The group moved as fast as their pace allowed through the valley. It was not as quick as Yin Hu would have liked, yet it was a compromise he had to make considering the promise he made early on to the girls and Zhong Da. They took stops every single day to cultivate and meditate upon the Greater Dao. Yin Hu would allow them to pause for a few hours during the end of the day before sunset so they could gain as much as they possibly could on their journey in ways that did not directly correlate with cultivation itself.
It was a path he needed to explore more thoroughly for both Jun and Shui eventually, his only progression path he considered so far revolved on them cultivating to higher stages.
Yin Hu, on the other hand, made sure to take advantage of the stops in their hasty travel to drink tea with his new best friend. He would pull the tree out from his spacial rice bag and set it on the ground to spread and stretch its roots. Then he would offer it a quick meal of the Superior Qi Stone, before finally offering it a cup of tea that it so enjoyed. Yin Hu would sit under its canopy and just relax.
He recognized that the white orb of flames that lit up the distant night sky with a subtle, pale glow was not going anywhere.
It probably had been there for hundreds, if not longer, of years before his arrival and would remain there hundreds more long after he had gone to it and figured it out. Nothing had affected it so far. He doubted that anyone would be in the area any time soon to mess with it. He hadn’t seen a single person or large living creature except by sheer accident in the case of the warg and Zhong Da and his wife.
Both of those incidents resulted in the affected persons joining their little group and adventuring with them.
Yin Hu also noticed that the tree no longer attempted to greedily suck at his Qi without permission. Maybe it had learned its lesson while being stuck in the rice bag for so long. He couldn’t help but feel impressed by its growth and new found connection with him.
And yet, that was not the most impressive thing they had noticed along their journey toward the white orb.
The entire group marveled at the many different biomes they had walked through. Each one leading to the next abruptly without any gradual change or shift. They were just as sudden as they had seen from that cliff vantage point. Yin Hu had assumed that was just a trick of distance and perspective, yet it was the truth. It gave more credibility to the long myths and tales that Jun and Zhong Da had spun about primordial blood being the very cause of these ravines and valley creases.
They currently stood at the very edge of a dark forest filled with black trees covered in thorns and deep shadows and one filled with white cherry blossom trees that cascaded downward like a dream. It was a scenic image of two distinct personalities warring with one another, yet neither one made an attempt to break into the other's domain even slightly. They lived in perfect harmony.
Other areas butted against opposing or distinct areas as well. Lands filled with fire touched upon more wet and humid areas. Deserts next to boulder filled, arid wastelands of red dust and a lack of breathable air. Thankfully they were cultivators and didn’t need as much oxygen as their mortal counterparts.
There were far more that they had marveled upon walking through and exploring. This entire situation and his experience within it only increased his desire to continue traveling and maybe explore the world to witness the many wonders it held. This was only one place and it was absolutely awe-inspiring gorgeousness.
Yin Hu made a mental note for the future one more time, maybe after they've learned to settle down and figure out other ways to protect the two girls. Either they became strong enough to be trusted on their lonesome or he built and established the Hu Clan to surround them with allies and offshoot sects that would lay their lives for them. He needed to plan to keep dangers away from them through multiple paths.
He recalled a quote about eggs in a basket or something of that nature.
Zhong Da approached him and walked beside Yin Hu as they made their way through the white cherry blossom forest. “It's beautiful, isn't it?”
Yin Hu nodded, though he did not respond. Zhong Da was content to walk with him shoulder to shoulder in silence. Just enjoying and marveling at the scene and atmosphere that surrounded them. They continued for a few hours, no one saying anything until finally, Zhong Da broke the content that had filled the air around them. The girls trailed only a few steps away with a clearly spooked warg. The large beast turned its head left and right in abject fear considering it trembled like a scared dog.
“Senior,” Zhong Da said as he pinched a white cherry blossom petal in between his fingers. “The Zhong patriarch was said to have brought a very similar group of trees like this back to our own sect. A dozen gorgeous blossoms he had fought tooth and nail to acquire. They filled his secluded courtyard with more Qi than any other area within the many mountains we called home. More so than even the mana pools we are so renowned for. Yet, no information had ever escaped the inner sanctum of elders about them. Only that the Patriarch had been injured in the process.”
“You think he took them from here?” Yin Hu said, though he kind of doubted the veracity of the story. There were literally no dangers around in this area.
Zhong Da shrugged. “Maybe, maybe not. I was still young when I…I…” Zhong Da stopped walking. He looked down at his palm, lost in thought for a few moments. Eyes blurring slightly at a long past. He shook his head. “I was young and stupid.”
“Who wasn’t—”
Err..ErrrorRor
ErroroR…
System Malfunction Detected…
System Recalibration…
Recalibration Failed…
System Power Reset– EroorrRor
Universal Parameters exceed System Parameters…
Power Reset prevented...
Error….
Yin Hu stopped in his tracks. His system began to go haywire with red error messages far more insistent than ever before. He looked and began to search the entire clearing for whatever it was that affected it so much. Activating his perception ability did not help him locate whatever the origin of the issue was. Yin Hu kept searching with his eyes, the group behind him all froze at his reaction. No one dared to breathe.
Yin Hu took a couple steps back.
The system stopped going crazy and returned to its more sedated warning notifications.
Zhong Da and everyone else are part of the group watched him intently with strange eyes and silent
Yin Hu tested in which directions caused the greatest reaction from the system and found that if he moved northwest, the system shenanigans would increase precipitously. He could guess that whatever it was that caused this was in that direction generally, but he needed more information. Going any other way made it slow down or go crazy for a lesser amount of time.
He returned to his original position and pushed northwest until the system stopped going haywire signifying the end of the circumference of the area of effect. He then pushed towards the east to triangulate the central location with his original position and the northwestern position being the other two points of information. All he needed was the last and third point to finally pinpoint what the hell was causing the system shenanigans.
They ended up stopping in a small clearing deep within the white cherry blossom forest. Nothing special other than the system's reaction.
Everyone followed him back and forth the entire time without saying anything. They stared at his serious expression and thought better of attempting to interrupt what he was trying to accomplish.
“We may camp here,” he said.
ErroroR…
System Malfunction Detected…
System Recalibration…
Recalibration Failed…
“S-Senior,” Zhong Da said as he stumbled the moment he entered the clearing with Wu Xui leaning onto him. The man huddled his shoulders and wrapped his arms around himself as he looked left and right. He matched the warg’s look of terror in his face. “I sense it now. Before I could not. I was too blind—”
Jun walked in next while holding onto Shui’s wrist and not willing to let go no matter how much the little girl protested.“Sense what? I-I don't understand. What's going on? What's there? Is it dangerous? Should I take Shui and run? What do I do, Ancestor?”
Yin Hu didn’t have an answer for her because he had no clue. He couldn’t feel much from the area other than the system shenanigans. His perception ability caught nothing too. He instinctively clasped his hands behind his back and turned around to look at the distance after giving Zhong Da a nod to explain as he saw fit.
Zhong Da raised his hand to calm Jun. “With your ancestor here, there's not much worry to worry about, even if there are clear signs of the Void.”
Universal Malfunctions supersede all System Functions
Error… Rorr…