V3C7: Approaching the Ning

Some time later, she had stopped again, and this time, she remembered to read the description of the seemingly otherworldly arrow she had taken from the confused hunter.

It wasn’t that she had forgotten about checking something so important, but that it only became particularly significant as she finally neared the Ning District, as she might need to put it to use if she encountered another one of the Greats. Potentially, the two that she had fought could have already spread information about her around, and if they did not make the assumptions that she had hoped for them to make, they would be on the lookout for crimson-haired, silver-eyed people to ambush them and kill them.

As she immersed her spiritual perception into the House of Gold, she saw the few objects that remained within the otherworldly artefact and the blue rectangular descriptions that appeared above them. The description above the arrow was shorter than some, but it sufficed.

According to the House of Gold, this arrow was called the ‘Arrow of Artemis’, with the text being written in Antanian instead of the language of the Planar Continents. It was described to have the ability to instantly kill a foe, although the mention of various restrictions – described about as vaguely as the identity of Artemis and what the arrow was made from – made her almost certain that she wouldn’t be able to freely kill the Greats with it.

‘Furthermore, the otherworldly demon has to have attempted it himself, and yet they freely came after him even though he could have had it in his possession,’ she reasoned, taking a closer look at the single unit of ammunition, ‘The extreme variance between otherworldly demons is rather odd, too. None of them seem to know exactly why they’re here, and their gifts vary from useful to incredibly effective in almost every regard. I’d say that if the powers and artefacts didn’t warp their minds, then they would have long dominated Yi City… Well, Kong Shi Meng did exactly that, didn’t he? If he still survives, despite what his mother believes, then nothing would stop him from taking the other continent when he returns.’

Due to the azure light fleeing from the body of the demon, she considered that this arrow would have a similar loss of power to the House of Gold, but as it appeared to retain its primary ability, it was possible that it would instead lose some of its durability, perhaps allowing it to be broken, moulded and manipulated into something new, whether it was the tip of a new weapon or a part of some array.

Depending on how the unknown metal at the tip of the arrow functioned, it could be used for a powerful inscription, perhaps to allow for an Armour Forming inscription to be added to some other incredibly effective yet sparse metal in order to extend its protective abilities across the rest of her body, adding a second layer of defence over her skin and powerful flesh. Since she was already going to the north, where the people often used such inscriptions to allow for fewer clothes and pieces of armour to cover themselves while maintaining the same level of protection.

‘Well, that will remain to be seen. I’m not yet sure whether this assumption is accurate, and even if it is, the otherworldly material might refuse to function in the same manner as other materials from the Planar Continents,’ Wei Yi thought, as she shut the House of Gold and brought her attention back to reality. Although the moulding of a mask from Enigmatic Metal could be done at any time, she needed a proper surface and set of tools to work with something as potentially intricate as the arrow.

Something like that could be found in the Ning District, and, fortunately, she was able to see the first traces of civilization. The quantity of planar beasts was slowly decreasing, traces of camps and the occasional cleared path could be detected with her spiritual perception, likely created by the guards that had dealt with the creatures within the vicinity of the district for the safety of its less-capable inhabitants. Based on the typical practises in the Yi District, most guards would never go further than a day away from their district, as the wilds got more dangerous the further away one got from a district, so if she wanted to reach her destination, she would only need to go for a little longer.

Naturally, that’s exactly what she did, although she slowed down again when she came across a campfire that had been put out only a short time ago, less than a day ago.

There had to be a small group of patrolling guards in the vicinity, and if she wanted to enter the district with as few complications as possible, what easier way would there be than to enter alongside a group of the protectors of the district?

She stopped, and addressed Yi Shi Ming within the prison realm, ‘Could you check whether Fu Zan, the otherworldly demon that’s responsible for creating the equipment for my faction, has completed any clothing that could be interpreted as being noble, or that denotes the wearer to be of high standing? I need to get into the Ning District, and I’m thinking of disguising myself as someone of high capability in an art so that they let me in without any extensive checks.’

‘Good choice. The Ning family, as I recall it, has always had a very strict set of conditions for those that it would allow into their territory, and those they valued the most were artisans of various arts.’

‘That seems to still be the case now, based on the documents in the libraries of the Yi Districts, although they prefer to leave blacksmithing up to their own people, allowing only the other four types of artisans into their territory.’

‘For a family full of blacksmithing arts, that only makes sense,’ Yi Shi Ming replied, going silent for a few moments before coming back with an answer, ‘There are a few things in his possession that suit thine needs. Take a look in the back room, on the thirteenth shelf. Most are some variation of grey, which is a poor choice for the Ning District, but there is a blue, red and a white robe. Additionally, he has a set of armour that he has not yet completed. Have a look.’

Wei Yi did so, shifting her gaze from her mental realm to the prison realm, finding those robes and several pieces of metal that could be interpreted as looking like a set of armour.

‘No, it isn’t anywhere near completion, is it? Fortunately for him, Shaper’s Grasp can fix most of this into something presentable, and, fortunately, he had used a decent metal for the production of this set of equipment, meaning that it ought to look sufficient when worked on by someone capable,’ she commented, looking back at the selection of robes, ‘These, on the other hand, are decent, but they lack the protective capabilities of the Crimson Robes of the Third Arrival. On second thought, it might be better to attempt dying it before getting something different. Can you send that armour to me?’

‘Yes, give me a moment. Do you have a way to obscure the transference process?’

Wei Yi passed on her affirmation and released a cloud of the Binder of the Dark’s technique to obscure the small white and crimson array that appeared on the ground before her. It took a while to complete the process, but due to her ability to move significantly more quickly than any normal person in her realm, she was not concerned about the delay.

The set of armour emerged from the prison realm, a thick cloud of spiritual will coming alongside it and dispersing into the air.

Fu Zan returned from his break with a red face and plenty of excitement to work on something new. With the extreme perceptiveness of Wei Yi, he had always been afraid to visit the brothels that had been completed more than eighteen years ago in Sanctuary, as he thought that she might notice something about him and punish him for wasting time – it was not known to him that she had frequently spent her time doing exactly the same thing, but he wouldn’t have believed such tales even if someone did inform him – but now that she had apparently left to the Planar Continents, he waited a few days to be sure and then took the plunge.

In his former world, he had perished without any experience in sleeping with the opposite sex, making this even doubly exciting for him, and, to his surprise, it was far, far more amazing than he could have ever imagined.

Afterwards, he felt that he would be able to accomplish a great deal more, especially when it came to creating equipment for women. After all, with intimate familiarity with the female form, if he did not put it to use in his work, then what kind of a craftsman or tailor would he be? That was the kind of thing that he was thinking when he entered the back of his store and found something conspicuously absent.

“Eh? Where’s the cosplay gone? Did I get robbed?”

It consisted of several plates of metal, with a few clearly functioning as armguards and pauldrons, as well as some kind of breastplate, although it had either been designed for a woman from the beginning, serving to protect the breasts and the areas around them, or Fu Zan did not quite understand how tall the majority of men and women were. There were several thin plates that could guard the legs, with a very roughly made pair of boots, as well as a few thigh guards, but what he had clearly struggled with the most were the gauntlets.

Due to the claw-like shape of the fingers and the generally impractical design of the other pieces of metal around the hand, it was clear that he had not yet gained enough proficiency in the art of manipulating metal to go beyond imitating something he had seen in his world.

‘One thing this confirms even more than anything else I’d seen from him is that his world is certainly not employing metal armour and swordsmanship in their conflicts, since it would be nigh impossible for anyone to be this poor at understanding and replicating it with the otherworldly gift,’ she concluded, remembering the weapons and armour that the otherworldly demon had attempted to design before this.

His sword designs always tended to be too wide and too thick, like he was intending to make a club instead of a blade. His armour was entirely impractical, with ridiculous proportions and an unnecessarily tight chest for outfits designed for women that would just crush the breasts if anyone was to strike them.

She and a number of other experienced armour smiths had attempted to instruct him on improving his work, but he seemed to struggle in terms of creativity and fluid thinking.

‘If there hadn’t been someone in the prison realm with the Shaper’s Grasp physique, I would be in a rough situation right now. However, with what I have learned from the killing will form, the robe should be easy enough to manipulate, whereas the armour can be adapted to make me seem like some kind of eccentric artisan from afar… Wait, that is pretty much who I already am…’ Wei Yi shrugged, ‘I should hurry up. Thin the metal, reshape it, transform it… empower it…’

Sinking her yin and yang-type energy deeply into the metal, she slowly manipulated it into a shape that she imagined. Whether she wanted to portray herself as an inscription master or someone who is an expert with arrays, she had to look well protected and capable of affording large transactions, as it would simply not make sense for someone of her ability not to be able to do so. A perfect example of this would have been Luo Xiuying, who, despite exploding his home and storefront every other day, was able to afford repairing it and purchasing new clothing for himself whenever it also suffered during his work. Since she could safely match his level of understanding, she had to match his wealth, too.

Besides a few random pieces of gold or silver from the House of Gold, she didn’t exactly have much money to spare, but she hoped that most would be keen to allow her to make use of some of their goods before paying for them in exchange for better prices on their raw materials.

Her modification of the metal was done in a few minutes, thinning out most of the metal while doubling its strength and endurance and adjusting it to her form.

Before putting any of them on, however, she needed to decide the colour she would change her robes to, as well as which one of the great arts she intended to display to the people of the Ning District. With her knowledge, she could easily play the part of a master of any of the five arts, and it was all too convenient that the art in which she was weakest, blacksmithing, was one that she did not need to present to the family that specialised in it.

In theory, she had the most attainment in arrays, but her only path onwards was currently the incomplete Excellence Arts, which would mean that she would need to put in a lot of work to go beyond the current three star realm that she was in.

Talisman creation was also one of her stronger fields, especially with how much experience she had creating talismans with blood in the heat of the moment, meaning that she could likely fight entirely using talismans and ensure that nobody learned about the techniques she had and then had the ability to trace her back to the Yi District and possible cause some complications.

This would be highly advantageous to her, as she intended to spend some time in the Ning District while she learned as much as she could about everything that was occurring the world, as well as any possible rumours of the Greats that might have slipped their attention. Nevertheless, something about choosing talisman creation as her main art for this identity did not sit well with her, as there was another choice that refused to leave her mind.

That, and the image that still occupied her thoughts in the rare instances of her choosing to sleep: the flaming Timeless Grove. Such a wondrous place, with so much life and potential, maintained by a caring woman that did a great deal to assist Wei Yi and even allowed her to retain her cultivation whereas others could not. Usually, she did her best not to get emotional, not to allow past memories to overwhelm her, especially not as badly as her hatred of the Greats, but now, she found it difficult not to be consumed by the memories of the flame that lit up her first ever attack against the Great Families, even if it did end in instant failure.

What helped even more was that she possessed a forbidden skill concerning pill refining, not to mention the technique that would allow her to display talents up to five stars, as that meant that she could have a lot of breathing room when it came to progressing and building up her identity within the Ning District. Depending on how things go, she could even return to it later on to gather support once a full conflict with the Greats erupts, if more forces were necessary.

‘In that case, it would need to be green, wouldn’t it?’ she glanced at her robes and sighed as she made her decision.

She kneeled and grabbed a few clumps of grass, which she promptly drained with her physique abilities before crushing it and tossing it into the air as she stood up. All of the crushed grass was caught in a spherical container she moulded out of her killing will, modelled after a basic pill refining furnace, and used a part of a pill recipe to extract the colour out of the dried grass.

Once she had enough of it, she scattered her killing will and used it to place the dye all over her robes, before saturating planar energy throughout the robes and using it to fuse the individual threads with the green of the grass, modifying it slightly in the process so that it didn’t seem like she had just smeared grass all over her clothing. The verdant green turned darker, with the threads of killing intent that still remained within the cloth spreading out and forming random symmetrical markings on the surface of the cloth.

Their meaning, if there was one, was lost to her, but they also functioned as the kind of flourish that the wealthy might include in their clothing, so she did not do anything against it, only focusing some of her own energy on the threads to change them to gold instead of crimson.

Once that was done, she infused her clothes with spiritual will in order to stabilise their current state and to train her control over the energy until she could create or acquire a variant of the Armour Forming inscription to do this work for her. She made this stabilisation a little easier with the thin metal plates she then placed over her robes, as they were far less flexible than cloth and thus did not require quite as much attention to detail.

When she was done with that, her shoulders, chest, the lower half of her arms and her hands, although not her fingers due to the confusing manner in which the gauntlets had been designed initially, as well as her waist and legs, the space between which was covered in her now green robes. Eventually, she could either create a full set of armour, or utilise an inscription to spread the power of a superior metal across the entirety of her clothing, but for now these plates would suffice in further confusing which direction she had originated from, as her darker skin combined with the incomplete armour could make her look like someone from the Northern Desert, rather than the Central Plains – at the time that they had been named, the central area of the continent had been mostly devoid of trees and forests, but when Yi City declined, the trees slowly reclaimed the empty land.

‘Alright, Yi Shi Ming, is there anything I should know about the Ning District so that I don’t immediately get thrown out or attacked?’

‘I don’t recall there being any rules that significantly differed from other districts. Just make sure not to aggravate the wrong people and most would not have a reason to target thee. If they do, the typical policy is to not kill, unlike the common principles I have observed within the prison realm, and to bring these issues to the guard once the initial conflict is concluded.’

‘Nothing new, then. Very well, let’s see if I can find the guards on their way back…’

She filled her lungs with air, ignited her physique energy, and hastened along the rough direction of the tracks from the campfire, that had already burnt out entirely by the time that she had completed her preparations.

With the World’s Echo ability and all of her movement techniques, she made up the gap created by her delay, then used the significantly fresher prints on the ground to track the exact location of the guards, stopping once she was able to sense their lingering warmth through her spiritual perception. Unless one of them had a yin-type physique or item that masked their presence, there appeared to be six of them, a not too uncommon number for the average patrol, and judging by their footprints, at least four had to be male.

‘It’s time for my return to the society of the Planar Continents… And if they’re bandits, it shouldn’t be too difficult to deal with them and bring their bodies back to claim a bounty, if there is one.’

Wei Yi released her presence and allowed a powerful planar aura to surround herself, instantly warding off several approaching beasts as they saw that they would be no match for her and her fragments of forbidden arts, primarily the cultivation aspect of the Codex of Nature. Then, with long and confident strides that meant to exude the air of an expert striding through a place that was of no threat to them at all, she advanced at great speed.