"For you, disciple Pan Tian... your cultivation is solid if somewhat lacking, but time, hard work, and cultivation resources will fix that. Your martial skills and fighting style are excellent and so well-rounded that it's difficult to determine what would best aid in your development.
"However, in your battles thus far, there have been times when you struggle to gain tempo against your opponents. As such, I gift you a martial skill known as Full Moon. It requires an enormous amount of qi to use and maintain but will massively increase the power of your moonlight qi and martial skills. While adding additional damage to your attacks and those of your allies.
"Once you gain further insights, it will fire stars made of moonlight qi at your enemies. Its qi cost is enormous, however, it should allow you to gain tempo where you would otherwise fall into a stalemate or be outright defeated," said the red woman.
"That sounds amazing... thank y--" Pan Tian began only for the red woman to shoot her between the eyes with a red beam.
Pan Tian's olive green eyes rolled back in her head and her entire body convulsed.
After a moment, the red beam died, and Pan Tian clutched her head in her hands as she staggered on wobbly legs.
"Ugh..." she groaned.
"For your second reward, I shall enhance your weapons," said the red woman. She gestured and the claws of light slid off Pan Tian's hands and drifted toward the swirling figure of the red woman.
"Hmm... interesting..." said the red woman, "your claws of light have traveled an enormous distance and passed through many hands to find their way to you. They work best with light-based qi... focusing and enhancing the power of attacks channeled through them. These were made by the arak of the Glass Mesa... their techniques are similar to those who serve me...
"Liu Jie, just as your friends were offered a chance to make a sacrifice for you, now I offer you a similar choice. If you're willing to sacrifice the blades I enhanced for you, I could imbue their power into these weapons and create something superior to either alone. If you choose not to, I can still empower these claws, but they will be a shadow of what they could be."
"Would I have to sacrifice both blades?" Jie asked.
"Both blades would create the most powerful enhancement. One blade would gift only half the effect," said the red woman.
"It's fine, Jie. I'm happy just to have the normal enhancement. I don't need--" Pan Tian began.
"Hush you," Jie said with a smirk. She withdrew both her blades from her storage ring and offered them to the red woman.
"But--" Pan Tian said.
"I said hush. I hardly ever use them anyway and I can always look at what else we collected. Or see what I can get from the Onyx Pavilion," Jie said.
The blood swords levitated out of Jie's hands and hovered in the air horizontally above Pan Tian's claws of light. Red energy surged. The blood swords cracked and began to bleed. Droplets of their dense blood dripped onto Pan Tian's claws of light as the red woman poured red energy into them.
The blades further melted as red energy swirled around the weapons, refining and shifting energies in a complex weave of power.
The blades vanished entirely as the claws of light subtly changed. Red power flared one final time then subsided as the claws drifted back toward Pan Tian.
The glassy claws now had a red tint to them and the aura coming off them frightened Jie. They felt... hungry.
Pan Tian held out her hands and the claws slipped back on, fitting perfectly.
"Thanks to the sacrifice of your fellow disciple, your claws of light now have all the properties of the blood blades. As such, I think it's fitting to rename them to claws of blood. They will now further enhance and amplify the energies you channel through them.
"The claws themselves will also be more devastating and cut far better than before. Additionally, I've refined them to be better suited to all energy types. So, when you break into the middle dantian, you'll be able to use them no matter what affinities you have. And shouldn't need to replace them until you break through into the upper dantian.
If you stumble upon this narrative on Amazon, it's taken without the author's consent. Report it.
"As you're still growing, I further modified the claws so they may better adapt themselves to fit you," said the red woman.
"Thank you, Lady An Shen," Pan Tian said with a bow, "and thank you too, Jie."
The swirling red woman turned her gaze back to Jie.
"As you sacrificed one of your rewards to benefit a fellow student, I shall grant you a different prize," said the red woman.
She gestured at Jie and threads of red energy pulled Jie's cultivation bracelet off her arm toward the red woman. The red woman focused on it and channeled red energy into it, altering it with her power in ways Jie couldn't make sense of.
The process took only a few moments before the red woman appeared satisfied and returned the bracelet to Jie.
The instant it slipped onto Jie's arm, it resized smoothly, and Jie noticed a sharp increase in the qi she gathered just by cycling passively.
"The enhancements I made were simple as you've all already received your rewards. It will better adjust to fit you as you grow, however. And I've improved its enchantments," said the woman.
"Thank you, Lady An Shen," Jie said as she bowed.
"Congratulations on making it here before any other. You may choose whether to return to the Crimson Academy via the portal or continue within the Crimson Valley for the remainder of the competition. In either case, I shall see you upon my return to the academy, disciples," said the red swirling figure as she broke apart and faded away.
A section of the midsection of the massive statue on the left side of the chamber slid up into the statue itself, revealing an opening that pulsed with shimmering red light. A stone bridge rose out of the lake of blood, the dark liquid falling off the stone like a waterfall as it moved up to the same level as the opening.
"What's through there? The portal?" Jie asked.
"If my notes are right, yes. It should take us back down to the Crimson Academy. But we don't have to take it. We still have time before the end of the hunt and there are lots of places we haven't explored," Pan Tian said.
"You say that like you want to stay?" Jie asked as she withdrew two scrolls of wisdom.
"Well... if you want to get back to your training, we don't have to. It's up to you," Pan Tian said with notes of sad disappointment in her voice, "though we'll have a better chance of winning the treasure hunt if we continue gathering treasure."
Jie used a scroll of wisdom on her bracelet and information flooded her mind.
A cultivation bracelet that was reforged to better suit a more chaotic and destructive cultivation path. Then, further enhanced by a powerful entity beyond the power of this scroll. As such, it should be used with caution as it may contain effects this scroll is unable to detect.
This bracelet aids in gathering and refining qi. The memory stones it holds are sentimental in nature. As such this item likely holds more value for its owner than its function would suggest.
Interestingly, this bracelet was reforged using techniques usually associated with hiveborn. Yet, its overall design would suggest it hails from the Spectral Empire. A most unlikely union.
"What are you doing?" Pan Tian asked.
"Identifying the items. The scroll warns that it can't detect everything, but it still seems best to check anyway. I mean, she did just try to take over our bodies and lied about the previous test being the last test..." Jie said.
"This one thinks that's a good point..." Ithilix said as she withdrew a scroll of wisdom of her own and used it on her spear.
Pan Tian did the same to her claws.
Jie used her second scroll on Xue's collar.
A collar for a magical beast designed to interact with the bond between it and its master.
This collar grants the beast wearing it a boost to cultivation speed that scales with the gap between its master and itself. Without the presence of such a bond, this collar is useless.
The design of this collar is a strange offshoot of traditional arak design.
Whatever its original enchantment, it has been heavily modified by a presence that transcends the power of this scroll. Such an item is rare indeed. It should be used with caution, however, as it may contain effects this scroll is unable to detect.
She frowned. The idea that the scrolls might not be able to detect some kind of hidden effect bothered Jie. But, if the statues wanted to kill them, they had the power to do so. Still, she would've preferred to make sure and wondered just what strength of scroll it would take.
Pan Tian and Ithilix both said they had the same experience.
"So, what do you want to do?" Pan Tian asked.
Jie was about to say they should leave but hesitated. She fingered her protection amulet as she considered the question. She wanted to be done with this place. It'd been fun at times, but incredibly stressful and she wanted nothing more than to resume her more ordinary routine...
But cultivating wasn't what would help her advance at this stage. She'd made some progress with her inner conflict... and gained resources that should help with advancement anyway...
Not to mention gaining insights into her martial skills and learning how to deal with this strange, savage world from Pan Tian and Ithilix...
Besides, hadn't they entered this competition together? Wouldn't it be a kind of betrayal for her to make them stop now rather than seeing it through until the end the way the others seemed to want to?
But Jie knew none of that mattered.
The truth was that one look at Pan Tian's sorrowful green eyes made Jie feel too guilty to say no to her... especially when she wanted to spend more time together and really... what would be the point of saying no?
"Okay... we can continue," Jie said, "but is there much left for us to get?"
Pan Tian's face brightened immediately. "Definitely! We skipped over a bunch of areas in our rush to get here. There will be tons of events and treasures for us," she said, "I have some good locations in my notes."
Jie looked back at the exit, lit with that pulsing red light... and followed Pan Tian away from it, back the way they'd come in.