55

Onari's first Immortal Bone formed. It manifested as a bleached-white bone that supported Onari's Void Core from behind. If given a place on his physical body, the bone would be positioned around the small of his back or his tailbone.

The Immortal Bone was then quenched by a waterfall of Onari's Qi and the steady stream of nuclear energy he was pulling from the cube. It began to turn gold, shining brighter and brighter as the quenching process went on. Eventually, the bone dimmed and ended on a dark gold that seemed to radiate feelings of solidarity and support.

As the Immortal Bone settled into place in Onari's body and cultivation, a needle-like prick of sword intent extended from one end of the bone and poked into Onari's Void Core. This sword intent was a normal consequence of Immortal Bone quenching and if done improperly, it could completely rupture a cultivator's core.

Luckily, the connection between Onari's Immortal Bone and his Void Core was established flawlessly. A long, bony extension extruded from Onari's lower back. Smoke began to rise from the dark gold bone tail, coalescing into the form of a bushy fox tail with the golden bone still visible through the smoke.

Across from him, Yu Wu's cultivation was matching her beloved's progress. While Onari had taken advantage of the concept of Death after actually facing death, the conceptual potential of Potential was enough to allow Yu Wu to easily keep up with him. She ended up forming her first Immortal Bone at the same time as Onari and her quenching process went just as well as Onari's.

She didn't gain any extra special appendages like her beloved did. Her golden bone formed with her chest, overlapping her sternum. Though she didn't gain any obvious physical traits, her Immortal Bone propped up her cultivation and was still attached to her Void Core.

Shortly after forming their first Immortal bones, the couple cut off the influx of nuclear energy. They slowly opened their eyes, blinked, and stared at each other. Yu Wu stared at Onari for a moment before she covered her mouth and started to giggle.

"What?" Onari asked, ignorant to the new smoky limb that had appeared behind him.

"Nothing, nothing," Yu Wu said, struggling to contain her giggles. "Though I do have a question. Are you, pfft… feeling a little 'back-heavy'? Maybe a little 'foxy'?"

Onari whirled around as he felt the smoke-fur of his new tail brush against the back of his neck. It was somehow solid and intangible at the same time. Still, Onari couldn't help but notice how good the gold of the bone and the black of the smoke went together.

"Haha," Onari rolled his eyes. "Very funny."

"Pfft, sorry, sorry. I couldn't resist," Yu Wu said, finally gaining control over her giggles. "But really, how does it feel?"

"Like… I'm a bit more complete. Like I'm a tiny bit more whole. Like something that had been missing suddenly slotted into place. I still feel like there's more left to go, but I think I'm finally stepping into my birthright."

Yu Wu smiled fondly, "That's good, darling… I'm happy for you."

The moment of silence between them was happy as they just assimilated the increase of power that came along with the Immortal Bones. Eventually though, Onari sighed and stood up. Yu Wu followed him.

"We should probably get going," Onari said. "We're pretty close to our destination now."

Yu Wu nodded, resigned but ready to face the family her mother had built in her absence. It would be hard, but Yu Wu promised herself that she wouldn't judge her mother's sect because of the complicated feelings toward Yu Long that she was still struggling with.

The pair hopped back on their flying swords and took off into the distance. The rest of their travel to the NTR sect was uneventful and over in about 30 minutes. They touched down at the mouth of a lush valley, stowed their swords, and began walking to the concealed sect.

They felt a ripple wash over them as they entered the valley, like they were walking through a wall of water. They ignored the sensation and kept going. The scenery was beautiful. The valley looked like a slice of the natural world frozen in time at the point before humans had spread from Africa. Obviously, that was impossible, but Yu Long had clearly done a lot of work to preserve the valley's natural beauty.

When they reached the area where the sect's compound should have been, there seemed to be nothing waiting for them. All they saw was more untouched nature, but if they looked with their spiritual senses instead of their eyes, they could see a vast wall of concentrated Qi that fell over this portion of the valley.

Yu Wu glanced at Onari. "Go ahead. I'll back you up, but this is your battle," Onari's eyes told her. As Yu Wu approached the barrier, irrational anxiety warred with steadfast determination. She raised her hand to 'knock'.

Before she could lower her hand upon the barrier, something unexpected happened. The air rippled like a pond. A small fluctuation of Qi was felt by both Onari and Yu Wu, and a young woman walked out of the barrier.

The woman was unfamiliar to Onari and Yu Wu. She had semi-long brown hair. The front half of her hair was in ponytails and the back half was left to fall freely. She had startling white eyes that would pierce a mortal down to their soul. She carried with her a sort of tomboy/street fighter air to her that did nothing to diminish her obvious prowess as a martial artist.

"Hello, young mistress Yu Wu," the woman greeted. "The timing of your appearance is most fortunate. I feel I must thank the heavens for their assistance. My name is Scarlet. It was bestowed upon me by your mother. I regret having to beg you for aid so soon after your arrival, but unfortunately, I must. Dark times have fallen upon our sect and only you, as our lady's successor, will be able to help us…"