Phoenix Rise: XieRong

The darkness fell like a curtain draped over the sun.

XieRong and her uncle had decided that they would begin training next week when she was completely healed.

It was when the entire mansion had fallen asleep when she had an unusual visitor in her bedchamber.

"FeiHong, why are you not in your room?"

The Guo residence had seven courtyards other than the main building. She and FeiHong used their mother’s Qiu (Autumn) courtyard.

"Jie, I want to show you something, can I come sleep next to you?"

XieRong let her sister slide in next to her.

"Jie, trust me and think nothing. I want you to come with me inside the Phoenix ring."

XieRong felt her sister’s hand hold hers as she closed her eyes and willingly let herself get pulled away.

When XieRong opened her eyes, she saw a clear sapphire blue sky above her and felt the soft velvet grass underneath her.

Was this inside the Phoenix ring?

XieRong looked around excitedly like a child visiting a festival.

"Jie, come with me," her sister said, pulling her to a nearby spring.

XieRong saw Bai Yueliang drinking from it. It had been a long time since she’d seen her sister’s spirit beast.

She reached for him and rubbed him behind the ears.

"Hello, YueLiang. It’s been a long time. Looks like your wound has healed completely."

-It has been a long time, first miss. My wound healed completely within the month.-

XieRong gasped and looked around then back at the fawn in front of her.

"YueLiang was that you?How?"

-As long as first miss is in master’s space, I will be able to talk to first miss-

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"Then can you tell me where my sister is?"

XieRong walked around looking to see if she could spot her sister.

-First miss, master wanted you to cultivate here as there is a lot of spiritual energy concentrated in this spring. Master has gone to collect some things and will be back soon.-

The purple eyed fawn came to sit beside XieRong.

-This one can sense the worry in first miss. If first miss can tell this one, perhaps this one maybe able to help.-

XieRong sighed.

"Yueliang, I read in a book that you needed to cultivate your spirit roots in order to break through to a realm. Don’t you think I have to cultivate all my spirit roots to some level to break through to the soul gathering realm? Then aren’t I trash rather than a genius?"

-First miss, cultivating spirit roots is a necessity to break through to a realm but it doesn’t mean you need to cultivate all of them to break through. Your spirit roots are like vessels which collect and send energy to your dantian, you can choose to fill any one completely or fill all of them with a little amount. What actually determines whether you can cultivate slowly or quickly is the size of the vessels you are filling and the sink to which all of them are connected to, both you and my master have very large dantians and vessels. However, people here see how good the spirit roots are by determining their colour. The better your spirit root is, the better it absorbs energy from the surroundings.-

"So you’re saying that the size of our dantian and the quality of our spirit roots balance each other out and we won’t become very strong?"

-No, first miss. The first part of what you said is correct, but the part you said about not being able to become strong is incorrect. Both, master and you can become very powerful. Your initial cultivation will be extremely hard as you’ll have to cultivate for longer periods of time, but once you’ve broken through to the spirit stabilising realm, your cultivation progress will be much faster than others as your dantian will have already been formed.-

XieRong hugged the fawn.

"Thank you, YueLiang! You’ve taken away all my worries."

XieRong quickly sat down and started to cultivate her water spirit root.

It wasn’t long before her sister came bounding up to XieRong.

"Sister, eat this," FeiHong said, handing XieRong some herbs.

"It will improve your cultivation."

FeiHong was about to set off again when XieRong grabbed her sister by the collar.

"Where do you think you’re going, mei mei?"

XieRong gave her sister a cold smile.

FeiHong shivered.

"I’ve been cultivating here alone for two Shi Chen!"

"I’ve been picking herbs."

"So I see, but you could have asked for help. We could have finished sooner and starting cultivating together."

"Sorry, Jie, there were so many books and herbs I wanted to give you, I lost track of time."

XieRong shook her head.

"FeiHong, is this the last time you’re going to let me come here?"

"No! I want to bring you here everyday if I can."

"Then I don’t see why you are rushing to give me so much."

XieRong kept away all the herbs in her spatial ring. She had found out from her grandfather that spatial rings could still store away things even when you were in another person’s space when she had given some basic cultivation books to FeiHong.

"FeiHong, when I want or require something I will ask. I also have time to go explore everything with you later, so come sit down and cultivate with me for now, okay?"

"Yes, Jie."

They cultivated continuously for twelve Shi Chen after which XieRong got up, feeling fresh but bored.

"FeiHong, sister is going exploring, are you coming?"

"Jie, I feel like cultivating a bit longer."

"But you were so excited before."

FeiHong opened her eyes and looked at XieRong sheepishly.

"It’s okay, Jie is just teasing. YueLiang can show me around."

YueLiang jumped up at the chance to do something other than look at himself in the spring.

-First miss, where should I take you first? The purple cottage? The white cottage? The red cottage? Oh, how about the fields?-

Bai YueLiang’s small tail wagged excitedly.

XieRong laughed. Bai YueLiang was fifty years old, but he was still a child less than FeiHong’s age in actuality. Spirit beasts’ hardly aged but their mentality and body grew according to their cultivation. Spirit beasts with high level cultivation could take on human forms and even speak like them.

"Why don’t we start with the red cottage first?"

Bai YueLiang led XieRong to the red cottage first.

It was filled with shelves upon shelves of weapons.

"Bai YueLiang, which of these weapons chose my sister?"

Bai YueLiang put his front hooves up on a shelf with a long red whip with a golden handle to which a white fan with a painting of red blossoms was attached. It was elegant and suited FeiHong’s countenance perfectly.

"Is this the godly weapon mother told about?"

-It must be miss, but I am not sure as it is one of the two godly weapons in this entire cottage. Master couldn’t find the other one, she just felt it’s slight presence once, that’s all."

XieRong started to look around, admiring all the variety of weapons there were, but soon felt something pull at her mind. XieRong resisted it until it got worse and worse and she couldn’t bear it any longer.

-First miss, what’s wrong?-

"I’m feeling something pull my mind. I’m trying to resist but the pull is just getting stronger."

-First miss, stop hiding your presence and feel for the presence pulling you. A weapon is trying to bond with you.-

XieRong let her presence show and the pull got even more insisting.

She let her guide it until it stopped near a shelf. She picked up two straps of needles that were giving off a golden glow.

-Miss, these needles are a godly weapon!-

XieRong hesitated to touch the needles.

This was her sister’s space, she couldn’t take something without her permission.

-First miss, why are you hesitating?-

"YueLiang, this is my sister’s space. I can’t take something that belongs to my sister without asking her permission first."

"XieRong Jie, who told you that you had to take my permission before taking something from me?"

XieRong turned around to look at her little sister who had her hands on her hips.

"FeiHong, what are you doing here?"

"I came here to check because YueLiang told me a weapon wanted to bond with you, and I’m glad I came."

FeiHong cheeks were red and puffed. XieRong would have found it cute and laughed if it weren’t for the tears that had formed in her sister’s eyes.

"You let me take whatever I want from your space without asking permission then why can’t I let you do the same? Why can’t I let my older sister have something she wants before she asks me? I know you weren’t planning on telling me that a weapon wanted to bond with you. I know you wouldn’t have asked me for any books, medicines or other things either, not now and not later. Even if you needed them, you would go look for what you needed somewhere else instead. Tell me Jie, am I that undependable? You told me mother told you to stop treating me like a child, but doesn’t this count as you doing exactly that? When will you depend on me? What more will it take?!"

XieRong felt her heart drop to the pit of her stomach as she watched her sister run out crying.

This time, she was the reason for FeiHong’s tears.