Spirits

After cleaning everything, putting back his bracelet and restraining his power back to the Qi Gathering initial-stage Realm, Seth took a detour through the forest to get back to the outer-sect grounds.

"What a nice day!" Seth leisurely appreciated the nature around him. It was really bright outside, with a very beautiful sunny environment, but what lifted his spirit the most, was the fact that he had obtained valuable information from Tao Yong.

However, the unusual beautiful day, made him feel as if all that had happened, was nothing but a minor thing, when compared to the whole environment. 

But suddenly, his moment of appreciation was broken by an acute voice.

"To your right! About three hundred meters to your right! I want to quickly see that place!" Lexi startled Seth with her exclamations. It was like her radar had picked something that interested her.

Lexi could "smell" the places with high concentrations of spiritual energy from far away and that strange ability had caused Seth a lot of headache during their unusual journey.

Seth stopped for a moment and thought: 'What the hell! She's just like a dog. No... Wouldn't that ability leave even dogs jealous of her? What a fucking nice nose!'

"Grrr! I can hear your thoughts! Idiot! What are you comparing me to? You're the dog here!"

"Oops, I'm sorry, my bad. I was wrong, alright? There is nothing alike... You're such an angel... I must have been blind."

"Hmph!!!"

After a few seconds of silence, Seth swiftly changed topics and decided to ask her something else.

"Lexi. You are a spirit, right?"

"That's for sure. A very beautiful one!"

Seth hesitated a bit, but he still asked: "Aren't spirits born from weapons and artifacts? Can they really appear inside living beings?"

He had always asked himself these questions.

Lexi thought for a moment and answered. "I don't know either, but there is no doubt that I am a spirit, just like those you mentioned. Usually, spirits are born with just a strong enough will to support their existence. An example would be a sword that was used to slaughter thousands of enemies, may give birth to her own will, thirsting for more blood. So basically, they are born to do whatever their purpose deems fit; however, even weaker and simpler wills, are super hard to form. They require a massive amount of time... Not even mentioning the huge quantity of spiritual energy needed for that to happen, the place must be perfect and filled with natural elements."

Seth then proceeded to ask the question that bothered him the most.

"Then... Then why did you appear inside me? And to top it off, right after I got that seed? Are you perhaps the spirit of that thing?"

"Seth... I-I don't know, but I don't have any relations with that seed! Please, believe me!" Lexi felt a bit flustered when confronted with those questions, since she didn't really know too much about herself.

An awkward silence remained between them for a few seconds, but Seth was not really trying to put her in a difficult spot.

"Sigh... Alright, I'll trust you. I already have my hands full with some many things... So, why bother?!" There was no point on doubting someone you may live your entire life with. Answers could be given in due time.

"Sigh... I can't tell you more about me, since I don't really know what to tell you. But, as for a spirit appearing inside a living being... Even I, the spirit in question, can't believe it has ever happened." Lexi couldn't explain the situation. She seemed to be lost, just like him.

Seth and Lexi would have to understand it later. They felt like they didn't know anything at all.

"As a spirit, what are your other abilities now?" Seth already knew some of the things she could do, but not them all.

"Outside of identifying treasures, other spirits and help you with the seed. I can find beautiful places!!!" Lexi told him, proud of herself.

Seth rolled his eyes at her joke. "You mean places filled with spiritual energy, right? Only that?"

"Yes. For now..."

"For now?"

"I don't know how to put it, bu I noticed some memories appearing when I absorb the energy of these beautiful sceneries. It's like they trigger something... With those memories, I may even remember some abilities or develop new ones."

"Hmm, that's cool then. Let's not waste any more time and go ahead, maybe you could get something. Three hundred meters, right?"

"Yeah, there! Let's go!" Lexi hurried him.

For Qi practitioners that were at the same plane level as Seth, three hundred meters, is actually a distance that could be covered in a few seconds or so.

When he approached the place Lexi told him about, it was already possible to hear the sound of water falling down.

When Seth got there, Lexi could finally appreciate the view she was dying to see.

There was a vivid green, marking a circular area where the vegetation was completely different from the forest. Scattered around that area, there were lots of flaming flowers, like they were yellowish-orange crowns, announcing their mighty and bright light.

This kind of flower would usually boost the understandings of flame cultivators, increasing their progress on the element of fire. Like a constantly burning candle, those flowers were a good material for studies and appreciation. They seemed like they would never extinguish.

What made this place unique though, was a waterfall at the background, giving birth to a wide lake, where green, blue and orange could paint a real masterpiece of elemental interactions.

"What a view, it is indeed refreshing to see something so beautiful."

The fresh spiritual energy there, was a bit heavier than in other places. Unknown to the both of them, Lexi was already drawing a bit of this spiritual energy towards them and unconsciously absorbing it.

Spiritual energy was not Qi. It was a particle of energy that could fuel spirits. Either restoring their power or even sometimes making them stronger. This energy was directly related with spirits birth and death, and was really scarce and difficult to absorb, making the process so slow, that it would take hundreds of years for a spirit to evolve.

While Lexi was immersed on her worship, Seth, swiftly looking around, found something at the edge of the lake. Getting closer, he finally could see what it was.

"Some pieces of light armor, gauntlets, greaves and chest piece." Seth, observed those pieces or armor, full of beautiful golden lines and red patterns. Very quickly, he deduced that only someone rich, could afford such fine pieces.

At the right side of those items, neatly folded, there was a red cape, a red one piece and a really sexy set of underwear. Probably, the owner was a mature woman. One, that was completely secure and confident of herself, since she was probably swimming naked at that moment.

Seth quickly started searching for her silhouette on the water. He wouldn't lose this opportunity. No! He couldn't lose it!

However, he failed to notice something really important.

There was a sword a bit farther, nailed on the ground, like it took root there. The sheath was at its side, accompanying the sword. Suddenly, it started sending some heat signals, as if trying to do something. The blade started getting hotter and redder.

The strangest part of that situation, was that Seth wasn't aware of its existence there. He didn't even feel the temperature raising all of a sudden.

It was understandable though... His concentration was at the lake now, searching for the naked beauty.

"I remembered!" Lexi came back to reality, screaming and scaring Seth on the process.

"Wha... Do you want to scare me to death!? Totally at the wrong time!"

"Hah! You should try focusing on what is important, instead of complaining. Do you see that sword?"

"Which sword?" Seth was finally able to see it.

"You would be dead now, if it weren't for me!"

"How is that even possible?" Seth didn't believe it. How would just a small red sword kill him?

Suddenly, Seth noticed the aura around that sword changing. At that moment, all the heat started receding from the blade and the red coloration returning to the normal metal one.

"That sword is not simple at all. It contains a spirit! A young and lower in ranks, but still capable of doing lots of things."

Lexi continued. "It was connecting itself with all these flowers on the area around here and it was drawing their power to build a trap. Some ten to twenty more seconds, and everything here would blow up, along with a certain voyeur."

"What? How didn't I even notice it?!"

"Hmph! Keep trying to peep!"

Seth got awkward.

"Alright, thank you for that. But how did you stop it?"

"Fufufu! I remembered one of my abilities as a superior spirit! The lower ones can't keep up with me. I can somehow control them, fooling their senses. Taking advantage of that I stopped it from activating this entire formation."

"What? Isn't that a really incredible ability?"

Weapons with lower spirits could recognize a person as their owner, denying any other individual and even considering them as enemies. Those lower level spirits weren't complete sentient beings, but they could actually follow some orders and accomplish lots of tasks.

If Lexi could control them, wouldn't that mean Seth could be their new owner?

For any other practitioner, the only case scenario that something like that would work, was if they killed the previous owner and then proceeded to bind the weapon for themselves.

But now, with just a simple action from Lexi, Seth could steal them permanently!