I Was Called A Demon

“I… I think spending all night with you lying on my arm was probably a bad idea,” Bianca muttered, her fingers in Song Ming’s mouth as her pet dutifully cleaned them, “Though you look quite good for someone that didn’t get any sleep.”

Song Ming finished sucking on the last of her fingers and pulled back with a flushed face, her gaze resting somewhere in the distance, as far from Bianca’s eyes as she could manage, “T-Thank you… Mistress…”

“In fact, you’ve gotten even more adorable, somehow,” Bianca smirked, giving her pet a gentle boop on the nose, “I think we’ll have places to be today, so let’s not waste too much time, but… We’ll definitely do this again. Maybe it won’t be the same position, it won’t be the same place or anything like that, but I will definitely make it happen again.”

“I’ll be looking forward to it, Mistress,” Song Ming said, her eyes almost glowing at the prospect.

Bianca glanced in the mirror one more time to confirm that she looked presentable – which she did, for the record. Despite staying up the whole night, banging like the horniest of bunnies, neither of them seemed to look any worse for it. Bianca’s skin was as pale as usual, though not as pale as in her dream, and, well, the rest was the same too. Her eyes were more red than blue, a vivid ruby that subdued the remaining hints of their former shade, and her hair was notably lighter at the base, meaning it had once again lost some colour since the time she had shaved and regrown it.

It was hard to be sure at first where these changes led, but the dream she had did offer a potential outcome. Pure white skin and hair, as though any and all pigmentation was absent from it, and vivid crimson eyes without a hint of another shade.

‘Almost an albino sort of look, except… how is that Demonic? The red eyes could be a little intimidating if they were glowing or something, but the rest of it is just… kinda ordinary, I guess? Wait, would I need to be careful of sunlight and wear sunscreen to avoid burns and what not, or…’ Bianca realised she’d been staring at herself for far longer than necessary and shook her head, ‘Whatever, it’ll probably be solved by cultivation. Everything in this world seems to be solved by cultivation.’

“Are you okay, Mistress?”

“Yeah, just wondering if I’ll end up like I was in the dream. Not sure if all-white hair suits me, and I don’t think I’d like to be quite that pale, but… not much I can do to change that, is there?” she responded, “What do you think?”

“I think… you with white hair would look quite… charming,” Song Ming smiled, “And honestly, I love your eyes, especially the red. It makes me want to stare into them all day…”

“O…kay? Good to know,” Bianca felt her own cheeks getting red, prompting her to turn away and grab Song Ming’s hand, “Let’s get out of here. Yu Juan and Xue Yaling are probably waiting for us already, so we’re just wasting time.”

She could’ve checked with her spiritual perception, but it was hard to focus on that and keeping her expression in check, so she stuck with the latter and made a reasonable assumption in the meanwhile. They stepped outside of the bathroom and were immediately met with the two, with Xue Yaling glaring at Yu Juan for a moment as she tossed over a coin. Before Bianca had the chance to question it, the kitsune spoke up.

“Well, how did you two enjoy the night? Was your bed comfortable?”

Song Ming blushed and responded, “It… They were nice, thank you… like yesterday.”

Bianca sighed, “Cutie, you can just remain quiet when people like her tease you. You only have to reply if I’m teasing you, okay?”

“Y-Yes, Mistress…”

“Aw, you two are adorable… and cost me a copper. Regardless, while we’re staying here, we need you two to break through to the next realm, so we’ll be doing a lot of cultivation. Come with me… oh, and you can participate too, Yu Juan, just don’t expect to make as much progress.”

“Don’t worry, I understand the gaps between the second and third realm… though the two of you have several stages to go before the third realm, and a tribulation to overcome… Bianca, you’ll be fine, but I’m concerned about Song Ming,” the dancer said, “Two stages to merely reach the ninth stage, and then the tribulation with skills that she had yet to master.”

“It’s an issue, yes, but I’m sure she’ll overcome it. When it comes to cultivation, Bianca has an excellent dual cultivation technique – and I have a spare one for Song Ming to study if she so chooses – and in terms of the tribulation, I’m sure we can find a way to handle it,” Xue Yaling pointed out, “In the worst case, I will scatter it, and her anchor will be weaker, but still far superior to the second realm’s prowess.”

“I’d prefer it if we didn’t do that,” Bianca said, “Song Ming will progress properly, since she deserves that much. On the other hand, I… fuck knows what’s wrong with me, so it should be fine if I don’t get something right along the way.”

“And yet, it’s near impossible for you to fail. Your techniques and skills are incredibly high grade, and with your dual cultivation technique specifically, there’s no chance that you won’t reach the ninth stage in the time it takes for her to clear one more stage than you,” Yu Juan stated, “In fact, if you were to do well enough, you might well be able to help her scatter the tribulation in the event of something going wrong by the time she reaches it.”

“Ah, right…” she sighed, “Let me guess, I should summon my cock again and fuck Song Ming all day so that she makes more progress, right?”

The kitsune chuckled, “You’re the one suggesting it, not me… but it would certainly help. I have a feeling that dual cultivation technique of yours is the exact reason that you two were able to progress so quickly. In fact, it would allow even people like me to make significantly more progress than… well…”

Xue Yaling admitting her own weakness openly was a bit unusual, but with the attitudes everyone in this world held about cultivation, it wasn’t too big a shock for Bianca’s poor heart. Anything that hastened cultivation was desirable and when it came with no clear penalties at all, save for the influence that Bianca’s energy appeared to exert over others – something the kitsune may or may not have noticed, Bianca wasn’t quite sure yet – it was obviously a much better proposition than simply working alone.

She would also know that Bianca wasn’t strictly opposed to sleeping with others. Whether or not the kitsune understood that she had banged Han Rushu a while ago, she would definitely remember how little resistance Bianca had put up to sleeping with her back at the Ghostflame Temple. Thus, in her mind, it was likely just a matter of time until Bianca relented… and she wasn’t too far off.

‘She is hot, and so is Yu Juan, and Han Rushu, and Yan Taijun, and… fuck, way too many people are hot. However, I don’t have to sleep with them all, if they even want to sleep with me, since I can use the Demonic Rod thing without the fun part,’ Bianca thought, ‘If only I didn’t need to actually conjure it, it would be so convenient… but I suppose that it would completely nullify anything negative – or at least debatable – about it, and I’m not allowed to have nice things.’

“Let’s focus on just us for now,” Bianca threw those thoughts out, “What should we do in order to reach that third realm everyone keeps talking about?”

“This lovely thing here is a planar stone. It contains so much energy that someone in the first realm could leap to the second just with one of these… in theory, assuming they absorb everything, assuming the element of the energy within matches their technique and physique, and so on and so forth. It should be enough for the two of you to reach the third realm, provided neither of you waste it,” Yan Taijun patted the top of the glowing violet stone, a crystalline object reaching her waist in height and with a roughly equal width.

It was round, and it was really appealing to behold for whatever reason. When she looked into the depths of the crystalline material, she felt as though she was seeing nebulae and galaxies, a small universe contained within the stone that was infinitely interesting.

“First time seeing one of those, Bianca?” Xue Yaling asked.

“… Probably. How would I know?” she shrugged in reply, “It looks nice, though. Is that just a big chunk of energy?”

“More or less. You two can absorb this, and when I say you two, I mean that Bianca ought to absorb the majority and share it via her dual cultivation technique. Her ability to absorb and refine energy is far superior to Song Ming’s, at least according to Xue Yaling’s descriptions, so it would be best for her to handle it, minimize wasted energy, and pass along most of her gains to Song Ming so that the two of you can reach the third realm around the same time.”

“Alright… I’m still a little concerned about my energy and the influence it can have, truth be told, but if this is the easiest way to do this, then sure,” Bianca shrugged, “Should we just get started now?”

“If you don’t mind. It would also give me a brief opportunity to witness your cultivation technique again and perhaps glean some insights into the nature of your Demonic archetype, perhaps identify the origin of it. There might be manuals out there that could assist in controlling your aura that are suitable for it, or perhaps you have one of those rare archetypes that are composed of two halves, such as Yin and Yang,” Yan Taijun suggested, with Xue Yaling nodding along, albeit slightly reluctantly as she went on.

Bianca had the feeling that, considering the kitsune’s very eager praise for her Demon Queen side – be it a second personality or just her own repressed feelings – Xue Yaling wasn’t too keen on her getting something that would be able to negate what Bianca perceived to be the downsides of her archetype.

Luckily, she wasn’t going to have much of a say in the matter, and the following words from Yan Taijun further made the point that considering any of this was pointless.

“If there is some other half to the technique, then it would make perfect sense to exude such a vision air while utilising only half, though I have to warn you – I’ve never heard of an archetype with such properties that also matches your skills,” the leader of the Dancer’s Abode continued, “And if you reach the third realm before I do find something suitable, it may be a little too late… so don’t expect anything to come from this.”

It was as Bianca expected, especially since she was relatively sure that the Demonic archetype didn’t really exist in this world. Somehow, it had come about when she crossed into the Planar Continents, and just as she had no history within prior to her sudden appearance, neither did anything relating to the Demonic Tyrant.

Of course, it was possible that she was just a moron that had no idea how to make her own skills or techniques to fill in the gaps that were left within her limited pool of skills. She had no idea whether the few slots she had were a definite limit, but what she did know was that she was too lacking in skill and knowledge to even attempt to surpass that limit. Even Xue Yaling, one of the most knowledgeable among them, couldn’t understand how she was able to pull off something like physical transformation from the first realm, and even Long Shiyi didn’t seem to pick up on the intricacies of her technique.

Therefore, she didn’t expect much. As long as she was able to not lose herself, then she’d be fine for the moment.

“So, we just sit down and… absorb energy?”

“Yup. Just do your best and try to ascend a little further. Though, frankly, with the plan as I understand it, being in the high second realm or low third realm won’t make too much difference, so even if you don’t succeed-”

“We will. The less I’ve got to risk my life, and the less my pet has to risk hers, the better.”

With that, Bianca approached the stone and led Song Ming to it, holding onto her hand until they were on either side of it, at which point she let go so that the two of them could sit down and get comfortable. The stone was placed in an open space within Yan Taijun’s little green spot in the centre of her home, and the two of them surrounded it and leaned in to hold one another’s hands, fingers intertwining as they formed a cycle of energy as usual, Song Ming’s excess physique light flowing into Bianca, and Bianca’s demonic energy surging into Song Ming.

Once their circulation was established, Bianca briefly tightened her grasp on her pet’s hands as a signal to start, and then both of them began to absorb energy from the planar stone. Bianca was able to begin near instantly, since all it took was wishing for the Demonic Tyrant to take care of it, and even when Song Ming caught up, her cultivation speed was significantly less impressive.

Luckily, Bianca wasn’t in any rush to progress, so she allowed every drop that she refined to flow directly to Song Ming, filling up any gaps within her body and causing her planar aperture to flood in an instant, pushing her to her limits.

It had to be noted that, after acquiring her own technique, Song Ming’s speed was closer to Bianca’s than it had been. With an archetype focused on pure planar energy, and its manipulation, her ability to absorb energy rose significantly, and it was also a higher grade manual than whatever it was that she had used prior to this. Therefore, her progress would’ve improved whether Bianca had been there or not.

Since Bianca didn’t need to focus to do her thing, she kept her eyes shut and let her thoughts wander a little. Her main point of interest was her other side, her Demon Queen self, her dark side. She wasn’t sure when exactly it had manifested, she couldn’t know exactly what inflicted it upon her, and she couldn’t be entirely sure whether it was even a harmful thing.

In addition to what Yu Juan and Xue Yaling have said about it, implying that it had to be a part of herself rather than some foreign intruder, when she considered her experiences so far as objectively as she could, she… couldn’t really find it harming her. Every time to flared up, all it did was aid her in matters she already wished to accomplish, such as saving Song Ming and Xue Yaling when they were attacked by the loggers back in the silver forest.

As such… could she truly call it evil? It was way more extreme and harsh than she would’ve wished to be, and it felt as though she lost all control while it happened, but the former fit with the way this world preferred things being handled, and the latter had affected her before.

More specifically, it had led her to obtaining and keeping the knife from the chef of Xi Village, and it felt as though she had been struck with the same lack of control whenever she stole something for the sake of sating her kleptomania. She liked to think that she had zero control over that as well, but in truth, she knew she was lying to herself. She had more control than she wanted to admit, but the enjoyment that came from fulfilling her desires was too hard to deny. By that logic, perhaps Demon Queen Bianca was but another impulse of hers that only appeared in a world that required it…

‘It’s terrifying to consider that I could be so open to simply killing someone without any hesitation, but… ugh, I hate even adding that but there, but… if this is necessary in this world, then… do I just have to go with it?’ she exhaled, feeling as though some of her frustration escaped along with the air in her lungs, ‘I definitely need to control it somehow, and I would imagine that it would be easier to control my kleptomania rather than the endless bloodlust I apparently have.’

It would’ve been far simpler to simply excise both of those flaws, at least in regards to the consequences of accepting them and bringing them into herself forever, but she suspected that she didn’t have the luxury of even hoping for such a thing.

In a world with far better understanding of psychology, her kleptomania was effectively seen as a permanent, untreatable affliction, much to the dismay of her parents, and if she was found out to have murderous desires too… well, she’d be fucked, and not in the nice meaning of the term. They’d have probably thrown her into some hospital and forced her to stay there and avoid making any more trouble.

On that note, she had the not-so unexpected realization that she didn’t remember what her parents looked like, not well enough that she’d be able to sketch anything resembling them at least. Only the vague details of their figures and features, the fact that their hair colour wasn’t far off from her original one, and so on.

She wasn’t proud of it, but it appeared that the more she noticed it, the more her memories slipped. If the trend continued, she’d feel as confused upon arriving back at Orbis as she had been when she first appeared in the Planar Continents (and as she continued to be all the while since).

Her thoughts were disrupted as a bright light flooded into the darkness that her shut eyes had offered her, forcing her to open them and see Song Ming’s body alight with energy, a mixture of blue, violet and the dark teal of her physique. The light around her was growing thicker by the second, and so Bianca looked to those that might be able to explain what she was seeing. In the process, she also realised that quite a while had passed, and that a large chunk of the planar stone seemed to have melted away.

Yan Taijun was already rising from her seat when Bianca glanced over, and said, “Well, it seems like you really wanted Song Ming to progress first… no matter, we need to get the two of you to a safe place for the tribulation. Get her up and follow me.”