V4C16: Ethereal Threat

The meeting between the leaders of the factions, the Hammers excluded, ended up comprising Great Dark, Shi Bao Ya, a man from the 7th Legion named Bai Hao, a figure from the Golden Lords that was apparently named Chen Chen, a figure from the Perpetuals of the Worm that called himself He Who Speaks, and a woman from the Chu family’s group of the Keepers of Groves named Chu Lingshen.

Naturally, Wei Yi and the random goons from the other groups were excluded, but while the tent and the barriers each one of the leaders put up might have been an issue for some of them, the Ascendant hardly needed to worry about them as she snuck in some of her own spiritual perception and used it to observe them. At first, they stared at one another across a table fashioned of some spare pieces from stools that weren’t being used despite having been by Wei Yi for this very purpose, and all seemed reluctant to express themselves.

Great Dark didn’t have the exact rumours from the south to work with, so he couldn’t say anything about them until he heard them, the 7th Legion leader only cared about the location of the threat and had no reason to speak about anything else, the Golden Lord knew that they shouldn’t try to raise any possibility of money being paid to them until it was a more suitable time, the Flood King’s Shi Bao Ya kept glancing to Chu Lingshen while she looked back at her, and He Who Speaks was likely intending to rename himself to He Who Is Silent, given the fact that he had not attempted to say a thing the entire time he had been in the tent.

‘What a great start to any talks to have complete silence. I’m sure all of this will go perfectly, and that none of them will ever have the desire to kill one another despite the dirty looks from Shi Bao Ya and Chu Lingshen towards He Who Is Silent…’ Wei Yi thought, sighing on the outside.

Since none of them were going to act, Great Dark might as well take the initiative to break the ice and begin, so she recommended that he do so quickly before any of the others decided to just share their terms for any kind of clean cooperation and go off to do their own thing somewhere else, which wouldn’t be ideal in any circumstances.

“As the person to set up the camp we are in, I shall speak first,” he said after a moment, bringing all eyes onto him, “First, let us all confirm that we are here to deal with any worshiper of Primordial Cosmos. Is there anyone who wishes to do something different?”

Shi Bao Ya said, “We’d primarily like to get combat experience, so that’s technically correct.”

“In that case, you hardly needed to bring this up. The rest of you aren’t saying anything either, so I shall assume that there are no objects. Next, gains and benefits. Aside from the clearing of a terrible threat to Yi City and the world, especially if the worshiper is up to resurrecting Primordial Cosmos or something of the sort, anyone who has come here for any specific purpose or item should state it now so that there is no conflict later on. So?”

Some of the other leaders glanced at one another, although most rested their eyes on the Golden Lord, who did not object.

Most of them did not have any explicit goals or intentions within the possible conflict with a heretical worshiper of the primordial deities, save for whatever loot that person might have on their body that could come to be of use to them, but the Chen family always had other desires.

As such, even if Chen Chen was to lack such ulterior motives and claim as such, he would only seem to be more suspicious in the eyes of those that were staring at him right now. Due to his obvious nature of seeking money in all places that it existed, or making it where there was none, he naturally understood this fact, and so he smiled openly and held his hand out.

“You want information, you have to pay,” his smile turned into a grin.

Expecting exactly that response, what he was instead met with was the drawing of blades and the ignition of techniques, although no attacks came at him.

Nonetheless, he folded right away and said, “We’d appreciate it if you considered employing our services, and that of our Chen District. Visitation only costs a planar shard, and you can be brought through a comfortable experience for as little as fifty, although we do offer premium rates for a special package that can be purchased for only two planar stones! The price is so low that countless are already lining up to-”

“Shut up. We do not care,” Bai Hao stopped him, “Anything else?”

“Nope. You may have a good day, so long as you intend to visit soon. Otherwise, we pray that you do not come across an unfortunate trap in the wilderness that shall crush your every bone to dust.”

“Noted.”

While those two participated in some staring context, Yi Shi Ming, the spatial spirit that had been observing this play out, reached out to Wei Yi’s strands of consciousness within the prison realm on the topic of this very matter.

“Wei Yi, I have just recalled the Chen family’s origin, or, rather, the cause of their current situation. The Chen Clan from which they developed had not been as fond of money, wealth or power as the current Chen family, but that had changed when Ah Shi Meng became highly influential in their territory, more so than the leaders of the clan at the time,” the mother of the Master of Yi City shared while she listened and pretended to napping in her own tent, “He had not been setting up Yi City back then, but they still sought him out and wanted to learn how he had done such a thing so quickly.”

‘If I had to guess, I’d say that he had imported some of his otherworldly knowledge and had made good use of it. Seeing as we are also talking about the Chen family, it was likely something related to business and commerce, as that other world is apparently highly proficient in it, selling almost everything to everyone,’ she guessed.

“Indeed, it was something like that. My son had not been the strongest at the subject, but his experiences had very much overwhelmed that of the Chen Clan’s leaders, and so he was able to make everyone interested in his goods, his abilities and his life within just a few weeks. Seeing the opportunity, he had told them that so long as they subordinated themselves to him, he would teach them not what he knew, but the core philosophy behind it, and they would be able to take it and leap to far greater heights than he ever could. After some persuasion they did believe him and agreed,” Yi Shi Ming said, “I was not present at that discussion, but it has managed to lead to this. If I had to guess, I’d say that they’ve stolen most of the immortal gold from the Yi District, one way or another.”

‘That has to be a common interpretation, but with all of the ordinary gold on all of them, it would be highly difficult to confirm whether or not any of the immortal gold from the Ancestral Hall had been melted and incorporated into something, not that they’d do that most of the time.’

The mother of the Master of Yi City shook her head, “No, they wouldn’t. If they were to follow in the footsteps of my son, they would instead find a way to sell it to an interested party in the best state as possible after setting up enough of a mystique about the treasure. Perhaps they could claim that they had uncovered it after a long period of searching and that, in order to recover the costs of recovering such a valuable item, they would host an auction where they would throw in as many items as possible beside the immortal gold to attract purchasers to obtain them first. After that, when funds are running low, they could always claim to be permitting people to bid on funds that they did not have, provided that they would repay them later with an appropriately larger sum after interest, finally bringing out the item and making some planted Chen family recruits in the audience hike the price up more quickly.”

‘At that point, with everyone betting using money that they do not currently have, they would be bound to get a little more careless than usual then spend much more than they otherwise would. After all, when you are given the illusion of having something, you tend to not be able to see exactly how much you do have,’ Wei Yi noted, ‘Then, when a piece is bought, the interest rate on the loan that they are effectively providing would be absolutely immense. They would need to either give the item back after paying off as much as possible, or provide that ludicrous quantity of funding right away.’

“Indeed. Then, if it is brought back, the others would be even more hungry to receive it after failing to do so the first time, although most would be certain to confirm at least for a moment why the item had been returned so quickly and without any obvious action from the side that had claimed it first. Such a thing could be continued for a while.”

‘So, did you son teach them that? If he did, he effectively created a terrible force to terrorise the Western Continent for some time, and they might have even spread to the Eastern Continent by now. I would be interested to know how the Daoists are handling it, if they are forced to do so.’

She lay on her back and looked up at the top of the tent, imagining the map of the Planar Continents upon it as she looked to the Daoist Continent to the east.

“It would certainly be an interesting thing to consider, although I am afraid that your curiosity will not be sated by seeing the continent in person, not in the near future, so long as you persist on your current path in pursuit of your current goal. To cross between one continent and another takes a lot of time, and while the Kong Prison Realm is now connected both to you and the Western Continent, there is a limit to how far it can go without the physical construction itself being moved with you, which would then impact Paragon and the people there,” Yi Shi Ming said, “In the time it would take to go there, then back, so long as anyone realises your absence, they might be able to take down Paragon with unfortunate ease, leaving you nothing to return to when you come back.”

‘I am well aware of that, hence why I am not thinking of travelling. Besides, even if the entirety of the Ascendant’s Arbiters were to leave to the other continent, the Greats would just be able to get a firmer hold of the people here, and kill or otherwise negatively affect countless people while we laze about among the sects and empires of the Eastern Continent,’ Wei Yi stated, ‘That is not something that I will risk, not unless the other continent can permit me to undo their influence entirely.’

“That I would doubt, but it is hardly impossible. So long as the east maintains a greater quantity of planar energy than the west, and hasn’t suffered great setbacks in terms of their technique development, they are likely to be ahead of us… But you are hardly looking for encouragement in that direction, are you.”

‘Nope, so if you’re going to be talking about things, I would rather hear more about the Chen family and their tactics. I do not get a good feeling from these Golden Lords, and not just because they remind me of Ding Wen from the Kong Prison Realm, as well as his House of Gold.’

“While I do not personally remember that name, nor the person it had belonged to, I can confirm no similarities between any traces of energy belonging to the native people, so to speak, of the prison realm and those who are currently in the camp. As such, you can relax on your vigilance against that, but you shouldn’t let your guard down around the members of the Shi family, so long as my senses are accurate,” she said.

Wei Yi rolled over onto her side, dispersing the map that she had begun creating out of her killing will. She had checked them before and checked them again, then asked, ‘Why’s that? I’m not able to notice anything odd about them.’

“While the Chen family members bear no resemblance to the Ding Wen of the prison realm, Shi Luo Feng does have some similarities to the Shi family members. I cannot identify it myself, but there is certainly something about them that unsettles me and my senses,” Yi Shi Ming explained, “I do not know if they are responsible, or if it is someone else, but you ought to be wary until you are.”

‘… I hate that I’m getting a bad feeling about this. Can’t the world just have a bunch of attractive women without them having something dangerous about them?’

“While I will not dispute the sentiment, you should take a good look at yourself first.”

‘Yeah, I shouldn’t be the one to speak, but nobody else is this deep into all of the shit going on in the Western Continent as I am, so nobody else can comment. Even then, I am speaking only to you, so who is to say that others aren’t also keeping some stuff to themselves? I certainly wouldn’t be surprised, especially if they are not some otherworldly demon…’ Wei Yi paused, ‘Come to think of it, I should check whether anyone keeps any diaries in the prison realm, Paragon, or anywhere else I go. If they are written in one of the otherworldly languages I know, I could begin recruit a force of them.’

“Are you certain that is a good idea? While I understand the usefulness of every single power in their possession, whether or not it is one that you can take from them or one that they can use for you, is there not a danger akin to the one of the Great Families? Just as they are able to perceive you through the usage of their proper title, wouldn’t whatever entity was responsible for the otherworldly gifts know more about you the more otherworldly demons you bring to your side?” the spatial spirit questioned, “If it is not something that can already end you in one moment, then the more it knows, the better it would be able to deal with you, especially if you are going against its intentions. Is that not dangerous?”

‘I suppose that it is, and I have thought about this before. The more I hear about old men and women interacting in strange ways with the otherworldly demons, the more I am concerned that this isn’t some sudden coincidence in a faulty system of reincarnation, but an intentional act by another. However, I do not know why it is happening, nor what someone would have to gain from sending out random people to our world. That being said, if I was a nuisance, they would have come for me already.’

“So, you do not believe this to be a threat?”

‘Not one I need to interact with any time soon. Given the amount of damage the demons have done to the Planar Continents already, this is almost certainly either a malicious or foolish act, but until I learn more about them or am forced to confront them I should… Well, as the Perpetuals said, really. I should fight people, while whatever deity can create the otherworldly gifts finds some other foe.’

“This coming from someone who had repeatedly wished to confront the heavens if they had any responsibility for the current situation of the world,” Yi Shi Ming smiled, if only for a moment.

‘Don’t get me wrong, if the heaven’s will could have stopped the Greats, the otherworldly demons and all of the other bullshit that has plagued the Planar Continents, but instead just sat around and waited for someone else to do its job for it, then I would very much like to get in the heaven’s will’s face and then hit it repeatedly until not even its non-existent mother would ever be able to recognise it… Ahem, got a little carried away,’ Wei Yi turned back onto her back, ‘In all honesty, I can’t expect everyone to act about every little thing, but when you’re right there, with the power to do something, and yet fail to do so, you are very much partly responsible.’

“I suppose so. So long as our understanding of the heavens and their will is anything like the truth, then they have just been sitting around without doing anything that we can understand or perceive. That, or they have been helping the Great Families, as they would claim.”

‘Then the beating would get worse. Perhaps the heaven’s will can be killed, and someone else can take its place. Do you think I’d do a good job if I tried, or would someone a little less… radical in her ideas be more suitable?’ she asked, a smile appearing on her face soon after, ‘Nah, it wouldn’t be that easy, nor would I get such a convenient chance. I do think I have some more balls than the current will, literally and otherwise.’

Yi Shi Ming certainly didn’t intend to deny that, nor could she do so honestly.

Besides the initial matter of the negotiations, there was rather little to actually discuss, so they concluded rather quickly with the decision that each group would camp near to one another, then would report any sightings of anything that was in any way related to Primordial Cosmos to the other groups immediately. At that point, they would rush at the worshipers right away and prevent them from doing whatever it was that they were doing, which wasn’t something that any of the individual leaders appeared to have much knowledge of as far as Great Dark was able to gather.

It certainly wasn’t something that any of them would announce lightly and easily, since none of them chose to mention it, so he had to assume that he wouldn’t learn it without making it obvious that he did not already know it, which would put doubt on him and thus the entirety of the Ascendant’s Arbiters in the area. That wouldn’t be ideal, of course, so he refrained from asking, although he did first seek out Wei Yi’s advice by way of a glance in the vague area from which her spiritual will must have entered the tent from. As engrossed as she was in the discussion of the heaven’s will ineptitudes, she noticed it quickly and did confirm that remaining safe for now was the better option.

After the tactical discussion, the Golden Lords attempted to purchase their camp for themselves, the Perpetuals of the Worm went away immediately and simply sat in the sandstorm some distance from the false Hunters of the Cosmos camp, and the Flood Kings and the Keepers of Groves headed out to settle down near one another.

Their friendly relations with one another may not have been obvious to some before this, but they were nearly impossible to miss now. All that was left was a proclamation of their alliance, really.

When the Golden Lords and their offer was refused, they did not appear perturbed and instead brought out a lot of gilded materials from shrinking pouches and bags that they set up some distance from both the Hunter and the Flood and Keeper camps, although they did their best to position themselves in such a way that as much of the sandstorm as possible would be blocked by them. It was difficult to find a perfect position due to the ever-shifting direction of the storm, but they certainly did their best. They did, unfortunately, wake the Hammers in the process.

That bunch of oafs did not appear to be particularly concerned that their opportunity to have some say on things was taken from them, nor did they seem to realise that they had been drugged, and happily went into the sands to find a place to sit around and smash things.

Last of all, the 7th Legion had lingered around the most while they regained the flow that they had lost by separating from one another during the discussions, then went in another direction from the rest to build a more separate encampment where they would be able to continue with their improvement of flow uninterrupted.

While the groups themselves did leave to their respective campsites, some didn’t go with them, and among that number was Shi Bao Ya, who left once she could and stood around Wei Yi’s tent, having learned of its location from one of the Arbiters before Wei Yi could tell them to keep the information to themselves. Fortunately enough, she didn’t appear to be keen to interrupt her or walk in on her, so Wei Yi was able to continue monitoring the area and observing the actions of the other groups without any issues, but it was clear that the woman wouldn’t leave until she got to see her at least once. After that, it might depend on her satisfaction with the encounter.

As such, after she confirmed this to be the case by telling some of the Arbiters to try and pull her away inconspicuously and watching them fail right away, she decided that it was about time to see what the woman wanted, or if she could be made to leave for a little while.

She stepped out of her tent and was immediately noticed and approached by Shi Bao Ya.

“There you are! I’ve been told you’re called Wei Yi, right? I’ve never heard of that family name before. Is it from the west? By the way, could we talk for a long while?”

“If it is going to take a while, then not right now.”

“Oh, that’s fine too. We’re probably going to be here for a while anyway. If something does happen quite quickly, I’ll be sure to find you, but if not, when would you be able to chat? I say a long while, but it would only be ten or fifteen minutes at most, unless we end up learning some very interesting things about one another.”

“Tomorrow would be better. The sun is already setting, and I have other things to do,” Wei Yi said.

“Alright, tomorrow it is. Morning, afternoon, or evening? You don’t need to tell me your camp’s full schedule, but I would prefer to know whether I’d be wasting my time standing around here was waiting for you only to learn that you were elsewhere the entire time,” she asked with a persistent smile.

“Just talk to me in the morning, so that we can get whatever this is out of the way.”

“Oh, I know that I’ve not been very exact with what we’ll be doing, but it’s nothing bad, I assure you. I can’t guarantee that you’ll love it, but having a nice chat with a nice girl should be good, right?”

“Can’t argue with that, at least.”

“Wonderful! I shall see you tomorrow, and then we can get to know one another as well as you want!” Shi Bao Ya exclaimed, turning around and waving as she ran off towards the Flood King and Keeper camp.

She still gave very little idea of what they were even going to be discussing, nor whether it would be limited to words alone or if they were actually discussing something that Wei Yi had very little reason to oppose – sex or something like that – but the vagueness of her words combined with the mother of the Master of Yi City’s warning about the Shi family made her not particularly keen to find out. In this instance, she was probably arriving at a conclusion that was worse than reality, but it was still something that needed to be considered first.

The reason that she didn’t want to get it over with now was the same that prompted her to head to Great Dark’s tent once the rest of the forces that had temporarily occupied their camp left for their own location, and it was that she needed to conclude something with him before anyone else had the opportunity to do it for them.

When she arrived, the twin of Great Earth was sitting around and staring into the distance, seeing only the side of the tent, but when he saw her enter he rose and both of them spread out their energy as to obscure their meeting. His cultivation was ultimately larger, so he was responsible for more of the barrier itself, but Wei Yi made use of her own understanding of such barriers to fashion a basic illusion that would prevent others from realising that there was any obstruction if they just brushed past the tent with their own spiritual perception. As she did not have enough experience with the structure and creation of illusions, she wasn’t able to completely recreate a fake scene inside the tent, but neither of them would allow any other to keep snooping around for long enough to see pas the basic illusion.

“So, should we talk about the current stalemate?” he asked.

“You realise the issue as well, then. For the moment, we’re all doing fine, but after some time, the others will certainly get restless. Whatever information they have is apparently believable enough for them to have gotten together and moved out right away, meaning that they will be sure that there is something out there to find. If they do not, they may try to look over their supposed allies in the hunt far more closely,” Wei Yi confirmed, “None of us actually worship a Primordial Deity, so far as I’m aware, anyway, but whatever They had said must have accounted for that fact.”

Great Dark nodded, “None of them have mentioned it explicitly so far, but… to have so many gather in one place, they must have some idea of what they are doing.”

“Essentially, yes. At this point, changing our weapons and clothing to more resemble the Hunters would be more suspicious than not, even if I am able to do so without anyone noticing the difference between the real thing and the fake, so what we must instead do is prevent the situation from being drawn out for too long. In a way, the false threat must become real, and it must be dealt with.”

“I doubt that you intend to come out there and let them kill you, even if you fake your own death.”

“No, that was not my intention, especially since it will take a little while to change my current appearance while being a process that I cannot skip without partially incriminating the so-called Hunters of the Cosmos that we’ve got here. After all, if the terrible Primordial Cosmos worshiper was in the group for so long and yet hadn’t been noticed by the experts in the group, then it would really cast doubt on whether the Hunters have any competency at all,” she said, glancing in the direction of Long Wuchu’s tent, “Some might not, but the issue is that with all of the strange activity going on around here, it wouldn’t be surprising if one of the other groups wishes to attack us due to our current disguise.”

“Some of them are clearly familiar with one another… and not all would be entirely friendly over every matter. Out of all of them… who would you say is the most likely to be a threat… Besides the Golden Lords, of course. The Chen family will always cause trouble.”

“Judging from the random glances so far, as well as the information that we have, it might either be the true Hunters of the Cosmos, or the 7th Legion. The first is bound to be more clear about the typical practises of the force than the drunk and depressed man we got from them, and so they might be keen to eliminate fakes and replicas after they learn of what we’ve been doing,” Wei Yi said, “As for the 7th Legion, I’m mostly going off the identity of the person that had attacked Long Wuchu. A person clearly from Their Bai family, or alternatively a rare member of Them with a physique.”

“You think that they may have been sent here by similar forces… to the ones that had set these rumours in the first place?”

“I think that it is possible. Certain regions and districts must be further under Their control than others, and even in the Yi District two of Them were able to rampage about killing and burning everything they wanted. To give a suggestion to eliminate the Hunters of the Cosmos would hardly be all that challenging for them.”

The twin of Great Earth nodded, tapping the table made of stools that had been placed in front of him.

“So… Oh, hold on. Huang Yu Di is attempting to dig out of the tent with his hands… while failing to consider that sand is far more fluid than dirt or stone. I’ll be back in a moment.”