The land of Yanshi, located beyond a mountainous range on the northern part of the continent of Zuo, was rich in minerals and natural metals. Hence, it was a precious existence for the many big and small sects in jianghu. Similarly, it is coveted by normal laymen alike, as it was also rich in gold.
However, the journey there was most definitely not a walk in the park.
The first half of the journey felt almost deceiving, with travellers having to pass an expansive land that was blessed with a year-long perpetual Spring season. Flowers bloom and petals dance in the air, creating illusion of a blessed land. If one were to close their eyes and listen, they could hear the wind and breeze creating a symphonic flute-like melody, coaxing any weak-willed person to succumb to the beauty of nature.
However, seasoned cultivators could sense that beneath this pretty façade lied the rotten stench of death. The myriad of colourful floras in this beautiful splendour was actually some of the most poisonous plants known to man. In fact, it was easy to come to such conclusions, especially when noting that there were no animals roaming around the area, not even insects.
This was the kingdom of the flowers, and they possessed no qi or will, just trying their best to enamour any possible fleshy bodies to become their nutrients underground.
Nevertheless, if one was wary and regulated their qi properly, they would be able to pass this temptation without any issue. After all, the flowers just tried to entice, but did nothing else. There were no attacks or hidden man-eating plant traps.
After passing the fifth bone-white skeleton hidden beneath some peach-coloured flowering bush, YuLan did not bat an eye anymore. Xiao Zi and Zhen Zhu had also gathered their wits after their initial apprehension and vocalized pity on such deceitful beauty.
At their last lamentation, YuLan and Cao Lu inadvertently glanced towards Qing Lian, who was showing a distressed expression upon sighting yet another human skeleton.
"Deceitful beauty, huh... ." Cao Lu rolled her eyes.
The Hui Lin's sect darling was weeping tears for those white bones with no soul, her trembling hands clutching onto Ao Xiang and Zuo BingTan's sleeves. The two older males were ever so gentle -- though Cao Lu preferred the term 'gullible' -- and comforted her with kind expressions. Even Zuo JinHai and Ding Shun from Wu Shan sect quipped in some words of comfort for her.
Of all the males, only Shen Wei looked indifferent. He was pointing out numerous plants' names that he was aware of to his shimei – Yu Mei – and Xiao Zi and Zhen Zhu.
Cao Lu spat and grumbled, low enough for only YuLan to hear, "That black lotus should just stay here to add to the flower collection."
YuLan laughed at her DaShijie's outburst. She knew that Cao Lu would normally not care about whatever Qing Lian wanted to do or act. Cao Lu was always an aloof character. However, she clearly could not be pleased to see her two younger brothers being involved and happily obliged somewhat to cater to Qing Lian's pitiful appearance.
"YuLan, Cao Lu!!" Shen Wei called out to attract both cultivators' attention. He had begun to call YuLan on little name basis, and YuLan did not mind the slightest. Despite looking outwardly rigid, Shen Wei was actually quite approachable and smiled a lot. He was definitely the playful big brother type, while Ao Xiang was the responsible big brother type.
Upon looking at where he was pointing at, YuLan noticed a small sphere of colourful petals. The flower was similar to the hydrangeas in the modern world, albeit much smaller. And this hydrangea look-alike conspicuously bloomed straight at ground level, with no branch or root to support it. It was as if, someone had just thrown a round ball of flowers on the ground.
"A yin cosmos flower." Cao Lu gasped, "And shifu told me that this flower is very rare to find."
"Isn't the flower one of the ingredients needed to make a qi-refining pill?" Xiao Zi had also joined to observe. She remembered that during her initiation years ago, she was the one who was bestowed the qi-refining pill by the sect. It had aided her cultivation base greatly, despite her being a Princess of the Zuo Imperial lineage.
A yin cosmos flower, once refined together with the yin lake water, was able to change one's constitution to be closer to the yin cool energy. The Imperial Lineage children usually possessed warm constitution, even in the female offspring. The Royal Princes had no problem to cultivate as the male bodies innately had yang attribute and coincide harmoniously with their lineage's warm qi. However, for the Royal Princesses, they would always meet a brick wall in their cultivation base. The ones who did not cultivate, would of course live their lives as normal humans with limited lifespan.
Cao Lu and Xiao Zi were the same, both possessing innate qi that would otherwise be incompatible with Ping sect's teaching. Fortunately, both had the fate to consume the qi-refining pills when they first entered Ping sect. Otherwise, it was almost impossible for them to reach their current cultivation base within the relatively short years they had been practicing Ping sect's yin based martial-art.
Nevertheless, the ingredients for the pill – sans the yin lake water – were hard to find. The yin cosmos flower only bloomed in obscure places as well, and who would have known they actually encountered one here.
"Your Ping sect's Sage Hu Lan would be delighted to have this," Shen Wei smiled. He had been in jianghu for more than two decades; he certainly knew a thing or two about other sect's peculiarities. And Ping sect maintained harmonious relationship with Wu sect, he definitely would not withhold such a discovery if it was to benefit his sect's ally.
Cao Lu flashed back a smile of gratitude and lowered her body, intending to pluck the innocent looking sphere of colourful petals. However, short a hair away from touching the pretty petal, YuLan slapped Cao Lu's palm away.
"YuLan shimei!" Cao Lu widened her eyes, ire and astonishment in her eyes. This youngest shimei of hers was usually always calm and sensible, and always polite towards her. Although she was slightly vexed, Cao Lu still gave the latter a doubtful look.
"DaShijie, please stay away from the plant." YuLan's face paled, small beads of sweat started to form on her forehead. Her arms rigidly hold onto Cao Lu's shoulder, unwilling to let the older woman get any closer to the flower.
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She thought it was only an illusion. Initially, YuLan was also mesmerized with the pretty bunch of colourful blooming petals whose appearance was like a ball of fresh potpourri. However, when Cao Lu's fingers almost touched it, she saw some blurry silhouettes of black strings, seemingly hungry and eager to devour the jade-white reaching fingers.
She did not want to wait to find out what would happen if Cao Lu actually made contact with the flower, hence she reflexively swat the latter's hand away.
Then as soon as she did that and Cao Lu was already a safe distance away, the black strings disappeared.
However, it did not make the dread inside her heart ease. If anything, she sensed more malice in the now-pretty-again looking flower, seemingly vexed at being deprived of its meal. Her heart thumped loudly as the killing intent started to emanate from the beautiful ball of petals.
"Ao Xiang xiong," YuLan spoke lowly towards the older Hui Lin sect practitioner who was already attracted to the commotion,
"Didn't you say the plants in this region do not possess will?"
Ao Xiang's face was also stern. He had brief everyone about this region before, all facts that was widely known and had also been personally experienced by him in the past. He had never encountered such plant that could emit a killing intent.
He stepped forward, putting Qing Lian behind his body in a protective stance. The rest of the Enlighteneds – Shen Wei, Zuo BingTan, and Zuo JinHai – unsheathed their blades.
"What happened?" Cao Lu blanked at the others' reaction.
"This flower is exuding killing intent." Zuo BingTan pursed his lips, flashing a glance full of gratitude towards YuLan.
"But it is such a pretty looking thing. I actually don't feel anything." Qing Lian poked her head from behind Ao Xiang's body.
"I don't sense anything amiss either." Xiao Zi admitted. Cao Lu, Zhen Zhu, Ding Shun, and Yu Mei nodded in agreement.
"Could it be... only people with cultivation rank above Martial Artist are the ones who could sense the malicious intent?" Shen Wei narrowed his eyes, already pointing his blade towards the flower. Although he felt a bit foolish for guarding against such a harmless looking immobile plant, the killing intent still emanating from the flower did not let him be careless.
"Did you all not see ...?" YuLan darted her eyes to the other Enlighteneds. She also stepped back further. After all, despite her being an Enlightened, she was weaponless and much less experienced than the others,
"Did you not see the black strings?"
"What black strings" Zuo JinHai tilted his head slightly, "The flower started to exude an aura like that of a killer as soon as you saved Lu-jie." He paused, "How did you notice it though? Did you notice the killing intent much earlier? After all, you were the closest... ."
"N-no... . I saw some misty looking black strings coming out of the petals, " she frowned, "It actually made the colours turn grey and rotten. Only then I thought it couldn't be anything good... ."
"That aside," Cao Lu's expression had already turned friendly towards YuLan. After all, she did not want to find out what would happen if she did end up making contact with the flower,
"What are you going to do with this plant?"
"This plant cannot attack us anyway." Qing Lian wrinkled her nose and suddenly stepped forward after observing the plant to be as idle as ever,
"What murderous area. Isn't it just a plant?" She unsheathed her own sword and decisively swung it downwards at the ball's direction, intending to destroy it. When the blade made contact with the ball of flower, the petals started to wither, turning it to grey rotten colour similar to a corpse.
"See? Just a stupid disgusting plant." Qing Lian flicked her sword.
YuLan's eyes widened, "Ao Xiang xiong! Fire Pheonix!"
Ao Xiang might have wanted to ask YuLan what she meant, if not for the murderous area from the now-dead looking ball getting more intense. Feeling dread and worry for Qing Lian's safety – she, being the person that the killing intent was now solely fixated on – he quickly summoned the vermillion bird.
The Fire Phoenix quickly took form; as soon as it opened its eyes, it flew towards the rotting ball.
The bird's pair of wings and the three-pointed tails curled inwardly to envelop the ball, and soon from within the fiery embrace sounded an anguished shriek of something inhuman. When the bird stretched its body once more, not a speck of dust was left from the flower ball.
Everyone stood in silence, and Shen Wei finally asked hoarsely, "Uh... what was that?"
"It... is safe now... I think." YuLan looked at the fire bird who was flying towards Xiao Zi, now wagging its fiery tails playfully.
"When Qing Lian hurt the ball, I saw the black strings again... ." She glanced towards the pale-faced Qing Lian who was clutching on to Ao Xiang's sleeves, "The black mist was more condensed and if we had left it any longer, Qing Lian would most likely have been hurt. It wanted to kill her."
"I think you are just blowing things out of proportion. No one else saw these black strings you were speaking of." Qing Lian stubbornly protested, but the tremble in her voice betrayed her confidence,
"And I am older than you anyway, you should be calling me 'jie'!" She added.
YuLan could only look at her with a deadpan expression. She did not need to be thanked, but what was with this Xiao Hui look-alike's character that was even more willful than a primary grade school kid?
For YuLan whose soul was older than everyone present, she would only address someone as senior if they acted like one. She sighed and decided not to bother.
"Did everyone hear that... voice? I don't even know if that should be called a voice... ." Ao Xiang swallowed to ease his nervousness. In the group, he was the highest in cultivation and was also the oldest, but he had never seen or heard such a peculiar and malicious plant.
"And how did you know the Fire Phoenix could purify it, YuLan?" Zuo BingTan asked. He did not fail to notice that she was the one who requested for the elemental beast to be summoned.
YuLan shook her head, feeling puzzled as well. She turned to look at the bird, and it tilted its head slightly to look at her as well. She frowned – there was one word transmitted, as if it suddenly formed inside her mind. She had no doubt it came from the Fire Phoenix.
"Daemon... ." Yulan muttered, looking at the charred ground where the flower had been.
The other four Enlighteneds similary looked at the direction she was looking.
"That word sounds familiar." Zuo JinHai frowned.
"Of course it is. It is mentioned in ancient records that all sects in jianghu would have." Zuo BingTan rolled his eyes at his younger brother.
"Daemon... . Malice formed from fallen mortal souls that could not enter the cycle of reincarnation. No one knows how or why, but these wayward souls finally decided to possess whatever physical bodies they could." Shen Wei pursed his lips, explaining further for the Martial-Artists present. After all, ancient records were usually only made available for disciples ranked Enlightened and above.
"Malice is devilish energy without a form, but born from mortals. This existence is not akin to demons that have corporeal bodies. Hence, it is both devil and demon, yet at the same time, is neither as well."
"The ancient records are from hundreds of years ago though, and there has not been a report of Daemons' appearance for a few generations. No one really knows what they look like anymore." Ao Xiang added,
"But I recall the ancient texts mentioned something about dark mist, a foggy existence of malicious spirit that had taken over a physical body. Don't you think it is similar to what YuLan has spoken of before? Something about her seeing black strings?"
He took a deep breath and turned to look at Qing Lian. He lightly tapped his knuckle on her forehead,
"If that was really a Daemon, you have to thank YuLan. Daemon's malice can transfer to another vessel. They constantly try to find stronger vessels, preferably humans. These souls, who have lost their identities, want to live once more. A mere plant would not be enough for its wish."
Because Ao Xiang had said as such, Qing Lian was tactful enough to not cause further disturbance and thanked YuLan, her face showing a truly remorseful looking expression. YuLan just decided to shrug it off.
The Fire Phoenix docilely returned to the elements, after once more being asked to leave by Xiao Zi. Relieved of not having to waste his qi away to maintain the bird's existence, Ao Xiang addressed everyone,
"Daemon or not, let's treat it as such until we know further information. We may encounter more danger, or even more... daemons... . Everyone must not touch or attack what they are unsure of, and must stay close to an Enlightened at all times. It seems that Enlighteneds are the only ones who can sense the murderous aura of these... daemons."
As they continued walking, Cao Lu clenched her fists tightly,
"I have to work harder. I seem to only be a deadweight with my cultivation only at a Martial-Artist."
"DaShijie... don't think about it too much. If you were a deadweight, what would that make Zhen Zhu and I?" Xiao Zi grinned.
"I still wonder though," Zhen Zhu quipped in, "YuLan seems to be the only one who could see that mist thing, all the other Enlightened seniors could only sense the murderous aura afterwards. Why is that?"
YuLan did not know the cause either, she could only shrug, "Maybe it's because of my pure yin countenance?"
Her friends nodded in understanding. That seemed enough to satisfy their mild curiosity. Yulan for once, was grateful that she had this fantastical sounding 'pure yin body'. Any weird ability that she possessed, she could just put it on this bizarre physique.
Unbeknownst to them, Shen Wei had already crept up to their side, dragging Zuo JinHai, Ding Shun, and Yu Mei. He sighed heavily,
"I would have loved to chat with Ao Xiang. He's one of my old friends after all. But I really cannot stand that Qing Lian. Spending a longer period of time with her seems to diminish my intelligence."
"She is not too bad," Zuo JinHai protested, "She's actually very adorable once you know her."
Cao Lu let out a very un-ladylike loud snort at her youngest brother's remark, on which the younger male retorted with a sharp glare.
"Not all women are as heroic and vigilant as you, Lu-jie! Some of them actually need men's protection."
"If you say anything more, I will stab you!" Cao Lu flicked him a look full of disgust.
YuLan only laughed at the siblings' banter.
"So YuLan, how did you know that thing was a Daemon?" Shen Wei threw her a look full of curiosity.
She let out a tired sigh. For this one, she definitely could not use her yin body as an excuse. Nor could she say that she had read it in some ancient texts at Ping sect before. After all, she used to only be a Martial-Artist as well before they embarked together. The rule that only Enlightened disciples and above could gain access to ancient books and scrolls, also applied to Ping sect. Not even Cao Lu knew of Daemons, how could YuLan claim she had read them about it back at the sect?
Briefly glancing at Xiao Zi, YuLan asked, "Ah-Zi. Have you heard the elemental beasts talking to you before?"
Xiao Zi blinked and tilted her head in confusion, "Uh, not really... . They have always been silent around me, though I think they can understand what I say or tell them just fine."
"Well.... , the Fire Phoenix told me that the thing... was a Daemon." YuLan smiled at Xiao Zi, then towards Shen Wei. Upon noticing the astonished look on Shen Wei's face, YuLan's smile carried a touch of irony,
"You don't believe me, do you?"
It actually did not matter if he believed her or not, she was just telling the truth. There was no reason to hold back such information as well.
The baffled expression slowly turned to amazement, then Shen Wei chuckled,
"No... . Not at all. You are actually the second person who told me that the elemental beasts could talk!"
He sighed, muttering to himself as he looked towards the blue sky,
"Shidi... . There's another weirdo here who can hear the spirit beasts... ."
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-----Runexi's notes----------
Sorry for the late update, guys. Last week had been hectic. But can I just say that we are about half-way through the story. It may seem short, but the length of each chapter for book 2 almost double the ones on book 1 :)