In a room where gemstones floated in the air, some glowed while others did not.
A dark blue gemstone glowed, and a female voice spoke first.
"Everyone's not here again." - Lapis.
"Everyone's busy, do you think we have time?" - Opal.
"Anyway, we have to discuss matters related to Quartz, don't we?" - Lapis Lazuri.
The atmosphere in the room instantly fell silent.
"Even if you didn't remind us, we already knew." - Citrine.
"Didn't forget, or did you intentionally forget?" asked Opal.
"What did you say?!" - Citrine.
"Enough! You all argue so much, it's giving me a headache." - Jade, a woman's voice, sternly.
"Rest assured, Lady Lapis. Topaz and I, along with a few others, are very serious about this, so you don't need to worry" - Peridot's young male voice said confidently.
A sigh escaped from the deep blue stone.
"I wonder which lowly person picked up Quartz?" - Lapis
_______
Night fell, the room was dimly lit by candles, staring at the rough piece of metal on the table. Her hands, concentrating intently, only caused the metal to move briefly before nothing happened.
"Although I know I possess the Metal element, how can I use it?" - Thach Anh
The Metal element isn't particularly rare, but those who possess the talent to use it are quite few because it's not as simple as the other four elements. It's hard, heavy, and very difficult to mold.
The elements Wood, Water, Fire, and Earth are at least soft and can be improved through practice. However, the existence of Metal in the Five Elements means it can also be trained like the other elements.
Her eyes scanned the words in the book, which spoke of focusing while simultaneously relaxing her muscles and mind to connect with the element.
Trying again, Thach Anh extended her hands towards the piece of iron, closing her eyes to sense the element within. Her fingers moved slightly, causing the iron to subtly shift and then expand in response to her movements.
"I did it!" - Thach Anh
But it still wasn't quite right. Although she could bend it, it was useless without taking on any particular shape.
"Maybe this time I should..." - Thach Anh
Sneaking around, Thach Anh tiptoed to the library to find the book for her cultivation, but...
Although the library wasn't too big or too small, where could she find the book she needed?
"Someone dares to sneak into the library?"
A voice startled her, making her freeze like a statue. Light shone from behind, revealing dark, tentacle-like shadows. Thach Anh tried to run but fell flat on the ground, flailing her arms and legs in fear.
"No, no, no, don't kill me! I'm not a thief, I just want to find a book to study!"
"So you're my granddaughter?"
A woman's voice rang out. Thach Anh opened her eyes and saw her grandmother, Thi Thu, and breathed a sigh of relief. A middle-aged woman with a gentle face and naturally curly hair with streaks of silver at the roots.
"So it's Grandma. You scared me to death." - Thach Anh
"How could I not know what's happening in the house? As long as I'm lucid, I can even tell if an ant is going in or out. Now, what book can I help you find?" - Grandma Thu
"You know I've been able to open my spiritual sense and discover my element, which is metal. But I can't bend metal because it's too hard!" - Thach Anh
"The metal element isn't easy to use. Although it's the fourth element in the five elements, do you know that on the five-element chart, metal is ranked first?" - Grandma Thu
"Aren't all the elements equal?" - Thach Anh
"That's right, in the five elements there's always 'mutual generation' and 'mutual restraint'. One element is compatible with another, and that other is incompatible with one." - Grandma Thu
Her grandmother lightly waved her arm, and the bookshelf moved, extending a branch to hold a thin book whose cover had faded with time.
"Your element is different from other elements; you need something to support it, and this one is incompatible with metal. But sometimes, things that are incompatible with each other are surprisingly compatible," said Thu's grandmother.
Having said that, she gave the book to Thach Anh and left, not forgetting to gently remind her to go to bed early so she would have the energy for training.
The next morning, her mother, not seeing her daughter come down for breakfast, thought she had overslept and went to wake her up.
"Tun, it's time to get up!" - Mom Thuy
Opening the door, she found the room empty, the bed neatly folded.
"Where did the child go?" - Mom Thuy
On the wooden table was a piece of paper that read, "I'm going out. I will return."
Then the mother's angry roar echoed throughout the villa.
Meanwhile, on Thach Anh's side, she was wandering through the forest not far from the villa, her eyes focused on the map in her hand, paying attention to the location on the map. Last night, after receiving the book, she had opened it to read.
To cultivate the Metal element, she needed to melt metal, and to melt it, she needed the Fire element. Metal and Fire are incompatible; metal can be melted by fire. Therefore, she needed to find plants or even animals with the Fire element, absorb them, and refine them to nourish her spiritual root.
Since she was still a ten-year-old child, fighting powerful creatures was impossible, so she needed to find weaker ones.
Struggling to climb the mountain, she still hadn't found anything. Fortunately, her aunt had given her the strength to climb like this over the past few years. She secretly thanked her aunt, because otherwise, she would have been exhausted after just a few steps. After a long climb, Thach Anh stopped to rest, took out some coconut candy from her bag to snack on, and looked at the map again.
"The creatures with the best fire element are lions, dragons, and phoenixes. Lions and salamanders are too dangerous; I wouldn't dare attack them. Dragons are even more ferocious, and phoenixes are impossible. So, only horses and roosters make sense." - Thach Anh
While still considering the path, a creature stared at her from behind. Thach Anh jumped back in surprise, but saw nothing. Could she be hallucinating from the exhaustion of climbing?
A sound from a clump of trees startled her, causing her to recoil. Something was hiding behind it. She quickly grabbed a nearby branch in case the creature jumped out, her eyes filled with growing fear.
From the clump of trees, a tiny creature crawled out, a four-legged creature covered in mud, whimpering in pain before collapsing. It seemed injured. Thach Anh lowered the branch and approached, gently lifting the creature. She noticed it was very thin, probably starving for a long time.
She offered the creature some coconut candy. It weakly opened its mouth to eat the candy, then swallowed with difficulty. Pouring water onto her hand, she carefully poured it into its mouth. Seemingly revived after receiving nourishment, it seemed to regain consciousness.
"You're alright, but you were badly injured. And you don't have a tail either. Who was the cruel person who did this?" Thach Anh frowned.
"Ruff...ruff..."
"I didn't find what I needed, but life is more important. I can come back later. At least I brought back a dog for companionship." - Thach Anh
Wrapping the dog around her neck to carry it, Thach Anh found it difficult to stand up and walk. Because she was carrying a living creature, climbing was impossible, so she had to walk.
However, walking down the mountain was also difficult; it wasn't a smooth path but a rough, rocky one with tree roots, making it easy to trip if one wasn't careful.
*Rustle*
Just now, she had been a little careless and her foot almost slipped. Thach Anh calmed down, relieved that she hadn't fallen. After walking a considerable distance, her head was covered in sweat. Looking around, she saw a small river and stopped there, gently placing the dog down on a giant lotus leaf before breathing a sigh of relief.
"Are you alright? Are you still in pain anywhere?" - Thach Anh
"Ruff...ruff..."
"I'm sorry, I didn't bring much stuff, so I could only bandage your wound temporarily. Bear with the pain for a little while." - Thach Anh
"Aaarrrgghh!!!"
The dog howled loudly as Thach Anh tried to clean the wound. It struggled violently, trying to escape, but she held it tightly. They wrestled for a while until the wound was treated, but Thach Anh was covered in mud. However, after washing away the mud, the creature was clean, and she wasn't surprised to find it wasn't a dog.
"It turns out I was wrong. You're not a dog, you're a fox." - Thach Anh
"Ke-ke-ke."
"You can still laugh? Do you want me to throw mud at you?" - Thach Anh
"Yap-yap-yap!"
The fox jumped up defensively, but its wound caused it to collapse.
"Alright, out of consideration for your injury, I won't hold it against you." - Thach Anh
So she took off her outer garment and jumped into the river to wash herself clean. After swimming around for a while, she dived underwater. While she was bathing, the fox sitting on the bank watched, its ears slightly perked up as if listening, and then it barked loudly.
Coming back to shore, Thach Anh heard the fox barking and felt confused.
"What's going on?" - Thach Anh
A dark shadow appeared behind her, gradually growing larger. She slowly turned her head and saw a monster with a long body, legs, and scales. She had heard of them before. These creatures were often described in folklore as guardians of rivers and streams, possessing boundless strength and capable of devouring humans.
It was Jiaolong*, a creature that lived in rivers.
"Oh my god..." - Thach Anh
When the Jiaolong roared, Thach Anh didn't think twice before grabbing the fox and running away as fast as she could. Seeing its prey flee, the dragon chased after it.
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*Thuồng luồng (Jiaolong): The Thuong Luong is a dragon-like sea monster in East Asian mythology.