Chapter 348: “Phoenix Academy (1)”
Jun Wu Xie lowered her eyes to look at the tiny form and picked the little black cat up to cradle in her arms. She then sat up to get out of bed.
Fei Yan gasped in shock and hurriedly got up to stop her. “You are not well enough yet!”
Jun Wu Xie was nevertheless insistent and when her feet touched the ground, a spinning wave of dizziness engulfed her and her body swayed and rocked. Fei Yan reached out wanting to hold her but Jun Wu Xie steadied herself and walked towards the door.
The sight that met her outside was rather sad to see. In the empty courtyard, the buildings were dilapidated and overgrown weeds grew out between the stone slabs on the path. The building she walked out of looked like she was in an academy but it was in a state of disrepair and seemed more abandoned than to be occupied by the young girl behind her and her Master.
Jun Wu Xie had heard about academies and many youths enrolled into academies after their ring spirits awoke to study under a Master. They would then learn everything about ring spirits and things about spiritual powers.
Jun Wu Xie should have been enrolled into an academy at her age, but the series of turmoil that rocked the Qi Kingdom had delayed her opportunity for these studies.
Wafting through the air in the courtyard, Jun Wu Xie detected the scent of wine. She raised her head and followed the scent to its source.
In a corner of the courtyard by the side of a lotus pond, a man spotting a full beard sat on a stone bench, pulling long swigs at the wine jar in his hand. Half of his face was covered by his beard but the red flushed complexion could be seen, and his eyelids were lowered and drooped in drunkenness. What caught Jun Wu Xie’s attention was behind the man instead, a withering lotus flower in a pond was filled with duckweed.
“Hey! You shouldn’t move about so much! You’re not well yet!” Fei Yan rushed over and saw Jun Wu Xie standing by the lotus pond. Fei Yan’s gaze then turned to the bearded man at the side who was observing Jun Wu Xie in between swigs of the wine and said: “Master! He wouldn’t listen, he insisted on coming out even though he’s not recovered yet.”
The bearded man whom Fei Yan addressed as Master stared at Jun Wu Xie and waved his hand nonchalantly. “Let him have a look. This is his ring spirit after all, and it has turned into such a state. It is normal for him to be so worried.”
The was only a lone lotus in the pond, and that was a Snow Lotus. After the white robed man’s devastating assault, the Snow Lotus had lost a big part of its vitality, and was unable to even morph into its human form. It’s beautiful petals had shrunk and curled up tightly together, the edges of his petals had turned brown, and had lost almost all its glorious beauty from before.
Jun Wu Xie stared silently at the Snow Lotus and her face was expressionless. An hour later, she turned her head to look at the bearded man who had been observing her with interest all this while.
“Can it be saved?”
“Its essence and life force was greatly damaged, but cultivating it in this pond might still possibly save it. If it was forcefully moved, within two weeks, its essence would disappear and scatter into the winds.” The bearded man was direct and did not mince his words.
Jun Wu Xie frowned, and she lowered her head and looked at the little black cat in her arms, and remained silent.
“Instead of giving it all your concern, you should spare a thought for yourself. Your injuries are rather severe and I heard from Qiao Chu that you guys encountered people from the Middle Realm. You used an exceptional technique to attack the opponent did you not?” The bearded man hesitated a moment before saying: “Do not be alarmed, I am the Master of Hua Yao and the others.”
Jun Wu Xie looked at the bearded man and still did not say anything.
The bearded man looked helplessly at Jun Wu Xie’s tiny face with its cold expression before he said: “Alright, if you do not want to talk about it, you don’t need to. Deficiencies in the soul is hard to treat. You must be careful from now on.”
Jun Wu Xie turned her eyes back to the Snow Lotus and asked: “You can save it?” She was unable to sense Little Lotus’ and Drunk Lotus’ spirit essence from the Snow Lotus, but she somehow felt that the lone Snow Lotus in the pond seemed to possess a tiny bit more vitality than it had on that fateful day.