Time slowly passed, with every second feeling like an eternity to Maxwell. His heart beat wildly as he waited. The room was filled with a tense atmosphere that grew as Lily lay unresponsive.
Her eyes sprung open. They were devoid of all emotion and looked detached and icy. Maxwell's mother rushed over and hugged Lily.
"Are you okay?" she asked with tears rolling down her face, "does it hurt anywhere?"
Lily responded emotionlessly, "It hurts everywhere and I'm hungry."
Maxwell was visibly saddened at Lily's lack of emotion. He had prepared himself for it to happen, but he still could not help but be sad.
"Hello Lily, I'm Orphelia."
"Brother's fiancé? Hello."
"What do you want to eat?" Linda asked Lily.
"Anything is fine."
"Okay, I'll go make your favorites."
Orphelia then examined Lily's body with her qi and found out the constitution had awakened.
"It's the Ice Jade Body, but I feel a very slight trace of an Ice Phoenix in there."
"An Ice Phoenix! That is impossible to find. If it was a normal Phoenix maybe it would be possible." Maxwell stood up in shock.
'An Ice Phoenix is too rare to be discovered on this planet, we will only have luck in other planets or maybe even a higher plane.'
"There's little to no hope to upgrade her constitution, but if you can she should be able to feel emotions again."
"It seems that both of my children are very talented, I don't know about Ice Phoenixes, but I know that you both will soon overtake me in cultivation."
"We will make you proud."
"Of course, you will. Now Lily, how do you feel about going to the Ice Lotus Sect?"
Lily seemed to think about it for a few seconds before responding.
"Will I get strong if I go there?"
"Yes, you will. Do you want to get strong?"
"I do, I don't know why."
"If you want to go there, we will take you there." Maxwell's father spoke sadly, "You have to contact us, or we will worry about you."
"Okay."
"Remember Lily don't let anyone take advantage of you. You're young and people will want to trick you." Maxwell advised her while rubbing her head, "I'll send you gifts regularly to help you grow strong."
"Yes."
Lily responded with very few words. She engraved their words in her mind and she was planning to follow it thoroughly, word for word. They ate a lively lunch with everyone sharing stories. Lily listened intently but spoke nothing.
"You know Max, there's a very protected technique in my family. Very few people know about its existence and only three people have ever seen it."
"What technique is it?" Maxwell asked, with the topic piquing his interests.
"It's a technique to use on horseback. I don't know much about it other than the fact nobody could use it successfully with their steeds."
"How does one get to see it then?" Maxwell's mother asked.
"They have to either become the patriarch or the supreme elder."
"That's nearly impossible."
"I heard from my dad that I can see it if I manage to impress any ancestor with my performance on a horse. I don't like fighting on a horse, so I didn't try to do that."
"Any ancestor?" Maxwell asked puzzled.
"I think my dad meant a soul remnant."
'They must be strong to leave behind soul remnants for so long. They should be Martial Grandmasters at least.'
"They must have been impressive experts to leave soul remnants behind." Maxwell's father commented.
"They were."
After completing the meal, Maxwell and Orphelia headed for the forest to locate the Earth Fire.
They ventured deep into the forest. The trees towered two hundred meters. They had a huge circumference. The canopy was dense enough to leave the bottom dark. Maxwell held a lamp he powered with his qi to find their way. There was no shrubbery of any sort at the ground level, and it was eerily silent.
"I don't like this place. Let's hasten deeper."
"I agree." Orphelia said with a sharp nod.
They reached an area where the trees seemed much sturdier than the rest and the ground was warm and dry.
"There's something hot nearby. Look at the ground."
"If it's Earth Fire it could be hidden in a cave."
"Let's set up an array to guide us back here. We can come back with Arion after we have prepared."
"Sure, we can use this token." Orphelia said while pulling out a wooden token.
"I'll set up the arrays on the tree. Orphelia, you make the ones on the token."
Maxwell layered the tracking formation with barriers to protect it and they left quickly.
Maxwell suddenly turned off the lamp and stopped. He then whispered in Orphelia's ears.
"There are footsteps. Grab my hand."
Orphelia grabbed Maxwell's rough, calloused hands and they ran.
"What was that?" shouts came from the dark.
"There was nothing, stop being so scared."
"I saw some movement."
"You must be imagining it, there should be nobody so deep in here."
Orphelia's pink hair had alerted one of the cultivators but for too little time for them to realize.
'Maxwell's hands are warm. Wait, what am I thinking? We need to leave quickly.'
Orphelia blushed while being dragged away by Maxwell. If they had not hidden their aura they would have been prey long ago with how deep they had ventured. They ran at high speeds, reaching the edge of the thick trees in a fraction of the time it took them to get to where they had been.
They stopped, panting and tired.
"We should leave the forest fully, before we stumble onto anyone else or worst of all Spiritual Beasts." Maxwell spoke in between breaths.
"I know that. Let's first take a short break."
"Alright."
They were relieved by the relatively open area, which was not eerie like the forest. They caught their breath before rushing away. They were still in areas that a Foundation Establishment Cultivator should not be caught in if they want to keep their lives. Of course that only applied to ordinary Foundation Establishment cultivators, Maxwell and Orphelia were much better than that. They could easily restrain their aura fully and stay away from dangerous areas.
They returned to Maxwell's house when the sun was setting, right on time to be safe from the horrors of the forest.
"We couldn't scout much, but we closed in on the location of the Earth fire." Maxwell told Arion who had awoken from a nap.
"I can keep you safe from the king of that region. Most of the kings know me, so they won't attack me immediately."
"Can you defeat them?" Orphelia asked.
"I'm not sure about that but I can wound them terribly even if I lose."
"That will be good enough deterrence."
"The final plan is that Arion will hold off anyone strong after helping us locate it and then we will have to subdue the Earth Fire by ourselves." Maxwell said.
"Okay, rest well. Tomorrow will be draining for both of you. My part is the easiest" Arion said while returning to nap on his comfortable bed that was laid on the ground for him.
"Orphelia, are you returning to your house today?" Maxwell asked her outside the room.
"Why? You want me to leave? I'm not returning. I want to surprise them, and I wouldn't be allowed to go into the forest if I went back."
"Okay, I'll ask someone to quickly set up a room."
Maxwell sent a servant to do it before heading to bed early. He dozed off easily and dreamt about peaceful days in his memories.