Chapter 671: Sylph
“Look,” Hui Yue said while pointing at the hut, “Can’t you see the hut?” he asked perplexed, and everyone looked in the direction he was pointing, yet all of them frowned before looking back at him in bewilderment.
“What are you talking about?” Deng Wu stepped forward and asked. “Are you ok? You can’t be running a fever as you are no longer mortal, but are you hallucinating? Maybe you ran into the wrong herb?”
Deng Wu was worried, and Hui Yue could see the worry on the faces of the others that looked at him, but looking back at the hut, it was as real as everything else. As he stared at it, he could not help but feel a force drawing him towards it.
“Well, in that case, I will just go and have a look. Stay here and harvest herbs. If it is truly not there as you say then I will come back, but if there is I will look around. There has to be a reason why I can see it, but no one else can.”
The others hesitated a moment before nodding their heads. It was clear that if they could see something that no one else could see, then they too would feel some sort of curiosity towards it. Although they found this weird, they also knew that Hui Yue would only mention it if he was truly seeing the hut in front of him.
Although they had been told to return to gathering herbs, all of them observed Hui Yue as he moved towards the horizon. To them, it looked like he was walking straight towards the edge of the herb field and they could not see what he was heading towards. There was simply nothing there.
The closer Hui Yue got to the hut, the more confused he became. This hut was old; it had seen much better days. The roof was filled with holes, and the walls were slanting inwards. The door was hanging on its hinges and seemed like it would fall off at any moment.
The entire hut had been built from wood, and looking at the wood, it seemed to be from the ancient trees that were present in this world.
These ancient trees lived up to their names. They could live for an eternity, and the planks made from their wood were sturdy as iron. But, even so, the hut was worn down.
“It must have been standing here for eons,” Hui Yue mumbled to himself as he reached out his hand and touched the door.
Pushing it open, it creaked ominously, and light shone into the small hut. Taking a deep breath, Hui Yue steeled himself for whatever might be hiding within, and then he took a step inside.
For those outside, who had been observing Hui Yue from beginning to end, they suddenly stopped in their tracks. Their jaws dropped, and their mouths opened wide.
One moment Hui Yue was right in front of them, and the next he was gone! He had vanished into thin air, and they could not see where he had gone.
“I guess there really was something there,” Deng Wu said with a sigh as he shook his head. Although he was slightly worried about what might have happened to Hui Yue, he was also relieved to know that Hui Yue had not been hallucinating.
Everyone kept staring at the place he had vanished for a short while, but after hearing no sounds of fighting and seeing no energy ripples, all the others slowly returned to picking herbs like they had been told to.
Hui Yue, who entered the hut, looked around the dimly-lit room.
The entire hut had just one room, and within this room was a bed, and a fireplace built into the wall. Although the hut was old and looked ancient, Hui Yue forgot all about it when his eyes landed on the bed.
Laying on the bed was the most beautiful creature he had ever seen. The moment he saw her, he knew that she was neither human nor beast, but a race completely different.
Inching closer, Hui Yue looked at her closely. Her skin was pale green, and her body was clad in a green dress. On her back were translucent green wings.
Looking at the woman he noticed that she seemed to be sleeping, but she was not breathing like one would expect. Her body was just constantly drawing in Ancestral Worldpower from the surrounding area, but she did not seem to need to breathe to keep living.
“Is she the guardian spirit of this herb field?” Hui Yue could not help but wonder when he saw the hut so close to the herb field. The green spirit that was laying on the bed was indeed strong enough to be able to protect the herb field.
Although she was just sleeping, Hui Yue could feel a how powerful she was, but what confused him was that if she was so strong why had she not noticed that they had intruded into her sanctuary?
Hui Yue did not know, nor could he guess, but he sat down on the ground next to her and looked at her, wondering if he should try waking her up or if he should just let her sleep.
He could feel the energy all around him being drawn into her body, so it was impossible for him to cultivate here and she was absorbing everything at an astonishing speed.
‘We will not gain anything from staying here,’ Lan Feng said to Hui Yue with a sigh. ‘I don’t know what kind of creature she is, but she is a real monster. We don’t want to wake her up in case she turns against us, and if she finds out that we have stolen a third of her herbs, which I assume she is guarding, then we might be in for real trouble.’
‘I suggest we leave this place as soon as possible. Take everyone and get away as far as we can as soon as we can. We already looked around here, and there were no signs of the Alchemist God. We can travel the world for a bit longer, but delaying our departure might just bring with it much unwanted trouble.’
Hui Yue, who was curious about this creature in front of him, could only sigh as he heard what Lan Feng said.
Lan Feng was very rational. He was curious, but he was able to ignore his curiosity and see it from the most reasonable side. Since this was the case, Hui Yue knew that this advice was the best course of action. He sighed as he stood up sending one last glance at the woman after turning to leave.
Just as he was about to leave the hut, a rustle could be heard behind him, and a beautiful voice sounded out, “Leaving already?”
Hui Yue tensed up. He had not even sensed the movements of this woman, yet when he looked behind him, he saw that the green-clad woman had sat up on the bed, her green eyes were looking at him with curiosity.
“It has been a long time since a human last came into my hut, you must be quite special.”
Her head tilted to the side as she looked at him with curiosity, but although she was curious and Hui Yue was on high alert, it was impossible for him to sense any hostility. As a matter of fact, he could sense nothing at all from her. It was as if he was looking at a great ball of Ancestral Worldpower.
“Don’t worry, I am not interested in killing you or your friends,” she said while narrowing her eyes. “I don’t even know if I would be able to kill you,” she said honestly as she started stretching her body.
“I should actually thank you,” she continued. “I was not able to wake up on my own; I needed someone to come into my home before it was possible for me to wake. The sleep they put me in this time truly was malicious.”
“So sorry, but could I ask you what you are?” Hui Yue asked curiously. He was of the impression that only fierce ancient beasts were able to survive in these worlds, yet here was another lifeform that seemed to thrive just fine in this Archaic World.
“That is your first question?” the woman asked stunned as she heard the question, but her clear pearl-like laughter soon resounded through the cabin as she nodded her head.
“I guess that is actually an important question. Sure, I will tell you what I am. It is no secret after all.”
“I am a sylph. We sylphs are a rather common species within the Archaic World, especially the deeper into the Archaic World you go, the more of us you will see.”
“It is hard for us to live in the outer perimeter, and even in the middle area it can be hard to stay alive, but the inner region is filled with sylphs.”
“A sylph is a creature that is created fully from Ancestral Worldpower.”
“Unlike humans who reproduce, we are born of Ancestral Worldpower itself. If there is an area where a lot of Ancestral Worldpower gathers in a pool, eventually this pool of Ancestral Worldpower will gain sentience. It will be an individual being, and the Ancestral Worldpower will no longer belong to the heavens and earth but to the sylph that has just been born.”
“I was born in this world, in a valley not far from here,” the sylph explained. “Many many years ago I was born, and I started wandering the world until one day I found a human cultivator. Just like me, he was searching for something, but neither of us knew how to find what we were searching for.”
“He stayed with me for a long time and even build this hut for me at his favorite place in this world, and I was by his side for almost a hundred years before he had to leave.”
“By then I had found what it was I was looking for, but he had still not found his.” the sylph explained while staring off into the distance and her eyes seemed to be peering into the past from long ago. “He was looking to find a sentient pill, while my goal was to become living. He promised me that one day he would return and give me a new body so that I could leave this world, and experience the vast universe he would always talk about.”
“You cannot leave the world?” Hui Yue asked confused, and the sylph sent a sad smile to Hui Yue. “I cannot,” she said depressed.
“I am made from Ancestral Worldpower. This Ancestral Worldpower, although now it is mine, is created by the formation of this world; therefore, it belongs to this world. I am bound to this world unless I get another body. My soul is free, but my body is chained to this world.”
Hui Yue was quiet for a long time, “The man you were with, he was the Alchemist God right?” Hui Yue asked curiously, but he was confused. The Alchemist God already knew how to refine a body, so why had he not done so already?
“He was indeed the Alchemist God,” the sylph agreed. “But he was badly injured. He was seeking the sentient pill to get healed, and so although he loved this place, it was impossible for him to concoct pills. An alchemist who can not concoct pills… It was easy to imagine his pain.”
The woman’s face was filled with pain as she thought about what he had gone through, and Hui Yue, who had thought he was here for the sake of improving his path of alchemy, finally understood that perhaps there was something else hidden behind his sudden disappearance.