Path of the Ascendant

Some time later.

Wei Yi stood on the roof of the ruined auction house, her hands behind her back while her robes flowed in the wind. For a break from her typical style, she freed her hair and allowed it to similarly be carried by the killing intent winds of the prison realm. In front of her, on the ground below, a large dip in the ground was still releasing plumes of smoke and was surrounded by several shabbily dressed individuals that seemed to be using it for warmth.

Further away, some people from Ding Wen and Shi Luo Feng’s former factions were helping to remove all kinds of items from their places of storage and move them to areas that were more convenient for her purposes. She had not done much to filter out potential threats from those kinds of people yet, besides removing those that immediately succumbed to the test of killing intent and promising all those that remained the same things that she had promised to those that had stayed within the auction house – who, as it had turned out, had been recalled earlier for the express purpose of being turned into wealth for Ding Wen, meaning that their gratitude for the rescue made them slightly less likely to be a threat.

In fact, the same gratitude came from the remnants of Shi Luo Feng’s group, who had been mostly consumed by her abominations and their leader’s personal draining of their lifeforce and were now more than pleased to work for someone who seemed capable of warding off such things.

Neither situation guaranteed that they would not be possessed by greed or some other influence that would then cause them to betray her, and so she did not reveal the entirety of her faction’s secrets to them. The vast majority of the underground passages, for instance, were concealed from them, with a few specific paths being opened to make them conform to the common tales of these passages.

‘It is important that anyone that is potentially malicious, even if it is not by their own intention, is removed swiftly, before they have the opportunity to get too deep into my faction – and I can finally call it that, fortunately enough,’ she noted, relieved that she will be able to present her true position to the world, rather than needing to constantly avoid the issue. She wasn’t completely against acting, nor lying, but with the cosmic energy, five meridian networks and plentiful experiences in all sorts of things that would typically be reserved for those in the sixth realm and above, there were a few too many things she needed to keep quiet.

That was something that would naturally solve itself the moment that she invests her full strength into fighting any one of the Great Families in a semi-public place, but, naturally, that wouldn’t happen yet.

“For now, I think that it is finally time to have a little chat, Bai Hao,” she turned around, willing the manifestation of the man in white to be projected from the mental battlefield.

‘I did indeed agree to share a few things with you, and so I shall. Your idea of breaking the prison realm’s boundaries might succeed if you can pull out more of those strange items when you try it,’ he said, idly stroking his white beard, ‘I should begin with our concepts of the prison realm, shouldn’t I? Or will you be more curious what ‘our’ encompasses?’

“Whichever one is most interesting, really. The prison realm itself would be more important, though.”

Bai Hao nodded and looked into the distance, towards the eastern wall of the prison realm, ‘As the savages of this region have already understood, your portion of the prison realm looks like a semicircle, with a flat wall to the east and round walls on all other sides. If you concentrate your spiritual will on your eyes, you should be able to see through the fog of killing intent and observe the distant storm walls from here.’

She followed his suggestion, guiding the thin energy within the fourth set of meridians into her eyes. With the first wisp that was concentrated there, she noticed that the endless crimson light of the world receded slightly, and the edges of the fog similarly moved backwards.

It took seven more such wisps of energy to push the fog back sufficiently far enough to reveal the great storm walls of the prison realm. They were much like the great storm above, except for the infrequent flashes of other colours showing themselves through the deep red clouds. Occasional bolts of crimson lightning also spontaneously burst out within, though their flashes were subdued almost completely by the fact that their colour matched the rest of the prison realm, as well as the clouds within which they were formed.

“That’s quite the sight. Based on your earlier words, I can assume that the prison realm is divided a bit like the yin-yang symbol?”

‘Yes, though which side is yin and which is yang is something that we have not decided upon. However, both contain vast quantities of mental energies. On this side, the air is filled to the brim with killing intent, while our side contains pure, unbound spiritual will. As we are also lacking in any planar energy, we cultivate it similarly to these savages, except we do not lose our mental faculties in the process,’ the man in white explained, ‘That is what makes the presence of spiritual will energy somewhere within you so strange. The taint of killing intent energy completely eradicates the possibility of training spiritual will, even if you disperse all of the former to practise the latter.’

“So that’s how things are. Makes sense,” Wei Yi nodded, thinking, ‘Another advantage of multiple meridian networks appears to be that killing intent cannot significantly harm any of the networks it does not occupy. Still, I think that I won’t ever be able to change the third meridian network to anything but killing intent unless I am able to completely reconstruct them at a later point.’

‘It is fortunate that you are not the common savage, then,’ Bai Hao nodded.

“Could you return to your description of the other side? I’m curious about the general power structure of the spiritual will domain – and if there’s a unique name you have for it, so that I don’t have to make one up myself.”

‘There was no such name when I last left, but most of us reside within one of four major cities. The capital is named Sanctuary, for that is where most of our greatest reside. Exactly to the south, Sanctum Alpha was built to house the scholars and the information they protect and study, while the north later gained Sanctum Beta, a place for the study of more offensive methods, including the one that allows us to break through the storm wall between the two halves of the prison realm. Then, to the east, Sanctum Omega is a place for those with no ability in spiritual will practise whatsoever, so that they may reside somewhere easily and not be expected to participate in the pursuits of the first three cities, at the cost of slightly inferior living conditions.’

As he spoke, though he stood still, the air around him did not. Mirages originating from his memories seeped from his will and into his surroundings within the mental battlefield, which Wei Yi then willed to appear beside him in reality, though, just as with his body, she was the only one that could witness them.

Out of the vague mirages, one image stood out the most. Four cities, connected to one another with three perfectly straight roads built of white stone atop an uneven ground of white dust, with either end of each road connecting to a magnificent series of smooth towers and great structures that were clearly designed to be intricate and appealing to the eye first, while still remaining effective. A number of trees grew out of the ground, both within and outside of the cities, though those within the borders of Sanctuary and the Sanctums were planted and grown in very specific places and arrangements.

Around these populated areas, Bai Hao’s mental image was significantly less clear, with the glistening dust flats constantly shifting due to his lack of attention on them. Still, from what this showed, it seemed that there were no other traces of civilization within the other side of the prison realm, despite the vast emptiness around the four domains.

“This is quite the sight.”

‘Indeed… You said that you have seen the outside world, the Planar Continents, have you not? How does this compare?’

“I have not seen the best parts of Yi City, but the sights will certainly be different. After being in a world so white, you’ve developed a different version of the confused aesthetic sense of those in the killing intent side of the prison realm,” she gave her opinion, “It is certainly a pleasant thing to behold, and would certainly be respected if these cities had been built outside.”

‘Hm…’ Bai Hao looked upon his own mental image for a few seconds before making it disperse softly.

For a while, they stood there, with one staring into the distance while Wei Yi was making slightly better use of the time by attempting to modify her killing intent cultivation techniques into something that could work with spiritual will.

‘Ahem, since you’re the one that wanted to know more, you can ask about what I have shown you,’ said the man in white, finally looking back towards her.

“Sure. Tell me about the combat style of spiritual will. How do the four settlements partake in it, and how powerful is spiritual will in comparison to killing intent? Can the equivalent of the Searing Torch realm’s hatred weapon be attained in the fourth realm of spiritual will cultivation? What are the names of the realms of spiritual will cultivation?”

‘I can answer the last question easily. When practising spiritual will, you begin with Focused Will, where, much like the barbaric practise of killing intent, you gather and focus your spiritual will within your meridians. The key is to concentrate it as much as possible, rather than trying to attain an excessive quantity or volume. Every stage of this realm, and all after it, increase the range that your spiritual will can reach, making it extremely beneficial most of the time. Then, in the Strengthened Mind realm, a simple structure is given to your spiritual will,’ explained the man in white, pausing for a few seconds before adding, ‘much like the concurrent realm of killing intent, unfortunately. It differs in that this structure is simpler and more defined, something like a cube made of spiritual will threads, for instance. Increased complexity is somewhat beneficial, but vastly inferior to stability.’

“Does that mean I could assemble a kind of floating array within my body and greatly empower all of my spiritual will?”

‘Try it, but do not expect to succeed. Supporting an array within the body is incredibly difficult to do, and far too taxing on the mind. If you have encountered an array master before, or if you are one yourself, you should be well aware of this. Now, in the next realm, Greater Stability, you might have a better chance,’ said Bai Hao, though it was obvious that he did not believe it, ‘Some youths these days are truly overconfident…’

She ignored his words and instead looked at her physique, as well as the array created by the dantian bone shards, ‘I do have some experience, Bai Hao, and I can agree that it is a difficult endeavour. However, I happen to have received some advantages in this regard as well, so- oh, right, I forgot to ask about something incredibly important.’

“By the way, as you have said that spiritual will is effectively mental energy, does that mean that it is similar in strength to one’s mind?”

‘There is some connection between the two, though it is not exact. Losing some of your spiritual will won’t make you a fool, nor will a temporary mental affliction completely ruin your spiritual will… It is rather complicated, frankly. Most of us aren’t interested in injuring ourselves just for experimentation.’

‘Neither am I, but I suspect I will learn about this eventually with how much I get into,’ she thought, looking deeper into her spiritual will energy. Based on her previous experiences with her own mind, it was capable of processing an immense quantity of information in a brief time, such as several jade slips at once, meaning that even if it was subpar in other areas, it had to be above average at the very least. In combination with everything she had already done to enhance her spiritual will, it would be strange if the energy formed from it was without some hidden strength beneath the weak exterior.

However, there appeared to be nothing beneath the surface of the nigh-transparent stream of white energy, prompting her to begin some basic experimentation.

Since her strongest mental ability was the processing of information, she initiated the Endless Calculation technique about some insignificant fact and observed as it worked slightly more quickly than before, prompting her to recall the cleansing and refining effect of the Touch of God and the Light of Divinity. By the looks of it, they had functioned even while warped by killing intent, and affected it instead of her planar energy.

‘That’s another fortunate coincidence, but what I am more interested in is the spiritual will. Can it affect the process of Endless Calculation, or will it be limited to simple observation for now?’ she thought to herself, sending a wisp of it over to the rapidly multiplying tomes within the Augur’s Library.

Immediately, she could tell that it was reluctant to follow these commands, likely due to the natural distinctness and separation of spiritual will and killing intent, but as she was well aware that the former had no issues when it came to passing through the infinite air of hatred from the Beast, she made it continue and come into contact with the books.

When it did, something resembling a miracle occurred.

It split into many, tiny pieces, one of which somehow completely enveloped the book that it touched while the rest flew off to random books in their vicinity. The theory tome that was enveloped first instantly turned to nothingness, its mere existence fuelling the wisp of spiritual will that became twice its original size, split in two again, then joined the other spiritual will pieces in flying towards other possibilities.

The vast majority were eliminated instantly, but a few remained, only being bolstered by the pieces that had landed up them. She willed them open, and saw that all of the theorisation within was significantly bolstered by all sorts of information that she was in possession of, but had overlooked or otherwise ignored subconsciously. Furthermore, everything written within was better considered, and would require less repetitions of the Endless Calculation before arriving at the likely truth. All of this happened almost instantly, without too great a cost for her spiritual will, meaning that her assumption had been correct.

‘There is indeed something of use within this simple-looking energy. I suspect that it might have more abilities than just this, but I suppose my own mind won’t make things easy for me when it comes to discovering them,’ she understood, looking back to Bai Hao as he was about to continue.

‘From Greater Stability, in which a superior structure is formed, a cultivator will proceed to the Weapon Condensation realm, permitting them to form their structure into a weapon. An uncouth behaviour, really, for in the other side of the prison realm, any contests that are fought with strength simply utilise a superior method of combat, wherein two combatants stand opposite one another and release their spiritual wills in spheres, extending them until they come into contact. Whoever is able to push the other’s spiritual will until the edge touches their opponents skin wins, and no blood needs be shed,’ said the man in white, the image matching his description appearing beside him, ‘Even then, most of the time, battle is entirely unneeded.’

“While that is certainly an interesting place, and one I wouldn’t be against experiencing, I get a certain impression that the answer to one of my previous inquiries would be that spiritual will is vastly inferior in combat to killing intent, even if it is just due to the inability of the wielder. Is that why you were stuck for such a long time?”

‘Listen, we have different pursuits in mind! For someone to be concerned only with battle suggests that they are mentally unstable!’

“Sure. I mean, I can agree with you there, but sending someone untrained in combat into a place focused on it is one of the worst decisions you could make without outright feeding yourself poison in the hope that it somehow heals you instead,” Wei Yi replied, shrugging, “Anyway, fifth realm?”

‘Balanced Being, that is what the fifth realm is called. By fusing the spiritual will with the body, a Mark of Balance can be created, empowering the cultivator. This realm, too, is similar to the equivalent killing intent realm, except the manifestation of spiritual will that can be condensed into armour is naturally far less excessively spike-filled and otherwise hideous to behold and far less inconvenient in the vast majority of situations.’

“Being too particular about appearances can be rather unhelpful, Bai Hao. Is your side also limited to the fifth realm, or do you have some kind of sixth realm as well?”

‘Our researchers have compiled names for all nine potential realms, though that is all they have. From the sixth onwards, they would be Purified Flesh, Condensed Lens, Heavenly Light and Everlasting Heaven. It is said that planar cultivation had this many realms at its peak, and so it would make sense to have this many realms within other forms of cultivation as well.’

Wei Yi nodded, “That would make sense, so long as there were no further realms to planar cultivation. Perhaps the stories shared on your side are different, but Yi City often believes that the Master of Yi City had gone beyond the ninth realm, meaning that it would not be unwise to have a few more names.”

‘Then you can speak to the philosophers and researchers on this topic, if you believe this to be a significant possibility,’ Bai Hao replied, ‘As much as I would be interested in doing the same, I can do no such thing unless you can somehow give me physical form once again. At that point, I could even pass on all of my techniques to you, as their value would be insignificant to someone capable of bringing someone back to life.’

“I will naturally do both things if I can, as I suspect that resurrection would give an extreme edge over the Greats, unless they have some ability to do that too. Anyway, how did you cross the storm wall?”

‘You were waiting to ask that question, weren’t you? I can answer the question, but using the same method from this side might be a little difficult-’

“That’ll be for me and the rest of Beast’s Rest to handle, so hurry up.”

‘Both sides of the prison realm have their own sets of storm walls, and while the killing intent crimson storm walls are hostile and incredibly difficult to breach, the spiritual will white storm wall is calm and ordered. With the same techniques as are used in our one-on-one battles, it is possible to enter the storm wall and then use its power to force the opposite crimson wall open as well, passing through safely,’ explained the man in white, the image of this act appearing beside him, ‘From here, it is possible to work together with the spiritual will side to create a small gap in the crimson storm wall and then navigate the white storm wall yourself. However, it is never safe to enter through the middle of the storm walls, no matter which realm you are in.’

“Why is that? Is it like some sort of storm, where it becomes more powerful the closer you get to the centre?”

‘Actually, that’s the exact reason for it. The centre of the storm walls contains an immense hurricane of killing intent and spiritual will, and it is complete suicide to enter it. Several talented people were lost within due to our inexperience at the time,’ he sighed, ‘That is from before my time, however.’

“Hurricane… Interesting. Now, do tell me how to cultivate spiritual will.”