Wreath of Lilies, Cauldron of Poison

Chapter 169

The Three Marks of Existence

Lihua had always been a fastidious person. She was meticulous, careful, and above all, strict. To herself and to others. She was the kind of person that expected others to also hold themselves to the same standard. If not, then…there was nothing a good thrashing could not fix.

So, she gathered the Dark Elves and spoke in front of them. “While the Mistress is gone, this one has been ordered to lead you on the path of Cultivation. Unlike Skills - which this one found too limiting – Cultivation is only limited by the mind. Today, this one shall begin teaching you the Raksha Blood Palm Art.”

Lihua paused as she felt the gaze of confusion that was directed at her. Though she had little to no sight in her eyes, her other senses had been sharpened to compensate for it.

“This one can feel that all of you don’t seem to understand what this one is saying.”

Then she heard Akula saying from the sideline. “They are wondering what is Raksha Blood Palm Art? And what are Techniques?”

“Ah, then a demonstration would be more useful rather than words.”

Lihua jumped into the air and landed in front of Arryn, who was so surprised that she had almost reached for her weapon out of reflex. However, she felt something hot caressing her cheek.

“Although the name is Raksha Blood Palm Art, it is actually a collection of disciplines that combines Movement Techniques, Fighting Techniques, and Breathing Techniques.”

She spoke as she glided through the throng of Dark Elves with unhurried steps, but her movements were so erratic and unpredictable that she was like a ghost. They could see her, but not catch her. It was to the point that she left afterimages that lingered a second behind her real body.

Lihua stopped moving as she reached the back of the rows of Dark Elves and revealing a handful of black cloths that the Dark Elves had used to cover their faces between her long fingers. They immediately started grasping for their cloths and found that those that she had passed had lost their cloths.

“H-how did you do that?” Akula asked, stupefied. She had never seen such movements before. Not even Illumca could do something like that. And she was one of the best Assassin she had ever met.

“As long as you master this art, you will become as a ghost, bearing death to all who would suffer your wrath. Yes. with this, saving the rest of your Clan will not be a simple dream.”

Hearing that, the Dark Elves began to signal to each other excitedly.

“Speaking about ghosts,” the long-eared Demon turned to a spot above a nearby tree. “Why not join us over here, Illumca?”

“I’m not in a good mood right now.”

“Oh? Then this one can help with that. How about a spar? It’ll help you vent that anger off your head, and show your people what a properly trained Cultivator could do.”

“No.”

“If she doesn’t want to. How about me?!” Akula shouted excitedly.

Lihua ignored the excited Centaur and offered Illumca. “Then how about this? If you managed to get a hit in. This one will tell you a secret about the Mistress.”

Illumca, still stewing with the unpleasant feelings ever since she struck Connie, jumped down from the tree branch and landed on the ground with an audible thump. She then walked forth towards Lihua.

Ah, such devotion. Lihua simply smiled. She could’ve just asked.

“I might go a bit overboard.”

“Oh? So confident of yourself, are you? Must be her influence,” Lihua said. “No Skills, just martial prowess. This is a simple…conversation between two people, not a life and death battle.”

As soon as she finished saying that, Illumca had struck first, dagger aiming at her heart. However, Lihua glided backwards like she was weightless; her robe barely scraping the ground beneath her.

“Oh, naughty,” Lihua asked as she dodged another continuous attack by weaving back and forth.

“You aren’t taking this seriously!!” Illumca fumed.

Illumca felt bony fingers grabbing her wrist and she was brought close forcefully. “On the contrary. This one is taking this very seriously.”

The silver-haired Dark Elf pushed against the woman. She was surprisingly very light; so light that she could barely feel her weight.

This time, Lihua took the next move. She glided along the ground, head and body brought so low; her robe almost scraping the ground, yet it did not. She swept Illumca’s leg and brought her down. She continued with another sweep of her leg, but Illumca had already sprung up onto the air by pushing against the ground with her torso as a pivot. She then landed with both arms on the ground, grabbing the daggers she had left there and leapt to an attack.

The Dark Elves all gasped as they saw the fight. It was bizarre and unlike the straightforward fight that they were used to; however, it was beautiful in its oddity. Truly, it was a beautiful dance of martial prowess. And as Dark Elves, they were unconsciously drawn to beauty of any form.

However, to Illumca who was doing the fighting, she began to realize that this was all for show. She could feel that the woman was holding back. She was doing all these attacks, but there was no intention to end the fight.

Illumca kicked the ground and swung her dagger, which Lihua redirected with a wave of her sleeves. “What is this?!” she asked angrily.

“We are conversing. Did I not say that at the start?” she replied as she kicked gracefully. “You are still bothered by what she said before.”

“Of course!” Illumca released a powerful stab at her heart, only to find that she was hitting a tree.

Lihua turned aside and laid both hands on Illumca’s shoulders, whispering to her. “Young one, you must remember first and foremost: regardless of her current body, her wants and desires remains that of a male.”

She pushed lightly against Illumca and leaped into the air, landing with her beautiful buttocks on a rock. She crossed her leg and spoke. “Men are…difficult. They are proud, noisy, and always try to look good in front of women. Educated or not, these things don’t change.”

“Are you saying that I should be okay with her going straight into a sure death?”

“No, of course not. That would be silly! Indeed, the Mistress had done something bad. But you need to understand that the man – or girl – that have taken your heart is a Cultivator. The Path of the Dao is a dangerous one. It is in our nature to challenge the unknown in search of the truth. And her Path is one that is a blasphemy against the Heavens itself.”

“If you wish to walk that Path with her, then you must also be prepared. Prepared to one day lose her.”

“Lose her?!” Distraught by the thought, Illumca did not notice that the dark-haired woman had already caught her by the neck and pushed her against a tree.

“Lose her. Yes. Even for those who had reached the pinnacle. In this one’s opinion, it is the main reason why those who strive for their Path preferred to live alone, wallowing in their solitude. Because sometimes…” Lihua paused, as she weighed her next words. “Sometimes…to continue living is a pain worse than death.”

Billowing white sleeves interspersed with flashes of black metal, the two spoke as they fought. One was asking questions. The other giving advice.

“Is this about her dead wife?”

“Frankly, nowadays one could not fathom whether it was his grief that drives him, or his vendetta towards the Heavens. The fact is that this one think that she cannot even differentiate between them anymore.”

Illumca kicked Lihua using the front of her left foot, Lihua followed her movement and spun a few times in the air before landing beautifully with both feet on the ground. “However, one thing this one is sure about is that you held a place in her heart, otherwise, she would have gone ahead with her plan without telling you.”

“Y-you think so?”

“Yes, this one knows so,” the black-haired Demon did not remind her that Akula and her was also there, but she seemed to have selectively heard what she wanted to hear as she saw the silver-haired Dark Elf looking happy.

“But you know what?” Lihua kicked the ground and speared before her and flicked her forehead with her finger.

“You should control that passion of yours when fighting, it’s very bad form. This one will make you work so hard you won’t have any time to think about your love life.”

Illumca held her forehead that was still stinging and looked at the tall back of the Demon who had begun to walk towards the other Dark Elves.

“And this goes for all of you. Prepare yourselves, you amateurs! This one will work you so hard you wish you’re back under the Demon’s rule!!”

Inside the Dungeon, away from all the distractions of screaming Dark Elves regretting their life choices for the third time, Connie was coaxing the Golden Silkworm with honeyed words.

“The Soul Binding Cocoon that you made must be the highest quality you can make, Yao-er. This is important. That’s why you need to eat these plants,” Connie nodded with a sigh when the small Golden Silkworm made a few angry jumps. “I know, you don’t like them. But can you do it, for me?”

The Golden Silkworm looked at her, and then the plants, before it made a gesture which anyone who saw it could see that it was a deep and resigned exhale.

After obtaining the little creature’s consent, Connie returned to her work.

After a few days, the place Connie had sealed herself in had turned into some sort of sinister lair. Aside from the large cauldron boiling the bones of Bet-Zebek, eight cauldrons of varying sizes and shapes were lined up in front of her; each containing mixtures of hundreds of poisons and venom of varying colors and effects. Simply smelling the malodorous stench mixed with herbal aroma and nutty fragrance would have made a normal man gag and retch.

She had chosen to take off her robe after she found it too distracting and was now moving about the room in plain white shirt, sweat cascading off her brows.

Connie was checking on the bone and was smiling at the expected result when she took a whiff of something sweet. She turned her head and clapped in one movement. A smile creeping onto her face.

“Ah, finally. The sweet scent of deadly enticement.”

The first part, the poison, was almost nearing its completion.

“The most potent poisons I could create at this moment, crafted and mixed in the right order and amount so that they do not hinder, but support each other.”

She raised her left hand and the blue liquid within the leftmost cauldron snaked into the air. She did the same with her right, raising the liquid poison – this one brownish and visibly more viscous – into the air.

She guided the two to enter the cauldron in front of her, changing the dark liquid within to turn slightly clearer. She stirred the contents with her Energy, and as she did, the herbaceous smell became more potent. She did the same with the content of the other cauldrons. Carefully mixing and stirring using Energy, until the mixture inside the cauldron before her became a murky green.

“And last, the lifeblood from a girl who had not known the touch of a man,” she said as she slit her forearm with the tip of Crimson Serpentbane. Rich, crimson blood dripped into the mixture. As the blood mixed with the liquid, it released a radiance that filled the room.

The liquid was now bright green in color, deceptively tame. But when Connie put a finger into it, her skin instantly began to swell, emitting a smell one could only describe as the smell of death.

This new poison had no name yet. For it was something that she concocted for the first time. But she did not worry about failing, for she had experience in creating many such eclectic poisons. The bones too, were simple, the only hard thing was the patience one must have to skim off the impurities.

The one that worried her the most was the last ingredient for her transformation. She had put it off for long enough.

It was time.

Connie looked at Chen, who was staring back at her.

“Chen, this time, we will create a miracle. Or be reduced to dust upon failure. Are you ready?”

With a silent jiggle, the Slime agreed. He enlarged his body until he was as large as Connie was tall.

Connie gathered Energy into her hands. A familiar red glow - the power of disease – was unleashed as she plunged her arms, elbow deep into Chen’s body.

“Gathering Yin. Defying Nature.”

Red Energy began to flow from her fingertips and met in the space between her two hands. A small intangible ball made out of Yin Energy appeared. It quickly grew as it absorbed something from Chen’s body in the form of thin black wisps. The black wisps grew longer and larger, attracted by the ball.

“That’s…” Connie could not hide her surprise. “I can feel it. The power of life.”

And yet, they bring death.

“From Life, comes Death. And from Death, comes Life,” The irony was not lost on her.

The ball then grew and started to form the shape of a Pill. She could see the core forming. IT was reddish and the size of a fingernail.

Then she began to feel something odd. The Energy flowing from her was quickly draining.

“This…is…it’s sucking my power?! Wait, this is not just the power of life. The Pill is alive!!”

Connie tried to pull out her arms, but the Pill kept struggling. “A Living Pill!” Connie screamed in a mix of surprise and euphoria. The sensations caused her to forget the danger that she was in. “How can this be?! I have never heard of such a thing!”

She could hear it, the cries of hundreds and thousands small living things within.

“I can feel it. Yes. It wants to be born! If so, then take what you need from me!!”

Connie took a deep breath and now began to push all her power into it. As she did, the ground under her began to crack from the overflow of Energy. Yao-Er quickly hid behind a pillar stub as the Gold Silkworm felt danger.

Connie coughed out fresh blood as Energy was flowing out of her with great force.

“Hahaha! I can whisper to the things within, mold them to my liking. But whatever is happening with this Pill, it’s now out of my control!”

“AAAAH!”

The power within Chen exploded, splattering the poor Slime onto all his immediate surrounding; sending Connie careening onto the last cauldron in the row, causing both cauldron and person to roll away at the same time. Fortunately, the cauldron was empty but for a few forgotten drops.

“Haha…ahahahah…” Connie coughed as she propped herself up with her left arm, while her right hand was holding something.

Trembling, she opened her palm and saw a Pill of dark gold being revealed. Intricate, beautiful imagery of otherworldly creatures too small to see were carved into it. The Pill then began to emit an image of thousands of indistinct faces eating each other continuously. One could even hear a faint sound of screaming coming from within.

Connie too, could not help but admire the blasphemous thing she had just created.

“I did not expect this Pill to be able to create fantastical phenomenon. A Living Pill! The only one in this world!” Connie spoke with both excitement and caution. I could not even give it a rank because I don’t know of what it could do. However, it has been born, thus it should be given a name.

A thought then came to her mind. A divine inspiration, almost. She realized that she had the perfect name for the two items that she had created. “This Pill, I shall call it the Pill of Nayuta Dukkha, because within this Pill lies the natural cause of illness and disease.”

“As for the new poison…I shall call it, the Water of Purna Anitya. For it shall be the catalyst to both my destruction and my rebirth. And finally, this body that shall be reinforced by the Divine Bones, is the last ingredient.”

Around her, Chen had begun to gather itself back from all around the place. He looked annoyed. “Good work, Chen. Very good work!” Connie said, slightly limping from exhaustion.

Connie swept her eyes toward the almost finished giant cocoon that Yao-er had been building. She could see traces of gold within the white threads.

“Haha…hahahahah!! Finally. All is ready.”

She laughed as she raised her arms into the air. The Pill of Nayuta Dukkha rose into the air. Following that, the Water of Purna Anitya snaked towards her, forming a large ball. Lastly, The Divine Bones that had been soaking in Holy Water joined the other two.

The three items orbited Connies’s figure like planets orbiting the sun.

“Moha, Raga and Advesa! With all the limitations and illness that plagues my humanity, I shall achieve Punarmtryu! With the knowledge granted to me by the Soul Reversing Sutra, I shall achieve Punaravrtti! Watch me, O Heavens! Watch me defy the Laws that you have forced unto humanity!!”