Be Gentle, Immortal Master

That question had been on my mind ever since we ran into the guardian beasts for the first time. I hadn't given it too much thought back then, and I had always assumed that the reason why I could only understand the mother was because of the cub's young age. But after seeing the other two bixie children today, I realized that this assumption couldn't hold anymore. Those two were fully grown already, yet I still couldn't figure out the meaning of any sound they made.

I looked at Bai Ye expectantly. To my surprise, he furrowed his brow in confusion as well. "When you first told me that you could understand the mother," he said, "I didn't find it too surprising. You are a sword spirit, and your soul came from the spiritual power of nature, so it is only expected that your ties to animals are much stronger than that of other people. My guess is that you are able to feel the bixie mother's emotions accurately enough to know her thoughts … And that emotional connection is probably also why the cub is so attached to you. But I don't see why the extent of this bond would be affected by the beast's age."

We both quieted then. I revisited carefully every moment we had spent with the four bixies, failing to find a clue as to what could have caused the difference. "Could it be because the children have spent too much time away from home?" I ventured. "You said the Misty Mountains is surrounded by strong spiritual power, but the same isn't necessarily true for the Hall of Dragons and Phoenixes. Maybe after all the years that the lost children had spent there, they had lost some of their own ties to nature, so they can't connect with me the same way a wild beast is able to?"

A sad suspicion as it was, that was the only explanation I could think of. Glancing a bit wistfully at the bixies still cavorting in the distance, I sighed. Those two cultivators better get what they deserved for committing such a sin. "But at least there's a happy ending for the bixie family," I said, letting myself feel content with the result of our adventure today. "Shall we head back now?"

I was ready to summon my flying sword for our return, but the look on Bai Ye's face stopped me. "What's wrong?" I asked, seeing that he was still deep in thought.

"Qing-er." He hesitated. "Have you ever felt … that the Misty Mountains seem like a special place to you?"

I blinked. "Special? In what way?"

The thought must've really troubled him, as the knitted lines on his forehead deepened some more. "Do you remember the seal you modified to get us out of the cave last time?" he asked. "I've been wondering since then. That seal was so intricate that even I couldn't see through its inner workings, but you modified it with such ease that it almost felt as if—" he paused, giving me a somewhat uncertain look, "—as if you had made the seal yourself."

Nothing could've shocked me more than those words. "I've never seen that seal before!" I blurted. "The one I modified felt familiar to me, but I thought it was only because I had fallen through a similar one right before that."

Bai Ye shook his head. "Going through a seal isn't enough to let an outsider understand how it works. Not even if it is the exact same seal. Before today, maybe I could have presumed that your success came from a talent for space-shifting spells and symbols. But with what you just mentioned about the guardian beasts, I'm starting to wonder if the reason for all this is because of the Misty Mountains itself."

The Misty Mountains itself? A place where I had only visited twice? It was my turn to frown in confusion then. "Have I been here before in my previous life?" I asked almost instinctively.

"No. But remember, your soul is different from everyone else's. The spiritual power used to forge an ancient sword is typically gathered from the most pristine landscapes uninterrupted by humans. Thousands of years ago, the Misty Mountains could have been one of those places … And if that is the case, it might explain why everything here feels so familiar to you."

My heart skipped a beat. I hadn't expected that a question I asked on a whim would lead to such a huge discovery. "If that is the case," I followed his train of thought, "then would it lead us to more clues about Twin Stars? If we could figure out the origin of its spiritual power …"

I didn't say the rest of it out loud, but I knew he would understand what I was thinking, and I could feel the blood within me boiling in excitement. Any further understanding of Twin Stars would bring us one step closer to the solution we were seeking. If we were lucky, we might even be able to fully work out the composition of its spiritual power and use it to undo the damage to his body …

Bai Ye smiled. "It's just a suspicion at the moment, Qing-er. Don't get your hopes up too high yet. But since we are here, what do you say if we visit that cave again? We were in a rush last time and didn't pay enough attention to those seals. Now that we know what we're looking for, we might pick up more clues walking that labyrinth one more time."

"Precisely my thought," I agreed immediately, and my feet had already started moving. Though I didn't forget to take his hand, lacing my fingers tightly through his. "Just remember to hold onto me better this time. As exciting as those seals are, I don't want to let them succeed in separating us again."

He laughed.. Clutching my hand firmly, he nodded, and we all but ran towards the cave entrance.