Chapter 29: Arc 2: Chapter 11

She took too long.

Sitting in the bath was such a relaxing experience that she lost track of time, only recognising that she had somewhere else to be once Xue Yaling barged in and flicked her forehead, reminding her about it.

“You’re fortunate that I didn’t try to make something hot and fresh, just for you. I would be rather frustrated,” the kitsune said, “Not that I’m not frustrated already. Hurry up already. I can’t wait to see the effects of your cultivation.”

Bianca still didn’t want to get out of the bath, but at least she felt better than when she entered, so she wasn’t going to complain too much – not out loud, anyway. After changing and getting decent, she returned to the dinner table and found a rather simple meal waiting for her.

A salad of various vegetables and complemented with various items that blurred together in her eyes, as she couldn’t perceive it as anything more than food. It turned out that it had been quite a lot longer since she last ate than she had expected, and the biscuits had not helped alleviate that issue in the slightest.

“You certainly aren’t shy about the way you eat… Hungry, weren’t you?”

“Of course. On my way here, I only had a few pieces of a boar that I had been able to salvage, and those berries you mentioned.”

“A shame you ate all of them… How long were you travelling?”

“I hadn’t really counted… a week?”

“You finished the entire boar in that time?”

“N-No, I cooked it and then ate some pieces of it that looked… edible? Better than the other parts of it?”

“You survived for a week like that? Why did you even eat the Sparkling Dew Berries? Did you not think that they may have been poisonous?”

“…” Bianca shrugged, “I mean… I was hungry, and they looked… appealing?”

“Right…” Xue Yaling sighed, “I am impressed that you were able to manage like that. Where did you come from? I recall you heading here from the north, but you shouldn’t have descended from the Dragon’s Fangs, so where had you made that mistake that you mentioned?”

She opened her mouth, then closed it, her head tilting down as she stared at the wooden floor. The excitement of the past two days did a lot to distract her from it, but the moment she spared this a moment of thought, all of the anger, discomfort and anxiety returned at once. She had no idea how she should approach the subject with the kitsune, or even if she should bring it up at all, so she just looked away.

The topic also brought back the shame she had towards her behaviour on the last day in Xi Village. Even if could be explained, even if it was somewhat justifiable from her perspective, she had attacked and killed the most important person in Song Ming’s life, and in all likelihood, she had ruined her life. It was…

“Looks like I touched a sensitive topic. Again, if it is unlikely to bring danger to you and me in the future, I don’t need to hear the answer,” Xue Yaling shrugged, “So, is this something I should worry about?”

“N-No… No…” Bianca gave a weak response, as she had barely listened to the kitsune’s words, “There shouldn’t be anything…”

“Hah…” with a sigh, Xue Yaling leaned back in her chair, “You are truly unconvincing, but whatever. Now that I look at you again, the red around your pupils is a lot easier to spot. I guess seeing it for the first time makes a significant difference.”

“What? Oh, yeah, that… I couldn’t really spot anything odd.”

“Well, it wouldn’t be odd if it was a feature you had all along, would it?”

“I… I don’t think I had anything like that, but maybe I’ve just forgotten about it,” Bianca shrugged, her mind still focused elsewhere, “Look, can we not talk about my past? Honestly, I’d like to forget it, move on… Hope that my… mistake… hadn’t caused too much of a problem for anyone…”

Clearly, Bianca’s reactions hadn’t made her sound especially trustworthy, but Xue Yaling ended up turning away and taking a sip of tea.

“Well then, let’s do something that should upset you less,” the kitsune said, producing a manual from somewhere, “A movement skill. You don’t have one yet, do you?”

“No. What is it?”

“Does it matter? You seem to produce something entirely unique when gazing upon even a single page of the manual, so just take a glimpse and verify that you haven’t lost that miraculous ability of yours,” Xue Yaling handed it over, “With a movement skill, you should be able to safely avoid most danger even without a proper defensive skill, though if you’re able to absorb more techniques in a similar manner, you should obtain one just to be safe. Not everything can be dodged, even if you can move nearly instantly.”

That seemed reasonable enough, so Bianca accepted the offer and opened up the book. The moment the darkness emerged, she was able to confirm that the two slots in the Demonic Tyrant interface weren’t false or unusable, as one quickly filled with a new pair of lines.

‘Tormentor’s Strides… ominous. Fuck, if I saw this stuff in a film or something, I’d think that I was the villain…’ she looked at the panel and pouted inwardly, ‘Please stop… Can’t I have something nice instead? I’m not usually all too into flowers, kittens and all that cute stuff – well, I’m fine with it if it’s not excessively cute – but I’d happily take a cutesy ability if it meant that I could show off something other than dread, despair and domination.’

Given the lack of widespread global communication, like phones or the internet, Bianca assumed that she had plenty of chances to greet people that wouldn’t know of her, and show them a different side than the one that had made things so terrible for her in Xi Village. Bianca the Bringer of Kittens would be far superior to Bianca the Demon, and the worst consequence would be shame.

Xue Yaling didn’t seem to notice that she was looking at something other than her or the table, but her impatience became apparent soon enough.

“Well? I know it doesn’t take you that long to figure out what you received. Enlighten me.”

“Tormentor’s Strides.”

“And it does… ah, right,” the kitsune rolled her eyes, “Please do experiment with it to tell me what it does and how it works. Honestly, you do know that it sounds rather odd to hear you name the technique in an instant, yet know naught about its function?”

“It’s just how it is…” Bianca shrugged, but she couldn’t completely deny it. It was odd that the Demonic Tyrant provided names and provided her with the ability to seamlessly utilise those skills, and yet it failed to show a proper description no matter what she attempted to do. Perhaps the feature was there, but given how intuitive literally everything else about it was, it would be strange if she had simply missed it somehow.

Since she was also curious to see the effects of her new movement skill – and curious to see what a movement skill could even be, given that the only knowledge she had of them was the one used by the Calm Skies Sect – she rose and moved out into the central courtyard.

Therein, she considered for a moment, then turned back, finding the kitsune already up and standing by the entrance, watching her intently.

“Is there an issue?”

“Well, I wanted to ask what kinds of movement skills can there be? Would it speed me up, or could it make me fly or something?”

“Flight? At your realm? I’d say unlikely, but it’s closer to being outright impossible,” Xue Yaling said firmly, “For you, it’s likely that the limit will be moving faster than usual. Why does it even matter? Are you concerned about accidentally soaring into the skies, or perhaps crashing into the side of one of the buildings around here?”

“A little…”

“Don’t be. Unless you’ve accidentally unlocked the secrets of spatial capabilities in the first realm, then as long as there’s nothing immediately ahead of you, there shouldn’t be any issues.”

“Should I compare my speed with and without the skill?”

Xue Yaling shrugged, “Do what you wish.”

Accepting the tepid agreement, she walked over to one of the structures on her right and faced the one opposite her. They seemed to be positioned perfectly, as if arranged with a computer program rather than by mortal hands, so it made for a nice straight line that she could employ as a way to test her speed. It helped that the ground was nice and even, so it wouldn’t interfere with a test of pure speed.

‘It might be that the Tormentor’s Strides somehow help me navigate complex terrain, but… I’ll check it later,’ she concluded, feeling the headache from initially discovering planar energy returning.

She recalled the tips offered by her PE teacher and took up something resembling a good starting position, at least from her perspective. Xue Yaling offered no commentary, and a brief glance at her expression didn’t suggest much, so she took a breath, gathered her energy – mostly by relying on the Demonic Tyrant – and began her sprint.

Almost immediately, she noticed it being much easier than she expected despite her not activating the Tormentor’s Stride. It took almost half of the journey for her to recall the progress in her cultivation, and prompted her to increase her efforts to fully make use of her strength. Technically, she’d skew the results, but since she lacked anything resembling a stopwatch – in app or physical form – any assessment of speed would be purely subjective and useful mostly for a rough judgement.

From one side to another, she made it in just a few seconds, making her doubt the choice of locale.

“Now, your new movement skill. I’ll observe with my spiritual perception, so if I can decipher anything interesting about it, I’ll be sure to enlighten you,” the kitsune said, though she was almost certainly more interested in studying the technique for herself rather than assisting Bianca.

The way that she looked at it with hungry eyes gave it away, though the fact that she was so curious about all of Bianca’s other methods made it even clearer. Had Bianca showcased her dual cultivation technique more often, the kitsune would certainly be taking notes, probably so that she could try it out for herself somehow.

Given the fact that she had spoken outright about examining Bianca’s cultivation in detail, Bianca would have had to be an idiot not to notice.

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It didn’t seem bad to have another opinion on her cultivation, though, so she did nothing to prevent it. Due the nature of spiritual perception – and her own inability to do a thing about it, at least at her current realm – the only thing she could do was request it to be kept away from her, and she would have no proper way to verify whether or not Xue Yaling was actually sticking to her words. She seemed to have looked into her body quite a few times so far, and Bianca had never been able to tell.

Thus, she began assuming the same starting position as before, but then paused as she realised that it might not be a component for her Tormentor’s Strides. If she screwed it up and misled herself and the kitsune about its nature and effectiveness, it might cause problems down the line, though she couldn’t fathom what those problems would be.

She returned to a more neutral stance and focused on the Demonic Tyrant panel, trying to get it to do its thing. It was hard to tell when that would happen, so after spending a moment on this, she set off.

Upon her first step, she felt it working. Somehow, her movement simply became faster, and although she did not feel like she was actually taking larger steps or doing so faster, her destination was simply getting closer at a noticeably greater pace than before.

Better yet, she could not feel herself getting exhausted, nor did she seem to be at the peak of her speed. Bianca returned her gaze to the panel and wished for that potential to be unleashed, for it to burst out – and she got it. In an instant, she seemed to jump half-way towards her destination, skipping half a dozen steps in a seeming instant. Unfortunately, it knocked the air out of her lungs, and she barely cleared the last few steps and stumbled onto the steps up to the door, quickly taking a seat and making up for the exhausted air.

“Oh, that’s the type of movement skill you’ve got… I see, I see,” Xue Yaling’s voice barely reached her ears, as the kitsune muttered to herself, “Acceleration, but it seems to be variable… The initial movement was accomplished with minimal energy consumption, and yet nearly the entire network of meridians was active…”

She hurried over to Bianca, examining her up close.

“So, tell me, how exactly did this feel like to you?”

“Um… I just ran in a similar manner, and the technique just worked out… Then, at the end, I wanted to move faster, because I thought I could, and…”

“You expended quite a bit of your energy in that last movement, but you were able to double your speed, at the very least. It’s more impressive than the average movement skill, but if the energy consumption remains as poor, then it will have a serious drawback. More efforts to increasing your planar energy pool will be necessary if you wish to employ it efficiently,” Xue Yaling continued muttering, “What’s with that look? Did I say something wrong?”

“It’s just that it felt like I almost… teleported.”

“… You didn’t. You moved quickly, that’s for sure, but you are far from direct teleportation. That’s the domain of the fourth realm, though that’s a bit of an oversimplification,” Xue Yaling sighed, “In the fourth realm, after the conclusion of your tribulation, the heavens awaken a movement method within you. For most, it is sufficient to move instantly, albeit at short distances. The exact methods differ for everyone depending on their cultivation techniques, so in your case, your fourth realm movement method may well be a furthering of this current… Tormentor’s Strides. Luckily, it isn’t too obvious when used.”

“Too obvious? Was there any indication that I was even using it? I mean, if I hadn’t teleported, then it must just mean that I ran quite quickly.”

Xue Yaling raised an eyebrow, “Are you kidding me? Have you not thought to look down for a moment while running? Just go for another quick jog and see for yourself. Considering the initial energy consumption, it shouldn’t cause you any problems.”

Bianca nodded and tried to activate her movement technique without focusing too much on the Demonic Tyrant. Without actual movement, it didn’t seem to do much, but the moment she started to walk, she could see what Xue Yaling meant. Beneath her feet, there seemed to be some kind of faint purple light that resided both within and without, though she knew that planar energy shouldn’t have been able to leave her body at her realm.

It seemed to be similar to her Dominion’s Light, where it remained within her hand or weapon and only released a faint glow when in use. Perhaps it even had some similarity in its function, which made her ponder whether it would be possible for her to empower it in a similar manner by wishing death upon… the ground?

“Do you see it now? It’s not invisible, so there’s no chance you would be able to evade the attention of anyone with eyes,” the kitsune stated firmly, “Nevertheless, it is subtler than a number of skills I’ve seen before, so that’s something in your favour.”

“Right… Do you want to see my combat skill, then?”

“Of course I do! Stop asking stupid questions and just show if off already!” Xue Yaling almost sounded more like a kid wanting to see a new toy than the relatively mature woman she’d showed herself to be prior to this, though after a quick cough, she seemed to be back to normal, “There are some interesting things about your cultivation technique as a whole, so the more I get to see, the better – for the both of us, of course.”

Bianca had questions, but she kept them to herself and activated the Dominion’s Light, a vague glow shining from within her hand.

“Oh, that is interesting… Just as before, the foundation seems to be the cultivation technique itself. It seems like a perfectly constructed archetype, like these techniques were made from the ground up to be used with that specific cultivation method… However, it does cause a potential problem.”

“Like what?”

“Meridians need to be attuned to the techniques and skills you intend to use. This means that most cannot have a large number of skills unless they’re directly complimentary, or if they’re able to execute their techniques without the aid of this attunement. You…” she considered her words for a moment, then simply said, “All of your techniques and skills have come from this strange method of learning, correct?”

“You mean the dark fog entering my body? Yeah, that’s been it for all of them,” she admitted, though she had nearly mentioned the Demonic Tyrant instead.

“Have you tried learning a skill on your own?”

Again, Bianca nodded, “Unfortunately, I wasn’t able to make much progress or have much success, so I’ve relied on that ability to gain all of my techniques so far… Are you telling me that, unless I have an extreme amount of skill, I might not be able to learn any techniques myself? Like, completely impossible?”

“If you find others that are a component of your archetype, then it should be fine, provided you have even a modicum of comprehensive ability. That is, assuming you hadn’t created the technique prior to forgetting about it, in which case your best hope would be to recall the process in some manner.”

“What if…” Bianca began and then immediately stopped, concluding the thought only in her mind, ‘What if this stuff came from something odd, like the Demonic Tyrant? Is there any chance then?’

Of course, she had enough sense not to say this out loud, as that would not only expose the Demonic Tyrant, but bring up the question of where such a thing came from, and where she obtained it, and by extension, where she came from. Her travels after arriving in the Planar Continents were simple enough, but before that, anyone with a sane mind would recognise that she appeared out of nowhere, with no history or origins within the Planar Continents.

She was suspicious enough as is, so the more she said, the worse things might get.

“What if?”

“No, nothing. I’m just wondering if there might be other possibilities, and what I might have to do about it then. I wouldn’t want to lose any chances of progressing as soon as I exhaust my current ability to just… obtain skills from nowhere.”

“You better hope that these techniques of yours have iterations for higher realms than your current one,” the kitsune said, “If they have no room to be used at a greater level with a higher realm, then you will be massively disadvantages if you ever happen to reach even the second realm, not to mention the third onwards.”

“Is that because I won’t be able to take advantage of externalising energy?”

“Yes, you got it, though that’s only for the second realm. In the third, you won’t be able to take advantage of your anchor, in the fourth, you won’t be able to efficiently employ the solid external energy, nor its increased stability. In the fifth… well, there’s no need to go on when you won’t be able to reach the higher realms within the near future,” Xue Yaling said, “To be clear, that’s not a remark about your own limited ability, but instead the general speed of cultivation. Even the most talented individuals with the most suitable techniques will only be able to progress so quickly under typical circumstances. For most, multiple decades will need to be devoted to cultivation before there is even a slight chance of reaching the higher realms.”

“Is that why you’re… a hundred and something?”

“Two hundred and something, actually. Mostly, it was due to me wasting my youth a little, a thing that I now regret, but it’s inadvisable for young kitsune to begin cultivating too early anyway.”

“Right…”

“My sister began a little earlier, and it hadn’t benefitted her in the slightest, so I think I made the right choice,” Xue Yaling mentioned, pride leaking into her voice, “That’s why I’m here, in control of a small region, whereas she likely wanders about, despairing about her own limitations… Hah…”

The pride – and confidence – declined as she spoke. It wasn’t enough to give anything away without any doubt, but Bianca suspected that there might have been some unresolved sibling rivalry there, perhaps with Xue Yaling losing out in some aspects. Hopefully, it wasn’t anything too serious, as having a friend out there in the strange world of the Planar Continents would be really, really nice, especially if she got chased out of somewhere again.

“Anyway, you ought to get that exercise I’d been telling you to get. It’s best for you to get accustomed to it, and you will be able to better employ the strength you now possess,” the kitsune switched topics directly, “You don’t seem to have much muscle in that body of yours, but if you want to make proper use of your first realm cultivation, you need to make sure that you are strong enough.”

“Do I have to?”

“Yes, you do. Look, I know that looking like some kind of slab of muscle isn’t a common fantasy for women, but you don’t need to go that far. Just make sure that your body hasn’t completely atrophied, and the amplification of the first realm will assist you greatly.”

That made enough sense, and it did address a concern, albeit a really, really minor one. She had seen the cultivators of the Calm Skies Sect, and Song Ming as well, and none of them seemed to have an excessive amount of muscle. The men hadn’t had overwhelming amounts of muscle either, but for all she knew, there were differences in the way cultivation worked, or that the sects and the people of Xi Village weren’t doing things right.

Still, she didn’t want to look like a bodybuilder. Bianca wasn’t particular familiar with any particular female bodybuilders, but most that she had seen looked rather excessive for her tastes. One picture she’d seen was alright, but she had no reason to believe that she could achieve a similar result with no particular experience or insight into the right way to go about it.

“What are you standing still for? Do you need me to give you direct instructions? Should I stand by your side and make sure that you get all nice and sweaty for me?”

“Um-”

“Actually, that sounds like a great idea. Come along, I’ll make sure to wring you dry of all of that energy, and then… then I can offer you a pleasant little reward. You’d like that, wouldn’t you?” a grin quickly formed on her face, “If you’d prefer, I could get sweaty alongside you. Wouldn’t that be fun?”

Bianca found herself blushing, mainly because she couldn’t find it in herself to disagree.

“I can tell that you’re interested. Come on.”

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