Chapter 9: Arc 1: Chapter 8

“We’ve asked him to remain away from you whenever possible, and we’ll try to watch out for him just in case he goes against this,” Old Man Song explained to Bianca and Song Ming, who were having a very hard time acting as they usually would.

Fortunately, the matter of being in potentially deadly danger outweighed their current lusts and emotions, so any mistakes were limited to blushing, looking at the other for too long, and fidgeting beside one another more than usual. Song Ming also kept touching her lips, being only moments from sucking on her finger at times, but her father was similarly preoccupied with other matters and didn’t spot that his daughter was stolen from him by a stranger.

“I understand that I could be… suspicious, given my condition, but I would appreciate if I wasn’t attacked until I actually did something. If I did ever harm someone in the village, or damage the village as a whole, it would be entirely understandable if Lin Shuming and others came after me.”

“Although I dislike even considering you to be some kind of villain, I have brought this up to him,” Old Man Song sighed, “As he appeared confident that you will commit a misdeed soon, convincing him to wait until then was… easy enough. I hope that his temper will cool in time, and I pray to the heavens that nothing incites him again.”

“I hope so too…” Bianca glanced at Song Ming, giving her a smile that hopefully looked encouraging.

Whether it did or not, the young woman returned a smile of her own, the simple rise of the corners of her lips causing Bianca’s heart to beat faster, warming her body and soul.

‘Too cute… How do some people manage this? I might get my heart stolen, even more than it is now…’ she forced herself to look away after a while, so as to not be swallowed up by Song Ming’s beauty at a time like this.

Eventually, they parted, all of them going their own way. That wasn’t to say that Bianca was particularly happy with someone like Lin Shuming being left to walk around without the supervision of someone that could stop him, and there was no way that she would just be fine with an attempt on her life, but she understood that it would be really difficult to deal with Lin Shuming or prevent him from wandering about.

On Orbis, she could get a restraining order, have the assistance of the police or private security – if she could afford it, somehow – and be sure that unless he became vital to the plans of some other powerful nation, there would be nothing he could do to her. Here, guns and the like were unlikely to exist, meaning that the only thing people had was strength.

In ordinary circumstances, individual strength was limited. One person could be incredibly strong, more muscle than anything else, but a large group would always be stronger and could simply surround the stronger individual with a bit of effort. Here, however, planar energy was so prevalent that the world itself was called the Planar Continents. Planar energy supposedly allowed for fantastic feats, and even the second realm allowed them to manifest that energy into strange forms that, among other things, nearly burnt out Bianca’s eyes in one go.

Assuming that the power of cultivators grew exponentially, someone in the higher realms could break a building in half with a single punch, and if they could also fly…

 

‘Well, they can fly – or walk in the air, at least. Those people from the Calm Skies Sect seemed to be getting here quite steadily,’ Bianca sat on the edge of the cliff and looked out at the distant mountains, where another spot of light appeared.

She had just stopped her exercise with Song Ming, completely exhausting herself while the younger woman got through it without any issue thanks to her cultivation.

It was her fifth day of following along with Song Ming’s physical training, and while she hadn’t gotten much fitter, she was feeling like she had more stamina… at least in the latter half of each day, when she had gotten to recover some of the energy she had spent on the exercise. That feeling was alright, but what she was much more interested in was the time she got to spend with the young woman that captured many of her recent thoughts.

Surprisingly enough, the fact that she got to see – and more importantly, smell – Song Ming when she was all hot and sweaty, yet willingly get close to her to help her stretch and work out, was only the second best thing about their arrangement.

‘Actually, no, I appreciate that way too much… Without any porn to relieve myself with, my libido and my smell fetish seem to be getting out of control…’ Bianca sighed, her breath warm and steamy after her exercise, ‘Luckily, the workout also stops me from having bad ideas, like trying to sneak into her bedroom or encourage her not to bathe… Actually, the latter would be an especially bad idea when people here aren’t as familiar with proper hygiene or proper medicine. I wouldn’t want to screw over the entire village just to satisfy my perverse urges…’

Bianca slapped her cheek lightly, as her mind simply refused to move on, and tried to recall her original train of thought.

‘Right, it’s the fact that it’s so nice to be spending time with her… She’s a better friend than most I’ve had, and maybe we could go past the point of friends with benefits…’ she contemplated, “Though I’m getting a bit ahead of myself… Not even-”

“Hey, Bianca! What are you up to?” Song Ming’s voice interrupted her thoughts, and the young woman herself soon taking a seat beside her, her clothing dry and her appearance making her look as if she had just been out for a pleasant walk, “Are you still watching the Calm Skies Sect approach? I’m afraid I’ve already said all I could about their techniques…”

“No, no, I’m just… resting. Yeah,” Bianca nodded, glancing down at herself.

Her clothing was moist, especially by her armpits, and although she had no mirror to view herself with, she was sure that she would not seem like she had been having a peaceful time prior to this. Fortunately for her, the only person around didn’t seem to mind.

 

Song Ming felt… strange. Ever since the kiss she shared with Bianca on that fateful day, her previous thoughts about her had gotten all the more intense, and some new things came to the surface.

For one, their exercises made her notice her… she tried to imagine the right word for it, but it was difficult to find something that fit completely. Perhaps she could call it a scent, but that sounded mild, whereas something like stench sounded far too negative.

No, the smell was not repulsive in the slightest, even though it was rather strong at the end of their exercises. Sweat mixed with her natural fragrance, one that had already charmed her back during their short bath together, and now this mixture was assaulting her with every breath, causing that strange feeling.

Worst of all, she couldn’t ask Bianca about it, because there was no way that she was having the same thoughts. She had certainly showed no indication of it, so the chances were high that it was truly a strange type of thought, and that was she was having some kind of perverse thoughts that had no place being within the mind of a decent person like her. Perhaps her cultivation had not been as smooth as she thought, and she had managed to generate some type of heart demon that was now intent on driving her insane.

‘But why can’t I stop… Heavens, this is so wrong…’ Song Ming desperately tried to contain herself and appear normal on the outside, “So, do you think you’ll continue like this until the sects return?”

“The training? Of course!” Bianca said proudly, though tiredness still pervaded her words, “If I can continue until they arrive, and if I manage to get started on cultivation, then it could help me out… or something like that… I haven’t thought very far ahead.”

“You could work until you can stand against Lin Shuming in an equal duel. That’s what the Sacred Rivers Sect would recommend.”

“And make him angrier with me? I think staying out of conflict would be best,” Bianca shook her head, though her gaze remained on Song Ming without a moment’s break, making the latter’s cheeks heat up again.

“I… suppose…” she found it a little difficult to consider the matter properly, but she couldn’t force her gaze away from the one that consumed so many of her thoughts, “In that case, you could simply focus on catching up to me. I’m not progressing particularly quickly, so you might be able to reach the second realm before I have the chance to move on. If you’re lucky, you could even surpass me eventually.”

“That’s unlikely. You’re a genius in this regard, in comparison to me,” Bianca offered a smile.

“Oh, come on, you can’t keep doing this… You’ve seen me cultivating for a while now. I’m not good at this, not at all…”

“You said it yourself – you just don’t have the right technique for you. It’s like having the wrong teacher, or the wrong approach to something: if it doesn’t suit you, then even if it is fantastic, it won’t do you much good,” she said casually, but Song Ming couldn’t help but give it a lot more thought than Bianca did.

The words were straightforward and accurate, and they seemed rather obvious, but it did make her feel better. She was just using a generic technique that the Sacred Rivers Sect provided to her, not something she had gotten to pick out, nor something specific to her own constitution, talent or anything else of the sort. It was unreasonable for her to expect any significant progress from a technique like that, even if it had been the best one from the Water archetype.

It was a bit like-

“It’s like travelling up a mountain by the regular, well-trodden path, when you’re much better at climbing than hiking, and when the regular path is a hundred times longer.”

“What?”

“Imagine that you have two routes. One is long and winding, but easy for most. Think of it as your technique, which is probably suitable for most but may not be especially specialised. Anyone can travel that route, but most won’t do it especially quickly,” Bianca elaborated, “Meanwhile, the same point can be reached by simply climbing the mountain. It’s shorter, but for most, it will take far longer to travel.”

“But if I am good at it, perhaps even talented, then I could make the journey far more quickly and directly… Yes, I think I understand, but…” Song Ming sighed, “Unfortunately, I can’t just find a new technique sitting about, especially not the right one for me.”

“That’s true. However, I imagine that there are places where you can find it, so one day, if you feel like leaving the village, you could take a look around. Perhaps there will be a cheap, simple technique out there that’s exactly what you need. You never know,” her expression turned strange for a moment, “All kinds of things could happen to you out of nowhere. Maybe you’ll just dig in the dirt one day, and come across it…”

Song Ming frowned, “Are you alright?”

“Hm? Oh, yeah, sorry… It felt like some memories were creeping up on me, but then they slipped away again… It’s fine. I think I’ll never recall most of them.”

‘It’s hard to see that as a fine thing, but… I guess it’s better than constantly hoping for something that might not come about,’ Song Ming moved closer and gave Bianca a quick hug, “So, would you like to have a bath? I… I can try to, uhm… I’m not very good at this, am I?”

“Not the best, but there’s no need for that. Don’t force yourself into anything just because I look sad or something,” her warm smile nearly caused Song Ming to gasp, and she only managed to restrain herself at the last moment, “To be honest, I’m quite hungry. If I didn’t sweat too much, I would prefer to have something to eat.”

‘Oh no… what do I do here? On one hand, she should have a bath, but on the other… I want to be closer to her like she is now…’ Song Ming swallowed, “W-Well, most of us don’t usually bathe every single day, and since most people in the village are farmers, they work hard every day and get sweaty as well… so, uh, you could go just like this and it should be fine… Um, and I imagine that Lin Shuming would have an issue with you either way, so…”

Bianca’s raised eyebrow suggested that she didn’t quite buy most of that, and the longer she spoke, the more Song Ming felt herself blush with embarrassment.

“I’ll just go like this, then. I can see smoke rising from Min Yu’s place already.”

 

The smell of food was prevalent around Min Yu’s residence, and yet Song Ming barely perceived it. She had two main reasons for that, and one had come with her from their training outside the village.

Her other issue was staring at the two of them from across the road that was currently being used by the village to dine on Min Yu’s food. The name of this issue was Lin Shuming, and he was still bothering them even after the talk her dad had with him. Of course, he never tried to get into a fight with them again, but that didn’t stop him from spending his every waking moment creeping about near them, or so it felt most of the time.

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He had never tried to spy on them bathing, nor intrude upon their training, and if she was to recall things properly, he was present less often than not.

Instead, when they were within sight of one another, Lin Shuming would spend his time looking at them, and would presumably use his spiritual perception to make up for the lack of attention focused upon his own surroundings. It was creepy, to say the least, but there wasn’t much she could do.

As Bianca had said, if she angered him, he would elevate matters again, so she was forced to simply stare back at him when opportunities arose, when she wasn’t preoccupied with Bianca or her own matters.

“I guess the village is always as peaceful as this,” Bianca said after swallowing a mouthful of bread.

“What?”

“Otherwise, there’s no way he would be sitting around this calmly. At most, he would focus on us in between his patrols, or something like that.”

“Ah, yes… Well, our place is always peaceful, so he does usually have nothing to do. Most bandits in the wild would be in the first or second realm, and they have no reason to come after us, especially not when the sects visit often enough to have the chance to track them down…” Song Ming nodded, reluctantly picking up a piece of meat with her chopsticks, “His presence does make me feel worse regardless. It’s unpleasant.”

“Yeah, it is. Reminds me of a certain… someone. I can’t recall who,” Bianca pushed her empty plates away, sighing, “I suspect that if we pay less attention to him, he might leave more quickly. That might mean that instead of taking ten years, it takes five, but…”

“Hey, are you two leaving soon? Can we take that table?” a man’s voice pulled their attention away, to a more pleasant matter – relatively speaking, at least.

Xi Shen and Ping Li, farmers that were around a dozen years older than she was. Song Ming didn’t speak with them often, and they weren’t usually around – the farming fields were some distance away and making journeys back and forth was utterly unnecessary most of the time – but they were good enough men, their lack of a cultivation ensuring that they could never be as threatening as Lin Shuming.

She glanced to Bianca, who nodded, “Yeah, we’ll be going soon. You can take the empty seats now, if you wish.”

“Thanks, Song Ming,” Ping Li spoke in a more reserved manner than his peer, though he didn’t hesitate to take the seat right away, “Do I obscure that proud bastard a little? I can move a bit if it would help at all.”

Bianca moved a little, incidentally getting closer to Song Ming, then smiled, “Yeah, that blocks his piercing gaze a little. Hopefully we’ll leave before he comes up with the idea to move.”

“I only have a little more to eat, so…” Song Ming finished her sentence by eating a little more, also taking the time to move over and out of Lin Shuming’s line of sight, bringing her closer to Bianca and Bianca’s… everything. It was hard to hide the smile that attempted to grow on her face, as well as to supress the urge to hug her to get as close as possible to her.

She almost didn’t want to leave, but the thought of being alone with Bianca encouraged her to hurry up and direct some of her planar energy to her mouth and stomach, to help her work through it all a bit more quickly.

“By the way, what have you two been doing together?” Xi Shen asked all of a sudden.

Song Ming nearly spat the food out of her mouth, and Bianca was clearly not able to take it completely calmly, either. Luckily, Ping Li was looking elsewhere, and Xi Shen clearly wasn’t paying enough attention to them in order to spot the changes in their expressions. Bianca looked to Song Ming, and so she was forced to give the answer, at least if she wanted to avoid more embarrassment for herself and any questions from the two before them.

Luckily, she recalled that aside from that one time during their bathing, they hadn’t really done anything out of the ordinary. It would be more difficult to present these matters as extraordinary.

“We train together. Bianca doesn’t have her memories back yet, but she is interested in attempting to cultivate once the Calm Skies Sect arrives, so I’m helping her prepare,” Song Ming explained, “You two should recall what the Sacred Rivers Sect had explained to us.”

“The first realm amplifies our physical strength, so the stronger we can become on our own, the further our capabilities will be boosted,” Ping Li recalled.

“And it would help our bodies handle the planar energy, as well. For most, it’s not necessary, especially if they start cultivating from a young age, but if it’s when you’re a bit older…” Xi Shen took a longer look at Bianca than necessary, but looked away and seemed to wave the thought away, “It doesn’t matter. Farming is more than enough in my opinion. If everyone just stuck to things like that, things would be a lot simpler.”

“Well… It would sure be convenient if that was the case,” Bianca muttered, coughing afterwards as if it would somehow make everyone ignore it, “Sorry if this sounds impolite, but did you two not have the talent for cultivation?”

“I didn’t.”

“Oh…”

“Meanwhile, I just snuck away when the sects were coming.”

“You… seriously? Did you not want to reach the first realm, at least?” Bianca asked in amazement, which Song Ming had shared a few days after the Sacred Rivers Sect departed and she learned the same thing.

“No, I just wanted to farm.”

“But farming would be easier with the physical boost. Just look at Song Ming and how easily she beats me in any exercise we do.”

“Eh, it’s not like I handle any planar herbs or anything like that. I don’t need more strength or stamina than my own body is able to offer me,” he shrugged, his sleeveless shirt doing much of the talking for him in exposing his muscular arms, built up from years of work, “Now, if we all started eating the legendary red fruits, I’d have one or two myself so that I could farm them properly.”

Bianca leaned over to Song Ming with a raised eyebrow, “Red fruits?”

“It’s an old legend – one of many, and that’s just out of what we know here. Out in the whole of the Eastern Continent, I’d imagine just about everything has a legend associated with it.”

“Doesn’t answer my question.”

“There are stories of red fruits granting immense power, and I know that there are some planar fruits that contain a vast amount of energy, and are red,” Ping Li explained kindly, “However, most planar materials of a high realm should offer a similar possibility.”

“I… see. Well, Song Ming seems to have finished, so we’ll stop intruding on what is now your table,” Bianca showed her usual look of faked understanding and rose, prompting Song Ming to follow.

They left the street and headed to the west, to their usual bathing location, but after a while she couldn’t just leave a question unanswered, even if Bianca pretended that she didn’t care. It was obviously challenging for her to deal with her amnesia, and Song Ming didn’t wish to make her uncomfortable in the middle of those she was less familiar with.

Aside from herself, her dad and Xi Wu Lin, who Bianca visited on occasion, the amnesiac had not spent much time with anyone in the village, and as much as she occasionally tried to help her make more friends, she stopped when she noticed that Bianca was not appreciating it at all.

“What should I explain in more detail?”

“Huh? Oh, you… yeah, if you didn’t spot that, it would have been more surprising,” Bianca sighed and leaned against the wall of the westernmost structure of the village, “Planar herbs.”

“They’re just about any plant that is full of planar energy. Generally, they’re similar to other, common plants, but they have unique features and cannot be produced simply by pouring energy into an existing plant. Instead, they occur naturally, and can be farmed by a person or group with enough knowledge about the techniques and-”

“What about higher realm ones? What’s special about them?”

“Nothing especially unusual, as far as I know. However, because the properties they have are caused by especially large quantities of planar energy, anyone that is able to absorb even some part of the energy into their own cultivation will receive a large benefit.”

“… Right. So, energy just forms into plants or something like that? It doesn’t make much sense to me, but…  We should get to the river.”

‘It… actually, how does it work? The Sacred Rivers Sect was rather… vague about things like this,’ Song Ming understood the confusion for once, and at the same time felt bad that she couldn’t help her, ‘Even though she never admits it, it has to be difficult to keep learning more and more without ever understanding it, while still not knowing where she came from and why… That is so terrible!’

She quickly caught up to Bianca, who had begun walking to the river on her own, and after thinking about it for a moment, she reached out to hold her hand.

More precisely, the thought entered her mind, and her body moved soon after.

Bianca stopped in her tracks, and for a moment, so did Song Ming’s heart. She was afraid that she had done something wrong, perhaps only once or many times in the last few weeks, and that it would break everything.

Despite that, when she turned to look, she only saw Bianca smiling back at her.

“I… wasn’t expecting that, but… thanks,” Bianca said, “I’m really happy that I ended up in this village, with someone like you, rather than elsewhere. It would be much harder to survive without you.”

“O-Oh… t-thank you…” Song Ming felt Bianca gripping her hand back, “L-Let’s go.”

“Sure. In the future, I think we should not delay the baths, though.”

“Maybe…”

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