The Jade Shadows Must Die [Cultivation LitRPG]

The comedown from that fight was the strongest yet. He managed to drag himself to a nearby cave, where he sat, knees hugged to his chest, while his pulse slowly returned to normal. He knew he didn't have long; at some point, the sunberry would begin to lose potency and leave him with the full weight of his injuries. Even now, with his adrenaline fading, the gashes on his arm and back felt like fire scorched into his skin. He stuffed his gifted piece of jarrowstar root into his mouth and chewed quickly. It tasted rich and earthy, and he felt the mana in his dantian begin to drain to accelerate the healing process. Thankfully, mana was the one area the fight had not really taxed.

It was sobering to have again come so close to death, but he couldn't truly be upset. There was no safe way to be a Martial Soul, only different gradations of risk. He'd known what he was in for when he decided to push deeper.

And the rewards had been worth the cost. His mind and his style had finally merged. That was a huge step forward.

While he recovered, he called up his System display.

[Essence: 68%]

The spider fades were worth a little less than the behemoth, 2% each. It sort of made sense. Individually, they weren't a match for the giant thing he'd fought earlier that day. Their strength came in their numbers.

Dragging himself to his feet, he scooped up his staff and tested his body. Just breaking into a light jog sent a lance of pain through his muscles. If forced to, he could probably fight one of the weaker fades closer to the portal, but anything here in the Mid Whisper zone was out of the question. The smart move was to call his hunt for the day.

He began picking his way carefully back to the dive site. Stealth was the name of the game now. The path he took wound through the canyon. As he walked, the rocky ridgeline on one side grew lower until it was only twenty or so feet high. Here, the walls themselves were not a sheer cliff face, more of a rugged hill; something he could scale if he wanted to. He'd scaled the canyon wall on one previous dive and had found it desolate and mostly devoid of life. At the time, that hadn't appealed at all, but right now that was exactly what he needed, so up he went, dragging his damaged body up ledges and over boulders until he stood on top of the ridge.

From up here, the view was expansive. Though much taller canyon walls eventually blocked his vision, he could see at least five hundred feet in each direction: a smooth, open expanse of stone, split by cracks like the scales of some gargantuan serpent. Those must be the valleys he'd spent his first two days exploring.

He began moving back towards the portal. Like the last time he'd climbed, there was little up here to hide behind, and no sign of any predators. It seemed relatively safe.

That was until he heard the sounds of combat.

It was faint at first, an echo off the rocks, but there was no mistaking it. The clash of weapons. The cry of someone fighting for their life.

His first instinct was to go around it. It had been made clear to him that this place was every man for themselves. But the sound was coming from a point directly in his path to the portal, and the wall he was on had narrowed to the point where it offered no easy alternative routes. If he wanted to avoid what lay ahead, he'd need to backtrack significantly, which would keep him inside the Mid Whisper region where the fades were tougher. The longer he spent there in his condition, the more danger he was in. So, with great reluctance, he dropped into a crouch and pressed on.

It didn't take long to reach the source of the sound. Scuttling up to the edge of the ridge, he looked over the lip to see a prisoner engaged in a desperate melee with two fades of a variety he hadn't seen before. It took him a moment to realise it was Luna. Her long hair whipped with her desperate motion as she arced her katana through the air, attempting to fend off her two opponents who were trying to divide her attention by attacking from either side. With a start, Rix realised another prisoner lay motionless on the rock a few feet away.

These fades were another variety that looked insectile in nature, with long, lean bodies and bulbous heads peppered with a collection of many eyes. They stood bipedal, lashing at Luna with their arms that ended in narrow pincers, almost like mantises, and their skin seemed to ripple and change colour in a way that made them difficult to even see properly.

Luna looked in rough shape. Though she was keeping the fades at bay for now, she bled from several wounds on her arms and legs. The joy he'd seen in her eyes when facing down the fade during the trial was gone, replaced with an air of quiet desperation.

Rix let out a long breath. There were any number of reasons not to intervene. For one, at the end of the day, Luna was his competition. If the Martial Path was a zero-sum game, helping her was taking away from himself. Beyond that, he wasn't here to babysit people who bit off more than they could chew. He had his own wounds to deal with.

But the fades themselves looked wounded too, and he already had an idea of how he could swing the fight with minimal risk. Not only did he have the element of surprise, but he had the high ground too. To his eye, the fades looked at least as dangerous as the spider fades he'd just fought, which meant that abandoning Luna also meant abandoning perfectly good essence. He needed every scrap he could get.

But the factor that really tipped him over the edge was something much more personal. A little voice echoing in his ear, however much he tried to ignore it.

When the choice is between right and easy, you already know the answer, don't you, Rix?

His father had always tried to do what was right. He believed honesty and selflessness were what truly made a man. Rix admired that about him. Sometimes he wished the universe would reward such optimism.

He'd never truly be like his father. He knew that. The death-marked path he'd chosen for himself wouldn't allow it.

But that didn't mean he couldn't occasionally honour his memory.

Not giving himself time to second-guess, he clutched his staff and dropped off the edge of the cliff, already conjuring [Force Hammer]. As he fell, he found himself wishing he could watch this moment from afar. It was the sort of storybook attack that would be right at home in the Chronicles.

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But even witnessing it in real time, the results were impressive. As he dropped towards one of the fades, his staff held over his head, he let out a cry before unleashing a downward strike with everything he could muster. The fade never stood a chance. It spun just in time for the tip of Rix's weapon to crunch down on its head. Flesh exploded, and Rix's staff continued toward the earth, compressing what was left of the creature into a puddle of viscera. A rush of essence told him it was dead before his feet had even touched the ground. There was also a system prompt that caught him by surprise.

[Force Hammer has improved to Mid Rank]

Two rank-ups in a day. He'd known techniques could evolve through use, but the exact mechanics of how that worked were unclear to him. It almost felt like a reward for using it in such a badass way, but it was much more likely the timing had just been coincidental.

He obviously wanted to open his System Display and find out what had changed, but that would have to wait. There was still a fight to win.

Luna recoiled momentarily at his entrance, but she was quick to readjust, the desperation on her face giving way to a grim smile. The remaining fade fought valiantly, but the battle had been turned on its head. Rix struck blows against its leg and shoulder from behind, feeling chitin give way beneath his assault. As it spun to defend itself, Luna's katana cleaved cleanly through its neck.

They stood there panting as its body collapsed between them.

"Just when I was starting to think you didn't want to be friends," she said eventually. There was no hint of her usual brightness there, only a sense of strain.

Rix suppressed a grimace. That was another good reason why he hadn't wanted to intervene. He shrugged, trying to look nonchalant. "I just saw perfectly good essence about to be left on the table."

"My perfectly good essence." There was a dark amusement in her tone that belied her words.

She surveyed the carnage around her. "Despite what you think you saw, I had them."

"Not fast enough, apparently," said Rix, giving a sober nod towards the body on the ground. Up close he recognised her. It was the woman Luna had gone diving with, her long dark hair splayed out across the sand that was bloodied beneath her.

Luna's expression darkened further. "They took her down before we even knew they were there. Blended right into the rock." She shook her head. "I haven't seen this type before, or they'd never have got the jump on us. They were bleeding tough, too. Tougher than anything else I've fought here so far."

Rix nodded. It was an easy trap to fall into, assuming you'd seen everything the place had to offer.

"I'm sorry." He didn't really know how to handle situations like this, but that was the sort of thing people said. In his experience, there were no words that made any kind of difference.

In truth, he was already growing disturbingly inured to the loss in this place. A total of fifteen prisoners had died since he'd arrived, including the one he'd found personally on his first day. Fifteen people in only two weeks, and that was just on the Farm side. He hadn't known any of them at all, really, but he'd seen them around the prison.

While it sounded horrific, he was coming to realise the death was, in a way, intentional. While profit was the core of Spiritlock's existence, there was also an element of forced selection at play. By exposing countless mortals to the most extreme form of danger available, the prison, and by proxy the rest of martial society, would discover a few precious diamonds in the rough. The Steward had said the attrition rate was 99%, but that meant 1% survived, and those that did would be truly dangerous individuals.

Rix simply had to be part of the 1%.

"Her name was Chiyo. She wasn't much fun, but she didn't deserve…that."

Rix shifted uncomfortably. "The portal's back that way," he said, gesturing with his staff. "I don't know if you need a moment, but we should probably…"

Luna's gaze lingered on Chiyo's body for a moment longer before she straightened, wincing at what was probably a damaged rib. "I'm fine." She started walking, then stopped. "Thanks. For the assist, I mean."

"Don't mention it," he replied, doing his best to brush her off.

They began to walk.

"Well, might as well see what we earned for our trouble," Luna said. Her eyes unfocused for a moment. "104%."

The number surprised him enough to check his own. "70%," he replied. Even taking into account the day he'd missed, she had pulled ahead of him handily.

He'd made another 2% essence for those two kills. It wasn't exactly the right time to ask about what Luna had earned, but he could make an educated guess. It seemed likely those fades had been worth 2% each for a total of 4% and they'd divided the essence in half. Nothing else really made sense. If that was true, it was interesting to know. Even a tiny contribution got you half the reward. Luna was right to be a little miffed. Rix would have been if the situation were reversed.

"Told you I'd overtake you," she said, a tiny glimmer returning to her eyes.

Rix shrugged. "I've had a few other things on my mind. My diving has suffered."

"Sounds like a prime excuse to me," she said. "Though I did see you having words with the local heavyweights. They didn't look pleased."

"They were not."

She eyed him hesitantly. "Well, if you need someone to watch your back in here, I currently have an open position…"

It was said as a grim joke, but he could feel the undercurrent of truth there. With everything that was going on, it was an offer worth considering. As much as he didn't want to admit it, she did seem like she'd make a good partner. She was dangerous, but also seemed to have a degree of honour about her. Perhaps that was because she was raised in a sect. He had little idea about their values, but she wasn't from the city, which meant she hadn't grown up in a world where everything was transactional.

But the other factors at play hadn't changed. She could still see his qi. A hunch that he could trust her wasn't enough when dealing with a potentially deadly secret.

He had his style set, making him stronger than he'd ever been, and Yutaro was currently occupied. If he was given just a few more weeks, he'd hit High Whisper himself and maybe become a legitimate match for the man.

For now, he would continue to run solo.

"I'll keep that in mind," he said, doing his best to sound non-committal.

When they got back to the site, Rix hesitated. There was still at least an hour of dive time, so they were the only ones here. The Divemaster stood next to the portal, surveying them.

"Well, if it isn't ten fades and his mouthy friend," he said. "You look like you've seen better days." There was notable joy in his voice. Rix grimaced. The man clearly had no love for them, but he also probably knew more about the Fractured Realm than many of the other staff.

"You go on ahead," Rix said to Luna. "I've got something I need to discuss with him."

She gave a slow nod, then broke off and headed towards the portal. Before stepping through, she turned and gave him a firm nod, and then she was gone.

Rix steeled himself and stepped up onto the platform. "Sir, I was wondering if I could ask you a question."

The man took him in with a sneer. "I'm all ears, inmate."

Rix wondered if there was any way to do this that didn't make him seem like a scared little boy. In the end, he decided there probably wasn't, but that it didn't matter. Something about that moment with the unique fadeborn had felt wrong somehow. He needed as much information as he could get.

"Has anyone reported anything strange during a dive recently?" he asked the dive master. "Particularly in the western quadrant?"

"Strange, how?" the man asked.

"I saw a…unique fadeborn," Rix admitted. "It looked like a tiger, covered in shimmering scales. But it didn't attack. It just watched me."

The man snorted. "Have you considered that maybe this fade was simply in awe of you? I hear you're developing quite a reputation out there."

Rix let out a sigh. "I'm serious. This was odd."

"All the fadeborn are odd," he replied. "They're abnormal monsters. And who are you to say how they should behave? Get through the portal, inmate, and stop wasting my time."

Rix frowned but didn't push further. It was clear the man wasn't going to take him seriously.