Path of the Ascendant

“Blacksmithing challenge complete. Two out of five remaining,” said the voice of the illusory world, finding no issue with her solving it through breaking every item with her planar energy.

‘Great. Only two more left, and I… don’t want to do either…’ she looked between the pill furnace and the inscribing blade, ‘Inscription is said to be twice as difficult as formation arrangement, and pill refining requires recipes that I do not possess. Hm…’

Since she was unable to arrive at a decision after several more seconds of hesitation, she reached into her pocket and flipped a coin.

“Fine then, engraving it is.”

Her hand touched the engraving blade, and the surroundings vanished. The darkness remained in place for half a minute, then it receded slowly, drifting away like a thick fog. It revealed a metal platform, round in shape, extending for several metres away from her, with lines that were both thick and thin carved into it.

“Welcome, Da Gang,” a voice spoke from behind her.

She turned, a combat technique at the ready, to find an androgynous figure sitting on the floor, with their legs folded, in front of a low table with a number of metal plates stacked atop one another.

“Are you another shadow, or a member of the Deadly Martial Colosseum?”

Their eyebrow went up, “How did you… realize that?”

“It’s quite simple,” she replied, keeping the excitement of figuring things out away from her facial expression, “So far, the basic illusory figures have only been capable of simple actions and gestures, but the Thunder Lord could speak without any difficulty, and had quite a few interesting things to say. Nonetheless, I still wish I could hit him in the face a few more times…

“Anyway, although you could be a shadow, you do not have the same glowing eyes, nor the look of a spirit about you. The environment is also completely different to the other challenges on this floor, which didn’t have even a single basic figure on them. Thus, I can only conclude that you are someone from the Colosseum, and that you are someone in the fourth realm or above,” Yi Wei stated, “Since I can’t imagine someone in the Linked Channels realm working in, or even running a simple combat arena, I imagine that you would be in the Marked Core realm? How many marks do you have?”

The Marked Core realm was the fifth realm of cultivation, in which one had to condense marks upon the shield formed around their dantian in the fourth realm. These marks were called searing marks, and their number varied from one to ninety-nine depending on the cultivator’s techniques, purity of planar energy and other factors in their cultivation. The more marks one possessed, the greater their strength would be.

For every individual mark, the cultivator is also able to infuse the power of a single mark into their attack, significantly increasing its power. Naturally, someone with one mark will only be able to do so once every few hours, but someone with all ninety-nine can repeatedly use the searing marks in battle and always have a few more ready just in case.

As with all other realms, the gap between it and the Active Core realm was enormous. Just by entering that realm and reaching its first stage, the power of one’s planar energy would increase by forty times that of their original strength, which was equivalent to four stages of the Active Core realm, eight stages of the Emergent Anchor realm, forty stages of the Planar Pool realm and four hundred stages of the Energy Condensation realm.

“Your guess… is correct…” the figure eventually said, giving a slight nod, “I am indeed in the fifth stage of Marked Core… and I have appeared to give you an offer.”

They raised their hand and took out a few sheets of paper out of the air, putting them on the other side of the table, “Please, sit down… and take a look.”

‘He… she?... has a curious style of speaking,’ Yi Wei thought, sitting down on a soft mat opposite the androgynous figure, “Since you’re qualified to give me an offer, you have to be someone of high status in the Deadly Martial Colosseum.”

Although they smiled, they did not reply to the question, “I would like to offer you to a contract with us… It will begin at five years, though it can be extended indefinitely… You will become a second-grade combatant, the second highest rank in the Colosseum, without the loss of your false identity… It will be necessary to participate in combat at least once a week, with the rest of the time being offered as an opportunity to recover. Additionally, my brother and I will teach you engraving, up to the five-star level, independent of your salary… It is all in the contract…”

She looked down and read the term of the contract, all written in small text akin to the one used in ‘One, Two and Three Star Blacksmithing’, concerning topics ranging from her salary to who she would and would not be allowed to kill in the arena.

‘For a Deadly Martial Colosseum, they sure have a lot of rules regarding killing,’ she commented, taking in all three pages in a single minute.

“You are a fast reader…”

“You could say that.”

“Are there any complaints regarding the terms?”

“Not really. I only want to change three- no, four things. Two of them should be obvious, since they’re there to condemn me to eternal slavery if I break a particular vase, and to allow you to remove my dantian if I drink from the upper golden fountain. The third is that I would like to replace earth-type techniques with all techniques, regardless of element,” Yi Wei explained, tapping on the relevant clause in the contract.

“You’re playing a dangerous game there… you know that, don’t you?”

“It’s worked out so far,” she answered just as vaguely, before lifting one page of the contract and pointing to a section of it, “As for the fourth matter, I would like this particular version to be replaced with one that does not seem to contain engravings.”

It was only now that the figure displayed a true emotion of surprise, “It is good to see that I wasn’t wrong! Indeed… How?”

“How? How did I notice?” Yi Wei asked, continuing only after receiving a nod from the figure, “Well, while I am unfamiliar with inscriptions, I am experienced enough with arrays to be able to arrange an imitation array purely using stones on a plain field, and the words within this document seemed to be arranged in just the right fashion to create a version of the two-star array, the Mental Dispersion Array.”

“That is correct, though the actual engraving… is the Scattering Mind Inscription… For you to be unaffected, you must have a good resistance to mental effects…”

‘If I hadn’t developed some resistance to them after living above a Mental Distortion Array for my entire life, then that would be much more surprising,’ she commented mentally, though she didn’t show it on her face (not that it mattered, seeing as she wore a mask).

“In that case, we can sign the contract outside the illusory world. First, I will teach you what I can, and then… you may proceed to the upper floors, though I do not recommend it…”

“Why not?”

“The upper floors are not meant for anyone but the strongest, even at the lowest level of the array,” the (wo)man replied, “As mentioned in the contract… you may return here at any time during your employment, and you will be brought back up here, with the rewards waiting for you… If you proceed now, however, all you’ll do is waste your opportunity.”

His, or perhaps her, words were completely accurate, so Yi Wei didn’t feel the need to show any sign of disagreement. She nodded and waited for the strange figure to begin.

 

As soon as she managed to enter her father’s office, Yi Yaling ducked into a side room and cleansed herself and her clothing with a two-star talisman. Having utterly soaked her clothing in her sweat, she wasn’t even sure if she did anything else to embarrass herself, so she thought it best to deal with it before anyone noticed – and it took a long time for anyone to react. Even her father, a man in the Emergent Anchor realm, had to circulate his planar energy a number of times to soothe himself.

Even after that, she still retrieved a spare set of clothes from her father’s chambers, as she felt that the very cause of her fear was still stuck within the fabric, continuing to intimidate her the longer she wore them.

“Daddy, do you know who could have done such a thing?” she asked, literally hugging his thigh for comfort.

He looked at her with an attempt at the look of confidence, one that even she saw through, “I’m not too sure. The people in the pagoda right now should all be in the first realm, so I cannot imagine how any of them was able to do such a thing. However, you can be sure that they won’t hurt you. Great Light would take care of them, whoever they are.”

“Then, when are you going to let me meet him?” Yi Yaling pouted, “You keep just telling me how great he is, but I still haven’t seen him!”

Yi Fenhong, her father, sighed as silently as he could, “Honey, you know that I’m just responsible for the finances of one of the arenas here. I don’t have the authority to know anything other than the fact that Great Light is in charge.”

She understood that, but she didn’t want to admit any fault, so she just continued pouting.

 

“- While formation arrangement is focused on sensing the flow of planar energy in the air and placing nodes to take advantage of it, engraving creates the streams of energy, forcing it to flow in the way desired by the engraver,” Great Dark – who had revealed their name to Yi Wei after a brief explanation of the Deadly Martial Colosseum – described, slowly carving a groove into a metal plate, “This is why this art favours earth cultivation, for none are better at sensing the natural structure of the world than earth-type cultivators.”

“I see. Is the engraving you’re making right now intended for planar energy absorption?”

“Close… It is an Energy Storage Inscription, of one star. This is another difference from formation arrays – it is necessary to create a medium for the storage of energy before applying it… Additionally, most inscriptions are not in continuous operation, but more often activated for a brief period of time.”

‘Ning Guanting’s hammer contained both, if I’m not wrong,’ she recalled, comparing the grooves being made by Great Dark to the ones on the hammer, “Do you have any manuals I can consult before or after I attempt this myself? I learned formations purely from books, and I’d like to think that I did so rather well.”

“Unfortunately, we did not get to witness that…” the androgynous figure said, finishing off the last line of their engraving, “Now, to complete this, one must stabilise the engraving’s flow of energy. Observe.”

They reached out, placing one hand over the centre of the engraving.

Suddenly, the thin carvings changed, a steady stream of planar energy surging into them and flowing according to the design of Great Dark.

On the surface, that was the only thing that s/he had done, but Yi Wei could tell that there was far more to the gesture than met the eye. For one, a small stream of something flowed from their hand into the grooves of the engraving, and done… something to them, before returning back to its place. Although it was rather difficult to tell exactly what the energy was, it seemed like Great Dark had intentionally allowed her to sense it, as it was very similar – but still somewhat different – to spiritual will.

When she relayed her guess to Great Dark, they nodded, “Indeed… I have practised for many years, so my spiritual will may be a little different from most, but it is still my will in the end… Unless you are able to employ your spiritual will, all you will be able to make are imitation engravings.”

“That is even more like array arrangement than I expected,” she admitted, sensing the slight gathering of planar energy within the metal plate, “Is it possible to use this to store energy and then use in combat in place of your own?”

“Since you are able to externalise your energy… yes, in theory. It will not retain your full power, however.”

They said so to ensure that Yi Wei didn’t get any ideas of storing up an enormous quantity of planar energy in an engraving and then challenging people far above her level. It was something an unfortunate quantity of inscription masters had attempted, and most of them were beaten to an inch of their life, if not killed outright when their opponents easily overpowered them.

Naturally, this wasn’t something she had considered. Instead, her thoughts drifted in a direction likely unimaginable even to the androgynous figure, who had lived many lifetimes more than her.

She wanted to know if she could carve inscriptions into her body.

‘I’ve already changed myself permanently by creating the dantian shard array, so why not ruin myself more by filling every bone and muscle with engravings? Wait… what if I then refine myself into a pill, pour some metal into myself and somehow change the dantian shards into talismans?’ Yi Wei began, but she stopped herself before she had a chance to go completely insane, ‘No, stop that. I will not transform into a complete masochist, at least not if I can help it. Otherwise, I’ll be going up to dragons and phoenixes, begging for them to incinerate me in the hope of getting some minor improvement to my physique.’

It took all of her will to suppress the shaking that thought had generated. Dragons and phoenixes were both legendary creatures, and even their children were said to be equivalent to seventh realm cultivators. To seek out such a monster of her own accord, and purely for the purpose of strengthening herself…

Perhaps deciding that she had enough understanding of engravings, Great Dark gave her the next metal plate and their engraving knife.

“The Energy Storage inscription is simple… have a go.”

She received both items without a change in her expression. Since engraving followed the logic of formations, it wasn’t particularly difficult for her to convert one into the other, albeit at a far lower efficiency than something designed from the ground up to be an array or an inscription.

Having witnessed the entire process of engraving, it didn’t take much effort to duplicate it, but she was immediately stuck when the time came to complete it. Clearly, even when it came to creating an imitation engraving, one had to perform one final step to complete them, but Great Dark just happened to leave out any such steps, simply staring at her with a blank expression.

‘How do I…? Let’s see, when I create talismans, the process simply requires the characters to be even, then it completes the process… In the case of formation arrays, to active a proper one-star array, one needs to- Ah!’ her hand darted to a certain point above the engraving, which she tapped casually. Just like that, it produced a simple chime, and began to collect planar energy within its numerous grooves.

“Well done. You’ve found the eye of the formation, or, rather… the engraved heart.”

They gave her a single clap before the space behind them rippled, and an almost identical figure emerged. They too had long hair, an androgynous body without obvious features of either sex, and had an aura so great that Yi Wei had no chance of seeing through it. This identical twin even had the exact same cultivation level.

Perhaps the only clear difference was that this second figure was brighter, both in terms of hair and skin.

“That’s enough of you, Great Dark. Didn’t you hear him ask for a book to study?” Great Light said, taking out a large tome that they placed on top of Yi Wei’s engraving, “Here, read th-”

“You.”

Her brows furrowed, as when their hand got close to her, she sensed an incredibly familiar energy radiating from them. Her mind rapidly thought back to every type of energy she had felt over the past day and realised that this aura was identical to the one that gave her planar energy a new ability.

“Me?” they questioned, their expression changing far more than Great Dark’s ever did, “I have no idea what you could be talking about.”

“You attempted to kill me,” Yi Wei decided to explain it to them, even though it was obvious.

“Did I now? When could that have happened?”

“Great Light, you are not the best of liars… Indeed, Da Gang, this man attempted to kill you, twice, in fact. After his failure the first time, he and I then provided that weight training set to you. I see that it worked out for you, however.”

So at least one of them was a man – Yi Wei marked it down in her head, glad that one impossible mystery was solved today. It did not occur to her that if she didn’t start eating more, and continued on her road to masochistic cultivation, she would the reverse of Great Dark and Great Light: a woman who looked nothing like one, but also not quite a man, either.

“I thought that it would have something to do with one of you,” she said, crossing her arms, “Am I to assume that I am no longer under threat of being murdered for, as far as I can understand, no reason at all?”

“That is the case, yes,” nodded Great Light, though he was still reluctant to meet her gaze, “We had a slight disagreement, and it has now been resolved. Great Dark and I will teach you inscription together, up to the level of five stars, if you are able to learn. However, if you are up for it, I can also train you in a few other aspects, and offer you a far greater challenge than those meagre weights pose.”

“For now, at the very least, I will have to deny your kind offer,” she answered, resting her hands on the table.

Despite it being an illusion that might have been strengthened by the natural effects of the Illusory World Array, the wooden table creaked under the weight of the training bracelets. Her message was clear to the twins; she had plenty of challenge for now.

“Nonetheless, thank you for your assistance in the past.”

“Eh? You’re not going to be angry that I nearly k-”

“Brother, cease your folly,” Great Dark slapped his brother on the back of his head, “Even if he does not bear a grudge, repeatedly saying the same thing over and over again will not help in the slightest.”

“That’s right,” Yi Wei said, flipping open the tome given to her earlier, “So far, you’ve helped me more than you harmed me, so I have no particular anger towards you. Additionally, I can’t bypass the gap between our realms, no matter how hard I may attempt to do so.”

‘And why would I want to? I now have a much stronger body, and I even feel as if I may go over some sort of edge when it comes to my physique,’ she thought as she read the introduction, ‘The only problem with that is that I have not heard of such a concept as body cultivation realms, and yet I am rather certain that I don’t have any sort of special physique, either…’

“Though that attitude is wise, do not be too keen to forgive. In this world, some will never stop until they can crush you beneath their feet.”

“Don’t worry, I’m well aware,” her mind drifted first to some of the final memories of the Thunder Lord, and then back to the array below her home. Regardless of the identity of its creator, it was clearly not intended to give her any chance of success. With a dulled mind and non-existent cultivation ability, she wouldn’t last long no matter where she went, and even if some miracle allowed her to pull through, she would still be stuck at the bottom of whichever path she ended up taking.

In a way, she was more than familiar with someone wanting her dead.