67 Two Insignias (1/2)
Instantly Shin Sumi's mind was overflowing with all the things she did and shouldn't have done, especially over the past few days.
”Does he know I'm in the lower valley? Does he know about the dark chasm? Has he changed his mind about joining three Pavilions?”
Not wanting to draw more conclusions before even listening to the recorded divine sense in order to not freak out unnecessarily, Shin Sumi took a deep breath and took out the vibrating jade.
”Follow the trail up the mountain at the north of the valley. Wait in front of the dilapidated building called House of the Sky. Be there in fifteen minutes.”
Shin Sumi let out the air in her lungs. She didn't think she was in trouble after all. She couldn't be sure yet but the tone used by the Patriarch was not harsh at all.
”Another ruins? Is that all the Ghost Pavilion can do? First my new house and then this House of the Sky... North of the valley... Wait, fifteen minutes?!”
Shin Sumi's head started spinning when she recalled the Patriarch's last words.
Even by the most basic calculations of the speed she could muster, there was no way she could get there in fifteen minutes!
Even though her speed had gone through an insane increase with her new power level, she was currently in the dark chasm!
Back when she was an Honorary Disciple, the dark chasm was almost two hours away from the lower valley!
Not spending another second in waste, Shin Sumi concentrated all her Shinsoo from her dantian into her legs.
Faster than the wind, she left a trail of flying leaves behind her as she dashed continuously towards the lower valley.
From there she didn't stop even to take a breath. Clenching her teeth, she approached the pillars of the entry to the upper valley.
”Even if I'm caught, surely the Patriarch will have my back on this, right?!”
She was going faster than she ever did before. Running in a straight line between the trees, she couldn't see the Liquid Realm disciple in charge of guarding the gate to the staircase to the upper valley.
Half a second later, the gust of wind she had inadvertently summoned crossed through the building, howling as she ran up the stairs, twenty steps at a time.
More than ten minutes had already passed when she finally reached the upper valley. According to the mental map in her head, Shin Sumi knew she was currently on the southern side of the valley.
Rather than crossing in a straight line towards the north and risking to be slowed down in the busy streets, Pavilions and market area, Shin Sumi decided to run around, keeping close to the Star Arenas.
She was passing the Fourth Star Arena, the one close to her own house when a second gust of wind approached her without her realizing.
”Hey Sister Shin.”
”Brother Fen?! How- Why did-”
Fen Wudao spread his arms wide, instantly covering the both of them by a curtain of Shinsoo, much like Shin Sumi's hiding formation.
”What were you doing in the lower valley?”
Shin Sumi was taken aback. Had Fen Wudao followed her from all the way back there? What did he see exactly?!
”You know what? Nevermind. It's fine you can do whatever you want as long as no one catches you. We're here anyway, let's get you introduced, little Seventh Ghost.”
His reassuring smile dissipated all of Shin Sumi's confusion. The both of them landed in front of an old building that looked like half ruins.
A wooden panel still half hanging over the bronze door informed them that it really was the House of the Sky.
”Is that the usual meeting place for the sixth Pavilion?” asked Shin Sumi in a low voice.
”It depends, we only know at the last moment... I am not even sure what this is all about. I'm only guessing this meeting is for you.”
Shin Sumi entered behind Fen Wudao, keeping the etiquette of following the higher ranked. Contrarily to her expectations, there was no magical seal on the building, nothing to keep it secret.
Despite being away from the areas where disciples were allowed to roam free, the lack of secret seemed a bit strange to her.
The House of the Sky was an obscured building with a simple looking entry. The smell of dust and mold was overflowing Shin Sumi's nostrils, obviously coming from the dark wood panels covering the floors and walls.
Greyish tapestries were here and there, the drawings too faded to see what they once represented.
Both disciples, Fen Wudao and Shin Sumi were waiting in silence, when Fen Wudao suddenly looked in the distance, as if he was seeing through the walls.
Answering an order that Shin Sumi never heard, Fen Wudao nodded before turning back to her.
”Wait here Sister Shin, you'll be called in soon.”
And just like that, Fen Wudao disappeared after sliding close the door to the main room.
Conscious that she was being observed, at least by divine sense if not directly, Shin Sumi didn't move a single muscle, waiting for instructions. The anguish in her heart was only topped by her expectations for the meeting.
More than half of a sixty minutes cycle passed, Shin Sumi not batting an eyelid.
Finally when she thought she would die from heart failure, the wooden panel opened by itself, the old voice of Patriarch Sen prompting her to enter.
”Disciple Shin Sumi pays her respects” she called, her head low, getting to her knees and bowing as soon as she walked in.
Another few minutes of pure silence.
Piing.
Something just registered in Shin Sumi's divine sense range. A tiny metallic pin had been thrown in front of her.
She instantly recognized the moon overlapped with the silhouette of a ghost.
”Stand up and stick out your palm.”
Doing as she was told, Shin Sumi finally took a glance at the full room around her. She could feel three presences in the room, although only two of them were familiar.
Behind the seated Patriarch, Fen Wudao was looking at her with a straight face, although his eyes were smiling. Off to the side, a third person was standing, hidden by the darkness.
Obviously, the third person didn't want her to see them. And they were definitely much stronger than she was, completely obliterating her divine sense.
”Who is it? The Ghost number one? Two? Even the Copper Bell can't activate and dispel the darkness with them around...”
Shin Sumi kept her interrogations to herself, concentrated on making her hand steady, the trembling agitating her being repressed by sheer willpower.
From nowhere, Shin Sumi felt a prick in the middle of her palm. A single drop of blood flew out of the tiny wound, completely out of her control.
Both floating in the air, the drop of red blood collided with the ghost insignia, leaving a brownish mark on the backside of it.
'Seven' read the blood stain.
”Welcome to the Ghost Pavilion, Seventh Sister.”
The voice that had just spoken came from the unknown person in the room, who was apparently sounding like a middle aged woman. A few simple words and then she was gone. Just like that the presence disappeared, Shin Sumi never hearing the opening of a door or feeling the movement of Shinsoo in the air.
She didn't know what cultivation level the woman had but it was so much higher than hers, leaving Shin Sumi feeling like an ant in front of a building.
Despite being accepted officially as a member of the Ghost Pavilion, Shin Sumi felt like she had been grazed by death itself, the knowledge that at any point she could have been dead without knowing it.
Patriarch Sen sighed, a serene smile wrinkling his old face. From his sleeve appeared three rolled up scrolls. All of them were sealed by a wax moon crescent. White, grey and black, each their own color.
”These are now for you to learn, number seven. If you have any questions, six can answer for you” the Patriarch said, Fen Wudao gently nodding, ”good luck on your selection for the other branches.”
”Wait, is this all there is to it?” Shin Sumi asked herself in disbelief as she was walking down the mountain.
Above her head, Fen Wudao's silver arrow flew like a comet as he disappeared in the clouds.
Back in her courtyard, Shin Sumi went straight to the bathing room, letting the fresh water relax the heart-stopping tension that had been wrecking her nerves.