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 Chapter 44: Establishing Foundation
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"Everyone gather up! We're heading out!" Bing Meilu ordered, hands clasped behind her back.
If all went well, she'd soon be fighting a Red Drake two entire Realms above her in cultivation. She could feel a haint of rising bloodlust and anticipation. Pushing herself to survive against the beast would be just the thing she needed to finally finish tempering her foundation. She could feel the repressed Qi within her, yearning to explode forward and smash the barrier of the Second Realm. She kept it suppressed. She was already close, but it wasn't yet time.
The nine-teen strong legion marched forward, reaching the end of the valley. As the scout had reported, there was a huge clawed footprint in the ash-laden soil. Bing Meilu leaned down, swiping up some of the ash with her fingers.
"It's still relatively fresh. The Drake should be nearby."
Past the valley, a series of tall basalt rock pillars rose beneath the shadow of a huge mountain. Ash Wyveryns flittered about the air, huge black Smoke-Raven nests hanging from sheer cliffs. The faction made it to a large cliff face. The mouth of a huge cave opened up, doubtlessly leading to one of the deep and complex tunnel systems that Red Drakes often made their lairs.
"What now, Boss?" Jiang Hu asked, hand resting on his sabre, eagerness in his eyes.
The blood of a Core Formation Red Drake would be just what he needed to advance his cultivation. It might even push him to the peak of the Second Realm.
"We're going to draw it out to fight in the open, rather than in the cave system. Jiang Hu, pour some of your blood over the mouth of the cave."
Red Drakes were fiercely territorial and competitive with each other. Due to the Redscale Drake's Metamorphosis, the sabre fighter's blood would have the aroma of another Red Drake. Putting his scent near its nest was a massive challenge that would draw it out. Back in the day, Bing Meilu would keep jugs of Drake blood on her for such a purpose, and whenever she used them up... She would always get a fresh supply. Jiang Hu nodded, slicing a thin gash into his palm. He waved his hand and tossed droplets of blood all over the cave. Though imperceptible to humans, the scent would be obvious and noticeable to their prey.
Only moments later a furious roar erupted from within the cave. Explosive cracking sounds erupted as heavy feet slammed onto the ground. Emerging from the cave was an enormous reptile, with jagged red scales covering its body. It had four legs and large clawed wings, massive obsidian horns rising from its head and long neck. This was a Red Drake, one of the mightiest flame-aligned bloodlines in the Bird Talon Continent. Sticking out of one of the Drake's eyes was a golden sabre caked with dry blood. Bing Meilu raised an eyebrow.
That sabre had been a Third Realm magical treasure left behind by a dead hunter of the Redscale clan. It had been claimed by the genius of the Redscale Clan, Flame Empress Xiyi, who shocked the world by slaying a Core Formation Drake while only at the second stage of Foundation Establishment. The ice cultivator held back a laugh.
'First the crystal mine and now this. It seems I am really stealing her good fortune. Oh well, given how she scammed me out of half my Yin-Yang Heavy Water back during the Ocean Slaying Grand Tournament, I don't think she can blame me for being greedy!'
"All of you guys stay a safe distance away!" Bing Meilu commanded.
Her soulbond weapon, Xin Shui, poured from her sleeves, the liquid metal forming into a long-hafted Warhammer.
The Drake let loose a massive, earth-shaking roar. Around it, basalt pillars cracked and collapsed from the sheer force of the noise. It was to be expected given the cultivation of the creature. A peak-first Realm cultivator could crack boulders, move faster than the eye could see and manipulate the elements. A peak Second Realm cultivator was able to unleash magical attacks that could decimate entire buildings, shake a small mountain with their anger and even fly. A peak Core Formation cultivator was a threat to whole cities. After that was Nascent Soul, at that point, one could reshape the landscape permanently.
The Core Formation Drakes's mouth flashed with white-hot burning Qi. A sea of flames exploded forward, melting basalt columns and filling the air with smoke.
'Seven Steps of the Snow Fairy'
Executing the basic movement art of the Moon Crying Swan Palace, Bing Meilu blurred to the side, avoiding the jet of boiling flame. Icy fog swirled around her to protect her from the heat as she advanced toward the side of the Drake. A massive claw's foot the size of her whole body three times over slammed at her with earth-shattering force and speed.
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Bing Meilu jumped forwards, the rock she had just stood on turned to dust as the mighty slam ripped it open. The Drake seemed to only be in the early stages of Core Formation, not at the point it could destroy a city, but still filled with incredible physical might.
Arms empowered with Qi, she slammed her Warhammer into the ribcage of the Drake, bouncing backwards. Even with the great power of a Soulbound weapon, the difference in Realms was simply too much. Bing Meilu dodged and weaved through the jagged claws and swipes of its massive muscular tail. Already she could feel her combat instinct sharpening and returning to her, ancient memories bubbling up and integrating into her fighting style.
'It should be about to swing its tail-'
Bing Meilu leapt upwards, the air cracking with the explosive swipe of the dragon's muscular wagon-thick tail.
'My instincts.. are awakening.'
Memory and knowledge were not enough to have keen combat instincts. Automatic muscle memory was also needed. But take someone with the memories of a fight in a new body, and they would rapidly rebuild that muscle memory. As Bing Meilu fought, it was like a clogged river finally opened up, her old instincts gushing into her untrained but receptive body.
'Dodge, duck weave, slam at the arm, leap under claw, hit at the hipbone.'
Even with her near effortless execution, Bing Meilu's attacks were not even harming the dragon, only making it angrier. Yet each moment she could feel herself getting stronger.
The core of 'tempering' was to force oneself to properly utilize the full potential of their power. If the maximum strength one could have at the peak of Qi Condensation was ten, one normally only had a five. The body could unleash ten, but wouldn't do so normally. By forcing oneself to go through baptism in battles of life and death, the body would be forced to fully maximize its potential and usage or die. The benefits of such tempering were permanent and exponential. That was why the more Realms one passed through, the greater the difference between the weakest and the strongest, as those who had squeezed every drop of power from each realm increased the gap between them and those who rushed more and more.
Bing Meilu could feel subtle restructuring flow through her fractal meridian system as Qi rerouted, flowing through new, more efficient paths and her body became more receptive to the energy. Of course, as both a natural genius, with the experience of a former Paragon and cultivation method as Heaven Defying as the Crystal Providence tome, the amount of tempering she got from even a single battle was many times what others would get.
At a certain point, the Drake became completely enraged at its inability to kill the tiny ant pestering it. With barely a hint of warning, an explosion of fire ripped out from every inch of its body, as its Core Formation cultivation came to bear. Rock melted and boiled as the fireball of an aura exploded outwards.
Instantly a protective storm of ice exploded around her. Bing Meilu's qi drained at an incredible pace as she retreated. Five cultivators worth of qi, ten, fifteen. She jumped out of the edge of the fireball, gasping. Needless to say, no other Qi Condensation cultivator would have had the energy to even survive such an attack. Even with her icy armour, the girl was drenched in sweat from the heat. It was said when a cultivator was near death their body was most open to their potential. Bing Meilu knew there was no better time to breakthrough than now, after her fights at the fighting club and in the Ashen Mountains, she was finally ready.
"Jiang Hu, Xi Fu, Elemental Five, slaves one and two, take the lead in holding it off. The rest of you aid them from a safer distance. I'm going to break through!"
Bing Meilu ran from the Drake, leaped up the side of a cliff wall and landed upon a plateau. Several Ash-Wyverns eyed her in interest, circling overhead. The girl closed her eyes, inhaling deeply. Qi, which had been barely held back by her iron will was released to smoothly flow. Within each of her seventy-two apertures, a pale blue moon began to condense, each and every drop of amber-thick liquid Qi condensed further and further, crystallizing into a solid. Immediately, thunderclouds began to gather overhead as she felt the barrier of the Foundation Establishment, the restraint blocking her from progressing. If she stopped now, the moons would slowly dissolve. Instead, she pushed that little bit further, the moon growing tinier and tinier until they resembled specks of pure crystal.
There was not even a bottleneck as she smoothly slid into the first stage of Foundation Establishment. She had been suppressing her breakthrough for weeks, accumulating Qi and combat experience. Even without trying, she could feel new layers form around each moon, her cultivation rising all the way to the third stage of Foundation Establishment. A visible vortex of Qi formed around her, as the Spiritual Energy of Heaven and Earth began to greedily rush into the vacuum left by the condensation of her Qi. More Qi than she'd ever stored in the body was wasted as visible light from the intensity of the process.
By now, a huge disc of black clouds had formed overhead, completely blotting out the sky. Thunder rumbled threateningly as the supreme Yang Aura of Heavenly Tribulation formed. Tribulation Lighting was the Highest Yang Law, a supreme manifestation of the burning half of duality. It was order, authority, centralization, fire and heat and dynamic vigour in one package, filled with the infinitely domineering attitude of the Dao of Heaven.
Bing Meilu arrogantly clasped her arms behind her back, staring up at the thunderclouds. Mankind had never been meant to wield Qi. They did not have the bloodlines and power of spiritual beasts who simply cultivated as part of their natural lifespan. Instead, they had stolen the Spiritual Energy of Heaven and Earth and purified it of Heaven's will, grafted meridian systems onto themselves and painstakingly carved a path of ascension through the flesh of Natural Law. It was said to be the second-greatest act of blasphemy in history.
Yet, despite this, the Dao of Heaven was bound by both its innate self-love to all the living beings who constituted the reality from which it was born and by its very nature as a Providence. The Will of Heaven was bound by laws, rules and regulations. There was a reason it was called Natural 'Law'. It could hate and revile cultivation all it wanted, but could not just arbitrarily do whatever it pleased.
It was during a breakthrough, when the blasphemous power of cultivation was in full display, that the wrath of the Dao of Heaven reached its maximal extent. Only in moments like these did the laws loosen enough that the will of the world could send down punishment for those who had angered it. During such a time the Heavens had the great discretional authority to punish or reward according to it's nepotistic preferences. Those blessed and beloved by the Dao of Heaven would experience baptisms of vitality and life energy, and those reviled by it could be struck down with an unending river of lighting hell-bent on extermination.
This was precisely shown by the gathering power above her. This was not a tribulation suitable for someone in Foundation Establishment. Even a weaker Core Formation could be killed by such a mighty, wrath-filled tribulation. Not a hint of life energy could be felt from the boiling Yang in the sky above her. It was filled with endless, burning wrath to utterly exterminate her. It was clear now. After defying the Dao of Time and violating natural law, Bing Meilu was not only no longer a Chosen of Heaven, she was utterly reviled by it. The Providence of the Jade Sparrow World had determined her fate was destruction and would do anything possible to achieve it.
"So it's like that is it? I, Bing Meilu, have never been one to repay enmity with kindness. If this is the path you plan on, Oh Dao of Heaven, know that there shall be consequences." Her voice was sharp, icy and arrogant, seeming both uncaring and yet filled with the dignity and confidence of a supreme expert with absolute faith in their own power.
"I can be said to owe a debt of gratitude to you, for your aid in my first life. In memory of that, I will give you one warning only. Cease or I will destroy you the moment I ascend to Immortality, upon my name as the inheritor of the Crystal Providence."
If Heaven attacked her, she expressed her concern for the pain Heaven would feel when she fought back. This was the arrogance of someone who had reached the fifth step of cultivation, the Paragon Great Realm. If she'd been at her full power, let alone the Jade Sparrow World, just by turning over a palm she could destroy Immortal Kingdoms. Above her lighting gathered even more rapidly in response to her words. Bing Meilu exhaled slowly. It seemed the Dao of Heaven had chosen its path.
"Don't regret your decision then," she said simply.
The first bolt of lighting fell and she rose to meet it.