V3C64: To the Ping District, Part 2

‘A bloodline that resembles a tree with a wolven head poking out of the trunk…’ Wei Yi noted to herself while she conquered that energy and integrated it as her own power, ‘If the seed of corruption is in some way influenced by Primordial Corruption, could this living plague be some remnant influence of Primordial Nature? Given the apparent similarity between them, it certainly wouldn’t be strange.’

Yi Shi Ming did not have much knowledge on the matter besides being able to confirm that the living plague did resemble something that Primordial Nature would create and use. Besides that, she had no clue whether or not this was the work of the actual primordial deity, someone’s imitation of it, or even a natural part of the world that had come to be since the mother of the Master of Yi City had the chance to look around the Western Continent. She did express some concern at the possibility of absorbing the bloodline of anything close to Primordial Nature, but after Wei Yi confirmed that her path shouldn’t lead to any negative effects, she did not argue with her about it.

With that out of the way, Zhi Qiu Ya was able to rise, albeit barely. She was exhausted, as anyone would be, but her body remained strong.

“Just in case you didn’t hear us a short while ago, the living plague could not be removed, but any traces of the bloodline have been. It may return later, in which case I could just keep cleaning it up until a more permanent solution is found, or such a thing may turn out to be unnecessary.”

“Right…”

“Just to be certain of things, there’s one thing that I wish to try that I never managed to observe due to you always being away when you transformed into your wolven state – could you please allow that personality to emerge, even if you aren’t that keen on it? I promise that I won’t let you do anything stupid if you won’t be able to control yourself, and I may even accidentally figure out how to help you out with that personality.”

She had looked like she wanted to refuse at first, but when the request was fully presented, Zhi Qiu Ya had been swayed just enough by everything up to that point, prompting her to say, “Alright, I believe that I am able to do that. Please don’t allow me to do anything… unbecoming…. Here I go…”

Despite her words, it clearly wasn’t something that she could do at will, nor immediately. Even if Wei Yi had so little control of her spiritual perception that she needed to fan it over to her target with her hands or a fan, she would have had enough time to do so before traces of the other self finally began to emerge.

It began with the slight twitching of her shut eyes, then of her fingers and muscles. Her very blood seemed to be agitated for a short while, flowing rather erratically and wildly throughout her body, before her eyes suddenly opened.

And yet, they were not the same as before, for they had clear understanding and cognition.

“Eh? Am I back already?” Zhi Qiu Ya questioned when she found herself standing in the same place, with everyone else looking at her strangely, “What did I do? Did I do something?”

“Well… I suppose inaction is, in a way, an action in its own right, an active stance that one could take…” Wei Yi replied, letting her attempt to figure that out for a moment before plainly stating, “The thing is, you’re still in your bestial state, or, at the very least, you should be. The living plague’s influence, its tendrils, sort of, have extended all throughout your body, primarily attaching to your animal characteristics. However, as I most certainly don’t need to explain to you right now, you are still yourself. This is actually what I was talking about when I mentioned control.”

“It… it is?”

“Yes. As I had mentioned before, your animal self is clearly born of your mind, at least in part. The fact that it acts more like an animal than some wild human is probably related to the living plague, sure, but the nature of it is still a version of you. You’ve never attempted to enter it intentionally, have you?”

“No, I would have never purposefully thrown my body away to some wolf before you specifically asked me to… How is that significant?”

“To allow it to dwell in your body is, in part, an acceptance of it. Once you accept it, understand it, and then resolve the things that are truly not to your liking, you will be rid of it, and the two minds will unite. Perhaps you may even gain some mental strength from the process, as well as some of your memories from the bestial state,” she explained, placing her hand on Zhi Qiu Ya’s head and brushing past one of her animal ears, “Now, if you would, see if you can hear it right now. A voice, or just some feeling…”

The wolven woman nearly shook her head, but the steady hand upon it stopped any kind of movement, forcing her to listen closely if she wanted to be able to go anywhere after this. For a few moments, her eyes were shut.

When they did open once again, they had lost some of their clarity, but only a small amount, so small that a less observant individual than the three other people present might not have noticed anything at all. They remained that way as they focused on the world, then looked at Wei Yi. A spark of interest appeared then, only to disappear alongside the haziness in Zhi Qiu Ya’s vision.

Since she was paying attention to the interior of the woman’s body, Wei Yi was able to see the tendrils of the living plague stretch out just a little further when clarity returned to her eyes.

“I felt it… something. It was clearly interested in you, for some reason…”

“Now that makes a lot more sense. The living plague takes a greater degree of control the moment that you begin denying the truth and trying to separate yourself and the wolf, as we shall call your other self for now,” Wei Yi stated, causing the wolven woman to shiver as she was seen through immediately, “If you had told me that you had no idea what your other self gets up to, then I’d believe you, but you had clearly known that it has certain primal interests. How can you possibly not have a clue now?”

“I…” Zhi Qiu Ya bit her lower lip, drawing a little bit of blood with her sharper teeth, “It has other desires as well-”

“It? As I said, that is still you. The best explanation I could give you, if you need me to repeat myself, is that that it is essentially a part of you seen through a wolven lens of sorts, slightly twisting the final image and amplifying certain parts while negating others, but a simple lens cannot create that which isn’t there. Clearly, you have some degree of attraction to people, even if you try to ignore it.”

“That… no…”

“I won’t force you to do anything – as I said way back when we were first talking about this – but it would be for your own good to give this some proper thought. The moment that you are free to change between states, with neither one binding you down, that’s when you’ll get the most out of life.”

“I… Wait, what would the difference in states be? If these two parts were indeed to merge, then wouldn’t I be both at the same time?”

“Right, I forgot to mention another theory born from my own comprehension of transformation and alteration,” Wei Yi said, transforming her left hand to and from the killing will state while also checking the Truth of the Universe to see whether that would conveniently appear as some advanced Dao for her to utilise, “In theory, you possess the capability for changing parts of your body with ease based on the extension and recession of the tendrils of the living plague, so there is a slight chance that when you do change back, you-”

There was little chance for her to finish before Zhi Qiu Ya went right back to her primary mind so quickly that one would miss it if they simply blinked. Besides how impressive such a thing was, what with how she had taken so long to change into this state, it also allowed Wei Yi to witness the tendrils within her recede at an immense speed, eliciting a yelp as a number of other things went with them.

Right before their eyes, the tail, ears and the extended nails all sank into the woman’s body, whose descriptor could hardly remain as ‘wolven’ when almost every major feature of the animalistic physical state disappeared, leaving only the minor changes from Zhi Qiu Ya’s original appearance. Her hair, no matter where one looked on her body, was still white and somewhat fur-like, her eyes were still like that of a wolf, and judging by the fact that no changes occurred to her nose, her sense of smell was bound to remain exactly as it had been, although it was difficult to say that this was a major disadvantage most of the time.

At the moment, however, the white-haired woman clearly couldn’t care less.

“It worked! They’re gone! Those stupid ears are gone! The annoying tail is gone!” she almost shouted in her excitement, practically bouncing up and down with every sentence, “It’s great! Amazing! Fantastic! Wei Yi, I love you!”

“Ahem.”

“Hm? Did I… say that last part out loud?”

Long Huang muttered to herself, “I swear, when I had figured out how to stop you from marking everything, you didn’t celebrate nearly as much. Only got a ‘thank you’…”

“Besides those matters,” Wei Yi said, glancing at the woman to her left for a moment before deciding to speak with her alone at a later time, “you may be celebrating too early. Even though you’re not in the wolven state, those tendrils are slowly growing outward. I hope that I don’t need to remind you of what that means?”

“That… I’m rejecting myself again, right?”

“Exactly. If you do it too much, those things will grow out again, and then you’ll be back to doing all the stuff you hate, likely prompted specifically by that fact. The tail and ears – which disappeared in a most fantastic way, by the way, leaving no trace of their presence despite the integral changes that they had made to your constitution – aren’t necessarily a part of your true personality or anything, but they are, at the moment, a part of you. Instead of simply celebrating their disappearance, ponder how you can use this ability to your advantage, both the features and the power to call them out.”

Zhi Qiu Ya didn’t immediately reply, but judging by the cessation of the tendril’s growth, she had clearly understood her words.

“… Will I be able to sleep and remain in my hu- normal state from now on?”

“So long as the tendrils do not reach out all the way to the outer edges of your body while your regular side is on display, you should be able to, although subconscious thoughts may lead to the decay or improvement of your situation depending on their contents. When you do call upon your other self, put some thought into what it wants, why, and where such a desire might have come from,” Wei Yi advised, “Eventually, you will understand it perfectly.”

“Alright, I-I will try. Just before I go, could I ask why this other self is so connected to the living plague? Do you have any ideas?”

“Naturally. I think that the living plague, just like the seed of corruption that she has, is born of some other will, and contains a part of it, or is perhaps an extension of it. When it attached itself to you, it sought a weakness in your mind, and probably found it in the form of a series of aspects, desires and whatever else that weren’t allowed to emerge. It took them, separated them even further, and amplified them with its own twist of the wolven state, allowing it to gain control over your body and do as it wished with it. If you had lacked such a weakness, or if you were able to reconcile with your other self quickly, perhaps you wouldn’t have been transformed much at all. Then again, this is only a theory.”

“Even if it just a theory, I will keep it in mind… You have proven to be very clever, and so you are probably right. You have to be right often, or else you wouldn’t have been able to get as far as you have with this realm, and your actions outside of it… Right?”

“Yeah, something like that. Now, go on, rest, see if you can’t gain some insights during sleep. Do try out some of the local businesses and sights, if you aren’t afraid to do so. Some of them might do you and the mental split some good, while some may just be entertaining and relaxing,” Wei Yi recommended to her as she began to leave, “Just look for me or Yi Shi Ming if you need to.”

“I will.”

She left, her mind clearly forgetting about her recent exhaustion even if her body didn’t, resulting in somewhat shaky movements.

With the not-so-wolven woman gone, only three remained in that room, with one being significantly more eager to speak than the others, with her still unconsciously bobbing up and down from her earlier excitement from witnessing a number of developments in the field of bloodline research.

For a moment, there was silence, before that woman decided to speak.

“So, can I get any explanation of what is happening here? That one is suddenly all quiet, you suddenly have transformative abilities and I’m not even allowed to take blood samples from anyone,” Long Huang asked, folding her arms, “I don’t really care about all of the business with the Brotherhood and all that, but if I’m not going to be allowed to experiment with whoever I want, then I really don’t see what my purpose here is.”

“Actually, I would like you to continue with your research, but on willing participants, and to combine your knowledge with my own. I managed to step onto the path of bloodline power by observing one of your devices, but you are bound to know a lot more than that. If you’re successful, I may even guide you to develop bloodline power on your own.”

“Bloodline power – is that literally power born of your bloodline? It’s not just some particular manifestation of planar energy?”

“You just had to ask the most complicated question, didn’t you? Bloodlines are, in themselves, a manifestation of planar energy, as are physiques, spiritual will and perception, and killing intent. None of them are likely to be able to exist of planar energy itself was to not exist – and not merely absent, as it was here for quite some time. As a result, whenever I showcase bloodline power, it is indeed a side of planar energy, but it is separate from it and can be condensed by someone even if they lack a planar cultivation,” Wei Yi explained, wishing that she had prepared a few diagrams or something in order to make this easier, “It is reliant on your bloodline, its power changing based on it, but what you have to keep in mind is that it requires a full set of meridians to cultivate it.”

“The human body has a number of wasted meridian pathways. I’m sure that can be dealt with,” Long Huang said with great confidence, prompting Wei Yi to consider that very topic in far more detail than she had before.

Due to the way in which she obtained her sets of meridians, she had been able to experience the freedom of practising all five paths of energy without any difficulty nor overlap, and was able to optimise the combined meridian networks into something with no hint of inefficiency, and since most others also cultivated the entirety of a single set of meridians, this idea had never entered her head. However, as she could see from the meridian networks of both Mo Zhouquan and Long Huang now, she was able to notice quite the number of connections that weren’t all that useful nor often used.

In particular, the bloodline expert appeared to have only ever touched the necessary meridians to complete a full circulation, giving her just enough room to, in theory, run a second circulation of energy alongside it. There was even potential for them to never come into direct contact into one another, so long as a sort of pulse was maintained.

“You know… What is your stance on experimentation involving your own body?”

“If it is to do with bloodlines, and if it might allow me to be the first in accomplishing something, I shall not hesitate unless it looks like a blatant attempt to kill myself.”

Wei Yi nodded, “That’s a reasonable attitude for a researcher. Then, I will put together everything I can tell you about the meridians, circulation, bloodline power and planar energy, as well as cultivation itself, and you can attempt to be the first to achieve two forms of cultivation in a single meridian network.”

“I wouldn’t mind aspiring to such a thing… Even if the specificity and the fact that your hand can freely change to something rather unnatural makes me think that you’ve already got a few individual paths under your control.”

“Five, to be exact. However, I had the luck of five meridian networks, while you do not. I think it would be interesting to see what such a cultivation path could result in, whether that result is a greatly beneficial one or not. While I will provide you with as much information as necessary, you may not share this with your faction, whatever it is,” she stated, “I don’t care whether it’s the Blood-tinged Church or some offshoot, but this information is staying with us.”

“I suppose you could call us that… But we are no longer connected to the maniacs of the Blood-tinged Church. As the Blood Alchemists, we were committed not only to obliterating the maddened worship of those madmen, but also to paving the way to the usage of blood without insane tests that seem more intent on killing all than actual advancement. What they did with Chao Jianhong was terrible.”

“In that case, we might be able to get along a little better than I initially assumed.”

“Why? Are you familiar with either one of us, or were you convinced merely by my simple declarations?”

“I am familiar with the occasional rumours of the Blood-tinged Church, and I am very familiar with the story of Chao Jianhong, the Lady of Ashes. She’s the reason I didn’t dare mess around with blood until I was at least somewhat certain of how to do so safely,” Wei Yi explained, earning a quick nod from Long Huang as if she was confirming that her actions were valid, “For that reason, I much prefer any faction that isn’t so keen to make use of those fearing death to learn more about the interaction between an overly powerful bloodline and a human.”

“Yes, that was the kind of thinking that had led to the separation of the Blood Alchemists from the rest of the Church, and the abandonment of most of their practises. With your knowledge, you could easily have a position within it.”

“Perhaps. I’ll think about it later. For now, pay attention…”

“What is this?” Wei Yi was forced to ask when she saw Fu Zan and Aimi Miyu playing around with something that was most certainly not what she had asked either one of them to do.

“This is a game!” Miyu declared, as if that much wasn’t obvious.

Those two sat around a tower of small wooden bricks, made to be longer than they were wide or tall, stacked in sets of five that faced alternating directions, with some of the bricks having been removed and placed on top in a similar manner.

At the moment that she entered, Fu Zan had been carefully tapping the ends of certain bricks while Miyu stared at his actions attentively, occasionally giggling in a childish manner that clearly put the former off to an extent that he was unable to commit to any actions, whatever they were meant to be. Since Wei Yi hadn’t been paying attention from the very start of their game, and since no rules were discussed as both seemed familiar with it, she couldn’t be certain of everything that a player could and couldn’t do, and had to assume that this moment only allowed for the removal of bricks.

After another moment of careful examination, the clothing artisan drew back and said, “It’s something from our Orbis. It is really simple, requires no great effort to make, so we decided to make it.”

“He did most of the work, I sat by.”

“Alright, that’s good to hear. Did you do the things that I told you to, or were you too lazy to?”

“You mean the reading? I did it! I did all of it! I haven’t even slept yet, although I don’t know whether a day has passed yet… For example, I can check your status, if you want?” receiving a small nod, she focused on Wei Yi and a shape appeared in her eyes, “You’re in the third realm, Emergent Anchor, sixth stage and fifth perfected stage. Is that right?”

“Indeed, but that is also the most basic thing that you could have learned. Everyone in the prison realm knows about these things, so you could have easily overheard someone else and learned these terms from them. In fact, Fu Zan was supposed to tell you, no?”

“I Know more! You’re in the second stage of Hatred Augur and Balanced Being, and in the sixth stage of Progressive Difference!”

“That kind of terminology should still be even more common around here.”

“B-But… I can’t see more! That’s all it tells me…” she almost cried out, dropping to her knees with enough force to topple the tower of wooden bricks, “Please, I did actually read all of it, but I don’t know how to prove it to you!”

Her insistence was difficult to argue with, and given how poor she was at lying, it did appear that she had actually done as she claimed, “Alright, that’s fine. So long as you have paid attention and memorised everything, I won’t complain. When I have the time, I’ll get you some more things to study, but you don’t have to rush that. Also, if you hadn’t started to try and prove your words with things that aren’t very convincing, you would have been fine.”

“Really?” Miyu asked about one of her statements while she grabbed onto Wei Yi’s hips and pulled herself closer, “Are you telling the truth?”

“Uh… Which part should I confirm or deny? I’ll not be complaining if you do what you can, you don’t need to rush in studying, and you could have just said that you were doing what you were meant to be. Was that what you wanted to know?” she answered, “Also, you spoke in Antanorden again.”

“Right, I did… Sorry, when did I get here? Why am I here? You look much prettier today…”

“Fu Zan, just how long has it been since she last slept?”

“Since you asked her to read all of those red books. I was actually quite surprised that she was able to speak coherently, but cultivation apparently does wonders for that.”

“That, training and practise. I didn’t sleep much even in the first realm, if I recall correctly, so it’s not something that everyone can manage. To be entirely honest, I don’t always remember that fact, amongst certain other ones…” Wei Yi said, tapping the back of Miyu’s head in accordance with a technique to put her to sleep, “Let me just put her somewhere more comfortable than your floor, at which point she should be allowed to rest.”

“Yeah…”

They found a place for her at the back, in between the shelves of white shirts and the many instances of silk sheets for future use for both the customers and the owner of the store himself.

After she was laid down and something resembling a pillow was found, they returned to the front of the store, where the once tall tower of wooden bricks still lay on the ground with no hint of their initial structure.

“So, should I just assume that this was a draw?”

“Well, she is not going to be able to play any time soon, so, even though I can do this…” Wei Yi raised one finger and brought out her killing will to lift up the many wooden blocks and rearrange them exactly as they had been before the tower had been unfortunately dropped by their earlier interactions, “Actually, do you mind if I play? Is this something that requires a lengthy explanation?”

“No, it really doesn’t. Would I be able to win against you, though?” Fu Zan asked, and when he saw no direct response, he sighed, “Fine. Come on.”

It did not take long for him to lose, and then lose again and again.

Zhi Qiu Ya walked through the streets of Beast’s Rest with a lost expression and unfocused eyes that only had enough attention within them to be able to not bump into someone directly in her path.

Her earlier exhaustion had caught up to her, although it was less significant than she had expected, and it made her ponder what she had been told, and what she had said. Although she did want to resolve the problem of the bestial form, she still struggled with believing that the part of her that was able to be entranced by someone’s scent, not to mention that it was the smell of a woman who she barely knew.

The amount of times that she awoke within Wei Yi’s bed was also extremely embarrassing for her.

Thus, she didn’t know whether she could truly take any such behaviours as ones that her mind could possibly ever conceive of.

“Hello there, young lady. You look to be quite tired today,” a woman’s voice entered her ears, prompting her to stop and look after a moment of delay, “I’m sure you would benefit from a nice, long, hard massage. Our first customers from the outside world can even enjoy the enormous discount of… one hundred percent. What do you say?”

“Um… I’ve never-”

“Don’t worry, we’re all very experienced here. We know exactly how to make you feel good and relaxed,” that woman continued to speak in a sultry tone, “Come on, why not try it?”

“I… alright, I guess I can go for it…”

“Perfect! Come, come, let me show you in!” she immediately smiled, grabbing the wolven woman by her hand and dragging her inside before she had any opportunity to argue or reconsider. Even if she did have any such ideas within her head, Zhi Qiu Ya completely lost the ability to articulate any of them as the woman gripping her hand touched it in just the right way to elicit an odd degree of pleasure, to the point that she had no idea how such a thing was possible.

The wolven woman was quickly brought into the massage parlour, not to be seen again for quite some time.

It is said that the establishment gained a reluctant but very pleasant customer, while the customer realised that it might have just been easier for her own mind to step into a brothel and get it over with there and then, since she now had a whole host of confused feelings wholly unrelated to her animalistic mind.