Chapter 59: A Desire to Grow

Chapter 59: A Desire to Grow

Tall grass rushed past Labby’s form as she ran through the field, following the faint scent of the lightning Qi.

Lunar and thunder Qi swirled in her core as she ran through the fields of the outer sect, heading beyond its boundaries and further up the peak. A place even her Great Master wasn’t allowed to enter.

A pill remained clutched within her mouth, as the boundaries of the outer sect peaks began to shimmer and appear in the distance. A wall surrounded the higher peak of the inner sect, the Qi within the air rising with each step she walked closer.

Purple lightning crackled around her as she paused, to sniff the scents carried across the air currents, and the little trails of Qi that brushed past. When she had been nothing but a common rat, she’d mindlessly followed a similar trail to find a gap within the wards to cross through. Explore the labyrinthine roots of this substance at Nøv€lß¡n

The task to breach the inner sect ward was much more formidable, but she too wasn’t the common rat that she used to be either.

The Qi shimmered an invisible barrier preventing entry, but Labby soon found a small gap within the boundaries of the walls. With a squeak of delight, Labby rushed closer, squeezing through the gaps as she made it past the walls.

Qi hit her nose with a myriad of new smells. The tinge of the moon was brighter here, even during the day, and the touch of lighting Qi crawled upon her skin. The air filled her with energy, as her mind began to clear out more so than ever before. So this was the fabled inner sect.

“L-bby. W-ere are -ou?”

Labby froze as she heard her Great Master’s voice come from their bond. The voice was broken and wavering, hindered by the wards around the inner sect. She could feel her Great Master’s concern, as he tugged at her bond calling for her.

Labby almost turned back without thinking, to rush to her Master’s side but something held her back. Her Qi wavered in turmoil, her core shuddering as she heard her Great Master once more.

“Labby?”

He asked, the concern in his voice growing. Labby felt her heart shuddering. Her Great Master was calling her back, he was worried about where she’d gone. Would she refuse his call? Refuse her Great Master.

Labby looked towards where she sensed her Great Master’s voice, sending a brief link of her thoughts back, enough to reassure her Great Master that she was alright. She squeaked to the empty air, bowing her head in apology as she turned back and began to head further within the Inner Sect.

The last time her master had been in danger, she’d been too weak, unable to help him. She watched helplessly as her bond with her master had crumbled, his voice fading and his Qi vanishing from her, and she’d been unable to do anything.

Labby had sworn back then, that she would never let that happen again. And for that, she needed to be stronger. Even if it meant going against her Great Master’s wishes sometimes.

Labby felt her Qi still. She had made her choice.

With renewed speed she rushed through the inner sect’s grounds, following the stronger than ever trail of Lightning Qi.

She wondered if she was befriending a demon, waiting to strike at her from behind for being foolish enough to trust it. The pitch black eyes with pure white pupils that Lu Jie had gained came to her mind, as a shudder crawled up her smile. Yet at the same time, she remembered the embarrassed smile he’d sent her way.

Regardless of her wishes, the oath still held true, and she feared summoning a tribulation upon her head lest she say the wrong words about Lu Jie. She didn’t fear for her survival, but her cultivation may forever be set back and the thought was enough to hold her lips even with her doubts.

Yan Yun should take a break. She is unsettled.

Yan Yun opened her eyes, stopping the channeling of Qi in her dantian as she watched Leiyu fly within the chamber and rest on her shoulder.

“Li and Lei?” she asked quietly.

“Ran away. Leiyu let them, pesky brats that do not show any respect,” Leiyu replied with a scoff, flapping his wings as he preened.

“Let them be. Their foolish arrogance will only come to bite them later. Arrogance without the strength to back it is just the ramblings of a fool,” Yan Yun replied.

“Indeed, but that is not why Leiyu came here. What bothers Yan Yun so? The boy Lu Jie?”

Yan Yun turned to look at Leiyu as she raised her hand, gently brushing his feathers. She knew the younger Leiyu would’ve never let her do any such thing, but even her spirit had found his arrogance tempered at the sight they’d both witnessed.

“How can I not be? A tribulation at the 4th realm. A boy possessing demonic abilities, and two cores who returned life to a crippled man, with knowledge never heard of even in our clan’s archives? There aren’t many stranger things than him that I’ve seen.”

“Leiyu hadn’t taken Yan Yun to be a liar.”

Yan Yun clenched her fists at her spirit’s words, a pang of pain stabbing her through the chest. She closed her eyes, cycling her Qi as she sat in silence for a moment.

“I’m... envious. He is a boy with no special background, with nothing to his name, yet he performs strange miracles never seen before. But despite having summoned a tribulation at such a young realm he just- lives so freely, as if not bound by the chains of society. I’m envious of Lu Jie. Of his freedom, and of his desire to grow. When did I lose mine? When did it all become about surpassing my grandfather?”

“Leiyu cannot answer that. It is an answer, Yan Yun must realise for herself,” Leiyu spoke, flapping his wings. “Yan Yun needs to think over what she wishes to achieve in her life. What her purpose and Path are.”

“I wish to be free,” Yan Yun spoke, yet the words rang hollow. It was her desire, to be free of her grandfather, to be free of the burden of a prodigy, but it was not why she cultivated.

“A talk for some other time. We have an unexpected visitor,” Leiyu said, as Yan Yun sensed the tiny ball of thunder and lunar Qi outside her chamber’s window a moment later. She sent a thin strand of Qi, opening the entrance as a grey furred rat stumbled in with her white lunar crescent on her forehead and a pill in her mouth.

The little rat shook her head, before turning towards the two of them and crackling with purple lightning.

“Labby wishes to learn how to fight!”