Nai did not go inside the brothel. She had done that once before and Yai Mien had given her a vicious scolding. She had spent the rest of that day with no treats and had even gotten a glare from Medin.

"Well, well, well, a voice spoke. What are you doing here?"

Nai turned and saw Mei Shan along with that new girl looking at her.

"Aug!"

That was gibberish for None of your business.

"Is it now?" Mei Shan asked.

Nai stood her ground, or rather, she crawled her ground, using both her knees and hands to present her resolution.

Unfortunately, the ground was swiftly taken away from her before she could state any demands. She was being held up and inspected by Mei Shan.

"Well, as long as you haven't been causing any trouble," the girl added.

Nai shook her head firmly and the brunette fifth rank stared at her gently. Her hair was different, Nai noticed. It was undone, not all the way, but in a way that lacked effort.

And the girl next to her, the one who kept studying her anytime they met, also looked a little disheveled.

Nai leaped back out of Mei's hands and crawled onto the floor.

She wailed something to the extent of, I will not be touched by people who don't bathe after engaging in strange activities.

And for the first time in a long time, Mei Shan visibly flushed red.

Fey Lin Fo only gave a slight smile.

"We did nothing but train little ones. I didn't do anything with your aunty, I swear it."

Nai sniffed, then nodded. She was telling the truth. She could smell sweat and weariness, but nothing more.

But then, why had Mei Shan's face gone red? Nai looked at Mei Shan's aura and saw glaring annoyance directed at her.

Nai took that as a sign to run and crawled through the valley and straight into Chin's house. Medin was her safe zone.

Back in front of the brothel, Mei Shan and Fey Lin Fo walked.

"Its alright, I understand my effect on people. I won't hold it against you."

"Oh stop," Mei Shan spoke. "I don't hold it in your favor either. As far as I know, I'm the only one in this region who has seen your true face. I might ask Mister Bill for some sort of solution later on, if it becomes a problem."

"You think your feelings are a problem?"

"Haven't other people's feelings about you been a problem your whole life?"

"Yes," Fey Lin Fo nodded. "But I've met many people who can accept no, its those who can't that cause me problems."

If you spot this story on Amazon, know that it has been stolen. Report the violation.

"I've seen more beautiful people," Mei Shan spoke. "But they were almost something else entirely. Gods to be served more than equals."

"You think me your equal?"

"I think we're equals in wisdom, though I have seen more and am your senior within the region and in front of Mister Bill's eyes," Mei Shan teased.

"And how about in your eyes? How do I hold up to them?" Fey Lin Fo asked.

There was a smug grin on her face and even though her true face was hidden, even her disguise seemed to borrow its beauty for a moment.

"I pity you," Mei Shan said.

All the flirtatious air was tossed into the wind.

"More than anything, I pity you," Mei Shan repeated.

Mei Shan knew what kind of life Fey Lin Fo had lived. After all, she had been a servant of the Divine Beast Emporium. There, everything was about control. They shared a small silence for a moment, not as people, not as women or cultivators.

They shared a silent moment of freedom. Not true freedom, since Mei Shan couldn't leave this valley and the great sects were surely hunting for Fey Lin Fo.

But a moment of freedom nonetheless.

"Did he save you?" Fey Lin asked.

"No. He was encouraged to take us and… well, it all turned out better in the end I think."

"My family would rent me out to different families, not to be seduced but to be courted. They would give me to different clans within the sect for a few years and I would be trapped within their compounds, constantly being harassed by their people. I'm convinced that if I ever casually laid with a person, that the person would be killed and that I would have known hell.

"If it weren't for the value my 'purity' had to them, I would have been forced upon ages ago. I could never love someone without bringing them risk, and when I was weak, with my aura, potential suitors were known instantly. I had no peace in my mind or body. I could not love nor lust a single soul, or else they would suddenly die the next day."

Fey Lin Fo breathed a demigod's breath and a sudden wind arose within the valley. It spread and it spread, among the old desert ground that was now fruiting small buds of grass in the process and into the earth, being captured before it could leave the strip.

Her arms flexed open and closed.

"I-- I managed to steal the Void Blade Technique from one of my suitors and attempted to use it to escape. It perfectly counters the Eternal Darkness Technique you see. Both Sects rose at the same time and their techniques were designed to perfectly counter one another."

Mei Shan watched as Fey Lin Fo walked. She held both her hands out in a grip, as if she was holding the handle of a sword.

In her right hand, there was nothing, and then there was something less than that. The Void shimmered and came to be where her right grip had been. A bleak lack of laws and reason, a cut of emptiness that Mei Shan could not touch.

In Fey Lin Fo's left hand came absolute darkness, a compressed ball of eternal darkness that would swallow all things until there was nothing left.

One had the nature of nothing, the other had the nature of everything. Absolute void in one hand, absolutely everything in the other.

Mei Shan nodded.

She had seen techniques like that before--

"Can you please not rip a hole in the fabric of reality over here?" Mister Bill suddenly said.

"And what is this dual Jedi Knight of a technique?"

Then the man walked up to Fey Lin Fo and took the technique from her hands.

He actually took it.

"You should be careful with this," he said. "A super black hole and a weaponized version of the void. Both useful, both limited."

Then he waved the swords around, and for some reason, a strange humming noise came from them.

"See, this is a cool technique, really nice. But the problem is that its almost impossible to get into the tenth rank. To truly make them of a higher caliber, you need to not only make something out of known laws, but also make something more than that."

Both blades flare, the dark became darker, the void shimmered with something else.

"Not a blade of the Void, but a blade of absolute destruction and not a sword of Eternal Darkness, but a sword of eternal devouring. Though since you've mastered two opposing techniques, you might find something more in between them. Anyways, I'll set up a small training area on the backside of the house, practice there if you have to. Techniques like this irritate Ah-Marin and dao knows the realm is irritated enough with me as it is."

"Yes Mister Bill," Mei Shan said.

Then both blades dissipated and the man disappeared.

"What-- how can he-- what, what just happened?"

"He gives a lot of unsolicited advice," Mei Shan said. "Its useful, but he had a flashy way of going about it."

If you find any errors ( broken links, non-standard content, etc.. ), Please let us know < report chapter > so we can fix it as soon as possible.