The Clan House that I had decided to loot had been formed using a type of marble, or ice, shaped to appear as marble so similar that even with my perception focused as narrowly as possible, I was unable to tell the difference. I could have been certain if I had even a trace of earth affinity, not that it really mattered.

The walls, floors, and ceiling were sheathed in that same marble-like material. Columns and arches were placed artfully and architecturally prominent along a wide and deep entrance that opened into a large receiving room.

There were nooks along the hall, with paintings or reliefs hanging gracefully inside each alcove. Each alcove was backlit with soft light, still powered after all these years and the destruction that had affected the rest of the city.

None of the art included portraits, so it was impossible to tell what the people that might have lived here or in the city looked like. I wondered if this Clan was unique in their selected art or if the entire town saw little merit in portraitures. I had hoped for something that would allow me to get a feel for how these people lived, but it seemed the city was empty of anything not linked to professions.

These people didn’t seem to be martially focused; I’d found no great store of weapons. They existed, and there were a few training grounds, but nothing like I would find on Shijie. The cultivators in my world were forced to embrace martial arts to survive the beast tides that occasionally ravaged our world.

The Clan buildings were well preserved, with outbuildings that served as a blacksmith, servant quarters, and training grounds. The accouterments of luxury were resplendent throughout the main building; curtains, tapestries, and rugs all remained in pristine condition.

There was no sign of dust- no bug or rodent infestations. It was as if the entire city had been shrouded in amber, time suspended until I entered the Mystic Realm and the Qi for this place responded to my presence.

I hadn’t felt anything to suggest that my presence might have signaled some momentous event that returned life and time to the Realm. Even when I had taken that first step and moved from forest to tundra, the only significant change I felt was the elemental affinity of the atmospheric Qi.

Storm had done some scouting. She had even found signs of animal life, signs that were soon obliterated as snow and wind erased any tracks. She had managed to find, kill, and eat a type of bear. The animal was massive, and the mental images that Storm had shared while fighting suggested that she might not have won if she didn’t have access to lightning.

She was willing to share her hunt, and although I didn’t need the meat, having entered the Mystic Realm well stocked with food, I wasn’t so impolite to reject her gift. The meat from the bear was rich in Qi, higher than anything I’d ever eaten. It was at least a tier-six beast, and I was even more certain that lightning had been the only reason Storm had won this battle.

I had carefully stored as much of the animal as Storm allowed. The skin, bones, organs, and sinew would be used in crafting, while the meat would be saved for Storm.

She was only tier-two. The Qi contained in the bear meat would help her to advance faster. It was more potent than anything she had captured before this. She wouldn’t increase her tier; our Realms were synchronized with each other. She would remain tier two until I was ready to step into the Nascent Soul Realm.

But she could increase stages across her tier. Tier six food might allow her to reach the peak of her tier.

My wandering through rooms and halls of this unknown Clan had been without incident until I found the Clan Head’s office. The door frame and door had intricate carvings on them. Symbols and runes resonated with defenses that Toi warned me about.

“The door has been carved and layered with defenses by a Grandmaster Spirit Summoner,” she warned. “They are beyond me.”

“I assume this is where the most potent items the Clan has stored would be found?”

“It would certainly hold the Clan Lord’s Ring, the Writ of Clan Creation, and whatever treasures the Clan Lord might have collected.”

“Should I leave?” I asked. “I would rather not trigger a trap that will release an army of Spirits determined to protect what lies behind that door.”

“I think the core that powers the door has been drained, for the most part,” Toi replied. “There is a flicker of energy remaining, a wisp of spirit Qi so slight as to be hard to detect.

“It should be safe to open.”

“What happens if I open it and the spirit energy you detect has enough energy to activate?”

“The worst case, the door will open, the defenses will be triggered, and a portal between this realm and a demon realm will open, trapping you in that realm.”

“I think I’ll pass,” I replied, moving to examine the wall the door frame was set into. If I couldn’t go through the door, I’d see if I could break through the wall and create a new opening.

The people of the Clan probably had physical protection in place to block my attempt. I would guess guards or librarians. Breaking an opening in a wall was a loud, destructive action that could hardly be done without drawing attention.

A thorough scan of the walls found the first sign of decay I’d come across. Runes and arrays embedded in the wall were slightly out of alignment.

I doubted that decay happened after the city was sealed. I thought it likely that the Clan hadn’t been as meticulous with maintenance as they could have been, and the runes in the wall had been ignored while those protecting the door were given more exhaustive repairs.

They wouldn’t be the first people to ignore needed repairs because of the work involved.

“Can you pass through the wall and make sure there is nothing against the wall that I need to be careful not to destroy?” I asked Toi.

Toi didn’t walk through the wall. Instead, she oozed between the small opening that existed between the door and the floor. “Why not go straight through the wall?” I asked her once she had returned and reformed. “And why didn’t your passage under the door trigger the defenses?”

“Efficiency, mostly. There is a cost, a small amount of soul energy required by spirits when interacting with the physical Realm. Now that we have formed a contract, you supply the soul energy I need, but it is hard to break habits formed over centuries.

“And I acted on instinct when I passed under the door. I simply knew it was possible and that we would be safe.”

“How do I supply you with soul energy? Is it a function of the contract itself?”

“The contract makes it easier, but it isn’t required,” Toi informed me.

“All living creatures release an aura, a subtle gradient of soul that surrounds the body and that spirits can harvest. Think of your aura like your skin. As it ages, cells flake off, and new skin replaces the old. Your aura is like those skin cells that are flaking off.

“Spirits can harvest auras, and the contract allows me to farm your aura, absorbing the small amount of spirit energy I need to interact with the world. The spiritual excess you generate and release as your soul changes are enough to feed me and change the environment within your living world.”

“My soul is constantly changing?” I replied thoughtfully. “Always growing, aging, and reforming, I would hazard to guess?”

“Life is a constant cycle of life and death, of rebirth and renewal. The soul is the pattern that life is formed from. As a living creature grows, learns, and experiences life, that constant cycle of change warps the framework of the soul. It strengthens it, weakens it, allows for illnesses, and imparts the spark of life in ovum and sperm to pass on the traits of generations to new life.”

“And without that change?” I wondered.

“Demons. Undead. The emptiness of void.”