Knock Knock!

  A series of gentle hits landed on Bing’s door. The round youth was in the middle of cultivating with his eyes closed and legs crossed upon the floor. He opened his eyes and wondered who could be at his door this early in the morning. He hoped it wasn’t more of those annoying Huan disciples. But if it was... He hoped these ones at least had some goodies worth taking besides their bodies.

“Who is it?” He called out.

“It’s me! Open up!” Ying answered.

  Bing wondered what his friend? Could he call her that? They’ve been hanging out basically all week but can you call someone a friend just because of that? What about partner? Nah that one didn’t feel right either. He shrugged his shoulders before standing up and opening the door.

  Ying stood there in her oh so familiar glory. Terrifyingly huge monstrous looking sword that doesn’t fit a girl of her beauty, a boyish gleam in her eyes, and that straightforward headstrong nature of her.

She grabbed his arm.

“Great! Follow me! I’ve haven’t been able to stretch my body out much and needed more contribution points to buy a crystallized fire sac for my cultivation technique.”

“Wait! I need to get dressed! I don’t have my shield! I haven’t even eaten breakfast!”

  Ying looked down to see Bing still in his underwear and indeed ill-equipped for the task she had at hand.

“Hurry up and get ready pervert! No one is trying to see your nasty thing in the morning” She pushed him back into his house.

“You are the one that dragged me outside!” He complained rightfully as he heard his door slam behind him.

  Bing started to pull out some comfortable clothes to wear. He disliked wearing the sect’s robes because it didn’t feel all that comfortable to fight in and when hanging with Ying, there was rarely a day where he doesn’t fight. He doesn’t blame her of course, not entirely anyway. Their fellow disciples loved to make trouble when there isn’t any need for trouble! Ying doesn’t go around looking to fight someone despite saying things that might indicate such a thing.

  Ying just doesn’t put up with any disrespect unless she disrespects someone first. Bing wishes she could just learn to ignore the taunting and mocking comments but that’s an impossibility knowing her. He sighed in preparation for the many fights that are guaranteed to happen today. Bing grabbed his shield that was slowly getting bigger and bigger every day. When he first got it, the shield was no bigger than his head but now it's large enough to protect his entire stomach.

“Are you done yet!?” Ying yelled from outside.

“One moment!” Bing responded back.

  Bing made sure he got everything he needed before walking outside and locking his door.

“Let’s go!”

“Can’t we go eat first?” Bing asked.

“You can eat once we get into the forest!”

  Bing grumbled unhappily as they slowly made their way towards the Mission Hall.

“What task did you plan on picking?”

“Killing the Violet Horned Chameleon Queen.”

Bing groaned.

“Do you even care about cultivation realms? That’s a task that a cultivator at the early stages of Qi Consolidation would struggle with!”

“It was the weakest one that would give me enough points to get the crystallized fire sac.”

“We could’ve done easier tasks that are more fit for cultivators of our stages till we got enough contribution points to get your sac.”

“You’re just scared of a challenge aren’t you Bing?”

“When my life is at risk of being snuffed out, I wouldn’t call it a challenge. A challenge shouldn’t be something that puts your life on the line!”

“That weak type of thinking is why you’re still a 3rd stage Qi Gatherer.”

“No! I just started on my path later than most!”

“If you pushed yourself, you would already be at my rank.”

“I feel like I'm progressing pretty fast though.”

“Physically yes, but cultivation wise no. You’re going down the same path as me since your cultivation technique is so weak.”

“It’s not like I had a choice in my cultivation technique! They aren’t the easiest things to just come across you know.”

“Why didn’t you go to the Martial Pavillion to get a better cultivation martial art?”

“I didn’t feel satisfied with any of them. None of them seemed like they really fit me.”

“Then you should be going out on tasks to get the really good cultivation arts in the Exchange Hall.”

  Bing couldn’t respond back to this one. He hasn’t even looked inside the Exchange Hall yet. The only tasks he has been going on are easy ones that don’t take much time or effort. So, his contribution points are meagre compared to Ying who regularly goes out on hunting tasks.

“There they are!”

  Bing and Ying looked over to see a dozen or so disciples looking their way as they were a distance away from the Mission Hall.

“THOSE 100 SPIRIT STONES ARE MINE!”

“None of you bastards better take their heads before me!”

“Let me flay the Fatty alive! I wanna see his insides!”

  The group of bloodthirsty disciples rushed towards them. Bing couldn’t stop himself from sighing again. The day just started! Why does trouble always have to find a way towards him? Ying was just as confused as Bing but she wouldn’t turn down a fight. She got in a fighting stance with her sword resting behind her on the ground.

“If you can take one hit from my blade, consider it your win!”

  Ying slowly raised her large sword and rushed towards the incoming disciples with a single leap. She intended to slice them all in half with a single horizontal swing from her blade. Bing doubted those in front would be able to survive against that blade. In a few moments, the entrance to the Mission Hall would be filled with the numerous bodies cut in half.

  Or it would be! If a passing elder didn’t see the ground and decided to intervene. He appeared in the middle of both sides and used his qi to blast away both sides. Ying wasn’t foolish enough to try and kill an elder of the sect. She willingly let herself be blasted away back towards Bing while the disciples after their heads was blasted towards the Mission Hall. Bing roughly caught Ying’s body and gently let her down. That sword is much heavier than he thought. He almost fell over trying to catch Ying and her sword.

“Thanks.”

“No problem.”

“If you little rascals wish to cause trouble, please do it outside the sect or at the very least challenge them to a ranking match. Do none of you have any self-respect? All this for a single girl and a fat boy? Disgraceful.” He scoffed before slowly walking away.

  Shame hung around the heads of the disciples but their greed for the spirit stones overpowered the words of the mysterious elder. They kept their eyes on Ying and Bing but didn’t choose to attack them.

“I think we should cancel today’s plans and save it for another time...” Bing suggested.

“Nope. We’re killing that Queen Chameleon. If those weaklings dare to follow us, we’ll just kill them and the chameleon!” Ying grabbed Bing’s arm and forced him to follow behind her.

“What if that isn’t their entire force! What if someone took the chameleon task!? I still haven’t ate breakfast!!!” He cried as they entered inside the Mission Hall.

…

  Ying and Bing arrived outside the sect. Ying accepted the task for killing the chameleon queen and now they were walking through the Immortal Forest. The chameleon queen was said to possibly be near a village that lives inside the Immortal Forest. A spirit beast of that level shouldn’t be hanging around the outer area of the Immortal Forest. It’s their job to kill it and stop its offspring from harassing the village that’s under the protection of the Golden Serpent Sect.

  This job would be a lot simpler if they didn’t have a large group of disciples following behind them wanting to kill them. Ying was leading them towards a large opening within the forest so they could get rid of them. If they wanted trouble, she’s glad to give them what they want. Bing was more annoyed with the situation than Ying was. He planned on finding out exactly who placed a bounty of 100 spirit stones on their heads and getting payback.

Ying found an open clearing.

“COME ON OUT YOU COWARDS! I HOPE YOU ALL WRITTEN YOUR WILLS BECAUSE NONE OF YOU ARE MAKING IT BACK TO THE SECT ALIVE!” Ying shouted.

  She heard them cackling as they came out into the clearing. Lust, greed, and killing intent radiated from their group. The battle was close to starting and all the fighters were getting ready. Bing’s flesh began shaping itself into muscle as it used his qi to strengthen his body. An extra pair of arms formed from the side of his torso. The ground beneath his feet started to sink from the strength of his body martial art. His cold eyes stared at his opponents as his fortified and built body radiated with strength.

  Ying smirked as she saw this side of Bing. If he acted this cool all the time, she was sure she would fall for the fatty. But she wouldn’t let him take the spotlight! Ying’s body ignited in flames. The fire took hold of her body and transformed her. Her orange hair turned into a hair made of flames, the eyes within her head burned with a small flame, and her sword transformed into a giant mass of fire.

“KILL EM!!!!!”

  The group charged towards the two and Ying took a single swing with her blade.

Fwoosh!

  A giant blade of fire qi flew towards the incoming disciples. The strength of that attack refused to leave any survivors. It cut through the bodies of the attackers and burned their remains into ash. Bing stood there blinking blankly.

“What a bunch of weaklings!” Ying mocked as she returned back to her normal form.

“I guess I shouldn’t have been so worried after all.” Bing smiled while rubbing the back of his head.

He returned back to his round physique.

“They better increase our bounty after this. If anyone’s going to come after me, they need to at least be able to stand a single attack of mine.”

“I’d prefer not to have any bounty at all...” Bing said softly.

“Let’s go take out that Chameleon!”

  It would take a few hours until the two could find any trace of the chameleon queen. The two were exploring near the village that sent in the information about the queen and got attacked by one of the children of the Violet Horned Chameleon Queen. The tiger-sized reptilian suddenly appeared atop a tree and shot its tongue out towards Bing. Bing barely managed to react in time to the ambush attack. He blocked with his shield and engaged in a tug of war with the large beast. He was able to overpower the beast as it had yet to form a beast core and was unable to use qi to strengthen its body. He pulled the chameleon towards him and punched it into the ground underneath him.

Ying finished the beast off with a single downward swing and smiled at Bing.

“Teamwork.”

“Ah yea... Teamwork.” Bing agreed, still not over being surprised about the chameleon attack.

  Bing was about to use his Devil Arm’s martial art on the fallen beast to strengthen his physique but the duo soon began hearing multiple hissing sounds all around them. They got into defensive positions with their backs touching. Numerous chameleons started revealing themselves while staring at Bing and Ying.

“That is a lot of chameleons.....” Ying commented.

“Chameleons are solitary beasts! They never group together! The Queen must be nearby!” Bing said.

“Any ideas!?” Ying asked.

“Just one!”

  Bing pulled Ying close as the hissing reached its peak and the chameleons all shot their tongues towards the two.

“Bone Dome!” Bing let his blood drip onto his shield and slammed it into the ground

  The two were seconds away from being submerged chameleon tongues and slowly melted alive from their acidity saliva. But just as close as they were to death, a large amount of bones shot up from the ground and encompassed Bing and Ying in a circular mound. The sphere of bones rattled from beasts’ attacks but did not crumble and break. Even the melting liquid from their tongues had no effect on the bones.

“I knew we shouldn’t have taken this task...” Bing whined.

“Shut up ya big baby. We might have almost just died but that doesn’t mean we should give up!”

“No one said anything about giving up....” Bing murmured.

“Then quit yapping and give me some room. Doing this move takes a lot out of me but I don’t see how else are we gonna get out of this situation without it.”

“Fine...” Bing gave Ying as much room as possible and crouched down low with his shield held close to his face.

  Ying closed her eyes as she gathered her qi. She slowly started spinning with her greatsword. The temperature started to rise from her body as her speed began to increase. Bing felt the fierce heat from blazing from Ying and gritted his teeth.

“Ring of Flames!” Ying yelled.

  Fire qi shot out from Ying’s giant sword in a circular form. Bing demolished his bone dome just when Ying released her attack and the ring of fire flew towards the chameleons surrounding them. The beasts couldn’t escape in time and were forced to burn alive with terrible screeches. Ying smiled with relief as she dropped to the ground, low on qi.

  Bing looked around to see their surroundings being nothing but flames and burning carcasses.

‘Seriously... How terrifying.’

He got up and saw that Ying was on the floor.

“Feed me a Qi recovery pill please.” Ying asked.

  Bing was about to do as she said but before he could reach into her pocket, he felt a terrifying presence staring down on him. He looked up and saw the target of their task. The large purple reptilian mother that was larger than the trees that used to be around them. It seems she wasn’t pleased with Ying killing her offspring nor Bing trying to help the killer of her children. The murderous intent emitting from her body made Bing shiver uncontrollably. But he knew if he didn’t do something, both him and Ying would die. The Queen struck without warning.

  Bing hastily raised his shield and blocked the immense power of her tongue strike. It took most of his power to remain standing in front of Ying. He knew he couldn’t withstand another attack like that without being blown away and leaving Ying helpless. He has to get this thing away from Ying.

“Swift Devil!” He blasted towards the 9th stage Qi Gathering spirit beast.

He knocked it and himself a safe distance away from Ying and managed to bruise its side.

“I’ll distract it for as long as I can! Try and recover before I die please!” Bing shouted as he used his auxiliary and body martial art to increase his physique and defensive power.

  Ying gritted her teeth in anger. The stupid queen just had to attack when she was at her lowest. If she and Bing were at full strength and ready for her they could’ve easily taken her out. Most beasts can’t withstand a single swing of her blade. She doubted a spirit beast like the Violet Horned Chameleon Queen could take her sword either. Ying struggled while reaching into her pocket for a qi recovery pill. Her sword was sending her emotional waves of concern before a feeling of curiosity and hunger overcame it. She was confused.

  The feeling she got from her sword told her to feed it one of the leftover bones from Bing’s dome. She grabbed one of the bones and angrily looked at her sword.

‘How the hell am I supposed to feed a sword!?’

  The sword rapidly blinked at her and she hesitantly moved the bone shard towards the eyeball. The eyeball opened up to reveal a set of human teeth behind them that chomped the bone shard with relish. Ying was normally not one for screaming but seeing such an abnormal and terrifying sight made her gasp with shock. She saw that her sword was starting to change in form. The previous silver steel started to change into something thornier and bone-like. Bone spikes began jutting out from the blunt side of the blade as it turned into a large bone sword with the eye still at the base of the sword.

‘Since when could you do something like this you dumb sword!?’ Ying questioned.

The sword sent her a feeling that made her smack it in anger. It says it forgot.

“Ying! Anytime now please!” Bing shouted towards her with his muscled body covered in blood.

  Ying used her sword as support to stand up. She lifted her sword with careful precision and slashed down towards the queen. The queen’s tongue was stuck to Bing’s shield as he grasped her tongue with three of his hands to keep her still. Ying’s slash produced large bone spikes out of the ground that rushed towards the immobile Queen. The queen could see the incoming bones and desperately tried to free herself from Bing. Bing doubled down and used all of his qi to keep his hold on the queen. He ignored all the pain he was feeling from the acid-like saliva burning his hands and slammed the Chameleon Queen into the ground.

  She cried out as Ying’s bone spikes punctured through her body. Blood flowed throughout the numerous holes in her body. Bing dropped to the ground breathing heavily. His extra pair of arms vanished and his belly reappeared. He reached into his pocket and ate a recovery pill to heal his burned hands and internal injuries.

Ying saw that her sword transformed back to its normal state and cursed. She swallowed a qi recovery pill and walked over to Bing.

“See, I told you we could handle it.” Ying said joyfully.

Bing stared at her with a deadpan expression.

“Haha! Cheer up Bing! I promise to be more careful next time.” She used her storage ring to absorb the dead body of the Queen Chameleon.

She could see his dissatisfaction.

“Okay what if we find you a better cultivation technique? Nothing less than an Earth-ranked one either! Even I only have one earth martial technique!” Ying suggested.

“Fine. Let’s just get back to the sect already. Facing life or death situations is just something I’ll have to get used to as a cultivator anyway...”

“That’s the spirit!” She smacked Bing on the back harshly, causing him to wince in pain and try and massage his back.

  Ying laughed like an innocent young girl while running on ahead as Bing cried out in pain from her slap. He couldn’t reach his back with his short and thick arms.

“Grah!!! Can’t you control your strength!?”

“I’ll think about it!” She stuck her tongue out as she turned and playfully skipped away.

“NEXT TIME I’M PICKING THE DANGEROUS TASK!” He shouted at her.