PtM Book 17 - Chapter 41: Return

3/3 of this week. Enjoy ^^.

Material planes were a lot like living beings in that they required a constant influx of energy to survive. The planar membrane was where most of that energy came from, and it came in the form of primal chaos energy, which was trapped and refined through various life forms and mechanisms.

Planar membranes were not solid barriers, but porous ecosystems. They sheltered creatures that could neither survive on materials planes or in the void and occupied a niche recycling waste materials and refining rich energies.

The Chasewind Plane’s membrane, Cha Ming and Huxian discovered, was a broken and barren place. Its surface was cracked and scarred, making it difficult for these symbiotic creatures to inhabit it. A debris field inhabited both its wrecked poles. This protected the vulnerable plane, but it also severely inhibited its absorption of energy.

In addition to this debris belt, its surface was covered in a collection of demiplane fragments. These fragments were beneficial to the plane because they blocked vulnerable openings in the planar membrane. In turn, the planar fragments benefited from the plane’s stable laws and calm adjacent void. They did not, however, make up the lost surface area that could not be used to collect energy, further aggravating the problem.

Rehabilitating a plane involved fixing the plane’s Dao Origins. Spatial cracks would gradually heal over and planar fragments would fall away. In theory, it was possible to accelerate the plane’s recovery by clearing these obstacles first, but the skills required to fix membrane damage on a large scale were all exceedingly rare. No research had ever been performed on the subject, and any evidence to suggest this was a viable course of action was anecdotal at best.

A few months ago, the situation on the Chasewind Plane was normal as normal could be. Everything changed when the south pole’s largest planar fragment, the Flamewing Demiplane, vanished, and the hole it was plugging up miraculously healed over. Since then, tens of thousands of smaller planar fragments had vanished from its surface, as had most of the debris belt blocking off the damaged southern membrane.

The combination of debris removal and spatial patchwork greatly reduced the stress of the planar membrane, and as a result, the blight had begun to retreat. Ther Chasewind Plane’s membrane was on the mend.

“Who would’ve guessed we could get so many points without actually fighting fiends,” Huxian said to Cha Ming as they pulled up yet another planar fragment. It was an earth-aligned fragment adhered to the plane via a deep gouge on its surface. Huxian fixed the damage as it peeled off, and when they wre finished, they received yet another notification from their mission jades. “We’re rich, Cha Ming! Rich! And it’s so easy!”

Cha Ming rolled his eyes. “All we had to do was risk our lives for the opportunity. You had to break through to the fusion realm as an eight-tailed fox, while I had to absorb and fix a functional demiplane inside my inner world.”

“Yeah, well… it can’t be too easy,” Huxian said. “Otherwise everyone would be doing it.”

In truth, it was probably impossible to find someone with a similar skills to theirs. Moreover, it was desperation that had forced them down this path. A great deal of good luck, and possibly divine intervention on Ninesky’s part, had saved them.

“I wonder if we’ll be lucky enough to find another full demiplane,” Huxian said. “You’ll need one for each of the five elements, right?”

“One step at a time, Huxian,” said Cha Ming. “We got lucky with that one. Its laws were mostly intact, despite the fiendish tampering.”

Cha Ming and Huxian had collected a huge number of planar fragments, but most of them were smaller and could only be used to make mortal planes. By now, Cha Ming had recovered most of the mortal planes that had been destroyed during Huxian’s eight tail tribulation. In fact, the density of his mortal planes was much higher now, their borders were better defined, and their energies were more highly concentrated.

Most of these changes were due to the presence of the Flamewing Demiplane. Not only did the transcendent world have a stabilizing effect on the lower worlds, it also made incorporating new energy thousands of times easier.

There was only one drawback to having absorbed it. “I can’t get over how much energy it takes to grow my cultivation now,” Cha Ming said to Huxian. “Immortal jades were already bad enough, but this…”

“You may have skipped some major milestones in your development,” Huxian admitted. “I don’t think I’ve ever heard of anyone doing what you’re doing, even in my inherited memories.”

“Don’t demons have naturally fused spiritual and physical energies?” Cha Ming asked.

“But we’d never fully fuse our law cores before ascending,” Huxian said. “Ascending to the immortal realms is already super difficult. Using fused energies would make it a thousand times harder.”

Cha Ming sighed. Top-grade transcendent crystals were now useless for his cultivation. It was the same with transcendent pills and formations. At most, they were marginally useful for replenishing his energy.

This was because Cha Ming’s Clearmist was an elementary form Dao energy, with fully harmonized and compressed divine, law, and spiritual elements. Normally, only the most powerful immortals emperors, god emperors, and demons emperors had such energies.

“Well, it’s a good thing I have energy accumulation as a law projection,” Cha Ming said. “Otherwise, I’d have no way to gain any from the outside world.”

Currently, Cha Ming’s only reliable source of Clearmist was a steady stream of Clearmist produced via his inner worlds. This Clearmist could be used to reinforce his inner universe or fill his energy pool. It could also be crystalized for future use at a slight loss.

Clearmist crystals were extremely valuable. Their energy quality was only transcendent grade, but because of their structure and compression, they were as energy-dense as immortal jades.

Unfortunately, Cha Ming could not spend these crystals. Not only were they valuable, they were also his greatest secret. In theory, it was impossible to fully fuse his three energies at his level, just as it was impossible for him to absorb a transcendent demiplane with his cultivation. Exposing this secret was a good way to gain and endless amount of trouble.

I currently have two ways to increase my production of Dao Energy, Cha Ming thought to himself. I can either use my existing Dao energy reservesto build up my inner universe, therebyincreasing my cultivation and production, or I can build up my inner universe using external means. Ideally, this meant absorbing other demiplanes, but he’d also settle for planar fragments and materials rich in primal chaos energy.

Points had originally been Cha Ming’s original motivation for clearing up the debris cluttering up the southern hemisphere. Discovering that these fragments could bolster his cultivation and fix the damage in his foundation made digging them up a necessity. Huxian also greatly benefitted from their strip-mining expedition. The constant gathering of spatial energies and materials and the constant deconstruction and construction of planar membranes had driven up his cultivation to the early fusion realm bottleneck.

“By the way, I’ve noticed our passive points aren’t going up very quickly anymore,” Huxian said.

“I have a theory about that, actually,” Cha Ming said. “It has to do with the number of spatial rifts.”

“You’re saying that by cleaning up this mess, we’re reducing the stress on the planar membrane, so less fiends can crawl through the gaps?” Huxian said.

“Exactly,” Cha Ming said. “So the reason we’ve gained a lot of points is because we’ve prevented a lot of future fiend outbreaks. We’re harvesting everything now, but we won’t get anything later.”

“That makes a lot of sense,” said Huxian. “I wonder how the others will react?”

They continued cleaning up the plane’s surface, increasing their points until they discovered, to their amazement, that they’d reached the top of the entire Heartforge Rankings. At first, they were overjoyed – until Cha Ming received a notice from his mission jade.

“What’s eating you?” Huxian asked when he saw Cha Ming’s expression.

“Take a look for yourself,” Cha Ming said grimly. He tossed his mission jade at Huxian for him to review.

“The Bloodstorm Region is under attack?” Huxian said incredulously. “But they tried it once. It didn’t work.”

“Greed is a great motivator,” Cha Ming said. “But in hindsight, I should have expected it. We just took all the southern hemisphere’s future points. It doesn’t take a genius to figure out what’s happening.”

“Wait, this thing’s saying that the Bloodstorm Region surrendered,” Huxian said, pointing at an entry.

“Already?” Cha Ming asked, taking back his mission jade. “That was fast. Very fast. Actually, why didn’t anyone tell us about this?” Then it dawned on him. “Wait, they can’t tell us about it. This stupid junk belt might be looser than before, but it’s still impossible for us to receive messages.”

Losing the bloodstorm region was one thing. If they surrendered so quickly, it was unlikely that they’d taken heavy casualties. Their friends, on the other hand, were prime targets for extortion. They needed to go back, and fast.

“Calm down, Cha Ming,” Huxian said. “They’re not actually in danger Remember what Oster always says? Greed is good? Well in this case, it’s keeping them safe. Besides, haven’t you forgotten a big problem?”

Cha Ming calmed down and analyzed the situation. “You mean the membrane instabilities.”

“That’s right,” said Huxian. “The membrane instabilities. There’s a reason we’ve stayed so long without going back, or even communicating with the other side. We need to finish what we started, otherwise the stresses on the planar membrane might cause all my patchwork to rip open.”

Cha Ming massaged his brow. “How much do we have left? Have you managed to map out the rest?”

“We’ve got about two weeks remaining,” said Huxian. “After that, there’ll only be a few minor defects left. I’ll be confident in creating a stable opening for us to pass through, or at the very least, communicate.”

“Maybe it would be better to risk it,” said Cha Ming.

“I don’t think so,” said Huxian. “Sure, our friends are in trouble, but they’re way more useful as hostages than dead.”

“Two weeks…” Cha Ming muttered. “If we work fast, can we make it ten days? Desperate people do desperate things.”

Huxian summoned a projection of the southern hemisphere and highlighted a few key points. There were twenty-five nodes with concentrated planar fragments. These were where the most troublesome planar fragments were located; much of the work they’d done was preparatory. The more they cleaned up, the more stress they relieved, making it possible to remove these oversized thorns without taking out a giant chunk of the demiplane.

“I think we could pass through if we clear seventeen points,” Huxian said. “But twenty would be safer.”

“Then let’s make it twenty, but no more,” said Cha Ming.

“Deal,” said Huxian, pulling back his projection. He summoned his void faring ship and plotted a course for their next destination. “You getting on?”

“Yeah,” said Cha Ming, painting three sails of bloodstorm energy on the ship. “Let’s hope I’m overthinking things.”

***

The first thing Cha Ming and Huxian noticed when they entered the Chasewind Plane was the rich Heaven and Earth energies, which were otherwise absence in the empty void adjacent the planar membrane. They were even noticeable in the blight, where they had chosen to cross over, despite the interference of destruction-based laws that still lingered in the tainted soil.

Cha Ming spread out his essence in all directions, filling a hemispherical area five hundred kilometers in diameter with clear runes. They became his eyes and ears, and with their help, he quickly confirmed that their companions were nowhere near them.

He initiated a long-ranged displacement via Clear Rune Steps. Because of the residual spatial instabilities in the blight, physical teleportation was far more reliable than spatial teleportation.  “Have you received any news or communications yet?” he asked Huxian.

“Reception is spotty, but I’m getting some messages,” Huxian said. “Try south next.” Cha Ming took eight more steps and scans before they saw their first signs of humanity.

The entire southern hemisphere was abuzz with activity. It was crawling with cultivators that were both too weak to find fiends and no longer needed thanks to his and Huxian’s repair work.

They followed their trail and search patterns and were able to quickly discover their companions. They weren’t in good shape - Baleful Vision was missing an arm and carrying a wounded and unconscious White Mirage. Jadefall’s demon armor was half-destroyed, and Wu’s staff was broken in half. Wei Longshen was nowhere to be found.

“You know, it will be much easier on everyone if you just surrender,” Oster called out. “We promise not to hurt you. Much.” Xing Tianlong and Cao Wenluan were flying beside Oster. Neither party seemed in too great a hurry to capture them.

They’re using them as bait, Huxian said to Cha Ming.

Obviously, said Cha Ming. But they’ll regret it. He assimilated with the land and crept closer to await an opportunity.

Oster launched a ball of green fire, which Petros easily dodged. “Like we’d ever believe you, Oster,” said the archer. “You’d sell out your own mother if the price was right.”

“I did sell out my own mother for the right price,” Oster said. “How did you know?”

“You’re despicable,” Jadefall said, turning around. “Fine. I’m done running. But don’t think I’m going to let myself get captured without a fight.”

“I don’t think we need the devil ox queen,” Xing Tianlong said. “Perhaps we could kill her and take her points? Cao Wenluan, will you do the honors?”

“Drop dead, Tianlong,” Cao Wenluan said. “I’m not your lackey. If you want something done, do it yourself.”

The others, seeing that fleeing was no longer a possibility, joined Jadefall in a defensive formation. “At least one of them is smart,” said Petros. “Notice how Cao Wenluan could have captured Baleful Vision but chose to chop off his arm instead?”

“Yes, such a mercy,” said Baleful Vision. “Though I see what you’re saying. They’re scared, aren’t they? All of them are acting tough, but don’t want to be the ones to take a fall when Clear Sky and Eight Directions get back.”

“You’re both trying to sow discord in this situation?” Cao Wenluan said. “Not bad. Not bad at all. Why don’t the three of you come work for me. I’m a man who respects talent.”

“I’d like to remind you all that these people are not yet our prisoners,” said High Priestess Undine from Oster’s side. “We’d best secure them before any unforeseen variables appear.”

“Agreed,” said Oster.

“Agreed,” said Xing Tianlong and Cao Wenluan.

“Launch the net,” Oster commanded. Dozens of ships flew in from all directions, each trailing wisps of golden thread.

He’s trying to seal them in a void pocket, said Cha Ming. Can you get them out?

Piece of cake, said Huxian.

Cha Ming took a step and appeared beside Oster’s flagship. He punched it, smashing a hole in its hull and destroying its engine room. He then hurled a spear of bloodstorm energy into Cao Wenluan’s ship, where Luther, Coral, and Disaster exploded and destroyed its internals. The three elementals returned to Cha Ming’s side and were otherwise unharmed.

Several more explosions ensued, but thanks to the dust in the air, no one could see the perpetrator. Law projections swept the area to clear it up, but by then, only wreckages remained of the many ships that had come to chase Cha Ming and Huxian’s companions.

As for the fugitives, Huxian transported them away. A gaping hole was missing in the golden net that should have been able to restrain any being on the plane. “We’re still missing one,” said Huxian. “Hand him over and I’ll leave.”

“You’d best behave if you want him back in one piece,” said Xing Tianlong.

“Oh no, not Wei Longshen,” Huxian said, his voice dripping with sarcasm. “Looks like I’d better give up everything. Give up my life, give up my friends. Heck, I might as well pull out of the entire competition. Hostages are indeed my weakness.” Then he grinned and snapped his fingers. A void storm appeared at the center of a group of a hundred cultivators, tearing them to pieces.

These cultivators happened to be rankers under the command of Oster Fireblight. “You’ll regret that,” he said.

“What will you do, kill your one hostage?” asked Huxian.

“Where’s Clear Sky, Eight Directions?” Cao Wenluan said. “And who is it that you brought along to help? None of your usual companions have the power and skill to destroy all our ships while evading detection.”

“Why don’t you tell me?” said Huxian. “Isn’t karma one of your specialties?”

“My mirror’s not giving me any information,” Oster said. “Neither on Clear Sky or this helper. High Priestess?”

“My prayers aren’t yielding any results,” Undine gravely. “Whoever it is, they have perfect karmic shielding.”

“That’s only a partially correct assessment,” said Cha Ming as he appeared beside Huxian with a Clear Rune Step. “It’s more like I have extreme control over my karma. Also, your goddess is very weak on this plane of existence. She couldn’t touch me even if she wanted to.” He then turned to Cao Wenluan. “Why all the hate? Why chase my friends? You’re not so naïve to think that I wouldn’t hold a grudge because you held back a bit, would you?”

“I haven’t killed any of your friends, and you haven’t killed any of mine,” Cao Wenluan said.

“Bu I distinctly remember you attacking Stargazer City,” Cha Ming said.

“Come now, that was decades ago,” said Cao Wenluan.

“I have a long memory,” said Cha Ming. “High Priestess, has your second divination yielded any results, or do you admit your goddess’s failings?” Undine coughed up blook. She glared at him but said nothing to refute Cha Ming’s claims. “Now let me see,” Cha Ming said. I can’t be detected. Also, my disguises are perfect. Three pairs of wings appeared on his back. Then one. Then they changed color.

His face and body changed as well. He shifted from man to woman, to human, to demon. He even took the shape of a fiend. “I can never be fully certain but believe me when I say that on the Chasewind Plane, there is no one better than me at disguise and evading detection. The same applies to evasion. As a note, it was me who destroyed all those ships. I did it before any of you even realized what was happening.”

“Are you threatening us?” Oster asked.

“Not at all,” said Cha Ming. “Think of this more as a hostage situation. You have one hostage that is very dear to me. In return, I’ve decided to take all your forces on the Chasewind Plane as hostages. And all your assets. And all your territories.”

The air rippled as Cao Wenluan appeared in front of Cha Ming as aw flash of black lightning. A crippling aura of doubt restrained Cha Ming’s movements as the warlord hacked down with his karma-destroying blade.

To everyone’s surprise, Cha Ming used his own aura to push back against Cao Wenluan’s, then did something few on the Chasewind Plane wouldn’t dare – he stepped in, raised his staff, and blocked Cao Wenluan’s blade. He then proceeded to kick Cao Wenluan’s chest, shattering his breast plate, and sending him flying several hundred meters.

Cha Ming then used Bloodstorm Rush to close the distance and attacked him with the Clear Sky Staff. pursue Cao Wenluan while he was still stunned and attacked him with the Clear Sky Staff, knocking Cao Wenluan in another direction. Flash. Hit. Flash. Hit. He hit Cao Wenluan five consecutive times before sending him crashing down into the ground.

“Don’t think you’re invincible with this little bit of strength,” said Xing Tianlong. He appeared beside Cao Wenluan before Cha Ming could land a finishing blow and diverted Cha Ming’s downward staff strike. Xing Tianlong’s physical strength was a little lacking compared to Cha Ming, but he made up for it with impressive spiritual energy. He slashed at Cha Ming’s body, forcing him to summon a clone to take the blow while he retreated to a safe distance.

But Cha Ming wasn’t done. Since Xing Tianlong and Cao Wenluan were here, they couldn’t defend their more vulnerable members. Cha Ming took a Clear Rune Step and appeared beside the three rankers.

“Shackles of faith!” Undine shouted.

“Damage amplification! Additional Action!” said Oster. The second ability compressed time for Xing Tianlong, allowing him to catch up to Cha Ming and block him before he could reach Oster.

But blocking Cha Ming wasn’t so simple anymore. He took in Luther, Coral, and Disaster from the Clear Sky World and superimposed them inside himself before executing Bloodstorm Crush. Three additional layers of energy combined with his staff and sent Xing Tianlong flying.

Cha Ming turned toward Oster but discovered a scythe-wielding death god blocking the way. Chains of shadow wrapped around his limbs as green flames converged on him from several directions.

Though he was much stronger now, Cha Ming didn’t dare take such an attack head on. He shattered his body, transforming into wind, blood, and lightning clones that reappeared a short distance away. Huxian appeared beside him, grinning from ear to ear. Seconds later, six of Oster’s ships arrived, only to shake slightly before falling from the sky.

“I took their engines,” Huxian whispered to Cha Ming, in a not-so-quiet voice. “They’re worth good money. Don’t destroy them unless you really have to.”

Ninesky hopped out from the Clear Sky World looking less than pleased. She gestured towards their opponents and made several rude gestures. “You think we’re letting them off too lightly?” Cha Ming asked her. She nodded. “Fine. Luther. Coral. Disaster. Bloodstorm Apocalypse Transformation. Ninesky, Spirit Flame Style. Paint me something beautiful.”

The three rank 13 elementals merged to form a much stronger Bloodstorm Panther, which split up into ten thousand clones that cast themselves upon their opponents’ armies. As for Ninesky, she painted with Heartforge Spirit Flames, creating twin wheels of hot and cold energies that tore through their spiritual defences.

Xing Tianlong and Oster immediately collaborated to defend. A dragon of blue yin energy and a phoenix of red yang energy formed a shield around their group. Green, flame-based runes shot into key points of the wheels and stopped them from rotating. But the wheels were painting, and the flames fluid; the wheels shattered to form a forest of burning trees that drank in the green flames to drain away Oster’s energy.

“Strong flames, but don’t think they’ll be enough,” Oster said. He cast out a sea of green flames that came together in a formation and collided against Ninesky’s flame painting.

“Alright, you three,” Cha Ming called out. “I think they see my point.”

“Master, we can’t show mercy!” Luther called out.

“I said back!” Cha Ming commanded. The Bloodstorm Panthers reluctantly retreated.

It was a bad move tactically, something his opponents quickly took advantage of. Undine snatched up one of the panthers and tossed it towards Cao Wenluan, who brandished his Wrathful Blade of the conqueror, targeting not one, but all of them at once.

Cha Ming raised a hand, and a clear cauldron appeared around the lone bloodstorm panther. It whisked it away into the Clear Sky World before Cao Wenluan’s blade could attack, thereby interrupting the karmic technique.

“Contain him!” Xing Tianlong commanded. A group of shamans had just appeared under his command. They spat out heart blood and sent the holy spirits they’d been nurturing at Cha Ming.

“This land is our land,” said the first spirit.

“This land has always been our land,” said the second spirit. On and on they droned, each one sacrificing themselves to infuse the land they claimed with their essence. Cha Ming felt his grip over the land weaken as, for the first time, his Clear Rune Field was pushed back.

“You want to use a spirit formation to block me in?” Cha Ming said. “Wishful thinking.” His body broke apart, this time turning into Heartforge Spirit Flames, which devoured the spiritual residue before reforming not far away. “This land… and all land… is my land,” he said. The remaining spirit runes and spiritual energy collapsed, and his Clear Rune Field reasserted itself.

“Restraints don’t work. Neither do physical or spiritual attacks. Law projections, everyone!” Cao Wenluan shouted. His words rallied the members of his tenuous allies. There were hundreds of law stitching cultivators present, and within seconds, they’d covered the battlefield with conflicting laws. In theory, it was enough to choke out the competition, but Cha Ming merely smiled.

“My first law… is a law of Clearmist,” said Cha Ming. “Without my consent, no energy may accumulate. Without my consent, all energy will disperse. Bound Energy Canvas!”

Cha Ming’s law projection burst outward, suppressing all first-grade law projections and significantly weakening second-grade projections. Only third-grade projections, those produced by middle law stitching cultivators, could resist.

Law hierarchy was very important when it came to contesting law projections, and Grandmist laws towered over all other laws. More importantly, Cha Ming’s law projection wasn’t strictly a law projection, but a Dao Projection. It combined his authority over natural laws with his divine authority and spiritual authority.”

“We can’t… hold out!” one of the law stitching cultivators said. His law projection shattered, and the energy he’d poured into it was gobbled up by Cha Ming’s Bound Energy Canvas. Several hundred more fell before everyone with a cultivation realm below early law stitching retrieved their law projections lest they suffer the same fate.

“I think that’s enough,” Cha Ming said. “Don’t you?” His opponents were reluctant, but they ultimately chose to stop their assault.

“Cha Ming, don’t be too full of yourself,” said Xing Tianlong. “If you continue attacking our people, we’ll kill the leadership of the Bloodstorm Region and launch an all out assault on the Hallowed Turtle Ox Region.”

“You wouldn’t dare,” Cha Ming said calmly. “Because if you do that, I’ll make surprise appearances in each of your territories. I’ll kill off any and all early and middle law stitching cultivators I can lay my hands on, crippling your foundations. I’ll also pillage all sects, destroy their libraries, and make it so that you’ll never be able to sleep soundly.”

Oster Fireblight laughed out loud. “You’d never do such a thing, Clear Sky.”

“Are you sure about that?” Cha Ming asked Oster. “I’ve gone through a lot over the past few decades, and have sacrificed more than you know. I gambled everything to save the Chasewind Plane, only to see you lot chasing down my friends.” In truth, Oster was partially correct. He was unlikely to do anything so drastic, but the death of billions of mortals in his inner universe had hardened his heart to collateral damage, to an extent.

“Clear Sky, you’re obviously bluffing,” Cao Wenluan said. “Moreover, we haven’t used our limit breaks. How long will you be able to hold out while burning your soul?”

“Indeed, we haven’t used any soul burns,” Cha Ming said. “But don’t think that’s to your advantage. I can hit and run as I see fit.”

“Why don’t we all take a step back?” Oster said. “Clear Sky has made his point. We can’t ignore him. We can’t lock him down. He can destroy cities in minutes and ships in seconds. He can transport armies.”

“I’ll take a step back, but first, give me back Wei Longshen,” Cha Ming said.

Oster Fireblight refused him outright. “That’s Impossible. He’s a very important bargaining chip.”

Huxian hopped out of the Clear Sky World. “That’s Oster for you. He’d try to buy an entire plane with a single stolen goldmine.”

“I may not be able to divine matters directly with my mirror, but the odds are very good that you two are responsible for the fiends drying up,” Oster said. “So in essence, we aren’t trading with a stolen gold mine, but trying to recuperate that which was stolen from us.”

To their surprise, Cha Ming directly admitted it. “That’s right, we took all the points. We went through a lot of trouble to sweep them away. What do you want us to do? Share all our hard work when you guys did nothing?”

“Wei Longshen –”

“Your demands are unreasonable,” said Cha Ming. “So I’ve been forced to make unreasonable threats. I guarantee you that if you kill him, I won’t rest until you’re all dead.” From anyone else, those words would be a laughable threat, but from Cha Ming as he was now? Not so much. He could casually take down battleships, was impossible to track, and could disguise himself as your best friend.

“The situation isn’t as one-sided as he makes it out to be,” Oster Fireblight said to his companions. “Neither of us wants collateral damage. He won’t do it.”

“Bu going all out will only cost us in the third stage, and he knows it,” said Cao Wenluan. “That said, his lead is too big, and it’s destroyed our prospects at a high ranking. I’d rather risk everything to kill him now and take his points than let him run back to the Heartforge Realm.”

“Now, now, it’s best to resolve things peacefully,” said Oster.

“Peacefully?” Cha Ming said. “You just captured one of my friends and chased the rest down for weeks. You took over my region. And you want to resolve things peacefully?”

“We barely killed a dozen people doing all that,” Xing Tianlong said. “Everyone was frightened by our show of power and started listening to our orders.” And to Cha Ming’s surprise, he was correct. He obtained confirmation from Huxian, who’d been hard at work gathering information since their return.

“I’m listening,” Cha Ming said, stowing his staff. “Why don’t you all take a seat? And why don’t you all take Longshen out as a show of good faith?” He painted an elaborate garden, complete with large tea table. They brought their allies to leave of the Clear Sky World, and Oster, the representative of the enemy delegation, brought out Wei Longshen, though he kept him by his side.

Soon, all the remaining wardens of the Chasewind Plane sat in a circle according to their geographical positions – all save Wei Longshen. Oster’s group of three and Xing Tianlong made four. Cao Wenluan controlled four other wardens. Cha Ming and Huxian’s faction had the most wardens, eight in total.

“Everyone here is no fool, so I’ll just summarize recent events,” Oster said. “We attacked during an extended period of peace and prosperity because our benefits have been monopolized by a single party. We had no direct proof, but the decline of fiendish activity and the unreasonable amount of points gained by Clear Sky and Eight Directions were too coincidental. You later admitted to our claims.”

Cha Ming shrugged. “We were behind on the leaderboards. We played a bit of catch-up.”

“Well, you didn’t just catch up, you left us in the dust,” Oster said. “I’ve been paying attention to everyone’ scores. Everyone has their own development expenses. We all spent points to improve, but the most part, we’ve been saving, both to obtain immortal techniques and to secure the final prize: a meeting with the legendary Patriarch Heartforge.

“The initial situation was unfair, but eventually, we reached an equilibrium. Each of our alliances did things differently – yours chose to split up points evenly, while our side opted for lopsided point distribution. Before you went missing, Wenluan, Tianlong, and I took the lead, and remained in the lead for two whole decades.”

“It hasn’t all been steady going,” Xing Tianlong said. “Thirty years ago, I was in last place, alongside Baleful Vision. You were up at the top of the pack in your group at 40 million points, due to obelisk rewards, and Oster and Wenluan were sitting at sixty million points.

“But after my return and large increase in strength, I ousted Gabriella and took her points, then took over Petros and Gabriella’s territory, significantly increasing my passive points gain.

“Baleful Vision and White Mirage also saw a large increase around the same time. Their rankings were even lower than mine before they killed all their clansmen and took over their territory. Their points increased to above-normal levels, but not to the extent that yours have.”

“You gained only passive points for twenty-five years, bringing your total up to 90 million points,” Oster said. “Eight Directions wasn’t doing great, but he still had 120 million points. The rest of your friends were able to scrounge up 130 million points each, with the exception of Baleful Vision and White Mirage, who obtained 150 million points.

“This all changed just a few months ago. You suddenly gained forty million points out of the blue, and Eight Directions gained ten million points. You both started gaining a ridiculous number of points every day, with Clear Sky taking the majority. You now both occupy first and second place in the Heartforge Rankings. Clear Sky has 320 million points and Eight Directions 260 million points.”

“I don’t see how that’s my problem,” Cha Ming said. “It’s not like you’re all poor. The three of you are tied at 180 million. That’s a lot of points, more than enough for an immortal technique.”

“A hundred and eighty million points might have been enough considering that third place on the leaderboard only has 195 million points,” Cao Wenluan agreed. “Except his points are still gradually increasing. Ours are not.”

“I understand,” Cha Ming said. “You all have no chance at winning, so you want to take drastic measures. You’re threatening me, for now, but you’re saying directly attacking us to steal points isn’t off the table.”

“How did you do it, Clear Sky?” Cao Wenluan asked. “There’s no way you should be able to make points so easily.”

Cha Ming shrugged. “Sure, I can tell you. It’s not like you can copy our method.”

“I bet it involved a massive spatial trap encompassing the entire southern blight,” Oster said.

“Quite the opposite, actually,” Cha Ming said. “While you were here on the Chasewind Plane chasing my friends around, we were out in the void. Fixing things.”

“Fixing things?” Xing Tianlong asked flatly.

“Let’s first review how one can obtain or lose points,” Cha Ming said. “We gain points by killing fiends. We gain points for setting up systems to kill fiends in our territory. We lose points for damages dealt by fiends. It therefore stands to reason that if we prevent the appearance of fiends, there would be a reward for damage prevention.

“While you were all adown in the south killing fiends and fighting amongst yourselves, we were in the void clearing out planar fragments and spatial debris. We were patching up the void and allowing it to heal.”

“You were healing the plane,” Cao Wenluan muttered. “So that’s why the blight is retreating.”

“Correct,” said Cha Ming.

Oster let out a deep sigh. “All right, that checks out. In that case, the situation is straightforward. Clear Sky, Eight Directions, you need to split up your points.”

“And why would they do that?” Jadefall asked.

“They earned those points, fair and square,” said Baleful Vision.

“It can’t be helped, Oster said. “You both cannibalized our future earnings. If you don’t cough up points, we can’t make it to the top of the rankings.”

“I suppose you’re going to threaten Wei Longshen again?” Cha Ming asked.

“Yes,” Oster answered honestly. “And Sect Master Azure Tempest, and anyone else we can lay our hands on.”

“As much as I despite threatening captives, you leave us with no choice,” Cao Wenluan said. “We won’t be satisfied with a low ranking, and we’re willing to devastate the entire Chasewind Plane to force your hand.”

If such a threat were coming from others, Cha Ming wouldn’t believe them. Unfortunately, the ones he was negotiating with were cultivators from the ochre mountain. They didn’t have a bottom line.

“Don’t try to bluff us, it won’t work,” Xing Tianlong said. “You’re a bleeding heart. You all are. And look, we’re not saying give up everything. But at least give us something to work with. After all, we’re not just competing against you. We’re competing against the rest of the invited. In return, we’re willing to make some concessions. For starters, we could give you back the Bloodstorm Region.”

“And why should I care if I have a region or not?” Cha Ming asked. “Points are far more valuable given the situation.”

“Don’t act as if you don’t know,” Xing Tianlong said. Then, seeing that Cha Ming was truly clueless, and so was Huxian, he laughed. “I don’t think they know.”

“Then we’ll give them the information free of charge,” said Oster. He took out two information jades and tossed them Cha Ming and Huxian.”

“Oh,” Huxian said. “Oh. It looks like Phase 3 is an open secret.”

“News was recently leaked out by an anonymous source,” Oster said. “It seems the third phase is always a grand war. The sects and clans and enclaves – all major forces –  will send their surplus troops for a big push to eliminate as many fiends as possible, thereby increasing the chances that our immortal king successfully heals the plane’s Dao Origins.”

“The amount of points involved are staggering,” Cao Wenluan said. “Every cultivator at rune gathering or higher will be participating, and so will the wardens of each region.”

“The precondition being that one has a region to begin with,” Xing Tianlong said.

“I see,” Cha Ming said. “Then it’s to everyone’s benefit to have a large army available for this final push.” They nodded. “Excellent. I have decided. Give me back my Bloodstorm Region, or I’ll destroy all the Tier 1 powers in each of your territories.”

Oster massaged his forehead, while Cao Wenluan and Xing Tianlong closed their eyes. Sharing this piece of information was risky, as it gave Cha Ming leverage. It was a calculated risk, however, because airing out this information put pressure on a third party – Cha Ming’s allies.

As expected, Petros spoke up for his group of fugitives, who’d been the real victims in this entire mess. “If Clear Sky shares points, it can’t just be with the three of you,” Petros said. “Not only do you have your followers to feed points to, but there’s also us as well. We just suffered immensely to defend this territory.”

“You want an even split? Dream on,” Xing Tianlong said.

“Heavens no!” Petros said. “Our side has agreed to a certain ratio, but we all have our individual contributions. Clear Sky and Eight Directions did steal everyone’s points, but that was because they rendered great merit to the Chasewind Plane. They’ve also done us a huge favor, because we’ll have the next five years to train and arm our forces without worrying about fiendish activities. This will boost our results in the third phase.”

“Petros’s words aren’t without sense,” said Cha Ming. “But at the same time, we risked our lives to defend the entire plane from a huge explosion and succeeded. We nearly died. That’s got to count for something.”

“You profited greatly, if your cultivation is any indication,” Cao Wenluan countered. “Points aren’t the only rewards that can be obtained.”

“I, for one, disagree,” said Oster. “Let’s focus on the points.” He brought up a table full of numbers. “We have three categories of people here. Pardon if this sounds rude. We have the “leaders”, the “followers”, and the “egalitarians”.”

“I’m not a follower,” Undine interjected.

“But for the purposes of points, that is how our agreement works,” Oster said. Surprisingly, Cao Wenluan’s followers were proud of being called followers. There was no argument on their part. “Here is what I propose: Clear Sky and Eight Directions, you both have a huge amount of extra points. Let’s decide on a number and split them accordingly.”

“That’s a terrible idea,” Cao Wenluan said “And very unfair.”

“Oh?” Oster said. “Since when have you been concerned about fairness?”

“Geography is a very important factor,” Cao Wenluan said. “My team occupies nine regions, your team twelve regions, and Clear Sky’s team 11 regions.”

“You’re willing to get short changed?” Oster asked, surprised.

“All I’m saying is that points should be attributed according to geography,” Cao Wenluan said. “Each region can split their points however they like.” In other words, he was saying that Xing Tianlong and Oster should split points, while his side should not. Also, Cha Ming’s side would be most disadvantaged, as they had the most wardens and the least amount of territories.

Cha Ming was reluctant to split his hard-earned points, but at the same time, he could understand their position. His allies also needed to be rewarded for all their hard work. They’ stubborn, but if I don’t appease them, they might do something drastic. He wasn’t a heartless devil like they were.

He and Huxian exchanged a few private words before making bringing up a number. “I’m willing to give up eighty million points. No more.”

“I’ll do forty million,” Huxian said. “No more.” This would place them at 240 and 220 million respectively.

Oster, Wenluan, and Tianlong relaxed upon hearing this. Their actions had been bold and risky, but if Cha Ming was willing to give up enough of his earnings, it would all have been worth it.

“But there are qualifiers,” Cha Ming said. “The first condition: Release Longshen, Azure Tempest, and all other captives.”

“Done,” said Oster.

“Done,” said Cao Wenluan.

“Done,” said Xing Tianlong.

“Second, you’ll return control of the Bloodstorm Region to me and remove your troops,” Cha Ming said. “You’ll also compensate the sects for any cultivators killed or resources stolen. Alternatively, I’ll go out into your territories and kill twice as many people as you did and steal twice as many resources to make up the numbers.”

“These two conditions go without saying,” Oster said. “You’re giving up a lot of points, so we’ll naturally make it worth your while.” Besides, it was questionable whether or not they wanted to keep the Bloodstorm Region. Its cultivators were unreasonable, making the region a hot potato.

“The split will be fifty million for our group, excluding Huxian and I, and seventy million for yours,” Cha Ming said.

“Absolutely not,” Xing Tianlong interjected. “Your group can have 30 million. We’ll take 90 million.”

“Geographically, it makes sense to split up 40/80,” Cao Wenluan said.

Xing Tianlong rolled his eyes. “You and your idea of geography. I refuse.”

It was Oster who broke ranks this time. “I agree with Cao Wenluan. Let’s split things eighty-forty. We’ll split our amount amongst ourselves. Clear Sky and friends will have no input.”

Cha Ming and Huxian discussed with those in their party. They ultimately agreed to the amount and would split 40 million points six ways. Cao Wenluan, Oster, and Xing Tianlong directly took 20 million points each, then split the remaining 20 million among their grumpy followers.

“Then that only leaves one important detail,” Cha Ming said. “We’ve exchanged a lot of threats today, and they weren’t entirely unrealistic. Destroying Tier 1 sects is easy for me. Xing Tianlong can cause similar damage, and Huxian can teleport your homes into void space. We all have a terrible amount of firepower on our hands, and if we unleash it, we’ll all suffer.”

“What’s your point?” Xing Tianlong asked.

“My point is that I don’t want to have this argument again if I’m going to give up 80 million points,” Cha Ming snapped. “We’ll have peace. No fighting. Amongst us or the regions as proxies. No kidnapping. Nothing.”

Cao Wenluan frowned. “That’s going too far, I think. If we can’t fight, how will we determine who wins?”

Oster nodded apologetically. “I understand your concerns, Clear Sky, but Cao Wenluan has a point. This is a competition.”

“I won’t budge,” Cha Ming said.

“Then why don’t we meet halfway,” Oster said. “We won’t fight amongst each other until the second phase ends. Until then, we’ll do as you say. We’ll sign a very strict non-aggression pact.” This seemed to be everyone’s bottom line, including Huxian’s. He refused to be left out of the final struggle because of some lame peace agreement. Cha Ming could only relent and accept this condition.

In the end, the matter was resolved peacefully. A pact was signed by all the wardens, hostages were released, and the leaders of each region were informed of the upcoming large-scale war and the interim peace agreement.

There were still fiends in existence, as the blight had yet to fully retreat. Each of the wardens spent the next few weeks cleaning up while Cha Ming and Huxian spent another month finishing their work in void space.

It was during their absence that the Three Sects, Four Clans, and Five Desolates sent an edict to all the Tier 1 sects. In approximately five years time, a large-scale war would take place in the Northern Hemisphere. The Southern Hemisphere was to gather all available forces at or exceeding the rune gathering realm and mobilize for battle.