As An Fei ran towards the area in which Xu Lingxin and Chang Jungyoon awaited to recover their diminished reserves of spiritual essence, a vile wave of light swept overhead. With the enraged roars of a different language chorusing in symphony behind her, the young girl kept her eyes steadfast before her as she continued to run.
She sought small amounts of protection from the ample amounts of overhanging rooftops and platforms of the buildings nearby, forcing the cultivators of the Haunted Buddhist Sect to follow her on ground.
The moment they had to lose the advantage of continuously tracking the prey’s position, the sea of flurried mortal citizens attempting to escape a cultivator’s conflict blurred their vision.
“Damn! Don’t let her get away – kill her!”
The leading figure roared as his right hand clutched at his chest in pain. Realizing with dismay and fury that he had completely drained all reserves of spiritual essence dry, the cultivator could only wave his sword while stomping his feet onto the ground with anger. With helpless expressions equally plastered over their countenances, the remaining cultivators adorned in black, shadowy robes released a collective sigh before leaping into the dense human sea.
Their leader had overdrafted his reserves of spiritual essence continually marking the position of the fleeing mortal girl since she had unexpectedly killed on of their brethren.
Thus, they not only leapt into the sea to recover the Shadow Blighting Pearl, but to avenge the bitter humiliation that had splattered across their reputation.
Only, could four jackals locate prey amongst an equally puzzling sea of flustered humans, particularly when the mortal girl “smelled” no different from the rest of the mortals surrounding them?
“…s***!”
The leading figure bitterly swore as he slapped the sword’s sheath against the ground, his brows knot in fury and disappointment, as well as a significant blend of fear. Ignoring the frightened and supercilious glances thrown at him from the citizens, he sat down on a nearby bench, his head buried in his hands.
He felt significantly humiliated that a mortal girl had run away from six cultivators – and even killed one – whilst disregarding the vast differences between their innate physiques.
Cultivators drained of spiritual essence couldn’t do much against one another, but against mortals, they were king… or at least, they should have been superior.
“Aiyah…”
Senior Brother Chang is going to murder us when we get back…
–
To her surprise, An Fei found the Morning Star Temple’s Xu Lingxin and the Haunted Buddhist Sect’s Chang Jungyoon with relative ease, for their position was not that far away from hers when the five cultivators attempted to give chase from the main street. To her utter disappointment, however, the two cultivators of oppositely oriented factions didn’t appear so aggravated towards the other.
They sat at either end of the street, separated by a precious seven-meter stretch of cobbled stone road that was dismally devoid of any humans.
As if to make matters worse, the moment An Fei’s feet stepped onto the ground in their vicinity, both pairs of eyes shot open in a brief instant.
“Who’s there!?”
When both Xu Lingxin and Chang Jungyoon’s minds awoke, they recognized the silhouette of a mortal girl and the Shadow Blighting Pearl floating around her head. As brief palpitations aroused chaos in their hearts, they reached towards their swords, delivering a stern glare towards An Fei’s twitching mouth.
“…er…”
The young girl didn’t bother to reply as she stared back towards the temple maiden and the haunted cultivator. The tense atmosphere continued for several moments until An Fei lightly swatted away the invisible and intangible figure of Xilong to snatch the Shadow Blighting Pearl in her left hand. Holding the seemingly ordinary black sphere in her fist and waving it before Xu Lingxin and Chang Jungyoon, she took a deep breath.
“What is this orb for the two of you to try obtaining it at all costs?” An Fei inquired with a calm expression.
“To the point that you would try killing me for no reason?”
Great Yan… no, Great Yong’s language?
Why would someone from Great Yong be present so deeply entrenched within Bei Tang’s territories?
Xu Lingxin and Chang Jungyoon’s brows crumpled as they instinctively caught onto the minor details regarding An Fei’s words – to the extent that they forgot to muster the viciousness to snatch the Shadow Blighting Pearl from the latter’s hands outright.
The temple maiden was the first to collect her thoughts, and raised her voice in a precautionary manner.
“Where are you from, and what is your name?”
The young girl immediately paused as the slightly choppy but sufficiently coherent Mandarin words slipped into her ears, feeling an indescribable rush of relief surged through her body. As she began to part her lips to respond graciously on the part of a proper foreigner, An Fei’s mind abruptly stalled.
Why was the temple maiden asking for her place of origin? Moreover, it seemed that Wen Jiu’s comments earlier didn’t necessarily apply?
The young girl recollected herself around a few hasty assumptions, and reverted to the same conservative stance that Xu Lingxin had adopted just moments prior. Taking a small step backwards, An Fei fluttered her fingers as she implored.
“What is this orb’s purpose?”
A flicker of heat rushed through Xu Lingxue’s throat, and she felt the prickling sensation of annoyance poke at her momentary clarity. The temple maiden tensed and relaxed her grip on her longsword, and began to search deeply within the young girl’s eyes.
“Name!”
“Origin!”
The two words slammed across the cobbled stone road and towards An Fei’s ears, only to be deflected by a black pearl clenched within the latter’s fist. An Fei glanced over towards the pensive and calculating Chang Jungyoon, deciding to make the process easier for herself.
“What is the purpose of this… orb, and why are you pursuing me so?” the young girl’s voice echoed through the clearing.
“Who should I give this orb to, and what will you do with it?”
The blatant attitude of An Fei disrupted the glamourous relationship regarding mortals and cultivators held within Chang Jungyoon and Xu Lingxin’s hearts, and they equally felt the pitch of annoyance throttle their thoughts into irritation.
Nevertheless, when their enhanced vision caught upon the steely glimpse of a short dagger grasped within An Fei’s other hand, the two cultivators fought to curb their aggression.
“This… mortal little sister here, ah,” Xu Lingxin attempted to mediate.
“What you are holding to is the Shadow Blighting Pearl, a treasure cultivators seek to calm their minds and purge discord. Let us see – how about you give the pearl to me, and this Elder Sister shall owe you a favor, alright?”
The young girl slanted her gaze towards Chang Jungyoon who had been silent until now, an eyebrow raised on her countenance. The haunted cultivator twitched his lips, and an eerie voice pummeled the air.
“Mortal girl, hand over the Shadow Blighting Pearl, and the Haunted Buddhist Sect swears not to pursue anything related to you! Otherwise…”
There are six more of his faction who are converging onto her position – surely she couldn’t be that naïve and muddleheaded?
“One offers to owe me a favor, but the other promises that their sect won’t pursue matters related to me?”
An Fei contemplated underneath the scrutinizing gazes of the Haunted Buddhist Sect and the Morning Star Temple. Her mind flickered between Xilong’s emphasis on forging good human relationships and her previous thoughts of balancing costs, and the young girl counted on her fingers to sooth the heavenly creature’s woes… or perhaps exacerbate them.
“The Elder Sister offers me a personalized favor, while the scary man offers a promise from his sect…”
Xu Lingxin’s head sluggishly moved her head into a nod, until she realized the implications beneath An Fei’s sentence. The temple maiden arose to her feet with her hand outstretched, panic lacing through her heart with razor-sharp wires.
“Wait! This Elder Sister will also promise that the Morning Star Temple will not investigate your peculiarity should you relinquish the Shadow Blighting Pearl!”
…who would believe you when you change your words so quickly?
Both An Fei and Chang Jungyoon quietly scorned in their hearts, the former tossing the black orb in the air and catching it as she sought to put on a pretense of further contemplation.
In the end, Xilong slapped its bony forehead with a claw as it watched Xu Lingxin’s countenance become ever-increasingly flustered, and decided to make a move.
“–hey!”
Amidst the young girl’s frantic shout, the Shadow Blighting Pearl was wrenched out of her grasp by an invisible and invincible force. As she watched the black orb hurtle through the air and land gently in Xu Lingxin’s outstretched palm, An Fei heard the heavenly dragon grumble in annoyance.
“Xiao Fei, didn’t I tell you to try making companions through this incident? Why are you trying to exhort everyone you see instead?”
