V4C8: Instituting a Strict Training Regimen

It did not take long to gather everyone inside the open plaza of Paragon, for few had chosen to enter and occupy the fortress just yet.

Besides the miners and farmers, everyone was either someone tired of the prison realm, or a combatant and guard, but the majority were keen to fight regardless of their current identity. Not all wished to be on the front lines, or directly embroiled in conflict constantly, but even Ju Yazhu, the woman who had only become who she was now to get to greater heights with her cultivation, was interested in fighting off this threat that seemed to envelop the world.

Speaking of Ju Yazhu, she had made more than a little progress in the little amount of time that she had spent in the Kong Prison Realm after the impromptu evacuation to it within the Ju District. With all of the plentiful energy in the realm, the high-grade technique given to her, some natural talent that she was fortunately endowed with, and the teaching of a few confused people in the prison realm who had little chance to confirm exactly what was happening with Wei Yi, she managed to successfully reach the first stage of Planar Pool in just fifteen days, managing to attain one perfected stage during the breakthrough to the second realm.

From what Wei YI understood, the former man had been attempting to condense as much energy as possible to yield a smooth and effective breakthrough into the next realm and attained a greater planar pool than the usual cultivator of the same realm would have.

A single perfected stage wasn’t worth much, unfortunately, but so long as she was able to maintain that and get an extra stage each time, it would eventually add to a notable, if not absolutely defining, difference between her and those in the same realm. If she was able to reach these perfected stages nearer to the beginning of a realm, it would also mean that she would have a greater chance of opposing someone in the first stage of the next realm while she was in the last stage of her current realm.

As everyone gathered in the central plaza, Wei Yi and Luo Lia Kun took their place at the top of the primary structure of the fortress, with everyone else who had been there with them either heading into the crowd just in case they might benefit from the additional training, or having gone elsewhere to do their duties somewhere else. Great Dark had grabbed some of his own people, as well as Min Lian for the sake of contributing her knowledge from the Scorched Blades for the purpose of ensuring that everyone would be able to fit in as well as they possibly could with the minimal training that they would be able to receive before being sent out on short notice.

“Good morning, my Arbiters,” Wei Yi began, glancing up at the sun that was slowly rising from beyond the horizon, “As most of you should be aware from your experiences in the Kong Prison Realm, we are all striving to become stronger. Now that we have a fortress with an enormous array within it, I intend to raise the difficulty of things just a little bit and bestow yet another technique upon you.”

There were a few murmurs within the crowd, but most of them remained quiet as they wanted to see just what she would be able to provide this time. Since the last time that they had been given a technique that she believed to be worth mentioning, everyone had made a significant amount of progress with the physical training method, allowing them to become much stronger in the span of just a few weeks.

In terms of pure physical strength, even the weakest of the teenage girls that lived within the prison realm would be able to contend with a muscular adult man from the Planar Continents with nothing other than it. Since those at lower realms benefitted from physical might significantly, as the first realm only multiplied one’s physical force to a certain extent, it would also make a massive difference in the realms that most of the population of the Kong Prison Realm occupied, and as Wei Yi had noticed, it wasn’t immediately useless at greater realm either.

“This is a base cultivation method, and it should be able to merge with whatever you have been using so far. I call it the Ascendant’s Warrior technique, which should fit with your duties now and in the future, and it will assist in cultivating both your body and energy,” she announced, raising her hand.

From it, a hundred strands of killing will emerged, each one forming into small manuals made from her energy and floating down into the hands of those in the plaza. Unfortunately, she couldn’t perfectly modify every single one of the manuals for every single person, although she would have certainly liked to do so in order to best guarantee the power of every single person and to make it as high as it could possibly be.

Instead, she only adjusted them all to best suit the element that the person was either cultivating already, or that she thought they would be most suitable for, knowing all too well that they would need to cultivate once again in order to reach their current position. However, that was something that she had considered, and a solution in the form of the planar energy state she had recently created came to mind as a potential solution. The core of her metal ore energy, so far, was to encase power and energy and to weaken and dilute it so that it would be less dangerous for others to handle, and that appeared to be exactly what she needed.

Save for the more combat-focused applications that she had already thought of, like encasing every planar anchor of the Greats with it before engaging them in battle and thus preventing them from utilising their full strength, as well as the energy of the mass of anchors that they would often use, it should also be suitable for diluting significantly stronger energy and then providing it to those that required it, such as her followers and warriors. She could pass along a drop of her own energy in the correct state, and their cultivation could leap into the second or third realm in minutes.

For such a thing to work, she would need a little more experimentation, but she was almost certain that this was possible to achieve without much additional effort.

“To those that believe that they have received the wrong elemental type – you are mistaken, and I shall explain in a moment. Before then, however, take a look at the latter portions of the manual, where I have included a number of basic combat principles and techniques that you should be able to implement into any other technique you use, whether it is new or old. Most of the time, the things I have written there should take precedence, but if you have a very particular technique that you do not wish to share with me or the Ascendant’s Arbiters as a whole, you may instead practise the specific instructions if they are necessary for the function of the technique. Don’t blame me if things don’t work, however,” Wei Yi said, bringing up a copy of the manual for herself to look through, mostly for show.

“Today, we shall be learning these, and getting used to them. If you are not someone who fights with a blade, hands or legs – in which case, do enlighten me what you use for combat later on – there is still quite a lot here for you to learn from, and I am open for any contributions of insights from experienced combatants that I may not have understood just yet. To best get used to this, you shall all be fighting in small groups, from pairs to five people, and you must do so at your full strength.”

From the way everyone below immediately glanced down at one another, she didn’t even need to hear the question to understand it.

“Yes, go all out, just without killing anyone. So long as you keep them alive, the same thing that keeps you alive in the prison realm will work here. In fact, it should be getting more and more effective very soon, so you will be able to nearly end someone’s life and still see them recover. I’d recommend not pairing up with someone you hate just to do that, but if they’re masochistic, it can be a nice exercise.”

Judging from the reaction to the first half of that sentence, some did have those ideas, but the latter portion dissuaded them simply because it had been spoken about so casually. They were afraid to start a trend where everyone would be going after one another to beat them to within an inch of their lives just to get some stress out of their system, as both the men and women present much preferred the prospect of heading to a brothel for that kind of thing.

The way their interest quickly faded was fortunate, since the lifeforce that Wei Yi was constantly providing to every single one of them was still ultimately finite, and could only be used so much before she would eventually run out even with the regenerative measures she had in place.

“Alright, since none of you intend to do that, that’s fine. Just remember to use everything you have. Fighting nicely and calmly may be nice, especially for those of you not from the prison realm, but for the rest, I don’t think I need to explain that merely tapping one another with fists is going to be as effective in teaching you a single thing about actual combat as… well, actual combat,” she stated, jumping down from the primary keep of the fortress, “I shall be around to teach you, so do not worry if you thought that I was going to fight you directly – I won’t, not yet.”

Just that assertion could have been enough to terrify anyone who knew of her power, but that wasn’t all.

“Later on, after you’ve learned all of this and are confident with it, I shall make sure to show off just how difficult a fight may be, and how well you will need to have understood the principles you will begin to learn today in order to succeed, so feel free to get excited for when that happens. I know I am,” Wei Yi smiled, “One more thing. I mentioned the great array around us all, right?”

The warriors nodded.

However, they almost immediately shook, as they realised that they would be set to fight already, so if an array was to be involved, then all that could mean is-

“Some of you are already getting it, good. I was wondering whether I’d need to explain. Have fun!”

With a snap of her fingers, everyone in the fortress suddenly felt a great weight press down upon them, as if a great slab of stone was dropped down not just onto them, but equally across every part of their body. In fact, it was closer to the gravity around them being intensified significantly without a single other thing around them suffering even a little bit. It was mysterious, but one person that was able to appreciate it more than most due to her realm recognised it after a short while.

“That… Wei Yi, is this based on the training set that Great Earth used to wear? The effect seems incredibly similar,” Luo Lia Kun asked, jumping down to the ground beside her.

“Since you already know, is there any point in asking? Yes, that’s exactly what I copied, but the exact effects are not going to be as they had been with the set, as it was bound to a single person in equipment while this is an application of an array that was not actually designed for something like this, which is something that will be being applied to the Kong Prison Realm the moment that I finish the modification to the array on which the prison realm is concentrated,” she replied, raising a hand and looking calmly at her fingers and nails, “Honestly, after all the time spent wearing those things, this is rather dull. Should I raise the weight?”

Luo Lia Kun immediately shouted out, “D-Don’t you dare! Some people here are really frai- The fuck?”

Her exclamation was made when she saw an old, frail-looking man walking through the street of the fortress, his back hunched and his eyes nearly blind, but he appeared to have no difficulties at all while she was struggling to maintain a proper posture amidst the massively increased pressure.

“Hey, just because you are weak, doesn’t mean everyone else is. Did you skip out on your physical training when I had started that in the prison realm?” Wei Yi asked.

Drawing upon her planar energy to reinforce her form and allow her to remain standing tall, she responded, “I was busy with a number of things, and that was an entirely different matter from this? I don’t know what kind of thing you are used to, but this is easily three times the gravity the vast majority are- should be used to!”

“Too bad.”

Days passed, and while neither the Great Worm nor any of the Greats made an appearance in that time, fortunately enough, the Ascendant’s Arbiters had made a significant amount of progress in that short amount of time mostly due to the absolutely extreme levels of work that was forced onto them – according to Luo Lia Kun, anyway. Most of them couldn’t say that they were finding their tasks or training particularly difficult, so many would say that it was the vice-leader being annoying.

It was something that she couldn’t understand for a little while until she finally got around to intensively practising the body training methods that had been given to them some time ago at the greatest possible intensity. After a day of intense pain, then a few days of horrible suffering, she realised that she had indeed been the one in the wrong.

The Rapid Muscle Exertion technique that Wei Yi had made for the prison realm was incredibly intense, and if it was used with the full power of someone in the fifth realm, it could forcefully raise someone’s physical strength at an immense pace. Of course, merely training the physical form did not allow one to raise their power all the way to the one that physique cultivators possessed, but it was more than enough when combined with the rapid regenerative effect bestowed on those within the Ascendant’s Arbiters within the fortress and prison realm. As it both developed and compacted the muscles, very little about Luo Lia Kun’s appearance changed, but her strength certainly had.

At the last day of the month, she was able to crush a small rock dug up from the underground area beneath the fortress with her own hands without the use of a drop of energy.

“You know, Wei Yi, I’m thinking that the gravity isn’t actually all that tough. Wanna raise it?”

“Fourth day of training and you’ve changed your tune so much? I have to say, I am certainly impressed by that,” the Ascendant replied, taking that same kind of stone and biting down on it, finding that it was able to put up very little resistance before her teeth, “Also, this is some kind of salt, and isn’t very tough. I wouldn’t be very proud of crushing it… Bleh…”

She spat out the crushed pieces of rock and burnt away the rest of it that was already within her system. While it was some form of salt, it did not seem to be the kind that should just be consumed without any processing at all.

“What… are your teeth made of?”

“They are… is there actually a name for it? I don’t think I’ve ever come across anything like that in all of my time of reading. Even the Master of Yi City didn’t seem interested,” Wei Yi noted, finding no trace of the proper names for a number of things within her exhaustive Ascendant’s Library, “That can be our project after we successfully end Their dominance. Finding names and definitions for all kinds of ordinary and unimportant things, just to be sure that they exist.”

“Actually, I think that on Orbis, it was called… uh… um, I think I forgot as well…” Miyu pouted, her head hanging low in shame.

“Don’t be ashamed, I don’t know it either,” Fu Zan stated, “Is this the effect of the azure light?”

Luo Lia Kun and Wei Yi, the two that started this, looked at one another in confusion. For whatever reason, the otherworldly demons got extremely grim all of a sudden, and it all appeared to be prompted by a random conversation, the initial question of which, that being the reason for the immense endurance of Wei Yi’s body in all places, failing to receive an answer.

The Ascendant quietly gestured that they should probably get out of there while the demons got over their own problems, and so they made their way out into the hallway, where they quietly shut the stone door behind themselves and leaned on a stone wall near it.

“You really went all out with your physical refinement, didn’t you?”

“Why wouldn’t I? My energy has the property of being able to regenerate my flesh and make it stronger, so I would obviously take advantage of such a thing. Combine that with a physique, mental energy that can impose a physical effect, and a bloodline, and I would naturally be as strong as possible,” Wei Yi stated, transforming her left hand into the killing will state, “Add this on top, and I could probably chew through a thin piece of immortal gold.”

“Bloodline, you say… How does that work? Having spent some time in here, I’ve encountered physiques, spiritual will, killing intent, but I don’t think anyone has been able to do more than display the heritage of some family or ancient clan. If you were to give birth to a child, would they inherit all of your abilities to some degree?”

“Not going to happen, but if someone was to have my child, they would be very likely to inherit everything related to the bloodline, but not my achievements and cultivation overall.”

Luo Lia Kun frowned at her, “… Wei Yi, how are you going to have a child with another woman?”

“How do most men do it?”

Her frown grew deeper, “… You do not have a penis.”

“I do.”

The perpetual vice-leader seemed to reach the peak of her frown, for the expression was only able to change a little further before stopping, “… I have seen you naked, if you remember. I can recall most features of your body quite well.”

“I grew one recently. Dual cultivation method gone wrong, you see.”

She stared at her incredulously, her eyes periodically trying to gaze down before she forced them back up, as to be staring at someone so overtly wasn’t the thing she had wanted to do, nor had she expected she would be doing at this point in time.

When they had come together in that room, something semi-reasonable had been intended to occur, and yet they were now discussing something like this after a question that should have been easy enough to answer, even if the answer would have been an expression of uncertainty. For a moment, Luo Lia Kun pondered whether it would be a good idea just to get away and pretend that this had never happened, but a little like what happened at Chao Ru’s residence in the Luo District, her curiosity got the better of her.

“Really? Can you… show me?”

“Finally expressing an interest in me, are you? Just so you know, I find you- Alright, fine, I’ll stop,” Wei Yi said, the sudden stern edge to the other woman’s expression confirming that it was, unfortunately for her, not that kind of interest, “Want me to just do it here, or are you concerned that those two might emerge at just the wrong moment?”

“I may not be able to look through the walls with as much ease as you, but I am not going to be ashamed even if we do get caught. For quite some time, I had gone to the bath with Mo Zhouquan.”

“Ah, yes. That one had the tendency to turn every little thing both lewd and extremely disgusting with a single touch, figurative or otherwise,” the Ascendant nodded, remembering how her own visit to the Brotherhood of Power’s female baths had ended up after the member of the Corruptor’s Enclave had appeared, “For the sake of not permitting a situation like that to occur again, I shall be quick and brief, so observe.”

She swiftly parted her robes and revealed the specially tailored item she had acquired from Fu Zan, a bulge being prominent with a single glance from any angle. Just as quickly, she covered herself, mostly to prevent anyone getting the wrong idea.

After all, while she might tease others, she knew that with the wrong person, certain things could stick for far, far too long, leading to unnecessary bother and complications that might be exasperated into far more significant issues at a later time. With the stress that they are already forced to go through for the sake of ensuring that no possible offensive from the Greats, and any riled up crowds that they might manage to bring along with them, adding any more to the fire might be fatal.

That, and when she remembered just how flustered the vice-leader had been at Chao Ru’s residence, as well as seeing the wide eyes she currently had, it seemed that no outside force might be necessary.

“That… you… do you have a draconic bloodline of some kind? Or, can dual cultivation methods seriously do that on their own?” Luo Lia Kun asked, the slight panic being rather prominent in her voice and highlighting a certain possibility that simply couldn’t be questioned.

“Have you practised one before, vice-leader?”

“I… Alright, fine. I had been married at one point. My husband was a weaker man, but he had wealth, and we had gotten along. Then, he died, in part due to his weakness, the other due to Them. He is one of the many reasons I had decided to found the Brotherhood of Power when I got to the Luo District again, and why I had been in the War of Yin to begin with,” she divulged, sighing at the memories.

“So that is how it is. Don’t worry, unless you were trying to find a way to stick it in him instead of letting him sleep with you normally, you should have zero chances of encountering a situation like this, although it has partially come about as a result of certain other factors as well. Do you, or any of your close family, have physiques with a significant yang property?” with the answer being quickly given in the form of a shake of the head, she continued, “Then, the chances are further decreased. As for a draconic bloodline, I have been unable to observe any traces of it. It shouldn’t be relevant in my instance.”

“Right… Phew…”

“Still, I should have figured that you’d care a lot for your appearance and your figure. I must say, your previous confident retorts to the words of the Gang Hong Clan are currently dearly missed.”

“Why did you have to remind me of those people? Those men were absolutely disgusting…” Luo Lia Kun said, freezing momentarily, “Wait, what was that? My appearance and figure? I don’t care about it in any particular way!”

“Uh-huh. Your hair is cut that way for personal preference, then?”

“…”she touched the bangs that had just enough length to mostly cover the scar on her forehead, then looked away in defeat, “We… we didn’t get to spend much time together, me and him… Whether I think that I will find another one like him, or if this is just in his memory, but I would like to keep myself looking decent… The scar doesn’t help with that.”

“You think so? I must say, I disagree. Even if you dislike scars, it is out of the way and does fit with the rest of your athletic body rather well, and gives you more of an air of a warrior, which can be appealing to some, provided that the men – or women – in question have some sense.”

“R-Really?”

“Yes, really. Imagine, if you will, being tough like a warrior might be to everyone, bossing them around and so on, but when you get home, you’re all nice and pleasant and caring. From what I know, men can be fond of that sort of thing. I wouldn’t know about your husband, or anyone fit to replace him, but a small scar like that is hardly worth mentioning when put against all of your better features,” Wei Yi stated, pulling in part on the remnant memories of the Thunder Lord to give her words a little more accuracy and authenticity, “Just note that I will be extremely jealous of anyone you do end up getting with, since you are rather attractive in my own mind as well.”

The vice-leader looked at her for a few moments, her gaze remaining still, until she looked away with a faint blush on her cheeks, “Has anyone ever said that you can be extremely… nice, at times?”

“I have heard that, believe it or not. It’s what happens when I don’t have to deal with the annoyances of Them, as they tend to make me rather furious whenever I am forced to interact with Them. Whenever They aren’t around, I tend to try and be a little nicer, more light-hearted and so on, though not too much, of course. Can’t let all of you think that I’m someone that’s a friend rather than a leader.”

“I am not so sure that you succeed in that, but I appreciate the efforts,” Luo Lia Kun smiled, “So-”

Before she could say another word, no matter how short, the door to their side was opened with the hesitant but frustrated aggression of someone trying and failing to open the door normally. Fu Zan and Miyu emerged and noticed them quickly, failing to notice the atmosphere that they had just shattered in an instant.

“There you two are! We had just overcome a terrible crisis, and are ready to discuss… whatever it was that we had intended to talk about,” the tailor said, “Is it still relevant?”

“Uh… Yeah, sure. Let’s go back in-”

She stopped mid-sentence, as she was able to detect a guard running at his speed towards the fortress’ central structure, prompting her to turn around and head straight for him instead of waiting for him to come to her.

Faced with this sudden change in direction, the two otherworldly demons momentarily felt like they might have just experienced a reversal of the situation they had just been in, but both dismissed it as merely being a product of their imagination and continued on, following after her and Luo Lia Kun. As a group, they headed down and then to the entrance of the structure – one of many, although it was the only blatant one from the outside – where they waited for the guard to arrive.