Yu climbed to the third floor, which took twice as long to get to as the previous one, and blinked, surprised at what she found yet again. Unlike the first two floors, she could actually see the lava pouring into the building from above. It appeared to fall in something of a round waterfall through a big hole in the roof into a circular pool in the floor. Channels of different widths guided the magma throughout the building, where whatever enchantments were laid took it and used it to make this amazing structure function.
Yu scanned the area, both impressed and terrified at the power and expertise being demonstrated.
Who could possibly have created something this complex?
Yu reflected that it was odd there was no smell of sulfur like in the cave of the Vermillion Bird. She assumed it must be a result of one of the uncountable enchantments.
Returning her attention to her test, she looked around again but could not find a stairwell leading up. But in the middle of the room was a thin floating circular stone platform glowing with an obvious formation both on top and underneath. Yu stepped or leaped over the channels and climbed onto the platform when she reached it.
Yu wondered if anyone had ever fallen in. Shuddering at the thought, she muttered, “This is taking way too long.” She knew she had to be the slowest by far.
Yu looked around for instructions but did not find any until she glanced down at her feet. A picture of a person in lotus position was glowing on the platform’s center with a swirling symbol where the dantian would be, a few finger-widths below the navel.
Why in the hells do they make this such a pain? Just give people instructions.
Sighing, Yu sat and got into lotus and immediately gasped as her dantian began being emptied of purified Qi. She hurriedly cycled energy according to her scripture but could pull nothing in from the environment. It was like the power of the Heavens and Earth did not exist in this place.
Nothing happened for a while outside of the draining until an irregularly pitted glowing and smoking stone the size of Yu’s head rose from the large magma pool. It stopped rising and simply floated there before eventually turning black. Shortly after, it was joined by another that turned dark gray. Yu had no idea what any of this meant but found her power draining rapidly, and every stone that rose caused it to drain even faster.
Each stone was progressively lighter in color until the sixth, which appeared perfectly white to her. After the last stone rose, her dantian was nearly empty and Yu was feeling light-headed. She started to wobble and fall over while seated when the drain stopped. All six stones flashed with a pure bright white light, matching the sixth stone, and fell back into the pool with splashes and gloops.
Despite her forced exhaustion, Yu realized she had heard no voice until she received a dull-toned, “As directed by your badge, your results will be private.”
Yu was groggy and didn’t really care at that moment. Forceful Qi drain could get pretty nasty. It was very different from a cultivator draining their Qi through skills as the energy flowed through the cycling channels or meridians in a controlled way. But when energy was yanked out of a cultivator straight from the dantian… that was both exceptionally dangerous to the delicate organ and physically draining. According to her teacher at home, it was also why just about all sects and civilized cities, at least in her empire, outlawed the skills that did it. Thankfully, those were rare.
Of course, none of that mattered to Yu just now, as she was trying to focus while barely staying upright. Looking up, she blearily saw a hole in the ceiling. Then it started growing and she realized she was rising toward it. When the platform reached the opening, Yu found herself in the middle of a round room, where she saw a set of concentric circles with symbols carved into the floor. Oddly, they seemed to be cut off at the circle she and her floating platform were rising into.
When the platform settled, it must have completed the partial formation because there was a flash of white and Yu found herself somewhere else completely. The Qi in the air in this black void felt almost suffocating it was so strong, and after only a few breaths, her dantian was filled again.
Standing opposite Yu was a… person whose features she could not make out for some reason. Everything that could distinguish them was blurry to her eyes. They were both standing – floating? – in an empty black space.
A voice that made the person sound like it could have been either a male or female said, “Disciple, you do not have to take this test if you do not wish to. You have already passed.”
“Umm. So I made it? Can I go then? I’m holding up the line. I’ve taken longer than the people in front of me.” Yu blushed out of embarrassment.
“Actually, you did not,” the voice said with a chuckle. “It has taken many applicants many times longer to determine what to do at each stage. Time passes differently here. It is one of the capabilities of this structure.”
Thinking of her master’s ability to stop time, Yu believed it. “Oh, that’s good,” she said, relieved. “At least I’m not causing others to be late.” Then she cleared her throat. “So I’m done then?”
“You could be,” said the person who started pacing in front of her.
Yu blinked at this strange individual and looked around the endless black space that reminded her of her mindscape before it had gained mist. Turning back to the pacing figure, Yu asked, “If I’ve already passed, why would I stay?”
“To prove yourself,” it answered.
Yu raised an eyebrow. “No offense, but why would I bother? I don’t care what other people think, especially not creepy floating people I can’t really make out.”
“No. I suppose you wouldn’t,” it said with a blurry-headed nod.
Yu opened her mouth to say she was ready to leave when the figure brought a hand to what Yu assumed was a chin and asked, “Would you make a bet with me?”
Yu clicked her mouth shut and tilted her head.
“I will reward you if you take this combat test,” it said to her.
“You said take, not win. Just to be clear, I won’t risk my place in this sect. I can’t think of a reward that would force me to take that risk.”
The person stopped pacing. “You are too intriguing to let go without a fight, but the rules say the reward and risk must be equal. If you want something spectacular, you must risk something equally so.”
What rules is it talking about?
“Before I agree to anything, what do I refer to you as?”
The blurry head bowed. “I apologize. I was a little caught up in your results. You may call me Ren.”
Yu nodded. “Ren, I don’t really have anything I’m willing to risk for a mysterious reward of unknown worth.”
“Fair enough. Here is what I propose then. You fight a set of individual battles, and the more you win, the greater the rewards, but each prize will stay unknown. You can stop any time before a fight starts, but once it begins, you must see it to the end. If you lose, you lose everything you have won. If you stop, you keep what you have won to that point.”
Yu thought about that and saw no reason not to accept.
“So what you’re saying is I can choose to fight each fight individually and my rewards get bigger. If I say I’m done, I’m done and keep everything, but if I fight and lose, I lose everything. Is that right?”
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“Yes,” Ren confirmed with a blurry nod.
“But no matter what, I’ve passed the test and can stay?”
“Yes.”
“Fine,” she agreed with a nod. “What are the details and rules of the fights?”
“You will battle demonic beasts of progressively higher levels of difficulty in this world of illusion with no constraints to your own powers. No physical wounds will remain after you decide to stop, but you will retain the pain and memory of them. You will also retain each illusory wound from battle to battle, and you will not have the opportunity to refill your Qi.”
Those rules seemed straightforward to Yu. Not easy exactly, but not hard either. The pain would be the easiest part to move past. Given everything she had been through, the memory of pain wasn’t something that bothered her.
Not having a chance to refresh her Qi was a big loss, but she could always stop before the fight if she felt disadvantaged. Overall, she believed this test might even be a bit to her advantage. And the challenge called to her desire to prove herself as a warrior.
“I agree.”
The voice sounded quite pleased as it clapped its hands together once. “Excellent! Prepare yourself.”
Yu put her outer robe in her ring as she took her hook swords out and stood ready.
“Well, aren’t those unexpected…” Ren said suddenly. Before she could ask what it meant, it continued, “No matter. I already agreed you could use your powers without constraints. Begin.”
There was another white flash, and Yu found herself in a grassy field. About ten paces from her was a creature she knew well, a Stone Dog. Looking at the growths on its back and tail, she could tell it was only a low grade 1. She blushed slightly, remembering her first rather embarrassing fight with one of these simple creatures.
Yu readied herself as the dog charged, barking and growling. Lowering herself, she waited for it to leap, and when it did, she easily slid aside, slashed out with her swords, and slit its throat with a single sweep. The body tumbled away and vanished after a few moments of bleeding out. Then there was another flash and two dogs of low grade 1 appeared. A moment later, they charged…
***
Yu panted as she wiped the sweat and blood from her eyes. She was currently surrounded by three adult human-sized monkeys, and it was the one on her left that was the cause of the blood on her face. Their entire bodies except their face, hands, stomachs, and genitals were covered by steel-like fur, which was what had caused the cut on her forehead, slicing through Yu’s hardened skin with a blow that had caught her by surprise. Her country did not contain such creatures, nor had she read of them, so she did not have any information with which to fight.
Thus she had been surprised when one of them had torn a jagged clump of hairs off its arm and thrown it at her face. Yu had barely avoided losing an eye to the needle-like projectiles, which, if they had hit, would have forced her to use a healing Qi skill, which she was trying to avoid to save for later fights. Thankfully, these particular monkeys, being only mid-grade 2, were unable to use Qi either.
Yu raised her swords and feigned a move toward the left monkey by starting a swing with her left arm. They reacted by shifting their positions; the one to the left moved away from her, the one to the right edged toward her, and the one in front charged straight at her. This shift gave her an opportunity to swiftly sweep her Qi-enhanced arms crossways in front of her rather than at her pretend target. Her swords flashed in an “X” and returned to a ready position in a blur. The monkey directly in front of her screeched and stumbled as blood pooled from its unprotected stomach. Holding its hands over its middle, it fell over, causing the skin to split and its innards to spill out onto the grass.
Yu moved her head right and left with one sword facing each remaining foe. They were all circling, and the monkeys were screaming at her in unintelligible gibberish. The one that had thrown hair at her earlier grabbed at his shoulder and pulled off more. The one on the right did the same, tearing at a thigh. Just as they threw their handfuls forward, Yu dropped to the ground in a split, releasing her left sword. Before it struck the dirt, her red leather whip appeared in her hand and lashed out, wrapping around the creature’s extended wrist.
With a surprised yelp, the monkey stumbled forward at her yank, and the sharp metallic hairs aimed at her by its compatriot struck it in the face instead, causing it to cry out in pain. The monkey on the right was furious and launched forward in the air at the prone human she knew it presumed was vulnerable. She turned her right sword backward, and the flying monkey’s open mouth crashed onto the spiked hilt with a crunch of bone, causing blood to flood all over Yu’s hand and arm. With her reinforced skin and bones, Yu weathered the weakened dying blows of its hands against her chest and back.
The monkey that she had pulled with the whip was scraping at its face, attempting to remove the spines of hair, and Yu dropped the whip and her right sword, which was now embedded into the other monkey’s skull. She leaped to her feet while picking up her left sword, reversed it, and jammed it hilt-first into the monkey’s eye.
She twisted her wrist as she removed the sword from the creature’s twitching form, picked up all her weapons, and put them away, still breathing hard from the nearly non-stop combat. The scene flashed, and Ren stood before her with the bodies gone. It looked at her while tilting its head and said, “You have yet to use a Qi skill and have expended only a small amount of Qi to enhance your body. It is an interesting strategy to conserve Qi while tiring your body.”
Yu nodded. “Based on my experiences, I believe I have more physical stamina than available Qi, so first I would use the greater resource on the lesser foes while conserving my lesser pool of stronger skills for what is likely coming next. And honestly, I only recently learned my Qi skills, so I’m not that great with them. I’ve mostly specialized in martial skills and combat and plan to use those as long as I can. Hopefully I’ll grow in Qi skill-based combat while here.”
“You certainly will if you wish to advance in the sect and survive in the world,” Ren said. “And what do you expect to come next?”
“If your pattern stays true, I think a single high grade 2 beast, which is beyond any demonic beast I’ve fought before.” The assassin of unknown power didn’t count, and neither did the grade 6 Windstorm Porcupine, which she hadn’t fought so much as been tossed around by.
The blurry head nodded. “Correct. Are you prepared?”
“Yes,” Yu said, withdrawing her swords once again.
***
Yu dove to the side as an eagle as black as night with claws longer than her entire hand extended its talons to grab at her. She felt wind tug on her ponytail as it swooped just above and beyond her. She raised her hand toward it, and a crack of lightning was followed by a pained screech from the mighty feathered raptor. Yu turned, knowing the eagle was sufficiently stunned when she heard it tumble out of the sky with a thump, followed by crunching sounds.
She rolled forward again and leaped to her feet, a spiked tail digging into the ground where she had just been standing. Her hand and arm were surrounded by silver flames as she swung her fist and slammed it into the opening jaw of a giant snake that was attempting to swallow her.
Sweat, blood, and gore covered Yu as she stumbled past the snake, which she had only just managed to evade sufficiently to avoid death by poison. The snake turned – only to receive a face full of purple lightning as Yu once again dove forward to avoid the Stone Dog alpha’s spiked tail.
Yu used the momentum of the forward roll to rise and run around the back of the stunned snake. The snake was a high grade 2 and just intelligent enough to look relieved when Yu’s empty hand started to move well out of range as it recovered from the blast of violet power that had stunned it. What it was perhaps not smart or fast enough to recognize was the danger of the flaming silver sword that suddenly appeared in the human’s hand as it swept by. A split second later, its head fell to the ground with a thump.
The Stone Dog alpha howled and charged at Yu, its enormous yellow teeth bared, saliva spraying everywhere. Just as it leaped at her, Yu used Flaming Acceleration, creating a blaze of silver fire, and she flashed away only to stop, stumble, and roll a few paces. The dog also landed in a heap and rolled over a few times, as it likely had not been expecting the human to disappear from its sight.
Yu looked at the creature as they both got to their feet. She screamed and charged at it. Enraged by the direct challenge, the alpha howled and charged as well, sending clumps of grass and dirt flying behind its clawed paws. Just as it reached a full stride, Yu skidded to a stop in the packed dirt and stomped her foot. Right at the moment when all four legs were in the air between leaps, a sharp spike of dark brown stone appeared beneath it.
The spike was not particularly large, only about as wide as two or three finger widths, but it was long and had a sharp tip, and the dog’s vulnerable neck was right above its point. The creature’s soft underside scales held for a moment as the beast’s throat landed on the spike, but they were not firm enough and failed to save its life. The skin parted and the spike entered its body, puncturing its throat before breaking off from the creature’s weight and forward momentum. The scaled canine tumbled onto its side and slid forward, stopping a pace in front of Yu.
She walked up to the creature, dripping blood from the deep cuts its tail had given her across her shoulder and upper back. It had nearly done her in with that blow. Remembering it, Yu kicked the spike further into its throat, causing it to suffocate, and then walked to the eagle, which had so many broken bones it was barely able to move. She dispatched it and fell on her butt onto the illusory grass.
Pulling her knees up in front of her, she folded her arms across the top and laid her forehead down on them, trying to catch her breath.
“That was well fought, disciple,” Ren’s voice said next to her.
Yu knew she was dangerously low on Qi and would likely bleed out eventually if not healed. And as she was the only healer around, that would bottom out her Qi pool.
“I’m done,” she told Ren in an exhausted voice as she lifted her head up to face it.
The blurry form before her nodded. “Yes. I believe you are.”
Then the grassy field she had fought on for who knew how long disappeared, and all of Yu’s wounds vanished with it. Her body and uniform were back to their pristine form, save for the sweat, but her exhaustion remained.
“I wish I could come back and do that again another time. It was extremely educational. And fun,” Yu told the blurry Ren with a half-smile as she caught her breath.
It chuckled. “There are other formations that offer similar capabilities in the sect. You will learn about them during your Welcoming.”
“So, who are you exactly? And what did I win?”