Shen Fei and Xiao Ning'er each sat cross-legged in the guest room and began practicing their cultivation arts.
A few paces separated the bamboo couch from the wooden bed. Neither spoke. Only their steady breathing and the occasional faint creak of the wooden walls in the wind broke the silence.
Beyond the paper-covered window, the daylight shifted from grayish white to pale gold, then from pale gold to dusky yellow. Finally, it faded little by little, reducing everything in the room to dark gray outlines.
Shen Fei kept his eyes closed as the spiritual power of the Dark Prison Reincarnation Art flowed slowly through his meridians, completing one circuit after another and gradually replenishing the spiritual power he had exhausted the night before.
Across from him, the phantom of the Wind-Thunder Sky Sparrow flickered behind Xiao Ning'er. Tiny sparks of lightning flowed along her meridians as she, too, recovered. Both were immersed in the rhythm of cultivation, and time passed quickly.
The sky gradually darkened.
By afternoon, the room was so dark that they could only make out each other's blurred silhouettes. Shen Fei was drawing his spiritual power back into his dantian, preparing to finish cultivating and stand, when he suddenly felt an immensely dense, oppressive aura bearing down from the outskirts of the village.
The aura came without warning, like a mountain slowly descending from the sky, heavy and laden with the rank musk and savagery unique to demon beasts.
His eyelid twitched sharply. Deep within his soul, the Shadow Mantis instantly tensed its Blade Forelimbs. Its compound eyes suddenly lit up in the darkness, giving off a wary, cold green glow.
Almost at the same instant, Xiao Ning'er opened her eyes across from him. The phantom of the Wind-Thunder Sky Sparrow behind her gave a sharp beat