*** Jia

I cheered when Astra took down the last of the cultivators from Fan Chen’s group that had been chasing her. The other three had been taken down at some point by the Peng family’s representative, though we don’t know how. Whenever the view the formation master was showing us would change to one of the disciples, they would already be charred husks on the ground, the Peng family’s representative taking their treasures. I was worried for Astra. If she ran into the cultivator, would she be okay?

I looked over at Zi Fu to see him lazily watching the events unfold within the hidden realm. He took another draught of alcohol from the container he seemed to pull out of nowhere. I could smell the drink on him and only hoped he would sober up when Astra returned.

When Astra engaged Chen Fan in a battle I was watching intently, hoping she could overcome the Sword Dao Palace disciple when she was so exhausted already. They finally broke apart from each other taking a moment to take stock of their opponent. They were about to re-engage when Fan Chen was covered by black and purple flames, his screams clear through the formation.

“NO!” Screamed the patriarch of the Fan clan.

I barely heard him over the rushing of the blood through my ears. Black and purple flames. Demonic cultivators.

Memories flashed through my mind from when I was a little girl. The city lord manor ablaze. Father fighting off myriad cultivators. Mother and the stewards running through the halls. The stewards and maids sacrificed themselves to the onslaught of demonic cultivators to protect my mother and I.

Finally we ran out to the courtyard where we were surrounded by demonic cultivators.

I tightened my fist into a ball at the memory. I was watching the fighting in the hidden realm with a renewed sense of tension as I watched the Peng family’s representative walk out from the jungle.

I felt Zi fu tense next to me as well. I looked over and he was laser focused on the Peng family now. I watched them give wary looks to the others gathered on the pavilion.

We watched as the Peng family’s representative wielded the black and purple flames. There was no doubt now. Their representative was a demonic cultivator.

The current city lord stood from his throne then, his guards drawing their weapons.

“Peng Kun! What is the meaning of this!” The city lord roared over the din of the crowd.

The Peng family patriarch floundered for a while before his demeanor changed completely. He stood straighter and when he spoke, his voice had this strange, deeper quality to it. The deeper notes overlapped with his normal voice making it sound like he was speaking double. His voice reverberated through me, shaking my body and bones. He felt like an entirely different person now.

“The time has come! Reveal yourselves brothers!” He shouted. I watched in muted horror as the crowd erupted into bedlam. In the midst of the crowd, three tall figures appeared from nowhere. Each had blazing red horns curling up into spirals above their heads, black leathery wings sprouting from their matching torsos. They were androgynous and their feet were replaced with hooves. I looked over to the Peng family and their patriarch had been replaced by another of the black, hooved figures.

Zi Fu burst into action, engaging one of the demons in the crowd. Other cultivators who weren’t panicking like the non-cultivators in the crowd joined in on the fight, doing their best to hold off the attacks of the demons. I joined the patriarch of the Zhou family in engaging the demon on the pavilion, but when we approached him, he moved past us quicker than I could track.

I heard the sounds of a few clashes behind me and I whirled around. The demon was standing in front of the current city lord, his guards strewn about on the ground in a pile.

“The contract states that I must kill you before I am set free permanently. I hope you’re ready to die, old man.” The demon stated in a silky smooth voice that belied its appearance.

I looked back to the patriarch of the Peng family, but he was nowhere to be found. He must have fled after summoning the demon.

The demon reached out to the city lord. My body moved before I could consciously understand what was happening. My body flooded with qi, increasing my perception and reaction speed. I subconsciously activated frozen flurry steps. I appeared next to the demon and struck out with my snow-white sword.

The blade cut through the demon’s arm before it could react. Deep purple blood flooded out of the demon’s stump before the arm on the ground dissipated into silvery motes before coalescing back onto the demon’s body. Instead of making a new arm, the motes formed into the silvery blade of a sword.

The demon struck out at me with its new appendage, but with my body cultivation improving my perception I was able to block it with my sword. The force of the strike launched me backward a few body lengths. This bought enough time for patriarch Zhou to engage the demon. His cultivation was higher than mine and he was able to stop the follow up strike from the demon at the current city lord.

We were holding off the demon on the pavilion, but I wasn’t sure how Zi Fu was handling the demons in the crowd. I didn’t have the luxury of looking away from the demon in front of me so I just had to hope the nascent soul realm cultivator was handily beating back the demons.

Before we could react in time, a smaller, lithe looking demon appeared behind the city lord and thrust its fist through his chest. He was unable to put up any resistance due to his advanced age and I watched in horror as the demon let his body slump to the ground.

“The contract has been upheld! Raze this puny human city to the ground!” The demon I was thinking of as the leader yelled out over the crowd.

I heard myriad cries of demons ring out through the city, a cacophony of scratchy cheers all melding together into one voice that made my head swim. That wasn’t good. It was more than just the demons here in the plaza.

I needed to hamper the movements of the demon we were fighting. I thought back to the new restriction technique I had yet to try out yet and decided there was no better time. I activated Fetters of Abjuration and icy white chains sprouted from the ground. They wrapped around the demon, doing their best to hold him in place.

The demon struggled against its icy bindings. The chains seemed to reinforce the ground they attached to, preventing the demon from just ripping the ground up with the chain. White ground expanded from the source of the chains, creating a zone around the demon of pure white speckled with black impurities. A deep almost blue hue sat deeply in the depths of the ice, mirroring the ground and setting the sky upside down in front of me.

The patriarch of the Zhou family made the most of the opening I gave him. He struck out at the demon with sparks of lightning arcing off his body. His fist pierced the demon’s chest right where its heart should be. The demon staggered for a moment, it looked like it was going to falter, like we had killed it. Then it struck out with its arm, launching the Zhou family patriarch across the pavilion. Even with its limited range of motion due to the fetters, it still packed a punch.

The wound on its chest closed, slowly, replaced by the silvery sheen of metal.

“Was that all you puny humans can muster? We will conquer you all!” He said. On a whim I looked over to the formation watching Astra and watched as a red haired Sword Dao Palace disciple sliced clean through the head of the Peng family’s representative. I smiled.

I used Frozen Flurry Steps and appeared behind the demon, it tried to turn around quickly in its haste, putting it off balance. The chains slammed taught and it was frozen in place, unable to protect itself from the incoming attack. I sliced through its neck causing it to flop to the ground with two distinct thuds.

I took a deep breath. Killing the demon felt amazing. I turned around and looked out around the plaza. Two of the demons were unmoving on the ground of the plaza, with one more in Zi Fu’s grip.

Zi Fu squeezed the neck of the demon and separated its head from its body. He took the time to carry each of the demons onto the pavilion. I looked at him confused.

“Why are you carrying those dead bodies?” I asked him.

“These demons aren’t dead. You can’t kill a demon by inflicting damage to its physical body. Demons can only be sealed into objects. After that there are many ways to deal with a demon. Once sealed, the object it’s within can be cast into a volcano for instance, or thrown to the bottom of the ocean or into the hidden realm.” Zi Fu explained. I looked down to the demon I had beheaded and frowned.

“Are you sure? That thing looks pretty dead.” I told him, a flat expression on my face.

He shook his head.

“My master told me about this, I wouldn’t doubt his words on such a serious topic. I’m not sure how we’re going to be able to deal with these demons.” Zi Fu said. Just then, Astra appeared in the center of the teleportation formation along with a group of Sword Dao Palace disciples. I ran over to Astra and gave her a big hug.

*** Astra

My mood instantly improved. I found the medicinal herb Zi Fu needed to save his master! Now how was I supposed to get home? I guess I could wait until the hidden realm closes? Would I be locked into the hidden realm forever? I didn’t want that…

I started walking around the hidden realm but before I could make it very far I felt this weird… disturbance in the space around me. It felt like the hidden realm was breaking down or something.The space around me started undulating like waves on a lake during a storm. I felt everything around me shake and I fell to the ground, unable to keep my footing. I fell, but when I landed on the ground it wasn’t the ground of the jungle, but the grassy plain outside the entrance to the hidden realm.

I oriented myself and found where the hidden realm entrance had been. Now only empty air stood. I looked around and saw the remaining disciples from Fan Chen’s group and the red haired swordsman. There was no one else in the group. The number of casualties from this hidden realm was enormous. I felt a pit open in my stomach as the realization of how many victims the Peng family’s representative had killed.

We all walked over to the teleportation formation that brought us to the grassy plain, harrowed by the experience inside the hidden realm. The members of Fan Chen’s group looked at me in equal parts apprehension and gratitude. I nodded to them, no words needed to be said.

Once the teleportation formation activated we were all teleported back to Lu Bian city. But instead of the crowd of onlookers and friends I was expecting to be waiting for us, we were met by a scene of carnage and mayhem.

Bodies were strewn about the plaza around the teleportation formation. I looked up to the pavilion to see a blur of motion as Jia flew at me, wrapping me up in a huge hug. I looked at Zi Fu but lying next to the man were giant black bodies. I also saw the Zhou family patriarch. They were discussing something, but I couldn’t hear them from where I was.

“What happened here, Jia?” I asked my friend who still had her face buried in my chest.

She explained what had happened over the last few minutes and my eyes were wide by the time she finished her story.

“So now we need to find a way to seal the demons?” I asked her. She nodded.

“I was hoping that Text could help actually. Does he have any demon sealing books we could use?” She asked. I smiled at her.

Stolen content warning: this tale belongs on Royal Road. Report any occurrences elsewhere.

“I have a much better idea!” I told her.

I took out a bunch of the tier two and tier three beast cores from my storage ring. Jia’s eyes went wide when she saw me pull them out.

“Astra, what are you doing!?” She asked. I held up a hand to forestall any further questions.

“Text, if we create a sealing technique will I be able to seal the demons here in the city?” I asked.

“ANSWER: The minimum realm requirement to be able to seal lesser demons into objects is the core formation realm.” Text said. My shoulders slumped. Jia was still looking at me with a confused look on her face.

“I was hoping I’d be able to create a sealing technique of my own and I could save the day!” I told her, a pout on my face. She shook her head. I put all of the beast cores back into my storage ring.

“Let’s just ask Text if there are any sealing techniques we can take out of the inheritance.” she told me. With some trepidation, I cursed my low cultivation and asked Text about the sealing techniques left in the inheritance.

“ANSWER: There are currently one thousand three hundred and seventy one techniques related to sealing demons. Would you like a list of the techniques?” Text asked. I shook my head.

“Can you show us the techniques usable by someone in the nascent soul realm?” I asked Text.

“ANSWER: There are three hundred and forty one techniques related to demon sealing usable by someone in the nascent soul realm. Would you like a list of the techniques?” Text asked. I rolled my eyes but thought about ways I could further reduce the number of techniques. I looked over to the pile of demon bodies and got an idea.

“Can you give me the top five best techniques for sealing lesser demons that can be used multiple times?” I asked.

“ANSWER: The top five demon sealing techniques usable by someone in the nascent soul realm that can be used multiple times in a row are as follows.

Soul Technique: Five-fold light barrier sealing

Soul Technique: Compounded ethereal sealing

Soul Technique: Kaleidoscopic shifting barrier sealing

Soul Technique: Lesser demon sealing

Soul Technique: Tertrudo guarding barrier seal” Text said.

I looked at the list, but didn’t have any idea which technique we should use.

“Text, what’s the difference between sealing techniques? For instance, what’s the difference between the first and second technique in the list?” I asked.

“ANSWER: The five-fold light barrier sealing technique requires five people to perform with one cultivator at the nascent soul realm as its focal point. The remaining four cultivators must have a cultivation level of at least the core formation stage to assist in the sealing. The compounded ethereal sealing technique requires only one cultivator to perform it. The main difference between sealing techniques is the relative strength of the seal, denoted by how strong the cultivator required to perform the seal must be, and the number of people required to perform the technique. If five people are required to perform the technique, then five people will be required to undo the seal.” Text said. I frowned. Why did text suggest the five-fold light barrier sealing technique if we couldn’t perform it right now.

I looked back to Zi Fu. A new man was now standing next to Zi Fu and the Zhou family patriarch. I recognized him as the Fan family patriarch. I walked up to the group pulling a sword out of my storage device, and the sealing technique from my inheritance.

The three men turned to look at me when I approached. Zi Fu smiled widely when I gave him a thumbs up, the Zhou family patriarch smiled and the Fan family patriarch’s gaze was resting solely on the sword in my hand.

I presented the sword to the man.

“This sword belonged to Fan Chen. I’m sorry I wasn’t strong enough to save him, sir.” I told the man. The look he gave me was pained and then turned grave, and finally softened.

“Thank you, girl. I appreciate you bringing this back to me. I won’t forget this kindness.” He said.

I brightened.

“In that case, maybe you can help us out with something?” I told him. He looked at me quizzically before I handed the technique book to Zi Fu. He grabbed the book with a confused expression before he read the title. His eyes opened wide and then changed to understanding as he realized where I had gotten it from.

“With this technique, we will be able to seal all of the demons. Have all of the cultivators in the city who subdued a demon bring the demons’ bodies to this plaza. We’ll need one more core formation cultivator to assist in the sealing, and appropriate items to seal the demons into.” Zi Fu said. Both of the patriarchs nodded at his words.

After that, the patriarchs departed off to parts of the city unknown while Jia, Zi Fu, and I waited. I walked up to Zi Fu, pulled out the ginseng and handed it to him.

“Here you go!” I told him with a big smile on my face.

He looked down at the medicinal plant with a shocked smile on his face. He smelled lightly of booze, the smell burned my nostrils and i scrunched up my nose in discomfort.

“I don’t know how to thank you, Astra. With this, my master should be able to fully recover the use of his spirit root which will extend his life several-fold.” Zi Fu said. I smiled back at him.

“Of course! And if you want to thank us, you can train us until we get back to our sect!” I told him.

He thought for the moment as if calculating the time.

“Of course, that seems reasonable, though I feel it isn’t enough to pay you back for helping my master.” He said.

I thought for a moment.

“Maybe you could introduce me to your master? It would be interesting to talk to someone who has the same physique as me!” I told him. He smiled and nodded.

“That seems reasonable. I have a feeling he’ll want to meet you as well.” Zi Fu said. I looked over to the Sword Dao Palace disciples who were remaining quiet, but I didn’t catch sight of the red haired disciple. Before we could chatter anymore, the patriarchs returned with many cultivators in tow, the half carrying the bodies of demons, the other half carrying various items, mostly swords.

We started with the demon that Jia said was the leader of the demons who attacked the city. His body was put into the center of the plaza, Zi Fu sitting on top of the body, holding a sword in his hand. Around him, Jia, the two patriarchs, and one man I didn’t know surrounded Zi Fu and the body. They each stood at the corners of an imaginary square around Zi Fu. Zi Fu activated the technique from the technique book and a bright light emanated from him and the four other cultivators.

When the light dissipated, Zi Fu was alone in the center of the plaza, the demon’s body nowhere to be found. In its place, the sword in Zi Fu’s hand seemed to have taken on a gray-silvery sheen.

This process continued for all of the remaining demons and before long the city was cleaning up from the demon attacks. While the sealing was happening I walked over to the remaining Sword Dao Palace disciples. They had a sour look on their faces when they saw me, but I didn’t falter.

I pulled out the sect tokens and swords I had picked up from the disciples’ bodies, excluding Fan Chen’s sword, and handed them to the cultivator in the lead of the group. He took them without preamble and bowed to me.

“Thank you for sparing our lives, lady cultivator. I know we had wronged you in the past, and I would like to apologize. I do not wish to speak ill of the dead, but Fan Chen’s actions were… unwarranted.” He said. I smiled at him.

“It’s no problem!” I told him.

“Very good. We will be making our way back to Sword Dao Palace now. I assure you, when we meet at the inter-continental sect competition it will not be so easy to take us down.” The man said before his group departed from the city. What in the worlds was the inter-continental sect competition? I thought to myself.

I watched the remaining sealing in silence, pondering the man’s words. Jia and I would need to head back to the sect soon to ask about it.

I watched the last demon be sucked into a ring held by Zi Fu and walked over to the man. All the participants in the summoning, minus the additional core formation cultivator I didn’t know.

“So all the demons are gone? What happened to the summoners?” I asked the group.

“The Peng family has escaped from the city. We did not have the manpower to prevent this while also handling the demons. Many of the unaffiliated core formation realm cultivators in the city assisted in resisting the demons and we’re planning on rewarding them using the remaining assets previously owned by the Peng family.” The Fan family patriarch said.

“That being said, I think we should speak about the city lord competition. Due to the loss of… my son Fan Chen. I no longer wish to vie for the position of city lord. I will gladly acquiesce it to the Zhou family.” He continued.

The Zhou family patriarch bowed to the Fan family patriarch.

“Thank you, old friend. Worry not, the Fan family will be given many benefits in Lu Bian city. I will not leave you behind when I take control. We will have two large family estates unfilled when my family moves into the city lord manor. I will give one of the two estates to your Fan family as compensation.” The Zhou family patriarch said.

“Thank you, old friend.” The Fan family patriarch said, smiling. I was all smiles seeing everyone getting along now.

“Are demonic cultivators common?” I asked. Zi Fu nodded. I noticed Jia’s expression turn troubled for a second, I should ask her about that sometime.

“They have been growing in number over the years in the northern and western continents. They do not have much of a presence in your eastern continent. Though I know that there have been some major incidents in the past. The five-fold light barrier sealing technique will be of great use to the people in the northern continent. It will make fighting back against the demons much easier.” He said.

I thought about that. I was keeping all of these sealing techniques in my inheritance. Did I really need to keep them all? I didn’t have much use for them since Text could help me create a sealing technique of my own one day. Maybe I should give out all of the sealing techniques for the good of Dou Can as a whole? I would have to think about it some more. On one hand It would help people, which was good. But it could reveal my secret which might put me in danger. I decided I would talk to Jia and Zi Fu about it later.

The Zhou family patriarch invited us all back to his manor to discuss the competition and the events of the day.

“I am sorry you went through such a harrowing experience, young astra.” The Zhou family patriarch said after he learned of everything I had experienced in the hidden realm. I intentionally didn’t mention my new demon friend. I planned on telling Zi Fu and Jia once we were back on the road.

“I will, of course, write a letter to the Blooming Violet sect mission hall detailing the extra mission you took on for us. Whether they will reward you for that mission will be up to them, but for my part, I would like to extend my greatest thanks to you for your part in helping me become city lord. Even if the results of the competition did not end up mattering, your help resolving the issue of the demons more than makes up for that fact. All of the treasures you collected within the hidden realm are, of course, yours to keep.” The patriarch said. I smiled. I was worried he was going to make me hand them all over.

“What about all the demons now sealed into new objects?” I asked, looking at Zi Fu.

“I’ll find somewhere safe to store them. We can’t just leave them around. The seal will be difficult to undo now, it being a soul level technique and requiring five total cultivators of the core formation realm or higher makes sure of that. That being said, we can’t just leave them lying around. More demonic cultivators could still be hiding out in the city, and if they get their hands on these items, all the effort that went into sealing them would have been for nothing. He said.

I thought about it for a moment. What could be done about the sealed demons?

“Can we just drop them into the ocean on the way back to our sect?” I asked. Zi Fu shook his head.

“While that might seem like a good method, there are plenty of high level water demonic cultivators that would be able to find the demons, even underwater. Something about making the contract with a demon allows you to vaguely sense where other demons are, even sealed ones. No, the demons will be safest within a vault somewhere protected by powerful cultivators, I think. It will be much more difficult for demonic cultivators to infiltrate a large, powerful sect after all.” He said.

That made sense. You wouldn’t leave all of your valuables lying around without anyone guarding them after all. I thought it made sense.

We ate dinner with the Zhou family and celebrated their rise to become the city lord family of Lu Bian city. After dinner Jia took me aside and told me to come to her room later that night. I smiled and agreed, staying in my room for a while. I had stuff to talk to her about anyways. A few hours later, I went to Jia’s room.

I knocked on the door, a hollow sound resounding through the hall.

“Come in.” Jia said. I opened the door, walked into her room, and sat down next to her.

“What did you want to talk about?” I asked her. She thought for a minute, unsure of how to start.

“I never told you how my mother died, did I?” She asked. I shook my head, not wanting to speak and break her momentum.

“About ten years ago, we were having dinner in the city lord manor. It was just my father, mother, and I. Our dinner was interrupted when demonic cultivators set the house ablaze and infiltrated, trying to kill us. My mother took me and tried to flee from the cultivators while my father held them off. My father and mother were both in the core formation realm at the time.

My mother, the servants, and the maids did their best to protect me while fleeing through the house, but there were too many cultivators. By the time we made it out of the blaze and into the courtyard we were surrounded. My mother fought as hard as she could, and my father joined the fight and eventually all of the demonic cultivators were defeated when multiple core formation realm cultivators from the city joined in on the defense.

Unfortunately, help had come too late. My mother had been mortally wounded by one of the cultivators. I cried as hard as I could and begged her to be alright, but she died in my father’s arms.” She said. She was tearing up now. I reached over and hugged her close to my body, tears coming unbidden to my eyes.

We sat there for a few minutes, just holding each other as I let her cry the memories out. She must have been pretty affected by the demonic cultivator appearing in the hidden realm and in the city as a whole.

“I’m glad I didn’t lose you, Astra.” She told me. I smiled.

“I’m not going anywhere Jia, don’t worry.” I told her.