Mortal Realm

The outskirts of The White Forest wasn't 'life threatening' on the danger scale. It was only about 'enter with as many backup plans as you have so that you don't turn into beast snack' dangerous. Even so, anybody with a will to live wouldn't choose to go there if they didn't have the strength to protect themselves, let alone live there.

There was a cave a few miles into The White Forest in Mortal Realm. It camouflaged into its surroundings, and its entrance was hidden by a large waterfall so that only people who were familiar with the area could find it.

A woman in red was cooking something over a fire in that cave. Although time had left their mark on her, making some of her hair gray, one could still see her former beauty in the shape of her face and the elegance in her bones.

The woman stared absentmindedly into the smoke rising from the fire as if she could see something or someone through it. A sheen of guilt and sadness shone in her dark eyes. Then, she picked a flower from a bundle in a corner of the cave and started picking its petals while mumbling, "I tell her, I tell her not. I tell her, I tell her not..."

***

Not far away, the surface of a tree rippled and shone with white light. When the light dissipated, a person who wasn't there before could be seen walking down a rabbit path that only a detailed eye could spot. When that person reached the cave with the red robed woman in it, she bounded in and exclaimed, "Master! Your favourite disciple is home! Aren't you happy to see me?"

Bai Rong was still focused on picking flower petals. 'Is this a sign? Why does every single petal end with telling her? Heavens, why do you do this to me?'

"Master?"

She wiped the dumbstruck look off her face before smiling at the newcomer. "Yin Xue, you're my only disciple."

"So that makes me your favourite disciple!" Yin Xue saw all the petals littered throughout the cave. "Hmm? What are you doing, Master?"

"Nothing." Bai Rong innocently threw the flower away and said, "Just cooking. Yin Xue, there is no need to pretend in front of me. You can be yourself here."

"Okay." Yin Xue waved her hands over her face, and in a wisp of silver smoke, that beautiful boy's face turned into a more feminine version of itself. She had a heart shaped face that tapered into an elfin chin. Her dimple popped with every quirk of her lips, which made her look naturally trustworthy. Her most enchanting features though, were her eyes.

Sometimes they looked like two hypnotizing dark pools that made people fall into them unconsciously, and sometimes a barely detectable glint of silver flashed through them. Once in a blue moon, they would turn fully silver and look so magnetic that one couldn't help but be sucked into them, forgetting everything when they looked away. Such was the power held by a nine-tailed fox.

The Nine-Tailed Fox Tribe lived in Heavenly Realm as high ranking deities. There were no known nine-tailed foxes who would leave Heavenly Realm for the lower realms, so Yin Xue was one of her kind here. That and the wish of her birth mother were the reasons why Bai Rong never searched for her blood relatives even though all signs pointed to Heavenly Realm.

"Yin Xue, if you had to sacrifice the most important in your life to succeed, would you do it?" Bai Rong asked after some hesitation.

Yin Xue decisively nodded her head. "Master once taught me that the three realms share the same principle. The strong survives while the weak can only be trodden on. Take the Devil Emperors of Dark Dynasty for example, they're cursed to protect their throne from every new generation of Devil Lords. If they were the slightest bit weaker, they would be overthrown. I trust Master's words. If I want to be strong, I will have to sacrifice something."

Bai Rong approved of Yin Xue's mentality and outlook on the world, but some part of her still saw the baby girl she had raised instead of the practically grown woman standing in front of her.

'No. I must not think that way. No matter what, it is too late to turn back now. I have to tell her soon. Even these superstitious flowers say so,' thought Bai Rong.

"What do you think a strong person has to sacrifice in order to rise to the top, then?"

A genuinely quizzical look bloomed on Yin Xue's face. "Whatever they sacrifice won't matter more than their rewards at the end, though...?"

"I want a real answer. Think."

Yin Xue thought for a while, then shook her head. "I still don't know."

"You will," Bai Rong said. "You may not know now, but be prepared for when you do." She threw some empty stalks into the merrily lit fire and settled in a comfortable position. "Yin Xue, for your last lesson, I will tell you a story."