When Immortal Ascension Fails Time Travel to Try Again

"This is war. It's no place for a child like her. She wormed her way onto this mission because of her impressive treasure-seeking mouse. If she can't handle a little much-deserved bullying, then she isn't mentally ready for the horrors of the battlefield."

"Deserved? How is having oil dumped all over her 'deserved '?"

He had no fucking idea.

I tapped my temple. "I thought you were smart, but I suspect you're as brainwashed as half the sect."

"What does that mean?"

"You must have known her for a long time."

He shook his head. "I have never talked to her before today. At most, I've seen her around as I fulfill my duties. As part of the secret sect enforcers, we have to remain hidden unless put on an assignment like this."

So he'd secretly watched her and had been affected. Damn. There had to be a way to clear his mind so I could use his skills.

"Let me ask you this: would you trust me and my orders over her safety?"

He hesitated. "I am loyal to the sect and its laws above all, not to you. And my current orders are to work under you on this mission."

"That isn't an answer to my question. If you can't trust my orders, then I'll have to send you back to Doll Monarch and make someone else the leader of your team."

He shook his head. "I'm afraid that's impossible. My team will only follow me."

That wasn't ideal. We didn't have that much time left, and these guys were already working well with Little Spring's team. What if I explained the situation?

Fuck. As much as I hated it, it was an immutable fact that when someone believed something strongly, then it was nearly impossible to change their mind, even when presented with solid facts. The only way to change a mind was to put that person through an experience that shows how very wrong they are.

If anyone knew that, it was me, who once lived in a peaceful world during the era of targeted misinformation, political lies, and celebrated ignorance.

Just thinking about all that shit from my past-past life gave me the urge to fling sword Qi at someone. And this guy counted as 'someone'. Maybe I could beat the brainwashing out of him?

Frankly, I would rather smack the rat girl. Since I couldn't do that without a good reason, maybe 'sparring' with this guy was the next best thing.

Little Spring pushed his way through the puppets and grabbed my sleeve with a white-knuckled grip as if he were trying to stop me from murder.

I mean, I didn't look that angry, right? Just a little furious.

"Elder Linlin, how about we make a bet with him?"

Hidden Dagger flicked his hand, and his tiger puppets gave us more room. "What's the wager?"

The little protagonist turned to the puppeteer. "If you win a light sparring match with the Elder, then we'll let you and your team go and find another. She'll also take back her orders for me to train Little Teasing Mouse so roughly."

I raised my eyebrows at the kid. ::What happened to me not gambling anymore?::

::You're not! I'm the one making the bet.:: He sounded way too confident.

::You have a lot of faith in me.::

::Of course I do. You're Fairy Lin!::

Damn it. He got me with my own saying. ::That's right!::

"And if she wins?" Hidden Dagger said while sizing me up.

"Then you'll unquestioningly obey her orders for the duration of this mission. And you'll believe whatever facts she tells you, even though they might sound ridiculous."

Why did I feel like the brat had to do that far more often than he should have? I mean, I was almost always right when facts were involved, so of course it would make sense to trust me!

"I can't believe something is true merely because I lost a bet. My opinion won't change like that."

"You're right. I'd find it hard to do that, too." The kid grinned. "Then let's do this. For the next two weeks, you'll take actions that align with whatever facts she tells you. Treat her the same way you would a thousand-year-old ancestor who understands things beyond your comprehension."

If I had been eating something, I would have choked. Did this brat seriously just expose me? Then again, someone would have to be insane... or a genius conspiracy theorist, to think that was true.

Crouching Tiger Hidden Dagger crossed his arms and examined me. "Considering the Elder's contributions to the sect, I can do that."

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"Then we have a bet?"

"Of course. But let's discuss the terms of our match. It wouldn't be right to waste precious resources on this when the orthodox sects will arrive soon."

"I agree. To start with, we shouldn't use any defensive talismans or tools." Those should be saved for the war.

He nodded. "Also, I've heard that you work with puppets as well. Since we don't have the time to replace them, let's count a puppet that is disarmed or slightly disabled as destroyed. When that happens, we'll take them out of the match."

Did he think he'd have an advantage? Ha!

Even if his were made from spiritual beast corpses, which could be much tougher than my automaton-like ones, they were mere spiritual tools that wore down over time. His would definitely have flaws I could exploit.

Actually, all puppets had a lot of moving parts that eventually broke down. The only exception was the high-rank ones that had self-repair enchantments.

"Perfect. I don't want my puppets destroyed so close to the war either. At most, we should target only the worn-down parts."

"If you can do that in the middle of a fight, I'll be impressed."

In response, I smiled wickedly.

He waved his hand and returned his tigers to his spatial ring. "Since this is a friendly exchange of notes, let's only decide the winner when one of us gives up or is knocked out. No death."

"That's a given. We're both vital to the sect. You and your team are important to this mission. And I'm an... elder." That word tasted terrible.

"Then to keep things fair and safe, we should invite an unbiased senior to watch over the match."

Elder Wrathful Waterspout appeared in mid-air and frowned down at us. "What's going on here?"

Hidden Dagger clasped his hands and bowed. "Elder, please be our judge!"

I grinned. "Older Brother, come over here and judge our spar fairly." I sent him a telepathic message outlining our bet and fight.

Mr. Not-So Crabby crossed his arms. "Normally, I'd reprimand the disciple here for questioning an elder of the sect like this. But I'm looking forward to seeing Little Sister Linlin's combat ability."

"Even if I can't use my deadliest attacks?" Considering the rules we set up, my barrage of Thousand Cuts that took out the saboteurs was right out. This fight would be about winning through skill and precision, not strength.

He smiled. "That will still be interesting to see in its own way."

"I think so too. It sounds like a fun challenge to me. Though not killing him will be harder than ending his life."

"Don't worry. I'll make sure he doesn't accidentally die. And I'll judge everything fairly."

Hidden Dagger stood silently. A drop of sweat ran down his temple. At this point, even if he wanted to question Wrathful Waterspout's impartiality as a referee, he couldn't.

***

The Nascent Soul elder pushed the spectating units back to the hill I first arrived on and created a shield that would protect them from any stray attacks.

The beast tamers waved and cheered me on. Little Spring jumped in front of them, looking like an excited husky-eared cheerleader. It was kind of embarrassing.

The puppeteers, on the other hand, gathered silently next to Little Teasing Mouse.

We moved out onto the rocky field while keeping ourselves about fifty yards apart.

Hidden Dagger pulled out a dozen puppets. Most of them were a mix of orange and white-tiger-type beasts, but four were arachnids with hairy legs and creepy brown bodies. He also had an owl-type puppet that flew silently like a kite in the sky.

I expanded my divine sense and scanned every one of the puppets to find their weak points. While the tigers would be the biggest threat, the spiders would be the hardest to take down because they were quick, stealthy, and small.

With a wave of my arm, I brought out twenty of my puppets.

I had to split my mind into ten in order to precisely control them all. This, of course, made my head ache. The mind was not supposed to be divided this many times at Foundation Establishment. But even with as many handicaps as we both had, this fight shouldn't take too long.

I brought out my crab sword and my heaven ranked dagger. When I swung them, air tickled the few weeds that struggled to grow between the stones.

Hell yeah! I was finally getting a chance to test them out together!

::Ah, Sister Lin, shouldn't you stick to your guitar?::

Damn it. Little Spring was right. No matter how great the urge was to go all out using my cool new blade, I was still a spy. I had to stay in-character, even if that character seemed to hang on by a thread at this point.

I handed the crab sword to my best swordsman puppet, which I'd recently named Badass Brian. My second-best puppet, Madwoman Melinda, received the dagger.

Once I took out my guitar, Wrathful Waterspout nodded at me.

"Start the match!"

Hidden Dagger flung his hand out, fingers splayed, and jumped back. He vanished within a storm of smoke and completely disappeared. Even using my divine sense, I couldn't figure out where he'd gone. That meant the stealth technique he used was on par with my disguise technique. Damn. If I had known this sect had something so good, I would have tried to acquire it.

Dirt and rocks flew out behind the tiger puppets as they darted forward in a zig-zag pattern. The spiders nearly vanished as they blended in with the gravel.

That was one hell of a first move Hidden Dagger pulled off!

With his location unknown, I couldn't focus the energy of my rock songs on him. The soulless puppets weren't affected either. I also couldn't slash them recklessly due to the terms of the match.

I kept Badass Brian next to me and sent the others dashing forward in pairs like a fearless unit of warriors.

The first two, Leering Linda and Mr. Punk Rocker, I aimed at the largest tiger.

When they neared it, the beast opened its jaw, exposing massive teeth.

Linda held her sword above her head and stepped on her fellow puppet's shoulders to jump on top of the tiger.

The big feline grabbed the guitar from Mr. Punk Rocker's hands and threw it to the side.

Being disarmed, I let him go limp.

Linda stabbed the tiger in its back, right between the metal plates that reinforced its spine. With a jerk, she separated the tiger's vertebrae. It dropped to the ground.

When the leering puppet stood up, the two tigers behind her ganged up. One grabbed her arm between its teeth while the other pulled her sword out of her hands and flung it away.

I disconnected my Qi strings from her. She limply landed on the gravel.

I had the rest of my small platoon gang up on the tigers. While one or two distracted each kitty puppet from the front, giving up their weapons and instruments easily to prevent their damage, another disabled the beast using the weaknesses I'd seen when I scanned them with my divine sense.

One jabbed a dagger into a white striped hip and twisted to separate a weak joint. Another jabbed his drumstick into a fluffy, muscular shoulder, dislocating it.

A large puppet with thick arms, named Big Bert, used a knife-hand strike on a tiger's neck. After a loud, disturbing crack, the beast dropped.

As soon as the last tiger went down, I sensed a hint of bloodlust. I turned and lifted my guitar. The silver flash of a dagger struck toward me. A loud twang echoed through the clearing as all my strings were severed. Nice!

This guy had used his bloodlust to distract me from his intended purpose and had specifically aimed to disable my weapon!