Murim Recurve

\'Why is their village\'s entrance the target of negative emotions?\' Re\'Kha frowned, seeing that there were murky swirls around the platform. They seemed to be swirling around it for now. It would take them time before they condensed within it and nurtured a Sha, eventually birthing it.

\'Maybe the source of the negative emotions is from the other villages since this village has a lot of say due to controlling the only entrance into the valley.\' Re\'Kha shrugged, "Well, their internal affairs are of no concern to me. Better to eradicate it now than to let it grow and develop into a Sha."

She gently touched her sword on the platform, activating it to produce blue radiance. The blue radiance attracted the negative emotions before eradicating them to a certain extent. If it was just negative emotions, the Water Qi was useless against it. Any other Elemental Qi would be no different.

But, as they had condensed into a bit of Ghost Qi within the platform, she able to eradicate it using the sword\'s Water Qi. Once she was done, she returned to the village head\'s house. At present, the village head vacated from the place, leaving it all to them while he and his family stayed in the nearby house.

So, they had the house all to themselves. But to remain alert, they refrained from sleeping separately. Once Re\'Kha returned, she looked at the Quasi-Magic Artifacts of her brothers, "Are they fully recharged?"

"Yes," Re\'Gra nodded, "We were in the Water Qi zone for quite a long enough time. So, their Water Qi reserves are full now."

"That\'s great." Re\'Kha nodded as she said, "I\'ll take a bath now. It\'ll be hard to sleep otherwise."

"Alright, we\'ll take a bath after you then." Re\'Gra nodded when Re\'Dha stared at the back of his sister, speaking when she was about to enter the bathroom, "There might be insects, so don\'t scream and make a scene."

"…When did I ever cause a scene for insects?" Re\'Kha shot him a weird look before entering the nearby room. The village head\'s house was the only place where she could have a peaceful bath. The men of the village used the well water at the back of the house to bathe.

As for the women, there was a private bathhouse located a bit farther away. It too had a well of its own that they could use to draw the water for their needs.

Their state was typically addressed as the water state, so the wells never ran dry. Rather, it would always be filled to the brim. So, none of the villagers ever experienced a water crisis.

Once Re\'Kha entered the nearby room, Re\'Gra frowned as he looked at Re\'Dha, "What the heck are you saying? When was Re\'Kha ever afraid of insects?"

"Aren\'t women always afraid of insects?" Re\'Dha said spontaneously when he realised the absurdity of his statement, staring blankly for a moment as he said, "Sorry, I misspoke."

"No, in the first place, why do you even think about something that stupid? None of our Clansmen have been afraid of insects or the like even since young." Re\'Gra frowned, glaring at Re\'Dha.

"Sorry, sorry, my bad." Re\'Dha waved his hand as he seemed back to usual.

\'This is why I don\'t like him. He says the stupidest things about stuff that never occurs. His mouth would be the death of him one day.\' Re\'Gra snorted as he picked up the sword of Re\'Kha and began to study it, noticing the minute increase in inscriptions on the blade.

Soon, Re\'Kha was refreshed, finally relaxing a bit as she washed her armour with water once and wore it. Its property prevented water from staying on it, so it never got wet. Patting her armour, she felt safe, heading to sleep.

Re\'Gra glared at Re\'Dha once before heading off to take a bath. Once he returned, Re\'Dha headed in next. Finally, all three slept in a room, getting a good night\'s rest.

The next morning, they headed towards the second village, leaving from the village\'s back exit. They walked through the valley since the path was filled with too many rocks. Their horses would succumb soon after if they rode them through such terrain.

Instead, they left them in the care of Duh, the village head.

Later in the morning, Re\'Gra pointed at a village that was embedded into the walls of the valley, "On either side is a different village. For some reason, even though they are close neighbours, they are always at odds. The village on the right complained about a problem relating to beasts while the village on the left complained about a Sha."

"Let\'s start with the village on the right," Re\'Kha said as they took a path that traversed along the valley walls at an inclined slope. It was a straight slope that led into the village\'s entrance. In the morning, when Re\'Kha tended to the horses, Re\'Gra had inquired a lot of details about the place from Duh, the valley village\'s village head. So, he relayed the information to the others like a travel guide.

The village didn\'t have any walls or blockages. The moment they reached the end of the inclined path, they noticed they were on a platform. And to their right was a cave, as if a massive beast had taken a bite into the land.

And, it was filled to the brim with metal. The cave was where the village was built around. And, it was big enough to fit around 800 people inside. They formed winding bridges and ropes throughout the entire place, creating a messy atmosphere where children recklessly jumped from one to another in a feat of parkour.

It seemed the village was involved in metal works, judging by the sounds of metal grinding from time to time. Those located at the entrance seemed to be the forges. The smoke they emitted billowed out of the valley.

Re\'Kha gazed at the floor, noticing numerous metal components lying strewn around haphazardly. They seemed to have either been abandoned or had fallen off from somewhere.

Suddenly, there was a loud thud as a boy landed on what seemed to be a protruding roof, causing it to cave in.