Next day.

Lin opened his eyes after finishing this session of soul-meditation and the first thing his eyes were laid-upon is Mia's mesmerizing body! the sight of her heavenly-figure while she lazed-around on her side on-top of this new bed—which he had to squeeze another drop of his precious blood to retrieve it from Xiangming’s space-ring after this woman destroyed the one which he retrieved from Weisheng’s space-ring plus the supply-box along-with the only mattress which his twin-sister prepared for him—and wearing nothing at all on her body beneath the only fabric which is covering it. The saintess has a thin layer of silk covering her top-class body from below the armpits and reaching her knees but that isn’t a piece of cloth or some kind of revealing dress. It’s just one of the bed-sheets which the young-woman left on her body after taking a bath yesterday.

To understand what happened then you need to rewind back after Mia taught Lin her language and the boy started to become really preoccupied-with the tools of alchemy! the young-woman became bored and wanted to rest. Since it’s her fault she didn’t insist on comfort and was about to just spread herself on the floor after gathering some of the clothes which Xiangming collected. Lin mentioned that there’s another bed in that man’s space-ring and she took advantage of his gentlemanliness! that’s how the bed beneath her came to the picture. What about her being naked then? that happened a few hours afterwards when Sun arrived covered in blood and Lin had to personally clean his buddy which confirmed that they’re going to be delayed until next morning. Since Mia insisted that the boy has to bring her some of the clean water and the bathtub which he has on his space-ring because she need another shower but mostly she was just jealous of Sun. Lin was dragged away from his attempts to do alchemy by many of these requests! like "come scrub my back" or "find me any soap" or "is there any perfume" then after the soak is over she started asking for "comb my hair for me" or "I can’t sleep on my own" and "tell me a bed-time story" Lin had to do his best to separate Sun and Mia because the two of them are like fire and fuel. While trying to do alchemy which is crazy to believe.

-----

Back to the scene of the next morning when the boy found himself staring directly at the saintess. The captivating sight of her holding a comb in her left-hand and slowly combing her silky and long hair spoke volumes of how bored she was. Each of her arm movements threatened to push-down the only piece of fabric which prevented the eyes of Lin and Sun from seeing her bare breasts completely! whenever this thin layer of silk is about to let-go of her creamy-skin the young-woman’s right-hand would stop it just in time then pull it back up. But not too high to cover them completely. Which made this sight repeat itself three times before the great-sage could tear his pair of virgin black eyes from her body. The boy jumped down from the back of his tiger and went to do his morning-exercise before they continue with their journey. Which is finally going to resumed after almost a week of delay thanks to Mia... and Sun. For security measures Lin had to meditate on Sun's back to make sure that the tiger who just returned from a bloodbath wouldn’t get into a fight with Mia. But it seems like Lin’s worries were unnecessary because Sun is already keep his distance from Mia and appears to be on-guard against her while carrying him.

“Lin you’re done meditating at last... come then, big-sister is going to take another bath... join me.”

Mia let go of the comb and wrapped her body with the thin bed-sheet then gestured for Lin with expectant eyes while walking towards the bathtub. Yesterday the saintess tried to warm-up to the boy’s tamed-beast and show her good-well in many different ways but nothing worked! finally she had nothing else to tempt the cute-brat other than by offering it one of the items in her ring. These things still remain inside her space-ring and that’s why the young-woman tried to ignore the beast which stubbornly refuses to change-form since yesterday. Even if it burns more energy it still denied her the pleasure of seeing it in the cute-form. Mia thinks that she more than made-up for angering this beast by teaching its owner common-language of this spirit-world and answering all the questions—which she knows their answer—and telling the boy all she knows about alchemy and pill-concocting while Sun was away. But the ungrateful Sunny is still mad at her which is unfair! however now that she remembers Lin really absorbed all that information while learning more from whatever he found in Weisheng's ring and helping her whenever she asked him to do anything for her and taking care of Sun. Just the boy’s capability to multitask while making it look extremely easy is another shocker to the saintess. Finally Mia just surrendered and stopped mentally comparing herself to Lin anymore—because it’s really exhausting to do so—when she saw him not only memorize but also fully understand every single piece of information within the few books he found. What’s crazy about this whole package of craziness is that he would do so after a single glance! no-matter how complex or tricky that information was... Lin would just look once then nod then boom flip the page until the book is done and just like that everything is figured-out for him no problem at all. Soul-cultivators has insane capacity and capabilities when it comes to memory and Mia can understand that. But no matter how wide, large, or spacious their span for comprehension-abilities none of them could do so at the age of six years old! never has the saintess heard before of anyone capable of understanding the basics of alchemy like Lin did on his own. Especially if you take the short duration it took him to do so while being in the middle of hers and Sun’s distractions. Which makes the word multitasking appear in the equation with a glaring and glittering color. The word genius became blain and mediocre and pretty-unsuitable to describe his brilliance anymore especially with how well-rounded Lin is if you take a close look and zoom-in at his potential. Except for weapon-mastery Mia can't find any kind of weaknesses in the foundations of this boy! not to mention that his current advantages in terms of spirit and soul plus the dormant-potential which he already has for body-refinement can more than compensate for the miniscule lack of experience Lin has when it comes to using any weapon. Mia remembered the way she sighed inwardly in relief when she saw Lin unable to access the few spirit-jades which he have in his space-ring because each of these spirit-jades is likely to be filled with a lot of information be that the accumulated knowledge of that man on alchemy or the comprehensions of that assassin’s dao or his essence of cultivation or any other information. Little did she know that Jin Bao already stopped Lin from taking a look because the information inside them wouldn’t be of use to him right now and would only distract him from concentrating on what’s more important... Lin just followed his instructions without questions after knowing that the memory inside each of these spirit-jades surely are going to be worth a hundred of thick books which he read earlier... at least! and Lin has a dozen or so of these spirit-jades which made him grin-widely. Certainly if he had learnt all that information in one go like he did with the books then Mia would've smashed her head against some wall in frustration while screaming the word "unfair" at the top of her lungs.

Lin only nodded then stored the spirit-jades away when Mia told him that spirit-energy needs to be injected in these spirit-jade for the information inside them to be activated and didn’t correct her. Then the boy took-out the other bed from Xiangming's space-ring for the young-woman to rest and filled the bathtub with clean water for her to use if she wants. Before retrieving the alchemy set from his space-ring and beginning to try and concoct the basic-vigor pill which is the lowest pill on the ranking of spirit-pills according to the knowledge he just learned from the alchemy books until Sun returned reeking of the stench of blood.

The basic-vigor pill was described in the books and mentioned clearly that it should be taken as the test for all those who seek becoming an apprentice-alchemist one day. Lin failed in all and every try because the fire he used was not the so-called "spiritual-fire" which most high-ranked alchemists hope to find someday to create amazingly-rare and valuable pills and potions! or the "elemental-fire" which most high-ranked alchemists use on average. The boy was using normal firewood and since the profession of alchemy needs talent in fire control plus how Lin didn't have the proper equipment to control the heat of the fire he created to roast the three-legged bronze cauldron. The end-result which is to be expected was the medicinal-ingredients getting burnt to a crisp without excreting their essence beforehand or their essence getting mixed-up incorrectly and the entire formula would end-up being completely wrong. Which leads to the pill being formed but the substance within its husk has unknown effect which could be poisonous.

Mia was pleased somewhat when she saw Lin ignorantly waste away the medicinal-ingredients in all these failed-attempts but the lack of annoyance on Lin's expression after failing again and again made her admire his ability to focus and tenacious-mind. The young-woman knew that if she had tried to do the same thing at the same age then Mia would've kicked the cauldron flying then started slashing at it with her sword then leave it full of holes while huffing in frustration if she failed all these times. Yet Lin was actually happy every time he failed and seemed like he’s playing the most interesting game ever.

“Big-sister Mia can go ahead... I won't join you because I need to continue my training.”

“Yikes!... then tell Sunny to change form and come join me.”

“I'm still not sure if it’s safe for Sun to be near you yet, he’s still in a bad mood since yesterday.”

“Snort...”

“Snort...”

Lin said while doing his stretching and breathing technique which come before the main exercise and Mia's face darkened when she heard the blunt rejection after she pushed away her pride and invited a male to join her bath for the first time! turning her head to look at the boy and tried to swallow her frustrations and take the second-best option instead. But Lin’s answer—which the boy was feeling like it would be safe to say whatever he wanted about the red-tiger out loud in that foreign-language since it wouldn’t understand anything he say anyway—made both the saintess and Sun snort in the same time before Sun showed Mia his teeth provocatively when his buddy rejected her request. But the red-tiger didn’t notice that its secret is no more since the boy noticed that it understood what he said perfectly.

“Humph... suit yourselves then. A... as a senior... I won't waste time arguing with my juniors.”

Mia bit her lower lip then turned towards the tub and removed the layer of silk which she used to cover her body and sat inside the clear water of the bathtub to relax. But the blush on the young-woman’s cheeks said everything about how shy she’s feeling right now! because never before has any male laid eyes on the bare body of the saintess other than her lord-father and that stopped happening when she was five years old. Lin and Sun are the first human and beast males to see her body and Mia was having a mental-struggle with herself right now because some part of her was feeling shy and the other part was blaming herself for openly and shamelessly undressing before the brat who just rejected her flatly and the naughty ball of fur which is scared of herself. The young-woman was aware that the red-tiger wary against her and afraid that she might harm it with her new powers in the sword-intent. Sun kept his distance from Mia and did his best to separate his buddy from her company too. But the red-tiger didn’t know anything because itself and the boy never left the range of the young-woman’s sword-intent in the first place! since all this time Mia was about thirty-percent sure that she can cut and kill or grievously-wound Lin and Sun if she wanted. For cultivators... wounding or killing an opponent with the high-possibility of thirty-percent is more than enough reason for them to attempt and gamble. Since many before times before others has gone for broke in exchange for a much lower chances of winning and lived to tell the tales of their correct choices and bravery.

'Humph!... dummies, looks like you're not that bright and capable in everything after all, or is it that he's just using my recent breakthrough and Sun as a reason to dump me? snort... it could be, but oh-well... I'm not leaving you anyway. I'm taking you back with me to the sect, you're just too dazzling of a talent, and I can’t let you fall in the hands of others, especially since you have the affinity for the light-attribute. If somehow by any weird chance you ended-up joining Katherine and her church of light, then you and I might become enemies someday, despite the previous-me fearing no one from the younger-generation, that was all before I met you... Lin. Now the bar has been set even higher.' Mia gave Lin a side glance while he trained his pumma-manual and thought that while trying to figure-out a way to tempt the boy since the saintess doesn’t want and hates having to "drag" him with her to the seamless-sword sect.

Lin however was feeling distracted and out of sorts during that certain training-exercise! because his eyes—the three of them—kept stealing glances at Mia's angelic-body which is left mostly exposed and unguarded—like never before—Lin was surprised to find his heart beating up faster and heat welling up from his navel-area and into his head. The boy felt a strange and unexplainable-attraction towards this gorgeous young-woman just like how Mia constantly longed-for the peacefulness of Lin's hugs and deep-eagerness and need for closeness. Now that she's naked before him the boy discovered that signs of sexual desire are beginning to show and reveal themselves in his emotions. Bit by bit Lin’s focus was turned from his current exercise to watching Mia while she sprinkled water on her body lazily but playfully in every splash or touch.

“If you're that interested... why not come join me? it’s bad-manners to turn-down the invitation twice you know, if I was meaning to harm you or Sunny then I would've done it long ago, you should know that as long as it’s within four-hundred meters around me then I'm sure that I can instantaneously cut practically... anything.”

Mia leaned her body on the edge of the tub and scrunched her nose cutely after speaking. The enchanting-sight of her perfect-chest being pressed against the tub and her butt which was left half-exposed and floating above the surface of the water while her small feet kept slowly pushing and splashing the clear-water around playfully made the boy gulp on a dry throat reflexively once his eyes met these green-pupils.

“Growl!...”

Sun growled at Mia and nudged Lin with his snout to awake him from her illusions! but the red-tiger was apparently displeased being in this situation because it gave the boy a final gaze with its penetrative yellow eyes before heading south on its own ahead of his best friend. The message Sun silently gave with his eyes was loud and clear in Lin’s head : "You're falling for a honeypot-trap buddy... you better be-careful now because I'm going on ahead of you, this bitch is driving me insane and you know it, I just don’t understand why do you insist on keeping her? she’s a pain in the ass! my ass.”

Smiling while he looked at Sun who ran south until he disappeared from the boy’s range of soul-sense. Lin turned to look at Mia's smile and pair of squinted green eyes then said : “You're distracting me on purpose... but we both know that you know that already, so don’t bother answer that question... but I hope that you would answer this question, why do you keep insisting on being so... clingy to me? I feel like you want to be touchy-feely with me all the time if possible.” Lin asked while trying to finish the remaining exercises of his training-menu while avoiding looking at Mia's exposed bits and pieces of creamy-skin.

“Because... I liked the way it felt to hug you. It... reminded me, of when my mom hugged me, honestly I don't know how to explain it, but I know that I want to hug you very, very much right now.”

The straightforwardness in the answer made the previous tug and feelings of attraction towards Mia intensify by two-folds in the boy’s chest and the majority of wariness towards this young-woman felt needless anymore! especially after he heard her previously drop the piece of information about how far her control of the violet-aura and sword-intent can extend and stretch then reach in her surroundings.

Shaking his head in silence Lin didn’t reply and just completed his exercising-routines first before looking towards Mia who watched every one of his movements with the same clueless-gaze! the young-woman seemed skeptical and doubtful of the benefits this training can give the boy yet she choose to remain silent and didn't ask. Actually for someone like Mia who’s brought-up and taught that the secrets of each cultivator is a taboo subject which she should never bring-up unless there's an absolute need to ask and a reason which is acceptable-enough for said-person to expose a secret of his. It means that the chances of the saintess actually asking Lin such a question is practically zero.

Once Lin completed his morning training and was about to wrap-up things for the day and go join this provocative-seductress in the bathtub. The same phenomenon of experiencing the sudden-pain—which fell on his chest and never stopped stabbing —that happened twice before whenever his body started oozing that infinitely-smelly and disgusting black-substance from every pore across his skin. Well it happened again for the third-time and the boy grunted while pressing both of his palms on the area of his chest and tried to endure the pain which is a lot intense if compared to the two previous times. Lin's body started ejecting a thick halo of steam despite it being summer which exposed how hot the temperature is around his body! then his clothes got dampened and soaked with dripping-sweat which is mixed-up in a substance of the dark-brown in color. But the total amount of that substance is a lot fewer than the previous two times and fainter in color which is a lot less smelly and countless times non-threatening when it comes to the thickness of the repulsive-stench if compared with before.

Mia was watching what happened to Lin and reminded herself again of what she decided on doing in the future with a single thought : 'Mia... you should never compare yourself to this freak, it will only make you feel bad about yourself, he has his style and you have yours, he has his advantages and you have yours.'

Washing-impurities is the name of this phenomenon and what Lin just did after clutching his chest! It’s something which Mia had to soak in many baths filled with the concoctions of medicinal-ingredient and endure the endless etch which accompanied it and attacked her body all-over.

“Congratulations Lin... you just got rid and washed some of the hidden-impurities which were accumulated inside your body. Come... let me help you in cleaning all the stink off.”

Mia awoke from her daydreams of the harsh-memories from her younger-self when she was at the age of seven and doing her best in her sword-training to impress and cheer-up her lord-father! the young-woman opened her arms widely for the boy to come and gave him the honor of seeing her naked upper-body from the bellybutton and all the way up.

Lin was diving in the feeling of strength coursing around his body after the pain faded from his chest because right now the boy felt like he can do whatever extreme-action which would require the strength of both hands previously with just a single hand! but hearing Mia's invite and his earlier intention of actually going ahead and joining her made Lin delay finding an answer to that and instead go seek an answer for why he's feeling such attraction towards this airheaded and happy-go-lucky green eyed swordswoman.

“Big-sister Mia... do you know why does it feel like I'm stronger every time I wash-off some of these hidden impurities?”

Lin asked while he removed his clothes and tried to hold his breath because the smell of whatever his skin forced out of his system was less-rotten than before but it was still disgusting.

"Huh!... did you just say every time?”

“Yes I di-”

“H... how many times did your impurities get washed-out?”

Mia stood-up and interrupted Lin with her question. The young-woman asked the boy who felt puzzlement and slight discomfort smearing her tune especially when she held her slim waist! but he felt nothing but embarrassment because now the saintess’s body from the knees upwards is available for Lin to admire.

"This is the third time it happened in a bit over a year... washing hidden-impurities huh! actually it isn’t a bad name.”

Lin answered while rubbing his nose and trying to not stare at Mia's exquisite body too much! the boy began taking off his clothes while he walked closer towards the naked saintess. But his answer made the knees of the young-woman bend forward slightly while feelings of complete defeat pushed at her shoulders with the weight of mountains.

“Big-sister...” Lin waved his arm on Mia’s line of sight to wake her up from her daydreams then asked when he got her attention again : “You still didn’t answer my question.”

“Oh!... hidden-impurities are like... a burden or extra weight, like some kind of binding or restriction which chains our bodies, once you remove one of these restrictions you receive better and smoother control of yourself, in truth we don’t become stronger but take a closer step towards gaining our true strength back.”

“That’s kind of cool... maybe I can carry big-sister with a single finger if it happened again.” The boy smirked and said while winking at the young-woman.

“Little monster... quickly and come join me already, I swear my lord-father could probably get a heart-attack if he heard what I know about you all at once! no wonder you don't smell as bad as me after the first time I washed my hidden-impurities. Or is it because I did it two years older? but the environment in my sect doesn’t compare to the environment here... oh whatever.”

Mia sat back down in the water slowly then hurried Lin to enter the tub with her and used her hands to personally scoop-up the clean water of the tub then used her fingers to rub and remove the greasy-substance off of his body while she spoke! the young-woman completely ignored the nauseating-smell of the dark-brown substance and the fact that the water in the bathtub became contaminated with this disgusting-substance. The boy had to remove the polluted-water and exchange it with clean water from his space-ring three times and retrieved some aromatic solutions then emptied them in the clear water before the smell was completely gone from his and the young-woman's bodies. Then he finally relaxed in the embrace of the saintess and didn't move much afterwards. Lin was trying to figure-out why an attachment to this woman got birthed inside him after a single night which he spent sleeping in her embrace? why there's sexual desires welling-up within him right now? why his heart feels like it’s going to jump-out from its place in his chest? Mia was unusually silent and resting her head on Lin with her eyes closed and trying to soak-in as much as possible of this feeling of being at peace. When she opened her eyelids to expose the green pupils the young-woman was met with the dark and wide black eyes of the boy staring directly and intensively at her beautiful face which made her rosy cheeks blush and become tainted slightly red.

“Do you like what you're seeing?”

Mia evaded eye-contact then asked softly while hugging Lin's body tighter and the young-woman didn't seem to mind at all that the boy’s face was stuffed in her chest and that his undeveloped-groin is stuck perfectly against her privates! she’s wide-open down there for this male organ to penetrate.

“En... you're a really, really great beauty. Calling you a "kingdom-toppling" beauty is an... insufficient-title, which doesn't do your beauty any justice.”

Lin answered honestly while he rested his cheek on the bouncy and extremely soft left-breast. The boy seemed drunk on this feeling of listening to the young-woman’s heart-beats then wrapped his arms around her waist and closed his eyes to take a short rest before they resume their journey south. The saintess was feeling very surprised in the beginning then extremely excited and happy when the boy gave this unexpected compliment. Mia kept giggling to herself while running her hands downwards on his small back and massaging the skin and small muscles gently until finally her fingers ended-up on his small and cute buttocks which she didn’t hesitate to squeeze in her delight! when Lin looked-up feeling surprised after Mia's intimate-gesture he found her pair of tempting lips closing-up on his left-cheek before planting one juicy-kiss after another on the rest of his face but the saintess was mindful enough to avoid the boy’s lips.

“You're... a sweet-tongue... and a cutie, I bet you'll be a lady-killer when you grow-up.”

Mia smiled broadly when she saw Lin abashedly try to hide his embarrassment by burying his face in her chest then she stopped teasing him but her grip on his buttocks didn't lessen at all! the young-woman seemed distracted and at loss when she said the last part of her phrase. During her loss the saintess was unaware that she started pushing her hip upwards against the boy’s which she pushed down with her hands and that caused her inexperienced-vagina to rub against his small and inexperienced-penis. The motion teased her clitoris which started feeling good for her and made Mia in the mood for more. Of course Lin noticed what Mia was doing and was panicking inside because his lack of experience when it comes to these things. Since all his knowledge on matters such as these were completely theoretical the boy’s mind froze-up and was like a koala hanging onto the young-woman’s waist.

“Big-sister Mia... I think we should get goi-... mmm!”

When Lin felt Mia's breathing get hurried like his and her hip thrusts become rougher against his sleeping and reaction-less penis yet that didn’t seem to stop him from thrusting against her! the boy tried to remind the young-woman of their journey which was his way of calling a stop to this unexpected turn of events. But once his face left her chest and looked up he was met with the sight of the saintess’s neck leaning forward and Mia's face quickly narrowing the distance. In a blink that was the last thing Lin saw before she stole his lips and sucked greedily on the upper lip. Like the scene of the universe imploding under the disintegration-shockwaves... the boy was experiencing something similar in his brain when his first kiss with this young-woman happened. Lin’s chest was overflowing with all kinds of feelings and most of them felt like they’re coming from Mia through her kisses. Both of them kissed and kissed and the boy lost track of time for fifteen-minutes. With a "bwah!..." sound the saintess finally let go of the boy’s lips and a long string of saliva connected the two pairs of lips while they traded looks after that extremely intimate event which just happened. Mia hurried to remove that obscene and lewd-looking string of saliva with a deep blush on her face but her fluttering-heart was urging her to continue kissing Lin some more.

“Shouldn't that be done with your husband only?”

Lin rested his head on Mia's chest and reminded her that she crossed some line by what she did. But the boy knew that he has no right to judge because he was never passive when the young-woman kissed him since it somehow ended-up with him actively kissing her back with passion after the initial shock wore off of his mind! especially when his tongue started to invade into her mouth.

“Tehehe... doesn't that mean you just be my husband?”

“Marriage!...”

“Yes... am I not enough as a wife-material?”

“That’s not my point!... Mia, you only know very little about me.”

“Like what?”

“You just took my first kiss, y-”

“That was my first kiss too... you know.”

“Aren't you taking this matter a bit too lightly?”

“So?”

“Won't it be better to find someone around your age to marry? suc-”

“Nonsense... I just gave you a precious treasure alright! so you better be grateful and take me as your wife in the future.”

“I'm only 6 years old if you hadn't forgotten.”

“So what? big-sister isn't greedy.”

“Aren't you afraid of others ridiculing you?”

“Why?”

“Deciding to marry a little boy who’s less than half your age?”

“Maybe you’re right.” Mia said which made Lin sigh inwardly but she quickly resumed her answer : “That’s why I'll take the title of being your first wife! don't worry because I won't ask for the wedding to be right now or anything else from you. As long as you promise to come often to spend time with me every now and then.”

Mia moved her chest left and right to shake Lin and spoke carelessly of a very serious topic.

“How unfair it is for you... to wait for me until I grow-up...”

Lin tried to persuade Mia to think and stop being a pedophile and look for someone her age to marry! but somehow the boy felt feelings of rejection cluster inside his chest whenever he said anything to lessen the young-woman’s enthusiasm or mentioned anything about the opinions of other people. Finally Lin spoke his mind about how cruel it felt for him since the saintess will have to wait for him then the boy stopped saying anymore when Mia leaned her neck forward and neared her lips again slowly this time towards his lips. Lin found himself proactively stretching his neck upwards to meet with Mia’s lips at the halfway-point and the boy locked-lips again with the young-woman for the second time. As if an eraser just removed the previous dialogue and all of its hesitations! this kiss was like the silent-agreement from both sides to unite emotionally right now and if possible they’ll unite again physically but in the near future.

As if some beast which was laying-dormant within him was finally awakened with enough rudeness to the degree of making it fiercely banging on the doors of its confinement! Lin felt his heart-beating louder while he kissed Mia and sucked back on her lips and started to use his tongue again then squeezed  his fingers on her soft breasts and rubbed her erect-nipples. Finally the saintess was the only one to ascend higher than the seventh sky of ecstasy and the young-woman was moaning softly all the way until she shivered under Lin's smaller body while her legs locked around his waist then entangled upon themselves until her toes reached their full extension then they folded. With teary eyes and after a tight hug Mia looked up at the face of the first person to kiss her lips and the only person whom she wished to introduce to her lord-father very much right now as her husband-to-be. Lin was gasping for breath like her not because kissing Mia is exhausting! but because he felt something inside him trying its best to come out when he kissed her and the boy just managed to prevent it from happening... somehow. he doesn't know tiniest of bits about what that "thing" was or if it was even real in the first place. Lin can only confirm how it tired him out to this degree in such a short time plus his feelings which felt real. The boy felt like the danger from that "thing" inside wasn't going to harm him at all actually but it was going after Mia  for some reason and he had to stop that from happening since he didn’t know how it will affect the young-woman if he let it happen. That's why Lin did his best to stop whatever that was with all of his will and thankfully that feeling went away once Mia climaxed.

“We better move Mia... from here on I'll carry you instead of Sun, since he's still in a bad mood after you teased him yesterday, then I know for sure that he wouldn't agree to carry you along, even if you had an agreement... he still wouldn’t agree.”

Lin caressed Mia's rosy cheeks with the tips of his fingers gently when he spoke and smiled while he watched her close her eyes and enjoy his loving-touch on her skin.

Mia nodded to agree then said : "Sun's foul mood is not entirely caused by me...”

“Oh really!... what else is causing it then?” But Lin smirked and attacked her neck with his lips after asking.

“Hee!... his recent evolution is to be blamed, the beasts in the demonic-beast realm are the most irritable ones.” the young-woman tried to shrink her neck to cover that sensitive-area but the boy quickly relinquished the town and aimed for a bigger city by clasping her earlobe with his lips and tickling it with his tongue.

“Such a thing exist... how irritable exactly? and why?”

“Very... irritable, because they're discovering their elemental-nature and talents.” The saintess felt like she’s melting under these gentle touches and her arms tightened around the boy and one of her hands was reflexively pushing Lin’s head deeper in her body.

“I... feel lucky, my first wife is... so knowledgeable and... sensitively-smart.” Lin’s hands twisted the erect-nipples and his lips held hers for a quick kiss before speaking between kisses.

“U... uncle Chentian once said to me that Xiaoxi is going to become a lot more forgetful than normal in that phase, which is why I shouldn’t be worried for Sun if I were you, just feed him well and he will... be alright.” Mia cupped the boy’s face and rained thick kisses on his face before stuffing it back in her chest in an attempt to catch her breath.

“You’re telling me to start getting used to having a grumpy-companion after telling me that you had to handle a forgetful-companion once.” The boy smiled while accepting the final kiss from the young-woman then spoke while feeling that this situation is actually funny.

“Exactly... because like how us spirit-cultivators in the spirit-apprentice realm learn to use and store spirit-energy within our bodies from scratch! demonic-beasts delve deeper into their bloodline and excavate all of its potential to unlock their inherited-memories.” The saintess gave another kiss as a reward to the boy before explaining what she knows.

“Sounds complicated for someone simple like Sun!... don’t you think?” Lin looked up towards Mia and asked after remembering how his buddy like simplicity.

“No need to worry... beasts have their way of getting stronger, I'll figure-out something to solve things if there’s a complication, I think correcting things between me and Sun will be somehow difficult! but I have lots of useful things in my space-ring which I know for a fact that he wouldn’t be able to resist.” Mia didn’t seem worried about this point which made Lin feel assured but he asked Jin Bao : “Old Jin. Now that you heard her... what do you think?” Jin Bao replied : “This girl wants to take you back with her... but she didn’t lie once about anything she said.” Then after taking a short moment of silence he said : “Now cover your asses and get moving already.”

“Come on then let’s get out of here.” Lin remembered that he’s been watched by this geezer all this time and felt a cold shiver on his back.

“I'll fly in the land of forgetfulness... only those in the same realm as my lord-father can do that! let's go. Hehehe...”

Mia stood-up straight and let droplets of water scatter everywhere and drip from different parts of her body then tugged at Lin's arm to carry her towards the sky while she spoke like a little girl who’s excited about her first time in the zoo.

“Ehm!... shouldn't we wear something other than our birthday-suits? just saying... cough.”

Lin said then he retrieved a set of clothes for himself and Mia plus some towels. The boy summoned his wings and princess-carried the young-woman on his arms which felt much easier than before and floated a few meters above ground then waited for Mia until she dried her hair and body quickly after doing the same for Lin first! which warmed his heart because she naturally thought of him before herself. Then the saintess helped the boy whom she settled on being her fiancé wear his clothes then wore hers afterwards.

“All set and ready my heavenly-commander. This saintess is in your good-hands from now on, take care of me... alright?”

Mia saluted like an officer reporting to his superior after wearing some clothes on her body then she rested her head on Lin's shoulder after leaning towards him and circling his neck with her arms before whispering the last piece of her phrase. It felt like his heart jumped from its place in his chest and missed a beat because it sounded very seductive and romantic.

“G... give me a second to... collect our things and we'll be on our way! I hope you don't fear heights Mia.”

Lin stored the bed and the bathtub then quickly went on to store the rest of their scattered items then smiled while looking at Mia's face.

“Snort!... this saintess already experienced flying alright. Befo-...” Mia couldn't finish her sentence because air filled her mouth once Lin started to move south. “whoah!” The speed of their flight was honestly outside her expectations! because despite carrying her this freakish boy of hers could go at a speed which is similar to her top-speed in short distances if she’s using spirit-energy to move. Who is she? the saintess of one of the five great-sects and a peak-perfection spirit-cultivator in the realm of spirit-grandmaster. A cultivator in the peak of the fourth spirit-realm in the ranking of spirit-cultivation is comparable to a junior who awakened his martial-spirit yet his dantian still remain empty in terms of speed? nobody would believe that piece of information if it got leaked-out into the many factions in the spirit-world and would be treated like some kind of a joke or the drivel of some mad person. Yet now Mia experienced it first-hand and despite carrying her along Lin is moving at a speed which equals her top-speed if she’s using her movement-technique infused with time-energy. It’s a shocking discovery for the saintess but this time she felt warmness flooding her chest and feelings of pride and contentment made her smile widely when she looked at Lin's face. Because this boy is the one which the young-woman decided to take as her dao-companion. Even if Mia was told about Lin’s existence before meeting him she would never believe that she'll end-up liking him no matter how open-minded the saintess tried to be. But all it took was a few well-timed coincidences and some nostalgic-memories "de-ja-vu-ing" Mia then a long hug which smashed all her barriers! now her addiction to being close to Lin has consumed all the young-woman’s thoughts like wildfire which keeps eating away at a world made-up of nothing but dry hay.

“Do you like me?” Mia abruptly asked Lin with expectant eyes and there at their depth was a few shadows of worry then the young-woman waited for the answer while hiding her apprehension by snuggling deeper into the boy’s embrace and swinging her feet back and forth playfully.

"I'm having feelings of attraction towards you, deep and genuinely strong-feelings! I really can't explain why I’m having them in such early age... but I'm sure of one thing...” Lin intentionally dragged-out his words at the end and when he answered the boy made sure that he looked at Mia's face and enjoyed seeing her smile widen when she heard him. Then he kept his silence and they just exchanged eye-contact for a few seconds. Lin smirked and waited for Mia's curiosity to prevail and it did when she frowned and said : “Come-on!... say it already.” seeing the boy chuckling to himself made the young-woman suddenly pout her lips and continue : “You naughty-boy... how dare you tease me? see how I'll squeeze-out this bad-behavior of yours with my hugs, take this... Mia's specialty... squishy-press!” Mia poked Lin's nose with the tip of her finger and said while hugging him with all her power. The feeling of that hug was filled with unsaid-emotions of adoration plus extreme warmth of fleshly-softness from the young-woman. “Guh... I can't breathe!... alright, alright I'll say it, loosen-up a bit. Not only are you charming like an angel but also strong like one as well, please remind me, to never make you angry at me in the future.” Lin kissed Mia's cheek and coaxed her gently then watched her heavenly-giggles which caused a dimple to surface on her left-cheek and her long black hair which resembles a long cape of a heroine snapped and fluttered behind them while they flew south. Then the boy continued to speak slowly and said : “I want you... simple as that, and that's what I'm sure of. I never once had such strong feelings for any other female before I met you.” Then he thought : 'In this life.' before resuming to say : “But I'm sure I want you to be my exclusive-possession!... not in the material way of possession but the emotional sort, I want you to only love me and... think of me whenever your mind... wander around the field of intimacy... I want to be the only partner in your thoughts. Sigh... I know that such way of thinking makes me selfish, but... somehow my heart says, that it's completely justifiable to think like so towards the person you like... at least if you consider it from the angle of the person who loves you, emotional-wise.” Lin explained to Mia what he's feeling towards her and waited to see what kind of reaction she'll have only to find the young-woman blushing and blushing some more in return then she hid her face in his chest. “We can't do that right now... if we did it so early, you'll harm your foundation. Please endure some more I... I promise to do my best to satisfy all these s... selfishness.” Mia softly said in a very low voice if a mosquito could speak and make sounds with its mouth—commonly-known as hateful-proboscis—then maybe that mosquito’s voice would be louder than the young-woman who spoke while feeling shame and burying her face in Lin's chest. The boy chuckled at how shy the saintess is becoming right now but he liked her meekness better and said : “I'm not yet... able! but never mind that for now, where are you planning to go after getting out?” then Lin patted Mia’s back and assured her of his current sexual-capabilities which are nonexistent due to his immature body. the boy changed the subject and asked while slowing-down because Sun's fresh traces on the ground indicated that he's nearby.

“I must return to the sect and notify my lord-father of the holy-daughter Katherine and what she tried to do, the trap she tried to force me into included the assassins-guild which is against the rules of my spirit-world.” There's an unwritten-rule between the five great-sects which is summarized in a single phrase : "Any feud has to be dealt-with by those involved or related to the same-generation and if a senior-cultivator from any of the five great-sects or outsiders from any faction were dragged-into the fray by someone then the side who breaks the rules has to be dealt-with by the rest of great-sects." that's why Mia had to inform her father of why she was delayed for two years from her breakthrough and returning to the sect after the trials of the drowned-realm were over. The young-woman has to tell her lord-father how Katherine schemed against her by challenging Mia into a sword-duel at the exit of drowned-realm to tire her out before they leave then forcing her to the hands of these two assassins who kept patiently lying in wait at the borders of the great-space formation which surrounds the entirety of the land of forgetfulness.

“Then we’re splitting-ways later huh!... I need to go on a journey to gather some materials for a friend.” Lin tightened his arms and brought Mia’s body closer to his chest when he spoke.

“Can't you return with me and just meet-up with my lord-father before you go gather these materials for your friend? I promise not to delay you much.” Mia didn't give Lin a chance to speak and went on to say : “Maybe I will be able to join you in your search!... it has a little chance of actually happening... because lord-father never agrees to let me leave the sect unless it’s urgent, anyway... maybe he will agree to let me go after he meets you.” Which made Lin ponder why’s Mia so trusting of his capabilities to convince her "lord-father" which should be someone who’s overly protective of his daughters against people like him who cause these daughters to fall and be head over heels in love with them. But it brought-up many thoughts in his head like : 'If her father doesn’t agree to let her leave alone then... why was she attacked and suffering in the first place at the so-called drowned-realm? can't the sect-master of the seamless-sword sect which is one of the five great-sects protect his daughter! what’s all this contradiction about?' But Lin didn’t ask so that he wouldn’t hurt Mia’s feelings.

However Lin didn't know that the drowned-realm is prohibited for entry to anyone older than thirty years old! the surrounding formation which is covering the territory of the drowned-realm is a mysterious formation of the water-attribute and capable of blocking all those who try to force their way inside and absorbing their attacks. Only in the right time when the trial of the drowned-realm is opened and for those at the age of thirty years old or less than can become a participant and enter. Every ten years it happens and all those who seek this opportunity travel from everywhere to the north-coast of the southern-continent then head north for the lone island where the eternal-whirlpool never cease to swirl. Deep down within that whirlpool lies the entrance of the drowned-realm and all those older than thirty are forbidden from being anywhere near that entrance even if they looked like harmless mortals on a small wooden-boat! the majority of factions within the spirit-world all agreed to keep this rule to prevent any possible harm away from the younger-generation within the trial. Of course if the younger-generation went at each other’s throat these seniors who oversee the formation will watch them kill each other and never interfere. But the slightest attempt of interference from anyone in the senior-generations will draw the fury of the whole world on their faction. Not even the five great-sects can survive this wave of mass anger when it happens and only if they united can they push the criticism back. Mia was almost the victim of this plot which is cooked by Katherine to make it look like the holy-daughter just sent the saintess of the seamless-sword sect with her abilities to somewhere which she can’t return. That’s what these seniors overseeing the protective-formation of the drowned-realm sect would see and report to Mia’s lord-father if he inquired about what happened to his daughter. While in truth she worked in the shadows with the assassins-guild to complete the mission in the shadows and away from the eyes of the world. The young-woman knows that she has to report-back to her lord-father and pay Katherine the holy-bitch back for what she did.

“Give me five years... I promise to come visit you as soon as I can, that would be five years in the extreme-case of me being delayed, but who knows what will happen tomorrow... maybe it will be much less than that.”

“Heh... good luck with that. The things I need are... rare to find, and hard to get, which means hard-work and much more of the same is what I’ll be expecting from you in the future.”

Once Lin asked Mia to wait for him five years the boy heard the voice of Jin Bao full of ridicule getting transmitted into his head. Mia pouted her lips slightly then looked away at the nearby clouds at the end of her vision in silence because she wasn't happy that Lin refused but she’s tactful enough to know when to argue and push while asking for reasons and when to mute her opinions because it isn’t her place to decide. Deep-down inside her Mia felt like it will be a lot easier and much appropriate to introduce Lin to her father as the dao-companion which she choose if the boy is at the age of eleven. At least it would better to do so then than right now when he's just a six years old kid and after stealing a glance at Lin's immature-face the young-woman felt tinges of naughtiness tickling her heart and expectancy for how he would look like when he’s all grown-up. She likes a boy not even half her age and like Lin said earlier it felt inappropriate yet she has no regret in falling for him. Her intuition as a woman told the saintess that this odd choice of hers will be proved someday as being the right decision and her feelings of anticipation scratched at the walls of curiosity. She kept imagining things while asking herself : 'Just what kind of man will Lin grow up to be?' That question was eating away at the young-woman’s brain until it consumed it entirely but Mia liked the feelings accompanying that question. It’s fun to have these feelings as long as Lin will end-up being hers in the future then it doesn't matter how much she will have to wait! even if the boy grew-up to be a tyrannical person then it doesn't matter. Since she's going to be his first wife then the honor is enough for her to raise her head and her face to be decorated with a broad-smile and covered in happiness until the day she dies. Yes he's a freak of nature no matter how many times she thought about his current achievements! but he's going to be her freak and she’s going to become the first-wife of the freak. Even freaks can be a source of peace if they're on your side.

“Five years will pass in no time. Don’t dwell on it too much or time will fell like it’s actually going backwards!... and don't spend them pouting like so either, or your face will crease and wrinkle. But I doubt even the harshest of wrinkles can diminish your beauty.”

Lin noticed the down-casted state Mia was in and gave her a soft kiss on the left-cheek after teasing her.

“Snort... you're the one with wrinkles.”

Mia smiled at the hidden compliment but still tried to take advantage by nearing her other cheek for another kiss while a sly-glint floated on her eyes.

“Sun is over there... be prepared for a few snarls and possibly some challenges when he sees us hugging.”

Lin felt some similarities between Mia and how Lily acted when she wanted to be pampered then looked ahead at Sun who ran and pawed his way south at a slow-pace in obvious-boredom then warned Mia beforehand of what is going to happen. Lin already knows that Sun hates to fall under the control of anyone other than himself then his buddy. Actually Sun is used to be independent to the degree of not having the boy to decide anything for him which would confuse any beast-tamer if they knew about it! what’s the use of having a beast-companion in the first place if that beast is going to be its own master? Mia's attempts to befriend the red-tiger were taking the wrong approach and got misunderstood by Sun which is going through a difficult-phase of his life. The beauty like a typical-airhead kept skipping the advices from Lin and treated Sun like anyone would treat a domesticated pet. In normal situations the red-tiger would just ignore the shrimp and mind his own business! but unfortunately for the red-tiger its meeting with the saintess happened to be under these circumstances when it’s in a constant foul-mood and the young-woman only succeeded in drawing more of his ire with her annoying actions. Be that growling or howling in frustration at the clingy-woman nothing Sun did succeeded in making the annoying-Mia go away and leave him alone. Thankfully the red-tiger is well-disciplined and didn't attack Mia but mostly it’s because the young-woman gave Sun the chills whenever she stood near him. The sword-intent from the saintess gave the red-tiger a considerable amount of pressure which made its red-fur stand on end and its yellow eyes watch each of Mia’s movements vigilantly. Naughty-Mia was aware of Sun's fear and its source then she increased the pressure of her sword-intent whenever she’s next to him aiming to force Sun into submission. But her attempts failed in the end because despite being fatigued and exhausted after experiencing the young-woman’s pressure the red-tiger didn't submit! it stubbornly glared back at the shrimp and kept threatening her by exposing his fangs and creating long lines with his claws on the ground. Finally Lin had to intervene and calm his buddy while giving Mia a helpless look.

“Tsk... such a hardheaded and stubborn kitty!... transform already. No problem then... I won’t give-up yet, because I still have a trump card up my sleeve. I think it’s time to play that card.” Mia crossed her arms and stopped bothering Sun anymore but her intention to not give-up on making Sun swoon-over her and adore her is both clear and strong. After puffing-up her cheeks and puckering her lips in annoyance the young-woman stuck-out her tongue cutely at the red-tiger since it kept blocking her attempts to get even a single hug and said : “Lin... see if you can bypass or erase my spirit and intent-mark on this space-ring, if you can do that then great, you'll find a platform with nine colorful stone pillars on it, bring it out alongside the few wooden-boxes next to my clothes and weapon’s rack. It's about time that I show Sunny here... who’s the most generous saintess of them all.” then she took-off her own space-ring from her finger and threw it towards Lin and asked him to open it. Mia’s intentions were clear to Lin she wanted to use the famous "candy-trick" to bypass Sun's alert and always active guard towards her. Previously the young-woman mentioned that piece of information more than once but she seemed to be somewhat hesitant about letting or allowing the boy to see the insides of her space-ring or hold her possessions and thought : 'What if he took it and just flew away?' but now after things became "cool" with Lin and both of them admitted their newfound feelings of adoration towards each other were confessed. The saintess would probably be okay with it if Lin took all of her possessions along-with the space-ring itself if he felt like it right now.

“Be-careful now kid... doing what she said isn’t easy, her mark on that storage-item might be weaker on this land but I reckon it wouldn’t be easy.” Jin Bao transmitted these words once Lin grabbed the space-ring which Mia tossed with his right-hand. The boy instantly noticed the difference between this space-ring and the ones they took from Weisheng and Xiangming. The space-ring of the saintess is more delicate and finely dotted with some precious-gems which clearly revealed that it was made specifically to suit a woman's taste.

“Don't keep staring at it!... try now. This bad-kitty is having a temper and avoiding me on purpose... and this saintess doesn't like its high and mighty attitude. Humph!... I have many spirit-fruits, which will make it certainly, drool all-over the place once it sees one of them, unlike the fire-tulip you found in your ring, which Sun can't consume without risking having his body explode from the berserk-energy inside the ingredient, my spirit-fruits are both mild and perfectly digestible, a delicacy for any beast be that in the demonic-realm or higher in rank.” Mia urged Lin to try first before admiring the fine craftsmanship and quality of her space-ring while giving Sun her mean-face in return childishly.

After the red-tiger went to the side and marked a boulder with its pee and made this area part of its territory then rested on its side and started licking its paws carelessly. The threats of this mad-woman didn't affect Sun at all and he kept giving Lin a disappointed look which appeared to be saying : "I warned you about her trap... yet you still went and fell in it anyway! buddy you’re a big dummy." Which made Lin snicker at how mature Sun is acting when he shook his head and went to sit under the shade and his thick-tail kept sweeping the ground behind him with its end to show his frustration. An action which indicated how on-edge the red-tiger is right now.

Using the tip of one of the weapons in his ring Lin pricked his forefinger and dripped his blood on the third space-ring he held so far. The procedure of using a space-ring became natural to him and surprisingly his brain which tended to be overthinking the tiniest bit of details didn't wonder anywhere with its thoughts before focusing on the second cubic-space which appear in his soul-world. After Lin severed his connection with Xiangming's space-ring the only cubic to remain in his soul-world is his own cupic-space which is covered in yellow walls. Now Mia's own appeared and unlike the previous two who originally had either green and brown or half cyan half purple walls. The six walls covering this third space-ring were colorless and clearly invisible yet Lin still couldn't see what lies behind them! 'Interesting'  Lin thought then he extended his arm to touch these ethereal-walls with his hand.

“Hmm...”

Somehow Lin felt the ring on his hand which is trapping Jin Bao vibrate extremely faintly when he tried to access Mia's space-ring with his soul-body.

“Old Jin... what are you trying to do? this is Mia's private space-ring, so... don't you peek inside without her agreeing to it. It's rude.” Lin transmitted with his soul-link in a firm-tune that wouldn't tolerate these actions. Not only is he attracted to her! even if he isn't Lin would still prevent it from happening. The great-sage always has such principles and bottom-lines and despite their simplicity Lin wouldn't consider himself a human-being without them. He will only deserve to be called a "great-sage" if the boy upheld them because without them all his vast knowledge would be meaningless.

“Nobody can see what’s inside your space-ring... as long as your spirit-mark is still on it! I'm considered a cripple without any spirit-energy, only a wisp of what used to be my complete soul-force still exist, and... since when can a brat like you question my morals and the way I conduct myself? and here I was kind enough to warn you. Humph.” The elder defended himself unconsciously then regretted it and wished if he could smack this boy on the back of his head right now. After a "Humph" Jin Bao returned to his silent-mode and looked around him at the walls which confined him for centuries then underneath him at the soul-formation in wonder.

Lin might’ve felt a faint vibration from the ring on his hand meanwhile old Jin felt like his world was shaking... the kind someone would feel if the sky suddenly switched places with the earth! then again and again.

'Was it my imagination just now?' Lin thought again before he decided to believe old Jin for now but he will confirm that piece of information with Mia later for sure! after all the boy knows too little of this world and how it works.

Touching the invisible walls with his hand Lin felt resistance from them! like there’s something which is fighting against his intrusion. When the boy pushed harder against the walls they just acted like rubber and only stretched inwards slightly.

“This is fascinating!...” Lin wasn't discouraged when his initial try failed and kept floating everywhere around the six walls and doing multiple experiments and seeking to enter from somewhere else.

Mia watched Lin's face frown and she felt like she's hurrying things a bit too far! Xiangming and Weisheng both has already died before the boy opened their space-rings. That's why their spirit-marks were severed from their rings and it was easy for Lin to erase the residue-off and scatter then replace it with his own mark very easily. Meanwhile she's still alive and the young-woman’s spirit-mark is still connected to her primordial-source of spirit-energy. Not only does her mark has spirit-energy but also sword-intent. Maybe that's why despite her spirit-energy being suppressed in this land Lin doesn't seem to be able to forcefully remove the spirit-mark. The saintess left this mark on the space-ring long ago when her father gifted it to her on the day she turned seven years old. Mia never renewed the spirit-mark on the space-ring which made her kind-of confident that Lin can erase it. If Mia could use her spirit-energy then she would've brought-out the items herself or willingly severed her spirit-mark to make it easy for Lin to see what's inside and do the job.

“Lin don't exhaust yourself... you said we'll reach the ocean in a couple of days, I can endure Sun's naughtiness until we exit the great-space barrier.” After shrugging her shoulders in disappointment Mia called Lin to stop trying to force his way inside her space-ring! this incident made the young-woman remember that her cute dao-companion is still a kid who can't be considered a spirit-cultivator yet. The mature calmness of the grea-sage was always capable of deceiving the eyes of the saintess while the actual facts tends to be confusing Mia's judgment very terribly whenever she’s around Lin. The young-woman kept having this feeling of self-encouragement in trusting the boy which created an image of someone who’s capable of doing anything.

Lin heard her and gave Mia a nod but he didn't stop what he’s doing because he carefully enjoyed the feeling of getting repelled back after each try. While pushing the invisible-walls the boy noticed that the stronger his attempt to push is... the harder the force bouncing back at his soul-body would be.

“What a strange energy! without focusing at it you wouldn't notice its existence at all. But it’s mixed... within it is some sharp, and merciless-force, which I can feel it threatening to cut my fingers off, if I pushed any further... it’s familiar.” Lin mused the experience he had with these invisible-walls which acted like rubber. Then the boy looked downwards at the palms of his soul-body which felt tingly! then he decided to try one more time before he call it quits.

Pushing hard with both palms and aggressively taking a step forward to increase the pressure. Lin made the invisible-walls contort in shape upon itself inwardly like a ball getting stabbed with a pointy object! the resistance started to threaten to cut his skin which seemed illogical to the boy since his current body is supposed to be his soul-body. The curiosity to know how to cut something which is immaterial in the first place. Is alone enough reason for Lin to seek an explanation if possible.

“Hngh!... this is... proving to be... really hard... it started to feel somewhat scary, I guess I can't enter then.”

Lin felt like there’s an army of soldiers which are ready to slash and hit him before they rip him apart! from the walls he pushed back for a few meters the boy felt like there’s some danger lurking-about within these invisible-walls. Just when the great-sage made the decision to retreat. The imaginary-army whom Lin felt threatened by their existence before materialized like ghosts one by one in the shape of girls. These girls has similarities and extreme-resemblance with Mia but they didn’t give the boy a chance to do or say anything to explain himself before they bounced at the great-sage with the swords in their hands.

“Whoa!... all of them aren't holding back at all and going for my vitals from the get-go, careful there young-lady, these are my family-jewels... you! how dare you aim for my butthole? you’re a naughty and vicious little version of Mia.”

Lin tried to get away from this sudden danger and his first action was to flap his wings to widen the distance from these girls! but here isn't the material-world but his soul-world instead. Since his soul-body never had wings then he has to use his little two feet to run. All of these ghosts in the shape of Mia on her younger-self didn't hesitate to pierce and slash or chop then cut at Lin in the split-second of delay which just happened. Seeing the girl similar to him in age which stood at the very-front of the vanguard in this army of girls. This young-Mia was aiming for the boy’s neck with a pierce after a swift lunge forward and seemed almost about to succeed in touching his throat with the tip of her sword. Surprisingly all of these girls held a sword which is made from the same or maybe a slightly different energy which isn’t exactly like the invisible-walls... or so Lin thought. But he didn't get much time to point-out the differences between the two invisible energies because after leaning his upper-body left and managing to avoid the first strike from the sword in young-Mia’s hands! the boy didn't get any chance to step-back and had to quickly bend-over to let the second strike from the same sword which aimed to cutting at his right-shoulder and let it continue flying above his back then continue forward and miss Lin’s head by a few millimeters. The attacks from these little ghosts of Mia were linked and in sync. But they were vicious and didn’t hesitate to aim anywhere and Lin only managed to retreat two-steps backwards after avoiding a few dozen strikes from these swords. The distance of a few short-meters never felt so far to the boy in both of his lives especially if crossing it is joined by this scary-threat. Despite knowing and seeing all the attacks coming his way beforehand thanks to this place being his soul-world! Lin still couldn't retreat in a hurry without being hit because the genius-ness of this sword-formation which is surrounding him completely. Each attack is both fast, strong, and precise which left no room for Lin’s soul-body to easily maneuver.

'I can't get out without getting hit at least once, so that's how it feels to be on the receiving end of Mia's offence! her sword is both soft and aggressive with too little openings being exposed between movements, I doubt if even I can win against this young-version of her without having to rely on my wings. Anyway... since I'm bound to get hit, then the one my age is the best candidate. I just hope these girls don't follow after me once I leave this zone. Or I’ll be forced to use my soul-abilities on them to defend my soul-world, that new ability... it’s been a while since I tried it.' Lin made-up his mind after seeing no end to the string of sword attacks. After perfectly calculating the incoming attacks the boy prepared himself to receive the incoming chop on the center of his palm instead of his shoulder.

Little-Mia has such an adorable-face which didn't match the cruelty of her sword attacks at all! just before the tip of the invisible-sword was about to descend on Lin's palm he saw a vague shadow of the violet-color muddy her green pupils. Instantly the previous sense of threat which the great-sage felt before increased by two-folds. The boy again for the second time reflexively relied on his wings to try and avoid the attack instead of receiving it with his empty hand. But it didn’t happen and Lin knew that he has to change tactics and do something fast because just yesterday... he watched Mia cause ruin to a wide expanse of land with this violet-aura of her sword-intent. Now that this little-Mia cheated and finally revealed that she has access to such power! the boy quickly changed his plans to an all-out escape. Since he doesn’t dare think of meeting that violet-power head-on then his hope is to somehow divert it away from his soul-body. But without his wings Lin is very slow and his current speed of retreat is losing to the speed of the invisible-sword which is inching closer and closer to his soul-body. The saying goes like this : "When it rains... it pours." Apparently not only Lin who can change tactics. The little-Mia fluidly changed her attack pattern and her chop suddenly changed into a thrust which aimed for Lin's heart instead and was about to pierce his soul-body. If the boy doesn’t quickly do anything right now then he's going to experience pain like never before... that’s what his intuition told him.

'Since I can't avoid it then I better minimize the damages as much as possible, honestly... my neck is stiffening just when the mere thought of getting hit by the sword of this little-Mia.' Lin made-up his mind and gritted his teeth then changed his movement and took a quick back-step with an angle to the right and leaned his upper-body backwards in the same angle! then watched the invisible-sword in the hands of the ghost girl who took the shape of little-Mia pierce his left arm instead of his heart. First the boy felt nothing at all which was weird. But once his body left the premises of the invisible-walls and his upper part of his left-arm was finally detached from the invisible-sword of little-Mia. Lin honestly felt like his soul-body just lost its left-arm inside the invisible-walls.

Mia was surprised to find Lin's face suddenly become extremely pale and his right-hand clutch the upper area of his left-arm! signs of being in agony appeared on his complexion and sweat dampened his clothes but he gritted his teeth to endure. Alas... this dose of pain is too overwhelming and surpassed the boy’s endurance limits.

“Ugh...”

When the boy uttered this grunting sound despite trying his best to stifle it in. It made Sun panic and cross the short-distance separating him from the Lin and cuddle him while looking at the boy with worry. It took Mia slightly longer to awake from her shock and the young-woman tried to approach Lin to check on him but she found the red-tiger glaring daggers at her with these yellow eyes which has a suicidal-glint in them. The message Sun tried to deliver to this saintess who caused this mess in the first place was clear : "If you dare take another step closer to my buddy... then I will rip you to shreds, so you better not do anything stupid now shrimp.”

What is going on outside in the material-world was the least of Lin's worries right now because after he got pierced with the invisible-sword of little-Mia the boy noticed that his left-arm started to become numb! not only in the soul-world with his soul-body but also in the material-world with his fleshly-body. In a matter of seconds Lin lost the ability to move his left-arm from the area below the left-shoulder all the way down to the tips of his fingers. The boy’s left-arm soon became limp and completely paralyzed yet still infested with too much of agonizing pain. Lin felt like there’s trillions of tiny and swords or blades wantonly chopping at every body-cell on his left-arm. While standing outside borders of the invisible-walls and looking at little-Mia who started to fade-away gradually while still glaring at him with these green eyes. The boy was reminded again of his vulnerability in this spirit-world because he couldn’t avoid getting hurt by something cute-looking like little-Mia. But his current problem is still the increasing pain in his left-arm which is driving him crazy. When the pain ascended to the unendurable and unbearable limits and Lin was about to surrender to this dizzying-pain while hoping to lose consciousness... the boy was surprised to find that the pain was suddenly halted in its advance then gradually and quickly faded until it disappeared all-together! yet he still couldn't move his left-arm in the soul-world or in the spirit-world.

“Told you so... kid, how do you feel?” Jin Bao seemed to be gloating at the boy but he didn’t hold a grudge and wanted to assess the situation.

“It really hurt... then suddenly it was gone, that sword-intent is a nasty energy, all I took is a clean pierce in the flesh of the upper-area in my left-arm, yet both my soul-body and physical-body can’t move that arm anymore! it’s completely out of commission.” Lin said then looked away from little-Mia and down on his left-arm then he said in shock : “How come my wings do exist in this soul-world? talk about bad timing... tch.” Lin asked Jin Bao in confusion while looking at his left-wing which wrapped his left-arm like a bandage of countless yellow feathers! these feathers sent yellow light which moved upwards from the boy’s left-arm then travelled around his back until it settled at the right side of his chest. Exactly on the center of Lin’s right-breast.

“Your martial-spirit existing in your soul-world means that your spirit has soul-nature besides its elemental-nature... good thing that its soul-nature was activated or you might’ve been hurt badly if that girl didn’t help you extract the energy of sword-intent which entered your soul-body. I hope that you would take what happened here as a lesson-learnt the hard way, don’t let the girl help you with that energy too, just treat it as a chance to get used to the feeling of being hit with weapon-intent.” Jin Bao seemed to be still thinking of the cause of the earlier earthquake which hit the ring trapping him! but he reminded Lin to remember this incident and keep aware of his safety in the future.

“You’re telling me to torture myself... I do mind doing that, but I’ll ask... why?” Lin frowned because this old Jin isn’t making any sense. If there’s a quick solution to the problem then why not solve it?

“You're a person born with many blessings who has the deepest supply of hidden-potential! yet you can already see how vulnerable you can be in the earliest stages of your life and in the beginning of your journey of cultivation.” Jin Bao gave his answer but Lin didn’t seem to find that a good enough reason to endure pain and he said : “So what? isn’t it part of nature to grow from weak to strong and from strong to weak then you die? what has my hidden-potential and talent got to do with any of that? what’s the point of torturing myself and exposing myself to needless pain?” this time it was Jin Bao who sighed inwardly because this kid can really debate! he said : “Consider it being ready for the future which may not come at all... I’m not discouraging you, or telling you to not explore the world at your leisure. I’m telling you to do that as long as you keep your safety first, but be prepared for the worst before it arrive on your doorstep. Enough of all that... tell me, what happened when your spirit-wings appeared in your soul-world?” Jin Bao spoke his advice and left the role of deciding to the boy because he himself is helpless and has no way to stretch a helping hand or give Lin his assistance if he needed it without suffering from a horrific backlash which this mysterious soul-formation would give his weak and feeble soul! such a backlash from the soul-formation on a soul like Jin Bao’s which has what would be considered a tiny portion of soul-force if compared with its maximum capacity would certainly forcefully scatter it and make it fade into nothing then seep back to the outside world and rejoin the heavenly-dao in less than a week of time. Jin Bao didn’t want to think about that last measure and asked Lin to describe what happened after his wings appeared in-order to understand some abilities of his mysterious martial-spirit.

“There's a line of the yellow color which is moving on my back from the left-arm to my chest at the right breast directly on the center below the collarbone then disappearing.”

Lin sent while he opened his eyes and patted Sun to calm him then gave Mia an assuring look and a helpless smile because her younger-version just bested him! walking towards the anxious saintess Lin handed her the space-ring back and sat-down looking at his left-arm silently. Nothing is different with his arm beside it being numb and paralyzed and when the young-woman noticed the boy’s left-arm dangling back and forth when he walked towards her to hand her the ring tears filled her eyes and she started to silently weep.

“Weapon-masters mentioned something about this area on the body actually being the source of all intents... if this disability doesn’t get fixed or improved with time after the intervention of your spirit wings then you can always tell the girl to take her energy of sword-intent back.” Jin Bao wasn't worried at all and seemed to be pleased to find Lin experiencing some hardships.

Meanwhile Mia ignored the precious space-ring which is the closest a storage-item can be to a tool in the inheritance-rank! the young-woman sat next to Lin and wrapped him with her arms and felt his warmth. But once the saintess touched the boy’s left-arm she was surprised to find that the same sword-intent which Mia couldn't be more familiar with is circulating Lin’s left-arm and moving somewhere inside his body.

“Don’t help me remove it...” Lin said once he saw that Mia found-out the reason of his previous pain.

“Why?” Mia looked at him in confusion and asked while her fingers tightened around the boy’s small shoulders slightly.

“Just listen to me and be good...” When Lin said that the young-woman blushed fiercely and she felt weak under these pure black eyes.

“D... doesn’t it hurt? earlier you seemed to be in a lot of pain.” The saintess murmured that while huggin the boy tighter.

“Your younger-version kicked my butt... but you know how weak I’m against your beauty! since little-Mia was so cute I couldn’t bring myself to use my soul-abilities against her, not to mention that there was lots of little-Mia coming at me all at once. Practically I didn’t stand a chance from the beginning... I think they went easy on me just to save my face.” The great-sage didn’t answer the question and just laughed it off. Since he’s going to follow Jin Bao’s instructions on this setback! then he as a man should suffer this pain in silence and never wail, whine, groan or complain.

“Dummy...” Mia said that and in fact she was calling herself that instead of Lin! because she remembered that once her lord-father gifted her this space-ring he made her infuse it with some parts of her core spirit-energy of the martial-spirit plus some energy from her sword-intent which was much weaker at the time so that this mixture of energies would act as a defensive-measure. Of course the lord-father of this young-woman already told her to strengthen that defense with better and much more refined and purer spirit-energy and sword-intent later. But Mia simply forgot about the whole matter entirely after discovering the grade of this space-ring and how much storage-capacity it has! Two-thousand two-hundred and ninety-nine cubic-meters of vacant-space which is only five meters less than what a storage-item in the peak-perfection of the ninth-level on the spirit-ranking can be. Thankfully Mia is an airhead with a compatible-attitude and she didn't take the advice from her lord-father seriously. Otherwise if the young-woman had kept infusing her space-ring with more spirit-energy and sword-intent then Lin would've surely died or would proudly call himself lucky if he managed to draw breath after that experience. Mention nothing of a paralyzed-arm... his strong soul might be crippled if he met a stronger version of Mia. Turning into an idiot is totally possible in that case.

“Heh... it’s just a numb arm! no need for your precious tears. Don't worry... my martial-spirit already helped me alleviate the pain, see! I’m feeling nothing at all.” Lin saw how Mia was emotionally-devastated and tried to ease her sorrow with his words! he even squeezed his left-arm with his right-hand to demonstrate that he’s alright. But the beauty hugged the boy harder and closed her eyes while holding his left-arm with both of her hands. The young-woman didn't answer him and seemed to be very focused and concentrating on something. Gradually Mia's face reddened and her hands started shaking then even her breathing became hurried and chaotic. Once he noticed how unstable the saintess has become Lin didn't hesitate to slither-out from Mia’s hold and said : “Mia!... I told you to leave it be, how are you feeling?” The boy was clearly worried. “Why?... why isn't it responding to me?” The young-woman seemed lost in her thoughts when she said that and Lin frowned at her then said : “Hey!... I asked you a question, so answer it.” then it was Mia’s turn to gawk once seeing how serious the boy’s tune of voice has become! the saintess said : “What?” once he heard that confused question Lin just sighed and said in a much gentler tune of voice : “I said are you alright? look at you... you’re gasping for breath as if you just ran ten marathons without rest.” The young-woman blushed slightly then shook her head and said : “I’m okay.” The boy leaned his head to the side and asked : “You sure?” Mia just nodded and hummed which made Lin ask again : “What happened when you tried to do what I told you not to do... tsk. I just hope you would listen to me in the future! had something happened to you then I would’ve blamed myself for it.” Lin puckered his lips when he said that and the saintess stifled her laughter in the beginning then felt warmness inside her chest when she heard the last part. Mia looked down at the opened palms of hands then said : “I can feel both of my spirit-energy and sword-intent in your left-arm, but... they're ignoring my calls no matter how hard I tried to pull them towards me! I can understand why when it happened with my time-energy since we’re in this land, my sword-intent should be completely under my control and unaffected by any kind of suppression. Yet I couldn’t make it budge!” The young-woman said that while her chest heaved up and down. Her tune of voice clearly revealed how puzzled and unwilling the saintess is after that unexpected result. Lin nodded but didn't say anything he kept the fact that one of his wings forced this strange fusion of energies which is in his left-arm under control and is currently transferring it to another location in the center of right-breast.

First thing the boy did is activating his pair of wings to make sure that they're still functional. Then Lin gave Mia a single-handed hug and a kiss on her cheek to ease her worry! then before he raised her with his right-hand by the butt and flew up to continue south. Lin slapped her butt gently while looking at the young-woman directly in the eyes and said : “Will you behave now?” while giving her a teasing smile and a similar gaze. The saintess was shocked by this obscene-gesture which is unexpected from the boy and after opening and closing her mouth a few times while searching for an answer! Mia blushed deeply and lowered her head then faintly nodded. The young-woman was conflicted between feelings of guilt and extreme-adoration for Lin right now and conveyed that by hugging him as hard as she could while they flew in the sky. As if by doing that her guilt would lessen slightly and Lin's suffering would decrease by much more. Mia felt helpless on the matter and she hated herself for being impatient... twice! the first time happened when she asked the boy to help her with her space-ring and the second time when she didn’t listen to what he said and received a "weird" warning from Lin.

“Everything is going to be alright, just don't overthink things or needlessly keep worrying for no reason! if you remember what happened back then, then you’ll remember that you told me to stop and I was the one who didn't heed your advice, I was the one who kept stubbornly trying to enter your ring forcefully.” Lin said when he saw Mia biting her lower lip in regret while rubbing her cheek to his as if trying to apologize for being negligent and forgetting to mention the two lines of defense on her ring. When the young-woman saw that the boy is trying to comfort her worry instead of becoming angry at her for being the main cause and reason for what happened earlier made Mia's heart dance in glee while warm feelings flooded her chest. The adoration this saintess has towards the boy instantly increased by two-folds and whatever remained within her mind of hesitation or doubt about this relationship between them was scattered like a bursting-bubble! Mia's feelings towards Lin were prone-to being affected by opinions from outsiders before this incident to be honest. Some could say that these new emotions to the young-woman could be translated as nostalgia or pure attraction towards the boy who’s the source of similar emotions of peace and safety which she felt once whenever Mia was near her late-mother and Lin just ignited these dormant feelings when their meeting coincided with the circumstances of the saintess being constantly chased and in danger. But after what happened earlier and the response Mia received from the boy... this young-woman can’t be budged anymore on her decision of who gets to become her dao-companion and her choice to direct all of her intimate-feelings towards Lin. The personification of her ideal and only partner is currently being assembled and built then created with Lin's character as a core base and this image just grew bigger within the young-woman’s head whenever she interacted with the boy. But his gentle and caring-nature is what truly got him to occupy her heart so fast. Sniffling like a child who just lost his favorite-toy... Mia stared at those captivating black pupils and felt her body go weak under all of these waves upon waves of emotions of worry which were getting transmitted to her through them! because Lin is clearly worried for her sake much more than his worry for his own disabled arm. Like the final straw which broke the camel's back... the saintess of the seamless-sword sect made an oath to herself that she’ll keep loving Lin even if he stopped loving her one day. Clinging ever so tightly to the boy with both arms and legs the young-woman looked downwards and noticed the look in Sun’s eyes who followed after them while showing extreme-worry which is very apparently directed towards his owner's current state. The glare the red-tiger kept giving Mia as a threat reminded the saintess of how charismatic the boy is since his lovely-personality and kind-nature managed to draw and attract both man and beast to adore him very dearly. If only had Mia knew more about the secrets which Lin has... then she would've avoided lots of future sufferings and troubles by not doing something... unforgivable! however that's all to be mentioned in the future. When the reunion which both of them agreed-upon happens.

When darkness overtook the sky Lin stopped to make camp for the night and Sun unhesitatingly dropped the animal which he just hunted at Lin's feet like some kind of offering to his buddy! despite its intelligence there’s a certain ridiculous-trait about this red-tiger which didn't change ever since it was a small cub. It can be summarized in : "Food can solve every trouble in the world." so in Sun’s opinion : "If you're tired... just eat and you'll be fine." or "If you're suffering from insomnia... just eat and it will make you sleepy before you know it." etc. The list only goes-on for Sun who naturally meant with this offering : "Just eat... and your arm will be alright in no time. Listen to me buddy! I got you." Lin smiled at this sweet-gesture and accepted the gift from the red-tiger. The boy didn’t only accept it he ate whatever he could from it just to ease the tension from Sun towards Mia a bit. Then he gave the remainder to the red-tiger after he and the saintes ate their fill. Lin snickered when he saw Sun being uncomfortable to be eating what the young-woman left from her meal. Of course the boy didn't expose the reason for the red-tiger’s hesitation about eating or not to Mia. But probably the young-woman would’ve ignored that piece of information because at that time she was trying her best to pamper Lin by washing him clean in the bathtub during their second joint-bath. Like an attentive-maid... the saintess of one of the five great-sects was rubbing his back and diligently attending to his needs! if such news travelled to the spirit-world then countless people would search for the boy just to enjoy torturing him and bask in the pleasure of drinking his blood every morning while dancing at the music of his mercy-calling screams. At the head of these rowdy-bunch would be sword-sovereign himself. Lin finally understood why his father Tai would be so smug whenever his mother Tian invited him to the bath of her own will. Because this feeling... wasn’t so bad.

“Tomorrow night... or the morning that follows it, we'll finally reach the shore of that ocean. Say... will you miss me?” Lin felt like teasing Mia and he asked while playing with her chest and squeezing it into deformity with his hand! the boy never would’ve thought that this action could be that addictive.

“Ehn... very, dearly. Mia will count the days and hours until you come visit her, but if you dare leave me hanging for any longer than five years t... then... then I will torture this one. Humph!... I know that you men treasure this member more than an arm or a leg. Tehehe...”

Mia suddenly turned from a meek-kitten to a ferocious-tigress and threatened Lin by holding his penis and sack of balls in her hand and squeezing slightly while looking directly at the boy’s black eyes with a dangerous and challenging-squint on her green eyes and a scary smile on her mouth. The great-sage felt cold shivers running on his neck downwards all the way to his lower back and ended on the tailbone then he felt like his butt-cheeks just shrunk in size by a few layers from fear! Lin didn't dare question or verify the validity of what Mia just said and nodded repeatedly while looking down nervously at his male organ. The boy inwardly had this strong feeling that the saintess meant each and every word. Because his skin just felt and could still feel her "sincerity" through the warm touch of her squeezing-fingers. After smiling awkwardly the great-sage extended his neck and leaned his head forward then slowly neared his lips and captured hers. Lin sucked hard on these soft and sweet lips which will not be available for him to kiss anymore at least for the few years to come.

Sun just snorted and chewed on the cooked meat while feeling really frustrated but he didn't go and interrupt the intimate moment no-matter how much he felt like he should just plopp his big-butt down the middle! the red-tiger is against the boy taking this annoying woman as his partner but the freedom of choice gave Lin the right to choose whomever he wants. Yes Mia is annoying and does a lot of things which causes the dislike from Sun towards her grow every day. But at least she seems to care about Lin and that's what matters in the end for the red-tiger. These reasons plus the reason which it knows made the red-tiger eager for the time they leave this land. Sun is aware that the saintess will be gone from their lives for five years! since he’s a little bit over that age then it means a lifetime worth of days free from this annoying woman. The red-tiger didn't care what Mia feels when there’s that long-separation which is coming soon because he’s having the most pleasurable wait of his life. As long as this young-woman is going too be off the picture soon enough then the red-tiger doesn't mind it at all if she’s getting some intimacy from its buddy! even better if Mia started making little-buddies in her stomach for it to play with them in the future. But Sun didn’t know that these thoughts will have to remain as his wishful thinking.

When Mia woke-up she found herself sprayed on her back on the bed while her naked body remained hidden beneath the thin silk-covers. Once the young-woman remembered how Lin actively used his fingers to please her yesterday and how loud her moans became right before she fell in deep and satisfied sleep made her cheeks redden and the saintess hid her face under the covers then slowly but carefully extended one hand shyly downwards towards her sacred place and smiled helplessly when her fingers discovered wetness! the action of just touching caused a soft-moan to escape from Mia’s lips because her body remembered the pleasure from last night and clearly demanded more.

'Naughty boy!... I still can’t believe that he made me make all these obscene-sounds last night, but I won’t lose Lin. I swear to pay you back a hundred-fold for what you did, but... that payback will have to be delayed until you mature.' Mia thought while gently slapping then pinching her cheeks to pull herself together and put on a fake expression of a serious face in front of her loved one. Once she pushed the silk-covers away the young-woman found the water of her bathtub decorated on-top with flower petals and smelling strongly of fresh roses! while a table is arranged neatly next the bathtub with the breakfast which is steaming-hot and a cold drink waiting for her. There was small stand with a clean change of clothes of her size which the boy choose personally and a new pair of shoes for the saintess to wear when she finishes her bath.

Lin was there to the side and singlehandedly doing his pumma-training and sweat covered his body entirely. Advanced-routines were already hard when Lin had no physical disabilities to hold him back! not to mention now when he's having trouble moving his left-arm. But it gave Lin a sense of humbleness because he remembered how weak, feeble, and vulnerable he felt in this spirit-world since day one and the hardships he had to tackle in his short six years of life. The struggles he had to face just to make fire reminded the boy of the enjoyment of struggling in the face of disability which made him smile during the whole exercise. Mia kept taking long and deep breaths of the refreshing scent which is coming from the water in her bathtub during her bath then got up after feeling like she soaked enough and wore the clothes which Lin choose for her and ate the breakfast which Lin made for her with a wide grin on her face. The young-woman even ignored the action Sun made to provoke her in attempt to ruin her good-mood and she waved back at him in delight like an idiot with a smile on her face then the saintess brought her chair and sat closer to watch Lin exercise like it’s the most enjoyable of events and made it seem like an extremely fun thing to do in just watching. Yes Mia still couldn't understand a single benefit from such movements but it felt fun to watch as long as it’s her lovely Lin who’s doing it! like a love-struck fool the saintess would clap whenever the boy did a simple backflip with extreme-enthusiasm. Even the red-tiger stared at the young-woman wondering if she’s an idiot amongst idiots originally or all these raspy-moans caused her brain to malfunction? then it just snorted because such an annoying-person doesn’t deserve its worry in the first place. Lin finished his morning-exercise then took a quick shower alone much to the dislike of Mia who kept murmuring her complaints and how much she wants to join... why not make Sun transform into his cute-form to save his strength and join them to make it three-fun. The boy hugged the waist of the young-woman after giving her a kiss then activated his wings and flapped them to ascend higher than the clouds where the air is cool and breezy. Lin was hoping if that atmosphere would calm the saintess who’s clearly horny and doesn’t know anything about it... just a little.

Last night Mia welcomed each advance from him and revealed signs of wanting to try and make the boy’s penis erect! Lin had to intentionally slow-down on what he’s doing at that time for the young-woman to think a bit more clearly because he didn’t want her to raise her hopes up too soon.

“How’s your arm?” Mia massaged Lin's left-arm gently and asked with a tune of voice which is filled with self-blame.

“A lot better actually... if compared to yesterday. I think it will be back to normal very soon.”

“How soon?”

“Hmm... just a few short days I think, didn’t I say don't worry about it.”

“How could I not? is there any pain? don’t lie because I can tell... humph.”

“Heh... no pain at all, yesterday I couldn't feel your touch on my left-arm at all, but now I can feel it... just faintly. Look!... I can already wiggle my left-thumb.” Lin slowly moved his thumb and tried to assure and distract Mia away from that topic.

“Listen well Lin... when you travel alone, don't... be your usual self.” The young-woman hugged the boy and muttered.

“What’s my "self" like?” Lin asked while feeling amused because he liked having others reveal their opinions about him and assessing his personality.

“Good-natured, kind, warm, and caring. But the worst of them all is that you’re too trusting in people... it makes me worried whenever I remember that you want to travel alone.” The saintess spoke then she buried her face in the boy’s hair and took a deep breath because she felt like she’s missing him already.

“Don’t you believe that I’m a good judge of character?” The great-sage felt like teasing Mia and he turned his head slightly to look her directly in the eye before gently slapping her butt again.

“I do...” Mia nodded and answered while smiling then she continued to say : “A lot of evil-people exist in my spirit-world, they're cunning, venomous, and manipulative. So sly that they never reveal their wicked-intentions at all, excellent actors who play their part extremely well that they can fool sovereigns, Annoyingly-patient and cool-headed people who only expose their cover when they’re certainly sure of delivering their killing-blow right through your most vulnerable weakness. Only then could you see them for who they truly are! when you’re unable to retaliate or defend yourself. Promise me to be careful... always. And to visit me in five years or less... of course!” Mia was clearly sad and unwilling to part-ways but she knew that the chances of winning the agreement from her lord-father would be much higher if she waited these years for Lin to mature. Of course if her lord-father still dared to make things hard for the boy in the future then the young-woman wouldn't hesitate to relinquish her status as the saintess of the seamless-sword sect for the sake of being with her dao-companion! it’s funny really how Mia got her priorities shambled ever since she met Lin because he quickly grew-on her and in a matter of days he became her first—oh so many firsts—after kicking her lord-father down to become the second priority of her life then Xiaoxi followed by the sect.

“I will be extremely careful when dealing with strangers in the future I promise.” Lin gave her a kiss after seriously promising the saintess then smiled when the young-woman glared at him and said : “Unless I'm trapped in some sort of an inescapable prison-cell... then I’ll be knocking on the doors of your sect in five years for sure.” Which made Mia smile and give him a kiss back since he’s clever and said the right thing.

“Here... take one of the two advanced-space talismans inside this ring.” Mia took Xiangming's space-ring off from her finger and told Lin to keep one of the two leather scrolls for himself.

“Sigh!... just how much do you like seeing me bleed? exactly how much? say it woman.” The boy accepted the ring and teased the young-woman by making exaggerated expressions on his face which made her gawk then play along by saying : “Humph. This saintess commands it.” then curiously asked : “You never told me before... where do you want to go first?” Mia wanted to secretly send some people from her sect to the location to work behind the scenes and keep Lin's safety all the time while making it easier for him to find the materials which he’s looking for. The boy cringed and gave the young-woman a very suspicious expression before saying : “Woman!... why do you ask? you couldn’t be possibly after... uh-huh! you’re after my treasures. You must’ve known that I have one of these precious, precious things called "space-rings" you’re, aren’t you?” despite his act Lin was actually buying time and waiting for Jin Bao to answer him because he doesn’t know. Inwardly the boy was transmitting : 'Old Jin... come-on man... pick-up your... link!' while hoping that Mia would indulge him in that childish game a bit more. The saintess raised an eyebrow and said : “Maybe... but you wouldn’t mind if I guide you towards your destination anyway... do you?” instantly the great-sage felt cornered because despite how easy-going the young-woman might normally seem she’s actually quite sharp. The saintess felt it intuitively that this naughty-boy doesn’t want to reveal this information! which made her feel like wanting to know even more.

“Hahaha... told you so, she’s acute alright, this monster of yours isn’t so easily fooled as it would seem.” Jin Bao finally answered but Lin felt like making his way inside the ring just to smack him around.

“This is no time to admire the obvious old Jin!... can’t you see how penetrative her gaze is?” Lin transmitted while shaking his head at Mia.

“If we told her about our next destination she might cause us trouble, or she might make things easier for us. Forget it... kid, I’ll let you decide this one, since you’re going to be the one to suffer the consequences... kekeke” Jin Bao seemed to hesitate for a second or so before giving Lin the information.

“West of the southern-continent... pearl-harbor or the western-islands, either of these locations is fine with me because my "friend" requires a certain ingredient which can only be found in that area.” Lin said what old Jin just informed him but he stressed the word friend which made Jin Bao laugh again in amusement inside the soul-formation. The boy withheld the part of the information which has the name of the material and its use to keep the existence of old Jin a secret from the saintess. Because besides Lily his twin-sister Lin isn't going to tell anyone of the poor-fellow whose final part of his soul is trapped inside a ring! he did that out of respect to the man who suffered from extreme-solitude and cold-betrayal yet is still capable of laughing and making fun of the boy’s circumstances.

“Heh... good choice. That means Lin would be close to my sect, I’m so happy right now.” Mia was pleased by the closeness of that location to her seamless-sword sect and was finally distracted. Much to the boy’s relief who thought : 'Old Jin if you dare expose me to such risk again then... I’ll ignore you! I’ll have my fun travelling this spirit-world, at least for a few decades, before I even think about going get the stuff you need. Humph...”

-----

By nightfall Lin stopped flying and descended from the sky at the shore of this great-ocean which is the largest, widest, biggest, and deepest mass of water in this spirit-world! according to Mia... they say this inner-part of the great-ocean is merely considered a small-puddle if compared to the outer-parts of it. The inner-part of the great-ocean means the water surrounding the land of forgetfulness and connecting the biggest of the five-continents which is the land of forgetfulness itself and connecting it with the other four continents. whilst in the outer-part of the great-ocean it means the water outside the circle which contains the five-continents and stretches endlessly outside the circle.

Mia never experienced such happiness like the one she felt when her feet touched the sand of the beach! or similar feelings of freedom when the water of the ocean moved between her toes. The young-woman almost cried honest tears of happiness when the salty taste of the water was confirmed by her tongue. Quickly taking-off  all of her clothes and disregarding where they fell or which of the waves took them away. The saintess didn't mind the scary-looking water and its darkness and walked deeper in until the water reached her neck below the chin before stopping to enjoy the feeling of these waves whenever they pushed her back to the shore with their ebb or wherever the current dragged her towards the ocean with its flow. The boy related this behavior from the young-woman with escaping-prisoners who wouldn’t hesitate to do the same despite being on an extremely tight-schedule after escaping their imprisonment. But the great-sage had to admit that the ocean always has such hidden-effect on people because its waves can always wash-away the negative-emotions within them and recharge their spirits! quietly Mia exited the water and entered the bathtub which Lin prepared and filled it with clear water for her then rested her head on the edge. Saying nothing at all the young-woman kept staring at the boy's face while he meditated. The loved-ones of this saintess could be summarized in two people and one beast before entering this land. A mother... deceased since Mia’s childhood but she kindly left her with many happy memories. A father... the main-pillar of her life! the man who’s always been the young-woman’s strongest and staunchest supporter but he’s always sad and lonely. A forgetful pet! which is her tamed-beast but despite how silly Xiaoxi can be she always could cheer-up the saintess whenever she’s feeling down. Mia was very happy with the addition of the boy and his spoilt-tiger. The young-woman felt happy when she remembered how much suffering she experienced in the past two years. Then the saintess felt the extreme-happiness when she thought about the schemes of Katherine and how the following events actually pushed Mia into meeting Lin. Mia even felt grateful for the whole experience and closed her eyes to sleep while feeling peace, positive-calm, and hope for a future so bright. Much more than she ever hoped for.

"Heh, brat, you made the saintess of one of the five-great sects fall for you, see how the girl is head over heels in love with you? told you so.” Jin Bao said in a tune of voice which is filled with schadenfreude apparently which made it seem like the relationship between Lin and Mia is just a source of amusement and entertainment to him. The boy thought inwardly : 'This lone fellow!... after years of being a mute now he’s being so talkative, forget it I should just ignore him when he’s bored. Sigh.' But the trapped-cultivator continued to speak : “This will bring you lots and lots of troubles in the future, are you listening? kid!...” Lin exhaled a breath before opening his eyes and transmitting back : “Troubles or whatever... I’ll just deal with these matters when they happen.” Still Jin Bao said : “Kid... I’m telling you that women like her won’t become yours free of charge, because you need to prove worthy first, the one I’m talking about is the strongest user of weapon-intent! back in the days during my peak her father quickly climbed the ranks and established himself as a powerhouse in a few centuries. We’re talking about the man who’s titled as sword-sovereign! the genius sword-cultivator who’s said to rival Andreas the man who’s titled the fastest in the world.” Jin Bao smirked within the soul-formation when he said these words because riling-up the kid is honestly so fun. Lin chewed on the words from the trapped-cultivator for a few seconds before transmitting : “Worrying about it wouldn't help either! I better work hard and be prepared for these hard times, because it will be more helpful then... you’re the one who said that.” Lin quickly closed his eyes and returned to his meditation on the soul-strengthening technique. Lately the boy was focused on the new soul-ability which is called "soul-gaze" and that ability is the same one which gave Lin headaches and befell his body with severe-fevers and compelled it to remain in bed for days before whenever he tried to forcefully perform it more than once. It’s a hard ability to be performed smoothly like soul-sense or soul-link or soul-candle or the weakest of all soul-abilities and the most useless as well... soul-web! but the boy’s execution of the ability has been improving rapidly lately over the days. Just yesterday Lin succeeded in stretching his soul-force in a straight-forward line which extended for a distance of more than four kilometers long. That’s practically double the range of his soul-sense ability if performed normally. Still to be considered having accomplished an initial-success with the ability of soul-gaze the boy has to achieve at least triple the amount of range which he's capable of achieving with the ability of soul-sense.

“Soul-gaze huh!... this skill takes a fundamentally-different approach, in soul-sense it’s similar to the ripple-effect when a droplet of water hits the surface of water and cause horizontal-waves but soul-sense takes this theory a step further by making it an omnidirectional scan. Soul-gaze however... is like a straight and focused ray of transmission which is unlike the omnidirectional ability of soul-sense, that's why it strains the third-eye when it’s used, because it’s being taken as the focal-point of the ability which makes the silver-eye solely capable of actually seeing things which are quite far away from the user. The inventor of this soul-strengthening technique has really outdone himself, and whenever I remember that this ability of soul-gaze is only the fifth ability on the list of this technique... I just get filled with praise for the creator of this manual for soul-cultivation. That person really did a great job... just amazing.” Lin muttered to himself while closing his vertical and silver colored third-eye to let it rest since he almost exhausted two-thirds of soul-force earlier! then slowly made a fist with his left-hand and looked at the young-woman in bed. The boy is feeling slightly unwilling to part-ways with Mia but he has to do it. Jin Bao placed his faith on him and the great-sage isn’t someone who breaks his promises. After sighing inwardly and scattering these feelings of unwillingness Lin went towards the bed then took-off all of his clothes then cuddled-up with the sleeping-saintess. The boy decided to take his rest for the last night in this land while enjoying the soft touch of the young-woman’s embrace to its full! because tomorrow Lin will have to carry Mia out of this land then later they’ll part-ways for a long period of time.

-----

Before dawn.

Mia was the one to wake-up first and she kept still and maintained her position after waking-up because the young-woman didn’t want to wake-up her little "monster" and  the saintess couldn't stop smiling while watching his immature face! while holding Lin’s small body in her hands she tried to predict what changes are going to happen to her little-lover when he grows-up. The idea of this small boy someday hugging her between his bigger arms and into his wider chest after he matures then doing naughtier things to her! much more naughty than just kissing and groping her body. Made the young-woman's face blush hard and embarrassment almost suffocated her which caused the saintess to reflexively extend one of her hands and pinch Lin’s side while whispering : "If you dare bully me when you mature and become a man... Humph.”

“Ouch!... Mia... what? I'm up... I said I’m up! let go already, please! it really is a sensitive place... I’m sorry, alright.” Lin was like an electrocuted person when he jumped up in shock! in the beginning he was confused because he thought Mia was waking him up... somewhat harshly. Then the boy tried to appease the young-woman when he  felt that her fingers were starting to twist. The great-sage didn't care or even think of knowing the reason and his number-one priority right now is to stop these waves of pain from becoming more painful. Lin gave Mia a very awkward smile on-top of a cringing-face when he apologized which looked comical and it made the young-woman do her best to stifle her laughs which threatened to burst-out. Honestly the saintess froze when the boy whom she didn’t want to wake-up was actually awakened by her and very rudely at that! Mia’s body just acted on its own and she was feeling sad and sorry because she ruined the moment but Lin’s panicky-reactions balanced the effect once again.

“Bffft... I'm really sorry!... does it still hurt?” The young-woman said while gently caressing the area where her fingers just pinched and did her best to avoid eye-contact with the boy because she was afraid that she might really laugh. Currently Mia is partly blaming herself for spoiling the sight of Lin when he’s peacefully sinking deep in his sleep! yet partly pleased with herself after seeing how Lin quickly surrendered and hurried to raise the white-flag. The saintess continued to say : “I... really don't know why I did that, suddenly I felt mad at you and... I kind of reacted without thinking.” The young-woman explained herself in a very soft and apologetic tune then stole a quick glance at the boy and smiled. Mia saw the same look which her mother mentioned before on the boy’s face and it made her really happy! all in all... she has no regret whatsoever in taking this youngster as her beloved and choosing him to be her dao-companion.

Lin looked at the angelic-face when it broadened in a charming-smile and frowned once he knew the confusing-reason which caused him to be startled awake from his sleep! but the great-sage wasn't angry at the saintess for what she did... at all. Just terribly-confused about the workings of the female-mind... like always.

'Maybe... if my abilities got improved I might discover something, like a hint or a lead to unlock this mystery in the future. But which one will it be... I wonder! will it be body, soul, or maybe spirit. One of these three systems should enable me to understand how women think... it got to be, no... it has to be. This world is already on a completely different level from my universe, surely there’s an explanation which can satisfy me.' Lin thought when he got pulled into the young-woman's embrace and smelled her intoxicating scent.

Mia was amused by Lin's confusion and liked how despite his brilliance and wits the boy still isn't able to peek at her deepest secrets or the ones on the surface despite how simple it’s to know the reasons behind her actions and behavior! she liked him that's all and it’s as simple as that. Getting impulsive and carried-away by her emotions is a clear sign of being in love which is something the great-sage should’ve seen long ago. But the young-woman just isn't aware of the existence which is "Lily" who has its heavy-toll on the great-sage and affected him to the degree of distorting Lin's views and opinions on every human-female. Not to mention that boy’s opinions and views on the other gender weren’t exactly "normal" in his first life to begin with! and in the second life Lin tended to overthink things whenever he’s dealing with any female because of the few years which he spent living with Lily... this overcomplicated twin-sister of his really caused a lot of damage there on that area in this boy’s head. Weirdly enough after all that damage which Lily did... the final result of emotional-mess suited her perfectly. It just made that twin-sister of his gradually fit completely next to him in the picture... not as a sister but as a lifelong-partner and wife. Maybe all of Lily’s erotic actions and clinginess worked in the end. Now all of these reasons combined and caused Lin to miss the simple-truth which is right in front of him and by habit he delved deeper with his thoughts to search for what he thought would be the true cause of Mia's actions.

“Take me out of here... even if it’s your homeland, will you hate me if I said that I really... don't like this place?” Mia asked while poking Lin's nose she’s very eager to leave right now if possible! the young-woman didn't want to wait for breakfast because her breakthrough in spirit-cultivation is delayed enough already. For more than two years now the saintess has been stuck in the peak-perfection of the spirit-grandmaster realm. Since her spirit-energy has been suppressed thoroughly in this land of forgetfulness without an outlet then it means that Mia’s energy has been purified and concentrated over and over inside her dantian in every day which she spent in this land! the young-woman is pretty sure that all this energy which is bottled-up inside her dantian is surely going to burst-out all at once when she regains her ability to communicate with the elements. It means that this saintess is going to shoot-through three stages on her spirit-cultivation at least which means she’s guaranteed to jump an entire grade on the tyrant-realm once she breakthrough. Not only has Mia broke-through in her sword-cultivation and managed to materialize her energy of sword-intent into tangible and material force but also once the young-woman achieve the next breakthrough in spirit-cultivation then the fusion of both types of energies will enable the saintess to truly go head-to-head with any peak-grade cultivator in the spirit-tyrant realm very easily or transcend-realm to fight low-grade spirit-lords when she reach the peak-grade of the spirit-tyrant realm in the future. Only monsters among monsters can stand their ground against cultivators of a higher realm. Mia having the fortune to be one of these geniuses early on in her journey of cultivation made her eager to flaunt her powers in front of this "freak of nature" she’s titled a monster but he’s titled a freak... which is an entirely different level of formidable-ness. The young-woman is honestly afraid to even try and imagine what Lin would be able to do if he reached the peak and extent of his capabilities on all fronts! because if the boy actually managed to dig every last bit of his hidden-potential then on a very basic-estimate it would be future-Lin easily trouncing every cultivator he encounters in a similar realm no matter how vast the difference is in stages or grades... and no matter how high said-realm is... and that’s the least of what he should be able to do.

Feeling the impatience from Mia the boy didn't dawdle and nodded to convey his understanding of where these emotions stemmed-from then said : “Of course I wouldn't blame you for such feelings of repulsion. But let me warn you that our next journey will require me to carry both of you and Sun, I think I don't have to remind you again of how unstable his temper currently is, so... please leave him be, at least until you play that trump card of yours later... alright! I’m only saying this because if he lost his bearing or... transformed while we’re flying then it could be risky if something attacked us then. are we clear?” the great-sage is aware that he has to get an agreement from this airhead right now before they actually go anywhere! because for days now the boy tried to advise Mia on how she’s completely wrong when dealing with his tiger. In fact Lin always found dealing with Sun to be the easiest thing in the world because all you had to do is block the red-tiger seriously and decisively when its being unreasonable or teach it the right and correct ways of interacting with humans. Treat Sun to nice meals when he's being obedient and reprimand him with slightly harsh tune of voice when he's following his basic-instincts like a mindless idiot. But such animalistic-behavior started to fade away once Sun ate the mammoth's demonic core and his previous ferocity started to get covered then later it was replaced by a certain curiosity towards the surrounding world which started to reveal itself on his character instead. The tiger only showed that ferocity or revealed his basic-instincts whenever it’s hungry or needed to protect its territory, family or friends. However these days Sun started baring his teeth in ferocity towards other formidable species to test his capabilities. The red-tiger is searching for the secret why these other monsters north of Lin's village were similar and comparable to it in size yet they were incredibly faster and stronger than it. Lin is seeking for answers to the incredible mysteries of this world and similarly Sun is looking for his own reason of existence through a much narrower point of view and a shorter vision. But it’s the basic-truth of life and all creation seek the dao in countless ways or in the same way while the rare few find the way which suits them. Because similarities between any of the living races exist... you just have to look closely to see it.

“I won't bother him... I promise. Because after we settle-down outside this land, there will be enough time for me to make him grovel. Right now I just want to be close to you... my Lin is in the first place! after all this grumpy-Sunny doesn't deserve my precious love... for now. Tehehe.” Mia stopped Lin in his tracks with a tight hug and an obedient nod and that saved the young-woman from the lecture which the boy would’ve gave her.

After storing their bed and the other items in the space-ring Lin walked towards Sun who sat at the shore and let waves of water wash over his body while staring at loss on the endless water-mass which ceaselessly waved and crashed at his paws! when the boy arrived next to the red-tiger it nudged him with its snout which is wet with saltwater then grinned mischievously.

“Hey buddy... it’s good to see that you're in a good-mood this morning.”

“Purr...”

“Heh... you like the water huh!”

“Purr...”

“Since it’s not so bad then... how about you follow me by swimming next?”

“Whine!... growl...”

“Of course I’m joking you numbskull! but since we'll be flying next then I need you to be cool, tell me big fella... are you cool?”

“Snort...”

“Hey!... look at me when I'm talking to you, it’s very rude to look the other way when someone is talking to you and you know it.”

“Howl...”

“Fine... don’t look, but you'll have to solve these issues you have with Mia someday. And you will... right?”

“Grrr...”

“She's to me now just like how Moon is to you... when did you ever see me pick fights with moon? Huh!... that’s what I thought, never.”

“Roar!...”

“Yes... she’s a bit childish and naughty, I know.”

“Growl!...”

“A bit too much of the earlier... we both agree on that, but let’s face the truth here, she's a lot, and I mean it... a lot less annoying if compared to Lily to be fair.”

“Whine!... purr...”

“Anyway... just relax because Mia told me that she wouldn't bother you anymore, at least when we’re flying. So!... are you okay with her joining the ride under these terms?”

Mia stood behind the two and just watched Sun act proudly while Lin gently reprimanding him! like a little-brother which is being hardheaded and stubborn then his big-brother arrives and calmly persuades him to do the right thing. Finally after a short conversation between the boy and the red-tiger it gave the young-woman a strong stare with its yellow eyes before making a purring sound to indicate that its agreeing then it jumped up and cutely shook its red fur to scatter a big shower of saltwater droplets on both of her and the boy.

“Now I'm all wet...” The saintess said while looking down at her dress which became glued to the skin of her heavenly body after getting bathed in saltwater then she rolled her eyes at Lin and did her best to stop and control herself! it took a lot of will-power from Mia just to refrain from instantly repaying this naughty and spoilt red-tiger for what it just dared do by splashing water back at it. Lin noticed a few twitches on the far left on one of Mia's eyelids and looked at his shoulder where Sun perched himself after transforming into a kitten for the first time in days now then innocently and slowly licked his right-paw in front of the saintess with nerves of steel... cold and calm. The boy turned his head towards Mia and shrugged his shoulders then Lin gave his home and birthplace of this life a final look while the events of this second life replayed at mega speed inside his head. More than six years flashed by when the great-sage took the few steps towards the young-woman who stuck-out her tongue daringly towards Sun. After carrying her the boy released a final sigh from his chest which is stifled with deep and hidden-emotions before activating his wings and jumping up then fluttering his wings to head south at the fastest flight-speed. Lin has no regrets back in his birthplace but he has many and more of the unsolved-mysteries which has yet to be answered. He’s leaving all that back here in this land of forgetfulness. The greatest of these is of course... his rebirth! and Lily.

'Someday for sure... I'm going to return here to get my answers, but I need to know what I'm capable of first.' Lin thought then he felt the arms of Mia surround his neck then the furry tail of Sun tickle his cheek! both of them were silently looking at the boy and enduring the cutting-wind which kept hitting their bodies. Despite how fast the boy is going and how much the wind kept stinging their skin or ringing in their ears with an annoying whistle and buzzing-sound neither human nor beast utter a single complain or a faint whimper. Because they both felt how unsettled Lin’s mental-state is and how much he’s affected on a deep-level by whatever that’s he’s going through right now. Just the serious yet vacant look on the boy’s face gave-out the whole story of how much bottled-emotions were inside his chest. Right now if Lin is asked : why did he become very emotional? then he would simply reply : “I... really don't know!”

After flying south until the shore of the land of forgetfulness faded away from their vision Lin's soul-sense picked-up an invisible-wall separating the ocean water about three kilometers ahead of them and that invisible-wall extended towards both the left and right directions... seemingly endlessly! the invisible-walls around Mia’s space-ring and this invisible-wall which looks like it’s separating heaven itself are very similar. The water on his side of this invisible-wall is calm and rarely has any big waves on its surface even the marine-life under the surface which the boy’s ability of soul-sense could capture are leaning towards the normal types of sea organisms. No frightening creature of exaggerated-size or anything even near that description is swimming in the range of one kilometer deep in the ocean underneath them when Lin scanned the area. Yet despite his two eyes clearly seeing that this invisible-wall is only nine meters thick... when the great-sage tried to use his ability of soul-sense to penetrate this invisible-wall he was surprised to discover that his soul-sense covered a distance of three kilometers deep but still couldn't reach the water behind the wall! after remembering the event with little-Mia who protected the space-ring the boy automatically shifted from curious-mode into alert-mode and retracted his soul-sense quickly.

“Sigh... finally I'm back at the borders of the great-space formation, I've been stuck in this accursed land for two years now. Come on Lin let's go... crossing this space formation is actually a lot safer if you can fly, now that I remember... I had to swim amongst many predators and fight my way until I crossed it, then I had to find my way to the shore while not knowing which way is which. I almost died a lot of times in these couple of years but I didn’t, yay... do you know what does that mean? I’m strong! and lucky. Tehehe... go, go, go... hurry!”

“Heh... only two years and here she's whining like a baby! two centuries and more is my record. Kid!... quickly make a reason to leave that monster of yours, we have things to do and I have a lot of things to teach you.”

When the last part of Lin's soul-force retracted from the boundaries of the space formation and returned to his soul-body! the images of the countless creatures lurking in the water within the boundaries of that invisible-wall which are at least the size of the blue-whale and larger made the great-sage frown because they looked dangerous. Then both Mia and Jin Bao started to release lots of stifled emotions when they spoke. It seemed like both of them were competing with each other on who’s better. But the proudness in their accomplishments is obvious in their words.

“Is it really safe to just fly there? the size and looks of these creatures doesn’t look it to me! and what’s the size of this strange space formation exactly? it’s unknown to me because my soul-sense couldn’t cover it all.” Lin told Mia of his worries and flew higher because he’s worried about getting sneak-attacked by one of these creatures down below. The boy’s two eyes measured the invisible-wall of this great-space formation many times yet he only saw it being nine meters wide. Yet the smallest creature swimming in this water is more than eighty meters long which almost drove someone with a scientific-mind like him almost insane when he saw it.

The young-woman rubbed cheeks with the boy when she saw him frowning and said : “Heh... it’s confusing right!” Lin nodded and the saintess smiled and continued : “Actually it’s nine miles wide... the energy of space-time makes it look like you can just jump and cross its borders, but don’t let appearances fool you... especially if you’re faced with formations, anyway... the truth is that once you enter the borders of this great-space formation, you'll feel like being inside a miniature-world and these walls in front you are what separates you from seeing what’s on the other side.” Mia answered which only added to the confusions of the great-sage then pointed her finger ahead for Lin to keep going and said : “Don’t worry and just go on... as long as we can fly while crossing it then it will be a cinch to move from border to border in no time, if some creature dares come out of the water to harass us we will be already high above and out of reach! but if there’s one which can reach us then I’ll chop it to pieces.” The ease of mind and careless-attitude from the young-woman made Lin be a lot less wary of this space formation. The great-sage looked at the saintess and sighed while thinking : 'I’m afraid to cross it while having the leisure and privilege of flying, but she already swam all nine miles between these creatures! she really said it earlier "don’t let appearances fool you" indeed.' then he vigilantly flew closer towards the layer of invisible curtains which is enormously-immeasurable to the degree of separating both the sky high above and the ocean down below and extending like so left and right until the end of the boy’s sight! like an invisible curtain which is large enough to cover the land of forgetfulness from the rest of the spirit-world. Lin felt a notion of displeasure spray inside his chest once he stood a step away from this border of the great-space formation. Somehow the great-sage felt disgusted with it yet again he didn't know why he felt repulsed by this formation. Taking a final breath in the boy flew forward and entered the invisible-wall and crossed the inner-border of the formation! but once inside it Lin didn’t stop and take a look like he usually does when he’s experiencing new things and quickly moved forward as fast as he can to cross this short distance of nine miles while spreading his soul-sense to the maximum. Despite what Mia said before he liked to be ready and wouldn’t rely on her completely to handle everything... the young-woman can deal with emergency-level threats while the boy can rely on his abilities to avoid anything else. Then on the last mile of this short journey inside the borders of the great-space formation Lin’s soul-sense picked a wave which is three-hundred meters tall on the area outside the outer-borders of the space formation! the scene of a raging and tumultuous-ocean with mountain-sized waves everywhere in sight could be seen way below underneath Lin's feet once they exited the borders of the great-space formation. A stormy sky with thick and dark clouds above his head which is full of snaking-lightning coupled with many swirling-hurricanes extending all the way from the sky above his head and connecting it to the ocean water all the way down below him and causing one gigantic whirlpool after whirlpool which made these hurricanes look like heavenly-pillars who help keep the sky raised and without them it will just fall and crash into that ocean.

“Huff... t... this is way, way beyond what should be called a stormy-sea! how come there's this great difference between outside and inside the borders of this space formation?” The boy asked while struggling to navigate his way away from the gravitational-pull of these hurricanes. Lin’s biggest worry is of course the bolts of lightning which randomly fell on the water below from these dark clouds and kept a close watch on the ocean below them too.

“Chaotic-energy... they say it’s affecting the elements around the land of forgetfulness despite the isolation of the great-space formation. The farther we go from the borders the calmer things will become.”

“The air itself... it somehow feels different outside too, it feels fresh and... reinvigorating!” Lin nodded when he saw the stormy clouds lose their dark-grey color and turn faint-grey in color then white while they widened the distance from the formation and its rowdy sea then he commented on the air filling his lunges with each breath.

“Heh... look at you getting all emotional with this muddy air, so cute... look for any island so that I can set a basic spirit-gathering formation. You need to assimilate your martial-spirit into your dantian first then refine your first wisp of spirit-energy to become full-fledged spirit-cultivator in the first stage of the spirit-apprentice realm, I will show you what "fresh and clear air" truly feels like.” The saintess smiled when she heard the boy and kissed his cheek then spoke while looking around them for any sign of land.

“Didn’t you say before that you can use one of your spirit-tools to fly? show me then.” Lin remembered and asked Mia and she nodded but when he requested she shook her head. The great-sage leaned and kissed her because he thought that this young-woman was seeking to play and continued to say : “Why? don’t you want a treat!...” but the boy was surprised when the saintess gave him a weird look and a smile. Finally she stopped teasing him and said : “Because I can’t use too much of my spirit-energy without risking having my breakthrough actually beginning before I’m well-prepared for it, sorry little-Lin right now big-sister is really, really doing her best to keep her spirit-energy suppressed inside her dantian.” Lin nodded and shrugged because it isn’t a big deal actually because he just wanted to have a race to have some fun together that’s all! the boy expanded his soul-sense to the limit and searched for a place to land. Mia seemed to remember something very important and gave Sun a fleeting side-glance before she flipped her hand and a strange fruit appeared on-top of her palm. The saintess acted like she didn't see how on-attention Sun became and how his pair of yellow eyes were glued to the translucent fruit which had seeds of the deep-red color inside its flesh. Lin gritted his teeth after flying for a while at such high-speed yet finding no islands in sight at all but he didn’t change his trajectory and maintained his course directly towards the south. Their situation stayed the same for a couple of hours and the boy knew that very soon he would be extremely exhausted to even raise one of his hands especially since he flew such a great distance while being burdened by the extra weight which he's carrying. Mia seemed to be struggling inwardly and the great-sage couldn’t tell if she’s struggling because she’s suppressing her spirit-energy or if she’s struggling about whether or not should she take-over and switch places with him! but Lin honestly didn’t have any extra or excessive focus to figure it out in this situation. deciding to go all out in a make it or break it moment... the boy concentrated and gathered all of the soul-force which his soul-body can muster and within his soul-world that silver and vertical third-eye on the center of the forehead suddenly opened wide and covered the glowing-area of the soul-world in silver color which shined very brightly for a split second before a ray of the same color was sent towards the darkness. The saintess suddenly twisted her neck to look towards the great-sage and before she got to speak the young-woman found the boy smiling in excitement and say : “Finally... huff...” then he grunted before suddenly picking-up his speed which was clearly becoming much slower if compared to when their journey began. A couple seconds later Mia saw a silhouette of an island appearing on the horizon and Lin went towards it directly then descended on the summit of this tiny island.

Surprisingly once their feet touched solid earth again Sun didn’t keep his distance from the young-woman and was behaving like a little duckling which is following its mother-duck! the orange-kitten walked after Mia everywhere she went while its eyes never left the little fruit in her hand. That was much to both the joy and amusement of the saintess who soaked-in so much of this triumphant-feeling once her chance finally became possible. Lin just sat down to rest his body and drank slowly to recover but he couldn’t stop himself from smiling while watching how Mia teased Sun by making him smell the fruit but never allowed him to eat any of it. The orange-kitten became like a horny animal in the mating season and quickly returned to Lin's side to anxiously complain of how much he wanted to eat this fruit. The boy’s soul-sense on the other hand has already noticed long ago that underneath the skin of this translucent fruit there’s a cluster of some energy. Even the great-sage felt an unconscious-impulse and urge to take a bite from it like his body-cells needed that energy.

“Hehe... see! I told you, you naughty-kitty kept refusing my love, now come here and give me an... enormous hug! maybe, just maybe... I’ll allow you a tiny bit. You can refuse... it’s just fine with this saintess anyway, because I’ll give it to my Xiaoxi instead. Do you know why? because she’s obedient... Humph.” Mia said then she sat next to Lin and pulled him into her embrace to pamper him after confirming that he’s just exhausted and there’s nothing serious. Sun was hesitant about whether to accept Mia's demands in exchange for the fruit or not.

“Meow!...”

“You're free to do what you want buddy, nobody is forcing you to do anything, accept Mia’s fruit or not... it’s all up to you.”

Lin patted Sun's head comfortingly and gave him the freedom of choice like always then the boy gave the young-woman a look to warn her not to go back on her word! since the red-tiger actually has very small capacity for trusting people especially strangers. If Mia went back on her words now then Sun will never accept her friendship again even if she offered him many gifts for free later.

......

Let's rewind a bit back to the time when Lin and Mia crossed the borders of the great-space formation.

Head back to Lin's village... then go bit more north of the village! all the way actually until the location where the beasts which Sun is frightened by them live and take as natural-habitat is reached. Then north of there and keep fast-forwarding and skip-over mountains and rivers and forests until signs of civilization start appearing in the horizon. The "civilization" in that area is visibly advanced! if compared to Lin's village then that location is more advanced by a few tens of thousands of years if you may say. But skip-over that location of civilization and head north... again. All the way until a city of great-proportions with true skyscrapers is blocking the sunlight from reaching the earth. Then skip-over it until another city which is "gigantic" in the true sense of the word is spread until the end of sight like a behemoth of metal and light which spread itself on the earth as well as the sky above it. Skyscrapers are already floating in the sky! people don’t use transportations because they’re already wearing their transportation on their skin. Within one of the floating buildings in the center of this gigantic-sized city... one person looked wide-eyed at the hologram-images on the monitor which suddenly popped-up from the watch on his hand. Then looked at the other hologram-apparel which indicated the incoming-call from his direct superior and two other calls from his colleagues.

“Greetings councilor Ralph... I'm getting a reading of a spirit-user exiting our land! since when was this spirit-sovereign in our territory? how come I wasn't informed of the existence of such a threat on the sovereign-level? the minister, me, and the vice-chairman will be personally at your office in fifteen minutes, I sincerely hope that you’ll be ready when we arrive... to explain this obvious-neglect of your responsibilities.” The elderly man with a mix of black and white hair on his head was frowning and obviously displeased with his underling but he didn't throw any kind of accusation yet! because only with evidence can he do so.

“Yes chairman Zakaria... my team is already collecting data and by the time you arrive with the minister we will be sure to deliver an explanation for this situation, if it’s caused by my "neglect" then of course I'm ready to take full responsibility.” The tall and thick-bearded man who’s called councilor Ralph nodded and answered while his hands and thoughts were busy sending orders for his department of defense. Orders to gather information and draw a complete map of the movement of this little boy who has wings from the moment he entered to the moment he exited their territory. While resting his back on his leather-chair Ralph accepted the incoming calls from his colleagues all at once.

“I really hope that it won't be on you this time, big-man... see you in a few minutes.” Chairman Zakaria said and ended the call.

“Yo!... Ralph, oh my big and lovely Ralph... looks like you're in deep trouble this time, tell me what caused the slip?” A very seductive-woman with a cute smile and one hell of a charming body appeared next to seven other images in front of Ralph and she was the first to hold her slim waist and speak while walking around the office.

“Hey Anna... you're not going to throw insults from the get-go are you?”

Councilor Ralph was watching the feed which he just received from his subordinates and that feed tracked Lin's movement backwards from the journey to his life in the village until the day he was born! Ralph frowned when he answered while refusing to admit that what happened is his fault to this one in particular who always involved herself in his work and the work of any of the other councilors. Councilor Anna of the intel-council and its current head-manager is an information-freak who likes to know everything be that in her jurisdiction... or not. Because Anna just liked it! and himself being the head-manager of the defense-council this councilor Ralph is used to getting bugged-out a lot by Anna all the time. Now that there’s a possibility of a spirit-sovereign peacefully working underneath their nose within their territory under some kind of miraculous circumstances and a perfect cover of a divine cloak of stealth! of course Anna wouldn't let go of this chance to sink her fangs and chew Ralph out to gather more of her precious intel.