Hello, dear readers! Here's chapter 126 part 2! Hope you're enjoying the development so far.
[A/N: This is the same note as Part 1 since I scheduled the two parts on the same day.]
This week: I've been started modifying the way I write since last week. So, I write more each day, but I don't even go near my story during the weekend. That way, not only m I more productive, but I can also mentally disconnect for a few days each week. So far it's been working well, but we'll see if it lasts in the long term.
Other interesting fact: I just checked on the 'edit page' for my novel on RR, more specifically in the tag section and I saw a big warning box under the sexual content tag saying that if the sex scenes are too excessive, the novel will be banned from the site. Now, I shouldn't be affected since the ratio, R18 chapters/Normal chapters is heavily skewed toward the latter, but in my opinion it's hinting at something I don't like at all, especially since I've been censored on Patre0n recently. So, just a heads-up for you all, don't be surprised if I have to, at one point, delete the R18 chapters to keep my story on RR. I'm not saying that will absolutely happen, but many sites seem to follow that trend lately. Let's pray I'm wrong.
Anyway, that's it for today, so if you can and want to support my work, do pledge at least a month on Patre0n (8€=9USD) and/or buy my book (8€=9USD) through the links below.
Bye!
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Bright Star City, Bright Star Island, Flowing Stars Archipelago, Earth
Omniscient P.O.V.
Of course, the Protector Hall was not exactly safe either, and Liu Jing had had her fair share of brushes with death, whether it was poisoning attempts, direct attacks, Soul control attempts, etc. For a majority of her two thousand years of life, the woman had been either the target of, or had to protect others from, assassination attempts. But, each time, she pulled through, not only resolving the attempt but also killing the assailants, earning merits and climbing the Ranks as her cultivation improved, one step at a time, until she finally reached her current position, a few hundred years ago. Having lived such a life, many people would be content, especially knowing that she still had more than four thousand years of lifespan left, and that was if she did not use any lifespan-increasing items. Many would, sure, but not her. No, Liu Jing, as she climbed higher and higher, and her cultivation speed began to slow down, until no matter how much she tried, she could not advance one centimeter further from her current Peak Core Formation level. Of course, her current Official Position came with access to a wide array of cultivation resources, such as cultivation techniques, Pills, etc., through the use of contribution points, making it much easier for her to go through her Tribulation safely. That was if she could even sense her Tribulation at all! Indeed, being at the Peak of one's Rank did not mean you could go through your Tribulation right away, but that the amount of Inner Energy in your Lower Core had reached your personal limit. However, to trigger the tribulation, the amount of inner Energy was only one of the criteria, the easiest to fulfill in actuality. As for the rest, such as Energy Purity, Body strength, etc., unless one was incredibly talented and received enough resources, meeting the requirements was virtually impossible. Was Liu Jing talented? Of course! Otherwise, she would have never reached he current cultivation stage. It was a fact that every cultivator who achieved Peak Core Formation Rank was a genius among geniuses. Unfortunately, to break through to the Void Seed Rank, it was not enough. She was not enough. Her talent was not enough. Her resources were not enough. Her mindset was not enough. Nothing was enough. SHE was not enough... Realizing she would never go beyond her current cultivation and Official position, the latter being correlated to the former, Jing began to despair to the point that she unknowingly started growing a Heart Demon, which progressively intensified some of her negative emotions like jealousy and ruthlessness, the situation worsening as her social circle started including a few Core Formation from King Rank Forces. Many with initially lower talent than hers reached her current cultivation base much more quickly than she did, while others with similar talents to hers left her in the dust, attaining the Void Seed Rank she so desperately wanted to reach. That was already hard for her to accept, but most of those people were civilians, with no need to risk their lives like she had to. How was that fair?! How could the heavens be so biased?! She had gone through so much hardship, clawing her way to her current position and cultivation through her sweat, blood, and tears, and those... those spoiled trash only had to cultivate in peace with all their cultivation resources provided by their Forces, especially those direct successors, who, unless they were assassinated, were pretty much guaranteed to break through to the Void Seed Rank. Did it mean that everything she had done in the past two thousand years, all the efforts she poured into her cultivation and official career, all of it meant nothing? Was she destined to die once her lifespan ran out around four thousand years later, while those undeserving wastes were enjoying their undeserving privileged lives ...
All those thoughts had traversed her mind an unaccountable number of times, leaving only despair and frustration, but no solution. At least, that was the case until one day the main scion of the Heavenly Fire Mansion, a Mid King Rank force specialized in Alchemy and Artifact Refining, came to her 'door', offering a deal she could not refuse. The terms were simple: Work for them for a few hundred years, and she would receive one Tier 4 Acupoint Breaching Pill, one Tier 4 Channel Dredging Pill, and one stalk of Tier 4 Void Bamboo. The first Pill would help her unlock her sixth Main Acupoint, the second would accelerate the opening of her sixth Main Channel and the corresponding Channels, and the last treasure of Heaven and Earth was used to help comprehend Void Intent. Either of those items would be considered extremely rare for any Core Formation cultivators, and she was certain that even those weaker King Rank Forces would never be able to procure them, let alone offering them to an 'External Elder' just for a few hundred years of service. Did she pick up a bargain? Maybe those privileged people had suddenly become philanthropists? If Liu Jing truly believed that, then she would have never survived those numerous assassination attempts for two thousand years. No, everything had a price, and if you could not find it, it simply meant that you had not looked hard enough. In her case, she was sure that the 'price' was the missions themselves, being most likely extremely difficult and life-threatening. She would thus be risking her life while working like a dog for some powerful cultivators for a few hundred years. And what was the reward? Merely a chance to attain her dream! Not a certainty, since even if she could finally trigger her Tribulation, the probability of dying was very high, especially with her Heart Demon, which was becoming stronger as time passed by. However, she felt it was worth it. After all, the alternative was to lose her mind to her Heart Demon, so why would she hesitate?
Having been 'bought' by the Heavenly Fire Mansion for a few years now, Liu Jing found herself in the current situation, being forced to oppose the Force created by the two most talented and mysterious cultivators in the entire Federation. If it were just those two Anrepov and Feng brats, the female Senior Protector Captain would have already been troubled, but after using her Soul Sense to examine those four scions, her mood worsened even more. 'As expected of spoiled brats from a King Rank Force. I bet they drown in rare resources.' She cursed inwardly, feeling not only jealous but also slighted by the lack of respect that the Wang kid had towards her, though it was unknown if the latter may have been influenced by the former. After all, whether it was her cultivation or her official position, the other party should have begged for an audience, and not shouted those accusations for all to hear. Did he think she would not dare crush him to death just because he had those two behind him? Granted, they are considered as 'King/Queen' Rank Cultivators, but everyone in her circle knew it was 'merely' because of their professional achievements and not their cultivation base. That was the reason behind the couple's lack of influence among those high-level Forces. Cultivation aside, were those two as weak as people thought? Only they themselves knew the truth... Back to the situation. Knowing that she had an even stronger faction behind her and with her own breakthrough on the line, Liu Jing decided to act and make an example of that man. Since those people wanted to use others as stepping stones, why would she not do the same with them? That was pretty fair in her opinion. Of course, she was not mad enough to do anything to those four young successors. If she did, she would probably be found dead a few days later, with no evidence present on the crime scene, and even the Heavenly Fire Mansion would not, and frankly, could not, protect her. But, if she just crippled a guard, what could they say? Especially since she could use the excuse of him being 'rude' towards her. As the Li Family behind the heavenly fire Mansion was clearly in opposition with the Anrepov couple, she was fairly certain that they would not only protect her, but they might also grant her additional rewards that would increase the chance of passing her Tribulation successfully, aside from those already promised to her. So, in her mind, it was a low-risk, high-reward situation for her, and she thus did not waste too much time before seemingly teleporting in the air in front of the group, her condescending gaze falling on Wang Xiong as she released her Aura to pressure the entire group to the ground, the Mikhailovs included, though she did not go beyond immobilizing them. "Merely a Foundation Building guard, and you dare speak to me in that way? Seems like I need to teach you how to respect those stronger than you."
When Demian saw the woman wearing the same uniform as that Irina Lady, with the only difference being those four White Star Cores being full instead of being left empty, her body floating in the air above them, and her Aura aggressively powerful, his Sensing Soul Skill warned him that something was very wrong with the current situation, going beyond what any of them had predicted. 'Fuck! I think we're in big trouble!' He exclaimed inwardly, while his body automatically moved in front of Adeliya, the latter being the most fragile of the group. He also noted that Bryn had the same reaction, though he was not sure if it was her fighting instincts or if she simply followed his lead. Nonetheless, he could tell she was as tense as he was, and the three—Seraphine, due to the Bond and her complete trust toward Demian, also took position around her mother—were right as a massive Aura pressure fell on their bodies, pushing all eight of them to the ground powerlessly and maintaining them immobile there. Fortunately, the woman did not go too far, so none of them suffered real injuries, and through Demian's Perks passive activation, both he and Sera were even starting to get used to the pressure, with some of their muscles capable of twitching slightly. Of course, Demian was not delusional enough to think that he was truly able to resist a Peak core Formation cultivator's Aura, but instead was aware that it was simply because she had gone easy on them. 'Damn it! Why is it that every time I get stronger, I get into that kind of shitty situation with some strong fucker as an enemy?! Is it the Heavens' retribution for having a broken cheat?' He screamed inwardly, not caring about the fact that both his combat strength and potential were extraordinary, because did that really matter when the enemy was so much more powerful than he was? Should he argue with her, demand that she give him more time to grow, and only then fight her? While he felt extremely frustrated with their situation, Seraphine was cursing the woman inwardly, her grey orbs perfectly hiding her killing intent. 'Fuck! I swear, once I get strong enough, I'll break every fucking bone in that woman's body! We'll see if she can still act like a stuck-up bitch then!' Aside from the bonded couple, Adeliya felt her weakness even more acutely, but unlike her past self, she did not let herself drown in self-blame. Instead, she felt her resolve to bond with her nephew grow even stronger. As long as she had access to his Perk, she could finally remove that innate weakness of hers, which was her 'low' talent, and be useful to their family of four as someone other than a mere 'mascot'. It was particularly important to her now that she, her two daughters, and Demian had confirmed their relationships since she had no plan on being a trophy wife, but instead deeply desired to be a true partner to her handsome nephew/fiancée, though thinking of him in the latter term still felt a bit strange to her. While she was lost in thought, her oldest daughter, Brynhild, was doing her best to move through the massive pressure forcing them to the ground, although the results were pretty identical to the other three Mikhailov, with nothing but some slight muscle twitching.
On the other side, as soon as the words 'stronger than you' left the powerful woman's lips, Wang Xiong felt some powerful killing intent descend on him along with a crushing Aura pressure, prompting him to curse inwardly. 'Is she really going to kill me? What a fucking lunatic!' As he saw several golden swords made of Metal Elemental Energy slowly materializing in the air above his body, he knew he had run out of luck this time. As a surge of despair appeared briefly in his Heart, he thought. 'My Lord and Lady, Boss and all of you... It seems like this time I miscalculated. I guess it's goodbye...' Beg for mercy? Seeing her attitude, he was certain that she was only looking for an excuse to act against their group, so trying would merely be a wasted effort. Knowing that, why would he demean himself and the Lady and the Lord behind him? It was better to accept death with dignity. Carving the woman's image in his mind, he closed his eyes, swearing that in the unlikely event that he survived the event of today, he would find a way to take revenge against her, no matter how long it took. "A good dog needs to be aware of its place." That arrogant woman uttered before Wang felt those swords fly in his direction, their speed so fast that his brain could barely register their movements, and even that was probably the woman's deliberate action to increase his despair. Before he was pierced by that powerful spell, however, he suddenly felt the Aura pressuring his body disappear instantly, along with those Elemental Swords. Before he could understand what had just happened, his ears caught a familiar voice, the barely contained fury in her tone incredibly apparent. "Merely a Senior Protector Captain, and you already think you can order my Serene River Mansion? Is it because of my cultivation base? Well, since you think I'm too weak to deserve respect, let's spar together! Since we're both at Peak Core Formation, you can't say I'm bullying you!"