The Jade Shadows Must Die [Cultivation LitRPG]

Much like he'd done when trying to avoid Yutaro, Rix and Luna showed up at the dive site late the next morning. The room on the prison side was empty, but the moment they stepped through into the realm, they discovered their efforts were in vain. On the other side, Han waited, his nameless lackey at his side.

"Not often you see a walking corpse," said Han, as he caught sight of them. The man's huge battle axe was even more intimidating up close. It looked like it could fell trees in a single strike. The woman behind him was the same one from the mess. She wielded two curved Tatsuyan tantos, which were either long knives or short swords depending on who you talked to. They looked like the fangs of some giant animal. Rix had yet to hear her speak.

Han shot Rix a cruel smile. "Enjoy your last meal?" The Iron Hand leader had none of Yutaro's playful banter. Just cold, direct threats. He might have felt like a caricature if he didn't have the strength and support to back it up.

Rix shrugged. "I'll tell you when I have it," he said, trying to play it cool.

Han turned his attention to Luna. "And who is this?" he asked Rix. "Your sect bitch protector?" Then, addressing Luna directly, he continued, "I'll give you one chance to walk away. You step away from the portal with him, his debt becomes yours."

Luna seemed to consider this. "Mmm, nah. I'm good."

Despite Luna having agreed to this, Rix felt a rush of respect. The girl didn't even blink.

Han seemed slightly taken aback by her irreverence. "Fine," he spat.

The man had some serious stones to announce his intentions for all to hear. There were plenty of prisoners around pointedly trying to ignore what was happening, not to mention several guards and the Divemaster himself, all of whom were looking on in amusement.

"This all just fine by you?" Rix asked him.

The Divemaster shrugged. "Seems like inmate business to me."

"Feels like it will probably become your business if he kills us out there though, right?" said Rix. "Or am I misremembering that little speech you gave recently?"

The man's expression darkened. Rix could see the conflict playing out on his face in real time. He was clearly livid about a dreg having even vague input into how he conducted himself. But he also obviously had a directive from on high to minimise losses. Rix was banking that the latter won out.

After a few moments, the Divemaster let out a low hiss. "The dreg has a point, Han. I can't be having any more corpses right now. I'm going to need you to go to your quadrant and let them dive in peace."

Han's face twitched. The man drew one ragged breath, then another. "Fine, go and play, dead man," he growled finally. His eyes flicked to the Divemaster. "Six hours is a long time. Accidents happen."

Then, with a gesture to follow, he led his compatriot off into their quadrant.

"Well, that was anticlimactic," said Luna. "I was all ready to start swinging."

The joke cut the tension in the air, and Rix felt himself relax a little. "He only had one with him. You think we could have taken them?"

"We? You could have had a nap."

"Why would I do that? I thought you said the fight would be fun?"

She snorted. "It would. For me. What kind of bodyguard would I be if I let you defend yourself? I take my work seriously."

Rix rolled his eyes. "The work you've never done before?"

"You don't know that."

Rix looked to the Divemaster, who was staring at him in open anger. "Wipe that smirk off your face, dreg," he said. "Next time, I'll let him have you."

"Yes, sir," Rix replied, looking away. There was no point in pushing his luck. The man probably did have a breaking point.

He and Luna watched as two Iron Hand members disappeared into the ravine. They'd almost certainly cut through as soon as the terrain let them and come at the western quadrant from the side, but Rix and Luna had earned some breathing room. Their hunters would now have to actually find them, and that was no easy task if they made straight for the deepest part of the Mid Whisper zone where their diving radius was largest.

He looked to Luna, who nodded, and they set out into the Fractured Realm.

***

"You still haven't ranked up again, have you?" asked Luna as they made their way through the canyon.

Rix shook his head. "Yutaro and Kenzo found me pretty early in my dive. I only killed a couple of weak fades before we fought, and after that I wasn't in any state to keep going."

Bringing up that fight brought his mind once again back to Breaker. That was another part of why he'd taken the gamble and come diving. Breaker wanted Rix's help, and he'd promised to track him down again. That didn't necessarily mean he was watching out for Rix every second, but Rix felt there was a reasonable chance that if he were in mortal danger, the man might appear and turn the tide again. A real bodyguard, of sorts.

Rix didn't know how he'd explain the situation to Luna if it did happen, but he'd cross that bridge when he came to it.

Luna sighed dramatically. "I guess we're stuck in the baby zone then."

"That baby zone nearly killed you the other day."

Luna scoffed. "I was a different girl then. Weak. Wide-eyed. Green as spring grass. More importantly, I didn't have this." She dropped into a battle pose, weapon ready. "Take a swing at me."

Rix cocked his head, but he didn't need to be asked twice. He dropped into his own stance, then swung out at her torso. There was a burst of mana and a rush of air, and Luna shot backwards. It was far faster than anything he'd seen from her during their sparring.

"Was that what you got when you ranked up to High Whisper?" he asked.

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She nodded. "It's called [Wind Dash]."

"Nice. I've been thinking a lot about that choice. A movement technique seems really useful."

"It seemed like the best option for me," Luna replied. "Technically, it only goes backwards, but clearly the System was not prepared for someone of my overwhelming creativity."

She demonstrated, spinning around so her back was facing him and then launching herself back the way she'd come.

Rix laughed. "The heavens shake at your genius." Something occurred to him. "Did you choose that technique because I managed to land a hit on you?"

Luna hesitated a beat too long. "No." Another pause. "I just needed to shore up my defences!"

Rix grinned. "I will take that for the compliment that it is. I've got a new something I need to try too, actually."

In the fight with Yutaro and Kenzo, [Wind Blade] had ranked up.

[Wind Blade: Imbue one end of your staff with a temporary blade of pure wind, extending its reach and lending it a cutting edge (Cost: 15 mana to activate, 3 mana per second to maintain)

Mid Rank: The blade now summons at both ends of your staff. Maintenance mana cost reduced to 1 mana per second.]

He smiled reading it again now. The reduced mana cost was a nice quality-of-life improvement that would let him keep the technique active much longer, but the extra blade was what he was really looking forward to testing. He'd already begun trying to work the single blade into his style during training that morning, with some success. Making both ends of his weapon more deadly just gave him even more options.

He summoned the technique, causing two blades to erupt from his weapon.

"How adorable," said Luna. "A staff that now wants to be two swords when it grows up."

They moved steadily through the Low Whisper zone. The entropy seemed to be pushing back the jungle now. Where previously this passage had eventually led to a dim, thick forest, now it remained wide and rocky. Honestly, it was better that way. It made traversal easier and safer.

Not that they were under any threat here.

Both he and Luna could cleave through Low Whisper fades with impunity now, to the point where tactics were not even relevant. Luna's offensive technique — which was apparently called [Falcon Slash] — was at Mid Rank too, which meant she could chain three powered attacks together in a row with each use. At one point, they were set upon by a group of the spider fades. Before Rix could even engage, Luna had activated her new movement technique, spinning so it fired her forward rather than back, then pirouetting again to cleave through all three of their torsos in a single attack. They hit the ground before Rix could swing even once. He didn't even get any essence.

Rix raised an eyebrow, but Luna merely grinned. "What? I've got a job to do, remember? Any one of them could have ended you. In conclusion, you're welcome."

"My hero," he deadpanned. "How much essence do they give at your rank, anyway?"

Luna grimaced. "Bleeding nothing. That lot wasn't even worth a single percent."

Rix whistled. That was bad. Perhaps the math was consistent. The fades here had been worth ten times less once he'd hit Mid Whisper. If that held true for future rank ups, everything here would be worth about 0.1% at High Whisper. And while partnered up they'd be sharing that.

Fortunately, it only took about ten minutes to make it to the Mid Whisper zone. Rix had no idea how long it had taken him to run two miles in his past life, but there was no way he was even close to this fast or this fit. Maintaining a pace that would have been a full-pelt run for him felt like a light jog now, and it didn't tax his lungs at all.

As they moved, Rix kept his ears focused on their surroundings. He figured he had a reasonably good chance of hearing the Iron Hand approach before they found them if he was paying enough attention, but the area around them remained quiet, save for the relentless drone of the hum.

Once in the Mid Whisper zone, it didn't take them long to find a group of fades that would provide a more worthy challenge. As they rounded a large boulder, they came face to face with two of the mantis fades that Luna had been fighting when Rix saved her. They were standing out in the open near the wall of the canyon, sniffing the air. As the sound of Rix and Luna's footfalls echoed off the rock, they spun and let out a chittering cry.

"Think I owe your sort some payback," said Luna, her expression unusually serious.

Rix understood. While Luna may not have been close with her divemate, the fact remained that this sort of fade had gutted her partner in front of her. That was a hard thing to shake.

The mantises screeched again and Luna cried out: "Remember what I said last time — they like to hide."

She didn't need to tell Rix twice. He'd already learned his lesson about assuming the only threats were the ones he could see.

Both fades rushed Luna, who was a few feet in front of Rix. They covered the ground in a blink, and she activated her [Falcon Slash], attempting to decapitate the leading fade then and there. But the creature was quick. Its hinged arm darted up, blocking all three blows, and where they met, sparks of mana flew. Somehow, the creature was completely unharmed.

Luna's shock was clear on her face. The attack left her vulnerable, and the other mantis took immediate advantage. It snapped forward, its pincers opening, trying to close tight on Luna's bicep. She managed to throw herself backwards, narrowly avoiding being grappled, but the fade's sharp exoskeleton still scored a raking cut down her arm. Her mantle absorbed most of it, but it wasn't an auspicious start.

Luna winced. "You're tougher than the last batch."

By then, Rix had reached the battle, engaging the attacking fade and peeling it away from Luna. He fired [Wind Blade] as he swung, revelling in his new ability to cut with both ends of his weapon. But much like Luna's technique, the fade's forearms were durable enough that he left no lasting damage. Up close, he could see the thick layers of chitin at the end of those limbs. They were almost like clubs, while the rest of its body looked reedy and brittle. A single good strike somewhere unprotected would cause serious damage.

But the fades obviously knew that, and they fought accordingly.

Rix let his style slip to the front of his mind and went to work. He tested his opponent, looking for gaps, weaknesses. He swung high, aiming for the creature's head with one end, then unleashing a low sweep with the other, trying to take the fade's legs out from under it. But the monster's arms were long and limber, and its reflexes were like a snapping turtle. It could defend its entire body regardless of where he struck.

Luna seemed to be experimenting with her fade, too, sending out probing attacks and constantly flowing around her opponent to find new angles. Her style of combat was aggressive and mobile. Unfortunately, that wasn't ideal for Rix. There were several moments when he was forced to abort his attack or let his [Wind Blade] fade because Luna had darted into his range. The staff was naturally a large weapon that called for wide, sweeping movements. His techniques needed space to breathe.

He wasn't the only one to notice the problem. "You're taking up half the canyon with that stick," Luna called, ducking under one of his modified swings.

"Not all of us can fight in a closet," Rix shot back.

He could have used Energy Surge and probably ended the fight, but in truth, despite their clashing styles, he didn't feel particularly under threat. His qi was still a precious resource. He didn't want to use it that early in the dive unless he had to.

While no side was scoring significant injuries, they were slowly driving the fades back. Soon they had their opponents pressed up against the canyon wall. There was nowhere further to go. It felt like a turning point.

In a manner of speaking, it was.

He only saw the third fade a moment before it attacked. Because of course there was a third fade. It had been lurking in a crevice, its body contorted in seemingly impossible ways. Its skin was a different colour from its compatriots', having taken on a dull red to match the rocky walls. If Rix hadn't kept a sliver of his attention scanning their surroundings, he wouldn't have noticed it at all, and he yet again found himself thankful he'd chosen to focus on acuity.

"Third fade," he cried, as the mantis leapt from the crack, one pincer snapping towards Luna's neck. She dashed a few feet backwards, causing the attack to land short, but the fades followed in a flash, and suddenly Luna had two opponents.

It was time to stop playing around.

Reaching for his qi, he activated Energy Surge and sent a powerful blow whipping towards his fade's narrow chest. It was a killing strike, inhumanly fast, and the mantis had no time to throw its arms in the way.

Instead, it opened its mouth and screamed.

Rix staggered as a blast of sonic force slammed into him. It was a tangible thing, a warping in the air that pushed his staff wide and threw his balance off. The fade countered in an instant, trying to spear him through the chest. Energy Surge gave him the speed to dodge, but the limb still glanced painfully off his arm as his mantle dispersed most of the force.

He regained his footing quickly, his vision tunnelling until all he could see was his opponent. Anger surged through him and he launched into a flurry of strikes, his staff a blur as he sought to overwhelm the fade before it could scream again.

It wasn't until Luna cried out a moment later that he realised the fade's technique had caught her too.