'A'Xin!'
'Hm?' Xinxin raised her head, but the demon had already flown past her and lunged at A'Shui. Mu Bai's moon daggers were just able to stop him from attacking A'Shui.
'A'Shui, are you all right?' asked Tao Cui anxiously, landing in front of her and dusting off her loose-fitting white clothes. Xinxin rubbed her head.
'I didn't see him coming,' she apologised. Jia Fu gave her an angry look.
'A'Xin, that could have ended badly,' he scolded her. Xinxin nodded. She really hadn't sensed the demon's aura. But if he had been so weak that he barely had an aura, then even A'Shui would have had nothing to fear. With a few talismans, she could have scared him off if it had come to that.
Jia Fu hadn't been so squeamish with her lessons either. If she remembered correctly, he had presented her with half a dozen evil spirits without hesitation and given her instructions from the sidelines. Tai Cui looked at Xinxin encouragingly. 'It's been pretty exhausting lately,' she said, giving her some space.
Spring had arrived and the first blossoms and buds were beginning to sprout. Xinxin nodded. Yes, with the awakening of a new year often came waves of demons and spirit attacks. While everything lay dormant under snow and ice and even grudges subsided, old hatreds often flared up again at this time of year.
'I know A'Xin didn't do it on purpose. She would never put me in danger,' A'Shui announced cheerfully, taking Xinxin's hands. Xinxin smiled back.
'Of course not.' She squeezed A'Shui's hands tightly before they continued on their way.
Time flew by, and in the blink of an eye, the days became unbearably hot again and summer had arrived. Xinxin coughed and stared at a dent in the table. It took a while for her comrades' voices to reach her.
'A'Xin,' Tao Cui called. Xinxin looked up. Her hair had become duller, her skin paler.
She wasn't feeling well, but she covered it up with a smile.
'Oh, I was just thinking about something else,' she apologised and stood up. As she reached for her sword, Jia Fu took it from her hand.
'I'll carry it for a while, I've been wanting to see the blade for a long time,' he said with a smile. Xinxin shrugged.
'Okay!' she said.
'Remember, the evil spirit we want to catch today is not easy to deal with. Does everyone know what they have to do?' asked Jia Fu when they reached the house from which they had received a request. Everyone nodded. Jia Fu's gaze lingered on Xinxin for a moment longer. Then he gave them the signal. The owner of the house welcomed them warmly, but he was visibly shaken. 'Please, honoured cultists, you must banish this fiend. I haven't slept through the night in weeks,' he whined. Jia Fu reassured the man and assured him that he would be able to go to bed peacefully that night. Outside, they lined up in the large courtyard.
Jia Fu laid out a talisman as a trap, and when the evil spirit, wafting like a liquid shadow, rushed towards it, he shouted, 'Now!'
Tao Cui, Mu Bai and Xinxin recited a mudra and golden threads interwove above them to form a large, magical circle. The spirit hissed and snarled and lashed out in all directions. Jia Fu began to recite a mudra and the spirit's movements became more frantic. It thrashed about, then suddenly broke out of the golden circle with a clang. Xinxin's eyes widened. Suddenly, there was nothing left. The steady flow of spiritual energy in her veins suddenly ebbed away, as if someone had blocked the flow.
She became heavy, tired, her bones ached, and the magic seeped out of her into the golden circle until there was nothing left. The shadow shot towards her. 'A'Xin!' A'Shui cried in panic. Xinxin could do nothing but watch, paralysed, as the shadow raced straight towards her.
How was that possible? Out of the corner of her eye, she saw A'Shui running towards her. At the last moment, she broke out of her paralysis and threw herself between the spirit and A'Shui. The impact was violent and robbed her of her senses. Her ears rang and she couldn't breathe, everything went black.
'Maintain formation,' Jia Fu shouted. Xinxin lost her balance and fell from the roof she had been standing on, crashing hard onto the stone floor. A'Shui reached for her, but could only grab a fluttering silk ribbon from her hair. The last thing she saw was A'Shui's frightened face above her, then everything went black.
When Xinxin opened her eyes again, she was lying on a thin bed. She heard a babble of voices, but couldn't make out what they were saying.
'Lately.'
'Something's wrong.'
'Today was a close call.'
Xinxin sat up. A sharp pain shot through her arm. When she pushed aside the fabric of her clothing, she saw an ugly bruise. She rubbed her forehead as Jia Fu entered the room. He gave her something to drink and tended to her shoulder. When Xinxin reached for his hand, he pulled it back. He took a deep breath.
'A'Xin,' he began. 'I'm afraid the rapid progress of your abilities has made you arrogant.' Xinxin's head flew up.
'Pardon?' she asked.
'You've been slacking off lately, which is no surprise since you don't have the same years of training as the others. It was foreseeable that you would one day reach a zero point in your cultivation, but instead of talking to me about it, you put not only our client but also our comrade in danger today,' he said seriously.
'What? No, I...' she began, but Jia Fu raised his hand.
'Please think carefully about what I just said and overcome your inadequacy with meditation and hard training,' he interrupted her. Xinxin's mouth remained open. When she tried to sit up, her arm buckled under the weight. She looked at her arm in confusion.
'It's not broken, but it's badly injured,' Jia Fu explained. Xinxin nodded. Of course, such a fall couldn't be easily ignored, but why hadn't he healed her? When she looked up, he answered her unspoken question.
"The pain is meant to help you reflect on your actions.
There is no place for pride and arrogance here," explained Jia Fu. Then he got up and left the room. Had she really been too arrogant? Had she overestimated herself? What if someone else had been seriously injured today because of her? Not just her? Xinxin rubbed her shoulder and pulled her legs up to meditate.
The heat weighed heavily on her. She felt so exhausted, listless and miserable. Late summer was merciless, even the air was so hot that it could burn you. When Xinxin sat up, she saw that everyone else had already finished packing. She looked around, only her things were still scattered all over the forest floor of the clearing where they had rested. She looked up. A'Shui looked at her doubtfully and Tao Cui also avoided her gaze. 'Why didn't anyone wake me up?' Xinxin asked in a hoarse voice. Mu Bai scratched his head.
'Well, Jia Fu said that if you can't keep up, we have to teach you a lesson. Since you don't seem to listen to his advice,' A'Shui explained quietly and reached out her hand to Xinxin. Xinxin instinctively flinched. At first she was confused, but then she nodded and stood up.
'Excuse me,' she said and began to tidy up her things. The burning heat made every movement unbearable. She turned away from the others so they wouldn't see her tears. She had listened to Jia Fu very well. She meditated incessantly until late at night, she trained doggedly, but for some unknown reason, her strength and power dwindled more and more each day.
A dry cough shook her and her chest was racked with pain. She felt terrible. 'Perhaps you should see a healer in the next town,' Tao Cui suggested, helping Xinxin gather her things. Xinxin froze. She was the healer. Never before had her medical skills been questioned.
She had made medicine, used acupuncture and healed people long before she discovered her spiritual veins. When A'Shui knelt down beside her and tried to help, she shuddered.
'Please,' Xinxin's voice was no more than a whisper as she tried with her last ounce of strength to pull away from A'Shui's hand, which was holding her down.
Autumn was golden and beautiful. But she felt empty inside. Everything seemed grey to her, and A'Shui's warm hand burned on her skin. 'A'Xin, I'm holding you,' A'Shui assured her. Tears burned in Xinxin's eyes.
No, please don't touch me. Xinxin wanted to scream, but she had no strength left. She staggered and would have fallen if Jia Fu hadn't caught her. He sighed as he sat her down and shook his head.
"A'Xin, I'm afraid you need to find the right path again. Don't you realise that?" he asked quietly. Xinxin shook her head vigorously. No, A'Shui just couldn't touch her, and she had to talk to Jia Fu, in private, without the others. She clung to him, but he gently placed his hand on hers and put it back in her lap.
'A'Xin, the free Xia act out of righteousness and without reward. Even back then, when you saved me, you were rebellious and arrogant, but I thought I saw a good core in you. But you believed that many things would just happen to you on their own. That is not compatible with our principles,' he said quietly. It seemed as if he wanted to say something else, but he held back. Xinxin pulled herself together. She clenched her teeth so hard that she tasted blood, but she couldn't stop a few tears from rolling down her cheeks. Tao Cui looked torn. Mu Bai stared at the floor. Only A'Shui wanted to take her in her arms, but Xinxin pushed her away.
'No,' she said. A'Shui looked at her sympathetically with her large, dark eyes.
'Let's rest a little in the next town,' she suggested. The others nodded, but Xinxin knew that they were all disappointed in her and thought she was reckless and arrogant. Why else had the power of her spiritual vein continued to decline?
'None of you are listening to me,' she whispered softly. A'Shui reached for her, and this time Xinxin couldn't dodge. An electric shock shot through her body, paralysing her, and the pain spread like millions of tiny lightning bolts through her bones and muscles.
'A'Xin,' A'Shui cried fearfully.
Xinxin slumped to the ground. Those innocent eyes, that concerned voice – oh, how she wanted to believe that A'Shui was innocent. That she didn't know what she was doing. But Xinxin had noticed: she had noticed how she touched the others fleetingly every time she wanted to get her way. Should they go east? Or west? No matter, A'Shui only had to briefly place her fingertips on Jia Fu's or Tao Cu's arm and everyone did what she wanted. No one questioned her word. When A'Shui began to talk with a worried expression about Xinxin's condition, about karma striking back because she did not appreciate her power, no one questioned it.
Despite her hard work, training and meditation, no one wondered why her qi had not returned. Not until A'Shui explained that Xinxin had probably still not found the right path.
She had constantly reached for Xinxin's hand. How long had they wandered through the world like this? Weeks? Months? Until Xinxin noticed that something was wrong. That every time A'Shui let go of her, she felt tired and exhausted. When had she started not being able to get back on her feet? At first, it had only been moments when she wasn't paying attention, then hours when she couldn't move. Until she finally became the pitiful wreck she is now. Her eyes rolled upwards as she felt the telling touch and the cold and numbness that reached for her. Starting from the place where A'Shui touched her, the clammy fingers spread inside her, extinguishing all the spiritual light within her and the tiny spark of will to live. No, she would not go down like this. She just had to wait for the right moment to explain to Jia Fu what was happening. If she told him what was going on, he would believe her. He would help her, and they would roam the lands together again. Yes, all she needed was the right moment.