When Immortal Ascension Fails Time Travel to Try Again

Hidden Dagger appeared confused and glanced over at Little Teasing Mouse, who chatted happily with the puppeteers. "That girl?"

"She's a self-trained demonic dancer."

One of the masked men nodded at what she said and then vanished. Damn it. What was she up to now?

"Nonsense. She's adorable. Demonic dancers are infamously sultry and seductive. The way they move their hips is supposed to incite lust in those around them. I'm not even sure that girl has hips."

"Uh huh... And is this knowledge about them something you learned from experience?"

His ears turned bright red, but his face remained neutral. He cleared his throat. "I've been through resistive training. And if you're wondering, I passed with no problems."

"Well, unfortunately for you, they must not have covered the cutesy dances."

"Even if I consider that, I can't believe it."

This was why instructors always needed to be thorough! "What if I said that I discovered a demonic dancer manual where several of the depicted dances match the poses she likes to stand in?"

He shook his head. "Even if that is the case, from what I learned about demonic dancers, all of them have schemes and traps flowing out of every action. That child doesn't have a scheming bone in her body."

Okay, point to him. "She's probably too dumb to scheme very well, but she uses dancing techniques like she was born to. Because of that, nearly half the sect takes care of her!"

There was obvious doubt on his face.

"Consider this... Do you even know her? Have you spent time with her?"

"Well... no. Like I said, I've seen her around while I work. She always appeared cheerful while her close friends looked happy."

Let's see if I could dig the brainwashing out of someone's head for once. "Think about this... You were about to walk away from a highly important mission. One that will help save this sect you claim you're loyal to. Is there anyone else in this sect besides that brat you'd do that for?"

His eyes unfocused. "The junior sect leader or my puppeteering elders could order me to, and I would... Wait..." For a moment, he seemed lost and confused. His hand shook. "Then why…"

"If you can see it now, then maybe you can help prevent her from affecting the other members of your unit. Just like how Verdant Spring has been interrupting her."

He jerked his head up and stared into my eyes. "So he was never bullying her?"

Well, that was part of it, not that I'd admit it to him. "It has a purpose. And I need you to watch out for the poses as well."

I used my telepathic technique to show him several pages from the manual that I'd memorized. They showed all the demonic dance positions that the rat girl used. At least all the ones I had recorded her doing.

He pressed his fist to his mouth while concern clouded his eyes.

"You recognize those. You'd seen her use them, right?"

He nodded. "Back before."

Just then, the puppeteer, who had vanished, returned. He left a stack of scrolls, bags, and boxes next to the girl, drawing our attention.

She jumped up and down happily. "Oh, thank you! I was worried all the gifts would pile up too high if I didn't get back to my courtyard soon."

Hidden Dagger frowned.

Yeah, watching the girl send one of his men on a fetch quest to retrieve the presents other disciples left on her doorstep must not have been pleasant.

"Can I count on you to prevent her from brainwashing you and your team?"

"Why?"

From his tone of voice, he definitely wasn't asking why I wanted him to help.

I clasped my hands behind my back.

"You want to know why I would allow her to join a critical mission while knowing all this? It's partially because her treasure-seeking mouse will be incredibly useful... but the main reason is to gain support. I made a bargain with Older Brother Wrathful Waterspout that I'd work with her just to get this mission approved. That's how important it is."

He rubbed his temples. "No. I mean, why is she still in the sect at all? All the demonic dancers left years ago."

"I don't know. Maybe she's a spy."

"I doubt it... But I'll have someone look into it just in case. Maybe we can find a way to kick her out."

What? Really?! "Actually, I already tried to have her kicked out several times. She has a few important elders on her side. After they realize that she's the sect's last demonic dancer, they'll probably celebrate her as the golden child who will revive the sect's missing unorthodox discipline."

"They aren't concerned?"

"Ha! The other elders don't care. They think she's too weak to brainwash them while not fully understanding how demonic dancing affects the mind. I even presented evidence and proof, but it was never considered enough." And in the end, this was my friend and in-name disciple's sect, not mine. I was already doing everything I could as an outsider. "Can I count on you to help brother Verdant Spring with this?"

"Yes, Elder Linlin!" He bowed deeply.

He actually appeared to believe me! Fucking finally! Maybe he learned how to counter brainwashing from his resistance training?

"Good, now, let's clean up." I made a gripping motion in the air as if grabbing all the strings that connected me to my puppets. When I mimed pulling a rope back, all twenty puppets grabbed their weapons and flew toward me.

Thanks to our agreement, they hadn't been damaged much. If I could find a spare hour, I could restore them.

Crouching Tiger Hidden Dagger lifted both parts of his spider up and winced. "These repairs are going to take me a full day."

So he was his own puppet maker!

"I did say that I would break the areas you needed to fix."

He paused. "I see. Thank you for your pointers, Elder."

I grabbed his shoulder. "Before you return to your unit, I need to make something clear." I smiled pleasantly. "I understand that you'd prefer that I didn't use my cleaning technique on you. But if you ever get saliva near me again, I will sanitize us until there is no stain left. On reflex." I briefly squeezed harder.

He winced and then bowed. "Understood. I apologize for offending you with my hidden weapon attack."

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"Nonsense! That attack was very well thought out... for anyone except me."

He brought the rest of his puppets over using a similar rope-pulling gesture and stored them in his ring. "I will keep that in mind."

"Good!" I slapped his back, and he took a half-step forward to dissipate the force. "Also, if we both survive the war, let's have a conversation about puppet making. I'd like to learn more about your web shooter design. I know I can make something similar, but listening to your expertise would still be helpful."

He nodded. "It would be an honor." He stiffly returned to his unit.

A tug at my sleeve brought my attention to Little Spring. Oh, right. He had been there the whole time, silently judging the two of us as we'd talked without including him. Oops.

No, I had to look at this as a good thing for the mission. Fully mastering the disguise technique and using it to completely hide his protagonist's presence would keep him safe.

He smiled adorably. "I forgot to tell you that you were amazing!"

I straightened my spine and clasped my hands behind my back. "Of course I was! Who am I?"

"Elder Linlin!"

I scowled.

::I mean, Fairy Lin!::

::Better.::

Why the hell didn't I get Noxious to prevent them from making me an elder again? Oh, right. It was because I didn't believe they'd be that silly. I had been beaten by this sect's silliness!

He straightened his posture to look taller. "I'll make sure everything runs smoothly here, so you don't have to worry about anything. I also know you can't stay much longer since Elder Flood Dragon's White Scale will get here soon."

He wasn't wrong. Wrathful Waterspout had better keep him occupied until I left.

"While I'm not here, you and your team should work on becoming faster and more stealthy."

"I'll work with my team on that. They might know of some beast-safe pills or spiritual tools we can use."

"I'll trust you to handle that. Those aren't my specialty."

"I know. Beasts don't get along with you, so you haven't experimented with this stuff much."

Did he have to look so happy while pointing out one of my very few weaknesses? Fucking brat. "Just try to collect all the recipes you can!" I left the 'while we are still here,' unspoken. "Little Teasing Mouse's connections might be useful for that."

He nodded seriously.

I turned to leave, but he grabbed my sleeve again.

When I turned back, he looked worried. "I don't think we'll see each other after this. At least, not until the war starts."

"That depends. Were you able to fix your medicinal meal situation?"

"I figured that out! I'm taking care of it and not skipping a single one."

"Good."

He hesitated. "I just wanted to make sure that you're eating."

I grimaced.

"If not meals, then at least take a Grain Liberation Dan. Also, take breaks to cultivate when you need to. And don't forget to fix your hair now and then since it gets messy easily when you don't use spiritual energy to hold it in place."

"That's a waste of energy right now." And just because he wasn't around to help me with my hair didn't mean it never got done! I was mentally an adult, damn it! Taking care of myself was something I did for a full thousand years... Okay, when I first arrived in this time period, I might have had a little trouble adjusting back into the mortal lifestyle, but I was fine now.

"... It makes you look a little crazy."

I scowled.

"Of course I know you're not!! You're the sanest martial sister ever!!"

Damn straight... wait. Had he said that a little too fast? Whatever. He looked extremely worried. The looming battle must have been getting to him little by little.

"Alright. I won't forget."

"Even the hair thing?"

"Especially the hair thing!"

He grinned.

I patted down a tuft of his white strands. "I'm going. Don't let them bully you into anything."

"Never. I learned from the best."

"That's right! Don't forget it."

He let go of my sleeve and bowed. "Thank you, Elder."

Brat!

***

Deep in my rented forge room, I crushed a dozen high tier spirit stones the sect had provided. I sent the powder and energy into the enchantments I'd painstakingly etched onto my secret project. The bars glowed, the lines disappeared, and the metal turned into a smooth silver.

Finally! I was finished! Muahahahaha! Not quite a masterpiece for my realm, but it would do.

Immediately, I dropped to the sanitized floor, drained of energy. I couldn't move. It had been a risk creating this without Little Spring, but I'd done it!

Although I had a feeling it would have turned out a step better if the kid had helped me.

I took a spirit replenishing pill with some of the remaining spiritual spring water I kept in my ring for emergencies.

"Elder Linlin! Your time is up, so I'm coming in."

Goddamn it. If I could hear that, then the isolation formation had timed out.

I quickly pulled the secret project into my ring before anyone out in the corridor could see it.

The stone door rolled open, and Elder Vengeful Siren stepped through. "Is it ready?"

I was not getting up until I had recovered. Politeness be damned. "Yes. Is the location I requested prepared?"

"I just finished setting up the formations and giving your Crouching Tiger Hidden Dagger and his puppeteers a token to pass through them."

"Good."

He frowned. "But telling you this isn't why I came here."

"Then what is it, Elder?"

"They're here."

Ah, shit. I groaned as I stood up. "Then let's go look at the terrain."

There was no rest for the brilliant.

***

[Image Link]

We reached the edge of the defensive formation as the sun dawned. The foothills cast a vast shadow over the simple field below us, covered in small bushes, grasses, and dirt. Out in the distance where the treeline began, several enormous immortal ships had landed. They all had an array of expensive ballistas installed on their decks.

Yeah, these fuckers were ready for a fight. Shit, how many more days did we have left? "Have any of our Immortal Bone Creation seniors come out of closed-door cultivation?"

"No."

"Then it's a good thing we put the defensive formation up."

A bolt shot from one of the ballistas. It made a terrible whistling noise as it flew through the air. When it struck the hexagonal shield in front of me, it exploded in a near-deafening blast.

Siren's expression darkened. "Very."

I gestured at the field between the tree line and the concert arena. It had been kept free of trees and buildings so they could see people sneaking up on the entrance to the sect.

"I'm guessing that the war will take place there?"

"Where else? You think we should invite them in?"

"Only if you plan to use guerrilla warfare. It's a legitimate tactic that would work for the poison masters, puppeteers, and dread painters. It's helped many forces with inferior firepower before."

He scowled. "We won't need it for this, then."

I frowned. "I believe our mission will succeed only if we have a single frontline. Two fronts at most... Of course, if it fails..."

"Then, using guerrilla tactics to slow their advance while we let everyone else escape is our priority."

"Yes."

I pointed back toward the outer sect, where a massive, craggy rock jutted out from the foothill. "Set up some first aid tents behind there and another next to the buildings down there. This way we can leave our patients who need immediate care there and send the ones most likely to survive to that more secure location."

"Well, that's grim."

No shit. War was fucking hell. "It will be more manageable if you can find a wise-cracking surgeon with a heart of gold."

"At most, I can find a few disgruntled poison masters with a couple of barrels of healing pills."

"…" Oh, well. It would have to do. "Let's discuss how to transport the wounded later."

"Of course."

Actually, this spot gave us the perfect view. "Since we're here, let me show you how to calculate the optimal position for the 888 Stars Amplification Formation."

"What? Already?"

I shrugged. "We're here, and I finished our secret project early. Besides, I think you'll need both this explanation and an actual example if you want to learn it for yourself and break through."

"Then please."

I grinned. "First, we look at the terrain. You already know that we give each visible mountain and hill a value based on height, distance, and the compass directions, right?"

He nodded.

"Good. We'll have to leave the stars out of our calculations."

"I thought they were important for this one. Won't that weaken the formation?"

"No. Because in this case, the flags can act as our stars. In fact, they'll do even more once I've set them in positions powered by the terrain to build momentum while also amplifying exponentially..."

***

A few days later, my now professional-looking flying band was in the middle of another run through when the blue hexagonal plates appeared above the whole sect. They glowed brighter where the heavy ballista bolts struck, causing a fiery blast — the rumbles from the impacts passed through the sound isolation formation.

I lifted my hand and had us stop.

"Disciples of the Irrepressible Beast Blood Sect," Wild Hoof spoke to everyone, "the Leashed Claws and Harmonious Sound Sects' immortal ships have started attacking our shields in earnest."

Considering that the defensive formation was nearing the end of its stored spirit stones, it wouldn't hold for much longer.

"Their armies have grown tired of waiting. They have left their ship and are marching to infiltrate our sect. But we won't let them!"

Roars rang out from my musicians. Some of them lifted their hands in the air while using the devil horns hand symbol.

"They might tear down our defensive formation. They might hit us where it hurts most. But we will never let them win! Everyone, report to your elders for instructions. It's time to go to war."

With this, I completed the third step — preparations.