Aimless Ascension

The thunder and lightning scattered all over the mountains, most into the tall peaks. Although they were in a safer region, the clamour of thunder and berserk lighting certainly wasn\'t giving off the vibe. Then there was the heavy rain, which soaked the three of them completely.

"We should take shelter and wait for their return," Ai said as she crept towards Stormhold. Even with her blindness, she managed to walk straight towards the gate.

However, she barely managed to step into reaching the gate when her figure stalled. She couldn\'t move even an inch more.

"What is this?" she muttered, pushing with her arms, and applying a moderate amount of force.

The next moment, she was sent flying through the heavy rain to fall on her butt again. Her iron body was strong enough to shrug off any injury she might get from this. However, she couldn\'t help but groan.

"Ai," Fen called after her, flying to her rescue. "Are you alright?"

Fen helped her up, as Ai didn\'t act on her impulse after that. "I am alright," she said, grumbling.

"What was that?" Fen asked.

"I think the farm\'s defence construct," Ai answered, uncertain.

"Farm\'s defence construct?" Fen repeated, her tone weird as she found it weird even when she uttered her voice.

"Oh, sorry, I forgot about the access pass I have with me," Wang Li apologised quickly, remembering about the Storm Token Gale gave her. She brought it out of her possession and showed them.

"I\'m really growing old," Fen said in a sombre tone, shaking her tone. She helped Ai and joined after Wang Li entered the farm.

"I\'m really sorry," Wang Li apologised again. "With everything going on, I can\'t think straight."

"Don\'t be," Ai said with a sigh. "It\'s my fault, without my Fortune to show my way, I am unconsciously a little suicidal."

"What!?" Wang Li shot an incredulous glance, unsure of what she heard.

"The construct formation really wouldn\'t have acted that way in normal days," Ai explained. "The storm and other impacts influence the formation to act this way. On top of that, my imbalance in Fortune led it to happen."

"How did you know all this, and yet fall for this?" Fen asked. "Does your imbalance in fortune make you stupid as well, Little Witch?"

Ai simply laughed ruefully.

Wang Li opened the formation, infusing Qi into the token. It barely took a couple of seconds, and the Stormhold welcomed them.

[Welcome to my humble home, Miss Innkeeper. You brought friends, I hope you brought food, too]

Wang Li couldn\'t help but smile, hearing Gale\'s voice welcoming her in. But it didn\'t take long for her to find out that it was only a recorded voice. Her shoulder slumped as all her delight vanished from her face.

"This place is odd," Fen said again as she was welcomed into the inn.

"What do you see?" Ai asked for an obvious reason.

"Well, you already can feel the rain is fainter here," Fen said, drawing her eyes about the farmland. "I see a weird-looking mansion, a half-built house of glass, a small beautiful garden, and mostly Wheatfield. Oh, you noticed the change in energy density, right?"

Ai nodded. Most of the farm was familiar to Wang Li, but she noticed a few new things as well. The garden she helped to cultivate seemed to be taken care of, in addition to the greenhouse, where she was supposed to help after it was complete.

"It just isn\'t the farm," Ai said after a while as Wang Li led them to the mansion. "The energy flow is odd, it\'s rising at a berserk pace."

"What can be the cause of that?" Fen muttered. "The storm?"

"The storm is the catalyst, along with Sir Gale," Ai answered. "I feared something more ominous brewing."

As her voice ended, the surrounding darkened completely, and the earth started to shake.

***

"Do you know any safer place nearby?" Maya asked, carrying Gale in her arms.

"Stormhold," Xiaolin said immediately, and then her face fell, remembering it wasn\'t possible to go back to the farm under this condition. Wait, that might not be true.

Xiaolin lifted her head to look at the golden-haired woman, and her breathtaking appearance. She found herself drawn into her, even though she knew it wasn\'t the time for this.

"Stormhold is east of here," she answered finally, giving a general direction. She was still on top of Vale, maintaining a good distance from Maya and her master, even though she didn\'t want to. But her master\'s senior sister was adamant about that.

"Ah, that place," Maya nodded, understanding. "I flew over it. Come on, I can help every one of us reach there without any injury."

At that right moment, the sky darkened completely, as a chill ran down Xiaolin\'s spine.

"What\'s happening?" Xiaolin asked, clinging onto Vale tightly. The hound stopped as Xiaolin looked around. "Elder master?"

"I\'m right here," Maya\'s voice entered Xiaolin\'s ears as she found a ball of light appearing in between them.

Xiaolin calmed down, but she still wasn\'t relieved. "What just happened?"

"I\'m not sure?" Maya said with some uncertainty. "But it felt like spatial displacement."

"Spatial displacement?" Xiaolin looked at her inquiringly.

Maya looked at her for an extended moment and considered if she should answer the question or not.

"For starters, we might not be able to go to Stormhold anytime soon," Maya said. "Something\'s odd about this place, and it seemed to have swallowed a portion of the land into it. I\'m not sure how much, it could only be the four of us, or may as well be the entire town, or more. I\'m not sure."

"What kind of thing can do such a thing?" Xiaolin asked, her voice containing the fear she possessed.

"If it\'s a Spirit formation, I\'m pretty sure it had to be touching the Divine level," Maya answered. "So probably something of the ancient, but you don\'t worry, I\'ll keep you safe."

Xiaolin felt the intent behind Maya\'s words as her fear diminished a little. The golden-haired woman certainly has a presence like Vale and her Master.

Coming back to her master, her mood soured yet again.

"What happened?" Maya asked, finding the change in her expression.

"Master, is he going to be alright?"

"Hopefully, he\'ll be like how you met him after a couple of months of rehab." Maya didn\'t tell the entire truth, understanding how deep a feeling this little girl had for Gale. "Anyway, we have found a safe space soon. Although we are still in the mountain, it isn\'t the same place anymore. We have to reach a safe place urgently, who knows what this place stored for us."

Xiaolin nodded, understanding their dilemma. "Oh, there\'s another place," she said immediately, remembering. "It\'s in the mountains, but I don\'t know the location. Master knows it."

Although her master always said he would give a surprise to her after it completes, it was pretty easy for her to guess he was building another secret safe place in the mountains for reasons unknown. He left the practitioner he had captured there. She wondered if they were alright.

"Hmm, let\'s hope I can find the place in time," As Maya said that, Xiaolin could feel an invisible force working out of the golden-haired woman\'s body. The golden wings disappeared from her back, but she still remained floating in the darkness, as the force crept in her surroundings. It was something similar to Qi Sense, but somewhat different.

The lighting and thunder had calmed down somewhat after the Spatial Displacement took place. They could only feel the black cloud clamouring its way up in the sky if it was really the sky. There was no sun, moon, or other stars, just complete darkness that loomed over them, along with the swirling clouds.

They crept from here at a rather slower pace than they were going before.

"Elder Master, are you an angel?" Xiaolin asked after a while, finding the silence completely unbearable.

Maya laughed softly. "No, lass, I am still low level to be considered as an Angel."

Xiaolin\'s eyes gleamed a little after hearing her answer. "You mean, you can become one after you grow stronger?"

"Yes," Maya chuckled, "but that\'s true for all practitioners, they can become gods too if they reach the height."

Maya liked the petite girl, even though she barely met her. Her behaviour was one big reason for it, how she came into the middle of the storm for her master, even when she was injured in the process. However, she couldn\'t deny her irresistible charm and cuteness being another reason.

She wondered if her Junior Apprentice brother took her under his wing, finding her too cute.

"But you have wings and radiance," Xiaolin said, showing her obliviousness, which seemed to enrich her cuteness even more.

"Birds have wings too," Maya said, ready for such a question, "and as for radiance, I think you possess that too."

That led Maya to think about the girl more. Xiaolin seemed awfully weak. However, her spirit resonance was stronger than a normal Iron ranker. Moreover, as Maya scrutinised more into her, she found her source of spirit arts differed from normal humans. And much more like her, though still different.

"It might be a bit rude to ask," Maya addressed her, coming face to face with the cute girl, "but where did Gale find you?"