PtM Book 16 - Chapter 21: Destroying Restraints

2/4, sorry about the delay.

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Deep in the Tribulant Yin Demiplane flew a small void ship. Very few ships could match it as it sliced through the air and slipped past obstacles as though they weren’t there. Whenever it encountered larger obstacles, such as a mountain or a yin river, the captain of the ship would create a void tunnel that could transport them up to a thousand kilometers in any direction.

It was, one had to admit, a powerful despite its small size, and as such, it attracted no small amount of attention. Alas, all who had tried to snatch it over the past few months had come back empty-handed, and the ship had therefore accumulated quite the reputation among the few human travelers in the Tribulant Yin Demiplane.

What these people did not know was that the ship, while powerful, was useless to anyone but Huxian. The ship was not a just a vehicle – it was a mobile amplifier for Huxian’s power. Most of its enhanced capabilities were dependent on his blood and specialized demon-Dao domain.

Alas, explaining this to unreasonably greedy people wasn’t easy.

Many months had passed since their group’s arrival in the secret realm. Cha Ming was currently drinking a tea and reading a book. Wei Longshen and Xing Tianlong were having a conversation over wine. Petros was enjoying a morning cup of coffee from his position in the crow’s nest.

“Fifteen degrees to the left, Longshen,” Petros said. “About fifty kilometers out. I’ll mark the target.” He drew his bow and shot an arrow out that lit up a small area just ahead.

Wei Longshen put down his wine cup and threw out his memorial tablet. He played a tune that sent an army of ghosts charging out. It swarmed the marked area and eliminated all hostile yin-based entities and returned with a plentiful harvest of yin energy for Wei Long’s tablet.

“I believe they were guarding a small treasure,” Petros said. “Clear Sky?”

Cha Ming put down his book, set down his teacup, and teleported off the ship before rushing out. He became the wind as it blew across the land, sweeping up any valuables he could find and taking note of any hidden threats. There were a few monsters hidden beneath the ground, but they would not act up unless provoked.

He soon arrived at the location Petros had marked and saw gloomy tree. Atop at it was a sinister looking owl with a ghostly aura. The tree looked dead, but one of its branches was brimming with life.

“Spring and autumn wood!” Cha Ming exclaimed. He re-materialized his physical body, and when he appeared, the owl hooted. It was a sonic attack that pierced past his body and directly attacked his spiritual sea.

The attack dissipated the moment it ran into a large golden chain that Cha Ming kept wrapped around his spiritual sea as protection. It was an expensive treasure that had cost him a hundred thousand points. He did not regret the purchase.

Most of the creatures in the Tribulant Yin Demiplane were spiritual entities, but this owl was an exception. Cha Ming could sense a keen intellect from it. So he decided to be gentle with it. He summoned the Clear Sky Brush and began painting with wood element ink. The brush strokes formed small serpentine creations that then wrapped around the owl and prevented it from moving.

Huxian appeared beside Cha Ming and practically drooled when he saw the tree branch. “Nice. This branch is about 6000 years old!”

“How do you know?” Cha Ming asked.

Huxian spread out his toolbelt midair and began putting together a void containment field. Jade boxes wouldn’t do for something like this because Spring and Autumn contained the power of time. Stasis and spacetime isolation were a must, as the slightest leakage would ruin the natural treasure.

It didn’t take long for Huxian to create the box, which he then carved specific runes into with a curved knife. “You can tell by how long it is,” Huxian explained. “Spring and Autumn wood grows on dead trees, and it takes sixty-years to grow a single centimeter. Most of this branch is dead, and only a meter or so is alive, so that means a hundred sixty-year cycles.” He used a blade of void to cut a good half foot of dead wood alongside the meter of living wood and dropped the branch into the containment box he’d prepared.

They returned to the ship and set off again. Once they were on their way, the group convened around the clear storage box containing the spring and autumn branch. Petros, in particular, seemed very interested in the branch, but he schooled his expression as Huxian put it away in his personal storage space. It was his turn to collect their divided loot.

“Not bad,” Xing Tianlong said. “That’s what, another 40,000 points worth of materials?”

“More like 50,000,” Huxian said. “Those private gathering missions always try to lowball people.”

“Then it’s official,” Wei Longshen said. “We’ve officially broken even on our initial investments.”

“Most of you have, you mean,” Cha Ming grumbled. They’d all spent about 200,000 points to prepare, not counting Cha Ming’s loan to Petros, but Cha Ming had spent another hundred thousand on the best soul shielding treasure he could find.”

“You’re injured, so it can’t be helped,” Xing Tianlong said. “We can’t be expected to bear the cost of your injury.”

“I know,” Cha Ming said. “I just can’t help but feel I’ve been terribly unlucky.”

“What do you mean?” Wei Longshen said. “I got what I needed for my memorial tablet.”

“And I’ve found half the yin lightning I needed so far,” Xing Tianlong added.

“But the three of us haven’t found anything we needed,” Cha Ming said. “And I can’t help but feel uneasy every once in a while. Like the net of causality isn’t quite working how I would expect it to. Like we’ve been cursed.

“I haven’t sensed any curse,” Petros said.

“Me neither,” Huxian said. “Plus, everyone knows people with a lot of merit are lucky. It’s just that sometimes it doesn’t pan out.”

“Then how do you explain that time when you stepped on a poisonous snake?” Cha Ming said.

“It happens.”

“And when Huxian’s void portal randomly collapsed, cutting off our retreat and forcing us to fight that horde of yin ghosts?” Cha Ming pressed.

“Materials sometimes have flaws,” Xing Tianlong assured. “These things happen.”

Cha Ming crossed his arms. “I’m telling you, something’s wrong. Call it a cultivator’s intuition.”

“We’re not doing terrible,” Huxian said. “Three months to earn back what we spent? We did budget for a year.”

“Actually, that was the worse case scenario,” Petros said. “But Clear Sky has a point. I’ve observed that my luck has been getting progressively worse as time passes. But that’s how it works, isn’t it? You go gambling and sometimes you ride the wave up, and sometimes it drags you down.”

“Maybe,” Xing Tianlong said. He was clearly unconvinced. “For now though, we need to decide where we’re going next.” They took off at cruising speed. Huxian summoned a large version of the map for them to go over. “We’ve gathered all the resource clusters on this part of the map and crossing the entire demi plane would take much time. We have two options now: return to the Heartforge Realm and re-enter or press into the moderate danger zone, which we’re right beside.”

Thus far, their trip had been quite relaxed. They’d encountered a few dangerous battles, but nothing extreme. If they pressed inward, that would change. The dangers they faced might prove life threatening. But if they didn’t…

“I think we should do it,” Cha Ming said. “Rewards came hand in hand with danger, and the treasure I require costs too many points.”

“Surely it can’t be that expensive –”

“Two million points,” Cha Ming said.

“Seven heavens that’s a lot,” Xing Tianlong said.

Wei Longshen whistled softly. “Is that how much you need to fix your soul damage?”

Cha Ming shook his head. “That’s how much I need for a material to cultivate a special technique to stabilize my soul so that I can start repairing my soul damage.”

“That’s far too expensive,” Xing Tianlong said. “Surely a spirit doctor could fix you up for cheaper.”

“They could,” Cha Ming admitted. “But then the scars would linger. I don’t want soul scars, Tianlong. I want to be fully functional and have unlimited potential.”

Wei Longshen wore a pensive expression. “I think our team composition might work out. We’ve been together for what, three months? And correct me if I’m wrong, Tianlong, but your spear’s next tempering would be much more potent if the source of yin lightning was stronger.”

“That’s true…” Xing Tianlong said.

“Worst case, I could use the stronger yin spirits and yin energy to strengthen my memorial tablet and give you all a portion of the treasures we’ve earned in compensation,” Wei Longshen said. “The only question becomes whether or not Petros and Eight Directions are comfortable with navigating the terrain.”

“I’m fine with whatever,” Huxian said. “I like living on the edge. There’s a downside though – you guys are going to have to get used to stasis sandwiches.”

“What’s wrong with stasis sandwiches?” Cha Ming asked.

“What isn’t wrong with stasis sandwiches?” Huxian said. “It’s got this icky stale time taste that… oh. Right. Humans.”

They looked to Petros, who wore a brooding expression. “I suppose I haven’t tried in a while,” he muttered. “Watch me for a moment, will you? There’s something I need to do.”

Cha Ming watched with interest as Petros sat down cross-legged and began circulating his mana, which rankers used instead of qi. The mana caused certain runes on his core to vibrate, and others to glow. The first were sealed runes, bound by the power of Jezeriah. The glowing ones were the runes he’d forcefully activated.

At first, the flow of mana was smooth. The vibrations on Petros’s core were controlled. The few glowing runes emanated a dim light.

Suddenly, that changed. The flow of his mana intensified. It became aggressive and filled with a sharp intent that Cha Ming could only describe as an expression of laws similar to a domain.

That sharp qi began pounding away at Petro’s core, striking specific spots that Cha Ming noted were covered in cracks. These cracks widened, but Petro’s body paid a terrible price.

“What’s he doing?” Xing Tianlong whispered. He did not have Cha Ming’s sharp eyes, nor did he have something like his All-Heaven’s Eye or the Crown of the Starry Sky.

“I think he’s trying to take back control of his core,” Cha Ming said. “The goddess Artemis sealed his abilities, and he’s trying to unseal them by infusing his knowledge of laws, his aura, and his spiritual energy into his mana and basically smashing apart the restrictions.”

Xing Tianlong frowned. “If it’s divinity, why not just pay a god to unseal it for him? Isn’t a Godking his instructor?”

“Can’t,” Huxian said, appearing beside them. He handed out some sandwiches. “I think I know what’s going on. It’s kind of like a slave seal.”

“A slave seal?” Wei Longshen asked. “Oh, I see what you mean. Rankers have all submitted to their goddess voluntarily, so their goddess’s will is integrated into their cores.”

“It’s worse, actually,” Huxian said. “His core is made from that goddess’s divinity. So she has total control over it. If another god tried to fight her for it, it might just kill Petros.”

“I never noticed before, but it seems he’s been chipping away at the restrictions little by little,” Cha Ming observed. “If you could see his core, you’d notice that a part of it is active while the rest of it is sealed. Jezeriah’s divinity forms the framework, but it is Petros’s core after all. It can’t violently reject his own energy, by definition.”

“That sounds challenging,” Xing Tianlong said.

“I think the fact that he’s coughing up blood and damaging his qi pathways says enough about how difficult it is,” Cha Ming said. “Every attempt is like a personal heavenly retribution.” His eyes brightened as he noticed some pieces chipping off. “And he’s winning!”

It was only a small piece, but this weakness enabled Petros to continuously hammer away at the paint-like layer of obstructing divinity. Doing was very damaging to Petros himself, and he had to stop at several times to consume medicine to heal his meridians and internals. Fortunately, his body was strong – as strong as a demigod’s. This was the only reason he could take such punishment. A normal ranker would have died ages ago.

This continued on for half a day until finally, there was a flash of golden light, and Petros opened his eyes. Golden runes glowed inside them, and Cha Ming felt a powerful perception scan him bone deep, bounce off his soul’s defences, then skim across the karmic threads that entangled him.

“Finally,” Petros said, wiping a streak of blood from his mouth. “Four years. I’ve been working on that one for four years. All I needed was a little motivation.”

“Congratulations!” Wei Longshen said.

“I’m impressed!” Xing Tianlong said.

“Good job, have a sandwich!” Huxian said. He also handed him a cup of coffee, which Petros gladly accepted.

“Maybe you should rest a bit before overusing your ability?” Cha Ming said.

“It’s not like the map linking ability we’ve been using,” Petros said. “This time, I managed to take over a few runes on my core and completely unobstruct them. Most of my sensory abilities are back now, which includes my ability to pinpoint weaknesses and track karma.” He then shook his head self-deprecatingly. “It only took me thirty-time accelerated years to get where I am.”

“You can’t put it like that,” Huxian said. “Take it from me. Us demons sometimes use submission seals on monstrous demons, and we also use submission seals on demons when they become our subordinates.” He grimaced. “Even a demon with a strong body would have to struggle for a long time – we’re talking hundreds or thousands of years – to shake off an unattended seal. And out of all of them, maybe only one out of a hundred would survive.” His words made everyone looked at Petros in a new light.

“So navigating won’t be a problem?” Cha Ming asked.

“Not at all,” Petros said. “My offensive and movement abilities are still sealed, but my sensory abilities are now better than ever. I shouldn’t have any issues finding danger.” That was when his stomach growled, and Petros realized that he was, in fact, holding an uneaten sandwich. “How about a five-minute break?” He took a bite and made a face. “What is that taste?”

“It’s like I said,” Huxian said with crossed arms. “Stasis sandwiches.”

***

Once, Cha Ming had asked Immortal White if the trial represented any specific benchmark, or if they were arbitrary. The he’d given had surprised Cha Ming.

“The first four levels of any trial can be completed by any cultivator, at least in theory,” Immortal White said. “It is the benchmark for low tier cultivation techniques. The first red trial can be completed by a total beginner, but a green trial would require a cultivator using a low-tier cultivation technique to wield their power almost perfectly.

“The next four levels are different. To complete them, one needs to practice a higher-tier method and then perfect their abilities. A body cultivation ability like your Seventy-Two Earthly Transformations qualifies. Your self-made cultivation technique isn’t quite up to standard, but eventually, it will get there. Thirty-Six Heavenly Transformations qualifies you to do well in the soul trials, once your soul recovers.”

Immortal White laughed when Cha Ming asked about the ninth trial. “The ninth trial is for those who break the rules, Clear Sky. For example, my Yin-Yang Eyes of Truth and Falsehood, innate yin bodies, innate poison bodies, and all those different variants and mutations.

“There are other ways to exceed the theoretical limits, of course. Soul bound treasures. Forbidden techniques. Finding ways to blur the boundary between these aspects. Even then, few manage it.”

“What about the battle trials?” Cha Ming inquired.

“Those are also benchmarks,” Immortal White answered. “The first five trials correspond to cultivator with a weak single cultivation method, from weakest, to strongest. The next five trials correspond to a cultivator with a top-tier cultivation method, from weakest to strongest. The eleventh through fifteenth trials can only be cleared by those who cultivate two separate paths simultaneously, from the weakest of them to strongest of them. As for the next three hidden levels, they can only be overcome by those who cheat.” To this date, Cha Ming could only clear the first eleven trials, which meant he now exceeded the limits of a single high-level technique in terms of real combat ability.

All five of the members of Cha Ming’s current group could perform to a similar standard. Their decade of training in the Heartforge Realm had not go to waste. They could now melt through most threats that have sent them packing not so long ago.

All this changed when they entered the Tribulant Yin Demiplane’s moderate danger zone. The enemies that inhabited these regions weren’t passive went out of their way to surprise them, hunt them, or lay traps for them.

The plane was even physically different in the moderate danger zones. Whereas in the low danger zones, yin rivers were slow and steady and could only them if they were stupid enough to directly throw themselves in, those in the moderate danger zones, were so potent that Cha Ming’s yang lightning ink could not be used, and Xing Tianlong’s shielding abilities could only protect them for about ten breaths before breaking.

The turbulence in these yin rivers was incomparable to what they’d experienced before. Several uncontrolled gushes of yin spirits and many near misses had done nothing but waste a great deal of Cha Ming’s paint.

The yin rivers were the most mundane threat in the moderate danger zone. They moved – sometimes kilometers within minutes – but for cultivators of their level, it was easy to avoid them. There were three threats to look out for in the moderate danger zone: spirit behemoths, corpse giants, and the indigenous yin plant life.

Spirit behemoths and corpse giants were both aggregations of the two most common creatures in the Tribulant Yin Demiplane: yin spirits and undead corpses. When thousands of powerful ghosts and corpses were exposed to potent yin energy, it was possible for them to fuse into greater entities that sustained themselves by consuming more of the same.

It was when facing these monstrosities that Petros’s abilities really started to shine. His abilities were extremely useful in avoiding the most powerful entities and those with massive armies under their command.

Despite their fear of the greater yin spirits and behemoths, however, it was the yin plant life that was the worst, in Cha Ming’s opinion. The reason for this would soon become obvious.

They were currently harvesting a valuable treasure from a tribulant yin crystal mountain. As usual, none of the tribulant yin crystals contained the life extinguishing spirit needle that Cha Ming was looking for.

But Cha Ming was not paying very close attention to the mountain. Instead, he was more concerned with the seemingly mundane grasslands.

His caution proved wise, because just as they were about to retrieve the treasure, said grass attacked them from below.

“Kill it!” Huxian shouted. “Kill it with fire!”

“I’m trying…” Cha Ming said. He flicked out his brush and painted a ball of flaming liquid that he sent crashing into the yin grass.

His body became fire. Flame runes appeared around him one after another, courtesy of a small amount of divinity that he constantly channeled through his Runebound Clan bindings.

One of these flame runes detonated as he took a step forward, activating Flame Rune Steps and allowing him to close the distance much more explosively than even Savage Deity Rush.

He appeared on the grasslands and began swinging the Savage Deity War Staff in long, arcing motions. The prairie fire spread, and the Clear Sky Brush painted. The inferno grew without limit.

“Now where is it hiding…” Cha Ming muttered. He was completely unconcerned about this yin-aligned grass, personally. He was literally made of fire, and it had no way to hurt him. “But Huxian…” A huge agglomeration of yin grass burst out from under their void ship, and even more shot out towards Cha Ming to hold him back.

The prairie became a forest of yin grass that instantly entangled Xing Tianlong, their main melee combatant, pulling him out of combat.

Petros began firing arrows from the crow’s nest. They were void arrows, specially processed by Huxian and painted with elemental runes, but without knowing where the root of all this grass was, there wasn’t much he could accomplish.

“We need to pull out,” Cha Ming said.

“I would but look up!” Huxian shouted. A massive army of yin spirits were currently bearing down on them, courtesy of a spirit behemoth with a long-standing grudge. “You shouldn’t have killed its baby Longshen!” Huxian shouted. “Spit it out! Give it back!”

“This creature can’t have a child!” Wei Longshen snapped. He was currently playing his flute and controlling an entire river’s worth of yin spirits to fight against the opposing army. At its head was a small spirit behemoth, which he’d refined into the memorial tablet’s main soul. “It wasn’t raising a child, it was raising a snack.”

“Well I’m not all chummy chummy with ghosts, Longshen, so I wouldn’t know,” Huxian said. “You’re the expert.”

Wei Longshen’s expression darkened. “Petros! What’s taking you so long?”

A shot of bright light answered his question. The arrow Petros fired out smashed into one of eighteen chains that the enemy spirit behemoth was using to control his army. A good portion of it unravelled, and the yin spirits in question fled, giving Wei Longshen’s army an opening through which to invade.

“Cha Ming, how are you holding out?” Huxian asked.

“Just fine actually,” Cha Ming replied. He was currently taking a wonderful stroll through the yin grass. Assuming nothing wrong happened, he would – “Oh come on!”

He felt causality twist again as a large tentacle of yin grass shot out of the ground. No, not a tentacle – a flood dragon. The moment it appeared, all the yin grass on plain was sucked into its massive body, and a domineering aura that made even the spirit behemoth pause for a moment oozed out of it.

“You sure?” Huxian asked.

“I should be fine. For now.” Cha Ming swept his sleeve and recalled most of his ink. Not back into the Clear Sky World, but towards his currently location on the Sky Canvas Domain; the biggest mistake his opponent had made was giving him enough time to paint, and now, he had more than just a sea of fire. “Combine!”

The wisps of painted flame began to merge together. Streams of ink combined into an inky lake. This was the essence of the River Lake Brush Art. Flexible form of simple creations with infinite combinations.

Just like the grass had combined into a greater dragon entity, Cha Ming’s flames weaved together to form five small red flood dragons. They were made of pure, inky fire and immediately set out to do battle with the larger yin grass dragon.

Cha Ming first took then painted a circle around the grass dragon, filling the entire area with potent yang-aligned flames. He then used Flame Rune Steps five consecutive times to close the gap and began attacking with a burning Savage Deity War Staff. The grass dragon was huge, but thanks to the change in alignment, he was able to cause significant damage the creature.

More importantly, runes were appearing around the grass dragon just as they were appearing around Cha Ming.  At first, the yin grass dragon paid them no heed and focused on the five red flood dragons. But then it realised that every time it ‘destroyed’ a fire dragon, the pieces would recombine with a few strokes of Cha Ming’s brush.

By the time it decided to focus on him, it was surrounded by hundreds of flame runes, each a piece of Cha Ming’s body and divinity. The flame runes were constantly burning the grass dragon while those around Cha Ming protected him from the yin miasma filling the area via a passive application of Flame Rune Defence.

Then the ground shook again, and everything changed. Cha Ming trembled as he realized that the yin grass had not been an extension of this yin grass dragon. Rather, they were both extensions of something worse. Which totally explained all the weird grass creatures defending absolutely nothing in a cave they’d checked out a half hour earlier.

The appearance of this new threat was too much for the attacking spirit behemoth. Petros’s arrows had already severed two of its chains, and Wei Longshen had appropriated two portions of his army as well. Enough was enough.

“My danger skill is telling us to get the hell out of here!” Petros shouted.

“My intuition’s letting me know the same,” Cha Ming said.

The ground exploded, revealing eight more grass dragons and a gaping mouth. A devastating blast of yin poison emerged from the mound.

Cha Ming was less concerned about his own body than those of his companions. He pulled his runes back and activated Flame Rune Defense, then sent out the Clear Sky Brush to paint a quick yang flame shield around Huxian’s void ship.

Doing so saved them from the bulk of the poison mist’s effects, but it came at a price. All nine grass dragons ignored Cha Ming’s inkflame dragons in favor of pulling him into this new, unknown creature’s mouth.

He tried adopting lighting form to escape, only for a mysterious force to pull him inward. I need time, Cha Ming thought. Time! He activated Golden Boots of the Clockwork Dragon to double his speed. Then, just in case this monstrosity had eyes, he activated Claddings of Light for maximum blinding effectiveness. Which proved to be surprisingly effective, because the creature shrieked, and the grass dragons shrank back, allowing him to use the Savage Deity War Staff to pole-vault out of the mouth.

The grass dragons naturally wouldn’t allow this, and there was no way Cha Ming could evade all of them with just speed boost. Fortunately, he had other tricks up his sleeve.

“Flame Rune Constriction!” Cha Ming called out. The many runes that had accumulated around himself and the grass dragons suddenly adhered themselves to all nine grass dragons before forming a tight web that held them in place.

The dragons froze – but only for a second. Yet that second was enough for Cha Ming to adopt and exit the gaping mouth. He flew past his inkflame dragons and their precious yang fire ink, using their detonation to distract the creature long enough for them to take off.

“Well that could have gone a lot worse,” Xing Tianlong said as Cha Ming landed on the deck of their rapidly rising void ship.

“Where were you when all this happened?” Cha Ming asked.

“Sorry, I was almost violated by the plane’s indigenous plant life,” Xing Tianlong said drily. “Please tell me how little I contributed again. I would love to hear it.”

“I’m just upset that I lost a bunch of ink,” Cha Ming muttered. “Again.” Out of all of them, only Wei Longshen relied on consumables as much as he did.

The difference was that Wei Longshen could easily replenish spirits here in the Tribulant Yin Demiplane, while he could not. Aside from the few yin-based inks he’d refined, his ink was as limited resource.

This time, they were able to fly for three days straight without encountering any trouble. They took this time to reorganize their loot. Just a single month in the moderate danger zone had netted them each about four hundred thousand points worth of materials – twice as much as all three prior months combined.

Alas, this came at the cost of real cooking. Huxian needed to be ready to act at a moment’s notice, which meant that they could only eat their fill in stasis sandwiches, stasis buffets, and even stasis coffee. After drinking it for so long, Cha Ming was finally starting to close in on that unique stale flavor that only Petros seemed to notice.

In the moderate danger zone, there was no rest. Life threatening situations were the norm. He hadn’t felt so pressured since the entrance trial. And yet, Cha Ming didn’t feel on edge. He didn’t feel like he was losing himself. For the first time since leaving the Inkwell Plane, he felt well and truly alive.