Spirit Nest Disaster

Early the next day, Shui and Kate went straight to the suspected source of the tremor. Along the way, the two were seen by many others who were going in the same direction. They were all surprised to see the Cold Princess travelling with the new genius of Storm Court, but not one of them could do anything besides speculate. After all, Kate was already hard to approach before, but now that she had entered Earth Realm she was no longer on the same level as the other two of the Three Princesses, but on the level of the Fairies like Kasia.

Among those that saw them together, was one of Kasia's maids.

'They seem to have gotten even closer than before... I must inform the Mistress of this after we leave.'

Since she wasn't discovered last time, she was confident that neither of the two would be able to pick her out from among the crowd, but the basis of her confidence was wrong. Shui had ignored her last time because he had bigger things to worry about, but now that his relationship with Kate was on the right track, he knew he had to deal with this interloper.

'She must be one of Kasia's maids. Seems like I'll need to have a talk with that woman after this is over.'

Shui didn't know that Kasia was the one who told Kate what happened in the inner sect, but he didn't like how nosy she was being.

"Wow, it's more obvious than I thought it would be."

Shui nodded his head at Kate's sentiment. As they gathered before a suspicious cave under a worn-out shrine, many wondered why this place was only now being discovered. It didn't look like it had been hidden by an array or some ancient mechanism, and the people who reached here first said that they saw it like this when they came. Shui suspected that there had been a spell that fundamentally made it impossible to notice it even if one stood right in front of it, but that was just a hypothesis. Since even he thought that it was creepy, calling this place strange would be an understatement.

"Do you think it's safe to enter?"

Few knew who asked this question, but everyone pondered it. Their spiritual senses hadn't detected anything dangerous, but their instincts quietly warned them to be careful. Majority of these people didn't come here for a test of courage; what they cared most about wasn't how dangerous this place was, but if there was treasure worthy of them taking an unknown risk.

"Let me check."

When one brave soul stepped forward to take the risk, many encouraged him with bright expressions and at the same time they blocked his path for retreat. Shui found this rather displeasing but he saw no need to step out. The man who raised his hand stepped into the cave with a determined expression. The crowd waited for him to return or at least tell them what he was seeing, but there was nothing but silence. This made the cave even more sinister but a few more core disciples also decided to take the plunge. And after a few more minutes there was an excited voice that lit a flame in the hearts of the spectators.

"Spirit gems! Rooms made of high-quality spirit gems!"

"You-! Shut up!"

Those who realised that the first person to enter had been trying to take everything for himself, quickly started barging into the cave but due to the size of the hole it got congested very quickly.

"Get out of my way!"

"Hmph, make me!"

As fights started breaking out, Shui and Kate watched with indifference in their eyes.

"What do you think?" Kate asked.

"Well if the rooms are made of spirit gems then they probably have a function that's worth the resources. Who knows, maybe the cave itself is an artifact."

Shui's words sounded a little unrealistic to others, but Kate could also imagine such an artifact if Shui said it could exist. Although it would likely still be hard for her to believe that Shui possessed one of the highest quality.

'I wonder if I should check it out.'

As Shui began to ponder whether or not they should enter, he felt a vibration in his chest pocket.

"Miss Spirit?"

"Where the heck are you?!"

For someone who should have been exhausted, the voice Shui heard through telepathy seemed much too intense.

"I'm still inside the Spirit Nest, is something wrong?"

"What?! Then why I am sensing... Could it be...?"

"Um, Miss Spirit?"

"...Listen closely, I need you to leave this place as fast as possible and don't stop running until I say you can. I'll try to gather up enough power to open a gap in this space for you to escape through."

"Huh? What do you-"

"Look, I know that you're confident in your strength, but the enemy here isn't one that can be beaten with a punch or two. Even if I had my full power I would hesitate to fight it."

"!... Is it really that strong?"

Shui wasn't sure what exactly Miss Spirit was, but considering a superior spirit would be comparable to peak True Masters, it would be best to assume that whatever was down there would be at least that strong.

"It seems to have been sealed here for a long time so I doubt it'll awaken with its full power intact, but judging on what I can sense it should be strong enough to break through this space too."

"That's not good. How long do you think we have?"

"Well right now it seems to want to satisfy its hunger so you should have about an hour."

Shui quickly understood what the red spirit meant when she said it was satisfying its hunger, but he only felt a little sorry for those who had entered the cave.

"Kate, we need to leave now. I don't have time to explain."

Kate flinched when Shui suddenly grabbed her hand and started pulling her away from the cave, but once she saw his grave expression she realized that something was wrong and lost any resistance. However, there was someone else who tried to block their path.

"There you are! Stand right there, I'll make you pay for-"

The man who had chased after Kate came in front of them with two injured Earth Realm disciples. He seemed determined to get revenge but Shui didn't think to even wait for him to finish running his mouth.

Shui swung his arm, causing a harsh wind that blew away the man and his group, as well as anything else in their path. As she saw how easily he devastated the area in front of them, Kate reaffirmed that she still wasn't strong enough to actually beat him yet.

'But one day, definitely, I'll be able to stand by his side.'

While ignoring the wide eyes of those who saw his astonishing strength, Shui carried Kate in his arms and started running. He covered acres of land in mere seconds but rather than that, it was the warmth she felt in his arms that Kate was focused on. Part of her wanted to say that she could run with her own feet, but the other part was enjoying this scenario too much.

Shui would have also liked to relish in this experience, but before he could make it further than two thousand cales away, the land shook, this time accompanied by a powerful roar.