The two of them have finally reached the legendary Pengl- 'ahem' Pingpong Mountain.
And Bing too.
Bing is still wrapped up in Perlmut's hair as a scream echoes in their ears, coming from within the forest surrounding the mountain.
"Kyoooouaaaa"
Reflexively, Hyang rushes towards the scream, catching Perlmut off guard. And so Perlmut follows slowly behind him, not quite caring much about the weird scream.
Hyang sees a bear-like monster as he reaches the location of the scream. The beast's joints look quite similar to those of beetles. It's skin is hard as a rock and proportionately thicker than a beetle's, while also being pliable and resilient. The beast as a whole seems to look far closer to a normal QI-filled bear. 👓Falsely called spirit bears, as they are not purely spirit but just simply naturally cultivating it.👓 Without noticing all those small details, he quickly assesses the beast's power to be in the Sense Condensing Realm, unnaturally high for this region of quite pill science cauldron alchemist people. Normally the monsters in this region should only reach from the Qi Condensation realm to the Foundation Establishment realm.
Boring author stats/thoughts incoming:
0 Mortal; uncultivated power: x10^0
Mortal Punch = around 100 Joules
1 Qi Condensation; stage 1-10 power: ((x10^0)+1bis10)x(QI purity%)
up to 1.000 Joules
2 Foundation Establishment; stage 0-9 power: ((x10^1)x1bis10)x(QI purity%)
up to 10.000 Joules
3 Martial/Sword Disciple; stage 0-9 power: ((x10^2)x1bis10)x(QI purity%)
up to 100.000 Joules
4 Sense Condensing Realm; stage 0-9 power: ((x10^3)x1bis10)x(QI purity%)
up to 1.000.000 Joules, which is about what an explosion needs to break stone.
While Hyang is seeing quite the predicament, Perlmut slowly makes her way over there when suddenly a sense of boredom comes over her. Prompting her to pick some... Nevermind, she decided to just lay down instead of picking flowers...
In the meantime, Hyang quickly intervenes in the fight of the young-looking fellow in sect clothes.
'slash'
Hyang gracefully decapitates the beast with a windslash of sherry blossoms. The beast's head drops to the ground, its sturdy body not colapsing but standing still. Blood comes gushing out, splattering all over the bear's first target. With its blood pressure declining, the flow weakens. And the blood's range retreats, covering the bearhead on the ground with it, right in front of the stranger, until the continued flow stops and only some remaining blood comes out. After Hyang is sure that it's dead, he looks at the person in question, who screamed like a little girl.
*Yes* Hyang thinks *These are definitively stereotypical sect closes. Also, it seems like these are a little more embroidered.*
The young man stands up. And tries to slap dirt off of his clothes, only splattering blood around in a misreable attempt to look of high status.
Young man: "Hmpf, it was about time someone came to save me from this foul beast. I can't believe it took more than a second."
Hyang disappointedly asks him: "Who are you to speak in that way?"
Young man: "I am Wáng Lǐ, who is meant for greatness! From the Great Wáng family. Now bow and be thankful! Having been able to save me is a great feat after all. So be thankful to me for having bestowed upon you such a gift!!"
Hyang *What's wrong with this young master?*
Hyang: "I won't bow to just anyone. Such greetings are only meant for the ones you can trust."
Wáng Lǐ:"Unbelievable!! How outrages!! You really don't know who I am. My family is known for being the greatest pill makers around everywhere! So bow to me!"
Hyang:"No."
Wáng Lǐ: "HOW DARE YOU! YOU LOW LIFE! BOW TO ME OR-"
Suddenly someone else appears.
Someone else: "Puh, I'm glad you're all right. I thought I wouldn't make it. Oh!"
The someone else looks over to Hyang.
Someone else: "I see. It's thanks to you that I made it. There really is no way I can thank you enough."
He gets closer to Hyang and whispers so that Wáng Lǐ can't hear it.
Someone else: "I'm sorry for my little brother. I'm sure he behaved in some terrible way. After all, he is known for his oddly aggressive behavior. And this time he was set up to get rid of an unnaturally strong beast. Unfortunately, I have had to notice that the whole guild is set on getting rid of him, saying things like, ``His mind is not in order, and as such, he is a disgrace for us all.`` It seems like I'm the only one looking out for him. Sorry, I was going off at a tangent... Either way, I'll make sure you'll be rewarded accordingly."
Hyang, before leaving, looks at the beast's joints before storing body and head in his ring, intrigued by its appearance. *I've never seen that type of spirit beast before.*
Big Brother Wáng leads him to his family, while Perlmut still lays around with Bing, now known as Rex Unustuse, covered in her hair.
Big Brother Wáng explains everything to the family head while bowing.
Family head: "Haaah, Shànxīn I know you've got a good heart... Well, either way, I suppose there is a need for an appropriate reward for saving Lǐ. This is quite the predicament... I believe the sect master should decide on this matter."
Family head *After all, it was him who gave the OK to get rid of Wáng Lǐ like that. Tsk! While I do hate doing such a thing to my own flesh, I do have a responsibility to uphold our own and the sect's honor after all. Unfortunately, Wáng Lǐ brings only disorder to the sect, with his anger issues...*
At this point, Perlmut has started head-petting Rex again.
The head of the Wáng family walks to the sect master with Hyang. After they get to his location, Mr. Wáng explains everything to the sect master of the Mount Penglai Sect. He answers him while thinking to himself.
Sect Master of the Mount Penglai Sect: "I see..."
Sect Master of the Mount Penglai Sect *It failed, and that after preparing such a wild beast with our Pills and the help of an ominous stranger... We can't have a reoccurence of epic proportions in the likes of the Pingpong incident. I'm too old to persevere through something like that again.*
Sect Master of the Mount Penglai Sect: "As you have saved a very promising young man of our sect from such a strong vile beast, the only thing worthy enough for you as a reward is our far and wide known potion of longevity."
After searching for Perlmut and finding her, he wakes her up from her head-pet sleep.
Perlmut *I just dreamed of someone with an anger disability... Poor guy, fortunately Hyang woke me up.*
Perlmut: "Haaah, what is it?"
Hyang: "I got the elixir. Eat it!"
Perlmut: "That was quick."
Perlmut swallows it down with water. As the pill dissolves in her body, she feels warms permeating from inside, effecting her whole being. After feeling its effects, she removes her crown of illusion to see if anything changed. However, her old scars stay the same, and she still looks horrendously disfigured, albeit younger and more spirited. Hyang goes into a cross-legged position behind Perlmut as they sit down, so that he can do a body checkup.
Hyang: "Hm, it seems the books praised this potion too much for its healing effects. For sure, I can sense that your inners have been healed. And with that, your overall health improved. In fact, to such a degree that it greatly enhanced your longevity. However, your scars and your missing eye didn't recover. Well, I suppose it's incredible none the less, so much so that it is weird for them to have just handed it over to me for saving a prominent disciple."
After the checkup, Perlmut puts the crown of illusion back on, so no longer can anyone check on her.
Hyang: "Can't you take another form than this one?"
Perlmut: "No, I haven't even used my special attack yet."
Perlmut bobs her eyebrows up and down while twirling a bit of hair in her finger, meaning to suggest something.
Hyang: "What cou-"
He looks at her hair that is holding Bing.
She takes notice of it.
Perlmut: "I see you have learned."
He then looks at her, giving himself a facepalm.
Hyang: "You don't really need to be small for that, do you?"
Perlmut: "Yes, I do! It is a requirement for dynamic movement."
Hyang squishes his hands up and down his face to then release his left hand fully in a downward movement from the front of his head, while he keeps his right hand on his chin, still touching his cheeks. He then continues with a head shake, during which he slowly tilts his head to the left. And now, with his eyes opened, eyebrows raised, and forehead folds displayed, he shows his disagreement on this stupid matter and responds.
Hyang: "Dynamic movement..."
'breathin'
'breath out'
After a short while of Perlmut covering herself with a fan while looking at him acting like that, Hyang catches himself and moves on from it.
Hyang: "Alright, Ok, let's just go for now."