This world has a method of raising and ranking strength. They called it cultivation.
The ranks Leiji knew were Aurora Civilian, Scholar, Warrior, Noble, King/Queen and Emperor/Empress. There were myths about Aurora Legends and Myths, of how one once came and showed off a visible form of spiritual energy that looked like blue and green smoke dancing. Which sounded similar to an Aurora Borealis and was probably named like that because of it, though, how they knew of such a thing, Tian Leiji didn't know either.
As it turned out, there were creatures in this world that weren't normal animals and usually had an element to them, like Ice Bears or Music Birds. Beasts like them were able to cultivate and even evolved to the point that the newly born or hatched ones have a set cultivation. Then there were Corrupted Beasts, who were, well, they cultivated using demonic arts.
The kingdom, after hearing that the Tian was gone, decided that the remnants might as well go die and sent a decree to the household.
They were to deal with the Corrupted Beast. Two seven-year-olds and an eleven-year-old, had they been in the other world, the kingdom would be utterly finished, not even ashes remaining. Justice would've slapped everything that could be seen as the smallest slights against the law down and imprison them for years on end.
Leiji missed her.
Lu Yanhei had vehemently objected when she heard and seemed to be contemplating something, Tian Leiji didn't ask and instead told her, "You can supervise us."
Mother narrowed her eyes and took some knifes with them. Tian Leiji, Ling Hongyun and Light all pretended they saw nothing of her sharpening knifes and deflected Tian Lanbing's curiosity.
(Tian Leiji hated being told what to do.)
And so here they were.
Ling Hongyun had vehemently rejected the idea of staying back so he and Leiji went to get the task done. Light had decided to stay back with Lanbing and Lu Yanhei had just smiled very creepily when Leiji had said she could stay back. So, they brought her too.
Tian Leiji carefully controlled her twitching facial muscles as she let a bird peck her. To be more precise, it was still a young nestling that should not be making trouble or be in this forest at all, if mother's lecture had taught her anything. Ling Hongyun was still staring at it like a disgruntled cat that was caught catching a canary and wanted a fight. Which was, an elaborate description for a stare.
To simplify it, he was annoyed.
"So this thing is a," Leiji chewed the name the people of this world had given the bird, before deciding it was weird and useless. "Music Hummingbird."
The past world had not only humans that could wield elements, but animals too. Plants have also gained them by a good several years before she had died. To make it easy for people, they just call it whatever element they had gained followed by whatever that animal or bird was.
Except, Tian Leiji was not sure this bird was supposed to exist in this particular area. If she went by the language, then it should be her sister, Music's, territory. This bird was, if Lightning remembered clearly, from Destruction's territory. This…might as well be on the other side of the world. That was quite worrying.
This world was odd.
Lu Yanhei raised a brow, eyes gazing at her son in curiosity.
(How did he find out such a thing?)
"What rank is it, mother?" Because goodness knows that Tian Leiji cared to know about how to sense another's cultivation. Not. Then there is a pause, Lu Yanhei gave Tian Leiji a wry smile and told her, "Go ask Hongyun dear instead, won't you?"
Leiji opened her mouth to ask why but something in her mother's stare made her stop and turn away. It was fine, mother could keep her secrets.
She cupped the nestling in her hands and shoved it into the waiting Ling Hongyun. Said boy was giving her mother a stare that seemed to imply that he knew what was up, "Little boy," he ended up frowning and taking the animal with hands as careful as a child could be with young animals.
'Hm,' Leiji replies through the bond. Hongyun pets the bird, giving a small smile when the it chirps and leans into his touch. 'It is an Aurora Scholar, rank 4…' Hongyun trails off, an impish glint in his eyes as he says out loud. "Xiao Qiu."
There were two familiar presences quickly getting closer to their location. Lightning turned her head and greeted Light who was probably just tailing Tian Lanbing to make sure she doesn't get hurt. Lanbing herself immediately cried out a no when she heard that Ling Hongyun was going to name the bird such a crude name.
Leiji threw Light a look that screamed, "What happens next is your fault."
Light smiled that annoying smile of hers.
Tian Lanbing reached for the bird, Ling Hongyun holding it away from her with a smirk. The small bird chirped and panicked, flustered at being moved so quickly and suddenly. It screeched, the noise grating painfully at their ears.
Yet, Lanbing's shouting somehow still was able to compete with it.
Leiji fluttered around Lanbing awkwardly, not knowing how to deal with a crying child. Her little sister, Music or Q, in the past life had never been a troublesome one, always obedient to Lightning and never questioning or being difficult to her big sister. Light sighed and in the single action of taking Lanbing into her arms and carrying her, shushed the crying child and made her stop crying.
Right. Light had had two younger siblings too, Justice and Negativity.
Lu Yanhei placed a hand on Leiji's shoulder. "What is it?" Leiji asked, turning to her mother.
Yanhei paused for a moment before saying, "I, we need to have a talk after all this." Leiji nodded because what could it possibly be?
Ling Hongyun, slowly getting more annoyed by the second decided to be adamant on his choice of naming the bird Xiao Qiu. Tian Lanbing, seeing his smug expression, decided she wanted out of Light's arms and back to arguing with Hongyun.
But on other topics, that bird would bring them some trouble if they brought it back instead of doing what they were supposed to do and kill it. Still so young and already a Rank 4 Scholar, how many Beasts could be that strong? Even if it was a troublemaker and prankster, the emperor himself was only barely a Rank 3 Emperor.
The nestling would be a horribly good asset to anyone within the kingdom.
The other option would be to just leave it be. But doing so would be blatantly going against the orders the emperor sent. They had been ordered to get rid of whatever was endangering the common people in the forest.
However, the problems that they had been facing have not been about sound at all, not all of them at least.
The problems had been about ice.
While it was plausible that the bird somehow knew how to turn the water molecules in the air into ice or simply drop the temperature, it was still so young and haven't become strong enough that it would create enough problems. Leiji could feel that its cultivation was somewhat high, but she could also feel that the amount, purity and strength of its elements were all low.
The most it could do was probably sing a song that gives him a nearly incomparably small amount of stamina or strength or speed. Maybe if it was smart enough, it would be able to make itself soundless.
That meant that there was another troublemaker around here.
"Over there," Yanhei turned Leiji to the emptiest place in the reservoir they were in. Curious, Leiji focused her senses that way and surely enough, there were four presences there, one of them weak. Only one would be able to pose a threat, however.
How did she not notice? That clearly meant that she needed more training.
The presences were coming closer and that was when Tian Leiji spotted four white…bears? Lanbing, noticing them too, dropped what she was doing and ran over, Light following just a little behind.
Leiji quickly followed along with them, not wanting any accidents happening. Things like that happening under her watch would greatly injure her pride.
Perhaps there was a reason, Lightning realized, that whenever any otherworlders ever came to the past world, everyone would vote that they stayed at her place. She was the strongest of them, was of a neutral element and was neutral in personality, judgment and in general. All of them had bias against any otherworlder and though Lightning did too, it did not impede her judgment of an individual personality.
A safety net, she realized. They saw her as a safety net and not as a pillar.
Maybe it was that realization that let the burden lift just a bit and she didn't remember anytime in this current life that she had felt lighter.
How could Lightning have forgotten? They were all strong, this pseudo-family of hers. Climbed their way to the very top and carved a place in history for themselves. Balance was there too, she could help. Even if—
Light caught her gaze and sent a smile, Leiji blinked and returned it.
The bird was still held by Ling Hongyun who promptly left the scene, bringing the small fluffy thing. Tian Lanbing had gone up to the bears and presented herself as a harmless being. The already weak presence of the adult bear plummeted and Leiji suddenly realized that it was dying.
The three cubs, as if sensing such, started panicking and pawing and nudging the mother bear, as if she would come back if they did it enough. Light kneeled beside the bear, about to touch it when one of the cubs snarled at her and snapped its jaws.
"Lightning," Light called out, and Leiji stepped up, only to be stopped by Lu Yanhei.
"The Beast is a Corrupted Beast, it won't take well to us." Meaning, we can't help it. Leiji pursed her lips, unwilling to give up on it. "Mother, please?"
Light had, at that point, managed to turn the mother bear over and expose the terrible wound it bore. The stench of blood became heavier.
Looking closer, Leiji could see that it was inflicted by something sharp and was lodged in there for a while. Something like that, it would either be spear or an arrow, both weapons. Was the bear being hunted? Most likely.
Leiji frowned, reminding herself that such a thing was normal in this world. In the past world, meat of anything other than chicken, fish, cow, goat, deer, lamb and duck was both a rarity and illegal. Even then, most people weren't able to steel their hearts to kill the animals and decided to go vegetarian.
Lightning herself had never cared, unable to connect the adorable things with the food she ate.
The presence of the mother bear sinks to nothing and they are left with a corpse. Lanbing cried, the three cubs knowing that their mother was dead but still trying to get her to wake up anyways.
And suddenly, another realization came by. If Leiji had had the same cultivation as the bear, would it have survived?
Light closed her eyes and sent a brief prayer before producing a shovel out of nowhere digging into the soil. Lu Yanhei sighed and started comforting Lanbing, the girl herself not knowing why the bear can't just come back to life. Leiji silently walked away, not asking anything and thus not getting any answers.
It was fine, maybe that was how it was supposed to be.