5 When In Doubt, Just Cultivate

Yao Huang had fervently wished that everything was merely a dream, or even a nasty illusion cast by his rivals. It would've been better than the reality he was facing at the moment.

"Welcome back, human."

But apparently, the wish went unanswered.

The spirit beast was still here, its gaze judging as always. The scenery was different, though. Instead of the riverside from back then, this place looked like a bedroom. Curiously, the floor was entirely covered in soft carpet, and the doors were covered in paper instead of made entirely of wood. Instead of a proper bed, she was laid on a layer of mattress.

Oh, right.

Yao Huang touched her lower part again, just to make sure.

Hmm. Yep.

Good Ol' Little Huang was no longer there...

She quickly sat right up. Her body was covered in bandage with a cold, sticky feeling underneath. The wounds had dried up and no longer bleed.

Slowly, she raised her wrist toward her mouth. Just before she was about to bite down, Kokuo swung its tail to shove her hand away.

"What are you doing?!"

"...Starting over."

A good idea just crossed her mind. If she died, she could reincarnate again. It was a fifty percent chance of a gamble, but perhaps her luck would be better this time around.

Err, wait, there was no guarantee that she'd become human again, wasn't it? Maybe this time she'd really become a cockroach. Ah, heck-

"This One does not approve!"

With its tails, Kokuo restrained her arms. If the kid died like that, it'd dissolve as well! While it could reappear after years had passed, it would still be

an unpleasant experience. No way in hell would it comply!

As human and Tailed Beast wrestled for a stupid reason, footsteps began to approach the room they were currently in. They quickly ceased the fight. Yao Huang slipped back into the blanket, while Kokuo re-entered her soul.

The door smoothly slid open, revealing an adult woman and a young boy.

The woman was well-built, and her stance exhumed confidence. She had wild, spiky brown hair that looked like it was left untended. Two red marks resembling canine fangs were painted on her cheeks. The boy on her side looked like a smaller version of her. Only, he was lankier, his muscles still underdeveloped.

The two had a pair of small, vertical-shaped pupils, making them appear somewhat beastly.

"You're finally awake."

The woman spoke up. Her voice sounded rough, with an unmistakably commanding tone. She had planted such a fearsome image with just one sentence.

'This woman isn't simple!' Yao Huang noted in her mind.

She watched as the woman sat cross-legged on the carpet, followed by the young boy. The pair of beastly eyes were now focused on Yao Huang, causing her to break in cold sweat.

"Who are you? Why did you faint? What were you doing in the forest?"

A barrage of questions stormed her mercilessly, causing Yao Huang to sway in a daze. Perhaps because of her confusion, she instead responded with yet another question.

"Where am I...?"

The woman closed her mouth. She narrowed her eyes, glaring dangerously at the girl. After a period of bated breath, she finally let out a sigh.

"This is clan Inuzuka of Konohagakure. I'm the owner of this house, Tsume. This pup here is my son."

She patted the boy's head, which he tried but ultimately failed to dodge.

Konohagakure... a village hidden in leaves...

It sounded similar to Iwagakure. There was definitely a pattern here.

Did they just come out of the frying pan and went straight into the fire?

"And? What's your name?"

"Eh?"

"I'm asking you, what's your name?"

Ah, right.

"It's Yao Huang... err, no, it's... Hikari...?"

She noticed the woman and the boy's confusion when she accidentally spouted her real name, so she ended up going with the name that Kokuo had given her before.

"Hikari... is it? Got it. Now..."

The woman shoved the boy away.

"Kiba, I have to talk with our guest alone. Go play outside."

The boy seemed surprised with the sudden turn of events. His gaze kept on wandering between the girl and the woman. In the end, he couldn't win against his mother's glare. He jolted out of the room like his life depended on it, closing the door with a loud bang.

Yao Huang suddenly had a bad feeling.

'Venerable One, please-'

Before she could even finish that line of thought, a strong arm had pinned her down by the shoulder. The familiar sensation of cold, sharp steel greeted her on the neck. Stealing a quick glance to the side, she noticed that a strange, knife-like object was pushed on her skin, threatening to slice through with the slightest movement.

"Your stench, I don't like it. You smell like those Iwa bastard. Why are you targeting my son?"

She didn't get what had just happened, but wasn't this really, really bad? This woman was exhuming genuine killing intent, oi!

'Should This One blast this woman away?'

'Uh...'

She was about to say yes, when the woman continued.

"Alright, girl, you have one chance. Fess up. Don't even bother to lie. If I don't like what I hear, then..."

The knife's blade was pushed a tiny bit deeper, to the point that she could feel a tinge of pain.

Gulp.

'Wait, Venerable One, wait a minute.'

Perhaps, everything could be solved in a more peaceful manner.

"I did come from the land of the U-Tsang- err, I mean, from that Iwagakure thingy... but I'm not one of them!"

This woman, from her tone, she didn't seem to hold their pursuers in high regard. In that case, wouldn't it be the case of 'your enemy is also my enemy'?

If she made clear that she wasn't involved with them, could she make use of this woman for protection instead?

"Go on," the woman didn't retract the blade, but at least she refrained from pushing it further.

Ah, phew.

"I... actually, I ran away from that place! I was tired after shaking off their pursuit, so I took a break at that creek."

This one was believable, right?

There's no way she could say that she'd fainted after realizing that her 'little brother' had vanished...

"..."

Tsume scrutinized the girl, trying to detect any lies. She seemed to still be hiding something, although what she'd said so far could pass as truth. That, or she was a seasoned spy trained in the art of deceit. Tsume couldn't put off that possibility just because of the girl's age.

"Why did you run away?"

She decided to delve a bit deeper.

Yao Huang blinked. Why? Because she wanted to take Kokuo away... no, that didn't seem wise for an answer. Kokuo's anxiety was proof enough. The Tailed Beast clearly didn't want its presence to be announced to anyone, if possible.

"I was... deemed without talent," she murmured. "My family threw me away, saying that I have no use for them. I was supposed to be sold as a slave, but I decided to run away. If I'm going to live like a cattle, then might as well gamble on it. At worst, I'll just die."

Tsume flinched upon hearing her story.

"..."

Slowly, she got up. The pressure given by her weapon was lifted in an instant. Finally, Yao Huang could breath easy.

"I'll have to talk it out with the clan. For now, stay here and recuperate. You're forbidden from leaving this room until I returned."

Leaving those words, she left the room.

Silence descended once again. After confirming that no one stayed watch near the room, Kokuo materialized into a cat-sized form.

"That... did you make it all up?"

The girl gave the beast a slight smile.

"Venerable One... would you listen to this humble one's story?"

---

Now that they got time, Yao Huang was finally able to tell Kokuo practically everything that had happened thus far.

About how 'she' was actually a reincarnated soul, a cultivator that had survived until the dawn of the prosperous Yang Dynasty. Chaos had ensued in the underworld at the time of her visit, forcing her to enter a practically unknown path of reincarnation.

And thus, she had ended up like this.

Kokuo was, to put it lightly, overwhelmed.

From time to time, she would throw out weird sounds inbetween her words. If her story was true, then that would be the language from her previous life... wasn't it?

"..."

Yeah, right.

The only thing that the Tailed Beast got convinced of was that this kid, indeed, had some broken parts in her head.

Kokuo raised one hoof, telling the kid to stop her rambling. And then...

"Pfft."

...It laughed its arse off.

"You... you were a male, who got caught up with whatever shenanigan that had happened in the underworld, and now you got reincarnated as a female."

"...More or less."

"What a twist! You poor bastard! Ahaha!

The Tailed Beast rolled over, engrossed in the tasty drips of schadenfreude.

"..."

"Hahahahaaa... sorry. This One went too far..."

It went rigid upon noticing that the girl had a smile that didn't reach her eyes. Eh, what smile? It looked more like the face of Asura!

Only after the white beast finally quieten down that her face finally softened up.

"Haa... does Venerable One still doubt me?"

"This One honestly still do."

As knowledgeable as it was, the Great Five-Tails couldn't wrap the entire of story around its head. It was just too unreal, a horrible anomaly by this world's standard. It wasn't something that could be accepted after a single talk.

Moreover...

"Oi, kid. The story that you'd told the woman from before, was that a lie? Or..."

She shook her head, refusing to elaborate any further.

That childhood memory, it was fine to treat it as if it never happened, right? It was something from thousands of years ago, after all. Everyone involved had already died. If not because the situation begged for it, she wouldn't even bring it up in the first place.

Fine. Everyone had their own dark past, Tailed Beasts included. It wasn't willing to judge. Feeling a bit merciful, it decided to change the topic.

"So? What do you want to do now?"

"What do I want, huh..."

From the woman's reaction, it seemed that this place, or at least this house, wasn't in a chummy relationship with Iwagakure. If they could stay here, then their pursuers wouldn't be able to catch them so easily.

"Hmph. This One does not fear those humans. There is no need to hide."

"Yet you keep on getting captured again and again..."

"...Ngh."

She had witnessed Kokuo's power during their escapade. It was the real deal, as expected from a proud spirit beast. However, there is no absolute strength. Even her old self, that peak cultivator standing at the top of the immortal world, still struggled in that last battle before the dawn of Yang Dynasty.

Success breeds complacency. Complacency breeds failure. A prideful person never lower their guard, only foolish ones do.

Rather than going out guns blazing, it would be better if they lay low at the moment and gather information.

Truthfully, there was too much to do at the moment. Not to mention, she also had a feeling that things didn't work as it was in the old era. As if it was a completely new world. In that case, she'd have to re-learn everything from scratch.

In that case,

"It's just like what my master had told me: When in doubt, just cultivate!"

Kokuo, who had been staring at her with anticipation: "..."

"A lot of troubles are coming our way, but it'll all be solved if we're stronger, right? So, just get stronger! Life is simple that way!"

"Err... actually, you sometimes said 'cultivate', 'cultivate'... what does that actually mean?"

"Hmm... it's just a saying... basically, it means that I'm going to train myself."

Although, she couldn't feel qi at the moment, so traditional method of cultivation was a no-go. She had to find another way.

Perhaps, that 'chakra' thing that Kokuo had told her before was the key...

"With sufficient cultivation, you can do anything. You can even live forever! Not to mention, you can change your physical shape any way you want! So, I can..."

Get back her Little Huang, yep.

Kokuo, who was listening with doubt plastered on its face: "...You can do that with training?"

"Yup, yup, nothing is impossible with cultivation!"

Kokuo, who had finally convinced itself that the kid was an idiot: "...Suit yourself."

The girl was finally revitalized, now that she had found her purpose in life. To cultivate until she could once again sit on that throne among the immortals, and finally regain back her trustworthy little ancestor's blade!

Eh, wait, this goal feels wrong...

Nevermind.

"That's why,"

The girl suddenly kowtowed to Kokuo, making the beast jump in fright.

"Huh? W-what?"

"Venerable One, I had promised you that I will bring you back to the forests. However, at the moment, I can't give you your freedom yet."

She still had something to do, and truth be told, Kokuo's presence had actually been a great help. Even though keeping a spirit beast against its will was an offense punishable by Heaven,

"I don't want to die. Not now."

She still had to find out what had happened back then in the underworld. She still want to return to the Yang Dynasty, to see how the new era would unfold. That's why,

"I'll diligently cultivate. I'll definitely get stronger as fast as I can. And when that time comes when I could wield the power that I had once lost, I'll let you free, without a doubt."

At the peak of Dao, she would surely be able to separate her soul from the Tailed Beast without any repercussion. She had wielded that power before, so she knew that she could do it. It was now just the problem of getting there.

"Could you wait for me? Just a little bit more..."

Narrowing its eyes at the girl before it, the Five-Tails, Kokuo, harrumphed.

"Humans. Always doing whatever serves them best without thinking about others."

And yet, it couldn't help a smile from escaping.

"It can't be helped. This One is benevolent and patience. Make sure that it's just a short while; This One is willing to wait."

Overjoyed that the spirit beast was willing to help her, she kowtowed once again.

"This humble one thanks the Venerable One!"

"Hmm, never forget this gratitude-"

Kokuo suddenly had an epiphany.

From what this girl had said before, 'she' was once an old man with a majestic white beard long enough to be used as a mop. That was when she had reached the peak of her power.

"...Girl... pray tell me, how long will it take until your cultivation thingamajic reached the level that you desired?"

"Hmm? Not long. At most... three hundred years?"

Three.

Hundred-

"#@#$@#!@!?!?"

"W-what?"

Kokuo wanted to scream. Was she kidding? Wouldn't all the trees shriveled up by then?!

"Three hundreds years is already fast, you know. My friend had to cultivate for two thousands and seventy-three years before he could reach my level-"

"@#$#!@#$#$"

That world she was living in before, were they really humans?!

Eh, wait, wouldn't that make her old self even older than the Tailed Beasts?!

"What is it? Why are you so upset? When a cultivator reached Foundation Establishment stage, their body would undergo physical alteration because of qi, so it's normal for them to age slower. Even non-immortals could live for at least five hundred years if they keep on practicing..."

"Enough. This One does not have the desire to hear anymore-"

Suddenly, they stopped their banter.

Kokuo slipped back into her soul as she sat on the mattress, waiting for the person outside the room to come in.

Not too long after, the door slid open, and the woman from before, Tsume, entered.

"Get up. You can walk, right?"

The girl slowly nodded.

"Follow me."

It wasn't a request. It was an order.

The woman walked away without looking back, confident that the girl would comply. True enough, a pitter-patter soon followed behind as she led the girl through the long-winded corridors.