Spirit Cultivation

"Xuefeng! What happened? Did you talk to her— You…" Just when Xuefeng left the space hidden in his Spirit, he got hugged by Ling who was waiting for him anxiously outside and she quickly started her questioning but choked on her words when another person appeared right behind him.

Ming flipped her hair to the side as she approached them and introduced herself with a smile, "Hey, I'm Ming. You don't need to be so scared of me as I won't do anything to you. Hope we can work well together in the future." Ming's attitude changed completely from how she was just a moment ago, but Xuefeng paid a huge price for it so it was only expected. ​​

Instead of reaching out her own hand to greet Ming, Ling turned to Xuefeng and asked confused, "Xuefeng… What is going on?" She didn't see him upset but he wasn't happy either, so there had to be something hidden.

Xuefeng showed her the smile that was missing and explained directly, "I convinced Ming to become my second Spirit instead of breaking the contract between us. This way I can still be with you and basically, nothing will change."

"Mhmm, now we can be like sisters, fighting for Xuefeng like two knights." Ming confirmed Xuefeng words as she smiled gently, asking afterwards while patting Ling's shoulder, "What do you think?"

Ignoring Ming once again, Ling suddenly disappeared together with Xuefeng which caused Ming to laugh as she smirked to herself. She wasn't sad as the situation happened to proceed just as she expected. Ling wouldn't easily forgive her for what she planned to do, but she was fine with it.

Appearing inside Ling's space, one would expect Xuefeng's smile to disappear but it was actually the opposite. His smile only deepened as he hugged Ling tightly and kissed her lips in a happy mood, which made her ultimately confused. Someone was blackmailing them a moment ago but Xuefeng was full of smiles instead of trying to figure out the solution.

"Xuefeng…" Ling called out to him to bring him back from the clouds so they could talk of what happened and only then did Xuefeng say with an apologetic smile, "I'm sorry, I'm just happy right now. I accidentally found a solution to our problem."

Hearing this, Ling's eyes also brightened as she asked excitedly, "What is it? Can we get rid of that Ming with it? I really don't like her..." Ling was really quick in expressing her desires to eliminate Ming as she knew it wouldn't bring them anything good and will only create troubles.

"No, we won't be able to get rid of her…" Xuefeng shook his head which made Ling's smile falter but then Xuefeng continued which made her smile recover, "...but we will definitely be able to control her."

"Really?! How?" Ling quickly asked, not patient enough to wait anymore. She would be satisfied as long as they didn't have to be the ones on Ming's mercy.

Instead of replying directly, Xuefeng reached out with his right hand which had a golden bracelet on his wrist and asked mysteriously, "Can you tell me why this bracelet is following me into your space? It's an artefact. It shouldn't follow together with my mind and materialize here."

Hearing his weird question, she actually recalled what she planned to ask earlier and reported while gently touching the bracelet, "Actually I wanted to talk to you about it before. It directly blocks my powers and I can't do anything to it. I can't stop it from following you even if I try, as if it's immune to Fate Qi…"

Finishing her sentence, she realised something and looked in shock at Xuefeng, "Don't tell me—" Xuefeng only nodded, confirming her guess and thinking it would be best to show her the bracelet proves directly, he suddenly called out, "Activate!"

Bzzz…

Just when the word came out of his mouth, the bracelet started vibrating and an immense power started leaking out of it, immediately pushing Ling back and causing her to pale a bit. Just as Ling thought, the bracelet definitely had power which worked as a great counter against Fate Qi or Fate Spirits in general.

Within seconds, the bracelet turned into liquid and covered Xuefeng's arm like slime, shining with a golden hue. Trying to show off its powers, Xuefeng approached the castle wall and gently touched it. Just as he expected, his hand went directly through the wall as if it was nothing there. He didn't feel anything against his hand as if the wall disappeared before he could even touch it.

"It seems like it really is just like he said. He is a nemesis to Fate…" Xuefeng muttered in wonder as he retracted the bracelet powers and turned back to Ling. He could see that she had a really scared look on her face, which confirmed his thoughts.

"It's okay, don't worry. I would never use it on you…" Xuefeng approached Ling and hugged her tightly, trying to calm her down. When his right hand touched her, Ling shivered a bit out of her survival instinct but she quickly relaxed under Xuefeng's assurance.

"What is that? How come you can control it?" Ling asked as she watched the bracelet with curiosity, having no idea such object even existed. She didn't reach out to touch it this time, keeping a safe distance from it just in case. Ling also guessed that it had to be a great secret, else she would definitely know that a Fate Nemesis like this was ever created.

"I honestly know little as well, because the Spirit inside of it didn't tell me much. All I know is that it feeds off Fate Qi. Earlier I was really frustrated from being controlled by Ming and from the things she asked for letting you live. Out of desperation, I reached out with my mind towards the bracelet after knowing that it was the main reason why we ended up in that situation and surprisingly, the Spirit inside of it answered." Xuefeng reported, describing his meeting that deepened their connection.

"It agreed to help me after I proposed to feed it properly and promised to help to find all of its Elemental Crystals. He was kind enough to give me a year to find the first stone." Xuefeng explained further, watching the bracelet with a grin. He knew that this decision added more responsibilities on his back, but the trade was fair.

"I'm so glad…" Hearing the whole story, Ling couldn't help but sigh in relief. She didn't want to share Xuefeng with any other Fate Spirit, but knowing Xuefeng, she knew that he would care for her the same.

Pulling away from her, Xuefeng decided to return, beginning the second phase of his plan, "Ming is still waiting there for us. She wants to cooperate with you to create a connection with my Spirit. Both of you are supposed to trade one-fourth of your Spirit with mine leaving me with the other half. This is the deal I made with her. The Bracelet Spirit told me to accept all of her demands and connect with her normally. We planned to connect anyway and she can help us with it."

Ling couldn't help but get excited knowing they would be tied together and called out happily, "Alright! I want to finally combine with you. Tell me what to do and I will follow your plan." Ling was glad she could finally repair her mistake from before which she still regrets to this day.