Chapter 85 - Sparkly Blue Particles

"What are you doing?" She asked while her hand moved to stop the naughty fingers that were slowly raising her nightshirt while they grazed her belly. 

"Absolutely nothing. Just sleep." Silver replied as he planted a soft kiss on her temple before he once again placed his face in the crook of her neck. The good thing was that his hand did stop and he just let it rest on the bare skin of her tummy.

She slowly turned her head to look at her other side and found Wang Shu staring right back at her. And for some weird reason, the discovery that he had been watching Silver playing around with her made butterflies flutter in her stomach. 

She couldn't see the other two Princes but that also meant that they were not looking at her either. It was both a relief and a disappointment to her.

Without even realizing it, she placed one of her hands over Wang Shu's hand before giving it a light squeeze as she whispered, "Good night."

******

Jiang Ying Yue glared at the First Prince as she refused to stand up from where she was sitting next to a huge rock that was shining in a soft blue glow under the bright moonlight.

"Don't act like a kid. Come on, we don't have much time left." Qing Shan once again tried to make her follow him wherever he wanted to take her.

However, she just scoffed and turned her face away while folding her arms around her knees to prevent herself from the cool breeze that was blowing around the garden. Her silk shirt and shorts did nothing to protect her against the chilly wind.

"Wasn't it your idea? Then why are you looking so reluctant now?" Qing Shan asked as he came to crouch in front of her so that they could talk.

"I didn't know that you will pull me out of such a beautiful dream just to start my training. It's not like I got to enjoy such a nice sleep every day." She complained while thinking about how good she felt while wrapped up in Silver's arms while Wang Shu was cocooning her from behind. 

"Why? Don't you like sleeping in the Cold Palace?" He asked and actually seemed curious to know her answer.

"That's the Cold Palace without a proper bed, pillow, or covers. How am I supposed to enjoy a good sleep there? Moreover, it feels better to sleep next to one of my mates which doesn't happen often." She mumbled the last part while turning her face away to avoid looking at the Prince.

She felt his hands on either of her arms and before she could do or say anything, the man was already hauling her up, and having no other choice, she ended up finally standing up.

"If that's the case then I'll make sure that you don't have to sleep uncomfortably from now on. No need to worry about it. Let's go and start your cultivation training." He told her before taking hold of her hand as he started dragging her towards the direction of a huge wall that was covered in moss and vines. 

"Fine. I'll hold you accountable if you failed in keeping your words." She said while following after him. 

They were back in the secret realm that belonged to the Princes but she wasn't sure if she was really there or if it was her conscious self roaming around along with Qing Shan.

So far she had only seen the garden that seemed too mystical to be called a normal garden. She was kind of curious to know how it would look in the brightness of the day. As they walked through the gate like an opening in the huge wall, they appeared in an even bigger garden.

But what amazed her the most was the huge castle standing in front of her on the other end of the garden. Unlike the two or three storey buildings that she had seen in the mortal realm, the castle standing in front of her was around seven or eight stories tall. Not only that but the design of the castle was not really similar to the designs of the manors and courtyards that she had seen so far in the mortal realm.

"I'll give you a tour through the Palace some other day. For now, we have to focus on the main task in our hands." Qing Shan told her as he pulled her towards the other direction that definitely did not lead to the castle.

"You will?" Jiang Ying Yue asked him with surprise as she took another glance at the castle standing on her right.

"Why do you sound so surprised?" The Prince asked as they moved towards a tree that was standing on the shore of a river.

Jiang Ying Yue just shrugged her shoulders as she tried to observe the tree that seemed ordinary but also not ordinary at the same time. For some weird reason, she had the feeling that they were going to pass through the tree to enter a new place or dimension or something like that.

However, unlike her prediction, Qing Shan didn't even glance at the poor tree and pulled her towards the very edge of the river. 

"What now?" She asked him while staring at the flowing water. She could already tell that the water was cold as ice without even needing to touch it.

"Follow me." The Prince responded as he moved forward, stepping his foot over the water surface. 

Jiang Ying Yue watched as his foot touched the water but didn't sink. The man seemed to know the art of walking on the water surface. But unlike him, she was a mere mortal at the moment who would end up throwing herself in the chilly river if she tried to pull such a stunt.

"No thanks. I don't have the mood for taking a cold bath in the middle of the night." She responded with a little shake of her head as she stepped back, creating a little distance between herself and the river.

Unfortunately, Qing Shan was no longer in the mood of listening. He just stretched one of his hands out towards her and she found herself getting pulled towards him. A squeal almost left her lips when her feet touched the water for the first time. 

"You can open your eyes now." She heard him whispering next to her ear and when she did open her eyes, she found herself safely wrapped in his arms while her feet were touching the cold water that gave her a refreshing feeling.

"Sorry for that. I just seriously don't want to end up taking a bath in this chilly water." She tried defending herself and found the man nodding his head slowly in response.

"Don't freak out again. I'm going to let go of you so that I can call the spiritual energy of the water. Starting from the water essence will be best for you since you are not planning to cultivate till the very end. Water is a part of our body, and its essence is as pure as energy should be." He told her before he finally let his hands slide away from her body.

Jiang Ying Yue watched as he took several steps away from her before stretching both his arms out to call the essence of the spiritual energy mixed in the water flowing under her feet.

She watched in amazement as small tiny sparkling blue particles rose above the water and surrounded them. There were thousands and millions of them floating all around. But then, within a couple of seconds, they disappeared.

"To cultivate the spiritual qi, you have to first build a basic connection between yourself and the energy of the world. I just showed you a glimpse of how the water-energy could possibly look like. For every person, it appears in different shapes, sizes, and colors. Try relaxing your mind and call the same energy that you just saw and experienced. Once you succeeded in calling it out, we will begin with your cultivation training." Qing Shan told her before his silhouette disappeared from there, leaving her all alone standing above a river.

Jiang Ying Yue looked around to see if she could find him standing somewhere nearby but he was nowhere to be seen. What a weird man. One moment he was all warm and affectionate towards her and the next moment he became cold and strict.

She let out a deep breath before turning her attention towards the flowing water. She needed to complete the task not because she was told to do so but because she had to earn back her powers. With that thought in mind, she closed her eyes and let her body threw away all the thoughts, tension, and such stuff.

Her poor self had no idea at that time that the task of calling out those sparkly blue particles was going to be one of the hardest tasks she had ever come across in both of her lives.