V2C47: The Invasion Continues, Part 1

“Restore your state? Well, since you’ve heard me already, I have to assume that there is a reason why you doubt my abilities. Is there something different about you?”

Ya nodded, “You’re astute. The avatars that I have seen so far do appear to be in a far better state than anyone I was aware of, meaning that there has to be some truth to what I’ve heard about you, but I must know whether your abilities extend only to humans, or if you can go beyond that.”

“Once again, your words imply much. Based on your doors and general appreciation of human life, you are the one that needs my abilities, but now you’re wondering whether I can influence non-humans… I have a few theories about you, and I can either present them to you, or you could just tell me the answer and let me diagnose the situation,” Wei Yi said, briefly examining the figure’s body before her eyes froze on an amulet around his neck, “Actually, before you decide, tell me about that thing. Where did you get it?”

“Is it of some value to humans like you?” Ya wondered, glancing down at the wooden amulet.

It was the size of a common human thumb and shaped like a nude female figure, with one arm tactfully obscuring the nipples while the other hand concealed the crotch. Long, flowing hair seemed to actively pour from the figure’s head, covering much of its back, but did nothing to hide the incredible detail in the face and body that rivalled real people despite the small scale of the object, not to mention the potential age of this item.

“That is not relevant. I would like to know what it is and where you were able to find,” she did not answer, scanning the object with spiritual perception the very second that she noticed something unusual about it.

“Do humans typically not respect their leaders?”

“It depends, really. When someone else’s leader is practically begging you for help, I think that I have the leeway to speak however I want.”

They shrugged, “Perhaps. I obtained the amulet from a battlefield when I first awoke. It reminded me of my mortal past, of the sensations and pleasures that could no longer be felt no matter what is done to this body… Still, I have been unable to understand anything about it since, and so I would prefer to know if I have uncovered something of interest to you or me.”

“Can’t confirm that yet. All I know is that it is an artefact of some kind, an ancient and possibly powerful one,” Wei Yi said, skipping over the true reason for her interest, “If you don’t mind giving it to me for a few weeks so that I can experiment and examine it, I may be able to tell you more.”

“… I can provide it to you as payment for your services, since I remember enough of humanity to know that few people do things for free. As for your other question, I would be interested in hearing your theories, whatever they may be.”

“Alright, since you asked for it, I will give you what you want. Have you, by chance, attempted to absorb the blood of an ancient beast while you were still alive, following the example of the Lady of Ashes, or were you even more insane and attempted to outright implant the organ of an ancient beast into your own living body without any suitable preparation for it?”

Ya’s eyes widened – only slightly, but visibly and noticeably – and they remained quiet for a while.

“You were close… closer than I had expected. Perhaps something of the sort did occur, but it did not occur to me.”

“Not to- so, you were born as a result of someone who had done this and somehow managed to either impregnate a woman prior to their imminent demise, or to a woman who had been afflicted with the blood of an ancient creature late into her pregnancy and thus her child was not immediately killed due to the transformation of the body, but was instead born malformed and broken?” she raised an eyebrow, as she did not expect either of those to occur anywhere in the Planar Continents.

Despite her expectations, the hatred avatar nodded, “Close again. According to my memories, my mother had participated in some experiment. It did not seem to affect her directly, but her child – me, of course – was. However, the differences from normal humans were slight, until I perished in the prison realm.”

“At that point, whatever balance the human and ancient blood achieved must have finally been broken, destroying your external form while maintaining your internal one.”

“Possibly. So, are you able to correct this?”

Although Ya’s expression was still rather blank due to the absolute lack of obvious facial features, the desperation and need for an affirmative answer was incredibly obvious, almost turning into a kind of spiritual will as it reached her regardless of physical features.

‘I don’t think I have any reason to refuse. So far as I am aware, I could even attempt to restore an amalgam automaton – I wouldn’t touch their minds or memories, since I cannot imagine that any part of them would be happy with their current state – so some mixed blood shouldn’t stifle me too much. If I succeed, all I need to do is mention the brothels of Beast’s Rest and they should be on my side right away… From there, getting Qi Zhou Zan and Yawen Yazhu on my side should be significantly easier as well, for they will be facing the insistence of two leaders at the same time,’ Wei Yi took a second to contemplate before preparing to give them the answer they desired.

At that very moment, one of the guards that had stood at the entrances to the fourth quarter suddenly appeared outside, knocking on the door loudly.

“Master Ya, there are reports of an invasion at the third quarter!”

Before Ya could even react, a second guard rushed in and did the same, yelling, “Second quarter… is under attack! Human men and women… with mystical abilities are attempting… to slaughter us all… while yelling ‘For the Lustful Warlord!’”

Both of them stopped when they realised that they were delivering almost the same report, except for a different part of Automaton Point. Technically, for those living in the prison realm, such things shouldn’t be at all uncommon, and yet the hatred avatars had lived in peace for a little too long, and any encounters they might have had with wars or battles were likely with weaker forces that they were currently facing, causing them to be unprepared for such an invasion.

Their only means of defence were the plentiful amalgam automatons, but those were only ever useful against foes with lacking strength – something that never applied to physique cultivators.

“Remember when I said that you were begging me for help? Here’s the second reason for me saying that,” Wei Yi commented, glancing out of the enormous window to see several small groups of hatred avatars slowly rushing through the quarter and towards Ya’s residence, “I don’t know exactly how large the invading forces are, but I can tell you that so long as two of them – one per each one of your quarters – possesses a powerful greater or absolute combat physique, your people will not stand a chance. Furthermore, I highly doubt that this group is the full extent of the forces that serve the Lustful Warlord, so even if you were to defeat this lot, with or without my help, they would come for you again. One of them is bound to have some method of sending information back to their capital, after all, so they would know more about you the next time they come.”

“I sense an implication in your words as well. If we do not remain here, then where would we go?” Ya asked, looking at her in what was likely suspicion.

“That’s simple. Beast’s Rest is expanding and is looking to hold the entirety of this side of the prison realm is just two years. While there, all hatred avatars could be healed, their resonance with the amalgam automatons can be put to work, and in exchange, no-one from the Great Bone Lake will ever bother you again.”

“With the way you speak, I am inclined to agree with my guards at the tunnels.”

Wei Yi shook her head, “You shouldn’t be. I am not responsible for this invasion, nor do I have the ability to make them stop even if I was.”

“What about the process of physical restoration? Should it not provide me with greater strength?”

“It most likely would, especially if you had some form of a cultivation before becoming a hatred avatar. However, unless you’re the equivalent of one of the Greats in terms of power, forget about winning this battle singlehandedly,” she said, adding, “That, and it will take me around an hour if there are no complications. By that time, even if you emerge victorious, there would be no reason to bother with fighting to begin with.”

“And are you one of the Greats? How did you defeat such a powerful threat?” Ya questioned, though it was clear that they had reconsidered dealing with the matter on their own.

“I can’t compare with those monsters, nor with the otherworldly demons that occasionally get into this world, but I have my own methods. Most people will die if a vital organ is struck, and I can damage quite a few such organs in one go,” she answered with a small smile, “I don’t know how much control you have over the other two quarters, but it would be best if all of them headed here quickly.”

“They’re likely making their way over right now… Very well. If you succeed, we will come to your Beast’s Rest, though we cannot be exploited. Do you understand?”

“Sure. Just remember, if you decide to continue on your own after you get there, you may never get the chance to walk in the Planar Continents again, while most of the people from the prison realm will leave to fight back against the Great Families. Even if your body recovers, there is much that you will not experience without others to experience it with,” Wei Yi told him, taking the wooden amulet from him and lightly tapping it twice, first on the chest, then on the figure’s thighs.

She turned around and left, shutting the door behind her before raising the amulet in her hand closer to her eyes.

Although the object looked and felt ordinary, she found several unusual things about it. First of all, the features of the woman that it depicted were unusual for the Planar Continents, with a larger chest, wider hips, eyes that seemed to be larger vertically than was common, and more. While these could just be coincidences, or perhaps the creator attempting to depict their personal preference and view of beauty, the otherworldly energy surrounding it was much more difficult to explain away. It was incredibly similar to the aura of the House of Gold, and similarly to it, it was impossible to perceive it with spiritual perception.

Even if it was just some toy to the otherworldly demons, it could prove to be incredibly beneficial.

‘Now, what should I do about those invaders? With the healing I’ve had to do, combined with my earlier battle, I do not have too much of my killing intent left. Physique energy is more plentiful, and regenerates more quickly from the consumption of food, so I have more of it, but it still wouldn’t be enough to take down an army twice as large as the one in the first quarter without injuries. Spiritual will is in largest supply, and yet most of the more effective techniques require a long time to prepare…’

Her internal gaze turned to the House of Gold, which still had far too many items lying within it to be of use as a method of storage, and then entered the expansive area within it, ‘There are a few weapons remaining here. Some of them are, supposedly, incredibly powerful…’

Wei Yi descended to the first floor and left the building, heading towards the passages from the second and third quarters while she was considering this.

Under orders from Ya, relayed through the guards and the natural resonance of the hatred avatars, all of the residents from the second and third quarters poured towards the back of the fourth quarter, where they would be least likely to get involved in combat. Yawen Yazhu rushed past her at one point, or someone that greatly resembled him, though there was no trace of Qi Zhou Zan in any of the groups rushing in through the passages leading from the second quarter, suggesting her unfortunate and untimely demise.

Some of the more able combatants stood half-way into the city, calling upon various amalgam automatons to fight alongside them, but even they were under extremely strict instructions not to intrude into the battle that would inevitably take place. If they did, they wouldn’t be able to do a thing, so it was best for them to stand by and prevent any individual combatants from getting too far into the quarter.

Naturally, her place was past all of them, at the crossroads of two paths from the second and third quarters, where the forces from both directions would be likely to meet together and decide on how they will destroy this underground city.

By the time she arrived, she was able to see the forces of physique cultivating bandits coming through the many tunnels, wielding bright physique energy that lit their bodies like they were enormous, mostly human-shaped lanterns in the dark. Some were equipped with various kinds of weaponry, including swords, lances, spears, one or two longbows, daggers, hammers, axes, guandao and more, clearly having come with either a little more preparation than the other group, or they did not expect to be able to rely on the Shaper’s Grasp physique and thus needed to bring their own equipment and weaponry.

‘Still, it is likely that these weapons were made by the Shaper’s Grasp physique, as it is unlikely that any of them would have been able to create this equipment on their own,’ Wei Yi made some assumptions while continuing to browse through her selection of weaponry in the House of Gold, ‘Now, I need something that can strengthen my limited pool of energy significantly…’

The barbarians did not wait for her, only accelerating when they noticed her standing on her own.

Even if there were any kinds of mounts in the Great Bone Lake, these particular physique cultivators obviously did not need them. Just by sprinting, they travelled at the speed of an excellent mount, and the enormous distance between the entrances to the quarter and the fork in the road that she stood on was crossed in a matter of minutes, with every single one of them charging directly at her, preparing various moves to strike at her.

‘What in the heavens does ‘Scales with player level’ mean? Does this mean stage, or realm, or… Eh, fuck it, this is pretty much the best I’ve got in here.’

All of a sudden, she reached with her right hand into the gap between her torso and the other arm, grabbing onto something that the physique cultivators could not see. Nevertheless, those at the front of the charging crowd suddenly felt a wave of fear wash over them and stick within their hearts, despite nothing about her posture changing for several lengthy seconds.

That all changed when they crossed some kind of invisible boundary.

Wei Yi’s head snapped upwards, as did her left arm, while the right performed a wide slash through the air. In her right hand appeared a large greatsword with a hilt and guard of gold and a blade made up of obsidian, and it was wrapped in intense and all-overpowering energy that warped the space around it. It was like sword light, killing intent, spiritual will, even planar energy all at the same time, but all that the physique cultivators were able to understand was that when she swung the blade with a single hand, it split the air before her, carving a thin line through the world that rapidly expanded in the direction of the invaders.

Before they could blink, the cut reached them and, as if it had encountered no obstacles at all, pierced the bodies of those at the front, continuing to penetrate their forces until the sixth or seventh man.

It was only when it was finally blocked by the bones of those intruders that the sound from the attack caught up to them. A harsh shockwave of wind and raw force struck those at the front directly, pushing their two halves back with the force of a punch at the fourth realm of planar cultivation, while those that had survived the attack itself felt their eardrums rupture from the sound and their minds shake from the extremely sudden shock.

Somehow, what suffered even more greatly were not either one of the approaching forces, but the buildings in between them. The cut went directly through the front-most residences, with the following shockwave then shattering all of the supporting columns and causing the structures to collapse.

No matter what the collateral damage was, the armies were stopped, for a moment. Wei Yi took advantage of the momentary pause to send out her physique energy and drain the dead bodies dry of their power while she gripped the blade in both hands and adapted a basic guard position from the Eight Great Changes.

‘Sharen e Mo: Scales with player level, increases energy efficiency by 50%, increases energy regeneration by 50%... I can certainly feel the latter two, but I am still not sure about the first.’

Wei Yi watched as the two armies slowed down, desperately attempted to recover, then decided not to continue their charge as one of the largest figures amongst the crowd emerged to the front, spitting out a mouthful of blood from whatever internal damage he had managed to sustain and endure due to her earlier strike, and removed an enormous blade from his back before impaling it into the ground with a strange grin on his bearded face.

“Woman! Fight me!”

‘Eh? Wasn’t I doing that already? Why did he… Anyway, here’s all of my physique energy streaming to my meridians, it might be enough to activate a few more physique abilities and bring me to the next stage, as well,’ she considered, silently absorbing that energy before looking into the man’s eyes, “I was planning on doing that already, unless you want to have a one-on-one duel?”

“Yes! Duel good! We’ll fight together!” the man exclaimed, the grin growing into a gleeful smile, “You and I – the winner will win!”

“Will win… The entire assault, you mean?”

“Yes, whole battle! Weapon on weapon, nothing other than physique, yes?”

Before Wei Yi had the opportunity to answer, she felt two things directly after one another. First, her physique energy progressed to the next stage, and as that improved energy flowed to her arm and lightly touched the weapon in her hand, she heard a voice in her head, saying, ‘Progress detected. Scanning user for weapon power adjustment…’

The weapon in her hand trembled lightly, but nothing other than that occurred, prompting her to momentarily ignore the matter.

“Sure, I’ll go along with it. Are we permitted to kill one another?”

“Kill! Yes! Kill! Ha ha!” the man exclaimed, pulling his enormous blade out of the ground and raising it into the air without any difficulty at all, “Glorious combat!”

When his physique energy burst out of his body and also enveloped the titanic chunk of metal, Wei Yi was tempted to share in his excitement, for she recognised this kind of energy, and it was something that could further her pursuit of transferring the moves from one weapon to another.

His physique was the Martial Aspirant, and it had one ability that was well known amongst those that studied physique cultivation within the Planar Continents: the power to use any and all cold weapons at the level of an expert within seconds of picking them up. It gave them the inherent understanding of all weaponry they got their hands on, and thus brought them significantly closer to comprehending every single combat technique that involved the usage of those same weapons.

By the looks of it, when it was developed to the point of gaining physique energy, it could also be used to empower weaponry in some way.

“Indeed!” she exclaimed alongside the man, also raising her weapon, when she suddenly felt the greatsword tremble in her hands again, albeit without the same otherworldly voice in her head, ‘There’s some kind of energy originating from the blade, but it isn’t offensive nor defensive. If anything, it is similar to spiritual perception… I guess that scan might take a while, then.’

While they spoke, the other combatants slowly surrounded them, forming a large circle within which they could fight to their hearts content. The leader she was about to fight with, and the surviving combatants under them, seemed to have no issues with their particular arrangement, but she could distinctly sense that the other half of the encirclement was significantly less content with letting her go in the case of victory.

‘I’ll just have to not give them the chance to do so. Something overwhelming should suffice…’