The Fae Playground

After being tossed around through space, Shui was spat out by a small portal that soon disappeared. Once he stopped rolling, Shui coughed out blood and checked his body's condition. He had mostly recovered from the backlash of using speed essence, but the token he used to leave the Spirit Nest took him on a bumpy ride. Alia ensured they weren't tossed into open space, but the trip had been like fumbling at the peak of a mountain and then tumbling all the way down. Thankfully, he didn't have any serious injuries, but he would need some time to rest.

"Huh? Where is this?"

Shui found himself in a desert with cracked, parched land, and strong winds filled with sand. He tried to expand his spiritual sense, but found that he could hardly identify anything farther than 100 meters away. He was tempted to use his Sage God Eyes, but there was a high chance that his injuries would be aggravated, so he looked at his partner inside.

"Alia, are you awake?"

"No."

"I need your help."

After a long exaggerated sigh, the red spirit flew out of Shui's pocket and landed on his shoulder. 

"If this is for something stupid, prepare your face to be slapped."

"Fortunately, I won't need to make that preparation. My spiritual sense is being hindered. Can you tell why?"

"Hmm... We've landed in a rather messy region, but there is some good news."

"Huh?"

"I'll start by answering your question. Your spiritual sense is having trouble because this entire region has been transformed into a spirit playground. From the ground you stand on to the heat on your skin, everything is being actively influenced by spirits."

With that hint, Shui could figure out where they had ended up. 

"To think we went from the Spirit Nest to here; hardly seems like a coincidence."

"Do you know this place?"

"Yes, if my guess is correct, this should be the Free Spirit region, or more commonly called the Fae Playground. It's a place where spirit creatures have complete reign and anyone that intrudes is forced to play along with them until they're satisfied or the intruder dies."

Shui had been planning on entering one of the kingdom's danger zones for training, but the Fae Playground was definitely low on his list of choices despite being relatively close to the Five Cities region. It was less because of the risk involved but more that, based on survivor accounts; it seemed like it would be a frustrating adventure.

"So these areas still exist on this plane. I would like to satisfy the loneliness of these children, but it's best we handle business first. I can sense one of my hidden treasuries nearby. It should have enough resources for me to recover a significant portion of my strength. If we want to restrain that fallen once it arrives on this land, then I'll need to regain my strength as much as possible."

As he recalled the battle he had against the fallen, Shui was certain that he would have to rely on Alia to suppress that creature, but he wondered if that would be enough.

"Is there no way for you to slay it?"

"Not unless I can regain my full power, and even then, it would depend on how much the creature has grown. A malformed blessing it might be, the fallen were still born from the Great Primordial God of Duality's power. Even the weakest of their kind has the potential to attain divinity."

It wasn't a hopeful response, but even if it couldn't be killed, the fallen could be sealed for long enough for them to come up with a better solution. Alia had done nothing after sealing it in the Spirit Nest but in her defense, the seal could have lasted for several epochs more had the Storm Sky Manor not disturbed the sanctity of the space.

"Okay, so which direction should I go?"

"Just keep going forward for now. It's not as if you have a choice."

Though Shui didn't know what Alia meant by that, he followed her instructions. As he pushed forward, Shui could sense a force trying to confuse his sense of direction, but his soul was strong enough to resist. The force grew stronger as he stuck to his original direction, but it still couldn't overcome his mental defenses. He couldn't compete with even low-rank spirits when it came to mastery over the elements, but spirits weren't particularly skilled at spiritual arts. He would be in trouble if they pulled him into a spiritscape, but thankfully, Alia could help him resist such attempts. 

He wasn't sure how many steps he had taken given that the scenery was unchanged, but suddenly Shui felt a tremor under his feet. 

"What?!"

Shui focused on keeping his balance and looking out for anything incoming, but the tremor only lasted for a couple of seconds, and after that, nothing happened.

"What was that?"

Shui was fairly certain that the tremor was artificial, but he couldn't tell what the purpose was.

"Alia, do you know what just happened?"

"It's nothing to worry about. The children just got fed up with us not falling for their tricks and used a more forceful approach."

"A forceful approach?"

"Take a careful look around you. Have you noticed any differences?"

Because of the strong and persistent sand storm and the flat terrain, there wasn't anything Shui could use as a landmark, but there were some less noticeable features. Once he considered it, Shui realized that the direction of the wind and the position of his shadow had changed.

"Huh? Why would it...? ! Could it be that they moved the ground itself?"

"You guessed it."

Since they couldn't trick him into moving where they wanted him to, they moved the ground he was walking on instead.

"I know they're playing around, but won't this make it impossible to make any progress? Should we try flying instead?"

"Maybe I could do it, but are you confident you can resist the spirits as they try to throw you around in the air?"

"Well, no. But what should I do?"

"Just keep walking. We'll reach our destination in time."

Shui shrugged, but since Alia was his navigator, he complied with her. Some time later, Shui suddenly saw the ground beneath him become quicksand. Flying wasn't a good choice given Alia's warning, and he didn't think he could usurp control over the sand, so Shui froze the surface of the quicksand. This wouldn't last long, so he quickly moved over the ice and continued on.

A little further from where he encountered quicksand, there was another tremor and then Shui saw a tornado heading towards them. There was no spirit controlling the sand in the air, so Shui created a massive ball of water and then threw it at the tornado. The clumpy sand in the tornado disturbed the circulation of wind, so Shui slipped by while the tornado was weakened. 

Following that, the sand storm stopped, but Shui found himself standing on a small isle of sand surrounded by water. He proceeded to walk on the water, but the constant waves and whirlpools made it a struggle. He would continue to be beset by pranks that could kill him if he was careless, but eventually, Alia took action. After two days, that is.

"I think that should be enough children. I'll lend him to you again another time."

"...Don't treat me like an object."

Regardless of whether any of the spirits heard him, Shui could soon use his spiritual sense again.