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Ding!
[You have consumed a large quantity of meat from a powerful Divine Martial Beast prepared through the power of the Gourmet Dao.]
[You have gained an enormously tremendous quantity of Ki Essence of the highest quality! Your Physique and your Inner Martial Core are overflowing with it!]
[You’ve used this Essence to rapidly cultivate your Physique and Inner Martial Core!]
[Your [Physique]: [Nine Colored Nova Physique (Tier 3: Rank 1)] has Ranked Up to Tier 3: Rank 3!]
[Your [Martial Core]: [Umbral Black Star Core (Tier 1: Rank 5)] has Ranked Up to Tier 1: Rank 8!]
[You gained +500 Physical Stats.]
[You gained +2.500 Ki.]
[You gained +300 Cosmic Energy.]
Once we finished our meal and the night arrived, I felt much stronger than before! All my stats increased; this was a legendary and divine meal, without a doubt! By itself, this was a good reward for what I’ve done for the heavenly empress already.
And did she make it using the Gourmet Dao?! That’s a special Dao you can only grow by cooking for perhaps thousands of years. I never thought a Venerable would have such a Dao.
“I feel so strong now…” Said Wai Tien. “And there are strange messages inside of my head; they said my Strength and Ki increased?”
“It seems the System is working.” I explained. “You see, everyone has a System they share together. Me and my brother are the only ones with our personal Systems. These systems help you grow your stats and become stronger. To explain it as simply as possible,
“I see!” Wai Tien nodded. “It is so amazing, Lady Anna!”
“Well, technically, I don’t know if it's truly a System though. It might originate from something else and be much less simple than that. I have a theory that it could be the Voice of Origin, of everything at once. The Voice of the Root of Creation.” I explained.
“The Root... of Creation?” Wai Tien was confused. “I-I don’t think I am following now, Lady Anna…”
“You can just call me Anna, Wai Tien.” I said. “I think I am younger than you, haha. Don’t treat me with honorifics.”
“Even if you’re younger, you’re still as strong as an Immortal, and I wouldn’t dare treat an Immortal without respect.” She bowed her head.
“Geez… Fine, well, Master.” I asked the empress, who was sipping green tea calmly.
“I already know what you’re going to say.” She smiled. “And the training shall begin tomorrow officially. After all, I did not really plan to train you the day you would arrive anyway. The night is here; it would be better for you to sleep. Once you sleep, you must quickly move to the Yin Island, where the third metallic tree resides, and where the despicable Heavenly Demon and what remains of his cult make their home.”
“Alright.” I nodded. “However… Well, should I really not speak with them? They helped you save this world after all, Master.”
“…” She remained in silence for a few seconds. “Simply don’t talk to him if you can. But I suppose... If push comes to shove and you can somehow convince that monster to help you, then be my guest, do as you please, my disciple... But I would rather not speak any more of that man; I always get a disgusting feeling.”
“Okay…” I nodded, sighing.
I once again noticed something odd in her eyes. There was not just plain hate against someone who was "evil." There was someone, a deeper feeling, something connected to that man. But I couldn’t discern more than that. And she clearly didn’t want to tell me either.
“Another thing.” She spoke. “Your fifteen days here might be able to be extended to almost ten times their original number.
“Huh?!” I muttered. “Wait, how?”
“Thanks to your help, I’ve been able to finally access my Inner Realm once more! This means we can train inside as well. Any Immortal can shape their Inner Realm in a variety of ways. And a venerable person such as me also has the ability to alter its time. I can accelerate the time flow inside my Inner Realm, so the days you spend there are longer than those outside. Meaning, if I accelerate it to its maximum amount of ten times, I can make it so a day outside is ten days inside; do you get it now?”
Wait, she’s right! I never thought about that! Inside her Inner Realm, I could train for much more time, ignoring the quest time limit to a much greater extent.
“That’s amazing! I am glad I was able to help you heal up a bit then, heavenly empress.” I said happily.
“Just call me master from now on.” She said. “Now I shall go to my bedroom to sleep; I need to rest myself. Anna, you’ll be parting ways tomorrow morning, right? I’ve left a map of the world right over that table; use it to guide yourself through the seas.”
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“I see, alright.” I nodded. “Thank you for the help, master. What about Wai Tien?”
“I’ll take care of her; don’t worry.” She said. “Now, good night. Make sure to sleep well. There are two beds in the room in the left corridor. There’s also a bathroom with warm water; make sure to wash yourself; you stink like those mechanical beasts.”
“Eh? Ah! Y-Yes…” I felt slightly embarrassed; I had been stinking this entire time.
Once everything was said and done, I went to take a warm shower in the bathroom. There was a special blue and red stone imbued into the bathrooms. The blue stone produced water when infused with Ki, as a formation would start. The red stone would warm the water, making it more refreshing and comfortable.
“Phew, it has been truly a long time since I’ve taken such a relaxing, warm bath… I never imagined I would get to live inside the Heavenly Empress Palace! This is the dream of every girl.” Wai Tien smiled, sighing in happiness as I washed her head with aromatic shampoo.
“Is that so? Tell me more about your family and your life, Wai Tien.” I said. “I am quite curious.”
“W-Well, my family?” She wondered, sighing a bit. “It is not really a pretty story. But there were people who trusted me and loved me regardless of my violations of the family’s rules.”
“I-is that so?” I wondered, beginning to regret having asked her such a heavy subject out of nowhere.
“Yes, especially my grandma.” She smiled, looking at the moon above the skies, which had a huge hole and a ton of metallic scrap covering its once beautiful silver surface. “My grandma was the one who taught me to fight and to become strong. She was someone who was exiled by the village and lived outside in a small hut. I went to visit her almost daily. She told me that in this world, women can’t have the privilege of being weak.”
“She was exiled?” I asked.
“Yes, because she cultivated and learned martial arts.” Sighed Wai Tien. “And even as the daughter of the chief, I was also exiled after I openly showcased my Cultivated Abilities and my Martial Arts.”
“Wai Tien…” I sighed, patting her shoulders. “What happened there?”
“It was when our village was attacked by the demonic cultivator rival clan living on the other side of the mountains. They were tigers like us, but had strived down the path of barbarians and bandits; they possessed similar martial arts as us and killed many of our strongest warriors.” Wai Tien said. “I couldn’t let them hurt my mother, so I fought them and defeated a few before my father and the other warriors could take care of them. Thanks to my strength, I was able to save my mother’s life.”
Wai Tien smiled faintly.
“Yet… My father was furious after learning that I had acquired strength.” Sighed Wai Tien. “He gave me a slap in the face… And told me… “A woman that fights and has no grace does not belong in this tribe!” and so they exiled me the next day.”
“W-What about your mother? Did she appeal for you?” I asked her.
“She… She didn’t try anything; she had been too tamed by the men of my tribe. She became too submissive, always silent, barely talking to me most of the time.” Said Wai Tien. “She was afraid of my father. I wanted to make a change myself, but I knew I couldn’t. I was too weak. With a single slap, my father almost dislocated my jaw…”
“…”
“And that’s how I started my journey!” Said Wai Tien. “I traveled the continent of Pangea on my own after spending a month with my grandmother. She gave me everything she had before she passed away, and she taught me everything she had learned. She told me that she was never able to explore the outside world because she was too weak and old, but that I was different. She gave me a new purpose—to explore the outside world for her! And to become strong, so I could one day come back to my family and confront them.”
“A-And did you?!” I asked with suspense.
“That is a tale for another day, Lady Anna. It is too late now.” She said. “Let’s quickly dry our fur and go to bed. It is always necessary to sleep a good amount of time every night, so we can wake up with full energy, ready for anything.”
“Aw, come on! You left me on a cliffhanger!” I complained.
“Fufu, I will tell you more later; don’t worry.” She quickly gave me a head pat. “Despite being immortal, you behave like a small child sometimes. You’re really cute, Lady Anna.” She licked my forehead. “Now, please get your clothes already. It is weird to see such a nude body; usually everyone either has scales, feathers, or fur to cover themselves. Your tribe of bald apes must be rare.”
“I am not a bald ape; I’m a human!” I sighed as I quickly started dressing. “Well, anyways, good night, Wai Tien.”
After that conversation that left me hanging on, wanting to know more about her past, I quickly moved to the bed. Ah, it was really, really comfortable, and it smelled like roses too!
“Haahh~ I could get used to this.”
…
The next morning came as quickly as I fell asleep. I woke up without trying to make a sound, as I noticed Wai Tien still sleeping very soundly. I looked through the window; the breeze was nice today.
[“You’re going?”] Gram asked.
“Yeah, I should get going right away.”
I took a minute in the bathroom, ate some breakfast, which included sandwiches from my inventory, and then rushed out. I leaped off the palace with ease, using my Cloud Step to run across the sky.
With the map in my hands, I guided myself through the many islands left behind within this ruined world. I could see from afar the vestiges of the sunk continent of Pangea; large peaks and mountains remained untouched, too high to sink completely, forming small, unexplored islands.
After spending two hours moving as fast as possible through the seas, I finally saw my destination. Well, it wasn’t hard to see it—a gigantic metallic tree, not as big as the biggest one, but as large as the one on the previous island.
“This is where the Heavenly Demon lives. The Yin Dragon Island.”
The island lived to its name, having huge black colored peaks, one of them was sculped into a ferocious, roaring dragon. This was the hiding place of the union of demonic cults led by the Heavenly Demon, according to the Heavenly Empress information.
“We are here.”
I landed over the calm beaches; I could barely notice any Mechanical Beasts presences. The Heavenly Demon’s forces probably constantly cleansed the island here. Maybe they had a more active fighting force than the Heavenly Empress.
[“This place has a different vibe than the other island. The moment we landed here, the presence of someone watching us became very powerful.”]
“I can tell…” I sighed, looking up.
There was a red-colored bubble protecting something in the distance. I moved through the jungles, reaching the small village where the union sheltered themselves from the outside world.
“Halt.”
However, I couldn’t give another step; a powerful voice reverberated within my entire soul and body. In a second, I almost felt like puking out of shock. This was the presence of a Venerable at full power!
“Ugh…!”
I ended up falling to my knees without realizing it.
“Who are you? State your name, sect, bloodline, family, purpose, and master’s name. And I might consider sparing your life.”
The voice of a powerful man continued to reverberate through my soul.
And then I noticed it.
Unlike her, he was much more active, even if wounded.
I saw him above the skies, looking down on me as if I were nothing but an insect.
A tall and mighty man with a sharp and wide black beak, big and sinister-looking red eyes, and a body covered in pitch-black feathers.
The Heavenly Demon was a crow.
“Speak; don’t make me waste my time.”
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