“Who are you – wait!?”
The abrupt disturbance caused An Fei to quiver in surprise, and pitch forwards towards the listless surface of the pond. The young girl flailed her arms and legs in an attempt to regain her balance, but ultimately plunged into glacial torment sealed underneath the thin layer of warmed water. It took great mental fortitude to resist curling into a frozen ball and sink to the base of the pond, and she forced her head out of the cold surface and clung to the soft, earthen ledge.
“Why are you so easily surprised? Have you gotten complacent?”
A calm, placid voice gently brushed past the drenched strands of hair and filtered into her ears. As she cleared the blurred haze from her vision, the graceful figure of a young male adorned in a clean, plain robe of white linen magnified before her eyes. The concerned expression and elegant smile embracing great, noble dignity pricked at her mind, and An Fei couldn’t resist the urge to rapidly blink her eyes.
Someone in her memories had the same pair of azure irises, and could peer into the depths of one’s soul and fill them with –
“It’s you!”
That damned Immortal Being who stood on her sword!
“Me? What about me?”
The man tapped his chin and displayed a befuddled expression. He slowly approached the soaked An Fei and lowered to a crouch, closing the distance. Before the young girl could splutter and back away, the man had extended his fingers towards the former’s right hand, and with a gentle yet forceful motion, had pried a small lotus petal from her grip.
“The divine essence invested is of great quality, but the overall product is shoddy and irredeemable under any circumstance,” he mused, turning the frail petal over in multiple directions.
“You seemed to have relied on the concept of establishing an autonomous entity, but the structure you used was one that imposed a mental projection. Why so redundant and inefficient – just what are you thinking?”
The man made the callous statement, and tossed the lotus petal to the side with a careless flick of his finger. The gentle smile remained on his spectacular countenance, yet the young girl shivered as his hand drew near. An Fei fought the bitter chill seeping into her bones and prepared to dive to the depths of the lake to escape the imposing hand, when her pupils constricted in horror.
“I… I can’t move?” she muttered, and her lips trembled with fear.
“What did you do to me – let me go! Let my body go, you despicable – ah.”
The hand forcefully pressed against the top of her head, and An Fei felt her lips harden in place whilst releasing a soft sigh of resignation. As her nerves gratefully relayed the sensation of a good-natured warmth and inexplicable comfort seeping through her body, her mind spun into a fray of panic and shock. The rhombic crystal nested in her chest thrummed and vibrated, but the sea of golden light remained locked within its solid prison.
The kernel of golden light followed her mind’s urges and threatened to seep out and wrest back control of her body, yet the former resisted the command and indulged in the artificial warmth and pleasure. The chaotic mixture of suspicion and comfort fighting for dominance within her body and mind caused a throb of familiarity to race through An Fei, and she inadvertently gasped for breath.
This… was oddly similar to what had happened atop the flying sword.
The Immortal Being had extended his hand, and she had been unable to resist in either body or mind. Then nestled in the depths of the stalwart azure seas was an irresistible torment of tranquility and satisfaction.
The twin oceanic whirlpools beckoned her presence, and An Fei found her consciousness overwhelmed by the picturesque scene of a world’s end. The whirlpools of chaos and order ground at the foundation of creation, and along with the world, her ability to think –
“Oh. So the framework was preconfigured, but your conscious destroyed the completed work before the petal’s formation,” the man commented with a dry laugh.
“Who knew that it was possible for a person to be this suspicious of themselves? Moreover, the work they approve doesn’t match in quality or consistency as those they reject… tsk.”
The whirlpools vanished from An Fei’s consciousness as she was forcefully returned to the Mourning Peak’s glacial spring, and her hands lost their grip on the soil’s soft edge. The young girl yelped as she submerged into the unforgiving depths, was quickly hauled out by the powerful hand latched to her right arm.
“Your subconscious has already attained perfection, so why must you deny its efforts and reject its existence? The education of mortals oftentimes… are questionable.”
“What do you mean? What about my subconscious?”
The detached statement forced An Fei to wring her vision out of the watery haze and stare at the graceful man. Her frail and powerless body flopped aimlessly on the soil at the latter’s feet, and her gaze could only bore holes at the underside of his chin. The dignified Immortal seemed not to care about her antics just centimeters from his toes, and continued his ruthless inspection of the lotus petal.
“The soul holds great potential at absorbing and digesting large volumes of information, and is the greatest computational device of the Realm. And yet, you mortals reject its abilities solely for training the mind, for the conscious is paramount in your perspective,” the man grasped the petal at its base, and began peeling at its frail fibers with his fingers.
“The world must be created by vices and structures of your devising. Information must be interpreted and processed by constructs created by your own consciousness. And yet, your surroundings and the world under your feet can never be expressed under a mortal’s feeble definitions, leading to several absurd phenomena…”
The young girl had gathered herself into a low seated posture with her arms hugged around her waist, when she noticed a prickling glare piercing from above. An Fei traced the gaze cast on her body, and when her disgraced and feeble figure entered her vision, an uncontrollable, scorching heat flooded her cheeks.
The only fabric provided on the Mourning Peak was a special, high-quality silk, as per Xu Lingxin’s persistent wishes and interests. It was smooth and comfortable to the touch, without any stray thread that itched in a discomfortable area. The unfortunate feature was that should the clothes become drenched with water, there was no concealment from any wandering eyes, not even the slightest. Her chest was still tightly wrapped with a thick layer of linen bandages and wasn’t as exposed, but everything else was defenseless and open for plundering…
…not to mention that the Immortal Being seemed to be able to see past her disguise…?
“…still looking? Go away!”
An Fei erupted in a furious wrath and swept her left hand towards the graceful man’s legs. The rhombic crystal erupted with golden light that seeped through her arm’s veins and coiled around her fingertips, forming a lethal golden edge that sought to sever the latter’s left kneecap. The man frowned at the sight and bent his waist, reaching out towards the young girl’s extended hand.
The golden blade was intercepted at the tender wrist, and An Fei found herself pulled along into a light, spiraling turn. Her vision wobbled as her feet desperately found purchase to maintain her standing position, and the young girl realized the implications of her circumstances when her ears caught onto the unrestrained cough.
“…you really haven’t changed after a year and a half? So, it was true that your body and soul are immortal, but not your identity? Though it is quite small…”
This, this man…!
An Fei threw all caution to the wind and willed the rhombic crystal to relinquish all of its accumulated golden light. The surging heat spread unrestrained throughout her entire body as her hands and feet erupted with a dense radiance. The young girl rushed at the man standing still with her palm extended, desperately seeking to ruin the persistently smiling countenance.
“Little Sister, you dare disobey again!?”
Alas, her mood for the day was to be permanently ruined as Xu Lingxin’s angered shout erupted from within the Mourning Forest, causing the former to lose focus and helplessly watch as the golden light dissipated from her hands and feet. The man gently patted the young girl on the head and sauntered into the depths of the malicious forest while humming a lighthearted tune.
She had wasted all of her preciously accumulated spiritual essence for nothing, and had her body exposed…
Anger and frustration bloomed in her heart and threatened to set everything ablaze as An Fei fought to keep her mood under control. Alas, when her gaze caught onto the utterly furious and disappointed visage of Xu Lingxin marching her way from the Mourning Forest, all that remained was an unspoken grievance.
