Talisman Activated

"What is wrong with you, Boy?! Bathing can also vomit blood?! You really!!!"

Tok Silihan appeared in front of Arash and he started to whine incessantly. However, Arash could see that the Elder's worry was genuine. He was so grateful to the old Spiritual Healer and only smiled weakly.

"Ahh, I think I might inadvertently hurt myself internally. Sorry for the trouble again, Tok." He chuckled guiltily and suddenly vomited blood again. Contrary to the Elder's worry, vomiting the blood made him feel slightly better and less congested. 

What a world.

He positively heard Hana's pet's telepathic voice. He could understand a snake! It even sounded shy and cute! No wonder she was so fixated on her new pets and treated them like her own kids. Can he actually become a part-time Dog or Cat Whisperer?

Mindblown! 

Tok Silihan observed Arash's distracted look. His eyes were glazed, and the focus was not even there. He was using his brain for some nonsense again! He was sure of it!

Tok Silihan grabbed Arash's head roughly and turned it to face him.

"Oi, oi, Boy! Focus! Let me check your body!"

Tok Silihan was too scared to be too rough with the boy, lest he could die. He carried him over his shoulder, placed him on the blue sheet, and checked the boy's vitals meticulously. 

As expected, a lot of things went wrong here and there.

The boy was like a porcelain doll. 

So fragile.

He sighed and proceeded to let his precious spiritual energy flow into the boy's internal injuries, slowly repairing the most battered ones. 

"You need to stop this insanity, Boy. You'll drag me together with you too if you continue like this."

"Sorry, Tok." 

Tok Silihan heard the Boy's bleak whisper. But he could hear determination within those words.

The elder sighed with complicated feelings.

Arash heard his wife whisper gently. He closed his eyes to savor the tender caress fondly. By this time, he had already become addicted to it.

Ayang, rest first. Your soul was shocked and battered severely just now. I'm so, so, sorry. Let's talk again once you get better. I will keep on sending my Soul Energy to nourish your Soul Core and you should keep on sending me yours once you're up to it, kay? Whether we could sync at other places will be up to fate. I love you.

Hana's will faded away like a receding tide leaving his heart empty and lonely.

... 

Mom, Lady dropped a message. The elders within her tribe are ready to receive your... Blessings. This is the arrangement instructed by Lord Brother Kuro.

Shiro gently nudged the silently weeping Hana to remind her of the agenda they had discussed prior to her seclusion. 

Seeing Mom crying broke his heart. 

He was there observing. He confirmed that this 'Papa' entity held the most precious position in Mom's heart. She couldn't even bear to see him slightly hurt.

Mom would stop wallowing in sadness once she was preoccupied with things to do. For this, he had long arranged a comprehensive to-do list with Gramps Alpy for Mom and would fill her time to the brim. Their sole target was to increase Mom's Soul strength as much as possible before their group was targeted.

He prided himself on being such an excellent PA to straighten up Mom into her role as the Goddess of the Serpent Lair. Without this hardworking little fox, the aunty would be slouching around doing nothing but peeping at her own husband day in, day out, just because she could.

"Ah, I see. Alright. Let's get on moving." 

Hana rubbed the tears away and toughened up. Her instinct told her that her beloved pet snake was preparing her for something. She could feel his urgency; a Soul Slave can never truly conceal anything from the host. There must be a strong reason for this sudden 'drafting', and she knew now to listen to the 'locals' better than making her own one-sided judgment. 

Shiro added, "On a side note, once the Soul Link is established, the next agenda will be to prepare the Advancement Meal for the daughter of the Tricolor World Tree."

"Who?" Hana double-back with confusion.

"The pompous feathered prick."

"Oh. That petty guy. I thought she's a boy." Hana remarked. It had been a while and she did promise the Sanctuary leader for their help. 

Ta-chan, did the chilies, eggplant, and okra trees bear fruit? Are they good enough to be used? Hana asked the Forest Spirit telepathically. The timid Spiritual Beast had been tasked to monitor the health of the agriculture fields.

The trees did bore fruits. But, not yet, Mistress. As your esteemed self requested, I controlled their growth to match the Spiritual Energy absorption from the formation. I slowed down their progress because the Spiritual Energy within isn't good enough to turn them into spiritual herbs of the highest quality. The Forest Spirit responded professionally. Hana was speechless but didn't comment about it. It seemed that it was doing its job very seriously.

Control the okra to stay as is and harvest one for me to see. Okras must be harvested when they are young to taste good. There isn't a need to put too much effort into this one. After that, I will let you know how much to harvest. Hana instructed. 

Hana turned to Shiro and added, "Contact Markisah in advance. Let her know I need a few of those chilies she brought over. Red ones. At least five of them. After all the meal is for her Lord." 

"Noted, Mom." Shiro would have to contact the little bird at a separate time since she wasn't part of the Serpent's Lair Soul Brethren. All of them knew the little bird had her own little secret in the form of a mysterious hideout filled with precious spiritual herbs. They were pretty convinced that the petty Lord wasn't aware of it. If not, the petty bird would've taken over Markisah's treasure for sure.

After settling all the ingredients arrangement, Hana took a deep breath and walked out of her abode as regal as she could to see numerous giant eagles prostated on the forest floor with their wings over their heads in submission. Lady, one of her newest sla.. ehem, assistant, led them all at the very front...

...

While Hana was busying herself, on the other side, Tok Silihan had treated Arash enough to save him from a precarious situation. Arash's condition stabilized after a mere fifteen minutes, shocking him yet again. He knew how bad his condition was; there was no need for others to tell him. 

However, Arash noticed his Soul Hall Domain had signs of cracks appearing.

Hana's pet snake must be very powerful. That was the only explanation.

Arash appeased Tok Silihan by sincerely thanking him while making a mug of warm 3-in-1 coffee. Of course, by placing the mug on top of the Elder's palm and asking him to reheat the water!

He could see the Tok Batin's lips twitch slightly at the edge and felt very sorry for making him so worried. 

"I had an inspiration just now, Tok. Let me meditate on it for a while longer." Arash begged the Elder to let them stay for a few more hours. The elder was so exasperated again! 

Arash immediately relaxed and closed his eyes to concentrate. He entered his Soul Hall Domain easily and gathered the SPE generated after gazing lovingly at his wife's Soul Energy pouring in from the Bellflower bridge. Her gentle Soul Energy was lingering around the cracks at the edges of his Soul Hall Domain before merging into his Soul Core willingly, nourishing him. 

After practicing desperately for so long, Arash was proficient enough to mold his energy wave into basic shapes. This time, after some contemplation, he opted for making a thin cloth-like texture with a large surface area. Since he couldn't see or detect the thick Spiritual Energy around him, he planned to 'catch' the energy the old-school way; just grab it randomly and pulled into the pendant!

Arash slowly spread the bluish-tinted 'cloth' he constructed with SPE. 

Bit by bit, the area increased, encompassing about five meters around him. And yet, Tok Silihan wasn't able to notice anything different. 

Three hours later.

At the beginning, it was only as big as a name card. Now, it had reached the size of a small square-shaped tablecloth!

Arash meticulously gathered the edges and started pulling towards the Fang-shaped pendant dangling over his chest, just like pulling a parachute. It was so weightless, making the uncle worry whether his idea would work or not. 

The SPE cloth passed through the pendant slowly.

The pendant started to turn warm in his palm.

The heat progressively escalated!

Once, the largest part of the gathered SPE cloth passed through, the pendant turned scalding hot!

Tok Silihan suddenly appeared beside Arash, shocking him and making him lose his concentration again. The SPE cloth lost its integrity and disappeared just like that.

Arash smiled bitterly.

"You succeeded, Boy! The Talisman activated!"

"Yeah, Tok. I finally did. All thanks to you." 

Now that he knew SPE could influence Spiritual Energy indirectly, he needed to find a way to attract the Spiritual Energy some other way. It was very inefficient to do it this way. He pondered for a moment before giving up. It's time to return to the village. He had stayed away from the kids for too long.

...