The moment that she had perceived the target of these intruders, she hastened towards them, appearing not far from the treasure in a burst of flames. For a moment, she watched, and sighed when she saw the glass being broken with ease.

Although the skill in use was rather fascinating, not like anything she’d seen before, it was hardly necessary. The covers for the ordinary artefacts weren’t exceptional, as they didn’t require any kind of containment or sealing, and thus they were no obstacle at all. The only form of defence that existed was the sect grounds and the guards, but they were sufficiently bypassed by the intruders, so she was the only one that could stop them.

‘And it appears that they were after the Weave of the Senses, or that it is one of their targets. The kitsune is still running around and has picked up nothing, so it is definitely not a general raid,’ the woman reasoned, ‘Should I interrogate her? She doesn’t seem the best composed of the two, so a sudden appearance of a threat might cause her to reveal more than she might want to.’

There was also the possibility of simply capturing them and interrogating them after a week in the cells, but that might allow them to prepare and think about the questions they might be asked and how to answer them. If they were pushed into this place by some greater power that sought to use them to weaken or distract the Phoenix Sect, then this might just allow that power to do whatever it wished while the Phoenix Sect waited.

Therefore, she chose to appear before this woman here and now, and perhaps ask her why she thought it was a good idea to dress herself in the Weave the second that she got her hands on it. It would force them to wash the thing afterwards, even if it didn’t actually get dirty.

As she approached, however, the woman must’ve perceived her presence – rather expectedly, considering that the Weave would’ve assisted in this regard – as she turned and glared at her.

Glared. That was… surprising. It had been a long, long time since she had been looked at with no fear, and with such powerful intent instead. The aura around her, the intense killing intent that felt somewhat extreme even from her perspective, seemed to grow even more powerful, as though she was facing not a third realm woman, but some kind of ancient monster hiding her power.

That impression was only strengthened when she suddenly pointed to her, pointed down, and demanded, “Kneel before me!”

‘Did she… does she not recognise me? This…’ the woman was utterly dumbfounded, but she was rather tempted to go along with this to see how the intruder would react. She couldn’t sense any kind of mental influence being attempted, so she should be well aware that nobody in their right mind would obey, so seeing her response ought to be funny.

That was the main motivation she had for deciding to bow down and kneel, all while her spiritual perception observed the flash of shock on the woman’s face. It took quite a bit of effort not to chuckle, but she kept to her act and got on both knees, keeping her head down in an obedient manner.

“Yes, Mistress.”

The woman opposite her managed her expression rather impressively for the situation, but her eyes widened more than enough to be obvious.

“W- ah… I didn’t expect that to work…” she muttered, so quietly that she would not have been heard without spiritual perception… which suggested that she either didn’t realise the realm of the one she was ordering around, or failed to consider the implications of spiritual perception. Both were interesting to consider.

Still, she had an opportunity to prod at the woman, so she did, “Why did you try it then, Mistress?”

“Huh?”

“Uh… None of your business. Now, tell me your name!”

“Will you tell me in return, Mistress?”

“Answer the question.”

‘She’s cute… like a kid trying to act tough in front of an adult, yet I can tell just how flustered she is… I wonder if she’s seriously considering whether she’s controlled me somehow, or if she is just trying to understand why I’m acting like this,’ the woman held back a smile and responded, “Huang Su.”

The name didn’t seem to mean anything to her, as she only paused for a little while before responding, “… I’m Bianca. Were you going to apprehend me before… uh…”

“Of course. Mistress Bianca, you broke into the sect’s treasury. What else would I be doing, helping you escape?” she said, ‘Does she not know? Or is she just too nervous to realise it? Either way, I might get more answers out of her than I expected.’

“Well… On that topic, I command you to aid me in my escape.”

“… Very creative, Mistress. Do you want to bring that friend of yours?”

“My- ah, Xue Yaling. Yes, we should find her,” Bianca nodded, “But… you’re not actually under my control, are you?”

“No.”

“And that aura… sixth realm?”

“Mhm.”

“… Can we just pretend like you didn’t see me?”

“I’m afraid not,” Huang Su rose from the ground, patting the dust off her dress, “Just answer a few of my questions, and then I will decide what to do. Tell me, why are you trying to steal the Weave of the Senses?”

“I’d say I stole it quite successfully, but…” she sighed, “I wanted to start my own sect.”

“Oh? You’re only in the third realm, isn’t it a little early to do something like that? Even with your energy and the Weave, I doubt you’ll be able to endure any other sect’s efforts to subjugate you. Do you even have a place prepared to occupy? Is that kitsune the only one you’re planning to include in the sect, or do you also have disciples prepared?”

“I don’t… I don’t have any of those… but I don’t want to endure all the attacks and threats towards me any longer! Just because I’m forced to cultivate this technique, I’ve been constantly targeted and threatened, and with the way this world works, all I can do is this!”

‘Ah. I suppose her killing intent would scare off most people, and it could get her suspected relatively easily… and it is true that she likely wouldn’t be accepted by most sects, and that her individual strength would ever be enough to resolve any threats she faces… ah.’

Huang Su couldn’t help but lower her head as she realised that she wasn’t dealing with some petty thief, nor the plan of some larger faction that was simply using them for their own gains. No, this Bianca, at least, was simply trying to protect herself and establish some place that could accept her. Of course, she could have simply been lying, but Huang Su had lived long enough to tell that her emotions were entirely genuine.

Since she realised that, Huang Su couldn’t just lock her up. Her entire time in the Phoenix Sect, especially as Sect Master, has been spent helping the poor and the weak, ensuring that she cared for all of her disciples and didn’t allow any unfairness or exploitation between the higher and lower realm disciples. This encouraged the friendly atmosphere and frequent banter that occurred between them regardless of their position in the hierarchy. It was hard for her to just disregard all that when the only harm this woman had done to the sect was to steal one item that wasn’t even wanted.

‘… I don’t want her to suffer any more than all of us must. The Phoenix Sect will be in a stable state after our forces return, which should be soon enough, and thus I could be able to spare a little time…’ Huang Su thought, then sighed and said, “Very well. Bianca, want me to play along with you for a while?”

“Huh?”

“I’ll keep up the act from before and help you set up that sect of yours. I won’t do anything too extreme, and I will never harm the disciples of my sect, but even then, the power of a sixth realm cultivator ought to be sufficient for your purposes. If you want, I’ll even ensure that the Phoenix Sect is on your side in the future, provided that we don’t clash in our values.”

“… W-Why?”

“I dislike the kinds of… discrimination that can occur between cultivators. Some jump to conclusions about demons, some will eagerly brag about their cultivation realm, some will believe that certain practises are terrible for no reason at all besides some strange beliefs… I’m not sure if you’re old enough to recall the incident with the Reaper’s Grave, but the reapers weren’t some vile faction. They were no worse than any other.”

“I’ve heard of them, but I’ve not really looked into the details. Though, if that’s true and you genuinely want to help me, then… well, I can’t exactly say no either way, but I’ll be grateful from the bottom of my heart.”

“Yes, it would be difficult for you to refuse… but for the sake of my image, I can’t just openly let you go. Nobody would believe that someone like me couldn’t catch you.”

“I don’t think that claiming that I control you is any more believable.”

“Hm, I don’t agree. Mental influence can be a rather peculiar thing, and if you had a higher realm artefact that happened to target my weakness, then… why not?”

“I see. How will we get out of here?”

“We might want to greet your friend first. Those three you came here with, are they involved?”

“You know about them, too… Yeah, Song Ming and the others are with me. They should be waiting outside, to the west.”

“Hm, then my personal movement skills might be a little lacking... I should be able to arrange something. I’ll adjust the path through this place to ensure that we meet with your kitsune friend, and then we’ll head out to the west. I should be able to protect you long enough for us to get away.”

Bianca nodded after quite a lengthy delay, “It’s still weird to see you helping out voluntarily, but… thank you.”

“Don’t worry about it, it’ll just be a few years of my life at most, it’s no big deal.”

“A few years is no big deal… That still sounds wrong, but never mind. How will you change the path? Is this place able to shift around or something?”

“Hm? No, it’s just difficult for you to navigate the treasury since you’ve never been here before. It took me quite some time to learn my way around. No, my plan is simpler, and since this place has needed a renovation for quite some time, I might as well encourage it,” Huang Su stated, raising a hand and gathering a little of her energy.

It took the form of flaming phoenix feathers that spun around one another, forming a spherical shape that grew and grew until it filled her hand. And then, she slightly raised her hand, and all of the energy rushed out.

The second that it left her direct control, the energy of the sixth realm demonstrated its full might. Each feather was akin to the full potential of a fourth realm cultivator, flying out and exploding once they reached the destination that Huang Su had designated for them. The flames that formed them erupted, shattering the walls, floors and ceilings in an instant, large chunks of debris falling and scattering while Bianca seemed completely aghast.

“W-What are you-”

“They’ll be able to fix this soon enough, and I haven’t damaged any parts of the exterior, so nobody ought to be able to get inside here without permission,” Huang Su replied, pointing towards the one route that remained open to them, “Head that way, and look out for a wooden set of wings. Your kitsune friend might end up meeting you before we get there, and so I’d prefer not to take charge after that.”

“Right, so that she doesn’t know that you’re just… I think she’ll know, though. My technique is a bit weird, so it can have certain effects on people, but never outright control like this,” Bianca sighed.

“I’m sure she’ll have doubts for a while. As long as news don’t immediately spread that I’m just going out for a short trip out to help out a young woman, there shouldn’t be any issues,” she said, “So, shall we get going, ‘Mistress’?”

She made sure not to sound too disingenuous when she said it, but even then, there was no way to hide the slight amusement in her voice. To think that this day would end up like this, with her pretending to serve some girl that had yet to be able to stabilise externalised planar energy… and worse yet, she had a feeling that despite sharing her name, she might not have recognised her, which was even stranger. She couldn’t help but imagine the response when-

 

“You what? That… this… this is the Sect Master! How the… wha…” Xue Yaling had thought that she had seen everything, but this… this was something else entirely.

Bianca had rushed in and managed to find the Weave, which was more or less expected. With only two of them looking for it, it was a random chance as to who would stumble upon it first, so that was within reason. The fact that there weren’t many noteworthy defences on the artefact also wasn’t surprising, but then, to run into the Sect Master of all people, not recognise her, and somehow – somehow – control her and make her obedient?

“What the fuck?”

“Is there something wrong?” Huang Su, the Sect Master of the Phoenix Sect, asked as though the matter in question was as obvious as the world being flat.

“What did she do? Are you just playing along with her?”

“I don’t understand. I obey my Mistress, as I should.”

“THAT MAKES NO SENSE!”

“Calm down already, we’ve not got a lot of time to ourselves. We need to find some item that could be used to help us get out of here, since Huang Su- wait, Sect Master?”

Finally, even the otherworldly demon caught on, though she only looked shocked for a little while.

“Ah, right, the names are the same… I thought everyone in this place was named some combination of Huang and Su, to be honest…” Bianca muttered, coughing afterwards as though this would somehow make it harder to hear her, “Anyway, she has told me that she won’t be able to take all of us away safely.”

“The Phoenix Sect isn’t known for its movement skills, so that does make sense, but… fine. I don’t know how you did this, I don’t know why she’s like this, but you are right in that we have little time to ourselves. Let’s get out of here, and then I will try to understand how… how. Just how.”

“Fair enough, I guess. Huang Su, where-?”

“Mistress, I ensured that the only path we’ll have is one that leads us to where we need to go. As for any interference, rest assured that I will be able to dispose of it.”

When Huang Su bowed and spoke oh so respectfully, Xue Yaling nearly felt her head explode. It made no sense, and as far as she knew, nothing about the powers of the otherworldly demon before her had any capability of outright enslaving a Sect Master, even one in only the sixth realm. However, she also couldn’t fathom why a woman as powerful as that would pretend to be the servant of someone so much weaker than her, so there had to be something exceptional happening either way.

Alas, she had no time to stand around and ponder it. Bianca began running as soon as the way to go was clarified, and so she had to follow as to keep up and avoid the interference that the Sect Master mentioned. Perhaps it was one that she had already spotted with spiritual perception, for it showed up less than a minute later.

A Phoenix Sect disciple broke in through a window – they had unknowingly ended up close to the treasury’s walls – and immediately spotted the oddity before her.

“S-Sect Master?” she called out, only to be greeted with a wave of flaming feathers that instantly obscured her from sight. They didn’t seem to cause the woman any harm, as her presence seemed to remain as strong as when she entered, but it nonetheless allowed them to simply continue running.

‘So she’s even acting against her own disciples? W-why? Is this a bad dream? Surely she and Bianca didn’t fuck a hundred times while I was looking for the Weave, so it can’t be the corruption… and her eyes seem perfectly ordinary, too, and way too mischievous-looking, so… ancients, this is a mess,’ Xue Yaling pressed a hand up to her forehead as she felt pain spreading from there.