Path of the Ascendant

There was no need for another screen of light to tell those on the stone platform that the time had come, as a large crystalline wall burst out of nowhere on the outer edge, sealing in all who had made it in.

In total, there were sixty-four people within the central portion of the array, and thus sixty-four competitors. When a number of glowing white platforms appeared in the dark above them, it became clear that they would fight exactly six times, with each round reducing their number by half until the final battle was between the two strongest, or perhaps luckiest, opponents, who could then claim the final reward, whatever that may be.

Out of the contestants, forty-nine belonged to the Yi family, including Yi Henghua, Yi Jiazhi and Yi Fenwu, who had made it in at the last moment.

Seven more had the word ‘Flame’ written a part of their clothes, with the exact location differing between each individual. Their outfits were not as coordinated as those of the Yi family, nor were they as great in terms of quality, looking worn and clearly well-used, but they were clearly more practical, designed not for grace but to be as suitable for each person as possible.

Five lacked any obvious identification on their armour, but they all wore an identical set of equipment, complete with a dagger and a sword on their belts, sealed within simple leather scabbards.

The remaining three were masked and cloaked, but their weapon of choice was a greatsword. While it was possible to tell that the seven were three women and four men, and that the five consisted of one woman and four men, it was impossible to distinguish one cloaked figure from another, not even by the yin and yang within their bodies. Their breathing was identical, taking in air at the same time and speed, and breathing out at same time as the other two. Many turned to look at them, whether covertly or not, but they showed no sign of caring.

Before the tension could build up too much, the light screen finally reappeared before each one of them, showing only two names – theirs, and their opponent’s. As soon as they read them, their bodies broke down into particles of light, which flew up to the floating white platforms above them.

 

The moment Yi Wei had the opportunity to view her opponent’s cultivation, as well as the match-ups within the other arenas via the circle of truth, she understood that either a large number of weaker individuals were rather unlucky, or that the illusory realm intended to pick off the weaker participants first, perhaps with the intention to have the last battle be between the strongest.

Looking simply at the cultivation she presented, she was in the fifth stage, while her opponent was at the top of the ninth stage of the Planar Pool realm. Normally, that would be quite a leap.

At the same time, her enemy was one of the ‘Flame’ warriors. Whoever they were, to have a name attached, especially one so simple as Flame, to their group suggested that they had to be a powerful force. After all, it is the simplest title that is often chased after. Most want to be emperors or kings, for the position of the second Master of Yi City is unattainable to any human, beast or spirit, but few want to be the Senior Elder of the Seventh Sword Peak of the Sprouting Valley, no matter how prestigious the title actually was. Simply saying it every day would exhaust a person.

This was most relevant in terms of mercenary companies, sects and other organisations that wished for their name to be known across the world. The simpler their label was, the more common the word it used, the easier it would be to remember them. They would not be the Fire-Catching Ember Warriors, but simply Flame Lords, for instance.

For a while, they looked at one another, unsure of what to do, but no further screens of light appeared, and no instructions were given, nor did anything obstruct them from moving towards one another. Thus, they shared a wordless look, and began combat unbidden.

The Flame warrior drew both of her weapons, but before she could cross the gap between them, she saw her opponent stretch out her arms to the side, showing her open hands, palms pointed toward the warrior. Before she had any opportunity to question the red-robed woman’s behaviour, two miniature suns formed in front of her hands, and both fired a great beam that sliced right through her body, cutting two large gashes in her chest and legs.

 

Yi Fenwu grinned as she saw her opponent – one of the three figures in black, featureless and emotionless.

“Well, aren’t you a fun-looking one?” she played with her blindfold with one hand, while reaching for something in her pockets with the other, “Be a dear and tell me if you happen to know what this thing here is.”

She took out a small black token, showing both sides to her enemy.

The moment the masked figure saw the subtle character on the front, they shook in place, before their eyes narrowed. They drew their greatsword while shooting a stare full of killing intent toward her.

“Not a fan then, are you, darling? It figures that I wouldn’t find two in a row,” Yi Fenwu sighed, storing the token, “Come on then, dear, don’t waste my time.”

Removing the bow off of her back, she slammed it into the ground, impaling the lower spike into the white light below her with little effort. She wasn’t clear whether this was due to her personal strength, which was enhanced with a great deal of personal training, or due to the platforms naturally giving way to her weapon, but once it was planted, it remained firmly in place, not shifting even as she loaded an enormous arrow onto the great bow.

She gave the covered figure one second to act, then shot.

 

In another arena, a figure covered in absolute darkness descended upon a member of the Yi family, bearing two daggers that were elongated thanks to two straight blades of black energy. They were as solid, if not more so, than the material weapon, and they were aimed with the clear intention to kill.

At the start, this figure’s opponent assumed that it would be an easy victory for him. This figure’s cultivation seemed to be on the lower end of the Planar Pool realm, and other than the cloak of absolute black that consumed his or her entire body, there was nothing outstanding about them. Despite that, they did not wait for any signal to begin the fight, charging straight in at an impressive speed, aiming their very first pair of attacks for the heart and brain. Clearly, they had no interest in keeping him alive.

He was able to ward off the first few strikes, merely by the advantage of his cultivation realm, but while he had to exhaust a sizeable quantity of energy in order to defend himself, his enemy had no such limit. Furthermore, each strike was clearly more powerful than the last, as if the dark figure was advancing through stages on the spot.

Luckily, that did not appear to be the case, but their power was still increasing, as was their accuracy. Within a single minute, he was completely exhausted, and failed to block a fatal strike.

The array of the illusory world was unable to prevent his death, for it occurred instantly. All it could do was throw him out of the illusion, as to not sour the experiences of the other competitors, and to prevent the stench of death from permeating.

 

When the first round concluded, sixty-one individuals found themselves standing upon the stone platform once more. Above them, the number of white arenas was reduced by half, while those that remained rearranged themselves in the air as to be positioned an equal distance from one another. Then, the victors of the first round were told their next opponents, after which they turned into particles of light and flew back up.

Meanwhile, those who had lost their first battle remained on the ground, with a limited view of the combat above them.

 

“Now, we can finally settle this!” Yi Henghua exclaimed, a massive storm of dust expanding out of her, covering every single inch of the few metres within her range of control. Every particle of that dust was sharp and vicious, able to slice any regular animal into a thousand pieces.

Yi Jiazhi, her opponent, put on a brave face as he replied, “You think I’m scared of you? I am not!”

“Then prove it, you bastard! Ever since I’ve come to this world, I’ve wanted to kill you and the rest of your insolent ilk! Give me that opportunity, you worthless pig!”

The man responded by releasing two balls of planar energy that looked like two spheres of magma the size of his head. Their searing glow painted him and the white platform a bright shade of red, even burning away a few of the hairs on his arms.

“Here you go!” he shouted, “Magma Spines!”

He threw both spheres of earth fire into the ground, into which they disappeared without any resistance. The moment after, two great spikes of magma thrust out of the ground a metre in front of him, reaching two metres into the air at their peak. They began to sink, but not before another set of spines emerged a metre further, then another and another, swiftly making their way toward Yi Henghua.

Despite that, the woman sneered at his attempt, “That’s it? You felt the need to call out a name for that pathetic excuse of an attack? You’re all worthless!”

She leapt into the air, and just as the pair of spines emerged from the ground, she willed the cloud of dust to congeal into two solid shields that collided with the magma, ceasing its ascent before forcing it back below the ground. Then, she split off two small blades from the dust barriers, which she launched at Yi Jiazhi at great speed.

“Is that all?” he questioned, repelling both attacks with ease before he looked at her – and froze.

While he was distracted by the dust blades, his opponent had condensed an enormous sphere of dust with an enormous quantity of energy infused within it. She reached out with both hands and willed the dust orb to rotate, making it spin faster and faster until it transformed into a great bullet, with a sharp point that spun so quickly that it pierced the very air before it, seemingly cutting into the fabric or reality itself.

Without giving Yi Jiazhi an opportunity to respond, she fired the bullet at him. It shot through the gap between them and was about to destroy his face on the same second.

In that split second, perhaps due to the aid of the adrenaline surge at the prospect of dying to someone he hated so much, he was able to place his planar anchor behind himself and force a large wall of magma to surge upward on the path of the dust bolt.

The dust collided with the magma, drilling into it, sending drops and clumps of magmatic planar energy everywhere that dispersed into nothingness the moment they left the range of his control. For a second, it was unable to pierce his defences, but the very next, the dust spear shot through the earth fire, shattering the molten barrier into a large puddle of lava. At a slower speed than before, it headed for his nose… before collapsing into nothingness merely a breath away from ending him.

“So, you’ve used your planar anchor? Then, don’t mind me,” Yi Henghua waved her hand, and a strange, dust-like planar anchor landed behind her, constantly shifting and moving as if it was a dune within a great desert. Then, she smoothly transitioned that move into the formation of two more spheres of dust, identical to her previous attacks in appearance, though only half as powerful.

However, with the addition of the planar anchor’s strengthening effect, their effect was identical.

Thus, Yi Jiazhi grit his teeth and was forced to make the hardest decision he had made in a long time. “I surrender!”

She flinched for a moment, but as she saw nothing stopping her from striking him while he was down, she allowed her expression to contort into a manic grin as she threw both dust bullets at him, aiming one at his crotch and the other at his heart.

 

“Brother Ling, from my previous match, I know that this arena does not accept surrenders. Would you prefer to be the victor, or can you bear with the pain for a little bit?”

“I could accept the beating, Brother Xing, only if you wish to win. Otherwise, I have no preference.”

“Hm… then, why don’t we use the old method?”

“The old method… ah, I see. That is an excellent idea, Brother Xing. Let’s go!”

 

Fifty-nine survivors remained after the second round, though a number wished that they hadn’t.

Fifty-seven remained after the third, where Yi Wei also lost her battle. Four arenas remained, which she watched until that number was reduced to two, and then one.

A few more had lost their lives, but the last two warriors were Yi Henghua, much to the surprise of the majority of the Yi family’s spectators, and one of the masked and cloaked figures, while the other two had perished under the hand of Yi Fenwu and one of the ‘Flame’ warriors, respectively. The last dark figure did not appear to be affected by this, and the more observant noticed that it may have even been strengthened by their loss, somehow.

Speaking of the observant, most of the losers gathered up to watch the upcoming duel together, sharing various details regarding themselves and their battles. As it turned out, the ‘Flame’ troops were mercenaries who had gotten wind of a treasure within the Kong valley, and sent a number of their junior warriors for the purpose of training.

“Are you a famous mercenary group? We’ve not heard of you in the Yi District.”

“We don’t care much for fame,” replied a male warrior, “However, we are often called upon by the Patriarchs of other families. Our greatest soldiers are in the Linked Channels realm, while our leader, Zhong Shui, is at the seventh stage! If you need to get rid of a monster, or search through some hidden grounds such as this, we can offer you a good deal. We accept either upfront payment, if you’d prefer to keep everything we find – we are honest folk, so once we agree on a deal, we’ll not raise or lower our requested sum arbitrarily – or we’ll accept a certain percentage of the rewards, which we can discuss once we bring them back to you. If you’d like to reserve a specific item, we can do that too.”

‘I… I didn’t ask you for your marketing speech, just who you were!’ the one who asked the question exclaimed in his mind, scratching his head while doing his best to mask his true expression, “I-Is that so? I’ll report this to the family, then.”

“Wait, if you’ve heard of this place, then do you know what’s in here?” another Yi family lower-class member inquired.

“Only that one of the more valuable items is an elixir of some sort-”

“The fight is starting!”

“Hey, help me up! I want to see this!”

The mercenary’s words were consumed by the noise of the crowd that desperately desired to see the two strongest fighters compete over this mysterious elixir, as well as any other potential gains from this illusory area. Some even guessed that it might contain the entrance to the hidden grounds they were searching for and despaired that they would not have the chance to see them, if entrance to them counted as a reward for the winner.

Everyone’s eyes were directed at that last arena, watching every movement of the two opponents carefully. It was a good opportunity to see two experts in action.

 

Yi Henghua and the cloaked figure stared one another down for a few moments, then their planar anchors appeared behind them. Hers was a large pillar of dust, its corner pointing in the direction of earth, while the dark figure had a similarly dark anchor that was shrouded in shadow, obscuring any hint of physical features.

“The reward will be mine, understand? Get out of my way!” Yi Henghua shouted at him, condensing three rotating dust bullets simultaneously.

“Hmph,” the obscured figure didn’t deign her with an answer, merely drawing its blade calmly.

As with the previous battles, neither waited for a signal, for no signal would come from the silent illusory world. Both attacked immediately, firing dust spears and releasing waves of pitch-black sword light respectively.

They clashed from afar, each one of their strikes shaking the earth – despite them floating far above it. At first, the battle was even, with neither being able to strike the other for a time. Then, Yi Henghua suddenly found an opening within her opponent’s guard, and went for it immediately, piercing through the side of the figure’s upper stomach. She also manipulated the dust to consume a part of his or her flesh and clothing as to intensify the damage.

That attack revealed the figure’s dark skin and the edge of a strip of fabric wrapped around their chest.

As soon as one of the spectators noticed, the rest were informed that same instant, with these news spreading even between those that had previously fought between one another.

“Black clothing and identical breathing, greatswords and shadowy planar anchors… Dark skin… These couldn’t be the Endless Dark Assassins from the north, could they? What in the heavens are they doing in this valley?” someone voiced, causing that guess to spread across the group as well.

A few others, however, were far more interested in the discovery that this figure might be a woman.

It wasn’t too uncommon for some women to hide their identities and obscure their features within all sorts of organisations, for various practical and aesthetic purposes, and there were even times that men disguised themselves as women, but ultimately, it was rare for such things to be exposed, and thus it naturally aroused a great deal of discussion.

What sort of face was hiding beneath that mask, were the rest of the dark figures also women, how large were the mountains hidden beneath the cloth… all sorts of questions were asked, even if not all were intelligent, but before they could be answered, the light from the arena dimmed.

‘The victor has claimed their reward. Concluding illusory reality.’

That message appeared in front of everyone’s eyes while the white arena descended to the ground. However, even when they descended, no-one was able to tell that a victor had been found. Both were still standing strong, and neither held any sort of elixir, not to mention any other form of more noticeable treasure. Furthermore, both were looking around in confusion, clearly opposite to the behaviour one should display if they had just gained a great prize.

“What? It ended this quickly?” Yi Wei was the first to voice her concern, narrowing her eyes almost as if too much light was entering them, despite the illusory reality becoming rather dim.

“Who’s the winner? Who got the treasure?”

“Can someone explain this to me? What’s going on?”