CHAPTER 101: A SENSE OF FAMILIARITY

Chapter 101: A Sense of Familiarity

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For as long as Ye Ning could remember, she had always lived in a secluded village in the Qinglan Empire.

She had always been alone, no mother, no father, and not even a single acquaintance.

The earliest memory she could recall was of herself at four years old, lying on a straw bed with a high fever.

For some reason, no memories before that point existed, as if she had never had any in the first place.

Growing up, she thought it was normal to forget many things from early childhood, but the fact that not even the most important ones, like the faces of her parents, remained with her, always left her with a lingering feeling of sadness and loneliness.

The village she grew up in was small, with fewer than a hundred residents.

Everyone there lived in peace and harmony, and they were kind to her, helping whenever they could, allowing her to grow up in relative peace without too many hardships.

She often asked if anyone knew who her parents were, but no one knew anything. All they could say was that she had been found unconscious near the village.

Given her age and the critical condition she was in at the time, they had decided to take her in, and for some time she lived in the home of the village chief who, apart from his wife, had no one else to care for.

Now, she felt an oddly strong sense of familiarity with this person before her, though she was certain she had never seen her in her life.

She didn’t know how to put it into words, but it was as if she had always known her.

The longer she looked at the girl seated before her on the wooden throne, the more an intense pain began to throb in her head.

An image of someone flashed in her mind for an instant, but it was too blurred, far too blurred to tell who it was, and it didn’t last long enough for her to make sense of it. It vanished as quickly as it had appeared.

"Y-you... who are you?"

The pain in her head slowly eased until it was gone, but the confusion remained, this time mixed with a trace of fear and panic.

She didn’t know why, but even that blurred image had given her a strange sense of familiarity and comfort she hadn’t thought she could feel.

"It seems your consciousness has finally begun to awaken," Lin Xian said, rising from the wooden throne and walking toward her.

"A little late, but better late than never, right? Don’t force yourself to remember, in due time, things will become clearer."

In an instant, she was closer, and Ye Ning, who had just barely regained her composure, lowered her head to look at the elven girl now standing before her.

She was at least a head shorter than Ye Ning, but that didn’t make her drop her guard, instead, she watched her more cautiously than before.

That said, the other party didn’t seem to feel the same way.

Lifting her gaze to meet Ye Ning’s eyes, a vein appeared on her forehead as she opened her mouth to complain.

"To think you used to be a little gremlin who didn’t even reach my waist, and now look at you, all grown up, leaving your poor auntie behind," she said, her voice a mix of complaint and a litte hint of approval.

"Aunt?" Ye Ning ignored her complaints, stunned by those words, especially the last part.

A glimmer of hope lit up in her mind as she nervously asked,

"You know who i am?"

Her words felt like a spark of hope in the emptiness she had always carried inside.

Could it be that she knew who she was? Perhaps even who her parents were?

Lin Xian, hearing her question, looked at her for a moment before sighing.

"Haa... of course I know you. I practically raised you with my own two hands," she said.

Hearing those words, the glimmer of expectation in Ye Ning’s heart grew stronger and stronger. She was just about to ask more, but was stopped by the elf girl,

"I know you’re confused and eager to learn more about your origins, but it’s not the time yet.

It’s better to let your memories return slowly on their own first, only then will I be able to tell you certain things.

For now, let’s move on to something more immediate."

As she spoke, a faint halo began to appear above her, and at the same time, the throne behind her started to glow.

Light spilled outward in all directions, slowly giving shape to a landscape.

In no time, what had been a completely empty space became a vast green expanse brimming with life.

"Make yourself comfortable, we have a lot to do today."

***

Meanwhile, in the garden of a residence within the instructors’ quarters, a woman with long, silky white hair sat cross legged in meditation, her brow furrowed as she cultivated.

A strange violet orange aura surrounded her entire body, with small sparks of lightning occasionally flickering before vanishing again.

It was Liang Yuexin, just one step away from advancing her cultivation.

Nearly two months had passed since she had finally broken through to the fourth stage, and since then, she hadn’t held back, cultivating diligently and consuming various high grade cultivation materials in the process.

The benefits didn’t take long to become evident.

Her cultivation speed, already higher than normal thanks to the technique she had received, had increased even further once she began using materials suited to her elements.

It was so fast that in less than a month she had reached the mid fourth stage, an impressive feat, considering that even for a genius with great cultivation talent, such progress usually took several months.

But it didn’t stop there, she noticed her speed wasn’t slowing down at all.

In fact, it remained high, so she pressed on with her cultivation, sparing no expense and buying every material she could find.

It was known that cultivation materials were expensive, and their value only increased the further one progressed.

For her level, materials of her two elements were far from cheap, not to mention difficult to obtain.

Especially for her lightning element, she was finding it harder and harder to acquire suitable materials.

Even with money, it was becoming increasingly difficult to get her hands on them.

She knew she would eventually have to find another source for her lightning element, but that could wait.

For now, she needed to focus on her current cultivation level, which was right on the verge new step forward

She continued cultivating for a few more minutes, until the small storm of Qi swirling around her gradually calmed down, until it vanished completely.

Letting out a faint sigh, she stood up.

’ to think I’d reach the peak of the fourth stage in just two months, ’