Fire Spirit

The life that Shui found wasn't the type that you could find in a herb that had existed for several millennia, but a lifeform that was separate from the flower itself.

"What is this?"

Curious as to what was the being he found inside the flower, Shui opened his true eyes. However, right as his Sage Eyes were open and the foundation of the world revealed itself to him, he had to quickly close his eyes due to the jolt of light that nearly blinded him.

"Wh-wh-wh-who's there?!"

When he heard a sweet-sounding, high-pitched voice, Shui's first action was to quickly use talismans to isolate the sound in his tent. Only after this was done did he look at the suspected source of the voice. At first there didn't seem to be any change in the flower in his hand, but then something seemed to be breaking out from inside it. Instead of attempting to peek into it again, Shui gently shook the flower while examining it.

"Oi! What do you think you're doing?! Stop!"

Even when he heard the voice again, this time with more of an angry tone, Shui continued to shake the flower until it popped open.

"!"

The thing that appeared before him was odd and yet surprisingly normal. As petals fell gently to the ground, there was a tiny fire-red girl in a short dress standing on Shui's palm with a furious expression.

"I told you to stop, didn't I?! Would you like it if someone rudely shook your house?"

Shui quickly recognised the being he had on his palm, but due to how shocked he was, he could only return a dazed expression as she shouted at him.

"Listen to me!"

"Ah!"

The sudden heat that touched his palm caused Shui to hastily draw his hand away. This wasn't enough to leave a burn but it at least woke him up from his preoccupation so that he could properly face the red girl who was now flittering in front of his eyes.

"My apologies, um, how should I refer to you Miss Spirit?"

"Oh? How can you tell that I'm a spirit and not a faery?"

"Well, I'm quite the avid reader so I when I saw you, I just kind of guessed that you were a superior spirit."

"Hmm, close enough I guess. You can keep calling me Miss Spirit, since I doubt you'll find another like me."

Since she said that he was close enough, Shui wondered what part he got wrong, but he didn't try to ask because she didn't seem willing to tell him.

The red spirit crossed her legs in mid-air and stretched her arms above her head before asking Shui, "By the way, where is this place?"

"This is a space called the Spirit Nest that's connected to Storm Sky Manor."

The names 'Spirit Nest' and 'Storm Sky Manor' didn't seem to make any clicks in her mind so the red spirit tilted her head and returned a confused look.

"Uh, are you familiar with the Alterna Kingdom?"

"Alterna...Alterna...! Oh you mean Alios!"

"Alios?"

She seemed to figure something out, but this time Shui was left with a question mark.

"It's nothing you need to worry about. I guess I've been sleeping for quite some time then... Oh, I suppose I should ask just for the sake of it. What god are you connected to?"

"!"

The moment the word 'god' came out of her mouth, Shui was on high alert. In recent times, he never had to worry about anyone trying to kill him, but he couldn't see through this spirit before him. Similar to him when he was focused, even though she was right before his eyes he could barely sense her presence. As if she had integrated with the world.

'Could I beat her?'

While Shui got more tense, once she saw how wary Shui got, the spirit shrugged her shoulders.

"Never mind. I'm not trying to force out an answer."

Shui breathed a sigh of relief at these words before flinching as the spirit went inside his coat's inside pocket.

"Huh? What are you doing?"

"What? Did you forget? You destroyed my house remember."

"Well, I guess but, is this necessary?"

"Of course it is. Now try not to get hit or anything while I'm in here."

It was without a doubt a bothersome request, but Shui meekly accepted. Since he failed to learn the laws of fire from the flower, he could only hope to gain something from this superior spirit being by his side. Furthermore, he was now too interested in her to let her go easily.

At the following crack of dawn, Shui and Rio quickly made their way to the trade market set up inside the Spirit Nest. Setting up this market by a specific river was something like a tradition for the core disciples, so it would always be up by the second day at the latest.

Rather than the fact that it existed, Shui was more surprised by the short faeries that looked like children that put up shops here.

'Since faeries normally like to stay hidden I didn't expect them to be so extroverted with humans around.'

"Hey Rio, what do we use to trade here?"

"Mostly spirit gems, but some might ask for something else. And the faeries only want rare fruits and sweet drinks."

'Rare fruits, huh?'

The childlike faeries, sprites, were well known for their sweet tooth so Shui didn't consider it too unbelievable for them to reveal themselves in pursuit of sweets. In fact, there were several stories and legends that spoke about sprites knocking on doors for sugar and honey.

After reaching the bustling trade market, Rio and Shui first went to buy any pills or potions that they might need. Rio was the one doing the buying since Shui already had everything he could need in his storage ring.

Once they finished checking the miscellaneous stalls, they split up as it was time for treasure hunting. The stuff that his fellow core disciples put out was mostly things that they couldn't see through, and a few had resources that they couldn't use, like an ice element sword when they used fire element. For most, this was a gambling area to test your luck, but Shui believed that with his insight he could easily see through these items and quickly find the hidden treasures. Unfortunately, he was left disappointed.

It wasn't that he couldn't see through the strange objects that were put on sale, but that all of them were either not good enough or things that he didn't need or want.

'Tch, what a let-down. Guess I'll go check what the sprites are selling.'

After looking at most of the human-run stalls, Shui was about to head to the ones manned by faeries, when his attention was caught by a certain orb. Despite having been wiped off, it still retained patches of dirt brown on its surface as well as a big crack. It was the sort of thing that even daredevils desperate to test their luck didn't go after, but Shui headed towards to stall that had it.

The one at the stall was a jittery young man at the brink of breaking through to Earth Realm. As soon as he noticed Shui approach, he stood up straight and rubbed his hands together like a scheming merchant.

"Ah yes, did something here catch your-"

In the middle of the young man's introduction, Shui raised his palm to block his mouth and interrupt him. While the young man was stunned by this rude behaviour, Shui pointed at the orb.

"How much does that cost?"

"Well, it's quite the rare find so-"

"Ten low-quality spirit gems, take it or leave it."

"I suppose that's not bad."

The young man tried to negotiate the price once he saw that Shui was interested in the dirty orb, but Shui's straightforward demeanour forced him to change his mind. Since he seemed to recognize Shui, he probably didn't want to needlessly antagonize him.

After leaving the payment, Shui walked away with the orb in hand. He didn't doubt that it would be special when he saw it, and the moment he touched it that feeling became certain. When Shui made contact with the orb, the image of a sleek single-edged sword with a mesmerising design carved into the blade appeared in his mind.