Jing watched as the Inner Court disciples stampeded through the Immortal Forest. It seems the rumor has finally circulated in the Inner Court and now they were on their way to obtain the mysterious sky-ranked spirit weapon. The value of sky-ranked spirit weapons was a lot more valuable than she thought. It only took about an hour and some before they started running out of the sect like a bunch of greedy hyenas. 

She was wearing her refined mask that hid her presence and standing on the trees to get a good look at all the high ranked cultivators below her. She may even find someone worthy enough to join her faction amongst the Inner Court. She has only searched within the Outer Court for members. But that was all in due time, for now she’ll just remember any interesting characters or abilities. Along with taking note of the factions and strong cultivators from the Inner Court. 

Jing hopped from tree branch to tree branch, following the herd of disciples below her without anyone noticing her. The fighting has yet to start between the disciples but Jing has no doubt that it’ll happen sooner rather than later. This many youthful and greedy cultivators in one place? A fight starting out is a natural outcome from such a large group of potential immortals. A few might work together to find SCP-154 but those alliances will only be short-term at best. Once someone actually gets SCP-154, Jing is pretty sure it's going to turn into hell within moments. 

“LOOK OUT! A STONE KOALA IS RIGHT IN FRONT OF US!” 

“IT’S AT THE 4TH STAGE OF THE QI CONSOLIDATING REALM!” 

Stone Koala’s were very territorial spirit beasts. If interrupted during their 22-hour naps, they will chase whoever awoken them from their sleep and kill them no matter what. Unless they are killed first but getting past their rock-like skin and terrifying strength is no small task. They are also known for not being afraid of death unlike most spirit beasts. They don’t even mind dying as long as they managed to kill the one who has awakened them. 

“Yi You! We have to run! We can’t waste our energy fighting this thing before we even found the bracelets!” 

“Okay brother! Let’s go! We can’t let them get ahead of---” His words were stopped in his throat as the stone koala grabbed him out of the air. 

He screamed to his brother for help and his brother paused. He looked back at his captured sibling and then at the others catching ground up ahead. They were both 2nd stage Qi Consolidators. The two brothers locked eyes, one pleading with tears pooling around his eyes and the other with hesitation. He turned around and ran. Seeing his very own brother not even try to help him escape from this beast destroyed him. His eyes turned into despair and blackness. 

Jing couldn’t help but laugh at the selfishness and cruelty shown only a few moments into this event. That delicious look of hopelessness before he was crushed in the hands of the stone koala made Jing’s heart jump with amusement. Seeing that angry little tree bear going around crushing disciples like ants was oh so enjoyable. The cries, tears, and shouts for help as it tears them apart, Jing regretted not doing something like this sooner! 

She swung her legs back and forth in the air like a little girl on the tree branch high above. She could’ve watched this little massacre go on for hours but someone put an end to her fun. A long-haired handsome young boy running by saw the good rampage the stone koala was doing and sliced it in half from the torso. Jing focused in on this boy. He was 2 stages below the spirit beast but managed to kill it without even trying. The average cultivator couldn’t pull off an achievement like that. 

If a spirit beast and a cultivator were at the same stage, 7 times out of 10, the spirit beast would take the victory if they fought. The way spirit beasts cultivate is inherently different from cultivators. They are able to cultivator their qi and bodies at the same time without lacking in either group. Unless that cultivator is highly talented and able to cultivate both their body and qi, the spirit beast should defeat the cultivator in most situations. 

“Who was that?! How did he kill the Stone Koala with a single swing of his blade?!” 

“I don’t know who that is! I’ve never seen him in the Inner Court before!” 

“There’s no way someone that powerful could stay lowkey with his strength!” 

“It doesn’t matter who he is! Get going! We have to find that spirit weapon before the top rankers come!” 

Jing casually hopped from tree to tree, following behind the unknown talented boy and his ally. They were the same rank but the girl didn’t seem as interesting as the boy. The boy was taking care to avoid any dangerous beasts in front of them and constantly watching his surroundings. The girl looked like she was following the boy without any care in the world. 

“Brother Kun Lao, are you sure it's safe to trust that rumor?” 

“With so many disciples out here, it has to be real. If it wasn’t the sect elders would definitely intervene to prevent a bunch of us disciples from killing ourselves for no reason.” 

“You’re so smart Brother Lao!” 

“Thanks Sister Dai Yu. Now let’s hurry up on ahead. It was said to be in the near the center of the middle area.” 

Jing moved on ahead of the couple. She could hear some conflict and was more interested in finding more notable disciples within the Inner Court. Up ahead a group of disciples could be seen fighting against one another. She sat atop a branch and looked down on the two fighting groups. 

“Nightwing clan! Who allowed you to be so bold to ambush us?! Do you not fear death?!” 

“From a clan of cowardly assassins like you, that threat doesn’t hold up much! My Daybright clan will exterminate you for our ancestors’ honor!” 

“Honor my ass! Who put you up to this?! Was it the Spider Mistress?!” 

“Keep guessing you honor-less dogs. We’ll never tell you. Now die!” The two groups went at each other again. 

A group battle from the Inner Court. While it was interesting, it wasn’t suspenseful enough. These fools weren’t fighting for the sky-ranked weapon, they were just killing each other for a worthless reason that has nothing to do with SCP-154. That wasn’t very interesting. Jing looked around in her surroundings for something that could spice this little fight up. To her left was a camouflaged Horned Serpent napping. She leapt from her tree branch and landed next to the invisible snake. It was at the 3rd stage as a Qi Consolidator. Jing used her whip and wrapped it around the neck of the spirit beast. She then threw it across the forest into the middle of the battling factions. 

A few members of the Nightwing clan and Daybright clan may have gotten crushed to death from the large size of the snake but oh well. Maybe it’ll get their adrenaline going a bit faster.  

“Everyone, retreat! We will recover our strength and forces to exterminate the Daybright clan in the future!” Nightwing clan leader shouted. 

‘Hey, I just got that worm. It wouldn’t be much fun if you ran before even trying to survive against it.’ Jing turned off the properties of her mask and appeared in front of the fleeing cultivators.  

“Who are you?!” 

“Just a passing cultivator...” Jing used her auxiliary art that she gained from SCP-914. 

It was called Idliragijenget’s Blessing, this martial art allowed her to generate water through qi and control it freely. Jing created a whip of water and lashed it out in a horizontal swing. The speed and surprising length of the whip managed to knock all the Nightwing cultivators back towards the Horned Serpent. The snake smashed a few of them into the ground with its tail. It was unknown if they were still alive or not but the battle has now turned into a fight to survive for all parties!  

The Daybright clan couldn’t handle both the Nightwing clan and the Horned Serpent at the same time. They also noticed Jing and saw how she was keeping the Nightwing clan members from escaping. Jing wondered what was he planning. Did he think that she was on his side or just a third party with unknown intentions? 

“Kill the Nightwing cultivators! Ignore the beast the best you can!” 

“Do not let yourselves be killed by our enemies! Survive and make sure to get strong enough to pay back for this attack!” 

Now this was what she wanted to see. Swords stabbing through the backs of others, the snake swallowing humans in a confused rage, opportunistic killings, and futile attempts of fleeing thanks to her whip. Anyone trying to run away was captured by her water whip and thrown towards the Horned Serpent. The serpent swallowed them in a quick lunge whenever she threw a disciple in the air. It was almost as if she was its master and was feeding it treats for being a good snake. 

“KILL THAT GIRL! SHE’S THE ONE CONTROLLING THIS SPIRIT BEAST!” 

“IDENTIFY YOURSELF BEAST MASTER!” 

They charged her together. Jing smiled behind her mask. She was going to have some fun with these Qi Consolidators. It’s been a while since she could have a little innocent fun. Jing will have to take care not to break them too soon. She might scare away the others from attacking her. Jing fully unleashed her qi. Her 3rd stage Qi Gatherer qi that was enhanced monstrously thanks to her cultivation technique given by SCP-914. Taking on a few cultivators 1 realm above her won’t be much. If it was 2 or 3 realms above her then she’d be unsure. She hasn’t gained any information about anyone in those realms yet nor has seen their full strength. 

A cultivator slashed towards her with his sword. Jing struck against his blade with her water whip and cleaved right through the steel weapon and took off some of his hair. The shocked look in his eyes as his life was almost snatched from him within seconds made Jing laugh in amusement. She wrapped her whip around his throat and brought him to the ground underneath her foot. She stomped on the back of his head with the heel of her foot and grinded his head into the dirt just to add a little more humiliation. 

Another cultivator tried to stab through her chest with his sword while his ally came at her side with his fists. Jing sliced off the sword user’s arm and without even stopping her whip’s movements, grabbed the bare-handed cultivator and pulled him towards her in an arc. The sword cultivator screamed and dropped to his knees. The fist user flew above her and Jing struck with a powerful kick to his stomach. He spat out blood onto her mask from the kick and was roughly dropped to the ground below Jing. 

Jing stomped on his elbow and broke it, causing him to cry out miserably. Seeing her ruthless nature, the other disciples paused in their movements to try and kill her. This wasn’t the smartest of plans as there was still a raging 3rd stage Qi Consolidator spirit beast behind them. Another cultivator of the two groups was smashed underneath the tail of the snake. Jing was taking her time slowly crushing the bones of the fist user and hearing him pathetically cry out for help. 

She could feel her erect nipples brushing against her robes. 

“Come on, scream louder boy. If you yell hard enough, maybe I’ll consider keeping you alive after this. Go on scream for me.” Jing shattered his femur with a sickening crunch of her foot.  

The scream from that break was by far the juiciest one. Jing’s panties were a little damp after hearing it. She was sure that anyone within 50 steps around them heard that scream, it even echoed out. It was too bad that he fainted afterwards but she still had two more bugs to play with. One teetering between consciousness and one trying to free himself from the dirt.  

She decided to choose the livelier one. She helped him out of the ground by creating a bubble around his head filled with water. Water began filling up his nose and mouth. His eyes were wide open in terror as he clutched his throat trying to breathe. The water was filling his lungs, he should be feeling a terrible burning pain on the inside of his body but it would be boring if she just made him drown to death. No matter how painful it was, it was too simple. To make it a bit more arousing for her, she grabbed a nearby stick and covered it with her qi. 

She started making light cuts all over his body as water filled his lungs. He could only gargle and put on a hopeless expression as the lights in his eyes were going dim. Jing popped the bubble and he started to violently puke out all the water from his system. 

“Make sure to take a deep breathe this time.” Jing told him. 

He looked at her with terror in his eyes after catching on to what she meant. She wasn’t done with him just yet. He was going to have to go through that horrible experience again and he couldn’t do anything about it. She was stronger than him! He desperately tried to run away like a dog but Jing stabbed her stick into his leg, going completely through his leg and the ground below it. He screamed out for help. Anyone to help him or kill him before Jing could get to him. Jing couldn’t help but laugh at the sight of the adorable little bug.  

“No one here is capable of saving you from me...” Jing rubbed his face with her foot as water slowly headed towards his head. 

---

“Do you really believe you can kill me Li Qiang?” Wan Qing asked. 

“Heh, I’m not here to kill you.” He waved his hand. “I’m just here to make sure you don’t get the spirit weapon before Ping.” Li Qiang said casually. 

“A sissy like you won’t be much of a problem. You may be talented but you are also alone. Something a freak like you deserves.” Shan spat. 

“I am not ashamed of what I chose to be, nor am I willing to take insults upon my character lightly. Prepare to die for your disrespect Shan.” Wan Qing pointed her sword towards Shan. 

“You think I'm scared of some freak who thinks he’s a girl? No wonder they didn’t let you in the Blossoming Water Palace sect, you’re crazy too!” Shan viciously said. 

Four butterfly wings made of qi shot out from Qing’s back. She flew directly in front of Shan with her sword ready to slice his head off. Shan was shocked by her speed but managed to defend with his spirit weapon in time. His gauntlets blocked Qing’s attack and Li Qiang moved in to attack her. 

She clicked her tongue and flew away to get some distance. Handling these two won’t be impossible but with their fighting styles they’ll definitely be able to delay her long enough for the other top rankers to get the sky-ranked spirit weapon. Her pride didn’t allow her to flee either, especially after Shan’s insults. His fate is already set in stone to be killed by her. 

Qing’s long flowing black hair fell past her neck. It was the type of hair that couldn’t have been taken care of without meticulous care. Qing was the type of cultivator that could be recognized in a large crowd due to her handsome appearance. Her lean and slender body with flawless jade skin only made her stick out more in the Inner Court. She had no breasts but was blessed with curvy hips and a voluptuous behind. Seeing Wan Qing from behind, many would expect her to be a girl with a figure like hers. But just because she wasn’t born as a female, people think it is fine to disrespect her, look down on her, and mistreat her because of her choice to identify herself as a woman despite being born a male. 

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