150 Tension

The ice dragon was like a wood chipper as the ice giants kept charging towards it. Chunks of ice shot everywhere, mixing with the hail falling from the skies. To Ed's delight, the ice giants didn't heal when killed with the blue water path, likely because it wasn't considered cheating.

'No wonder Tai likes creating flame dragons so much.' Ed admired his work. The ice dragon wasn't nearly as detailed as the ones Tai liked to make, but it was equally intimidating.

As the ice giants continued to fall, Ed began moving forward. The ice covering his body supported the severed tendon in his left ankle, allowing him to walk. Ice sprouted underneath his feet with each step he took, creating a staircase into the sky. He manipulated the ice dragon to guard him as he went. Soon, he towered over all the ice giants, looking down on them like a king looking at his subjects. The previous stairs he created were destroyed by the ice giants while his remaining stair grew, transforming into a thick ice pillar.

"Tsk." He clicked his tongue as he watched. Truthfully, he wished to let go of everything and release his rage upon the ice giants. But his body was a complete mess and describing it as useless might be giving it too much credit. 'I'll save my rage for after I escape.' He decided as he sat down. His breathing was slow and steady, but each breath was deep and exhausting. His vision was blurry, and there was a constant ringing in his ear. 'Have to stay awake!' His remaining eye turned red as he glared at the ice giants and continued to control the ice dragon to destroy them. 'If I fall asleep again, who knows what bastard might take over my body.'

Two days passed, and the grind against the ice giants never seemed to end. He was easily killing one ice giant per second, but even that felt slow against their massive numbers. To kill a million would take him almost two weeks of constant slaughter. Fortunately, the ice giants' remains fused into the ice whenever slain, allowing the next wave to come forth without Ed being forced to move. It was a difficult balance, as he had to keep his mana output at a level where he could recover whatever amount he was using. By now, he had even recovered all of his purple mana.

"If only I could have created a pillar like this last time." He sighed aloud. The pillar allowed him to rest and recover his mana easily while fighting. In his previous fights, the onslaught of ice giants in direct combat didn't give him the slightest chance.

Soon, an entire two weeks had passed. Ed's face was still pale, as was his entire body. However, he had recovered quite a bit. Neither of his arms had managed to grow back, nor had his eye or burst heart. But the many gashes and wounds covering his body had healed naturally due to his chimera flesh, including the severed tendon in his ankle. 'I should really look into finding a strong mutant and increasing the mutant flesh ratio again.' He thought when remembering his days in the cage. When he was more mutant than human, he had even been able to regrow limbs with relative ease.

By now, there was only a single ice giant remaining. Ed transformed the top of ice pillar into a wave of water and rode down the pillar as if he was descending a tall spiral staircase. Upon reaching the bottom, the last ice giant was torn to shreds by the ice dragon. Then, the ice dragon and ice pillar both turned to water, fusing with the ice. "Finally." He grinned as he waited for the exit to appear. 'Once I get out and heal my body, I'll figure out a way to deal with Sect Leader Fang. He's on President Walker's level, so I doubt I can beat him one-on-one, but that kind of thing has never stopped me before.

After waiting for nearly a minute, a new ice giant formed from the ice. It looked just like the others, having no special qualities of any sort. "Leave." It ordered.

Ed's eyes widened in surprise. 'Fuck, Sect Leader Fang wouldn't be so shameless as to leave me in here after legitimately winning, would he?' He glared at the ice giant. "Why? I won with the correct path. I played by the rules."

"You. Cheated. In. Beginning." The ice giant replied. "Four. Day. Penalty. Until. Try. Again."

Ed's eyebrow twitched. In a moment of anger, he shot several spikes of ice forth. They stabbed directly into the ice giant's head, slaying it instantly.

A minute later, a new ice giant spawned. Unlike the past occasions he had slain a single ice giant, no extra ice giants appeared. "Leave. Four. Day. Penalty." It started to give the same speech again.

"For fucks sake!" He complained as he sent more ice spikes ahead, killing the giant. Bored and with nothing better to do, this became his new game to keep entertained for the next four days. By now, he had stayed up for weeks without sleep. Even for a strong esper, it was an exhausting feat. Especially when considering his injuries. He needed any distraction he could get to keep himself awake.

Four days later. There were only a few minutes remaining until the time reset and he could finally leave. He had spent over a month in this hellish place without food and with very little sleep. He was eager to feel the sunshine once again. Just as he was counting down the final seconds, he heard footsteps behind him. Glancing back, he spotted the two cultivators that had helped him previously.

"Elder." They both bowed respectfully. Last time, they had been fairly rude, but they also hadn't realized he was an honorary elder at the time.

"Hey." Ed greeted them back. "I'll be leaving soon." He shot another ice spike forward, killing the latest ice giant to spawn.

The girl fidgeted nervously when looking at Ed's missing arms and missing eye. One could only imagine how she'd react if she had seen him just a couple weeks earlier when he didn't even look human.

The boy noticed the girls discomfort and spoke up. "Elder, I saw the hordes of ice giants over here during the past two weeks. Do you know what happened?"

"Extra ice giants spawn if you cheat apparently." He replied. Another ice giant spawned, and he hurriedly killed it.

"And where did all the ice giants go?" The boy questioned in confusion.

"Dead." He answered. Just at that moment, an exit appeared out of nowhere. A rectangular portal revealed the plaza within the grassy mountain-like region that was just outside. It seemed the last ice giant had finally counted as the reset. He didn't hesitate as he stepped through the gate, and it instantly closed behind him.

The two cultivators stared in disbelief for a moment before turning to each other. "Do you think he was telling the truth?" She questioned.

"No way." The boy shook his head. "The Sect Leader must have intervened or something."

...

Ed stepped out of the portal, returning to the plaza with the various training rooms. However, things were not as he expected. 'The hell?' He looked around in confusion.

Unlike last time, the plaza was extremely crowded. There were more cultivators here than he had ever seen in the sect before, and they were all fairly young. 'Those two cultivators had mentioned there being a certain time of year that's normal for training. Has that time already come?' He wondered as he looked around. 'No.' He frowned. 'Something's wrong.'

It was hard to describe or put one's finger on it, but there was an odd tension in the air. All of the young cultivators looked extremely nervous. They were divided, sticking to individual groups while eyeing each other warily. It was as if they didn't trust their fellow sect mates at all, ready to be stabbed in the back at any moment.

Amongst the various groups, there was a single exception to this rule. A thin Chinese boy with short black hair laughed loudly. It seemed the boy was telling a story of his adventures to his friends. "And then I told the prince, if you don't let me sleep with your sister, then you'll just have to do!" His surrounding friends looked nervous, but they forced themselves to laugh along with him. It made for an awkward situation amongst the tense atmosphere.

Ed stared silently at the boy. 'I'd bet my only eye that that's Dupe.' He walked towards him. The crowd moved out of his way, glancing at him in shock due to his missing body parts. However, they remained silent, as if they didn't want to be the sparks that lit an accidental fire.

The thin Chinese boy noticed Ed, and his eyes widened in surprise. He immediately turned to his friends. "Please excuse me. I just remembered that I left my stove on." He hurriedly turned around and left the crowd, leaving his confused friends behind.

Ed followed the path the Chinese boy took. A few cultivators watched curiously before turning away. Ultimately, whatever was happening wasn't their business.

Even the roads the two traveled on were crowded with cultivators. The Chinese boy took several twists and turns, continuing towards more desolate areas. He finally stopped when reaching a small opening surrounded by trees. It was a good distance from the main sect areas, being closer to the mountain wilderness.

Ed walked directly up to the boy before stopping and staring at him. After a moment of silence, he spoke. "Well?"

The Chinese boy sighed while his body slowly transformed. His frame grew slightly thicker and taller. His skin turned whiter, and his short black hair grew long, white, and spiky. "How did you know?" He asked.

"Lucky guess." Ed grinned. "Well, your timing is impeccable. Do me a favor and make a clone."

Dupe nodded. A 2nd Dupe stepped out from his body. Seeming to already know what was going to happen, the 2nd Dupe reached for the 1st Dupe's waist, retrieving a small dagger. He slammed the dagger into 1st Dupe's throat, causing blood to spray everywhere. The 1st Dupe died almost instantly. It seemed that Dupe really had mastered the art of suicide and self-homicide.

"Thanks." Ed nodded as he stepped forward. His powers instantly set to work on the dead Dupe's body. The flesh melted and reformed before fusing with his body, becoming his new arms and eye. He also replaced his spare heart. When finished, he burnt the remnants of the body to ash and melted it into the soil. "Much better." He grinned as he began stretching his shoulders and arms.

"How do you always end up looking like an unfinished game of hangman?" Dupe chuckled.

"Luck of the draw." He shrugged. "Let me guess, you've got clones in all eight sects throughout China?"

"How did you know?!" Duke exclaimed, pretending to be shocked by the conclusion.

"Good." Ed nodded. "So, tell me. What the hell is going on over by the training rooms? I haven't seen tension like that since the Florida Harmony War."

"That..." Dupe frowned. "It's a bit difficult to explain, and it'll take some time."

"I'm all ears." He replied as his powers activated. The ground melted, reforming into a solid dirt table and set of chairs. He sat down while gesturing for Dupe to do the same.

"Right... so where to begin." Dupe scratched his hair as he sat down. "On the surface, everything was still normal until about a month ago. I'd say it was around the time Sect Lord Long showed up that things started getting tense."

"Don't tell me Sect Leader Long would really start a war with the Purple Origin Sect over a simple marriage?" Ed interrupted with a question.

"Of course not." Dupe scoffed. "The relationship between the Purple Origin Sect and the Fire Dragon Sect has always been the best amongst all of the sects. At most, he would have caused problems for Sect Leader Long to posture and save face."

"Then what happened?" Ed frowned.

"Something unthinkable in the past." He sighed. "The six other sects have all formed an alliance opposing the Purple Origin Sect. Rumors are floating that war is just on the horizon. That's why the training hall is so crowded. Regardless of which sect they pledge their loyalty to, each of those cultivators would end up on the front lines. Everyone wants to improve their odds of survival if even by just a bit."

"Humph." Ed snorted. "Figures I'd get dragged into a war as soon as I sign on for an alliance. Not a day goes by where the God of Luck doesn't go out of his way to fuck with me."

"Well... I wouldn't really blame this on God." Dupe continued. "Instead, you should be blaming Nexus."

"Nexus?!" His eyes widened in surprise before he quickly regained his calm. He leaned forward on the table, resting his head on his folded hands. "I see. So, Feather is finally making her move. If I had known then what I know now, then I would have just killed her at the academy."

"Right. And that's not all." Dupe replied. "Not only did she manage to get the six other sects to unite, but she's also framed the Fire Origin Sect. The six united sects insist that the Fire Dragon Sect is their leader, and that they are really seven united sects. Of course, the Fire Dragon Sect has denied this repeatedly, but who would believe him. After the recent wedding proposal drama and everything else, Sect Leader Fang has grown suspicious."

"I see..." Ed nodded. "Then even the Fire Dragon Sect members within the Purple Origin Sect wouldn't know what's really happening behind the scenes. With this sect being such a mixed bag, it's practically a powder keg waiting to explode." He closed his eyes thinking for a moment. "Actually... I remember Sect Leader Long mentioning he was in contact with Nexus not long after we met. Maybe he really is involved with the other six sects?"

"Who knows." Dupe shrugged. "I'm not important enough in any of the sects for all the juicy details. I just hear the same rumors as everyone else."

"Speaking of which." Ed frowned. "You could have passed techniques to Harmony if you were spying on all the sects anyways."

"No way!" Dupe shook his head. "It'd do more harm than good. After finding out their techniques leaked, they'd start an all-out assault on Harmony. It'd be gone before we know it."

"Tsk." Ed clicked his tongue. "Figures."

"Oh, and one more thing." Dupe hesitated a moment before continuing. "Sect Leader Fang announced that Fang Bai will be marrying Yuki." He looked Ed in the eyes. "It takes place in a week. What are you going to do about it?"

Ed grinned, tilting his chair so far back that the front legs lifted off the ground. "So, things are going just as I expected. Nick, when do you think the powder keg will explode?"

"That..." He hesitated. "Maybe during the wedding?" He shrugged.

"Exactly." Ed's grin grew even bigger. "We'll need to make our own preparations for the upcoming war. It's been a while since I've gotten my hands dirty."

"That..." Dupe frowned. "Which side are we supporting?" He questioned.

"Our own side naturally." Ed replied. "You know, if one of the sects gets eliminated entirely, there will be no one looking for their missing collection of cultivation techniques. Wouldn't that be a real shame." He chuckled.

"Things are going to get crazy here soon." Dupe sighed, almost seeming to have expected the answer.

"Right." Ed agreed as he stood from the table. "I've got prep work to do. I'll be in contact again soon. Feel free to recruit any cultivators you feel are trustworthy." He turned to leave, not waiting for an answer.