I Was Called A Demon

“Regardless of the sect’s state… if you really, really wish to go after the temples, then you must go for one of the others in the Heartlands,” Huang Su said, looking to Bianca, “The two options we’d have are the Lotus Grave Temple in the south, and the Eternity Temple in the north.”

“The Eternity Temple are quite the oddity among the temples, actually. Unlike the rest, they don’t believe in death itself, and they prefer to conjure spirits and images of the past as opposed to simply setting up and maintaining graves, like their kind should be,” Xue Yaling described, “They’re a complete conundrum, frankly.”

“I’ve heard about them… they unnerved me whenever I’d heard about them. Strangers walking around in little more than a large piece of cloth that covers their bodies in a rather haphazard way…” Han Rushu muttered, “If we wiped them out, we’d do the world a favour.”

“Don’t be so disrespectful, they’re able to prove their claims and abilities, so their temple is as significant as any of the others. Whether or not you believe in their… unusual views is of no importance,” Huang Su retorted, “The Lotus Grave Temple uses lotus flowers as their graves, cultivating enormous ponds of lotus flowers within which the dead are buried. Somehow, they keep those ponds perfectly clean and maintained, from what I know, and they achieve the same effects as the other temples…”

“The temples are a rather fascinating curiosity, now that I think about it,” Xue Yaling said, “Do you, oh Sect Master, know their origin? Where they first began?”

“That would be like asking me about the origins of the world itself. The temples, or rather, the concept of them, is ancient, far, far beyond my time, and the start of the Phoenix Sect. Perhaps they’re the oldest form of faction there is.”

Bianca, who’d ended up merely listening to all this chatter, frowned as she considered the matter. In a world with a near million years of history, anything that existed for so long should’ve been documented. The weirdo over in the Western Continent was one oddity, but perhaps it was some misunderstanding of information coming from that continent. There was a wide gap between the two, from her understanding, and without internet or phone lines, communication would be slow.

However, the temples seemed like a rather fundamental thing. They were present all around, even appearing in the village that three separate sects were very keen to protect in order to nurture future cultivators in the form of the graves, so… where did this tradition originate?

‘I would be curious to find out, but at the same time, I don’t imagine it really matters. This would’ve happened at least a million years ago, so anyone involved would be-’

Bianca looked up and, having not been listening to whatever they were discussing, she cut into the conversation.

“How long can a ninth realm cultivator live?”

“Huh? Oh, Mistress, it would be around one and a half million years in total,” Song Ming, the ever-helpful pet, told her, “Or so I’ve heard.”

“One million and six hundred thousand years, roughly,” Xue Yaling confirmed, “I’m surprised you know, Song Ming, the figure is a rather obscure one.”

“Oh, it was… I don’t recall where or when, truth be told.”

“Regardless, I was asking since I was suddenly curious if there was anyone alive that could determine the origin of the temples from personal experience,” she explained.

“Personal experience… nobody in the Eastern Continent, at least. There have been no known ninth realm cultivators in quite a few years, and if they did appear, they could trivially conquer the entire continent if they wanted to. There is no chance that they wouldn’t do such a thing if they were around, given that there is nobody that doesn’t have problems with the world and the way it works, in one way or another…” Xue Yaling said, “Ancients, I can confirm that I would definitely take over the world if I was able to.”

“That doesn’t surprise me in the slightest, kitsune,” Huang Su sighed, “I hadn’t heard of any ninth realm cultivators that still live, but there are likely quite a few in the eighth realm still hiding. If there is sufficient turmoil in the world, they will awaken and use what little lifespan they’ve been able to conserve in their stasis. Some of them might be old enough to recall events from before the time of the Master of Yi City.”

“But that is unlikely to be enough,” the kitsune shook her head, “I’m sure that the temples were here prior to the Master of Yi City, whoever she was, so even if there are such old people around, they’d just be able to say that the temples had been here all along.”

“Unfortunately, that is likely true,” the Sect Master agreed, “The fact is, ultimately, that the past is shrouded in mystery. We cannot know how certain staples of our continent came to be, and I doubt there is anyone out there who could answer the ultimate question.”

Bianca couldn’t help but ask, “Which one is that?”

“The origin of the Planar Continents. Haven’t you ever wondered where the world came from, why everything is the way it is? Is this just the way that the world is and always has been, or was there someone – or something – that created it? Why did it create the world as it is? What was the intention, and did things work out as was intended? Is the world progressing as it is perhaps still part of their intention?” the kitsune asked question after question, and the others quieted down in thought.

Well, some did. The blacksmith stared at them for a little while, then spat and groaned.

“Oh fuck off with questions like that. Unless the creator of the world is a hot woman I can dick down, it doesn’t matter.”

“Right, of course… Mistress, if you would, could we return the conversation to something more productive?” Huang Su’s shoulders visibly dropped in dismay from the blacksmith’s attitude.

“Oh, right… I’m thinking we should go for the Lotus Grave Temple, if we’re going after a temple.”

“… Why?” Xue Yaling said.

“Well, as we already discussed, the God’s Grave Temple is no good. Out of the two, the Eternity Temple seems more unconventional, and more likely to pose a threat to us if we rush in without thinking. Even if we won the fight, we might encounter things that we simply cannot solve due to whatever oddities the Eternity Temple has,” Bianca explained, gesturing towards the kitsune, “Could you give me a map?”

“Of course, here,” Xue Yaling reached into the pouch between her breasts and threw out a piece of parchment, which landed perfectly in Bianca’s lap.

She opened it up and took a quick look, reestablishing her understanding of the layout of this world – or, more precisely, the Eastern Continent. They had just gone to the Phoenix Sect and fled west from it, placing them towards the Dancer’s Abode once more. The God’s Grave Temple was to their south-west, beside the Blooming Orchid Sect that bordered the Dancer’s Abode territory. The Eternity Temple was towards the north of the Heartlands, closest to River’s End Town and the One Hundred and One Ends Sect – a mouthful of a name for sure – and on the opposite side of the Heartlands to the other temple.

The Lotus Grave Temple stood on the south-west of the central region of the continent, with the nearest faction being the Rising Carp Sect, which was quite a bit away to the north. To compare that gap to something, it was akin to the distance they travelled from Xue Yaling’s Ghostflame Temple to the core of Long Shiyi’s camp, though the spot wasn’t marked especially precisely on this map.

This meant that it was effectively the best spot to avoid repercussions from the Heartlands powers, which were best labelled on the map. There were only really two factions labelled near the Lotus Grave Temple, the aforementioned sect and the Exarch’s Domain, which was… concerning, but not too terrifying. For the duration of the conflict with Long Shiyi, the Exarch would likely be incapable of sparing the effort on her until it was done with the dragon, and even then, it might not have any good reason to go after her.

After all, the Exarch was currently heading north, so if it won, it might not feel like heading west all of a sudden. And if it did, then there would still be plenty of open space for it to consume before there needed to be any kind of clash between them.

“Yeah, by the looks of it, it is best to go for that temple. Besides, lotus flowers are nice, so it would make for some decent scenery… and would suit the kind of sect that I would wish to have.”

“Which is? If you don’t mind me asking, Mistress,” Huang Su said.

“Well, no men anywhere in sight. They don’t tend to like flowers anyway, so it might dissuade them from even trying.”

It was a silly reason, and the others must’ve known, but nobody questioned her too much on that point. Perhaps it was somewhat meaningless to discuss now, given that there was a long distance to go before they can even have the slightest chance of getting the land for themselves. After that, if they did begin a sect, she didn’t believe that there were any kinds of hiring laws in this world, so if she wanted to pick only women as the disciples of the sect, then she most certainly could.

Perhaps it would even be appreciated by the other sects and factions in the area, seeing as they would effectively be declining half of the world’s population for Bianca’s very personal reasons.

Frankly, she wasn’t even sure that she hated them to such an extent, but removing them from her sect from the start would make things significantly simpler for herself. She wouldn’t need to deal with them and their oddities, she wouldn’t need to be concerned about men trying to approach her or any of her disciples and trying to date them, being gross the way that men are, or having their scent anywhere nearby to disgust her… if she thought about it, she could find quite a few reasons to get men as far away as possible.

That being said, she felt a little… hypocritical. Her own desires since gaining the ability to summon a cock were feeling awfully similar, and she found herself being far, far too comfortable with disregarding that fact, to the point that she didn’t even feel bad about it.

She cared so little that she chose to move straight on and ask, “By the way, this map of yours separates the Heartlands and the rest of the continent quite a bit. Why is that?”

“It’s a bit of a cultural and territorial divide. The powers in the south do their own thing, the powers in the north stick to the blazing hot deserts as though those are worth anything – they are, in terms of certain resources, but damn are those places hot – and the east and west are rather quiet most of the time.”

“Right… So, if we settle in the Lotus Grave Temple, the only people we really need to be concerned about are those in the Heartlands?”

“Mhm, pretty much,” the kitsune nodded, “In the very unlikely circumstance that someone from the south does decide to attack us, we would likely have the other factions of the central region coming to our aid, unless we’ve managed to piss them off to such an extent that they would rather see outsiders claim territory.”

“In that case, going after the Lotus Grave Temple is even better. There is only one faction that might attack us in the Heartlands – at least from what is labelled on your map – and so we should be safe while the Exarch wages war elsewhere,” Bianca said, “Whereas the north is further away, and needs us to keep in mind the town, village and the One Hundred and One Ends Sect, which… sounds bad.”

“The One Hundred and One Ends is a sect of assassins, or more precisely, killing-obsessed lunatics. I imagine our dear Sect Master will be able to confirm this,” the kitsune said, and Huang Su nodded, although she blatantly disapproved of the way that Xue Yaling chose to describe them.

“They are far from the most respectable, I can confirm that. Ultimately, it would be best if we were as far away from them as possible, or else we’ll be at constant risk of them attacking us for no reason whatsoever,” Huang Su nodded, “The other sects are far less risky to neighbour. The Rising Carp Sect, for instance, has a superiority complex, but they shouldn’t be hostile unless we threaten them.”

“And if we refuse to accept men, they should be almost happy with us. That’s so many more disciples for them to recruit in their pursuit of perfection,” added the kitsune.

Bianca asked, “In other words, you agree with that choice?”

The two of them nodded together, while the rest were a little less concerned with the matter. Song Ming was just nuzzling up against Bianca’s leg, Han Rushu leaning back with her eyes half-shut, and Yu Juan seemed to be absorbed into her own mind, not paying attention to their chatter in the slightest.

It didn’t matter too much, considering how she wasn’t really the administrative type, so she left her to her own devices. However, she was very curious as to what occupied her attention to such an extent, and mentally noted to ask her later, even if she didn’t believe that she’d be able to remember this after the other thing they had planned.

That other thing involved the assfucking she was going to give to her lovely pet. It was way overdue, though she suspected she could get away with delaying it for a while longer.

Song Ming was rubbing up against her leg and taking her warmth in as though it was some revitalising ambrosia of life, so if they simply went to sleep together, cuddling in one another’s arms, she’d probably be more than satisfied. However, she was determined not to disappoint her this time, and so she glanced around and determined that it would probably be best for them to finish up for the day.

“We’ve determined where we want to go, and we’ve got a camp set up… should we take a break for now, then set off early tomorrow?” Bianca asked, “I mean, assuming we’ve got nothing else to do for the day.”

“If you wish, Mistress,” Huang Su didn’t hesitate to say, though she did look to Song Ming for a little while, perhaps knowing what Bianca intended to do.

The kitsune was a little slower in her reply, but she ultimately shrugged and nodded along, “If you want. Since we’ve got a camp here, we better rest up regardless, so whether we do it now or in a few hours is of no interest to me.”

“Hm? Oh, I suppose some sleep would be good for me,” Yu Juan said, her lips parting to say something else only to be interrupted by Han Rushu almost jumping up to her feet.

“Oh, finally! I can’t tell you how much I hate these kinds of dull discussions when I don’t have someone’s throat to fill up with my cock, or even better, a few sluts to be fucking… But I guess that’s going to be something our chief slut gets all to herself now.”

“What was that?” Bianca glared in the blacksmith’s direction, though she didn’t pay her any mind and just went off into the night.

Knowing how she was lately, she was probably going to jerk off for a while, so she didn’t feel the need to interrupt. Instead, she placed her hand on Song Ming’s head, patting her soft hair, and leaned down.

“So, want to talk about that promise?” she whispered, and Song Ming nodded quicker than her mind should’ve contemplated the words, “Alright, we’ll do it in my tent. Is that lovely ass of yours ready to take me?”

“I… I’ve kept the plug in the whole time. I… I should be ready,” Song Ming muttered, although her wary words were contrasted rather extremely with her pleading, eager eyes.

Bianca gave her a few more pats and stood up, helping her pet up – although she would’ve been very happy to make her crawl through a cleaner place than the woods – and heading over to the larger tent. Before she stepped in, though, she met Huang Su’s gaze and gave her a look that she hoped would convey what she wanted without needing words.

The Sect Master nodded, and the moment that Bianca looked back towards the tent, she saw and felt a certain aura around it, akin to the barriers that had previously kept them away from prying eyes – and the CCTV-like gazes that spiritual perception provided to everyone. Her own spiritual perception struggled to pass through, although she noticed that when the Demonic Tyrant took control of it, the added sensitivity that the Weave of the Senses offered exposed countless weaknesses.

If she really wanted to, she could penetrate barriers of the sixth realm, which had some rather interesting implications for her, though she wasn’t sure if this was due to Huang Su’s abilities or her own strengths.

‘And if I recall correctly, there’s something that happens in the seventh realm that makes energy and spiritual perception – or whatever else – stronger, so once Huang Su gets there, I’ll probably not be able to do this anymore,’ she noted in her mind before all such wayward thoughts were cast aside, for she had someone much more important to focus on.

Her pet, her girlfriend… she’d give her the time that she deserved.