The Sorceress: Blossoming Power

Xinyi recounted to Ming what took place in their journey on the way to the cave, so he already knew what to expect on their way back. 

Along the way, a plan was already taking shape in his mind. After that encounter with the unseen dragon king, Ming clearly understood the immensity of this Ruler's Influence power he unexpectedly gained. This gave him the idea on how to deal with these malevolent red-eyed beasts and finished their task as soon as possible so they could leave and search for his lost mother.

Ming's wind moved around them, creating and building a shield where dirt, leaves, and grass churned to form a barrier between them and the beasts. Its whirring's strength deafened the loud growls while fierce eyes glared at them, waiting for the whirlwind to end. But the four-legged creatures stood farther away, fearing from being blown away.

With his wind power, he brought them down in a slightly open field where the evidence of a destruction could still be seen. The corpse of the panther Xinyi mentioned was still there and was blown away by his swirling wind. But he didn't let the wind die yet. He had to protect them from the drooling beasts rounding about in a distance as he prepared his mind of the task he would next.

Ming's arm sn.a.k.e.d Xinyi's waists tightly while concentrating to use his Ruler's Influence but Shijian, in her human form, tapped his shoulder. "Master, you don't need to use that unharnessed power. Let me do it. I can guarantee my power can make these beasts kneel." When she saw it was not enough to convince Ming, she added, "I passed this forest days ago, and they stayed away from me. Let me prove it to you. Please, bring the wind down."

"As you wish." Ming said. He was also eager to see how Shijian would use her power. 

As their feet landed and the tornado slowly died down, the animals didn't spare time and raced like crazy toward them with all malice and desire to tear them apart until nothing was left of them. 

The whole group, minus Nianshi and Meirga, equipped themselves with their powers and were set for a long and deadly fight. 

Hooves sprinted, dust filled the lands as heavy thudding sounds surrounded them, matching the hard beating in their chests as the two or four-footed beings with flickering skins fast approaching them. 

"Shijian?" Ming said in a heavy and low timbre. "Do it now." But Shijian, with eyes closed, couldn't hear him as she focused all of her powers within her while gripping at a Kreg stone Xinyi gave her. 

In less than seconds after calling the Qilin, large and small bodies sprung up in the air altogether in unison like an orchestrated jump, with bloodshot eyes, and with mouths wide that might lock their jaws if they kept it up for long, neared above them. As the salivating muzzles about to snap their heads and make a living food out of them, Shijian's eyes shone as bright as the morning sun, as glaring as the spotlight, striking fear at the animals' minds and hearts. 

In that instant, the springing animals froze in the air and reluctantly plummeted on their heads, but Guang's and Xinyi's shield appeared and formed a dome tent around them. As these beasts dropped on the shield, their bodies slid down, piling themselves up at the edge of the light, forming a thick wall around the group. 

Running beings made a hurried breaking stop of their feet. But with their speed, how could they stop themselves without hitting the beast ahead of them? Thus, their bodies smacked and dropped one by one like dominoes all the way to the front, plunging the last one like a billiard ball to the piled creatures at the barrier, striking those stacked bodies flying away from the barrier like the flung bowling pins when hit at the deck.

Everything transpired in high-speed all together that even the adventurers had no inkling what took place. What their n.a.k.e.d eyes saw were multiple beasts, too many to count, dropped above them and slid down, but were struck away as soon as they landed. They were thankful for the defensive light otherwise it would be them that were flung everywhere.

Ming clucked his tongue and turned his head at Shijian to ask why she acted late, but only saw her face go pale and her body collapsed. Quickly, his arm went behind her and caught her in time.

"What happened?" He said as he saw the Kreg stone left her flailed hand.

"Let her rest. I can feel her difficulty in controlling the thousands of beasts' minds." Xinyi said.

"I see. I'm sorry, Shijian. I think we need to talk about how to connect our minds later. I didn't know you were in a pinch. I could have helped you if I knew." He said, carrying the weak Shijian up on her feet and gently letting her sit and lean against a tree.

Shijian nodded and drifted to sleep. 

"Allow me to heal her, Sire." Guang said as she knelt beside Shijian and placed her palms above the human-Qilin's forehead.

Ming stood and watched the scattered and immobile beasts. "Xinyi? I think it's your turn now."

"I know." Without delay, Xinyi shut her eyes and lifted her hands wide. As she did, Tubli's pearls around her neck brightly shone and joined in with her healing light stretching out from her palms and beyond, filling the two-kilometer of forest land to the brim. 

With her power, the beasts flickering lights steadied, seeped deep down their flesh, and into their heads, bringing their sanity back. The once withering trees turned sparkling green along with the once brown grasses on the ground. In less than a minute, everything returned to the lush, lively, full of life, and vibrant forest as how it was before. 

There, in their midst, Xinyi stood in her majestic might with essence rippling from her feet, healing Shijian along with the rest. 

Guang gaped in wonder when Xinyi's power instantly brought the Qilin to perfect health. She had served the two Sorceress before Xinyi but never witnessed such prompt healing before, even after the two ladies reached their ripened age of twenty. This was the first. Such were the powers the pearls gave the present Sorceress. 

Xinyi's hands descended to her sides, and the light faded until everything went back to normal.

As her arms touched her body, a soft voice spoke from the ground. They couldn't tell the gender out of it, but they understood who its owner was, the forest's spirit being.

"Thank you, my lady. Thank you for saving us." The melodious voice said as it slipped with the rustling breeze, brushing their clothes, faces, and hairs as it soothes every cell in them. It was so relaxing that they thought they were floating at that fleeting moment. 

After the forest spirit spoke, each fowl and living beasts bowed their heads toward Xinyi. This was the second time Xinyi experienced this, but she was still dumbstruck and overwhelmed at the thought that these great beings bowed before her. She was tongue-tied for seconds.

She heaved a deep breath and said, "It's my joy to help you... From now on, let's help one another to bring balance to this world again."

After that five-seconds worth of speech, every beast, trees, bushes, and flowers sparkled and showered the adventurers with their flowery-like essence as their way of expressing their happiness and thankfulness. The group could feel their powers tripled with those shimmering objects flowing in their skins.

What occurred next brought out peals of laughter from their lips as cats, foxes, and other animals, including reptiles, went to them and snuggled at their legs or nudged their heads at their hands. Looking at them, they portrayed Adam and Eve in the garden of Eden before they fell into sin. 

"We wanted to stay and talk, but we are in a hurry. Do you know the way to the Meirga's tunnel?"

Xinyi asked the unseen forest spirit. "As you can see, Meirga is not with us as of the moment."

"Allow me to open it for you, my lady. But before that, please bring this leaf as a token of our appreciation." As she spoke, a yellowish red leaf hovered from the tallest tree and settled on Xinyi's hand. "Please keep this. It will restore a dry land to life again. But you can use it only once. Use it as you see fit."

"Thank you." 

Suddenly, the ground quaked, and a huge and dark hole appeared before them. "Jumped in and the trees' roots will carry you there."

They said their thanks, and each leaped down. Roots caught them inside and brought them deep down until they saw Meirga's room underneath.

Gazing at this profound hole, Xinyi asked Shijian how she passed this place with the unconscious Ming.

"I don't know how, but it was the late Sorceress' who told me to come here. It was already open when I arrived. I didn't even see Meirga at that time."

Xinyi was in awe. She wondered if she could do the same thing and peered inside her, looking for her namesake's essence. But before she found it, Tyriece shouted in a loud voice.

"Look, Nianshi and Meirga are back."