Remembering You For Eternity

2.15 Ao Xiang The Beastmaster

A tortoise lazily poked its head out of its brownish shell, then slowly looked around, before deciding to hide inside its shell once more. It was a far contrast to the Fire Phoenix who was still happily flying around. Despite it being just a manifestation of an element, it seemed to have a will on its own.

Shen Wei laughed towards the sleeping Earth Tortoise, "What a cute and lazy spirit beast! Ao Xiang, what is the Earth Tortoise good for?"

Fire Phoenix and Water Dragon were the offensive types, this much everyone knew.

"Ah, it is particularly good to aid barrier formation. Don't laugh at it, Shen Wei." Ao Xiang let out a small grin, "You of all people should know how hard it is to set up and sustain an impenetrable barrier formation just using our own qi. The tortoise can support your defensive arts."

Shen Wei touched his nose awkwardly. It was true – in Wu Shan sect, he was the one who was the most adept in barrier formation after his shifu, Sage Shen Zheng. Nonetheless, every time he finished setting up and sustaining a powerful barrier formation, his qi was always drained. Hence, he did not like it that much.

"Can you show me the Dragon?" A soft voice sounded, and everyone turned to look at YuLan who had decisively walked towards Ao Xiang.

In her mind, memory of the purple and golden scaled dragon that had aided her cultivation surfaced. The dragon had shown her the dream – the illusion of that person.

Ao Xiang blinked at the yin maiden who had suddenly shown an interest on his spirit beasts,

"Ah, I don't mind... . But at the moment, I can only sustain two spirit beasts at once. And once summoned, these spirit beasts won't leave my side unless they are attracted to someone else's qi signature. Then they would feed off that person's qi instead of mine."

Shen Wei nodded to support Ao Xiang's explanation,

"Hence, a beast-master, although seemingly a powerful profession, is normally just a one-way arrow. Once the spirit beasts are unleashed, they would not disappear until they completely spend the energy required to support their corporeal forms."

"Correct. And not everyone has affinity with these elemental beasts. Take this Earth Tortoise for example; although it looks tame, it can bite. If you were not careful and willfully tried to control it with your qi, losing a limb or two might be already a lucky outcome."

Ao Xiang glanced sharply towards Shen Wei, the person who almost lost a limb or two years ago when the latter tried to make fun of the Earth Tortoise by repeatedly poking its shell.

"I have quite a good affinity with the Fire Phoenix, though!" Shen Wei protested.

Ao Xiang sighed. It was true, the Fire Phoenix never liked anyone else, but it had latched on to Shen Wei a few times in the past. This was during the times when Ao Xiang was still learning to master the art of summoning the spirit beasts. Because the Fire Phoenix used to be the easiest for him to summon, it would always stay until his qi was completely spent. How could he summon the other beasts if there was no one else who could sustain the Fire Phoenix? Luckily, he got to know Shen Wei, and the Fire Phoenix conceded to feed off Shen Wei's qi instead. This allowed young Ao Xiang to keep his own qi and learn to summon the other spirit beasts. Still, two summons at the same time, was always his personal limit. 

"Alright then, you feed the Fire Phoenix for now. I will try to entertain my new friends," Ao Xiang smiled towards YuLan, Xiao Zi, and Zhen Zhu who were already standing in front of him in anticipation.

Cao Lu stood by her brothers' side, folding her arms with an expression like she was enjoying a show.

Ao Xiang muttered some words towards the Fire Phoenix – they were ancient incantations to converse with the spirit beasts.