NOVEL FROG Chapter 28: Missing Comrade
Any corrections or criticisms are welcome, I hope you enjoy Chapter 28: Missing Comrade
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Bing Meilu was not starting to worry about Xia Xuefeng because people of her stature did not 'worry'. However, she was beginning to feel professional concern for her young companion.
It had already been more than three days since Bing Meilu took control of the BMFS Faction and yet she saw no sign of her wayward servant. She had sent Xia Xuefeng out to collect resources to cultivate and then went into secluded cultivation herself. Yet when she awoke nearly a week later, Xia Xuefeng was nowhere to be seen, nor had she returned in the last three days.
"Li Ji, I need you to find someone for me." Bing Meilu turned to address her faction accountant, Li Ji.
The Yin Metal cultivator was turning out to be something of a fixer, and personal assistant for her. For a mortal, Li Ji was sharp-witted and creative, able to solve problems with minimal instruction. He always seemed very eager to get work done with the utmost haste, a personality trait Bing Meilu valued highly in her subordinates.
"Might I have some details, Your Holiness?" he asked, wiping sweat from his head with a damp handkerchief.
He had taken to calling her that ever since she had personally remade his cultivation. Li Ji had the novel idea of routing a permanent formation of yin metal qi through his meridians. For a mortal, it was a very creative idea, and if executed properly, could have been extremely powerful. If executed properly.
Sadly for him, such a feat was not something any mortal could just figure out on their own. Luckily for him, Bing Meilu was around to help. As fire made metal malleable, she was able to melt down and reroute the metal in his meridians, to a formation that actually provided benefits.
It was a simplified version of the Chillocosmic Jade Tributaries Convergence, a manual popular amongst merchants in certain higher realms. Powerful enough to ingratiate him, without being implausible for her to have found in the Moon Crying Swan Palace as a Prime Elder's disciple.
"Of course..."
---
Li Ji stepped out of Bing Meilu's throneroom, wiping the sweat from his head.
"Another job already?" Xi Fu, who was guarding the door, asked and Li Ji nodded sullenly.
"Man, what a slave driver..." the spearman sighed.
"Don't say that so loud, she might hear you." Li Ji hissed.
Xi Fu shuddered at the thought. Neither had been able to eat or sleep in the three days since Bing 'The Ice Demon' Meilu had taken over the Crimson Dragons Faction. Constant training, work and bitter cultivation. She seemed to take a perverse pleasure in pushing them all to their absolute limit.
"The quicker I get this done, the sooner she'll forget I exist again," Li Ji consoled himself. "Now, where do I start?"
---
"I have found your person of interest, your holiness!" Li Ji reported, to Bing Meilu.
She silently nodded to the kowtowing man, and he handed her his report, which she promptly read over.
'A demonic cultivator of the eighth stage of Qi Condensation, Xia Xuefeng was found in the vicinity of Port Snake covered in blood, and apprehended by Captain Ji Longyi. She was convicted of Demonic Cultivation and imprisoned in the Shadow Pit, a holding ground for such people.'
Bing Meilu raised an eyebrow, frowning slightly.
'Demonic Cultivation? Impossible,' she thought, bewildered. 'I personally oversaw her cultivation myself. I refuse to believe the measly Heavens of this world would dare penalize her cultivation method, given its origins!'
"Who is this Ji Longyi who had my servant arrested?" Bing Meilu asked, voice serious.
"Captain Ji Longyi is a genius at the sixth stage of Core Formation and the second stage of Vein Widening. He's the grandson of the Division Commander and is expected to reach Nascent Soul within the decade."
"Which faction is he aligned with?"
"None, your holiness. He has a small circle of sworn brothers who he fights with, but he is not a part of any of the four squadrons."
"Hmmph. Bring me more information on this 'Shadow Pit' prison."
"...Yes your holiness. Right away."
The metal cultivator strode away after bowing.
---
"Captain Ji Longyi huh? To dare falsely imprison my own servant? What utter gall!"
Bing Meilu retrieved a vial of ice from within her dress. It was filled with a thick crimson fluid, the Essence Blood she had taken from Xia Xufeng when she'd first accepted the girl's loyalty.
Carefully Bing Meilu extracted a small amount of the Essence Blood with a thin needle of ice. before putting the vial away. She stepped outside her throneroom, where the spear cultivator Xi Fu was standing guard.
"Spearman, do you have any Message Tablets?" the young girl asked.
Xi Fu nodded hesitantly.
"Um, yes Boss."
"Give me one."
"I'm afraid all the ones I have are already aspected to people-"
"That's fine," Bing Meilu waved her hand dismissively. "Just give me any random one."
Xi Fu hesitantly nodded, blushing. He pulled a carven slip of jade from his belt and handed it to his faction leader. The name engraved into it was 'Sweetbuns'. Either the martial name of a formidable cultivator from the Dao of Chefs or more likely, the pet name of a paramour.
Bing Meilu strode back into her throne room. She placed the drop of Essence Blood onto the message talisman and got to work re-directing it. The ice cultivator was not exactly an expert in formations... for a Celestial. She of course knew exactly how to manipulate magical items of the mortal realms.
Bing Meilu recorded her message, before pouring Qi into the talisman to activate it. She frowned. There must be an anti-message barrier around this prison because the tablet had not been activated. Sighing, the girl opened her sect map, found the location of the entrance to the Shadow Pit, and briskly made her way in that direction.
Walking through the sect, she found herself heading towards a large single-story building of stone. Two halberd-wielding guards sat at the front of the building, both in the fifth stage of Qi Condensation. It seemed that the sect gave little importance to guarding the building, given such weak cultivators were there. Most likely they were just random Privates hired to keep watch and the real 'guarding' was done by powerful Formations that acted automatically. Bing Meilu stepped up to one of the guards, snapping her fingers.
"Guard, I have a message tablet for one of the prisoners. Move aside so I can send it in."
The guard blinked in confusion, looking down at the small child imperiously staring up at him.
"Hello little miss, I don't know if that's allowed-"
"I did not see any rule against it in the sect handbook."
"Yes but-"
"If there is no rule against it, it is allowed. Move aside." Bing Meilu spoke slowly as if explaining a simple idea to a particularly slow child
"Look girl I can't just-"
"What's your name? I'll need to know it for when I file a complaint for unlawful obstruction of a permitted activity."
The guard inhaled deeply, as if to say 'I don't get paid enough for this shit' and stepped aside while rolling his eyes. As Bing Meilu's master, Prime Elder Hai Yu, always said, if at first you don't get what you want, harass the underpaid workers until they give in to your demands. A flawless strategy.
Bing Meilu entered the building. There was a simple spartan interior. a metal grate covered a hole in the ground, where countless demonic cultivators had no doubt been tossed into over the years. It was honestly surprising how low level the security was. Then again this was in the middle of the sect. Even if a demonic cultivator from within managed to make his way up, he'd need to fight through multiple Nascent Soul level cultivators to escape Port Snake.
Bing Meilu casually dropped the message jade through the bars, activating it with a burst of Qi. The jade tablet shattered into scintillating crystals, before flying off into the dark pit. Satisfied with her work, she left the prison entrance and headed back to the BMFS Faction dorm room.
---
The Bing Meilu's faithful slaves' faction had eighteen members, nineteen if you counted Bing Meilu.
Jiang Hu, the former leader. His Qi Cultivation was at the fifth stage of Foundation Establishment, and his Body Cultivation was at the seventh stage of the Lung Vitization Realm. That was the first realm of Body Cultivation and the equivalent of Qi Condensation for Qi cultivation.
There were two more Foundation Establishment cultivators, one in the first stage and one in the third stage. Neither was particularly impressive, so Bing Meilu called them by number.
Jiang Hu was slave one, the third stage lieutenant was slave two, the first stage lieutenant was slave three and so on.
There were fifteen cultivators in the First Realm, notable was Xi Fu, a decently talented spear cultivator Bing Meilu had begun to groom, Li Ji her right-hand man, and Private Ji, whose name she only remembered because of how exceptionally stupid he was. Everyone else she also referred to by number.
Presently, all eighteen faithful slaves were lined up before her in an empty training field, each working on an assigned task as she inspected.
Number twelve, in the fifth stage of Qi Condensation, was whacking rocks with a wooden mallet.
"Slave twelve hit harder. It's a hammer, not your grandmother's treasured jade vase. You'll never master the Twelve Hammers of Alecto with such a limp wrist! The explosive release is the key!"
"Private Ji, for Heaven's sake- that better not be a goddamned Spirit Dog Medicinal Orb. What did I tell you last time!?"
"Um, sorry Boss- I thought it might help?"
"...Why?!"
---
Satisfied with her slaves were all training properly, Bing Meilu returned to her throne room. From the shadows, a man slunk out, his sickly body fading into the dark background.
"How are you doing Zhang?" Bing Meilu asked.
"My injuries have been managed," the crippled Core Formation shrugged, his beady eyes piercing into her. "You seem to be having fun with this little faction of yours."
"I assure you I take my duty to my slaves with the utmost gravity." Bing Meilu smiled.
"I would prefer you focus on cultivating and don't waste time on them. I don't see what you need from them?"
Translation: Reach Core Formation as fast as possible so you can heal my injuries!
"Nothing I do is a waste of time, Zhang. Why do you think I decided to take over a faction?"
"Was it out of your boundless magnanimity?" the man chuckled.
"Not quite. Subordinates are extremely useful tools. They can defeat enemies for you, gather resources, deter attacks and more. If I want my cultivation to be smooth sailing, having a powerful force to my name will be very beneficial. With my tutelage, even untalented curs like the former Crimson Dragons can be forged into an effective fighting force. From there one, they can be used as a base upon which a proper faction can be built, on that will serve to filter huge amounts of resources up the faction hierarchy to aid in my cultivation. Imagine ten thousand cultivators each giving you five percent of the wealth they acquire. Wouldn't ascension be guaranteed?"
"Not to mention that my sheer talent will attract the eyes of many. The lone genius is often struck down, while the young master with a dozen thugs often is left alone. Gathering a powerful force will serve to keep me safer while I increase my own personal power."
"You seem to have this all planned out well," Zhang drawled. "But what if the more established factions take offence to your rising power?"
"And that Zhang, is where the next step of my plan is going to come in," a rare smile graced the calm girl's lips. "Becoming the loyal dogs of a stronger faction!"