Chapter 7
Trouble Brewing
Ling Mai walked beside Grandma Tang and filled her in on all the details of what she and Hungry had discussed and discovered. Grandma Tang listened patiently to her ramblings whilst nodding and smiling at aspects that caught her attention. When it came to her forging her sword, Grandma Tang interrupted her, “You do realise that with all these cultivators appearing all of a sudden, and after such a long absence, you risk having your new legendary sword stolen?”
Ling Mai paused before she answered, pondering on the ramifications of all that Grandma Tang had said. What caught her attention the most was her mentioning the sudden appearance of cultivators. There had to be a reason. Would more and more cultivators start visiting their town and the surrounding countryside? Thinking to interrogate Grandma Tang further on the subject, she meanwhile replied to her question, “If they are too powerful for me to zap, then I can just forge another one. It only took me about an hour, so no real problem.”
“I keep forgetting my little pixy can create miracles three times a day, and now legendary swords…”
“I probably can only forge two a day. It is quite tiring so I would need to rest for a few hours, have some lunch, and then forge the second one. I may get more efficient as I create more. When I reach Core Morphing, I will most likely be able to forge three, or even more.”
“Of course, you will need lunch. I hadn’t thought of that.” Grandma Tang looked bemused by Ling Mai’s nonchalant response. “Be very careful of cultivators, they can be dangerous, especially if you have something they want, and you look young, inexperienced and weak.”
“I’ll just have to educate them!”
Grandma Tang looked troubled. “Be careful though, you don’t know much about how the cultivation world works. Also, that young lord is a part of the nobility. They can be much much worse than the average cultivator.”
Ling Mai nodded thoughtfully and replied, “You are right. I am getting carried away by all the things I can now do. That young lord looked like trouble. Even if I can beat him, he has those elders and guards behind him. Then there is the rest of his family.”
Grandma Tang looked a little relieved that Long Mai was listening to her warnings though she was still worried.
Seeing this, Ling Mai reassured her, “I can run really fast now, so don’t worry!”
“There is always someone stronger and faster.”
“Eventually there won’t be. I need to keep you and Kitty safe,” Ling Mai earnestly stated.
Grandma Tang smiled and simply nodded in gratitude for the articulated and heartfelt sentiment.
Reaching the trading post, they were about to enter when they were met by The Tanner. The man looked completely different - relaxed, smiling and dressed in formal robes with a sect insignia on his chest. It was a tawny-coloured eagle with talons extended as though it was about to grasp its prey.
“Good afternoon Ling Mai, and Grandma Tang, I was hoping to catch up with you! When you zapped me with your lightning, it expelled the poison from my body. Before this, no one had been able to cure me wherever I went. I have been in agony for over twenty years! What type of lightning was that?”
Staring at the changed man, Ling Mai absently replied, “Heavenly Tribulation Lightning.”
“Ah, that explains it! I’ll now be able to return to my Eagle Talon sect to help repel the Creeping-Tiger Jellyfish.”
“Jellyfish?”
“Yes, although slow, they have many thousands in a swarm. Can you give me some Heavenly Tribulation Lightning so I can cure my sect members? I assume you have a way of storing it? I’ll pay you with beast cores.”
“Sure! Just give me a minute.” Ling Mai said. Concentrating, she quickly formed a crystal made of Heavenly Tribulation Lightning. She then showed it to Tanner and explained how to trigger it and how to vary the intensity of the released energy. The Tanner was fascinated. She then showed him the metal container she had from the blacksmith which contained a light crystal. “This is how non-cultivators can use it.” She showed him how it functioned and warned him, “It is very very powerful, so only use it on the minimum setting. Also, I don’t know if you can store it in your ring. I haven’t tried it. I have a feeling it might be unstable.”
“You mean explode?” Asked Grandma Tang.
“Yes. I’ll swap out the light crystal and insert the lightning.”
“Thank you and thanks for the warning!” Taking out twenty or so beast cores he showed each one to Ling Mai as he placed them in a sack. Okay? Enough payment?”
“Yes thank you.”
Grandma Tang asked, “Did the poison affect your personality? You seem a completely different person.”
Tanner sighed and scratched his head as he thought about how to explain his previous situation. “I was in absolute agony all the time. My skin and bones felt like they were on fire. I thought I was strong but I couldn't sleep properly unless I drank enough alcohol to kill a horse. Then the next day I would have a hangover and the pain.”
Grandma Tang and Lung Mai felt guilty as they had disparaged Tanner as being a nasty man. They looked at each other and simultaneously bowed and apologized.
Tanner looked embarrassed, and said, “Don’t apologise. I was cranky with everyone, and you didn't know why. At first, I thought I could handle it but it eventually wore me down.”
Grandma Tang looked sad, and she said, “Please travel safely. Is your sect far away?”
“Yes, I spent eleven years flying from kingdom to kingdom, city to city to find a cure. I finally gave up and settled here.”
This prompted Lung Mai to go over and hug him, further embarrassing him.
Freeing himself, he farewelled them, “I’ll be off now as I want to heal my poisoned sect members. Good luck with your cultivation and thanks again.” Retrieving a sword from his storage ring he mounted it and flew into the sky.
Ling Mai and Grandma Tang stood there in stunned silence.
Finally, Grandma Tang roused herself, “Well that was unexpected!”
“No wonder the poor man was so grumpy. In agony for so long! I would have given him the crystal for free so he never had to suffer like that again.”
“Instantly curing him. Was that the third miracle for yesterday? I have lost count.”
“What?”
“Never mind. Just the ramblings of an old woman.”
Ling Mai went up to Grandma Tang and hugged her. After a moment, she released her and took her hand to pull her into the trading post, remarking as they climbed the front steps, “We never found out his actual name. If we ever visit his sect, we can’t ask for old Grumpy-bum!”
Grandma Tang was laughing as they pushed open the door. This caused all the people inside to turn and watch them enter. The obese man from the day before ran over and bowed deeply. “Welcome, welcome. What may I do for you today.”
Grandma Tang looked at him sternly. “We have brought some devices for your perusal and evaluation with the intent to use your trading post as an agent to sell them to the people of the town and any visitors.”
“Good, good. I’ll take you upstairs so we have some privacy.”
“I would like to see these items,” interrupted a man in a sect robe. He strode over and held out his hand to Grandma Tang.
The robe was different from old Grumpy-bum’s so Ling Mai wasn’t afraid of being rude. She turned to the obese man and frowned at him. She asked, “Yesterday you allowed other customers to try to rob me. Are you going to stand by and allow this man to be rude to us?”
“Of course not, of course not. I’ll intervene,” the obese man assured her. Turning to the cultivator, he quite forcefully informed him, “The young Miss here is a VIP customer. Please don’t interfere in her matters. We have cultivator backing so please behave civilly.”
The cultivator looked around to see who else could be a cultivator but in the end, he decided to back down. The obese man sighed in relief and introduced himself, “I was remiss yesterday and didn’t introduce myself. I am Manager Wang. Please come this way.” He led them towards the stairs leading to the second floor.
Ling Mai spotted Li Na at the top of the stairs and rushed up the stairs to greet her. She was the only girl her age she had formed a bond with, be it small, after Li Na had helped her the day before. “Wait until you see what I have made! They are for the trading post but I’ll make some more for you and your mother and drop them off tomorrow.”
Li Na was slightly flustered by Ling Mai’s enthusiasm but quickly rallied and asked, “What have you made?”
Ling Mai started showing her, first the light crystal and then the room heater device. I have also made an oven. Do you want to get your mother so she can see it?”
“She is working in the shop,” said Manager Wang. He and Grandma Tang had been observing from the side.
Ling Mai turned and just glared at him. He quailed in fright and said, “Of course, I will bring her up here to see!” And he rushed off down the stairs to get Li Na’s mother. Her mother soon came up the stairs, sans the manager.
“Hello, the manager said he had to serve customers whilst I looked at a new device?”
Excited, Li Na started to show her mother the light and room heater. Her mother was puzzled at first but soon grasped the fact that they never needed fuel. “Amazing!” Was her oft-repeated praise.
Both mother and daughter fell in love with the water heater. “We can have a hot bath every day!” Said Li Na, whilst she danced around the room.
“Where are my manners?” Said Li Na’s mother. “Would you like some tea? And my name is Li Yan.”
Grandma Tang and Ling Mai both bowed deeply to Li Yan, embarrassing her immensely. “Please stand up. You are our honoured guests!”
“You honoured us yesterday when you stood up to that cultivator. You had no strength to insist, but you still did what you thought was right,” said Grandma Tang.
“I was surprised but very happy when Ling Mai disabled him. Such a rude man. He was so rude to me before you came in,” she explained. Smiling she said, “I’ll bring you some tea.”
Ling Mai looked at Li Na playing with the water heater and said, “We can heat the water with my new device. It will be much faster.” She had a thought and so asked Li Na, “Would you like to see if you can become a cultivator?”
“Really?” Li Na looked very excited.
“Don’t get your hopes up as Grandma Tang informed me that only about one in thirty have the ability to sense energy, though I’m going to look into why that is so.” Ling Mai took out a mana stone and showed it to Li Na.
“Pretty colours!”
“You see colours?”
“Yes, blue, green, brown… so many!”
“Fantastic! You can become a cultivator,” exclaimed Ling Mai excitedly. Turning to Grandma Tang she asked, “What is the cut-off age for learning cultivation?”
If you discover this tale on Amazon, be aware that it has been stolen. Please report the violation.
“There is no actual cutoff age to starting cultivation, but sects have an 18-year-old limit so their resources would have the most chance of creating medium to high-level cultivators.”
“Once we talk to someone who knows how to best start cultivating, then we can test everyone and start.”
“That will have to be tomorrow’s miracle. You need a cultivation method suitable for each person, plus it helps to have pre-cultivation pills.”
“I’ll learn how to. I’m sure it will be easy with my energy-sensing ability.”
“Second and third miracles for tomorrow.”
Ling Mai stuck out her tongue at Grandma Tang.
“You will need all the special ingredients first. Medicinal herbs are not easy to find.”
“Kitty can help me find them!”
Kitty perked up. He sent an image of him silently stalking through the forest, hunting for prey.
Grandma Tang thought for a moment, and advised, “It is too late today. You also promised to make more of your devices for your friend. The trading post will need some stock to sell. The blacksmith and his apprentice are about to get very busy.”
“I will create another mind to start making light and fire crystals,” she said. She felt very enthusiastic about everyone having a better life by using her energy devices. “No more cold and dark homes during winter!”
Kitty sent an image of hunting at night.
“Yes, night is good for hunting and I can now see in the dark like you, but I need to sleep as I have lots to do in the day.”
Kitty sent an image of sleeping in the sun.
“I like sleeping in the sun as well,” Ling Mai agreed, “but I don’t want to worry Grandma Tang.”
“More than you do with your experiments…” grumbled Grandma Tang.
Ling Mai blushed in embarrassment. “The Tanner had a core concealing technique. I wonder if it is similar to the one I created?”
“Possibly, but I think that you are you, and so yours will probably be unique.”
Ignoring the possible jibe, Ling Mai contemplated the ramifications of others being able to hide their cores. She asked Grandma Tang, “Can cultivators hide their level?”
“I know they can imitate a lower level of cultivation, but I think with your enhanced energy sense you will be able to see through to their true cultivation level.”
“If I see that nice elder again, I’ll ask him to try to hide his level. I need to first recognise all the levels! Do you think there are any other injured cultivators in our town? If I can work out a way to fix their condition then we could have a potential force of cultivators for defence.”
“I don’t know for sure. There are a few I suspect of being injured cultivators. I think I will carefully sound them out. The Tanner was a complete surprise!”
Ling Mai nodded in agreement.“A pity he couldn’t stay,” she said. “With all these new cultivators showing up over the last couple of days, I’m worried how they may act if we have no strong cultivators. What is the level of our town’s mayor?”
“I think I recall someone saying he was peak Core Morphing.”
“How come he is not in a sect? Is he injured also? Or hiding from someone?”
“Both are possibilities.”
Li Yan chose this moment to interrupt. She and her daughter had been listening to the conversation in fascination and amazement. “I need to get back to work else Manager Wang will be even more upset.”
“Of course. We will rely on you to inform him about what you think of my devices and how to use them. I’ll drop off a light device as soon as I can tomorrow morning. By lunchtime, we will have some devices for you to sell.”
Li Yan bowed, “Thank you.” She walked back downstairs leaving her daughter behind.
“Your mother seems very nice,” said Ling Mai. “Do you live here or in your own home?”
“We live out the back,” replied Li Na. “After my father died when he was attacked on our farm by a magical beast, manager Wang took us in. He is not a bad man but I think he wants my mother.”
Grandma Tang asked, “Does your mother return his feelings?”
“Definitely not! She is still grieving my father’s death, and she doesn’t feel any attraction.”
Ling Mai interjected, “Let us know if he becomes a pest, and I’ll educate him.”
“Thank you!”
“Well, we need to get going. Thank you for your help. You will get the first of the new devices tomorrow. How many lights do you need?”
“Four lights would be great! Is that too many?”
Grandma Tang turned to Ling Mai, “I’m interested also. How much time to make the enclosures for the devices?”
“With the new forges I will create with the blacksmith, I expect most devices will only take ten to twenty minutes at most. If I help, then I can make one every two or three minutes.” Seeing Grandma Tang’s curiosity, she explained, “I can help heat and cool the device with my energy manipulation skill more accurately than the new forges.”
“I’ll have to get you a wand…”
“How will that help me with forging?”
“And maybe a pointy hat… you already have the cat, though he is not completely black.” Seeing Ling Mai’s look of puzzlement, she said, “I’ll have to start telling you fairy tales so you can tell them to your children. You have had a very deprived childhood.”
Ling Mai nodded in agreement. Compared to the normal families she had been extremely deprived, let alone wealthy families’ children.
Saying goodbye to Li Na at the door of the trading post, they swiftly travelled home. On the way, they were passed by a group of cultivators in their sect robes. Three older women led a group of eight women and girls. The older women were most likely some Elders of their sect. The remaining young women and girls were mostly in their late teens though there were two in their twenties, and one was only a couple of years older than Ling Mai.
The elders closely examined Ling Mai as they passed, only glancing at Kitty and Grandma Tang. The younger women and girls focused on Kitty. The youngest said as they walked away, “Can I have a cat like hers?”
Kitty looked smug, and Ling Mai giggled at him. “You are a very popular cat!”
Kitty just looked prouder.
Arriving home, they started making dinner. Ling Mai helped dice the vegetables and meat for a stir fry. They used Grandma Tang’s meat as it would not keep as long as Ling Mai’s pork in her storage ring. She supposed she could store Grandma Tang’s food but it would not work well if Grandma Tang needed food whilst Ling Mai wasn’t home. She thought about giving her one of her storage rings but decided Grandma Tang didn’t have the strength to protect against cultivators robbing her.
Ling Mai used fire energy to heat the rice pot and the Wok. “I just had a thought.”
“Should I be worried?” Asked Grandma Tang.
“Yes, as you will probably throw out all your existing cooking pots,” she smiled as she let that sink in. “Though I can make an exception for you as you cook for me and Kitty. I can create fire energy crystals and gathering vortexes linked permanently to each cooking pot or wok. I just need to work out how to turn them on and off and regulate the heat to the desired temperature. How does that sound?”
“Magic pots and woks… soon you will have devices to wash clothes and others to dry them.” Seeing the look on Ling Mai’s face she said, “Why not combine them? That will save time and space.”
“I was thinking of just cleaning out the impurities, such as earth and biological waste products. It would be much faster but more complicated. I would not want to purify decorative features. Hmmm”
“Definitely needs a magic wand,” mumbled Grandma Tang.
Ling Mai carefully watched as Grandma Tang put the rice on to cook and added oil to the hot wok. A number of spices were ground up and added to some hot water to soak, then the meat was fried. Vegetables were added along with some of the spices. After tossing the vegetables and meat and letting them cook for a while, she added the soaked spices including the small amount of water. Letting most of the water boil off, she took everything off the stove and took it to the table.
Ling Mai had previously retrieved some shoulders of pork and placed them in the almost instantly hot oven; fire energy had heated it quickly. The roast pork needed a while longer to be cooked properly, but Kitty seemed happy to wait.
Sitting down to eat, Ling Mai offered a strip of stir-fried meat to Kitty. He sniffed it but wrinkled his nose in distaste at the smell of the spices.
Later, curled up in bed with Kitty purring as she petted him, Ling Mai reviewed her day. “Another interesting day. Cultivation, energy sensing and manipulation sure are fun! I wonder what tomorrow will bring?”
**********
Waking up the next day with Kitty, Ling Mai stretched and petted him a little. Thinking of the clothes cleaning idea she had, she thought she would first try the prototype cleaning on herself. “Hmmm, maybe I should do this in the bath.”
Kitty sent an image of himself covered in dirt after Ling Mai cleaned herself.
“I have more control than that!”
Kitty sent a feeling of doubt.
“Okay, I’ll practice in the bath first.”
“Not a good idea,” came from the doorway, “Breakfast is ready for the dirty girl, and I thought you were not going to ‘experiment’ in my house or even the town?”
“Whoops!” Said a contrite Ling Mai. “But it wouldn’t be experimenting exactly, as I know how to move specific energy types.” Seeing the resolution on Grandma Tang’s face, she sighed in reluctant agreement.
“I would also not practice on yourself. You may clean your skin completely off - not a good look.” Grandma Tang wryly commented.
“I do need to practice my precision with energy manipulation.”
Grandma Tang turned to Kitty, “See what I mean? She needs at least a demigod to look after her wellbeing, not an old woman.”
Kitty turned his head on his side as he carefully studied Grandma Tang. Ling Mai received his thought image and giggled at seeing Grandma Tang wearing a pink robe decorated with butterflies and floating over a sea of flowers. The butterflies would become real and flutter down to the flowers leaving behind an egg that would hatch into a caterpillar. The caterpillar would eat the divine energy being emitted by Grandma Tang and grow rapidly, eventually forming a cocoon. “Kitty says you will be a good demigod of divine butterflies. With his and my help, you just need to cultivate for a few centuries.”
“Say what? A very surprised and somewhat intrigued Grandma Tang in turn stared at Kitty. “Things are surely getting strange around here. Me a demigod? In my dreams!”
Ling Mai bounced out of bed and hugged Grandma Tang, then went to the bathroom to wash up normally.
She checked, and once again she had to wake up her other minds. It seemed all the work they did was very tiring.
When she emerged, a breakfast of chicken and rice noodles awaited her. Kitty was eating a roast chicken with two more cooling on the kitchen bench ready for when he wanted more. It was a foregone conclusion that he would soon scarf them down, even before Ling Mai finished her breakfast.
Before starting to eat, Ling Mai turned to Grandma Tang, “I need to go to the Blacksmith’s workshop, then the trading post. Do you need to do anything else or will you be coming with me?”
“I want to enquire about what is causing all these cultivators to be visiting our town. Also, I want to ask a few people if they had previously cultivated.”
Kitty sent her an image of him hunting in the forest. “You want some time out of the town?”
Kitty sent a feeling of missing the green forest and that he would see her in a few days. Ling Mai felt sad that she would be alone today but she was used to it. She was mollified a little as she would be spending time with her new friends, Hungry and Li Na.
After finishing breakfast, Ling Mai helped clean up, then giving Grandma Tang a hug she bid her farewell and departed to go to the forest with Kitty.
Coming to the town gate, she greeted the guards who gathered around to pet Kitty. He was rapidly gaining a following of admiring people, young and old. After a couple of minutes, they exited the town and walked down the narrow road leading to Ling Mai’s usual firewood gathering location.
After five minutes, Ling Mai stopped and hugged Kitty. “I would love to come with you, but I need to make devices to sell.”
Kitty sent an image of gold nuggets.
“Yes, but I want the town to have lights, heating and cooking devices that don’t rely on oil, wax and firewood.”
Giving him a last hug, she watched as he leapt into the forest, quickly disappearing from view. She felt a pull to follow after him. A carefree life awaited her, exploring the forest, rivers and mountains.
Returning to the town, she quickly made her way to the blacksmith’s workshop. A bleary-eyed young apprentice was waiting for her at the door. He had another youth beside him. “This is our new apprentice, I have been promoted to junior blacksmith after I successfully forged my first knife yesterday.”
“Congratulations to the both of you.”
Hearing their conversation, Hungry appeared from deeper in the workshop, “Good morning Ling Mai. Are you ready to create our new forges? We will need three now as the new apprentice has a little experience in another town. Unfortunately, his master was killed by a snake bite.”
The new apprentice explained, “It was hiding in the firewood. Is it true we won’t need to use firewood to turn into charcoal?”
He sounded very excited at the thought of not being at risk of snakes. “Yes, the forges will never run out of energy.”
Hungry was obviously itching to get his new forge constructed. He already had the materials loaded into his old forge. They were glowing a dull red. “I have metal plates heated to build a half-width but same-length forge. Not having to have room for charcoal saves space.”
“You are the expert. I’ll add the crystals as you assemble the forge. There will be five down each side, with the same top and bottom. The fire energy output will be spread to be slightly overlapping. Is that good for you?”
“Yes, that sounds perfect. They will be independently adjustable?”
“Yes. We will need that feature even for my devices.”
“Let’s build the first one. We will test it on a nail, a knife and the first stages of a sword. If successful, we can start on your devices.”
“If you can create a light device as the second test, then I can take it to the trading post and return before you finish testing.”
“Certainly. You are in charge of these new forges and devices. I’m so excited about what the future holds with you helping improve my workshop, and also the rest of the town!”
Ling Mai blushed at the praise. “Let’s get started.”
With the two youths avidly watching, Ling Mai and Hungry carefully started. One hour later they were finished. Hungry immediately started forging a nail, then a light device.
Ling Mai closely examined the new device with her energy sense. “Even better quality than the devices you made yesterday!” She said in delight. “I’ll go now and be back shortly.”
Ling Mai dashed out the door and ran towards the trading post.
As Ling Mai approached the trading post, she saw yesterday’s group of women sect members also approaching. She dashed past them and into the trading post, only to find it almost full of people. Ignoring them she rushed upstairs to find Li Na to give her the light energy device.
Li Na was very happy with the device. She couldn’t stop playing with the light output and the width of the beam. Ling Mai had made adjustments to the design to allow a narrow beam or all the way up to 360 degrees.
Ling Mai watched her new friend play with the device. “Hmmm, I wonder if I can make it shine in different colours? Or even flash on and off? It would be both pretty and could act as a warning signal in case the town was attacked.” She looked down the stairs at all the people. Most were easily identified as sect members by their robes.
She remembered her ‘turning off’ her first light crystal and thought, “I need to make some flash crystals for defence.”
She promptly instructed all her sub-minds to start creating a variety of intensity, light energy crystals. It would be simple for her to ‘trigger’ them in the same way as she tried to turn off her first one.
Ling Mai chatted with Li Na to find out more about her past. Li Na had a happy childhood, playing with the baby animals, helping her mother to gather the chicken eggs, and to feed orphaned farm animals.
Hearing footsteps on the stairs, they both turned to look. The young lord from the other day was mounting the stairs. His gaze was fixed on the light energy device in Li Na’s hands.
“I’ll have that. Here’s a gold in payment.”
Ling Mai was furious. “It is not for sale. It is for display purposes only. More will be delivered later today. You can order one now for pickup later. Leave the gold as a deposit.”
“Little girl, I don’t know who you are but that is mine.”
“No, it is actually mine! I created it. Go talk to Manager Wang about ordering one or more for later. We should have about fifty later this afternoon.”
“I’ll take this one now and order all you can make today.”
“Are you deaf? Asked Ling Mai. “This device is not for sale!” She shouted.
Hearing the commotion, a large number of people started coming up the stairs. Seeing the light energy device in Li Na’s hands, they made a beeline towards her. Ling Mai quickly grabbed the device and backed away. “Run and get Manager Wang. Tell him we need his cultivator backing here now.
The young lord grew agitated at the sight of all the other people and used a movement technique to quickly grab the device from Ling Mai’s hands. Ling Mai could have avoided him, but remembering Grandma Tang’s advice to be careful, she calmly let him take it.
The young lord examined it with a smile and then stored it in his storage ring. Ling Mai saw the connection cut off from the light energy-gathering vortexes outside and smiled.
Noticing her happy expression, the perplexed young lord asked, “What are you smiling about?”
“Well.. “ she drawled, “You might want to check your storage ring.”
A look of alarm crossed the young lord's face, “My clothes! All my lovely clothes! All gone! And my artwork! Even my jade slips are melted!” He shouted. “What did you do?”
“These devices can’t be stored in storage rings.” She smiled happily at the look of abject horror on his face.
“You… you knew this, you little rat.” He fumed angrily. He then drew his sword and started channelling energy into it.
Ling Mai was alarmed and took a few steps back. She could sense it was concentrated wind energy. She had not yet created a core for wind but it was on her list. “I wonder if I can create a core from his attack?”
Starting three wind energy vortexes from the energy in her mixed energy vortex, she focused her attention on the build-up of energy. The young lord raised the sword and swung it down at her. The wind energy slashed towards her. She already had interposed the vortexes between them, so the concentrated wind energy struck them first. Using her energy sense and manipulation skills, she helped the vortexes to absorb the energy. A slight popping sound was emitted as the sword's energy disappeared.
The young lord stood motionless. It seemed the disappearance of his attack energy was so unexpected that he was dumbfounded. “What happened?” He weakly muttered.
“You bit off more than you could chew.” Came a voice from the bottom of the stairs. “Young Lord Jai, you will apologise to the young lady and give her one hundred gold as compensation for attacking her.”
Seeing the obstinate look on the young lord’s face, he sternly ordered, “This is not open to debate. If you don’t obey, then we will return to the capital and I will ‘explain’ how you almost killed an innocent genius cultivator. Do you understand me!”
Still looking rebellious, the young lord nodded once, tossed some gold coins on the floor and then stomped down the stairs.
Ling Mai bowed deeply, “Thank you, Elder Xing. He really is a headache for you.”
Elder Xing simply nodded in agreement. He then asked, can I examine the devices? I will be careful with them.”
“Certainly. Li Na, can you please get the other devices?” I can show you how the light energy device works but you will have to wait until this afternoon to see the actual device.” She proceeded to show him all the devices which amazed him.
“This will revolutionise the capital! How many can you make a day?” He asked excitedly.
“With my new design of forge, a good blacksmith should be able to make thirty to fifty devices. Some types are more complicated to make.”
“You also have a new design of a forge? It uses the same principles?”
“Yes, no need for charcoal for fuel and it is much faster to heat the metal.”
Elder Wang stared at her. “You are a treasure. I should not have tested you with the young lord. He could have injured or killed you. I have decided. I will take him back to the capital at once. He doesn’t deserve a second chance. Take care, young lady.”
With that, he turned and descended the stairs, leaving Ling Ma and Li Na staring after him. “He was testing me?”
“The young lord could have killed you!” Said Li Na.
“Most likely not if he only used energy attacks. If he had physically attacked me then I would have been in trouble though I do have some surprises for him.”
All the other people had retreated down the stairs when the young lord started attacking, leaving them alone.
Ling Mai examined her three new wind energy vortexes. They were brimming with energy. She cycled the energy through them until they were at the correct concentration and purity then swallowed the smallest to add to her inner vortexes. She created another mind to continue the cultivation of wind energy. This only took a matter of seconds. She now had the whole process down pat.
Li Na’s mother came rushing up the stairs to check on them. While they were reassuring her, they heard sounds of commotion from downstairs. A woman’s voice was berating the young lord. She didn’t sound very happy.
“What? A little girl defeated him?”
“She used a trick!” Came the voice of the young lord.
“Silence! You are a disgrace to our family’s honour. I agree Elder Xing, take him back to the capital. You can say I decree one hundred days in the Dark Vault.”
“No sister! I won’t survive that long!”
“I thought you had consolidated your cultivation?”
“Um, not completely.” Seeing the look on his sister’s face he quickly said, “I’m almost finished. I’ll have finished by the time I get back to the capital.”
“Then you should have no trouble surviving one hundred days.”
The young lord hung his head in resignation. He then looked up the stairs at Ling Mai who was watching from the top of the stairs. A flash of cunning crossed his face and he withdrew to the back of the room and started examining a spear.
Ling Mai had noticed his brief look and resolved to be careful.
The woman cultivator looked at Ling Mai. Her gaze suddenly hardened. “That is my storage ring!” And she rushed up the stairs in the blink of an eye.
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