Path of the Ascendant

There was a small room in between the primary hall and the entrance, and in that room, she was given a small, black card with a number on it. Like everything else within the prison realm, the numbers were written in the horrid approximation of the language of the Planar Continents, and the fact that it was somehow written in gold did not make it look any nicer.

Nevertheless, she didn’t have an opportunity to say anything before she was also guided to the third floor, into a private room.

After it was closed, with a key being available on the inside, she was left alone with her thoughts, ‘If the information I have about auction houses in the continents is accurate, then this is some sort of VIP room, and this black and gold card is either to be used to signify my status, or to participate in the auction. Number 43... Speaking of which, how exactly am I supposed to get involved in a sealed room, without any windows to the stage?’

Her question was answered by the sudden disappearance of a large segment of the wall, which revealed the entire stage to her, on which a man in a black cloak stood, facing the rest of the participants.

Before doing anything else, she inspected the wall with her spiritual will and found that it was still present, and, furthermore, that the other side was still completely opaque, except for when she raised the black card, at which point the numbers would somehow shine through, lighting up only on the other side of the wall. She located a number of arrays within it, powered by the constant flow of crimson killing intent from the clouded sky, and despite their structure being just as distorted as the rest of the language, she was able to understand that they were intended to allow her voice to pass through the wall, but in a warped manner that would prevent anyone from identifying her later.

It was a very interesting structure, so she recorded all of it into the mental library before looking towards the man on the stage.

He began to speak a few minutes later, during which she sat down on the most comfortable seat within the sealed chamber, presumably after everyone who was meant to attend the auction did so. “Welcome to our prestigious master’s auction. Some of you have been here before, others have not, so I will first introduce you to the way in which we appraise the motes.”

With a wave of his hand, five pillars rose out of the darkness behind him, with the first four containing a mote of killing intent.

“The first mote, on the left, will be referred to as a minute mote, then a minor mote, then a medium mote, then a great mote and, finally,” he approached the empty pillar, “we did not have the opportunity to acquire a spare titanic mote for this particular display, but if a participant has one of these, I suspect they will be well aware of their sensation. Although these motes do not hold much more energy than one another, the energy within is significantly more refined, thus making each subsequent size worth a hundred times the previous one. If an item is sold for one medium mote, then it can be acquired with one hundred minor motes, or ten thousand minute motes.”

Wei Yi reached into her inner pockets and took out three vibrant, incredibly dense motes of killing intent, and compared them with those on the stage. They were clearly superior to the first three, and, after careful consideration, she found that the fourth was also inferior to it.

‘Does that mean that I’ve come into contact with something quite impressive yet again?’ she wondered, ‘These are the ones I have acquired from the decayed Black Terror’s chest, so if these correlate to cultivation realms, then that would mean that not only was she in the fifth realm, but also that these motes are created upon death. That would make for quite the vicious economy…’

“Now, since everyone is already aware of this, let us proceed. If you are a common guest, you should have the list of items available today in your hands already. If you are a VIP of our auction, you can find the list on the table in your room. If, by some fortune, you are a particularly special guest, then please ring the bell on your table and speak any requests to it, including the gender and general appearance of your preferred servant for this auction. While we may be somewhat lacking in comparison to Meng Chu’s brothels, we do still allow you to do whatever you like with our staff, so long as they are not killed as a result. The birth rates are rather low in this city, you see, so we cannot afford random deaths from customer entertainment.”

She turned to the side only to find a single, small bronze bell standing on the table.

‘And now, I am apparently a particularly special guest. How many of these red robes are out there, and do all of them get this special treatment? Whatever the answer to that is, I should hurry so that I have some basic clue of what this auction will be about,’ Wei Yi thought, lifting and softly ringing the bell. She didn’t have any particular specifications for a servant, so she just said, “Female, attractive, clever.”

Less than a minute later, she heard a person knock on her door lightly. She stood up and opened it, finding a beautiful woman on the other side, dressed in a maid’s outfit that revealed a significant portion of the soft skin beneath due to the majority of the outfit being made out of translucent or otherwise thin materials.

“Dear customer, am I to your liking?”

“Sure. Come in,” she replied, letting her in before locking the door. She returned to her seat, and the woman took her place to her side, waiting for the man on the stage to finish speaking.

“Dear customer, before I begin my introductions, is there a name you would prefer me to use?”

“Wei Yi ought to be fine.”

“Then, Master Wei Yi. If there is a particular item or type of item you are interested in, I can describe it to you, or I can go through everything one by one. The total value of today’s auction is estimated to be at a total of five titanic motes, though our estimates are often wronged by differing priorities.”

“Just list everything. I have a good memory.”

“Alright, Master Wei Yi. The first item-”

 

“- and, finally, the last item is a mystery that Master Ding Wen has not permitted me to reveal. My apologies if this causes you any inconvenience, Master Wei Yi.”

“None at all,” she muttered, sorting through the items in her mind before discarding the majority of them. She had finite funds, and most of the items were books or manuals that she could study remotely – the position of her room meant that she had just enough reach to scan the things on the stage with her spiritual will – so it was wiser to focus on the list of things that could prove to be of some actual use to her.

Amongst that list were things like the Beast’s Rib Bone, an item that is supposedly capable of storing enough killing intent to thrust someone right into the fifth realm, a set of black bone die that had some sort of secret combat technique embedded within them, and a bronze mirror that can instantly kill any person within the prison grounds.

Whether or not they were real, she wanted to acquire at least one of them to see how they compared to the black dagger that she took from the Black Terror.

“What is your name?” she asked the servant, who was currently pouring some blood wine for her.

“Master may refer to me as Shiyi, or by any other name or title that you prefer.”

“Shiyi, meaning eleven? What an… original name. Either it isn’t your real one, or there is a real lack of creativity within this place,” Wei Yi commented, tasting the blood wine and quickly eliminating it from her system with physique energy before it had any chance to cause a negative effect.

“You may interpret the situation however you like, Master. My only purpose is to ensure that you have a pleasant experience here.”

“Huh… So, even if I told you to undress and serve me, you’d do it without any hesitation?”

“I… if the customer wishes, I-”

“No need for that. I was just curious,” Wei Yi said, turning away from the slightly flustered maid to watch as the first item of the auction was brought forward, ‘To say that I’m a little curious regarding the systems of this place would be a significant understatement, but I do not have the time nor need to investigate. If I ally with Ding Wen, I’ll have no reason to weaken his auctions, and if I don’t, taking over while making minimal changes would be most efficient. When we escape, I could easily reconsider the systems of the entire prison realm, as, at that point, they will be unable to defeat my cultivation, which could easily advance at a far greater pace than theirs, as it is limited by the presence of killing intent in their meridians.’

“The first item is a craft that has finally been recovered by one of our artisans, the great art of pill refining! This is a wondrous item, the Copper Skin Toughening pill!”

Despite so little being said, everyone on the first floor of the auction house began chattering to one another in excitement. To the typical cultivation in the continents, such a thing would not have much value, but in the prison realm, where strengthening the body was difficult to achieve without going to the insane body builders of the Great Bone Lake.

Since the first few items would not be of any interest to her, Wei Yi turned back to the servant and asked, “Instead, tell me everything you can about the prison realm. I’m a bit of a new arrival, you see.”

“Yes, Master Wei Yi. As the pill has been brought forward, I might as well begin there. The prison realm, sometimes called the Great Prison or the Great’s Hell, is very lacking in flora and fauna. The vast majority of life-sustaining materials come from the Beast, the monster that lies beneath us. Some suggest that this realm may have been originally intended to seal it away, and then adapted to house the enemies of the Great Families,” the maid explained, “As a result, even when pill refiners are sent here, they typically have little to work with, thus leading to the prison realm’s lacking achievements in most of the great arts. Blacksmithing here typically involves bones instead of metals, though the occasional metal vein is found beneath the crimson dirt, sand and rock, while array arrangement can be done via auspicious placements of the Beast’s bone shards, so that is also not an issue. However, there are almost no herbs in the entire prison realm, excluding whatever may hide beyond the wall.”

“The wall?”

“Yes, Master. There is a large wall around the entire prison realm, that, according to its curvature, should result in a perfectly round environment. For no clear reason, that wall takes a sharp turn at one point, and goes straight across the middle of that circle. In theory, there should be another half of the prison realm, but it has not been found by anyone reliable, leading rumours of all sorts to sprout, including that the other side is the Planar Continents, though that is the least likely story.”

“Well, that does seem to be a silly notion. This is clearly a pocket realm, akin to the hidden grounds of the powerful families and districts, though the world seems far more complete. Perhaps it is an arbitrary division, or maybe there is something opposite on the other side, with the storm clouds preventing the intrusion of unwanted elements like us.”

“Theories like that also exist and are further encouraged by the fact that the straight segment of the wall has hints of white light behind it. Master Wei Yi might want to visit it in the future, but the best place to observe is the very centre of the bisecting wall, for it contains a sort of storm’s eye, which is wider than the rest of the wall and significantly more interesting to behold,” Shiyi said, pouring a little more blood wine for her, “However, if you ever wish to attempt to cross that wall, you are recommended to try it anywhere but there, for it is the least safe area to cross.”

“I will keep that in mind. Does your auction house sell informative books on the topic?”

“No, but you can pay the auction house a minor mote to employ me for a few more hours after the auction, during which I can provide you with all of the information I am aware of.”

“That is something I will have to consider when the time comes. Continue your explanation, please.”

While the servant did so, the first auction began with the minimum value of one minor mote and quickly grew to nineteen motes, and a sudden raise brought it to thirty. Most of the crowd then became silent, but a few of the richer individuals continued betting until it was finally sold at the price of forty-eight minor motes.

‘In the eyes of a people without pills, something like the Copper Skin Toughening pill was initially worth as much as a day with Ah Li? Naturally, they started with a lower price than they intended to get, but still… have I been scammed by that Meng Chu?’

The next item was brought on, a collection of blood wine that had been bottled four hundred prison-years ago and was subsequently sold for seven minor motes. Strangely enough, the person who acquired it treated it similarly to the pill, muttering something about enhancing or strengthening himself, prompting Wei Yi to inspect both the blood wine in her glass and the remaining effects of it on her body.

A little searching with her spiritual will led her to discover that, just like the rest of the red drinks in this world, it had traces of the properties of the Beast’s blood, and thus it contained some of the same enhancing and restorative properties of the blood. However, something about the long process of creating and fermenting the wine led to those effects being enhanced or weakened, with a few completely new factors being created seemingly out of nowhere. The particular wine in her glass, for instance, had an effect of focusing and enhancing the mind temporarily, while relaxing the body, with the potential for long-term effects in the case of long-term consumption.

‘Now this makes sense. With such a large quantity of blood wine, the new owner can get those desired effects out of it, or perhaps even modify it somehow to extract a particular effect,’ she realised, turning to the servant beside her, “This blood wine that you’ve given me, was it intended to be the equivalent to pills before they could be replicated?”

“Ah, Master Wei Yi has understood that as well? Indeed, the common tale is as such, though Master Ding Wen has previously said that it isn’t entirely accurate. According to him, the first arrival brought along quite a number of people, and amongst them there was one who could not stand a day without alcohol. He was able to withstand it for a short while, sustaining himself with the Beast’s blood like the rest of his compatriots, but eventually he could no longer keep his calm,” Shiyi described, “He went mad, slaughtering the hatred automatons of the wilds, before he came across one that resembled a barrel. That gave him an idea, which he then put into practise, creating several types of new brews. Unfortunately, none of them have anything over the miracle fluid, which still makes it the most valuable item in this wasteland.”

‘I had guessed that it would be valuable, but I unfortunately lacked the resources to store it and bring it with me in large quantities. Once I have a group to assist me, I can inform them about the miracle fluid spring and sell most of it, while experimenting with the rest,’ Wei Yi decided, sighing lightly, ‘If only I could bring out my planar energy, I could significantly enhance its effects, and then I could benefit from this current situation even more. After all, if the Beast was deserving of its own prison, and is still capable of feeding people millions of years later in prison-time, then it could have been equivalent to the eighth or possibly even the mystical ninth realm of cultivation…’

In a way, the Beast had some similarity to the legendary dragons and phoenixes, though that simultaneously brought about the danger of mutation through the consumption of its blood. The fact that no such thing occurred… it was mysterious, but unless there was a major change to the prison realm, it wasn’t something that anyone would have to concern themselves with.

“And now, let us present to you the Devil’s Dice, a weapon crafted by a mysterious gambler that just so happens to be banned from every single one of our establishments. They can be animated with killing intent and controlled to attack your enemies, or those that mildly inconvenience you, but the primary function is said to be a technique written deep within, that, once deciphered, will bring you to the level of the Crimson Robes. The starting price is ten minor motes.”

‘Right, on the topic of strange items,’ Wei Yi sank her spiritual will into one of her pockets, where the black token taken from Yi Fenwu lay silently, ‘I hadn’t taken the time to examine this after everything that happened. Logically speaking, it shouldn’t just be a common control token.’

She tried to enter the token with her spiritual will but found that it could not enter no matter how much she tried, as some force constantly repelled her.

‘Indeed, it is not a common thing. I’ll need to polish my mind as well as my killing intent, then.’

“Eleven motes!” someone called out the moment that the auction master stopped talking.

“Twelve!”

“Fifteen!” the first person shouted back.

“Seventeen,” a strange, warped voice came from one of the lower VIP chambers.

“Just in case Master Wei Yi is curious, this servant can inform you that every single VIP room has a specific voice-changing array that always ensures that no-one can identify you based on your voice. If someone else occupies this room in the future, they will sound the same as you do, inflections and verbal tics aside.”

“Twenty!”

“Thank you, Shiyi,” she said, lifting her black card before saying, “Forty.”

She hadn’t been to many auctions before, but she did know that if she allowed the prices to climb naturally, human nature would ensure that it would become far more expensive than if she raised the price sharply and quickly rooted out most of her competition.

When they heard a voice emerge from the special guest chamber, everyone turned to look at it, seeing only the number 43 glowing through the walls.

Most of the participants instantly quietened down, not wishing to compete with someone of such importance. Not to mention special guests, even the VIP guests were rarely seen, and when they appeared, they would always bring with them enough motes to put together a titanic mote of killing intent without any difficulty. To compete with someone like that was just like throwing one’s money away in the case victory, and potentially angering the VIP in the case of their victory.

There were a few rules in the auction house that prevented angry customers from attacking others, but unless the item purchased was something that could be consumed quickly, there were plenty that would wait until the protection period ended before reclaiming what they thought was theirs.

Despite that, someone still spoke up, “Forty-two!”

“Fifty,” Wei Yi raised the price again.

“F-Fifty-two!”

“Shiyi, is it common to raise the price in increments of two?” she asked the servant, before raising the card and adding, “Sixty.”

“I don’t believe so, Master. It might just be the particular customer’s preference to add two each time. Some believe that it will increase their likelihood of victory, while others simply like even numbers,” Shiyi answered.

“Si-” that voice began, but then lowered their card and sighed.

Once Wei Yi was announced as the victor of the dice, she reached into her pockets and removed one medium mote, “By the way, how would this work if I didn’t have the funds to pay you?”

“Your status as a special guest means that we will allow for payments of up to fifty great motes of killing intent to be kept on hold for up to one year, after which the treatment will be the same as with all other guests – the auction’s force will find you and get the equivalent of the money owed back, through any means and in any form necessary.”

“Huh.”

The set of dice was taken away from the stage and brought to her room by a different servant in a maid outfit, while the man on stage introduced another item. As it was something that she had no interest in, Wei Yi ignored him and focused on the six dice, all carved out of black bone and containing one to six dots on each side.

She casually rolled them on the empty table, finding that they were balanced rather well despite looking so rough.

After looking at them all closely, she didn’t hesitate to sink her spiritual will into them and transfer whatever she found into the Augur’s Library, where she examined the results. Apart from an incredibly rough set of channels for killing intent, ones that were even rougher than those within the black dagger, there were words that almost seemed to have been crushed up and mixed up before being moulded into the dice. For the average person, it would have been difficult to manage, but with the assistance of the library and her general mental abilities, the text was deciphered while she listened to Shiyi’s explanations and observed the auction going on below her.

‘So, the rumours weren’t fabricated… or they were, and I have accidentally put together a decent-looking technique. Regardless of the answer, I’m not going to throw this away. For now, I might as well call the technique… Beast’s Fury. All of the killing intent cultivation techniques in this prison realm are focused on image, with the Fall series creating a waterfall of killing intent, the River series creating a river and the Pool series naturally creating a large pool. This technique, on the other hand, creates a large skeleton, based on the image of the Beast,’ she thought, ‘Unfortunately, it seems to grant power at the cost of something, which isn’t explicitly stated in the manual, but I’m not going to practise it just yet. I will not lose things just because some words state that I must. I will travel my own path, or none at all.’

With the dice safely placed within her inner pockets, she leaned back in her chair and ate a small piece of blood-red cake, which had been brought over after she expressed some interest in the local food and drink during the initial introduction by Shiyi.

To her pleasant surprise, this cake didn’t taste anything like blood, regardless of its colour, and was actually rather sweet and pleasant.

“Shiyi, do you think I should learn about baking? This cake is delicious.”

“Thank you for the compliment, Master,” the servant beamed, making it very obvious that she was the one who made it, “I would not advise it, however. You must have impressive combat ability, and it is best to polish it. Perhaps, one day, you may be able to pierce the wall and reveal whatever lies on the other side, bringing everyone great joy… or great terror.”

“If I feel like it, I may do so, or I may not.”

The auction continued yet again, with several items being sold for various prices, until her next item of interest appeared.

“- the bronze mirror! When you attain it, you can name it whatever you like!” the auction master declared as the pillar containing the mirror rose out of the darkness behind him. It was very simple and rough, but everyone who looked at it could tell that there was something unusual about it.

Wei Yi, perhaps the only one out of the entire auction house with spiritual will, inspected the mirror a little more closely, finding a number of incredibly intricate scratches on the front of the mirror, spelling out a phrase that she had not expected to find here, nor anywhere else that was created after the founding of Yi City.

‘They see you. Their words are lies. They will use you. Never trust them.’

The words themselves were unique, but their meaning was all too similar to the warning she had found while compiling the Kong Mental Arts.

Furthermore, they carried the exact same sense of dread, and were written in the same characters.

“Master Wei Yi, are you alright? Are you feeling a little hot?”

Shiyi’s words brought her back to reality and made her realise that she had begun to sweat at some point, though it was nothing too significant. After wiping the sweat on her brow with a soft cloth, it was like it had never happened, but Wei Yi knew that the words were meant to elicit that exact reaction.

“This mirror allows the wielder to terrify their foes by simply aiming the mirror at them, then utilising the technique included in the purchase. The starting price is only five minor motes!”

Someone of incredible ability hid a certain sensation within the words, one that had slightly faded when she put together the first warning within her mind. Now that she saw it clearly, the full meaning behind the words could be conveyed to her. It wasn’t simply intended to scare or to terrify – it was intended to relay a particular emotional state that the writer had experienced, as a warning to the reader. This same fear could, with the right technique, be thrown onto others without any of the same restraint that the words themselves have, thus leading to the mirror’s abilities being misjudged.

‘They… they could be the Great Families, but for someone so capable to still be so afraid of them… Perhaps it refers to the primordial monsters that the Master of Yi City had opposed and restrained in his many years of protecting the city?’ no matter how much she considered the matter, she could not figure out an answer by herself, so she simply raised the black card and said, “Thirty minor motes.”

She did not immediately raise the price to forty motes, for she hoped to have that be the final price. It would make the total amount that she had to pay much easier to give out, for she did not have many instances of the lower-grade motes, nor too many of the superior motes.

“Thirty-o-”

“Forty.”

“Fine, you take it!” an angry voice yelled from below and was quickly silenced by the guards.

As the mirror was being brought to her, Wei Yi decided to practise her Endless Calculation further by attempting to guess who would win the next few items.