V3C75: Traders

They continued to travel over the next few days, and on each one, quite a bit of cultivation would be completed by both of them.

In this case, cultivation included both the standard aspect, wherein a cultivator would absorb or process planar energy that they had gained from another source in order to deepen their cultivation and advance their realm, and the so-called act of dual cultivation, wherein the pair would experiment with Wei Yi’s new appendage and get used to its presence via all kinds of lewd means.

With the Ascendant’s Disciple technique, the one that Wei Yi had made for Ju Yazhu and then modified in a way that would make it easier for any cultivator to condense the appropriate kind of energy for them without needing to change the script of the technique itself again, Shun Liu Min did not face any difficulties whatsoever when it came to reaching the next realm. The cost of the breakthrough was also far lesser than in the case of her new master, and the increase that had occurred was mitigated quickly by a session of dual cultivation.

When she broke through to the Emergent Anchor realm, creating a curious anchor seemingly grown from wood that had the semblance of five sides while only possessing the standard three, she also managed to gain a perfected stage in the second realm, which didn’t boost her cultivation by any significant degree but did provide her with a small bonus, as perfected stages usually would for normal cultivators.

The next day, however, the requirement for the breakthrough rose significantly, and it was barely met.

At the time when she finally reached the third stage, where she remained as of the following events, she obtained another perfected stage, which did enhance her anchor but once more had little effect on her overall ability.

While she advanced and demanded more energy with each cultivation session as part of the natural balance created by their usage of Yin Soul Yang Root, Wei Yi was hardly remaining stagnant in her own path. Although she required more time and energy, she successfully reached the ninth stage at a similar time to Shun Liu Min reaching the third, and she naturally gained every perfected stage as she went.

Using the mixed white light that emerged with every single stage that she reached, she proceeded to improve her meridians, then the heart and other vital organs, finally reaching the Blinding Glimmering Heart version of the physique ability at that point, then moved on to her skin, deciding to darken it slightly as to return to an earlier state and stand out a little less in the north while improving it generally. After that, she also touched up on her external organs, primary the eyes, nose, ears and mouth, although she also used the opportunity to increase the durability of her dick by as much as she could.

With each time that she achieved a breakthrough, the quantity of white light decreased, and more of the violet planar energy at the core of the Endless Monolith shone through, making it rather obvious that the last perfected stage would also be the last time that she gets to use this energy.

She wasn’t sure whether there would be two instances of it, one for the perfected stage and one for the perfected realm, but she did know what to do with it regardless of the answer. After the white energy was exhausted, she was wondering what kind of surprise to await from the Active Core realm, and whether her core would be something outstanding from the very start, or if it would require her to obtain an effective ten stages within that realm in order to obtain a major change, just as with the Endless Monolith.

Also, she didn’t know what kind of role the illusory core that floated around her dantian already would have to play. Logically, it would transform into the true core, but she had already experienced her cultivation resulting in something highly unexpected, so there was no guarantee that it wouldn’t occur again.

Perhaps she would get a dozen layers of cores, or it could be that her illusory core would shatter in order to then create parts of the true core. None of this was impossible on the strange route to perfection and ascension, and even the things that happened ordinarily were hardly reasonable if one was to think about them properly. For example, where in the world did a solid anchor emerge from a pool of otherwise unremarkable energy? Why was a core created, then marred with searing marks?

It wasn’t all that strange that the otherworldly demons raised far more questions on the matter than the indigenous people of the Planar Continents, but she had initially dismissed it as being something irrelevant and silly to question, just like how none would question gravity or light.

However, as she tried to study her own Dao, in particular the Dao of Law, the natural laws of the world would need to be considered, and thus her thoughts would, on occasion, delve into the properties of planar energy itself, as well as why it could be so different in each individual while sharing so many common features. On first glance, it seemed much like any other force or energy in the world, but the way in which it was singlehandedly responsible for the state of the world being as it was did cause a few questions to appear within her mind.

As many others, she wasn’t able to answer them yet, so she stored them away in the Ascendant’s Library so that, one day, they may be solved and used for the development of her faction, Yi City, and the entire world. Depending on the nature of the answers, they might even necessitate an attack on some higher powers, such as the heavens themselves, although that was far out of her reach now.

She would also be lying if she said that was the only thing on her mind, but that much was hardly surprising.

With how little she was able to do to rush them along to the next district, or any point of interest, as well as the large distance between the Ping District and Chao District, even taking into account the journey that had been made for her to Ping Gangze’s land, she and Shun Liu Min ended up spending quite a few days together, and that did result in some exploration. Due to her previous state being that of an ordinary woman, more or less, quite a few things that a man and a woman, or a dragon and a woman could do together never really entered her mind as something that she could ever engage in, and the acts themselves had only been something that she had recorded out of a scholarly duty.

Such a thing did make her realise just how limited interactions between two women could be, and while it did make her glad that her range of possibilities had expanded so immensely, it also brought to her attention just how creative the people of the past must have been to come up with quite so many acts to take place between two women. Had she known who any of them were, she would have most certainly thanked them for their hard work, but those kinds of details were lost to time.

Hopefully, these ancient figures would be satisfied with their ideas, positions and techniques being utilised in the future by someone dedicated to their path, without any straying onto the other paths of sexual interaction.

By the time she reached the ninth stage, she had just enough pills that contained just enough energy for her to break through into the next real. Before she could make use of it that day, she spotted tracks in the sand ahead of them, prompting her to raise her hand and stop Shun Liu Min, who was currently handling the dull trudge through the desert by zoning out until some thought needed to be used.

Due to this mind-set, she bumped right into Wei Yi’s arm, her large breasts absorbing most of the impact.

“… Eh? Are we going to do it here?”

“What exactly were you thinking about just now?” Wei Yi asked, but since she was clearly too distracted to answer, she continued, “I have found some recent tracks, so might be catching up to some travellers. Regardless of who they are, they will have something normal to drink.”

“Drink. I want to drink. Where do I drink?”

“Are you certain that you’re alright?”

The maid’s eyes finally refocused then, causing her to blink several times as she adjusted to the sun and to the tanned skin blocking her path.

“Sorry… I was falling asleep to the rolling dunes of the desert. You said something about drinking?”

“About finding people up ahead, actually. Come here for a moment,” Wei Yi lightly grabbed her chin and closely examined her face and eyes, scanning the rest of her body with spiritual perception in an attempt to discover some sign of significant dehydration or general deterioration, “No, you seem fine. Just mental exhaustion then. Anyway, as I had said, there are footprints in the sand, heading north.”

“I haven’t been far outside of Ping Gangze’s residence since I arrived there from the Shun District, so I’m not too aware of the things that go on here, but there are occasional merchant caravans that travelled to and from the Ping District. I… I can’t see all that well, so could you see if there are any tracks that are too small and thin to be human feet?” Shun Liu Min asked, “If there are, then it is almost certainly a trader caravan.”

They got a little closer to the footprints as they spoke, allowing Wei Yi to easily find such tracks both with her eyes and spiritual perception.

“What do these tracks belong to?”

“Uh… Would you mind if I didn’t say? It can be quite surprising to see it for the first time, so I’d like to give you a chance to see it like that as well,” the maid said, speaking shyly.

“I suppose that’s fine, so long as they aren’t a great danger and don’t require very specific actions in order to handle them,” Wei Yi replied, straining her spiritual perception to reach out as far as possible in the hopes of catching sight of the back of the caravan, but failing. “Would you be fine with speeding up?”

“So long as the caravan is close up, and so long as we can afford the water, I’ll do it.”

“We can afford the water, so don’t worry about it. I and some of my people have gotten very good at replicating coins, although we do also have quite a lot of legitimate coins taken from people that didn’t need them,” she said, removing a few from what seemed to be the air, “They might also be kind.”

“Considering the traditions of the north, they might also ask to sleep with you as payment, or otherwise enter into some form of servitude for a while.”

“The first part of that isn’t necessarily bad, but I would prefer to avoid the latter. Anyhow, would you prefer to hold my hand or run on your own? Have you grasped the principles of the movement methods within the Ascendant’s Disciple technique? If not, I could probably just carry you, although that would certainly give the wrong impression if they were observing their backs.”

“Depending on how quickly you’d like me to run, I should be able to manage on my own.”

“As far as I can tell, the caravan in front of us is moving at regular walking speed, so all that we need is a slightly greater pace in order to catch up to them. Highest speed you can manage would be ideal.”

“How long?”

“Let’s say roughly five to ten minutes, unless the sands are particularly still as of late… That’s a northern saying, isn’t it? May your sands be still?”

“I believe so,” Shun Liu Min nodded, preparing for the run, “May we be aided by the gracious sands.”

Since neither of them wanted to waste their time going through more of the sayings of the Northern Desert, seeing as such sayings were likely boundless and hardly relevant to their current situation, they stopped talking and ran.

The one to set the pace was the maid, for her speed was significantly lesser than that of Wei Yi and would be holding them back either way – she wouldn’t be left behind, since her truthfulness and loyalty couldn’t be validated fully, and could thus reveal a lot if left on her own, although Wei Yi also didn’t want to abandon people who helped her in the middle of an environment that they couldn’t handle – so it would be utterly meaningless for her to run ahead only to then wait for the maid to catch up.

In addition, by empowering her with the Group Movement Art, it was possible to accelerate her a little more, thus shortening the duration of the journey by a significant amount.

With the movement principles inside of the Ascendant’s Disciple technique in combination with the Group Movement Art, they could have easily travelled at a far greater speed elsewhere, perhaps in a clear plain or relatively empty forest, but the sand interfered with their attempts. It was fine and plentiful, and every step would cause it to give way just a little bit, which was hardly ideal when one wore heels and the other had shoes that were designed for walking slowly around the house, and were only worn as to not burn her feet on the sand.

Judging by the entities that the traders in the north apparently brought with them, they were likely far more experienced with traversing these kinds of environments and would be likely to possess some movement technique to assist them, as well as insights into how to best walk and run on sand. Wei Yi would naturally learn them, with or without their permission, the moment that she came across an eager teacher or a manual, but due to their present distance, she could only figure it out herself.

Fortunately enough, the immense quantity of techniques that she had stored into her library all those many years ago was still benefitting her, and the inclusion of all of them into the Ascendant’s Movement Dao permitted her to incorporate them into her regular movements.

After a little bit of experimentation, she understood that some individual elements of something like the Earth-Shaking Step were able to mitigate a part of the sand’s difficulties.

However, there was only so much that could be done within the first attempt to optimize one’s movements alongside another. If she had the time and space to act on her own, removing the Group Movement Art from the equation, then she suspected that she would be able to move at a similar speed to what she could achieve within the prison realm at her best, which wasn’t particularly fast by the standards of the sixth realm or her usual best but it was still more than sufficient to cross the gap between districts in a day or two.

With their sprint, they finally caught sight of the people that they were chasing.

As both of them had noticed by that point, there were quite a few people travelling ahead of them in two lines, around the entity that had been leaving the smaller and thinner markings upon the sand, and their features, dark and mostly exposed, hardly surprised anyone.

It was that aforementioned entity – or two, as it turned out – that caught Wei Yi’s attention most of all, for they were not horses, nor camels or any kind of slow but sturdy planar beast that she was aware of. Instead, the entity appeared to be a gigantic insect, roughly twice as high as the shortest of the people travelling beside it, with two openings on either side of either entity that seemed to lead into them.

The creatures appeared to have some internal planar energy, suggesting that they were also some variation of planar fauna, but they were ones that none of the books within Yi City had ever recorded.

Unless someone had done a particularly terrible job keeping the records and ensuring that they weren’t destroyed by, or lost as a result of time, it seemed that this was something that had been discovered quite some time after Yi City had lost its leader and began to break up, although it couldn’t have happened all that recently either, seeing as there was no discomfort nor unfamiliarity from any of the people around the insectoid creatures. It was very curious, that much she could say with absolute certainty, and if not for Shun Liu Min running beside her, she would have probably changed her disguise and attempted to join the caravan to take a closer look at the creatures.

She would have scanned it fully with her spiritual perception, but one of the properties that did attract her interest was that the carapace of the entity protected from it sufficiently to block all but the most basic understanding of what was within the carapace. If someone else was to attempt the same, they might not even be able to sense that much, seeing as her spiritual perception easily surpassed the energy of someone in the fifth realm, not to mention the third that she was currently in.

Not having that option, Wei Yi opted to stick with her current brown hair and dark outfit, and with the skills that her persona would have had and chose to wear the mask the moment after she called out.

“Wait for us!”

With the Lion’s Roar physique ability, it was impossible for her voice not to be heard, causing all of the armed members of the trader caravan to turn in their direction with their weapons either drawn or about to be taken out, depending on how much of a threat they assumed them to be.

When they saw who was approaching them, however, most of them lowered their equipment. Even if this was some kind of energy assault, it was perhaps the worst one that could ever have been formulated. One of them was near naked, and what she was wearing was unlikely to be anything even resembling intentionally revealing, while the other wasn’t even attempting to bring out her energy, nor any kind of weapon. In their eyes, even if they were attacked or robbed by a group like this, they would just get an entertaining story to tell.

They did slow down, fortunately enough for Shun Liu Min, who had clearly over-estimated her own capabilities this once, and was currently on her last bit of energy. The moment that they got close enough to them, the pair stopped their usage of movement techniques and stopped, with the maid nearly dropping onto the ground before she was caught.

“Hey, what’s going on around here?” a man and a woman stepped out of the insectoid creature at the front, noticing that it had stopped, with the man asking the questions, “Who are those two? What do they want?”

None of the guards of the caravan knew the answer, so Wei Yi spoke up before they could and answered, “We want to accompany you and purchase some water.”

“Did I ask you to speak?”

“You were asking a question that only I would be able to answer, at least at the moment,” she glanced down at the exhausted maid in her arms, who she had decided to pick up fully so that she could fully relax and recover, “Besides that, some clothing would also be appreciated, but not necessary. That can be purchased at the district, if necessary.”

“You-”

“Darling, don’t those two look rather cute together?” the woman suddenly interrupted, “If that’s all they’re doing, why don’t we let them stay?”

“Honey, why… why do you always find some reason for the people to stay? The profit margins will-”

“Just sell the water for twice the price, then.”

That caused the grim look to disappear from his face, and he immediately bid one of the men that emerged from the insectoid creature beside them to retrieve some water, “Of course, that’s exactly what we should do! We weren’t even planning to sell the water, so the money that we’ll make… I love you, honey.”

“Love you too, darling.”

They went in for a light kiss, causing Wei Yi to move her attention elsewhere while they got done with their own activities.

Naturally, the first thing that she would observe were the accompanying guards and merchants of this trader caravan, out of curiosity regarding their typical trade route. There was a similar number of men and women involved, with the women wearing little more than a length of dark cloth around their chest and a very short garment to cover their groins. The men did not differ much in that regard, except that most had nothing on their chests at all.

All of them had dark skin, similar to Fen Zhi, and it was not the kind that could be accumulated simply from living within the Northern Desert for several years. They were either locals, or they had gotten here near their youth, getting used to both the customs and techniques of the north.

Each one had a metal plate somewhere on their clothing, with some having it randomly tied to their arm or leg, but while they differed greatly in the material used and the exact inscription upon them, every single one of them clearly functioned for the same purpose – to make up for the lack of armour worn within the north. They were Armour Forming inscriptions, the kind that Wei Yi had wanted to obtain and study for quite some time in order to allow herself to protect herself with the star metal without needing to cover herself fully with it.

The only ones to greatly stand out from the majority were the pair that seemed to be leading the caravan, whose surnames she could confidently assume to be Chen and Xin, based on their features.

Neither one had more than simply tanned skin, but the man had brown hair and eyes, marking him as someone with the blood of the Chen family showcasing itself prominently. He covered himself in a thin robe with the sleeves and half of the part that would cover the legs removed, compromising with the heat without fully revealing his unmuscular form.

While the woman lacked the black hair of the Xin family, instead having ginger hair, she did have eyes that had three distinct circles around the pupils, separating the iris into clear, individual sections. Unlike the black hair, this feature was very rarely inherited across several generations, and thus it had to have come from a close descendant of the family. It was technically inheritable, but it required a certain upbringing in the Xin District exclusive to family that ruled over it.

She was clothed in a similarly thin, pink dress made from a combination of an opaque and translucent materials that allowed her to partially cover up most of her body while only warming up a small part of it. It showcased her thin body quite well, perhaps having been intended for the eyes of her lover or husband rather than everyone in the area.

Both of them were in the fourth, Active Core realm, with the man being in the fifth stage while the woman was in the third. They did seem like the type that would be able to protect their caravan from any potential thieves or bandits, since most of them outside of the districts tended to only be within the third realm, as those above it wouldn’t still be engaging in common and petty banditry. If a bandit did obtain enough resources for the fourth realm, they would either be recruited as warriors or guards, or they would seek out a different form of employment on their own, while the rest would be slain the moment that they became too much trouble for those affected.

Once they finally got their little show of affection over with, they returned their attention to Wei Yi and Shun Liu Min, who had fallen asleep in her powerful arms. The man stepped away with disinterest, clearly caring only about the money that he would receive, but the woman stepped forward.

“Here, the water. Only four copper for a jug,” she said, beaming as if she was just saying hello to some old friends, “Have you been travelling for a while?”

Wei Yi didn’t have to worry about money, seeing as she was getting more adept at manifesting fake coins, so she passed them along and took the jug, pouring a very small amount of it into Shun Liu Min’s mouth while holding on to the rest, since trying to drown a sleeping woman would hardly be a good idea.

“Is there a place where we can sit, even if just for a while? We can return to walking at any moment if it is a bother for you.”

“Sure! The second strider has a place to sit and sleep for guests, and you do count. I’m Xin Fu, by the way. Didn’t expect to be meeting anyone new just yet, but it is a pleasant surprise!” the woman exclaimed, leading them to the second insectoid creature and to the left opening.

She crouched to enter, and Wei Yi followed, managing to bring Shun Liu Min with her.

The inside of the creature was something that she had already had the opportunity to partially inspect but seeing it in person and without the obstruction that the carapaces of the striders imposed upon her spiritual perception, it was quite a different experience. Contrary to what it looked like, most of the carapace did not appear to be occupied by the beast to which the legs beneath it belonged but was instead inanimate and un-living.

Whoever had carved out the inside of the carapace used most of it for the storage of whatever goods they wanted to preserve within, as the temperature on the inside of the carapace appeared to be far lower than it was on the outside, even with the two openings on either side of the creature. The rest of the space was adapted into a small seating area, and a bed, although neither one would be fully comfortable for a full-sized adult. They were not covered by any cloth nor material, revealing the material that made up the inside of the creature, which proved surprisingly soft and comfortable when she sat down on it, having placed the maid on the small bed.

She had to shift her seating position slightly to accommodate the things between her legs, placed the jug onto the semblance of a table in the middle, and looked at Xin Fu.

“Have you ever been inside of a strider before?”

“No. Interesting place, and I would love to learn more, but there’s something else that I would like to cover first. That man and you – are you two married?”

“Yes, we are. Don’t we make the perfect couple?” Xin Fu continued beaming, the question seeming to act more as an invitation to for her to recount her favourite stories of the past rather than continuing the conversation, “We had met a long time ago and fell in love on first sight. He had defeated my parents when they tried to convince me to marry someone else and took me all the way to the north. He cares about me greatly, although he can be a little insistent when it comes to money and his savings and whatever else…”

“Right. Running a business together?”

“Of course.”

“Will I be allowed to come along?”

“Certainly! You two are both beautiful,” the woman stated, “Would you mind sharing how you have managed to make yourself look as good as you have? Also, is it some kinky play with the torn clothing? Was it fun?”

“Northern openness?”

“Southern calmness, rather. Why be all worried and high-strung when you can be calm?”

That much couldn’t really be argued with, so Wei Yi did not bother doing so, as it would likely only lead her to hearing more about the woman’s husband, which was not something she was interested in whatsoever. Instead, she pondered whether or not she wanted to form any kind of long-term relationship with them, or if she would just get out the moment that she could.