June’s body ripped open like the maw of a ferocious beast. Demons of various shapes and sizes began to flood out of her body like a tsunami. They cackled, giggled, and hollered upon being freed. A dense amount of demonic qi began to distort and alter the surroundings. The grass turned black and eagerly absorbed the demonic qi releasing from the demons. The trees were no different in how they swallowed the foul qi, shedding their leaves for sharp twisted brown branches that seemingly moved on their own. Easily being able to pierce through steel and flesh alike.
Kai crashed in the middle of the tens of thousands of demons with a humongous crater, causing thousands of demons to fly into the air. His fierce glare was focused solely on June’s figure. He ripped through the demons while making his way to June, putting her body back together. However, the demons weren’t that much of a pushover. Otherwise, why would June summon them?
There were Nurse Demons, Strong Demons, Speed Demons, Fire Demons, Earth Demons, Lightning Demons, and all sorts of other demons! Each one carefully crafted by June for a certain use. This army of the wicked focused everything they had on Kai as June directed them as their mother. Kai’s absurd strength was able to squish any of the thousands of demons by themselves but when they focused their power together under June’s lead, it was another story. Now that June was in control of all of the demons, Kai couldn’t take a single step forward.
Demons wrapped around his arms, legs, torso, and neck. Elemental qi attacks indiscriminately attacked his body regardless of if there were demons attached to him or not. Kai screamed to the heavens as he urged his body to continue forward. He attempted to open his own Qi Domain, only for June to shut that down. The Assassin Demons focused their scythe-like arms into striking at Kai’s vulnerable points. His neck, heart, and genitals. This forced him into turtling up, halting his momentum even more.
“I will not lose to you!” Another golden pill appeared but this time from his storage ring.
June was unable to prevent him from swallowing this one. So, she prepared for the unbelievable surge in power he was about to obtain. The demons began to fuse into one another. The five years she spent collecting and creating those demons, all gone. For the creation of the ultimate demon. All the hundreds of thousands of demons ran into each other until only one demon was left.
They towered over June’s figure while their eyes locked onto Kai. Its figure resembled June’s heavily. Her twisted strands of hair, shadow-black skin, finger claws, and a completely unassuming face that brought little attention to it in comparison to its strength. If it wasn’t for its absurd power, most would recognize it was just a strange looking human or bloodline ability. June was quite satisfied with her new child. She was sure that its strength was above her’s right now.
When Kai suddenly appeared in front of her with his fist pulled back, ready to punch her, Li Li, the fused demon, caught his fist with ease and began giggling. Its high-pitched voice matched its age as it looked at Kai with excitement in its eyes.
“Quit messing around, Li Li. I’ll find you someone more fitting for you to play with later.” June didn’t want any sudden surprises happening. She ordered him to finish Kai so that she could go prepare herself for whoever gave him that pill and talisman.
“Naga!” It whined.
“Li Li...” June glared at the newly formed Fusion Demon.
“Soka...” It hung its head as it apologized.
With very little effort, Li Li tore off Kai’s limbs as he screamed to high heavens. With a single tap to his dantian, all the effort he’s made into cultivating since his childhood was gone in an instant. June then ordered Li Li to heal Kai so that he wouldn’t die. August spat on his wounds and then dropped Kai on the ground with little care.
“You know Kai, sometimes, I wonder what life would be like if I didn’t follow you and Liang back at that hotel. But for some reason, I feel like it was a good thing that I did.” June gentle cradled Kai’s limbless body.
“Kill me... So that I can join my family...” He angrily glared at her.
“Now why would I do something like killing my own master? You have a long life ahead of you Master Kai. After what you’ve done to me, how could I let you off so soon?” She whispered into his ear. “You should be grateful that I've given you a second chance at life.”
“Tch. Another failed disciple...” A familiar voice sounded out from the air.
June looked up only to realize that suddenly, there was a hole in her heart and her master was levitating above her.
“Master Mao...?” June didn’t understand.
“Goocha!!!” Li Li exploded with enough demonic qi to alter several kilometers of the Immortal Forest. It jumped after the sect leader of the Nine Swords Sect.
Why did her master try to kill her? Why did she take Kai’s side when she spent five long years with her together? Was there something she did wrong that made her deserving of death? June’s first thought went to the Yingjie Clan’s extinction, but she had a legitimate reason for doing so. The Yingjie Clan held demonic tools and refused to give them up. That was worthy of being wiped out according to what her captain in the Corpse Collector said. So, that couldn’t be the reason...
“Why...?” June asked, doing everything she could to save her own life. A fierce pained scowl painted her face.
“Isn’t it obvious? On the path you were going, it was only a matter of time before you succumbed to your demonic impulses. But since you’re about to die, I guess I should be honest. Your freaky physique and clever mind frightened me. At first, I doubted you would go far but with all the accomplishments you’ve racked up in only a few months as a Corpse Collector and what I've seen from this battle. I no longer had any time to doubt and I had to act.” Her master, wait no... Killer, backhanded Li Li across the Immortal Forest.
June realized that nothing she could do at this moment would be enough to save herself. With the remaining time she had on this planet, she gathered all the demonic qi in the nearby surroundings, from Li Li, and within herself. To curse her previous master with her dying breath. As she attacked her ex-master with a soul curse and expended the rest of her life force, one of the last things she thought about was...
‘If I had a second chance, I would never take in someone as my master again...’
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500th Life
Tia took a glance at her masked assassins as they surrounded her inside Ancient Diamond City. Each one holding a blade, ready to put an end to her life any second now. She let out a small smile as she placed her self-made machete over her shoulder. Being inconspicuous isn’t really an option for someone with an appearance like herself. Her plan was to lie low, cultivate, and use up all the treasures she gained from the secret realm she snuck into. But it looks like she could have a little bit of fun before starting.
“I’m surprised the Nine Swords Sect thinks that I'm worthy of being targeted. A single wandering cultivator like myself can’t possibly frighten a sect as powerful as yours, can I?” She chatted.
“How did you?!” One of them shouted before silencing himself.
“Oh, it looks like my little guess was right.” Sadly, that wasn’t good news either.
If a sect as large and powerful as the Nine Swords Sect was aiming at her, she needed to quickly improve her cultivation and get out of the city. If they know she’s here, then it's only a matter of time before they trap her in like a rat. Especially after dealing with these “assassins.” They couldn’t even take the time to at least try and look like they were assassins. Sure, they had on black masks and outfits but their posture and aura screamed righteousness.
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“Tch. It doesn’t matter if she’s figured it out. As long as we kill her, we will be properly rewarded by the sect.”
“Your time has come, Mad Slasher!”
“You’ve killed far too many of our peers in the secret realm! Now every righteous sect in the continent will be chasing after your head!”
“Ha!” Tia laughed in mockery. “Like you righteous sects really care about dealing with evil cultivators. If that was true, you’d be in a lifelong war with the Golden Serpent Sect! What you’re really after is this, aren’t you?” She flashed a mocking smile as she shook a golden medallion in front of their faces.
“The Ancient Dragon’s Medallion! She really did get her hands on it!” Greed unsurprisingly filled their eyes.
“We must take it for the Elders!”
“You want it? Take it!” Tia tossed the shiny accessory into the air.
“You crazy woman! What if it breaks!?” Every single one of them jumped up to grabbed the medallion for themselves.
They might’ve said that they were here to take the medallion for their sect but no one here believed it for a second. All of them were briefed on the power held by the Ancient Dragon’s Medallion. If they were able to bind it to themselves and gain its power, rising to the heavens in a single leap would be the only expected outcome! Even if they were a mortal!
“I’d expect behavior like this from the Golden Serpent Sect but it is useful to see that the most righteous sect isn’t as righteous as they make themselves out to be. Not that I was expecting you all to be any different.” Golden lightning surged around her machete.
Tia released a bright yellow crescent made of lightning qi towards the righteous cultivators as they all attempted to grab the medallion. Forcing them all to make a critical decision that would decide their fate going forward. Should they risk it all and attempt to grab the medallion to change their mediocre fate? Or should they forego the heavenly treasure and preserve their life to live another day? But it didn’t really matter which choice they made in the end.
Tia’s already taken in the power hidden in the medallion for herself. That necklace was nothing more than a useless piece of gold. But she still needed time to consolidate her earnings from it. This power was something she needed to slowly understand and train. Time that she might not have if she doesn’t get out of this city in time.
Her lightning ripped right through the cultivators. Leaving them in bloody chunks on the floor. Some tried to defend against her attack but her lightning cared little for it. Lightning was one of the strongest forces of nature. Fire, Wind, Water, Earth, all of them had to bow in reverence to lightning! A flash of lightning could momentarily generate enough heat that’s five times hotter than the sun!
For some reason, Tia had genius-levels of comprehension when it came to the five elements. Perhaps more but she’s only been able to come in contact with the five so far. When trying to understand martial arts related to those five elements, it was like knowledge hidden from somewhere inside her came flowing into her brain. A feeling that made her feel like she’s always knew about them but it was only now unlocked when she began to realize how some things didn’t add up regarding what was explained in the martial arts.
It was always ethereal, indistinct, and sounded like complete nonsense but somehow everyone else could understand the mumbo jumbo. Tia didn’t work with mumbo jumbo. She worked with facts and logic which turned out to help her far more than the people she’s met with. They got confused by the flowery words and descriptions of how lightning, fire, and water worked. While she knew exactly how they worked. The only reason why she doesn’t completely master multiple elemental martial skills is because she doesn’t exactly understand how qi works. Just the elements.
Tia searched the corpses for any useful loot but only managed to find some recovery pills and qi pills. She’s heard plenty of stories of how famous legendary cultivators found earth, sky, and even heaven-ranked martial arts or spirit tools from the corpses of other cultivators. Maybe since those stories are so wide-spread, everyone started carrying less important items on their bodies so that if they do die, those that killed them won’t get a windfall of treasure from them. It does make sense. Rather than empowering the scumbag that killed you, it's better to leave them with nothing.
“It's time to get out of here...” She muttered to herself.
Hopefully they haven’t locked down the city yet. If they have, it wasn’t going to be easy fighting her way out. Tia didn’t have any skills that disguised her or made it easier for her to sneak around. She only came about her martial arts through nothing but luck and determination. Yellow Jade City’s underground life was more than willing to get her started on her cultivation journey as long as she worked for them.
In time, she managed to find her lucky break and split from the Dark Moon Gang. Traveling through the world to increase her own strength, making a name for herself, and somehow finding herself on the bad side of every righteous sect in the continent. Tia knew that she wasn’t all that different from the average cultivator. The only reason why she was labeled as an evil cultivator was because she screwed over the Nine Swords Sect in the secret realm. Maybe she’d be wanted by every evil sect in the continent if it was the Golden Serpent Sect that she stole from.
After killing her way out of Ancient Diamond City and staying on the move, she soon found out that the Nine Swords Sect was very thorough in making her one of the most wanted cultivators in the continent for killing their disciples and taking the medallion. Tia learned of the giant bounty on her head from the numerous assailants after the Ancient Dragon Medallion. They were more than happy to let her know everything about what was going on with her current circumstances regarding her bounty. Even if she didn’t say a word, they’d spout off at the mouth about what was going on once they found her.
“Let me go! If you value your life, you’d better unhand me now!” An arrogant little genius wriggled and squirmed all tied up.
“How much do you think the Nine Swords Sect would be willing to pay to have you back?” Tia asked.
“They’d stop at no expense to kill you! Take these talismans off me and fight me like a proper cultivator!” He shouted, completely unaware of the precarious situation he was in right now.
“No expense, you say? I guess I shouldn’t put you through some fun activities I had planned if I want this to work out well.” She sighed.
With how frequent these righteous cultivators come after her, rarely did she have the chance to show them the true meaning of suffering. Thankfully, this juicy fat cow landed in her hands eager to bring her head in to his master in the Mortality Ascension realm to show the results of his training. Training that he didn’t even get the chance to show off because of Tia’s clever ambush. With the help of a few mortals she paid, she managed to ambush and avoid a hard-fought battle with a once-in-a-million-year genius.
She paid the mortals to say that they saw a brown-skinned woman living out in the forest and this was all it took to hook Mr. Genius in. They led him to an abandoned part of the forest with an old dilapidated wooden shack. Telling him that she usually is seen inside there, they soon quickly left out of fake fright. Mr. Genius held his head high and back straight as he waltzed right in without a second thought. Because of this, Tia easily got the drop on him.
Hiding above the door while holding her breath and restraining her qi, she waited and waited until his beautiful long black hair appeared under her. By striking foot first, her leg crashed onto his neck, smashing him into the floor and breaking the wooden boards. He cried out in pain as Tia quickly attached several talismans onto his body. A strength limiting spell, qi-draining spell, and a mind-numbing spell that relaxed one’s brain.
But it wasn’t over with just that. Mr. Genius wasn’t known as a once-in-a-million-year genius for nothing. He quickly flared his genius qi and even though Tia stabbed her machete into the walls of the house, she was still sent flying outside into the forest as the old house wasn’t sturdy enough to withstand Mr. Genius’s restrained strength. It exploded into pieces and he quickly got to trying to remove the talismans but how could Tia let him do that so easily? What would have been the point of setting up this trap?
Tia tossed another talisman straight at his face as she coated her body in lightning qi and streaked like a lightning bolt all the way behind the genius. He reacted to the two-pronged attack just quick enough but she still drew blood from him because of the talismans draining his strength. She didn’t let her advantage go to waste and aggressively chopped and slashed at the prodigy with surprising skill. Skill that was gained through several life and death battles as there wasn’t a single martial art dedicated for machetes. From what she knew, if you didn’t practice the sword or fist, you were practically out of luck. Because for some reason no masters made martial art manuals for other weapons.
“Damn you! Only an evil cultivator like yourself would set up such a devious trap! Using innocent mortals just to lower my guard? Despicable!” Mr. Genius shouted as Tia cut his body several times. She kept silent as there was no point talking in a fight when her victory wasn’t 100% confirmed.
Eventually, it got to the point where he couldn’t resist any longer. This was when Tia tied him up and started preparing to get some cultivation resources from his powerful sect. She would have to carefully think of this plan. From her experience, the big sects were cunning and unforgiving. They will certainly set up a trap for her if she lets them take command of the negotiations.
“Advancing is impossible without the resources hoarded by the big sects...” She muttered. That dragon medallion gave her a heaven-ranked cultivation technique that sucked up spirit stones like water through a straw! While she was far stronger than her current cultivation realm suggested, she needed twice as many resources to advance. A fair but annoying trade off...