Xiyan stood at the edge of the Qhinshao Forest, where the soil melted into shadows too deep for the eye to see, where the wind whistled through the skeletal trees, and the sky above bore down in shades of grey.
She took a single step forwards and her crimson robes fluttered against the blades of grass, trailing the fading path before her until she arrived at the protective array that pulsed before her like a heartbeat put in place to keep whatever evil roamed in the forest from escaping.
The air turned colder almost immediately, denser even, as if the forest itself held its breath in anticipation.
She raised her hand and pressed it to the invisible wall of spiritual energy, then summoned her qi, letting it burn from her core and surge outwards, and with a resonating crack, the barrier shattered around her, crumbling into shards of spectral light just long enough for her to slip in undetected.
Every step she took reverberated with memories she longed to hush and erase from her mind. Of the Tuos, of Commander Taohua whom she once recognised as her kin and good friend, of laughter and merry days. And then… of the betrayal; the brutal truth she had discovered far too late.
She was not one of them, of the Tuos. She was born amidst the ruins of Nivarra as a descendant from the Dragon Clan, which had been wiped out during The Long Winter, hunted and slaughtered by the Jinlian Guards to prevent her bloodline from conspiring with the Demon God they so feared! Indeed, a threat buried before it ever had the chance to breathe…
And now, that blood stirred within her veins! She had not come to save Zhenhai or swear loyalty to Jinlian; she had come to take his life and seek revenge on behalf of her kinsmen!
The deeper she moved into Qhinshao, however, the heavier her feet grew and the thicker the air around her became, not to mention that suffocating feeling of something ominous creeping closer somewhere she couldn't reach, seething and keeping watch over her.
Whispers in ancient tongues soon overwhelmed her, meddling with her mind and slowing her down. Wherever she rested her eyes, the evil spirits trapped within the forest followed her closely, making fun of her low spiritual energy and foolhardiness to dare come here on her own.
Then it came… a breath? Cold and moist yet far too close. She spun around, drawing her blade in a single, swift motion, slicing the empty air – panting and in a state of panic.
She saw nothing behind her, nothing at all. At the same time, she knew she wasn't alone and that something had indeed breathed down her neck. And the energy she felt… Was this that evil spirit that Master Kaolin talked about? Judging by its power, she had to locate its whereabouts before it took the opportunity to attack her first.
So, she closed her eyes and activated her qi, and that was when another chilling sound reached her. And she flung her eyes open and twisted her head in the direction of the wolfish grin that appeared from the gloom.
The evil spirit emerged from the shadows like smoke, taking form. Its limbs were gnarled, its eyes gleaming with centuries of hatred. Fangs jutted from its salivating mouth, long enough to pierce bone, and its grin widened as it floated inches above the forest floor.
Her heart thundered, threatening to rip out of her chest, but she didn't let the gripping fear show on her face. Instead, she lunged forwards, blade flashing with energy, letting out a cry. The creature was faster, however, impossibly so. It twisted past her strike and slammed its clawed limbs against her back with the force of an earthquake, hurling her through the air.
She crashed against an uprooted tree with a sickening crunch, which dislocated her arm on impact. Pain pulsed through her body like a never-ending roll of drum, but she did not scream or ask for mercy. Instead, she released her grip on the sword, letting it rest in the earth beside her, and shut her eyes once again, reaching inwards – past the pain, past the noise, even past her physical self, and into the well of qi that lay untouched for so long – forcing her mind's eye to focus and see the truth hidden from plain sight.
She felt the creature as it ascended from above, a blur of motion in her mind's eye, and at the last second, she summoned her energy into her working hand, forming intricate seals in the air with swift movements. Her palm glowed brightly as she whispered an incantation, which caused a shockwave to burst from her body.
The evil spirit screamed, disintegrating into shreds of shrieking black light, the only remnants of its existence now a pair of fangs left ablaze in the dirt.
She, on the other hand, collapsed to her knees, blood spilling from her lips as the backlash from the spell now took its toll on her stomach.
Her vision was blurry, but her qi remained activated, and through it, she sensed another presence. This one wasn't malevolent, though, but powerful. Too powerful. What on earth was it? Why was it so… She frowned. Too drained to put up another fight, but couldn't just sit back and wait for death to come claim her.
Thus, she sprang to her feet, one arm limp, the other clenching her sword. She then gathered her final reserves of qi, channelled it into her heels and leapt forwards, slicing through the air with unprecedented speed, her blade aimed directly for the throat of the presence now stepping into view, only to come to an abrupt stop just inches from her mark.
Kaolin stood there, still, unflinching even as her blade hovered at his neck, and the world seemed to pause. Recognising him, she exhaled and her fingers around the shaft relaxed, causing it to retreat into its sheath and dissolve like dust.
"Well," she said, voice steady despite the blood on her lips, "have you come to watch me die, Master Kaolin?"
"Quite the opposite," he replied. "I knew you would survive. That evil spirit was not a match for you, anyway, was it?"
Still trying to catch her breath, she arched her brow in surprise.
"You… expected me to win? With my cultivation level?"
Kaolin's eyes flicked to her forehead, where a mark glowed with energy, one that he recognised the first time he laid eyes on her. But he wasn't sure at the time; now he was. It pulsed with the unmistakable qi of the Dragon Clan, casting faint golden veins down her face. Only now, it occurred to him, that the symbol on her forehead had just recently activated – as if someone had deliberately tried to suppress its energy and keep her true identity hidden.
"That mark," he murmured. "Aren't you from the Dragon Clan?"
Xiyan raised a trembling hand to her brow, where the warmth still radiated. A flood of energy surged through her, unfamiliar and vast, as though something had begun to stir within her blood, one even she was unaware of.
"How did you—"
"You're of the Dragon Clan, second only to the phoenix bloodline. And yet I haven't felt such energy since…" Rongjie disappeared. He stopped short. There was no need to drag the past into all this. Right now, their priority was to leave the forest and return to the temple.
"Since when…? Master Kaolin?"
"Forget what I just said," he said, adding before she could inquire further. "The night's almost over; the commander must be worried sick by now. The sooner we leave, the better."
"B-But I haven't finished—"
"Your tribulation is over. There's nothing else for us to discuss. Or would you rather stay here and allow those evil spirits to attack when we least expect it? Take a look yourself."
Xiyan clammed up after hearing this, her eyes darting from side to side as she suddenly became aware of the spirits that had now surrounded them from all directions, eagerly waiting to devour them the second such an opportunity presented itself.
Thus, she just sighed and took the lead out of the cursed forest, surging to the darkening sky without waiting for Kaolin to catch up, who was now in his own mind, trying to make sense of the unexpected situation.
Xiyan was from the same bloodline as Rongjie and bore the same qi mark on her forehead as he once did. No one born into the Dragon Clan led an easy life, nor were they supposed to. Sharing blood with the Demon God, the clan had conspired with the Demons and Devils far too many times for him to take her lightly. But how come her cultivation skills were so low?
With the blood of the Dragon Clan running through her veins, she should've been able to reach the same level of cultivation as a senior cultivator from Huan-Yue within hundreds of years after her birth. Was it as he suspected, after all?
Her qi had been subdued for some unknown reason, halting her cultivation and spiritual power from reaching its potential. But who would do such a thing? Had the Jinlian Sect a hand in this, or was this another piece of the puzzle the Gods and Goddesses devised to test his patience?
In either case, he now had to keep a close eye on her and find out the truth behind her hidden identity before her true powers were unlocked and words spread like wildfire that a member of the defeated Dragon Clan had survived.