In a place hidden from normal people, where only people with special powers could enter, life was moving forward like usual. It was a place where Fate Fragment holders could chill away from the public eye and gather around their own. Of course, it was also not a kind place for weak people, as those were quickly eaten by the strong.
In one of the hidden rooms in the main palace of that place, a young man around twenty years old wearing a golden robe was sitting cross-legged, with his eyes closed. Suddenly he opened his eyes, showing his golden pupils to the world and smiled, saying to himself, "Another bright star joined us in our destiny."
Standing up, he left the room through an only door, entering into a grand hall. It just happened that there was a party in the palace right now, so what he saw were many tables filled with great food and a hundred plus people dancing, conversing with each other or just enjoying good food.
As he walked through the crowd, no one actually greeted the golden robed man as if they didn't see him. Some guests almost hit him as they walked but every time he skillfully dodged their movement and proceeded to move forward. In such a fashion he reached the main table and approached a person sitting at the highest placed chair at the top of the table.
The person's face was hidden from the guest's view, but one could easily guess the gender as the person wore a pure white princess style dress with gold ornaments. With her gentle and small smooth hands, she lifted a glass of red wine, savouring it with small sips.
When one looked at the lady's body it was normal, but if one looked at the lady's face, it somehow looked blurred, not showing anything. In this hall, there was no one who has seen the grand lady's face, other than the referee who was sitting right next to her and the golden-eyed youth.
The youth moved close to the lady's ear and whispered, "Madam, I sensed that another new Fate Fragment Holder entered the Central Region..."
"Hmm? What is the problem? You wouldn't come if everything was alright." The lady had a warm and lovely voice, which would make one smile if anyone heard her. Unfortunately, somehow no one could hear her other than the golden robed youth as if they talked on another wave than others.
"Not a major problem, but I noticed something weird. Normally I would find out about new fragment the moment its holder would enter the Central Region, just as one would pass the barrier we set thousands of years ago. Even if one was born in the Central Region, I would know if fragment awakened inside of them." The Golden robed youth explained.
"Please, tell me what happened already. What is the main point…?" The lady asked as she put the wine back down onto the table. Every time she talked to the youth, she suffered from the long explanations which she decided to cut short right from the start.
"He didn't pass the barrier and he didn't awaken today. He found a way to enter the Central Region while dodging my senses. Isn't that fascinating?" The Youth asked excitedly after providing the short version she wanted.
"Yes, very interesting. Where is he right now?" The lady asked curiously after she picked her wine glass once again and started drinking.
"Not far. By the lake near the capital. I planned to go right away to inform him about the rules." The golden robed youth informed, before looking at the ongoing party and asking, "Does milady wants to go…?"
"Of course I am going. This party is boring. Everyone is so scared of me that no one ever talks to me…" The lady confirmed right away and drunk the rest of the wine in one gulp.
The lady then stood up and said to everyone, "Everyone, there is an incident I need to take care of for a moment, I will be back before the party ends. Please enjoy yourselves," and without waiting for their answer, she disappeared together with the golden robed youth.
'I guess there will be another special fragment on the scene. I hope he will be as interesting as the last one.' The old man referee thought as he continued to eat his roasted ribs from the plate.
...….
"Xuefeng, keep your hands in check!" Tianshi slapped Xuefeng's hands seeing how red Yi's face was even though she said she didn't mind what he did.
"Okay, I will keep my hands only for you." Xuefeng agreed right away before grabbing Tianshi into his arms and teasing her breasts instead. They were in such a small space that she couldn't escape from him anyway.
"Xuefeng, Yi is here!" Tianshi shouted as she hit him lightly on the leg, but that only made him want to play more. If only they were not in such a dangerous situation, he would definitely swallow her whole.
"Those bad guys are trying to enter here. They froze quite a bit of water around us, creating a huge iceberg. We should already be near the surface so only if we can cut through the top, we can escape." Xuefeng let go of her with one hand and touched the ice wall around them, figuring the plan.
His second hand was still feeling the softness and roundness of her chest, but at this point, Tianshi stopped caring, seeing him ignore her. After all, Xuefeng came in the perfect moment and saved her, which made him deserve a prize.
"Aren't there even more of them, above in the sky?" Yi tried to join the conversation once again after being initially ignored by Xuefeng.
Xuefeng nodded and explained, "There are. I killed two of them, so there would be four of them still in the water while ten of them should be observing from above. We have no other choice but to break through them and run away."
"Can't we just wait for my father to arrive? I already sent the signal. He should be here any minute." Tianshi proposed, not surprised that Xuefeng could actually kill two Saint Experts as she believed in him wholeheartedly, but Yi, on the other hand, was shocked. Xuefeng even said it with such ease, as if Saint Cultivators were nothing for him.
"Well, we can't. They are going to reach us soon if we don't do anything. Hold onto me tightly." Xuefeng called out before he touched the ice with his hands. If they could dig in the ice, so could he. Maybe he didn't know how to turn water into ice, but it should be too hard for him to control it.
Releasing his Water Qi into the ice, he tried to move it around the same way he would do with earth, and it turned out his attempt was successful. The ice started shifting, and soon a tunnel which led upwards on an angle was created.
Producing a small bomb made of different types of Qi, Xuefeng left it on the ground before inviting the ladies into the tunnel, saying, "Let's go. Ladies first."
Just as they were halfway out, they heard an explosion coming from the chamber and the iceberg shook, almost knocking them back down. Thankfully Xuefeng predicted the explosion and was ready to catch both of them.
"Thanks…" Yi thanked as she awkwardly lied down on his chest.
"No problem. This will buy us more time. Let's move forward." Xuefeng gave her a sweet smile and helped her up.
When they finally reached the surface, being behind just a five-centimetre thick wall, Tianshi heard something and cried out, "Wait, I hear the sounds of the battle!"
"It must be your father…" Xuefeng deduced, his smile disappearing.
"Yeah, isn't that amazing? Why are you not smiling?" Tianshi asked, noticing that Xuefeng's expression changed.
"I think it means that you two will have to separate again…" Yi said, translating the feelings she could see looking at his eyes.
"Noo, I don't want that…" Tianshi finally understood, recalling her father's words, but she still didn't want him to leave her.
"If he sees me, he will ask many questions. I'm not supposed to be here. Here, take this. Wear them and think of me." Xuefeng rubbed Tianshi's cheeks and gave her the ring with her dresses before promising her, "I will be coming back into this lake every week from now on. We will be able to meet like this."
"I will come… Mhmm," Tianshi promised before she was suddenly kissed by him. She hated that she couldn't be with Xuefeng all the time while roaming around the world.
"He is coming... He sensed my Spirit Awareness… I need to go." Xuefeng said, each time giving Tianshi a small kiss before he finally let go of her and slid back down the tunnel.
"I will be waiting!" Tianshi cried out before he disappeared from her vision.
Bang!
The last wall separating them from the surface broke as Xiao Feng poked it lightly with his Hammer. When he saw the two ladies unharmed, he sighed in relief.
"Thank god, you are okay…" Xiao Feng quickly hugged Tianshi into his arms, before he pulled them out of the iceberg. As he hugged her, he accidentally covered her in the blood that drenched him, which made her cry worriedly, "Dad, you are bleeding!"
"It's not my blood, it's theirs. To dare to try to hurt you, they deserved death…" Xiao Feng said as he pointed his hammer towards the lake, and Tianshi finally understood where this blood came from.
There were 11 bodies floating on top of the water, completely massacred. Not even one had a complete body and each was either smashed or ripped. It was not a very nice sight for a girl like her, but she didn't avert her gaze. To be able to stay by Xuefeng's side, she couldn't be a weak lady.
"It was the Tang Family," Tianshi informed his father, but looking at his angry face, he probably knew that already.
"I know. That bastard swordsman ran away. Don't worry, I will let them taste the pain later. No one dares to hurt my baby…" Xiao Feng nodded and assured her by patting her on the head as he already planned in his mind how he should destroy the Tang Family.
"I know. That bastard swordsman ran away. Don't worry, I will let them taste the pain later. No one dares to hurt my baby…" Xiao Feng nodded and assured her by patting her on the head as he already planned in his mind how he should destroy the Tang Family.
Boom! Boom!
Just then, they heard two explosions happening underwater and the iceberg shook, which made Xiao Feng frown. He was talking to his daughter but they made noises even though he was nice enough to let them live a few more minutes. He knew there were still five of them who needed to be killed, but he didn't want to leave the girls alone just in case someone else appeared.
"Don't worry, I will take care of them soon. We just need to wait for the others to catch up so they can protect you. I won't leave you guys alone. Tell me, my dear daughter, why are you girls here in the middle of the night?" Xiao Feng assured them before he asked Tianshi with his tone too nice to be true. She knew he was angry, but he was just hiding it.
"I just wanted to take a walk during the night as I wanted some fresh air. I forced Yi to follow me and she had no other choice. Don't punish her…" Tianshi replied with the first thing that came into her mind before hugging Yi, protecting her from her father's wrath.
"How did you guys defend against fifteen Saint Experts and a sage swordsman then?" Xiao Feng asked suspiciously. He knew his daughter's and Yi's abilities and he knew she wouldn't be able to pull it off.
"We…" Boom! Boom! Tianshi started her defence, thinking about what she should say to protect Xuefeng, when another two explosions shook the iceberg, this time to the point it was almost split in half and started flipping to the side.
"Hold on." Xiao Feng quickly held both of them and flew towards the pier.
"They must be fighting…" Tianshi said after they landed, looking back towards the iceberg with worry in her eyes. She was concerned about Xuefeng on instinct, forgetting that her father was right there, watching her.
"So that person fighting them was the one who saved you guys? Who is he?" Xiao Feng asked while sending his Spirit Awareness down the lake. He had to make sure, as he didn't believe she would tell him the truth.
"We don't know who he is… He just suddenly appeared and saved us. He also had a mask…" Tianshi said as she looked down, knowing that it would be impossible to hide the existence of another person. She just hoped that Xuefeng would escape before her father finds him.
"Milady tells the truth… He suddenly appeared and saved us." Yi added seeing that Xiao Feng didn't believe Tianshi.
"We will see about that in a minute..." Seeing signs that Yi wasn't lying, Xiao Feng believed them for now.
...….
A moment ago.
"Madam, should we wait for the situation to resolve itself or interfere? It would be a shame to have such a mystery unsolved if anything happens to this boy." The golden-eyed youth asked worried, not believing in Xuefeng's skills.
He already calculated Xuefeng's chance of winning, and only in a few scenarios out of thousands, could he win versus those four Saint Experts. In those scenarios, one being where Xiao Feng would help him out or one where the four cultivators end up getting killed by Lightning.
"Let's not do anything, for now, I want to see his skills first." The lady in white shook her head, continuing to watch Xuefeng before she asked, "Did you check which Fate Spirit he has?"
"Yes. Now that I am closer I got clearer readings. His Spirit is definitely one of the top ten but I am still not sure which one. Something on him is blocking me from digging deeper. The only thing I could feel was the gender which is female." The golden robed youth reported.
"Oh, that's great! Hopefully, she is the Goddess Ling we are looking for. She is the one we need to start our grand plan. Without her, we don't even need to bother gathering others." The lady exclaimed in happiness, hoping they will have good luck today.
They were up in the sky but they could still see every move Xuefeng made as if he was a bright light bulb walking around in the darkness. In their eyes, only objects with Fate Qi in them were worth watching. They didn't even notice Xiao Feng and the ladies by the pier.
Boom! Boom!
Two explosions suddenly happened after Xuefeng shot two Air Qi bullets towards the Saint Experts. They were hoping to see some action but Xuefeng instead decided to fall back and swim away.
"Is he a coward? Even if he has a lower stage, he can still test himself in the fight against stronger opponents." The youth commented with a frown, not expecting such action.
"I don't think so… he is definitely planning something…" The lady said, unsure of what Xuefeng was doing.
They watched interestedly when suddenly their jaws dropped when they witnessed Xuefeng's next actions. After being a certain distance away from his enemies, Xuefeng pulled out a weird token which they have never seen, before disappearing soon after in a strange portal.
"What is that token? Do you know how he is doing it?" The lady asked curiously after getting intrigued by the weirdness of the situation.
"No idea… it's my first time seeing this. If only I had such a token I could investigate…" The youth licked his lips, imagining how many experiments he could do with one.
"Can you still feel him in the Central Region? I think he has already left our zone." The lady asked with a smile.
"Oh! I can't! Did he teleport outside the Region? But that's too far! There are no artefacts that can bring you such distances away!" The youth exclaimed after testing her theory with his ability.
"I guess there are. You should observe here for a while, and see if he can come back once again. Call me when he does." After Xuefeng left, there was no point for them to stay here anymore, so madam left the supervision job to the golden robed man instead, which he gladly accepted.
...…..
"Sir, we are sorry to be late!" The group of cultivators landed on the pier and apologized for their slow arrival. They came just after Xuefeng disappeared, and Xiao Feng dived in the water right away after leaving the words, "Protect them."
He already locked on the four cultivators' bodies with his Spirit Awareness, but he couldn't spot the fifth one, as if he had disappeared. It turned out that two of them were already dead, probably killed by the one he was looking for. He quickly killed one of the two remaining cultivators and swam back onto the surface while dragging the last one with him.
"Tell me who was the one that fought with you?" Xiao Feng asked right away as he held the man by his throat.
"...Fuck off… I will die anyway…" The man gritted his teeth and cursed at him, already knowing his fate. Why help your enemy if you are about to die anyway.
"Then just die." Xiao Feng frowned and killed the man just as he wished. He knew nothing will help if the man was already ready to die. He didn't have time for tortures.
Dropping the body back into the lake, Xiao Feng said quietly as he looked at his daughter, "Whoever you are that saved them, thank you."
'What was it that you said you felt?' Xuefeng asked in his mind as he exited the well inside Nuwa's bathroom. He wanted to fight the other two Saint Experts as his chances of winning this time were much bigger with only two opponents but he suddenly got informed by Ling that someone was spying on them.
'I don't know, it was as if someone was testing the aura around me to feel who am I… What's more, he was actually using Fate Qi as well. It must have been another holder. Fortunately, the moment he wanted to enter into my space, he was suddenly stopped by an invisible barrier around you. I think it was made by your bracelet as I sensed that it activated.' Ling portrayed what happened.
'Mhmm, Xiao Wen warned me that someone will track me down the moment I enter the Central Region. We were right to escape earlier.' Xuefeng nodded, recalling Xiao Wen's words. Looking down at his clothes, he evaporated all the water in them and pulled out the black jacket he had hidden earlier. It was extremely uncomfortable to swim with too many clothes, so he decided to take it off before even moving through the portals.
Using water as a form of transportation wasn't perfect and convenient but he couldn't complain while having such a useful tool. After finally having something that reminds him of Earth on him, he didn't want to ruin it, so he decided to take it off each time he travelled.
'We need to be careful next time we go to the Central Region. I would definitely advise you not to return at all, but knowing your character, you will definitely go to meet your girl again.' Ling reminded.
'You are right. I can't just leave her alone. I bet my future father-in-law already calmed down and wouldn't mind me staying with them, but I would have to explain how I even got there, and that's too troublesome for now. I don't want anyone else to know my secrets.' Xuefeng smiled, confirming her theory. Only his lovers had access to his greatest secrets.
'What about that second girl Yi? She knows about your secrets. I introduced myself as an Artefact Spirit, but still, she knows that you have your own space inside an artefact.' Ling asked, which made Xuefeng finally realised this fact.
'Yeah... But I couldn't just leave her there. It would be troublesome to fight while having them around. It already happened, can't change that. I just hope Tianshi will persuade her to stay quiet about it.' Xuefeng shrugged, not worrying about it too much. He had no other choice than to act that way earlier anyway.
Walking out of the bathroom, he didn't spot anyone inside Nuwa's throne room. Earlier he didn't stop by to say hi to Nuwa, deciding to do it quickly on his way back.
His trip already took a long time and he could guess that Xiao Wen will curse him after he comes back. Xuefeng just planned to meet with Tianshi and have a sweet moment with her, but it ended up being a battle instead.
Recalling the two rings he took from the Saint Experts which he killed with the explosion, Xuefeng pulled them out of his pocket and used his Spirit Qi on them. He could quickly access them as they didn't have an owner anymore.
To his surprise, there were very few Spirit Artefacts and instead, he found thousands of pills of different colours. He wanted to gift Nuwa some new artefacts for the auction, but the loot turned out to be junky.
'Don't underestimate those pills. You can actually sell them for a fortune.' Ling said, lifting up his lost mood. He couldn't sell them here as the elves wouldn't be able to even use them, so he will have to do so outside.
Screech.
Just as he contemplated where he should start searching for Nuwa, the door opened and the person in question entered.
They looked at each other, smiled and it didn't even take a second before Nuwa landed in his embrace. There was no need for any words as in silence, a hug was followed by a kiss.
"How come you are back this fast? I thought you will be away for a while. I already braced myself to stay without you for a while, but here you are." Nuwa asked after a passionate kiss, quite surprised to see him.
"You are not happy to see me?" Xuefeng turned unhappy and teased which made her seal his lips once again before she cried, "Of course, I am happy! How long will you stay?"
"Not long… Actually, I just wanted to say hi to you before going back..." Xuefeng said while rubbing her cheeks. He wanted to stay with her more but he couldn't let Yiren and others wait for him.
"Here, I brought some loot for you. Maybe you can auction it as well." Xuefeng gave her the two rings after moving all the pills and two high-ranked weapons he could sell later, into his own ring.
"Okay. You didn't leave Yiren alone, right? How is she?" Nuwa took the rings and asked just to make sure. She was still her mother after all and cared for her daughter more than one would think.
"She enjoys the adventure very much and yes, she is with someone who can protect her." Xuefeng nodded, assuring her.
"Mhmm, go then. Thank you for coming. I wouldn't mind if you visited me like this every day." Nuwa nodded and let go of him after a short but deep kiss. It was just what she needed to start her day.
"Just bear with it for a little longer. After the business stabilises, I can take you out too and we can roam around altogether." Xuefeng felt it was unfair for her to stay here alone, but he couldn't trust anyone else for now.
"I will remind you what you said later, hehe." Nuwa's smiled, knowing that he meant what he said. After a goodbye kiss?, Xuefeng finally returned back through the portal to start his journey.
Appearing in the lake, Xuefeng swam up to the surface and searched for the ladies. He left them near the shore, expecting them to not go anywhere and behave nicely, but what he saw after he came back, didn't belong under the category, "behaving nicely".
"Yiren! Get back here! Give me that rabbit!" Xiao Wen called out angrily as she chased after Yiren who ran away with a fluffy white rabbit in her arms. The rabbit looked scared but it stood put in Yiren's arms knowing that she was its only way of survival.
"Nooo~! She is not going to eat it! Look how cute it is! She can eat those scary beasts instead. Sister, stop it!" Yiren didn't give up running in hope of saving her new friend and suddenly she spotted Xuefeng who was getting out of the water.
"Xuefeng! Sister Wen is a rascal~! She wants Lulu to eat a little fluff-fluff!" Yiren quickly ran up to Xuefeng and showed him the scared white rabbit, before hiding behind him as she heard Xiao Wen approaching.
"She took Lulu's snack away and even tried to convince her not to eat cute animals anymore! Xuefeng, tell her something!" Xiao Wen complained angrily, expecting Xuefeng to listen to her. They didn't even realise how much time passed when Xuefeng was gone as they were busy arguing.
Xuefeng smiled towards them and thought, 'Ah, with all of them present, I can never get bored.'
"Xiao Wen, it's not nice to argue with your sister. You have to be nice to each other." Xuefeng sat down both sisters in front of him and started scolding them.
"Why are you even scolding us, you said you will be gone for a moment but you were away for almost an…" Xiao Wen scolded back, feeling wronged, but Xuefeng suddenly placed his finger on her lips, silencing her, saying, "Shush, we are not talking about me right now. We are evaluating your behaviour."
Without letting her speak, he turned towards Yiren who was still cuddling a white rabbit into her chest and said softly, "Yiren, Lulu is a tigress. She is a predatory Spirit Beast and she needs to eat meat as that's her diet. Such a rabbit is a great snack for her."
"But she is so cute, sob… Look at its begging eyes. It doesn't want to die. And It's a real one, not the one I made from Qi…" Yiren said quietly, having tears in the corner of her eyes. He could feel with their connection how she cared for it right now and her tears were genuine. Even he felt bad for the poor rabbit as he shared her feelings.
"Of course it doesn't want to die… That is its natural instinct. Tell me, what else can we do other than eating it? If we let it go, it will be probably eaten by some other predators anyway." Xuefeng said warmly as he rubbed her cheeks and wiped her tears away.
Yiren thought for a moment and suddenly asked with puppy eyes "...Can't I keep it?"
"What? You want to keep a rank one rabbit? Lulu will probably eat it if it comes with us you know?" Xuefeng found her idea quite funny but also cute. Only Yiren would think of keeping such a pet.
"Nooo, she won't! Lulu, you tell them, don't you want to have a new friend?" Yiren cried out in defence and turned towards the White Tigress behind them. A moment ago she was staring at the rabbit with a desire to eat it and saliva appearing at the corner of her lips but when Yiren called out to her, she quickly acted normal.
"What do you think, wouldn't she be a nice friend?" Yiren asked once again as she raised the rabbit by its belly and showed it to Lulu. The rabbit looked at Lulu paralysed from the fear and Lulu, having her favourite snack in front of her, had to struggle mentally to not bite its head off right away.
'Hehe, there is no way Lulu will resist her favourite snack from such distance. She will definitely eat it.' Xiao Wen thought as she smiled, waiting for the scene which could prove her point.
Unfortunately, seeing Lulu's reaction Yiren was not happy and added, "If you guys don't become friends, I will stop giving you your favourite belly rubs, Humpf."
Hearing Yiren, Lulu immediately stopped her behaviour and leaned over to lick the rabbit with a gentle face. "What?!" Xiao Wen exclaimed with her face turning ugly seeing what happened. Xuefeng was also shocked to see such a scene.
"Hehe, great. Lulu is the best! Let me give you some rubs. You like that?" Yiren laughed happily and hugged Lulu while stroking behind her ear and belly afterwards.
"Purrrr…" Lulu happily growled, forgetting about her snack in exchange for the care of Yiren.
After Yiren gave Lulu enough rubs, she ran back to Xuefeng and pleaded, showing a well-behaved rabbit in her hands, "Xuefeng! Lulu agreed! Can I keep her now? I will feed and protect her. You will not even see that she is here."
"Sigh, fine. You can do what you want. As long as it doesn't trouble us in our journey. Are we all ready to go?" Xuefeng said, having no reasons to reject her. Searching for a third lady, Wuying. He found her sitting on top of a small boulder near the lake, so he asked Xiao Wen, "What is she doing there?"
"Wuying said she wanted to meditate until you come back. She haven't moved since you left." Xiao Wen said, still mad at her White Winged Tigress, she threw a kemp of grass at her shouting, "From today on, you will eat grass!"
"Haha, get ready to go as we will be leaving soon. I will get Wuying." Xuefeng couldn't help but laugh at her and flew towards the top of the boulder to bring Wuying.
"Are you okay?" Xuefeng asked after landing next to her.
"Xuefeng! You are back. Yes, I was just meditating…" Wuying stood up, opening her eyes right away and showing a nice blue colour, which made Xuefeng sigh in relief.
"Did that blood art trouble you again?" Xuefeng asked after giving her a hug, to which she gently nodded. She didn't try to hide anything from him anymore, knowing she can count on him.
"Hmm, you stopped using your Blood Qi but it is still affecting you…" Xuefeng wondered what could be the reason and asked Ling for her opinion.
'I think it is too late for her to stop using it. Once she started, she can only move forward and maybe try to control this power. Someone must have tampered with that art to bring out its hidden potential, so it has some negative effects on the user's personality.' Ling gave him her theory.
"Did you try to control it?" Xuefeng asked, thinking it might work if he supervises her.
"Yes… But it is hard sometimes… I can only calm down when I'm with you… When you are gone, there is something that awakens inside of me, pushing me to stuff I wouldn't do or say normally..." Wuying nodded, explaining further.
"Don't worry, this time I will be there for you. We will go through this together, okay?" Xuefeng assured her. If his presence could change this much, then he would gladly help her.
"Mhmm…" Wuying agreed happily, feeling that maybe with him she can do it. Picking her up, Xuefeng flew back towards the ladies.
"Yiren, you will fly with your sister on Lulu's back while I will take Wuying with me, okay?" Xuefeng quickly decided on the way they would be travelling and everyone nodded.
Yiren was especially excited as she would be able to fly on Lulu but also with her own sister which she would love to have a sister bond with. The earlier argument between them didn't affect their relationship at all and it might have even tightened it.
Yiren was the older sister but looking at the way she held her pet while also cuddling into her sister's chest with her back, it didn't seem like it. One would even mistake Yiren for Xiao Wen's daughter if one didn't know them.
'Should we start to spawn the clones which could scan the ground for any Fate Qi activities?' Xuefeng asked Ling, recalling their earlier plan.
'I can hold up to ten if we stay at a low altitude. We can separate them in the distance of ten Li to each other. I should still be able to control them and scan the whole area. I'm very sensitive to Fate Qi so no one should be able to hide if we meet them on our way. I doubt we can meet anyone in the wilderness and we should rather search in the cities.' Ling proposed her plan.
'Let's do this then.' Xuefeng nodded and Ling got to work right away. She was much faster than him so she did it for him. Suddenly, one identical clone spawned next to Xuefeng, followed by another two.
Watching this, Yiren opened her mouth wide open, not knowing such a thing was even possible. Soon, ten copies of Xuefeng appeared next to them and all of them had a cloak on them, hiding their appearances.
"Fluff, look at your papa, he is so talented and handsome. Mommy will also have to work hard to catch up to him." Yiren held her rabbit which got its name thanks to its fluffy white fur and pointed at Xuefeng. Surprisingly, fluff stared at Xuefeng for a moment with an intelligent gaze and squeaked before cuddling back into Yiren's arms.
"Sister, will you teach me how to fight? I want to be useful to Xuefeng." Yiren suddenly asked out of nowhere, making Xiao Wen smile.
"Sure, but it will be a lot of hard work you know?" Xiao Wen agreed but still gave her a warning.
"I know. In exchange, I can teach you how to act cute. With sister's beauty, no man would resist you." Yiren nodded and proposed payment which made Xiao Wen blush, instantly thinking off Xuefeng. She wanted to hit Yiren on the head for proposing such a deal, but then she realised that Xuefeng does seem to have a weakness to cuteness.
"Okay… But don't tell Xuefeng…" In the end, Xiao Wen didn't have anything to lose, so she agreed quietly, which Yiren accepted it happily, "Deal."
"How long do you think it will take us to reach the Border Town if we fly at this speed? We already flew for four hours but the scenery didn't change at all. Nothing but trees in the horizon." Xuefeng asked as he placed his head on Wuying's shoulder.
They flew at a low altitude and their speed was lowered to the minimum as well, but even with that, it was hard for the clones to catch up to them. They ran after them with full speed, jumping from one tree branch to another like some kind of ninjas. Ling didn't conserve her Spirit Qi and used the best Movement Art this whole time.
This way, the clones used much more Spirit Qi than they could produce on their own, which forced them to stop every once in a while to refill their Qi. Xuefeng proposed using Air Qi to make them wings, but Ling was extremely against such waste of Fate Qi.
Now that they weren't in the Holy Land anymore, it was hard to gather Elemental Qi even for Xuefeng. He had to use one hour to fill his dantian to the brim, so if he were to do the same for his clones, then he would have to only focus on absorbing Qi the whole trip.
"At this speed, we should get there by tomorrow. If I am correct, we should pass by a city in about an hour. It's called the City of Liquor. We can stay there for dinner as it is famous for its great restaurants and continue our travel later." Wuying proposed before cuddling deeper into his arms. She enjoyed every second of the flight in his embrace, so she was actually happy they were flying slowly.
"Oh, that's great. I was starting to get hungry. Do you want to start practising your Blood Art now? We still have an hour which we could use." Xuefeng asked kissing her on the cheek.
"...Mhmm." Wuying hesitated for a moment hearing his request but in the end, she decided to give it a try. She was with Xuefeng, so there should be nothing to worry about.
"Show me how it works. You can use me as your target too, I don't mind." Xuefeng encouraged her.
"Okay..." Wuying nodded, and after taking a deep breath, she placed her hand on Xuefeng's arm. When she started releasing her Blood Qi, Xuefeng basically didn't have a way to resist as momentarily, his whole body began filling with her Qi.
Before she acted, he already prepared himself and turned on his defences but that didn't help at all. She breached it all as if there were none.
"Wow, I guess, once it's inside your opponent's body, you can easily get full control over him, right? I tried to protect myself from it but you destroyed my barriers pretty fast." Xuefeng called out excitedly, feeling how overpowered this art can be before asking, "How are you feeling?
"So far, I am fine. I'm surprisingly calm near you. I don't feel any changes. Normally I would already feel like to kill someone. It gets even worse when I try to absorb some Blood Qi directly from an opponent's blood." Wuying nodded with a slight smile and explained the changes. Her eyes already changed colour to red but nothing other than that.
"Keep going. What else can you do with that?" Seeing that his presence was helping, Xuefeng started pushing her further.
Wuying didn't want to go too far, but with his encouragements, she complied, showing him what having full control over someone meant.
"Technically, you are completely under my control now, so I can do stuff like this…" Wuying introduced before Xuefeng suddenly felt his body moving on its own and started gently hugging her.
It didn't hurt as he didn't resist her at all, but he could understand what pain would one have to go through if one had thoughts of running away. He felt as if someone was moving his muscles against his will, which was a weird feeling and it definitely didn't belong to his favourites.
"What a powerful but dangerous art. If you could control it and use its powers to your advantage, you would definitely topple all experts." Xuefeng declared seriously.
"Mhmm, I know. The only problem is that when I use it, I often forget the reason why I am fighting. I just want to kill that person and absorb its Blood Qi. I think I just love you too much and that's why it does not work on you." Wuying thought out loud.
"How about you try absorbing Blood Qi from me and we see what happens?" Xuefeng suddenly proposed curiously, but Wuying this time didn't comply and cried, "No! It's okay. Just you being with me can help me with my training. We can continue testing on someone else when we land. I don't want to do anything to you."
"Sigh, fine… We will find you some Spirit Beast for you to train on later… Oh, look. The scenery is finally changing we should be close to the city." Xuefeng sighed regretfully before he noticed that the forest started to end and more mountains started appearing on the horizon.
"Mhmm, we are getting close," Wuying confirmed.
While Xuefeng was helping Wuying with her training, somewhere far away from them, Yiren and Xiao Wen were flying on top of Lulu. They flew further from them so they could talk, without Xuefeng overhearing anything by accident.
Yiren turned around to face Xiao Wen and placed Fluff in the middle between their legs, she grabbed her sister's hands. She was prepared to introduce the art of being cute to her sister.
"Wen, first of all, you have to remember to always stay positive. You have to spread your joy for life to others and make people always have fun around you. Your warmth should be able to fill a whole room and should be felt from far away." Yiren started explaining from her own experience.
"But how do I do that? Aren't I positive right now?" Xiao Wen asked confused.
"You are positive, but you are also too serious and hard to approach. Do you think any man would approach you if there is a killing vibe around you?" Yiren asked with a gentle smile.
"Well… No." Xiao Wen shook her head, feeling embarrassed as she recalled each time she beat someone up when they tried to talk to her. The only man who could approach or touch her so far was Xuefeng.
"Don't worry, you can fix it easily. You just need to smile a lot but don't force it. Just smile like you always do and when you feel like it. Being happy is not a sin. We can say the same in regards to laughing. You should laugh when you feel good, laugh to cheer others or simply laugh with others. But don't force yourself. You just shouldn't stop yourself when you feel like acting silly." Yiren rubbed her younger sister's palms and explained further. She always followed the rule of just being herself and it worked for her.
Xiao Wen thought about it and asked, "So I should just have fun, joke around and don't stop myself from acting silly if I want to?"
"Exactly. Just remember to always be natural and stay true to yourself. If you feel like doing something, just do it. Don't let your dreams be dreams. If you feel like chasing after a guy, hugging him from behind and telling him how much you like him, just do it." Yiren encouraged Xiao Wen and looking towards Xuefeng eagle, she added, "I always follow my heart and look. I have the best man I could ask for."
"You think this would work on any guy?" Xiao Wen asked as she also followed with her gaze towards Xuefeng. She somehow wished she would be the one in Wuying's place right now, but would she actually get herself to tell him this? She didn't think so yet.
"Mhmm, If it works on Xuefeng, it should work on anyone. If I didn't use my trump card I don't think he would be invested romantically in me, but I don't regret it. I would do it once again if I had to choose again." Yiren nodded, saying lovingly with her eyes brightening the moment Xuefeng's face was met with her line of sight.
"I will try my best…" Xiao Wen finally decided to slowly follow her heart. She will just do what she feels like, heading towards her goal.
"Great! Also, shyness isn't a bad thing and it can actually give you a mysterious edge to the way others perceive you. Acting shy and sweet will make you adorable. People will definitely feel like hugging you, at least Xuefeng does. I never really hugged anyone else. Anyway, I think that your cold personality is part of you so you shouldn't change completely. You can mix both together and it will make you unique." Yiren proposed, feeling excited that her tips actually helped her.
"Sis, you are not just as bad as I thought. Thank you." Xiao Wen smiled gently, feeling grateful for all the advice and hugged her sister.
Suddenly, Yiren launched her attack at her, tickling Xiao Wen on the side of her belly which made her laugh hard and caused her to cry right away, "Hahaha, stop!"
"Who asked you to think I'm bad! Now it's time for your punishment! Haha!" Yiren called out with a peal of happy laughter and soon they both started to tickle each other.
"They seem to have a lot of fun. I'm glad they finally bonded together as sisters." Xuefeng said out loud as he watched the girls playing together.
"Yeah, that's good. Xuefeng look, we can see the city from here already." Wuying nodded before she looked at the horizon and pointed at the big city built in the middle of two valleys crossing each other.
"Okay, let's inform them," Xuefeng said and ordered the eagle to catch up to Lulu.
"Okay, let's inform them," Xuefeng said and ordered the eagle to catch up to Lulu.
Flying up to them, Xuefeng first gained their attention and waved to stop them. They both had the barriers which not only protected them from the wind but also from the sounds outside. Even if he shouted, they would not hear him.
"You guys seem to have a lot of fun!" Xuefeng called out happily as soon as the lifted the barrier. They couldn't hover in the sky for a long period of time as that would only tire Lulu and their eagle, but a short moment was possible.
"Yeah, we are sisters after all. Sisters should stick together, right?" Xiao Wen asked, smiling gently at Yiren to which she happily nodded.
"I am glad. Listen, there is a city in front of us and I wish to stop there for a meal. Let's stop before the gates, so we don't raise up too much attention." Xuefeng proposed.
"Sure, lead the way, we will follow." Xiao Wen said, continuing to smile at him sweetly and put her barrier up again.
Right after, she turned towards Yiren and asked, "Did I do good? I tried to smile naturally."
"Yeah! You looked much more positive. To think that you decided to test your skills on Xuefeng first as he is the hardest target. If you can charm Xuefeng, then you can basically aim at anyone." Yiren praised Xiao Wen for thinking of such a great plan.
"Yeah… I am just testing…" Xiao Wen nodded hesitantly, not knowing what to say. Looking at Yiren's innocent smile, she couldn't get herself to tell her the truth, so she just followed with the flow for now.
Xuefeng, on the other hand, also noticed that something was different about her just now, but he didn't think more about it and quickly just put it aside.
Knowing that they would be entering the city soon and that the clones were already almost out of fuel, Ling released them from their duty, with only one left alive. He was carrying two herbs the clones found on their way which contained bits of Fate Qi. It was almost nothing for the current Ling but almost nothing was still something. They quickly picked them up, before they flew at full speed towards the city.
After a few minutes, they finally got close to the city, allowing them to measure the size of the city correctly. They had to admit that it was much bigger than their hometown, Phoenix City. It was to be expected as it was created in the place where two famous merchant routes were crossing.
The closer to the Sacred Sword Kingdom one got, the stronger and bigger the cities were and this one was an example of that statement. The defence of the City of Liquor consisted of a giant black wall that surrounded it from all sides with four gates at each side of the Merchant Routes. The wall was almost thirty meters high and it was enough to stop the majority of experts from breaking sneakily into the city.
One would ask, 'What about the experts who could fly?' Well, the owners of the city also thought about it as they could see a thin layer of protection in the sky, creating a barrier that was meant to block all the invaders who already broke through the Emperor Stage and became a legendary Saint.
Having a Saint level protection around the city was already a luxury for a country like Aurora but when Xiao Wen saw that, she couldn't help but burst out laughing. It was obviously child's play for her to break through it.
"Okay, how about we set some rules of our stay here? I suggest that breaking stuff, killing and beating people up should all be forbidden. Any problems?" Xuefeng told them right after they landed in the nearby forest, a few Li away from one of the gates. He just happened to glance at Xiao Wen the most as he asked which made her eyebrow twitch.
"Why do I feel like you are only talking to me? Am I that bad?" Xiao Wen asked angrily, glaring at Xuefeng for being biased.
"Cough…" Yiren coughed right away hearing her sister like that and quickly pulled her away from them. After walking far enough away from Xuefeng, she whispered, "Wen, you totally forgot what I taught you… You were not cute at all right now. You can't get angry for no reason like this. You have to go back there and fix it now," before pulling her back with her.
"What just happened?" Xuefeng asked curiously seeing them coming back.
Yiren ran up to Xuefeng and holding him by the hand she said sweetly, "Nothing much, we were just quickly discussing some girls stuff. I also think we should follow such rules as you said. What do you think Wen?"
Xiao Wen watched Yiren in surprise and seeing her blink secretly, she followed her plan for now. Xiao Wen smiled at Xuefeng and gently nodded, saying, "Mhmm, let's follow those rules. I will try to be nice."
Xuefeng's gaze switched from Yiren to Xiao Wen and back to Yiren, curious of what she did to Xiao Wen to subdue her. Just a moment ago she was ready to lash at him, but now after a small talk with Yiren, she was all smiles.
'I don't know what she said to her, but it's fine as long as it works.' Xuefeng thought and said after picking up Wuying's hand as well, "Let's get going then."
They decided to keep Lulu around them to deter people from approaching them. It would definitely bring them a little bit of attention but at least they wouldn't be troubled by anyone. He could already imagine the jealousy of people if they saw him walking around with three country toppling beauties.
"The City of Liquor should definitely have a lot of fine liquors. I wish to try them all." Xiao Wen who rode on Lulu's back said out loud, making sure Xuefeng will hear her. Even if she acted as if nothing happened, she still wanted to give him some playful payback.
"Sure, but I actually don't have any money on me right now, so we will have to visit an auction house or some kind of shop. I will have to sell some loot for Spirit Stones." Xuefeng didn't mind paying for everything as Xiao Wen was working for him, acting as his guardian and Yiren together with Wuying were his girlfriends. It was obvious that he would be the one paying for everything.
"What are you selling?" Xiao Wen followed up with another question. It was quite a boring subject but she just wanted to have a conversation with him.
"Oh, actually, you might have to help me appraise them as I have no clue. Here, can you tell me how much each of them is worth?" Xuefeng exclaimed, recalling that he actually didn't know the price he could sell the pills for. Earlier he already put one pill of each type into one small bag, so he just passed the whole bag to Xiao Wen.
Knowing the quantity on the pills in his ring, he didn't expect there to be any rare types. If there were, he would definitely be rich right now.
"Where did you get them? Those are all rank 5 pills. I don't think there are any of them in the Aurora Country." Xiao Wen frowned, recognizing the pills right away. She was familiar with them as before she got herself a regeneration ability, she would use some of them in her battles.
"Well, I fought with a few guys and this was their loot." Xuefeng explained vaguely, not giving away many details and asked, "Do you know how much they can be sold for?"
"In the Central Region, each type goes for around one high-tiered Spirit Stone per pill, but here, in a country where such goods are scarce, I think you can get quite a lot for each one." Xiao Wen replied without digging deeper into where he got them from.
"Great! How about this one?" Getting excited from such news, Xuefeng pulled out a box from his ring and threw it towers Xiao Wen to get it appraised as well. He had seven small boxes in total and each had a pill of different colours. He thought that only precious pills would be put into such boxes.
Unfortunately, this time Xiao Wen didn't respond with only a frown and once again forgot about her positive attitude as she cursed, "Xuefeng, you idiot. Did you actually visit the Central Region?"