Chapter 38: Not Ready

Year 11, Day 36

Beneath a Canopy, Gathered in Group

"Huh, they're kinda cute." Zhu Tei patted the head of a large - seriously, it was almost as tall as him! - black and white calf with two horns on the sides of its head. There were also these two lumps on the back of the little thing: "I didn't know these animals were here as well, I've only heard of them before…" Beside him stood the little boy Yan Zhun, also touching another calf that stood strangely calm… In fact, even the big beasts watched as the humans touched their calves, even when knowing that they were cultivators because of the Qi within them. "Oh, we met a few of them on our journey." Zhu Tei just looked at the big, big and tall goat-like guy that stood besides one of the big beasts. His lower half was covered in thick brown fur, his knees were bent and he had hooves! His hair was different though, there were some patches of green on his head and his horns were curved like a snail's shell before coming to an end at a point that curled upwards.

"I remember when you tried to ride one of the little ones." Zhu Tei shivered when he heard that voice- Why? Because it carried power and Qi alongside it, Earth Qi and… Spirit Qi? "You got hurt by the big ones pretty badly, so I killed the entire herd." There, besides Goat Boy, stood the tallest man Zhu Tei had ever seen- He had this aura around him, maybe because of the fact that he was a Spirit Cultivator, but Zhu Tei could see and feel the man's soul… And it felt stronger than other people's souls. More complete and in harmony… Contrary to that was the Goat Boy's soul that looked like it was fighting against another one, and clearly losing. "It happened once!" Yun Chen - as was his name - shouted, face red to show how embarrassed he was.

"It is good that you are getting along." A voice, whispering from above and somehow echoing with the wind, spoke. Looking up, Zhu Tei met the eyes of the magnificent Grandmaster Zylph, Head of the Wind Branch of the Heavenly Spirit Forest Sect. She wore this long pale silver dress that dangled from where she stood, floating. Her long silvery hair also stretched down, reaching an incredible 5 meters in length. Beneath her arm stood a long, silvery harp with golden threads. "Father has relied on me to give you all a message." She pulled out her harp, fluttering the wind moved alongside her fingers as she played a beautiful melody-

"I tell you now, immortals bold.

Your life relies on his grace.

To pay the price, in blood or gold.

So you may save some face."

Finishing her message, Zylph's hair moved with an invisible wind as she sighed: "My father requires of you only one thing… If you wish to live on his land, you shall work for and on the land." Her voice, cold and light as the night wind, whispered in their mind: "He has granted you a great boon… your life now belongs to him, and thus, you are now a part of the Heavenly Spirit Forest Sect, and shall obey the Patriarch." Her hair suddenly moved and before their eyes it turned into a white cloud, and that cloud moved with the wind as a simple voice echoed out: "Cloud Form: Cloud Gazing." The clouds shifted and turned until it covered Zylph's entire body and solidified, making her body shift and take another form. Before them stood a gently floating, male human, with pale silver hair: "Huh, it's harder than father said it would be." Her voice- I mean, his voice sounded soft: "You will follow me, I'll take you to Senior Brother Leaf."

Zylph ignored them all, and Zhu Tei couldn't help but wonder… Why was she transforming before them?

"Ah, Sister-" Suddenly, a floating flame haired spirit appeared before them, and he stopped right on his tracks: "-what the fuck!? Who gave you the Gender Fluid to make you change like that!?"

"Don't be ridiculous, Fiero." Zylph rolled his eyes before his form popped into a burst of white clouds, and as the white clouds dissipated, there stood a female Zylph: "I was just practicing the transformation technique father gave me the idea for." Her hand turned into this cloud-like substance as well, and it solidifed after a few moments, turning into large claws of black: "It's surprisingly hard to solidify this cloudy form…" Her clawed hand popped into a burst of clouds once again, making her frown: "And harder to keep it up too…"

"Well, Father told us all to develop a technique to help us change our fighting atype on a whim… It's cool you thought of shape-shifting! Well, I thought of something else…" His hand suddenly flared and they concentrated into a small sphere of flames: "I'm a close ranged fighter, but dad gave me the idea of developing a long ranged attacking technique that I can use in my dancing fighting style to attack from afar and dodge long ranged attacks as well." The concentrated flames dissipated before their eyes as he grinned: "Lumin helped me a lot with this technique too, they have experience with concentration and Qi focus."

Ah, Lord Lumin- As far as Zhu Tei knew, Lord Lumin was a Light Spirit capable of dangerous feats, seeing as they were the one to deliver a very devastating light attack on the giant Ant Queen. "Uhm, Lord Fiero, Lady Zylph-" Both of them looked at him as he called for them, with courage Zhu Tei coughed awkwardly on his fist and motioned to the others behind him: Cui Rong (who was very quiet and seemed to be lost in thought the whole day), Yun Chen (goat boy), Wei Wei and Hui Yang (They were bickering before Lady Zylph appeared), Da Huren (The big guy who was de-moose-fied by the Patriarch), the little Fire Qi Cultivator Yan Zhun, and Anku (a big, tall guy who was an Earth Qi Cultivator). All of them were listening to his words: "-is it wise to keep Lord Leaf waiting for us…?"

"Oh, it's okay, don't worry." Fiero dismissed his words: "He wouldn't mind if we got there a minute or so late… He's talking to Father and Tahsm."

Ah… Lord Tahsm, the youngest son of the Patriarch, and also the most cherished. The moment Zhu Tei met him, he knew they were going to be good friends! While he was Spirit Qi Cultivator, Lord Tahsm was made of Spirit Qi and lived within the Patriarch's soul realm!

"Regardless, we should go." Lady Zylph simple wooshed around herself and her body turned into this pale silvery gale before she floated like a flowing floating river of silver. "Well, at least, Father will have you sign a contract."

They were going to meet the Patriarch and sign papers- At least Zhu Tei wouldn't have to seeing as he already did.

Beneath a Canopy, Fallen Pink Petals

"Like this?" Leaf lifted his sword [Thousand Cut Needles] softly, intent on [Soft] and [Smooth] as he channeled his Nature Qi to cover the blade alongside the very Weapon Qi the sword produced whenever he swung it: "And now-" He thrusted forward, Nature Qi shifting between pure green to a pale light blue as cold covered the blade. Immediately after, the Sword Qi covered the tip of the blade and concentrated as he used [Simple Stab] alongside a [Simple Slash] as he stabbed forward and slashed down- Ice moved forward in a wave and froze the lush grass before him that swayed with the wind. Roots were covered in a thin sheet of pale blue ice. "Oh, that's easier."

"See?" Behind him, floating with a grin, was Tahsm: "I've analyzed Father's memories and looked through them, there were various memories of various worlds and their respectice heroes, villains, and techniques." Pulling out a… mirror? "Here, this is just one look-" A white haired man held a sword, ice covered his body as he said a word… Bankai? "And this-" A yellow haired boy held a sword, holding the sword he seemed almost unconscious as yellow lightning moved through his body, and in a flash, he moved: "Many, many techniques!" Another person appeared, this time, static and not moving at all. He held a sword as large quantities of energy his enemy as they exploded into various small pieces, in a single swing he cut through an entire army. Another image appeared, there a man with yellow eyes held this ridiculously large black sword, and with single swing he cut through an enormous ship, and the very clouds above were cut through, making the sky divided in two.

"...oh…" Leaf was, honestly, impressed. "Can I do that too?" He thought for a moment- the power shown to him by Tahsm was beyond anything he thought would be possible, but he was sure he could manage to do this in the future. Cutting through entire armies, cutting through the sky and earth, cutting through anything! "Thank you, little brother, for this." Tahsm simply smiled, knowing he just inspired his brother to achieve more. Father was preoccupied with something else at the moment, he was focused on going down as his roots had reached something that interested him and Ahteus, who was called by Father, alongside his lesser siblings, to mine out this weird dark mineral that had a lot of Daath and Dark Qi on them and seemed to almost absorb these two types of Qi greedily.

Father thought this type of mineral would help them fight against the Drought of Death, since he theorized it was caused by the excessive amounts of Death Qi and Dark Qi on the ground, dissipating Nature Qi and destroying any vegetation.

"Zylph really liked the puffing transformation technique. Chaos was interested in the Shadow Clone technique, and Namis really liked the Water Healing technique alongside the ease those benders could shift between steam, water, ice, and even blood." Tahsm chuckled as he remembered their reactions: "I myself am very interested in that Spiritual Healing technique, and with Father's help, I'm slowly but surely developing a new healing technique." His hand glowed a pale and soft white light before he closed it: "My objective is to be a good protector and healer, that way I can protect Father's soul from any form of harm, and even if it is hurt, I can heal it."

Leaf simply smiled softly at his brother: "Now… Let's try this half-hot half-cold thing you were showing me…"

Beneath Roots, Dark Tunnels in Pale Light.

"Don't slack now, little buddies, we're making good progress!" Ahteud grinned as his fist - that had the shape of a pickaxe - slammed against the vantablack stone with glee: "I am a dwarf and I'm digging a hole-"

"Ahteus." Before the Earth Spirit could continue his singing, Root chuckled in his mind: "I'm finding more interesting things around here…" Besides the big Earth Spirit was a squad of big ants, and alongside those ants as Lilith, who looked a little bored as she laid on top of one of the ants, an enormous egg in her lap as she meditated: "A mineral, but this one is rather… Interesting… It has grown around the bones of a gigantic beast, I want you to be careful with this one, bring the bones as well, I'd like to study them."

"Aye aye!" Grinning, Ahteus turned to the small lesser Earth Spirits that had these small golden helmets on their heads and small pickaxes on their paws (by the way, all of them looked like small moles) as they picked away at the black mineral. A team of these moles would pick the pieces that were chipped away and carried it to this tiny bag. Once full, a mole would take the bag to the surface by following the tunnel back upstairs. "Everybody! A team will stay here and collect this big ass black thing, while another team will follow me!"

And like that, Ahteus went to gather resources for his next project.

Root was not ready for what they would discover.