After lazing around in the Eternal Night Valley for a while and designing several prototype lights to mimic the sun to no avail, Anji had to leave for the Mystical Qilin Mountains. From here, the journey would have to continue on a horse without the carriage. Mingshen and Bai Dajin would ride their own horses, but Anji would travel with Gu Ying as she was still too small to ride her own horse.
Bidding goodbye to Wei Zhen, who had gotten very attached to them after Anji’s first successful spiritual operation, Mingshen promised to return the next month after escorting his sister. Anji told Wei Zhen not to push himself too hard and fully recover from the delicate operation before training because she would be unable to return to the Eternal Night Valley for a few years due to ’school’. The earnest man did not question anything and wished for Anji’s studies to progress smoothly. The young girl was smart, so he had complete faith that she would do well in her academic pursuits.
When they finally left the dark valley, the sun that greeted Anji’s eyes felt like painful stabs. With the power of the Heavenly Eyes, it was even worse for her. Hence, Gu Ying brought out a sheer fabric for Anji to use as a blindfold to slowly adapt to the regular brightness. Latest content published on novᴇlfire.net
The warmth of the sun that Anji initially missed from staying too long in the dark valley quickly became annoying when it became noon. Sweating a lot, even when she was merely riding with her bodyguard, Anji felt herself overheating and had to request a short water break.
Face flushed red from the heat, Anji hydrated with the cool water from the canteen. However, she was feeling dizzy, and Bai Dajin suggested that she lay in the shade under a tree for a while.
The journey to her teacher’s sect would take about four days on a horse until the border of the territory protected by a barrier. Her brother and Bai Dajin could only escort her there. After that, reaching the sect would take another two or three days. Gu Ying will escort her there but only up to the guest base. To enter the school, Anji would have to travel alone with the seniors who would guide her. That was what her shifu wrote in her letter. Anji already had her admission letter and token to pass through the barrier, but she was still nervous. Anji knew a bullying tradition existed, but she had no idea when it would start.
"I’ve rested enough," Anji claimed after ten minutes. "Let’s continue."
Although they travelled on horseback, nobody rode at a particularly high speed. If anything, the horses seemed to be strolling. Anji was usually fairly chatty, but she was unusually silent after leaving the Eternal Night Valley. Bai Dajin initially thought the heat was getting to the girl. However, she ate only half of her usual portion during lunch at a small roadside restaurant in the shade.
Something was definitely up. Even though he did not spend as much time with Anji as her brother, Bai Dajin knew Anji was the type of person who bottled up her negative thoughts and emotions, shouldering everything alone to not burden others. Children should be more carefree, but Anji was too much of an old soul. Even if they asked her what was on her mind, she would only smile and reassure them that nothing was wrong.
To make travel more comfortable for Anji, Gu Ying wore a huge straw hat with a veil, similar to the hat Yan Ping normally wore. Anji was buried beneath the long veil as Gu Ying rode the horse. The Eternal Night Valley Mountains were now far behind them. However, it continued to loom magnificently, creating the perfect natural defence against the harsher elements outside.
"Do the merchants have to pass through this road to get to the Eternal Night Valley?" Anji asked.
She thought the land outside that valley would be a little more well-developed with villagers and fields. However, as far as her eyes could see, it was mostly barren, with only a few trees along the way. There was no river, and the air was very dry.
Taking the chance to chime in, Mingshen explained the unique geography of this land.
"Unlike the other side of the Eternal Night Valley, this side of the land is barren and dry. It’s also the reason why cultivating crops is difficult and transporting them even harder. The mountain blocks most of the rain needed, and the rain clouds can hardly travel through this area. The rivers flow down to the other side of the mountain, so we will be travelling on a more rocky path for two days until the rain shadow effect ends. You’ll know when you start seeing more green trees and fields."
Curious about this natural phenomenon, Anji asked why the rain shadow happens. Glad to oblige and entertain his gloomy sister, Mingshen started explaining the concept of rain and how it was formed.
"Remember when it was always cloudy and damp in the Eternal Night Valley?" he asked.
Anji nodded. How could that affect the water distribution system? It felt strange that the mountain would hoard all the water and not allow the clouds to be distributed around other lands.
"Ah, but that’s exactly what it did," Mingshen pointed out. "The wind only travels in one direction, coming in from the sea or from a higher region to a lower region. Can you feel which direction the wind has been blowing in?"
Since they left the mountain, the wind has been blowing behind them. However, it lacked any moisture. Unlike the other side, the sun felt hotter than usual, and Anji initially thought it was due to the lack of greenery.
"Remember how there were many huge rivers and streams along our journey until we reached the Eternal Night Valley?" he asked. "That’s the effect of water rising from the ocean and resting as clouds on the mountain before it is returned to the land, returning along the path to the ocean. However, we are travelling deeper inland. The ocean is nowhere near."
Putting all the new information together, Anji finally understood the complexity of the situation in the Eternal Night Valley. Not only was the path into it difficult, but the climate on the other side of the mountain was also horrible for any agriculture.
However, the ability to conjure water using spells and seals differed from cloud formation. Cultivators could convert pure energy into different material creations because qi was the basic building block of any life form. If she could perfect different types of spells and seals and mass produce them, how many lives could she improve with her invention?
More determined than before, Anji’s mood improved. It wasn’t merely to repay her shifu’s kindness that she entered the Mystical Qilin Sect to endure bullying and hardships. She had a new purpose after seeing many different things on her journey. Anji wanted to help even more common folk and non-cultivators in ways that only cultivators could.