Arc 12: Chapter 13
“Any luck… no, I don’t even need to ask. You wouldn’t be looking like that if you pulled it off this quickly,” Xue Yaling commented, looking Bianca up and down.
She had stayed up all night attempting to modify the Abyssal Shield, and ended up accomplishing nothing. Her body was sturdy enough to not get bags under her eyes from just that, but the lack of energy was rather obvious in her stance and… well, the fact that she didn’t have her cock tenting her robes made the answer obvious enough.
There was zero chance she’d remained locked up any longer than she absolutely had to, after all, and if there’s one person that knew that more than anyone, it would be the kitsune – who gave her the cage in the first place.
“Worst part is that even the Weave doesn’t change anything, since it helps manipulate spiritual perception, but not planar energy directly, and doesn’t really… how do I even put this… help me understand how to control it properly in the first place,” Bianca sighed, “Still, the different between half-step and true fourth realm shouldn’t matter this time around.”
“Most likely not, but… we shall see. Does your otherworldly gift really not have anything to help you in this respect, though?”
“It did, it ensured I didn’t fail to break through completely,” she shrugged, glancing off to one side, “Huang Su is coming, so be careful with what you mention.”
“Ah, of course, Sect Mistress,” the kitsune gave her an excessively formal bow, just in time for the Phoenix Sect’s leader to emerge, practically soaring over to them like a phoenix in flight.
She also bowed, though her gesture at least didn’t look mocking.
“Mistress. Your efforts are noted, but staying up through the night doesn’t always ensure the best results.”
“And what should I have done instead, had a long sleep and done nothing?”
“On occasion, that is more optimal. Having a long rest and not thinking about a matter can result in fresh insights once your focus returns to it…”
As Huang Su spoke, Bianca walked over and then around, as though just pacing about, but when she reached the older woman’s back, she suddenly felt the temptation to check something – and so she suddenly reached out and prodded against the spot between the Sect Master’s ass cheeks. She was rewarded with the sweetest gasp of surprise mixed with pleasure as she felt the base of the plug nestled within Huang Su’s ass.
She had kept to her promise to give her one after their visit to Heart’s Core Town, though she chose not to push her to the largest plug right away, instead giving her the third smallest – or fifth biggest, counting in the other direction.
Compared to the intense training she had received back then, it wasn’t much, but the slight moan just a simple touch elicited…
“M-Mistress, please…”
“What, I’m just checking that you’ve been following orders,” she walked back around, enjoying the conflicted look on Huang Su’s face, “Has it been feeling small lately? Would you like to upgrade?”
“I-I…”
Luckily for her, before she was forced to give an answer, the reaper also arrived at the scene, only giving the flustered Sect Master a glance before turning her attention to Bianca and offering her a shallow bow.
“Sect Mistress. I hope your night has been fruitful.”
“Not really… but it’ll be fine. Pretty sure my skin is tougher than the shields I make anyway.”
She wasn’t completely wrong, though it depended on the nature of the attack. Being burned alive would be unpleasant no matter how tough her skin was, but the barrier could protect her to an extent, and although she had luckily avoided anyone attempting to stab her in the eyes or any other sensitive spots, she figured that they would be less tough compared to her skin.
As for her other skills, although she hadn’t tested them much, she knew that they would all have advanced by nearly one full step. Dominion’s Light was bound to be stronger and more destructive, Tormentor’s Strides already proved to be vastly more effective, and Abyssal Shield was probably able to take on fourth realm hits, though visually it looked just like before. Since she hadn’t practised it in combat yet, assumptions were the most she could do.
Her techniques weren’t much different. Tyrannical Deity worked as it always did, only pulling in more energy than before. Demonic Form appeared to have reached Full Success the moment her body lost all pigmentation, the moment she reached the fourth realm, and she had seen no additional changes since then. Finally, her cock had almost certainly grown quite a bit, but naturally, she’d been locked up since the breakthrough.
All in all, the fourth realm felt a little anticlimactic, though in part that was due to her not truly being in the fourth realm.
“T-Then… ahem, Mistress, should we head out? With my movement skill, I can get us there within a few hours, but searching for the correct spot might take more than that, fighting our way out if we end up in a trap could take even longer, and then returning will depend on how much energy I have left,” Huang Su gathered herself and said, getting everyone’s attention with that adorable little stutter.
To Bianca’s delight, she seemed to have no intentions of removing her butt plug, which meant that she’d be travelling about, potentially meeting someone important, while carrying yet another of Bianca’s marks.
“Yes, it would be best to set out before too long. Besides, who knows what the sender of the message intended – it may be that it was an invitation for an early morning visit, since it was sent in the morning, or perhaps the tenth also refers to the hour, or specifically to the hour, and we are now way too late to visit them,” Bianca responded, subduing the lustful ideas rising to the forefront of her mind with cold, hard logic about something far more mundane.
“While that is possible… it would also mean that we are too late regardless.”
“Yeah, sure. Have you got the body?”
“I do,” Huang Su confirmed, “I think it would be best for me to keep it, just in case it is a necromancer trap. It is a very useful tool in proving their nefarious plans, after all.”
“Just checking, I wouldn’t want to be carrying around a body anyway. I’m surprised it’s still in good condition… anyway, Huang Su, if you will.”
The Sect Master nodded and reached out with her energy, the others coming closer to make it easier for her. It condensed into flaming feathers that wrapped around them, and with a sudden motion, they were in the sky, carried on wings of flame towards the north-east.
Down below, Han Rushu paced behind Su Gong as she went into detail on the new crafting method she had found.
“… and while it may be a bit different from your Moon-type technique, I couldn’t find much else. This Coldflame Forging is a pure yin-type method, and allows for the creation of artefacts under a variety of conditions, but it most specialised towards making them in yin flame – which we don’t currently have, just in case you couldn’t tell.”
She had intended to present a method to her days ago, but it proved rather challenging to come across something of use. So, she instead spent the prior days training Su Gong in the basics of holding and swinging a hammer, mainly to just help the girl build a little muscle – she would’ve needed to actually work on something, even if it was relatively insignificant, to learn more than that, and as it was, she really needed the stamina training.
“Y-Yeah, I… I was about to say, this fire is… rather hot… hah…” the poor woman was sweating, experiencing direct exposure to a true blacksmithing flame for the first, and certainly not enjoying it even from a relatively large distance, “Why… why are we standing here, anyway?”
“… we’re outside the forge, if you’re already melting, you’ll have a difficult time.”
In that moment, the flash of light travelling overhead caught their attention, both of them turning to look upon the blazing wings that surged forth and flew away from the sect grounds.
“Whoa… was that Elder Huang Su?”
“Elder- right, you call her that… yeah, that’s her. If I had to guess, the Sect Mistress, kitsune and… is that the reaper? Anyway, I guess they have somewhere to be, again. Don’t worry about them, this place is safe.”
“Right… um, what do you call her?”
“Who?”
“Elder Huang Su.”
“… You don’t want to know,” the blacksmith shook her head, “Regardless, we need to stay on topic. Getting a feel for the crafting method while you’re standing in the flames of the forge – even if it’s outside of it, you pu- um, novice – should help you prepare for the inevitable heat you’ll face inside. Understood?”
“Yes, master… um, is it actually this hot all the time?”
“It’s usually hotter, since that’s just the flames burning unattended.”
“Heavens… how are you able to endure something so overwhelming?” Su Gong said, looking to Han Rushu with a pleading look.
“If you’re hoping for some kind of major secret, there isn’t one. I’ve got draconic blood – hence the thing you happened to see – and the others that have been in there just… got used to it.”
“Others?”
“Yu Juan had visited me a lot back in the Dancer’s Abode, and she seemed to have no trouble with it. Our Sect Mistress, too, was able to endure the flames on her first exposure to them.”
That made Su Gong pout a little, not that Han Rushu could blame her. While Yu Juan was one thing, Bianca was a bit of an exception to most rules, whether in the positive or negative sense. Therefore, if she was able to endure the heat of the flames, it could’ve just been something peculiar about her constitution that allowed her to do so, not something to be expected of a regular person.
“… So, I’m just going to have to get used to it?”
“Yes, that is what I said. Eventually, the heat won’t even phase you, and you’ll probably grow to like sweating in the heat, slamming the hammer away at the metal until… something. If you know what you’re doing, you can generally succeed every single time, though my particular set of methods…”
The blacksmith paused, unsure if she should explain, but her disciple’s curious expression was too hard to dismiss.
“My specialty is forgeries, imitating higher grade materials with lower grade ones. In particular, I’m really good at creating star metal replicas, although those with keen eyes will be able to discern the truth no matter how good your attempt is,” Han Rushu explained.
“Are you… a scammer?”
“No! Well, unless you count those that are fooled when fighting against you,” she lied without hesitation, and luckily for her, Su Gong seemed to buy it, “Furthermore, while the weapons may not truly be star metal, this is still a craft that involves a lot of effort, and still requires high quality results to be convincing. If viewed purely as weapons for a wielder of a given realm, they’re superior to many conventional artefacts.”
That seemed to impress her, as she looked on with admiration and nodded.
“I’m impressed, master! I’m glad that I am learning from you directly, and… I’m sorry.”
“Huh?”
“I won’t be able to train in your exact method, after all, so I will not be able to carry forward your proud tradition…”
‘The fuck is she talking about… I just started making fakes to scam dumbass kids that thought that they would just stumble across star metal out in a random shop, and until Bianca and her kitsune whore, it worked perfectly,’ Han Rushu just barely contained her expression, managing to remain neutral, “Ah, don’t worry about it. It’s only a method, it’s nothing much.”
“Master! It’s your life’s work!”
‘It is?’
“I feel ashamed to be unable to continue that legacy… but I will do what I can to make it up to you, master!”
‘If you say it like that…’ the blacksmith ignored the swelling in her pants, glad that she was wearing something loose and baggy, and stepped up to her front, looking her firmly in the eyes, “All you need to do is learn properly, don’t start worrying over unnecessary things.”
“Master…” Su Gong’s eyes seemed to tear up, but then she sniffed, and then did it again and again, taking deeper sniffs each time, “What is… master, have you been working already? You… smell quite… strong.”
‘No, but this is so fucking hot… so I’ll make it seem like I’m not just letting my scent build up,’ Han Rushu nodded, “Ah, yes, I got started early, don’t worry about it.”
“I… I’m so sorry for being such a disappointment to you, master!”
‘… hah. I miss Yu Juan, she didn’t bother with any of this shit and just went straight to sucking my cock when we first met.’
As they flew over the trees, the silhouette of a rather different grove appeared within the distance. Amidst the greenery and regular foliage was a cluster of trees overwhelmed by brambles, near-black leaves and an eerie aura that even Bianca could feel, though considering that it wasn’t the product of her own technique, that made plenty of sense.
Regardless, it was an intimidating place, and from the scale, it seemed like it would take at least half a day to cross, and that was under the assumption that it was entirely trivial to walk through, which… she knew wasn’t the case.
Huang Su’s movement skill, the wings of flame that carried them forth, brought them to the outside of the forested area, and from up close, it looked even more intimidating.
Every single dim and dark tree was enveloped in brambles that had crimson pointed barbs all over them. The trees were so close together that even without the brambles, navigating them would’ve been incredibly challenging, requiring squeezing in between close trunks and branches, but with the brambles, it felt like actually getting in between the trees would be practically impossible.
She would have to squeeze in between brambles and crawl under others to get far.
“Well, this place is certainly eerie, so… that part of the description fits… How did this place even come about?”
Shouge Zhe shook her head, “There is nothing within my memory. It has been here for some time, and it arose with no obvious source. The closest that the reapers had been able to get to understanding this phenomenon was that the Yin energy permeating this place is flowing from somewhere… but it’s strange.”
“What is?”
“Despite there clearly being a flow of energy, it doesn’t come from any one spot, and no matter what we do to narrow down a direction or position, it is always different the next time it is checked.”
Huang Su nodded, “I noticed that oddity as we approached. It’s as if… imagine a room with a large number of objects. Every time you blink, they move around. You may try to approach one, to hold it in place, but when you blink, it will be gone, and you will have to wonder if you truly ever held it.”
Bianca frowned, looking around. There wasn’t an obvious aura, meaning that it was likely not concentrated enough for her sight to pick up, so she couldn’t spot anything that was amiss, though she couldn’t deny that the place felt oddly cold and unpleasant, something about it feeling… wrong.
“Well… this place would fit the necromancers, but at the same time, it seems like a place most wouldn’t bother going to, so it should make for a private meeting spot. Huang Su, take the lead,” Bianca gestured forward, and the Phoenix Sect’s leader agreed without hesitation, her energy spreading out from her in preparation for blocking any threats.