PtM Book 16 - Chapter 25: The Chasewind Plane

2/3!

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Now that his soul was stable and no longer at risk of collapsing when exposed to a stiff spiritual breeze, Cha Ming was finally able to relax. He did not immediately resume training but spent most of his time painting.

Much of his paintings were mundane. He painted memories, both good and bad, and used them as a way to lightly touch on the things that, to this date, his Savage Deity Aura had marked off as forbidden territory.

Cha Ming also spent time replenishing some of his paintings. His Yang Memory Battlefield was one of them. Alongside it, he painted an additional battlefield-sized painting: an entire yin river. It included a likeness of the yin lightning tree, the pool at its center, and its guardian lightning hydra.

These were fixed paintings. This meant that their ink could not be reused for anything else. But he didn’t keep these paintings on large canvases anymore. His trip to the Tribulant Yin Demiplane had highlighted the fact that he could use the Clear Sky World as a canvas and simply store them there.

He also painted a larger group of creatures for each of the five elements in addition to yin and yang. This time, he did not paint them in their entirety but painted a stronger skeletal outline, complete with runes and powerful ink. Doing this would make summoning them cheaper and reinforce the core of each painting, allowing for easier repairs.

Cha Ming’s most intensive project by far was the skeletal outlines for paintings of the Star Point Monarchs. His initial field trials for using spiritual paintings in battle was a smashing success, and he was ready to scale up and use this as an opportunity to evolve the five techniques once again. From now on, he would summon detailed skeletons of the five demon ancestors as part of his technique and add in the details. The number of details he painted into the technique on execution would determine how powerful the technique became.

It was not that he didn’t want to paint the entire thing – summoning an entire powerful painting in battle would be quite useful. The problem was that there was a limit to what he could infuse and trap into a fixed painting using only ink. Only by infusing some of his own qi and laws and intent into a painting could he bring out their full power.

It all looks so simple to an outsider, but I’m already getting a headache, Cha Ming thought, looking at a small army of fixed paintings. These were all the equivalent of rune carving realm and rune gathering realm golems. He could summon these paintings for days and never run out of energy.

Conversely, he had much fewer of his strongest paintings. They simply required too much time to paint and expensive ink. For now, it was easy to obtain ink up to the middle of rune gathering, and only a little challenging to secure the quantities of late and peak rune-gathering grade ink he needed to experiment with. Law-stitching grade inks was hard to come by, and sometimes required his full skillset in alchemy and runes to improvise a solution.

The twelve-year deadline drew ever closer, but Cha Ming was determined to make the most of his time. One day, Huxian sent him a strong mental nudge, and he knew that he was cutting it close. “How did I ever get so unlucky,” Cha Ming said bitterly as he burst from the Clear Sky World and out of his residence. “Three failures! Three! It’s just an addition to my yin river painting! How hard could it possibly be?”

Alas, he had no time to gripe, because it was now time for the long-awaited announcement. Thankfully he hadn’t missed that. He made his way to the base of the mountain where auras of the jade and ochre mountains clashed.

All five thousand or so invited that had survived until now were waiting there patiently. This included the devilish faction, which had, in fact, not grown eviller over the years, somehow, on the whole. A few individuals stood out, but for the most part, their karma had been relatively static just like his own.

Cha Ming took a seat beside Huxian, Jadefall, and Wu. “You made it,” Huxian said. “What was it this time? A mistake? Accidentally setting yourself on fire again?”

“I kept smudging my yin river painting, and I got upset and caused even more of a mess,” Cha Ming said. “What can I say, my luck isn’t what it used to be.”

“I think you’re blaming too much on luck,” Huxian said. “You losing your temper isn’t bad luck.” Cha Ming glared at the fox, but knew that he was right and his heart was in the right place.

The Heartforge Spirit appeared soon after Cha Ming arrived. Even after all their training, the spirit’s presence was overwhelming. Cha Ming had seen it a few times before, and its color-scheme was the usual opposite-colored mixture. For Cha Ming, it alternated between jade and ochre and black and white.

“I am happy to announce that as of right now, the first phase of the Heartforge Trials is officially over,” the Heartforge Spirit said. “The first phase was focused on improving you all as individuals, which will substantially increase your odds of survival in the next phase of the trials.

“Till now, obtaining points has been relatively easy and pain free. Many of you have survived solely by clearing trials, and others have gone on missions in Heartforge City to obtain additional resources.

“Well, I’m afraid I must inform you that things will no longer be so easy.”

The Heartforge Spirit waved a fiery arm and summoned forth a familiar ranking. It was the monthly battle trial ranking. It then did something unexpected – it smashed the ranking with a single palm shattered it into countless pieces. “The monthly battle trials have outlived their usefulness. You came as children and you’ve now grown up. From now on, you’ll need to work for your points.

“But this does not mean that there will be no competition.” A new board appeared in place of the old. “Patriarch Heartforge is a great believer in motivating individuals by rewarding top-performers. The battle trial rankings will therefore be replaced by a points leaderboard. These points totals will not include those obtained via trials or resources bounties. Instead, they will only count a single source: bounty kills.”

The crowd buzzed with excitement, and everyone including Cha Ming wondered what these bounties were all about. Who would they be killing? Each other? Some great enemy?

The Heartforge Spirit did not leave them hanging very long. “The bounties I speak of will only be issued for one type of creature: fiends, the enemy of all living things.

“Fiends are rarely found in stable planes. As such, you will all be sent to special battlefields where fiends will spontaneously appear for the next 48 years. The stronger the fiend, the greater the bounty. The quicker you kill them, the better the rewards.

“At the end of the Heartforge Trials, those who have obtained the most points will become direct disciples of Patriarch Heartforge and receive a personalized reward. The rest of you will become honorary disciples and receive rewards commensurate to your points.

“Now you may wonder – Where might one find such a convenient concentration of fiends? Surely, we can’t be breeding them. As some of you may be aware, what mortals and transcendents call fiends, immortals call Outsiders. Outsiders are fundamentally incompatible with this universe. When large concentrations are found, they are destroyed as quickly as possible. Entire worlds are sometimes put on the chopping block and eradicated to save the healthy whole.”

A projection appeared above the Heartforge Spirit. It was the likeness a world. Unlike the Inkwell Plane, this one took the form of a spherical planet. The northern portion of the planet was missing. Spatial rifts filled this conspicuous emptiness, and from those rifts spewed fiends, darkness, and corruption.

“There is only one known natural source of fiends in transcendent worlds: the decomposition of a damaged plane. This plane, for example, is called the Chasewind Plane. It has been floating about for tens of thousands of years in this damaged state.

“The damage to the plane has naturally increased over time, and without intervention, the world will eventually be overrun and devoured by fiends at a net loss to the universe.

“This situation demands prompt and immediate action. The first and worst option is culling the planet. By destroying it and incorporating useable materials and energy and people into the Heartforge Realm, much can be salvaged.

“The preferable option is for an immortal king to claim the world and become a false god. The immortal king would use their mastery over the laws of the universe to regulate the natural laws of the plane, thereby freeing up its Dao Origins to recover. Here is a simulation of how that would happen.”

All five thousand cultivators stared in rapt attention as immortal fairy in a glittering dress sent an incarnation of her spirit into a special space. Her very presence granted the world relief and enabled it to start healing.

Unfortunately, this was noticed by the invading fiends, and their incursions accelerated. “Taking over a material plane isn’t without risk,” the Heartforge Spirit explained “The immortal seeking to absorb the world into their person cannot actively defend the world as they help it heal, as their power exceeds the limits of the plane. At most, they can destroy a few of the stronger invaders.” The flood of fiends intensified, and soon, the world was overrun. projection shattered, and the immortal’s incarnation died. Billions perished in an instant.” And that, dear Invited, as the consequence of failure.

A brave soul raised a hand to ask a question. “What is it?” the Heartforge Immortal asked.

“Why?” the Dao God said. “Why bother?” This Dao God was from the devilish faction.

The Heartforge Spirit smirked. “Are you familiar with demon quests?” The cultivator nodded. “The concept is similar. The most powerful immortals, gods, and demons in existence have specific roles to fulfill in maintaining the order of the universe. They must fulfill these roles to further their cultivation and retain their power. Some cull worlds. Some administrate. The most famous of them, Yama, the Lord of the Underworld, and the onlyoutsider this universe welcome in this universe, administrates reincarnation.

“Patriarch Heartforge and I serve the universe by facilitating the war against outsiders. A part of this duty involves saving and healing worlds. The Heartforge Realm is actually an amalgamation of countless saved worlds. We continuously add to the plane when our attempts to save a world results in failure. We then nourish the planes and then separate them from the Heartforge Realm, leaving behind a perfectly healthy plane.

“As for why you in particular should care about this process? Well, that depends on your motivations. Do you want to save the innocent? Do you want to enrich yourselves? Do you want to save up points to obtain an immortal cultivation technique?” That last one caused most of the audience to stir. “I think I’ve made my point.

“You, as Invited of the Heartforge Realm, will be split up into groups of thirty-two cultivators among various different worlds. You will be tasked with protecting key areas from the outsiders that pour into it on a regular basis. Your efforts will prevent damage to the plane while the immortal king assigned to it takes charge of the Dao Origins.

“Eliminate the fiends in your jurisdiction quickly, and you will obtain points. Eliminate them slowly at your own peril. These points will be how you will obtain the better cultivation resources and the greatest rewards the Heartforge Realm has to offer.”

Each of the cultivators present were forcefully dragged over to a world. Cha Ming, Huxian, and all the cultivators he knew from the Inkwell Plane were pulled to a familiar planet: the Chasewind Plane. Cultivators from other planes were also dragged in to make up the numbers.

The Chasewind Plane’s northern hemisphere was severely damaged. The three quarters of the planet nearest the damaged area was sealed off using a strange formation, while the quarter closest to the southern hemisphere was separated into thirty-two different parts.

Each part had a corresponding jade slip, and these slips were thrown into a karmic scrambling sphere before flying out to each of them. The web of fate twisted many times, and Cha Ming immediately knew that he’d drawn the short straw. Huxian was also frowning and seemed to have detected something.

“The jades you have been issued are called mission jades and are tokens of your authority on the transcendent plane. The locals have been instructed not to obstruct you and to provide some assistance as you hunt down fiends. A formation has been placed inside each of your residences and will allow you to access a hidden location at the heart of each of your territories.

“From now on, you may travel to your assigned plane as you see fit. Missions will be automatically issued via your mission jade. Rewards will be issued according to fiends destroyed and their level of power, but points will be deducted every time they cause damage.”

The Heartforge Spirit then vanished without awaiting any further questions. The thirty-two cultivators in Cha Ming’s group looked at each other warily. Many of those present knew each other already, as their residences had been arranged close to each other.

Cha Ming was on friendly terms with many of them, but his expression turned cold as he looked saw Cao Wenluan and a familiar acquaintance, Oster Fireblight. Both were significantly stronger than the last time they’d met, as was the many Paper Tiger Clansmen that had also made it past the entrance trial.

“So…” Huxian said as they finally left the square. “I noticed you weren’t too pleased when you got your token.”

“We drew the short straw,” Cha Ming said. “Don’t ask how I know it, I just do.” They both shook as a ping went off in their minds and both retrieved their mission jades. Several missions had already been issued. They listed unknown locations and the power level of fiends that were already rampaging, as well as reminder to eliminate them as quickly as possible.

Others had also received missions. Among those present, perhaps a quarter had ugly expressions and were in a similar position as Cha Ming and Huxian were. All of them, without exception, were from the angelic faction, and Petros was one of them.

“See?” Cha Ming said. “Something strange is going on, Huxian. Angels were supposed to have good luck, not bad luck, but this kind of thing keeps happening.”

Huxian’s expression turned pensive. It appeared that what had just happened had inadvertently triggered his ancestral memories. “Sorry about that,” he said as his eyes regained their luster.

“Is everything all right?” Cha Ming asked.

“Maybe,” Huxian said. “Mostly.” There was something going on, but Cha Ming did not press the issue. His new protectorate on the Chasewind Plane was currently under attack, and even with his compromised mental state, he wasn’t one to stand by when innocents were in danger.

***

Soft gray teleportation light filled Cha Ming’s vision as he activated the new formation in his residence. A jarring sensation nearly pulled him apart as he was sent flying from the Heartforge Realm. Teleportation was usually instantaneous, but in this case, it took a few seconds, and in those seconds, space and time blurred and his consciousness operated in slow motion.

He saw the passage of stars and realms. He saw the motions of the universe and tiny specks in the distance. These specks, he realized, were other transcendent planes that floated ins a sea of vast emptiness and violent primal chaos energies.

As he passed these worlds, a wave of energy shook and rattled the tunnel of protective gray light whisking him away. He saw the faintest outline of what appeared to be a sword as it clashed with an armguard and sent yet another wave of energy crashing towards him, shaking the various worlds and even sending some smaller ones crashing into each other.

Are those… immortals? Cha Ming wondered. He would have wanted to stay, but his was moving too fast. Instead, he saw other hints of another reality – a wolf biting into a human’s neck; an arrow plunging towards a two-headed lightning eagle; a corpse floating in the emptiness.

They appeared as shadows but did not seem to notice him in the slightest. And why would they? He was dust compared to transcendent planes, which now appeared as numerous as specks of fine sand on a massive beach.

It was the first time he felt so miniscule and tiny.

Then the moment passed, and Cha Ming appeared on the Chasewind Plane at the center of the most elaborate teleportation formation he’d ever seen. A hundred meters out, he detected several other layered formations that glowed with immortal energy. He immediately identified it as a protection formation that would guarantee his safety even if the plane collapsed, and an illusion formation that would ensure that no one on this plane would be able to locate it, or even remember this location.

The plane was different than the Inkwell Plane. The energy felt skewed, and the air smelled crisp but dry. In the distance he saw trees, and the trees were of varieties he recognized, only adapted to what was clearly a different climate.

Cha Ming would have loved to figure out exactly what was different about them, but he had no time to waste. His mission jade told of a fiend, so he flew north as quickly as he could. His sudden appearance over a nearby forest angered some of the local demon clans, but after sensing his strength, they wise chose to remain silent and never mention him again.

While journeying through the Tribulant Yin Demiplane, Cha Ming had recognized how useful a void ship was. Since Huxian liked tinkering with the artifacts, he’d asked him to build him one. It was a joint effort – Cha Ming had created many of the components using spiritual blacksmithing – but the core of it was built by Huxian.

The void ship was a peak investiture-realm treasure. It was much smaller than the one they’d used in the Tribulant Yin Demiplane, but it was keyed to Cha Ming’s soul, and he could use his qi, domain, and spatial control to much greater effect while inside the ship.

I may not have a map, but at least the mission jade has a tracking function, Cha Ming thought. He took a good look around as he travelled but did not have the heart to enjoy any of it, since the mission jade kept a running tally. It not only listed cultivator and demon deaths, but civilian deaths as well. Over a thousand humans and tens of thousands of bestial demons had died, and the number was climbing higher by the second.

The creature was located ten thousand kilometers to the north, and the journey took Cha Ming the better party of a day. By the time he arrived, over ten thousand human mortals had perished when the fiend destroyed a village. Several hundred rune carving cultivators had also perished.

They clearly don’t know what they’re doing. Cha Ming thinking to his own experiences fighting fiends. Unlike other Invited, his experience was not limited to the monthly battle trials. On the Ling Nan Plane, he’d fought massive armies of fiends, in addition to a creature called a Taotie.

He therefore knew that when you fought fiends, you needed to prevent them from consuming additional forms of energy. You needed to keep them away from dense population centers. Fighting them head on with inferior numbers was frankly stupid. Fiends were normally easy to fool, and cultivators should have been able to distract it while awaiting reinforcements.

Cha Ming arrived to find a small mountain that was half-blasted to pieces. The once-lush forest covering it was now blackened and twisted from the fiendish blood that had seeped into the soil. The corruption was slowly creeping over to the untouched neighboring greenery via underground root systems.

A group of cultivators were currently fighting the main culprit behind the corruption. They seemed to have the creature under control, so Cha Ming did not immediately joint the fray, but dove into the forest where the corruption was deepest. He painted out an iridescent forest fire, then blew it forward by painting a gentle wind.

The forest shrieked as dark and corrupted blood was extracted from wood, leaves, and roots and destroyed. It evaporated form the soil, leaving behind a barren land where life had once thrived. Cha Ming did not wish to cause too much devastation, but he knew there was no saving this land. Even so, there was no telling how long it would take to recover even after his decisive actions.

Only once the corruption was abated did he turn his attention back to the fiend in question. The cultivators had noticed the forest fire but had yet to spot him.

Demon type fiend, primary shape, salamander, Cha Ming noted as they fought. Yet unlike a salamander, its features were twisted, frightening, and nonsensical. It had teeth where it’s eyes should be and human hands instead of claws. It spewed liquid fire from its pores.

A middle rune gathering cultivator was leading a group of weaker cultivators in attacking it. “The forest fire was a blessing from the heavens!” the cultivator shouted. “The world itself is aiding us in striking it down this wretched fiend. Glory to the Joyful Harmony Sect!”

The cultivators, Cha Ming noticed, were not doing well. In his opinion they should have treated long ago. He wondered why they were fighting so hard, but soon found the culprit: the half-destroyed mountain contained a transcendent crystal vein, which had been exposed during the battle. Their sect was located on that vein. If the fiend wasn’t destroyed, they would lose not only their home but their cultivation resources.

“Keep at it!” the sect master said. “Don’t hesitate to burn your potential! This is our home, and we cannot let it have it!”

The cultivators let out a wild shout and redoubled their efforts. They did not hesitate to burn blood their essence and soul burn techniques and consume forbidden medicine. The sect had mostly wood and earth cultivators, and many practiced pair cultivation that allowed them to unleash frightening potential.

“Keep at it! We’re halfway there! Just a little more!” Cha Ming frowned, since it was obvious that the sect master was just putting on a brave front. He could not hide the terror and unwillingness in his eyes, nor could he disguise the vicious glint in them as he finally came to a decision.

“Disciples, expend your potential and unleash everything you have to keep it still for three whole seconds! I will then personally send this creature to its untimely grave!” the sect master yelled. The thousand cultivators did not hesitate. They cut their wrists and let their blood spill into the earth and greenery they wielded. reinforcing the vines and trenches that were keeping the creature immobile.

This shouldn’t be enough to take it down, Cha Ming thought. What will it be? A sacrificial attack?

Cha Ming’s expression darkened when he discovered that the sect master had no intention of attacking. Instead, he used the fiend’s moment of weakness and the sacrifice of his sect member to activate a soul burn technique. The sect master rushed southward. Coincidentally, this was where Cha Ming was currently hiding in wind form.

The sect master’s behavior was unacceptable. Rage bubbled up inside Cha Ming, and a trickle of coldness poured within his soul. He materialized the moment the sect master flew past him and caught him by the throat. “Wh-what?! Who… are…”

“Silence,” Cha Ming said. “If you’d ordered them to scatter and flee before fleeing yourself, I could understand, but to ask them all to injure themselves and sacrifice a thousand to flee? Despicable.” He broke the sect master’s neck and sent him tumbling to the floor.

He then teleported beside the fiend and pressed his palm down atop it before it could break its restraints and chase after the now-defenceless sect members.

Cuts and lesions broke out across Cha Ming’s body. He frowned as he remembered one of the warnings on the mission jade. Right. Space in unstable here. My natural teleportation range is shorter, and it gets worse the farther north I go. Travel through the void is impossible here, and the Chasewind Plane’s ancient teleportation network is no longer active.

Fortunately, Cha Ming had a well tempered body, and this sort of damage was nothing to him. He poured iridescent Grandmist flames into the rank 9 fiend – the equivalent of a late rune gathering cultivator – and coldly watched it as it wriggled and writhed.

Its cries were unlike those of any other living creature, and as it burned, liquid black flames poured out of its pores, leaking out on the earth and vines binding it. They snapped one at a time, and eventually, the fiend was able to slowly stand up.

Cha Ming would not normally need so much effort to kill such a weak fiend, but he had to restrain his strength to prevent collateral casualties. He therefore summoned the Ninesky Seals and pressed it down on the fiend, locking down both its movements and the corruption that was starting to spread out from beneath it.

Cha Ming’s actions bought precious seconds for the thousands of injured sect members to retreat a safe distance away. Only then did Cha Ming sent out the Clear Sky Brush and paint liquid flames that burnt the fiend down to his skeleton then consumed its bones.

From start to finish, destroying the creature took 30 seconds. All that was left of it was a pile of black ashes that quickly broke down under the pressure of the material plane.

Only then did he turn his attention to the pale sect disciples. Many of them were wounded, and some were missing limbs. “Your sect master has committed a great crime in abandoning you all to that fiend, so I have gotten rid of him,” Cha Ming said. “I suggest you return to your sect and choose a new leader or disperse. As for this half-destroyed forest… It will likely take centuries to grow back unaided.”

He waved his hand brought the three strongest among them forward. A flicker of emotion poked through his cold heart as he noticed the anguish in the many wounded in the group. Sighing, he sent a few copies of the Yin-Yang Spirit Threading Needle into each of them, then used his meager spirit doctor skills in conjunction with his Mending and Breaking runes to expunge the fiend blood poisoning form their bodies and repair most of the damage.

Their cultivation had suffered from their battle, but this was something he couldn’t help them with. He could give them hope and save them weeks of recovery time, but in the end, they would need to take care of themselves. It was a cold world out there, and they would need to get used to it. Especially now that they’d lost their sect master.

The three wounded elders were a level weaker than the sect master. They had reached the early rune gathering realm by condensing two low-level runes. “Please instruct us on how we may serve senior, and we will not hesitate to brave the fiercest of storms,” the oldest among them said.

“We three old men might not be strong, but for the favor you’ve shown us, we’re willing to become beasts of burden to repay the favor!” another said. Their way of speaking was old-fashioned and over-the-top.

“I’m not from around here and noticed your sect fighting a monster you had no business in fighting,” Cha Ming said. “Could you please explain the situation to alleviate my doubts?”

The elder could only smile ruefully. “How could we not fight this creature when it knocked on our doorstep? The fiend took a liking to our transcendent crystal lode, and it’s the lifeblood of our sect.”

“So you do know it’s a fiend,” Cha Ming said.

The elder looked confused. “Of course we do. They aren’t exactly common around here, but they do pop up occasionally. We got unlucky this time around.”

“Are there no powerful sects in the area that will take care of them?” Cha Ming asked.

“There are naturally several large sects,” the second eldest among them said. “I might only be a lowly early rune gathering cultivator, but I know that all sects in the area are overseen by the Tier 2 Xuan Dao Sect. It is said that their sect master is a legendary law-stitching cultivator!”

Cha Ming’s frowned. “Don’t they not know that these things grow stronger the more they consume?”

“We naturally know this, and the local sects usually put them down,” the first elder said. “But this takes time. We simply drew the short straw, and our sect happens to be located near a spatial crack. If it wasn’t us, it would have been one of the dozens of sects in the area. It was just our bad luck.”

Cha Ming now had a much better understanding of the situation. “Could you provide me with a large map, as well as all the information you have on the local area politics, and customs. I will naturally compensate you for the effort.”

“There is no need to speak of compensation, benefactor! We owe you our very lives!” The three of them exchanged a look, and they each took out a jade slip and began recording everything they knew. Just the short exchange told Cha Ming that these three men were used to scheming and had come up with a plan on the spot. This was their way of telling Cha Ming that they would be completely honest with him, since he could check each jade slip for discrepancies.

As they worked, Cha Ming inspected their bodies using All-Heaven’s Eye to locate the corruption that had snuck into their bones and qi pathways. Despite the best of to suppress this damage, this was damage from a high-ranking fiend compared to their cultivation and would take months for them to fully expunge it.

“Here is the information you requested,” the first elder said. The second and the third also presented their information jades.

“Allow me to help you along in your recovery,” Cha Ming said. He sent a few dozen Yin-Yang Spirit Threading Needles into their acupuncture points to destroy the corruption in their qi pathways, then used his domain to destroy the corruption in their bones. Though this would take a while to recover from, it was substantially better than risking a marrow infection.

The three elders were surprised by the sudden action but did nothing to fight back. After all, a cultivator of Cha Ming’s calibre could kill them in a single slap. The waited patiently as he worked, until suddenly, their faces contorted. They each coughed up several mouthfuls of foul black blood, which evaporated the moment it left their bodies. a

“Many thanks!” the eldest and his two companions said.

“It’s nothing,” Cha Ming said, retrieving the three jades. He looked them over and saw that they were mostly filled with information on the local sects and resources collection points. There was very little mention of cities, however. If it was only one of them, he would have considered it an unintentional omission, but all three?

“Could you also provide me information on the nearby cities?” Cha Ming asked.

“Why would you want –“ one started, but his elder interrupted him.

“Of course, benefactor,” the elder said, and inscribed another piece of jade. Cha Ming reviewed it and discovered that the information was still sparse. But it was better than nothing.

“I suggest that you seek out other sects in your area and form a coalition of some kind,” Cha Ming said. “Creatures like these must be killed as early as possible to prevent corruption. As for this forest…”

“Worry not, senior,” the elder said. “Our Joyful Harmony is not good at many things but enriching the soil and promoting growth won’t be a problem. This wouldn’t be the first time we repaired this sort of damage.”

Having slain the fiend and obtained some preliminary information, Cha Ming flew a few tens of kilometers away to inspect a spatial crack that had been marked by the elders. It was much more jagged than normal, and waves of spatial energy occasionally burst out of it.

“Are you seeing this, Huxian?” Cha Ming called out. He used their bond to share his vision.

“Yeah, I’ve looked at a few of these already,” Huxian said. “There’s no fixing them. They’re not the cause of the fiend outbreaks – the cracks and the fiend outbreaks are the symptom.”

Having confirmed the source of the fiend and mitigated the damage it caused, Cha Ming looked at his mission and located the next closest fiend.

Already the damage was accruing. Already, people were dying.