Be The Icy Beauty: A Xianxia/Cultivation Tale

Bing Meilu stood atop the highest point of the mast of the Captured Slave Galley. Her elegant pale blue robes fluttered in the wind. Her blue eyes gleamed gently as she enhanced them with Qi. She could see, a few kilometers of distance away, her first Disciple, Xia Xuefeng, floating in the air. The girl was covered by a hazy aura of Blood Qi as she held herself up in the air.

It would be suicidal to undertake a major Heavenly Tribulation while in the dangerous waters of the Grand Expanse Ocean, and there were no islands close enough to make a stop at. Therefore, Bing Meilu had spent a few days teaching Xia Xuefeng a basic movement art called the Trueblood Moonwalk. It was a technique the former Celestial had created by simplifying the movement art invented by her junior sister, Ruan Hua, the previous(or was it future now?) user of the Anthem of the Crucified.

The technique was designed to perfectly conform to the inheritance of the Blood Moon Spectral God, and thus suited Xuefeng remarkably. It allowed a Blood Cultivator to both run and fly at high speeds by pulling on their own veins. At higher levels, it would allow one to transform into blood, leave behind illusionary clones, and even teleport with blood as a medium.

Xia Xuefeng had managed to learn its most basic level in just a few days but...

'She's not as talented with Blood Qi as Ruan Hua was,' Bing Meilu noted in mild disappointment.

That was probably to be expected. Junior Sister Ruan Hua was the greatest genius of Blood Cultivation Bing Meilu had ever met. She was one of the few members of the Yin Cultivator's entourage who had followed her all the way from the Bird Talon Continent to the Deathless Domain. Hua had no special physiques or bloodlines. She was simply a genius of comprehension like Xi Fu. That combined with the natural environmental benefits she received from the God-Blood Crisis had been enough for her to ascend to Immortality only a few thousand years after Bing Meilu herself.

Meanwhile, Xia Xuefeng did have a physique naturally aligned with Blood Qi, which was why Bing Meilu had begun to teach it to her in the first place, but her comprehension of the essence of the element was far inferior.

'I wonder if it's because I was not able to shape her formative cultivation months like I did with Xi Fu!' Bing Meilu scowled, suddenly feeling like extracting further punishment on Ji Longyi.

If it was simply the case that Xia Xuefeng was naturally unfit for Cultivation, Bing Meilu would not feel too perturbed. Fate could be cruel, but there was nothing to be done. It was just that she was certain Xuefeng had more untapped potential, but was being held back by her own mindset. In other words...

'Her Dao-Heart is still lacking,' Bing Meilu clicked her tongue.

Xia Xuefeng might have been an ordinary low-tier cultivator destined to die in obscurity, but her fate had changed. She had met Bing Meilu, been taken in as a disciple by her, become the host of the Sealing Mark of an ancient God, and then found the key to the seal of the Devil-God Grand Emperor Blacksky in the vault of the Son of Heaven Society. Just the last one alone had intricately tied her karma to a major secret of the Dao of Heaven.

If after all that, she turned out to be a failure of a cultivator, Bing Meilu would truly have no words.

Xia Xuefeng slowly inhaled. Her spatial ring flashed and she began to extract some of the magical treasures she possessed. First was a long jian made up of bloody red crystal. The red crystal glowed ominously as Xia Xuefeng poured her Blood Qi into it.

Next was a large ceramic vase. It was a spatial relic designed to hold huge quantities of Blood. Most of the rich life essence gathered in the last month had been stored within it, and now, some of the banked fluid flowed outwards into a ring around the girl.

Third, a large greyish blood appeared. This was an artifact made of fortified, Metal Qi-infused blood that could be manipulated as normal, but with far superior durability. It wrapped around Xuefeng in the form of spike-covered plate mail as she channelled a Battle Art through it.

Next, a swarm of sixty-four flying swords appeared. They were made of a variety of materials, from wood to metal to crystal. They were a variety of shapes, from curved scimitars to thin rapiers, to long two-sided jian. They floated in an array around Xia Xuefeng, ready to slice to bits any who came close. After that, a large automaton in the shape of an autonomous suit of armour appeared, standing ready.

At this point, no ordinary Second Realm cultivator would be capable of controlling and fueling so many magical treasures at the same time. But the Anthem of the Crucified was no ordinary technique, and Xia Xuefeng was not done.

Dozens of glowing paper talismans were next, attached to Xia Xuefeng. Most were simple defensive shields, forming into a many-layered barrier of defensive Qi. Others were more esoteric, like healing energy that would activate the moment she was injured, a field of cold that would suppress the burning caused by lightning strikes, one that would slightly accelerate the thoughts of humans within it and more.

Next, a blood-red ring appeared, landing on the girl's empty index finger. This one had the simple purpose of generating a constant drip of blood. Not that Xia Xuefeng really needed it, but in the improbable scenario she burned through the countless gallons stored in the vase and her own internal reserve in her Dantian, it would be a lifesaver.

After that, a large painting appeared, held above Xuefeng's head by a string of thin blood. This was a magical treasure that could store and reflect attacks.

With each new set of items, Bing Meilu's eyebrows began to rise imperceptibly. Just how many treasures had Xia Xuefeng looted- from the Son of Heaven Society?

'At least I have raised my disciple well in one area,' Bing Meilu nodded, pleased. 'When someone owes you money, carve every last bit off the meat of their bones.'

"That painting cannot store Heavenly Tribulation Lightning," Bing Meilu warned, enhancing her voice with Qi. "But you can use it to store some of your own attacks before the fight starts, and release them if you run low on Qi."

Her disciple obediently nodded, summoning and storing a hail of over twenty hail of Deity-Piercing Spectral Lances.

"Just remember - while you can block or parry anything else, you must baptize your core in the Five-Colored Lightning to fully stabilize your cultivation. That you will have to survive on your own." her master continued.

The Blood Cultivator nodded from afar. She readied herself, and then the skies above began to roil with black.

---

Xia Xuefeng inhaled slowly. Inside her Dantian, her Dao-Platform floated over a lake of blood. A huge redwood cross covered in bloody nails and surrounded by screaming ghosts.

To reach Core Formation, she would have to shatter the very core of her Cultivation Base. This would unleash a flood of all the Qi she had slowly and methodically refined into it over the last year or so. Then she would have to once more condense it, into a particular arrangement called an Agony Soul-Core. Lastly, it would then have to endure the Five-Colored Heavenly Lightning. Once that was achieved, she would be a fully realized first-stage Core Formation Cultivator.

'When I imagined becoming a mighty cultivator, I always thought it would be something glamorous and cool, like the power of the sun, or thunder. Not literally being powered by the torture of damned souls,' a bitter smile grew on Xia Xuefeng's face.

She focused as best as she could. All the Blood Qi in her meridians began to flow towards her Dantian, gathering in one ball. The ball slowly lengthed into a sharp knife.

'Here it goes. No turning back now,' Xia Xuefeng gulped.

Every drop of Qi in her body shot forward, ripping through her Dao-Platform. A shrill scream erupted through the teen girl. It was painful- even more painful than when she had pierced the Cross with bloody nails.

But she could not stop now. Pushing further and further, she shoved the knife deeper into her Dao-Platform. The crack began to spread across the structure of solid Qi as it broke.

"Aaaaaaaaaah!" the girl gave a shrill scream. "Uaaaaaaa!"

Then, with a popping sound, a vortex of bloody energy erupted from her body. It swirled outwards, quickly surpassing the size of a pond until a tiny lake of red blood surrounded Xuefeng swirling around her. Throughout the churning vortex of blood, small ghostly faces could be seen, their own shrill cries of pain even more horrific and tortured than Xuefeng's.

'Fuck! It fucking hurts so much!' tears of blood began to spill from Xia Xuefeng's eyes.

Her body and cultivation base shuddered and screamed in agony.

'Now, I just need to pull it back!' she winced.

Focusing as much as she could, Xia Xuefeng opened each and every one of her meridians. Slowly, she sang the Anthem of the Crucified. She willed the bloody Qi back within her, and it began to obey. The vortex slowed, then stilled, and then it reversed. It was just a tiny trickle, but the Qi began to pour toward her Dantian, forming a tiny, sparkling orb of blood and ghostly Qi.

'My core-'

Above, the skies began to rumble and blacken. When mankind stepped beyond their bounds, Heaven was sure to remind them of their place. A pressure descended from the Sky as the will of the tribulation locked onto Xia Xuefeng. A horrifying feeling of malice, hatred, and repudiation crushed down upon her as if the very heavens themselves wished to utterly erase any evidence she once lived. Her body shuddered, and she nearly fell from the sky as she lost control of her Qi.

Just like her Foundation Establishment Heavenly Tribulation, she felt the Karmic Merit within her pulse upwards. Light spilled from her forehead in a beam that lanced into the sky, communing with the Heavenly Tribulation. However, unlike before, the malicious feeling of the tribulation did not seem to dissipate in the slightest. Instead, something strange began to happen. Something Xia Xuefeng had never seen before.

The sky parted, like a curtain drawn open. Sunlight peeked through the black clouds in a line. From one side, she felt that same sense of dread and fear, the wrath of divine providence. A righteous fury that hated and reviled her in a way beyond mere description. On the other, a totally different aura came. Like that of a stern, but ultimately loving, father. A warm aura that coiled around her in comforting warmth, even as its heavy pressure nearly caused her knees to buckle.

'Are there... two tribulations?'

Xia Xuefeng lost control of her flight, and began to plunge towards the water, unable to bear the pressure crashing down upon her.

In the distance, a small frown formed upon her Master's lips.