The sound of the elevator's gears grating against each-other rattled against the walls as Shu He stood in the middle of the platform with his eyes closed, on his back was a bundle that he was carrying like a mother may a child, its shape round, almost oval even.
The deeper he went, the more he could feel the temperature and humidity begin to shift and scents unbefitting a cultivation sect began to drift his way, before long the elevator stopped with a clank and a pair of doors ahead of him opened up, he casually walked through them and took in the surroundings, it was mid-day, and the artificial sun down here was shining high the sky set it was covered in thing clouds, small drizzles of rain pattered in a few locations.
'Seems we're in a spring cycle… I wonder if anyone is here at the moment' he thought as he began to make his way through the forest regions to make his way to the Sanctuary, the centre of the area; He hadn't got a specific reason for coming here other than checking in, but since he was coming here he brought along Little Xue's chrysalis.
'Nothing seems to have changed at least' he peered around with his territory, he spotted many creatures he had become familiar with in the time he has been here and there doesn't seem like there had been any major changes in the time he was away.
He shrugged slightly 'As it should be, if a sect changed a lot in three months it'd be too hard to manage'.
Eventually he reached the Sanctuary building and he arrived at a peculiar sight, usually in the morning, lunchtime, and dinner one of the members would provide feed for the animals that lived in the Sanctuary, feeding those that can't hunt well or lacked the proper feed here in the environment.
It seems today that was also the case, except every single animal was neatly lined up taking their turns to eat, there was no roaring, crying, or bickering, it was like he had entered a strict school after becoming used to a public one.
"What's going on?" He looked around a little confused, even when his Senior Brother, Jian He fed them they'd still make some fuss, this was entirely unusual; After looking around though he quickly found the cause.
The one feeding them was a tall man with long, pure white hair and flawless skin, he watched the beasts with his eyes of pure gold, his slit pupils bearing down on them to the point that some of them shook as they ate.
"Elder Bai, you're the one feeding them?" Shu He walked over to the man who looked over at Shu He in surprise.
"Oh! Shu He! You're back! Finally! It's been so quiet around here you wouldn't believe it!" The ecstatic Elder hopped on over to him, Shu He could swear he saw some of the animals sighing in relief.
"Quiet? What do you mean? It seems normal to me" Shu He looked around in confusion, wondering if he missed a change.
"Ah, I'm not talking about that rabble, Jian He and even Na Xue have both gone and left me all on my lonesome! I've been doing their tasks for them!" He complained with a pouting expression on his face.
"Isn't that your job as the Elder?" Shu He shot him a slightly annoyed glare.
"May so, but I hate it! I can't even nap properly with everything I need to do!" Elder Bai said as he sighed, before shooting Shu He glance "But since you're back…"
"Wait just a minute" Shu He stopped him with his hand out "Where are Jian He and Senior Sister? How long have they been gone?"
"Oh, they left on a mandatory mission sent to the Division to capture some sort of beast and bring it back, they took Yingzi and the little bear with them; That was two days ago".
"Only two days? You made it sound like it was a lot longer" Shu He massaged his brow, this Elder of his was always a handful "Did they say when they'd be back? And by little bear do you mean the Lunaflame Ursa? How is that little?".
"It's long enough; Yes that little bear, it's little because I say it is… as for when they'd be back, they're travelling over to the Wood region so It'll be a few months at least".
"A few months? So I'm going be handling all the tasks along with you for all that time?" Shu He grimaced slightly, his Senior Brother had handled it all by himself for many years but that's because he was dedicated to the Division and had plenty of experience, Shu He had gotten used to it, but it was going to be hell for him moving forward.
"We really need more members…" He tapped his forehead in thought "Why did we get a mandatory mission now? Since both of them left I assume there was no other choice…".
"I hear that it came from the Vice-Sect master, something about not being active enough as a division, the mission said the division head's participation was required and Na Xue went along because the beast they're tracking seemed dangerous".
"Vice-Sect master? Oh."
'Sorry, Senior Brother, Senior Sister' he clasped his hands in apology, he had realised this was caused by himself, it seems Wu Zhong had taken his comment as a sign that the Division was slacking off.
He sighed.
"I made the hole, now I have to sit in it a guess…" He murmured "I'll see if I can find some members still, or maybe some helpers…" He glanced over at Elder Bai who was picking his ear with his pinkie.
"What is it?" The white haired elder asked.
"Would it kill you not to scare off the potential new members for a while?" Shu He replied.
"If you mean, basking in my natural state, I'm afraid that is just my natural instincts" Elder Bai grinned lightly.
Despite how he appeared to be an older man in age despite his flawless skin, he truly acted like a young brat sometimes; It seemed that now that someone else was here to take the load he'd happily go back to his lazy ways.
"I see… then I think I'll go ahead and set out on another mission tomorrow, have fun taking care of the sanctuary for months" Shu He shrugged slightly and turned around to walk off, he saw Elder Bai's face twist in the corner of his eyes.
"NO! WAIT! Don't be hasty! I was just joking, I'll behave! Just don't leave me with all this work!".
"And you'll help me with the work as well, right?".
"That's-"
"Right?" Shu He smiled with his eyes as he stared directly into Elder Bai's.
"Fine! Just a bit!".
"Great, thank you Elder Bai" Shu He bowed in thanks, but both of them knew it meant nothing.
Shu He had always found Elder Bai's position weird; he was the division elder and yet did little to nothing to help, the fact that he was an Evolved Spirit Beast was also odd, he was the only one he had ever known about and yet he was a sect elder?
No matter how many times he had asked him, he wouldn't divulge any information about himself, Shu He didn't even know the man's true form despite how curious he was.
"Oh, by the way, Shu He, what is that? Did you bring me a present?" Elder Bai asked while pointing to the bundle on his back, his nostrils twitching lightly.
"No way, why would I get you a present?! Don't you dare touch it" Shu He couldn't help but back away slightly seeing the man shaped beast's eyes glimmer slightly.
"Oh, no? Sorry, I was mistaken; But if I'm not wrong, don't you have an Ascension Chrysalis there? What are you doing with one of those?".
Shu He sighed as he saw the glimmer sink away into the depths of the elders eyes as he took the chrysalis off his back and unwrapped the material "It's of an animal I intend to contract, I wanted to discuss it with Jian He since he should know more about it".
"Hoh, were you close with this animal before ascension, or did you find it during the ascension?" Elder Bai rubbed his chin, his face began to become filled with nostalgia.
"The former… what's with that look on your face? You aren't having her" Shu He hugged the 'egg'.
"Sorry, I was just remembering the times I came across things in the past".
"…What did you do with them?" Shu He asked, his curiosity getting the better of them.
"I ate them, they were basically bundles of energy after all!" Elder Bai laughed, yet Shu He was not laughing one bit as he clutched the chrysalis tightly thinking it was a mistake to bring her here.
"Ah- Ahem- no, really, I won't do anything, back then I was a mere spirit beast, my instincts drove me to consume them; Ever since I reached Evolved status the urges are a lot weaker" Elder Bai explained in panic, seeing he was beginning to get on Shu He's bad side.
"Is that so…" Shu He relaxed his grip slightly, but still watched Elder Bai with a frown.
"That aside… I can't help but notice it smells like you" Elder Bai took a step closer and sniffed, tilting his head.
"Well I have been carrying it close to me a lot, that's not a surprise" he had been carrying it a lot on the carriage back, it had been in his room since he returned to the sect, so it smelling like him wasn't unusual.
But Elder Bai shook his head "That's not what I mean, I told you before didn't I? That you smelled like mother".
Shu He frowned "I remember, just what do you mean by that? You don't mean your birth mother right?" There was no way he would magically be linked to Elder Bai's mother, after all.
"Correct, I don't know about other Evolved beasts but we're a different species to the Spirit Beasts below us, to the point where we don't even recognise our former kin as our own" He crossed his arms and stared at the artificial sky as he spoke solemnly.
"Then your mother…"
"It's the world around us, maybe even the heavens, I don't exactly know; But that's what I was birthed from in that light, my form underwent change from beast to being and now I stand before you as I am now".
"…" Shu He went silent as he pondered on the connection.
'I haven't witnessed a Spirit Beast reaching the Evolved level, but if it's anything like this initial ascension then this Golden Qi should be heavily involved… and the reason that I smell like that to him is because of their unique sense of smell, since my body contains Golden Qi…'.
"May I ask you a question, Elder Bai?" He decided to bite the bullet.
"What is it?"
Shu He lifted up his hand and a string of Golden Qi bundled itself up on his palm "Can you see this?".
"See?" Elder Bai frowned as he stared at Shu He's palm before shaking his head "No, there's nothing… but it certainly smells nice".
"That's fine but is this the exact same thing you smell from me, from the chrysalis?".
"Yes, it's much stronger in this form, but it is It's like the smell of the world, but also like you, both intermingled… how odd" No matter how close Elder Bai looked he couldn't see anything, he was crouched down with his eyes narrowed but there was no success.
"Then I know why this chrysalis smells like it does, I've been feeding it my energy".
"You can do such a thing?!" Elder Bai looked at him with pure shock "You really are full of surprises, it's like it was fate that brought you to this division!".
"Fate… that's a little too much" Shu He wasn't a fan of that word, it implied too much.
"Let me ask you something, do you feel a connection between this little egg and you?"
Shu He was caught off guard by the comment, because he certainly had! It was faint, not quite on the level as when he bound that spirit tool before, but it was there! He nodded lightly "Why do you ask?".
Elder Bai brushed away his white hair as he smiled smugly "Hehehehe, there's a first time for everything, but I think you have a chance!"
"What are you on about?" Shu He was even more confused.
"I think you can make an Inner Heart contract even before that little one hatches!".