Yin Hu had been in the white cherry blossom clearing for a couple days already. He was sitting on the edge of a normal chair, at least normal for his rice bag, with his perception ability at full power roving their entire area with as much focus as he could squeeze out. Yet, there seemed to be nothing he could find here. Even when they had been manually searching through the brush and foliage for anything that could potentially be the source of the Void energy.
That was what Zhong Da had called it, at least.
He started out unable to feel what was in the air for the first day until it hit him like a truck. Not the sense of a new energy or an ethereal power just emanating from the clearing, but rather a weird sense of familiarity that he could not place for the second day. Yin Hu hated every moment of it, it brought up certain feelings and emotions that were locked away ever since he had arrived into this cultivation world.
The place made him feel claustrophobic, as though the entire world couldn’t possibly have enough space to contain him.
Ancient senses of loneliness and isolation he was so familiar with, things he noticed at the beginning of today, that he only experienced on the floating island.
It made him want to puke.
I need to find this. I have to. I need to get rid of it!
And yet, here he was sitting there with his hands crossed in front of him, unable to find it nor figure out why he was getting the same feeling that he did on the island. At least there he could pinpoint with reasonable accuracy why he felt the way he did, the origin, not here though. It made it worse somehow.
Yin Hu grunted as he stood back up. He summoned his spear and began pacing at the edges of the area, hoping to get lucky at this point. Maybe he missed something over there or his pinpoint triangulation of the area was horrific instead of how good he felt when he accomplished that task. Zhong Da’s realization and getting the proper sense of Void energy had been quite vindicating then.
The couple were checking the opposite area as he was going through his own now, going through every potential item with more scrutiny than even he had.
Maybe the Void thing was a plant, a rock, an insect stuck in this area, a tree, a critter in the branches.
Something.
Anything other than the nothingness they found so far.
He could imagine a grasshopper slinging Void blades and energies tearing up the entire place. Finding a monster to fight and threaten their lives felt more appropriate and comforting than what they were going through now.
Then again, the couple were no help in locating it either.
He turned back towards the girls that were checking pebbles near the center of the clearing. Jun and Shui couldn't exactly help, considering they couldn't feel what was happening or what they were searching for. They would only get in the way or end up starting a chain of reaction that would end up in catastrophe. He told them to search the stones for anything special in hopes that he and the couple had already gone through the area enough that the girls wouldn’t find anything at all.
Yin Hu didn't need them to suddenly vanish through a rift into a special pocket like how he had ended up on the flying island.
Except there was the distinct danger that they would end up finding the source of Void energy simply due to his inability to locate it in time.
Should I just lay this place out? Cut every fucking tree, burn all the bushes and foliage, salt the fucking soil to stop anything from ever growing here again? Would that end up helping locate whatever we are searching for? Why the hell do I have to find it? Why the fuck is my system going crazy? Why am I so obsessed with this bullshit?!
Yin Hu took a deep breath to calm himself down. He couldn’t do that even if he truly wanted to. Not with the girls around at least. He had to be the best example possible during this vital developmental time they were in. Seeing him destroy nature just for his express desires and purposes was not something he wanted them to develop.
That felt like a gateway drug to being an average cultivation murder-hobo.
He squeezed DragonsWrath tightly. His fingers wrapped around the shaft. The dragon adornments and grooves fit perfectly into his palm. Warmth seemed to spread from it into his palm, permeating and filling his entire body with comfort and peace. Its black blade shone in the light of morning day, a gorgeous piece of work he could admire and use to forget what he was dealing with.
Yin Hu had relied on it heavily to curb the destructive emotions backed by millions of years of isolation and loneliness from starting to consume him once more.
“Master,” Jun called his name. He hadn’t noticed her approach. “We've been here for some time. Can we start meditating and cultivating again? We were making great progress these past few weeks with all the Qi and Greater Dao in the–”
Yin Hu shook his head. “No. The void is not to be cultivated.”
He mentally cringed at how harsh the words came out. Yelling at them for suggesting they cultivate the sense he got from the island would not solve their current dilemma.
“Why not?” Shui popped her head from behind Jun.
The older girl would not let Shui out of her sight or even a couple feet too far. Going so far as to tie a rope around the little girl’s wrist because they couldn’t trust her not to wander off. Yin Hu’s eyes drifted to the result of her last escape, the warg was asleep on the other side of the camp, waiting for when they finally decided to leave. It had not moved from its spot since the moment they had arrived into the area.
Yin Hu just shook his head towards the girl. Not answering her question directly because he had no clue why. All he had to back what he was doing were ancient experiences he had on the island and the negative emotions he felt from them. Things he was not willing to speak about. He preferred if they were kept buried deep within him and never again came out.
Both girls gave each other a look before turning back to him.
“What are we looking for? Maybe we could help,” Shui said as she walked up to him. She gave him wide puppy eyes and held onto his fingers.
Yin Hu shrugged, he was too stiff to be as natural as he usually was at defeating Shui’s cute tactics. “No signs of what we are looking for. Only that it's in this area.”
“Ancestor?” Jun said. The confused expression on her face was palpable. “Aren't you so powerful that you sensed it from miles away?”
Shit! I'm getting complacent. I need to think of a proper answer!
Zhong Da and his wife perked up trying to hear the answer. Everyone including the warg turned to him and silently waited for his answer.
Yin Hu cleared his throat and fell back into his Ancient Being persona. “Once you've reached a certain level, it becomes hard to notice… inconsequential things that can't hope to harm you in a thousand years. A hundred thousand even.”
He was satisfied with the answer, a slight smile spread across his face–
Zhong Da's eyes widened as he took a few steps toward him. “D-Do you sense the Qi of this world?”
Yin Hu froze. He cursed mentally. Ever since coming into this clearing, he had been off his game and kept making mistake after mistake. The remainder of the isolated island had affected him more than he expected. These were the basics he had finalized near the very beginning of his arrival, a precedent he kept going and only now started to crack and fray at the seams because he was too preoccupied with the familiarity to the island.
If he answered yes, then he would, in association, be required to show his usage of Qi or a technique thereof which he had no access to due to the system's malfunctions.
That was something he would fail at without a doubt.
If he answered no, they might get the wrong impression and think that he did not actually originate from this world and had no access to Qi at all.
Both were negatives. Yet, one was worse than the other and limited him to less options and potential answers he could make up.
Yin Hu could accept that they might end up at the resolution where he was some being from another realm not associated with this one, he could spin it well enough. What he could not afford was taking a hit to his persona. Being seen as an ancient being, ancestor to a mighty clan, was important to his future plans and the development of the girls.
He met Zhong Da's gaze and shook his head.
Wu Xui dropped unconscious.
Zhong Da fell to his knees.
Shit! What did they assume now?!