Inner disciple?
An Fei balked at the unfamiliar address, but found herself arriving at a realization once she recalled Xu Lingxin’s words about the Morning Star Temple. The young girl pressed down on her silk gown, and directed a wary glance towards the woman with the smiling countenance.
“I… this one is Xu Lingxue…”
The inner disciple named Xu Meilian seemed not to take much heed at the shaky inflection within An Fei’s voice, and instead directed her attention at the particular surname. The woman gently approached the young girl with her right hand outstretched towards the latter’s head. Before An Fei could respond, she felt a light warmth and soft touch embalm the top of her head, and a mellow voice tugged at her ears.
“Xu? I don’t recall any members of the Xu Family with the name ‘Lingxue’… perhaps from a branch family?” Xu Meilian murmured whilst moving her palm in slow, circular motions.
“Little Sister Lingxue, what are you doing in the Mourning Forest? This area… is reserved for cultivators above the Spirit Building Realm due to its danger.”
“What dangers does this Mourning Forest have?”
An Fei’s thoughts quickly returned, and she latched onto the verbal slip made by the woman. The young girl attempted to place a light smile on her lips, but didn’t realize that all her mouth could force was a mild grimace.
The distortion between the presented countenance and beautiful voice caused Xu Meilian to balk for a brief moment, and she pushed the young girl’s cheeks with her fingertips.
“Little Sister probably didn’t realize, but this Mourning Forest possesses a toxic nature towards cultivators. The air flowing in the forest contains spiritual qi that contradicts with any other attribute,” the woman attempted to explain.
“This spiritual qi… is unlike that of Yang or Yin-attributed spiritual qi. Instead, it seems to possess no attribute at all, but its existence is stabilized through several unknown means. Any spiritual qi or spiritual essence that comes into contact with the anomaly within the Mourning Forest is gradually dispelled, and if a cultivator lacks the reserves of the Spirit Building Realm or greater, then they will suffocate after a few breaths.”
Spiritual qi that possessed no attribute?
The keyphrase casually uttered by the woman caused An Fei’s mind to brim with a discomforting aftertaste. The young girl rubbed at her head as she fought to sift through the distant memories, but could only feel that she had once heard – no, read – a similar set of words somewhere.
After struggling for a few breaths, An Fei ultimately gave up for the moment, and redirected her attention towards Xu Meilian’s smiling countenance.
“If the spiritual qi in this forest is miserable, why do cultivators enter? Is this not foolish – hurling oneself into danger?”
The young girl creased her brows. She remained silent as Xu Meilian stepped a few meters back, and spread her arms.
“Little Sister, watch carefully, no?”
The smile on the woman’s countenance bloomed as she observed the confused expression on An Fei’s countenance. Xu Meilian gradually calmed herself and withdrew her attention from the young girl’s figure and onto the surroundings before her gaze. As she took in a deep breath, a faint violet light emerged from pendant hanging on her neck, and the woman’s body gently quivered in response.
The small sphere of violet struggled against an invisible, imperceptible enemy as it struggled to expand or consolidate its presence.
Hu!
An Fei shivered as an abrupt breeze invaded into the clearing of the forest, and hugged her torso as the cold temperatures ravished her body whole. A trembling wave of exhaustion washed over her limbs and she abruptly wanted to take a nap, but the young girl responded to Xu Meilian’s wishes and kept her attention fixated onto the small violet sphere.
The violet light resembled a miniature lamp that dared illuminate the desecrated soil wreathed in the dark. The gales tormenting the forest increased their wrath as the illusionary sphere refused to submit, and the quivering of Xu Meilian’s body became more pronounced.
The woman continued to produce the violet sphere using the pendant as the medium despite the cold eroding her bodily functions. Xu Meilian struggled for a few more breaths, then relinquished her control and broke into pants as she fought for breath.
The sphere shattered into fragments of light that gently dissipated into the cold, gloomy atmosphere of the Mourning Forest. Once the last vestiges of the violet light had been eradicated, the cold breeze receded, leaving behind two shivering women.
“I don’t understand. Was the sudden gale what you mentioned as the contradiction of the spiritual qi in this forest?”
An Fei’s question quickly prompted Xu Meilian to return to her feet. The woman clapped her hands in appreciation and walked towards the trail of wooden branches stabbed into the earth.
“The cold breeze aside, the air itself represses the existence of any spiritual essence or spiritual qi that is not native to the Mourning Forest. The gale was just to distract my thoughts, to forcefully disrupt my efforts. If I were to be not of the Early Stage of the Spirit Building Realm, surely I could last a few more breaths, perhaps even for an incense stick’s worth of time.”
Xu Meilian prodded the exposed tip of a branch along the trail, and sighed in appreciation.
“Little Sister, did you not see? With its natural suppression, the Mourning Forest becomes the perfect training grounds for a cultivator seeking to refine their control over their spiritual essence,” the woman remarked with a gentle smile.
“If they can exhibit masterful control over their spiritual essence while suppressed by the world, then when the restraints are removed, how terrifying would their might become? Just like these branches rooted into the ground.”
Branches? The twigs that Xu Lingxin made her stab into the ground?
An Fei rubbed her forehead in utter confusion, and found herself speechless at the unearthly appreciation and awe constrained within Xu Meilian’s gaze. The woman continued her act of slowly but surely inspecting each branch stabbed into the silky soil.
“These branches are devoid of spiritual essence, nor are they made of any particular branch. However, they are infused with a great desperation and sorrow that cannot be washed away by the Mourning Forest. Perhaps the person was at death’s door and wished nothing more than a breath of peace?,” she breathed and clasped her hands.
“Just how developed must their control over their spiritual essence be if they are capable of leaving behind a sword intent that remains after all spiritual essence infused in the branch was removed? This can only be the work of a genius!”
“…genius? Sword intent?”
She just stabbed a wooden branch into the ground due to Xu Lingxin’s order.
How did this wooden branch of hers become infused with this… sword intent?
“Little Sister, you do not know of sword intent? You… there are not any fluctuations of spiritual essence – are you perhaps a mortal?”
The young girl’s nod caused Xu Meilian to flinch in surprise, and she cast an inquisitive gaze towards the former in her shock. An Fei blinked in response as she stared at the woman, feeling the discomforting sense of confusion continuing to race against her heart.
“I do not possess any spiritual essence, hence the forest does not respond?”
An Fei paused her breath and tore her gaze from the astounded and befuddled expression on Xu Meilian’s countenance, and reached for a nearby branch that had fallen onto the soil from the kingdom of flora above her head. The young girl twirled the branch grasped in her hand, and threw away her hesitation after pondering for a few breaths.
With ten steady, frail steps, An Fei stood at the head of the trail of sheathed branches that struck into the depths of the forest.
She took a light breath, turned the branch over, and crudely stabbed it into the earth five centimeters apart from the former head of the trail. Then, before the baffled Xu Meilian, the young girl trudged out of the forest, her lips pursed around a soft and fleshy berry filled with venomous sweetness.
The glare of the setting sun greeted An Fei with unmatched ferocity as it threatened to bore into the depths of her vision and wash the world into an indistinguishable haven of white. She raised her free hand to shade her vision, and frowned at the world that had transformed itself into a miserable hell painted of grey color.
