Jade Dragon Beauty

Shen had learned enough by that time to start practicing the techniques, and used them several times until she thought she was reasonably competent with them. She had assumed that the anti-toxin one would be similar to the meditation to remove toxins from her body in Cleansing, and in a way it was. The main differences was that the toxins it dealt with were the kind that were very hard to get rid of and would stick around until you did something to remove them or died, at which point the composting bacteria inside of you could eat them. This technique, however, mimicked how Spirit Grass purged toxins more gently, by pulling them into the waste systems of the body. While it couldn't deal with the stubborn toxins from cultivation, it could deal with most natural toxins, though something like snake venom might take a higher level version to fully purge in a short period.

The anti-fungus one was technically a Death spell which only targeted fungal colonies and therefore Shen knew that it would work really well here due to the prevalence of Death chi. The problem with it was that she would have to make it much stronger than normal to make it be able to effect the Corpse Mushrooms, as weak Death chi would just feed them, making them grow even more. A continuous effect wouldn't work, as it would be much weaker. So she would need something that could store some chi. Preferably something that stored Death chi.

She pulled out her materials book and flipped through it, and after ten minutes found the perfect material, one which was in great supply in this region. The problem was that she didn't want to use it. It just felt wrong somehow, even if the people were already Dead. She thought about it, though, and realized that it wouldn't be any worse than using cores from dead demons or doing what her sword did and using part of a dead spirit beast.

She sighed and dipped her sword closer to the ground until she was skimming the surface. A Dead man was standing in her path so, when he swiped at her with his hand, she swung her Dragon sword and cut his hand off. She grabbed it, or rather it grabbed her, wrapping itself around her arm and squeezing. She wrapped a Fire barrier around the area and released her Fire chi into it. The flames couldn't hurt her, as it was her chi and her skin was already conditioned to this level of heat, so she only felt the heat as the hand burst into flames. After a few minutes all of the flesh was gone and, while the bones were still technically undead, without flesh they couldn't do anything.

If she had collected part of the arm, she could have just cut slices off of the bones of the forearm and they would work as rings, but with finger bones it would be harder to do so. She sent the bones from the barrier into her ring and removed enough of them that she could mold them into ring shapes. Shaping bone wasn't very easy, but Water chi could be injected into things to soften it and, even though she had never used the process, she eventually got good enough at it to make six rings, a large men's, two medium men's, a small men's, a medium women's, and a small women's. She then used most of what was left to make a bracelet that was closer to a choker necklace in size so that Shoom could wear it.

She then started carving the formations into the rings. After the sun set they landed and the General quickly killed the Dead in the area before creating the barrier again. "Sir." Shen said, walking up to him as he started to meditate. Her brain was telling her that calling him that was extremely rude, like calling a sect elder 'old man', but a tiny piece of her made her hurt mentally when she thought about having to call him Master. He opened his eyes and didn't immediately scold her, so she supposed it was okay.

"Yes?"

"I made these for you, Sir." she said, handing him a white Jade ring and a bone ring. "I only had white jade, and had to use the bone from a Dead man to make the second ring, because I needed something that would store Death chi. If they aren't good enough…"

"They are fine, assuming they aren't just decoration." he responded.

"Oh, no, sir." she said. "They are functional. The Jade one constantly uses the Detox technique, so that you don't have any toxins in your body. The Bone one uses the Anti-fungus technique on you about four times a day so that you don't need the pill. I wasn't sure if you needed them, but I made them last and took my time so I could do the best I could."

He took the rings and put them on. "I've been using a technique to do that, but the rings are more convenient. Thank you."

For some reason him saying that made Shen happy, even if something in the back of her mind whispered that she should hate anything her said, as he was only saying it to make her like him.

Shen handed the rest of the items out, having worked both of Shoom's into the same item by using a piece of normal wood for half of the bracelet and bone for the other half. Now that they would be capable of living in the wasteland for the near future, she was more relaxed. They wouldn't have to rely on Mae's pills, which were a consumable resource and in limited supply. That was one of Shen's favorite things about relics, they could give you an endless supply of certain effects which were in limited supply.

After they had made a corpse pile with what was left of the Dead, Shen lit in on fire. The fire kept trying to extinguish itself, but she just restarted the fire any time it got too weak. Dead tended to not have much water in them, so she wasn't sure what was fighting her fire, but they weren't slowing the fire by enough that she couldn't finish removing the flesh.

She pulled a Late Gathering level Beast Core from the pile, and a scrap of spirit copper that likely used to be a relic of some sort, then stored all of the bones in her ring. It was almost full, but the bones of undead were a fairly difficult to acquire resource.

She walked over to where the others were gathered to get something to eat, the General having eaten field rations again, and sat down. As she was eating some of the soup Mae had prepared, she noticed that Lu's necklace was a string of storage rings. "Those rings." Shen said, pointing at the necklace. "Are they all functional?" It was possible he was keeping them as momentos. If that was the case, she would have to fix them, as the storage space would be very valuable.

"Of course they are." he said, putting another spoon full of soup in his mouth. "Where do you think this food came from?" He pointed at Mae's hand and Shen saw two storage rings there, one Spirit Copper and one Star Metal. "Remember how I said I was taking everything left in the cave? I left four rings of food with Elder Li before rescuing you, and kept the one that wasn't that full. I gave it to Mae yesterday when she was cooking, as well as the Star Metal one that contains everything in the cave's Alchemy lab. The food should last us at least a week and, while the ingredients in the cave weren't rare, there is enough to make over a thousand Cleansing and Gathering level pills. Once she has a chance she can use one of the cauldrons in there to get a bit more practice."

Shen nodded. "That should be quite useful? You wouldn't happen to have any relic crafting materials, would you?"

"Maybe a few basic books on the subject." He separated one of the rings from the others, a Star Metal one. "This has everything from the library in it. I know we had a Relic Crafting, a Talismonger, and a Formation Master minor cultivation technique. You probably shouldn't try to diversify too much at this point, though. At least until we get somewhere safe." While what he had seemed like a lot, any minor sect would have far more, and many bandit groups had comparable resources due to having raided merchants who dealt in those supplies or techniques. Still, it would be enough for his to try and reform the sect once the group found a safe location.

Of course, that would also mean getting rid of the General, as he was the one who destroyed the sect in the first place. Shen tried to think of a way to do that, but every time her mind wandered to the point where she thought about injuring her she would get a headache and a feeling of guilt. Even indirect or weak methods like giving him a cursed artifact that lowered his dexterity or putting laxatives Mas made into his food made the pressure start to build in her head until she thought about something else. Shen knew it was that damned slave contract causing her problems, and hated her even more for it, but at the moment she knew of no way to get around it. Perhaps they could just run away once they were out of the wasteland? If she didn't attack him she thought she could force herself to do that much.

As they sat there a group of Dead came to West side of the barrier and started hitting it. The barrier was far too strong for them to damage it, but the repeated sound got annoying after a few minutes. "Shen, Danka, Shoom, Lu." said the General. "Do you think you could kill the for me? The noise is distracting me from cultivating."

Shen and the others stood up. As annoying as they were being, she didn't mind obeying him this time. Once they were waiting nearby, the General opened a hole in the barrier where the Dead were and the four of them attacked. It only took a few seconds to kill them, and the General closed the barrier again once they were all inside.

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"Please inspect the bodies." the General told them. "The Dead generally don't attack in a coordinated manor like that. See if there is anything special about them."

Shen nodded and went over to one of them and used the Sunder sword to slice its chest open. It tried to scream in pain and escape, but with no arms or legs and its throat slit it couldn't do anything. The first thing she noticed was a Beast Core. Middle Gathering, of the Death element. They checked the other Dead and each of them also had a core, though they were of different quality, seven Gathering and one Cleansing.

The General thought about it. "Eight cores from eight Dead. And they behaved in a coordinated manor. Any thoughts?" he asked. Shen could tell from his smile that he already knew the answer and was testing them. Self absorbed asshole.

"Necromancer." said Lu. "Death element Cultivator. I read that there are techniques to form beast cores within some beast training manuals, to enhance the power of a spirit pet and let it grow faster as the core grows. This cultivator is likely doing something similar, turning the Dead into swarms of spirit pets. While they aren't strong individually, like Insect type beasts, in large numbers they can be a serious threat. If the master uses Death techniques, only a Dead could survive them making a Death core."

The General nodded. "Very good." he said. "I have seen this twice before. One of the Demon Lord's council is a necromancer, and uses that method to make servants that work tirelessly. The other was a human about a hundred years ago. If we have found a third, this would be a good place for them to cultivate." The six nodded and Shen found herself joining in. "From now on, stay vigilant any time we are on the ground. While this level of Dead can't injure me as long as I have the chi, they can cause me to exhaust my chi so that I lose the ability to fight back, then kill me with repeated attacks."

After that, the others gave Shen the cores and she stored them, then they all went to bed. Because they had been ordered to stay vigilant, Lu and Shoom took the first watch and Shen and Danka took the second. It would mean that they got less sleep, but there were meditations to fix that issue.

At one point, Shen and Danka were sitting beside the fire and Shen slid closer to him. "So." she whispered. "What do you think of our new master?" She didn't like that last word, but it was the most accurate for the situation.

"He is a skilled fighter, and a powerful cultivator." said Danka, as if he had prepared an answer.

"Yes, but, how do you feel about being his slave?"

Danka thought for a second and sighed. "I don't like being a slave. Anyone's slave. But he, at least, hasn't been a bad master." Danka sighed and shook his head. "Besides, what are we supposed to do. Run away and let the Dead kill us? Fight him? Even just thinking of that…" Danka grabbed his head as it started to hurt.

"Right, but does the slave contract force you to protect him?" Shen asked, and Danka shook his head.

"Not as far as I can tell. Just obey, not harm, and, to a lesser degree, show respect. I suspect that if he comes under attack he'll order us to defend him, though."

Shen nodded. "Maybe, but he doesn't seem the type to ask for help. Maybe we can use that to our advantage." Danka nodded, and they continued the watch.

The General, of course, heard the conversation, the senses of a Nascent soul cultivator, especially one with a core, were far finer than Shen had thought. Inside he smiled, but didn't respond on the outside. He would let them scheme for now. They still needed him, and they couldn't actually do anything to him, so he would be safe. Maybe at some point in the near future he would need to interfere with Shen's attempt to turn them against him, but not tonight.

The next morning they ate breakfast and, after breaking camp, flew west again. Shen talked to Mae, convincing her that they should run away if given the opportunity. Mae seemed oddly loyal, like she needed someone to serve. Maybe he was somehow standing in for the sisters as a master, though Shen made sure that she realized that he wasn't the kind that taught you new things.

Danka spoke to Ponma and he responded similarly. He just wanted someone to protect him. He didn't like combat, but would engage in it if he had to. What he wanted was to settle down somewhere and run a business. Even if the 'settling down' part never came and he ran a caravan instead, what he wanted was to trade, to bring people what they needed and to take what they had too much of in exchange, earning a profit from doing so. It took a bit of persuasion to convince him that the General didn't just want to help him. He realized that the General would want a cut of his profits, but who wouldn't? That's what guards did, what Danka wanted to do. The only difference was that the General would be a silent business partner. He would take a bit of the profits but instead would protect Ponma from more than just physical threats. He could protect him from political interference as well. Many merchants in the mortal cities made deals with nobility for that reason.

Lu agreed with them almost immediately. He knew he shouldn't have to follow the man as a slave, but didn't believe he had a choice. If he thought he did, he would gladly leave, though he recognized that the contract would limit his options severely. Perhaps a situation would arise, though.

Shoom was the hardest to convince. He had been raised to have a master. He liked having one. It felt natural for him. On an intellectual level he knew that intelligent beings shouldn't be treated like pets or property, that only under certain circumstances like if they were being punished for a crime or had agreed to it to pay off a debt should they be in such a situation, but even then they would be contracted workers, not slaves that were owned by another person, and therefore would have certain rights. It just didn't seem to resonate with him why that was wrong.

That night they landed and they once again cleared out an area and the General produced a barrier. The four fighters helped clear the dead this time and burned the bodies. All thirteen of them had cores, and, interestingly, one of them had an initial Foundation core. Shen made sure to burn that one separately so that she could save the more valuable bones of a Foundation level Dead.

Once they ate, the General called Shen over to him. After she sat down he sighed. "I know you don't like being a slave. I wouldn't like it either. But I also know that you aren't a coward. If you were you wouldn't have went to help the others fight the Dead that were here. And you wouldn't have spent so much time on the wall growing that spirit vine around my barrier which killed thousands or my people." A look of shock went over Shen's face. "Yes, I know that you were one of the fighters that killed my people. That first night I knew you looked familiar, as did Lu. I just wasn't sure why. While I'm still not sure about him, I remembered your face from when I was surveying the battlefield. I didn't think you could get through the barrier so I ignored you. Who knew that you would somehow figure out a was to artificially create a Nascent Soul level spirit plant? And a carnivorous one at that. Truly a genius strategy on your part."

Shen looked a bit scared and confused. "If you knew then, why…"

"Why would I accept you as my slave? Why would I not get rid of you, knowing what you did?" He smiled. "I did it because you aren't a coward, and I swore to protect you. If you had used some cowardly tactic to kill my men I would leave you to die. While I swore to protect you as long as you are my slave, I can end the contract whenever I wish. Most people don't realize that when accepting. My troops didn't. They were fools who were too interested in finding glory and wealth in battle than fighting for a cause. And because they were equal parts brave and foolish, they died fighting against a barrier they couldn't defeat or charging through a gap in a wall, knowing that it was filled with explosives. Though now that I see your skill in creating relics I suspect that those explosives were made by you."

Shen nodded. "Yes, I suppose I can't hide it. I also fought the group that entered the city and killed a few of them." She pulled the core of the demon that killed Mr. Li from her ring.

The General didn't seem to kill. "You were able to fight those stronger than you and win? That is quite impressive. No doubt your skill and cunning in battle is comparable to your skill and cunning with relics." Shen shrugged at the compliment. Why did she like the fact that he said that. Even the part of her that hated being a slave liked it when he said that. "The point I was making," he continued, "Was that you are worth more than a thousand of those idiots that were sent against your sect. So even knowing what you did to them, I can't help but admire you. You are exactly the kind of soldier the Demon Lord needs under him, and the kind I hope to find to serve me. Danka? He's like the others. Loyal, and a good fighter, but he isn't clever, like you. The Others? Spirit beasts are either too loyal or two independent. Lu is a thinker, but he doesn't really have the drive to excel in life, too content to just sit and wait, never taking action to improve his situation. Then there is Ponma and Mae. A skilled merchant and Alchemist, but neither likes to fight. Their skills and cunning lie entirely in their trade, not in combat. Good to have around, especially in a settlement, but worthless on a battlefield, even if they are competent in a fight."

The General sighed. "When we get to my estate they will be left in the town there. They will be given what they need to run their businesses and I suspect that they will be a great benefit to the town's economy. Danka and Shoom will join the town guard. They will make excellent guards. Lu." He paused for a few seconds. "I don't know. Maybe I will assign him to do research. The demon empire lacks scholars. I think he would do well in that role. You on the other hand." He shrugged. "At one point I thought to put you with either the fighters or the tradesmen group. Then I tried to figure out how you might do both, perhaps as a military crafter, making relics exclusively for the military. After thinking about it, I think I figured out what your role will be. You will be my assistant and my apprentice. You are the only person I've met, human or demon, who I think could learn to be another General. The only person I think could challenge me in skill, and not just power." With that, he motioned for her to leave, and she bowed and did so.

The bow seemed strange. Why had she done so? Why had she been okay doing so? The closest she could tell was that it was the opposite of Mae's position. While she accepted having one kind of Master because she craved the other, Shen couldn't accept the first kind, but wouldn't mind have the second. Even if it was a man whose face she wanted to punch in for making her his slave.