The Journey Home and an Agreement

The journey back was much smoother than the trip out.

There were no beast tides, no ambushes, and even the weather was ridiculously cooperative. The skies stayed clear for days, the main road was dry, and the carriage raced along. Ning Buhui leaned against the carriage wall, spending most of his time with his eyes closed, studying his newly acquired Soul Skills. When the Wind Thunder Wings were stored inside his body, only two faintly warm spots remained on his back, as though two pieces of fine warm jade had been pressed against it.

After several attempts, he discovered that the distance he could shift depended on his Soul Power output. Thirty paces was the limit, but teleporting only seven or eight paces cut the consumption in half. He was very pleased with the discovery. Only by using less Soul Power could it play a greater role in battle; otherwise, he would be spent after using it twice.

During a rest stop, he found a secluded spot and tried Wind Thunder Wing Shadow on himself. A soft blue-violet glow clung to his body, and he immediately felt as light as though the wind were holding him aloft. With one push of his foot, he shot a long way forward, leaving almost no trace as he stepped across the low shrubs.

He also tried Thunder Prison Imprisons Wind, shrinking its range to the minimum so that it covered only a radius of a little over ten feet. Six lightning pillars, each as slender as an arm, rose from the ground. Violet light flowed over them as they formed a small cage around him.

He walked inside and applied the cage's effects to himself. As he moved, it felt as though the wind were constantly working against him, slowing him down considerably. Three seconds later, an arc of lightning fell from overhead. He dodged, and it struck the ground, scorching a small patch of grass. He made a mental note of its power and dismissed the cage. In battle, fifteen seconds wasn't a long time to maintain it, but if used at a crucial moment, it would be enough to disrupt an enemy's rhythm.

On the evening of the third day, the white walls of Spirit City came into view. Ning Buhui lifted the carriage curtain for a look, and to his surprise, a sense of familiarity welled up in him. After days of eating in the wind and sleeping under the dew, and nearly being swallowed by a beast tide, home was where he felt secure.

The carriage stopped at the western side gate, and the two of them got out. The deacons came forward and bowed, but Bibi Dong simply waved them away and headed straight for Pope Hall. Before they parted, she left him with a few words: "Rest tomorrow. Come find me in the side hall the day after."

Ning Buhui acknowledged her and headed back to his quiet room.

Everything in the room was as it had been, except for a stack of newly delivered training schedules on the table. He glanced at them and tossed them aside, then heated water for a bath before going to the dining hall for two big bowls of hot noodles. By the time he returned to his room and lay down, it was completely dark. He had meant to turn in early, but he tossed and turned, unable to sleep. In the end, he sat cross-legged and entered the tower to check the entrance to the third floor. Sure enough, now that he had obtained his Third Soul Ring, the third floor had unlocked automatically. The space inside was larger than the second floor, and the concentration of Soul Power had doubled. He stayed inside for less than half an hour before his meridians felt painfully swollen, leaving him no choice but to withdraw. Haste made waste, and he understood that.

Early the next morning, he went to the training grounds to loosen up as usual.

Before he got there, he saw Yan in the distance, squatting on a low wall and eating an apple. Xie Yue was leaning against a tree trunk, polishing his Moon Blade, while Hu Liena sat nearby, slowly shelling a small handful of nuts. When the three saw him approaching, they all looked up.

Hu Liena waved to greet him.

Ning Buhui walked over, and Hu Liena offered him a small handful of shelled nuts. "Did your trip go smoothly?"

"Although there were some considerable setbacks along the way, the main business was completed without trouble." Ning Buhui sat down beside the three and accepted the handful of nuts from Hu Liena.

All three turned toward him, asking him without words to tell them what he had encountered.

Ning Buhui then gave them a rough account of the trip. First, he told them about the sudden beast tide, his teacher staying behind to cover their retreat, their narrow escape, and the bandits they had encountered afterward. He described how he had dealt with the bandits with quick thinking, and how Bibi Dong had arrived in the end. He also spoke of the Wind Thunder Winged Tiger's cleverness, how it had kept leaving traces to lure them into traps and make trouble for them, and how it had finally gone into a thunderstorm region. Fortunately, his teacher had reacted quickly. He then told them how they had lured the Wind Thunder Winged Tiger out and hunted it down.

As they listened, the three repeatedly exclaimed that the adventure was no less exciting than a tale from a storybook.

"How old was the Soul Ring you got this time?" Yan leaned closer, his eyes shining.

"Fifteen thousand years."

Yan nearly dropped the half-eaten apple in his hand. "Say that again?"

"Fifteen thousand years." Ning Buhui tossed the nuts into his mouth. "I got lucky and happened to run into a suitable one."

"How old was your First Soul Ring again?" Yan counted on his fingers. "Two thousand? The second was over seven thousand? And the third jumped straight to fifteen thousand?"

"Mm."

Yan opened his mouth, then closed it again. Thinking of his own pitiful first three Soul Rings and comparing them with Ning Buhui's, he finally squeezed out, "All right, you Little Monster. I admit defeat."

Xie Yue said nothing, but he set his Moon Blade aside and gave Ning Buhui a couple more looks. Hu Liena paused in her shelling, her eyes shifting as she said with a smile, "Little junior brother, with that Soul Ring Configuration, you'll probably shock the entire continent someday."

Ning Buhui smiled but didn't respond. The four chatted idly for a while longer. Most of it was Yan complaining that training was too dull, with Xie Yue occasionally adding a word or two, while Hu Liena considered what missions were currently available from Spirit Hall. Ning Buhui listened beside them, gradually getting the picture.

"Are you planning to go out on a mission?" he asked.

"Mm." Hu Liena ate the last nut in her hand. "Yan and I are both stuck at a bottleneck, and Xie Yue still hasn't found his fourth ring. Staying cooped up in the hall cultivating all day won't do. We want to get out for some fresh air and gain some combat experience while we're at it."

"What mission?"

"We haven't decided yet. We're planning to take a look at the mission hall," Hu Liena said.

"Can I come along?" Ning Buhui asked.

All three stopped what they were doing and looked at him.

"You're only seven." Yan looked him up and down, frowning. "No, wait, you're almost eight, but that's still too young. Do you think going on missions is a game? Some places are crawling with Soul Beasts. If something happens, it'll be hard enough for us to look after one another."

"I'm at level thirty-four," Ning Buhui said.

"That still won't do. You're too young." Yan turned serious for once.

Ning Buhui didn't rush to argue. He stood up, walked a few paces forward, and found an open spot. He took off his shirt, and with a thought, the Wind Thunder Wings silently spread from his back.

They were a pair of wings like an angel's. The left was pale white, with a blue-green light flowing over it, as though wind were moving through its feathers; the right was light black, with tiny violet arcs of electricity dancing across its feathers. The wings spread out on either side of his spine, their roots fused seamlessly with the flesh of his back, as though they had grown there from birth. Flecks of blue-green and violet light drifted down from the wingtips, casting the side of his face in flickering light and shadow. All three stared in shock.

"An External Soul Bone?" Xie Yue was the first to recover, abandoning the Moon Blade he had been polishing.

"Mm," Ning Buhui said. "It dropped by sheer luck after we killed the Wind Thunder Winged Tiger. These wings can fly and teleport short distances. Anywhere within thirty paces and in my line of sight, I can reach with a thought. The Soul Skill I got this time also increases my speed."

Then Ning Buhui emphasized his point: "I may be better at protecting myself than any of you."

As he spoke, he demonstrated another shift. His figure flickered, and he appeared more than ten paces away, leaving only a very faint afterimage behind. He landed steadily on both feet, without even losing his breath. Teleporting within thirty paces consumed little Soul Power and was fast.

Yan's mouth hung open for a long time.

"You don't need to worry about me enduring hardship, either." Ning Buhui put away his wings, dressed, and walked back. "I lost my parents when I was four and survived until I was six in a place like Bluestone Town, never knowing whether I'd get my next meal. In winter, I still had to fetch water from the well even when the chilblains on my feet had cracked open so deeply you could see bone. You grew up in Spirit Hall. No matter how harsh the conditions get, they won't compare to what I went through back then."

He spoke calmly, as though he were talking about someone else. But the three felt uncomfortable listening, their hearts aching for what he had been through. The playful smile vanished from Yan's face; Xie Yue studied him anew, as though truly meeting him for the first time; Hu Liena said nothing, merely watching him quietly, something hard to describe entering her gaze.

"We can let him join," Xie Yue said to Hu Liena and Yan as he sheathed his Moon Blade. "He's right. He's endured more hardship than we have, and his abilities really are useful."

"I didn't say he couldn't." Yan scratched his head. "I just thought that if we took a little squirt out with us and he got hurt, we'd have a hard time explaining it to Her Holiness the Pope."

"I'll talk to my teacher myself," Ning Buhui said.

Hu Liena thought it over and nodded. "All right. But we'll have to choose the mission carefully. It's your first one, so let's take something moderately difficult to help you get used to it. We shouldn't take a dangerous mission right off the bat."

"I can faintly sense that he's no weaker than us. We can take a medium-difficulty mission, and that will also give us a chance to get used to working together," Xie Yue suggested.

"No objection from me." Yan spread his hands. "Whatever you decide on is fine."

Ning Buhui didn't argue further. He understood that the three had already made a concession by letting him come along, so it was fine to let them decide on the difficulty. He hadn't planned to take a deadly assignment on his first outing anyway. His two real battles in Sunset Forest had already taught him that the outside world didn't care about levels, only the ability to survive.

The four stood and headed for the mission hall. The evening breeze scattered the clouds on the horizon, revealing a faint rosy glow. Ning Buhui followed behind the three, looking forward to the mission.