Path of the Ascendant

The land ship shook as its direction suddenly changed, but it stabilised under Yi Wei’s careful control, and slowly moved away from the edge of the wooden miniature realm in the direction of a distant blue environment.

It looked smooth and round, and it was possible to see something else through it, though the void between worlds made it difficult to distinguish exactly what it was. What could be seen through the darkness was the fact that the outline of the world chunk constantly fluctuated, almost as if it was a large amount of water floating freely in space.

However, that wasn’t of any concern to them, as they could easily stop a short distance from whatever that world was and avoid any potential flooding.

As the ship moved away from the wooden world, and got further away from any individual world chunk, it accelerated, speeding up from a crawl to a slow walk and then to a sprint as the land ship tilted downwards and got away from the great floating pile of adaptive wood.

Quickly, that great blob of water entered Yi Guanyu’s sight, and he asked, “Is that… water?”

“That is very likely, though, having seen a few different things within the valley, it isn’t impossible for this to be something akin to water, but much rarer. It could be Yin Yang Spring Dew, it could be yin water, yang water, Yin Yang Water… I’ve noticed this before, but I get the feeling that whoever was naming all of these things ran out of words to throw together,” Yi Wei mumbled, “I’ve heard that the Master of Yi City was responsible for a number of the names that we now commonly use, so it would be understandable if he or she was a little preoccupied with uniting Yi City, though if I had been in his place, I would have tasked someone else with coming up with better names…”

“Look, I appreciate the little history lesson, but can you focus on the task of getting to, and capturing, Yi Fenwu?” he stopped her, glancing at the Energy Tracking array to find that the spot representing Yi Fenwu had gotten closer to the point representing their land ship, exactly as expected, “She’s not going to be able to see this, is she?”

“Do I have to remind you of the way that the void between worlds functions? Obviously, she would notice the land ship once it moves into the water section of the void, which we only need to do the moment we want to engage in battle.”

“Right. You know, I get the feeling that you would make for a decent leader.”

“Me? I don’t think so. I do far better on my own. For instance, I wouldn’t have needed to make this whole land ship if I had been here myself. Then, I would have been out here much more quickly.”

“Hmph. If you hadn’t been with the family, you would have been left for dead, or maybe even captured by others. At that point, who know what they would have done to you.”

“If I had been here on my own, I wouldn’t have had to deal with Yi Fenwu trying to kill everyone, and if someone did attempt to capture me, I could have just hit them in the face with my full strength, which, as you should already be aware, is quite significant in comparison to most body cultivators.”

“You’re assuming that you would be able to make it into the hidden grounds to begin with. If not for the family’s expedition here, would you have been able to find this place, or open it?”

“Since the Yi family had located this valley, I could have theoretically done the same. As for opening it, I can’t recall a single one of you actually doing something that lead to the obelisks on the outside suddenly activating. To me, it seemed that the hidden grounds had just randomly decided to open themselves at a similar time to our search.”

“Oh, so you think that you would have been able to make it to the valley all on your own? Do-”

“Ahem, Yi Guanyu, Yi Wei, we’re nearing our destination,” Yi Meng, who had appeared in front of them without either of them noticing her approach, stated while pointing to the nearing blue spherical mass, “We shouldn’t be trying to crash into it, right?”

“No, that’s not part of the plan. Don’t worry, I wasn’t distracted, despite what it may have looked like.”

Yi Wei was telling the truth, as she wasn’t focusing too much on their argument, if it could even be called that. Whether she would have to go through life alone, in a small group, or as a proper member of the family wouldn’t be decided by a casual argument between her and a middle-class Yi family member, but by a number of other factors. It would depend on whether she is able to learn who was responsible for the arrays beneath her home, whether she would be made to remain a servant for the rest of her life, whether the greed or jealously of some of the family is able to overwhelm their need for talented people.

As for this discussion, it could be argued until they went back to her birth, and even further back. It was meaningless.

“Oh, speaking of the plan, what is it, exactly? Are we going to stop and study the void between worlds? I can volunteer to-”

“Yi Meng, you have long-range abilities, right?”

“Eh? Yes, I do.”

“Then go to the front and prepare to attack Yi Fenwu. If Yi Bai is in the area, try not to hurt her, and if it seems that you might be able to land a fatal, or close to fatal attack on Yi Fenwu, please restrain Yi Bai first. Otherwise, Yi Fenwu will make use of her control over the latter to force her to block the strike. Now, go and relay this to everyone else. We wouldn’t want this opportunity to go to waste.”

“Okay, I’ll go do that,” Yi Meng nodded, and ran off to shout her orders.

Meanwhile, as Yi Wei felt that they were nearing the border of that world segment’s void between worlds, she slowed the land ship back down to a crawl, stopping just at that border.

“Since you’re still the leader, you can decide whether it is time to attack,” she said, looking at Yi Guanyu, “Although, if you do want my opinions and suggestions, then I can tell you that this might be the best opportunity for us to defeat her-”

“Hold on, where is she? Why can’t we see her if she is close to us?”

“It’s the void between worlds, and she’s also not that close to us, so I don’t think it’s that strange that we can’t see her at the moment,” she explained with a sigh, “Now, stop interrupting and listen to me. Since this is a water-based world, you will have a great advantage over her, and she will also be disadvantaged. Inside of water, it is much more difficult to fire arrows at someone, and if you want to block them, all you will need to do is create a few icy barriers and then do whatever you want with the arrow-spear.”

“In addition, her mobility will be affected, won’t it? I can’t imagine a metal cultivator managing not to sink within the water. Actually, I can’t imagine how anyone would be able to breathe in there.”

“Again, that interruption was unnecessary, and the fact that you haven’t read up on breathing techniques, like the classic Turtle Breathing method, astounds me even more than your general lack of literacy… Sorry about that, but you truly have read too few books. When you get back, sit down in a library and don’t leave for a year. You will benefit greatly, I am sure of it,” she suggested.

Yi Guanyu did not reply directly to her, instead returning to the original topic, “Let’s go, then.”

She nodded and made the land ship move forward while sending a little more planar energy into the depths of the Networking Web array as to support the barrier on the outside. According to her knowledge of the void, leaving a smaller sector of the void between worlds is relatively safe, but getting back in when there is a great deal of difference between the laws within and outside of the section, as there might have to be due the great presence of water within, which doesn’t usually float freely like that regardless of location.

In truth, the interactions between the great void between worlds and the things that float within are rather confusing, even with all of the information about it within her library. After removing all of the contradictory and incorrect data regarding that void and pocket dimensions, there were still three books remaining on the void between worlds, and none of them were able to fully explain the function of the void nor what caused it be such a powerful force.

As a result, a number of its actions and behaviours relative to other forces tended to seem strange, or otherwise entirely contradictory. Once a greater understanding of the void between worlds is achieved, whether by Yi Wei or someone else interested in that field of research, those same behaviours might turn out to be perfectly logical and in line with what one should expect, but that time is yet to come.

Exactly as she had expected, the moment they crossed the invisible separator between the inner and outer void, the dome around the land ship shook and several areas around the edge flickered, almost as if it was about to collapse.

She controlled the Networking Web to reinforce those points with that excess energy, and even briefly considered whether it would be a good idea to place down her planar anchor to further strengthen the dome, but then the turbulence from the transition ceased and the visibility within the void changed, with everything behind them vanishing completely and the things in front of them suddenly appearing far more clearly.

With a casual glance, it was now easy to tell that the inside of the water bubble looked like a great pearl, shaped like a cave that had been dug out of the ground and placed into the water.

Additionally, at the distant edge of the water, they saw Yi Fenwu walking on the edge of the water as if it was a solid surface, though she was doing so horizontally, ignoring the fact that gravity should have been pulling her down.

‘Well then, that’s the cause of the turbulence. The gravity within this segment is somehow different to those we have been to so far, and the void between worlds outside of them. Actually, now that I have better visibility thanks to the arrival to this area, I can see that the water is shaped similarly to the enormous pearl structure,’ she observed, ‘Is the gravity relative to it, then?’

“Everybody, pay attention!” Yi Wei raised her voice with the aid of the Speaker’s Illusion skill, ensuring that everyone within the dome could hear her, “I’m not sure how far the effect ranges, but as you might be able to see, the structure in the middle is somehow related to altering the gravity within this segment. It is possible that once we get closer, it will be difficult to stay on your feet, so grab onto something and hold on to it tightly. The moment that the gravity changes, I will make adjustments, but I don’t know if we will be able to grab you out the void if you do fall in.”

There was a collective nod from those in sight, and some groan of affirmation from within the land ship, as they found a chunk of wood to hold on to, with some manipulating the structure near them with various tools and energies to adjust it to hold on to the land ship more easily.

“Those who can attack at range, prepare. We will connect to the world segment in roughly one minute,” she continued, “The moment that the dome connects, use your strongest abilities.”

Yi Guanyu nodded, though no-one looked in his direction. Their eyes were collectively drawn to the pearl within the water, which glistened more and more as they drew closer to it, instantly absorbing the attention of those with weaker minds. There was something about that visual that instantly consumed every part of their thoughts.

It was something that Yi Wei had sensed for a while, but she had misunderstood the power of it.

‘Right, my mental strength and stability has now exceeded most people’s level, so the vague sensation that I simply interpreted as beauty came across as outright fascination to the rest of them,’ she thought, going through the list of options she had to solve this issue.

A number of books soared out of the mental library and to her mental self, where she went through them quickly. Anything to do with blacksmithing and artefacts was instantly discarded, as she had no hope of making them in this environment, and the Focused Will pills had also exhausted themselves, so she could not forcefully strengthen their effect for a while to distract them from the pearl monument.

‘Had I known how the timing would turn out, I would have let them work on the land ship without the pills for a while. Hm… what about the Confusion Collecting array?’ she opened the replica of the ‘Introduction of Formation Array Arrangement’ to the page about that particular formation array, ‘No particular environment nor materials required to set it up… Alright then, it can go on my other arm.’

She created the array with a little more planar energy, and then allowed it to capture the mental effect of the pearl over the entire land ship.

It gathered up on her, and when it tried to flood into her body, she made it pass through her third eye, where she resisted it with the full force of her mental energy. As it withstood a wave of the fascination effect, she made it pass through the third eye, refining the energy and strengthening it.

“Wake up, everyone! Ten seconds!” she shouted, throwing them out of their trance.

Exactly nine seconds later, the dome around the land ship collided into the water, and a great pressure suddenly pushed them down onto the surface of the ship, as if the gravity had intensified by a dozen times.

The land ship trembled, and the adaptive wood warped slightly as a result, but they withstood this process and saw Yi Fenwu’s figure turn to them.

As her eyes widened, Yi Wei shouted, “Attack now!”

Before the archer could react, ten attacks of all different types and of all different elements flew at her, with none of them seeming to have any intention whatsoever to leave her alive. Various bolts, spheres and one beam, which looked far too weak to have been someone’s typical combat technique and resembled the Light of Divinity far too much to be a coincidence, bombarded her position, with every projectile and attack penetrating into the water with varying degrees of success.

The fire attacks naturally fizzled out as they travelled through the liquid, and by the time they reached Yi Fenwu’s body or general position, their strength had dropped significantly, while water-based techniques did not suffer and one even became stronger by the end as a result of feeding on the energy of the surrounding water.

To most, that wouldn’t have been so unnatural, but Yi Wei noticed yet another rare substance.

‘First I see adaptive wood, and now there’s planar water, a fluid that is significantly more potent in the water element than what one might normally expect,’ she identified it with the help of the library, ‘Is this entire realm made out all sorts of strange things? Was the ice maze made out of green-hair ice?’

There wasn’t much that she could do about the icy maze, as it was already gone, so she returned her focus to Yi Fenwu and conjured several points of dawn light around herself, which projected forth great beams of endless solar light. With all of the planar water in its path turning to steam, the Dawn Slicing Light landed onto the archer’s body, with only the half-torn robe in the way.

Yi Fenwu took a single look at this assault and responded with haste that was even greater than before, perhaps due to the lack of items to protect herself with.

She dodged those attacks that were aimed too precisely, then used a common arrow-spear to deflect the rest, though that movement exposed a small object on her finger. It was a small ring, bound tightly around her finger, with the appearance of a snake that has coiled itself around her flesh.

‘She didn’t get herself yet another defensive item, did she?’ Yi Wei asked herself.

When the archer did not block the Slicing Beam but instead raised her ring finger, it became obvious that she had.

A copper light burst out of the ring, enveloping her entire body. The moment that the Dawn Slicing Beams hit that light, they were dispersed into nothingness, with nothing but their warmth reaching Yi Fenwu’s skin. The moment that the beams faded, so did the copper light, and she also took that opportunity to begin running.

“Does anyone here have any ability to fight underwater?”

“I do!” a female voice exclaimed. Surprisingly enough, that was stated by none other than the blond girl, Yi Ling.

“Fine then. Get over here,” Yi Wei waved her over, and the moment that she got within range, she grabbed her sides and pulled the girl closer to herself, “I’m going to throw you into the water, so take a deep breath right now.”

Although that was not at all what the girl expected, she did as she was told and breathed in every bit of air she could before shutting her mouth. That same instant, Yi Wei put her human-throwing skills to use and launched her into the air, disabling the protective dome for a single second to allow her to pass through safely. In that second, some of the planar water got through and poured down onto the land ship, but she just asked Yi Guanyu to freeze it before creating a small reservoir for it atop the surface of the land ship. She stored the planar ice within that reservoir, then returned her attention to Yi Fenwu.

“Yi Guanyu, would you be fine with me potentially creating another enormous hole within reality itself?” she asked, considering her options.

“I’d prefer that you didn’t. In fact, I prohibit you from doing such a thing, no matter how helpful it would be. Use the beam technique if you want, but if there is any tearing into the void, I’ll throw you in there much like you threw that girl into the water… Guess your muscles aren’t just for show, huh…” he muttered his last sentence, before speaking up again, “Don’t do anything stupid.”

“Got it.”

Blood-like planar energy flowed into her arm and gathered around her hand, forming a dense red mist. Now that she had a planar anchor of her own, she was one step closer to solidifying her external energy, and thus all of her energy had grown in strength and density.

At the same time, a large, crimson circle formed around Yi Fenwu, though she did not notice it immediately as its diameter had easily doubled in size from the last time Light of Divinity had been used. In addition, the glow of the circle was far less noticeable, in part due to the change in colour, the underwater fog that obscured their vision and due to the increase in Yi Wei’s strength, which allowed her to hide the targeting circle a little more than before.

The technique was also complete far more quickly than before. As soon as she could, she raised the hand in which the blood hammer had formed, and slammed it down, yelling, “Light of Divinity!”

It was then that Yi Fenwu finally understood what was happening, silently mouthing an insult in Yi Wei’s vague direction. Despite the water that poured into her mouth, she seemed to have no issues when it came to the matter of breathing, which might have been explained by one of the new pieces of jewellery present on her body.

From above – or, rather, from the pearl-like monolithic structure that acted at the sky of this semi-spherical chunk of water – a deep crimson light appeared and descended onto the area where Yi Fenwu still stood.

Yi Wei hoped that the archer would not have more methods to save her own life, but she knew that it was unlikely the moment that she had spotted the rings and necklaces on her fingers and neck where there previously was nothing of the sort. Indeed, just as with the time she subdued the Dawn Slicing Light, Yi Fenwu raised her hand, displayed every ring, and activated them with her spiritual will just as the red energy was about to consume her.

‘Interesting. It seems that either she likes to risk her life- no, I can’t even finish that thought. If she wanted to risk her own life, she wouldn’t have carried so many items to save her own life. No, I think that the rings and necklaces, besides the one that assists her with breathing underwater, need to be activated either against a specific attack, or just before it strikes. Let’s see if the light is different this time,’ she wondered, sending a wisp of planar energy into her eyes in order to be able to catch every minute detail.

Each one of the rings on Yi Fenwu’s hand released a light of its own, corresponding to the colour of the metal that composed it. As she had a copper, silver and iron ring, there were copper, silver and iron light, wrapping around her body tightly. They appeared to be identical to the light produced by the first ring, but, for a moment, after the red Light of Divinity came into contact with her and before it covered her body completely, Yi Wei was able to see the light distorting itself into a complex pattern of spikes and bumps. They did not appear to be there previously, but when she looked at the scene of the light blossoming while within her library, she realised that it was actually present from the very beginning and had only increased in magnitude upon the collision with the Light of Divinity.

‘So, my first theory was correct. The rings have to be pointed at an attack in order to analyse a method of resisting it, then they release their energy and protect the user. Very clever,’ she thought, ‘If that pattern can somehow resist the technique, why don’t I make the Light of Divinity fluctuate between its current form, and one that moves in accordance with the pattern?’

Based on what she was able to see, the analysis of the ring could identify techniques quickly, but once it decided on a shape, it could only alter its magnitude. Thus, what better way to deal with it than to prevent that specific pattern from being useful?

With the Light of Divinity manual open within her mental space, she quickly went through it and found places that she could modify in order to achieve the desired effect. In comparison with creating her own techniques, something like this was easy, and so she was able to complete all of her modifications within the time that it took for the Light of Divinity to dissipate completely alongside the defensive light from the rings.

Naturally, Yi Fenwu did not remain standing and had taken advantage of the obscuring energy to progress to one of the exits of this world chunk, but she didn’t expect to find herself stepping into yet another targeting circle.

“Light of Divinity!” Yi Wei called out, then, after her speech would no longer interfere with the usage process, she muttered to Yi Guanyu, “This skill is really taxing on the lungs and throat…”

What she meant, but did not want to expose to him, was the fact that she should have modified the skill to no longer require the verbal element, which she could have theoretically done if she had infinite time on her hands. If she really wanted to injure any part of her body through shouting alone, she would also need that same amount of time due to the reinforcement of cosmic energy.

This time, when the crimson light descended from the pearl, it had a slightly different aura to it. It was no longer as stable nor as magnificent as before, though the actual offensive potential remained identical.

Yi Fenwu’s reaction was the same; she could not leave the circle of light, so she raised her hand.

Copper, silver and iron flew out of the rings, though it was a little fainter than before. Yi Wei guessed that it was due to whatever energy it used having failed to recover so far and kept watching.

Crimson light descended upon her, and as it touched the three shades of light that covered her, it seemed to be subdued by them. However, the next second it changed in a manner that was totally imperceptible to those to the side of it, including the entire crew of the void-traversing land ship, but to Yi Fenwu, that change was followed by a sudden dispersal of the light that shrouded her.

She did not have the opportunity to scream before the blood-like light engulfed her fully, tearing at her flesh and skin. Her mind seemed intent to escape her, so before it could, she took out a small object from her robe and kneeled down.

When the Light of Divinity had cleared, she was nowhere to be found.

“What happened? Did your skill kill her?” Yi Guanyu questioned, looking around for traces of the exit to the hidden grounds despite knowing that he couldn’t see it.

As the person who had used the Light of Divinity, how could Yi Wei be unaware of what just happened? She said, “Yi Fenwu should have been called Yi Lian, Yi Zhang, or even Yi Zhanglang (all of which mean roach). I don’t have a clue how she did it, but she has vanished yet again. However, I think that her life-saving methods are slowly being exhausted. If we find her one more time, we should be able to bring her down for good.”

“Damn it! I agree with your assessment entirely – when we return to the family and present our case, I will propose that the name on her gravestone will be one of the options you suggested,” he replied, “Can you track her location based on the escape method she used?”

“Do I need to? Just look at the Energy Tracking array,” she pointed to the sphere of light.

Right there, above them and to their side, was the same dot as before, though it was a little fainter. Whatever method she used was insufficient to get away from them.

“We’re going after her, right?”

“Yes!”

“Everybody, listen up! We’re departing from this world segment. If someone helps Yi Ling get back in, then-”

Her voice was cut off as everyone felt a strange sensation wash over them. It was cold and hot at the same time, but it was far more uncomfortable than either of the two could be. Those who were a little more sensitive to energy also felt a trace of someone’s will, or perhaps their killing intent. Yi Wei, however, understood exactly what the cause was, and so looked up.

The water world, so stable and fluid mere moments ago, was being devoured by the void.

“Yi Guanyu, I might have to revise my assessment of the situation. It is no longer ‘if’ we follow Yi Fenwu, we must get to her immediately!” she declared, throwing herself onto her feet, “Everyone, go to the collection points NOW!”

“What’s happening?”

“I think that Yi Fenwu has attempted to connect herself to the void between worlds, thus aggravating it. Based on the condition of our shield and the world segments, we have less than an hour to live.”