Episode 13

* Title card
* Poster

## Image gallery

**Spiritual Power** (灵质力, *Língzhí Lì*) is the 13th episode of *The Legend of Luo Xiaohei*.

## Description

Xiaohei, A-Gen, Xiaobai and Bidiu return home. That night, A-Gen explains to Xiaobai the basic lore of elfins and spiritual essences. Then, a strange fairy appears before them.

## Plot

In Laojun’s home, Xiaohei talks with him. Since Xiaohei managed to steal the Shining Pearl (also known as Heavenly Shining Pearl), Laojun owes him a favor, and Xiaohei wants it to be for Laojun to go outside of his home again. Laojun smiles, but refuses, saying that it’d go against his vow. Xiaohei remembers the voice of his master, who instructed him to not insist Laojun about it, and told Xiaohei to simply leave with the pearl. Laojun laughs, and wonders if Xiaohei had everything planned from the start. He asks if Wuxian asked him to go there, and Xiaohei gets nervous, confirming his theory. Laojun tells Xiaohei to say thanks to Wuxian for him.

Back in the countryside, Xiaobai is amazed to be able to understand Xiaohei for the first time. Now, when he meows, she can understand words from him. It’s an ability called mental transmission, and only Xiaohei chooses who can understand him. Xiaobai’s first idea is that Xiaohei can now give her test’s answers from outside the classroom, which makes A-Gen laugh. Since the countryside got flooded in the last rainstorm, they’re travelling using a makeshift boat made of ice and a piece of wood from the forest. Xiaobai quickly got used to Xiaohei’s elfin identity, and doesn’t worry about it at all.

In his house, Xiaobai’s grandpa plays gomoku against her uncle, who has trouble placing the pieces due to being too big. Uncle’s home is at the top of a big cliff, and therefore wasn’t flooded with water. The kids get to the home, and grandpa is surprised to see they brought Bidiu back. Uncle can’t speak, and uses sign language to ask Xiaobai when did she get to the countryside. She says it was four days ago. Grandpa realizes that Xiaohei is an elfin, as well, and presents himself to him with respect, telling Hei to call him Xiaoluo, but Hei reminds him that he’s still younger.

A-Gen gives Grandpa a letter from Laojun, but it only says he doesn’t have any money. Grandpa feels a desire to destroy the temple to Laojun that the town has. However, below the notice of lack of money, Laojun’s letter has a map, pointing to a place in the city where they could get some money. Xiaobai sits with Uncle, who’s knitting, and Xiaohei plays with Bidiu. A-Gen tells Xiaobai to take a bath before they have dinner.

That night, A-Gen, Xiaohei, Bidiu and Xiaobai sit at the edge of the cliff and observe the flooded countryside. It’s a beautiful view, and Xiaobai mentions it looks like an ocean. A-Gen agrees, and is glad the summer crops had ended already. He tells Xiaobai that the next day they’ll begin teaching Bidiu a new diet. Looking at Bidiu, Xiaobai wonders how is possible that he can grow giant if he’s not an Elfin.

A-Gen tells her that Elfin is a name given to certain organism because of how they’re created, not because they’re able to control their spiritual essence.  In theory, any living being could do so. Xiaobai remembers that Laojun mentioned that humans could become deities, and wonders if she could learn to control water as well, like A-Gen does. He says that yes, she could. He explains: around them there are countless spiritual essences they can’t see; they are everywhere. They are divided between material and natural essences. Natural essences get together on their own and become bodiless fairies. As they absorb and change, fairies combine with material essences and develop different kinds of bodies, which are Elfins. Since they’re born from the union of essences, elfins have a natural talent for controlling essences.

A-Gen says that the key to controlling essences is one’s spiritual space, like Laojun’s town. By cultivating, the properties of one’s spiritual place change. Xiaobai asks if it’s possible to cultivate a spiritual place if you don’t have one, but A-Gen tells her that every life form has their own spiritual place, and that every time one breaths, they’re absorbing essence. Xiaobai wonders, then, why she’s never seen anyone else like A-Gen before. A-Gen tells her it’s decided by natural talent. He then creates a small block of ice, which he gives to Xiaobai. She finds it very cute. A-Gen tells her that if a normal person trained to do ice magic for more than ten years, they could create a block like that as well. However, ice-type elfins are beyond that point from the moment they’re born. Because of that, there have been few humans that tried cultivation, and even less in the highly technological era they’re living in.

Xiaobai points that Laojun mentioned that the most powerful deity was a human. A-Gen says that’s true. He was talking about normal people, but there’s been some really talented humans as well. That’s partially related to the size of your spiritual space. The space of a normal person has roughly the size of a basket ball. A-Gen’s space is about the size of a football field. A-Gen asks if his space is as beautiful as Laojun’s, but A-Gen says it’s really different. His space is terribly cold, and would freeze Xiaobai to death. Laojun’s space is barely bigger than the Blue Creek Town, and the Starry Night Lake with Laojun’s Mountain is basically below the town. That way, both spaces can enter inside a sphere that is Laojun’s spiritual space. Laojun’s four palaces are in a space between the town and the lake. Because of the rules Laojun set to his space, every space has its own gravitational pull. Xiaobai listens, slightly confused, and eat’s A-Gen’s ice block.

Xiaobai then asks what’s Xiaohei’s ability. Xiaohei answers that she’ll learn it once he recovers from his injuries. A-Gen wants to move to talking about spiritual power and the subsidiary capacity that one’s spiritual space has, but Xiaobai is lost already, so A-Gen says they can continue later.

Soon after, Xiaobai goes to sleep, and Xiaohei and A-Gen stay watching the night sky. A-Gen tells Hei that he’ll recover in about a month using Laojun’s method, and asks if he’ll leave when that happens. Xiaohei isn’t sure, which makes A-Gen glad. He tells Hei to use the time to think about it. However, he also warns Hei that the Shining Pearl will bring him more troubles… Meanwhile, above the cliff, a creature is watching them. It’s a fairy mounting a cat-like creature. The fairy laughs, and they run towards the kids. Xiaohei quickly detects someone approaching, but the cat steps on a stone and falls over, with the fairy above him. The fairy clumsily rolls in the grass until she stops right in front of A-Gen and Hei, who realize the fairy is extremely small, even smaller than Bidiu.

## Features

### Characters

* Laojun
* Wuxian (heard and mentioned, but not seen) (Debut)
* Xiaohei
* A-Gen
* Xiaobai
* Bidiu
* Yet-unnamed fairy (Debut)
* Yet-unnamed cat creature (Debut)
* Xiaobai's grandpa
* Xiaobai's uncle

### Items

* Shining Pearl (mentioned)

### Locations

* Xiaobai's uncle's home in a cliff
* Laojun's home in Laojun's Mountain

### Abilities

* Xiaohei's Heixius
* A-Gen's water manipulation
* Explanations about spiritual spaces
* Talk about cultivation

## Trivia

* This episode explains the origin of elfins, fairies and their nature, the way A-Gen understands it.