An Fei had to admit, whoever designed the Shen Residence had a good sense of design and arrangement.
The Shen Residence wasn’t divided into secondary courtyards for the masters of the family, instead electing to form a massive manor at the center of the main courtyard to house everyone.
The structure of fragrant wood and rare metals stood tall before the young girl, a faint imposing might raining down from above with a cold gaze.
On either side of the manor, numerous winding paths of cobbled stone and the mysterious paved ground could be seen, with an entourage of flowers and plants on either side.
As she swiveled her gaze around, An Fei could spot several miniature lakes and pavilions scattered throughout the compound.
These decorations weren’t aimlessly scattered around, but placed at the optimal locations to provide the best scenic environment whilst reclining at that specific location.
An Fei realized that once she stood in a random pavilion, she wouldn’t be able to see the wall – completely distracting oneself from the fact that the courtyard did not stand amongst a paradise of peace and tranquility, and instead was a profoundly busy street.
“…hey!”
Once having indirectly pushed the young girl into the courtyard, the two guards ran towards their position at the entrance of the manor without a single warning.
As the young girl raised her voice in complaint, she only saw the closed iron gate as the answer.
You!
An Fei seethed with a momentary rage as she stared at the gates with speechlessness, wondering whether it was alright to teach the guards a lesson.
With moral support from the little raven and the somehow endlessly ravenous small fox, the young girl returned to her aimless exploration of the Shen Manor.
Begonias, lilies, azaleas, dahlias, roses, and even some snow amaryllis…
Just like the courtyards in Jiang’an, the Shen Manor contained flowers from all climates and environments, and possessed the capability to rear them without trouble.
As she moved deeper into the residence, the young girl discovered an orchid of peach trees and silver willow trees, prompting her to raise an eyebrow in amazement.
“But… where is anyone?”
An Fei mused quietly as she gazed around, her senses stretched to their maximum as she searched for any nearby presence.
The young girl crouched on the ground as she stilled her movements, but was only met with disappointment and curiosity.
No rustling sound of cloth, no abstruse breathing… nothing!
There really wasn’t a single person outside other than her!
“What does Shen Haoren mean by this…?” the young girl mused, before a nefarious smile laced her countenance.
An Fei energized the slumbering ball of spiritual essence within her heart, her will ordering the measurement and distribution of spiritual essence to form a two threads of the proportions of three-fourths to one-fourth.
The young girl directed the strands into her Taizong and Bingfeng acupuncture points with ease, her lips twitching into a spiteful sneer as she observed the two whirlpools of orange and cyan.
Ta!
The young girl patted her bosom with both hands, the fingertips of her index fingers pressing into a few acupuncture points within her chest to ease the mixed sensation of ice and fire writhing in her chest cavity.
As she suffered the third breath of utter discomfort and disambiguation, An Fei felt a tremor within the ball of spiritual essence nestled in her heart.
The diagram was forming!
“Set the intention as me isolated from everything else!”
The young girl whispered as swiftly as she could, her mind carefully observing the situation in her chest cavity from the sea of perception.
The invisible diagram that was in its initial stages of manifestation briefly paused as though it heard her words, before erupting with a powerful fluctuation of spiritual essence.
The numbing sensation raced through her entire body, and suddenly – An Fei was left alone, severed from the world.
The entire world around her became laced with a monochromic hue of light grey, as though she had worn a pair of modified sunglasses.
The sounds transmitted into her ear included a dull monotone of her heartbeat, and the sensation of the ground below her feet dulled to a completely dim glare.
It was… a surreal sensation. The world as of now… felt completely as though it were a dream.
An Fei’s lips formed an ‘oh’ of complete shock, her mind unable to recover from the blow.
The young girl spent the next few moments experimenting with her movements, only for the shock in her mind to grow even further.
Her steps were floaty, as though they weren’t permitted to directly touch the ground.
In fact, her body felt as though there existed a thin filament of highly pressurized air that prevented the world establishing contact.
Whatever the young girl touched, the object would pull away from her hand into the opposite direction, as if she were pushing it away with a thick glove.
“Quite… amazing, ah.”
An Fei praised with sincerity, her heart filled with respect and devout support for the <Steps of Underlying Shadow>.
Without another word, the young girl blazed directly towards the large manor at the center of the Shen Residence.
Unbeknownst to her, the small fox in the leather bag had fallen asleep the instant the invisible diagram had taken form in her heart.
The little raven, on the other hand, somehow retained its consciousness, though its crimson eyes were completely replaced with a solemn violet.
How was this stinky lass… capable of isolating herself from a mortal world’s consciousness… that something only immortal existences can do!?
The little raven’s eyes bulged with immeasurable shock as it watched from An Fei’s shoulder, but was doomed to be ignored by everyone else.
The young girl roamed the Shen Manor with ease, her eyes delightfully soaking in her surroundings with relish.
The interior of the manor… appeared to follow a strictly wood and limestone structure, with several types of fragrant woods and obliquely shaped limestone decorations scattered throughout the area.
Servants quarters in the basements, with the masters living on the main and second floors…
An Fei nearly succeeded in suppressing a chuckle as the many servants dressed in linen robes brushed past her body, not a single person realizing her presence.
Not only that, the servants instinctively moved away from the young girl’s position, as though they were unable to notice the discrepancy in the spatial coordinates of the room.
Moreover, their conversations were not restricted from the sneak’s hearing whatsoever.
“Where is the esteemed guest of the Young Master?”
One of the servants anxiously chattered to her fellow worker, her pretty countenance flushed with a nervous tinge of white.
“That’s right, where did that person go?” her partner echoed with an equally pale expression.
“Surely, the Young Master isn’t pulling one of his pranks again…”
“No way! Even the two guards at the entrance confirmed that the guest had arrived. They’re the guests of the Second Young Miss – they wouldn’t tolerate the Young Master’s pranks, much less follow along!”
What was going on?
An Fei raised an eyebrow at the unexpectedly useful snippet of information that flowed from the servants mouths.
With a moment of hesitation, the young girl decided to follow a rather young and terrified servant that was rushing towards the upper floors of the manor.
The servant rushed up the flight of stairs without a single break, before knocking anxiously on the door of the first room in the right corridor.
As An Fei followed, her attention was compromised and wrestled from its original target by an unsuspecting but highly useful discovery.
The flight of stairs leading to the main floor of the Shen Manor revealed a lectern surrounded on all sides by an encirclement of bookshelves.
The books were maintained and kept in peak condition, with their titles boldly stamped across the spine in large font and with gold ink…
As the young girl drew near, she was able to discern the titles on the books. Some of which impressed her, whilst others were merely rewarded with a simple raise of an eyebrow.
Map of the Bi Jing Lake, Heuristic Analysis of Marketing and Expansion, Scholarly Works of the Great Scholar Tie, Advents of Cultivation and the Compendium of the Mysteries of Heaven…
There was even a book with an incomplete title, the ‘Nine Reincarnations Emperor’, but the young girl paid no heed.
An Fei gazed at the lectern with an obvious desire in her eyes, her fingers itching to lay its claims on their prey…
…for there was a map of the Shattered Star Continent carelessly opened on the lectern!
