1066 Chapter 1066 Inside the Vault
Bing, just after the vault shuts.
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Bing marvelled at the increase in cultivation. She was so close to Rank 3. The slightest push would send her over that edge… but now was not the time. With everything that was going on right now Bing knew that she couldn’t produce a stable foundation at Rank 3 so instead Bing compacted her current foundation, forcing her current gains to settle and strengthen what she had already.
It would still leave her at the peak of Rank 2, just a hair’s breadth away from Rank 3. A good meditation session on a windy day would get her passed this hurdle in the future… but with all of the nonsense happening at the moment it really wasn’t the best time. *I want my cultivation to be perfect. Any issues I introduce now will just slow me down in the future. If I knew for certain I had the time Rank 3 isn’t out of the question, and my foundation is already extremely solid… but it wasn’t perfect and things are tense right now.*
Bing felt the power inside of herself threatening to lash out as she finished up with the last of her foundation. It was already close to perfect and it didn’t want to just stay down and remain at Rank 2. It was pushing to be unleashed, to reach Rank 3. It was a challenge Bing knew she had to overcome. She’d gotten this far, and she wasn’t going to give up yet.
“Hey Bing?” Bing’s control snapped when she heard her brother’s word. What remaining qi hadn’t been pinned down exploded out of her in a whirlwind directed at the sound. Bing grith her teeth, struggling to keep the rest of her qi in working order. Her foundation was shaking, but solid. Just a bit of time needed to pass. Bing could hear the grinding of wind against the defensive formations but couldn’t pay it any mind right now.
A push, there, a twist there, and a lot of willpower holding it all down, Bing managed to stabilise her foundation. It would stay put as it was for the foreseeable future. Bing slowly opened her eyes, while trying to keep her face as expressionless as possible. That was made harder by the look of terror on Feng’s face when he realised, he done fucked up. *Keep it together. We’re supposed to be angry. If I’d been pushing for Rank 3 instead of just peak Rank 2 that could have crippled me! God bro, you should know better then this! I get it’s stressful, but this is basic shit!
I also probably shouldn’t be enjoying just how scared he looks. I mean, it looks like he’s about to be eaten. Though… hmm… I guess if I went and tattled to Meng, our assassin mother… yeah that’s a terrifying thought. I don’t know how far she’d go, and that uncertainty is probably what’s scaring Feng quite so much.*
Bing of course, hadn’t heard when Feng asked for permission to rest in the vault. He was given one rule, and that one rule was to not bother anyone. He was lucky that underneath that layer of light, Bodeir was now also encased in a layer of rock and didn’t hear the potential interruption but it would not have been pretty. If Bodeir had been hurt, Meng would’ve been displeased and Kat might have been obligated to DO something about it.
.....
“So, foolish brother of mine, what were you trying to ask me?” asked Bing sweetly.
Feng fell forward into a seiza, head on the floor and spoke. “Nothing. This foolish brother of yours requires nothing,”
“While that reply does confirm that your memory is equivalent to that of a goldfish, I do wish to remind you that I have already been interrupted. Are you sure you wish to communicate to me that the reason you were interrupting my cultivation was so easily forgotten in just a few moments? Or worse, that there was never a reason to begin with? I’ll have to let Meng know that you’re suffering from some malady of the mind,” returned Bing.
Feng gulped, “I… I wished to pick your mind about Meng now that she won’t be able to hear what we are saying… but I understand that I was wrong to interrupt your meditation,” said Feng, voice shaking.
Bing sighed, letting her face return to normal before speaking. “Look Feng… it worked out, and I didn’t damage my cultivation… but god that was dumb. You know better then that Feng. If I wasn’t your sister, I would probably be inclined to get you harshly punished for that! Heck, I’m still somewhat tempted. It’s only because I understand you’re stressed and no damage was done that I’m going to keep quiet about it… but come on Feng, that sort of mistake will get you killed one day,”
“I’m sorry,” said Feng as he sat up, regret written over his face. “I… I don’t know what I was thinking. I couldn’t see any wind around you like normal… so I was just… well I guess I was assuming you were just using meditation to relax or something… I wasn’t thinking,”
“That does seem to be a frequent occurrence today doesn’t it Feng?” said Bing with a bit more bite to it then she’d intended. Bing brushed the minor bit of guilt aside. Unintentional it might have been, but not unwarranted. “Look, even if you have problems with Meng why would you SAY THAT TO HER FACE. If she was lying, or just taking advantage of us, she could easily wrap us in an illusion, or just kill you for being a little shit.
“Now obviously she’s not going to do this if she really loves us… but that was the whole point of the argument! You’ve been insisting she’s an untrustworthy spy, and if you were right? Well you were risking death trying to prove a point that you desperately needed to be wrong about? And the worst part? If she really does love you, as I’m sure she does, what you said was immensely hurtful. Probably more hurtful then when you STABBED HER IN THE NECK,”
Feng flinched back at that last point and sighed, taking a bit of time to gather up his thoughts again. “Look, it wasn’t my best moment,” Bing just rolled her eyes, unwilling to dignify that with a response. “Just… do you really think going with her is the right thing to do? Is she… is she really someone we should call mother?”
It was Bing’s turn to sigh, “Honestly Feng, I think that’s something you have to decide for yourself. Meng laid most of it out on the table there. I’m sure we could ask for the specifics of her missions if we want to make it hard on her, and ourselves, but I don’t know what else needs to be said. She’s a spy, and she has always been a spy. The fact that she isn’t spying on other people, but us? It barely matters when I feel like she’s proved to be a good mother to us,”
“I… just… has she though? Has she really proved anything of the sort?” asked Feng.
“Feng, she raised us. Never before today have I ever worried about not having my parents love. After talking with her, I don’t worry about losing her love once again. Meng has always had our best interests at heart, and now well… now the past is catching up to our mother and as good kids? It’s our job to support her in times of trouble, even if we can’t help much. We should do what we can… not… not drag her down and throw metaphorical shit in her face,” insisted Bing.
“Well what about Bang?” asked Feng. “I never thought father didn’t love us… and now suddenly we’re hearing that it was all an act. If we didn’t notice his disdain, why would we notice Meng’s? Siding with her IS a risk. She could be lying, she could be wrong… and we’ve proven that we can’t actually TELL,”
Bing winced at that accusation. *That’s not something I really wanted to consider. THANKS Feng. Just… well. I trust Kat. I trust that she would be able to tell if Meng was lying, at least, about big things. And she seems so genuine.* “Well… she IS an illusion mistress. It’s possible, perhaps even likely that she pretended to be Bang a few times to make it seem like he cared more than he did,”
“That’s just something you WISH were true. Maybe it is, maybe it isn’t, but we can’t exactly ask Meng now can we? Plus, isn’t that further proof that we can barely be trusted with our memories? If we didn’t just miss Bang’s lack of love, but also Bang being played by Meng and still not noticing?” grumbled Fen only half willing to push the point. It didn’t matter how true it was, he didn’t want to admit to being blind either.
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