V4C77: Elevation and Exploration

On the other side, there were a number of teams already ready to embark and enter the Ping District, with their equipment, tools and various resources readied with them. They entered according to their distance from the Yi District, with the Luo heading in first, followed by the Bai and then the Chao.

From the Luo District came a number of architects and builders that had worked on their own district, with the support of a large number of talisman wielding assistants to ensure that they have enough energy and power to proceed with any task needed of them. Most of the architects were aged and not in their best physical states, but even before they came through the gateway and were able to fully witness the field they had to work with, they were already sketching various designs on whatever tool they had in their hand. Some brought empty books and journals, others made use of a large scroll, while one seemed to be drawing in the air only to externalise that which he had in his mind.

The Bai District brought two groups of twenty-four fourth realm cultivators, with each one dressing in cheap but durable armour that was good at mitigating the potential impact of stone and hard building materials against their heads and bodies. They were more muscular than the typical member of the Bai family, and while their composition was similar to that of a legion, their flow was not maintained at all times, only driven to its peak during construction.

Even if someone who hadn’t been present to see this was asked what the Chao District had to offer to the reconstruction effort, they would be able to accurately answer, for regardless of the task before them, the Chao would tackle it with their strength, and their bodies. In construction, such things were especially useful, as they were much easier to manipulate than external energy in the eyes of some.

These groups emerged and looked at the things that they had to work with, with some from each having very different reactions. Overall, it appeared that the three groups saw a number of problems with the task ahead of them, but were enthusiastic to get to work and accomplish something as grand as rebuilding half of a district. In particular, one of the groups that came from the Bai District were practically salivating at the prospect of making their mark in the world, as they would be one of the first in many decades to rebuild any major district, with the majority of the districts avoiding any conflicts beyond the occasional raid from the nations outside, allowing them to remain mostly stagnant.

However, after a short pause, another group entered, this time from the desert fortress of Paragon.

None of them practised the Ascendant’s Disciple technique, and so Wei Yi was not personally familiar with most of them, but they had come from the Kong Prison Realm and worked on the best buildings in Beast’s Rest, with a few having the good fortune to assist in the reconstruction and repairs of Sanctuary’s towers.

They were incredible for the kinds of people that could develop in the Kong Prison Realm, where even basic construction materials were difficult to obtain, but even if they had been the average kind of worker from the spatial realm, they would still be highly helpful in the construction effort due to their high physical prowess that was shared between every single person in the spatial realm due to their regular training regimen. Younger people would be better in that regard, as they would grow up with the regular physical pressure forcing them to develop stronger bodies earlier in their lives, resulting in a stronger and more stable physique overall. After a certain point, it might even result in permanent changes to their bloodline, although that would need to be checked at a later point.

Together, these four groups looked to one another and came together in a large blob to share some introductions and discuss what they were going to do, but, unbeknownst to them, Wei Yi had already accounted for the potential disagreements in ideas that these groups might have.

She could have brought Sarah Wilson along and let her create a plan for the district that could then be transcribed onto a page of killing will and shared with the builders, but since she had already calculated a reasonable layout and structure to ensure the efficiency of the district’s construction, she instead made use of the power of Law that was resting within the air of the field around her. With her mental image infused into the laws of the area, combined with the active thought regarding the structures and roads occurring in the minds of the builders and architects, their discussion suddenly resulted in a rather conclusive decision regarding those topics.

Although they were surprised at their agreement despite the greatly different ideas that they had entered the district with, they didn’t bother questioning it further and instead reached out for their various architectural papers to draw up their plans and organise the things that they were intending to create in the district.

“Now, people of the Ping District, tell me: do you agree with Ping Xiao Li becoming the new Patriarch?”

Seeing as everyone had the time to think about it, and still found no proper alternative, they ultimately decided that it would be best for them to select him over someone else that had no reputation and no deeds known to the district. If they did not, then they might as well select the Ascendant and let her take the reins, as she was far more likely to do well than any random person chosen from the district due to her experience combined with her general power.

As such, the resounding reply was positive, and some even threw their hands and fists into the air as a display of support.

“Good. Now, tell me, do you believe that a Patriarch should be in the seventh realm?”

Everyone expressing their support paused for a moment, as the question was rather strange in nature. The premise itself, that their leader should be in the seventh realm in order to have enough power to repel potential foes and to be able to improve the district with their own power, was not illogical no matter how they looked at it, but the person before them was only in the fifth realm, as was the Ascendant herself. Some pondered whether she was attempting to dismiss their suggestion of leader, whereas others had no clue at all and were simply waiting for her to proceed.

“Come on, have a slightly better reaction than that. Fine, let me put it another way – do you want him to be in the seventh realm? Would you like your new Patriarch and leader to rise to an appropriate level of power?”

That question was easier to answer, so the vast majority regained their earlier energy and called out their agreement, their hands rising once again. Their selection, Ping Xiao Li, looked about and back to Wei Yi, recalling the information that she had shared with him, and had to question whether there was a meaning to these activities. Was it integral for her to achieve the same effect that the Luo Matriarch experienced, or was it just a performance she was putting on?

Nevertheless, he did not interrupt. He would never speak out against reaching a higher realm when there seemed to be no danger to himself or to others, whether it was those he cared about or not.

After listening to these people for a while, the Ascendant checked the current state of the power of Law and the Conqueror’s Eye influence over the district, finding that the more the people called out and expressed their belief in the proper power of their future Patriarch, the more that seemed to resound with the space, slowly increasing her grasp over the district when it came specifically to affecting someone’s cultivation. This was exactly what she needed, as she did not have any more foes that she might need to fight in the Ping District, and so she did not bother trying to expand that field of power to other elements of the world.

“Excellent. In that case, why don’t we just make this happen? Why don’t we bring Ping Xiao Li to the sixth realm at the least, and welcome him into his new position as Patriarch?” Wei Yi suggested, removing several pills from the air and passing them to the man, “Some basic cultivation pills. They’ll help, but the core of this will be up to you and the people. Sit down and begin.”

He was still curious, but he followed her instruction and sat down with the pills in hand, shutting his eyes and focusing upon his cultivation method, which, without his knowledge, was quickly gained by Wei Yi, processed, refined, and then added to the Ascendant’s Library, where they would reside potentially permanently so long as Wei Yi herself remained alive. Once he had calmed himself, and was able to proceed, he took the pills in one go, having recognised most of them as being four and five-star pills that wouldn’t be dangerous to him even without any assistance in their processing.

“Good. Now, just cultivate. Don’t pay attention to the outside, don’t stop just because something strange occurs, and don’t do anything silly. I am highly familiar with cultivation as a whole, and I can observe and cease the vast majority of negative events that might occur.”

The man followed her instructions, energy slowly gathering around him. Well, it looked slow to the Ascendant, who was used to draining districts for her own cultivation, but for someone in the fifth realm with the pills that he had taken, he was doing slightly better than one might expect on average, meaning that he was not too bad when it came to cultivation as a whole. It was helpful, but not necessary to achieve what she wanted.

At first, that was it, but as the cosmic energy she had stored within the pills began to activate, and the influence of the Conqueror’s Eye was placed over him with greater intensity with each moment, both the range of absorption and the quantity of energy that was rising within him was increasing at a steady and great pace. Quickly, it was as if his talent increased, with the overall amount of energy being absorbed climbing by several folds over just a few minutes. Still, even with the full amplification of these properties, he would at most acquire one or two stages with the energy available within the district at the moment.

For that reason, Wei Yi also made use of her cultivation technique to gather energy but did not grab it for herself and instead allowed to flow into him instead. She also took out one of the seventh realm pills that she had on her, placed it in her mouth, then bit down on the gem-like shell of the pill, cracking it after a moment of pressure being applied to the pill. Her jaw felt a little exhausted after this, as most pills required quite a great degree of effort to break their shell, especially if they are made to properly contain all medicinal essence, but it offered her another opportunity to enhance her body.

That energy surged out within her body, but before taking any of it in, she split it into two parts, taking one and processing it into her own energy without absorbing it, directing it into the man’s body while she processed the rest. Had she had someone to dual cultivate with, she might have been able to make use of both strands of energy a little more efficiently, but even if an attractive woman stepped forward, she was hardly going to engage in the method necessitated by the Yin Soul Yang Root in public.

She had an image to maintain, after all. Without that… she wouldn’t consider it when there was little chance of it.

With the infusion of cosmic energy, something that was easily dozens of times superior to that of regular fifth realm energy, further assisted by the crystallisation and refining of it, even if some of that was partially nullified by the necessity to unbind the energy that she was providing to him, the cultivation rate of Ping Xiao Li was accelerated greatly.

In mere moments, he approached the sixth stage of the Marked Core realm, with the vague illusory core beginning to manifest around him as a number of additional searing marks were attempting to light up on top of it. However, with the infusion of energy from a superior cultivator and cultivation method, as well as the crystallised state of the infused energy, the quantity of searing marks started to fluctuate more and more with every moment that passed, and as the breakthrough itself neared, the number of additional marks slowly stabilised at a full six, although a number of partly illusory marks still glowed on the surface.

As if that had ignited some kind of flame, before one breakthrough could complete, the next one was already on the brink of beginning, with the illusory light of eight marks adding onto his core in a most impressive manner. The second breakthrough began only moments later, just as the builders were able to remove the nearest floating junks of stone and place them elsewhere for the sake of using them in construction in that area, and it came with a far larger wave of energy bursting from Ping Xiao Li.

Those eight marks solidified on the core as he reached the seventh stage, with the vast majority of those present suddenly contributing a great deal of power to the conquered region of the district, thus amplifying the process of cultivation and similarly increasing the effect of the various methods of assistance that Wei Yi was utilising. As a result, he was already approaching the next stage incredibly quickly, and this time a whole nine marks were manifesting themselves upon his core, ready to appear within reality and brighten his entire dantian with fifty-two marks in total, more than half of the maximum number of marks that can exist on someone’s core. Better yet, that acceleration and the increase in the number of marks simultaneously made the crowd believe in his eventual success, thus increasing the amount of energy absorbed, processed and refined with each breath.

Had this been a truly infinite cycle, and one that wasn’t limited by the quantity of energy present within and near the Ping District, then the Ascendant would have certainly taken the time to call out all of her forces and put them beside Ping Xiao Li, allowing all of them to cultivate alongside him and reach the seventh realm or above in one go, instantly surpassing the Great Families in terms of numbers and general strength. Unfortunately, that was not how planar energy worked, even if she was to start using up her anchor points to unleash more energy into the world.

The power of Law was also a finite one, at least with her current ability. Without a minimum of a Full Success in the Dao of Law, alongside whatever that would offer her, there was only so far that she could go with the amplification loop, and that limit approached more swiftly as he neared the ninth stage.

As with the previous breakthrough, this one brought him nine more marks, bringing the total up to sixty-one, a respectable number for someone who had begun the day with only twenty-nine marks in the fifth stage. If others were aware of the possibility of such development in mere minutes, Wei Yi would have probably been hounded relentlessly by everyone who thought they could overwhelm her.

Such actions were rare thanks to her being one of the few with the ability to truly hurt the Great Families, though, since she proved that she was more than capable of defending herself against opponents that could give the seventh realm Patriarchs some trouble, especially in larger numbers. Any faction that observed this from the outside would also realise that it was not a simple task, as the steps involved that they were able to witness still necessitated a district’s worth of people wishing for one’s development, with countless other potential requirements being prevent and hidden by her and her Arbiters.

In just the time that someone would need to speak the previous paragraph, Ping Xiao Li was already breaking through into the ninth stage, with his number of marks finally solidifying as the peak of the fifth realm was attained. There were a few moments in which he reached out with his energy before pulling it right back in, mostly to experiment, before the next and arguably most significant breakthrough was about to occur.

Thanks to Wei Yi’s clarifications prior to this, nobody in the district was actively expecting him to reach the seventh realm today, and in one go, as that would simply be insane, but with further stage attained right before their eyes, their subconscious minds were not quite as sure, thus contributing to the influenced region. That alone wouldn’t be sufficient to bring him to that realm, but the belief that it was a possibility was enough to amplify his cultivation progress by two folds, assisting him in smoothly ascending to the edge of the fifth realm, where it met with the sixth realm, where the Linked Channels realm would cause a series of links to be made between the anchor and the marks on the core, increasing the typical power of the cultivator by an immense margin.

“After this, I will give you one burst of energy to reach the highest stage you can, although I do not expect that the seventh realm is a possibility even with the oddly overwhelming degree of support that you are receiving from the people. Nevertheless, do your best. I won’t complain if you do manage it,” the Ascendant’s voice entered his mind through a spiritual will thread, which she promptly revoked.

She did not need to hear his reply, nor would he benefit from a foreign influence resting near his mind during the breakthrough, and his technique did already possess the necessary material for reaching the next realm even before she secretly added onto a few parts of his memories of it, so remaining in his mind was not necessary. Instead, she took out a few more pills and prepared them by placing them into her mouth, channelling her cosmic energy throughout her body and, more importantly, her entire jaw and her set of teeth to guarantee that they wouldn’t be damaged in the breaking process.

With her abilities, forcing any teeth to grow back wasn’t impossible, but it would be ideal to get rid of all of them before doing so to ensure that they were all at an equal level. However, that would require her to remove the rest herself, and that was not something that an Ascendant should be doing in front of those that she might be ruling over soon through Ping Xiao Li or any other Patriarch that might take his place by then. Doing so on her own would also be unpleasant.

The man did not reply to her words in any way that she could perceive, and instead concentrated even more on the sixth realm, comprehending the relevant portions of his Spark of the Abyss cultivation method and applying them in practise to solidify his grasp over the next realm.

Although the illusory core around him, and the vague manifestations of the channels going from it to the anchor, flickered in opacity and luminosity several times during this process, by the time that it finally ceased fluctuating, it was clearly stable and ready to approach the Linked Channels realm with the power and confidence that a Patriarch should have. His whole body brimmed with energy, his dantian and meridians being full of glistening light that came from transforming the rich energy he was receiving into his inferior planar energy, and the moment that he did begin the breakthrough itself, all of it surged out of him.

The vast sea of white light blazed towards the marks on the illusory core that was manifesting around him, flowing into them and linking back not to the illusory anchor, but to his own core instead, creating a strange magnification and extension of what was truly occurring within his body and displaying it to the world around him. It may have been strange to some, but it was blatantly effective.

With each breath, the lights grew more stable, and transformed from merely being projections of his energy to the true illusory manifestations of his internal channels, each one connecting to one of the sixty-one searing marks and amplifying his innate strength by half of what the marks themselves could provide. It was a most impressive breakthrough, to the point that even the builders and the Patriarchs and Matriarch that were watching through the gateways paused to take a look, but just as the materialisations of internal structures began to fade, Wei Yi bit down on the pills in her mouth and crushed them in one go, a deep purple light practically flooding out of her mouth even without her channelling that energy anywhere in that instant.

Just as with the first pill that she processed, she first converted that energy according to her own methods, binding half of it to herself and making use of it in her own cultivation while the other half, converted to a fifth realm energy for easier use, was pushed into Ping Xiao Li’s body in one go.

His dantian and meridians were back to overflowing in an instant, causing the next stage breakthrough to begin quickly.

What the Ascendant had not mentioned in her earlier words to him was that reaching the next stage, especially in these later realms, was typically better when it required more energy. Sure, having an easy time breaking through every stage was good in the short term, but in the long term, the overall energy capacity and capability of a cultivator were greatly benefitted by having every single stage be pushed to its limit, or, in other words, by attaining perfected stages and perfected realms whenever possible, just as Wei Yi had done.

If he was able to jump to the peak of the sixth realm in one go, or even reach the Oblivion Halo realm, his large number of searing marks would benefit him, but he would be far inferior in comparison to someone who had attained those marks without outside assistance.

As such, she paid close attention to him, as the next stage practically leapt into view, all of his energy being refined once in the process of the stage breakthrough. The individual stages of Linked Channels did not have specific details like those in Marked Core, with the channels and so on remaining constant, but each one was still highly beneficial as it ensured a layer of refinement and strengthening of one’s planar energy.

That alone could create an enormous divide between someone in the first and second stages, for instance, and was one of the things that would intensify the gulf between someone with an excellent cultivation method and pure energy against someone that had neither. The refinement and purification effect of each stage was only capable of acting most effectively when the cultivator was already prepared to take advantage of the refinement, and while the modified technique that she placed into his mind was an improvement, it was not enough to suddenly place him into the same position that she would be in the moment that she reached the sixth realm.

His second stage came, and already Wei Yi was seeing good signs while the third stage approached. From the looks of it, the energy she had provided would only be enough for that breakthrough, meaning that his natural energy capacity was better than average, and that he wouldn’t be a useless person when facing an opponent that was also in the sixth realm, or the seventh realm once he reaches it.

With the energy of the district, and everything that she had transferred to him, he raced towards the third stage, with the luminous light of his planar energy flooding the district as it was rapidly consumed in order to pursue it. Quickly, the quantity that he possessed went from being absolutely excessive to merely filling every place that he could store it, and then, with one extraordinary pulse of power that caused the entire field of floating debris to be pushed back, the outer edge dropping out of the gravitational field and forcing the crowd to jump back, all of that energy was sent through the illusory channels, being woven together and refined as it progressed. The moment that it reached the edge of the manifestation of the core, it fell back into him, a smaller quantity but far higher quality of energy welcoming him into the third stage.

The people would have wished for him to ascend further, but it was clear at that point that he simply did not possess enough built up energy to climb to the fourth stage and beyond, and the Ascendant had already consumed several pills just to aid him. She would be unlikely to continue.

‘They are very much right about that, especially since the Planar Dao vision state is able to confirm that if I was to push him in his current state, it would not end too well. Fortunately, given that most of those in the sixth stage had been defeated in this district, he will not face much opposition from those that dislike the attempts to minimize crime in the district, and anyone he does face will be weaker if I simply pass along a few techniques,’ Wei Yi thought, quickly selecting a few such techniques from a few that were superior to what one might usually find in a district, but not as good as her own arsenal.

She manifested a killing will page imbued with some of her understandings and gave it to him while he was still sitting cross-legged on the ground, so that he wouldn’t attempt to comprehend it while standing and embarrass himself as a result. Then, she raised her foot and stepped into the air, taking a few such steps in order to rise above the low layer of floating debris.

“As I had said, it is unlikely for him to reach the seventh realm. That being said, with him only attaining the third stage now, his foundation will be stronger, meaning that once he does reach the Oblivion Halo realm, he will be sufficiently capable to protect you as any other Patriarch might do,” she said, “With the kinds of people that had previously led you, I expect that he will do a far better job regardless of his own cultivation, so continue to believe in his success, and that belief will be rewarded.”

If she was to be honest with the people, she would say that she couldn’t be sure whether the person that they had selected was a suitable one, nor whether he would truly be able to replace the previous Patriarch in anything more than name, as scanning his mind brought back varied results. For that reason, she made sure to speak clearly and address the crowd and him at the same time, making promises on his behalf as to ensure that he understood what she and the people expected of him. Following those expectations would be beneficial to him, even if his own talent is found to be lacking, but going against them and returning to the previous tyranny for any reason would be punished by her and the influenced stage of the district alike.

He had yet to begin reading the techniques she had passed to him, as he was still getting used to the energy he had cultivated, but by the stray thoughts in his mind, he seemed to have gotten the message.

The people of the Ping District were, overall, not so observant, not expecting such a warning to be delivered right in front of them, and specifically to them, but the more simplistic reaction to her words was very much positive.

Some cheered, others exclaimed their support and praise of their new Patriarch, and their combined cries and excitement came together and surrounded him. What they did not see was Wei Yi vanishing before them, entering the gateway of the Kong Prison Realm but not proceeding to the prison realm itself, instead tapping into the web that she had accidentally activated as a result of the spatial stabilisation point’s usage, using it to transfer herself into a field outside of the Ping District.

She glanced back, finding that the new Ping Patriarch had looked around in an attempt to find her but stopped quickly. Presumably, he decided that she had left as she had intended, so it was perfectly fine.

‘Alright then, he’ll do well enough with what he has, and Luo Na and the Patriarchs will be able to stop him if he tries to do anything stupid, so I can focus on this… web. There is a link between the four districts that I have connected to so far, with these connections seeming to create a kind of triangle with the Chao, Ping and Bai Districts, as well as the Luo, Ping and Bai Districts. Now that I have all three corners of both, the web was triggered, meaning that in the golden age of Yi City, the districts may have always been united by an enormous spatial realm’s gateways,’ Wei Yi observed, ‘With the web, it is possible to transfer myself to anywhere within it, so, if opening a gateway is feasible…’

There was hardly any need to finish that thought, as the possibility of freely opening spatial gateways anywhere within her controlled regions would be immense. Having a gateway to the Dimensional Domain, to mines and resource sources, as well as to other areas of note, would give her an incredible edge over the Greats, who likely lack the resources and power to control the very spatial stabilisation points of the districts that they have a stronger hold over. In fact, they might not even know that such a web exists beneath the ground.

Using the web to quickly transport herself to the Dimensional Domain, where the residents were busying themselves in one of the structures, she raised a hand and willed a gateway to form.

Right away, she felt the flow of sliver and crimson from the Kong Prison Realm pass through the web, and make its way to the small village and rise into the air, manifesting into the vague shape of the gateway slowly but surely. It took far longer than when she made use of a stabilisation point, but she was able to see that it would form with enough time.

After nearly fifteen minutes of waiting, she finally saw the spatial connection appear, stabilise, and open up, linking to a segment of the Kong Prison Realm and Paragon, with the gateway splitting into two to permit for this.

‘Well… excellent. Absolutely perfect, in fact. This will be incredibly useful,’ she smiled.