Path of the Ascendant

Standing at the barrier between the Chu District and Primordial Nature’s domain, the Ascendant’s vision was indeed expanded after her first attempt. The method she used with Primordial Energy couldn’t work with Primordial Nature, as she had not yet figured out a method of dissolving flesh via a cultivation technique – although it was theoretically possible, as planar energy could be used on its own to produce flesh, and flesh could dissolve into pure planar energy if one used the right method – but that didn’t mean that she didn’t gain a new direction to go into as a result of her experience.

The thing she learned was rather obvious in hindsight, and it was that the Primordial Deities did more than just represent the elements and concepts that were at their core. They were those concepts, given form and will according to some particular interpretation of those elements. For instance, the element of wood stood for nature, and nature thrived on the concept of prey and predator, as well as adapting to the situation and mastering one’s talents.

An otherworldly demon had called this the survival of the fittest, a concept some man from their world had come up with, and it fit here well enough, except that evolution occurred only with the flora and fauna under Primordial Nature’s control, nor the Primordial Deity itself.

Rather, the Primordial Deity encompassed the creature at the top of the food chain, the one that was able to stand above it all due to using elements that come from without as well as that which is sourced from within. Primordial Nature itself was powerful, no doubt about it, but all of its attacks rely upon the flora and fauna it controls, while a part of its defences have to come from the odd clothing that it wears.

From that, one can predict that if Wei Yi was able to get rid of one or more of those factors, she would bring the Primordial Deity down a notch or two. It might not seem that significant, but if that was all that lay between it and those on the food chain, such as Wei Yi herself or the people of the Planar Continents, then it would mean that it goes from an unassailable, untouchable target, to something that she can hope to bring down. To use an example from her own experience, someone like Yi Shi Ming in her current state as a spatial spirit was at the seventh realm, but her true strength was not that high. Outside of the Kong Prison Realm, it was even lower, meaning that someone in the sixth realm should have no trouble taking her on.

So long as she could destroy one of the things that Primordial Nature relies upon, then she would knock it down to a similar state, and then endless energy wouldn’t mean anything. It would come down to the quality of it, as well as their ability to use it. In that, Wei Yi had a little more confidence.

‘Water nourishes wood, but I lack sufficient control of water. Wood feeds fire, but my flames aren’t quite enough to devour Primordial Nature, as I have seen it deal with my Obliteration energy easily enough – those are akin to flames, in part,’ the Ascendant thought while she stood upon the ruined remnants of the Chu District’s walls, staring into the barrier while wind passed through her hair and caused her crimson robes to flutter.

She kept her hands in front of her, folded, moving with the slow rise and fall of her chest. Her feet were placed upon two stable stones, one slightly above the other, thus giving her figure a certain unevenness that some painter would certainly love to capture, had she allowed anyone to even get near Primordial Nature’s barrier.

Only Chu Su could come and go, and although he could hardly deny that there was aesthetic appeal to be found in her stance, he had a thousand better things to focus on before any of that.

‘Metal opposes wood, but the situation is the same there. Wood opposes earth… Hm. Wood and earth… In nature, the earth nourished flora, which in turn feeds fauna, the bodies of which eventually return to the earth, creating a cycle. Cut out one part, and just like the numerous anchors of the Leeches, things should crumble,’ she thought, her eyebrows shifting a little lower, ‘I would say that I don’t have enough understanding of the earth to accomplish such a thing either, but I can say with certainty that the worst type of soil for anything would be something dry and devoid of any nutrients, a dull grey dust.’

Her hand was raised, and a small clump of dry grey dust floated above it, wobbling up and down.

The energy was acquired from Primordial Earth, and it was very close to what she was looking for, except that it couldn’t possibly be enough to win the fight. After all, even with her oblivion essence and what not, she was in the seventh realm. She did not even have all of her oblivion halos or the unique feature of the sixth stage, whatever that would result in, and the energy she had at her disposal was also limited.

“Kong Shi Meng, can I ask you something?” Wei Yi said, partly curious to check the extent of his divine sense, and also to confirm how much attention he paid to others with his divine sense.

The fact that she couldn’t detect even the slightest hint of his mental energy certainly didn’t help in establishing where he was, so she couldn’t even find his location and go over to him. An otherworldly gift was easier to spot at this point, since she could detect the absence of its information while the Master of Yi City simply blended into the world seamlessly.

She thought there might be a delay, but he responded instantly, “Go ahead.”

‘I don’t think that even Yi Shi Ming had ever responded this quickly. He has some talent as a spatial spirit, if he ever gets bored of being… whatever he is doing now,’ the Ascendant thought, restraining that line of thought before she could say any part of it out loud, “Can the energy of the barrier be used to empower some technique of mine? It’s already there, so if it is dispersed, it could go somewhere and be useful instead.”

“… In theory, but this can only be done once, maybe twice at most. Beyond that, it would infringe upon the restrictions upon me.”

“That’s a shame. Will you ever explain exactly why?”

“I cannot do so at the moment.”

“In that case, can you estimate the effect of the remaining energy if we were to attack in, say, two hours?” she said, putting aside that matter for now as she needed to take care of the return of the Primordial Deities and let things settle down before questioning him about anything.

“It shouldn’t be enough for victory, regardless of means.”

“Not even with something like this?” Wei Yi raised her hand higher, putting the floating grey dust roughly at the level of both of their faces.

He seemed to have no particular reaction to seeing it, saying simply, “No.”

“In that case, we need materials. Something that would be able to resonate with the battlefield condition and amplify it significantly… Earth and wood should be plentiful enough in the Fu District, and if they do have a secret source of resources that none have been able to confirm up to this point, then that might be enough to provide a burst of power against the Primordial Deity and, maybe, even take it down.”

“Killing the Primordial Deity outright will not be possible.”

“Sealing them against might be, though.”

“Possibly.”

That left them in silence for a while, with neither being sure of how to proceed. The first to break said silence was Kong Shi Meng, who held out a hand a short distance from her shoulder.

“Would you have me move you over to the Fu District?”

“Provided that you are able to keep doing this without incurring the exact same repercussions as overusing the world’s energy, then I wouldn’t mind you using that technique of yours to move around until I figure out how to use it myself.”

“… Stand still for a moment.”

Once more, he placed his hand upon her shoulder, and in an instant, their position shifted to a different part of the world. Last time, she was caught entirely off guard, for she did not know that such a method was even possible, but now she paid close attention to the instant that passed during their teleportation. There had to be something significant occurring during the shift that she would be able to observe, or else she would need to go from doubting the man’s identity to doubting his nature as a human being.

Indeed, there was something there, as slight as it was. Using the previous guidance from Kong Shi Meng, she took note of the shifting of planar energy just prior to the teleportation.

The movement was slight and nigh insignificant, but there was a slight rearrangement of planar energy particles before she was suddenly on the outskirts of the Fu District, where the energy appeared to have the exact same arrangement around them. With her divine sense, she could confirm that the space they occupied was replaced with the same energy that previously occupied their new position.

With the way in which planar energy functioned, it shouldn’t have been much of a surprise that such a thing was possible, but it still took her a little while to get her head around how such a form of substitution would ever work, or how she might go about performing it.

One or two experiences with the technique weren’t going to be enough for her to figure it all out, but by the time that the instant after the teleportation had concluded, she did think that she could explore the next time a little further than before, and try to track particular particles of planar energy to verify how they are affected. Depending on the specifics of the process, there might be a chance of replicating the technique at a smaller scale, with something like a technique or a weapon.

For instance, she could manifest a railgun bolt, fire it, then wrap it in planar energy and quickly complete most of its journey for it, allowing it to end up wherever she wished it to be within the blink of an eye. She could keep the trajectory the same, alter it entirely, make it fly back at where she released it from if she so wished, and her enemies might not be able to do anything about it if they didn’t have the chance to face this method multiple times across a lengthy period of time. Given that she preferred to end things within a single fight wherever possible – and that it was generally her opposition that kept finding ways to escape and get in her way later – this was not that difficult to achieve.

‘Still, to perform something like this will be rather difficult, and the fact that Kong Shi Meng pulls it off in an instant says quite a bit about his own abilities. It appears that he does indeed have quite a bit going for him aside from the Truth of the Universe,’ the Ascendant noted, though she wasn’t too surprised given that he had managed to rise to the top of the world, a difficult feat for the other otherworldly demons who have incredibly powerful otherworldly gifts of their own.

If the Master of Yi City’s successes were purely down to his gift, then every single otherworldly demon would dominate the world during their lifetimes, and the Planar Continents would go through a thousand rulers in the years since Kong Shi Meng vanished.

Given that he had managed to endure in the minds of the people for a million years, it was clear that all those that came after him were far less successful. Sure, there were bound to be quite a few that got their names into the history remembered by most, their names being commonplace in certain districts and locations, a feat that was in itself decent due to the intervention of the Great Leeches in the later years, when they became stronger with their accumulation of knowledge and force that the rest of the world lost.

These things aside, Wei Yi stored everything in her memory and then asked, “You appeared in front of Chu Su, but do you intend to do the same for the other Patriarchs?”

“I will limit my appearances. You have taken over the role of Master of Yi City, and my appearance would impact your ability to retain the authority you currently possess. A Patriarch or Matriarch ought to possess enough wisdom to understand that my powers are limited now, but the common populace can struggle with accurately estimating a person’s power.”

“That is true, unfortunate as that is. My assistance in terms of knowledge and insight ought to improve that just a little, but it will take a long time for everyone to acclimate and properly integrate that into their own thought process.”

Kong Shi Meng simply nodded, though he certainly understood what she meant given that she was simply expanding on what he had already mentioned, then turned to the walls of the Fu District, which were nothing in comparison to the now broken walls of the Ning District. In fact, the current state of the Ning District’s defences was still superior to the Fu District’s, which should say quite a bit about the Fu District’s utterly lacking fortifications. Alternatively, one could use the comparison to point out that the Ning District was absolutely unmatched in the entirety of Yi City when it came to defences.

Rather than a powerful stronghold, or a fortress, the Fu District resembled an idyllic, peaceful land, with rivers flowing through a picturesque landscape littered with the occasional home or store.

If the Ascendant needed a place to stay after she managed to accomplish everything she wanted to, then the Fu District would be rather perfect for her. She could acquire a small residence for herself in an area between one of the quieter rivers and a small farm field that could occupy her time whenever she couldn’t find something else to use her time for.

To say that this would be a desirable outcome for her was rather difficult, however. With how she had lived her life since her sixteenth year, to settle down and do nothing, even if that was all that she could do, would be nearly impossible. She would go out of her way just to find some other journey to embark upon, something else to pursue, even if it was even more challenging to attain than the defeat of the Leeches, the Primordial Deities, and then whatever would be found once the Hunger of the Beyond makes its way into the Planar Continents. It was probably not for the best, given that there had to be an end to one’s journey eventually, but it was also better than wishing to do nothing at all.

‘This line of thought is, also, completely irrelevant… If it was possible to cultivate via pointless mental tangents, I think I would have reached the ninth realm ages ago,’ she thought, having stepped onto one of the chains of Law in order to proceed towards the Fu District.

She could have made a more ordinary entry, but she did not intend to act in an ordinary manner on this particular visit. She wanted to demand access to whatever source of resources the Fu District possessed, and she did not intend to take no for an answer when the entirety of the Western Continent could be lost if she did not receive what she required. If anyone had a problem with that, then they were free to talk with her at a later time, once the crisis is averted.

In actuality, she could have taken whatever she wanted without notifying anyone, but there was the slightest of problems in the form of lacking information. She had no clue where to look.

This was a problem that plagued everyone that sought to discover the source of the Fu District’s resource richness. One might imagine that a quick scan with one’s mental energy ought to be enough, but then the Ascendant wouldn’t need to come here in person and investigate it all. She could grab a lot of things using only her mental energy from the adjacent districts and not meet with the Fu Patriarch at all, but that was impossible when nothing about the district appeared to be distinctly wrong. Nothing stood out.

As with all districts and all lands in general, there were hidden spots and secret goings on that one could discover with relative ease with divine sense as powerful as her own, but nothing would lead to the Fu District’s people infinitely obtaining all of the resources that were expended without care on anything and everything. It was this that forced her to visit in person.

Her entrance had not been too stunning as she had simply walked on the air, so when she stood near the Patriarch’s residence and confirmed that he hadn’t noticed, she reached out and conjured a mass of planar energy. She didn’t use her cosmic energy, but tried to copy another kind instead.

Last time, the pilfering of a Primordial Deity’s energy allowed her to replicate its grey dust, so when she got a few drops directly from Primordial Energy’s source, she imagined that she should be able to perform a similar feat again. Thus, she used the pure planar energy form most familiar to her, and imbued into it everything she had been able to memorise during the few moments of direct confrontation with Primordial Energy, while also urging every drop of that power to emerge in whatever form it was able to take through her influence and cultivation. The exact result didn’t matter, for it would look impactful nonetheless.

It turned out that she might have underestimated herself just that slightest bit.

When the mass was produced, it quickly expanded and grew into this orb of energy that could not be described as anything but primal and violent, raging and quaking as if it was a terrible beast ready to devour the world. It was difficult to control, and she was able to say that after using a form of raw planar energy which was able to literally devour her body rapidly.

To keep it for too long would be impossible, as the very energy she controlled seemed to be getting out of her control, and as she released it, she realised exactly why.

She was trying to conjure the energy of Primordial Energy – in other words, Primordial Energy itself.

If that ever went well, then she would have power over a Primordial Deity, and that would solve the vast majority of her problems – provided that it didn’t run into the same problem as Kong Shi Meng, forcing it to use an incredibly limited array of powers that ultimately made it significantly less useful. Instead, all that she had to do was discard the energy she manifested and let it explode in the air, releasing all of the oblivion essence she had collected and letting the Fu District have it.

The violet mass retained its vague shape for a moment longer, then exploded with a misleading vigour. Witnessing it would have led one to presume that there would be a wave of force sufficient to obliterate most of the structures within their district, but it had almost no force whatsoever.

Soon, the dense violet spread out into a mellow mist that washed into the buildings of the district, turning every space ever so slightly purple. Although the oblivion essence state had been bound to her, the resulting mist was completely freed of the control of either the Primordial Deity or the Ascendant, meaning that everyone with the slightest ability to cultivate now had a great quantity of planar energy to utilise as they saw fit. For most – although it would be more accurate to say all – it would be impossible to utilise all of it in their own cultivation, and most couldn’t handle it all anyway, but it was still akin to releasing a dozen planar shards to everyone.

For those in the first and second realm, she essentially offered a stage of progress, and for the rest, it was a boost that might have otherwise been difficult to come by. The Fu District had plenty of natural resources in nearly every category other than pure planar stones or shards, which were found in largest numbers at the Qiang District.

‘Not quite the entrance I had been intending to make, but this should provide a better first impression, at least,’ the Ascendant thought, this idea very much being confirmed by the Patriarch’s jovial expression when the cloud of energy reached him.

Just like all the Patriarchs, he was in the seventh realm, but he was only in the first stage despite presumably rising to his position earlier than those that the Ascendant had boosted into place. Thus, the benefit was still notable, and it acted as a significantly better gift than a random series of planar shards, which would be more difficult to refine and less efficient overall.

He took a brief while to take in all of the energy he could, and then stepped outside.

“Ascendant? I have heard of your deeds in the rest of Yi City, but I don’t know why you should be here at this moment,” the Patriarch said, hesitating for a second before he chose to float up to stand at her level.

“You don’t think that you should be getting involved with the return of the Primordial Deities?”

“That is not what I meant. Resources necessary for handling their return will of course be provided at minimal prices, but there is little that my Fu District can do directly.”

“Incorrect, Patriarch. You are able to give me the resources necessary to weaken and potentially defeat Primordial Nature, and I will take them in whichever way appears to be necessary. For that reason, I am offering you the chance to tell me exactly where the Fu District’s resources come from, and if you do choose to give it up willingly, then we can part in an amicable manner and you can join in whatever manner you can to protecting my part of Yi City.”

“So you are like all the others? You simply want me to give up our district’s secrets?”

As he spoke, he called upon his energy and manifested an aura around himself, a mixture of the elements of wood and water. It was certainly not the worst aura that she had seen, like Yi Shi Ming’s rather lacking outward aura due to her lack of talent and experience in combat, but even if she had still been in the sixth realm, it would have been completely safe to approach it.

In this manner, he utterly failed to appear intimidating in the slightest, and only exhibited more faults for Wei Yi to latch onto.

“First of all, why does this infinite source suddenly belong exclusively to your district? If you or your family have personally created it, then you could make some kind of argument, but anything at the level of infinity is extremely powerful. Provided that the abilities of the ninth realm masters that lived around the golden age of Kong Shi Meng’s rule of Yi City were enough to produce such things, then all of the districts would have done the same thing as your ancestors. They did not, and no attempts survived to this day even if they evaded Kong Shi Meng’s attention.”

He did not reply to her, nor did he provide any kind of obvious reaction this time.

“Thus, I have to presume that the source of your resources is natural, even if I cannot necessarily guess the exact nature of it. You happen to be sitting on it, figuratively or literally, and when Yi City calls for aid, you proudly continue to sit on your ass instead of letting people know how to obtain it.”

“I know you have revealed a great deal of the people of Yi City, but even you have not shared your cultivation technique-”

“Because it will literally kill you. I am not the Great Leeches, unfortunately for your comparison, but I am happy to provide a better one myself – I have plenty of weapons and resources of my own that I store within either the Kong Prison Realm or a spatial storage artefact I happened to obtain within the aforementioned spatial realm,” she said, though she didn’t bother showing off the opening to the House of Gold as he wouldn’t be able to see it anyway, “I am keeping quite a bit to myself. Want to know why?”

“Why is that?”

“I don’t need any of it at the moment, but if there comes a time that it is necessary, I will use up everything I have built up. I can expend the wealth, the materials, the texts that I have not directly placed into the archives accessible within the Kong Prison Realm – there are a few things like that, mostly incomplete methods or those that I consider to be far too dangerous for anyone, myself included, to even attempt to use – and if others require it, I will not immediately go on the defensive.”

“Your words hardly implied that you gave me any choice!”

“I didn’t. I will take what you have, because failing to do so would mean the potential fall of the Chu District, and the eventual collapse of Yi City. That is unacceptable to me, and I am willing to do a great deal to make sure it doesn’t happen.”

“Even intimidating and stealing from a Patriarch who can do nothing at all to defend himself or his district against you?”

“You have a family of your own, right? A child, maybe only a wife, or perhaps you only have close friends… If you saw a bunch of bandits attacking them while they can do nothing to defend themselves, would you speak to them calmly, or would you take the nearest weapon you can find and rush right in, protecting those you care about?”

“Is that how you see Yi City? Something you care about?”

“To an extent. There are some that I couldn’t give less of a fuck about, but for the Planar Continents to endure in the hands of humanity, the Primordial Deities must fall. I will ensure this happens, or I will perish in the process. You have no reason to refuse to help me, none at all.”

“What makes you so sure about that? Perhaps what I possess is not accessible by mortal hands.”

“Then you wouldn’t be able to access it. I am not an idiot, Fu Patriarch, so skip all of this bullshit and tell me the exact situation, if you are truly unable to give me what I require.”

“I… Very well, Ascendant, I shall reveal to you the truth. We are in the possession of an extremely rare phenomenon, one that is said to have been considered absurdly valuable even by the Master of Yi City,” the man turned around and looked up into the sky, perhaps meaning the face the heavens themselves, “A natural spatial realm, where resources pour unendingly.”