NOVEL FROG Chapter 54: The Survivors
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 54: The Survivors
I don't know if I should put a trigger warning or something, but some dark shit ahead.
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"The Twelve-Headed Bird Sect is thankful for your contributions to hunting this Demonic Cultivator," Bing Mielu bowed politely. "I'll make sure you receive the proper merits when I report this to the Mission Hall."
She pocketed Elder Fang's Spatial Ring unsubtly. Hong Long Cao-Cao pretended not to notice.
"There's still the matter of finding if any of his victims have survived," Elder Cao-Cao said. "I don't sense anything in his home."
"Someone with the resources of Elder Fang could have found or purchased an anti-spying formation. We should search his house."
Bing Meilu and the elder made their way into the home. She began to immediately ransack it, taking any expensive plant, item, or book she saw into her spatial ring.
"Merely gathering evidence," Bing Meilu explained.
"Of course," Cao-Cao muttered, rolling his eyes.
They arrived in Fang's library. Bing Meilu remembered that the old bastard had kept his victims in a room that could be accessed from a bookshelf in his library, but not exactly which bookshelf. The entrance and hidden room were with formations shielded such that not even the Soul-Sense of a Nascent Soul Cultivator could locate it.
Instead, she began to directly tear the shelves off the walls, inspecting the background. She pointedly ignored the disgusting contents of the books that fell to the floor. One might think that a Core Formation Elder's library would be filled with battle skills, treatises on alchemy, or bestiaries. Instead, she saw bookshelf after bookshelf of strange erotic materials.
Cao-Cao's Qi exploded outwards in a firestorm, incinerating all the books and bookshelves. Ash was swept away, revealing behind it a steel door covered in carvings.
'A Steel-Dao Isolation formation.'
Bing Meilu ripped the door off its hinges, revealing a long, dark hallway. It smelt of blood and rotting flesh, with a hint of char. Only with the enhanced hearing of a cultivator could the very slight sound of breathing be heard.
She and Cao-Cao stepped through the hallway. The Elder grimaced as he finally caught sight of the room at the end.
There was a large chamber, filled with filth and blood. In the center a large pentagon of blood dimly glew, bubbling with demonic Qi.
Four bone-thin women huddled in the corner, clearly emaciated. Only their cultivation of Foundation Establishment had stopped them from starvation. Their skin was pale, not the paleness of a sheltered beauty, but the sickly, clammy skin of someone who had lost too much blood. All were covered in nasty bruises, cuts and other wounds, though none were life-threatening. One of the women was visibly pregnant, the swell of a baby looking almost grotesque on her bone-thin form.
In the corner of the room was a pile of tiny bones. Whether the child had died in a miscarriage, or from something else, was unclear.
"Heavens..." Even the shrewd Elder Cao-Cao lost his composure, utterly disturbed by what he saw.
There was a reason that Demonic Cultivators were universally reviled, to the point they were not considered humans, but a walking resource to be hunted. Through dark ritual, they purposely violated natural law and all known morals for power, not even out of sheer apathy, but true malice.
It was an unavoidable fact of nature that some would die or be killed in the world of cultivation. Martial artists knew they had a chance of death when they duelled and competed for opportunities. If two high-level cultivators fought, countless mortals could die from the shockwaves alone. But to purposely go out and cause as much harm as possible, to sadistically torture others for no gain, only Demonic Cultivator would do that.
None of the women responded to the entrance of Cao-Cao and Bing Meilu. With a wave of her hand, gentle threads of Yin Qi lashed out, putting the women to sleep.
Cao-Cao pulled a large token from his spatial ring. It was a symbol of his authority as an elder.
"You can use that to retrieve anything you need from the Redscale clan for the victim's recovery."
Bing Meilu took his token, nodding. He was providing compensation to victims of his clan, so it wasn't going to bring her much Karma.
"I think we can agree that all of this Demonic cultivator's holdings and estate should also go to the victims,"
Although she had looted some stuff, the vast majority of Fang's estate remained for them, if they managed to recover.
---
Hours later, the women were washed and changed, sleeping in fluffy beds at a fancy hotel. Having no female subordinates, Bing Meilu had to do everything herself.
She left each of their rooms guarded by a member of her inner circle.
"I'm going to go get some medicine, in the meantime you'll guard these girls. If anything happens to them you won't have enough a mind left to beg for death after I'm done."
"Yes, Boss!"
---
The girls slept for a week, their bodies slowly healing from the medicine applied, Bruises and cuts and fractures fading to healthy skin. If only recovering a harmed mind was as simple.
---
Hours later, Tang Wuhan slowly woke. She swivelled her head, blanky taking in her surroundings. She then blinked in confusion.
Rather than a dank, dreary cell, she lay atop a fluffy white bed. She felt unusually amazing like her body was clean and energetic. The dry stick of blood that coated her skin was gone. It was like she was in paradise.
"Good morning, Junior Sister."
The woman saw a very young girl, dressed in cloud-covered white robes, which seemed a size or two larger than was correct. She tried to speak, but her mouth was parched.
'Where am I?' she could only think it.
"My name is Bing Meilu, the disciple of Prime Elder Hai Yu. You've been saved."
The woman froze for a long moment, before shuddering in terror and snapping her head around as if looking for someone. Bing Meilu had no clue how to comfort her, so she just waited for the woman to calm down.
"If you're afraid of the perpetrator, he is completely dead. I watched his soul be extinguished myself."
'This isn't real. I'm dead. This is the afterlife, isn't it? I wonder if my parents are here?'
There was a sense of surreality around her. Like she was dreaming. She must not have been in the real world. Whether she was dreaming or dead was unknown.
Tang Wuhan noticed there was expensive-looking food and drink on a table by her side. She hadn't felt very hungry, but the scent of her the food washed over her and she began to tremble with ravenous appetite, grabbing pieces of braised meat and swallowing them whole, before downing a bottle of pure-looking water. She felt medicinal energy flow through her, reinvigorating her further. After a while, she stopped, feeling completely overfull.
"Which Heaven is this?"
"You're still in the Bird Talon Continent. Also, I must inform you, if you'd died, you would have entered the cycle of Samsara, not gone to a Heaven."
Tang Wuhan just laughed absurdly.
"If this is still the Bird Talon Continent, I should be able to go see my mortal sister who lives in Moon Crying Prefecture, right? She didn't have the talent for cultivation and had to get a job in the city. You know, I was going to send her some money from what I made hunting. I wonder if she thinks I forgot about her"
"Is that what you want to do?" Bing Meilu asked.
Tang Wuhan seemed to freeze, looking up at the ceiling. Tears pricked at the corner of her eyes.
"...Yes. That's what I want to do."
"I'll arrange it then."
---
The second girl awoke. She looked around the room with narrowed eyes.
'Where am I?' Chang Xili pondered. 'I'm not in the cell?'
There was a strange feeling in her body. It took her a long time, but she suddenly remembered that this was how it felt to have energy, to feel healthy.
She could feel her body was healthier than normal. Her perpetually weary form felt reinvigorated with strange energy.
Her door opened and she jumped back in fear, the sound sending reels of terror through her.
Rather than Him, it was a young girl?
"Wh-who are you?"
Cold icy Qi poured from the girl. Foundation Establishment, a yin cultivator. The Heart-Tearing Ice Claw formed on her hand and she smiled.
"A member of the Palace?" Xili asked in surprise. "He said you had all died..."
"A few of us survived and joined other sects. I became a member of the Armada."
"Then- I'm out?" her question was whispered weakly.
"You're out, and he's dead. There is nothing to worry about anymore."
Chang Xili fell quiet, staring at the ground with a bewildered expression. She had imagined a moment like this hundreds of times in the early days when she still had hope. She imagined the roof tearing open as her Master looked down at her with a warm smile. She had imaged watching Him scream and freeze and die.
It almost felt anti-climactic, to just wake up, to be here now and not 'There'.
"Why?"
"Why what?"
"Why this? Why all this? Why has this happened to me? Why anything..."
"Become someone strong wanted it. Your suffering and salvation were both born from the decisions of the strong."
Chang Xili smiled forlorn.
"The Buddhists say that this world is a Sea of Bitterness. It exists in disorder and suffering. All, from the great king to the lowest peasant suffer in hopeless pain in a cruel world. They are not quite correct. The world doesn't want us to suffer, it simply does not care."
Chang Xili looked up at the girl before her in confusion.
"But they are correct about one thing. There is only one path that leads you from the Sea of Bitterness. Up. Reach the final peak and peer into the Great Dao and transcend this world."
"I-I can't." Xili choked up. "I'm not some peerless heaven-defying genius. I'm weak. I only came here because my Elder Sister promised it'd be s-safe..."
Bing Meilu sighed. The girl was too despondent. Some suffering could harden one's resolve, but too much before one was ready was simply destructive, it could shatter one's heart and resolve irrevocably. It was much like a poison in that sense.
"The members of the Moon Crying Swan Palace are being supported by the Armada. If you want, you can have a life of quiet comfort until you die. You'll certainly have the Karma for a wonderful reincarnation. "
"Is that really true?"
"Yes. The Dao of Heaven is above all else, fair. Not Kind, but fair. Suffering and joy in equal measure. With what you've been through, you'll have a superior next life."
"You seem very sure of that for someone only in the second realm of cultivation," Xili weakly laughed. "What if I'm just greeted by a blank oblivion or worse?"
"There are records of those who remember their past lives. I've encountered some personally," Bing Meilu said. "How about a bet?"
"A...bet?"
"Yes. I'll teach you a method to improve one's Karma and next reincarnation. You have to practice it until you die. If reincarnation isn't real, that's the end of it. But if you do reincarnate, you must seek the Great Dao above all else."
"A-Alright..." Xili smiled, humouring her. "If there is a next life, I'll cultivate."
"Swear it to the Dao of Heaven."
"I, Chang Xili, swear to improve my Karma for my next reincarnation. If I am reborn, I promise to seek the Great Dao."
"I'll be waiting for you then," Bing Meilu smiled mysteriously.
---
The third girl was far more hysterical, shouting and sobbing and curling up into a ball. Bing Meilu sat awkwardly, watching the scene. She didn't know what to do.
---
"Xi Fu, how do you stop a woman from crying?"
"Huh? I mean, I would sweep her off her feet with a kiss? That always seems to cheer them up?"
"Ahh, never mind."
---
In the end, Chang Xili came over to the third girl's room, hugging her. The two fell silent for a long time, whispering to each other in low voices. Humans could not go through such suffering together without becoming deep friends. Bing Meilu decided she would talk to the third girl when she was in a better state of mind.
She walked over the fourth room, where Sima Yazhu slept, still pregnant with her abuser's child.