The Continent of Tian Long(1) was the largest piece of dry land known to man.
Although there were several smaller kingdoms and independent governances throughout the continent, the most well-known Empire was the thousand-year-old ancient Dynasty of Zuo (2).
The core of this dominating empire was located at the most strategic and blessed land on the continent. The settlements which millions of people called home was surrounded by natural barriers and lush greeneries, as well as abundant water sources that had blessed their livelihood for many generations.
However, the fertile land of Zuo was really the place to be, not only because of the aforementioned reasons, but for another equally-if-not-more important factor.
The tall mountains; the many pure water sources; the most lush forests; were made home by prominent sects, dabbling in the unfathomable and arduous way of living.
Cultivation.
Each and every one of the sects already established their many-decades of history, each having its own trademark form of martial-arts passed on through innumerable generations of teachers and disciples.
The sects and the Dynasty of Zuo had a tacit understanding -- an ancient agreement between the parties involved, made long before the current Emperor Zuo and the sects' Sages were born.
The cultivators of the sects could continue using the bountiful natural resources -- the most pure qi-generating sites, which was a crucial element for a cultivator's growth and breakthrough.
In return, the three biggest sects -- the most influential of all -- would take at least one disciple each, from the Royal Family's many Imperial Children, for every generation. Even if those young royal blood would not be able to reach the state of a Sage, they should at least attain a martial-artist's level to support their royal standing.
The Royal Princes who could successfully cultivate to be an Enlightened, would be the only ones allowed to be contenders for the throne.
Out of the three influential sects, one of them was an all-female sect.
Chun Ping Gu (3) sect, most commonly referred as Ping sect.
To protect the prestige and dignity of Imperial Family members, this sect was the only choice to cultivate the little Princesses of Zuo Dynasty.
In case a Royal Princess -- who was selected to be a Ping sect's disciple -- managed to be an Enlightened, she could opt to return to the Imperial Family, or to further pursue her cultivation in Ping sect to possibly be a Sage.
However, this had never happened before, for the general countenance and innate qi of the Royal Blood did not suit the cultivation path of the sect.
Ping sect dabbled in art of cultivation most suited for females - yin cultivation. The sect was located in a secluded valley, with mist constantly shrouding and masking its existence from the outside world. The valley exuded cool energy all-year-round and also possessed the purest water source on the continent. It allowed the practitioners to flourish, assisting their cultivation greatly. Although being the only sect of cultivators normally known to be the weaker sex, Ping sect became one of the strongest three sects in the continent of Tian Long.
No males -- normal or cultivators alike, peasant or royalty -- would be foolish enough to offend a Ping sect's cultivator.
The female cultivators were mostly virgins. Their cultivation path and teaching of martial-art did not allow the practitioners to have any physical relationship with a man. After all, males generally possessed yang energy.
Although it was the norm to keep the balance between yin and yang, Ping sect cultivated in extreme yin. To have a yang qi staining a Ping sect's cultivator's yin qi, it would cripple the practitioner's cultivation, burning all their long-years of hard work to nothing. Then, they would have no other choice but to be banished from the sect and live as normal humans, never able to cultivate anymore.
Few cases had happened before. Some women chose to abandon their cultivation and left the sect to satisfy their worldly and fleshly desire.
Ping sect also accepted disciples that were no longer pure maidens. But at most, these females could only be martial-artists. Their qi -- that had been stained with a yang energy in the past -- could no longer be purified to learn the most powerful and secretive cultivation art of the sect.
Nevertheless, to be a martial artist was still a salvation for this women. Their past was usually less than flowery -- having been raped and abused, or thrown aside by their loved ones. To be able to cultivate -- albeit only to a limited level -- gave them enough power to at least continue living and defend themselves.
In some cases, even to exact revenge.
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Although Zuo Empire flourished with bountiful resources, there were always some decrepit places which the gods seemingly forgot to bless. The lavishly living royal rulers of Zuo also disregarded these places to be anything of importance.
A rundown village located a few thousand li outside a secluded valley, was such a place. It could not even be called as a village anymore, as the previously very simple structures that a few-tens of people had called home were now burnt to the ground.
The village had just been pillaged by bandits, not leaving any breathing body behind. What the bandits actually managed to plunder was anyone's guess, as the village was hardly a top choice to gain quick riches.
A female Sage and her aide -- a female Enlightened -- walked steadily, passing the many lying corpses that were partly covered with ash.
Both women looked no older than their late twenties, despite both being considerably a few handful more years older than how they looked.
The Sage's name was Zhu Hong(4). She was one of the five Sages of Ping sect, having attained her current cultivation level three years prior.
The Enlightened was Ju Huang (5). Although technically she was Zhu Hong's shimei of the same generation, she had been stuck in her cultivation level for the past decade. Zhu Hong was one of the more talented individuals, to have attained the highest cultivation level known to man - the Sage - in her considerably young age.
(Zhu Hong and Ju Huang)
Fifty years to a century could be considered juvenile years for a Sage. To have attained a breakthrough to be a Sage at merely thirty-eight was unheard of. To say Zhu Hong was a woman with unfathomable innate-talent was still an understatement.
Of course, cultivation-level wise, above a Sage, there was also an Immortal. However it was rarer than a Qilin's horn and a Phoenix's feather (6), it might as well did not exist.
Or perhaps, anyone who had attained the stage of immortality would go straight to heaven, never to roam the Earth anymore. Nevertheless, there was no known record of such an occurrence in any historical or cultural references throughout the continent of Tian Long -- be it in Zuo Empire, or any other less-significant governance. Therefore, cultivators as Immortals did not exist for the rest of the Earth-dwellers.
"Shijie, we could have taken a ... cleaner route towards the Imperial Palace. Why must we pass this region?" Ju Huang lightly frowned in distaste after noticing a half-burnt female corpse that must have been sexually-assaulted and mutilated before her death. The state of the body -- naked and full of dried flaky blood, especially around the body's upper thighs -- could easily tell Ju Huang the humiliation the poor female must have experienced before her death.
Zhu Hong lightly glance towards the corpse that Ju Huang had lingered her eyesight on, before turning to look straight ahead.
Ju Huang was correct. They could have taken a normal, more peaceful route towards the Imperial Palace, which would entail them passing towards more favorable lively towns and villages.
The region that Zhu Hong had decided to walk through shortly a few days after they left the sect was one that cultivators and ordinary men would normally avoid. The many small unnamed villages that dotted throughout the route were no leisurely places.
The people there were people whose lives and deaths other people no longer cared about. As soon as a child learnt how to walk and eat with their two hands, their mothers would leave them to fend for themselves. In some extreme cases, the mothers would even abandon their babies soon after birth, leaving little to no chance of living for the newborn souls. Most of the time, the mothers did not have a choice but to bear the life already forming inside of their bellies -- having been assaulted by countless stronger males and bandits. Having no safe way to abort the unborn fetus, they could only bring the baby to term, sometimes even embracing death themselves as they did not have enough food to feed two bodies.
Cultivators of such caliber like Zhu Hong and Ju Huang had little to worry about some rogue bandits' attack, but to waste their time in such unfruitful encounters was best to be avoided.
They had a mission, which was to fetch a young Princess from the Imperial Palace. She was to be admitted as a new apprentice in Ping sect. Although they were not in any hurry, Zhu Hong normally hated to waste her time, preferring to cultivate diligently in the peaceful valley -- where Ping sect was -- that she called home.
However this time, Zhu Hong could not help but be drawn to stray off their initially intended path. She had felt a sense of duty -- a calling -- that entailed her passing through the many villages along the hostile region. She had to search for something, for someone, until her growing foreboding could be satiated.
For cultivators, such calling of fate, of destiny, could make or break them; and Zhu Hong was always atuned in her extraordinary senses. Especially ever since she managed to break through to be a Sage.
There was an unusual qi source, somewhere in the region. It was faint at first, but grew stronger as they got closer to the village.
She took in the view of the decrepit place that could not be called a place for the living anymore. She only felt the qi become stronger, calling her. The pure qi caused her own inner-qi in her Zhong Dantian to surge tumultuous waves. It was much stronger, much more pure than any other qi she had ever sensed in any man, or woman, throughout her whole life.
It was the qi of myth -- one that Ping sect could only wish to have, but never did. If only just one female disciple had such qi and had an innate-talent in cultivation, surely immortality would not be such an impossible feat for their sect.
Ping sect would be the first sect that would produce an Immortal.
Or such was Zhu Hong's ambitious dream.
Zhu Hong closed her eyes to hone her senses to be sharper in order to pinpoint the source of the erratic qi. When she opened them, her dark pupils squinted, focusing on a spot in front of a burnt structure. There was a decrepit and dirty well not far from it.
Nothing was amiss, apart from a few corpses, piled upon each other. Their badly burnt state could no longer tell her if they were male or female.
She decisively walked towards the spot, but soon her eyes glinted with coldness, and her body emitted bone-chilling qi with murderous intent.
The flick of her sleeves was but a blink of an eye, and there was a soft whistling sound - a sound of a sharp blade cutting through the air.
A split second later, there was a sound of a male's grunt, then some noise of a few bodies hitting the ground. The muffled thuds were deafening in the silence surrounding them.
The movement was too fast for Ju Huang to follow. She only saw a blur, Zhu Hong's figure slightly became distorted to her inadequate sense of sight, then Zhu Hong stood calmly by her side as she was before.
As if nothing happened. Save for the new corpses that were now lying fifteen-feet away from them - the bodies of some bandits that tried to sneak up on them, their intent could not be anything else but malice.
It was never an issue for cultivators such as Zhu Hong and Ju Huang to face such attackers. Killing them was as easy as flipping their palms, much easier than taking a candy from a baby. However, Ju Huang did not like to dirty herself - nor did she think Zhu Hong should as well. Especially when their sect's uniform was pure white in color -- save for the waist-belts and their swords' tassels that would symbolize their ranking and cultivation level in the sect.
Zhu Hong sheathed her blade silently into the scabbard hung on her white waist-belt, the white tassel on the sword's hilt swaying gently.
White. The highest rank of all -- a color that could only be worn by the three elders of Ping sect, or cultivators in the sect that had reached Sage rank. Although Zhu Hong was not a leader, her attainment as a Sage qualified her to wear the color.
Zhu Hong turned to look at Ju Huang with an apparent dissatisfaction in her scrutinizing glare,
"Shimei, your response is still much too slow. The rogues were of no major concern, but did you intend for them to get close to us before disposing of them?"
Ju Huang slightly winced but could only let herself be reprimanded. Normally she would be able to sense an intruder from a hundred-feet away, let alone the close distance the dirty bandits were at before. However, she was much too pre-occupied with the disgusting sight and smell her senses had been assaulted by, ever since the arrived in the village.
Even before, her shijie was obviously testing her on purpose, letting the now-dead men to get closer, before finally taking care of them herself.
Ju Huang lamented inside her heart. No doubt, she still needed to cultivate diligently and would go into seclusion after they were back from their mission. Looking down at her own sword -- hung on her jade-green colored waist-belt, with the same colored tassel attached to her sword's hilt -- she felt more determination than ever.
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note
(1) TianLong = heavenly dragon
(1) Zuo = blessing/throne
(3) The name roughly translates to Pure Calm Valley
(4) Zhu Hong = vermillion color (a deep shade of red)
(5) Ju Huang = tangerine color
(6) "more rare than a Qilin's horn and a Phoenix' feather" depicts that the subject matter was non-existent, as Qilin and Phoenix themselves are mythical animals (as was a Dragon).
--------Runexi's Notes-------
This chapter is dedicated to @ChainsProphet
One of the early readers who have followed the tale of the magnolia spirit and her deity ever since it was published. (and the first commenter of the last chapter)