Awakening the Divine Spark

Lee had seen his share of angry women in his lives, but he never figured out the secret to calming them down. No matter what he tried, it was like adding oil to the fire – they stayed mad, or somehow got even angrier. In his experience, the best strategy was to do nothing and let the fire burn itself out.

He patiently looked at her, trying to make as apologetic face as possible, without having a clue what he did wrong. Meanwhile she stared back at him, as if she could kill him with her eyes. After a silent standoff that lasted about twenty breaths, she sighed and sank back into her chair. freewebnøvel.coɱ

"What in the world did you do?" This time her voice was calmer, but still filled with annoyance.

"I’m sorry." Lee honestly said, "You’ll have to be more specific."

Elder Shen’s flaring nostrils indicated she was about to blow up again, but somehow managed to keep herself together.

She said, "I knew you were trouble when I first saw you! You began to scheme against you fellow disciples from the day one, moreover – you were already a thief! And then you were involved in the sect master’s assassination – you should’ve been put to death only because of that, just to be safe!"

She took a couple of deep breaths, forcefully calming down, and said, "But then you kind of helped out, letting us discover the perpetrators. But your skills were just too convenient! Then you started to live in the library, almost as if preparing to steal our secrets, but all you did all day long was to happily copy some worthless techniques! This doesn’t make any sense!"

Lee thought he understood her worries. When a talented kid like him showed up from nowhere, the logical explanation was that he was after something, but turns out he was mistaken.

"At first we were suspicious, but judging from your childish schemes it was obvious you’re just a troublemaker!" She said, "But then ... the Healing Hall ignored the incident on the Serrakar Plateau, calling it a lucky coincidence, and Jian Wuji’s miraculous recovery also was called such. But let me tell you – it’s not possible to save someone from the brink of death, not for a common person!"

Lee didn’t have anything to say solely because he had no clue how exactly his involvement saved the three guys. On every occasion he did try to help, but had no clue what or how he did.

"There was no doubt you had secrets, but no matter how we inspected you we couldn’t find a reasonable explanation." Shen Rouya said, "You had to be at least late stage elemental master if not elemental lord to pull off what you did in the Blackwater Sect, but that’s also not possible, because the eyewitnesses swore they saw you use two elements!"

Lee inwardly nodded – that part was true. At least he could confirm that, but the elder didn’t let him, and continued, "But using two elements would mean you were an elemental warrior! But you’re neither! You don’t have a spark, much less two! You’re just a random kid with no elemental powers at all! We inspected you through and through, and beyond any doubt it’s clear you have never cultivated!"

That part was slightly hurtful, because Lee tried to work hard for the past years, but before he managed to get upset, the elder pressed on, "Then Sect Master Wang came up with an idea you might be an evolved beast. We invited few experts from allied sects, and got nothing! Nothing at all!"

There was no need to go through so much effort. Lee could’ve said them he wasn’t a beast himself, but sensing that the elder was on an edge, swallowed the sarcastic remark.

Shen Rouya took a deep breath and continued, "The only peculiar thing about you is the mark on your right palm, but even that didn’t bring us anywhere. Currently the prevailing explanation for how you saved the Xiao kid is what the three girls came up with. Apparently, you used the power of friendship and love to save the boy’s life. Obvious nonsense, but that’s all we’ve got. So now, please, tell me – what in the world did you do?"

"Power of friendship and love?" Lee repeated, baffled at what he heard.

"Indeed, the silly things believe that the colors Xiao Lian was enveloped in represented those. The blue was supposed to be friendship, and the golden – love. Silly romantics ... sigh." Elder Shen said, "We’ve would’ve locked you up, but then two clans sent their representatives, asking to take a good care of you!"

Seeing Lee’s genuine surprise, she gave a shallow laugh, and said, "I didn’t know you had such backing! It would’ve been enough for Elder Xiao to put in a word for you, but no! He had his brother, the patriarch of the Xiao send a letter. And then the Qin clan ... what a headache!"

Regarding the last part, Lee couldn’t agree more. His head also hurt, along with his whole body, that is. In addition, his mouth was dry from thirst and stomach wildly growled.

"Care to explain?" Elder Shen asked, finally giving Lee chance to speak.

"I don’t know what to say." Lee shrugged, "I couldn’t explain it even if I tried."

"I hate troublemakers like you!" Shen Rouya said through clenched teeth. Lee was certain that the sole sight of him was pissing her off, but there was nothing much he could do.

She said, "I’d so much more preferred if you were actually a spy or a traitor. Or at least some kind of an old pervert, pretending to be a boy. That would give me the chance to punish you."

"I can be a pervert, if it it makes you feel better." Lee said with a sad smile. Clearly the elder had enough problems to deal with and didn’t need him adding more.

"Oh? Try me!" Elder Shen said, leaning forward on the table.

With her natural gifts one didn’t need to have particularly developed imagination to think of something.

Glancing at her enormous jugs roll on the table as the elder moved, Lee licked his dried lips, and said, "Do we have cookies?"

He instantly regretted that. The elder didn’t think he would go along with her provocation, and Lee found himself crushing into the wall, his head breaking the mirror on it.

Shen Rouya bit her lip, realizing she let the anger cloud her judgment. The sorry stature on the floor, with the back of his head bleeding wasn’t what she was going for.

But Lee was angry at his inability to clearly think. He couldn’t blame the elder, although she was acting like a brute. He should’ve had enough common sense to not step on a tiger’s tail.

Lee slowly crawled up on his knees, cutting himself on the pieces of the broken mirror in the process. His head hurt even more, but for a moment his mind went blank, him forgetting where he was or how he felt.

In a larger shard of the broken mirror, Lee saw his reflection. His cheeks were hollow, and his eyes sunken. His hair was messy, but he looked the same age as he had before the Blackrock war. His slightly longer hair indicated he had naturally aged a few months, but he didn’t look like an old man as he expected to.

"This ..." Lee muttered, slowly climbing back to his feet with the mirror shard in hand. Wasn’t he was supposed to age after using up all the life force?

"Yes, you look like crap!" Elder Shen threw an insult instead of apology, "Go clean yourself up. From tomorrow I expect you to return to your duties."

Still in daze, Lee put the shard on her table and weakly staggered out her office. He was confused, not being able to comprehend what was going on.

Meanwhile the elder decided that the concussion Lee got was his own fault for not knowing his place and making her angry. She had more important things to do than to deal with him, but for some reason the sect master pushed him onto her, saying that Lee was her responsibility from now on. The problem was that Shen Rouya had no clue what she was supposed to do with him.

The best solution would be to ask the Hall of Justice to lock him up, but with the backing of the two clans she couldn’t really do that. Obviously they wouldn’t go to war with the Nethermoon Sect if she decided to get rid of the boy, but despite him pissing her off, she couldn’t be too harsh towards him. No matter how she looked, he was only a young troublemaker.