The birds chirped their songs of starvation and sorrows as they sat along the vast bridges of the trees’ overgrowth. Their thin and delicate legs trembled as they previously perched on the twisting rivers of branches and vines as they fought for an under-ripe nut hanging just below their feet. They didn’t dare allow their claws to release their death grip onto the branch, nor could they allow themselves to become utterly defenseless and prostrate their beak to snap at the low-hanging fruit.
Their wings were useless in the dense, deathly forest that loomed as the forsaken abyss of the world, and if they lowered their guard to fight for food, it was inevitable that a desperate fellow would reach over and kick it down to save themselves. And most of all, they didn’t dare escape the confines of the Mourning Forest’s overgrowth, for the sun was deadly at this great altitude, and predators swarmed the outskirts.
As such, it was to either consume the under-ripe nuts hanging below their feet before they plummeted to the carnivorous leaves and flowers wriggling in the abyss and risk food poisoning, or resort to cannibalism.
“I’m surprised. It has been two months, but you still remain. Is she really that intriguing to you?”
A young girl’s mellow and captivating voice caused a plume of birds and feathers to scatter. Her scarlet irises swept across the barren branch, and finding it clean and smooth to the touch, lowered her body to perch atop the massive arms. The soft and delicate hands patted her cheeks, and she directed a curious gaze towards the man standing on a column of air.
“A mortal girl always clinging to death, unable to escape from its overpowering embrace,” her lips pursed into a light smile.
“She wishes to flee its smothering touch and hates its hold over her will, but always returns to its sanctuary. A figure who cannot help but wallow in her self-pity and paranoia. What is interesting about someone like that?”
“Were you not the one who placed her into such harrowing circumstances? Admiring your work with great relish, are you not?”
Bai Xing crossed his arms and stared at the young girl who swung her legs and enjoyed the cool breeze passing between her limbs. His eyes savored the beauty identical to An Fei who floundered in the Mourning Forest below his feet, yet his heart remained calm and untouched. The Immortal Being tapped his ribs with his fingertips to an unknown, eerie tune, and his eyes narrowed in thought.
“With one clean stroke, you severed away her right to claim her own identity. All that remains is a disgusting combination of suspicion, fear, and hatred for her own self. A good accomplishment indeed,” Bai Xing sneered, and barked in laughter at his own words.
“Her feet walks on this world, but her mind remains trapped in her memories. Those around her are confused with the mistakes and aggressors in her past, and however her subconsciousness and soul tries to stabilize her existence, the main consciousness refuses to recognize reality. Truly, someone who can only remain alive by convincing Death that she is not worthy to die!”
The Immortal Being stood to continue his tirade, yet was interrupted by a gentle gleam of light that erupted from the folds of his robe. Bai Xing reached into the pockets and fished around with his hand, until his fingertips chanced upon the silver string of a necklace. The moment sunlight struck its surface, the immortal youth immediately noticed the faint crack on the surface.
It was a simple accessory; a necklace formed from encircling a roughened shard of crystal in a platinum case. The sky-blue crystal was of jagged shape and possessed many edges and protrusions that had to be lightly pressed by the platinum ribbon. The gentle crack present on its surface blended into the illuminated sea swirling within the sky-blue crystal and seemed not to incur much damage, but elicited a meagre sigh from Bai Xing’s lips.
“Another one expended. Truly a precious and wasteful luxury.”
“Ah – that’s correct, you esteemed Immortal Beings require a consistent supply of Heart’s Stone Crystal to experience emotions to the extent of us pitiful, powerless mortals,” the young girl smiled and exposed her small teeth.
“Why not conquer this one and deliver me to the paradise of the Realm? Esteemed Immortal Deng Lun and Mu Rongyuan seems to have captured and assembled a harem consisting of many beauties of my… selves.”
An Fei chuckled and clutched her sides as she fought to restrain her laughter, only to screech in panic and latch her hands onto the interwinding vines to prevent herself from falling into the forest depths. The young girl failed and surrendered to an afternoon of sore intestines after catching a glance of Bai Xing’s disgruntled expression.
“I am… exceedingly disappointed with their behavior.”
The Immortal Being felt his eyebrows incessantly twitch in disbelief, breaking past the limitations of his Construct. Bai Xing sighed and waved his hand before his nose as though to brush away his troubles, and waited for his emotions to solidify under the ironclad rule of the Realm.
Alas, the chirpy young girl seemed to think otherwise, for she clapped her hands in vicious delight.
“As a Shattered Soul, we fragments can experience the sensations and emotions of others to a certain extent. And each night, we embrace the torrential storm of ecstasy and jealousy as we see ourselves bedded and brought to the pinnacle of the heavens by a delightful, divine and gracious Immortal Being… ah, the joys and sorrows of being in a harem of multiple women who are none but ourselves! – Hahaha!”
The young girl howled herself to tears in midst of her laughter, but the Immortal Being had long since left. An Fei swung her legs to a reminiscent beat of a song that remained etched in her memory, and broken hums slipped past her lips as the sun continued its ascent.
“They want the Sanctuary, while the Esteemed Immortal Beings seek possession of An Fei. So why is Esteemed Immortal Bai pursuing the Sanctuary and not An Fei? Oh, whatever… she’s no longer human and more of a pitiful wreck – must be some interesting taste of his…”
The young girl ignored the suffering and casualties she had inflicted onto the pitiful birds struggling to survive at the barren tips of the Mourning Forest, and instead extended her glance towards the inner depths of the deadly forest. Her eyes curved when she had found her target, and her fingers brought a sugary, glazed yuebing to her lips.
“Mm, delicious! No matter however many I eat, they still taste fresh and decadent – oh, but I can’t eat more than one a day, or I’ll gain weight. The lotus seed filling is too addictive, ah…”
There, hundreds of meters below her branch, struggled a young girl who dragged a bucket of water along with shaking steps. An Fei lurched forwards as she struggled to use her body weight as leverage to ease the strain on her arms and legs. Her forehead was plastered with thick rivulets of sweat, and her body trembled with each step.
The clinking of metal chains flicked at the base of her ears without mercy, and the young girl grimaced as she looked towards her feet. There, a metal collar wrapped along her thin ankles, clamping them together with a long silver chain. The long length allowed her legs to retain their original movement, but the tinkle that brushed at her senses brought much of a sour grimace to her lips.
They were a blessed gift from Xu Lingxin, as a means of preserving her life from the gratuitous and righteous elders of the Morning Star Temple. They desired to chop up a mortal girl and… extract the so-called divine ability that was within her physics – as they claimed, but it was the celestial maiden’s due grace that she evaded such a fate.
“That’s great and all, but chaining either my hands or ankles… isn’t this essentially marking me as a slave?”
An Fei sighed, and released her grip on the bucket’s handle. She looked at the row upon row of footprints embedded into the silky soil, and lowered her hands in defeat. The young girl gripped the rake in one hand and a cup in another, and slowly motivated herself to work.
“He Xin, that insufferable brat…”
He Xin wasn’t accomplished enough in her cultivation and simply couldn’t endure the supposedly lethal atmosphere within the Mourning Forest, and Xu Lingxin had self-declared herself to be nearing a breakthrough in her cultivation, and threw herself into seclusion in the wooden cabin. As such, the magnificent task of cleaning up after the trials of the Morning Star Temple’s disciples. It was an event months in the past, and yet she was still cleaning after their traces.
“Che. Excuses, excuses. Making me, a weak mortal girl, slave for you all!”
