Path of the Ascendant

From the histories of some of the districts, it was possible to guess at where Primordial Deities had previously resided, and where they would emerge upon their escape from the barrier that Kong Shi Meng had set up, and that the Leeches had kept going since his disappearance.

For example, the Bao District had a certain connection to the earth, for it was the district of gems, and by far the richest spot for obtaining them, regardless of colour, shape or value. The fact that Primordial Earth had appeared there was, perhaps, only natural, even if the Ascendant had only come across traces of that ancient thing. The Wu District had remnants of the weapon used by the Master of Yi City to imprison Primordial Invader, so it was also clear that the Primordial Deity would be found there once more as soon as it emerged.

Primordial Inferno would obvious reside in a place of heat and perpetual flames, which suited the north, and Primordial Nature would obviously reside in a place that had an immense focus on nature, flora and fauna that was significantly more lush than in most of the Planar Continents. There could only be one place that fit that description, and that is where Wei Yi was right now.

The Chu District was not yet harmed, but the north-eastern edges of the district were engulfed with waves of green light, which immediately sank into anything living if it came into contact with it. Saplings sprouted in instants, trees grew by a dozen metres in a matter of seconds, vines and mosses spread across all things that had not yet been covered by them. Beasts grew in size and obtained strange features and mutations, with most gaining limbs, eyes and layers of tough skin, fur or scales.

All of the medicinal herbs also changed in strange ways, with the least concerning transformation being a similar increase in size to everything else, while the strangest turned a rather ordinary red medicinal flowed into a writhing thing akin to a hungry nest.

Every wave emerged from a point outside the borders, where a mass of foliage condensed a bulb the size of a mansion. Every part wriggled and undulated in a manner that was sickening to behold, and the combination of all kinds of textures and shapes certainly didn’t assist those with weak stomachs and inabilities to handle certain sights. For the Ascendant, however, the thing to note was the thing inside, the aura of which was clearly in the eighth realm. Furthermore, this Primordial Deity looked to be in the upper stages, for the aura from the north which unleashed it was far inferior in every way imaginable.

In normal circumstances, the Primordial Deity would need to emerge in order to be truly dangerous to anyone, but what all of them possessed was the ability to influence and change the world according to their element and nature. Primordial Nature represented the element of wood, and thus all life was influenced by it, and things with less intellect than men were rapidly altered into its minions.

Humans could also be changed, but historical records stated that this required either prolonged exposure or deliberate submission to the Primordial Deity. Simply getting caught once or twice by the waves of altering power wouldn’t affect even someone with no cultivation at all. Dragons, phoenixes and qilins were also safe, for their natural state was significantly stronger than that of humans. Perhaps if they took the initiative to submit to the Primordial Deity and be changed, there would be some effect, but nothing of the sort was recorded.

Back on the topic of beasts being transformed, such a phenomenon caught numerous creatures that had been staying near the north-east side of the Chu District, and now most were effectively in the fifth or sixth realm of power just from standing near the Primordial Deity’s position. All now rushed to them.

A sieging force of beasts and even moving plants and trees was already frightening to many guards, and their power lacked in comparison to the threat, forcing the Ascendant and the Chu Patriarch to personally stand at the walls and protect this land. The other Patriarchs and Matriarchs were ready to assist them, but they currently remained in their own districts to prevent any other Primordial Deity from catching them off guard.

“The Primordial Deity… It is turning all before us into its own territory just with its presence…” the Chu Patriarch sighed.

“I’m not certain that’s quite how it works. Rather, the contained power of Primordial Nature has emerged, and it will conquer a certain territory with ease before needing more effort to take on other areas. Otherwise, the days prior to Kong Shi Meng’s life would have lacked any lands where these ancient things did not reign.”

“That is true. I would ask whether we could decipher their methods, but…”

“No certainty of winning, unfortunately. Still, I had made a promise, and you had assisted me, so you have no right to complain now.”

“Although I might wish to do so, this threat had been faced by Yi City when it was first founded. If we are unable to address it on our own, now, with our lands united, our people brimming with your insights, and with all kinds of plans made specifically to address this inevitability, then what right do we have to be Patriarchs or Matriarchs of our districts? As the Wu Matriarch, I hope that you are able to understand this sentiment.”

“I don’t need to be a Matriarch to understand a single thing… speaking of which, I need to give my position over to someone else now that I am effectively Master of Yi City,” Wei Yi muttered to herself, looking out to the wilds outside the wall, “The next wave will be here soon. Focus.”

Although she said that, she was rather distracted by her attempts to decipher not only the exact nature of the waves emanating from the green bulb of Primordial Nature, but also the form of their cultivation and methods to resolve the consequences of their reappearance in the world. When she had managed to deal with Primordial Earth’s fragment, or whatever it was, she had accidentally absorbed some of its power to the extent that it remained within her to this day, allowing her to use the grey dust form of energy whenever, and she wanted to repeat that.

Having the ability to absorb even a portion of the energy released by the Primordial Deities would make it extremely simple for her to benefit from their appearance, clean the area that they infect and influence, and also limit their own power to a certain extent. Even if she could only take one millionth of what the Primordial Deities had during an encounter, that would still leave them just a little weaker.

Barring the ideal outcome, simply understanding what Primordial Nature did and how it did so would leave her and all of the forces on her side with more opportunities to comprehend how to oppose any of its actions. For instance, her current knowledge of how the flora and fauna was transformed permitted her to have a clue of how others things that were not yet touched would change, and what their strengths and weaknesses would be. With that, determining the proper method of ending the lives of that which she could not save, and limiting the transformation of what which she could, would be feasible for her and for anyone with the right abilities and techniques to perform the same methods as her own.

For now, though, she could handle the incoming foes with naught but force, and so she did exactly that alongside the Patriarch of the Chu District. She summoned the Titanic Conqueror and left it to barrage the ever-growing wilds with Obliteration energy, taking additional care with some of the tougher beasts in the form of summoned planar constructs of artefacts that she then lobbed at the enemy before they could explode.

The Chu Patriarch had a slightly less destructive approach, creating a vast tree of wood-type planar energy behind himself that rapidly manifested and then fired small needles at the invading forces. These needles were small enough to be unable to harm most men even with a great deal of force, but when they pierced the enemy, a series of vines suddenly exploded out, completely destroying all of the internal components of the things these needles pierced. Although Wei Yi copied the technique immediately, she had the feeling that this couldn’t go on for very long – and she was right.

Ultimately, a Primordial Deity was an entity with an innate and immense connection to some form of matter, energy or state of reality. Perhaps they possessed knowledge or sheer innate insight into Dao, or perhaps the effect was replicated through a different method, but they had as much control over their affinity as Wei Yi had over the Dao of Obliteration or Dao of Law.

As a result, attempting to employ the power of the wood element against Primordial Nature, a thing which might as well be the physical manifestation of the element, was a lacking strategy.

She didn’t say anything right away as she wanted to get a better grasp of the Primordial Deity’s current state based on its response to these attacks, as she suspected that she might be able to detect exactly when it truly manifests within the world as soon as these needles either fail to act as usual, or are used against the forces of Yi City. In the Primordial Deity’s current state, it was nearly impossible to tell what it was doing, or what state it was in, as the bulb that contained it was dense enough to completely overcome any senses that might be employed to peer through it and discern the state of that which was occurring within.

The Chu Patriarch had to have some understanding of this matter, for few could be so oblivious as to not realise the flaws in using a small spark against a great blaze, or a stick against a behemoth of a tree, but he did not stop, only increase the number of planar constructs.

Some continued to use needles, others launched exploding nuts or slow leaves that spread out a toxic mist throughout the battlefield. Altogether, they made the inside of the Chu District seem almost as wild and overgrown as the outside was beginning to be, and that made them both concerned about the potential power of Primordial Nature. If a relatively normal man could manifest such a garden, what kind of wild land would a Primordial Deity conjure?

The answer was given far earlier than any of them would have liked, for a sudden wave from the Primordial Deity’s bulb hit the planar construct trees and stole them from the control of the Chu Patriarch, instantly leading them to recover their projectiles, grow to double the size, and launch anything and everything they had towards the Ascendant and the Patriarch.

“What tools these mortals have taken for themselves. Shall I unleash the hounds upon your feeble walls, or simply show you how earthen construction falls before life’s endless power?” a voice emerged from the bulb, which opened slowly to reveal a humanoid figure within it.

The figure rose from kneeling on one leg and revealed its full height, a size roughly equivalent to ten men standing atop one another’s shoulders. It had a large body, similarly to a body cultivator that brimmed with muscle, but the closest thing to skin on this entity was a dark green moss atop rough brown bark, the latter resembling the musculature of a human only vaguely. A series of furs covered this entity, one draped on its left shoulder, another tied around its waist, and one tied around its neck in a manner resembling a cape or cloak. Taking only this into consideration, it almost appeared humanoid, like a man with a mutated physique and very odd choices in which techniques to cultivate.

However, the twisted face betrayed that impression entirely. Akin to the Fashionable Gentleman, it had jagged teeth made of thick spines and needles, and in place of one eye there were a thousand small black orbs that constantly shifted and twitched, while the other hole within its unseen skull was filled with vines that grew over the rest of its face, covering nearly half of it entirely and obscuring another quarter.

“Primordial Nature.”

“You have a filthy aura, mortal thing. It must be purged from my domain!”

“I-I can’t dispel the planar constructs!” the Chu Patriarch exclaimed, for although they both evaded the first barrage from his defensive measures, they were clearly able to strike once more far too quickly for them to handle both the planar constructs and the Primordial Deity.

“They are the least of our problems!” Wei Yi replied, slashing with Moon Splitter.

A single strike sent a wave of energy, mixing her various techniques together, that cut through the planar constructs with ease, Elysian light damaging them while Obliteration energy ensured that they could not recover. They might have been stolen from Chu Su by Primordial Nature, but they were still very similar in structure, and Wei Yi had plenty of time to analyse them and find their weaknesses.

Even then, they could hardly relax and focus on Primordial Nature alone. While she attacked, the Primordial Deity raised one of its thick arms and an open hand, from which another wave of energy and vitality surged out. It touched a large pack of beasts that had not yet made their way to the Chu District and changed them in an instant. Every one of them lost an eye – with most retaining dozens more due to their transformations – and had roots and vines grow out from the bleeding wound, covering their bodies as they swelled and expanded in every proportion. Just before their growth became too much for their body to handle, the vines would apply one layer to stabilise their form, and the roots would form another once the peak of their size was reached.

Thus, some wolves that had been no larger than a man now were nearly as large as Primordial Nature itself, with dozens of limbs, claws, jaws filled to the brim with teeth, additional eyes and mouths, and even features from other beasts or flora.

All of them rushed straight towards the walls without any care for their own stability.

“Focus on them!” Wei Yi commanded, ancestral totems appearing around her to flood her portion of the wall with entities that gathered Obliteration energy between their hands.

The Chu Patriarch also drew upon his power and made a more abstract construct of wood-type energy, fearing that making anything akin to his previous constructs would result in Primordial Nature stealing them from him just as easily. After a breath in which even the slowest of transformed beasts were nearly upon the walls, they both launched their attacks.

‘Wood is the element of life. Just as earth encompasses all that is a part of the world without the constant beat of life, and fire occupies all that which moves regardless of the reason, wood is present within flora and fauna to a great extent. A normal cultivator could influence such things via techniques, but that is due to their inability to harness the natural energy of the world without refining it,’ Wei Yi recalled as she saw the Primordial Deity’s eye-vines twitch in the distance, ‘But a Primordial Deity can control far more than men or ancient beasts. Thus, just like we can use planar constructs…’

Provided that the beasts had continued on the same path, with the same speed, their every attack would have hit with ease, and perhaps they would have succeeded in removing some of the threats, but at the last moment every beast suddenly dodged and moved in manners possible only due to their excessive number of limbs. Furthermore, they did so with clear traces of technique and skill, advancing forth just as much as if they hadn’t been interrupted, while also shifting positions and kicking up great quantities of dust and dirt to obfuscate their perception. Each one was surrounded by traces of wood-type planar energy, the glow of which only grew brighter as they advanced.

‘A beast is as easy to manipulate as a beast-like planar construct. In this way, could Primordial Invader make use of otherworldly gifts, or is the notion of invasion somehow different?’ the Ascendant felt curious, but she knew that she couldn’t pursue this matter in the moment.

Instead, she combined the spare Obliteration power from the totems and merged it into the sphere conjured by her Titanic Conqueror, focusing it all into a beam into the sky as to perform the widest bombardment that she could possibly hope for. It had less of a chance to kill many incoming beasts, but it would at the very least weaken them and possibly disperse the method that elevated their power by destroying some of the vines or roots upon their bodies.

The blackened crimson surged and then fell, crashing into the ground with enough force to quake the ground and open massive rifts within the ground, from which the earth’s dormant heat surged in a burst of steam and heat. Something definitely burned beneath that crashing beam, and she could detect the loss of several powerful lives beneath it, but for every one loss, she knew that there would be a thousand left.

Just like she expected, a moment later she felt the wall beneath her shake and promptly used her fourth realm movement method to appear beside Chu Su, grabbed shoulder, and moved both of them back and into the air, as to guarantee safety from ground-based entities.

Everything left of the wall was completely destroyed the moment after. Green and wood-brown light exploded at certain spots, where some of the creatures detonated themselves for the sake of effectively breaching their defences, and others managed to tear into the walls with their enormous limbs and rip them as easily as they might rip a sheet of paper. Some trees grew right beneath the stone of the walls and finished the job, removing what rubble remained and opening up an easy path for everything that still remained.

It was an absolute devastation of the Chu District’s walls, and all it took was a few seconds.

“It seems the mortal things still lack the capacity to endure the hunt! Such mistakes can only be made by those who failed to learn nature’s lessons.”

“Just to be sure, you hear it too, right? That noise of wood rubbing against wood that creates a voice?”

“I can, but… What do we do?” Chu Su swiftly changed topics, his eyes locked on the distant figure of the Primordial Deity, fear and anxiety obvious within his expression, “If we cannot even slay his influenced entities, then do we even have the ability to fight the monster itself?”

“Mortal things have always been most suited to be prey, rather than the hunters of the wild.”

“Shut your fucking mouth, you vile infection!” Wei Yi exclaimed, drawing upon her killing will to amplify her voice and empower her strength as she stared straight towards that thing with a very different expression, “That’s what the Primordial Deities seem to be, in my eyes. Things that reside in the world and twist it into all kinds of shapes that it should never take.”

“When you know so little, mortal thing, ought you not shut those lips? During a hunt, a single pause can bring your death,

” Primordial Nature almost seemed to smile as it looked behind the Ascendant.

If that hadn’t been enough of a clue, Wei Yi had already detected that it was drawing upon the world’s energy and influencing both the flora and fauna in her surroundings. Even Chu Su was targeted by some of the energy, although it was clear that it could not flood into someone’s mind and body any quicker than it had in the Bao District incident. Oddly, she was the only thing that was not touched at all, and she could hardly tell whether this was deliberate.

Still, knowing that something would appear didn’t mean that it would be easy to handle, and so she had to shift the Chu Patriarch’s position away before rising even further up, moments away from a colossal thing of plant matter and bark to burst through the ground and attempt to grab her.

With a dozen thousand tendrils, limbs and whatever else it had, this thing couldn’t be compared to anything in the natural world, nor would any comparison even have the hope of truly representing the sheer madness that one would need to suffer through in order to imagine such a thing. Thus, she could do nothing more than blast it with as many railgun bolts as could be conjured above it, filling each and every one to the brim with so much Obliteration energy that they were ready to explode before she also added a series of artefact channels into all of them.

Their fall was marked by the usual noise of a released bolt, but the collision manifested a shockwave so powerful that it managed to hurt even her own ears, not to mention the ears of the nearby Patriarch. The district’s walls were also hit, but only the parts that were already broken, and the houses over to the south-west were already emptied in preparation, so none were hurt.

In this manner, the thing was torn to shreds, most limbs and tendrils being left on the ground after the impacts, but the faint breath of vitality remained within the thing, as it twitched still.

“So this mortal thing has the tools of the hunt! Nevertheless, prey is prey, even if its flailing prior to death may slay a predator. Your flesh shall feed the greatest of hunters in my domain!” Primordial Nature announced with a sound resembling laughter, stepping towards the Chu District as it did so.

A single step somehow brought it right next to the walls, and the next might very well have left it standing right next to the Ascendant’s flying figure, but she knew that she couldn’t let that thing get within the district’s walls and harm the foundation of the Chu District any further. Once it was inside, its influence would undoubtedly spread, and it would be far more difficult to push it out once this happened. Furthermore, she simply didn’t want a fight to end with a complete loss on her part, even if she found that she lacked the ability to truly injure the entity before her. In part, that was due to her pride, and also because a failure here would essentially guarantee a loss by the end of the war.

She instantly shifted her position to the walls, blocking the Primordial Deity’s advance, and swung her Moon Splitter in an expanded state, making all of the shards fly far apart from one another as to make the blade large enough to match her opponent’s size. With Obliteration energy flowing between them, there would be no negative to lacking a proper solid cutting edge on the majority of the blade, where shards could only be connected by her energy.

It fell upon the ancient entity’s hand, for it had raised them as quickly as she had swung her blade, and sank just an inch into the equivalent of its flesh. The blackened crimson blaze sought to scatter its plant-like flesh and remove at least one of its hands, but even when she tried to silently invoke the power of Law, she didn’t find it going further than it had already done.

“Lacking strength, mortal thing!” Primordial Nature chuckled as it grabbed onto Moon Splitter as best it could before forcing it out of its own hand, which recovered quickly.

Since they were already awfully close, the Ascendant figured that it might be best to try everything that it had within her arsenal and removed her left hand from the blade, extending it out so that her index finger pointed straight at the entity’s chest.

Heavenly light flashed for just a moment before everything condensing her Arm of Slaughtering Shadow sank into a single point that then tore through the world, cracks forming in reality itself. The Primordial Deity’s eyes, or whatever one could describe its two equivalents thereof, widened ever so slightly, and the endlessly expanding cracks met the so-called flesh of that thing, digging into it without a sound. A single crack continued all the way through it, but the rest were lost within.

It got the Primordial Deity to let go of Moon Splitter, giving her the moment necessary to withdraw just enough to get out of its reach and examine the damage she had inflicted upon it.

Wei Yi hoped that there would be a permanent wound upon its body, forcing it back and out of combat for a good length of time. That much shouldn’t be too excessive of a request from the world, but apparently it was, for she saw only the faintest of openings within its form, and little more. No blood poured out, if that thing even had an ichor which it could bleed with, and it barely seemed to inconvenience it as it straightened its back and glared at her with those thousands of small black insect-like orbs.

“That is all that this mortal thing can do? To hope to fracture the world with such limited power is the mistake of cornered prey!” that thing declared, suddenly waiving its hand from left to right, a surge of power arising from the world.

Almost instantly, numerous colossal plants burst out of the ground, fracturing walls and shredding structures, and through the openings created in them, or even directly through the plants themselves, came an endless horde of monstrous beasts that flooded into the Chu District with the clear intent to destroy as much as they were possibly able to. Each stomp cracked the ground, and each lunge levelled a structure with ease.

Countless red phantoms and totems were raised as soon as possible, each one using a different method to meet the siege of flora and fauna, but as railgun bolts fell and all kinds of power scorched what little remained of the Chu District’s ruined north-east side, it was all too clear that this wasn’t enough – not even close to it.

A strange feeling arose within her chest, and slightly shook the Ascendant’s Library within her mental domain. It took her some time to understand what it could possibly be.

Some kind of fear, or anxiety. The fear of loss. Of defeat against a thing that she had known would come, and that she had challenged deliberately and knowingly. For far too long, everything seemed to go just too right for her, and although she had noticed the fortunes of her life a number of times, there wasn’t much to be done about it, especially since it was clearly beneficial in attaining her goals. Now, however, that fortune seemed to vanish, and she had no clue as how she might go about obtaining it once more, nor why it chose now of all times to leave.

“My hunting grounds shall be established here. The soil is rich, and the food is plentiful!”

Primordial Nature may have noticed that slightest of feelings, for it ignored her as it made its proclamations. Perhaps it knew that she had little more to call upon unless she wished to break some of her previous promises to herself.

And then, it was as if the world itself suddenly condensed into a pure violet, and formed into a vast beam that encompassed the Primordial Deity and a great number of its monstrosities. Each and every one was burned – although use of that word was almost vulgar in comparison to the reaction that truly occurred, but burning was the simplest comparison that could be made and understood without being present at the scene – and even Primordial Nature screeched as it retreated out of the Chu District.

As soon as it left, a massive spherical barrier appeared around its domain, planar energy flowing freely from the world and reinforcing this barrier. In a moment, a terrible threat was dealt with – for now.

Wei Yi and Chu Su both turned to face a figure that floated in the sky, descending slowly and gracefully. A mane of crimson hair was affected by whatever method was used, floating alongside the figure, and a pure white robe matched the softly glowing silver eyes. The figure seemed to be a man, physically no older than thirty, with a thin but still imposing body, and an incredible aura.

“I seem to have arrived a little late. I wish to offer my apologies.”

The previous fluttering of fear was completely overwhelmed as the face matched another in the Ascendant’s memory, the match being so perfect and so unexpected that she paused for a good while before she could force the question out of her mouth, “… Kong Shi Meng?”