PtM Book 16 - Chapter 22: Yin Lightning Tree

This one's a bit long, but still one chapter. 3/4 ^^.

Danger and reward came hand in hand in the Tribulant Yin Demiplane. The moderate danger zones brought in a steady stream of wealth to their group, but in exchange, they encountered far too many close calls and even disastrous material losses.

Huxian ship suffered critical damage multiple times, and one of those times resulted in their group getting stranded for a week as the fox repaired it. Fortunately, Huxian’s Spatial Architecture skills were top tier, and Cha Ming’s spiritual blacksmithing skills were sufficient to forge a few quick replacements. As for more complex components, they were forced to improvise using yin cores and death-aligned ores that would reduce the overall longevity of the craft.

Entering danger zones was out of the question, but the nature of the moderate danger zone was such that smaller high-danger areas were embedded inside it. With enough bad luck, it was possible to stumble onto a rank 13 or higher elemental or spirit.

On one occasion, they ran into another team from the Heartforge Realm. It was a strong team, and they cooperated for a single mission before parting ways. The temptation for betrayal was too great for either of them.

Six months after entering the Tribulant Yin Demiplane, Cha Ming had accumulated roughly a million points worth of resources, halfway to his goal of two million.

Now, the only problem was the terrible dry spell they’d been having. “This is ridiculous,” Xing Tianlong said one evening after yet another unsuccessful venture into a resource collection point. “I refuse to believe that there are no unharvested spots.”

Cha Ming could only shrug helplessly. “We came early, so we got first pick. But now that the others in the Heartforge Realm have realized now’s the time to accumulate points before the next phase, there are too few resources points to split.”

Wei Longshen sighed. “And here I was think I’d get to cultivate this memorial tablet to rank 11.”

“You could always buy the yin spirits and yin energy,” Xing Tianlong said.

“Sure, but at triple the price,” Wei Longshen said.

“We could try looting a different demiplane,” Huxian suggested.

“I doubt the situation will be any different,” Petros said. “It’s like Clear Sky said – there’s a competition going on. Some teams are even joining forces to prove deeper. In the end, we need to make a choice – do we want to seek out one of these larger groups, or do we want to take risks?”

“You’re saying you want to skirt the edges of the nearby high danger zones and see what we can find?” Xing Tianlong asked.

“Unless you have a better option,” Petros said. “And joining a larger group is bound to come at a cost.”

“There’s a few danger zones nearby, right?” Huxian said. He summoned a large holographic map on the void ship’s deck.

“There are four that aren’t so far away,” Cha Ming said. “Out of those four I’m not keen on entering the Corpse Eating Valley,” Cha Ming said.

“Seconded,” Wei Longshen said. “In my opinion, the Yin-Yang Void Chasm seems most promising.”

“Naw, that’s death sentence,” Huxian said.

“Do you know something I don’t?” Wei Longshen asked, expanding that small bit of map.

“Something’s tickling my ancestral memories,” Huxian said. “And judging by the shape of it, I’m saying there’s a fifty-fifty chance of that being a puncture in the planar membrane.”

“And that’s…”

“Bad,” Huxian said. “If getting sucked through it didn’t kill us, we’d then need to survive in the void long enough to find our way back. If it were just me alone, I might be able to pull it off. But with you guys?”

“I think the Yin Confluence Mountains are the way to go,” Cha Ming said, pointing at the map. “Look at all these different resource points.”

“That’s a very dangerous place to approach,” Petros said. “Look at this warning label. There’s a nest of lighting beasts inhabiting the valley due to the constant yin lightning storms.”

“Actually, it’s not as bad as it seems,” Wei Longshen said. “Look here.” He traced a few lines on the map. “I believe those are high grade yin rivers bordering the entire region.”

“Why should we take a look because of a few yin rivers?” Cha Ming asked. “You probably won’t be able to harvest anything from them.”

Wei Longshen shot him a crafty smile. “Because people don’t like staying inside yin rivers for very long, Cha Ming. Even if they did explore the area, they wouldn’t have done so for very long. Most people would rather just enter the Yin Confluence Mountains directly, if just to avoid the yin mists.”

“That’s a very good point,” Petros said. “We’ve got two people who can ward against the river, and a fox who can make us an emergency escape route. I’m also quite confident in my sensory abilities.”

“My spirit behemoth could also prove useful,” Wei Longshen said. “And my spirit piping abilities could resolve some tense situations if things get out of hand.”

“Then it’s settled,” Cha Ming said. “Unless you have any objections, Tianlong?” This time, he did not.

The location was quite far away. Since most resources points had already been pilfered, they did not bother checking them. They travelled along the shortest path via void ship, only skirting around certain areas to avoid danger when they sensed it.

They traversed dead forests that stretched out for hundreds of thousands of kilometres and sickly rivers that split apart and recombined endlessly. All this eventually gave way to barren plains that in turn gave way to rocky foothills.

A mountain range appeared in the distance, and even from far away, they could see the thick yin lightning constantly punishing the area at the center. Equally conspicuous were the five yin rivers that bordered the mountain range, forming an unnatural pentagon that shrouded the foothills closest to the mountains.

They stopped ten kilometers and rested as Huxian built a complex void anchor. He spent quite a bit more time than usually and infused about three times as many runes.

“That seems to be more than just an anchor,” Cha Ming said.

“Think of it as a lighthouse,” Huxian said. “Space isn’t so stable here, so if something happens on the other end, and we want to get out in a hurry, we might accidentally fall through a crack in space. And given our luck…”

“I can get behind a bit of insurance,” Cha Ming said.

“But my precious void flower dust,” Huxian moaned. “It’s not covered in our material allowance.”

“I’ve lost over half my ink, Huxian,” Cha Ming said. “Deal with it.”

Huxian took a full hour to build the anchor, and by the time it was finished, it looked an awful lot like a glass lighthouse. Instead of light, it sent out a constant frequency through void space, and to some extent, the material plane. Only then did they approach the yin river, which, oddly enough, did not move like most yin rivers did. It kept a suspiciously tight shape around the mountain, strongly hinting that it was artificial.

The land in the area had clearly seen its fair share of yin lightning. There was not a single blade of dead grass to be seen in any direction. There wasn’t even any dirt, as it had long been blasted away, leaving only baren stone and sand, much of which had melted and solidified again to create pockets of turbid glass.

“This is going to be tricky,” Wei Longshen said as a thousand of his spirits went scouting ahead of them. “This yin river… it’s far more violent than most. The yin spirits within are much stronger as well. I… I wouldn’t even attempt to further refine my artifact here, gentlemen. Not even at the edge.”

“What about you?” Cha Ming asked Xing Tianlong.

The man was usually brimming with an emperor’s natural confidence, but even he could only shake his head. “My Yang Phoenix Shield isn’t up to the task, I’m afraid.”

“How long would it last in a pinch?” Cha Ming asked.

“A single second,” Xing Tianlong said. Less than stellar news.

“So that’s it?” Petros asked. “We’re turning back?”

“I don’t see how else we’ll get through,” Huxian said. “Unless…” He spotted the gleam in Cha Ming’s eye.

“I haven’t really had the chance to use these yet,” Cha Ming said. “Consider this a trial run.”

“Ooh, is it your secret project?” Huxian asked.

“Yes, it’s my secret project,” Cha Ming said. He activated his Sky Canvas Domain, the pulled out a bamboo scroll that was just as tall as he was. He then poured a substantial amount of qi into it before unfurling it.

“Is that…” Wei Longshen said.

“A spiritual painting,” Cha Ming confirmed, revealing a detailed painting of six lightning sparrows. They were not static paintings but moved around inside the bamboo scroll, chirping and tweeting joyfully in the mountain background.

He’d been working on this project in secret these past few months, ever since it became clear that manual painting was too slow to achieve the effects he desired.

The River Lake Brush Art was an impressive skill, especially when combined with his domain. And assuming he had enough time, he would be able to paint a masterpiece or summon a small army.

The problem was that his speed was currently far too slow. In theory, when is control over laws and mastery over technique was sufficient, he would be able to paint entire creatures with a single brush stroke. For now, however, this was impossible.

Spiritual paintings were his band aid solution to the current problem. Unfurling the painting only took a single second, and peeling the six lightning sparrows off the bamboo canvas took half as much time. This was impressive, since painting them in the first place had taken Cha Ming several hours each. Time they currently did not wish to waste.

Due to the current state of his soul, Cha Ming couldn’t control many of these lightning sparrows. He also couldn’t make anything much stronger either.

“I’ve never heard of anyone using spiritual paintings in this manner,” Xing Tianlong said. “I’ll have to speak to the Imperial Painter about this.”

“I can save a lot of time by painting things in advance,” Cha Ming said. “Notice how intricate the paintings are compared to my usual ones.”

“Are those runes on its wings?” Petros asked.

“That’s right,” Cha Ming said. “For now, it’s just a few runes, but I expect that in the future, I’ll be able to make full paintings out of interlocking runes and concepts.” Then he sighed. “The only problem is the cost. I used a lot of ink and time to make these. Moreover, if the paintings are damaged, I’ll need to fix them. Eventually, the damage will be too great and the paintings will be useless. So these paintings can be considered ink golems, in a sense.”

The six lightning sparrows charged into the yin river at Cha Ming’s direction, and the yin spirits, as though encountering their natural predators, parted and gave them a wide berth. Four of the lightning sparrows flew around them while two scouted up ahead.

Cha Ming and the others chose to walk, not fly, since adult lighting beasts were known to live in the clouds above the lighting range. Drawing in even a single one would spell the end for them.

“That’s a valuable corpse flower!” Huxian said, spotting their first find of the day. The item was guarded by an angry-looking spirit behemoth. Huxian had a few tricks up his sleeve – he used a series of spatial mirrors to confound the spirit behemoth before popping into the space behind the corpse flower, severing the space around it, then throwing it into storage. By the time the spirit behemoth turned around, the flower was already gone, and they were already on their way.

There were many other finds, and though the points they gave weren’t astronomical, the items were growing increasingly valuable.

“Stop!” Petros suddenly exclaimed. By now, they’d all learned to trust the archer’s senses. They all stood by as Petros ran forward with the assistance of a lighting sparrow and returned a few minutes later. He led them along a narrow path and warned them not to deviate.

They emerged in a shallow valley not far away from the mountains proper. The yin river was extremely faint here. At the center of the valley was a silver-gold tree with copper leaves.

Lightning suddenly came down and struck the tree, causing them all to flinch. It struck again a few seconds later. After witnessing the phenomenon a few more times, they realized that the lightning was simply a part of the environment, one that could easily be guarded against.

“This lightning must be a small part of the storms inside the ring of mountains,” Tianlong said. “How lucky!”

“Yes, we know you’re very lucky,” Cha Ming grumbled. He and Huxian and Petros, not so much.

The tree and the lightning weren’t the only things present in the valley. Surrounding the tree was a silver pool that glowed with a frigid blue light. The pool was deathly still despite the constant thunderstrikes.

“A valuable find, but I’m concerned about the guardian,” Petros said. He pointed toward a creature with onyx scales coiled up around the tree’s silver trunk. It absorbed condensed lightning as it came pouring off the tree in tiny rivulets.

“The yin spirits and spirit behemoths must be afraid of this snake,” Wei Longshen speculated. “My memorial tablet shakes whenever I look at that thing.”

“It’s a spirit devouring lightning serpent,” Huxian said. “Monstrous demon. Not common. Also… fighting it is probably a bad idea, since that thing is what’s scaring the river away.”

“Why is the river a problem,” Cha Ming asked.

“Strictly speaking, it’s not,” Petros said. “I’m more concerned about the twenty-odd powerful spirit behemoths drooling over the yin lightning pool but not daring to come over.”

“That… would be a problem,” Cha Ming said. He looked to Wei Longshen. “Could you put it to sleep?”

“If it were another creature, maybe,” Wei Longshen said. “Unfortunately, this thing devours death energy. It consumes souls. It’s going to be very resistant to whatever I throw at it.” His spirit army was also useless in this case. At most, it might serve as a distraction depending on how hungry the snake was.

They had precious little information on their surroundings, so Cha Ming sent his lightning sparrows around the lightning pool. Despite both being made of lightning, Cha Ming’s were yang-aligned, and the lightning pool were yin-aligned, so he didn’t dare bring them too close.

“Nothing,” Cha Ming said after a few minutes. “What about you, Petros?”

“Nothing out of the ordinary,” Petros said. “The creature appears to be asleep, but it will likely wake if intrude on the lightning pool or approach the tree.” Wei Longshen and Xing Tianlong were fresh out of ideas, so it fell to Huxian to come with a plan.

“Since it’s sleeping so nicely, why bother it?” Huxian said.

The lightning tree was located on an island at the center of the lightning pool. It was completely devoid of greenery – other than the tree, of course. The island was made entirely of vitrified stone and glass chips. The serpent occupied most of this island, which was why Huxian did not set foot on said island. Instead, he floated above the lighting pool… and began building.

He retrieved a trowel from his tool belt and got to work. He used the trowel as a focus to shape the space in his fused Demon-Dao domain.

What exactly are you trying to do, and how can I help you? Cha Ming asked.

No need to help, Huxian said. Essentially, I’m shaping space so that any energy fluctuations won’t leak across this boundary I’m setting up. That means that whatever techniques we use, this snake won’t feel them. I’m also isolating all physical sounds and vibrations in a conic area in our direction, then replacing them with ambient sounds by folding space to reproduce the average background noises in both adjacent areas.

I’m also doing the same for what this snake sees, because us going into the lake to harvest yin lightning water is going to provoke a reaction. If it can’t see us, sense us, or hear us, it shouldn’t be able to tell what’s going on, at least for a while.

Huxian kept his spatial manipulation to a pie-shaped slice of the yin lightning lake. The sharpest portion, which was the least detectable, was meters away from the lightning serpent. It took Huxian two hours to finish his work.

“Mission accomplished,” the fox said. “Did you guys figure out who’s entering the lightning pool?”

“It seems Clear Sky and I aren’t fated for any particular fortune,” Petros said with a sigh. “This natural treasure is only suitable for Xing Tianlong and Wei Longshen.”

“I should be able to completely refine my spear thanks to the potent yin lightning energy here,” Xing Tianlong said.

“And I should be able to use the yin lightning to temper my memorial tablet and have many of the souls inside fuse into gestalt entities.” Seeing Cha Ming’s horrified expression, he clarified. “The souls aren’t devouring each other at all, Cha Ming. Think of like… bees? You know how bees behave?”

“As a hive mind?” Cha Ming said.

“Right, like that,” Wei Longshen said. “With luck, I should be able to push this treasure into the law-stitching realm, which will greatly enhance my qi and soul cultivation speed.”

Cha Ming sighed at his own lack of good luck and Wei Longshen’s fortunate encounters. Not only was Wei Longshen one of the top talents in the soul department, he had also fused his law core and soul into a gestalt entity. Further, his soul was already an aberration. He was a rule-breaker, as Immortal White might say, in that his soul naturally contained the power of death.

“I guess we’ll stand watch then,” Cha Ming said. He and Petros weren’t actually that bitter, because they would receive compensation equal to the reward value for such resources. It was just that the rewards hall only offered a third of the buying price for any specific item. Wei Longshen and Xing Tianlong were making twice as much as they were for the items they happened to require.

“I think I see what you’re saying about the bad luck,” Huxian said. “Still not a single treasure for me either.”

“I still think it’s normal,” Petros said.

“Give it time,” Cha Ming said. “You’ll come around.”

Both Xing Tianlong and Wei Longshen entered the pool cautiously. Xing Tianlong with his bare body, and Wei Longshen with a shield of yin energy.

Both the memorial tablet and Xing Tianlong’s body hissed and crackled as they entered the lighting pool. The memorial tablet was made of a strong material and was not damaged, while Xing Tianlong’s body was destroyed and regenerated constantly.

Then Xing Tianlong lowered his Yin Lightning Dragon Spear into the lighting pool and the lightning water began to churn and drain in its direction. Like Cha Ming’s Clear Sky Brush, it was a voracious eater.

Huxian’s spatial constructs worked their magic, and the serpent did not stir. They relaxed considerably after that, though Cha Ming couldn’t help but feel a mounting sense of crisis.

“Did we ever check the inside the lake?” Cha Ming asked.

“We weren’t able to pierce its surface, so no,” Petros said. “My eyes couldn’t. Wei Longshen’s soul senses couldn’t. We decided that not many things could survive in its depths.”

“Then I’ll be going in for a walk,” Cha Ming said. He entered the lightning pool, but remained in Huxian’s spatially manipulated area.

The condensed lightning was only shin deep, and while it contained a frightening amount of energy, it barely had any effect on Cha Ming’s well-tempered body – which was why he hadn’t bothered to enter it in the first place.

Cha Ming did not detect anything within the lighting pool. The land beneath his feet was strangely corrugated but stable. There were tiny fish floating around, somehow capable of living inside the condensed lightning, but they were harmless.

On the surface, nothing was amiss, but his intuition told him things weren’t so simple. So he went the extra mile and bled off a portion of his body into lighting pool and spread it out for a few seconds, completely filling the area.

He quickly pulled himself back together when he confirmed that there were no other dangerous creatures present. Strange, Cha Ming thought. Something must be here, or I wouldn’t be so fidgety.

An hour passed without any issues. There were no surprises, either from the yin lightning pool or the yin river. Cha Ming noticed that Petros was getting antsy, as well, however – and the archer wasn’t looking out into the yin mists, but was carefully inspecting the lighting tree, which was constantly absorbing lightning bolts that rained down on it to produce the liquid lightning in the pool.

Maybe I’ll be able to detect something underground, Cha Ming thought. He took on Earth Rune Form and took a seat. He then extended his earth senses downward and tried to connect to the earth, since in Earth Rune Form, it was possible to blend with all manner of earth-aligned material and even flee below ground.

That was when Cha Ming realized a second oddity in the lake: He couldn’t connect to the earth. Not at all. He cracked open an eyelid and decided he needed to get to the bottom of this. “Longshen? Tianlong? How are you both doing?”

“My memorial tablet is about halfway done,” Wei Longshen said.

“My spear is coming along well,” Xing Tianlong said.

“Your spear seems as voracious as my own soul bound treasure,” Cha Ming said.

“They can be a handful,” Xing Tianlong admitted. “Believe it or not, my shield is the biggest glutton. I’m always afraid the treasure spirit will start looking a little hefty.”

“There’s nothing wrong with a little heft,” Cha Ming said. He continued trying to probe the earth with limited success. Was it the land beneath the lighting pool made of a strange material? Was this why the lighting was able to accumulate here? He realized that the lighting wasn’t even using him as a way to ground, which ran completely contrary to Cha Ming’s expectations.

He naturally expected for there to be some resistance to lightning because of saturation and changes to its structure, but total resistance? Something was wrong. “How much longer do you think you’ll need, Tianlong?”

“Is there a problem, Clear Sky?” Xing Tianlong asked.

“I can’t sense anything in specific, there’s just something wrong about this lightning pool,” Cha Ming said.

“I am also growing wary of it,” Petros said.

“Well I’m almost there,” Xing Tianlong said. “Give me a bit more time.” He accelerated the energy draw on his Yin Dragon Lightning Spear.

“Done!” Wei Longshen finally said, opening his eyes. In that moment, his memorial tablet broke through to rank 11, becoming an initial law-stitching treasure. His black memorial tablet, which was initially covered in silver patterns, was now covered in golden patterns. In addition, the hundreds of thousands of dots present on the treasure combined until only tens of thousands remained. The dots were larger than before, a clear indication that a merger had taken place. There was now one large dot on the tablet and eighteen medium dots to govern the other smaller dots.

The completion of treasure was one of those things that could provoke a reaction from their environment. They all looked at the serpent warily but were relieved to see it still sleeping soundly. The noiseless lightning strikes continued unabated.

Wei Longshen, having finished his treasure, joined them in scanning the area. He too felt a faint threat, as did Huxian.

With so many of them agreeing that something wasn’t right, they maintained their battle readiness as the eddy around Xing Tianlong’s spear became increasingly large. Then came a snap as his treasure broke through and began drinking in so much yin lighting that the pool was draining at a visible pace.

“It’s almost done!” Xing Tianlong called out.

Cha Ming did not share his enthusiasm, however, as he suddenly felt a pulse from the web of fate. Their luck had just turned sour. “Careful!” he shouted just as the earth began to shake, and the serpent, which had been sleeping all this time, opened its lazy eyes and stared in their direction despite Huxian’s precautions.

“Not possible,” Huxian said. “It shouldn’t be able to do that. Unless…” The ‘earth’ beneath Cha Ming’s feet began to move and writhe, and Cha Ming realized their mistake. The serpent wasn’t just coiled around the tree, but was, in fact, coiled at the bottom of the valley where the condensed lightning accumulated.

“Guys,” Huxian said. “I’ve got some bad news.”

“Spill out, Huxian,” Cha Ming said, retreating from the yin lighting pool alongside Xing Tianlong.

“I don’t think that’s a spirit devouring lighting serpent” Huxian said. When he said this, a few additional heads popped out of the lighting pool, each with their own serpentine bodies. “It’s definitely a spirit devouring lighting hydra.”

The waters of the yin lighting pool receded significantly as the creature pulled out its massive body, which was also composed of writhing serpents that formed legs and a torso capable of supporting its weight. The neck and head that had been coiled around the silver lightning tree released its grip and stared at them with cold, death-filled eyes.

They had no information on this new foe, so Cha Ming sent two lighting sparrows at it to probe it. The hydra head, unimpressed, tore the, both apart. Only badly damaged remnants were left for Cha Ming to pull back into the Clear Sky World.

“Let’s see how durable this thing is,” Xing Tianlong said. He held out the silver spear, which crackled with yin lighting, in one hand and a yang flame buckler on his left. He made a challenging motion, and the hydra answered by hissing, then sent three of its heads crashing through Huxian’s spatial constructs.

Cha Ming sensed another pulse in the web of fate and felt a tingle running down his spine. This wasn’t just bad luck, but extremely bad luck!

“I don’t want to alarm anyone, but it appears that the spirit behemoths in the river have noticed the commotion,” Wei Longshen said. “They have arrived.” He took out his flute and began to play. Tens of thousands of yin spirits, now substantially stronger than before and crackling with a hint of yin lighting, emerged form the tablet alongside one larger spirit behemoth in full plate and eighteen medium ones, each of which wore a breastplate. They were each connected to the main spirit via a golden chain.

“I don’t think lighting sparrows are going to cut it, Cha Ming,” Huxian said.

“It’s time to get experimental then,” Cha Ming said. If they were going to fight the lighting hydra, they needed some space.

He pulled out a much larger scroll this time. It was ten times as a tall as he was, and ten times as wide as it was tall. It was also incomplete, but he activated it anyway.

“Spiritual Painting: Yang Memory Battlefield!” His soul shook as he forced the painting off the scroll and onto his Sky Canvas Domain. A calm prairie overlaid itself atop the yin lighting pool and the glassy foothills. Grass blew in the wind, and a red sunset peeked over a non-existent horizon.

In the painting was a mulberry tree. Two phoenixes lay perched on a long branch, gazing at the sunset with eyes that, for the first time in years, were finally clear and unobstructed. It was a warm memory, but a painful one, and apparently just the right thing in this situation.

The painted world crackled and hissed as its potent yang energies and warm feelings conflicted with the yin energy and yin lighting in the secret realm. The yin spirits and spirit behemoths, shocked at the sudden appear of this large painting, retreated in horror.

The lightning hydra didn’t seem to like this painting either, because it began to thrash and hiss in an attempt to destroy the painting to chase away the yang-aligned warmth and sunlight. Fortunately, this painting wasn’t physical, but ethereal. Cha Ming had effectively painted a sort of domain over the area.

“Let’s end this quickly!” Xing Tianlong said. He transformed into a bolt of blue lightning that flashed across the yin lighting pool and stabbed his spear towards the hydra’s torso. An onyx-scaled head intercepted him and knocked him a few steps backward, losing only a few scales in the exchange.

Three more heads closed in on Xing Tianlong, but the prince’s eyes glowed with a hot light. His armor began to give off heat, as did his shield and the nearest thirty meters of empty space.

The flood of yang energy took the hydra by surprise. It pulled back its heads, but this only left its torso defenseless. Xing Tianlong pierced his spear at the creature and finally drew blood, though the wound closed over in a matter of seconds.

“There are too many spirit behemoths,” Petros said. “But I’ll take down as many as I can to reduce the pressure.” He pulled out a quiver of custom arrows Cha Ming and Huxian had crafted for him. Each one was built of spatial glass and as such possessed superior piercing abilities. Each was covered in painted yang lighting runes and infused with spirit banishing intent.

He began firing them off rapidly and greatly lightened the pressure on Wei Longshen’s ghostly army. Wei Longshen latched onto the opportunity. A few notes from his flute allowed him to manipulate the army and take advantage of the gaps in the enemy’s defence. He then sealed and captured stray yin spirits into his memorial tablet to make up for his losses before choosing another are to reinforce.

Huxian hadn’t done much fighting these days, but that didn’t mean he was useless. His demon weapon was no longer combat oriented, but he did have a nifty set of tailored demon armor covered in gadgets and pockets which he used to store countless tricks.

The armor even extended over his hands like claws, providing him useable weapons despite the supportive nature of his demon weapon. As a space-aligned demon armor, he was able to ignore much of the local spatial instability and teleport right next to a hydra head. He lopped it off before it could even react, then charged towards the hydra’s main body.

“Spatial sealing knives!” Huxian shouted, forming six large spatial blades that pierced directly into the hydra’s torso. Its movements stiffened as it was directly affixed to these six points in space. Its only way to move was via its many heads and necks, which could regenerate in a matter of seconds. Still a tall order, but not nearly as manageable.

Cha Ming was still in this battle, despite having greatly depleted his supply of qi. His battlefield was destroying an obscene amount of yin spirits and chasing away the yin river from their immediate area, but it was not enough. He still had a few tricks left in him.

He took out another large scroll, this one with only three creatures. Earth-Ink dragons popped out of the painting and charged at the surprised lightning hydra. The dragons were completely impervious to the constant barrage of lighting-element attacks that shot out at them, forcing a physical confrontation.

These paintings filled his Sky Canvas Domain to capacity, so Cha Ming charged out at the hydra with a Savage Deity Rush. He struck it with a series of probing attacks and concluded that the Savage Deity Battle Arts wouldn’t cut it, especially since he’d yet to master Savage Deity Crush.

He did not revert to Sand Rune Form. Instead, he chose to adopt Wood Rune Form. Cha Ming’s attacks weren’t especially incisive compared to Xing Tianlong’s, but this was a characteristic of his Clear Rune Battle Arts. The Savage Deity Battle Arts were swift and decisive. The Clear Rune Battle Arts were drawn out and pernicious.

He danced around the hydra as grass runes came into being around him and built up a passive defence. Grass runes weren’t very useful to use in moving around, but he was able to use Grass Rune Steps to jump between grass runes avoid the hydra’s flailing heads. He did so while striking its body with light blows compared to Xing Tianlong’s spear, with the goal of contracting and binding his opponent.

The grass rune portion of his Clear Rune Battle Arts had the least offensive and movement abilities. Where it excelled was restraining his enemies. Every time he hit the hydra, he added a grass rune to its body, which slowed it down and sapped its strength. Eventually, its movements were slow enough that Xing Tianlong was able to set up for a larger attack.

“Dragon Phoenix Combination, first form!” Xing Tianlong yelled. The phantom of a dragon and phoenix appeared behind him and transformed into two twenty-meter spears. They twisted together before merging with his own spear and shot out at the hydra’s torso.

“Grass Rune Constriction!” Cha Ming shouted just before the spear struck. The grass runes he’d carefully laid down suddenly formed chains of grass that locked down the hydra’s movements.

The hydra’s many heads froze for the fraction of a second. Not very long, but it was enough to allow the spear to slip through and strike the hydra’s torso. Half of it was blown apart, and Huxian appeared beside it and began tearing into its mangled, writhing flesh with his armored claws.

Tianlong appeared beside him carved away chunks of flesh with his spear. It only took him a few seconds to make contact with something solid.

The hydra to roared the moment his spear struck its core, and an explosion of lighting blasted them backwards. But then a flash of light zipped past Cha Ming’s ear as he flew backwards. It was an arrow, and it shot into the hydra’s exposed core, cracking it.

Then came another arrow. Then another. The cracks widened, but Petros had no choice but to turn his attention back towards the spirit behemoths closing in on them.

Thanks to the Savage Deity Battle Arts, it didn’t take long for Cha Ming to recover from the knockback. He landed inside the lightning pool with one hand and two feet on the ground and his staff poised to strike. He then took on Sand Rune form, and a steady flow of Sand Runes joined up with what was left of the grass runes that Cha Ming had triggered to defend against the lightning blast.

“We can’t let that gap in its torso close up!” Petros yelled, diverting his attention for a fourth time and blasting a fresh hole into the hydra’s rapidly healing flesh.

Cha Ming willed his earth-ink dragons forward to tangle with three separate heads. Not because they could cause it damage, but because they were physical obstructions. His heart wept as his precious earth-ink paintings were torn apart by the angry hydra’s heads.

“Give me some set up time guys,” Huxian said. Instead of charging at the hydra, he flew above it and retrieved his trowel and began shaping space. He formed a circle with six indents and carved runes around them.

The hydra noticed something was amiss and moved to attack Huxian with blasts of lightning. Cha Ming decisively detonated what was left of the ink dragons in response, releasing their stored energy, tearing off one of the hydra’s legs. He then sacrificed a few Sand Runes to channel Sand Rune Steps several consecutive times.

Each of the five elemental runes he could generate had their own effects. Flame Rune Steps allowed him to jump forward with explosive speed. Steel Rune Steps generated a physical shield that would protect him as he advanced. Grass Rune Steps offered only a small boost in speed, but would entangle anyone in close proximity, slowing their movement speed. He could also move between grass runes fairly easily.

Lake Rune Steps would allow Cha Ming to disappear inside any pool of liquid and emerge at another point in that same pool of liquid, similar to how teleportation worked. As for Sand Rune Steps, it had a similar function. By using it, he could essentially teleport a short distance from one point on the ground to another.

He continued to dance around the hydra and strike it with his staff. Every Sand Rune he laid upon it increased the gravity it felt several-fold. His Wrappings of Runic Binding had also shot out and tied themselves around the creature’s torso to add as many restrictive instances as possible.

Alas, the lighting hydra wasn’t stupid. It saw that Huxian was the creature threat. Xing Tianlong had yet to return as well, and Cha Ming’s staff arts weren’t very difficult to guard against. It turned its attention back to Huxian and bit at the fox, who still hadn’t completed building whatever it was floating above the hydra’s head.

That was when Cha Ming activated his own trap.  “Sand Rune Strike!” Cha Ming shouted, slamming down with his staff, growing it several fold to make full use of the sand runes. They amplified gravity in addition to normal weight manipulating, greatly increasing strength of his attack.

This sent the hydra crashing down into the ground beside the lightning tree. “You just about done?” Cha Ming called out.

“Give me more time!” Huxian shouted.

Fortunately, Xing Tianlong was still here. He’d gotten blasted into the yin river, and was looking worse for wear, but he’d taken the time to execute dragon phoenix combination once again. The spear attack headed towards the prone hydra, forcing it to wrap its heads around its body defensively.

Half its heads were blown off in that single strike. Xing Tianlong had poured a lot of himself into the attack, however, so he was taken by surprise when one of the hydra’s remaining heads slapped him out of the lightning pool and another managed to clamp onto Cha Ming’s body and inject him with yin lighting poison.

Fortunately, their efforts had not been in vain. Huxian finished the last of his preparations. Cha Ming’s eyes narrowed when he saw that six void blade grenades had been placed on the formation around a much larger void blade bomb.

Huxian was no longer the swift and deadly assassin he once was but had taken to lobbing carefully crafted weapons and spatial explosives at his enemies. Woe to anyone who underestimated him and gave him time to prepare.

He sent the formation crashing down atop the hydra, and Cha Ming, realizing the danger, took on lighting form and retreated.

Space exploded. The hydra let out an aggrieved shriek as Huxian’s technique not only tore through its flesh, cut through all its necks, but also destroyed half the branches on the yin lightning tree it had been guarding. It then tore through its torso and destroying its core.

“What a waste,” Xing Tianlong muttered. “That was a perfectly good core.”

“We need to get out of here guys,” Huxian said. “Those ghosts don’t look too afraid anymore.”

“That’s because my painting is failing,” Cha Ming said through gritted teeth. There was no time, so he pulled back the Yang Memory Battlefield directly into the Clear Sky World. The edges of the painting were especially frayed and damaged and would require a week of time-accelerate repair and a lot of ink and effort.

Cha Ming wasn’t one to waste, so once the Yang Memory Battlefield was back in his possession, he threw the Clear Sky Brush into the yin lightning pond. It viciously drained it and store the condensed lightning inside the Clear Sky World.

Alas, things weren’t looking so good for them. Their group was now huddled atop the remnants of the dead hydra beside the damaged lightning tree. The yin spirits and spirit behemoths were circling around them, obviously still wary of the serpent’s remnant energy.

“Can we teleport out of here?” Xing Tianlong asked.

“We can,” Huxian said. “But with so many spirit behemoths, and the yin river… fifty percent chance we get torn apart.” He furrowed his brow. “We need to put some distance between us and this location, and then I can get us out. A few kilometers at least. Ten is best.”

“That way if we’re running,” Petros said, pointing towards the mountains that formed the outer portion of the high danger zone.

Cha Ming called forth his lightning sparrows and had one of them go ahead and the other three orbit around them. The spirit behemoths were trying to force their way through, and it would only be a matter of time before they did so.

Wei Longshen’s army was still out in full force, and his finger’s bled as he played. His army and the spirit behemoth army clashed again and again, but every time they clashed, hundreds of his yin spirits dissipated.

“Huxian, help me out,” Cha Ming said.

“Help with what?” the fox said, but when he saw what Cha Ming intended, his eyes lit up.

Cha Ming ran up to the silver tree with copper leaves and grew in size. If this tree could grow such a large lightning pool and resist so much lightning, it had to be valuable. More importantly, its aura was frightening the spirit behemoths.

He grew until he was thirty meters tall, then grabbed the lighting tree, which was still subject to a massive downpour of yin lighting and pulled.

He ignored the lightning as it entered his body, as he was currently in Sand Rune form. The lightning didn’t cause him much damage, but it did vitrify portions of his skin and sandy flesh.

Huxian quickly used his trowel to cut out a solid clump of land and most of the tree’s roots. Cha Ming then pulled up the tree and began walking towards the mountains.

They pulled back as a single unit. Wei Longshen did most of the defending, while Xing Tianlong and Petros led the way. Cha Ming wielded the lightning tree like a torch to scare away the worst of the spirits while Petros fired yang arrows in a straight line to clear the way.

“I think I see the mountains up ahead,” Petros said. “Wait, is that a cliff? And a cave? Adjust course ten degrees to the left!”

“You guys go in first,” Cha Ming said, spotting the cave opening. “I’ll hold the tree outside it to buy us some time.” He swung out the lightning tree, and the spirit behemoths predictably shied away.

Petros, Xing Tianlong, and Wei Longshen charged into the cave while Huxian began shaping space at the entrance.

Minutes passed, and the yin spirits grew bolder. They began throwing themselves at the tree under the goading of larger spirit behemoths. The tree’s tough bark began to crack, and solid, glasslike earth crumbled from its base.

“Cha Ming, come back!” Huxian shouted. Cha Ming immediately pulled the tree into the Clear Sky World and stored it in the same place as the yin lighting pool. He then shrank down to normal size then assumed lighting form to rush through the tiny opening in Huxian’s formation.

The yin spirits came crashing after Cha Ming, but they splashed off Huxian’s spatial wall like rain on a windshield. Huxian’s skill had improved, and he could now create tough yet curved spatial glass. The spirits were unable to push past it.

Cha Ming fell to one knee. He was complete exhausted. Carrying that lighting tree had greatly damaged his divinity and pulling out so many paintings had taken a lot out of him. He sat down and began to meditate to replenish his energy, and Huxian set up a time acceleration formation for them to recover in.

The three that had entered the cave before them showed up a few minutes later. Xing Tianlong’s skin was severely burned, and Wei Longshen was pale. Petros was the only one who hadn’t suffered any injuries.

“Lightning beasts?” Cha Ming asked.

“Juvenile ones,” Xing Tianlong confirmed. “Fortunately, it was only a small nest. We should be safe to recover here with some additional safeguarding formations. After that… well, it depends. Do we want to teleport out of here, or do we want to explore what seems to be a vast and undiscovered cave network?”

“There’s danger down there,” Petros said. “I can feel it. But it’s not as bad as facing the entire yin river. And in my experience, places like these are bound to contain treasures.”

“Treasures that have yet to be discovered by other adventurers,” Wei Longshen pointed. He shuddered. “I lost far too many yin spirits out there. Tell me, Eight Directions, what are the odds that you can just… you know, suck them out from the yin river? With a straw or something?”

Huxian raised a finger to object, then dropped it. “That’s actually a really good idea. Not as efficient as the dam, mind you. Suction has limitations.”

“To clarify, I’m not looking to suck in a spirit behemoth,” Wei Longshen said. “Just a steady trickle of yin spirits and yin energy.

“It’s an interesting project,” Huxian said. “I normally wouldn’t bother, but for you my friend, I’ll make an exception!”