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?
"Hah! Fine then. I've always been a betting man. We'll do it.
"Agreed!" Bing Meilu declared coldly. "Whenever your son is ready, I'll take him on.."
"My son's birthday is in three days. Let's have it then," Lord Jiang chuckled. "When he wins, he'll have his anniversary and birthday on the same day. That way, it will be easier for you to remember the dates!"
Bing Meilu scoffed slightly, raising an eyebrow. Did he really think his son stood a chance? She only vaguely remembered Lord Jiang's son from her childhood, but he hadn't been particularly impressive. Certainly not impressive he would stand a chance against her, even in her weakened state.
"It's a deal. If that's all, I really am fatigued from that Demon fight. I shall be heading to bed now," Bing Meilu, done with Lord Jiang, turned over and shouted at the drinking villagers. "You knaves better not touch my Demon head while I sleep!"
Before her grandfather could object, Bing Meilu spun around, quickly striding towards the farmhouse her family lived in. She pushed open the door, walking through the kitchen to the bedroom she shared with her little brother. Bing Meilu's little brother was sound asleep, laying on a crude Kang bed. Bing Meilu lay down on her own. Her young, tired body quickly fell asleep, dreaming.
---
"There is a saying amongst cultivators. 'Cultivators cultivate truth'. Yet Truth will never bring you happiness or joy. When you reach the final summit and strip away falsehood to peer at the Truth of the Great Dao, the only thing that will await you is misery. Knowing this, will you still choose to cultivate? Will you accept my legacy?" spoke the woman.
"Of course!" Bing Meilu declared.
---
The sound of chirping birds woke Bing Meilu, rousing her in the morning. The black-haired girl stood up, stretching her arms and yawning. Her flawless jadelike skin bathed in the warm sunlight of dawn, streaming in through cracks and holes in the wall.
Bing Meilu's head pounded like someone was repeatedly slapping her in the back of the skull. Her stomach rumbled, filled with nausea. Clearly, she had drunk too much last night.
With a sigh, Bing Meilu pushed open the door to her room stepping into the kitchen. Inside, her grandfather and grandmother and mother sat, eating bread. Ying Lan, noticing Bing Meilu was up, immediately gave her a severe look.
"Grandaughter. You're awake," he observed. "Care to explain to me what the hell you were thinking last night?"
"Hmm? Last night?" Bing Meilu asked. "If you mean the wedding, the answer is simple. I have no desire to marry Lord Jiang's son."
"What wrong with your head granddaughter?" Ying Lan shouted. "Do you know how much face you lost for me? Furthermore, you could have offended the Lord! Make no mistake, ultimately, I am the one who will decide who you marry, and regardless of your little bet, you will be marrying Lord Jiang's son!"
"Grandfather, I will not." Bing Meilu replied firmly. "I have my own path in life-"
"You don't know what's best for yourself!" Ying Lan interrupted. "It's a dangerous world. You have no father and I'm already old. What will you do when I die? How do you plan on supporting the family? If you don't have a husband to protect you, you won't have a good fate! Once you marry Jiang Fang, you'll be able to live a comfortable life without hardship! Can't you see that this is what's best for you?"
Having finished his rant, Ying Lan stood up angrily, storming out of the kitchen. Bing Meilu's mother stood up, chasing after her father. Meanwhile, Ying Shanxi set down her bread with a sigh.
"Granddaughter, why must you be so difficult? Do you know how hard your grandfather and I have been working to marry you off? Many women your age are already married, but I couldn't even get you engaged! Then through incredible luck, you were offered a marriage with the most sought-after husband in the city and you decided to turn it down? Are you insane or are you just trying to give your grandfather stress-induced death?" Ying Shanxi said, frowning.
"With all due respect, you don't have to worry about me," Bing Meilu replied coldly. "I know what I'm doing."
"You are only a child. You don't have any life experience. When it comes to decisions, let your elders handle them," Ying Shanxi explained.
'I have more life experience in each individual hair than you will accrue in a billion lifetimes," Bing Meilu thought, shaking her head.
"I will be heading out for some fresh air grandmother," Bing Meilu said, quickly running out of the house before her elder could respond.
The moment Bing Meilu stepped out, her nose was assaulted by the powerful scent of blood and rotting meat. Right next to her home, the massive sat the massive boulder-sized boar-head. It seemed someone had cut it off from the rest of the body and rolled it up to her home.
This content has been unlawfully taken from Royal Road; report any instances of this story if found elsewhere.
"I should probably start immediately," Bing Meilu decided.
She would need to harvest the Core of the Demon before it started to decay. However, to do so she would need to cut through the flesh and bone of the head. After all, the Core was contained in the brain of the beast. For that purpose, Bing Meilu would need a good meat carving knife. As for the skull, she could crack it with a rock or something.
While Bing Meilu's family had a few such knives, given they owned a small pig farm, they were with Bing Meilu's grandfather. Given their argument, she did not think he would be in the mood to let her borrow any of them.
Bing Meilu walked through the city, making her way to a butcher shop. As she did so, Bing Meilu noticed many people turning to stare at her and whisper. Clearly, news of last night had already spread across the town.
Eventually, Bing Meilu arrived in the shopping district of the city, stepping into a butcher shop. Large cow carcasses hung in lines from a railing. A tall, well-muscled man stood behind a counter, chopping a piece of meat into slices with a massive butcher knife. This was the town's Butcher, Ren Liong.
"Good morning, how may I help you?" asked the man, looking up at Bing Meilu.
"I need a good meat carving knife," Bing Meilu said. "I'll give you a half a pound of Demon-flesh in exchange."
"Demon flesh? If you actually have any, it's a deal!" the butcher said, smiling widely.
"Great. Now hurry up and get my knife. I have no inclination to waste my time here." Bing Meilu said, rolling her eyes.
"Fine," the butcher said, grabbing a large knife from the table and handing it to her. "You'd better bring the payment to me right after..."
"Don't worry about that," Bing Meilu said coldly, snatching the butchering knife. "You'll get your payment!"
Bing Meilu left the butcher's shop, carrying the massive knife along with her. It was a long stick of thin metal that tapered off to a point, made to both stab and slice. It nearly the size of her forearm, made of cheap cast iron, comically oversized compared to her.
Bing Meilu arrived back outside her home. She walked up to the Demon's head, stabbing her knife through the thick, tough hide that covered the head. Slowly, Bing Meilu carved off the hide, exposing the red, bloody flesh below.
Bing Meilu continued cutting, slicing through the tough muscle and fat of the flesh and collecting it in a farming wheelbarrow. Soon the white bone of the skull was exposed. Then, Bing Meilu grabbed a large rock from the ground, slamming it repeatedly against the skull. She watched as spiderweb cracks grew, creeping along the surface of the bone. Then, with one final strike, the skull shattered, breaking into pieces.
Bing Meilu picked away the broken pieces of bone, leaving the soft pink brain-matter exposed. With a wet squelch, Bing Meilu stabbed her knife into the brain. She began to dig around the brain using her knife, feeling for the hard Core. After several minutes, she felt her knife press against something rock solid. Bing Meilu had found the solid Core.
Steeling her resolve, Bing Meilu stabbed her hand into the cavity she had created with her knife. She felt around the brain, reaching for the area she had felt the core in. Bing Meilu felt the tips of her finger brush against a solid, glassy object. The Core.
Bing Meilu tore her hand out of the brain matter, grasping a grape-sized jewel in her hand. It was clear like glass but stained in blood that gave it a pinkish tinge. However, Bing Meilu was more interested in what the Core stored.
Contained within the crystal lattice was a large amount of powerful, purified Qi. Demon Cores like this had a myriad of uses. They could be used to power Formations, as components of magical treasures and even as resources for cultivation.
What Bing Meilu was interested in was the first use.
To begin Qi Cultivation, one opened their meridians and drew the Spiritual Energy of Heaven and Earth into their Dantian. However, the Dantian took about twelve years to mature. Start Cultivation even a moment before that and the unfiltered energy would crack the Dantian, permanently damaging one's future cultivation. However, using a Demon Core like this and her transcendent knowledge of Formations, Bing Meilu could create a sort of barrier within her Dantian. The barrier would protect the Dantian from damage until it was finished maturing naturally, while at the same time allowing her to cultivate. It wasn't a perfect solution, but it was the best Bing Meilu could reasonably do with the materials she had on hand.
As the saying went, not even the smartest housewife can cook without rice.
Bing Meilu bit her thumb, drawing blood. She drew eight symbols on her stomach in an octagon connecting them with lines of blood. Then, Bing Meilu lifted the crystal core to her stomach, pressing it onto the bloody symbols. The Qi within the Core rapidly drained out of it and into the Formation. Once depleted, the Core shattered with a high pitched whine.
Immediately after, the symbols began to glow bright red. The Formation was complete. Within Bing Meilu's Dantian, a thin film of red light appeared, covering the inner surface of the organ. Now, Bing Meilu could begin her cultivation.
When she had cultivated for the first time, it had been laid using the cultivation technique of the Moon Crying Swan Palace, the Lunar Swan Cry Index. It was, compared to the techniques Bing Meilu would later learn, complete gutter trash. In fact, Bing Meilu had long since theorized the reason she was unable to reach Paragon was due to the low-quality foundation she had created using the technique.
Now, Bing Meilu had a chance to redo her cultivation, and this time she would settle for nothing less than absolute perfection. The strongest Qi Cultivation Technique Bing Meilu knew was none other than the Crystal Providence Divine Tome. She had received it when she was in the humble Deathless Realm and she had cultivated it all the way to the peak of the Celestial Realm, Birthing Dao.
She was sure that if she had started cultivating it from the Mortal Realms, reaching Paragon would have been far easier.
Then, Bing Meilu took a deep breath. The Spiritual Energy of Heaven and Earth began to rush into her body through her nostrils. She felt it run through her meridians, collecting within her Dantian. Pale blue light gathered around her as she cultivated, creating a halo of beautiful luminescence
The first Realm of Qi Cultivation was known as Qi Condensation. Usually one collected Qi in their Dantian, slowly condensing it from a thin, gaseous state, to a powerful solid form. The Crystal Providence Divine Tome instead instructed her to refine Qi within her Dantian before collecting it within each of her seventy-two Meridian apertures. If done correctly, each meridian would develop into an entire miniature system of meridians, thus allowing her to wield seventy-two times as much Qi as those of the same cultivation level.
With a sound akin to a crack, Qi flooded out of her Dantian, pouring through her meridian channels. Bing Meilu had finally stepped into the Qi Condensation Realm. Channelling the powerful Yin Qi created by the Crystal Providence Divine Tome, a long spear of ice began to coalesce in the air, falling into Bing Meailu's hand. The girl slashed downwards casually, splitting the Demon head in twain.
A smile split Bing Meilu's face in a rare display of emotion. She was back!