As Bianca froze, the figure moved.

She leapt out from the bushes, a faint light forming numerous lines around her body, like strands of string that someone had thrown all over her. It might have sounded silly, but with the glow and arrangement of these strands, it made the figure seem incredibly impressive. However, it could do little to obscure her identity.

“S-”

“How dare you!” the young woman didn’t let her get a word out and slashed down with a sword that she produced from somewhere.

Bianca gasped and felt like her life might end in that very moment, and yet her body moved and surprised both her and Song Ming. In the moment before she had to endure the strike, she somehow had her knife up and supported with both hands, despite the fact that she didn’t even remember taking it with her, nor taking it out and raising it to block Song Ming’s attack in what turned out to be a perfect manner.

Her sword crashed into the blade of the knife, which became coated in Bianca’s energy moments prior, and pushed Bianca into the ground and then back by a few steps, her feet sliding in the dirt. She barely had the time to ponder the matter, so she tightened her grip on the knife’s hilt and held it ahead of her.

“Song M-”

“Why did you do it?” she shouted over Bianca’s words, and gave her no opportunity to reply as she rushed forward, manifesting the jaws of some unknown beast that seemed eager to snap Bianca up.

In such a situation, she lacked the time to think, but a single moment was enough for her to recall that a cultivator in the second realm should be much stronger than her, as she was only half-way through the first. Thus, taking the strike with her small kitchen knife would not be conducive to surviving past this day and this hour.

Hence, she rushed to the side, letting Tormentor’s Strides help her get away just in time.

The jaws rushed past her and crashed into a tree, biting into it but leaving only faint marks. Song Ming didn’t wait to see her energy dissipate and followed Bianca, launching slash after slash in her direction, attacking wildly and without fancy techniques.

Each time the sword just barely brushed past Bianca’s skin, she felt like her life might stop in moments, but she managed to evade each one with a healthy dose of luck combined with an overdose of instinct.

It turned out that the decades of evolution that preceded modern civilisation remained somewhere within her body, as she had no right being this good at evading even the wildest of strikes for what felt like several minutes. The more Song Ming swung her blade, the more erratic her strikes became, and the lines of light around her body faded, which coincided with the weakening of her attacks. Still, the endless dodging forced her back through the woods, and eventually she emerged into an open space elsewhere.

A quick glance to her sides revealed no sign of the Ghostflame Temple, though there were a few bluish-green flames lingering about that might draw the incident to Xue Yaling’s attention. It would be best for her to come over as soon as possible.

“Why did you do it, Bianca? I trusted you!”

“I didn’t intend to-” she began, but was cut off by Song Ming charging towards her yet again, her sword slamming into Bianca’s knife with such force that it outright pushed her to the ground.

Her luck seemed fail her then, as Song Ming pinned her to the ground before she could get up or even roll away. The sword was thrust into the ground just a millimetre away from Bianca’s ear, and her knife-wielding hand was forced into the grass, leaving her with no method of protecting herself – unless she wanted to punch Song Ming in the face, which she did not.

Even if it wasn’t her intention to harm Song Ming’s father, she did far more than that. She destroyed any chances of her speaking with him again, all with a single stab that she easily could have delayed and then avoided entirely.

Song Ming looked her right in the eyes and asked again, more quietly this time, “Why?”

“I was surrounded, and with the way Lin Shuming and the others had been acting, I was sure that I would get attacked if I wasn’t careful,” Bianca spoke as quickly as she could while she averted her gaze from Song Ming’s face, as she couldn’t bear to look upon her anguished, furious expression, “When someone came up to me, I just panicked and… I’m sorry, I really am, I hadn’t intended to hurt anyone, but then…”

“And the knife?” her voice became even more quiet.

“With the way Lin Shuming was acting, I thought he might come and stab me again… I didn’t intend to use it! I had just wanted something I might be able to protect myself with!”

Song Ming’s grip on her wrist tightened, and a long, terrifying pause followed.

Bianca could easily imagine the sword being removed from the ground and being stabbed into her, perhaps into a vital spot, or just somewhere that would hurt. It could easily be said that she deserved it, even if she would much rather prefer not to suffer such a painful fate. Furthermore, with the way Song Ming had behaved at first, slashing and stabbing wildly, the young woman was clearly in the mood to do something like that.

“… Why?”

“W-What?”

“Why… do I believe you…” there was a certain shakiness to her words, “After you killed my dad… I should… I should hate you, despite you! And yet…”

Bianca turned her head back, and saw tears forming in Song Ming’s eyes. She was just barely keeping them at bay, yet every word betrayed the sheer intensity of emotion that was bottled up inside of her. All it needed was a moment to spill out.

“I can’t see you as this vile demon everyone else does… I can’t find it in myself to hate what you’ve done, and yet I couldn’t hate the deed itself more… Worst of all, I still…” she choked up as a tear fell onto Bianca’s cheek, “I still look at you and think you’re beautiful… I still want to be close to you, and to be in your embrace… Why do I feel like this? Why did it have to be you? Why couldn’t I have returned just a minute earlier?”

At this point, the dam broke. Tears fell from her eyes like a warm rain, all the while she stared into Bianca’s eyes as if they would reveal to her the answer to her many questions.

Unfortunately, Bianca could offer her nothing. She had no answers other than the ones she had already given, and shared at least one of the questions. She didn’t know why she ended up being both the one to get close to Song Ming, and the one to harm her so greatly, though even if she did, it wouldn’t help. Simple words would never be able to soothe Song Ming’s pain, and yet that was the only thing she could ask for.

Bianca raised her hands, wanting to embrace her, but hesitated. Even though Song Ming was conflicted, she clearly still hated her deed in Xi Village, so Bianca’s touch might simply make things worse, stoking her anger and doing nothing to soothe her pain.

It was an unpleasant feeling. She wanted to help, more than she ever had before, and yet it felt as if she could do nothing at all.

‘Ah, fuck it. This girl needs somebody to hold her,’ Bianca decided after a moment, bringing her arms around Song Ming, holding her softly her firmly, inviting her to lie down on her and relax, if only for a little while.

The moment Bianca touched her, Song Ming tensed up, and nearly caused Bianca to pull back, but just in time, the young woman relaxed and leaned into her embrace. She cried and sobbed beside Bianca’s ear, and after a brief while, she returned the embrace, though she moved cautiously and with blatant uncertainty. Bianca could hardly blame her for it. Instead, she resolved to do whatever she could to make Song Ming feel better, even if she could only soothe the pain a little and never truly heal even a small fragment of it.

A soft breeze blew past them, and time flew by. As Song Ming’s tears ran out, they simply remained in one another’s arms, neither knowing what they ought to do.

“Well, well, this is quite the interesting reunion,” Xue Yaling’s voice broke up the peaceful silence.

Song Ming leapt up and looked at something behind Bianca, presumably the kitsune. She began to reach for the sword, but Bianca grabbed her wrist with the little strength she had, though she let go a moment later when she realised how aggressive her deed might seem.

“Wait, don’t!” she called out instead, “That’s Xue Yaling, she lives not far from here. And, uhm… Xue Yaling, this is Song Ming.”

“I heard. You happened to be fighting right next to one of my ghostflames.”

Bianca turned her head to the side and saw the ghostly flame floating near a tree, the light partly illuminating Song Ming’s face.

“A kitsune? Um… hello.”

“Good morning. While I hate to interrupt you two, there is something I need to hear from you. The both of you. I’d advise entering a slightly more comfortable position first,” Xue Yaling did not sound entirely pleased, and given how scary Song Ming had been in the second realm, the kitsune and her third realm power might be far more terrifying.

Song Ming might have understood this too, since she stood up very quickly, pulling her sword out of the ground and returning it to its place on her belt. Bianca took her opportunity to rise as well, glancing at the knife in her own hand and trying to figure out where it even came from.

Even after she mentally went over all of the events from the morning to now, she couldn’t remember when she had taken the weapon and where she had kept it until Song Ming had attacked her. What made it worse was that she couldn’t even remember how she had pulled it out to protect herself, even though this was something that should have been extremely obvious due to the movements she would have had to make in order to take out the weapon.

“What is with that dazed look?” Xue Yaling asked, “Did you forget taking the knife?”

“Well… yes, actually. When did I do that?” Bianca asked, earning a concerned glance from Song Ming and a raised eyebrow from the kitsune.

“As you were dressing, you grabbed the knife and placed it on your arm using some cloth. You managed to not notice something like that?” when the kitsune witnessed the confused expression on Bianca’s face, she continued, “I’m impressed that you were able to walk around without stabbing yourself at least once, but nevertheless, I hadn’t thought that you would have missed something like this.”

“And yet…”

“And yet, you did. Are you certain that your memory loss was a one-time event?”

“You told her about… No, never mind that. Are you sure you trust her, Bianca?” Song Ming asked, glancing at the kitsune.

“Y-You are asking me that right in front of her, you know?”

“It’s just… She is a kitsune… not that you know what that means…”

“Ah, you must be referring to our unfortunate reputation as tricksters and deviants, if that is the best way to put it,” Xue Yaling said, “It’s not entirely unearned, though I would say that it has been exaggerated over the years, a bit like the draconic propensity to breeding every attractive woman they come across.”

Bianca’s attention snapped to the kitsune, “What?”

“What?”

“What’s that about the dragons? And… why is it only women?”

“Men aren’t exactly capable of having children, you know.”

“No, I know, but… Um… are all dragons male or something?” Bianca was rather curious, as she vaguely recalled reading something about a female dragon back in Xi Village, “Wasn’t there one called Long… Long Shiyi?”

“Ah, her. We’ve met, you know?” Xue Yaling mentioned, “I mentioned qilins and phoenixes before, correct? They and the dragons are the three ancient beast species, and each is an aspect of yin and yang. Qilins are pure yang, and all of them are male. Phoenixes are pure yin, and all of them are female. Dragons are a mix of both.”

Seeing Bianca’s raised eyebrow, Song Ming tried to elaborate, “They look like women, but they can have… well, they-”

“It is said they are the most well-endowed of all the ancient beasts… not that I would know. I never had that type of relationship with Long Shiyi,” Xue Yaling finished helpfully, “They have the ability to transform their bodies, so if a dragon feels like sleeping with a woman and spreading her seed, it only takes a single thought.”

‘So that’s why she brought up dragons when I obtained the Demon’s Commanding Rod… I was wondering what that was all about. Right…’ Bianca couldn’t help herself and glanced at Song Ming, finding the young woman blushing as much as she usually did, ‘I’m not sure how she’d react if she saw the kind of smut North Antania popularised… I’d never looked at that much futanari stuff before, but maybe… No, not the time.’

“Anyway, this was not what I had meant to speak about. Bianca, you had informed me that you fled your previous place of residence due to a certain accident that occurred. Now, I hear it’s a little more than that.”

“W-Well… uh…”

“She accidentally… killed… someone.”

Song Ming was quiet and vague, though all of her negative emotions seeped into her words nonetheless. The kitsune looked between the two of them, then glanced to the north-west.

“Was it in Xi Village? Did you kill someone there?”

“…” Bianca offered little more than a guilty look, and it was sufficient for Xue Yaling to huff and turn her gaze skywards, radiating displeasure. Even though she still looked rather cute, it felt like any attempts to point it out would earn her plenty of suffering. Of all the options she had, it seemed like the worst one.

“That’s great. That’s just excellent. Xi Village, of all places… Fuck.”

“Is it that bad?”

“Xi Village is where the three sects in the region choose their disciples from the outside world. It’s only once every ten years – or thirty, if one looked at it from the perspective of a single one of the sects – but it’s still more than they ever accept at random from elsewhere. It’s where they discover new talent, and one of the core aspects of that is that it must never be disturbed! Never!” Xue Yaling exclaimed, “There’s a good reason why that place is generally quiet. Most of us are wise enough to understand that if we try something beyond a bit of mischief, we will be chased down and torn apart!”

“Oh… That goes to further explain how quiet the area was…” Song Ming muttered, “I had just thought they guarded it well.”

“They do, but with three sects ready to strike at anyone breaking their peace, few are foolish enough to trespass. Xi Village represents an opportunity to get fresh blood for their ranks without the chance of infiltrators and tricksters seeking to steal from the sects, and so, any interference is naturally deemed to be hostile.”

“I-Is that why they didn’t even consider letting me into the Calm Skies Sect? Or Song Ming, for that matter…”

“Me? Why… Oh.”

“If you two were friendly with one another, they could have easily deemed you as having influenced the girl, and so declined to offer her a position. Just so the two of you know, they don’t actually have that strict a standard for their invitations,” Xue Yaling turned away from Bianca and looked at the both of them, “However, we’re getting distracted again. You killed someone in the village,”

“… By accident-”

“Don’t give a fuck. You killed someone. Song Ming, you came from the village after this one left, right?”

“Y-Yes.”

“Did they call the sects?”

“They were-”

“Who replied?”

“I left before I could learn that…” Song Ming fidgeted, glancing at Bianca, “Is that… important?”

“As long as it’s not the Blazing Skies Sect, it might be manageable,” Xue Yaling said, “Now, just so the two of you know, I would love to kick the two of you out and force you to face the sects on your own. However… They will come to me, and they may take the chance to attack me as well. Thus, it would be best for all of us if we encountered them on home ground. To improve our chances in the event of a confrontation…”

The kitsune clearly had something to say, but when her attention returned to Song Ming, she sniffed the air and frowned.

“You… You don’t have a physique, do you?”

“Not that I know of… Can you smell things like that?”

“I pay some attention to scent, and there happen to be minor differences in people,” she directed a meaningful look towards Bianca, “Obviously, we would need to test this in a more proper manner, but if a physique can be awakened within you, it would certainly boost your chances of survival.”

“And what about me?”

“You? I’ll just need to keep stuffing energy into you until your body can either no longer keep up, or you reach a level that I cannot simply force you through. The second realm would allow you to have some survival ability against the sect disciples, though your experience and techniques could never match theirs without a longer life,” Xue Yaling explained, “Since you, presumably, killed an ordinary human, not a cultivator, they shouldn’t send anything beyond outer disciples, those that are in the second realm, so it’ll be a fair match.”

“Wait, aren’t you in the third realm? From what I’ve heard, the gap between realms grows with each one, so-”

“If I ambushed and killed them all, yes, it would be trivial. Trouble is, killing even one outer sect disciple would earn the ire of the sect even if I had done nothing to deserve it previously,” the kitsune said, “However, I’m assuming you do not wish to be chased around for the rest of your life. Hence, if we fight – if being the vital term here – we will need to limit ourselves to incapacitating them.”

“Is that hard?”

“Oh for f-… You there, Song Ming, surely you can explain it to her? You must understand how to get through that thick skull of hers.”

“She… Sorry,” Song Ming swallowed her words and turned to Bianca, stepping closer, “Bianca, on the way here, I came across some marks of battle. Was that you?”

“It might have been… I can’t say for certain, obviously.”

“You did fight something, then. I’m guessing you used the knife… You struggled with it, right?”

Bianca simply nodded.

“Of course I did… I hadn’t really fought anything or anyone before…”

“Now imagine if you hadn’t been ready to kill your opponent, but it remained ready to kill you. Imagine if it fought with all its strength, and you couldn’t properly retaliate, you couldn’t even hit them too hard just in case you don’t knock them out and instead hurt them permanently.”

“I think I understand now. I don’t exactly have much of an experience in fighting…” Bianca thought back to the few fist fights she had back in the college dorms, ‘I rarely got more than a weak slap in before getting hit back, but I imagine that if I had come in with a weapon, I would still be unable to do much unless I wanted to get arrested and thrown in jail for an obvious case of murder… not that I hate that jerk enough to want to actually kill him.’

“We noticed,” Xue Yaling muttered, “Anyway, even if my third realm vastly overpowers their force, I will be incapable of successfully warding them off outside this place. Inside, I will still benefit greatly from your assistance. Bianca, Song Ming… let’s begin with that push in cultivation. Perhaps both of you will be able to benefit.”

She approached the two of them, grabbed them by the shoulder, and then pulled the two of them towards the Ghostflame Temple.

“Now, I would love to suggest the two of you have some tea, relax and have fun, but since Song Ming cannot tell us anything about the nature of the force that will currently be rushing after you, we must hurry up.”

Bianca didn’t have a moment to complain before the kitsune strengthened her grip and sped up. Perhaps if she tried really, really hard, she might have been able to get away and get some alone time with Song Ming, though she hardly knew what form that lone time would take. It was hard to imagine that they could – ever – simply go back to sleeping with one another like they had before, and there was the fact that Bianca had spent some time with Xue Yaling in the few days they had been apart. Back on Orbis, this would certainly prompt at least a conversation.

Over here, with someone to no exposure to the internet and that kind of thing, she couldn’t fathom exactly how Song Ming might deal with the situation.

‘Well, if I don’t get through the next few days and get attacked by whatever sect comes after me, I won’t need to care about things like this,’ she shrugged mentally, ‘Though I do hope that we get some time to ourselves. Just being able to speak with her some more, to apologise, to make amends… to get to know her better.’

“What are you getting distracted for? Do you not recognise the peril of your current situation?” Xue Yaling’s voice forced her out of her thoughts, “The middle of the yard ought to do, so sit down. Song Ming, you and I will sit with our backs to her, in a triangle.”

Song Ming briefly looked to Bianca, perhaps for approval, then nodded and took her seat, with the kitsune completing their triangle only a few moments later. Their shoulders touched, and after an instruction from Xue Yaling, they also began to hold one another’s hands, but otherwise this arrangement was cold and distant in comparison to what seemed like the typical method of assisting Bianca’s cultivation.

Of course, she had been warned, so she had no room for complaint – nor would she be able to make the case for a threesome, even if she was absolutely intent on it.