“Hmm… hmm…” a hum of some kind pierced the veil of sleep and forced Bianca into the waking world, “Impressive how you two managed this.”

The words were the final straw that forced her to wake up – and nearly jump out of the bed, as she saw Xue Yaling sitting by the side of the bed, leaning down and staring at her and Song Ming. Although the kitsune wasn’t inherently intimidating, appearing like a cute young shrine maiden from some kind of North Antanian drama, finding someone casually sitting in her bedroom like that was more than enough to flip that impression.

“W-what the-”

“Do you want to wake the woman in your arms? Hush, you,” Xue Yaling whispered, “You two do look cute together like that. Good to see that neither of you went easy on the hickeys, either.”

Her chuckle prompted Bianca to glance down and find, rather quickly, that Song Ming was indeed in her arms, sleeping on her chest, using her boobs as pillows to the best of her ability. It wasn’t the most comfortable position for either of them, but Bianca wasn’t about to complain about something so insignificant.

She did spot a number of marks on her skin, including a slight bite-mark near one of her nipples. That one would likely fade soon enough, but a few others seemed a lot more prominent. Just as the kitsune said, Song Ming also had her fair share of hickeys, though Bianca had made sure not to go overboard with any of them thanks to what little experience she did have in this regard. Nobody in Rowiem College appreciated horny teenagers leaving marks all over one another, after all.

“What did you mean about it being impressive?”

“I made sure not to work either of you too hard, so I know neither of you got too sweaty. However, after you two spent some time with one another… Even if you hadn’t cum all over the sheets, they’d still need changing,” Xue Yaling muttered, “You’d need two baths to clean yourselves up fully.”

“We… got a bit sweaty, yeah,” Bianca nodded, bringing a hand to stroke Song Ming’s hair, ignoring the slight dampness that lingered from all the sweat, “How long were you watching us like that?”

“Oh, not long. How has your girlfriend taken your fetish? I’m guessing you two wouldn’t have known one another for long enough to have that discussion,” the kitsune said, “I noticed the two of you acting like a new, inexperienced couple, so I doubt that you would have thought to talk about the topic as soon as the two of us did.”

“No, I don’t think we did, but…” she focused on Song Ming’s face and checked that she hadn’t woken up yet, ‘I don’t think that talking about stuff that implies we’ve slept together is a good idea… but I’m afraid to say it, as there’s a good chance Song Ming will happen to wake up at the wrong time.’

“But?”

“… No, nothing. What are you doing here?” Bianca decided not to bother and just move on from there, “Don’t imagine what we’re doing is that exciting.”

“That’s arguable… but you ought to recall that you, and your girlfriend and I by proxy, are in danger of attack at any moment. If I discovered something, I would need to be able to warn you as quickly as possible, and where better to do so than by sitting right beside you, watching you sleep?” Xue Yaling’s question was clearly not meant to be thought about for too long, since she moved on instantly, “I haven’t spotted anything right now, but there is very little chance that we won’t be getting visitors today.”

“I see…” Bianca sighed, moving her hand to Song Ming’s cheek, “I hope that we can dissuade them from doing anything. I’ve only been here for… what, three days? Only been here a while, but I truly appreciate the hospitality that you’ve shown, and how pleasant it’s been to stay here… I don’t want to lose that.”

“Well, it really depends on who comes for us… but regardless, your girlfriend is waking up.”

“She-” whatever she might have wished to protest was cut off by Song Ming quietly groaning as she adjusted her position, “Spiritual perception sure is handy…”

“Mhm… B-Bianca?” she muttered, her eyes slowly opening incredibly reluctantly, “Is it morning already?”

“Yeah, and we have an audience.”

“Hm?” Song Ming slowly turned her head and looked through her half-shut eyes, trying to make out the identity of this visitor. Now, Bianca might have imagined that particular detail to be rather obvious, given that she was simply telling her about it and now throwing her out of bed, but it was clear that Song Ming remained sleepy enough that even after she directly locked eyes with the kitsune and stared at her for a few minutes, she couldn’t quite recognise her.

Luckily, Xue Yaling knew just the thing to do.

“Hello, darling. Sleep well?”

“… Ah!” after a notable delay, Song Ming’s eyes opened fully and she cried out, leaping up and nearly out of the bed, “X-Xue Yaling!”

“That’s not an answer, but I can accept it regardless,” the kitsune simply grinned back, “Morning.”

“Wha- why… um… Morning,” she replied, her naked chest rising and falling with each heavy, gasping breath, “You do realise that this is completely and utterly terrifying, right? It would have been impossible for me not to… react like… why are you looking at me like that, Bianca?”

“I woke up to her sitting right there, and I was fine…” Bianca responded, even as her gaze was focused on Song Ming’s fine boobs, “A bit different, of course…”

The shock clearly woke her up, since it only took her a moment to realise what the staring was focused on. However, despite glancing at Xue Yaling and then back to Bianca, Song Ming decided not to cover up her chest, and even threw off the sheets that still covered her body to showcase herself in full. It looked like a bold move that was entirely uncharacteristic of her… at least until her cheeks began to turn red and she found it harder and harder to meet Bianca’s eyes.

“U-Um… So, are we safe?” she asked, “Is there not going to be an attack?”

“There isn’t one yet, but unless you have the intention of seducing them when they do come, it would be a good idea to get dressed soon,” Xue Yaling suggested, even though she was also appreciating their bare chests without any reservations, “If they don’t appear by mid-day, it’s likely that something prompted them to get delayed, or otherwise to stop their pursuit.”

“Are we absolutely sure that anyone will come after me, especially this far?” Bianca asked, watching as Song Ming reluctantly looked around for her underwear.

“Must I explain everything all over again? You did a bad thing, and the sects will not take that lying down. Also… this far? Really?” Xue Yaling looked at her with a raised eyebrow, “Ask yourself this – a person with no remembered experience and a low first realm was able to traverse the distance in… what, a week? Again, no remembered experience, no particular movement skill, no special technique that aids you in traversing mountainous terrain… And it only took a week.”

“So, for someone with more experience-”

“Even if they’re tracking you, outer disciples ought to be able to catch up within a few days. In other words, unless there is something much more important to distract them, they have no particular reason to turn back just because of a few cliffs.”

“Oh… Song Ming, do you need help with that?” Bianca noticed that her ‘girlfriend’, if she was to use Xue Yaling’s terms, struggled to put on the bra that she had been wearing just fine the other day.

“Uh, no, it’s just… oddly tight. I didn’t think I could still grow in this… area,” she gestured to her boobs, “But it’s fine, I’ll handle it.”

On the side of the bed they shared, Xue Yaling frowned for a while as she kept staring at Song Ming’s chest, though the nature of her gaze changed rather distinctly. Bianca couldn’t tell what exactly caught the kitsune’s attention about a late bout of growth, but if she had to guess, she would say that Xue Yaling was using her spiritual perception for whatever reason. Hopefully, it was nothing significant, since Bianca wouldn’t want Song Ming to get into any more troubles, due to her deeds or not, than she already had.

It would be best for them to avoid all stress in general, though it didn’t seem like this world allowed such a thing.

“The reasoning for this aside, you do seem to have grown just a little bit. It shouldn’t get in your way once you adjust to it, though if this keeps going further, you will need a new bra at the very least,” she said after staring for a while, “And if it doesn’t stop with a cup size or two, then we’ll need an expert to look into it.”

“Wait, what can happen if it goes further?”

“The types of men that refer to breasts as melons will finally have an accurate description,” Xue Yaling said, “Let me tell you, although my own chest isn’t quite so prodigious, I have met some with greater endowments. It is not good for your back, nor your balance, and once it goes a bit too far… not an attractive sight, that’s all I can say.”

‘What exactly led her to know that fact? The cultivators of the Planar Continents… I wonder what kind of nonsense they get up to in their long lives,’ Bianca thought, though she was far too afraid to even ask.

In her opinion, the right chest size was well within reasonable boundaries, so something that would greatly impair balance and the backs of those who could apparently fly and live for thousands of years would certainly go beyond that. The very thought of such a thing made her uncomfortable, so asking for a proper image was just asking for her day to be ruined before she even had the chance to begin it properly.

“Alright, I’ll leave you two to get dressed, though I doubt that you can care too much about privacy when I’d been staring at your naked bodies this whole time,” Xue Yaling said, getting up from the chair that had been in the corner of the room at least since she showed up, “Whether you choose to go for a bath after this or not, be on your guard and be ready to fight even if I don’t announce it. Depending on what they came prepared for, they might well have the ability to affect my ghostflames and hamper my chances of relaying information to you before it’s too late.”

Her tone shifted from her usual teasing to something significantly more serious by the latter half of her words, and she departed without doing so much as trying to smack Bianca or Song Ming’s ass despite being in an excellent position to do exactly that.

As soon as she left the room, Song Ming lowered the pace at which she was dressing herself, and even tried to exhibit herself for Bianca. Of course, given that she had no experience in this regard, it came off as rather awkward, but it was hard not to appreciate the thought, at least. Hopefully, Song Ming would have plenty of time to perfect that particular routine, at least if they were going to be as serious about their relationship as Xue Yaling often suggested by her usage of the term ‘girlfriend’.

‘It’s still hard to decide for me if that’s even a good idea… I am extremely happy to be with her, but…’ Bianca returned Song Ming’s smile even as she sighed internally, ‘Not only have I caused so many issues for her already, but I am still considering the possibility of returning to Orbis one day. And if I do, even if I can bring her with me somehow, I might ruin her life by tearing her away from everything she’d ever known or understood…’

“Is something wrong, Bianca? Is… it what I’m doing?”

“No, no, that’s… I appreciate the intent, even if I can tell that you’ve never done this before,” Bianca responded as kindly as she could while her thoughts were still elsewhere.

“Y-Yeah, not many people I would have tried to do it for… Is it something the kitsune said?”

“Hm?”

“I can guess that she was talking with you before I woke up, unless you were as shocked by her as I was and just remained silent the whole time,” she chuckled, prompting the smile on Bianca’s face to grow, “I’m still suspicious about her, to be honest, but she doesn’t seem to have done anything wrong in the time I’ve known her.”

“No, she… Actually, in the time you two were alone, back when you went to the baths ahead of me, what did you discuss?”

“Nothing much, really. I had not wanted to speak with her, and she wasn’t asking too many quests, just showing me the way to the baths and assuring me that the water wasn’t poisoned or somehow trapped.”

“Oh… I’m not sure I even considered it, though it’s hard to remember now. Days were… quite busy.”

“I can imagine it, considering the confusion a woman like that might cause… I almost feel bad for not being able to run with you, or to help sort things out…”

‘That’s not quite the issue, but I shouldn’t be pointing that out…’  Bianca managed to not look away guiltily, impressing even herself, “Back in the village… you remained to… um… take care of your father, right?”

“… Yeah. I had to assist with the burial.”

“I’m… so-”

All of a sudden, the door was slammed open, nearly breaking off its hinges as Xue Yaling barged in, her tail and ears standing up, and her eyes narrowed.

“They’re here. Can’t tell who exactly yet, but they’re HERE!”

Her tone was harsh and aggressive, and Bianca could see a faint ghostflame-like aura around her, burning with many tongues of flame. If this figure had been the one Bianca had met first, she would have undoubtedly ran away and left the Ghostflame Temple behind, potentially forcing Song Ming to encounter the kitsune on her own.

“How many-”

“Get dressed!” Xue Yaling exclaimed, raising her hand and using her cultivation to fling a bunch of clothing towards Bianca, “If you’re not outside in a few minutes, I’m burning down this whole building!”

She rushed out, leaving the door slammed against the wall, and forced both Bianca and Song Ming to drop any possibility of discussion. Song Ming only had her shirt to put on, while Bianca needed to fit into her bra and – Xue Yaling’s – panties, the skirt and the blouse, all of which felt like it took far longer than she would have liked. However, when they hastened after the kitsune, they found that she had not gone far, so the delay was clearly not as long as they might have expected.

“How many are there? Who-”

“You brought your knife again, I see.”

“Hm? Wait, when did I…” Bianca realised that, just like before, she had ended up with a weapon in hand, “No, I swear, I hadn’t-”

“Shut it. I don’t care how this happens, but the important thing is that you do not kill anyone!”

“I wouldn’t-”

“Oh… shit.”

“Wha-”

Bianca tried yet again to get some answers, but this time it wasn’t the kitsune that cut her off. Instead, in the distance, on the main road that approached the Ghostflame Temple, she saw six figures approaching, each in red robes. There might have been some additional detail that she couldn’t see form such a distance – in fact, it was nearly guaranteed – but the most important thing was that primary colour.

She knew of three sects that could have come for her, and she had seen one of their outfits quite clearly. The Calm Skies Sect had silver robes, and if the Sacred Rivers Sect had the same style of outfit as their buildings indicated, then they would be wearing blue. That left them with only one sect.

“Demons! The Blazing Skies Sect has come to reclaim the lands stolen from them, and to put down the monster that had invaded Xi Village and slaughtered a mortal man!” an obnoxious voice reached her ears, seeming to belong to a woman at the front of the group, “Accept your justice and present your necks for us!”

“Blazing Skies…” Xue Yaling gritted her teeth, “Cunts.”

“Wait, stolen lands? Didn’t you say you were holding onto this land for them?”

“Not the time!” the kitsune barked back, producing two swords, one of which she threw to Song Ming, “Take it out. They’re not letting us go without a fight.”

After a moment, Bianca recalled that it was the very weapon that Song Ming had used before, though that did prompt the question of when the kitsune was able to retrieve it and how much time passed in between her noticing the sect disciples and actually alerting the two of them.

Thus, Bianca was armed with her familiar knife – though, if she did have to fight, she wouldn’t be against getting something longer – Song Ming had her familiar blade, and the kitsune unsheathed a narrow blade of a similar design, though hers looked very different. A moment after it was freed from its sheath, the edges of the blade were wrapped in bluish-green flames, emanating outwards to widen the sword.

“That woman there is the demon we’re looking for! Focus on getting her head!”

‘Why, you… YOU HAVEN’T EVEN SPOKEN WITH ME!’ Bianca restrained herself from shouting it, since that was not going to make her any more approachable or peaceful-looking, “So, Blazing Skies, guandaos… get in close and limit their movement, right?”

“Yes,” Xue Yaling replied curtly, before stepping forward and raising her voice to address the outer disciples in the distance, “Tell your superiors that these lands can be released to you. However, if you insist on coming forward at this moment, I will have to fight back. Know this before you throw away your lives!”

“We do not negotiate with demons! Everyone, attack them!”

“Song Ming, you take one, and if you can handle them, try and take the attention of another. I will handle three easily. Bianca… just occupy one of them,” the kitsune addressed them as quietly as she could, “Just don’t die. If you do, I’m making a ghostflame out of you.”

Bianca didn’t have the faintest clue as to whether that was actually possible, seeing as she never got an explanation of how the ghostflames worked, so she didn’t know if that was anything remotely close to a credible threat. The only thing she could guess at was the existence of the soul, considering the existence of a magic-like force in this world and the fact that she somehow jumped from one world to another while managing to leave behind her clothing.

With all that, the existence of a soul would not be too implausible.

‘Either way, I don’t think I should risk it,’ she concluded, gripping her kitchen knife tightly, ‘I don’t exactly want to be a ghostflame, not to mention being dead in general…’

Even as she struggled to compose herself, the fight already began. The six disciples, led by the woman at the front, charged in, all of them bringing out long weapons that Xue Yaling had introduced the day prior as guandaos. Their energy was as the name of their sect would suggest, blazing and raging, immediately tinting the greenish-blue land orange.

On her side, Song Ming and Xue Yaling were also quick to rush into the fight, both wielding their swords – jian, apparently – though their styles, stances and even overall auras were blatantly different. In particular, with one swipe of her hand, the kitsune was able to unleash a wave of ghostflame that rushed towards the four outer disciples in the middle of the group, instantly forcing them to block in order to avoid being burned – or worse, depending on what that skill could do.

The two that weren’t put into immediate danger dodged to the sides, fully avoiding the wave, and then dashed forth, one meeting Song Ming after a moment. He struck aggressively, seemingly not realising that she would have been one of the people from Xi Village that they were trying to protect, but Bianca couldn’t focus her attention on that.

The last of the outer disciples was a woman, and when the wave of fire forced her closer to Bianca, she took the opportunity to pounce. She leapt, flames at her back, swinging her guandao down with the seeming intent to cleave her in two.

‘Fuckthat’sfastohshit-’ Bianca’s thoughts were not helpful in the slightest, but her body was.

She raised her hands to block the strike, urging the Demonic Tyrant to direct all of her energy towards her arms and knife. The edges of the weapons clashed, the force being great enough to force her back, her feet sliding through the grass and dirt, but she ultimately endured it. Then, as soon as the pressure on her weapon eased, she followed her training and invested her full strength to push the guandao’s edge away and get in closer.

Xue Yaling advised her to have further plans afterwards, to intent to attack in some particular manner and to keep the guandao wielder on edge, but simply standing so close to this woman and her fiery-seeming temper, whether it was caused by her energy or actual temper, was quite intimidating. Thinking ahead felt impossible, and more importantly, she knew that she would almost certainly die if she got hit. Ghostflame or not, standing so close to the edge of death was completely and utterly horrifying, as needless as that should be to say.

Even more needless was this – she did not want to die.

Thus, before she could decide what to do, the woman opposite her was already pulling back and slashing at her, forcing her to move her knife to the side even faster than before.

However she did it, she messed up. The edge of the guandao’s top blade slid over the knife’s edge and continued up, managing to graze Bianca’s shoulder before passing overhead. A pang of pain instantly reached her body, though the adrenaline was enough for her to avoid the follow-up strike, as well as the rush of flame that burst out the top blade of the guandao.

‘Am I bleeding? Is my arm going to fall off? Fuck, am I- Hold on, this doesn’t feel anywhere near as dangerous as it should…’ she quickly brought her hand to her shoulder and felt the damage, and aside from the torn cloth, there was no fountain or spray of blood, not even much wetness in general.

There was still a dull sensation there, and she felt something on her skin, but if it was an injury, it certainly wasn’t enough to draw blood.

‘… The fuck? How… what?’ her eyes widened, but only for a moment. The outer disciple’s frown didn’t stop her from continuing to attack, so Bianca had to choose either retreat or to try to block once more if she didn’t want to risk getting hit again.

Her cowardly – or, as she’d put it, reasonable – side insisted she should flee, and Xue Yaling’s instruction fought to keep her moving in. Technically, she should listen to the kitsune in this respect without any questions, seeing as her own fighting skill and experience were only useful for getting her punched in the face, but it took an immense effort just for her to not just drop the knife and run away as far as possible.

The hesitation was enough for the woman attacking her to gather her energy, then thrust her guandao forth, a large sphere of golden light manifesting at the tip. It was broken into a line by the movement of the weapon, and grew even brighter in what seemed to be a sign of an imminent explosion.

This time, she had no thought of sticking around, and employed her Tormentor’s Strides to simply distance herself from it. She didn’t see the outcome, but she certainly felt and heard the explosion.

 

“Do all of you have to attack without asking questions?” Song Ming blocked another blow, “Please, what happened in Xi Village was an acci-”

“You’re the woman that chased after the demon, aren’t you?” the man asked all of a sudden.

“I-” she was met with a sudden spin of the guandao, unleashing a storm of flame that she had to dodge away from, “Stop! I’m Song Ming, and I can confirm that what happened in Xi Village wasn’t some kind of demonic plot, but an acc-”

The flaming whirlwind suddenly shifted direction towards her, and then the outer disciple also unleashed a secondary exalted detonation, forcing Song Ming to unleash an Eidolon Lunge planar construct just to save herself from the majority of the damage. After the flames receded, the outer disciple was already speaking, though it was doubtful whether he actually cared for her input.

“I don’t know how the demon sank it’s fangs into your mind, but do not worry. We will not let you betray yourself for long.”

“I am not being controlled! All of this is a misunder-”

She was struck with a far greater force than before, outright sending her into the air before she landed several steps away, gazing upon a very frustrated expression on the outer disciple’s face.

“Just shut your mouth already. The situation is plain to see. A demon conspired to achieve something in Xi Village, another made their nest in the lands that we, the Blazing Skies Sect, held, and you are now on their side. Clearly, you are on their side, and this makes you complicit in their deeds. I have no more that I need to know.”

‘But… why are they all so opposed to just listening? Listening to me, listening to Bianca… Damn it…’ Song Ming gritted her teeth, but she could not think of any method to make those people listen.

It was utterly infuriating to her, and she was the same one that had initially attacked Bianca without provocation once they reunited. As such, she could see the hints of their logic, and it was what terrified her the most.

‘I hope this doesn’t have to last too much longer… Xue Yaling, please ward them off soon.’