Two Spirits; One Love

The Pixiu could only lay down on the floor completely injured from the fight beforehand, completely docile like a lonely dog, "Wah! Is this suppose to be the guardian of this place?" Three sets of feet stood in front of the copper Pixiu who was pathetically laying on the ground, "It looks so..." Sim Siu didn't use the last words seeing the copper pixiu looking so sad. But, the Pixiu was prideful being did not seem to like knowing that humans pitied it, however, any sudden movement could only cause the pain of injuries to intensify. Being so helpless the Pixiu could only lay on the ground in pain hoping for his wounds to heal quickly.

A hand touched the muzzle of the Pixiu delivering a small stream of spiritual energy which was warm and comforting, "Sim Siu you shouldn't insult the pixiu," The young man who looked similar to the girl who pitied the pixiu gently scolded her.

But, the girl stood in disbelief as she didn't say anything, "I didn't insult it," She could only pouted as she turned her head away as her mood had soured.

The young man chuckled at the young girl, seemingly his younger sister, "Even if you didn't say anything a divine being like a Pixiu can sense anything that could be insulting, " He went to pat the girl's head wanting to ease her mood. The girl released her breathe and anger, apologizing to the the Pixiu who only kept quiet. This only seem to cause Sim Siu's mood to worsen, "Pixiu have you seen a girl with ash grey hair and eyes; about this height, come through here?" The young man describe the girl's features and placing a hand at his shoulder to show the girl's height. This time is was the Pixiu's turn to have his mood worsen at the memory of a human beating him especially the spirit that was possessing her. But, he felt the slight tremors from the ground from under his feet. The Pixiu quickly rushed to the next room where the plants that were last line of defense meant to protect the treasure from being taken had completely swallowed up the girl.

A small Qilin barely reaching maturity was trying to claw its way and dig through the vine with its hooves to no avail, making little to no progress. The young man, the little girl and the middle age man that was accompanied them was using every method to dig the girl out. But, eventually the young man created magical spear to pierce through the vine, revealing the unconscious bloodied girl.

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Ang Siu carefully pulled out Fabgsu from the clutches of the vines which could only weakly try to grab at the girl's ankle, "Fangsu, please wake up," Gently tapping on Fangsu's cheek in an attempt to wake her up, however, this not caused the girl to wince in pain as she had wounds littered across her body.

Fangsu's small hands barely wrapped around Ang Siu's wrist stopping him from continuing to hurt her any further, "Continue anymore and you will infect my wounds," She could only lay in Ang Siu's arms that were supporting her, "Can you take me to the tree?" Clutching on the man's cloths who heeded her request walking up to the tree where the statue and the bone remain lay isolated and still in time forevermore. As Fangsu summoned out a small incense holder and filling it with some rice, sticking in some incense. Ang Siu lit the incense and they both prayed in silence until he noticed a greyish jade hairpin.

But, a sudden burst of spiritual energy bursted from the jade hairpin and what erupted from it was a male spirit, Ren Mosheng, "Why is it that the Unending Suffering Illness always have the worst?" Despite the other presence of a human nearby the male spirit ignored as if he hadn't realised, "Little One, you already at the later stages of the illness," Mosheng pinched his chin in thought as he clicked his finger.

Fangsu tilted her head the the rapid switch of personality with Mosheng, "What is it?" She asked curiously. A gentle squeeze from Ang Siu's hand reminded her that they didn't know who the spirit was and they needed answers, "This spirit is my benefactor," She quickly answer who instantly cleared the doubt of the spirit's identity and intentions towards Fangsu.

The spirit indignantly smirked at the boy, "Is me being a spirit automatically mean I have bad intentions towards the girl?" He began to pout like a child that was wrongly accused criminal yet he did no harm, "Beside the point, Little One if you want to effectively slow down the illness you will need to feast on the spirit souls though enough to get a cure," The suggestion was absurd. No known human had even attempted such a method to consume spirits.

The thought of consuming a spirit completely baffled at Mosheng's suggestion, "How would this even work?" Questions of the method kept piling up as Fangsu was simply confused, "Would it even help with my Illness?" But, the mentioning of slowing down the symptoms and overall illness of consuming her completely enchanted the idea of living like a normal human being.

Mosheng nodded as he began drawing with spiritual energy gliding his finger in the air, "Think of the Illness as a parasite in an orchard, it takes Qi as its main food source but if there isn't anymore to take it simply moves to other source, Spiritual Energy," Leaving behind a glowing diagram where it illustrated the hypothetical lake of Qi, "People with high levels of Qi aren't as affected by the illness, however, your Qi is so meagrely small it can barely sustain the rapid consumption of the Illness which is essentially a parasite," His explanation immediately help those who were unfamiliar to the illness understand the complexity of the disease.

Fangsu, on the other hand, could feel a spike piercing through her heart at the mention that her Qi levels were essentially too tiny to be able to use magical spells and cultivate, "Again, how does eating spirits help Fangsu?" Fangsu's uncle asked the question wanting to get straight to the point.

Mosheng clicked his finger using his pointer finger to silence the man, "I'm getting there," He turned back to the diagram continuing to explain, "By consuming spirits you essentially provide a short snack for the parasite distract it from your own reserves," His hand passed through the diagram causing it to disperse in the air as he turned to Fangsu.

Fangsu thought of this solution though it was a short term solution it could provide more time for Fangsu, "Ok," This was her only solution to somewhat living a longer life. But, other hurriedly tried to convince her from such a dangerous method but Fangsu remained resolute in her decision fully understand the risks, "If it can let me live just for a little longer than that is fine," Fangsu could only rely on this last option since she could tell that her medicine that she had taken for years was now starting to lose effectiveness. Taking any stronger medication than her current one would leave her with severe side effect that would further destroy her body.

Seeing the resolve in the girl, Mosheng's face flashed with a sad smile before quickly replacing with a mischievous expression, "Since you cleared this dungeon," He began floating around the area filled with precious items, herb and equipment, "Take everything that is here; you can even take the entire tree if you wish to," However, the girl paused at the overflowing amount of treasures in front of her but stared at the Dragon Leaf Tree which was in full blossom.

Fangsu stared that the statue with complicated emotions, "Isn't this a spot a burial site for Hwei-ru?" She held the silver baton in her hand flipping to the jade staff and the colouration of it turned to a deeper shade of red similar to a mineral; red ochre. It was completely different, "This staff and the statue is you; you are Hwei-ru's loved one aren't you?" Fangsu stared at the Mosheng whose expression darkened at her words.

He lightly chuckled at Fangsu's words, "Little One, you sure are quite the observer aren't you?" But, soon his expression turned to a look of despair as he stared at Fangsu. As he floated towards Fangsu with a tender look at his hand tried to pat her head only to phase through her before he clenched his hand, "Hwei-ru and I always wanted a daughter; consider it a gift," Seeing that Mosheng allowed for Fangsu to receive such an enormous amount of items. Fangsu had taken all the item within the room possible; essentially looting the place dry. Seeing the statues at the base of the tree holding each other; Fangsu felt it was sacrilegious to strip their burial ground completely.

Instead of taking the entire tree; Fangsu had Ang Siu harvest some of the younger leaves at the tops of the branches while having Sim Siu some of the flowers. A double fruit hung from the tree in the shape of a heart was hanging near where Fangsu was laying to rest and incidentally it fell in her laps. Bai Xue had kicked the tree with it hind legs to bucked off the fruit so that Fangsu didn't have to move. The Pixiu had been quietly observing the group who were willing to do whatever the petite girl asked for. A distance memory of his owner was exactly the same where people would be willing to serve her without any benefit or reward only wanting her smiles. When she met Ren Mosheng who was also the same wanting to pour love onto her and she reciprocate the love by pouring her love on him despite his ailing health from being afflicted from the same illness that Fangsu had.

The uncle approached the Pixiu with caution, "You don't want to protect your master tombstone?" Sitting on a stone slab which had eroded by time.

The Pixiu snorted as he turned his head away from the middle aged man, "My master is long dead and there is nothing left for me to protect anymore," There was nothing the Pixiu had left everything had disappear with time and he still remained with the living.

The uncle chuckled as he pulled out some fruit that he had taken from the garden previously, "To humans 100 years is a long time but for you a feels like a flash," Slicing up a dragonfruit in his hand before eating the juicy flesh of the pink fruit with many seeds, "You have to learn to let go of something but you can still cherish those good times even I'm still learning," Offering the fruit to the Pixiu who ate the various fruit that was placed in front of him, a tear slipped from the giant beast's eyes. A roar full of anguish continued as to grief for his master, a powerful beast was only now a pup. A small magic koi swam through the air placing its forehead on the Pixiu who could only stare at the koi in surprise.

The Koi soon transformed into a woman, Chen Hwei-ru, "Bao Bao, I finally can hear you once again," The spirit hugged the Pixiu's muzzle trying to wipe the tear to no avail, "I'm sorry I left you for so long," Apologising for abandoning the one guardian which had been forced to safeguard her possessions for centuries upon centuries. Hwei-ru turned to Mosheng who could only falter as he tried to approach her.

So, Hwei-ru footed to him taking his hand placing it on her cheek before Mosheng held Hwei-ru tightly in his arm not wanting to let go, "What took you so long?" Mosheng could only jokingly tease his one love, "Any longer and I would have lost my sanity," They exchange a few words to each other giggling like newlyweds. After what felt like an eternity to them was a few minutes to the other people.

The couple finally turned to face the group; in particular they were staring at Fangsu with tender expressions, "Child, take whatever," Hwei-ru smiled as she held onto Mosheng's hand, "I no longer have a need for material possession anymore," Those words of blessing thus caused them to dissipate like dust. Bao Bao, the Pixiu could only watch their owner disappear away before turning to the group like a lost pet. The uncle happily went to take care of the Pixiu and they immediately went to form a contract with each other. A bell rung loudly signifying the completion of the dungeon and their surroundings disappeared and instead they were surround by cave walls but at the end of the cave was a cliff which there was the sounds of waves crashing against the walls. The smell of salt was considerable strong as there were formation of salt crystals that had been forming for roughly a few decades.

The other people that were also participating in the dungeon who surprised by the sudden change in the environment and they quickly went to a defensive stance, however, at the sight of the people that were probably the ones that had completed the dungeon. They immediately set their eyes on them knowing for well that all dungeon always had a valuable treasure at the end. Soon, a burst of energy exploded as a sapling of some sort of plant appeared from high above them slowly descending into a bloodied girl's arms. Fangsu immediately recognised the plant, it was a dragon leaf sapling and it had a single bloom on it. The younger participants of the dungeon thought that a sapling as the final treasure was lacklustre compared to a weapon, pill cauldron, marital tablets or a secret pill recipe. However, the older participants who have participated in aplenty dungeons knew that this sapling was no ordinary one.

Sim Siu and her uncle went to the Black-Winged Leopards to show their spoils of the dungeon each holding a weapons. Everyone beside the Black-Winged Mercenaries were staring at the small group like prey seeing the opportunity of looting the treasures from their belonging once they killed them and the greed flashed in their eyes.