Essence of Dual Cultivation

The wave of ice swords rushed towards Xiao and her harem. One which Xiao answered with a barrage of hee own. An endless stream of ice blades against ice blades.

Amidst the icy chaos, the mannequin smirked, pulling a fast one, it threw an ice spear aimed to pop Xiao's head. That which Luqing caught, glaring at the mannequin while she shattered the ice harder than steel, a predatory gaze from the hellcat telling the mannequin she's next.

"Everyone, I think it's time we use that." Her tails swaying regal, Yanmei suggested.

"Agreed." Luqing laid on all fours, embracing her primal instinct, the hellcat bolted!

The hellcat ran, evading all the swords that skewered the soil before her.

"Raaaah!" With a roar, Luging's claw arced towards the mannequin. Ah, but the memories of the Ice Empress allowed her to deflect with ease by using her right saber. From behind Luqing, Xiao leapt over, ready to smash her tonfa and shatter the mannequin's head!

A spear in her left, the mannequin thrust above to impale Xiao! Sliding from the spear like a pole dancer with grace, Xiao predicted her movment, after all, it was her master's. Xiao's tonfa barreled into the mannequin's face, sending her tumbling away.

Alone, the mannequin would definitely overwhelm Xiao. Together, it doesn't stand a fighting chance.

"Do you feel pain? I was hoping you felt that one." Xiao smirked, taunting the standing mannequin.

Part of its face destroyed by the fearsome blow from Xiao's tonfa left a crater of wood, shattering the illusion of a pretty face. Alas, the mannequin's self-restoration replaced the battered would, healing as if it wete flesh. Xiao's flawless skin and beauty, replicated once more.

The mannequin's answer came at the fearsome form of a gigantic dragon, howling with fury at Xiao and her harem.

"Not just pain, but also joy! And I shall revel in glee once I bury you along with all your women!"

The dragon flew, its jaws poised to swallow Xiao!

"Xiao, take to the skies!" Luqing gestured her hand for Xiao to use as jumoing pad. Before the dragon claimed their lives, Xiao jumped on Luqing's hand. Luwqing's arm stressed to its limit, she swung them up to throw Xiao up high! A second before the draconic jaws kf death snap shut before

Luqing's powerful legs leapt her out from harm's way!

"You pesky sons of bi...!"

Dark clouds hung over the mannequin, her cursing unfinished. Gazing up, the curios mannequin what wondered at the expanding blanket of darkness underneath her feet. Ah, but that was no blanket, it was a rain of ice blades so many, it was a rain of ice blades, blotting out the sun.

Both palms laid onto the earth, Luqing uttered the technique that they dual cultivate, that they took pride in as a fruition of their bond.

[HELLCAT SWALLOWS THE SUN!]

From underneath the mannequin, a dark-purple bagua with the face of a hellcat opened. The gravity inside the bagua amplified over tenfold, enough to crush an ordinary cultivator's bones. How the mannequin managed to only kneel attested to its strength.

The ice swords all glowed purple, imbuing each and every one with stronger gravitational pull. Just as they become one in the sheets, so too will their techniques during battle. Their qi freely flowed freely from one another, such was the nature of dual cultivation.

Move as she tried, the gravitational force of the bagua under her kept her subjugated, held captive by the invisible chains of gravity.

Doomed, the mannequin can only gaze upwards to lament as she has no choice but to endure the approaching onslaught of blades.

The sound of endless blades thundered across the frozen forest. A few moments later, the dust cleared.

As hundreds of ice swords assaulted the mannequin, every inch its skin pierced with an ice blade. Any other mortal and the attack would have been a death sentece, but the gruesome attack only managed to hamper the mannequin. With a furious shout, the mannequin used its internal qi to shatter all the swords that pierced her. What should have been blood and guts, hollowed wood can be found instead, a peek into the mannequin's inhuman core.

'Probability of winning now down to 60%. Unforeseen variables now emerging, dual-cultivation poses a high-risk. Conclusion reached : end the fight now'

With no time to rejuvenate itself, the mannequin's arms swayed in a yin-yang motion as it tried to bring about Zhen's strongest attack.

But the emergence of a full-pledged dragon, one enforced with a mighty amount of qi took time. The qi element that bolstered speed outpaced the mannequin.

All seven of Yanmei's tail expanded, reminiscent of a cannon. But what it was about to unleash was no ordinary cannonball as a mighty gale formed at the tails' tip.

"Lin dear, are you prepared?" The fox asked, her tone unwavering.

Laying both hands at the back of her lover, Lin smiled.

"I should be the one asking you that."

"Eh, I've tasted you and your lightning plenty of times. Now, give me your all!"

Per the fox's request, Lin's lightning qi coursed into her lover, bathing Yanmei from head to toe with electric currents.

With dual cultivation attuning them to each other's qi, Yanmei harvested the lightning and directed them to the gale brewing between her tails.

"Howling wind..." Yanmei shouted. The fury of a storm condensed into a ray as her winds and Lin's lightning combined, an electric current that danced in and over the wind vortex. With their qi entwined, 'tis only apt that Lin finished the name of their attack. "...ravaging lightning!"

The ray of tornado lightning engulfed the mannequin, her mighty dragon only halfway formed had been swept away by the storm along with her!

Her clothes torn to shreds and her already battered body now mangled. The attack scraped a good portion of the ground below, blasting the mannequin afar.

As the storm abated, all that's left of the proud mannequin was a body unable to maintain its human disguise. Arms and legs bent in an impossible angle.

'Probability of winning 0.1%. Must release restraint on Liuming to avoid ice entrapment. I have been defeated.'

A bitter pill the mannequin was forced to swallow. How could these rag-tag group of women defeat her!? She had one of heaven's strongest cultivators as her primary source of data! The mannequin re-oriented its limbs while basking in the shame, she knelt.

From the damage and loss of qi, the mannequin retained only half of Xiao's face. Given enough time and qi, she can don Xiao's visage once more but that is a luxury that won't be afforded to her as the women all gathered before her, with Xiao leading and pointing an ice sword at her her neck.

"You might be a mannequin but I don't suppose your durability extends to being beheaded, does it?"

"Your luck is phenomenal. Had it not been for your harem, you would be done for."

Xiao smiled at the mannequin's taunting for she cannot deny her words. She has been blessed to have such fine ladies at her side.

"For once, I agree with you. Had you not been a murderous mannequin, we might've gotten along."

As Xiao raised her blade, ready to end the mannequin's short-lived life, a voice stayed Xiao's hand.

"Wait, Xiao! Don't kill her!"

Liuming rushed to Xiao's side, grasping her arm to delay the mannequin's execution.

"What do you mean no!? This mannequin is after not just mine, but our blood! Surely you do not wish to save it!?"

Defusing the situation, Lin stepped in for her wife, "Come, you must be delirious from being trapped in ice. Let us leave Xiao to finish off this doll."

Liuming lunged to embrace the mannequin, cradling it in her chest as if she would receive Xiao's blade in its place.

"This doll saved me. The sect association, they were about to torture me, that is until she stepped in. If she made an attempt on everyone's life then I shall apologize in her place." Liuming's pleading eyes gazed at Xiao, then to each of her lovers. "Please, I believe she is simply misguided. Xiao, I want to give her a chance, like you did with me."