5 When In Doubt, Just Cultivate

A bad dream.

It was a bad dream.

He must have been caught inside a nasty illusion cast by his rivals. All those reincarnation crap didn't actually happen. He was still in the Yang Dynasty, soaring through the sky without a care in the world. That was certainly the case. Certainly-

"Welcome back, human."

Nevermind. It was all real.

The spirit beast was still there, its gaze judging as always. What had changed was the scenery.

Instead of the riverbed from earlier, she was now inside an oriental room. The floor was curiously covered entirely in soft carpet, while one side of the walls was seemingly made out of paper, allowing light to gently suffuse in.

Instead of a proper bed, she was laid on a layer of mattress. Although it looked thin at first glance, it was actually comfortable enough to sleep in.

Oh, right.

She touched her lower part again, just to make sure.

"..."

Hmm. Right.

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

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

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 great idea just crossed her mind. If she died, she could reincarnate again. Perhaps her luck would be better this time around.

Actually, there was no guarantee that she would become human again, was there? Maybe this time she would really become a cockroach...

"This One does not approve!"

Kokuo restrained her arms using its manifested tails. If the kid died just like that, the Tailed Beast would dissolve as well. While it could return back to existence after years had passed, it would still be an unpleasant experience. No way in hell would it let that happen!

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

The paper wall slid open to reveal 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 miniature version of her, just that his young age still allowed him to retain a more innocent look.

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 wasn't simple. Yao Huang quickly noted it 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 feel slightly uncomfortable.

"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 dazedly. Rather than answering right away, she instead responded with 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 the Inuzuka clan of Konohagakure. I'm the owner of this house, Inuzuka 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 Hu-... 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 by 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 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 bastards. 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.

'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 where she could feel a tinge of pain.

'That's it. This One will-'

'Venerable One, wait a minute.'

From what she had heard, this woman 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'?

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

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.

Alright. That was progress.

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

This reason was believable, right?

She was definitely not going to confess that she had fainted after realizing that her 'little brother' had gone...

"..."

Tsume scrutinized the girl, trying to detect any lies. She seemed to still be hiding something, although what she had said so far could pass as the 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 averted her gaze, buying her time to ponder over her words. Judging from Kokuo's tense demeanor, the spirit beast's existence wasn't something that she could disclose so easily. She would need something better.

How about a sob story?

"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 I would rather take a gamble on it. At worst, I'll just die."

This situation happened a lot in her past life. For a poor family to survive, they might be forced to sell their daughters away as slaves. It was better to live under someone's grasp rather than perishing out of hunger. Naturally, eradication of such practice was one of the goals of the newly-ascended Yang Dynasty.

Tsume flinched after listening to her made-up narrative.

The grown woman kept her stare, trying to see if the girl would waver. However, Yao Huang maintained a firm gaze, not giving Tsume a chance to doubt the veracity of her words.

In the end, she slowly got up. The pressure given by her weapon was lifted in an instant. Yao Huang could finally breathe easy.

"I'll have to talk it out with the rest of 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. Some time had passed before Kokuo finally opened its mouth.

"That story just now..."

The girl raised her hand to interrupt its sentence.

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

Now that they had all the time in the world, Yao Huang was finally able to tell Kokuo about her secrets.

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 ended up in this state.

Kokuo was, to put it lightly, overwhelmed.

From time to time, she would throw out weird sounds in between her words. If her story was true, then those sounds would be the language from her previous life.

"..."

Yeah, right.

The only thing that the Tailed Beast was 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 that 'underworld' place, 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 drip of schadenfreude.

"..."

"...Apologies. This One went too far..."

Kokuo went rigid upon noticing that the girl had a smile that didn't reach her eyes. Only when the white beast had finally quietened down would her face soften up.

"Does Venerable One still doubt me?"

"This One honestly still does."

As knowledgeable as it was, the great Five-Tails couldn't wrap its head around the entire narrative. 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...

"Kid. The story that you have told the woman before... was that a lie? Or..."

Its inquiry was answered with a flat smile.

...Fine. Everyone had their own dark past, Tailed Beasts included. Kokuo didn't want to judge. It decided to change the topic instead.

"So? What's the plan now?"

"Let me think first..."

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 getting captured again and again."

"..."

She had witnessed Kokuo's power during their escapade. It was the real deal, as expected from a 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. Letting down your guard was the work of an ignorant fool.

Rather than going out guns blazing, it would be better if they lay low at the moment. There was still a lot of things that she still had to figure out. Not to mention, not everything worked like her old world. Gathering information was most crucial.

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 will come our way, but it'll all be solved if we're stronger than them, right? In that case, just get stronger! Life is simple that way."

"By the way, kid. Sometimes you would say 'cultivate', 'cultivate'... what does that actually mean?"

"It's just a saying. In short, it means that I'm going to train myself."

The missing presence of qi was a huge problem, but cultivation was never easy. If the orthodox method wouldn't work, she would just have to invent something new.

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! Right, I also can..."

Get back her Little Huang, yep.

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

"Yes. Cultivation is defying Heaven itself. The word 'impossible' is already out of the window from the start."

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

She had finally 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...

"That's why,"

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

"W-what is it?"

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

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

"Your help is essential for my survival."

She still had a promise to keep. She had to return to the Yang Dynasty, to witness with her own eyes how the new era would unfold. That's why,

"I'll diligently cultivate. I'll get stronger as fast as I can. When I could regain the power that I had once lost, I'll set you free."

At the peak of Dao, she would surely be able to separate her soul from the Tailed Beast without repercussions. She had wielded that power before, so she knew that it was possible.

"Could you wait until that time comes?"

Narrowing its eyes at the girl before it, the great 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 shall wait a little bit longer."

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

"This humble one thank the Venerable One!"

"Good. 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... tell This One the truth. How long will it take until your cultivation thingamajig reached the level that you desired?"

How long?

It would depend on the person's innate talent, the techniques used, what support tools used during the cultivation process, and a lot of other tiny details that would greatly influence the final result. However, if taking a guess based on the average results over centuries...

"Shouldn't be too long. At most... three hundred years?"

Three.

Hundred-

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

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

"W-what's wrong?"

Yao Huang was taken aback by Kokuo's sudden outburst. What was it? Did he say anything wrong?

If everything progressed smoothly, which was nigh improbable in the cultivation world, then a mortal could reach the rank of Earthly Immortal around the age of a hundred. It would take another hundred years before they could become a Celestial Immortal. The last stage, the Heavenly Immortal stage, would take even longer.

"Three hundred years to reach the beginning of Heavenly Immortal stage is already inhumanely fast. An acquaintance of mine cultivated for two thousand and seventy-three years before he could reach that level."

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

What kind of absurd world did she live in? 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. At Nascent Soul stage onward, a mortal could live for at least five hundred years if they keep on practicing..."

"Enough. This One no longer has the desire to listen to this drivel-"

They stopped their banter when they heard footsteps outside the room.

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

The paper 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 as she led the girl through a maze of long-winded corridors.