Chapter 9: Unexpected Encounters (Part 1)
Dibano's Queen quickly left the sect premises, admiring the nearby plains filled with rows of parked flying cars and ships exuding a fresh rainwater scent under the faint skyline of Hanji City over the horizon, their pine-shaped buildings faintly reaching the firmament.
Disciples milled about, their vehicles rising or landing under a cloudy sky.
The Hanfeng Forest geo-localized in her brain, she left the parking for a more open area where she summoned her Impundulu, courting no small amount of attention.
___________________________________________________________________________________________
You lost some breath! You lost 35% Stamina.
Remaining Stamina: 100%—> 65%
|__________________________________________________________________________________________|
She clenched her teeth as the wind got knocked out of her lungs.
___________________________________________________________________________________________
Your breath recovers!
Remaining Stamina: 65—> 65.1/100% ¤Recovering 0.1% Stamina every second¤
|__________________________________________________________________________________________|
She rested her arm upon her Impundulu to catch her breath for a minute before she flies away.
Deep down—although she outwardly pretended otherwise—as a foreign dignitary who kicked their Princess' a*s, she didn't want to look weak before the masses, lest they think she won by luck, while her true strength was a notch below Meihui…
"Wait. Is that the woman who defeated Crown Princess Long? I heard she had a legendary Impundulu as a personal summons, so the rumors were true, she really has three heads and six arms…"
"What the hell are you saying? You didn't see their fight on the net? Although the beginning wasn't there, I'll admit it was epic!"
"She wears the Outer-Court disciple robes. Does that mean that the sect accepted her and didn't care about the Imperial Family's face? Are they courting death, or what?"
"Well, let's refrain from making hasty moves, so let's wait and see how the Imperial Family formally reacts after their Eldest Daughter got whacked all over the grid! Speaking of which, they haven't requested the video to be taken down, yet, why?"
"That's exactly what's weird about this situation. The Sect, the Imperial Family, and the Crown Princess herself has not publicly commented on it, and that's weird… I know she's a foreign queen and all, but what does the Duala Empire has that make them give her this amount of face? It's almost like they don't care that the Crown's defeat will spread all over the Empire…"
"Maybe they're not doing a thing because they want to befriend her, even at the cost of the Crown Princess face…"
"Has someone seen the Crown Princess anyway since the fight?"
"I saw her going to a meditation chamber this morning like nothing had happened. Now that I think about it, she kinda had a look of fierce determination in her eyes. Seems like she not only recovered physically, but mentally as well…"
Her summons croaked happily after she stroked its feathers and kissed its sturdy beak, paying no real heed to this useless hearsay.
At the very least, it seems like she didn't take her loss harshly, but instead seeded her to become stronger.
Has she unknowingly created a monster who shall bloom with a thousand petals?
Only time will tell…
She giggled as her chest tickled under her summons beak-pinching, its forked tongue lapping her left breast's covered nub.
"You perverted girl. You love my tits way too much, hee-hee-hee!" she said, laughing as she caressed the scruff of its neck as it indulged itself.
After she let it lick her so much that a wet stain covered half of her breast, she said, "Enough now, baby girl. I pamper you too much, anyway. We got some work to do now, so let me mount you…"
Her legendary beast gave her a sad look with her navy eyes as it gave up on her tasty tit; its verdant scaly legs blew the mud away as they soared in mid-altitude towards their destination, leaving a small static trail in their wake.
The sparse clouds streaked behind her sight as the wind buffeted her hair, akin to an ivory corona of gas in the sky.
The windblown plains soon gave out the signs of denser vegetation, as the fragrance of fanjing, sikang and shensi trees curled their way inside Lyshisha's nostrils.
Soon enough, the expansive Hanfeng Forest soon emerged, their branches tickled by a noon squall. Scattered noises rumbled inside the woodland as a few agonizing cries reminded the young queen of nature's law while she landed.
"Let's trot inside, girl," the crippled monarch said.
The legendary bird screeched as they ran inside the forest.
Multifaceted trees and broken boughs bunched around her as she wove her way around them, passing by chittering squirrels and squealing boars who ran after smaller prey.
Deeper within, the faint scent of blood pervaded her surroundings alongside dry pee and fetid feces.
The faint roars of the forest's rulers blasted under the thicker canopy swaying under a light wind.
Despite her trip unimpeded so far, she kept her senses sharp, from the flaps of the birds in mid-air to the branches shattered by her impundulu's talons, when she heard a piercing cry ahead of her and a flash of light.
A skill?
So there's a cultivator nearby!
She urged her animal towards the noise, and when she arrived before a tiny mud clearing, one person fought desperately against a mighty beast.
Gills instead of ears.
A darker shade of gray and lightly—though quite wounded—scaled flesh.
Round black eyes over a concave nose and thin lips.
A merman confronted a towering tiger, its gray skin striped with leaking yellow wounds, standing over its large paws stained with blood and a few strands of black fabric.
Black fabric that belonged to an Outer Court Jiu Tian Disciple!
His body trembled as a large wound on his chest streaked the ground red, the curved blade of his white naginata tinted in yellow.
How funny was it that she'll encounter a fellow sect mate so deep in those woods?
The tiger roared, its violet eyes staring her way, waving its pink fangs and sharp ivory teeth alongside a horrid breath.
Lyshisha wrinkled her nose in disgust.
Apparently, this tiger found in her an appetizing meal.
It'll certainly help it brush these ugly teeth.
And it's a female?
How could she get a mate with that hellish breath?
These butucu will flee on sight!
With a raging snarl, the predator pounced.
"Girl, you stay put. I'll handle it," she said to her bird with a small pat.
She most certainly wouldn't want to use its skills, seeking to save her energy in such a treacherous environment.
"Fellow sect mate, flee! Do you want to die? It's a pink-fanged gray tiger and its paws will crush you to blood mist!" the merman cried.
Dibano's Queen only answer was raising a few complex matter letters filled with boundless power.
The tiger stood a dozen feet away from her when six translucent stakes skewered her foe, who mewled yellow in her death throes as she crashed on the floor. Its corpse still skidding towards her, she ordered her summon to jump, interrupting its momentum by landing on its stiff.
The merman gave her a blank stare.
Who the hell was this woman?
That's insane!
He almost fell on the floor when he checked her basic data, while she chuckled as she peered down the tiger corpse.
Glancing back at the merman, she wanted to know who he was…