Corrupt Creations

"Awakening?" 

"Yeah. This girl "steam element" was too strange to begin with. Given her origin, it is not that impossible for her to be an inheritor of a powerful bloodline. However, there were no evidences nor any clues appointing she would be able to awaken it before. But now, it is more than clear that her bloodline is being stimulated." 

"Do you know what kind of bloodline is this? The way it is awakening is too strange." 

"No, I have no idea, however there is a problem with what is happening to her right now." 

"A problem? Please tell me! Is there any way to solve it quickly?" 

"Calm down, this is indeed something complicated, but it is not urgent and definitely not something you would be able to resolve quickly." Lexi said while trying to calm Seth down. 

"Then, what is happening?" 

"Her bloodline is undergoing the awakening process right now; however, it is missing the source, making it impossible to fully complete the process and waking her up normally. She is in a suspended state and only if we find the source or her bloodline, we will be able to wake her up." 

"The source? I've never heard of something like this before." 

Lexi tried to recall some of her knowledge regarding what could possibly be happening. 

"There are some ancient techniques that were able to hold the source of a bloodline in a certain place or item, just like what the Demonic Shadow Royal Clan did to give you the Shadow Demon bloodline. At that time, they made you undergo many of those baptisms where the source blood of that demon was able to enter your veins and grant you compatibility with darkness." 

Seth shuddered after recalling those painful and aggressive ceremonies he had to pass through. It was a distant memory, but he still felt pain when recalling it. 

Lexi continued: "If one is compatible and has access to such places or items, they are able to acquire that bloodline. However, this girl bloodline hails from inside her own body, meaning that it was hereditary, but the source of it was extracted, or not given to her from the very beginning. In other order to complete the awakening process, you got to merge both of them. In other words, you will need to find the source." 

"Then, where can I find it?" 

"My guess it that it is inside the Ethereal Illusive Sanctuary, where they can keep it under control. It sounds like something they would do." 

"..." Seth could only stay in silence. What Lexi implied is that if he wanted to wake Meiyi up, he would have to go against one of the Higher Grounds. He knew that her words were most probably right and the source would be inside their sanctuary. 

"How is my daughter, Seth?" Chun Meihui couldn't wait any longer and started to ask about Meiyi again. 

Seth stopped thinking and talking with Lexi, to answer Chun Meihui's question. He knew that she must be feeling anguish and decided to tell her some things. 

"She is outside any danger, but there is a complicated bloodline process undergoing inside her body. It is sad, but she is unable to wake up if we don't find something her bloodline is seeking right now." 

"Bloodline? Where can we find it? Are we able to wake her up after finding it?" 

"Sigh... Mother-in-law, the thing we need is most probably inside the Illusive Ethereal Sanctuary..." Seth said the truth, because he didn't want to feed her the hope to go search for it. He knew she would do anything for her daughter and even if it meant giving up her life. 

Chun Meihui knew what something like that meant. If what they needed was inside the territory of one of the Higher Grounds, it was but a pipe dream that they would be able to acquire it. 

"No... Then, will my daughter stay unconscious like that forever? It was my fault... If not for me sending her out alone to get more fresh herbs, nothing of this would have happened." Meihui started to cry in despair after hearing Seth's words. 

"You're wrong mother-in-law. Nothing that had happened was your fault and Meiyi will wake up real soon, I promise you. You can let the Illusive Ethereal Sanctuary to me." 

"Seth... Alright." 

"Good. What I need you to do right now, is to stay beside her while I find a way to find the thing she needs. It may take some time, so please take care of her." Seth said those words while lightly caressing Meiyi's face. 

He felt his Soul Link connection with her stronger than ever, what assured him that she would be alright. It was only a matter of time. 

"Mother-in-law, this was short, but I need to go to the Blazing Phoenix Sect and talk with the Sect Master after that I will find a way to the Illusive Ethereal Sanctuary." 

"Blazing Phoenix Sect? Don't go!" 

"Hm? Don't go...? Why not?" 

"Didn't you hear about it? The Wu Martial Kingdom and the Blazing Phoenix Country are almost at the point of a wide scale war already. If you go, bad things might happen with you. It's too risk to enter the Blazing Phoenix Sect now." 

"War?" Seth couldn't believe what he was hearing. He would never think the war was almost exploding already. On his conception, there were still two months until the battle started. 

Suddenly, a possibility appeared on his mind. Seth considered that all variables were within what he considered a safe threshold, but what if a known variable was someone shrewd, someone that could pull the strings from behind the curtains... 

'Velgor!' 

The person he hated the most and the only one able to orchestrate many things and command the tides of the battle. Only now, Seth knew what Velgor was capable of. He practically had his hand on anything bad that was happening in the whole continent. It was only natural that Seth would suffer with his plans, and that was what was happening right now. 

Velgor did things way quicker than they should have been and at the same time, didn't call him to be part of the operation, like they have combined.

"Rina, please stay here with mother-in-law while I quickly check on something. I'll try to be as fast as possible." 

Rina was about to say something, but she decided to follow Seth's words. If Seth decided to leave her behind, it was because he knew that it would be dangerous. When he allowed her to fight against the frenzied beasts back in the Hilkhell city, he was sure he could save her anytime and from anything. However, it was totally different now, so he chose to leave her in a safer place. 

"Alright." 

Suddenly, Chun Meihui realized her bad manners for not asking the name of the visit she just received. 

"Pardon my rudeness. I'm ashamed of forgetting the common manners. My name is Chun Meihui and this girl lying comfortably on the bed is Chun Meiyi, my daughter. May I ask you who you are?" 

"Eh? You're not rude, it was I that was rude when not introducing myself." 

Rina took her hood off, revealing her flawless beautiful face before Chun Meihui. 

"I am Rina, the daughter of the current queen of the elves." 

Seth's mother-in-law wasn't able to reply her even after a whole minute has passed by. Her words were stolen by Rina's beauty and she could only look towards Seth with a shocked expression. 

"Mother-in-law, I will leave Rina in your care. Please let her take care of Meiyi, since she is a better healer than I am, alright?" 

"So, you're called Rina? You have a beautiful name. Please... feel comfortable inside my humble house. I am just a mother that takes care of her daughter and her house." After hearing Seth's words, Chun Meihui tried to sound normally, but she was still a bit stiff. 

Seth left them there, talking and getting to know each other better, leaving the house in order to go to talk with Huo Shihong. When he passed through the door, Lexi's voice once again resounded inside his head. 

"Seth, wait! I didn't say it before, so you wouldn't get mad in front of them, but there were some signs of bloodline energy on a certain part of her head." 

"Her head? What does it mean?" 

"It means that it had to concentrate that area signaling that she had to be healed by her bloodline energy. Somehow, something or someone wounded her there and that could have been the trigger for her awakening process to start." 

"What?! You mean her awakening may not have been something natural, but caused by an injury?" 

"Yes, precisely." 

Seth suddenly started to consider that possibility and his blood started to boil. The thought of someone injuring Meiyi made him feel a seething rage. His eyes suddenly got sharper as he looked towards the woods, some kilometers away from where he was now. 

It was the place Meihui had told him she sent Meiyi to search for the herbs she wanted. If something happened to Meiyi, it was bound to be there. 

Seth's aura started to get out of control, but he made sure to restrain it for now. His body vanished, leaving no traces behind.