The Jade Shadows Must Die [Cultivation LitRPG]

The fade was in terrible shape. It had a slew of crystal shards jutting from its back. Each wound site pulsed, as though trying to drive the foreign bodies out, but they were too firmly embedded. It must have been draining an immense amount of mana. Unlike their previous gashes, these ones were actually starting to bleed, leaking something dark and viscous onto the white crystal.

The fade's strength was visibly waning. It swayed gently from side to side, its movements slow and unsteady. Its mouth still churned, but at a much slower pace, the tearing blades now visible to Rix's eyes.

But even in that condition, it was more than capable of killing the hapless girl in front of it. Luna looked dazed. Her breath was coming rapid and shallow and her face was drawn tight with strain. Despite the toll of the fight, Rix's tether hadn't snapped back to his collar. She was somehow still holding it in place through sheer force of will. Even now, with death looming over her, she was prioritising his safety.

If the situation were reversed, Rix suspected that his instinct for survival would already have won out.

But none of that was about to matter as the fade reared up to make the kill. The moment it ended her, Rix would be incapacitated too. Even with Energy Surge, Rix knew he couldn't cover the distance in time, but what else could he do? He scrabbled desperately to his feet. And as he shoved himself up, his hand closed on one of the crystal spikes he'd cut free earlier.

He couldn't cover the distance in time, but the spike could.

Acting purely on instinct, he grasped it around the base, poured all his remaining qi into Energy Surge and hurled the crystal point-first like a spear. It shot through the air faster than an arrow, puncturing cleanly through the side of the fade's head with a wet thud. Its skin flared like a sun at the point of entry, and Rix squinted through the glare, begging it to have been enough.

The thing tottered on its feet for several seconds before collapsing to the ground. The light from its various wounds dimmed as Rix felt the familiar rush of essence.

Rix let out a victory cry. He couldn't believe it had worked. Such a throw would have been a hundred to one when he was a mortal. If he'd stopped to think it through, he doubted he'd have even tried.

"Are you okay?" he asked, rushing to Luna's side. Up close she looked even worse than he'd realised. The fade must have caught her more cleanly with its jump because she looked like she'd run head-first into a brick wall. Despite her mantle, her face was swollen and her skin was peppered with gashes and welts.

"No," she replied. "I am gravely wounded. Wounded that you would ignore my request and go to such ridiculous lengths to steal my kill! A throwing attack? Really?"

Despite himself, Rix felt a smile tug at the corner of his mouth. If she could still make jokes, she probably wasn't dying.

"So, no 'thank you' then?"

She made a disapproving noise. "Oh, you've got some nerve. I should drop the tether right now, just to prove I don't make empty threats."

If he'd known her a little less well, he'd almost have thought the glare she shot him was real, but he knew what to look for now, the little hints of amusement at the corners of her eyes and mouth.

"If it makes you feel any better, it was your idea to use the crystal," he offered, "so morally the kill is yours."

She pursed her lips and made a show of weighing that. "I greatly prefer real kills to moral kills, but under the circumstances I'm willing to consider this a 'real kill by proxy.'"

Luna dragged herself to her feet. Despite the banter, she looked in rough shape, though Rix couldn't tell how much was from the fight and how much was from the mental strain.

"Thank you for keeping hold of it," he said, his voice turning serious. "I know how much effort that took."

She gave a small nod. "Probably shouldn't linger, though. My supreme mental fortitude notwithstanding, I'm not sure how much I have left in me."

They hurried on. As they went, Rix called up his system display.

[Essence: 95%]

He'd been at 90% before their most recent fight. With the essence split, that meant that single fade was worth 10% of a rank. That was the most he'd seen, but it made sense because that fade had been a rank higher than him. He wasn't sure if he could take that particular opponent by himself, but together they'd managed it even with Luna not at her best. That told an interesting story. If they could find a way to fight up ranks more consistently, it would significantly accelerate their progress.

Though preferably not right now. They were in no shape for another fight of that difficulty.

Fortunately, the tunnel only ran for another few hundred feet before it began to angle up, eventually opening up into an immense wasteland Rix could only describe as a desert. He'd never seen one in person before, but he was familiar with the concept: a vast expanse of rolling sand dunes, barren save for a handful of large rocks and desperate trees. He'd never seen anything so desolate before.

"We're maybe a quarter mile into the High Whisper zone," Luna said.

Rix turned to look behind them. They'd emerged from what looked like a giant crystal mountain. Between the realm's eerie orange light and the reflection of the sand, it cast the crystal a kind of sickly yellow. Arranged next to one another, the two landscapes combined to create the most alien environment Rix had ever been in. It was exciting and unsettling in equal measure. For so long, his life had been confined to the cold stone of Cloudpiercer's streets and walls.

This tale has been pilfered from Royal Road. If found on Amazon, kindly file a report.

Now, he was finally in a position to push beyond them.

"Feel like challenging a few more High Rank fades before we head back?" he said in jest.

Despite the situation, the conflict was clear on Luna's face. "Are you really going to make me be the responsible one?"

He laughed. "Okay, fine, that was cruel. Which way is home?"

"We need to get around the mountain." She nodded to her right. "That looks like a good bet."

They set off. It took only a few steps for Rix to realise something: he hated sand. Everywhere else he'd ever walked, he'd never had to worry that the ground wasn't solid. Even the sand on the floor of the training cells was hard-packed enough to be firm. But in the desert, everything was in flux. Every step, the ground gave a little beneath his foot. It was maddening.

"What's the place you grew up like?" he asked.

"Nothing like this," she replied. "The Falling Leaf Sect live in a valley. Though, if I told you its name, the Autumn Blades would have to find and kill you." Her tone of voice left him genuinely questioning whether she was serious or not.

"The whole place is ringed by mountains," she continued. "All our buildings are carved right into the cliff faces. There are waterfalls everywhere too, feeding a huge network of streams that run through the orchards. The forests get so thick in places you can barely walk through them. Makes for good training though. 'Constraints breed creativity,' my swordmaster used to say."

Rix wasn't sure he agreed. He'd grown up with considerable constraints, and in his experience they'd simply held him back. But he didn't want to argue. "That does sound…idyllic."

"It was."

On the tip of his tongue was a question he'd considered several times: 'What did you do to end up here?'. He was still bothered by some of the particulars of her situation. She'd shown up as a fresh Whisper, yet she seemed to be using her sect's style. He didn't know how that was possible.

But it felt inappropriate to ask. People in Spiritlock didn't seem to talk about their crimes. It was a strange situation for him. For most inmates, their incarceration was likely the worst day of their lives. The moment their lives were disrupted. Whatever Luna's situation, there was something in the way she spoke of her past life that said she was in that group.

But for him, this was the start of his life. Spiritlock wasn't a dark period of his story. It was the culmination of long-laid plans.

So he let the question be. "I can't even imagine living in so much nature," he said instead. "Honestly, I've barely left Cloudpiercer. Occasionally we'd dip into the forest on the outskirts, but we never went very far. There are an awful lot of things in those woods that could eat a mortal child." He gestured to the realm around them. "Nothing like in here, but there's not much difference between a bear and a fade when you're four-feet tall."

"Yeah, well I can't imagine living in so much…stuff. I hadn't seen a city until I was arrested," she replied.

Rix turned to her in surprise.

"What?" she continued, a little indignant. "Our masters always said that cities are where people go when they're afraid to face the sky alone. We don't leave the valley unless there's a good reason, especially children."

Rix bristled for a moment before realising he didn't actually have to defend the place he grew up. People in Cloudpiercer often spoke like the city was the centre of the world. It was 'blessed by the heavens,' they said. But perhaps there was value in questioning that perspective.

"Now that you've been there, do you think they were right?" he asked.

She took a moment to formulate her reply.

"I certainly never felt alone. I didn't get to see very much of it, really. Just bits and pieces as they carted me from the holding cells to the courthouse. But I've never seen so many people before. And it moves so fast. Like an anthill that's been kicked over."

Rix gave a slow nod. He knew that sensation well, though he thought of it in different terms. The city was relentless. A machine that never shut down. He'd become somewhat inured to it over the years, but that was mostly because he was too busy trying not to get crushed between its gargantuan gears.

"That's what happens when everyone is trying to climb the same mountain," he said.

They lapsed into silence and continued trudging across the sand, walking parallel to the mountain face. Soon enough, they came to the point where it began to curve off back into the Mid Whisper zone where the desert met the rocky crystal canyon once more. Luna's face seemed to be growing more taut by the minute, and though she hadn't said anything more, he could tell she was nearing her limit.

Wordlessly, Rix picked up his pace. She grimaced, but matched it, her feet unsteady beneath her. His senses were on high alert as they raced towards the weaker zone. Twice he heard something moving in the distance, a rustling that echoed off the crystal, but neither instance was followed by an imminent threat. At that point, their best bet would have been to try and run. A lot of the fades were fast in combat, but at least half of those he'd met probably couldn't match their pace over distance.

A sharp exhalation of relief from Luna was all the warning he had. There was a snapping sensation, and then his tether slammed back into place. He could feel the beacon once more. It was momentarily disorienting, like gaining back a sense he'd been temporarily denied.

"Bleeding hells," Luna muttered, immediately dropping into a squat and running a hand through her hair. "Didn't think it was possible to hate my bloodline more, but that did it. That was awful."

"I don't know why you're so negative about it," he replied. "That was incredible. Your bloodline literally saved my life, Luna."

Her movements stilled and a strange look crossed her face, like she'd never considered her bloodline could be anything but a curse. Then that defensive brightness reasserted itself. "Yeah, but how does that benefit me?"

Rix laughed. "Fair."

He chose his next words carefully. This was clearly a sensitive subject, but it was also stupid to ignore the opportunity it presented. "It does seem like it could be useful, though. Have you tried to practise with it at all? Imagine if we could both hunt a rank up all the time. We'd climb like mad compared to everyone else."

With the way her mind worked, he suspected she'd actually already thought about this, but it was worth letting her know they were on the same page.

She let out a groan. "Now you want me to hold back both our tethers? Do you hate me?" She paused. "Admittedly, it was a little easier than last time, but there's a massive difference between one and two."

Rix grinned. "Sounds like something to work on."

While Luna's efforts had left her drained, she said now that she wasn't actively holding his tether back anymore, she wanted to keep diving. They still had at least two hours until the portal closed. Rix didn't take much convincing. He was 5% away from ranking up again.

And at High Whisper, a new technique awaited.

Cognisant that Han and his cronies could still be in the area, they made a beeline for the far side of the Western Quadrant. He doubted they'd be looking particularly far from the cave. It was far more likely they were still trying to find their way through.

The rest of the dive went smoothly. Despite Luna's condition, her bladework was still crisp and clean. Mid Whisper fades were no match for them at this point. They managed another four kills before heading back.

[Essence: 101%]

"If it's any consolation, next time we venture that deep, you won't need to hold my tether," he said, as they neared the portal site.

Luna did a double take. "You're finally ready to rank up?"

He nodded.

She broke into a smile. "Heaven's breath, it's about time! Next time we fight one of those worm things you're going to sit quietly in the corner and let me have all the fun."

"Deal."

Emerging from the canyon to the dive site, they were greeted by a sight Rix had been expecting: Han and the Iron Hand. The men had been sitting on various rocks or the ground itself, but they all scrambled to their feet as Rix and Luna appeared.

Han let out a growl.