After Chen Xi had narrowly escaped the most tedious three months of her life, she didn’t waste a second savoring her victory. Her master could sweep back in at any mont, claiming he had changed his mind. That possibility would only exist if the evil side of him, the part that genuinely wanted to see her suffer, managed to whisper the right words into his ear.
She rose from the floor and willed her scattered books into her storage bag. One by one, they lifted and vanished into the embroidered pouch at her waist. Ready to leave, she paused. There was one thing she had to fix before stepping out.
Chen Xi walked to the Driftlight Pupil.
She stood over the small table, staring at her handiwork. The single eye resting there looked nothing like its original form. When her master first refined it, the fish eye had been pitch black, with only a tiny fla flickering at its center. Now? Now it was sothing else entirely, a garish, bloodshot-looking orb with veins threading across its surface. This was Chen Xi’s doing.
A few days ago, she’d grown restless. On a whim, she’d picked up the artifact and altered its appearance, just because she felt like doing sothing. The next day, she spotted two cultivators passing near their ho. Bored, she’d grabbed the modified Driftlight Pupil and sent it drifting through the trees to watch them.
She couldn’t use it for long, but that didn’t bother her. A short observation window was more than enough. It wasn’t as if she planned to study them for hours.
Over the years she and her master had lived in the forest, they’d encountered plenty of troublemakers, people who ca to their ho and stirred up chaos in various ways. But those incidents weren’t actually common. They’d also t people who stopped to ask questions, others who offered polite greetings simply because curiosity got the better of them, and many more who had perfectly harmless reasons for passing through. The two cultivators could belong to any of those categories.
Chen Xi just didn’t know which one. So she figured there was no harm in watching.
She sent the Driftlight Pupil gliding silently through the underbrush. Only after releasing it did she realize the eye’s appearance hadn’t reverted to normal. She could have fixed it then, either by calling the artifact back or simply altering it mid-flight. But she didn’t. She saw no use in bothering.
Besides, she wasn’t worried. From her analysis, both cultivators were weaker than her. If things went wrong, she could handle them.
That confidence caused quite a scene.
The cultivators spotted the floating eye. They scread. They ran as though their lives depended on it, which, from a reasonable perspective, their eyes certainly did. If you saw a disembodied eyeball drifting through the forest, watching you, of course you’d assu a demonic cultivator who gouged out eyes was behind it.
Chen Xi couldn’t say for certain whether she’d be frightened if she encountered sothing like that. Maybe she would. But the reason she hadn’t understood their terror, the reason she wasn’t scared of the artifact herself, was simple: she was the one controlling it.
Still, the mory made her cringe now. She didn’t want the eye to remain in that hideous form a second longer.
She placed her palm over the Driftlight Pupil. Warmth pulsed beneath her fingers as she channeled a thread of spiritual energy into it. The bloodshot veins faded. The surface smoothed, darkening to a perfect, polished black. At its center, a single fla blood, small and steady, exactly as it had been when her master finished refining it.
Satisfied, Chen Xi straightened. Now it was ti to go.
Today, she planned to visit a friend who worked at a shop in Ham City’s cultivator market. This wasn’t a casual social call, though. Not today. She needed to buy sothing, Qi Gathering Pills.
This story originates from . Ensure the author gets the support they deserve by reading it there.
Since she’d accepted her master’s task, she was going to complete it properly. Qi Gathering Pills were an essential step. Combined with the pills her master had already given her, she was certain she could et the required conditions without much trouble.
A soft rustle ca from below.
Chen Xi turned her head toward the sound. There on the floor, gazing up at her with wide, glossy eyes, sat a familiar creature. She smiled.
“Haven't seen you guys for a while.”
The Glimring Pouchmouse was plump, roughly the size of a fist, with fur that rippled through soft pastel hues, dawn pink, pale peach, lavender, mint green. The colors shifted lazily as it breathed. Its eyes were large, black, and perpetually curious. But the feature that always drew Chen Xi’s attention was the translucent pouch on its belly, coin-sized and glowing faintly with swirling, starlike motes.
From her experience, Pouchmice were gentle and skittish. Their kind wasn’t picky about food, they’d eat almost anything, but they adored dew-kissed Moonpetal flowers at dusk. They had no combat ability whatsoever. At the first sign of danger, they curled into a fuzzy ball and waited. Completely harmless.
But not useless.
When a Pouchmouse was calm, the motes in its pouch pulsed with a soft, steady rhythm. If a cultivator gazed into that glow for a few breaths, the light soothed spiritual sense overuse like a cool cloth pressed against strained eyes. Alchemists and array masters treasured them for this reason, after long, intricate work, a Pouchmouse companion could ease the ache of ntal exhaustion faster than any pill.
Capturing one was simple. Earning its trust, though, required a month of silent, non-threatening companionship. A tad Pouchmouse beca a beloved companion, never a tool.
Chen Xi had never taken one for herself, but she’d encountered many over the years, and they always seed drawn to her. Well, they were friendly creatures, so that was normal. But not overly normal. Pouchmice were sensitive. They knew good people from bad people quickly, and that made Chen Xi believe sothing important: not all good people were stupid. Just because soone was kind didn’t an they lacked sense.
Of course, Chen Xi was a pure, innocent, righteous soul. That was probably why the creatures loved her. Or maybe it was just the food she gave them. Sotis they still ran away from her for no reason, or so it seed. But she forgave them every ti. So they were good.
She squatted down and extended a finger, rubbing the soft spot on its head. The Pouchmouse closed its eyes, pressing into her touch. Its tiny body leaned into the motion, clearly enjoying itself.
“You must have seen before,” Chen Xi murmured, brow furrowing as she tried to place this particular one. “But if so… who are you again?” She racked her brain. Nothing. “I can’t rember. You’re all so friendly, and you all look the sa.”
She withdrew her hand and willed a spirit fruit from her bag. The Pouchmouse’s nose twitched.
“Now you’re here~”
Chen Xi plucked a broad leaf from a nearby tree, laid it flat on the ground, and placed the fruit on top. Juice beaded at the fruit’s skin where it t the leaf’s cool surface.
“Have this.”
The Glimring Pouchmouse scurried forward, tiny paws scrabbling against the floor, and began eating with eager, grateful nibbles. The motes in its pouch brightened.
Chen Xi rose, bid the creature a soft goodbye and continued on her journey.
---
The forest thinned as she walked. Trees gave way to dirt paths, and dirt paths gave way to the outskirts of Ham City. By the ti she reached the cultivator market, the sun hung high enough to bake the cobblestones underfoot.
The market surged with noise and motion. Cultivators in robes of every cut and color pushed past each other. Shops cramd together along the street, their wares spilling outward onto tables and racks, pills glowing in jade bottles, talismans stacked in neat bundles, weapons gleaming with embedded formations, spirit food steaming from vendor carts, formation plates etched with intricate patterns, puppets standing stiff and silent, robes shimring with defensive arrays, books bound in beast-hide, furniture carved from spirit wood, cages of chirping spirit pets. A dozen other things she didn’t bother to register.
Voices called out from every direction. A seller bellowed about his talismans’ guaranteed activation rate. Another hawked pills that promised to cleanse ridians in a single dose. A third claid his spirit liquor could knock out a Foundation Establishnt cultivator.
Chen Xi wove through the crowd, her robe brushing past elbows and shoulders. She ignored everything, the shouts, the slls of roasted spirit beast and dicinal herbs, the glitter of treasures she didn’t need, until she reached a specific shop tucked between a formation stall and a puppet workshop.
The front counter was empty. The shop remained packed with inventory, shelves and crates cramd full, but Chen Xi had visited often enough to know that most of the truly valuable items weren’t on display. They never were.
A hand gripped her shoulder.
User Comments
0 comments from readers