Yin & Yang Pleasures of Cultivation

Once Darcel, Aniela, and Yasami made it out of the Heavenly Generals' office, their eyes lit up in small surprise. Though they were expecting it, it was a bit shocking to see Fruna waiting patiently for them to return.

She was leaning against the wall, seemingly deep in thought. 

Though no one else was on the floor, making the scene seem a bit odd, Darcel's group didn't question it for now. As soon they took their first steps into the corridor, Fruna's head immediately perked up.

"Now that's the sign of a truly good friend! Didn't keep you waiting for a long Fruna?" Aniela immediately called out as she, Darcel, and Yasam's gazes matched Fruna's.

A huge grin spread on Fruna's face then. Her eyes had also quickly noticed the bronze ranking fang badges in their hand, causing her surprise to further about the trio.

"So you three really did complete that mission. Not only that, but you all also managed to become bronze ranking members in one fell swoop. I can't imagine the uproar this will have once the other members find out about this….for now, though. Congratulations, you three!"

For a brief second, the trio paused at Fruna's words. 

The most particular note that stuck out from her words was the fact they will inevitably cause an uproar with their bronze rankings badges.

It got Darcel, Yasami, and Aniela momentarily thinking about how to resolve that issue before it even happens. 

However, presently, the trio put that thought on the back burner for a bit, and they swiftly stuffed their bronze badges in their pockets.

Aniela had then begun to sweetly giggle as she and the others walked over to Fruna, telling her, "See? Having your faith invest in us is the right path to have! We never disappoint! And soo….I'm sure you heard the Heavenly Generals about our rooms, right?"

Fruna proceeded to get off from the wall from Aniela's question and nodded at her. 

Truthfully, she had only come at the tail end of their conversation. But with all the noise uproaring from the lounge room, it was more than easy to guess the news Darcel's group had transpired.

"Just follow me. I know this place like the back of my hand. I'll take you down the path where there's the least amount of people walking about. I'm sure you all want a bit of peace and quiet to digest everything the Heavenly Generals informed you of."

Fruna had then turned around, facing the staircases that led down, and inclined her head to Darcel's group to follow her. 

Darcel, Aniela, and Yasami didn't lag behind Fruna and dutifully followed behind her.

Like Fruna told them, she swiftly led them down the stairs to the second floor and began leading them down twisty turn hallways. The specific turns she made was intended for them to encounter very few people on their walks.

But of course, given the massive and vast size of the Nobe's Fang group place. It was impossible to not encounter some other group members. 

Although it was mostly other bronze ranking members.

Darcel, Aniela, and Yasami noticed that none of them seemed to pay great attention to Fruna's presence when they walked by them. 

But question gazes were directed at them as if they had no idea who they were.

Since obviously not every group member was in the lounge room, there were bound to be people who had no idea who Darcel, Aniela, and Yasami were.

Even if words do travel fast, it's only been at most thirty minutes since Darcel's group last appeared in the lounge. 

The bronze ranking members did marvel at Darcel and Aniela's striking appearance. Some even wanted to go up and talk to them.

But, for those situations, Darcel, Aniela, and Yasami decided to make a brief exception to their thoughts. 

They had all swiftly pulled out their own bronze ranking badge fang symbols, which got all those who tried to come up to them to pause.

Every member knows it's no mistake to be given a bronze fang badge considering only their Heavenly Generals can give them out. 

Their interest then should've been even more piqued in the trio.

But every time someone saw the bronze ranking badge, an odd feeling crept up inside their minds, telling them to not mess with the trio at this time. 

And this led to other bronze ranking members to simply nod at them before moving on.

Darcel and Aniela were glad that most bronze ranking members didn't surpass the fifth rank of the Innate Core realm. It made it far more easier to scare them off by their soul auras along with showing their badges.

And like this, Darcel's group and Fruna walked in relatively comfortable silence. 

At least, Aniela was comfortably silent while following behind Fruna. Darcel could pick up on a strangely quiet atmosphere exuding from Yasami, though.

But he would save that question for later. 

Darcel's eyes had glanced around their current area and noticed they were finally alone in this section of the second-floor hallways.

Finding this as a good opportunity, Darcel tapped Fruna's shoulder, gaining her attention. She had looked over to Darcel and saw his spatial ring brightly flashed, ringing her curiosity already.

Promptly then, Fruna's eyes began to widen once she saw the bright, alluring silver object Darcel had pulled out. 

Darcel's expectation rose seeing Fruna's reaction, and he had then asked her, 

"This flute…. we've taken it from that Soul Weaver ape. Perhaps you know what it exactly is? Going by your reaction, it's pretty telling." 

Darcel, of course, wouldn't trust either Heavenly Generals with asking this sort of question.

Even though Heavenly General Gorbug was the nicest out of the two, he's still an unknown threat that can potentially switch sides on them. Fruna, however, was a lot more trustworthy than both of them.

Not only she had stood up to Robert and Reyney, despite only barely knowing Darcel and Aniela at that time. She also did sort of play a part in getting them to join the Nobe's Fang group. 

Plus, it also helps that Darcel, Aniela, and Yasami are all stronger than her.

When hearing Darcel asked the question, Aniela perked up to listen in. Even the strangely quiet Yasami perked up to listen to Fruna's words. She was the most curious to see if her previous guess about the flute was right.

"I can't believe it….but….yes. Now it makes sense! What you have in your head Darcel is the Soul Spangled Flute!" 

Darcel quickly put the silver flute back into his spatial ring and let Fruna continue with her explanation.

"As the name heavily implies, that flute is a special musical instrument that can heavily manipulate anyone's soul. Through their souls, the flute can cause people to freeze for hours, put people to sleep, or manipulate and control people's minds. There's even one old legend of an extraordinary genius who had one of the rarest souls ever seen putting a titled Heavenly King to sleep with that flute. And the genius was just in the Innate Core realm at that time!"

Digesting that information was quite a lot to take in. 

A new light hazed in Darcel, Aniela, and Yasami eyes knowing the treasure they got is something far beyond their expectations.

Although, a sudden idea popped into Aniela's mind. 

She asked Fruna, "Oooh~, that's all cool and all. But….what's the catch? Would we need actual experience playing the flute? And some extremely powerful, out of this world soul?"

"Ah, you see, this is what makes this flute a bit more special than other exotic instruments. Anybody can tap into the extraordinary power of flute by simply surging their soul energy in their mouth and blowing into the flute. The only requirement for the flute, as you guess, Aniela, is to have an incredibly powerful soul. As this flute can instantly drain a cultivator of all their soul energy for one attack and can potentially make a cultivator weaker for future realms."

Darcel thought for a second, and it made sense. While his and Aniela's soul seemingly have this infinite supply of energy. He and Aniela clearly know they can overexert their souls to the point where it hurts to use.

And for a treasure like this flute, it can be seen as a double edge sword of potentially damaging your cultivation roots. 

Despite realizing all of this, a small smirk still etched upon Darcel's lip.

Another thing he knows about the information here is that cultivators all judge things by their common sense. 

So Darcel had the utmost confidence in using the flute without harming his soul or roots of cultivation. "Thank you for the information Fruna. We'll keep this in mind if we ever require the need to use it." 

Darcel spoke, though Aniela and Yasami could tell Darcel was already forming thoughts about the flute just by the look in his eyes.

"It's no problem. But yes, do use it when it's an absolutely necessary situation. There are too many people here and well, around our whole Province whose eyes will go blind from greed."

Fruna cautiously warned Darcel, hoping they would heed her advice. 

But when she heard Aniela began to giggle, a wry smile formed on Fruna's face knowing these youths must be attracted to taking on danger.

"Hehehe~, thanks for the warning Fruna. But, you're the only one who will know about the flute. Why? Because we know your eyes are excellent!" Aniela threw out an honest compliment to Fruna.

And it caused the older woman to have a cute blossoming smile curve upon her lips. 

"Heeeh….since it's you two, of course, you will know what you're doing. Let's hurry along now; we're almost to the rooms."

....

Eventually, after several more minutes of walking, Fruna led the trio to the bronze ranking members resting quarters. 

In this specific corridor, Darcel's group notices the fang symbol designs are painted in an entire beautiful brown coat. Furthermore, there weren't any other members currently walking around the corridor.

"And this is where you'll be staying to rest or sleep. Do you need me to guide you all to your rooms?" 

Fruna offered through Aniela had immediately shaken her head, kindly answering her with, "That won't be necessary. We got it from here. Plus, we all need some much needed good rest after that mission." 

Fruna understood Aniela's plight and began to turn around from them.

"See you all later then. Oh! Also, welcome to Nobe's Fang group." And with that, Fruna left the trio with a parting smile. 

Once she was out of their sights, Darcel and Aniela fished their eyes over to Yasami.

And right when their gazes landed on her, Yasami suddenly blurted out, 

"What are you two relationship exactly?!" Her words came out a bit accusatory and loud.

Yet, Yasami couldn't help it. Ever since Aniela told the Heavenly Generals she and Darcel would be sharing a room, the thought of what they would do in said room couldn't leave her mind.

Throughout their whole time together, neither Darcel nor Aniela showed any obvious signs of being in a relationship together. Sure they got along like fishes in the water, but they made it seem like they were more best friends than anything else.

Darcel and Aniela took one look at each other. Immediately a smile graced their lips as a silent communication was exchanged between them. 

And before Yasami knew it, Aniela suddenly appeared right to her side like a ghost.

Yasami had nearly tripped over as Aniela moved in close. But before she could adequately react, Aniela started to talk. 

"You see, Yasami. Darcy and I are in a loving boyfriend-girlfriend relationship. But-"

Entirely out of Yasami's expectations, Aniela had abruptly cut herself off and wrapped Yasami up in a big gentle hug! 

She didn't even give Yasami a chance to comprehend her words, and Aniela continued on to say, "Don't let that fact discourage you! It may be our very first day together, but to hell with it! We're really starting to like you!" 

Immediately, Yasami began to quiver in Aniela's warm embrace and her straightforward words.

Everything was all just too sudden! 

And yet….Yasami could at least say she didn't dislike being in Aniela's soft, tender arms. There was just something about this girl that made it easy to relax around her.

Still, there was one chord that stuck out to Yasami from Aniela's words. 

"L-l-like?" She stuttered out in complete embarrassment.

During this, Darcel had promptly taken Yasami's other side. Although, he hadn't gone as far as hugging the poor embarrassed girl. 

Darcel knows only someone like Aniela can get away with tightly hugging someone you just met on the same day. 

Still, Darcel put his hand on Yasami's shoulder and gave her a reassuring squeeze. 

And this one-touch caused a blaze of tingling pleasuring sensations to shiver down Yasami's body and soul.

More so than ever in this position, Yasami could feel the stark differences between Darcel and Aniela's touch. While she felt warm under Aniela's embrace, Darcel's touch inspired Yasami with longing feelings to be in his arms.

Gazing up at his face, Yasami was finding Darcel just even more handsome than he already is. 

Darcel smiled at Yasami's incredible reaction to his touch and had begun telling her,

"Indeed, Aniela and I never like to mince our words. We prefer to be straightforward on any subject. So believe us when we say that we truly do like a cute, charming girl such as yourself."

Instantly, Yasami felt her cheeks become ablaze. Her heartbeat raced at miles per minute, and her body was shuddering in tingling sensations. 

Even for as fearless she could be, Yasami just couldn't keep up with the bold shamelessness of this idiot duo!

In a flash of blue flames, Yasami managed to escape from Aniela's soft clutches and Darcel's warm hand. 

Darcel and Aniela blinked in slight surprise and turned around to a trembling Yasami keeping her head to the floor.

Suddenly then, Yasami snapped her head back up, pointed her finger straight at them, and blurted out, "Y-Y-You idiot couple!! Just don't be late for tomorrow, we have missions to do! Goodnight! Hmph!"

And without giving them a chance to respond, Yasami quickly stormed off to her room, slamming the door behind her.

Darcel and Aniela were left by themselves, but the only thought they had in their minds was; that was pretty cute!