Chapter 42: Arc 3: Chapter 5

“So… explain yourselves for me.”

Shu Luo looked at the outer disciples with no obvious hostility, yet a single glance into her ruby eyes was enough for all present to guess that there was more than enough of it hidden away. Not even the ever-present veil could disguise such a thing.

“Elder Shu, I was not present at the… confrontation, but I did perform an investigation in Xi Village. May I outline my findings?”

“Did I not request you to do such a thing already? Hurry up.”

“After fellow disciple Li Shen departed with five others to chase after the reported demon, I had thought it prudent to confirm the words of the villagers. After all, even with the materials present in their libraries, they are less familiar with the nature of demonic cultivators than we are, so it is always possible that-”

“I do not need an explanation such as this. I doubt that you’re unfamiliar with my history, disciple, so get to the point.”

“I had spoken with a number of villagers, and my overall conclusion was that, while her origins were suspicious, the woman that called herself Bianca had meant no harm-”

“Nonsense, she… I’m sorry, Elder Shu.”

Elder Shu Luo shook her head slightly, waving her hand dismissively, “Sending outer disciples was clearly a mistake, I’ve recognised this already. Now, just convey everything as quickly as you two can so that the demon doesn’t have a chance of escaping too far. Qi Ping, you say that you found the demon to be… harmless?”

“No, simply that there was no clear intent to do the things she had done. Everything pointed to her being clueless to her power, and although I suspect her claims of retaining no memory were false, it did seem like she was clueless about quite a few things.”

“… Her technique. Describe it to me,” Shu Luo turned her gaze to Li Shen, not moving at all aside from that.

“I had fought another, a kitsune, but from what I saw… it was evil. Darkness lit with crimson bolts, a storm of hatred and anger. She employed only a few skills, with the only offensive one being the crimson energy. It was focused around a knife that she had taken from Xi Village… oh, and we found a manual in the woods, and it appears like she had come in contact with it.”

Silently, the elder reached out and accepted the thin book, immediately gazing upon the front cover as she did so.

“… Spirit Emanation? Huh. Did she exhibit any signs of using this body cultivation technique?”

“No, Elder Shu.”

“Qi Ping, have you anything to say about this?”

“It seems like the manual, along with certain other items, had been stolen by someone with a completely different type of energy. Furthermore, they should be more powerful than this Bianca, as, according to both the villagers and Li Shen, she was only in the first realm, both in terms of her power and the state of her cultivation.”

“And I believe you stated that there was a treasured weapon stolen as well, which she never employed even when she went in for the kill…” the elder frowned, “The circumstances are certainly strange.”

She remained silent for a while, but then her attention suddenly moved to the entrance to the chamber, where a figure walked in as if they outright owned the place. It was an odd sight to the disciples present, especially when they realised that Elder Shu was doing nothing at all to stop them.

“They may be strange, but nonetheless, you have encountered a demon. You felt it same as we, did you not?” her voice was captivating, a subtle crystalline ringing seeming to back up each word.

As she came closer to the middle of the chamber, more of her features became apparent to the disciples. Long blonde hair that flowed straight down, framing features that made her seem like a divine soul descended from the heavens, a true immortal of legends. Every tiny detail reinforced such an image, especially the eyes that seemed as if they were carved from blue crystal, gazing directly at the situation before her.

At least, that was what the outer disciples saw. To Shu Luo, a Marked Core cultivator with more than enough experience, this outward visage of an Emergent Anchor cultivator was notably less impressive. She could see the inexperience behind those confident eyes.

Nevertheless, it was impossible to employ her authority as elder of a sect.

“The Righteous Court has taken an interest in this matter?”

“The Righteous Court has an interest in every matter that involves demons. And from what my master has heard, this is undoubtedly a matter relating to demons. That Bianca, and a certain kitsune that your sect ought to have chased down long ago – even if one did not start out their journey as a demon, they have already fallen under the influence of the other. It would be wisest to end the changes of them growing any further,” the woman spoke with confidence, bringing out a fan made of fine crystal, “Do you not agree, Shu Luo?”

“… Your master has the right of it. It is true that the woman’s origins, at least with the memory she possessed when she awakened, may have been pure, but as she is now, Bianca could well grow to be more of a danger than the kitsune. However!” Shu Luo sat up and finally directed a glare at all in the room, the intruder included, “There is something that has been forgotten.”

The woman with crystalline eyes simply opened up her fan and lightly fanned herself with it, while the outer disciples shared glances.

“It is both my priority and, I would hope, the priority of the Righteous Court to avoid creating any demons in the process of defeating them. Qi Ping’s efforts, had they been combined with the group that Li Shen had taken with her, could have uncovered an opportunity to sway Bianca with words and prevent her from following the kitsune in battle. However, it seems to me that Li Shen did not attempt to do such a thing, even with the limited information available to her. This is a major misstep, no matter how it might have ended. I trust your master does not dispute such a thing?”

She refused to acknowledge the woman’s authority in this regard, but even then she couldn’t disregard her master. After all, though Lei Kai Lian was but a young child in comparison to some of the disciples of the Blazing Skies Sect, her master, Hua Jun, was among the greatest in the Righteous Court.

If that alone was not sufficient, then her own hatreds were. To oppose the only group that had consistently fought against the biggest threat in the Planar Continents would be foolish beyond belief.

“My master would not disregard the efforts of one attempting to defeat a demon. It is true that some errors may be made, but the efforts should never be slightest, Shu Luo. Again, is this not something that you should understand better than any of us?” Lei Kai Lian asked in an earnest tone, though her eyes glistened with something far less kind and polite, “Truly, one might almost imagine that the betrayal you experienced-”

“Enough! I approve of your mission, and I highly respect your master, the rising star that he is among those in the Righteous Court. However, that does not give you the right to question me like this. I know for a fact that your master would not approve.”

“I will relay your opinion to Master Hua Jun, then. So, will you give out your instructions to these disciples, or must I take charge?”

‘Annoying brat,’ Shu Luo directed one final glare at her, but refrained from addressing her again and instead focused on the disciples before her, “Your presence here isn’t required any longer. This matter is growing beyond that which you can resolve, and I will not be sending you out again, especially not while the demons likely flee further and further out. Return to your chambers.”

“… Yes, Elder Shu.”

Li Shen followed a second after, “Yes, Elder.”

“Go. Same for the rest of you… And you will stay regardless of what I insist on, won’t you?” she looked to Lei Kai Lian, and the irritating smug smile on her face said everything.

 

“Why are the leaves silver?”

“They are metallic-type plants. Simple,” Xue Yaling reached up and plucked a leaf from one of the low trees surrounding them, sniffing it briefly, “Hm, these are surprisingly high quality for unattended, cheap planar herbs, especially at the edge of an inevitable war zone.”

“Sorry, what?” Bianca looked around, ‘Why are we walking into a war zone? Is there going to be a plane squadron flying… oh, right, none of those…’

“This is Long Shiyi’s territory. On the other side, to the south, is the Exarch’s Domain. Of course, it’s far from here, days of travel away, but as long as we’re within either territory, we’re at risk of being attacked by someone from the other faction, or one seeking to earn that faction’s favour,” Xue Yaling explained, “Of course, since we’re mostly insignificant, and not directly connected to either faction, we should be safe. That being said, if you draw too much attention, you may have some difficulties regardless.”

“I… don’t draw that much attention.”

“You do, Bianca. You… you really do,” Song Ming blushed, “Even ignoring some features.”

“Well, of course you think so… Shouldn’t you get around to cutting my hair, then?” Bianca took one strand of her hair and glanced as near to its root as she could, just barely catching sight of light hair that was clearly more of a dark blonde rather than a light brown, and certainly nothing akin to the dark brown that she had begun with and could easily see along the rest of the strand’s length.

“Ah, right. Song Ming, how are you feeling? Any more of those uncomfortable sensations?”

“No, it’s been mostly alright.”

“In that case, Bianca, give me back my scissors and I’ll ready the appropriate medicinal pill and skill so that you can maintain roughly this length of hair afterwards,” Xue Yaling held out her hand.

“Sorry, wha-”

“I can perceive them in your pocket, Bianca. Really, if you are doing this deliberately, you need to try better. And if not… you need help, that’s about all I can say. Ideally, you wouldn’t be wandering about the world like this, but it’s a bit late for that.”

“… Oh shit, I do have them… here,” Bianca handed them over, and realised that she had felt their weight in her pocket for several hours at this point, “Sorry. So, to get this straight, you’re able to just regrow my hair after cutting it? That seems extremely convenient if it can be done every day… would’ve helped a number of times…”

“If you had a sufficiently advanced skill, perhaps, but we need a pill – as I had already mentioned, incidentally,” Xue Yaling responded, “It will help me to direct my energy into nourishing your body, allowing for the rapid growth of hair using the pill’s medicinal effects. All very simple.”

It didn’t sound that way, but Bianca was keen to avoid having her hair resemble an odd rainbow, especially if her hair continued changing colour. Fortunately, her skin didn’t have the same problem, as she was quite sure it wouldn’t be very easy to trim that in order to repeat the same kind of process. She did consider for a moment that Xue Yaling could, quite easily, be tricking her for whatever reason, but not only was Song Ming showing no indication of finding the situation odd, there was little benefit to going through so much trouble instead of just cutting Bianca’s hair while she slept, or something along those lines.

The kitsune didn’t take long to prepare, and soon she got to trimming Bianca’s hair, barely using the scissors and instead just channelling her energy using them as some kind of guiding tool. With the smoothness of her movements, it seemed like she had done this plenty of times, or was at least agile enough to make do anyway.

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In no time at all, she was done.

“You look… very different like this. Hair style aside, the lighter hair fits you quite well,” Xue Yaling said, “And it appears that your body cultivation technique affects the durability of your hair, so if it can progress consistently, you won’t need to worry about taking care of it as much… you lucky bitch.”

“Sorry?”

“Nothing. Now, don’t mind me.”

The kitsune stood behind her, her breasts close enough for Bianca to rest her head on them if she wanted, passed the pill over and held her hands beside her head. Before she could even attempt to consume the pill, she was already feeling an odd tinging all over her scalp.

“This pill… is it supposed to be glowing?”

“Yes. It’s full of my energy, because otherwise it would only be enough for you to get a few centimetres. Of course, if your energy was sufficiently powerful, and sufficiently suited for this pill, then you could do it yourself… at least in theory, anyway. Your own ability to manipulate energy is lacking, though I doubt you need me to tell you.”

“No…”

“Then swallow it already,” Xue Yaling said, muttering, “You slut.”

“What?” Bianca would’ve turned around and pursued the matter, but with this being the second time she almost heard something from the kitsune, there was a significant risk that she might upset her too much by doing so. ‘I think she might be in a bit of a mood lately. Wonder why.’

She did as she was told, consuming the glowing pill and letting her energy do its thing while she paid some attention to what Xue Yaling did behind her. There wasn’t that much she could do to stop her if the kitsune did something odd, but at least she could complain about it as soon as it occurred rather than later.

As soon as her energy began to dissolve the pill, the tingling around her head became stronger, and she could clearly feel her hair growing at a rapid pace, warmth gathering and growing around her head.

It didn’t take long for the hair to enter her vision and begin to cover it in the dark blonde shade that now belonged to her. After a moment to process that fact – given that it was rather difficult to pretend like it was just a temporary thing when the shade remained unchanged for numerous centimetres – she shut her eyes and endured it, discomfort slowly appearing and then growing rather quickly, forcing her to grit her teeth.

Then, it finally stopped, just as the discomfort was beginning to rise into pain, with the tips of her hair touching her ass. After a few moments, she reopened her eyes, seeing only a slight amount of light piercing through the thick layer of hair.

“W-wow…” Song Ming muttered, “So different…”

“You don’t say. I can’t say I dislike it, though,” Xue Yaling added her own comment, stepping away and blocking some of the light that Bianca could perceive, “It fits you quite well, so much so that I might be tempted to give you some makeup to make you look even better. Only might be tempted, though.”

“I… still can’t see, you know. Do either of you have something to tie this with for now?” Bianca reached out, choosing to ignore those comments for the moment.

“Mhm. Here.”

Obviously, she didn’t get a convenient elastic band with which to tie a ponytail for the moment – she’d consider what to do with her hair when she had plenty of time to spare, not now – but what she did receive was a decent enough length of string from the kitsune’s hand that she quickly put to use. She gathered up all her hair, almost pausing due to how smooth and silky it felt in comparison to what she had needed to put up with since arriving to this world.

It was quite something, and surprisingly cooperative too, allowing her to tie up all of her hair rather swiftly, leaving her with a high ponytail that she couldn’t review herself, but one that felt rather comfortable.

“How is it?” Bianca asked, turning her attention to the two that had been staring at her the whole time.

The kitsune hummed in thought for a moment, but it was Song Ming’s reaction that caught her attention. She was outright drooling with her eyes open wide, which certainly implied that she made quite the impression. However, she was extremely curious to learn what exactly made for such a reaction.

“Xue Yaling, do you have a mirror with you?”

“Hm? Oh, of course,” the kitsune produced one from her shrinking bag and handed it over without any complaints, continuing to look at Bianca’s face same as before.

That only prompted more curiosity, and the mirror was more than sufficient to give her the view she needed to sate it. However, it did little to answer her questions, as her appearance didn’t seem especially different.

Sure, her hair was lighter, as was her skin since she had last seen herself in a mirror, and her eyes, aside from a ring of red just around the pupil, also had these crimson strands reaching out to the outer edges of her pupils. They were rather fascinating to behold, admittedly, giving her a rather unique appearance without making it seem as if her eyes were bloodshot or anything of the sort. Furthermore, her gaze did have a certain shine to it, though it was hard to ascribe that feeling to any individual feature that she had obtained since arriving on this world.

‘Does she just like this look this much?’ she looked back to Song Ming, who had managed to come to her senses enough to begin wiping the drool from her mouth, “Something you like?”

“I… uh… It’s…” she stuttered, “I’m not sure what it is, but you look… wonderful.”

“Mhm. Something is oddly appealing about you, which didn’t stand out as much before,” Xue Yaling nodded, quietly biting her lip as she got lost in thought.

 

‘Is it the effect of the Demonic Form? I had already observed the influence of her so-called Commanding Rod against me and Song Ming, so…’ Xue Yaling forced herself to look away, ‘This is concerning, though. I’m a realm above her, and familiar with quite a few mental techniques, while she… she hasn’t got the faintest clue of what she’s doing, that much comes through every single day. And yet, I still feel it…’

She didn’t forget about the seed that Bianca planted in her during their dual cultivation, of course, but it shouldn’t have grown quite so significant, nor should it have been able to overwhelm her mental defences just like that.

‘However, her archetype does work wonders with techniques and skills within itself. They works together rather well, and when the sheer potency of her energy is taken into account… Perhaps…’

Xue Yaling held back that particular thought. She had heard the supposed amnesiac’s ambitions, or rather the thoughts that might eventually bloom into something more coherent, but the idea she had just had was utterly nonsensical, and most likely derived from that annoying beating of her heart that occurred each time her gaze tried to drift back to Bianca’s face.

It was a truly dangerous effect to come from merely engaging in indirect dual – triple, even – cultivation with someone, and in the hands of someone who knew what they were doing, and acted to maximise the effects of each of their skills, the Demonic archetype would be utterly devastating.

‘I’ll get it eventually… or the dick, at least. Always been curious about how it would feel to do the deed using my own flesh and blood, instead of the various materials that have been used to substitute it,’ the kitsune gulped at the thought and focused her energy to supress the mental influence as much as she could, though her limited skill in personal mental cultivation was clearly showing, ‘Still, this isn’t being supressed any time soon, but it should be possible to verify whether it is the seed that results in this effect, or some innate aura. If it is the latter… better not be.’

She did note that Bianca did not appear to perceive any particular oddities about herself, which was curious. Not all skills differentiated between the user and a target, especially when they were far out of the user’s control, and affecting Bianca in strange ways would be just the type of thing to expect from her particular archetype.

And yet, aside from a moment of lingering attention on one or two features – presumably the eyes, since those were the most unique aspect of her appearance at the moment – there was no hint that the supposed amnesiac was attracted to herself beyond a regular appreciation of one’s own beauty.

At least it indicated a certain answer to the nature of her Demonic Form, though the full answer still couldn’t be obtained until Xue Yaling could test it on one or two others. Those that had never been involved with Bianca’s demonic energy, nor her ‘rod’, and ideally someone who had never seen her even prior to those things manifesting. Then, she could observe exactly how the skill affected others, and why they did so.

 

“Oddly appealing… Well, that’s good… I guess,” Bianca took one last look at herself in the mirror then passed it back.

She noticed that Xue Yaling wouldn’t meet her gaze for longer than a moment at a time, but there wasn’t much she could do about that. If the kitsune didn’t want to say anything, forcing her to speak would only invite more teasing and remarks that she would rather not deal with right now.

“Anyway, we ought not to linger here too long. Let’s-”

“Wait, what did you do with all the hair?”

“Your hair? Destroyed with my energy. Is that it?” since Bianca shook her head, the kitsune continued, “Then, let’s move on ahead. There should be a settlement not far from here, where we can rest and verify whether the sects have done as I thought they would.”

“Alright. Song Ming, do you need a moment?”

“No, I’m fine,” she replied, her gaze snapping away from Bianca’s face, “L-Let’s continue on. That’s probably for the best…”

The kitsune didn’t wait for either of them to continue and began walking ahead, so Bianca rushed ahead to catch up, Song Ming chasing after the both of them. Since Xue Yaling used a regular, even slow pace, it only took a few moments to catch up, and by the time Bianca slowed down, she was even ahead of the group, and thus the first to see – with her eyes, at least – the hints of the town that the kitsune had mentioned.

The most she could see was the vague dark grey that presumably belonged to the walls of buildings, but before she had a chance to look further, someone found them as well. Two men, tall and bulky, carrying animal carcasses on their shoulders, emerged from the silver trees to Bianca’s side, and they instantly spotted her and the two behind her.

They stopped, tensing up and turning to face them with furrowed brows.

“Oi, you lot have the look of troublemakers! What are you doing here?” one of them asked, the other assuming a lower, wary stance.

In itself, that wasn’t so strange. Bianca would likely have done something similar had she seen three strangers appear in such a manner. However, even when Xue Yaling caught up a moment later and stood by Bianca’s side, their attention remained upon Bianca, barely sparing more than a glance for Xue Yaling and Song Ming.

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