In the morning, although Song Ming had cleaned up on the surface, nothing could hide the scent of sex on her. It was as though she emerged from an orgy not a moment prior, leaving little up to the imagination in terms of what she had been up to the whole night.

  By the miracle of her particur technique, Bianca was much better off, as the disappearance of her dick – after quite a few more rounds that normal – she looked and smelled as clean as ever. Back on Orbis, a gnce at her would’ve made her seem like she had come straight from a movie set, with the only thing missing being the perfectly done makeup.

  It was hard to apply much of it without getting a good look at herself, with or without spiritual perception, so she looked comparatively pin to what she could pull off.

  “Bianca, were you able to handle the issue with your… girlfriend?” the reaper greeted her the moment she emerged from the tent, seeming a little distracted.

  While she couldn’t know exactly what the reaper had been doing the night before, she could tell that her corruption had worked. There was a trace of her energy, of her influence, lingering in the reaper’s body, which was great news as far as she was concerned.

  ‘It means I don’t need to go out of my way to fuck anyone I want to affect. I can just repeatedly attempt to breed my pet and eventually, corrupt the entirety of my future sect just like that… though, notably, she’s running with the lie. Good,’ Bianca grinned internally, while having to reply calmly to the reaper, “Ah, yes, she’s okay. I was able to help her out, I hope I didn’t cause too much of a fuss.”

  That seemed to make the reaper even more awkward, “I see, that’s good, I… I wasn’t sleeping regardless, it wasn’t a problem.”

  Han Rushu emerged, and she looked as though she hadn’t slept all week.

  “Gd it didn’t bother you… fuck…” the bcksmith went over to Yu Juan, who also appeared to have gotten little rest, and leaned on her shoulder.

  “Um-”

  “Just let me wake up properly, I’m not coming onto you,” Han Rushu grumbled, looking over at Bianca with a jealous gre, “So unfair. She gets to do whatever, and then I’m even a little turned on, and suddenly it’s time for a public humiliation.”

  Shouge Zhe seemed more than content to ignore the bcksmith as she kept her eyes on – or rather, a little to their side – Bianca and Song Ming.

  “So, this kind of activity… will you need to do it often?”

  ‘Heh, I think she actually believes my bullshit. Not sure if it’s the corruption or something else, but that means it’s time to exploit it as much as I can,’ she managed to offer up an apologetic smile, “Ah, this might need to happen every day or so. My darling’s physique energy is best stabilised with this method, you see, and I wouldn’t want her to be hurt. Sorry if it’s a problem.”

  “Ah, no, it’s… it’s not ideal, but if her physique is powerful, then it is worth the process…” the reaper finally looked away, pointing into the distance, “The Reaper’s Grave there. If we hurry, it shouldn’t take too long. Then, we can finally attempt to rescue that pce from the vile defilers…”

  “Yes, I can’t wait,” Bianca nodded, “To finally be able to save people from the evil grasp of those despicable monsters!”

  ‘… I don’t think even she believes you,’ the quiet voice in the back of her head muttered.

  ‘Oh shut up, let me be dramatic.’

  The Sect Master finally appeared then, although she also looked rather tired, yet almost glowing. It was as though she had spent the night masturbating, and thus satisfied herself in one manner while forgetting to get a proper rest.

  ‘Did she… that power within her seems to have grown, so my energy pulse must’ve reached her too… I wish I’d seen it,’ Bianca quickly imagined it in her mind, the typically dignified Sect Master on her knees, touching herself while listening to Bianca and Song Ming fuck, or perhaps imagining herself in her pet’s pce.

  In all likelihood, that wasn’t quite how it happened, but she wasn’t going to interrupt a fun scene in her mind – not for this specific reason, anyway. The actual reason to move along was that she’d get wet and far too hot and bothered to remain sensible if she spent the whole time fantasising about such delightful scenes.

  Perhaps having become uncomfortable from how long Bianca was staring at her, Huang Su finally spoke up.

  “Mistress? Can I be of use?” the Sect Master pyed her part, as always, although there was a hint more honesty to it this time around.

  “Actually, yes, you can be,” she replied, “Your movement skill, can it be used to help us approach the Reaper’s Grave?”

  “While it can, Mistress, it would be dangerous to make the whole trip with it. Even if the necromancers have no control over the protective array whatsoever, they would be able to sense my approach due to my realm.”

  “Then we don’t need to go the whole way, just enough to shorten the trip. We need to prevent them from figuring out that we’re coming, and we only have a little bit of time to do that,” Bianca stated, “That’s what you told us, right, Shouge Zhe?”

  “Indeed, there’s not much time left,” the reaper agreed, “They would expect their search team to be out for a day or two at most, not longer.”

  “Then we run. Right, Huang Su?”

  The Sect Master might’ve had some objection to being called by her full name even when she tried to hide it, but she didn’t let it show – as obedient as ever – and instead nodded.

  “Yes, Mistress. As soon as everyone is ready, I can begin.”

  Thus, they got ready quickly, grabbing all of their things and putting away the tents, managing to have everything done within ten or so minutes. Bianca herself didn’t do much, just standing around and watching, but nobody had much intent to call her out for it. She was far from the strongest – physically, at least – there, anyway, so her contributions would be minor compared to those that could trivially lift up the whole camp in one hand.

  Instead, she spent her time thinking of any kind of strategy that she could propose.

  When they were finally done, they gathered up, and Bianca finally had something to share that made a modicum of sense.

  “Alright, the pce we’re going to is going to be defended. This means that you, Huang Su, need to py an active role for once.”

  “Were we not going to enter quietly?” Shouge Zhe asked.

  “We were, this is more of a… general statement. Regardless, even then, it would be best for her to ensure our safety, but I won’t allow her to stand around and do nothing. Understand?” she gred at the Sect Master, ‘Like the way you simply left Song Ming to be molested without doing anything.’

  It seemed that Huang Su recognised her meaning, as she looked down with clear guilt in her eyes and confirmed, “Yes, Mistress.”

  “Good. Shouge Zhe, you know what you’re doing over there, so you’ll be leading us through to start with. I’m going to assume that we’re not going to be able to avoid attention until we have a complete grasp of the defensive array there – if we even manage that – so it’s important to have a good grasp of what we’ll do when discovered,” Bianca expined, then looking to the others, “Song Ming, you are powerful in terms of offense. Your runes are able to take out enemies very quickly, provided they’re not able to evade or counter them, so it’ll be up to you to target those that may raise arm.”

  “Yes, Mistress!”

  That left her with the kitsune, the Dancer, the bcksmith and her so-called disciple, who she was still unable to teach properly. Even without reservations towards cultivation, it was undeniable that her knowledge was mostly surface-level, with no grasp of how her own skills worked. She just willed the Demonic Tyrant to do her whims, and it happened.

  Regardless, that was a subject for another time.

  “Now, Xue Yaling, you’re pretty aware of what to do, usually, and super versatile, so you can just cover any gaps.”

  “I’d do so regardless… Sect Mistress.”

  “Sure you would… Yu Juan, you’re not as effective at killing others, so stand by to defend us and watch out for threats in general, okay?”

  “Yes, Mistress!” the Dancer sought to match and exceed the enthusiasm of Bianca’s pet, although it wasn’t hard to tell it wasn’t done quite as sincerely.

  Still, she was slowly getting there. The Dancer just needed some more alone time with Bianca, some more rushes of corruption, and she’d be just as obedient and lovely as her current favourite pet. It would be just wonderful, she was sure.

  “Han Rushu, I know you’re a zy fuck, but do something this once. You’ve got to have at least one or two combat skills up your sleeve, right?”

  “Well…”

  “Please tell me you learned anything other than the Beastly Musk and Addictive Taste.”

  “I do have one thing, okay. I just don’t enjoy getting into combat, so I tend to avoid it.”

  “Right… Then do that,” Bianca sighed, and finally looked over to Jia Bo Xun, who already had her bck crystal bde at the ready.

  “Master, whatever you need from me, I can do it.”

  “Then treat this as a test. Show me what you can do, show me that you understand my skills,” she insisted.

  Despite that unreasonable demand, her disciple only bowed and excimed, “I will make you proud, master!”

  ‘… and I haven’t even fucked her… on one hand, I don’t feel like it, on the other, it’s just strange. Why is she so obedient already? Not even in a sexual way, more like… I’m actually her teacher. This is just strange.’

  She thought about it for a little while, and eventually shrugged, concluding little. It wasn’t worth mulling over the subject at the moment, as she could better devote herself to it ter, so she simply discarded the thought and looked to Huang Su.

  “So, shall we get going?”

  “Yes, Mistress. I’ll carry us as far as I can without alerting them. Once I believe I can perceive any kind of detection – or am within sight of the Reaper’s Grave – I’ll cease the movement skill and we will proceed on foot,” the Sect Master stated, and Bianca nodded, approving the pn.

  Her main idea was about the same anyway, there was no reason to argue about nonsense like who was where in their formation.

  The Reaper’s Grave. Bianca hadn’t ever seen it before, naturally, and the few bits she did see about it failed to describe the pce in much detail, talking mostly about its function rather than the appearance.

  Therefore, when they finally got near, it came as quite the surprise.

  It was an enormous fortress, with giant walls surrounding it, and what looked like a mountain in the middle. Although most of it was now ruined, with many walls broken and ravaged, leaving most of them at a mere fraction of what they once more, she couldn’t help but feel awestruck.

  As seemed to be the trend with this world, the entire pce was absolutely enormous, easily occupying the same amount of space as a town back on Orbis, and the peak easily rivalled a mountain.

  The shape of the area was rather uneven, with various curves and angles to the wall, but if viewed from above, it would roughly cover a round area. The walls surrounded an elevated area that she could see in some of the gaps in the walls, and above that was another tier, a thing that almost resembled a coffin from afar – very, very, very vaguely, but resembled it nonetheless.

  To put it more simply, the inner elevated zones resembled a coffin id at an angle within a shallow grave, with the top, the seat of power, being akin to the top of the coffin. It looked as though it was missing the lid, allowing one to peer inside.

  The whole pce was dark, too. Some kind of dark cloud lingered up above, unnaturally still and covering the entire area in shade, and the material the fortress was built out of was dark as well, some kind of bck stone and dark gold in the few highlights and decorations she could spot from afar. It was quite the imposing pce, straight out of a fantasy, and she could almost imagine how it would’ve stood up to the forces that attacked it long ago.

  The name for the pce made a whole lot more sense with that in mind, and it also made for a wonderful

  ‘Once I command this pce, it will be rebuilt and fortified once more… I can’t wait,’ Bianca felt her heart racing with excitement, imagining the final result.

  As is, though, this pce had plenty of openings, plenty of gaps through which they could crawl in easily – figuratively in some cases, literally in others – but rather than rushing for one, she looked to Shouge Zhe to guide them.

  “From here… let me think. I had seen the original pns for this pce, with all of the alterations and additions, but the current state of our sanctuary is worse than I had imagined,” the reaper said, sighing as she pointed over to one of the most complete walls, “There.”

  “There?”

  “We can go underneath. There is a tunnel that was built to house the dead that necromancers sought. It was one of the things that were to never be revealed to them, so it should be free of their presence,” she expined, “But we must be fast, and you must stick close.”

  Bianca and the others nodded, and had little time to do more than that. Without any hesitation, Shouge Zhe sprinted forth, and the others had to follow, using what skills they could to keep up. Bianca had little trouble, although she had to grab her pet and carry her in order to help her out. For all of the benefits of the Crusader’s Runes and her other talents, her movement skill needed some work.

  ‘Easy for me to say, though. Haven’t actually hard to work for a single step in my cultivation,’ Bianca thought as they charged towards the walls.

  All the while, she looked around just in case there was anyone watching, anyone to catch them on the very first step.

  Luckily, there seemed to be nobody watching.

  After a good few minutes of running, they arrived at the base of the wall, and then arrived at a very slight, almost unnoticeable crack in the basalt barrier before them. If not for Bianca following Shouge Zhe to it, she probably wouldn’t have been able to find it.

  “This is it. I’ll need a minute,” the reaper whispered, pcing her hand on the wall and shutting her eyes.

  This left them to surround her and keep an eye out for foes.

  ‘What are the chances of people inspecting this pce at this time? Huang Su should be able to-’ she looked over just as she thought that, and found the Sect Master frowning, ‘Ah, fuck.’

  “Let me guess, someone is coming?”

  “Unfortunately so… Mistress,” the Sect Master nearly failed to add that part, “Over in that direction.”

  She gestured towards the further side of the wall, where it curved away some distance from them. If they turned the curve, they’d see them very quickly, so it was only really a matter of time.

  ‘A minute, huh… hm.’

  The reaper was occupied, the bcksmith was useless, the Sect Master had no particur skills outside of manifesting shadows, the kitsune…

  “Alright, I’ve got an idea.”