46 Reminiscence (1/2)
A pillar made of moss-covered stone slowly rose from the center of the blue pool of water.
The full extent of the pillar was not visible as it seemed to extend from the very bottom of the water hole, far deeper than the region where lived the Water Ghoul.
On top of the pillar, a flat surface was encompassed into a magical bubble made of pure Shinsoo. No matter the depth and the crushing pressure, the bubble had shielded its contents from the water.
The light that had attracted Shin Sumi and Lan Hui's gazes came from that magical shield.
”Defeating the Water Ghoul was the trigger to reveal the treasure, eh?” it didn't take long for both disciples to understand what happened.
The moment the top of the circular magical bubble came into contact with the surface of the water, it burst open, dissipating into thin air and revealing what was inside, the protective light dying out.
A scroll was resting, folded, on the flat top of the pillar.
Lan Hui gestured respectfully to Shin Sumi, prompting her to retrieve the item.
Shin Sumi grabbed it and was about to unfold it when she stopped her hand. She had just thought of something. Instead she threw it towards Lan Hui who grabbed it surprised.
”You read it, Lan Hui. Whatever it is, I think you deserve to have it, you are the one who saved us today.”
Even Lan Hui couldn't reply anything to that. He humbly accepted, not understanding why Shin Sumi didn't even want to read the content of the scroll.
He didn't know that the little grey nut was on her mind. Shin Sumi was lucky to have thought of it beforehand, or else the contents of the scroll might just have vanished at some point in the next few hours.
How would she explain that? The little nut's ability to steal books, scrolls, jade writings and refine them was heaven-defying, which also made it hard to explain if it was witnessed by someone.
Every time it had happened, the nut had been right next to the writings, but now that they were all in the water, no too far from the radius of restorative magic emanated by the nut, Shin Sumi couldn't really tell it it had a way of acting or not.
What she was sure of was that the nut had always stolen things that she herself had read.
By purposefully handing the scroll over to Lan Hui, she made sure that the scroll remained intact. Depending on what it was, she could maybe have a read at it later, but only if it wasn't part of the nut's ability of stealing.
Lan Hui unrolled the scroll and started reading out loud, his eyes instantly sparkling with interest.
”Minor Teleportation Spell! We really struck the jackpot! This is an amazing spell!”
Even Shin Sumi was impressed.
”Téléportation? Is that even possible?!”
It was the first time she had heard about something so insanely powerful that her mind could not rationalize it.
Lan Hui had forgotten that whoever Bai Fulong's real identity was, if he was taking the trial it meant that he was only an Honorary Disciple too, just like him.
In his mind, the mysterious savior was almost shining with infinite power and knowledge, but no, Bai Fulong was simply a mortal waiting to step into the Liquid Realm like everybody else.
”The scroll allows a Liquid Realm cultivator to step through the folds of space five times. It is a Minor Teleportation because although the process is instantaneous, the distance is limited to five kilometers at most.”
Like he was used to back in the lower valley, Lan Hui explained to Shin Sumi all there was to know about the scroll, reward of their difficult fight.
”From what is written here, I can tell that the spell can also be used by a honorary disciple but only twice. It seems like the teleportation empties a good bit of the Shinsoo of the user so for an Honorary Disciple the scroll has to use more of its power, thus reducing the number of uses.”
Shin Sumi had little to no knowledge in magic and Shinsoo formations, only knowing the basic principles but what Lan Hui told her made sense.
She replied, refusing Lan Hui's proposition to give it to her ”It is a great treasure for you to have. Just in case something happens, you will be able to escape safely. And after you enter the Liquid Realm, you'll be able to do that five times!”
Lan Hui bowed as a way to express his thanks. Besides, from what he had seen of Shin Sumi's strength and speed, five kilometers was a distance that she could cover in less than a minute, probably.
Her speed was unprecedented below the Liquid Realm, so she would have no trouble escaping pursuivers. For her the scroll was very useful only if she became trapped in a Shinsoo Formation or the likes.
”Gnnn... Wha-” Bai Xuengen was slowly waking up. Shin Sumi and Lan Hui cut their conversation short to give all their attention to Bai Xuengen.
Lan Hui recalled the most recent events to him as well as the Minor Teleportation Spell scroll they had found while Shin Sumi checked his hand for traces of the curse.
The yellow robed disciple's eyes shone with a strange light when she heard about the spell, like glints of envy and greed, but he chased the thought away as he lifted himself out of the water and turned to Shin Sumi.
”Brother Bai, thank you for assisting me and saving my life this time again. The Black Cloud Curse seemed to have disappeared, or at least it doesn't flare up anymore.”
Shin Sumi was a bit embarrassed and had to control herself to not laugh a bit.
”Erm... Actually it was Lan Hui who saved us both this time... And as for the curse I only tried something and was lucky that it turned out successful.”
Bai Xuengen's eyes almost burst out of their sockets. In a hurry he apologized to Lan Hui and expressed his thanks, instantly forgetting all about seniority and the usual format aspect of relationships.
Just like Shin Sumi before, he asked Lan Hui to call him by his name, losing the 'Senior', making all three of them brothers as they had all at some point saved one another's life.
All the while, Shin Sumi disguised as Bai Fulong was observing Bai Xuengen's hand. No matter how hard she looked and how much divine sense she used, she could not see any trace of the curse that was there before.
Once again she was astounded at the little nut's powers. Relieved, she joined the two others in celebration of their newfound friendship.
***
Chu Erlong had been meditating amongst her group of followers for about an hour. She wasn't trying to achieve a breakthrough of to comprehend some sort of technique and was just circulating her energy to make sure she was in top conditions.
Despite what she had let on, she was actually concerned about that Bai Fulong that changed the situation just by his arrival. He was an unknown variable at the level of the yellow robed Bai Xuengen, and could potentially ruin her entire plan.
Chu Erlong was sitting cross-legged on a small Shinsoo formation made of five mid-grade spirit stones assembled in a circle. The simple fact that she was using mid-grade stones to absentmindedly cultivate showed her place in the Chu Clan. It also served to impress her followers just in case after weeks of this man-hunt they grew tired of it.
Her followers were also cultivating in small groups, waiting for the return of Liu Qing in order to resume their attack, and were taken by surprise when Chu Erlong coughed loudly.
”Baargh! Cough cough...”, out of nowhere it seemed like she had suffered a strong cultivation backlash as a mouthful of bad blood erupted from between her beautiful lips.
”Boss Chu, are you okay? Did your cultivation tuned backwards?” a red robed middle aged man asked after quickly supporting her.
With a face of disgust, Chu Erlong pushed the disciple away ”Let go of me, I'm fine. It's the Black Cloud Curse... Somehow Bai Xuengen got rid of my Clan's curse!”
Back in the Dark Sky Starry Sect's Grand Hall, Chu Xuanba reacted violently to his granddaughter's words. Standing up, his fingers hooked in the old wood like a claw, he was clutching his arm-rests so tightly that the chair splintered and almost broke.
He hadn't been looking at Shin Sumi's group for a while and had ignored the curing of Bai Xuengen until his own granddaughter had found out the hard way.