The Jade Shadows Must Die [Cultivation LitRPG]

Rix waded through the undergrowth. This close to the border, the jungle was thick. Between the scrub blanketing the floor, the towering trees, and the network of vines that was laid across it all like a spider's web, it was slow going. Fortunately, he could push through most plants without effort at this point. Unlocking his Mountain Gate had given him a confidence in his body he'd never had before, even after applying his last rank up entirely to strength.

He was completely recovered. The wound on his side had healed, and the burn in his mana meridians was but a faint echo.

And now, he was on his final hunt of his time in the Farm.

He didn't know what to expect from the coming fight. The other Shadow Runners had made Spark-tier fades out to be true killers of men. At the same time, more powerful figures, like Master Zhen, had implied they were simply more difficult opponents. Challenging, yes, but hardly insurmountable. It was difficult to know where the truth lay, though he suspected the elder had the right of it.

Over his time in the Farm, Rix had grown to understand that the place was its own little echo chamber, complete with all the rumour and group think and local mythology of a much larger ecosystem. Since he'd arrived, he'd heard of three prisoners making the jump to the Cauldron. Three, out of several hundred. Another three had died trying, but still, that was a shockingly small number who wanted to progress. By the time people reached Peak Whisper, few seemed willing to risk pushing further, especially when the reward was to be once again placed at the bottom of the pecking order. He suspected that the conversation where Huan and Wing explained why they chose not to climb was repeated regularly amongst the Whisper inmates. There was this general undercurrent of tension that surrounded the topic, even when it came up in idle conversation.

On some level, he understood. The Farm was a known quantity, and there was comfort in that. Conversely, by all accounts, the Cauldron was a hellhole. Stronger inmates, more tribalism, less oversight, and a far longer climb to the top. The adaptation period would be quick and violent.

But to stay in the Farm was to stagnate, and even ignoring the other pressures upon him, that was simply unacceptable.

Luna was back cultivating in their standard spot. Her turn would come, but for it to count toward his tier up, this battle was one Rix needed to fight alone. The exact nature of that limitation was the subject of some debate. Some people said it merely meant you had to do all the work yourself. Others claimed even something as benign as providing a distraction for another Martial Soul was enough for the System to deem it a shared kill, regardless of how much essence it earned.

Whatever the case, they weren't taking any risks. Rix and Luna were well and truly separated for the fights to come, and Breaker wouldn't intervene unless they were truly about to fall.

That safety net inspired mixed feelings in Rix. On one hand, it was hard to deny the benefit of having a protector watching over him. On the other, it did lessen the experience. The intention of the requirement was clear: to force you to to risk yourself in solo combat. Rix liked the purity of that. It was brutal but so was much of the Martial Path.

But there was no way to tell Breaker not to step in. The man would hardly let them die after investing this much time in them. All Rix could do was pretend he wasn't there.

Fortunately, he'd gotten relatively good at ignoring distractions in recent months.

Breaker's presence did have another benefit. The tether prevented inmates from crossing into zones stronger than them, which meant other inmates who wanted to tier up had to trawl the border between zones waiting for a stronger fade to stumble into Whisper territory. From what Rix heard, it could take days, even weeks. But for them, the process was almost instant. Breaker could cross the threshold and drive a Spark fade to them at will.

They'd briefly considered testing Luna's bloodline to cross the threshold themselves, but despite some solid improvements in using it, she was still a way off being capable of fighting a tier up while holding either of their tethers. For now, they took the easy route.

Through the scrub, Rix's ears picked up a faint rustling. His pulse spiked, his grip tightening around his weapon.

Slowly, he crept forward. While in the past, the fades Breaker sent them had come crashing right at them, the situation was different this time. It seemed unlikely that Breaker's aura would trigger the System into thinking the kill wasn't solo, but they couldn't be a hundred percent certain. So, to mitigate that chance, he'd simply driven a few Sparks across the border, then stepped away, leaving them for Rix to stumble upon them on his own.

He continued through the jungle for ten feet, then twenty, constantly scanning his surrounds. The sound had been a momentary thing, almost enough to ignore. But Rix trusted his acuity enhanced ears at this point.

Something was out there.

As he pushed into a small clearing, his eyes briefly stuck on a strange plant. Roughly a foot taller than he was, it was comprised of thick vines braided together in a rough approximation of a tree. Its entire body was tipped with barbs, like enlarged rose thorns, and it had several patches of strange bark covering it seemingly at random. He'd never seen a plant like it in the realm before.

And when two of its vines suddenly whipped forward, he understood why.

As they shot toward him, Rix saw that each limb was tipped with a three-inch barb of something jagged and glistening. Acting on reflex, he summoned [Wind Blade] and slashed out with two sharp cuts. The technique hadn't been particularly useful to him lately — his style imbued his standard strikes with more than enough punch for most enemies — but this was a situation that called for a cutting edge.

One of the vines flicked to the right, avoiding his counter, but his staff cleaved straight through the other, sending a twisted piece of tendril spiralling to the ground. The fade let out a high-pitched squeal as its limbs snapped back toward its body.

Its ambush foiled, it unfurled itself to shed its disguise. When standing properly, it was about eight feet tall. It had a vaguely humanoid shape to it, with what would be core vital points on a person protected by those bark plates. While he wasn't sure if 'head' was the right word, at the top of its neck was knot of dense vegetation peppered with multiple bioluminescent yellow orbs that Rix assumed were its eyes.

With his Mountain Gate open, it made little sense to waste his qi on something as inefficient as Energy Surge, but he wanted to get on the front foot, so he poured just a little into it as he rushed forward, hoping to catch the fade by surprise.

But the thing was ready.

It shrunk in on itself for a moment, before violently expanding outward again, and with that gesture came a massive rush of green gas. In the blink of an eye, it had blanketed the area all around Rix. He stumbled to a halt, unable see more than a few feet in front of him. So suddenly did the cloud appear that Rix drew at least one lungful before his mind caught up and considered the possibility of poison. Thankfully he felt no immediate effects. If it was a toxic, it wasn't particularly potent, but more likely it was just for visual camouflage. In any case, he would hold his breath as best he could.

Not knowing what else to do, he crept forward, his eyes scanning the fog. People had said Spark-tier fades had real techniques, and now he understood what that looked like. It didn't simply use the environment to its advantage like some of its weaker brethren. It made the environment that suited it.

Around him, he could hear the occasional skitter of movement, but it was fleeting and difficult to pin down, even to his enhanced senses. The disorientation was clearly part of its fighting style.

The faintest whisper of movement was all the warning he had, but bizarrely, it came from both sides at once. His head whipped left to right, just in time to spot vines shooting towards him from two different directions. Neither resembled those that had come from the fade's body. Those had been thicker, and darker, and sharp like flensing knives. These were regular forest plants, like those he'd been pushing through, somehow now moving in service of the fade. It had to be another technique.

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He tried to dodge forward, but he wasn't quick enough as they slammed into him, curling around his forearms like sprung traps. His mantle flared and thorns bit into his arm on one side, but with his Mountain Gate open, his skin was more durable than before.

Given how easily he'd been moving through them, he expected the vines to pose no resistance at all, so he felt a moment of shock when he couldn't immediately yank himself free. He pulled again, harder, but still his bonds held firm.

Then, they began pulling back.

Whatever strange technique the fade was using, it had imbued the native plants with terrible strength and sturdiness. The tendrils constricted around him as they began drawing him taut between them with agonising force. He let out a curse as his arms were stretched straight, feeling the ligaments and tendons of his shoulders straining to their absolute limits. Even his newly hardened body threatened to break under relentless pressure, though for now it held.

Two more vines shot forth from the mist, this time from straight in front of him. Their barbed tips said they belonged to the fade itself. Even distracted as he was, he felt the attack coming well before it appeared. He was getting a sense for the fog now, the way its subtle shifts conveyed movement beyond what he could see. And denied proper vision, he found his other senses heightening further as well. He could hear the gentle rustle as the fade prepared its attack and feel the subtle tremor of its movements.

Had he not been bound, he'd easily have countered the attack, but restricted as he was, the best he could do was to awkwardly shimmy to one side. One of the vines flew wide, but the other hit home, stabbing into his gut. The blow came with force, but between his mantle and his newfound toughness, it only left a shallow puncture.

He smiled grimly. Was this what it was like to be Han? The man had obviously still been leagues more resilient than Rix was now, but it felt good to be able to take a blow from a powerful opponent so casually.

The vines whipped back into the fog, and Rix could sense another attack coming, but he wasn't going to give the fade the chance.

He had new toys to play with.

Grabbing hold of his qi, he invoked his Mountain Gate. Strength and stability flooded his body, immediately anchoring him in place and easing the stretching pain that threatened to tug his limbs from their sockets.

Letting loose a growl, he violently curled his arms inwards. Plant matter snapped as he wrenched both arms free just as the second attack came.

Taking a leaf from Luna's book, he danced to the left. The fade's volley shot past him, and he reached out snatching both vines with his free hand. Instantly, he felt them buck in his hands, but his grip held firm.

Then he began to pull.

The fade let out another squeal as it recognised its predicament. It was heavy and strong enough to offer plenty of resistance, so he couldn't simply pull it to his position, but with part of its body in hand, it couldn't hide in the fog. Tucking his staff under his arm, Rix began to reel himself in towards it hand-over-hand.

Two more spiked vines shot out from its position, but Rix simply pulsed his Mountain Gate once more and kept moving, taking the blows on his chest. Between his mantle and the added invocation, the attacks didn't even break skin. He laughed. Was this really all a Spark-tier fade could bring to bear?

As the second set of vines retracted, he saw his first faint outline of the fade, little more than a sinuous shadow in the haze. It was maybe fifteen feet away.

Dropping his hold on it and seizing his staff once more, he rushed forward.

To its credit, the fade reacted quickly. Now free, its tendrils snapped home before Rix had fully closed in. As he drew near, the creature thrust out its arms. This time, six vines shot out — three from each hand — but they didn't strike individually. Rather, they braided around on another as they flew, forming two much larger threads tipped with fist sized spikes that arced through the air like monstrous scorpion tails.

Rix wasn't sure if he could take those blows as he had the others, but he elected not to find out. Raising his staff, he activated [Wind Blade] for a second time, while spinning his weapon in a circle in front of him. One of the tendrils struck the wood of his staff and was sent flying back through the air. The other was caught clean by his technique. [Wind Blade] bit deep, severing two of the three vines. The spiked tip flopped useless to the side.

As the vines whipped back home again, Rix closed the gap.

[Wind Blade] hummed as he struck out, hacking deep into the fade's side. The twist of branches that made up the creature's torso writhed as he carved out a chunk several inches deep.

The monster hissed, batting his staff away, but he invoked his Mountain Gate and used the momentum to drive the other end of his weapon into its opposing arm.

With the added strength from his qi, the blow sliced clean through.

The fade let out a garbled howl. The vines that made up its limb went limp, unravelling as they fell. Where its arm had been just a moment ago, only a stump remained. Thick, white blood welled from the wound. It had the consistency of honey.

Emboldened, Rix went for the kill, but despite its injury, the fade still had its wits about it. It ducked a thrust that would have taken it through the head, coiling its legs before unleashing a fresh cloud of fog from point blank range. Though it had no discernible weight or impact, the momentary shock of having his eyes flooded sent Rix staggering. While he recovered, the fade leapt off into the mist.

This was the dichotomy of the battle. In close, the fade wasn't his match. It was built for deception and hit and run tactics. If Rix could get within range, he'd be able to end the fight. But it now knew that and was clearly set on making that difficult.

Rix stalked forward once more, listening for any sign of movement. Seconds passed, and the fog around him remained still. Apparently, the fade had learned from their engagement. It didn't seem willing to continue its onslaught using its own body. That sort of adaptation highlighted the difference between a Spark-tier fade and its weaker cousins, who were largely mindless in their aggression.

Rix kept his senses on high alert, waiting for the plants to come to life at his sides or back.

He didn't expect it to happen at his feet.

As he took another cautious step forward, the forest floor suddenly animated. The heavy roots of a nearby tree whipped up, coiling around Rix's ankles. These were much denser than the vines that had seized him before, their grip closing like giants' fists. Before he even had time to cry out, they were yanking his feet backwards, sending him toppling forward.

As he fell, he saw another, much larger root mobilise beneath him. This one was thick, easily the width of his thigh. It rose from the ground beneath him, cracking and distorting to form a massive wooden spike that thrust upward towards his chest.

The attack had been so sudden, there was no way to avoid the impact. Rix had a brief flashback to when he'd impaled Han a week earlier.

Doing the only thing he could, he invoked his Mountain Gate with all he had, burning every drop of qi left in his dantian. The gate's power flared through his body like a sunburst, just as the root's sharpened tip crashed into his chest. His mantle shattered, sending the spike skidding, before it embedded itself in the side of his abdomen just below his ribs. He let out a pained cry as the wood punched through flesh and muscle, though it only penetrated a few inches. Judging by the fact that he didn't immediately black out, it hadn't caught anything vital. Without his Mountain Gate, it would have impaled him all the way through.

Knowing he needed to act quickly before his invocation faded, he steeled himself, then used his enhanced strength to wrench his feet free while pushing himself back up with his hands. He screamed again as the spike dragged through him once more, now in reverse, but the pain dropped substantially as he levered himself free and found his footing again, stumbling a few feet away to hopefully gain a moment's reprieve.

As the gate drained the last of his qi, he let out a sharp breath and reached out to gingerly touch his wound. His hand came away wet, but not scarily so. In the grand scheme of injuries, it was far from the worst he'd had. It ached, but it wouldn't seriously inhibit him for some time.

The bigger problem was that he was out of qi. He suspected he didn't need to burn it all in that moment. He was still very new at actually using his gate. His action had been instinctual, born out of nothing more than a panic.

But there was no taking it back now. He simply had to adapt.

He needed a better way to track the fade. If he simply stumbled around in the fog, eventually, it would catch him off guard again, and this time he wouldn't have his qi to fall back on.

He called up his System display:

[Mana: 126/200]

He'd assigned 40 mana to his mantle before he started his dive and had used [Wind Blade] twice as well as leaving it running for roughly ten seconds. That still left him with a relatively healthy pool. He didn't think he needed much more mana to secure the kill. Now that he understood his opponent, if he could find the fade, it would die.

He could still hear the occasional skittering in the mist around him. It wasn't adequate to locate his enemy, but it told him it was still moving around out there. And if it was moving, that was all he needed.

Thrusting out his palm, he began laying [Sunspot] traps in a wide circle around him. seven of them cost him 105 of his remaining mana, leaving enough to use [Wind Blade] a little more. All the while, he kept his focus hyper fixated on his surroundings, trying to leverage the full gamut of his senses. He would not be caught unawares again.

As he was laying the last trap, that vigilance paid dividends. The barest vibration of the earth beneath his feet sent his danger sense into overdrive. This time, the assault came from above, as the branches of an overhanging tree whipped down to lash at his body. But instead, they met only his weapon as he managed to bat the assault aside.

A moment later, there was a flash of light from his right. Rix immediately broke into a sprint. The creature wasn't far. Now that he knew where to look, he saw its silhouette almost immediately. [Wind Blade] sliced through the air as he struck out twice in quick succession, each stroke hewing most of the way through one of the fade's legs. While he didn't actually sever them, the effect was basically the same. The beast's limbs went limp as it lost all ability to support its own weight. It collapsed squealing onto its back.

Rix finished it with a thrust to the face.

Essence rushed into him, a larger quantity than ever before. He let out a sharp little victory cry. He'd done it.

He was ready to ascend to Spark.