He and Zi Mo soared through the sky. Him flying with the aid of a sword while Zi Mo flew under her own power. She was also carrying a large gourd on her back, one filled to the brim with 3rd Grade Liquor.
And when he said 'large', he meant it. The gourd was larger than Zi Mo in size. And with how expensive any 3rd Grade wine was, he could only imagine the fortune she must have spent to acquire it.
Eventually, their flight led them to a nearby mountain. This one in particular was named Misty Yin Mountain due to the large amount of Yin mist ever present in this place.
As they reached the top, they found their host waiting for them outside of her residence. Though, waiting was a bit of an over exaggeration here.
The female cultivator was laid over on a bench in front of fireplace, a bottle of liquor still clutched in her hands as she snored loudly. A trail of drool sliding down her mouth and falling over to the ground where it promptly froze into ice.
Her clothes were unkempt. Instead of the typical white robes worn by the female cultivators in Snow Peak, she wore fur and leather from high-grade spirit beasts. Those same garments were currently hiked up in her sleep, offering him a glimpse of her milky cleavage before he politely looked away and turned his gaze to Zi Mo.
He didn't say anything but his expression spoke volumes. 'Really? This woman?'
Zi Mo offered a rueful smile before calling out, 'Senior Sister Xiaoling! It's your junior sister, Zi Mo. I'm here with my Dao partner Li Yuan, to greet you.' She bowed deeply and held the position, but the only response she got was the cultivator's loud snoring.
He glanced at Xiaoling and saw a snot bubble expanding as she scratched her stomach, mumbling in her sleep, "Master, don't take my wine…"
'This must be the most undignified cultivator I've ever seen.' He thought. It was hard to believe such a woman was not only a member of Snow Peak but one of its strongest.
He nudged Zi Mo, who sighed.
"Very well." She said and uncorked the gourd she'd brought. A heavy scent of liquor instantly filled the air, and a moment later, the Senior Sister's bloodshot eyes snapped open.
Before he could blink, she vanished from her spot along with the gourd. A moment later, behind them, the sound of rhythmic gulping echoed; he turned to find her already draining the gourd, head tilted back as she chugged.
He turned to Zi Mo, who met his gaze with an awkward smile. "Well, she's awake, isn't she? We might as well sit and wait for her to finish."
"The whole gourd?" he asking, staring at the massive container. That thing likely held over fifty gallons of 3rd-grade wine.
Zi Mo gave him a helpless smile. "Yeah. Senior Sister Xiaoling has a… heavy appetite."
"…I can see that."
The woman finally drained the gourd, though where she stored all that liquor in her human-sized frame, he had no idea. She slammed the gourd down, strode over, and dropped into a seat across from them. Smacking her lips, she fixed Zi Mo with a greedy stare. "Good shit. You got more?"
Zi Mo's smile turned strained. "Senior Sister, you know exactly how much Heaven's Ember Brew costs. How could I possibly have any more?"
Xiaoling let out a disappointed huff, but then her gaze slid over to him and she did a double take. "Wait… Sister Mo, are my eyes playing tricks on me? Because this new disciple of ours looks like a man."
"That's because I am a man," Li Yuan replied, feeling a twinge of amusement.
"He talks, too..." Xiaoling breathed in amazement, as if she'd never heard a man speak before. Li Yuan didn't know whether to laugh or cry; the entire situation was becoming increasingly bizarre. Finally, Xiaoling turned back to Zi Mo and let out a lewd chuckle. "Hehe... I didn't know you had it in you, you dirty girl."
"Senior sister, please behave," Zi Mo said, her exasperated expression only making Xiaoling giggle even more mischievously.
Finally, Xiaoling raised her hands in surrender, though her attempt at being serious was undermined when she scratched her belly and let out an undignified yawn. "So... do you want your Senior Sister to teach you how to handle men? I think I still have a few of those manuals lying around somewhere in my—"
"Senior Sister, please."
"Fine, fine. Jeez... you girls never let me have any fun," Xiaoling grumbled. She flicked her wrist, pulling a tea set from her spatial ring and unceremoniously sliding the cups toward them. "There. Minimum courtesy fulfilled. At least now Master won't yell at me. So... remind me why you're here again?"
"We need some information," Zi Mo said, producing a parchment from her spatial ring and smoothing it onto the table. "I heard you might recognise this man."
The page bore the likeness of the demonic cultivator—the same man who had slaughtered Li Yuan in every one of his visions.
Xiaoling cast a careless glance at the image, but her eyes instantly sharpened with recognition. "Yeah," she said "I know him."
Zi Mo's smile brightened. "Truly?"
"Yeah. I was the one who gave him that scar, after all," Xiaoling snorted. "The bastard thought that just because he was the Sect Leader's son, he could get away with drugging my drink. Idiot. No one tampers with my booze and gets away with it!"
The revelation made him pause. "...Did you just say he's the son of our Sect Leader?" he asked, stunned.
Xiaoling nodded. "Yeah. Though with how many children that old fart has sired, I'd be surprised if he even knows Chu Tianming exists."
"Does the Sect Leader have that many children?" he asked. Zi Mo pinched his arm, giving him a sharp look that told him to stay on topic, but he couldn't help himself. He was curious to know what kind of man their Sect Leader truly was.
Xiaoling snorted. "Yeah. As many as there are stars in the heavens," she said, before pausing to reconsider. "Okay, maybe not that many. But there's a lot. A whole legion of rats, all born from our prestigious Sect Leader's honorable balls! Hehehe…"
"Senior Sister, please maintain some decorum," Zi Mo chastised lightly, earning another snort from Xiaoling.
"Or what? You'll complain to Master?" Xiaoling scoffed. "See if I don't beat her up, too! That old woman has ruled Snow Peak for far too long. It's time her tyranny came to an end!"
The words had barely left her mouth when a wooden ladle materialised out of thin air. It struck her over the head with a resounding thwack, slamming her face-first into the ground.
Xiaoling lay splayed on the ground like a frog, groaning before she scrambled up. She left a deep imprint of her face in the snow, and it was only then that he noticed a dozen similar imprints scattered across the clearing.
Nursing a growing bump on her head, Xiaoling cast a teary-eyed glance toward the Peak Mistress's palace and pouted. "Master, did you really have to hit me so hard?"
The ladle materialised again, hovering threateningly over her. Xiaoling let out a nervous, high-pitched chuckle. "Hehehe... Master, you know I didn't mean it, right? You know how much your favorite disciple loves you!"
A long silence followed. When no further strikes came, Xiaoling's teary act vanished instantly. She turned back to them, grumbling under her breath, "That old hag. Just wait until I'm strong enough to beat her back."
Zi Mo simply sighed and took a calm sip of her tea as the ladle materialised again, delivering another sharp thwack to the top of Xiaoling's head.
Now sitting before them with a petulant scowl, Xiaoling sported a massive bump that had somehow grown a smaller bump of its own. "Anything else you want to ask?" she snapped, glaring at them with pure annoyance—as if her getting thrashed was somehow their fault and not her own big mouth.
"What else can you tell me about this Chu Tianming?" he asked.
Xiaoling glanced at him, then squinted, blinking hard—twice. "Eh!? You're only at the peak of the Qi Condensation Realm? And not even eighteen?" she cackled, turning to Zi Mo. "Hehe... Junior Sister, I really didn't take you for a cradle robber."
Zi Mo's smile grew dangerously sweet. "Should I tell Master about the time you broke her favourite vase—"
Xiaoling scrambled across the table, once again moving far too fast for his eyes to follow. She materialised beside Zi Mo, one hand clamped over her own mouth while the other shielded the bump on her head. She scanned the air warily, as if expecting the ladle to appear above her head and strike at any second.
"Hehe... Junior Sister, let's not dwell on the past. Let me tell you everything I know about this Chu Tianming..." Xiaoling's voice trailed off. A look of intense concentration crossed her face as she squinted, thinking... or at least trying to.
A long, silent moment passed. He and Zi Mo exchanged a skeptical glance before Zi Mo finally tapped Xiaoling on the shoulder. "Senior Sister?"
"Hold on! I'm remembering!" Xiaoling snapped, squinting even harder until, finally, her eyes snapped wide. "Ah! I've got it!"
"So, what do you remember, Senior Sister?"
"Not much. I didn't see him in class again after I slashed his face for trying to ruin my booze. From what I later heard, he stumbled upon some Demonic Inheritance and turned into a demonic cultivator. Once the sect caught wind of it, they kicked him out."
"I see. Is there anything else?" Zi Mo pressed.
"Nah. That's it," Xiaoling replied, casually digging into her ear with her pinky.
"That's it?"
"Yeah, that's it. I don't remember anything else about him," Xiaoling replied uncaringly. "I mean, it happened over a century ago. Do you really expect me to remember useless junk from that far back?"
Considering that Golden Core cultivators typically possess perfect memories, he absolutely did. However, it was becoming increasingly clear that this Senior Sister was… a special case.
"Oi. Did you two just think something rude about me?"
He and Zi Mo both shook their heads in perfect, frantic unison.
Xiaoling eyed them with deep suspicion before finally nodding. "Fine. You got what you came for. Now piss off. I want to sleep."
"Understood, Senior Sister. We'll leave you to your—"
Snore... Snore…
"...Never mind."