Xiao Xiao wasn't sure about Mr Misty, but she definitely knows new things, and there's nothing like proving it in action! She decided to explore the forest over the last couple days, prodding her mind for the various things it's telling her.
New plants. New ways of doing things. New words. Even a weird energetic tingly feeling sorta like her heart thing, but more, blood like? Weird.
When she is doing things the way her head tells her, she feels different. More… People-ish? Sometimes she feels like there are weird streams of mist or something around her when she does stuff? It makes her feel a little less hungry, and maybe less achey.
It was really strong when she fought a fluffytail. She felt Bigger!
Maybe she can finally go to that burrow she found a few days before the tree… thing…
The burrow had a scary fluffytail in it, doing weird things!
It had a reaaaallly big, spikier, tail with bigger teeth and twisty back legs!
She decided with her new big mind, it shall henceforth be called, Soup-remy aim-pair-er fluffertons, and she will make fluffertons her bountiful snack!
-}-~-|-~->
Wu Xiaolong felt a slight stirring along his Karmic-Fate bond, his long standing experience tells him that his disciple is approaching an encounter with fortune or misfortune!
He felt enormous danger for his disciple, along with great luck!
He wasn't yet recovered enough to intervene directly after his energy expenditure before without heavy cost. It had only been 3 days since his arrival. He should be able to guide her through sending his divine sense along the bond, but it would set him back a few days if used extensively. He decided to send his sight through first, a far less costly use. The most basic use of divine sense was sight after all.
He pulled onto the connection between them. He decided to send a little bit of soul energy through to strengthen the conduit as well, in case a spell or two were needed.
He knew there was only so much he could do with his current injuries, but his disciple was just barely above a mortal... This was often the most dangerous period in a disciples life. He had lost many to these early stages…
Almost as many as to the most deadly tribulation before Ascension, the Saint Shedding, Imperial Robe Donning Tribulation; The Deathseed Bloom! The dreadful mountain of good disciples lost to that tribulation, never completing their path… Ahem, anyway. A little caution was necessary, even if it may be costly.
His soul energy travelled along the karmic bond like a bolt of lightning running down that damnable Wonky Thunder Bai's hair. As it exited the ring, however, things immediately went awry! That Unfilial Disciple had left the ring in the crater!
He needed to get to her quickly! To leave a weak disciple alone as they headed into a dangerous encounter would bring shame to his very Title as Elder!
He stretched his soul to his current limits! He needed to work out a way to cheaply get this damnable ring to her before trouble strikes!
The Soul Seeking Arrow technique? No, far too much for his injuries. One with Nature Escape Vine method? Same problem damn it!
If he was to find a way, he must do something he hadn't done in centuries! He must surpass his limits! It couldn't be too hard, afterall, he had prepared to do exactly that to Ascend.
All that mental preparation and accumulated Will, is hereon officially repurposed!
With only one Path left, his Soul! All his willpower and mind, the very core of his being! He must make his Soul stronger! A New Technique!
As his desperation and will hit the peak, he forced his injured soul to its limits. His soul began to crumble as he fought with his very existence!
His soul body was flaking, an arm began to shatter like glass, glowing veins flowing all the way from his fingertips to his neck.
His soul felt no different than when it was taking the full force of that Divine Magic. He knew that he was doomed. His doubts begin to creep in.
Why had he destroyed his soul? After his luck in escaping, he threw away his life so quickly.
For a disciple that barely acknowledged him? A mere mortal, likely to die before a thousand years, even despite the great talent he sensed…
…
What happened to the sect? Did anyone make it?
Had he just ended the Heavenly Sky Sect’s Lineage?
His Ancestors? Those who didn't Ascend were buried just below his office, down in Starfall valley.
His Seniors… Bai Shen’s Truesoul was obliterated in front of Wu Xiaolong’s very eyes as he fell from the parted heavens.
His promise to have a drink with him after his ascension, never to be fulfilled…
Would any of them have more esoteric means to escape than his ring? An unfathomable artifact from an ancient ruin.
His Disciples… Were above the heavens and below the mountain… Sundered.
No! I refuse! Hear me Heavens!
“I, Wu Xiao Long, Supreme Emperor Voidwalker, Claimant To A Law Of The Heavens, Hereby Declare, With My Pseudo-Immortal Soul As Forfeit, My Only Remaining Unsevered Path, Not One Disciple More Shall Fall Before Ascension!”
[Heavenly Declaration!]
[Heavenly Acknowledgement Received]
Unauthorized tale usage: if you spot this story on Amazon, report the violation.
[Shift in Fate!]
[Ascendant Will Gained]
The Ring Moved.
-}-~-|-~->
Meanwhile, without a care in the world, Xiao Xiao.
Xiao Xiao was singing to herself as she walked towards the burrow, "Fluffertons!~ Fluffertonsoup!~ Fluffertons~~~ The~~ Soupy-est Soup~~~"
When suddenly an ominous black ring, with endless twinkling lights as if a strip of the night sky torn off by a bored deity, flung through the air at unbelievably high speed towards her.
Sticking out of it strangely is a faint image of a furious, shirtless, old man with his right arm glowing a brilliant blue clutching at the sky, with his left arm at his waist in a martial pose.
He was heading right towards Xiao Xiao! Think Fast!
What?
Freeze?
Flight?
Fight!
Too fast! Punch! Xiao Xiao strikes out with her entire being, a feat entirely new to her, even with her hard months of survival. Things that she will later learn as Spiritual Qi, Blood Qi, and even Soul Qi flow through her from their various nexuses through her body and up her arm, as she launches a Mid Qi condensation strike in the throes of enlightenment!
[Xiao Xiao’s Deeper Instincts Awakened]
[Xiao Xiao gains benefits to Comprehension when acting on Instinct!]
[??? Stirred]
[Xiao Xiao wounds Strange Ring’s Pride!]
-}-~-|-~->
In his zealous furor to protect his only remaining disciple, he blasted forward at the height of his speed, his very Truesoul's essence encased by his unfathomable, ancient Will, refusing a single leak.
He [Ascend]ed Horizontally through the sky towards his Disciple! He could see her! He felt righteous anger at the heavens for the devastating Fate he has suffered!
He clutched at the strings of fate in the sky even as he rocketed forth! He clumped them together, sharpened his will, and concentrated all but the minimum to keep flying towards his disciple, into his left fist! [All Severing Fist]! He built his energy to the peak, ready to sever the threads- no, chains, of Fate over he and his!
“A NEW DECREE Will HEREBY-GUH”
He felt it at minimal speed, the very smallest magnitude of time, his Soul allowing a definition unparalleled, as his chin was knocked a few degrees up and to the right. He felt his Spiritual Body swiftly follow, ever more cohesive due to his Will.
Crunch…
Despite his uninterruptible perception of time, he suddenly found himself barely materialised, floating out of the ring buried in the wood of a nearby tree.
"What…?"
He realised what happened in an instant. For a moment, his pride as an ancient cultivator is harmed. His face almost literally slapped! His attempt foiled at its weakest point! His Unfilial disciple struck him as he was going to... Sever… the strings… of fate… maybe, on second thought, that was not a good idea…
His Unfilial Disciple was… A Once-In-A-Millenia Genius! To know the danger that his fury would have brought upon them!
This level of comprehension was frightening!
And to so perfectly execute such a blow! It's been mere days! Only in pseudo-Qi Condensation, to make an attack as powerful as a Mid Qi Condensation Cultivator! What astounding heavenly luck! Misfortune ending as fortune!
-}-~-|-~->
Xiao Xiao looked down at her fist, remnant energies clinging to her arm. The Strange Ring and Old Man combo embedded in a tree, left ignored.
So pretty.
Xiao Xiao stares at the beautiful slivers of energy coiling around her hand, shifting with the air and her breath. She tried to grab a few, and they disappeared into her arm, as if that was where they belonged~ Like little fairy snakes, but hers.
As her eyes drift with the flowing streams of little snakes, she follows the trail of sparks and wisps over to- "Mr Misty?!" Xiao Xiao quickly runs over to the tree and tries to climb up to help him, but he is too high up to be reached! With no other options to turn to but to pick up nearby rocks and throw them, Xiao Xiao takes aim, repeatedly hitting Old Man Wu, ever more beaten.
-}-~-|-~->
He was brought out of his revelry by the feeling of his Soul energy leaking out from a large number of cracks! He attempted to seal the cracks with his sheer Will, but there were too many. His overexertion was beginning to catch up to him.
He tried to resonate with the remnant bits of his soul floating around to form a sealing array, but just before he completed it, his genius apprentice saw a flaw and rushed his way crying "Missed a misty!?"
He sharpened his senses to spot it at the last moment, just barely preventing the whole array from imploding! He still lost some energy in the rush, unfortunately, but at least it didn’t do further damage.
His Disciple then desperately tried to climb the tree despite her small size and limited cultivation. There must have been something else he missed!
As he searched for the problem, Xiao Xiao gave up on climbing. She began to scramble near the bottom, picking up small stones, lacing them with her Qi. She then began expertly throwing the stones at precise points in his Spiritual Body!
Every hit dislodged some of his soul, but the combination of points being hit ends up correcting the structure of his leaking Spiritual body, leading to a higher level of cohesion. He should now be able to use a small chunk of soul energy without compromising his recovery. Unparalleled Genius.
He wrenched himself out of the tree with some slight effort.
He began calming down the concerned Xiao Xiao, before flying the ring onto her finger.
He then beckoned her unto her opportunity with mysterious words, before thinking about how he should proceed from here.
Everything had been far too much of a blur since he found himself stuck in the crater. The excitement may have been a little much for his old soul.
As he considered his options for helping Xiao Xiao live through this, he recognised that he was too tired for combat advice, he must put her life in the hands of magic.
Just, what kind? He could sense danger and fortune were intertwined here. What could minimise the danger without affecting her combat experience and whatever karma she gains…
Energy worth a day’s recovery burnt into a simple defensive spell would keep her safe from ten Low Qi Condensation attacks… However, it wouldn't truly protect her from cunning or anything at the level of a sacrificial strike…
He could simply trust her to survive. He couldn’t coddle disciples too much or they get struck down due to their own arrogance… but…
With three days worth he could put down a basic array using the ring as a go between. The more complex array would allow him to imbue his combat experience and death sense into the spell matrix, unlike a far less sophisticated single shielding spell.
But the cost… was worth it. He had already put his soul on the line to get here, he may as well give up a measly 3 days.
‘Hah, I could hardly imagine squabbling over months let alone days not so long ago. It's like I'm 800 again!'
He began to lay down the array, a cold light surrounding Xiao Xiao. If one looked closely at her, they would see tiny stars flickering across her skin and even her soul.
Exhausted, he returned to the ring, almost completely cutting off his connection to the outside.
A torpor of a fashion began to envelope him, like an old man’s nap after a long day.
-}-~-|-~->
A strand of fate twists