PtM Book 17 - Chapter 50: The Rise of Three Moons

3/3 this week.

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After three days of fighting, little was left of the defensive fortifications Oster had directed everyone to erect. They now mostly relied on large planar fragments and the natural chokepoints and cover they provided.

A platoon of ten thousand reptilian fiends was currently pushing in on Huxian’s position. Not many of Cha Ming’s paintings remained, and Wei Longshen was fresh out of spirits. Guerilla tactics were currently the only way to go.

The problem was that they couldn’t move, which meant they had to be creative about what exactly the term meant. Huxian gradually had the space in the region move, creating the spatial equivalent of a treadmill. Creativity. That was the key.

“You ready?” Huxian asked Jadefall, his partner in crime. His demon armor was comprised of rune-covered robes, and he didn’t so much wield his weapons but kept them fused with his armor during combat. All eight of his tails could cut, fold, freeze, and mobilize space, giving him excellent flexibility during combat.

“Born ready,” Jadefall said. The runes on her black demon armor glowed with a sinister light. Her muscles bulged as they gripped her ridiculously heavy axe. She summoned a sea of hellfire and shaped it into devil oxen, which accompanied her as she charged her reptilian opponents.

“Screeee!” The fiends hissed in pain as her axe cut into the first rank-thirteen fiend. She and her summoned creatures then tore into their ranks like a hot knife through butter. They piled onto her to try and slow her down but failed miserably. She couldn’t be stopped.

“Come on, Zenol, don’t disappoint me,” Huxian muttered as he lurked through the shadows. “There we go. I knew you had a few more tricks up your sleeves.”

A group of lurker class fiends appeared in their vicinity. They were completely invisible to the naked eye as they traveled through slits in space and rarely entered the material realm.

The lurkers were about to jump Jadefall when Huxian sprung into action. He entered one of their rifts and whipped out with three of his tails, slashing through a group of shocked fiends before retreating into the material realm.

Four out of seven fiends blocked his surprise attack. These fiends were suicide attackers and, seeing that it would be impossible to complete their mission, they settled on the next-best target: Huxian. A layer of spines burst out of their backs as they threw themselves at Huxian—only to catch a folded cloth as he disappeared into a hole in space.

But Huxian didn’t leave them empty-handed. A spatial fragmentation grenade appeared through the same slit in space. Crashing sounds like broken glass ensued, and the ripples slaughtered hundreds of lesser fiends caught in the blast.

Two of the fiendish assassins managed to escape, but they could not hide from Huxian. He couldn’t see them properly, but his eight tails whipped about wildly as he manipulated space, pulling it toward himself like one might pull a rug.

The fiends, seeing they couldn’t escape, gave up and faced him. Two seconds later, a few hundred pieces of dismantled fiends clattered to the ground. The power within them was already completely devoured.

By now, Jadefall and her hellfire oxen had cut deep into enemy territory. She was surrounded, and they wouldn’t let up. Zenol ordered a suicide attack from all sides; Jadefall responded by stomping on the ground and pulverizing half the fiendish troops and severely wounding all those below rank thirteen.

This group only had ten rank-thirteen fiends, and she launched herself at one of them while Huxian used his demon Dao domain to shatter space and destroy all stragglers.

Once upon a time, fiendish blood would have pooled together to strengthen their remaining allies, but now that Cha Ming’s law projection had evolved, only half of the blood managed to escape. The remaining materials pooled together and crystalized. As for the energy that was captured, a large portion of it was sent straight to Huxian and Jadefall, replenishing their losses and leaving them in an even better position than before.

“Eight Directions, we have a problem,” Oster said. Of course he did. It wouldn’t do to have Jadefall and Huxian doing well. “Xing Tianlong attempted to take out a group of enemy commanders alone, but in so doing, split up their forces. Half of them are heading your way.”

“How many are we talking here?” Huxian asked.

“Ten thousand strong,” said Oster.

“And that’s a problem because…?” said Huxian.

“Because its an elite troop,” said Oster. “At least five hundred of them exceed rank eleven, and the minimum rank in this troop is rank ten.”

That was a huge problem. “Jadefall and I can’t take them down on our own,” he said to Oster.

“I authorize you to execute a fusion transformation,” said Oster. “Your ability is off cooldown, is it not?”

So that’s his angle, Huxian thought. He wants to take our abilities off the table.

“Normally, I would use the traps in your area to deal with them, but unfortunately, they’re quite depleted,” Oster continued.

This was both a probe for more information and Oster revealing that he’d discovered the fake traps in Huxian’s arrangement. The general had already used most of the ones Huxian had listed, leaving only the ones he’d identified as fake behind. Little did he know that these fake traps weren’t so defective after all.

“Don’t worry, I’ll take care of it,” Huxian.

“And how will you take care of it?” Oster asked.

“I said don’t worry about it,” Huxian said. “Jadefall, you’re bait again.”

“I love being bait,” Jadefall said. “Should I try to shine more this time?”

“Double up on the bling,” Huxian confirmed. “There’s more enemies, and it’d be a waste if they didn’t notice you.”

There were only so many paths through the debris field that wouldn’t directly destroy it, and even fiends did not find it a wise use of their time. What’s more, destroying debris could lead to spatial turbulence, spatial cracks, and other nasty business.

Huxian’s traps were located in semi-stable rifts not far away from debris obstacles. This made it much easier to funnel the enemy into them.

“On my mark, lure them in,” Huxian said.

Jadefall charged at a small group of a hundred fiends, destroying it but alerting all those present. As she charged away, Huxian manipulated space to expedite her retreat. But these fiends were not without abilities. In this case, they had a blood-craze type of ability that enabled them to catch up to her.

Her devil oxen were made of hellfire, which was difficult for her to replenish in this environment. But losing them was much preferable to losing a limb. Several dozen of her devil oxen turned around and self-detonated, taking twice as many fiends out with them but deepening the blood craze of those who remained.

“Pull your devil oxen in and stay really still,” Huxian said.

Jadefall took in a breath and retrieved all her flames. Spikes shot her way, as did bone lances and all manner of fiendish weapons.

Huxian activated the tiny formation she was standing on. She teleported by his side, and the projectiles missed. “Eat super-trap!” Huxian shouted.

Gray spatial lines lit up, surrounding the lured enemy troupe. Space scrunched up, squeezing them together, before shattering as a spatial tempest ripped up the surrounding area.

“Eight Directions?” Oster asked. “Was that one of the… traps on the list you gave me?”

“Yeah, it was one of the strongest ones,” Huxian confirmed. “You know how it is. Not all traps are made the same.”

“How… wonderful,” said Oster, who was likely now tearing his hair out, wondering if the traps remaining on his list were defective or super-traps like this one. “Keep up the good work. I’ll let you know when more fiends are headed your way.”

Huxian chuckled as he slapped Jadefall on the back. “I lovemessing with this guy. It never gets old.”

“But didn’t you expose some information?” Jadefall asked. “Now he knows that the so-called fake traps are actually super-traps disguised as fake traps.”

“But are they?” Huxian asked. “Maybe I only have a few super-traps. Either way, he needs to rework his entire plan. He’ll be much more cautious of us. Don’t forget, I could have other hidden traps laying around the battlefield that I didn’t tell him about.” Huxian sighed. “I could be more direct, but in the end, what we need is time.”

“How close are you?” Jadefall asked.

“So close I can taste it,” Huxian said. Like Cha Ming, it was very difficult for Huxian to break through. Aiding Cha Ming in stabilizing that collapsing demiplane had brought him a good chunk of the way. Unfortunately, there would be no easy pickings for the time being.

Now let’s see what they left us, Huxian thought. He teleported himself and Jadefall to the region of broken space they’d just created. His presence stabilized space; it only took him a small amount of energy to send the pieces of shattered space back to where they belonged and quell the turbulent energies.

A great deal of fiend blood had been created during the explosion. Planar fragments had gotten caught up in the blast as well. Most would overlook this tiny detail, but Huxian and Cha Ming would not.

Huxian used a few spatial-folding techniques to obscure the area before signaling Cha Ming. A star-speckled cauldron appeared at the center of the fiendish residue and began to suck in all manner of materials and energy. The Heartforge Spirit Flame roared inside the cauldron, chasing out all hints of fiendish will.

Then the cauldron pressed these things together, extracting what high-quality materials and energy it could, leaving behind only a few small crystals.

“That’s all I could make out of this batch,” Cha Ming said to Huxian. “I added a bit from other regions. But there’s only so much I can do before Oster gets suspicious.”

“Is there anything I can do to help?” asked Huxian.

“Try to get me stronger fiends and denser planar fragments the next time you blow something up,” said Cha Ming. “If you could find some meteors dense in primal chaos crystals, that would be best.”

Huxian dusted off the primal chaos energy crystals Cha Ming had just solidified for him using his law projections. “Hey, these are pretty good. Actually, they’re better than good.”

“I could upgrade their quality a bit more, but it takes too much time if the materials you give me are too weak,” Cha Ming said. “Get me stronger materials, and I’ll make you stronger crystals.”

“No problem,” Huxian said. “Just a few hundred times more and I should be good!”

Cha Ming paused. “Then I think we should rethink this plan.”

“I’m joking, I’m joking,” Huxian said. “Maybe a few dozen more times will do the trick.” Primal chaos crystals were very useful to demons, especially those with stronger bloodlines.

“I could probably make a few more crystals in other locations then transport them to you,” Cha Ming said. “But I also need energy. My inner world isn’t in the best of shape.”

“Not a problem,” Huxian said. “Take care of your things first.” He tossed the crystals into his mouth before pulling back the privacy screen. Just in time for Oster to issue him another “urgent” mission.

***

“Master, it’s getting rather difficult to hold up this temple,” said Luther. “Can’t you hurry?”

Cha Ming sent his awareness into the cracked and broken Clear Sky World to where Luther, Coral, and Disaster were holding up the heavenly temple alongside the Sky-Propping Pillar.

The bronze pillar was even more cracked than before. Without Luther and the others, it would shatter.

“I’m working on it, Luther,” Cha Ming said. “Expect an influx of materials and energy shortly.” With that, he turned his attention back to the matter at hand—dismantling the largest planar fragment in the surrounding area.

Planar fragments were different than actual demiplanes in that they had no core, and therefore could not generate sentient life. Some creatures grew inside them, but they were more akin to plants; they didn’t contain even a hint of spirituality.

Normally, they wouldn’t contain a lot of energy, but thanks to elevated levels of primal chaos energy, even the lowliest of “life-forms” were potent supplements. It was the same for ores, metals, liquids, and flames that were found in such fragments. Even so, most cultivators could not use them without extensive purification.

But Cha Ming was different. All elements, including derivative elements, bowed to Clearmist. He summoned the Star Void Cauldron and used Shattered Form to take the planar fragment apart piece by piece, the goal being to take everything and leave only the outer shell for deception.

Cha Ming sent the materials and energy directly into his inner world. As before, they were split up into the five elements. The Flamewing Demiplane and the Claw Vice Demiplane were not strictly fire and earth demiplanes, but he’d separated each plane in this way to regulate the laws in his inner world and prevent them from clashing.

Cha Ming did his best to grow the other land masses faster than the complete demiplanes, prioritizing the incomplete Jade Moon Demiplane built using Jade Moon Garden as a base.

The materials he pillaged could be divided into top-grade, high-grade, mid-grade, and low-grade materials. He used mostly mid-grade and high-grade materials to supplement his demiplanes, as low-grade materials were no longer effective.

Top-grade materials, he reserved for another purpose. As for low-grade materials, they could not be used to grow his transcendent planes, but they were useful in growing his mortal worlds, which had suffered greatly from the clash of laws in the Clear Sky World.

These materials aided in their recovery. Sometimes, it was in concrete ways like shoring up planar boundaries and replenishing the life energy on each mortal plane, but at other times, it was in indirect ways, like the appearance of a large ore vein or the sudden discovery of a pocket realm with dense plant materials, which then led to a resurgence in the number of cultivators on the plane, thereby stabilizing it.

With Cha Ming’s control over Shattered Form and Bound Energy, it did not take him long to carve out half of the first planar fragment. These materials weren’t enough to fix damage to his inner universe, but with them, he was able to shore up the foundation of his inner world, which in turn strengthened the Sky-Propping Pillar, preventing cracks from propagating further.

“Master, I’m getting tired,” Luther said. “How about you fetch me wine? I’m thirsty.” Cha Ming didn’t even fight him on it. Seconds later, Luther was licking away at a bowl of wine while the bulk of his power continued holding up the sky to prevent it from falling.

The situation is somewhat stable, but Luther, Coral, and Disaster are the weakest links, Cha Ming thought. I need to make them stronger if I want to continue using them in this capacity. While they were his bound companions, Luther, especially, had been forced into the situation. It would be unethical to have him continue this way without any support or benefits.

The least he could do for all three of them was increase their power and give them a place to call home. That was why most of the top-grade materials had been reserved for them. The Chasewind Plane was not rich in the traditional five elements, but it was especially abundant in three nonstandard elements—wind, lightning, and blood.

Cha Ming took these top-grade materials and shaped them into spheres the size of a small mansion. He wasn’t satisfied with top quality, however, and insisted on refining them using the Truth of Self-Wrought Existence, his Star Void Cauldron, and the Heartforge Spirit Flame.

He gradually enhanced the materials, and the mansion shrunk down until it was the size of a small house. The spherical mass of materials was not smooth but composed of interlocking runes, infused with his blood and essence.

They were still missing something, however: authority, and purpose. He infused them with a few higher-order law fragments, then painted a past for them. These were not ordinary chunks of high-quality materials, but seeds, born at the beginning of the universe. Pieces of divinity that had not yet flourished. Once they found an appropriate host, they would fuse with them, becoming a significant part of their strength.

The three spheres began to glow as their energies pushed past transcendence and took a step into immortality.

“Quick, bind these with your blood and souls!” Cha Ming commanded. “I will add to these later, but for now, they’ll be your foundation in the Clear Sky World. They’ll constantly nourish your elements and your spirits and prepare you for immortal ascension!”

The three elementals were stunned. Luther, especially, was surprised by the development. It was very difficult for creatures like them to grow, and Luther, having achieved the half-step-immortal realm in the past, had taken hundreds of thousands of years to do so.

For a human to promise them immortality… If it were anyone else, they’d be skeptical. But Cha Ming had worked miracles before, and they didn’t hesitate the bind with the spheres.

The three were elementals, and as such had no problem fusing with materials such as these. The instant they bound these treasures, they broke past their limits and grew in strength until they reached the limit of the Chasewind Plane.

The breakthrough introduced rich bloodstorm energy to the Clear Sky World. Wind, rain, lightning, hail, and all manner of natural phenomenon appeared on each transcendent demiplane. These weren’t just transient phenomena but regular disasters that would strike again and again, refining their energies over time and solidifying their foundations.

By using these three spheres, the three elementals greatly alleviated the strain on the Sky-Propping Pillar. Many of the smaller cracks on it began to mend.

“Master, we’re still too weak to fully assist you,” Luther said. “This is as much as we can do in our current state.”

“Just do what you can,” Cha Ming said. “Keep refining those spheres and prepare to receive more materials. I’m not done yet. Not by a long shot.”