Path of the Ascendant

The elderly master blacksmith only allowed her to leave in the late evening, when she had thoroughly demonstrated the process of creating a few basic pieces of metal armour and got Yi Wei to attempt it. Her final item was greatly superior to the first, but Ning Guanting also deemed it a failure and tossed it out alongside her.

Luckily, she found herself within close proximity of the streets of Yi City that were filled to the brim with all sorts of combat arenas, rings and underground coliseums, and she was also within close proximity of an empty alleyway, where she would have no risk of running into another expert.

She removed the scrap armour and dusty robe from her bag, ‘Looking at this stuff with my new knowledge, I can see why this was sold for so little. Even if I repaired the sword or the armour, it would break apart at the lightest touch. Still, this gives me a good opportunity to test whether my planar energy is generally harmful to weapons and armour, or if it was something about the low-grade artefact that caused it to react with my energy.’

Naturally, as someone in the Energy Condensation realm, Yi Wei had no ability to send her planar energy into the air, and even if she could, it would dissipate too quickly for her to find any use for it. However, even if the broken blade wasn’t specifically designed to conduct planar energy, like talisman ink and array nodes typically were, nothing stopped her from holding onto the blade and channelling her power into it.

As soon as the first wisp of purple energy collided with the blade, a large crack formed within the metal, prompting her to send her planar energy back into her dantian.

‘Tsk… something about this entire profession doesn’t mesh with me. It looks like I have no chance of using weapons, unless I discover an ancient weapon of the Master of Yi City,’ she considered, ‘I bet that even his kitchen knives were superior to the greatest items made by the current leaders of the world, so they must be able to take this strange energy.’

Before the sword broke any further, she hid it below her robe, put on a simple black mask, gloves, and covered her arms and legs with a few ancient pieces of armour. She completed this by putting on a pair of boots with a lot of padding at the bottom to raise her height by one and a half inches.

She was able to get used to them by means of a few circles around the alleyway. Once she knew that she wouldn’t trip over herself if she tried anything, Yi Wei went out and approached a large noticeboard that a few other similarly shady people stood around. It was covered with numerous announcements, requests and notices to and about the various businesses in the area.

They ranged from common notices regarding upcoming events, or the visits of important individuals, to job notices for fighters, cleaners and builders, and even included the occasional odd and overly specific request and warning, which Yi Wei ignored as she felt that they were clearly not for her.

‘Currently, there are empty spots in Lin’s Battle Centre, Deadly Martial Colosseum, Elemental Hall of Variety, Emporium of Animalistic Destruction and Violence and the Cavern of Destruction… Looking at this, perhaps my idea to call my cultivation technique ‘Mysterious Characters’ isn’t so bad after all,’ she sighed internally while maintaining calmness on the outside. ‘It seems that they all offer different methods of payment. Lin’s Battle Centre would pay in silver coins, the Emporium- the EADV would give access to their cultivation chamber. Frankly, with my knowledge of three different professions and an insane cultivation speed, I don’t need either of those things, but technique manuals… the Deadly Martial Colosseum offers manuals!’

Immediately, her eyes descended to the direction to the arena, and she left, breaking away from the cloaked, mask-wearing crowd. No-one spared her a second glance.

Her journey took her a few minutes, and she didn’t have to wonder whether she had found the right place. The Deadly Martial Colosseum was an enormous courtyard, with its front walls occupying as much space as four dozen instances of Luo Xiuying’s shop put together, and there was a short queue at the front gates, where nine similar robed and masked figures stood.

Each member of the line was silent, so Yi Wei followed their lead and took her place at the end of the line.

It proceeded slowly, each figure going in one by one, with some exiting not too long after, and others remaining within. Eventually, it came to be her turn, and the very sight of her caused the man at the door to sigh.

“Another young master… Couldn’t you go to any other shop?” he muttered, likely thinking that Yi Wei wouldn’t be able to hear him, “So, what do you want to call yourself?”

‘Young master? Does he think I’m… are they really that… well, might as well take advantage of this,’ she considered the matter with a glance down at her chest for a few moments before answering, intentionally lowering her voice to make it seem less feminine, “Da Gang. I am Da Gang.”

“Sure you are,” the man responded, quickly writing her name down on a small piece of paper that he then gave to her, “When I tell you to go inside, do so, and follow the central path into the pagoda. On each floor, you will have a task. Based on how well you do, we’ll determine your initial placement. Before that, though, you will have to answer a few questions, but you can do that at any empty desk.”

Yi Wei nodded, and waited patiently to be allowed inside.

Several minutes later, one of the previous masked figures exited, and she was allowed to enter. Within were a number of paths leading from the gates, and they lead to various buildings, with guards standing outside each one. As instructed, she followed the central path, arriving within a small fenced off area which contained ten tables with chairs on either side. Nine were occupied, so Yi Wei sat down on the only empty chair that faced a woman in a white robe, with the characters for ‘Deadly Martial Colosseum’ drawn on the front.

The woman had a wide smile on her face, even when Yi Wei’s eyes involuntarily drifted down to her very pronounced chest. She realised her loss of attention quickly and looked around before taking a seat. As it turned out, the other four employees of the Colosseum were also female, and the other four masked figures were also enraptured by some aspect of their body.

‘Damn, either they are using some sort of charming skill, or their features are sufficient to transcend the boundaries of gender,’ she thought, fixing her gaze on the woman’s face.

“So, have you come to apply for a position here?” the woman asked, her voice no less beautiful than the rest of her features, “Could you hand your big sister Lin the paper given to you at the gate?”

Yi Wei complied, though she couldn’t stop herself from muttering in her mind, ‘What big sister?’

“Ah, so it is Da Gang. Your big sister will just ask you a few questions, and then you can enter the pagoda. Firstly, are you here to kill yourself?”

“H-Huh?” she stuttered, nearly forgetting to lower her voice, “What are you talking about?”

“Brother Da, you have such a wonderful voice,” the woman giggled, choosing to explain the matter only once she was finished, “Some people aren’t particularly satisfied with their lives, and choose combat as their method of ending it. If that is your intention, our Deadly Martial Colosseum wishes to know of it, so that we can arrange it without much trouble for ourselves.”

Yi Wei nodded, “I have no such intention.”

“That’s excellent, Brother Da. Big sis Lin would hate to never hear your voice again. Which realm would you like to fight in?”

“Energy Condensation.”

“That’s excellent. Our establishment was in great need of warriors at your level. Final question, Bro Da, and perhaps the most important for you – you’ve come for the combat techniques, right? We can give you one part of a Planar Pool-grade technique per victory, but which element do you practise? What sorts of techniques do you want?”

‘She’s not actually intending to join my family, is she?’ she thought, “I will have no qualms with receiving whichever techniques you have available, regardless of the element. However, I have no interest in techniques reliant on weapons. If they can be executed at full strength without them, then I’ll take them, too.”

“You’re an interesting one, Brother Da,” her ‘big sister’ giggled again, “I wonder, are you overambitious, or just confident? Never mind that, it’s none of my business. Feel free to enter the pagoda. There are ten floors, and if you get past the third, you will be hired, and your exact payment rates can be examined again. Otherwise…”

The woman didn’t finish her sentence, just continuing to smile. Taking this to be the end of the conversation, Yi Wei stood up, bowed slightly, and returned onto the central path, walking slowly as to attempt to eavesdrop on the other robed men.

Unfortunately, she did not hear anything of interest by the time she reached the pagoda’s doors, so she stepped inside. As she crossed the threshold, she felt a powerful wind wash over her, and when she was able to raise her head, she found herself within a dark void, with only the pagoda’s floor still remaining below her.

‘An illusory array! Considering the fact that I couldn’t detect it before entering it, the array must be a five-star, at least,’ she exclaimed, raising her guard slightly. Even if she was far stronger than anyone else on her stage, Yi Wei had no ability to deal with arrays created by those in the Marked Core realm, and if they were used to attack her, she would have no chance unless another miracle occurred, like the time her mysterious characters consumed the rogue flame planar energy in her body.

She did not have to wait long before the void changed. A simple figure, without a face or any clear features, stepped out from the darkness, seemingly made purely from fluid light. It bowed and raised its fists.

From the inky sky, a voice descended, “First floor, first stage: defeat an enemy of a lower level.”

Since it was guaranteed that someone operating the array was watching her, she changed her planar energy into earth and stabilised it in that condition, just in case she panicked during any of the following trials. A surprisingly large number of palm techniques within the technique library were of the earth element, so if she had to demonstrate her strength, earth-type energy would be most appropriate.

Seemingly reacting to her inaction, the figure sprinted forward, lunging right at her face. Just before the glowing fist reached her, Yi Wei punched its ambiguous chest.

It dissipated in a single strike, even though she didn’t use a technique.

“Stage complete: Third stage opponent defeated. Second stage: defeat an enemy of a middle level.”

‘Well, that wasn’t too difficult. If the rest of these are this easy, I might get to the top,’ she thought, waiting for the new light figure to appear.

As soon as it had a chance to bow, she struck it with her palm, using the combined intent of every palm technique at a low level. The figure flickered, and shattered once again, prompting the voice to return.

 

Far below the earth, in a small, special chamber belonging to the Deadly Martial Colosseum, there was an androgynous figure staring into a small pool of water, which somehow reflected the scene of the first floor of the pagoda. Their face, which had been stiff from not moving for many years, slowly changed as they saw more and more.

“Even though he is in the fifth stage, he can defeat an illusion in the third with one strike…” they mumbled, raising a single droplet of water with a wave of their finger, the reflection of which changed into her palm strike, “The concentrated intent within that attack… Perhaps he can do as my ancestors wished…”

The third figure appeared, and Yi Wei struck immediately, not even letting it bow. The androgynous being smirked for an instant, before calming themselves.

This palm was different from her last. It did not contain an uncertain mixture of techniques and skills but concentrated them all into a single movement that the being recognised immediately. They gasped, for the palm was neither well mastered nor weak, showing more strength than it might have done had a typical cultivator reached Full Success.

“Boulder Pushing Palm… without reaching Initial Accomplishment? In that case… inscription… he might be able to master inscription…”

 

“Stage complete: Ninth stage opponent defeated. Optional stage: defeat an enemy of Planar Pool, first stage,” the voice from above spoke out once more, just as the third opponent began to collapse.

‘Well, this is a good opportunity to see whether my advantages are able to breach the gap between realms,’ Yi Wei thought, but a great deal of pressure suddenly pressed down on her.

The voice returned, but it was slightly different, “Due to success in previous stages, applying additional modifier: enhanced gravity, 1.5x.”

“Oi, aren’t you supposed to reward me for doing well?” she spoke up with a lowered tone, trying to act more like a foolish young master while secretly being happy inside, ‘One of the things needed to advance my Condensed Formation Body is a significant amount of pressure, and I’ve noticed that my planar essence is able to remake injured parts of my body slightly quicker than healthy ones, so this is everything I could wish for.’

That second voice was unaware of her inner thoughts, and responded, “Through greater pressure, you will reinforce your cultivation. So long as you persevere, this will prove to be a reward many times more valuable than a simple technique.”

As if it didn’t want to give Y Wei another opportunity to speak, the fourth figure came out from the darkness. It was much like the others, except it was more solid, and had a clear spherical pool within its abdomen.

Even though it simply stood in place, the pressure it gave off was obvious, especially when it was combined with the heightened gravity.

‘A singe stage of the Planar Pool realm is equivalent to ten stages of the Energy Condensation, which isn’t even possible for most people…’ she observed, before straightening her posture, ‘However, I’ve handled something similar when breaking through to the second stage. Pressure alone won’t stop me.’

Having bowed, the figure didn’t wait, thrust one leg back and placed one hand on its chest. A small stream of white energy flowed out of its illusory dantian and wrapped around her hand and body just as Yi Wei’s palm reached it, with earth planar energy surging through it.

‘Drying Sands Strike!’

Her skin and the figure’s soft planar energy collided… and the latter shattered with a deafening sound. The next second, what remained of the energy exploded, pushing Yi Wei back while giving the figure the opportunity to retreat. Briefly, she used her spiritual will to inspect her palm. To her surprise, her skin was all but gone, revealing the red flesh underneath, with the glove keeping that sight hidden.

Biting her lip, she coursed some planar energy through her right hand to heal the injury while assessing the state of her opponent.

Apparently, this simple defence was quite costly to its supply of energy, as a third of the pool was gone, and although the defensive ability returned, it was clearly weaker than before. Perhaps the figure noticed Yi Wei’s predatory gaze, as it placed a second hand on its chest, strengthening the barrier around itself.

Seeing that the figure decided to double down on defence, she shut her eyes and focused on the hundreds of techniques within her head. Although she was able to breach the entity’s shield, she was only able to do so upon channelling her planar energy into her palm and spending an immense quantity of energy on the concentrated execution of the Drying Sands Strike, which was a skill intentionally designed to breach defences.

Now that the figure’s invested of power into its protection was doubled, a second or third attack of the same nature would just waste her own energy and give the figure a chance to retaliate. Thus, she needed something greater than that.

Naturally, her thoughts went straight to her Condensed Formation Body. When she had created it, just the Initial Accomplishment doubled her power, and if she wanted to defeat someone in the Planar Pool realm, she would need to rely on a similar phenomenon.

‘It seems like my only choice, if I want to win this, is to complete my very own palm technique this very instant,’ Yi Wei frowned, desperately going through every skill she had studied today trying to pick out the best parts of each, when she saw the figure lower its defences and charge forward, channelling planar energy into both hands, clearly about to execute a technique.

‘Now!’

She leapt up and raised her palm above her head, coursing her energy through her secondary meridians, attempting to bring all of that knowledge together to condense it into a new technique.

As she pressed her palm down, Yi Wei prayed to the heavens to raise her success, even if it was just by a little bit. All of a sudden, the nonsensical mess within her head came together, and the many lines united into two words.

‘Elysian Palm!’

The planar energy within her ignited, emitting such a bright glow that it pierced through the darkness of the illusory formation. It concentrated within her hand, and then, a miracle occurred.

Sparks of light burst into being, wrapping around her palm.

 

“This is-“

 

‘This is!’ Yi Wei exclaimed in her mind.

 

“External force!” the genderless figure sprung up, exclaiming at the top of their lungs.

 

Yi Wei’s palm, wreathed in heavenly flame, crashed down upon the illusory entity. It breached the being’s hastily created shield and crushed it with a force so great that it destroyed it in a single instant, with the aftershock landing upon the pagoda’s floor.

The wood shattered and fractured, the cracks rapidly spreading in a circle with a radius that was twice Yi Wei’s height.

“Optional stage complete: First stage Planar Pool opponent defeated. Due to success in previous stage, applying additional modifiers: enhanced gravity, 2x, greater pressure, 2x.”

 

“That palm! It harnessed external force! At the Energy Condensation realm!” the being repeated once more, staring in shock while Yi Wei proceeded up the steps to the next floor of the pagoda, “Impossible! This should be impossible! By the Master of Yi City, that sort of thing… Oh no! He-”

“So that’s who you’re spying on this time, Great Dark.”

The figure turned around to find an almost identical being standing behind them, except the latter character had lighter skin and hair.

“Great Light... Don’t you dare kill another bright talent!”

“What are you saying, Great Dark? I’ll just test this so-called ‘bright talent’, who dares to show off in our Deadly Martial Hall!” Great Light replied, and thrust their arm upward, causing a thick stream of earthen energy to burst through the ceiling.

“No!”

 

Meanwhile, Yi Wei was ascending the steps to the second floor when she felt a familiar, unpleasant sensation. For whatever reason, it reminded her of the time she was nearly killed by a failed talisman-

“Not agai-”

She was unable to finish her sentence before a large cluster of earth burst through the stairs, and then broke right through her cloak, shirt and skin, and speared right into her abdomen. However, just as it began to eat through her body, her mysterious characters sprung into action once more. They formed a great mouth and flew out of her dantian, coming down upon the earthen energy and consuming it in an instant. For a moment, the characters lit up with a brown light, then calmed down once more, returning into the description of a technique for passing into the fourth stage.

And yet, her planar energy was different from before. Whatever the energy touched became tougher, stronger and mightier, turning skin to hardened earth and bone to stone, even though her physical appearance remained unchanged.

‘Does… does this mean that my planar energy isn’t even complete, so to speak? Is it capable of doing more than just enhancing my body? If I am able to absorb energy of all elements, would I become invincible?’ she pondered, but shook her head when she comprehended that it wasn’t the best time to think about this, ‘Whatever. I don’t know if my mysterious characters will repeat this on a type of energy they have already consumed, so I should hurry up before I get attacked again.’

 

“Eh? What? Did I use an illusion instead of my actual energy?” Great Light mumbled, scratching their head, “Should I-”

“Enough, Great Light! That person is a genius… and shouldn’t be slain just because of your personal grudges!”

“Ugh… You bastard. I will leave him alone if he studies under us equally, but if you even dare to tell him who tried to kill him, I’m finishing the job!”

Great Dark shook his head while grumbling, but eventually agreed, “Fine. It isn’t even set in stone… so wait for him to get through the other floors.”

“What’s the point? The ability to use external force is enough to shatter the entire pagoda, given that it’s on a low setting, with enough effort, so he’s bound to clear it,” Great Light argued.

The other figure remained silent for a long time, so Great Light sighed and sat down on the other side of the pond and also stared into it.

 

Once she arrived on the second floor, the darkness returned.

“Second floor: cultivation test. Cultivate for two hours to demonstrate proficiency.”

‘Really? Well, if you’re sure…’ Yi Wei smiled and sat down, her spiritual will following each individual character in her dantian.

The darkness around her quaked, and a storm of planar energy stormed towards her.

 

“What is that? Isn’t he in the fifth stage?”

“Why is his rate of absorption equal to someone in the upper Planar Pool realm?”

Great Dark and Great Light said to one another, feeling the quivering of the Illusory World Array all the way down in the ground. The high draw of planar energy was obvious even all the way down there, and it all crashed onto Yi Wei without any protection whatsoever.

 

Unlike the last time she cultivated, just a single pass of her planar energy made her body much more resilient, allowing her to survive this quantity of energy without much difficulty.

It surged into her, seemingly shaking the entire illusory world with each wave.

In just nine seconds, her dantian was filled to the brim, and the next moment, it overflowed. With the sound of thunder, her mist of planar energy burst outward, flooding through her body before collapsing back in. Before it could settle, it erupted yet again, and this time, her planar energy reached an inch outside her body, momentarily covering her in an astral aura.

 

“Seventh stage? How did he just reach seventh stage? What is happening?” Great Light couldn’t decide whether they wanted to shout or cry, resulting in a strange combination of the two.

“Amazing…”

 

When Yi Wei opened her eyes after her planar energy settled down, she found that parts of the illusion around her had collapsed, leaving behind a blank white space that started and ended abruptly amidst the darkness.

“Second floor complete: cultivation threshold exceeded. Due to success, applying additional modifiers: enhanced gravity, 2.5x, greater pressure, 2.5x, decreased surrounding planar energy quantity, 0.2x.”

“Please proceed to the third floor.”