V3C9: The Wane and Rise of Planar Energy

Somehow, the receptionist was satisfied by such a simple explanation, and quickly hurried her back to the Chu Alchemical Store to grant her permission to be listed in their books and to be able to trade through them. With that, if anyone wished to purchase an item that she provided, or wished to make a more specific request, she could be included and offered as the potential pill refiner with whom to trade. It also offered her the opportunity to claim a residence for herself, as she was now a contributor to the district and thus deserved to stay within it.

Less fortunately, however, there were few homes left, none of which were any more spacious than the receptionist’s residence, and all of those were empty only due to the recent deaths of those who lived within.

As she couldn’t do much to assist in their housing crisis – her lack of architectural understanding had been somewhat rectified by the books on Sanctuary within Sanctuary and the three Sanctums, but it was still incredibly barebones and lacked practical experience that had greatly assisted her in many other fields, meaning that she was incredibly likely to end up with many hidden flaws in any of her constructions that would greatly accelerate degradation of the structure – she found a home that was closest to the Chu Alchemical Store and purchased the license to live within it, before entering it and placing a few things around it so that nobody mistook it for their own residence.

At the same time, she added a number of simple arrays from stabilised spiritual will to guard against potential intruders and to alert her if anybody had come near it while she was away.

Then, with what few funds remained, she acquired some basic ingredients for the general pills that would suit the largest audience, including simple Planar Gathering and Energy Recovery pills, amongst others, and created them within her new home, using standard methods to attain a high quality without doing so excessively.

She had the ability to place anything she produced on sale with her own prices, alongside a description of the product by the analysts at the store that mentioned grade and quality, so she wanted to edge into the existing market by making things of higher quality for similar or lower prices. Whoever decided to try her items would be undoubtedly satisfied, likely spread good words about her to their friends, and would contribute to a quick growth in the number of customers.

If she made something excessive, nobody would purchase it for a low price due to it seeming suspicious, and few would need or be able to afford a three star quality one star energy recovery pill if they simply wanted to recover after a vigorous session of… training, as they’d probably call it.

Furthermore, excessive actions attracted attention. She knew that well and did not need to seem overly capable for now.

After selecting every pill that wouldn’t make her seem like some kind of aberrant master of the great art, as she was going for the impression of being a talented and young individual due to her youthful appearance, she stored the rest away within the House of Gold temporarily and returned to the Chu Alchemical Store to give them the pills for review while also confirming the typical price for her kind and quality of product, before setting her price to be one silver coin lower. Fortunately, an alchemist was present in the building at the time, and quickly confirmed that all of her pills were safe.

When she was about to leave, she heard a rather curious thing.

“Pill refining seems to have gotten less stable as of late, don’t you think?” one alchemist asked another, younger individual who also engaged in the great art.

“Really? For me, it feels like things have gotten easier. It’s like there’s more energy in the air to work with, you know?” the younger man replied, his cultivation being lower and thus benefitting far more from the thin planar energy that filled the atmosphere of all of the Planar Continents, “However, some of the recipes do seem to be less accurate than before.”

“That’s certainly true. If it hadn’t been consistent for so long, I’d almost assume that the quantity of planar energy is slowly increasing.”

The two of them dismissed this possibility quickly, but as Wei Yi exited the building and returned to her residence, she could not do the same. For one, she was already well aware that the levels of planar energy had changed since the days of the Master of Yi City, so them changing once more wouldn’t be too surprising. However, she also knew that the last few days had led to some unprecedented events, such as the destruction of two planar anchors of two members of the Great Families.

If anchors contained an immense quantity of planar energy and some kind of secondary force that she was then able to consume through the Truth of the Universe, was it possible for their destruction to also affect the overall quantity of energy within the continents as a whole?

Depending on how accurate this assumption was, she would have even more of a reason to go after the Greats. Due to their current number, they would be able to consume an enormous quantity of planar energy, which, once freed, would allow the entire world to go up by a stage or two at the very least, so long as the shattering of anchors did not lead to diminishing returns. In the most optimal scenario, she might even be able to bring the entire population of the Planar Continents up by a single realm, ascending alongside some fortunate individuals into the eighth realm and taking a step towards reclaiming the legacy of Kong Shi Meng.

However, before that could happen, she had to get stronger. Much, much stronger.

As she entered her home, she activated all of her protective and obscuring arrays, as to ensure that nobody would be able to enter and discover the nature of her activities, then called upon Yi Shi Ming to return her into the Kong Prison Realm, specifically into her primary office within Beast’s Rest, which, from a brief look into the realm, appeared to be mostly untouched in her absence.

Crimson and white lit up around her, forming the transportation array, and would have shaken the ground around it if not for the preparations she had made.

Her vision turned dark, and when light flooded back into her eyes, she found herself at her destination.

Quickly extending her spiritual perception to cover everything she could, she found that everything was mostly in order, without anything problematic jumping out at her immediately. Most of the people in range were those that she recognised, and the few that weren’t had clearly only been moved to their current positions recently, perhaps due to a promotion or some shuffling of positions. Her rooms and treasuries were all as she remembered them, and none of the items that she had left within had been taken.

‘Excellent, nobody has tried to stage any kind of rebellion – not an obvious one, at the very least – while I was not paying attention. Good.’

With her vastly exceeding the ability of any non-otherworldly demon in the prison realm, she wasn’t concerned about any uprising or conflict being beyond her ability to handle, especially due to her ability to peer into the prison realm at any time and observe anything within it, but it would waste time, even if it would only be significantly less in the outside world than in the prison realm.

She stepped out of her office and headed towards Meng Chu’s location, which was unfortunately not in his own office, despite the many times that she had insisted on him remaining there the majority of the time.

By some coincidence, the closest path lacked any people, and thus the first person to meet and react to her unexplained reappearance was also the same person that she had intended to meet first, and he did so with surprising indifference at first. He saw her enter the armoury, where he had been considering which design of some new armour was best, and then looked back down to focus on his task.

“What exactly are these going to be used for?” she asked, since he seemed to be so focused on them.

“That tailor has been working on his designs again, so some actually talented people took them and made them work a little better, so I now need to decide which one is best so that we can drill that design into his head and make sure that he learns about it properly,” he replied to her.

“I see. Is he still struggling with learning about anything that he didn’t create himself?” Wei Yi asked, “Otherwise, I’d recommend creating a proper set of armour and teaching him that instead.”

“Very few new things get into his head, which is surprising considering all of the new designs he had been able to create when it comes to female underwear and the like,” Meng Chu sighed, “It makes little sense, but I can’t deal with that, unfortunately.”

“I see… So, were you expecting me back, or do you think you’re talking to someone else?”

“What do you…” he looked back up at her, stared at her robes, then her hair and eyes, and then back down at her robe, and his eyes suddenly widened, “Wei Yi! When did you get thrown back in here?”

She rolled her eyes, outwardly this time, “I did not get thrown back in. As I had told you when I had disappeared, I have gained a certain level of control over the prison realm, so I can come and go at will, take whatever I want with me, and even affect the passage of time in here. So, although a few days had passed for you, those same few days had passed for me as well.”

“I had always looked at your crimson robes and hadn’t bothered looking any higher…” Meng Chu admitted, “Have you found a place for us yet?”

“Unfortunately, not yet. I am currently in the Ning District of Yi City, heading to the north, where there was once an ancient fortress used by the Master of Yi City. If it is still there, I might be able to set up a permanent bridging array or gateway for us to use,” she answered, “This will, however, take some time, as I would also like to get stronger before I get there so that I am not instantly slain by the Greats the next time I encounter them. I’m sure you can understand that.”

“True… However, are there any people that you would be able to bring out with you? I don’t think I need to explain that some are getting a little restless after your disappearance, prime amongst which is Min Lian. I don’t know what your relationship is, but she has been rather anxious lately.”

‘Yeah, that would happen if she believes me to be someone she must protect…’ Wei Yi thought, but that was still something to keep to herself so she instead said, “Could be a consequence of the method I had utilised to bring them back to proper condition. I don’t blame her, and I could use someone to assist me out there, so if you can tell me where she is, I’ll bring her back with me.”

“Understood. Anything else that you plan to do first?”

“Yes, actually. I intend to create a little something to measure the external levels of planar energy, so I will need a few things from the treasury…”

“Master, is this good?”

“Yes, now give me just a little longer…” Wei Yi carefully placed the Soul Gem into the middle of the large, almost man-sized structure that she had put together with the help of the hatred avatar assassin and the many useless items from the House of Gold that had previously been moved out of it in an attempt to clear out enough space for it to be usable as an actual method of spatial storage, rather than pure extraction.

Once the gem was in its proper place, she put a few more items in front of it, allowing her and Min Lian to step back and admire the finished product.

It was alike to an oversized vial placed atop a pedestal of gold and glittering jewels, with nothing being contained within just yet. However, she then opened a small tear modelled after the nascent rift within the centre of the vial, and controlled it with the assistance of Yi Shi Ming to only permit the planar energy from outside to pour into it, filling it with a thin violet mist.

After a moment, it stabilised and became perfectly even, remaining visible only due to the lack of that same energy in the air around it.

“This... Master, I remember this. Planar energy, is it not?”

“It is.”

“The overall density appears to have lowered since I last experienced it. Is it connected to an area of lower planar density than most of the Continents?”

“No, that’s just how energy is, as of late. I intend to measure how my actions against the Greats affect the overall density of energy, so this will allow me to easily confirm whether any perceived changes are just that, or if there are genuine modifications to the world’s quantity of energy,” Wei Yi explained, observing this container for a little while to ensure that it was not damaged or negatively affected by the planar energy.

It was not, so she got up, straightened her back, and transformed her right hand back from the spiritual will form that she had been using to allow for more delicate and stable movements during the construction of the Planar Measurement Device, as she decided to call it for now.

“So, Master, do you intend to take me with you?’

“Yes. I require you to fit in as my assistant within the Planar Continents, and perform a few actions while I act as an above-average pill refiner in the Ning District. Are you aware of the arts of pill refining and the matters of the Ning District?”

“Yes, Master. I am aware of most of the history of both up to the year of 1,096,910, so if there are any updates that I must know of, I can learn them immediately.”

“1,096,910? That’s quite some time ago. Longer than I had thought, actually… Well, since you supposedly accompanied me into the district, it is possible for you to be a little behind on the current events of the district. Knowing too much would seem rather odd, so just make sure not to appear too ignorant when discussing situations that would have likely changed from that time,” Wei Yi decided, “Since your name is not too uncommon nor has it been made public, you will go by Min Lian while we are in the Continents, but ensure that you do not use any arts resembling those of the Searing Blades while you are under any form of observation. Understood?”

“Of course, Master. I would never make such a mistake, but I will heed your advice nonetheless.”

“In that case, give me your robes. I need to dye them so that they suit my current attire a little more,” she said, holding out her hand.

As both an assassin who had been trained for many years to do exactly as commanded of her, and a hatred avatar that did not need to care for the typical shames and limitations of humanity, Min Lian did not hesitate for even a single moment in removing her clothing and passing it over for processing while she waited with her head and back slightly bowed.

With a little more experience, changing a second robe to a dark green took far less time, meaning that the assassin was only forced to stand around for a few moments before her clothing was changed to suit Wei Yi’s, albeit without the armour.

Once she put them on, the assassin was told to bare her chest so that Wei Yi was able to lay her hand upon the avatar’s cold skin.

“You still have the echoes of your former cultivation within your body, and I can manipulate it a little more freely than the bodies of other people, so I will awaken it within you and you will be able to return to your Active Core realm within a year or two at most, and significantly less if the quantity of planar energy is indeed affected by the destruction of the Great’s anchors,” she explained while her threads of killing will spread throughout the hatred avatar’s body and forcefully created a second set of meridians, which she then acclimated to planar energy using her cosmic energy warped into the state of the Dragon’s Heart technique, “If I have the time and opportunity, I will improve your previous technique to make it more suitable for the current condition of the world.”

“Understood. I shall eagerly await the moment when I can become more useful to you.”

One of the many things that Wei Yi had investigated since the awakening of the assassin’s memories was the cause for her complete obedience to her. It was convenient to have someone that obeyed her every word without any questions other than those that would permit her to do her task more efficiently or effectively, but she wasn’t very fond of the very concept of mental manipulation, not to mention the complete control that she seemed to have despite not owning the dominant technique or method of the Scorching Blades.

Her first assumption had been the fact that she had infused her spiritual will threads into the mind and mental domain of the assassin in order to repair the gaps in her mind, and so she could have potentially put herself in place of some superior of the Scorching Blades, resulting in her receiving her current treatment, but that seemed unlikely after the other hatred avatars that she had healed did not experience such an effect. They did gain a certain degree of loyalty to her, but not as a result of their pasts. As a result, Min Lian’s case was rather anomalous in nature, since she was the only one to maintain her mental state even after all these years, not shifting to be a simple subordinate.

If she understood the exact reasoning behind it, whether it was the spiritual will or the unrefined regeneration process she had performed upon her, or something that she hadn’t even considered after all this time, she would be able to put this to use either in freeing people from similar methods of control, or, in the most extreme case, perhaps if she encountered a vulnerable member of a Great Family and could benefit greatly from gaining their knowledge, to control others in a similar manner.

Naturally, she did not want to resort to such a thing, but as she had found out during her recent battle with two of the Greats, her strength was still lacking. Having another Great by her side, who she could further empower with her own knowledge, or transfer their knowledge and use it for herself and her forces, would turn the tides in her favour.

In the case that she somehow controlled the patriarch or matriarch of a Great Family, which would be impossible without this particular method of control ignoring the very concept of realms entirely, she would attain quick victory, as she could easily double or triple the power of every warrior.

Despite this potential, she had not had much success in her search so far. None of the other hatred avatars that she had been able to find throughout the Kong Prison Realm had any memories of being part of assassin organisations, or anything else that would allow her to see whether filling certain parts in with her own energy would garner her their complete obedience, and Min Lian did not have any obvious difference in her mental domain that stood out as much as, for example, a planar anchor would inside in the dantian of someone without a cultivation of any kind.

Since there was little she could uncover for now – even through the nigh-omnipotent abilities of Endless Calculation, as that wasn’t able to create information when she absolutely lacked it – she would leave it be for now, and had turned her focus onto the planar energy levels of the Planar Continents, as it appeared significantly easier to manipulate this factor without needing to go beyond simply continuing in her attack towards the Greats.

The Planar Measurement Device was constructed in the centre of the former location of the storm wall vortex, and thus leaders from both sides were able to make it there on short notice, at which point Wei Yi explained her plans to them and requested them to continue building up the two sides of the Kong Prison Realm until she could finally lead them to freedom, then left alongside Min Lian.

She had spent several hours in the prison realm, which translated to only a few minutes in reality, giving her most of the night to instruct the assassin in a few necessary aspects of her new job.