This environment really wasn’t bad, as long as you weren’t stuck on the wrong side of a gathering formation. There’s plenty of qi in the air. We’re probably far away from civilisation. Ah, not that I would have thought otherwise, but it still implies that whatever group has captured me isn’t a full-on sect.
His understanding of the array was… Functional, at least. He had gotten his daily visit from the cloaked man – and delivered his message, not that he thought the villain would hold up his end of the bargain. His dantian was filled to the brim, and his veins were complete. His body was in somewhat bad shape, but he would be able to make due. He was ready to climb into the second realm.
He had all his ducks in a row, now all he had to do was lead them to water.
…I’m going to pretend I didn’t just think that, and just get on with it. He took a deep breath, and started to meditate. Turning his senses inwards, he took in the state of things. His spiritual veins coiled out from his dantian, reaching every part of his body – except for his spiritual stomach, which hopefully could take care of itself just fine. Despite the wear on his body, inflicted over the course of his experimentation, he felt strong. Stronger than he had in months.
Carefully, he coaxed his qi into circulating. It drew out from his dantian, rushed through his veins, then re-entered at a different point, and soon his entire body was being soaked in refined qi. It was a strange, heady feeling. More intellectual than physical. He flexed his mental effort, increasing the speed of the circulation until qi was rushing through him like a raging river. There were small discrepancies, bits where the flow caught, where his spiritual circulatory system wasn’t exactly correct – mainly around his stomach, where his peculiar circumstances meant the qi had to flow in a single direction – but they weren’t enough to impede the flow.
It’s enough. Lu grit his teeth as the qi overflowed his veins. It didn’t hurt, in fact it felt like nothing more than a faint summer breeze, but the mental effort of keeping everything moving was exhausting. It formed miniature whirlpools all around his body, tempering him above the peak of the first realm, settling into the foundation of the second.
Then, his stomach woke up. The tempering whirlpools had drawn the slightest bit too close, and agitated it.
Oh no. No, please, don’t do it! The ki construct ignored his pleading, and spewed out a cloud of ki into his torso. No! Damn it! You finicky beast!
Lu moved frantically to try and salvage the situation. He drew more qi from his dantian, letting it spill out and mingle with the ki, hoping it would mutually annihilate enough for the process to complete. You can flood me with as much ki as you want later, but not right now!
It seemed to work; the qi rushed past the whirlpools, forming a protective shield. The two clouds collided, and the denser, heavier ki started to win out. Lu responded by wringing his dantian completely dry, sending all the remaining energy not caught up in his ascension to do battle against his unruly organ. Thirty seconds, I just need to buy thirty seconds-! Bolstered with reinforcements, the qi cloud reached parity with its adversary; rather than either one beating back the other, they were grinding each other down equally. The two clouds shrank, shrank, and finally dissipated into bare wisps. Lu let out a sigh of relief, even as the weakness of qi exhaustion started to set in.
He finished the process quickly, winding down the circulation. Qi flooded back into his dantian, though it was greatly reduced from what he had started with. The feeling of feverish weakness ebbed away over the course of a minute, though a shadow remained. He continued to meditate for an additional minute, then opened his eyes. Ideally I would keep cultivating to shore up the foundation a bit, but I’m on a time limit now. I’m sure that the moment they see I’ve ascended a realm, they’ll place additional restrictions on me, so I need to escape before they check in. But, can I even do it with the state I’m in?
He looked over his body. That ascension was… Okay. Not the best, nor the worst. He had a lot less qi than he would have hoped, and would have to deal with some residual exhaustion as he made his escape. But still, I’m officially second realm. He tested his limbs – they moved smoothly, with an additional grace that hadn’t been present ten minutes ago. He could see small scratches in the dungeon’s walls that he couldn’t before, hear the way sound echoed through the room with greater clarity.
He felt powerful, invincible, and immediately moved to tamp down on that feeling. Let’s not get a swelled head. We’re still only in the middle of the outer realms. But even as he thought it, he couldn’t help a determined look from forming on his face. He would have to risk it, even though he wasn’t at one hundred percent. Yes, I have to make the attempt. Every moment I delay, my chances go down.
He shuffled forward, and bit the very tip of his thumb until it bled. This form here, destroy that one, change these two around… Swiftly, modifications that should – theoretically – allow him to be recognised as a valid user were made to the array.
Reading on Amazon or a pirate site? This novel is from Royal Road. Support the author by reading it there.
He forced his qi into the mess of blood-drawn forms, and prayed. Heavens, please, let this do what I think it should..!
----------------------------------------
“Sir, the prisoner is escaping.” How he managed to subvert the blood lock, Sen had no idea. Perhaps he was simply a genius… But given the man’s age and realm, that was an unlikely option. Maybe an idiot savant, though.
The cell leader didn’t stir from where he was sitting, examining their newest spell scroll. “Yes, I noticed.”
“Shouldn’t we stop him? The guards won’t hold back.” If someone could escape once, they could do it again. Any escaped prisoners were to be killed on sight.
Long shook a finger at him. “I sent off the higher realm ones for a reason. If he can’t evade the dregs, he isn’t worth the time.”
Visions of the mountain of resources they could get for trading the man flashed through Sen’s head, but he held his tongue. Black Cloak Long has led me well for a century. If he believes we stand more to gain by doing it this way, I stand by his judgement.
…To a point. “Sir, I’m going to go position myself near the exit. Just in case he slips past you somehow.”
Long was completely still for a moment. Completely still; his heart did not beat, not did any of his other organs move a single muscle. “Hmm, do you think he could?”
“We have no idea what he can do, sir. The same way we’ve been slipping around the major sects with our new strength, he could do the same to us. This is unknown territory.”
Long was silent for a moment. Through his divinations, Sen watched the prisoner slip past the first guard. Typical. I’ll have to give them extra awareness training after this.
“You may go.” Sen bowed and made for the exit, but just as he left the room his ears picked up the faintest muttering. “But if he could, though…”
Sen huffed internally. Black Cloak Long might be a skilled leader, but sometimes his eccentricities were a bit much, even by the standards of the unorthodox.
----------------------------------------
Lu was terrified, and also relieved. Terrified, because there were guards everywhere, and all it would take would be a single one of them piercing his illusions to put him in an unwinnable scenario.
Relieved, because not a single one of those guards rose above third realm.
Is this real? Do they really have only outer realm guards? It would be unthinkably foolish if he was being held by a normal sect, but given that he was in some sort of criminal hideout… Maybe it’s just the leader, his lackey, and then a bunch of low realm servants? If I was an unorthodox cultivator, I would be paranoid of my underlings usurping me; that’s what always happens in stories. It’s a cliché for a reason, right?
Lu had no idea. All he knew was that right now, whatever the situation, he could only keep pressing forward. He used a pair of spells that suited the situation well; Echoing Voice, and his personal illusory art. Echoing Voice was a first realm divination that sent out a pulse of sound – which the guards failed to notice because of the illusion of silence – and gave him an impression of his surroundings. It’s a bit funny; my invisibility art incorporates bits of Echoing Voice, but the way the forms are used produces a completely different effect. His qi was running dangerously low from running the third realm illusion, but he was able to map out a path quickly.
Not that I know where I’m going. He snuck past a guard diligently patrolling the halls. The architecture was the same as the prison; large stones glued together with cement forming arching hallways, lit by hanging lanterns. Am I underground? Echoing Voice isn’t showing me anything outside the walls, but that might be some kind of anti-divination effect obscuring the boundary. At the moment he was basically just trying to go in as straight a line as possible, and hope he hit an edge.
His qi boiled away, the high realm invisibility art guzzling it beyond his ability to supply. He had a few minutes left, then he would need to either rely on his much cruder illusory techniques, or find some deserted nook to cultivate in and refill his reserves.
----------------------------------------
“He escaped.” Two Worlds Gestalt hoped he was conveying his disbelief properly; the human speech was rough on his throat, and what memories he had gathered of their language was filtered through only a few perspectives.
Black Cloak Long spoke with a tone of regret, but it rang false to both his ears, and his mind. “Yes, grandmaster. But don’t worry, I’m sure we’ll find him in a few days. I’m sure his friend is missing him, they seemed quite close.” The man’s face was covered, as it always was, but Two Worlds could tell he was smiling, the amusement passing through the boundary world clearly.
He was lying. Obviously, blatantly lying; Two Worlds didn’t need the psychic connection to see that, but it served as confirmation nonetheless. His teeth ground, before he managed to choke out some platitudes. “I see. I’ll speak to you later, then.”
“Of course.” The connection was cut, and the room fell silent but for Two Worlds’ growing rage.
How? How is he able to resist me now? Prior to a few days ago, the man’s mind had been like wet clay; easily shaped, with even the lightest of touches. If the grandmaster had asked it, he was sure the man would have done basically anything short of blatant suicide. But then something had changed.
He didn’t become stronger, I’m sure of it. Nor is he bolstering his mind with energy; that would have obscured his thoughts, but they were as clear as ever. Could he have been hiding the true extent of his willpower, all this time? No, I would have felt it.
…That’s what he wanted to think. But he was now looking back on all their interactions, going over them with a more critical eye. I never actually tested the extent of my control. Never ordered him to do something too out of character, lest his underlings realise he was my puppet, and cut contact. Was he as weak as I thought he was? His mind had been so malleable, so soft. Easily coloured by the techniques he had shared.
I need to experiment. It that softness real, or a façade? Was this something unique to Long, or something all humans could do?
Luckily, he had acquired a human test subject just recently. Funny how things worked out.