He was lying down in a small cramped cave. The cave was closed up and its walls were just a few inches away from Indra. He seemed to be glued to the rough stone surface and his body couldn't move an inch.

  Ink-like fog swirled around the cave rendering it dark. His breathing grew labored when fog entered his body with air. It burnt his lungs and windpipe as it traveled through it.

  Walls were gradually closing in which made the cave even more cramped. Upper wall was just an inch short of touching his nose while the side walls were grinding against his nails. His heart was speeding up and his eyes widened up with the weight of the walls falling on his body.

  He gasped for air wanting to breathe in, even if it burnt him inside out. Alas the air seemed to have turned into a block of ice which refused to be taken in. Sounds of grinding and cracking were echoing in the cave.

  His muscles were being squished while his nose bone cracked. His skin was being grinded away and his bones were broken while his face caved in. Walls continued their relentless march, crushing him under their weight. While he just laid there in pitch black darkness, not able to even scream for his lungs lacked air.

  “Huh hah huh hah……huh” gasped Indra as he opened his eyes with cold sweat running down his back. He took rapid breaths while his heart pounded like a drum in his chest.

  A relief washed over him when the familiar wooden ceiling appeared in his view. His body felt heavy as he clenched and unclenched his palms. His heart rate returned to normal as his breathing evened out with each movement.

  He let his drenched back sink in the soft cotton bedding and closed eyes. He took deep breaths in the rhythm which calmed his mind.

  “Wa cough water” called Indra as he slowly opened his eyes. His voice was gruff due to his parched throat. Bhala who had sat down beside him at some point, helped him sit up with one hand on his back and another holding his hand.

  Indra leaned back on the bed frame with a gray quilt still covering his body. Bhala handed him a glass of water from the jug placed on the bedside drawer.

  “What happened-” he brushed his nose with his sleeve as he sniffled.

  “What happened to me baba” questioned Indra, in a slightly shaky voice and drank the glass of water.

  “Conflicting spirit root nature just like your mother.” came back the reply. His voice seemed to crack ever so slightly for a moment and then it was gone. He took the empty glass from Indra’s hand and placed it back beside the jug.

  Indra leaned back on the bed with his back touching the frame while looking down at his hands. He caresses his right hand with the left, ever so softly. The tingling sensation on his wheatish skin and the small hairs on his wrist made him feel alive. For a few moments the room was silent with the only sound being the curtain rustling with the wind.

  “Will this happen again?” Asked Indra as he looked up to Bhala sitting beside him. His voice was now steady and composed.

  “This was due to the root awakening which has now gone back to being inert. Just like your mother, you hold a dual spirit root of conflicting nature. The conflict, while increasing one’s Qi sensitivity and absorption ability to almost equivalent to the single root cultivator, also places heavy burden on the body.

  The conflict between spirit roots continuously increases when they fully awaken after breaking through the Qi-gathering realm until the body can’t bear it. But don’t you worry your father will get you a treasure to suppress them” he replied while ruffling Indra’s hair.

  “I had the city lord himself check up on you. He said that for now you just need rest and lots of food, which reminds me. Wait I will be back in a moment” said Bhala and walked out of the room.

  Indra smiled faintly, then shifted slightly left on bed and opened the curtains covering the bedside window. Darkness had creeped in while stars were twinkling as they surrounded the bright full moon.

  The moonlight came in through the window falling on his white robe and slightly sunken face. He looked ethereal and fragile like a Mirage.

  Indra looked down on the roads that were lit up with sun pearls embedded in lamps by the roadside. He found few pedestrians gracing the roads for most of them were either home meditating or in the night market. Which was the prime attraction of the city with cultivators from around the province flooding in like moths to flame.

  “Looking for something?” Came Bhala’s voice from behind. Indra turned back to Bhala standing near him holding a tray of food. A bowl of steaming rice, roasted chicken and mixed soup of lentils, peas and beans that whetted once Appetite just with smell sat on the wooden tray.

  “Maria made this just for you. She would be feeding you if you had woken up any earlier” said Bhala with a slight smile while making a hand sign. The plate became transfixed between them as it floated in the air. Bhala sat down in front of him and grabbed the chopsticks.

  He took the rice with the chopsticks, blew on it a bit and started feeding him. Indra chewed the warm rice while sipping the spicy soup.

  “Tell me if it's too hot” said Bhala while giving him a bite of the roast chicken.

  “It's tasty baba”

  “It better be, with how costly the spirit rice and chicken is. Not to mention the herbal lentils and beans” replied Bhala while giving him another bite of the crystal like rice.

  Unauthorized duplication: this narrative has been taken without consent. Report sightings.

  “We cook with these everyday baba. But only aunt Maria can make this magical meal.” Said Indra as he wiped off a soup stain off his lips and crunched on the lentils.

  “Thank her tomorrow when she visits you”

  “Sure will. Maybe she will make me another one, I am sick after all” said Indra while he plotted for the next meal.

  “Haah.. you brat. Go to sleep now” replied Bhala while waving his hand, which sent the empty dishes flying to the sink in the kitchen. Where the small formation would wash them up by itself.

  Indra suddenly held his sleeve when he started to stand up.

  “Hmm?”

  “Tell me about her baba” said Indra while looking into Bhala’s steel-gray eyes with his own and held onto his sleeve firmly.

  “What would you like to know?” Asked Bhala after a moment and sat back down on a stool beside the bed.

  “Everybody else just tells me she was kind and beautiful. But all I have is that one picture, while you never really told me much baba”

  "I guess I never did,” replied Bhala as he looked out of the window. He looked towards the moon, lost in thought.

  “Baba?” Said Indra as he shook Bhala out of his reverie. Bhala turned to face him with his lips tugged up a bit and eyes sunken in slightly. A mix of grimace and smile.

  He lifted his hand as his sleeves flapped with the breeze incoming through the window. The breeze seemed to caress his face but also wake him up with the chill.

  “Twenty-three years ago, I had just broken through foundation establishment. The region opening had been happening for a decade, and the sect had already stabilized the rear base in the wilderness. I was already an accomplished talisman master back then. So I joined the conscription in the logistics camp looking for opportunities to further my cultivation.” Described Bhala while his eyes turned vacant and mind dived into memories.

  “Did you get an opportunity Baba? Teacher one-eye said that that wilderness is filled with those” asked Indra with a twinkle in his eye.

  Bhala lifted his palm in front of Indra and a small earthy bead was conjured up on it.

  “This was my opportunity.”

  “A pebble Baba?. Just tell me if you didn't go out adventuring, I won't laugh” said Indra with a snicker in his voice.

  “What do you know, brat, this is an earthly metal bead. Only one of these can be nurtured in a large star steel mine. These beads suck in all the essence of the metal while being nurtured through Earth Qi.” The bead glowed dark brown while releasing a pressure akin to a mountain for a second and then retracted it.

  “Only found in the wilderness since the mine would turn into dust and the land infertile as they are nurtured. No one is foolish enough to let these develop in human domains, where each resource has been accounted for and most of the land scoured.” said Bhala as the pebble-sized bead vanished from his hand.

  "How did you find this baba?” came Indra's curious voice as he looked at the Bhala’s now empty hand.

  “I took missions to exterminate beasts when I was there. After all, the cultivation world holds the saying.

  Without tempering the abilities,

  The power remains illusionary,

  Without tempering the heart,

  The great Dao remains distant.” Bhala recited the poem with a bit of fervor.

  It was a night with a full moon just like today. I was running around the mountains, tracking down a group of ferocious mole beasts in a canyon deep within the wilderness. They were terrorizing the logistics personnel that were delivering supplies. The beast's were tens of feet tall with blood red eyes and fur that was as dark as a moonless night.

  They ran away the moment I found them, sensing the danger I held. They growled with their long snout as their fur bristled when they were finally cornered by my earth-locking talisman array, restricting their earth escape Spell.

  All five of them lunged at me with their silvery claws elongated and teeth sharp enough to bite through steel. But they were just Qi-gathering level beasts, cut down beneath a few swings of my treasured spear.” Regaled Bhala.

  “I had just finished exterminating the moles when she appeared. Dressed in a dark black robe with golden cuffs on her sleeves. She was half leaning on a tree trunk and her hair flew around with winds as she looked at me with her emerald green eyes” said Bhala as he recalled with his eyes lighting up and mouth curling up in a smile.

  The canyon we stood on held few trees and rocks to hide with and I still hadn’t been able to sense her until she was standing only ten feet away from me.

  "Vayu of the scout camp,” she said while introducing herself with her face holding a smile that brought dimples on her cheeks. She seemed unperturbed by the spear placed on her neck. I grazed her neck with the spear when she reached towards her waist pocket.

  “I am taking out the identity token. Sir?” She said and showed him the camp token.

  “Bhala.”

  “Hmm?”

  “I am Bhala from the logistics camp” I said and withdrew my spear after confirming the token’s authenticity.

  “The sky is beautiful isn't it? The full moon and the twinkling sky. Their lights frolicking around in the heavens ensnaring the soul, wishing to pull it away.” She said as she looked up at the sky while I looked at her.

  “Her emerald eyes were covered in long black eyelashes. Her long black hair drifted around as she left them open. A few locks falling on her wheatish face. Her lips tugged upwards while her eyes filled with longing” described Bhala while standing in front of the window looking up at the moon.

  “Shall we explore the moles' den?”

  “Hunh?”

  “I found the moles hideout, would you like to explore together?” she said as she removed a leaf that fell on her shoulders.

  “Cough, of course yeah, let's go and see if this was worth my earth-locking talismanic array.” I replied and came back to my senses. In that moment while the sky was ensnaring her, she had ensnared me.

  We walked amidst the falling autumn leaves. The stars illuminated our path while we travelled to the den.

  The den’s entrance was a giant hole leading down to unknown depths, it was pitch dark like an abyss. I wasn't flustered though, since after all these were ultimately qi-gathering beasts even if one of them was at grand perfection level.

  I threw down an illumination talisman, which made everything within the hole visible. Noticing no presence down below, I scanned the entrance with spirit sense just to be sure.

  When I found nothing once again, I nodded to Vayu and took out my flying cloud. The cheapest version of flying instruments but rogue cultures weren’t and aren’t known for luxury.

  We both sat down on the instrument as the white clouds carrying them drifted down the expansive hole, which was big enough to accommodate five times as many people. I held a glowing pearl in my hand, which illuminated the cave.

  “Very cautious lord Bhala” said Vayu while looking all over the cave.

  “I am no lord and caution has never let me down.” I replied while looking at her side profile.

  “Is that so?” said Vayu with a curious smile on her face. We started searching throughout the cave which was like a befuddling maze dug up by those damn beasts. There was no pattern to the multitudes of tunnels crisscrossing there.

  There seemed to be nothing present in the den until….”