Chapter 34: Escaping The Depths, Ensnared By The Heights

Chapter 34: Escaping The Depths, Ensnared By The Heights

Activating my small spatial ring, I pushed out several cannisters. Each one of them was primed to burst upon release. A massive cloud of dark smoke began expanding. It was would hide my scent as I made my escape and smell terrible to beasts. I also tossed out a final bomb. It burst, three shattered rank 3 spirit stones went zipping through the water in different directions. A cloud of ground up spirit dust also emerged, which should hopefully confuse the beast even more.

Putting that much energy into the water with the spirit stones along with the smoke would hopefully disguise my position. And make the beast lose interest. With its human level intelligence, I could only hope this worked.

I was already kicking my way upwards while throwing out more smoke bombs. Getting them to work underwater was what had cost so much. I didnt hesitate to exhaust my entire supply in the next minute. I felt the pressure as the beast rushed through the smoke with its eel like form.

I then pulled out the next round of cannisters and tossed them up and away from me in various directions. More smoke exploded outwards through the water. I followed one of the arcing trails of smoke off to the side. The smoke, and particulates, hung in the water, not easily dispersing. If I was nearer the surface, then they would have dispersed much more. If I had been deeper, then the smoke wouldnt have gone that far out of the bombs.

Swimming upwards and then back down. I heard the beast zipping around, looking for me. I could see its energy clearly through the water. Once it was on the far side of the smoke cloud, I swam out of the trail of smoke I was hiding in and away from the scene of the encounter.

I focused more on horizontal distance, rather than ascending. The pain was getting worse and worse. The canyon disappeared from my sight beneath me. I had picked a random direction, which was taking me further out into the ocean.

My joints hurt, I had a massive headache, and finally it was hard to breath. Waves of dizziness assaulted me, and my vision was blurring. I forced myself to stop ascending and keep moving horizontally and descend a bit.

With the diving suit and my cultivation, I had gone to untold depths, far deeper than an ordinary human could dive. The problems with pressure still existed. With my body cultivation and refined beast essence, I would be matched up high stage 3, possibly low stage 4 cultivator. I was incredibly tough and difficult damage.

But the pressure of the ocean, especially that trench, where I had gone into the red on the depth gauge was too much. I had been hoping that the calibration would be off so that I could survive. I had survived, but getting back up to the surface would take time. I was also exhausted, both mentally and physically.

My reserve of rank 3 spirit stones was quickly running out. Swimming out further into the ocean, was the smarter choice, since if any beasts looked for me, they would assume I would head back to shore. I was glad the large number of underwater smoke bombs and energy decoy bomb had worked.

The Imperial Sect really did make some amazing equipment, even if it was incredibly overpriced. The diving suit was also helping hide me as well. It was designed to avoid drawing attention from beasts. Another reason why I went to the Crashing Wave Sect to borrow one.

I popped in another rank 3 spirit stone to keep the suit running and sipped some water from inside the mask. While I had found a hidden beast garden, and stole the green ocean lilies, I would celebrate once I was back on shore. Swimming through the water, I was half conscious as I kept avoiding any beasts I could see, as I made a big loop back to the shore.

I was on my last spirit stone and couldnt keep my eyes open as I finally reached the shore. My entire body hurt massively. The waves slammed me up against the rocks, as I dragged myself up on the coast. I made my way to the tree line, pulling my mask off. It felt good to breathe air. I collapsed under a tree and passed out.

No dreams came to me while sleeping. I felt a pain in my neck and woke up. There was a cloaked figure looming over me. They had a horrid smell to them. I felt a collar around my neck. I wouldnt try pulling it off, the figure said.

What? I asked as I tried to make sense what was going on.

A little itty, bitty cultivator washed up on shore. The heavens truly favor me. I havent smelled a cultivation like yours. It will be delicious to consume, the woman said. I placed their gender through the voice and the curves on the robe. Looking at them, they were in the fourth stage of cultivation, if I had to guess. She had a plump figure.

Let me go, or else, I said as I tried to get up. The figure snapped her fingers and my body lost all strength.

A collar of dispersal is such a wonderful tool. You feel it dont you. Your cultivation has left you, she said while holding up a formation key, before tucking it away into her dark robes.

How?! I asked afraid. I was not in Half Moon City, and in tremendous pain still. I was in no condition to fight. Rage coursed through me, but was offset by the amount of pain I was in. That was a way to suppress the beast essence, overwhelming pain that racked my body.

That little cultivator is a trade secret. Dont want you getting any ideas and escaping. Oh, no. I am going to extract every bit of cultivation out of you, for myself. Now lets get all that equipment off of you. Unless you want to take it off yourself. It looks expensive, she said.

It is. I will take it off, I replied. She grinned under her cowl. I saw her fat jowls jiggle as she let out a giggle.

Good. Good. So cooperative, she replied. I was trying to sense what the collar did to me. But it was weakening me greatly. I wouldnt be able to outrun a rank 4 cultivator. Without my sword, I would have a hard time hurting her. With my body in pain, I wouldnt be able to fight hand to hand or to even think about running.

I had to defeat her, here and now. There was only one chance. I had forgotten something important. This would hurt us both massively. But the hope was it would wound her enough, to disable her. I twisted a hand and poked my last smoke bomb I had out of my small spatial ring. It exploded and I turned to run.

I didnt get very far as I heard the snap of fingers and I collapsed to the ground once more. That might work on beasts, but not on little old me, the woman cackled as she came closer. You are collared already? What hope do you have?

Please, please my sect will pay for me, I begged and cried. The tears and fear came easily, they werent all fake. She took a step closer and looked down at my pitiful form.

The strong take and the weak suffer. That is the way of our world. Now I am going to peel you out of your shell, she said. I had tried to make a fake escape to lure into a sense of superiority. She would think I had used all my trump cards.

I had one left. A very dangerous one, as she came closer and closer. I tried to scramble away, past the tree roots, but was too slow and weak. An impossibly strong hand gripped my shoulder and squeezed. AHHHH! I screamed in pain as I felt my bones shudder under the pressure.

What ripe cultivation for me to harvest. I so enjoy your fear, she said as she flipped me onto my back. I brought my right arm up to shield my face to make it look like I was cowering from her. My left arm swiped out, activating my mid-rank spatial ring.

BAM!

I was slammed into the ground as the massive amount of water pressure shot outwards, along with one of the cases. Thankfully the carrying case was aimed at this demonic cultivator. It slammed into her with a massive amount of force, launching her away into a tree. As I struggled to get up to my feet, I saw the massive tree was shattered halfway through its base from the impact of the demonic cultivator. The carrying case lay on the ground, unharmed.

The tree toppled over to the side. I made my way from the ground zero crater I was in over to the obese older woman. My diving suit had protected me from the pressure explosion. I should have drained the ring at intervals was ascending. My encounter with the beast and with how tired I was, made me forget.

I put the carrying case back into my mid-rank spatial ring with the other one. I reached into her robe and pulled out the formation key to the collar. I quickly found the slot and put it in. The collar snapped off. I still felt terrible, but I no longer felt weak. I quickly spun and clamped the collar around her fat neck.

A hand reached up and grabbed mine, but I could feel it was weak. I didnt know how to activate the collar, but I ripped my hand free and put the key back into my spatial ring. You dare! she screamed, specks of blood and spit flying from her mouth. Some of it hit my face.

Yes, I dare, I replied. I stumbled back away from her. The pain and aches from my joints made it hard to keep my footing in the soggy, ripped up ground. I am going to leave and let you run away. I am sure you can get that collar off in time. I said.

Ahhh! she screamed in rage, as I turned and began walking away. She didnt pursue me thankfully. She didnt have a spatial ring, otherwise she would have put the formation key in it. I also couldnt be sure I would win in a fight. While that collar sapped her strength, I was in incredible pain.

After two hours of stumbling through the coastal forest, I came to a paved road. Checking behind and around me, the woman wasnt following me. I quickly stripped off the diving suit and put on my sect robes. I did a little rearranging of my spatial rings. I knew which way I had to go back up the coast to get back to the Crashing Wave Sect.

If you arent treated soon, the joint issues will become permanent and possibly mental issues as well, he replied.

I would humbly ask to be given some face, and the opportunity to repay such a debt at a later date, I replied with a head bow. He let out a long sigh.

You are causing our sect a great deal of headaches, Yuan Zhou, he said. I winced at this. We arent a rich sect, like your Cloudy Moon Sect that can send rank 2 disciples bumbling about into the ocean with more spirit stones than common sense. Or the Imperial Sect with its immense wealth. You will owe me a personal favor on behalf of the Cloudy Moon Sect.

That was not good, since a favor could easily be worth ten times what was given. That was the common definition of repaying a favor. I would owe 5,000 rank 1 spirit stones. That was only 50 rank 3 spirit stones, so while bad, it wasnt horrible.

Thank you, Elder Bo, I said and bowed my head deeply.

Come, let us get you into a healing chamber. Did you even succeed? he asked me and got up. I followed him out of the room.

I am afraid not elder. I also took a blow on my chest I replied while thinking that I didnt have what I needed with me, and I had returned injured. He gave me a look for a moment but then kept walking.

A shame. At least you returned alive. Many other cultivators fail to do so. Let us go see the healer first.

I got a Healing Pill that was worth 5 rank 2 spirit stones. It would fix up my ribs and organs. But for my cultivation that was not something they could deal with. I now owed 100 rank 3 spirit stones. Not something I wanted to occur, but getting healed up was important.

After getting the healing pill I was put into a stone chamber with a bucket of water and an empty bucket. I was told I would be here for fifty days. Every tenth day they would bring me food and replace the two buckets.

I felt the pressure of the air increase, and began to feel better. I was incredibly hungry at the end of the ten days as the pressure decreased slowly. The pain came back along with the headache, but it was less severe this time.

During this time I focused on my cultivation. It wasnt good. The carefully laid out internal structure was twisted slightly in my chest. The biggest impact was where I was going to put my cores. I tried to move the motes that had been moved out of position. It took time and was incredibly painful.

It was like pulling splinters out of my body and pushing them into another location. The amount of resistance, I faced was immense. The issue wasnt the distance the aligned motes had moved, but the sheer number of them.

The treatment was repeated four more times. At the end of it, I was slightly sore, but no headache. I had only fixed about a twentieth of the motes that were not in the right spots. At my current speed, it would take another three years to fix the injury I had sustained. I left the chamber and was brought before Elder Bo once more.

This is for your Master and Sect Leader, he told me and handed me a letter. I took it carefully and put it in my spatial ring.

Thank you, Elder Bo. I will it delivered without issue, I replied and bowed deeply.

Let it not be said that the Crashing Wave Sect turns its back on fellow sects, he said and left the room. I left the Crashing Wave Sect with my sword on my back and a smile on my face. It was good to be able to move without crippling pain.

The soreness was still there, but that would linger for a while from what I had been told. It was time to recover my mid-rank spatial ring. Four days of traveling later, I arrived at the site of the battle. There was still rubble, and the road was damaged. The bodies were missing, and there were only scraps of broken up wood on the road.

I went into the forest where I had thrown my ring. I had been checking, but had seen no one following me thankfully. It took two days to find the stick, stuck up in a tree, with the ring on it. Nothing was missing. I let out a sigh of relief at that.

Now I just had to get back to Imperial City. Sell one of these green ocean lilies, buy a red desert rose, and then return to the sect. When I returned to the road, there was a young child that appeared similar to me waiting for me in a tattered blood red robe. I couldnt see their cultivation, but a child cultivator like this was not a good sign.

Junior, greets senior, I quickly said and bowed my head.

My disciple goes missing. I poke around and find this is the spot where she died. And here I find a young cultivator snooping around. Recovering a lost spatial ring. Tell me what happened, he said and displayed his cultivation, letting whatever technique he was using drop. He was a rank 8 cultivator.

I was finished. I explained what happened. They then pressed me on my trip into the ocean. There was no point in lying here. It was clear that the crazy woman was his disciple.

Interesting. A genius. And you survived through luck. I can see the currents of fate about you, he replied.

Thank you senior, I replied politely like a meek little mouse before a massive tiger. My dark reflection just grinned at my subservient answer.

You know you wont make it with standard cultivation techniques. Past the first bottleneck, he said.

There was talk of sending me out into the Firmament, I replied.

HAH! Even I would not date such a thing at my stage. Only immortals are truly qualified to make such a journey. The aura of luck and fate that surrounds you, would mean nothing out there. But what if there was another way? he asked.

You mean demonic cultivation? I asked.

Hmmm, indeed, the not child grinned at me. You caused the death of one of my disciples. So, a debt is owed. There is no demonic immortal. And my path would be strengthened by taking one such as yourself under my tutelage. What do you say? That wasnt even a real question. It was like asking if I wanted to instantly die or not.

Yes, Master, I replied without hesitation.

I know you are lying in your heart. But that is fine. Once you see the power that lies within the darkness, you wont want to go back. And if you do, well, you can always object and fight me, the not child said. That was never happening.

Yes, Master, I replied once more, and he grinned.

I am the Blood Demon Aoyin. Your name disciple? he asked.

Yuan Zhou, I said with a gulp.

Yuan Zhou. A pretty name. I see your fear, but there is nothing to worry about. I am merely going to convince you the path of blood is the best. To corrupt your foolish notions of cultivation that have been put into your head, he said as he approached.

A massive sword suddenly appeared in front of him and floated horizontally above the road like a surfboard. He stepped on the floating sword. Get on in front of me, he said. I quickly went over and stepped on the floating sword. A hand touched my back, and I froze in place unable to move. The sword I was standing on rose up into the air and then quickly set off, the wind rushing past us as we traveled at impressive speeds. I was forced to shut my eyes from the force of wind blowing into my face.