3| Conceal and appear

Azura sat on the forest grounds playing with Anox's tail as she thought of her plan she put together over the years, Anox laid beside her with his head on his paws as he napped . She had spent the rest of her day training at the entrance of the cave when they returned from the forest .

She needed to plan everything to go perfectly , otherwise it would all be for nothing. First she needed to prepare everything in the cave before she left.

With new found energy she jumped up from her sitting position and ran into the cave , making quick note of everything she needed to do.

First was to get the clothes out she stole from a watch man that passed by the forest a few months back . They were the only clothes that were never worn , the dark material in perfect condition and the cloak long enough to reach her ankles. 

The rest of the clothes she would burn to eliminate all trace of her. The fur pelt she slept under would also have to go , everything needed to be burned. And after that she would be ready , all she needed was her sword and her dager.

She carried everthing to the outside of the cave and walked to Anox. Placing her clothes and sword next to the tiger she took the pelt and other materials a few feet away and placed them on the ground. 

Making quick use of her spiritual energy she created a fire that danced between her finger and on the palm of her hand , the deep red flames looked deadly. Pointing her hand to the materials on the ground the flames obeyed her command and set fire to the materials, and in a matter of seconds it was all turned to dust.

"You amaze me more and more. You even masterd the way to turn you spiritual energy into a element. Truly a blessed one. " The tiger praised his master as he watched her from his position a few feet back. " I never thought of it , it just came natural to me i guess " she replied felling proud of herself as she let the flames play around her body.

"Enough frolicking around how do you plan to enter the palace grounds," he rolled his eyes at her as he waited for her reply. " Getting caught intentionally of course "she said as she made the flames disappear "I grew up in the walls of the palace, I know every secret passage way there is.

So I'll sneak through the one linked to the outerside of the walls by the courtyard to the halway before the throne room , and deliberately get caught by the guards."

She needed to be caught so she could get the chief to come interrogate her himself , her mentor was the chief , he would recognize her instantly. And with that she would secure her position back in the palace.

"What next , " Anox was curious about her plan naging her on as she was busy putting the clothes on she kept for this day . "Well Anox you just have to wait and see , but i promise you.

You'll be entertained, but first we need you to choose a form that would make you look less , uh how do i say this..." she trailed of as she finished wrapping the ribbon in her hair to a ponytail.

" unfriendly, yeah thats the word. , because everyone in the palace that has a little bit of common sense would know i have a contract beast from the mark on my hand ." 

On her hand was a dark red lotus flower with vines spreading around her fingers and arm . It was very noticeable.

"what do you want me to be then , a cat, a fox , a snake!?" Anox grumbled out as he was annoyed that he would not be able to be in his true form .

Not sensing his unwilingness she thought that it would be the best option " Yeah one of them would be good enough, "she said as she put on the last piece of clothing, her cloak. And looked at the big beast infront of her. 

She burst out laughing as she looked at the tiger's face that was masked with disgust and unwillingness. "It's for the best , its a good thing you are a heavenly dity beast , you can conceal your spiritual qi and make it seem like you are a normal leveled beast." 

Anox grumbled out is dissatisfaction and huffed out a sigh as he asked "Well then what do you want me to be hun" smiling at his gloomy state she thought to herself , a cat would be to noticeable if she wanted him to be with her , same with a fox , so a snake would do, he could easily sneak around and find things out for her , while being unseen. 

"A snake would be perfect, you could use it as your advantage and sneak around for me " she nodded with approval at her idea . " Thats not a bad idea , then so be it" feeling wronged he gave one last sorrowful look at his master and transformed himself into a meter long white snake with to dark read linds going down its back , his head the same as a kobra. 

"Thats perfect , you look handsome Anox " she coaxed the beast for the sake of his pride, picking him up she placed him on her shoulder. As she let him get she picked up her sword and wondered what to do with it. 

" In the ancient times cultivators hid there swords using the spiritual energy by hiding it in their inner core , summoning and putting it away at their will all they had to do was drop their blood on the blade and say 'conceal sword ' if you need it just thing about it in your hands and it will apear and if you want to put it away think of it going back into your body ,as easy as that. " Anox told her.

Think of it now when she lived in the palace no one even knew this , they always carried their swords by their sides . It was pretty smart if you think of it , how it never remained a common thing amused her. 

Looking at the sword in her had she sat it on the ground and took out her dagger grom behind her back and slit her palm , "conceal sword" with those words she watched as the sword absorbed her blood and dissappeared in a red mist .

Suddenly feeling a tingle on her wrist she saw a marking familiar to that of her sword on her , touching it she felt a tingle deep in her gut .

"Spirit sword" she said it with confidence as she stood in a fighting position, her sword appearing in her hands in an instant, red qi surrounding her blade as she slashed it in the air . With great force her spiritual energy flowed from her body and into her blade creating a huge slasing wave of red energy into a tree a few meters away slicing in half. 

" Wow didn't expect that to happen, " shocked at what just happened she concealed her sword and looked at the tree " Your sword is bonded to you now , so you can infuse your spiritual energy into it without much force. Its part of you the moment your blood touched the blade willingly." 

Anox was extremely proud as he bumped his snake head against her cheek his tongue darting out and touched her nose, swating his head away she shouted at him" Eww Anox thats disgusting!" 

With a grim face and a smug Anox she started to walked away from the forest giving one last look at the cave , she turned her head back and continued forward her eyes set on her surroundings as she made her way to the palace.