Yuyu had called in a favor to ensure that her duties to the clan were fulfilled in her absence. She was a glorified babysitter, collecting valuable crops from a series of border towns to be delivered to the Azai stores in Poppy City. A Message Folio was a minor treasure that allowed cultivators who shared pages from the same folio to communicate at any distance. As soon as she had decided to pursue her cousin’s killer, she had sent for one of her debtors to ride the palanquin in her place and ensure that no one attempted to rob the convoy of what rightfully belonged to the Azai.

Waiting for her replacement had cost her a day, but that had not been long enough for the scent to grow too cold for Ise Ebi to follow. They had tracked Sunwhisper back to the demon graveyard, and after that, had no trouble following the path of his ridiculous wagon up the side of Jigoku.

She had spent long hours observing their party, hidden by a combination of her own techniques and the special qualities of the Blinding Scarf, deciding whether or not to slaughter them.

They were fugitives from the Azai, and she would have been well within her rights as a representative of the clan to execute them for their crimes. SInce graduating from the Heavenly Academy, Yuyu had killed hundreds, many in duels, and others who had sought to take advantage of her youth and ostensible inexperience as a fiduciary of clan resources.

Killing was satisfying, but it did not make her happy. Her life and her heart were dissociated from one another, and it was difficult for her to care about anything other than the fine thread of a possible future she was weaving for herself. Everyone she met, every duty she took on, was evaluated as to how it related to that thread.

Why had this fugitive been given the name of the one whose death she desired above all others?

The border guardian had been like her, in a way. They had not been close, but they had understood each other on an unspoken level. He had lost his son and his wife, and the only person he blamed for that loss was himself.

She had lost herself, and the person she blamed for that was her uncle. They both had wanted to kill the person that they blamed. Makoto, it seemed, had used Sunwhisper as an instrument to end his own life.

It was convoluted, melodramatic, and perhaps the only means the border guardian had felt he possessed to bring an end to his suffering while preserving his honor. These were merely suppositions on her part, but Yuyu could not help but think that he had given Sunwhisper that despicable name so that she would know what to do with him when their paths crossed.

Certainly, the two demons represented a unique opportunity for revenge. The patriarch of her family had demanded she give up her claim against Makoto Shishio, never to raise her hand against him. In return for her acquiescence, she had been rewarded with a great boon, the very Azai token that she had used to open the gate to the Hidden Valley.

Of course, if the students she sponsored as applicants to the academy were the ones to kill him, the patriarch would hear of it. That was why a situation would have to be created where attacking an instructor was Sunwhisper’s sole reasonable response, and she could not be blamed, even if the truth was suspected. Janna’s participation would be key.

After the Seishin grass was preserved, Yuyu led the party back onto the Yellow Brick Road so they could travel to her home in Poppy city, and she could resume her duties while Sunwhisper and his companions underwent the necessary steps for advancement.

The spirit water would prepare them for the dramatic changes necessary to the attainment of a third star, but before that, they both needed to reach their second. Sunwhisper needed to advance his own core as well of that of his passenger if they were going to have a chance of accomplishing the task, she had set for them.

Thankfully, mastering the first Ascendancy technique was something that youths far younger than either of them regularly accomplished in the Middle Kingdom. Yuyu had been twelve when silver light first shone in her eyes. She had all the manuals that would be necessary for Janna to find her path.

A gold manual wouldn’t be hard to come by either, though as Sunwhisper’s passenger could act as a mentor, it might not be necessary to secure one. Aside from the color manuals, Yuyu had an extensive library of elemental path scrolls, so all three of them would be able to round out their techniques.

Yuyu scheduled them three hours of rest for their first night of travel away from the Hidden Valley. She had taken on the role of their mentor and saw no reason to coddle them. For cultivators of her level, meditation replaced sleep, but the young ones would struggle with the deprivation, and that struggle was good.

Janna approached Yuyu just as she was about to settle fully into her channeling pose.

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"Mistress," the girl said, her posture expressing absolute deference, "I feel strange."

"You are still recovering from your brush with the Natsume moths, be silent and rest." Yuyu had little patience for such complaints. Her own mentor wouldn’t have entertained anything so petty. They were lucky they had only suffered drowsiness. The Natsume were powerful spirits, and if they were sufficiently disturbed, the dust they exuded could cause paralysis so severe that its victim would be unable to draw breath.

"A thousand apologies, mistress." Janna put her fists together and touched her knuckles to her forehead, a gesture as penitent as touching one's face to the ground, though more dignified. "That is not what I mean. My core is agitated, and it pains me. I feel as if I must do something. It will not let me sleep."

Yuyu sighed. "Ise, examine her."

"Of course." Her bond beast scuttled to Janna’s feet and waved its antenna at the girl. Ultraviolet mana was largely invisible to the naked eye, but Yuyu’s connection to her companion allowed her to see the play of energies emanating from the beast. Waves of pinkish energy surrounded the girl in a self-contained field, and then he drew them in like a net full of information instead of fish.

"Interesting," he said. "The spirit water was more effective than we’d guessed. She is ready for your guidance, lady. Silver Ascendancy awaits."

Yuyu’s eyebrows shot up. The girl was ready to advance before Sunwhisper? She had been well behind him only days before. Was she a genius after all?

Sunwhisper watched as the woman they had been obliged to take on as a master led Janna through a complex meditative trance that was meant to unlock her color aspect. He was happy for her. Xanthous Ascendancy had become available to him earlier that day as he continued to channel the spirit water, he simply hadn’t tried to activate it yet.

Starscream still had a higher level version of the same technique, so as long as they remained attached to one another, they would use his. But now they could fight as individuals if they needed to, and Sunwhisper wouldn’t be left helpless if he faced other cultivators alone.

Aside from that, Starscream still had a fractured core, and he needed to remain plugged in to properly channel mana from the environment as well as avoid the slow drain of his spirit. On his own, Starscream could only replenish his core by devouring spirit fruits and beast cores.

Yuyu knew what they were, at least insofar as she could understand their nature through the distorted lens of the Land’s mysticism. What she didn’t know was how much they benefited from having a status screen, or that Starscream was actually operating under a different System entirely.

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Xanthous Ascendancy (I)

The cultivator's body becomes infused with golden mana, enhancing their physical statistics according to their Dao Rating.

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There was no reason to delay any further. It looked like Janna was going to be able to use her ascendancy technique before long, and he didn’t want to fall behind. But using an ascendancy technique for the first time came with a few requirements.

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Congratulations! You have attained a new level of cultivation, refining your spirit to the point where you can utilize mana of your color aspect. In order to access Xanthous Ascendancy (I), you must first undergo a spiritual journey within yourself, refining your core to a higher state.

Please follow these steps carefully…

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It appeared that he wouldn’t need a manual, which explained how Starscream had been able to accomplish the same feat on his own in Jigoku. He closed his eyes, assuming the meditative mindset he had first used in the Path of the Honing Spear, and then adapted to the Path of the Kingdom of Wild Hearts. Meditation was more than visualization. A cultivator could sense their meridians, the flow of mana within them, almost as if they could see them with their eyes. Their core became "visible" in the same way. In Sunwhisper’s case, he could see his core and his energy channels plainly in a HUD with a simple mental command.

A pure artist can utilize an ascendancy technique only after normalizing one’s core to the appropriate frequency, as every color has a rhythm, and each spirit falls into a natural pace. Sunwhisper had to control the rate at which mana flowed through his meridians, modulating it with the force of his will, sending modulated pulses of energy into his core.

The process was a little like trying to control the beating of a heart by forcing blood through it according to a predetermined pattern, basically impossible. His core resisted, disturbing the flow of mana in his meridians and resulting in discomfort, headaches and exhaustion, but he persisted. The core was a malleable organ, and it could be influenced by persistence.

Each of the twelve colors had their own particular frequency, and he only knew the rhythm of gold, but that was all he needed. The three hours Yuyu had allotted them for sleep dwindled to two, and then to one, as Janna and Sunwhisper both fought to assert their will and their dao over the vagaries of their respective cores.

(You're making this too complicated. I managed it, and my core is trashed.)

{Do you have any advice?}

(Not really, just saying you suck at this.)

Neither of them found ascendancy that night, or rest.

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You have successfully processed Spirit Water, resulting in a permanent increase to the efficiency with which you channel mana to develop your dao.

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