The spirit slapped her again.

Jun stared at the spirit in shock. It actually slapped her not once, but twice. She didn't know what to think if she was supposed to think at all. Her mind forcefully blank and white. Unable to process what the hell just happened.

"I…" she tried to speak.

"You, a newborn babe, need not think. Need not question those who are better than you. Superior to you. Wiser, more tested. You. Are. Nothing."

Jun's lips quivered. Everything she had feared and attempted to hide in the lowest pits of her chest had been made plain for her. She felt wetness in her eyes, blurring her vision. There was an attempt to blink them away. It did not help her case. Only making everything worse for her currently.

The lady spirit's growing sneer made it all the worse. She was disgusted.

"Stand, little cub. Stand and wield me as a true master should." The spirit said. Waving her arm towards Shao Yating. "Show the world what power you can call forth. Be the dragon my master believes you can become. The fierce tiger of the Hu clan."

Jun tried to do as the spirit told her. Shaking and struggling to rise from her weakened state of kneeling. Only to fail. Coughing, blood still seeping from all the hundreds of cuts and scratches that covered her body. Some deeper than others. They sapped her energy. Taking what little power she had left from her, turning it into Qi in the ether.

She looked up at the expectant look on the spirits face. Quickly putting her head down and trying again only to fail one more time.

"Hu girl. Who were you talking to?" Shao Yating said from a distance.

Jun ignored him. She shouted as she tried to stand one more time. Jun got her second leg under her frame. Stumbling like a new born calf. Unable to find her balance after all the damage she had taken in the fight.

The spirit held her steady. "Good—"

"Who said that?" Shao Yating jerked his head left and right.

"Take my hand—" Her voice echoed in the entire clearing. Falling upon the ears of any who were close enough to hear her words. Not just Jun.

Shao Yating shouted as he released a wave of Qi behind him. Then to his sides. Trying to find the voice that rang in the forest around them. Unable to locate it even though it stood right in front of him. Death he could not possibly see.

"—Let me guide you. Lead you. Become one with my blade, descendant of my Master. Free me upon this world." The spirit extended its arm. Reaching for Jun.

"Answer me! I am Shao Yating! Son of the Spider Valley Cult. Son-in-law of Cai Xuefang! An Elder of the Dark Gate Palace! Zi Zhen its master! Show yourself, whoever you are or the consequences will be unrelenting!"

Jun copied the spirit.

She gasped as the spirit disappeared. A wind surged around her with more energy and Qi than she thought possible.

Yating snapped his head to her. Immediately activating his core and calling upon the depths of his cultivation. Speaking no more. A mountain of shadows rose around him. Covering his entire side of the clearing in its entirety. Greater than anything he had shown so far.

Jun could see him shake in exertion. She could see the widening of his eyes, trembling of his jaw. The shaking of his rising arms. Jun could smell the fear he reeked of.

The spirit whispered into her ear. "Watch what an infinitesimal amount of my power looks like."

Jun felt the world gather around her. Body moving on its own without her command. Her posture straightened. Chin rose to the heavens. A disdainful frown graced her cross eyebrows and face. She shifted sideways. Movements etched into her soul. Things she had never practiced once in her entire life now felt second nature.

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Her sword hung loosely in her palms. The tip pointing onto the ground but towards Shao Yating.

She could feel the gathering Qi. The surging tide. A tsunami far greater than anything she could imagine. Enough to drain the forest, but weakened due to Jun's low realm and density of her own Core. The mere thought of what it could potentially look like almost sent her spiraling.

But she had something more important to accomplish. Something she had no control of, but intended to take advantage of entirely.

Is this Ancestor's power? Is he that strong? Doesn't this spirit call him master without question? How much power does someone need to be for something this domineering to bow it's head willingly?

Qi surged through her meridians. They would have been savaged beyond repair had the spirit not taken an active role to mitigate it. Creating channels she did not know existed. Opening others she had thought beyond reach until the very last Katas her master had indicated. All within seconds.

And then she felt the shattering of her Gaseous Core. Reborn. Remade in the likeness of something she did not recognize. Liquid dripping into it. Filling it. A sensation she had never felt before. A breakthrough without any tribulation. Without struggle.

"Die!" Shao Yating screamed in a shrill voice. He rose from the ground. Floating upon the shadows and darkness that surrounded him.

He threw his arms forward. Sending every ounce of Qi he could possibly gather or held within his core at Jun. In hopes to strike her before the gathering of the storm came to a head. Attempting to catch her before she was prepared. But it was too late.

Jun moved. The blade rose above her head, still loosely in her palm. Slowly without care.

The surge of darkness charged her.

Her weapon spirit did not care for Shao Yating's attack.

It waited until the last moment. Confidence and maybe even arrogance brimmed in her chest beyond anything Jun could be capable of. Disdain graced her face. The spirit was not impressed with the impossible attack that would have crushed Jun in an instant.

Jun's hand dropped.

"Die, insect." Her weapon spirit sneered.

The world flashed white around her. Shao Yating screamed. The shadows vanished into nothingness. Silence overtook the world around her. Blindness assaulting her senses. Only a dull thrum filled her ears. She could not feel Qi or anything else around her.

Everything snapped back into reality.

Clouds of dust surrounded her. Making it impossible to see what had happened to Shao Yating. All she could see was a few dozen feet in front of her.

A massive trench cut through the ground cleanly. Deeper than Jun could see.

The fog cleared slowly revealing a widening ditch that felt impossible. A bottomless pit. An abyss.

Until it finally landed upon two figures. She could not make them out clearly, as though the clouds were centered around them. Obscuring them from the view.

"S-Shao Yating?"

"Truly," an old man's voice said. Coming from the figures hidden in dust. "A dragon only breeds dragons. Hidden tigers of legend do not give birth to worthless pups and cubs, even if their blood is diluted."

Jun tried to call for the ridiculous power she had used again. Only to find herself empty. Her core dry. Not an ounce of Qi in the area around her. Anything that did filter back in was tainted or too weak to use. That had been the final attack in her arsenal. Everything in one move.

The weapon spirit did not answer her.

"Father-in-law! She tried to kill me. Get her!" Shao Yating's distinct voice sounded out clearly.

He was still alive.

Guess I'm about to die. Not unless ancestor suddenly appears out of the ink-like darkness that surrounds this clearing. Has he not done enough for me already? How much more do I dare ask for?

The old man stepped out of the dust surrounding the two. He turned to look back at Shao Yating. "Am I a dog to command?"

"W-What?" Shao Yating stuttered. "Never. Father-in-law, I would never say such a thing."

"Enough. Go along while I speak to this young lady."

Shao Yating nodded. He stepped out of the dust. Gave Jun a dirty look promising agony and death if they were to meet again in the future. Then promptly ran off back towards the Silver Mountain Gang's town.

"I am Cai Xuefang," the old man said. Kicking at the slabs of glass before him. "So young. Yet so powerful. Had I not feared your master, I would have stolen you to become my disciple."

"I would never kneel before you. Death before I serve another ancestor. Another master."

Cai Xuefang smiled. "Your Ancestor has taught you well. Even before me you do not cower. I could expect nothing less from such a thing—"

Such a thing? What does he mean by that?

"—for now. It is a simple goodbye. Hopefully the next time we meet, the situation will favor us."

Cai Xuefang disappeared.

Jun fell to her knees. All the injuries and fatigue started to set in. Everything that happened. How close she had gotten to dying multiple times in a single confrontation. How lucky she was to be alive. How much her master and Ancestor had done for her without even needing to be there.

She had even somehow broken through to the Liquid Core Stage somehow.

But even with everything, she could not forget Cai Xuefang's last sentences. The emphasis he put on a single word among them all.

Thing.

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