Ally

Today's dinner will determine the course of my life. In the story, Shen Xiu was the only good female character, literally. The rest of them were degraded to cardboard cutouts. In the memories I inherited from original Shen Yue, she stands out as much: silver rank at 15, Inscription master at 18 (when she got herself a house outside Sacred family district). Even at her current pace, she could reach the gold rank in another five years (becoming a noble). She was smart and independent enough to be a worthy ally.

Guess what happens, when such a person is given pointers to improve their cultivation? It began with a serious nod and promise of favor when naming her demonic beast spirit increased cultivation speed by a quarter. I told her, that she can share this method with others. Then I told her to cultivate imagining legend rank form of her beast (nine fluffy tails, golden fur, black-steel claws, diamond teeth, hill-sized body, storm-like breath, and heartbeat alike ten thousand drums). It resulted in cultivation speed being multiplied by ten, an indecently silly smile, a hug (the breasts were gorgeous), and my adoption as her little brother.

I asked her to keep this method a secret and we formed an alliance. I told her that I suspect Nie Li of being an agent of some outsider group, referring to his rhetoric and martial skills, geographic knowledge and confidence in his ability to reach bronze rank within two months.

"Then why did he reveal himself?" - she asked seriously.

"He builds expectations. Same things can gain respect or suspicion, depending on the source." - such reason was good enough for her.

I've outlined my plans (build a reputation, warn Ye Zi Yun, keep an eye on Nie Li), to which she reluctantly agreed since capture or assassination would only warn the enemy. Then explained that I choose my ally primary for wisdom and character (beauty being as a nice bonus), to avoid failing by ambition or greed.

Finally, it was time for a cake and tea (sis Xiu finally released me from her hug). That is when I noted the possibility of another step in my cultivation method, giving her time till the end of the cake to guess it. We talked about horrors of the traditional form of scholarly records (demonstrating my own notes for comparison) and inscription art (since she gave me expert-level inscription set as a gift). Only at the last bite of cake, she guessed that energy in the blood of demonic beasts should be perfectly attuned to my method of cultivation.

It led to a practical test in my bathroom with a few drops of blood of silver rank fire fox mixed into bathwater (prepared by Xiao Yue beforehand). This time, I was treated to an adult kiss from a hot, naked, wet, tall, mature, redheaded woman. She didn't go any further, but promised eternal devotion and told me to reach the gold rank, before asking for anything more (if I wanted). As it turns out, blood works even without image and nourishes both soul and body equally at half of the image-cultivation speed.

We ended up talking for two more hours after the test. I told her about my experiments with material resistance, surprisingly she had good relations with the carpenter guild and proposed to sell my designs to them. Once it was decided, we got back to discussing the Traitor. I was stuck in a loop thinking about plagiarism charges, time-travel was the only good answer, with interspatial rings being a prime example of inscription affecting time. Big sis, on the other hand, was free from my bias and proposed offensive strategy: find some ancient maps of the entire continent and ask him to point those mysterious places he talked about last time. If he would reveal his knowledge, then he can be charged with sabotage and forced to work for school, otherwise - his attack on our inscriptions would be defanged.

On her way out, she kissed me once again and told to look into Inscriptions, saying that her art deserves my attention much more than some alchemy.