Song of Silent Promise

13. Echoes of Memories (2)

However, Master never showed his wings. Was that because he also only had one wing, like hers?

"Master, do you only have one wing too?" She asked. The good thing about her Master was, no matter what she asked, there was nothing out of bounds. The worst that could happen was, he would stay quiet.

He did not answer, and Ye Jing knew he either did not wish to answer, or he had forgotten about it - just like he had forgotten about a lot of things lately.

Her grip around his waist tightened. Her hair was untangled, but the knot in her heart was messy and hurting.

"The sky is the loneliest place of all. But Master, do you know? There could be millions of people around me. If you're not by my side, then where ever I am, is the loneliest place of all."

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She grew taller. Her one wing was no longer visible because she had better control of her qi. On human standards, her face and features were as faultless as could be.

Her Master had just finished meeting with other Saints - the earth-kind, the water-kind, the fire-kind. Whatever was decided upon their meeting, Ye Jing did not like it. Especially when Master summoned her to his outer chamber.

Ye Jing clutched onto her dress and knelt in front of him in subservient respect, despite her unease.

"Ye Jing, for the ten millenniums ahead, it will be the fire-kind who will shepherd the universe. You are the current Lord of the wind-kind," he paused and smiled, looking somewhat sad, "During my life, the wind-kind does not get to be the shepherd, but I am fortunate to have found you. In the future, when you are without me, you must find a successor-"

She finally could not maintain her silence, "Master, I don't want to be the Lord of whatever-kind. I want to accompany you!" Her gaze fell onto the apathetic face of her Master. The handsome face she had seen for every day throughout her life did not show the usual gentleness. He did not reply to her remark, merely walking past her kneeling figure.

She reached out to hold his swaying sleeve, just like thousand of times she had done before. But with a flick, he brushed her off and withdrew to his inner chamber.

It was one place where she was never allowed to enter.

The day after, he told her to descend to the lower realm to further her cultivation. She had been stuck in Wind Profound Realm for the past four decades.

Like nothing ever happened, the usual gentle smile graced his lips again as he said, "The human realm can be confusing and overwhelming, but as the future Lord of the wind-kind, the experience will do you good. Perhaps, you'll be able to find the enlightenment to breakthrough the next level of your cultivation."

Core Awakening - Foundation - Wind Profound - Nascent Realm - Void Body Realm - Divine Body - Wind Saint Master - Nirvana.

Such was the cultivation levels of the wind-kind. The wind-kind had affinity with air, able to soar through the sky without depending on their qi.

Amongst the cultivators, it was well-known the current Saints possessed cultivation of the later stage of Divine Body or more, managing to live beyond eight hundreds to more than thousand years old. She did not know her Master's cultivation level exactly, but she always thought he was the strongest person in the whole universe.

"Child, what is your current cultivation?" He asked.

Ye Jing hated when he called her that way. She pouted, "Master, my name is Ye Jing." He was the very one who gave her name, why would he not use it? "I have not had any luck to pass the Profound stage."

He lowered his lashes, pondering to himself, "Profound stage... ."

For some reason, he looked a bit lost.

"If that's the case, Master will accompany you to the lower realm until you reach Void Body Realm."

"!!" She widened her eyes. Nascent Realm stage could very well be a few hundred years. Whatever her Master had been worried about lately, such as being stubborn about her being the future Lord of her kind, could wait until a few hundred years later.

The two of them descended the tall mountain they called home, gliding towards the barrier into the lower realm.

The human world had a different kind of beauty. The mountains and hills were less tall, the clouds were thicker and not as white as the ones in their mountain home, the air was a bit stifling, but the myriad of colors she found in the human cities were kaleidoscopes of the most colorful of the wind-kind's feathers.

First, she and her Master chose a lower realm Sect where they resided for a few decades. For humans, her level of cultivation was akin to an Immortal. More so could be said about her Master. Even without expending ten percent of his strength, he could easily defeat the most powerful Sect Leaders of the lower realm.

She began to learn about human emotions.

She always knew her Master was exceptional, but he stuck out more in the human world.

With his simple pure white robe, his elegance was unmatched, his appearance otherworldly. When he battled against the demons who threatened human civilizations, his heroism was beyond the most able war generals and strategists, his leadership was above any emperor.

They roamed the lower realm, there was no village they did not roam, no empire unassisted, no Sect they coached for a few decades. During their time, Ye Jing gathered not just a few treasures. Since time immemorial, the upper realm had been visiting the lower realm either in discreet or otherwise. Some of the cultivators from the upper realm, including the ones who had previously ascended from the lower realm, ended up making their home in the lower realm. Thousands of years of cultivation materials were aplenty in the human worlds.

She liked a particular Sect, the founder was apparently a half-demon who had gained enlightenment and lived as a protector for the human cultivators. There, she found an ancient scripture about the methodology of Inner Core. How an Inner Core was a cultivator's soul itself, and how soul could attain immortality when the body could not.

The scripture was not complete, due to the Sect's founder branding it as the vilest work of the demons. After all, body and soul was the authority of the heaven and hell, and not for cultivators or humans to understand and change.

She began to notice, her Master had not called her name in a long time. He looked more often dazed than not, as though he was not sure where he was, or who she was.

Then there were more wars in the human worlds. There were also more demons, despite her and her Master's effort to curb them wherever they could. The demon attacks became more ruthless, each tear of the dimension brought forth a cavalry of never ending beasts and plague. Humans became demons, cultivators became stronger demons.

Then, one of the fire-kind, the current Shepherd of the universe, visited her, "Lord Ye, it is time to return the Saint's soul to samsara."

The Shepherd had also descended from the upper realm and found her

"What? Why?!" She had reached the upper stage of Nascent Realm.

"Your Master had begun to become a demon. If we did not send his soul to samsara straight away, he can very well be the end of the lower realm."

She still did not believe his words, until one day, she saw with her own eyes; a picture she would never forget for the rest of her long life.

The person most important to her was still otherworldly handsome, the pale face, billowing black hair, the smile upon his lips. The smile was gentle looking and still cause her heart to palpitate. But part of her drumming heart was because she saw in each of his hands, a severed head of their current Sect's leader and his son.

This was the very Sect they had called home for the past decade.

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