V3C67: Futile Tricks

Once the spiritual will that had created those copper coins returned to Wei Yi, she breathed a sigh of relief at her rather successful attempt.

This time, in order to trick those people, she had made use of her mental energy, forming it into the shape and colour of money, something that she could easily accomplish with her spiritual will cultivation, but she also embedded her comprehension of the Dao of Law into her movements. She had focused upon the natural tenet of greed, upon the desire for wealth, upon the fact that power was truly absolute, so long as it was the right kind of power being used in the right place, at the right time. This time, that power was money.

She had not expected it to be quite that successful, however. To completely consume the minds of the assailants spoke either about their lacking minds, or about the might of the Dao of Law, and she preferred to believe that it was the former, as overconfidence could be a slow and insidious killer.

It did do quite a bit to convince her that the Dao of Law was a good thing to focus upon, and that the absolute principle that she pursued was also highly effective. So long as she had been able to convince a group of simpletons or outright idiots, which might or might not be an accurate descriptor for the people she had dealt with, she would one day be able to stand her ground against the Greats with naught but her Dao.

‘Unfortunately, that will not be possible for a long, long time. The first two stages are bound to be significantly easier than the latter two, and significantly simpler than ascending to the First Stage or beyond, which is where the most power would be,’ Wei Yi thought to herself as she and Ju Yazhu strove to walk with long but unhurried strides, ‘So long as this is alike to typical techniques, it is from the First Stage onwards that I will to be able to significantly affect the Dao that I practise, and truly change the world around me.’

For now, she would need to be satisfied with doing little more than playing tricks on others, intensifying certain matters while negating others, unless she intended to fight them.

“Ju Yazhu, we are very likely to struggle to find a good place to stay for some time. Be prepared to stay either on guard or in a very uncomfortable room for quite some time,” she warned the woman accompanying her as she approached something that resembled a common inn, a place where a normal traveller in a normal district would be sure to find a bed.

It was neither rundown nor overly prestigious, and would thus be neither associated with thieves or petty criminals or with the overly rich, allowing it to receive the most business with the last trouble. Typically, such places would be as keen as possible to decrease the number of limitations for their customers, allowing as many people to spend their times there as possible. It would earn the inn owners a good amount of profit, while the customers would receive a pleasant rest.

This was far more complex in the Ping District, however. When they entered, the owner looked at them hesitantly, her attention less on them than on the empty spots behind and in front of them, where an escort would usually be.

When she saw none appear even after a few moments of hesitation, she raised her hand and pointed to the door, saying, “We’re not interested in your coin. Get out.”

“Not even a planar shard?”

“No. Get out of here, before I need to call the boys,” the inn owner declared, not hesitating even for a moment, “It wouldn’t end up in my hands anyway, so I don’t care about anything that you can offer, get it?”

“Sure,” Wei Yi replied, turning around and leaving with just as little hesitation.

They moved onto the next inn, then the next and the next, passing through a dozen places that all offered the exact same response.

Due to the influence and control the gangs of this district seemed to possess, this was no surprise to her, and after a while, Ju Yazhu seemed to catch on as well. In every single inn, a figure would usually stand or observe the inn owner while seeming much like a normal customer enjoying a drink at a table near the back, who would be glanced at the moment that a bribe was offered. Even if the bribe was accepted, it would not remain in the hands of the inn owner, so they had no reason to accept it.

Furthermore, those gangs and groups clearly liked the order that they had set up for the district, so those that attempted to subvert it would need to be dealt with if they were able to retain their power for longer than a single moment.

Although a planar shard was most certainly quite the incentive to the common thieves that were able to fight over a copper, someone at the top of their gangs must have made it clear to them that so long as they forced someone with that kind of wealth into their system, they would be able to receive far, far more, albeit in smaller packages that could then easily be distributed amongst them.

‘Of course, if they think that they can manage that with me, they are very much mistaken. Just as power is, unfortunately, absolute, so is the law of dissidence. In every system, there are those that wish to rebel. Those that can bend or break the rules, or, rather, dare to do so,’ Wei Yi expanded her comprehension of the Dao of Law, ‘These kinds of people may be hidden, so if I wish for them to emerge, I will naturally need to make their emergence worthwhile. They may be interested in several things, so I might as well declare as much of them as possible to be in my possession.’

With the constant flouting of her supposed wealth, which she did technically possess so long as one accepted a fake planar shard or two condensed from her energy based on the array that had created the identity token for the Yi family, which could then be immediately returned to her dantian the moment that she needed it back, she presented one such thing.

Speaking of which, the energy that had composed that token was probably still present in that immense pool, somewhere. If she ever wanted to falsify an identity token of that sort, she could easily modify the existing energy, or otherwise create a new array with a new character upon the front.

To continue, she would need to present another strength, and one of the easiest to show in a moment would be literal, physical, and planar strength, and all that she would need to be able to display this easily would be for one of the many groups that she had doubtlessly upset with her flaunting of disobedience to come and try to suppress her in a different manner. At that point, she might even have a few observers from both sides, at which point she would be able to present her best side to them.

Much as she expected, Wei Yi sensed a number of powerful warriors approached her position not long after.

At first, none of them came close to her right away, instead observing from the side as she stood around a small plaza, where a number of people travelled through towards their homes, where they would go to sleep after a long day of hard work – for it was already evening, as this was the earliest time that she was able to arrive at the Ping District with the handicap of a non-cultivator.

To encourage them, and to safeguard Ju Yazhu for now, she sent her away with a coin made of spiritual will to purchase a drink from a nearby store. She didn’t care whether or not she would actually receive it, given that she had no need for one, and could retrieve one for her follower at any time she wanted from the prison realm, but instead wanted to give those waiting for an opportunity an excellent one. At least one of them would be bound to come to her, or for her follower, although the way in which she barely spoke with Ju Yazhu should discourage them from believing that she cared about her enough to make her a worthwhile target.

Indeed, not a moment after her servant began to depart, one figure resumed his walk towards her.

He didn’t walk in a straight line at first, instead acting much like a regular person might while navigating the small crowd, but once he came within the range of the usual person’s spiritual perception he began to walk straight towards her, perhaps as a form of intimidation.

“Woman, do you understand your mistake?” he called out as he approached, a deep and loud voice matching his large physique, “You have gone against our very district. Repent for your mistake!”

“Don’t intend to,” Wei Yi replied, not just because of her intentions, but also due to her detecting a most curious thing within his body, ‘The Crusader’s Runes physique. One of the four that make up the mythical Conqueror’s Eye… This man will need to die today, unless he is very amicable and gives me no reason to act.’

Depending on the truth of the Conqueror’s Eye, she could obtain an immense quantity of power for herself, perhaps even the comprehension of a number of Dao so long as she paid attention to the unification of the four physique abilities into something greater, but even if there was no validity to that theory, it would still be another powerful physique ability within her control. At the moment, although she did have the ability to face the weakest of the Greats, she needed more power, more options, and more flexibility with everything that she did.

After all, to the regular person, even one physique could be enough to put them above the rest, so if she was able to unify four into a cohesive fighting style, she would have yet another distinct face to present to the world, when needed.

“You misjudge your power and profundity, woman. The Great Worm has clearly cursed you. Permit me to deliver you from your own failed existence!”

For a moment, Wei Yi was rather tempted to ask whether his surname was Kong, then she decided that she might as well do it, since that kind of random question that is only relevant to her own interests seemed like the exact kind of thing that her current persona would ask, and ask loudly, without reservation.

“Are you from the Kong family?”

“How… How dare you insinuate such a thing? I would never be related to a failed, fallen, cursed family that should never be reborn!” the man suddenly shouted, “Die!”

While that did solve the question of his identity, his opinion of the Kong family, what much of the world likely thought about the Kong family at this time, and a number of other facts, the most significant thing that she got out of the exchange was a perfect reason to kill him right away.

As he raised his hands and shouted, numerous round blue circles appeared upon the ground beneath her feet, each one releasing vibrant blue light from the ground, focused around a symbol of uncertain origin and nature. However, what was clear from their appearance was that they contained a great deal of power, radiating a different, golden light from the rest of the rune that diffused into the ground.

From what she knew of the physique, it had two particular abilities that it would bestow upon the cultivator, although it was more like two variations of a single power. Each one was to summon the runes that were the Crusader’s Rune’s namesake, but one rune was large and square-shaped, while the other was a smaller, round rune, which was what she appeared to be witnessing. The only issue was that their individual effects were clear, but which one belonged to which was less clear. It seemed that most didn’t survive their encounters with the physique.

One was a slow drain upon those standing within it, temporarily stealing the lifeforce and energy of those that stood within it from the moment that the symbol ignited, while the other would charge up for a few moments then explode upwards, harming thing in a five-metre pillar above it.

Whichever one it was, Wei Yi did not want to remain above it, so she used the World’s Echo ability to disappear from the spot and appear beside him, igniting her gauntlet – which she naturally kept with her current outfit, although only on her right hand – with her yang physique energy before punching at his heart.

It was more of an unconscious decision, but an effective one.

Her punches were naturally immensely powerful, for her physique of the fourth realm was nothing to be scoffed at, but once it was empowered by her Hand Dao and Fist Dao united into one strike, the physique of a simple fourth-realm cultivator was not up to par, not by a long shot.

With a single strike, his robes were sundered, his chest crushed inwards, and his breathing was entirely disrupted to the point that the runes on the ground vanished entirely. He was not thrown back, despite the absolute force that struck him, but anything that was within the proximity of his heart, like his blood or other vital fluids, was displaced as far away as possible, stopping the beat of his heart for several lengthy moments.

In that time, her left hand gripped his neck and threw him to the ground, smashing his face into the ground with the accompaniment of the cracking and shattering stone road.

“Your contribution to the cause is very welcome,” she said, jamming her fingers into his back and crushing the spine from within. That appeared to be sufficient to finish him off, and so she sent in a few dozen threads of physique energy to harvest all of the Crusader’s Rune physique for herself, obtaining it all in a few breaths of time, taking the ember from within afterward.

She rose and decided to momentarily ignore the blood upon her fingers, which, in combination with the fingerless gloves that she wore on that hand to allow for the killing will form to be applied with minimal damage to her clothing, almost made it seem like her hand was fully crimson, covered as it was in the pure blood of someone with a physique. It was a thin and natural layer, too, making it even more alike to skin or flesh, allowing it to fully cover her nails and fingers while also stopping it from staining any of her clothing.

Looking around, Wei Yi found that as many people had accepted this as she had expected, for in a district of rampant crime and in an encounter where one person blatantly cried  for the death of the other, to find her actions as anything more than distasteful or excessive would be rather difficult.

“Teacher, I have…” Ju Yazhu returned at that moment, noticed the body on the ground, looked about to find very few people even looking in their direction – everyone that had initially been approaching her decided that this was a bad idea, and remained at a distance – and realised that this was beyond her, prompting her to continue, “I have brought you a cup of water.”

“You took that long for a cup of water? Is it poisoned?”

“I don’t know, I didn’t try it.”

“You’re in a district of thieves, killers and idiots,” Wei Yi glanced at the body at her feet, “Furthermore, we have offended most of it. Why would the cup have been given to you if it was not poisoned?”

A voice suddenly entered their ears, coming from one of the alleyways that could be seen from their position. It belonged to a man, that much was certain, but everything about it seemed vague and hazy, as if it was a blurred image in an ancient scroll, making him seem rather ethereal. “So, you were aware of the consequences of your actions.”

Both of them turned in the voice’s direction, but neither saw a thing with their eyes.

“I have noticed that you are interested in lodging. We happen to be able to provide it to you, so long as-”

“I know where you’re standing, young man. That voice of yours doesn’t hold up to scrutiny to someone familiar with a basic voice-altering technique,” Wei Yi said, addressing the very point where a scrawny man with messy blue hair and red eyes cowered from the world, “Neither is your control over planar energy all that impressive.”

The strand of energy used for voice transmission quivered, but it remained stable enough and endured the stress.

“It would be best for us to talk elsewhere.”

She didn’t argue with that particular statement, and instead led them straight into that alleyway, grabbing the air in a seemingly random manner that managed to breach into the wall as easily as one might otherwise pass through thin air.

As if she was peeling away wallpaper, she removed that illusory wall from sight and revealed the person that had been speaking to them to her servant, although he had made himself slightly more presentable than he had been when he had been spotted by Wei Yi, and was mid-way through standing up when he was revealed.

“Your family is famous for its control over energy, and in your case, it seems accurate,” she commented, “Have you met a Lan Mei Xing before?”

“I may be from the Lan family, and even the Lan district, but I am hardly familiar with everyone in my family. Even if you were to say that she has our full distinctive characteristics, practised all of our techniques and had our typical strengths, I would know more than a dozen Lan Meixings.”

“Lan Mei Xing, and… it doesn’t matter. You would know which one I was talking about if you knew the one that I meant. Now, since you decided to speak to me regardless of everything that I have done so far, you are obviously involved with one of those groups that stand against the common disorder of the district. You probably wish to extend an invitation of some kind, although I doubt that you wouldn’t be interested in benefitting from me just a little under the guise of a test. Am I right?” Wei Yi asked.

The man from the Lan family nodded quickly, “These are all thoughts that I had, and I was given permission to act upon them. At the moment, we are not in a good state-”

“I don’t care. I’m not joining you.”

“You’ve done a lot in a short amount of time. The man you killed wasn’t some nameless nobody. We are your only chance-”

“You think I, a respected inscription master, would join someone just because they were the first to notice me within a district? Or do you think that I was impressed by your abilities, to the point that I would seek to aid you as much as possible? No, not a chance, young man, not a chance. Unless you have something wiser to say, begone.”

He frowned, “Is this all about the benefits, then?”

“No, not at all. I just don’t think that you are my only choice, and I would like to consider all choices before going anywhere.”

“This may be a big district, but we are the only faction-”

“Again, I call bullshit. You are the only faction that you want me to pay attention to, that much I can believe, but the rest of your words do not matter. Begone.”

For several moments, he appeared absolutely stunned, opening and shutting his mouth without a single sound emerging, his gaze focused entirely on her. It was possible that Ju Yazhu could walk between the two of them, and he wouldn’t even notice.

After that, he did recover, shaking his head and walking out of the alcove in the wall.

“You’ll regret your petty tricks, you can be sure of that,” he declared confidently, making it some distance from them before adding, “This was my hiding place, so you better get out of here soon.”

With that, he ran off, probably attempting to get far enough away from her spiritual perception before diving into another wall with an illusion-obscured alcove. There, he could easily hide from the common thugs of the district, unless they were also familiar with those hiding places and tended to avoid them unless they were necessary and return once they were gone.

Fortunately for him, Wei Yi did not intend to remain in place after driving him out, nor did she have any need for this particular alcove, as there were plenty more within the range of her spiritual perception. At the moment, she was still expecting several more encounters for the day, so even if she was correct in her earlier assumption that they wouldn’t be finding a proper place to rest this day, they would likely find a nicer hiding spot than this one.

She looked at the cup of water that had been given to her and smelled the water.

“Sour, with a hint of… spice, I guess you could call it. If you were to take it, even with a cultivation,” Wei Yi looked at Ju Yazhu, who instinctively trembled, “you would be in great discomfort and significant pain for around a week.”

“Oh… Sorry.”

“As I said, I was fully aware of what would happen. So long as you pay attention and remember what you learn, there will be no issues,” she said, pouring all of the poisoned water onto the ground and tossing the cup in the vague direction of the store that it was purchased from, “Now, come with me and pay attention. It is possible to learn a lot just from watching someone use techniques.”

The implication behind her words did not need to be explained, not even to the rather ignorant servant beside her, so she didn’t waste her time with it.

Instead, they left the alleyway, proceeding onwards to another street, although they did not bother to actually visit a single inn nor home, since it was obvious enough that news seemed to spread rather quickly within this district. Even if they found somebody that was not yet aware of their status, they would likely kick them out the moment that they found out that she was the enemy of a number of significant groups within the district. She could, if she really wanted to, force them to permit her to remain, but she didn’t want to implicate someone else when they were just trying to protect themselves.

At the moment, she only seemed to be a powerful cultivator of the third realm, someone that had no chance of truly disrupting the order and permanently improving it, so people were fully permitted to side with the safer, more established side in the conflict.

She would only consider that to be a decision to mark one’s allegiance if she showcased her full ability and presented her power to bring the Ping District under her control – not something that she currently possessed, but something that she believed to be within her reach eventually – as it would then be a person choosing to support a bunch of thieves over forces attempting to restore Yi City to its former glory. Then, she would make things as inconvenient for them as she wanted to.

For now, she hoped for nothing more than a few more enemies with physiques, as she would then obtain some more power for herself, or that more groups with the same kind of intentions as the one the blue-haired man was in contacted her, since that would bring her more options from which to choose the moment that she felt the need to join any of the actual groups or organisations. Depending on the circumstances of the district, the mood of the bandits that seemed to mostly run the district, and anything that she could find out over the next few days, she might not even join the resistance against the bandits.

For the moment, while she did despise the actions of the thugs and thieves, she wouldn’t be taking any significant action against them for the moment, as per her policy of doing whatever was necessary in the present to guarantee a better future. If they proved to be the ones with whom it was safer and more beneficial to cooperate with, she would do so as her current persona, and then get rid of them the moment that their usefulness was exhausted, or if their harm to her efforts otherwise outweighed their ability to assist them.

Truthfully, she did not believe that to be very likely, as the bandits that she had met so far were all very weak minded and useless, but it was always something that she would need to keep in mind.

The thing is, she did not expect the bandit groups to be too keen to remain on her bad side for long, as there would be a time when the costs would outweigh the benefits – in essence, the same line of thinking that she followed in their regards. Eventually, they would try to bring her on their side, although they would almost certainly plan to humiliate her in some way, or otherwise teach her a lesson for going against them in the first place.

It could take quite a while so long as they decided to make good use of her strength to rid themselves of some of their other enemies, perhaps some powerful individuals from other thug gangs, which she was practically counting on due to the benefits that it would bring her.

“- and so her pointless stunts will not be tolerated!” a man of impressively enormous weight declared to all of his followers, who had to sit quite far away from him in order to endure his presence with the imitation of a smile, “Round up everyone we have and get them to divert attention to everywhere else in an obvious manner. The others should get curious.”

“Boss, should we also spread a rumour that we have invested a lot into her?”

“Why’d we do that?”

It might have seemed like a foolish question, but the man that had offered the suggestion initially knew better than to ever assume that before his leader. If it was his question, then he must have been asking about…

“We overheard that she might be an inscription master. Due to the recent fault in our vault’s security measures, needing one of those would be entirely natural.”

“Indeed. Do that, then.”

“Those bastards are trying to trick us again, are they? Their vain deceits shall not work on us!” confidently declared a woman in a perfectly clear and smooth voice, in spite of the man currently on top of her, “Send everyone to kill that woman and get it over with!”

“E-Everyone?”

“Did I fucking stutter?”

“N-No! It was my mistake! I stuttered! I’m sorry, I’ll get right on it! Don’t worry, I’ll get it done before you can even get out of bed!”

After clearing another avenue full of inns, most of which were clearly preparing to kick her out the moment that they saw her out of their windows, Wei Yi suddenly had a strange feeling.

‘I would have certainly annoyed at least one group, but I don’t think that I would have this sudden feeling out of nowhere just due to one group. Since my natural perception has been accurate enough so far, I don’t want to dismiss this as some mistake, so… just how many people did I manage to annoy this time? More importantly, will any of them be able to provide me with the kinds of things that I currently want?’ she pondered, spreading out her spiritual perception, ‘Oh… Neat. So much for my silly tricks, huh?’