Interlude: The Valkyrie

Interlude: The Valkyrie

To thrive in this world requires blood. Rely on your own, and spill that of others. Remember this, my daughter.

Her fathers blood spilled nonstop as he told her that. She had sworn by that same blood that she understood.

As it turned out, her father had only been half-right in the end.Updated from novelbIn.(c)om

The so-called isolation room of Chen Haorans estate only deserved the name because it was an isolated room. In all other aspects, it paled compared to where she had trained for years. With it lacking even the most superficial Qi Gathering formation or spirit vein, Lan Fen was forced to rely on the natural ambient qi and the cultivation supplements she had both retrieved from her hidden cache and received from Chen Haoran.

It would suffice.

Lan Fen breathed in qi and felt it water the desert her body had become. A storm grew in her meridians. In her vision, qi boiled and writhed until lightning flashed and struck the foreign energy. In the lightnings wake, metal white qi sprung like new life. Under the lightnings ceaseless strikes a new world was hammered out of the raw materials she provided. A world both familiar and unknown to her.

First-Layer.

The hurdle that stalled so many would-be cultivators was easily cleared. Lan Fen was not content and swallowed a pill to feed the process. Being so completely drained of qi had inspired a weakness in her that she had never felt before. That she would never feel again. There had been benefits to doing it, however, even beyond the obvious rewards. Nine Layers of cultivation had left their mark on her body, and that starving echo of greatness was further refined as it greedily accepted a superior qi. Mind and Body worked in accord to guide qi down a well-worn path. The wall of the Second-Layer loomed.

So youve become a speck of dust with some qi. I hope youre not feeling proud or something.

The vision ended. Lan Fen didnt let her frustration show. It would only embolden him. She opened her eyes to face the consequences of her decision. He lazily lounged in the air, floating just high enough that she was forced to look up at him and see his arrogant expression. The man could be considered conventionally attractive if it werent for being ghostly white and see-through.

Do you have something you want to say, ant?

And an asshole.

He called himself the White Tyrant. The far-gone conqueror of a by-gone era

Lan Fen ignored his taunting. Are you bored, White Tyrant?

Am I bored, she asks? he mocked. I spent 2 thousand years trapped in that stupid ring and what do I get when I finally get out? An ant whos barely stubbed Heavens toe let alone defied it. Do you think Im entertained?

I will endeavor to meet your expectations.

You arent worthy of my expectations. The White Tyrant sneered.

Lan Fen gently brushed her hand against the plain silver ring hanging on her neck. She had known when she obtained it that it once belonged to a powerful cultivator. She hadnt expected that the ghost of its former owner still resided within it. She had considered herself fortuitous especially as both the ring and the White Tyrant proved useful in defeating the thugs sent after her. That good mood only lasted until the ghost opened his mouth.

They just dont make cultivators like they used to. Back in my day children were born in the First-Layer you know. If they werent Ninth-Layer by the time they turned 16 then they were trash.

She had been sixteen when she entered the Ninth-Layer. Though she knew if she mentioned it hed find something else to nitpick. Lan Fen thought back to the stories of immortals she was raised on, the tales of wisdom, cunning, and miraculous acts. Much like her family, it seemed the White Tyrant existed to spoil such fantasies.

A casual thought saw a bone white flower appear in her hand. She didnt have time to waste.

Lan Fen was six years old and had just entered the First-Layer when her father scoured her senses with the grandness of his Liquid Meridian realm cultivation.

My daughter, he hushed her, wiping her tears of pain away. You will adapt in time.

Second-Layer.

As easily passed as the First, though it exhausted the bulk of her cultivation supplements. The White Tyrant interrupted her meditation once again.

Theres a Liquid Meridian realm in the manor, he said, yawning. Eighth-Layer. Earth Rank cultivation.

Are they a threat? Lan Fen sat up, alert. Even as a remnant of his former self, the White Tyrants sensory ability was, for lack of a better word, tyrannical.

Canyon Carving Sword

Not like I was supposed to be here to pass them on to you. I meant to pass on my legacy, I wasnt supposed to be passed down with it!

Canyon Carving Sword

Leave an inheritance,' they said. Sow some good karma, they said. Look at how I ended up!

Canyon Carving Sword

Oi ant. I didnt wait two thousand years for an inheritor just to watch them practice a shitty sword technique.

Is there an issue, White Tyrant? Lan Fen paused and wiped the sweat from her brow. In the days since she started practicing the Canyon Carving Sword, she could feel the bottleneck loosen under the constant exertion of qi.

The issue is that youre wasting your time practicing that morons crappy sword technique instead of learning the Heaven-Splitting Claw. "

I am simply focusing my energy where it would be more appropriate.

Listen ant. Right now youre not even worth one of my fingernails. Its already going to take you a year to-

The White Tyrants voice trailed off as Lan Fen held up five fingers of vicious metal qi. She slashed the air and they watched the rending claws of energy scream into the distance. The white fog became turbulent with their passing before settling down.

When did you learn that?

Three weeks ago. Lan Fen sat down, exhausted. It wasnt easy to use a Heaven-rank technique after using the Canyon Carving sword so many times.

Youve only had cultivation back for two weeks.

As I said. If you would like me to focus on your techniques then give me something worth my focus.

Okay, maybe you can match the tip of my finger. That still doesnt explain why youre practicing Earth-rank trash. The White Tyrant narrowed his eyes. Dont tell me youre doing it for that moron.

He has aided me. I only seek to return the favor.

Youre joking. Morons like him exist to be exploited. And you already know his help isnt out of any goodwill. Hes using you.

That was true. He had been using her since they first met. She knew this ever since she heard his ridiculous story. Even now she didnt know what to make of the man. Was he Chen Haoran with missing memories? Or was he some new man altogether? He had been so frustratingly vague on the point and his actions only served to confuse her further. He was so natural at playing his role and yet so ignorant of everything surrounding it. He was so blessed with valuables and so free with handing them away. She was not blind that there was some higher purpose to his actions, that she held more meaning to him than just an ally. And yet

You were the one who reminded me to honor him for staying to help me fight.

The White Tyrant clicked his tongue in annoyance. Do what you want.

Lan Fen stood on shaky legs. Her qi flowed in the Canyon Carving Swords pattern but the sword remained silent. She raised the blade and swung. Unbidden, a memory from the past came to mind. Her father had taken her on a trip to the edge of Clearsprings territory, to the mouth of a great river where it met the ocean. She remembered feeling the force of the rushing water in her bones as it spilled into the sea. Her father had taken her atop his shoulders when the sun began to dip over the horizon, it was the first and last time she had ever seen him look so peaceful.

She felt her qi rush into the sword. The sword did not glow but it did not need to. It had become a river. It had become that river. Lan Fen spun and flowed and rushed in an impromptu sword dance. Every swing was punctuated by a harsh crash as the river met an imaginary sea. As her father met the Lan family.

Canyon Carving Sword

Her last slash carved through that ocean, carved through her bottleneck, and soon enough would carve through the Lan family.

She promised.

Fifth-Layer.

Lan Fen left isolation training.