Migong - Book 1

Chapter 8: Seals

Mountains of Ushitora

Present, 5th Year of Fangbei: Late Autumn, 1471

Dammit...when did I fall asleep...? Not good...

As far as Lord Mu was concerned, he should have been sitting right next to his daughter's sick bed, not being blasted awake by a horrendous blizzard.

It had probably been a long time since Lord Mu had been called through the illusion realm to check on the seals in Shobu, so he was quite alarmed when he opened his eyes to find himself floating above the mountains of Ushitora in his night clothes. While he habitually made trips to check on the mountain, this time the alert spell had called him out unexpectedly.

From where he drifted, high over the uppermost peak of the Ushitora mountain range, projections of the seal formations floated up all over the mountain peaks, revealing the locations of their deeply buried counterparts and displaying the conditions of the actual seals hidden below. The projections glowed with dull light, rotating majestically like giant discs.

He frowned, noting that more than one looked like it was overlayed with cracked glass. Light flickered at his fingertips as he gestured at them.

"Go," he commanded.

Reaching out with his hand, golden strands of power flowed through each line of the seal formation in front of him, searching out all the imperfections and repairing the spells where the ancient spell scripts had broken. It was long and exhausting work, but he would be trapped between waking and sleeping if he did not completely reseal the mountain...a real drawback to the alert spell that he had attached to subconscious more than two thousand years ago.

Smothering a frustrated groan, Mu Shan put all his thoughts aside and concentrated on his work.

At the very least, the storm is subsiding...

He sighed and rub his forehead, trying to relieve the dull pounding at the back of his eyes.

Feiyan had been unconscious for a long time and he had spent his most recent nights, pouring his energy into his very troublesome foster daughter. It had been more than a week now and even if he was a demi-god, there were very few divine sources from which he could draw energy to replenish himsel if his body felt exhausted. Since he was overworked, he was probably running at about half his normal ability. Thus, repairing the seals right now, was...challenging to say the least...

Lord Mu's lips thinned.

Without his help, the child most certainly would have died. The water prison when flooded, would kill a normal person, but as someone who practiced martial arts, Feiyan had simply slowed her breath and heart, becoming inert. That skill had kept her from crossing the threshold between this world and the next, but Feiyan treated water like her mortal enemy and almost as if it had its own aversion to her, water definitely hated her.

I've always suspected that she was a fire attribute, but the flame mark has never appeared on her brow...even if she is a fire attribute, I shouldn't confuse her with the person who is no longer here...

The mountain suddenly wobbled and warped as if the air was bending in on itself.

"Mu Shan?" queried a voice from behind him, and he turned and acknowledged the silver haired man who stepped out of a whorl in the air.

"Bai Xie An...long time no see," he grunted, turning back to the seals, sweat beading on his forehead. "What are you doing here?"

An apprehensive zing went up Mu Shan's spine. Though he knew that Bai Xie An meant him no harm, he could not stop his body from reacting defensively out of reflex.