Diamond Wraith Butterfly

"Is that..." Xiao Li breathed in deeply.

Lotus smirked when she saw the butterflies come in one by one. Lotus quietly sent Little Jun out to circle around in the back of the trees as she watched the ring of trees began to glow into a bright white ring.

"So many..." Ying Hui gasped in awe.

The Ivory Soul Butterflies are silvery-white with shiny markings similar to that one a monarch butterfly. They are white in the daylight, but, at night, their wings become transparent like ghosts and would often appear like orbs of light. They would feast upon the nectars of flowers with the most fragrant smell. Luckily for Lotus, not only was the Zhi flower fragrant but also matches the taste that most butterflies such as the Ivory Soul Butterfly favors.

Lotus nodded quietly and watched them take in the nectar of the Zhi Lilies. Suddenly, a bright light flashed amongst them like a star that her eyes widen in bewilderment. It was only when Little Jun returned that she dared to leave her hiding place.

Seeing a human suddenly appear, the butterflies were about to scatter but quickly changed direction to ambush her as shiny dust particles drifted with the wind. Though nervous, Lotus was ready though. She could feel the energy behind her eyes as she unhurriedly walked around the butterflies and swiftly darted her way towards that light. If she was right, she would make it there and have everything taken care of.

"Eek!"

It was then that she heard a cry from behind her. Lotus had no interest in knowing her little stalker and walked away before finding the butterfly.

"Eek! Stop! Sto-! Help!!!"

The high pitch screeching was so annoying as she found a pure white butterfly about the size of her hand while the others around her were only as wide as her middle finger. So, it was twice as big as the others. In the past, they used to flock around the graveyards of nobles who often bury the dead while filling their coffins with valuable treasures, such as herbs, silk, and expensive alcohol. However, amongst the herbs were freshly picked flowers of great values that would attract such said butterflies.

Finally, having heard enough, she picked up the large butterfly gingerly with her hands brushing aside the attack of energy at her as she scowled, "You're breaking through and you want to attack me? Do you want to die that badly?"

She shook her head with a sigh before using her beast taming skills as she could feel the energy radiating for it increase she hurriedly started her chant according to her texts. This went on for two hours before she could feel a connection build between the two of them. After taming the butterfly, she immediately built the contract before released her ability and appeared with the butterfly in hand. Upon contract, the butterfly froze in her hand steadily upon finding out the source behind the energy of her new master.

"You!"

Lotus turned around to find that it was indeed a young woman with a sharp chin, rosy skin, and blue eyes that pierced at her with a sharp glare. Her black dress had become tattered and partially up in smoke thanks to the dust.

As the butterflies flew, iridescent dust would spill from their wings which was the scales that they shed like when reptiles shed their skins. More importantly, these things are very toxic.

She raised a brow and looked down upon the woman, "What is it? You have a mouth to speak, don't you?"

The woman glared at her with a scowl on her face, "What's a Gold core cultivator doing in this little realm?! Were you sent from the Hui family?!"

"Hui Family?" Lotus raised a brow after realizing how talkative this woman was, "Who's that?"

"Lies!" The woman scowled and pulled out her steel whip from her hand, "As if no one knows of the Hui family!"

Lotus sighed in annoyance, "If I said I don't know, then I don't. Do I have a reason to lie to you?"

"As if you don't!" The woman accused, "Since you're here, you must've been sent here by someone! Hmph! I'll get the truth from your bloody mouth! Eat my Level 3 whip! Ha!"

The woman snapped her whip with the flick of the wrist. Lotus sighed and jumped aside as the attack crumbled the ground she had been standing on. Lotus frowned as she watched the woman before her crack her whip again and aimed for her. However, Lotus was quick and easily dodged all of her attacks.

"Tsk!" The woman growled, "Stand still!"

Disappointed, Lotus sighed, "Only a fool would stand still for you. Besides, who is the Hui family?"

The woman scowled and lashed out the whip again, "Shut your freaking mouth!"

Lotus smirked as she simply hopped onto a tree branch, "Shut it? Didn't you want me to talk earlier? Now, you want me to shut up?"

Lotus sighed, "What a selfish woman. Are you not afraid of harming the Ivory Soul Butterfly?"

Hearing her words, the woman's face became uglier than it had been scarred by the toxicity of the butterflies' scales. In case other were wondering, with their queen in her hands, the butterflies could not bring themselves to harm him further. Even if they do, in truth, Lotus was actually immune to their toxic scales and the touch of the queen's body which was powerful enough to melt away a hand.

The woman stomped her feet like a child and screamed, "That's my butterfly! You stole my butterfly!"

Lotus sighed, "From the very beginning, can you get past the other butterflies with so much poison dust on you? Also, it's a first come first serve world, right? This isn't society and there's no laws out here aside from Heaven and Earth. None said that the Ivory Soul Butterfly should belong to you, but the first person that gets it. Because that is the rule of the world."

"Shut up!" The woman screeched and was about to lash out her whip again but held back when she remembered the butterfly in Lotus's palm that had just finished its breakthrough and was shedding its scales and skin.

Lotus smirked, "If you want the butterfly, you should've anticipated their poison from the beginning. You lack preparation and knowledge. How else is it that you couldn't attain the butterfly?"

"That's because you got there before I could!" The woman pointed it out with a scowl, "Go die!"

"'Go die?!'" Lotus's eyes widen in disbelief, "Me? Then, I guess you really don't want this butterfly anymore."

"Shut up! Shut up! Shut you stinking mouth!" The woman screeched and lashed out her whip, "In the end, it wouldn't matter since it will die anyway!"

"How cruel..." Lotus sighed and caught the whip with her bare hands shocking the woman, "At least, my mouth spills better words than you."

"H-How!" The woman gasped in horror as she could barely keep her hilt in hand, "You... You should've been poisoned already!"

Hearing her words, Lotus smirked as she gripped the whip and the poison from it dripped onto the ground with a hissing noise, "Didn't I tell you? If you want the butterfly, you should've been prepared for their poison from the beginning and done your studies."

The woman shuddered nervously in terror, "You... You're from the Hui family! You're a member of the Hui family!"

Lotus sighed, "For the last time, I don't know who the Hui family is."

"B-But that can't be!" The woman shook her head in denial, "It was a daughter?!"

Shaking her head too, Lotus watched in bewilderment as she realized she had been ignored. She then saw the woman pull out a stone to which Lotus narrowed her eyes and instantly snatched it from her hand as she landed a few feet away from her target. She sighed as she tossed the stone up and down before turning to the woman, "So, this was how you've been communicating with each other, huh?"

With that, she shot out electricity from her hand and up the whip.

The woman screamed in pain and crumbled onto the ground. She grimaced and got back up when she recalled that the young girl before her was just a gold core cultivator. A Nascent Soul Cultivator defeated by a Gold Core? Hell no!

Regaining her bearing, the woman pulled out two small scimitars from her belt and tossed one at Lotus to which Lotus moved away quickly. Suddenly, she noticed a shift in the wind and jumped away to another tree branch. However, she hadn't been fast enough and the blade had pierced her right arm. She grimaced in pain as the burning sensation rushed through her right arm with the butterfly and fell back into the shadows as she smirked.

Seeing the scimitar land in her enemy's hands, Lotus nodded her head, "So it seems you're not a fool, after all... Good..."

The woman pinpointed her location and instantly used the wind to cut her up, but it was intercepted as a burst of flame countered it. Little Jun stepped in with an angry snort, "You... You hurt big sister... I won't let anyone off hurting my friends! You should go to hell!"

Lotus was bewildered by his words and noted down to interrogate the two spirits later on as she saw him shot out another burst of flame from his nostrils and bare his sharp curved fangs hidden under his lips. Lotus shook her head with a sigh.

"A-A Kirin?! But those colors-!"

Lotus turned to Little Jun and said, "Little Jun, I need to take care of Crystal..."

"Don't worry." Little Jun responded, "I'll beat her up good. Big Sister should go rest up."

She hadn't even finished talking yet!

Lotus bit back a sigh and wore a wry smile, "All right. Just be careful."

"Got it!"

With that, Lotus brought the silver butterfly away with her as it began to dry its wings. She turned to look back on Little Jun once more before leaving the ring of trees behind to a warm rock. Under the light of the moon and warm air, the butterfly that had now become a food wide could sense the urgency of the situation and quickly started to dry out her wings as fast as she could.

"Don't rush." Lotus told her new contract beast firmly, "Rushing will only make things worse."

Crystal was very obedient and listened to her as she softly opened her wings to the light of the moon. An hour had passed when Lotus finally saw that the sweat and dew had finally dried revealing a glittering pair of translucent wings. Lotus smiled, "As I thought, you became a diamond wraith butterfly..."

The body of the butterfly had become white gloss while the scales of the wings have become transparent and almost completely invisible. If willed, she can launch and manipulate the scales however she wants. Now that it's broken through to Spirit Beast early stage just after Lotus had made the contract, Lotus have found herself have also gained some energy in her and was about to break through too!

Lotus grimaced and returned to the ring with Crystal in hand. On the way, she went to check on her wound to find that it had become red and swollen. The wound was deep to the point that her arm would ache when she used it.

"Too reckless." Lotus scolded herself harshly.

Upon return, Lotus found the woman had died covered in burns and eroded skin. Lotus sighed and shot out a gold flame from her hand reducing the body to the point that not even ashes remained. Little Jun trotted over to her with a nervous huff, "Is big sister okay now?"

Lotus smiled and patted his head, "For now. I'll treat it before we go back."

"What about that woman?" Little Jun questioned, "Will the others come looking for her?"

Lotus shook her head, "I've already burnt away the body disposed of the broken weapons. With my flames, not even her soul will stay to haunt the place. She's gone for good."

Little Jun nodded, "I see. Big Sister is indeed powerful. But, why didn't you kill her right away?"

Lotus smirked as she took Little Jun to the river, "Did you not hear what she had said earlier? With her loudmouth, I can make her spill quite a bit of things, you know. All right, go back and rest for now. We've got what we came for. You can show Crystal around the place with Ying Hui later. Make sure you don't go chasing after her or her people. Don't come running to me or Xiao Li if you get hurt. I won't intervene in the matters between you and the other contract beasts, understood? However, if the matters disturbs everyone, especially me..."

"Okay!" Little Jun flicked his tail with excitement when he heard this and looked to the butterfly.