The Fate of my Soul.

Part 21

"What the hell do you mean she's missing?" I demand.  "Where did she go?"

"Shifu, she was in the hall with us, setting the tables for dinner, when I asked her to fetch wine for your table.  She wasn't even gone 10 minutes, when I thought I heard her cry out, but the thunder and lightening have been so loud, I wasn't sure, but I sent Zhe Lan to check on her.  He immediately came running back to say several wine bottles were on the floor shattered and she wasn't there." he explained in a rush.  "Shifu, she didn't return to the hall, or we would have seen her, we were all in there." he added, his face a mask of confusion and fear.

The wine cellar is a mere few yards down a short corridor from the Main Hall, and other than the side rooms, there is nowhere else she could have gone, the corridor has no exit.  

"Shifu, Jiang Shen is in the wine cellar now." he informs me as I make my way quickly forward.

  Jiang Shen my 14th Disciple will be giving the room a thorough sweeping.  If anything untoward happened in there, he will find it.  Blessed with the gift of Enhanced Senses, that is so far beyond the capability of anyone else, myself included, his abilities are phenomenal.

From one of the many small Far East Cavern Tribes, he was brought to me by his mother who after a clan meeting decided the boy held great potential but seeing as none in their tribe had the knowledge to train him, they sought tuition from me.

I immediately tested the boy, who though very young, only a mere 40,000 years old, he certainly impressed me.  His hearing was first to be tested which I found he could hear layer upon layer of sound, he could even hear the conversation of two of my Disciples who were on the other side of the Mountain, a gift that would see us all use privacy barriers more often.

 There was also his sight.  In great detail he described the lower valley which included its waterfalls, hot pools orchard and gardens, none of which we could see from where we were standing, he could also see every colour in the spectrum, some of which may not have even been a part of our own realm. 

Then there was his sense of smell.  Placing 24 jars in front of him each containing different elements with their own scent which he smelled, I then mixed the scents, which I had placed into small glass bowls.  Amazingly he was able to name each of them without prompts.  Though later his sense of smell morphed into an even greater gift, of being able to detect when someone was lying by which hormone they excreted, as well as being able to detect smells and locate their origin.  

Next was his  sense of touch.  Placing a scroll in his hands which contained a Mortal Realm Play, he ran his hands deftly and quickly across its surface.  Then word for word he recited the story back to me, being able to discern the slightest change in the surface of the scroll that the writing had caused.  He also had the ability to read the atmospheric history of past events that may have imprinted  itself on objects, landmarks or the very air itself.

Lastly was his sense of focus, which enabled him to focus his mind to seek a particular sight/sound/taste/smell while fully blocking out all others, an extremely difficult gift to use but one he has mastered.

And since his arrival, his giftings have been indispensable, especially when it came to Bai Qian.  No matter where she was or what she was doing, or even what she had done, his gifts were used to keep her mischief in check at all times, more so in my absence. 

And once again, it was Bai Qian that had him sweeping the wine cellar for anything that could give us a clue as to what happened.

On entry to the wine cellar I am immediately met by Shen who is still going though the cellar, so I sit and patiently wait for him to finish.  I can see instantly that a struggle had taken place, not just by the broken wine bottles, but the remnants of a torn black robe with blood on it.  Though she has fought to free herself,  she must have been outnumbered to have been taken.