Yin smiled as he stared down the amorphous blob that was a Spirit. He pulled out his spear and stabbed the blade into the ground, knowing that even though he couldn't see them, the dragons were around and watching from above. Shui’s reaction was more than enough to know that his assumption was correct. Her head snapped up, blood vanishing from her face.
He hoped his intent alone to press down on the Spirit would be enough for the dragons to do what he mentally requested.
The way he shivered and shook proved his theory correct, though it didn’t look up.
It looked directly at him with more fear than he expected.
“Y-You’re… I-It can’t be…”
Maybe I laid it down to thick? The poor thing looks ready to pop. I know dragons are scary, but it literally fought a Calamity. I don’t think it should be that terrified, unless… Is it a cowardly Spirit? I don’t think I should… Shit, it's too late now.
“Welcome to the team,” Yin said as he pulled the spear out of the ground to emphasize his point. “I'm sure you'll be a positively contributing member of our little band. The Hu Clan.”
“Wait what?” Jun shouted from behind him.
Yin turned around to look at her with a smile. He knew soon enough he would be accepting other people into the clan and turning it into a proper sect, rather than just building it from their progeny alone. It was just a matter of time, though it came sooner than we expected. What better disciple to accept and to the who set than a spirit that had stood against the previous calamity and come out victorious in the end?
None, that's who.
“The first outer disciple. Give your new senior bro–”
He paused and he looked back towards the spirit, unable to tell if it was a boy or a girl.
“Brother!” Shui chimed in. She ran up to the blob and picked it off the ground. Hugging it tightly to her face. “I’ll name you–”
No!” Jun shouted, rushing to take the Spirit out of Shui’s hands.
Yin matched her start and nearly lunged to save the Spirit from a horrible title for the rest of its life. He gave it a meaningful look. “I'm sure it has its own name, right? Right?”
The Spirit jumped from Jun’s arms and landed in front of Yin. It morphed back and forth until it solidified into the little boy again, though this time, it had no mischievous look on its face. It looked closer to shell-shocked than anything else. It took a few moments before he regained common sense and turned to look at him directly. He bowed deeply for long moments without saying anything or moving.
“I am called the Blade Storm, Rong of the Flower Glades.”
Do you wish to accept (Rong of the Flower Glades | The Blade Storm) as your third and most senior disciple?
Yes -
No -
Yin mentally clicked ‘yes’.
This only proved that it was possible, and more importantly, that Rong would not betray them any time soon. This was the very first step in creating a powerhouse to protect him. The first nuke finally arrived.
“Hu Rong sounds pretty good doesn’t it.” Yin said with a massive smile.
Rong nodded absentmindedly.
“Senior brother! Senior brother!” Shui shouted as she ran up to him. She struggled to hide the glint in her eyes and the menacing laughter that escaped her lips. “You’re going to love all the training and katas! Right, Jun?”
Jun laughed, but nodded along.
Rong turned back to look between the three of them, his eyes slowly regaining some resemblance of life. “Of course. Training. Katas.”
Shui dragged him from the group and into the clearing of flowers, running through them and play fighting along the way. It only took a few moments before Rong matched her energy and started playing just like before. Though it didn't transform back into the Bumblebee but rather stayed in the form of the little boy, enjoying every moment and forgetting for the time being that he had been coerced into joining his little set.
“Master,” Jun said as she approached him, "Are you going to make the spirit go through the entire process we went through? Would it even work? How do you complete body purification if it doesn't have a body to purify? Isn't it too strong?”
Yin huffed as he held his hands behind him. Once more leaning into his persona to solve another potential inconsistency or issue. “This world is small and pathetically weak, Jun. Nothing in existence here is strong enough to not go through the basic processes I had you and Shui finish. Much less pure in body and spirit enough to not need proper cleansing for the inevitable Spiritual Roots mutation process.”
Jun nodded along, buying everything he said wholesale.
“Come on. Let's go back to the clearing, we're done here.” Yin said.
Hu Jun turned around and ran after the pair. It only took a few moments before she corralled them back in front of Yin. The Spirit seemed to have forgotten everything that he had gone through as long as it got a chance to play games and run around, carefree the entire time. Shui punched its arm and ran to hide behind Yin to stop any retaliation from occurring.
Rong took a step forward, but froze as its eyes landed on him. It looked back and forth between Shui and Yin a few times before resolving itself to future retribution rather than getting it now.
It took them only half the time that they had taken previously to get back to the clearing where they found Zhong Da and his wife sitting together near the dead campfire. They were sharing a bowl of food between them. Chicken and rice had no affiliation with his own. Yin had forgotten what the lovely bird tasted like, but was intent on one day getting a massive meal of just meat. Enjoying it to the fullest, though he knew that was far in the future once he learned why everything he ate on this cultivation world tasted like black sludge and tar.
Both snapped their heads as soon as Rong stepped into the clearing, their blades appeared in their hands and Qi rumbled to life.
Only to freeze when they noticed the group had arrived with the Spirit in tow.
“What’s going on? W-Who is this?” Zhong Da stumbled over his words. “What are they doing here?”
Yin smiled at their reaction, which was exactly what he wanted to see from people when they first met Rong. Shock, awe, and fear that eventually turned into understanding and appreciation for the powerful spirit that had joined them. Though he would have to get used to having such a powerful person finally join them, even if he had to put in a lot of work to turn them from a flawed and messy nuke to a clean and proper one.
Lots of purification and preparation would be had.
The same exact process he made the two girls go through that included D.E.Y.M.P. and all the katas as well.
Yin hoped that the spirit being so much more advanced than the girls would speed up the process and not last a few months before it was ready for the very initial start of the Spiritual Roots mutation. He could have left it with what it currently had, but his estimation of this entire cultivation scene on the planet took larger and larger hits the longer he stayed here. He had no doubt that its roots would be in the (F) ranks even at its power level.
“This here is my new disciple. Hu Rong.” Yin Hu said, enjoying the couple's expressions.
Zhong Da’s two giant blades dropped heavily into the ground. Both of their eyes widened, jaws dropping, and limbs losing their strength. Wu Xui was assaulted by an almost fainting spell, stumbling back and forth but catching herself at the last second.
Hu Rong bowed. “I am Hu Rong. The Blade Storm–”
Wu Xui dropped.
“What the fuck…” Zhong Da mumbled to himself.
Maybe I shouldn’t let Rong introduce himself as the Blade Storm. Seems like a well known name, I don't want any baggage to follow us if he has any enemies or people looking for him.