"hmm... sword cultivators... is this linked to the Sword Gate Valley?!" Xieren gasped, intrigued by the mysteries shrouding the truth behind the beast race.
"Sword Gate Valley?" Kumiho tilted her head in confusion, her fox ears twitching at the movement as Xieren clutched his heart in pain, he fell on the floor dramatically.
"Kumiho~" He called her, his face sported a disturbing grin, lunging over to her, he began his assault on her animalistic features, the fox lady squealed happily and leaned towards him...
Xieren who had been petting his mistress, suddenly snapped.
"Hold on a minute... Kumiho, how did Shen Zhi even come up from the valley? She would have reported to her about the human civilisations, so why didn't she?" Xieren inquired, he quickly contained himself and sat down on a cushion.
"Shen Zhi?" Kumiho pouted, "Who is that, another one of your mistresses?" she grumbled, Xieren had to stop his jaw from dropping.
"Shen Zhi! The cat girl! The one we just talked about!" He groaned, something felt amiss, as if something was happening at this very moment as they were speaking!
"What... Your Lordship, are you alright?" Kumiho looked worried, her hand cupped his cheek gently, Xieren sighed once again.
He stood up, fixing his robes, Xieren walked over to the door and slid them open.
"Your Lordship, where are you going??" Kumiho panicked, she too followed him from behind, tears threatened to spill from her emerald eyes.
"Kumiho, follow me. We are going to the core of the barrier." He stated, Kumiho who had no other choice could only follow behind him quietly...
•••••
"Hoh... Shen Zhi... To think you went so far to isolate your race!" Yao Wu smirked, feeling elated at the fact that she could now enjoy a drama unfold Infront of her very eyes.
"Tch! That brat... At this point I could only kill me..." Shen Zhi said, her eyes narrowing to slits as she bent her knees and get ready to pounce on Xieren.
However, before she could move, something had constricted her body, rendering her limbs immobile!
"YAO WU!!" She roared, the woman next to her only shrugged her shoulders and turned to the Cat girl, staring at her with disdain in her eyes, directed towards Shen Zhi who grit her teeth.
Shen Zhi grunted as she struggled to move her limbs, but with no success, she gave up and glared at Yao Wu hatefully.
"You bitch... Everything I did to keep the beast race safe is gone now... my years of work... damn you, human filth!" She muttered, looking down.
Yao Wu who had been listening to the cat woman's little speech snorted, "I see... however, do you really think I care?" Yao Wu chuckled and shook her head.
"Grr... Just you wait... one day... we will lay down divine punishment against you humans..." Shen Zhi stated, she stared at the couple, Xieren and Kumiho, make their way over to the core of the barrier...
'That Traitorous spawn of our race...' She cursed Kumiho.
•••••
"We are here." Kumiho spoke, the couple had walked several miles deep into the lands that were under the barrier...
Infront of them were steep steps of stairs that led to several pillars, each pillar stood tens of meters tall and had been growing moss, the unrecognisable murals on the pillars gave off an archaic air that surrounded the entire construction forcing the couple to wander at the building in amazement.
These pillars had surrounded a very luminescent rotating ball of purple, the energy it gave out was tremendous and also very heavy...
Little by little, the two inches towards the ball, Kumiho who had stepped on the stairs that led to the pillars suddenly reached for her head and squinted her eyes in pain.
"My head..." She winced, kneeling down at the excruciating feeling as she grunted, retreating backwards, she realised that the pain subsided immensely and informed her mate of her situation...
"Alright, you can stay there..." Xieren shrugged, he took careful steps towards the ball, he could feel something within the barrier, something abstract... something he could not touch, but feel in a spiritual level...
'What is this?' Xieren thought, taking in the inscriptions written on the pillars.
'The pillars are used as talismans! the language used is not far off from the ones in our own talismans.' Kneeling down on the floor, he traced his finger along the words, sending in a bit of his Qi, he could see the complex instructions coded into the talismans...
"Oh... So this thing erases specific memories regarding the outside world? And it influences the inhabitants of the lands inside the barrier to believe whatever they were supposed to, with ease..." Xieren smiled, glancing over to Kumiho who had leaned on a boulder, she seemed tired.
'But then... who is this Shen Zhi person? Why would she tell me about the beast race? Why would she tell Akagi? The only person who could make this barrier is someone who could leave it with ease, the only culprit is Shen Zhi, so why would she give away something she wanted to hide??' He groaned, everything was too annoying.
"I'll just stop the memory erasing and the brainwashing sequences." Xieren mumbled, getting into work as he played with the several talismans surrounding him...
'The barrier is necessary, if humans got to know that the beast people are still around, who knows what will happen?' He deduced several scenarios, each one worse than the previous.
"But they still need to be aware, the strongest person inside the barrier is still at Celestial Rebirth realm... Humans are far stronger, they won't stand a chance if some bad eggs decided to enslave them, as seen in several manga from my previous life!" Xieren nodded as he talked to himself, he gave himself a pat on the back for saving the races in this special region...
"Indeed!" He heard an unfamiliar voice and turned around immediately, staring into the darkness, still keeping an eye on Kumiho who had fallen asleep.
'How careless!' He scolded her internally but he had better things to worry about.
Such as the voice...
"Who is it?!" He shouted, taking his sword out and charging it with his holy Qi.
"Calm down, descendant of my brother..." The voice said with a giggle, Xieren felt several beads of sweat gathering at his forehead.
Whoever this entity is, it has far surpassed him in terms of cultivation and technique.
'Perhaps, I'm being a bit too rash... I'd rather not offend a powerful cultivator because of my stupidity...' Xieren told himself as he calmed down, "Apologies Senior, This one is just jumpy as he has intruded into an unknown territory..." He lowered his head at no particular direction.
"Fufufu Truly a descendant of my brother... You may do as you please, little one. I'm just here to observe you as I am intrigued..." The female voice resounded again as Xieren sighed solemnly.
'Looks like I won't have any moment of privacy anymore...' He cried.
"If it is privacy that you are worried about, do not think too much... I have already seen more than enough!" The voice teased.
"You pervert!" He shouted almost immediately, feeling his face heat up at the mentioning of the statement...
"Hahaha I was just joking, I'm not interested in children reproducing." The voice grumbled.
"I am not a child!" Xieren grumbled under his breath, hoping the female cultivator would not hear.
"Hmm... maybe I should take back my words... You are already very close to me in terms of cultivation, so I guess it wouldn't do any bad that I treat you with a little respect..." Xieren could swear he heard several curse words coming from the otherside...
"Hmm... enough talking, I will end this conversation, also, the barrier has been mended according to your wishes, good luck young man..." The voice ended the conversation with a tone of finality as Xieren fell on his knees, his breathing got heavier.
'What was that pressure?!' He screamed inwardly, shocked that there were far stronger beings in this planet of his...
Xieren heard Kumiho's whimpers of pain as he rushed to her side immediately, holding her in his arms, he helped her lie down gently on the dirt ground.
Her memories were now returning back to her, several years worth of information took a toll on her brain as she screamed.
Her eyes teared up at the pain she was going through, Xieren who panicked had to remind himself to calm down several times.
Kumiho had stopped all sorts of pained whimpers and movement by dawn, he could see the sun rise over the horizon and sighed in relief.
The lady's face seemed peaceful, and having taken the memories, she had fallen into deep sleep...
Xieren whose thoughts had gone over to his wife flinched, he looked up again, at the sky, perhaps he should leave and stay with Akagi for the rest of the day...
"I'll take Kumiho with me... Hopefully, Akagi understands..." He then held the fox lady lovingly and proceeded to go back home, the couple then disappeared, arriving at the side of the bed, inside the manor he was provided by Kumiho.
"Milord..." Akagi grumbled, waking upto the familiar presence, her eyes never left Kumiho who had been laid on their bed, Xieren smiled apologetically and cuddled with his wife until she gave up to his advances, slowly falling back asleep in his embrace...