venturing outside

"I'm ready to go." Ning'er said, standing before Hao all dressed up in clothes made to be durable while a bag was slung around her body, containing all that Hao had told her to bring.

"Good, though I don't understand what you are doing here, girl." Hao replied, turning mid-sentence towards the other person that had arrived at the entrance gate leading into Glory city, namely the girl with purple hair.

"It's improper for a man and woman to be alone without supervision, if they aren't married." The purple-haired girl replied, turning her nose up slightly as if that was completely obvious, while Ning'er had grown rather red in the face at the mention of marriage, her mind going wandering down a road she had travelled quite often these last few days.

"Get lost girly, I'm not your babysitter, nor did I consent to train you." Hao said, turning around and walking through the gate of Glory city obviously done with the conversation, leaving behind a slightly smiling Ning'er, who hurried to catch up with Hao after shrugging a little apologetically at her former friend, and a frustrated purple-head, who was stomping her foot like a petulant kid throwing a temper tantrum.

Hao meanwhile had pulled out a map that he had compiled from different books on the surrounding geography, contemplating which way to go first.

Glory city was located by both forests, hills and a few mountains, making its location a rather well hidden place. Unfortunately, that was as far as his map went, hence his contemplation.

'I think checking out the mountains first would be a good idea. Mountains are created over time through two continents colliding, which makes it possible to find active volcanos there.

If I can't find one though, I'll have to improvise a little. Though who knows, I may just get lucky and find something I like before then.' With that contemplation finished, Hao put his map back into his small bundle and turned his head over towards the silently spectating Ning'er, who hadn't stopped watching their surroundings for even a second.

"While we are on the road, we'll continue your education a little. Which book are you currently reading?" Hao asked her, to which she turned around and replied: "It has no title, but its content seems to be centred around heaven and earth and the philosophy on why we are cultivating in the first place."

"Good choice" at his comment Ning'er brightened quite a bit, before replying "thank you. It seemed interesting. Though I don't really understand why the author was always talking about 'the cruel heavens' and a few other such expressions."

"I've come across that particular expression quite often myself. I believe it has to do with the perception some people have over the believe that life is unfair to them and those they hold dear to themselves.

A rather stupid notion if you ask me. 'The heavens', 'fate' or even sometimes 'the universe' do not give a damn about sentient beings, no matter how powerful they are. They simply are and should be treated as such.

Of course, whenever something painful or uncomfortable happens to a sentient being it begins looking for someone or something to blame in order to vent, and more often than not that happens to be divinity or concepts most sentient beings never truly understood to begin with.

If you learn anything from such a work it should be to learn how to view and judge objectively, if you ever want to understand concepts larger than life itself. But that is only a suggestion on my part. It is your path to walk after all." Hao finished his impromptu lecture and shrugged his shoulders at the end.

Ning'er on the other hand was trying to follow Hao's train of thought but got a little lost at the end. After all, she has not had much experience contemplating things like nature for example. Nonetheless, she resolved to try and take his words to heart.

The two continued like that for a few hours, discussing whatever came to mind at that moment, all the while passing through thick forests and grassy plains until the scenery began to grow more rock-like, soon changing into taller growing mountains that towered over their small frames like giants.

"Is there any reason for why we came to this mountain range in particular?" Ning'er asked, huffing and puffing while the two climbed the mountain's rocky surface, having grown curious after she was finished gawking at the sheer size of the mountains before them.

"Yes. I'm looking for a spirit as my companion. One with a fire alignment in particular. I was hoping to stumble upon either an active or slumbering volcano in this mountain range. Let's see what we can find." Hao replied, hopping from one rock to the next like a mountain gazelle.

"A spirit? Don't you mean a demon beast?" Ning'er replied a little confused, hurriedly catching up with Hao who had stopped to check their surroundings for any signs of tectonic activity, though found none and simply continued.

"No. I meant a spirit. Demon beasts turn naturally into spirits once they die, though not all of them seem to retain their abilities upon death. I am a shaman, which means I commune with the dead and have control over them.

Despite my ability to function without a spirit, it is simply more convenient for me to exercise my power through one as my medium, hence our trip to this place." Hao replied, confusing Ning'er even more, something she hoped to rectify later on.

The two continued onwards until the sun began to slowly turn dark orange on the horizon, which made Hao decided they had travelled far enough for the night and should make camp to grab some sleep and a bit more training.

Gathering a few branches turned out to be a little difficult in a mountain range of all things, but luckily the mountains they travelled through weren't completely barren, hence enabling the two to lay the foundation for a nice little bonfire.

While Ning'er sat down, messaging her legs in fatigue, Hao kneeled next to the bonfire and, through a small flex of his Furyoku, ignited the bonfire in an instant.

Naturally, Ning'er was astonished, which made her ask those questions she had resolved to get answers to later, back in the day.

"Can you tell me more about that shaman thing you talked about earlier? And what did you just do to ignite those branches?" After taking out a few nuts and an apple, Hao sat down and began to eat, before he replied to the patiently waiting Ning'er.

"As I said, a shaman is a person that functions as a bridge between the mortal and the spiritual world. You are born one, though I have heard of a few peculiar cases where someone was turned artificially into a shaman, recognizable through our ability to see the dead that remained in the mortal world for example.

Though, that is only a tiny fraction of what a shaman is capable of. The more knowledge and understanding of themselves and the world around them the shaman gains, the stronger he grows.

That growth is most often reflected in their soul force, something that most shamans simply call Furyoku, an energy produced by the soul as the name implies.

To make it easier to understand, soul force is the Chi used by the soul. Everything around us contains that energy, both the physical aspect in the form of Chi and the spiritual aspect in the form of soul force or Furyoku. It is the same and yet it isn't. Two sides of one coin could be an alright enough metaphor." Hao explained while Ning'er hung captivated at his every word.

She clearly understood what he tried to explain but she had too little experience to really know what Hao was talking about.

Thus, Hao told her to stand up and join him in another round of training. After all, how did one gain experience? Through action. Hence, the two began to slowly work through the form of the Onmyodou once again, though they didn't get very far as Ning'er was still a complete beginner, and it didn't take long for her to collapse in fatigue, soon after falling asleep in place.

After putting her back next to the bonfire, Hao sat down and sunk into himself, meditating, and wondering how long it would take for him to find himself a suitable companion, until he too decided it was enough for the day and laid himself down on his own makeshift bed and went to sleep.