(MC POV)
*A few hours ago*
Hmm… It should be roughly this time that they will come and torture me again.
I summoned the fake me again, laying him down on the floor and waiting for the time to pass.
A minute barely passed before the guards showed up and proceeded to drag the fake body out of the cell, bringing it to their usual torture chamber.
The body started making some pained groaning sounds, something I had inscribed it to do alongside some pathetic lines like "Please stop", "It hurts", "No more" and other variations of it to make the fake body seem more real.
"Well… Umm...What are we doing today, Master?" Xun Guan asked, massaging my shoulders while still in her clothing form.
"Hmmm… We went shopping just now so... Oh, I know. We can go fishing this time. There's this deserted island I know of that we can go. Then we can even eat some grilled fish while we wait for them to be done."
"That sounds lovely Master."
"Alright then, let's go."
I teleported us to the island where I had to punish that stupid leprechaun before, now just a simple deserted island for me to relax.
Using my storage ring, I summoned a chair and a fishing rod, tossing out the line with a small bait before I settled down on the chair to wait.
Their torture sessions usually take about four hours or so, giving me ample time to relax here.
Xun Guan dutifully massaged my shoulders in the meantime, the slime girl getting really good at massages since then.
We've also dropped all pretense of her being unable to assume human form already, so sometimes she would appear before me in her human form and massage me that way.
With only each other for company all this time, I'd like to think we've grown quite close. Ignoring the fact she has been living as my clothes all this while, of course.
"Master? If I may ask a question?"
"Hmmm? What is it?"
"Couldn't we just leave the fake body there and go somewhere else? Why does Master keep going back to the prison cell?"
I chuckled, "Well, a fake body can only do so much. It's good to check up on it from time to time in case something happens. It's not my first time sleeping in such conditions anyway. I should be more worried about you actually, are you sure you're alright supporting my weight as my bed every night?"
"Oh Master, I'm a slime. Transforming into a gel bed for you is a small matter. In fact, it is my honour to be your bed!"
"Hahaha, if you say so. I'll make sure to cook up a good fish for you today!"
I made good on my promise, grilling a few fishes for the two of us to enjoy that evening. It was quite amusing to see her melt when she tasted the food, good thing I had extra clothes with me for a situation like that.
Cleaning up, I knew that it was about this time that they would be done with the torture session, that means it's time for me to head back for the night and create another fake body for the morning torture session. The Dong's really operate like clockwork.
So imagine my surprise when I saw Brendan crouched over the fake body with tears in his eyes.
Even more surprising was Sylphy standing behind him.
"Peace treaty? Master… Beiyang and Dong are currently at war for you…"
I blinked at him.
"What."
"Wait… Did Master just teleport in here? How… How did Master manage to do that with the anti-Technique barrier?"
I raised my eyebrow at Brendan, "Anti-Technique barrier? It doesn't completely nullify Techniques, it just suppresses Quark manipulation to a degree. If you focus your senses enough, you can still bypass it quite easily."
"Bypass… The barrier… I couldn't even sense anything… Truly god like…" Sylphy muttered from the corner but I ignored her in favour of what Brendan had said.
"This thing about a war… Explain."
Brendan blinked at me, switching his gaze to where the fake body I had dematerialised had been before turning back to me as though to make sure he wasn't dreaming.
"That… Umm… Didn't Master get… Well… Captured by the Dongs?"
I gestured to the prison cell around me, "That much is obvious right?"
"Master didn't escape?"
I scoffed at him, "If I escaped, the entire plan would have gone into the drain, wouldn't it?"
"The… Plan?"
"Hmmm? Did Queen Guiying not tell you? She even asked this favour from me too."
Brendan looked even more confused, "Queen Guiying said the Dongs had locked you up, breaching the trust between the two countries. They had then sent an envoy to us demanding our surrender. When Guiying refused, he tried to blow us up with a bomb… Guiying then declared war on the Dongs."
"Woah, woah, woah. You're telling me that Beiyang is now at war with the country of Dong?"
"For a few weeks now, yes. General… I mean… Senior sister Elaria had taken up arms and mobilised her army as well… They should be carving a way towards the Dong's capital city even as we speak."
I stared at him for a moment, half expecting someone to jump out and say it's a joke.
When none was forthcoming, I sighed, "Wasn't the plan just to use their mistreatment of me as an incentive to force a peace treaty from them?"
"Plan? There… At least I don't… I don't believe there was even a plan like that, Master?"
"Haaaa? You serious?"
"Ma.. Master… We're still in enemy territory…" Brendan reminded me.
"Oh right," I snapped my fingers, erecting a silence and illusion barrier around us.
"So… So easily… Within the barrier… As expected of Master..." Sylphy gasped.
I ignored her mumblings again and asked Brendan, "Was there not even a talk for a peace treaty before this?"
He poked his fingers together, "I think… The idea was to occupy their capital city and force a peace treaty on them and have them release Master… We all thought they managed to suppress Master's Technique in order to lock you up…"
"Lock my Techniques? With this half-assed barrier? Come on Brendan, even you could break through this can't you?"
He lowered his head, "I… Apologies for being an even bigger disappointment, Master… But I am unable to do that…"
Mmm… Well, he's not the best Practitioner out of the group…
"What about the others?"
He lowered his head even further, "I apologise on their behalf as well, Master… Senior sisters were also affected by the barrier…"
Hmm? Is it really that hard?
I mean sure, I got surprised by it at first too, but this is like basically putting someone in ankle deep water. It'll be a little harder to walk normally but lift your leg high enough and you won't be affected by it.
Guess it's something I need to put in my 'things to teach my cute disciples' list.
"That explains why Manami hasn't been picking up my telepathy calls, I thought you were all busy with something so I didn't want to disturb you," I sighed.
"Eh? We thought Master couldn't send any telepathy messages because of the barrier…"
Oh… Right. That might have actually interfered with my message sending… Forgot about that.
"Putting that aside for now, I suppose we should go back to them and prevent any more crazy things from happening," I decided.
"Ummm of course, Master."
I teleported all of us back to my courtyard first.
Just as I thought to ask him where the girls were, I felt the unmistakable feeling of Benjamin's telepathy call.
I took out the sealing orb and connected to him, "Hello?"
"Divine One?! Oh it actually got through! Where do I even start? Erm... The portal! The one you told us to seal! It was activated just a few minutes ago!"
"What?!"
"I don't know what to do with it! But something's going to come through soon, I think?"
"Damn it… I will be right there."
I cut the connection before turning to Brendan, "I'll send you back to the girls, just tell them what you saw in the prison. I need to settle something urgently."
Brendan hesitated, "Ah… Do I err… Only tell them what I saw?"
"Of course, what else?"
"Then… What do I say if they ask where Master went?"
"Just tell them I had to stay behind or something and I told you to go ahead first," I told him before sending him away to Death Mountain Pass. Don't know why he would even ask that question.
Anyway, no time to lose. If that portal is connected to the higher Planes, whatever is coming from there can't be good!