Aimless Ascension



Shi Fan had never seen such an elegant man in his entire life. Stark silver-haired left unbound on the elegant man's shoulder, swaying along the wind as he peered into the darkness.

His eyes seemed to be glowing in a silvery light, which seemed able to pierce through the darkness that had been looming over the place after the storm. Supposedly, he was a newly appointed enforcer, but with that look and the ability he showed, Shi Fan was sure the elegant could do a lot better than that.

On top of everything, the man was polite as any person could be, radiating a noble air that very few could muster.

"I fear we lost our way," Sun Ziang said, his expression contemplative, considering the circumstances from a different point of view. "The mountain is confusing, it isn't the first time I have lost my way here. I think something here messes with our senses."

"Agreed," Shi Fan was ready to agree, not because he wanted to suck up to the man, but because he came across such a problem on more than a few occasions to turn it into a concern. "I have spent a couple of months in this wilderness, and the only way I managed to not get lost is by not drifting off without a plan and measuring every little advance I made.

"Still, even with all that preparation, I found myself in the middle of nowhere more than a couple of occasions."

Sun Ziang narrowed his eyes at the shorter man, causing Shi Fan to look away. His friend Twilight was silent as ever, unapproachable with the eerie air surrounding her.

"I suppose we can only move forward," Sun Ziang said. Their compass wasn't working, nor were there any stars or moons to help them get the direction, all they could do was move forward.

Twilight disappeared from their view on her duty to act as a scout, even though Shi Fan was pretty sure the white-haired noble son could sense pretty much everything around them, musky darkness or brood sunlight.

It didn't take long for them to come across another pack of wild animals again. Twilight came back to deliver her finding, though she lingered a little even though her findings should be obvious, which led Shi Fan to think, perhaps not everything was obvious.

"Is anything wrong?" he asked.

"Wild beasts are fighting," Twilight said, "over herbs. I think they broke out of a dungeon."

Unconsciously, Shi Fan turned his head to meet the white-haired noble's gaze.

"Is this an overflow?" Sun Ziang asked.

Twilight shrugged, unsure.

Supposedly, dungeons in this region never overflow, considering how low the energy density here, however, that changed after the density rose to a tremendous degree. It was easily a dozen times over anywhere in the mountain compared to what it was a day ago. However, it seemed to bring some disaster over the mountains as well.

"Should we go over there and look?" Shi Fan asked.

"We are moving around for hours," Sun Ziang said with a sigh. "We might as well have a look."

***

Sun Ziang hadn't had time to properly practise his combat powers since he came to the town. Although there were a few silver rankers, none of them could be his sparring partner. So his spirit arts hadn't improved much since he was deported to this town, well, save for the time when he had to fought reaper wolves and Murder monkeys for hours in the mountains.

That had been pretty hard and challenged his bottom line. But now, with companions, he might preferably want to have another go with them. The only problem was Twilight's acquaintance. The young man was an iron ranker, and quite good for his rank. Well, he survived the mountain alone, so there was that.

But Sun Ziang couldn't hope for him to contest with more than one silver-ranked beast.

'Well, I guess I'll check the dungeon first and decide after,' Sun Ziang thought. 'We aren't that deep into the mountains anyway.'

It didn't take long for them to come across the wild beasts, which were none other than the Murder Monkeys, a whole pack of them fighting among themselves over some herbs. No, it wasn't some herb. . .

"Moonlight Azure root," Shi Fan muttered, his eyes growing greedy. Well, why wouldn't he be, Moonlight Azure Root was one of the finest herbs to refine your Qi with. It could raise the purity of one's Qi by another notch, which might not benefit much in the short term, but there was no second way to achieve a higher rank without purifying Qi to a higher order.

Sun Ziang's Qi was already pure enough to the standard of gold rankers, he had no need of these herbs, though his cousin could have helped herself if he had brought her with him.

'Thank the unseen god, I didn't bring her here,' Sun Ziang thought as he found the beasts changing their ire to their direction.

Sun Ziang strength, unsheathing his broadsword. There were about a dozen silver-ranked Murder Monkeys, he could have to deal with them alone, but there was no need for it, as it seemed.

"Twilight, you'd do your thing," Sun Ziang commanded, even though he couldn't find the figure anywhere near them. Well, her duty was mostly scouting, though he wouldn't mind some help when he was in a pickle. Hopefully, he wouldn't be with these beasts. "Look after your friend while I deal with this."

Sun Ziang didn't wait for a reply and threw himself in the middle of the beasts, weapon drawn, Qi pulsing through his veins. Sparkles of light flashed the moment Sun Ziang drew his sword. He seemed to be always ahead of the beast's attack, his sword moving in perfect arcs, killing the robust apes, spraying red-hot blood all over.

Oddly enough, none of it smeared on Sun Ziang's dress, it remained perfectly clad white dropped on his shoulders as he massacred on his own.

With Twilight and his help, Shi Fan only has to face one, though he figured they left it for warming him up. One should be doable for him.

***

Gale was working completely on instinct now, his mind already pulled everything to protect itself from losing into the excruciating pain.

The fate core stopped blinking with blinding light, ending the first portion of its trial. It moved in to reside inside Gale's body now, although the process hadn't finished yet. Well, it would've finished by now, if not for the other thing he was doing with Maya's blood.

The blood seemed to have awakened something else within the fate core as with Saarya's interest and intervention it touched his spirit as well, more intimate than any fate lock was supposed to be.

[Don't fight it,] Saarya told him, [accept the core within your Spirit. Let it transform you with the blood.]

But Gale wasn't listening. His mind already went on intrinsic level autopilot, finding his sanity was at stake.

No matter what Saarya tried, Gale wasn't listening. In the end, she could only try one thing to wake him up. Gale wasn't going to like it very much.

Saarya pushed forth with her spiritual power and slapped Gale's spirit body, which was laid bare before hard, hard enough that it would create a ripple over the power he was channelling, rendering his physical body to lurch up in a quick motion.

Gale awoke into a shudder as he flared his state in a fighting stance, ready to fight the first enemy he saw, but an empty chamber welcomed his senses as he pushed forth his senses. Everything was alright, other than the insane pain he was feeling.

He found Maya instructing Xiaolin on various applications of Qi. She noticed his Qi Sense drifting along and somehow did something in her aura, which seemed to be more like encouraging a slap on his shoulder in a spiritual way.

[It was me,] Saarya's voice came, but this time it seemed to be booming through his head, resonating through his spirit. [Sorry, I figure this would be the shortest way to pull you back into reality again.]

"Reality is full of pain," Gale said with gritted teeth. "How long will this last?"

[You already completed the first portion of the trial,] Saarya encouraged with the good news, but Gale only groaned.

'Which means the worst thing is still left to be put to test,' he growled at her, hoping he would be able to create the booming ripples, but to no avail.

[Why do you whine when you're with someone you look up to?] Saarya asked, this time in normal transmission. [You wouldn't have whined so much if you have to go through all this alone.]

'Hmm, I wonder why,' Gale muttered inwardly. 'Anyway, that doesn't change what I say, the worse it is yet to come.'

Saarya didn't refute his words, causing him to groan again.

[Stop whining, and get to work.] Saarya appeared to move with her spiritual body to slap his spirit body yet again, when he was completely vulnerable, leading Gale to straighten up as the ancient lady living within him relented.

"So now what?"

[You can form the fate lock if you wish now, but that would make all the suffering nothing, you'll only get a perfect bonding with the radiance core.]

"Stop trying to waver my resolve, I don't like it."

[What? You think you'll go back to your words?]

"I might," Gale said, letting out a helpless breath. The pain was already too overbearing for him to reconsider why he was suffering so much for.

[No, you won't,] Saarya told him, her voice firm and certain.