บท 59: Where is My Great Granddaughter?!
Deep inside the lair of the Crystal-veined Stream Lord, in the middle of the night, the whole clan was in an uproar! The crystal clear waters atop the northeastern mountain were soaring in large waves akin to a maddening thunderstorm in the middle of the ocean. Thunders rumbled and lightning flashed repeatedly at the top of the mountain as if highlighting the fury of the strongest Spirit-rank-Lord in the vicinity. Heavy raindrops as large as soy beans fell, further burgeoning the already harsh waters of the main spring. The main spring was the water source of the Crystal-veined Stream and the private pool of the Spirit-lord.
All living beings inside, regardless of fishes, reptiles nor freshwater crustaceans were trembling in fear while prostrating on the ground inside the spacious main spring where the Lord reside. Their numbers were in the thousands. Some were within the watery pool while the others littered the shallow edges and embankment. The weak ones spurted blood from internal injuries while the stronger ones were desperately withstanding the Lord's might with all they got.
A large shadowy figure, the size of a hill was emitting an imposing aura in the darkest part of the spring where it was the deepest. Two large red eyes, as big as lanterns shone inside the waters, illuminating the faces of everyone in front of him. The anxiousness in his heart had transformed into an amalgamation of extreme worry and seething anger.
Until this moment, his beloved great granddaughter has not been found yet!
The mischievous little descendant of his was very bright; always full of ideas. She was quite infamous for randomly causing trouble everywhere instead of cultivating. However, she did have a tiny semblance of propriety and knew how to please her elders. That was how she had managed to circumvent from being harshly punished every single time. He knew more than half of the elders doted over her secretly. He was one of her victims too, but he tried hard not to show it.
Until the event of three days ago.
He had fume up in rage and reprimanded her badly after she had forsaken the ultimate clan rules. No amount of secret appeals from the elders had budged him from punishing her by severe beating! He even prohibited others from giving her food and cultivation material just so that his message will be delivered loud and clear.
What would happen if the beasts out there ate his lovely little granddaughter?! Or worse, ravaged her?!
Unbeknownst to him, he was the main culprit who had spoilt his own great granddaughter too much. To his dismay, his spontaneous hard 'schooling' had backfired! The naughty girl had run away! And worse, she might've come across a mishap somewhere out there; scared and alone. If she died, he won't be able to forgive himself!
"Where is she! Where is that rebellious girl!? How can you not find her anywhere?!" A loud bellowing sound, as strong as thunder, laced with spirit suppression increased the fear in everyone's hearts.
A wizened old-looking gray catfish came forward and stood beside the fuming Lord. "Remain calm, my Lord. I have dispatched all of our clansmen to check the whole length of our territory and we still couldn't find a trace of Lady Aranyella. However, we have discovered something of importance. Come forward." He gestured over at a huge snakehead fish.
"Reporting to the exalted Spirit-Lord. I am but a puny servant who lived at the edge of your Lordship's territory. Earlier today, I had felt a surge of energy reminisced of your glorious powers at the lawless zone and had come forward to pay tribute. However, what I could find was bloody waters at the side of an inconspicuous tree roots dipped inside the stream water and some of these lying broken on the riverbed." He took out the familiar shards of 'tava plate' Hana loved so much.
Everyone gasped!
The refined lifeguard treasure of the Spirit-Lord! They didn't know one of it was bestowed to the naughty descendant! This was a declaration that the missing offspring has an exalted position in the clan; groomed to be the successor of the Spirit-Lord. They now understood the graveness of the situation.
"After that, this humble one immediately embarked on a journey to the main clan's grounds to inform your Lordship. On the way, I've met with the exalted Grand Elder Watershade and was brought here." He gestured towards the old catfish beside the Crystal-veined Stream Lord and started prostrating again.
Silence ensued.
"Very well. Elder Watershade, reward him with one spirit crystal."
Everyone gasped again. Avarice gazes were shot at the young snakehead fish as he went forward to receive his reward nervously. A spirit crystal! It could help him evolved into a High-leveled spirit beast in one go, jumping two levels!
"Whoever snatch this young one's treasure will receive retribution directly from me!" The booming voice spoke again. "Young one, cultivate inside the main clan's ground until all the essence of the crystal is finished before you go back."
"Yes, your Lordship." The young snakehead prostrated gratefully. In his heart, he had affirmed his loyalty yet again towards the Lord.
The avarice gazes reduced significantly as the young snakehead fish was taken inside after he divulged the position where he retrieved the Life-guard Scale residue.
"It seems that I need to take action myself." The large shadow emitted a strong spirit and reduced its size significantly while the catfish followed his example while bowing low in deference behind it.
Both of them moved together towards the site with grave expressions.
...
"We've reached the location spoken by the young snakehead, Lord Tittua." Elder Watershade moved his long whiskers to indicate the location. Right now, he was just the size of a regular large catfish Hana use to eat from the stream, a hundred times smaller than his own original form. The Crystal-veined Stream Lord was about the same size. They're currently at the outer region of their territory. The catfish could only shake his head while sighing. This was the lawless region, outside of the Lord's jurisdiction.
"She had repeatedly told me she was looking for a herb for me. Do you think she's telling the truth, brother?" The Crystal-veined Lord whispered in dejection. No decorum needed to be upheld out here. They were brothers-in-arms for as long as he could remember. Watershade was beside him when he wrestled away the spirit crystal spring from the previous local lord a thousand years ago.
The elder sighed again and stated matter-of-factly. "The little one did manage to make some interesting poultices with the cultivation materials supplied to her instead of using it for cultivation. Although her talent in cultivation is high, she had not spent enough time for it. She is very different from the other younger generation. Very gifted, although in a different way. There might be a grain of truth in it."
The Crystal-veined Lord sighed deeply and went forward to investigate the location. He casted a profound bloodline art towards the region. Slowly, the debris of the detonated scales moved together and reformed into organized scales. Some were destroyed so thoroughly, he discarded those away apathetically. He coughed out some blood from the exertion. His injuries from forcefully exiting his cultivation worsened.
Watershade went over to support his liege, "Don't force it, Lord Tittua."
Lord Tittua held his fin up to stop Watershade. "It's alright. I need to do it. I need to know if she's alive or not."
He removed out three tiny purple colored crystals from his mouth, shed off a few large scales and a drop of blood. As they merged into the organized scales, they formed transparent purplish links with each other. The repaired Lifeguard scale shrunk to the size of a single scale of a fish, with a slight purplish gleam to it.
Lord Tittua tapped the surface three times with his left pectoral fin, and a record of what Ara did at the moment she was attacked surfaced in motion picture just like a 3D film! The particles used as the replay was Lord Tittua's personal spirit energy he had stealthily imbued on the live saving treasure.
After viewing for a while, the Crystal-veined stream Lord was relieved. His great granddaughter was still fine. How come she didn't come home after that? And what was with all the little prawns she towed left and right? Was it because she was so hungry until she had become such a miser? He suddenly remembered he had let his great granddaughter starve and felt ashamed with himself.
Watershade was observing his Lord's relieved expressions as it suddenly turned into a myriad of colorful expressions a couple of times in a row. It was a mixture of anger, anxiety, worry, relieve and a tinge of shame. He knew this brother of his doted over the little one a little too much and understood what was going on in his mind. He just kept mum at the side and waited patiently for his brother to sort his feelings out first. He has always been a reliable leader to their clan since the very beginning.
A moment later, Lord Tittua activated his spirit sense and covered the land with a hundred kilometer radius! He wanted to find his great granddaughter as soon as possible!
The transparent spirit-imbued energy covered every inch of water, underground, land and air, as it passed through a number of high leveled spirit beasts, alerting them into cowering fear. Finally, it reached Hana's humble cave dwelling after a few seconds.
Before the spirit sense could penetrate through, the slumbering Kuro opened his eyes and retaliated! The red 'ruby' just below his singular horn shone bright like a blaring traffic light as he narrowed his gaze in anger.
[How dare the old smelly fish intruded upon my territory!]
...
ความคิดของผู้สร้าง 
mrandmrsmooncat
mrandmrsmooncat The momentum is rising! XD
Mrs Mooncat stopped drawing ASTHW characters for a while due to problems with our main PC. Since nobody had patronized our highest tier yet (sobs, sobs), Mrs Mooncat felt that there was no rush haha.
..and it was even Shiro's turn too..sighhh..
See you next week!
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