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 61: Fine Negotiations
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"I don't have any subordinates miss, but if you mean in the rampage faction as a whole," the lieutenant hesitated, his swollen. "I would have to consult-"
"Don't waste my time." Bing Meilu's cold voice rang out. "You know who the best curse masters in your faction are, Commodore."
"Commodore?"
Everyone looked at the kneeling lieutenant in confusion. An intrigued smile spread out on his face, still bruised and swollen by Jin Lao's slap. Then, a ripple of twitching flesh seemed to pour across his body.
In an instant, the kneeling lieutenant was gone, replaced by a tall, lithe man in blood-red robes. A humongous two-handed sword hung from his back, shedding a faint red light.
"So, just how did you see through my disguise?" asked Commodore Rampage Sword, one of seventieth Port Snake's four Nascent Soul experts.
Bing Meilu's slaves and the members of the Rampage Faction delegation looked on in shock at the sight. Jin Lao in particular seemed completely horrified.
"The Yin Dao is a path to powers many would find shocking," Bing Meilu replied, waving her hand dismissively. "Now answer my question."
"Oh? You seem quite confident in speaking to me so casually," the red-robed swordsman raised an eyebrow mockingly.
"You need me more than I need you. If you want to waste any more of my time, I'll just go ally with one of your rivals."
"Hpmm, kitty has claws-"
Bing Meilu turned and began to fly away. The smirk fell from Rampage Swords's face.
"Wait! The person you're looking for is actually Jin Lao. Who do you need to be cursed?"
"None of your business. The deal is quite simple. Jin Lao will be transferred to my faction and command for the next few years."
"That's a high price for the cooperation of your faction-"
"You misunderstand, that's not the price of allying with me. That's the price to have the chance to negotiate with me after the insult of sending a dog subordinate in your place to waste my time. If you actually want my help, you'll have to compete for it with the other three factions."
"Hahahah," the Commodore laughed uproariously. "Aren't you getting ahead of yourself?"
A brutal killing intent erupted from the Commodore, dousing the entire area in a heart-chilling aura. The foundation establishment lieutenants from the Rampage factory all collapsed, eyes rolling into their heads and mouths frothing.
Only Jiang Hu, Jin Lao and Bing Meilu stayed conscious under the pressure of the intense, mind-shattering feeling of death.
"I think it is you that is getting ahead of yourself, Commodore," Bing Meilu sneered. "While no one knows for sure what the Division Commander will set as the trial to choose his successor, it has been reliably leaked it will have to do with the power of one's subordinates, which is why all four of you Commodores have been raising a faction in the port. Whichever group I join will be the one to win, which I can absolutely guarantee. I have two Core Formation experts of great talent and several soon to reach that level. For the chance to become a Division Commander, the resources you could use to become a Saint, is there a price not worth it?"
"...Fine. Who would have expected you to drive such a hard bargain?" the killing intent completely retracted, and the red-robed man chuckled amicably. "Jin Lao's loyalty for the next few years in return for a place at the negotiating table,"
"No."
"...Huh?"
"Price has gone up. This is the second time you insulted me."
"You want another Core Formation expert?" Rampage Sword asked in disbelief.
"No. I was only interested in Jin Lao because of his cursing skill. You'll need something else of equal value."
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"What about this?" Rampage-Sword pulled out a glowing crystal.
It was the core of a third-realm demon-beast.
"Don't make me laugh."
Several more magical treasures of the third realm were brought out and Bing Meilu rejected them all. A frustrated expression covered Rampage Sword's face.
He finally pulled out a large rainbow crystal that glew with myriad colours. This was the solidified remnant of a slain Nascent Soul, something worth several mountains of wealth. Bing Meilu smiled, retrieving it with her spiritual energy. Signing a blood contract for Jin Lao's service, the deal was done.
"Thank you for the generous donation. As it happens, I'll be auctioning off the allegiance of my faction next week. Whichever group has the best offer receives my services. You're invited. Now, shoo. I have things to do."
With that, everyone watched the famed Commodore Rampage Sword, a bloodthirsty sword cultivator who slaughtered any who offended him, shooed away by a small girl two entire Realms below his cultivation.
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Xi Fu sighed, a sheet covering his lower body. His eyes were closed in contemplation. To his side, his girlfriend slept, snoring cutely.
'Heaven Defying means to be without restraint. All restraints are laws and can be defied with power and will. All restraints are a chain, something that can be- must be pierced.
Restraint... That is a rule that wraps around you, something that forces you to follow a path that is not your own will. If you jump, it is your will to go up, but gravity forces you back to the ground. if you fly, it is your will to soar through the air, but the world makes you fall. To follow one's will through every obstacle, that is the key to Heaven Defying.
But there are also internal constraints. I hesitated to follow my own will out of fear. Every hesitation, fear, every hangup and trauma, all are chains...'
Xi Fu recalled awakening his Heaven-Defying intent. How he had forcefully guided his Spear Qi through the air with his will alone, despite lacking a Dao-Platform, something he should have needed for such precise control.
'To break an outer chain is simple. My will, Intent to Defy Heaven, served as the guide for the spear. To break an inner restraint, my will must guide me through the chain. That is to say, I have to become a spear! Xi Fu is a spear, and his will must guide him forward, through everything and anything that binds or restrains him, until he can proudly defy every rule in heaven and earth. That state, that absolute liberation... that must be the Peak of Spear Cultivation.'
Xi Fu could feel the crystal embryo of his Spear Heart twitch and expand slightly. He could absorb spiritual energy to advance his cultivation in terms of power, but that was assuming he had the pre-requisite comprehension
Besides the man, a body stirred. Tang Fen'er opened her eyes, blinking wearily.
"Round two?" Xi Fu smirked.
She swatted his head with her pillow before rolling over.
"You have too much stamina for me. Go bother Meimei or Caoya," she snorted. "I'm not going to be able to feel that area for a week!"
Xi Fu received a stamina-restoring pill from his spatial ring. Fen'er's neighbours would get no sleep that night.
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Several days later, Bing Meilu called a meeting. Zhang was left in seclusion, still in the process of converting his cultivation. Sima Yazhu was still pregnant and not yet involved in faction business. Everyone else had to attend.
Xia Xuefeng, Shen Xinyue, Li Ji, Jiang Hu, Ji Hui, Xi Fu, the Elemental Five and all the members of the outer circle.
"Greetings my loyal subordinates and my faithful slaves. I brought you all here so we could begin the next phase of our faction's expansion. I would first like to announce that my retainer Zhang had officially joined my Inner circle and is now directly in charge of the Outer Circle slaves. He will be in seclusion for at least a few months or years, until then Slave One will be a temporary leader."
Everyone nodded at the news. The enigmatic cripple had already essentially done that role, this only made it official.
"We are now opening up recruitment for the outer circle, given we have more than enough resources. I've written down the recruitment, compensation and rules for outer circle members."
A tablet of ice floated over to Slave One, whose name Bing Meilu had not yet bothered to learn. He nodded, storing the tablet in his spatial ring.
"Now, the largest change to our operations is the presence of our two new Core Formations, Xi Fu and Jiang Hu. Captains can charter their own ships and sail the high seas doing tasks. The true bulk of the Sky Swallowing Gulper Armada is in the sea, ports like these are only for the untalented dregs. If we intend to become truly successful, our eyes will be turned to the sea."
The Jade Wings Continent, the Bird Talon Continent, The Shattered Shell Continent, the Sparrow's Tail Continent and the Bird Beak Continent. With the Wings being of two separate mainlands, that was six landmasses total in the Jade Sparrow World, alongside the Jade Heart Palace, which was the World Core.
The Five Continents were separated by a massive, endless ocean. There was no 'official' name, but it was usually called either the Grand or Vast Expanse Ocean, after its sheer size, or Ximu's Demise, after a mythical explorer from the classical era said to have found its center only to be swallowed by the dark waters.
The ocean directly around the Bird Talon Continent was divided among the twelve Zodiac Fleets. As members of Snake Fleet, Snake Sea was their home base.
More specifically, as members of the Open Ocean Sector, they were in charge of the surface of the seas. Subjugating pirates, defending against a hypothetical invasion, protecting trade routes, and quelling demonic beasts to keep the waters safe for fishing, gathering ocean-based materials and farming certain spiritual sea life species. These and many more were the tasks of the Armada, and there were many paths to power and wealth as a member.
Beyond the waters managed by the Armada was the vast expanse of ocean. It was, without a doubt, the most dangerous and uncharted area of the Jade Sparrow World. Few known routes existed between the continents, and even then, special tools and knowledge were required to even have a chance of surviving a trip.
The only route used at all was between the Jade Wings Continent and the other four. The Wings were the central landmass and were closer to all four of the other landmasses than any of them were to each other. It would be a safer and shorter journey to head from the Talon to the Wings and then to the Beak than it would be to make a direct trip.
The size of the ocean was many, many times the amount of actual land. It was teeming with countless monstrous sea beasts, demons and monsters of all kinds. These sea monsters vastly outnumbered humanity and if one went deep enough, it was said that even Immortal-realm horrors could be found. But they were not close to the true most dangerous part of the waters.
In truth, Ximu's Demise was more of a chaotic, primordial mass of natural law that an actual body of physical water. This was something Bing Meilu had only learned after becoming an Immortal, but all the Realms within the Great Flock Realm System shared this endless ocean. The waters were ordered by the natural law of the realm they were closest to. That is to say, the further one went from the Continents of the Jade Sparrow World, the less its familiar natural laws applied.
Space would fold, sea and sky would invert, the speed and direction of time could suddenly shift or even halt. If one went far enough, even the basic laws of logic and common sense could change.
Eventually, one sailed beyond the reach of the Heavens of the Jade Sparrow World and arrived upon the chaotic depths of space-time, the in-between of the numerous planes that made up the Great Flock Realm. These endless illogic water were a place even causality broke down, where individual moments did not necessarily affect the next.
Only Immortals, who had an internal and self-justifying law of existence, could survive in those conditions. Eventually, if one went far enough, they could wind up in another world entirely, a place whose natural laws might be fundamentally hostile to human life, filled with life forms beyond comprehension.
Of course, from the perspective of the beings in those realms, their 'logic' was perfectly normal, and you were the bizarre eldritch horror from beyond the sea. It was all a matter of perspective.
"Is...is that why you had me rush all that paperwork?" Li Ji asked, eyes widening. "You wanted all the accounting, so our finances in order and ready to purchase a ship?"
"Not purchase, my slave. Build!"