Senior Sister Jin let out an embarrassed squeak before the surprise caused her to start coughing again.

  "Why are—" cough cough "— why are you two here?! And why are you naked?!"

  “Why are you naked?” Brother Dai countered without a hint of shame, casually moving beside her to thump the woman’s back without a care for propriety or their mutual nudity. Feng opted to stand further away, as the acrid stench proved a little too much for him to handle.

  The foreign Disciple glared at the Senior in between coughs, yet did not shy away from Dai’s assistance. With his aid, she spat out the last of the putrid mucus from her lungs, before wiping the remaining slime off her mouth.

  The viscous transformation fluid that had clung to her body was rapidly evaporating into the same white haze as the rest of the insectoid beast had from before. Aside from the pool of pus, there was barely any evidence left of the original monstrous body that the female Disciple was within earlier.

  “This is highly improper,” Sister Jin chastised as she straightened her posture. The powerfully lean muscles of her back shifted like twisted iron. “Is this the type of lecherous behaviour I should expect from the disciples of the Beheaded Phoenix Sect? To peep upon undressed maidens in their state of vulnerability?”

  The female disciple stood unafraid and confident, even while bare of even a stitch of clothing. Her composure was not a false one, either. She simply did not care to cover herself until she was finished interrogating their purpose here.

  The Sister was not a maiden to care for her virtue, nor a helpless mortal vulnerable to the whims of indecent men. She was a cultivator of the Third Realm, boasting a level of strength few in the Province might ever achieve.

  Moreover, despite her words, she knew of them and their reputation. The Young Master and the strongest disciple of the Sect were hardly the type to approach with obscene intentions, especially when she clearly wished to be left alone in the aftermath of her transformation.

  “First off, peeping involves at least some degree of hiding, which we clearly are not doing,” Dai pointed out, gesturing to himself and the Young Master as they blatantly stood in the open. “And second, I know for a fact that you are no maiden. You have already sampled your fair share of our Core Disciples; far too many to keep a secret. Some of them might have even enjoyed the experience enough to risk a second encounter.”

  “Oh, you sanctimonious ass.” Despite her words, there wasn’t much heat in them. She even gave an amused scoff when Brother Dai laughed. “Neither of those reasons allows the both of you to brazenly come up to me while undressed as I de-transformed. You know well enough why I came to a secluded place like this to shift back.”

  Aside from being renowned for their predatory beauty, the transformation techniques of Split-headed Carnivores were legendary among the Four Mountain Sects Group and beyond.

  The physical strength and biological arsenal they brought to bear in their morphed states was considerable enough to make up for their lack of other techniques, but it also came with an unfortunate side effect of destroying their apparel in the process, leaving them bare after they revert to their original form — similar to how the Beheaded Phoenix Sect's resurrection technique leaves the revived disciple naked in its body-destroying conflagration.

  A peculiar problem among disciples, to be sure, but not one that necessarily mattered much in the grand scheme of things. Cultivation does not particularly care much for modesty, and for those seeking immortality, they have bigger matters to attend to than the lecherous gazes of impudent mortals or lesser cultivators.

  “Relax. The rest of the disciples are away. Even the most perverse of our Juniors know better than to intrude on a Core Disciple’s privacy, foreign or otherwise,” Dai reassured her.

  “Sister Shao’s current body count leaves much of that statement in question,” Jin murmured before running a hand through her dark hair, flicking off a thick strand of smoking mucus that dripped upon her shoulders and arms. Feng’s eyes wandered once more — tracing the drops of hissing gel as they wound their way into the crease of savage scars amongst jade-pale skin — before he forced himself to look away.

  “Besides, I am more concerned about the two of you.” The Sister’s serpent-like green eyes narrowed at them. “How shameless can you be, striding up here in complete nakedness while I am undressed! Your complete lack of both modesty and decorum brings shame to your Sect and your character!”

  “My eyes are up here, you know,” Brother Dai said dryly.

  Sister Jin immediately pulled her eyes from the male disciple’s impressively defined abdomen and blushed. “I wasn’t looking!”

  Both the Young Master and Senior Disciple raised their eyebrows.

  “Okay, fine. I was,” Sister Jin admitted, before allowing herself to lean forth and turn her gaze downwards once more. “As if you two weren’t having a good look at me as well. For all of Sister Shao’s fault, I can at least say she has good taste in men. I almost sympathise with her obsession with you now.”

  Her eyes wandered appreciatively over the Senior Brother, her cheeks reddening slightly as her gaze crept lower. Beneath the open lust, however, there was also a hungry, appraising stare that lingered on his flank and thighs, like a lioness sizing up their next meal.

  This story originates from Royal Road. Ensure the author gets the support they deserve by reading it there.

  “It would be a shame not to admire your beauty, especially since it was on such fine display,” Dai flirted back good-naturedly, though his eyes did not care to wander like hers did. “Flattered as I am by your attention, you shouldn't just look at me. What about our Young Master here? I am sure he will benefit from your appraisal.”

  “Absolutely not,” the female disciple firmly said, her eyes resolutely not looking at Feng. “He is the Young Miss’s Husband-to-be. His body is for her eyes alone.”

  Might be a little too late for that, the Young Master thought as he recalled Lingyu’s earlier reaction.

  “You don’t even want a peek?” Dai lightly jested. “He’s right here. You might as well make an assessment and let your Mistress know what she can expect.”

  “You’re enough man-meat for my eyes.” Sister Jin rolled her eyes as she finally stepped away. “Besides, he’s not to my taste. Far too young.”

  Ouch. Feng would be the first to admit his musculature was nowhere as robust as Brother Dai's, but that's hardly anything to be embarrassed about. Few in the Sect compared to the peak physical stature of the heroic disciple. The man had sculpted his body into a weapon, with an extraordinarily sturdy physique and thick cords of ripped muscles. Combined with his height and sharp facial features, there was none who looked as attractive as the older disciple.

  Still, despite not particularly caring much for Sister Jin’s approval, Feng would not deny that he felt curious about her words. “I’m the same cultivation Realm as you, and of matured age besides. If our Core Disciples are to your satisfaction, as Senior Brother had said, what is it about me that displeases you?”

  While not as powerfully built as Dai, Feng's body was still firm and proportionally muscled, bare of even a hint of excess fat and with well-defined contours across his physique. In body, at least, his appearance was not much different to the rest of the male Core Disciples in their Sect. Their martial and cultivation training would leave nothing less than a lean and powerful build.

  “Oh, it’s nothing to do with your personality, looks, or cultivation, Young Master. I meant no disrespect,” Sister Jin chuckled as she scratched her cheek. “It’s just… It’s hard to see you as a man since I knew you when you were a child barely ten years ago.”

  Sister Jin’s smile turned fond. “You might not remember, but I was sometimes tasked to oversee Miss Lingyu or Lady Lianshi when they came to meet you during their youths. I can still recall the three of you playing on the swing set, your little legs kicking off the seat. How time flies…”

  Feng supposed that made sense. Cultivators do not age in the same way as a mortal does. Aside from cultivation greatly expanding the practitioner’s lifespan, their bodies also universally appeared younger and healthier as well. Despite Brother Dai and Sister Jin looking barely older than Feng, their actual ages were decades older than his. Little wonder, then, that they still saw him as a child despite appearances.

  “But enough of your insincere flirtations, what do the both of you want? I doubt you two came just to ogle at my body.” The Senior Sister rubbed at her eyes, flicking off the last gob of pus as it rapidly vaporised into a white haze. Most of the mucus on her body had already evaporated, leaving her admittedly fantastic body on full display. That the horrid smell had mostly disappeared as well also made it less taxing to admire the female disciple.

  “I would say that ogling your body was enough reason at all for us to approach you.” Brother Dai said, bumping his shoulder against hers. The Sister sighed and shoved him back.

  “The both of you hardly need me for that. The Young Master will soon bear witness to the loveliest fruit in all the Northern Provinces, assuming my Young Miss has not already ravished him before their fated wedding night.” The foreign Disciple eyed Brother Dai with a devious smile. “And for better or for worse, you are someone who earned the volatile affections of my Sect’s most voracious man-eater. If it is a heavenly body you seek to rest your eyes on, I have no doubt Shao would indulge you, and more besides.”

  Dai winced at that. “Please don’t mention that horrid hag. It sullies the loveliness that is your presence. And as for my Young Master, despite your insinuation, he has yet to partake of your Young Miss. His steadfast restraint is only matched by your mistress’s legendary beauty, it seems.”

  For all his words, Brother Dai did not look remotely bothered or interested in Sister Jin's naked form. It was a different story for the Young Master, however. Despite Brother Dai's confidence in Feng’s self-control, the Young Master was having a rather hard time keeping his eyes resolutely above her neck.

  “If you say so, Dai.” Her dubious tone was obvious to all. As was her weariness. “No disrespect meant to the Young Master and the venerable Senior Brother. I am flattered by the attention, but I’m also dirty, naked, and getting hungrier by the second. Is this matter urgent?”

  The Young Master turned towards his Senior Brother with a pointed look. After a few seconds of hesitation, the Disciple sighed and passed him the broken glaive still clutched in his hand.

  The female Disciple visibly tensed at the sight of the weapon. Feng doubted she actually thought they would attack her, but perhaps her current vulnerability must have left her feeling tense.

  And to be fair, there was no way she could have predicted what Feng intended to do with the blade.

  Before she or his Senior Brother could say anything, Feng pressed the blade against the side of his own naked torso and – in one deliberate motion – slashed the flesh of his right flank wide open.

  Sect Martial Training, Part 1

  Qi Techniques and Divine Arts are not the only forms of violence that a Sect's teaching imparts upon its Disciples. Martial training is ubiquitous for practitioners throughout the Flesh-Grafted Empire, for its nature encourages physical endurance, mental concentration, and spiritual discipline — all things necessary for a cultivator's growth.

  One would be hard-pressed to find a disciple who does not at least possess proficiency in one form of weaponry or martial skill. From humble spears and axes, to noble swords and glaives, or even exotic war fans and flying daggers. The range of cultivator weaponry is as diverse as they are deadly.

  Smaller Sects would usually only offer teachings on one or two core martial skills, likely as part of their monastic traditions or the Divine Corpse's history. Unarmed training is often also commonly taught, though the depth of such teachings varies widely between Sects.

  A larger Sect that draws upon its disciples from numerous subsidiary Sects, such as the Border Gate Sects, may see a larger variety of martial skills being learnt and taught within its monastery.

  — Excerpt from A Citizen’s Guide to the Flesh-Grafted Empire