Chương 66: Arc 4: Chapter 15

After something like that, it was indeed rather difficult for anyone to just continue as they were, they it was likely that many were considering whether to defect to their foe or not.

The Exarch had a means of keeping tabs on people under its rule via the sigil it marked everyone with, but that wasn’t the case for Long Shiyi. As such, defecting from her was… well, trivial. Of course, the issue was that the only reasonable to turn to that wouldn’t frown upon their action would be the Exarch’s legion, but then they’d be confining themselves to bonds that would ensure they wouldn’t flee as easily another time.

The dragon didn’t seem to have much concern for this, as she casually rose from her throne and began walking between tables, speaking with them casually as though the previous intrusion hadn’t happened. She didn’t spend any set amount of time at any table, speaking with whomever she saw fit and for however long she wished. Even at the back of the tent, where the most significant people in her forces were located, she would sometimes pause for a few moments before departing, whereas others would warrant her pausing for far, far longer.

Whatever motivated her to spend the time she did, it slowly led to her moving up the tent, and eventually she approached the table where Xue Yaling and her two companions sat, among others. She spent a short while with said others, but little of value was said until she stood behind the three of them, leaning down just beside Bianca’s ear.

 

Bianca hadn’t been sure what to make of the confrontation that occurred, though she did know that the Exarch’s envoy made her feel… strange. It was nothing good, that much she knew for sure, but a quick glance at Song Ming sweating as if she’d just witnessed the most horrible thing in all existence confirmed that her sensation was different. It felt instead as if she saw a natural foe, a thing or person that would be opposed to her fundamentally.

It was odd. The only other person she could remember feeling anything remotely similar about was the guy from her old world, whatever his name was. It had slipped her mind by now, though it wasn’t a major loss, in her opinion.

That being said, when the dragon approached them and she stood just behind her, she did feel scared. It was hard not to be considering her understanding of power levels in this world, especially since she was someone that was… odd, by this world’s standard. She wasn’t from it to begin with, she had a power that nobody else had – frustrating as the Demonic Tyrant was – and that power led to her obtaining features that a woman like her never should’ve had. Furthermore, if she recalled it correctly, her nether regions currently resembled a dragon’s-

“First time I’ve seen someone like you without a dragon’s blood in their veins…” Long Shiyi whispered into her ear, “Very curious. I would wish to understand how that came to be, so be glad that I have other things on my mind.”

She rose, straightening her back and turning to the kitsune as if she hadn’t said a thing.

“Did you bring this girl with you, Xue Yaling?”

“Y-Yes, Long Shiyi.”

“Hm. Is her constitution the result of your experiments? Material for a sequel to your previous writing attempt?”

“She is, uh-”

“Don’t worry, I know exactly what you’ve been working on. I hope you bring her back in one piece after you inevitably leave before the fighting starts. That was what you were planning to do, wasn’t it, Xue Yaling?”

“I… Yes, I was intending to head out and develop my skills, as well as those of my two servants. I have a few leads on resources that might be of use to us, and-”

“They coincidentally take you away from the front lines, yes?”

“Well, even if I was to be present, I would be unable to contribute much against enemies in the fifth and sixth realms, so-”

“I know, which is exactly why I’m not grabbing your throat right here and now and throwing you into the Exarch’s territory. After all, I suspect that I really, really ought to. Lucky for you that I’ve grown past the age of being impulsive,” Long Shiyi said, though her hand did end up at the kitsune’s neck, just a hair’s width away from her skin, “Out of all the people under my command, you are perhaps the most skilled at avoiding any and all of my orders.”

“U-Um…”

“If only you – and all the others – invested this kind of effort into serving me. I dare say that the Exarch wouldn’t stand a chance against such a vast force with such drive…”

“I will return as soon as I have followed up on my leads and confirmed their usefulness, obtaining the methods or items in question if they are. Once I return, I will be far more useful in this fight than I would be as a mere third realm cultivator with two second realm servants.”

“And you’ll just happen to return after the fighting is done. What have I or the ancients done to be surrounded by so many brats and insolent children?” the dragon sighed, flicking the side of Xue Yaling’s forehead, “Your parents would be both proud and disappointed, and I’m not sure which deed of yours would prompt which response. Just make sure you don’t lose your way out there, Xue Yaling. I would rather not see another bright kid die.”

With that, the dragon moved along, and left Bianca staring at the kitsune until she got far enough away that she didn’t feel awkward leaning over and asking questions.

“What did she mean?”

“She would be able to hear you regardless, don’t bother. If you’re asking about the other bright kid, then… not a clue. She is hundreds of thousands of years old, so…” the kitsune looked around, “She’d likely outlived numerous groups of people such as this, and seen countless supposed geniuses rise and fall like leaves in the wind…”

“But- I mean, for it just to be some random person…”

“Nobody I can think of at the moment, that’s for sure. And as for my parents, since you’ll inevitably ask… They were also on Long Shiyi’s side, and they had two daughters. One ended up departing for the south and seemingly siding with the Exarch, and the other… didn’t.”

“Ah, that’s what the people at the boat mentioned…” Bianca nodded, “Seemingly? Did she not actually join him?”

“You mean it, and, well, it’s not quite so simple. I know she is working with the Exarch, but I don’t know if she has been branded by its sigil, nor whether she is truly committed to her current role. All I can really say for certain is that she is very proud of her own abilities, and that she doesn’t like most authority – at least, she certainly didn’t when we kept in touch,” Xue Yaling noted, “And I have no idea if I would rather see her be so far gone that I am free to just slaughter her, or if would prefer her to regain her senses and stay away from all this…”

“Right…”

“Nonetheless, You’d heard the dragon. As soon as we head out, we better not waste any time and go about our business as quickly as we can so that we may proceed into the open maw of the Exarch with minimal delay. It would be rude to do anything else.”

“Didn’t you say she can hear you?”

“She’s also old enough not to be concerned about such mutterings,” the kitsune replied, “Our glorious and most wise leader concerns herself with our deeds and our accomplishments, not our words… at least if I keep this sort of thing to a minimum. I’m pretty sure she wouldn’t like me spending the rest of my evening doing this sort of thing.”

“U-Um… on that note, do we just… keep eating?” Song Ming leaned in and asked the two of them, her voice and body still trembling.

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“Yes, you just keep eating. This food is made out of various planar beasts, herbs and what not, so it’ll be helpful in the long-term without adding many impurities like ordinary food might. In other words, fill yourselves up.”

The kitsune seemed slightly upset about something to do with the food, which Bianca found odd, but she figured that if she wasn’t going to say it outright, it was probably something to be kept private, or not worth mentioning at all. Still, considering the way her aura appeared to have grown significantly more prominent, it would suggest that Xue Yaling had gained something from today – probably from that bird she’d been eating so intently – so it was definitely rather odd.

Then again, who knew what the kitsune was thinking about this time.

“Go on, dig in before the others get to it. In fact, there’s almost certainly one person here who cultivates a technique that is focused on consuming as much food as possible in order to convert it into energy. It’s a surprisingly efficient technique, too.”

Although that sounded odd, it was also not unlikely considering the way that planar energy was consistently overly fantastical, so Bianca chose to trust her and grabbed anything that looked edible.

 

In the end, the feast took many hours, and Bianca felt herself get fuller than she had ever been before, whether in Antania or in this world. She wasn’t sure how her stomach managed to endure it all, nor how anyone else’s did, but by the end she had a clearly bulging belly and no desire to see food again in the next few days.

There was a bunch of additional talk from the dragon, among other things, but Bianca was far too full to pay attention to most of it, nor did the few bits she did hear seem especially relevant. There was plenty of discussion regarding the Exarch and its plans, but from what she understood, she, the kitsune and her girlfriend would be away at the time of the battle. As such, it wouldn’t really matter what strategies any side would employ, and not knowing anything might make things easier for her in the long term.

She had heard a few things about warfare, both modern and otherwise, and she knew that torture and interrogation was present. If she had the misfortune to be captured, she might be able to get off easy by simply not knowing anything of note.

‘Though I have a feeling that it wouldn’t be so easy, and nobody would believe me, especially if they know Xue Yaling and think that I’m like her…’ she sighed, patting her full belly, “So… more camping for us, right?”

“More camping indeed. You’ll have to put up with it for as long as it takes us to find a decent place to stay long term,” the kitsune, her own belly looking rather full, though Bianca understood her meaning to a certain degree. With so many people in higher realms around them, they’d inevitably be heard by someone no matter where they stood or what they said, so the kitsune could only say so many things directly.

Right now, she was clearly referring to the possibility of them finding a spot to found their future sect, if they managed to get that far.

For the moment, they were present within the enormous camp that made up the dragon’s territory. They were able to occupy one of the empty tents, so their accommodations were nicer than the last time they shared a camp with others, but it was far from the Ghostflame Temple that the kitsune used to occupy.

Even worse was that the rain was still ongoing, though at this point it might just be natural rain and not the consequences of the tribulation. After all, no matter how fantastical such a thing was, surely it couldn’t last for the whole day… right?

“Um… Because of the sheer size of the feast, I had thought that Long Shiyi was doing extremely well, but apparently the Exarch’s might is even greater…” Song Ming muttered, already lying in a sort of primitive sleeping bag while staring up at the top of the tent, “How well must the people under the Exarch eat whenever it calls upon them?”

“The Exarch doesn’t behave like Long Shiyi does. She is a more traditional leader, as one might say, but the Exarch is a more… dominating force. It imposes its will onto those beneath it, and you must obey if you wish to survive. Of course, it does also mean that it is more likely to reward those under its figurative foot – since it’s hard to know whether it even has any – as it doesn’t need to be concerned about subordinates switching sides.”

“With the sigils that were on the guy that came over today?”

“The… Yes, Mo Shu and all of those that entered with him were bearing the Exarch’s sigil. Seeing as I’ve never had the misfortune of being marked by it before, I can’t say for sure how it functions nor how much control it allows over the one being branded, but it certainly seems to work. I haven’t heard anything about traitors in its ranks, even though the Exarch has been around for many years now.”

“How many is many? It feels like that could be ten years, a million years, and anything in between.”

“You do have a point there, Bianca. Ages and times tend to be rather… varied among cultivators. It doesn’t help that those in the ninth realm can survive for around a million years,” the kitsune nodded, “The Exarch was known to exist – or rather, to have become the Exarch rather than whatever it had been before – at the conflict between the world and the Reaper’s Grave around 901,852. At that point, it was already in… hm, fifth realm?”

“Fifth realm? How is it still… alive?”

“Is that weird? I expect everyone to have lived a million years by now, to be honest,” Bianca muttered, looking to the kitsune for confirmation.

“It is, as the longest lifespan someone ought to have at the fifth realm is one thousand and eight hundred years. That being said, there are exceptions, and here in the east, they’re especially common. Things that allow one to extend their lifespan are plentiful enough for westerners to travel here when they fear running out of time prior to ascending to their next realm.”

“And the other option is… Hearts of Dao, right?” Song Ming said, “They have the potential of extending someone’s lifespan, right?”

“Mhm. Although it does heavily depend on the Heart of Dao and one’s skill in using it, but the right type of Heart of Dao could grant one near perpetual life… or, well, something like that. Typically, there’s no such thing as true infinite life, and any Heart of Dao that bypasses one’s natural lifespan tends to shift it onto some other factor or object. For instance, I recall hearing of a wood-type Heart of Dao that allows one to tie their life with that of a forest or grove. For so long as the grove stands, so does the cultivator… but the grove is rarely as durable as the cultivator.”

Bianca thought about it for a moment and nodded, as the idea seemed to come together in her mind, “Ah… so, someone could just burn down the forest and the cultivator would die with it, even if they became bonded with it only hours ago?”

“Depending on how closely they became bonded, but yes, something like that. That’s why it’s rarely a safe bet to rely on such a replacement to one’s innate lifespan, but considering that the Exarch is the Exarch, it might have dedicated itself to some factor of the Exarch Heart of Dao,” the kitsune posited, glancing to Bianca to check whether she understood.

“Sorry… Exarch is an archetype, right? Um… how?”

“How?”

“What exactly does that mean in relation to movement, defence, attack, and so on? I get elemental stuff, or whatever Qi Er was using, but Exarch?”

“I swear we had this talk already… The Exarch archetype is known to be focused around the sigil, the symbol that represents it and all of its power. Wherever its sigil burns, it will retain power… which might well be its source of immortality, actually.

“Anyway, it produces the sigil and marks land and people with it, spreading influence, empowering allies and its own skills and burning foes. It is able to brand foes with the sigil, tormenting their minds and body. It can cancel out enemy attacks via the imposition of its authority. It can spread its flames with ease, burning anyone in sight. It can torch the lands, burning away any control or arrays that others have over a region. Furthermore, it’s said that it can dominate night and day, and transform into a truer representation of the almighty Exarch at the eighth realm. I don’t know what crafting methods it has, nor exactly how any of its movement skills function, but those ought to be easy enough to guess as well. So, do you get it now?”

“So, like yo- the Shard archetype, it’s focused on a single thing that covers all the aspects of someone’s cultivation, so it counts?”

“Yes, it counts. If I had to guess, the Exarch’s movement skill would be jumping to various sigils, or moving rapidly within burnt lands. The crafting method is likely a fire-type one, so something to do with talismans, blacksmithing or pill refining, depending on how the flame is used. Nonetheless, that’s not what’s important. Instead, we need to considering how we will proceed from here. Obviously, the thing we need is in the south-east, so the most reasonable thing to do…”

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