Awakening the Divine Spark

Strangely enough, Junior Elder Liang didn’t leave.

He sat down a few yards away from Lee, facing the east, and began to meditate as if he had always been here. Lee could only awkwardly scratch the back of his head, trying to figure out the young man’s intentions. In the end he also sat and returned to guiding the elemental particles, trying to learn the most effective ways of employing them in attack.

For the next several days both boys felt uncomfortable with the junior elder around, but the guy never said anything. He didn’t even more.

At first Lee thought he was showing off, trying to look cool, but after inconspicuously observing him for a couple of days, Lee came to conclusion that elemental lords lived in a completely different universe compared to regular people like him.

Liang Yusheng didn’t eat or sleep. He never even drank water. He sat there unmoving, with his eyes closed, almost like a statue carved out of stone.

In theory one became an elemental lord by fusing their consciousness with the spark they ignited. Unfortunately, Lee had no chance to even grasp the concept because he had no clue what it meant to ignite an elemental spark to begin with.

Fortunately, at least Lee could sense the junior elder’s presence, if no other way than by simply looking at him, thus he quickly learned to ignore the guy. To be jealous of the achievements of others was never a good thing.

***

Six days later, during dinner Xiao Lian asked, "Brother Lee, do we have anything that I could use as a chisel? Your sword ..."

Lee already knew his weapon would be broken, except didn’t think only a handle would be left over so soon. Sadly the product of Han Li’s impeccable craftsmanship lost in Xiao Lian’s battle against the cliff pretty quickly, but both knew the fault lie in the relatively cheap metal the swords were made of, not her skills.

Clearly Xiao Lian was going all out. Judging by his bloodied hands, the guy had even tried to use fists as a weapon, but at best it could’ve been done at the level of elemental master. It was obvious he had an ambitious plan, but was becoming increasingly anxious realizing he had bitten off more than he could chew.

"Maybe it’s good as it is?" Lee asked, dampening Xiao Lian’s mood.

If he knew Xiao Lian would pick up a new hobby, he would’ve prepared for the training differently. Grabbing along a box of chisels and pickaxes was not a big deal. Unfortunately currently most of his bag was filled with dreadtalon claws.

"It’s not." Junior Elder Lian answered in Xiao Lian’s stead.

Then, under the confused eyes of the two, an exquisite sword appeared in his hand.

There was a walnut size diamond embedded in the pommel, bright and flawless, and Lee immediately knew that if he sold that, he could by half a city in any world he had lived in. The silvery crossguard was clearly made of a precious metal and there were peculiar runes carved on it.

The grip was wrapped in blue leather, matching the junior elder’s robe, probably from a rare beast, stitched with silver thread, but the real masterpiece was the blade – slim and slightly curved, giving off chilling, deadly sensation.

From a glance Lee knew the sword was an expensive artifact, but the scabbard easily topped it. He had no clue if it had any practical value, but the size and amount of sapphires it was inlaid with could leave in shame any royal treasury. fɾēewebnσveℓ.com

Fortunately Junior Elder Liang didn’t notice Lee’s instinctive gulp of greed, or took it as a sign of admiration or shock. He put the scabbard away, held the sword horizontally in front of him for few moments, as if saying goodbyes, and then passed it to Xiao Lian.

He said, "Use this. But pay more attention to the eyes. And don’t mess up!"

"I can’t ..." Xiao Lian struggled inwardly, unable to pull back his half-extended hand.

"Stop fooling around!" Liang Yunsheng said, "You don’t have much time left."

"Right!" The last words worked like magic, and Xiao Lian took the sword, and disappeared behind the edge of the cliff, leaving behind a quick, "Thank you! I’ll pay you back!"

"No you wont." Junior Elder Lian said with a smile, shaking his head.

"What the fuck just happened?" Lee involuntarily blurted. Nothing he saw made sense.

"... and everyone thought he was just a waste of space!" Junior elder said, but it sounded like he talked more to himself, "I can’t wait to see to what heights this kid will bring the Xiao clan."

"Oh? You’re from Refining Hall!" Lee thought he finally understood since this was the only way everything made sense, "You know his uncle."

"You’re kidding, right?" Junior Elder Liang got upset, "Isn’t it obvious I’m from the Healing Hall? I’ve never talked to anyone from the Xiao clan in my life!"

"Then why ..." Lee was completely lost.

"How stupid are you? Do you have any idea who you’re friends with?" Liang Yunsheng shook his head in disappointment, "It doesn’t matter. He has a pure heart. If everything goes as planned, I’ll have the most precious weapon in the Nethermoon sect ... something that the future of the Xiao clan was carved with ..."

Lee still had no clue what he was talking about, and learned the meaning only another month later, when Xiao Lian, blushed red from embarrassment, returned the sword. No matter how good the artisan who crafted the sword was, now it was half broken, with the blade chipped all over, but junior elder still happily received it with both hands.

He stored it without putting it in the scabbard, said few words of praise about Xiao Lian’s work, and walked away.

Right, at that moment Lee completely forgot what the fuss was about, seeing how the junior elder kept taking steps on a thin air, getting off the cliff and going over to the shore as if he had a quarter mile long invisible bridge.

"Advanced gravity step." Xiao Lian’s explanation brought Lee back to reality, "It’s really cool and expensive artifact. Those guys in the Healing Hall surely have nice things."

"You can make something like this?" Lee was baffled.

"In the sect? Probably only my uncle can." Xiao Lian said, "If I understand correctly, different high quality sparks are needed for that, including the rare spatial sparks."

"So it’s possible to create something that flies?" Lee asked.

"Like a bird? No." Xiao Lian said, "Gravity step is an artifact that creates a translucent disc one can stand on for a short period of time. Senior used advanced artifact that basically works as two gravity steps. He creates discs to step on and it only looks like he’s walking on air."

"Alright, it doesn’t matter." Lee said, glancing at his friend’s happy face. Xiao Lian almost didn’t have any clothing left, was dirty and bruised all over, but beamed with satisfaction, and even some pride, "Are you finally done?"

"Mhm. I’m starving!" Xiao Lian said.

"We’re out of food." Lee said, "Let’s go back and hunt for a few days."

The way back was almost uneventful. The catamaran broke apart twenty yards from the shore and the boys had to swim the rest of the way. They were already wet and it part didn’t matter, but fortunately nothing attacked them like when Lee fell in the river more than two months ago.

Only when he crawled out on the beach, Lee realized the whole scale of his friends craziness.

After throwing a look back at the cliff they spent the last months on, he saw a large carving of a girl’s face standing in clear detail. Her features were precise and lifelike, with a neutral expression, void of any emotion. But there was something about her eyes that made it hard for Lee to keep looking at them.

There was this strange, unsettling effect that made him feel like they were looking right back at him, almost as if aware of being watched. And they had this sharp look that pierced right into his soul.

Somehow Xiao Lian had managed to portray the most subtle, but at the same time the most notable trait of Qin Yujian’s personality, without trying to accentuate or exaggerate her beauty.

This guy was actually a genius.

Lee knew how to draw, but was never too proud of his skills. He realized that in artist circles he would be considered mediocre at best. But Xiao Lian was something else.

Ignoring the scale of his magnum opus, the quality and finesse of how he managed to express his feelings for the girl was enviable. And even with one glance it could be seen how pure the intent was. There was nothing overbearing or sexualized about it.

Junior Elder Liang was right. Lee had no clue what he was friends with. But, similar to the author of this carving, he was looking forward to see the expression on the girl’s face. It surely will be fun to see what the original thought of her being immortalized for eternity.