It took half a year for Courtney to gain everything she could inside this cave. Now with a tremendous increase in her personal strength and Tang Seng fully trained, it was time to take revenge on those Ghost King Immortal Sect disciples who forced her into this situation in the first place. While she was thankful, her jumping off that cliff could’ve also led to her death if she wasn’t lucky enough to get caught in some strong vines on her way down. So, it only made sense to go “thank” them in person.
She climbed up the sheer cliffside with the silent Tang Seng following behind her. After a certain point during his “training”, he realized that no matter how much he begged, pleaded, or threatened her, none of it mattered. He understood that she didn’t care for his background, what he could offer her, or anything at all. Trying to reason with her was an impossible task and frankly a waste of breath. Eventually, he realized his position and fate in life was to serve as this woman’s slave. No one would come to save him and because of his bloodline, there wasn’t a chance that she would let him go on his own. Not that he could escape from her anyway after all those rare resources she took from him.
Courtney and Seng made it up the top of the cliff after a few hours of non-stop climbing. She didn’t know where the Ghost King Immortal Sect was, just that the disciples that forced her off that cliff were from it. And frankly, it's been a while since that incident happened... Now that she was finally free from that small cave with fresh air flowing through her lungs, she could think more clearly now. Why waste her own time chasing after some weaklings that would stand no chance against her now when she could do something more productive for herself? While she did want to test her new strength, it would be better to solidify her own strength.
Remembering the direction of the nearest city, Courtney started to walk in that direction. Desperate to get out of the wild and have some semblance of normality again, she was looking forward to reaching the city. For some reason, she disliked being in the wild for too long. As if she experienced horrible things out here that she could never forget. She wouldn’t admit it but having Tang behind her helps alleviate that feeling just a bit.
Right now, she was still waiting for him to run off at the first taste of freedom since they finally got out of that cave. But it seems he was playing his game a lot smarter than she thought he would. Courtney didn’t believe she had Seng completely controlled even with half a year of “teaching.” So, she would just wait until he tried to run before placing him back in that hell.
Once they made it to the city, Courtney’s first stop was to a restaurant to eat real food. In those six months with Tang, the two of them had to eat nothing but pills to stop themselves from starving. Tasteless, instantly dissolving pills that could never leave them completely full but wouldn’t let them still feel hungry either. It was a new kind of torture that Courtney never believed she would have to suffer through. She never imagined that not being allowed to starve or gorge yourself would be something so horrible. Definitely, something she’ll have to try out eventually for the next person who gets on her bad side.
The two of them didn’t gather much attention inside the city not that either of them was expecting to do so. There was nothing special about either of them except Courtney’s brown skin tone. At least, that was what Courtney thought until they ran into a member of the Tang Family that recognized Seng. And from his first words, she had an idea of how Seng ended up in that cave.
“You... You should be dead...!” A handsome youth cried out as if he's seen a ghost.
Seng’s eyes narrowed into a murderous glare as he pulled out a completely black blade. He readied himself into a position to kill but didn’t move forward. Courtney gave a small smile at the sight of this but it didn’t completely make her trust him. However, she did realize what happened between the two. But that didn’t mean she had to let Seng get revenge.
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“You. Tell me your background.” Courtney demanded.
“Are you that freak’s woman!? Did you somehow save him back then!?” He questioned.
“I won’t repeat myself. Answer my question.” A crowd was now starting to form around them.
“If Master Jiao’s men couldn’t kill you, then I'll just finish the job!” He unsheathed his sword and moved forward, completely ignoring Courtney.
“Isn’t that Young Master Tang? Sole disciple of Silent Ghost from the Ghost King Immortal Sect?”
“Why is he trying to kill those two?”
“They must have got on his bad side. Ever since he was accepted as Silent Ghost’s disciple, he’s been roaming through Sunny City unrestrained.”
“Doesn’t that kid look awfully similar to Young Master Tang?”
“If you look past his messy hair and filthy body, maybe...”
Courtney sent one of her meteor hammers streaking through the air towards Young Master Tang. With her strength, it was impossible for him to react in time. However, not impossible for his life-saving treasure to react. A white transparent barrier of qi formed around his body that saved him from Courtney’s meteor hammer from smashing in his face.
On seeing that his master’s gift activated and saved his own life, he immediately stopped himself and looked at the powerful brown girl. It only took him an instant to realize that she was someone out of his league and if he continued acting the way he has, it would be a simple matter for him to die here. So, he gave a respectful bow and focused all his attention on her instead of his should be dead brother. Even his master couldn’t save him if he willingly walked into his own death!
“I apologize for my rude behavior Miss Immortal. I am willing to answer any questions you might have for me.” He spoke in a polite manner.
‘All it takes is a show of superior power and these brutes are all too willing to try and talk things out... It's irritating but it's ingrained in the culture here.’ Courtney was annoyed.
Strength was everything in this place. Without strength, you were nothing, no one, and unimportant. With strength, you were everything everyone wanted to be, you had women/men, you had riches, and you were liked. Those without strength sucked up to those with strength for the chance to gain a type of strength of their own. Those with strength only looked for more strength to feel validated by society even more so.
They don’t care for the farmers, business owners, and other occupations that this society is actually run by. Cultivators don’t do anything productive for the world. Not even the righteous sects that claim they are for the weak and helpless. It’s a load of crap. Righteous cultivators, wicked cultivators, wandering cultivators, all of them are only in it for themselves. No one is looking out for humanity as a whole. No one wants to improve and take the world to the next stage in evolution. They’re completely content in staying where they are doing what they’ve been doing for thousands of years already! It's completely insane in Courtney’s opinion! All this power and they use it for what!? Wars? Expanding territories? Gaining more power? At least build a society and culture that is actually improving itself every decade!
‘Actually... Why don’t I just do that?’ Courtney suddenly thought.
“Forget it. In your next life, make sure to actually confirm you’ve assassinated someone when carrying one out.” Courtney gave Seng the green light.
He charged forth without restraint and plunged his big black sword right through Young Master Tang’s chest. With Courtney already taking care of the life-saving treasure given to Tang by his master, Seng had nothing to worry about. After pushing his brother off of his blade, he stabbed him through the heart before decapitating him. Many of those watching the confrontation quickly fled in terror after seeing the brutal kin-slaying. They let everyone know about the duo that did not put the Ghost King Immortal Sect in their eyes and to avoid them at all costs.
“Let’s go for now. To get started on this idea of mine, I need money. Lots and lots of money.” Courtney began walking through the city streets.
“And I'm sure that the Ghost King Immortal Sect wouldn’t mind donating to my cause... Actually, now that I think about it, I'm sure many wicked sects wouldn’t mind giving me some money if I asked them nicely for it. Wicked sects don’t need money as they are only going to use it to harm the world instead of helping it anyway.”