Their journey so far had been smooth, a week had passed without any incident, the four of them spent their days resting in the carriage, talking every now and then while cultivating every other moment, every half a day or so they'd stop so the horses could rest, even if they were the best of the best, they were still normal animals after all.
Shu He in particular spent this time going over the changes in his body, other than his increased elemental compatibilities, he felt that he himself was more attuned to QI in general, it was easier to control while his techniques cost less to perform, it was about a 1/3 less cost which was beyond amazing, not only that he had been messing around with Alchemic Qi, his control had improved leaps and bounds as well.
He wasn't too sure if this would be the case, but it was, in the end Alchemic Qi was a specially created compound Qi, it still used the 5 elements as a base. With this discovery he was eager to try concocting pills, he had started to learn the 'True Alchemy' method along with his teacher, Tao Ru, who had been steaming along after scouring all the restricted scrolls in the alchemy tower.
True Alchemy was the path that existed before Modern Alchemy, however that didn't mean it was obsolete, it was the opposite in fact in that its potential was much higher, however Modern Alchemy required less skill, lower potential and was much safer to perform and mass produce, from the scraps of information that was left behind it seems this country favoured Modern Alchemy because of one factor.
There were no ascended beings here.
'Ascended Beings', meaning cultivators that have broken out of the mortal realms, the 9th step, Mortal Rebirth results in what is considered a Half-step ascended being, but what lies beyond that is the true 'Ascended'.
For spirit beasts it is, of course, slightly different; Once a beast reaches their Evolved state, either as a Human or a True Beast, they must undergo the same heavenly tribulation before they can break through to the Ascended Beast form.
After leaning all of this there was no way Shu He would stray away from True Alchemy, however his progress was slow and he was still stuck on making usable Tier 2 pills, his biggest restriction was his control, his natural talent with Alchemic Qi wasn't that high in the first place, however his Core Flame had granted him high quality Alchemic Qi, so he had managed to bulldoze his way through to Tier 3 with the Modern Alchemy method, yet with True Alchemy, his weakness was his downfall.
Yet, if his control increased with each stage of the Nine Heaven's Divine Body method, then his path in Alchemy had a way forward!
His hands were in front of him in a spherical formation as the a pale Green Qi flowed between the two palms in the shape of a ball, a smile was on his face as he felt the smooth flow, this was a standard practice technique for True Alchemy called 'Pill in one's palm', it was used to practice moulding Alchemic Qi, however it could also be used to create Pills ones one was proficient enough.
In True Alchemy, a furnace wasn't a requirement! The body is the furnace!
That isn't to say treasured furnaces that were made to assist were still used, however the core practices of pill refining were still down to the Alchemist themselves.
Shu Hu wasn't at this stage of course, he needed to have the utmost confidence when refining a tiered pill if he wanted to use this furnace-less technique.
Just then, Shu He's brow twitched as the Qi in his palms dissipated steadily, returning to his body before he placed his palms on his lap and sighed.
[Wake up] He sent a mental message to Shu Xue who was fast asleep bundled up in her white feathered form, her eyes opened slowly and poked her head out from his recorded position before standing up and fluffing her feathers.
[Whaaa- What happened…?] she almost yawned somehow in her mental message as she looked around the cabin in confusion, her actions caught the attention of the other two girls in the cabin.
"What's wrong?" The icy demeanour Bai Lian had whilst cultivation broke as she asked Shu Xue with concern.
Sitting next to her, Na Xue lent against the curtained window with a bored look plastered on her face "You realised, little sister?" she asked the duck who tilted her head, confused.
Of course, she couldn't talk to others in his beast form, so as a light flashed in the carriage she turned in to her human form and tugged on Shu He's sleeves "Shu He?".
"We've got visitors" Was the only thing Shu He said as the carriage slowly came to a stop, the driver's voice came from the front.
"We've encountered a little obstacle, I hope you don't mind if we stop for a moment so I can deal with it" his voice echoed into the carriage, followed by muffled yells from further on.
Na Xue sighed "And it was so quiet as well…"
Bai Lian frowned for a moment before her expression relaxed, she had used her Qi sense to get a picture of the situation and saw that they didn't need lift a finger.
Shu He on the other hand had a thoughtful expressing plastered on his face; Outside the carriage was a group of bandits, 13 of them altogether, they were mortal so they weren't a threat of course, even the driver will be able to deal with them given some time.
But Shu He had an idea as he replied "No, we'll deal with them".
"Huh? Okay, if that's what you want Sir" The driver's voice was filled with surprise, but a hint of joy filled the rest of it, he could see true cultivators in action!
The two girls looked at him oddly, wondering why he would go out of the way to do this, but then Shu He patted Shu Xue's head and said "Shu Xue, go and defeat them, but don't kill them".
Shu Xue's eyes immediately sparkled "I can?! Really?!".
"Shu He, isn't this a bit uncouth?" Bai Lian said with concern for the little girl.
"Don't worry about her, you forget that she's a spirit beast, and not a weak one" Na Xue said with a hint of laughter like she'd found some entertainment.
"She'll be fine" Shu He reassured her before tapping Shu Xue's forehead "Remember, no techniques! These are mortals, try to control your strength".
"Nnnn… got it" Shu Xue's face turned to stone as her play time had been made a lot less fun, she rarely got to let loose.
The carriage door opened as Shu Xue in her red and white dress happily hopped out with a skip while the other three watched.
"The little girl...?" The carriage driver watched her skip past flabbergasted as he expected one of the other three to appear "Should I help…?"
"No need to do anything" a voice came from right behind him making him jump slightly, his head turned to see Shu He sat on the roof, almost blending in with the shade, if he hadn't spoke, he wouldn't have realised he was there!
'I didn't hear a thing!' a hint of sweat dropped from the driver's forehead as he turned to face the front without speaking.
Meanwhile inside the carriage, Na Xue shook her head gently "He told her to, yet he's such a worrywart", on the other hand Bai Lian was shocked, she didn't see when he left at all, he was just gone the moment she turned her head back.
"What's this? A little girl?!" One of the bandits who had been ordering the people in the carriage to leave scowled as he looked at Shu Xue happily walking over like they weren't there "Are they making fun of us?!".
"Look, boss, she has some expensive looking clothes, doesn't she?" another pointed out.
"That's right! If this isn't a meat pie falling from the sky, I don't know what is!" another laughed.
"Quiet, idiots, it was obvious from the carriage that it had rich fools inside!" The bulky leader yelled at the others.
"Hehe, just selling those clothes would net us some good money…"
The 'boss' began approaching Shu Xue.
"Hey, little girl, call out you mama, give us a look".
"Mama? Don't have one" Shu Xue said, her head tilting slightly at the request.
"You don't? Ah, what a disaster, such a pretty looking kid would have a looker of a mother" one of them heckled from behind.
"Then, tell your dad to come out, we just want to talk" The boss continued.
Shu Xue frowned, her face in thought for a few seconds before she shook her head "He told me to come out".
"…" The group of bandits went silent as they looked at each-other. "What a piece of shit, sending his daughter to us like this… is he going to try to run?" one of them murmured.
The boss' expression twitched slightly, not having encountered such a situation before, but then he began to approach Shu Xue slowly as he spoke "Look, why don't you just come with us? We'll take better care of you than that dad of yours-"
Has hand reached for her dainty shoulder, but before it touched-
*SLAP*
*CRACK*
Shu Xue's hand moved fast as the boss stumbled back a couple steps, making the others confused.
""Ah"" The simultaneous exclamation came from Shu Xue and Shu He on top of the carriage.
She had used too much strength.
"What's wrong boss?..." one asked the boss who felt an odd pain from the hand he reached out with, as he looked down his eyes dilated-
"AAAAAAH!!!" he clutched his arm in pain, his forearm has changed shape, from the normal straight position it was now in a clean ninety-degree bend- it was snapped cleanly in half with the bone protruding out!
"Oops" Shu Xue stood with her hands over her mouth like a child whose prank was discovered.
"She's a monster! Get her or she'll kill us all!" Someone shouted in panic which incited all the others as they brandished their rusty weapons and charged towards the little girl.
"Idiots…" Shu He spoke under his breath, if they had run, they'd get away without any more injuries, but they fell to their immediate fear.
[Hold back this time] He reminded her through the link.
[I just… felt angry] She replied, slightly sad that she had failed already.
[That's fine, but you can't let your emotions control you] He said before reaching his hand in to his cloak.
[Okay…] she lifted up her hands to prepare for the incoming bandits.
The reason Shu He had decided to give her this chance was because Shu Xue hasn't had too many chances to learn control, and it was apparently very common for Evolved beasts to reign in their emotions, their mind transforming from beast to human has affected them on an emotional level after all; He learned this from Elder Bai, of course.
A sword was swung, and Shu Xue easily dodge to the side before pushing her palm at the man's chest, the man easily twice her size was sent flying for a meter before collapsing on the ground.
A flail swung and swept through her white-red hair before her elbow struck the shoulder sending the attacker tumbling, a dagger was thrown in to the ground as she struck a wrist, causing a grip to loosen.
The attacks went on like this, but everything happened within a minute, eventually a red glint appeared in her Rubellite eyes as a small smile appeared, she approached the boss that was clutching his broken arm as her leg swung in a round house kick-
But then it stopped, right before his eyes as her eyes widened.
"No… hold back… hold back…" the child repeated to herself while nodding, before her foot was planted in the man's solar plexus knocking him out entirely.
In just a minute, they were all down for the count, groaning in pain.
[Good job, you did well] Shu He said with a slight smile, his hands which contained a glint of metal returned to his robes as he hopped back down into the carriage.
[Yay!] a smile bloomed on Shu Xue's face as she skipped back to the carriage.
'What did I just witness?' The carriage driver's forehead was filled with sweat as shivers went up his spine watching the little girl innocently skip past him.
She got in and the door shut. "Go ahead and continue now" Shu He's voice came from the back "O-okay, right, let's go" he pulled the reins as the carriage started moving through the devastated bandits.
'I guess they're the highway patrols problem now…' he thought, seeing their twitching bodies.
Inside the carriage Shu He took out a small treat as he gave it to Shu Xue "Here you go, your reward".
"Really? Nice!" She happily received it and threw it in her mouth as the other two watched her with awkward smiles, Bai Lian more so as she realised her worries were heavily unneeded.
"What is that you gave her? Can I try some?" Na Xue said curiously as she watched the joy on Shu Xue's face.
"Nope, they're hers, she'll get angry you know?" Shu He shrugged his shoulders as he pointed to Shu Xue who was glaring at Na Xue.
"Mine" she said, there was no debate to be had.
"Fine, fine, I have my own anyway" Na Xue shrugged as she turned to look out the window.
"What are they, anyway?" Bai Lian asked this time.
"Just a mixture of seeds and spices she prefers; she is a duck after all" He explained, but he wasn't being truthful.
There was no way he'd tell the truth, since it would encroach on a secret of Shu Xue's after all-
Each treat contained a portion of precious ore surrounded by normal sweet powder; it was just a disguise he made with alchemy so he could give her them as a reward.
Her constitution allowed her to eat anything, and to process those things at a ridiculously fast speed, he has been feeding her spirit metal and other ores every now and then when he could afford it and it has slowly improved her physique and Qi reserves.
Of course she can't just eat continuously, and not everything will improve her body, she will get full if she eats too much and the higher quality the material the longer it takes to process.
But it was something that would make her incredibly desirable if others knew- thus he can't tell them, the only ones that know were Elder Bai, and while they don't have the full story, Wu Zhong and most likely the Sect Master.
He doesn't want the secret spreading even further.
'Not while I can't protect her, at least'.