Corrupt Creations

Misty Horizon was a city surrounded by high mountains, towering towards the heavens. They were so high that their peaks easily surpassed the height where clouds started to form, giving life to a beautiful scenery. Right there on the top, there was a never-ending layer of mist, what gave the city the name it had. 

At the foot of one of those huge mountains, Seth and Rina were finally able to see the city from afar. Nothing seemed to have changed there since the last time Seth saw it. But even though nothing had changed, he felt everything was quieter than what it should normally be. 

Not many people were walking on the streets and many of the houses were keeping their doors and windows fully shut. At such a time of the day, it was normal to see the citizens living their lives at the fullest, talking with each other and working on their things. But the scenery they came across with, was the contrary of that. 

Seth wasn`t able to see the people responsible for the safety anywhere and there was an invisible layer of negativity that he didn't know from where it was coming from, covering the whole city. 

Rina felt something was off too, but she has never been on a human city like this before, so she didn't know what to think. However, it was clear for her that there was a problem ongoing. 

They walked for a bit more than twenty minutes, but the number of people they had seen, didn't even get to ten. From that, they concluded that people didn't want to leave their cities. 

Seth made sure to use his Soul Sense and see if their guesses were right. Unfortunately, it turned out to be the case. 

After ten more minutes walking through those deserted streets, Seth was finally able to see Chun Meihui's house. It was the same as before and he could faintly feel the presence of the formation covering it. That formation was a great protective charm Chun Meiyi's father has left behind. Just by approaching the house, Seth had the feeling he was actually going nowhere. 

Rina saw Seth walking towards that place, but she wasn't able to notice anything there. She was looking directly towards the house, but her brain considered it as something unimportant and she would never try to get closer if not for Seth going there. Actually, there were times she even thought there was literally nothing in front of her and the idea of a blank spot in the middle of a city was discarded from her brain as well. 

All of that was the effect the formation around it had on everyone outside the house. The effect was nullified when someone was inside or if that person had the correct bloodline. As for Seth, he had already been there once, so he was able to counter the formation effects by ignoring the sensation it gave him. 

Knock! Knock! Knock! 

Seth approached the front door and knocked thrice. But even though a whole minute passed by, no one came to attend. 

Only after hearing him knocking on the door, Rina was finally able to notice that there was a house there. She got inwardly shocked, but didn`t say anything. 

When he was about to knock once again, there was a sound on the other side and the door was opened slightly. 

Chun Meihui's face appeared from a slit on the door, looking at who was knocking. She seemed to have dark circles under her eyes, signaling she hadn't slept enough on the past days. 

"Seth!" 

"Mother-in-law, how are you? Is Meiyi there with you?" Seth noticed she seemed to be tired, but he didn't think much about it. 

However, when he asked about Meiyi, he noticed Chun Meihui's countenance changing and her eyes getting moist. 

"Please, come in. There is something you need to see..." 

"What happened? You sound like something isn't right." 

"There is something wrong with Meiyi and I don't know what it is. Maybe you could help her." Chun Meihui's voice was weak and transmitting the sadness she was feeling. She was absolutely lost about what was happening with her daughter and at the same time, she didn't have a single person she could trust and that was able to analyze her condition. 

Actually, in these difficult times, everyone was holed up inside their nests. No one would dare to leave their houses and risk their lives, so the possibility of Meihui encountering someone capable of helping her, was null. 

"Where is she?" Seth asked a bit anxious. He suddenly connected the bad sensations he was having all this while with what had possibly happened with Meiyi. 

"She is inside her bedroom."

Seth didn't even ask what was her condition, he just entered the house together with Rina. His mind got so focused on Meiyi's safety that he even forgot to introduce Rina, while Meihui was not in the right state of mind to ask who she was right now. 

Some days ago, she heard a loud noise outside and went to check what had happened. But when she opened the door to verify it, Meiyi's unconscious body was lying there on the floor. She was in a perfect condition and even the injuries she had suffered, weren't present anymore. However, nothing seemed to be able to wake Meiyi up. She kept sleeping like a sleeping beauty waiting for her prince to come. 

Minutes before that happened, Meiyi had left to collect some tea leaves she asked, on the outer parts of the forest. Brewing tea was after all, one of Chun Meihui's old habits. During all this time Meiyi was staying with her, Meihui made sure to teach every single thing she knew about tea and herbs to her daughter, making sure she would be a skilled wife for her future husband. 

A bit earlier on that day, Meiyi left her house to collect the leaves her mother wanted, but she unfortunately encountered danger, grave danger. All that situation developed so quickly that it seemed unreal. 

When Meihui saw her daughter lying on her doorstep and being unable to wake up, she felt anguish and even guilty for sending her daughter out. 

Actually, the place Meiyi was gathering the herbs and tea leaves, was a place Chun Meihui considered as a super safe spot, since she had collected plants there for all her life and nothing have happened with her. There were no wild beasts there and no humans frequented that region, since there was nothing to do there. The fact that there were many good herbs for brewing tea in that area, was actually not known by anyone other than Meiyi and Meihui too.

However, the battalion of soldier from the Wu Martial Kingdom, changed the parameters of safety after their arrival. No one knew they were there and that the King ordered them, to silence everyone that approached that place. The only person able to return alive from there, was actually Meiyi. 

Although she was now unconscious and lying down on a bed. 

Seth entered Meiyi's bedroom together with Chun Meihui and when his eyes rested on her body, he felt like a nuclear bomb had exploded inside of him. 

Even before asking about what had happened, he had already moved to treat her. His hands were already coated in a mild layer of Evergreen Essence as he put them on top of Meiyi's head and belly. 

Rina was the last one to enter the room, but when she saw that unconscious girl, she wasn't able to believe that the person Seth has been mentioning to her all this while, was actually wounded to the point of not being able to wake up. 

The number of bad things happening on their trip was so high, that she started to question if it was because of her. Rina wanted to see the beauty of the outside world, but she was actually only witnessing sad things. 

However, Seth's next actions surprised her. His Evergreen Essence abruptly stopped circulating and he retracted his Mana from inside her body. 

"How is she?" Chun Meihui asked preoccupied. 

"..." Seth wasn't able to reply, because this was outside of what he knew. 

"Is she alright?" 

"I don't know. Her body in in perfect condition. There isn't a single injury anywhere, however, there is something blocking her from waking up, as if she is not ready to wake up yet." 

"How is that possible?" 

"Sigh..." 

Seth suddenly started to call for Lexi. 

"Lexi, I need your help here. Can you purify her blood for me? There are some different cells running on her bloodline stream, and I think they are the cause that is blocking her consciousness from waking up." 

Lexi's voice suddenly appeared inside his head: "Only if you want me to kill her..." 

"Kill her? What do you mean?" 

"Heh! I mean it. If I purify what currently is her bloodline, I would end up killing her. It would be akin to extracting the Blazing Phoenix Bloodline from Lilian. She would end up dying, since her body and powers depended on that to exist." 

"Are you saying that Meiyi is undergoing a bloodline process? Are those different cells on her bloodline stream, part of her bloodline?" 

"Kind of, however, what she is experiencing is more likely to be an awakening.. Those cells are part of the process that is happening inside her body and without them she would inevitably die."