Ellisa and Jake continued along their course toward Jake’s sect. Ellisa felt something familiar, however—an energy that had a very disturbing vibe.
It was far from them, but for Ellisa, as it was bothering her, it felt too near for her. And so, she took the chance to let Jake know her sentiments.
"Can we take a detour? Let’s pass through that mountain." She then pointed to a mountain.
Jake just didn’t reply. He simply looked at the mountain where Ellisa was pointing, then nodded.
"You won’t ask me, why?" Ellisa pondered, looking at Jake with disbelief.
"I don’t have any questions. I just assumed that perhaps you have some business with the dark sect of Jackal Mountain Sect." Jake said.
Ellisa raised her eyebrows. She wondered why Jake sounded so unconcerned about the fact that they had to take an unnecessary detour. Even though she didn’t know what lay there, it seemed like Jake knew something.
And so, taking it into account, she asked. With Jake’s answer being still vague for her, she again sought things clear.
"What’s a dark sect?"
Jake didn’t make any unnecessary reactions and just calmly answered her question.
"Dark sects are sects with a dark history. It could be from plunder, murder, fraud, or anything that deals with crimes. And since they are an established sect and called a dark sect, they must co-exist with other people to allow them to become lenient about their history."
With that explanation, Ellisa raised another question.
"What do you mean by their history? Was there something prominent that happened in the world that could have been used to overlook their crimes in the past?"
Jake sighed, thinking that she was just playing with him. But even though he tried to look at it that way, it still bothered him.
’Who’s in the right age still doesn’t know about the rough history of the continent?’
"The Eastern Continent was part of the Great World War a thousand years ago. And since there wasn’t much authority at that time, different organizations tried to take control. However, after the time when a government was established, dark sects tried to co-exist with other people to avoid another war."
Ellisa, listening to it, just nodded as if she understood everything. Despite the fact that it was only like that, she understood some.
"Get it," she suddenly said with a smile and continued walking, leaving Jake behind.
Jake released another sigh as he looked at Ellisa’s back.
’Too weird for a powerful person like her.’
After some time, Ellisa and Jake finally reached the next mountain, and as expected, the familiar energy was getting stronger. It was as if this was attracting her to go where it came from.
However, as Ellisa felt that she had already discovered something, a group of cultivators appeared and surrounded them.
Jake was nervous at first, but after remembering that his robe was just plain white, he sighed in relief.
"What’s your business, mortal and fellow Daoist?" A voice suddenly resounded, asking the both of them.
’He must be unable to assess Miss Ellisa’s cultivation. Just how strong is she to be unreasonably ignorant?’ Jake thought.
"I’ve never been called a mortal. But reasonable since you couldn’t assess my power." Ellisa said, but just how serious she was was too oblivious for the cultivators.
"What are you talking about, mortal? I am in the Peak of Master Spirit Realm so I’ll know if you are higher or lower than me. Looking at your body, you don’t even have a hint of spiritual energy." Ridiculed by the voice.
Ellisa just smirked, then shook his head.
"Nevermind. Stupidity will always be stupid. Ignorance is forever. You are asking why we are here. Well, I am curious about where I can see a person with a peculiar aura. It’s not one of you, right?"
’Looking at it, I feel this person is ignorant and oblivious to the fact that this is a different world. Perhaps he or she didn’t think of considering the aura.’ Ellisa concluded.
On the other hand, they were just silent. They inspected them and stopped at Jake.
"You know, this mountain belongs to the Jackal Mountain Sect. Leave in an instant and we’ll forget about this disrespectful fellow you are with."
Slowly, Jake looked at Ellisa with worried eyes. Meanwhile, Ellisa just shook her head and swayed her hand, revealing profound energy spreading through the woods.
And still worried, Jake’s heart beat quickly. It was because the cultivators that surrounded them were from a dark sect, which was just stronger than his own. And if his sect was known to be connected with this, it will be the end for them.
Jake’s sect was already facing some problems with a rival sect. And if this continued, raging them, he wouldn’t be able to help Ellisa.
"You don’t have to worry about it, Jake."
"Do we really have to provoke them?"
Ellisa just grinned. "Don’t worry about it. They are not even an inch of my power."
’Well, I just have to save some mana for later. This world’s mana sucks. I can just gather a chunk big enough to satiate my thirst.’ Ellisa thought.
As those words of provocation were heard by the cultivators of the Jackal Mountain Sect, they all laughed.
"This mortal thinks she could do something..." they said.
But, contrary to what they said would be the downfall of their lives, well, in reality, Ellisa wasn’t afraid of killing.
As the familiar energy was attracting her strongly, she couldn’t contain herself but go towards it and check it for herself. And if she saw that source of that tremendously familiar energy, it would help her search for her master.
"Do talk. But don’t cry over this one." Ellisa mumbled, then swayed her hands again, drawing some symbol in the air. And as she drew a symbol, it formed into a final complete formation.
’An array? But it looks different.’ Jake thought.
Ellisa breathed out a heavy sigh, then the symbol turned into an actual magic circle, lit, and an aura spread.
Ellisa’s eyes turned white, surprising Jake as well as the cultivators. Even though they were just hiding and observing them in the shadows, they were immediately revealed after the magic circle was activated.
They all trembled and looked at Ellisa with fear. It was something unexplainable, but just as Ellisa was confidently exuding her aura, everyone collapsed except Jake.
"Hooo..."
It was spectacular. Jake hadn’t seen that kind of array in the past. And even if he did, that kind of symbol was so profound and complex that he couldn’t comprehend its nature.
"What was it for?" Jake asked.
Everything became silent. There were no cultivators, aside from Jake, who stood in the woods. And as his question reached Ellisa’s ears, she smiled.
"It was a draining spell." She said, then looked blankly at her hands and body. "So this is what you call a Qi? The strange energy I felt..."
Confused, Jake decided not to ask again, as it might just confuse him more. He just eyed her with a disturbed expression and then moved his gaze to the surroundings.
’That was amazing...’
Meanwhile, Ellisa was still comprehending the concept behind the spiritual energy that entered her body. And as it was tremendous, uncontrollably rampaging inside her body, she activated another magic spell.
[System Boost]
It was a spell that could hasten the body’s system. Something that helps natural building blocks for different situations. And as she suppressed the Qi in her body to not kill her, it naturally built a dantian-like pool inside.
The pool absorbed her mana, and as she couldn’t control it to her will, it mixed with the Qi she took.
Ellisa was left dumbfounded, confused about what had just happened to her. It was truly amazing and unexplainable. However, it gave her even better news because she no longer had to struggle to recover her energy.
’It feels weird, but this new form of energy I had is some kind of mana but different in purpose. This energy feels weaker for my magic, but I feel there’s another purpose for this. Perhaps the strange attacks from yesterday, I can also do it with this energy.’
Then, a smile gleamed on her lips.
’I don’t care anymore! I want to surprise Master with this!’
"Miss Ellisa! Are you okay?" Jake asked, breathless.
"What happened?" she asked.
"You were preoccupied. I was calling you since earlier, but you weren’t answering."
"Huh? That’s a weirdly long time to be preoccupied. I felt like I was just in... wait a minute. I was concentrating on fixing the stability of the new energy."
And just like that, another confusion and a question were raised inside Jake’s head that he just ignored. Well, because technically, he’d just be more confused that he’d get accustomed to ignoring it.
"Okay. But what now? Everyone is dead. Shall we continue?" he asked.
"Yes, of course. The purpose still doesn’t change."
’Sadly, I don’t know that purpose.’ Jake thought.
"Let’s go. I feel like he really needs help. Or I don’t know, maybe a freak like me that tried to follow Master was stupid enough to be experimented on."
Ellisa already had an idea, but Jake didn’t.