34 Chapter 34: Sneaky Little Sister

As I was getting dragged along by Elaine through several hallways, I noticed we had been practically running in circles with my divine sense; however, I didn't say anything to Elaine as I was curious how long it would take Elaine to realize.

"Brother, I think we're lost." Said Elaine sadly, after having run in circles for several minutes.

"Haha, it's fine, I'll lead the way this time, but I need to know where we're going first." Replied Elif with a chuckle as he started walking ahead, followed by Elaine.

"Let's go to the Palace garden; I wanted to play hide&seek!"

Turning around as we were going the wrong way, Elaine and I walked through several different hallways taking mostly right turns before eventually leaving the castle and arriving in the palace garden, which is really just a small forest, in my opinion, with all the trees, flowers, other vegetation and small animals living here.

(Note: The Palace Garden is the size of the Amazon Forest, just for reference's sake.)

"So, who's hiding first?" Asked Elif as they continued walking into the jungle.

"I'm hiding first, so no peeking and no using powers!" Stated Elaine before quickly running deeper into the jungle away from Elif.

'I haven't even started counting yet, little cheater.' Thought Elif as he stood still, closed his eyes, and started counting.

"Ninety-nine, one-hundred! Times up Elaine, I'm coming!" Shouted Elif as he used Qi to allow his voice to be heard from anywhere in the jungle.

'Now, since I can't use my divine sense, where should I start my search? I bet she ran off before I started counting so I could see where she went, thinking I would follow right after her; however, let's go in the opposite direction.' Thought Elif as he turned around and started walking to his right through the thick vegetation of bushes and trees.

While walking through the jungle searching for Elaine, I would hear various noises such as bushes moving, branches breaking, and leaves getting rustled; however, I never bothered investigating as even though I'm not using any Qi or divine sense, my perception is still that of a peak Saint Lord, so it's pretty easy to differentiate between my little sister, small animals, or just the wind blowing.

After a couple more minutes of searching for Elaine or any clues regarding her hiding location, I came across some tracks left behind in the mud; when I closely inspected them, I inferred that they must've belonged to Elaine as it was a shoe print, which means they were wearing something underneath their feet and the pattern in which the tracks are in created is that of a bipedal creature or a two-legged being; lastly, no animals that live in this jungle have feet or paws that large.

'Hehe, you're mine now!' Thought Elif as he stealthily followed behind the trail Elaine left as he wanted to avoid getting accidentally caught.

While following the trails, they abruptly come to an end right before a tree; obviously, Elaine must've climbed her way up the tree, but I don't hear any breathing or heartbeat belonging to Elaine, so that means she's not there. Looking up, I cheek all the branches in the vicinity and don't find any clue of her; I had even thought she might've jumped from branch to branch, but the trees are really tall for her, so I don't believe she would do that.

'Hmm, I might've actually gotten fooled by her; this can't be; I'm the elder brother, it's my job to fool her, but it's still impressive that she managed to fool me, a cultivator. However, where would she have gone? Did she cheat and have mother or father help her out? Probably not, but it's possible; maybe they gave her some artifact that helps hide one's presence?' Pondered Elif as he walked back down the trail of footsteps.

When I was recounting Elaine's steps, to make sure I didn't miss anything, I noticed a third foot-print that was not supposed to be there as she only has two feet; however, what made it stand out was that the footprint was right next to another one, making me think she just misplaced her foot.

'Wait, why would that matter if she was running away? Why would she go back and place another footprint right next to each other? Unless she was backtracking her tracks and stepped in the wrong spot, causing her to leave another footprint right next to each other! That must be it; that little genius almost had me fooled, though I feel quite embarrassed about missing that clue, I probably should pay more attention to the tracks instead of just looking at them every now and then.' Thought Elif with a smirk on his face as he followed the tracks to where they originally started.

As I followed the tracks, I started thinking it was weird how I never noticed her presence while she was backtracking; I was searching in the general area where the tracks were, yet I never noticed her presence, not once.

'Hmm, does that little cheater really have an artifact that can hide her presence? Well, I'll continue looking for her normally, and if I can't find her, I'll use my diving sense. Now, if I still can't find her with my divine sense, then she is definitely using an artifact.' Thought Elif as he started speeding up as he wished to swiftly find this little cheater.

I quickly arrived back at the area where I first counted and noticed how the tracks suddenly turned around with her toes now pointing in the opposite direction, once again leading deeper into the forest. With a twitch of my eyebrow, I continue following the tracks, and a little while later, I spot Elaine running away in the distance; seeing her, I slowed down my speed and sneakily followed after her as I didn't wish to give away my position, however, as I followed her I noticed while I could see her, I would need to concentrate on being able to smell or hear her.

'So that rules out the possibility of her using an artifact, but how is she doing that? It's like her presence is blending in with the surroundings; if I didn't chase after her and she managed to hide before I found her, I don't think I would've found her unless I had used my divine sense.' Thought Elif as he planned on telling his parents about it the next time they met.

As I followed her, she would look back behind her every now and then, probably to see if I had caught up to her, but each time she did that, I had to hide behind a nearby tree or drop to the ground and have some bushes cover me. Eventually, Elaine stopped running and started climbing a tree; seeing her do that, I sneaked behind the tree she was climbing and launched myself up before gracefully landing on a tree branch slightly above the one she was resting on.

"Hehe, I've been practicing hiding with grandmother while brother was busy doing other stuff, so let's see him try and find me find now." Quietly muttered Elaine as she quickly scanned her surroundings while gathering her breath.

'Well, that explains how she learned to be cunning.' Thought Elif as he quietly dropped down from above onto Elaine's tree branch without alerting Elaine.

As I sneaked up behind Elaine, I sat down next to her and waited to see how long it would take before she noticed me; however, much to my disappointment, Elaine never bothered turning around.

"Ugh, what's taking brother so long, I know I did a good job hiding, but it shouldn't have taken him this long to find me. Can he quickly find me? I'm getting bored sitting up here." Complained Elaine as she carefully stood and turned around, only to get freighted by Elifs appearance, causing her to lose her balance and fall off the tree branch.

Dropping to the ground, I reach my arms out and catch the falling Elaine before setting her back on the ground, though when I did, I could tell she was quite upset with me.

"You, how long have you been there!?" Demanded Elaine while pointing at Elif.

"Hmm, not too long after you backtracked your misleading footprints, so almost ten minutes, oh, and I've found you, so I win." Answered Elif with a cheeky smile, though all that did was cause Elaine to turn around in anger.

Seeing how she turned away from me, I just shook my head while mentally chuckling at her; however, when I placed my hand on her shoulder, I stopped as I could hear quiet sniffling. Walking in front of her, she tries turning away, but I stop her and view her face, which has tears running down the side of her face; seeing her crying makes me feel quite depressed as I want Elaine only to be happy.

"Why are you crying, Elaine?" Asks Elif as he tries comforting Elaine.

"B-Because, I had practiced a lot with grandmother, b-but even after all that, you still easily found me. Everything I did was useless!" Answered Elaine, who started crying louder as Elif hugged her.

Comforting the crying Elaine, I hugged her while patting her back, something mother or father would do to us when we were younger, and just waited for her to finish emptying her tears, causing my clothes to get wet, but I can always dry them later with Qi. A couple of minutes later, Elaine finally stopped crying and started calming down; releasing her from the hug, I could see her cheeks were wet, along with her eyes being slightly red.

"Do you feel better now, Elaine?" Asked Elif as he ruffled her hair.

"Mhm." Said Elaine while pointing her head down.

"That's better, and for your information, all that practicing you did wasn't a waste of time; you had almost managed to trick me!" Said Elif as he tried cheering up Elaine.

"R-Really?" Asked Elaine quietly as she lifted her head up expectantly.

"Yeah, when I had found the tracks you left, I never once thought that you had backtracked them. In fact, if you didn't make a mistake, I don't think I ever would have found you!" Explained Elif as he saw how Elaine was looking at him.

"I-I knew that was going to give me away." Said Elaine as she clenched her fist in slight anger.

"Also, you probably haven't noticed, but you're very good at blending in with your surroundings; I'm confident that if I closed my eyes, I wouldn't even be able to sense your presence!" Added Elif.

"Grandmother said the same thing, but I didn't believe her as she always was able to find within a few seconds." Replied Elaine excitedly before turning depressed when she remembered playing with Tiana.

"So then, now that you're feeling better, want to play again?"

"Yeah, but I'm hiding again; the only reason you found me was that I messed up, so I won't mess up this time." Replied Elaine as she once again ran off in the distance before Elif started counting.

'Haa, does she not know she's supposed to wait until I start counting?' Thought Elif with a shake of his head as he closed his eyes and started counting.