Chapter 71

The World of Ash

Cradle of the First Men's entrance was a wide, natural archway--browned, washed-out rocks jutted out of the slightly tilted earth and wove a sixty feet tall arch. Sand and dirt coalesced into one, with most of the people around wearing scarves over their faces to shield themselves from the winds.

Yue and Liang were not exceptions; though they both paused at the entryway, admiring briefly the wonder of nature and examining the stone veined with slightly unusual hues, wondering how long it'd remain standing, they didn't meander.

Passing the archway, they finally bore witness to the Cradle itself: it was massive, expanding out into the horizon as far as the eye could see. The landscape itself sprawled into an awe-inspiring array of terraces, their edges jagged and unpredictable. Carved into the ledges, powerful fortresses clung to the rock as though born of it, with turrets and spires rising in defiance of gravity. The terraces varied in height and shape, some sprawling out like wide plateaus, others narrow like stone staircases. Each of them, however, was connected via precarious bridges and heart-palpitatingly narrow stairways, making traversal both perilous and thrilling.

Each of the forts arising from the dirt seemed unique, yet also the same; their colors blended, as they were all either made out of ashen stone or some manner of obsidian rock. Their walls stood shaped by the hands of ancient masons, imbued with the barely-perceptible sheen of Qi.

A few, however, stood out from the masses--the first fort to their right, just some four hundred yards of descent away, was built out of canyon's native stone, its walls a blend of dark slate and rich ochre, streaked gently with veins of glittering materials that caught the light in the cracks of the stones.

There was also an array of the 'high' structures, four to be precise which hung ever so slightly above the canyon. They were crowned with slanted, shingled rooftops of dark metal or tiled with cracked, iridescent stones. In a way, at a distance, they resembled the Cradle's crowns, as though kings looming over their subjects.

Regardless of the differences in design and make, most seemed old and weathered, with their walls webbing out with cracks, quite a few spires appearing slightly slanted. While the Arrays were new and replenished, what they were shielding was evidently close to death.

Beyond the terraces and the forts, the secondary most important aspect of the Cradle was the inarguably largest cave system of Lower Ashlands. There were over a thousand of entrances carved out into the sides of the canyon, all interconnected in some way. Though they were never fully mapped out, it was estimated that there were over four thousand miles of passages combined, housing over two hundred settlements within the canyon itself, where the Others lived.

All the mid-riff forts, for instance, were built directly against the cave entrances, and would see almost daily raids. The lower the forts were, the higher degree of fighting they would see. It was the root of the saying 'rising in ranks in the Cradle means falling deeper into the abyss', since, if one wanted to fight and improve, they'd have to go further and further down... all the way down to the bedrock.

From this far up, neither Yue nor Liang could see the very bottom--it wasn't strange. The canyon itself was well over three miles deep, and its bottom was entirely shorn of light, and the only way to reach the bottom was to navigate the inane cave system of the canyon.

As far as Yue knew, the actual route wasn't publicly known--rather, they'd likely have to pay someone, or join a group with a guide, if they wanted to go down there post-haste after the flood. It was very much impossible for them to reach the bottom on their own.

The first thing they had to do was log themselves, as it were, in a nearby cabin--it was built out of dark slate, and was largely just a cubicle by the entryway. There were multitude of reasons why, but the primary one was simply to keep track of people who died--usually, if you didn't leave the Cradle for about two years in any capacity, and you didn't let the chamberlain known, you would be considered dead.

The list was updated on a yearly basis on the very stele standing tall by the cabin--there were just about two thousand names carved into stone, but no other information beyond that. Some of them weren't even actual names but rather titles, so it wasn't exactly the best way to know whether people were alive or dead.

"Your wrists," the man in the cabin looked rather drab and bored, his eyes sunken with black circles beneath. As both Yue and Liang extended their arms, he wove Qi in a strange way with his finger above their wrist; a moment later, they felt a fading, though searing pain, and watched their reddened skin 'grow' a scarred layer in the shape of a half circle with a blade cutting through it. "Your first time?" he asked.

"Yes," Yue replied.

"Any Sect affiliation?"

"No."

"In that case, head over to Fort Blood," the man said. "Second fort on your left. You will want to take the passage down and into one of the caves that leads up. Prepare some Spirit Stones for the guide. Once you reach the Fort, you will individually be examined and assigned depending on your abilities. If you insist on being together, you will be assigned based on the stronger one between the two of you. Once you enter, the mandatory stay is 30 days. All in-fighting is officially prohibited, but every fort has an arena where duels are allowed.

Unlawfully taken from Royal Road, this story should be reported if seen on Amazon.

"As you are not affiliated with any of the Sects, you will not be given any of the privileges--no food, fresh water, or assigned guides. There will be quite a few groups recruiting, but do note that in most of those scenarios, you will not be allowed to keep any of the treasures that you either find or confiscate from the Others."

"Thank you for your advice, Senior," Yue quickly took out ten Spirit Stones from her spatial ring and stealthily handed it over. There were quite a few things that she didn't know, and the man in the cabin was likely under no instruction to offer any of the information. Even if he did it for the Stones, it was still worth it.

"Keep them," to her shock, however, he rejected the Stones. "If we ever cross paths in the future, merely say hello."

"Uhm... yes, will do," confused and confounded, all she could do was egg Liang on to enter the canyon, and dip over right after him, following the man's instructions.

**

Xa'walt watched the young pair cross the boundary and enter the Cradle. His slanted eyes closed down further, the yellow irises inspecting them as they faded from his view. Over the last fifteen years that he'd been in charge of the Entryway Cabin, he'd seen hundreds of thousands of souls of all appearances, ages, strengths, and talents. He'd also gotten quite good at gauging the importance of people arriving here.

Though the pair claimed that they were unaffiliated, Xa'walt knew that it was beyond impossible. Even if the young man tried to hide it, Xa'walt saw that he was at Spirit Creation Realm--somebody in their mid-twenties being at Spirit Creation Realm was beyond just mind-bending... it was approaching 'impossible'. Even the younger woman, though still 'only' at Core Formation, showcased no lesser talent than her counterpart.

In case they weren't lying, and were truly unaffiliated with any Sect, they were still either members of the Clan or had an extremely powerful hermit as a Master.

"So, Big Brother, what should I--"

"--huh?! Who the hell is your Big Brother?!" Xa'walt's demeanor changed 180 over the course of a few seconds as the next in line approached. His somewhat warm face turned winter-chill, and his quiet, subdued voice became a growl. "Do I look like I'd have as godawful a little brother as you? Pu! Perish the thought, you ass-kissing vermin! Just for that, you go back to the line!"

"But I--"

"I will deny you entry altogether!"

"Right away, right away..."

Would they survive the Cradle? It was uncertain, even for them. Especially so these days, Xa'walt mused. There was something... off in the air, and with the flood fast approaching, he'd spotted quite a few figures sneaking into the Cradle, the ilk that even he didn't dare stop. It would be a massive race to the bottom, as it were, and even the strong, if unlucky, could find themselves fading.

**

"Another failure?" One frowned, reading through the report.

He set it aside, sighing, as the piece of paper immediately flamed up, disappearing within the blink of an eye. Of seven potential candidates, they'd only managed to capture two... and only one of those two still had their mind intact. The last candidate that they hadn't even tried for resided within the Silvermoon Traders, and, in some ways, that place was harder to breach than even the Heavenly Pavilion.

"Losing Two really messed things up," a boyish voice sounded out from the corner. One frowned, having been too caught up in everything to even notice that Five had arrived. "Didn't it?"

"Why are you here?"

"I've done my mission. Why can't I return home?"

"Master was explicit in his orders," One said. "We must not interact directly for the foreseeable future."

"Oh, would you relax?" the boy cackled in a rather strange way. "The investigator is a loopy moron."

"... you met him?" One's voice dropped an octave and grew chiller. The atmosphere within the rather small room turned heavy and suffocating, and the prevailing silence did little to alleviate it.

"He he, relax. Even I'm not that brave," the boy replied in the end. "I merely... observed. He's currently staying with General Hu in Lingshan."

"General Hu? Isn't he--"

"--yes. The predicted spark of rebellion," Five said. "It seems our little investigator yearns for chaos nearly as much as I do. From what I've observed, he has absolutely no intention of doing any actual investigating. Probably because he doesn't believe the reports to begin with."

"So, he'll drown himself in mortal pleasures for a little while?"

"And likely go around all the Sects, trying to eke out whatever benefits he can."

"Tsk, pathetic," One said, standing up and pouring himself a cup of wine. "Six had just vacated the dungeon. You'll stay there for a month, repenting."

"Figures," Five chuckled, not an ounce of dissatisfaction in his voice. "Ah, I don't know if you've felt it since you've isolated yourself, but somebody managed to forge a Spirit of Origin."

"... I felt it," One said. "It was in the direction of the Forest."

"Though Master said to stay away..."

"If you have a death wish, go over and investigate," One scoffed. "Do you think Master's words are hollow?"

"Hardly," Five said, his playfulness vanishing for a moment. "But aren't you angry? Even if you and Two weren't exactly blood-brothers, he was still one of us. It will take us decades to rear another one of his talents, if that."

"What of my anger?" One asked back. "Suppose that a Spirit emerged from the Forest and for some reason decided to save the Holy Blade Disciples. Forget us, even Master wouldn't last a single breath against an Immortal Spirit."

"... ah, whatever, whatever," Five shrugged it off. "I delivered the news. Ah, right. There should be a spectacle in the Holy Blade Sect eventually, no? That Minge bastard supposedly locked himself off in isolation, and that Disciple of his became interim Sect Master. She's quite the beauty, isn't she?"

"I wouldn't worry about either her or the Holy Blade Sect," One said dismissively. "If the investigator is blind enough to try and instigate something... well, it's his own failing."

"Wouldn't that lead to a war?"

"No," One said. "Perhaps Eastern Ashlands might invade as a pretext, but anyone sent by the Central Regions here is beyond irrelevant and entirely unworthy staring a witch hunt over. Besides, the Festival of Light is in twenty years. Short of a continental threat spawning here, seldom anyone will care what happens."

"Then I best find a perfect spot to watch from."

"Five."

"After I serve my just sentence," the boy smiled; One always hated seeing that smile, whether it was in child's or adult's form. It was a perverse, non-committal, brutally misleading smile. Beneath it rested a sadistic soul capable of undoing everything and everyone. "A hapless little lamb caught the eye of our little investigator," the boy added as he headed toward the exit. "Find her some random work."

Then there was that--the juxtaposed kindness that went against everything else about him. Of all his fellow Clan Members, Five was the only one he never quite understood (beside Three, but Three was... different). A tiny creature capable of the greatest cruelty, yet also the greatest kindness, all within the same breath. Entirely too peculiar.