Sunset Forest

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With every breath she took, Tang Yuehua's focus grew deeper. She had been meditating on her martial soul for a long time, and generally meditating even longer. Patience for such an act needed to be cultivated for months and years and even if she didn't have the capacity of being a spirit master, meditation served as a tempering force for tolerance, thus, Yuehua practiced the art with care. She didn't let her surroundings distract her and once again, she touched upon a wonderful concept.

This was the difference between meditating to calm oneself and meditating with a direction. It was confirmed on the day when she experienced this 'sensation' as she meditated after understanding a little about her martial soul from Ja Sun, it became easier to focus on what was needed.

Her martial soul is different and can only be of the greatest use if truly awoken.

Awakening of a martial soul is an uncommon but quite a public topic already. Many spirit masters are known to have untapped potential, which, when later realized, can bring forth a positive and enhancing change upon the Martial Soul and subsequently, one's overall ability as a spirit master. This was completely different from the Evolution of the Martial Soul. One comes from one's latent potential while the other is sought from heavenly and earthly treasures which include Spirit Bones and Rings.

After meditating for another hour, Tang Yuehua 'saw' it once again. Proof that she could truly grow. What she saw wasn't an outline of a palm-sized black-gold swallow but a tremendous outline of a feathered being with its wings spread apart and the divine dignity filling every inch of her body. That's when her concentration broke and she opened her eyes with a gasp.

"Didn't work again?" A collected voice brought her attention out of the strange sense of fear. Tang Yuehua looked at Ja Sun eating a pear under the shade of a giant yellow tree. In fact, their surroundings looked like an autumn mellow. Yellowed grass and leaves with a burning shade on their surface. The dryness made the stay a little pleasant. There was no one else present aside from Ja Sun and Tang Yuehua.

"It's... like you said. Something is blocking me from ever accepting the change."

She muttered softly. The defeated look on her face growing evident.

Ja Sun looked a little thoughtful. Enlightened Martial Souls are 'locked' because the autonomous consciousness of the martial soul itself might corrupt the spirit masters. Clearly, the lock can be broken forcefully or opened by the Spirit Master if and when they are ready but what is the condition of being defined as 'ready?'

The more Yuehua shared her experience, the greater Ja Sun felt that the only condition for accepting the heritage of an enlightened martial soul is none other than greater mental strength.

"I see. With how things are, to develop your mental fortitude, you will have to patiently train and bear every form of emotion. The frustration you feel right now is a part of it. But... there is another way to shorten this process. It is not a shortcut, keep in mind. Think of it as... bearing extraordinary sensation for sake of quickly developing your mental strength."

Tang Yuehua sat a little away from Ja Sun but now felt moving further away when she heard him saying 'extraordinary sensation.'

"W-what do you mean?" She quickly regained her calm but the look of caution made Ja Sun confused momentarily.

"With the technique I will use, it will be extremely painful. You can ask Ah Yin to confirm the extreme cases of the technique if pushed to the limits and then make a decision."

"Why don't you tell me?" Yuehua inquired.

"Because it wouldn't matter if it came from me. I barely felt a thing but my eyes were bleeding and I was temporarily blind after that experience," Ja Sun smiled and Yuehua felt a chill rush down her spine. It couldn't have been a pleasant experience and would be even more severe in her case, right?

"But that is only if you push yourself way beyond your limits. If trained cautiously and daily, it will help your mental energy grow stronger and better and most importantly: quicker."

"Hey, we're back!" Jun'er's voice broke Tang Yuehua out of her ponderous expression.

It was the second day and without Oliver and Caihong, the group found a relatively secure location only after a few hours of searching. Bibi Dong took others for training and finding Liu Erlong's fifth spirit ring once again since Sunset Forest happened to be filled with a variety of spirit beasts.

Ja Sun looked towards the group and smiled. Someone was needed to watch over Tang Yuehua and he could also take the time to continuously use arrays and set related missions to keep on increasing his understanding of the arrays. Not to mention the inheritance from Qian Daoliu that served to increase his foundation on the foundation and make him realize that, unlike the popular belief that Arrays greatest use can only be utilizing many spirit masters as one and create a complicated and long-time array, he can do much more with some special materials. One of them already part of him: the Life Gold.

The nine of them once again settled before afternoon, a pot was set over the fire by Oscar with a gleeful expression and the group began discussing the venture into the deeper section of the forest with a clear purpose and it wasn't describing Liu Erlong's increasingly greater frustration over her inability to find her fifth spirit ring.

"A poisonous fog?" Ja Sun inquired curiously as Bibi Dong nodded, "I intend for everyone to start meditating in that fog. The deeper one goes, the more potent this poison becomes but with a bit of control from my side, all of you will survive and grow stronger physically. There will be no more hunts, too. Ah Yin and Jun'er will be tasked with trying to locate a spirit beast that conforms to Liu Erlong's needs. With her domain, and Jun'er's tracking abilities, these two are the best for their tasks."

"But—" Liu Erlong frowned.

"You're better than most of us. Train with a singular focus. Spirit Rings, in the end, are only quantitative benefits for the most part and you can just accumulate your overall strength to try and get an even stronger spirit ring," Bibi Dong calmly shut Liu Erlong up and then gazed at Oscar, "From today, you will train with Xie Xan, Hu Lana, and me when we're focusing on weapons training, as you said, you do not need a weapon but understanding them will be better for you. Ka-ul, you will deal with Erlong and Yuehua. By the end of the month, with the daily training in the poisonous fog, she will be as strong as a Spirit Elder so train her accordingly."

"About that, teacher, Brother Ka-ul just said that he has a technique that can help me quickly develop my mental fortitude..." Yuehua spoke up as Ah Yin looked at Ja Sun and frowned, "You mean the one that blinded you?"

Yuehua shivered. So, he wasn't lying after all, she realized.

Ja Sun smiled and nodded, "But I won't push her that much. It's the last thing that could speed her process."

Even Ah Yin had gone unconscious after tasting this technique.

Xie Xan, who had the Asura Sight Technique in his grasp was interested in what more things Ja Sun had but after Ah Yin vividly described what happened once Ja Sun pushed himself beyond his limits, a sight as gory as the moment he absorbed Nightmare's Fantasy, everyone shook their head.

"You have the choice. Some forms of training aren't meant to be taken," Bibi Dong sighed softly as Yuehua nodded.

"In case something does happen, the better thing to do is wait until I and Jun'er return from the scouting every day," Ah Yin smiled at Yuehua.

Everyone was clear on their roles.

Ja Sun was the cripple and eccentric expert.

Xie Xan and Hu Lana were a perverted couple.

Jun'er was a pit sniffer.

Erlong was the blood berserker.

Oscar being the tofu cook.

Bibi Dong was the plan maker and cold trainer with a hidden soft side, two of them, actually.

Ah Yin, the blue druid, and healer.

And finally, Yuehua, a little, gullible, swallow in the nest of prime predators.

They weren't planning to do much today. The forest wasn't the same as the Disorienting Ghost Canyon so they could take it a little easy despite their situation.

There was one thing that was strange if observed carefully. After the discussion ended and the details were plotted, Ah Yin turned and sat next to Ja Sun, to his right, to be exact. She never sat to his left.

Bibi Dong was already meditating while Liu Erlong lied down to have a nap. Yuehua and others, however, continuously glanced at the two with great interest.

"I was thinking," Ja Sun mumbled.

"Oh, I'm curious," Ah Yin replied, equally stiff.

He had a smart mouth but truly, Ja Sun had not the zenith level experience in these matters. He could joke around, but speaking up some 'real' things was harder for him. After all, Teach taught him the more direct methods of taking out an entire federation which did not include the subtle art of seduction, when thought carefully, wouldn't be an art that Teach himself would be great in. The man sold his family out, including Ja Sun.

And the one girlfriend in the past turned out to be a spy. A bloody sight, to be honest.

Ah Yin, being a grass, was equally inexperienced when things got 'real.'

"I've grown my brows," Ja Sun hummed and traced his chin, "It would be a shame if you don't take this chance before... we find some other trouble and get my brows burnt or cut or something else."

"That would be indeed a shame..." Ah Yin nodded softly as she felt Ja Sun's arm snaking through her left shoulder and his palm holding her right shoulder.

"And?" Ah Yin inquired curiously as Ja Sun glanced at the small group looking at him. Bibi Dong wasn't meditating. Her eyes were open in extremely thin slits and so were Liu Erlong's.

But strangely, they found Ja Sun's and Ah Yin's figures fizzling out and their lips twitched. Hu Lana rolled her eyes, frustrated at the mundane attempts. The more the two try to hide it, the more curious everyone around them would grow.

"They can't see us," Ja Sun smiled and Ah Yin frowned, "But they all are still here."

Ja Sun kept gazing at Ah Yin as she pursed her lips, "But... only a kiss, right?"

"Why would you even say that?" Ja Sun coughed.

"You just made us disappear from their sight, I don't need to be experienced to know what a guy like you would think," Ah Yin narrowed her eyes.

"All I thought was resting my head on your laps," Ja Sun scoffed, "Only now I'm thinking... hehe, and it's your fault. You're dirty-minded," he snickered when Ah Yin pulled his collar down and planted her lips on his, once again, making Ja Sun frustrated at the loss of his left arm.

Missed opportunities!

But that wasn't true for Ah Yin, who had her other hand pressed over his chest as they slowly pulled back.

"And it's only fair if I get to rest on your laps, too," Ah Yin sighed, her cheeks a little flushed but her expression still collected.

"Well, sure, you can sit whenever you—"

"I meant lying my head!" Ah Yin scoffed.

"So... which way would you face? Personally, I'd love you would face me," Ja Sun spoke up.

"What's the difference?" Ah Yin questioned.

"Didn't you have sex education?" Ja Sun questioned in return, a little confused. He couldn't have made it more obvious, the joke, that is.

"Uh, yeah," she coughed as Ja Sun blinked and waited and Ah Yin pondered on it for a full minute before her eyes widened in shock and horror.

"No!"

"Fine," Ja Sun snorted, "Everyone else does it."

It didn't take long for the two of them to calmly 'reappear' in front of the group with Ja Sun leaning against the tree, his eyes closed and Ah Yin lying on Ja Sun's lap with her face away from him, sleeping herself.

"Wow... they look cute together..." Hu Lana whispered.

"Really?" Xie Xan looked at the one-armed individual with eyebrows barely growing out and the blue-haired picture of purity and grew confused. What was even cute about them? He looked around and then gazed at Liu Erlong before gazing back at Ja Sun.

One who likes to hurt and the other who loves to be hurt... now that would be a cute relationship.

"Tofu soup is ready," Oscar called out and everyone scowled but remained silent. Ja Sun and Ah Yin didn't open their eyes. But others had to reluctantly and start eating their lunch.

From the next day onwards, the nine of them entered the poisonous fog that was surely a more recent change in the surroundings because even Bibi Dong happened to be clueless on its origin. After two hours of training within the various depths of fogs based on their natural resistance, Ja Sun being the deepest while Bibi Dong naturally staying with Yuehua to assist her, the group would return to clean up and continue their various sessions.

Once Ah Yin would return, Ja Sun began using the Mental Acupuncture Technique on Yuehua after she agreed to temper herself through this technique and she finally lost her composure due to pain and shouted loudly for a long while but this time, the effects were immediate because even if Ja Sun's Life Astral Combatant supports the Life-Death Spirit Cauldron and cannot leave the world of consciousness, Ja Sun's mental energy contained both the traits and proved effective to quicken the natural pace of healing of Yuehua's sea of consciousness.

Not to mention the wisps of energy that would slowly erupt from within herself with every drastic increase in mental energy, proving Ja Sun's speculation that mental fortitude is truly needed to unlock and awaken the true Enlightened Martial Soul within the spirit master.

Now, Ja Sun was not only curious about what Yuehua's actual Martial Soul is because the feeling regarding the spirit fusion only grew within him and Yuehua, but also the possible side-effects he must have left on Yu Xiaogang for such a crude form of an awakening of his Lightning Tyrant Dragon Martial Soul.

If there was another thing that remained a mystery to him, then it was the nature of Bibi Dong's second martial soul. But the fact that it could resonate with the Evil Title made him feel a little strange and the reason the two of them never mentioned anything is because of the fact that Bibi Dong realized she knew too little about Ja Sun's martial soul that could cause such an effect on her second martial soul, and the fact that her twin martial soul also happened to have touched upon a certain taboo of the Spirit Hall.