Chapter 218: Lucky Ending? & Mystic Flame?!

  When Bing regained consciousness again, he was inside the middle of the Endless Plains with nothing else around him. Sitting on his butt, he gripped his hands into his fists as he felt a difference in his power. He felt stronger but he didn't know by how much. Bing slowly got up from the ground and dusted himself off. His eyes couldn't help but glancing over to his shadow behind him.

  And to prove that everything he just went through wasn't a nightmare, his shadow teasingly waved back at him. Seeing his shadow move on its own was enough of a fright to cause him to clutch his chest to calm his thumping heart.

'So, it really was true...' Bing couldn't help but sigh.

  After several minutes of pacing back and forth worrying about his future, eventually, Bing realized he couldn't stay here forever worrying about something that's already been done. Maybe, this ghost will be a good thing for him. His amulet for the test did break and without it, he would have had no protection against ghosts at all. If the ghost in his shadow wasn't somewhat sensible, his body would already be taken over by now.

  Bing hoped that she was going to protect him from any ghosts hoping to eat or jack his body. She did seem very strong. Even inside his own void world where he is the master of all inside, he still had to rely on persuasive words to keep his life. He wasn't ashamed for what he had to do, if his mouth could keep his life from ending, he would run it until he could speak no longer.

"Hey... uhm..." Bing just realized he didn't know the name of the ghost in his shadow. "Can I get your name?"

The name Lin Jiajia suddenly appeared in his mind but no voice.

"Miss Lin, for my test, I need to capture ghosts with this amulet. I hope you will allow me to keep some of the ghosts we encounter along the way so I can pass my test." Bing gracefully asked.

  Bing had a feeling he heard a scoff in his mind but he wasn't sure. Hopefully, she wouldn't be too unruly. He didn't know if there was a way to take a ghost out of his shadow but he would surely try his best to find out if she started causing too much trouble. The Empress would most likely know a way. As far as Bing knows, there is nothing the Empress can't do.

"Let's go catch some ghosts then." Bing was a bit more confident with the ghost in his shadow now.

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"You must have dog crap for eyes if you think I'm a helpless dainty girl that anyone can rob!" Ying leaped forward with her demonic-looking great sword that could split tigers and dragons in half.

"AAARGH!" Jie immediately heard the screams of their fellow disciples around them.

  She saw as Ying spared some mercy for the fellows. Or perhaps breaking their bones like she was could be another form of being merciless. If she killed them outright, they'd be dead and no longer have to suffer anymore. But doing it like this was only prolonging the inevitable. Maybe they could survive but Jie highly doubted it.

"Hmph!" Ying crushed the last would-be-robber with her sword, knocking him into a wide tree with most of his internal organs and bones severely injured.

"Bing and Lei really are influencing me too much. I'm becoming much too forgiving lately." Was Ying's thought as most of the disciples was alive but crippled or on the verge of dying.

'This is forgiving...?' Jie and the injured disciples thought simultaneously in disbelief.

Ying led the way forward before looking back at Jie.

"Come on. We got some ghosts to catch." She smiled a beautiful innocent smile as if she didn't just brutally tear through multiple men at once without a scratch on her.

"R-Right..." Jie feels like she'll never get used to being in Hu Tao's group.

  Ying and Jie left the men behind without a care in the world. Some managed to swallow recovery pills and drag themselves away. Others were forced to be left behind and slowly die. A small few were even torn apart by passing ghosts.

  The two ladies traveled together with Ying leading forward with a small flame guiding their way through the white mist. Ever since they got split up from the rest because of that powerful ghost, they haven't encountered any more ghosts. Jie thought it was because of Ying's flames. So, Ying put out her flames and they traveled without them but they still didn't encounter any ghosts.

"Maybe because you're a cultivator that focuses on fire, your yang energy is too strong. It scares away all the ghosts because the yin-energy ghosts don't mix well with your yang energy." Jie guessed.

"Then how am I supposed to capture any ghosts if they're freaking scared of me?" Ying was irritated with these cowardly ghosts.

"That strong ghost from before wasn't scared of you. You might have to capture a strong one like that." Jie suggested.

"Impossible." Ying knew her limits.

  Facing that terrifying ghost and somehow capturing it was impossible with her current strength. When she stood against that thing, it was one of the few times in her life that she could say she was genuinely outmatched. Nothing she could do could stand against something like that. In fact, she believed it was a miracle that most of them managed to escape in the first place.

  But she was very worried about Bing. He still hasn't sent any messages with the talisman yet. Every few minutes, Ying couldn't help but pull out the talisman to check for any news of Bing. From time to time, she would send out a message asking if everyone was alright but her main focus was seeing if Bing would respond.

"If we can't do that, we'll have to find some way to suppress your yang energy. Can you do that?" Jie asked.

"I'll try." Ying's body was like a beacon of yang energy and warmth.

  She stopped moving, closed her eyes, and began controlling the qi inside herself. Fire qi was not the type to be restrained. It craved the freedom to burn and spread as it pleased. So, when Ying attempted to restrict its freedom, it fought back against her control. This was against its innate nature!

  Jie watched as Ying's face scrunched up in irritation as the warmth around her body seemed to fluctuate. She was even forced to jumped back as a wave of flames exploded from Ying's body. Was it really this hard for her to control her own qi? What was going on in her body where she had trouble controlling her qi? This made Jie somewhat content that she didn't have any elemental martial arts.

  The further you progress in your martial arts with elemental-type techniques, the more your body changes to match that element. The only exception is if a cultivator was born with a certain elemental qi affinity or chose to practice a martial art that they had little to no affinity for. This means that cultivators that practice elemental techniques have to progress on a linear path that suits that element for the rest of their cultivating journey. There is still time to change in the beginning but once a certain amount of time pass, it'll be impossible to use other elements and go back to normal.

"It's my freaking body! You will listen to me or else!" Ying shouted at the fire qi in her body resisting against her.

  Another explosion of flames erupted from her body in response to this threat, forcing Jie to jump back even further. Ying felt like pummeling the hell out of her qi but knew this was her own fault. She hadn't practiced controlling her qi enough. Fire qi was already one of the hardest elements to control because of its unruly nature. Trying to tame and suppress it was just asking for it to lash out and fight back.

  It took two hours before Ying was able to reign her flames under control. Jie was far in the distance as it was a fierce battle of control for Ying. Her flames seemed like they were going to engulf and burn everything around her without sparing anyone. Everything within 20 meters or more was burned black from Ying's flames.

"Ha! Stupid fire qi. You should've listened to me in the first place." Ying hmphed as she waved to Jie.

  Jie came running over to see Ying smiling. It looked like she finally succeeded. Hopefully, they'll be able to progress in the test now. It would be rather embarrassing to fail because no ghosts wanted to get near them.

"Follow me. I sensed something interesting over here." Ying felt the presence of another mystic flame.

  Because of her auxiliary art, Overbearing Amalgamation of Flames, Ying could sense Mystic Flames whenever they were near her. Mystic Flames were one of the rarest natural treasures in the world. A treasure that only those that go down the path of mastering fire qi could only ever possess. Every Mystic Flame had its own will that required one to resonate with it or dominate it with superior willpower or you would be swallowed by the Mystic Flame to strengthen itself. Ying currently only had one mystic flame that she rightfully stole from Fu Kang. It was the Frost Flame that allowed her to burn with such hotness it was capable of freezing those it hit.

  Ying figured that whichever Mystic Flame was inside this place, would definitely help her against the ghosts residing in this plane. She couldn't believe that it wouldn't. As she had a feeling that Mystic Flames would be related to the area where they formed. Mystic Flames couldn't move unless they were taken by a cultivator. Naturally formed Mystic Flames stayed where they were born till they extinguished from the passing of time or were dominated.