NOVEL FROG Chapter 40: Earth-Sealing Ice Hammer
Transmigrated back into the body of her child self, can the mighty Celestial Bing Meilu survive in a Xianxia world all the while staving off the advances of arrogant young masters and wannabe protagonists alike?
Why is life so hard for the Icy Beauty?
Any corrections or criticisms are welcome, I hope you enjoy Chapter 40: Earth-Sealing Ice Hammer
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The Redscale cultivator's body blazed with a fiery aura. He leapt towards Bing Meilu, a claw of draconic fire forming in his hand. It reminded her heavily of Flame Princess Xiyi's fighting style, only far worse ie every way.
'This one just happens to have a lot of experience countering the tricks of the Redscale clan!' Bing Meilu thought, easily dodging each attack, her body thrumming with Qi.
She had around three-fifths of her Qi remaining, but that would be more than enough. She reinforced her weapons, leaping forward. Her ice sabre slashed at his head while simultaneously her rapier sought his stomach. Scales burst out of his skin, scraping against her weapons and deflecting the blow.
In truth, Bing Meilu had actually only brought out the rapier and sabre to put him off guard. Slashing and piercing was ineffective against scaled opponents like the Redscale clan or Dragons. By using them, she was subconsciously teaching him she didn't know how to fight a member of the Redscale clan. She jumped back, narrowly dodging a slash of his fiery claws. The man sneered in disdain.
"And here I thought you were much stronger than us so-called provincials? All I see is a flighty little girl with no skill!" His body began to shimmer with a crimson haze. "Allow me to show what happens when a Foundation Establishment Cultivation is wielded properly. Draconic Rancor!"
A wave of fire exploded out from his, covering the entire cage. Bing Meilu covered herself in a thick layer of icy armour to insulate herself from the heat. Slowly three huge draconic heads of fire condensed.
'Ah, he isn't using Xiyi's improved version. So it should still have that old flaw.'
Right as the dragon heads were about to fully form, at their most unstable point, Bing Meilu's Qi exploded forward, a full fifth of it flooding outwards to power a technique she herself had once created to kill a dragon.
'Dragon Slaying Arts - Earth-Sealing Ice Pillar!'
A huge pillar of ice, as thick as two trees, smashed into the Redscale from above, crushing his body into the dirt. At the exact same time, his dragon's head exploded as he lost concentration at the worst possible moment. The Qi inside his body raged chaotically from the backlash of the failed magical art.
"Surrender," Bing Meilu commanded.
"Fuck off!" he shouted, trying to calm his Qi so he could resume the fight.
"Fine then - Earth-Sealing Ice Hammer!"
A huge hammer of ice appeared, floating in the air. It smashed downwards, driving the ice pillar into him with air-shattering force. Blood and intestines spurted out of his mouth with incredible speed, resembling a waterskin that had been stepped on, as his digestive system vacated his body. The moment, his eyes closed, he was immediately removed by the staff.
"Then Miss Ice, this is your tenth win. Will you take your one thousand spirit stones or continue for another five rounds? At this point, those two realms above you may join in."
"I think I'll go now," Bing Meilu said.
Boos exploded from the audience. After all that, the ridiculous, arrogant, offensive brat was going to walk away with a thousand spirit stones and no punishment! Some even stood up and seemed to be headed for the half-melted fighting cage. The announcer glared, the spiritual pressure of a Core Formation washing over the room.
"Enough."
And the potential riot ended like that.
"I'll have to thank the announcer for his help then," Bing Meilu nodded at the man.
She walked out of the cage, making her way over to the payout area, where a spatial ring with a thousand spirit stones awaited her. She quickly made her way back into the outer bar under the glares of most of the crowd. A moment later, Li Ji came up behind her.
"How much did you make betting it all on me?"
"The odds of you making it to round ten were put at eleven to one. I put down seven hundred twenty-three first-rank spirit stones and seven second-rank ones. With your winnings that end up as eight thousand nine hundred fifty-three first-rank spirit stones and seventy-seven second-rank ones." Li Ji said, smiling ecstatically. "Boss, at this point, we're completely rich!"
"Hmm, we should have around enough," she decided.
She pushed out of the bar and stepped outside to find the BMFS faction. She looked around, then blinked in confusion.
"Where's Xi Fu?"
---
Xi Fu wandered through the streets of Redscale City. His normally black hair had been died red and cut short. He had been instructed not to shave, and his normally smooth face was covered in a slight shadowy mess of beard hair whose growth he'd accelerated with Qi. it would be difficult to recognize him as he was.
'If I recall correctly, Xue Xiang's house was this way,' his feet subconsciously carried him through the city, to the home of the concubine he'd spent months secretly seducing and romancing.
His Qi flared, covering him in a shadowy effect that stopped him from making any noise and made him blend into the background. With his Foundation Establishment cultivation base, this technique that had saved his life on multiple occasions was taken to an even higher level.
He made his way past the overcrowded and bustling streets of the trading hub to the far more open and luxurious upper-class residential area, where wealthy merchants, officials and nobility resided. Trailing a large grassy hill, he gulped as he caught sight of a mid-sized manor in the distance. There it was.
'Xue Xiang's master was only in the low Foundation Establishment as a member of an unimportant side branch. There shouldn't be any security capable of noticing me if I'm careful.'
He approached the home, getting closer. He enhanced his eyes with Qi, climbing onto a tree to get a good vantage point, even as his body blended into the leaves. He sat watching for a while. The side door opened and a young girl ran out onto the grass, giggling. She ran around, miming sword swings with an empty hand. The girl had black hair and pale skin, lines of scales cutely running over her cheeks.
'I... I have a daughter.' his smile was bittersweet. 'She seems happy and healthy. I'm twenty-three and I had her at fifteen, so she should be around seven or eight.'
He felt a deep sadness and longing fill him as he watched her play. He should be happy that his kid was doing well, but for some strange reason, he could only feel profound loneliness. There was something surreal and unnerving about watching the child he'd never met before play.
'Maybe I should leave her something? A present from dear old Dad? She's the child of a low-ranking concubine for a lascivious noble so I can't imagine she gets much in the way of material support. I doubt
ever be able to lay her hands on something like this...'
His spatial ring activated and an old tattered notebook appeared in his hand. It was handmade and clearly well worn, containing every note he took on the lessons he was taught by that old spear master on how to acquire spear qi and much of his own original inventions.
'If she's my daughter she probably has an affinity for spears, right?'
He flipped through the book, blushing at all some of the lewd doodles he's idly drawn in the margins. He quickly erased everything that seemed inappropriate. Then, his Qi enhancing his arm, he gently tossed the book, watching it land a few feet from his daughter. She noticed in surprise, reaching down to pick it up.
Sighing, Xi Fu turned and leapt away silently. His body slammed into something hard and heavy.
"And just where the hell do you think you're going?"
He blinked, looking up to find himself staring at a tall, heavily muscled woman with a burning, fiery Qi. Red armour covered her vitals and a sabre hung at her waist. She grinned viciously, her teeth pointed and razor-sharp like a dragon. A member of the Redscale clan?
'This woman- she must be in at least Core Formation,' his instincts screamed in fear. 'Was she really just standing by guarding a random house? Did she just happen to pass by and see me?'
"Did you really think you could just leave after whatever you were doing?" her eyes narrowed dangerously. "Sniffing around the young miss's house?"
"I- I don't know what Senior thinks I was doing, but I promise I was just passing by innocently!"
A hand roughly grabbed his wrist, tugging him towards her. She leaned forward, and stared him dead in the eyes, her own narrowed harshly.
"I don't think so," she growled, a hint of smoke pouring from her sharp teeth. "I think you were up to something. And I think that you'll be coming with me for some questions, boy."
Xi Fu paused, his own eyes narrowing. He could remove his spear from his spatial ring and fight. His comprehension of the Spear had already advanced to a point he felt like he could threaten a Core Formation. His eyes flicked toward Xue Xiang's house outside where his daughter played.
"Of course, senior. I'm eager to prove my own innocence in whatever you think I've done."
"Good choice," the woman snorted, black acrid smoke pouring from her nostrils.
---
Xi Fu gasped as he was roughly tossed into a cell by the woman. A buff man whose entire body was covered in jagged red scales walked out from behind a wall.
"Who the hell is this, Zheng?" the man asked.
"I don't know, but he was sniffing around Hong Long Xiyi's house using concealment technique."
'Xiyi... so that's my daughter's name!' he smiled, stifling a laugh. 'Rather uncreative to name a member of the Redscale clan with the characters for 'lizard', but Xue Xiang was not exactly a creative woman!'
Then Xi Fu found himself blinking in confusion. Hong Long was a surname only given to core members of the Redscale clan. As the daughter of a branch member and his even lower-ranking concubine, she should be named Xue Xiyi, right? Even if her legal 'father' Ji Dan recognized her, at most, she should be called Ji Xiyi.
'Did Ji Dan somehow manage to improve his rank in the clan? That lazy, fat, untalented, hedonistic bastard? There's no way!'
"I suppose you'll need my skills then?" the gruff man asked.
"I suppose," the woman named Zheng shrugged.
"What's your name?" the gruff man asked, stepping towards Xi Fu's cell.
The spear cultivator hesitated for a moment. On one hand, given the situation he was in, lying could very well lead to his death. On the other hand, he was supposed to be in disguise as the Armada Private Zhang Changfeng.
"This humble one is named Xi Fu," he replied. "A Lieutenant of the Sky Swallowing Gulper Armada."
Xi Fu could only hope his Sect's identity would help shield him.
"Show me your identity medallion!" the man demanded.
Xi Fu nodded, activating his spatial ring and tossing his medallion to the interrogator. The man took it to a table and set it down. It scanned for a moment and beeped loudly.
"It's legit, he is an Armada lieutenant named Xi Fu," the man concluded, walking into Xi Fu's cell.
"Now that I've proven who I am, I suppose I can go-"
"There's still the issue of what exactly you were doing around the young miss's house," The scaled man grinned viciously.
"I was just passing by and saw the child playing, I had no clue that I was intruding on someone important!" Xi Fu swore raising his hands.
"Bullshit. I watched you in the tree for nearly an hour," the woman interjected.
"Is that so? What is it exactly about random young girls that make you want to watch them from within trees, hmm?" the man presse./
'Is he accusing me of being a pedophile?' Xi Fu realized his eyes widening. 'Ah! What a horrible misunderstanding! My innocent fatherly concern is not something so suspicious, I swear!'
"I-I was just intrigued by the sight of a mortal child playing, nothing nefarious!" Xi Fu defends, starting to sweat heavily.
"Really? Is that the case... because given your history, I doubt that. That's right, renowned sex criminal Xi Fu! Thought we wouldn't find out? The machine told me everything. Four counts of deflowering a virgin noblewoman, seventeen counts of sleeping with a nobleman's property without his permission, and eighty-five counts of banditry and looting. I think we can extrapolate exactly what you were planning on doing to that little girl."
"N-no! It's not like that!" Xi Fu gagged in disgust.
'My own daughter? And an eight-year-old no less! No way would I do something like that. Is my reputation really so horrible that's his first suspicion? He doesn't even suggest I might be a spy or an assassin or something? I was a bandit for years, surely me robbing the place should be a more reasonable suspicion!'
"Even if you are, as you claim, completely innocent in your business peeping on children, you still can't escape punishment for your crimes against the Ji and Hua families. Their marriage alliance was almost destroyed by your fornication with Ji Chang's fiancee Hua Meng! You're lucky you're a member of the Armada, or we'd immediately have you tortured to death in public for your crimes... Instead, you have a few options."
"S-such as?"
"First of all, you could take a yin-yang reversal pill and give yourself to Ji Chang as a concubine."
"Are-are you joking?" Xi Fu stared blankly
"No! This is a very logical and sensible punishment for your crime. You stole his wife, so you give him another in return. Just like being fined a hundred spirits stones for stealing an object worth the same. You're simply not used to such a straightforward and reasonable law as the ones we have in Redscale City being a filthy foreigner!"
Xi Fu could tell the man was sensitive about defending the validity of that particular law.
'Has this come up before? How? Anyways, no way is that an option!'
"Besides your clan's weird tastes, what are the other punishments?" the spear cultivator sighed.
"You can be castrated and sent to work in the mines for the rest of your life as a slave."
"Uh, what else?"
"You could volunteer to test out experimental pills in our alchemy division, although I'll warn you, such testers rarely make it ten years."
"None of these are good...Instead, how about I volunteer to become her concubine ?" he pointed to the woman that captured him, sighing gravely. "I understand this is an extreme suggestion, But I can only accept that such a punishment is warranted given the severity of my crimes."
"Not in a million years, boy." she snorted, smirking. "You couldn't handle me."
"I think you'd be surprised," Xi Fu winked. "Give me a chance and-"
"Enough, this isn't a game!" the man interrupted eyes narrowed angrily.
"Then I guess we're at an impasse. I'm not interested in any of your ideas, and you aren't into any of mine. I suppose we call it a day then?" Xi Fu suggested, raising his hands up.