5 FOUND

CHAPTER 5 – FOUND

Xingjuan ran intensely without rest and on the second day of her second life when the sun was high in the sky she finally reached the outskirts of the Yin forest, Xingjuan understood that once she steps out of this forest, Yang province will be before her.

In Xingjuan previous life she only arrived here at night, The reason they were a bit slower than the present her was because she didn't make the journey on her own but with the guards and maids sent to attend to her by her father, although all this people with her were just for show and placed there for the General's family benefit, some of the guards mounted horses in front of her carriage and the others just walked on foot behind it, because of all this they took more time to get to the outskirts of the Yin province forest.

Xingjuan wanted to rest a bit, freshen up and then change cloths before heading out of the forest so she stopped running because she felt she could hear the flow of water up ahead.

She had picked some fruits she believed were edible while she was running through the forest so at least she had food to fill her empty stomach and won't have to starve, Xingjuan had just entered the world of cultivation so she still had to eat, she wasn't like those cultivators who go years without eating, as Xingjuan was looking for a place to settle down and relax she began to perceived something fishy roasting close by, her leg led and nose that sniffed the air like a dog led her towards a certain direction, it was where the fishy scent was most dominant.

Xingjuan saw a man who sat by a fire, he was roasting some fishes that he had probably caught from the river, just the aroma coming from the fish made Xingjuan stomach rumble loudly and it definitely drew in the attention of the man by the lake since he turned slightly with his left ear pecked up, that was presently the direction Xingjuan came from, Xingjuan kept staring at the fish like it was some very big tasty spicy chicken, her eyes sparkled like stars and she didn't even realize that she had started to drool, the man looked so out of place as he sat by the fire roasting fish, she felt like he shouldn't be doing such things, like it was beneath him but then again he had the kind of aura that made a person feel like anything he did would look beautiful even if it was the dirtiest of works.

This man couldn't be more than eighteen years old and by a tree not too far from him was a pitch black horse which Xingjuan presumed was his, even his horse was unique, it wasn't like any other mortal horse Xingjuan had seen, it had long sharp pointed ears, doll like eyes and a white wing completely contrasting its completely black body, Xingjuan paid closer attention to the guy who had long since ignored her complete existence, after discovering she was there he didn't pay her any mind,, he had short dark hair, his armor was just as dark as his horse , a golden circular symbol was crested on the back area of his armor, just watching his back view of the man made Xingjuan understand he wasn't just a normal mortal man, he couldn't be.

Although his back was facing Xingjuan she still felt like he knew she was there, Xingjuan was thinking of food previously so she didn't even take note of the earlier slightest movements made by the man, if he was someone who had ill intentions towards her he would had dealt her a strong hand before she even realized it.

Xingjuan's brought out her veil called ice jewel, she had removed it before when she had changed to her one and only robe in other to facilitate a quicker escape, she had at some point remembered she did indeed have that robe and changed into it, after Xingjuan quickly put it on ice jewel she then walked towards the man by the lake, She didn't want him to see her hideous looking face, she didn't wish to scare him off, Xingjuan didn't have to put on the veil all this while because she didn't meet anyone in the forest as she was running through it, moreover she was always used to the cold wind of the forest hitting against her body, her face included when she lived back at the forest close to the General's manor, to suddenly have such restrictions as a form of the veil covering her face didn't feel nice so when she had the opportunity she removed it but since she planned to talk with this strange man she had no choice but to put it back on " Excuse me young lord, my name is Xingjuan, please can I join you?" she asked however she didn't wait to gain his permission before taking her sit right beside the strange man.

Xingjuan could always be herself with strangers, she behaved free and somewhat uncaring however she was never this way with her own family, When in the presence of strangers Xingjuan didn't need to act proper or try to please anyone but it was different with her family, she wanted to be accepted by them so if staying away was what they desired of her then she will do it without feeling hatred or regret, all she ever desired was acceptance but in the end she couldn't even get that.

"I didn't even ask you to join me" the young lord said as he turned to face Xingjuan, his golden eyes reflected on the golden crested symbol by his chest area on the armor he wore, it was the same symbol Xingjuan had seen when she stood behind him, "he is definitely noble" she muttered to herself , although her voice was low he had heard her, Xingjuan wanted to apologize for been so rude however she was stunned when he just gave her a kind smile, talking about a noble like that was most of the time taken as an offense but this man wasn't that way, he wasn't rude, overbearing and unreasonable like most nobles were.

He was the kind of person that gave off a gentle and kind aura but also one can't help but feel that he isn't someone to be provoked "I have some fruits that we can share so can I please have little bit of your fish" Xingjuan suggested as she scratched at the back of my head while feeling embarrassed, She then searched through the small bag she took along with her when she left the guards and maids at Yue valley, it had holes all over it but it was a possession she adored with all her heart.

She poured out the fruits she had picked and the man looked at her with an amused smile playing on his face" Are you planning on killing me Xingjuan" he asked seriously and she became dumbfounded "What do you mean? Why will I want to do that? Isn't this edible? " she spurred out every word, Xingjuan was truly surprised when he said "You must be a country bumpkin, how can you not know that this fruit are poisonous, any fruit grown in Pei xi forest is harmful to elementals, it's not harmful to mortals you can't cultivate as well as elementals that have lost their ability to cultivate".

"Is that really true " Xingjuan just realized that there are a lot of things she still don't know about in the cultivation world, she just gained a new life and even the chance to be an elemental but almost lost that precious life because of the fact that she had become an elemental, wasn't the situation kind of ironic, Xingjuan thought.

Meanwhile the man after just finishing grilling a fish to perfection handed it over to Xingjuan, she bowed her head and clasped her hands in thanks and then proceeded in accepting the very tantalizing looking fish with her both hands in other to show her absolute gratitude and respect for this young lord, Xingjuan was right when she guessed he was a kind person, he also took a fish for his self that had earlier been grilled then they both started eating in silence but the silence didn't last long.

"Although the poison from those fruits won't do much damage to an elemental of my caliber but for someone like you, well let's just say you did have to go greet king yama" he said and Xingjuan nodded in understanding, she did be greeting the king of hell if she ate that for sure, Xingjuan secretly thanked her lucky stars because after picking those fruits she didn't have time to eat them immediately, she was too busy thinking about escaping this forest so feeding was shoved to the back side of my mind, also she was really grateful she met this strange man.

"Young lord please what is your name?" Xingjuan asked, he poured some sand on the fire and it went out then he walked over to the river to wash his hands, Xingjuan eyes were glued to him and followed his every movement and when he was done he went over to his horse, untied it from the tree it was tied against and immediately mounted it "You have helped me with food and saved me from poisoning myself, although I don't have much now but in the future I will like to pay this favor back" Xingjuan said hastily, she wanted to know his name at least, he was the first person apart from her mother that offered her food without asking for anything first, Xingjuan was truly grateful, she felt touched.

"You don't have to pay anything back, it's just food after all" he laughed as he galloped away, the horse looked like it was galloping and flying at the same time and its speed was unimaginable but before he went too far Xingjuan heard him say " Fang Mu, My name is Fang Mu" Xingjuan smiled at his retreating figure, he was long gone so she didn't get to hear him say " I wonder how such an ignorant uncivilized bumpkin survived in the deathly Pei Xi forest were different types of vicious magical mystic beast resides" Fang Mu shook his head and then let the thought go, he had to return to the imperial palace, he had already done unnecessary things like roasting fish by a lake, it's not like at this point in his life he needed food to survive, he wasn't even hungry.

Xingjuan will never get to know how lucky she was to survive alone in Pei Xi forest, In her past life all she did during their Journey to Yang Province was to sleep due to the extreme fatigue the journey caused her, she didn't get to experience the guards battling those beasts because she was in dream land, at that time the guards were really angry that she was sleeping like a log of wood at a time like that, she could sleep through a war and would be none wiser about what happened upon waking up after the war had come to an end, it's good that the luck of the guards travelling with her wasn't too bad since the magical mystic beast that attacked them weren't so strong.

For some reason Xingjuan slept deeply during the day than at night probably because at night she was always tormented by nightmares which kept her awake and made sleep delude her.

Xingjuan stood up from the bank of the lake and removed ice jewel the veil, then she put it into her tattered bag, for some reason she wanted to keep the bag where no one could see it except she wanted them to, she had this premonition that if it wasn't out of the way bad things might befall me, she felt like it was a big give away after all it was the only possession she stubbornly hung on to even when the Mistress of the Generals manor demanded she let it go, that bag was personally hand woven by her mother before she passed away so Xingjuan couldn't bear to part with it.

She couldn't understand why she felt that the tattered ridden bag needed to be hidden; she just knew it had to.

As she was pondering how to hide the tattered bag it suddenly disappeared, she was so shocked that she fell butt first on the ground, she didn't have time to figure out what happened when a gush of wind hit her hard on the face, and the wind carried with it the sand from the bank of the river.

Right now Xingjuan was choking from the sand that entered her mouth, she tried to spit it all out and at the same time she also had to wipe the sand that was all over her face since she couldn't see a damn thing, Xingjuan decided that she will take care of the rest part of my body that was also covered with sand when she could finally see properly again.

During this brief period of time Xingjuan didn't take note of her surroundings after all her eyes were still close, the world was lost to her until she heard a deep voice speak " Have you seen this person" Xingjuan was taken aback, she had thought she was the only one here, she tried to take a peek at my surrounding and who could have possibility spoken , she someone felt she must have imagined it but she was so wrong since what faced her at the moment her eyes opened up slightly was a paper poster of her very own self, the only difference was that she was putting on the veil ice jewel and was dressed in the robes she had left the General's manor with, she wore Mo Yue's overly flowing garment, her hair was styled with all the jades and ornaments she was previously putting on that day before she had changed robes and removed them all, Xingjuan eyeballs when wide as she saw the paper poster and the sand that still hadn't been properly wipe off her face found its way into her eyes thereby causing a stinging sensation, her eyes went shut again as she vehemently worked on wiping every land bit of the sand on her face.

Xingjuan guessed that the man felt she didn't see that person because she heard another voice speak, an oddly familiar voice, frighten familiar, she was too scared to look up and prove her conjunctions right.

"What of this girl, how you seen her" Xingjuan raised her head again and this time the paper poster had an image of her without the veil, the ornaments or the robe, it was a picture of her true ugly face, she had a bent mouth, big nose, large tooth , almost none existent eyes and a forehead that was disproportional in size even Xingjuan cringed on seeing the drawings of herself, she found herself hideous, there were black snake like lines that made curves on her face, Xingjuan resembled a demon from the underworld perhaps she even looked worst than them, she didn't look human because even if the drawings of her on that poster paper didn't have all her detailed figure features, Xingjuan was well aware of the hideous marks that didn't spare her whole body and kept draining her of strength every single day she lived.

She hated herself, she hated being born so ugly and without talent, at least now she has talent and was not a trash anymore but still yet she had a long Journey ahead of her, to change her fate totally she had to keep striving and living.

Xingjuan for the first time since the people arrived raised her head properly and since she could see properly after cleaning all the sand from her eyes, she saw four people before her and she almost fainted from fright and which she had just kept her face looking down, Xingjuan was screaming sorrowfully in her head " They found me, I am so dead for sure, even though the heavens gave me a second chance I will still die by their hands" three of the four people before her where people she could never forget, that familiar voice was the metal user's voice, the person she suspect is her elder brother, the eldest son of the general's manor Mo Chow.

Xingjuan wasn't concentrating because she was so scared, she was shaking violently while still seating on the ground, her head was spinning and she had begun to see them in doubles, she wasn't going to go down this time without a fight was what she thought, Xingjuan was about to start chanting her air elemental basic flight mode chant when a thought crossed her mind "Why are they asking me about my whereabouts, it seems like they can't recognize me, why is that?" once she cleared her mind and started thinking straight Xingjuan broke into a smile but only for an instance.

"I am sorry Young lords but I haven't seen any of those people in the poster" She said nervously,

"Useless trash" the earth elemental assassin spoke with disdain and Xingjuan trembled slightly, she actually forgot at that moment that she wasn't trash anymore, she could cultivate, and she forgot totally that she was different from her former self.

"Pretty lads are always dumb like that; even if he saw them he still wouldn't know" the fire elemental assassin laughed wickedly, Xingjuan looked surprised again for been referred to as a boy but then she remembered that she was indeed dressed in male robes, she began to panic more again, what if the metal elemental who she suspected was her brother noticed the robes she was wearing, although she wore this robe only on occasional basis and as long as she could remember only her lived in the forest far away from the General's manor and nobody could have seen her put it on apart from the time she was dragged to the General's manor to take her sister's place, Xingjuan still couldn't stop herself from thinking that this might give her away.

"We are leaving" the person she couldn't recognize said and then he started chanting, immediately beneath him a gush of air began to form and expand until all four of them began to levitate, beneath their foot was solid air in the form of a cloud, "There is a stage where air elemental can solidify air" Xingjuan murmured in amazement, "I never knew that, how is that even possible" at this moment she felt like her knowledge was really lacking, she needed to find time to study more.

Xingjuan watched as they all disappeared in the blink of an eye, it was like they were never even here, she decided to take a quick bath before leaving, her whole body felt sticky and sweaty and also, she can check her appearance while doing that, she didn't want to believe such a hideous face could not be recognized easily, she also didn't believe it could change but Xingjuan couldn't explain them not recognizing her any other way.

She pulled off her black old male robes and then thanked the heavens yet again that it was only her ugly face in the poster and not her whole body, she figured that perhaps that was another deciding factor why they didn't find her out, if not they might have recognized the robe she was putting on but then what about the person she taught might be her brother, maybe he just wasn't attentive enough, Xingjuan was quite certain that the metal elemental was her brother, not just was his voice familiar, his physique as well as the aura around him was the same. Xingjuan decided not to further think about that, what mattered now was that the heavens had saved her yet again.

When Xingjuan was completely nude she dived into the lake water a bit too excited, as a bumpkin that lived all her life it the forest her present naked state was her most comfortable form, she hated wearing robes if it wasn't absolutely necessary, moreover she couldn't afford them so she mostly made things to cover the most important parts of her body from whatever material she could find in the forest, Xingjuan made sure she didn't go too far into the lake and stayed by the edge so that she won't get washed away by the current after all this lake upon closer look wasn't any common one, when Xingjuan raised her head from the depths of the water she first realized that the hair cascading her shoulders and obscuring her sights had changed from the once black color which was dyed to fit the personage of her sister had reverted back to its original white color but on a closer look Xingjuan discovered that her original white hair wasn't white anymore but silver, it even sparkled, Xingjuan believed that this sudden change must be due to her ability to now cultivation, it was a strange occurrence but she wasn't going to dwell on it.

Xingjuan was too busy taking in the color of her once white hair that was now silver so she neglected to check her appearance, but when she eventually did see her reflection on the surface of the lake water she was rendered speechless, her breathing became hurried, Xingjuan frantically touched her face as if to confirm that it was really hers and she wasn't seeing things or perhaps dreaming, a dream that was too close to reality, she even started trying to remove her head from her neck for fear that perhaps an evil spirit had fir its head on hers someone, such thoughts were nonsense however Xingjuan could not be blamed for being paranoid.

Her long wet silver hair cascaded on her shoulders, her once almost nonexistent tiny eyes where now sharp, bright and clear sometimes it looked normal but if you look closely you could see it had a bit of pink situated on the iris, Xingjuan had long eyelashes and below her left eye was a tiny beautiful tear drop shaped mark, it was so tiny that she could hardly call it a mole, it accentuated her features, her lips were small and pink, she unconsciously bit her lower lip upon seeing them, it literally made a person want to bite and suck it and she was no exception, Xingjuan thought out loud "I am not boasting but with my present appearance, with a look like this, I can definitely cause the downfall of nations" Xingjuan started laughing weirdly by herself, In that moment she had momentary got mad from shock, she was shocked at her drastic change in appearance, she turned from a beast to a beauty in such a short time, she now understand why those people that came in search of her didn't identify her, they would have never thought in their wildest dreams such a thing could happen.

Xingjuan didn't know whether to be happy or afraid, happy in the sense that she no longer looked hideous and afraid in the sense that the emperor might take a liking to her appearance and favor her, She was slender and her skin was soft and tender, if she put on a dress and managed to behalf elegantly she could easily pass as a noble girl but what will happen if the emperor favors her and then finds out that she is indeed an illegitimate child and not who he had expected, won't he have her head, Xingjuan was at a dilemma.

Xingjaun was the empress in awaiting as she was told by her father and she was expected to marry the emperor but in other for her secret not to be discovered she was instructed to not earn the emperor's favor so that way her face can continue to remain hidden underneath the veil in other for the General's manor not to get implicated with the crime of deceiving the emperor but she understood by now that all her father had said then was just for show since the ultimate way the general manor won't ever be implicated was through her death but nevertheless now that she wasn't dead she was still the empress in waiting and the advice given to her by her father was also quite good, she also didn't want to implicate the General's manor despite all the evil they had done to her so she had to make the emperor dislike her so that he stays away and never find her secret, until she is able to leave the palace it seems ice jewel during her stay at the there will be her new best friend.

Xingjuan would have chosen not to go into the palace if she had a better option but she needed a place to stay low and hide from the general's influence since her life was more at risk if she kept roaming around, she was certain her father the General won't stop searching for her so right now the palace was her only refuge, "if I don't go there I will be haunted down and killed for sure, I know it won't be long before father orders them to use the jinx tracer to find me, with the jinx tracer I won't be able to hide from them even if my looks have changed because it traces people through their blood, father had me drop my blood on the tracer before leaving for the Yang province" Xingjuan sighed.

The jinx tracer is very expensive to buy and even more expensive to use since it consumes a lot of spirit mana stones, this spirit mana stones are the currency used in Tang Qin Shang dynasty, it can also be used to gather mana as well as set up spiritual arrays, these arrays are usually set up by formation elementals also knownas spiritual elementals.

Although the jinx tracer isn't all powerful since some very powerful elementals can prevent it from tracing them but Xingjuan was quite clear of her current capability and she haven't reached that level yet, also she hasread somewhere that they are some ancients site the jinx tracer can infiltrate but these assumptions have never been verified as true.

Xingjuan have to go to the palace however she must stay away from the emperor at all cost, her face will forever remain hidden inside a veil and when she have enough power to protect herself from her father's assassins she will escape from the palace, she didn't know then that the moment she decided to enter the imperial palace her fate was completely sealed.

Xingjuan came out of the water and then put on my robes, she thought of her worn-out bag and it appeared before her, she had long figured out it was in her space ring located in her core where mana resides, she now knew that she could store anything there if she so wished, all she had to do was to will it in or out.

As Xingjuan brought out the ice jewel veil was also inside that space she instantly knew it had undergone some transformation, the veil could now change colors and it could also change its shape, she even felt that as she grew stronger and her space ring evolve she could put the ice jewel in there and then make it undergo another transformation, a transformation that will give it the ability to disguise a person with almost no flaw, nothing is perfect in this world after all.

Xingjuan willed ice jewel to change into the shape of a mask, she decided she won't wear Mo Yue's robes again until she arrived at the capital so a veil won't work well with the male robes she was currently putting on, Xingjuan dyed her hair black again with the substance given to her by her father, now she wondered why he bothered doing all that if he had already planned her death, it's not like after she dies she will be needing it anyway, Xingjuan still don't know how her father got this substance after all changing hair color was hard especially getting something that could not only change the color but also stay long been that way, as long as it's wasn't something that will cause her any harm Xingjuan will continue to use it gladly, her reasoning was the her father's plan was to get rid of her by using those assassins and not by poisoning her to death so she could be sure that the black dyeing substance was not poisonous. Although she had this belief that her father right about now will probably be regretting not poisoning her to death when he had the chance.

Once Xingjuan was ready, she hurried along to Yang province.

"Are you visiting Yang Province for business or pleasure" the guard at the gate recording entries to the city asked without even looking up from his record book to see who he was talking to, Xingjuan can't really blame him, he looked totally exhausted.

"Business" Xingjuan said as she handed over Mo Yue's seal, anyone that sees the seal will know it's from the general's manor so she knew she won't have any problem passing through this gate.

With Mo Yue's identity, she wasn't an illegitimate daughter of the general's manor that no one knew existed, she was a true noble young mistress , the Eldest miss of the generals manor, The guard was momentary surprised but he quickly composed his self and said "Please proceed Mistress", Xingjuan bowed awkwardly and that earned her another surprised look from him, She didn't understand why he was acting that way , what she didn't know is that it was extremely rare to see a noble from such a strong family like the General's manor bow to a mere commoner guard, especially one that wasn't even strong.

Commoners could get a rise in status and even become nobles if they were extremely strong, after all in this world strength is what matters, with strength you will be respected but without strength even as a noble young master or mistress you will be treated as nothing , the general manor is different in the sense that even if his child is a trash as long as they bear his name and is under his protection no one will dare slight them, it's too bad General Mo didn't acknowledge Xingjuan, she was never given a name or treated like a part of the family, Xingjuan was a name she had to pick for herself on the bricks between life and death.

Most children from powerful families were usually arrogant and overbearing but she was different and this was what stunned the guard.

As Xingjuan walked into Yang Province she felt nervous, overwhelmed and giddy inside, she wondered what the capital city held in stock for me.