Chereads / Providence of the Heavenly Flame / Chapter 179 - Communication - Little Xue's Abilities.

Chapter 179 - Communication - Little Xue's Abilities.

The voice Shu He heard in his head made him falter for a moment, it was an odd feeling like someone was whispering into his mind directly, but it wasn't an unpleasant one; He picked the small duck up in his hands as he smiled.

"Good morning, Little Xue" He said as she flicked her wings and her head a little to stretch.

"It's actually closer to evening…" Elder Bai interjected.

"…Does it really matter?" Shu He sighed as he placed Little Xue down as he shifted out of the bed, turning his head to the little duck he asked, "So you can talk now?".

Little Xue tilted her head and quacked lightly [Yes?], the voice in his head was young and light in tone like the jingle of a bell, yet there was a hint of confusion in the tone.

"That's great! Although it's a bit odd hearing your voice in my head.." Shu He scratched his forehead, it would take a while to get used to this feeling "How do you feel? Does your body hurt anywhere or feel uncomfortable?"

Little Xue tilted its head as it craned its short neck around so it could look at itself before she shook her head [No? No hurting?] she responded with a couple short quacks.

'Hm?' Shu He raised a brow at her words, through their link the little duck seemed to pick up on his confusion and looked up at him before quacking [Am wrong?].

"No, what you said is fine… I'm sure you'll get used to speaking more, right?" She said before he asked Elder Bai who was observing from the side; Elder Bai nodded "She has picked up on the basic words from her link with you, the more you interact with her the better she will do, especially in regard to sentence structure; This is normal for newly Ascended spirit beasts".

[Shu He] the little duck quacked, pulling on his sleeve, Shu He patted her head "What is it?", she lent up against him before he heard the words [Okay?] in his head. "Hm? What do you mean?" he wasn't sure what she meant; he had no context.

"Do you mean my body? It doesn't hurt at all, see?" He moved his arms around and tilted his head to reassure her, but Little Xue shook her small head.

[Sleep, hurts?]

[Shu He, Okay?]

Shu He froze as he looked at the small duck, he recalled the 'memory' that he had just experienced, his gentle caress stopped as he picked up the duck and placed her on his lap, holding her gently.

"You felt all that…?" He asked quietly as he stared in to her small but beautiful rubellite eyes, they were filled with genuine worry, he could feel it through their connection as well, she feared that he was in pain.

"I'm fine now… thank you" An odd wave of relief washed over him, and she could sense that as well as her small body seemed to relax into his lap, accepting the petting happily, the atmosphere between the two became soft and calm.

"Well aren't you two off to a good start, very good." Elder Bai clapped lightly. "It seems like everything went well with the contract outside of the extra events, we finally have a proper pair in the Division after so long".

"Hm? I know Senior Brother hasn't made a contract, but Senior Sister hasn't either?" Shu He asked with surprise, Jian He had told him before he had yet to make one, but he assumed Na Xue had made one since she was a core disciple and was constantly with various animals.

Elder Bai sighed "That girl has her own unique circumstances, she refuses to make such a contract because she doesn't need such a thing even though I tried to convince her" he lent against the wall with another sigh "Jian He… he and Yingzi are a perfect pair, yet he still hesitates as well… that's why I'm happy you managed to create a contract".

"Is that so?" Shu He and Little Xue both looked at each-other in surprise, causing Shu He to chuckle slightly, the link between them was an odd feeling.

"Anyway, once you two have woken up fully and prepared, you should come outside, there are things we need to test, no? We should strike while the iron is hot!" he stood up and walked towards the door.

"Right, we should find out just what you can do" Shu He said as he smiled at the little duck who flapped her wings lightly.

[Yeah!] she said with an enthusiastic quack.

Half an hour later the three of them were outside the sanctuary building, most of the animals had stopped feeding and had made their way back into the thick forest, but a few had remained behind and were perched on the trees, laying down or hidden in the bushes with curiosity.

The reason for this was simple, there was a new animal in the sanctuary, and it felt very similar to the few hegemon beasts that existed already! They all instinctively felt the difference between them, so they watched on with bated breath.

Shu He was knelt down as he inspected Little Xue's body while Elder Bai watched on in curiosity.

"Her body seems to be very similar to a general Peking Duck, though her size is slightly bigger, her feathers seem lighter while also being more durable, especially these red feathers… they feel warm to the touch while also being as hard as a soft metal… the beak itself is much harder than before as well…" he asked her to open her bill and she did so with reluctance, not happy with this treatment. "Inside of the beak is serrated… everything looks healthy otherwise…" he let go and gave her a pat on the head while rustling the thin red feather that rest there "This feather is quite odd, is it sensitive?" He asked, since it seemed she liked having it pet.

[Nice] she quacked, shaking her head slightly.

Elder Bai had a quizzical expression on his face as he held his chin in his hand "I must admit, I never though I'd see a duck of all things become a spirit animal, most spirit animals are near the top of their food chain when they ascend, Xue here is almost certainly a unique species".

"Well then… we need to figure out what abilities you have Little Xue… though I'm not sure exactly we're going to do that, how do spirit animals normally go through this process?" Shu He asked Elder Bai as he stood up.

"It's a product of trial and error, unlike cultivators a spirit beasts abilities are fixed based on their bloodline which mutated on ascension" He glanced at Little Xue and pointed at her feathers "Based on her appearance, and the Qi that she holds, it's not hard to figure out what element she is attuned to though".

Shu He nodded "Fire, not exactly what I expected honestly".

Elder Bai shrugged his shoulders "It's normally based around the animals elemental compatibility, but the way her ascension was completed was abnormal; I didn't expect it to be completed then and there, so you definitely influenced her changes".

'Fire was my second highest compatibility along with Water so that does make sense, but I don't think that was the actual reason for this result…' a flicker of gold appeared in his eyes as he assumed the actual suspect.

"Xue, I want you to try to focus on your core, feel the Qi that flows inside of it and try to find a path in your body that feels like it can accept it" Elder Bai instructed the little duck who froze while staring at him.

"Quack, quack?" [Qi? Core?] she quacked after a moment of silence.

"She doesn't get those concepts yet" Shu He explained for her.

"I know, I am a spirit beast as well, I can understand her" Elder Bai sighed before he crouched down, he placed his index finger on the duck's breast "Your core is your heart, it's where your energy comes from, like a source".

[Source…?] The ducks head tilted 90 degrees as it attempted to comprehend the words.

"Ah, right, you were in another form before and your source would have been constantly feeding you energy to sustain it, do you remember that?" Elder Bai reminded her, as he did it seemed like a light lit up in her eyes.

Shu He watched on with his territory's vision, he saw the Spirit Heart inside of Little Xue come alive, her Qi shot around her body's meridians cleanly and without struggle, before he knew it the red feathers that covered the lower part of her wings and tailspin lit up like lights as a wave of heat was expelled from her body.

"Impressive! This heat isn't anything to laugh at, not bad for a start!" Elder Bai said while laughing as he touched the burning feathers without an issue prompting Shu He to get closer; "Are they safe to touch?" he asked before Elder Bai chuckled "If you want to melt your skin to the bones, go ahead".

Shu He abstained.

"That's enough Little Xue" He said, yet there was no reply, and the heat didn't rescind, she had her little eyes closed as she strongly concentrated in pure silence. "Little Xue!" Shu He yelled again, and as he did her eyes opened in surprise before a flame shot from the small feather on her head like a candlelight and her breast feather's lit up, bulking out for a moment before-

*SWOOOOOOOOOOOSH*

A line of flames shot out in the direction Elder Bai was standing making him jump out of the way at the last second, the flames went on for a full 30m before they dissipated, leaving scorched earth and ash from the burned trees along the way.

"Heavens!" Shu He couldn't help but exclaim, he felt the heat from 5 meters away, that was well beyond the normal Fire based technique that someone his level could use!

Unfortunately, the surrounding flora had caught fire as the animals began panicking, Shu He jumped "I'll go turn the rain on!".

"No need" Yelled Elder Bai who held his hand out, particles of water gathered in his hand near instantly creating a large water ball that then shot out in streams, targeting all the sources of fire, and putting them out instantly.

"…Wow" Shu He almost tripped as he watched the careful display of speed and precision, he had forgotten just who was with him since he never really ever sees the Elder doing anything important.

Meanwhile, Little Xue was breathing heavily and tottering on its feet.

"Little Xue!" Shu He ran over in panic and gently picked her up, he could see that the Qi inside her was almost gone, she had used it all up in that one attack! "Transfer your Qi to her!" The elder reminded him.

"Right!" he focused on the link between them, it was currently passively sharing Qi, but he needed to transfer a lot more to her! With just a small mental adjustment he felt his Qi circulate before disappearing from his body, and appearing in Little Xue little by little, after 5 minutes she was stable again.

She looked up at Shu He who was holding her with worry.

[Tired] she weakly quacked.

"Go ahead and sleep, you did well" he said gently.

She nodded a little before closing her eyes and drifting off.

"You two really make a good pair, really" Elder Bai sighed "Both collapsing after doing something ridiculous…" he shook his head "Let her rest, we can continue when she wakes up".

Shu He wanted to say they should come back another day, but he held his tongue, in the end it was better to find out her limits before anything bad happens.

"Got it" he carried her inside.