PtM Book 16 - Chapter 3: Evolution

The chapters continue! Should be 3 this week. Also, I'm posting the ePub for Book 15 (Pendulum of Fate - Part 2) right after this. 

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The days came and went in the dark and cruel wilderness, and Cha Ming, now completely at home there, lost track of time. He no longer looked at himself as a trial taker, but one of the original inhabitants of the land that spent each day scrounging for food and building up strength.

The only link he had to the outside world was the occasional message from Huxian. His friend spoke of boring things like demon trials that had nothing to do with him, as well as how much time had come to pass since their arrival.

Then the fourth week arrived, and the situation changed. It happened when he was resting within a root cave, doing his best to recover his strength as he meditated on the hundreds of shadows dancing in his mind.

Concurrently, he was healing a large gash on his back. A vicious six-legged lizard had caught him unaware, and it was taking time to expel the potent residual energy.

It took three hours to heal it, and with his attention split, he almost didn’t notice the spider that had crawled down from the tree roots above him and was silently pulled back her poisonous pincers.

Almost.

It was about to strike when Cha Ming unleashed the newest skill accompanying his Savage Deity Battle Arts, Savage Deity Aura, which paralyzed the spider for two whole seconds while he rolled over, summoned his staff, and swept upwards, smashing it to bits.

The spider’s brood scattered as they felt her death, but some scattered remnants let their hunger overpower them and skittered towards him. Cha Ming could not deal with such a swarm in a short amount of time, so he quickly activated Claddings of Light, blinding thousands of tiny eyes as he slipped past them to blend into the night.

A whole new world appeared before Cha Ming, a world he hadn’t dared explore before. Night was when the truly powerful creatures emerged, and until now, he’d been able to hide away safely to avoid the worst of it.

For the first time in weeks, Cha Ming felt fear. To many of them, he was but a tasty morsel, one that had been dangled before them countless times but had been prevented from snatching.

And now, he was fair game.

All sorts of demons came out from their usual hiding places. Giant midnight panthers, umbral snakes, and nocturnal insects that were the stuff of nightmares.

Fortunately, not all of them were powerful, so he was able to use his Savage Deity Aura to scatter the weakest of them, leaving only a few stronger ones to give chase.

Cha Ming knew that there would be no distracting them or instigating third parties, so he reacted explosively and charged at one of the panthers. He infused his staff with destruction qi and cleanly sliced off its foreleg. He then pasted an Ironbark Defense Talisman on himself to defend against a swarm of mosquitos as large as a hand that flew in to suck him dry.

The talisman didn’t last long under the influence of his destruction domain, but neither did the mosquitos. By the time the last of the runes had faded, each of the three dozen creatures with golden stingers had fallen to the forest floor, twitching.

I need to stop wasting qi, Cha Ming thought. The night’s just beginning, and who knows when I’ll have time to rest. He had to assume that from now on, the daytime was rest time, and the nights were when he fled.

The creatures pursued him doggedly, especially the umbral snake that seemed to be acting on a grudge. Perhaps it was a relative of something he killed? He used Clockwork Blitz to close the gap with the snake, which tried multiple times to tangle him with copies of its shadow. It kept out of range the entire time, so Cha Ming threw out the Savage Deity War Staff like a boomerang.

The spinning disc struck the snake several feet beneath its head, where snakes usually kept their cores. Cha Ming’s aim was slightly off, and the staff only nicked the gem. But it was enough to stun the snake and allow Cha Ming to get up close enough to plunge his fist into the creature’s flesh and pull out his core before transforming the rest of it into several blood essence pills.

The two quick kills added to his aura, and the creatures pursuing him grew wary. There were no attacks for thirty minutes. And then something, a presence, swept over them once again and forced them to attack.

That was when a number appeared inside his mind, 7000. It rapidly decreased until it settled just below 5500.

Beneath it was a second number: 3500. Since it was half of the initial number, Cha Ming guessed that once only 3500 people remained, the rest could be considered to have passed the trial.

What a cold and brutal trial, Cha Ming thought. What a cold and brutal Heartforge Realm.

A part of him was horrified at the revelation.

Another part, the much greater one, was excited.

***

The first night ended as hints of blue crept out from behind the dark forest canopy. Change was in the air and had been for the better part of an hour. The last of the night dwellers gave up on their quarry and made way to the tamer creatures that wandered the forest during the day.

The atmosphere more lively, more peaceful. It promised rest and relaxation. But Cha Ming wasn’t fooled. He saw it for what it was: a half day reprieve from an entire twelve hours of brutal fighting and frantic fleeing.

His body ached. He was covered in all sorts of gruesome wounds and suffering from many kinds of poison. Only now did he feel comfortable purging most of it out and using some of his precious attention to treat his injuries.

He wasn’t the only one to suffer. In one night, the number of participants had gone down from 5500 to 5012. He wondered where they were, because till now, he hadn’t seen anyone else. Perhaps they had all been sent to different areas. Regardless, he had no interest in looking for them.

Now that the night was over, Cha Ming had time to think. Yes, think. It had been a while since he’d done any of that. In fact, he’d rather not think and save energy, but if the sharp increase in difficulty was any indication, and the gradual increase from before, things would only get more difficult.

The first thing he did was eat a few blood pellets and circulate his energy. He did so for a whole two hours, and during that time, there were creatures that crept near him – a few blasts of his aura nearly frightened them to death, and from then on, they avoid him.

The day might seem peaceful, but there were still many dangers lurking about, so did something he should have done long ago. He found a tree that was smaller than normal, blackish purple, and radiated a fierce energy. He’d tried to eat one once, only to suffer serious injuries.

The Clear Sky Carving Knife cut through it like soft clay despite it being as hard as rune gathering grade magical treasures. He the trunk into blocks, then boards, then stakes.

Since he had no ink, Cha Ming took out some monster cores and herbs he’d accumulated over the weeks and crushed them together with demon blood, mixing them into a paste that was black as ink.

He then painted runes onto the board using the Clear Sky Brush and created something called formation stakes. They were a primitive means of setting up formations commonly seen in shamanic civilizations or in demon tribes.

The first set of stakes took him several hours to paint, as he was often forced to relocate or kill off a group of monstrous demons before starting up again. He painted sixty such formation stakes before pushing them into the ground to create circle a hundred meters across that would repel and frighten any creature that tried crossing the boundary.

Only then did he heal he heal his deepest wounds, the ones that, if not treated, would work their way into his bones and marrow and corrupt his inner world.

Several hours later, he was mending comfortably and reflecting on last night’s battles. Pressure was the greatest catalyst for cultivators, and the Savage Deity Battle Art had made great progress. His aura, which was stored in the seed inside his spiritual sea, was making great progress, as were the many techniques he could now comfortably from many unusual positions mid-combat.

Once he finished ruminating and sharpening his techniques, he opened his eyes to find several demons prowling outside, looking at him comfortably. He snorted, and a taste of his aura was all it took to frighten them away.

I have a lot of this wood left over, Cha Ming thought, looking at the remain stakes he’d yet to paint. Should I make something else? Something to attack or trap or defend instead?

Unfortunately, that thought was cut short, and he leaned backwards according to his instincts, just in time to avoid a silver sword as it pierced through his formation. A tree behind him exploded as the sword cut through it and came shooting right back at him so quickly that he could only summon the Savage Deity War Staff and knock it aside.

To his surprise, the blade did not crack. In fact, he felt a tinge of personality form it. This was a soul bound treasure, and its grade was only slightly inferior to that of the Clear Sky Staff.

Cha Ming looked around but saw no one. Without his soul force, he was practically blind. “Is there really a need for this, friend?” he asked.

No one answered, so Cha Ming pulled out the formation stakes and hefted his staff over his shoulder. “If there’s nothing else, I’ll be leaving.”

He stalked off at a brisk pace, unsure of whether the silent assassin would continue pursuing him. He walked for all of twenty-seven seconds before he heard a whizzing sound, and the sword came flying out again.

The Cha Ming from a half year ago might have considered deflecting the sword and running away. The wilderness had hardened him, however, and he had learned that it was best to be proactive in resolving life-threatening danger.

The sword was sharp and fast, and Cha Ming did not feel comfortable having it fly around. So he summoned the Nine Sky Seals just as it was closing in and encapsulated the sword in nine-colored light.

He then used all three of his destruction runes to slice at the connection between the sword and its owner, then used his Crown of the Starry Sky to locate the spiritual string leading back to the sword cultivator.

There! Cha Ming thought. He raced away just as the sword broke through the Nine Sky Seals and shot towards his back. He’d been expecting this, however, and answered the sword with a front flip and a rising staff strike filled with destruction qi. The blade cracked, and Cha Ming heard a muffled cry that further refined his estimate on the target’s location.

The culprit was hiding behind a tree. It was a very tough tree that fed directly into the canopy. The cultivator had done a good job in hiding his presence, especially since Cha Ming was effectively spiritually blind.

By now, the cultivator probably knew that Cha Ming was closing in on them and was probably using the tree as a natural shield. A poor choice in this case. The Savage Deity War Staff grew to the size of a pillar as Cha Ming into the tree straight towards the cultivator’s location smashed through it, sending a rain of metallic wooden splinters flying at the cultivator who’d thought themselves well-hidden.

“Wait! We can negotiate!” the cultivator said. The cultivator was tall, dark, and handsome, and probably very famous where he was from. He had long hair and Daoist robes.

A sword appeared beside him – the same one Cha Ming had broken. Its luster changed from silver to gold, then to bronze, alternating between all types of metals.

“Negotiate?” Cha Ming said coldly. “You just tried to kill me.”

“Ah, but killing me would require energy, and the sun will be setting soon enough,” the cultivator said. “I can compensate you if you spare me. And if you kill me, you’ll get nothing, since I keep everything in my soul bound treasure’s storage space.”

Cha Ming frowned as he inspected the cultivator and thought bitterly about his own sealed storage space. Was he prevented from accessing it because it was an independent world, or were there other reasons?

His opponent was a Daoist. His body was weak, but his soul was strong. His aura indicated that he was at the peak of the law stitching realm, but his sword made him much stronger, and his qi was especially violent. The man was clearly a sword immortal, a rare variety of cultivator that focused on nurturing a single flying sword and almost exclusively used techniques related to them.

The man took Cha Ming’s silence for permission to continue. “I can offer you ten top grade spirit stones. That’s a fortune for people like us, isn’t it? I also have a defensive treasure I can offer you. This is Soul Guard Talisman, which can protect you from spiritual attacks.” He even took out the talisman, and Cha Ming was able to confirm that it was indeed legitimate.

Even so, Cha Ming shook his head. “Too cheap.”

The man frowned. “If you have something in mind, let me hear it.”

“It’s too cheap a punishment for wanting my life,” Cha Ming said, a savage glint appearing in his eye. “Moreover, this is a game of survival. If I let you go, what’s stopping you from attacking me again.”

“I could swear an oath–“

“I don’t trust oaths,” Cha Ming said.

“But if we both fight, you won’t necessarily win,” the sword immortal said. “You are a Dao God. You are powerful. But I can tell that your soul is injured. If push comes to shove, I’ll simply use a soul burn technique to close the gap in strength.”

“True,” Cha Ming said. “Very true. But still… I refuse.”

He used Clockwork Blitz and used a single second to close the gap between them. In that same second, the sword immortal had his sword cut a sweeping bronze arc. Blades of golden light slashed towards Cha Ming, who twisted in midair to destroy them.

Cha Ming’s destruction domain was especially effective in this scenario, because while he couldn’t exactly eliminate the man’s connection to his flying sword, he could substantially weaken his link to it and inhibit its mobility. It also nullified a great deal of the man’s sword-based domain, which he would have otherwise used to materialize secondary blades to attack Cha Ming out of nowhere.

“Madman!” the sword immortal yelled. “I warned you, but you didn’t listen!” He activated a soul burn technique, and his strength soared greatly.

“Yes,” Cha Ming said. “I am.” Then he lashed out with his Savage Deity Aura, stunning his opponent for a fraction of a second.

It was only a moment of weakness, but Cha Ming it to knock away his sword and start a ferocious attack. He himself completely open to retaliation. If the sword immortal was willing to take even one attack from Cha Ming, he stood a good chance at killing him.

“Are you not afraid of death!?” the sword immortal shouted. He pulled his sword close and tried to put some distance between them.

“I’m afraid of death, but I also welcome it,” Cha Ming said in a tired voice. He was tired of fighting, tired of surviving. But he was also tired of letting others push him around.

People like this sword immortal were just like the silvermesh wolves from his first few days in the forest. If not taught a lesson, he would wait for a lapse in Cha Ming’s defences and strike.

A man like this needed to be put down, or at least wounded so that he couldn’t retaliate. And failing that, he needed to know fear.

Cha Ming’s tempo increased, and he began mixing in bursts of speed. Since stealth was useless here, he used Claddings of Light emit blinding light that reduced the accuracy of the sword immortal’s strikes.

“You’re insane!” the swordsman growled.

Yet he didn’t give up. Instead, he intentionally bit his tongue and spat blood on his sword. The flying sword began to glow with an eerie light, and its edge became several times sharper.

It pierced towards Cha Ming, who was just coming down with a staff strike. The man was threatening mutual injury.

Unfortunately, he’d chosen the wrong person to bluff. Cha Ming grinned and continued with his attack. The man finally realized that while Cha Ming might be dreadfully injured, his own injuries would take much more time to heal.

He diverted the sword at the last minute and attacked Cha Ming’s staff, then immediately formed hand seals before transforming into golden motes of light. The light sank into the sword’s blade as it flew away at a speed that Cha Ming couldn’t match.

Cha Ming didn’t even try pursuing. He had achieved his goal. Escaping techniques like this were quite costly, and the sword immortal would need quite a bit of time to recover.

By choosing to put his life on the line, Cha Ming had won the battle without sustaining any injuries.

The swordsman was gone, but Cha Ming did not relax. Instead, he looked up at the canopy overhead where he’d heard strange rustling mid-battle. He released his Savage Deity Aura without restraint to frighten the nearby wildlife to confirm his guess as he ran up a nearby tree and then used his staff to vault towards the source of his unease.

He burst through the canopy and found a flat-footed cultivator hefting a large blade over his shoulder. There he was, another person, acting just like the wolves and the bears and the panthers.

Something crystalized inside Cha Ming then. The seed inside his spiritual sea evolved as he realized the true meaning of becoming a Savage Deity.

The wilderness was not something you found in the wild. Instead, the world was a jungle.

It therefore followed that a Savage Deity did not exist in the wilderness, but in all places including so-called civilization. A Savage Deity did not remain in the jungle – it did battle in the wilderness of the world.

Humans weren’t anything special. They were just a more intelligent animal.

The man with the blade was one of two cultivators that had been scouting out the situation and hoping to play the fisherman once Cha Ming’s battle was over.

Cha Ming’s attack was swift and left him no time to react. The late-stage Dao God’s domain fell apart, as did his last-minute defensive abilities.

And unlike the sword immortal from before, this man’s blade wasn’t a soul bound treasure, and Cha Ming’s staff was able to smash right through. Shrapnel bit into the man’s chest as Cha Ming’s heavy staff strikes hit him again and again, not giving him the opportunity to regenerate.

Cha Ming was a savage blur. His crouched stance, his bouncing around, and his gravity manipulation enabled him to completely lock down his opponent. The Savage Deity War Staff was actually the ideal weapon with which to fight a Dao God.

It took five seconds for him to defeat the Dao God. The man’ body burst into motes of light when he perished, and for a moment, Cha Ming could swear he heard the screams of a dying world. On instinct, he some of these motes of light before they could blend into the void and pulled them into his own inner world.

In that moment, he realized that by killing this Dao God, he’d killed millions of individuals. Yet if he had to do it all over again, he would, because he wasn’t just representing himself, but the trillions of individuals inhabiting him.

The fight was over, and the third individual had already fled. In fact, they’d fled as soon as he’d landed the first blow and was long gone by the time the battle was finished. With any luck, his two fights had completely scared off this individual and deterred them from plotting against him.

A part of him felt horrified by what he’d just done, but it was only a small part that had barely awakened at the sight of other human beings. “What am I becoming?” Cha Ming muttered as he bent over to collect this man’s storage ring, finding valuable restoration pills within it and something he was familiar with: divinity replenishing pellets.

Cha Ming briefly considered adding them to his diet but saw that there was only enough for a week of normal activity. These were useful treasures and should be reserved for emergency situations. He kept them in his storage ring and took out a few blood pellets to replenish his energy.