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

'Although the upper-tier cultivation techniques I'm providing later will give an invaluable head-start, where am I going to find the vast amounts of money and cultivation resources needed to sustain their smooth growth? Nie Li was able to tap into his godlike knowledge of alchemy and partner with the Alchemist Association as a means to achieve his desired results. I don't have those formulas, and even though he had told me where he found some of the main recipes, I am far from having sufficient strength to survive the hazardous journey there. I'll have to find another way.'

She snapped back to reality as Shen Xiu concluded the class.

The students couldn't hide their curiousity and amazement as a group of six boys and one girl made their way out of the classroom together, whispering to each other non-stop at the unusual sight. The boys had wholeheartedly agreed to follow Xiao Ning'Er when she brought a bag full of delicious pastries that she had made in the morning for their breakfast. Somehow, food was a great way for them to lower their defenses towards her, and they walked towards the library joking and laughing together.

The boys sat in a secluded corner in a circle as they looked towards Xiao Ning'Er with a mixture of expressions. Three were curious and expectant, one seemed rather cynical, and the remaining two just looked completely infatuated by her beauty. Aside from Nie Li, Lu Piao and Du Ze, the other three were named Wei Nan, Zhu Xiangjun and Zhang Ming, where these three also had red soul realms indicating low innate talents.

Xiao Ning'Er was uncertain how to start, "I know that I haven't done much to earn your trust and my actions these last two days may seem impulsive and irrational. I hope that in the coming weeks and months you will be able to learn to trust me and believe that I honestly have the best in mind for each of you. My main desire is to build up the strength of key individuals so that together, we can properly defend Glory City against any threat in the future."

"Well, I've already decided to trust you and work with you in the next two months so whatever it is, I'm in," Nie Li was the first to speak out. The other boys around him nodded along in agreement, except for Zhang Ming who seemed to be taking a 'wait-and-see' approach.

The eyes of the boys around her widened in astonishment before they started looking at each other and chuckling in disbelief. All except for Du Ze, who looked intently at her, holding on to every word she had said. It was everything that he wanted to believe, coming from a poor background, and the reason why he had worked the hardest out of all his peers was because he had hoped that hard work could somehow create a miracle. Was that miracle going to happen now?

"Since young, I've been extra sensitive to the nature of each person's soul realm, and over the last few months, I've identified each of yours. I've paired up the most suitable cultivation technique with each of you. These cultivation manuals are copied from a secret inheritance from my Winged Dragon Family. An ancestor long ago braved untold dangers to secure them from an ancient ruin." Xiao Ning'Er decided to throw in some white lies to try to make her story more believable.

"I'm trusting you with these precious cultivation techniques. Please keep them a complete secret or I will break off my friendship with you forever!" At this point, if the eyes of the boys could roll out, they would have fallen out already. Her story was really too fantastic and inconceivable.

"I know it's hard for you to believe me right now but go find a quiet corner, read through your assigned manual and practice it for the next few hours. Then let me know what you think." She started handing out the sheets of paper she had written out the night before, "Du Ze, Lightning Fire attribute. Lu Piao, Chaos attribute. Zhu Xiangjun, Sacred Flame attribute. Wei Nan, God attribute. Zhang Ming, Holy attribute. And Nie Li...attributeless soul realm."

Once she had handed the manuals out, she sat down in a corner and began to cultivate without any delay, circulating the Lightning Dragon Technique. When the boys felt the powerful surges of soul force radiating from her and saw the faint cyan hue glowing on her skin indicating that she was right at the edge of touching 1-Star Bronze rank, they excitedly found a quiet place to experiment with the cultivation techniques they held in their hands.

A few hours later they all regrouped again with stunned, thoughtful expressions. They had felt their soul realms frantically surging in a way they had never experienced before. It was unimaginably more effective than what they had been currently using, and they suspected that it was even better than what most individuals in Glory City were using, except maybe those at the very elite level of the noble families.

Du Ze was particularly shaken. All this time, he had been struggling with the bleak fate of his family, hanging on to the fragile dream of changing the fate of his parents and family, of which felt like an eternity away. But with this cultivation technique, he could visualise his dreams being realised in the near future.

He was filled with gratitude for Xiao Ning'Er and wasn't even able to meet her eyes with the emotions churning in his heart. He clenched his fists with a firm resolve, looked at her with reddening eyes and said, "Xiao Ning'Er, you have changed my life and future with this technique. If you have anything I could be of help to you in the future, even if it's to hike up a mountain of sharp blades or to enter into a sea of flames, if I, Du Ze, were to even hesitate, I'd be willing to die by heavenly judgement!"

Xiao Ning'Er was taken aback by the intensity of his gratitude and felt a bit flustered, her cheeks colouring as she responded, "You're welcome, Du Ze, but my main intention is to build the strength of our beautiful city for the future so you don't have to feel so indebted to me." She looked into Du Ze's resolute eyes and knew that she couldn't change his mind.

The other boys then took turns to express their gratefulness in their different ways, although none were quite as serious as Du Ze. As they were chatting, Xiao Ning'Er's gaze suddenly turned to a distant direction as she saw a familiar, graceful figure holding a thick book on the topic of inscriptions in her hand and frowning.

Xiao Ning'Er walked up to the person slowly, taking a deep breath, "Ye Ziyun...hi!" Ye Ziyun revealed a surprised expression as she had not expected to bump into Xiao Ning'Er here.

"Hi...Xiao Ning'Er...how are you?" Ye Ziyun replied, awkwardly. It had been a very long time since they were friends and Xiao Ning'Er remembered that it had been her that broke off the friendship in the past.

Feeling ashamed, she spoke up suddenly, "Ye Ziyun...I don't know how to tell you this...I've always regretted breaking my friendship with you. You were a good friend and did not deserve to be treated like that. I'm so sorry...and I hope that someday we can be friends again."

Ye Ziyun was taken aback as she heard these words. A myriad of emotions flashed across her face as she wondered if she could trust these words spoken so suddenly and impulsively. Xiao Ning'Er had been her only friend when she was young and she had never had another close friend since. It had been so painful losing her and she had always thought it was her fault as the daughter of the City Lord.

She bit down on her lip in indecision as thoughts flew through her mind but when she looked up and saw Xiao Ning'Er's earnest eyes, which were starting to redden, she made up her mind, "I'd love to be friends." Both girls looked at each other with a tentative joy as they slowly warmed up to the idea of being friends again.

"I was just reminded of something," Xiao Ning'Er said. "You were looking at a book on inscriptions just now. Maybe I can help you with some research?"

Ye Ziyun doubted that Xiao Ning'Er could help because she herself had access to the best training and resources in Glory City, and she had no clues as to how to solve her questions. But she took out two inscription scrolls from her interspatial ring and presented them to Xiao Ning'Er. Inscription scrolls were extremely precious items, which could act as lifesaving measures, when experts activated them to release powerful battle techniques.

Although Xiao Ning'Er had not been able to pick up most of Nie Li's alchemy knowledge and skill in her previous life, she had discovered that she had an unexpected talent in inscriptions, especially those relating to the wind and lightning affinities. Nie Li had spent many years teaching and guiding her, and she had even started to experiment with inscriptions in creative ways that he had never seen before.

"These two inscription scrolls are Snow Wind inscriptions." Ye Ziyun carefully opened opened them and laid them on the table. "For some reason, both are unable to activate and I can't seem to find the root of the issue."

Xiao Ning'Er picked up one of the scrolls and looked closely at it, "The inscription itself seems to have no issue but the scroll appears to be faulty, most likely a fraud created by an expert cheat. The demon blood used to draw the inscription is supposed to be the blood of the Snow Wind Spiritual Worm but this blood was written by the blood of its larval form instead, which is much cheaper to procure."

Ye Ziyun was shocked at the seemingly confident and discerning response and quickly indicated towards the second scroll, "What about this bronze rank inscription?"

Xiao Ning'Er took a longer time to assess the second scroll and finally concluded, "This inscription pattern is supposed to be Snow Wind attribute's 'Icy Wind, Sudden Snow', which was originally a silver rank inscription pattern. However, the inscription pattern left behind by the Age of Darkness was incomplete. When people tried to patch it up, it dropped a level to become an unstable bronze rank inscription."

She took out a piece of paper and pen from her interspatial ring and started drawing with careful, elaborate strokes. After around 10 minutes, she presented it to Ye Ziyun, "I had the fortune to encounter the full pattern sometime in the past. Pass it to the inscription scroll makers of your family and if they use the proper materials to recreate it, it should work."

Ye Ziyun looked at Xiao Ning'Er with wide-eyed astonishment, "You've changed so much...and become so knowledgeable over the years. I don't know whether to feel jealous of you or not."

Xiao Ning'Er replied, "Please don't, I just happened to discover a hidden talent in inscriptions and have thrown myself into learning more about this area over many years. It's become a bit of an obsession, really..."

"Oh...well, I better make my way home. I'm...I'm grateful for today, Ning'Er. I'm glad that we can be friends again." Ye Ziyun stammered out, as she turned to leave the library.

Before she left, Xiao Ning'Er took out a thin book from her interspatial ring. "Erm...I made this for you, Ziyun. It's a cultivation technique. I know you have access to the top Snow Wind cultivation techniques, but please try it out. This is very important. If you find that it is less effective than your current technique, then go back to what you're currently using. But if you find that this is more effective, then I believe it will grow your strength quickly."

Ye Ziyun held the manual in her hands with an uncertain expression as she walked out of the library.

The night before, in case Xiao Ning'Er bumped into Ye Ziyun, she had also written out a manual which suited the Snow Wind attribute soul realm, not knowing that she would find an opportunity so soon.