V1C37: Dust in the Endless Dark

They walked around the glass tube and saw no source of light to be creating the same illusion as before, nor did they notice any trace of that same method. By all possible metrics, that flask and the liquid within were real, though what they really were was more difficult to determine. Since the Third Eye Elixir is identical to water in appearance, and it was impossible to smell the fluid through two layers of glass, they had to work under the assumption that it was what they were looking for.

“So, should we attempt to break the glass case this time, or are you going to attempt to get rid of the light again?” Yi Wei asked, looking behind the network of strange tubes to inspect the back wall, finding no sign of doorways there.

“I’ll try the first option... I don’t want to hear that noise… again…”

Fen Zhi stepped forward to the glass surface, drawing her greatsword quickly and with experienced movements. Dark energy flowed to her blade as she prepared her strike.

Then, with one grand movement, she sliced through the glass, the mysterious tubes around it, and shattered everything around it. Sword light flew out of it, striking the wall at the back and scattering into a burst of darkness, leaving behind a small yet obvious mark.

After a moment of uncertainty, the vial slowly hovered down until it stabilised an inch above the ground.

“Well, at least that behaviour is consistent with the previous Third Eye Elixir,” Yi Wei remarked, keeping her hands by her sides, “You can take it. I won’t be able to figure out whether it’s real or not anyway, and I have no reason to consume a second flask of the same elixir. By the way, was that another reason why you chose me to help you?”

“Yes… Though I had thought… there would be more illusions… than none at all…”

She bent down and carefully picked up the elixir flask, swirling around the liquid within for a few moments while her eyes were shut.

Eventually, she nodded as she opened her eyes, “This is it… I can sense the energy… of the Third Eye Elixir… within…”

“Then drink it already, alongside the Golden Bones Elixir, or else someone might come and-”

Out of nowhere, the ground beneath them rumbled, as if a giant had stepped onto the land above them. The sound and strength of the shaking earth were both faint, but that was enough for both of them to lose their relaxed stances.

“Hurry up. We might have a problem.”

“Mhm…”

The assassin opened up both flasks and downed their contents, one after another, swallowing their contents before sitting down on the metal floor with her legs crossed.

Without asking for permission, Yi Wei took out a number of tools and began to draw, carve and place various nodes and channels around her, creating all sorts of arrays and inscriptions within a single minute. A Planar Gathering array, a Mental Stabilisation array, a reversed, simplified and weakened Potential Draining and Dantian Clogging arrays, and many more were placed onto the ground, with their centre and focus being the assassin.

“Fen Zhi, this will probably hurt, so I advise you to begin cultivation immediately,” she said, and injected an enormous quantity of her cosmic energy in liquid form into the arrays.

“Now?”

“Right now. You won’t have a better opportunity than this, and, from experience, cultivation and breakthrough can dull the pain from a number of things, and might even allow for a different method of integration of the elixirs… Maybe.”

“Understood…” the assassin muttered and initiated her cultivation technique.

Great quantities of planar energy surged to her body, but to Yi Wei’s surprise, the flow of energy was far inferior to what she was personally capable of.

‘How interesting. The Mysterious Character technique is powerful, I was aware of that already, but I’ve never had the opportunity to compare myself with someone of a greater realm,’ Yi Wei noted, altering one small node on the Planar Gathering array, ‘If she is to achieve any sort of development in this amount of time, I will need to increase the amount of energy I’m providing her with. Hopefully, the trembling ground isn’t anything to do with us, but…’

She felt another minor quake, and this time, it was clearly closer than before.

‘… but I’m not going to have that kind of luck, am I?’ she thought, recalling the sorts of things she had encountered when she last tried cultivating in the area, ‘This will be a good opportunity to see how I would have fared with my typical cultivation methods in an ordinary body. Maybe my reversed version of the four arrays beneath my home will help her out with her doubled spiritual will situation.’

The moment her arrays and inscriptions activated, the stream of energy that Fen Zhi was creating no longer seemed so grand, for the rate at which it flowed increased tenfold. Planar energy that had previously lacked sufficient density to be visible to the naked eye became a thin violet mist within the air, and then, deep within this mist, droplets of purple condensed. Pure planar energy, pulled together to such an extent that it appeared in liquid form outside of the dantian, where planar energy can exist in a stable form without risk of dispersal, rushed towards the assassin’s abdomen, and the moment it entered, it elicited a gasp of surprise from her mouth.

“What… did you..?”

“Shh. Focus.”

“Why- AH!” Fen Zhi suddenly cried out, clenching her hands to such an extent that her nails pierced her dark gloves and drew blood.

“Told you. Stay calm and don’t let yourself be destroyed by the energy. It will be beneficial in the long run,” Yi Wei stated, reaching into her pocket to find something she had almost completely forgotten about – the Flesh Recovery pill. She took it out, momentarily pausing to examine its somewhat dusty surface, then infused it with a wisp of cosmic energy, “Here. This should help.”

The assassin was unable to reply, so she simply flicked it into her half-open mouth. As the pill flew through a cloud of planar energy, it melted slightly, though not to an extent that would have prevented it from reaching its target.

‘I think I have gone ever so slightly overboard on this,’ she considered, a little too late to actually do anything about it, ‘At the very least, the Flesh Recovery pill should prevent any potential of death from all of this violent energy, and might, if things go well for her, even have a similar effect to my cosmic energy in terms of the reconstructive and strengthening properties. In theory. I don’t have a clue as to what exactly causes it, and whether it is effective outside of my body, so all of this is just wishful thinking…’

She saw Fen Zhi swallow the pill just as a trace of red began to bleed through her clothes, spreading rapidly to turn her figure, starting from the neck down, red.

‘Wait, why is she bleeding this badly? Did I overdo this even more than I thought?’ Yi Wei asked herself, sending her spiritual will into the woman’s body. Quickly, she located the golden energy of the elixir, and saw that instead of it quickly converting the bones to gold, like in her case, it was instead burning everything within proximity, almost as if it was trying to melt the bones completely.

For a moment, she couldn’t understand why the effects between them differed to such an extent, when she remembered the differences between their bodies yet again, all while observing how the medicinal effects of the Flesh Recovery pill sunk into melting flesh and bones and healed them.

Although Yi Wei’s physique was not the most powerful, at least upon first glance, it had been refined endlessly by the three elements currently stored within her planar energy. It still contained a large number of flaws and impurities, as does the body of any mortal being, but that number was vastly lower than that of the average person, especially when that one person does not practise body cultivation nor have a particular physique.

Thus, when the Golden Bones Elixir reformed her skeleton, it had to do little, merely converting their structure into gold. Meanwhile, in order to reach the same level of refinement in Fen Zhi’s body, it needed to get rid of a significantly greater quantity of impurities, and the process was naturally far more painful and bloody as a result, especially when combined with a simultaneous assault of an extreme quantity of planar energy without the guidance of a sufficiently powerful technique to control it and minimize its damage.

‘Well, I have successfully learned exactly how much other people and I differ, both in terms of physique and cultivation techniques… In fact, Fen Zhi isn’t an ordinary person. She is someone who has been trained by a well-known assassin organisation, the Endless Dark Assassins, and so her skills are likely to be far superior to those of the weaker families and districts of Yi City.’

Once she was sure that the Flesh Recovery pill was sufficient to heal the side effect of the Golden Body Elixir, she rescinded her spiritual will and silently thanked the heavens for her gifts.

Whether those gifts were the mysterious characters, the planar energy they gave her, the luck in finding a teacher for each of the great arts, or the general fortune she had experienced since the awakening of the characters, each one provided her with something that few others could even dream of, and if she ever encountered the person, entity or group responsible, she would wholeheartedly thank them, regardless of what else those people may be up to.

Another rumble of the earth passed by them, originating somewhere to the south of them… in other words, from the place they entered.

‘I get the feeling that the one responsible for those quakes is heading for us, or perhaps for the Third Eye Elixir, specifically. To be safe, I should assume that the feeling is correct, which would leave me with two options to prepare for it. Either I have to conclude Fen Zhi’s cultivation and elixir absorption as quickly as possible, or I could attempt to strengthen her further, possibly delaying her ability to assist in combat, but exchanging that lost time for greater offensive potential, which is absolutely necessary if this isn’t just a snake in a dragon’s body,’ she decided, quickly weighing up the two options in her mind, ‘Ultimately, I should be able to play the part of someone in the lower Emergent Anchor realm for a short time, and I can even break through on the spot, so long as I have half a minute to spare, but it will ultimately be up to Fen Zhi to deal with any real threats. That means that she should have as much combat ability as possible.’

Yi Wei quickly glanced at the woman’s eyes, finding them to be tightly shut. After she also looked around the room and found no possible observers, she took out her equipment again and quickly added and modified a number of arrays, primarily focusing on Planar Gathering arrays, adding a Planar Stabilisation array after every few of them to prevent the planar energy from going completely out of control.

Each one of the newly created arrays was at the level of three stars, albeit constructed in such a fashion that they might as well have been talismans, as they would burn out after only a single use. Nonetheless, when imbued with cosmic energy, their effects could match an array of four stars.

‘I don’t think I will be able to give her a perfected stage with this, but it might allow for two stages to be passed through at once,’ she thought, activating this new series of arrays.

Once more, the waves of planar energy intensified, the thin trickle of violet liquid transforming into a great stream that surged into Fen Zhi’s body. This time, the sound of flesh being torn, and bones cracking was clearly audible, echoing throughout the empty hall before her wounds sealed herself, only to explode again.

Blood dripped out of her mouth slowly, pooling up by her feet.

Just as she seemed to be losing consciousness, Yi Wei was able to observe the signs of a breakthrough developing within her body.

For a moment, all of the planar energy around her was drawn in at an even faster pace, flooding her dantian completely, before it burst out, a dark energy consuming her body in its entirety as it formed into the shape of a planar anchor. Fiery light surged out from within, marking the shadowy shape with cracks of flame. The remaining liquid cloud of planar energy changed the direction in which it flowed, going up and into the core of the anchor.

It sucked in all of that energy, before releasing a sudden pulse of darkness as it dispersed, sinking back into Fen Zhi’s body. Within it, she saw that the assassin’s blood had turned completely black, though the blood that still spilled from her body remained red.

‘Alright, one breakthrough has been completed, and there seems to be enough energy in the air for another one,’ Yi Wei observed, sending some spiritual energy back into her body, ‘Her bones have almost transformed, and the third eye is mostly formed. If necessary, I could interrupt this midway, but I would much rather have her complete the next breakthrough as well, since-’

The ground shook yet again, allowing her to estimate the rough location of the source.

‘Whoever or whatever it is that’s currently breaking in doesn’t appear to be very patient or happy, provided that it has intelligence,’ she guessed, shifting her attention to the doorways through which she entered, ‘I should reinforce these, as much as I can.’

That’s exactly what she did, inscribing every single inscription she could that could possibly prevent entry. Without any specific materials and with a limited time frame, it was only feasible to place seven Momentary Barrier inscriptions and connect them to four Static Shield inscriptions, using the former to prevent anyone from charging in and then activating the latter to further delay entry. If the source of the noise turned out to be someone without hostile intent towards them, then it would not be too difficult to break the inscription down, but if it was an enemy, then the longest they could possibly hold would be for a minute and twelve seconds, provided that the intruder is below the fifth realm in terms of strength.

If it was above that…

‘No matter how proficient I am in any defensive measures, there is no way to bridge such a large gap in cultivation. Even if my perfected stages and cosmic energy have made me ten times stronger than anyone in the same realm, then any average cultivator above the Marked Core realm will be more than six times more powerful, and will have the ability to use solidified planar energy and searing marks, which will make them twelve times stronger at the very least.’

By the time she was finished, there were two more quakes, with the last one seeming to be far closer to the previous one than usual. It seemed to be originating from the room with the deafening noise, so Yi Wei figured that they had also gotten irritated by it to the same extent as Fen Zhi had and stuck around a little longer than usual.

“There’s one corridor and eleven inscriptions left. How long will it take you to get to the sixth stage?”

“I…” the assassin spat out a few drops of blood, wiping her mouth with the back of her gloved hand before finding an answer, “It might take… a few more minutes… at best…”

‘Right, most people don’t have two to three breakthroughs in one go,’ she suppressed her rising stress and nodded, “One minute and twelve seconds are guaranteed, any more than that and some planar beast might be attempting to eat you.”

Fen Zhi bobbed her head slightly, either unintentionally or as a nod, “Noted.”

Another rumble reached them, and it was not difficult for both of them to place the source of it at the entrance to the twin corridors that led up to the skeleton rooms.

“I might… be able to be a little… quicker…” Fen Zhi muttered, placing her palms together by her chest, “One minute and fifty-two seconds…”

“That’ll have to do, I suppose. Don’t get distracted.”

A few seconds passed, followed by yet another earthly shake. This one was far stronger, and significantly angrier in nature, and was rapidly followed by a strike on the passage Yi Wei had used to enter.

The membrane absorbed that attack, distending and bending as a result of it, showing that the source of the damage was an enormous crescent-like wave that had impacted against it. For a moment, the assault paused, but it resumed with another strike against the membrane. This time, it was something smaller and denser, striking the very middle of the barrier, stretching it even further before it was able to resist the attack. It began to repair itself, but before it could, the third attack, in the same fashion as the second one, struck the exact same spot.

For a moment, the membrane tensed, then, without any sound, it ruptured, causing a cloud of dust to flood into the room, with any momentum having been dispersed by the barrier.

Through the thick layer of dust shone the violet light of an activating inscription, which was promptly shattered by yet another wave of dust. In rapid succession, invisible attacks destroyed one barrier after another, forcing the remaining four Static Shield inscriptions to light up simultaneously.

As there was little she could do but watch, Yi Wei turned her attention to the dust that slowly floated towards her. After it passed a certain distance from the doorway, each individual particle dissolved completely, vanishing as if it had never existed, and as if it hadn’t just destroyed seven carefully crafted inscription barriers in just a dozen seconds. As it did so, the density of planar energy within the room increased significantly, as if someone had thrown a planar shard into the room and scattered it with their spiritual will.

‘That’s cleared up any doubts I had. This is Yi Henghua, and I get the feeling she won’t be happy,’ Yi Wei thought, casually absorbing that energy, ‘However, the technique she practises… It is immeasurably powerful. If this isn’t a sign of some forbidden skill, then I can’t imagine what else it could be. That confirms the theory that her technique was connected to an artefact, or something of the sort.’

The first barrier collapsed with a great explosion of energy, leaving three.

Fen Zhi’s body began to show signs of another breakthrough, with the planar anchor reforming in the air around her. It was stronger, clearer than before, and with the influx of energy from the scattering dust, the flaming patterns on its surface also grew larger and brighter.

By the time the second barrier fell, the anchor had begun to solidify, becoming more than a mere phantom. Planar energy surged into it once the third one broken and continued with the fourth.

The moment it broke, the explosion sent the dust flying, revealing Yi Henghua’s figure as she entered the chamber. An endless whirlwind of dust circled behind her, seemingly pouring endlessly out of her hair and clothes, as if she was made from it completely. In fact, her fingers and the edges of her face appeared to be covered in a thin layer of stone, which also crumbled and rebuilt itself without any sings of stopping.

“YOU!” she screamed, before taking any time to inspect the room. When she did, her eyes inevitably went to the empty flasks on the ground, and then to the two women who were beside them. Then, her expression twisted into that of a demon or a vengeful spirit as she called a great spear out of the dust, sending it flying at Yi Wei without a word.

It looked much like the attacks she had previously used within the illusory realm, but a single glance at it with her spiritual will revealed that it was almost solid, and thus was almost equivalent in strength to someone in the fourth realm.

The world seemed to freeze around her as she processed the situation, ‘I cannot get hit by that, but if I move out of the way, Fen Zhi’s breakthrough will be interrupted and her planar anchor could be damaged, or outright destroyed, dropping her down to the second realm. This, I also cannot allow, not after how much she had given me, and how much she had told me. That would be both disrespectful and foolish, as the moment she loses her power, I lose any chance of getting out alive. What to- Hm? Wait, if I am sensing that correctly, I might – no, I should be able to… yes. That might work… Or I’ll have a hole in my chest.’

Despite her uncertainty, she permitted her mind to return to its regular speed.

The spear of sand flew forward, crossing the room rapidly and in a flash, it was right in front of her, its tip spinning rapidly as it was clearly ready and able to kill her.

A burst of darkness flooded in from behind her, colliding with the dust. Both were obliterated instantly, but that was enough. Using her full ability of the Storm’s Edge Dash, Yi Wei disappeared from the spot and reappeared behind Fen Zhi, beside the planar anchor that was already placed as to minimize the damage that Yi Henghua could do to it from her current position.

“You two… Get your hands off of my things!”

‘I think she is aware that Fen Zhi is on par with her, at least without the usage of her forbidden skill. This is a good opportunity,’ she thought after observing that the dust cultivator did not immediately fire another bolt in their direction, “Since when do any of these elixirs belong to you?”

“Since when? You incredulous, foolish native, this entire world belongs to me! I am destined to sit in the throne of the heavens, to stand above the world! Haven’t you looked around? This architecture is clearly inspired by my world – this is all here for me!” Yi Henghua exclaimed, “And you’re the ones interfering. Now, where are my elixirs?”

“Even if this place is familiar to you, why would that mean that this belongs to you?” Yi Wei asked again, though her thoughts were more turbulent than her outward appearance seemed, ‘She is from another world? No, her body is certainly from the Planar Continents, but it could be that her mind and spirit somehow appeared here. Has she formed the misunderstanding that because she was able to find something suitable for her, that she is the rightful ruler of the world? She must be unaware of the fact that even the Master of Yi City had never dared to say that it was his right to rule over the continent, not to mention the entire world.’

“You, the pervert that sought out my naked form, actually want to delay me like this? Fine. I know how this works. I’ll get what I want in the end,” she replied, continuing quickly without giving Yi Wei an opportunity to interject, “This body’s former owner died in her sleep, and the very first day I woke up, I found the most powerful technique in the world – the Fairy of Dust. The book turned to crystal and entered my body, and since then, I have been able to defeat anyone of the same stage with ease. I get fortuitous encounter after encounter, and I have an unparalleled talent in pill refining. Tell me, if that isn’t a sign, what is? Would you want me to be perfect in every great art and be able to cultivate every element at once before you acknowledge my greatness?”

‘If… If I say yes, will she kill me?’ Yi Wei suppressed the involuntary rising of the corners of her lips, “Where did you get the idea that your technique is the strongest?”

“Where? Are you stupid? Can your techniques do this?”

With a casual wave of her hand, she caused five spears to form from the dust behind her, each one spinning at an immense speed and each one full of stone-like shards that formed out of larger clusters of dust.

Yi Henghua smirked, putting her hands on her sides without any signs of her typical state of fatigue, “So, convinced yet? Now, where have you hidden those elixirs?”

“I don’t know why you assumed we’ve hidden them.”

Her expression froze, before slowly transforming back into the rage she previously showed, “You haven’t been listening, have you? HAVE YOU? They were for me, not for your filthy mouths! Just like the rest of this world, you are far too insolent when you speak to your future empress. Oh, wait a second, I can refine the medicinal properties out of your bodies, can’t I? So, you’re just the characters that are meant to present me with some medicinal pills, aren’t you? Hehe… DIE!”

All five projectiles flew forward, and in response to them, Fen Zhi caused the shadows around them to converge into a barrier. The spinning spears struck it simultaneously, scattering a large quantity of dust into the air before shattering the congealed darkness.

The time that earned was more than sufficient, for both Fen Zhi and Yi Wei had techniques for rapid movement. They split up, each one dashing to the side, drawing a greatsword and a spear generated by the Living Spear technique. However, such a thing did not stump Yi Henghua even for a moment, as she produced eight more projectiles, shooting half at each one of them.

‘Despite the fact that they all look the same, she has already shot three different types of spear. The first one, which she used to break down the membrane and barriers to this chamber, was equivalent to three and a half of these ones, which have the same strength as half of the second type, which she had just fired at Fen Zhi. This means that I don’t even have to dodge… Dawn Flowing Light!’ she called out in her mind, calling forth a great wave of thick sunlight that concealed a great quantity of golden lightning within.

Dust collided with dawn light, but before it could break through, a singular strand of gold burst out, arcing between all four bolts and causing them to crumble into nothingness.

The energy that was contained within was instantly absorbed by Yi Wei, adding it to the great pool of planar energy she was saving up for her future breakthrough. She mobilised some of her own energy and formed it into three bright points of light in front of her, charging them with an even greater quantity of cosmic energy before releasing it in the form of three enormous beams.

Yi Henghua was also able to react quickly. With one simple gesture, she transformed the newly formed dust spears into shields, absorbing the beams in their entirety, albeit at the cost of all three dust bolts and the energy invested in them.

Meanwhile, Fen Zhi also decided to take the attacks head-on, slicing through every single projectile of dust with her blade, using the least energy possible whilst acclimating to her increase in strength.

“You stupid side characters! Have I not explained myself properly? YOU’RE MEANT TO DIE!”

She threw her hands up into the air as the cloud of dust behind her gathered around her body, forming something akin to a second layer of skin whilst it continued to fly around wildly. Out of the air, ten spears made out of chunks of rock appeared, and both of them could tell that they were at the same level as the ones she used to break into the metal chamber. This time, she didn’t even need a gesture to make them fly, but she did follow every spear with a large chunk of the dust storm.

This was not something they could casually block, nor could they evade it with ease, as any slight movements were immediately corrected for.

They shared one glance, then, following Yi Wei’s gaze, they looked towards the second entrance.

Fen Zhi stood closed to it, so she ran straight for it, whilst Yi Wei ignited the one hundred and eight stars inside of her body and manifested another wooden arrow-spear, wreathing it in lightning before charging… straight for Yi Henghua.

A glint of confusion flashed in her eyes, but she responded with a prompt spear right in her face.

‘That’s exactly what I was waiting for, you self-proclaimed rightful ruler! Elysian Fist!’ she thought, whilst calling out, “Rising Dawn Fist!”

The light of dawn, originating from the miniature star within a meridian in her hand, and the soft while energy of the Elysian Fist – a somewhat lazy modification of the Elysian Palm, done quite some time ago in the Yi District – wove together before her fist, glowing far more brightly than the true sun of the world. It crashed into the dust, instantaneously destroying any cohesion in its structure, sending it flying in a great cloud towards Yi Henghua.

Her own planar energy blinded her for a moment, and when she was able to clear her sight, she saw Yi Wei at the doorway adjacent to the one she entered through. In her furious state, Yi Henghua could react in no way other than by launching every dust-stone spear and storm at her.

The latter reached her target first, shredding through the defensive arrays on her robes and crashing into her back, doing little but leaving a few scratches on her rosy skin.

Before the other projectiles could strike her, she passed through the doorway’s membrane safely.

Thus, they impacted violently against the opaque surface, destroying it but simultaneously activating the defensive barriers placed upon the passageway. Although each layer shattered with every further spear, by the time the final four inscription barriers were broken, the room beyond was empty, and there were a few more inscriptions placed around the doorway.

“YOU…”

Unfortunately, Yi Wei could only place that one set of inscriptions, not because there wasn’t enough time, but rather due to every single other doorway being destroyed already.

“What do you know… of that woman? … She seems insane…”

“I get the feeling that she is,” Yi Wei replied, running through the first metal chamber where the fake container for the elixir was sort into little pieces, “Her name is Yi Henghua, she cultivates the Fairy of Dust, uses dust techniques, and is generally disliked by most of the family. If this is how she deals with most people, then I can imagine why. Even if she wasn’t as clear about it most of the time, I can still see why someone would get tired of her superiority complex… whatever that is.”

“Mhm… Is it a forbidden art?”

“Almost certainly. Very few other things allow someone to exceed their realm and stage by such an extent,” she said, thinking of her own gift, ‘I’d like to think that I know a thing or two about that.’

“In that case… what would be her… weakness?” Fen Zhi asked.

“Presumably, the dust is of the earth element, meaning that it should be susceptible to wood-type attacks, though my Living Spear hasn’t done much against her. How fast are you at learning techniques?”

“My record is… two weeks… for the sword light techniques… to reach Minor Achievement.”

‘Then I can’t just pass on my collection of wood skills on to you, can I? I’m also the only one who seems to be able to use a technique with any degree of usefulness without properly cultivating it, so I can’t ask her to do that, either…’ Yi Wei frowned, “Well then, I don’t have any useful suggestions, other than overwhelming her or trying to catch her off guard. She is just one person, after all, and both of us should have various methods of stealth, so if one of us occupies her, the other can either incapacitate her or outright kill her, if necessary.”

“Would it be… bad to end her life? Are you… part of the same… family, and how does… your family deal with… killing their own members?”

“Not acceptable unless they have seriously endangered the family as a whole, or if permission has been given by the proper authority for the prevention of any such behaviour. There’s a reason why no-one ever beat me up to death while I hadn’t yet found the right path in my cultivation.”

“Then it wouldn’t-”

Her words were cut short when they entered the metal corridor and saw that the floor was covered in a thin layer of freezing water, and that a great hole was made in the entrance, exposing the fact that the vast majority of the yin water pool had been completely eradicated. A small stream of sunlight poured in through that gap, illuminating the jagged walls of the passage.

“That answers how she bypassed the freezing waters, I suppose,” Yi Wei commented, rushing to the exit as to minimize the freezing of her footwear, “Do you want me to throw you again?”

“Right…” Fen Zhi nodded, “Before that, I was saying… that it wouldn’t be good to take her life… even if I do it myself… right?”

“Pretty much. I’ve assisted you in this, so if anyone at all cares about her or the rules, then I will suffer for it, even if they conclude that I was acting in self-defence and with good justification to end her life. Now, enough chatter unless you’re fond of being cut into a million pieces by tiny particles of sand.”

The assassin stepped forward to the edge of the jagged stone passageway, where Yi Wei grabbed her by the waist and, using her entire body to maximise the force of her throw, she launched her up, all the way to the top of the pit, where Fen Zhi grabbed onto the edge and climbed out with ease, with Yi Wei following her using a single jump to get onto the wall, then the Storm’s Edge Dash to run up the walls and right out of the pit.

Just as they did that, the sound of an explosion from inside of the underground chambers reached them, alongside another quake.

‘Well, she’s out already. What to do…’ Yi Wei considered, looking around for any signs of people in the area, but unfortunately she found no-one but the assassin by her side, ‘Based on her speed, she will catch up far before we reach the camp, and I can’t pull off my Rising Dawn Elysian Fist enough times to have the chance to get the attention of someone capable… Then, I may need to incapacitate her here, as quickly as possible, before she has the chance to unlock some further form of the Fairy of Dust, like she has already done once in the underground chambers.’

“Fen Zhi, we’re going to fight her here. Place down your planar anchor and hide yourself – try to avoid any deadly attacks, if you can.”

“Understood…  Though I have a sword, so… difficult to injure seriously but non-lethally…”

“That’s true, but if you do kill her, I will force you to stay around and take the blame, though once they acknowledge you as the perpetrator, you can run freely,” Yi Wei stated, “I just don’t want to get executed or get sent back to the District.”

“Fair enough…” the assassin said. She vanished from the spot in a cloud of dark energy, reappearing somewhere to the side, though if Yi Wei hadn’t channelled cosmic energy to her eyes, she wouldn’t have been able to follow her. Furthermore, the moment she blinked, she lost track of Fen Zhi, despite the fact that she hadn’t moved from her spot.

‘Not bad, I’ll have to see if I can’t mix her stealth abilities with the ones from the Deadly Martial Colosseum.’

She had to put it off for later, as she felt the approaching killing intent that belonged to Yi Henghua.

When she emerged from the darkness, the dust around her was even thicker, as if her every attack didn’t exhaust her of planar energy, but instead filled her with ever greater quantities of energy. Her hair had transformed into long strands of dust, two tornadoes of dust spinning by her eyes and a vast cloak of dust trailing behind her. She glanced up, out of the pit, then simply crossed her arms. A great quantity of dust, sand and stone erupted from beneath her feet, launching her out of the depths of the former yin water pool.

“Where did that black-clothed bitch go?” were the words that followed her graceful landing, as well as a dozen sand projectiles that emerged from her, “Did you let her run off so that you can die alone?”

“Are you prepared to take on the punishment for killing one of your kin?”

“Punishment? For me? You must be completely foolish – unable to see Mt Tai! I’m the protagonist here, don’t you understand? I’m above mere servants like you, and when they learn that I deigned to get rid of you, they’ll congratulate me for getting rid of useless filth. Maybe when I become Empress of the World, I’ll leave a small plaque for you beneath my statue, telling everyone how you nobly sacrificed yourself to raise me to new heights.”

“You might want to make your aspirations a little more realistic. The Master of Yi City himself settled for a single city, albeit a large one, and never dared to claim that he could occupy more than this one continent.”

“The Master of Yi City?” Yi Henghua’s expression turned dark, “AGAIN WITH HIM? Master of Yi City this, Master of Yi City that… do you people have nothing to speak about but him? Who cares about that old bastard, he probably hadn’t seen the true peak of cultivation anyway! These things always have a dozen or so upper worlds, while he had only reached the ninth stage. He’s weak!”

She sent all of her formed spears at Yi Wei, as if to demonstrate the truth of her words.

The spears and dust clouds flew almost twice as fast, so she was unable to execute any full combat technique or to use her Storm’s Edge Dash, so she was only able to materialise a barrier of blood in front of herself. As before, the clumps of the dust storm struck first, cutting and shredding into her layer of defensive planar energy.

It held on, but only for a moment. The rest of the dust clouds went right through, striking her entire body, from head to toe, scratching and cutting her skin relentlessly.

Just as the spears were about to make their mark, Yi Wei heard the familiar sound of an arrow, far too large for any regular bow, being loosed, and, based on the origin of the sound and the direction in which this arrow pierced the air, she could tell that she was not the target.

A flash of silver burst out of the forest behind her and struck Yi Henghua right in the chest.

Every single dust projectile shattered, and the numerous dust formations around her also collapsed into nothingness, though the dust armour was able to completely absorb the impact.

“You have truly lost it this time, haven’t you?” Yi Fenwu’s voice was carried through the forest, reaching the ears of all three without any difficulties despite the fact that it was almost a whisper, which should have naturally been overshadowed by the flow of gold and crimson blood and endless quantities of rushing dust.

“Have you no sense of the moment? The villain isn’t meant to save his or her subordinates until they’re one step away from death!” Yi Henghua exclaimed, kicking away the arrow-spear, “Didn’t know you two were working together. When that pervert intruded on my bathing, was it to research my weaknesses? You fools, did you think that I could be tricked by something like that? Even if I didn’t expect to find a gay girl in this world, I wasn’t caught off guard!”

‘I… What does half of that mean? Also, if you thought I was trying to find your weaknesses – how am I a pervert in that instance, anyway? – then why did you let me get away with it? You’re not making any sense, you insane woman!’ Yi Wei swallowed a few drops of blood that had gathered in her mouth and silently flooded her body with cosmic energy to accelerate its healing, “Yi Fenwu, she claims she is from another world and is intending to become Empress of the World. Her Fairy of Dust technique is a forbidden art, and her mental state is generally poor!”

“That last part doesn’t surprise me,” the woman that walked out of the forest seemed to have a completely different aura, lacking any of Yi Fenwu’s typical flirtatious tone and intentionally revealing movement, and her tone was dry and serious. The only thing that matched was her appearance, and the blindfold that was always on when she was practising her archery or maximising its power.

“Yi Henghua, I am obligated to tell you to stand down. You’re endangering this entire expedition with your reckless and foolish behaviour-”

“I AM GOING TO BE THE ONE THAT FINDS THIS HIDDEN REALM!” Yi Henghua interrupted her, “None of you are going to get inside without me! I hold the key, and I will find it first! All of the world’s treasures belong to me!”

‘Do you even know who this valley belonged to? Besides, you don’t have a single one of the keys, while I have three. Does that make me the Empress of Empresses?’

“And what does your attempt to murder a poor girl have to do with that?”

‘Don’t think that I’ve forgotten your attempt to kill me, Yi Fenwu. However, I will forgive you for now…’

“Oh, shut up already. You just want to murder me, don’t you? You’re the villain, that’s what you do – I can’t blame you for it,” Yi Henghua smiled, the dust beginning to gather around her again, “Come on then, come at me. You’re a metal cultivator, so you don’t have an advantage in terms of the elements, and that idiot over there can’t hurt me no matter what she does. This should be fun!”