Time

Elder Ting Zhenniao, much like Ku Xing, did not look anything like an 'elder', the latter had told him that it wasn't uncommon for women cultivators to use techniques to preserve their youthful appearances.

After all, it was no mystery that Ku Xing was a pretty old lady to have a great niece around the same age as Edrick was, or rather, Zixuan's body was, and it seemed to be the same thing for the lady before him, who was currently cradling his face into her chest, which was on the larger side of medium and positively bouncy, he would say.

She was closer to average size as well, standing one meter and seventy-five centimeters tall, although she didn't dress or style her hair like she had been caught in a storm like Ku Xing, Anoteros could see how some could view her as unsettling.

Her eyes shone with an unnatural light, the irises and pupils not at all round and instead wavy like they had somewhat melted, their colour was that of a toxic yellow, whilst her hair bore a most odd colour, dark green like algae, but where tied into a cute ponytail.

She was also garbed in robes that more closely fitted her body than most, coloured a much lighter shade of green than her hair, and like she wasn't peculiar enough already, she seemed to have covered every bit of visible skin in white powder, making her look like a corpse.

But she wasn't an undead or anything, he could hear her heart beating as she kept on hugging him.

"You've gotten so much taller since I last saw you! I thought Ku was exaggerating, but you've really grown into a fine man…" finally letting him go and rise back up to his full height, she playfully knocked on his stomach, getting to feel the rock-hard abs there.

"...Fine indeed" she added in a low tone, her expression turning into a sort of smug smile.

It seemed like she hadn't even gotten to see a single sight of him, so she had probably been holed up in the basement the entire time.

This place reeked of many smells, chemicals, medicines, gasoline, powder and a whole bunch of other fragrances that mixed together to make for a most potent cocktail that made one's eyes watery, nostrils itch and feel like refraining from breathing.

"Was tonight your last day with Ku? It must have been! I have been down there for longer than I thought then… Want me to show you around?" unbothered to have lost her sense of the passage of time, after all, in the basement, there was no natural light, and no candles or lanterns either, as that could lead to an explosion considering what Ting Zhenniao was up to down there, so instead, she had grown some bioluminescent plants and mushrooms all over the place.

"Sure" he agreed, it was already the middle of the night, not like he was in a hurry now.

Hearing his answer, the elder grabbed his hand and started to lead him around the basement, or her brewery, as she called it.

If the Xing were the masters of pain, then the Zhenniao were the masters of toxins, their family owner of the Poison Sutra, so naturally, she was brewing up all sorts of toxins and the likes down there, poisons, venoms, toxic gases to only cite a few.

Apparently, members of the family were literally, born naturally poisonous and venomous from how deeply the sutra had been implemented in their way of life, which had made them rejects to many others, only the other clans considered to be weirdos had welcomed them within a friendly circle, of which there was the Xing, and the Elt.

"...And here is the Gu pit, I put a whole lot of snakes a few hours ago, sounds like they are still going at it" she explained things to him with passion, and since Edrick wouldn't call himself an expert on the subject, he was listening attentively, much to Ting Zhenniao's delight.

"I can't wait to start teaching you… Unlike Ku, just come anytime you want, alright? Just make sure to be there at least twice a week, if I am not around, the door will be locked, but I am pretty much never out- Ah, and don't be too disappointed, unlike Ku, I can't teach you a single thing of my family sutra, the regulations are tight… Very tight" somehow, the last two words sounded as though they had nothing to do with the rest of the sentence.

"Can I start taking lessons starting tomorrow?" he asked, eager to get stronger, and also to build a stronger connection with the Zhenniao family, even if Ting Zhenniao already seemed to like him a whole lot, for some reason.

He had to guess that even though she hadn't been chosen to be his godmother, that she was still feeling attached to him, perhaps.

"Certainly!"

"Alright then, I'll be seeing you tomorrow, Elder Ting Zhenniao" Anoteros didn't know if it was the norm, but he was finding these experienced, women cultivators to be very pleasant and interesting.

"No need to be so formal, you can at least drop the 'elder' or 'senior' with me, you're basically family"

When Edrick had come to the Myriad-Arm Sect, he had not expected to actually have allies already stationed here, but it was welcome, and after all, although the original owner had not been worth much more than dirt, he had still been a noble scion, so naturally, he had basically been born with connections.

And thankfully, these connections were of the sort that Edrick could actually get along with, it seemed like Irandelle hadn't picked Zixuan randomly and had actually chosen an excellent body to possess, which made sense, she wanted him to succeed and mess things up as quickly as was possible.

When he came home, much later than usual, the wifely trio had fallen asleep on the couch waiting for him, looking around, it seemed like the construction to have the residence be properly insulated was progressing smoothly, they might actually have it ready for when winter decided to show up, which shouldn't take more than a week at most.

Carrying the three of them to the bedroom, Edrick had actually made himself a rather busy schedule, he had lessons to attend with Ting Zhenniao, and since she had said that he could come anytime, he would be coming as often as possible, he also had to keep on working part-time as the vile sasquatch of the forest, winter might just make accomplishing his mission to keep anyone away from the forest for a week much easier.

He also had Luxuli to take care of, of course quests outside of the woods also, he had to cultivate and train, take good care of his wives in bed, and now squeeze some time to make Xiao's existence miserable.

'Yeah, I've got time' he told himself, he just needed to be efficient.