I Was Called A Demon

Despite sleeping in a tent, without anything resembling a proper bed or mattress, Bianca felt like she had a delightful sleep, waking up alert and refreshed to greet the new day.

Of course, a major contributor to that was the workout she got yesterday, and the sight of her pet lying next to her when she woke up, her face still covered in cum, and the sight of her belly still bulging, albeit to a lesser extent than before.

It would’ve made her cock go rock hard once more, if it remained upon her body. Fortunately, it didn’t, so all she had to deal with was the wetness building up at her nether lips.

‘Who would’ve thought that it would be so satisfying to fuck her ass… wait, no, I knew it would be like that. I’d been wanting to do it for quite a while now, after all… If only corruption didn’t play a part in this,’ she found her thoughts drifting back to that ever-present issue, ‘I wonder how much of an effect this time had on her.’

Her Demonic Tyrant provided all the information that she needed about her own abilities – roughly none, since she didn’t seem to have the same levels of skill mastery and completion that the others did – but even if it mentioned the corruption somewhere, she didn’t have any way to check the others. She couldn’t know if there was some maximum percentage, at which point she had completely changed the energy and mind of a person, or if it was something more complex.

Ultimately, she was not going to be the one to understand this, as she had already gotten Huang Su onto the job. Whether or not the Sect Master would succeed was entirely out of her hands, unless she was able to somehow expose the Demonic Tyrant to her, but it was difficult to do even when she tried.

For whatever reason, the damned thing couldn’t be perceived by others directly, and as far as she knew, nobody had been able to find it inside of her either, if it even existed there. Perhaps the only thing it had was the screen, existing outside of her, but she didn’t believe that this was quite the case. Something inside of her had to be able to absorb the knowledge from the books she had read to gain her skills, or at least to know what technique she was trying to learn to give her the perverted equivalent, and something had to be able to grant her abilities that were beyond her realm.

At least, that’s what she believed, Whatever the truth was, she couldn’t investigate it beyond the obvious and surface-level.

Therefore, after all of that, she just carefully removed her arm from under Song Ming’s back, ignoring the faint numbness of it, and went outside, finding the others already up and awake, ready to go about their day.

The moment she stepped outside, she felt herself passing through the thin membrane that had covered up the tent, and Huang Su’s attention moving onto her.

“Ah, Mistress, you’re up. Could I have a moment of your time?”

Bianca could hardly say no then, when the Sect Master’s question was spoken with such a firm tone that even her form of address hardly sounded genuine.

“Sure, what is it?”

Instead of replying, the Sect Master waved her hand and the same barrier reformed around them, then offered her a seat beside her. It was only once Bianca sat down that Huang Su turned to her and spoke.

“I apologise if this seems like I’m prying into your privacy a little, but did you use your particular dual cultivation technique with Song Ming?”

“… Yeah. I’d promised her a while ago, before the whole thing in the Phoenix Sect. Sorry…”

“No, I can understand… However, I would like to check her body and see if I can determine the nature of any changes or influences. This should help me determine a method to resolve the issue of corruption, and it won’t be anything intrusive, so don’t worry about that.”

“I wasn’t… I did leave her in a bit of a… interesting state, so…”

“I can tell. The others likely have as well, so don’t expect the things you two do in the bedroom to remain private. It’s one of the unfortunate things about a world where nearly everyone has some kind of cultivation,” Huang Su said, “Of course, even without my barrier, the only one that would be looking in attentively would be the kitsune, whereas the rest would at most glance in, see what you were doing, and then focus on their own affairs.”

“Or so I’d hope… I suppose that even without cultivation, those that want to look inside could still do so regardless. It would just require a bit more effort,” Bianca sighed, imagining the kitsune standing by the entrance to the tent and peering through a tiny opening in the tent’s entrance.

“Indeed, it would likely happen. Anyway, if you give me a moment, then we can plan our route back,” the Sect Master said, “Ideally, we’d avoid the more settled and populated areas, such as the Dancer’s Abode, for the sake of minimizing awareness of my presence at your side. However, if we must pass through such places, I should be able to provide some aid via my movement skill, albeit for far lesser distances than what we covered while fleeing from my sect.”

“Alright, that should be good enough, and besides, I wouldn’t really want to cause trouble for you either. The less attention is attracted by you, the best for all of us.”

“I’m glad you agree. Now, give me a moment, Mistress,” Huang Su stood up, the barrier disappearing as she did so, and headed over to the tent that she and Song Ming had occupied.

Meanwhile, just as she stepped away, Xue Yaling got up too and came over, leaning down and positioning her face roughly on level with Bianca’s eyes.

“Hey, honey. Having fun chatting with Huang Su again?”

“… What do you want?”

“I figured you might want to discuss our route ahead… and I see you made progress in your cultivation again. Good girl,” the kitsune smirked and straightened her back, moving over to the wooden stump that the Sect Master had used, “Mind if I sit down here?”

“No, of course not. I am curious what ideas you have about getting to the Lotus Grave Temple, though.”

“Ultimately, the plan is very simple. We can either go around the lake in the middle of the Heartlands, or go over it via boat or some movement skill. Ideally, we go for the latter, as it is simply faster and more straightforward, and would not take us through any dangerous regions. There are, in fact, no known factions occupying the centre of the lake at all, so as long as we don’t get caught at the shore, we should be just fine,” the kitsune explained, bringing out a map and placing it on her lap.

Her map had the borders of the bigger factions in the world, and also hazier outlines for the territories of other groups, like the Exarch’s Domain and Long Shiyi’s Warband. There were some other markings, like the Reaper’s Grave and something called the Soul-Binding Monolith up in the north, but as she had claimed, there was nothing all in the middle of the Heart’s Core, the aforementioned lake.

“So, do we go to, uh, Rong Village, near the Dancer’s Abode, then sail across to, uh… Heart’s Core Town?”

“Would probably be the best thing to do, yes. The lake is generally calm enough, so we won’t need an especially large ship or a crew or anything of the sort. A sort of… yacht, I suppose, would be best.”

“Are there…” Bianca paused and got in closer, whispering, “Are there engines in this world? Stuff that would make the boats move on their own without us needing to row or whatever it is people usually do?”

“Aside from the fact that Huang Su might’ve heard that – and definitely heard this – the answer is yes, there are several options for such a thing, so it should be fine.”

“Right, of course…”

A voice entered her head, then, a thin strand of energy linking her to the tent she left not long ago.

‘She doesn’t seem to have been affected too greatly, fortunately for us all,’ Huang Su’s voice appeared in her mind, ‘I have a better idea of the effect of corruption upon her, but it will take time for me to confirm how exactly it occurs. That is, after all, the most vital step… If I can confirm this, I will produce some kind of technique that can be cultivated by her – and the rest of us – to avoid the side effects.’

“B-” Bianca shut herself up before she spoke out loud, “I really need to get used to this stuff.”

“Huang Su, I suppose. Don’t mind me.”

‘Shouldn’t you make something for me? Would be simpler, right?’

‘Only if I am able to modify your technique in some way, like Xue Yaling did. The issue is that there are only so many modifications that can be made before it’s no longer possible, and since this issue is affecting others, it would be simpler to simply provide your partners with the solution instead. If you end up sleeping with someone once or twice, it shouldn’t affect them, too greatly, but if you end up long-term partners, they would obviously have to learn it too.’

‘That makes sense, I suppose. If I don’t go around fucking the whole world – pardon the profanity – just having people that are able to learn stuff learn said stuff would be best.’

‘Don’t worry about me, Bianca. If words were enough to harm me, I think I would’ve never succeeded in claiming my position as Sect Master,’ Huang Su said, the thread being severed a moment later, letting Bianca move her attention to the kitsune’s attentive stare.

“What’s up? Anything interesting from our dear Sect Master of the Phoenix Sect?”

“You have issues, Xue Yaling… But nothing especially interesting. Let’s focus on our plans first, please, and then we can handle other things,” Bianca insisted, “So, we go through that route, then do we just go south-west until we reach the Lotus Grave Temple?”

“If you insist… pretty much, yes. There might be some minor factions in the way, but if there was anything worth fearing, trust me, I’d have noted it down. We just need to avoid the attention of the Rising Carp Sect and… anything remaining of the Reaper’s Grave.”

“Is there anything remaining?”

“Supposedly not, but then again, they were once the keepers of life and death – mostly death, though. There is no guarantee that one or two of them didn’t endure to this day, or perhaps that some had grabbed disciples and then managed to pass along their skills before inevitably being hunted down. Such disciples might feel like remaining near the Reaper’s Grave and tending to what remains of their grounds.”

“… Say, couldn’t we just take over the Reaper’s Grave, then? If there are only a few people left there at most, and all the world teamed up to take them down, then wouldn’t it be simplest to just wipe their presence out entirely and take their space for ourselves?”

“… Ah. Honestly, I hadn’t thought about that. Huang Su?”

The Sect Master had already withdrawn from Song Ming’s tent and was on her way back, so she entered their conversation smoothly, sitting down beside Bianca.

“Yes, you’re wondering if we can claim the Reaper’s Grave?”

“Yes, that is what we were discussing just a little earlier.”

The Sect Master gave the kitsune a look, seemed to sigh internally, and then turned to Bianca, “There is a certain possibility of doing this, but I should specify that it would be a rather risky idea. For one, we need to ensure that there aren’t any reapers remaining. If there are, they would do their absolute best to keep us out.”

“Right, of course, but we can guarantee that there are people at the Lotus Grave Temple, ones that weren’t hunted down by the world for… whatever it is that they did.”

“The ones at the temple are far less lethal, and have the option of leaving the temple for a while before coming back to reclaim their lands. If the reapers lose their territory, they have nothing left, so they would certainly fight back as hard as possible in order to avoid that fate,” Huang Su said, “Therefore, while I would prefer to avoid harming anyone at the Lotus Grave Temple, it might well be safer.”

“Unfortunately, she’s right. However, since you’re our leader, it’s up to you to make the decision on where to go. And since you’re the one that chose the Lotus Grave Temple as our destination, you might just be able to make a decent decision.”

“Thanks, really inspiring confidence here… You’re such a bitch sometimes, I swear,” Bianca sighed, getting up from her seat and walking around a little, back and forth for what felt like a minute.

While she did so, she was tempted to imagine simply flipping a coin to get the result, but she committed to trying to actually come up with a good answer. As far as she was concerned, the situation could be summarised by the choice of whether they’d be faced with a large group of weaker foes, or a small group – if not a single person – that were relatively elite and strong.

Thus, the question was whether their group were better equipped at handling a group or a single person-

‘Wait, it’s not quite that simple. Sure, we’ll need to fight someone anyway, but after that, we need to keep what we’ve acquired… There’s no chance that we could handle it if we did scare away the Lotus Grave Temple’s priests and managed to attract the ire of one of the sects…’ Bianca stopped and pondered a little, “Say, if we make it very, very clear that we don’t like the reapers and all they stand for, wouldn’t everyone approve of us if we tear it apart and make it our own?”

“… Potentially,” Huang Su admitted.

“It might be challenging, but if we claim their territory and make sure not to raise any reapers of our own with whatever skills and techniques remain – not that many would, there’s no chance that every faction involved hadn’t shared these things amongst one another – then the other factions might see it as a positive overall and choose not to get in our way,” the kitsune said, “In theory, anyway.”

“If the Reaper’s Grave was on my borders, and I wished to see them gone, letting a group take care of the territory and wipe out what little remained of their legacy would be the easiest way to do it,” the Sect Master, having given it a bit more thought, nodded, “In fact, having some small faction or group do it would be best, as I could support them by looking the other way, then denounce them if ever the need arises, letting me claim what they’ve built up without investing too much of my own effort… just presenting ideas, Mistress.”

“No, I know, but… it would be best to watch out for the behaviours of the groups near the Reaper’s Grave if we go that way. If they choose to attack, then we should be prepared way in advance, whether that means leaving the place and looking for another, or simply strengthening defences and waiting.”

Bianca nodded as well, since this much was rather obvious. Their plan would succeed or fail depending on the actions of the other factions involved, and thus they had to do whatever they could to ensure that the odds would be favouring them. As such, she also knew that she had to delegate this to just about everyone else, since her own understanding of the other factions was nigh non-existent.

“Alright, so the plan will be this, then. Let’s head over to the Reaper’s Grave, and pay attention to what’s going on around us as we do so. Then, we get close, we can decide whether it’s best to occupy it or to proceed onto the Lotus Grave Temple,” she said, “I mean, we barely know what the situation is currently like over there, right? We might as well just reserve the final decision until the time that it can reasonably be made.”

“Indeed, that would be most sensible… but we cannot go in there without any expectations at all, or else we’ll end up in a situation where we’re pressed into a corner and have no idea what to do,” the kitsune pointed out, “So, we’ll make a few plans that are rather… generic, and go from there.”

“The simple outline of a plan, more like. A rough idea of what we will do in the most likely of situations,” Huang Su said, “You ought to be there when we agree on this, but I will do my best to create these with the kitsune, if she cooperates.”

“Oh, I’ll cooperate, I’ll just be sure to figure out what exactly the two of you are doing,” Xue Yaling glared, “Shall we?”

“… Very well. Mistress, we’ll attempt not to disturb our journey too much.”

Bianca had the slight suspicion that the two would attempt to kill one another within the next twenty-four hours, but since she could not contribute much to all this with her limited insights and intellect, she let them be. Either way, Huang Su was too responsible to actually hurt Xue Yaling, and the kitsune couldn’t possibly overcome the Sect Master unless she deliberately let the kitsune win.

‘Well, I suppose we’ll have to wait and see where this goes… at least we have options this time…’