“Alex, what do we do?”
Alex’s heart was pounding, ears filled with the howling storm of spiritual energy that was this entire rift, and so much more. Dark Qi so thick he could taste it, the shivering sands resonating with the thrumming roar of his super-cable now spinning so fast it was truly a blur.
He gazed up, up at the giant worm that was as much dragon as lamprey, an abomination the big screen could never do justice to as it undulated above the gate, soaring hundreds of feet high, even if the only lightning unleashed had been Alex’s own.
His mind still reeled at the epiphany that had allowed him to channel raw Dark Qi tied to the element of Lightning, a feat that broke who knew how many laws of reality and cultivation, as the laws of reality itself bent to his furious will.
As to whether or not his technique would work outside the rift… that was another matter entirely.
And it hardly even mattered, Alex realized to his dismay, steeling a single glance for the charred ruin that had been the other emperor worm. Skyscraper-sized titans that damn well should be considered Gold-tier for there ability to cause destruction, if nothing else.
Alex could sense all too easily how, if these creatures somehow squeezed through a gate far too small for them, they could destroy an entire city, and without attacks that channeled pristine lightning, or Dark Qi that could tear through the impossibly potent wards Qi Perception made damn clear were now stronger than ever. Without Soul Sight or Dark Qi or possibly lightning to pierce them, the creature could devour an entire city and even the deepest Silver would be helpless to defeat it.
Because what did it matter that the creature couldn’t catch you, if it destroyed your home entire, and forced you to flee into the parched desert without a lick of water, shelter, or hope?
And these were the creatures that the vile ritual the Duo Li accomplices had hidden in the sand had summoned forth. And to think that even worse had been just minutes from emerging. A horrific abomination that would have unquestionably spelled the end of Liushi, leaving Alex suddenly wondering if perhaps the water merchant fools were themselves puppets being played by another.
He then froze, dread clawing at his stomach even through his dazed fury, feeling the entire realm shudder once more with the massive abomination that had come so close to bursting through just seconds ago… the ground shaking as it hammered against the barrier between pocket realms with such intensity that Alex feared it might actually manage to break through... only now fading into the ether of endless possibilities, a doom averted by the narrowest of margins.
But what filled Alex with true dismay was the realization that even if the emperor worm presently dooming himself and Ya Ling couldn’t slip through that gate, somehow the abomination that had almost broken through have would have done just that.
Deep Gold?
Hell, that thing had felt like Jade.
And he would know.
But neither those realizations nor the ringing in his ears of his own too strong resonance with this place would get them out of here alive.
A point brought home when Ya Ling’s steely resolve began to crack, an unexpected sob slipping free of features filling with despair, tears flowing freely from red-rimmed eyes.
Her haunted gaze met his own. “I love you, Alex.”
She chuckled even through her sob at the surprised look he gave her. “Even if I know that Ruidian girl’s already claimed your heart, able to fight in perfect sync with you. Even if I know your fearsome path is so monstrously twisted that you can kill six Deep Bronze and an actual Silver in just a handful of seconds.”
She shook her head, flinching at the sight of the monster still before them, dooming them both as it roared in challenge. “And I know I should be horrified of your ice cold gaze but I’ve never wanted anything more than to claim you as my own and I’m the biggest fool in the world telling you this now but I’d never forgive myself if we end up dying here, and the words of my heart, my greatest truth… remain forever unsaid.”
Alex trembled with the weight of her confession, the blood roaring in his ears drowning out the howling thrum of both emperor worm and spirit cable as he gazed at the strikingly beautiful desert princess who, if he wasn’t haunted with the memories of those he could have loved so fiercely for a thousand years, an imperial princess who matched him so perfectly, and a kitsune girl who reminded his scarred soul so very much of his first wife…
It didn’t matter if he had lost them both a thousand years ago. Perhaps many thousands of years ago. Even if they had both long since turned to dust in the sands of time. All that mattered was that, as far as his heart was concerned, he had lost them only months ago.
And if that meant every single life he lived since that day his heart demanded he mourn for countless years, an echo of grief that would never end as even the goddess that tends to reborn souls had turned her back on him, refusing to grant him the boon of forgetfulness between lives after he had done his utmost to slaughter her monstrous abomination of a grandson… so be it.
He would mourn.
He would accept those bitter tears.
He would endure the agony of his heart, no matter how many years it grieved.
And he would do everything in his power to save Ya Ling from the abomination that threatened them both. So she, at least, could live a beautiful life full of innocence, joy, happy memories, and gentlest ascension.
A true desert rose, allowed to blossom before the ones who cherished her the most.
Alex might never be able to return the affection that would kindle into a blazing pyre of fierce love so potent it would span lifetimes… but he would do everything in his power to make sure that one day she could savor that dream with someone actually worthy of her heart.
He gave her his gentlest smile, heart in his eyes, praying she would understand. If the twisted machinations of gods and men hadn’t been so cruel…
He grit his jaw when Ya Ling’s sobs tore through the thrumming desert air, before being drowned out once more by the roaring rumble of the massive emperor worm that was clearly content to wait no longer, its massive maw filled with inwards spiraling serrated teeth seeming to fill the heavens as it whipped forth with surprising speed for such a massive behemoth, eager to claim them both.
“Alex!”
“Move!”
Terror instantly burned away heart’s torment as Ya Ling crashed into the sands while Alex flitted through the air, a heartbeat before an explosion of sand and wind cause a near-blinding storm as Alex desperately raced through the air for new heights, howling with furious horror as he gazed upon the monstrous depression below.
Sand still flying in all directions, multiple black specks that could only have been lesser worms shattered by the impact sent flying as well.
As if a meteor had struck.
“Ya Ling!”
Alex howled, feeling like such a fool not to have grabbed her and darted!
Instead she had followed her instincts, flowing into the sands she had mastered years before coming to understand Wind.
And if the shockwave had struck her…
“Ya Ling!”
Alex glared at the titanic behemoth writhing in the sands below, heart pounding with a wrath that sent his blood on fire.
His face twisted in a rictus of bitter regret and fiercest hate, his fangtian ji summoned once more.
He did not care that the gate was suddenly revealed before him, that their plan of goading it and fleeing was now just a single darting sprint away.
This creature had torn yet another desert rose from his heart.
And he’d be damned if he left before claiming a bloodprice that would leave this abomination a shriveled wreck.
“Die, motherfucker!” Alex howled, words lost in the wind that the worm had no chance of hearing.
Yet it certainly felt it, Alex took fierce bitter satisfaction in that as an explosion of black lightning blasted into the monstrous carapace of the abomination before him. A horror made of compressed chitin plates so utterly resistant to spiritual energy that no attack should penetrate. yet Soul Sight and Find Weakness revealed to him just how damn brittle it all was when struck by bitter sharp steel vibrating at the frequency of his supercable… itself thrumming as speeds that would have shattered any bones not forged in the divine crucible of hate his enemies had relished in gifting him, Alex howling with agony that was ecstasy as chitin exploded and black lightning scorched his prey, inside and out… and himself as well.
Soul Sight modified Quickness Check made!
You sense your foe’s desperate rebuttal just as well as you sense your own.
Even Gold tier abominations flinch before your fury!
Black Lightning scorches your target for Titanic Damage!
Gold tier Soul Stone saves versus rupture: Your prey lives still!
You have taken one Severe Wound, For Dark Lightning is the epitome of chaos and destruction and recognizes no master!
Your bones ground excess lightning.
Damage mitigated!
You have learned to accelerate your rate of recovery through the environment alone, using Prismatic Fox Restoration Technique!
Prismatic Fox is now Rank 8!
You are now Power Healing!
Alex howled with the fury of the storm both consuming this rift and ringing through his soul, lashing out with his fangtian ji with furious abandon that was anything but. Controlled chaos as he mimicked the wild fury of the storm, lashing out with the deadliest of all elements as the worm howled and writhed.
Yet his own smoking wounds were greater than what even the Power Healing allowed by this miasma-thick rift allowed him to embrace through Prismatic Fox such that, no matter how great his fury, eventually he had to dart away from the roaring worm frantically tearing apart the sands with fearsome pounding blows of its tail, unleashing craters that would have obliterated even the Deepest Silver as the air filled with a toxic maelstrom of choking, glassy sand particles, Alex had no doubt.
He glared down at his foe as he gained attitude, desperate to finish healing in the seconds he allowed himself, knowing that with Potency Mastery about to wear off, he was rapidly running out of time.
Not even he was stupid enough to risk channeling a Dark Qi core while manipulating black lightning. Not unless he wished to be at ground zero of an explosion that still wouldn’t guarantee this behemoth’s death.
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Then he glared down at the beast that had… he didn’t even want to think of it!
His vision grew red with killing intent, body trembling with the potency now crackling along his limbs as flesh sizzled and regrew at shocking speed.
“Alex, be careful!”
And that one desperate cry froze Alex on the precipice of madness. Had he been any closer to his foe… but thankfully he wasn’t and that one vulnerable second didn’t cost him absolutely everything.
Instead, he turned to the wide-eyed, clearly shaken girl now effortlessly embracing the winds to fly by his side. “Alex, please… forget the stupid bleatings of a clueless young kit you heard earlier.” She flashed a hopeful smile. “Even now it slithers to strike at us, its hate so deep. We can dart right around and hit the exit!”
Hopeful eyes locked with his own. “Don’t you understand, Alex, we’re free!”
But Alex shook his head, locking eyes with Ya Ling’s own. “Not until this fucker is dead.”
“Alex...”
Hard eyes locked with her own. “I have Soul Sight. Which means that I now know exactly what it’s capable of.” He flashed a bitter smile. “This goes a hell of a lot deeper than a power-hungry clan. If I didn’t know better, I’d say they themselves are patsies for what’s coming next.”
Ya Ling blinked, “Alex, this is hardly the time...”
“Whoever’s orchestrated this bullshit, the formation bullshit at least, isn’t interested in overthrowing Liushi.”
Her gaze hardened. “Alex, we know damn well that the Duo Li clan is...”
“They’re trying to destroy it.”
She froze at those words. “Are you sure?”
HE flashed a bitter smile. “No, actually. But that’s a city-killer worm. And unless you can channel black lightning or pierce indestructible Gold-tier chitin with impossible skills or Divine tier resonance… once that thing slips out? Nothing’s saving this city.”
She pointedly gazed at the fangtian ji in his hands. “But you can crack it’s carapace.”
Alex smiled, feeling his seared flesh crack and bleed. “Not without paying a price… but yes, I can.”
“How?”
He took a deep breath, gazing at her for long moments. “I can channel Dark Qi.”
She blanched, gazing at him for long moments, before finally nodding her head. “It makes sense. With your gifts… the miracle of you being able to wick away the awful waste Qi build up now so heavy I think it would cripple most cultivators within minutes of being in here… I guess it only makes sense that you can channel it as well as...”
“Consume it?” He said with a wink.
She dipped her head, eyes widening with sudden fierce hope. “Poison!”
Alex bowed his head. “I agree completely. You see the handful of wounds along its torso covered in enhanced Spider Tier venom and Universal Solvent?”
She frowned down, squinting at the skyscraper beast, still howling its hate, now attempting to spray them with massive clouds of caustic particles that, thanks to their Air Mastery, failed to hit them or cause any damage at all. For all that Alex was damn sure that it would eat away the flesh, or lungs, if any hapless mortal inhaled. A dragon’s breath weapon indeed.
Ya Ling quickly shook her head. “No. I don’t see any wounds more than the puss-leaking rents on its side… and the scorch marks of your lightning.”
Alex flashed a bitter smile. “Exactly.”
Ya Ling paled, only now getting a good luck of the bright red dust the creature had exhaled that she was so effortlessly manipulating with her two favored elements.
“Alex, if that creature actually manages to escape and exhales this… spice? It will poison anyone who inhales! Blind them permanently as it erodes the skin from their flesh...”
“I know.”
Her breath hitched. “We have to stop it!”
But Alex didn’t respond, only gazing intently at her absolute mastery over wind and sand, struck by sudden epiphany.
“Alex?”
Alex took a deep, steadying breath, desperate to channel his sudden epiphany, to infuse it with the potency now absolutely roaring through his soul, to keep his focus despite the first whispers of fatigue that once presaged a fol’s folly but now he could only hope to stave off for as long as he possibly could with his impossible arts and desperate focus. And for at least this precious heartbeat in time… he thought he just might be able to do it.
Flipping his fangtian ji back into storage, he solemnly unsheathed his dao before meeting Ya Ling’s gaze. “Pull out your jian, and give it the Winds’ blessing, just like I have.”
Her eyes widened, before she quickly nodded and did just that, a three foot projections of swirling sand both lining her blade like an impossibly deadly saw and projecting over half her body length out further still.
Alex dipped his head, now accepting what his next step had to be if he was to make full use of Spiritual Student and Teacher.
You have removed autonomy blocks within all nodes.
You now have unfettered access to Slave Node designated: Ya Ling 01!
Ya Ling shivered, snapping her gaze to meet Alex’s own. But he said not a word, for there was nothing ot be said. Even if she suddenly felt a yawning emptiness that was the hunger of his own howling vortex of a Dantian, eager to feast upon the swirling maelstrom of potency that his mad daring, constant ascension, and refusal to depart from peril’s path assured was feeding the impossibly dense seed of his core like nothing else ever could. An accretion disk of power and peril slowly feeding what would soon be his core.
That which his foes feared above all else.
He could taste that sudden truth as Ya Ling blanched and paled… but none of that mattered.
All that mattered was assuring that the strikingly beautiful girl before him who hadn’t lied when she said she loved him would be safe for years to come. For all that she hardly knew him at all.
But now she did.
Just a tiny bit. Sensing the monster in the void, the avatar of chaos and change that he had forever been doomed to become.
Her eyes widened when she gazed into his eyes and saw her own… sensing the thoughts that now resonated so effortlessly between them both.
Yet the smile he gave her was just as heartfelt and gentle as it had been just minutes before, when she had dared to thaw the bitter ice around his heart, just as Linnea had.
A gesture for which he would be eternally grateful, no matter how badly he had to use her now.
“Ya Ling, just how far can you extend your blade of wind?”
All confusion, dismay, and uncertainty left her gaze as she focused on the only thing that mattered. Projecting her Wind Blade with her new affinity’s blessings to the utmost of her ability as three feet became five, then ten… and stretched longer still.
And Alex could feel it. He could taste it, how the wild Wind whipped through her meridian channels so gracefully as her will was effortlessly made manifest, a fifteen foot projection now radiating from the tip of her blade, wind howling so fast it would easily tear through skin and perhaps even rip flesh from bones.
Alex smiled, dipping his head. “Good. Yes, I think I see.”
The trick, Alex realized, as he extended his own blade to Ya Ling’s awed gasp, was not to fight the Wind. There was nothing to push against, nothing to resist, for all air was Wind. There was no resistance, no resistance at all. Just clearly defined boundaries between his now near silent blade slicing effortlessly not through air but the pocket left behind by high and low pressure on either side of the blade. Because as far as the ten foot projection of his own blade was concerned, his domain was absolute, and all currents knew to heed its sovereignty.
His only regret was that despite the intense sense of spiritual dilation he felt, channeling so much potency into the perilous affinity he was about to embrace… he couldn’t quite stretch it to fifteen feet.
But that was okay.
He was just getting started.
It wasn’t quite time to deplete himself utterly with the final sprint.
Not quite yet.
Skill check made: Critical Success!
You have had an epiphany!
Wind Blade is now Rank 8!
You have pushed this skill beyond all previous limitations at 5 feet!
You have have successfully extended your Wind Blade to 10 feet in length!
Wind Blade is now Rank 9!
You have channeled excess potency into mastering this skill!
Spiritual Student + Complete Node Interface means a true genius's understanding of Wind has become your own! You may now exert your Authority over the element of Wind within 10 feet of you!
Ya Ling’s look of wonder was more comforting than he wanted to acknowledge. “Alex, you stretched your blade out to ten feet, just like that! And I know how long you were well...”
Alex forced a smile. “Thank you, but I also ate the same fruit.”
“But they didn’t implant themselves into your meridian channels like I did!” She flashed an impish smile. “I know you’re a madman trying to balance 8 elements, not just two, Like me, so blessed to find that Wind and Sand blend so perfectly well together.”
Alex forced a smile. “Nine elements. Because yes, Dark Qi also counts, no matter how much it dismays most cultivators to hear that. But we’re not done yet. You say that your Sand is just as potent as Wind? That’s exactly what I wanted to hear.”
Ya Ling’s smile paled, for all that her Wind Blade was still straight, and if anything, was whirling about at faster speeds than ever. “Alex...”
His gaze hardened. “Please try. A hell of a lot of people are counting on us to get this right.”
She blanched and swallowed, and much to Alex’s relief, she didn’t waver or shirk before the challenge. The steady flow of grains of sand into the howling winds currents seemed as natural to her as breathing, and Alex studied the formation for long moments, before slowly dipping his head.
For him the wind had always been a carrier and component of the storm, intimately tied to Water and Lightning and only then would he infuse the whole with the weight of Metal, a very powerful synergism where all four elements magnified each other’s potency, transforming into a devastating whole.
Yet that wasn’t the only path forward, especially not with ten feet of Wind. As Ya Ling’s grains of sand made so clear, there was more than one method of carrying death and making the most of his gifts. And Alex was fiercely pleased to find that the wind held even when filled not with grains of Sand but Metal.
Even when the air seemed to tremble, Alex’s whole world becoming a single glorious fusion of Wind and Metal he was pretty damn certain could slice through flesh like it was nothing… Yet it would do little to pierce a Gold-tier’s carapace.
And the orderly weight of Metal was almost more than the howling chaos-aligned stream of Wind could bare. Yet somehow Alex managed, already knowing what he needed for symmetry and balance. Much like the ivory black and white pieces of countless games of strategy in this world, there was balance and symmetry when two halves of a whole were one. Black and White. Liquid darkness fused to razor sharp Metal fragments in ways that could only be done through an application of monstrous will, masterful understanding, or simply daring to explore the depths of a rift so filled with Dark Qi that it would doom any lesser cultivator.
The how of it didn’t matter, Alex thought, daring to laugh with fierce triumph as he rode vanguard’s furious epiphany as ten feet stretched to twelve, his Wind Blade now stronger and more cohesive than it had ever been before.
Even if Ya Ling was shivering, gazing at his creation with either awe or horror.
“Alex...”
“It’s our only chance.”
Yet even as he said that, even with the magnificent four… now five Qi points he was rejuvenating per second thanks to his hidden skill Potency Mastery, it still wasn’t enough. He still felt his reserves draining far, far too quickly. Perhaps it was because of his Prismatic bones’ terrible hunger. Perhaps it was simply the nature of daring to skirt a wujen’s arts after countless millenia walking countless variants of a body cultivator’s path. Either way, his heart twisted with the bitter realization that his ploy wouldn’t work, and that a city might fall for his paltry skills.
“Alex...” Fortunately Ya Ling’s concerned words, sensing his distress even now, was all it took to shake him free of growing despair, realizing that the answer was right in front of his face. Hadn’t the pair of them managed to save an entire quarter of the city, after all? With no more than a handful of abilities… and a Silver tier beast core he had used without hesitation or regret.
A beast core very much like the faceted beauty he now held in his hands, Alex shaking his head in awe. Because of course the core that had been hand crafted by a genius or a madman who had been forced to pay the most bitter of prices might be a glorious instrument of destruction, a tool that could be used to rupture rifts and destroy desert cities from within. Yet Alex sensed the sweet, sweet flow of potent spiritual energy it was more than eager to surrender, and it took little more than embracing the most basic of arts, the very first he had learned, when Alex fastened the pristine Dark Core to the pommel of his dao, the prize seeming almost to snap into place, as if his adhesive wasn’t needed at all.
You have successfully generated 1 ounce of Universal Adhesive.
You have successfully bound Pristine Silver tier (faceted) Dark Jewel to the hilt of your indestructible dao!
You may now channel Dark Qi within and through your artifact at will!
Single element artifact has affinity with: Metal Qi. Your chosen weapon has no incompatibilities with arts currently in play.
Additional Wind Blade Variant discovered: Doom Blade! You may now infuse the power of Wind (up to 12 feet beyond the length of your metal weapon) with Dark and Metal Qi!
Full properties of Doom Blade: To be discovered in combat!