NOVEL FROG Chapter 51: The Final Hunt
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 51: The Final Hunt
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Xi Fu's Heaven Defying Intent exploded out from his spear toward her with incredible ferocity. Time seemed to slow down as Bing Meilu's inspected the art.
'A manifestation of the domineering nature of the Heaven Trigram. It can erase 'Laws' and return things to a state of emptiness,' She nodded. 'It's not bad for a mortal-level technique, it can be said to be a foundation upon which numerous profundities can be built... But it's time to disabuse him of the illusion he's living under.'
It was only natural the strong would dislike being enslaved by the weak. Xi Fu had to be reminded that he was far from Bing Meilu's match. Otherwise, the false impression he was living under would build up into resentment and eventually, disloyalty.
'If he's talented, he might have the opportunity to comprehend something beneficial.'
Within each of her seventy-two apertures was a fractal meridian system, each aperture had become a Dantian, housing its own Dao-Platform, in the form of an icy moon.
The number seventy-two was not random at all. There were One Hundred Eight Stars of Destiny that symbolized the world. Thirty-Six burning Heaven-Stars and Seventy-Two earthly Fiend-Stars. As such, Thirty-Six, which was also the number of Heavens was a number tied to Yang, and Seventy-Two was a number tied to Yin. Under the Crystal Providence Divine Tome, each of her apertures became its own Meridian System, a platform from which a Fiend-Star would one day be born, transforming her into a manifestation of the purest earthly Yin.
Sheer Qi erupted from Bing Meilu as her palm flashed forward, an attack filled with her deep comprehension of Law. Xi Fu might have a deeper understanding of Heavenly Law than most under the Saint Realm, but Bing Meilu had transcended this world to become an Immortal, transcended fate and karma to become Deathless, birthed her own heaven and Earth to become a Celestial and finally awakened the prestige of her Dao to become a Paragon.
"Heaven-Earth Inverting Palm."
The domineering Yang of his Spear Intent flipped, becoming the most receptive of Yin. Her Will poured through it, seizing control of the energy. The attack broke apart, like mist at the bottom of a waterfall. It swirled around her, reforming into a circular stream of liquid.
Bing Meilu looked at Xi Fu silently for a long moment.
"Yang is the expanding principle, it gives out and affects that around it. Yin is the receptive principle, it receives from that around it. But don't ever think that means Yin cannot defeat Yang."
"Life-Draining Spear."
Xi Fu's own Spear Intent, now under the control of Bing Meilu gushed towards him, a river of icy blue water. It did not peirce with hardness but wrapped him in its soft, conforming embrace. His skin turned blue and he desperately tried to escape the waters, clawing and reaching to no avail like a child trapped in an icy riptide.
The incredible vitality and strength of a Core Formation was unable to break free of the waters. No matter how much he struggled and pushed, the waters bent and deformed and reshaped themselves to him.
Slowly he began to fall still like a drowned corpse accepting its fate as it silently plunged down to the dark abyssal depths below. Bing Meilu waved her hand once more and the Yin transformed.
Where before it was like the cold grip of death, endlessly draining everything about it, now it was like the comforting warmth of a mother, allowing her vitality to be seized by the babe growing within her womb.
Xi Fu gasped, colour returning to his skin. He shivered meeting Bing Meilu's eyes. She stared impassively at him. How much of her attack he could benefit from was up to his own comprehension.
"I understand, Boss," The young man bowed shakily in her direction.
"Soon we'll be heading out to find the drake core we need," Bing Meilu said. "You've been focusing on your Qi Cultivation base for a while, but now you're going to study those spear manuals I wrote for you. A strong grasp of numerous forms of Spear Qi will be very beneficial to your combat strength."
He nodded obediently, leaving her icy palace. Bing Meilu returned to her meditation, her Cultivation base greedily gobbling up the burning Yang Qi of the fiery Ashen mountains.
---
In the back of her icy palace, the fully recovered Ji Hui began to stir. His eyes blinked open and he found himself lying atop a bed of ice. He immediately inspected his Dantian.
Where the essence of the Corpse Refining Red Wolf once lay, now there was a floating disk depicting yin and yang. From within it, he could sense both the essence of the Thunder Dog and the Red Wolf. The Beast-Man becoming Art rumbled.
In one hand, the Yin Corpse-Refining Flame flickered to life, the ghostly un-flame creating a deep chill. In the other, a blazing thunder burst to life. It was Heavenly Tribulation Lightning.
"I knew you two could get along," Ji Hui smiled in relief.
In his experience, all dogs could learn to get along eventually, though they might need some impetus from their human friends. It was in their nature as pack animals.
He strode out of the icy palace, making his way back into the camp. He walked over to its edge. In a small crevice, the Corpse-Refining Red Wolf sat. In its mouth was an ash-covered severed arm. Yin flames poured from its mouth, slowly refining the arm.
The wolf turned towards him, eyes narrowed. A vicious growl let out. Ji Hui's hand shot out and he began to vigorously rub its head.
"Whose a goood boy? That's right, you are!"
The wolf dropped the severed arm in its mouth, as Lieutenant Ji shook it, letting loose a rumble of sheer confusion.
"I've been thinking of names for a while," Ji Hui continued. "What do you think of Flamey? Red-red? Fetch? Ostrich? Boots?"
The wolf eyed him uncomprehendingly. Its chest rumbled as he scratched its ears.
"Ah, Boots it is!" Ji Hui smiled.
---
Xi Fu sat in a cave, reading through the spear manuals Bing Meilu had left for him. Each detailed various forms of Spear-Qi. There were the more basic ones like fire, water and so on, up to more advanced forms like cloud qi, ghost-qi, solar qi and the like.
He had noticed a clear affinity for the more Yang-aligned elements but after Bing Meilu's demonstration, he had made sure to take some time to gain at least a basic feel for some of the Yin-aligned Spear-Qi's.
It wasn't like something as simple as Spear Qi could be very relevant to him now, given he was fighting at the Core Formation Realm, but he felt that just by learning them, he was getting a fuller knowledge of many topics.
'is this what they mean by a firm, broad formation?'
After hours of practice, the man left his room, going out to stretch his feet. Ji Hui, Jiang Hu and several of the others sat around a fire, slowly roasting a large bull-like creature.
Xi Fu made his way over, feeling a little uneasy. He hadn't had the chance to see his comrades since breaking through to the rank of Captain. He felt like the difference in power might make it awkward.
"You look like shit," Mu Gong said, tearing into a leg.
"Huh?"
"Like you're constipated or something," Shang Bolin added.
"It's blue balls," Jiang Hu said, stroking his baby face as if he were a wise old sage with a long white beard. "When men like him go without a good fuck for a long time, they get pent up. If it goes on for too long, he might even go mad and start lusting after men. Be careful with your purity around him boys!"
Xi Fu scowled, plopping his ass down on a log and ripping off a chunk of belly meat.
"Stop projecting your fantasies on others, Jiang Hu. My standards are far too high to lust after any of you ugly bastards!"
"Oh, high standards? Did I not have to save you from sleeping with the legendarily ugly Whale-Fairy Ming Leilei?"
"I was drunk, doesn't count!" Xi Fu objected vigorously. "At least I wasn't kidnapped by the Sleeve-Cutter of the Hollowed Veins. You can say all you want that you escaped before anything happened, we all know the truth!"
Sighing, he felt a sense of relief as he settled into the comforting dynamic. It was good to see some things didn't change.
---
Two weeks later, Bing Meilu opened her eyes. She had reached the third stage of Foundation Establishment, two crystal layers of ice wrapped around her moon Dao-Platforms in a tight embrace.
She strode out of her ice palace to the camp. She could see Li Ji sitting down, inspecting some fiery crystals.
"Oh, boss!"
The tall, scholarly, young man scampered over to her, head bowed respectfully.
"Greetings, congratulations on the advancement of your cultivation boss,"
On that topic, she noticed Li Ji had made it to the second stage of Foundation Establishment. The speed of his cultivation was not too high, but that was to be expected. It should speed up a lot once she had him managing the flow of vast sums of wealth.
"Do you have anything to report to me?"
"Nothing in particular boss?"
"Good, gather everyone then," she ordered.
Soon it was so, the whole faction gathering around her. Jiang Hu, Xi Fu, Li Ji, the Elemental Five, Ji Hui, and the nine outer circle members.
"It's time to go on our next hunt. We need the Peak Third Realm Drake Core for Xi Fu's crimes."
With that, they left camp. The group strode and climbed higher upon an ash-laden mountainside. The searing heat of the air, more than hot enough to cook the faction alive, was mitigated by the formation of the Elemental Five.
Crossing a long plateau, they arrived at a broad expanse covered in black basalt and liquid magma flows. Huge bubbles of black gas violently bubbled forth from the lava lakes.
This was one of Bing Meilu's favourite hunting grounds for third and fourth-realm drakes back in the day, the Flood Basalt Lakes. They stretched for miles, a thin film of cooled black rock atop deep pools of boiling lava, effervescent with erupting gasses that could melt the lungs and poison the blood.
"All of you stay here."
Bing Meilu's cultivation base stirred, and a fog of dense white Qi formed around her. She dived into a pool of lava, swimming downwards, a thin film of brutally cold frost protecting her from the heat of melted rocks.
Bing Meilu swam deeper and deeper. In the lava, there was no visibility, but she could still feel the Qi of a mid-sized fish rushing toward her. Not bothering with small fry, threads of Yin qi erupted from her, weaving around her into a broad bubble-like net. The fish bumped into the Qi, and mind seized with illusions, ran away.
Bing Meilu descended deeper, heading towards the edge of the lake. There were always large pockets of lava jutting into the lake walls, where Drakes often nested.
Arriving at the first cave, she found one in the third tier of Core Formation. She could sense its huge form, laying still in the bubbling magma flow. A spike of cold shot out from her, scraping the Drake's face.
The magma rumbled as the beast roared, emerging from its nest to chase her through the lava. She swam upwards, leading out onto the solid platforms of rocks above.
The BMFS engaged the creature. With their own Core Formation, and several elite Foundation Establishment cultivators, they made short work of the creature. Jiang Hu absorbed the blood, pushing his cultivation even further towards Core Formation, and the rest of its body was quickly butchered.
The cycle continued, Bing Meilu leading drakes out from the depths of the lake, to be killed by her faction. They fought another third, and then a fifth stage. After that, Jiang Hu broke through to Core Formation.
She continued searching for the Peak Core Formation drake they were looking for. After ten Drakes had been felled, Bing Meilu finally found one.
She was deep in the lake, near the entrance to a trench, when she first sensed the creature's massive form. It was far larger than any of the Drakes they had killed so far.
This one, however, would be all hers.