Path of the Ascendant

On one hand, Wei Yi had been correct in her assumption that no method of Primordial Blood’s might have allowed it to gain the energy recovery of the ninth realm. That ensured it wouldn’t have the power to completely obliterate her and her people, so the worst that it could do was completely ruin the district that had been built around it.

It did so quickly and completely, leaving a ruined husk of a landscape in place of the bloody pustule that had previously covered the lands. In her eyes, this was an improvement.

She was mistaken in the assumption that lacking the ninth realm’s recovery abilities would make their fight short by her current standards. It had gone nowhere after the first few hours, and only led to more destruction as it dragged on to days and then weeks, with a larger pit slowly growing in place of the Huang District. It had begun as a small indentation in the landscape, and now reached deeper than some of the Qiang District’s shallow mines – which were only shallow by the standards of maniacs obsessed with mining.

Her only saving grace was that this stalemate was achieved by Primordial Blood being unable to use excessively powerful methods without putting itself into a dangerous position, though she was in the same situation. If she overused her power, the Laws she had established would crumble right away.

Obviously, she made sure to pay attention to what her people were doing in the meantime, and avoided unnecessary casualties by instructing everyone to back out as soon as it became clear that destruction would follow. Out of the four Division leaders, she was able to confirm the state of two of them. One, the leader of the Corpse Blood Division, was slain with the collaboration of Chu Su and a bunch of dragons, who learned rather quickly that the bloodline within Huang An’s veins made her rather vulnerable to flame. With Chu Su contributing his flammable wood-type energy, they got rid of her in a far shorter four hours.

The second, Huang Chen, was captured by Huang Mei, the leader of the phoenix group working alongside Wei Yi, thanks to an apparent problem in his Beating Heart bloodline that involved a natural suppressive effect ancient beasts had over their inferiors. Apparently, he was inferior to Huang Mei by the standards of his blood, and so he could not exert much of his strength.

Huang Da had simply disappeared shortly after the fighting began. Long Lao had spent a long while looking for him, but gave up when it became clear that it was too dangerous to remain in the district.

She had attempted to follow the situation with Huang Yu and Jia Rong, but they somehow escaped her attention quickly. From what she was able to perceive, both were still alive, and relatively unhurt, but their precise position was impossible to determine and she didn’t have the time to go looking for them. There was also another aura in their proximity, but considering that their states remained stable for two whole days while she was being pressured more and more by Primordial Blood, she eventually left them to their own devices.

Hours turned to days, then to weeks, and the second half of the third week of fighting was just beginning when their balance was finally beginning to shift just a little. Both of them were no longer able to maintain their current level of fighting power without losing just a little too much energy.

As a result, both of them slowed down and examined one another closely.

“You have held up long, but you completely fail to see your potential. How… disappointing,” the Primordial Deity proclaimed suddenly.

“Explaining yourself is always an option, in case you weren’t aware.”

Since it was talking, it was a good idea to listen, if only to let it waste its energy on talking. Depending on what it had to say, she might even be able to obtain useful information that could be used against the Hunger of the Beyond, or she might only obtain a useless page or two that could be thrown into the depths of the Ascendant’s Library and be forgotten until the end of time.

In any case, she had not yet come across a method that could completely overcome her mind with only words, especially not at her current realm, so a sentence or two were unlikely to be useful as an offensive method.

“Do you really have no idea, or do you simply fail to consider the possibility? I can perceive your hatred of me and my kin, yet to see it affect you so significantly… Mortal thing, this is why your kind is so often dismissed by us,” Primordial Blood elaborated helpfully, though it clearly wasn’t distracted enough for Wei Yi to take advantage of the matter, “Primordial Deities are authorities given form and will. You have a form, you have a will, so why not take in the authority?”

“Nope. Not interested. Fuck off,” she spat out her words at great speed the moment she realised what it was attempting to imply, “Do you think that I want to be one of your kind? Are you stupid?”

“There is nothing that necessarily distinguishes Primordial Deities and any other entities. You would lose nothing.”

“Then why do you want me to do it? Even if you believe in benefitting from the work of mortals, you should want to be the strongest, not to make another supposed Primordial Deity stronger than you. Your suggestions make no sense unless my success will become yours, and if that is the case, I don’t have any reason to follow any of your words.”

She was not even bothering to mention that this completely went against her own principles, since Primordial Blood seemed intelligent enough to understand that much already. In an argument, she saw no reason to present reasons that would not resonate with the other party, though she wasn’t expecting to convince Primordial Blood nor to achieve much with their brief exchange. What exactly could she even accomplish, when her foe was a Primordial Deity that needed to die for the world to move onwards?

“You have just answered your own question. When the Primordial Deities rise, I will rise. You can always fall, but I am eternal, for as long as life exists.”

It would have been a good time to provide a retort had she not had a better idea, and instead rushed in using Omit Movement to appear before it and thrust Moon Splitter into its heart, infusing it with all of her paths so that it would carry the most force possible. Killing Primordial Blood in one go would be unlikely, given the strength it had demonstrated up to this point, but she believed that she would be able to make a sufficient incision to obtain room for more attacks afterwards.

Her weapon sank just an inch into the blood of the Primordial Deity before it was grabbed by the blood, wrapping tightly around the shards and sinking in between them, even when she attempted to bring the shards closer together and prevent such a thing.

“Authority is the only way you can win, mortal thing.”

She didn’t listen and brought her right hand back, slamming it into the pommel of the blade to force it just a little further in.

In reply, Primordial Blood lunged past the sword and parted itself around it, letting the shards of her blade scratch the flesh that still remained within it. After passing past the blade, it resealed its insides, clasping onto the hilt, and produced thousands of blood spikes from its form, directing all of them towards Wei Yi.

“By my decree-”

Her words were interrupted when a figure cloaked in black appeared by Primordial Blood’s side, who thrust a strange dagger into the neck of the Primordial Deity. It looked to be made of a strange green crystal, one that was surrounded by twin auras that was only partially familiar to her.

With no inscriptions of note nor a significant amount of energy in the strike, it shouldn’t have had the ability to pierce the tough film of blood that acted as skin and a defensive layer in one. And yet, it did so smoothly, lodging itself within some bone that had remained in the Crimson Hierophant’s body and now marred Primordial Blood’s otherwise smooth structure instead. All around it, the blood began to darken and almost rot right before her eyes.

“- as Master of Yi City, blood must behave as blood. Decay with no recourse!”

She had been planning to say something else, but since the opportunity presented itself, she figured it would be best to take it.

“Jia Rong, now!” the man in black called out, falling back to the ground after his leap – Wei Yi and Primordial Blood had been fighting in the air the majority of the time, and this moment in particular was no exception. Whether he couldn’t or didn’t employ some flight method, or if he outright lacked one, she couldn’t determine, for his aura was as subdued as when she had felt it near Jia Rong.

On his command, the horned woman also leapt up and stuck her claws into Primordial Blood’s back, remaining in place for a moment before she slid down and cut five large gashes on its back.

Her claws lacked the other aura of the green crystal dagger, but she appeared to have been the source of the timeless aura on that strange weapon, so her blow still had some effect. The natural property of her timeless aura to oppose current planar principles worked wonders with Wei Yi’s Decree of Law, leading the wound on the Primordial Deity’s back to leak its blood without any sign of stopping.

“You-”

Whatever it might have wanted to say was cut off as Wei Yi pulled out Moon Splitter and slashed at the Primordial Deity’s neck, intentionally aiming to collide with the green dagger to produce a certain resonance that might amplify the effect of at least one of the weapons. Using her Arm of Slaughtering Shadow, she was able to easily combine her five cultivation paths into a single empowering force, and delivered it all within the strike.

As soon as the two touched, a spark of light pierced the very fabric of reality. It shone through the blood, through the air, and seemed to light up her mind directly as both weapons collapsed into a point within Primordial Blood, only to explode within its body.

It expanded rapidly, yet, after a few moments, suddenly stopped.

Wei Yi’s left hand was reaching out, palm facing the entity of blood, claws open and partly bent, and smoke billowing wildly from the entire arm. Even those without a vision state could perceive the many chains that seemed to spread out of the Arm of Slaughtering Shadow and bind the space where Primordial Blood had once been.

“The Soul of Cinder state is still active, and with my commands of Law, I should be able to maintain it for five more minutes.”

The man cloaked in black said, “Have you stopped the explosion? Why?”

“It will be a beacon to the Hunger of the Beyond. They may not respond immediately, but every moment we can gain is to be treasured. Also, if I was to break through into the next realm now, it might be a little difficult to talk, and by that point you might vanish or do something that one of us would regret. So, it is best to talk now.”

She didn’t bother to look for his reaction, as his hood obscured more than any simple fabric should have been able to. Instead, she paused for a moment to make certain that her technique was holding.

“Care to tell me what that was?” she turned to the man in black.

“Kong Shi Meng called the material uranium. He said that the radiation released by it could end the life of anything it touched,” he replied, “I have some doubts that it is as simple as that, since I have carried it for so long, but with the aura released by your friend, Jia Rong, it proved sufficient.”

“You knew Kong Shi Meng?”

“I had been by his side many years ago, and received his orders,” the cloaked man nodded.

“In that case, do explain to me what happened with this district, and your role in all of this. You seem to have been rather quick to bring Jia Rong onto your side, so I hope that you have a good explanation.”

She glanced down at the demonic woman, whose claws appeared to have been damaged quite a bit by their brief collision with Primordial Blood, before turning back to the figure in black, who stood on the opposite side and did not rise into the air to stand on the same level despite the fact that he clearly had some trace of a cultivation within him. His black clothing did an impressive job of obscuring his body and energy from Wei Yi’s divine sense, but it wasn’t enough to block everything.

“Every district had a purpose, and Kong Shi Meng intended for the Huang District to be a space for extreme attempts. He knew of the threats of the world, and he instructed me to watch over the actions of the district to ensure that I could stop anything that went too far – and we both understood that too far could not simply mean something mildly excessive,” the man said, “He had defeated Primordial Blood here, and he knew of the Blood-tinged Church and its deeds, so he knew what to prepare against them.”

“So, you thought that it would be a good idea to let a Primordial Deity develop without intervention. What the fuck were you thinking?”

“He lacked the same capability as you to end them permanently, and had no reason to believe that it would ever become possible. Perhaps there were signs that he had missed, but my role was to do as he instructed. Until I had first seen you, I wouldn’t have considered the possibility.”

“By the way, had you seen me before this?”

“I had observed your awakening of bloodline power, and saw the mark that it would leave forever upon the world. Your light had been akin to Kong Shi Meng’s, but at the time I had found it somewhat lacking.”

“Ah, when I tore up the terrain… Will you reveal your name?”

“There is no point, nor do I recall it. I have lived for far longer than I ever should have, and that time is coming to an end. Similarly, the time of the Shard of Warfare will end, and your time will come. I truly hope that it will be better than the fate of Kong Shi Meng’s era, but I can remember how hopeful we had all been once he had risen…”

“It’s time is over… Can’t I just pull the sword out and rescue the shard?”

“Can you? The Shard of Warfare, the dagger, me and my life, these things have all come from a time where a dozen authorities were held by inhuman entities, forming the world as we knew it. Now, the last authority we know of is about to be taken by you, who already holds all the others. How could the world remain the same after such a thing?” he asked, looking up into the sky, “Perhaps the whole world will feel a wave of change, or maybe most will never realise what had occurred. I have fulfilled my duty, so it is no longer important to me. My time… is… up…”

His voice faded, and as soon as he finished his last words his whole body turned to grey dust. It was blown away by the wind only a breath later, and no hint of the man remained. Indeed, he was away from his time, and now perhaps he would find some peace away from an arduous task.

“Right. Kong Shi Meng obviously didn’t help me absorb the power of the Primordial Deities, so… Hey, I know you’re listening.”

Wei Yi looked up, mildly confusing Jia Rong, though it took only a little while for the one she was addressing to get the idea. Everything around her seemed to be blown away by that same wind that took the man in black, and she was left within the sea of stars surrounding the Planar Continents, with the latter idly resting far beneath. Even then, she could see a bright point of light where Primordial Blood was in stasis, moments away from exploding into a vast nova that would shake the world.

However, she didn’t care for the view, and turned to the figure that she knew would be there, standing as idly as always, glowing faintly without hint of expression or human features. The will of the heavens, something that she still owed a couple punches.

“Do you really not know how I am able to do what I do?”

“That is correct.”

“What do you know, then?” she snapped back.

“When Kong Shi Meng departed, he left behind the Truth of the Universe, meant for a successor that would have the capability and desire to carry on his ideas until their finish. One such person could come about naturally, and it would have reached that person in time, but I chose to assist in his selection. With all of the world’s potential that had gone unused, I imbued a life about to be born, and granted it the greatest potential and intellect I could offer. I also ensured that there would be no issues with the binding of the otherworldly gift.”

For a few seconds, Wei Yi couldn’t bring herself to say a single word, though the points to clarify did occur to her soon, “In that case, my mind-”

“Is not my creation, at least not in full. Similarly, your cultivation, your techniques, your Dao – they came from some other source, be that some innate aspect of you or an entity that is unlike the Old Ones, for I would have sensed their influence. I do not know how you came to be the way you are, and this includes your capability for absorbing the energy of the Primordial Deities.”

“Was it really meant to be impossible?”

“Yes. A foe that could appear time and time again suited the purposes of the Old Ones, so when the Primordial Deities appeared, they made me confirm this fact. The only one that could take their energy would be someone with a relation to their authority. Either its origin, someone attempting to usurp it, someone that cultivated a similar authority, or another type of being that I had not considered,” Heaven’s Will explained, “You shouldn’t match any of those categories.”

“My Dao of Law could have played some part, but that would necessitate it reaching a True Dao stage. It is still constrained by your notions, and my lack of comprehension, so it could only play a part if the source of their authority is Law.”

She stopped, and frowned. Her idea certainly wasn’t impossible, though it was most certainly implausible given the multitude of Dao existing within a single world. If there were hundreds of Old Ones, then there had to be millions of other entities with similar strengths and capabilities, those that could also wield the equivalent of True Dao or authorities. It would be too great a coincidence for her to choose the same aspect of reality as whatever entity had managed to create these Primordial Deities while even the will of the world itself lacked a full understanding of them.

‘There is that image of a woman surrounded by chains, which could depict a kind of god or goddess, but there is no other trace of her, nor any hint that the authorities of the Primordial Deities originate from Law. The only part that makes some sense is that authorities are, in a fashion, Law, so… this… oh, I see!’

Although she didn’t understand the truth of this matter in particular, she did gain immense clarity as to the structure of Law, especially within the Planar Continents. If viewed through the lens of Law, then the Primordial Deities were akin to lords or officials that held power over a single field each. There was overlap, but this was also the case in any structure, whether natural or man-made. If multiple official organisations were present, chances were that their duties would intersect, and in reality, any physical or chemical reaction was often caused and led to a multitude of events of all kinds, even those with no obvious connection to the starting event.

When conflicting authorities came against one another, they would be weakened, but only against the other wielder, for two guards – for instance – would have a hard time imprisoning the other casually, but against a common civilian, it would be much more difficult to evade capture.

However, there had to be an entity or source above from which the authority stemmed. No government could impose its regulations without some sort of power to back them up, and enforcement to ensure that they are followed, and the same was with the world. All cultivators were given a small portion of strength by the world, but their power came from the world and only it. Outside, they would be powerless, or perhaps in more danger due to the reliance of planar energy for survival.

On the other hand, azure lights and other independent sources of power could, at least in theory, support someone within any world, or even outside of one. They effectively contained the power of a world within themselves, and perhaps one could form a world within an azure light. Alternatively, it could be that an azure light contained one’s insights and path, developing their power and growing alongside the wielder. In that case, the tendency for azure lights to end up away from their original owners was most peculiar, but she knew that there was still much more to understand.

For now, though, she could tell that there was a change, if not a complete one. Her perception of the chains of Law grew greatly, and she could perceive the world with far greater clarity in a different respect, though she didn’t understand exactly what the source was. Most likely, it was that Dao of the Heavens, which remained blacked out.

“Something about you has… changed.”

“I’m just taking my steps away from you. Given your nature, it is only a wise move. Perhaps you will decide that it is too scary to have me around after all, and wipe me out to please your masters.”

“That is not the way I think! I have simply wished to avoid the world being harmed, and took quiet steps that would not be seen by the Elder Ones! I had made spatial realms separate from my domain, so that they could not peer inside. Even now, I am sure that they will look here soon, but I still assist you-”

“Because you are afraid of having your head – or equivalent thereof, since I have no fucking clue what you look like physically – chopped off, so you try to hold onto the strongest thigh around. Lan Mei Xing’s not around, so I guess I’m the best candidate. More importantly, though,” she stepped towards it, “Should I even care about you? Apparently, none of what made me came from you. My abnormalities all stem from either myself or some other force, as you said yourself, so all that remains is you and your blatant fear to take action. The only time you seemed to have moved at all is when a better person did it for you… oh, never mind. You’re not worthy of being called a person.”

She didn’t listen for a response, nor did she demand to be returned to where she had been. When she turned back and wished to return, she simply did, though she knew that Heaven’s Will wasn’t intent on holding her there. Otherwise, a single thought would not have had enough power to accomplish anything.

The moment she was back, she dispelled her restrictions on Primordial Blood’s form and let it collapse, taking with it the relics of the past. All of the power stored within Moon Splitter was returned to its most primal form, and that power exploded into the world beside the energy of the Primordial Deity, and most of it headed straight for her. Just like all the other times, she let it rush into her dantian, where she could sense everything reach a breaking point.

For a breath, there was nothing, and then the sight before her – viewed through her divine sense, of course – exploded into blinding light of all colours and shades.

Her dantian felt like it crumbled, yet with every gap introduced and every piece devoured she could feel her control over her energy improve, and soon she could perceive that most of it was gone, and in its place were stars and nebulae, with only small pieces of perfectly smooth rock still marking its original form. Arcs of lighting from her primordial dantian remained, and bounced between them.

Although her energy was next, it was at once simpler and more complex than when there were five separate forms of energy to observe. Now, everything blended into a single vibrance, a single planar essence, still gleaming with crimson and blackness, though shadow and silver, as well as sunlight and moonlight, also made it into the mix, and thus all her paths advanced as once, at once into the ninth realm.

Her bloodline reached its natural conclusion, the Limitless Ascension realm, wherein the ultimate form could finally be of some use as it would grow for her rather than her needing to advance towards it.

As her body had long acclimated to the vast quantities of power coursing through it, there was no issue in attaining the Perfect Paragon realm, wherein her entire body shattered for the briefest of moments only to be reborn at a peak she couldn’t even imagine. Energy formed a finer web throughout her body than capillaries, to the point that she was almost more energy than flesh.

Shaking the Kong Prison Realm for a moment, the Timeless Reality realm was obtained, making that realm almost as large and complex as the Planar Continents themselves. However, everything was cleaner and purer, and more importantly, stronger, for it was only the peak of what the world could contain. Of course, it was still not a true world, only something manifested through the power of the Planar Continents and able to be broken at a whim of the heavens, but it was still the peak of the path provided by them.

Finally, the Entropy Rift was the last thing to become visible through the light, for it – or what had once been the rift – was the source. A gate to the source of all energy in the Planar Continents was open wide, the round edge reaching the innermost True Aperture, the Astral Scars shone upon it and kept it bright, and it was all contained within the Subterranean Shell and the secondary core.

This should have been the peak, save for a few more stages, yet she could sense that there was something this setup wished to accomplish, and she wished for it as well.

When enough energy was manifested at the centre of the gate, she believed that it would surpass a certain limit and amass into a single point, wherein only her energy would be contained and accumulated without end, until that point became a gleaming light to overcome the heavens and all other foes alike. Provided that she was correct, she believed that she could create a Reality Forge, and finally attain one of her goals.