16 The Spark of Progress (1/2)

The dantian region was located in the abdomen, a bit lower than the navel. That was the source of one's Shinsoo foundation. Just like the heart was the center of the blood system and pumped it through the veins, the dantian linked all the Shinsoo passageways in a complex manner.

During what amounted to not even half of a quarter of a second, Shin Sumi had felt something.

Shin Sumi's mind could do nothing but compare what she had felt to something she knew. The feeling she just experienced briefly was akin to a spark, a tiny spurt of energy that appeared out of nowhere, winked and disappeared.

Shin Sumi had read the Shinsoo Gathering Manual over a hundred times and knew the page by heart. But even so, she had no idea what had happened.

Little she knew that the spark she had felt was something every mortal with some talent would feel during puberty. It was the awakening of the dantian. Before her, there had been no case of such awakening appearing later on. After all, who would be stupid and rich enough to waste tons of valuable resources on a mortal with no talent?

But that is what happened. By forcefully using high grade spirit stones and determination, Shin Sumi had awoken her own talent.

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Of course she ignored all of that. For her it had just been a tiny spark inside of her abdomen, but enough to light her hopes up in flames, blowing her anxiety away in smoke.

Shin Sumi sat there silently beside the pond, her mouth slightly ajar. ”What was that?” she wondered.

A tickling sensation later, the little nut left her breasts and returned to her wrist, disappearing like a sentinel whose job was done.

All of a sudden, all the tension Shin Sumi had felt as well as her tiredness and mental stress seemed to rush to her brain. Flooded by everything, Shin Sumi barely had time to slip in the quiet waters of the pond before exhaustion overtook her as she fell into a deep slumber.

Outside of her courtyard, a figure hidden in the shadow of a tree stirred. A jade slip in the person's hand had flashed with a soft blue light once. Without a sound, the person disappeared into the forest returning to some place in the lower valley after three long weeks of waiting.

***

Shin Sumi woke up with the sun, although the neverending clouds still hid the astral body's full shine.

She stretched, shaking the water from her arms and legs, trying to remember what had happened.

”I was cultivating and then... A spark! I remember now!” she said out loud, finally clearing her head from the sleep induced blur. ”I passed out from exhaustion... I need to be more careful when I cultivate next time. But at least I had some results this time!”

She was smiling happily. She still had no idea what the spark she had felt meant, but it couldn't have been something bad. It was progress!

For the past month and a half, everything around reminded her that she didn't have a place in the Immortal world with a non-existent talent. She hadn't believed it, trying her best to cultivate forcefully. And she was right.

Shin Sumi looked in her room for food before remembering that she didn't have any left. Opening her bag of holding, she found only a few low grade spirit stones, an unknown plant, the copper bell and other miscellaneous items.

She thought about Xiao Yue for a while, wondering where she was, and then Lan Hui. She had seen neither of the two in a while.

Shin Sumi left her courtyard, her belly rumbling and her mind preoccupied with the realization that she missed human contact. Cultivation was by definition a lonely process, but Shin Sumi was still a mortal. At fourteen years old she had made her first friends and now she wanted to see them.

Shin Sumi made her first stop at the Cultivation Ressources Pavilion. She had been in the Dark Sky Starry Sect for over a month and she was able to obtain her monthly stipend of four low grade spirit stones. Of course after finding the same two clerks as the last time. ”Nobody else needs to know what color my robes are supposed to be” she reminded herself and the two red robed disciples in front of her.

She didn't feed the spirit stones to the nut. In Shin Sumi's mind, now that she had found a great source of income at the market, it was important to also carry normal spirit stones just in case. If for some reason she needed to pay for something at some point, she couldn't carelessly take out a precious high grade spirit stone that would make even the sect's Patriarch drool in envy.

Shin Sumi walked around the sect for a bit, picking up a few hundred more seeds and making inquiries about the whereabouts of her friends.

Lan Hui was known and liked by everyone so it was relatively easy to find his trace. Xiao Yue however was a different matter.

Shin Sumi went to the Quests Pavilion. She blended naturally in the crown that was always in front of the giant magic screen.

”Status points ranking” she read. The new month's list was displayed in big letters, magically changing whenever somebody on the list completed a new quest.

Of course Jun Qian was at the top of the list. He had over five thousand points. ”Less than last month at the same time” commented Shin Sumi ”but still twice as much as the second disciple.”

Shin Sumi turned away from the crowd on the side of the building. There, she found smaller screens recalling the ranking of the last twelve months.

Again, Jun Qian was on the top of the ranking. Every ranking in fact, although Shin Sumi stayed focused on last month's.

Her eyes lingered for a bit on the name before following down the list. Jun Qian didn't matter to Shin Sumi. She had never had any interaction with him and truthfully she didn't have the right to be interested in someone as powerful as him.

No matter how much Shin Sumi read the list, she couldn't find Xiao Yue's name anywhere. A frown gave her a serious face and she wondered ”Strange, the last time I saw her Yue told me she wanted to get on the monthly list...”

”Sister Shin!” A voice interrupter her thoughts. She turned around to find who was calling to her.

Lan Hui was standing a meter away from her. He bowed rapidly, to which Shin Sumi replied by bowing too.

An honest smile covered his face, and his eyes were excited and maybe a bit... relieved. Keeping a formal speech while they were in the midst of the crowd, he said ”Please come take a walk with me. I want to talk to you about some matter.”

Nodding affirmatively, Shin Sumi tucked her hands in her sleeves and followed her red robed friend.

In the distance, Chu Erlong and her three followers were watching the Quests Pavilion. Two of the three red robed girls were chatting about cultivation, boys, and sometimes both, as always. Only Chu Erlong and the girl surnamed Liu were looking at Lan Hui and Shin Sumi.

The Liu girl, unlike Chu Erlong, had trouble hiding her malicious intent. Her eyes were circled by a dark shade the color of a tea infusion, as if she hadn't slept in a long time.

***

In the woods to the east side of the lower valley.

The trees were bristling with an imperceptible wind. Their leaves were projecting round spots on the stone ground. The dance of the dark and light shapes under Shin Sumi and Lan Hui's feet made the ground seem to move. Shin Sumi was lost in thoughts, looking at the rays of light filtered by the canopy, briefly catching particles of dust. Everything seemed suspended into the air, motionless, giving the forest an underwater feeling.

After walking some distance, Lan Hui turned to face Shin Sumi. He was genuinely happy to see Shin Sumi again after these long few weeks and he didn't bother trying to hide this fact.

”Sister Shin, I am glad you are okay. I heard that you went to the western training grounds a few times?”

Shin Sumi replied ”Yes I completed a few low level quests. Mostly collecting spirit plants. I didn't know that the quests system existed! If Xiao Yue hadn't told me before I wouldn't have known for a long time.”