Chapter 195 - Hop Up The Swords

The wall opened like it was made of nothing, and the stones on it were an illusion. A glaring bright light blinded her for a moment.

Cheng Xiu blinked her eyes as her vision slowly adjusted to the lighting of the room.

The place behind the invisible door was a large white room done in the ancient style of marble carvings. The walls were decorated with embossing of a variety of flowers, vines, trees, and fruit baring plants.

Cheng Xiu frowned. She kept her senses on alert.

From the first moment that she had entered the Torri gates towards the Clock Tower she had seen too many sculptures and embossing that turned out to have the ability to move.

Cheng Xiu assumed that the same could be applied to these as well.

There was no way that these decorations existed for a simple show.

She looked inside a bit more, still not entering the room completely.

The coloured lines that were not visible when she had first encounted the Counsellor rats were now visible for her to see easily, and the Rat consellor wearing a Yellow robe was climbing up the wall. It had already crossed the Blue line that ranked it as an A-Ranked NPC, and was close to the Yellow Line, which would help it to become S-Ranked.

Cheng Xiu acted the moment she realised what was happening. She summoned the Red Carp Sword and its six copies, not waiting a second more and attacked the rat.

Unsurprisingly, the vines that were engraved on the walls of the room began to move and covered the swords, making them all completely immobile.

Cheng Xiu frowned.

Her ace skill had just been rendered useless.

The rat counsellor did not even look back, or give her any mind as though she did not even exist. More precisely, it did not think that Cheng Xiu had the capability to attack it.

Cheng Xiu thought for a few moments. She was not stupid by any means, but she had really thought that the weapons would have far more of a chance to fight the Rat Counsellor than they did.

Cheng Xiu thought for a moment, trying to find a way to get out of this predicament.

She took a step forwards.

"What are you doing!" a voice called from behind her.

Cheng Xiu looked at the Fork that came in after her.

The Spoon and the Torch stood far away, quite close to the place that ones held the door to the Nest.

Cheng Xiu could guess what had happened. The three must have felt curious about the room and followed her in only to realise that the door that led to the way out had disappeared.

The must be waiting at that place hoping that the door would open up any moment.

Cheng Xiu decided not to give them much attention for now, she needed to concentrate on defeating the Rat counsellor at the moment.

"I am approaching the enemy to engage them in battle," Cheng Xiu said to the little Fork.

"You are approaching your death," the Spoon said to her in a contemptuous voice.

"Human," the Torch said in meek voice, "that is Counsellor Ronni, he specially asked the Queens to help him in his bid to achieve the Crossing of the Levels!"

Cheng frowned. "Help him how?"

The Torch let out a sigh, its flame fluttering as though in response to the air it left. "By making the Quest taker take the test of Leveling with him!"

Cheng Xiu frowned. She looked at the slowly climbing rat and then at the utensils and the torch. She could guess what that meant. "I would also have through the Rings while feeling the Qi Pressure that the room exerts on the trespassing rats?"

"So smart," the Fork said in awe.

Cheng Xiu smiled. "Thank you."

She started to move towards the wall.

The Fork jumped in front of her in panic. "What are you doing? Are you insane?"

"I don't think so…" Cheng Xiu said in a low voice, "But if I want to clear the dungeon I must prevent the Counsellor from climbing up, and it seems the only way I can do that is if I can do that is by approaching the wall, as the vines stopped my swords."

The Spoon scoffed. "If your weapons were stopped, how are you going to defeat the Lord Counsellor once you get close to him? Are all Human cultivators such idiots or are you a special case? Do you think yourself so capable?"

Cheng Xiu smiled. "You are quite a rude utensil, but yes, I think I still have a way to defeat your Lord counsellor."

The way that she used the title of the rat was in a mocking tone.

The Spoon trembled.

Cheng Xiu was sure it was in anger and not in fear.

"You! You disrespecting-"

"How are you going to do it?" the Fork asked her, cutting off the Spoon's rant that it had listened to for far too long.

Cheng Xiu looked at the rat and then at the veins made of marbles.

"Anything that does not belong to the Chasm has Qi…and anything that has Qi will have to submit a bit before me," Cheng Xiu said as she raised her palm. "Ghost Flame!"

The black flame burst into life and sat motionless in her hands.

The torch gasped. "So beautiful….can I hold it?"

Cheng Xiu blinked. She shook his head.

The Torch backed away, its flame drooping. "I see."

"Hateful human," the Spoon said in a squeaky voice.

Even the Fork backed off at the moment.

Cheng Xiu smiled. "It is not that I hate you guys. The Ghost Flame was created as a way to counter the Heavenly Fires…do you know what that means?"

The Torch backed away in fear. "It…it is thing that should only belong in the Chasm! Why is it out! How can you take it out! Are you working with those in the Chasm? Are you not afraid they will betray you?"

Cheng Xiu blinked. "I…am not working for them…this little one belongs to the Underworld."

"Nonesense!" the Torch screamed. "Anything that can defy the Heavens belong to the Chasm!"

Cheng Xiu tilted her head. "Why would it not belong to the Underworld?"

"Is the Underworld so capable?" the Spoon asked her, "If they had this kind of a thing, would they be bullied so easily by the Heavenly Beings!"

The flame of the Torch nodded its tendrils, the spokes of the Fork imitated the actions a few moments later.

Cheng Xiu gave those words some thought. It made sense. With something like the Ghost Flame was there any longer anything that the Underworld had to fear?

She looked at the black flame that swayed in a docile manner in her hand.

She smiled. "Chasm or not, it is my Flame now. And that is all that matters in the end."

The Spoon nodded its 'head'. "But you will still have to face the Qi Pressure."

Cheng Xiu shrugged. "If I can get this far, it means I am capable enough to reach for some more. Wish me luck."

With those words, Cheng Xiu walked towards the wall again.

Sensing her approach, the engraved fauna became agitated and tried to attack her.

Cheng Xiu summoned the Ghost Flame again and threw it at her enemies.

The flame turned all that it touched into ashes.

The other things on the walls shivered and refused to make a move on her.

Sure enough…her most OP skill is still the Ghost Flame.

She looked at the grey line on the wall…how would she climb the wa-

Cheng Xiu's mind went to the trick that she used against the Foot soldiers of the rats.

She created those six sword copies again, barely coating them with a thin layer of Ghost flames on by one so that she could keep the attacking marble sculptures at bay.

She then threw each one onto the wall, careful as to keep their distances even.

Thankfully, the swords stuck to the wall.

Cheng Xiu smiled and stepped onto the one just above the grey line.

She did not feel any pressure at all.

Cheng Xiu smiled and jumped to the next one. There was still on effect on her.

She kept jumping until she reached the sixth sword.

Cheng Xiu looked up. Right above her was the Green Line.

Did the Queens fool this Rat Counsellor and that there was no spell to make the enemy feel the same pressure? That could not be possible. The system would not let such a good plot line to go to waste.

Cheng Xiu exerted her will on the swords below her so that they would dislodge from the wall.

She then checked each one of the swords to see if she needed to replenish the Qi of the Ghost Flames coating it. It seemed it was not necessary.

She threw the sword copies one by one onto the wall above her.

After all six were securely lodged into the wall, Cheng Xiu started to jump up once more.

She started to feel a slight pressure like she had a small backpack on her back as she reached the fifth sword.

She looked up at the sixth sword that was lodged above the blue line.

When she crosses it, she would become an A-Ranked player of the Quest. She wondered if there would be any corresponding rewards for that but she was also curious if she would be punished because the Rats were nearing S ranks because she was delayed.

Cheng Xiu shook her head to get rid of those thoughts and ran up the sixth sword.

She started to feel the pressure a bit now, like the backpack on her back had large books stuffed inside it. Her legs also felt heavier.

Cheng Xiu once again willed the swords to dislodge from below her and lodge themselves to the wall above her.

She started to jump up the sword copies again.

Below her, the three inanimate objects that were animated by magic stood in silence.

"The human actually crossed the Blue line in one fell swoop," the Fork said in a disbelieving whisper. "Do you know what this means?"

"That she is above A Rank?" the Torch whispered to the Fork.

The spiked utensil nodded in shock.

"She is above S rank," the Spoon said, its voice a mix of awe and fear.. "So capable."