Book 6. Chapter 9: Fhesiah - Angry Dragon

Book 6. Chapter 9: Fhesiah - Angry Dragon

Fhesiah burst through the formations weakness, her body covered in her dragon scalesall pretense of hiding her heritage gone at this point. A haze of shimmering barriers blocked her path, an activation of the realms owner blocking her escape.

His voice was both questioning and pleading, as it echoed off the walls, the voice coming from everywhere but also nowhere all at once. Wait! How the hell are you a dragon, anyway? We can work this out. Dont you want my heritage?

She sneered in response, as she filled her body with draconic might, and stomped her leg down with enough force to crush a mountain. The stone beneath gave way, shattering and disturbing the energy flow into the important segments of the heavenly energy-powered formations.

The barriers disappeared, and she roared as she breathed a concentrated beam of flames at the cornerstone of the trap. The priceless gem containing vast energies shattered, exploding and sending turbulent energies and shrapnel all over the stone-covered room. The wall was shredded from the explosion, the power of the blast immense.

A piece of rock shrapnel struck her chest, but her body was sturdy from all its tempering and she took it with little more than a grunt.

The trap destroyed, a weight lifted from her, and her aura became unsealed. The perception array revealed the changes to the room she was in, showing the enemys true visage in front of her. It now looked like a room covered in black, with golden stars all over like a starry sky.

Using her divine sense, she realized that she was now within a strange area, in a cabin within some kind of home within the realm. It was odd because it felt completely separate from the surrounding cavern, like the cultivator brought it there. Perhaps some kind ofmobile home? It was so ugly.

A ghostly old man, a remnant nascent soul of a dying cultivator was now in front of her. The man who had sealed her inside this opportunity. She had been exploring a spatial realm with the Radiant Flame Sect, and she got sucked inside this inheritance.

Fhesiah wasnt sure how the Framework thought this was fair, or if it was just a risk of this special event. The gain was significant, but the risk was absurd. Anyone other than her would have been trapped and killed.

She began gathering her flames, now that her hated enemy had been revealed. It was an old man, a formation master that offered to teach her his mastery of formations. He claimed he didnt want anything at all, just to hand off his heritage, his mastery of formations and arrays before he diedand his treasure.

But Fhesiah knew from the beginning, that there was no such thing as a free lunch, and he was up to no good.

After all, this same thing already happened with the damned alchemy master!

He held up his hands, N-Now, dont do anything hasty. If it wasnt for my teachings being so effective and my knowledge so profound, youd never have been able to escape! You have gained something special here, and if youll be patient, there is much more for you to master.

Fhesiahs aura continued to rise with every moment that passed, her draconic flames building in her chest. The old ghost of the third Tier was still alive, but with his soul trapped and tied to the very same realm without a body, he was firmly within the range she could deal with.

The mans words only increased her rage.

Oh? You mean the teachings you used to lure me into a false sense of security, while you worked to weaken and eventually possess my body? I should just sit down on that enlightenment formation and study after all this?

How could you know this? To cultivate is to defy the heavens, you cant blame me for doing what it takes to defy fate! How about you leave for now, and we call it even? Your mastery of formations has increased thanks to my knowledge and teachings, youll receive bad karma for returning such kindness with malice!

Hmm, your kindness, you say? Fhesiah smiled, but her grin went a little too wide, her eyes taking on a manic light. She had been trapped into this temporal space within the battlegrounds temporal space, making her live nearly another year without seeing her husband. Worst of all, the first one happened nearly just as Jake must have figured out how to properly meet with her.

T-That look. I know that onethat was the one you had before you smashed my

Youre absolutely right, I should thank you for your kindness!

She withdrew her pill furnace from her now unsealed cosmos sack, though the furnace had changed significantly since she left on her battleground adventure. The alchemy master had been ecstatic that a kitsune apprentice would show up within his heritage, him being a rare alchemist that specialized in using yin flames for alchemy. After all, all that was left of him was his spirit flame itself.

The pill furnace had been modified to contain and enhance her kitsune flames, the master showing her how to refine and transform the insides of the furnace while refining pills using her yin flames.

It was an extremely special method, one if he had taught her while asking nothing in return, shed have thanked her lucky stars for meeting him.

But he was trying to do the same thing at this formation masterthough rather than stealing her body, he simply wanted to turn her into a pill to consume and empower himself. She lost nearly a year worth of her sanity from that asshole too. What was with cultivators and trapping people to kill and steal from them?

Her scribe flew out, along with several treasures shed collected from the Battleground so far. They all flew inside the pill furnace, the formation master looking on in interest, but undisguised worry. What are you doing? Youredrawing a formation inside?

He snorted, his expression taking on a sneer. What, is that to be my prison? I am the master of formations, your teacher! You might be strong for a Foundation Establishment cultivator, but do you really think you can weaken me enough that

Shut up, Im busy right now! Fhesiah continued her work within the pill furnace, but retrieved several talismans from her sack. Like spell scrolls, cultivator talismans required a bit of personal Qi to activate, but contained significant levels of their own from their creators investments.

These were talismans at the peak of their Tier. Because of the significant investment, likely requiring a cultivator at the next one just to be able to craft them to such efficiency, these had cost hundreds of thousands of T1 Credits.

Each and every single one was a rarity and quality that was well within what a Core cultivator would covet, and the various special energies were balanced across the runes of the formation. In truth, Elron was kind of pissed. He probably could have escaped using all this nonsense from the beginning! But how could he know she was so rich? He had sealed all spatial devices within his realm, to prevent escape.

But he thought it was strange. He cultivated the dao of order, and yet the seal had opposing

Who are you?

A males voice rang out, and Elron was shocked he hadnt spotted it until it spokehe was simply too busy observing the dozens of other treasures in the room. It was a flame placed within the center of the opposing formation, a dark spirit flame which caused Elron to frown. It was clearly a Nascent Soul cultivators flame.

Im Elron, a master of formations.

A formation master? the flame snorted. That girl beat you too? So what do you think, is there a way out of this place?

Elron inwardly sneered as he observed the formations once more, with new eyes. Of course there was a way out, there was always a weakness to any formation. Their opponent was young and hadnt even formed her core yet. Her energy wasnt limitless.

All it would take would be for her to allow the pill furnace to run out of energy, or a moment of weakness and the protections would be lowered. It was then that he could target this living alchemy flame to destabilize both formations, and make his escape.

However, there was another set of formations and runes, that he didnt quite understand even with his vast knowledge. The heaven and earth formation of opposing energies was meant to seal and drain them, to both weaken them and empower the seal itselfthis, he was familiar with.

The second set was made from some runes that seemed to echo the truths of the demons path, the draconic and kitsune flames that she had used. There were even more than that, runes that held meaning he couldnt discern, that almost looked like tribal paintings or drawings.

He was just about to ask the other to introduce himself, when suddenly, a third being joined them.

It was a creature of pure fire, about the size of a child. Eyes and lips floated on its fiery face, a smile of pure joy as it began to flit about and spin as it flew through the innards of the pill furnace. It looked over all the treasures with excitement, but it was most interested in one thing. Of course, it was interested in the dark spirit flame, observing it with interest as it even drank some of its flames.

The spirit flame whimpered and raged against the creature shouting incoherently at it, but the childlike flame just laughed and continued its flittering about the furnace.

Elron and the dark flame were sealed and couldnt do anything to the creature, but it flew around unimpeded, its bright golden eyes shining with curiosity.

The runes from the second formation lit up, of both blackish purple flames on his side, and flames of red and gold on the dark spirit flames side. Powerful energies that Elron knew were not Qi at all joined, ones that he had never encountered.

The heaven and earth formation lit up, and the weight and drain on Elron and the dark flame increased, feeding the flaming runes. Elron was already heavily injured, and didnt have a whole to give. He only barely held onto his own consciousness, using his strength of will.

A fire ignited directly in the center from the array, a swirling flame matching the womans dual paths.

A voice echoed out from their captor, You two both taught me valuable lessons. Thankfully, it wasnt that old guys trapped in a spatial realm wanting to hand over their heritage have bad intentions. No! It was that stealing a body, or turning someone into a pill is totallyokay on the path of immortality.

Elron grimaced, his fear and anxiety increasingif he had his body, his skin would be filled with goosebumps and his hairs raised. Now that he had a moment to think, he realized something else. This wasnt just a place or room that he would be sealed in. It was a pill furnace, which meant

Now, the problem is youre both trash and little more than ghosts. But my friend here, why, shes just so nice and cute, isnt she? Id really like to help her out, and you both taught me interesting methods. Itll take some experiments, but I think Ive already learned enough to turn you into nourishment for my friend!

Elron roared, This is unorthodox. The heavens will strike you down!

Fhesiah snorted. Oh really? Just where were these heavens when you tried to take over my body, or that guy tried to turn me into a pill to do the same thing? Anyway, this is an eye for an eye, and my friend here is without sin. Im just going to turn you guys into some juicy flames, slowly. They just so happen to be what she loves to eat. The heavens have no problems with that.

The dark flame spirit spoke up, Wait! Have mercy, and I will teach you

Ive learned all that I need from someone like you, thank you very much. Just how many had entered your realm that you killed or consumed before me? Oh, and one more thing, Elron. This pill furnace is stocked with enough energy to power the formation for a few years. Also, Im a member of the FrameworkI cannot die of anything but old age. Now, I got a hot date with my husband, and I gotta go for now. Toodles!

Elron was filled with despair from her wordsit was clear there was nearly no path for escape, only the possibility of someone stealing the furnace now. But if someone managed to steal such a treasure from herwould Elron be any better off?

The flames in the pill furnace increased in their intensity, and the energy within began to distort the light in the chamber. More energy was drained from Elron, the fires painful as they broke down his nascent spirit and fueled the flames building in the center of the furnace.

The once happy and joyful fire spirits smile turned ominous to Elron, as she absorbed the pure flames gathering in the center of the pill furnace. Agony rippled through his spirit body as it was torn apart, to fuel the arrays somewhat of his own design.

This time, he was unable to hold on to his consciousness.