Chapter 5: A New Master
4 years ago.
Liao Lusheng was looking through documents, writing down miscellaneous data, when he noticed Tongku was standing by his side, silently. She had appeared so quietly there, it made Liao Lusheng jump a bit, considering how long she might have been looming there silently, watching him.
"You, what do you want?" He carried a slight annoyance in his tone, but it also held in it too much familiarity that it almost felt invitative rather than the obverse.
"I think I may be twelve soon." She explained. "Well, no, maybe I've already been twelve for a while, I don't know, but…I'm a little scared. I'm scared; what comes after twelve. Will my world be the same?"
Liao Lusheng was a little confused, setting down his brush to turn to his little ward he had raised. Yes, more a ward now than a subordinate; more a ward than a pet; more a ward than even a tool he might use. He noticed now that this little ward looked a little scared. The normally psychotic little beast that he had raised incredibly loyal to himself, now looked frightened for the first time. He had thought it had no fears at all.
He opened an arm. And she rushed inside it in response, holding his waist tight, and leaning against him sitting in his chair. "you'll be okay, how can your world change? you will continue to be by my side, serving me till you die."
She looked upward, toward his sharp chin. "Till death?" She wondered.
"Yes," he rubbed her hair back with one hand, petting it while he went back to his documents with the other. "It means, you will serve me with all your being forever."
"But death…that's not forever."
"It's forever for us," he responded, "Can we ask for more from someone?"
***
She had recognized his face at one point. A face from the memories forced into her brain by the system earlier. He was Jun Moye, a sort of the villain of the story, also kind of the second male lead, but more like the sexual harasser of the fl. He was tall, handsome, and dangerous. Not as tall and strong as the male lead, but far more wicked.
The wave of warriors hit them, easily 7 of them. The one in the lead was the strongest, she let deal with him, while she took on four others. 2 stayed back, bows drawn, ready to fire.
She blocked the first hit, smacking another in the head with her broken hand -quite a painful maneuver without her gauntlet- grabbing the man's wrist, whose blow she misdirected, and piercing his acupoint in his wrist, to make him drop the weapon, kicking it up with her toes to catch it, and cutting off the first neck that came into view.
Meanwhile, the villain was doing worse than she thought. He was actually getting beat back, panting heavily from whatever he was poisoned with.
She grit her teeth, pulling out her best techniques to knock out those surrounding her. However, it was already too late, the two in the back had drawn their bows, as she leapt to protect her man. Jun Moye stumbled back, but still caught his opponent's weapon from a heavy blow, she arrived behind the man in less than the time it took to breathe out, slipping inside the man's unprotective stance from being, to gut him in the neck, as two arrows shot toward them, one, with a push from her, was blocked by the large man's body the other…She had no way to block other than her own arm, which whipped out without hesitation. The arrow dug deep into her forearm, passing through it to the other side, stopping, the edge centimeters from Jun Moye's face.
She smirked, dropping her arm and glancing over, "Not bad, yes?"
He coughed, falling back against the wall, she leapt forward to chase the two running away. One died to a thrown blade, the other she tackled, and stabbed to death with his own arrow. She strode back to help him up, breaking off the end of the arrow and pulling it out, to wrap up tightly to save blood loss. She helped him up, it was obviously not a snake venom sort of poison, blood draining was probably pointless at this point.
"Ready?" She asked kindly, he didn't respond, before she fisted her left hand, punching it into his stomach, with it, a burst of qi, he lurched forward, hurling, throwing up some gross stomach fluids, and cloudy qi circulated up from it. She had found poisons in this world very strange. The one he had was similar to some on earth, but it still..Wasn't normal in the least. "It's the first step of the cure." she explained, before getting under him, letting him lean on her with his large frame, to get him to walk quicker.
He didn't speak, neither to tell her to help nor to tell her to not help. She figured he hated this.
She also figured his cultivation should help him hold on against further treatments after ridding most of the poison from him, until they made it to the top. She had always enjoyed medicines and science. perhaps because she had grown up relying on them to live for more than half her life. One day, perhaps she would get the chance to study them, even if she wasn't very smart, she was at least a little creative, she ought to get somewhere studying them.
She kept pulling him forward, stopping when they encountered enemies, to engage, fighting them off while protecting him, and continuing to bring him upward.
They were running out of time. But so was the distance to the top. She finally brought him out the exit he had lead her towards from the first floor (she'd required his direction for the second and first floors) coming out a secret exit, where she paused, to look back, pulling him behind a rock formation just in time for the town, that she found the blood cult to be situated directly under, to rumble, sinking in a little, before exploding outward, debris and dirt flying overhead, as a giant explosion ripped over the entire area.
The explosives she'd lined the entire third and fourth floors with were indeed effective. Far more effective than she'd ever hoped them to be. Where once was the blood cult, situated under a simple town, was now simply a sink hole of rubble, no one still inside had survived.
"I…Didn't realize our fortress had a self-detonation set in place." Commented Jun Moye to himself, kneeling next to her.
"Yea." Nodded Tongku, "I don't think it did."
He keeled forward. She caught him, placing him in a sitting position. "Here, let's get that poison out permanently." She sat behind him, sending demonic qi into his vessels, like hers, they were also filled with demonic qi. However, this qi, unlike hers, was wild, untameable, and very destructive, it would have easily eaten her own alive, if he didn't reign it back. He was indeed the heir of the blood cult. Fine, she was kinda jealous. She helped guide out all the impurities from his vessels and body, cleaning out the poison completely.
He handed her bandages and salve after. She wrapped up all his wounds, before kneeling to wait for further instruction.
He gestured for her to rise, they strode barely out of the path of most of the debris, when around them, shadows instantly appeared.
The head shadow came forward bowing, "I've failed you, young lord."
Jun Moye simply ordered. "Prepare to take 150 lashes when you return, the rest," his eyes flowed over all the others, "100."
They all seemed relieved, as if surprised none had died. Tongku was wondering how they planned to survive more than 50 of the lashes of the blood cult. Cultivation must be very high. Or maybe the lasher liked them.
"This is.." The one in front, with luscious, thick hair, had his eye locked to Tongku, standing quietly behind Jun Moye.
Jun Moye got out of the way, gesturing her forward. "He will join you as a shadow, take him back, get him washed up and clothes, and we will have the shadow ceremony tomorrow night."
"A shadow?" Tongku raised an eyebrow, Jun Moye whirled around to her, suddenly his black qi, the emperor blood qi, burst out from him, trapping her in place, grabbing her shoulder, his sharp, clawlike glove made of metal rubbed the burn on her neck. "You will be my shadow, or you die here. You, as a prisoner of the blood cult, have had your life already forsaken."
She bowed. "Understood." She knelt down, "I will serve you as your shadow till death then."
The head shadow narrowed his eyes. He made a scornful face at her mangled hand. She came to join them, following him back. The rest of the shadow disappeared into the vicinity as if they didn't exist. "You left-handed?" He asked, not two steps away, still eyeing her mangled hand.
She shook her head.
"Hmph." He sniffed arrogantly. "You better do your job worthy of the young lord's shadow guard. If he is ever displeased, he will not hesitate to kill you. And you death will be under the worst tortures of the blood cult, screaming toward the gates of hell in your final moments." Right, most of them had been trained specifically, singled out since birth for their martial talent to serve as the young lord's shadow. It was an honored position they worked all their lives for, all they lived for. Yet, she, some crippled nobody with the scar from a prisoner neckband was just allowed to join?
She nodded quietly.
She followed them back to their new base.
The journey over was quite wonderful. She was boarded onto a large magical vessel and they had flown, the air felt fresh on her cheeks the whole way. But her new master simply ignored her presence, and after their near death experience, she felt it was a little unearned.
Tt was located several li away, unlike the last one, hidden under a small town, this one was the entirety of a mountain. It was the 'real' base. There was no such thing. But this was the base of all bases. This wasn't where soldiers were trained, it was where soldiers were gathered to battle. It was the 'final boss' base.
She was given a simple garment to change into first, since her black garb would be given after the ceremony, and after they arrived in the early morning, found a place to sleep in the flat rock room she was locked up in.
It finally came time for the ceremony. She was brought to a smaller room, all of his shadows were there, lining either side. At one end of the room, opposite the entrance was a grand, blood cult altar, a cloaked man standing before it, with a bowl set out, several knives set out before him.
Jun Moye was also there, on the left side of the altar. She knelt before it.
The cloaked man began to chant. She held out her arm. Her right one, as was right. the man frowned beneath his hood, turning to Jun Moye. Jun Moye just nodded. Even if her right hand was destroyed, tradition spoke that it was only the right that was placed upon with the spell. to change it, would be to mess up the spell itself. If a shadow retired, his right arm would be destroyed, in this case, her right hand was already gone. It made no real sense that she should get this seal to that man. Only Jun Moye saw how she could use a mutilated hand. She held out her right arm quietly. The knife cut into her flesh, but unlike a normal cut, only the cold of the blade being the sensation in that first moment, this one, the moment it touched flesh, seemed to sear into her, as it it were a tatting pen, but a thousand times more painful, since it not only hit the top of her skin, but somehow it struck the nerves of her meridians itself, which she didn't know existed, striking deep into her instantly, as if each touch of the blade went straight through her arm to inside her bones. The meridians screamed at her to stop it, as the man continued to place several precise cuts into her flesh, making the seal over her forearm. He paused, blood had pooled from her dripping wounds in her arm into the bowl beneath it.
Jun Moye stepped forward, picking up a knife to bleed his own palm, blood fell onto her arm, a streak of pain went up her, and suddenly she felt her arm no longer belonged to her. It was traumatizing to her cultivation. If one didn't have high enough cultivation it would directly collapse, but already, the pain made it hard to think straight.
It was then she heard Jun Moye, "Add the second."
Second? There was only one seal of a shadow! Only the worst prisoners they used to suicide battle would be given a different seal, a seal that guaranteed their deaths if they were to disobey, is this the one?
Looking up at the man in the cloak, and seeing him gesture to reveal her neck, she knew it really was that. Sadist! She bit her teeth, as the cuts went into her neck. It felt hard to breathe at some places, she was sure she blacked out a couple times, but against all else, she made sure to not struggle to escape even a little, nor cry out in pain, and although some tears fled her eyes, mixing with the blood, her face remained unaffected. She hadn't seen a neck seal on anyone else in his shadow guard. He indeed…still had no trust for her.
She looked up during the process to glare a little at him, but he remained impassive. Finally, it was finished, he came to pour his blood over it, her entire body was soaked in her own blood, she felt lightheaded, the moment the pain took over her from his blood, she finally just stiffened upright in a seizure of agony, blacking out.
Around her, the shadow guards watched her thrust upward a little, before stiffening again. The ceremony continued a little longer until it finished, but when the cloaked man called to rise, they realized she didn't move with them, already passed out, still kneeling upright. Well, they had already been shocked that not a cry of pain escaped from that, nor that he had tried to flee or resist in any way.
But this…to pass out but still not fall over? The determination was a bit much.
Luo Lifu came forward, after everyone left but one other shadow to tap her shoulder. Her eyes slowly open, and body would have collapsed if he didn't catch her shoulder, thrusting a red pill into her mouth.
"Wh-"
"Don't say a thing, eat it, and get up, an invalid shadow is a useless shadow, a useless shadow doesn't exist, I will happily make certain of that."
She nodded, standing back up, trying not to sway to either side, he made an annoyed face, grabbing her shoulder to help her back, the other shadow, a man with a long braid, carried her new clothes. They brought her to a simple room with a couple hammocks and blankets. "As a shadow, you can sleep here, I will teach you techniques during the morning hours. Follow Ren Bo here and replicate what he does when I'm not teaching you."
She nodded again. The pill helped her regain some blood loss, but it was still excessive.
The next morning, true to his word, Luo Lifu trained her.
With a thick staff that he enjoyed beating with her and a harsh tone, it didn't leave her notice that was already more friendly toward her presence than the previous day. As if during the ceremony his perspective on her had changed a little.
He continued this training every morning, after his work shift ended, until he went to sleep.
She did her best to quickly learn all the shadow arts, such as hiding, scouting, formation fighting and so on.
She was improving quickly, but it was only a week before Luo Lifu called her and the rest to inform them to move out, but his hand on her shoulder, as he passed by her before leaving left a, "Doesn't mean I won't still be drilling you the whole way there."
And, indeed, he made good on his word.
They took a smaller boat artifact to this destination, compared to what they used to move base to their large mountain.
They were heading to the Mt. Bai Sect, who had been the ones to attack them first. Well, it all started since some Blood Cult members were running around in the mountains near Mt. Bai, and the large sect there, one of the most powerful in the world, got angry about it, attempting to force them out, the blood cult resisted, and thus a conflict was created. It was then that Mt. Bai went full offensive, declaring a small war, and finding one of their largest bases, hidden underground, when to raid it. Only, no one predicted that after the majority of their forces went into it, it would be blown to pieces, killing most of the Bai Sect. This left the Bai sect to hastily retreat back to their mountain, and the blood cult, who had originally been planning to keep hiding, biding their time to get more strength and unify all their bases, who had been training up loyal soldiers for decades, after taking out Mt. Bai's strongest forces decided to pursue them.
Mt. Bai also happened to be the origin of the MC's mother who was deceased in the story, but had still passed down the white lotus bloodline, a highly yin-concentrated one, and were also the strongest forces behind her when fighting against the powerful blood cult.
They were a long-standing, major powerhouse in this world. This massive blow, the blood cult had to take advantage before the other sects made alliances and bound together, making it impossible to take over the world.
As heir of the blood cult, Jun Moye was beholden to lead this expedition, perhaps this was expedited by his brother as well, who was attempting to defame him for cowardice, and wanting him to never return from such a dangerous objective.
They were heading first to a town at the base of the mountains situated around the magnificent mt. Bai, defending it from all angles, in this town they hoped to meet the Hao clan, who had a strong alliance with the Blood Cult to gather information.
In fact, the Hao clan had, at the moment the Bai invaded the blood cult, sent a majority of its forces over that way, to prepare ahead of time, and gather information for further invasions. The victory of the Blood cult was unprecedented, and unexpected for all of them, and the hao clan only sent more people in response. Their information was vital, thus, they were the first stop. However, it still took several days to get there.
"Faster!" He commanded her, she focused harder, her feet pacing lightly across the ground in vigorous steps, they beat the floor faster. He sneered at her attempt, "Did I say quicker? No. I meant faster!"
She grit her teeth, attempting to follow his unreliable explanation.
Above them, her new master had come out of his cabin for once, and had left his place at the helm to now glower over them, watching quietly, Luo Lifu came over to bow a little. "My lord."
He nodded quietly, before leaping down to all their surprise.
Many had been bored, just relaxing around the deck watching her training with nothing else to do, and throwing shade excitedly whenever she messed up. As their only entertainment, it became quite fun to see if they could throw their guazi at her while snacking, to make her slip or slow down, or make her make noise in shadow form or lose focus, and get berated by Luo Lifu again.
However, the moment Jun Moye leapt down, silence came over all of them.
He stared at her for a long moment. She had also stopped moving the moment his feet hit the deck, standing quietly as she regained her breath, a drop of sweat fled down her brow, and cheekbone, dropping to her chest. Her hair was tied back loosely in a low pony tail like usual.
He looked around, catching sight of one of his subordinates' weapons, held out his hand, and it flew into it. a thin, long blade, completely black.
He tossed it to her, drawing his own. "Duel." he simply stated.
She caught the blade, testing its weight a couple times in one hand, she tossed it down, to imbed it in the ground, turning around to grab her gauntlet from where she had left it on a barrel nearby, and strapping it onto her arm. She had gone to the blacksmith during the night hours to help a blacksmith make it into the desired shape. No one had stopped her, Ren Bo sometimes followed her to see what she was up to. She had yet to try this one out. It had several, small, sharp hooks in it (like small curved blades) pointing either way, and was made of thick steel, sheeting her entire forearm and hand
She walked back over, flicking up the thin sword into her hand. Indeed, it was light enough to use in one hand. quite nice. She got into a defensive posture.
No sooner did she activate her qi, when he was sprinting at her.
She didn't take his blow head on. She had felt the power of his qi, when carrying him she had also felt just how much muscle mass he had. It was not something she wanted to attempt. Instead, she used the shadow step she had learnt to step to his side. Only, she had vastly underestimated his agility, he followed her step, even faster than she had articulated it, it seemed he'd learnt the shadow arts as well. She had no choice then, her gauntlet raised, taking on the blow of his sword, coming in at an inconvenient angle, but no matter how inconvenient, since her gauntlet was merely an extension of her arm, and almost as if a metal arm, it really meant nothing to her. Easily catching what would normally be a tricky strike, at her lower waist, and not only did she catch it, her hooks latched onto it, twisting her arm so that they were grabbing it from being removed quickly, and negating the brunt of the attack, as her sword whipped upward toward his collar. He had no choice but to leap backward, taking his sword back at an uncomfortable angle. Everyone around was shocked, after she had somehow made their heir of the blood cult, with his special bloodline, take a step back.
He, on the other hand, merely seemed to grow excited, suddenly his aura completely changed, his eyes turned to a deep red, his entire self radiated power, black flames whipping around him, the heat from them twisting the light in the air around him, so that it looked like the air was contorting with his body. She on the other hand, also activated more qi to cover her gauntlet and blade, concentrating all of it there, leaving her body open, since his qi was so powerful, it would easily consume her own if she didn't heavily guard it and concentrate it to inhuman levels.
Sweat poured over her brow from the intense amount of mind power she used to control it, leaping out of the way of his first blow, coming from above, imply back stepping, and when his next blow came from below, coming up from the slit it had made in the magical artifact's deck, she was ready to take it, her gauntlet slammed into it, she leapt on top of her gauntlet at that moment, so all his power from his blow went into the gauntlet and then her body, now airbound, flying through the air, circling around him to sing the blade at his face in a back-handed grip.
he responded, since his sword wasn't captured this time, he used a strange shadow movement to twist around, almost turning completely into black, flame-like shadows, as his sword suddenly appeared at her shoulder, her own blade passing through nothing where his face had just been. She had no choice but to black again, this time, her legs falling into a squat to tank the power from his attack., and pulling it toward himself, with a cry of power, as her blade flew at his feet.
His sword threw off her attempt to redirect his blade, pure might throwing her backward.
Her back slammed into a box, she caught herself to her feet before her breath returned, but he was already upon her, blade from above. She could only raise the gauntlet to defend.
It slammed into her, driving her into the box she had already shattered to pieces, and into the deck landing behind her. Against the cabin wall she had no choice but to fight power with power, slowly losing as his blade drove itself closer to her neck.
Her left hand twitched, she spat at him, kicking at his waist, making him concentrate his guard, the sword, which had at one point no longer been in it, suddenly flew at him from behind. But seeing the twitch of her hand, he had already sensed something amiss, the blade was knocked back by his qi, and sent skidding across the ground out of reach.
She was overwhelmed by his force, the mighty blade, cut into her neck a little, his hungry qi lapping at her wound excitedly, only to be knocked back by his own seal drawn from his blood on her body.