It was one thing to see the great, towering edifice that was the 'Turtlebone Mountain' from the territories of the Clan--a spike of rock piercing the very firmament in a realm that only the strongest experts of the land dared climb. Perhaps it drew power from the stars and sky, bringing it to the earth--for the mountain itself was home to mighty beasts of all varieties throughout its various rivers and lakes, home to many Wandering Cultivators who sought good fortune and excellent challenges. The upper reaches were daunting even to a Nascent Soul--as rumor would have it--and the mountain proper was home to beasts equivalent to Core Formation and Foundation Establishment, the average strength increasing as one traveled across the great monument.
It was, without any doubt--suicide for one of Qi Condensation to adventure in the Mountain itself--but the foothills beneath it? Ah they were rich in beasts, home to many adventurers who sought their great lucky chances to rise to power. Even on the side facing the Great Desert, the levels of energy bleeding off of the mountain itself allowed for a lush and fertile landscape--many of the great farms of the Golden Devil Clan were built in the territory of its shadow, producing foodstuffs and herbs for the Clan suitable for its many Cultivators. Most would call such ambition suicide, with the regular Beast Tides and the occasional Foundation Establishment beast deciding to slum it in the footholls, but the defensive prowess of the Clan was enough to hold the perimeter against all comers--and there was evidently at least one Core Formation Elder residing in the region to discourage any particularly aggressive assaults.
It could be said to be a right of passage, to adventure in Turtlebone Mountain--a place of great peril, but also great opportunities. So it was that Rina Callista found herself joining in that great tradition.
She was, of course, relatively unseasoned as far as adventurers go in that place. While no greenhouse flower unable to sustain contact with the outside world, it remains true that most of her previous battles had been executed with the understanding that should things go against her, there were experts nearby willing to pick up the slack. Her first clashes against the beasts of the Mountain led to no small amount of trouble as a result--surprise attacks getting the drop on her for instance, or being surrounded by multiple foes.
Most who would seek to enter the Mountain for the first time, save those from the most bloodthirsty and violent sects--would rarely have a good time. Life-saving treasures would be employed, secret protectors used to secure them. It would either be little more than a standard, curated adventure.
Or more likely, the sign of the adventurer's death as some predator that's been killing longer than they've been alive gouges their throat out.
DING!
Rina Callista flinched back at the noise moreso than the sense of pressure as the great Obsidian-Toothed Tiger's claws rung off of her skin. She had noticed the flicker of darkness quickly enough to flinch backwards--hence why her throat wasn't bitten off--but the spirit beast's claws followed where its jaws could not reach. Where it might have expected an easy follow up though ran face first into the superlative constitution of the
Alloyed Body, and its claws did little more than scratch her.
Her counterstroke--fist coming down on the beast's spine--was far more telling. Its spine shattered and its organs ruptured under the full force of the
Alloyed Body, it spat up blood, rolled to the ground, and died on the spot, another victim of hubris.
Rina herself looked flustered at this, looking up at her hand and wincing at the blood and bone shards covering it. "Oh
noooo" She whispered. "Eeew, eeew...." She wiggled her hand to try and clean it off, and only got specks of stuff all over her clothes. "Why'd it have to jump out like that! I could have had my sword out instead!"
Indeed, as it turns out--life saving treasures are helpful. Hidden guardians can save your life--but in the end, the greatest form of security is to be invincible among your peers. And the height of the
Blood of Bronze contained within a vessel of the Tenth Heavenstage of Qi Condensation fears only experts of Foundation Establishment--and nothing more.
One can afford a great number of mistakes in that position--and embarrassment is and remains one of the best tools for learning--as long as your ego can take the occasional bruising at least.
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The good news at least is that Turtlebone Mountain had plenty of hot springs all over it! Places where you can wash up, have a comfy and relaxing time in a warm bath, and some of them even had valuable medicinal properties that could speed cultivation a little bit! A great way to get rid of something like having blood and mashed bone all over your arm and hand and
oh dear. Yes, the life of a Cultivator was one of regular, gratuitous violence--but that didn't mean one needed to
revel in the act.
So here she was, sunk to the chin, a lazy smile on her face as as she let the knots and tears of the day's adventuring just float away--along with the stuff on her hand, to go... Wherever it is things go in places like this. Eaten by some beast that likes hot water or something? Details, details.
It was a
lovely day despite all of that, blue skies, birds humming in the trees, the clash of steel and blast of magic.
She blinked as that thought came across. That's not normal at all! Before she could get up though, a bedraggled form burst out from the trees, rolling through the grass and bouncing off a rock into the spring.
"H... wah?" Rina wondered, as the figure bounced off the water, careening straight towards her... Face.
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BONK-------------------------
The sound of metal striking flesh filled the air, and the figure's movement was arrested. "Damnit, now's not the time!" With a fluttering of robes, trying to extract himself from the object he had just struck, which was...
A small, copper-skinned young lady currently staring at him, face red and steaming. "Uh, sorry miss!" He apologized quickly, collecting his cane. "A bit of a rush though! You might want to take cover before they get here and..."
There's no further time at that point, flashes of light fill the clearing, and six cultivators materialized in a six-pointed star formation. "Xu Zhen! There is no escape!" Knives and daggers were drawn as the fleeing Cultivator brought up his cane up to protect himself. "Prepare to die!"
"I'd rather not if that's any matter?" He quips, but the first attacker is upon him--a ray of light caught on his cane and deflected. "Come on then, is that really the best you can do?" A flick of his wrist and one of his sleeves deflects the next strike. "Anyone who stumbles upon a treasure has the right to pick it up! It's only natural that I make use of it myself!" Two more lunge at him, and he hops above them. "Why don't we all just call this off and quit before anyone gets hurt, shall we?"
"The only one who'll be hurt is you"
A sinister voice, full of malice fills the air, and the formerly bright day falls into shadow. The six assassins gather behind the new voice. A handsome looking cultivator, currently holding up the red-faced girl from the hot springs by the hair. A knife was pointed to her throat, and the figure laughed coldly. "It was a lucky stroke, to see the great young genius of the Strength Purity Sect so far from his territories... But your chivalry is well known at this point. Lay down your arms and accept your death, and we will leave you with an intact corpse... Otherwise?" He
harumphed. "Don't blame us for being merciless--to you or this little girl here."
The man bit the bottom of his lip. "Dirty play, dirty pool there..." He hesitated for a moment, then sighed, dropping his cane. "Well, so be it, if you want my life?
Come and take it!" He gestured widely.
"Fool!" The leader of the assassins laughed, throwing the girl to the ground and lunging with his dagger. "I'll refine your soul into my new flag!" Then he halted, stumbling as one leg wouldn't move.
Because the girl was holding it.
"I... Just wanted a bath" She whispered.
"Nothing complicated, safe, not even competing for anything." Xu Zhen blanches at this.
"But then you all had to run on me--and you even saw me in my underwear!"
She yanks back on the assassin's leg, crushing it to paste and pulling him towards her. "Don't think I'll let you get away with this!" She bellows like a tiny, angry lion as her other fist strikes true, bursting him like a bag of blood to the horror of his companions. "Villains! Perverts!" Two small charms worn on her wrists glow, and her weapons expand to their full size--a blue glass heavy sword and a great shield. "I'll get you all for this! See if I don't!"
The assassins were well trained experts, veterans of dozens of real battles--they needed only a moment to look to one another before they all began to move. In the end though, there is a simple logic to the world--one can have all the skill, all the training in the world.
As her glass heavy sword sheared through two of them in a single blow, and her hurled shield brained a third, this truth became clear. Superior power
always beats any amount of cunning and cleverness after a certain point--six experts of the Eighth Heavenstage of Qi Condensation might be a danger when accompanied by an expert of the ninth.
But in close combat against a body cultivator with strength capable of challenging the
Thirteenth? The outcome was in little doubt. With their leader and three of the subordinates brought low in the first moments of the battle--the remaining enemies had little chance--even against the girl's bare fists. Scattering might have helped them escape...
At least until the man they had been chasing in the first place intercepted the last of them when he veered off, took several blows from his cane, was then dropped by a magic spell that formed a burst of fire emitted from the hand, reducing him to ash.
Of course, while the
assassins were dead, there still remained one problem.
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ORZ-----------------------------------------------------------
"I'm truly very sorry!" The rude man begged, hands on his knees and kneeling down. "They were using a scent tracking mechanism and I tried to get here to wash it off! I didn't have time to see if anyone was occupying this spring!" Rina had a chance to get cleaned up again and changed into her travelling clothes, arms crossed as she witnessed the apology. "I can't speak for them and they got what was coming to them, but please forgive me my trespasses young miss!"
"It's still very rude of you!" Rina sniffed dismissively. "But I'll forgive you this once, I'd be unreasonable if I blamed you for being chased." It wasn't like she was some princess who never had contact with the opposite sex after all, she was
offended but not going to start a grudge over something that silly. A good apology was all that was needed! "But you could have beaten them all on your own I'm sure, why were you trying to hard to run away?"
He paused, and winced. "Ah, you noticed that, didn't you?" He considered the situation or a moment, and nodded. "I'm... Here for... Certain reasons, and using my full strength wasn't an option here, so I had to run."
"You're totally on punishment duty, aren't you?" Rina asked, and he flinched. "I knew it."
"Yeah, they sealed up some of my cultivation and threw me up in the foothills. Apparently the higher ups don't like it when you spend all your time sorting the archives after a certain point." He wiggled his hands. "You win a couple tournaments here and there, and everyone thinks you're a genius, and then start getting mad at you when you don't start running head first into combat missions for the sake of the Sect."
"Ohhhh" Rina drew that noise out a little, and then nodded. "I actually do understand! I was going to go into Arrays when the Clan started training, but they saw I had great aptitude for the whole." She mimed out a few punches. "--thing, and put me over there! I mean, I don't mind the hard work and violence too much, but I understand what you're getting at there. That's really mean of them!" She pumped her fist. "I've been looking out for adventure while I'm here anyway! An escort job will be great practice!"
"... Hold on, I feel like you said something important there..." Xu Zhen started, but was put off by the girl getting up in his personal space, getting up on her tiptoes and patting his shoulder. "Don't think too hard about it! As long as Rina Callista is here, nobody'll be able to hurt you!" She paused. "Unless they're Foundation Establishment, I'm not too sure how I'd handle one of those..." She spun about on her heel then and began to march off. "But I'm sure it'll all be fine either way! There's strength in numbers after all, and you're a fellow 'Person who'd rather be a scholar!' We'll be friends in no time!"
"No, really though, you implied something important there..." Xu Zhen tried to regain control of his life, but to no avail.
And thus, a strange friendship beyond borders was formed.
