Holy Lady (1)

Ku Jian had thrown herself into energy manipulation for so long now, that she barely cultivated. She needed the power to be able to walk beside her Brother Ed. There was no other way to speed up except to learn and absorb like a sponge for two thousand years. Others may have thought they had time, but she was not delusional. After she leaves the light realm in less than three thousand years, she would not have anyone to teach her as needed to learn to the point where she could create her own spells, curses and the rest. She understood that at the rate she was going, she was not going to level up before she leaves the light realm, but it did not matter. She had seen the results of her apprenticeship. She was becoming someone that could kill someone of her father's strength over and over like an ant.

She sat over a cauldron watching it bubble. This was a spell of her own creation.

"Jian, come out for a second," she heard the blood witch call from outside. She had set rules for her hut. No one was allowed to enter without her permission, even the blood witch. This angered the other apprentices even more, but she was not bothered by them. She did not want the blood witch to know what she was working on. She walked out into sunlight and squinted at its glare.

"You have been inside for a decade, I thought you were dead," she heard someone snort. She glanced at the one who spoke coldly.

"It seems you have grown in courage after not seeing me for so long," Ku Jian's eyes landed on her, and she stopped breathing and collapsed to the damp ground.

"Let her go!" the apprentices standing around rushed to support her and saw she was not breathing. Her body was turning cold fast.

"She will die if you continue," someone said in a panic. They waved their hands over the dying girl and started to panic instantly. They were not sure what Ku Jian had done.

"Master do something!" they called to the blood witch who looked at Ku Jian with solemn eyes.

"Jian, she is your fellow apprentice," the blood witch said and Ku Jian looked away and life re-entered the girl's body. She hurried up instantly, looking at Ku Jian in fear and anger. Ku Jian saw the look in her eyes and chuckled.

"That's the right look," she said and moved away from the bunch towards the blood witch.

"You could not have forgotten our expedition today, right?" the blood witch said and Ku Jian seemed slightly distracted.

"You forgot," the blood witch sighed.

"Get prepared and meet us at the village gate," she said and turned away. Ku Jian only glanced at the blood witch leaving back with an unreadable gaze and walked back into her hut. She waved her hand and the bubbling cauldron was taken into her spatial ring. She had no intention of leaving anything useful in the village. She took her valuables and walked towards the village gate. She could see that it was not all of the apprentices that were going for the expedition.

The blood witch waved her hand at the gate and a portal opened. Usually a portal this length would kill a cultivator outside the heaven-seeking stage, but the energy manipulators just walked through it. The portal shut on the other side and only an endless stream of energy could be seen flowing in one direction at top speed. They all walked unto nothing and floated forward. The journey was quiet and quick. In the time it took to brew a cup of tea, a rift opened in front of them and they stepped out into thick forest.

"Where are we?" Ku Jian asked.

"The Edge of the great dip; make sure to watch your step everyone," the blood witch said and led them through till they stopped. Before their eyes was a large gap in the earth, too deep for one to see the bottom; a sinkhole. They were not the only ones there, but the only ones with faces hidden under hoods. The others were cultivators and they just stood staring at the bottom of the gap.

"What are we waiting for?" Ku Jian asked.

"Opportunity," the blood witch said.

"For what?"

"To enter," she answered and Ku Jian raised a brow.

"Don't look at how it is just open and one could jump in. At the bottom of it is a deep pool that can drag to death even me. But rare times, the pool swirls into a whirlpool," the blood witch said.

"Isn't that more dangerous?"

"For mortals, yes, but the whirlpool for some reason has less of that energy that drags people under and binds them in. That means for a few hours, we can enter and leave," the blood witch explained, and then the next moment, she looked away from Ku Jian and at the pool.

"Get ready. Cultivators are waiting for a different signal to enter. We do not need such things. When I tell you to jump, jump," she said and the apprentices nodded. Silence resumed for a few minutes before she glanced at them,

"Jump," she said and they all jumped to the dismay and somewhat scorn of the cultivators around.

"Naive," some even commented.

The moment Ku Jian jumped, she saw a familiar figure nestled in the trees ahead and her eyes widened with joy.

"Finish what you have to do and come out. We are waiting for you," Nti Anem's voice sounded in her head, but her eyes trained at Ed sitting on a branch as she took a deep breath and descended honestly. How they recognized her despite her veil, she did not know. He was here. He was waiting for her. She used to wonder if she would only be reunited with him when they are to leave the light realm.

She looked at the blood witch descending in front of her obliviously and relaxed slightly. The energy manipulators reached the whirlpool and the blood witch waved her hand and the water parted so they could descend to the bottom. She waved her hand to the right of them and the water parted again exposing a cave and they walked through with ease.

Inside the cave was completely dry for some reason, as though the water rushing outside could not penetrate an invisible veil that held it back. What they had thought was a cave opened into a great hall with many doors. The doors were all closed shut and no matter how many times the blood witch waved her hands, none would open.

"Seems the conditions are not right yet," she said, "We wait,"