V3C14: Safeguarding the People

‘No way… Is everything I do twisted by some fate bestowed upon me by the heavens?’ Wei Yi pondered, frowning as she watched the result of her work, ‘Otherwise, how could something this coincidental happen the second time that I awaken the physique of someone of importance? If this is the kind of thing that happens to the otherworldly demons frequently, I can see why they think of themselves as protagonists and peerless legends…’

The reason for her shock was that the physique that had been created by her Earth Physique Awakening pill did not end up being one of the common or basic ice-type or water-type physique, nor even one of the more unusual, greater physiques.

No, what she had given Fu Xiu was a physique that she believed to be called Redeemer’s Frost.

It was an absolute physique and granted the wielder the ability to manipulate frost and ice with ease with the only seeming negative being the decrease of their body temperature.

To some, this may not sound all that impressive, but there was a reason that it had been named after one of the few legends to remain in people’s memory after the Master of Yi City had completed his project, the Redeemer of Worlds, the Master of the Planes. They held more than fifteen spatial realms under their control even while the primordial gods and the like dominated many parts of the Western Continent. While the tales had entirely forgotten the true name, appearance or even gender of the Redeemer, much like how Kong Shi Meng was no longer associated with the Master of Yi City, their prowess in combat and their ability to freely control ice had remained in historical records.

With a wave of their hand, the Redeemer was able to throw dozens of frost spears at their foes, and with a little concentration, could condense an enormous storm that was able to tear through the defences of the fourth realm with ease, and what made it truly impressive is that they had a planar cultivation, meaning that this ability was purely limited to the natural properties of the physique in combination with some planar techniques.

‘I’m not just trying to justify what I’m considering doing, but I’ve seen what happens when someone gains power that they are not prepared to have, so long as the otherworldly demons are to be believed. So long as she figures out what she has and puts it to use, she can easily get involved in some of the major conflicts that will soon begin within this world, but if she was to lose most of the power and keep only the physique itself… That should resolve some of the previous issues, shouldn’t it?’ Wei Yi thought, residing within her mental domain so that she could take as long as needed to consider the matter, ‘With previous experience, I should be able to manage and weaken the physique, and then she will be abnormally healthy for the rest of her life while I might have a better chance against the Greats.’

She ultimately decided that this was the best solution, as training her would be too slow and too inefficient – not to mention the possibility that acquiring a set of meridians after already possessing a physique would leave them empty, forcing Wei Yi to progress the Redeemer’s Frost physique so that it would fill those meridians and be properly cultivated – while simply leaving her to her own devices could result in any number of outcomes ranging from acceptable to terrible, depending on how much reason and self-control this receptionist possessed.

Ultimately, however, her choice wasn’t to make Fu Xiu’s life better directly, but to ensure that the Great Families were gone, and that Yi City was restored. If that required some actions that she would otherwise not consider, then they would have to be taken.

If, after everything was done and she had perished, regardless of the means, she became known as a villain that far surpassed the Greats, the primordial gods and the many bloodthirsty beasts that had existed in the Planar Continents prior to the Master of Yi City, then even if she had the ability to view the response and react to it, she would have no choice but to accept it.

‘Fortunately, I do not need to make this known to her. Siphoning most of the power of the physique only requires a little distraction…’ she thought, approaching Fu Xiu as she rubbed the marks on her skin from the mental energy cuffs and placed her hand on the receptionist’s wrists, sending a small quantity of life energy into them as to assist in the recovery, “Everything should be better now, but to ensure your health has improved and that all of the problems have been resolved, I will quickly check your body. Don’t move around too much.”

At the same time as the spiritual perception and life energy mixed together, she sent a small quantity of balanced physique energy into the receptionist’s body, mixing yin and yang so that she would neither freeze nor burn the moment that she touched this energy.

“I-Is this what spiritual perception usually feels like?”

“Why are you asking me? You’re bound to have felt it numerous times before… But no, this isn’t just spiritual perception. I am also sending a quantity of life energy into your body so that it recovers a little more quickly.”

“Oh… Right… Should everything be feeling so slow and tiring, or is that going to go away eventually?” Fu Xiu asked.

“Partially, yes, fully, no. You’ve consumed your excessive quantity of energy, so now you will just feel as if you are a stage or two higher in terms of your stamina, but little more. Do remember that continuing the way that you were would have likely resulted in spontaneous combustion, and make the most of what you’ve got,” she answered, devouring the last portion of reasonable energy to remove from her, ‘This won’t be enough to activate the physique, but I have a few theories on that which I would like to experiment with in the future. Potentially, I only need a single fragment of physique energy to complete it within myself, which would be absolutely fantastic…’

“That’s a shame. I feel really sleepy now…”

“Then rest. Your boss is either covering for you or has found someone else to do the same, so he can wait for another day to ensure that you are healthy,” Wei Yi said, retracting all of the energy tendrils from her and removing the barriers from the walls, “I wasn’t joking about the request for payment, by the way. Either provide me with the equivalent of one three-star Earth Physique Awakening pill or owe me a few favours in the future. Which would be easiest?”

“I have one hundred and seventeen planar shards worth of gold and silver coins in my possession… Is that enough?”

“Twenty planar shards, and you will have repaid everything you owe me.”

“That’s a lot, but… alright,” Fu Xiu nodded, laying back on the table and letting her eyes shut slowly, “As you said, I’ll rest… I’m not sure how long I’d been awake…”

As she fell into deep sleep not much later, Wei Yi did not bother replying, instead lifting her resting body easily and bringing her out of the office that they had been occupying, since it was bound to eventually be needed by another whereas there were plenty of other spaces for her to rest without leaving the Chu Alchemical Store. After scanning through the store, she eventually decided that the best place was in Chu Huazhi’s office, as it was currently empty and had plenty of space that would not be needed even if it was not.

With how light the receptionist was, and how strong Wei Yi was, carrying the former, bringing them into an office and then laying them down on a different surface was about as easy as doing the same to a small pebble, meaning that apart from the visual and physical experience – which was nowhere near as enticing or interesting after over twenty years of experiencing all kinds of positions, techniques and acts – she was essentially doing exactly that.

‘It’s still an improvement from the time I had just obtained the memories of the Thunder Lord, when I had gotten so embarrassed just from going into the women’s baths. If I still acted like that at the age of forty, it would be rather embarrassing.’

While Fu Xiu slept and the local manager was still occupied, she removed the pills that she had stored away from her pocket and inspected them closely. Each one reached the same level of quality, a rather unusual state, but she did not intend to sell most of them, nor did she want to give them out to her forces, as the people there had plenty of other methods to stimulate their physiques.

Instead, she intended to test her earlier theory about the nature of the Yin-Yang Ascendant physique and its ability to absorb other physiques.

It was unlikely for the abilities of an Ascendant to include every single physique under the heavens, so it must mean that it acquires them during the absorption of other physiques, then replicates their effect when there are enough particles of energy flowing through her meridians. If that is indeed the case, then does it not mean that her body currently contains fragments of countless physiques, all waiting to awaken? Would the consumption of a Physique Awakening pill not grant her the chance to advance one or more of them into a greater realm, growing their power and the abilities of her entire being?

That was something that had to be tested eventually, regardless of the cost, and now she just happened to have the right materials to do so, albeit not the time necessary just yet, meaning that if she did invest some effort into this, she could earn some incredible benefits for free.

‘I’ll put a few up on sale, just to be able to acquire more later, then get back to my residence and see what Min Lian had been working on, then attempt a breakthrough focusing on the Redeemer’s Frost physique first, and any other physiques that have a similar kind of energy and focus second, if I have the spare energy, Frankly, I’m not certain exactly how many pills I will need, nor what the quality of the result will be, so many experiments will need to take place…’

She glanced towards the resting receptionist one last time, confirmed that she was resting safely and that the removal of some of her physique had not harmed anything within her, and left the room, as anything of interest within it had already been scanned and stored within her memory, whether it was the documents hidden away in several compartments in furniture or the authamite wine that turned out to have a similar quantity of malevolent yin within it as a number of herbs, confirming at least in part that the Aberrant and his people had been working on this for twenty years.

Authamite wine was a kind of delicacy not seen within the Yi District, mostly due to the rarity of trade between it and the origin of the wine, the Fu District.

Unlike most wines, which were in some way created with various grapes and procedures, authamite was actually a type of rock found beneath mountains that were more than a kilometre high, or so the Fu family claimed. Such mountains were plentiful within the Planar Continents, but with the existence of spatial realms, it had been possible to create countless mountains of that size, and one of the theories surrounding that family was that they had a stable spatial realm that had lasted to this day and contained many such mountains, with all of the space above and around them being used for other things. Authamite itself was described as being a living rock, one that could regenerate and grow out even after most of it was removed and used, which had a purple shade with an interior of a sickly green, meaning that the first time it had been discovered, the people of the Fu family nearly exterminated it due to believing it to be some kind of disease.

Fortunately for them, one of the miners that had uncovered it had decided to steal a rock for himself, and proved with his experience that not only was it not harmful to people in its normal state – as only the rocks that had been rooted in stone could grow – but that it was possible to create a peculiar beverage from a specific process involving that stone that had never been made public.

After a number of people in his circle of friends unknowingly tried this drink, they accidentally uncovered where it came from and made an alchemist investigate, only for her to confirm that the wine was safe, and that the rocks merely had a peculiar shade and wouldn’t grow out of control if they were surrounded by a few basic arrays. It was also when they discovered that the rocks would grow back after being removed, allowing a small part of authamite that they had missed to return to the mines and restore their supply.

From there, a number of experienced wine brewers, alchemists and random people off the streets worked together to improve the miner’s recipe, and eventually created authamite wine.

However, from something that could be created within days, it turned into a substance that required at least eighteen years to brew, and would then need to be consumed within six days of the bottle being opened in any way, even if it was only through a small hole or gap somewhere in the surface. This meant that no matter which source of authamite wine was used, as some of the authamite was transported from the Fu District to closer districts in order to complete the production process and bottle it there alongside some of the items unique to those district, it would have had to be contaminated by the malevolent yin eighteen years ago or more, or would otherwise require something to be able to pierce the incredibly dense glass-like stone that was used to create the bottles.

If this was indeed the work of the Aberrant and his forces, that meant that he had a presence beyond this district, and could infiltrate places with his energy with incredible ease, with this extending to his servants if he was not directly responsible for contaminating the wine.

‘Still, unless there is a coming plague of creatures that feed on yang and thus require the population of the Ning District to be filled with as much yin as possible, then I see no reason for these actions other than negative ones,’ Wei Yi thought while she added four of her physique awakening pills into the books of the store, this time pricing it exactly as one might expect due to the lack of similar products to undercut, ‘Actually, I do have an idea, but it might not be a wise one. I will see…’

Leaving the store, she returned to her residence, but found a trail of smoke leaving the doorway.

‘That doesn’t seem to be a fire, so what in the heavens-’ she could not permit herself to finish this thought as she rushed into the building.

What she certainly didn’t expect to find was a small table beside the bed, narrowly forced between it and the wall, with a number of dishes, bowls and trays full of food that was clearly prepared only a short time ago. Min Lian sat on the right side of the table, nearer to the pillows, and was completing the preparation of one of the dishes, pausing when Wei Yi entered.

“Master?”

“Fuck… Min Lian, that scared me, even if I could tell what was happening with spiritual perception… Is this what you meant by the duties of an assistant? Preparing food for me?”

“Yes, that is one of the duties that can be given to an assistant of a refiner. I apologise for the shocking surprise, as I had not anticipated that it would cause this exact reaction…” the assassin almost showed an expression of sadness before her face returned to normal, “If it is not inconvenient, we can sit down and enjoy the meal for a moment, discussing any strategies you might have come up with while I had been unable to assist you.”

“I have told you that I cannot taste anything, haven’t I?”

She nodded, “I am aware. However, the consumption of food is both an act that a normal person would engage in and permits you quite a lot of time to devote to conversation. I thought it suitable. If it is not-”

“No, it’s fine. Just unexpected. Just give me a moment,” Wei Yi said, turning around and shielding the entire structure in killing will to prevent anyone from being able to spy on their words.

That took only a moment, after which she was able to shuffle onto the bed beside Min Lian, who moved a little closer to her so that they could sit beside one another nearer to the middle of the table, where the plates and most of the food had been placed. As per the customs of the northern regions of Yi City, they used chopsticks, with both of them taking some food for themselves despite neither of them truly requiring them.

Furthermore, neither was able to tell exactly what the food tasted like, although judging by its general appearance, Wei Yi was able to guess that this had to be good enough to compare to professional chefs and cooks, likely thanks to the extremely extensive training previously received by the assassin, with her skills being allowed to flourish with plentiful access to spices and herbs that were either extinct or fully dried within the Kong Prison Realm – on the topic of which, as it slowly recovered with Wei Yi and Yi Shi Ming’s influence, the world was growing to be able to accept and contain life once more, although this would not complete until a long, long time later.

As they sat together, one’s warm body covered by the thin cloth of the Crimson Robes of the Third Arrival pressed against the room-temperature skin of the other, they ate in silence for a short while, pretending as if they could truly distinguish any of the items from another with anything other than appearance and texture, consuming a significant portion of the meal before Min Lian spoke.

“So, Master, you had mentioned that you had a plan of some sort?”

“Indeed. My plan was to agitate the Aberrant and his forces into emerging, and then learn of their identities and bring them into a meeting in order to ascertain their intentions and allegiances, and I still believe this to be the best course of action.“

“It appears to be a sensible approach, Master,” the assassin agreed, “If you wish, I can attack certain individuals while claiming to be part of their organisation, at which point they will be forced to emerge from whatever domain they occupy and ensure that their operation here has not gone rogue. Even if the Aberrant is able to do so from the safety of his domain, then it is bound to be easier to interfere with his actions when he is in a poor state of mind.”

“No, I don’t want to harm the people of the district until I can confirm their allegiance. Instead, I have a slightly better idea. As his plan is to flood the city with malevolent yin, then why not interfere with it while accomplishing the exact same capture of attention?” she said, chewing on a piece of bread out of habit and for entertainment rather than any typical reason, “You’ve been on quite a number of tasks before, so I assume that I do not need to instruct you on the best methods to aggravate someone while still pretending to be them, correct?”

“I do have some methods of that nature. Which specific one would you prefer, Master?”

“That’s not the thing that’s usually discussed over a meal, so far as I am aware. Instead, why don’t we talk about the food that you have prepared? Is this what you have spent all of the funds I had provided on?”

“Yes, that’s right. I have enough for fifteen more such complete meals, mostly due to the low prices of the Ning District, and due to certain uncommon negotiation methods that I had employed. I had learnt that there is a small criminal gang within the district, mostly consisting of those in the first realm, that has been permitted to remain due to their general weakness and harmlessness, so I had impersonated one of their people to demand a few tithes from the merchants,” Min Lian explained, “With my current cultivation, I had been very convincing.”

‘So, the conversation returns to this topic without any prompting…’ Wei Yi sighed internally, finishing off the bowl of noodles that she had chosen to consume, “While that gives me another good idea on entrenching our influence within the Ning District to make the most of our stay here, I had intended to steer the conversation away from robbery and disguises.”

“I apologise, Master, I had simply intended to inform you of my methods…”

“It’s fine. We’ve gotten through most of this anyway, so finish up your food and we will acquire a few new outfits to play around with. After that, it will be time to engage in some further robbery.”

“Understood. What exactly shall we be doing?”

“Safeguarding the people, of course.”