I fought the sense of urgency I felt after speaking with the Spirit Triad, the need to return to the Sect as quickly as possible. That need to get there tempered by the newfound connection I found with the land I had claimed. A connection that had only deepened now that I could perceive the Spirit. The connection between the land and I had been tenuous at best when I'd first crossed into the territory that was going to be mine. It had grown with the territory token placed; the connection becoming more immediate, not as immediate as the bond between Storm and I, but there nonetheless

Now it was as if I perceived the world around me with three different frames of reference. What my eyes could see, why my Qi perception could detect, and what the Spirit revealed. As I traveled, I noticed more and more of the Spirits that I had glossed over or missed completely on the way to Xiwang.

They weren't as prolific as Yvonne had suggested, and they seemed to gather into clusters, but they were there. Most of the Spirits I noticed seemed to have gained an affinity with the oldest trees. An entire community of entities congregating at a glen here and there. I noticed one connected to a pond, but that was the only water Spirit I had identified other than the Ocean and River Spirits that formed the triad.

As my new awareness of Spirit evolved, as I learned to process the information my mind was being inundated with, the easier it became to notice or ignore what was all around me. Except for one thing, there was an over-arching presence, an intellect that surpassed even the triad of Spirits, one that managed to blanket the presence of these lesser Spirits. A Spirit that represented the forest at large.

It was ancient and had a solidity to it that spoke of roots that ran deep. It whispered of hidden treasures, rare herbs, and skittish animals. It complained about insects that bore into wood and lamented the fall of trees that had fallen to make room for the new. It encompassed the cycle of life as seasonal, that first moment when a seed unfurled to begin reaching for the sky, to that fallen tree that returned nutrients to the earth as it decomposed.

I admit to finding myself lost in the wonder of it all, taking the time to land, to remove my shoes and walk the fertile ground, luxuriating in the soil between my toes and just enjoying the blessing the forest offered. Not substantive, nothing you could touch or measure, more a balm to the soul. A moment of timelessness where I could just be. The me that was small and insignificant, when compared to the forest, but was cherished and appreciated no matter how fleeting my existence.

Most of the night had passed before I was ready to move on. The first night since I had opened my Spirit Root that I didn't spend cultivating. Instead of feelings of guilt or recriminations for the lost time, I felt refreshed, more connected to the world around me, and had to wonder if taking the occasional day to revitalize the soul might be an advantage and boon to my cultivation progress.

It was strange that I hadn't sensed any animals, insects, or beasts while I communed with the Forest Spirit, but perhaps that was intended. That moment of tranquility guaranteed my solitude, protected by the Spirit as we came to know each other.

Storm had spent the night hunting. Perhaps not the only Roc to be able to hunt at night, but she was certainly one of only a few. Her species had terrible night vision, and without the ability to use perception that she had gained when binding with me, she would have been all but blind. Instead, she was able to ferret out the choicest morsels, no matter how well they hid.

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She had adapted her hunting technique to not only find but to reach those that had burrowed under logs or hidden in cracks and crevices. Seeing her hop along the ground and use beak and claw to dig out her prey had me releasing great peals of laughter in delight. Her antics only deepening the affection and love I felt toward her.

The rest of the trip to the Sect, now fully refreshed despite my lack of sleep, was uneventful. The only other thing of note, as I flew back, was the transition across the border from my territory. There was an almost wrenching, a refusal to release me that happened at that point, a moment of dissociation. My territory grasping at me, as if sentient and afraid to let me leave.

The land yearned for the connection that we had formed. I was a fleeting moment in the billions of years of its existence, but the connection we had made had a profound impact. Perhaps that was why it clung so tightly to me. I was something new and different in the sameness of continental drift. The slow erosion of rock, the movement of tectonic plates were millions of years in the making. My existence must seem like a splash of color in a world of black and white in comparison.

A missive from Elder Shadow reached me as I finally arrived at the Sect. He had questions concerning the smuggling operation I had found and had scheduled a meeting with the Patriarch for midday. It gave me enough time to clean up, eat breakfast, and spend a few hours researching building arrays, construction formations, and town defenses.

The arrays and formations were interesting constructs. As long as resources; wood, stone, nails, and cement were contained within the array, a building could be built without the need for manual labor. That would speed repairs up even if the buildings available were minimal at best. At least they were functional, a far cry from the deteriorating buildings that existed now.

The building arrays were solid constructs that could stand the test of weather and time, but they couldn't be personalized. There was no way to change shape or size, and it was impossible to add or have a personal touch. The individuality that came from using a qualified architect or a talented construction crew would be missing, but I was more worried about functionality over aesthetics at this point.

The town didn't need architectural marvels and originality; it needed buildings that were durable and solid. The best part, I discovered during my research, was that each array and formation could be reused. Even better, as long as beast cores and building materials were provided, anyone could activate them.

There would still be a lot of labor-intensive work to be done. The old buildings would need to be torn down and the land cleared before the new building could go up. If done right, some of the building material that was still useful could be utilized. Anything to hasten construction was a boon as far as I was concerned.

The formation arrays added another dimension to each building and would save time. They would get homes built that were weatherproof, easy to connect to water and sewer lines, and came equipped with connections to a power grid. The cost for an array that could be used to construct a simple one-story, four-person home was negligible when you considered it could be reused over and over. Even if we had to spend time demolishing and preparing the land, we would save time and money.

It took longer to find a solution for a building that might work for businesses. I finally settled on a type that could be placed in such a manner that they linked together. A three-story building that could be placed one next to the next. It would create a type of strip mall, the businesses interlinked allowing individual stores to be joined together, and customers to browse between each business.

The formation was more than enough to satisfy the needs of the town, at least at this point in its development. Very few businesses were operational at the moment, and of those that were, most had to do with fresh produce, meat, or fish. There had to be shops that dealt with clothing, furniture, and household goods, but if there were, I hadn't noticed them. I was sure that once the mall that I was envisioning was constructed, those proprietors would see the advantages and make themselves known.

If not, I would work to develop those cottage industries myself. A series of loans and tax relief incentives might be necessary, but I was determined to revitalize Xiwang and my territory.