The Narcissist (3)
"It's impossible. There's no going back for either of us." As usual she could tell what was on the little spirits mind, and there was no way she'd agree. Bai Mei Li raised her hand. With the memories she knew exactly how to do the bond. Her soul had three times the density of a normal soul so while it might have been impossible for others to initiate a bonding she would certainly be able to.
It was thought that one just needed have a more powerful cultivation than the spirit companion to force a bond. But Bai Mei Li had thought differently as soon as she' examined the memories that were left to her. She felt that as long she wore down this little spirit until she couldn't help but show true vulnerability that would be enough. After all bonding was little more then a battle of wills in Bai Mei Li's opinion.
Bi Yu was horrified. Why was it that this brat seemed to be able to read her mind? That was impossible. There were secret arts that did allow a persons soul to be read a soul and thus their memories, but that required preparation and a very high level of cultivation. It was impossible for Bai Mei Li to be able to do it as swiftly as she'd been doing it. Bi Yu just couldn't understand how Bai Mei Li could do what she was doing.
In truth Bai Mei Li wasn't reading her mind at all. Bi Yu was just too childish. For someone of Bai Mei Li skill level in psychiatry and profiling she barely needed to exert any really skill to understand what going on in the little spirits mind. It was written all over her face clear as day. At least for Bai Mei Li it was.
Bai Mei Li raised her hands and with lighting speed reformed a spiritual seal. It was designed to lock down spiritual companions. She caught hold of the little spirit by the shoulder. She then exerted the pressure from her soul to weight down Bi Yu with spiritual chains. In Bi Yu's currant state of mind she was no match for Bai Mei Li.
With Bi Yu's currant mind set which was unstable due to her fear it wasn't hard for Bai Mei Li to use the sealing technique knew to place spiritual chains on her. To Bai Mei Li's surprise once she began examining the internal working of Bi Yu she could see a network of runes creating hundreds of small arrays in the incorporeal form of Bi Yu.
Because of all of the arrays It took her a while to find the central one needed to create the bond. 'Damn it where is it… where... THERE!'
With a triumphant smile she poured her spiritual energy into that array and at the same time she placed her thumb on Bi Yu's forehead. Concentrating the spiritual energy that she was pouring into the array and the spiritual energy that she was pouring into her from her thumb she connected them. Once they connected the array lit up and floated slowly out of her body.
Bi Yu looked like she was in a daze. She didn't say anything nor do anything. She simply stood there obediently allowing Bai Mei Li to do as she pleased. Once Bai Mei Li had tied her down with the spiritual seal there was nothing she could do. The time to fight was before the seal or at the very latest before she connected the two spiritual energy points. Now it was just too late. Bi Yu could do nothing more than be bonded.
Bai Mei Li looked at the array with a smile. She cut her finger and dropped some blood on the center stone. It shone brightly for a moment and then slowly returned back inside of Bi Yu's body.
Bai Mei Li's soul was a lot less solid now and she looked sickly pale. But was she extremely happy that her plan had exceeded. Bi Yu was much more powerful then she was. On a mature and worldly spirit companion that kind of tactic wouldn't of worked. She was only able to succeed so easily because she was able to thoroughly fluster the little spirit with interrogator mode.
Of course even if Bi Yu had of been harder to deal with Bai Mei Li still would of succeeded it's just that there would have been a lot more that she would have had to factor in, in order to win.
She sat down in the lotus position and started to cultivate her spiritual energy the ring had plenty and she had used a lot.
After some time passed she slowly opened her eyes and looked at the very unhappy Bi Yu. She hadn't been worried about Bi Yu trying to do something to her while she was cultivating because harming Bai Mei Li was as good as harming herself.
"You have only yourself to blame." She said looking at Bi Yu calmly. "Who told you to try and outsmart me. You had ill intentions from the very beginning. You should of been prepared to lose something when you attacked." Bai Mei Li said simply. She had no remorse toward what she'd done. After all it had been the spirit companions intention or overwhelm her and be the one in control of this relationship. Bai Mei Li had just been the one to preemptively attack. She had only herself to blame for being less capable.
"Why didn't you at least give me a chance to agree?" Bi Yu said her voice gushing with grievances. It's true that she'd wanted to be the one in control but once she saw she was losing she would of chosen to give in. She was very unhappy about being forced. Not only that but her entire spiritual form felt really uncomfortable now. It was a side effect of the forced contract.
Bai Mei Li eyed her for a moment before responding. "It was punishment for having ill intentions towards me. You should accept it graciously. Besides that, do I owe you anything that I have to make things easy for you?" Bai Mei Li grinned. As she stood up her eyes remained on Bi Yu. She was very pleased with the way things had turned out. After all she'd gained so much with her only loss being some energy. She couldn't ask for more.
"Now Bi Yu. Tell me what you know about runes. I understand the basics… lets do this quickly I have things to do, and you'll also need to properly explain this space to me" That cold expression was gone now as though it had never been there to begin with.
Bi Yu had been watching Bai Mei Li since she'd woken from her stupor. She couldn't believe that things had actually turned out this way. Even though she had experienced it all herself she still had problems accepting this outcome.
That brat felt very strange. Looking at her now it was becoming increasingly hard to accept the person who she was looking at right now as the same person that threatened her just a little while ago. That sharpness had all but dissipated. She now resembled a relaxed fifteen year old. Bi Yu was confused. She couldn't see through this brat at all.
"In order to create an array you must be a inscriber… in order to break one just you need to good spiritual energy, have a very the ability at solve things, and a excellent memory. Every array is different. There is no one way to solve them all. Although the basics maybe the same the over all design and difficulty will depend on the inscriber and their individual talents." Bi Yu explained in her soft voice
Bai Mei Li listened silently without interruption. When she'd been examining the rune array at the mountain she'd found the intricate design both beautiful and intriguing. So she wanted to absorb what Bi Yu was saying. She was interested in learning how to inscribe.
"The only way for you to break an array is to use your spirit energy to follow along the lay lines to the spiritual contact points and get to the main stone in the center. You can over whelm the rune array with pure power and directly destroy the runes if your stronger then the inscriber. If you try and fail this method has a backlash that could kill or cripple you. If your fast enough you can get away without such drastic injuries but you absolutely will not be able to get away unscathed because what's attacked isn't the body but its the soul, and soul attacks are infinitely faster then attacks aimed at the body. Understand?"
"I get it." Bai Mei Li said and nodded like a good and obedient student. Completely contrary to her earlier attitude. She was like a completely different person.
Bi Yu looked to the old courtyard and held out her hand. Several runes flew into her hands. She set up a simple array with a common dragon grass medicinal plant at the center as an example for Bai Mei Li to practice on.
"Here, try to break this. These are pre-scribed runes. This is a simple protection rune array " Bi Yu said calmly. After that she taught Bai Mei Li a basic hand seal for connecting with first level rune arrays.
"Alright." Bai Mei Li was surprised at how quickly Bi Yu had created that array. She assumed it wasn't that easy to create a rune array. From her memory she understood that rune array inscribers were rare. It required a powerful soul and few people had a soul powerful enough to sustain the constant strain inscribing placed on it.
If your soul was too weak yet you kept trying to learn inscription it would bring about sickness and eventual death. Even if your soul was strong enough that didn't mean you had that talent to be a inscriber. On all the lower bound there were under two hundred inscribers. In a world where there were tens of thousands of cultivator that said something.
Were practitioners were concerned it wasn't a problem with talent and ability, but a talents ability to survive and mature. The death rate of cultivators was nothing to laugh at it. You could be killed for any number of reasons, or no reason at all.
Bai Mei Li settled back down in the lotus position and started focusing her attention on the rune array. She closed her eyes and used the basic hand seal that she's just learned and connected with the array. She allowed her spiritual energy to flow forward through her hands and into lay lines of the runes as she tried to follow the lines to the center stone.
It was more complicated then she'd first thought. It wasn't as though she had a aerial view of the array while she was trying to break it. It was more like tunnel vision. She had to take various exits and try to find out the pattern.
After several attempts she figured out the right path to the center. Once she made it there she infused it with her spiritual energy and broke it's connections to the lay lines. Then she triumphantly took the dragon grass.
"Let's try another." She said with a charming smile.
(Edited)