Tales of Demons and Gods : The Legend of Xiao Ning'Er

"Ning'Er...I thought that I was prepared for your surprises already but I don't know what to think anymore. The cultivation techniques you gave me and the boys are clearly better than anything Glory City possesses. Your inscription knowledge...and now...a miraculous method to purge that poison. I've never seen or even heard of anything like that before." Ziyun said, shaking her head in confusion. "Ning'Er, are you still you? I can't think of any other reason..."

Xiao Ning'Er looked at her friend with a serene expression on her face. "Come, let's check the rest of this area for any other danger, then...I'll tell you what you want to know."

They explored the rest of the small enclave that was teeming with abundant vegetation and found that although there were demon beasts around, they were all bronze rank and not particularly dangerous to them. The Draconic Jade Serpent was likely quite territorial and had not allowed any other powerful beasts to remain in the vicinity in case any of them tried to steal the precious plant it was protecting.

As Xiao Ning'Er reflected on her fight with the serpent, she realised that it had only reached the peak of silver rank. It was probably waiting for the ideal time to consume the Blood Essence Wolfsbane to break through its bottleneck and reach gold rank, which was during its shedding process in mid-summer. She shivered in trepidation as realised how differently the battle would have gone if this formidable demon beast had reached gold rank.

They built a fire and Xiao Ning'Er brought out some of the remaining meat from the Arcadian Warboar she had killed yesterday. As they enjoyed the juicy flavour, Ning'Er told her best friend everything. In the alternate timeline, Nie Li had taken a long time before he decided to share with their group of close friends that he had been reborn, but there had been no repercussions in the timeline when he had shared, so Xiao Ning'Er was not concerned about telling Ziyun the whole story.

She answered Ziyun's questions one by one as they spoke late into the hours of the night. Eventually, Ziyun felt her eyelids drooping and decided to get some rest. Xiao Ning'Er stayed up because she still had something she wanted to do.

She had gained a lot of insights from her battle with the Draconian Jade Serpent and she wanted to see how much she could raise her cultivation level, especially now that she had the Blood Essence Wolfsbane in her hands. She thought back as she remembered the day she found that the legendary purification technique she was using could be used to refine the berserk energies of plant-life that would be fatal to most humans, and what it had meant for her growth in her past life.

Then, she removed the berries from one of the flowers of the plant she had harvested and swallowed them one by one. She could feel the rigorous energy coursing through her mouth and throat but just as quickly, the refining process began as a forceful energy filled with vitality began to diffuse throughout her veins, muscles, cartilage and bones.

She clenched her teeth, making sure to reinforce any sections of the protective, white layer over her organs that were being constantly bombarded by the violent power as it fought to escape its assigned boundaries. Next, she felt a fiery heat radiate into her soul as most of the energy in the berries began to consolidate in her soul realm, rising in intensity until she felt a loud explosion in her mind like a dam bursting forth, unable to hold back the river any longer.

The soul force surged out around her, spinning like a tornado and taking the shape of a beautiful Winged Dragon for just an instant before it dissipated. The leaves and loose sand that had been picked up by the manifested soul force settled down peacefully onto the ground again.

2-star silver rank! The soul forming phenomenon had raised her cultivation from 3-star bronze to 1-star silver rank, and these few berries had been enough to raise it by one more level. Xiao Ning'Er was ecstatic at the results. As she stretched her arms out above her head, she could feel significantly greater strength in her body and surprisingly, it wasn't just in her cultivation!

The berries from the Blood Essence Wolfsbane had also tempered her joints, muscles and bones the same way high quality body refining pills would have. This was an unexpected bonus that would aid her greatly before she managed to find the recipes for the pills she would pass to the Alchemist Organisation in future.

Although she was tempted to consume more berries, she knew that it would be best to consolidate her cultivation more first and to build fresh martial comprehension before activating this type of rapid progression again. Seeing that daylight would arrive in two hours, she decided to take a nap before they continued the journey back home in the morning.

.....

When they woke up, they packed up and set off on their way again. Although there were still uphill stretches, there were also some significant downhill treks as well, which made them believe that they had made it past the halfway mark. They did not encounter any extremely challenging sections for quite a period of time, making their progress much faster than the day before.

Another night passed and halfway through the next morning, they came to the edge of the mountain on the side of Glory City. They could see the city in the distance, and in a clearing not too far from where they were standing, they could see playful, young Fox Bear demon beasts rolling in the grass and wrestling with each other.

Ziyun looked at her with barely contained excitement in her eyes. As long as they didn't encounter the Dark Guild in the short stretch back home, they would arrive in less than half a day and realistically speaking, the Dark Guild would be taking an extremely high risk if they wanted to operate so closely to Glory City unless they had a specific mission there.

They climbed down the last stretch of the mountain and walked around the Fox Bears' summer home, making sure to keep a large radius away from these territorial beasts. Then they found their way back to the common mountain path and picked up their speed as their spirits lifted at the thought of being able to get back safely.

The hours passed without incident and when evening came, they decided to continue on because they were only two more hours away. When they arrived back, the guards at the city gate stopped them threateningly, wondering why two cloaked girls would be coming out of the forest at night. Something must have happened to raise their level of tension and security.

Their eyes widened in surprised as they recognised Ziyun. "The City Lord's daughter! Send word to him immediately that she has returned!" Shouts began to ring out on the streets as those in the city found out that they had returned. The citizens began pouring out of their homes to look at the returning girls.

Xiao Ning'Er and Ziyun looked around in confusion. What was going on? Had the news already come back about the Dark Guild's attempt on their group? They saw Nie Li, Duze, Lu Piao, Wei Nan, Zhang Ming and Xiangjun progressively running at full speed towards them with their faces filled with urgent concern.

"Thank goodness you came back safely!!" Du Ze exclaimed.

"We have been so worried about you two..." Nie Li said, while looking at Ziyun with a troubled expression.

Ziyun replied, "What's wrong? Did you guys already hear about the Dar..."

Her words faded off as she and Xiao Ning'Er saw a figure slowly walking out of the building that housed the medical infirmary with crutches. The infirmary was placed close to the city gates so that they could speedily respond to anyone returning with an injury from outside the city.

Xiao Ning'Er looked at the forlorn figure in the distance. She had recognised him from the moment she had seen him, even with the bloodstained bandages wrapped around his right leg, his waist...and wrapped around his entire head, completely covering one eye.

"Linjian..." she whispered under her breath as her eyes watered.

Deacon Yun Hua had been completely enraged that Chen Linjian had prevented him from catching the girls, especially that prized possession who had soul formed! Yun Hua had stomped back to the boys from the river's edge and with a mighty swing of his massive, right claw, shredded through half of Linjian's face. The Dark Guild had lost no time in directly bringing the boys to Glory City and arranging for a profitable transaction with the respective noble families. Although these families had been incensed, especially after seeing Linjian's condition, they had agreed to the terms to protect their children.

Linjian took a long, sorrowful look with his one remaining eye at the returning girls, then he turned with a grim smile and limped back into the infirmary. Every hop of his left leg onto the ground felt like a hammer on Xiao Ning'Er's heart. She had not thought that the Dark Guild would be so vicious because all they seemed to want was monetary reward from ransoming the noble children of the city.

Why had this happened? What exactly had happened after she escaped with Ziyun? She felt the urge to run after Linjian but she did not know what she could say to make him feel better, as she felt a bitter, hot rage begin to rise up in her heart in her helplessness. She pushed down her anger into a simmering fury as a face took shape in her mind. Deacon Yun Hua. One day, he would pay for this.