Chapter 70: Witch Bloodline
“Stop, don’t continue.” Talil suddenly covered her ears with her hands.
“What follows must be something very sad, I can guess it without you telling me. I never saw Grandmother growing up, and I’ve even forgotten Father’s appearance. I don’t want to know about their later lives.”
“You child…” The old man shook his head, but didn’t insist, merely letting his gaze sink into the candlelight on the table, his eyes reflecting flickering firelight that seemed to show scenes from many years ago once more.
That night, Xilutiya and Talil returned to the familiar room to stay, passing the night peacefully.
The next day.
After finishing breakfast, Xilutiya wanted to go walking on the mountain at the edge of the village; that was the place she had come from.
“The mountain isn’t safe, especially when food is scarce.” The old man reminded her, preparing to have a few sturdy young men from the village accompany the maiden up the mountain.
“No need, I have the ability to protect myself.” Xilutiya picked up the short sword at hand, drew it out, and swung it in the air, tracing a cold, brilliant arc.
“Oh, you’ve already trained to this level?” In his prime, the old man had been a second order adventurer, well-versed and knowledgeable, quickly seeing that Xilutiya’s strength was extraordinary.
“In that case, I’m mostly reassured, but still have Talil go with you. She knows the way.” The old man instructed.
“I’ll go too.” Hearing Grandfather call her, Talil raised her hand.
And so, the two formed a team and headed toward the mountain forest outside the village.
How she had walked out of this mountainous area a few months ago, Xilutiya didn’t remember clearly; she had simply followed a vague direction, shuttling through the mountain forest.
“Is Tiya looking for the place where she woke up back then?” Talil inquired.
“Exactly. Actually, I can’t figure it out either—why I woke up in that place.” The maiden replied.
The two used wooden staffs to part the thick, obstructing shrubs while walking on the rugged mountain terrain. The winter forest was quite quiet, with little animal activity; even the insects in the fallen leaves were few.
Estimating the distance and time she had traveled back then, Xilutiya vaguely searched for that forest from her memory, but unfortunately, after wandering in the mountains for a long time, the two found no trace of the place she remembered.
In the afternoon, the two returned without success and went back to Fir Village.
“We’ll go once more tomorrow. If we still can’t find it, then forget it.” Xilutiya felt some things couldn’t be forced.
……
On the third day, Xilutiya and Talil set out again; today light snow was falling, and the sky was overcast.
The woodland in the mountain forest felt somewhat desolate. Rabbits and wolves they usually encountered hadn’t appeared these past two days, probably hiding somewhere to hibernate.
They set out once more, advancing in a direction different from yesterday’s.
This time, Xilutiya faintly felt something different; some rocks and large trees they passed began giving her a slight sense of familiarity.
“This should be the direction.” She spoke to Talil with some anticipation.
“Good if we can find it.” Talil nodded, though she seemed preoccupied today.
“What’s wrong, Talil?” Xilutiya inquired.
“Yesterday, when Tiya wasn’t around, I secretly asked Grandfather about what happened back then.” Talil recalled with a touch of melancholy.
“After Father married Mother back then, they first lived in Jiaoshi City for a time, then moved back to the village. He didn’t inherit Grandfather’s talent and spent his days herding sheep and doing simple tasks.”
“One day, Father didn’t return by evening, so Mother was very worried and went to tell Grandmother, who was in the village at the time.”
“So Grandmother went up the mountain to look for Father.”
“She searched for about three days, then Grandmother came back. She only found Father’s leftover wine bottle and basket, saying Father wouldn’t be coming back. And I think I was only about 3 years old then.”
“This… was he carried off by wolves or a wild beast?” Xilutiya comforted her.
“Possibly. But Grandfather said that after that, Grandmother seemed to have something on her mind and became more withdrawn.”
“Later, Grandmother went into the mountains several more times until one time she was injured and stumbled back.”
“Sigh, did she always go alone?” Xilutiya asked curiously, puzzled.
“Yes, Grandmother wouldn’t let Grandfather follow. Actually, Grandfather wasn’t old yet then and definitely had the strength.”
“Though she was injured, after that time Grandmother seemed to give up and didn’t go up the mountain searching anymore.”
“Unfortunately, after that, Grandmother’s health deteriorated more and more, and before I was even 5, Grandmother passed away.” Talil looked at the gray, snowy sky with melancholy.
“From Grandfather’s description, Grandmother must have encountered some great enemy, her body eroded by high-tier ‘nature’ power. Ordinary herbs couldn’t cure that kind of injury.”
“Tiya, do you know? If a nature tier exceeds three, it crushes and erodes ordinary people.”
“I’ve heard Scholar Heide mention it.” The maiden recalled Scholar Heide in class using a knight’s combat power as a metaphor.
“It’s a terribly frightening thing. If a third order winter beast runs through the forest, the insects and birds along the way will die from the ‘sleeping winter’ aura’s erosion, and even the trees will freeze.”
“Not to mention fighting—even if such a winter beast breathes near you, you’ll gradually collapse. That’s the terrifying crush of high-tier ‘nature’ over low-tier.” Talil bit her lip as she replied.
“It can reach that extent?” Xilutiya found it hard to imagine.
“Yes, extremely frightening.” Talil shook her head.
“So, you rarely see third order adventurers or professionals. They generally don’t live in crowded places unless their control is very strong, allowing their nature power to remain stable and calm without affecting those around them.”
“The requirements are probably lower in the city, because the ‘castle’ power itself suppresses the spread and erosion of other natures.”
One could imagine how mad and chaotic the world was before Moran the ‘Swan King’ established his rule.
“But since something like that happened in the past, why is the village chief still so reassured letting you go up the mountain?” Xilutiya was a bit confused.
“That’s our family’s special talent, hehe.” Talil patted her chest.
“Not just me, but my sister Winnie too—we have an exceptional sense of direction in the mountains and have never gotten lost. It’s said Grandmother was the same back then, so Grandfather let her go into the mountains to search.”
“Father just didn’t inherit this talent; he would occasionally get lost in the mountains, which worried Grandfather and the others.”
“Does it pass differently between males and females?” The maiden tilted her head.
“Probably. Grandfather said Grandmother’s ancestors might have been witches.” Talil’s words piqued Xilutiya’s curiosity especially.
“Witches?”
“Exactly. Witches are like formal scholars—a powerful profession of at least third order, mostly cultivating the three moon attribute natures.”
“Remember the fortune teller Grandfather mentioned the day before yesterday? That was Grandmother’s aunt, a cultivator of the ‘Brilliant Moon’ nature.”
“Witches rarely appear before the world, and history has few records. It’s said they had a covenant with the scholars of Candle Keep, forbidding them from recording witches in books, so only stories are passed down orally.”
“So where do witches live? Since they live, they must need some basic supplies.” Xilutiya thought.
“Of course in the forest. It’s said the origin of the witches’ path involved a covenant with the fairies in the forest, having the forest protect the witches. Because of this, witches never get lost in the forest and can create an illusory maze to keep outsiders from intruding.” Talil spoke of these things with particular excitement.
“These are all things my sister told me. She was very interested in witches back then too, but she said her talent was limited and she couldn’t pursue the witches’ path.”
Illusory maze, forest, Brilliant Moon, moon attribute nature—Xilutiya pieced together these fragmented pieces of information like a puzzle, slowly outlining them in her mind.
