18 "I Think I Am In Great Danger" (1/2)
The little grey nut had come out of the leaf pattern imprinted on Shin Sumi's wrist in the briefest of moments and had proceeded to bite her as hard as possible.
A red pearl of fresh blood dripped from the circular bite mark onto her right foot, stopped dead in its tracks.
Shin Sumi was used to the biting by now. Annoyment at the nut flashed in her eyes for a split second before her rational mind took over.
”What is it?” she thought, ”this bite was strong and unexpected. Something dangerous is close by.” Shin Sumi didn't spend more time thinking, her pretty blue eyes looking around.
The trees above her head, the grass next to the stone path, everything in her field of vision looked completely normal.
Only then did the nut let her arm go. Rolling across her skin, Shin Sumi felt it reach her leg, stopping only at her left ankle.
The nut was smart and had stayed out of view from the outside. Apart from the blood stain on Shin Sumi's shoe, nothing indicated why she had stopped so suddenly.
”The ground?” she asked herself in a low voice. Bites were the only way of communicating the nut had ever shown since the beginning and Shin Sumi was more or less familiar with the pattern. A bite on the leg was probably an indication that whatever was dangerous was on the ground.
Lowering herself on her toes, Shin Sumi looked at the path right in front of her. The urgency of the bite meant that it was close.
Focusing her eyes on the gravel and dust that formed most of the sect's paths, Shin Sumi remembered the smell that had agitated her nose seconds before the painful warning.
”There, these lines!” she exclaimed interiorly.
Only by looking at it up close could she discern it. Eight tentacle like lines were carved on the dry ground, all emanating from one spot. ”My next step would have been directly in the center” she thought.
Shin Sumi observed the floor a bit more before standing up again. Nothing around her seemed out of the ordinary except from the ground.
But Shin Sumi's instinct was simply not fully developed. A figure on a branch some thirty odd meters away was observing silently.
Taking a few steps back, Shin Sumi picked up a dead branch. Throwing it in front of her, the branch touched the floor exactly where the eight wiggly lines concentrated.
What happened next was so fast that for a long time Shin Sumi was convinced that it had happened before the branch landed. From the eight lines on the ground, black roots rose. A blink of the eyes would have made an observer completely miss it but the roots joined at the top.
They touched each other right above the center, above the branch. In a simple motion, they crushed the branch that was thicker than a finger as if it had been a match stick.
Shin Sumi had not even registered what had happened as the roots fell back on the ground, vibrating slightly so that dust and pebbles would cover them again.
In a split second everything was over. The branch had been crushed to dust and nothing was left of it.
If Shin Sumi had been in its place, at least her legs would have been reduced to nothing. Then her upper body would have fallen on the same spot.
A shiver down her spine cut her respiration short. She didn't dare imagine the scene.
”Someone tried to kill me!”
Shin Sumi forced herself to remain calm and to not panic.
She was new to the world of cultivation but knew as much as to not be too afraid. After all she was still on the sect's grounds. Her courtyard was in a remote location but even though somebody had tried to kill her, it will probably not escalate into a fight.
The trap had failed and she was alive, but unless there were other traps, she thought she wouldn't be assaulted.
Keeping calm appearances Shin Sumi walked around the trap, with a safe distance from the killer plant.
In her head, she started thinking about what the implications of someone trying to kill her would be, as the nut went back to her chest region. The nut refused to return in her wrist, prepared to give another signal if it sensed a new danger.
Further away in the trees, the girl called Liu discretely left her hiding place, half running and half jumping with impressive speed to report the failure of the trap.
Because she had forced herself to remain calm, Shin Sumi's mind cleared rapidly, the adrenalin still pervading her limbs but wearing off.
She recounted what happened with a voice that only she could hear.
”Somebody tried to kill me in the sect grounds. Who would dare do that?”
She didn't have to think much further. Her mind pictured Chu Erlong for a split second but the thought discarded itself quickly. In the end the only person she could think of was a scary figure hidden beneath a gentle smile.
”It can only be Elder Zhu!” she thought. ”He is the only one who knows where I live apart from Yue and Brother Lan. He probably has a way of stealing my talent after I'm dead.”
The explanation was simple but convincing enough. Shin Sumi could still smell the scent of medicinal plants. It was no doubt that the one used as a trap was some kind of precious material that only an Elder could get his hands on.
Besides, Elder Zhu was known for his medicinal talent and affinity with plants was part of his expertise.
Shin Sumi resumed her walk towards the more lively part of the Dark Sky Starry Sect's lower valley. Her mind continued to think and make plans as she found the stone paths more often used by disciples.
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She was more on guard than ever towards whatever plan Elder Zhu had prepared for her.
***
The slender silhouette of Liu Qing was crossing the northern forest of the lower valley.
The girl's red robes were bristling with the wind. She was really fast and could jump as far as three meters with only one step.
Liu Qing was on the verge of breaking through to the Liquid Realm. She had been for quite a while now, having opened a handful of Shinsoo passageways. For some reason though something kept her from reaching the first true realm of Immortal cultivation.
”It is because unlike me you red robes are simply trash” had said Chu Erlong one day with harsh words.
”Maybe she is right. Us with less talent will never amount to much” she thought as she ran towards the dilapidated courtyard, ”I should be happy to be able to follow someone like Big Sister Chu.”
Liu Qing would maybe never reach the Liquid Realm. What she didn't know though was that her talent had nothing to do with it. Crossing over from opening the Shinsoo passageways to condensing a vortex was more of a formality than a true obstacle.
Liu Qing had a weak mind. She had always been shy, and even when her family had celebrated for three days and three nights the news of her recruitment in the Dark Sky Starry Sect, she had stayed quiet.
Even for her family of aristocrats in the capital city of the Silver Sea region, being officially accepted in an Immortal sect was an honor that surpassed anything else.
She had worked as hard as she could with her low talent in the sect before meeting Chu Erlong.
”Sister Liu!” sounded a voice from the gates of the old courtyard. ”Big Sister Chu, Sister Liu is back!” said the voice but in another direction, louder.
As Liu Qing slowed down and walked past the open gates, Chu Erlong emerged from the house in the courtyard.
Liu Qing stopped.
Chu Erlong was wearing a bright orange dress. Although it was a normal piece of cloth made exactly like every other disciple robes, it looked like it fitted her perfectly.
Chu Erlong's figure was slim and tall. Her shoulders were thin and the orange fabric seemed to fall from them like sunshine piercing through the never ending clouds.
Her long dark hair was tied at the end in a bundle that swayed with her steps. Her cheeks were tinted with a slight red and she wore a radiant smile.
Liu Qing couldn't help but smile too. The image of her Big Sister now superimposed in her mind with the girl that had accepted her that day.
For the first time since in the Dark Sky Starry Sect, Liu Qing had found her anchor. Chu Erlong had offered her company, friendship, and many other things.
While Liu Qing was a raven, Chu Erlong was the moon that shone brightly and made her stand out from the night sky.
”Big Sister Chu, about the trap, it...” she started. Chu Erlong interrupted her with impatience and malevolence in her eyes that Liu Qing didn't seem to see.