Path of the Ascendant

Wei Yi removed another set of pills from the furnace, sighing when she observed that the sides of the furnace had suffered greatly after being bombarded by both endless yin and yang, meaning that it would not last for many more pill refinements. As something that had initially been intended to be disposable, the loss of one pill furnace would not be too significant in any way, but now that she had found an easy and efficient way to rapidly produce pills of extreme quality, the time wasted on creating a new furnace would be far more noticeable than it otherwise would have been.

‘If only I had the same herbs as I could access in the Planar Continents, then I would have been able to achieve a great deal more than a few more Hatred Gathering and Flesh Toughening pill, the latter of which has worked better as a combination of several skin and body strengthening pill than I had expected,’ she thought, separating them into individual piles before filling separate pouches with them.

After deciding which portion of the pills would go to whom, she stored them in her pockets and left the refining room, finding Meng Chu to pass the results of her work along.

“Hand these out – or pass this along to Dugu Wei, if she isn’t too busy – as you had given out the first portion of pills. Speaking of which, tell me what ended up happening with those previous pills that I had given out,” she requested, taking this opportunity to take a sip of miracle fluid to recover her energy.

“Is there even much to say?” Meng Chu asked while he received the pouches of pills from her, “These did not have the same effect as the mud balls from Ding Wen’s auction, but their effects helped a great number of our troops to break through to the next level of killing intent cultivation. Chun He and Ru Rong have both broken through to the sixth stage of the Condensed Shot realm, for instance, and a number of the troops had benefitted from their achievements to reach a higher stage of the Fine Piercing realm.”

“Good. I’ll try to find a recipe for instantaneous restoration of killing intent rather than drawing in a large quantity of it, though, due to the differences between killing intent and planar energy, I suspect that it will be slightly more difficult to create than the Hatred Gathering pill. Still, that is something to focus on later, as, for now, we need to sit down and discuss what might happen on the morrow. Do you know why that’s important?”

“You suspect that there will be some significant changes in the situation, I assume?”

“Exactly,” Wei Yi nodded, sitting down next to him while taking out a large book she had put together a short time ago, “Let me test your basic memory for a second – what major changes have occurred in our plans? What sorts of things did we not expect?”

He thought about the question for a second before saying, “The biggest change was the appearance of the abominations, correct?”

“Naturally, that was rather significant. They had not been outside of the realm of possibility when I first began to work on the plan, but, frankly, I had no clue that Shi Luo Feng would not only convert a number of her troops into them, but also allow so much power. Ding Wen has, so far, not gone too far against our expectations, other than how many resources he had in his possession, but that is what makes me suspect that he will have something up his sleeve for tomorrow,” she explained, presenting the book to him, “Since I am not known to every soldier in your faction, I will leave it up to you to inform them of what they need to know about our schemes.”

“What are those schemes? I know that all of that information will be in here, but can’t you explain some of the most likely ones?”

“I could… Fine, I suppose there’s nothing better to do for the moment, as my energy is still in the process of regenerating,” she sighed, “As I had previously said, Ding Wen is almost guaranteed to own some sort of unique treasure, whether it is a form of spatial storage or some means of preserving items for longer periods of time. As a result, it is certain that when he notices how the odds are slowly turning against him, he will make use of it to ensure success in killing you and Shi Luo Feng – who is also bound to attempt something, though she appears to have little more than the Magnanimous Leech and the abominations to use against us – for it will be worthwhile, even if it somehow weakens his Greed Congregation technique.”

“You’ve spoken with the man before, haven’t you? Were you able to gather anything about his cultivation technique, like you were able to fully read everything about Shi Luo Feng’s Magnanimous Leech?”

“Why are you asking stupid questions again? If I was aware of the core principles of technique, I would take them into account. What I do know, just like everyone else in Beast’s Rest, is that he benefits from greater quantities of treasures being gathered somewhere close to him, though the specifics are almost non-existent. How close does his trove have to be? Is it any treasure, or does it somehow have to belong to him specifically? Beyond just increasing the power of his cultivation, does Greed Congregation allow for any kind of unique abilities that utilise the combined power of valuables?”

By now, Meng Chu had opened the book and began to flip through the initial parts of it, prompting him to respond, “So, you had to create some semblance of a plan to deal with every potential possibility? Besides the immense dedication that this sort of thing requires, most of this appears to be sensible. I imagine that he has to have access to one of the abilities you’ve theorised there in order to calmly call himself the protagonist of the world.”

“Uh-huh… Wait, what? Can you repeat that?”

“Which part? Once, when he thought I couldn’t hear him, in the early days of his position amongst the three of Beast’s Rest, he muttered to himself that he was the protagonist, and he was bound to get ahead of us, people that don’t deserve their positions.”

“Has he said anything else of the sort?”

“When he is in a particularly poor mood, he tends to call others side characters or, eh, N… enpeshees? I am not sure what that is meant to mean, but he usually doesn’t say it about clever individuals.”

“Well, fuck. Throw the book out, it is useless now. Dealing with otherworldly people is entirely different than handling normal people… While I do not know what that word you said means, I have previously encountered one woman who said those exact same things. She also possessed a mysterious and extremely powerful cultivation technique that functioned also as a forbidden art, permitting her to convert her lifeforce into planar energy while showcasing the power of someone nearing the fourth realm while only being at the Emergent Anchor realm,” Wei Yi sighed, her expression darkening again.

Meng Chu’s eyes narrowed, “Are you absolutely certain? How many of these otherworldly individuals have you encountered so far?”

“If Ding Wen is included, then I have encountered three. One had been defeated and slain with my assistance, I have encountered the scattered memories of another, and both of us are familiar with the third. The first two clearly have an advantage over their peers due to their experience in the other world, though something about the other world, or the process of crossing over, leads to them being rather mentally unstable,” she said, including Kong Shi Meng in that generalisation as she had no clue what happened between the first and second memory plane she had encountered, “It might also be their unique gifts… Yi Henghua, the first one I mentioned, had the technique called the Fairy of Dust, but the technique manual was nowhere to be found, and I sensed something strange upon her death.”

“I didn’t realise that these otherworldly people-”

“I think that a more appropriate name for them might be otherworldly demons. Their insanity, overconfidence and extreme arrogance is extremely harmful to literally every other faction in their surroundings. If not for the Great Families, they might have torn this world apart a long time ago.”

“Otherworldly demons, then. They are far more common than I would have expected.”

“Well, who knows how they manage it. Perhaps it is easy for them, resulting in them gathering such powerful techniques and their overwhelming arrogance.”

“That could easily be the case. Anyway, how do we combat someone such as that?”

“It naturally depends on the specific otherworldly demon, but surprise attacks are most suitable, no matter the opponent. We need to catch him off guard, and then strike him with everything we’ve got… or, rather, everything I’ve got. Your abilities will be somewhat lacking in the upcoming conflict, Meng Chu,” Wei Yi stated plainly, “At best, you will be the most capable amongst the distractions.”

“That is rather harsh, but I have to admit the truth of your words. Out of the three of Beast’s Rest, I have the least combat ability, whether due to my low cultivation or my lacking combat sense, hence why I trained up such a number of guards in the first place,” he said, pausing awkwardly to cough before continuing, ”Anyhow, I’m assuming you can come up with something more complex than just catching them off guard, correct?”

“Excellent observation abilities. Congratulations… Sarcasm is surprisingly fun, even when we’re only a day away from potential death…” she did the same, coughing twice as she considered the unsuitability of her comments, “The issue with my Endless Calculation is that I require data to process in order to decipher how things will go. I have no such data, as the only thing that has suggested to me that he is indeed an otherworldly demon were your comments, which tell me nothing about his actual abilities. Perhaps the Greed Congregation is nothing but a front, and he also cultivates a sort of Fairy of Dust, turning his killing intent into a sand-like texture that can be strengthened and replenished by the consumption of his lifeforce, or perhaps he retains some knowledge from his past life that allows him to defeat us all not with excessive might, but with a move that taps into the world’s laws themselves.”

“Now I suspect you are exaggerating, Wei Yi.”

“Once again, excellent observation. This is the issue with lacking information. I do not know whether the only person I had fought against, Yi Henghua, was amongst the most gifted or powerful of the otherworldly demons, or if she was the weakest, nor whether she had utilised every method at her disposal prior to being killed, meaning that I cannot possibly estimate what Ding Wen can do.”

“Then, you’re going to need to work around the worst possible scenario?”

“Don’t force me to repeat myself a third time, Meng Chu,” she said, although she nodded nonetheless, “The first thing to do would be to call off the attack on Shi Luo Feng on the fourth day. I’ve already seen her technique, and how she uses it, so I can be relatively confident in her overall capabilities, and what I know is that they are significantly lower than Ding Wen’s minimum potential power. Even if she recovers in the time we permit her, taking down ten of her faction at the same time would still be easier than dealing with a single Ding Wen.”

“That bad, huh… say, this isn’t something that I’m trying to accuse you of, or anything else of the sort, but are you also using something from another world?”

“… You did hear how I had just branded everyone from those worlds as demons, did you not?”

“However, your claims about the otherworldly demons was that they were immensely powerful, and if that doesn’t describe you, then it will not describe anyone in this prison realm. You’ve already killed a Crimson Robe of the Third Arrival wearer a year ago, and you’ve only grown more powerful since then, meaning that you’re superior to Hatred Augurs while being at the Fine Piercing realm,” Meng Chu explained himself, “Is that not exactly what the power of an otherworldly demon could provide?”

“Oh, that’s what you meant… Let’s just say that’s irrelevant for now, alright?” she said, while looking inwards at the characters that were floating idly within her dantian, ‘Certainly, these things could be similar to the Fairy of Dust technique, granting me the knowledge of a powerful cultivation technique…

‘It is the power granted to me by the characters that allows me to push the boundaries of killing intent and physique cultivation by repeating the breakthrough process seven additional times, and when I get around to proceeding with my physique cultivation, I will be able to temper it with the amplified might of the Beast’s blood, which is naturally far more significant than anything the normal physique cultivator dares to get into contact with… The only thing that I can be relatively sure of is that my mind has, so far, not been affected to a significant degree, with only occasional memories that seem to originate from the Planar Continents seeping in, and that I have had it all my life, without any traces of memories from another world appearing in my head, meaning that even if the characters did come from the same world as the otherworldly demons, they came to a native, without any of that world’s taint…’

The possibility was there, though it was not as disturbing as one might imagine. So long as the terrible mental effects that the gifts of the otherworldly demons seemed to carry did not manifest within her, it wouldn’t matter where the characters came from, because the purposes of whoever or whatever gave them to her would differ from the common otherworldly demons.

‘This reminds me, I need to protect my mind from any future influences, be they internal or external. If I create a large wall on the outside of my mental landscape, then stabilise my internal structure until nothing but the most well-reasoned arguments and the clearest of evidence are able to sway it, I can be safe from both the memory echoes and any potential internal changes,’ she thought, manifesting a new tome within her Augur’s Library and noting down a large number of mental tricks and techniques she was aware of, to later sort through them and enhance her existing mental techniques to achieve her purposes.

“Very well, then. Should we get back to our original discussion?”

“Sure, let’s do that. For the first step of the plan, we must gather all of our forces the very second that they complete their current tasks and send them to Ding Wen’s present location. If we can do this before he has the chance to recall his own forces, it will be even better, but if we cannot, we will need to utilise the information we have about the layout of his auction house to get as much of an advantage as we can, though an overreliance on them will naturally push things in the favour of Ding Wen, as he could be much like you, having secret passages within secret passages.”

Before she could receive a reply, she stood up and pulled out a map from one of the shelves, unrolling it on a table to display the known interior of Ding Wen’s auction house. The basic layout that could be viewed by common visitors was mapped out with great clarity and surety, but the further on the map went, the less certain everything was, with certain rooms being drawn purely based on their theorised placement within the structure.

“At the beginning, we can make use of this, this and this passageway, as we are almost certain that we are fully aware of the dangers within, but after we traverse this location,” she pointed to a certain room on the map, “we will need to charge straight forward, making sure not to stand in ways that would allow for our forces to be attacked from behind through some of the possible secret doors. In fact, we shouldn’t stand against walls at all, and, if possible, not remain on any floor tile, brick or plank for any longer than necessary, just in case there is some trap there that will lead to significant losses in our forces. Although they will only function as distractions, they ought to have high morale while doing so.”

“Indeed. Then, in this location, would you say that it would be wise to split up our troops?”

“If you’re interested in getting some of them killed for no good reason, then no. It would be best to go in one direction, then, if Ding Wen is not where we expect him to be, then we rush towards the other – unless he is already waiting for us to do so, of course, in which case we fight him there and then.”

“Such a method of attack is bound to incur countless casualties on our side,” Meng Chu stated plainly and clearly.

“Yes, that will happen. Any route other than the perfect one will allow an otherworldly demon to slaughter countless weaklings. In fact, even if he isn’t one, Ding Wen could still easily obliterate us so long as he puts all of the treasures he has collected to good use – and I’m once again speaking from experience,” she said, the memory of how Yi Fenwu and Yi Bai were able to slaughter all of the Yi family’s expedition surfacing within her mind, “For instance, if he has somehow obtained a method for controlling this prison realm, even if it is only in a minor way, he could still easy create a pocket of warped space that will instantly pierce any defence you could possibly muster.”

“…”

“As a result, we either need someone who is intimately familiar with the passageways of Ding Wen’s auction house to guide us to him while he is unaware of this, or we need some way of drawing him out without pulling along any unnecessary stragglers-”

She suddenly paused and turned towards a wall, prompting Meng Chu to be quiet when he wanted to ask her about what she was doing.

Wei Yi slowly approached it, then bent down slightly to look into a small crack on its surface. Based on her spiritual will, there should have been nothing within or behind that wall, and yet she saw the shadow of another figure standing on the other side, their back turned to her. Based on their physical features, it appeared to be a man, though no clear attributes that belonged to either gender could be seen. Her judgement was primarily made due to her familiarity with Great Dark and Great Light, as well as her own appearance.

“Very unorthodox method of appearing before someone, especially after throwing your energy all around the place,” she said to the man whose clothes were entirely white, “Since you’ve chosen to appear at this particular moment, I assume you have something useful to say on the topic?”

“Of course. I would like to propose a deal for you and your faction,” he replied, his voice sounding both old and young at the same time, with both sounds causing a chorus of voices at an identical volume and prominence, with no method of possibly telling whether one was more or less true than the other. The voice was, however, clearly male, putting that issue to rest almost as quickly as it was raised. “I believe it will be profitable for both of us.”

“A deal could be acceptable, though I would need to know that you are capable of providing me with what I require.”

“I wouldn’t be here if I could not. I can share with you the best way to get to your target, while avoiding all guards in the way. As a gesture of sincerity, let me show you some of the secrets paths through Ding Wen’s base,” the man in white said, clapping twice before returning his hands to his side, “Head to it and I can guide you. Afterwards, there are a number of things I would like in return.”

“You do not intend to discuss them now? Is it something that I will be reluctant to give you?”

“That depends on your attachment to certain things. Worry not, however, for I will make the trade fair. You might not even lose anything permanently.”

“Right… If that’s how you wish to do things, then we may proceed in that way. Do note, however, that if you attempt to claim far too great a reward for very little work, I will not give it to you without a fight, and since you should already be aware of my combat ability, you should also know exactly what that means.”

“I do…” said the man enigmatically, dragging out his words before stepping away and vanishing, causing the crack in the wall to return to normal, with no sign of a space beyond it.

Wei Yi stepped away from the wall and turned around, finding that Meng Chu was looking towards the map of Ding Wen’s domain. On it, several areas that had been sketched or outright ignored due to the lack of information about them were now drawn clearly in red, almost exactly like Wei Yi had assumed that they were bound to be within reality. Besides confirming that the man in white had to have some comprehension of the interior structure of the auction house, it also meant that he had to have served under Ding Wen at one point.

“Well, it looks like the man in the wall has some ability after all. Our plans have to change once more.”