"The Five-Element Rainbow Ganoderma has possessed you!" The young woman suddenly understood. Her voice was seven parts anger and three parts delighted surprise. She was angry that Li Xiaoya had disobeyed her and touched the Five-Element Rainbow Ganoderma, but delighted that it was still here and had not vanished.
"Possessed me?" Li Xiaoya inspected himself from head to toe. He felt perfectly fine and found nothing amiss, so he asked in confusion.
"The... the Five-Element Rainbow Ganoderma can possess cultivators?" The girl's little mouth fell open as she looked at the young woman in astonishment.
"Well..." The young woman was not entirely certain either and hesitated. Then, as though something had suddenly occurred to her, she murmured, "It might not work with anyone else, but with this boy, it really is possible. Although the Five-Element Rainbow Ganoderma has taken form, its original body is still a ganoderma-a plant. Normally, it shouldn't be able to possess a body of flesh and blood. But this boy is different. His innate five-attribute spiritual root happens to match the Five-Element Rainbow Ganoderma's attributes. That's why it was so friendly with him. It regarded him as one of its own, so it wasn't afraid of him. And that's why it can possess him. Yes, that must be it!" The more she spoke, the more certain she became. With her knowledge and experience, she quickly pieced together what had happened and why.
"Fine, so it possessed me. Could you stop calling me 'this boy' and 'that boy'? I have a name too. It's Li Xiaoya." Although Li Xiaoya did not really understand all this talk of spiritual roots, attributes, and taking form, the woman's constant references to him as "boy" thoroughly annoyed him.
"Heehee! My name is Liu Xian'er! This is my master, Fairy Qingxia," the girl, Liu Xian'er, said adorably with a sweet giggle.
"You talk too much!" the young woman, Fairy Qingxia, said displeasedly. What right did a mere mortal have to know her name?
"Fairy... Qing... xia? Liu... Xian'er! A-are... you really... immortals descended from heaven?!" Li Xiaoya was greatly startled. His eyes widened, and he began to stammer.
He had never truly imagined that one day he would meet actual immortals from legend. Yet, on reflection, it seemed perfectly reasonable. Only immortal maidens could be so beautiful, only immortal maidens could fly, and only immortal maidens could cast spells to trap him inside this wondrous Light Barrier.
"We aren't immortals from heaven, but we aren't like you mortals either. We call ourselves immortal cultivators," Fairy Qingxia said mildly.
"Immortal cultivators? Doesn't that still make you immortals?" Li Xiaoya asked curiously.
"Hehehe!" Seeing his comically bedraggled state, bundled up into a ball, Liu Xian'er covered her mouth and giggled to herself.
"Enough nonsense! Let me see what's going on first!" How could Fairy Qingxia have time to answer this curious child's questions? She spoke coldly and, without further ado, reached into the blue barrier and seized Li Xiaoya's wrist. He felt a cool current flow from the spot where her snow-white hand held him, traveling up his arm and circulating throughout his body.
Li Xiaoya stared at the white-jade hand clasped around his wrist. It was so lovely, slender and snowy white, just like white jade. Against his wrist, it felt soft and smooth. His heart involuntarily beat faster, and a rosy flush spread across his face. "Hmph! So young, and already up to no good!" Fairy Qingxia noticed the change in him and gave a cold snort.
Li Xiaoya's face instantly turned the color of pig liver, and he hastily looked away. It took him a while to recover. In all his years, as far back as he could remember, this was the first time he had ever felt embarrassed.
"Um, Sister Qingxia! Why doesn't this blue ball of light block your hand?" Li Xiaoya asked, searching for something to say.
"This is a protective barrier released by my spirit treasure, the Water-Controlling Nine-Palace Pearl. It won't obstruct me. I can enter whenever I want, and anyone I want to keep out won't be able to get in," Fairy Qingxia said impatiently. Given her status, why should she have to explain so much to this boy?
"Then, Sister Qingxia, could you let me out? Being trapped in here is really uncomfortable," Li Xiaoya seized the chance to plead. That Nine-Palace Pearl, or whatever it was, had bundled him up like a ball, and he had long since become miserable.
"No! What if the Five-Element Rainbow Ganoderma runs away again as soon as we let you out?" Liu Xian'er hurriedly protested, her voice tense.
Fairy Qingxia, however, frowned, released Li Xiaoya's wrist, and fell silent in thought.
"Master! How is it?" Liu Xian'er hurriedly asked anxiously. She was the one who had caused this mess. What would she do if they really could not retrieve the Five-Element Rainbow Ganoderma? Even if she was her master's favorite great-great-granddaughter and disciple, and her master let her off, their sect would not spare her.
"This is rather troublesome! There is a way to extract the Five-Element Rainbow Ganoderma, but this boy wouldn't survive it. And even if we got it out, the Five-Element Rainbow Ganoderma's vitality would be severely damaged. The loss would outweigh the gain," Fairy Qingxia said with a frown.
"Sister Qingxia, what exactly is the Five-Element Rainbow Ganoderma used for? Why are you so worried about it?" Li Xiaoya could not help asking nervously.
"Don't call me Sister Qingxia. I'm more than old enough to be your great-grandmother! Don't ask questions you shouldn't!" Fairy Qingxia said coldly, displeased.
"Fine, I won't! You don't look that old to me!" Li Xiaoya said, pouting.
"Then what do we do now, Master?" Liu Xian'er interjected.
"I already have a plan. Our only option now is to take this boy back to our sect and ask my two senior brothers to help extract the Five-Element Rainbow Ganoderma," Fairy Qingxia said confidently, her plan already fully formed.
"Hey! Sister Qingxia, shouldn't you at least ask what I think? I'm the one involved!" Li Xiaoya protested from beside her. Although these two were beautiful immortal maidens, they had trapped him in this strange barrier the moment they arrived and kept him there for ages. They had also tried to capture Guagua, causing him to suffer serious injuries, and now they wanted to take him to some sect. He had been unhappy with them for a long time already.
"Where do you live? Do you have any family?" A glint of cunning flashed through Fairy Qingxia's eyes as she suddenly asked.
"My home? I live in the mountains. It's just me!" Li Xiaoya was taken aback by the question and answered quietly.
"So you're an orphan!" A trace of pity appeared in Fairy Qingxia's eyes, but it immediately vanished. She pointed a finger at the blue barrier wall, sending a streak of blue light into the blue Light Barrier. The Light Barrier slowly expanded, no longer squeezing Li Xiaoya tightly, and stopped only when he had enough room to sit upright.
"That's more like it!" Li Xiaoya muttered, moving his neck and thighs, which had gone somewhat numb from being confined. Although Fairy Qingxia possessed vast divine abilities, she was clearly quite kindhearted. That went even more for Liu Xian'er, who was almost his age and still a rather innocent little girl. He no longer felt as frightened as he had at first.
"All right! It's getting late. Let's return to the Sect first and discuss this there!" Fairy Qingxia glanced casually at the sky. The sun had already sunk in the west, leaving only a thin strip of sunset along the horizon.
"I'm not going! Let me out right now!" Li Xiaoya suddenly shouted in protest. It had just occurred to him that if he went to this sect, wouldn't Guagua fall into their hands? Although they kept insisting that Guagua was some Five-Element Rainbow Ganoderma, a treasure they had lost, the way Guagua had resisted made it obvious that they had captured Guagua by force. Li Xiaoya might love deceiving people, but he only did so because he had no choice. No matter what, he could not hand over the "benefactor" who had saved his life twice.