Mulan bow head to her Mistress. "Thank you, that is all what I need for now. Please, now go back to your ring, we can't risk that our enemies would find out that your spirit survive." She said and walk in the direction of small city. It is good place to start, but she have to be carefool to not fall into enemy trap or ewen common bandits. Repeating her mantra, to remeber for what she stand. "I must not fear. Fear is the mind-killer. Fear is the little-death that brings total obliteration. I will face my fear. I will permit it to pass over me and through me. And when it has gone past, I will turn the inner eye to see its path. Where the fear has gone there will be nothing. Only I will remain."
"Perhaps....all of it aligned by whatever fates because it was meant to happen. What if this is exactly where we were meant to be?" It was rare for her to contemplate too hard, but they seemed to be buying into it more. "It sounds callous, but the reason we walked away with our lives, and all of our limbs is simply because we refused to die with the rest for a cause we never really believed in anyway. Necessity isn't the same as conviction, after all. It can be looked at, refusing to follow blindly is what kept up smart enough not to die with the rest of them fighting something we can't possibly win against." She was being more open about her lack of sincere faith in her sect, but if anyone was going to follow along with it, it was these these two. "I don't know the answers, but here's a note. The claims of our mutual home was that theirs was a path to immortality....but as you probably saw...our leaders are more than quite dead, are they not? If they were the best believers, then clearly their belief system would never have really worked and it was doomed to fail from the start. Why we were spared, then it can be possibly argued is because we don't fall in line with the rest...." She paused again, feeling the trickle down in her throat that told her she needed to satiate her craving. preventing her from thinking of where to go with the rest of her speech. That seemed like a good of a start as any. "But what that means or where we go from here with that, I have no idea. I think our first order of business....we need some proper wine if we plan to be travelling for so long."
'You are welcome...' Cao looked back at Ye, his eyes narrowing mistrustfully, 'You call me "Elder Brother"? You must be kidding. You know me, I'm anything but 'elder' to you, Ye Chao.' He was not sure what Ye Chao was plotting, he'd have to play nice while he was weak, but accepting a former slave and low member of the cult as his elder was... unthinkable. 'I won't abandon you while you are weak, but... once you're able to fend yourself. I think we'll have to part ways,' Cao grumbled, 'The clan is destroyed and you were a well respected inner disciple, they'll be looking for you.'
"Very well, I'll take it." Luo Fei nods, smiling, "Also, I don't suppose you've heard of any rumors lately?" She asked, as she fishes out a spirit stone from her pouch.
"Very well... remember, you can call me anytime." The spirit said as she disappeared. Mulan started her travel, through the forest. Spoiler: Awareness 61 - success After a few hours, of travel, she stopped. She could feel something... primal. Her head snapped to the side, and there it was... an awakened beast.
Mulan take her sword, swinging it to gain speed to fight. It was good begining for her, to use her artifact. She decided to try sneak as close as she could to beast and then attack beast eyes, to make it blind.
Spoiler: Oratory 75 - success The duo bowed their heads deeper, with even more reverence and respect. "I will find you something to drink!" Xing Jin quickly got up and ran to the innkeeper. "Elder Sister..." Li Zexi started, her voice full of reverence. "Will you be breaking through, tonight?" She asked. As she did, Torii Koyomii was reminded of the pill of breakthrough, that was stashed in her pouch. It would allow the one who ate it, to become a Cultivator... and strength of the cultivator would make it more probable for them to survive.
"When we both were on the battlefield, it was you who saved me, not the other way around." Yu Chao said with conviction. "I owe you my life. What kind of low person would I be, if I did not pay that debt." He said, then paused. "I doubt that enough Disciples of Violet Cloud sect survived to p[ose any threat to Bloody Fang. But, if you are worried about our difference in strength, I will help you to gain strength. That should be to your satisfaction, yes?"
The woman cocked her head. "You mean about the battle on Towering Peaks?" She asked. "Yeah, we heard that the new sects are taking control of the area. But since the taxes are slightly lower~" She shrugged. She accepted a spirit stone and lead Luo Fei to her room - there was a single bed, chair and a table. "The dinner will be in a few hours." She said as she turned to leave.
Spoiler: Sneak 100 -10 (Beast's senses) - Critical success Mulan slowly made her way around the tree. She could feel as if she was moving like a wind, her toes barely touching the ground. The awakened beast did not even realise what was happening, as her sword was up to the hilt, in beast's eye. The bear gave a surprised sound, as it fell on the ground, dead.
"I see, that's wonderful then." Luo Fei nods, smiling as they have heard of the battle, but it doesn't seem like she's on anyone's side. Making her feel safe enough to rest comfortably. "Thank you, I will be in my room." She bows, causing her large breasts to jiggle underneath her corset battle armor. Once she was in her room, she tries to recall any information she had on the cultivator pill. Mainly if there were any drastic effects she had to watch out for. And if it was safe enough, she swallows it. Eager to start her days as a cultivator.
Cao sighed, looking back out the 'window', 'Yes, yes, you're very honourable. Does that also mean you'll have to avenge your clan?' 'No, I don't really care that you're stronger than I am when you are fit to fight,' Cao shook his head, 'Even if they don't think there's a threat from Violet Cloud stragglers. Why wouldn't they try to tie up loose ends if the wrong people recognising you?'
“That’s difficult to say. It’s hard to imagine such a process could be boiled down to a mere medicinal form and it would work. And if that’s the case, what was the point of all the work they made us do at all if they really had something like that? …it’s difficult to believe.” She remembered the pill and when she made the decision to grab it. In truth, she had only taken it because it was forbidden for outer disciples, and that was as good of a motivation as any. “I don’t know if we can seriously expect it to have results, but it is at the very least, a unknown substance that should be monitored carefully. We should probably share a room in case something goes wrong. I’ll try it anyway, if for no reason other than I’m not supposed to.” Recalling a few foreign religious texts, she remembered that some of them had a story about something similar. A snake tempting a man to eat an apple because he was told he couldn’t. She wasn’t the most well read at translating foreign languages to get the context or exact meaning, but somehow she felt there were some parallels to it. “We may as well get a room for the night now.” Following that, she got up to approach the innkeeper and rent a place to stay for the night. Even it this didn’t do anything, they’d still need rest before coming up with their next move.
Mulan was suprised how easy take her to defeat such beast, with only single strike. She wasn't sure if she should feel proud of her skills or anoy of beast weakness. She steped closer to corpse and ask her teacher for advise. "Mistress Cao, is there a way for me to gain some strenght of beast what I slain? I can't let these body go to waste." She said, cleaning her sword.
"Great..." Yu Yujin muttered to herself. She had considered becoming a bandit before. It wasn't rare for beastkin to pursue such a path. However, she changed her mind after she learned that she could stay at the Violet Cloud Sect and not worry too much about prejudice. With the Sect destroyed...Well, banditry might at least give her a place to hide. She would just have to find some way to prove her worth to them somehow. Preferably some way that didn't involve warming some asshole's bed every night. The wolf woman crouched near the edge of the camp and watched the goings-on intently. She had to get some more information before she made her move first. Whether beastkin were participants in the bandit clan and who their leader was. If they were all human, then she would have to try to find shelter somewhere else because it would be a good sign that they have no warm feelings towards her kind.
"Now? Firstly, I want to put some distance between us and our 'business partners'. Evil sects pay well, but I wouldn't doubt for a second that they would wipe us out if it provided them even a minor benefit." Kosaka takes a long sip of his drink, feet intertwined and kicked up on the table. He fights a pang of guilt as he remembers what he did - the bloodshed and pillaging - but it's gone as quickly as it arrived. If he hadn't betrayed the sect, it would have betrayed him, sooner or later - he knows this all too well from past experience. The elder sister used him for pleasure, but he has no doubt that he was just a toy to her. And besides, now that the sect is destroyed, he's a free man - anyone seeking to punish him for his old crimes will come across the wreckage and assume that he died with the other acolytes - he left his old possessions there to give exactly that impression. "I think," he takes a long swig of alcohol, feeling the pleasant burn in his chest, "that we should link up with some of the survivors - if we find 'em. Everyone who saw us the other night is dead, so they'll have no reservations, and we can use their muscle and resources - maybe even sell 'em out, down the line. Plus, I know there were a few girls at the temple I never got to do my 'night duties' with. Torii, for one. I love a good milf. Luo Fei, as well."
As the pill has no drastic side effects she swallowed it immediately. She could fill her body tens, a moan escaped her throat as she felt power surge through her. She never felt this much power! Not with a state of her body. Now, she only had a day, maybe two, to breakthrough her limit and become a cultivator. To do that, she needed to spend some time meditating, uninterrupted. And once she enters into the trance, she would be mostly defenceless...
"Avenge? Do I look like I have a death wish?" The man raised an eyebrow, then shook his head. "I doubt there were many survivors of the massacre... and even if, there is nothing I could really do about it." He shrugged - and a moan escaped his throat as he lied down. "I guess... I am still not up to it..." He sighted tiredly. Cao will probably need to find him some medical herbs for the wounded... "How goes your way to breakthrough?" He asked.
The inn keeper offered three rooms with food for them - for a total of 3 spirit stones. Just in that moment, Xing Jin returned with a bottle of alcohol, which he presented to Torri. "You want me to watch over you, Elder sister?" Li asked.
"Aaah... fuu, interesting." Luo Fei licks her lips as she felt power surge through her, "Wonderful... with this, I'll be much, much more powerful. Aaah." She moaned, hugging her body in excitement. "For now, I should speak to the innkeeper about renting the room for another day." Luo Fei grins, checking, and making sure her room was secured until it was time for her meal.
