Although that peculiar situation remained on Bianca’s mind, they did end up getting what they needed to. There was a map in the temple, and from it, they were able to determine a proper path to take – it had been pointed to by Yu Suyu before she was beaten up, though it was hardly hidden to the extent that they wouldn’t be able to locate it if they searched a little longer.

Nonetheless, having a map meant that they had a good idea of where to go, finding a path up the mountain quickly, and they didn’t waste any time on ascending. While they had no reason to believe they were being followed by a significant force – the Exarch itself was bound to be focusing on fully ‘conquering’ the land, plus a being of its power level could easily be observed by both Huang Su and Long Shiyi from afar – there was still a very high chance of them being exposed to either the sects on the Dragon’s Fangs, or of a small force from the Exarch’s army tailing them.

The longer they lingered in one spot, the higher the chances of them being caught or interrupted in some fashion, which would just be too risky in their current states – that is to say, with their strongest fighter currently being restricted from their true form.

It highlighted a certain issue to Bianca, though. They only really had a few fighters that were above average in terms of combat strength, even if she counted in Song Ming and others in lower realms. Comparatively, most of the powerful forces of the continent had a strong set of combatants that were able to fight their battles, letting them strike where and how they needed.

In the case of the Exarch’s armies, those sixth realm experts they saw were sufficient to hold down Long Shiyi at her peak, at least when combined with the aid of the Exarch itself. She knew that most sects had ‘guardians’ or similar positions, whose combat strength was similarly impressive. Meanwhile, Bianca’s elected Guardian was Song Ming, whose realm meant that she was only threatening to those in the low Active Core realm at most.

‘Problem is, I have no clue how to find someone capable to fill that gap. Well, I could somehow train someone, but… fuck, I can’t train myself, there’s no chance to train someone else,’ she thought, though then a person came to mind, ‘Ah, right, Jia Bo Xun is somehow managing to pick up a bunch of skills despite me never actively teaching her, so… maybe I could make it work? Or at least, have Jia Bo Xun teach others whatever the fuck she’s managed to learn from me.’

She would probably never figure out exactly how her so-called disciple managed to figure things out to that extent, but in the end, Jia Bo Xun did, and that was enough.

“Mistress, are you able to feel or sense anything abnormal here? We should be drawing close – or at least closer – to the spot that you had seen in the ‘dream’.”

“Based on the map, we might be, but… no, there’s nothing. It’s just trees… besides, we’re nowhere near the top yet, and from what it looked like, the beam was coming from somewhere near there. Considering how big these mountains are, I wouldn’t be surprised that even if I will be able to sense something, it won’t be until we’re up there.”

“… I still worry that this might be a waste of time,” Huang Su said, “Even if the dream is from Su Guo, and actually points to something of note, there’s no guarantee that-”

“She did it again.”

“Mhm… so cute.”

“M-Mistress?” Huang Su was confused for a moment, before she realised what they were referring to, “Ah, please, let us not get distracted!”

“Heh, only if you make sure not to distract me,” Bianca smirked, smacking the ‘false phoenix’s’ ass and delighting at the yelp that resulted, “You’ve been good about your wording lately, so every slip up is fun.”

“… S-So, Mistress, I know it’s- it is too late to-”

The moment she noticed her trying to hide another slip, Bianca just slapped her ass again, seeing her rear cheeks jiggle satisfyingly. She wasn’t able to get a proper yelp out of Huang Su, unfortunately, but simply feeling an ample ass in her hand was satisfying enough. Besides, the fact that Huang Su didn’t seem to have any issue with her touch or actions was more than enough.

It just confirmed that her corruption had settled in enough that the former Sect Master – they hadn’t heard anything about the Phoenix Sect yet, but it was highly unlikely they’d be fine with her return when she was so clearly subservient to Bianca – no longer found anything wrong with Bianca taking advantage of her.

This not only meant that she would have a lot of freedom in using her as they went along, but also meant that Long Shiyi wouldn’t be able to resist her forever.

As long as she was able to root her corruption in the dragon – which she did manage, albeit barely – it is certain to grow into a vivid, sinful flower… Bianca realised she was getting somewhat distracted, and that her hand had ended up on Huang Su’s ass unconsciously, just groping her like it was the most natural place for her hand to rest.

Song Ming looked to be a little jealous, deliberately walking closer, wiggling her own butt to catch Bianca’s attention, so she decided to oblige and grabbed onto her ass as well. Groping both of them, she got to compare the feeling of their butts, though she first noted that despite Song Ming starting out with a smaller rear, it had since grown out to be similar to Huang Su and Bianca’s own – a funny coincidence, though she doubted that it was the specific function of corruption.

Huang Su’s ass was softer, her fingers sinking into it, her flesh practically overflowing in Bianca’s grasp. Comparatively, her pet’s rear was a little firmer, and felt like it fit her hand better, though it may just have been the fact that she had touched and groped it so much more than Huang Su’s.

If she had to give them reviews… well, she wouldn’t be able to. She always loved nice butts, and she was a firm appreciator of all kinds of them, whether big or small, firm or soft, in her hands or forever out of reach… though if she was to be honest, she believed that she deserved even those that were currently outside her grasp.

It was just a matter of time, really. Sooner or later, she’d reach the heights were none would be able to deny her, none will be able to prevent her from grabbing every ass she wants and… she was getting distracted again.

“Anyway, we don’t really have anywhere to go but forward. If we find nothing, we return after potentially misleading the Exarch – after all, how would it know for sure that we found nothing? Perhaps we achieved some purpose it didn’t even know about. If we do find something, then it might be sufficient to turn the tide of war.”

“Yes, Mistress…” Huang Su lowered her head, clearly still deep in thought.

Long Shiyi, however, was more enthused, “I do wonder if we will find the secret to Su Guo’s producing countless weapons and armour quite so trivially. While I despise the number of dragons that were turned to armaments for his pursuits… it is undeniable that they were incredible, and produced at incredible rates. It is said that whole armies could be outfitted in days at most, and… it’s impressive.”

“You want me to have something like that?”

“I’m guessing you want me to be honest, so… I think it might be a terrible thing for the world if you acquired something so incredibly valuable and powerful. At the same time, I think the chances of you not being able to use it efficiently are rather high, Mistress.”

“I do have a blacksmith back in the Reaper’s Grave.”

“That alone may not guarantee anything. Besides, what realm is she in?”

“How did you… right, me. Uh, fourth.”

“Hm… I know not his secret, so I cannot be certain how it was achieved. Perhaps it was a crafting method that could be used from the first realm, perhaps it was some kind of artefact, or a set of methods combined together and perfected to achieve incredible efficiency,” Long Shiyi shrugged, “All I can be sure about is that if anyone is able to reclaim this ability, it would make them nigh unstoppable with the proper flow of resources.”

“… Is that why he hunted dragons?”

“Most likely. Our scales are on par with a low-grade artefact at the worst of times, so with the right method, they can be turned into high-grade artefacts relatively easily. Assuming Su Guo had something beyond the ‘right’ method, they could’ve been even more incredible.”

“Wait… weren’t you alive when this happened?”

“I was.”

“Shouldn’t you know what the things he made were? And shouldn’t there still be some remaining examples?”

The dragon paused, even stopping in place as she frowned.

“W-What, did I say something wrong?”

“… No, you’re completely correct. It… feels like I remember everything perfectly, and yet, now that I consider it… it’s all vague.”

For a moment, Long Shiyi’s former intensity returned, and Bianca worried that she might just rebel and depart, perhaps to seek out someone or something that might’ve tampered with her mind or memory. Fortunately, it didn’t last long, as she soon deflated and shook her head.

“Hah, this sort of thing isn’t too uncommon. There are all kinds of powerful skills and means in the world, especially if there happened to be an otherworldly demon involved in or around that time. I’m used to it.”

“Really? Can you get used to this sort of thing?”

“Yes, it’s only a few years of the hundreds of thousands that I’ve lived. Losing the detail is odd, for sure, but I will live on.”

“I see… Wait, otherworldly demon? How could that affect your memory?”

The dragon chuckled, as though this was a subject she was all too familiar with, “Oh, how can’t they… Otherworldly demons are quite something. You know, a lot of the things we do and have here in the Planar Continents – both of them, or so I’ve heard – originated from various otherworldly demons introducing various elements from their own world and culture.”

“I… had heard,” Bianca tried to ignore the burning stare from Xue Yaling, whose gaze felt like it could scorch through her clothes and skin alike.

“Impressive, Mistress, such things are often forgotten by the world… Regardless, the key point about the otherworldly demons is that they almost always come with something we call an otherworldly gift. It’s… complicated to describe the extent of such a thing, as it can be just about anything – a physical object they carry, some power they can employ, or even an entity within their mind, inaccessible to anyone but themselves.”

Like the Demonic Tyrant interface, which only she could see, or that skull-like image that would emerge at certain times…

“Yaling, you should know about these.”

“Huh? Me?”

“Those shards of yours are remnants of otherworldly gifts.”

Now it was Bianca’s turn to be staring, though she had no problem doing it incredibly openly, as this came as a genuine shock to her. She had always thought that the artefact shards the kitsune used were a little curious, and it was a little odd how they got into her hands… and now that she thought about it, an artefact that could outright negate planar energy seemed irregular.

“Wait, are you sure? These are artefact shards, I’ve been able to use them for the half-archetype, I-”

“Don’t you find it odd? They have no aura, no presence, like a void in the world, and what they can do is beyond what any regular artefact should be able to do. Besides… how did you get your hands on these?”

“They were… found by someone else. He intended to trick us by using them instead of planar shards, but… I distinctly recall them having a strong presence of planar energy.”

“That would be simple. Naturally, you didn’t receive regular shards, but those already modified by a prior user. Additionally, was it truly the shards themselves that were filled with energy, or was there merely a lot gathered around them?”

“… Wait, so I’ve been carrying around the powers of a dozen otherworldly demons in my pocket?”

“It’s… complicated. I have never been able to study the matter myself, but even those dedicated to the field can’t do much, as otherworldly gifts usually disappear the instant the demon is slain. Sometimes, even before. Additionally, they cannot be perceived directly, so a lot of the time, it’s impossible to tell that one even has such a thing while it could be examined.”

“Then how do I have twelve shards of them?”

“… There was someone that went to great lengths to collect them. The original creator of the Shard half-archetype.”

“Ancients… uh, that feels weird to say next to an ancient beast.”

“Heh,” the dragon didn’t comment further, just returning her attention to the matter of the shards, “Anyway, those shards are anomalies, things that wouldn’t normally be found no matter how hard you looked. For you to stumble across them like this is yet another manifestation of abnormal luck, though this also happened before you ran into that woman… hm. Curious.”

“You don’t think there’s another person affecting us in the same manner, do you?” Bianca asked.

“Who could say.”

“You?”

“What I mean is that it is practically impossible to discern every detail, especially while my realm is diminished. Even then, there are things that are invisible even if I had been at the eighth or ninth realm – probably, there’s not exactly many that have experienced the ninth realm to know – due to things like otherworldly gifts, and secrets of Heaven’s Will.”

“Heaven’s Will?”

“The will of the Heavens, the will of our very world. It is it that calls down tribulations here in the Eastern Continent, what determines the way in which everything works… some call it destiny, others believe fate to be separate, but in either case, it is possible for this to be related to it.”

“… I hope not.”

“For your own sake, I would hope the same. While being favoured by the Heavens can come with perks, it tends to lead you to challenging lives, to say the least.”

The dragon glanced up into the sky, saying nothing before her gaze descended once more.

“Regardless, I imagine you had noticed it during our so-called fight, but I truly did fear those shards. They can surpass realm, pierce that which should be unbreakable, and break all kinds of rules that no other artefact can. As such, if you had the right kind of otherworldly gift at your disposal…”

“There were a few odd ones, but I had focused on those I could comprehend… perhaps that was a mistake.”

“It was not, you fought impeccably for your realm, Yaling. Still, if you can attempt to find those that are most alien, for lack of a better term, it will grant you the greatest advantage compared to the more mundane ones.”

“Since you know the origin of these shards, do you have any recommendations?”

“Unfortunately not, I know little about the specifics of the half-archetype’s founder, but…” Long Shiyi thought for a moment, “What shards do you have left?”

“Eh, I can show you, if you want.”

“No, there’s no need. I won’t be able to discern their nature easily anyway…” the dragon shook her head, “Just use your own judgement, I’m sure you’ll find one that suits you best. Ultimately, even the most powerful otherworldly gift in the wrong hands would be worth nothing, so do not attempt to follow the path of the half-archetype’s founder one to one.”

“Thank you for your guidance,” the kitsune said, seeming entirely genuine, making Bianca ponder whether she was missing out on some helpful information…

Though, as far as her path was concerned, she only really had the powers she was given. It did make her think back to the earlier subject, on the nature of otherworldly gifts in general, and soon they were all walking in silence, thinking about whatever matters they had on their minds.