556 Spirit of the Land - Part 1

"Warning, the System has noted a significant change in the environment." The System stated, and yet Jin felt like he was telling him the obvious.

However, what the System meant was that there was such a drastic change of chi that he warranted caution to his well being. True enough, the water of the pond right in front of him began to ripple and suddenly the Sakura tree that should be out of season, bared with only branches, had begun to bloom.

Jin did not take any chances and took his sword out and conserved his Maqi into the sword that he was holding. Ever since the dungeon supplier had experienced Zeru's way of drawing his sword, his body automatically attempted to copy that particular movement stance to dish out the strongest amount of damage in a single hit.

"That ...stance. Xiao Ru taught you that?" A gentle female voice sounded from within the pond, and Jin's shoulders stiffened up immediately.

"Xiao Ru?... Do you mean Zeru?" Jin asked, mildly confused by the question, and the voice giggled. He clearly remembered that Zeru's original name should be Zhe Rou rather than Ru nor as the voice named him 'Zhi Ru'.

"I see, so you call him by his nickname instead." The voice whispered in Jin's head as a foggy silhouette of a lady appeared right beside the Sakura Tree.

"System recommends User to emit more Maqi for the silhouette to materialise further." Jin acknowledged the System's opinion and did as he was told. Soon, the foggy silhouette started to take on a more corporeal shape through the more concentrated emission of Maqi.

Consequently, the Sakura tree started to bloom even further.

Within a few minutes, Jin could see a gentle, demure looking lady with hair longer than her height sitting at the side of the Sakura Tree, staring at the dungeon supplier with curiosity.

"Zhi Ru never liked to use his new name for some reason." The lady graciously introduced herself as Fei Er, and the wife of Zeru. "To be able to meet his current master is an honour." Fei Er said as she slowly bowed and prostrated in front of him.

Jin then realised that the way she prostrated did not use her legs at all. Only with a closer look did he notice that she did not have any legs at all. Her thighs were practically rooted to the ground.

"Ah...it's a long story." Fei Er saw his expression and smiled bitterly.

"What I have is time." Jin lied. He hardly knew the history of his bellators, might as well start with this. Although he was kind of surprised that her spirit still lingered on this land.

"I feel that you are not really honest in that aspect. Nevertheless, I am happy for your concern. Long story short, it's a curse." Fei Er said as she dragged herself towards the pond. There were no apparent tracks on the ground when she moved, indicating that she was indeed a spirit of the land as Fei Er looked at the pair of Black and White Lotus.

"Zhi Ru has been here, recently?" Fei Er asked seemingly unaware that Zeru had recently visited her grave which confused Jin all the more.

"Wait, how did you know that I am ...his current master, without knowing that he was here to visit you just earlier?" Jin asked, and Fei Er smiled slowly.

"You have his smell on you, so you ought to have interacted with him often and not too long ago. Other than that this place is not accessible to anyone who does not know of it. If you are here, then he must have shared it with, so he must trust you a lot."

"Given your young age and the Panda Cultivation I can see in you, you should be either the current Head of your Clan or the next in line." Fei Er answered with a hint of sadness and longing.

"System, is it true? Zeru did not get to see her?" Jin asked, and System gave a positive reply.

"Bellator Zeru said it was enough to place the flowers down and returned to complete User's request." The System replied shortly after.

"That idiot!!" Jin exclaimed, and the spirit of the land kindly requested Jin to calm down.

After a bit of short conversation, Jin learnt that Zhe Rou was also a cover up name from the time he was working as a personal bodyguard for Tou Ma. He who had been one of the most promising cabinet ministers in his time as well as the Sword Saint's most recent master before retiring.

Yet Jin also remembered Yun had told him that Tou Ma was once a Sub System User which abused his powers the moment Zhi Ru was done working for him. However, Jin only knew bits and pieces of the story, and with each new revelation by the Fei Er, it made dungeon supplier feel that he only had pieces of the overall puzzle.

"Ever since he ran away from the City of Flowers with me, he had been busy protecting this master of his. Master Tou Ma privately paid Zhi Ru a high amount of allowance not only to protect him but also do …'other things' for him. Alas, my love could not refuse him."

"He used all that money to help slow down my curse for leaving the City of Flowers without permission." Fei Er explained that it was her city's tradition to hold a special ritual which would make it so that they forgot most details about the real city of flowers in Suzhou.

"So, the typical situation where your parents denied your marriage with Zhi Ru, so the two of you eloped?" Jin asked as he sat right beside the Sakura Tree. After having reached full blossom, the enormous tree continued to wither.

It was as if indicating that Fei Er only had that much time to remain as a visible spirit of the Land and Jin's Maqi was only able to slow the process marginally.

She nodded her head lightly as if it still haunted her, but one thing was for sure. Her eyes did not betray her resolution of being in this current state. Not a single regret could be seen in her expression at all.

Still, Jin did not understand how Fei Er appeared right in front of him when she could have done so for Zeru instead. "User, do you really wish to waste Spirit Fei Er's time on pondering why she appeared?"

"You are right. This is a direct order which demands 100% compliance. Order Zeru to get here as soon as he is readily possible. Ignore that Kraft idea that I was asking him about. Teleport him to this exact location and use my money instead of using his System points." Jin commanded in his thoughts as he could see Fei Er staring at the distant end of the pond.

"Bellator Zeru, reporting for duty." In less than a few seconds, Zeru appeared right in front of Jin, but his combat ready expression turned into a surprise when he saw the surroundings and felt the familiar chi aura within the vicinity.

"Fei…Er?" Those two words were something that he yearned to say out loud for the past few decades.