The Jade Shadows Must Die [Cultivation LitRPG]

The next day, Rix won another arena bout, and it was easily his best performance yet. His opponent, a woman named Qianyi, was ranked tenth on the Farm's ladder, just a few spots below Luna. She was a spear-wielder, and she looked to have at least one corporate technique that let her project some kind of wave of energy a few feet in front of her weapon.

Despite the difference in their ladder position, Rix came out of the gate feeling confident. He'd had time to fully explore what his new Mid Rank style was capable of now. That newfound comfort, coupled with the rigorous hand-to-hand training Master Zhen was putting him through to prepare for the next rank-up, left him feeling like more of a force in the ring than ever before. His body and mind both felt honed, and that manifested in this latest fight.

Afterwards, the Ringmaster described his performance as 'clinical', which Rix felt was apt. Part of adjusting to his style improvement was acknowledging that all-out aggression wasn't always the answer. He wasn't totally suppressing his instincts, but the more in tune he was with the System's guidance, the more he found opportunities for patience, rather than seeing every sliver of an opening as a sign to attack. That strategy could work, but it also carried more risk, and he now understood that better opponents were exploiting that against him. These days, he saw a little of Luna's combat style in his own, controlled aggression that suffocated an opponent, rather than battering straight through them.

This was on show against Qianyi. She preferred to fight defensively and leverage the range of her weapon. A less experienced Rix would have simply rushed forward, trying to get in close and then stay there to deny her the sort of battle in which she was most comfortable. But now he was content to trade blows at range, looking for opportunities to dart in and score hits before backing away once more.

Part of the reason why he was so willing to engage in this cat and mouse was that for the first time he'd decided to try cycling his Mountain Gate in an arena fight. Breaker insisted the Fractured Realm offered more than any "artificial duel" could in terms of putting Rix under duress, but Rix needed to see for himself.

Unfortunately, Breaker proved to be right. He spent several minutes cycling, and while the battle was intense, and he felt the same trembling sensation as he did when fighting fades, his Mountain Gate remained sealed. It was disappointing, but not unexpected.

Eventually, he gave up and turned his mind back to the mission at hand: winning the fight. And that meant calling on his trump card.

While [Sunspot] had started out as a long-term utility pick to potentially help against Han, it had gradually grown into a key part of his arsenal, particularly now with its new trap mode. Qianyi had a similar movement technique to [Wind Dash], but Rix had fought more than a few people with similar abilities at this point and he'd grown significantly better at countering them. These days he didn't simply try to drive people into his traps; he instead created a complex web around the arena. By directing the angle of engagement, he created a situation which meant that when she triggered one [Sunspot] and dashed backwards, she wound up triggering a second one at the end of her technique.

The first two times she missed the second trap, but the next time, the combination landed, and it basically ended the fight.

With Energy Surge fuelling him, he hurled himself after her, landing four rapid blows to her chest. Though her mantle caught the first two, it shattered on the third, and the last one struck with the hideous crack of a rib breaking beneath it.

She managed to fend him off with her spear, but the damage had been done. Her reactions slowed. She could no longer easily defend from one side. And her mantle was exhausted. Much like Luna had done to him, he simply wore her down, earning his killing blow with a sharp thrust to the throat.

***

The next day, Rix was diving alone. It was one of the only variables he hadn't really played with in trying to open his gate. Perhaps simply having Luna there was distracting enough to break his flow state.

It took a little effort to convince her to give up a dive, but eventually she relented. They were both at 100% essence now, and she was starting to make real progress on her meridians, so she was off focusing on that, leaving him to kill on his own.

Breaker was also absent, taking another of his rest days. He thought they were mostly behind him now, but with both his pupils currently needing little guidance, he took the opportunity to refresh himself. Rix had been growing increasingly curious about exactly how Breaker lived in those periods when they weren't here, but after his little outburst about respect, it felt like the wrong time to ask.

And so, that left Rix alone. He'd started killing fades a short distance from where Luna was cultivating, but after the first few fights saw him no closer to a breakthrough, he pushed out a little further. Though he knew it was foolish, he was entertaining the idea of ranging all the way to the zone border and trying to tempt a Spark-tier fade into a fight. If the stories were true, nothing would put him in 'extreme duress' quite like that.

He continued roving, pushing further out to a part of the realm he'd never seen before. The landscape around him turned rocky and rough. Stones of all shapes and sizes littered the ground, many towering over him and casting deep shadows in their wake. On closer inspection, Rix could see myriad fine points growing from some of their surfaces, almost like cactus spines. Many of these ended in small purple flowers the shape of hearts. It was odd seeing the organic and inorganic woven so strangely together. Even with months of experience in the Fractured Realm, the place sometimes still surprised him.

He picked several treasures as he went, before being attacked by another group of fades; slithering, worm-like beasts that hunted in small packs and could spit something acrid and caustic. He'd fought their kind before enough times to know how to handle them with just his style alone.

As he was cleaning up the fight, he heard the sound of further movement off to his right. He raced forward, ready to flow seamlessly into the next battle, but after rounding a large boulder, he stopped in his tracks. On the other side was a group of three Martial Souls.

And one of them was Xu Han.

The two flanking him were also familiar. To one side was Yuri, her two tantos glimmering in the dull yellow light. To the other was a lean, fine-featured man named Rion who wielded a long single-edged Tatsuyan Katana. He wasn't a particularly skilled fighter, but Han seemed to trust him.

The smile that spread across Han's face when he saw Rix was like a terrible sunrise.

"Finally," he said. "You're not where you were supposed to be, runt."

Rix felt a jolt of panic in his chest, cold and desperate. He wasn't ready. And even if he had been, there were three of them.

"I thought we had a deal, Han." His mind was racing. He'd truly thought he had the situation under control.

"I don't make deals with dead men," Han growled. "None of this gets to be on your terms. This is my prison!" He thrust his axe at Rix as he spoke. "Why would I wait until you're 'ready' when I can just take your head now?"

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"What about what the Warden said?" asked Rix, trying not to sound desperate. "We're meant to be letting this cool off."

Han's sneer deepened. "I'll make sure nobody finds your body."

Rix considered trying to run. He was quick by Whisper standards. He'd back himself to outrun most in the Farm. But Han had Yuri with him, probably exactly for this reason. She moved like the wind. She was one of the few who could catch him, and she'd only need to tie him up for a few seconds for the others to close in.

He looked between his three opponents. On his chest, he could feel the faint hum of the bootleg tattoo array. While he'd used it before during the brawl, in the middle of all that chaos he didn't think anyone had really clocked it. It would likely give him an edge, though it would be only momentary.

"Okay, you win," he said, not having to work very hard to sound defeated. "You want to fight now, let's do it just like we agreed. A fair fight, you and me."

"Fuck fair," Han hissed. "I brought friends for a reason."

Beside him, the two Iron Hand members hefted their weapons, their smiles as sharp as their blades.

"You wouldn't deny me a rematch, would you?" said Yuri, her voice saccharin sweet. "After you got the jump on me last time in the mess, I've barely been able to think of anything else."

The Iron Hand began to advance, fanning out to come at him from multiple sides. The distance between them was less than thirty feet.

Rix's heart pounded like a war drum in his chest. It was now or never.

"Okay," he said, "but if you just—"

Mid-sentence, he surged into action. Despite what his style had been teaching him, this wasn't a time for patience. This was a time for overwhelming force. He needed to use every tool at his disposal to eliminate at least one of his opponents as quickly as possible. It didn't even the odds, but it took them from 'impossible' to 'vanishingly small.'

He deployed the same combination as he had during the brawl, that ultra-potent stack of Energy Surge and the tattoo array. Together, they shot through his body like arcing lightning, electric and dangerous and thrumming with energy.

He'd chosen Yuri as his target. Han was too durable to kill quickly, and Rion seemed the lesser of all the threats. But Yuri, well, she was both skilled and physically gifted. The moment Han engaged him properly, she'd be at his back, burying her blades in his flesh.

But though she was quick, her durability was lacking, which made her the perfect target for his onslaught.

The woman's eyes widened in alarm as Rix closed the distance between them far faster than any Whisper should have, his staff already raised above his head. She didn't have a movement technique. With her terrifying innate speed, she didn't ordinarily need one. She desperately scrabbled backwards, but with both his qi and the array's biting power lending him speed, he was faster.

[Force Hammer] crashed into Yuri like a boulder from the heavens.

She managed to arch her back to pull her head out of range, but that just meant the technique slammed into her rib cage instead. It punched straight through her mantle as though it were paper. Her ribs shattered as her body was driven into the rocky soil. As the technique met the ground, the shockwave added insult to injury, tearing the wound in her chest wider still. She twitched once, then was motionless.

One down.

So focused was Rix on the kill, he almost missed the gentle rumbling in the ground beneath him. Thankfully, with so much raw power surging through him, he had the reflexes to make up for his inattention. As his danger sense finally kicked in, he threw himself into a roll to the side. A millisecond later, a massive spike of stone erupted from where he'd been standing. It stood at least three feet tall and was thick as his thigh at the base before tapering to a wicked point.

Rix belatedly recognised it as one of Han's techniques, though he'd only seen it a handful of times in the arena, mostly because Han didn't really need it. In that confined environment, his axe and raw physical attributes were more than enough. Judging by the few times Rix had seen the spike hit home, though, he knew he needed to avoid it.

He drew a shuddering breath. His body was flush with adrenaline. Not wanting to waste the whole tattoo, he broke the mana connection, wincing as the power left his muscles. He needed to maximise every drop.

Han's eyes bulged as he took in the sight of his fallen companion.

"Fucking Wing and her little toys," he hissed, apparently recognising what Rix had been using. He seemed genuinely upset at the woman's death.

"Having second thoughts?" he asked.

Han spat again. "A bug with a firecracker is still just a bug. Let's see if you can burn me."

With that, he hurled himself at Rix. Rix caught his first overhead swing in the middle of his staff by reflex. Despite holding it in both hands, his arms nearly buckled under the sheer power of it. And that was just a regular swing.

Heavens' blood, the man was strong.

They'd fought before, of course, in the mess hall, but that had been without weapons. With the length of the axe adding leverage to his already incredible power, Han's attacks now fell with titanic force.

With his opponent's chest exposed, Rix countered, lashing out with four rapid blows to the ribs. Han's mantle shattered almost immediately, but Rix expected that. He knew from watching the arena that he didn't assign any mana to that defensive layer at all. No, he had something much more potent to rely on. His [Stoneskin].

As each of Rix's attacks made contact, Han's skin took on a faintly mottled grey colour. And despite being good, clean hits with Rix's full body weight behind them, the man barely seemed to feel them at all.

Even knowing the man was virtually impregnable, Rix was momentarily caught off guard by the complete lack of impact. He'd expected the combination of having his staff, his extra points in strength, and his improved style might do something. Han capitalised, letting out a roar and shoving the haft of his weapon forward, slamming it into Rix's face. His mantle flared, but even so the attack was disorientating, and he barely managed to dance backwards in time to avoid the vicious follow-up that would have decapitated him on the spot.

But what he didn't avoid was the second Iron Hand member.

So focused was he on his attack, he didn't see Rion close until it was almost too late. Rix awkwardly parried his first attack almost by reflex, but the man whipped his jian around in response, slashing at Rix's thigh while activating some kind of technique. His blade became wreathed in a sizzling yellow light as it slammed home. Rix's mantle absorbed most of the force, but the technique still bit into Rix's flesh, leaving a five-inch gash in the meat of his leg.

He managed to send his opponent stumbling with a short thrust to the face to get some distance, but it didn't cause any real damage.

"Maybe the firecracker's already burnt out," said Rion, grinning at Rix.

"Maybe," replied Han, though he didn't sound entirely convinced.

Rix grimaced, doing his best to play into their suspicions. Perhaps he could use that.

He tested his leg. The wound wasn't bad. His mantle was all but exhausted, but it had done its job and taken the bulk of the attack, leaving little more than a scratch. He made a show of wincing and stepping gingerly as though it could barely support his weight.

Rion's smile widened fractionally.

"Together," barked Han. "Let's stop fucking around and finish this."

The two men closed again. This time, Rix dodged Han's downward swing, shimmying to the side, leaving his axe to slam into the soil. At the same time, he used the movement to also block his other opponent's flurry of attacks, parrying a series of technique-imbued slashes, then throwing himself into a roll to dodge a thrust that would have impaled him. Surprise flashed across Rion's face as Rix revealed his movement wasn't hampered at all. The manoeuvre carried him to the other side of the duo, putting him at the smaller man's back.

And that was when he struck.

His muscles lit up as he reestablished connection with the tattoo. Firing it again brought all that power rushing back, but this time it also came with a sort of sick heat. It was the same pain he'd felt in the aftermath of using it in the mess hall, but now it was happening in real time. Huan had warned him that the deeper he pulled on the array's mana, the worse it would get, and now that was proving itself true.

He considered coupling it with Energy Surge once more, but Rion wasn't as fast as Yuri, and the distance between them was far smaller. Besides, Rix was already looking ahead to the rest of the fight and he knew he'd need every ounce of qi he could muster.

Fortunately, the tattoo was enough.

His body flush with speed and strength, Rix summoned [Wind Blade] and cut a series of rapid strikes at his opponent. Imbued by the tattoo, each blow was devastating. The first made the man's mantle flare. The second made it shatter. He managed to whip around and raise his sword to defend the third, but it was a weak movement and Rix's swing barged right through it, carving a deep gash out of the man's inner thigh. Judging from the way blood instantly spouted from the wound, he'd hit something vital. The way Rion stared at the wound said he knew it too. He froze in panic.

Rix put him out of his misery with a thrust through the heart.

He let the tattoo connection fade once more, stepping backwards as the body hit the ground. While the extra power fled his muscles immediately, the burning sensation lingered — a reminder that the array was for 'emergencies only'. But desperate times, and all that. However much it hurt, it probably wasn't worse than dying.

Han stared at him over his gang-mate's corpse, his chest heaving with barely controlled rage.

"So, about that fair fight," said Rix.