Path of the Ascendant

She came up to the men and asked them in the most innocent voice she could muster, “Hey, you guys, what are you doing here?”

They looked back at her and initially scoffed, though one kept his gaze on her longer than others.

“We’re trying to get the old man in that shop to work with us,” that man said, prompting the rest of his companions to sigh without stopping him from talking, “He’s rather reluctant, so we’re trying to get his other customers to stop visiting him.”

“Oh, I see!” Wei Yi exclaimed, her expression suddenly warping as a thick bubble of killing intent appeared around her, enveloping all of Ding Wen’s forces, “I need to talk with your leader about that.”

They found themselves being consumed by the endless battlefield, with countless warriors fighting around them with such force that they would be able to break the very Beast in half if they appeared in the prison realm. Before they had any chance to notice the crimson and dark gold library in the distance, their attention was drawn to where Wei Yi had stood, and what they now saw behind it.

A dark, towering figure looked down upon them, with eyes filled with crimson and silver that seemed to pierce their very souls. It bent down, its hand reaching for them, causing their minds to stop completely, making all three fall to the ground in unconsciousness.

 

“- are their words accurate, Ding Wen?” Wei Yi asked, the three lying on the ground beside her with blood flowing from their noses.

“I must say, this is the most charming entrance I’ve experienced in some time. It is not how I expected to meet a Crimson Robe for the second time,” Ding Wen laughed, calmly leaning back in his chair, “Indeed they are. I have an interest in the old man, and I want him to make things exclusively for me due to his impressive level of skill. Is that an issue?”

“Not necessarily, but, if I may, I have a slightly different proposition for you. I, and Meng Chu’s faction as a whole, would also benefit from his presence, and in exchange, we could work together and alter the power dynamics of this town as a whole. What would you think about having one less leader?”

“Are you suggesting that Meng Chu and I work together to eliminate Shi Luo Feng?”

“Exactly. Shi Luo Feng obviously has a large quantity of valuables within her hands, not to mention the unique technique that she uses, and we could share a large quantity of them with you upon our success. Furthermore, you could also get your hands on more shops and facilities, giving you even more opportunities to earn and collect the treasures of the prison realm.”

He looked at her in silence for a while, clearly contemplating the offer seriously, “Is this something you are proposing as an envoy of Meng Chu? Have you joined him so soon after rejecting me?”

“You could call me that. Also, I have only officially joined his faction recently, being motivated primarily by the fact that Shi Luo Feng was too dangerous to remain close to while you wished to charm me into following you. Meng Chu did not, and simply offered me a good deal.”

“Very well. In that case, I suppose we can discuss the potential cooperation between our two forces. Naturally, I desire the treasures that Shi Luo Feng has stored away more so than anything else, so I wish for no fewer than two thirds of all of her treasures upon success, but I don’t see a reason to continue speaking unless you’re qualified to negotiate with me,” he said, “Are you? Can you promise me that what we agree upon will be followed by your leader? And, more importantly, are you and your leader even capable of defeating the third leader of Beast’s Rest? What are the chances of success in whatever plan you have devised?”

‘You’re speaking to the new leader of Meng Chu’s faction, you know? One day, I will not need to pretend to be someone else’s follower, and will be able to act exactly as I need to act, whenever I need to do so… for now, however…’ Wei Yi ignored the provocative tone in his voice and replied, “If you prefer, then you can indeed converse with Meng Chu himself. However, if you wait for one year, then my leader can guarantee a ninety percent absolute success rate, a nine percent low success rate, and a one percent minor failure rate.

“Before you ask what that means, I can explain it to you. It is ninety percent likely that we will succeed entirely, without any significant losses or sacrifices on our part. We will be able to split the town into two without any issues. In the case of the nine percent, we will succeed in most parts of the plan, but some small part will fail or not go exactly as wanted. Perhaps we will not eliminate Shi Luo Feng completely and she will escape, or she will be down to one property that we cannot take from her. Finally, the last possibility, the minor failure, is if we can significantly weaken Shi Luo Feng’s forces, but not outright destroy them. The power that both your and Meng Chu’s factions possess will grow, but so long as she is clever and manages to rally the people behind her cause, that situation can be reversed or even turned in her favour.”

“Hum… You and your leader sure care about the people, don’t you?”

“Wouldn’t you? One common man might not be able to rival any one of the factions in the prison realm, but if all citizens of Beast’s Rest rose up against any of the three factions, they would be able to do significant harm to them, or even bring them down entirely.”

“If you and your leader say so,” commented Ding Wen, “Very well, I will go along with what you’re saying. I can negotiate with your leader, but not with you. However, one year is a suitable time.”

“Then, what about the blacksmith? May we borrow him for a few quick tasks?”

“I will permit it. If your leader does not provide me with your plan in a year’s time, then I will need to talk with him…”

“Alright, that is sufficient for me, and for Meng Chu, I’m sure. I also hope that our future interactions are just as pleasant as this one,” Wei Yi said, bowing ever-so-slightly before she turned around and departed, intentionally stepping on one of the three unconscious people in the room.

She travelled back to the blacksmith’s residence and informed him of the news, before bringing him to a location that was close to one of the entrances to the underground passages. As she did not want him or Ding Wen’s men that might watch over him to know, she did not reveal this, and intended to walk around the area for a while before ever entering or exiting the passages. There, she explained his current situation to him.

“And so, you’re free for now, but I would like you to do a few things for us,” Wei Yi said, removing her dagger and giving it to him, “Take a look at this, if you don’t mind.”

“Give it here… Huh…” the man sent his killing intent into the depths of the dagger, but frowned when it was all devoured without any response from the hatred blade, “Lass, can ye activate this on your own?”

“Yes, I can. Look,” she said, taking back the dagger and activating it with one of many crimson pages that had gathered within her mental library, with the latest improvements to her killing intent techniques allowing for one page to be as powerful as a book had been upon her first ever attempt to activate the hatred blade, “Takes a little effort, but it is doable.”

“Damn… Then, I’d like to change the terms of our agreement somewhat. Rather than inspecting this, how about I teach ye how to do it instead?”

“You can’t do it yourself, can you?”

“Nay.”

“Fine, I don’t see why not. This will help me more in the long run anyway,” she shrugged, sitting down opposite him, “If you’re doing this, could you also teach me how to create hatred blades and forge weapons out of the Beast’s bones? Then, you could leave the city and not be bothered by Ding Wen and others at any time.”

“If that ‘ad been the thing I wanted to do, I would’ve. Now, judging by ye skin, I assume that you came from the outer world not too long ago, right? Have ye learnt anything about blacksmithing out there?”

She nodded, “In terms of the theory, I have the knowledge of three stars in the field, but my practical abilities are only on the level of one star at best. I have some rather poor luck when it comes to creating items of my own.”

“Then you’re in a better place than most of us, lass. Ye might have noticed, but our weapon-making skills are oft limited to the grade of one star, although we’ve made some changes to allow our craft to remain viable,” the old man sighed, lifting one of his own wares and looking at it closely, “Without spiritual will, we can only use killing intent and our own eyes to sense that which is within the bone, and without planar energy, we have only chisels, hammers and our hands to work upon it.”

“I have noticed that all of the hatred blades I’ve seen so far are far closer to low-grade artefacts than upper-grade ones, no matter how you look at them.”

“Indeed. It isn’t that there are no craftsmen who have no idea how to make good weapons, but that we lack the equipment and skill necessary to create them, and are forced to create crude imitations of the real thing,” the old man sighed again, briefly prompting Wei Yi to wonder whether he was related to her in some way, “If we could, I am certain that items on par with the things found outside would be produced regularly and constantly, using all of the Beast’s remaining bones until the entire prison realm is flattened. Alas, things are not going that way so far.”

“It is unfortunate indeed. Say, old man, how much lifetime do you think you have left?”

“No more than ten years, I think. What’s the reason behind the random question?”

“Nothing, really. I was just curious whether there was any chance of an escape from the prison realm before your death. If it had been a possibility, I could have shown you what the world is like out there, and how artefact creation has changes and progressed,” she replied, “Actually, have you heard of any abilities that can lead to interference with, or the complete destruction of the channels within artefacts?”

The old man was not perturbed in the slightest that she had mentioned escape from the prison realm, nor his death, simply saying, “Can’t say that I’ve learnt much about that here. If it were something that you or your leader had, I would naturally be very curious to witness it.”

“I do know a method to make that happen, but it requires planar energy. Although I could demonstrate it near your grave, there’s no way I’m getting my planar energy back in ten years.”

“A shame, then,” the blacksmith said, “I think we should get back to our original topic. In order to perform any kind of inspection on the bones of the beast, you require either an energy that you are able to manipulate precisely and consciously, or else ye need a bone that ain’t been made into something yet. D’you have either?”

“Oh, of course. I have spiritual will, which I’m assuming will work just fine?”

“Are ye joking? How long have ye got to use it? One week? One hour? One day? Ye must use yer power immediately and learn about the world!”

“Calm down, old man. It’s permanent for now, and if I develop my killing intent further, I might be able to protect my spiritual will even if my last remnants of planar energy somehow vanish,” she said, “So, what do I do?”

“Ye are in great luck, lass! Just scan the weapon and examine all of its internal channels!”

She did so, grabbing a nearby piece of fabric to draw all of them on. Once it was done, he took it from her and looked at it closely for several minutes, humming and grunting every now and then as he analysed it. Then, he put it back into her hand and said, with a proud voice, “I don’t get a bloody thing about it!”

“… Was that supposed to happen?”

“Nay, but it does prove one thing – this hatred blade is one of the closest I’ve seen to a medium-grade weapon! What say ye, who has seen them in the outer world, how does it compare?”

“Honestly? It was the first hatred blade I found here, and it is what made me assume that everyone in this world was completely worthless and incompetent when it comes to the creation of artefacts. When I saw that every single other hatred blade was inferior to this, and used less energy, I was even more disappointed, to the point of being almost entirely certain that no-one in this world can teach me how to improve over my current level in blacksmithing.”

“Harsh. I can see where ye are coming from, though. Since you have spiritual will, you could easily improve over any one of us just by observing the creation process a little more carefully than any of us can,” said the old man, “It is truly unfortunate for the rest of us, but Meng Chu will be happy, no doubt.”

“Right. Can you teach me the principles of analysing hatred blade-specific elements now?”

 

“She is very, very interesting, isn’t she? What are you able to tell me?” Ding Wen said, looking towards the corner of his chamber, where a single red candle lit an idle chair.

The light there congealed into the figure of a man dressed in purely white robes, with only his eyes being visible.

“Her killing intent seems to be in a low realm, no greater than the third, but it’s concentration is significantly greater than usual. The crimson robe was most certainly not something she obtained by accident,” that figure stated, picking up the bottle of blood-wine that stood on the nearby table and popping it open while he spoke, “Furthermore, there is something odd about her energy, almost like she possesses a secondary type of energy within her meridians. Energy-twinning techniques would be incredibly valuable to you, no doubt. Perhaps Greed Congregation will finally permit you to advance.”

“And if it is valuable, then her body, her skull and her brain ought to be significantly more valuable, no? Perhaps she is practising a physique energy technique, which could also convert her bones into gold… hehe... Meng Chu, you picked the wrong woman to recruit.”

“She is in possession of a dagger that I require. I can return it to you after either ten years of use, or after two hundred kills, as per our contract. Depending on her abilities, I will require some aid in subjugating her, so I naturally require your permission to do so. When do you intend to confront them?” the man asked, gulping down the blood wine without a care in the world.

“If I was them, I would attack at the end of our alliance. Then, that is when we will attack. In fact, we could kill Shi Luo Feng and Meng Chu in one go…”

The man in white nodded, melding back into the light of the candle while Ding Wen remained in his seat. He waited for a long, long while, until he could be sure that the man was gone completely, before he stood up and turned his chair around so that it faced the wall.

Although the action seemed simple and incredibly unnecessary for the leader of a large faction that could be said to control a good portion of the entire prison realm, it was vitally important for him, as there was one secret that even the man in white was not aware of, and that no-one could ever learn lest they attempt to pry it from him and forever rid him from the only thing that permitted him to survive in the damned prison realm for such a long time.

“A book holds a house of gold.”

These words caused a book to appear in front of him, materialising out of the air and opening without any input from him.

However, none of the pages held any words nor images, but were instead a gateway into an enormous treasury that stored countless technique manuals, artefacts, hatred blades and bodies of those whose techniques could not be extracted from them, or those that were unique in some way.

“The unique gift of reincarnation…” he muttered to himself, reaching into the pages to remove a dense black pill, “It might be the best opportunity to go into seclusion I’ve had so far, and this thing requires exactly eleven months and thirteen days to fully process and consume… Meng Chu, Shi Luo Feng, you did not earn your positions. I will bring you down to where you belong.”

 

“- and this should be what causes the immense requirement of killing intent for the activation and usage of yer dagger, lass. It is quite the interesting structure, but it does not appear to be viable for most,” the blacksmith said, “The Bone of the Beast, this could be called, almost as if the Beast itself is setting a requirement for those that may use the weapon. For the ordinary folk, it could be as high as the fifth… no, maybe even some sixth realm?”

“Are you going to tell me that killing intent and, possibly, even physique energy also has nine realms, just like planar cultivation?”

“Possibly. However, as ye might know, the killing intent of the Beast that remains is insufficient for the entire population to attain a realm beyond the fifth without slaying everyone else, which could never be allowed by most of the population that still maintains a will to live. If it was all taken away… I wouldn’t know what could happen, but it would be curious to say the least.”

“I agree with that, though I theorise that if the crimson storm clouds that are above and around the entire prison realm are made out of killing intent, which, knowing that almost everything else around here is in some way, shape or form related to the Beast’s eternal hatred, is incredibly likely, then the absorption of all of them should remove the barrier between the prison realm and whatever is outside of it. Perhaps reality, or perhaps some greater world that is unknown to us, but it would certainly be one path to break out of here,” Wei Yi suggested, “Unfortunately, I cannot take in such a large quantity of foreign killing intent within the scope of a few years, nor do I think that it is feasible to keep up with what appears to be a constant production of killing intent from the body of the Beast, meaning that it would have to be done in a single go, preventing any sort of balancing and rationing of the energy. In short, it could be done, but not without removing any semblance of identity, will and rationality from the one doing it.”

“Ye seem smarted than I on this topic despite being knew ‘ere, which is certainly impressive. I’ll trust yer judgement here, lass,” said the old man, leaning back in his seat.

“Great. Can we move on, then? I’d like to get started on the process of creating hatred blades as well as inspecting them, and while speculation and theories are interesting – and something I started, to be fair – I do have a limited time for now.”

“Then let us proceed. I have some spare bones here, and I have my tools here, so let’s begin…”