Yan Ping picked up her staff the mont she sensed Anji’s movent. It had been half a year since their successor went into isolated training. Nobody thought she would erge this quickly. With the war in full swing, they barely had enough ti to deal with anything else.
"I’ll get Ci Wang myself," Yan Ping excused herself from the eting. "Please continue locating the remaining forces that have been ambushed. I’ll be back soon."
Nodding, the senior researchers and elders bowed. They had too much work to do, so nobody complained. Their little successor should have stayed in there for another year. She would be shocked to discover what had happened in the last six months, during her birthday. They hoped to resolve the war sooner, but the demonic cult had other ideas.
Keeping the blindfold on after ripping the teleportation scroll, Anji waited. She had no idea where she was, but the sll of fresh, damp air and icy wind told her that it was winter, closing to spring. How long had she been in there? A year? Two years? Her shifu predicted that it would take her about a year, and Anji thought she would take two years. Her sleeves had grown slightly shorter, but not enough to need new clothes.
Sitting down on a bigger rock she found, Anji waited for soone to find her. In the anti, she enjoyed the sensations she missed while in isolation. The wind felt cool, and the sunlight was warm despite the chilly weather. Anji continued to circulate qi, so she did not need extra clothes to keep her warm.
Inhaling deeply, the smile on Anji’s face quickly disappeared.
It happened for only a fraction of a second, but Anji froze. That iron scent in the air startled her. It did not sll like the iron of swords. There was so salt in it. It was a disturbingly familiar sll that Anji did not want to put a na to. However, the tremor of energy past the mountain she was in spoke volus about the situation in the sect.
Anji was no fool. She knew that a war was ongoing even before she entered isolated training. However, it was still disorienting when reality set in.
From a distance, Anji could sense a great thrum of energy rushing towards her direction at a great speed. Although she was still blindfolded, Anji recognised it at once. Her teacher was coming to get her.
Standing up, Anji debated whether she should try to make her way to Yan Ping or wait. In the end, she decided not to move from where she was in case she tripped and fell. Unlike Yan Ping, who was used to navigating without sight, Anji barely made it to the rock she sat on. Dried twigs and slimy moss did not emit as many energy signatures, and Anji almost injured herself moving around in the forest.
"Shifu!" Anji shouted and waved when she sensed Yan Ping high above in the air.
Yan Ping swooped down, and Anji braced herself for a strong gust of wind as her shifu landed. She must have flown on her staff to get here as soon as she sensed Anji leaving the isolation chamber.
For a mont, Yan Ping stood in front of Anji silently. Even without words, Anji knew what her teacher was doing. She could feel the pricks of her teacher’s energy threads prodding at her to see if she had mastered the Seven Sound Mantra and energy harmonisation.
Playfully, Anji extended her own energy threads to push back and grinned.
When her own energy thread was t with resistance, Yan Ping scoffed at the cheeky girl.
"I see that you’ve trained well. Your golden core is more stable, and you seem healthy despite being in there for half a year. Are you able to replicate energy signatures as needed?"
Although slightly surprised by the short ti fra, Anji nodded and demonstrated her ability to convert energy signatures by borrowing her ridians, surprising Yan Ping with her speed. The thod was unusual and Yan Ping imdiately took interest in what Anji discovered.
"It appears that you’ve founded a new thod of cultivation by blending the Five Elents theory in dicine with your Seven Sound Mantra cultivation. Rest for a few days, then write a summary on how you did it. This should be recorded in the Mystical Qilin Sect’s archive as a new thod of cultivation. I’ve never seen harmonisation done so quickly, it’s worth studying."
Thrilled about her first academic contribution to the sect, Anji declined rest. If anything, the nap earlier did her wonders. She was brimming with energy and wanted to head back for a decent al from Aunt Wine.
Hearing that, Yan Ping mounted her staff and told Anji to hop on. Anji clumsily got onto the staff and held onto her shifu tightly as they flew up. She was still in disbelief that it only took her half a year.
"Shifu, what season is it?"
Yan Ping slowed down once they were above the clouds and answered that it was early spring. Most of the snow had lted, but the air was still cold enough to hurt lungs.
"That makes eight years old," Anji calculated. "Did my father send any ssages?"
Snorting, Yan Ping complained about how Zhao Mingfeng would write every week.
"I never replied because I was busy," she explained. "They were delivered to the hut so you can take your ti reading it there. Shifu has to return to the eting with the senior researchers and elders after dropping you off."
Hearing how busy her teacher was, Anji hesitated. She could not forget about the scent of blood, especially how it was clinging to her teacher’s clothes. Sothing must have happened at the Mystical Qilin Sect, and she had to find out.
"Shifu," Anji mustered her courage to ask. "Are you injured?"
Surprised, Yan Ping denied.
"Why do you ask?"
For a while, Anji contemplated whether she should tell her. Eventually, her determination won her fear.
"There is a strong scent of blood on your clothes. What’s going on?"
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