In a mountain top barren of vegetation, there was a small pool of magma, gently swirling about. A huge hound was lying down curled beside the magma lake. It occupied a circular area of roughly fifteen meters in diameter. The hound had reddish fur with patches of electric blue, much like a cheetah's spots. The most striking feature of the huge hound was not its size or coloration; but the fact that it had two heads.

The central head was slightly larger and inhaling the fumes emanating from the magma pool, with its eyes closed. It almost looked adorable. Almost. The other head was lazily gazing towards the sky apparently waiting for something. Every several minutes it would make a low whine and a bolt of electric blue thunder would ark towards its snout and be absorbed.

Ripples of spatial distortion appeared several dozen meters away. A demure veiled lady appeared from the spatial distortion. As the two headed hound gazed upon the figure, both the heads made an annoyed snort and stood up on its four legs. The huge two headed hound turned into an illusory phantom. A short tomboyish figure of a wheat skinned girl with dark shaggy unkempt hair walked as the two headed hound phantom dissipated.

“Disciple greets Master Lin.” the shaggy tomboy greeted in a lethargic unenthusiastic tone, while making a hasty bow.

“Your harvest as an envoy to the demons was better than expected. And your experience there has clearly mellowed you quite a bit. Excellent progress disciple. Have you stabilized your cultivation base and Demon Spirit art?” replied the demure veiled lady enthusiastically.

“Mother is agreeable as always.” the shaggy tomboy replied with a curt nod.

The demure veiled lady made a graceful flick of her finger and a storage pouch was flicked towards the shaggy tomboy, who unceremoniously caught it. She used her spiritual sense to inspect the contents of the storage pouch and her expression changed. Her lethargic and relaxed attribute underwent a sudden change for the first time in this meeting. An expression of equal measure shock, yearning and wariness flashed on her face as she did her best to suppress her emotion.

“Master, this is too valuable. While I desire it, I may not be able to make efficient use of it. Maybe some senior from the Hall of eccentrics would pay a heavy price for this.” the shaggy tomboy replied with unease to her master.

“One of the other elders found it while adventuring. You are perhaps the most suited for it in the sect. We would loath to trade it with the demons during this time, rather the possibility of another Grand Elder level figure will be worth much more.” the demure veiled lady replied to her disciple.

“But master, I would require at least two; maybe three decades to fully subdue and integrate with it. Even then my battle prowess would reach peak Nascent Spirit stage, maybe half a step Spirit Formation stage and that is assuming it has good compatibility with my mother. The possibility of reaching Early Spirit Formation Stage is far too remote; even with this.” the shaggy tomboy replied in a helpless tone.

“Disciple, we both know that demon core is sufficient for your transformed state to reach early Spirit Formation stage in a decade. That temptation is a great one to any cultivator. Specially with the coming catastrophe.” the demure veiled lady informed her disciple in a charming voice which had sinister hints of cunning well concealed in it.

The shaggy tomboy had a slightly baffled expression, before she was visibly seething with rage. She took a couple of breaths of time to barely suppress her rage and replied with a sizzling voice.

“That is not a possibility I am willing to entertain. I will make some preparation and go into seclusion. Please refrain from interrupting unless it is a matter of Life and Death.”

The demure veiled lady nodded understandingly as she departed. The shaggy tomboy let out a controlled breath and her rage seemed to dissipate. She flicked her wrist in a bizarre incantation gesture as a deep vermilion barrier encased the mountain she was staying in.

She sat down in a squat and a big fist-sized green translucent gem appeared in her left hand. The fist-sized gem was roughly spherical and there was a small hollow in it. In the small hollow, a fingernail-sized drop of dark viscous fluid was glittering. Through the translucent gem, the viscous liquid appeared black in color.

The squatting tomboy licked the tip of her little finger with an expression of utmost concentration. She then gently rubbed her licked fingertip on the translucent gem before tasting it. She had a thoughtful expression on her face as she appeared to undergo an internal debate. She sighed as the fist-sized gem vanished from her fist as she laid down on the ground.

Somewhere else in the sect, in a spacious immortal cave; a young teenage boy was addressing the demure veiled lady.

“A demon core of a mid Spirit Formation corrosion element attuned lupine/canine demon with its lifeblood source intact! You must have surely paid a large prize for it, my beloved. Even if the sect doesn't intend to trade it; alchemists, spirit smiths and spirit enchanters in the sect would value it greatly. Even I would like to simply refine the lifeblood source within. You surely value your disciple a lot. So does that little tomboy puppy appreciate it.”

“The quickest way to reach the highest battle prowess would be to recklessly burn her existing demon spirit in a surge of power to dominate and devour that demon core and lifeblood source. But she won't abandon the demon spirit of her foster-mother.” the demure veiled lady replied.

“Well, not abandoning her foster-mother's demon spirit has its merits. During her last mission as an envoy to the demon lands she was fused with her demon spirit for several years with barely any sequela. Other practitioners of this heretic cultivation method would be lucky to be fused with their demon spirit for an hour!” the young teenage boy consoled her.

“ I know, beloved. I am glad, that my disciple didn't show intentions to be tempted by quick power and abandon her dao-heart. I would be disappointed in her if she did so. Even if she did so, her progress in cultivation would halt and all her latent potential shattered. Although, it is a pity she insists on sticking to his heretic path of cultivation. There has been no history of any ascendant of this particular heretical cultivation path in our records.” the demure veiled lady pouted.

“Ascendance is something far far away, my beloved. There has never been an ascendant in our sect. In my youth if a similar opportunity of obtaining Spirit Formation Cultivation presented itself to me; I doubt I could have resisted despite the consequences.” lamented the teenage boy.