NOVEL NEXT Xia Xuefeng Interlude 3
Transmigrated back into the body of her child self, can the mighty Celestial Bing Meilu survive in a Xianxia world all the while staving off the advances of arrogant young masters and wannabe protagonists alike?
Why is life so hard for the Icy Beauty?
Any corrections or criticisms are welcome, I hope you enjoy Xia Xuefeng Interlude 3
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“Who's there?” Xia Xuefeng asked, with more confidence than she felt.
The chittering laugh rang out once more and a figure seemed to swell up from the shadows, a man appearing. He looked distinctly savage, covered in crude bone and leather armour.
“Just a hungry fellow…” the savage smirked. There was a leg in his hand covered in scraps of meat, that he gnawed from. It took her a moment to realize it was a human leg. “And I think I might have just found a meal.”
She felt nauseous. Human meat? Cannibals? What the fuck was this place?
Demonic, unsettling qi issued from him, chilling her to the bone. This man was without a doubt one of the reviled ‘demonic cultivators’... and he was in the fifth stage of Qi Condensation.
Xia Xuefeng blinked for a moment. Then, she began to laugh. The man looked at her in confusion for only a moment.
Her own Qi flared, a bloody red aura erupting around her, followed by the wailing of crucified souls. Eight Stage of Qi Condensation. She stepped forward threateningly. The savage man’s eyes widened and he immediately fell to his knees, holding up his palms in surrender.
“Wait! Please, I had no clue I was speaking to a demonic cultivator of such means. I-I was only joking around a little- I wasn’t going to do anything?” the man said, eyes widening with each step Xia Xuefeng took towards him. “You wouldn’t h-hurt little old me, right? My master can compensate you for sparing me, he’s also an eighth-stage cultivator, just like your esteemed self.”
This was the first time she was clearly superior in cultivation in a situation like this. It was almost refreshing to be on the other end for once.
‘What would Mistress Bing Meilu do in a situation like this?’
“Tell me your name.” Xia Xuefeng ordered austerely as if she were some respectable expert and not a scared girl out of her comfort zone. She even clasped her hands behind her back to sell the image.
“I’m called Revenant Boneclub, your ladyship. A servant to Lord Revenant.”
“Is that your birth name?”
“Uh… birthname? I guess not, but no one-”
“Tell me your birth name.”
“I-I was born Li Fuyang.”
“Alright, little Fuyang. Tell me about this place. I find myself in unfamiliar territory.”
“Of course. This is the Shadow Pit. It’s a holding ground for Demonic Cultivators like us. The Sect keeps demonic cultivators to be used as a challenge for their disciples in various ways. There are three tiers to the Pit. We in Qi Condensation are held in the first. Foundation Establishment cultivators are held in the second, and Core Formation cultivators are held in the final layer.”
“Is there a way out of this place?”
“Unless you think you can take on the entirety of Port Snake and plan to kill your way out, no. ”
“You said we are to be used as a challenge? Tell me how that works.”
“They hold sect entrance trials, which often involve killing a demonic cultivator of a certain rank, in which case they’ll grab some of us to do it. Or maybe a certain disciple needs a living human to test a technique against, we would be used as test dummies. Every decade or so they hold a ‘hunt’ and come in to thin out our numbers, with disciple rewarded for killing us.”
Xia Xuefeng felt a headache building up. How could she be sent to such a miserable place? She felt a rising anger at the Sect for not giving her even the slightest chance to defend herself. She was sure there was some kind of misunderstanding. No way had Bing Meilu given her some illegal technique… right?
'This is bad! Even if I survive being in here from the inhabitants, I might still be killed when they hold a sect trial or thin us out!'
“What goes on when you aren’t being used as a trial? How do you live?”
“Well, not all that different from any Demonic Sect,” Fuyang shrugged. “Cept no one can leave.”
‘Am I supposed to know what that means? But if I seem too ignorant, I might out myself as not being an actual demonic cultivator!’
“And what are the particular powers and regions I should be aware of? How many demonic cultivators are there here?”
“Our population is probably somewhere in the low ten thousand. Most of us congregate in Night City. and there are also a few large towns and bases. The largest powers include The Samsara Revenants, which I’m a part of, led by Lord Revenant, in the eighth stage. Then there is the Flavoured Tongues Sect, which is headed by a ninth-stage cultivator, and the Xu Clan Auction House run by the old merchant in the tenth stage.”
‘Given this tier of the Shadow Pit is for only those in Qi Condensation, I’m actually amongst the strongest here. Thank the Gods. Hopefully, I can survive long enough to figure a way out.’
“Well, Fuyang, take me to your boss. If I’m going to be stuck in this pit, I should get to know the people in it.”
“Of course.”
Fuyang shakily walked through creeping caverns. Xia Xuefeng was utterly lost, as they strode through identical caves, filled with moss, slime and bones. Somehow Fuyang seemed to know where he was going.
Eventually, they reached a barricade, skulls set up with threatening signs painted on the walls in blood.
‘Revenant Territory - Progress no further!’
Fuyang strode past the barricade confidently, and the girl followed.
The cave widened into a large waterlogged cavern, almost an underground pond. Glowing algae lit up the water enough to see with the unaided eye. In the center of the pond stood a ramshackle building, made of bones. Three people sat, playing cards by the outside. A man and woman in the seventh stage of Qi Condensation, and what looked to be a young child in the sixth.
Xia Xuefeng and Fuyang strode towards them. The savage waved cheerfully at the three. He suddenly jumped towards them.
“Guys! Attack!”
Xia Xuefeng blinked. Was he really-
A dagger of bone flew past her face as she narrowly dodged. Fuyang and the three other savages all drew their weapons, rushing toward the bewildered Xia Xuefeng.
“Hey! I spared your life!” Xia Xuefeng shouted, shocked at his 'outrageous' betrayal.
The man in the seventh stage, wielding a long sharpened bone sword, slashed at her, cleaving a trail of bloody-red energy through the air. Xia Xuefeng narrowed her eyes, hot embers of anger lighting within her.b
Her body trembled as the crosses within her Dantian shuddered, blood-red qi flooding out of her body and forming a swirling whirlpool.
'Battle Art - Blood Demon's Whirlwind.'
The slash of bloody energy was pulled into her swirling red whirlwind, only growing it in size. The horrifying sound of crucified souls filled the air as Xia Xuefeng's Qi flooded through her body, causing her to glow with a crimson inner light.
Xia Xuefeng exploded forward, ripping through the air. Her foot smashed into Fuyang's face, and she felt his neck snap backwards. Xia Xuefeng was only three stages above him in cultivation, but with a divine-level manual, the difference in strength was like Heaven and Earth.
Blood spurted from his cracked neck, rich with Qi and life essence. A horrifyingly powerful hunger filled her, but she pushed it down. There was no way she'd consume human blood. She was no fucking cannibal.
Decisively she spun around to face the sword-wielding man. He lunged at her, his bone sword glowing white with sharp Qi.
Meanwhile, the bone dagger-wielding woman attacked from the other side. her blades elongated into swords of shadow. Two attacks from seventh-stage cultivators was not something a normal eighth-stage could just ignore.
A normal eight-stage cultivator.
'Battle Art - Red Lotus Dress'
Blood poured from Fuyang's corpse, filling her mudstained robe and hardening. The bone sword and shadow knives slammed into her dress and slid off uselessly.
Xia Xuefeng's two hands shot out like vipers, wrapping around the wrist of both enemies. She tossed them through the air, watching as they slammed into the rock walls of the cave with explosive cracks.,
Now she-
Now she should commit suicide.
Xia Xuefeng blinked.
Now she should commit suicide.
Of course. It was the natural next step in the fight. A nail of blood-qi formed in her hand and she lifted it to her throat, smiling. Fuyang had seemed to think he could trick her, but she seemed to be winning this easily.
Now she should commit suicide.
There was hauntingly beautiful music playing, a flute. Listening to such music was almost inspiring. It made her really want to do the right thing. Take her own life.
Her sharpened nail pressed up into the flesh of her neck, pushing through skin and drawing blood. She paused. Something felt off.
"Of course! My dress is in the way."
Her Red Lotus Dress would only get in the way of her committing suicide. She should take it off.
Then why had I put in on in the first place? I mean, a battle skill I learned from a godlike cultivation manual can't be bad, right?
Everyone will feel let down if she didn't die. Is that really the reputation she wanted? She should commit suicide.
Xia Xuefeng's head was ringing painfully. She knew Qi could reinforce the body in all sorts of ways, so she automatically flooded her body with Qi, attemtping to banish the pain.
Her Qi slammed into something near the meridians of her head. A clawing, vile, cold Qi. The Qi attempted to push her back, and instinctually she crushed it, the Thirty-Six blood-crosses in her Dantian erupting with bloody energy that ripped through her meridians like a geyser, pushing out every impurity.
Xia Xuefeng blinked, eyes focusing on the sight of a small child frantically playing his flute. Ghostly Yin qi flooded from it in thin strings, attempting to latch onto her. Looking closer, she could see it was malformed. Not a child, perhaps not even human.
Battle Art - Impaling Nail of the Crucifix
Her nail quietly flew through the air, like a silent punishment from Heaven, it slammed into the tiny midget, nailing his hand to the stone of the cave. It let loose a blood-curdling scream, sobbing, sounding every bit like a small child who had hurt themselves.
She felt a wave of guilt and motherly instinct, she should stop-
Xia Xuefeng once more cleansed herself with her Qi. That was it. Two nails formed in her hands, growing in size until they resembled hellish spears of blood. They ripped forward, stabbing through the air.
The spears slammed into the creature's throat and lungs.
"No more music for you then," Xia Xuefeng spat, eyes burning.
The sword-wielding man and knife-wielding woman were both laying unconscious where she'd thrown them on the wall. Enhancing her sight, Xia Xuefeng narrowed her eyes. Playing dead?
She formed four Impaling nails and fired them, two each, at the 'knocked out' enemies.
They both exploded with motion, jumping out of the way. Hastily the man pulled out a red talisman from his pocket and shattered it.
"Lord Revenant, we need immediate reinforcement. An eight-stage cultivator, Fuyang and Lili are dead."
A moment later, she felt a powerful Qiu in the eighth stage erupt from the building in the center of the pond.
"How dare you interrupt my cultivation?" a voice imperiously shouted.
A man in a tattered black robe jumped out the window of the fortress, body covered in black and white fog. He caught sight of the blood-covered Xia Xuefeng and roared angrily.
"I'll kill you!"
Lord Revenant, who was in the eighth stage of Qi Cultivation, leaped towards her, palms outstreched like bony claw, misty light swirling around him. His qi was spectral and ghostly, like an undead come to life.
Xia Xuefeng lengthened a Nail of Crucifixion into a spear and stabbed it forward. His hands and her spear crashed together, knocking them both back. A moment later she slashed her spear like a staff, blocking yet another frenzied claw attack.
'I'm faster than him,' Xia Xuefeng thought. 'And stronger. But I'm low on Qi from the fight earlier. If it's one on one, I might win-'
Both of the seventh-rank cultivators from earlier charged her, together with Lord Revenant.
Xia Xuefeng knew that the cultivation manual Bing Meilu had given her, the Bllod Anthem of the Crucified, was something very ancient and powerful. The Sealing mark within her attested to its deep origins. If she was at full Qi capacity, she was confident she could beat even these three.
Sadly, she was not. She would have to consume blood to power herself... and the only blood here was human. Xia Xufeng gulped in disgust and unwillingness.
"I guess I am going to be a fucking cannibal!"