14. Elder Lin

"Strange, really strange." Elder Lin mumbled to herself looking at the ghostly pale face of the girl with her dead eyes.

'Is it a possession by an evil spirit??" She mumbled to herself but discarded the idea since there was no reaction with the talisman that was on the bed to ward off evil.

The situation with Le Fangling was similar to evil spirit possession but it differed slightly since Elder Lin could still feel the spiritual qi flowing inside her meridians.

The ones possessed by the evil spirit had their own energy blocked by the influence of the evil energy.

Elder Lin thought about the similar cases of possession she had seen on her journey when she was a young cultivator herself, not that she was older now.

She touched the place on her belly where the dantian was located and felt the surge of qi flowing throughout the body.

"Yep definitely not possession by evil spirit." She gave her verdict.

"Hmmmm…"

"Wait..." Her hand stopped in mid air when she realized she had misread something.

There was a tiny, almost microscopic problem in her meridian that she almsot missed.

But she knew that was not the reason for her half dead condition so she decided to come back to it later.

But if that is not the reason then....

"A witch craft probably…" Elder Lin had this suspicion.

Many people had turned to dark arts now days because it was easier than cultivation.

Cultivation required one to be very patient and hardworking, with a non stop training in martial and mystical arts.

The formation of the golden core is a difficult and advanced stage in cultivation which only a very few number of people could accomplish.

There was one in a million chance for a mortal to cultivate. Some had innate talent for cultivation since their birth, some possessed special spirit roots allowing them to cultivate even more faster an efficiently while some worked hard despite the difficulties they faced with.

Even if one was successful to form the golden core, there was no guarantee they would be able to break through their ranks and ascend immortality.

But…

Dark arts were different. It required only sacrifices and offerings to break through and get stronger.

Dark arts or in other words witch craft was an improvised version of Demonic cultivation that came into practice only a few years ago.

The practitioners were different from those who were on path of demonic cultivation. The demonic cultivators used the resentful energy gained from the evil spirits in exchange for letting them reside in their body.

What more, demonic cultivators do not require the golden core to cultivate as the resentful energy doesn't need to be stored unlike the spiritual energy (qi).

Like the name suggested, dark arts was sorcery that could do much more without any effort. Human sacrifices was the major way for them to get powerful and stronger.

Drinking blood and eating human flesh could also give them eternal life and beauty.

When the blood of the human near you give you power unrivalled and youthful energy why would anyone even try and choose the hard way of cultivation.

"This is making my head ache." Elder Lin felt her nerves pulsating on her head as her thoughts started to wander on more serious topics.

"There might be some curse sign or seal on her body." Elder Lin rummaged through the clothes but it got in the way of checking.

.

'Hmm…what's this feeling?' Le Fangling who had fallen in to a deep, dreamless sleep had closed her eyes but, she could feel a soft and tiny hand all over her body followed by the sound of rustling of clothes.

'Ehh…where am I now?'

She tried to move her body but felt it was restrained by something or maybe someone!!!

'WHAAAT?!'

Right before her eyes was a beautiful and mature lady, her eyes intensely focusing on one thing which was none other than undressing her.

Sensing that the body beneath her was moving, Elder Lin looked at the face of Le Fangling only to see a pair of turquoise eyes staring at her.

"Oh my…you are awake??" It sounded more like a question than a statement.

Elder Lin looked at the girl who was staring back at her with the same confused look as she had.

"What??? You are awake..... just like that??" She placed both of her hands on either side of her cheeks in shock and surprise.

"????"

Her face was full of question marks,

But she quickly regained her composure back, looking sophisticated and apathetic as much as possible.

She was a hundred years old immortal so acting all flustered did not suit her charisma or so she thought.

All this time she was trying to figure out what was wrong with the new disciple but then she was awake just like that.

Awake as if she had been just sleeping all along??

"..."

<Congratulations! You have successfully passed the penalty time>

<Your body stats has increased in the time you were sleeping.>

'But how? I mean I was just sleeping for whole 10 minutes?' Le Fangling was once again surprised at the sudden increase in stat.

'Don't tell me its because early to the bed and early to the rise, makes a man healthy, wealthy and wise? Or some proverb around this line?' Le Fangling asked unsure.

<Yes, 10 Host! Sleeping for a full minute helped your body to recover many of its strength and clear brain memory.>

"Oh..okay..Then what are my current stats?" Lying on the bed, she asked in her head. The screen immediately glowed and her stat appeared on the screen.

[

-Defence +2

-Strength +2

-Awareness +3

-Agility +1 ]

<Your spiritual energy has increased by +10 points>

'Ehhh?? In ten minutes?? Don't tell me I can absorb the spiritual energy from cultivator themselves and not just spiritual essences in the atmosphere?' Le Fangling conjured up her hypothesis looking at the increased amount of spiritual energy in her body.

<That seems to be the case Host.>

<You need to get your meridians fixed ASAP!!>

The system reminded her of her grave trouble at the moment.

'Enn..' Le Fangling nodded her head and averted her eyes from the system tab.

She looked at the new place she found herself in, where the walls had profound things written in neat calligraphy with traditional Chinese paintings on the wall giving the place an artistic and beautiful look.

<This is the residence of Elder who in charge this place>

<You are currently in Cherry Blossom Pavilion of the Sect.>

[Name: Lin Yuan

Gender: Female

Position: Elder in charge of Cherry Blossom Pavilion

Realm: ?????

Rank:?????

Specialty: Healing

Affinity: Wind

Conclusion: Do not anger this person!]

The familiar description of Elder Lin appeared in a tab right next to her.

"...", Why are everyone I meet stronger than me?

Plus the tab showed more information than before.

'Looks like the system was not lying when it said it updates itself with time.'

"Ahemm..cough Cough...Hello Elder." Le Fangling got up from her seat and bowed down before her.

"Enn.." Elder Lin just returned back her greeting.

She stared at Le Fangling trying to find any abnormality and finally removed her piercing gaze when she could not point out what was wrong and continued.

'Its still strange but I might have another time to see this through.' Elder Lin still had a few suspicions and thoughts about the previous state of the girl but decided to leave it for future when she was more familiar with her.

'She is from the Le family after all, I am curious what she has inside her.' Elder Lin wondered because although she felt her Qi, there was something odd about them, something abnormal about how they had different feel and their flow.

"I am Elder Lin, the head of Cherry Blossom Pavilion." She introduced herself in a strict manner that had not a hint of emotion.

"Cough, cough..." Clearing her throat she stood up from her seat.

"And you.." She pointed her finger at Le Fangling.

" Me?" Le Fangling wondered why there was such a hostility in her voice.

'Don't tell me she felt her spiritual energy being absorbed by me?' Le Fangling had her palm wet with sweat as she waited for Elder Lin to finish speaking.

Elder Lin approached her and stood still. Nervous, she gulped down the saliva on her throat. 

Elder Lin brought her fingers near her forehead. Instinctively, Le Fang Ling closed her eyes.

Pang!

Elder Lin flicked on her forehead with a chuckle.

"You just scored yourself a test."

A mischievous smile played in her eyes as she pulled back her hand.

"Congratulations."