Dealing with the sludge that had been trapped in the bath chamber had been a bit more involved than any of the trio had thought. The initial sludge monster had been fresh out of the barrels, this one had hours of time to consume the waste in both barrels and then further grow with the bath water. What waited within was more a small hill of roiling filth that lurched at Xing Lei when he cleared the door, but dealing with the creature was a matter of course now, though he felt his throat itching as he had to breath an extended gout of flame to clear the large mass.
Coughing lightly he returned to the two and chuckled, "Will need to refill the bath water, the sludge seems to have absorbed whatever fluids it could, likely why it attacks you, it needs the moisture in your body."
Alustriea frowned, "Is its reasons really THAT important?"
Xing Lei grinned and rubbed the side of his face as Osilliaice laughed, "I suppose not, but never hurts to understand ones opponent regardless of complexity."
Shaking their heads the two moved into the bathing chamber to finally clean up while Xing Lei prepared his own cauldron of blood, glancing over his shoulder he asked, "How did those two do?"
Aunrae fidgeted a bit, "Big sister gave up part way through, little brother kept trying but did not succeed, he came close a few times but he grew tired quickly."
Smiling inwardly Xing Lei nodded, "Go put Nadal to bed, that stone floor can't be comfortable on his body. For your own training [One with Shadow] requires you assimilate into the profoundness of darkness, as drow or drider this is almost second nature I'm guessing but this is a surface level arrangement, a tricking of senses to assume lack of presence which is fundamentally different from becoming as the shadow, you are not hiding in the darkness, you ARE the darkness. When you can assume a shadow esk form in a dimly lit area you'll have reached minor completion."
Leaving his words to Aunrae there he moved to the cauldron igniting its contents with a soft blast of qi before hopping in, the blood seared his scales as he settled onto his seat and tuned out the world focusing on being receptive to the changes assaulting his body. Relaxing in the blood he recalled the words of that strange ancient drow. Watching Aunrae fumble about with his half true words he gave a silent chuckle and focused on his own training.
Days dragged on, Xing Lei's students increased in number but the over all skill level was more or less the same. Burryna was religious in her initial attempts but she grew frustrated easily. Training her body to better handle heavy weapons mostly annoyed her and she usually took shortcuts. Though she did make small breakthroughs, once she swung the large metal staff relatively smoothly Xing Lei hit her body with weights, simple bands that held dense metal weights were added throwing off her regained rythym.
Malice was an infrequent student, being a priestess she focused mainly on her clerical abilities but had adopted one of the paths for additional options. Unlike Calimar who realized dividing his attention only weakened his overall strength she was determined to master both. Her whip use was exceptional however her choice of whips was a living organism, a serpent whip. Xing Lei could teach her some whip skills but in the end she still had to coordinate with her weapons intellect, this in turn slowed down her path.
Nadal... was the most dedicated student. Every day he strived to accomplish Xing Lei's goal, and soon enough the deviant drow did get faster, much like Burryna, when he achieved his goal Xing Lei added weights that slowed him down and then had him run an obstacle course of swinging practice dummies without being touched. This advanced training truly frustrated him as the swinging dummies forced him to re-evaluate his movements on the fly, especially difficult when the flirtatious drow was often distracted by people watching or Xing Lei himself.
Much like the vague advice he gave to Aunrae, the Matrons path was one practiced almost exclusively by women or particularly shameless males. Other than advising her on how to better maintain her 'source' energy in her dantian or advising her to practice modulating her vocalizations he really couldn't teach them on skills that demanded first hand experience, the other paths shared common practices with techniques Xing Lei knew very well but theirs were more hearsay knowledge and observation.
Outside their cultivations the third brother often ditched his study period, Xing Lei suspected that the gang war he'd witnessed in the city was something the young drow was more than a little involved with, chances were high one of the two gangs was his so his study time with Xing Lei was a convenient window to manage his out of house duties.
Finally was Pellanistra, true to her dedication Xing Lei was teaching her a sword form, in his old life it was a fairly decent one that free cultivators preferred, it was not one that could carry its user to the apex but it should suffice for what she wanted. [Silent Sparrow Six Cuts] was a fairly common sword technique, the one unique characteristic was the use of its namesakes beast blood to temper your blade, what made it so unique was the blood had a high chance of stealing the voice of anyone it poisoned. Such a poison was not lethal and wore off after a few hours, but it was something most voice cultivators had to be wary of.
Thing was it was a low rank skill, most who really wanted to counter sonic cultivators relied on talismans and formations to limit an area rather than hoping the target lacked an anti poison pill. Similarly since it relied on a poison it meant getting close enough to cut your target first, which, against a sonic user was highly dangerous in itself. The key factor was getting the blood to temper her blade, she was using her contacts to search for such a monstrous beast as he trained her in the sword form itself.
Right now Xing Lei was using his saber to parry the third of the six cuts, the art was very suitable to those that preferred light blades like rapiers. Pellanistra's thin blade poked and slashed at the kobold as a peal of laughter escaped her throat, for her, her assault was like surface rain. Continuous jabs that fell on an opponent in slashing sheets of continuous motion, to Xing Lei, she was almost in slow motion. His saber shifted slightly, yet still enough to knock away the wicked tip of her blade before it could find a home in his body. Back and forth the duo danced, Xing Lei allowing her to test the extent of her stamina. The technique while common was still a technique, as she continuously dipped into her reserves he could see a fatigue in her eyes, she had been so focused on getting that near hit she had drained her qi over using the form again and again.
With a casual swipe the rapier left her hands, the blow staggering her as her legs weakened and she slumped to her knees. A hand gripped her forehead, pain echo'd through her mind like a dozen dwarven smiths were having at her brain with stout hammers. The kobolds voice jarred her attention from the pain inside her mind, "And what have we learned?"
Pellanistra groaned sitting back on her heels trying to stand up but not finding any strength to lift her from her private training room floor, another groan of pain escaped her lips as she collapsed fully, blacking out completely to his follow up comment, "That's correct, over drawing your qi hurts like hell, best to discover that now than out hunting or killing." By the time he mentioned discover, her consciousness had fled leaving her limp on the ground. Shaking his head he scooped the drow up as if she was no more a sack of potatoes and carried her from the room. Not being the first time Pellanistra had over extended herself he followed a familiar route to her bed chamber.
Getting past the trapped and warded door was childs play. He even took a moment to readjust one of the traps that had a loose spring that would reduce its potential to fire before dumping the unconcious drow unceremoniously on her bed. Not paying her any mind, though he did take a moment to admire her bottom that was currently sticking up before looking around her room. Unlike the featureless guest chamber this one held all sorts of things from books to spare clothes, an orc's skull to a large battle axe bearing a foaming mug standard on the haft.
Glancing to the unconcious drow he found a box that stood out against the rest, lifting the cover he nodded, whoever she had gotten to hunt a Silent Sparrow had found one and gotten her four vials, enough to temper her rapier. Uncorking a vial he sniffed the blood and nodded confirming that it should be right, Silent Sparrows had very sweet meat so their blood had an almost honey like aroma. Thinking a moment he summoned a vial from his ring adding a few drops of a dark black blood to each of the four vials. Shaking each to mix his addition he returned the box and contents to their place.
Giving one last look to Pellanistra he escaped the trapped door as easily as he had entered leaving her to sleep. As for his tampering, what he had added would not ruin the blood but rather enhanced its potency. The trade off being it would make the tempered blade more brittle, she would get her poisoning strike but if she tried to involve herself in extended combat her blade would fail eventually. Glancing to Aunrae who was trailing after him he nodded lightly, "Your assimilation into shadow is getting better."
"You should leave, the dark times are about to begin." Aunrae's voice was mournful almost like a spirit how it tended to fade in and out.
Xing Lei stopped and sighed, "What do you know Aunrae?"
The drider skittered along the ceiling hanging upside down as she looked into the calm kobolds gaze, "Other houses are moving, youngest brother has told the Matron Mother that at least two are moving on us."
"How long-" Xing Lei's question was cut off as a fireball exploded against the outer wall, the flaming missile had shook the compound with how much enhanced force had been imbued into the strike.
Aunrae sighed touching a wall that had cracks trickling from floor to ceiling, "Right now."
Xing Lei cursed and ran along darting around the mobilizing house forces, escaping the royal domain he could see a vast army of slaves beyond the wall, charging at the half melted slag.
Aunrae sighed scrunching down... well... up, against the ceiling watching the kobold hurry off. Rather than follow she moved along the passages towards the nobility area. While she no longer had a room there, her nest was in the region in one of the larger heating vents, unless called upon she would hide there from the unfolding war. As she moved she noted the elites taking up their stations, they were the final lines between the invaders and the nobles of the family, but considering the whispers she heard there was two great houses breathing down on them, survival was not looking good...
Worrying less about the nobles Xing Lei rushed the guest mound, Osilliaice and Alustriea were already waiting, the former had a spear handed to her by Xing Lei while Alustriea was handed a staff. Looking to them both he nodded, "Come on, we need to find Calimar, we're getting an exit." As the duo fell into step behind the determined Xing Lei, none noticed a fourth figure following in their wake, a slender figure that floated silently after the trio...