V4C4: Growth and Subterfuge

The underground areas of the desert fortress proved to be much alike to those above ground, including the planting areas which would guarantee a plentiful harvest, and the buildings that extended beyond the structures of the surface were just repeated along the same pattern that had been established in the fortress already. There were a few more residences, a few more of those tall and densely packed structures, some of the planting and farming areas, and even some workshops for the craftsmen and great arts masters of the prison realm and the Remnants to occupy, but little of particular note.

Seemingly the only thing of any relevance to the underground nature of that part of Paragon were the structures at the edges of some of the ore veins and mineral clusters, created with the clear purpose of storing anything dug out of the cave walls. Each one was large enough to fit the entirety of the material vein on the surface, although there was likely much more beneath that not even Wei Yi’s spiritual perception was able to perceive due to the high grade of the materials.

Since there wasn’t much more to be seen there, Wei Yi and Min Lian ascended back to the surface using a different set of steps, confirming that there were few differences between any individual spiral stairs or the structures that they connected to.

With a basic understanding of Paragon in mind, it was possible to begin assigning certain people to certain specific tasks, particularly those who had already emerged from the prison realm but also those that had come along with Great Dark and Great Light, or those that still remained within the Kong Prison Realm for some reason or another. She did mention that they possessed freedom, but certain positions that they were currently occupying and certain jobs that they were handling might be able to benefit from some of the spaces in the fortress, so they would be likely to emerge even if she didn’t tell them to.

She reached out first to some of the farmers and gardeners that had chosen to focus on the regrowth of life in the prison realm, as well as handling everything that she had been sending into it whenever she got her hands on some new metal-type materials and then developed them as much as possible through the silver-leaf energy, letting some professionals take care of the rest.

Out of those people, some were eager to see the new plots of land on which they could grow more herbs, fruits and trees, with the last type being rather rare amongst wood and metal-type materials for whatever reason. There were plenty of types of wood out there, but most weren’t imbued with significant quantities of planar energy nor any specific properties. As a result, some of them were expensive for the non-cultivating population of the Planar Continents, but to those who could trade in planar shards, that price was nothing.

A few weren’t that interested until she took advantage of her and Yi Shi Ming’s ability to transport people within her realm through space and forcefully brought them over to have a look at the land they would be getting access to, at which point most did realise that it would be beneficial to use it.

Generally, the problem for most seemed to be that they were rather afraid of leaving the prison realm after all of the time that they had spent there, and although they didn’t want to admit it with words – and may not have even realised it beyond a subconscious level – the moment that they were forced out, they realised quite a few advantages to being outside.

The only thing that almost everyone didn’t like as much was the sand that covered the outside, and the small amount of it that still remained within the fortress. It hadn’t been part of the illusory obstruction that ensured that the fortress wouldn’t be found for a long, long time after someone decided to hide it away. It was dealt with quite easily, since all that one needed to do was gather up all of the sand on their property and then rush to the edge or the fortress and toss it into the sand wall, at which point they might even be contributing to the defence of Paragon.

Also, the heat wasn’t to the liking of those that had gotten used to the temperature within the Kong Prison Realm, which was constant and moderate, being near the warmth of the human body but just a little cooler. Some in the prison realm were keen to get rid of more clothing, possibly due to having descended from people of the north, but it was generally agreed that the temperature regulating array was to be kept on constantly.

For that to happen, Wei Yi did need to boost the quantity of planar energy that would be pulled into the enormous network beneath the ground, but that much was done easily with a few small arrays. Due to the prison realm technically extending to Paragon, her stabilisation field of energy also spread out across most of the fortress, and she didn’t even require materials to set up the vast majority of arrays within her Ascendant’s Library. As such, she planned for a few more that she could set up to make things easier for the people of the fortress and her Ascendant’s Arbiters, but did not rush to it so that everyone could properly appreciate the differences that they made.

After the farmers and herb experts got to work in the gardens, she sought out every earth-type cultivator that was in either the prison realm of the fortress, and gathered those that might be of some use when it comes to mining at the underground walls.

Due to their cultivation, she had also gone to Great Earth’s twins to see if any of them would like to participate, and, curiously enough, Great Dark was more than happy to volunteer his brother for it.

“He has continuously grown more and more erratic… so something to get the energy out of him… would be most beneficial to our development,” he had said, practically shoving his twin brother out of the structure before looking back at Wei Yi, “I don’t know whether you intended to mention this, but… it seems like a good time to return to our earlier conversation.”

“If you say so, I will not object. First of all, the question that I’d asked a while back – answer it.”

“Like most of the techniques we practise, the method for creating jade slips… was not perfect, nor is it now. Some steps had to be filled in roughly… and the creation of the mental influence you mentioned must have been a consequence…”

“I see, so you had no intention of causing Da Gang, the person who was rising so quickly in terms of power and physical strength, to suddenly develop a great trust in the Deadly Martial Colosseum, and a great deal of obedience to the two leaders of the place?” Wei Yi asked, “Not that I don’t believe you, but I hardly doubt anyone in need of capable subordinates would pass up such an opportunity, especially given your apparent history.”

“That would not have been entirely against our wishes… but it had not been the intention. As for our history…”

“Yi Shi Ming clearly knows something about it. What kind of thing did you do for the forbidden skill?”

Great Dark hesitated, his dark eyes momentarily shutting as he thought. For some time, he maintained his focus within his own mind, then finally arrived at some conclusion as he opened his eyes and looked directly into Wei Yi’s silver eyes.

“According to Luo Lia Kun and the rest, you are a trustworthy and capable figure… As such, I will be straightforward about the actions that I – Great Earth – had taken during the War of Yin to cultivate the Paradigm of Yin, and to obtain a vague chance… one that had not been used well,” he said, “As Yi Shi Ming had said, the name of forbidden skills came not from fearing crowds, but from the Master of Yi City. He had declared them forbidden, for they did not merely exaggerate humanity, but warp it beyond anything imaginable. They were not the right path, but the fragments of the Great Dao were.”

“For that reason, they hadn’t been entirely eliminated while he had the chance to do something like that?”

“From my knowledge, yes… They were to be read and studied, but never practised… Only the Great Dao itself was a safe thing to pursue, and warping humanity was not necessary. It is said that, in his words, it was not the Demonic God or the Monstrous Aberrant physique that will be supreme, but the True Ascendant.”

‘Kong Shi Meng knew about such a physique and had predicted I would show up… No, rather than that, I think he is far more likely to be referencing the Ascendant physique, and how someone who truly masters it and bring it beyond a mere physique would be the one to master humanity itself,’ Wei Yi thought, although her mind did conjure the image of the Truth of the Universe labelling her physique the moment that she had acquired it, causing her to wonder whether it had been filled with the information relating to all physiques, or if it had speculated on its own, to some degree, ‘Perhaps it had named it according to some specifications that Kong Shi Meng had about the True Ascendant, and I happened to match them by a stroke of fortune…’

“If that was my only fault, the practise of the Paradigm of Yin, perhaps the spatial spirit would not have seen my actions as particularly wrong… but in order to acquire and cultivate the forbidden skill, some things that were less than ideal had to occur…”

He sighed, glancing out of the door before looking back, as if to check whether his brother was going to suddenly return.

“One soul in two bodies, that is what we would have been. However, a soul, mysterious as it is, does not permit such a thing… Practising the forbidden skill as Great Earth was out of the question, as I was a man with no yin-type physique, and so some way to modify myself was needed… A split into my two extremes, with both inheriting extreme yin through a twist of the nature of our severance. It required sacrifice, pain, and the tearing of a soul in two,” Great Dark explained, “The Master of Yi City was not very pleased with the concept of tearing souls, either.”

“While I understand some of the reason behind that, what was his one?”

“To tear the soul is to break a human… it requires some excessive means, and results in permanent damage to a person that can never be restored, and in his words, if our souls pass on and do not simply dissipate, each time this happens, we ruin a soul for the rest of all eternity.”

“I am guessing that he wasn’t of the opinion that the heavens had the ability to recover such damage?” Wei Yi asked, although she already knew that the otherworldly demons did not hold such things in high regard and would likely trust a mysterious force like that little, especially if they kept witnessing even after event that seemed to come straight from their tales where the heavens are of no use, or are not even on the side of humanity.

“The Master of Yi City was said to not mentions the heavens often and speak minimally on them when needed… but this point was one that was difficult to disagree with. In the Xin and Ling Districts, the soul was studied, and they found… that in those with weaker or outright broken minds, the soul appeared to be partly fractured… It was what had brought on those words to begin with, if our history of him is accurate,” Great Dark explained, “To this day, the exact nature of the soul, spirit and the mind is not fully clear to either district, but they do agree that being born with a fractured soul is terrible.”

‘That’s hardly surprising. Bai Hao’s soul hasn’t degraded, from what I can tell, and yet he seems to be fading away already, so if someone was to be born with a soul split in half and barely held together, there are quite a few things that could occur…’ she thought, “Things like split personalities can occur from this, can they not?”

“So it is believed… The Master of Yi City, it is said, had been uncertain whether it could be the brain that causes these things first, or the soul would alter the mind… but he declared that if there was any chance of souls passing on, they must never be damaged…”

“Thus, when you went against that, sacrificed some lives, performed some kind of strange ritual and tore yourself into two pieces, one calm and another agitated, one slow and another fast, and, in a way, one yin and one yang, just in a different way than what would cause your bodies to cease containing any amount of yang energy. You went against the strict instructions of Kong Shi Meng, only to then fail. No wonder his mother would be unhappy with you suddenly showing up and trying to question her about things far better than what you had done.”

“I did not act in the best way possible… I will admit that. Even if I did not fully trust you, to- Hm?”

His eyes widened, and when considering the things that Wei Yi had said or done that could possibly draw this kind of response, there was only one thing that she could think of.

It seemed that he had somehow failed to realise something that Luo Lia Kun should have already explained to him, and he was now displaying his reaction to some part of the concept of Kong Shi Meng being the Master of Yi City, and Yi Shi Ming, his mother, being the one to have pointed out his faults a short time ago.

“I… had spoken to his mother? Why… why did I need to get confrontational with her… and bring up her current nature…”

“Could’ve thought about that earlier. Fortunately for you, Kong Shi Meng and Yi Shi Ming are both decent people, whereas some others are not. In particular, the Master of Yi City stands out as one of the few otherworldly demons to not have gone completely insane.”

“… What?”

“The short story is as follows: the Planar Continents are a frequent destination for the souls of those from other worlds, although they tend to be from one place with one set of languages more commonly than not, and these people have insane abilities. Those abilities, either due to their sheer strength or due to a property of their otherworldly gifts that prompts insanity within those that use them and their source of power, cause them to lose their minds if they do not die early on, and with their insane power and their powerful insanity, chaos ensues. They, as well as Them, are one of the bigger threats to the world, although unlike Them, I do not believe that most of them are malicious agents from the get-go, so there is no need to go into all-out war with them, especially if they stand apart from one another.

“Our goal, as the Ascendant’s Arbiters, should be to ensure that they too follow the laws of the world. They may be capable, but that does not mean that they get to simply do as they like without understanding the consequences of their actions, nor without truly realising that the world they find themselves in isn’t just one of their stories. After they realise that, and their ability is either restricted or purified so that it no longer causes the same corruption, they can be free to go.”

“Even with their abilities?”

“Hey, just look at me – in a way, I have a bunch of outstanding characteristics that put me above the vast majority of those in the Planar Continents. If anyone was to attempt to purge all of the talented, gifted and naturally strong, not only would the world rise in rebellion, but even they would be unlikely to think that it was a good idea to do something like that in the first place.

“The difference, I think, is that everyone born here has a chance to understand the world, how it came to be, and why it does the things it does. At that point, they can attempt to push any kind of change they like, as I am, as you were, as They are, in a way,” Wei Yi explained, “Apart from Kong Shi Meng, however, I do not know of a single otherworldly demon that had lived through the entirety of the life of a native individual, perhaps because whatever force affects their otherworldly gifts wasn’t keen on seeing them all bring about peace and prosperity, as the Master of Yi City had done.”

“You have clearly put a lot of thought into all of this… and studied the otherworldly… Do you have some evidence for all of this?”

“At the moment, I have two otherworldly demons participating in the Arbiters, with the person that has made this clothing being one of them,” she showed off her gauntlet, the boots, and the mask, bringing out the more specialised assassin outfit out of her House of Gold as well, “They are not cultivating, so their powers have no chance to get out of control, or so it seems, and I have dealt with several otherworldly demons that had gone mad, being able to repel the influences within them via a secret method. Due to the greater complexity of the otherworldly matter, it isn’t really something that we need to concern ourselves with until we control a single district or region safely.”

Great Dark nodded, “I see… I shall speak with that person later, to satisfy my own curiosity… But since you have brought it up, other than to inform me about Kong Shi Meng’s identity… you want us all to begin considering the otherworldly demons already?”

“Yes. Depending on where they end up, and what they learn first, they might come to different conclusions about things, and if they are in the wrong place at the wrong time, deciding that They are the righteous side in the conflict is not impossible. Orbis has some very strange concepts of morality, both in their stories and in reality,” Wei Yi mentioned, recalling some of the stories she had managed to obtain from Fu Zan, “The key, if any one of us comes across an otherworldly demon, which is usually very easy by certain misconceptions and mistakes that they make, is to make their situation clear, and to inform them that their lives are at stake if they don’t cooperate.

“They can be brought to live in a particular place where some kind of field to weaken the otherworldly gifts could be set up, or perhaps just one where they can meet the best people of the Planar Continents and come to realise that they are not in some kind of game or story and that they are interacting with real people, then give them the opportunity to occupy themselves with something.”

While Great Dark did not know much about any otherworldly entities, as they tended to be little more than myth within the Planar Continents due to the seeming rarity of their appearances, he did know that Wei Yi had shown herself to be a serious person who wouldn’t just throw random stories or ideas in his direction if she didn’t think that they were reasonable, especially not when they were having a conversation like this one. As such, he was willing to defer to her expertise in this, then inform his brother at a later point so that he couldn’t interrupt them now.

The idea of otherworldly demons being prevalent and common enough for planning like this to be necessary, as well as the nature of the powers that they apparently acquired, was all rather strange as well, but if the Master of Yi City had been one such person, then perhaps countless famous figures had also been from the same world as he was, except that they had arrived in the bodies of others and developed a different set of ideas for the Continents.

“Anyway, that isn’t what I want you and your people to do, if you are going to properly participate in the Ascendant’s Arbiters. Having spent some time in the Yi District, hiding away from Them, you should be aware of a way to blend in, right?”

“Depends on exactly what you require… Both I and the forces that had participated in the War of Yin know many methods of hiding ourselves, but we would need details…”

“We need to learn about the district patriarchs and their views of Them, amongst other things. We need to figure out what most of the districts think about these kinds of families, and whether they would side with those that can offer them prosperity and the ancient power of planar energy that had faded away significantly in recent times. In short, we need spies.”

“Spies…” Great Dark considered it for a moment, then said, “I know of a few people that had been in the Remnants, but… there are a number of difficulties that I am able to foresee… Is there a way to get out of the fortress, for one?”

“That is actually the easiest part. The Kong Prison Realm is located near the Yi District, so anyone within it can be brought out near the true location of the realm. It happens to be a very central location in Yi City, so from there, it is rather easy to reach any district with a bit of walking. After that, communicating any information to the prison realm or to Paragon is a little more difficult, but some letters to the Yi District that encode key information and are then passed into the prison realm could work,” she suggested.

As she spoke, she also brought out a map made from killing will, as there didn’t seem to be one inside of the House of Gold for a convenient display.

Placing the map onto what appeared to be the dining table in the residence the Great Earth twins had chosen to occupy, she spread it out and marked the individual districts, as well as the potential routes towards them, with more of her energy, taking full advantage of the special nature of such a material. The routes between the Yi District and the Ning, Luo, Ping and Chao Districts were mapped out highly accurately, as she had made the journey herself, half of the route to the Jiang District could also be completed due to her visiting the Kong District that was on the direct path to it, although she did not include the Kong District itself on the path as it would be inefficient to leap down into it.

She was also able to guess the vague route that one would need to take to the districts that neighboured those that she had visited, such as the Chen, Chu, Ju, Bai, Jiang, Ze and Xin Districts, which did make up a majority of the districts in the Planar Continents, but for the rest she could truly include nothing more than what she was able to obtain from the maps that she had seen before. Such information wasn’t entirely accurate, as could be judged from how long it took the Chao District to remake their maps of the north in order to allow her to find Paragon.

“With these routes, anyone appearing beside the Yi District could head out, settle in, and blend in with the people there. The matter of reporting back is a little more difficult, but it could be arranged that there will be a specific action taken by whoever comes to contact them to make reporting back easier.”

“Most of those that had been in the War of Yin have gotten used to that kind of work… Many of us were known to Them, but they never revealed our identities to the districts… for They couldn’t be known to have any kind of failure… and for the districts to know of those that they weren’t able to obliterate… and that put up a fight… would not be in their best interests,” Great Dark mentioned.

“Good, that means that it might be possible to send out known participants in the War of Yin, although I think that it would be safer to avoid being quite so direct. You had nearly been found before, due mostly to me if I understood the situation correctly, so if we have people that appear to have no connection to either the War of Yin or me, and who don’t do anything particularly unusual, it should be easy enough to not cause any suspicion. However, to avoid such a thing, sending a person into every district at once wouldn’t work.”

Great Earth’s dark twin nodded, “Even with the minimal communication between most districts… to see a number of people seeing from the Yi District appear at every district would be… strange.”

“Exactly. They might assume that the Yi District is attempting to infiltrate them and blend in to harvest intelligence regarding their activities, so they might not immediately think that the second War of Yin might-”

“Astral War?”

“Astral? Hm, I think that wouldn’t be as suitable as some other names, but it does appear that you have thought about it before. Was it when Da Gang was ascending your pagoda?” Wei Yi asked, not waiting for his answer, “Regardless of the chosen name, it will be important to avoid such an impression since it could eventually reach Them so long as it becomes significant enough.”

She looked to the map again and highlighted several of the districts, those being the Lan District, Fu District, Huang District, Xin District, Ling District and the Ze District.

“Before you ask about my decision, even if you already have some ideas, let me explain,” she said, “The Lan District is the only coastal district on the eastern portion of the Western Continent, and is thus most likely to receive interesting visitors from the Eastern Continent. Their focus on the precise control of energy is also extremely useful, and if we can learn something about their methods, it would benefit all of us in the long run.

“The Fu District is associated with their seemingly endless resources more often than anything else, so just like many others, learning and possibly obtaining the source of them would naturally make it far easier to resist Them in future confrontations. If it is a technique or skill, we could learn it, if it is a place in their district, we might be able to capture it, or even move it to the Kong Prison Realm in order to easily harvest it without needing to endure frequent attacks from the Fu District’s people in their attempts to recapture their land.

“Like the Ju District, the Huang District is held to be rather mysterious, and some interesting people and abilities have emerged from it. Whatever causes this reputation, it might reveal quite a lot, and potentially benefit us significantly as well, depending on the nature of the mystery.

“The Xin District focuses on the research of souls and spirits, as does the Ling District, so we may be able to learn a lot from them, whether in a possible method to easily defeat one of Them by targeting their souls and, for example, forcing them to move on early, or another method to weaken foes. Either way, those two have the potential to be incredibly beneficial, but we should make sure that the two districts don’t learn that we have sent agents into both of them at once. From what I hear, they aren’t particularly fond of one another.”

“They are not, from my experiences with them… The Bao District that is nearest to both borders often suffers from minor battles between the two, although they rarely attempt to steal the gems that they are so proud of… As such, they do little to interfere, and encourage them merely to fight away from their mines,” Great Dark said.

“Good, we’ll try to not make it obvious then. Finally, the Ze District specialises in their development of perfected stages, as well as reaching them with the minimum of one per realm, and so their methods may be useful to enhance my own. I can teach some individual people techniques to help them reach perfected stages, but I am hardly an expert in the field,” Wei Yi admitted, “My own fortunate outcome is due to a certain other reason, and it is difficult to transfer entirely to another person.”

“I see… The choices are reasonable, and the districts are far enough apart… I shall attempt to prepare something for this, but it will take some time to be ready…”

“That’s perfectly fine, since it will be silly to rush out of here and start all kinds of operations before we can even be certain that we will be able to stay in Paragon for long. There may be certain reasons why we cannot remain here, and if everyone was to expect someone from here when we have actually moved over to the extreme south, there may be certain problems. By the way, has your brother – or Great Earth, for that matter – ever done mining?”

“No. I am sure he will learn.”

“Right…”