As the storm raged on, Xian Wei struggled to keep moving forward, the wind and sand relentlessly pummeling him from all directions. Despite the constant battering, he adapted as best as he could. He tightly wrapped the cloth around his body, making sure to cover his exposed arms and face. With each gust of wind, he adjusted the cloth to ensure there were no gaps or loose ends that could be caught. At times, he had to use all his strength to keep the cloth from flying away, but he persisted, knowing that it was his only defense against the storm's wrath. The winds around Xian Wei continued to intensify, howling and buffeting him with growing force. The sand and dust whipped around him in a frenzy, stinging his exposed skin and filling his mouth and nose. He struggled to keep his footing, feeling as though he was standing in the middle of a maelstrom. Suddenly, he felt a powerful gust of wind lift him off his feet and spin him around. He tumbled through the air, completely disoriented, before landing hard on the ground. As he looked up, he saw something that filled him with dread – a towering, twisting column of wind, spinning furiously and kicking up massive clouds of dust and sand.
Xian Wei's heart pounded as he realized he was in the center of a growing tornado. The winds were so strong that he could barely move, and he felt himself being slowly drawn towards the center of the vortex. Giant chunks of ice fell from the sky, pummeling him and the ground around him with bone-crushing force. He wrapped the cloth tightly around his body and tried to keep his head down, but the wind was too strong. He could feel himself being lifted off the ground, pulled towards the spinning column of wind and debris.
In the midst of chaos, Xian Wei found himself sitting on the ground, his eyes closed in concentration as he attempted to brace himself against the fury of the swirling tornado above him. Determined to withstand the immense force of the tempestuous winds, he focused his energy on circulating his Qi, activating the [100 Lead Arcs] technique. With every ounce of his strength, he grit his teeth and worked to increase the weight of his body, hoping to anchor himself to the earth and avoid being swept up by the vortex. Despite the scorching heat of the sun and the intense exertion required to withstand the storm, Xian Wei remained resolute, his body slick with sweat as he poured all his energy into his efforts. As the moments ticked by, he could feel the weight of his body beginning to compound, the force of the winds pushing against him with even greater ferocity. For a moment, the technique seemed to work as Xian Wei felt his sweat change, but then a sudden gust of wind lifted him high into the sky. Xian Wei rose, and the dunes grew smaller in his sight. Their size stabilized, now with no wind to sustain his ascent, he began crashing back to the ground.
As Xian Wei slammed into the sand, the increased weight from his technique caused a sizable crater to form in the dune beneath him. Struggling to sit up, he was immediately assailed with a sharp, throbbing pain in his side that left him shaking in agony. Each tremor enacting another wave of pain upon his body. Despite the horrendous pain in his side, he summoned all his willpower and focused on his qi circulation, hoping to increase his weight even more. Knowing he would not survive another fall he began taking slow, deep breaths, hoping to ease the pain and calm his mind.
Between ragged breaths he began to stand, as he did, he heard a sharp whistling sound, followed by a crash. Sand and dust filled the air from a point before him, and Xian Wei threw a hand up to block some of the debris. The cloud of dust, now homogeneous with the storm around it. Xian Wei noticed the source, a massive pillar of ice. “This pillar is far too large to have come from one of them,” he thought, imagining the cloud of deceased creatures above him. Suddenly he heard the sound again, Xian Wei whipped his head around and watched in awe as another pillar of ice fell from the sky. Xian Wei's heart was pounding in his chest as he watched in horror. Multiple pillars of ice began to appear from the swirling vortex above. Each one crashed down to the desert floor with a deafening boom, sending plumes of sand and dust billowing into the air. The tremors almost knocking him back on the ground.
The first of the many pillars slammed into the ground, digging itself deep in the sand. The second followed, matching the landing of the first and shattered into millions of pieces, creating a horrible cacophony of ice and debris. Xian Wei tried to dodge the falling pillars and their accompanying debris, but there were too many. With all his might, he broke free from the encirclement of ice. He sprinted towards the nearest dune, hoping that it would provide him some shelter from the onslaught. As he reached the top of the dune, another pillar crashed behind him, and the ground beneath gave way. Xian Wei fell into darkness, a pit full of jagged rocks and ice awaited him at the bottom.
He crashed into the bottom of the pit, the impact jarring his entire body. He lay there for a few moments, stunned from the impact. Pain in his ribs, dull, compared to a new sharp pressure. He looked around, bleary eyed, and found he had not been so fortunate to dodge all of the spikes. A malignant spike of jagged stone had ripped through his right ankle. He sighed, feeling qi leaving his body through the wound, his blood staining the ancient stone floor. “Is this how the others fared?” he said to himself, “Alone, in a pit, beneath the sea of glass.” pausing to realize his error. Now remembering a detail he had forgotten, “...head north until you can verify the Sea of Glass is below the sun…” The elder spoke. Xian Wei couldn’t remember the next part of the instruction.
He shuddered, feeling a cold malice creep over him from within the darkness. There was something else in the pit with him. Xian Wei quickly tore his foot from the spike it was impaled upon. Remembering another memory as he did so. That of his father teaching him the very basics of the [100 Lead Arcs] technique. The technique was designed to transmute water from the users sweat into lead, one of the heaviest metals known to their village. However, his father was very insistent that he never tried to do the same with blood. “Especially your own...”, his father said frequently.
Xian Wei cupped his hands around the hole in his ankle and began condensing qi in the area. Remembering the feeling in his legs from the previous day, he began to utilize the qi as well. Unknowingly using qi synergy, Xian Wei began changing the blood in his hands. It was slow at first, tiny grains of metal were hardly noticeable amid a sea of blood. He pushed harder, the metallic coagulation speeding up to match his effort. As Xian Wei continued to concentrate his qi, he noticed a faint warmth spreading from his hands to his ankle. The combination of his focused qi and the newfound synergy was having a remarkable effect on the injured area. The metallic grains were starting to bond together and form a stronger and more cohesive structure. Xian Wei felt a slight surge of pain as the metal began to fuse with the surrounding tissue, but he grit his teeth and pushed through. After a few moments, he felt the coagulation stabilize and settle into place. The once gaping wound was now closed, the metal now replacing his discarded flesh. He couldn’t help but feel a sense of pride, succeeding where his father had warned.
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Having finished the experimental procedure, Xian Wei began to look around for signs of the creature that lurked here. As his vision adjusted to the dim light, he began to make out the shapes of large boulders scattered throughout the pit. He stood, using his rotten sword to steady himself as he walked, unsure if the metal in his leg would remain stable. As he approached one of the boulders, he noticed a faint rustling sound, followed by a low growl that echoed through the cavern.
Xian Wei peered out in the darkness. A shadow in the distance, it was a sunscale. A massive, white-scaled lizard, easily the size of a small building. Remembering a passage from the book, Xian Wei estimated that this one was hundreds of years old. Fortunately, it was dead, crushed to death by the very debris that brought Xian Wei down here. It was then that he noticed the sound, a squelching from behind the corpse. He moved closer, now able to see the source: a smaller sandscale. This one looked to be an adolescent, judging by its size. The sound itself was coming from what the creature was doing. He looked closer, and saw that the creature was frantically digging into the corpse’s throat. “I don’t remember anything about this in the book.” Xian Wei pondered the scene. The author apparently left this part out of their writing.
He stepped even closer, getting within inches of the adolescent. It briefly hissed at him before returning to bite at its parent's neck. Xian Wei watched as the young raked apart the flesh of its parent. He couldn't help but feel a mixture of fascination and revulsion as he watched the young sandscale dig into its parent's corpse with its razor-sharp claws. Its eyes glinted with primal hunger as it tore apart the flesh and muscle with ease, revealing the internal organs that lay beneath. Xian Wei noticed a radiant glow emanating from the wound, and the sandscale also noticed it, digging even faster towards it. Xian Wei recognized the special gland in the sandscale's throat and watched as the young sandscale tore into it, shedding pieces of viscera in the process.
Xian Wei realized this was the perfect opportunity to find sustenance. Slowly, he positioned himself behind the young creature, careful not to disrupt its meal. He focused on the qi remaining within him, tiny particles circulating through his body. He flipped his weapon around, “The hilt should work better here.” he thought, waiting for the ideal moment. Finally, as the young creature was about to swallow a particularly large piece, Xian Wei pounced. The pommel of his sword smashed through the creature's skull, emitting a sickening wet crunch. The sandscale let out a ragged wheeze and slumped to the ground. Xian Wei's legs trembled as he tried to pull the sword from the creature's skull. "Why did it have to make that sound," he muttered. Suddenly, a wave of nausea hit him, and he fell to the ground, retching uncontrollably. He regained his composure quickly and returned to the corpses. He knelt next to the dead adolescent and reached for what remained of the organ. He attempted to pull the slimy flesh from the dead creature’s mouth, its jaws briefly resisting.
Delicately, he placed the meat in the small, canvas sack which he used to carry his supplies, filling the void left by the rations he now missed. He scanned his surroundings, weary of more juveniles. However, all was quiet now. The storm had passed, and with it, the sea of glass was beyond his reach once again. Xian Wei couldn’t help but feel a pang of anxiety, fearing that he might lose his way if he didn’t recall the rest of the guidance he had received, but it was too late. The thread of memory had unraveled when he fell.
Xian Wei moved about the pit, noting the sole pillar around him. Its fragments littered the area, casting tiny rays of light with their meek reflections. As he surveyed the area, he discovered a shallow hole under a broken rock. The tip of the stalagmite lay on the ground among many others. Xian Wei grabbed one of the jagged rocks and crawled into the hole. With the full breadth of exhaustion now bearing down on him, Xian Wei attempted to cover the hole with the cloth he had with him. Maneuvering some of the broken rocks to hold down the sheet, he quickly drifted off to sleep.
He found himself standing in the middle of a vast, empty desert. The sun was scorching, and the sand was hot beneath his feet. He stumbled through the endless dunes, his breaths ragged and labored. The sandstorm had picked up again, and he could barely see his own hand in front of his face. Suddenly, he tripped over something hard. Falling to his knees, he looked down to see the bleached bones of a sandscale. But as he looked closer, he realized with a jolt that these were not the bones of a mere lizard, but of his own kin. He watched the corpse’ flesh knit together before his very eyes, blood and skin, returning form to the dead. It was Huang Kai, one of his brothers from the terrace. His blonde hair acting as a keen reminder to Xian Wei. The figure stood and glared at him.
The vision suddenly shifted, and a new scene presented itself. Xian Wei found himself standing atop a towering mountain, with the setting sun casting a warm glow behind him. A voice whispered in his ear, "Follow the stars to the pavilion. That is your only hope." Looking up, he saw a path illuminated by the stars. However, when he tried to focus on the details, the image became more distorted. It was then that he felt an unwavering gaze fixed on the back of his head. He could feel the presence of something entering his mind. Burrowing its way deep into his subconscious. The presence behind him spoke, “You must leave quickly, before that thing can take hold.” Xian Wei cried out in pain, violently convulsing as the presence dug deeper into his being.
Xian Wei awoke with a start, his heart racing as he tried to shake the dream. His body was coated in cold sweat. He sat up, trying to calm his breathing. The dream had been so vivid, it felt like it had actually happened. He closed his eyes and took deep breaths, trying to shake off the feeling of foreboding that lingered.