77 A Little Dance, Entering the World of Cultivation 1 (1/2)
Sitting at the edge of the water stream, An Fei allowed her feet to dangle in the cool current, relishing in the comforting feeling. However, she soon grunted before dropping a large wok into the stream between her extended legs.
Shua!
Holding the wok by its edge and allowing the water current to gently rinse the black iron surface, the girl drifted into thought, her mind lulled by the rhythmic scouring of the water. Occasionally, she would gaze at the other side of the stream, or peer at the ends of the current.
There was not an opposing side of land. Similarly, the stream of water possessed neither a beginning nor destination.
The other side of the bank, and both ends of the stream were obscured by a dense mist. Regardless of how much effort she expended into investigating the cause, all she got in return was confusion compounded upon further confusion.
Brazenly reaching out with her arm into the fog provided her with nothing more than a slightly humid and chilly sensation. However, there were no signs of the water current possessing a final destination.
The stream of water appeared to be a solitary streak across space, and comprised an inexplicable mystery for the young girl.
”Hah…”
An Fei sighed as she fished the black wok out of the water, allowing it to dry on the grass. Picking up the and placing a few edible herbs into the leather bag slung over her shoulder, the girl departed from the medicine garden.
Her target, as usual, was the Archives of Time. Each day, outside of spending the majority of the time learning how to cook, she would read within the timeless library.
Medicine, martial arts, cultivation, and other miscellaneous topics of interest constituted her daily routine. Though she had yet to finish a single book amongst the various categories, An Fei had properly maintained a steady reading schedule, pouring as much information into her mind as she could.
Similarly, the unusual and discomforting sensation that she had experienced that day returned each night. Unable to sleep as the warmth and comfort rampaged throughout her body, the girl usually woke with large black bag circling her eyes.
In complete honesty, the intensity of the sensations had diminished compared to the first experience. Though the experiences were still harrowing and discomforting, An Fei could somehow drift off into an aimless sleep.
When she closed her eyes during such instances, the girl could envision the inner structure and composition of her body with acute clarity. Since the first experience, the golden light surging in her bloodstream had significantly advanced whilst those embedded in her meridians did not significantly change, though she had little clue regarding what it signified.
”…this never stops frightening me…”
Staggering out of the elevating platform, An Fei entered the seventeenth Archive, of which she immediately headed towards the center of the platform with a grumble. Sighing loudly, the girl placed the leather bag and the onto the side, her gaze flitting onto a stack of books piled against an armchair.
Excluding the that had been obtained by An Fei on spiteful accident, the rest of the books were randomly selected from the collection, the girl having toured the bookshelves and picking whichever radiated the light with the most intensity. Hence, the books stacked on the ground were of different sizes and thickness.
”Today… it is…”
Settling into the comfortable armchair and rolling her neck to loosen her muscles, the girl reached out with her right hand to pluck a thin book from the pile. Thumbing the blued leather cover and opening the book, An Fei began the day's session of straining her vision and mind as she began to read.
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”The essence of a shadow is to form a distorted reflection of an attributed object or entity, and to conceal oneself within a target's field of interference. As an object moves within space,” the girl read, her eyes squinted into small beads, ”the shadow follows but at a distorted angle within the natural degree, mimicking all traces of spiritual fluctuation and perception.”