The chains didn’t hamper her normal movement, and since she didn’t interact with anyone else except for those already present on the Mourning Peak, An Fei didn’t care too much for the metallic symphony that followed each footstep. What hung more on her mind and heart was the memory of the usually amiable celestial maiden drawing her blade in fury. The experience a cold metallic blade resting its tip just below the chin was not one she was willing to return to – not at all.
“These chains… she called them Soul-Reaving Chains, was that so?” the young girl sighed and rubbed the top of her head.
“They were meant to prevent the absorption and circulation of spiritual essence within my body, yet…”
She could… ingest the spiritual essence within the depths of the forest by forcing her body to lapse into a state of shock despite the silver chains clamped around her ankles. Alas, though she didn’t know much in regard to circulating the spiritual essence throughout her body, expelling it was an impossible matter.
Whenever the threads of golden light attempted to escape the confines of her body, the chains gently vibrated to dispel the accumulated threads.
Creating a transforming lotus petal was out of the question, but perhaps… she could still rely on the <Steps of Underlying Shadow>?
“Ah. Whatever.”
An Fei hoisted the rake from its sublime ditch, and jabbed it into a tangled clump of soil. The young girl puffed her cheeks, and with agonizing breaths, dragged the enormous tool twice her height across the roughened patch of earth. The soft glimmers and whimpering of the birds perched overhead served to distract her thoughts from truly focusing on the task and drive herself insane, and as her inexperienced hands and arms gradually comprehended the general rhythm to dragging the rake at a constant speed without impediment, the sun resumed its journey across the dazzling, clear skies.
A little over two months ago, a large group of youths had alighted onto the Mourning Peak. They trampled the silky and virgin soil within the Mourning Forest as they conducted their ‘practice’ in mastering their control over their individual spiritual essence, and as they left, abandoned a sea of bodily fluids. Blood spewed from the arteries close to the heart, intestinal fluid and vomit – the hardened and puckered remains littered across the dark and smooth soil with sharpened edges and lethal blades.
They were the perfect trap for any unsuspecting cultivator’s feet, or that of a mortal girl.
“Xu Lingxin was supposed to clean up after those brats, then she recalled that I was somehow ‘immune’ to the so-called ‘deathly spiritual qi’ present in this forest, and that damned He Xin just had to follow along. Fortunately…”
Fortunately, the feared atmospheric spiritual qi reminiscent of the Mourning Forest tore apart the crustaceous remains into ash and scattered the evil produce out of the forest’s vicinity.
All that was needed was for her to break apart as many of the larger clumps of gastric warfare, and wait for the forest to return the silky and moist soil that her bare feet desperately desired.
An Fei toiled as she gripped the rake over her shoulder and dragged it along and walked in wide circles amok in the outskirts of the Mourning Forest. The young girl found a cheery tune to hum along as she daydreamed underneath the rising sun, her ears filled with the mesmerizing voice. It was calm, placid, yet compassionate; it crooned in her ear and relaxed the taut heartstrings, and as she breathed in the chilly air infused with the forest’s vibrant and overwhelming vitality, her eyelids drooped in contentment and drowsiness.
“…hm?”
The legs gradually stilled their movement, and An Fei paused to pat her cheeks to flush the sudden exhaustion bogging her limbs down. Her eyes fiercely twitched, and as her ears continued to submit to the intoxicating melody, the young girl craned her head towards her left.
“You again?”
A man adorned in a plain, white linen robe crouched not far from her position. A thin, green shoot of an unknown plant was secured between the thin pair of lips, and the azure irises carefully inspected the sloppy and disgusting patterns left behind by An Fei’s aimless efforts. When he heard the young girl’s disgusted scoff, the man raised his head towards the former’s direction and raised an eyebrow in surprise.
“How odd. Are you always this defenseless when you work?”
“…what do you even know about my work habits?” An Fei’s brow creased, and her right eye cramped into a slit.
“And what are you doing here, crouched on the ground littered by the caked bodily fluids of dozens of humans? Don’t you, as an… Esteemed Immortal Being, have something more important to tend to?”
“I came to this mortal world to wander around – what significant matter is there? I found a mortal girl’s mysterious Sword Intent, and decided to inquire – is this not significant?”
The light jab caused An Fei’s gaze to sharply veer to the soldierly arrangement of the thin twigs stabbed into the earth, and her mind crumbled. The rake, no longer rested against her shoulder, clattered to the ground as the young girl palmed her cheeks with both hands in utter disappointment and bemusement.
What Sword Intent could possibly be there!?
“You don’t seem rather convinced.”
The Immortal Being shrugged, and extended a finger to gently brush at the tip of a nearby twig stabbed into the earth. Before An Fei’s increasingly irritated and disappointed gaze, the man prodded forth and tested the resilience of the solemn twig, running his fingers along the length of the twig and tapping at the gnarled knobs protruding from the otherwise smooth surface. When the index finger began flicking the twig back and forth, the young girl lost her tolerance and burst into a fit of laughter.
“What exactly are you doing? A normal wooden stick isn’t going to transform into a heavenly phoenix – there isn’t such a miracle.”
“And why is that?” the Immortal Being gently smiled in response.
“What prevents this wooden stick from transforming into a sword, or soaring through the air as either a dragon or heavenly phoenix? Where are the restrictions?”
“The world restricts it so! A wooden stick is a wooden stick; there is no such thing as Sword Intent in a random wooden stick, it won’t transform into a sword, nor will it transform into a dragon or heavenly phoenix and soar through the skies!”
An Fei crossed her arms and scoffed. The young girl creased her brow as she observed little change in the Immortal Being’s expression, and with scorching annoyance crackling through her veins, planted herself onto the carved soil besides the rake.
“A wooden stick is indeed a wooden stick. However, objects that possess Sword Intent can transform to become a sword, and objects that possess the engraving of a dragon or heavenly phoenix can transform into a celestial entity to soar through the skies,” the Immortal Being removed his hand and placed it besides his waist.
“This wooden stick possesses both Sword Intent and the engraving of a heavenly dragon. Why can’t it transform to become a sword, why can’t it transform into a heavenly dragon?”
“Reveal yourself, for your creator remains woefully ignorant!”
Bai Xing crossed his arms and barked with narrowed eyes and clenched fists. Wisps of azure light extended from the Immortal Being’s robes and snaked through the air, matching the movements and patterns of viscous threads as they wrapped around the wooden twig stabbed into the earth.
There was a brief, scintillating pause as An Fei prepared to cough in disdain, when the feeble twig erupted with a brilliant sea of light.
The young girl was hurled aside as a powerful gust of wind swept her off her feet without any mercy. As her vision spun and distorted from her rapid ‘flight’, An Fei witnessed the azure threads seep into the wooden twigs, melting into the soft bark and changing color from a deeply rooted azure to a golden, resplendent glory, to a bloodthirsty crimson. The gnarled knobs melted into the twig’s main body as the threads gently ground at the uneven protrusions, and before the young girl, a wooden stick was transformed into a sword.
The soft, craggy and uneven bark was chipped away from top to bottom, and revealed underneath was not the supple and tender body of wood bristling with impressive vitality, but instead a rigid body cast of a dark, metallic substance. The volcanic liquid oozed and threw itself into a rapid cycle of expansion and compression, guided by the translucent threads.
The tang was forged of a mysterious, translucent material that resembled a pale jadestone, and the handle was carved of light oak. The blade extended just past two chi in length, and tapered to a lethal point. At the center of the guard, a blade collar was formed of soft gold, and carved on its surface was an indistinct inscription of a coiled heavenly dragon, its scales dripping with scarlet blood.
In the brief few seconds that the wooden stick had manifested itself as a sword and heavenly dragon, the young girl found the dazzling image seared into the depths of her mind. When the fog had cleared from her vision, An Fei’s body jolted in place, and her gaze trickled down to reveal the splendid masterpiece of a sword embedded into the left side of her chest, buried to the hilt.
“Since you refuse to learn with your mind, then you shall learn through the body. Let us see how long it takes to open your perception to this world.”
