Verus’s first attempt to sense his surroundings failed to detect anything noteworthy. After meditating for a moment, he felt like he’d been able to sort through the muddle of ki around him and extend his awareness. It was simply that there was nothing to find within his admittedly short range. He was still at the Foundation Realm so that couldn’t be helped.

Upon hearing this, Escora simply nodded and ordered him up so that they could get moving. She didn’t seem disappointed, which was a relief.

As they hiked through the dense brush, they began to see glimmering lights floating off in the distance. Verus eyed them warily. They were far too large to be fireflies, which left only one real possibility.

“Ignore them,” Escora told her companions. “Wisps and lesser spirits like those are no threat to us if we have the wards the gatekeepers gave us. They’re just coming out of hiding because we killed the lizard spirit that dominated this area.”

“There are way more wisps here than back home and they’re much bigger. To tell you the truth, it’s creeping me out,” Warin said in a nervous tone. “What if they’re leading us to our doom?”

“We’re not following them,” Verus pointed out.

“Maybe we’re under their influence and we don’t even realize it! Look at the way they’re weaving and blinking, it could be some sort of spell.”

“Don’t be an idiot. The ki is much thicker here, that’s all. Ignore them,” Escora told him without stopping.

An hour of trudging through the sweltering forest left the disciples in much the same environment they’d started in, but at least the wisps gradually faded away. It was difficult to say how much progress they’d made, but Verus would guess next to none. Thus, he suggested they stop for a moment so that he could try scanning the surroundings again.

“Make it quick. I don’t want to stay still out here,” Escora told him.

Verus found a nearby rock and sat on it as he opened himself to the outside world. At first, he sensed nothing but the thick haze of many colored ki that swirled around him, but as he analyzed every stream and glimmer, he noticed a cool pool of energy that didn’t shift or move at all.

Opening his eyes, he glanced over to his left. He saw nothing but trees, but he was sure there was something there.

“That way. There’s a source of water ki,” he told his allies.

Escora looked surprised. “Really? Let’s go check it out.

Past the trees lay a large patch of thorn bushes, but after carefully cutting through them, Verus found a patch of clear ground with single blue flower in the center of it. It had a single bloom that was shaped like a blue bell. He’d have never seen it if he hadn’t sensed it first.

“A spiritual herb. Huh, I guess your senses really are better than mine,” Escora remarked as she gave him friendly pat on the shoulder.

“What do we do with it?” Warin asked.

Spiritual herbs were rare treasures and could be worth quite a few shards. Sometimes certain species of plants would begin absorbing ki and gain special properties that made them invaluable for crafting medicines and training aids. However, they were difficult to grow in captivity because you never knew which plants would start absorbing ki.

“First, I need to deal with its guardian,” Escora said as she carefully stepped over to the plant.

Before Verus could ask what she was talking about, there was a loud buzzing noise, and a glowing blue blur zoomed straight at Escora’s face. About the size of a man’s head, it had wasp-like wings, but the rest of its form was hard to make out.

Escora just chuckled and slapped it aside with a small water whip. The small spirit popped as the attack hit it, dissipating into a cloud of water ki.

“Most spiritual herbs in the wild form a symbiotic bond with a guardian spirit of some sort,” Escora explained as she picked the flower. “The spirits feed off their ki without harming them and hides and protects them from predators.”

“I’ll be taking this, since I’m the only water cultivator in our group,” she added as she wrapped the flower up and put it in her bag.

The outer disciples continued their trek as before, but now Verus didn’t need to suggest stopping so he could scan the area. Escora frequently asked him to, even though they usually found nothing.

However, they did encounter some mundane dangers. Sweating and tired, Warin stopped to lean against a tree, only to have a giant centipede with a head the size of his fist climb around the tree trunk and glare at him. Screaming, he stumbled back, but the big brown centipede simply withdrew back out of sight.

“What was that? A soul beast?” Verus asked as Warin calmed down.

“Did you see the size of that thing? I hate bugs!” Warin said.

Escora shook her head. “It wasn’t a soul beast, just a normal centipede. They sometimes get that big in hot places like this, but they’re mostly harmless. It’s the smaller red ones that have deadly venom and bad tempers.”

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“Ah, thank you for sharing your knowledge,” Verus told her as he quickly studied his surroundings for any sign of red bugs. He didn’t see any.

Escora grinned at Warin. “Even they aren’t as bad as some of the spiders though.”

The chubby disciple just groaned.

Eventually, the forest grew darker as afternoon gave way to night and the sun started to set, so Escora had them find a place to set up camp. “We don’t want to be stumbling around in the dark out here. Especially not you two. You have no idea how to move quietly yet.”

The camp site Escora settled on was atop a hill where the ground was dry and the thinner trees allowed a cool wind to disperse the stuffy air of the forest. The first thing they did was set up their spirit wards. It turned out that Warin had some skill with this.

“Since I have a devotion attunement, I’ve been studying up on all the Lightbringer duties, including warding,” Warin explained as he got to work placing some paper talismans around their camp.

There was a reason Lightbringers handled most of the spirit warding in the empire. Devotion ki was extremely good for protecting the spirit from foreign influences, and some simple glyphs could extend the effect to cover a larger area, creating a field that naturally repulsed weak spirits and would warn them if anything more dangerous approached.

With their protections up, Escora got a small fire going to light the night and warn off beasts. They then laid out their bed rolls around it and she set up her personal anti-bug ward. Warin wanted to get to sleep right after eating, but both Escora and Verus wanted time to cultivate the thick energy of the forest, and they forced Warin to meditate along with them. Even when they were done, Escora wanted someone on watch all night. She volunteered to go first, but everyone would have to take a turn.

Thus, Verus found himself being woken up after getting only a few hours of slumber. When Escora went to sleep, he tended the fire alone in the darkest part of the night. The light of the stars and moon were dampened by the branches overhead, but the fire was enough. Verus found himself enjoying the hum of the insects that filled the night air, and the occasional glimmer of a spirit off in the distance was easy enough to ignore. It was a unique experience for him, relaxing in its own way, and he could be alone with his thoughts. Still, he needed his sleep, so after an hour and a half had passed, he threw some water on Warin and laid back down on his roll.

The next morning, the disciples packed up and started hiking toward the center of the valley again, stopping only for Verus to scan the surroundings every half hour. The first scan revealed nothing, but Verus sensed a source of earth energy on his next try. Unfortunately, upon rushing to the source of the ki, all they found was a startled rat spirit that quickly scurried away.

“I apologize, this method of searching is rather hit or miss,” Verus said as the rat spirit vanished from sight.

“Don’t worry about it,” Escora told him. “Wasting a few minutes here and there is much better than missing something valuable.”

They continued on their trek through the humid forest for another hour before Verus sensed anything else. This time it was a larger source of earth ki.

“Maybe it’s momma rat?” Warin suggested.

Verus’s brow furrowed. “That’s not how spirits work. They’re beings of pure ki from the eternal plane that merely mimic the forms of things they find on the physical plane. They don’t breed.”

“Regardless, we should investigate,” Escora said. “Just be ready for a fight.”

As they headed for their target, the ground grew rockier and uneven. Soon, the ferns and bushes gave way to large grey rocks that jutted forth form the earth. The trees also grew thinner until they arrived at a clearing. It was full of piles of grey and black rocks, and in the very center of it was a tall obelisk made from black stone that looked like obsidian. It was shorter than the trees, and its rectangular shape marked it as being artificial. Nonetheless, it radiated a heavy aura of earth ki that filled the entire clearing.

“I can definitely sense that now,” Escora remarked with a huff as she studied the obelisk warily. Verus had expected her to rush over to it, but instead she was hanging back.

“What’s the matter?” he asked her. It was unlike her to be so cautious.

“That obelisk is a perfect ambush spot. Almost anything could be hiding among those rocks and blending in using the thick earth energy to hide their spirits. I also don’t see any sign of a guardian or other spirits, but its ki should be drawing them in like moths to a flame.”

“So let’s not go there and get ambushed?” Warin suggested. “Let’s just turn around and leave. It’s that simple.”

“Don’t be a coward. A hunter like me can spring this trap on whatever set it, no problem.”

Verus sighed. He actually agreed with Warin. There was nothing here they really needed, but he doubted he could convince Escora to retreat.

“Let’s see what we’re up against first, he said. “Protect me while I try to scan for spirits in the clearing.”

Escora agreed, so Verus sat down on a rock and began meditating to clear his mind. Once his idle thoughts were banished, he focused on the ki around him, how it flowed and ebbed. Earth ki dominated the area, covering everything like a heavy blanket. Sensing anything else was difficult, but Verus kept struggling. He had lots of practice at finding and recognizing different types of ki. Peering through the waves of earth ki, he began to see more details that had escaped him at first, small strands of other types of ki. Wind was present, although suppressed by all the earth ki, and so was water. Wait, was that a ball of fire ki? It felt familiar…

“I’ve got them!” Verus hissed as he opened his eyes. “There are four disciples from our sect hiding among the rocks, and Katar is one of them.”

“That’s the fire cultivator you defeated, right? So, he’s got a grudge against you,” Escora said as she looked thoughtful.

“That’s him, and yes, I’d say he is holding a grudge and means me harm.”

Escora nodded and studied Verus for a moment. “I can’t sense them at all. Your ki sense is quite good. Are you sure you don’t have some sort of ability?”

“No, I’ve simply been practicing, and my efforts have been rewarded in some small way,” he replied. It appeared that all time he’d spent on channeling hadn’t been wasted after all. Truly, hard work brought blessings, like the Lightbringers said.

Escora gave him a skeptical look but they had greater concerns. “If it really is Katar and his pals out there, this is undoubtedly an ambush and they’ll attack us if they see us.”

“I agree. The family scions among our peers are prideful and quick to anger. We don’t get along, and they certainly won’t want to share whatever spoils they’ve gained here, to say nothing of them coveting our own.”

“Ya, they’re stuck-up assholes,” Warin added as Verus a nodded in agreement.

Escora smiled. “So, we need to turn their trap against them and beat them down as quick as possible, before they even know what’s going on. Where are they all exactly?”

Warin sighed. “We’re still attacking them?”

“Yes. There’s no rule against fighting your own sect in this event, and no prize for playing nicely.”