Chapter 6 Survival training
A month has passed since Li An was born. The cold palace is still the same old cold place and its wooden walls and windows would constantly creek eerily giving off a spooky vibe every now and then.
In the courtyard, a small figure could be seen walking while holding a long stick in both hands. The sticks are made of bamboo and are taller than the one holding them.
Li An's cute and chubby little figure carefully carried the bamboo sticks inside the main hall of the cold palace. She lays them down on the ground and carefully wipes her tiny little sweat.
"This is hard work…" she muttered in her cute baby voice.
She then squatted down and grabbed a small knife from the side. Then carefully began to peel the bamboo skin.
With a little work and some small blisters on her cute chubby hands, Li An was able to make a bamboo sword.
"This is fine work…" she muttered while trying to admire her craftsmanship.
She carefully waved the bamboo sword in the air and it produced a light whistling sound.
Suddenly from the thin air, a small semi-transparent figure floated. The figure looks like a small bean sprout with a small yellow spout sticking out.
"We have reached 50%, I think I am now able to give you more instructions…" Seedee excitedly said while floating around Li An.
"That's good… Let's go then…" Li An said while she closed her small cute almond eyes fluttering her long lashes.
As she closes her eyes, her figure suddenly vanishes from where she stands.
Li An found herself in a white place that looked like a well-lit library.
The floating bean sprout which is Seedee happily hovered towards a bookshelf.
"Today, I am going to help you with some survival skills…" Seedee excitedly said in a baby-like tone.
"You've been teaching me those for a month now…" Li An pouted as she complained.
She thought that Seedee would teach her some cool stuff, but instead, she would be learning more survival skills. She's a bit tired of those already.
Ever since she was able to move her body freely, Seedee has been teaching her on how to get her own food.
Though she could rely on the invisible natural energy in the air, as her body grew, she still needed sustenance.
Her first learning experience at that time is finding edible plants within the surroundings of the cold palace.
She excitedly gathered the plants that she could eat, but she found that many are edible… the taste is something that one would think twice before eating them.
And so, Li An tasted different kinds of flavored plants.
But most of them are bitter or acrid, making her cringe and showing different kinds of expressions on her cute little face.
But, Li An learned that though those plants tasted weird, they gave her body some kind of boost. This is true especially when she would try to absorb the plant's invisible natural energy after injecting them.
So other than the nutrients from the plant, she also absorbed its natural energy within its cells.
Because of that, though she is still a month old, her strength and energy could already be compared to an adult person.
"This survival skill is a bit different… today I will be teaching you how to develop your immunity…" Seedee said with a tone as if planning something devious.
Hearing his words, a strange feeling crept on Li An's spine. She could not help but shiver while rubbing her shoulders.
She then saw a few herbs floating in the void and watched them with curiosity.
"Remember these plants…" Seedee instructed.
Without hesitation, Li An began to picture out the plants around her inside her mind as she began to recall their appearance.
A few hours later…
Li An suddenly appears from within the room in the main cold palace. Her eyes are showing a hint of reluctance and fear as she slowly turns towards the door.
"Are you sure that it is okay?" she suddenly muttered in her baby tone.
"Believe me… I will make you stronger…" Seedee's voice echoed in her ears.
With a helpless look on her eyes, her feet began moving as she walked out of the room.
…
The forest behind the cold palace is now lush and covered with different kinds of plants and trees. For years they have been growing without anyone maintaining them.
So the back part of the cold palace is a large and thick forest in itself. One could also feel that inside this place there are many denizens living while watching those who enter it as their prey.
At the edge of the bamboo forest, a small figure walked out. In that small figure's hand is a make-shift dagger made of sharp stone and bamboo. On her other hand, a long stick which resembles a spear was gripped tightly.
"It's going to be okay… I can do this…" Li An muttered to herself as she slowly approached the border of the thick and dark forest.
Walking for a while, the small figure of Li An soon reaches a dark green plant.
"You said that I should ingest this thing, right?" she asked with a hint of worry in her eyes.
Seedee's seed-like apparition appears floating before Li An. He carefully gives instructions on how she would ingest the plant.
After taking a small portion of the plant and grinding it until she was able to extract a few drops of green liquid from it, she carefully puts the green liquid on her finger.
With a bit of hesitation, she carefully licks it.
As soon as her tongue touched the liquid, she immediately felt her body heating up. Then green veins began to appear on her pale white skin.
Li An immediately closed her eyes and circulated the natural energy from her body.
As soon as the natural energy circulated, the toxin from the plant was carried throughout her system and her body began to react to counteract it.
Cold sweat and pain could be felt throughout her tiny body. She began to concentrate and continuously circulates the energy around her. The toxins began to slowly be dispersed throughout her system and it seems to have assimilated itself to her blood.
Li An slowly opened her eyes and felt her body covered in sweat. She could also smell a slight pungent scent of medicine in the air.
She slowly stands up and with Seedee's guidance walks towards another plant which has a deep purple hue. The plant swayed from left to right as if dancing in the air.
As Li An approaches her nose is assaulted by the stench of dead corpses. She then noticed a few bones scattered on the ground as she walked closer to the plant.
"Open your senses and accept the scent in the air…" Seedee sounded in her ears.
Li An did not hesitate and closed her eyes while she accepted the strange scent. It did not take long for her body to feel and be a bit groggy. Her steps become heavy and as if being led by some invisible hands, she slowly takes one step after another towards the plant which now looks appetizing to her.
"This thing looks delicious…" she said with a delirious tone.
Li An did not notice that as she walked closer to the dark purple plant, long vines began to appear from the plant's back.
The vines slowly crept towards Li An's feet and after reaching her, they entangled her feet and slowly guided her towards the large flower in the middle.
The large flower upon sensing a living being in front of it slowly opens up revealing a long line of sharp teeth-like spikes.
From the middle of the flower, a long tongue-like vine suddenly darted towards the small figure of Li An.
Like an arrow released from a bow, the tongue-like vine flew closer to Li An's heart.
But as soon as the tongue-like vine was about an inch to her heart, her small body seems to have reacted quickly by turning her body to the side.
The tongue-like vine did not hit her small body in the center but was able to graze her chest. The light pain seems to have awakened Li An from her stupor as her eyes suddenly become clear.
"Do not resist, just circulate the toxin that has entered your body…" Seedee's calm voice echoed in her ears.
Li An followed and let herself get dragged to the wide gaping mouth of the man-eating flower.
A few hours later…
The small figure of Li An emerges from the goo of a now dead giant flower. The vines and leaves around the flower are now wilting turning dark brown as they withered to the ground.
Li An, on the other hand, showed an annoyed expression of her little cute face which is now covered in transparent goo.
"My clothes are now gone…" she grumbles as she walked on her birthday suit back to the cold palace.
She has learned that the flower is called the Ghost Whisperer. It is a flower not native to these lands but could only be seen in the forbidden swamps of Nas'Hok, a place where dead beasts and plants thrive. In that place, the rule of the jungle prevailed and only the strong and powerful could rule.
The Ghost Whisperer flower is a plant feared by even the strongest predator in the Nas'Hok swamp. The reason for this is because it carries tons of different kinds of toxins.
It is said that, if one could ingest the seed of this plant, then one would be able to resist or be cured from hundreds of different kinds of toxins and venoms.
Many sought after the seed but for hundreds of years none was able to come close to the plant. Those who tried to look for it ended up in the bellies of these plants.
To find one near the cold palace is a mystery to Li An. But after hearing Seedee's words, she was glad that there is a newly sprouted Ghost Whisperer plant in this place.
The reason why the plant died after Li An got ingested by it, is because of the purified toxic plant she first ingested in her body.
The purified version of that dark green plant is the only toxin that could make the Ghost Whisperer plant release its seeds.
After the forceful release of its seeds, it began to wilt as it is not the time for it to do so. Because of the disturbance in its genetic structure, the plant died.