Garden of Shadows

by Tinalynge

  After considering her words, the men and women started acting as they had been told. They cut off the heads of every single person before tossing them in a corner of the courtyard, bodies in one stack, with heads in another.

  The battle was more or less over, but no one could relax. If the Baili grand elder won the last battle, then the Yuan and Gu members would without a doubt be slaughtered; as a result, they were all tense as they went about their grisly work.

  Fortunately, it seemed as if the winner was going to be the Gu and Yuan elders. They held the upper hand as they pressed the Baili grand elder more and more.

  Seeing this, Xue Wei quickly returned to his human shape and took out his final set of intact clothes. With a sigh, he quickly dressed in his trademark red robes that matched the bloodstained tiles beneath his feet.

  As he stood there with his red clothes, he looked like a demon who had just ascended from the hells beneath. Rivers of blood smeared his boots, but since they too were red, no one could see it. Instead, his clothes gave the illusion of him being a devil, with a handsome smile hanging on his lips as he inhaled the heavy metallic-scented air with vigor.

  Xue Wei did not have the time to consider the thoughts of everyone else; his eyes remained focused on the battle in front of him. Watching as the Baili grand elder was becoming more and more desperate, he could not help but become alert. A cornered animal was often the most dangerous one.

  As expected, the moment he could no longer hold on, a malicious gleam appeared in the eyes of the Baili grand elder. He suddenly switched directions and rushed directly towards Xue Wei, his speed so fast that one would not believe that he was not a Qi cultivator.

  “If I can’t have the secrets, no one can!” he exclaimed as he hurtled towards Xue Wei with blinding speed.

  Chapter 41 - A Spirit

  The Baili grand elder started moving so fast that even the two Gu and Yuan grand elders were incapable of catching up. He had been just too fast, and their eyes widened in shock and despair. They had not been able to predict this move, and if something happened to Xue Wei now, they would become ungrateful people who could not even protect their benefactor—something that’d leave a scar in their hearts.

  However, before the Baili grand elder had the time to act, a shadow suddenly appeared in front of Xue Wei.

  The shadow was very small, and the speed with which it moved was so swift that neither Xue Wei nor anyone else in the group could react to it—it moved even faster than they could see!

  The figure was rather small, so small that it only reached Xue Wei’s waist, but suddenly a power erupted from this small figure, a power so frightening that everyone who cultivated spiritual energy felt their soul palaces tremble.

  Even the golden dragon spirit within his mind opened its eyes, with a panicked expression on its face.

  Spiritual energy began to leave the body of every spiritual energy cultivator nearby; it gathered and shrouded the small figure in front of Xue Wei, making it impossible to see anything other than distorted space.

  Then, a small child-like hand reached out from within the cocoon of spiritual energy before all of it shot out like an arrow towards the advancing Baili grand elder.

  This all took place in less than the time it takes for one breath, and the Baili grand elder had too much momentum behind him to be able to withdraw again, so he had no other choice than to meet the spiritual energy arrow head on.

  As he collided with the spiritual energy arrow, his advancement was suddenly halted. At first, an angry howl resounded from his mouth, but soon this howl turned to a pitiful whimper as he felt his soul being ripped apart from the spiritual energy attack that had pierced him.

  He felt as if his soul had no ability to fight back. Even when he had been fighting the other two grand elders from the Yuan and Gu families, he had not felt this hopeless, but right now, he felt like an ant in front of an elephant. What was the strength of this small figure? It was so dreadful!

  Time passed, but Xue Wei was no longer looking at the dying Baili grand elder. Instead, his attention was directed at the figure in front of him. Then, as recognition of who the figure was dawned upon him, his pupils contracted, shock filling his face.

  There, right in front of him, was Luoluo. Her adorable little face was stern, and her eyes flashed with killing intent—something very unnatural to see in a child like her.

  It took almost no time before the whimpers of the Baili grand elder died out, and his body slumped on the ground.

  “Hurry!” The Gu grand elder was not wasting time. He rushed to the body, took a sword from one of the Gu family members, and severed the head in a clean stroke. It was clear that he feared that this man would return to life and cause more problems.

  When the head was severed, everyone could finally breathe a heavy sigh of relief. This was the end of their battle, and they had won. Suddenly they realized that their backs were soaked in a cold sweat, and their bodies trembled from exhaustion. The adrenaline was leaving their bodies, and they finally began to feel fear.

  “Luoluo, don’t you have something to say to me?” Xue Wei asked as he scooped the child into his arms, but when he looked at her, he frowned. Her little face was pale, and it seemed as if she had grown even younger than before.

  Her doe-like eyes were drooping with tiredness as she snuggled up against Xue Wei’s body. “Bad guy bullying big brother,” Luoluo said with a yawn, “bad guy deserves to die!”

  “How strong are you?” Xue Wei asked curiously, but he was unsure if the kid was capable of answering this question—rightfully so, she looked at him with a puzzled expression on her face.

  “Strong? Luoluo isn’t strong,” she muttered before yawning again and resting her head peacefully on Xue Wei’s chest, instantly falling asleep.

  “She is not using the same strength levels as us,” Bai Tianyi said with a low voice that only Xue Wei could hear, his eyes were glistening, but there was a solemnity to him that was rarely there.

  “This is not the place to talk about it,” he continued, and Xue Wei gave a short nod of his head to show he had heard it.

  “Miss Gu, I will leave the clean up to you guys,” Xue Wei said with a smile. “All the lands, businesses and whatever the Baili family owned will be given to you to manage, but if you find materials for Rainbow Pills, then I would like fifty percent of them.”

  “Great.” Gu Bing’er nodded her head. She was very satisfied with this deal.

  “I will trade the One-Colored Rainbow Pill recipe I have for more materials,” he smirked with a wink of his eye.

  Gu Bing’er grinned. “Profiteer,” she said, but she did not mean it.

  Xue Wei had done much more for her and her family than anyone could hope for. He had changed the entire structure of Yan Dalu by introducing his Qi cultivation methods for humans as well.

  He had given a stack of techniques, formulas, and scriptures to them so that they could use the Qi they had cultivated. This was truly a new stage for all people in Yan Dalu, and something that could make things very different from how they had been before.

  While Xue Wei was chatting with Gu Bing’er, a few guards came running with frantic expressions on their faces.

  “Miss! Miss!” they called out, completely ignoring that she was conversing with someone else, their faces pale and showing complete and utter disbelief.

  “What is it?” Gu Bing’er did not get upset by being interrupted and asked calmly. She could see that it was something rather upsetting that had occurred.

  “We were looking for survivors when we came across an underground dungeon,” one of the guards said, his body suddenly trembling. “We were of the impression that this underground dungeon was the same as the one where Master Xue was held captive, but when we entered, we found that it was different.”

  “How so?” Xue Wei was the one asking now, his eyes sparkling with interest.

  “There was one large cell, another room with a strange inscription on the ground, and
blood everywhere. It is a gruesome sight! And there are ten living beings within the cell, but all of them are sleeping!”

  “Ten people?” Xue Wei was reminded of the problem with ten people disappearing each day. Could this have something to do with the Baili family? But if it was the Baili family, then what about the Soul Tower? What about the bloody scratches on the walls?

  Xue Wei was unsure of what was going on, but knowing that it could help him understand what exactly was going on in Yan Dalu, he immediately ordered the guards to lead him to the room.

  Luoluo was sleeping in his embrace, but the rest of his friends were alert as they followed behind him. All of them were quite curious as to what was going on, and what they might find out.

  When they entered, they found that things were exactly as they had been described. As soon as they went down the stairs, they found a large cell where ten people of varying ages and varying backgrounds were laying in a line.

  Some seemed rich, and others seemed poor. Some were young, while others were older. There was no children and no very old people—they all seemed to be between fifteen and fifty years old.

  Xue Wei went over and examined them. They were all breathing but as to why they were sleeping, he at first did not know, but after a short while, his nose picked up a scent he was familiar with.

  This was the scent of Night Vine, a herb that induced a coma-like state.

  “They have been fed Night Vine,” he said as he observed them a little closer. “They should wake up on their own in a day or two at the latest if they were fed today. If it was before, then they should wake up even sooner.”

  Having determined that they were not in any danger, Xue Wei left the cell and walked towards the room that had been described as having an inscription on the floor and blood splattered everywhere.

  As he entered, he saw the description wasn’t wrong. The floor had a massive round inscription which he had never seen before, and half of it was impossible to see as dried blood had covered the lines. The walls were also painted with crusty, dried up old blood, and the smell was beyond foul.

  It was a gruesome scene. It was clear that people had died in here, but as to what the inscription did, Xue Wei had no idea.

  ”This is a Soul Coagulating Inscription,” Bai Tianyi’s apathetic voice sounded next to Xue Wei. “It is an inscription which not only takes one’s soul power away, it also steals your spiritual energy cultivation base and moves it into another person.

  “I think we have an answer as to what happens with the daily ten missing people, and also an answer as to why the Baili family managed to do as well as they did. Their direct descendants were likely boosted by this Soul Coagulating Inscription.”

  Xue Wei pondered on what Bai Tianyi had said and nodded his head, “Well that was one question solved,” he said with a sigh as he looked around and then went out. He did not want the rotten bloody smell to wake up Luoluo.

  ”But why does it feel like every time we solve one problem, a new one crops up?” he could not help but complain as he thought about how there were now even more mysterious things at the academy waiting for them.

  “I think we need to return to the forbidden area and get some understanding of what exactly is happening at the academy. Since we got no answers at the Soul Tower, that would be where the best guess for finding answers is.”

  As Xue Wei and the others returned to their courtyard at the academy, rumors about the battle rapidly spread through the entire capital and soon to the whole continent.

  At first many were condemning the Gu and Yuan families for taking up arms against the Baili family and murdering them, but Gu Bing’er would not stand idly by.

  She quickly released the news about the fates of all the missing people, and all the misdeeds that the Baili family had done throughout the years, rightfully painting herself, her family and the Yuan family as the heroes who fought for justice.

  The people were easily swayed when they saw the evidence, and soon every member of the Baili family who had not been home at that point were hunted like wild dogs.

  Xue Wei did not care about the rumors that were running wild outside; all he cared about was his trip back to the forbidden area. He had to find some answers soon—not just more questions and uncertainties.

  When they returned, Xue Wei looked at Luoluo worriedly as he placed her in her bed. From the moment she had fallen asleep, she had not opened her eyes at all, and he was worried that she had overexerted herself.

  Bai Tianyi had come into the room silently, and when he saw the worried expression on Xue Wei’s face, he spoke up, “Don’t worry.

  “She is not like us,” he continued, “Although she looks human, she is actually not. She is a spirit.”

  “A spirit?” Xue Wei was confused. What were spirits? He felt that he vaguely had heard about them before in myths when he was a child, but he could not remember it at all.

  Bai Tianyi answered, “Yes, she is a spirit, a being that is not so different from me, to be honest, but while I am an artificial spirit, she is a natural one.”

  Chapter 42 - After the Battle

  Xue Wei was slightly stunned as he glanced at Luoluo. She was not human? In fact, this should not come as a shock to him—he himself was not human either, and she had already lived for a very long time while having the body and mind of a child. This was not like humans at all.

  But spirits were the rarest amongst all species, so rare that not even every continent had them. “Tell me about spirits,” Xue Wei asked Bai Tianyi. The only thing he knew about spirits were from the sword spirit himself, but just before, he had said that while he was an artificial spirit, Luoluo was the genuine article.

  Bai Tianyi nodded his head and gestured for them to leave the room. They would have to talk a lot, and neither of them wanted to interrupt Luoluo’s rest. Although she was a spirit, she had just executed an Earth Saint. It could not have been an easy task, even if she made it seem effortless.

  As they left the room, they both slowly went towards the lounge area where they sat down and faced one another. Bai Tianyi did not speak at once, and he hesitated slightly before he sighed and shook his head.

  It was obvious that he was also rather affected by the realization that Luoluo was a spirit.

  “Spirits are different from other species. Other species came from a union between humans and beasts long ago, which has given them the special traits that they are known for.

  “Spirits are not born by other spirits; in fact, they are incapable of reproducing at all. Spirits are created by nature itself.

  “They can be anything; they can be people or man-made objects, or even a tree, a mountain, a river or something else.

  “It can happen when something has been located in a place where the heaven-and-earth essence or soul power is incredibly dense and stayed that way for a long time.

  “When the spirit’s original shape has been shrouded in this energy for so long that the energy has penetrated to the very core of the original shape, it awakens its own consciousness.

  “While it does become conscious, it is not capable of moving, but as long as the energy is present in the same location, then it will be able to cultivate. After cultivating to a specific level, it will be able to create a spiritual body like I did, and then leave the original host, and become a being that is formed purely from energy.

  “She is one of these spirits that has cultivated to a high rank. She has become a wonderful spirit, however, something clearly has gone wrong in her life.

  “Unlike humans, beasts, and all the other races, spirits do not have dantians. Their entire body is the container for their energy, and this is also the reason for her to appear and act like a child.

  “She has used too much of her energy; she has been drained so much that not only her body but also her consciousness has been impaired.”

  “Is there a way to solve this problem?” Xue Wei cut in, his brows furrowed and his heart clenched at the thought of Luoluo never ma
turing. Although he would forever be her older brother and look after her, he was worried.

  Even more so when he saw that Luoluo had shrunk even further after the fight against the Baili grand elder. In fact, it looked like she had lost almost a whole year of age, both physically and mentally.

  “Of course there is a way for her to mature again,” Bai Tianyi consoled him. “It is just that she needs to cultivate again. Although we artificial spirits are different from the genuine ones, both of us have to cultivate.

  “There are some differences in being an artificial spirit than a genuine spirit. Genuine spirit’s bodies will grow naturally as they get stronger, or shrink as they get weaker.

  “Their mind and body go hand in hand. The smaller they are, the younger their mental state, and the larger their bodies, the older their mental state.

  “We artificial spirits are both fortunate and unfortunate to not be the same. Our bodies can not grow on their own. No matter how strong we become, we are stuck with the body we created unless we create another spiritual body and change our host. Our only other way is to temporarily change our body structure with a constant use of Spiritual Energy.

  “On the other hand, our mental state will never regress or advance from the time we became a spirit. I will never become like a child.”

  Xue Wei pondered on Bai Tianyi’s explanation, and he felt much calmer now than before. Hearing that Luoluo would be fine and mature normally if she just cultivated made him feel much more relaxed.

  At the same time, he also swore to himself that he would never let Luoluo use her power unless absolutely necessary. When he fought, he was only emptying his dantian, and he would be capable of restoring it after a short rest.

  If Luoluo were to fight, she would end up losing some of her age and mental stability.