Chương 62: Arc 4: Chapter 11

The cool air of the early morning breeze caused Bianca to shiver when it hit the injured parts of her body. Having had another day to rest, they had healed up further, so the worst of them was an obvious red mark on her side and front, proving to be a rather significant eyesore from her perspective but not otherwise being too unpleasant.

Besides, the people of this world, especially those that often engaged in fights, tended to appreciate scars and other injuries, so they would like it.

‘Though I hope I don’t ever get scars like this… Considering what my body has been like since I obtained the Demonic Form, I suppose I shouldn’t be surprised, but still…’ Bianca sighed, briefly running a finger over her exposed skin and feeling her whole body tremble while it passed over an injured spot, ‘I do wonder why it feels the need to make me paler, though. If it goes too far, I might just lose all colour in my skin, and then… Well, I might need to wear sunscreen all day, except I’m pretty sure that’s not a thing.’

She didn’t consider the possibility too seriously, as there was neither much she could do about it or any reason to assume that it would go to such an excessive point. Instead, she took the time to look around, both for the scenery and to try and spot Qi Er.

Finding the latter proved difficult, but it did give her plenty of time to observe the area they’d reached. From the relatively plain forests they had left, and the silver forest of the logging camp prior to them, they were now in an open plain, with everything past the few metres of the river’s shore being covered in tall grass. The wind produced waves across the green sea, making her feel as if she had ended up in some other world yet again.

“Looks gorgeous…”

“First time in a place like this?” Qi Er somehow appeared at her side, just out of Bianca’s previous field of view, “Interesting new style you’ve got there. Want to show off your features?”

Her glance downwards made her meaning rather obvious, making Bianca look away again in an instant. As she had expected, her otherworldly version of hotpants were rather tight thanks to her large ass, wide hips and, well, the slowly growing size of her balls and cock, even when the latter was flaccid.

“Well… I thought of trying a new style.”

“Sure you did. Sorry for ruining your previous outfit, then,” she responded in a joking tone, “But you seem to have survived, and if you grow stronger as a result, you’ll thank me. Trust me, when hanging around people like that kitsune, you’ll run into danger many times, and the more experience you have in handling it.”

“I know, I’ve been told that a number of times… Even though I’d rather not get into danger, nor suffer injuries like this one.”

“You took it rather well at the time, you know.”

The topic seemed to have returned to something sensible, so she turned back to Qi Er and found her looking straight into her eyes, forcing her to reply honestly.

“It wasn’t really me, though, more of just… my anger.”

Qi Er nodded, “Mhm, it was clear that you were behaving differently. I could almost see your eyes glowing crimson, your whole body radiating hatred and disgust… Nowhere near enough to scare me, but it was quite something for a young lady like you. Though, I suppose the question is whether you’ll be able to control that properly instead of it controlling you. It’s one thing to have great power, and another for that great power to use you as a vessel.”

“You didn’t have to say it twice, I get it…”

“Do you? If it is some other force that controls your body when your power is unleashed, then it might not stop at simply doing as it pleases. It might burn everything you have and tear your mind and body into pieces just to fuel its own desires. That’s much, much worse than simply being controlled.”

“…” Bianca, as she was presenting herself, had no clue what the origin of that alternate self was, but her true thoughts and gaze couldn’t help but drift towards the ever-present Demonic Tyrant, the damned panel that insisted on invading her world at all times, “I suppose, though I’m not sure there’s much I can do. I can’t switch away, and if I don’t progress, I’ll not be able to keep myself safe from… well, people like you, but with worse intentions.”

Her ‘subtle’ verbal attack only earned her a smile.

“Yup, you should keep yourself safe, and the best way to do that is to experience the proper steps to doing so in advance. After all, when it comes time to meet those that are more hostile than I, they’re unlikely to allow you a second chance,” Qi Er patted her on the shoulder, “As long as you can remain yourself while you do this, then it’ll be great. You strike me as a lovely woman.”

Bianca raised an eyebrow at the overly charitable description, “Is that based on what Song Ming told you?”

“Mostly. I admit, I haven’t had much time to see how you behave, but you seemed to listen to me when I taught you, and rather than going further into your berserk state, you chose to end the fight, overpowering whatever desire was pressing you not to do so. That is better than quite a few people I’ve encountered, though, admittedly, it’s also not setting a high bar,” she chuckled, and walked away towards the side of the boat, “I do wonder if you’ll remain like this, though… It’s not without reason that the world at large is filled with awful brutes.”

With that, silence followed, leading Bianca to also turn away and look upon the grassy sea on the other side of the ship. It seemed to stretch on forever, with only the occasional tree to break up the monotony, ending far in the distance where all the land seemed to be consumed by the horizon.

The manner in which it happened seemed different from what she remembered on Orbis, almost as if the world was flat, though she didn’t choose to dwell on this matter too much. Instead, she looked at the tips of the tall blades of dark green grass, where she could faintly see a different shade, some kind of red spot. It was present on almost every bit of grass, and dyed the top of the grass sea crimson.

When the wind blew strongly enough, the red layer was picked up and blown away, grabbing it up and throwing it up into the air.

Thus, as the rising sun shone through the red particles, it was as if the world itself was set aflame. It was blown away, seeming to spread further and further, until the fog at the end of the world swallowed the crimson shade, leaving the grass sea as it had been, cold and quiet.

She continued staring for longer than she had ever intended to.

“Are you having fun?” Xue Yaling approached as silently as Qi Er had some time before, though she didn’t hesitate to jump onto Bianca’s back, resting her arms on her shoulders and peeking past her head, “Don’t mind me, I’m just making sure that you’re healthy enough to be walking around up here. Wouldn’t want to fall off because of a lack of caution, would you?”

“… wouldn’t I fall off already if I couldn’t handle it?” Bianca grumbled, considering whether to just fall back and let the fox handle it herself, “What was that tide of red… things?”

“Some plant life or insect… Do you really expect me to know everything?”

“Yes.”

“… You’re kidding, I hope.”

“Mostly,” she chuckled, “You are the most knowledgeable person I’ve met – since the whole memory issue, at least. If there’s ever something I don’t know, then its safest to ask you. If there’s something I do know, asking you might be for the best anyway.”

“Good, at least you know who your superiors are… in this regard, anyway,” Xue Yaling climbed down from her back and returned to her side, instead, “By the looks of it, we’re getting near. Soon enough, we’ll be within the core of Long Shiyi’s domain, and then you’ll get to experience the wonders of a dragon’s court… even if said dragon is getting on in age a little.”

“What are dragons like?” Bianca suddenly had the thought to ask.

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“Broad question, what exactly do you want to know?”

“Just about anything, really. I don’t recall you mentioning it before, and frankly, it would’ve slipped my mind whether or not we had. Since we’re about to meet a dragon, I need to know what to expect.”

“Right~… Dragons are ancient beasts, among the three strongest species in the world, sharing that spot with qilins and phoenixes. The three represent yin, yang and the balance of the two, with phoenixes, qilins and dragons filling those respective spots. Accordingly, phoenixes are all women, qilins are all men, and dragons have both parts, though even the most masculine among them are charming women. Typically, their masculinity resides down below.”

“Which is why people say I’ve got draconic blood?”

“Yes, that’s why. You might recall me bringing it up back when you first used your technique,” Xue Yaling confirmed, “So, Long Shiyi is a gorgeous woman with iron-grey hair and eyes that radiate the power she once had, though the years have not been kind to her. From the peak of Oblivion Halo, her might has declined to Marked Core, though that doesn’t’ mean she can be underestimated.”

“Is it due to her experience?” Bianca tried to guess, while also imagining the woman that the kitsune described, ‘Is she still gorgeous, all these years later, or do phoenixes age like humans do?’

“Partially. Her seventh realm hasn’t entirely gone away, and if she was to exert her full strength, she could easily match or even overwhelm the Exarch, who is believed to currently be at the peak of the sixth realm. Hence, most don’t try to take advantage of her state, as they know that they’ll only give the rewards to some other faction, while they will almost certainly be wiped out,” the kitsune turned and leaned her ass onto the side of the ship, “Anyway, she’s got control over this region, and she’s most likely to greet you in the human form I described. However, if someone gets on her nerves, she might showcase her draconic state.”

“Can dragons – and qilins and phoenixes, I guess – just transform back and forth casually? Do they have a single fixed state, or do they choose what they want to look like?”

“To my knowledge, it’s fixed, but they’re free to change back and forth whenever. Hence why techniques like yours are valuable, honey,” Xue Yaling nodded, “They can definitely change what they’ve got in their pants, though those dragons that try to be quite as dominant as Long Shiyi is prefer to show off at all times… Well, used to, anyway.”

“There aren’t many around now, right?”

“Precisely. Whether in the west or east, there are very, very few dragons around. Long Shiyi is one of the few that are confirmed to still live. At the current rate, in a few more hundred thousand years, there will be no hint of any of the ancient beasts.”

“That’s… a shame, I imagine.”

“Mhm. Whether their decline is what caused cultivation as a whole to decline, or the other way around, it’s still a massive shame. They were once among the peak of existences in this world, but now the only ones that remain is actively fading away… Well, regardless,” Xue Yaling shook her head, “The ancient beasts vary between the west and east in the same way that cultivation does. The dragons in particular can be more serpentine in nature, with smaller and weaker limbs and wings and longer bodies.”

“Right… are normal dragons like… four-limbed things with huge wings and fire breathing and stuff?”

“… Yes.”

She looked up into the clear blue skies, inhaling and exhaling slowly while thinking. It took some time, but Bianca chose not to interrupt and instead let herself be soothed by the cool morning air, mimicking the kitsune’s slow breathing. It was probably just an illusion, but it almost felt as if she managed to release some of her frustration with her breath.

“Anyway, Long Shiyi is an old dragon by any metric, so you can expect her to be a reasonable one,” the kitsune finally said, leaning in close to Bianca’s ear, “She shouldn’t give us any trouble, even if she notices the peculiarity of your technique… or rather, either of them.”

“I suppose that’s good, then. It would’ve been rather concerning to deal with stuff like that when the opponent is a huge, fire-breathing lizard.”

“I’m pretty sure she’d still smack you for that. Also, most dragons don’t breathe fire, that’s specific to fire dragons. They do have one form of breath or another, though many employ their own skills and can generally compete with any cultivator in terms of cultivation knowledge. The major difference on that front is that they are, by default, far longer-lived than humans – or us kitsune, for example – and that they are born in a higher realm from the start, so they don’t have quite the same internal structures as we tend to cultivate.”

“Like the anchor?”

“Yes, like that.”

“Does nobody know why the ancient beasts are dying out, or why cultivation is in decline? It feels like something that people would’ve looked into right away.”

“It’s a rather gradual process, so nobody is able to pinpoint the exact start of it all even now, not to mention back when it was just beginning. Over the years, the density of planar energy fell slowly but surely, and as it declined, so did the number of active dragons and qilins. Again, nobody at the time thought much of the latter fact, or at least didn’t record such thoughts, and thus it went on and on…”

The kitsune reached into her shrinking back and pulled out a handful of seeds. Before Bianca had any chance to ask why she kept them in there, nor what they were even seeds for – they were akin to small brown grains – the kitsune pinched a few of them and threw them behind her shoulder, into the river.

“Not much of a difference, right? But, slowly but surely, they went away, and the energy in the world went with them,” she threw away more and more seeds, slowly emptying her hand, “Those that remained grew weaker, their bodies aging on the inside and their cultivation declining regardless of their best efforts. Perhaps the ancient beasts that left did so to avoid this kind of decline, or perhaps they were hunted for the materials that could be sourced from their bodies. We can’t be sure, given that most with the ability to hunt dragons wouldn’t then just throw their wealth away… Although…”

She stopped throwing away seeds and closed her hand, having little trouble in doing so now that it was more than half-empty.

“There was at least one prolific hunter of dragons back in the day. Somewhere around the year 520,000… or was it 519,000? Regardless, there was a dragon known as the Crystal Terror. It ravaged the land where the Dragon’s Fangs now stand after a hunter of dragons managed to destroy its vast brood and turn the materials from their bodies into amazing weapons and armour, arming numerous small villages.

“The Crystal Terror was angered by this, and retaliated, slaughtering countless innocents in the process, all to get back at this hunter. In the end, they met and fought for countless hours, shattering the land and creating the Dragon’s Fangs. It is said that although the dragon was stronger and nearly killed its foe, it couldn’t land the final blow, its life fading away as it looked upon the one that had destroyed its life… Though it didn’t finish the job, the wounds did, and the hunter fell within the hour. Some believe he left an inheritance within the mountains, though, if there was such a thing, it would be almost inevitable for it to be found by now.”

Bianca glanced around in the hopes that it would make it clearer why the topic diverged to such an extent, but nothing of the sort occurred, ‘I guess we had been discussing dragons and them being hunted, but… Would’ve been good to know back when I was there, I guess.’

“Point is, there’s evidence for both to be true. It’s likely that some were slaughtered when humans were able to gain enough power to overwhelm them, and it’s likely that others retreated like the strongest human cultivators, finding ways to preserve themselves and slow their aging to continue watching over their creations until they can find a solution to their issue… There are various methods and items that allow one to prolong their lifespan past the typical limit, but they’re rare, and it’s rare that they allow one to use them more than once or twice.”

“In other words, most of those that do this don’t have much hope in actually recovering any lifespan, but would do anything to get such an item or method if it showed up in their reach?”

“Mhm, more or less. So, uh, don’t try to joke about having such a thing with Long Shiyi, please. She might or might not care about lizard jokes, but she would definitely tear you to shreds to find something that could prevent her decline. I don’t think you’re quite this suicidal, but it never hurts to mention it a few extra times.”

“Thanks, even if I wouldn’t be quite so risk-taking…” Bianca said, only to realise that had she not been warned, she might’ve well tried something equally silly, ‘Thinking about it, until I figure out everything there is to know within this world, getting reminders like this is definitely very helpful.’

“Sure. Oh, look over there – in a while, at least – and you’ll see the edge of the camp that Long Shiyi inhabits. In other words, we’re getting close.”

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