The trip through the cavern was thankfully, much easier. The cavern was still filled with spirits that wandered, most dead, with only their corpses being moved around. I took care of most of them without much difficulty, burning their bodies to prevent them from rising again.

I felt slightly exhausted, not physically but as if my mind had been detached from my body somehow and didn’t quite fit right back in yet. Which, I suppose is exactly what had happened when I’d somehow entered that inner world for this little guy here.

We soon found our way to the end of the entrance, carrying the villagers back as we made our way out of the vein. The first thing I felt was the stark difference in the Qi present in the air and for a brief moment I felt a sensation oddly similar to suffocation. As if the air around me was too thin. It only took a couple of minutes for me to adjust and I turned to face the entrance into the vein.

“What are we going to do about this while the sect arrives? Any one of those creatures reaching the village would be catastrophic,” I said, turning to face Liuxiang.

A frown covered the boy’s face as he regarded the cavern entrance. “Perhaps this one and Senior can seal off the entrance for now. The sect would not be sending disciples when being made aware of the miasma and the plant, and they should be easily capable of clearing the way back in.”

“That sounds like a plan then,” I replied, putting the little turtle down, wondering if he’d run off somewhere into the forest. The little guy remained seated near my feet with a calm look on his face. Guess I had my second spirit animal now. Just 149 more to go before I catch ‘em all!

I pulled my sleeves up, as Liuxiang carefully set the unconscious villagers at the base of a tree, the village chief’s son taking a seat as well, his eyes drooping as well. After all the exertion and stress that he must’ve gone through, I was surprised he had energy left at all.

The two of us walked towards the entrance of the vein and I looked around to see any convenient sized boulders present. A short glance showed luck didn’t favour me that much and I resolved myself to punch my way through this problem like a true cultivator. Lu Jie would’ve been proud.

“This one will help dislodge the rocks,” Liuxiang said as needles appeared in his hands in a flash. I wonder if he picked up the needles from the formation, or did he just have hundreds of them under those robes? No way right?

I let the thoughts fade as with a sharp crack Liuxiang’s needles pierced through the cavern wall. Seven needles were jabbed one after the other, the last one sending a neat crack across the rock from the impact.

I prepared myself, gathering my Qi as I took a breath. Time to do some super human kung fu moves.

I flooded my body with Qi, leaping up. My foot kicked off the right side of a protruding section as I twisted my upper body. Gathering Qi within my body I twisted myself around, shifting my weight as I sent a pulse of Qi travelling through my hand right at the moment of impact.

Like a piston slamming a hard metallic surface, the rock shuddered as cracks ran across the wall. I hurriedly jabbed my finger in one of the gaps, before kicking off the breaking section and away from the falling pile of rocks.

With a rumbling noise, the section above the cavern collapsed, Liuxiang sending needles as needed to aid the cracking rocks. With a rising dust cloud, the entrance sealed itself, and I dusted my hands, feeling pretty impressed at the super human maneuvers I’d pulled off. I was pretty sure I’d jumped around ten feet in the air right there.

Watching the rubble of collapsed rocks, I realised Liuxiang’s needles were all in there. “How are you going to get your needles bac-” I paused as silvery needles floated back, through the air, and into Liuxiang’s hand, the boy giving me a light smile from beneath his long black hair that now flowed behind him, not tied in by a silver pin. Well, that was cool as fuck.

Leaving my fantasies of flying needles that came back at my call behind, and trying to ignore that I already had the lightning part figured out with Labby I walked back to the villagers, and the little turtle sitting nearby.

“What should we be doing with him? Or her, I guess.” I wasn’t going to make the same mistake twice.

“It’s a he, Zhi Zhu can tell from its Qi,” the spider helpfully added.

“The sect would likely need to be informed and the spirit had been tainted by miasma. If the senior hadn’t helped, the spirit likely would have died from the miasma in its body. Even with a new form, the risk of miasma would have no cultivator bonding with such a spirit,” Luxiang said, glancing at the little turtle, who stared back, its mouth curved upwards as if in a smile. Likely just the shape of its mouth on default, but I still found it extremely adorable nonetheless.

“It is a wild spirit at a high level of cultivation, extremely difficult to bond to. Cultivators prefer bonding to young spirits, and raising them and growing with them together, as it ensures the spirit doesn’t run off when older. It is often why human bound spirits tend to take a human appearance through their cultivation.”

“Zhi Zhu won’t. Zhi Zhu’s form is practical for its purposes, and she doesn’t need clumsy arms,” the spider spoke, and I felt a strange envy coming from Labby.

“Although this one seems to be following Senior, so Senior may be able to keep it?” Liuxiang added and I turned towards the little turtle.

“Well, I’d already decided I’d be talking with you, but do you want to stick around with me as a spirit little big guy?” I asked the little turtle, as its green eyes stared at me, its head turning sideways.

Chirp!

“Guess that was as much answer as I needed, I think I’ll call you Sheldon,” I said, receiving another chirp as I picked the cute little baby up. Terrifying monsters looked a lot more adorable when you could hold them in your hands.

I patted its shell, a mix of a delicate brown and green, mixed with striking colors of gold. I couldn’t sense its realm at all, almost as if its presence had vanished completely. There was something strange going on with this turtle, and with my cultivation both. The inner world of this guy was another thing I really needed to look more into. Alongside miasma.

Many new questions had arrived, alongside many new possibilities on what Qi could be, and I felt excited to explore all of them.

“Labby will be your senior sister!” Labby exclaimed to the turtle, her ears flicking in excitement and pride and I laughed out loud, not willing to tell her that wasn’t how ranks in cultivation worked.

Chirp! Sheldon replied, and Labby gave a satisfied squeak of her own. I shook my head, turning towards Liuxiang, and giving him a light nod as we both headed towards Taizhou.

We walked quickly through the forest, the rumblings of the spirits much calmer as I felt the Lunar Qi rising. The day was starting to end, with the sun soon to be setting on the horizon. The village appeared quickly in the distance and I saw a crowd of people gathered, whispering. A lot more men filled the village now, likely back from their work.

I could hear their whispers even from a distance, but the voices merged into a confusing static if I didn’t focus. The strange mental exhaustion and overall events of the day told me I wouldn’t be doing that anyway.

“Brother!” I heard a girl exclaim, pushing aside the crowd as she ran towards us. I saw a couple of men trying to tell her to stop, but the girl continued on anyway, almost tackling Liuxiang as she hugged the village head’s son.

“Yin…” her brother spoke, as Liuxiang let go of the man, taking a step back to give the siblings some space.

“You stupid, dumb, impulsive, arrogant, dumb idiot! Why did brother have to go… I was so worried,” her sister said, grabbing her brother as I saw tears rushing down from her eyes. My gaze shifted to other family members rushing towards us as they all began to take hold of their loved ones.

I smiled, feeling a strange sense of pride fill me at having saved the lives of these people. “Labby feels nice too Great Master,” Labby told me with a squeak and I nodded.

“They are alright, and will recover soon. This one has applied some salve for their injuries. Please reach out to the sect if any issues come up with their conditions,” Liuxiang spoke, in his usual neutral tone, and I sent a pulse of Qi towards him, changing my expression to a smile.

Smile damn it, they’ll get scared.

The boy looked at me in confusion and I saw the villagers bow deeply as they began to carry the injured people back. I saw Liuxiang look at me with a confused expression and I stopped a sigh from escaping my mouth.

The boy was surprisingly clueless sometimes. He did look pretty intimidating with his bland tone and pale skin, not to mention that presence of his. Even I’d felt chills from it when I’d first met him, so I could only imagine the effect on non cultivators.

“We should head to the chief soon, and inform him of what had happened,” I said, loudly to signal to the weeping siblings as well. I hated to interrupt their family time but the threat hadn’t been resolved, and the faster we reported back to the sect the better it’d be.

“Y-yes, please. Let us move back, my father awaits you,” the girl spoke, wiping her tears and sniffing as a blush covered her face. I nodded gratefully, as we began to make our way back.

Within a few moments we’d arrived at the village head’s house and I saw the man rushing outside as he spotted us.

“Chen! You fool!” The man exclaimed, walking out in a rush, before he quickly turned towards us with a deep bow. “I cannot thank you enough for your kindness cultivators, our debt is eternal to you. May the heavens bless your path,” the man spoke with a wavering voice as his daughter soon joined in, alongside their son.

“It’s alright, and we should head in, there’s a few things you should be aware of,” I said, as we headed in.

Taking a seat within the home, as I set Sheldon down, I began to summarise the events. I watched as the village head’s expression ranged from a series of expressions, shock, disbelief and at least muted surprise.

“I cannot be grateful enough for your arrival, cultivators. This village of Taizhou has been saved by the two of you,” the man said with a bow and I scratched my nose, slightly embarrassed.

“I am aware this cannot nearly express our gratitude for your actions, but please, take this as a gift from this poor man. I would be ashamed to not give anything in return for all that you’ve done,” the man said, and I paused as he picked out a shimmering lotus, still curled up with its petals in a bud.

“The flower will blossom when imparted with enough Qi. This one thinks Senior should have it, it would aid Senior’s alchemy,” Liuxiang spoke and I glanced at him for a brief moment before nodding as I picked up the flower.

I could almost feel Labby drooling from our bond. Thankfully, she wasn’t actually drooling and making a mess.

“Thank you,” I said as I watched the man’s eyes widen in surprise. What? Saying thank you was such a big deal huh?

“I will leave you to tend to your son, and return to your duties. We must hurry back to inform the sect as well,” I said, getting up as I began to head out.

“This village will remember the favour, cultivators. I will remember it too,”

I paused when I saw a gathering of people standing outside the village chief’s home. The group bowed deeply as we arrived, and I noticed some of them to be the family members of the injured villagers.

“T-Thank you for bringing father back!” a boy shouted, his eyes heavy with beady tears and I felt an odd emotion filling my chest.

“Thank you for bringing my brother back. For bringing all of them back,” the people said, all bowing deeply.

I didn’t say anything, I didn’t know what to say. I wasn’t used to this gratitude, doing only what I would’ve done regardless of where I’d been. Yet, I soon realised that, in a world like this one, a cultivator had no need to show such kindness. Within a world ruled by power, the voices of the powerless meant little.

“Senior and this one accept your thanks,” Liuxiang replied with a nod, and I saw the people give a last bow as they began to head back to their homes.

“The village will remember your favour cultivators. I bid you a quick journey,” the head said, and I nodded, walking ahead, before soon we were rushing across the landscape.

“Thanks, for replying to those villagers,” I said, looking at Liuxiang as his long black hair flew behind him, free of its ties. He almost looked pretty for a guy, I was glad Yan Yun wasn’t around to start the beginning of another love tale.

“This one could tell Senior felt lost. It is a small matter, we should hurry back to the sect,” Liuxiang said, running ahead of me, as I soon sped up, quickly following behind.

“Zhu Zhi still wanted to eat that bat,” I heard the spider speak as a small laugh reached my ears. So he can laugh then.

“Labby can laugh better!” Labby exclaimed.

Chirp!

I smiled, patting my little turtle as I ran through the open fields as the sun set at the horizon, leaving Taizhou behind.

The full moon shone with a light glimmer in the sky above.