13 - Mystical (End of Volume I)

It pulsed and radiated warmth. It's form twisted into shapes like an embryo, except that it wasn't inside the womb of a mother.

The small blob that floated above this golden cauldron grew and took shape. Despite the fact that only minutes had passed since the beginning, the blob kept growing at the rate that would've left one astounded.

Wu Xing felt his fragile and miniature form. Under his soulful guidance, the blob shaped into a proper shape. Limbs grew and gradually a face formed. It kept growing until it was about 30cm tall, as tall the very cauldron it floated upon.

Slowly Wu Xing opened his eyes and his body floated down onto the surface of the cauldron. His gaze fell on his ...paws? Wait, paws?!

Wu Xing sighed. He had hoped for a more humanoid apperance but unfortunately for him, the [God-beast Essence] was stronger than his imagination. It had subverted his control and guided the development into more... familiar style.

His eyes wandered to his white bushy tail, covered in thin blue stripes. His meager soul force gave him an out of the body experience and he saw his own 'form'.

He was a fox. He had snow-white fur and his eyes were crystalline blue, like two deep oceans. Shallow blue stripes covered his back from the top of his head where they converged to form a flaming symbol.

He was about to sense changes that he might have missed when his [Soul Sense] picked up on the faint Qi wind. Normally such a minimal distrubance was hard to detect or even produce, but due to his special nature, Wu Xing was able to deduce that something or someone was advancing on his position.

'At this rate, it will here in few minutes.' His eyes roamed over the cavern. The table that was metallic in nature but marred with rust and blood. A thick black pot that was still bubbling steam from it's purple poisonous liquid.

His eyes stopped at the cages for the briefest of the moment before he moved his gaze on the spatial tear that was being stabilized with a Spirit stone. His paws left no traces on the rocky terrain as he made his way over.

Wu Xing had to stop and take a hard look at the formation that was covering this spatial tear. It was a simple [Master] level formation and not hard for someone with his knowledge to unravel.

Wu Xing pulled at his core, and the meager dregs of Qi and fed it into the formation. His last bit of Soulforce was spent on guiding the Qi through appropriate pathways to unravel the formation.

Suddenly, the tear widened. A fluorescent blue glow lighting the edges. Wu Xing took a look behind him, at the body that now lay dead on the floor. He tore his eyes from the corpse of his disciple and trudged forward.

His body sensed the familiar feeling of void that was being pushed from his body. The space shifted and Wu Xing found himself in a forest. 

It was a tropical forest with tall trees. A dome shaped glass acted as the ceiling of this woodland world. In the midst of these tall and slender trees, there stood a thicket of bamboos.

Wu Xing frowned, picking up one direction he started walking. As he expected, this 'forest' was not a natural growth, but rather one nurtured in guided care, human like care.

He rubbed his paw at his whiskers as his thoughts churned and gears turned. He was wondering weather it was one of those traps that cultivators used as lures or a genuine [Mystic Realm] left behind by some cultivator as a way to pass on their legacy.

As an old monster who had seen every manner of existence in his life. All it took him was but a moment before he realised the faint Qi of green that had suppressed his senses. It was without a doubt an [Elven Realm].

'That's weird though, Xuan Wen didn't mention Elves living in this world. Did he forgot to mention?' Wu Xing felt it was possible but at the same time he doubted that veracity of his own assumptions.

Deciding to ignore the origin of this place for the moment and focusing on exploration, Wu Xing wandered through the tall trees, short bushes and fields of flowers that housed a myriad of blossom petals of every color possible.

It was an intriguing realm indeed.

...

Xuan Yun frowned. His eyes flashed around him and his nose twitched from time to time.

"Poison?" Xuan Yu voiced his thoughts and he turned to nod at her.

"This is without a doubt a poison cultivator's lair; our destination must be deeper inside." Xuan Yun motioned for her follow but to keep caution of her surroundings. The duo moved further within.

As he neared the inner-most part, Xuan Yun started to pick a faint trace of blood. He frowned but kept his pace light and his breath shallow.

Suddenly the duo came upon on a horrid site of gory mess. Blood dyed the ground red as the bodies of one beast and one man lay motionless in heap of cold dreadfulness.

"What did this?" Xuan Yu found her eyes drawn to the wound on the human body. It was perfect circle in shape and right where the heart used to be. She looked around her with steely gaze but found not what she sought.

"There was a fight." Her father suddenly said, holding an iron sword in his hands. "There was another person here. I don't know if you realised it, but that body laying there is a peak [Energy Cloud Formation] master, and likely our target. But, it seems we were too late."

Xuan Yu followed his gaze as he looked deeper and questioned, "Did this mysterious third person kill these two? Or did this human and beast fight and that person took advantage of their distraction? What about the wound on his chest?"

Xuan Yun smiled at her barage of questions and said, "You are asking the right questions, my daughter. However, it's imperative that you also look for truth within the chaos." His finger pointed at another sword that lay before the man, noticably better than the iron one in his hand. "There are two swords here; the one before the corpse belongs to this man, while the one in my hand likely came from our mysterious killer. There's blood and poison laced on it, but not evenly spread; it must have come from an external source." His hand pointed at the python. "That person first fought this beast and killed it, before they also fought against this man."

Xuan Yu listened with rapt attention. It was not everyday he guided her personally. Deduction and prepration was just as important as learning to fight in this world, so she took in every word he said.

"However, there's a strangeness to this whole story." Xuan Yun frowned after his explanation. "See that foot over there, it belongs to this person and I can confirm that it was cut using this very sword by that person. Question is; why? If they wanted to toy with their target, then why kill him instantly the next time? Why are there small cuts and lacerations on this beats hide, if this person was truly this powerful?"

Hearing his questions one after another, Xuan Yu also frowned finding the truth not adding up. What were they missing? She looked around herself in thought. "Wait, why's there blood here too?"

Xuan Yun followed her and saw a small puddle of blood that. He frowned and his eyes flashed over the sword in front of the dead man. "Unless it's not one, but two people and one of them might be strong; probably as strong as me."

Xuan Yu felt her pupils constrict into needles and her eyes peered into the darkness that led deeper.

"Let's move forward."

The duo walked for few minutes before the cave gave way to a spacious cavern. All manner of beasts rested within their cages but their eyes focused on the spatial tear that stood out like a sore thumb in this otherwise dim and gloomy place.

"It's really here." Xuan Yu felt her breath quicken as she gazed upon what could possibly be a treasure trove.

"What's that?" Her gaze landed on a body that was sprawled on the ground, motionless.

Xuan Yun moved cautiously, his hand gripping a yellow talisman. The moment he laid his eyes upon the body though, his whole being shook. "Xuan Wen...!"

"What?!" Xuan Yu stared in shock at the face that was uncharacteristically familiar to her. This was no doubt her brother.

°°°

At the same time, Wu Xing found a stone temple in the middle of the forest.

A mysterious visitor paid the [Thunder God Mountain] a visit, claiming to be from the [Burning Flame Continent].

A storm was stiring in the [Chaotic Sky World], with everyone playing their own moves. An old monster wandered the land however, with none the wiser.