Xiao Yingzi 6
[Learning From Seniors: Antonious]
Xiao Yingzi was getting close to the third heavenstage and in keeping with the advice gained from Senior Corvina, she sought to prepare for the session where she would make the jump to the next small realm. Her cultivation chamber had already been prepared but she also wanted to acquire a will-enhancing treasure to gain an edge against her shadow.
After speaking to the alchemist that her senior had introduced her to, she had decided to capture specimens of the Soulfang Serpent - a dangerous snake that burrowed deep into the desert sand and attacked any unsuspecting traveller. It had a bite that could drain a mortal's soul with a single bite. Though cultivators were harder to subdue with greater qi and hardier wills, they could still be threatened by them in large enough numbers.
There were many stories of an unsuspecting cultivator walking into a strip of desert filled with hundreds of their number and being overwhelmed. It was said that even experts of the ninth heavenstage could be downed and left to die, souls too strong to be absorbed but their will drained until they were left too weak to muster up a defence.
They were regularly hunted by the clan to trim down their numbers alongside the major routes to ensure that they wouldn't threaten any unwary travellers. Those who went out hunting for them had armor and equipment meant especially to contain them, allowing the clan to clean them up and collect them for their many, many alchemical uses.
Unfortunately, with the clan's administration in disarray, the hunt this time wasn't coordinated and the snake population near Pleuron had almost grown out of control. Xiao Yingzi sought the serpent to create the soul-bolstering pills that could be formed from their venom and decided that cutting their population would both be profitable and useful to the clan.
Of course, without the specialist equipment she would never be able to hunt enough snakes to matter. At her current level of power, she was more likely to be injured or killed in the attempt. This was why Xiao Yingzi had invited Brother Antonius to help her. They had picked up a large cart that could contain as many of the beasts they needed, enough jars to fill the cart stored away in Brother Antonius' storage ring and set off to the last sighting of the Soulfang Serpents.
The cart wasn't just to carry the snakes back but to get some distance from the sands below so that the snakes wouldn't attack them as soon as they reached their territories. In the same way, rather than use a beast, they had elected to move the cart themselves using their personal abilities.
Brother Antonius stood on top of the cart and used his summoned water to push the cart along. Every few minutes he would need to stop to recover and Xiao Yingzi would take over, copying his movements to push with her shadow. She could only keep it up for a fraction of his time but it was long enough for him to catch his breath and take over again. They had settled into a simple rhythm that was tiring but let them maintain their levels of qi for the journey.
They kept this up, occasionally stopping to look at their maps until they heard the hiss that told them that they had reached their targets. A look over the side showed their quarry drawn to the surface due to the cart's motion. A few were trying to gnaw on the wood but the cart was hardy and more importantly had no qi or will to drain, leaving the snake's attacks completely ineffective.
She glanced at her senior who followed her gaze and nodded. This would be the major test to see if they could harvest the snakes properly. For getting the best price and Xiao Yingzi's own needs, they needed the snakes alive so that the alchemists could draw out the rarer reagents. If that didn't work, they would have to kill the snakes and come back with a new plan.
Brother Antonius carefully stepped out onto the ground. Immediately, a few snakes switched their targets from the cart and jumped on to him. "Are you feeling alright, Brother Antonius?" Xiao Yingzi asked him, glancing at the snakes trying to gnaw through his skin with the same enthusiasm they had with the cart.
He didn't reply right away, instead concentrated on the snakes at his feet. She leaned backwards to distance herself from him and focused on her shadow, ready to hurt the snakes and pull him in the moment he showed any sign of weakness. After a moment, he turned to her with a grin and gave her a thumbs up.
It looked like the snakes had about as much success as they could with the carts as well. Though they tried to gnaw on his bronze-hardened skin and wrap around his legs in an effort to constrict him, the body of a Golden Devil in the tenth heavenstage was beyond the point where they could penetrate. He also wore boots and armor worthy of his income. That also helped in slowing them down.
"Looks like we're good to go," He replied with a nod. "It honestly just feels like it tickles."
She nodded back carefully. This had been their plan from the beginning once they found out that the normal capture equipment was unavailable. Or at least, it had been Brother Antonius' plan. He pointed out that the snakes were only reported to harm those from the ninth heavenstage at most and anyone in Foundation Establishment was completely unaffected.
Using an old but living snake still under the alchemist's control, they tested whether it could threaten someone in the tenth heavenstage. As he had hoped, the creature hadn't even been able to break through Antonius' bronze-hardened skin. There was a worry that a greater number might still be dangerous, but now even that had been proven to not be true.
They had other plans of course like using her senior's dao-damaging flute but that would cause them to flee and his water or her shadow while effective had a high chance of killing the snakes before they could trap them. This was the only strategy they had felt was guaranteed to work. As she watched, Brother Antonius summoned a jar from his storage ring and opened it. Then he reached down to tightly grab a snake. The snake bit his finger and tried to wrap around his hands but he was wearing armor and was strong besides. It could only struggle as he pushed it inside the jar and carefully closed it.
"Here," He said absently, passing the filled jar towards her but keeping his eyes on the ground below him. He was likely wary of a snake trying to jump up and target any less defended points in his body like his face. "Be careful to not step off of the carriage."
She nodded and then carefully placed the jar in the back of the cart, away from any danger. The snake inside tried to bite her hands but it couldn't penetrate the glass. She turned away from the incensed snake trying and failing to bite the glass around it, turning just in time to take another jar from Brother Antonius.
The second snake went beside the first, both serpents taking a moment to regard each other before leaping forward and smashing straight into the glass. She looked at that for a moment, before deciding that they were secure. The process continued. It was slow but once more, they settled into a simple rhythm.
As she handled the tenth or twentieth hissing snake in a jar, Xiao Yingzi found her thoughts wandering. She glanced at Brother Antonius and noted how easily he handled himself in the literal snake-pit. She was thankful for his aid here, and she doubted she would be able to come here without him.
Even if he claimed most of the profits from the mission, at the rate they were collecting snakes she would still get a large sum of her own and the soul-bolstering pill as well. As with all of her seniors, she was also learning a lot about his methods which would help in Qiguai and help her in future decision-making as well.
Anything she could learn would be helpful and the whole thing would endear her to him, as her research suggested that often happened with seniors who took juniors under their wings. She had learnt a lot from all of her other seniors and had bonded with them as well.
With Senior Corvina, their time together had settled as cultivation sessions where she focused on taming her shadow spirit and the senior meditated on her Dao. The session often resulted in discussions on the nature of spirits and qi as well as the place of divination in relation to them. Senior Corvina was well-learned and incredibly experienced. From her, she learnt to always be prepared.
With Senior Yahwen, the time spent was focused more on combat and sparring. Senior Yahwen was incredibly talented, but she depended a lot on her talent and experiences. It was a useful paradigm that lacked the perfect answer that Senior Corvina sought for all of her problems but was still remarkably effective. She had taught her a lot of ways to apply what she had in order to become more effective in battle.
Brother Antonius lay somewhere in between. Standing in the ground and bearing the bites of the Soulfang Serpents through sheer durability was something that fell closer to what Senior Yahwen would do. She couldn't imagine Senior Corvina ever doing or proposing something similar. But he also had several other weapons like his wave-summoning or his mourning flute that he could fall back on which Senior Yahwen did not.
It didn't really teach her much directly but she felt like it was a good reminder to master what she already had. Rather than spar or teach, most of their interactions were missions together where she had begun to practise the things she had learnt in the other lessons here. Things like paying attention to her shadow as it huddled under her feet away from the snakes.
Despite it's ghostly nature, she was relatively confident that the snakes couldn't harm it. They needed a physical body to bite into. So it was unlikely that it was the shadow that was scared. More than likely, it was reflecting her own caution. As Senior Yahwen had pointed out, it often revealed her emotions and intentions even outside of battle.
She focused on it idly and tried to straighten it out. Make it stretch across the sand as the rest of the shadows around her did while mimicking her form. It was surprisingly hard to do. Unlike in battle where the shadow was eager to work with her, here it was much more mischievous. The moment she stopped focusing on a certain aspect of it, it deformed back under her feet.
Her efforts must have been noticeable because a moment later, Brother Antonius looked up at her in the middle of stuffing a snake down a jar. "Are you trying to do something with your shadow?" He asked her, carefully shoving a thumb down the serpent's wide open mouth to prevent from biting or attacking.
"I have been sparring with Senior Yahwen and learning to use my shadow to hide my intentions and even fake them," She told him, taking his jar as he finished with the snake. "I was trying to apply that normally but it seems to be much harder now."
Brother Antonius raised an eyebrow as he bent down to reach for another snake. More snakes kept coming up from the ground to replace the ones they had captured. "Are you practising how to lie or fake your emotions as well?"
"It's not my focus right now, but it's something I would hope to do at a later date. It would be useful if I need to spy in enemy territory or just interact with mortals."
He gave her an appraising look and shook his head. "You also need to focus on your expressions and body language in that case," He replied, shaking his head. "You are a very dutiful soldier but I've noticed you maintain that all the time. You need to be a bit more expressive if you want to fool people."
Xiao Yingzi frowned at that. "I can very much express myself
if I wanted to," She replied, trying to inject a hint of annoyance in her voice.
Antonius winced and shook his head again. "You got the frown down," He explained. "But your tone isn't quite right. It doesn't seem entirely natural either. There are several subtle changes in the body language that you didn't quite get."
"How would you suggest I work on that?"
"Observe people more. Try to do what they do. Maybe practise in front of a mirror?"
Xiao Yingzi nodded. "Frowns are more natural to me." She told him, considering her emotional responses. "The rest of it isn't something I find as easy."
"Keep at it," Antonius replied with a smile. "I'm sure that you'll get it eventually." Xiao Yingzi tried to smile back and he nodded in encouragement. "Your smiles are fairly natural too. It shouldn't be too hard for you to manage more than that."
"Thank you," She told him before considering something. "Have you been looking at my shadow's behavior for a long time?"
"For a while now, yeah." He answered, passing her another jar with a hissing Soulfang Serpent. "It's something I noticed from the moment I saw you and kept on eye on just in case. I can tell you what I've noticed so far?"
Xiao Yingzi considered the offer but shook her head. "I'm learning how to sense my shadow's moods already," She replied. "It's similar to how Senior Corvina deals with her divination and she mentioned that I need to make my own observations first. Perhaps later?"
He nodded. "What about materialising your shadow for combat?" He asked her curiously. "I'm used to manipulating elemental water. I can give you a few tips if you need it."
"I've managed to create several techniques, but materialising my shadow still requires too much qi to use properly." She replied. "I'll have to wait until I am more powerful."
"How long can you maintain a technique?" Antonius asked her. "What's the speed and range?"
"Speed is nearly instant but range depends on light." She explained. "The darker my shadow, the longer I can maintain it and the further it can go."
"Try using them to take advantage of an opening or to create one. Things like killing blows or distractions such as tripping your opponent."
She nodded in thought. "Would you have any advice for techniques I can use once I am strong enough to sustain it?"
"I wouldn't know without taking a look at it," He replied, shrugging his shoulders. "But I can tell you how I learnt my techniques to see if you can pick something up."
"Thank you," She replied, giving him a smile. Brother Antonius nodded encouragingly at her expression. "I would appreciate what you can tell me."
Brother Antonius nodded. "We can spar later and I'll demonstrate my techniques." He replied, as he continued passing her the trapped snakes. "Your shadow is esoteric enough that I'll need to get a good look at it before I can give you in-depth information."
Xiao Yingzi nodded and began to adjust her mental schedule. "You could join Senior Yahwen and I in our spars?"
Brother Antonius nods. "That sounds like a good idea."
As Xiao Yingzi puts in the latest jar, she realises that the space that they had was almost filled. Any more and they wouldn't be able to sit comfortably inside. "I think we are at our current limit." She told Brother Antonius. "Do we want to come back?"
He turned to her, half-way between stuffing a snake down a jar and nodded. "This will be the last one then," He replied, finishing the job and tightening the lid of the jar before giving it to her. "I think we can just kill the rest and take their corpses? That's still worth a lot and I can store them in my storage ring."
Xiao Yingzi nodded. "Do you need any aid from me?"
"Hmmm… I'd say no, but if you can demonstrate a few of your techniques I can give you some advice on the way back."
"As you wish," She replies, bending down to touch her shadow. At this level of sunlight, she didn't need any of the artificial sources of light stored within her storage ring. Taking a moment, to look at the snakes she decided on her targets.
She infused her qi into her shadow and felt it swell in response like a balloon filled with air. It grew from a flat shadowy apparition into solid tendrils of darkness as she considered how to weave the tendrils into an attack. She'd used claws and tentacles before but that didn't seem suitable for the large number of snakes.
Instead, she used the tendrils as they were and let them spread from below her. They reached out towards the sands and wrapped themselves around the snakes that she could see. Then she channeled increased the flow of power into the shadow and increased its strength - enough to crush the snakes to death.
Brother Antonius winced as the snakes around her died and her shadow retreated. She collapsed into the cart, out of qi at least for the moment and turned to him. "How was that?"
"Not bad," He replied, sounding fairly impressed. "I can definitely think of a few tips to give you. Especially once you can maintain that for longer. Can you shape them into knives? Cutting might be more efficient in comparison to crushing."
"Cutting takes more focus." She replied. "I can only maintain two claws and that is by using the shape of my hands as a focus."
"So your own shadow's shape is easier? I can definitely think of a few suggestions. I'll get the rest?"
She nodded in reply.
Brother Antonius took a deep breath and waved his hands apart. Water started raining down, not from the sky but summoned at a height. It caused Soulfang Serpents to emerge from all over as they detected the rain fall on the sand.
Then he brought his hands together and the water carried all of the serpents towards them, converging into a large sphere of water. Xiao Yingzi looked up as the snakes drowned in the sphere of water, then Brother Antonius brought his hands down and the snakes fell neatly to the side, guided by the water.
"That should do it," Brother Antonius replied, looking around at what he had done. "There should be more serpents but we should have trimmed the numbers down to the point where they should be safe for you. Hope off and help?"
"Thank you for your aid, Brother Antonius." She said, as she stepped off the cart. "You are very strong."
He smiled back. "Thank you."
Xiao Yingzi nodded back, but her mind was still on the sheer difference in power eight small realms made. It was things like this and the Thirteen who had made her decide to risk the Qiguai Secret Realm. This was the kind of power she needed to be relevant in the clan's fate.
She wanted that kind of power.
