"W-hat is this place?" Le Fang Ling let out a surprised gasp as she looked around the brightly lit place they were at, which was a dark cave.

"Somewhere magical." An Cheng answered back with a smile when she saw the flabbergasted expression on Le Fang Ling's face.

"It does look magical." Nagina nodded her head right after she had poked her head out from the cloak and crawled out of her dress. After making herself comfortable on her palm, she started to enjoy what she was seeing.

"You are not tired?" Le Fang Ling asked Nagina as she recalled about her getting drowsy during the assessment test and even when they were walking.

"Oh, I am not as tired as I was before." Nagina swayed her tail as she replied to her.

"Hmm, I feel more energized than before." Nagina looked around at the place they were at.

"I think that this place is responsible for it considering how it is overflowing with profound qi."

An Cheng who could hear their conversation gave a wry smile when she heard Nagina. Although she did accept the fact that Nagina was cute and just a simple exception of a magical beast that could understand the human language but Nagina was comparatively well informed than anyone else.

"What she said is correct." An Cheng pointed at the glowing stones and pebbles on the ground.

"This place is one of the few regions that have a higher concentration of spiritual energy." An Cheng touched one of the glowing pebbles and smiled.

"Wait, let me show you something." She closed her eyes and went into a state of deep mediation in a few seconds.

The stone that was in her hand glowed in a bright shade of green and the aura that was emitting from the stone soon engulfed her whole body and right in front of their eyes, it got absorbed inside her body.

As soon as the glow of the stone disappeared, the air inside the cave got a little stagnant. An Cheng's long hair fluttered lightly in the air along with her robes.

'Is she breaking through?' Le Fangling thought and stepped a few steps behind to prevent being caught in the side effect of the breakthrough.

"I don't think she can breakthrough yet." Nagina had been analyzing what was going on inside her whole body and soul from the moment An Cheng had closed her eyes.

"This much of qi is not enough for her to break through to another layer of the Spirit Enhancement realm."

No sooner had Nagina finished speaking, An Cheng opened her eyes and sighed in disappointment.

"I can't believe I still can't break through this layer." She clicked her tongue in displeasure as she looked at the dull stone in her hand.

She placed it down and looked at Le Fang Ling.

"Did you understand anything from what I just did?" An Cheng stared at Le Fang Ling meaningfully.

"And I am not asking the little missy there, I am asking you." An Cheng had somewhat figured out that Nagina was not a simple beast that was meant for acting cute only. She was quite knowledgeable about the things here despite it being her first time here.

Le Fang Ling knew exactly what she was trying to imply. A talking snake and at the top of that, a magical beast with intelligence was already suspicious.

She looked around the cave once again and saw that not even one of the pebbles or stones inside was not glowing. Her eyes traveled to the stone on the ground. It was the one that was dropped by An Cheng and to her surprise; she found that it was already starting to glow slowly.

"This place is almost similar to Pond of Sasha, isn't it?" Le Fang Ling had never forgotten about the high spiritual energy region where everything began for her.

"So, this place can help you to cultivate but the qi is not enough to cultivate properly, right?" Le Fang Ling stated with doubt since she was still unsure about it.

"Bingo!" An Cheng clapped at what Le Fang Ling said.

"They are the same but well not exactly though." An Cheng gave a secretive wink to her before speaking again.

"The qi here is inexhaustible but the reason is something else. You want to see?" An Cheng asked in excitement.

From the look in her eyes, it was evident that she was not going to take a no for an answer.historical

"Hah..cute." le Fang Ling thought as she looked at the stars in her eyes. She looked like a kid that was about to show her deepest darkest secret to her best friend.

"I will be more than happy." Le Fang Ling gave a wink back while she pumped her fist into the air.

"Good." An Cheng nodded her head.

"Come, this is not the main place that I wanted to show." She grabbed her wrist again and started walking again; this time they were going into the deeper parts of the cave.

"I can walk by myself though." Le Fang Ling looked at the long and slender fingers that were grabbing her wrist and felt her stomach do a flip flop as it fluttered in anxiety.

"Shh..I am the one leading here." An Cheng pouted slightly without giving Le Fang Ling the chance to reject.

"But.." Before she could even say anything more, she was once again at the mercy of An Cheng.

"You are one lucky fella, host." Nagina who had now crawled to her sit on her shoulder smirked as she whispered into her ears.

"Lucky? Me?" Le Fang Ling doubted it.

"She is a nice girl." For Nagina, An Cheng was the only girl who ever treated Le Fang Ling properly despite the grudges she held deep inside her heart.

"Well.." Le Fang Ling's voice trailed off as she thought about what happened a few moments ago.

She was dragged here by senior sister An Cheng without any explanation on where they were going and what they were going to do.

After the merciless dragging, they had arrived at a small cave hidden deep within the rocky mountain. And once again, they were now heading deep inside the cave to see something that could make An Cheng get excited like a small kid.

After walking through a dark path with pebbles and stones lightning up the pathway, they reached the entrance to the bottom of the cave.

"This place is forbidden for people to enter, unless one gets permission from the Elder masters here." An Cheng explained briefly.

"Then, aren't I trespassing in this place?" Le Fangling expressed her doubts.

"You have me." An Cheng patted her on the head.

"So it's fine." An Cheng smiled ear to ear, almost like a blooming flower.

Ba-thump!

Le fang ling's heart skipped a beat as she felt the warmth from the palm spreading on top of her head.

A slight pink blush spread on her cheek making her feel like they were on fire.

"Cough.." She clutched the hem of her sleeve while trying to keep her calm even when she felt like her heart was about to burst out of her chest.

"Thank you, Senior Sister." She managed to mutter out words of gratitude as she averted her eyes from An Cheng's face. She did not dare to face her taking into consideration what she was feeling.

"It's fine." An Cheng, who was unknown to all this, did a peace sign and turned around to face the entrance gate with a satisfied heart.

She wanted to show le Fang ling that she was trusted by her no matter what her family or clan was. It was her way of cheering her up after what happened today during the assessment test.

"Plus, I have permission to come here. So, no one can question our visit." She added and took out her own personal bamboo name tag and placed it inside a hollow space of the door.

As if recognizing the visitor, the huge locks on the door unlocked with a loud clacking sound.

The door produced a creaking sound when they opened; the sound echoing throughout the cave.

"Hehe, you are really going to be surprised when you see it." An Cheng smirked looking at her.

"Well, I might be lucky after all.." Le Fang Ling curled up her lips in a smile as they entered a shrine gate that had two big statues of golden vermillion birds guarding the door.