The Jade Shadows Must Die [Cultivation LitRPG]

[Sunspot (Cost: 15 mana): Create a momentary blinding flash of light at a point within 20 feet.

Mid Rank: Sunspots may now be cast as invisible traps in the air that are triggered when they are walked through by another being.]

Rix stared at the text for several seconds. He'd occasionally thought about the direction [Sunspot] might go when it ranked up, but his guesses had all involved some kind of increase in brightness or raw power. This was something more akin to a utility upgrade.

But the more he thought about it, the more excited he became. Leaving [Sunspots] in the air opened up a lot of new options for him. For his entire time as a Martial Soul so far, combat had exclusively happened on a sort of singular plane. It was a direct engagement between himself and his enemy. His sphere of influence was mostly just what he could hit, with some small consideration given to the shockwave from [Force Hammer]. But with this upgrade, he could now lay claim to a much larger portion of the battlefield. With clever use, he could deploy [Sunspots] to control space and lay traps. His mind was already racing with possibility. At the end of the day, it was still a low-impact technique, and it would take time for him to adjust his combat approach to take full advantage of it, but the additional tools were very welcome. He could see it having a particularly strong impact when fighting other Martial Souls.

***

That evening, Rix learned that one Shadow Runner had died to the horde. It set a sombre mood at dinner, but it also wasn't the only death that day. After sharing their survival stories, they got talking about one of the Pattern Faithful members who had tried to tier-up by battling a Spark-tier fade just before the horde and had fallen in the process.

Rix had heard surprisingly few stories of people climbing to the Cauldron since he'd arrived. It required a few things: you had to have your essence at 100%, you had to exhibit mastery of your style, and then you had to kill a Spark-tier fade without any assistance. That last requirement was more nuanced than it seemed. It was actually about receiving a large enough boost of essence all at once, as opposed to being dependent on a specific opponent. A Spark-tier fade — killed alone, thus earning all the essence yourself — was simply a recognised way to consistently meet that threshold.

Even with the Shadow Runners' prior warnings, he hadn't thought of that requirement as particularly onerous. He'd been killing fades for months now. But as he learned that night, it was not to be taken for granted.

"They're killers," said Huan, matter-of-factly.

"That bad?" Rix asked.

Huan nodded, shovelling a spoonful of curry into his mouth. Tonight's menu was one of the better things in Tolson's rotation. Even Rix looked forward to curry night.

"They're not just like a tougher Whisper," Huan continued. "They're smarter. And they have techniques."

"Whisper fades have techniques," Luna interjected. "Those mantis things. And the one that split."

Huan shook his head. "Those are just tricks. I'm talking about proper techniques. The kind that can turn a fight. The one we fought had at least two."

Rix raised an eyebrow. "You've already fought one?" Given the Shadow Runner's warning, that was surprising.

Huan grimaced. "Wasn't trying to, but the bastard wandered way deeper than they normally do. Caught me and Fei completely off guard." He blew a sharp breath out of his mouth and shook his head. "We barely made it out even though there were two of us. I was laid up for a week afterwards. Thing nearly took my leg off. Not looking to repeat that in a hurry."

Rix cocked his head. "But you're close to ranking up, right?"

"More than close. I'm essence-capped." He gestured around the table. "A bunch of us are."

Rix glanced around at his fellow Shadow Runners. "But you're not going to take the next step?" Rix tried to keep his voice neutral, but he couldn't entirely mask his disbelief.

Thankfully, Huan seemed to take the question with grace. "It's not worth the risk."

Another man further up the table sneered. "When did your balls go walkabout, Huan?"

"We'll see if you step up when the time comes, Xian," Huan fired back. "Me? I know my limits. Wasn't even supposed to be a bleeding Martial Soul. Call me what you want, but I'm not about to throw my life away trying to prove I'm something I'm not."

The other man, Xian, waved a dismissive hand, but he didn't push further.

Rix considered his next words. "I'm the same as you," he said to Huan. "The Steward basically told me I'd already be dead by now. But…I just don't think I could be happy not trying." His situation was obviously more nuanced than that. He needed to get stronger. But even had that not been true, he couldn't see a world where he'd be okay with the idea of leaving anything on the table. It felt like there was an infinity of possibilities just a little out of reach, and all he had to do was keep pushing.

Wing had been watching the exchange quietly, but now she spoke up. "There's nothing wrong with feeling that way. Plenty do. But you should know, I've been running the show here for a while, so I've seen a few members take their shot. And more than half of them died trying."

"But Martial Souls do it all the time outside," said Rix. He was having flashbacks to his conversation with the Steward.

Wing shrugged. "A lot of them die too. Though less than in here, it's true."

"Even ignoring the lack of resources," added Huan, "we don't exactly represent the city's best and brightest."

A case of content theft: this narrative is not rightfully on Amazon; if you spot it, report the violation.

"Who knows?" Wing said to Rix. "You might make it. You're full of surprises, kid. But there's a reason a lot of us choose not to make the jump. We've got a good thing going here. We're strong enough that making heartstones doesn't ruin us too badly, and there's something to be said for being top of the food chain. Over there? You're swimming with the sharks."

Apparently, Han wasn't the only one who enjoyed being the big fish.

The information on the Spark-tier fades was interesting, but he filed it away in the 'challenges to look forward to' bucket. He had more pressing concerns.

With the Han fight ever present in his mind, he threw himself into Breaker's exercises. The process of building his qi pool was deeply uncomfortable. He'd hoped that with time, he'd adjust, but the sensation of overfilling his dantian continued to feel as though he were hyper-extending some brand new limb.

But still, he persisted.

Every moment of downtime when he could be stationary, he closed his eyes and focused on the Breath Bridge, and soon enough he began to see results. Two days after the fadeborn horde, he woke to discover his qi pool had grown.

Unlike his mana, he had no way to perfectly quantify his qi; all he had to go on were his spiritual senses. Perhaps it had been growing the entire time and it was just too incremental to notice. But when he rolled out of bed that morning and ran his mind's eye over his body, it was the first time he felt a substantial difference.

A profound elation rolled through him. Nearly a decade after building that first infinitesimal scrap of power, he'd finally managed to start growing it.

Breaker seemed pleased. "Yes, I can feel it. Your power has grown. And faster than I expected. Many people struggle once they realise how much discomfort is involved."

They were alone in a building one over from where Luna was still working on her Breath Bridge. Her frustration seemed to have given way to a sort of cold determination. Though she hadn't got it yet, she said she felt close, and Rix believed her.

"Worthy treasures are never found on easy paths," Rix replied. "That's something my father used to say." Feeling a rush of emotion, he tore his eyes away. Though he thought about his family every day, he almost never spoke of them aloud. Words seemed to give substance to the loss he normally kept buried.

Breaker studied him with an unreadable expression. "He sounds like a wise man."

Rix cleared his throat. "When will I be ready to begin learning the cycling technique?"

Breaker chuckled. "Soon. You'll need a little more qi than you currently have to do it adequately."

"Why can't you start teaching me now in preparation?"

"Because you will try to do it the moment you leave my sight."

Rix opened his mouth to object, but the older man cut him off. "Save your protests. I have taken your measure, Zao Rixian, and you are not one who tastes before swallowing. That sort of ambition can be an asset, but only if you take care not to let it turn to recklessness. As your teacher, it is my job to make sure that doesn't happen. For both our sakes."

Rix sighed. "That makes sense. I defer to your wisdom, Breaker."

He spent a little while longer stretching his Dantian under Breaker's supervision before they rose to return to Luna. After taking just a few steps, though, Breaker staggered, barely catching himself before he fell.

"Are you okay?" Rix asked. Since the horde, their teacher had definitely been feeling the after-effects. He'd already missed one dive entirely and had left early on another.

Breaker grimaced. "Just another spell. I fear I will need to leave you to your own devices tomorrow."

"That's okay," Rix said. "Tomorrow is arena day anyway."

"Then I won't feel so bad about taking some rest," Breaker replied.

***

The next day was the first time Rix was actually paired against an opponent he considered weaker than himself in the arena — a jian-wielder named Shen Dai. The man had arrived at Spiritlock a week after Rix, making it also the first time he'd fought a prisoner newer than himself.

While he didn't know for sure, Rix's assessment of Dai after seeing him fight was that his style was likely low rank, much like his own. He moved with a vague lack of certainty and decisiveness that left him routinely exposed by better fighters. Furthermore, he was at the top of High Whisper, rather than a proper Peak Whisper like Rix, which put him at an attribute disadvantage.

And for the second time, Rix won an arena bout.

The victory was not as flashy as his first against Silver. By design, Rix forced this one to become a grinding martial battle. Winning quickly had its appeal, but it was hours of melee combat that would ultimately drive synergy between his mind and his style and grant the rank up he needed. To that end, he'd recently been experimenting with his mantle allotment in the arena. Now that everybody knew what techniques he wielded, it became more difficult to leverage them effectively, so he found himself using them less. Nobody was walking into the [Sunspot] and [Force Hammer] combination. He had the upgraded [Sunspot] at his disposal, but he'd been keeping that in reserve for an opportune moment. Like most tricks, it would lose effectiveness once revealed.

Meanwhile, more mana in his mantle let him trade blows and get into prolonged brawls that wouldn't have been possible with a smaller allocation. He was currently running with half his mana pool in his mantle, 100 mana in total, and the effects were noticeable. He could take far more of a beating than before.

Dai took an opposing approach. His mantle looked almost paper-thin, and he threw out techniques as though they were candy. Rix suspected he'd sunk all his attributes into his mana pool to fuel that strategy.

Fortunately, his techniques were what Rix had come to identify as options from the prison's common pool for jian users, and, as such, they weren't particularly powerful. He had a simple thrust that caused his sword to momentarily burst into flames, and a dash attack that hurled him forward as he unleashed a powerful slash towards his opponent's central mass. Both might have proved problematic if they hit, but they never did.

Rix was set up to perfectly counter a fighter like that. His mind hummed throughout the fight, clocking the tiniest shifts in weight or posture before his opponent had even begun to properly launch an attack. Between this anticipation and Energy Surge, he was never in any significant danger. Each time the man launched a new assault, Rix would block or dance out of the way before unleashing a rapid-fire counterattack. While he wasn't strong enough to break Martial Soul bone yet, his staff was still a terror. Less than two minutes into the fight, Dai was already beaten bloody. His arms and legs were riddled with welts, and several of his fingers were dislocated from an ill-fated attempt to block with an open palm.

Thirty seconds later, Rix opened his throat with a surprise [Wind Blade].

In the aftermath, he basked in the smattering of applause. He didn't fight purely for the crowd, like some of the other combatants, but it was hard to deny there was a certain appeal in being the subject of such adoration.

Luna congratulated him when he returned to the stands.

"Thanks," he said. "Still no style rank-up, though." It was disappointing, though he tried not to let too much of it bleed through onto his face.

She threw up a stern look and channelled her best Master Zhen voice. "That is the problem with the youth of today. They think they are owed something. Mastery is not bestowed, it is earned. Through sweat! And...more sweat. And...blisters." She trailed off, losing the impression. "Point is, stop whining and keep hitting stuff." She flashed a smile. "Or don't and watch me leave you in the dust. Actually, that might be more fun."

Rix found himself chuckling. "You know, that might be all the motivation I need."

She was called up next. She flashed him a grin as she stepped into the arena against a woman named Emi who wielded a spear. The other fighter was good, but Rix's money would be on Luna.

As she stepped into the ring, Rix felt a sudden cold coil of discomfort, as though a set of eyes were on him. He turned to see Han staring at him from a few rows back. The man's gaze was full of malice as always, but there was something questioning there too, like Rix was a puzzle he was trying to solve. Rix didn't know what to make of it.