become a Taoist couple! And no one can stop us this time. No chosen one will ever come in between us. I swear to heaven ¨C I, Chen Jinhua, swear that I will never fall in love with another woman after you, Ying Yueru or else I will have my cultivation ruined, my life shattered under thunder strikes to never be reborn again!"


    "Don''t - You don''t have to do this!"


    "But I do. My love needs no proof lower than this. I love you."


    "But what about that immortal fate? Master Ming already predicted that you will have a smooth-sailing life if you entered into matrimony with her - that phoenix. Your dragon blood can only be tied down to her - she is your destined partner, for heaven¡¯s sake! What about the love your men have for you? Their expectations...? How will you answer them? After all, the emperor of the Spiritual realm is no light title...your Dragon blood makes you its natural heir."


    Ying Yueru had cried with her doelike eyes flooded with tears. "What about those Taoists divining that only a daughter of heaven can ever completely get you rid of your bad-luck? I don''t want to be the reason for your death! Moreover, can I believe that you will forgo that temptation - of ascending to heaven with no hurdles in your path? Becoming an entity who can rule a whole realm? Can you deny its allure and not blame me for keeping you away from all that? You will easily succeed and ascend to the spiritual realm with her help, and then your dragon clan, your father and mother will be expecting you to have done that! Don''t persuade me otherwise - please!"


    Wei Ziya remembered feeling disgusted at that charade. That woman was clearly pretending - she had seen her personally kill that phoenix seed in a cradle in the mortal world and then suck out all its luck!


    As she recalled this conversation, Wei Ziya couldn''t help but shiver. There were so many alien forces penetrating her mortal realm... If Ying Yueru doesn''t take that Phoenix seed or kill that infant - will this mortal realm see the rise of another heroine? Will this chosen daughter of heaven become another antagonistic element to this world?


    Wei Ziya shirked away her thoughts and continued recalling.


    "But Ying Yueru...there is still no such person in this world right now! And I fell in love with you -and that is a fact. There will never be anyone better than you, purer than you, more loving and kind-hearted than you. How could I ever dream of leaving you? And did not the master Ming of the Qiyun sect foresee that it is more likely that such a woman had already appeared? If it was my fate to love her - then why don''t you believe that you, Ying Yueru are the one being talked about in these divinations? Because that is more likely than thinking I could ever betray you!"


    The young man had traced her body''s falling tresses and whispered into her ears. "You are the youngest Mahayana cultivator. There is no one who can compete with you when it comes to luck or resources or ability - they cannot even do that in their dreams. Who doesn''t know of your high accomplishments in alchemy? The God of medicine himself left you an inheritance! If there is a heaven''s chosen daughter with heaven piercing luck, a blessing for the whole cultivation realm, then in my heart it can only be you!"


    "But what if-?! What if there is a soul who owns such a fate? Who is the protagonist of this world ¨C who should be your one true love and the one who you should have loved, not me?! What if she suddenly knocks on the door one day and then you just leave me behind to go after her?"


    "But there is no such person! Do you think so low of my love-? Can anyone sway me away if they wanted to? What are you even thinking about ru¡¯er?"


    "What if!? We both know how powerful destiny written by heaven can be. I¡­I am just afraid that you will change one day."


    "Then I can only disappoint others, and go against heaven! We cultivators were originally destined to go against the heavens from the day we started practicing. Our existence on its own is a huge resistance against this natural order of heavenly rule. Attempting to keep my love for you intact and be with you in all the difficulties and pleasures of my life - how could I disappoint you in that vow? I have already promised, I will only love you -Ying Yueru! I will fulfill that, no matter what comes in my way! You just need to believe in me."


    "Then...I will believe you. But remember these words you said to me."


    ***


    And he was right, that man. That woman really was heaven''s daughter - even if she had never let anyone know of that fact. Or that she had stolen that fate from a baby. While the world searched for a sign of this chosen daughter, she was lurking in the shadows watching everyone play a game of tag. How she knew of that Phoenix seed, or who let her know that it could make her the noblest of heaven''s creation ¨C Wei Ziya could only wonder. It was just a pity that she didn¡¯t know the place where that child was born, or else she could go herself and see if anything could be done to stop another Ying Yueru from rising up.


    Wei Ziya thought and imagined with great intensity; a world where Ying Yueru was missing. What would such a world look like? Another woman will be the first to rank in halls and lists of greatest of cultivators - perhaps it could be that baby who will grow up intact this time. Another person will snatch that alchemy inheritance she prided on. And that lover - he will lie in the laps of a different woman! All that just because she couldn''t snatch a mere mortal soul-!


    Wei Ziya tiredly squinted out the water from her eyes. New tears kept flooding down her cheek, warming her face.


    Yet, she had been unfortunate to only come back at this point. A year or two more - she could have done so much to help the resistance. But now, everything was already on the path of no return. The ritual ceremony of sacrifice will be carried out next year. Two years later, this world will erupt in an all out war draining away all its peace and prosperity. Humans will stand tall against cultivators - but with such power imbalance and disparity, anyone could foresee the outcome.


    Wei Ziya thought as she wrung water out from her cloak, which was now hanging heavily on her body. She wrung her long tresses. Wiped her cheeks of the tears but some more poured out. Salty water drenched her face, those drops of heated liquid made her lose all her grace and bearing. Her cracked lips lined into a whimper, shivering in emotion and cold. "But this time, when everything enters darkness ¨C I wouldn''t be left alone wondering why."


    But was it really her soul''s rebirth tonight? Not a cruel joke by that woman''s father - that red phoenix? Or those high immortals of the spiritual realm to win her favor? Showing her what she wanted the most to only snatch it away later - haven''t they already done that a million of times?


    But this event, to-night, was so personal to that woman? How could she let a soul know of this night? She hadn''t even shared that secret with her lover! After all, it was a taboo whether in the cultivation realm, or spiritual realm ¨C to take over someone else''s body was considered the most frowned upon thing. Only heathens did that, no orthodox cultivator could ever fall to such a degree. Especially, not a pheonix seed, someone with noble phoenix blood and inheritance!


    Or could it be that she was dreaming? Was that all that happened in her previous life rather a dream, a premonition that unfolded her destiny foretelling all her fallings and victories? A forewarning? A blessing from the dark- from some unknown force that wanted her to escape those dark days and those vile men and women? Mother goddess-?


    But Wei Ziya shook her head. No, the mother goddess is dead.


    ''No,'' she argued with herself softly. ''How could someone give me this chance if he wanted me to fulfill my predestined role? And if he was against this predestined fate- why chose me, a shell with no value? I, myself, am not that worthy - to shoulder this heavy duty of saving a world. In fact, all my life, I have been struggling with bad-luck of the most horrific kind. Living like a mirror, only reflecting what others did and wanted. While I remained stifled in an inhuman state - is there any ability still left in me? Always lingering on the periphery of being discovered, destroyed and being punished and facing blood curdling helplessness. As if the dictates of my fate were those failures ¨C and my sinful birth only deserving of this treatment. As a shell who cares what befalls me? But why...why only me?"


    As pain numbed her senses, doubts arose in her mind.


    Was this bad-luck result of her birth? Yes, she shouldn''t have been born ¨C as a proof of the sins of old, a detestable existence like her should never have a happy ending. Karma was never on her side. But ¨C being born only to die? Who chose this punishment? Why should her life be taken just to fill in a gap for others - acting like a body container for a foreign soul -like an empty casket which could be emptied at will?


    "Do I deserve being treated like that?" Her voice cracked, piercing through the silence.


    ''No,'' Wei Ziya shrunk her shoulders and broke out into shivers. ''I am not made of wood. Of course, I shouldn''t have been treated like that! Look, when my ashes should have settled in the river of time, I am back here. Whatever the cause, I am still me. No one, no soul knows I am back here! Look ¨C look at these arms, these limbs and myself- I am still me! This is me! Even if this is another dream they weave, I will break through it, one day...one day. Even if it''s another evil trick ¨C I will live through it like all those other times. Yes, I was never an unthinking log of wood...I had always been a human. I will never think of myself so low...no-! No one knows what happened in a previous life. No one."


    "Tip-tap-tip"


    Water droplets dripped from the eaves.


    Wei Ziya jerked awake. Her eyes took in her present surroundings, finally coming out of her deep thoughts. The pond and those time ravaged buildings...it was night time, still. Her eyes contracted with a strange, weird yet apprehensive glint. She looked around once more, finding no other figure near her. There were no maids around.


    Way past twelve in the night. Perhaps way past even the most of the night! The silence was dead, as gloomy as penetrating despair. No cricket chirping. Even the wind had fallen down, leaving no trace of itself behind.


    Wei Ziya hurriedly retracted her feet which were still dangling inside the water. She crawled back with so much intensity that for a while her whole body ached and trembled. But she didn''t care for that. In the rush of the moment, the sharp blades of tall grasses cut several lines on her wrist ¨C she didn''t feel it bleeding too. All she had in her mind was how to rush back. She had to run, but her legs were not rising up. She limped along the unpaved path, while strenuously struggling to increase her pace.


    She couldn''t stay outside. The family warning resounded in her mind; her grandfather had strictly restricted anyone, not even night-watches and guards could remain outside their chambers during night-time. She didn''t know the reason in her past life, but she knew that whatever was restricted was for a reason.


    ''I should go back.''

 Chapter8. Red Haze by the Reed-bed

    Hiding behind a cover of lotus leaves and their fluttering flowers, and with her head peeking through the stalks of water-side reeds, sat Wei Zhiruo on her small canoe. Its oars lay forgotten besides her feet, the only other object on that decrepit looking boat. Wei Zhiruo sat, observing a weeping beauty, who lay kneeling betwixt a patch of grass growing by the shore.


    "Why do you think she is crying?" For a while this thought perplexed her and so she asked aloud. No one replied.


    "...She must have fallen into this pond ¨Clook at that place, isn''t that a pair of shoes floating over there? Was she thrown in there - but who would do such a thing to a child? You cannot just fall down by yourself so far away from the shore like that... What happened here...?" Wei Zhiruo was mostly mumbling to herself. She observed, thought and tried to hold on to a conversation.


    The beauty, lamenting by the shore, looked wretched. She looked like someone who had just drowned and resurfaced. Her soaking and dripping hair and even those clothes - if it was any colder, they would have been covered by a layer of frost by now. But the girl kept crying, as if she couldn''t feel the cold. Or those growing chill in the air as morning approached closer. Her skin though was turning blue.


    "She has been crying for so long¡ªpoor soul! She is going to catch a cold if she keeps doing that." Wei Zhiruo said.


    Occasionally, the beauty would mutter something to herself, while the rest of the time she was quite busy wiping away her tears. But they kept falling, running down her fair cheeks down onto the ground hastily losing their traces therein. She did whimper a few times, but then suddenly broke out in an unexpected sort of laughter. Its echo haunted the night; as did the tear drops that seemed to penetrate the fabrics of her reality, and fall piercingly over some silent, still waters.


    She didn''t look right. There was obviously something wrong with her. Has she gone insane? But not quite like it too¡ª however, there was a little bit of glaring madness in there.


    Wei Zhiruo pried several emotions flashing over her features, yet still couldn''t make up her mind whether to go out and help. Should she go do something to soothe that girl, or remain in hiding? Finally, after pondering on its pros and cons, she decided on the latter. After all, there was always that probability that the girl might know the original owner of this body.


    This wasn''t some wild place; that girl was definitely a resident of this manor. And most importantly, Wei Zhiruo could feel her blood resonating with that girl''s. That only happened between blood relatives.


    What if that girl asked her what she was doing here instead? Should she tell her the truth ¡ªthat she was out hunting for something invisible to most human eyes? Or that she entered and lost herself in a strange space, getting out of where it almost took her half the night? Who will look insane then?


    "Marr, talk to me please. Just say something¡­anything." Wei Zhiruo tried to distract herself. But, no expected reply came. At this, she narrowed her eyes, stopping her palms from clenching into a fist. She heaved in a mouthful of cold air, then released a deep sigh.


    "It''s so Cold." Wei Zhiruo muttered looking away. "Should we go back now? It''s already past most of the night and there is no sign of it moving out. Maybe it''s not even in this space right now -?"


    Moreover, she still didn''t know clearly whether that Rune over that hexagonal structure would lead her to an actual space, or whether that space was even related to those invisible peering eyes. She could only come back another time to find these things out - there was no hurry. All things will eventually fall in their rightful places, at the right time. She just had to wait for the revelation.


    It was getting colder, staying any longer would be extremely taxing on her body. If she caught a cold, she would be bed-ridden for most of the week. Heavily malnourished, her body was suffering down to her bones. It was stunted and rigged with wounds and hidden diseases of so many kinds that she had lost count. All she knew was that she would need to nurture it for at least a year before it could even reach the level of a normally functioning human!


    It would be faster, if her original bloodline started merging with this human body first. Then she would heal all these deep wounds along with those over her soul - in just half a year''s time. But that was still a long project, and would definitely need some precious herbs and tonics to support it. Precious medicines needed money and this identity was so sensitive that to go out earning any was tantamount to revealing her strangeness to everyone.


    "Marr, are you really weak and cannot reply, or is it something else? Don''t tell me you are busy merging! If you are not - don''t start now. It''s hardly safe right here, at least wait for me to go back to my chamber. Don''t overexert yourself right now - I''ll see how we can get some of those mortal medicinal herbs here. Since this world has humans, there must be some sort of similarity in the nature of herbs..." Wei Zhiruo thought deeply, many names running through her mind. Angelica, wolfsbane, a talon of red rosefinch, and Aster starwood...and this just made a small pot of ''healing'' medicine...did any of the Runes support internal healing?


    But even after waiting for a long while, when she didn''t hear any reply ¨Call those herb names, Runes and annotations got jumbled up in a mix of fear and apprehension.


    Wei Zhiruo rubbed her shoulders with her palms to escape the cold. Her heart, though, was growing colder by the minute. Apprehension, fear of losing something after gaining it, and that deeply entrenched familiar fear of finding that she had just been imagining things in her head ¡ªshe could hardly take out her mind from all that. She just somehow sat still, rubbing the bumpy surface of the wooden canoe, obsessively tracing, retracing its rough texture. It felt wet and sticky, and felt obnoxiously irksome.


    Chilling breeze seemed to be sneaking up closer to her, rubbing their hands over her shoulder and wet and naked feet to make her feel their presence all the more. She felt the numbness of the cold already making her muscles stiff, and hard.


    A cloud of fog had imperceptibly flown closer to her and built this towering maze of views: some peeking bushes of wild reed peeking down closer at hand here and trees cowering down at the shore over there, a vast carpet of rippling black waters underneath and a wide expanse of blue-black sky hanging overhead. Nearly everything was still, and frozen. A creeping stillness reigned, as fog stole closer and closer rolling down like a tumbling river of smoke.


    "Who would''ve thought that just a while ago it was a clear night?" She mumbled distractedly, whispering under her breath. She didn''t need to lower her voice, as her surroundings were completely shielded behind an invisible film of her Spiritual Consciousness. But she couldn''t make herself talk aloud.


    It was not a figment of her imagination, she urged. It was her companion, her blood-seed that talked and thought and accompanied her like¡­forever. Yuemarr, to whom she was talking to at this moment, Wei Zhiruo knew her words would have reached him even if she just thought about it in her mind. But she wanted to hear his reply, his childlike, soft voice. Confirm that what was almost fantastical was definitely not a piece of her imagination - or a longing that had maddened her to her roots!


    Her blood-seed was the most mysterious heritage she got after being born a bloodkin. They, Marr and her, had been together since birth. Although, she only realized his existence only after she was four and nearing her own Awakening, but after that, they had never separated.


    Marr manifested from her blood, and was a part of her body. When he didn''t know how to talk, he would send her flashes and snippets of images formed in her own inner eyes to tell her what he liked or disliked. And when he could talk, her days were full of his random chatter. They didn''t need words to convey their thoughts to each other. Ever. But they talked like friends.


    What books he liked, and which tree smells best to him, and which birds and flowers she should look at once more, she knew it all. What kind of sky''s blue he preferred the most, and which sunlit day he wanted to remain living in forever - he used to chatter all the time. When they took their usual walks in the capital city, it would always bubble inside her, absorbing all he saw, memorizing whatever he could. He used her senses to build his own world, feel what she felt, and rejoice in them!


    It felt so empty, when she couldn''t hear him talk like that. But it was okay now - at least it was still with her. Her past body''s bloodline ¡ªwhich should have been burned into oblivion by the sacred fire upon her death, it was once again flowing in her new body. How he had managed this feat, she could only ask him later.


    Wei Zhiruo kept rubbing her palms together to generate some heat. She even rubbed her face a few times, but found that it was of little help.


    "Will it rain tomorrow - what do you think? If it''s clear, it would be great to go out and see what other places in this mansion look like. And meet some people finally. I don¡¯t know why I still have some of the ability of the original owner of this body, but language shouldn¡¯t be an issue. When I was talking with that maid I clearly understood what she was telling me, and even knew how to talk back. What do you think? Should I go out? Will others recognize me, or find something strange about me if I do that?"


    Wei Zhiruo could hardly predict other people''s responses. What if there really was someone very close to Original self? What will she do to explain her changes to such a person? If she didn''t have some of the remnant memories from the body, she would have completely given up on continuing her stay here. The language, the expressions and mannerism ¨C these were just the basics to continue to fit in using this identity - thankfully she still had these. But there was no certainty that she wouldn¡¯t be discovered by anyone. So many secrets were hidden in plain sight.


    A child of her age doesn''t have a close maid to look after her, her courtyard looks dilapidated and almost half emptied out of its utilities; it wouldn''t take a genius to guess that there was something wrong with her current identity. But what was it? Has her mother offended the family, or what else could a seven-year-old child do to earn such ostracization?...But there was something else that struck her mind while trying to think of reasons for her isolation. Her eyes.


    All the people in Jinghai she saw today had brown, black eyes. But her body had blue ones ¨Ca blue which was almost Cerulean. Like her past self. Did that mean anything? She had her past bloodline, her eyes were blue too...but she was definitely a human!


    Maybe the answer to all these doubts lies in the sealed memories?


    "Marr, at least tell me about this seal. When did I do this to myself¨C and why? It definitely is an ¡®obliterate¡¯ Rune. But when I think about it, my head starts hurting. What is it that I sealed or erased? Don''t tell me it was to lessen my guilt about overtaking this body ¨C! Marr?"


    [Can you be quiet for a minute? Please Ama? Let me concentrate in peace! Can''t you see that I am busy?! Why are you chattering so much for-? You can just meditate and see me for yourself - why don''t you just do that instead of asking me to talk to you outside? It takes so much effort to communicate right now. What do you want Ama!?] An angry voice sounded inside her head.


    ''Finally, he talks.'' Wei Zhiruo felt herself losing all her unsettled fear instantly. Her body eased up, the taut lines on her forehead settled down and then her anger started bubbling up. Her eyes narrowed down into a slit, and her fist clenched hard. She would have thrown a few fists at someone''s head right now, if only he was right in front of her at this moment!


    [Say it again?! Am I chattering? I wouldn''t have to talk so much if you would just talk back. How would I know I am not just talking to myself, if you wouldn''t reply even once? Can''t you just meow a meow, a little nyah would do to! Send me an image - for god sake! Didn''t you like to flood my head with those random snippets and scenes - don¡¯t tell me you cannot spare a moment to reassure me right now? At least let me know that I am not losing my head and just talking to myself! I could at least make sure that you are not dead yet!] Wei Zhiruo retorted angrily.


    [You wouldn''t have to feel this way if you had the courage to come inside and see me for yourself! You just had to meditate to find me; I live in your body- not too far away is that?]


    [Good! Now I am a coward too! I haven''t even started on your behavior today. Whole day - Marr. You left me wondering alone for such a long time ¨C and all this while I thought you were dead! At least you could have said something! Just a notice like, ''Ama, I am still weak, I cannot talk to you, let''s meet later'' would have done. But you didn''t even squeak! I checked my soul when I woke up this morning, you were nowhere Marr. What else would I have thought other than that you died after my death?Tell me Marr, what should I make out of this?] Wei Zhiruo felt suffocated at this kind of first meeting. But deep down she was glad that he still sounded as spirited as always.


    [That I must be in a dormant state¨C? Did that thought ever cross your mind? But let''s not argue right now - I told you I am busy! Not now, Ama. You are undergoing a late Awakening, for God''s sake woman! Give us both some time to deal with this first!] Marr still didn''t come out to meet her but his words finally distracted Wei Zhiruo enough to bottle up her frustration.


    "What do you mean? Second Awakening?"


    [Yes. Our second Awakening. You will see soon¨C let me do some things first. I need you in here, come inside and sort out these red-lines for me. Don''t keep mopping up like that! Get busy.]


    Wei Zhiruo raised one of her eyebrows but didn''t reply.


    "I still don''t feel that kind of tumultuous change inside me. Yuemarr? What do you mean we are going through another Awakening?"


    [It''s in your inner body - meditate and see for yourself. I am not talking to you right now - you lose all your thinking ability once you get angry. Did you hear me say ''meditate'' even once? I am busy Ama. I''ll come to you when you are in the right state of mind.]


    Wei Zhiruo, sighed. She knew she was in the wrong. So she brushed away the rest of her anger and finally stopped brooding. She spread her Spiritual Consciousness and looked down at her widespread palms using her Inner eyes, peering past its outer flesh, looking through its tendons, its bones and muscles. All its joints were as clear as was the red flowing liquid in those, fine thread like blood-vessels¨C her human blood.


    There flowed those red cells, and those fine nerves working just fine in another nervous system. She had learned what a healthy, fully functional human apparatus looked like in the Academy. And it could hardly be called a healthy one. Dark elements were plaguing the blood vessels, as did some other sort of dark spots intermittently sticking to her spinal cord. What they were she couldn''t tell. But they felt ominous.


    Wei Zhiruo eyelashes fluttered, flapping in the white mist¡ªjust then, an owl hooted quite close by and flew over her head, hastily diving into the sea of fog. She looked up, breaking away from her trance, a little alarmed. Seeing that it was nothing but an owl lunging down on its prey, she relaxed her stiffened nerves.


    "There is no obvious modification in my biological systems - the heart, kidney and the guts are all working as usual. I am still, positively, a human. Even if it''s a second Awakening, it is still the first phase. And there is no elaborate ritual or prayers to the ancestor, no chant, no soul guidance, and we are not five-year-old kids! With not even a shred of Mana in the air, how do you think we will manage to awaken, huh? There is not even a drop of Liquid Mana crystal to support us when we get exhausted ¨C why now, Marr? Couldn''t we have arranged for auxiliary herbs or such things before plunging headfirst into this? This body cannot suffer the pain of a second Awakening right now! We are going to die."


    [What do you think? Did I want this to happen to us? Of course not!] Marr couldn''t help retorting to this, sounding incensed. [You cannot blame me for something like this! You saw those Runes too ¨C yes, it''s because of those star-formation in that space. I was in my half-awakened state when I just started absorbing them and kept doing that without considering my limits. I have imprinted quite a large amount too. Now I cannot control myself! I am having a hard time too-all right?! So please, help me sort this out, Ama.]


    "You absorbed those Runes? Don''t tell me you also have this function? I always thought you just liked to gobble up those negative energy and those filthy stuff inside the Abyss - those dark elements, and miasma. Marr- Lets have a detailed conversation later ¨C and you will tell me every other function of yours that you''ve kept hidden from me, alright?" Wei Zhiruo couldn''t say what she was feeling at this new revelation. She had always known that Marr didn''t like to focus hard on one thing or on details, but this was a complete misunderstanding on so many levels!


    She knew that if he had this ability, and never discussed it, it could only mean that he thought it was useless. But his idea of useful and useless might not always align with hers, right? Since this was the first such case, any future loss could at least be averted by knowing his abilities. She will have to have this talk.


    She hastily stopped herself from thinking too much, and pierced her palms with her nails. In a few minutes her human blood had almost dyed her palm red.


    [Actually, I hardly knew I could do that! Something changed in my half awake state. Maybe we both changed ¨C I will tell you about it when we are done with all this. But first help me sort out these roots of mine¨C I can hardly see where I am going right now. I have infiltrated my roots all over your Inner body, and now it feels like a maze. It''s just so overwhelming for me to do it all by myself. I feel like I am bursting out with energy and I cannot even halt this process!]


    Wei Zhiruo started drawing a rune with her red palm, rubbing it against the rotten wood of the canoe. A circle, a few strokes to form a Rune of [conceal]. At least this could give them some protection and privacy - even if they remained here in broad day-light, no one could find them.


    "How many Runes did you get? Did you imprint some inside yourself too? Don''t tell me you did the thing you do with those books - copied an image of those Rune and stored it away? You cannot do that to yourself Marr, you would kill yourself doing something like that! Those Rune''s are made of the purest form of energy, and they were virgin Runes too! It needs to be mediated with other things like chains and links even before you start comprehending their essence! Marr!"


    [I don''t know ¨C maybe I already did that. I cannot be sure of how many.]


    "Don''t be playful, Marr. Be factual. How many, give me a number. So I can prepare my mind. Are you going to explode?"


    [Would you believe it when I tell you that I unconsciously imprinted all of them - and copied the rest which I couldn''t imprint? I don''t know how I am even alive right now. We should be dead but aren''t and now all those Rune''s are sealed in your body somewhere ¨C that place is completely foreign to me. Only a small drop of me fell in there and sealed itself away taking along with itself that humongous Rune collection. Now I cannot call it back, or seal it up to alleviate our present situation.] Marr''s  frustrated voice almost felt like he was close to crying.


    "There is a place inside my body where you cannot reach with your roots? Why? Does it have something to do with the seal on my memory?"


    [No, that''s a completely different story. In short, that seal on your body is for your own good, it just lessens the weight of your soul. You might have obliterated all the memories of our coming here, but there was no other way. You were a mature soul and we had been sucked away inside not even a two months old human embryo! You can guess how much pressure we were under at that moment! We could have died that very instant, but you just happened to remember that Rune ''obliterate¡¯ and pulled it efficiently enough to lessen some of the weight to not just end up bursting like a balloon! I don''t know how many memories you permanently discarded or temporarily shelved but we had been dormant ever since. You can examine things later when we are done here. But the place I mentioned- it''s hiding inside your Inner body. Maybe your previous bloodkin body didn''t have this,  but this new human one does. I can only feel where that blood drop is right now; neither can I reach it in there, nor can I call it out. ] Marr, exasperatedly replied.Unauthorized content usage: if you discover this narrative on Amazon, report the violation.


    "Two months old -? An embryo in the womb - not a human child? Are you sure Marr? Don''t human souls inside the embryo only form after three months have passed? That means that there was no original soul in this body? Was it me all along? What kind of sick situation is this?" Wei Zhiruo kept talking. "And I was almost beginning to feel like a thief for taking away someone else''s life. Now I feel like an idiot for not guessing it all. I have such blue eyes ¨Chumans usually don¡¯t have such rich and deep eye colors!"


    [You tend to overthink, I know. I know you were alone, I am sorry for waking up so late and making you feel so bad all this time. But I couldn''t control myself. Ama, can you imagine - one moment I am in deep sleep and the next I have managed to put ourselves in such a fix. When I woke up, I was suddenly so full of energy that if I didn''t vent, we would have exploded by now. I could only think of making myself grow faster, and faster and then I just pushed us to our Awakening! It''s all my fault ¨C if only I didn''t think I could handle all this by myself or even alerted you a bit. I feel bad just thinking about it right now!] From his self blaming soft voice, Wei Zhiruo could almost imagine his drooping cat ears and tails. She instantly softened and began to reassure him.


    "As you said, you weren''t even awake yet. It was my impulsive action too. Without thinking of consequences, I started chasing that thing into the Rune Formation - it could have been something worse. Maybe it will turn out for the best? At least now, we will not be human anymore. After this Awakening."


    While she was talking, she slammed the freshly drawn symbol with her palms. A yellow rune shaped in the same way as the Character she had drawn sprang up instantly. It was encircled in a little more elaborate concentric circle, with motifs of strange men and women etched at its outer circle. Wei Zhiruo directed it overhead, then loosened her control. She chanted a word under her breath and then a strong invisible wall formed linked to the Rune, like a bubble shaped dome, completely isolating the canoe and Wei Zhiruo sitting over it.


    Only after she was sure that the wall was affixed and stable, did she sit down for meditation. With her two still bleeding palms connected together, her eyes closed and back straight as a pine tree - all her Spiritual Consciousness was concentrated in plunging deeper and deeper into her own self.


    Everything grew silent. Her surroundings, her own echoing thoughts - it became a blank canvas. And even Marr stopped talking.


    Wei Zhiruo looked down into her human blood circulation system, the various blood vessels all properly running; the blood itself was red and human. No cerulean pigment, nor any trace of Mana dots and particles flowing in them, charging it with zealous energy that slithered like licks of thunder. A strangely distorted sense of loss filled her. But she didn''t stop there for long, and plunged headfirst further down.


    The body that was made of flesh and blood, her heart and other organs were still very human. Her skeleton, on the other hand, was shining brightly full of white dots blinking¨C these were definitely those particles she absorbed tonight. Star-light.


    But it was different from past life. She felt that those white dots were not only warming up her bones but were also healing her malnourished bones. They covered all of her bones in a thin layer of white light film, while small dots trickled down and penetrated into the pores and filtered inside the marrow. She felt its warmth, and became sure that her body was healing from within. Wei Zhiruo observed this process for a while, trying to guess why it was different from before. Starlight particles could also heal? Why didn¡¯t it do that in her previous life? Was this function specifically restricted to human bones?


    Wei Zhiruo didn¡¯t stop for too long. She let herself fall deeper and deeper ¨C until she, her inner eyes more specifically, opened up to her Inner body. Her outer shell was now shadowed in darkness, as another wide space appeared in her inner eyes. She, as an omniscient observer saw her Inner self as a phantom, transient but a complete self.


    This inner image of herself had the same appearance as her new self, but the clothes she was wearing - those intricately carved headwears covering her forehead and hair, huge earrings falling down to her shoulders and the necklaces carved with clan symbols that hung all the way down to her waist - all of these were the same as she had worn on the day she died.


    It was the dress reserved for her coronation. Since she feared she might die during the sacrificial ceremony, she donned the most elaborate court dress, a huge flowing gown embroidered with clan totems, to remember a past identity that everyone had crushed with their hands. It was red too, bright and vibrant, full of lush green and golden threads embroidered lovingly by her dead aunt.


    But now, it appeared here as a manifestation of her Inner body, flickering and transient. Like a regalia of a distant clan that was no more.


    She let her sight flow down inside this transient body, still at the same light pace ¨C but this time, with a specific direction in mind, as she wanted to see her core, her own soul.


    The inner body, like the Outer one, had all kinds of complex looking circulatory systems. All of these systems were hanging in a void. But by this moment, her bloodline had completely conquered these parts. Those fine red filaments seemed to have penetrated everything and were running wildly everywhere. Its red thread became the most dominant force inside, as it entangled, penetrated and rippled in, like a spider''s web linking itself with each object therein.


    Wei Zhiruo followed these fine red threads, as she dug deeper and deeper into the center and appeared inside the core area.


    What appeared in her field of vision was her soul, with its past wounds, and now a towering root of a red tree encircling it, enveloping and shielding it from all sides. The tree itself wasn''t huge, its trunk was as round as her present body''s waist ¨C but even this was a great advancement!


    For twenty years of her past life, she had seen it sprout from a tender seedling to a proud stalk, but for unknown reason it had never grown bigger than a young bamboo stalk. Neither in girth, nor length. Now, it stood as tall as a young parasol tree, lush and fluttering. Its leaves, blood red but shining with bright white starlight particles rustled in a wave of rhythm.


    She picked one to see it up close ¨C the veins were so well formed she couldn¡¯t help but gasp out aloud. It was as clear as real tree leaves! And it had captured so many star-particles too! And branches ¨C there were so many of them; heavy boughs branching out and luxuriantly lush leaves swaying all around. Her soul had been completely covered in a layer of impenetrable roots, which were thicker than her waist!


    [You look¡­thriving! I never saw you like this before. Now I have changed my mind. This is hardly a disaster for us, but more likely a blessing.] Wei Zhiruo couldn''t help sighing with satisfaction. A few red blood-like drops emerged in her field of vision. The flying red liquid bubbled up a little, and then took a form. It fell over her shoulder and turned into a kitten, white as cloud and purest of ruby red in his eyes. It looked particularly aloof and proud, with his head only bowing down to touch his master who was closest to him.


    [I am just holding myself back from rushing all out, you know? Look at all those jumbled up red lines in there? It''s like a weed conquering everywhere.]  Marr cuddled up with Wei Zhiruo and replied.


    [I can help with that. Leave everything there to me and go do your thing. Call me when you are ready to push into the Second phase of Awakening, alright?] Wei Zhiruo assured, rubbing the head of the kitten, which soon flew away turning back into red drops merging with the huge tree.


    Wei Zhiruo didn''t remain in the Core area for long. She flew back where she had observed those red roots.


    Although she had deeply checked this body once before, she didn''t actually study the energy system stemming inside. She knew it was going to be different from her actual body of her previous life - they were essentially different organisms to begin with! But...it still was hard to wrap her minds around it.


    Although she hadn¡¯t cultivated very complicated body art and technique owing to constant surveillance from her mother, she had still been a very successful Rune maker in secret. Whatever she had learned, she had used up to strengthen her body, and fortify its various parts. Now looking at a completely weak self, which wasn¡¯t even strong enough as her toddler self of past life - she did feel the tumultuous result of changes, bared right in front of herself.


    Wei Zhiruo tried to remember a similar looking image. Yes, it was in the past...her mother''s clan had this stored away as a secret method of cultivation. This was one of the things she had raided before setting out on her space journey after the fall of her clan. She was running away to save her life, but she hadn¡¯t forgotten to give them a blow.


    "What was it called? [Pure Energy Technique]? It looks the same as in that chart ¡ªthe meridians and apertures are almost the same! They said it carries Qi ¨Cthe body''s vital energy or what we call ¡®source energy¡¯."


    [Do you want me to send you the image from that scroll?]


    "Oh yes, sure. If you could spare a moment. Even if you don''t, I can manage it on my own."


    [No, I¡¯ll be faster. Great! Found it ¡ªhere you go!]


    "Thanks Marr." Wei Zhiruo saw the image floating in the void. She looked at the yellow parchment paper full of blotches of many kinds, some of which looked like dirt. Moths had eaten its corner and some words, but overall it was still legible. When she first saw it, she found it hard to believe that those Ruze people were so bad at preserving their clan''s greatest inheritance. For a moment she even thought whether she had been hoodwinked and stolen some other document!


    "Alas! Who would have thought, we would need it for ourselves one day?It''s always good to store more information. You never know when you might actually need one." Wei Zhiruo sighed and started concentrating on her job.


    She first matched all Qi meridians and their apertures. There were some thirty six principal meridians running from head to toe, thin as a human hair. These were those found attached to muscles and tendons, a few connected to her bone marrow and spinal cords, as well as to her head. Twelve others joined with the principal ones, and these were connected to her other internal organs: from her heart, kidneys to her lungs and other parts. And then there were thirty nine peripheral meridians, their thickness not even as good as a spider''s gossamer. They branched out everywhere!


    "This looks essentially the same as those vessels drawn and studied by that human mage, remember? Nature Mage Eruthmys -? When he set out on his journey to write down ¡®self healing¡¯ medicinal practices for humans, I recall, he heavily emphasized the role of these spiritual vessels in his treatises. He drew the vital vessels in humans of the Middle World, and called them Rujen. Objectively, that Rujen spiritual vessel system should be different from the Qi system from the Cuiping world but no, apart from slight shifts and changes, it''s a spitting image of that! However, since both the places are still inside the same galaxy, we can imagine why they would resemble each other. There might have been a sort of internal migration in ancient times, and all of them might have originated from a single source. I can wrap my head around this. But why does this body resemble those energy systems too? Why does it have almost the same spiritual vessel channel like the Qi circulatory system? Apart from a few differences in some peripheral meridians here and there¡­everything else -? Almost the same. It makes sense that humans of the Cuiping world, or those humans in the city of Mages Oplehema in the Middle World have essentially the same internal system. Almost all inhabitable planets in the Sagittarius galaxy have some or other kind of humans. They may claim to have come from different sources, but there is no valid proof of that. Some trace their origin to fallen gods, some to even chaos - but who knows where they actually came from? They might have common ancestors for all of them, just like we have in our recorded history. That could explain why they have the same internal spiritual routes, right? But, what I don''t understand right now is why does this resemblance even reach out to this completely new world? I am sure we are not inside Sagittarius galaxy anymore; the sky is completely different from how it would be if we were to be on one of its planets.Then why are humans of this world essentially the same as the one in the Cuiping world? Does that mean, all humans, regardless of world, have a common origin? Or maybe, it is the same because we are still in the same universe? It would have been great if I cross-checked this fact when I was in Opal Town or even in Oplehema. Now we might never know if Oplehemic humans were the same as Cuiping World humans, as well as humans of this world! What a loss," she said.


    ¡°I don¡¯t think so. I cannot feel the same kind of resonance as I did in our universe. You are not as attuned to outside forces as I am so you wouldn¡¯t feel it, but, when we just came here, I remember feeling suffocated and strangled as if we were fishes thrown out of water! This feeling didn¡¯t recede till we were unconsciously sucked in inside that embryo. I think it was fortunate that it happened. The feeling I got from the surrounding was akin to us having intruded into someone else''s home! No bloodkin will feel this way in his own world! We were born amongst the stars, our natural habitation is the endless space and universe! Just travelling to a different galaxy would never make us feel so¡­unwelcome. I bet this place is different. I don''t know why I feel this way, but maybe we are in a different universe altogether!¡± Marr replied.


    ¡°Is that true? So we can never go back to the Middle world again?¡±


    ¡°I don¡¯t think we can¡­¡±


    ¡°That''s sad. I was hoping we could try travelling all over the Middle world this time and even those faraway regions of elves and dragon-kinds. We could have revisited Abyss and spent some time there too¡­¡±


    Both of them simultaneously fell silent while doing their own things.


    ¡°At least we are alive.¡± Marr observed, clearly trying to divert her mind.


    ¡°Yes. We can travel in this world too, right? Let''s do that after we are done Awakening.¡± She distractedly said and then started counting the apertures and special nodes, shrugging away the sense of loss brought out by this new revelation.


    "There are too many of these¨C four hundred special nodes, out of which three hundred and sixty five are more prominent than the rest. And now, because you have made a mess and infiltrated almost everywhere with your roots, there is no counting some hidden ones. Okay. Let''s start straightening your red roots out."


    Wei Zhiruo observed all the meridians and nodes, special apertures and points and then started pruning the red threads. She would tug out any excessively dominant roots, leaving just a single red thread merging into one meridian. But for the principal thirty six, she left a few more.


    She found a few hidden points and mapped them in the chart, calling out to Marr to send his red roots into the specified point and merge with it. Like this, they spent most of the night just sorting out the jumbled up meridian, and their points.


    "But there seems to be something different about here. Marr, can you feel it too?"


    After she was done, doing whatever she could, sorting and pruning the threads from completely turning the Inner body into a maze, she felt the changes in her human body. "Did you examine our Sea of Consciousness? Has it changed too? My Spiritual Consciousness is working like it did back then, maybe the world we created is still here?"


    [I didn''t. I was too busy to think of that. Do you want to go in now?]


    "But are you in control, right now? You won''t go feral on me will you?"


    [Nah- not right now. Your help greatly decreased the pressure on me. I just sorted out my roots surrounding your soul. But about the drop containing the runes¡ªI think I found where it went. It''s close to your center, right near under the navel. Should we go see that first?]


    "No, let''s see the changes in our Inner World first. Do you think it''s still in the shape of the Central House of Knowledge? With all the books you had copied in there? You spent countless nights stealing into those buildings just to store away that rich collection of scrolls and books. It will be a great loss if everything is gone ¡ªyou spent so much effort to craft it out like that!"


    [I can do it all over again. At least we have this chance ¨Cif we died, who would have cared for it?] Marr floated around her in his red drop form.


    In a second, they were both floating over in the Sea of consciousness. Wei Zhiruo with her inner eyes and Marr with his real body. What they saw in there completely shocked them.


    "Let me rephrase it - it hasn''t just changed but drastically altered."


    [What in the hell happened here -?] Marr exclaimed.


    An enormous blue ocean thundered with rageful waves, while a sky full of spiraling Runes almost blinded them. There was also the familiar looking corner, that they both knew as the part of their Inner world.


    A tall three story building with an emerald roof. Its walls were made of the toughest kind of black obsidian - a great conductor of all kinds of magic. It still retained all those ancient, undeciphered Rune''s etched over all its visible surface. But the Rune''s floating all over the sky were completely alien!


    ¡°These must be some of those you just absorbed. Thank goodness it just changed and enlarged the sea of consciousness. We could have been in a coma!¡±


    From being a building on land, the towering obsidian palace had changed to an architecture floating over in the air. Clouds of different colors and mist surrounded it, some flowing around like water, some falling down into the behemoth of an ocean like a waterfall.


    [We didn''t construct any of these in our minds, right? They were added because of those Runes.] Marr tried to grasp it. He changed to his kitten form as he walked over the misty ocean. [It feels real, but it isn''t. It''s still an illusion - thank goodness. It would be a mess if a new world opened up in our own minds!]


    "Hmm. It is definitely an illusion. Maybe that space does impact people in different ways - you remember? It said, "you will be born anew"? I guess it wasn''t just a phrase to dramatize its effect, but rather... it meant literally. What does rebirth entail - changes and enormous changes, life shattering changes. This - isn''t it pretty much that?"


    [Yes you can say that too. Imagine if that drop of myself didn''t get sealed inside your navel, would we have blown up and become another kind of space full of Rune''s? Just a few of these runes can affect your consciousness to this extent, imagine all of them entering your inner world-!]


    "What kind of horror story are you telling? I get chills just thinking about that! Let''s not go into the details shall we? We have been so lucky since our birth - it''s good enough that your blood sealed it away as it did. We can think about how to deal with it after we have strengthened ourselves better. Let''s see what that place near the navel is or if I can take you inside." Wei Zhiruo instantly stopped him from dwelling over this topic and turned away to get outside of her Inner World. "At least, unlike humans, we still have this part of us intact. Do you think normal humans have this space in their mind?"


    [According to the same Ruze manuscript, a human can only open up something like this if they grow stronger spiritually. After all, it was their script which called it ''Sea of Consciousness''. They have it, but only those who can cultivate their spiritual selves.]


    "Is that so? I remember humans from the middle world also have similar distinction in their ranks? There is the concept of the "Consciousness field", right? And only mages, mage apprentices and priests can hone these fields. We need to relearn so many things! Since the books are here, let''s check them out to see if there is any answer to why there are so many similarities in the essence of spirituality and mind¡­of all living creatures." Wei Zhiruo sighed out loudly.


    They both floated down to the Core, then near the navel. Wei Zhiruo''s Inner eyes saw the opening. She surrounded Marr with her own consciousness, and then they both successfully entered the space there.


    [What is this¡ª?] An astounded Marr exclaimed loudly.


    Before their eyes was a small space opened up near the navel. But the whole thing looked astoundingly bizarre.


    "They look like roots." Wei Zhiruo replied. And they felt so familiar, as if she had always had them. For a moment they both remained silent and observed the spectacular thing growing inside.


    The space had five colorful roots, each entangled with the other. They looked about the same size, yet, each had its own individual aura. An ice blue one emanated chill, while another black colored one was full of malaise. A bright, fully shining one emanated softness, as if it was healing its surroundings. The dark and the light roots were almost merged, coiling together. And in such a naturally balanced way that neither allowed another to become dominant! The other two were quite difficult to find out too, entangled in a mess. But one of them was pure green full of vitality, and another a red color, almost burning its surroundings with heat!


    All of them were of similar length, coiling together.


    [The blood drop is not here. It should be somewhere here, but that space hasn''t opened up yet. Only these roots¡­are here.]


    "Why are there so many colored roots in a human body? What even are these? Don''t you feel they kind of symbolize a specific element? Like that red is clearly burning fire, and the green is lush greenery, wood, and then the white must be light and, clearly the black one is darkness, right?"


    [Yes, and the blue one, ice! I don''t know what these are but we don''t have enough time to search for answers. Ama, I feel we might go into the Second and Final phase of Awakening back to back -the force inside me is building up too quickly. You should get ready.]


    Wei Zhiruo turned away from the roots and said, "Are you sure? Then go. Don''t worry about me and extend your roots as far as you can. You can alter everything ¡ªbut don''t touch this space on your own. Maybe there is a hidden mystery to this place. Try to not change anything about here, if you can. My instincts are saying that these are good things."


    [Heard you. I will take care of that...love you Amaranthus. Be careful.]


    "I will be, Yuemarr. Don''t overexert yourself. Always call me when you think you cannot carry on. We can think of something. Don''t sacrifice yourself for me okay¨C I don''t like seeing you do that."


    [Umm¡­]


    Wei Zhiruo took a last glance at the magnificent roots and then prepared to get out of her meditation. For one, she needed to reach the shore quickly. But before heading to her destination, she drew a [preserve] Rune over the opening of the space,  sighed and then woke up.

 Chapter 9 The Awakening

    In a moment, Wei Zhiruo was back in the real world.


    Her eyelashes fluttered a few times, reorienting her dilated pupils to get them used to the outside darkness. Her breath realigned, and she broke into a shiver. It took her quite some time to stop meditating ¨C if she was to estimate the time using her own experience from the past, to her it appeared somewhere in between the early hours of morning, or around four o¡¯clock. Naturally, when she glanced at the shore, it was already vacant. No weeping maiden stood there crying; all there was left was some rustling, slithering grass patch. What a lonely sight.


    She let her eyes rest for a while, without doing much and then picked up the oars. Although the urgency was clearly reflected in her speed of rowing the boat, she still didn¡¯t forget to search out for that sad companion of the past night.


    Thinking that she might as well reassure herself where that girl might have gone, she decided to search for her. ¡°Just a quick look to see whether she is safe or not. She didn¡¯t look in the right state of mind.¡± Wei Zhiruo whispered.


    It wasn¡¯t that she was impervious to her growing interest in a complete stranger. What emotions defined this peculiar interest, she asked herself ¡ª was this sympathy talking? No. As for that she was pretty sure it wasn¡¯t that. Wei Zhiruo was just faintly reminded of someone else she had known. In that girl''s laughter filled cries, and dead eyes she caught a glimpse of a familiar something she had seen before. That brought a flood of past memories, and they felt fresh¨C like a prickly, sour smell of lemon.


    Actually, madness was nothing foreign to her; she had seen many people break down and fall apart in her past life. Beguiled souls, desperately searching for a relief for their endless pain¡­


    However, the madness of that gravity was, indeed, peculiar.


    That night, her aunt had supported something similar in her eyes: dead yet alive and forbearing, only because she didn¡¯t want to appear disgraced by crumbling apart in front of her ¨C a beloved thirteen-years-old niece whom she had always treated like a daughter and nurtured with her own hands. Or maybe she didn¡¯t want to break apart in front of a remnant of her past?


    While Wei Zhiruo herself never tasted what a mother¡¯s love felt like, she had plenty of opportunity to feel what it should be like. To be cherished and loved. Her aunt was her family and she had loved her more than anyone else.


    That night, she realized that her aunt also had other¡¯s whom she loved equally or more than her¨C her death wasn¡¯t unexpected. That was also the night Wei Zhiruo had bid farewell to everything in her past, cut a deep wound on her heart and drifted away to never settle down again ¨C because the last chain holding her feet to the earth had given up on her.


    Wei Zhiruo remembered quite well. It was the same night; the night of clan annihilation. And that woman had not only lost two of her only sons and a loving husband, her entire family had been killed and almost all of her relatives and friends were dead. That woman had been a spectator of the end of her beloved land and butchering of her own people and past.


    But when she lurched towards death, she laughed while she cried and cried in between laughter, as she stood tall holding a sword in her hand ¨C facing an endless tide of oncoming enemy force.


    That was the last she¡¯d glimpsed of her; riding over clouds under her feet, flying over in the dirty yellow skies, as she slashed and cut into the black mist of men and beasts of her enemies, waves after waves of the opposite army fell trembling under her spells, crushing down, killed under her sword. She died with an arrow pierced through her breast.


    Maybe, she was even supporting a smile when she died? Wei Zhiruo never found out, as she was busy fleeing for life.


    Unsurprisingly, the faint similarity had made her wonder. What could¡¯ve that little girl experienced to have such maddened eyes? It was indeed an intriguing mystery.


    She pondered and rowed.


    Wei Zhiruo used her Spiritual Consciousness. First, to pan out a bird¡¯s eye view of the whole mansion. Instantly, she spotted that girl. Strangely enough, she was still on her way to reach somewhere. The ¡®beauty¡¯ still had that lingering morose air surrounding her and her pace was still as fearlessly slow and forbearing of outside chill as a walking dead.


    A bird broke into a melodious song somewhere, snatching Wei Zhiruo¡¯s attention. She rowed and heard, and felt the heaviness leaving herself in waves, realizing how some memories still captured her mind so deeply. ¡°It still hurts to think ¨C it¡¯s been so long though.¡±


    She sighed.


    Wei Zhiruo followed ¡®the beauty¡¯s¡¯ tired steps; saw her as she toppled and crumbled down. She kept watching, as she fell over the ground, and weakly knelt down on her knees or laid down like a corpse with no energy to stand up again, or when she gathered enough strength to crawl forward to only fall back again ¨C she saw all of that happening and repeating; another person''s arduous journey unfolded in front of her eyes as she rowed.


    The girl somehow crawled back to her courtyard and a worried old woman instantly lunged at her, as if she had just been waiting for her.


    With the most alarmed eyes and manners, still holding her mistress to herself, supporting and carrying her back into the chambers and with worried sighs and enquiries interspersed at each step, she kept asking ¨C ¡°Where have you been, young lady? We got tired looking for you, and then the curfew came upon us ¨C no one of us dared to go outside to seek you out in such circumstances. We felt you might have your reasons to go out so late, but look at you ¨C what happened?! What horrible things did someone do to you, my lady? Is it the Second Mistress again? Should I alert the Old mistress -? We must do that, and I¡­I would have already called for help but others said, they saw you walking away with young lady Cheng! I shouldn''t have believed them! Cui¡¯er was all about calling the Old mistress if you didn¡¯t come back by the morning ¨C but we should have tried harder! By god, I should have tried harder searching for you¨C! I... I, who knows pretty well that you are not someone who goes around without informing people close to you¡­Look at you, you look horrible! It''s all my fault for being so careless!¡±


    ¡°No! Don¡¯t¡­wake grandmother! I¡¯m alright -¡±


    The rest of the dialogue was left between the mistress and her servant as Wei Zhiruo reverted back her attention from that corner.


    She wasn''t interested in eavesdropping.


    Early morning light started touching down the horizon, and birds¡¯ songs and their flight became common, interspersed pauses.


    ¡°I will reach the shore in a couple minutes. Try and do everything and don¡¯t fall into the second phase yet, alright Marr? It would look odd, if someone spotted us writhing in pain over the water surface, that is, if we don¡¯t end up drowning first. Mind you ¨C I don¡¯t want either of that happening to me.¡± Wei Zhiruo offhandedly reminded her blood-seed.


    [I know, I know.] Marr reassured her in her mind. [Whatever you say goes!]


    Wei Zhiruo connected her mind with Marr¡¯s and saw him skimming through texts inside the ¡°Central House of Knowledge¡± floating inside her Spiritual Sea. His roots though, were furiously entangling with her human organs, taking over the Outer body.


    Without even asking she knew instantly what he was up to. He must be searching for some way to alleviate the pain of body transformation that occurred in the Second phase of Awakening. She had already started feeling it, as Marr''s piercing and digging his roots into flesh and organs was not a process without pain. But it was still in the range of tolerable.


    ¡°You don¡¯t have to mind too much. It¡¯s not like we don¡¯t have experience. At least we are not going blindly into this Awakening ¨C it''s already our second time.¡± She tried reassuring Marr.


    Wei Zhiruo herself wasn¡¯t optimistic that he would get anything out of those old texts, but refrained from outright stopping him.


    There were hardly any actual ¡®clan secret¡¯ books left, not to mention actual bloodline inheritance had only been partially revealed to them. Marr could use some bloodline techniques, but they were too few to let her survive off of them.


    What was left of previous clan inheritance was just a few history and anecdotal books ¨C all the techniques she used were found desperately in the Middle world after searching for years, and they all were based on the presence of Mana in her surroundings. Although she had also learned rune-forging and Blood-magic which could be used without Mana, they all required appropriate mediums and could hardly help her in her transformation.


    Wei Zhiruo counted everything she had learned, but couldn¡¯t find anything suitable. Marr suddenly spotting a secret method to lessen pain during ¡®Awakening¡¯ was really¡­too far-fetched to her.


    Wei Zhiruo shrugged off some outside chill, and looked forward.


    When the whole physical body, its organs and entrails started transforming together, and went through earth shattering changes to become a distinctly different kind of organism altogether, it wasn¡¯t going to be an easy shift on any count. She was ready to bear the pain that accompanied this process. The numb pain that filled her at this moment as she felt those roots digging through her was just the first step ¨Cit was going to become a more and more exhilarating sort of anguish.


    It wasn¡¯t always like this, though. In the past, her kind never had to experience such tumultuous, unbearably painful transformations.


    She recalled. Awakening had a long history inside her clan, almost going back millennia. But this process itself wasn¡¯t old enough.


    Considering that the First ancestor was born from the primordial chaos with other Gods and deities, and that he wasn¡¯t even born in the same universe as them ¡ª it was common clan knowledge that the Sangtchi clan had migrated from a different universe and settled in the Cuiping world ¨Cthe time to undergo all that could hardly be estimated in human numbers.


    Wei Zhiruo remembered quite clearly. The genealogy stated that the first ancestors who came to the ¡®known universe¡¯, of which both the Middle World and the Cuiping world were a part of, were: the ¡®Fifth Elder Yissem of Samthci¡¯ and his wife whose name wasn¡¯t recorded, and ¡®Seventh Elder Obaen of Urus¡¯ and his wife, Uriel of Areme. All the bloodclan in her universe traced their heritage back to these two couples. However, it was only the name Samthci that got corrupted and stuck around, which became the common clan¡¯s name for all bloodkin, regardless of their descent.


    ¡°Maybe,¡± Wei Zhiruo said, ¡°when I broke the vow tying the clan''s link with Cuiping world, I was also breaking away from the recognition that land had given to an alien race like us? The link to that universe itself? Or why else am I now in a completely different universe? Thinking like that, it isn¡¯t implausible¡­ I died chanting the Oath breaking song and was rejected and thrown away into another universe in the end.¡±


    [I bet its something like that. That would explain why your ancestors emphasized so much¡­on this oath tying your clan to that world. They selflessly dedicated years and years of their lives supporting the development of an alien civilization, and in return, you say, they got nothing out of it¡­? That is quite difficult to believe and really, too much dedication. I am more ready to believe that they might have negotiated a symbiotic relationship with that world.]


    ¡°So, when the oath broke ¨C I too lost the last link tying me to that universe. Would we have died instantly if I wasn¡¯t sucked inside this body? Crushed to pieces?¡± That made her obviously question whether or not she had now completely gained a ¡®native¡¯s¡¯ identity?


    [Hard to say. But this could explain that strange¡­depressing feeling I felt arriving in this new world.]


    Wei Zhiruo shrugged off these unrooted thoughts and many more that started filling her up.


    ¡°What would it be like to live in ancient times?¡± Wei Zhiruo distractedly asked instead, as she took a turn around a reed-bed, and rowed. ¡°To not have to suffer the pain of Awakening and to be able to roam the universe since childhood - doesn¡¯t both of these prospect¡¯s sound like the most fabulous dreams? They had it so much better in the past."


    "Umm..."


    In the ancient times, a bloodkin was born a bloodkin, not Awakened from a human offspring. This shift only happened after the bloodline diluted too much, making it impossible to bear a full-blooded progeny inside a weaker womb.


    Clansmen evolved, or rather degenerated, owing to thousands of years of intermarriages with other races ¡ª most of which were marriages to humans. It was only natural that the blood would get diluted, with more human offspring getting born as time passed.


    Soon enough, the women of the clan no longer bore new bloodkin. And while everyone was lamenting that they had lost the last trace of ¡®acceptance¡¯ from their bloodline completely¨C the first Awakening took place. A child Awakened his latent bloodline.


    Later, this process became the only way the bloodline was carried on, and preserved. While her clan became classified into three classes ¨C the full blood, half-blood, and the humans. However, it was only the descendants from the direct line of descent, who could support the royal seal and sit over the throne.


    Wei Zhiruo herself saw this whole process as a natural decline. With each passing generation diluting the bloodline further and further, a bloodline like hers was too hard to preserve in the changing times. Awakening, that process alone could hardly do anything to revert the grave situation. She was a great proof of changing realities ¡ªas the only full-blooded bloodkin in almost a century, she was nothing short of a unicorn in a changed world!


    Awakening itself though was not too complicated.


    In the first phase, the bloodline awakens. The blood-seed sprouts inside the Spiritual Sea holding the soul ¨C the place which she usually called the Sea of Consciousness ¨C and blood-seed''s root winds around the soul, wrapping and growing over it, feeding on its ¡®life-essence¡¯. Blood-seeds themselves could also manifest outside the body after this process. There were several records in the clan written about strange beasts and plants the blood-seed had manifested into. Most notable of them was the dragon companion of Uriel of Areme, who could swallow down planets if he was angered or crossed.


    Wei Zhiruo¡¯s blood seed was peculiar because its original form had always been a red liquid, very similar to some kind of red blood. It never manifested into a beast shape or the like, but later learned to mimic a cat¡¯s body for ease of doing some things. He always said that it was because he had failed to Awaken full bloodline inheritance that he looked like this¨C maybe this was the reason of his ¡®unformed¡¯ form. But she herself always felt that hard to believe. Her instincts told her that he should have looked like that ¨C familiar and amorphous.     The story has been taken without consent; if you see it on Amazon, report the incident.


    The second phase was usually the most painful. In this phase the whole body transforms. As creatures who were originally born in outer space, the body once again readies itself to face that harsh environment; adapting to temperature, pressure and the absence of air and food.


    Although there was no record of the greatest extent of transformation one could undergo, the least one should achieve in this second phase was to become capable enough to easily control gravity. All half-blood could fly in the air.


    She had also heard that the ancestors used to use the starlight as their food. When she fled from the Cuiping world, she did experience travelling in outer-space and the real flavor of wandering there, but she was well prepared. She had a clear destination in her mind, and books and maps to guide her through the real teleportation channel leading directly to the Middle world. She hardly needed to restock her supply or starve to such an extent that she was forced to confirm whether it was correct information or not. But the clan records clearly said that a real bloodkin could use any kind of light, and turn it directly into Vital energy and Life-Force¡­


    The last phase was called ¡®Soul Transformation¡¯. The changes in this were usually quite esoteric, vague and difficult to put into words. But she knew that this transformation completely subverted the essence of the soul. It purified it, and made it firmer, and finally unified the inner and outer body to form a collective life-essence flowing system, originating in her soul and extending everywhere else. With this system in place, she could use other forging techniques to cultivate her body and organs.


    The last transformation was pivotal in a sense. It was the last and final moment, when the whole body was fine-tuned and perfected and healed. It was a blessing from the nature that allowed a new bloodkin to heal up all past wounds in the soul.


    [You¡¯re taking too long.]


    ¡°I can¡¯t do anything. It¡¯s a maze in here.¡±


    The shore was visible by the naked eye, and wasn¡¯t too far away, but the reed beds and lotus stalks clumped together in bunches, scattering all around. They formed what looked like a maze-like path that forced her to change her directions several times. This increased the distance significantly. She couldn''t just row through those jungles of weeds growing in the water, because if she did that, she would end up stuck in there.


    ¡°I¡¯ll try to hurry up.¡± She said and paddled more rapidly.


    Wei Zhiruo turned her head back to look behind herself; an endless screen of fog had once again veiled most of her charted path. She turned to face forward and likewise, saw the mist shading her view.


    Had she been reliant only on her human five senses, she would have no other way but to blindly chase a direction ¨C and such a tedious task would have relented her to a destination eventually ¨C but the time taken in that arduous journey would¡¯ve been exceptionally long. She was glad she had her Spiritual Consciousness, which acted as the best of seers and guides, and reflected the whole view elaborately, as if the mist was there but also not and posed as no barrier to her eyes.


    A few moments later, finally, she reached a close distance to the shore and dropped the oars. ¡°We are here.¡±


    She jumped down the boat. The shallow waters reached up to her knees, but the toughest part while treading over them was still the chilling, biting coldness that felt like knives piercing through her bones! She pushed forward attentively, so as to not lose balance while walking over the slippery mud.


    ¡°I don¡¯t know how much more it will hurt this time, but the issue of Mana exhaustion, no, rather, its complete absence will be a major problem. I can only hope we don¡¯t fall into a forced coma because of that. I just woke up yesterday, and then if I go back to sleep, I don¡¯t think I¡¯ll wake up anytime soon.¡± Wei Zhiruo sighed.


    A few steps and she was close to the embankment. She put her two small arms over the shore, hauling her small body over with the assistance of the shore-side grasses, taking them as ropes. Her simple robe got noticeably wet, up from its hem to the waist and was now sticking to her skin. But the coldness emanating from it was the least of her concerns.


    [Don''t worry too much, Ama. It will just take four hours ¨C and for that much you can try to live through. I am telling you, even without the Mana stones, or to say, that Mana liquid, we will be fine! My leaves are full of leftover energy from inscribing those Runes inside my body. One of the reasons I''m stretching my roots all around your Inner body and now all over your Outer one too so quickly is just for that. I am almost turning you into a sieve by doing all this ¨C but know that if there is an energy shortage, I¡¯ll send over all the energy I can muster to promote your growth! So don''t be nervous about the whole process ¨C it will be over before you even realize it!] Marr replied.


    This reassurance, although couldn¡¯t lighten much of Wei Zhiruo¡¯s increasingly nervous mood, but it did cheer her up. She smiled a little, before setting out to find a secluded corner in the nearby abandoned courtyard to sit down and meditate.


    She had made clear plans of what kind of hiding place she needed at this moment. It should be secluded enough that others don¡¯t spot her instantly sitting there, if someone did stumble over here accidentally.


    With this in mind, she walked and surveyed around for the best possible position. A while later, she did find it ¡ªan old willow tree, with its bark darkened with time and dust, and leaves too lush and green.


    ¡°Here. It¡¯s a nice place for hiding.¡± Wei Zhiruo spoke. The willow tree had dug its roots through the brick walls of the courtyard, and now grew leaning over it, creating a dark, hollow space between the trunk and the wall, which was large enough for a small child to sit under comfortably. If she sat down in that gap, anyone who came this way would just see the trunk, and the lush willow branches cascading down. This way, she will have plenty of time to escape or hide somewhere else. But she was preparing for the worst-case scenario ¨C this place was at a safe distance from both the rest of the courtyards as well as the pond and chances of anyone just stumbling upon her¡­it shouldn¡¯t be that easy, right?


    ¡°I think we can forgo setting a barrier. Casting a Rune will take some part of my mind in maintaining it and I want to fully concentrate on Awakening...¡± Wei Zhiruo bent down under, and crawled deeper into the gap. The soil was dry and sandy, with the roots peeking out from the ground. As her hands brushed through them, a little bit of soil stuck in between her wounds, rubbing it open afresh.


    [Umm¡­It really doesn¡¯t look like a place people visit often.] Marr observed. [I think it should be okay¡­?]


    ¡°Well then-!¡± Wei Zhiruo huffed a little, and removed the brooch holding her cloak in place around her neck. The cloak fell down, which she gathered in a roll and simply threw it away at a little distance.


    She sat down and regulated her breath to match the perfect rhythm and began to meditate again.


    ¡°Okay¡­let¡¯s begin. I am ready,¡± she said.


    ¡°I am going to start.¡±


    ¡°Hmm.¡±


    Wei Zhiruo felt her breath stop. She felt the pressure descending down over her shoulders and hastily straightened her pose to the right stance, forcing down all the pressure towards the center, just under her navel, and then from there into her limbs down into the soil.


    Without a moment¡¯s break, the pangs of pain seemed to echo from a tunnel of the past and now, had her heart in its monstrous clutches. She could feel it building up, hear its step reaching her, one step, two steps and soon it was here; she felt the pressure build up, recede and then instantly a poignant anguish of ephemeral kind gripped her heart. It dragged her down, pushed itself up and then twirled in a twisted, torturous sort of manner, reaching far down to the tip of her toes. It was sheer agony, and pronouncedly blunt.


    She lost all her calm and with that her ability to speak, or cry out loud.


    ¡®Get a hold of yourself, Wei Zhiruo.¡¯ Piercing nails into her flesh, she awakened her almost, fainting mind.


    "Huff, ha¡­!"


    The pain of bone breaking and realigning was great, and that of rupturing inner organs was unspeakably horrible. Her mind was full of gushing red. Some blood entered her mouth and dyed her teeth red, filling up to her nose! She could only bend down and vomit out the blood to open some gap and breath¡­!


    ¡°I¡¯m good. You go on. Don¡¯t stop for me.¡± She warned Marr, who was busy regulating the pace of the transformation.


    ¡°I will. Don¡¯t worry.¡± He replied sounding worried.


    For a whole hour they both maintained the statue like stillness. Wei Zhiruo felt that if she dared to even move the tip of her fingers right now, she would shatter into countless fragments. When an hour of endless torment and most major transformation ended, only then did she straighten her back and said, ¡°You¡¯ve been too quiet for some while. What happened? Did you find something?¡±


    ¡°Err¡­uh, well, how should I put this¡­¡±


    ¡°Go on, don¡¯t keep me waiting. You really did? That''s quite surprising¡­¡± Wei Zhiruo leaned against the wall.


    ¡°I''d better show it to you. Close your eyes.¡±


    ¡°Oh...What is this piece of parchment?¡± Right in front of her inner eyes was a piece of yellowed parchment paper. Its edges were rounded, and it looked like it had been torn away from a book, with one side still supporting traces of tears.


    ¡°Read first. I found this in the collection called ¡°Odd Tales of Wayfarer¡±. This anonymous author¡¯s work was collected by your uncle''s side of the family ¨C my goodness, do they have a rare collection of skills! No wonder they, the Wallace''s, successfully erased all traces of past major forces, becoming the face of the Eastern Bloodclan family. I think one of the reasons was their preservation of past heritage. You¡¯ll feel the same when you look at this. It¡¯s strange but coherent and has the same way of explanation and esoteric terms as that [Pure Energy Technique] that came from the Ruze clan. I am beginning to think that, both these skills may have a common origin and that book must have been brought by your ancestors. How it fell into the hands of the Ruze clan ¡ªthat can be easily guessed.¡± By the end of his words, he was sighing loudly.


    A white cat appeared besides the phantom floating image of the skill as Wei Zhiruo read it aloud ¨C


    ¡¸Skill rank: Heaven Level


    Race: Created for human clans who have spiritual roots. This soul cultivation technique is non-exclusionary, that is, it doesn''t forbid simultaneous cultivation of other soul, body or Qi cultivation techniques and also doesn''t restrict cultivating other Qi Introductory Skills unlike majority that can be found today in the cultivation world.


    Spiritual Roots Requirements: No requirements. Preferably wood yang spirit root. But others can also use it. ¡¹


    ¡°¡­made for human-kind? Why would our Bloodclan be interested in collecting such a technique if it is just limited to the human race?¡±


    "Maybe they lost the other complementary parts which might have worked for other races as well? Look, this skill has part two and three to it and we just have the introduction page with us. I am really getting more and more piqued by this." Marr squinted his eyes, while he carelessly brushed his whiskers with his paws.


    "Never mind¡­We can never be sure about how many clan inheritances my mother let her clansmen steal, so let''s forget about it. Now in this world, where are we going to find other parts? It says...With spiritual-roots? What term is that? I don¡¯t think I have these in my body, or do I?¡±


    ¡¸The Heavenly Star Formation


    Soul Tempering Method:


    (Heaven Level Soul Cultivation Technique)


    This method mainly teaches you how to use your human bodily orifices to inhale in the spiritual energy, and open up six ¡®apertures¡¯ in your body using the ¡®life-essence¡¯ of the soul. The six apertures are mainly the six major points conjoining in a Stellar-field Formation, including: one point over the Spiritual Sea, one over the carotid artery, descending downwards in a straight line one should be over the flesh of Heart, another one onto the center of your back-bone, one over the Sea of Qi and finally over the seventh soul. This heavenly Formation uses your ¡®life-essence¡¯ as ink, your body-vessels as surface and arranges the best Spiritual Array to cultivate "Six Constellation Formation" inside your body using the breathing technique. Once a ''star-point'' is successfully formed, it will circulate the soul energy all over the body in a closed formation, tempering its strength and purity as well as that of other organs attached to this Array.  With these, you can strengthen your lifespan by regulating your body with life-essence, purify your soul level, and finally, enter into the realms of Qi cultivation when these six star-points are all fully conjoined.


    Advanced level: To achieve best results, re-engrave the Array over the body after starting cultivation, using the spiritual energy from the dantian. The world¡¯s heaven and its stars are divided into four corners and twenty-eight mansions. Use the following ¡®real¡¯ constellations from the traditional twenty-eight mansions to reinforce these six ¡°soul-points¡± by arranging another array.


    D¨­ngf¨¡ng Azure dragon ¨C Xin star formation, B¨§if¨¡ng Black tortoise ¨C Xu star formation, X¨©f¨¡ng White tiger ¨C Shen star formation, N¨¢nf¨¡ng Vermillion bird ¨C Liu star formation corresponding to ¡®soul-points¡¯ in Heart, Sea of Qi, one over the soul, and finally the one over the artery. For the last two points use the Firebird constellation for points on bones and Hai Shan for Spiritual Sea.


    Usages: Introductory Skill for entering soul cultivation. When one completes all the six points, the soul will solidify into one level higher than the actual cultivation stage, increasing the ability of Spiritual Senses to become equal to triple the area of similar level Practitioner¡¯s. The Sea of Consciousness widens, while the principal organs attached to this Array will turn into iron-walled vessels, impenetrable. If the soul is cultivated to Foundation level using the same technique, it can allow one to leave the body for a day and increase corresponding to the cultivation level. (For proper breathing art refer to first chapter) ¡¹


    ¡°I don¡¯t get it. There are too many foreign terms here.¡± Wei Zhiruo asked. ¡°I understand the last constellation part ¨C however they don¡¯t look like anything in our own galaxy. These stars are too detailed to not understand that they all are some strange constellations of an alien civilization! But what does Spiritual Energy, Qi cultivation level, and that Sea of Qi or any of these even mean? Is there any additional explanation available?¡±


    ¡°That¡¯s why there is a diagram attached to this.¡± Another more complicated diagram appeared in Wei Zhiruo¡¯s inner eyes. It was a man¡¯s body with marked spaces and explanations labelled against it. While on the sidelines, there were written notes on constellations and the star numbers and their origin. Also, a not so complicated breathing method. None of these were familiar to Wei Zhiruo.


    ¡°Look here. Here, is the Sea of Qi in this area where those strange roots are. Then that will make those roots, what this manual calls ¡®Spiritual roots¡¯-! And these roots are present in humans! You have it too! Heart, soul, artery, back-bone, and Spiritual Sea, we know these places.¡± Marr happily pointed out the major points.


    ¡°But we don¡¯t know what spiritual energy is. It''s most likely a substance like Mana, which cannot be produced in any way. Something that exists on its own or even forms nature, right?¡± Wei Zhiruo said. ¡°I get what you want to show me ¡ªit''s indeed an intriguing skill. But without Spiritual-energy we will not be able to fill these star-point¡¯s up, or cultivate further. Let me think¡­,¡± but suddenly she stopped talking.


    ¡°Hush. Don¡¯t talk to me and let me think.¡± Wei Zhiruo suddenly had an epiphany and stopped Marr from interrupting her thoughts.


    Star Formation? Ability to use star-light to use it to convert into life-essence? What if that rumor was true? Would this really not be a ready made technique for her to cultivate her weakened soul state? She thought deeply and pondered over the risk of experimenting right now.


    ¡°Hmm¡­it''s indeed possible to use the same pattern, but a different system entirely...¡±


    The third stage of Awakening was a great guarantee. Its whole purpose was to make the soul perfect. Say, if this method doesn''t actually work in her body, she will face a backlash on her soul. But there is the third Phase which will definitely heal the damage!


    ¡°Really? You¡¯re not lying to me? Will it really help you?¡± Marr jumped up beside her looking excited like never before. His red eyes glinted in the dark, and shimmered. He knew what she was thinking.


    ¡°Really, and I am not lying to you. But give me time to refine the process a little. I just had a thought, but I will need a couple of minutes to deliberate over them. We still have one hour of the second phase and two hours of the third stage of awakening. It''s plenty of time. Now, go back and get some sleep while I do the tinkering. I know you are tired. I¡¯ll wake you up in half an hour.¡±


    ¡°Good. Call me up the moment you find a possible design. I just thought this technique would really suit us. If it really turns into one¡­¡±


    ¡°That would be like timely rain.¡±


    ¡°Just what we needed right now. Soul cultivation would need nothing like mana or spiritual energy, so it¡¯s a good skill.¡± Marr finished saying and vanished into the air.

 Chapter 10. Seal of Recognition

    With the short enlightening exchange between themselves, Wei Zhiruo and Marr got busy with their respective duties.


    Marr slipped away to restore his tired state, while Wei Zhiruo started reading the text ¡ªor more like tearing it apart into bits and pieces, and into easily correlating chunks of information bits and mapping a graphic chart out of them.


    Wei Zhiruo couldn¡¯t afford to lose too much time on doing this either.


    Tethered inside and outside of her body, transcending inexorable distance in her imagination, her own ''thoughts'' began to overrule and marginalize other chaotic noises, softening their hardened edges and then completely submerging herself in the world of her own. She decided to enter what she herself called, the ''black box''.


    Black, because no imaginary, fictional or real light could penetrate inside here and reach her. While the space was fashioned into a cube, box-like structure so it became a ''box''. In this space, in this state of herself, she was one with everything and she owned her own thoughts entirely. For once.


    It was a difficult condition to maintain in normal times, but occasionally it served as a good meditative tool. Since it used up unimaginable determination on her part, she seldom locked herself in here. Another reason that stopped her from doing this constantly to evade alien thoughts was that she was always at risk of never waking up from it.


    Nevertheless, here she was.


    The willow tree was wondering about her sudden appearance beside itself, and those few stray, yellow crested warblers looked at her amusingly observing her wayward antics¨C but once she was inside this ''box'' she wouldn''t be sidetracked by their musings and hard to understand emotionally charged exchanges which felt like hard symbols and incoherent, cryptic noises on its own.


    In her normal state, these vibrations entered her mind uninterruptedly and were hard to ignore. But not inside the box. Everything ceased to exist in this small black space, no sound, light or sight could infiltrate these cold walls.


    ¡°It¡¯s just¡­ too many risks. I wish I could use this all the time.''


    She felt herself submerging downwards and floating. Nothing appeared in her Inner mind as it lost its meaning, Marr was inaudible in here, and the outward body ¡ªeverything was a figment she had separated with and shed like snakes shedding their skin.


    She got started immediately.


    Wei Zhiruo first repeatedly revised the technique¡¯s introduction that was still fresh in her mind. She dissected and bunched together all the strange terms she didn¡¯t recognize. This process made it much easier for her to guess what some sentences were actually saying. From what she could understand, she created a mental map and imagined how it would work if the whole technique ran inside her body.


    By the end of it, her mind space had crafted a human shape which completely copied her current body''s various meridians. The thin meridians overlapped with vitality flowing veins which were made of millions and millions of fine threads reaching out everywhere else in her body from her soul  - this was the life-essence that determined her lifespan.


    Wei Zhiruo also highlighted some four hundred points she had discovered a while ago. The supposed position of ''Star-point'' didn''t overlap with any of them.


    ''Ah, a completely new aperture? Interesting¡­'' Wei Zhiruo shelved this discovery to think about later.


    Since there was no Spiritual energy in the air to truly feel what the actual technique felt like, she started with the fact that her body could absorb starlight.


    The amount and absorption rate in her previous life could be summed up in two words ¡ªmeagre and almost negligible. A whole day''s worth of starlight absorption when circulated well enough could form a constant, visible white thread-like line inside her blood veins, but that thread was fine like a spider¡¯s weave. And it hardly stayed inside and soon trickled out of the body after a while, when not managed by her Spiritual Consciousness.


    Not much changed in this life, but her body''s retaining ability had definitely increased much compared to before.


    If it was to be used in this specific technique, it must first follow the breathing art mentioned in the margins. What will happen next? The breathing rhythm will dictate an order, and the starlight will revolve in the opened up ''Star-point'', rotate, tumble and aggravate their nature to make them willingly subdued in a fixed pattern.


    There was nothing to base her unfounded hope, no outward phenomenon she recalled from her past life could prove that she was right. She just had instincts and they urged her to do this. That''s all. But the moment she saw her mind finish creating this three-dimensional figure, she instantly fell into a strange kind of meditative realization.


    The patterns inside these star-points emerged and overlapped, broke and remerged. There was certainly a specific order in which the breathing technique fashioned these starlight¡¯s to rotate and behave which created a mystical rhythm, almost musical in nature, inside her body. She recorded each swirl, each swell of the turning wave, leaving nothing to her imagination.


    Next, she started looking into method''s introduction. Here she met with harder to deal with imagery and allusions. But strangely enough, as she delved deeper and deeper into the mysterious state, the lost meanings found ground and her ability to understand increased in leaps and bounds! She recalled a new piece of information related to the technique and strangely enough, she couldn''t remember whether Marr had shown this to her or not!


    ¡¸Introduction of the method:


    This method mainly focuses on one''s use of life force to open six-points at specific areas. A mortal can enter Qi cultivation using this introductory soul cultivation technique, as the points will join together and form an Array formation inside the body after being filled with Spiritual energy and keep running until the Qi is inducted. After induction, this technique requires constant supply of sufficient amounts of Qi from surroundings. Filling a single ''star-point'' alone will help one enter the third level of Qi cultivation, and each consecutive opening of the ¡®star-points¡¯ will raise the cultivation level a step further¡ªthat is, if one were at fifth level of Qi cultivation, when starting this technique, the first point will push them directly to eighth level of Qi cultivation ¨Cand then each successive points will keep pushing a level forward, stopping shortly before the Foundation establishment. The technique has no effect on Foundation, and cannot help establish one, as it is essentially a Soul cultivation technique.


    As such, the method requires one to sit in a Spiritual energy gathering array so that they can get a constant, plentiful supply of Qi. But the technique''s main attributes help to strengthen one''s soul energy. Absorbing the Qi of heaven and using it to convert into life-essence of the soul.


    The formation itself is not permanent and innate, and can collapse at any time, if disbalanced. The moment the Qi circulation in these points break, or the chain breaks, the formation as well as technique will be null and void, and the cultivator will in turn face immediate backlash, with his cultivation level falling back to where he had started.


    To make the formation innate and permanent, requires one to overlap the opened six points with six-star diagrams as mentioned before from the twenty-eight mansions and two other constellations, engraving them over these points. With the aid of breathing technique, one has to intrinsically etch the individual rhythm of the constellation into the ''Star-points¡¯. To seal the Formation, and make the breathing rhythm locked inside the Star-points, one needs to use an additional Array Talisman attached underneath. ¡¹


    Mentioned underneath was the so-called ¡®Array Talisman¡¯ which seemed like weirdly written Runes. After pondering them for a few minutes, she felt her head splitting with a headache and had to stop analyzing them instantly. Instead, she focused more on her own memories of its small sections, its shape, size and structure.


    A little casted in shadows, the memories itself were still legible and didn¡¯t start inducing headache outright as they were just some smaller chunks of the whole image. In this way, she read and analyzed them ¡ªfound a few places of familiarity in the twisted, curved lines of the written Talisman, and soon confirmed that these Talisman''s were indeed a kind of Rune Formation she was familiar with.


    In fact, runes were no different from ¡®words¡¯ with an inherent meaning and sound, but when they were used, they ¡®manifested¡¯ the fundamental meanings. If she was to speak [Shield] a thin film will protect her from a single attack of her enemy, but that was that.


    For it to even work, she first had to completely understand what that simple rune ¡®shield¡¯ had actually meant! It wasn¡¯t the manifesting white screen that emerged from her imagination in the end, it was the seed she had planted in her mind ¨C the concept of ¡®barrier¡¯ and ¡®armor¡¯ conjoining to form a [shield]. This was an easy example. Many ¡®words¡¯ didn¡¯t even have their original meanings intact! Some had lost their original meaning in the passage of time ¨C and no! No new meaning could act as replacement of the original.


    For a Rune-forger, an eye to see past the mist and dust of history, and glimpse the past traces and meanings of a word was as essential as a bard''s need to spin a beginning and an end in the order of his tale.


    ¡°Peculiar, indeed. The underlying principle that makes a Rune magical is that they carry a specific element from the ¡®First language of the world¡¯ or the ¡®Tongue of Gods¡¯. Either a link of inscribed Rune includes their meaning, structure or intonation, or it just copies some other elements of God speech. Do these talismans also function in this way? I can see that some characters and ideographs of some of them definitely carry a striking similarity in their core formation. But how much ¨C? Let¡¯s see¡­¡±


    The cultivation skill was written in her own bloodline language and that was why she had easily read through it. However, these Talisman¡¯s were completely copied from what it seems like their original language! Wei Zhiruo read labels explaining these ¡®Talismans¡¯ written like a note using the bloodline language.


    ¡¸Array talisman¡¯s: Place a [Life Comprehension Talisman] over heart, [Death Comprehension Talisman] over the bones , [Comprehending Spirit of the Word Talisman] over Sea of Consciousness, [Time Configuring Talisman] or in its place [Talisman of Body Enlightenment] for better results over the artery. Place [Soul Enlightenment Talisman] on soul and [Five Element Configuring Talisman] over the Sea of Qi. ¡¹


    Taking a deep breath, Wei Zhiruo read all the names of the Talisman and memorized the places where they should be engraved. By the end of this ordeal, she felt her head almost splitting into two pieces! She felt light headed and her mouth felt completely dry.


    Some key-words flashed in her mind though, attracting her attention to them.


    Those Array talismans seemed to require a very, very high level of cultivation¡­how high, she recalled the last time she felt this kind of aggravating, ruthless pain. It was when she was learning Origin Runes!


    ¡°Origin Runes¡­?¡± What about them? It was so painful to peer through a single one of them that she took a hundred days just to glean the meaning of a single character by studying a single character by dividing it into microscopic bits and pieces¨C that¡¯s how hard she had tried to just see what was in them. Being able to use them was a different set of ordeals entirely.


    It was a blessing that she didn¡¯t just burst out like a balloon in the end, and instead, because she had her bloodline inheritance, was actually able to use some of the bloodline language to ¡®understand¡¯ God''s speech.


    The God-clan¡¯s own language, which was left to every race in some or the other form was no small matter. In the hierarchy of Runes it took the highest seat with no other contender! Many tried to decipher its essence with no result in her times, and those who succeeded hardly let others ever get any of them. She succeeded because of a cheat.


    When she Awakened in her past life, although Marr didn¡¯t get the full bloodline inheritance, its language was completely passed down to her.


    It was in the days after escaping to the Middle world, when she was desperately searching for a cultivation method that suited her when she found Runes. At that time she had tried everything and found nothing suitable- magic didn¡¯t work for her, neither craftsmanship nor blacksmithing could work without mana, and even the smallest jobs required one to have some or other kind of elemental affinity. She didn¡¯t have any Mana beads to internalize magic.


    Then she found Runes which looked so similar to her bloodline language. Later, when she was being shown the mystery of God language, she found how strikingly similar it was to ¡®God''s own tongue¡¯!


    As she grew up, she started collecting these small traditions from wherever she could ¨C from the Cuiping world she collected some fifty Origin Runes, and in the Middle world¡­a complete, original text which was first owned by a witch Rune-forger, containing some five hundred thousand of them.


    Collecting was collecting, learning their essence was the actual part. Understanding a Rune, then using it to create some other artefact was the actual test of one¡¯s comprehension. She hardly had any time left to grasp them fully¡­so what she actually knew and mastered was just some fifty, well-known ''God speech'' character''s she¡¯d found. Now that the inheritance of that witch was totally lost in the last world, she only had these few Origin Runes that she had actually learned¡­


    As if her mind had opened up to a new window, a very interesting possibility flashed inside her mind.


    Could she also replace those Talisman''s by substituting them with her own Origin Rune''s? Although she didn¡¯t know the principles of these Talismans, she had spent years and years pondering over the existence of Origin Runes and one thing they succeeded in doing without much effort was stabilizing ¡®artefacts¡¯ on which they were engraved. If her body was a tool, she was forging right now using the Runes, wouldn¡¯t they act as good, even seals, meant to stabilize a specific area?


    ¡°umm¡­is it possible?¡± What could be higher in hierarchy than an actual God¡¯s language? Even if the dimension was different, their inherent power was undeniable. If she linked Origin Runes, instead of those Array Talismans at these specific six points, and conjoined them, will she make this technique innately her own?


    Till now, much of what she¡¯d comprehended was just guesses. She hardly understood this foreign style of cultivation which she was seeing for the first time. Not to mention, this method was so esoteric that she found her own level of grasping the details always short of actual requirements¡ªshe couldn''t grasp the degree of obscurity in between the lines which made her feel that she was always trying to create a castle over clouds, empty and baseless!


    But despite all her doubts she didn''t want to just stop here. Her instincts were telling her that this was something good.


    Wei Zhiruo tore herself away from the ''black box''. The nausea hit her hard, as well as the sudden feeling of falling down from a height.


    However, she didn¡¯t stop for too long to settle her mind. Inscriptions, Runes and some bloodline words¡­all of them floated in her vision, as she filtered the best out of them. Red words, golden words and flashing silver inscriptions¡­


    ¡°The names of these Talismans feel like some distinct descriptions, if I am correct. Can they be picked up superficially? Death, life, spirit of the word, time, body enlightenment, soul and five elements¡­ Does this world also follow the concept of five major elements forming all other things? Fire, water, wood, earth and metal? And their placements¡­ They look so symbolic. Pretty descriptive, aren''t they?¡± Wei Zhiruo muttered to herself, writing down the Talisman Array names into the soil.


    She circled the words that sounded like the foundation of each Talisman, and assessed their relation with the position on which they were supposed to be carved.


    ¡°Six points corresponding to six main features of the body. If the body is a ¡®vessel¡¯, then what is it formed of? First, the bones are pillars supporting the structure. Star-point over the back-bone¡­let¡¯s take this as the supposed symbolism. Then, naturally, the one over the artery is to represent flesh and blood, a manifestation of the physical body¡­then, the one on the Sea of Consciousness represents mind or spirit, one on the heart is for the core of human sensibilities, the soul is self-explanatory ¨C the essence of the very being. Finally, what is this Sea of Qi? Let¡¯s reconsider the whole structure again.¡±


    She used her wounded palm to rub away the names carved in the dry soil. In its place, she drew a figure of a man with his arms and legs outstretched and marked the position of the Sea of Qi and the Sea of Consciousness.


    For mages in her world, the first and most important qualification was affinity with the outside elements. If one had affinity with the elements outside, he could then lead them into his body and form the body''s own Mana. This internal energy was stored in the body, tempering its level and abilities, and this was the basis for casting any form of magic.


    But where was it stored ¨C? Wei Zhiruo drew another circle in the position of the heart, putting a dot inside it.


    The energy was stored inside an innate Mana container or a bead-like structure which existed inside the heart. It constantly filled itself up and emptied when used, enduring constant changes to its capacity. The beads capacity to hold Mana was fixed at each level.


    If one were to go on and suppose that there exists some similarity in the essence of these two systems, the one purported in [The Heavenly Star Formation] and the Middle world¡¯s magic system¡­Spiritual energy or Qi could stand in place for Mana, right? Doesn¡¯t that make the Sea of Qi, the natural container of the Qi? That means, the space below the navel is definitely something like a Mana bead!


    ¡®It all makes sense now. But here, I cannot use Mana or Spiritual Qi. So, I came up with replacing it with starlight. But, can that be really internalized?"You could be reading stolen content. Head to the original site for the genuine story.


    She actually had a flash of inspiration when she was talking with Marr. Now that she had straightened out so many concepts, she went back to her previous inspiration.


    Wei Zhiruo felt that the starlight could be a great substitute for Qi or Mana. After all, they were one of the celestial forms of energy, present all over the universe and they flowed inside her body like Mana used to do! She couldn¡¯t hold the Mana without the Mana bead, and the Mana usually behaved just like these starlight¡¯s ¨C they filtered in and then they trickled out.


    ¡®But suppose, if these ¡®Star-points¡¯ were completely new aperture points, wouldn¡¯t they act like mana beads when this whole operation was done? This is like creating a special point to store mana in a sense, which, after following a specific ¨C undiscovered ¨C principle will start to strengthen the soul by giving it vitality. I have never seen anything like this before¨C it¡¯s like a technique to earn more lifespan!¡¯


    There were actually two myths related to starlight in her clan. One was that the starlight absorbed, could be directly turned into Life-essence by full blooded blood-kin in the ancient times. Running in the similar vein, there was the myth that if a bloodkin has the purest of Bloodline¡¯s, he can feel the starlight working on his physical body in a different manner. She didn¡¯t have the purity level to bet that this specific thing will work for her, but the first information should almost be correct right?


    Wei Zhiruo sobered up. ¡®Other creatures cannot absorb light, but I can. If those myths surrounding ancestors were correct then after establishing a proper system, the absorbed star-lights might be converted into life-essence directly with this technique. All I need to do is to find some basic principle on which to lay the foundation, and then follow. This breathing technique¡­its rhythm¡­will it work?¡¯ The obscure idea formed a clear pattern, and she started to devise a method that could work for her.


    What if she looked a little bit ambitious? She had this golden opportunity and she just didn''t want to miss experimenting.


    Wei Zhiruo didn¡¯t want to go out wandering in search of another way to strengthen her wounded soul and she most definitely didn¡¯t like the sound of the words ¡®temporary¡¯ and ¡®easily shattered¡¯ attached to this skill. The drawbacks of using this skill, without actually using the Array Talisman, were too many.


    Who could always make sure that they can always be in good condition, surrounded by endless energy? What if she fell in a space crack and then couldn¡¯t find any light there? What was she going to do then? Face the backlash and die immediately? If that was the result earned by entering this method, wouldn''t it be much better for her to leave her body alone as it is right now?


    A skill must be permanent and not require her constant attention in maintaining them. If not innate, at least they must be permanent enough.


    In Wei Zhiruo¡¯s mind, she chose some random Origin Runes to experiment at first and then used them as anchoring points at specified ¡®Star-points¡¯. She needed these Origin Runes to settle down in such a place, creating a chained link in her body forming a special field.


    Wei Zhiruo imagined the Formation link to be an unbroken line, originating in the Sea of Consciousness. This line will then run through the body in an orderly manner¨C one point over the Sea of Consciousness, then descending downwards from there, the second point will be over the carotid artery, third in heart, fourth at the center of the spine, and fifth one in the Sea of Qi, and finally, ending in a circle with the last point engraved inside the soul! A closed, unbroken channel which looked like a straight line running from head to her pelvis bones.


    Now, all she needed was to rule down actual Runes she was going to use. What would serve as the best substitutes on these highly symbolic points? For one, their semantics must have a kind of link, sharing a part with each Talisman.


    Wei Zhiruo wrote down six words, all aligning to one aspect she noticed in the Array talisman¡¯s general explanation. [Life] was the first rune she wrote on ground, which contained the meaning of both ¡®life¡¯ and ¡®birth¡¯, that was taken from ¡°Life Comprehension Talisman¡±. [Death] was another straightforward Rune, which denoted ¡®death¡¯, ¡®decay¡¯ and ¡®destruction¡¯. It came from the first word of ¡°Death Comprehension Talisman¡±. Next, she wrote ¨C [Words], [Time], [Soul] and last of all [Origin] to stand for ¡°Five Element Configuring Talisman¡± indicating the link between five elements and the world.


    From what she grasped, ¡®life¡¯ was budding in the heart. The skeleton was a symbol of ¡®death¡¯. ¡®Time¡¯ eroded the flesh and blood, and ¡®soul¡¯ remained eternally what it was before, a soul. If the five elements were the same as her own world ¨C the fire, water, earth, metal and wood ¨C then the term ¡®Origin¡¯ was the best substitute for it, because all these elements were essentially the basis and origin of everything else. Tying it to Sea of Qi seemed to hold a specific connotation that she couldn¡¯t yet grasp¡­


    Finally, She chose [Words] to represent the ¡®Spirit of the Word¡¯ and Sea of Consciousness, because being conscious in a way, meant being able to express and state, and put names to things.


    It really all tied up in a neat order in the end. She still felt like she was going nowhere with this castle created over the clouds ¨C there was a ¡®wild¡¯ idea working and tying together every thing in a meaningful sequence¡­but how much this was going to work, she hardly had any idea.


    The wind felt milder and the surroundings much clearer as if she was seeing everything for the first time. Her brain was refreshed, and energized and she felt particularly keen and insightful.


    Following the technique, she could first open six star-points at designated places. Then to reinforce it and make it innate; she will have to copy the six constellations at specified points and then add another Origin Rune over it, acting like a lid or seal¡­Thinking about the bloodline¨C could she also include Marr¡¯s tree-roots in this Formation?


    Suppose, if she asked Marr to send its roots around each star point, wouldn¡¯t he be able to use a greater amount of life-essence?


    Wei Zhiruo thought of all the innate Bloodline techniques which she never got the chance to use because Marr was way too weak to attempt any of them and felt her pain fleeing instantly.


    ¡°Marr, wake up.¡±


    ¡°Aa...um¡­What happened?¡± Marr appeared in the outside world, rubbing his eyes with his paws. He yawned, showing all his sharp front teeth sparkling in a row, and started rubbing off his white whiskers. ¡°You''re done so early? We still have fifteen more minutes till the second phase ends¡­let me look.¡±


    Wei Zhiruo didn¡¯t stop him, but instead used her fingers to try to carve down a copy of the respective Origin Rune right in front of herself in the soil.


    She remained lingering in the aftertaste of that sensation for a minute, and then heard Marr saying ¨C


    ¡°Hum¡­this looks fine. I can see where it will tie together.¡±


    ¡°Do you think so?¡± Wei Zhiruo smiled softly. ¡°It would have been better if we got some sunlight directly over here. But the leftover amount should be enough, right? You have so many in your leaves. Direct them to these points following the breathing technique. Should we start?¡±


    ¡°I am ready if you are.¡± He climbed over her body and rubbed against her face before vanishing again.


    Having made the model and mental map in her own mind at first, Wei Zhiruo knew precisely where and when to place all the six-star formation nodes.


    First, she experimented whether these points could be created.


    For this, she used the life-essence as a knife and hit hard aiming at a specific point in her Sea of Consciousness. Nothing happened. She kept hitting, till a small opening emerged in the fabric. The edges separated and a single aperture opened and fixed itself like several other aperture¡¯s she had seen in the meridian - although this was completely floating on its own in an independent space.


    Done!


    ¡°It¡¯s working. It forms a small space of its own!¡±


    Seeing this, she started the next step immediately.


    Following the ¡®breathing technique¡¯, she guided the starlight to float in a specific pattern. The rhythm inside the body followed in tandem, creating highs and lows of a specific frequency, creating an order in which the starlight entered the point. She pushed and directed them without letting a single of these sparkling dots from getting out of control. It was hard at first but eventually she got used to herding the aimless starlight.


    She went on to the next step.


    Haishan was a four-star constellation. She directed the starlight to concentrate in a specific pattern and saw the constellation settling down into the point as some starlight clustered together in order. Once she felt that the starlight wasn¡¯t going anywhere else, and the structure was stable enough to consider the final step, she started using her life-essence to write down the Origin Rune [Word]. She stopped and observed.


    The point had organized itself in a mini-orbit. It formed a concentric circle of three circles. The center-most held the Rune [Word] engraved over it, then next one included the star constellation embossed in a circle, and finally, the last one had strange graphic etchings that looked eerily like words, but indecipherable.


    ¡°They do ¨C they actually do reinforce each other. Look at that concentric circle¡­the center holds the Rune, the next one the constellation like a door encircling the seal. I hope they are as permanent as they are supposed to be.¡±


    She opened five other ¡®Star-points¡¯ using her life essence, then forced the starlight¡¯s to collect at these points forming constellations and then sealed them with Runes. The fifth one, Xu Star-Formation, only had two stars and even the Rune [Origin] didn¡¯t feel much difficult to engrave. Then she heaved in a deep breath, and then looked inside the core area. The last one was to be engraved over the soul, tying the whole Array to a close.


    ¡°After this we will see if it works¡­or we get a backlash.¡±


    ¡°I think it will work.¡±


    When the last stroke of [Soul] fell down, she felt a strange fulfilling sensation filling her heart and even lessening her pain...but then it stopped abruptly as if cut-short.


    The seals rotated on their own, not letting any of the starlight escape from their orbits. And they all formed a link. Running from the head to the navel, up again, it shone brightly and then each seal settled down in their own places not letting any of the starlight escape from their midst. But that was it. Nothing outright magical took place.


    Nothing happened.


    ¡°I guess it''s¡­done? Direct all the starlight to fill them up and see if it''s stable.¡±


    By this time, she was completely drained of the last bit of her Spiritual Consciousness and was directing the light spots by dragging on despite her head aching for her to stop, and her Spiritual Sea thundering with increased tumultuous waves. She was seriously overdrawn.


    Marr used up every bit of the starlight in the body to fill these six points but couldn¡¯t even fill a single one of them. ¡°They will need us sitting out in the sun for hours and hours to even show us that they do actually work. But don¡¯t worry ¨C there is no backlash, so this is a success.¡±


    ¡°There really is no reaction. Nothing changed¡­it¡¯s not going to be an instant gratification, is it? We will have to spend a lot of time inhaling the light from now on.¡± Wei Zhiruo replied. ¡°Now Marr, try sending those roots of yours to these seals. Don¡¯t destabilize them by entering inside the apertures themselves, but try to feel their fields outside. Once we are done Awakening, we can experiment with whether this thing works or not by sunbathing for the rest of the day.¡±


    ¡°It sounds good.¡±


    But she didn¡¯t have enough time to chatter idly. Neither did she see whether Marr succeeded in his attempt, as finally the last step of transformation started. Both of them left all distracting thoughts and focused on reciting the clan''s meditation chants. No outward sound should distract them at this moment and they both must be as aware as they can be¡­


    In fact, this chant was something a nearby relative should perform for them, or a priest of the clan, while they focused on each word of the chant trying to engrain its essence on their soul. But since there was no one else here, she had to support her tired body and soul, and also recall all the couplets from her first Awakening.


    They didn¡¯t come in a single coherent line too ¨C but slow paces as if a master craftsman was proudly unveiling each of his crafts threadbare as if to say ¨C


    ¡°It is a tale as old as time itself. When curious eyes should rest awhile, they find their grooves beneath. In cold waters, in heated springs, in bubbling brooks, in coming springs, and worlds of endless glory, mesmerized. The eye itself is the beholder, the mind itself the craftsman. Don¡¯t receive ¨C craft and be.¡±


    It was something of a hymn. Praising the eternal way, who guided them, and always showed them the ''way''. The path was here. The vehicle - the body. It walks over the path. And the soul is being carried inside the vehicle of the body on this right path.


    And the vehicle is righteous, the soul is good, and the path ¡ªthe only path. All ways lead to the same destination, but not all destinations were her own, nor all destinations were righteous, not all destinations the one her righteous soul should take. There was only one way, and this, here, was her one and only path.


    Her realization wasn''t deep enough, long enough¡­but she felt she had understood something about her own kind for the first time.


    And she had. There, a Seal emerged on her soul. The Seal of Recognition of bloodline.


    There was no word attached to it, no explanations. But neither of them, Marr or Wei Zhiruo, felt strange at seeing this thing appear; although neither of them had known such things existed before. They both looked at the seal which looked like a shape of a creature, but which was too jumbled up to be legible. A new Inheritance sounded in both their minds.


    ¡¸For the one who earned the blessing, and knows the ''Way.''¡¹


    And then¡­she knew.


    Why didn¡¯t the inheritance feel complete in the previous Awakening?


    Why was she¡­such a divided being¡­


    She felt she understood it better.


    Every bloodkin, since the first Ancestor, had the same lineage, the same path, the same way. All those who Awakened this ''seed'' of the bloodline, they earned the Seal of the clan. This was the actual inheritance. It carried all the countless experiences of their kind, sealed inside it, and only the Real and worthy inheritors could get a chance to get a part in the Sacred lands. But what earned them the right to inherit? Only the realization of the way ¨C and its keys had always been in the small couplet singing the praises to an unexpected ¡®way¡¯. Strange.


    This seal was her identity, her token which she had earned by just a few minutes of realization...but which she missed because the time wasn¡¯t ripe. Could any bloodkin who got his inheritance from Awakening at the age of five, ever realize these complexities? Wouldn¡¯t he most likely lose it like her, thinking that piece of ¡®chant¡¯ as a process, not the actual destination?


    "I never realized that even the order of thinking must be different to actually be different. I usually murmured and pondered that I was different from other races, but never realized how much my thoughts remained in the same mold and order as my childhood self. I was like a human living in a bloodkin shell. Emotions, heritage, loyalty...many things were jumbled up, and it didn''t help that there was no other similar kind to show me the ''path''. It''s no wonder...I never gained the recognition of the Bloodline, and the seal never appeared..." Wei Zhiruo sighed slowly. ¡° Things changed. Many things have changed since then till now¡­¡±


    Marr had come outside of her soul. He sat over her head, equally ponderous. They both felt this sensation for the first time and started thinking about all the clues they had missed.


    Wei Zhiruo stilled her body, lingered in the pain and now enjoyed this sensation. Ten more minutes and she will be done.


    The pain was good; the pain meant she would soon be no longer a human and regain her own self completely. No longer will she stand atop the swinging bridge between two creatures on both ends, distinctly different in their origins and nature. She couldn¡¯t go back to her human ways¡­but she will finally have a destination to move forward to. A destination she had no idea existed as a choice.


    This wasn''t an empty tale of glamour and mystery¡­it was a way of life distinctly different from anything she had ever known. Not a myth now, but her life.


    The willow tree seemed to have sensed her happiness, as she felt a thoughtful nudge of reciprocal joy coming from it. Marr too, was slowly enjoying the subtle changes still napping over her head. He was indeed tired as she was.


    They had both spent all their energy on finally wading through the last hurdle. The soul transformation looked fine on surface, but it also ate up much more energy than previous transformations. Now, all the spare energy inside Marr¡¯s leaves were gone and she too had spent too much life-essence, almost ten year''s worth of her human life, and all her Spiritual Consciousness. She needed rest, so she sat down still and meditated.


    In the meantime, she and the Willow tree shared their ''thoughts''.


    The talk between souls was hardly comprehensible ¨C it was all flowing in sensation; what you felt you conveyed, and all emotions were heightened and formless. Happiness felt like sadness, sadness like nostalgia and like this moment, she received the warmth and compassion from the age-old tree which felt really similar to being pitied.


    But Wei Zhiruo never questioned such pure emotions ¨C any ¡®thought¡¯ conveyed to her was good for her. Like right at this moment, she felt the tree reminiscing its old days and ¡®saw¡¯ and experienced its emotions as it grew from a sapling, grew its first new leaf, grew higher and higher, ate delicious food and nurtured its roots. The seasons appeared in constant interchanging intervals; yet not a moment was the same. The autumn, winter, spring and summer rolled into each other, yet their feelings left behind in their separation and arrival was always a new found sensation, as if living in mind.


    The willow shared her life, and how its leaves felt in all of them. Interestingly, the tree liked the winter best, because then she will have no companion other than her closest companions like the chattering Purple Berry trees, and sweet spoken Ginkgo¡¯s growing nearby and they chatted and slept, and slept then talked some more, till buds started growing on her branches.


    It was poignantly different. Ethereal.


    Wei Zhiruo was so immersed in the trees chattering that she didn¡¯t even feel the time slip away. Two hours came to a close and soon, the ordeal ended. If it wasn¡¯t for the sudden needle-like pain on her back, she would still be immersed ¡®talking¡¯ with the tree ¨C but the pain woke her up.


    ¡°Marr, can you see what this is?¡± She asked him.


    "What happened?" He raised his head.


    "It feels like something is growing over my back? I cannot explain the sensation...it feels like needles piercing at points which are close together. And they are trying to write something¡­am I correct in my assumption?"


    Marr flew behind her back, and Wei Zhiruo connected her sight with his. She opened her lapels and let down her clothes.


    ¡°Is this the bloodline seal?¡± Marr asked after examining it closely. ¡°Yes ¨C it is. It has just started unravelling. It shouldn¡¯t make sense in the beginning, but later they will form a seal or clan totem which has the most resonance with you. It¡¯s just an outward manifestation to recognize other clansmen. We would hardly need this thing here¡­¡±


    Wei Zhiruo waited for some while till the image could begin to make sense. By the end of it, her whole back was covered in a life-like tattoo of a Broad-striped black-veined butterfly.


    It was beautiful. The butterfly spread its wings spanning all over her shoulder blades. It looked quite life-like. The black was unambiguously visible against the white of her skin, and she could almost feel the numbness settling over, as each new stroke appeared and completed the tattoo to perfection.


    ¡°Is it really that?¡± Wei Zhiruo didn¡¯t wait for an answer and hurriedly put back her hanging clothes. ¡°What if there are other clansmen here? Didn¡¯t we think the Middle World will have no bloodclan descendants, and then we met those two brothers? Their bloodline purity wasn¡¯t good but they were family.¡±


    ¡°I don¡¯t know¡­just a feeling.¡±


    To this she didn¡¯t know what to reply. She just looked past the mottled canopy, shielding all the light. The darkness covered her features and made her ease her troubles in solitude. They just enjoyed the peace and quiet of the moment, each other''s silent company.


    A few minutes later, Wei Zhiruo used her Inner eyes to feel all the changes from start to end.


    The skeleton, including the spine on which she had carved the seal had differentiated, becoming stronger, with a pearlescent sheen over it and all those dark elements plaguing it before were nowhere to be seen. The hearts, lungs and spleen were not the same as before too. There was no trace of their earlier vulnerability, nor its earlier diseases.


    Instead of being as thin as hair, or spider gossamer, now her meridians all looked wider and stronger, and the principle twelve of them had even grown in size. A little, but definitely widened.


    The blood¡­it was still red, but felt a different red than before. And she saw it. Marr had changed too. His leaves were shining more brightly despite being emptied of all starlight. And there it was ¡ª his first bloom, also a gift from the seal.


    It was just a bud at this moment, but now, the whole red tree had this soft, golden bud shyly growing at the peak of one of the branches.


    ¡°You¡¯ve grown stronger.¡±


    ¡°I have ¨C just like you. I can feel you changing Amaranthus. I can¡¯t put my fingers on it, but something very essential did change in you.¡± He nuzzled his nose with hers, trying to let go of the strange sense of loss he felt.


    If the previous her had been the sea brimming with tumultuous rage, then now, she was the vastness, the emptiness. She had settled down. Maybe she let go of a number of sad things inside her?


    Wei Zhiruo cuddled the sad cat in her arms and said, ¡°Not true. To even reach this step, I climbed a hundred steps in my previous life.¡± So, it wasn¡¯t a day¡¯s change.


    This was the culmination of all her trials in her last life.

 Chapter 11. Calamities

    Wei Zhiruo was sitting down in peace, basking in the light of peace and contentment, when suddenly she felt a tugging consciousness coming out from the willow tree. She glanced over the cascading willow tresses, a little surprised. ¡°Hush ¨C she wants to say something.¡± She rubbed Marr¡¯s white fur to make him silent and smooth out his ruffled hair.


    He stilled and just looked at her instead ¨C his ruby red eyes shining brightly.


    ¡°Don¡¯t worry ¨Cmaybe it''s nothing serious,¡± she gave him a soothing smile and started listening.


    The willow was really talking.


    At the beginning it was a soft, attention-seeking nudge, and then slowly, it became graver and graver sounding, increasingly anxious. The tree sent her a very concerned ¡®thought¡¯, instantly arousing her alertness. Her own eyes involuntarily rounded and then became a shade colder.


    ¡°What¡¯s the matter?¡± Marr asked. ¡°Is it something troublesome?¡± He raised his whisker, shaking them around as if to sense and sniff what was odd about the wind, or to get a taste of the panic Wei Zhiruo had started feeling.


    ¡°I cannot tell. It feels odd and she is really panicked. I will try asking her for more details.¡±  Wei Zhiruo said and straightened herself. ¡°Right now, it sounds like some impulsive forewarning.¡±


    She traced the willow¡¯s rugged barks, trying to be as close to it as possible. She smelled its woody scent filling her lungs. Leaves crunched under her feet.


    Marr¡¯s round, intelligent eyes looked equally alert as he glanced around everywhere as if he was preparing to face a beast who would suddenly pounce on him. He¡¯d climbed over her left shoulder, muscles taut and stretched and was shaking his tail. ¡°Is it because of that alien creature again? If it is, don¡¯t stop me ¨C just show me where that thing is. If it''s really made of negative resentment as you saw it earlier, I will take care of it.¡±


    His animated eyes rounded in their feline ferocity.


    ¡°I don¡¯t know. I don¡¯t think it is that ¨C but wait,¡± she patiently replied and started talking with the willow tree. ¡°It is nervous about something approaching here, and it keeps sending me some gray images of the surroundings ¨C or is that the pond? I cannot make it out, but she sounds quite alarmed...¡±


    Soon she herself felt it ¨C the heavy gloom settling over the land.


    ¡°It is not alone,¡± she said, this time talking in her mind.


    It wasn¡¯t just the willow tree who became restless; the whole area seemed to have come to a simmering halt. The winds, the grass, the rolling water in the pond and every little creature hiding from her eyes and ears, seemed to have started dreading something and were preparing to flee or arouse their neighbour¡¯s attention. Some had even started burrowing into their holes and nests! Each sound, each vibration she sensed was unequivocally tense.


    What was this restlessness, and why?


    ¡°I will go and check,¡± saying this Marr narrowed his eyes and disappeared, disintegrating into millions of droplets of blood, invisible to eyes, and started surrounding the courtyard. His formless figure rose in a red mist, flying first like a big swarm of bees ¨C then he grew smaller, and smaller till all his traces were lost in the air particles. He started searching for the cause, scanning every piece of visible and hidden lands. He reported everything to her, but he couldn¡¯t find anything strange either.


    ¡°Be careful, don¡¯t attract any attention to yourself.¡± Wei Zhiruo still didn¡¯t forget to warn him.


    Her feet were not rising, and the exertion of just rousing her body from the previous sitting position had rattled all the bones loose and muscles out in their places, and a tingling sort of pain had started filling them anew. She didn¡¯t feel well. Her Spiritual consciousness ¨C having overdrawn too much on that ¨C was left alone to heal. She was sure that if she tried using it right now, she would feel the most excruciating pain ever tasted.


    What else could she use right now? Runes? But what medium should she use to write it? She would grow weaker and weaker if she kept using her blood or life-essence ¨C and if the situation wasn¡¯t something dire ¨C as grave as life and death confrontation, she decided to save herself from such an easily expendable agony.


    In the suspense of wait, she decided to keep talking with the willow and connect the small glimpses into an ordered, coherent message.


    The willow itself was a towering weeping willow, growing exceptionally tall to a height of some one hundred and fifty feet, and its cascading branches surrounded a very significant portion of this courtyard. It wasn¡¯t surprising when it showed an image from nearby pond¡¯s shore, as it was able to overlook that area, peering past low boundary walls and crumbling houses.


    Wei Zhiruo looked up into the willow¡¯s canopy, and let her thoughts be silenced enough to grasp the vague shadows that were concretely forming in the willow¡¯s thoughts, and then it appeared to her.


    ¡°No! YueMarr, Marr! Come back. It is a soul. For god¡¯s sake, don¡¯t approach that thing!¡± She finally understood what was going on. Goosebumps rose, and dread clutched her heart in its tight fist.


    How could a stray soul appear here? Wei Zhiruo wondered, and despite the pain that plagued each of her pores, she held a close branch and slithered hurriedly over it. Maybe the sudden panic had made her forget all the pain or the rush of approaching danger had dulled some of her senses, she easily climbed branches upon branches till she was leaning against one of the highest branches. She leaned over and looked all around herself.


    ¡°That thing doesn¡¯t look weak. You will be found. Come back and be quick!¡± She said, scrutinizing every direction. Her new eyesight easily provided her the greatest extent of visibility, and despite the distance, she looked towards the shore and caught a glimpse of the emerging soul clearly.


    ¡°It¡¯s an alien soul.¡± Marr appeared near her and informed her.


    ¡°Yes, it is.¡±


    Both of them studied the flying object by the shore, which had just appeared from the depth of the pond. Not a bird, nor a kite, but a soul ¨C a human soul. As surprised as Wei Zhiruo felt inside, she didn¡¯t wait for long, but started climbing down the tree with the same agility.


    ¡°We are in trouble.¡±


    It wouldn¡¯t have mattered if it was a mortal soul, she would have been surprised that it survived the forces of the living world, but that would have been none of her concerns. But this anomaly ¨C what could explain the pressure, the feeling of danger emanating from it? All her instincts were shrinking from fear of having met a predator. ¡°Not good. It¡¯s no good ¨C¡±


    There was no mistaking that enormous power and pressure that soul was vibrating to its nearby surroundings; the ants were panicking in their holes, the snake somewhere hissed and bowed his head to hide, while all the birds were nowhere to be seen ¨C those who had just been rushing madly to find a shelter had long disappeared somewhere.


    ¡°It''s someone who knows the art. If not magic, something akin to it.¡± Wei Zhiruo said, her pale blue eyes turning a sharp iridescent azure. ¡°What is it doing in this mortal world? There is no question of this world being anything other than a sleeping world, and before you ask what that means ¨C a sleeping world is usually a world where magic hasn¡¯t penetrated its fabrics and become a piece of its reality. This world, I thought, was for sure just that. Weird, oh so weird ¨C how could such a powerful soul appear here? And it''s not a monster either¡­We cannot be discovered by it. I don¡¯t think anything good will follow if we are found by that thing.¡±


    ¡°I don¡¯t know about hiding, but I think that thing is moving this way.¡± With a halting, suspicious tone Marr said. He also shared his vision with her.


    It really was moving in their direction. Wei Zhiruo speechlessly narrowed her eyes.


    ¡°It is. It¡¯s headed this way.¡± Wei Zhiruo affirmed softly. "But why?"


    They were communicating in their minds, there was no question of them being discovered by the sound they made. But the next instant she became sure that the soul had discovered them. The red tinted, shared vision easily showed how that soul fluttered around near the shore and then decidedly floated closer towards this courtyard.


    ¡°It found us ¨C what to do? What should we do?¡± Marr grimly echoed, wrapping around her neck.


    ¡°Prepare,¡± Wei Zhiruo didn¡¯t even think for a moment and pronounced her heart''s deepest choice, ¡°Let''s prepare for a battle. First, test its intentions and then see whether it¡¯s an enemy or a friend.¡±


    ¡°We cannot face it head on, Wei Zhiruo, think of some other way. That soul looks like a mage ¨C but even then, it must be higher up in the hierarchy. Not counting the grim pressure, which truly speaking is way more than any Apprentice mage will ever have ¨C even if it¡¯s the best of scenarios, we will be facing an Apprentice level mage with a battered body! It¡¯s not a mortal, Wei Zhiruo. You cannot scratch her face and call it a day!¡± Marr reminded her and flew off somewhere before she could stop him. She knew he must have gone to observe the intruder up close.


    ¡°Come back! You are putting yourself at risk!¡± She shouted in her mind, but he was gone.


    Feeling irritated, Wei Zhiruo rubbed her face. He was right. Facing off with her current state was like seeking death. But¡­She had a very bad feeling about this whole situation. The way that soul was hastily flying over in her direction, she had a very, very bad thought take hold of herself. She tried hard to convince herself that it was just another spasm of a pessimistic view getting her ¨C yet her instincts won¡¯t let her have it that easy.


    And Marr did, indeed fly closer to the soul, almost touching the air surrounding the floating fragment of the soul. The moment he was in the close range of its inner circle, he felt a trepidation settling over himself, and his whole being shivered in a recoiling fury. Something like a gaping mouth of darkness, like a black-hole, opened up and was just waiting to suck him up. He got a hold of himself hastily, and removed all his traces. He escaped and flew back.


    ¡°It¡¯s headed here. We cannot face that woman!¡± Marr gasped sitting over Wei Zhiruo¡¯s shoulders taking in deep breaths to shed off the panic that soul caused inside him. His hair was all raised and shouting of his present terror.


    It was only when he met with Wei Zhiruo¡¯s serious looking blue eyes that he somewhat settled down his growing urgent heart. ¡°I have never felt anything like this. In no way is that thing just an Apprentice level mage ¨C the moment I got closer to her, I felt like she was going to suck me in! You¡¯ve got to be careful. We cannot face her in our broken state in any way ¨C that can no longer be seeking death, but outright attempting suicide. No, I won¡¯t agree. How about running away to hide somewhere? There is still some time. There are so many humans here, and I don¡¯t think you will be easily discovered by that thing. Let¡¯s go ¨C hurry!¡±


    ¡°I cannot ¨C she seemed to have sensed us. Or rather me. She keeps moving in our direction ¨C haven¡¯t you wondered what anchored her this way? We haven¡¯t used our Spiritual consciousness, nor our voices. Nothing outward but just a few paltry heartbeats and there are many humans around us with beating hearts, and falling and rising lungs ¨C she is only moving towards me. It''s quite intentional by this point.¡± Wei Zhiruo wasn¡¯t being pessimistic when she said this but instead, pointed her fingers towards the sky in an unexpected signal. The moment she did that, the cat¡¯s pupil enlarged in surprise and then narrowed abruptly. He hissed.


    ¡°Go on ¨C explain it to me.¡± The cat urged and sat down.


    She too sat down over the thick willow branch, dangling her feet down. ¡°Look she is purposefully heading in this direction. I must remind you ¨C the dead are the most conscious of living but not to such an extent. She has something else guiding her to me. If we hide elsewhere, we will just arouse her interest some more and play a game of chase. No ¨C it''s too late to go back anywhere.¡±


    ¡°So, are we going to wait and bet that she isn¡¯t a villain?¡±


    ¡°No. Ambush. She might not be aware of our abilities.¡±


    ¡°In your state -? That doesn¡¯t sound reliable.¡±


    She rolled her eyes and explained ¨C ¡°What do you think that thing is searching for? A living body, right? So, will she kill us first or play with us till she is done playing and then erase our spirit and occupy our body? Does that sound familiar? It¡¯s the most common way a body-snatcher works ¨C it''s written in their instincts, somehow. If her intention is impure, she will hardly try to kill us outright.¡±


    ¡°But why you? There are so many humans here¡­what makes her notice your body directly? Is it because of proximity? Or she sensed something different about your bloodline?¡± He couldn¡¯t understand.


    ¡°I don¡¯t know but proximity can hardly explain this. Maybe she is sensing something she wants and it is in my body. Soul ¨C they are magnificent when controlled to such an extent.¡±


    The cat hissed again, sounding displeased.


    Wei Zhiruo saw the soul, as it shined bright purple. Each wave coming out from it was like a huge ripple, unsettling its surroundings. The rage, the strength, just the way it moved ¨C one could glimpse the control it had over itself.


    Wei Zhiruo marvelled at the perfection with which the soul had controlled its outward manifestation, and shivered in a strange delight. And then mocked her own sentiments shrugging them away. But it didn¡¯t go away ¨C the sweetness was at the tip of her tongue. She tasted a new smell, and furiously felt it entering her body.


    She fell into an introspective spell ¨C things faded from her eyes and invisible golden gossamers ¨C tangled mess of them called out to her from the deepest of her core. Or was it elsewhere? She couldn¡¯t discern, neither cared for the origin ¨C as if a veil had covered and dulled her intelligence, she grew hungry for blood. Rage, anger and killing intent filled her pores, and swelled in her breast, becoming one with her heartbeat.


    Instincts raged. In the boiling storm of emotions, her soul, her body protested together and every atom of her being raged with a pulsing hatred ¨C the intruding soul was now no longer just a common enemy, it was her nemesis! It was a thing she abhorred with all her being. It was a ¡®beast¡¯ that should be killed, erased!


    This line repeatedly swelled in her mind like a self-repeating curse.


    And then a much softer wave rippled somewhere, jerking her to life. ¡®Why, why are you so urgent ¨Co heart?¡¯ the voice echoed and questioned this craziness. No reply came. The voice replaced the growing fury and angst, coming from the depth of her mind, which reason couldn¡¯t define or constrict; it kept repeating softly as if saying an ancient tale¨C ¡®Hasn¡¯t it already dawned on you? One after another ¨C the steps being pushed under your feet. Have you asked, who arranged them? Was it really your choice that you woke up yesterday? Wake up ¨C o heart. See if this is your own wish or not.¡¯


    Her instincts seem to be arousing her from dead slumber, her body convulsed. Another voice started whispering, alluring her. ¡®Win, win this battle and you are safe¨C and if you don¡¯t, you will lose everything ¨C! Something is being written in the void, happenings and fate¡­and this is an enemy arranged for you¡­it comes seeking you. Kill her, destroy her. If she lives ¨C you die.¡¯


    ¡°Hah!¡±


    Waking up from the strange spell, Wei Zhiruo didn¡¯t speak for some time. Instead, she submerged herself in the impact. Unnoticeably, a mocking smile lingered on her lips as if laughing at something. She didn¡¯t say, didn¡¯t dwell on the sudden swelling of killing intent and desire or the thirst ¨C raging urge in her breast ¨C but instead looked up into the sky.


    The stare was cold ¨C as if peering past it and seeing things around her for the first time. Marr didn¡¯t look up, neither did he ask her a word as if he was ignorant of such an episode. But he kept hissing intermittently. At the falling leaves, at his own paws. He looked disgruntled. No, enraged.


    ¡°Marr, do you have enough energy?¡±


    ¡°No, my energy is at its lowest. I spent everything on the last transformation.¡± Marr replied quickly without showing any weirdness. ¡°Do you want me to act alone? I can help distract her for some while.¡±


    ¡°No, we cannot be separated.¡± Wei Zhiruo hurriedly refuted. She looked at the distance, thinking about how many seconds she could spend on preparation. Ten minutes till it arrives inside the courtyard; this specific area was at quite a distance from the pond. Finding, tracing and following her to this willow tree will definitely take ten or more minutes at its quickest. But that was the definite deadline.Stolen content warning: this tale belongs on Royal Road. Report any occurrences elsewhere.


    ¡°Let¡¯s lay an ambush. If we attack first, we will have the upper hand till it starts countering ¨C but then we¡¯ll have dragged it down to match our pace. If we are quick, we can overpower it by surprise.¡±


    She didn¡¯t tell Marr what she had just experienced ¨C she knew he noticed.


    Fate? That voice said. She believed in fate. Not the one dictated by others, but the line that stretched indefinitely in one¡¯s own choices ¨C a string of causes and their reactions. How could an action, which hadn¡¯t even happened, show all its precise outcomes? Outcomes, dangers, and speculations of loss¡­as if it believed that fate could be worded in a single, accurate sentence like an oracle. Hilarious. Oh fate ¨C what a magnificent enchantress she is! She keeps coming under her feet like a stumbling block. How many more oracles does she need to curse her new life? As if the past life wasn¡¯t enough¡­


    She smiled.


    What was her current state right now? Weak, worn out. She was the most gullible, sweet lamb who couldn¡¯t put in any protest ¨C if someone demanded she let them have her body, what would any mortal in her current capacity do? Give it away, or die. Either of the choices sounded nothing like a real choice. Death was the only way left. In fact, every being a hundred miles from that soul was a suitable body that would hardly put any protest. Including her. Why choose her? Why at this time? Why say ¨C she must fight? Couldn¡¯t she decide to just run away and keep running away?


    But Wei Zhiruo just thought of the last bit in a flash and dropped this thought quickly. The incoherent, chaotic nature of her thoughts didn¡¯t straighten in a linear order, instead they were lost in endless voices of other creature¡¯s ¡®thoughts¡¯ of fear, terror and peace. Many ripples were forming in them ¨C and she knew someone might be struggling hard to keep an eye on her own original intentions. Would it succeed in discerning the murky pool of her mind echoing with thousands of voices in a small well?


    She laughed out loud suddenly and whispered, ¡°I just cannot fathom ¨C the gap is so huge. But my courage is as tall as the sky and it keeps encouraging me to remain sturdy on my path. Marr, don¡¯t you think I sound a bit crazy? I feel like that brave ant who wants to wage a battle against an elephant.¡±


    ¡°Did you just realize this?¡± Marr hissed and rolled his eyes.


    ¡°No ¨C but the gravity is lost to me. Seven minutes to go. Ah ¨C how the time slips.¡± She retorted in her mind and tried to form a stream of thought, framing her current disaster. Her other hand was mindlessly crafting one after another runes using blood.


    The soul didn¡¯t go anywhere else in the mansion, but started going after her ¨C what was leading that thing closer to herself? Everything has an appropriate cause ¨C some hidden behind clouds, some with definite chains of events. It would be unreasonable to blame her bad-luck for this¡­coincidence. But thinking that she was being arranged in a fixed trajectory ¨C wouldn¡¯t that be too paranoid? Or was there a simpler explanation? Like that soul having specific criteria for it to seek a body, and that soul knows she fits those criteria. Completely.


    ¡®Or maybe ¨C somebody else wants that woman¡¯s death and is using me as the hunter? What a layered game. Unlucky Wei Zhiruo. She can only suffer the fate of being used as the huntsman...ha! Or is there a way to avoid this fix?¡¯


    Wei Zhiruo coldly watched the soul floating closer and closer as if searching for something. She was almost hundred percent sure that the soul had found something good in her body and discarded other choices in favor of going after her. No distance could now save her in face of this uninvited disaster. That was why she didn¡¯t agree with running away. Greed. That was a heavy incentive.


    But all this didn¡¯t need to be clearly stated.


    ¡°We have to fight - there is no other way.¡± She stressed over the word. ¡°We will do everything we did to face those magical beasts in the Abyss. Take this like enacting another hunting session.¡±


    Wei Zhiruo continued saying in her mind while brushing her wounded palms against the rough ground on which she was writing. ¡°With no spiritual energy I will focus on Runes. But you have grown up. Try to think of moves that come from inheritance that you can use right away without much practice ¨C I hope having that small bud will open up more ways for you to fight. I haven¡¯t checked what''s been added, but see for yourself and tell me. I will think of other measures.¡± She started counting the seconds she needed to prepare. By now, she looked and felt quite calm.


    ¡°I can really distract her and earn you enough time to teleport away from here using your Runes.¡± Marr interrupted suddenly.


    Teleportation?


    ¡°Teleportation¡­is possible ¨C but do you remember the Runes I know which consist of teleportation? [Portal] and [Door] and others all need constant enforcement. A person being sent past it cannot maintain it ¨C what do you think will happen to us once the portal breaks in the middle of our teleportation? Doesn¡¯t sound pretty, does it?¡±


    She stopped talking as she started counting the number of Runes she could use with just blood, and others which would need Spiritual consciousness to be enforced. Life-essence ¨C it must be used again. Thankfully, her recently strengthened soul can supply some more of it¡­but does her enemy know of this? Or is the game-planner aware of each of her hidden abilities? A silent thought rose and was thrown instantly in the junkyard of ¡®wasteful¡¯ thoughts.


    She stilled and waited.


    The sky didn¡¯t fall. Neither that urge to kill silence her intelligence again. ¡®It looks like the game master cannot alter too many facets of the ongoing game - interesting.¡¯


    ¡°These are some of the limitations of [Door] and portal runes which haven''t been remedied yet. It needs a very good quality medium ¨C life-essence might be able to carry it right now, but burning vitality to end up lost in a space crack with no way out ¨C think of something else.¡±


    ¡°Okay, okay¡­I know your heart is the best guide. Ambushing is the way to go then!¡± Marr sighed, defeated and started immersing himself in preparation.


    ¡°Stay close to me, and support me. You¡¯re going to take care of the rear ¨C I¡¯ll send you Runes and you are going to bombard them at specific times. As for me, I am going to use an illusion. We will confound her, attack her till she is weakened considerably. Then let¡¯s see if we can drag her to death or we are pushed to teleporting away ¨C betting that we will have a way to come out of that fix. It cannot be one on one, so earning enough time to drag her down is good enough at first. Ah. My head aches. Five minutes to go.¡±


    As she wrote Runes, Wei Zhiruo desperately searched for another countermeasure. She saw Marr making rounds from left to right, pondering her words, immersed in his research of his own newfound abilities. Or maybe about the fix they were already in.


    Wei Zhiruo couldn¡¯t mask her vitality suddenly, that would need more preparation. A direct, sudden attack is the best way to appear at this stage, she thought. But she didn''t even get much time to think of anything else. As if the soul had really sensed her, she felt it floating nearer and nearer to her hiding place.


    ¡®No, this wouldn''t do.¡¯ There was no time to think about anything else. Fate or no fate ¨C if she wasted these precious moments in silent deliberation, she was sure that she would die. She stared coldly at fifty or so Runes she had forged by this moment with her blood.


    Wei Zhiruo picked up a little bit of soil from the ground. She cut open another deep bleeding wound on her palms, mixing it all into a muddy red liquid and rubbed it all over her face.


    After putting the horrible disguise that wouldn¡¯t even cover her features, she wrote a word [Conceal] on her forehead. She then looked at the nearby rolled piece of cloth. She looked at it thoughtfully and picked up the wet cloak. The dust and dirt clung on to its wet surface, a few dried branches and leaves too. It looked in no position to be worn again. But it could be used elsewhere¡­she thought.


    She proceeded to use her own life-essence and her blood as two different kinds of medium and bent down to write. Many simple Runes emerged one after another.


    Blood-Runes were easy, simple ones because they manifested with the slightest presence of power. Life-essence was, on the other hand, a high-level medium that could work and structure elaborate chains of Runes and create more mechanical works out of themselves.


    Like this one, this elaborate Rune over the cloak. It was made of three words, intended to be linked together to make a puppet. She could pull its string from behind; this way she wouldn¡¯t have to appear in front of that unknown stranger. Judging the intentions, at least will be made easier this way.


    A circle held blood red [Threads], written under an elaborate work of complex looking letters [Same race] and [Shape] merging the three of them to form a [Puppet] with no soul. The final word linked them together to forge a golden, sparkling Rune becoming a part of the clothes'' very fabric.


    Wei Zhiruo rolled the cloth into a doll and hung it over one of the willow¡¯s branches. She stepped softly over the ground and got closer to willow bark. Putting her hands against it she asked - ¡°May I?¡± She wanted to use willow bark as a surface.


    She asked for permission to use the willow spirits body, promising its safety to the greatest extent. ¡°I will protect you. I promise.¡± The vow was uttered and registered in her mind, like a seed digging into the soil.


    Feeling a bubbling happiness, she knew the willow spirit had agreed.


    She sighed and turned away saying, ¡°We will just judge whether she harbors any ill intention using this puppet. If she is aggressive towards this puppet, she is an enemy. While she is busy conversing with this doll, we will have some extra ten more minutes to write down more Runes. Either way, we cannot just walk away now. She knows I am here, and she knows it¡¯s a human child ¨C the surprise is just that she is wrong on both counts, but that can hardly save us from her chasing us. Marr, attach yourself with other water droplets in the air ¨C we will need to have a greater grasp over the vision. Restrict yourself to the courtyard and I¡¯ll help shield you behind [Illusion] and [Shadow]¡­or let¡¯s just turn this whole courtyard into a domain...that will be much better.¡± Wei Zhiruo mumbled softly in her mind, and then began hurriedly setting all things in order, rushing to write down all the major Runes to create the perfect illusion.


    ¡°You are using your life-essence like water. It¡¯s slow poison - you know we will die if our vitality is drained away like any other being? Our life-span is not like our ancestors, if you might recall.¡± Marr hissed at her.


    ¡°There is no choice.¡± She didn¡¯t have any Spiritual Consciousness power left in her body, having spent too much to undergo the recent Awakening but she had life-essence; she could only drain that and get a chance to get away from this soul. Her brain hurt doing all this, but there was hardly any alternative. Creating that doll had cost her another six months¡¯ worth of life. She didn¡¯t know how much she would have left by the end of this ordeal¡­


    ¡°It''s endless - previous life and this one too! You seem to always invite endless pain¡­and here I was hoping for an early retirement. Tch.¡± The white cat tutted and flew over the tree branch and hid into the air. ¡°I hope that soul is a good lot. A false alarm¡­cannot it be that¡­?¡±


    Wei Zhiruo felt differently. From all the signs she had been shown and forced to experience ¨C everything seemed to be telling her to fight against this oncoming intruder. A game had been arranged ¨C how could a single palm make the clapping sound? So, both the hands should meet ¨C if that soul wasn¡¯t aggressive enough, how could the future scenario develop as the game planner deems fit? She hardly held any glimmer of hope.


    At just that moment, the soul shifted in the direction facing the courtyard door.


    ¡°Three minutes to go.¡± Wei Zhiruo mumbled. She forced a bit of life-essence to use the [Puppet] Rune. Her eyes fell on blood dripping palm, and fingers too scarred with numerous cuts. Using blood to write continuously over the willow¡¯s bark had scarred it further; it felt painful to even look at. But instead of stopping, she increased the intensity of writing.


    ¡°I will summon enough energy to cast three attacks ¨C [Blood-Sword], [Blood-Arrows] and that can be used up twice. The last is going to be [Blood-Rain],¡± Marr let her know, ¡°but I cannot be sure that it will have the same putrefying effect as it does on physical objects mentioned in the description. I¡¯ve never used it before. They all belong to the new inheritance. It says these will have an additional affect over mortal bodies ¨C doesn''t the soul count as immortal one? It is supposed to act like a vitriol, swallowing away the figments of the physical body so¡­I am worried. How furiously it will act is to be seen and determined.¡±


    ¡°Just do what you can, maybe something will get her.¡± Wei Zhiruo walked closer to him and picked him up, saying this almost distractedly. She soothed his hair and felt his warmth. ¡°I am more reassured with you here. Either way ¨C we will have to face it. Having you accompany me is the greatest pleasure of my life.¡±


    ¡°Um¡­I will follow closely. Relax, we will find a way.¡± Somehow. Wei Zhiruo felt him saying the last word in his mind, and turned away smiling. This time, a real, soft smile.


    Wei Zhiruo wrote the last Runes. The moment they turned golden or silver, she would release them into the air. By now some hundred concentric circles holding the Runes were floating around her in a floating, huge loop of runes and moved as she moved. It acted like a halo around her, giving her face silvery, golden and red flickering sheen ¨C the hues of them sublime enough to contour her young features and force out a not so child-like spirit through her face.


    ¡°I am done ¨C this batch is the last.¡±


    [Encampment] was quickly linked with another Rune of [Shadow], [Illusion] and [Mist] to convert the whole courtyard into her own domain.


    Each of these were newly created Rune''s, created by her when she started her Rune-forging journey after copying from the greatest of masters in the Middle world. It sounded very powerful, but was just empty words, full of loopholes. Early works could hardly be expected to be perfect and these were the weakest she had ever created. But she didn¡¯t know the level of their enforcement once they were reinforced with life-essence. Maybe, the various default weaknesses will be covered up by the sheer power of life-essence itself?


    She had tested each of them in the Abyss and knew that this formation was the strongest she could lay down with her limited strength at this moment.


    ¡°Time¡¯s up.¡± A death knell sounded somewhere.


    ¡°She is here. A second and she is in.¡± Marr announced.


    ¡°Release [Encampment].¡± She ordered.


    Wei Zhiruo herself released most of Runes. The [Encampment] stood for a ''boxed enclosure'', which wouldn''t allow anyone stepping inside to step outside easily. Except her, no one could get outside of this domain without her permission. Only by breaking the enclosure with force could one get outside ¨C the force required one third the amount that the soul could exert at this moment.


    After being linked with [Illusion] she could control this domain as her own; anything that entered this ''box'' will see what she showed them and hear what she herself wanted it to hear.


    ¡®And this piece of cloth -? Let it be transformed into a girl. What should she look like? Gullible, small, unremarkable features and brown eyes ¨C cannot forget the brown eyes.¡¯


    The puppet finally transformed completely.


    "The idea is good till now, but have you thought clearly about what you are aiming for? The moment the soul even gets a little clue about your existence, it will be upon you. So don¡¯t drag the process for long. You cannot out-run that thing in your weak state and confounding can work in the beginning but the moment it straightens things out a little, we will be caught in a difficult position. Wei Zhiruo, your current body cannot use this strategy. What if she looks through your illusion and finds your body first and then the enclosure will become a headache for you." Marr didn''t like the sound of the plan.


    "I know it''s a risky move,¡± Wei Zhiruo said. ¡°There are some limitations¡­I am thinking of. I cannot confront it face to face - not from the beginning, I can¡¯t. I can only drag on from the shadows. But do you have any idea? Think of some other links that can ensure better ways to keep hiding and attacking.¡±


    ¡°What about linking a [Gate] Rune over this domain? isn¡¯t that another portal rune you know? Think about it. We still use your strategy but instead of dragging it painfully, let¡¯s just send it off somewhere else. You understand what I mean¡­We will earn ourselves enough time to hide.¡± He replied.


    ¡®Why not? If she could fall in a space crack¡­why couldn¡¯t others be shoved into one?¡¯ Another thought that was instantly thrown into the junkyard of thoughts.


    "It''s a good idea." Wei Zhiruo tried to remember the whole map of Jinghai and thought of the most appropriate place to send that soul away. It shouldn''t have another mortal human nearby, nor should there be weak people in its proximity¡­ a place where people seldom visited¡­? What else could it be?


    ¡°Let¡¯s send it to this graveyard.¡± Wei Zhiruo drew another Rune over the willow.


    Having decided on the last bit, she watched coldly as the soul entered the encampment and lost itself in the mist.


    ¡®This wouldn¡¯t do. This is not enough.¡¯ Wei Zhiruo hid her own nervousness in the layers of preparation, afraid to worry Marr more than he needed to be. But she wasn¡¯t optimistic about her current preparation. There was this stifling fear gripping her heart. This uneasiness felt natural to her so she heeded to it more calmly.


    She closed her eyes and looked into her inner world.


    She faced the vast Sea of consciousness. The ocean thundered majestically. She hoped she didn¡¯t have to use this specific Rune but the circumstances were dire ¨C she was going to experiment again and most probably lose more than a decade of her life doing just this.


    Wei Zhiruo thought of using an Origin Rune again. She didn¡¯t think she would be successful on her first attempt but if this didn¡¯t succeed right away, she would have no way out. Things were getting trickier than she liked.


    ¡°Sigh.¡± Wei Zhiruo closed her eyes.


    She faced the sky of her inner world, eyes closed, feeling her aura melt into millions of shards, calling out to her to just do as she wished. Freedom. Wasn¡¯t that all she had ever asked for? Was misfortune something aligned to her fate wherever she went?


    Surveillance, surveillance ¨C she hated being watched the most! And being shoved with unfounded thoughts dressed as her own? She abhorred, hated it! But would she give up? Never. She opened her eyes which had turned a shade golden and observed everywhere inside her mind.


    Found it.


    There was a drop of something that shouldn¡¯t be there inside her mind. When it infiltrated her inner world and started observing it ¨C she couldn¡¯t tell. But she knew this was the intermediary ¨C the link ¨C that was being used by that game planner. He could drag her in his plans, because he saw her potential. Or rather, he wanted both of them gone. She would kill that woman ¨C and die fighting. If he could influence her thoughts, why couldn¡¯t it lead that woman towards her? Possibilities, endless swamp of doubts froze her mind¡­she looked away.


    She clutched that drop and used God''s speech to write down [Ablaze]; fire engulfed it and burned the drop to ashes.


    Wei Zhiruo flew down to the center of the whole boundless inner world. She quickly sat down and carved. Five successive ¡®God-words¡¯ were written and submerged under the ocean bed. She chanted the hymn she had felt closest to and then saw with her own eyes as five golden chains formed a dome in her mind ¨C creating a spectacle of furious hues merging together.


    Then finally she wrote the last letter.


    ¡°If this works...¡± She said to herself but stopped from completing the sentence.


    [Expel] the word that is said to have been uttered by the Gods when they drove any ¡®sinner¡¯ away. It was the carrier of sins to the realms of hell, and acted as the chains put on the hands of a prisoner. If she successfully incorporated its various facets in here - not much but just the bit about driving away the ¡®sinner¡¯ of her mind - she will have the last line of safety assured. No outwards surveillance could now peer through this inner world ¨C here at least, she dictated how she felt and thought!


    Wei Zhiruo felt fifty years of her life being sucked away. She was spending precious vitality like water¡­


    ¡°It''s me,¡± Marr rubbed against her feet. ¡°Don¡¯t panic. It''s not like we have never faced such a situation before. Weren¡¯t those telepathic mages just like this thing? They changed how you thought, influenced your thinking and peeked at your secrets ¨C but did we let them succeed? Each of them died strangled in the trench of your mind. Nothing can be omniscient ¨C at least, I don¡¯t think what we are facing is an omniscient being or how else would it fall down to such lowly means of disguising his intentions as your thoughts?¡±


    ¡°Of course, it¡¯s just a coward. But take care of it when we go outside, don''t arouse too much suspicion. We will face-off against that soul as it wants us to. But the actual battlefield ¨C how could it be outside as decided by it? Greed ¨C the falling of mankind. She will herself walk inside this trap.¡± Wei Zhiruo said looking around the grand prison she had made in her inner world and burst out laughing. ¡°Right ¨C like always, I¡¯m thinking too much. Maybe she is better than that¡­¡±


    The waves raged and thundered. The Origin rune¡¯s shimmered and flashed coldly.

 Chapter 12. The Calamities of a Fairy

    By eight in the morning, the light had removed every darkness, every vague shadow lurking on the ground,  except the mist that lingered in trapped corridors, alleys of that quaint courtyard  ¨C at such moment that soul finally found her. It wasn¡¯t her illusion ¨C she felt it burning clearly in her instincts. Yet she pretended to be ignorant. Wei Zhiruo counted down the last seconds of countdown ¨C pegged down the last devices at its fixed places; fogs rolled, mist hovered and shadows flickered dancing like maddened shamans. Something in her reveled in the calm that settled over everything, like a calm before a storm.


    Her heartbeat fluttered ¨C the sound of it resounding in empty silence became increasingly strange; blood thrummed with charged zealousness. Her eyes turned pure gold. Then she heard a slight rustle and Marr saying, "She is close. Too close.¡± He raised his nose to sniff in the air, recoiled at the smell and then walked closer to her, almost touching her feet.


    ¡°It¡¯s in time.¡± Wei Zhiruo replied. She caressed a falling branch of the willow and broke it off. Each leaf, young and old was clipped by her white hands, leaving behind just a lithe, supple stick which turned into whichever shape she wanted it to be. Perfect. She just felt sad that once again she intended to drain every vestige of power in her current body and leave it embroiled in aches and pains like never before ¨C ¡°I am giving you a hundred Runes; you see the sign and just release them.¡±


    ¡°Good. Alas! She doesn¡¯t give me good vibes. And here I was hoping¡­¡± the cat twisted his paws, slapping the dirt as if striking it at someone¡¯s face and began straightening his bones, stretching his body to release his tiredness. His small figure was soon ready to prance over the boughs and skies, yet he didn¡¯t step out.


    Wei Zhiruo looked at him for a second, then turned to see the ongoing play.


    ¡°Let me share your vision.¡± Even before she finished her sentence, her vision turned red, becoming one with Marr¡¯s. Each line, each fragment, each small molecule of the outside world shifted its nature as if unfolding a different kind of story, she saw swirls unfolding, locks clicking open; a perspective that she didn¡¯t own before ¨C a secret talk she wasn¡¯t privy to were being whispered to her, she was its solitary listener in that red swamp of distinct intentions. It was the change of views which aroused the deepest of her hidden alertness, but which also gave her the most comfort with its familiarity and knowledge.


    Hiding behind the willow tree, Wei Zhiruo instantly sensed her. Even before her figure emerged in the clear, Wei Zhiruo heard the sound of bells ringing ¨C pristine, clear sounds echoing at each step taken forward. The sound merged with the sound of ringing tassels. In the mist, in the lurking shadows underneath the fog that canvassed the vast land, hiding every ugly facet of the weather-beaten walls and roofs, there she approached. Tall, as tall as a mighty sword.


    Wei Zhiruo''s golden eyes turned a shade deeper, almost glowing with the intensity of the noon sun.


    The woman didn¡¯t float in her soul form but had appeared in her human self. She stood awhile, then started walking slowly. Each of her steps rising, then falling back onto the ground felt heavy and assured of her own presence ¨C there was something of a gravitational pull in the way she held the world around her ¨C a hand waved and the fogs parted to let her go.


    The bell ringing sounded again.


    She walked and behind her a veil of fog followed, forming a train sweeping down the ground. The mist bloomed like an eager lily, as if each particle was hovering around her figure, hurrying to embrace her, to hold her majesty, and, maybe for a moment, the murky darkness had found a presence to seep through to elude light. There was beauty, there was a mystery.


    And condescension.


    But such beauty only crowned that haughtiness as her bearing¡¯s top jewel - making it look smooth and not abrupt, or maybe, even too natural for her.


    Her eyebrows were cold, her eyes like those of dead people who feel nothing ¨C black and deep, unfathomable; like people who have settled down in the graves of time and frozen their hearts she held no emotion in them. She was the most beautiful creature Wei Zhiruo had ever seen, but also among the most dangerous she had ever met. At first glance, she knew the situation was irreconcilable.


    There are many beautiful, vain people. But seldom does the world accord them enough power to wield and do one¡¯s own bidding, with no censure. This woman looked very much like the exception ¨C she had tasted power; she was vain and each of her steps felt like a decisive beat on the drum. She would never let a grain of dust dirty her eyesight if she desired that to be. Dangerous, moody and certainly insidious. And Wei Zhiruo just happened to have something she wanted ¨C how could there be no confrontation?


    Wei Zhiruo narrowed her eyes. She shook off the coldness settled on her shoulders, closing her eyes. A dilemma. But also not ¨C she still hadn¡¯t figured out much of the issues she had been forced to participate in ¨C in this game of chess, she was a complete novice and also the one who held the most unconventional moves. ¡°...Follow the previous plan. She is too clear-headed and she will most likely see through everything ¨C let her grasp our weaknesses. If she falls for that it¡¯s okay, if not¡­then it doesn¡¯t matter¡­just don¡¯t appear in front of her.¡±


    She bit her lips and continued saying, "How much control do you have over your transfiguration? Can you form a mask right now? I really cannot show my face to this¡­woman. If she escapes and gets another chance to kill me ¨C she will definitely do it. She¡¯d chase me down to the end of the world. I am strongly convinced of that.¡±


    ¡°A mask?¡± Marr muttered under his breath and then broke apart into millions of fragments. He used his formless mass to cover Wei Zhiruo¡¯s whole body in a film and then, painstakingly carved out each angle, each line that would completely cover her up. A red mask with no opening covered all of her face, hanging down to her neck while a wing-like transparent cloak cloaked her body. A hideous looking mark emerged over it all ¨C a mark which on first glance causes utter distaste; a glance and one cannot explain the source of hatred that it causes, a filthy black gloom that haloed each of its crevices and deep grooves and lines running in asymmetrical, incohesive patterns that seems to go nowhere.


    ¡°It doesn¡¯t look good ¨C but that is what I aimed at.¡±


    ¡°It¡¯s perfect.¡± Wei Zhiruo touched the hard shell covering all of her face with no gap, not even to look through or to breath. She felt a wisp of red merged in black floating around its engravings. ¡°I just want her to keep guessing ¨C till her death.¡± Who that woman met today should remain a locked secret for everyone. Or it will invite endless trouble for her.


    The bell rang closer and stopped just a few steps away from the weeping willow. They both fell silent to observe.


    The woman looked¡­weirdly young. The look in her eyes, those endlessly cruel, disparate eyes that looked like a God¡¯s looking down on pitiable humans¡­? It wasn¡¯t the word vain and proud that could capture that essence of her aloofness ¨C but something like indifference, which runs too deep in nature ¨C cold and biting indifference with the world. Wearing an elaborate black gown, with a golden crown perched with a piece of lily blooming, gorgeously over her head, when she walked, ringing tassels and bells shook at each of her steps. She was staring at her direction ¨C Wei Zhiruo knew it!


    Faster and faster, flashed her two small fingers rubbing against the wood, faster and faster, flew more and more elaborate, complex looking rune circles joining the previous collection.


    In the illusion ¨C a small child sat down beside the willow, playing in the mud. Wei Zhiruo let that child become more and more affable, engrossed in her own world. The lump of mud under her hands took the shape of a round woman. The girl child put that fat woman aside, and put a small doll in similar shape besides the first, crying ¨C ¡°It looks good! Just like mom and me. Little doll, are you happy to be with your mother? Will you always stay with her? You are a good child. Such a good child!¡± A cheerful voice started singing.


    Wei Zhiruo just wanted to see sympathy, or hesitation, a shred of pity slipping in that deity-like face.


    The woman kept watching the child play for some while, as the puppet stacked up a small family of six people, then she walked up to her. Slow steps, firm and measured.


    ¡°What are you playing?¡± She asked gently, bending down in front of the child, her locks falling down touching the ground. But the moment she stretched her snow-like hands to one of the mud dolls, a look of reluctance appeared in her eyes and the woman retrieved her extending hands as if nothing had happened. She stood up ¨C ¡°I hope I haven¡¯t interrupted your pleasure?¡±


    ¡°No, you haven¡¯t! Why are you talking like that?¡± The phantom child looked up, showing the appropriate level of surprise and curiosity at meeting someone new, and replied, ¡°I am making my¡­dolls. Do you want to play with me? I can make some for you too!¡±


    ¡°Using mud? Your mother doesn¡¯t get angry at you for playing like this?¡± Saying this she surveyed the mist filled abandoned chamber. Her laughter washed eyes had reverted to their previous coldness. Maybe it was here she completely guessed that what she was talking to wasn¡¯t human. Maybe, she didn¡¯t guess it at all. Either way, her coldness stemmed from something deeply profound, like a trench that opened up between two species. Wei Zhiruo couldn¡¯t see through her intentions at all! She kept guessing.


    ¡°Are you alone? Why? Doesn¡¯t anyone like to play with you¡­?¡±


    ¡°No, I like to come here alone. There is a pond nearby and I can make many clay dolls with its mud. I slipped away from my mother. Others don¡¯t like to play like this¡­¡± the child lowered her head, and kept patting the lump of soil. She raised her head supporting the most glowing, innocent smiles. ¡°But I will go home soon. My mother is a maid. She will be done making the breakfast for the mistress soon and then I will go home with her. Who are you? Why haven¡¯t I seen you before? Are you a mistress?¡±


    ¡°Not a mistress ¨C no I am not. Just a visitor. No one, of any importance. Definitely not a mistress.¡± The woman replied softly. She glanced around herself. She seemed to be judging or calculating something so she didn¡¯t speak after this sentence.


    The puppet, though, controlled by Wei Zhiruo kept talking random things, while Wei Zhiruo increased her speed to use her own life-essence to carve out more and more elaborate runes. The time was ticking. She was, by now, pretty sure that the woman knew that she was already inside an illusion.


    ¡°Why are you here?¡± The puppet asked. Or rather Wei Zhiruo worded her own doubts.


    ¡°¡­¡± The woman towered over the child and looked into the guileless face of a tiny four-year-old child, taking in those unremarkable features. ¡°I don¡¯t know¡­I felt you had something which I sought. Now you don¡¯t. Tell me¡­are you hiding something, child?¡±


    Wei Zhiruo narrowed her eyes and swiftly left the Rune making. Goosebumps rose over her hands and body and she felt nauseous; nervousness tinged her pale, and the rest of the calm she had created painstakingly, almost wavered into pieces.


    ¡°I don''t know you ¨C why would I hide something from you?¡±


    ¡°True. You don¡¯t know me. Would you like to know my name? Tell me yours.¡±


    ¡°Xiao Xia...and yours is? You have to share yours too!¡±


    ¡°People called me fairy Ying Yueru. Now it¡¯s just Ying Yueru. You can call me sister Yue.¡± She had a strange sense of melancholic smile when she gave away her name.


    ¡°Sister Yue¡­? But you look like a human. Are you lying to me?¡±


    ¡°Ah¡­lying?¡± The woman glanced into the puppet¡¯s soulful eyes. ¡°But I¡¯m not. I am really a fairy. We call ourselves immortal cultivators. You might have heard of them ¨C yes or not?¡±


    ¡°Cultivators? I don¡¯t know what they are. Why are you here?¡±


    ¡°You are not lying¡­strange.¡± It wasn¡¯t a question. ¡°I thought you might be well aware of what you are facing right now. As for why I am here¡­I was travelling when I accidentally fell into this world. I got trapped inside the pond. Unfortunately, I died drowning as no one saved me. And now, I need a body,¡± Her straight face retold as softly as the brisk wind, ¡®which you happened to have. Ice single spiritual root; a heavenly spiritual root which is nearing a hundred percent purity. What a marvelous body - but now, it''s gone. Tell me, how readily do you want to give away this secret of yours to sister Yue? Depending on that your death will be painless.¡±


    ¡°You want to kill me? Why?¡± The child muttered confusedly.


    ¡°Does it matter?¡±


    ¡°It does, because I don¡¯t want to die¡­¡± The voice quivered.


    ¡°You must. At least you cannot survive with me here. Tell me the secret, and I might even let you live.¡± Then Wei Zhiruo saw that woman glancing towards her.


    She extended her arms to reach out over the child¡¯s head. She rubbed it lovingly for a while and then in front of a shocked Wei Zhiruo, she went on to clutch that puppet''s hair, hard and swift and pulled it on its feet! She clutched the hair as if she was digging some untoward root!


    ¡°Ah-! It hurts! What are you doing? Leave me alone! Why are you hurting me?¡± The soul seemed to exert some kind of spell. The woman seemed to have exerted much of her strength as a look of extreme pain flickered over her face.


    ¡°Curious¡­interesting little thing. What are¡­you? No past, no future¡­not even your present is here. What a peculiar little thing!¡± She was whispering as if she had found an amusing pet and was happy playing with it.


    But Wei Zhiruo knew that woman was still judging her, she was calculating, and throwing the fishing line along with the bait in the water. It was difficult to judge who would turn out victorious in this little ¡®ploy¡¯. While she was judging others, others too used her ¡®small play¡¯ to seek her intention¡¯s out! Nothing strange, but it was faster than what she had expected.


    The child kept shrieking in blood-curdling pain, even a trace of blood seemed to trickle down her mouth! The woman held the child¡¯s neck as she struggled to breath and shrieked. She, though, took no notice of the ongoing struggle and observed the child from all sides, as if she was seeing a very strange specimen.


    ¡°Aaah -! I cannot¡­breathe!¡± Tears trickled down the child¡¯s face. Blood, tears, sweat trickled down intermingling with each other, seeping into her face and neck. If it wasn¡¯t a phantasm, Wei Zhiruo hardly believed she would have kept the same level of calm looking at this spectacle as she had right now. Watching the unfolding of this strange situation, Wei Zhiruo signaled Marr to prepare for the attack.


    The fa?ade was no longer needed to go on. It was just a shame that she had thought she would earn herself a few more minutes.


    Wei Zhiruo looked down at her hand, still wounded, holding a green branch now dyed red. Marr made an angry face as if he would have hissed and pounced at that woman, had he not been keeping still for the future plans. But his teeth could be heard rubbing together in shaking fury.


    ¡°You...are going to kill me...Don¡¯t¡­please.¡± The puppet pleaded breathlessly, suffocating to a deep purple shade, and was thrown down on its bottom looking drained out of its life. It kept crying and shivering in pain curling into a pitiful ball.


    ¡°Okay. I will do so, if you sign a contract with me. I¡¯ll not kill you. I promise,¡± the woman didn¡¯t look insulted after being treated like a ghost but said, ¡°Just sign a contract; it''s nothing much to ask for in return for your precious life, is it? Look, I¡¯m not even asking for you to share your secret any longer!¡±


    She didn¡¯t look at the shivering child, nor calmed her frightened figure as if that child¡¯s fear and her shivering figure had nothing to do with her or was the least of her concerns. She stared at her - Wei Zhiruo. Each moment, she seemed to be eternally closer to peering past the thick barrier in the middle, and looking into her eyes ¨C cold, like a very intrigued predator ready to chase its food.


    Maintaining the non-existent eye contact, she kicked the puppet in the stomach which threw it away at quite a distance. The illusion bent down clutching its stomach, shrieking in pain. ¡°Ahhh ¨C! Niang!¡±


    The puppet was almost close to death. In fact, if death was possible for it, it would have died a long time ago!


    The woman coldly stared at this spectacle, then she took out what looked like a piece of floating golden paper.


    ¡°Sign here. I¡¯ll spare your life.¡± She smirked playfully and then walked closer down, clutched the hair of the puppet, to force it to peer into her eyes. ¡°You do not have a spiritual root, and I am already in big trouble because of that. Lend me your body. When I go back to my world, I will have you forged a body of Heavenly spirits and treasures. You¡¯ll be able to become a fairy like your sister. Now, sign, hurry up. I don¡¯t have the whole day to waste on you.¡±


    The moment Wei Zhiruo glimpsed this look, she immediately instructed the puppet to refuse to sign the paper whatever happened next. She felt that if that puppet succeeded in signing that paper, that contract would instead fall on her head ¨C this could never happen on her watch!


    Wei Zhiruo looked down finally at the long willow branch. She sighed and seemed to have taken a symbolic step forward. The air smelled of rust, but the mist''s coldness covered this note of smell, instead a deep gloominess dwelt on much of the air, a murky and depressing smell of rot and putrefaction.


    She heard Marr angrily criticizing the contract, "What does she mean? She doesn¡¯t want to kill the child¡­because she has thought of a crueler method! She will just snatch away the body and then when she is back in her own world, she will create a new body for this child? As if she will be doing the greatest favor by teaching her cultivation ¨C! No regard for life, no respect for others opinion! What does this woman think of who she is ¨C a God? Did she even think for a moment what kind of life she will be forcing this mortal child to live?¡± Marr sounded incensed.


    The phantom girl will sign a contract with the woman, allowing her to borrow the body, and she will sleep for the rest of the time in a ¡®Spirit Gourd¡¯ until the woman finds a better body for her. Sleeping eternally, with no hope of waking up again, apart from a wilful master¡¯s desire to stay true to one¡¯s vow. Yes, it was a slave contact. Clear and without doubt.


    ¡°Don¡¯t waste any more time over this. You can go now.¡± Wei Zhiruo said, clenching her fist to loosen her tightened nerves. Marr hummed in agreement.


    Without further ado, Wei Zhiruo slammed the [Encampment] Rune herself, as Marr seemed to have completely forgotten doing it. Instantaneously, a square golden box emerged from the center of the willow, and grew bigger and bigger till it was of considerable size and had successfully imprisoned that foreign soul inside it! When the walls converge, tightened, it thrummed in the air sealing all gaps. Done. Her eyes glinted in dark, regaining their previous peace and indifference.


    The woman looked down at the puppet, looking astounded she asked, ¡°What did you do ¨C form a barrier? But no, you haven¡¯t even cultivated till Qi Refining State. If it''s not what you did, then it can only be...¡± She muttered these words fluttering like a falling leaf. She seemed to have grasped something. ¡°But will your beloved mistress, hiding like a coward as she is, save your life? Just a barrier will not stop me from killing you, will it? Call her out and let me see for myself who is this brave to cross me.¡±


    She turned to Wei Zhiruo and talked to an imaginary her -  ¡°Tell me what does your sect intend to do, ambushing me like this and where did that random voice come from in my mind? I have never offended anyone in this realm so I cannot understand this enmity between us. Is there a misunderstanding?¡±


    When Wei Zhiruo didn¡¯t reply for too long ¨C the woman grew increasingly thoughtful. She seemed to use some spell and then kept muttering broken sentences - ¡°Not an attack - ambush? Offspring of a loose-cultivator? Maybe, the parents found something in the secret realm? Alone¡­ with just a mortal maid¡­would never be brave enough to lay this siege. Who is this who is playing with me?¡±


    Seeing that the woman was too engrossed in her ponderings, Wei Zhiruo stole away some more precious moments and added a wave of fifty more runes!


    ¡°Acting on her own¡­she is certainly acting alone. No past life ¨C only a God level treasure can make my own ¡®Book of past¡¯ not be able to work!¡± She still whispered as softly and as detachedly as ever, as if what she was wording were not certainties but words with no meaning to anyone. Even she herself seemed to be too trapped in the midst of the gap between illusion and reality. Now, this attitude, completely baffled Wei Zhiruo who thought she had seen through all of her illusion''s tricks. But it seems, the woman still hadn¡¯t realized it all. She still seems to think that the puppet, if not a part of this illusion, was instead an assistant or more precisely, her own maid? So, when she tortured that puppet, was she expecting her to come out and rescue it? What made her think this way -?


    And the voice? Here, finally, this was the proof that someone was surely watching this game happen, as perfectly as he¡¯d designed it to be! He lured the soul by hinting about the presence of a spiritual root which she needed, and he hinted to her to kill this intruder to survive¡­why go all around in a circle like this? What makes him unable to participate in the game, or rather, kill both of them instantly? Where was it watching all this from? Was it really as she thought - the influence of the ¡®world consciousness¡¯ itself?


    ¡®No, it feels different.¡¯ Unauthorized reproduction: this story has been taken without approval. Report sightings.


    As if nonchalantly viewing the surroundings, the woman looked at the hiding spot of Wei Zhiruo in the passing. ¡°Sign here ¨C becoming my slave is not a bad deal for a mortal. If you don¡¯t have a spiritual root, I can forge it with heavenly treasures and pills. I promise you will be well recognized, powerful enough to walk amongst the cloud like a free floating immortal, unfettered in any mortal ties.¡±


    ¡°But I don¡¯t want to! I don¡¯t, I don¡¯t, I don¡¯t¡­want to!¡± The phantom child screamed.


    "Pretend. Go on, child.¡± She raised her hands and the wind blew, the fog receded. ¡°I have all day and I can accompany you to play well. Tell me the truth. Who in your family left you here to ambush me? Call him or her out or you are dying with no words left to say. A soul cultivator is not something you can face right now ¨C not even your grandfather can save you from my clutches. Now say!" She talked as if she also addressed the hiding Wei Zhiruo.


    But the next moment a fireball fell down from the sky. Shooting down like a comet, creating a tail of blazing light-trail.


    ¡°Woosh!¡±


    The woman quickly stood, straightening her back. She twisted her neck and then looked coldly at the fire ball approaching her without stepping away. A mocking smile lingered on her lips ¨C the moment the fire touched her, a whip appeared in her right hand; she swung it hard, smiting the fire-balls body out, smothering it into a wisp!


    ¡°Failed. Onto the collective attack ¨C get her somehow. We need to confirm if these Runes can affect her.¡± Wei Zhiruo shouted in her mind. She forcefully used her spiritual senses to direct fifty of those flame ball runes at once to rain down a shower of flame! A crack emerged in the inner world, expanding like a deep narrow line opening up in the sky. But outside, one after another shower of [Flame] runes descended from the air, from all directions aimed at a single woman who still didn¡¯t hide from oncoming attacks.


    The moment the fire ball emerged in her vision, the woman looked surprised as if she didn¡¯t expect so many fire-balls to come at her together. But even then she didn¡¯t try to dodge the attack as it came in front of her, she used her whip to form swirls of cloud of purple aura, surrounding her body in a thick cocoon, now using the wind to swirl around herself to smother all the flame. But some flame blew out, while others became increasingly huge as if given incentive from the propelling wind!


    A while later, the woman was no longer surrounded in purple vortices of wind, but flames burning gold and bright, flashing heatedly ¨C it burned and raged, till it ate away the wisps of winds and soon actually touched the soul ¨C Wei Zhiruo heard a cry of pain resounding in the air. Success!


    ¡°How can it be ¨C!¡± Her eternally steadfast eyes showed shock, as the fire didn¡¯t stop at the first shield of her soul¡¯s aura, instead it easily penetrated into the inner circle hitting her directly in her core!


    One, two, three, a total of seven flames completely penetrated deeper into the inner core layer, till she hastily managed to form a shield of her own! The flames were still burning the soul, as if clinging to her essence and she let out an agonized cry like a bird having touched fire¨Cgaining ground, she whipped at the empty air.


    The lily was scorched dry. The crown tilted, and the black gown flew in the rage of the angered woman''s fury ¨C eyes that had once settled peacefully like a stale pool of dead water now had several ripples of anger mixed and evoking their liveliness. Her hair flew in the rising wind; she finally looked serious.


    Wei Zhiruo slammed another Rune.


    "Boom!"


    An ear-splitting blasting sound came from the attack hitting its target. Five huge roots of a thick tree crawled out from the deep pit in the ground and gathered around her. They were quick to emerge and follow, but the woman was faster. She dodged these roots and completely left her human form this time. She flew in the sky and kept dodging the endless swarm of red flame-balls that kept falling from above. She tried to fly higher, but instead hit the barrier. As if a strike of lightning had thundered through her being ¨C she started falling down like a wounded, scorched bird.


    Another golden ball intercepted her fall, meeting the slashing whip which she used tediously to protect herself¨C then like a raging beast opening its blazing mouth, it burned the whip lashes effect, as well as the whip itself! The weapon cracked with a crackle, disseminating in the wind; while the strong momentum of the flame continued in its fluid charge, till it grew further and further, raging higher and higher till it burned the woman''s soul!


    ¡°Uh-! Aaah ¨C¡± she shrieked out clutching her heart and then looked towards Wei Zhiruo with the eyes of an awakened beast. Red and furious!


    ¡°Boom -!¡± She fell down creating a huge pit with the hitting force.


    The soul burst into a blue flame. ¡°A mortal¡­how can you have so much Qi?¡± The woman huffed and wheezed as she stood, shakily, still looking as if she hadn¡¯t been cut out from all manners of her escape. She took in a deep breath and then once again raised her hands ¨C a strong killing intent seemed to fill up the air, manifesting in storms like dark black winds. A sword appeared.


    Wei Zhiruo never intended to kill that woman ¨C she knew she couldn¡¯t achieve that right now with the glaringly obvious limitations of her wounded body and consciousness. Moreover, since someone wanted to use her as a knife ¨C how could she fulfil such an obviously tricky role? So the woman must not be killed.


    She saw the decreasing number of runes and became calmer and steadier in her directions. All her mind was spent on decisively using the least amount of fire-power. But the moment she felt the killing intention, her instincts urged her to run, she reigned them in with difficulty and instructed Marr ¨C ¡°Use your moves! That sword, beware of its force.¡±


    She used fifty more [Flame] and [Thunder] runes. The sky crackled with their joined forces as balls fell faster and faster, reaching down the woman, who slashed and pushed against this wave of attack till finally she screamed with an increasingly gritty voice, saying, "Stop! Stop using these, Talisman''s! I understand! I do. You don¡¯t want to sign that contract, right? Then don¡¯t. Let¡¯s talk, shall we? You are a good child. I was just jesting about that treasure¡­if you do not want to share it then don¡¯t. But which sect do you belong to? Did you come with other cultivators from the Taiyuan realm?"


    The soul voice sounded but Wei Zhiruo didn''t stop. She knew it was only meant to distract her. She directed three more [Flames] Rune towards the soul and then saw Marr using his own attacks.


    When two blood red sword slashes cut through the air, reaching the soul, it instantly pierced the outer layer of her cloth, leaving the first gash over the woman¡¯s appearance. The soul shrieked out in pain as if something was eroding her from within! A gaping wound opened on her shoulders, where it had hit, with the clothes dissolved in the air and flesh turning black and falling like crumbling pieces of flimsy wisps of air. But Wei Zhiruo knew ¨C the attack on the soul had the most obvious effect.


    The soul looked incredulously at the gaping wound and then leaned up against her sword. ¡°Tsk! What a careful head.¡±


    The killing intent in the air profoundly increased and manifested in traces of twirling black vortices. It reached Wei Zhiruo who was hiding behind ¨C and pushed her to face the first direct wound of the battle. Several slashes, big and old covered her body ¨C but since she focused on covering up the willow from being touched she couldn¡¯t evade this wave. As a result, she fell down - toppling over the ground, vomiting mouthful after mouthful of blood!


    On the other hand, in the brief respite from any attack, the soul murmured out a spell¨C


    ¡°Blue Flaming Lotus Technique!¡±


    Ying Yueru became engrossed in running a healing technique in her body, working as quickly as she could. The soul''s strength had been greatly hampered by those rotting wounds that plagued her like a curse, and wouldn¡¯t go away!


    As if heaven registered her voice, a blue flame surrounded her body, removing traces of other forms of flames and attacks. Everything started healing at an exhilarating speed  - traces of thunder and gashes made from random roots attacking her by surprise, black bruises ¨C but in all this healing she finally found the glaring point which still didn¡¯t change. The rotting traces still didn¡¯t go away. The woman seemed to be shocked at this revelation and looked angrily in the direction of the willow tree.


    "What kind of demonic attack did you use?! Tell me or else, you wouldn''t like what I will do to you later." She threatened and slashed her sword against the willow ¨C as if intending to drive out the hiding Wei Zhiruo. But a golden barrier cut away the vestiges of the force of sword, draining away the remaining strength in Wei Zhiruo¡¯s arms and legs. She hobbled like a child and leaned against the tree ¨C she took a deep breath and clenched her red teeth. No going back. The disastrous effects on her body were countless, and if she died ¨C that would be too shameful for her!


    Wei Zhiruo stood tall and said, ¡°Continue enraging her.¡±


    Marr seemed to be intently listening to all her commands ¨C followed with his next move. He used the [blood-sword] a second time.


    The woman looked incredulously at the falling sword intent over herself and used her own to fight against it. She narrowed her eyes ¨C and then while dodging launched another attack towards the willow forcing the barrier protecting it to crackle under pressure! She laughed softly at first then it became loud and resounding as she found no trace of the woman, instead a rolled up doll lying under the tree. ¡°What a little deceiver you are! Come out child - there is no point in hiding any longer. Your sister already knows your bad taste. Hilarious. Ten thousand years and I cannot look into a child¡¯s illusion techniques properly¡­Ying Yueru, Ying Yueru what has happened to you? Have you fallen so low?¡±


    ¡°Surround me.¡± Marr heard Wei Zhiruo''s command and flew down towards her. He hurriedly acted as an armor and covered her body. He solidified, turning himself into red wisps of floating fabric shrouding the small figure in a misty veil. No one could glance at her bone structure, no one could peer at her face ¨C no one could see what she was; this was the greatest protection he could give her at this moment and he knew it was crucial! The eerie red covered in totems didn¡¯t let even a little bit of Wei Zhiruo¡¯s face to be revealed!


    Wei Zhiruo picked up the bloodied branch, and said, ¡°A sword, no, a branch against a sword. Who do you think will have a greater edge?¡±


    ¡°If it¡¯s yours ¨C unpredictable.¡± A soft whisper responded.


    Wei Zhiruo wrote another origin rune, decreasing her life-span by another decade, forcing her lungs and spleen to shrivel and convulse in agitation and agony. The [Sword] rune was an ancient rune, to signify a weapon christened in purest of fire, held by the bravest of warrior deities and used against the demons of dark Abyss. Since it was formed with fire, it held the traces of purifying entities. This word should have been carved on a smelted piece of marvelous, newly forged sword to call out its full power¨C but here she was, using it to adorn a piece of limp wood. The branch was springy, and then when the runes were written over them ¨C they instantly glowed in a red aura, converging into a solid, flowing wisp of spirit, and then took the shape of a sword with a red-blade. New and profound. But its essence was still as flexible, as a springing willow wood.


    It was just amazing that she had even succeeded to achieve this in under five-seconds. The sword burned with an edge, its glow a deep crimson like it had taken some of her blood and ingrained its essence in itself.


    ¡°I don¡¯t know Amaranthus, I just can''t tell.¡± Marr sounded perturbed as he said, ¡°Why must you go through all this?¡± It was a silent whisper and was lost in the rustling wind.


    Wei Zhiruo took a deep breath. ¡°I too want to ask. But then, who will answer us? Whose answer will we readily trust?¡±


    Outside the woman had stopped evading the attacks but was now focusing on breaking the barrier instead. In a few seconds the barrier will crack and that woman will burn the willow and push her out. Wei Zhiruo didn¡¯t want to see such carnage ¨C she decided to face upfront. Now, there was no time to hide behind shadows; since everyone was aware of the masks on one another, why pretend any longer? It was cowardly to behave like that.


    ¡°Come on child. You are not a coward. Don¡¯t behave like one.¡± The woman seemed to have used another spell to strengthen or rather reinforce her sword and had found her previous state of indifference. Her hair flew in the air, but her palms gripped a sword covered in flashes and vortices of black, gloomy looking aura that was too hard to not be real. She was wounded, but still she was in better condition than Wei Zhiruo. But Wei Zhiruo wouldn¡¯t let that woman get even a hint of this reality. ¡°I will show you today what real cultivators should look like. Ambushing might be the teachings of your demonic sect, but we, the real cultivators, hardly behave so strikingly like cowards with no way out.¡± The woman laughed fanatically as she shook out the sword.


    ¡°Crack-!¡± The dome sheltering the willow cracked into pieces, flowing in the wind like golden shimmering dust.


    Wei Zhiruo looked up at the sky, walking out from the corner for the first time. She dragged behind her the sword, her steps still heavier. Maybe it was because the sky was clearer, she was nostalgically surrounded in a smell which was softly like¡­home. Blue sky, white clouds, and rustling greenery. The smell of warmth, the smell of broken dirt and buzzing of the flying soot and wisps of hair floating in the gentle wind. Wei Zhiruo lightened her steps, nullifying the gravitational pull over them. She walked and then before the woman could take her appearance in her eyes, she used the red sword in her hands, cutting a deep groove into the earth on which that woman stood, pushing that woman to fall back a great distance.


    ¡°Boom! Rumble!¡± A round trench opened up surrounding the willow, and she jumped the trench to finally face her enemy. Behind her, a golden dome rose from the ground, completely separating the tree from any following impact.


    She could feel the waves of sword intent coming out at her, touching her face and cutting out wounds on her physical body. The swirls and majestic force of the wind had pushed her backwards ¨C but she waded against the force and cut through it to peer at her ¨C a woman called Ying Yueru.


    The mist rolled and revealed each of them to the other.


    A child, indeed a child. And the other a blooming flower, in the most beautiful stage of her life. But neither of them were figures who shrunk back so they looked at each other judging each other''s capabilities, looking out for any opening, gaping wounds or weaknesses; they breathed in the pulsating air and felt the charging thunder, the aura¡¯s rolled from their bodies and interestingly enough, neither of them was weak enough to grovel down and roll back.


    Ying Yueru looked at this and narrowed her eyes in doubt. ¡°You are not a mortal. I don¡¯t know which method you cultivate ¨C demonic cultivation being not my forte, I cannot see what level you are. But you can before me ¨C a Jindan level soul cultivator ¨C stand shoulder to shoulder. You are definitely a very competent child. Indeed. Was it fun to play with your sister like this? Alas! We could have talked since the beginning but now we have a feud in between us.¡± The woman sighed, as she smiled the most genuine smile since the beginning. She was looking at Wei Zhiruo with a look one gives a competent adversary ¨C and yes, the way she had been played with today, Wei Zhiruo had definitely shown that she earned this level of recognition. But she was mostly teasing ¨C adversary or not, competence, incompetence ¨C nothing mattered. In this world, what she desired, she will never fall back from getting it! That ice spiritual root -? It will become hers and only hers. She will then see how others can mock her again saying that the Ying clan had birthed a genius and another, a genius¡¯s shadow! If her wind single spiritual root cannot earn her respect, then she will snatch it with this new body! One hundred percent purity¡­ even her sweet little sister didn¡¯t have such out of the world qualifications in her early days!


    The woman''s eyes grew increasingly hungry, as if thirsty for the first bite into the nape of its prey. It couldn¡¯t wait for the chase to end!


    Wei Zhiruo understood this too. So she jumped in the air, floating a few meters high in the air as she launched herself towards the woman from an unexpected angle. She swung her ringing red sword, lithe and flexible, slashing and stabbing into the air in continuously changing moves, creating waves after waves of sword power ¨C her feet, floating, running and jumping in the air in one fluid move. The woman looked bewildered at first at seeing her able to fly, but she became too engrossed later in countering and dodging to think of that.


    The blades met and clanged ringing in the air . Then they danced in a medley of red and black flashes, flying in the sky, like two butterflies chasing each other in an open meadow ¨C it wasn¡¯t as poignantly beautiful, yet the clanging of sword, and flashes that often blinded the eyes, became an equally mesmerizing scene!


    ¡°Clang!¡± the swords met and separated. No one was hit. But the sword intent definitely penetrated the forces on both sides, equally wounding them both.


    ¡°You are good ¨C too good for your age.¡± Ying Yueru conceded. She looked admiringly at the small figure shrouded in black and red mist, of which she couldn¡¯t glimpse a small trace of original shape or contour. ¡°I have a new offer seeing you are so good at swords like this. I have a master, who will be eager to get you as a disciple. You can become my junior sister in the sect and I will hide all the traces of your connection with the demon realm.¡±


    ¡°And in return?¡± Because nothing comes free in the world.


    ¡°Lead me to the girl who fell in the water last night.¡± A succinct reply came and Ying Yueru looked lazily at the opposite figure. ¡°I know you are powerful and wouldn¡¯t go down without a fight ¨C proud that you are. So, let''s compromise. You show me where that girl is, I let you go. And you can also get guidance from a Mahayana cultivator ¨C whichever sect you might have belonged to previously, but you should know what an elder of such a high rank means for us cultivators. Ascension. Resources ¨C endless piles of it. Say, what do you think of this new offer.¡±


    ¡°I don¡¯t believe you.¡± Wei Zhiruo replied and once again launched an attack on the woman, but this time Marr also took another action. He came from the opposite direction, finally securing two direct hits to the soul, snapping away the outer armor it had formed.


    ¡°Smart answer.¡± The woman laughed loudly, despite suffering through immense pain from two more gaping, putrefying wounds that appeared on herself. ¡° I like people like you. If you agree, I can help you get the world.¡±


    ¡°And keep half of it? I will be your mule, your cannon ¨C and then a general. I never said I liked to be a follower.¡±


    ¡°Like any good commander, I say I must. Being a follower is a new thing you can try ¨C maybe, you¡¯ll get used to it somehow. I don¡¯t know. But I see¡­You don¡¯t like the sound of sharing ¨C that¡¯s a pity. I had begun to like you, now, you can only die!¡± With that the woman didn¡¯t wait and launched a series of real, sword attacks that came in chains and flowed like river water, beautifully unfettered.


    One, two and almost ten attacks in total pierced through Wei Zhiruo¡¯s cover, vibrating downwards into her bones and cracking them up! Her ribcage was shattered and she felt the pain running in her spine, and her lungs seemed to have ruptured ¨C there was definitely internal bleeding. She had a bunch of cracked ribs and her mouth got full of boiling blood. She hadn¡¯t even healed completely from the wounds inflicted before as well as the impact left behind by the Awakening. The sheer agony of standing up can only be imagined - she was dying with pain!


    ¡°Puch!¡± She vomited out the blood and tried not to lean down on her sword''s hilt. She didn¡¯t get any chance to rest as another wave of attack followed and she got busy dodging it to the best of her capability. The blasting wind exploded, blowing away her outer armors, leaving just a dragging thin, totem covered veil.


    But then the sky turned red and shards of red arrow fell down in droves. Marr had used his [blood-arrow] successfully. Red, long and flaming arrows all aimed precisely at the woman. Ying Yueru hardly got any time to dodge, when all rain of red-arrows pierced through the soul layers and ate away a huge chunk of it in its putrefying, corrosive effect!


    ¡°Aaaah-!¡± she shrieked loudly and then fell down on her knees, pressured under the corrosive attack.


    ¡°Blood rain ¨C this instant. Don¡¯t let her be prepared. Last wave oncoming.¡± Wei Zhiruo warned and commanded in her mind.


    She propelled herself against the outward forces, jumping and flying the major distance between the two of them, then successfully came in front of the agonized soul ¨C she used her sword to thrust deeply through a corroded area, peering into the shallow mark over the shoulder. She jabbed at it, took it out forcefully, slammed again and then flew back in the quickest succession that the gravity could allow her at that moment. She looked like she teleported, but it was just how fast she had propelled herself!


    ¡°Thud!¡± The soul fell down, under another wave of consecutive attack ¨C she was pummeled down into the earth, before she started resisting. Waves after waves of killing intent rolled out of her, then each of her aims of sword looked a little bit further refined ¨C taking out the best of her ability ¨C she flew and blocked the rain, cut through the waves and sought out Wei Zhiruo who was busy dodging.


    This time, Wei Zhiruo braced for the flashing black attack and felt herself crumbling down under the wave. She gasped and kept vomiting out blood from her mouth. A gaping hole appeared in her stomach, as the woman stood on top of her looking down with a strange glint of success, she pierced through and then twisted the sword-!


    ¡°uh-!¡± Wei Zhiruo cried unconsciously, but the next moment stopped another sound from escaping from her.


    The woman started laughing. Then she looked coldly at her. ¡°No more playing ¨C child, you¡¯ve really angered your sister now. Should we get down to business?¡±


    Wei Zhiruo felt all her energy waning, but finally gripped the ground. She used a large chunk of her spiritual sense to direct a rune to appear and hit the woman forcing her to dodge a deadly attack at just a hair¡¯s breadth distance from her neck! Then she flew up into the sky. She dodged and was chased, dodged and attacked, till the rain fell.


    Agonized pain ran in the foreground but a panting Wei Zhiruo dragged her breaking apart body to face the final onslaught. She knew what the next wave would be; it wasn¡¯t going to be physical anymore ¨C the woman had seen that she would rather die than cover.That soul will now move on to attack her soul and spirit! It will no longer tarry, will no longer chase and battle ¨C a fight where they both suffered ¨Ca sore thumb like her, needs to be immediately pulled out like a weed! So, Wei Zhiruo didn''t panic when no subsequent attack followed and that woman almost vanished into the air.


    She lay down on the ground gasping for air. Marr had escaped into her mind and was already awaiting that woman. Now, just this step ¨C and she will be free from this torment. ¡°Huff- ah, it hurts!¡± She squinted her swimming vision.


    Wei Zhiruo looked all around herself. In all directions there were the irrefutable traces of a storm, deep pits and toppled and burning houses, burning weeds and grasses. The air was stifling and full of soot. She closed her eyes.


    If it wasn¡¯t for her rune covering the whole courtyard, people would have long gathered to observe such an entertaining play. Random thoughts began to fill her mind. But she wasn¡¯t completely clueless to her surroundings - even with the dark vision that hardly formed clear images, she borrowed Marr¡¯s vision to carry on the last, anticipated attack. Till now, the rhythm had deftly passed down from one hand to another, never completely falling into anyone¡¯s territory. Now, she felt that her calculations were about to come true. She didn¡¯t rejoice in this new revelation but felt¡­what was she even feeling right now? It was a jumbled up emotion with no name.


    Wei Zhiruo clutched the hilt of her sword.


    She felt it. One second, two and three here she was -! Wei Zhiruo jumped up to counter the sword attack, two thrumming swords met again and clanged with each other¡¯s back, with flashes of sparks flitting out due to the sheer power of their meeting!


    She hastily fell back, pushed under the force.


    ¡°Got you.¡± A voice said, and then came the inexpressible agony, splitting her mind. The soul had found an opening and was now in her mind! The sword fell with a clang and she couldn¡¯t think of anything but completing the last step before losing consciousness!


    Wei Zhiruo knew she had worn away a considerable amount of edge of the soul, it was weaker than the first time she saw it ¨C but in no way was it not lethal anymore. It was still as dangerous to her, and when it entered her mind ¨C she knew she had calculated precisely.


    The nature of a body-snatcher could be wary but the pattern hardly changed; everyone of these souls had only one goal since the beginning ¨C to drive away the original soul and overtake the body. Driving away could be in all kinds of ways ¨C erasing the spirit, swallowing the soul as whole or simply piercing it into uncountable pieces and then purging it. These were some of the options she faced in her near future if she failed to grasp the correct rhythm. Or dominate the next stage.


    Wei Zhiruo looked at the greed burning in the cold eyes of the woman, and instantly knew what kind of fate she had been accorded with; there was no doubt that the woman would do anything to swallow this huge spiritual sea into her soul! She walked softly, watching that woman take no notice of her and then start attacking the barriers that protected the core-area holding her soul!


    ¡°What a magnificent treasure trove you are!¡± The woman turned to face a kneeling, gasping Wei Zhiruo and said, sounding intrigued.


    Then she looked at the boundless, thundering ocean, the power that thrummed in the air. She took a deep breath of it and felt the surge of power filling herself. ¡°Isn¡¯t this the heaven-sent chance in my hands? I lost a treasure tonight and won even a greater one. Now, I don¡¯t feel pity killing you. When I peer through your memories, all your treasures will be bared in front of me. Let''s see what you can hide in your death.¡± Then she burst out into a peal of delighted laughter. ¡°Ahh- such a turn of luck! My lovely sister ¨C let me see what can stop me from snatching your life this time! Revenge? It shall be mine.¡±


    The woman didn¡¯t wait. She launched consecutive attacks at the core area of the sea of consciousness. The runes gave away one after another ¨C Wei Zhiruo didn¡¯t wander either. She felt the runes and used another decade of her life to start the Rune Formation. She pushed her hands against the cold floor of the frothing boundless ocean, plunging the Origin Rune to erupt in a chain. If today, it was her fate to live, she will survive ¨C


    No one could kill her in her own mind!


    ¡°Rattle!¡± The sound of slithering of chains echoed, and like water dragons, enormous golden chains floated out from the ocean. There it was. Six snake-like mighty chains flung out from the ocean bed into the sky, forming a dome out of themselves! All of them searched for the ¡®sinner¡¯ ¨C they first picked up Wei Zhiruo who was closer to them and clutched them in their midst, but then as if sensing that she was not the assigned ¡®sinner¡¯ they threw her down. Apathetic judges.


    Wei Zhiruo fell down over the water which wouldn¡¯t let her drown, and then watched it all unfold. She saw how Ying Yueru was captured.


    She was struggling and trying to release herself; she even used her sword to cut through it but none of her magic seemed to work! Nothing could be taken out from the space artefact linked to her soul! She finally felt a trace of fear as she became a worthless mortal in the hands of the six mighty chains that dragged her shrieking self into its middle, forming a prison out of themselves.


    Then the sentence came, without a trial.

 Chapter 13. Fairy Ying Yueru

    ¡°What did you do to me?¡± Ying Yueru stopped struggling. Rugged breaths kept coming out of her red lips as she regained some inkling of her current helplessness. Wei Zhiruo, however, refused to indulge the other¡¯s small questions, or ploys, and instead, jumped closer to Ying Yueru¡¯s hanging figure. Red sword¡¯s reflection mirrored in the sea water.


    It was marvelous. Wei Zhiruo marveled at the complexity of the matter forming the golden chains. Each of its, small-finger length chain-links were made of gold, etched with incomprehensible shapes and lines that caused a headache once she started staring at them too hard.


    She looked up and met those eyes who were chasing her, and said - ¡°You cannot get away. Don¡¯t worry you won''t die.¡± These chains were just reflections of the real hell-chains, they wouldn¡¯t kill a person. So, the woman was really safe. She might lose something precious to offset her crimes and sins - but it wouldn¡¯t be as heavy as losing her life.


    Wei Zhiruo touched the chains and became certain of her conjectures.


    Everyone in the Middle world was aware of the legend of the Hell chains. It was a story of lingering horror; a tale told to children by their elders to arouse their inner fear and make them obedient.


    If there was a bard singing hymns to the greatness of the Ancient Gods walking down the street somewhere, there was always a chance to come across one who was alluding to the might of these chains ¨C legends, odes and parables, in all forms of imagination it had left its traces. It came creeping in the night¡¯s shadow, but left like a singing, raging fire. No one was impervious to its hold. Because in all of its visits ¨C there was a trace of justice being served, and for many helpless, downtrodden men and women, these hell-chains were nothing less than a symbol of the dawn of hope.


    It all started in the ancient times, when the God of Darkness, the ruler of Gloomy Trenches ¨C the one called Abyss, made use of the universe''s first gold frothing in the river of skies, and smelted to perfection, some thousands of these chains. Like unfettered birds, they flew in the universe like unstoppable curses. Later, after the defeat of the ¡®Fallen God¡¯s¡¯, inside that long list of purged fallen Gods was also his name - Abyss, who was killed and out of his darkness formed the ¡®Endless Pit of Hell¡¯. But after the fall of that deity, these chains became lost, till the new Hell-keeper found a way to summon them through word [Expel].


    Every sinner, every single one of them regardless of the nature of their crimes and their origin, was sentenced and dragged down into the hell when it was his time to be sentenced - and when there was the possibility of the hell-keeper losing a certain fight, he would send the chains in his stead. Gods, immortals, humans and magical creatures feared its reach like nothing else ¨C in the Home of Gloom, in the Country of Night, they were the uncrowned kings, and in the living realm they roamed on certain days of the year seeking out those who smelled of ¡®sin¡¯ to drag them down into the hell pits.


    The one that emerged in her spiritual world right now was definitely not the actual artefact¨C rather, it was a ¡®tiny¡¯ imitation of it, or rather a reduced, small reflection of the actual thing. How she got her hands around this Rune, was yet another strange tale.


    She stumbled upon a dead necromancer¡¯s tomb in the Abyss, when she was searching for the traces of another person. She was lost and knew nothing about the extent of the vast lands that formed Abyss itself in those early days. When she saw troves of scribbled notebooks and books, words and patterns filling margins and even running along on the floor and walls of that tomb, she decided to read them; that necromancer had spent fifty thousand years of his lifespan, dedicating it all, to unravel a single word. Unfortunately, he just had sporadic access to some unconventional legends, few heresies about hell-chains and nothing else as a guide. He wasn¡¯t even a trained Rune-forger! He was just a very good mathematician.


    Intrigued by another mortal''s sheer passion for words, Wei Zhiruo, began her own little quest of deciphering it. Despite having the luxury of knowing a similar kind of language, she spent five grueling years deciphering just a single word! Not just that - it was two years later, finally, when she successfully learned how to write it down. This¡­this was just her second time using it ¨C the only time where it properly showed its edges. And also opened up a mad possibility of really summoning the hell-chains one day!


    This was a great success. Exceptional.


    She felt the metal with her hand.


    Her marveling at this glorious phenomenon was completely natural. A word, which was lost, and once banned by the ¡®New Era Gods¡¯ - a word which held the powers to summon the wandering ¡®Judges of hell¡¯¨C being able to see it work in a different universe was an electrifying experience.


    Here though she was interrupted by a sudden bell-like laughter. Wei Zhiruo looked up to meet a very amused looking woman.


    ¡°You¡­you don¡¯t take me as dead, do you?¡± Ying Yueru whispered. ¡°Your eyes wander in front of me like wandering in the labyrinth of time - and here I am. Your enemy is hanging pliantly in front of you to receive any kind of punishment you deem fit. Or is it that you don''t see me worthy enough to even consider that?¡± The intensity of her gaze made Wei Zhiruo uncomfortable, so she looked down at the gaping hole in her stomach.


    Unworthy? Who would call a woman like this an unworthy opponent? Won¡¯t she be calling herself a piece of trash for suffering so much under her hands?


    ¡°I told you the truth.¡± Wei Zhiruo replied without embarrassment. ¡°Although we both know you would have killed me if you could, but know that this sentiment isn¡¯t mutual. I won''t kill you - these chains are called hell-chains and they will just put you through a simple trial, judge the gravity of your sins and then punish you. They cannot take your life.¡±


    ¡°They cannot take my life but they can take everything else - ha! What a compassionate heart¡­¡± The woman began laughing, as if she couldn¡¯t believe what she had heard.


    Ying Yueru grew increasingly furious ¨C ¡°Release me. Now! We can forget all our disagreements from before. I will walk my way; you can do whatever you please. I will never take revenge against you, I can take an oath if you would like that ¨Cin return, just release me.¡± She stared seriously into the golden eyes, but received no reply.


    Wei Zhiruo didn¡¯t look away from the stare, instead she truthfully conveyed the current circumstances to her, ¡°I cannot release you. Hell-chain¡¯s hardly ever leave behind a ¡®sinner¡¯ before their punishments are served. You have the smell ¨C death of innocence, sin of old; uncountable sins hang on your shoulder...It will only let you go after balancing your wrongs¨C what you¡¯ll lose after this is not something I can predict.¡± She walked up closer to the woman, and looked up. The ragged cloth, blood smeared face and body, and wounds everywhere. She retained nothing of her previous glory or her calm.


    ¡°Sins¡­and you¡¯ll wait for me here while it judges me like that?¡±


    ¡°I should.¡±


    ¡°Despite the possibility that I might kill you by blowing up? I am still in your spiritual sea - do you dare to let me explode in here? And don¡¯t think I wouldn¡¯t do that¡­¡±


    ¡°You can do whatever you want - just try.¡±


    ¡°...¡±


    Wei Zhiruo knew she had already tried every way to get out. She turned away from her and studied the chains, while Marr asked her worriedly - ¡°Is this going to take time?¡±


    ¡°Don¡¯t worry, it won¡¯t be long. Ten minutes is the longest they will take to complete judgment and sentence. We will handle the rest. I will kick her out as soon as it''s done punishing her and you¡­¡±


    ¡°I will throw her away into the portal - don¡¯t worry. I will be quick this time.¡± Having reassured her, he hesitantly asked her in a low voice, ¡°Did it try to interrupt your thoughts again?¡±


    ¡°No - without that link, it cannot access my inner senses.¡±


    ¡°What is it? Did you think of something - how did we offend him?¡±


    ¡°It¡¯s not the ¡®world consciousness¡¯ as I thought before - it''s a power on par with it, but not that. The world rules aren''t being used against us for one¡­ he can push some disguised thoughts in my mind, lead us to our present confrontation, but it cannot come down and join or do it himself. No world rule can restrict the world consciousness, so we can rule out it being the ¡®world consciousness¡¯ who wants us dead. This thing, he acts in a bounded manner. As if there are some rules which restrict his appearance in reality. But at the same time, he is also powerful enough to influence other powerful beings like this woman¡­to chase us and do his job instead. I am divided on what to conclude from this.¡±


    ¡°A God?¡±


    ¡°If this world has one. Ah¡­it''s most likely a divine being.¡±


    ¡°This sounds difficult - you cannot forge an enmity with such a being. Remember what we suffered through in the Cuiping world because of a single deity? A single oracle led to the bloodbath of all your clansmen, erased the name of your kingdom from the world, and most likely¡­was the cause of sudden design to use you in exchange for immortality of the Cuiping world and its people. I am ready to bet that those Ruze people might have exchanged our bloodline with that goddess of theirs! If there was no Goddess of Hope, Syncesia, behind the Ruze clan - do you think all those humans and mages would blindly follow the dictates of such a weak clan as your mother¡¯s?¡±


    ¡°I cannot tell how I caught his eyes. Maybe, it''s not me but this woman?¡±


    ¡°But when you wake up, he will know your true worth. You will become more¡­powerful in his eyes. Do you realize what that means for us?¡±


    ¡°I know¡­¡±


    Earning the attention of a deity was like walking a single plank bridge, using a single foot. While he stood watching in amusement. A little tilt, a forceful nudge and you are ready to fall to pieces¡­when pleased he will shower you with endless gifts and boons, and when you are no more ¡®pleasing¡¯ in his eyes, he will throw you away, discard you, destroy you to remove all the traces of you from the earth. There was nothing like the entitlement they had¡­there was only one fate for a ¡®pleasing¡¯ human in their eyes; becoming a pet that was ready to do tricks all the time.


    Wei Zhiruo floundered in the gravity of her present circumstances and grew extremely reluctant to die. There were so many things she hadn¡¯t done yet¡­so many riddles, left unsolved. The rune collection has grown tremendously, and now if she lived ¨C she will be busy spending each warm day, bent under her specially made glasses to peer past the bits of runes and look into their essence. Then weave it into a yarn of meaning, and thread it in the spindle of structure, to finally pull out her own interpretation, from the endless depth, unfathomable bottom of it all; all of these ¡®words¡¯ had inside them a complete world, and she felt she was at loss if she didn¡¯t get a chance to glimpse them after coming so close to them.


    ¡°I wish, I am wrong. This time¡­¡±


    While Wei Zhiruo was lost in her conversation, she was not unaware of an eye following her closely. Ying Yueru looked dumbstruck; a feeling akin to immense hatred dawned over her face, but she bit her lips, not letting them utter any useless word.


    ¡°She hates me? What do you think I should have done instead? Served my soul on a silver platter to earn her good wishes? What a strange woman.¡± Wei Zhiruo nonchalantly observed, when she finally heard the woman continue saying.


    ¡°Release me girl, I''m pleading with you now. Instead of wasting both our times like this, why not try to use something else instead. How about I tell you the whereabouts of some secret realms? And if that is not enough for you, do you know why I came to this place? You aren¡¯t one of the Taiyuan cultivators¡­of course you do not know the conspiracy behind our presence here.¡± Ying Yueru said, looking increasingly grievous.


    ¡°Yes, you heard me right. Both you and I have fallen in a big game. Or else, what do you think allowed us to enter this world? I don¡¯t care wherever you are from. But you shouldn¡¯t stay too long in this world. A war between the heavens and earth¡­the mortal and cultivators, is going to unfold in two years. All the mortals will die, and this realm will become a secret realm controlled by a sect member from the Taiyuan realm.¡± She stopped talking as if judging the impact of her words.


    Unfortunately, she didn¡¯t see any obvious changes, as the mask covered everything except the eyes, and those eyes registered no impact from her words. They were as still and clear, as they had been before.


    ¡°Why do you think I will believe anything you say?¡±


    ¡°You really are not from the Taiyuan realm, ha¡­but why do you think I will lie to you about something like this, and at this time?¡± Ying Yueru questioned. She looked up into the wide canopy of the inner world, a grievousness flickered mixed with agitation.


    ¡°...¡± Wei Zhiruo refrained from replying, pretending to be nonchalant. But in actuality, both she and Marr had regained their utmost alertness.


    ¡°It doesn¡¯t matter even if I tell you.¡± Ying Yueru spoke a little while later. ¡°Next year, a war between mortals will help an evil cultivator to gain enough resentment to ascend, and while ascending directly to the God realm, he will widen the gap that has opened in this realm''s outer barrier space. That gap will be widened enough to let in all the sect members, and the current restrictions on cultivators above the Nascent soul level will also become redundant. Why do you think you and I can easily enter this realm with completely independent heavenly principles and rules? It''s just this gap that allows our entry and once more powerful cultivators can enter here - this world will become a purgatory. Mortals and animals, birds and trees, nothing will be spared. Like a swarm of locust, they will seize everything. Many others have entered this realm and are awaiting the perfect time to seize its full control and no one can stop them anymore. Not that it matters to either of us, ha. But you should prepare yourself to return through the channel you came here, as this realm will become a personal realm, in possession of ¡­a cultivator.¡±


    ¡°You talk as if you can see the future. You are a prophetess?¡± Wei Zhiruo asked, raising a brow.


    ¡°A prophetess¡­what is that? No, I cannot predict the future. I just know, some news you are not privy to. Child, I am not scaring you. You know pretty well; all I had ever wanted from you was a body. And a good enough body - but you turned out to be a living giant box of treasure. And you are so dumb¡­you don¡¯t even realize what you are sitting on! How can you expect me to not be greedy!¡± Ying Yueru started laughing madly, and looked down at her mockingly.


    ¡°Do you know¡­if any other cultivator ever heard of the size of your inner world, what would he do? He wouldn¡¯t even wait for you to die and pickle you like a vegetable, eat every bit of your muscles and bones and drink all of your magical blood! Because he knows, as I know now, you are a child with a special bloodline and a special physique. No mortal can ever dream of having this.¡± She whispered like a hissing snake. ¡°So don''t blame me for being greedy for a while. But you child, have a kind heart. Look you won¡¯t kill me - I see that in your eyes. So let this chain let me go and we can both go our separate ways. More than greed, I prefer to fulfill the thirst in my heart as I have some blood to avenge. I wouldn¡¯t care about you¡­I can swear to heaven and abide by it, in fact, you can make a servant contract with me, and make me never utter a word of your secrets.¡±


    ¡°We both know what you can do, Ying Yueru, if I did let you go just now. You don¡¯t have to lie to me. No servant contract will come in your way. You are correct that I will not kill you right now. But you are mistaken on one point.¡± Wei Zhiruo walked closer to the hanging body and clutched the woman¡¯s foot; she twisted it, breaking a bone.


    ¡°Uh!¡± A slight groan slipped from Ying Yueru¡¯s mouth, but she quickly clenched her teeth to swallow the painful cry. She looked down, gravely insulted and furious.


    ¡°It''s not that I don¡¯t want to kill you, or that I won¡¯t in the future. It''s because I cannot. Do you want to know why?¡± Wei Zhiruo said in the same whispery tone as that woman had previously used, walking away from her. ¡°It''s because I cannot. Right now. I can only let you slip away from my hands until we meet again. Someone wants to kill me using you, and likewise, wants to use my hands to kill you - I will never do such a thankless job for anyone. Which brings us to this result; we are at an impasse. Neither of us are going to be murdered today. It''s your good luck.¡±


    ¡°Why? Is it related to that strange voice I heard?¡± Despite the insult she had borne, Ying Yueru looked shocked and mortified at this new revelation.


    ¡°You are not as unaware as you seem. Yes, it''s because we both have earned special attention from someone in the skies. An eye is looking at this fight between us, and it will make sure that neither of us can live. A God wants you dead. And me too. Do you recall what you did to anger that being?¡±


    ¡°...¡±Ying Yueru looked honestly disturbed by this announcement. She seemed to have registered the weirdness and fell into a deep spell of remembrance. In the end she looked dumbstruck, and said, ¡°Indeed. How can Heaven''s children have no guardian deity? If she is here¡­she will bring the eyes following her as well!¡±


    ¡°Heaven¡¯s children¡­?¡±


    ¡°You seem to have heard this word for the first time.¡±


    ¡°Care to explain?¡±


    ¡°What will I gain in return? Will you accept my offer? I can tell you more if you let me go this instant. I will really not kill you. Running away from this place is the best possible action both of us can take at this time, and killing you will just be another hurdle for me. What do you think?¡±


    ¡°Never mind. I don''t believe you. Take it as if I never asked.¡±


    ¡°But you must know - you have been spotted, marked! That Immortal Deity will never let an anomaly like you come in the way of his beloved child! He will kill you. He will kill both of us! You don¡¯t want to die do you? A useless, worthless death like this and with no fault of your own, but just that you happened to stumble upon someone¡¯s path whom you shouldn¡¯t have offended?!¡±


    ¡°You should worry about yourself first.¡±


    Wei Zhiruo looked at the chains. She sensed them judging, felt the magic in the air pulsing; the shift was swift in her eyes- swifter than the negotiation or rather, pleading that was being conveyed to her. She had hardly replied, when the judgement ended, and punishment began.Stolen content warning: this content belongs on Royal Road. Report any occurrences.


    ¡°Uh - aaahhh!¡±


    The agony of the trembling voice that reverberated from her soul could hardly be put in words. Ying Yueru¡¯s eyes completely reddened, tears trickled down her cheek ¨C she looked pitiable. Except she deserved every bit of this pain and torture. There was no better judge than the hell-chain ¨C no impartial heart better than its own. Each dust of sin, its exact weight would be asked back from the ¡®sinner¡¯. Until he paid his sins away, he wouldn¡¯t be able to walk off. So, this fairy, Ying Yueru, could only suffer the torturous punishment till the chains judged it was fair enough.


    ¡°What if it takes too long-?¡± Marr asked worriedly.


    ¡°It wouldn¡¯t. They are very efficient.¡± Wei Zhiruo replied to Marr. ¡°On the other hand, I really don¡¯t want this process to end.¡±


    ¡°Hiss! A chosen one and a God. And you have shown off your edges, your potential is right in front of him. If he thinks you shadow his pet¡­he is going to kill us.¡±


    The process only took three seconds, the soul had lost all traces of consciousness and hung limply, suspended to the chains. Wei Zhiruo confirmed whether she had really fainted or not and said, ¡°She needs to be dealt with. And quickly. We don¡¯t know how many eyes are watching us right now¡­so we cannot drag this affair any longer. Before anything else comes in our way and pushes us to do some more untoward things ¨C let¡¯s throw her and run.¡±


    ¡°You will cut the link to the portal? Yes, that''s the best we can do. Who knows where she will land after going through the space rift.¡± The white cat looked somber.


    ¡°I think it is the safest option we have currently ¨C she cannot die, especially not in my hands. The moment the chain releases her, I will use the expelling rune and you are in charge of directing and dragging her away in the right direction.¡± Wei Zhiruo closed her eyes. She felt her own broken body, every bit of which was pulsing in pain, shrieking for rest. A gaping hole was still shedding blood, outside. Every bit of her was throbbing for ease.


    The next moment, the chains rattled again and the soul fell down with a thud. Marr didn¡¯t need to be alerted twice, and as soon as Wei Zhiruo used her power to use the rune, he jumped and picked the soul in his mouth, gliding in the air as he ran towards the encirclement of the willow tree. Under a second, he had successfully slapped the soul into the portal channel and was back besides a wheezing figure of Wei Zhiruo.


    ¡°I¡¯ll cut the channel, don¡¯t worry.¡± Wei Zhiruo said, joining her two palms then pulling them apart. Tired, she fell down on her back, gulping a large mouthful of air, and pushing the blood to go down her throat.


    ¡°Look at yourself ¨C hundred and fifty years of lifespan spent like water, and now we don¡¯t even know how much you have left to live! What if it¡¯s just another fifty more years? Alas! Never mind, I cannot even get angry at you in your current state¡­¡± Marr hissed and then cuddled next to her, looking alertly all around himself.


    Her heart thumped; an undulating emotion swelled therein. A mildly astringent feeling sucked up her breath, and faintly filled in its place traces and forms of faltering grievances. She wanted to say that she had never, ever wanted none of these things she underwent. Desired nothing of her own ¨C but stopped shortly, because she knew he was well aware of that. He was just talking, with nothing much to say. Grieving with no other form to show it to her without appearing too weak in front of her. She wanted to tell him that he wasn¡¯t weak at all ¨C he had been the best support she could ever ask for. If he wasn¡¯t here, she knew she would have rather chosen a hurried death and fell into oblivion¡­but, in the same vein as he didn¡¯t want to appear weak ¨C she also didn¡¯t want to appear too clingy. She just snuggled a little closer, and despite the wounds she felt better instantly, inhaling his pure smell.


    But the next second, she felt the barrier she had fixed overhead, starting to shatter.


    ¡°It''s here.¡± In a second, Marr was over her, forming an armor, and a mask. Faltering steps stood up leaning against a red-sword, looking seriously at the dome that was falling apart, each of its pieces coming down into hundreds of mirror-like fragments. Wei Zhiruo heard Marr curse as he formed a mist around her, fully revealing himself ¨C ¡°This is endless!¡±


    He helped Wei Zhiruo to stand properly, guiding her with unquestionable strength to jump up, and fly to reach the cracking barrier.


    ¡°Where are we running to? I don''t think this god will stop chasing us.¡±


    ¡°Then let''s fight the next thing it sends our way and then run.¡±


    ¡°Fight, fight! Do you know any other method, Amaranthus?¡±


    ¡°As you said, he will keep chasing us. We cannot alert mortals. World consciousness and world rule will get involved. The scale should be as small as it possibly can be.¡±


    ¡°What the heck did we do to suffer such pain!?¡±


    Marr was hardly in any better state than Wei Zhiruo but he didn¡¯t hear one word of protest coming from Wei Zhiruo¡¯s mouth and kept forming a shield around her broken body. His red wisp-like form floated surrounding her, faintly resembling the smoke that comes from a dying candle. Unlike that, though, was the firmness attached in their flickering form. By the moment the last bit of barrier collapsed just in front of them, they¡¯d floated over a place where they could glimpse at a giant black beast hammering his head against the barrier. Their new adversary, another pawn.


    ¡°It¡¯s that thing I was chasing before ¨C I can feel its effect. Its vibrations are maligning my thoughts.¡± Wei Zhiruo said decisively and put an extra layer of protection Rune over both their heads to stop any outward infiltration.


    There it was. A badly formed malice, manifesting into a beast. Four legs, burning red eyes, and a figure like a giant wolf¨C there was nothing uniform in it though, even its contours weren¡¯t fixed. They shifted continuously as if it hadn''t yet decided which form it wanted to be.


    ¡°I can feel it too.¡± Marr replied. He hissed as he started flying up. Rolling like a giant red cloud, it swarmed around the beast and started swallowing, chowing down hard on the malice and negative energy. The beast seemed surprised at this attack, as he began tearing at places where red mist gathered.


    ¡°Crackle!¡±


    A lightning bolt struck both the figure, as well as Wei Zhiruo. She looked up into the sky, and then hurriedly shouted at the top of her lungs to Marr - ¡°He is watching us! Go up in the clouds! Don¡¯t alert any other forces. Go! Just go!¡±


    Without wasting another breath, Wei Zhiruo released the remaining runes into the sky, simultaneously placing another barrier rune over the willow and started nullifying a significant amount of gravity''s effect on herself.


    Wei Zhiruo dragged herself up; she jumped up higher and higher into the sky till she was heading up like an arrow, piercing past through the clouds. All around, wherever her eyes reached, there was an endless ocean of flowing clouds and soon she saw a red mist piercing through the layer, chased by a giant black beast.


    ¡°Is it following you?¡± With the continuously swimming vision, she somehow supported herself to grip the sword and asked, ¡°Is it still under control? Can you deal with it?¡±


    ¡°It is. I can absorb all the negative effects and malice on its body. What its original form is¡­it''s hard to judge. The malice is too thick. It''s not a wolf though.¡±


    Like a hungry shark jumping over its prey, that creature lunged at her from the midst of the flowing cloud. Wei Zhiruo hurriedly dodged to her left, and at the same time she was slashing against the beast with her sword ¨C her bones twisted and broke, while a piercing sword intention cut through the clouds and fell sharply over the beast¡¯s neck bone. The beast howled in pain and ran away in another direction, while Wei Zhiruo clutched her shoulder bones and rotated them back in their right places nonchalantly.


    She attacked again.


    ¡°Boom!¡±


    The beast let out a sharp cry of pain. He started tearing at the red mist with increased fury but Wei Zhiruo didn¡¯t stop there, she jumped up and started using her sword to form several consecutive attacks. In a flowing chain of moves, several piercing sword intents came out like ripples formed in a silent water - hitting the pouncing beast at several places on his body. They left behind glaring red wounds.


    ¡°Corner it.¡± Wei Zhiruo said, while following up with several moves.


    ¡°On it.¡±


    It was at this moment when they thought they had gained a sufficient upper hand in the battle when something suddenly changed ¨C another lightning bolt, but more furious and purple this time, came piercing down the black sky above the clouds, hurtling towards Wei Zhiruo! If she hadn¡¯t used her sword to deflect it without a seconds wait, and in this way shattered her only weapon, it would have successfully killed her! She felt the never before felt electrifying charge running in her blood, the thunder ringing loudly in her ears!


    ¡°Aaah!¡± Wei Zhiruo screamed out loudly, to ease some pain in her throat and limbs and then looked at her burned hands.


    She was now completely empty handed. She breathed in long gulps of air, panting hard. She looked at the whirlpool that the lightning strike had left behind in the cloud, some of its traces still thundering and swimming through it and shouted ¨C ¡°Hurry! We have to escape-! It¡¯s getting stronger and stronger; the next bolt is going to kill us! He is not using the world rules but he can penetrate space!¡±


    She said it but her mind couldn¡¯t register these words fully. Escape where?


    ¡°Wei Zhiruo, where -?¡± The voice thundered through her numb mind, waking her up from the stupor she had landed into. She looked blankly at the red mist, still busy tearing at the black beast chasing it. She hovered in the air and numbly looked down at the wide expanse of land which had no shelter, then up in the sky, which was still a distant dream for her to escape into, and now housed an enemy far greater than her own imagination ¨C she coldly realized, there was nowhere to go. She was like a fly being swatted down to death; it doesn¡¯t matter where she flew, she will still be within reach!


    ¡°I don¡¯t know.¡± And the next second, the realization hit. ¡°We are really going to die.¡±


    And just when they had woken up from a previous death.


    ¡°Wei Zhiruo, get a grip on yourself! Fight! It¡¯s still chasing us, let''s deal with it first.¡±


    Yes. This was the best solution. She numbly held the hilt of her sword, looked down at its broken blade and numbly started supporting Yuemarr as he deftly rolled in the wind, piercing the cloud chasing behind the beast, while swiftly gulping down its body ¨C!


    She felt the starlight collecting in her body, rolling in swirling waves, and washing away its pain - but since there were too many wounds to heal, it hardly showed any outward impact. Wei Zhiruo didn¡¯t muddle for long, instead she closed her eyes and used her tingling spiritual senses to see the world. She used the starlight to form a cover over her fists and flew like an arrow, chasing after the shooting black figure. She chased and dodged, till she found the perfect opportunity and pounced at the beast''s face, punching a hole on his nostril!


    The beast howled loudly in pain and flew backwards.


    The creature seemed to have realized that what it was facing was nothing like a normal mortal, and was now starting to shrink back, trying to slip away. Neither of them allowed it to fall back ¨C Marr with his body and Wei Zhiruo with her remnant of runes and direct, physical attacks.


    Suddenly, Marr seemed to sense something else in that beast. He stopped in his tracks then furiously started another rampage of swallowing and tearing into the opponent, but this time he didn¡¯t go haphazardly all over its body but instead penetrated its head! The red mist completely engulfed the figure of the wolf shaped malice demon, saying -


    ¡°Engage it! I think I found its weakness.¡±


    ¡°Hurry, we cannot face the next thunder! Are you sure?¡±


    ¡°Yes. Go on- create a portal while you are at it.¡±


    ¡°Is it the only way? It''s the only way to go.¡±


    A few seconds of this and Wei Zhiruo saw no lightning striking down. She became increasingly numb and fearful of the last thunderbolt. She numbly attacked the beast using any moves she could summon, hitting precisely at observed weaknesses. But she knew it, the last lightning was going to be a finishing blow!


    What to do, what to do now?


    What can they do?


    Just wait and watch it all slip through her hands?


    Wei Zhiruo looked up at the silent black outer space. She thought of the last possibility to escape ¨C teleportation. It doesn¡¯t matter whether they got another chance to get outside of that space rift, they would be alive and have a possibility to survive. Somehow. But hanging here anymore was like waiting for an imminent death.


    But what to use to write that down? Blood. She watched her open wound and pierced her hands through it, dyeing the palm red, and used its blood to write down over air. She used her already breaking spiritual senses - and also observed a much graver hole opening up in the sky in her inner world - to hold the drops together in shape, till they formed the specific lines and words. But now, Marr was too embroiled in fighting ¨C she knew he had found something special about the beast and was working hard to tear away at it.


    ¡°Hurry. I am at the last stroke, you do not need to kill it, do you?¡±


    ¡°Crackle-!¡±


    The lightning bolt started rolling up in space, as if preparing for its last blow.


    She closed her eyes and heard a sound shattering her reasons. Somewhere, the last drop trickled into a brimming jar.


    Rage.


    She felt its blood-like taste overtaking all her sensation.  Her senses charted it quickly, as if she used up every molecule of her being to write down the last stroke, and nothing else could support her hollow shell except anger. She didn¡¯t give away to the lethargic sensation filling her up ¨C her body was going through shock, she was well aware of that, but she also didn¡¯t want it to be so. Her mind observed everything like a bystander, and saw the beast bite a huge chunk of red mist, and felt Marrs pain as he steadily lurked, and kept pushing into the center of the head he had discovered.


    Hold on, Wei Zhiruo, just a little bit more.


    She just needs to call Marr and teleport away.


    No, Marr needs support ¨C he is losing, wake up!


    Wake¡­wake up¡­


    ¡°Wake up!¡±  Marr¡¯s shrill cry finally evoked her spirit.


    The sound entered her ears as if for the first time, as she found herself suspended in the air like a broken puppet hanging by its last thread. She jerked her bones and muscles and felt the shift closely ¨C something burned hotly in her heart ¨C it was plunging every sound, every taste to fire and beckoning her to burn too! Wei Zhiruo started running towards Marr instead. The portal remained forgotten behind, hanging on the clouds.


    She jumped over the clouds, like a streak of light she was over the neck of the beast, pounding its neck over and over again with her bare hands. She used the last semblance of being conscious on piercing that mostly negative energy with her fist, but as her fist was covered with starlight, it easily pommeled through the creature, puncturing holes and gaping wounds on its body!


    She didn¡¯t stop till she heard Marr saying it was done ¨C and then fell down, unable to move another finger.  She didn¡¯t have any energy to say that the portal was hanging over there in the sky ¨C they needed to leave quickly, she tried but her lips won¡¯t move.


    ¡°I know, I know. Be patient. I am carrying you away. It''s my fault¡­I¡­¡± Marr sounded like he was on the verge of crying as he surrounded Wei Zhiruo in his body. Her own eyes though were looking at the beast who was groaning in pain, as if it had been hit by a boulder and had nothing left of his previous rage. ¡°We are going to escape right away. It will not chase us anymore.¡±


    She saw the beast eroding into a black cloud of dust, flowing away¡­


    But then the dark space crackled, as if a barrier had been opened up there somewhere. It was here, death. But Marr seemed to be thinking of throwing her away towards the portal in the last few seconds. She knew it, and felt his thoughts without permission. How could she let him do that and survive? She softly murmured¨C ¡°Marr don¡¯t. It¡¯s useless.¡±


    ¡°You want to die?!¡±


    ¡°I want to be with you. Just like last time.¡± She heard a sigh coming from him, a tear trickled down somewhere, her eyes were swimming so she wasn¡¯t sure he was near or far.


    A long time ago she knew - he could cry too. He had learned every emotion in a sentient being. But¡­maybe it was the first time he cried in front of her. In the swimming vision, she saw millions of red drops scattering in the clouds like peach blossoms falling and riding the wind. It was heartbreakingly beautiful.


    Then the lightning came hurtling towards them. It pierced the fabric of space and slithered down like a snake, and then let out a world-shaking thunder. Everything was embroiled in its furious rampage, everything burned.


    ¡°Crackle! Boom-!¡±


    Wei Zhiruo closed her eyes, and felt Marr closing his eyes too. He had turned into a white cat sitting in her lap¡­they snuggled close to each other¡­


    ¡°Clap-!¡±


    The thunder hit a body ¨C but not her own. She opened her eyes and felt someone embracing her back. She turned and saw a smiling woman looking down at her. She had never seen her before but she felt oddly familiar. A purple cloak wrapped around her body; she wore many hairpins on her head ¨C but the oddest feature on her face was the small red mole under her left eye. It was shaped like a beautiful petal of some kind of flower. How¡­strange. The lightning, a flash of burning white, hit her on her back but she seemed to feel nothing.


    The thunder pierced her body and still she kept smiling. She seemed to be feeling nothing ¨C but the pain couldn¡¯t be washed away from her eyes.


    ¡°Go on ¨C escape, my child.¡±


    A soft whisper lingered in the air, and before she could get a hold of herself, she felt Marr controlling her whole body and running through the clouds, hurtling towards the portal. Wei Zhiruo tried to lunge at the woman, who was suffering through the thunder strike and falling apart, but Marr carried her away. In that blinding light she cried out from her heart, as if she was losing one of the most precious things in the world¨C


    ¡°No-!¡± The sound came gasping and faltered away in noiselessness. No one heard her cry, as it never escaped her scorched throat.


    The woman watched smiling, as the red mist entered the portal, then looked up into the sky. Her soul shattered down, her body broke into pieces and flew up into the barrier of the realm while a piece of her tears, which streamed down her cheeks, crystallized and followed behind into the portal.


    The moment Wei Zhiruo touched the portal, the warping space completely sucked away her consciousness, but she didn¡¯t know, the moment she fell into it, a small purple crystal fell into her hands, and as if guiding them through the endless nothingness in space rift, it led them, gently, perseveringly in a direction¨C while they both remained unconscious ¨C to opposite opening in the portal close by.


    Then as the portal opened in another space, it fell silently down into her palms, sitting over there as if it belonged to her. An unconscious crying child gripped the purple crystal in her hands and slept. Wei Zhiruo had fallen down from over the tree canopy, alerting a number of birds to chirp and cry in panic, but she didn¡¯t suffer any new wounds as if a force kept protecting her, till she landed gently.


    On the other side, the woman had long fallen into a long eternal sleep. A new star formed in the sky, falling into place in the barrier of the world. The moment her star joined the realm barrier, it thrummed with energy as if a strong force had joined them and became thicker.


    ***


    Inside the Palace of the Lady of the Temples, hidden in the Longsheng Mountains, a maiden hastily ran through the high doors and joined another figure bending over something. She looked nervously and then in an anxious voice asked -


    ¡°What is it ¨C eldest sister?¡± The maiden wore a red fox mask, hiding her whole face. ¡°The barrier strengthened on its own? It''s an auspicious sign¡­or something else has changed?¡±


    ¡°No. A sacrifice was ordained. It¡¯s a birth of a new star in the barrier¡­what a pity. A mother sacrificed her life to save her child, and the ¡®Heavenly Rules¡¯ ordained her spirits. After all, it is one of the oldest forms of sacrifices full of ancient love¡­ The heavenly rules recognized her love and made her a part of the barrier. What a poignant end. Alas!¡± The woman bent down over a huge pool of sparkling water and said, as if she was reading the happenings in its ripples and waves.


    ¡°Can we heal the barrier this way too? How many sacrifices till it is healed completely¡­the world barrier? Is it why you asked us to perform that sacrificial ceremony when we are on the verge of dying in battle?¡±


    ¡°Not completely. You¡¯re thinking incorrectly. I am just making a hasty guess¡­Not all kinds of sacrifices can be ordained like this one¡­we cannot bet on these. The war is imminent. Just sacrificing human life for one¡¯s desire is the way of the devil ¨C haven¡¯t you learned it quite well by this time? After all the greatest of the devil was our own father.¡± The woman straightened up, and held onto the hands of the other maiden.


    ¡°What about our end ¨C first sister? Aren¡¯t you angry about by nosily deciding it all for us?¡±


    ¡°Death is but imminent. It¡¯s not just you. We, all six of us, chose to trust you. But isn¡¯t this something, my little sweet seventh, you are already aware of?¡± The maiden of the temple looked up into the mask-covered face of her youngest sibling and sighed. ¡°You have worked hard.¡±


    ¡°I could have worked harder, if I knew it would help. Now everything is moving towards the worst possible direction. Even if all of us sisters die and sacrifice our lives - do you think the barrier will heal itself up?¡±


    ¡°...No, my child, it''s not that easy. The war between humans will allow those cultivators to harvest the national luck of both Dajin and Daxia, as they endeavor to do so. Many countries have already been looted clean. They will become bolder and then reveal themselves to the world. Instead of hiding in the mountains, they will come out like swarms of locusts - and what about mortals? Who cares for the natives? They hold no sympathy for us aliens. It is now, when we can do the most, and also a time when nothing much can be changed. We can invite more forces to fight those outside cultivators ¨C but do you think it will change anything drastically? The underground turmoil is going to shake the world like a rampaging storm ¨C and death is but a small price we¡¯ll pay. We can only hope that our sacrifice is ordained as this one has been¡­in a way, this is an auspicious sign. Indeed. May Mother Goddess bless our endeavors.¡±


    ¡°I am ready for it. Even if we fail¡­I am prepared for it all to come to an end. A saga of one hundred years of pain and anguish¡­we cannot afford to endure a few more years.¡±

 Chapter 14. Dreams of a Butterfly

    It was a usual day in the Mirror Palace of Immortal Rong, standing tall in the Higher Seventh Heavens of the Spirit Realm. A few bubbling Silver scaled fishes splashed over the Purple Halo Lotuses. The sky was brimming with colorful auras, melding into a gorgeous mix of soulful colors, and the giant, gigantic roofs overhead sheltered several mirror like jade floors covered in a liquid blue of water.


    Sparkling blue.


    A silver boot splashed over the mirror floors and hurried over towards the arched gates, climbing hastily over them, over pedestals; stairs were equally hastily climbed and trodden till those steps halted before a sleeping man, seated in a cozy, yet elaborately regal seat.


    "Immortal...master Rong." Su Ziyin softly greeted the dozing man, who supported his head against his hands, his elbows settled over the arms of his seat. His long cascading Purple black hair flowed like tendrils of a gentle vine, curling in the softest curls and softly tracing the outlines of his out of the world, perfectly chiseled features. Lord Rong was draped in a simple gown, but no one in their right mind would ever think that man was as simple as his apparel.


    Immortals. This word was the deep trench between existences. It was the line of demarcation between those who had escaped the restrictions of heaven and laws of existence and those who were just living ugly lives of being subjected to them still. The spirit realm may be another deep pit of deep suffering and anguish that comes with life ¡ªbut here the stakes were higher, way higher than any mind in its rule-bound mind could ever grasp. Dao seekers fought against the rules so what did the Immortals fight against? Did all struggles end in the Ascension to the Spiritual Realm? No. Su Ziyin knew that was untrue. Because he himself had seen the stakes, knew what was at bet he didn''t take much time to grovel down on his knee with a plop!


    "Master! I seek forgiveness for this abruptness¡­I have confession to make. A character in the plot is dead. This is completely my fault." He severely hit his head several times against the mirror floors, the water splashed over his face and wet his clothes and lapels and he made no effort to not let them soak him; he kowtowed in front of the man who still had his eyes closed and explained without a moment to take breath in between his words. His eyes looked at the swirling mix of red of his own blood, as if watching his life slip by.


    "I am in charge of overseeing the Phoenix seed. The chosen heroine ''Ying Liu'' was supposed to stumble upon a purged village and rescue a three year old child, who will then give his most treasured jade necklace to her. The Phoenix seed is stored inside this jade...but recently the Fate-Readers observed some alterations in the events. Instead of ''Ying Liu'', the new heroine''s fate was stolen away by her sister Ying Yueru. We were getting ready to make the...required changes and see if this ''Ying Yueru'' would be able to be completely assimilated by the phoenix seed and nurture the soul of our Red Empress with her fate. Everything was once again on the track, but we...I discovered an anomaly."


    Su Ziyin raised his completely broken forehead, which was now bleeding red and looked pitifully gruesome. His eyes though looked aghast, his lips quivered as he saw the man still not opening his eyes.


    "Hmm." A nasal humming urged Su Ziyin to calm down a little and speak faster. The tapping of fingers echoed in that overarching hall, it''s roof invisible and clouded with misty clouds.


    "The anomaly was a child called Wei Zhiruo. I...killed her." Su Ziyin was now really fearful of what was to come next. The sentence of his punishment was going to be pronounced.


    "And¡­?"


    "Wei Zhiruo... was supposed to host the soul of another of the five General stars in her body. The original child would have died in her eighth year, sacrificed to the God of Malice. Using the dead body to revive a soul, another soul was going to be reincarnated ¡ªthe Lilac Empress of Southern Hills, and our Fourth General. She was going to play the ''Supporting Role'' and give away some very crucial inheritances and treasures to the Red Empress. But now, the whole fate has become distorted...it''s all my fault! Master forgive me for causing this much trouble for you! You gave me a chance to join the Temple of Water and thread the Vine-fates and observe! Master your disciple has failed to keep up your expectations! I deserve death! Please don''t show any mercy to me. After all, I have spoiled a hundred years of your work!" Tears trickled down as he apologized furiously, his eyes looking determined to seek death. He bit his lips to stop the shivering overtaking his soul. Death. He wanted death. If only that could be so easily attained¡­


    "Lilac...Empress?" The man straightened. "Wei Zhiruo...Wei Zhiruo¡­Daughter of two betrayed lovers. The star of a lone wolf shines on her forehead, she brings disaster to everyone she is close to...a fate that would have suited the Trial of Fairy Xunyi. You are telling me that fate has now been completely eliminated by you? How easy is it to kill a lone wolf...you didn''t make a mistake?"


    "Master, hear me out!" The man hurriedly started explaining the details of the recent event. "The Anomaly seemed to be able to use some incomprehensible powers. I felt the traces of another world in her breath. It''s unknown when, but the Original body had already been replaced by another soul which stumbled into that realm. The barriers are too easily penetrable at this moment and it is not difficult to imagine, but," the man took a deep breath and took out a mirror and placed it in his palms as if offering to his God.


    The mirror floated away and the man seated on the regal seat looked at the piece of memory the man showed him. He observed it with increasing interest and then looked at the last image of black dust flying away into the air.


    "Interesting." The man observed. "You had to use your Purple Thunder to strike a mere mortal? I understand. But what makes you think that she is dead? Not many mortals can stand tall in front of Immortals so steadfastly, can they now?" The man still hadn''t removed his eyes from the last frame of the memory running in the silver mirror.


    "The seed...the Seed of Heavenly Eye cannot be destroyed by any heavenly force in mortal or cultivation realm. Master, you might know, not many in the Spirit realm know how to remove this seed even here. Master! Wei Zhiruo had this seed for us to track the plot and for surveillance. But now¡ªthat seed seems to have been destroyed¡­" Only the most cruel form of death, complete death of soul and body could ever remove that plague like seed in its entirety.


    "Oh- is that so? What a pity. She looks like a good candidate for the game. We could have tweaked a little here and there, tamed this fiery spirit and shown her the real world..." The man looked away from the mirror and then observed his disciple playfully. "You know what to do, right? Hundred years of plotting and threading the lines of fate ¡ªto atone, you will go to the battlefield, won''t you?"


    Su Ziyin felt his heart drowning, but he still kept his mind and gave his master a heavy salute and hundreds of thankful words full of gratitude, before he allowed himself to go away. Battlefield. Ancient Battlefield where monsters, God''s and demons danced like maddened spirits. But it was good. It wasn''t the Bottomless Trench ¡ªSu Ziyin felt a little bit lucky that his master seemed to be not in the mood to torture anyone today-


    "Ziyin."


    Su Ziyin stopped with trepidation. His feet felt like iron balls, refusing to be pulled up. Sweat broke on his forehead as he heard a mellow, soft and lazy voice whisper from behind himself ¡ª"Before you go on your journey, don''t forget to ask for a Spirit Sealing Pill from Gua''er. Fifty demon heads, I want them. Or your Su clan can pay with their blood. You decide."


    The sultry voice slithered around his neck like a venomous snake, hissing seducingly and then Su Ziyin, rushed running out of that water filled palace.


    Death. How can that be so easy to earn? Su Ziyin looked aimlessly at the vast lands and clouds of the Mirror Palace of the Immortal Lord of Fate. His eyes dead, stared soullessly at the hazy view and somehow he took another step, before collapsing.


    ***


    Marr woke up before Wei Zhiruo. He looked down at her curled-up cocoon like sleeping figure, felt the sun showering plenty over both of them, and the warmth wrapping around in a powerful tide of comfort ¡ªespecially those apertures, newly created and untested, which had shown no sign of filling up before, even they seemed to have started working slowly and erratically but in a mechanized order inside Wei Zhiruo¡¯s body. They rotated in a mysterious orbit, absorbed some more of the sunshine and gently wafted of wisps of light, and then went on to heal the wounds around her body. He observed how a particularly grotesque looking cut in the stomach healed on its own, and looked away.


    He looked up at the sky; the mottled sunlight and the rustling waves of the wind when hitting leaves urged him to fall back into slumber. Nevertheless, he endured on through this pull of lethargy, and smelled some of the wounds of Wei Zhiruo to make sure none of them had that corpse-like smell that comes from rotting flesh ¡ªif it were to be so, then he would have to cut some flesh off himself.


    Nothing smelt odd, while everything was healing perfectly. Only then did he cuddle up close to her and stole some more warmth from her body. A soft sigh escaped, like a stifled purr, lost soon in the rustling of grasses in the meadow. "Wake up." But no one replied to his request so he closed his eyes to doze off.


    When he woke up again with sufficient energy to look around, Marr didn¡¯t wander far away from Wei Zhiruo. He knew they were relatively safe there ¨C but that was just, relative. The forest, its verdure and life burst into a cacophony of liveliness, and there was also a secluded sense of isolation in the place they fell down to, but he was sure a few curious eyes had seen them, sniffed and smelled and examined them both ¨C the two intruders in the forest ¨CMarr hadn¡¯t found any evil intention in any of them but he could never be sure of anything in a strange place.


    He stood guarding day and night. Seven days¡ª a full week passed in such a slow manner. If he didn¡¯t know that Wei Zhiruo was throbbing and burning with life, he would have thought she had fallen again into a coma!


    ¡°It''s good ¨C sleep and be rested. Who knows what we might have to confront next? I can always trust your fate to bring us the wildest adventures possible.¡± He whispered, snoozing a little snuggling beside her. ¡°But what makes you so sad, my Ama? What did you lose? What are you going through in your sleep? I wonder¡­how unhappy you are right now? Unhappy that you must be.¡± His blood red eyes strayed seeking the purple crystal clutched in her hands. ¡°Wake up¡­Wei Zhiruo. You''ve slept pretty long.¡±


    A leaf fell down, grabbing his attention, and he was soon lost in rhythmless deliberations.


    ***


    At first it was just the sensation of drowning that had her guts in wrenched twists and mouth muddied with salty, bloodied liquid. When she fell down, she felt her ankles being clasped into iron fetters, and some weight descended on her head. Looking up, she looked around the labyrinth drooping with slimy, wet liquid that looked very much like human blood. She smelled the raw iron. She saw herself, in that mist that was coming from another end of that narrow channel, while she wore something very familiar; she had a very familiar body too ¡ªtall and slender.This novel is published on a different platform. Support the original author by finding the official source.


    Unperturbed she stayed still for a breath ¨C just converging her thoughts around the new place she had fallen down into. Where was She? She looked up¡­the ceilings were firm with no gaps and a greenish dark stuff grew over its surface ¨C she felt it would really feel slimy when touched, so she walked forward. With the clinging of the chains binding her feet, and the swishing that came from her wet gown, she still endured the awful, death like smell and forged a path.


    Not long after, the clinking echoed from every corner of the dark labyrinth. But instead of feeling depressed in that loneliness that sucked her breath away, she felt she was being watched instead. Several pairs of sticking eyes...up, down, left, right and even from behind. She turned and found nothing. A feverish mind dulled all her senses, she felt she needed to wake up to something ¨C but what was that, she hardly had any clue. Was she sleeping ¨C? The coldness, the wetness, and the touch, that lingering gaze¡­everything felt real. But was this real though ¡ªwhat had she forgotten?


    Her feet were bound in a heavy chain which she dragged off from one of its shackled ends. It looked like iron, but its length seemed to extend on and on, till she felt there was no-end to it; it was long and heavy. She could move forward, farther and farther away, yet, the pain from their rubbing off her open wounds brushed her numb consciousness. She felt clearly that her head was bowing under the weight of a jeweled crown, its long tassels touching her earlobes felt cold and wet and slimy, as did her embroidered dress, as if she had just walked up from taking a dip in a pool of water. Her bones ached, her muscles ached...she ached all over.


    She left behind wet footprints on the unmarred floor, traces of blue dripped in them and melted away like ink. The pillars were high, the dome was out of sight and the darkness the only color in that enclosed space. Finally, she spotted something -!


    She saw it ¡ª the towering entrance gate forged of brass and gold inlaid inscriptions, and colored panes of glasses fixed over the high walls, touching the ceiling. But it was dark as night, no sunlight stole in this hall to sparkle and dazzle it with its vibrant dance of hues and mesmerizing mastery of symmetry. She just had to push and enter, so she pushed the door open to enter the Throne Hall ¡ªwhy did she seem to know what this place was called?


    ¡°¡­Everything is over! What more do you expect me to do? The oracle-! The oracle and that witch! She lied, she played us, she was in it all along ¨C will you believe me, Terresa, she was the one who was with Syncesia ¨C she was behind it all! They want blood ¨C her blood, her blood¡­they are after it. What to do, what to do? What should I do, I failed to protect everyone¡­no one lives¡­let me go, I beg you! Have mercy on me and let me join everyone in death! My child-! My three months old...infant! No one spared!¡±


    The weeping voice came from inside the dark hall, but there was no light, she couldn¡¯t see ¨C she just walked towards the throne from where she heard the voice coming. Soon many whispery voices started merging with that one, and it felt like the tunnel of sound was crowded with endless ghostly spectators.


    ¡°Mistress no! You cannot do this. Think of the master! Think of him." This voice had the same faintness to it as if it was echoing in a chamber of the past, and there was an inexorable distance between them, like life and death.


    "Master sacrificed his life to save everyone ¨C you included. Your life is his keepsake! How can you join the battle? Your sons are dead, unjust deaths ¨C who will avenge them? Think of poor Amaranthus ¨C you are her only surviving relative. Who do you think will guide her after you are gone? Do you expect that child to avenge such a huge revenge, such a huge¡­burden ¨C go against gods and demons¡­all alone? Syncesia will have her blood, and what about the oath ¨C? If the oath remains unbroken, all of the clansmen souls will be sucked dry by the Cuiping world! Injustice ¨C injustice! And more injustice, by heart and soul, my lovely mistress, can you bear to see all this happen after you die?¡±


    ¡°¡­What should I do?¡± The voice died down in a soft whisper. Lost too was the cacophony of gloomy whispering that tethered on the edge of insanity and madness.


    Before long Wei Zhiruo reached the throne, but found that there was nothing to be found there. Instead, the whole hall changed again. She stared at the blood smearing the white floors. Blood and skulls, rotten corpses lay strewn everywhere. Endless sea of them, wherever her eyes could reach she saw those corpses and dried up blood smearing the hall and the smell of putrefaction struck her nose like a punch to her guts! She felt nauseous. The watching gaze became focused on her face, she felt a wind steal over her spine, as if tracing her figure. She shivered.


    She instantly recognized some half rotten faces; some were her courtiers who had unflinchingly supported her claim to throne, some of them were her close friends. There was a head staring into space bejeweled with the most pigmented blue, and she recognized the face¡ªSarah, a close companion from early childhood, who lay splayed like a broken doll. Another silver haired man bent down close with several arrows piercing through his heart, but still holding the hands of that blue eyed maiden ¨C Cairus, she recognized, of the northern bloodclan. There were others¡­ Johanne, Aloysius¡­Ruamer, Markus and finally the thirteen-year-old Aierra, all her childhood companions and acquaintances and the last remnants of the bloodclan. Half-bloods.


    ¡°Aunt -?¡±


    The prisoner felt the clutches of chains loosen, and she felt herself shrink in size. She wasn¡¯t as puzzled by it as was by the light softly filling up the dark hall.


    ¡°Amaranthus of Areme.¡±


    Wei Zhiruo turned back abruptly.


    Holding the staff of the clan, a headdress studded in the whitest of pearls covering her forehead like a round cap, and with the clan¡¯s insignia embroidered in sapphires into a blooming blue crocus embedded in its center, that woman had some lose, grey long tresses rolling down in ringlets on her shoulder and reaching down to her ankles. She wore the same white dress she had seen her wear the last time. Her eyes though were too cold to ever support the imprints of a smile. Fog covered much of Wei Zhiruo''s vision; she felt drowned in that instant. Choking over every emotion, and in that midst of jumbled up senses, she felt herself kneeling in front of that woman clutching at her gown. She seemed to be pleading for something impossible, as tears trickled down her face wetting every bit of her skin, and breath choking felt like she had swallowed pins and was being forced to talk!


    ¡°Aunt Mel.¡± Despite the discomfort she heard herself say. She snatched her aunt¡¯s hands and performed the ceremonious kisses on her hands. Wei Zhiruo held her aunt''s white hands and touched them with her own freezing lips and then placed those hands over her head. ¡°I am begging you.¡±


    ¡°There is no time for this. Take the map and supplies and be on your way. That world is far away from here ¨C no one familiar will ever cross your path. Forget your identity. Forget your past, and live like a normal person. Too many wrongs were done here, but none of them were done by you. It¡¯s just that¡­if you ever get a chance to come back, don¡¯t. If you do it anyway, not heeding to my advice and come here ¨C then here,¡± the woman touched the child¡¯s forehead with her finger, and Wei Zhiruo''s brain split with aching thunderous pain. Seeing the face of the child writhing under the suffocating pain, the woman turned away as if to hide her own traces of tears. ¡°That is called ¡®The Oath Breaking Song¡¯. If you sing this, no one will ask you to follow any vow. Nothing will remain of our previous promises to this...world.¡±


    ¡°Just don¡¯t go. We can think of something else ¨C"


    ¡°Amaranthus. This is an imperial order.¡± That voiced hardened becoming tough.


    ¡°You cannot go seek death and ask me to watch you do that, can you? How dare you think I will behave so cowardly to turn my back on you at this moment, when you need me the most? I am ready to die and be burnt to ashes! But aunt¡­why are you being so selfish to deny me this right?!¡±


    ¡°Just because someone needs to live and it is you!" The woman shrugged away the child''s hand. "You cannot die. No one in this world will dare to kill you ¨C they know the oracle. And if there is someone who is ready to kill you, they will do that for something in exchange. And child ¨C no one in our clan is ready to bear that fate ¨C the price of your death or your falling prey into those people''s hands is way too high for anyone...to dare to even think of paying back!"


    ¡°But I can kill myself, cannot I?¡±


    ¡°Behave! Behave, Amaranthus. How dare you talk to me like this?" The woman looked shocked. "So many people have died protecting others tonight and failed at that. Look at their faces and tell me how dare you think of sacrificing your life?! Tonight, I lost everything...and to not lose you as well, I sent the secret orders. Do you see the blood? The corpses? Those red blood come from the humans of our clan! Those purple crystal¡¯s growing everywhere? Do you know what that means? You wouldn¡¯t dare talk like this if you knew¡­by my orders many came tonight ¨C to die! They came in masses and told me that they knew what will befall on them once the final forts crumbles and clan falls down¡ªthey will be smeared in humiliation, living worthless lives no better than dogs and pigs and seeking bare minimum of dignity to gain nothing, enslaved, killed¡­everywhere ¡ªand so they came to me to die a worthy death. Sacrifice. Many sacrifices! All those crystals are their last traces in this¡­world, their tears, my Ama. It¡¯s a strong emotion, it is the oldest ceremony, Amaranthus. For an ideal, men sacrifice. For love they do too. And these women and men-? They had sacrificed for a last glimmer of hope ¨C for you to escape unscathed and not fall into the enemies hands! Dare you, even to think of not respecting this sacrifice? To give up life, Amaranthus, is no easy thing.¡± The woman bowed down to kiss her forehead. She was almost whispering these words to her. ¡°Five hundred thousand clan¡¯s women and children lost their innocent lives for me to gain enough recognition of the blood, to recall the soul of the past Seers of the clan and ask them to guide me how to save you...these maps you see are exchanges I just made. The song I gave you is the last bit of protection I managed to arrange. Will you deny this? Amaranthus, tell me. Will you?"


    Wei Zhiruo felt her heart ripping and tearing.


    ¡°How can you¡­aunt? Did you ever ask¡­me? How come, you never thought of me disagreeing with this...atrocity!¡±


    ¡°I''ll order you then. As the Eldest Princess of the clan and your aunt."  The woman rose up slowly. "Go! Begone! That''s enough for you according to the laws and dictates. Be on your way.¡± Like a pronouncement of a banishment, those words left Wei Zhiruo cold.


    ¡°I refuse! I will never be a betrayer of the clan ¨C¡± Wei Zhiruo looked at the sword tip touching her nape. She heard someone¡¯s gasp from behind her.


    ¡°You will do what is best for all of us, Amaranthus. No one has time to see your protests; the last walls are falling and I need to prepare. Cherish this hard-earned life like a princess!¡± Those blue eyes were cold, colder than the frozen landscape.


    ¡°Every time...Each time it is this method or that which is more dignified, or better than my own choices ¨C aunt... Can I not even decide if I want to live or not? All my life, everyone has been dictating words on my face like I can¡¯t think for myself,¡± Wei Zhiruo clutched at the knife blade, she felt the blood drip down from the cut in her hands. ¡°Aunt you want me to fall back now and flee ¨C I tell you. I will not!¡±


    Suddenly, fog started to swallow Wei Zhiruo up.


    Wei Zhiruo felt betrayed as she peered into those ice blue eyes, so frozen and cold that they retained no previous trace of their mirth and happiness. Her own fury submerged her half-awakened senses¡­At first sight of that woman no one would have thought she liked to laugh at the slightest of jests, laugh at the chirping of birds and nodding of the flowers¡­she was the happiest of souls alive ¨C a loving, kind mother, and was a gentle lover and a great aunt. Nothing like the corpse that stood talking.


    Maliessa of Ureme - the princess of the clan. Maybe she died with everyone else? But Wei Zhiruo knew she was justified in standing her ground. Fleeing like a coward? Her dignity as a member of this clan didn¡¯t allow her to do that!


    ¡°Then you are commanded ¨C from the power of seers I hold, I, Maliessa of Ureme command the current crown princess of the Sangtchi clan, Amaranthus of Areme to fulfil the vow ¨C sing the oath breaking song on your twentieth year! The command is unilateral, registered by the blood of ancestors. No protest¡­allowed.¡±


    Each word fell like a silent blow to her head. The seal of the vow fell on her forehead. Wei Zhiruo kept shaking her head as if in deep disbelief, no words coming out of her throat. She didn¡¯t understand what she was hearing, her eyes fell on the sword still at her nape ¨C but her hand now, instead of shedding blue blood, let out thick and darkened red blood. She jerked her head up to meet her aunt''s red eyes.


    She felt the changes registering in those eyes. Her aunt, no, the shadow that had been following her all this time as she recalled a long forgotten memory, an imposter, was shedding her pale facial skin, and like paper crumbled in a ball, they came flaking off her face, bit by bit flying in the air. Black lines marred the white insides, revealing themselves like webs of spiders, cracking and crackling¨C then Wei Zhiruo felt the force of the sword being pulled back, and then aimed at her heart.


    The sword rang as it pierced her flesh! ¡®No -!''


    Darkness swallowed her completely, till she felt another sound entering her mind.


    "Wake up¡­Wei Zhiruo. You''ve slept pretty long.¡±


    She woke up from her nightmare.


    ****

 Chapter 15. Forest Encounter

    Sparkling, lush terrain opened up to Wei Zhiruo''s calm eyes. She stood atop a hilltop ridge, looking down the rolling meadows on one side and the other an endless jungle of trees, curling canopies and mountain tops touching somewhere farther, touching the skies. She didn''t know where she was.


    "Marr?" She called out to him. Marr came running, holding what seemed to be an orange fruit in his mouth. He jumped up, his paws touching nothing but air, and was soon sitting proudly atop Wei Zhiruo''s left shoulder.


    He bent down and nudged her, till she picked the fruit from his mouth and took a bite out of its soft orange skin, biting into the juicy flesh that was sweet and tangy at the same time and felt instantly refreshed. "Where did you get this? It tastes good."


    "Over there ¡ªthere is a huge tree full of these ripened fruits." Marr replied, pointing towards the wood they had left behind with his head. He then jumped, coming down her shoulder and started walking lithely, his paws springing against the grass, starting to descend down the hill. His brush-like white tail swung in the air.


    Wei Zhiruo followed behind. "Where do you think this place is? Can we go back before anyone finds us missing in the mansion?"


    "Sounds difficult to me. What about we let go of the plan and don''t go back and keep moving wherever we like? It''s not like we have any ties¡­there? Or do you?" A sharp Marr observed her hesitation and instantly pointed it out.


    Wei Zhiruo looked up into the sunny autumn sky and said, "I am not clear about that. Many things are shrouded in mystery and we...I think, we should better go back and at least see what happened to her ¡ªmother."


    Wei Zhiruo then told Marr about a small snippet of memory in which she was being lulled to sleep by that woman¡ªthe night lamp had been ethereally warm, as well as the lullaby that seemed to be a part of that magnetic charm, which that piece of memory exercised over her. It was this flash of a small memory that told her of the deep connection she had with her savior.


    "Of course...she was your mother in this life and she saved us by sacrificing herself ¡ªshe deserves our regard. How she turned into a Malformed beast like thing ¡ªthat''s naturally something we should look into and investigate. But is it safe to go back now? " Marr hummed in agreement. He paused a little, distracted by a chase of a pair of yellow butterflies flying close by.


    "No, it''s not. But I cannot help but think...Do you know ¡ªit takes very, very tragic...events for a heart to give birth to so much negative emotions that one''s whole body and soul transforms into a rotten piece of chaotic, Malformed creature like that ¡ªso full of malaise. Inhuman torture of both body and soul. Humans dying in such a state turn into negative energy, and to be able to manifest a form out of negative energy itself? That is as difficult as using your soul to achieve a state of physicality." Wei Zhiruo didn''t stop descending slowly, down the naturally formed unpaved road over the hill. Grass blades brushed against her bare feet. And the breeze played with her long hair. She tucked a few behind her ear and looked at the cat chasing the butterflies. "I think we need to go back. But we don''t know anything, so I am not sure how to get started. Alas!" She sighed.


    Marr looked behind himself, meeting her worried eyes and then said slowly, completely abandoning the chase of butterflies¡ª"You know that many things are not under our control, right? What if our going back alerts him, that God? He must know us. Somehow, I still think it''s troublesome to just leap into the tiger''s den with no way out! Just count the number of mishaps you met on a single night ¡ªdo you believe we will be lucky enough to come intact out of that place next time?"


    "I know that too. It''s just...never mind. Let''s think about it after we know stuff about the terrains and places here. We need to first know if we are still near Jinghai or not. And this place doesn''t look inhabited." Wei Zhiruo shrugged and said while stepping over a huge boulder, then jumping down over it.


    The terrain of this place was a mixture of a number of distinctive features. There was a brook in front, spiraling downwards opposite hill. They were heading towards it. Opposite the brook and coming in front of them was also another forest. A darker one. The one they left behind looked very tame in front of that solemn, majestic forest they approached. The mountains were surrounding them on all sides and it was definitely a valley; while meadows interspersed here and there. Wild flowers, butterflies and random chitter-chatter of chirping birds was all they had heard. She spotted a wild goat.


    "I heard some thoughts ¡ªan oak tree said, some monkeys and smaller animals live here. Foxes, wild cats, jackals, some deer and rabbits and even wild boars. Some predators must also live here too. There is plenty of food for all of them ¡ªbut it''s strange that there is no trace of human settlements around here. Usually that shouldn''t be the case." Wei Zhiruo brushed another loose hair back.


    "A hidden valley?"


    "Most likely, that must be the case."


    "Then let''s keep moving forward." Marr replied and ran back to walk beside her.


    They both talked for some time. Then they spent the rest of the time reaching the brook. By the time they were anywhere near it, it was past noon. The slow pace meant that they had grown hungry. Marr flew away to get them another wild ripened fruit from a nearby tree but warned, saying ¡ª"Be careful with this one. This one''s too sour." He added while scrunching his face.


    The green fruit which Wei Zhiruo held in her small hands looked delicious and fresh. She took a bite of its hard, pulpy yet sour flesh. It was really sour. But, after having a couple more bites, she felt her mouth filling with a strange kind of sweetness and felt full. She bent down, and reached for water with her hands. The brook bubbled, running cheerfully over pebbles of several colors and she washed her hands, then cupped her hands to fetch some water to drink. Water was cold.


    Wei Zhiruo washed away the traces of blood on her body next, cleaning up some wounds as well. She washed her hands and took off the outer layer of her dress which looked like a silk robe and tore pieces of them to use as bandages. She planned to stay beside the water for the night. "Firewood. We might need to look for that."


    "You rest, I will go. You still cannot use your Spiritual Senses so it will be dangerous for you. This place looks relatively safer. Wait for me to come back."


    "Did you forget, I can fly too?" Wei Zhiruo sounded puzzled. "I can use the bloodline power."


    "No, you cannot! Rest for me okay ¡ªpretend to be a good human for a while in front of me now." Marr hissed and looked back at her angrily and said, "You are not using any kind of energy. Your body is crumbling, you need this rest ¡ª and it doesn''t need to be stressed for such miniscule jobs like looking for firewood! I can pretty much do it on my own!"


    "It will be difficult for you to carry it back in your cat-form." Wei Zhiruo in return smiled and expressed her doubts. Her hands though, were busily winding, wrapping the extra fabric over the gaping wound on the stomach, and legs which had healed up to a considerable degree but still needed cover. "It will be faster for me to go with you."


    "No need." Marr rolled his eyes at her and said, "I can manipulate phantom limbs if I need to. You will be doing useless work, see?"


    "Okay, okay. I understand. You go and be busy, mister cat."


    The evening descended quickly enough. It was going to be the first night Wei Zhiruo was spending outside in this world. Her stomach was full with the fruits they had picked in the afternoon, and a bunch of twigs and fallen branches piled up nearby, which she used to keep the fire burning.


    Marr had also returned with a good enough pile of firewood and was now lounging at her feet.


    After some while of shared silence, they once again fell into a slow tandem of exchanges and broken, intermittent conversations. Marr told her about the strange sounds he had heard the previous seven days while Wei Zhiruo shared details of her recent nightmare.


    "I don''t think it was a nightmare though." Throwing another small branch into the fire, Wei Zhiruo said. The flickering fire showered her face with warm yellows and reds, making the morose air lingering around her tired body lighten a lot. "I think she sealed that memory for both of us. I would have doubted that I lost it while obliterating my memories in this world ¡ªbut you just said, you didn''t remember such an event. How can it be so, if she didn''t voluntarily seal away our memories? After all, only she knew about you."


    "But aunt will never attack us! There must be something weird in this piece of your memory. Either it has been altered or there is something else fishy going on." Marr laid and stretched pliantly beside her feet. He was enjoying Wei Zhiruo''s fingers brushing through his fur.


    "I know ¡ªthat''s why the last bit is so weird. She held a sword and she tried to kill me. There was killing intention in her red eyes. Her eyes had turned red and she looked different and that''s why I immediately knew she was an imposter. What took the shape of her, or used a real, hidden memory in my head to kill me ¡ª it is a little bit difficult to get an answer to this." The fire crackled.


    Silence descended over them.


    "So... another day in a completely different world." Marr asked after a long spell of silence. "It''s quite nice to not always worry about what your evil mother or grandfather are plotting all the time...Aah. I like this. But tell me more about Syncesia. I knew my guess was right ¡ªthat foul thing could only be done by the world consciousness! It really exchanged your life with that goddess, didn''t it?"


    Wei Zhiruo curled her lips, and her eyes lit up with a slightly colder look. She looked up at the star filled sky and sighed. It was another clear day of a clear autumn¡ª "Syncesia wanted my blood... Actually, if one thinks straight enough, everything started from there. She was after you, I know this, as I have a gut feeling my childhood protection of your existence was some sort of instinctual response to a danger. She must have dug for ages to know of Blood-seeds existence, though. The Oracle was false ¡ªand there was no saving a falling world like Cuiping. If you think deeply, my being brought up with a constant reminder of me being the "key" might have solidified some kind of internal bias ¡ªbut now, when I reflect on this, it''s absurd that I believed it, and even believed it for all my life! How blind was I? Magic comes and goes and comes again in a cycle of revival and destruction ¡ªlike everything in the world. And that''s a universal truth! I guess, it''s just the Cuiping World Consciousness which got greedy and wanted it all ¡ªhe didn''t want the long spell of destruction but to skip forward to another epoch of revival! Syncesia must have made a contract with Cuiping to trade me. Ruze clan would be the world''s representative if they acted well enough as the puppet in front of the world¡­as such the plot unfolded. How easy, right?"


    The cat hummed. His red eyes glinted in the dark, as he hissed into the air.


    "They planned well. With the love your father had for your mother, it was not difficult to kill him silently. Then there was no king, just a small crown Princess. Internal disturbances, racial prejudices in the clan, and the final falling of the city fortress of the Capital city Finsmeave. After that, they would have got a hold of you justifiably ¡ªas you were a war prisoner. Next, they would have done the same Sacrificial Ceremony just a few years earlier. It was your aunt who disrupted their well thought out plan and you escaped. If it wasn''t for her, it would have been exactly as they had designed. Syncesia gets the bloodline, you die to leave the well-developed country for your brother to ascend and rule, and the whole world welcomes magic back ¡ªa boon given by a pleased Goddess of hope. Clean."


    "Not just that ¡ªthink about faith." The log burned and embers flew. "How many more priests and followers of Syncesia must have been born after the revival? Uncountable. What do you think the people might have thought about Syncesia who had restored magic to the world? Their benefactress, and their savior ¡ªwho wouldn''t adore such a being?" Wei Zhiruo sighed as she thought of that Deity, whom she had seen only once.


    "They would love her, worship her, adore her...but why our bloodline? Is it so powerful that, literally a God, and on top of that, a New Era God had to plan so much for it?" Marr affirmed her thoughts looking thoughtful. "Let me guess...I think it must have something to do with the "Game for Godhood" ¡ªI remember a rumor... Every new epoch starts with such a game, where Gods vie for Godhood of the past "Fallen God''s" and snatch the power left in the universe. For that they needed faith ¡ªso many temples still flourished in the Middle world, one of the reasons was definitely to prepare the source of faith for the worshipped Gods for when they actually needed it for the game. She must be a part of it if she was so eager to earn faith."


    "Ahh¡ªI think you are right.  The Temple of Hope was always seeking to advance into the Temple of Happiness. The Ancient Fallen God of Mirth and Joy ¡ªIroum, I think, also has an unclaimed Godhood? If Syncesia wanted it, then using the Cuiping world as a chip is understandable." Wei Zhiruo threw in another log and took another bite of the sour fruit.


    "But she didn''t have to use you as a chip, did she? Your link with the Cuiping world is contractual, you hardly matter in her quest for faith. It can only mean that she desperately needed our bloodline! Why? And if she did, why go all the way round like this? Couldn''t she have just killed us, captured us or snatched it away or something?" Marr asked.


    "I think it''s related to some Universal principles they cannot violate. But also...it may just be the bloodline which is precious and cannot be snatched away inappropriately." Wei Zhiruo light heartedly replied. "We know so little about it. This bloodline seal? What do you think is its actual usage?"


    "We need to discover it on our own. There is no explanation!" Marr hissed furiously. "It must be those elders who think too highly of our capabilities, right? Pushing one after another tests! What does it matter even if they told us straightforwardly about what we needed to do? Did it take away from our skills or expertise?"


    "There is nothing free and toil-less in this world. You earn and you keep it. If the windfalls were so easy to get, hardship and anything else in this world would be meaningless."


    "That''s there too. Hmm."


    They talked like that for much of the evening. Both of them didn''t need to sleep for the time being ¡ªWei Zhiruo who just woke up after sleeping for a week didn''t feel sleepy, nor did Marr. So, they both talked a lot and murmured under their breath, observing the fire eating away the wood.


    Night descended.


    It remained silent till Wei Zhiruo heard a very poignant cry for help, followed by several howling of the wolves!


    ****


    Song Meiling looked over her shoulder. But she didn''t see the creature running behind clearly before another, much firmer and bigger hand clutched her hands and then started dragging her away into the opposite direction yelling¡ª"Run! Faster, faster!"


    "It''s a wolf! Run! Run!"


    The howling of the wolf sounded behind her. For a moment her mind went blank. She looked at her badly beaten brother Song Hua and then looked behind at the two others badly beaten people who were accompanying in the same group, everyone supporting wounds and gashes all over their faces and body. She looked up at her big brother who had completely lost one of his eyes. "Brother, we¡­"


    "Don''t worry Ling''er. Just run! Keep running and don''t think!" Heavy feet thumped against the forest''s dry grass and dried branches, everything was too muddled up in that cacophony of yelling and heavy breathing and screams of fear.


    Something jumped up from behind and Song Meiling felt her brother wrapping herself in his arms and rolling sideways to dodge. A growling sounded in her ears and saliva wetted her shoulders; she knew a wolf was upon them. Her brother though didn''t let her go and kept rolling and then he hastily stood up, held her arms and started dragging her half-conscious self towards another direction!


    "Brother run...leave me and run." Song Meiling pleaded this with great difficulty as her mind couldn''t form clear words or sentences. The world appeared in a specter of colors in her eyes and she knew she was going to die either way. At least she didn''t want to kill her brother because of herself. She tried to snatch away her hands from his firm clutches.


    "Have you lost your mind?! What are you talking about right now! Save your strength and run!" Song Hua looked at her and started dragging her despite her unwillingness and kept running, but the wolf approached them again. They have been targeted.


    "Aaahh¡ª! Save me, save me...brother Jun! Brother¡­. Aaah¡ªno! Brother, are you alright?!!" Someone was screaming close by.


    Song Meiling heard her brother''s heavy breathing, heard other companions scream and felt her brother shielding herself behind his body. She couldn''t see anything, didn''t know where that wolf was but she felt her heart plunging down like falling down into an endless trench of fear. Growling came closer and then she heard her brother yelling ¡ª"Aaah¡ª! Back off!! Back off or I''ll kill you!"


    He then really lunged down at the beast! In her hazy vision she felt two figures tumbling together. "Brother no¡ª! No, no no, you run¡ªdon''t attack or you will die!"


    He was going to be killed. She followed her instincts and ran towards the two figures but was soon thrown away by someone. She felt another growling figure jumping over herself. She was going to die...this thought had never been clearer than as now!


    She messed up. She shouldn''t have agreed to eat that mushroom, shouldn''t have persuaded her brother to try out this trial, shouldn''t have come to this man-eating mountain for a flimsy hope of achieving greatness¡ª! She killed her own brother.


    Her eardrums burst, blood spurted from her nose and mouth and she felt someone dragging her away. She could no longer see, or hear. She smelled her brother''s scent and also felt the blood on his shoulder. He lost his arm. He lost his arm because of her. He had already lost his eyes and now he was also going to lose his life! "Brother, brother please hear me okay? Please, please, I beg you! Please just listen to me this once¡ªyou need to run away! Please leave me here and save yourself!"


    Save yourself. Your useless sister cannot do anything right. But she doesn''t want you dead, she doesn''t want anyone to die! It was her fault! Why, why did she think it was a good idea? Shouldn''t she ¡ªa person who has lived in the age of information boom ¡ªknow what a few small children spending a night in a beast ridden forest meant? With no weapons and no security, no one to save them in times of peril ¡ªwhat was she thinking when she agreed to this insanity?! Oh yes, she was too busy getting giddy with joy of having travelled to her favourite book to think of anything!


    "Brother please hear me¡ª" but soon the hands holding her pushed her away and she smelled the rusty smell of blood! Oh, how familiar she had grown to this smell!


    ''Save¡ªsave us. Someone please!'' She felt herself being knocked under the paws of a beast and felt the breath of the creature pinning her down on the forest floor! "Someone...anyone...someone please...brother...brother save¡ªplease don''t¡­be dead¡­"


    Song Meiling lost consciousness before she could feel the teeth of the hungry beast.


    ****


    "No¡ª! Ling''er!!No, damnit!" Song Hua used his intact hand to hold the blade and pierced the wolf''s open weak spot, and heard another wolf jumping down over his sister. He didn''t have enough time to go back to her as he was still fighting. He dodged, rolled, and turned in quick flashes and then was at the beast lurching over him. He killed another one. But the blade was useless and he didn''t think much and started to run over. A beat, a second and then the wolf will be detaching his sister''s head!


    ''No, no this...how could I fail!'' He used all his strength to run towards the wolf but there was too much distance, and his mind went on autopilot as he hardly felt the boots coming off his feet, nor his kneecaps cracking under pressure. He stumbled and looked over. A wolf with yellow eyes was wringing the small neck of his five-year-old sister.If you stumble upon this narrative on Amazon, be aware that it has been stolen from Royal Road. Please report it.


    He couldn''t even close his eyes and felt that second stretch into years and years of pain. What was this? What did all this mean? His mind couldn''t understand anything. Everything¡­lost. He lost his sister?


    And when he saw the wolf tightening his jaws, he couldn''t even open his mouth to yell.


    But suddenly something changed. He saw it. The beast still held his sister''s neck in its mouth, but his eyes, they had lost their luster. The wolf toppled down and Song Hua looked at it, falling down like a crumbling tower.


    He looked up. He saw a girl. His muddled mind finally straightened enough and he somewhat reigned in his scattered thoughts and stood up, pushing against everything with his remaining intact limb and clutching the other broken hand he stumbled towards his sister.


    "Ling''er?!Ling''er can you hear your brother? Wake up. Ling''er. Say something!!" He urged the cold body of her small sister. He held her body and shook it hard as if shaking a soul back into its shell. He felt cold all over. And kept repeating the word no, several times as if his saying that would change many things.


    "She is alive." The girl with the strange blue eyes whispered. Song Hua looked up.


    But she had already walked away and was now running away towards other wolves, like a flash of wind, heading towards another screaming companion.


    He saw in that dark night, with the help of the moonlight as the girl easily used just her feet and hands, and later the knife he had dropped down somewhere to throw away, kill and save another boy from his own group.


    She didn''t stop there and was soon running towards the last companion fighting wildly with a wolf three times its size and saw her use the knife to dig at its collar bones, encircle its head from behind and take it between her chokehold. He pronouncedly heard the cracking of the bones and heard the whimpering and howling of the companion wolves who seemed to be hissing and retreating as if they had seen a difficult opponent.


    "Song Hua! Are you guys alright? Is Ling''er okay?" Brother Tan ran back clutching his open wound in the stomach. He looked at the battered state of his companion and urged ¡ª"Hurry! What are you waiting for? Take out those Healing Pills! Take it and feed one of them to Ling''er! Hurry!"


    As if suddenly his mind had opened up to sounds and thoughts finally, Song Hua turned away from the rampaging wolves and the countering girl and shivered, "Yes! The pills, the pills¡­!"


    He opened up his lapel and took out a brocade pouch that looked very much out of place from his other apparel. The rough linen clothes he wore felt very weird when placed against the expensive brocade but no one took notice of it. Song Hua hurriedly took out a glass bottle and rattled it to see whether it held any pills. He heard the sound and took out two pills with his shivering hands and carefully held them between his fingers. He forced open his sister''s mouth and force fed those pills to her till he was sure they went down her throat. After only that, he used another spare pill himself and felt the tingling breath of life and vitality filling his body. Only then did his panic ridden mind ease somewhat.


    "Song Hua? Tan Juxian? Are you guys alright?" Another voice joined them. A boy looking equally unwell fell down beside a fainted Song Meiling. He felt for her breath and only then did he look up to see the other two who were busy looking at the one-sided beating of the wolves in the hands of a girl.


    "Amazing¡­" Tan Juxian whispered. "She killed ten of them¡­"


    "Yes¡­" Song Hua looked at another wolf being thrown away and stopping all its movement and breathing. He himself felt his own breath being stuck and wheezed. "Cough, cough, cough ¡ªwater...give me some...cough!"


    Jun Mingdao searched in his satchel still hanging on his waist. He took out a bamboo water holder and pushed it into Song Hua''s hand hurriedly and finally looked around himself.


    He saw the girl with loose long hair hitting and killing the last wolf and the other beasts howling retreating back and he himself stood up. He limped away in her direction.


    When he reached her, he saw the girl bending down over a wolf and studying its fur. She then cleaned the blades of the knife she was holding over the fur, very carefully. She looked alright but he still asked in a hesitant voice, "You must be a candidate, right? Do you have enough Healing Pills? I have some spare and I can lend you some."


    The girl looked at him and then seemed to observe his wounds, which were not grave enough and finally nodded.


    Jun Mingdao quickly took out a glass bottle from his satchel and threw it in her direction. The girl caught it in her hands and opened it. She first sniffed its content.


    "It''s not spoiled! You don''t need to worry. We got this in the shops at the Trial-starting place. They are the real deal! Made by immortal lords themselves..." He misunderstood her action as doubting the authenticity of the pills and explained. "I gave fifty silvers for this."


    "No, thank you. It''s alright." The girl replied and took one in her hands and crushed them before putting it into her mouth. She seemed to be surprised for a moment and then took another pill and ate it intact this time. "Is everyone okay over there?"


    "Yes. You saved us. And killed so many wolves too. Are you injured?" He stuttered as if not knowing what to say next. When he heard her say no to his question, he looked back at the waiting group of friends and called her to go back to them. They both started walking towards the rest of the company in silence. A while later he broke the embarrassing silence and explained his identity. "I am Jun Mingdao. We are all from Qingshui Village and Guiyang Town. We came with the entourage from there. We had fifteen people in the beginning but we got separated from the rest and fell behind."


    "Wei Zhiruo. I am from Jinghai." The girl named Zhiruo gave her name. She bent down and Jun Mingdao looked at the White cat which suddenly appeared out of nowhere with some surprise.


    "Are you lost too? We have the map with us so we know where to go next. Do you want to come with us?" Jun Mingdao hurriedly offered.


    He felt the girl would reject the offer as most of them were either injured or unable to continue walking. The trial was still ongoing and there were still three days left before the final deadline, till which time they must reach the next assembly point or get disqualified. It was difficult to imagine their company of four injured people walking safely all the way in such a short time! Their dream of immortality¡­wasn''t it obvious that they could no longer continue? If not for this girl, today they might have been eaten away by the wolves and no one in the village would ever discover where their bones were left behind!


    "Is it okay?"


    Jun Mingdao heard the unexpected answer and grew hopeful instantly. He happily reassured, "Yes, yes! Definitely! You are so strong it wouldn''t be difficult for you to reach the next spot in just a day. We can share the map with you if you need it. You saved our lives; you are our benefactor! You don''t need to accompany us if you just want to know the route¡ª"


    "No, it''s okay. I am not in a hurry to reach that spot. Thanks for the pill by the way. It really helped." Wei Zhiruo shrugged off his polite words and agreed to his proposal. She didn''t know anything about the so-called trial or the meeting points, so joining a group was the safest bet.


    They both soon reached the small gathering. By now the boy called Tan Juxian had collected the corpse of five wolves and was bandaging the broken arm of Song Hua. When he saw the new girl and Jun Mingdao coming together he called out loudly, "Brother Jun! Did you take a healing pill? If you need a spare, I still have a couple in the bottle."


    "No, no. I already took one." Jun Mingdao replied sitting down. He rolled his sleeves and showed the healing wounds. "They really heal so fast. It''s just Song Hua who is the most badly injured. Ling''er is still unconscious too. Save some for her."


    "There is some more." Tan Juxian reassured him. "And she¡­"


    "This is Wei Zhiruo. She lost her way but doesn''t have a map like us. She will join us to reach the next point." Jun Mingdao introduced. He pointed at the boy bandaging the wounds and said, "He is Tan Juxian, and the other two are Song Hua and his sister Song Meiling. Tan Juxian and I come from the same village but Song Hua and Ling''er are from the town. We all signed up for the trial together and formed a company."


    "You are strong." Tan Juxian abruptly said and blushed. "I mean, do you know martial arts? You must come from a Jianghu family."


    "No. I am from Jinghai." Wei Zhiruo replied puzzledly as she didn''t know what Jianghu meant.


    "Wei clan from Jinghai?" Song Hua suddenly interrupted.


    Wei Zhiruo looked at the heavily injured boy who only had one eye intact, and replied, "Yes. Do you know my family?"


    "Yes," Song Hua replied straightforwardly. "I am from a branch family of the Song clan. Our main house is in Jinghai so I know. Why didn''t you join their delegation? Their group has been allowed to be accompanied by bodyguard slaves. They are comparatively safer."


    "I came alone without telling my family." Wei Zhiruo said. " I don''t want to meet an acquaintance."


    "Oh." Everyone shared a look of understanding with each other and ceased to continue the topic. "Your cat?"


    "Yes. His name is YueMarr."


    "Yue...mae''er?"


    "YueMarr. Just call him Marr." Wei Zhiruo added.


    With the small talks out of the way, the group started doing the required tasks. Jun Mingdao rose up and dragged down a wolf carcass and cut out the flesh and stored it away in a clean cloth. He did it cleanly for all the five corpses and even tied away a bundle of wolf fur.


    "We need to go away from here. The smell of blood in this place is too heavy. You carry Ling''er and I will support Song Hua." Jun Mingdao explained to everyone and soon everyone was on the way towards the brook that Wei Zhiruo explained she knew the way to.


    "I just came from there. I was going to sleep when I heard the howling." Wei Zhiruo explained.


    They walked slowly. With so many of them drained from days of walking and hunger with no good food to eat and now severely wounded ¡ªtheir snail-like speed was all too natural. When they reached the brook, they started a campfire and soon sat beside it roasting the cleaned wolf-meat.


    "Here." Tan Juxian offered the meat to Wei Zhiruo. She looked at the well seared meat of the wolf and shook her head.


    "I don''t eat meat." She explained.


    This statement seemed to come off as very strange to everyone but no one offered her meat again. Wei Zhiruo took out a green fruit and started munching at that hard and sour treat which numbed her tongue. She took a bamboo container which was used to hold water and chugged it. Song Hua observed her doing all that.


    "How old are you? You don''t look old." Song Hua asked.


    Wei Zhiruo looked surprised at being asked such a question but still replied half-truthfully ¡ª"Me? I am seven."


    "Seven?" Jun Mingdao looked surprised. "You are the youngest in the group after Ling''er. Will it offend you if we call you junior sister Zhiruo?"


    "No, it''s okay with me."


    "Then Junior Sister Zhiruo, don''t hesitate to ask for anything from us. Although you are very strong, we might be able to help you with something." Jun Mingdao laughed. He looked very pleased with this new addition to the team. Others hummed to show that they agreed.


    "Song Meiling is five, Song Hua here is nine and I am ten. Brother Jun is the oldest in our group currently¡ª he is twelve." Tan Juxian explained further with a frown. "The Immortals seemed to not want to take anyone younger than five so only Ling''er came. It''s good that they weren''t allowed."


    "It''s really good that they weren''t allowed. But the immortals must know about the content of this trial so they know better not to allow them to come to die. Otherwise, it''s murder." Jun Mingdao agreed. "Who would have thought that even the first trial is so hard! I don''t know whether we can survive the next two trials."


    "There are more?" Wei Zhiruo asked tentatively.


    "You don''t know about the whole trial?" Tan Juxian who was busy gorging down the wolf meat looked at her bewildered face. "Oh yes, you ran away from home, right? They wouldn''t have explained the details to you. The Immortals in the initial assembly hardly tell us anything. Don''t worry, your brother will tell you everything!"


    Wei Zhiruo just nodded as she was really puzzled. She didn''t even know what the trial was for, let alone how many stages were to it!


    Tan Juxian controlled his excitement at being useful and then began to explain in detail the different stages of the trial. "The first trial is climbing the mountain. When we climb up and reach the top then we will enter the Gate of the Immortal mountain. Then the next trial will judge our mind and Spiritual roots. Although we have already been checked for the spiritual root, the final test will still look at our roots again."


    Song Hua looked up at them and added, "The second trial is most likely to be an illusion test or climbing the Heavenly Ascension Stairway, or both. The illusion tests our mind''s firmness and the stairs our will. Only those who climb five hundred of the thousand steps will be allowed to enter the sect."


    Everyone became relatively serious.


    Wei Zhiruo raised a brow at this and then asked, "What spiritual roots do you all have?"


    This new topic seemed to be not a bad one so the others hurriedly exchanged their own spiritual roots.


    First Song Hua replied, saying¡ª "I have two spiritual roots: wood and fire."


    "That''s really good, do you know, junior sister? All the Alchemists have these two roots. Once Song Hua enters the sect, he will surely become a disciple of a sect elder who are alchemists!" Jun Mingdao proudly showed off. "My roots aren''t as good but with due diligence I think I will achieve success. I have three roots: wood, metal and water."


    "I also have two Spiritual roots. One is wood and the other earth." Tan Juxian explained. He had cooked yet another huge chunk of flesh and was busy biting at it with furious intensity.


    "Ling''er is the best amongst us. She only has a single root of fire and will definitely become the sect''s inner disciple before any of us. Maybe even a real disciple of one of the immortal masters!" Jun Mingdao once again explained.


    Wei Zhiruo looked down at the sleeping face of the smallest child in the group who had deep tooth marks on her neck. She looked up at others who were busy eating meat as if they had been hungry for weeks and weeks and easily surmised what had happened to this group from their battered state.


    "Thank you... junior sister." Song Hua closed his eyes as he leaned against a boulder. He whispered softly, but his words reached her easily.


    Song Hua was really very, very grateful to this stranger who had suddenly barged in and saved their lives. They knew what strength they all had. They had been desperately fighting with no hope and now, just look at them basking in fire and eating meat ¡ªit felt dreamlike.


    "You don''t have to fret over it. I would have saved anyone else if they were in a similar fix. So don''t feel so burdened. And you are going to lead me to the gathering spot, so it''s a fair trade." Wei Zhiruo munched on another tooth numbing sour fruit and replied nonchalantly.


    "For us it''s a great help, junior sister." Song Hua said and then seeing that she really didn''t want to talk about it smiled slightly and then picked up his sleeping sister''s head over his lap. He rubbed her hair looking peaceful. "We ¡ªmy sister and I are the only surviving members in our family. Ten years ago, a great disaster struck our family. None of the clansmen survived. My mother single-handedly brought us up but three years ago, she died because of a fever. If my sister died today...I don''t know what I would have done...so I am really, really grateful to you." He raised his head. If he could, he would have given her a heavy kowtow, but he refrained from embarrassing junior sister.


    Wei Zhiruo didn''t reply to this. She looked at the fire ablaze, and then rubbed her fingers against the cat lingering in her arms. She met those ruby eyes and smiled into them as if they had shared a secret talk.


    "Thank you, junior sister Zhiruo." Jun Mingdao rotated the meat that was being barbecued and looked at her blushingly. "I am the only boy child in my family. My parents are old and there are small sisters to support. If I get into the sect then I can earn enough gold to give as trousseau for my two sisters. But it''s hard. We would have died today if it was not for you. On my two sisters behalf ¡ª please accept my thanks and I, although it''s difficult to repay the debt of saving one''s life, I will pay you somehow! One day." He seemed to be seriously making a pledge of some sort. But Wei Zhiruo didn''t stop him from doing that to ease his mind.


    "I too am really grateful." Tan Juxian added after he saw others talking as such. "Though I don''t have any family members like others, I am really grateful to you! When we get into the sect I will look after you and will never let others bully you! If I succeed, that is...ha, ha!"


    "You are being too polite." Wei Zhiruo could only shake her head at them. Jun Mingdao rubbed his neck in embarrassment and then burst into laughter.


    "Yes, you are right. Don''t worry junior sister Zhiruo, we will not try to be a burden on you."


    "Don''t think too much." Wei Zhiruo replied. "How far is Jinghai from your place?" She changed the subject.


    "Jinghai? I think it''s a month''s ride away? I have never travelled there myself but in the town, there are many who usually come from there to trade food. And in recent times there''s been many merchants coming and going from there." Jun Mingdao replied.


    "There were many disasters everywhere¡­so the merchants come quite regularly to get our town''s grain. Our region has remained quite safe from natural disasters so it''s not surprising why they do that." Tan Juxian added.


    "Is there really a team from Jinghai in this trial?" Wei Zhiruo asked. She stood up to find a close enough place beside the fire, amidst the nearby boulders to lean against for the rest of the night. She found one not too far away and settled down. Marr followed her steps.


    "Yes ¡ªa group of twenty people. But they are...families of the immortal lords and some are even delegates from the capital ¡ªa few companions of the prince and such ¡ªso they don''t take the usual route for trial. They are exempted from it. They only need to appear in the second trial and final ones where the checking of the spiritual roots takes place." It was Song Hua who replied this time. He knew better about the region called Jinghai. After all, almost half of the exempted trial takers belonged to that place. Big families who were linked to cultivating families, great merchants and ministers. Everyone was linked somehow to Jinghai.


    Not many actually knew the existence of the immortals. Only those who were secretly examined for spiritual roots and were found having them could actually be told about such reality. Townsmen, village people ¡ªthere was hardly any distinction in the ignorance about this matter. But once someone knew they had something like a spiritual root and could join the world of endless greatness and power ¡ªwho in their right mind would refuse to join?


    Many died in the first trial. How many could return from this rat-race and let slip the secret of the immortal cultivation? Not many. He knew and he felt that once someone was told of the reality of the cultivation, he was accursed with a disease that will not let them go away until their death! Looking down at his sister he felt his assumptions were true. A sweet, thoughtful childlike his sister was so blinded by greed that she let go of every wise advice and begged him to join the trial ¡ªwhat else could it be but that plague like greed for an untouchable world?


    "Oh, is that so? Exempted¡­" Wei Zhiruo repeated.


    "Yes¡­" Song Hua replied in a whisper.


    The small talks ended and then everyone started concentrating on easing their breath.


    Song Hua looked at the new girl. He didn''t understand. How could there be someone like this in this world? He thought deeply ¡ªif he had enough power and skill to run up to the top of the mountain, why wouldn''t he hurry up? If he did lose his way, if he stumbled upon a group of badly wounded people who were on the verge of death ¡ªwhy would he help such a group and especially when he clearly knew they were all competitors? It could only be ignorance.


    Because she didn''t know that there were only one hundred tokens to get an entry into the sect? One hundred was just the initial quota. Out of this sixty was already reserved for people of higher standings ¡ªthose offspring of cultivators and even imperial delegation members. And the rest of the token...these tokens could be snatched away by killing...people. If anyone fails to snatch or get one before entering the mountain top, he too will get disqualified.


    On the day of the gathering, he heard the loud announcement that said ¡ª"There is no eternal good and evil in this world. If you can survive, you win. The token is your opportunity, your chance. Will you give it away to others on a silver platter? No, right? So, in the world of cultivation, you all should remember this as the first rule of the world, that is the law of survival of the fittest. The best survives and the weak die. Don''t be the weak."


    Although none of them had any tokens right now, less competitors were always a good thing in such games, right? Even if they died, it would hardly affect this girl ¡ªin fact, it would be better if four more people died and she, as a result, is able to secure a position in the hundred people! If it''s not ignorance, what else is this?


    Or maybe not...he looked into her washed, watery clear blue eyes and felt that he was too smudged in the mud of bitterness. She was clearly a very clearheaded girl who didn''t look like she would jump into ''heroic'' acts out of impulsiveness or other intentions.


    He looked down at her sister''s frowning face and thought more deeply. Maybe there really are such good people in the world...who don''t do things for any intention? And weren''t his own parents just like this in the past? How had he himself become so pragmatic that he couldn''t see the goodness of heart without thinking of deeper conspiracy? Why did this girl''s ignorance appear like a weakness that he could manipulate? He wasn''t so lowly, was he?


    He smiled mockingly. After living in the world full of adults with bad-intentions ¡ª aunts who are constantly coming to grab lands, uncles who are ready to sell them for petty profit and maternal grandparents who wouldn''t even bat an eye if he and his sister were killed right in front of them and would even help their sons and daughters hide the corpses to save them from going to prison; how else would he see the world?


    It''s good that he left everything behind. This was a chance for both of them. He will not die, neither will he let his sister die.


    And he will also not lose his faith in goodness. He didn''t want to be a smelly rat dripping with sewer water who knew nothing but evil. Immortal cultivation, was it? What survival of the fittest and no good and evil¡­! Bullshit! How could the world have no rights and wrongs? The Immortals think like that, but he, a clear-headed mortal, shouldn''t feel the same. He has personally experienced so much evil that his heart was suffocating in them! That was why, he was also willing to believe there was neutral, indifferent goodness as well ¡ªwhich didn''t stem out of calculation and intentions!


    This trial...he must win this trial. A place in the one hundred winners. No, five places. Brother Tan and brother Jun, weren''t they also good, well-intentioned people? They could have left him and his sister behind and gone with the rest of the company, but they unconditionally supported him and stood with him who was thrown out of the group by calculation of his cousin. He was framed and everyone knew that ¡ªbut it was just these two people who stood on his side.


    "It''s getting late. How about I guard and you all take a nap first? I will wake someone up after some time for their turn to guard." Wei Zhiruo suggested seeing the drooping eyes of everyone who had finally cleaned after themselves, having had the dinner and rested for a couple minutes.


    "Okay. I will go next." Jun Mingdao replied.


    Soon everyone arranged for their turns to watch for others and determined the duration for the next person to wake up and change place to guard and the rest soon fell asleep.


    Song Hua watched over his sister for a while, heard the crackling fire and then nudged a little closer to the boulder. When he fell asleep, Wei Zhiruo was still watching over the fire with no intention to rest.


    "Good night, Marr¡ª" He heard a soft whisper but felt he dreamed it. And then darkness came over him.

 Chapter 16. Liming Sect’s Disciple Seeking Trial

    ¡°Is this the token you talked about?¡± Wei Zhiruo first picked up the hardened shell-like round object, giving off a fluorescent sheen into the dark. Visible against her bloodied hands, its green light gave a very eerie feel at first sight, but she had touched and confirmed that it was just a piece of broken turtle-shell and one that had a few mysterious lines embossed over its surface. She stumbled across it as she was clearing her blade against the head of the fallen bear; it looked like the bear had been wearing it around his neck like a collar ¡ªstrange, she thought. Stranger still was the jade-like feel to that shell, she felt on the tip of her fingers, like she was touching water and stone, or a stone with running water over it.


    When she heard a few steps coming closer to her she didn¡¯t fall back but stood up to meet Jun Mingdao¡¯s curious brown eyes, his face immediately lit when he found what she was holding, ¡°Oh! Yes, indeed. This is what those elders showed us¡­can I see it?¡±


    ¡°Of course. Here.¡±


    Wei Zhiruo then watched him examine the object from all sides and even raise it against the stray sunlight of mid-noon. She was a little surprised to notice that the token immediately changed its color upon being touched with light, becoming a slightly emerald-ish shell with a word ¡®Qualified¡¯ written over it. Only now did she confirm that it wasn¡¯t her illusion, she was really gaining better control of her body¡¯s previous abilities ¡ªat least, after looking at those words she didn''t have to waste time second-guessing their meaning, but just at first glance she knew what that script meant. This was a great improvement, indeed. If she harnessed all her latent memories...maybe there will be more clues about the event that had led to that woman''s death?


    Wei Zhiruo stopped herself from thinking too much, and when she heard steps coming closer again, climbing and crunching over those dried leaves and broken soil, she stood up straighter, removing stray wrinkles on her rag of a cloth.


    ¡°Did you find something? You did? Where?¡± Tan Juxian joined them beaming with his standard smile, which then became sweeter as he took in the tokens in his hands. "What Is this material? It feels so great when touched. Do you think they''ll let us keep these?"


    Song Hua came from behind, while holding a thick pole with a sharpened end on one side for support. ¡°Is there only one?¡±


    ¡°Younger sister Wei found it. Just this one.¡± Jun Mingdao replied.


    ¡°It was the only thing that fell. I found it on that bear¡¯s body.¡± Wei Zhiruo explained to them pointing towards the towering bear carcass.


    Since they were standing underneath a cavern which might be a fold in the mountain¡¯s belly, she started walking without further delay. Although this small cavern did give them enough space to stand up after crawling into the tunnel-like pass from the opposite end, it did push them to come closer together to hear one another or they¡¯d need to shout. She chose to walk out first and heard them following up, treading softly and carefully over the following cliffside path.


    Wind blew fiercely. Because none of them had any protective clothes, walking had become a difficult task. Someone suggested to hold hands and walk, so they did and eventually kept themselves safe from falling down and breaking into pieces down the cliff.


    She had to shut her eyes when facing gusts of fierce wind, her hair though billowed crazily. When she looked downwards, her eyes met with a deep gorge opening up full of green foliage, so thick and dark and covered in cloud that one could just imagine the fate they¡¯d meet if someone stumbled a little wrongly on this path.


    ¡°We still need four of these. It''s good that we had a good start here, now we do know how to come about these.¡± Tan Juxian shouted on top of his lungs down the line.


    "Yes, we do." Jun Mingdao yelled back. He seemed to be enjoying this shouting session, as he supported a huge grin on his round face. ¡°You-we might have to look for more


    "We can try examining a few caves for traces. What do you say? I think there is a bear cave just around somewhere here.¡± Wei Zhiruo''s voice reached them perfectly and many shook their heads at being asked.


    ¡°No, I don¡¯t think fighting these beasts is the only way to go.¡± Song Hua hurriedly shook his head and then clutched his sister''s hand a lighter tighter. Poor child was shivering like a leaf, and if he wasn''t constantly holding her, she would have definitely been blown away by the wind.


    Wei Zhiruo didn¡¯t mind the rejection. She met that tiny girl¡¯s obviously too muddled eyes and then used her knife to pierce through the mountain stone ¡ªshe used the newly crafted support to propelling herself, jumped up and clutched over a dry and dead tree''s branch and took over the siblings in front to lead the group as they traversed along that narrow cliff-side path. She did it so effortlessly that it looked like she was dancing in the wind. She heard an excited exclamation from the tiny girl.


    They spent three hours walking tirelessly along that narrow pathway. Then they entered another much thicker part of the forest, so solemn was its air that even the birds'' cry sounded deafening, while creepers and bushes that reached up to their shins grew everywhere. Trees with boughs touching down could be spotted here and there, while prickly Acacia was the most widely growing tree she observed. Wei Zhiruo looked down at the parchment she was holding in her hands which showed them they had found the exact entrance for the next trial ¨C a structure like a gate, with bluestones paving a circular area around its periphery. It looked odd against the wild, with its flying red colors painted over overarching pillars and a huge sign that read "Lining Sect Portal".


    Nice. Teleportation portals like this would need a thing to activate them and she was afraid that those tokens they were collecting were the ''Portal Keys'' to be allowed to go inside. Her worry soon proved to be right, as apart from herself no one could walk inside the bluestone enclosure.


    That was worrying and dusk was impending closer upon them, making it harder to proceed from here; it was dangerous to look out for a token in the night and not finding those tokens soon enough was also a risk. Maybe they all understood this in some way because she found in even the most oblivious Tan Juxian¡¯s face a growing terseness and weariness. But they didn¡¯t get enough time to think much ¡ª Wei Zhiruo picked up some approaching sound of steps and immediately signaled them to hide. The group scattered immediately, the smallest Song Meiling being picked up and dragged away by his brother.


    She herself took shelter and sneaked a peek to see who was coming.


    ¡°¡­Master! Even if we keep walking like this, it will not dissolve our troubles! You¡¯re clearly running away from your fear!¡± A short, slightly rough looking man voiced in his breathless voice, then Wei Zhiruo saw two people coming up ¡ªone was limply supporting another boy who looked red with blisters and wounds all over him. He didn''t look much better than the battered Song Hua before he took those healing pills.


    ¡°They''ll catch up soon. We can¡¯t walk, we cannot go in and fight! There will be more snatching and killing inside the Sect entrance there than we can imagine ¡ª just think about how your junior sister died!¡±


    ¡°You- how dare you -!¡±


    ¡°I will if you keep attempting suicide.¡± The rough looking man angrily hissed. ¡°This is no way to die and if you¡¯d wanted this death so badly, we could have died a better death in your house, Master Lin! All these years you sensibly tolerated everyone''s injustice¡ª since mistresses¡¯ death and your father¡¯s remarriage, which atrocity have you not faced with courage? I know you grieve now, but this is no small matter! You¡¯ve responsibilities, duties given to you by mistress ¡ªdid you forget even that?! Master, young master Lin, you cannot act so short sighted in front of me, particularly you who had been entrusted to me by his mother!¡±


    Wei Zhiruo didn¡¯t follow the later grumbling conversation, as she had picked up another rush of wind. She hastily climbed up the short wild white ash, scaling its bark quickly. When she was at some height, she found a group of shadowy figures stealing closer this way!


    ¡°Humans.¡± Marr came out.


    ¡°Yes. They might be seeking that boy.¡± Wei Zhiruo replied.


    ¡°What do you intend?¡±


    ¡°Let¡¯s watch first. Those children are hidden well.¡±


    ¡°That means, you intend to help them kill if there is a need for it?¡±


    ¡°I don¡¯t see any trouble in that.¡± Wei Zhiruo didn¡¯t feel bad about this decision. In her principles, fighting and killing amounted to the gravest of sins. One could kill when affronted with life and death crises of one¡¯s own, one could even kill to protect one¡¯s group and naturally, that extended to the permission to kill during battles. There were other ceremonies to be observed, though, but here right now, she was faced with assassins and a crisis that might directly embroil a group that she¡¯d taken under her wing. There were no morally gray fault lines in this which she might cross in her actions. ¡°You¡¯re aware I¡¯ve taken them as my own here, on this journey. Any danger dawning over them is an attack on myself.¡±


    ¡°I know and I find that quite improbable of you¡­what changed? What did you see in them?¡± Marr wasn¡¯t deterred from asking the core of the question looming over, as he raised his voice. ¡°You will not choose to do such a thankless thing as extending your hands to whichever person you deemed honest. Humans are so fickle, and did you forget those earlier examples ¡ª do I need to spell those dirty names loud for you to recall? Soole, Remis, Lilie¡­how many of them stood beside you in the end and didn¡¯t choose to stick on the side of their race? I don¡¯t want you to hurt again, Zhiruo, so think before you act.¡±


    ¡°You see ¡ª just a few betrayals had turned you and I against our long-held principles.¡± Wei Zhiruo heard him patiently as she started jumping closer to the rushing force, her intention made obvious. ¡°This is incumbent upon me to choose, A¡¯Marr. If I don¡¯t want to keep shrinking from myself, which I don¡¯t want to do at all costs ¡ª I need to accept my failures and success alike. We will live here, a new world is upon us ¨Cand you say, for how long do you want us to act shy of faith and jaded, and worried or maybe terrified of actual relationships? That won¡¯t work. I chose to accept entering this unheard-of land and find this ¡®sect¡¯ because I really do want to see things. New things we never got the chance to experience and feel ¡ª and for this, I chose not to seek revenge for the death of this body ¡ª no, my new mother immediately. You understand me, I know. Don¡¯t fear, Marr. It''s just another hurdle and this act isn¡¯t that deep.¡±


    To this Marr immediately refuted, ¡°It¡¯s picking side ¡ª it is taking life and killing! You took action against those wolves because they were a threat, you killed the bear to protect your friends. But now ¡ªthat''s a sentient being we seek to kill. A far greater sin in comparison. How cannot it be an act of faith? I am not against your ideas here, but don''t think what you pick is a light matter, Zhiruo. I won¡¯t urge you more, as I do know you don¡¯t want to act cowardly. I know that very well Ama, let¡¯s go. They are close.¡±


    The two of them didn¡¯t make any sound as they stole closer to the rushing group of some eight, tightly clad figures in masks, with long blades visible in their hands. Wei Zhiruo picked the most reasonable time to act, the blade which had long since given away its sharpness was but like a piece of stone to her, the real force came from her internal strength and which she judged to be quite efficient when facing these men. There was a strange looming force swirling in their abdomens, but it wasn¡¯t a threat to her, she sensed. Even then, she picked up the rear end to begin.


    Once she started, she chased behind the group for a minute, lurking behind to see someone fall back from the rest of the group¡ª when one did, she immediately tackled him over, clinging to his neck and suffocating the man before he could shout or yell or even protest. In a minute or two, she held an unconscious figure as her knife blade sank deeply into the flesh and fresh blood spurted out, dyeing her gruesomely. As she smelled the rust up close, she was careful and didn¡¯t let the body fall to make a sound.


    ¡°Hurry ¨C he is here!¡±


    ¡°Where -?¡±


    ¡°Ahead, just ahead. This tracking spell indicates he is close to the portal. Act quickly-!¡±


    Wei Zhiruo heard their exchanges as she thinned the group of assassins. She didn¡¯t take another action till she was quite sure there was no chance to be found out ¡ª even after that she only killed three men.


    With this small crisis, she just wanted to see what response that small group of children would have when faced with this situation. As for the actual target of these assassins? He wasn''t one of her own.


    She chased behind slowly, while observing the group. One of the reason¡¯s she hadn¡¯t given too much thought before taking action against this group was their killing intent ¡ª a thick black aura clung to these men like shadows over their faces, making them bubbles of moving filth-filled gloom, so disgusting that she knew they¡¯d taken ¡ªif not thousands ¡ªno less than a hundred lives each and that too for no good reasons. This alone wouldn¡¯t justify her killing them though¡ªshe knew. But she was also aware of the dangers that might fall on her group if they fell into direct confrontation with these men. That too, however, didn¡¯t demand killing. Marr had been right, this was just a matter of taking sides ¡ªshe was still a murderer, albeit a murderer with clear, justifiable reasons.


    ¡°Where''s seventh and others? I don¡¯t see them following.¡± Someone spoke. A man stopped and looked behind, as Wei Zhiruo hid deeper still.


    ¡°Third?"


    ¡°Don¡¯t worry about them. Act first. They might have veered off somewhere else. Fifth, you follow behind. We have a task at our hands. Focus!¡±


    ¡°Yes! Coming right away.¡±


    Wei Zhiruo crept back to Jun Mingdao, who also hid on top of a tree and signaled him to come down.


    ¡°What happened?¡±


    ¡°A group is coming this way. That boy over there seems to be their target." Softly she laid out the situation to him. "If they decided to search, or that boy and his servant ran around even a little, we would face danger. What do you want to do?"


    Although Jun Mingdao looked flustered and afraid, he didn¡¯t let his words betray his emotions, she saw. ¡°Junior sister sensed it with her art? Will they discover us?¡±


    ¡°It¡¯s a probability.¡±


    ¡°Can we run?¡±


    ¡°They are flanking from the cliff side, and this gate ¡ª here, is the only direction we can tread, the rest are paths too steep to climb or jump up to. If we did, that would mean abandoning¡­people. If you decide to escape, you might have to go through the portal. And we don''t have sufficient tokens for that."


    ¡°I-is it that bad? What do you think we should do, now, meimei?¡± Jun Mingdao shook his head, his eyes widening in horror. She even saw cold sweat breaking out on his temples. He was alarmed, but didn''t panic.


    ¡°I¡¯ll warn the rest, first. There are five men, what do you think?" Wei Zhiruo didn¡¯t spell out any method but relayed the same words to two other hidden places, watching keenly as they all responded to the danger.


    ¡°Sister Wei, if you find it dangerous, please don¡¯t stay for us. If you can escape, you should. Don¡¯t feel bad.¡± The five-year-old girl grabbed her brother¡¯s shirt tightly in her fist, but her words didn¡¯t have any trace of cowardliness. Wei Zhiruo nodded, but she was watching the reaction of the boy with a sidelong glance. He looked grim but that was it.


    [They¡¯re stable, indeed. courageous and forthright ¨C good children. I will give you this ¨C if anything, you¡¯ve eyes.] Marr said inside her mind, approving her action for the first time.


    [What do you mean eyes? Didn¡¯t I befriend those traitors as well?]


    [¡­That is there too. Tsch!]


    [I, however, am more optimistic about these children than I was about them. You heard them talk ¡ªthey all have a way of expression and none of them hold a childish heart, peculiarly. World weary, perhaps not, but they might have suffered a lot to get here. Their manners speak for them, like they¡¯ve spent years forming their determined backs and those years were never kinder on them.]


    [Like wild wolf cubs?]


    [I meant their determination, yes. There they do remind of such.]


    Next, she was back to Jun Mingdao, who seemed to have collected himself a lot better. He, however, didn¡¯t get the chance to tell her what he intended to do as the expected siege took place suddenly! The servant was shouting for help.


    This story originates from Royal Road. Ensure the author gets the support they deserve by reading it there.


    ¡°Help-! Somebody, help! There are intruders in the test, elders! Aagh!¡±


    Wei Zhiruo found that the companion of that rough looking man was being stepped over after being taken down in a few moves ¡ªthe servant was hit behind his neck and lost consciousness. That man kept extending his hands forward, ¡°Jin¡¯er- no! Don¡¯t kill him ¨C he isn¡¯t involved in this! If you want to kill me, kill! Please, please, spare him- he is innocent!¡±


    ¡°Haaha! Is the young master begging us right now? What is in there for us to do such a thankless job? You¡¯ve never heard of the saying ¨C when you go about removing the grass, don¡¯t spare the roots or the spring might bring them back to life? Young master Lin ¨C pardon us for not being so kind-hearted.¡±


    ¡°I¡­I will pay! More than my stepmother, I will pay you double- no triple the amount she has!¡±


    ¡°Oh- that sounds intriguing. Continue, now let us all hear what more our young master is willing to bring on the table for a slave.¡±


    ¡°I own a secret¡­scroll, cough, cough!¡±


    Immediately, the air charged. The five men no longer looked like they were enjoying the teasing but began to really form a formation, surrounding the man in the middle. One of them who was quite close to shoving the knife down the unconscious servant boy, stood up and walked nearer to the formation as he said, ¡°If that is what you have ¡ªthen congratulations! Our Black Death Alliance will be quite happy to have you as a benefactor. Where is it, now, tell me?¡±


    ¡°No-not till you swear on the heavens that you wouldn¡¯t kill him!¡±


    ¡°Young master Lin- has no one ever told you,¡± The man bent down closer to the teen being crushed, then he moved on to clutch his hair and make him look up pulling a bunch of his hair, and listening to his screams, ¡°that in the Lands of Death, there is no trading. Only pillaging and stealing¡­and maybe killing for loot. We come from there, and you know what ¡ªthe death which you think we will give you at this moment might become a real wish for you to seek¡­¡± he was talking softly like he was saying love-words. ¡°Don¡¯t make us villains, okay? Your stepmother just told us to bring your head, and nothing else. We can choose to keep you in captivity for as long as we want ¡ªor for as long as you are ready to spill the beans. Now, what do you think? Do you want death for yourself and your loyal servant or a nightmare?¡±


    Wei Zhiruo saw that the teenager''s head was smashed against a stone underneath, so cruelly that it was leaning on the verge of mutilation. He could hardly reply as he spilled out real blood from his mouth, but the way he looked at that moment reminded Wei Zhiruo of light being sucked away in a blackhole. A candle extinguished; his eyes dulled to become like a puppet. She knew what future he had chosen for himself and his servant, and he would most likely die in some horrifically unimaginable ways. She frowned in distaste as if the view unfolding in front of her was like she¡¯d swallowed a fly. Nauseating.


    ¡°Meimei, I am going to go over there.¡±


    Wei Zhiruo looked up, a little startled, and found an incensed looking Jun Mingdao who looked equal parts scared and mortified. ¡°Meimei, I -I don¡¯t have any martial art, but my sword is good enough as you might¡¯ve seen. If you don¡¯t want to fight, don¡¯t let me guilt you into doing that. But I cannot watch anymore.¡± He said, while he wrung his sword over his head, pulled it back and with a swish the weapon pierced through the bushes attracting everyone''s attention towards them.


    ¡°I am here.¡± Wei Zhiruo whispered, smiling pleasantly a little, as she watched that little man charges into the battle, watching his back towering against the sky as if he had suddenly become a tree from a tiny budding sprout. Courage, that was just that. "I have your back."


    ***


    Lin Junjie didn''t realize the changes quickly enough. He heard the clashing of swords, yells and curses in the back of his head, but his mind was too embroiled in his own desperation. He had never felt so desperate ever in life ¡ª not even when his own mother burned herself to death right in front of his eyes. He had cried, yelled and begged and then finally accepted the truth as his life ¡ª he had never felt so helpless. Now, he hardly had any good reasons to hope.


    He smelled the rotten leaf under her nose, his own blood, others blood lumped together, and now, the crushing feet that wouldn¡¯t let him raise his head or look ¡ª ¡°You- you can kill me, not kill me. But that scroll ¨C don¡¯t even think about getting it in this life!¡±


    He smelled that man¡¯s warm breath as he leaned closer to his ears and whispered, ¡°You don¡¯t fear death yourself, young master Lin, but think about the hell you¡¯ll put your companions through. I see you¡¯ve hidden them well, children so young and tender ¡ªa twist of neck and they die like a chicken slayed, so imagine me doing this to them, all of them.¡±


    For a moment Lin Junjie couldn¡¯t understand what that man meant when a sudden clashing of iron sounded.


    ¡°Beasts! Heathens of Death, cease your attack this instant or I will call the authority! How dare you step in the sacred holy lands of Dajin?!¡± Lin Junjie watched on as a young boy, not even as tall as up to his shoulders, stood tall fighting against one of the assassins. He danced with his sword, each of whose strokes deftly closed up to the weaknesses and when he couldn''t land a bit, he would fall back on his feet.


    For a second, he forgot to breathe, registering what had happened and then he started coughing in fits, blood gushing out his mouth as he muttered a few broken warnings ¨C ¡°Run! Run, quickly. This, cough, cough- is not a war you should fight!¡±


    ¡°Oh, how brave.¡±


    "Hahaha! Sixth, watch your back or you might really be scratched by this kitten. Don''t come to us crying then."


    "You jest-" Sixth dodged and replied, " how lowly of I do you think."


    Someone had even started clapping, others laughed loudly, so screeching that the birds flapped their wings somewhere startled with all this shouting. Yet the boy didn''t show his fear of being surrounded by a pack of hungry hyenas.


    But then he didn¡¯t get a chance to say another word as two more boys came out, each carrying something in their hands ¡ª verily they were all the candidates for the test he was taking, but these faces ¡ª he had never seen any of them. Lin Junjie desperately broke out into a struggle to free himself. He would die ashamed if he watched any of these children die because of his family feud ¡ªsin! This was such a ¡ª


    ¡°Brother Song, charge!¡±


    The words hadn¡¯t been said soon when arrows pierced that man¡¯s knee, freeing Lin Junjie from his captivity. Lin Junjie didn¡¯t stand blindly as he rolled and immediately took the knife thrown near him and faced his attacker directly! Several moves were exchanged in heated realization, but before he could do even a small bit of damage ¡ªhe felt a burst of energy coming out from the hands of one of those masked men and was thrown directly like a doll crashing into a nearby tree. He heard his bone breaking before he felt the pain rushing in his mind, but he didn''t dare to stop. Desperately, he crawled on all four towards another of his enemy clutching his feet so hard that the man had a hard time removing him, he bit him hard on his legs!


    ¡°Aaagh! Let go this instant!¡±


    Lin Junjie was thrown away again. This time the damage multiplied, and he broke one of his arms. He took out a pill hidden in his sleeves with difficulty watching the chaos unfold ¡ª dust blew, stones were thrown, a tree branch snapped down, but the carnage of blood as a few men tore the limbs of those children to bits and pieces didn¡¯t unfold.


    He saw someone calling out a name as a Black Assassin toppled down, dead. Silence stretched on both ends¡ªfelt like something enormous had shifted in their midst. He watched several men form a close formation with their backs against one another looking out for the source of danger. A boy lay fainted against a tree ¡ªlikely thrown away, another was crouching down like a wolf ready to prance at notice, holding his longsword. While a boy with his arrows set on his bow looked hawkishly at everyone, his eyes filled with endless cruelty!


    ¡°Clang!¡±


    Lin Junjie saw the man who had tormented him with his words defending his back from a girl. The moment she fell down on him suddenly, like an apparition she clung to his neck with one hand while another one was steadily attacking his face ¨C when the man realized it, he immediately rolled down.


    Wood splinters flew like darts, while that assassin''s pace, although too fast to be noticed, was easily matched by that girl as she passed him racing like an uneven lightning bolt, and the rest simply couldn¡¯t be seen. Lin Junjie just felt the air becoming charged as two equally matched creatures faced against one another, their palms meeting flesh, legs dancing around in a fight of a pair of mantises. The girl skidded backwards and did a few summersaults, then landed down on top of another of the assassins, clutched his neck like a hawk and then¡ª


    Lin Junjie saw a cloud of red mist bursting. Blood. Blood and more blood.


    "Aagrh¡ª!"


    Lin Junjie sat up with difficulty, his ribs ached yet he couldn¡¯t make himself miss the scene. Three men charged at two children, both of whom were hardly any older than his youngest brother ¡ª and that too in a fight¡­which wasn¡¯t one sided crushing!


    The uneven ground propelled the two small heads, the boy with slightly better build used all his force to block any attack that might reach the smaller of the two, while the girl kept taking aims at whichever force came nearer, revolving like a top. In her hands that slightly red knife appeared to thrum and throb with heated surge of energy, charging and forcing all those who attacked her to face a similar kind of burning,


    ¡°Aaagr¡­third- third! Damn it!¡±


    Someone fell down, the two forces separated and glared. The mask of the remaining three had suffered several cuts, forcing them to unravel it completely.


    One glowered fiercely, while others seemed not too happy as well, but the formation seemed to be back in place ¡ª


    ¡°You, m¡¯lady might come from the Seas and Forests. Accept our apology that we seem to have trespassed your dominion. We, from the black death, would like to ask why else you attacked us. It doesn¡¯t seem likely that your intention belies saving a mere stranger here,¡¯ he pointedly turned towards Lin Junjie and continued with a scowling, yet a slightly daunted expression, ¡°did we offend you in something ¡ªand if we did, we request to be forgiven. This deal is a commercial task we ¡ª the Black Death seek to advance. We have received payment for this ¡ª it''s a fully legitimate task, my ladyship.¡±


    He was addressing the girl, but she didn¡¯t seem to take his words in at all, as he saw her mumble a few words to the boy, who immediately stood in front of her again. ¡°We don¡¯t accept your apology ¡ªour sister demands you to forfeit this task ¡ª forfeit your path, and repent! If you take this oath, we will let you go.¡±


    In a roaring voice of a lion, the child pointed his sword and declared ¡ª to him, Lin Junjie, the scene unfolding was nothing less than a bizarre dream as he couldn¡¯t grasp how such a small child could achieve this ¡ª no, that line of thinking was inherently bound in the mortal world. Lin Junjie remembered where he stood and became seriously engrossed in observing the girl, especially her blue eyes which seemed to be a sign that he was on the right track! How could a mere mortal behave like this -? This-this seemed to be a noble daughter of those¡­elders!


    As if this line of thought hadn¡¯t just crossed his mind alone but had finally dawned over the rest of the surviving three, the air became grave, with many of them exchanging silent glances and maybe, signs. ¡°And why pray ¨C why does my lady demand such a thing from us? We assure you; we''re an especially invited group and have permission to walk over this land. How dare we make mischief under the nose of immortals? We apologize if this incident has caused her ladyship''s displeasure, we will forfeit our task if she so demands. But we cannot make¡­an oath that might kill us.¡±


    ¡°Do that ¡ªor die here. Your choice.¡± Lin Junjie heard that girl speak for the first time. He saw how the several faces immediately became ugly with displeasure, but none of them even dared to take out a weapon. This- this change immediately confirmed his doubts to him ¨C this child had no common origin.


    ¡°What if we can be of service to you?¡±


    The girl didn¡¯t reply but looked back at the boy holding a bow in one of his hands. As if he had observed a signal, he immediately came in front and stood tall amongst the muscular men three times his own size with none of the daunting visible on his spirit ¡ª


    "What services can we require of those who dwell in sewers of Death." He spoke blithely, but measure tone. "Black Death Alliance was named amongst those who can never step in Dajin or they face prosecution, death of defying Royal Order and finally, you say you have permission but that is clearly just your word ¡ªdon''t tell me you have an Imperial Addict! As for help, from heathens of those dirty lands we require no help. So, as our sister commands or die-!"


    Lin Junjie mockingly thought, now he had really seen the world and was ashamed to appear so badly in front of them. Now, though, he took a deep sigh of relief knowing well that the fight had started and simmered down in just a few exchanges and then his eyes fell upon two dead figures.


    He added in his mind, ''Of course the ability is paramount.''


    Looking down at his state and them, he knew how far behind he was in terms of strength! Some people didn¡¯t even follow the natural rules of age, some children can fully take down grown-up individuals and he ¡ª he cannot even save his own companion!


    ¡°Shame, Lin Junjie, be ashamed!¡± he muttered under his breath.


    ***


    Wei Zhiruo left the negotiation to Song Hua completely ¡ª as now, there was no danger, she fell back into the shadows acting like a bystander. She was still inviting many inquisitive glances from all sides, but she hardly took any note of them, instead, she bent down and started brushing the blood-stained blade over the green grass, several times she rubbed it from its hilt to its tip, till it once again retained somewhat of its previous silver appearance. This blade ¨C she liked it. She decided that after finding a better accommodation, she will look out for tools to forge this knife into a fine weapon.


    ¡°You mean, you will act as our bodyguards in the next friction? How dare you ¡ª do we look like we need filthy assassins to do our biddings?¡±


    Wei Zhiruo raised an eyebrow appreciatively; now, she was almost sure this group of young men ¡ªif they didn¡¯t break up due to internal friction ¡ªwill become a world renown force. They had that grit, she thought, and that difference in temperament to better accommodate one another. Jun Mingdao had a real talent to grasp the pace of battle. Tan Juxian, although slightly weaker than Mingdao, was fast and flexible. While Song Hua had that calm, thought provoking grasp over details.


    Wei Zhiruo was most impressed by Jun Mingdao. That boy didn''t flinch even once when such towering grown up men kept flinging blades his way and many a times, he created perfect caveats for her to take an aim while still successfully blocking any inadvertent attack coming her way ¡ª ¡°He¡¯s good and can be cultivated. Better still is his physical strength and stamina. Imagine him growing up into a towering beast. What an impactful sight it would be!¡±


    [Worthy enough. You intend to meddle in their lives? Do you think they¡¯ll accept you?]


    ¡°Not fully right away ¡ª but as a worthy leader? I think I might have a chance. But this Song Hua, I think, before I came in their path he was leading them; the amount of understanding that they shared, maybe that wolf attack wasn¡¯t even the first time they had faced death and escaped. He, however, doesn¡¯t look like someone who will direct others as he pleases, he is too ¡ª what might you call that spirit...yes ¡ª the spirit to stand alone? He has that feeling clinging to him to his bones. And, I think despite my age, he has already seen my worth. He won¡¯t pose a threat.¡±


    [What are you even doing, imagining fake scenarios and creating fake forces?] Wei Zhiruo smiled covertly, as she felt him roll his eyes, but didn¡¯t tell him her reasons. It was a game, she thought, a game she had played so much that it had become a second nature to approach others like this.


    All this time, the two forces had argued several times, and she saw several pairs of eyes falling on her face from time to time. She still didn¡¯t show her intention to intervene, which fortified Song Hua¡¯s status in their eyes and finally, after they had tentatively examined one another fully ¡ª the boss on their side, the man who had done most of the talking and whose voice now grated on her nerves, said,


    ¡°I understand. you wouldn¡¯t accept these small things, but what about these?¡± He showed the two boys a bunch of dangling tokens they had desperately sought around the mountain for a whole day and night and were now losing their will to seek.


    [That¡¯s a good move. He will live, this filth. Tsch, I hate his smell ¡ª it smells too much of¡­death and rot.]


    Wei Zhiruo felt the shift. This really shifted the weight from one side to another, but this time she chose to intervene before anyone spoke, ¡°You have killed, I believe. Killed many souls, hundreds of them quite innocent. I see them clinging to you.¡±


    Her statement immediately alerted everyone, as they fell silent.


    Wei Zhiruo watched the three men change the color of their faces. ¡°I won¡¯t accept anything with traces of innocent blood ¡ªspeak, where you found them. Speak the truth, as I have ways to find out what isn''t.¡±


    Wei Zhiruo deliberately put on a mysterious persona, because in this chaotic moment the most judicious way was to be quick and decisive, not letting anyone have enough time to understand anything ¡ªillusion and confusion, these were some tools she really liked to use, and by now quite adept at both.


    ¡°I-I found this nearby,¡± Another assassin who had hardly spoken a word spoke. His voice wasn¡¯t as ingratiating as his boss¡¯s, but he didn¡¯t use any polite language to address her, but he did support a slightly alarmed look in his eyes. ¡°A fight broke out near a canyon on the way here, and a group of some twelve candidates died. We found these while¡­searching for valuables.¡±


    Wei Zhiruo met Song Hua¡¯s questioning glance and nodded finally.


    ¡°You can go without the oath but remember, the next time we see you here in Dajin ¨C not just you, remember, we will not even let your Black Death go! Leave!¡± Song Hua snatched the tokens, and spoke tersely.


    The matter was done quickly, and those men disappeared as soon as they could. What was left behind in the aftermath was a few sprawling dead bodies which she doubted would be recovered by anyone.


    She watched Ling¡¯er running out of somewhere with a bottle in her hands. She first fed a pill to the unconscious Tan Juxian who had suffered a direct blow in the fight, then she slowly walked to the two other much taller boys ¡ªWei Zhiruo observed the still conscious one of them, determined his age to be somewhat around eighteen or early twenties. Either way, his tall build in front of all of them was a comical sight, particularly when he couldn¡¯t even take a single blow without breaking down¡­definitely a very spoiled nobleman. This was a place for selection for martial artists, right? What good would he do with his white face ¡ª oh, he might have those ¡®spiritual roots¡¯ and definitely good enough to override his weak constitution.


    [Nevertheless, a waste.] Marr spoke harshly.


    Wei Zhiruo took back her examining glance, and interrupted the conversation between Song Hua to which she had hardly heeded, ¡°Should we proceed today?¡±


    ¡°We can,¡± Jun Mingdao thoughtfully replied. his small face stretched into a frown. ¡°We can go back tomorrow at dusk but doing that is likely risking others finding us here. We can hide, but that¡¯s hardly a good solution too ¡ª we need food and water.¡±


    ¡°Food, water and treatment ¨C Song Hua needs care.¡± Tan Juxian butted in, coming up to them while scratching his hair looking a lot more bewildered.


    ¡°I¡­agree,¡¯ Song Hua said, ¡°we can camp, understand the situation over that side better. Suddenly intruding in a big fight tomorrow is pnot good.¡±


    ¡°Brother¡­that big brother over there wants to talk to you.¡±


    Song Meiling came running back, Wei Zhiruo saw, with her hands now holding an emptied pill container.


    ¡°It''s decided. After three hours of break, we will enter this door ¡ªthe elders said this will lead us to the real sect land; we might have to acquaint ourselves with the topography too." Jun Mingdao summed up the decision.


    She saw Song Hua, walking away from their small group and making his way to the nobleman and his now awake servant ¡ª she looked down at the token¡¯s they had secured instead.


    A bunch of them formed a cluster of seven, plenty for them to secure a place even if they fought and lost in tomorrow''s scuffle in the evening. If they find a method to safeguard five of these, there will be no other trouble.


    "You can come out before we go through the portal. We might be observed from here, I fear."


    [Uhum...I know.]