V4C46: The District of Brawn

At the Chao District, the guards at the walls saw a large group of people approach them from the north. On its own, this was not particularly surprising, since travellers did exist, and some would come from the northern nations. What did put them off right away was the fact that every single person was constantly radiating their energy, showcasing that it was of a higher grade than that of most.

‘A force… the force of the supposed worshiper?’ the Chao Patriarch pondered as one of his subordinates provided him with the news, ‘What is their intention?’

He brought his spiritual perception as far out as he could and used some of the inscriptions within the district to project it to the edge of the district, where he could then observe the actions of this mysterious group. So far as he and his subordinates were able to tell, there wasn’t a single seventh realm cultivator amongst them, so the district wasn’t in significant danger of any particular outcome, but the Patriarch still needed to be wary.

Depending on which of the narratives he had heard about was accurate, the group could either be a beneficial force to the district, or something dangerous and vile that they would need to address, but for now, he and his forces were only able to watch.

The forces of the Ascendant’s Arbiters marched on at a rapid pace, although it naturally paled in comparison to what Wei Yi was able to attain at her fastest. They had journeyed directly from the north, and they had limited their speed as to not arrive too early. Part of their plan involved Wei Yi, after all, and if they somehow managed to get to the Chao District too early, it might be difficult for her to join in.

At the front were Great Dark and Great Light, the latter of whom had been brought out of the mines to ensure that he brushed up on his combat skills rather than digging up things when that really wasn’t necessary at the moment, considering the fact that the Chao and Bai Districts were bound to have some resources for them to utilise instead.

Behind them, although not significantly, was Jia Rong, who was somewhat nervous about the things she needed to do. Putting aside the fact that her strength did indeed appear to be so absolutely insane that her cultivation, whatever that was, had risen several times in just the past few hours, and she still had no issue at all with keeping up with figures that were far more powerful in terms of that energy that all of them possessed, she wasn’t certain about the way that their plan would go due to everything about them, and the world that she had found herself in.

To address the less obvious first, her experience with the world around her was strange to say the least. She had remembered what she had been told of the world around her before the incident.

Now, however, while the sands should be similar to what she had been told about, they were also different, as each wave of sand was flooded with this strange purple mist of glistening particles that only she could see. As she had confirmed several times with the others, they could sense far more planar energy all around them, within everything, but she could hardly imagine what it would look like if her vision was entirely consumed by violet light like that.

Then again, the demonic woman was also entirely different from the young, mostly regular girl that she had been prior to the destruction of her home. Her eyes could see that energy a little more clearly, her body had changed to an entirely different colour, and her strength had increased immensely while her age appeared to freeze.

According to what Wei Yi had shared with them, the Eastern Continent was considered to be more focused on demons and devils than the Western Continent, but the west had also needed to deal with the devils of the past that had arisen when the Master of Yi City had taken in the continent.

For that reason, the appearance of someone that was undeniably demonic in their looks had a high risk of disconcerting and misleading the people of the Chao District. Depending on what kind of conclusion they arrive on, it could lead to them treating Jia Rong as an ordinary person, or as some vile entity that needs to be obliterated, defeated and purged… which would hardly be ideal for her, Wei Yi, or any of the Ascendant’s Arbiters, whether or not this was possible.

She was, after all, incredibly durable as a result of the changes to her body, so it might be difficult for people to take her down, but it could lead to conflict when conflict would be undesirable.

“Things that looked like me… were they terrible?” Jia Rong asked Great Dark, who seemed reliable.

“Like you… Demons had looked like you, from what we know… and they did do terrible things… Although I am not sure how true that is,” the dark-haired man replied, gazing into the distance towards the strong walls of the Chao District, “You also do not seem to be one of them… They were an entirely different species, and while they could b- no, have children together… they would result in warped mixtures of human and demon features… From what I can understand, and what Wei Yi has said… you should still be human.”

“Human… What is a human?” Jia Rong pondered out loud, sighing only shortly after, “Never mind that. I will be fine. Hopefully.”

“Our presence should ensure that you do not get treated a violent monster… Don’t start glaring at them or displaying your teeth, though… might give them the wrong impression if they’re quick to jump to conclusions…” Great Dark said, paused, then added, “Which describes them perfectly…”

“Now you sound like the aggressive one, brother. I don’t know about the old demons, but Jia Rong looks perfectly reasonable with her new clothing. Once again, Fu Zan has done well enough,” Great Light said to his other twin, then to both him and Jia Rong, nodding with great satisfaction at the clothing the otherworldly demon had produced as if he had been the one to create it.

In his defence, Fu Zan had been rather inspired by the appearance of the demonic woman, and thus created an outfit more fitting for an emperor or king rather than a random girl from the forest. Nobody really cared about this, though, since their leader was essentially a random girl from the poor district.

Aside from the layers below what was visible, which were taken from the existing catalogue of underwear that the otherworldly demon was acquiring more and more of as he continued to copy more and more of them from the Orbis he had come from, as well as trying out some of his own ideas when possible, the rest was unique. He might have used some star metal if not for understanding its preciousness – and if Wei Yi hadn’t slapped his hand when he reached for it.

Her lowest layer after that was a set of tight trousers made from black-gold thread, ornamented with golden threads in esoteric patterns, and a dark shirt above that which hugged her body a little more loosely as to not overemphasise the chest. The sleeves ended half-way down her arms as to not stand in the way of anything.

A cloth belt kept the two on her and stopped the clothing from shifting unnecessarily when she moved.

Atop that, a robe that descended to her knees and was open at the front from the waist down as to not impede the movement of her legs if she needed to kick something, or run at a fast speed. A dark gold trim decorated it, with a few pockets on the inside and outside alike as to ensure that there would be places to keep her things. This was something that Wei Yi had made Fu Zan include, having learnt from her own experiences and deciding to provide all of her subordinates with all of the pockets that they might ever require in their daily lives, just to be safe.

Jia Rong personally didn’t think that she would ever need that many spaces to store items, since she had nothing left to carry with her, but Wei Yi was rather insistent and thus they were added.

For the sake of allowing her something to cover her hands with, Fu Zan had also made some fingerless gloves which were made of especially tough material so that it wasn’t breached by her claws when she attempted to put them on. On her feet, she wore black boots with flat soles that were imbued with a simple temperature controlling inscription attached on the inside, heading up part-way up the lower half of her leg, after which black stockings could be glimpsed beneath her trousers.

Unlike her hands, her feet had managed to remain mostly unchanged, save for her toenails darkening and growing tougher, stronger and longer, so she was able to wear most ordinary footwear with few alterations. The only thing that she did need was to have the threads of the stockings and the material of the boots to be made stronger than normal, but since every little part of her outfit was created from materials that were suitable for cultivators of the sixth realm and above, so that essentially changed nothing at all. With items at that level, her body was able to perform at its current peak without risking damaging any of them.

Her black-gold robes also had a hood which she could cover her head with, including the horns that she had on her head, but it was not currently up as they were not going to be entering in secrecy and instead broadcasting their approach. A figure with horns would certainly help with that.

“Alright, we are getting close… let us focus on the matter with the district, and we could contemplate such matters at a later time…” Great Dark said, pausing momentarily as he looked towards the ones that were following the three, “Everyone, stay back and prepare! We shall be heading forward on our own.”

Their forces stopped and took out the inscription plates that had been prepared in order to create some basic defences in the case of an attack from the district if they concluded that their approach was too antagonistic, or something of the sort. There was no need to have a large number of people participating in the initial interaction with the Chao District, as that might give yet another different but negative impression for the people of the district that prided itself on sheer power and strength.

If they assumed that they were going to be assaulted not with might, but with number, the leaders of the district might take some offence to it.

For that reason, individuals going forward would be far more effective, and far more likely to succeed and not encounter certain complications that Wei Yi had contemplated and considered some methods for addressing before they departed.

Great Dark, Great Light and Jia Rong continued forward, continuing on until all three of them were able to tell that they had approached the edge of some kind of defensive measures. The first two could perceive the energy flowing beneath the ground and through the walls with their powerful spiritual perception, but the demonic woman was able to see something that the rest of them could not floating around the district’s walls.

“There’s some kind of mist floating throughout the walls and ground… Are those the defences?”

“You’re simply able to see that… What kind of range does your vision have?” Great Dark quietly inquired, “Is there a limit to your sight?”

“It got more noticeable as I got closer, although I think that’s just because the energy inside began to flow more as I approached… I think that I may be able to see this kind of thing from the same distance as I can see everything else,” Jia Rong posited, causing the other to share an uncertain glance that she didn’t pay much attention to.

However, if she had the ability to truly see everything from so far away, even if it was only in mist form, meaning that she was still limited to particles of energy relevant to her, that would still be incredible. There was a possibility that this method could even see through things that repelled spiritual perception, meaning that her presence anywhere would instantly allow for all kinds of secrets involving planar energy to be seen through, giving them an immense edge in any attempts at stealth or subterfuge from the enemy. Then again, the defensive methods of the Chao were hardly attempting to hide from them, so this speculation might not be accurate in the slightest.

“As I’d said already… we should focus on this…” the twin of Great Earth said, just in time.

Only a little after he said that, two figures appeared upon the walls of the Chao District, with the rest of the guards that were already standing atop it parting and distancing themselves from these figures. Their number quickly made them think of the Greats, but they did not appear to have that aura.

Both of them were also male, and in the same fifth realm as one another, although one was in the fifth stage while the other was in the seventh. They were tall, muscular, and highly strong in appearance, as might be expected from the Chao family’s members, with black hair upon their heads and yellow eyes, and their every limb rippled with a vast quantity of energy, both physical and otherwise, including the might of a physique.

Unlike many of the Chao family, and even the population of the Chao District, they did possess a physique each, with one holding the Perfected Realm physique thus possessing a significantly stronger body than most would from the moment that it had awakened. The other had the Prime Dragon physique, and thus his pupils looked partly reptilian and his skin was notably tougher than his fellow.

The figures looked upon the group of three, then into the distance, and then back down upon the three.

“Explain yourselves, or fuck right off,” the Perfected Realm physique wielder said, “We’re the two strongest warriors of the Chao District, so if you want to attack anyone in the district, you will need to go through us!”

Great Dark and Jia Rong looked to the third member of the group, for whom the task of introducing the challenge was given. The former was too quiet and slow in his speech to be able to present that challenge fully, whereas the latter was not yet confident with any part of her strength or state, and had never really been in a place where she had even needed to shout to someone else… a particular terrible situation aside, of course.

For that reason, Great Light was the best and most suitable for this task.

“Chao family member, we are the Ascendant’s Arbiters, and we wish to challenge you, since you are supposedly the strongest! We wish to test your might, with a single demand at stake!”

“What kind of demand do you dare to ask of us?” the Prime Dragon physique wielder called out, his physique causing a series of ripples to appear on his body and flesh, “Be careful with your words if you do not want to be crushed!”

“Ha, as if you will even be able to… The demand is simple! If we are victorious, your Chao District will agree to aid us with the attack upon the Great Families! If you know their name, then you will also know that many of them had suffered a defeat at our hands not long ago! We can lead all of you to more victories of that sort, and your Chao District will have much to gain!”

“Haha! What a notion!” the first member of the Chao Family laughed, “What about our side?”

The second said, “If you think you can win, then so do we. If we can obtain victory, then your Arbiters will join our district!”

The first one laughed again, but although the request sounded rather preposterous, so was the demand for the Chao District to assist the small faction, regardless of what it had been able to achieve. If one side was able to make insane demands, then the other would do the same, and both of them understood this perfectly well. For that reason, neither attempted to argue, especially since it wouldn’t benefit the Arbiters to have the other two realise that there was no reason they’d ever make such a bet without great certainty in victory.

The Prime Dragon wielder leapt down from the wall and approached them with his arms changing to that of a dragon, with yellow scales lining his skin and with his fingers transforming to claws as he looked upon the Arbiters.

“So, which one of you – heh, what a hideous thing you are. Are you going to fight me?”

He had looked upon Jia Rong, who was only able to step up and nod in response to his words, “Yes, I will.”

The demonic girl was unable to reply to his words directly, as his figure was rather intimidating to her even with the height that she had gained since her imprisonment in the cave. She was, despite the strength she apparently had, still rather afraid, and so the most that she was able to do was take that step towards him and trust in Wei Yi’s words.

She had been able to come for her even after the world had forgotten about her, so she was naturally trustworthy in this regard as well.

“Oh, really? What kind of fight do you want to participate in, disgusting creature? Are you going to try to poison me to death with your blood, or should I instead be worried about you trying to poke my eye out with those claws of yours?” the man asked, smirking at her, “Look at yourself. Your body isn’t even that muscular, and yet your owners are trying to make you do something like this. They can’t wait to beat you and get you out of their lives, can they?”

A flash of anger appeared in her eye at the sheer disdain with which a man was able to speak, but she calmed herself as Great Dark put his hand on her shoulder and said, “You will not fight, but contest your strength… With neither side using anything more than their arm.”

“Tch. Pathetic. That’s all you can manage?” the Prime Dragon wielder asked with blatant disinterest.

“That is what we offer! Either you take it, or else you can witness the power of our Ascendant if you decide to linger around and simply insult her Arbiters!” Great Light stepped back in, making sure to release a quantity of his yin planar energy as to showcase some kind of strength to their opponent, “You should be well aware of what happens then if you have heard the word from the Ping District!”

The Chao family member’s gaze stopped on Great Light, his eyes narrowing, “Oh, so that was true, then? A woman deciding to clean out the trash of that district and getting away with it despite her low realm? You lot follow her? In that case, I can accept just one of your nonsensical requests. Fine, as the strongest man in the Chao District, I shall accept your bet, and show you why our Chao brawn should not be taken lightly!”

He also came forward until he was only a few steps away from Jia Rong, then glanced at the twins of Great Earth with a raised eyebrow. Their method of competition required an appropriate surface, and despite him talking for so long, they had still not prepared it.

Those two ignored him and calmly channelled their energy into the ground, raising a large quantity of sand into the air and solidifying a large cubic block of it at the level of their arms. It was flooded with yin and absolute cold, so the moment that it approached the kind of shape that the Prime Dragon physique wielder was satisfied with, he opened his mouth and spat out a great quantity of flame.

It grilled the sand right away, turning it black with the flame and clearing much of the cold energy away from the basic block that was created.

That did also replace the cold with immense heat, prompting Great Light to immediately reply with another gust of cold of significantly lower strength, blasting that heat away and bringing the temperature of the table down to some semi-reasonable level, at least in the eyes of the two participants in the bet. The Prime Dragon physique wielder was satisfied with the heat still present inside, and didn’t want to go too far with a pointless conflict not of the physical kind, but Jia Rong didn’t actually feel much from the cube regardless of the heat or cold. She didn’t know whether that was merely a sensory illusion or something more, but she didn’t want to test it in the previous two circumstances anyway.

Both of them took another step towards the block of solidified sand, then placed their right elbows onto the surface and grasped one another’s hands. In order to test the demonic woman’s strength right away, the Prime Dragon physique wielder attempted to tighten his grip on her hand to cause some pain, but he found that his grip was unable to make much of an impact upon her, as if he had no strength in his fingers at all.

“Let us begin, and then we may discuss further matters… I don’t need to count you down, do I?” Great Dark took a few steps back, grabbing his brother with him so that they couldn’t be accused of interfering with the situation if either side lost.

The Prime Dragon physique wielder shook his head, then activated his physique in order to cover all of his body, save for his head. There was no real benefit to changing his head into a draconic state, since the basic test of strength that they were currently employing did not require faster reaction time or better sight. It only needed strength, layered onto strength, more strength, and then some more strength. That was also why he was mostly certain that he would succeed, since he had the strongest arms out of anyone in the Chao District. His fellow Chao family member was strongest in his body overall, however, due to the Perfected Form physique.

He looked into Jia Rong’s eyes in an attempt to evaluate her ability and strength, but he found it highly difficult to figure out a single thing about her. On one hand, she looked worried and afraid of his high stature, as if she was some child looking up at a terrifying adult – terrifying in her mind, at least. On the other, her body was perfectly calm, not shaking in the slightest as her clawed fingers held his hand.

‘Contradictory… Something is giving her courage… I’ll just crush her, then crush them, then go crush their fortress in the sands,’ he, Chao Dongtai, grinned even more widely, ‘Their fault for that bet.’

Many outside of the Chao District assumed that the Chao family, and many of those that chose to live inside of the district without being directly affiliated with the Chao, were, to put it nicely, unintelligent. The stereotype of their stupidity was well known even in districts that had little chance to interact with them without some extreme time being taken to travel out and communicate with this far-northern district like the Qiang or Ru Districts, and it was hardly one that the Chao were unaware of.

However, they were not stupid, only single-minded. They valued strength and brawn over all else, but intelligence needed to be invested to acquire the most strength and the most power out of everyone in the world. Chao Dongtai, for instance, was focused on his draconic physique and his strength, but that didn’t mean that he had forgotten tactics or planning. He knew that the Ascendant’s Arbiters were giving him a strange offer, but he trusted his own judgement more than anything. If the person in front of him looked weak, then they were weak, and nothing would convince him otherwise. Only a complete and utter defeat could indicate anything different.

For that reason, he was not afraid, and neither was his fellow Chao family member that looked down upon them from the walls. They would certainly be victorious, and then they would learn whatever they wanted to know about the strength of the Ascendant’s Arbiters.

They began the moment that the other attempted to force down their hand, and, as might be obvious, it was Chao Dongtai that started first, using all of his strength from the beginning in order to win as quickly as possible, just to assure that nothing unexpected could occur to him while he was focused on this contest. The Arbiters had come here with a large group, after all, so he wouldn’t be surprised if they tried something untoward.

He could see that his foe, Jia Rong, did not react as quickly. In fact, it took her several seconds to realise what had happened, and that she needed to respond.

In any normal circumstance, that would have led to an immediate victory for him, but despite his every attempt to push her hand down to the hardened sand surface, he found that her arm didn’t move – not while he was attempting to move it. The moment that she used her strength, it was like all of his energy, all of the power from his physique, all of the time that he had spent developing his muscles was nullified, and he was back to some ordinary young boy while she was still in her current state, reacting with most of her strength as well.

As a result, he suddenly felt the back of his hand touch, no, violently strike the hardened sand, with some of his bones loudly creaking and cracking at the moment of the collision. The mere impact also blasted apart the sand beneath them, causing it to collapse into a large pile of matter.

“… eh? What?” he muttered, failing to notice that his hand had been released.

“This is a victory, clearly! I suspect that the Chao Patriarch will need to emerge to finalise this, but don’t you think that this is a rather clear and telling victory?” Great Light immediately said.

The Perfected Form physique wielder on the wall above, Chao Zhi, looked upon this with a stunned expression. The woman that he saw shouldn’t have been able to do anything of the sort, but there seemed to be no movement of planar energy, no usage of a physique, not even all that much of her strength being used to ensure the victory. In fact, the moment that the woman released Chao Dontai’s hand, she had to resist the urge to cheer in excitement.

He had no idea what to say about any of this. It just made no sense.

“Here I am, Arbiters, but I do not see a victory for you,” a figure suddenly joined him on the wall, looking down upon the rest with a bright expression on his face, “Tell me, do any of you have the power to enforce your supposed success?”

Great Dark and Great Light glanced to one another, comparing their own strengths to that of the figure before them. Even together, and with everyone behind them, and everything that Wei Yi had prepared for them, they might not be able to succeed in defeating the Chao Patriarch. If they did manage it, they would have the rest of the Chao District up against them, which would not be particularly ideal.

However, both of the groups were forced to turn to the south-east as a beam of light suddenly surged out and reached them, allowing them to see a vibrant blackened crimson light exploding into the air and then reaching out, growing more and more until it nearly reached the Chao District in a significantly dimmer state. It faded then, but just after they briefly glanced at one another to ensure that this wasn’t a plan of the other side, they had to turn right back to see a huge wave of sand rapidly soaring towards them.

At the front of that wave was the same blackened crimson light bringing them all forward.

Great Dark glanced to Great Light and Jia Rong, then said to the Chao Patriarch, “There is one that has that power in front of anyone.”