Dance between Mortals and Immortals

Chapter 6.2

Rize sat in class the outer disciple's had yet to choose a deity in which to alter the nature of their cultivation so most lessons were merely on the fundamentals of cultivation as a whole.

In order to properly house a deity in themselves a cultivator first had to gather enough essense of the heavens and earth to create a divine island or ki island. This island would grow and morph over time creating a place all their ki would store.

Rize scanned over numerous tomes in the library and knew the different stages of a cultivator. Ki condensation realm, ki island realm, ki palace realm, ki saint, ki lord, ki ruler, and ki emperor. Upon successfully reaching the pinnacle of the moral realm which was the Ki emperor realm a cultivator could then attempt to reach the realms of divinity. Where they would ascend to become deities of their own right and the divine essence they had absorbed from their own deity would reach completion allowing them to truly meet their deity in the flesh.

Rize couldn't help but daydream about reaching the realm of the Gods. Perhaps it was only through power that she could throw off the shackles of her persecution. With he cursed blue eyes.

Looking up from her books she could see several of the other disciples giving her various looks of disgust, curiosity, and arrogance.

Rize never knew life outside her village would be so much more prejudiced. Never in her imagination would she think her skills and talent played no part in how people would view her.

All they saw were these damnable blue eyes.

Slamming the library book Rize sighed as she rose from her seat and set out to another section of the library. Combing through many sections she couldn't find a single one that explained what the blue eyes truly meant.

"You know." A gentle voice called from just besides her. "I've never seen someone with eyes like yours they are."

Rize looked up at him interrupting his sentence "what? Ugly, cursed, or strange? Take your pick, I've heard it all."

Turning to see the person who stood besides her face paled to see the warden in charge of the library. 'How can you be so stupid Rize he has authority to punish disciple's.'

The warden simply smiled gently "I was gonna say pretty. However, if that is what you think…who am I to argue." He said, giving a playful smile.

…

Rize's eyes opened slowly as she remembered all that Tomo had done for her since that time. He besides Master Cui had been her foundation during her time in the academy.

A frown grew on her face as she realized that today was going to be another physically exhausting day with her master.

'Great.'

The sun had begun to dip below the horizon and Rize followed her master to the springs that were reserved for inner court disciples and their masters. Some masters had private rooms where they would use only their students while others used the public bathhouses. They traveled up the hill to the top level where her master's private spring was located along with several other masters. The walk was surprisingly short as Master Cui’s courtyard was located near the base of the springs which Rize already knew would be of great benefit to herself.

When they entered the fairly large hot spring complex made from traditional bamboo wood so it wouldn’t retain the heat as much. The steam from the spring was so refreshing almost instantly she could feel her ki beginning to rebuild as she depleted it immensely throughout her first day of training with her master. If the steam of the spring was so densely filled with ki energy how would actually soaking in the spring itself be? Her master had already quickly stripped off her clothes and slowly walked into the spring letting the steam conceal her naked body.

When did she take off her clothes?!? Rize thought to herself that her master didn’t hesitate with much. Very much a straight shooter. Which she appreciated.

"Come on my Minako Rize you need to get in. Strip down. Do not be shy we are both women here." Cui Xinya said impatiently.

"You mean right here in front of you?" Rize said blushing "isn't there a changing room?"

"Don't be ridiculous and just change we are both women there is no need to be shy. My goodness it isn't as if you never see a naked woman. You see one every day in your mirror Minako." Cui Xinya said her voice hiding a hint of irritation.

Rize decided it was best not to argue and grabbed her red ribbon that kept up her hair pulling it so it came undone letting her long black hair fall down concealing her chest. Quickly undoing her tunic she jumped into the spring so that her master couldn't see her as much as possible. This was the first time that she had ever bathed in the presence of another person and she was still quite uncomfortable.

"Minako take this time to cultivate your ki and commune with your deity if you so desire." Her master said closing her eyes as she let her head rest on one of the rocks along the edge of the spring.

Rize knew exactly what she would do, she needed to understand more about her blessing she received and that would help her in the future if she needed to fight again. Closing her eyes she quickly muttered a prayer to Naga-Jin.

“Lord of Venom Naga-Jin please hear my request and speak with me. Your humble follower requests an audience.”

"Good evening child. You've finally contacted me!" an image of a white serpent entered her mind curled up on an island made of her ki energy it was small and barely large enough to hold her deities large frame and herself on it. The island was made up of a fine white like sand and small plants made up of pure ki were sprouting. "It sseemsss that you are here to asssk me sssomething or you would've waited for me to contact you firsst... isssn't that right?"

"Yes lord Naga-Jin... I mean to ask you more about your nature so I can train more efficiently" Rize said hoping to get straight answers. Looking around Rize started to realize that this wasn’t simply an illusion… “Lord Naga-Jin…what is this place?”

"Well this place iss the physical manifestation of your ki energy in your body. Asss you grow and develop thiss place will grow and mature." Naga-Jin hummed to himself as he thought "However, to ansswer your second question child, I am a sserpent god we are often quite despissed among the pantheon of godss, commoners, and nobility alike. My nature iss that of issolation so do forgive me for giving you thisss warning. If the general public findss out that I am ssspecifically your god it may prove to be difficult for you asss it sso often iss for ssserpent godss. Firsst thing you sshould know besidess my inheret nature of being an asspect of sserpents iss. I am alsso the god of venom sso realisstically my blessing sshould give you a wide variety of venomss that enhance your physical attacksss. You ssaw that with the firsst venom you ussed when you touch that man who wass a disciple of a labor god." The giant white serpent coiled and moved around Rize as he talked to her almost as if he was trying to intimidate her.

"So that wasn't him falling over from my attack strength?" Rize said slightly surprised as she didn't remember the specifics of the fight as it all became instinctual near the end. Something that wasn’t uncommon for people who were recently blessed by a deity.

"No my young naïve child. That wass my venom at work sspecifically a venom that causses the muscles to constrict and make difficult or imposssible to move."

Rize finally understood why he was in so much pain once she landed her palm strike on him... "Lord Naga-Jin what else will your blessing do to me?"

"Well that is rather ssimple" he said hissing a smile forming on his snake like mouth "you will take on some of the characterissticss of an sserpent. Your ssspeed will increase and you may even grow fangss. You didn't notice, but your eyess changed to the sshape of an sserpent ass well." Naga-Jin said ever so slightly in a mocking tone.

Rize was slightly perturbed by the fact that she would look more like a snake for all intents and purposes, but she was the one who sought out the serpent god of venom so she couldn't complain. Plus she had already accepted the fact taht she had to live with it even the idea of being an outcast wasn't unfamiliar to her so it was probably better this way anyways. In fact it made her feel rather good knowing that even gods could experience being an outcast like humanity. It...humanized them.

Soaking in the spring Rize let the spiritual energy seep into her body turning it to ki which started to slowly grow the ki island in her dantain. When she turned to see if Naga-Jin was still there he had already gone. With a smile she gave a small thanks to Lord Naga-Jin. "I guess we both won't be alone anymore" she thought a smile on her face as she let the hot water flow over her.