(MC POV)
When night began to fall, our little group decided to set up camp by the side of the road.
The two drivers opted to camp a distance away from us, giving us our privacy. Originally they wanted to share the same space as us, but they changed their minds and picked a faraway spot when I came back from my nature's call. Not sure what made them change their decision in the first place though.
The girls were scattered around our little camp site at the moment, each of them engaged in their own training after receiving my instructions for the night.
Lian Li, Manami and Cai Hong were seated with their legs crossed and eyes closed, all of them trying to increase the levels of their Elemental Quarks.
It was quite surprising to see Cai Hong becoming more serious about training but I suppose it's the result of watching her sisters. She does have good role models after all.
Eris was going through the sword skills I taught her, I could see that she's creating her own style of swordplay from how she's constantly switching through her motions. Sometimes I really wonder how she does that so fluidly.
Diao Chan was alone in a corner with her notebook in hand. It was quite fortunate for her that she has such a good memory that any Spells she writes down she is able to memorise them easily. Even I have trouble remembering some of the Spells I had used in the past, but it doesn't seem to be much of a problem for her.
Pretty soon, I'll have to teach her how to craft her own Spells.
Now with everyone else occupied, I turned towards my newest disciple.
She was seated in a seiza position with both her legs tucked underneath her body perfectly, her posture exuding the picture of a mature beauty.
I can see how Manami and Kiyomi are twins.
Taking a seat on a wooden stool across her, I looked straight at her before holding out my palms, "Place your hands on top of mine, I'll do a scan of your Cultivation Point."
She obeyed without a hesitation, placing both of her pristine hands in the middle of my palms delicately.
I closed my eyes and guided my own Elemental Quarks into her body, an action that I've grown extremely familiar with by now.
Using her Quark Veins as my guide, I was able to locate her Cultivation point near the end of her spine where her tails would be connected to her body.
A rather weird place for it to be in but not unheard of.
Extending my senses into the Cultivation Point, I concentrated my consciousness to unravel the secrets to her body's Elemental Quark composition.
With this, I should be able to sense the density and innate Elemental Quarks, this would allow me to find a training method that would maximise her potential.
But what I least expected was for my entire consciousness to be dragged into it, which seems to be happening rather often these days.
I blinked, finding myself standing in front of a tall black and white torii gate.
Ok… This is new. I don't think Manami has this inside her either? Oh wait, I never checked hers since she was still recovering from her damaged Quark Veins back then.
I should do a check on her later then.
But first, why the hell is there a torii gate inside Kiyomi's Cultivation Point?
No, no, no… It can't be acting as a seal of some sort right? That's just way too cliche.
A single giant eye opened within the darkness behind the torii gate, it's gaze directed straight at me.
Of course.
I suppressed the urge to roll my eyes while addressing the giant eye, "So… I'm going to skip the part where I'm shocked and surprised at you being here and assume you're some strong being that is sealed inside my disciple's body?"
The eye blinked before the darkness shifted, revealing the head of a giant white fox that was laying down on top of a paw.
"What does a Divine Being like you want with someone as lowly as me?" The fox asked, its voice clearly feminine.
"Divine Being? What are you talking about?" I asked.
The fox snorted, "You do not need to hide from me, I share the senses of my host. I saw your battle with the Great One. Though I might only just be a scant few hundred thousand years old, I was still around before The Great Loss happened."
Ah, the fox must believe me to be some strong being because I managed to banish that tentacled monster away. Well, the stars helped me for that one but since I don't know what this fox's disposition is, let's just let her think that I managed to do it with my own strength for now.
"You have yet to answer my question on why you are sealed inside my disciple's Cultivation Point," I reminded her.
She half closed her eye, "Would you believe me if I said I was a rampaging monster and this girl's parents sealed me inside her in order to contain me, resulting in my host being bullied and ridiculed all her life?"
"Nope."
She bared her fangs as her lips curled into a wicked smile, "Then you would be right, though my story was a bit similar to that one."
She stretched herself, yawning like a cat which made the darkness around her disappear like mist, revealing her full body for me to see.
The fox had pure white fur and a size that dwarfed even the demon Abaddon, heck, the demon could even probably be her chew toy.
I'm pretty sure that she could destroy an entire town with just a step of her foot too, judging by the immense size of hers.
Behind her was a mass of tails that I had no idea where to even start counting, but certainly numbering in the hundreds.
The fox laid back down after stretching, looking at me with her other eye, "Where should I start… Though I was not rampaging at that time, I got involved with a fight with my sister that may have caused quite a lot of destruction. Before you ask, yes, your other fox disciple houses my sister. And unlike our hosts, I'm the older one."
Ok… This will take some time to get used to. My pair of fox disciples both have giant foxes inside of them who happen to be sisters as well. The younger fox disciple is host to the older fox while the older fox disciple is housing the younger fox.
Right, got it. I nodded for her to continue.
"My sister and I had gotten into a fight one day that resulted in the destruction of our surroundings. Maybe one or a dozen mountains got destroyed but I think that was pretty minor. One of your kind came to stop us and sealed both of us in some sort of small ball to stop us, really rude of him. We were left there for several centuries before The Great Loss occurred, sending us to this Plane."
The Great Loss? Sent them to this Plane? Does that mean they were from the other Planes? Then this 'Great Loss' event… Could it be the reason why Cai Hong's egg ended up on this Plane too?
"And? Don't tell me you two ended up in my disciples' bodies because they found your prison balls and ate them?"
The fox snorted, "It might sound ridiculous, but they were still nothing but little pups back then, thinking our prison was some sort of candy they found. And of course the older sister gave my prison ball, the slightly bigger one, to her little sister."
Ah, that's Manami for you, always the motherly one.
"At least I was released from the confines of that small prison into a bigger prison that is not stuck at one place, so there's that I suppose," The fox chuckled. "Your Plane has quite the interesting people I must say, never a boring moment around here."
The fox yawned before continuing, "And yes, I am the reason why this Kiyomi girl has managed to reach her current level of Quark proficiency. Just like how Manami has my sister to thank for her own nine tails."
I looked towards her mass of fluffy tails again.
"About a hundred and twenty seven tails," The fox offered up the answer without my prompting, waving her tails proudly in the air. "A thousand years for every addition to my number of tails."
"So… You've at least been in here for several decades at least, no thoughts on breaking out?" I asked.
The fox sniffed, "I just want to live an easy life. The only reason I got into a fight with my sister back then was because she insisted her tails were fluffier than mine, how preposterous of her to assume such a thing. Now I can just stay here and travel the world with my host, watching everything like some sort of show without a need to worry. Though I admit it's a bit boring at times but I'd rather stay here than risk being hunted outside, I doubt my kind is a common sight in this Plane, yes?"
I nodded, I don't think giant foxes that can crush mountains with a single tail swipe is ever recorded to exist in the Earthen Plane.
"Then no loss for me," she shrugged her shoulders, laying her head back down on top of the paw. "As long as Kiyomi supplies her Cultivation Point constantly with Elemental Quarks, I will be fed."
"What about your sister?"
"She can handle herself, she's only a few centuries younger than me after all."
Oh, she probably doesn't know about Manami's accident…
I guess she's a pretty chill fox, I'll just make a guess now that Manami's fox is the fiery and willful one.
"And does Kiyomi even know you exist?"
She knocked her paw against an invisible wall between us, just above the torii gate, "With this seal around, I couldn't talk to her even if I wanted to, so no."
"So is there a name I can call you? Or you don't even have one?"
She did what could have been a shrugging motion with her shoulders, "Back in my Plane, I was always called the Immortal White Fox and my sister the Immortal Red Fox. We might have names once but you forget these kinds of things over several millennia."
I guess I can just go the standard route and call them Shiro and Aka if I'm being lazy. But I think spending a little more effort on thinking up their names might be a good idea.
"Well… I guess er… Nice meeting you. I'll come here once in a while I guess?" I waved.
She blinked, "For a Divine Being like yourself to bother about me… Is there a reason? I already told you I have no intention of harming your disciple didn't I?"
I shrugged, pulling my consciousness out of Kiyomi's Cultivation Point, "You just seem like you can use some company."
