Chapter 85: Lantern.
The running water from the miniature waterfall slowly fell down into the pond creating air bubbles with every drop of water that crashed against the surface. The small koi fish swam around the pond sucking up the tiny bubbles as soon as they formed.
Haru sat and watched them for a while. Losing track of time in peaceful bliss. The moonlight reflected on the water's surface creating a gentle glow on the backs of the many small fish.
He decided to take the time to relax. He felt like he had done too much recently. Haru liked to be lazy where he could so after every major event in his life he would have to take the time to relax every now and again. Even if it was by just staying indoors all day watching TV.
But this was much more relaxing. The sounds of nature as these tiny fish splashed around in front of him.
Around an hour went by and the lights around the sect started to die out. There gentle chatter of the night faded away as the tranquil silence of nature took over.
Beep Beep.
Haru's phone called out breaking the silence. He felt kind of frustrated as he knew for sure it was Remi. He reached down and pulled out his phone revealing the text from Remi.
"I'm waiting for you at the entrance to the forest." The text said.
'The forest huh? Why is everything here centred around the forest? Even Remi's favourite place is somewhere in the forest? The forest here was also the reason I was forced to cultivate… Strange' Haru thought before standing up and waving goodbye to his tiny little friends.
He began to walk toward the entrance to the forest whilst being as quiet as he possibly could. The last thing that he would want is to wake up a cultivator who could crush him like a bug. And there seemed to be quite a lot of people here who had the strength to do so.
He walked down the link twisting dirt road before arriving at the entrance to the forest. He looked around but there was no sight of Remi anywhere.
He was far enough away from the buildings that he could now make noise without waking anyone up but he still wanted to be quiet.
"Remi! Where are you?" He shouted quietly into the forest making sure to mute his words with a whisper.
There was no response as footsteps came from behind. Haru turned around to see Remi looking at the ground whilst she walked. She was trying to sneak up on him. Haru just stared as she came closer and closer without looking up.
She lifted her feet and then gently stepped forward. She then noticed the tips of Haru's shoes first. 'Wait a minute.' She thought and the slowly looked up to see Haru staring at her.
"Ah!" She exclaimed. Surprised by Haru now staring at here.
"You were supposed to be looking for me! I was going to scare you! Why would you do that?" She asked frantically. She wasn't expecting to be the one getting scared instead.
"I was looking for you. It just turns out that I already found you behind me. I didn't think I was that scary, to be honest. Is it my face? Am I really that ugly?" Haru asked jokingly.
"No no! You're not ugly or scary. It was just I was surprised. I wasn't expecting you to be looking at me when I got close enough to scare you." Remi explained in a hurry. She didn't want to upset him with a misunderstanding.
Haru laughed.
"Don't worry about it. I know what you meant." Haru said and then patted her head.
Remi looked up and then smiled at him for a moment before she took a step away as her cheeks began to glow red. Haru didn't notice to small detail and turned to face the forest once more.
"So where are you taking me?" Haru asked as Remi stepped in front of him holding a lantern.
"It's a secret. You aren't allowed to know until we get there. It will spoil the fun If I tell you right now." She said and then a look of dread washed over her face.
"I forgot the matches. I can't go back and get them now can I? I will wake up teacher Lin if I do that. This whole night is ruined." Remi felt instant depression as she realised she wouldn't be able to guide her big brother through the forest.
"A match? Why would you need a match?" Haru asked with a slight smile.
"To light the lantern of course. Do you think it will light its self?" Remi asked. She seemed mad that her plans had been ruined.
"Why would you need a match when I am here?" Haru asked and then took the lantern from her.
He then opened the front of it revealing the oil inside. He then used the power of the phoenix to light it. He then closed it. All the while Remi looked at him in disbelief.
'You shouldn't be able to manipulate elements until you get to the nascent soul stage and even then. He shouldn't be able to control this much of it.' Remi thought as she saw the golden flame in front of her eyes.
"See. It's solved now. We didn't need any matches." Haru smiled and then handed the lantern back to her.
"How did you just… Uh…" She began to stutter as she realised the true amount of power Haru had actually gathered.
"Oh, the fire? It was just my bloodline power. It lets me control the flame from a phoenix." Haru explained as he walked ahead of her.
"A phoenix! You mean a real phoenix!? Remi shouted.
"A real phoenix? I guess it was a real phoenix at one point. Now he is just a conscious soul of an infant phoenix that lives inside my body." Haru tried to make it easy for her to understand but she didn't seem interested in specifics. She was too focused on the fact that even Haru had seen a phoenix.
"Can you show me? I've always wanted to see a phoenix. Teacher Lin used to tell me stories at night about his life in the upper realm. He told me that Phoenixes are the strongest beings in the universe." Remi went on to explain.
Haru giggled after hearing that.
"Phoenixes are the strongest? What about dragons?" He asked rhetorically.
"Don't be a silly big brother. Even I know that dragons don't exist. They are just a myth to scare children into sleeping on time." Remi said as they walked deeper into the forest.
Haru was taken back by this statement. 'Dragons don't exist? Where did she hear that nonsense? Of course, they exist. Or neither would the ring on my finger. It was made by the first Dragon emperor and then passed down to his firstborn son.
Not only that. It has the soul of a dragon inside it that I have seen with my own two eyes. Even the sect master told me that story where someone with the green eyes of the dragon clan stopped by and stole that coffin.
Why does Remi think they don't exist? Is Teacher Lin lying to her or does even he think that is the truth?' Haru found it quite perplexing. But then decided he would ask the sect master about it later instead of trying to guess what the truth was.
They ended up walking for a few miles into the forest and there was still no sign of them slowing down as Remi continued to guide them with the lantern ahead of her.
"Are you sure you know where you are going? We have been out here for a while now. Where are we even going?" Haru asked, Changing the topic.
"Yes, I am sure. I have been here hundreds of times. I know this whole forest like the back of my hand. We will be there shortly just keep following me." Remi snapped back sounding angry that Haru had questioned her.
'She sure is passionate about this place we are heading too.' Haru thought as he continued to follow her, deeper into the forest.
A few minutes went by and Haru was starting to get fed up of the silence. They hadn't said anything since Remi had shouted.
Haru looked down at Remi, She seemed to be thinking about something and then she looked over to her left and spotted a sign. She quickly changed directions and started walking toward the sign.
"This way follow me." She said and then looked over her shoulder to make sure Haru was still following her.
"Are we there yet? It can't be too much further right?" Haru wasn't certain it felt like he had definitely been walking for over an hour.
But then suddenly the trees began to open up revealing nothingness. It was like the ground had suddenly been cut off. That was when he realised where they were now standing.