41 The Ice Flowers Domain (1/2)
The Affairs Pavilion medallion must have been encased in the ice until the fire melted it, allowing it to fall. Shin Sumi looked above, but only a piece of red cloth remained in the ice.
\”Thank the Heavens\” she thought, not wanting to deal with a whole corpse hanging above her head.
Turning the insignia between her fingers, she wondered how long it had been there. What generation of disciples training here had left this as a souvenir?
It was then that her expression turned unsightly.
\”No, that's not right! This dimension is normally used by Liquid Realm disciples in training. Not by red robes Honorary Disciples working for the Affairs Pavilion!\”
She thought her eyes couldn't look more shocked, but she was wrong.
\”Brother Lan!!\”
The cry had been let out completely, not bothered about hiding anymore. Shin Sumi had no way of determining whose insignia it was, but somehow she was convinced it was Lan Hui's.
Sadly, the Affairs Pavilion medallions were not like the identification jades possessed by every disciple. They were just a simple piece of metal embroidered on the disciple's dress. Nothing on them could clarify at first glance who was its owner.
Shin Sumi pocketed the cold metal and blew a wisp of Shinsoo on the fire talisman, prompting it to stop burning. The talisman was half intact and could still be used for a couple hours.
She then crawled out of the ice cave, jumping uncertainly on the largest branch of the ice tree, looking for indications to look for her friend.
Lan Hui had been her first friend in the Dark Sky Starry Sect. He was the first person to talk to her and to seem genuinely interested in her. Every single one of his actions towards her had been full of care and tenderness.
Now that something bad might have happened to him, how could Shin Sumi stay idle?!
She sent her spiritual perception into her identification medallion. The easiest way to find him was to contact him, obviously.
She wasn't sure how the jade worked in this dimension, considering that she had never been able to contact Xiao Yue before. But Bai Xuengen the yellow robed disciple she had met close to the first Vein of Hell Fire had insisted on exchanging jade imprints.
\”Somehow the jades must work here. Maybe their range is just a lot more restrictive.\”
Shin Sumi made several attempts at communication with Lan Hui, all of which failed. But by the reaction of the communication jade, she at least learned something.
\”My message was transmitted. Brother Lan is close-by, or at least his jade is.\”
It was a simple thing to determine really. Every successful use of the transmission device used up a bit of Shinsoo from her dantian. Because Shin Sumi's power level was insane due to her particular cultivation of the complete Shinsoo Gathering Manual, it was only a small bit, but that could still be felt clearly.
It was even Lan Hui who had told her about that at first, when he had taught her how to use the jade to send messages.
Now by a twist of fate, she was using his teachings to try and find him in the wasteland of snow and ice.
In order to find the red robed boy, Shin Sumi unleashed all the powers at her disposal. Unlike Bai Xuengen who had a magical artefact to do that, she had no device that showed her the correct path.
Instead she let out the little nut, like a tiny hound, to sniff any sort of track or direction. It was a dangerous move to do because whoever might be watching back in the sect would temporarily be able to see the little nut, the source of Shin Sumi's powers.
The nut fell down from her sleeve directly into the pure white snow. Shin Sumi was relieved to see the snow being moved around by the nut without showing it openly.
Walking around the ice cave extensively for almost an hour, Shin Sumi met up with the nut after a full circle.
No bites, no information. Shin Sumi was already in a dead end.
Hidden under her cloak, she looked up at the red sky, almost praying to the Heavens for the well being of her friend.
Collecting herself after a moment like that, Shin Sumi forced herself to calm down and think rationally.
\”First of all, I'm not a hundred percent sure that it's Brother Lan's insignia. Secondly it could have ended up here by any sort of means.\”
Now that she was calm and collected once again, Shin Sumi felt her mind clear rapidly, her thinking faster than before.
\”Maybe a snow tempest brought it here. That would explain how it was trapped in tons of snow and encased in ice. There was no blood on the piece of cloth so either Brother Lan was still unscathed when he lost it, or it didn't happen here.
It could have been done by another disciple or a beast or simply the bad weather, tearing his robes.\”
Shin Sumi calculated approximately how long it had been since she arrived on the floating continent. It was a hard thing to do because of the time she had spent in meditation close to the Vein of Hell Fire.
Judging by what she knew of her speed compared to red robed disciples, and the time she had spent to get to this place, she successfully restricted the area in which Lan Hui could be.
\”He is not that fast. Unless he was taken by an orange or yellow robed disciple, he shouldn't have been able to leave the ice ring yet. And I don't think any other colored talent would be interested in a red talented boy.\”
Shin Sumi's conjectures were right. On the map in the Grand Hall, the few dots that were already in the third circle were all yellow and orange colored. In fact all the yellow robes were there apart from Bai Xuengen. And only some red robed disciples were displayed in the ring of ice.
But one problem echoed through her head now. Even if Lan Hui was in the ice environment like her, how would she find him?!
The ice ring encased between two mountain ranges spanned weeks of travel just to cross and made a full circle around the next ring. Searching each and every corner of it meant spending close to a year's worth of time.
And by then, Lan Hui would already have left, or the snow would have covered his body in dozens of meters of white.
Shin Sumi shivered at the thought. No that wasn't how to think. One solution presented itself to her mind.
\”If Brother Lan is still alive and well, he will obviously continue on with the trial. He is bound to leave the ice ring at some point. If he was here, then he will probably head straight towards the mountain range. And that is where I'll catch him!\”
Of course that didn't take into account the possibility of him being stuck somewhere or in peril.
Shin Sumi suddenly remembered the debt that Bai Xuengen had insisted that he owed her. Or rather Bai Fulong, the male self of Shin Sumi.
Once more sending a message through her identification medallion, Shin Sumi hoped for the best. The jade didn't send a voice message but rather transmitted thoughts, thus Shin Sumi didn't have to worry about her feminine voice being received by the yellow robed disciple.
\”Brother Bai. I need your help. If you are able to do this for me, then I'll consider our debt settled. Please help me find and protect a red robed disciple from the Affairs Pavilion. His name is Lan Hui and I suspect danger has befallen him in the icy tundra. Let's keep in touch for that matter.\”
Almost instantly, Shin Sumi's jade vibrated lightly. It was a simple reply from Bai Xuengen.
\”Leave it to me, Brother.\”
Shin Sumi didn't completely trust Bai Xuengen, having met him only recently, but she wholeheartedly believed to have made a big enough impression on him for him to take the matter seriously.
Through the lack of questions regarding Lan Hui's description, she figured that Bai Xuengen must already know him.
Lan Hui was the intermediary through which Elder Zhu, the Elder in charge of the Affairs Pavilion, contacted disciples and resolved conflicts. Because of that, Lan Hui had had dealings with almost everyone in the lower valley, and yellow robed disciples were no exception.
\”Bai Xuengen sounded rather confident, he must have some kind of way to find Brother Lan. Now I'll wait for him near the third ring!\”
Without knowing it, Shin Sumi was of course talking about the golden compass that Bai Xuengen possessed. As long as he had enough power and no exterior forces interfered, he was almost certain to find the direction of what he was looking for, a person included.
Shin Sumi focused her attention of the yellow pillar of light once more as she avoided the snaking crevices and advanced through the white landscape. Remembering the towering icicles, she didn't dare getting too close to the ice arcs that pourfended the air, almost in defiance of the Heavens.
On her path, more and more ice flowers covered the ground. They seemed so frail, as if the wind alone would be enough to break them into millions of pieces.