On their own, the Ru Preservers would have been enough to handle the Preservers of Eternity, but once a certain angered Ascendant was involved, they did not stand a single chance. A force that had been kept in a sealed space for a very long time were eliminated within minutes, and their embers, physiques, energy and bloodlines were all harvested by said Ascendant.
The Ru Preservers had assumed that this was in order to vent her frustration, and it was in some small part, but the majority of the effort was to gain more power, and it was an effort that could not be seen by ordinary eyes. After all, with one wave of her hand, she could release a great mass of energy that would devour the body in an instant and obtain all of those things at once. The Preserver Patriarch might have seen through it after the last few bodies, but he did not mention it to her, outright or otherwise.
As soon as she was done, Wei Yi turned to the Preserver Commander and said, “Check your district and make sure that he didn’t flee there. If he did, I will find you and kick his ass.”
The Commander nodded and left right away, as the killing intent that he felt seemed dangerous even to someone at his level of power, without the full knowledge of its true power and ability. Hence, it was not a good idea for him to stick around after their previous dispute.
“You think he would stick around in the area and get caught by us?”
“I cannot understand the thinking of people like this in full, but it is a distinct possibility. Sometimes, it is a reasonable idea to hide in the most obvious spot, although that is only sensible when the one you are hiding from cannot be thorough for one reason or another,” the Ascendant replied, her somewhat calm words contrasting rather significantly with her repeated striking of the ground beneath her, “How the fuck can they all just vanish like that…”
“Not your first experience with this, I suppose. Seeing as you came from the Qiang District, had you encountered a similar foe?”
“Depends on what you mean by similar. He was another member of a horrible mess of an organisation, and it is very likely that the two idiots would get along, but their methods differ and their strength did as well,” she answered, slowing down her attacks of the ground due it simply wasting her energy.
“Then the south is filled with more foes than we may have foreseen. Fortunately, you have come here at a suitable time and with a suitable cause to attract the south’s attention, so we will not be swallowed up by the subversive elements like the Great Families… I understand that you have great enmity with them, but there is a limit to what the Bottomless Archive can actually take. If you keep damaging the floor with the release of your killing intent, it may bring down the whole structure and bury us and the knowledge around us.”
Wei Yi glanced down at the cracked floor and sighed, rubbing her forehead for a few moments.
“I’ll fix it later. I can also reinforce anything if you give me some time, so I could enhance this to the level of an impenetrable fortress if given a week,” she stated.
The Ru Patriarch nodded, but he suddenly froze and frowned, “It is said that you have the Shaper’s Grasp physique. Can it be used to affect the entire world, refining it and enhancing it to the point that all planar energy is improved and can be used to advance to the eighth realm and beyond, possibly making the tenth realm possible?”
“You have some greater aspirations than I in this regard. However, I don’t think that this is very likely, as there is a limit to the range of my physique ability, and will remain there even if I reach the ninth realm in every one of my paths,” she said, “Furthermore, this isn’t necessary. The moment that the Greats are defeated, I will be able to greatly raise the allocation of planar energy throughout the world, allowing the seventh realm to become attainable to ordinary people whereas the eighth and ninth opens up to us. Whether the tenth realm exists… is a different issue, and is more of a question of whether planar energy can be used to reach it.”
“What do you mean?”
“You have heard of otherworldly demons by now, have you not? They have some incredible abilities, and they are generally powered by an azure light, which comes from somewhere else and gives them powers that far surpass anything we are capable of. From this, it is obvious that there are higher realms than the ninth, but I do not think that the ordinary path of cultivation would allow us to reach any of them.”
“That is possible. The ninth realm is meant to be Eternal Gate, and with an infinite flow of energy there is little room to improve beyond it. A fundamental change would be needed.”
“A fundamental change that, most importantly, will surpass the very Laws of the world that cause cultivation to be as straightforward for us in the west as it can possibly be. The world itself, or the heaven’s will, has its own limits, and once we attempt to overcome them, we will need to put in the work that we had avoided in the previous nine realms. If you have comprehended any Dao, you should know what I mean, and if not, then let’s just say that some Dao have not fully been understood by the heavens,” she revealed.
This was a rather momentous statement, but it was also one that those at higher realms had to realise, even if only unconsciously. The world around them was not perfect, and the more that they learned through the natural process of living and cultivating, the more they had to understand this. As such, while Ru Wen Xiang, the Patriarch, was surprised, he understood what she meant.
Furthermore, even had he not thought anything of the sort prior to this, he would have had to pay attention to her words after the rather absurd strength she was able to keep displaying, as well as the speed of her study of everything brought to her.
“So, what exactly would one need to do in order to surpass the ninth realm on one’s own?”
“I’ve not done it yet, so this is little more than speculation, but you would first need to understand how to improve upon the foundation of the ninth realm. You would need to find a way to surpass a vortex of limitless energy, and that is a rather difficult thing to do, as you have said,” Wei Yi said, “Then, you would need actually accomplish that improved state, which is not exactly simple. Planar energy doesn’t simply form greater constructs, after all.”
“How so? The planar energy within our bodies manifest into the appropriate phenomena at the right time, no?”
“Didn’t you understand what I had just said? The energy around us does not act the way it does because of its natural properties. Otherwise, there would be anchors, cores, searing marks, oblivion halos, imperfect rifts and endless gates all around us, popping up randomly and without being bound to anyone or anything,” she explained, “This does not happen in the wild, however, and so it is very clear that something influences energy to act in this particular way. It is also why it just cannot wait to advance once most accumulate enough planar energy, it is why we live for as long as we do, and it is why so many other things occur in a way that shouldn’t be, but seems natural to us as we have never seen an alternative.”
“Ah, I think I understand now. Essentially, we would need to do everything that the heavens do for us on our own, with the energy that we are attempting to weave into something greater, and possibly even face resistance from the heavens. This would require a monumental effort to accomplish, wouldn’t it?”
“Assuming all of those things are accurate, then yes. We may have some things wrong, though.”
Getting some things wrong was pretty much inevitable with such limited information as what they had, so this didn’t need to be said, but it was important to bring up nonetheless. One of the most dangerous things to do would be to assume that one of their theories had to be absolute truth, and then suffer greatly when those assumptions led them to incorrect conclusions and into unnecessary suffering that could have been avoided had they kept an open mind.
Hence, after a while, they decided that it was time to move on to the other matters of the day, and of the week. Since the spatial stabilisation point was already promised to her, and the reinforcement of the Bottomless Archive was also suggested by her and accepted by the Patriarch, all that was left was to make the most of her time here and then leave as quickly as she could onto her next destination. The Bao District was waiting, and there was plenty that she could obtain within if she continued to be as lucky as she had been so far – speaking in terms of opportunities, not necessarily outcomes.
This was settled quickly, and then she moved onto the cultivation that she had been forced to cut short as a result of the break of the temporal barrier at the bottom of the Archive.
With the time she had, she wasn’t expecting to reach the sixth realm in one go, but gaining one more stage would put her at the peak of the fifth realm, and thus allow her to deal with seventh realm threats a little more easily, giving her some energy to spare in sealing their movements and teleportation, which all of the locals seemed to possess.
Unfortunately, her stay did not result in the Preserver of Eternity being discovered in the district, nor were there any rumours of his appearance anywhere nearby from the few travellers that entered and left the district. There were no traces of his presence at all, at least so far as those people were able to report. She would have gone out to scout on her own, but she did not think that she would find him anywhere nearby now that he appeared to have gone further away, having not appeared in the Ru District or the vicinity.
It was better to let it go for now, as, even though the man had been in the seventh realm for some time and was also at the peak of his realm, he would not be able to reach the next realm any time soon.
The eighth realm was simply too high above the seventh, and would not be attainable at all until the energy concentration in the world had gone far enough. Aside from all of the other conditions, this was one that she could definitely control, and so she could be absolutely certain that the moment that she did raise the level of the world sufficiently, she would be able to be ready to deal with him, or at the very least know that he wouldn’t have the chance to cultivate further before then.
Without the risk of him growing too powerful for her to overcome, as she did think that breaching the gap between the seventh and eighth realm might end up being a little difficult even for her ever-growing prowess, she focused entirely on her cultivation. Her desire was to bring all five paths to a level that would allow them to break through a realm together, resulting in a kind of resonance that would greatly boost the possibility of a second stage attainment right away, or within a short period of time. This would, in turn, increase her overall strength, give her the ability to attack the Great Families far more confidently when the times comes to bring the fight to them once more, and would make it far easier to traverse the south, north, west and east alike.
One week passed, and she got on about how she expected. One stage in planar cultivation and physique energy, two in killing will as a result of her ever-growing fury – which was a concern, but a minor one for now so long as she got to the next realm of planar energy before killing will did – and four stages in her bloodline power.
That improvement in particular was very helpful, as it not only meant that she might be able to attain a new bloodline power realm at the same time as the other realms, but also raised her power even further. With just her bloodline alone, she was nearly five times more powerful than another cultivator at the same realm, so once her full power was taken into account, she was at a level that would let her be the Matriarch of a district had she wished to become one, and if she came across someone that actually wanted her in that position. This was not impossible, oddly enough.
It would put any district that she attempted to lead at danger of being attacked by anyone and everyone that she had made enemies with, however, and that would be a little too dangerous.
At the end of this period of time, she grabbed the few things that she had obtained within the district and that she chose to carry with her, mainly some more equipment to replace the armour that she had obtained in the previous district, and headed out. The Ru District was not as close to the Bao District as it was to the Qiang District, at least when one considered the distance between the closest points of the latter pair, so it was best to leave early.
The Ru Patriarch was the only one to accompany her out of the district, and he headed back very shortly to return to his own duties. Given that she didn’t need unnecessary accompaniment, she didn’t mind this at all.
Most people hadn’t even learned about her entrance into district, and the few that had met her, like Chao Jin, did not know about the things that she had done in the Bottomless Archive and had only met with her once in her two week-long stay. Speaking of that young woman, she seemed to be getting on well enough on her own, and might even be able to reach the second stage within a few days of Wei Yi’s departure, if not earlier. For a regular person, albeit one supported in part by the healing pill that she had enhanced for her, this was not too bad.
Perhaps she would get back to her someday and catch up, but this was not something she had any interest in doing at this moment. To begin with, while she helped her out, she didn’t really care about her or her life, whether she was in for a good time at the Ru Preservers or if she would suffer greatly there.
This was the kind of person that she would only be able to protect fully if she defeated the Greats, allowing Yi City and its districts to develop properly and without fear once more.
At the northern outskirts of the Ru District, the snowfall had gotten less intense than at the southern edge, where she had entered. It would still be completely unapproachable for someone weak that had only lived in the northern regions all their life, but for anyone at her realm this was practically insignificant. They would be able to get through snow like this with ease, and this showed better than anything that she was indeed moving back towards the north, towards the Tundra that separated the Southern Wastes and the Central Plains. Just like how the Chao District was the only one that was unbearably hot at the north, only the Qiang and Ru Districts could be said to be unbearably cold.
Of course, one was located far from the northern edge of the habitable world, whereas the other was far closer, but this was the nature of hot and cold. Heat could rise almost into infinity, but cold had a clear limit and obvious absolute end.
She didn’t linger there, and moved on swiftly, warping to the edge of her vision every now and then with her fourth realm movement method, and bypassing one particularly large ravine that she found on the way with her fifth realm levitation method. Really, she should have given them a name by this point, but there wasn’t much of a point in doing so. All of this was based on Law, one way or another, and naming it would be like calling a ball of fire something else just because it was used to cook food.
It would be a complete waste of time, especially when she never called out the names of her techniques and skills. Her usage of them also differed nearly every time, so it would be too wasteful.
After several hours passed, she just had to contemplate just how different the process of travelling from district to district was for someone at her current realm and someone at the first or second realm. She recalled her first and last expedition from the Yi District well, and it was rather astounding when she considered it.
Back then, whether ‘then’ was to be considered the time she left for the Kong District, or when she had set out to the north after breaking out of the Kong Prison Realm, it took her days and weeks to travel. Each step required effort, and while she could sustain herself for a very long while by minimal amounts of food and drink, that didn’t change the fact that she would still need to spend long enough on the journey for this to become a problem in the first place. Now that she had developed her own abilities, this was no longer the case.
She had felt as if she had set out only a short time ago, which was essentially the case, and yet she could already see the boundaries of the Bao District, a task made easier by its construction.
Just as the majority of major districts and families in Yi City had a focus, whether it was on an element or on some principle that they studied to an excessive degree, the Bao District prioritises a single thing that they had in abundance: gemstones, jewels and all kinds of glistening, precious stones.
The Bao District was only two months into construction and development when an enormous cavern filled with the largest variety of gems to ever be seen in the Planar Continents was found. From then on, the district became focused on nothing more than the jewels, and everything that they did for the next million years was based around either using gems in their craft and activities, or figuring out ways of doing so despite the seeming incompatibility between their pursuit and gems.
One might assume that gems were not usable for that many things, but this would be a mistake. When the people of the Bao District put all of their time into this, they managed to create artefacts purely from gems, embed inscriptions and arrays into gems, make armour and weapons out of gems, and even carve talismans out of gems. It appeared that the people of the Bao District were completely mad, but that would be an understatement for the sheer amount of work and effort that they invested into this pursuit, and just how much was spent on making this an art that only they would be utilising since the invention of gem-based great arts.
For some reason, this never became particularly popular anywhere else.
There were several reasons for that, with the people of the Bao District being very keen to be the only providers of such items to the world, but it was also very difficult to get a single one of the gems compatible with this system outside of the district. Then, there was also the fact that their effectiveness seemed partially tied to the overall quantity of gems in the region.
As a result, in order for the gems to be particularly effective anywhere else – effective enough to justify their rather high costs outside of the district – they would first need to become popular there. To become popular anywhere that wasn’t full of people obsessed with gems, so anywhere other than the Bao District, they would need to showcase that they were worthwhile in comparison to the other methods of utilising the same array, inscription or talisman via a more ordinary method put onto a more ordinary material.
In other words, it was nearly impossible for anyone other than the richest and most interested people to use these gems proficiently outside of the Bao District, while the common people had no reason to adopt these items into their daily lives. Thus, they remained relatively obscure after all this time.
The only reason she knew about them was that they originated from a more northern district than the Qiang and Ru Districts, and due to the innate allure of using precious, visually appealing items in cultivation and combat. Even from where she was standing, looking upon the walls of the Bao District, barred from viewing them in their full glory by the sparse fall of snow and a cool white mist, it was impossible to say that the walls did not look striking.
Personal preference would dictate whether it was striking in a good way or a bad way, of course, but it was always desirable for cultivators of the world to look awesome in one way or another.
Most of the walls were constructed out of a dark gemstone, likely a hard and tough one that greatly obstructed typical physical entry, with several large stones set in the upper portions of the walls that were glowing with planar energy. Their internal structures revealed numerous channels somehow embedded in the gemstones themselves without a single obvious place of entry for a tool or a person’s own energy, and their purpose was rather obvious due to their positioning at the front of the walls, facing potential invaders.
There were some defensive arrays to make it more difficult to leap in or fly in by disrupting the planar energy in front of the walls, some that would generate a barrier to stop attacks on the black gemstone once it endured a significant enough hit, and then even more that would attack those that interacted with the other defensive measures for too long, marking them as a blatant threat or intruder.
For her, this kind of defensive measure could be circumvented easily enough, but she did not need to do so for now, as the casual approach to the district still seemed possible. Once obstructions were encountered, she would change her approach, just as with all of the other places she had visited, although there had not yet been a single district that completely refused to allow her entry. In this case, it should not be a significant concern.
Despite keeping their gem-related tricks within their district, they were very fond of showing them off.
This couldn’t be seen better than when her approach caused several dozen large jewels, all perfectly carved to direct the dim rays of the sun into her face, to fly into the air and assemble into a small array that complimented the ones within them. Further rays of line shone out from within them and joined them together, forming a matrix that corresponded with a basic protective inscription, which would ensure that she couldn’t steal any of the gems or otherwise disrupt their arrangement without greatly exceeding the power of the fifth realm, a sufficient deterrent for most.
“Traveller, you must identify yourself as friend or foe. If you wish to fight, the Bao District shall oblige without hesitation.”
Unlike some voices, where their strange sound yet human delivery made it difficult to distinguish whether they originated from a human mouth, this one was blatantly synthetic, concocted via some kind of gem-based method and then stored within one of the floating gems. It was, fortunately enough, clear in what it wanted from her.
“In this instance, I am a friend.”
She could almost hear the disappointed noise from the jewels as they dimmed and descended once more, leaving behind only a thin trail of light which directed her to the left, as to approach a gate into the district.
For all she knew, she had disappointed the stones themselves, although it was likely that there was some degree of influence from an actual human mind and it was one that needed to focus on their task in order to be any good at this. Thus, when they did not receive the fight that they may have wanted after a long time of sitting around and doing nothing else, it would only be natural to be somewhat displeased with her.
Even in that state, the trail of light still had a slight gem-like quality to it.
‘This place must not encounter too many problems with the nations to the south-west, or else that reaction wouldn’t be quite the same. On the contrary, they might react with gratitude to hear that I am not yet another intruder seeking to attack them and earn glory for the nation I come from, or whatever it is that people do over there.’
Unlike a few rare people in Yi City, she and the majority of the population did not think of everyone outside of the city as mindless savages that were barely fit to be called human – which those rare few people did, incidentally – but almost everything that could be reasonably compared between the two led to the conclusion that the people over there were not in the better parts of the world. Their living conditions were generally inferior, with some of the people to the north residing in loose tents while needing to fight over every small planar shard and every bit of food due to the scarcity of it.
In comparison, it was rather difficult to starve in the Chao District, the northernmost district of Yi City, and cultivation was also feasible for most.
Despite her own preference for not ever attempting to redo her life, she could say with certainty that she would choose to be born in Yi City over any nation bordering it for that reason. All of the issues with the city could, with sufficient effort, be resolved, but it would be far more difficult to do the same with a weaker foundation and inferior access to planar cultivation materials.
She proceeded to the gates and waited for a minute before they opened, with the individual gemstone pieces parting in an intricate pattern that was far better at mesmerising a viewer than the majority of lower-realm mental influence techniques. The way in which the light glistened and refracted from the individual stones was exactly what one would want if they were exceptionally wealthy and wished to display it, since each one of the stones in the semi-circular opening of the wall was worth a dozen planar stones each, at least.
Her earlier assumption regarding the calmness of the district was affirmed when there was only one guard standing by the gates, resting in a chair beside the wall. A flame burned atop a small gem that they were holding in their hand, illuminating the area and keeping them warm.
“Hm? You are new, aren’t you?” the guard, a young and thin man, said when he noticed her, “Don’t know what you want here, but you may be interested in the banquet hosted by the Fashionable Gentleman over at the centre, not far from the Ancestral Hall… I know, the name sounds strange, but it looks like he has gone all out this time. When the wind blows this way, I can smell all of the food and… sorry, didn’t mean to go on like that.”
She had not yet said a thing, but what he said was good enough for her.
“The Fashionable Gentleman, you said? Is that supposed to be a name, or even a proper title held by someone?”
“That… not too sure, actually. I just know that everyone wants to go there, including most of my fellow guards, so they managed to leave me as the last one, meaning that I can’t go with them… those bastards have no respect for a friend, none at all,” he explained, veering off quickly yet again.
“Right. Centre, near the Ancestral Hall?” she began to walk once she received a nod, “Thanks.”
While nothing she was told was enough for her to come to any reasonable conclusions regarding this Fashionable Gentleman or his banquet, the sound of it was rather intriguing. There had been nothing so far that could put her in too great a danger, other than the Greats, so she was unlikely to suffer from the experience.
Hence, on she went, finding that most people did seem to be absent from their homes, whereas a point at the centre of the district was filled with them.
On their own, the Ru Preservers would have been enough to handle the Preservers of Eternity, but once a certain angered Ascendant was involved, they did not stand a single chance. A force that had been kept in a sealed space for a very long time were eliminated within minutes, and their embers, physiques, energy and bloodlines were all harvested by said Ascendant.
The Ru Preservers had assumed that this was in order to vent her frustration, and it was in some small part, but the majority of the effort was to gain more power, and it was an effort that could not be seen by ordinary eyes. After all, with one wave of her hand, she could release a great mass of energy that would devour the body in an instant and obtain all of those things at once. The Preserver Patriarch might have seen through it after the last few bodies, but he did not mention it to her, outright or otherwise.
As soon as she was done, Wei Yi turned to the Preserver Commander and said, “Check your district and make sure that he didn’t flee there. If he did, I will find you and kick his ass.”
The Commander nodded and left right away, as the killing intent that he felt seemed dangerous even to someone at his level of power, without the full knowledge of its true power and ability. Hence, it was not a good idea for him to stick around after their previous dispute.
“You think he would stick around in the area and get caught by us?”
“I cannot understand the thinking of people like this in full, but it is a distinct possibility. Sometimes, it is a reasonable idea to hide in the most obvious spot, although that is only sensible when the one you are hiding from cannot be thorough for one reason or another,” the Ascendant replied, her somewhat calm words contrasting rather significantly with her repeated striking of the ground beneath her, “How the fuck can they all just vanish like that…”
“Not your first experience with this, I suppose. Seeing as you came from the Qiang District, had you encountered a similar foe?”
“Depends on what you mean by similar. He was another member of a horrible mess of an organisation, and it is very likely that the two idiots would get along, but their methods differ and their strength did as well,” she answered, slowing down her attacks of the ground due it simply wasting her energy.
“Then the south is filled with more foes than we may have foreseen. Fortunately, you have come here at a suitable time and with a suitable cause to attract the south’s attention, so we will not be swallowed up by the subversive elements like the Great Families… I understand that you have great enmity with them, but there is a limit to what the Bottomless Archive can actually take. If you keep damaging the floor with the release of your killing intent, it may bring down the whole structure and bury us and the knowledge around us.”
Wei Yi glanced down at the cracked floor and sighed, rubbing her forehead for a few moments.
“I’ll fix it later. I can also reinforce anything if you give me some time, so I could enhance this to the level of an impenetrable fortress if given a week,” she stated.
The Ru Patriarch nodded, but he suddenly froze and frowned, “It is said that you have the Shaper’s Grasp physique. Can it be used to affect the entire world, refining it and enhancing it to the point that all planar energy is improved and can be used to advance to the eighth realm and beyond, possibly making the tenth realm possible?”
“You have some greater aspirations than I in this regard. However, I don’t think that this is very likely, as there is a limit to the range of my physique ability, and will remain there even if I reach the ninth realm in every one of my paths,” she said, “Furthermore, this isn’t necessary. The moment that the Greats are defeated, I will be able to greatly raise the allocation of planar energy throughout the world, allowing the seventh realm to become attainable to ordinary people whereas the eighth and ninth opens up to us. Whether the tenth realm exists… is a different issue, and is more of a question of whether planar energy can be used to reach it.”
“What do you mean?”
“You have heard of otherworldly demons by now, have you not? They have some incredible abilities, and they are generally powered by an azure light, which comes from somewhere else and gives them powers that far surpass anything we are capable of. From this, it is obvious that there are higher realms than the ninth, but I do not think that the ordinary path of cultivation would allow us to reach any of them.”
“That is possible. The ninth realm is meant to be Eternal Gate, and with an infinite flow of energy there is little room to improve beyond it. A fundamental change would be needed.”
“A fundamental change that, most importantly, will surpass the very Laws of the world that cause cultivation to be as straightforward for us in the west as it can possibly be. The world itself, or the heaven’s will, has its own limits, and once we attempt to overcome them, we will need to put in the work that we had avoided in the previous nine realms. If you have comprehended any Dao, you should know what I mean, and if not, then let’s just say that some Dao have not fully been understood by the heavens,” she revealed.
This was a rather momentous statement, but it was also one that those at higher realms had to realise, even if only unconsciously. The world around them was not perfect, and the more that they learned through the natural process of living and cultivating, the more they had to understand this. As such, while Ru Wen Xiang, the Patriarch, was surprised, he understood what she meant.
Furthermore, even had he not thought anything of the sort prior to this, he would have had to pay attention to her words after the rather absurd strength she was able to keep displaying, as well as the speed of her study of everything brought to her.
“So, what exactly would one need to do in order to surpass the ninth realm on one’s own?”
“I’ve not done it yet, so this is little more than speculation, but you would first need to understand how to improve upon the foundation of the ninth realm. You would need to find a way to surpass a vortex of limitless energy, and that is a rather difficult thing to do, as you have said,” Wei Yi said, “Then, you would need actually accomplish that improved state, which is not exactly simple. Planar energy doesn’t simply form greater constructs, after all.”
“How so? The planar energy within our bodies manifest into the appropriate phenomena at the right time, no?”
“Didn’t you understand what I had just said? The energy around us does not act the way it does because of its natural properties. Otherwise, there would be anchors, cores, searing marks, oblivion halos, imperfect rifts and endless gates all around us, popping up randomly and without being bound to anyone or anything,” she explained, “This does not happen in the wild, however, and so it is very clear that something influences energy to act in this particular way. It is also why it just cannot wait to advance once most accumulate enough planar energy, it is why we live for as long as we do, and it is why so many other things occur in a way that shouldn’t be, but seems natural to us as we have never seen an alternative.”
“Ah, I think I understand now. Essentially, we would need to do everything that the heavens do for us on our own, with the energy that we are attempting to weave into something greater, and possibly even face resistance from the heavens. This would require a monumental effort to accomplish, wouldn’t it?”
“Assuming all of those things are accurate, then yes. We may have some things wrong, though.”
Getting some things wrong was pretty much inevitable with such limited information as what they had, so this didn’t need to be said, but it was important to bring up nonetheless. One of the most dangerous things to do would be to assume that one of their theories had to be absolute truth, and then suffer greatly when those assumptions led them to incorrect conclusions and into unnecessary suffering that could have been avoided had they kept an open mind.
Hence, after a while, they decided that it was time to move on to the other matters of the day, and of the week. Since the spatial stabilisation point was already promised to her, and the reinforcement of the Bottomless Archive was also suggested by her and accepted by the Patriarch, all that was left was to make the most of her time here and then leave as quickly as she could onto her next destination. The Bao District was waiting, and there was plenty that she could obtain within if she continued to be as lucky as she had been so far – speaking in terms of opportunities, not necessarily outcomes.
This was settled quickly, and then she moved onto the cultivation that she had been forced to cut short as a result of the break of the temporal barrier at the bottom of the Archive.
With the time she had, she wasn’t expecting to reach the sixth realm in one go, but gaining one more stage would put her at the peak of the fifth realm, and thus allow her to deal with seventh realm threats a little more easily, giving her some energy to spare in sealing their movements and teleportation, which all of the locals seemed to possess.
Unfortunately, her stay did not result in the Preserver of Eternity being discovered in the district, nor were there any rumours of his appearance anywhere nearby from the few travellers that entered and left the district. There were no traces of his presence at all, at least so far as those people were able to report. She would have gone out to scout on her own, but she did not think that she would find him anywhere nearby now that he appeared to have gone further away, having not appeared in the Ru District or the vicinity.
It was better to let it go for now, as, even though the man had been in the seventh realm for some time and was also at the peak of his realm, he would not be able to reach the next realm any time soon.
The eighth realm was simply too high above the seventh, and would not be attainable at all until the energy concentration in the world had gone far enough. Aside from all of the other conditions, this was one that she could definitely control, and so she could be absolutely certain that the moment that she did raise the level of the world sufficiently, she would be able to be ready to deal with him, or at the very least know that he wouldn’t have the chance to cultivate further before then.
Without the risk of him growing too powerful for her to overcome, as she did think that breaching the gap between the seventh and eighth realm might end up being a little difficult even for her ever-growing prowess, she focused entirely on her cultivation. Her desire was to bring all five paths to a level that would allow them to break through a realm together, resulting in a kind of resonance that would greatly boost the possibility of a second stage attainment right away, or within a short period of time. This would, in turn, increase her overall strength, give her the ability to attack the Great Families far more confidently when the times comes to bring the fight to them once more, and would make it far easier to traverse the south, north, west and east alike.
One week passed, and she got on about how she expected. One stage in planar cultivation and physique energy, two in killing will as a result of her ever-growing fury – which was a concern, but a minor one for now so long as she got to the next realm of planar energy before killing will did – and four stages in her bloodline power.
That improvement in particular was very helpful, as it not only meant that she might be able to attain a new bloodline power realm at the same time as the other realms, but also raised her power even further. With just her bloodline alone, she was nearly five times more powerful than another cultivator at the same realm, so once her full power was taken into account, she was at a level that would let her be the Matriarch of a district had she wished to become one, and if she came across someone that actually wanted her in that position. This was not impossible, oddly enough.
It would put any district that she attempted to lead at danger of being attacked by anyone and everyone that she had made enemies with, however, and that would be a little too dangerous.
At the end of this period of time, she grabbed the few things that she had obtained within the district and that she chose to carry with her, mainly some more equipment to replace the armour that she had obtained in the previous district, and headed out. The Ru District was not as close to the Bao District as it was to the Qiang District, at least when one considered the distance between the closest points of the latter pair, so it was best to leave early.
The Ru Patriarch was the only one to accompany her out of the district, and he headed back very shortly to return to his own duties. Given that she didn’t need unnecessary accompaniment, she didn’t mind this at all.
Most people hadn’t even learned about her entrance into district, and the few that had met her, like Chao Jin, did not know about the things that she had done in the Bottomless Archive and had only met with her once in her two week-long stay. Speaking of that young woman, she seemed to be getting on well enough on her own, and might even be able to reach the second stage within a few days of Wei Yi’s departure, if not earlier. For a regular person, albeit one supported in part by the healing pill that she had enhanced for her, this was not too bad.
Perhaps she would get back to her someday and catch up, but this was not something she had any interest in doing at this moment. To begin with, while she helped her out, she didn’t really care about her or her life, whether she was in for a good time at the Ru Preservers or if she would suffer greatly there.
This was the kind of person that she would only be able to protect fully if she defeated the Greats, allowing Yi City and its districts to develop properly and without fear once more.
At the northern outskirts of the Ru District, the snowfall had gotten less intense than at the southern edge, where she had entered. It would still be completely unapproachable for someone weak that had only lived in the northern regions all their life, but for anyone at her realm this was practically insignificant. They would be able to get through snow like this with ease, and this showed better than anything that she was indeed moving back towards the north, towards the Tundra that separated the Southern Wastes and the Central Plains. Just like how the Chao District was the only one that was unbearably hot at the north, only the Qiang and Ru Districts could be said to be unbearably cold.
Of course, one was located far from the northern edge of the habitable world, whereas the other was far closer, but this was the nature of hot and cold. Heat could rise almost into infinity, but cold had a clear limit and obvious absolute end.
She didn’t linger there, and moved on swiftly, warping to the edge of her vision every now and then with her fourth realm movement method, and bypassing one particularly large ravine that she found on the way with her fifth realm levitation method. Really, she should have given them a name by this point, but there wasn’t much of a point in doing so. All of this was based on Law, one way or another, and naming it would be like calling a ball of fire something else just because it was used to cook food.
It would be a complete waste of time, especially when she never called out the names of her techniques and skills. Her usage of them also differed nearly every time, so it would be too wasteful.
After several hours passed, she just had to contemplate just how different the process of travelling from district to district was for someone at her current realm and someone at the first or second realm. She recalled her first and last expedition from the Yi District well, and it was rather astounding when she considered it.
Back then, whether ‘then’ was to be considered the time she left for the Kong District, or when she had set out to the north after breaking out of the Kong Prison Realm, it took her days and weeks to travel. Each step required effort, and while she could sustain herself for a very long while by minimal amounts of food and drink, that didn’t change the fact that she would still need to spend long enough on the journey for this to become a problem in the first place. Now that she had developed her own abilities, this was no longer the case.
She had felt as if she had set out only a short time ago, which was essentially the case, and yet she could already see the boundaries of the Bao District, a task made easier by its construction.
Just as the majority of major districts and families in Yi City had a focus, whether it was on an element or on some principle that they studied to an excessive degree, the Bao District prioritises a single thing that they had in abundance: gemstones, jewels and all kinds of glistening, precious stones.
The Bao District was only two months into construction and development when an enormous cavern filled with the largest variety of gems to ever be seen in the Planar Continents was found. From then on, the district became focused on nothing more than the jewels, and everything that they did for the next million years was based around either using gems in their craft and activities, or figuring out ways of doing so despite the seeming incompatibility between their pursuit and gems.
One might assume that gems were not usable for that many things, but this would be a mistake. When the people of the Bao District put all of their time into this, they managed to create artefacts purely from gems, embed inscriptions and arrays into gems, make armour and weapons out of gems, and even carve talismans out of gems. It appeared that the people of the Bao District were completely mad, but that would be an understatement for the sheer amount of work and effort that they invested into this pursuit, and just how much was spent on making this an art that only they would be utilising since the invention of gem-based great arts.
For some reason, this never became particularly popular anywhere else.
There were several reasons for that, with the people of the Bao District being very keen to be the only providers of such items to the world, but it was also very difficult to get a single one of the gems compatible with this system outside of the district. Then, there was also the fact that their effectiveness seemed partially tied to the overall quantity of gems in the region.
As a result, in order for the gems to be particularly effective anywhere else – effective enough to justify their rather high costs outside of the district – they would first need to become popular there. To become popular anywhere that wasn’t full of people obsessed with gems, so anywhere other than the Bao District, they would need to showcase that they were worthwhile in comparison to the other methods of utilising the same array, inscription or talisman via a more ordinary method put onto a more ordinary material.
In other words, it was nearly impossible for anyone other than the richest and most interested people to use these gems proficiently outside of the Bao District, while the common people had no reason to adopt these items into their daily lives. Thus, they remained relatively obscure after all this time.
The only reason she knew about them was that they originated from a more northern district than the Qiang and Ru Districts, and due to the innate allure of using precious, visually appealing items in cultivation and combat. Even from where she was standing, looking upon the walls of the Bao District, barred from viewing them in their full glory by the sparse fall of snow and a cool white mist, it was impossible to say that the walls did not look striking.
Personal preference would dictate whether it was striking in a good way or a bad way, of course, but it was always desirable for cultivators of the world to look awesome in one way or another.
Most of the walls were constructed out of a dark gemstone, likely a hard and tough one that greatly obstructed typical physical entry, with several large stones set in the upper portions of the walls that were glowing with planar energy. Their internal structures revealed numerous channels somehow embedded in the gemstones themselves without a single obvious place of entry for a tool or a person’s own energy, and their purpose was rather obvious due to their positioning at the front of the walls, facing potential invaders.
There were some defensive arrays to make it more difficult to leap in or fly in by disrupting the planar energy in front of the walls, some that would generate a barrier to stop attacks on the black gemstone once it endured a significant enough hit, and then even more that would attack those that interacted with the other defensive measures for too long, marking them as a blatant threat or intruder.
For her, this kind of defensive measure could be circumvented easily enough, but she did not need to do so for now, as the casual approach to the district still seemed possible. Once obstructions were encountered, she would change her approach, just as with all of the other places she had visited, although there had not yet been a single district that completely refused to allow her entry. In this case, it should not be a significant concern.
Despite keeping their gem-related tricks within their district, they were very fond of showing them off.
This couldn’t be seen better than when her approach caused several dozen large jewels, all perfectly carved to direct the dim rays of the sun into her face, to fly into the air and assemble into a small array that complimented the ones within them. Further rays of line shone out from within them and joined them together, forming a matrix that corresponded with a basic protective inscription, which would ensure that she couldn’t steal any of the gems or otherwise disrupt their arrangement without greatly exceeding the power of the fifth realm, a sufficient deterrent for most.
“Traveller, you must identify yourself as friend or foe. If you wish to fight, the Bao District shall oblige without hesitation.”
Unlike some voices, where their strange sound yet human delivery made it difficult to distinguish whether they originated from a human mouth, this one was blatantly synthetic, concocted via some kind of gem-based method and then stored within one of the floating gems. It was, fortunately enough, clear in what it wanted from her.
“In this instance, I am a friend.”
She could almost hear the disappointed noise from the jewels as they dimmed and descended once more, leaving behind only a thin trail of light which directed her to the left, as to approach a gate into the district.
For all she knew, she had disappointed the stones themselves, although it was likely that there was some degree of influence from an actual human mind and it was one that needed to focus on their task in order to be any good at this. Thus, when they did not receive the fight that they may have wanted after a long time of sitting around and doing nothing else, it would only be natural to be somewhat displeased with her.
Even in that state, the trail of light still had a slight gem-like quality to it.
‘This place must not encounter too many problems with the nations to the south-west, or else that reaction wouldn’t be quite the same. On the contrary, they might react with gratitude to hear that I am not yet another intruder seeking to attack them and earn glory for the nation I come from, or whatever it is that people do over there.’
Unlike a few rare people in Yi City, she and the majority of the population did not think of everyone outside of the city as mindless savages that were barely fit to be called human – which those rare few people did, incidentally – but almost everything that could be reasonably compared between the two led to the conclusion that the people over there were not in the better parts of the world. Their living conditions were generally inferior, with some of the people to the north residing in loose tents while needing to fight over every small planar shard and every bit of food due to the scarcity of it.
In comparison, it was rather difficult to starve in the Chao District, the northernmost district of Yi City, and cultivation was also feasible for most.
Despite her own preference for not ever attempting to redo her life, she could say with certainty that she would choose to be born in Yi City over any nation bordering it for that reason. All of the issues with the city could, with sufficient effort, be resolved, but it would be far more difficult to do the same with a weaker foundation and inferior access to planar cultivation materials.
She proceeded to the gates and waited for a minute before they opened, with the individual gemstone pieces parting in an intricate pattern that was far better at mesmerising a viewer than the majority of lower-realm mental influence techniques. The way in which the light glistened and refracted from the individual stones was exactly what one would want if they were exceptionally wealthy and wished to display it, since each one of the stones in the semi-circular opening of the wall was worth a dozen planar stones each, at least.
Her earlier assumption regarding the calmness of the district was affirmed when there was only one guard standing by the gates, resting in a chair beside the wall. A flame burned atop a small gem that they were holding in their hand, illuminating the area and keeping them warm.
“Hm? You are new, aren’t you?” the guard, a young and thin man, said when he noticed her, “Don’t know what you want here, but you may be interested in the banquet hosted by the Fashionable Gentleman over at the centre, not far from the Ancestral Hall… I know, the name sounds strange, but it looks like he has gone all out this time. When the wind blows this way, I can smell all of the food and… sorry, didn’t mean to go on like that.”
She had not yet said a thing, but what he said was good enough for her.
“The Fashionable Gentleman, you said? Is that supposed to be a name, or even a proper title held by someone?”
“That… not too sure, actually. I just know that everyone wants to go there, including most of my fellow guards, so they managed to leave me as the last one, meaning that I can’t go with them… those bastards have no respect for a friend, none at all,” he explained, veering off quickly yet again.
“Right. Centre, near the Ancestral Hall?” she began to walk once she received a nod, “Thanks.”
While nothing she was told was enough for her to come to any reasonable conclusions regarding this Fashionable Gentleman or his banquet, the sound of it was rather intriguing. There had been nothing so far that could put her in too great a danger, other than the Greats, so she was unlikely to suffer from the experience.
Hence, on she went, finding that most people did seem to be absent from their homes, whereas a point at the centre of the district was filled with them.
