6 - Interlude 1

Elder Ja Son knocked on the door and waited to be let in.

Ever since he had examined Sa Bina, he had a feeling something was not right. The first thing he had done on his return to the sect had been to notify the Patriarch. He had also asked Sun Li to bring Sa Bina back via a carriage and not to use a flying treasure to give him some time to look into her.

“Enter” said the voice of the Patriarch.

He opened the door and entered. The Patriarch was there with the Elder of the Outer Hall. A curious title, one that hid a far more formidable title. A title he had learned on his ascension to Core Elder.

“I greet the Sect Founder, I greet the Patriarch” intoned Ja Son kowtowing.

“Oh stop that nonsense and stand up already.” said the Sect Founder. “You could learn something from that little girl.” turning to the patriarch. “I told you he was still too young to be told about me. Maybe we should have him babysit the little one?”

Ja Son stood and looked at the two men. For such powerful men, they could both be playful.

“Founder, don't tease Ja Son so much.” said the Patriarch, “You know he always takes these things too seriously.”

“I think we should get on with the meeting, I think we are making young Ja Son very uncomfortable,” said the Founder. “Ja Son, why don't you summarise your findings first.”

“Yes, founder.” replied Ja Son, “I was asked by my disciple Sun Li to look into a girl that she had found while raiding a bandit camp. She was kept isolated from the other prisoners. Her features are slightly different from the natives of the region. Unfortunately all the bandits were killed so no one knows exactly where they found the girl. I have interviewed all the survivors at the camp, the girl was brought to camp about 2 months ago by the bandits with a group of others. The others looked like the rest of the natives. They didn't talk about the girl and didn't know where she came from. She was not captured with the ones who accompanied her to the camp.”

“When Sun Li found her, she had a serious head injury. One that should have killed her, but she was not only fine, she was walking under her own power.” continued Ja Son. “Sun Li attempted a Qi scan, and the girl blocked it without even knowing it. With her consent, Sun Li conducted another scan and found everything looked normal. Sun Li, on a hunch, attempted a spirit root and soul scan. The scan was not only blocked but she was forcibly ejected from the Qi scan. Sun Li kept her sedated and took her to Orange Grove and asked me to meet her there.”

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“Sun Li is in the 4th realm?” asked the Patriarch.

“Yes, I arrived and conducted a full scan, everything looked normal until I tried the same spirit root and soul scan. I found her spirit root to be a perfect spirit root, but I was also forcibly ejected from the attempted soul scan.” continued Ja Son.

“And you are at the final minor realm of the 5th realm.” confirmed the Patriarch.

“Yes, as you can see how unusual the situation is. When she awoke, she managed to dress herself with no help in a cheongsam. Her speech patterns were refined and she had some knowledge of mathematics. She was also able to handle spices, in fact she mentioned that the spice use was gentle. In short, none of her behaviour matched that of a commoner. She claims to have amnesia from the head injury, which I healed. It's possible there was some memory loss.” continued Ja Son. “Just in case she really was a royal, I was open with her about what actions we had taken and offered compensation. When negotiating her compensation, she was unusually astute. I decided to test her, and offered her the cost of communicating with the royal families in return for having no more responsibility for it to see her reaction. She jumped at the opportunity. I think it was more about us not contacting any royal families. She also stipulated that we had to help her open an account with a reputable bank and help her procure business properties at her cost. I agreed and returned and asked for a more senior elder to meet and examine the girl. I asked Sun Li to take the long route back to give us time to organise.”

“Thank you Ja Son. Founder, I asked for your help to examine the girl.” said the Patriarch, “What are your thoughts after meeting her?”

“I found her to be charming, confident and cheeky. She wasn't intimidated by me.” mused the Founder. “She was also discerning and cautious, ensuring not to reveal much at all. When I accidently mused out loud that it was curious that she was not of any royal family the sect knew off, her heart rate spiked.”

“Did you know, in my life I have met every single royal family in the world? I built a formation into that token. If the Qi signature matched any royal family I had met, their name would have been displayed on the token.” continued the Founder. “She is definitely not from any royal family who have existed in the last 200,000 years.”

“I also tried to scan her spirit root and soul. To my senses her spirit root is at 99% the top end of perfection. However, even I could not scan her soul. She has formidable defences in place.” finished the Founder with a thoughtful look on his face.

“How is that possible…..what does it all mean” blurted out Ja Son. The founder unable to get to the bottom of this mystery was just astounding.

“Well, she is either from an ancient royal blood line that no longer rules today, or she has been raised up to be a new royal bloodline. The more perplexing question is how her soul is protected. Even if it was one of our gods, their signature would be visible when triggering the protection.” mused the Founder. “She is just full of mysteries. Keep a close eye on her.”