Return

"Uhm, Hao?" Ning'er asked while the two kept walking over one of the vast plains of lush green grass that softly swayed in the gentle wind rolling over the it.

Turning his head around towards the girl Hao had been walking next to for nearly two weeks now as his travel companion and student of a kind. "Yes?" He replied, waiting for her to continue.

"Yesterday while cultivating I stumbled upon something…weird." Ning'er continued while Hao only quirked his eyebrow to urge her onwards with her question.

"Well, when I examined my Furyoku as you told me to do whenever I cultivate to learn more about its behaviour and quirks, my Furyoku felt…stormy for a lack of a better word. Before my Furyoku grew in quantity I could barely feel it, and back then it only gave me the impression of a cloud I think. What exactly is all that about?" Ning'er asked, while she had started to play with her hair that had begun to flutter to the forefront of her head due to the gentle wind blowing from behind them.

"Ahh, I was wondering when you would stumble upon your affinity." Looking at Hao, Ning'er contemplated his words a little before asking him with a look to continue his explanation.

"Everyone, be that demon beast, human or whatever races are out there as well, possess an inherent affinity towards a certain aspect that is found in nature. Since our Chi and Furyoku are our most obvious connection to nature, it becomes visible to us all there before anywhere else. Your affinity will crystalize more clearly in the rest of your body the further you walk on your path but that is a topic for another time I believe.

Your affinity simply tells you which aspect of nature comes naturally to you the most. For example, my first affinity was fire, and it has remained my favourite ever since. You will learn faster and gain a deeper understanding of your main affinity then about all the other aspects found in nature. It simply is like a talent of sorts. A heads up from nature so to speak." Hao explained, which caused Ning'er to nod her head in understanding.

"You just mentioned your first affinity? Does that mean you can get more than one? How does that work? I thought they were inherent and somewhat hereditary?" Ning'er asked back, somewhat more confused than she was at the beginning of their small conversation.

"Affinities are not hereditary and yes, you can get more than one. But that requires your cultivation to be substantially bigger than it is at the moment and most importantly, your understanding of yourself and nature needs to be rather deep. So deep in fact that you return to nature in every sense of the word." Hao answered, after which he turned his head back around to take in the wide plain before him.

"Onmyodou…" Ning'er quietly murmured, finally understanding a little bit what Hao had meant back in the volcano, to which Hao smiled slightly at her.

Afterwards, the two kept mostly silent. Ning'er kept on contemplating his explanation and thought about what her affinity may relate to exactly, while Hao simply enjoyed the scenery.

A few hours later, the two of them had finally reached Glory city once again, the city still standing strong and steadfast like they had left it. Behind it, the sun slowly began to sink towards the horizon, so the two decided to grab a bite to eat before they would separate for the rest of the day, which caused Ning'er an uncomfortable feeling in her stomach.

Hao, who had literally stayed at her side at nearly every moment during their journey, had been a constant source of security and wisdom to her, and leaving his side now felt oddly hollowing to her.

Still, she knew that it was a necessity and she reminded herself that she would see him very soon again anyway.

Thus, after entering the confines of Glory city, they set foot onto the main street of Glory city, where the bustling crowd either gathered with friends to grab a bite to eat after a day of hard work or consisted of some last-minute shopping before the day would come to an end.

Now that the sun was slowly sinking below the horizon, many lanterns were ignited at the different stalls and restaurants, illuminating the quieting street in their orange and red lights that gave the whole city a welcoming and somewhat festival like flare to it.

Since Hao had no idea which restaurants were any good he left the decision to Ning'er, who quickly picked one she had liked to visit in the past, one that served a rather large variety of different dishes at a relatively low price all things considered.

"Welcome!" An attendant greeted them once they walked through the entrance, brushing aside a pair of curtains that kept some of the street's noise and dirt out of the restaurant, and motioned for them to step further inwards with a welcoming smile.

"One table for two I presume?" The friendly man continued, and Hao was surprised to find that the man wasn't just wearing a mask to hide his money grabbing but instead truly was happy to welcome them into his establishment.

"Yes please. Thank you." Ning'er replied, causing the man to nod with his trademark smile and lead them further into the restaurant.

Up a pair of stairs they went and soon they were on the upper floor that consisted of nothing but a roof over their heads and a few tables, both empty and filled with already eating customers, while there were absolutely no windows making it possible to get a nice few of the warmly lit city down below.

"Would you like to order something to drink already?" The attendant asked them once they were seated, while both of their actions were closely followed by quite a few curious customers who obviously recognized Ning'er as the heiress of the Winged Dragon family.

"Some sake for me." Hao replied while Ning'er asked for some tea instead and simply ordered a few dishes like dumplings, soup and rosted chicken for the both of them, as Ning'er had learned that Hao wasn't very picky when it came to food over their travels.

"Of course. Please wait a moment, as your meal will be served shortly." The attendant answered to their requests after which he disappeared and left the two of them alone.

"I just wanted to thank you for taking me along on your trip. I know you didn't have to, so…thank you for still doing so." Ning'er began after the two of them had sat in a small but companionable moment of silence.

"You're welcome. You've got some of the basics down, so you should be good to go from here on out on your own. Though, your martial forms still contain quite a few mistakes and your theoretical knowledge could certainly be improved upon you are on the right way if you ask me. Give it some time and you'll be fine. All that really matters is that your heart stays firm and remains calm and collected. The rest will follow naturally at some point in time." At his words Ning'er brightened considerably, since she had learned that Hao was a very strict teacher that handled praise sparsely at the best of times, so to her his words were something to be proud of.

"Thank you, I will remember that." She replied while bowing her head in his direction, to which he simply nodded. Obviously, her actions of bowing her head so lowly to some random guy none of the people around them had ever heard of caused quite the silent uproar and rumours began to be spread amongst the people at the various tables around them, though none of the two seemed to care and simply received their meals and drinks that were just brought to them by the friendly attendant.

After eating in companionable silence, the two of them soon had finished their respective meals and, after paying a reasonable sum of demon spirit coins, left the establishment to return to their respective homes.

"So…when will I see you again?" Ning'er asked Hao suddenly, once the two of them had reached the manor of the Xiao family, while the guards were looking at the two curiously. After all, they hadn't seen their young miss in nearly two weeks by now and were wondering where she had been all this time.

"We'll see. I'll be at the Institute in any case, so you'll either find me in the library or somewhere on the grounds. Of course, I may just decide to do something else on a whim. As I said, we'll see." Hao replied with a small shrug of his shoulders to which Ning'er nodded in reply.

Afterwards the two of them stood there in silence, with Hao tilting his head in askance at Ning'er who obviously had something else on her mind as well.

And so, it came as no surprise when Ning'er suddenly rushed forwards and embrace Hao closely, while her heart hammered in her chest like a drum of war.

Hao on the other hand could only chuckle in amusement at the innocent girl before him, who saw a simple embrace as such a huge deal, while to Hao it was more cute than anything sexual or intimate really.

Still, it meant a lot to Ning'er when Hao returned her tight embrace by softly wrapping his arms around her back as well, causing her to sigh in content into his shoulder.

In the background though the guards had gotten very big eyes at the scene before them and were completely taken of guard, unsure on how to proceed on their part, as the young miss was the one who had made the first move, so they couldn't really blame the young man for simply reciprocating.

With a highly reddened face that bordered on the colours of a tomato, Ning'er reluctantly drew away from Hao, who couldn't help but grin in amusement at her, after which she bowed once more and rather swiftly walked away into the manor of her family.

Shaking his head slightly once more in amusement, Hao turned around and with a small flex of his Furyoku from the soles of his feet disappeared from in front of the manor, to finally grab a bit of shut eye back in his room at the Institute. Though, he completely forgot about the two guards who had frozen in shock at the sudden disappearance of the young man from right in front of their eyes, which they decided was worth a mention to their elders which, unknown to them, would lead to a rather spectacular spat between members of the family.

And would they have known what consequences their actions would cause they would probably have reconsidered their actions. But how does the saying go: in hindsight you are always smarter.