Li Yu Rong made the way to the back of the Palace of the Four Gates in contemplative silence. His thoughts were both concentrated on the report made by the spirits returning from the south and the words Lu Se Ying gave after his return.
The fact that the southern part of the Spirit Realm, the portion split between the countries Zhi Feng and Jing Di, seemed to have joined hands coupled with the earlier reports coming from the north and west, were quite troubling. The number of contracted and the number of spirits laid out before the gates were staggering. That the two didn't even try to cover up this fact, more than arrogance, it spoke of their self-assurance that nothing could be done to stop them regardless.
The south was strengthening themselves, the west and north were probably hiding the same things by killing his scouts, but to what purpose? Who were the aggressors? The five countries were supposed to be neutral within the Spirit Realm. Regardless of the government and who were allies and enemies, the Gate Guardian's did not get involved.
As his eyes were concentrated elsewhere these past two months, Li Yu Rong could not fathom what had changed during the time he had been distracted.
Because of this tentative situation, he wanted to change his mind and not bring Asya along to the Spirit Realm should she have the ability to step passed the gates; this thought was soon tossed aside. For although he worried about bringing her along into something obviously bad, the idea of leaving her behind stifled his heart far more.
Not only did the current events lend to the idea of a possible invasion while he was away and could not protect the gates from the other guardians, he also worried over the type of serious trouble she could get into while she was left alone. If he didn't have to, he'd rather not leave her behind.
After Lu Se Ying returned, leaving Paoxiao to find his own way home as per his orders, he relayed an interesting tidbit. It made Li Yu Rong think back to An Ying's report, speaking of his sudden return to sanity after falling into one of his violent episodes. When Asya reached out and grabbed hold of An Ying's wrist there was a type of energy that flowed from her into him.
According to Lu Se Ying, this energy seemed to be a perfect blend of both spirit and vital energy with an underlying something that he couldn't name. In order to confirm the truth of the matter, he would have to examine her more closely.
Slanting a look toward the girl that barely came to his shoulder, Li Yu Rong carefully took in her expression. Although Asya seemed a bit tired from the long walk to the location of the gates, she did not display the usual strain a normal human with only vital energy would feel.
It was puzzling as it was curious. Asya was human. There was no mistaking that, not for him, but somehow she able to have multiple energies and her human body was able to withstand such a high-level concentration of spirit energy. Before, he had never allowed her to wander far from the front of the palace where the spirit energy was weakest, for fear that she would be poisoned from it. Though he placed that mark on her wrist to make it easier for her to stay here with him, it should only protect against a mild exposure.
Although it didn't seem that she knew about the energies in her body, perhaps the realm she was from was inferior in that way. Even here, there was a time when the people did not know how to utilize the energy in their body. It started with one. That one had then developed skills that were spread to others through schools and then sects. Soon, even clans developed their own skill sets unique their family.
Finally, the gates came into view. The huge, towering constructions that looked as if they opened into nowhere. They were placed evenly in a circle with enough space between them to set three people. As soon as Nastasia saw them her first thoughts were of Stonehenge. This was probably because the gates were made of rough-hewn stone pillars with another slab of stone stretching across the top.
The constructions piqued her curiosity to such a degree that she immediately wanted to go over and examine them from every angle. Why did they look like Stonehenge? What was their purpose? Although she could easily ask the man at her side, she wanted to go and-
Li Yu Rong grabbed Asya by her arm and pulled her back to his side. Although the concentration of spirit energy was high near the gates, it was nothing compared to actually walking through one of the gates into the Spirit Realm.
"Don't go near there, it's too dangerous."
"Dangerous," she asked as she tilted her head wondering how that could be, "what are they?"
Considering a moment before answering, Li Yu Rong said. "The gateways leading into the Spirit Realm." It wouldn't do any harm to say it. Besides, it appeared that she may have the tolerance to follow him to the gathering of the Gate Guardians. Thus, she would learn of them eventually.
Nastasia opened her mouth to question more on the subject but was silenced as Li Yu Rong pulled her along to a building off to the side. The building had a black roof that swooped down and then curled up at the ends. Though it wasn't exactly small, it was the smallest structure she'd seen so far in the Palace of the Four Gates.
The inside was one large room split unevenly by a screen. The side that was seen from the doorway had a few desks and about ten beds laid out. The side behind the screen was a storage area that mostly had weapons taking up its space.
Leading her to the back, he had her sit on a bed. Li Yu Rong than sat on a bed across from her. "Lu Se Ying, you may begin."
The purpose of bringing Asya here was to test if she had the ability to follow him to the Spirit Realm. That she was able to make it this far without breaking a sweat showed a high likely-hood that she wouldn't suffer should she go. All that was left was to have Lu Se Ying perform a thorough test to put his mind at ease.
If he took a human, that should only contain vital energy, to the Spirit Realm their body would suffer heavy and irreparable damage. It was why he had gone back and forth with the idea of taking Asya along. However, he trusted Lu Se Ying. There was no being as well versed in the arts of medicine and energies as him. If he said that she was okay to go, Li Yu Rong wouldn't question it any longer.
Seeing her confused look, Lu Se Ying assured her gently as he took both her arms up by the wrist. "It's just a test to check if your body is well enough to travel."
This sort of answer left Nastasia even more confused as she was not unwell in the least. While she trusted Li Yu Rong not to harm her, for some reason her chest was feeling a bit uneasy. Something inside was telling her not to go through with this. Never-the-less, she nodded her acceptance.
Lu Se Ying drew her sleeves up to her elbows. He drew out an array that would vanish as soon as the test was over from the crook of her elbow down to her writs; stopping just short of the mark on her left wrist.
Once he was done, he said to the girl. "Take deep breathes and exhale slowly until I tell you to stop." At her perplexed frown, he realized that she might not know all the words he used and thus demonstrated what he wanted from her. "Now," he said as he pointed her palms upward, "concentrate all of your thoughts here."
Nodding she did as he asked.
Sweat began collecting on the back of his neck as he worked. It wasn't from the work itself but rather from his master gorging himself on vinegar at his back. That fierce, dual-colored gaze was burning his hands as he swept then down her arms with a green glow in an attempt to help her guide the energy contained in her body to her palms. The process he was using was necessary to get the most accurate reading and could not be exchanged for something else.
In most cases, it was difficult to tell the type of energy one had if it wasn't called out in this way. This held true for all energies, especially if you wanted to see the type of element one had. For Lu Se Ying's spirit energy, it was a mixture of fire and earth, with earth being dominate; a healing type.
It was almost unheard of for a person to have more than two elements and it was most common to only have a single element. The reason the Mortal Realm called the Gate Guardians "Elemental Spirit Masters," was that they were mortals that could withstand spirit energy and could also utilize all of the elements; their strongest element being the element of their country.
'Ah, master,' Lu Se Ying thought miserably, 'it's really difficult to concentrate with you being so fierce back there.'
Due to the stress being placed on him, the process took longer than necessary. However, after a good few minutes of guiding her, the arrays finally lit up as the energy flowed down her arms into the palm of her hands.
Nastasia jolted from the shock of it, hardly believing what her eyes were seeing.
"Don't move," Lu Se Ying warned., "we'll have to start over if you interrupt the flow."
Nodding, Nastasia looked in wonder at the glowing energy that was dancing around in her hands. It was a pale blue with silver flecks that snapped out here and there.
The colors that had her so fascinated stumped Lu Se Ying. While he could tell that she indeed had a mixture of three energies, the color of the energy did not give way to any known type. It almost felt like the third, unknown, energy was blanketing it from prying eyes. That third energy, it dominated the other opposing two and forced them to coexist in harmony.
For Lu Se Ying, this was like a confirmation on how she managed to handle An Ying so easily. This must have forced the ragging spirit energy in his body to calm, in turn calming the murderous rage in his heart.
"The test is done." He said. Relief colored his tone as he was finally able to release her arms and his master's glare retreated from him. The light of the arrays vanished as they disappeared from her arms. The energy retreated back to her core now that it was no longer being forced to come out.
As Lu Se Ying was talking, explaining the test, the words coming from his mouth started to sound like a video clip that had been slowed down. It was garbled and then sounding far from her ears. Everything in front of her vision began to warble. As Nastasia tried to concentrate on any one point the object would split into many and the clones would wave and dance about.
Ah, she was feeling motion sick. As she opened her mouth to speak of her discomfort, Nastasia felt as if the ground was pulled out from under her feet.
Her mind only knew darkness.