The next morning the two women got up early after breakfast Bai Mei Li got Xiao Jun settled and went to Chu Ling's cultivation room.
The room was small and appeared completely normal except for a podium off to the side of the door. There you could activate the room. Bai Mei Li hadn't done that because this room was built for wind attributed cultivators. Her attributes were fire and water.
So instead, she just intended to use this as a very private and quite place to concentrate.
She took out the Qi gathering pearl and then she slipped into a cultivation state without much trouble. She'd being this for a while now and it was getting easier and easier to focus her mind.
The pearl did its job perfectly. It automatically gathering the Qi around and She just needed to concentrate on absorbing as much of it as she could. The cultivation room did it's job well. It was easy was the Qi to enter the room, but it was hard for it to leave. That was the reason why even a normal person would enter a cultivation room and feel refreshed.
She remained that state for several hours until she felt like something inside of her had just suddenly loosed up. She had a vague understanding of what that meant.
She began condensing her gather core Qi and started to circulate it forcefully through her meridians until it began to move more smoothly throughout her meridians until eventually it moved without any real resistance at all. She felt as though her veins were heat up, and she understood what this meant.
Bai Mei Li continued cycling her Qi until she felt something crack in her dantian and a very comfortable warmth spread throughout her body. She felt her meridians expand and contract multiple times before they finally settled down and she understood that she'd broken though.
There was no real fanfare for her breakthrough, no heavenly lighting. Her realm for too low to attract the attention of the heavenly Dao. Instead, her body simply felt far more comfortable than it had before. She felt as though she could absorb Qi a bit more easily and her muscles felt as though they'd strengthen.
Bai Mei Li was more than happy with that. After all she wasn't exactly looking forward to struggling against heavenly lighting tribulations. She still had the mindset of a modern woman after all. Who looked forward to fighting lightening where she'd come?
With her practice done she got up and left the cultivation room. Xiao Jun and Fei'er looked like they'd just finished lunch and were now playing in the living room. Chu Ling was in the kitchen cleaning up after their meal. Bai Mei Li smiled at her and headed to the bathroom to get clean.
The plumbing though extremely simply certainly made things a lot easier than what Bai Mei Li's memories told the outside world was like. She couldn't be more grateful for the simple toilet; she really wasn't looking forward to having to go outside of the village.
Once she'd cleaned up, she went back into the living room to say her goodbyes.
"Hey Ling Ling, I'm going to get going now. This shouldn't take me more than a few days and I should be back." She said with a smile as she walked over to Chu Ling to give her a goodbye hug.
Chu Ling smiled and hugged her back. "Don't worry about anything here and just come back safely. Xiao Jun will be fine."
"Thanks, I really appreciate it." She said then walked over to Xiao Jun. "Okay sweetie. Take care of Fei'er and be good for aunty Ling Ling okay?"
The chubby and adorable child looked up at her with innocent eyes. "Xiao Jun doesn't want you to leave but I will take care of Fei'er."
"That's a good boy." She grinned kissing his smooth and editable cheeks. "I'll be back soon don't worry."
With that being said she turns around and left. She knew that Chu Ling would take good care of Xiao Jun, and the little dumpling seemed to really enjoy being with Chu Fei. It seemed having a friend had given the child some much needed security. She was really happy that she'd found this village for a multitude of reasons.
The mission had given very good and detailed directions on how to find the village where the trouble was. Bai Mei Li had always had a fairly decent sense of direction, so it had only taken about half a day to make it to the village.
It was amazing out a difference of perception after change how see the same place. It was clear that she'd already spent quite a few day in these woods alone before she'd found the sanctuary, but coming her again after she'd taken some time acclimating in a safe place amongst others that had gone through the exact same thing made these woods feel completely different.
She felt as though she could navigate them with much more ease. They certainly didn't feel quite so terrifying as they had before.
Of course she wouldn't let her guard down, it was just that she no longer had that feeling of being a city girl that crash landing some strange and unknown jungle.
Once she got close enough, she took out a mask that she'd found in her ring and put it on. Her looks were just too eye catching and she felt she could avoid some unnecessary trouble just by hiding them.
As she entered, she noticed the stark difference in this village verse the sanctuary.
Of course, she had memories and quite a few villages in her inherited memories, but there was nothing like seeming it for yourself after all. The sanctuary didn't have tall skyscrapers or anything like, instead it felt like a quaint village from the country in modern times. It was designed after home back on earth.
This village however looked like exactly what you'd think a village from ancient China would look like. This place was clearly improvised and there didn't appear to be any cultivator here at all. She understood the the sanctuary was helping to keep this place safe now, but she wondered how this place had stayed safe prior to the creation of the sanctuary.
Clearly there had been a tragic about of people dying.
She sighed and continued forward look for the village chief. She wasn't to ask for direction, but everyone was looking at her with such a frightful gaze that she just couldn't bring herself to approach them. Would they faint from fright?
The village itself didn't appear to be that big. It looked like there was enough room for there to be about a hundred or so families. Despite the fact that everyone avoided her it was by no means deserted. There were children running around and playing. She could see the through the adults were a cautious eye on here the continued to work their fields. The sounds of domesticated animals and the laughter of children filled in the air.
Although this village was poverty stricken it was still quite lively and peaceful. It was hard to imagine the scene of. This idealistic and and peaceful place being attacked by a dangerous spirit beast.
It appeared that they'd pegged her as a cultivator from the moment she entered. It must be her clothing. They were very beautiful, and she was clearly a woman traveling alone… that was probably enough information for them to figure out who she was.
This world was still quite conservative. Only very strong cultivating women would travel seemingly by themselves. Even though women would have plenty of secret guard… as Bai Mei Li had prior to her death.
She hadn't walked for too long before she heard someone calling out to her. She turned her head to the side and saw a older village man approaching her cautiously.
He appeared to be in his late forties to early fifties. His hair was both white and black and his face bore the winkles that came with living a hard life. His clothing was little more than rags, but they were clean and well patched. Despite his weathered face traces of his youthful charm could still be seen.
She smiled after she knew he couldn't see it. "Hello, my name Bai Mei Li and I'm here to take care then spirit beast problem."
The man seemed to look a bit relieved at that, but the suspicion didn't quite leave his eyes. "I am Xu Da. I'm the village chief here. You aren't only of the others that usually answer our requests."
Nodding in understanding Bai Mei Li stopped a few paces from him. "I'm new to the village. This is actually my first mission. You're right to be cautious. If you will just point in the direct of the lair if you know then I be on my way."
The village chief seemed even more relieved that she wouldn't be lingering in the village. So, he nodded and pointed in a particular direction.
Bai Mei Li gave her thanks and headed to the direction that the village chief had indicated. She hadn't bothered talking about payment because she would retrieve that from the Sanctuary. They seemed to believe it was better for the village cultivators to not deal with the surrounding villages about such things directly. It probably kept the peace. Bai Mai Li didn't mind.
Bai Mei Li hadn't moved too far into the wooded area before she could fee the presence of the beast. That unnerved her a bit.
Did that mean it was planning to attack the village again? What a scary thought. She both happy and extremely nervous. She was happy that they beast hadn't hurt anyone believe she could get here. There'd been so many children. She was nervous because she hadn't gotten use to going in battle yet.
That was one of the reason while she chose to go on this mission, and intended to go on many more. She wasn't school her temperament. She had to stop looking at things through her modern persons lens. She was afraid her natural hesitation would cost her something dear.
Of course she had no desire to harm anymore at all. In fact she deeply wished that she wouldn't be put in a position where she had to life and death choices between her and another human being. She considered herself a decent person. She didn't want to kill anyone… didn't want blood on her hands.
She sighed to herself and tried to clear her mind of such distracting thoughts. She'd just have to deal with that stuff as it happened. For now she needed to concentrate on the spirit beast she was trying to sneak up on.
She stopped before getting to close to the animal. She peeked from behind the tree she was leaning against.
She scrolled through her memories until she found the name of the animal she was looking at. It was a Yin Shu. A hamster looking creature that four protruding trunks coming out of his mouth. Two on top an two on the bottom. They were razor sharp. The animal had lizard like feet and a tail it could swing about like a whip.
She scanned the area but didn't sense anything else. It appeared to be alone grooming itself. It was clear that this was not it's nest, so it was just resting here before going to the village to reap havoc.
Well she supposed now was as good as any other time to test out the strength of her new cultivation.