Right, here's part two of my omake bit. Sorry for the wait, had to figure out how to write the Ninth Prince scaring off a Core Formation Cultivator
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After a mildly embarrassing start to the Ninth Prince's true journey (it's not his fault that west and south look so similar!), the Ninth Prince was racing through the desert dunes, a man on a mission.
And that mission was
GREAT JUSTICE! Specifically, bringing
GREAT JUSTICE! to the three Qi Gathering Battle Blood Cannibal Sect members who both the Contribution Points Board and also that nice old mortal said were wreaking havoc among the humble villages of this area.
Why, the Ninth Prince's very blood
boiled at the thought of those poor, defenseless mortals being preyed upon by cultivators, having their flesh, blood, organs, and bones refined into easily digestible qi while suffering unimaginable agony.
He could almost hear their screams in the distance…
Wait. No. Those were actual screams.
They appeared to have come from his west, meaning that the Ninth Prince was right all along! HA!
...It also meant that there were mortals being attacked right now, most likely by the foul fiends he had been sent here to capture.
Quickly pulling out a map from one of his pockets, the Ninth Prince scanned it for potential targets of a Battle Blood Cannibal Sect attack, and realized that there was apparently a city within a two hour's ride from his current position.
Huh. Why would anybody place a city here, so far away from any actual civilization?
The Ninth Prince scanned his desolate surroundings, before realizing that he'd apparently missed the fact that there were an awful lot of villages in quite close proximity to each other.
But that was easily forgiven, the Ninth Prince had no use for petty knowledge such as geography when there was
GREAT JUSTICE! to bring to evildoers.
CUE DRAMATIC POSE!
But not really, since there were still mortals around, and morale would be drastically lowered if such an awe inspiring figure such as the Ninth Price were to do something so silly. Also, he needed to get to this city as soon as possible.
Via a combination of months of training, subtle changes in the position of the Ninth Prince's feet, and the Ninth Prince pointing his spear at the direction of the screams, Ulo was instructed to move with as much haste as possible towards this city being attacked by repellent ruffians.
After about two hours of standing like a badass while Ulo frantically slithered to the west, the city was finally in view. The Ninth Prince supposed it would have been a perfectly respectable city in times of peace, with white stone walls, an architectural plan that decreed that the taller buildings would be placed closer to the middle, and quite a few works of glass and marble just standing around, with the entire thing being accentuated by some tasteful fires.
...Looking back at the city, the Ninth Prince realized that the fires may not have been intended, or wanted, or really anything other than the work of a member of the Battle Blood Cannibal Sect.
Luckily, the city was maybe a 10 minute snake ride away, and a city that large wouldn't be destroyed in ten minutes by anything less than a Core Formation cultivator, and what were the chances of somebody like that coming here? Less than nothing.
Still, the time for musing was over. Ulo had effectively reached the city walls. Now was the time for
action!
Step one was, of course, finding the villains attacking the mortals, who were most likely using them as
fuel for their horrid little blood path. The fifth sea had
nothing like what these blood path cultivators were doing, and that alone proved that it was unnatural. After all, if something was useful or good, it would already be in the fifth sea.
After sending Raj's minions around the mortal city, the Ninth Prince couldn't find a single person outside of the walls, with there being no real indication of who could have caused such devastation.
All that the Ninth Prince could see was the mortal city, and the human shaped figure hovering about 50 feet above the ground, every so often tossing a single dagger that destroyed buildings, killed mortals, started fires, and generally wreaked havoc.
Well fuck.
Flying like that was the domain of at the very least a specialized Foundation Establishment cultivator, though any Core Formation cultivator could fly. For the sake of his continued survival, the Ninth Prince desperately hoped the flying man was a Foundation Establishment cultivator, but going by his luck, it was almost certainly not.
Well
fuck.
The Ninth Prince desperately wracked his brain for some way out of this situation, but even his genius level intellect offered but two solutions to the predicament he was currently in.
Option the first: Get away from the mortal city as quickly and quietly as humanly/snakely possible, hoping beyond hope that the Core Formation cultivator hadn't noticed him, and pretend he'd never even heard the screams. His life would be out of danger, the Naag mortals would still have a protector, and nobody would know. Nobody except him.
Option the second: Confront the Core Formation cultivator with nothing but a Qi Gathering cultivation base, three snakes on the same level as him, the Orb of Shesha, and immense amounts of bravado. It was almost certain death, a fool's option that would make no difference at all to whether the mortal city survived. It was the height of foolishness to even
suggest this option, let alone plan to carry it out.
And yet…
The Ninth Prince would never be able to live with himself if he didn't even
try. So yes, he was going to try and hold off a Core Formation cultivator. Because he was the Ninth Prince, and that was reason enough.
While the Ninth Prince was prepared to go to his death, that didn't mean he would force is Contracted Beasts, his
partners, to do the same. After hopping off Ulo's head, in an uncharacteristically serious voce, the Ninth Prince addressed all three of his beasts. "I am going to try and stop that Core Formation cultivator. I will most likely die. I have no intention of forcing you to die with me. If you wish to leave, then I will not try and stop you. If you stay, know that this is a fight we are most likely not going to walk away from."
Even after a full minute, none of his snakes even tried to move away.
...It sure was interesting, how the rain in the desert made it look like the Ninth Prince was crying, despite there not being a cloud in the sky.
"Right. Thank you, my friends. Now, ONWARDS! FOR
GREAT JUSTICE!"
And with those words, the Ninth Prince hopped back onto Ulo's head, and began racing to right below the Core Formation cultivator.
Flying Poison Dagger was pleased. And really, it would be hard not to be. An entire city's worth of cultivation materials - for that was all mortals were good for - just waiting to be harvested to fuel his cultivation.
And best of all, he wouldn't have to hide this! Elder Child Corpse Gulper had given him express permission to wreak havoc on the Golden Devil Clan's mortal farms - though, for whatever reason, the Golden Devil Clan preferred to call them 'protectorates' - meaning that he would get rewarded
for advancing his cultivation!
The only unfortunate part of the whole affair was that mortals didn't really offer much in the way of a cultivation increase at his level. It was why he'd harvested those three Qi Gathering members of his sect. Anything that could increase his cultivation was a good thing.
He'd spent about an hour just playing with this specific little mortal farm, sending his dagger in to start a few fires, kill a few mortals one at a time, collapse a few buildings, and other such things of that nature.
Mortal flesh tasted better when seasoned by fear. Hateful Flame Torture said that he prefered the acrid taste of pain, but Hateful Flame Torture was a plebian with no appreciation for true gourmet.
During his musings, Flying Poison Dagger noticed a small little boy riding a snake with a drop of metal in its scales, radiating the aura of Qi Gathering. Hah! It appeared as if he would have another quick meal before finishing up playing with his food.
Oh, what was this? The little boy had stopped moving, and... appeared to be pointing a spear at him. The boy then spoke, with a courage that he supposed would be admirable if it wasn't so damned foolish. "FOUL FIEND! I AM THE NINTH PRINCE, AND IN THE NAME OF THE GOLDEN DEVIL CLAN AND THE FLOOD DRAGON GANG, I WILL BRING GREAT JUSTICE!
UPON YOUR HEAD!"
Oh that was hilarious. Flying Poison Dagger doubled over with laughter for a solid twenty seconds, still hovering in the air, before getting ready to show this whelp true fear. After all, it added quite a nice bitter taste to the meat that was hard to achieve with more mundane seasoning.
"Interesting introduction, little worm.
Allow me to respond in kind. I am Flying Poison Dagger, of the Battle Blood Cannibal Sect. I have started wars, crafted plagues, and personally harvested thousands of lives, all to further my cultivation. The flying dagger that gave me my name has been bathed in the blood of my enemies, and I have used it to kill no less than three Core Formation experts. But above all, the one thing that makes it certain
that you are not on my level is this: I am in Core Formation. You are in Qi Gathering. You have no hope whatsoever. All you are is a snack to me, so why don't you make this easier on the both of us and lay down and die."
That should be enough to season the meat properly. Before Flying Poison Dagger could get this little show over with, the boy spoke.
"You're right. I have no way of stopping you with my current cultivation level. The difference in power level is too great. I can't beat you."
Huh. Normally it took a little more effort to break them, but this was
a Qi Ga-
The boy spoke again, jumping off the large snake. "I can't beat you, but he
might."
Nononononono! Flying Poison Dagger sprung forward, ready to end this worm's life before it activated some sort of life saving treasure or ancestral will or something of that sort. Then he heard the chanting, and allowed himself to relax.
Nothing in Core Formation or below could threaten his life, and no Nascent Soul would ever
make an item or technique or strand of will that required more than a fraction of a second to activate. They had more pride than that.
Flying Poison Dagger ultimately decided to wait, after all, this power up wouldn't be able to kill him, and the stronger the boy was, the better a meal the boy would be.
Due to being a bit lost in thought, as well as simply not caring enough to pay attention, Flying Poison Dagger only caught the last bit of the boy's chanting. "-ake over my body and soul, great serpent!"
Flying Poison Dagger watched as the clear orb embedded in the boy's forehead glowed with a brilliant white light, before an enormous snake, easily 100 feet long and 10 feet wide, emerged from the orb, sat coiled in the air for a few seconds, then dove into the boy's open mouth.
The boy's eyes and green scales both turned a brilliant white, and, more worryingly, Flying Poison Dagger couldn't sense any aura or energy from the boy at all. That meant that either the boy was a nonentity of this world, for even mortals and corpses had an aura and energy, or… the being possessing the boy was able to hide its aura from Flying Poison Dagger.
At his level, the only people who could do something like that were… Nascent Soul cultivators.
Well fuck.
He should have killed the boy while he had the chance.
Still, there was a way out of this. Bravado. If he pretended that he still had his treasures that could both deal and withstand Nascent Soul strikes, the snake possessing the boy might decide to just leave. After all, it was only one mortal farm, nothing important.
The snake possessing the boy spoke, in a deep, resonant voice that should have been impossible for the boy's throat to produce. "Hmph. Only Nascent Soul? Truly, this body is puny."
ONLY?!! How strong was this beast before it was sealed away in that orb?!
He had to negotiate with this thing, now. In the calmest voice he could muster, Flying Poison Dagger spoke to the beast that could kill him in an instant. "Senior. A pleasure to meet you. You and I have no quarrel, so why should we fight? I have on my person several treasures that can attack with the force of a Nascent Soul cultivator as well as defend from a Nascent Soul cultivator's strikes. It would not be worth the effort for you to try and kill me."
There. Hopefully that should work. The snake possessing the boy seemed to be thinking on it for a moment, and Flying Poison Dagger allowed himself a small moment of hope, that maybe he would be able to get out of this unscathed.
That hope was dashed not a few seconds later, when the snake possessing the boy opened its mouth. "Hmm. Tempting, but even if you have said treasures, I must decline"
Shit.
"May I ask why senior? This fight would benefit neither of us." Flying Poison Dagger said, through some miracle managing to keep the terror out of his voice.
The snake possessing the boy replied with an indifferent coldness that left Flying Poison Dagger chilled to his very bones. "While I personally have no feelings one way or another about killing you, the one request this body asked me to fulfill before surrendering his soul to me was to kill you. I do so hate breaking my promises you see."
He might die here. He, a mighty Core Formation cultivator who'd swept across the desert and who had committed no crimes beyond angering a Qi Gathering Cultivator, was actually going to die here. "N-now, I-i'm sure we can come to s-some sort of an agreement here. D-do you want treasures? I have m-multiple treasures that might interest you, and if you would promise not to kill me, all of them could be yours."
"I will take them from your corpse" With those words, the gem on the forehead of the monster clothed in human skin began glowing a brilliant white. And still its aura was nonexistent. Truly, this beast must have been a master at hiding aura
In the face of certain death, Flying Poison Dagger was frozen. He didn't want to die.
And still, as the seconds began to tick on, nothing happened. "You can flee if you like. It might give you a few seconds more of life."
And suddenly, Flying Poison Dagger realized the truth. This was nothing but a bluff! A mere Qi Gathering whelp had tricked him, HIM! A Core Formation expert! This was unacceptable! With a disdainful snort, Flying Poison Dagger sent the weapon which had given him his name right at the gem on this arrogant junior's forehead. Whatever technique the worm was building up would blow up in his face. And then, the real fun could start.
The dagger flew like an arrow, straight at the orb, coated in a sinister tripartite red and bluish white and yellow energy. The gem on its handle emanated a purple light that pushed it forward at absurd speeds.
It hit the gem, still glowing with a white light, head on.
And then it fell to the floor, inert.
The Orb, and the boy it was attached to, was completely unharmed.
With a lazy smirk, the monster in the guise of a man said but five words that broke his spirit. "Is that all you have?"
Those words galvanized Flying Poison Dagger, and as the monster bent down to pick up his prized treasure, looking it over with mild curiosity, Flying Poison Dagger, not even bothering to try and summon his dagger back, since it was obviously under the monster's control now, ripped out a black canine tooth etched with purple runes from his mouth, which flew out and tore a rift in space.
As Flying Poison Dagger fled through the rift, the last words he heard from that monster were "Ah well, I tried."
The Ninth Prince stayed in that position for a solid ten minutes, just playing with the dagger, eyes, scales, and orb still glowing, before realizing that the Core Formation cultivator wasn't coming back.
After that realization, everything immediately stopped glowing, and the Ninth Prince fell to his hands and knees like a puppet with its strings cut, panting from fear.
Through his gasps, he said the same two words over and over, all while laughing like a maniac. "It.. Worked. HAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHA! IT WORKED!"
The Ninth Prince's plan was an incredibly long shot, almost destined to fail, but somehow, against all odds, it succeeded.
The Orb of Shesha did house a powerful snake spirit, true, but that snake spirit was sealed to only provide knowledge, and the seal was unbreakable. There was no way it would have been able to possess him.
The Orb did have one lifesaving function though, albeit an incredibly poor one. By reciting a lengthy chant, the bearer of the Orb could send their soul into it, swapping places with the snake spirit.
This wasn't as good as it sounded however, for a few reasons. Number one, if the bearer's body died, their soul died, so it didn't even offer any better protection.
Number two, the snake spirit had no cultivation base at all, as well as literally no aura to speak of, even less than a corpse. The entire life saving property was almost a strict downgrade from the un-Orb'd state.
Almost.
The bearer could still control their body while inside the Orb, and had some minor properties of illusion, just enough to mildly alter light and sound, such as, say, making their eyes, Orb, and scales glow white, as well as making their voice resonate unnaturally.
In all seriousness, they were parlor tricks, if that, but somehow, the Ninth Prince had used them to scare off a Core Formation cultivator.
There was, however, one last property of the Orb that came in incredibly handy. It was both indestructible as well as an incredible shock absorber. If the flying dagger had hit his body anywhere but the Orb, he would be turned into red mist. Since it
had hit the orb however, it just bounced off, stripped of all its momentum.
After about an hour of just lying there in the sands and laughing, deliriously happy to be alive, the Ninth Prince tiredly hopped onto Ulo, and begun the long ride home.
Titus Varius was having the time of his life.
He'd just managed to break through to the 3rd heavenstage, had just finished a bandit extermination mission for the clan, and best of all, had an entire week without the terror that was 'The Ninth Prince'.
Yes, life was looking good.
Of course, as soon as Titus opened his stupid mouth, 'The Ninth Prince' came riding in on a snake large enough to eat him whole, with murder in his eyes.
'The Ninth Prince' made his way to the Contribution Points Board, before raising a wicked black dagger with a purple jewel on its hilt and a blade that glew three colors, and yelled to the sky, somehow still managing to look perfectly calm, "AUXILIA ULTIMATUS 'THE NINTH PRINCE' REPORTS A CHANGING OF MISSION PARAMETERS, IN WHICH AUXILIA ULTIMATUS 'THE NINTH PRINCE' SAVED XINJIEN CITY FROM CORE FORMATION CULTIVATOR FLYING POISON DAGGER, BY FRIGHTENING HIM OFF. AUXILIA ULTIMATUS 'THE NINTH PRINCE' BRINGS FLYING POISON DAGGER'S SIGNATURE WEAPON AS PROOF."
What.
Almost immediately, a Foundation Establishment officer seemingly materialized out of thin air with an angry look on his face, and snatched the dagger from the hands of 'The Ninth Prince'. "If this is a jo-"
The Foundation Establishment officer went completely pale. "T-this is legitimate. I-I need to pass this up the chain."
WHAT.
Faced with this world-shattering revelation, that a Qi Gathering Auxilia could frighten off a Core Formation expert, Titus, as well as quite a few other members of the audience, did the only thing he could possibly do. Titus Varius fainted.
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A/N: Here's part two I guess. A bit more serious than I was originally intending, but I figure that the threat of death is pretty good at making things serious. Hopefully the series of events makes sense.
Also
@occipitallobe
Where do I put the reward I would like for an omake?
