As Jun Li's body spoke, it looked itself over, a smile of humor spreading across its face as it felt a blur of pain and numbness with each breath. "Ah… It's been a long time since I felt these sorts of sensations… It's a bit nostalgic."

  Turning its head about, Jun Li's body looked towards the blood that spilled from itself and pooled into the garden soil.

  "Hm… blood may be shed, but never spilled…" With a subtle gesture at the wrist, Jun Li's body directed the blood to flow in reverse, creeping up its body, as if the pooled blood were a loose bolt of silk being rolled up.

  Acting decisively, Patriarch Zhao shot into action the moment he saw Jun Li's body turn its head and divert its attention. Using the Glass Cloud Art that he himself authored to its fullest potential, he vanished from where he stood, leaving behind a slowly fading afterimage.

  Jun Li's body quickly cast its eyes towards the fading afterimage with interest, not making any attempt to defend.

  Even before the lingering afterimage had faded, the Patriarch had cut through every limb of Jun Li's body, paring them away from the body with the precision of deboning a fish.

  With the abilities of Jun Li's body, the thing that now controlled it wouldn't be able to react even if it wanted to, not with her faculties at least.

  'Ah… not a bad reaction…' With closed eyes and a smile of content amusement, Jun Li's head flew from her neck.

  The moment Jun Li's body fell into pieces, it 'froze' mid-air, before touching the ground.

  Each limb, and the head that had fallen from Jun Li's neck, locked into place, suspended in the air by outstretching tendrils of blood that led back to the torso.

  "Junior…" The head spoke, slowly swaying around to look towards Patriarch Zhao.

  "...that was definitely the correct decision." With a polite smile, the partially disembodied head complimented Patriarch Zhao's decision to attack.

  "Unfortunately, I can't be hurt like that. By being 'severed,' that is." Every limb snapping back into place as if tethered by elastics, Jun Li's body casually adjusted its head to sit evenly on its neck. "Just a quirk I've picked up over my long existence, and fostered with care."

  As the last streams of blood drew back into Jun Li's abdomen, thin stitches of blood began to sew her abdominal wound closed. Though unlike her 'severed' limbs, this wound did not fully heal, it was merely sewn tightly shut.

  "Let's talk, shall we?" Jun Li's body slowly sat down, beckoning the Patriarch to join it. "If you want, we could fight, but I don't think any of us would survive that."

  Looking cautiously at the enigmatic, old monster before him, Patriarch Zhao shut his eyes tightly for a moment and suppressed his frustration at the unpredictability of the scenario he had so suddenly found himself in.

  Slowly, the Patriarch lowered himself to sit alongside Jun Li's body. As he did, it spoke. "I'll ask a question, then I'll answer one of yours. First… where are we? Do you know if this is one of the Three Thousand Worlds, or one of the myriad Minor Worlds beyond?"

  "I… do not know. I'm afraid I've never heard those terms…" Patriarch Zhao felt more stress than confusion after being asked such a strange question. And Jun Li's body sighed after hearing his uncertainty. "Well, that can't be helped, I suppose. I'll just measure the curvature of this world when this child learns how to fly… Go ahead and ask your question now."

  "Why have you come here, to this small, obscure Mortal Kingdom?" Patriarch Zhao spoke quickly, unable to fully hide the profound pressure behind his worries.

  He could feel it instinctually; the being in front of him was ancient and terrible. To allow such a being to find its way into this kingdom was like allowing an elephant into an anthill.

  "Coincidence." The thing spoke, looking towards the Patriarch with a polite smile and empty eyes. "Nothing more. I just happen to be attached to this child."

  "Then…!" Patriarch Zhao struggled not to raise his voice. "...then will you move on from here…? Surely you understand, this tiny place cannot endure the 'fate' of a great senior such as yourself…"

  Jun Li's body raised a hand to stop Patriarch Zhao from speaking further. "Come now, it's my turn to ask a question, not to answer. What kind of methodology do the Cultivators of this world follow? What ultimate destiny do they seek at the end of their path?"

  Suppressing the agony of his concern, Patriarch Zhao slowly put together an explanation for the bizarrely foreign senior in front of him. "I suppose… We seek power and vitality through martial prowess, and by refining our bodies and skills, we strengthen our souls in turn."

  "At the end of our path… I can't say what waits there, if anyone has ever reached it." Patriarch Zhao looked almost wistful as he spoke of such things, as if it were a long-forgotten dream. "...But some say those who reach the true pinnacle of martial power and destroy their Karma ascend to become Arihant, living and eternal Martial Gods."

  The story has been illicitly taken; should you find it on Amazon, report the infringement.

  "I see, the Vedic system of Cultivation… That's convenient for me…" Jun Li's body seemed quite interested, and for the first time, it seemed to ponder for more than an instant. "Right then… your question. Can I 'move on from this Kingdom,' was it…?"

  A moment passed as Jun Li's body thought, wearing an almost sad expression. "It's… unfortunate… This child has grown attached to this land, and to some of those that reside here." Gazing about, a consciousness extended out of Jun Li's body, spreading out to sense every living being in the capital.

  Far in the distance, the orphanage Jun Li grew up in was quiet, almost everyone was asleep, save for Jun Li's 'Auntie,' who tended carefully to the mundanities of managing such a large household.

  Closer, in the palace above, Zhao Xiaoli was at the brink of death, but due to the timely treatment of the palace guards chasing Little Yun, she would surely live.

  The snake itself was slowly making its way out of the building, drawn to the growing presence of the thing in Jun Li's body.

  Lastly, Zhu Enlai peered out of a palace window, observing the dialogue that ensued in the garden with a deeply complicated expression.

  "For this child to abandon these attachments… it was inevitable. I only wished that she could have done so willingly." Hearing those words, Patriarch Zhao's expression relaxed, just slightly.

  "Let us make a deal, unbreakable within the purview of Heaven." Hearing this, Patriarch Zhao narrowed his gaze with skepticism. "You… could do such a thing? Create an 'unbreakable deal?'"

  "Unbreakable so long as one doesn't wish to be obliterated by Heaven's authority, that is." With a proud expression, Jun Li's body spoke confidently. "For a Daoist, the skill to navigate and manipulate the obtuse laws of Heaven is of profound and fundamental importance."

  This statement merely served to confuse Patriarch Zhao, who perceived Daoism as a vague and fringe ideology, and quite disconnected from proper Cultivation.

  "You describe it as a 'deal,' what are your terms?" Patriarch Zhao spoke with caution, not wanting to misstep in the presence of such an enigmatic entity.

  "Protect this child's family. See that no meaningful, unnatural harm befalls them in the next century. In return, I will leave this nation and never return for as long as you or your descendants continue to rule over it."

  Jun Li's body spoke slowly as it laid out the terms, acting with a degree of conscientiousness towards Jun Li herself. "And… I ask you to allow this child another twelve hours within your borders, to say her goodbyes."

  To the Patriarch, these terms were favorable in the extreme, leaving him little room to complain. "That is… very reasonable. I would accept those terms."

  At those words, Jun Li's body stood up, feeling a bit of guilt at making such a deal without her consent. "I will draw the attention of Heaven for a moment, so that we might use it to enforce our agreement. Pay attention, the mere act of observing may offer you some benefit."

  With a simple motion, as if opening a bag, Jun Li's body reached into its forearm, parting flesh like fabric, and pulling a sheet of blood from a long, slit wound as if unfurling a scroll.

  As the sheet of blood stretched out, nearly touching the floor, Jun Li's body slit the palm of its other hand, and innumerable, minuscule serpents of blood slowly stretched out from the wound, entwining around one another to form great, woven cords.

  As this palm was raised skyward, the woven snakes branched out like a bizarre tree, and thunder, the color of gold, crackled in the sky as if to threaten the abomination below with divine punishment.

  On the parchment of blood, shimmering words manifested. 'I, Tanxueshe, vow before the gaze of Heaven, that I shall never willingly return to the nation or nations under the rule of the signing party, nor their descendants. In return, the signing party shall ensure the well-being of Jun Li's perceived family, whether blood-related or otherwise, for one hundred years. These terms shall come into effect 12 hours after the signing of this contract. Should either party fail to fulfil their end of this contract, We beseech Heaven to mercilessly punish them with Heavenly Tribulations until death.'

  Witnessing the sight in front of him, the likes of which he could not have ever imagined encountering, and feeling the profound laws that surged within both the blood before him and the lightning above, Patriarch Zhao felt a deep sense of wrongness and couldn't stop himself from trembling. 'That is… it's… not human…'

  The patriarch thought the entity before him was merely some old monster with a bizarre technique that let it hide in the body of another. But seeing it now, he felt that it was an entirely different kind of creature.

  Patriarch Zhao felt that all his life, he had been a frog watching the sky from the bottom of a well, and that perhaps… that may have been the ideal way to live.

  "Please, sign the contract. Heaven will not permit my continued existence for long, not in this state. If Heaven moves to erase me, it won't bother restraining its force; we would be lucky if only this city vanished."

  Breaking free of his hesitation, Patriarch Zhao moved forward and placed his hand on the shimmering parchment of blood, muttering to himself as he reached out with the power of his soul, carving a signature into the contract.

  "It's done…" Suddenly nauseous at the idea of having to contract with a being so far beyond himself, Patriarch Zhao lowered his head.

  The parchment of blood the contract was written on sparked with golden electricity, and slowly burned away. Yet, even as it disappeared, the Patriarch could still sense it.

  For one hundred years, he would continue to sense the presence of that contract and feel its compulsion reminding him of the consequences, should he ever err towards violation.

  Above, the still-branching tree of snakes vanished, contracting into Jun Li's body at the speed of thought. 'I'm sorry, child… but, I have left you a way out of this unfortunate contract, if you can find it… This man, at least, lacks the mind to comprehend that path...'

  Turning away from the Patriarch, the thing that had named itself in its contract as 'Tanxueshe' spoke from Jun Li's body. "Thank you for helping me resolve this peacefully. Now… I pray this child can find peace with her exile, even if not by the end of these twelve hours…"