Even with Tabet’s cultivation base protecting him, Akata still felt a bit of pressure from the room they were approaching. It was an unavoidable pressure that seemed like it would follow you wherever you went. Soon they were about to enter the room and the pressure coming from it was like no other. Akata took a deep breath and stepped inside.
Inside he saw five Scarlet Tigers. They were all over six meters long. Four of them were laying around while one of them had his head raised. This one was in the center of the others and brought the most pressure out of them all. He quickly looked over Great Priest Bambe and Tabet as his eyes landed on Akata.
Akata felt his body go numb and freeze as he looked into the eyes of this Scarlet Tiger. It was like his heart, soul, mind, and everything else could be seen through with the gaze of that Scarlet Tiger. Akata could immediately tell that this tiger was the leader of the tribe.
“So this is the person? Hmm. He does seem to have two cultivation bases. And one of them is definitely of a plant cultivator.” The Scarlet Tiger let out a cold roar and continued. “Are you confident in healing us from this magic young one?” He spoke directly to Akata.
Akata felt an immense pressure weigh down on him. He almost couldn’t speak. With great effort however he uttered the words, “I… I’m not confident in saving you, since I don’t really know about being a plant cultivator. However I will try my best.” Akata added the last part to make him sound useful to the leader.
The leader nodded his head and spoke to Great Priest Bambe. “You will oversee and help direct him in anyway that you can.” He paused for a moment and then spoke again. “Have him attempt to heal Balii first. Tabet come and speak with me for a while. That will be all, once you are done come report back to me.” He then sent them off with his eyes.
“Yes Lord Tafei.” Great Priest Bambe said with his head lowered. He then turned to Akata and said. “Follow me.” He then lead Akata back into the room where they had come from. Tabet turned and walked toward his father Lord Tafei.
Down the passageway Great Priest Bambe spoke to Akata. “Balii is my granddaughter so don’t do anything to hurt her. Lord Tafei probably made her go first so that I will pay extra attention to this matter and get the most out of it. I believe that he wasn’t wrong either, in fact he was completely right in doing so. We’ll be operating in the seclusion chambers so nobody will disturb us.”
They arrived in the room with most of the other members of the tribe and Great Priest Bambe yelled out, “Balii come here.” As his voice echoed out, a small Scarlet Tiger rose its head and slowly stood up. Great Priest Bambe approached the young tiger and picked her up with his mouth and put her on his back. He turned to face Akata and said, “let’s go.”
The three of them then headed to another chamber that was connected to the cave. The pressure in the chamber was much more noticeably weaker than any other room.
“This is where we put the people who lose themselves at. It keeps them at bay and from others so it will be perfect to perform your actions here.” Great Priest Bambe sat the young tiger down and backed away. “Well let’s see what you can do then shall we.”
Akata’s body washed over with a sense of nervousness. He didn’t even know where to start. He approached Balii slowly and looked her body over. The only thing that looked out of place about her was that her fur was a bit rough. But that was it. ‘Okay… so nothing wrong with her appearance, I guess it has to do with what’s on the inside then?’
‘Hmm. But how do I probe what’s on the inside though? I know people with higher cultivation bases are able to do so, but how?’ Akata turned to Great Priest Bambe and spoke. “Can you detect anything wrong with her internally? Maybe something out of place?”
Great Priest Bambe looked over frowning and moved over to Balii. Of course he had done this multiple times already but had found nothing. He then placed a paw on her and caused his energy to roam through her body. He checked every inch of her body for anything abnormal. He looked thoroughly and carefully, for he had hope to save his granddaughter.
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He shook his head and spoke calmly. “Nothing. I don’t detect anything abnormal at all. Not any kind of poison or even something strange about her internally.” He took his paw off and backed up.
Akata nodded his head. He was watching Great Priest Bambe’s movements closely. He then got closer to Balii and placed a hand on her as well. He tried to mimic the movements of the tiger. Of course after placing his hand down he didn’t know what else to do.
‘Maybe just sending out my energy will do? But I will have to be very careful not to hurt her, otherwise he might kill me on sight.’ Akata slowly rotated his cultivation base and sent out a wave of energy throughout Balii’s body. The wave was as calm as a still lake.
As he did this he could sense all of Balii’s body. Her organs, her meridians, her cultivation base. Everything within Balii, he could sense at this moment. After carefully probing Balii’s body he couldn’t find anything strange either.
‘I didn’t find anything strange at all either? That’s strange. But from the looks of things they are definitely suffering from something. What to do what to do?’ It was at this point that Akata suddenly remembered something important.
‘How stupid of me! This was done by a plant cultivator. They are way more powerful than I am, yet they weren’t able to sense it, so how can I? Probably only someone with a plant cultivation base could.’
Akata calmed his mind and closed his eyes. He slowly breathed out and tried something he never had done before. Looking through his own body he found his dantion region and found the little piece of land. He saw his mortal cultivation base sitting there cross legged, glowing with a white light. Behind the glowing mortal cultivation base there was a sproutling growing from the ground. It too was glowing with a white light, however this one was much more dimmer.
Akata’s consciousness approached the sproutling. He silently murmured to himself, “Rotate.” All of a sudden the sprout trembled slightly. Akata could tell what level the sprout was at, he could feel the cultivation base power radiating off of it. ‘Seed Rank Grade 1.’
His plant cultivation base power erupted forth and sent a wave of energy throughout Balii’s body. ‘Not enough.’ Akata said mentally. His eyes shined with a sharp light as he channeled the nature energy in the place and mixed it in with his plant cultivation power.
The plant cultivation power was backed by the surrounding nature energy. Using the nature energy made it much easier to guide and search through Balii’s body. Instantly Akata could sense a familiar energy throughout her body. ‘This is…’ His crimson eyes went wide with understanding.
Akata turned to face Great Priest Bambe and spoke out, “Great Priest Bambe, tell me exactly what happened when that plant cultivator came here.” His tone was serious as he spoke to him.
The seriousness of Akata surprised Great Priest Bambe. His face instantly became serious as well as he spoke. “Do you know what is wrong? Tell me about it!” He rushed forth and was in front of Akata in less than the blink of an eye.
“I’m not too sure, but I think I know what is happening. But I can’t be positive unless I know exactly what happened when that plant cultivator came and used whatever magic on your tribe. So hurry and tell me.”
Great Priest Bambe’s eyes showed with a glimmer of hope. Something that hadn’t appeared in years had surfaced to his face. He nodded his head in understanding and then transmitted his words to Akata’s mind. He didn’t want to waste any time, and to explain everything to Akata through words was going to be too slow. So he thought to send his words mentally, which would go much faster.
“He made himself known around two hundred or so years ago. None of us could have guessed at what he had come here for. At the time we had just been cast out of our home. This land was somewhat normal. Many different creatures roamed the land and the plants were much more lively. Some humans even lived here. We lived in peace with each other and balance was normal.
Of course we were recovering our energy and healing our injuries but even still we were well off. We were actually quite content with how things were at the time. Looking forward to our new life we settled down into this land for good.
We didn’t even know that that plant cultivator lived with us at the time. It was all just too normal. One day, like usual, our tribe was sitting around in a group recovering our energy. All of a sudden a man approached our camp. He wasn’t directly by us, but on top of a tree, wearing leaf clothing. We heard him yell, his voice booming throughout the land.
He said, “I give my life to this land! Heed my call and listen to my will nature!” That was all that he said. We all looked toward him as if he was crazy. Then nature went through turmoil. The winds whipped by, thunder crackled in the sky, and the waves crashed on the shore. Heck, lighting even struck him multiple times. Then he flashed an incantation gesture and roared, his body transformed into a mist that dispersed into the air. The plants in the area shook and the tree he was on grew explosively.
We all felt a rush of nature energy blow through our bodies. After that he had disappeared and everything went back to normal. We didn’t think anything of it at the time so we continued on with our lives. Soon our tribe began to go weak. The children of later generations were infected with the feeling of weakness as well.
Not just us but everything else on the land started dying as well. Even the plants started to become worn and old. It was truly sad. Well that’s how things happened.”
Akata nodded his head in understanding. He then turned to face Balii once more and sat down cross legged. He closed his eyes and began to connect with nature.