Chapter 8 (2/2)

Just then, from behind his back, he heard the cheery voice of a boy calling to him, “It seems that my confidence in you is indeed misplaced if you are not being able to take just this much of adversity.”

“Who is it!”

Xiao Chen spun swiftly, feeling the gust of chilly breeze fluttering through his hair. But there was no one to be seen. He sped swiftly into his house, only to find it empty as well, save for the reddish-purple Jade Zither on his table.

The Jade Zither looked very ancient. It was a gift from his mother, Su Qing, when he was seven. He had set his eyes upon it when he saw it in a market and strangely, he had refused to leave without it then.

More so, the zither would allow no one but him to play it. There have been also people who have had their fingers cut when trying to play it.

The boyish voice rose once more, “Look no further. Here I am. I am the Archaean Zither Spirit.”

The voice had come from within the zither.

The voice from the zither resonated with him strongly, for it was a voice that he would never forget. There was a sudden urge to shed tears.

“Look no further. I am the Archean Zither Spirit.”

The familiar voice echoed across the empty courtyard, bringing back memories of Xiao Chen’s past when he was still a disciple of the Mystic Cyan Sect thousands of years ago. Ling Yin had then given to him a Jade Zither, the sacred Archean zither, the Fuxi Zither. In the zither resided a Zither Spirit whose name was Evernight, the one who would then become one of his closest friends.

Slowly, the air in the little cottage shimmered and the figure of a young man materialized from thin air. Hovering at a foot over the ground, the silver-haired young man, whose locks grazed his shoulders was clad in light-colored robes that oddly resembled the shade of the moon. Countless runic symbols adorned his strange robes as his dark-purplish eyes and his pale expression belied his weathered experiences and life.

“It really is you, Evernight…”

Xiao Chen could no longer hold back the swelling emotions. Never did he expect that they would be able to meet each other again in this unfamiliar world after millennia of separation.

But what followed was a cold reply; a freezing chill thousands of years old.

“Have some respect, you wretched fool! I am the Archean Zither Spirit!”

The smile on Xiao Chen’s face froze, he had shared the same features as his past incarnation, yet why was Evernight unable to recognize him? No, not only did Evernight failed to recognize him, he had lost all of his memories.

Evernight was the Spirit of the Fuxi Zither; an entity damned to live forever in the Fuxi Zither. He could never leave the zither lest his being would begin to fade. But with the mystery of the disappearance of the Fuxi Zither still yet unsolved, he could only reside in another zither and delay his slow, but eventual demise.

But what had happened so many years before the Immortal Kings and Deities have all disappeared? Even Evernight, who had long freed himself from the torments of the Six Paths of Samsara had been weakened to such pitiable state.

“Tell me, Evernight. What happened many years ago? How is it that you now reside in this ordinary zither? What of my master?”

“Many years ago… The Fuxi Zither… Your master…” Evernight stammered, his expression turning confused with bewilderment, “I can remember no more… I only know that I am the Archean Zither Spirit…”

At this, his face turned serious, “I have sensed everything that has transpired earlier, boy. Your opponent is of the Foundation Building Realm, but it seems that you have hardly progressed at all.”

Xiao Chen felt a faint shudder, feeling the sting of the Evernight’s words. Indeed, even before the sun had risen, Xiao Chen was already up. Yet for all his efforts, he could only reach the peak of Lv 1 and no more, as if something was wrong with the Mystic Cyan Cultivation Method.

“There is no way that, with your present state, you will ever pass through all three stages of the Qi Refining Realm in three years; in fact, you might not even succeed even if you have ten years. Instead, you might even grow weaker and plunge back into the Body Refining Realm. I heard that the Huangfu girl has six Spiritual Meridians. With her admission into the Skygale Sect, she will attain the Foundation Building Realm in less than one year.”

Xiao Chen’s body trembled at this revelation. It was, in fact, his deepest fear, for he had surmised the reason for his bogged down progress in his powers.

Despite its potency, the Mystic Cyan Cultivation Method required a substantial amount of natural Spiritual Qi as the basis, like how a huge vessel requires the buoyancy of seawater to keep itself afloat. The lands were teeming with natural Spiritual Qi from both heaven and earth thousands of years ago, an abundance of resources that had helped him then.

But now, the Spiritual Qi was but a mere speck of its former richness.

The notion reminded him of Mu Chengxue’s message to him, that he would one day visit the Violet Manor. Immediately, Xiao Chen asked, “Where is this Violet Manor?”

Evernight cast a longing look out the window and said, “You have to realize that the world consists of many different regions. If one were to look at the Human World as Lv 1 Cultivators’ Area, then the Violet Manor would be Lv 2 Cultivators’ Area, albeit greater and richer in resources. Each of these regions can be viewed as domains of their own and there are nine of them. What say you? Do you think you will be visiting all nine of them?”