Path of the Ascendant

Yi Wei did not sleep well that day, not the few days after. Even though she apparently did not need to process raw information for several months like the common individual, when that information was the unfiltered memories of another person, of another gender and from another time, it suddenly became a lot more difficult.

It didn’t help that the Seventh of Meng didn’t seem to know the meaning of restraint, nor chastity.

Due to the extreme quantity of techniques she had gained, with a number of them being related directly to the Thunder Lord, she had gained far more memories than she had expected, and the number turned out to be so large that she was now suffering through further memories in her dreams, enduring several days of another person’s life in a single night. She was able to experience Lord Meng’s daily cultivation, his visits to various restaurants to try out all sorts of foods, his occasional fights with people from various families, and even certain actions that probably shouldn’t be mentioned, all because he happened to be thinking about, or practising, one of the techniques from the jade slips.

Even in that single moment in which she gained those skills, she had lived through a difficult month of the Seventh of Meng’s life, nearing some sort of major conflict.

The actual facts within the memories were sparse, at best, but they were still filled with experiences that she would have likely never had a chance to see. One thing that she noticed quickly was the difference between the bodies of a man and a woman, though that was rather obvious to anyone who had ever seen both human genders. Nevertheless, besides knowing that targeting the crotch tended to be far more effective against men, she hadn’t given much thought to the subject before, nor had she ever felt quite so much of their body.

‘Even if I had gotten much more out of this, like every weak point on a man’s body, I would still believe my choice to allow the Thunder Lord to settle in to be a mistake,’ she thought at one point on the day of her completion of the sixth floor, ‘I’ll have to be careful not to let that shadow influence me any further, or else I’ll never be able to look at another woman normally.’

It was already impressive that she was able to behave normally when speaking with Yi Yaling, though that was likely because it was impossible to see her as anything other than a little sister who was still learning about the world and needed protecting. The more they spoke, the more it seemed that way.

‘It’s already becoming incredibly difficult to stay near Chu Ling, who is doing her very best to expose as much of her body as possible, so I shouldn’t visit for a while, at least until Lord Meng’s memories stop appearing in my dreams,’ she had decided, and thus focused her studies on the other four great arts, spending several weeks making sure to learn everything that wasn’t related to the Meng family or the war that the Thunder Lord ended up engaging in, though the details on it were sparse enough to make avoiding such things incredibly difficult.

She had enough luck to avoid all but two of such techniques, and the memories that she gained from those were limited, lasting only a few seconds due to the Seventh of Meng’s lacking experience in those particular skills.

This lasted for some time, until a representative from the family arrived at her home.

 

For once, the messenger knocked instead of simply yelling at her, putting her in a good mood when she opened the door.

The person outside was a thin, well-balanced woman, garbed in red robes with a silver lining. A small Yi (毅) character was woven in silver into the left breast of the robe and, in combination with the woman’s silver eyes, marked her as an important member of the family.

However, she clearly wasn’t important enough to be spared from visiting the worst part of the city district. Since the Yi character was silver, not gold, and her robes were primarily red and not silver, she was clearly amongst the lower-class members of the family, though she was still far above any servant or commoner.

“Are you…” she paused, took out a small paper slip and read something in the corner of it, “Yi Wei?”

There were a few things she wanted to reply with, but she settled on a simple affirmation after forcefully shifting her eyes to the woman’s hand, “That’s right. Do you require something of me?”

“Eh… It says here that you’ve reached the Planar Pool realm. Is that correct? Actually, don’t answer that. I can feel your cultivation already…” the woman frowned as her spiritual will neared Yi Wei to conform her cultivation, “On second thought…”

“I am in the second realm, yes,” she chose to display some metallic external energy to move the conversation along, “Is this about the new duties that are assigned to all servants upon advancing?”

“Since you know about it already, I’ll spare you the lengthy explanation they wanted me to give you,” the woman threw away the paper slip, which unfolded in the air into a piece of paper larger than her body as it was carried away by the wind, “You need to go to the Ancestral Hall, where you’ll be given a number of options for your new specialisation. Depending on what you can do, you may become a hunter, a guard, or something of the sort. That way, you’ll actually be contributing to the family beyond carrying things around for whoever it is you’re serving right now. Do you know where the Ance- you should know, so I’m not wasting any more time. Goodbye.”

Just like that, she turned around left, using a movement technique that looked much like walking but allowed her to travel at a speed far higher than that of the few commoners walking or even sprinting past.

‘She was in quite a hurry,’ Yi Wei noted, chasing down the large sheet of paper before returning to her shack to read through it, ‘At the very least she didn’t forget to mention anything significant. Most of this is just nonsense that’s not useful to me or her. As for what I will choose to do… there’s not much point in considering it when I don’t know what options they will offer me.’

Declining this invitation wasn’t an option, unless one intended to leave the family’s land and attempt to survive on their own either in the wild areas between districts, or the district of another family. The first option was dangerous, as wild beasts were far calmer about killing trespassing humans than any vengeful man or woman, and the second was risky due to the natural distrust that exists between different factions.

If a capable person suddenly appears in another family’s territory – as they would have no reason to pay attention to someone who was incapable and would be unable to contribute to their cause – there would naturally be a lot of suspicion and investigation into that person’s identity to be certain that they are not a spy or an intruder from another family. Even if there was no sign of such activity, no reasonable family would ever allow any stranger to remain without at the very least minimal observation. There was no reason that they couldn’t be trying to play some sort of long game, after all.

Thus, it was most reasonable to stay with the family during one’s growth period, even if there were some disagreements with certain higher-ups. It would never be too late to attempt to survive on your own, but if you were eaten by a wild planar beast or killed by the agents of another family, then you could hardly do much more with your life.

That was the case for the regular person, but Yi Wei also had her own unique points to consider. If she displayed her full abilities, including the ability to change between elements at will, then she wouldn’t be able to stay alive for long before someone got the bright idea to steal whatever artefact or technique was allowing her to do this. This might even cause them to skip over the investigation phase of their plan, as she would be making the advantages of this plan of action very clear.

It was difficult to convince someone to switch sides but stealing their skills or items and giving them to someone loyal was easy.

So, she made a few preparations, took a few of the talismans that she had kept from the Deadly Martial Colosseum and exited her home, heading to the Ancestral Hall on the straightest path possible.

This wasn’t a journey she made frequently, not since her previous ineptitude in cultivation was discovered, but she still remembered the road clearly. It was something that every member of the Yi family was expected, or, rather, must know, even if they had only the minimal connection to the bloodline.

The Ancestral Hall was the most important building in the districts of many families, and the few that treated it less respectfully did so because of monetary difficulties or the inability to safeguard such a structure. It stores the remaining wills of the great people of the family – or, in more literal terms, it contains the original copies of their techniques, weapons, equipment and anything that isn’t in use at that particular moment. Whenever something is removed from the ancestor’s chambers, the object is treated with great reverence regardless of one’s opinion regarding that particular individual, as that ancestor must have done something irreplaceable to ensure that the family is alive and successful to this day, or perhaps paved the way for others to do the same.

Unless someone did not wish to live at all, they would have no reason to hate these people, regardless of the many faults they undeniably had.

It was customary for those of moderate importance and above to pay respects to the ancestors every month, whether by simply kowtowing to them or by giving various offerings to their resting chambers, though the latter option was chosen less frequently due to those items being for the taking of that ancestor’s descendants, who might not always be the allies of the ones providing offerings.

Besides the ancestral chambers, the Ancestral Hall also contained most of the family’s management and leadership, with many offices and records storage zones occupying the majority of the upper rooms of the building. One thing that it did not contain was accommodations for the living, whether temporary or otherwise, as it was considered disrespectful to the spirits of those unable to make use of the luxuries of the living, just like how it was not permitted to trade material goods within the Hall, though that rule was oft waived when it was necessary for someone to make a deal on the Ancestral Hall’s land.

Naturally, not everyone was fond of the occasional shirking of the rules, no matter how inconvenient they may be at times when urgency is key, though the complaints vanish quickly when their interests required the breaking of the same rules.

No matter what one thought of the matters within the Hall, it could not be denied that the outside of the Yi family’s Ancestral Hall was incredibly impressive. It was in the very middle of the Yi District, supposedly located on the site of the Master of Yi City’s former residence, and it was as likely as expensive as the rest of the city itself.

The walls were made of solid, pure immortal gold, a substance much stronger than most metals, and yet more vibrant than regular gold. A single ingot could purchase several planar shards, but there was enough here to form eight large walls of statues and frozen scenes depicting the history of the Yi family in great levels of detail. Amongst them, she saw the conclusion of the Master of Yi City’s grand project, the fight of the third Yi family’s patriarch against the remnant ancient beasts, the confrontation of the Yi and the Kong family that attempted to overthrow the seventeenth patriarch by fabricating a familial connection to the Master of Yi City, and even the ancient creation of the Broken Sky Brand, which was soon lost and then, eventually, supposedly, discovered by Yi Juan.

There was a new small structure being formed by two experts of the Active Core realm, though it was difficult to tell what it was intended to be so far.

‘Even the gates of this place are filled with decorative engravings that detail a few dozen epic tales,’ Yi Wei remarked once she arrived before the entrance to the Ancestral Hall, ‘I… I want to yell at myself for even thinking this, but if this material was used for trade, it could probably finance even the legendary talent enhancing pill for the geniuses of the family… No, the materials of the ancestors can’t be used for that…

‘Come to think of it, the Thunder Lord didn’t care much for family either. This, in combination with the characters, means that I have two different forces with the same ideas. If I become a magnet for them, but continue working with the Yi family, I’ll have quite the tough time.’

The former already prevented her from looking attractive women in the eye, for fear of accidentally exhibiting a man’s lustful gaze. If the latter also made her see men in a different light, it would be incredibly difficult to maintain a regular conversation with any humanoid being, and she would need to reside within the wilds, hoping that some further development doesn’t then sully her view of beasts.

‘What am I even thinking about?’ she slapped her cheek as lightly as she could while still inflicting some semblance of pain, though a few still glanced at her with a confounded gaze, ‘I’m here to be given a task, not anything else. The more I think of this stuff, the more influence it’ll have on me, so… focus on the present, Ah Wei, don’t get distracted by the Seventh of Meng’s overly lewd imagination, nor the activities he did with his girlfriend… I said don’t get distracted!’

“Young girl, are you named Wei, surnamed Yi, by any chance?”

She turned sharply to the voice and found it to originate from a tall woman near Yi Zehao’s age, clothed in red and silver robe with a silver ‘Yi’ character. Her red hair was long, ceasing by the middle of her spine, and was tied up into a single high ponytail. Unlike Yi Wei’s least favourite aunt, she had smooth and light skin, red lips and amber eyes, resulting in a visage that she was forced to look away from quickly, leading to her also seeing the woman’s body. In a single, non-obscene term, it was jealousy-inducing, especially when the observer was someone who lacked in any feminine areas.

‘At least jealousy is better than attraction…’ she settled her gaze on the woman’s eyes, and nodded, “That is correct. Were you looking for me?”

“Are you nervous?” the woman noticed immediately, putting on a soft smile, “Don’t worry, I won’t bite.”

That smile revealed a set of pearly teeth that shone almost as brightly as the immortal gold outside.

Yi Wei’s eyes were inadvertently drawn to it, and she couldn’t help but notice how sharp her canines were, though she didn’t think much of it. At the woman’s realm, which was greater than Emergent Anchor, it wasn’t too uncommon for the occasional refinement of various parts of the body to be carried out in the breaks between one’s cultivation and general responsibilities.

“I-I didn’t think that you would, eh…”

“I am Yi Taizhi, and it is great to see a talented young lady like you advancing in the family. Would you like to move this conversation to my study, so that we may discuss your advancement in a certain degree of privacy?”

“Alright,” she nodded, distracting herself by considering the exact words used by the woman, ‘Interestingly enough, she indirectly admitted that the conversation would be observed. Hm…’

Yi Taizhi turned and guided Yi Wei to a room on the third floor of the Ancestral Hall, striding in large but steady steps that would have made it easy for anyone to follow her regardless of their knowledge of movement techniques, though it wasn’t an issue for Yi Wei, who had more skills than the technique library.

The room they entered was clean and tidy, containing a desk, three chairs, one of which stood in the corner, facing the wall, and a small bookshelf on the left.

“Please, sit down. Would you like something to drink?”

“Ah? No, there’s no need for you to-”

“Don’t worry, I like drinking tea during any friendly conversation, so it wouldn’t be a problem to pour a little bit for you,” the woman smiled, moving a tray with a couple of cups and a teapot over to the middle of the table.

Since she insisted on it, Yi Wei watched as she created water out of the air with simple hand movements and prepared some simple green tea. Yi Taizhi poured two cups of tea and set them in front of herself and Yi Wei, waiting for a while before taking a small sip from her cup. “Go on, have a taste.”

Though she found it a little strange that the kind woman was so insistent, she saw no poison being used within the tea’s creation, nor was she particularly afraid of low-level poisons after her experience with the crimson gaseous fluid, which she was able to simply spit out once she had a spare moment to herself. She took the cup with one hand, ignoring the meagre warmth within, and breathed in some of the tea’s scent.

‘Hm… Not bad, and I can’t detect any obvious scent of poison, though, if I could, it wouldn’t be particularly useful as a poison,’ she thought to herself and took a sip from the cup.

The instant the tea touched her tongue, she felt her blood ignite and boil, as if her bloodline had been infused with enough energy to help someone in the Linked Channels realm break through by one stage. It flooded through her physique, surging through her entire circulatory system several times before it calmed.

“That… is very strong tea.”

Yi Taizhi was unphased by the comment, simply nodding in response, “I happen to like it that way. Now, shall we begin? I’d list all of the options you have and help you choose from them, but I think that it would be best to let you explain what you do best, and then I can give you the option that suit you.”

“Well, I am very capable with metal skills, general combat techniques, though I have studied palm techniques the most. I have previously been in the outskirts of the city and have tracked down a beast in the Planar Pool realm, which you could talk to Yi Yaling about if you’d like to confirm it. In the fights I’ve been in after reaching this realm, I’ve generally had the upper hand in the same stage, though I don’t have anyone you could check that with…”

“Don’t worry about verification, Yi Wei. If you lie about your abilities and then you die on a mission against enemies that far stronger than you, you’ll have no-one but yourself to blame,” Yi Taizhi said, her sweet smile breaking for an instant to reveal a stern expression that completely changed her appearance, “So, you’re a fighter, then?”

“I’d prefer to be called a scholar, though that does also apply.”

“Really? What sort of fields have you studied? Are you familiar with many planar beasts, for instance?”

“I happen to have read a few books and encyclopaedias regarding them, yes.”

“Excellent,” the woman said, drinking a mouthful of her tea without any sign of being affected by the tea the same way Yi Wei was, making her wonder whether it truly was poisoned, “Then what do you think about trying out a hunter’s role? There happens to be a mission all hunters will be sent to soon, and it should be a great font of opportunities for you, whether you go alone or with a group. The most important thing for you to remember is that the outskirts are dangerous, and that if you lose your life there the family will suffer for it, and I will … miss you.”

‘That is a strangely high importance to assign to a seemingly useless servant- wait, she will miss me? What’s that supposed to mean?’ she snuck a glance at Yi Taizhi, but the woman didn’t reveal any indication of her intentions.

“So, what do you think?”

“You didn’t suggest all that many options, but…” she considered her options while she finished her cup of tea, taking a little longer after that to recover from its effects, “I will accept this position, though I’d prefer to know what that mission you’ve mentioned is. If it is something that I would be unable to assist in, then I wouldn’t want to waste the family’s time.”

“Your position is completely understandable, and it is respectable that you do not wish to harm the family with your weakness,” Yi Taizhi nodded, “The mission is rather simple. Recently, we have discovered a potential location of a hidden ground, and potentially an inheritance of one of the family’s patriarchs. Unfortunately, we have no idea where it is, not the exact location, at the very least, so we require people who are capable of surviving in the wilds and that will be capable of locating man-made structures or formation arrays that are disguising the inheritance. You’ll be heading out on the fifteenth, though you can sell any planar beast materials to me or to anyone at the Beast Capture Hall. Are you capable of using or destroying arrays, locating inscriptions or identifying forged items?”

“You might as well have asked whether I have studied the great arts... Sheesh. I have studied all of the above, though I am most confident with my array skills. I am able to construct the simplest arrays of the one-star level, though I don’t have too much practise with it.”

“Excellent. Then, let me get you a set of red robes, and the family identity token, so that you may become a proper member of the family. Welcome, Yi Wei.”