Spirit Jade

Doran scurried his way out of the cavern, he glanced around and noticed that none of the members of the group remained by the entrance. This made him wonder what could have been the fate of the rest members who hadn't gone in with them.

 

'Could they have fled?' He thought.

 

 

Looking in a direction, he noticed that the fire they had set up still retained some heat, it was obvious that they must have left the place not quite long.

 

  'There could be danger lurking around, I hope I don't run into any', He hurriedly sped off into the distance, intending to catch up with them.

 

 

*

 

 

After trailing them for about half an hour, Doran finally caught up with them. Just as he was approaching the group, his senses tingled, and time seemed to slow down. Doran was greeted by the sight of an approaching arrow aiming for his chest.

 

He immediately tilted his body to the side,  causing the arrow to miss him by a fraction, and struck a tree behind.

 

*Peng*

 

 

"Hey! Hey, it's me" Doran shouted with a surprised tone. He hadn't expected that he would be attacked by the soldiers immediately after being seen.

 

"Don't move you dammed brat!" The soldiers yelled, still retaining a high vigilance.

 

"See? I told you it must be an evil spirit or something" the soldier who shot the arrow spoke with a bewildered expression.

 

" What are you talking about? how can I be an evil spirit?" 

 

"Shut the fuck up! Do you think you can fool me? we saw you die; we saw you f*cking die. I'm a veteran soldier, I've served Florin Valley for many years, if after reaching this stage through my hard work and diligence, and I still don't know an evil spirit when I see one, then what's the use of my many years of experience The soldier with the sword angrily shouted.

          

"I don't know how I survived either, when I... when I woke up, I was at the river bank. Doran said. he didn't bother telling them of his experience in the strange tomb, because that would only worsen his current situation, no one under the heavens would believe such crap.

 

The soldier furrowed his brows "Oh? is that so... then just how did you dodge my arrow earlier? the inexperienced young lad who followed me into that cavern wouldn't have such abilities"

 

After hearing this, Doran couldn't help but wonder how he had accomplished such a feat. from what he could remember, he somehow saw the trajectory of the arrow, before it was even shot, it was like his mind had predicted it. "That... I don't know, I just dodged it, I guess"

 

"You seem to enjoy joking around you evil being, I might not be your match, but I won't be an easy prey just like the rest you have killed, you know that already, and that's why you're trying to get me with your deceptions," The soldier with the sword said while maintaining a sword stance.

 

"Okay, so... how can I prove that I'm real?"          

 

The soldier thought for a while before speaking:

"If you're truly who you say you are, then… what's your name?"

 

 

 

"It's Doran, Doran Mingye"

 

"...."

 

After hearing his answer, both soldiers glanced at each other, clearly still with doubtful expressions. 

 

"Well... Although the name doesn't ring a bell, but who knows? you might have taken possession of that body, and you could still regain the memories," said the archer.

 

"How about we use a spirit jade?"

 

Everyone's attention was caught by a sudden voice that came from the crowd. Glancing back with a look of surprise they discovered the source was no other than Anya who was part of the five survivors who had made it out of the cavern.

 

"Oh? Spirit jade? Where do you think I would get a spirit jade? do I look like a noble? The soldier questioned, narrowing his eyes on her slender figure"

 

"I think I have one, she opened a small bag tied around her waist and brought out a little whitish-green pebble, with strange patterns embedded in it. 

 

'Spirit Jade!'

 

 Everyone presents had looks of surprise due to the appearance of the spirit jade. A spirit jade was a substance that could be used for countless purposes, among those was dispelling dark spirits. It was a very precious material, and could only be found in low quantity in underground spirit mines.

 

Spirit mines were very rare, even Florin Valley had just one spirit mine in their territory, but was located deep within a danger zone. Spirit jade was used as part of materials in making protective jewelry, such as necklaces and rings, and due to the rarity, it could only be seen as a possession of nobles.

 

"Where did you find that?" Asked the soldier with a stern look.

 

"Ah… I picked it up" She said casually like it was no big deal.

 

Right at the moment, everyone present had tightened expressions, seethed with desires, who wouldn't covet such a treasure?

 

"Hand it over!" ordered the soldier hastily.

 

"I was going to," she said with a frown and handed over the spirit jade.

 

The soldier held the spirit jade in his hands and stared at Dao patterns, tracing it scrumptiously with his fingers to discern if it was the real deal. After a while, he revealed a satisfied expression, nodding his head. He placed the Spirit jade on the ground and took some step backward, along with his companion.

 

"Well, we've got ourselves a decent test material. If you're who you say you are, and not an imposter, I believe you'll be able to hold up this spirit jade, right?"

 

"I believe so" Doran replied and walked to the position of the Spirit jade. He hesitated for a bit before picking it up from the ground. Immediately after he had done that, an immerse energy fluctuation from the spirit jade envelope his body.

 

"Uh?"

 

He felt his vision wobble, he was familiar with this sensation, it happened when he had been struck by the beam of white light from the black sword. His vision began to distort once more and change to the scene of the battlefield.

 

'What the hell is going on? This can't happen right now' Just as he thought to himself, he heard the soldiers hoarse voice beside him:

 

"Okay, that proves you're not an evil spirit, now hand over the spirit jade"

 

Doran was brought back to reality by the sound of the voice, he had a petrified expression like he had been struck by lightning. He couldn't help but let out a sigh of relief as he handed over the spirit jade to the soldier. He was very thankful that no one had noticed the changes going on within him.

 

The soldier took a quick look at the spirit stone before stuffing it into his pouch, not even sparing a glance at the owner, He then signaled to the rest of the group:

 

"We'll get going now"

 

The rest members of the group sent pitiful looks at the young girl, but the supposedly deprived victim didn't show any hint of gloom, instead greeting their gazes with bright smiles. This gave them a shivering feeling…

 

'Is she for real?'

Chapter end