PtM Book 17 - Chapter 55: Conclusion

2/3 this week.

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They split up into groups again, this time in much smaller confines. Jadefall faced off against Dark Tooth, while Undine and Wu kept their respective sides safe. Baleful Vision could not stray far from Violet Rose, as otherwise, her toxic techniques would overpower the others at short range. White Mirage had no choice but to tangle with Autumn’s Call, who, thanks to his time spells, was almost impossible to ambush.

In the previous confrontation, Oster had taken a hands-off approach. Now that the battlefield was smaller, he was able to use more non-spatial abilities. Green flames were his weapon of choice, and he used them to great effect to entangle his opponents. Huxian was reduced to playing damage control, since Wei Longshen was now busy running away from Xing Tianlong.

Cha Ming’s role was relatively simple. He had brute strength, and lots of it, while the enemy was physically weak. He attacked repeatedly with the Sky-Propping Pillar, ignoring Cao Wenluan’s positioning in favor of targeting his allies, forcing the warlord to block.

The Five Point Monarch paintings had long since been destroyed by Cao Wenluan. I need an army, Cha Ming decided. But rank-and-file paintings won’t do. I need elites. Such an elite army didn’t exist, but it would, soon enough.

He imagined two warring worlds, Flamewing and Claw Vice. Flamewing had an explosive, mobile army of flying creatures, while Claw Vice’s army was mostly land-bound.

Year after year, they fought, not knowing what caused it, only that their ancestors had perished. They sharpened each other’s blades in such a way that each of them gained a large number of elites.

The Undying of Flamewing and the Deathless of Claw Vice were the best of the best. The elite Flamewings were difficult to kill because no matter how they were broken up, they could always regather their energies. In the worst of cases, the Undying could gather their essence into an egg and be born again.

As for the Deathless, their defenses were almost impossible to breach. They were blessed with several overlapping layers of chitin and six large claws that could break any weapon.

“Deathless Battalion, advance,” said Cha Ming, summoning twelve portals from the Flamewing Demiplane. “Undying Battalion, advance.” Twelve more portals appeared from the Claw Vice Demiplane. Cao Wenluan was quickly overwhelmed by the sheer ferocity of the paintings. Unlike normal paintings, they did not stay down when cut by his karmic attacks. The remainder focused on Undine and prevented her from healing others.

“Oster, deal with this! Stop wasting time!” said Cao Wenluan. “If you don’t do something about this, we’re leaving!”

“Fine, fine,” Oster said. “Our team demands a duel. Dark Tooth against Lady Wu.”

“What? Not happening,” Huxian said, but to his surprise, he was unable to resist Oster’s skill.

Wu and Dark Tooth appeared above them in their own independent battlefield. The berserker attacked, and Wu, being a full sub-realm weaker, could only retreat in her shell.

“There,” Oster said. “That’ll give us some breathing space. High Priestess?”

“Blessing of the Goddess: Dark Vengeance!” Undine intoned. She poured anger and loss into her blessing, alongside her grief and her malice.

Oster followed up with some tactical skills of his own. “Fearsome Assault! Greenflame Armaments!” Green and dark halos surrounded all seven members of his group. Thanks to this increase in strength, they were able to push back not only the paintings but Cha Ming and his allies.

Cha Ming felt it most from Cao Wenluan, who started counterattacking instead of just passively blocking.

“Wu’s not going to last long in there,” Cha Ming said to Huxian. “Can we pull her out?”

“Not easily,” said Huxian.

“The combination of Undine and Oster is too powerful,” said Cha Ming. “We need to solve these two problems, and fast.”

Cha Ming had his own difficulties. The Sky-Propping Pillar was much heavier than he was used to, and it was affecting his implementation of his Clear Rune Battle Art. He had much trouble combining this style with Bloodstorm Rush, Bloodstorm Crush, and Bloodstorm Execution.

Trial and error was a wonderful thing. He’d already discovered how to lighten his staff so that he could execute Bloodstorm Rush with it. Bloodstorm Crush was never difficult, but Bloodstorm Execution was impossible, at least for now. Every collision deepened his understanding of his new weapon. It felt less like he was wielding a pillar, and more like he was wielding the weight of his inner world.

That’s it! Cha Ming realized. The Sky-Propping Pillar bears the weight of the temple. But it does so with the strength of my inner world. In other words, the Sky-Propping Pillar is the condensed essence of my entire inner world…

This realization provoked a reaction in the Sky-Propping Pillar. The twelve year beasts on its surface glowed softly. The pillar didn’t feel physically heavier than before, but its connection with his inner world deepened every time it collided with Cao Wenluan’s weapon. Cha Ming realized he was attacking Cao Wenluan with his inner universe, using it as a bludgeon.

I can’t win out in these exchanges because Cao Wenluan can better channel the strength of his inner world, Cha Ming thought. His inner world is more compact than mine, so it’s no wonder he’s able to do this.

With an inner world as large as Cha Ming, it was impossible to completely converge its essence. His body might be a gestalt entity, but it represented only a fraction of the total energy in his inner universe. Conversely, Cao Wenluan’s inner world was completely encapsulated within his body.

Well, as my inner universe’s guardian, it should be able to wield more of it during emergencies, Cha Ming thought. He continued beating down on Cao Wenluan, ignoring Bloodstorm Crush to focus on that mysterious connection with his inner world.

A faint projection began to appear behind him, one of a clear, starry sky speckled with countless mortal planes. Two transcendent demiplanes appeared alongside three moons and a mysterious temple high up in the heavens.

“I developed a new technique,” Cha Ming said to Cao Wenluan. “Do you dare take it?” He aimed not for Cao Wenluan, but for his weakest ally, Violet Rose.

“Don’t you dare, Clear Sky! Face me like a man!” Cao Wenluan shouted.

But Cha Ming ignored him. He took a Clear Rune Step and held the Sky-Propping Pillar aloft. The pillar had four cracks already. It wasn’t easy for it to do its job. If he used too much of its strength, it would crack once again.

“But if it does, I can gather energy again and heal it,” Cha Ming muttered. “Sky-Propping Pillar… Heaven Breaker!” The projection of his inner world brightened as the Sky-Propping Pillar came crashing down. Oster, Undine, and Autumn’s Call immediately realized that something was wrong.

“Expeditious Retreat!” Oster shouted.

“Guardian Angel!” Undine shouted.

“Four Seasons Binding!” Autumn’s Call bellowed.

Cao Wenluan was the most decisive of the three. He directly interposed himself between Cha Ming and his target. The void didn’t shatter this time around, instead breaking around the Sky-Propping Pillar like a sea of crystalline water. It splashed outward as spatial waves that buffeted friend and foe alike, breaking their techniques and threatening to swallow them alive.

Huxian reacted quickly. Two of his tails shot out, one grabbing Jadefall and another one piercing through Oster’s unstable dueling bubble and grabbing Wu. The three merged into one body with Huxian in the lead.

A massive Eight Directions Fox appeared on the battlefield. His presence stabilized the void for his allies and protected them from the blast of spatial energy. As for his enemies, he locked them down. Oster’s tactical retreat skill was rendered useless.

“Eight Directions, you deceitful creature!” Oster howled.

“All’s fair in love and war, Oster,” the giant fox said with a rumbling check. “You were counting the hours between each use of our fusion ability, but you never considered that we’ve always been able to use it a second time.”

Autumn’s Call was a time cultivator, but before the Sky-Propping Pillar, his techniques were useless. He suffered severe backlash as he failed to delay the attack by even a fraction of a second.

Cao Wenluan, realizing how perilous a situation was, broke his limit. Three pairs of black wings appeared on his back and began to burn with violent energy.

Like Cha Ming’s own Triune Soulburn, it was a threefold soul-burn technique, but it did him little good. The Sky-Propping Pillar contained the weight of two demiplanes and three moons. It shattered Cao Wenluan’s inner universe, ending his life. As for Violet Rose, she barely survived thanks to the Guardian Angel blessing that should have been cast on her leader instead of her.

“Undine, bring him back!” Oster snapped.

“I’m trying!” Undine shouted back. “Great Harid Dej, this lowly one begs a favor. Revive this fallen warrior so that he may continue to protect your honor!” She then fell to her knees and paled as something intangible left her.

Cha Ming had no idea what price she paid, but somehow, the shattered world fragments were pulled back together, revealing a pale but fully functional Cao Wenluan.

“I don’t think she can resurrect anyone anymore,” Cha Ming said. “Press the attack!” He was weakened by his attack, and his reserves were severely depleted. And unlike other people, he couldn’t use transcendent crystals and alchemical pills to recover.

Worse, he could no longer use this new attack of his. The Sky-Propping Pillar could not support more than five cracks. Erasure Style had caused one crack to appear, and Heaven Breaker had resulted in another.

Fortunately, Cao Wenluan had grown wary after their exchange. He cautiously blocked Cha Ming’s attacks, and Cha Ming, having depleted most of his reserves, shrank down the Sky-Propping Pillar and focused on flanking him with Bloodstorm Style and his Undying and Deathless paintings.

Huxian, on the other hand, was just getting started. He’d already integrated Jadefall and Wu into his fusion technique, and after it expired, they’d need to wait several days before using it again. This was the price for fusing twice in quick succession. Autumn’s Call, Violet Rose, and Dark Tooth had all converged on one location. Baleful Vision and White Mirage had joined the battle, severely tilting the odds in Huxian’s favor.

Oster bolstered their speed, while Undine bolstered their vitality and their strength. Alas, her light had faded; to resurrect Cao Wenluan, she had not just lost her ability to resurrect—she’d lost her ability to heal.

“I think I’ll start with this one,” Huxian said, his gaze settling on Autumn’s Call. Time cultivators were tricky, and it was best to take them out of the equation early on.

A spatial cage appeared around Autumn’s Call. It wasn’t an intangible spatial cage like Daoists liked to use, but an ornate cage of forged spatial steel, personally built by Huxian over the course of a month for such an occasion.

An orb appeared above Autumn’s Call and crashed down onto the cage. The barrier of time Autumn’s Call erected was useless. The orb was too dense, and it pierced through the shield like a cannonball through ocean waves.

“It’s heavy!” said Violet Rose. “Dark Tooth, knock it away!”

Dark Tooth, Violet Rose, and Autumn’s Call shared a deep relationship. The berserker unhesitatingly jumped and threw his battle-axe at the orb.

“My Sumeru Terrarium is heavy,” Huxian said. “In fact, it’s ten thousand times heavier than it used to be.” Prior to his breakthrough, Huxian had reinforced the Sumeru Terrarium countless times and filled it to the brim with heavy planar materials. And once he’d broken through, he’d immediately asked Cha Ming to gather mountains for him. It wasn’t perfect, but the piles of planar materials inside it were ideal for bludgeoning people.

The orb expanded as it fell, growing to ten times its original size before smashing down on the spatial prison. Huxian winced at the loss of the prison, but to get rid of Autumn’s Call, he was willing to sacrifice much more valuable items.

The death of Autumn’s Call was the most undignified death suffered in this battle thus far. The Daoist priest didn’t stand a chance. Laws, divine abilities, and spiritual strength—all of them were useless in the face of mass and density.

Unfortunately, Huxian would not be able to use the Sumeru Terrarium again, as it was best for surprise attacks. Also, storing it in his tail space took several minutes.

Huxian ignored the pocket realm and pounced on the horrified Violet Rose. Dark Tooth threw himself at Huxian to intercept him, and if it were just Huxian, he might have succeeded. But Huxian was fused with Jadefall and Wu. He shaped heaven and earth, creating a pike line of spatial energy that smashed into Dark Tooth, piercing his thick defenses and sending him flying a hundred meters away from his partner.

“Have you decided how you want to die yet, pretty lady?” Huxian asked Violet Rose. Eight tails wrapped around her like a warm blanket.

“I have,” Violet Rose said, a warm smile lighting up on her face. Her expression caused Huxian to hesitate, but only for a brief second. His tails tightened around the cultivator, who scattered into thousands of tiny violet petals that attacked the nearest target that wasn’t Huxian: White Mirage.

A violet floral pattern appeared on her skin. “Such pretty petals,” she muttered before slumping down, unconscious.

“White Mirage!” shouted Baleful Vision. He abandoned his fight with the returned Dark Tooth to ensure her safety. “She’s been poisoned. I need to use my full power to suppress it, or she won’t live more than a minute.”

“Talk about irony,” said Huxian. The opposing side had lost two cultivators, but it had only taken a single B-list cultivator to take out two of theirs. Cha Ming arrived by his side and stored the duo. Cao Wenluan appeared beside Dark Tooth, looking murderous. Only the two of them remained from the Monarch Alliance.

“You killed people you should not have killed,” Cao Wenluan said to Huxian. “Have a taste of my blade. The first blade—Severing Heaven!” Cao Wenluan’s sword flashed and directly cut off one of Huxian’s tails. “The second blade—Sundering Earth!” His sword flashed a second time, cleaving off yet another tail.

Cao Wenluan’s sword techniques were unblockable, and even Cha Ming with his three fused energies was not able to block them.

The loss of two tails crippled Huxian. Not only would he not be able to recover them for quite some time, they’d contained Wu and Jadefall’s energies.

The savage attack forcefully split Huxian, Jadefall, and Wu’s fusion transformation. Jadefall, the strongest of them, was least affected, but Wu fainted outright. Cha Ming was forced to toss her into the Clear Sky World.

Huxian and Jadefall were gravely wounded, and Cha Ming, concerned about facing two unstable individuals, decided to retreat. Naturally, this was when Xing Tianlong decided to strike.

Cha Ming summoned the Sky-Propping Pillar and used its weight to block the Yin Dragon Spear heading straight toward the back of his neck. He used Bloodstorm Rush to dodge Xing Tianlong’s follow-up attack but was surprised to discover that not only could Xing Tianlong keep up, he was gaining on him. Moreover, his attacks were one of the few that could pierce through his intangible state.

He turned to face Xing Tianlong. Spear and pillar collided, sending ripples of spatial energy across the battlefield.

Meanwhile, Jadefall and Huxian fell on the back foot. Dark Tooth was a berserker. The longer he fought, the more rage he felt, and the more damage he took, the stronger he would become.

“I’ll tie up Cao Wenluan,” Jadefall continued. “You take out Dark Tooth.” Having said this, her entire body lit up with hellfire, burning her blood essence to buy Huxian time.

Cha Ming attempted to intervene in their battle but was once again stopped by Xing Tianlong. In fact, it was becoming increasingly difficult to block his spear thrusts. It was only with Wei Longshen constantly attacking him with sonic and spiritual attacks that Cha Ming was able to last this long.

Yet there was still one thing Cha Ming could do. “Ninesky, you help Huxian.” The mischievous spirit flew over to the berserker and painted a pair of shoes on him. Their laces were tied, and the berserker tripped, opening him up to Huxian’s six remaining tails.

Dark Tooth became minced meat, and without a healer, he stayed dead.

“I won’t rest until I see you dead, Eight Directions!” Cao Wenluan shouted. He exploded with strength and appeared behind Jadefall to deliver a killing blow.

“Not happening,” said Huxian. He drew on their link to switch places with Jadefall, then blocked Cao Wenluan’s saber with his tails, losing two more in the process.

Huxian grabbed Jadefall and teleported to Wei Longshen’s side, then summoned Cha Ming over to their side. Wei Longshen, knowing that he would no longer be useful in this battle, entered the Clear Sky World with Jadefall without any complaints.

Yet Cao Wenluan, Xing Tianlong, Oster, and Undine did not look pleased in the slightest. They’d won the battle, but Cha Ming and friends hadn’t suffered any actual losses. Worse, Cha Ming and Huxian made for a fearsome combination.

“I think we’ll call it quits for now,” Cha Ming said. “We admit defeat, but I’m not convinced of our loss. How about we schedule a rematch three days before the end of the third phase?”

Oster simply chuckled. He didn’t seem very bothered by the loss of so many companions. Indeed, it could be said that Cha Ming and friends had done him a favor by eliminating so many competitors. “You lost the battle, but you won the war. Or one of them, at least. Correct me if I’m wrong, Clear Sky—you can no longer enter the Chasewind Plane with your current power level.”

Cha Ming sighed. “What gave it away?”

“The planar membrane rippled ever so slightly whenever you got near it,” Oster said. “So, while we might not dare come back out here for a rematch, neither will your team dare to return to the Chasewind Plane to contest each battlefield.”

“Who cares about small points when we can just take down fiendish fortresses?” Huxian said.

Xing Tianlong laughed. “Do you think they’ll sit tight and await death? Prepare to be disappointed, Eight Directions. Things will not play out as you think.”

There was nothing to be gained from further conversation, so Oster and the others crossed the planar boundary, leaving Huxian and Cha Ming in the void. They would have no way to return home until the Heartforge Realm retrieved them.

“I really thought we had them, Huxian,” Cha Ming said. “Xing Tianlong, Cao Wenluan, Oster Fireblight—they’re going to be a pain to deal with when we return to the Inkwell Plane.”

“I think that’s kind of the point,” Huxian said. “What, did you think Patriarch Heartforge was training us up so we could go back home to fight a bunch of nobodies?”

“It was a good fight,” Cha Ming said. “We learned a lot about ourselves, and we managed to take out some competitors before our return.”

“And we took their points,” Huxian pointed out. “Everyone’s except Martin’s. Stupid shield guards and their stupid loyalty.”

“We should rest a while and head out sooner rather than later,” Cha Ming said. “I’m worried about those two fiend fortresses. We should take care of them before they do something insane like detonate a bunch of planar fragments.”

Huxian summoned his ship, and the duo set a course for the nearest cluster.