The time required for the blade to fall was short. An object that fell from the skies could accelerate to a tremendous velocity simply due to gravity’s effect, much less one hurled towards the ground by an Immortal Being’s will. In the brief moment of time that An Fei held as she witnessed the sword fall, her arms were raised and crossed above her chest in an attempt to intercept –
“–urhgk!? Damn… damn you!”
There wasn’t the sickening crunch and sickly sweet, metallic scent of corrupted blood hurled into the air, nor was there the sonorous wail of shattering bones. The tremendous impulse transferred from the blade to her arms and body pressed the young girl several centimeters into the earth, and a sizeable clump of clotted blood pried itself from her clenched teeth. The jet-black sword had withdrawn the moment it delivered a powerful strike, thus stilling the momentum before it could be fully transferred to her body, and yet An Fei deeply desired nothing more than to curl into a ball and cry from the sensation of pain writhing in her arms.
“You’re survived that hit, hm? No matter, have another one.”
The bone hadn’t shattered from the blow, nor had the skin itself ruptured from the sharp edge pressing against with hundreds of kilograms of force. As much as her mind scratched at itself in confusion, An Fei tore her gaze away from the sore arms scored with numerous intersecting lines of scarlet light that wove to form a pattern resembling that of a reptile’s scales, for the Immortal Being seemed yet to have stilled his abuse.
“The result won’t change, anyways. Mortals can never challenge the will of an Immortal Being – they don’t have a Construct capable of such a feat.”
The branch that had metamorphosed into a lethal sword once again flung itself towards the ground. For the second strike, the sword had adapted itself to deliver a sweeping blow in an intent to bisect the young girl from head to heel instead of a mad dive. When the slightest disturbance of the sword slicing through the underside of the astral haven comprised of the Mourning Forest’s innumerable branches, An Fei threw herself into motion.
She suppressed the painful yelp that desperately sought freedom from her tongue as she clamped her teeth, and hauled herself out of the minor cavity in the virgin soil that had been created using her body with her right hand, and spun her body towards her right. The fingers of her left hand swiftly rummaged through the hair that had been flooded with cold sweat to extricate a single lotus petal amongst the countless streaks of blood. The young girl flicked the petal into the direction of the falling sword and hurled herself out of harm’s way, her hands clasped before her chest.
“Please, work, please work, please work… oh.”
Once thrown, a furious roar tore from the petal’s meek appearance to stain the forest immersed in darkness with a brilliant crimson flare. Yet, before the petal could transition into that of a menacing blade, the falling sword lightly sliced at the petal, slicing the miniscule veins into perfect halves across its longest side. An Fei gazed at the elegant and formerly frail twig that had embedded itself into the ground once more, and a faint sigh escaped from her lips.
If the sword were to become damaged, her entire self, body and mind, would be tormented by pain. If, if, perhaps if – the sword itself were to receive irrevocable damage –
“A product created by divine essence? For a beginner who has yet to awaken their Construct, it is quite an impressive feat, and more so when such phenomena were to manifest from the hands a mortal who, in the first place, should never have come into contact with divine essence. I applaud your effort,” the Immortal Being mused from the depths of the forest, seemingly unconcerned with the young girl who had fallen onto her knees.
“However, there are several unforgiveable flaws – yes, unforgivable, indeed. A sword should not just assume the form of a sword, but should inherit the concept of a sword and its use. Let’s just leave it at that.”
Unbidden by its creator, the jet-black sword gently hoisted the tip of its blade and righted itself towards An Fei’s defenseless chest. A faint sigh of either bemusement or disappointment echoed through the inner depths of the Mourning Forest as the sword thrust itself into the young girl’s flesh. For a few breaths, the sanctuary of complete darkness and silence mused in peace, then An Fei parted her lips with a mocking laugh wresting itself from the depths of her lungs.
“…this young girl doesn’t have a heart. Is the esteemed Divine Being surprised?”
“A crystal instead of a mortal heart – so your physique has attained the qualities of what you mortals would determined as the Core Formation Realm, and you – young girl, have chosen to crystallize your heart of all inner organs? However, this texture, hardness, and Construct… resembles that of Heart Stone’s Crystal?”
An Fei staggered to her feet, relying on the brief sensations transmitted through her skin. The young girl didn’t dare consult with her vision and hearing as she wrenched the foreign object from her chest, her body and fingers shivering as the crimson blood nested within spilled out along with the blade.
“Even I… don’t know… why my heart was replaced with the rhombic crystal. But I don’t care.”
She spat and shivered from the cold breath of the forest caressing her exposed, bloody flesh. The young girl lurched and clenched at her abdomen in pain, and her eyes never stopped in their task of scouring the forest. All An Fei sought after was a single glimpse of the Immortal Being’s position, even if it were an afterimage.
Just one moment.
“So, you won’t die by an attack to the heart? A pity that I had struck with the mercy of leaving a delicate girl like you with an intact body,” Bai Xing rubbed his lips and exhaled with a sigh.
“So be it – if a single strike to the heart won’t complete, then we shall be satisfied with either decapitation or utter desecration – my dear, mortal girl, which do you choose?”
The Immortal Being’s voice continued to be lighthearted and carefree, and the tone carried by the wind resembled someone mindlessly rambling to themselves amidst a cup of fulfilling wine. Yet, the moment the words registered in her brain, An Fei felt the chilling, numbing sensation of abject fear and horror prickling at her body from the heels. The foreign sensation resembled not much than immersing the feet in a cold ice bath, and yet her body stood frozen, unable to respond to the mind’s desperate calls.
Though she couldn’t spot either the hem of the Immortal Being’s robes or trace his presence through the gentle, noble voice ringing in her ears, An Fei soon recognized the source of her perplexing condition. The young girl furiously swiped at her neck to pad away at the pooling rivulets of cold sweat, and desperately continued her search for the qama that had vanished towards an indescribable corner of the forest.
She was no more than the weakest of prey captured in the amused gaze of an apex predator. The horror laced with its subtle fear glued her feet in place on the earth, and forbade any movement in her legs.
The jet-black sword with its vicious bloodletting grooves remained embedded into the ground as it had prior to each of its attacks, yet An Fei arrived to the spontaneous conclusion that the next strike by the Immortal would not rely upon such whimsical means as a mere sword. As such –
“Silence? What a pity.”
The bemused words battered her front, as though its speaker stood just a meter away from her chest. Yet, the young girl forced her body into a half spin towards her left, the fingers of her right hand clenched into a tight fist. The lonesome fist groped among the impermeable darkness with great vigor and as her arm extended to its fullest length, slapped at the slender but powerful human arm.
“…oh?”
Regardless of her frail physique as a young girl on the verge of bleeding to death or the impossible rift between a mortal and an Immortal Being, An Fei allowed her lips to curve into a wan smile. The dagger’s course had successfully been intercepted by her fist and had deviated towards her right. What should have resulted in the quiet decapitation of a young girl now ceased as the Immortal Being withdrew his hand, and chuckled while retreating towards the depths of the forest.
“To be able to discern the true location of my presence by the sheer disturbance of my robes brushing against the bark of a tree as I made my attack, it seems that you haven’t truly lost yourself. Or perhaps it is because that the experience in that white room had buried itself too deep into your consciousness, hm?”
“…what, what did you say!?”
What began as a mere gasp sparked and bloomed into a torrential scream that tore apart her throat. An Fei’s eyes widened to their absolute limits and she reached towards the diminished presence of the chuckling Immortal Being with her bloodied fingers, as her legs committed to the opposite motive and hurled themselves to splay on the ground. The young girl choked on her breath and began to retch at the disorienting sensations that had since caught up to her mind’s stoic defenses and now threatened to overwhelm her thoughts.
How did he… how did he know about that place, and even what happened, unless –
“Ah – so you’ve actually come? I had suspected that you were fully intent on spectating.”
“I just couldn’t confirm whether this fragment was the one I encountered back then or a wholly different being. Now that I know that she didn’t die, how could I simply watch?”
“Oh, so you intend to kill her even after you claimed the root? I had intended to amuse myself during the time I spend exploring this mortal world, however…”
The source of the irrational fear and predatory dread had vanished, and the lighthearted voice of the Immortal Being had now effused itself with graceful banter. And yet, another, more fearsome dread had risen to take its place.
“Still… I must admit that she is quite the failure, even amongst the weaker ones. One must always, as a mortal, be careful of having their minds examined and comprehended by a curious Immortal Being, as you will never know when they might strike…”
The Immortal Being had withdrawn his motivation to strike and kill her, for another individual had arrived at the depths of the Mourning Forest. She should have the chilling and warming sensations of fatigue and relief coursing through her veins at the moment that her life wasn’t placed onto the chopping block any longer, yet…
“Hehe, it was quite the delicious feast. Her thoughts were so rapid and quick, exposing everything held to her name with such vigor and excitement. I simply can’t help myself.”
“…you are quite the voracious Immortal Being. Should I be disgusted at such manners, or fearful that I might be next?”
She recognized the voice of the other individual. It wasn’t just familiar, but was engraved deeply within her heart. However…
She knew that voice, and its owner, and much more. She knew where the body was curvy, where it was neatly shaped, and where it was modest, and from just where that mellow, sweet and gentle voice as soothing as morning dew and delicate as newly formed threads of silk manifested. She heard that voice on a daily basis, saw that body every morning and night, and even knew its weaknesses.
But there should have been a difference. The voice was the same and its owner hadn’t changed, but the pattern of speaking, the use of modern word choice and slang, and that inquisitive gesture at the end of each sentence –
An Fei gulped, and scrambled backwards on her hands as her legs flailed around in panic. By miraculous luck or whimsical fate, the fingers of her right hand brushed aside the cold and soothing sensation of chilled metal as she fought to stand on her feet. The young girl dared not to exhale a single breath nor shout a single word as she silently retrieved the qama, and bolted from the depths of the Mourning Forest.
