Path of the Ascendant

Within two months, the shared camp was expanded with Yi Tai, who Yi Wei located in the middle of a hunt on some planar beasts, and Yi Zheng moving in, while Yi Henghua’s group simply cleared a few trees and posted a few guards on the edge of their tier of the cliff in some display of dominance.

Even after a lot of searching by Yi Wei, however, no trace of Yi Guanyu’s group had been found.

This didn’t sour her birthday too much, since the rest of that day went about as smoothly as it began, with great rewards and little painful challenge.

After a few more days of rest, during which she continued to have no success in finding anything of great significance and was thus able to simply run around and get some exercise with the further heightened gravity imposed via the training set, there was finally an interruption to the two month-long lull.

“Everyone, gather at the square! Something has been found!”

Servants and regular members of the family alike were roused from their sleep and were directed to the recently established announcement square, where, as the name implies, any announcements that were relevant to the groups could be voiced or posted.

Today, the speakers were none other than their groups leaders, all five of whom stood on a small stage near a lower-class member of the family, whose appearance was rough and filthy, as if he had crawled through a number of bogs and mud pits in preparation for his appearance before the others. Just enough of his robe was clean for the red robe and silver highlights to be visible, although the Yi symbol at his chest was concealed by the layers of dirt.

“We have not found the hidden grounds,” Yi Tai, a tall man with a blank expression stated, immediately turning and leaving.

“D-Darling, you…” Yi Fenwu chased after him for a moment, but his strides were far larger than hers and she was forced to return to the stage, “All of you can be so difficult sometimes… Indeed, we have not found the entrance, but we have located… something~.”

A plain but sharp looking man, Yi Zheng, stepped up to the front, “This man is one of mine. Tell us what you have found.”

“Yes, sir!” the dirt-covered figure nodded eagerly – Yi Wei presumed that he wasn’t allowed to wash himself until this announcement was done, and that he was keen to get it over with, “I was exploring near the swamp area, doing my best to detect any odd areas, when I suddenly found that I had lost my way, and that I was somewhere different than I should have been.

“All of a sudden, a number of wild men, dressed in mud and leaves, burst out of nowhere, yelling something at me, with a number of them being in the upper Planar Pool and low Emergent Anchor realms, so I escaped, but the moment I turned around I was back in the same place that I initially should have been. I… I fell into the mud during the encounter, while trying to not be killed by those wild folks, and… can I wash myself now?”

“Go away. You smell.”

“I- You-” the man clearly had to suppress some choice words, “T-thank you, sir.”

He ran off the stage, stopping by someone on the way to confirm the location of the nearest lake, which he headed to as fast as he was able to.

‘By the looks of it, he is in Half-Step Emergent Anchor,’ Yi Wei was able to detect his cultivation even while he was on the stage, though him walking so near to her allowed her to confirm it via her spiritual will, ‘If he was scared off by a group and is now giving a speech in front of the others, I suppose that Yi Zheng has no faith in his ability to clear that challenge and retrieve its rewards on his own.’

Promptly, Yi Henghua confirmed that theory while pointing to Yi Zheng, “This simpleton was clever enough to understand that he would not be able to tackle this singlehandedly, so he will instead employ the strategy of making everyone else do the dirty work for him… Whichever person, and the group they belong to, find the thing that is being guarded by the wild men, gets to keep it. Any complaints… can be settled through the standard method.”

In the typical cultivation society, especially between two or more opposing forces that are being forced to work together, the standard method typically involves a duel between the parties in disagreement.

Her meaning was simple – if a group was not satisfied with what they were able to acquire and dared to fight those who found the treasures first and those would inevitably try to take it from them afterward, then they could have whatever they like.

“Alright, everybody who wants to investigate this, stay here. Those who don’t can return to your regular business,” Yi Jiazhi said, though a number of group leaders shook their heads.

“My dears, you’re all going to assist me in that search, won’t you?” Yi Fenwu looked to her team.

Yi Tai also reappeared out of nowhere, saying, “You will all go,” before leaving again.

“Everyone above the sixth stage of Planar Pool should head there,” Yi Zheng ordered his subordinates, none of whom appeared too pleased.

After a little bit of consideration, Yi Henghua waved dismissively, “None of you care what I think, so you’re free to do choose either one… Just don’t complain afterward if you didn’t choose the most rewarding path.”

No-one in the crowd seemed to react, though Yi Wei noticed a number of people that stood amongst the other four groups staring in the pale woman’s vague direction with dislike and disapproval so dense that it was almost corporeal. ‘By the looks of it, they split apart and entered other groups, at least temporarily. I had heard a few things about Yi Henghua’s reputation, but I didn’t expect it to be that bad.’

Out of the six group leaders on this particular expedition, Yi Henghua was perhaps the most infamous. She was born amidst a small outbreak of disease, which had infected her in the womb. It had not completely stunted her growth, but it was said to ruin her meridians and dantian, rendering her unable to cultivate.

Her parents had died not long after her birth, not unlike Yi Wei’s parents, and she was not treated too favourably as she was disfigured even after the passing of the disease, causing her to resemble a spirit more so than a human. Nevertheless, due to her blood, upon her twelfth birthday, she was led into the family’s private library to choose from their high-tiered cultivation skills, more out of pity than due to any belief that she would make good use of the charity. She was shown through every shelf, told what they did and what they were intended for, then left alone to choose.

As one would expect, things did not turn out as most had thought they would. In between two shelves, Yi Henghua found an old technique called Fairy of Dust, presumably created before the word received its current definition, and it resonated with her.

Within minutes, she broke through right where she stood, reaching the first stage of Energy Condensation in record time – with the exception of unique cases like Yi Wei’s.

Since then, she developed much faster than anyone could have expected. Even though she had access to the family’s supply of pills, planar herbs and miracle fruits for her personal development, she was still disadvantaged in comparison to most in her place in society, as they often had their parents supporting them with far greater quantities of supplies. Despite that, she kept pace with some of the greater experts of her generation, surpassing the more common peak of Planar Pool and entering the lower Emergent Anchor realm not too far behind the genius Yi Fenwu, and almost at the same time as Yi Tai.

Perhaps the strangest thing about her case was the fact that her meridians are still in the same, supposedly injured state that was originally observed near her birth. No clear explanation of this was available to the common residents of the Yi District, but one rumour suggested that she was born with a sort of unique physique that couldn’t be identified by the healers of the family, and that prevented her from practising more common cultivation techniques but permitted the use of the Fairy of Dust, which was said to be incredibly difficult to comprehend and practise.

It was known that Yi Henghua struggled with any skill that did not have a connection to dust in some way, shape or form, and some even claimed that her planar energy had taken on an unusual form of dust even in the Energy Condensation realm, when most people and most techniques would only provide a vague fog. This applied even to cosmic energy, although it was most certainly unique in its own right.

“Very well then, darlings, let us proceed!” Yi Fenwu exclaimed, hopping onto Yi Jiazhi’s back, “Go!”

“Get off…” he muttered, struggling to peel her off of him. However, she seemed to have an iron grip, and he couldn’t do a thing to her without resorting to planar techniques.

‘That is why body cultivation is the way to go,’ Yi Wei smiled inwardly, ‘If you select the right one, you don’t have to gain – nor lose, in Yi Fenwu’s case – breasts, become a giant of muscle nor condense them all to the point of looking far too weak. Unfortunately, there are far too few of those out there, so you’d have to borrow one or two from me…’

The group began to move, but not long after she heard a familiar voice from behind her. Reflexively, she extended her spiritual will, and the first thing it struck was the woman’s enormous chest.

“Hey, Yi Wei, not seen you in a while. How’re things?” Yi Bai said, speeding up to stand by her side.

‘What kind of blood did she inherit? Is she able to siphon the potential growth from other women or something?’ she forcefully suppressed the wayward thoughts and did her best to keep her eyes from going too low, or else either the Thunder Lord or her jealous side would emerge, “Hello. Nothing too unusual has occurred as of late. Are you still on the fifth stage?”

“I am… Why’re you lookin’ at me like that?”

“What do you mean?” Yi Wei turned to face the direction she was walking in, “Do you think you’ll get anything out of this?”

“Fuck no. Any random prick with a planar anchor could slap anything I get out of my hands by accident, not to mention if they find me lookin’ at ‘em wrong. Still, maybe they’ll drop something for me, as if I’m some dog… By the by, I like that Yi Henghua, y’know? She’s a bit like one of us, just… not.”

“Eh… yes?” she took a moment to understand the blond woman, “You’re referring to how she is disliked by most and does not receive as many resources as others due to who she was born to?”

“Yea, that. She even looks as bad as some of us… Speakin’ of which, Yi Wei, how’d you manage to look so good? Has it got something to do with those creams you kept applying?” Yi Bai asked, “Can I borrow some?”

“Unfortunately, I’m out… I highly doubt that it would help you too much. I mean, how good do I look?”

Yi Bai looked at her face intensely for a few moments, causing her to blush from the attention until the woman finally had her fill. “I’m no guy, so maybe I’m a little off, but looking just at your head, you’re surely a nine, maybe even a ten, out of ten!”

“T-Ten? Me? Eh…” she remembered the time she last saw herself in a reflection, “C-come on, y-you know I’m a bit shy… What would have rated me as the first time you saw me?”

“No higher than a seven. Perhaps if I judged your face itself, you could be a five, but your presentation was top notch!” Yi Bai stated, oblivious to Yi Wei’s ever-growing embarrassment, “You had just the right touches in the right places, so your beauty was accen- acceint- fuck, I meant that it raised your appearance to a whole new level! There. What I do know for sure is that if you had a larger bust, y’know, bigger boo-”

“I got it,” Yi Wei said coldly, “How did you even manage those? Is there some method for it?”

“That’s why you were looking at me like that…” she finally realised, muttering a quiet apology, “I dunno, didn’t do anything particular. I just ate, drank and ran away from scary planar beasts, as always. These things aren’t all positive, y’know? Any larger and I wouldn’t be able to fight properly.”

Yi Wei rolled her eyes, “Of course you’d say that… I get it, though. I’m just a little irritable when it comes to the topic.”

‘Another mental weakness… Heavens, I’m finding a lot of those as of late… I suppose I can incorporate the Bovine Stomach skill into my body technique, or just deal with it through the Kong Mental Arts,’ she tried to move her mind onto some topic other than the current one.

“So, about the creams and balms?”

“I’m out of them, unfortunately, and I don’t think they would make as much of a difference as you’re hoping. Your skin doesn’t seem too bad, nor your lips or hair, so it wouldn’t do much for you.”

Yi Bai shrugged, “Anyone could’ve said the same for you, but look how you turned out. Were they somethin’ you made, or…”

“Unfortunately not, though I may be able to put something basic together if I have the right ingredients. I have a little bit of experience in pill refining and medicine making, so if you have a specific concern, feel free to ask me about it.”

“Gotcha! In return, I won’t throw you to the wolves, or whatever planar beast shows up, to assist my escape.”

“Thanks… Wait a minute-”

 

The Kong valley swamp was exactly what one might imagine upon hearing the name. It was dark, muddy, filthy, covered with small pools of dirty water, or perhaps watery dirt. A thick fog covered the terrain and went up to the average man’s thighs, or almost up to Yi Wei’s thigh. If there was one thing she had over most people, it would be her height, which was not as outrageous as that of Yi Jin or Yi Jun, but still greater than that of most women.

Back onto the original topic, they had arrived at the swamp after a three-hour trek in which the faster and more powerful third realm cultivators decided to leave their slower team members behind to arrive a few minutes before them. Now, however, both stood at the edge of the swamp, looking around for any hint of the phenomenon described by Yi Zheng’s subordinate as to not rush in blind.

“The location of the illusory realm, or the trapping array, should be somewhere within, though it would be prudent to investigate the area around it as well,” Yi Jiazhi repeated the words of Yi Zheng to his followers before entering the swamp himself.

One by one, after they couldn’t notice anything from outside the swamp, members of each team entered the bog, including Yi Bai, who decided to chase some powerful figure from another group as per her original plan. Yi Wei did not rush ahead, however, as she knew that she had two distinct advantages. For one, even if the Lock Obelisk is found, few are likely to be able to activate it without the ability to synthesise the violet energy of the Kong Mental Arts. Also, if this area followed the pattern established by the last two, then it would be protected by an illusory array, which she is perhaps the most capable at bypassing, once again due to her mastery of mental cultivation.

Thus, she held back to take in as much information as she could before stumbling in.

“Wow, this place has gotten worse since the last time I’ve been here,” someone suddenly spoke behind her, prompting her to look back with both her eyes and spiritual will.

To the eyes, the speaker was a simple woman, clothed in a simple wool shirt and some trousers without any clear label or familial symbol on them, with a head of exotic blue hair and crimson eyes. Based on physical appearance alone, she couldn’t have been any older than fifteen, if not younger.

She couldn’t have a strong figure no matter how someone ordinary looked at her, but Yi Wei’s senses were telling her a different story.

When using her spiritual will, she could not determine what the woman’s cultivation was, and when she focused with her keen senses, she felt far more dangerous than any figure she had encountered so far, even including those in the Marked Core realm. Worst of all, nothing about her suggested that she was a threat, as she walked, breathed and spoke in a completely ordinary manner, as if she was a typical human that had accidentally stumbled into this valley.

“Hey,” she waved to Yi Wei, casually walking up to her, “What’s that on your robe?”

The woman pointed to the symbol on her chest, so, warily, she chose to reply with, “It means ‘Yi’, the Yi family.”

“Oh, right, sorry. A little rusty when it comes to reading,” the woman laughed it off, “This is still the Kong District though, right? It looks quite a lot worse for wear than I even imagined it would have, impressively enough.”

‘She knows about the true identity of this place? Not just that, but she also has some experience within it before it declined? Wouldn’t that mean that she is not just older than me, but is also far older than the Yi family’s patriarch? How can that be possible?’ Yi Wei wondered, though she replied before the break in the conversation became too significant, “I believe so, yes.”

“Excellent. Thanks, Yi girl,” the blue-haired girl said.

She waved for a moment, then vanished- no, ran past her at such a speed that she disappeared from Yi Wei’s sight before she had the opportunity to channel some planar energy into her eyes.

‘I cannot detect her aura, and, come to think of it, I didn’t notice her approaching me either… Who, or what, is she? Wait, if she is that ancient, then she might even have knowledge of the curious planar energy required to activate the Lock Obelisk. Shit, now I have to hurry!’

It did not evade her that if the woman had abilities that surpassed each of her own, she would have no chance whatsoever to lay her hands upon the key fragments of this Lock Obelisk, but she was not someone to give up so quickly. Until she could be sure of the abilities of the blue-haired woman, like whether she even had the capability to bypass the illusory barriers, or whether she had any intentions to access the hidden grounds, she would be wasting a good opportunity by giving up now.

She ran into the mire, avoiding the murky pools as best she could without the ability to fly. Getting her footwear filthy wasn’t a significant concern but getting stuck in the mud wouldn’t be good.

After all, every moment was precious, no matter who she was up against.

 

It was difficult to tell which direction the blue-haired woman had gone in, not to mention the fact that she might not have the same goal in mind, so she had to rely solely on her own judgement to navigate the swamp. With her spiritual will outstretched and her natural sense of energy at the ready, Yi Wei headed in the direction where planar energy was most concentrated, going off of her previous experience with the second Lock Obelisk.

For some time, she found nothing of note, until there was finally a small break within the consistency of planar energy density in front of her. Visually, there was nothing different about that particular patch of terrain, but she rushed to it nonetheless, ignoring those who carelessly walked around it.

One moment, she was in the middle of a swamp, the next, she stood in the middle of a lake.

‘Oh. Indeed, this is very sudden,’ Yi Wei commented. Looking around, there was no sign whatsoever that this wasn’t a real lake, nor that the land beneath her wasn’t truly stone rather than mud. Even when scanned with spiritual will, none of the environment stood out. She could analyse the water around her, the clear air, the bright sun that was right above her – when it should have been somewhere to the side, as it was rather early in the day – and even a few fish swimming near the base of the rocky island she stood on, complete with their proper anatomy and behaviour.

Without a shadow of a doubt, this was a far more complex illusory array than the first one she came across.

‘Before I break through it, I am curious to see what Yi Zheng’s man meant when he said that the world changed the moment he moved. Let’s see, if I step to the left…’ she prepared to defend herself, just in case she encountered the wild men, and took that step.

The world flickered, and in place of the expansive lake, the inside of a small commander’s tent appeared, a ray of light surging in from behind her. In the middle, a large seat was occupied by the shadowy figure of a man, who was surrounded on all sides by nigh naked women who seemed to be swooning over him, whispering something to him.

She didn’t want to interrupt, so she took another step to the side.

As the world reformed, she found herself standing atop a tall mountain, just barely above the highest clouds that slowly passed around its peak. This time, the sun was right on the horizon, and it bathed her in crimson light.

Yi Wei took a deep breath, taking in what little air she was able to. It was almost as if she was truly in that location, as her body was unable to distinguish the illusion from reality.

A third step to the side brought her into a dark cave, where someone was chained to the furthest wall with two great chains. There was almost no light, making it difficult to understand who the restrained figure was, but Yi Wei was able to make out the faint shape of horns on the individual’s head, two large spherical shapes on its chest, and rather feminine looking legs and arms. Something, presumably a piece of fabric, was covering her upper body, simultaneously obscuring parts of her thighs as she was sat on the ground on her knees, her arms raised and outstretched by the chains.

There seemed to be a number of stains on the ground, though it was impossible to tell what they were caused by, nor how old they were.

She was curious about the complexity of the illusion, so she called out softly, “Hello?”

The woman did not appear to react at first, but once Yi Wei siphoned some cosmic energy into her eyes, she saw drops of glistening liquid dripping from her eyes, crashing onto the floor like someone striking a drum amidst the utter silence of the cave.

“M-mother… why… why…” an even fainter voice came from the woman’s lips, following the tears as they dried up in the darkness. She did not seem to be able to hear Yi Wei’s voice.

‘If this is just an illusion, then someone has some strange ideas about keeping people out… How would a restrained, crying woman stop the typical treasure hunter? Even then, I can understand the endless battlefield, and the random areas from before, but this seems way, way too specific, so much so that I can’t see thing randomly popping into someone’s head. Unless someone had a particularly sick imagination, this must either be inspired by reality, or perhaps even a window into it,’ she considered, though she quickly recognised the absurdity of her last conjecture, ‘No, unless this is a ghost, no-one would be able to survive for so many years without being at the peak of the world, like the Master of Yi City was. This woman, whoever she is, is unlikely to fit that description, considering her current position.’

However, something about that idea stuck with her, so much so that she couldn’t bear to move on without saying something else to the grieving woman. She considered the options for a minute, then spoke softly, stepping to the left again the next moment.

 

“M-mother… why… why…” a figure in the dark cried, while the rest of her body was completely still, “Why did they kill you? Why did they…”

She had no idea how long she had been down there, nor how she was still alive, nor how many times the same thoughts had repeated themselves inside her head. It was happening again and again, and nothing seemed capable of ending the monotony.

All of a sudden, a faint gust of wind brushed past her naked skin.

Her head snapped upwards, but there were no changes to the darkness. There had never been any wind down here, so she listened, as intently as she could.

Eventually, she caught a faint sound, but it was a sound. Nothing but her tears and shallow breathing had ever sounded within the cave, and yet, now, here was something. She focused onto that sound, whatever it was, and finally understood that sound. It was a voice, a woman’s voice. A voice that belonged to someone other than her.

“I’m sorry… I’m sorry I can’t rescue you…”

The wind and the voice faded away immediately after, but it lingered in her head.

There was a way in, so there must be a way out.

There was hope, after all.

 

Yi Wei’s vision warped again, and now she found herself within a swamp once more. In front of her, a large army of silver soldiers stood in an enormous circle, surrounding someone so tightly that she doubted that even air would be able to pass by them.

‘Alright then, I don’t want to be here. Next,’ she decided, taking another step to the side.

However, nothing about her surroundings changed – apart from her moving one step to the left, of course. The same occurred when she took two steps to the right, as to attempt to return to the dark cave. A step forward seemed unwise, so she made a single step backwards, also to no avail. Just to be safe, she took a few more steps in each direction, but without going right into that small army, there appeared to be no way to leave.

‘So… this array is certainly the most complicated one so far. I might need to break out now,’ Yi Wei thought, preparing to activate the Kong Mental Arts.