Requests and Punishment

Putting on a bright smile, Yao grinned at the incensed woman. "Ah Teacher you're back already?"

"Changing topics now are we? That won't work for me silly child." Bibi Dong chuckled, Yao felt the air slap him as the skies greeted the man's eyes. Student and teacher soared from the mountain and back to the pavilion where Bibi Dong let go of Yao.

"Aw but I missed you teacher!

Bibi Dong squinted her eyes. "Adorable, but how hypocritical. Any last words?"

"I guess it can't be avoided, then please push me to my limits." Since there was no room for negotiation, Yao decided it would be a better bet of using the oncoming physical abuse as training.

The pontiff started stretching and crisp pops resounded off her joints. Cracking her fists, she smiled sweetly.

Yao's instincts kicked in full gear. Activating zenith, he jumped back from the woman and a whistling noise came from his rear. Yao swiftly dodged it, his leg flowed from the ground and cruised towards Bibi Dong's head.

She reared her head backwards, dodging the kick by an inch yet her face still felt like something invisible had went and punched her cheek, a blast of concussive wind that rippled her flesh. Taken by surprise Bibi Dong felt her student reach a whole new level and put in more effort.

"Soul power? That's wasteful."

"Personally, I think it's a good technique." Yao disagreed as he dodged.

Multiple figures flashed by outside the grassy area near the river. Yao and Bibi Dong were moving so fast that slight afterimages appeared with their speed far surpassing the ordinary rank forty-one Soul Ancestor. Each exchange was met with evasion as none of the two could hit one another.

Except that Yao was winning, soul power escaping his fists and kicks traveled outward the distance of half a foot into the air which propagated similar to solid waves.

Their battle sundered the earth as soil, dust and grass were kicked into the air. Yao escaped Bibi Dong's vision and the woman swiftly turned around and crossed her arms.

BANG!

Turning into a fine cannonball, Bibi Dong was launched across the river and spun a few times in the air and landed safely on her feet.

Clicking her tongue, Bibi Dong's smile turned a shade more alluring. "How naughty, you always want to take me by surprise from behind don't you my dear student?" The way she worded it out gave Yao a few ideas he quickly dispersed.

'I'm almost spent.' The three-minute time limit was coming soon. 'I'm strong but all of my strength is dependent on soul power.' He needed more energy reserves as his martial soul and combat techniques all drew on said energy to function.

Shaking her head, Bibi Dong sighed in satisfaction. "You've improved already in three days?" Bibi Dong's astonishment could no longer be hidden. Yao's fighting style not only became more refined but now even without using his martial soul, the child would easily match a Soul Ancestor that had decided to go all out.

"Teacher is a great mentor." Yao praised, technically it wasn't the case since Bibi Dong had only taught him one technique so far. But it still falls under the woman's teaching capability how she supplied the child with valuable reading materials.

They've just recently started learning together, in time, Yao believes he'll learn more and reach greater heights.

Bibi Dong rolled her eyes. "What a great mentee you are. I haven't taught you much yet." After two whole minutes of fighting, Bibi Dog broke away from Yao and observed him.

His long green hair was messy, beads of sweat trickled down the child's handsome face and his shirt clung to him like an adorable puppy asking for a sweet hug. With his breathing ragged, the kid cut a pitiful figure in the pontiff's eyes.

"En… Rest for a few minutes then get ready." Yao Guai did as instructed.

'In the meantime, I have to tell her now.' Yao thought about his plans and he really needs to have Bibi Dong help him out in some areas. All he had right now was talent and nothing else, the man lacked the resources or influence to pull off big moves.

So he had to rely on the woman.

"Teacher… Can you find the one who invented those pipes back in the bathroom?" Yao fired off a question much to Bibi Dong's confusion. 'Out of all the things he would ask he'll ask this.'

"Naturally I can find whoever made them. But why is it that you ask such an insignificant thing?"

Shaking his head, Yao disagreed with Bibi Dong's last words wholeheartedly. "I have a side project I'm working on and that person would be highly necessary for its success." Intrigued, Bibi Dong started having an interest about the one who made those runic pipes. This new student of hers rarely asked much for anything and so far, he was highly obedient when it came to training.

Brains belonging to geniuses indeed functioned differently compared to the common folk. Bibi Dong believed that Yao was indeed an example of this saying.

"Side project? Tell me about it." Yao frowned, nodded and picked his words carefully. "I'm curious about the creation of essence tools." Battle armor stemmed from soul guidance tools. It was an idea conceived by Huo Yuhao who had drafted plans for a man shaped soul guidance device which lead to countless years of research thereby discovering battle armor and more efficient soul circuit engravings.

The very first soul guidance tool did not come from Huo Yuhao's era. It was already discovered in the ancient times under a different name. Essence tools.

Essence tools were simple objects capable of doing special things. Such as functioning as a storage tool to even turning a normal boat into a full-fledged submarine.

Bibi Dong understands that the subject does indeed contain some interesting topics. Even the silver ring possessing runes on her finger was a simple essence tool that consumed miniscule soul power to store objects at the command of a snap, hence why she would snap her fingers and her desired object would pop up in the air.

"About that, methods of Essence tool creation are lost to time. Only a select few still know of their creation processes and as good as our Spirit Hall is, we've never really had an interest regarding this." Bibi Dong admitted, her ring was an essence tool she found within the wilderness on a lucky day.

Its insides could store a whole mountain if she wanted to.

Dejected, Yao Guai knitted his brows. 'As soon as possible I need to get people who knows how to create essence tools.' Battle armor and essence tools were worlds apart, twenty thousand whole years of innovation and knowledge was a wide gulf that simplified the difference between the two.

Yao's situation was comparable to a man who goes out of his way to find and recruit a gunsmith, only to order the gunsmith to create a nuke.

It was too hard, even if the two aspects shared the faintest same origins, it would still take a lot of time and success may not even happen.

'It's a side project anyway. If it succeeds then the forces I will cultivate would be able to help me take up the mantle of Supreme Pontiff easily, if it fails? What a shame, I'll still find a different way of getting stronger anyway so it won't matter much.' Yao shrugged.

Seeing that her student had fallen deep into thought, Bibi Dong nodded. "If you want to know about essence tools then teacher would do her best in finding guide books. And I'll even find the person who made those pipes in the bathroom. If possible, I'll also try to get you an essence tool artist."

Yao brightened up, his mood lifting a few stories he smiled at the woman. "Thank you teacher!" He felt at ease since the matter would be solved soon.

Bibi Dong revealed a cruel smile. "Thanking me so soon? I wasn't finished yet cheeky brat." Yao froze and frowned. The woman laughed "Same rules as before, if you can beat me at the soul ancestor level while I'm using my first up to third spirit ring, or make me use the fourth then I'll let you have four month vacations per year accompanied by a titled douluo for protection purposes."

"And I'll give you a special gift along with whatever you want. So ask away already and work hard!"

"I won't be lenient my child…"

"I'm not your child." Yao shook his head and the woman crossed her arms under her bountiful chest. "You're no fun." She snorted then chuckled eerily.

Yao's expression turned ugly and Bibi Dong chuckled at him. If it was any other Soul Ancestor then Yao Guai wasn't worried about winning within three minutes, but if it was this monster which was her teacher then it would be problematic.

Zenith can only last for a while and Bibi Dong could drag out the battle until his exhaustion. Not to mention, it was the woman who taught him Zenith in the first place, Bibi Dong should have her own usage of it and her martial soul was extremely problematic.

"What? Not confident in winning?" Bibi Dong snickered.

Yao Shook his head. "I can win, emphasis on can but I'm not sure how long it will take for me to do so."

"Then just stay in this place until you reach rank thirty-one. The outside world is dangerous Yao."

"Indeed, it is. But its not that dangerous." Yao shrugged and Bibi Dong snorted. "It isn't what you think Yao. For now, you won't understand yet but when you're going to leave this place, I'll tell you about it." She had just come back from surveying an eradicated clan and that alone was enough of an indication of something terrible lurking in the darkness.

Bibi Dong did not wish for a good seedling like Yao to be broken and never bloom. A seed from a great tree may hold the possibility of turning into another tall tree, but that possibility would become zero if said seed was harmed or ruined.

"What do you mean?" Having caught on, Yao felt that the woman was withholding information from him and indeed she was.

"I won't tell you." She teased and Yao was annoyed.

One of the things he hated the most was not knowing the truth behind something, he was curious and he wanted to unravel the secrets behind anything catching his eye. And Bibi Dong's words hinting at something foreign did indeed catch his attention.

Striking while the iron was hot, Yao added another request. "Teacher I need soul masters, preferably criminals as strong as Soul Elders and as weak as Soul Masters. The more obedient they are and the heavier their sins, the better."

"Why?" Bibi Dong found his request odd again.

Yao's eyes turned colder. "So that I have an excuse to experiment on them. In case they die they deserved it then and I will kill all of them anyway in the end. Also, the more the merrier." He had another plan which involved trial and error.

And he wasn't going to do that plan on himself, he was going to test it out on guinea pigs first.

'I'll explode if I do it to myself.' His idea was still a theory, and theories needed more research to turn into facts or falsehoods.

"Alright then, I won't forget about these requests of yours."

A few more minutes passed and after Yao switched clothes, Bibi Dong brushed off her robes and started walking away from Yao.

"What are you doing?" Yao grew curious and Bibi Dong didn't answer.

Only when the woman was a hundred feet away from Yao did she say something. "I don't like using this form much but get ready! The moment you feel like the pain is too much or that your heart will stop, concede already and if you call teacher ugly then I'll beat you to an inch of your life." She advised and Yao hurriedly prepared himself.

An aura of death shot out from Bibi Dong, the surrounding area within a few feet of her gradually withered as trees turned sickly pale. Grasses died and a hazy green mist surrounded her.

Bibi Dong transformed into a monster, a monster who can reap life with the swing of one hand.

Bibi Dong's body turned into something similar to an Arachne, the lower half was a black spherical body with eight legs covered in green fur jutting out. Each leg seemingly as sharp as a spear and her upper torso was then covered in a full suit of black plated armor. Her helmet covered the woman's whole face with six eyeholes each glowing with green lights.

She looked like a Dullahan riding a spider, only with everything below the waist fused into said spider.

All of Bibi Dong's beauty faded away, her current form inspired dread and helplessness. Standing at three and a half meters tall.

She was arachnophobia incarnate.

"Call out your monkey, no… Call out even more spirit beasts." Bibi Dong's soft voice was sickeningly pleasant in contrast to her figure.

Confidence emanated out of Bibi Dong. It was confidence birthed from knowing herself well and belief in one's own capabilities.

"Even if there were five of you, all of you won't be enough."