73 Breakthrough

Under a surge of blue skies, mottled clouds driven from the north congregated and slowly moved to the south-west, The sun was partly hidden behind the puffy clouds but warm sunshine still knifed down to the ground in splotches.The vista of an endless blue sea foaming and frothing with waves looking like ripples over smooth velvet, laid to the west and on the right, scattered tall trees stood amidst patches ofstanding water in muddy fields decorated by dried brown weeds and small red and purple plants that bowed in reverence as the wind swept over them, the sounds of waves crashing into the rocks of a cliff side could be heard but was hidden from view by a steep drop.Large birds flew against the clouds and small ones against the trees gliding and circling from sea to land, their screeches and squawks became the normal ambient sounds of this part of the world, to the point that after a few hours one ceased to notice the sound.

A white carriage journeyed across the landscape, having been repaired by the smiths and glass workers of the Hagley province and restored to its former glory, moving at a decent speed along the well-made road. Flanked by the four escorts who took their usual positions gleaming and laden in their shiny armor, with the addition of a big black crossbows now attached to each rider's horse as their black surcoats was blowing gently in the wind on their journey northwards. Two trotted in front and two trailed behind having conversations but never letting their guards down. Hartley had decided not to tarry in the Hagley province any longer. They left the province five days prior, even though the Hagley Martial School hadn't made any attempts at intimidation or openly tried to force a fight, he had come to understand the pride of men. Embarrassment as small as a mustard seed would drive prideful men to seek vengeance from the shadows if it couldn't be achieved openly.

Instead of exposing his group to these inevitable actions like a sitting duck too proud for its own good, he had decided to bring forward his time table and leave ahead of schedule. Hartley had purposely not killed a single member of the school because the Royal family had a policy to conscript the most talented in the Martial schools around the country and put them in their army to be sent to battles overseas, from battlingthe beastmen tribes of the barren east to protecting valuable affiliate countries from the encroachment of the other prominent countries. They would be sent to their deaths or return a hero and be given a position in the aristocracy. These students were a valuable commodity for the Royal family, Killing them would be like not putting the royal family in his eyes, so for now Hartley wanted to keep things simple, if not for this, they would have been uprooted.

At first the road to the Cassia province where they were headed was well travelled with merchants bringingtrains of wagons packed with food and fabrics escorted by dozens of well armed mercenaries to and from the hagley province but for the last day, the travelers they encountered had thinned to single travelers on horse, or on a wagon from time to time but rarely on foot, typically well armed and distrustful of others. The road from the Hagley province to the Cassia province connected the central regions of the country to the north and was the route taken by merchants travelling southward,provingto be a lucrative stretchfor Bandits who operated in large groups preying on the merchants who were under prepared or had tried to cut costs by not hiring enough mercenaries, there was also the occasional fierce beast that popped out of the marshes and attacked, these were hunting beasts, large and as lean as lions but with broader shoulders and jaws set with razor-like fangs and much faster, covered in a dirty brown colored fur, unsuspecting and careless travelers would be dragged into the muddy fields in the dark hours of the night. Hartley had had to deal with them once or twice during night time when they set up camp off the road, but at his level these were no threat.

OnThe sixth day of travel, the carriage crested a hill with the sun still high in a clear sky, even though they could see and hear the sea from three days before, this was the closest they had been to it. "STop the carriage" came a command from Zhi Ruo, Ryu Hang positioned the carriage off to the side and brought the rattling carriage to a complete stop. Zhi Ruo said nothing as she exited the carriage dressed in a long white gown fitted loosely to her body which danced around in the wind as she made her way across a grassy meadow and towards a rocky mound overlooking the sea. Hartley and Qin Li followed behind silently as she led them about 200 meters off the road and to a rocky cliff. She breathed deeply as she stared far out across the sea in melancholy seemingly not noticing the constant screeches of birds or the fishy odor that wafted through the air propelled inland on the sea breeze, the waves lashed and roared below as it crashed against the sharps rocks on a pebble filled beach.

Hartley came up and stood five meters behind her without disturbing, this was his first time seeing the endless ocean in all its splendor. The sea spread out before him like a massive rippling velvet sheet as far as his eyes could see, birds squawked and dived down disappearing in the water for few seconds before bursting upwards again, some emerged with a fish trapped in the claws and some didn't. Qin Li came up and joined him and together they looked over the sea which was like a living creature in slumber.Zhi Ruo's breathing became tranquil and she couldn't help but to close her eyes andsit cross legged on the brown rocks soiling her white gown with dirt, Hartleys eyes widened as she was enveloped in faint fog-like white aura. She had finally found enlightenment.

Beads of water speckled and snaked across her body extracted from the moisture in the damp air, water droplets danced around her body twisting and turning as it glistened like crystal under the rays of sunlight forming a stream as thick as an arm stretching out to about a meter which then coiled around her upper body and circled as if it had a mind of its own. As the limpid stream got bigger and sunlight passed through, it created a colorful array of light like a rainbow around Zhi Ruo. It was a beautiful scene, as if she was in a rainbow cocoon."Tell them to set up camp and wait for our return." Hartley whispered to Qin Li as he watched over the still form of Zhi Ruo sat on the stony cliff. Qin Li nodded anddisappeared in the direction they had come. Hartley sat quietly and pushed out his awareness protecting her from any disturbance.

Only when the sun began to sneak over the horizon to the west producing a slight red did Zhi Ruo finally open her eyes, a glowing white aura poured over her body swirling and writhing around her silhouette as her shoulder length red hair danced in the wind behind her, matching the blood colored sunset. Soon the aura disappeared and Zhi Ruo came towards Hartley smiling with dainty elegant steps as if she was gliding across the ground without touching it. "Congratulations" said Hartley with a beaming smile of his own, "I was lucky" she replied as Hartley hugged her and ran his lustful eyes all over her body. Zhi Ruo had made the first step across the threshold of immortality, she was now a 1st layer xanthian with water elemental affinity.

The dark silhouette of Hartley soared through the moonlit night followed closely by the flapping white gown of Zhi Ruo whose elegant steps seemed like fluid liquid moving over the terrain, Hartley had taken her out training in the quiet night to assess her capabilities leaving Qin Li on guard duty back at their make shift camp. Beneath them the ground was soft and muddy as they came to a valley clogged with trees, their branches outstretched and weaved together to create an almost impenetrable wall of forestation. Hartley who had matched his speed with Zhi Ruo skidded through a gap in the treeline without breaking stride and navigated through the dense trees, Zhi Ruo elegantly flashed behind him leaving white ripples on the muddy floor in her wake, She was a natural at movement and moving through the densely packed woods proved to be a simple task. Hartley glancing back was impressed. The forest became more lush blocking out the moon light as they moved over and around bushes and small trees with dead brown leaves under them, leafless vines,

lifeless in appearance twisted and stretched out like gnarly fingers on the soft forest floor that crunched like egg shells underfoot if stepped on.

Eventually they came upon a rocky clearing with moonlight seeping in through gaps in the canopy of the forest, raining down shafts of blue light dousing half dozen fierce beast clad in brown fur, standing a meter tall on all four legs moving forward crouched in an attack posture releasing throaty growls ready to pounce, they came to a stop "be careful" said Hartley, Zhi Ruo nodded then a shake of her head sent

shoulder-length red hair flipping back over one shoulder, her black pair of daggers appeared in her hands, wrapped in white aura she moved forward like a ghost gliding over the ground on her own accord thrusting her left blade out in front and rotated her hand quickly up high and turned the blade down in a diagonal slash with a black flash to intercept the claw that came slashing at the speed of light, with a howl of pain the decapitated right claw went flying away with a line of scarlet blood behind it. In a fluid effortless transition she then brought her right hand blade horizontally across the neck of the howling beast before it could retreat and sent its furry head with two rows of razor sharp teeth following behind its claw.

Hartley blinked into existence beside her and punched out, blasting away a beast flying towards her from her blind side, it landed in a pool of its own blood and twitched before laying still, with short dainty steps she circled to the left leaving faint ghost-like after images, black daggers caught winks and flashes of moonlight as they rose and fell in smooth efficient movements leaving horrific injuries on the wailing beasts, in a few minutes two more beasts lay dead in the mud. The remaining beasts turned tails and ran head first into the dense foliage, crashing through it leaving sounds of broken sticks sending a shower of swirling leaves down to the forest floor. Hartley went over and kissed her forehead. "You are as powerful as a 2nd layer xanthian" he said with a smile. She returned the smile then turned her nose up and snorted "I'm sweaty now, lets go." They retrieved the beast cores, and smoothly left the scene.