Chapter 87 - Connections

Cheng Xiu closed her eyes and tried to analyse the flow of her Qi in her veins.

The voice and the surrounding areas around her disappeared.

Cheng Xiu realised that her senses were being used directly through her own Qi.

She felt the Qi around her fluctuate briefly.

But everything seemed stable, the way it should be as she was baking a cake at the moment and not fighting anything.

Cheng Xiu's brows crinkled. She was not able to find the way to break away from the illusion. She tried to think of a way but came up empty.

Her mind went to the way she had felt in the beginning of their fight with each other. Frost had used her Qi strands to infiltrate into Cheng Xiu's veins, and induce insecure thoughts in her mind. The illusion that she was under should work in the same principle as that of the Emotional Illusion that Frost was able to create.

But unlike before where it was obvious that she had a foreign Qi in her veins, now she was not able to find the odd one out.

Cheng Xiu guessed that it was because her enemy had figured out that she was able to distinguish her from the pools around her.

Cheng Xiu thought for a moment. Would she be able to find out Frost's Qi signatures if she was able to recall the feeling that Frost's Qi gave off?

After all, Frost should not be able to mimic her Qi so well. As far as Cheng Xiu had read, Qi signature was unique to each person, just like fingerprints and irises. In fact, it was easier to track Qi signatures than it was to track using fingerprints or iris because Qi covered the entire body and radiated around the body, constantly interacting with the environment and others with the same ability.

This radiation of Qi from their skin was the reason why the Blessed felt like the Qiless were useless, because a Qiless did not know the feeling of being constantly contected with each other.

Cheng Xiu's heart settled. She knew her Qi Capacity very well thanks to her being a Qiless in the real world and could use it as a basis to distinguish Frost's presence in her mind.

Her thoughts went towards the man who sent her that message. Who was he? Why did he help her?

Her eyes fell on Jade bracelett around her wrist. She couldn't help but remember that the person who cleared her Player Debt 6666. Prince Yaksha of the Demon Clan. EverHill's team mate.

She felt the soft presence of the jade bracelet, and found that there was a trace of Qi in it that was not her own. It was something that she was not aware of before but after the warm presence she felt in her consciousness she finally realised that it was Yaksha who gave her that warning.

Why did he help her though. There were no free lunches in their world. There were always conditions that had to be met for something to be free, and Cheng Xiu was not sure she did anything to have Yaksha help her for free.

What did he want with her? It couldn't be because of a help she did in the Primordials. That was not how humans worked. At least, not the ones that she knew.

Cheng Xiu was not sure how she should react regarding Yaksha's involvement, but she was not even sure they would meet each other face to face. Though she appreciated his help and was suspicious of the reasons behind his help, right now, there was only one thing that she cared about right now.

Break out of this Illusion and save her Spirit Pet before it was too late.

She could feel its strength weaken.

Cheng Xiu closed her eyes again. She used the technique of Qi Absorption to move around her Qi, to find the familiar feeling of Frost's Qi. It wasn't as easy as she thought it would be because somehow, Frost was able to camouflage her Qi signature very well.

Cheng Xiu felt the Qi Root lose its Qi more and more. Though it had eaten a lot of the natural Qi that Viridian Forest had in large quantity, the Qi Root was still a few hours old and so was unable to use its large amounts of Qi effectively. The more it fought, the more it lost.

Cheng Xiu thought for a moment to find the solution.

She changed her concentration from finding Frost's Qi to finding the link between herself and the Qi Root. An idea had formed in her mind.

Cheng Xiu let herself sink deeper and deeper into her subconscious, and connected with her Qi. She maneuvered it so that it connected with the Qi link of the spirit pet the way she would connect her will with the sword copies.

She sent out a single white strand of Qi through the link to check on the Qi Root's condition more thoroughly.

The white Qi strand returned and with it a torent of information.

Before she had the chance to even make sense of the clusters of facts her own mind bombarded her with, a golden Qi strand came towards her in a rush.

Cheng Xiu froze, unsure of her course of actions as the golden Qi connected with her own strand of Qi.

A feeling of turst and adoration filled her heart. It was the feeling that the owner of the golden Qi felt towards her.

Cheng Xiu gasped in realisation. It was the Qi of the Spirit Pet.

She smiled.

The golden Qi spun around her, and showed her the images of Frost's cruel attacks and the way that the Qi Root stopped the Blue-clad woman from even approaching Cheng Xiu.

A sense of excitement raised in her heart through the Qi link.

Cheng Xiu grinned, her entire face transforming to someone who was extremely gentle and kind. She knew what the Spirit Pet wanted despite the fact that she had never been in this kind of a situation before.

"Well done, love," Cheng Xiu whispered to it.

The golden Qi pulsed in excitement.

"I am very proud of you!"

The Qi pet danced around her even more.

Cheng Xiu raised her Qi strand and curled it around the golden Qi, and used it as a link to feed the Spirit Pet Qi from her own reserve.

The golden Qi resisted for a moment until she sent a soothing feeling through their connection.

The golden Qi calmed as it was once again filled with energy, and it doubled its efforts to stop Frost's attacks.

Cheng Xiu looked around her once more, trying to find the Qi mark of Frost.

Her senses fell on the one close to her eyes. She remembered the feeling that Frost's Qi gave off. A sense of familiarity with a small sense of difference. She decided that though had a similar Qi somehow, there should be a difference in the emotions and experiences that they had during their match.

She felt a sense of slight frustration coming from her eyes. The eyes were the easiest to decieve, second only to the ears.

Cheng Xiu smiled. She found her.

Cheng Xiu started to use Qi Absorption but instead of converting the Qi into a usable variable, she sent it directly to the Qi Focal Point that she suspected was Frost's link towards her.

There was the sound of something breaking as a thin layer of film seemed to disappear from her eyes.

Voices returned around her, and she was able to see Frost fall to her knees, screaming in pain.