Lind felt itchy in the new robes he was wearing as the carriage made its way through the streets of the Southern District. So much had happened since the end of the tournant but the invitation to the Gu Clan had spread just as quickly as his upset. Teyla had practically stared daggers into Lind's back but as it was a fully public conversation, it was not like he had to explain anything.
His mother and Teyla had quickly looked at his closet and found his robes severely lacking. Despite his association with the twins, Lind had never abused it to get any extra benefits. This fact had spared him so grief over the years but now he was forced to wear a hastily altered version of Teylin's robes.
Teylin was much broader than Lind but they were only a few inches off in height at the mont.
Teylin failed to ntion how itchy the spirit cursed fancy silks were and Lind wanted to just burn them as it was! He noticed the mirth in Teylin's eyes across from him in fact as Lind would continue to twitch now and again as the carriage made its way to the Gu compound. It was only the 2 of them despite Teyla's wish to join them.
Granny and the Old Man had stopped her as the 3rd Princess seed to want to talk to them but the invitation from the Gu Clan had included only Lind and Teylin when it officially arrived. Her Highness had wished them well before following Granny and the Old Man sowhere.
"You should have taken more gifts from my sister over the years, Lind."
The amused voice of Teylin only touched a nerve, but considering all that happened thus far, Lind swallowed his harsh words. They were going sowhere that personal drama could not be addressed openly. The flash of emotion was seen by Teylin and he beca more serious.
"I reiterate what I said before, Lind. We both thought you deserved to know but you were only 11. Even Grandfather would not have told us save he worried those that knew would try to act against you. He wanted us to understand. Also the fact that–" Here Teylin choked a bit and Lind glanced up only to see a few tears fall. Lind suddenly felt his anger lt.
The twins' mother was one of the won involved. Lind moved and embraced his Big Brother.
The youth was good at moderating his emotions but around Teyla and Lind he was more relaxed. Lind quietly let Teylin finally express emotions he had no doubt kept inside. Lind felt his old mories surge and he felt he had to say sothing before they arrived.
"Big Brother, you need to learn to lean on us more. I am still angry but if nothing else, you and Teyla are still my siblings too. It is not by blood but by the many things that have brought us together. We can take so ti to work this out later."
Lind saw Teylin collect himself and look down at him. It irked LInd that Teylin was slightly taller even sitting down. Where was that last growth spurt?!
Cultivation slowed aging as one progressed but this side effect was rarely seen due to LInd breaking through so early in life.
"My Lords, we are here."
The coachman called out as they passed through the feeling of a barrier. Much like the Frey Clan, the Gu Clan employed a defensive formation. The invitation acted as the entrance tonight as the barrier had been activated to add a layer of security for the celebrations tonight.
Lind looked out and saw a vastly different setup from the Frey Clan. Despite living in the Southern District for 15 years, Lind rarely left the Frey Clan aside from missions into the wilderness outside the city.
His mother had shown him where to go to get supplies if needed desperately when outside the clan, but he had never set foot in pill shops or anything else as the twins were rarely without everything they needed.
The Gu Clan was an ancient Clan compared to Che or Frey. The Frey Clan had a history older than so kingdoms, but the Gu Clan supposedly once was a major power before their fall when the Lotus Empire arose thousands of years ago. It was only through a few lessons, but Lind had found it interesting that the Gu Clan had not been destroyed.
He later learned many powers could rise and fall over ti due to the long lives of cultivators preserving the legacy of those powers.
Large trees encircled the entrance to the compound that were lit up with spirit lights. It was light blues to pale yellows filled the branches to make the feeling of starlight all around guests as they pulled up to the massive arched entrance. Peak Soul Realms guarded the entrance but Lind saw the bending of elents indicating a World Realm was nearby or at least an artifact of the sa level.
"Welco to the Gu Cla–" Before the guard could finish speaking a flash of azure sped by both n and swept Lind into a hug.
"You ca!"
Lind was confused but the soft feeling was clearly a woman. The voice took a mont before he placed it and was even more confused at the enthusiastic welco. Lind was allowed to pull back and saw the relieved eyes of Sheyra Gu looking down at him. That growth spurt could hit Lind any ti now!
"Lind, I thought you only t in the tournant today?"
Dry humor was laced on Teylin's voice and Lind desperately separated himself from Sheyra. He saw her size up his Big Bro and a smirk flashed on her face almost too fast for most to see. Lind had been too close to miss it!
"We did, but it was very…instructive."
Lind had truly enjoyed the bout and it had led to his breakthrough in elental tempering. Lind saw a frown on the woman's face but then he smiled at her. "I would like to think we have started a good friendship."
Lind held out his hand and saw her own smile return as she pulled him once again into a bone crushing hug.
Why was she trying to get him killed by Teyla?!
"Co with !"
Almost pulling his arm out of his socket pulled Lind into the entrance. The guards stood with jaws dropped in shock as they passed by and had not recovered at all when the next guests arrived. The calm and cool young Miss was acting like a small child with a new toy!
Lind was curious as they quickly left the main hall and entered what would be the living spaces of the Gu Clan. It was far from the secret areas but Lind was able to notice sothing interesting. All the decorations were of the 6 elents in so fashion. It was never separated, always all 6 together. The accepted symbols were easy enough.
A small fla, a drop of water, a craggy sphere, waves in green, yellow sphere, and black sphere. Lind saw a few colorless reliefs where light had rays pointing out and darkness had them pointing in. There were so gardens but Lind's sharp eye noted a lack of herbs. He did not feel they were decorative, but he did not have ti to check.
Sheyra ca to an iron gate with no sign of guards but it was clearly a special area. She then let go of Lind before closing her eyes. Lind imdiately felt all 6 elents surge around her as the gate began to glow to his eyes. Lind noticed a formation he had never thought possible. All 6 elents resonated and a click was heard before the gate swung open on its own.
"Master Teylin, please give
a mont with your little brother. I negotiated an opportunity for him in return for his actions today."
A much more solemn young woman stood before the 2 n and Lind noticed an appreciative nod from Teylin before he followed Sheyra into starlight.
If the front gate was ant to be a welcoming illusion, this garden was what being in orbit must feel like to astronauts. Lind felt his dantian pulse in joy just being in this garden unlike any place he had ever encountered.
There were natural treasures and areas that could induce enlightennt for certain elents or allow tempering to be much more effective, but those topped out at tri-elentals. Even then, only in certain combinations were they safe. Lind had heard of a few places in the Frey Clan that could help Quad-elentals so long as they were able to pay comnsurate resources or earn rit.
Five elentals and 6 elentals had nothing in the Frey Clan, but to be fair, Lind was the only one above 4 elents in his clan.
Lind felt the aura of peace in this massive garden. Trees of starlight and fruits that seed like moons filled his vision as he followed Sheyra down a dark path. To Lind, it looked as if they were floating through space. He was deeply curious how this place looked in daylight.
The sound of bubbling water reached his ears and the path led them to a moonlit area. Fine stonework columns surrounded a massive water fountain. Lind was srized by the water dancing in the moonlight. He felt closer to true peace than he thought possible. All the dark revelations and terrible battles fell away in this place.
There were clear square spaces distributed with the fountain being the centerpiece. This was a cultivation space.
"This is a treasure of our sect. The Gu Clan once had far more 6 elentals and like many other powers, we have tried to find the secret to getting through the wall that is the World Realm."
Sheyra whispered but her words were so clear. Lind was not sure what made it special to them, but then he saw Sheyra pick a square and assu the lotus position. "Use your dantian in this place.
We do not have long."
Lind spoke no unnecessary words and let his instincts guide him. While an innate cultivator could not temper their elents at the sa pace, the talent was still a good guide in this situation. Lind found a place different from the others and assud the lotus position himself. He closed his eyes and began to carefully temper his elents.
His cultivation strained to surge but Lind had long practice to regulate it carefully. His newly minted tier 4 cultivation did not move much but beca very solid in this place. What Lind felt was a harmony of all 6 elents in his dantian. He felt the need to open his eyes as Qi rushed to enhance his vision.
Rather than chaos, Lind saw all 6 colors flow around the fountain. Red flared like the sun as it wove destruction in its wake, but water soothed it in deep blue, while brown and green llowed both between them. Bright light sparkled like true stars and stood out more as darkness surrounded them, but then Lind felt sothing slide into place.
Azure fla rose from Sheyra and joined the 6 colors and erald rose from Lind. His tier 5 tempered elents began to solidify and advance like never before. No technique, pill, or treasure had been able to unlock this kind of speed but Lind kept watching as he began to comprehend sothing profound.
The 6 elents made up people but it also made up the world. Lind felt like a glimr of sothing critical had fallen into his lap and he tried to follow it but it would not show any more. His eyes suddenly felt like they were burning before his vision changed. The fountain now emitted playful flakes of their 2 fires into the air and the 6 elents seed to rejoice.
Lind felt a pull and allowed his erald fla to do what it willed.
Sheyra suddenly felt her dantian resonate once again and her tempering for the first ti in her life exploded forward to tier 8! She had never been able to grasp the chance this place had to this extent but then she recognized the feeling from before. She had been right!
Her harmony was inclined to healing and peace, but their records showed harmonies were as varied as cultivation techniques. Color was not always an indication, but generally Gu Clan were azure flas. There were confird records of reds, browns, and many other colors, but not the erald color of Lind. None of the flas matched elental colors exactly either, but were close.
Sheyra cherished this mont and allowed whatever the erald flas were doing to guide her as she steadily tempered her elents.
A World Realm Elder, hidden from their eyes, looked on in awe as she felt the effects of the boy on their young Mistress. She was only a dual elental but the feeling of resonance even touched her as her dantain reacted. How could a Soul Realm affect the World Realm?!
The night passed as the sounds of festivities filled the air before the harmony flas finally returned to their respective owners.
Lind felt like he was halfway through tier 5 tempering which was amazing considering the snail's pace his recent attempts had been. The tendrils of elents into his harmony fla were thicker and Lind understood he had been holding himself back and likely leading to a dead end in cultivating if he had not learned this truth about 6 elentals.
"Thank you very much, Miss Sheyra."
Lind bowed low and saw equal joy in her face at their results at this ti.
"Perhaps one day, we can try again. For now, let us return to Master Teylin and see if your evaluation of him is accurate."
Sheyra smiled wide as she led Lind back to the party.
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