The gossip was imparted onto YuLan, Xiao Zi, and Zhen Zhu by Cao Lu herself. After the initial introduction towards the other two sects, the four women distanced themselves from the rest of the group at the courtyard.
Although Cao Lu did not know Qing Lian too much, she had interacted with the latter during past missions along with Zuo BingTan and Ao Xiang as well.
As a straightforward and righteous female cultivator with a lot of pride, Qing Lian was a type that Cao Lu disliked. Nevertheless, one glance at Qing Lian, Cao Lu could understand Zuo BingTan's favoured treatment towards this shimei of his. Qing Lian was somehow similar to their late Empress mother, especially when she smiled a little - there was a trace of mysteriousness in the smile that was not quite a genuine smile.
After Cao Lu finished her passionate storytelling, she sighed heavily, lamenting the three siblings' obvious mother-complex. Her three shimeis could only look at each other while also glancing towards the gossiped materials.
Shen Wei had asked Ao Xiang to summon the Fire Phoenix - it was an elemental manifestation that Shen Wei liked the most. The beast-master happily obliged. Soon, from the palm of his outstretched hand, heat gathered and tiny sparks began to form into a condensed, fiery flaming sphere. The air around it was sucked into a vacuum at the ball's core.
A couple of breaths later, a vermilion bird erupted from within the ball of fire, its pitch black eyes stared unblinkingly towards the wide-eyed spectators. For Ding Shun and Yu Mei, it was their first time to see such a vivid spirit beast. Their eyes were wide in wonder.
Qing Lian visibly withdrew herself from Ao Xiang's side, her lips pursed in contempt towards the fire bird.
The fire bird frolicked around Ao Xiang's figure, but its long three feathered tails with tips of fire did not harm him or burn his green robe in the slightest. It evidently showed the relationship between the summoned and summoner.
It was not the first time for Zuo JinHai to see the fire spirit beast as well. But he noticed that the flames emitting from the phoenix were more lively and hot than what he remembered.
"Ao Xiang xiong (1), now that you are an Enlightened, are you able to summon multiple spirit beasts at once?" He also recalled that as a Martial-Artist, Ao Xiang used to only be able to summon one at a time.
Ao Xiang merely smiled, a hint of pride evident on his facial expression. He extended his right hand in front of the expectant eyes – sans Qing Lian who was now standing alone under a shaded, young camphor tree. She clenched her fists under her sleeves, dissatisfaction clearly showing on her beautiful face.
Soon, the earth and dirt from the ground surrounding them gathered on top of his outstretched palm, and a corporeal manifestation of the Earth element began to take form.
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.
Upon hearing its master's order, the Fire Phoenix turned its head towards Shen Wei who was already grinning wide with open arms. Shen Wei already focused his inner qi flowing through his Dantians, in preparation to accommodate the beast. The bird tilted its head for a bit then looked towards the three girls standing in front of its master.
Ao Xiang could clearly feel the surging qi emanating from the Fire Phoenix as if it was extremely delighted.
With a flick of its three feathered tails, it then decisively flew towards Xiao Zi.
Everyone froze, in particular Shen Wei who was still standing dumbfounded with his arms spread wide. The bird had never been partial towards anyone else apart from Ao Xiang. Even towards Shen Wei in the past, it looked like the Wu Shan practitioner was just a barely passable source of qi.
Therefore, what exactly was the scene in front of them? It was much too unreasonable. The vermilion bird happily swayed its tails, flying around Xiao Zi's figure. Everyone present could almost hear it panting with its tail wagging like a puppy.
Not to mention, Ping sect's cultivators' innate qi was supposed to be water. What was a Fire Phoenix doing, making itself comfortable with a Ping sect's practitioner that possess an innate qi cultivation base opposing its element?
Shen Wei lowered his arm dejectedly and whispered towards Zuo JinHai,
"That bird must be a male!"
Ao Xiang knew the spirit-beasts were genderless, but he himself could not believe what he was seeing.
Even towards Qing Lian, the person that the spirit-beasts' master favoured a lot, the Fire Phoenix seemed to be disgusted. It had actually burnt the tip of Qing Lian's hair in the past.
Xiao Zi, who was initially dumbstruck and slightly scared when the bird approached her, soon let out a small giggle. It was clear the bird meant her no harm at all.
But everyone else had their jaws hanging as the bird brushed its fiery head against Xiao Zi's right cheek, causing the young woman to laugh louder.
YuLan smiled at her friend's glee, lifting up her own hand to feel the bird. She had never seen a phoenix before. Regardless if it was not a real phoenix, the fiery bird still looked majestic and wondrous to her eyes.
"YuLan, don't touch it!" Cao Lu warily stepped forward to warn her, but could only let her next words drawled out silently, "You ... will ... get... burnt.... Oh... nevermind... ."
The Fire Phoenix merely stilled its body for a while upon sensing another hand trying to touch it. But when YuLan's palm actually made contact with the flickering flame on its body, it merely swiveled around to nudge its head against YuLan's palm, before resuming to affectionately brush its head against Xiao Zi's cheeks.
Two Ping sect cultivators – the sect that focus their teaching and cultivation base on the cool yin water element – happily played with a Fire Phoenix, giggling like they were playing with a domesticated pet.
The Earth Tortoise, perhaps sensing its fellow beast's mood, stuck its head outside its shell. It craned its neck towards the trio of two humans and one fire elemental bird. Then the tortoise flew off Ao Xiang's palm, slowly making its way through the air towards YuLan, Xiao Zi, and the Fire Phoenix.
Soon the trio became a quartet of harmonious relationships of two young maidens, a bird, and a tortoise – happily playing around, oblivious of the other humans present.
Shen Wei nudged Ao Xiang,
"Your animals are abandoning you."
"They are not my animals." Ao Xiang could not help but to smile towards YuLan and Xiao Zi, lingering his gaze just a bit longer towards the girl who the Fire Phoenix had approached first. His eyes softened and became gentler. For the first time, another woman apart from Qing Lian had caused an itch inside his heart.
He did not know why the spirit beasts were friendly towards YuLan and Xiao Zi.
"They were never friendly towards anyone else before."
Ao Xiang's brows furrowed at this thought as he seemed to recall something. He turned to look at Shen Wei,
"Shen Wei. Your shidi... ZhouLei... I remember the spirit beasts were also affectionate towards him when he first saw them?"
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A few years ago, when Ao Xiang was on a visit to Wu Shan sect, he had seen ZhouLei for the first time. The little boy – back then nine years of age – showed interest in Ao Xiang's spirit beasts and coaxed him to summon them.
That was actually the first time Ao Xiang managed to summon three spirit beasts at once, because the little boy's qi could help him support the Fire Phoenix, Earth Tortoise, and Water Dragon all at the same time.
Then ZhouLei requested to see the White Tiger as well.
For Ao Xiang, the only elemental beast he was always reluctant to summon was the White Tiger. The White Tiger was the only spirit beast with dual elemental power – Wood and Metal. Although it recognized Ao Xiang as its master, its existence was not normally dependent on Ao Xiang's qi. Normally, it had always stayed at Hui Lin sect deep in the forest as a guardian. The pure qi circulating there, rich in wood and metal elements, was sufficient to sustain its existence. Although Ao Xiang had the ability to summon the White Tiger, the dual elements attribute to its existence usually caused strain to his physique. Not to mention, a dual existence of both wood and metal elements was rarely found outside the environment of Hui Lin sect, and Ao Xiang could never sustain its existence for long.
Shen Wei doted on ZhouLei a lot and promised Ao Xiang to teach him Wu Shan sect's basic art of barrier formation if Ao Xiang just tried to summon the White Tiger. Although Shen Wei was not allowed to teach more in-depth arts to outsiders, the prospect of being able to learn a different kind of support-type art – albeit basic, that did not belong to Hui Lin sect – finally convinced Ao Xiang to humour ZhouLei's request.
Imagine his surprise when the White Tiger – after it was successfully summoned – even maintained its existence until night fall. Ao Xiang was not dumb and arrogant to claim that his own qi was the one sustaining the four spirit beasts all at the same time; especially when said spirit beasts acted like pushovers in front of ZhouLei.
Ao Xiang truly could not believe his eyes back then. Even as its master, the White Tiger was always somehow prideful towards him. The dual element spirit beast even extended its paws and docilely put it on top of ZhouLei's palm when asked. Then it rolled on the ground, allowing the little boy to scratch its belly.
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Upon recalling the memory that Ao Xiang had just brought to his attention, Shen Wei pursed his lips,
"Uh... Affectionate is probably not the correct term... . Your elemental beasts were totally submissive towards him."
"But, now that you have mentioned it, I recall that day was the first moment the Fire Phoenix even showed the slightest of its acquiescence towards me. I wonder if it had something to do with ZhouLei's presence."
If Shen Wei were to know that his suspicion was correct, he would probably vomit blood. Ever since that day, Shen Wei had been proud that apart from ZhouLei and its own master, Ao Xiang's Fire Phoenix was willing to be sustained by his qi. But now that he thought about it, the vermilion bird had never given him the time of day before it met Zuo ZhouLei. Ao Xiang had been the summoner and also the sole energy feeder to the spirit beasts.
After meeting ZhouLei, although Ao Xiang was still the one summoning the four elemental beasts, they were very yielding towards the boy. And of the four, only the Fire Phoenix ended up having slight attachment to Shen Wei.
In reality, ZhouLei did tell the Fire Phoenix to be 'more friendly' towards Shen Wei. After all, Shen Wei's innate element for his cultivation growth was fire, and thus his qi should be quite compatible for the bird.
And hence today, Shen Wei and Ao Xiang saw that the spirit beasts were once again acting like house pets, this time towards the two young women from Ping sect.
Shen Wei could only be envious and curse their preferential treatment inside his heart.
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Notes:
(1) 'xiong' is a more polite way to call an older brother-like figure. The more intimate way is 'ge-ge'/'ge'
----------Runexi's notes----------
As of this chapter, all the characters that were reincarnated from book 1 have now all made their appearances:)