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Branch 9: Shen Ling

---D-Day+209, Siesic(Youyue) 20th, 2nd Wednesday(Siri) Evening---

---Beyulongong, Middle Ward---

“Shimu,” a milf's voice, “you look confused.”

Eight floors beneath the ground of an eight story tall pagoda embellished with mosaics and statues representing death. Kneels an elegant middle-aged woman.

Disciple Shen Ling Yi.

She wears the blue and yellow attire of a core disciple. But the dress is tailored very… suggestively. Bare shoulders. Exposed cleavage. Uncovered belly. Ivory jade legs and hips, easily revealed by multiple slits in the fabric.

Straight jet black hair is ponytailed and tied. But still long enough to touch the ground. Green eyes sparkle in the gloomy chamber.

Before her, leisurely laying across a wide seat in the center of the dark room. Is another woman dressed just as suggestively. But where the one kneeling looks mature and sensual. A grown woman confident in her appearance and sexuality.

The one lounging appears an ancient crone. Blue and black silks hang loose on wrinkled splotched leathery grey flesh stretched over brittle bones. With veiny breasts and a white beehive of hair. Long bony fingers hold a silver smoking pipe in one hand. And a black metal fan in the other.

*puff* *puff*

Elder Qui Chin. Leader of the Siwangdao.

A cloud of narcotic smoke is exhaled as black eyes observe her apprentice, her tudi, suspiciously.

“You have changed much, Shen Ling.” Snaps open the folding fan. "I barely recognize my instrument anymore." Fans herself. "Come, tell your teacher about… him."

Smoke and death qi swirl in the small columned octagon. Decorated in blacks, purples and blues. A few lanterns provide minimal light. Sculptures and art decorate the pillars and walls.

"Yes, shimu." Shen bows. "Shenshou is everything we heard him to be. And much more." Ling tilts her head in revelation. "Yet also less."

"Shenshou? Godbeast?" Taps out some ash. "I have heard that is one of his, um, titles. But what a strange name. Why do you call him such?"

"Once you experience the beast unleashed, shimu?" A shy smile. "It is unfitting to name him anything else."

The teacher raises an eyebrow. "Oh? You spend just three days being his toy and already praise him so?" Clicks her tongue. "Tch. You disappoint this old woman, daughter. It took Lai Fan weeks to turn you into his empty headed whore." Snaps the fan closed. "But this outworlder does so in three?"

"Two, shimu." The student answers. "Shenshou healed me in two days."

"Two?" A skeptical face. "But you only left his mansion an eight-hour ago. How did you spend day three?"

"Mourning, Elder Qui." A single tear runs down her cheek and falls to the wood floor.

"Mourning, Disciple Shen?" Flips the fan open. "Explain."

Ling bows again. "Yes, shimu." Crosses her hands. "Taiyi Badun heals heart demons by facing them with you." Mimics with her fingers. "His yang entered me. Forcing me open." Strokes her bare belly. "Then penetrated me over… and over… and over again." Sways, blushing. "Piercing my xinmo until they had no power left over me." Panting. "Finally washing me clean with his own water."

Milf isn't the only one aroused. Crone has been fanning herself faster and faster. Watching her daughter-in-law's fingers act as visual aids.

"Xi-" Qui Chin squeaks. "Ahem." Gathers herself. "Th-that does not sound like mourning, apprentice."

Shen Ling calms with a long slow exhale.

"Shimu, once I was free, I grieved." Another tear. "A hundred years of remorse. Of regret." Another tear. "A wife's loss. A mother's shame." Another tear. "So many failures. So many mistakes." A shuddering breath. "Only shenshou’s arms kept me from shattering to pieces." Holds herself. "Only his heart beat kept my spirit from fleeing this world." Then snickers. "He called it 'cock counseling.'" Rolls her eyes but grins sweetly as she touches her lips. "That silly wonderful man."

"Tudi," Hag's eyes squint, "Shen Ling Yi, are you no longer my tool?"

Bows. "I am not, shimu."

"Tch." Disgusted. "So you are his slave then?"

"I am not," Shen slowly shakes her head, "shimu."

"Then who are you?" Flicks her fan closed.

"I am the peasant girl you met a hundred and fifty years ago, Elder Qui." A small smile. "Just older and wiser, I hope." Giggle. "I am the girl who was excited about the immortal way. But still dreamed of becoming a wife. Of becoming a mother." Hand on her heart. "The girl who fell in love with your son and joined your clan." Hand on her stomach. "The girl who defied you and gave birth to his daughter." Emerald eyes meet onyx ones. "Who will, someday, become a wife and mother again."

Tension fills the room. Two auras muster. One of ice. The other of death.

"Ling'er," the crone's voice turns cold, "seems you need to be re-educa-"

The apprentice interrupts her. "I accept your hate, mother."

The core elder does a double take. "...What?"

"I betrayed you, shimu. I betrayed Qui Yating. I betrayed my precious Baobao." Shivers. "I even betrayed myself." Sighs. "What I have done is unforgivable. So I shall remain unforgiven." Locks eyes again. "But I do not forgive you either."

The death qi in the air thickens.

"Be careful with your words," Qui Chin warns, "disciple."

Shen Ling shakes her head again. "Once my heart was whole again, it was all suddenly clear." Angry eyes. "This was never about the sect. Never about the clan. This was about you and Lai Fan." Nods. "It was personal." Pushes some more. "What were you two? Lovers? Rivals?"

Her master sits up and shouts. "I will not be interrogated by the murderer of my son!"

Death qi bursts out, overwhelming the room. Like a heavy blanket thrown over everything and everyone. Necromantic energy surges into the disciple's meridians to suppress them. Except…

"Did Yating know?"

Core Elder Qui Chin is shocked. Her apprentice seems completely unaffected. Senses focus on the younger woman's meridians and see her death qi is… slipping? Sliding off Shen Ling's meridians and dantians like a clumsy child on ice. Not resisted. Not blocked. Just… ignored?

"...How?" She manages to ask, flabbergasted.

"Did. Yating. Know?" Shen repeats.

Hag's worn teeth grind. "No." She must discover how her apprentice is doing this. So some give and take is now required.

Ling is sad but relieved. "Yating was never supposed to come for me, was he?"

Chin smirks. "He defied me. Just as you did." Clicks her tongue. "Tch. Supposed to be a childless concubine. But that fool boy made you his wife. Got you pregnant."

"Why-" Shen pauses when Qui raises a finger.

"That is not the way this game is played, daughter." Snaps closed the fan. "How are you stopping my qi?"

The disciple frowns but answers. "Those bound to shenshou are linked to him. Giving their auras surprising resilience." But feels no need to give her senior the entire truth. "Why did you not warn me?"

The elder scoffs. "Do you think you were the first pawn to be sacrificed in our little spat?" Guffaws. "Ha!" Points. "Two of the undead outside were 'gifts' that man sent my way." Grits her teeth. "But Fan went too far when he let you kill Ya'er." Fans herself. "So he had to die." Squints. "Now, how strong is his seed?"

"Strong enough," bare belly rubs, "that I broke through while pinned to a wall." Flashback. "Him pounding me like a rampaging river dragon." Pauses. "Was I ever really your heir?"

Another scoff. "Like I would ever let my child's killer lead the Siwangdao. No, you kept rivals off balance while I focused on cultivating. Extending my life." Sneers. "But now I will just take your doctor instead." Cups her saggy chest. "Train him to appreciate this body as all men should." Glares at her ex-apprentice. "Is he the one who changed your spirit root?"

Shen's shoulders sag. "I wondered if you would notice. It is so deep in our astral bodies that most ignore their existence after the first examination."

"Foolish peasant." Qui sighs. "I discovered you, trained you, groomed you, and broke you." Certainly wasn't going to admit she didn't look until after her suppression failed. "There are changes across your physical and spiritual forms. The spirit root being transformed from a wind-water-ice triple to an ice single is just the most dramatic of them."

"Yes, senior." Ling places her hands together as if in prayer. "It felt like being… reborn. So much so that I cried like a newborn babe afterwards." Wistful sigh. "He healed my heart, body and spirit. Blessed me with new life. I can never thank him enough. Can never repay him enough." Hard stare. "You will not have him."

Core Elder Qui Chin giggles. "Xixixi. And how will a failure of a Qi Realizer like you… stop… me…?"

Elder Qui's eyes and senses sweep and stagger back and forth across the roiling cloud of black ash and embers. Her concern rises as the elder realizes she cannot see into it. Nor can her death qi enter it. What did that outworlder do to her daughter-in-law?

"Li-ling'er? Are you ma-mad?" Crone knows she must play for time. Why aren't her minions outside responding? "Attacking me will bring the entire order down on you."

A smirk. "Mother, your senses were obscured while I spoke with Inner Elder Zhuan Lingxin." Looks sadly at the woman she once revered. "He has agreed to confirm my appointment as Badun Yuehan's necromancy instructor. If, once I leave this room?" Frost grows on the carpet around her. "There is nothing left alive in it."

Death qi gathers and swirls around the throne as Qui stands. "Ha! You are a thousand years too early to best me-"

*rumble*

Qui Chin's boast is cutoff by a deep rumbling emanating from within the pitch-like smoke. The breathing of something very old and very big vibrates the air.

"I never said I would be the one doing the killing, mother." Shen Ling then closes her eyes and bows her head in silent prayer. As two large serpent eyes open in the darkness. A purple glow lighting them like beacons. Then a voiceless voice echoes from the abyss.

~Your scheming does not amuse, wrinkled one.~

*vip* *vip* *foozh*

Panicking, the hag throws her strongest prepared talismans at the giant draconic skull emerging from the cloud above the disciple. Only for them to impotently turn to ash and disintegrate.

Scowling, she tries to leap back. Gain some distance. Just to find her feet frozen to the ground. And a trail of frost leading back to where her ex-apprentice is still kneeling.

A dismissive snort blows ash and embers into her face. Stinging and searing eyes, mouth and nose.

*cough* *cough*

~Play with trinkets and think you have mastered undeath. Swim in the shallows and believe you know the ocean's depths. What ignorance.~

Shivering in terror. Unable to even kowtow due to still frozen feet. Beehive smoking from embers landing in it. Barely able to see, breath or speak through fresh burns. Feebly trying to ward off what she thinks is the mightiest of undead, a death dragon, with shaking waving hands. The now remorseful cultivator cries and mumbles over and over. "F-forgive. Fo-forgive. For-g-ive."

~You conspired against my Archon, wrinkled one. Such arrogance. This fate is of your own making.~

"Ayieee!-" *CRUNCH*

…

A short time later, Core Disciple Shen Ling Yi steps out of the Way of Death pagoda’s side entrance. At the bottom of the steps, four women are respectfully waiting. An elf, dwarf, tigerkin and orc. With them are two dozen well cared for zombies. Shouting and fighting can be heard from within the tower. Occasional flashes from techniques seen through windows.

Tightly swirling around her body are cloudy strips of ash and ember. Something serpent-like within is seen in brief glimpses. But the spectral voice coming from it is still deep and intimidating.

~Do you require further assistance, Mistress Shen?~

“No, Lord Frazurrarth.” Bows. “This matter will be handled as they always are by daoists.” Sighs. “First, a lot of boasting. Next, a lot of fighting. Then, a little dying. And finally, we all return to cultivating.” Shrugs. “Wasting time on secular struggles is a little too… mortal, in most daoists’ opinion.” The four waiting women nod and a couple also roll their eyes. No comments are forthcoming from the zombies. “But, my lord?”

~Yes?~

“Did not shenshou declare my harem rank to be ‘sidechick?’”

A small snort. ~Mistress, you will adjust to the Archon’s sense of, uh, humor, in time.~

The still sore, bald elf bows and salutes with fist in palm. “Mighty one, do you wish to examine the tower’s library? The archives date back thousands of years.”

~Another time, perhaps, elfling.~ Notes their curiosity. ~This is a league night, so my presence is required. We have reached the semis.~ Focuses back on Shen Ling. ~Will you be returning to the palace?~

Nods. “I negotiated for Lady Edelys’s position tonight. So even the patriarch could not keep me away.” Gazes up at the tower. “However, there are some slips and scrolls on necromancy that I shall secure first. They will greatly aid shenshou’s training.”

~Oh, yes, I heard the infamous “schedule” had returned. Then I shall take my leave. Farewell, Mistress Shen.~

“Good journey, Lord Frazurrarth.”

The cloud floats away and quickly disappears from sight in the night sky.

Disciple Shen motions with a hand and is followed back inside by the other disciples and undead. As they enter, the tigerkin asks. “Semis?” To which the orc shrugs and replies. “Must be a dragon thing.”

The, in truth, still lingering shadow dragon chuckles to himself. Yes, he should leave but he can be a little late. Besides, the Archon would be upset if the harem’s newest member was harmed while his strongest servant was nearby. And John’s rolls are bad enough as it is.

Must be a dragon thing?

Ha!

Oh well, it is to be expected that they can’t understand. These are cultivators on a journey to immortality. In a culture thousands of years old. How could such a simple people possibly understand the godly game of bowling?

Sadly, it is likely impossible.

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