By eight in the morning, the light had removed every darkness, every vague shadow lurking on the ground, except the mist that lingered in trapped corridors, alleys of that quaint courtyard – at such moment that soul finally found her. It wasn’t her illusion – she felt it burning clearly in her instincts. Yet she pretended to be ignorant. Wei Zhiruo counted down the last seconds of countdown – pegged down the last devices at its fixed places; fogs rolled, mist hovered and shadows flickered dancing like maddened shamans. Something in her reveled in the calm that settled over everything, like a calm before a storm.

Her heartbeat fluttered – the sound of it resounding in empty silence became increasingly strange; blood thrummed with charged zealousness. Her eyes turned pure gold. Then she heard a slight rustle and Marr saying, "She is close. Too close.” He raised his nose to sniff in the air, recoiled at the smell and then walked closer to her, almost touching her feet.

“It’s in time.” Wei Zhiruo replied. She caressed a falling branch of the willow and broke it off. Each leaf, young and old was clipped by her white hands, leaving behind just a lithe, supple stick which turned into whichever shape she wanted it to be. Perfect. She just felt sad that once again she intended to drain every vestige of power in her current body and leave it embroiled in aches and pains like never before – “I am giving you a hundred Runes; you see the sign and just release them.”

“Good. Alas! She doesn’t give me good vibes. And here I was hoping…” the cat twisted his paws, slapping the dirt as if striking it at someone’s face and began straightening his bones, stretching his body to release his tiredness. His small figure was soon ready to prance over the boughs and skies, yet he didn’t step out.

Wei Zhiruo looked at him for a second, then turned to see the ongoing play.

“Let me share your vision.” Even before she finished her sentence, her vision turned red, becoming one with Marr’s. Each line, each fragment, each small molecule of the outside world shifted its nature as if unfolding a different kind of story, she saw swirls unfolding, locks clicking open; a perspective that she didn’t own before – a secret talk she wasn’t privy to were being whispered to her, she was its solitary listener in that red swamp of distinct intentions. It was the change of views which aroused the deepest of her hidden alertness, but which also gave her the most comfort with its familiarity and knowledge.

Hiding behind the willow tree, Wei Zhiruo instantly sensed her. Even before her figure emerged in the clear, Wei Zhiruo heard the sound of bells ringing – pristine, clear sounds echoing at each step taken forward. The sound merged with the sound of ringing tassels. In the mist, in the lurking shadows underneath the fog that canvassed the vast land, hiding every ugly facet of the weather-beaten walls and roofs, there she approached. Tall, as tall as a mighty sword.

Wei Zhiruo's golden eyes turned a shade deeper, almost glowing with the intensity of the noon sun.

The woman didn’t float in her soul form but had appeared in her human self. She stood awhile, then started walking slowly. Each of her steps rising, then falling back onto the ground felt heavy and assured of her own presence – there was something of a gravitational pull in the way she held the world around her – a hand waved and the fogs parted to let her go.

The bell ringing sounded again.

She walked and behind her a veil of fog followed, forming a train sweeping down the ground. The mist bloomed like an eager lily, as if each particle was hovering around her figure, hurrying to embrace her, to hold her majesty, and, maybe for a moment, the murky darkness had found a presence to seep through to elude light. There was beauty, there was a mystery.

And condescension.

But such beauty only crowned that haughtiness as her bearing’s top jewel - making it look smooth and not abrupt, or maybe, even too natural for her.

Her eyebrows were cold, her eyes like those of dead people who feel nothing – black and deep, unfathomable; like people who have settled down in the graves of time and frozen their hearts she held no emotion in them. She was the most beautiful creature Wei Zhiruo had ever seen, but also among the most dangerous she had ever met. At first glance, she knew the situation was irreconcilable.

There are many beautiful, vain people. But seldom does the world accord them enough power to wield and do one’s own bidding, with no censure. This woman looked very much like the exception – she had tasted power; she was vain and each of her steps felt like a decisive beat on the drum. She would never let a grain of dust dirty her eyesight if she desired that to be. Dangerous, moody and certainly insidious. And Wei Zhiruo just happened to have something she wanted – how could there be no confrontation?

Wei Zhiruo narrowed her eyes. She shook off the coldness settled on her shoulders, closing her eyes. A dilemma. But also not – she still hadn’t figured out much of the issues she had been forced to participate in – in this game of chess, she was a complete novice and also the one who held the most unconventional moves. “...Follow the previous plan. She is too clear-headed and she will most likely see through everything – let her grasp our weaknesses. If she falls for that it’s okay, if not…then it doesn’t matter…just don’t appear in front of her.”

She bit her lips and continued saying, "How much control do you have over your transfiguration? Can you form a mask right now? I really cannot show my face to this…woman. If she escapes and gets another chance to kill me – she will definitely do it. She’d chase me down to the end of the world. I am strongly convinced of that.”

“A mask?” Marr muttered under his breath and then broke apart into millions of fragments. He used his formless mass to cover Wei Zhiruo’s whole body in a film and then, painstakingly carved out each angle, each line that would completely cover her up. A red mask with no opening covered all of her face, hanging down to her neck while a wing-like transparent cloak cloaked her body. A hideous looking mark emerged over it all – a mark which on first glance causes utter distaste; a glance and one cannot explain the source of hatred that it causes, a filthy black gloom that haloed each of its crevices and deep grooves and lines running in asymmetrical, incohesive patterns that seems to go nowhere.

“It doesn’t look good – but that is what I aimed at.”

“It’s perfect.” Wei Zhiruo touched the hard shell covering all of her face with no gap, not even to look through or to breath. She felt a wisp of red merged in black floating around its engravings. “I just want her to keep guessing – till her death.” Who that woman met today should remain a locked secret for everyone. Or it will invite endless trouble for her.

The bell rang closer and stopped just a few steps away from the weeping willow. They both fell silent to observe.

The woman looked…weirdly young. The look in her eyes, those endlessly cruel, disparate eyes that looked like a God’s looking down on pitiable humans…? It wasn’t the word vain and proud that could capture that essence of her aloofness – but something like indifference, which runs too deep in nature – cold and biting indifference with the world. Wearing an elaborate black gown, with a golden crown perched with a piece of lily blooming, gorgeously over her head, when she walked, ringing tassels and bells shook at each of her steps. She was staring at her direction – Wei Zhiruo knew it!

Faster and faster, flashed her two small fingers rubbing against the wood, faster and faster, flew more and more elaborate, complex looking rune circles joining the previous collection.

In the illusion – a small child sat down beside the willow, playing in the mud. Wei Zhiruo let that child become more and more affable, engrossed in her own world. The lump of mud under her hands took the shape of a round woman. The girl child put that fat woman aside, and put a small doll in similar shape besides the first, crying – “It looks good! Just like mom and me. Little doll, are you happy to be with your mother? Will you always stay with her? You are a good child. Such a good child!” A cheerful voice started singing.

Wei Zhiruo just wanted to see sympathy, or hesitation, a shred of pity slipping in that deity-like face.

The woman kept watching the child play for some while, as the puppet stacked up a small family of six people, then she walked up to her. Slow steps, firm and measured.

“What are you playing?” She asked gently, bending down in front of the child, her locks falling down touching the ground. But the moment she stretched her snow-like hands to one of the mud dolls, a look of reluctance appeared in her eyes and the woman retrieved her extending hands as if nothing had happened. She stood up – “I hope I haven’t interrupted your pleasure?”

“No, you haven’t! Why are you talking like that?” The phantom child looked up, showing the appropriate level of surprise and curiosity at meeting someone new, and replied, “I am making my…dolls. Do you want to play with me? I can make some for you too!”

“Using mud? Your mother doesn’t get angry at you for playing like this?” Saying this she surveyed the mist filled abandoned chamber. Her laughter washed eyes had reverted to their previous coldness. Maybe it was here she completely guessed that what she was talking to wasn’t human. Maybe, she didn’t guess it at all. Either way, her coldness stemmed from something deeply profound, like a trench that opened up between two species. Wei Zhiruo couldn’t see through her intentions at all! She kept guessing.

“Are you alone? Why? Doesn’t anyone like to play with you…?”

“No, I like to come here alone. There is a pond nearby and I can make many clay dolls with its mud. I slipped away from my mother. Others don’t like to play like this…” the child lowered her head, and kept patting the lump of soil. She raised her head supporting the most glowing, innocent smiles. “But I will go home soon. My mother is a maid. She will be done making the breakfast for the mistress soon and then I will go home with her. Who are you? Why haven’t I seen you before? Are you a mistress?”

“Not a mistress – no I am not. Just a visitor. No one, of any importance. Definitely not a mistress.” The woman replied softly. She glanced around herself. She seemed to be judging or calculating something so she didn’t speak after this sentence.

The puppet, though, controlled by Wei Zhiruo kept talking random things, while Wei Zhiruo increased her speed to use her own life-essence to carve out more and more elaborate runes. The time was ticking. She was, by now, pretty sure that the woman knew that she was already inside an illusion.

“Why are you here?” The puppet asked. Or rather Wei Zhiruo worded her own doubts.

“…” The woman towered over the child and looked into the guileless face of a tiny four-year-old child, taking in those unremarkable features. “I don’t know…I felt you had something which I sought. Now you don’t. Tell me…are you hiding something, child?”

Wei Zhiruo narrowed her eyes and swiftly left the Rune making. Goosebumps rose over her hands and body and she felt nauseous; nervousness tinged her pale, and the rest of the calm she had created painstakingly, almost wavered into pieces.

“I don't know you – why would I hide something from you?”

“True. You don’t know me. Would you like to know my name? Tell me yours.”

“Xiao Xia...and yours is? You have to share yours too!”

“People called me fairy Ying Yueru. Now it’s just Ying Yueru. You can call me sister Yue.” She had a strange sense of melancholic smile when she gave away her name.

“Sister Yue…? But you look like a human. Are you lying to me?”

“Ah…lying?” The woman glanced into the puppet’s soulful eyes. “But I’m not. I am really a fairy. We call ourselves immortal cultivators. You might have heard of them – yes or not?”

“Cultivators? I don’t know what they are. Why are you here?”

“You are not lying…strange.” It wasn’t a question. “I thought you might be well aware of what you are facing right now. As for why I am here…I was travelling when I accidentally fell into this world. I got trapped inside the pond. Unfortunately, I died drowning as no one saved me. And now, I need a body,” Her straight face retold as softly as the brisk wind, ‘which you happened to have. Ice single spiritual root; a heavenly spiritual root which is nearing a hundred percent purity. What a marvelous body - but now, it's gone. Tell me, how readily do you want to give away this secret of yours to sister Yue? Depending on that your death will be painless.”

“You want to kill me? Why?” The child muttered confusedly.

“Does it matter?”

“It does, because I don’t want to die…” The voice quivered.

“You must. At least you cannot survive with me here. Tell me the secret, and I might even let you live.” Then Wei Zhiruo saw that woman glancing towards her.

She extended her arms to reach out over the child’s head. She rubbed it lovingly for a while and then in front of a shocked Wei Zhiruo, she went on to clutch that puppet's hair, hard and swift and pulled it on its feet! She clutched the hair as if she was digging some untoward root!

“Ah-! It hurts! What are you doing? Leave me alone! Why are you hurting me?” The soul seemed to exert some kind of spell. The woman seemed to have exerted much of her strength as a look of extreme pain flickered over her face.

“Curious…interesting little thing. What are…you? No past, no future…not even your present is here. What a peculiar little thing!” She was whispering as if she had found an amusing pet and was happy playing with it.

But Wei Zhiruo knew that woman was still judging her, she was calculating, and throwing the fishing line along with the bait in the water. It was difficult to judge who would turn out victorious in this little ‘ploy’. While she was judging others, others too used her ‘small play’ to seek her intention’s out! Nothing strange, but it was faster than what she had expected.

The child kept shrieking in blood-curdling pain, even a trace of blood seemed to trickle down her mouth! The woman held the child’s neck as she struggled to breath and shrieked. She, though, took no notice of the ongoing struggle and observed the child from all sides, as if she was seeing a very strange specimen.

“Aaah -! I cannot…breathe!” Tears trickled down the child’s face. Blood, tears, sweat trickled down intermingling with each other, seeping into her face and neck. If it wasn’t a phantasm, Wei Zhiruo hardly believed she would have kept the same level of calm looking at this spectacle as she had right now. Watching the unfolding of this strange situation, Wei Zhiruo signaled Marr to prepare for the attack.

The façade was no longer needed to go on. It was just a shame that she had thought she would earn herself a few more minutes.

Wei Zhiruo looked down at her hand, still wounded, holding a green branch now dyed red. Marr made an angry face as if he would have hissed and pounced at that woman, had he not been keeping still for the future plans. But his teeth could be heard rubbing together in shaking fury.

“You...are going to kill me...Don’t…please.” The puppet pleaded breathlessly, suffocating to a deep purple shade, and was thrown down on its bottom looking drained out of its life. It kept crying and shivering in pain curling into a pitiful ball.

“Okay. I will do so, if you sign a contract with me. I’ll not kill you. I promise,” the woman didn’t look insulted after being treated like a ghost but said, “Just sign a contract; it's nothing much to ask for in return for your precious life, is it? Look, I’m not even asking for you to share your secret any longer!”

She didn’t look at the shivering child, nor calmed her frightened figure as if that child’s fear and her shivering figure had nothing to do with her or was the least of her concerns. She stared at her - Wei Zhiruo. Each moment, she seemed to be eternally closer to peering past the thick barrier in the middle, and looking into her eyes – cold, like a very intrigued predator ready to chase its food.

Maintaining the non-existent eye contact, she kicked the puppet in the stomach which threw it away at quite a distance. The illusion bent down clutching its stomach, shrieking in pain. “Ahhh –! Niang!”

The puppet was almost close to death. In fact, if death was possible for it, it would have died a long time ago!

The woman coldly stared at this spectacle, then she took out what looked like a piece of floating golden paper.

“Sign here. I’ll spare your life.” She smirked playfully and then walked closer down, clutched the hair of the puppet, to force it to peer into her eyes. “You do not have a spiritual root, and I am already in big trouble because of that. Lend me your body. When I go back to my world, I will have you forged a body of Heavenly spirits and treasures. You’ll be able to become a fairy like your sister. Now, sign, hurry up. I don’t have the whole day to waste on you.”

The moment Wei Zhiruo glimpsed this look, she immediately instructed the puppet to refuse to sign the paper whatever happened next. She felt that if that puppet succeeded in signing that paper, that contract would instead fall on her head – this could never happen on her watch!

Wei Zhiruo looked down finally at the long willow branch. She sighed and seemed to have taken a symbolic step forward. The air smelled of rust, but the mist's coldness covered this note of smell, instead a deep gloominess dwelt on much of the air, a murky and depressing smell of rot and putrefaction.

She heard Marr angrily criticizing the contract, "What does she mean? She doesn’t want to kill the child…because she has thought of a crueler method! She will just snatch away the body and then when she is back in her own world, she will create a new body for this child? As if she will be doing the greatest favor by teaching her cultivation –! No regard for life, no respect for others opinion! What does this woman think of who she is – a God? Did she even think for a moment what kind of life she will be forcing this mortal child to live?” Marr sounded incensed.

The phantom girl will sign a contract with the woman, allowing her to borrow the body, and she will sleep for the rest of the time in a ‘Spirit Gourd’ until the woman finds a better body for her. Sleeping eternally, with no hope of waking up again, apart from a wilful master’s desire to stay true to one’s vow. Yes, it was a slave contact. Clear and without doubt.

“Don’t waste any more time over this. You can go now.” Wei Zhiruo said, clenching her fist to loosen her tightened nerves. Marr hummed in agreement.

Without further ado, Wei Zhiruo slammed the [Encampment] Rune herself, as Marr seemed to have completely forgotten doing it. Instantaneously, a square golden box emerged from the center of the willow, and grew bigger and bigger till it was of considerable size and had successfully imprisoned that foreign soul inside it! When the walls converge, tightened, it thrummed in the air sealing all gaps. Done. Her eyes glinted in dark, regaining their previous peace and indifference.

The woman looked down at the puppet, looking astounded she asked, “What did you do – form a barrier? But no, you haven’t even cultivated till Qi Refining State. If it's not what you did, then it can only be...” She muttered these words fluttering like a falling leaf. She seemed to have grasped something. “But will your beloved mistress, hiding like a coward as she is, save your life? Just a barrier will not stop me from killing you, will it? Call her out and let me see for myself who is this brave to cross me.”

She turned to Wei Zhiruo and talked to an imaginary her - “Tell me what does your sect intend to do, ambushing me like this and where did that random voice come from in my mind? I have never offended anyone in this realm so I cannot understand this enmity between us. Is there a misunderstanding?”

When Wei Zhiruo didn’t reply for too long – the woman grew increasingly thoughtful. She seemed to use some spell and then kept muttering broken sentences - “Not an attack - ambush? Offspring of a loose-cultivator? Maybe, the parents found something in the secret realm? Alone… with just a mortal maid…would never be brave enough to lay this siege. Who is this who is playing with me?”

Seeing that the woman was too engrossed in her ponderings, Wei Zhiruo stole away some more precious moments and added a wave of fifty more runes!

“Acting on her own…she is certainly acting alone. No past life – only a God level treasure can make my own ‘Book of past’ not be able to work!” She still whispered as softly and as detachedly as ever, as if what she was wording were not certainties but words with no meaning to anyone. Even she herself seemed to be too trapped in the midst of the gap between illusion and reality. Now, this attitude, completely baffled Wei Zhiruo who thought she had seen through all of her illusion's tricks. But it seems, the woman still hadn’t realized it all. She still seems to think that the puppet, if not a part of this illusion, was instead an assistant or more precisely, her own maid? So, when she tortured that puppet, was she expecting her to come out and rescue it? What made her think this way -?

And the voice? Here, finally, this was the proof that someone was surely watching this game happen, as perfectly as he’d designed it to be! He lured the soul by hinting about the presence of a spiritual root which she needed, and he hinted to her to kill this intruder to survive…why go all around in a circle like this? What makes him unable to participate in the game, or rather, kill both of them instantly? Where was it watching all this from? Was it really as she thought - the influence of the ‘world consciousness’ itself?

‘No, it feels different.’

Stolen from Royal Road, this story should be reported if encountered on Amazon.

As if nonchalantly viewing the surroundings, the woman looked at the hiding spot of Wei Zhiruo in the passing. “Sign here – becoming my slave is not a bad deal for a mortal. If you don’t have a spiritual root, I can forge it with heavenly treasures and pills. I promise you will be well recognized, powerful enough to walk amongst the cloud like a free floating immortal, unfettered in any mortal ties.”

“But I don’t want to! I don’t, I don’t, I don’t…want to!” The phantom child screamed.

"Pretend. Go on, child.” She raised her hands and the wind blew, the fog receded. “I have all day and I can accompany you to play well. Tell me the truth. Who in your family left you here to ambush me? Call him or her out or you are dying with no words left to say. A soul cultivator is not something you can face right now – not even your grandfather can save you from my clutches. Now say!" She talked as if she also addressed the hiding Wei Zhiruo.

But the next moment a fireball fell down from the sky. Shooting down like a comet, creating a tail of blazing light-trail.

“Woosh!”

The woman quickly stood, straightening her back. She twisted her neck and then looked coldly at the fire ball approaching her without stepping away. A mocking smile lingered on her lips – the moment the fire touched her, a whip appeared in her right hand; she swung it hard, smiting the fire-balls body out, smothering it into a wisp!

“Failed. Onto the collective attack – get her somehow. We need to confirm if these Runes can affect her.” Wei Zhiruo shouted in her mind. She forcefully used her spiritual senses to direct fifty of those flame ball runes at once to rain down a shower of flame! A crack emerged in the inner world, expanding like a deep narrow line opening up in the sky. But outside, one after another shower of [Flame] runes descended from the air, from all directions aimed at a single woman who still didn’t hide from oncoming attacks.

The moment the fire ball emerged in her vision, the woman looked surprised as if she didn’t expect so many fire-balls to come at her together. But even then she didn’t try to dodge the attack as it came in front of her, she used her whip to form swirls of cloud of purple aura, surrounding her body in a thick cocoon, now using the wind to swirl around herself to smother all the flame. But some flame blew out, while others became increasingly huge as if given incentive from the propelling wind!

A while later, the woman was no longer surrounded in purple vortices of wind, but flames burning gold and bright, flashing heatedly – it burned and raged, till it ate away the wisps of winds and soon actually touched the soul – Wei Zhiruo heard a cry of pain resounding in the air. Success!

“How can it be –!” Her eternally steadfast eyes showed shock, as the fire didn’t stop at the first shield of her soul’s aura, instead it easily penetrated into the inner circle hitting her directly in her core!

One, two, three, a total of seven flames completely penetrated deeper into the inner core layer, till she hastily managed to form a shield of her own! The flames were still burning the soul, as if clinging to her essence and she let out an agonized cry like a bird having touched fire–gaining ground, she whipped at the empty air.

The lily was scorched dry. The crown tilted, and the black gown flew in the rage of the angered woman's fury – eyes that had once settled peacefully like a stale pool of dead water now had several ripples of anger mixed and evoking their liveliness. Her hair flew in the rising wind; she finally looked serious.

Wei Zhiruo slammed another Rune.

"Boom!"

An ear-splitting blasting sound came from the attack hitting its target. Five huge roots of a thick tree crawled out from the deep pit in the ground and gathered around her. They were quick to emerge and follow, but the woman was faster. She dodged these roots and completely left her human form this time. She flew in the sky and kept dodging the endless swarm of red flame-balls that kept falling from above. She tried to fly higher, but instead hit the barrier. As if a strike of lightning had thundered through her being – she started falling down like a wounded, scorched bird.

Another golden ball intercepted her fall, meeting the slashing whip which she used tediously to protect herself– then like a raging beast opening its blazing mouth, it burned the whip lashes effect, as well as the whip itself! The weapon cracked with a crackle, disseminating in the wind; while the strong momentum of the flame continued in its fluid charge, till it grew further and further, raging higher and higher till it burned the woman's soul!

“Uh-! Aaah –” she shrieked out clutching her heart and then looked towards Wei Zhiruo with the eyes of an awakened beast. Red and furious!

“Boom -!” She fell down creating a huge pit with the hitting force.

The soul burst into a blue flame. “A mortal…how can you have so much Qi?” The woman huffed and wheezed as she stood, shakily, still looking as if she hadn’t been cut out from all manners of her escape. She took in a deep breath and then once again raised her hands – a strong killing intent seemed to fill up the air, manifesting in storms like dark black winds. A sword appeared.

Wei Zhiruo never intended to kill that woman – she knew she couldn’t achieve that right now with the glaringly obvious limitations of her wounded body and consciousness. Moreover, since someone wanted to use her as a knife – how could she fulfil such an obviously tricky role? So the woman must not be killed.

She saw the decreasing number of runes and became calmer and steadier in her directions. All her mind was spent on decisively using the least amount of fire-power. But the moment she felt the killing intention, her instincts urged her to run, she reigned them in with difficulty and instructed Marr – “Use your moves! That sword, beware of its force.”

She used fifty more [Flame] and [Thunder] runes. The sky crackled with their joined forces as balls fell faster and faster, reaching down the woman, who slashed and pushed against this wave of attack till finally she screamed with an increasingly gritty voice, saying, "Stop! Stop using these, Talisman's! I understand! I do. You don’t want to sign that contract, right? Then don’t. Let’s talk, shall we? You are a good child. I was just jesting about that treasure…if you do not want to share it then don’t. But which sect do you belong to? Did you come with other cultivators from the Taiyuan realm?"

The soul voice sounded but Wei Zhiruo didn't stop. She knew it was only meant to distract her. She directed three more [Flames] Rune towards the soul and then saw Marr using his own attacks.

When two blood red sword slashes cut through the air, reaching the soul, it instantly pierced the outer layer of her cloth, leaving the first gash over the woman’s appearance. The soul shrieked out in pain as if something was eroding her from within! A gaping wound opened on her shoulders, where it had hit, with the clothes dissolved in the air and flesh turning black and falling like crumbling pieces of flimsy wisps of air. But Wei Zhiruo knew – the attack on the soul had the most obvious effect.

The soul looked incredulously at the gaping wound and then leaned up against her sword. “Tsk! What a careful head.”

The killing intent in the air profoundly increased and manifested in traces of twirling black vortices. It reached Wei Zhiruo who was hiding behind – and pushed her to face the first direct wound of the battle. Several slashes, big and old covered her body – but since she focused on covering up the willow from being touched she couldn’t evade this wave. As a result, she fell down - toppling over the ground, vomiting mouthful after mouthful of blood!

On the other hand, in the brief respite from any attack, the soul murmured out a spell–

“Blue Flaming Lotus Technique!”

Ying Yueru became engrossed in running a healing technique in her body, working as quickly as she could. The soul's strength had been greatly hampered by those rotting wounds that plagued her like a curse, and wouldn’t go away!

As if heaven registered her voice, a blue flame surrounded her body, removing traces of other forms of flames and attacks. Everything started healing at an exhilarating speed - traces of thunder and gashes made from random roots attacking her by surprise, black bruises – but in all this healing she finally found the glaring point which still didn’t change. The rotting traces still didn’t go away. The woman seemed to be shocked at this revelation and looked angrily in the direction of the willow tree.

"What kind of demonic attack did you use?! Tell me or else, you wouldn't like what I will do to you later." She threatened and slashed her sword against the willow – as if intending to drive out the hiding Wei Zhiruo. But a golden barrier cut away the vestiges of the force of sword, draining away the remaining strength in Wei Zhiruo’s arms and legs. She hobbled like a child and leaned against the tree – she took a deep breath and clenched her red teeth. No going back. The disastrous effects on her body were countless, and if she died – that would be too shameful for her!

Wei Zhiruo stood tall and said, “Continue enraging her.”

Marr seemed to be intently listening to all her commands – followed with his next move. He used the [blood-sword] a second time.

The woman looked incredulously at the falling sword intent over herself and used her own to fight against it. She narrowed her eyes – and then while dodging launched another attack towards the willow forcing the barrier protecting it to crackle under pressure! She laughed softly at first then it became loud and resounding as she found no trace of the woman, instead a rolled up doll lying under the tree. “What a little deceiver you are! Come out child - there is no point in hiding any longer. Your sister already knows your bad taste. Hilarious. Ten thousand years and I cannot look into a child’s illusion techniques properly…Ying Yueru, Ying Yueru what has happened to you? Have you fallen so low?”

“Surround me.” Marr heard Wei Zhiruo's command and flew down towards her. He hurriedly acted as an armor and covered her body. He solidified, turning himself into red wisps of floating fabric shrouding the small figure in a misty veil. No one could glance at her bone structure, no one could peer at her face – no one could see what she was; this was the greatest protection he could give her at this moment and he knew it was crucial! The eerie red covered in totems didn’t let even a little bit of Wei Zhiruo’s face to be revealed!

Wei Zhiruo picked up the bloodied branch, and said, “A sword, no, a branch against a sword. Who do you think will have a greater edge?”

“If it’s yours – unpredictable.” A soft whisper responded.

Wei Zhiruo wrote another origin rune, decreasing her life-span by another decade, forcing her lungs and spleen to shrivel and convulse in agitation and agony. The [Sword] rune was an ancient rune, to signify a weapon christened in purest of fire, held by the bravest of warrior deities and used against the demons of dark Abyss. Since it was formed with fire, it held the traces of purifying entities. This word should have been carved on a smelted piece of marvelous, newly forged sword to call out its full power– but here she was, using it to adorn a piece of limp wood. The branch was springy, and then when the runes were written over them – they instantly glowed in a red aura, converging into a solid, flowing wisp of spirit, and then took the shape of a sword with a red-blade. New and profound. But its essence was still as flexible, as a springing willow wood.

It was just amazing that she had even succeeded to achieve this in under five-seconds. The sword burned with an edge, its glow a deep crimson like it had taken some of her blood and ingrained its essence in itself.

“I don’t know Amaranthus, I just can't tell.” Marr sounded perturbed as he said, “Why must you go through all this?” It was a silent whisper and was lost in the rustling wind.

Wei Zhiruo took a deep breath. “I too want to ask. But then, who will answer us? Whose answer will we readily trust?”

Outside the woman had stopped evading the attacks but was now focusing on breaking the barrier instead. In a few seconds the barrier will crack and that woman will burn the willow and push her out. Wei Zhiruo didn’t want to see such carnage – she decided to face upfront. Now, there was no time to hide behind shadows; since everyone was aware of the masks on one another, why pretend any longer? It was cowardly to behave like that.

“Come on child. You are not a coward. Don’t behave like one.” The woman seemed to have used another spell to strengthen or rather reinforce her sword and had found her previous state of indifference. Her hair flew in the air, but her palms gripped a sword covered in flashes and vortices of black, gloomy looking aura that was too hard to not be real. She was wounded, but still she was in better condition than Wei Zhiruo. But Wei Zhiruo wouldn’t let that woman get even a hint of this reality. “I will show you today what real cultivators should look like. Ambushing might be the teachings of your demonic sect, but we, the real cultivators, hardly behave so strikingly like cowards with no way out.” The woman laughed fanatically as she shook out the sword.

“Crack-!” The dome sheltering the willow cracked into pieces, flowing in the wind like golden shimmering dust.

Wei Zhiruo looked up at the sky, walking out from the corner for the first time. She dragged behind her the sword, her steps still heavier. Maybe it was because the sky was clearer, she was nostalgically surrounded in a smell which was softly like…home. Blue sky, white clouds, and rustling greenery. The smell of warmth, the smell of broken dirt and buzzing of the flying soot and wisps of hair floating in the gentle wind. Wei Zhiruo lightened her steps, nullifying the gravitational pull over them. She walked and then before the woman could take her appearance in her eyes, she used the red sword in her hands, cutting a deep groove into the earth on which that woman stood, pushing that woman to fall back a great distance.

“Boom! Rumble!” A round trench opened up surrounding the willow, and she jumped the trench to finally face her enemy. Behind her, a golden dome rose from the ground, completely separating the tree from any following impact.

She could feel the waves of sword intent coming out at her, touching her face and cutting out wounds on her physical body. The swirls and majestic force of the wind had pushed her backwards – but she waded against the force and cut through it to peer at her – a woman called Ying Yueru.

The mist rolled and revealed each of them to the other.

A child, indeed a child. And the other a blooming flower, in the most beautiful stage of her life. But neither of them were figures who shrunk back so they looked at each other judging each other's capabilities, looking out for any opening, gaping wounds or weaknesses; they breathed in the pulsating air and felt the charging thunder, the aura’s rolled from their bodies and interestingly enough, neither of them was weak enough to grovel down and roll back.

Ying Yueru looked at this and narrowed her eyes in doubt. “You are not a mortal. I don’t know which method you cultivate – demonic cultivation being not my forte, I cannot see what level you are. But you can before me – a Jindan level soul cultivator – stand shoulder to shoulder. You are definitely a very competent child. Indeed. Was it fun to play with your sister like this? Alas! We could have talked since the beginning but now we have a feud in between us.” The woman sighed, as she smiled the most genuine smile since the beginning. She was looking at Wei Zhiruo with a look one gives a competent adversary – and yes, the way she had been played with today, Wei Zhiruo had definitely shown that she earned this level of recognition. But she was mostly teasing – adversary or not, competence, incompetence – nothing mattered. In this world, what she desired, she will never fall back from getting it! That ice spiritual root -? It will become hers and only hers. She will then see how others can mock her again saying that the Ying clan had birthed a genius and another, a genius’s shadow! If her wind single spiritual root cannot earn her respect, then she will snatch it with this new body! One hundred percent purity… even her sweet little sister didn’t have such out of the world qualifications in her early days!

The woman's eyes grew increasingly hungry, as if thirsty for the first bite into the nape of its prey. It couldn’t wait for the chase to end!

Wei Zhiruo understood this too. So she jumped in the air, floating a few meters high in the air as she launched herself towards the woman from an unexpected angle. She swung her ringing red sword, lithe and flexible, slashing and stabbing into the air in continuously changing moves, creating waves after waves of sword power – her feet, floating, running and jumping in the air in one fluid move. The woman looked bewildered at first at seeing her able to fly, but she became too engrossed later in countering and dodging to think of that.

The blades met and clanged ringing in the air . Then they danced in a medley of red and black flashes, flying in the sky, like two butterflies chasing each other in an open meadow – it wasn’t as poignantly beautiful, yet the clanging of sword, and flashes that often blinded the eyes, became an equally mesmerizing scene!

“Clang!” the swords met and separated. No one was hit. But the sword intent definitely penetrated the forces on both sides, equally wounding them both.

“You are good – too good for your age.” Ying Yueru conceded. She looked admiringly at the small figure shrouded in black and red mist, of which she couldn’t glimpse a small trace of original shape or contour. “I have a new offer seeing you are so good at swords like this. I have a master, who will be eager to get you as a disciple. You can become my junior sister in the sect and I will hide all the traces of your connection with the demon realm.”

“And in return?” Because nothing comes free in the world.

“Lead me to the girl who fell in the water last night.” A succinct reply came and Ying Yueru looked lazily at the opposite figure. “I know you are powerful and wouldn’t go down without a fight – proud that you are. So, let's compromise. You show me where that girl is, I let you go. And you can also get guidance from a Mahayana cultivator – whichever sect you might have belonged to previously, but you should know what an elder of such a high rank means for us cultivators. Ascension. Resources – endless piles of it. Say, what do you think of this new offer.”

“I don’t believe you.” Wei Zhiruo replied and once again launched an attack on the woman, but this time Marr also took another action. He came from the opposite direction, finally securing two direct hits to the soul, snapping away the outer armor it had formed.

“Smart answer.” The woman laughed loudly, despite suffering through immense pain from two more gaping, putrefying wounds that appeared on herself. “ I like people like you. If you agree, I can help you get the world.”

“And keep half of it? I will be your mule, your cannon – and then a general. I never said I liked to be a follower.”

“Like any good commander, I say I must. Being a follower is a new thing you can try – maybe, you’ll get used to it somehow. I don’t know. But I see…You don’t like the sound of sharing – that’s a pity. I had begun to like you, now, you can only die!” With that the woman didn’t wait and launched a series of real, sword attacks that came in chains and flowed like river water, beautifully unfettered.

One, two and almost ten attacks in total pierced through Wei Zhiruo’s cover, vibrating downwards into her bones and cracking them up! Her ribcage was shattered and she felt the pain running in her spine, and her lungs seemed to have ruptured – there was definitely internal bleeding. She had a bunch of cracked ribs and her mouth got full of boiling blood. She hadn’t even healed completely from the wounds inflicted before as well as the impact left behind by the Awakening. The sheer agony of standing up can only be imagined - she was dying with pain!

“Puch!” She vomited out the blood and tried not to lean down on her sword's hilt. She didn’t get any chance to rest as another wave of attack followed and she got busy dodging it to the best of her capability. The blasting wind exploded, blowing away her outer armors, leaving just a dragging thin, totem covered veil.

But then the sky turned red and shards of red arrow fell down in droves. Marr had used his [blood-arrow] successfully. Red, long and flaming arrows all aimed precisely at the woman. Ying Yueru hardly got any time to dodge, when all rain of red-arrows pierced through the soul layers and ate away a huge chunk of it in its putrefying, corrosive effect!

“Aaaah-!” she shrieked loudly and then fell down on her knees, pressured under the corrosive attack.

“Blood rain – this instant. Don’t let her be prepared. Last wave oncoming.” Wei Zhiruo warned and commanded in her mind.

She propelled herself against the outward forces, jumping and flying the major distance between the two of them, then successfully came in front of the agonized soul – she used her sword to thrust deeply through a corroded area, peering into the shallow mark over the shoulder. She jabbed at it, took it out forcefully, slammed again and then flew back in the quickest succession that the gravity could allow her at that moment. She looked like she teleported, but it was just how fast she had propelled herself!

“Thud!” The soul fell down, under another wave of consecutive attack – she was pummeled down into the earth, before she started resisting. Waves after waves of killing intent rolled out of her, then each of her aims of sword looked a little bit further refined – taking out the best of her ability – she flew and blocked the rain, cut through the waves and sought out Wei Zhiruo who was busy dodging.

This time, Wei Zhiruo braced for the flashing black attack and felt herself crumbling down under the wave. She gasped and kept vomiting out blood from her mouth. A gaping hole appeared in her stomach, as the woman stood on top of her looking down with a strange glint of success, she pierced through and then twisted the sword-!

“uh-!” Wei Zhiruo cried unconsciously, but the next moment stopped another sound from escaping from her.

The woman started laughing. Then she looked coldly at her. “No more playing – child, you’ve really angered your sister now. Should we get down to business?”

Wei Zhiruo felt all her energy waning, but finally gripped the ground. She used a large chunk of her spiritual sense to direct a rune to appear and hit the woman forcing her to dodge a deadly attack at just a hair’s breadth distance from her neck! Then she flew up into the sky. She dodged and was chased, dodged and attacked, till the rain fell.

Agonized pain ran in the foreground but a panting Wei Zhiruo dragged her breaking apart body to face the final onslaught. She knew what the next wave would be; it wasn’t going to be physical anymore – the woman had seen that she would rather die than cover.That soul will now move on to attack her soul and spirit! It will no longer tarry, will no longer chase and battle – a fight where they both suffered –a sore thumb like her, needs to be immediately pulled out like a weed! So, Wei Zhiruo didn't panic when no subsequent attack followed and that woman almost vanished into the air.

She lay down on the ground gasping for air. Marr had escaped into her mind and was already awaiting that woman. Now, just this step – and she will be free from this torment. “Huff- ah, it hurts!” She squinted her swimming vision.

Wei Zhiruo looked all around herself. In all directions there were the irrefutable traces of a storm, deep pits and toppled and burning houses, burning weeds and grasses. The air was stifling and full of soot. She closed her eyes.

If it wasn’t for her rune covering the whole courtyard, people would have long gathered to observe such an entertaining play. Random thoughts began to fill her mind. But she wasn’t completely clueless to her surroundings - even with the dark vision that hardly formed clear images, she borrowed Marr’s vision to carry on the last, anticipated attack. Till now, the rhythm had deftly passed down from one hand to another, never completely falling into anyone’s territory. Now, she felt that her calculations were about to come true. She didn’t rejoice in this new revelation but felt…what was she even feeling right now? It was a jumbled up emotion with no name.

Wei Zhiruo clutched the hilt of her sword.

She felt it. One second, two and three here she was -! Wei Zhiruo jumped up to counter the sword attack, two thrumming swords met again and clanged with each other’s back, with flashes of sparks flitting out due to the sheer power of their meeting!

She hastily fell back, pushed under the force.

“Got you.” A voice said, and then came the inexpressible agony, splitting her mind. The soul had found an opening and was now in her mind! The sword fell with a clang and she couldn’t think of anything but completing the last step before losing consciousness!

Wei Zhiruo knew she had worn away a considerable amount of edge of the soul, it was weaker than the first time she saw it – but in no way was it not lethal anymore. It was still as dangerous to her, and when it entered her mind – she knew she had calculated precisely.

The nature of a body-snatcher could be wary but the pattern hardly changed; everyone of these souls had only one goal since the beginning – to drive away the original soul and overtake the body. Driving away could be in all kinds of ways – erasing the spirit, swallowing the soul as whole or simply piercing it into uncountable pieces and then purging it. These were some of the options she faced in her near future if she failed to grasp the correct rhythm. Or dominate the next stage.

Wei Zhiruo looked at the greed burning in the cold eyes of the woman, and instantly knew what kind of fate she had been accorded with; there was no doubt that the woman would do anything to swallow this huge spiritual sea into her soul! She walked softly, watching that woman take no notice of her and then start attacking the barriers that protected the core-area holding her soul!

“What a magnificent treasure trove you are!” The woman turned to face a kneeling, gasping Wei Zhiruo and said, sounding intrigued.

Then she looked at the boundless, thundering ocean, the power that thrummed in the air. She took a deep breath of it and felt the surge of power filling herself. “Isn’t this the heaven-sent chance in my hands? I lost a treasure tonight and won even a greater one. Now, I don’t feel pity killing you. When I peer through your memories, all your treasures will be bared in front of me. Let's see what you can hide in your death.” Then she burst out into a peal of delighted laughter. “Ahh- such a turn of luck! My lovely sister – let me see what can stop me from snatching your life this time! Revenge? It shall be mine.”

The woman didn’t wait. She launched consecutive attacks at the core area of the sea of consciousness. The runes gave away one after another – Wei Zhiruo didn’t wander either. She felt the runes and used another decade of her life to start the Rune Formation. She pushed her hands against the cold floor of the frothing boundless ocean, plunging the Origin Rune to erupt in a chain. If today, it was her fate to live, she will survive –

No one could kill her in her own mind!

“Rattle!” The sound of slithering of chains echoed, and like water dragons, enormous golden chains floated out from the ocean. There it was. Six snake-like mighty chains flung out from the ocean bed into the sky, forming a dome out of themselves! All of them searched for the ‘sinner’ – they first picked up Wei Zhiruo who was closer to them and clutched them in their midst, but then as if sensing that she was not the assigned ‘sinner’ they threw her down. Apathetic judges.

Wei Zhiruo fell down over the water which wouldn’t let her drown, and then watched it all unfold. She saw how Ying Yueru was captured.

She was struggling and trying to release herself; she even used her sword to cut through it but none of her magic seemed to work! Nothing could be taken out from the space artefact linked to her soul! She finally felt a trace of fear as she became a worthless mortal in the hands of the six mighty chains that dragged her shrieking self into its middle, forming a prison out of themselves.

Then the sentence came, without a trial.