The next day.
A young woman sat on a table near the window casually flipping through a small notebook. She rested her cheek against her fist. The twilight of the setting sun cast a reddish-orange hue across her sculpted face, giving her delicate features an enchanting beauty, leaving many unable to look away.
The young woman, though, seed oblivious, lost in her thoughts.
‘Yesterday’s research was rather enlightening,’ Rialda mused, flipping through her notes. Having watched several battles between Qi Gathering Stage, Earthen Origin Stag and even a rare one between Sky Spirit Stage Immortal Cultivators, she had gathered quite a lot of data.
‘Going by Xiao Hong’s description, Zhenqi, the Energy an Immortal Cultivator trains in, is so sort of fusion between the Lifeforce of a Cultivator and refined World Energy - which the locals apparently call ‘Spiritual Energy of Heaven and Earth’.
‘Immortal Cultivators use Spell Arts and Cultivation Techniques to exert the power of their Zhenqi.
‘Interestingly, Zhenqi can directly be used without an interdiary process.’ Rialda noted. ‘This is quite unlike the process of casting Magic - which requires to use my Intent to drive the conversion of ‘Magical Potential’ within into specialised Mana and then shape the produced Mana into spells.
‘However, despite the decrease in the number of steps, it is not much faster than Magic. In fact, a more proficient Mage like can even be slightly faster.’
She lightly tapped her pen against her chin. ‘Moreover, as far as I’ve seen, compared to Magic, these Spell Arts and Battle Techniques seem quite rigid.’ For example, she could use her Intent to create rings of Mana around her that could serve to cast both fire-attribute and lightning-attribute Spells.
‘But, this rigidity allows them to recover unused Zhenqi - an unused Spell Art can be turned back into pure Zhenqi - with a loss of about 50% (This seems to be variable). Whereas in Magic, once ‘Magical Potential’ is turned into Mana, it can never be turned back into ‘Magical Potential’. A Mage can only wait for it to recover on its own.
‘I need to conduct more research into this.’ Rialda leaned back into her chair, comfortably watching the people co and go in the lobby. ‘Unfortunately, Xiao Hong didn’t give enough Spirit Stones to hire so Immortal Cultivators to be my experintal subjects…’
Just as she was lanting her companion’s stinginess, she noticed sothing.
‘Hm?’ Her brows slowly furrowed as she watched the random strangers pouring into the inn from the door, chatting with the owner of the inn and ordering so food and drinks. They sat down and started chatting casually.
Her gaze flickered to another side of the lobby where she noticed a few of the patrons getting up and leaving.
Everything seed to be quite normal.
‘But what is this feeling as though sothing is off? Like sothing I can’t quite put my finger on…’ Her frown deepened. A strange feeling appeared in the back of her mind, urging her. It was an odd feeling - like a chilly breeze brushing across the nape of her neck.
‘I should go and inform Xiao Hong.’ She got to her feet and made for the stairs, only to stop midway. Two burly figures had suddenly appeared and blocked her path.
She looked up at them and then to her sides. Several figures had surrounded her at so point. She turned back to her front and asked calmly, “Why do you block my path?”
The only response she got was a rapidly expanding palm.
At the sa ti, on the second floor.
Xiao Hong slipped out of her room, looking sowhat tired but also quite satisfied. She had refined many Healing Pills, Antidote Pills, Qi Gathering Pills and so on. It was more than enough to last her a few months of intense consumption.
‘Well, now that I have enough pills and information, I should quickly leave before so unforeseen calamity descends on my head…’
Just when she had such a thought -
Booom!!!
A trendous explosion sounded, shaking the entire building!
“What the-?!” Xiao Hong jumped, her Qi reacting instinctively - whipping into motion and forming a thick, red film that quickly enclosed her. And just in ti too - for three arcs of silvery-blue Sword Qi slamd into her hastily cast Zhenqi Shield, causing it to crack and dissipate.
Xiao Hong’s eyes darted to her right, from where the Sword Qi had appeared.
Then, she disappeared in a burst of starlight, reappearing in front of a middle-aged man who held a sword that seed made purely from silver. His eyes widened in utter shock when a delicate, yet sohow tougher than steel fist drove itself into his gut. It was so fast he could not even react!
“Aaaargh-!” the man let out a pained scream, only for it to be cut off almost imdiately by a vice-like grip on his throat.
“Who are you?! And why did you attack ?!” a qi-powered growl shook his eardrums!
srising vibrant red orbs stared into his, and seed to hold a storm within them, a tempest of power that belied her delicate appearance. His heart shuddered in fear. Why the hell was the target so overwhelmingly powerful? Wasn’t she supposed to be a weakling in the mid-stage of Divine Sea? How the hell was a 2nd Disaster Stage Cultivator like him so easily defeated and even captured by the other party?!
This didn’t make sense!
Yet, as a seasoned Cultivator, he reacted quickly. His right hand quickly ford seals and his left, holding the silver sword, sliced it through the air towards his opponent’s waist.
His heart leapt in joy when the girl did nothing to stop the blade - and then directly flew into an ice cellar when all the sword did was cut through her robes. All he could see was a small red mark on her otherwise unblemished skin. She did not even flinch!
‘What the fuck? Why is this re mid-stage Divine Sea so damned abnormal?!’ He was shocked.
Crack! Crack!
“Ugh!” A choked grunt of pain managed to force itself out of his throat when both his arms were shattered by two casual strikes, rendering them useless.
She gripped his throat even tighter. Just as she was about to threaten the man -
Boooom!!
Another explosion rang through the building, causing pieces of debris and dust to rain down.
Xiao Hong’s eyes widened, for she felt fluctuations of the incredibly unique ‘Essence’ that Rialda wielded.
‘Dammit!’ Cursing, she gritted her teeth and slamd her palm into the man’s gut and forcefully pushed her Qi into his body. She drove it into his ridian system, forcing a very crude and temporary but effective seal on his energy channels - rendering him unconscious from the sheer agony of having foreign Qi violently pushed into his ridians.
Tossing the man to the side, she clenched her fist and slamd it downwards onto the floor!
With a great rumble, the floor gave in and collapsed, bringing her downwards along with itself.
Through the clouds of dust, she saw Rialda in battle, rings of purple fire revolving with her as the centre, far brighter and larger than before when she fought the pack of coyotes. Three n and two won surrounded her, fighting with all their might, barely defending against the ceaseless onslaught of explosive balls of plasma.
While Rialda, Xiao Hong observed, was completely relaxed. She seed almost serene, her movents fluid and graceful as she dodged and countered. Rings of purple fire danced around her and a shield of pure energy floated around repelling the enemy's attacks. There was even a thoughtful expression on her face - as though she were pondering sothing completely unrelated to fight.
The mont she had crashed through the floor, Rialda had turned her gaze upwards. Their gazes t for a split second and a tacit understanding passed between them.
Taking a deep breath, Xiao Hong locked onto two of the attackers, a cold glint flickering across her eyes. These two had clearly practised so Physical Cultivation thod - judging from their rough skin texture and abnormally burly figures. Gathering her Qi, she thrust her palm forward, a vibrant red Qi swirling around it.
A colossal, translucent palm, several tis her size, materialised in the air. It slamd down with trendous montum.
Essence Annihilation Palm!
It was only at this mont that the five cultivators that besieged Rialda looked up at the ceiling that seed to be collapsing on their heads.
Terror gripped the two burly n’s hearts when they saw the massive palm. They threw out all their defensive asures - shields and barrier spells, yet nothing seed able to stop it. It gained upon them with incredible speed, inevitable as the sun rises every morning! A re peak-Stage Divine Sea could do little to stop her normally, much less when they were already engaged in battle with an even more formidable opponent.
Booom!
Their defensive barriers shattered like glass, their screams swallowed by the deafening roar of the impact. Yet again, the whole building seed to shake under the might of her attack. Without even bothering to check the result, she knew that the two n would be incapacitated for a long, long ti.
So, she simply turned and shot towards the entrance of the White Jade Inn.
The mont she was outside the main gate of the White Jade Inn, she shot towards the skies. Rialda caught up with her from behind, the rings of fire still around her but dimr, less vibrant.
“We need to get out of the City as soon as possible!” Xiao Hong said, her tone urgent.
Her companion simply nodded.
Yet, hardly had they moved a few hundred tres when a shout reached their ears!
“Stop right there, you criminals! How dare you cause trouble in Golden Sea Port City?!” A powerful voice echoed through the streets and across the skies, causing the hundreds of Immortal Cultivators and Martial Artists to look up in anticipation - it seed there was a show to watch!
The pair of criminals couldn’t be bothered to even respond.
Unfortunately, no matter how fast they bolted, they could not outrun those already ahead.
Therefore, surrounded completely, they had no choice but to halt in midair.
Xiao Hong warily surveyed her surroundings, trying to quickly establish the fighting strength of her opponents, assessing their numbers and individual strength. ‘Three, four, seven, twelve, fourteen. Seven at the peak of the Divine Sea Stage, three below the 5th Disaster Stage, two at the 6th and 7th Disaster Stages, and two more at the 8th Disaster Stage. And that’s not counting the Martial Artists below.
‘What in the Nine Hells?!’ She cursed vehently in her mind, ‘Why are they treating us like so high-profile criminals who broke out of jail?!
‘Moreover, it is awfully convenient that Law Enforcent is so close by and to be able to catch up with us so quickly…
‘It seems we are being sched against, but… why?’ There was no reason for anyone to go out of their way to sche against her - a Divine Sea mid-stage Immortal Cultivator for absolutely no reason. Even if she wasn’t the most powerful Cultivator around, she was still a formidable force!
Her eyes flickered towards Rialda for a split second before quickly glancing ahead. Did it have sothing to do with her?
Xiao Hong couldn’t help but think so.
But, now was not the ti to think about this. Her imdiate survival was more concerning.
“What is the aning of this, sir?” Her Qi-powered voice rang through the streets, echoing in the ears of mortals and practitioners alike. “Why are you surrounding us for no good reason?”
“What audacity! You criminals dare to cause a ruckus in the Golden Sea Port City, harming innocents and you still pretend to be harmless?!” A rickety old man sneered contemptuously.
He pointed his thin, bony at the two, and spoke loudly, voice layered with Qi just Xiao Hong, “As an Elder of the Thunder Saint Sect, I will not stand for it! I will put you in your place!” A vast aura spread from his body, belying his powerful Cultivation Base at the 8th Disaster Stage. The very air seed to crackle under the sheer energy he exerted.
“Indeed! These two female devils have committed heinous cris!” Another old fogie spat out through clenched teeth, also at the 7th Disaster Stage. “My son, my precious, one and only son was brutally slaughtered by them! Turned into little more than minced flesh and crushed bones!!” He clenched his chest in imnse pain and grief. He seethed, levelling his malevolent glare at them.
Xiao Hong narrowed her eyes, carefully sizing up the second old fogie. Then, she turned to the Elder of the Thunder Saint Sect, lips curling with barely suppressed scorn, “How disgusting! Since when did righteous Immortal Sects start to collude with Demonic Cultivators?”
A strange flicker of light flashed through the elderly man’s eyes. For just a mont, she thought she saw an expression of disgust and helplessness, but soon it was erased.
“Heh! You must not be a very good spy, huh?
“If you were,” the man turned into a blur, reappearing in front of Xiao Hong, his hand suddenly sporting a head-sized ball of blue thunder, “you would know that all sects under the banner of the Flowing Cloud live harmoniously - it matters not whether they are Immortal or Demonic!”
He expressionlessly slamd down the ball of lightning in his palm.
“Now surrender or die!”
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