Kindling, page 18
part #6 of Painting the Mists Series
Ten strikes. One hundred strikes. Their battle raged, but Cha Ming’s comprehension didn’t deepen. Three hundred strikes passed, but it seemed that compared to the first three runic fragments and the middle three hundred fragments, these ones were different.
But how are they different? he thought. He repeated this question over and over, but despite his exhaustion, he didn’t make any headway.
“We can’t support for much longer,” Zhang Fei yelled as he fought off his own puppet. His body was covered in cuts, and his qi reserves were frighteningly low. At most, he’d last an incense time.
Is this the end? Cha Ming thought.
The runic symbol in his mind reappeared for the 333rd time. This time, however, he saw a qualitative difference. Instead of a gray runic fragment, he saw a hint of color in the previously plain picture. It was a hint of red. But instead of feeling out of place, it felt like a bit of life had been instilled into it. Color belonged with this fragment.
A spark lit up in Cha Ming’s mind. The first three were the core of the runic fragments. All runic fragments stem from these three. Then the next three hundred confirmed the shape and flow of the runic fragments. These formations taught me how to manipulate and lay formations one step at a time. However, I’ve always felt there was something missing. And now that I’ve seen that glimpse of red, it’s clear to me. These thirty runic fragments contain the essence of this runic circle.
The red glow in the runic symbol intensified as Cha Ming continued to exchange blows. Before long, he realized that there was not only color but smell. He smelled fire and burning, ashes and soot. As he focused on the smell, he soon discovered a feeling. It was a warm and comfortable feeling that could intensify at any moment.
It’s fire! he suddenly realized. How could I have been so silly?
In his journey to grasp the runic fragments, he’d forgotten the core of his cultivation technique in order to grasp them. But didn’t runes reflect nature? Didn’t creation and destruction exist hand in hand with the five elements?
This sudden flash of inspiration caused the runic fragment to burn brightly in his mind. He slashed out fifteen times with his staff, sending the guardian puppet tumbling back with a red runic fragment. It darted into the floor and glowed with a ruby-colored hue. Cha Ming didn’t hesitate to rush to the next guardian.
One strike. Two strikes. Three strikes. Perfect! A green rune appeared on the floor. A gold rune, a blue rune, and a brown rune soon followed.
Following his instincts, he proceeded to the next ten runic fragments. Even without fighting the remaining puppets, the required colors came to mind.
Fire and wood, fire and earth, fire and metal, fire and water… He injected a two-element fusion into each of ten runic fragments, which shot into the floor beneath him. He immediately proceeded to the ten three-element combinations. Following that, he produced five four-element fragments. Each one represented the absence of an element, an incomplete creation.
He then glanced at the floor and noticed that the central circle had already run out of space.
No, that’s not right, he thought, looking at it. He looked to the three central platforms, which had previously accommodated moon stones. Now that he had completed the thirty essence fragments, he was very clear that a fusion of four wasn’t the end. A combination of five was still possible. Moreover, it could be done in more than one way.
Cha Ming leaped into the air, and the guardian puppets leapt up with him. They bellowed in anger, utilizing every last bit of their power to prevent him from completing the runic array now that he’d discovered the truth. His seven companions fought fiercely to keep them away while his Dao sigils swirled around him, combining and manifesting 360 iterations of the runic design below. Thirty-six formations blocked off each guardian, but time was limited. One formation after another crumbled, and before Cha Ming had time to breathe, five of each formation had already disappeared.
First, destruction, Cha Ming thought. His staff struck down toward the platform on the left. It cleaved downward with unstoppable, world-breaking momentum. Instead of pouring five elements into the runic fragment, he poured the purest, blackest destruction qi. The black line shot out with unusual violence. Space shattered, causing the original black line to split into five, imprinting the platform with a deadly black star. As he did this, the puppets’ assault intensified, breaking another thirteen of each formation stack. Only eighteen remained for each guardian.
Next, creation, Cha Ming thought. He swept his Clear Sky Staff horizontally. Pure white creation qi formed a horizontal line. The original white runic fragment wrapped around itself like a snake biting its own tail and landed on the rightmost platform. It left a white circular imprint that glowed with vitality.
Next… Well, I’m not sure what comes next, he admitted to himself. But he didn’t stop. As the last few remaining formations around him shattered, he took his Clear Sky Staff and rushed downward, narrowly dodging the ten guardian puppets. Their attacks mutually canceled each other out and propelled him downward even faster.
Cha Ming braced himself as he increased his weight. He poured increasing amounts of five-element qi into the tip of his staff as he approached the central platform and pierced downward with all his might. The world trembled as a glowing gray imprint appeared on the platform. It spat out spatial cracks that shot out toward the ten puppets, and they broke into a hundred thousand fragments that converged on Cha Ming.
His moon stone count skyrocketed, and as it rose, Cha Ming realized that he had reached a hard limit. The first hundred stones had caused his strength to increase twofold, and the next thousand had caused it to increase by the same amount yet again. Finally, the next ten thousand increased his strength to the limit of three and a third times the might of a peak-core-formation cultivator. This was the true limit of mortals—any further increase in strength could only lead to transcendence.
Seeing this, Cha Ming unhesitatingly redistributed his 120,000 moon stones to the remaining team members.
“Cover me,” he yelled as he charged toward the middle and outer circles. Twenty guardian puppets came at him from all directions. However, they were much weaker than the central guardians. Cha Ming was able to easily dodge them as he stepped onto the floor. Each step glowed with a gray light as he completed it. As each of them snapped into place, their color shifted to match the flow of energy.
Cha Ming didn’t relax his guard as he worked, however. He carefully watched the few hundred cultivators on the outskirts. It would only be a matter of time before they acted.
Chapter 17: Power
“What is he doing?” Hei Yin wondered aloud as she saw Cha Ming hopelessly clashing with the giant guardian puppets.
“He’s doing what all mediocre influences do—trying to destroy the puppets using brute force,” Jin Tian said. “Only, our transcendent sects know that it’s impossible. A fully amplified cultivator with a transcendent treasure can’t even crack these puppets.”
“But I think something’s happening,” Hei Yin said. At this moment, a red spot lit up. It was followed by green, blue, gold, and brown, and mixes thereof. Moreover, the disposition of the guardians changed.
At first they were only randomly striking the cultivators. However, they increasingly shifted their attention to the staff-wielding young man, whose techniques were lighting up several runes on the floor. “Perhaps he’s discovered a way.”
“That’s impossible,” Jin Tian said. However, his eyes betrayed his uncertainty. They narrowed as a black staff strike, a white staff strike, and a gray staff strike suddenly rushed to the center of the runic array. The colored array glowed brightly, and the ten puppets turned into moon stones and shot into the staff-wielding cultivator and his companions.
“That’s impossible!” Jin Tian said, trembling. The first time he said so, it was out of disdain. Now, however, his voice was filled with disbelief.
As Jin Tian struggled to cope with the scene before him, the staff-wielding cultivator rushed out of the inner circle and began tracing additional runic lines. The two demon beasts and five cultivators surrounded him as he worked. They deflected the various puppets while carefully watching out for interference.
“If things continue this way, they may crack open the formation,” Hei Yin said. “Who knows what kind of rewards they could obtain?”
Jin Tian’s gaze turned cold. “Let’s see if they’re able to enjoy it,” he said. “Tell everyone that the reward has increased to one hundred moon stones each. But to obtain this, they’ll have to pull out all the stops.”
“Fine,” Hei Yin said, sighing. “Let’s do it your way.”
She looked toward the glowing pattern one last time before going back to her men. After some brief instructions, she retrieved her transcendent weapon, the Black Phoenix Fan, and took out ten small pieces of immortal-jade core. The fan’s power increased as the precious jade crumbled to dust.
Cha Ming’s feet and staff were a blur of activity. As he deflected the guardian puppets’ attacks, one runic fragment after another sank into the floor, causing the small colored circle in the center to expand. The central three runes represented power, while the next thirty were the manifestation of essence. As he painted runes on the floor, the power of essence flowed, as per their instructions, toward the outside. Instead of the initial white-jade coloring, the runic fragments blossomed with color. The power of the formation improved exponentially.
“Yu Wen, drive those three guardian puppets farther away,” he said. The floor glowed as he stepped, and although he only painted a dozen runes in the process, many smaller runes blossomed as a result of the energy patterns they created. They reached out and suppressed the guardian puppets, assisting Yu Wen in driving them back.
“Brother Cha Ming, those influences aren’t going to leave us alone,” Yu Wen said. “I can sense their power accumulating. They’re likely going to try to rob us once we succeed.”
Cha Ming frowned. “You’re very sensitive to power levels. Do you think we’ll be able to handle their combined attack?”
Yu Wen bit her lip. “I think so,” she said. “I put our odds at eighty percent or more. It really depends on how many trump cards they have. Thankfully, it looks like they’re storing up their energy for a single attack. As long as we can resist it, there’s no need for us to continue fighting.”
“Good,” Cha Ming said. “I’ll head over to Zhang Fei’s side now and let the others know to prepare. Please warn Han Jiling. We still need around an incense time to complete the runic circle.”
Yu Wen nodded and flew over to the stoic man. Cha Ming conveyed the message to Huxian, Zhang Fei, Fang Li, and Mu Qianlin. Then he focused on expanding the runic circle. One hundred, 200, 250, 280… Soon he was only three runes short of 300. Cha Ming struck out with his staff, finishing the last three flow runes simultaneously. The twenty guardian puppets shattered, instantly granting everyone in their group as many moon stones as the central ten had.
Get ready to fight off their assault, Cha Ming sent mentally. Huxian and the six others converged and threw up their defenses. Huxian overlaid light, dark, wind, lightning, and swamp suppressions. Yu Wen’s silver strings formed a defensive net that combined with the jade glow from Xiao Bai, the jade rabbit.
Meanwhile, Zhang Fei sent his sword through a spatial slit. It transformed into a large sword of holy flame that struck out against hundreds of attacks. At the same time, a fierce gale burst out from Mu Qianlin. It swirled and formed a cyclone around them that defended from every angle. Fang Li’s offensive didn’t lose out to theirs. The phantom of a giant tree appeared above them, sending out countless vines to form a defensive barrier. They broke rapidly, but for every one that broke, ten more took its place.
Finally, Han Jiling drew his sword. Thousands of black lightning bolts appeared and struck the various magical techniques, one after another. Dragons and phoenixes, ice and flames, sword and saber—nothing could block this lightning. If it was one on one, he would surely be able to dominate his opponents. Unfortunately, the techniques the crowd unleashed were far too many.
The colliding attacks caused space to ripple as they repelled each other. Dozens of cultivators fainted and coughed up blood due to the backlash of their techniques. Yet try as they might, they were no match for the combined might of Cha Ming, Yu Wen, two Godbeasts, and the four angelic cultivators.
Despite being able to repel these attacks, Cha Ming and the others grew solemn as two frightening pressures suddenly appeared. Hei Yin’s black fan grew to a width of a hundred feet and swept out, generating devastating winds laced with destructive black lines.
“Summon your defenses,” Yu Wen said, paling. “These attacks are powered by immortal-jade core.”
The two demons and four cultivators nodded. Their auras surged as they overdrew their strength.
Fortunately, Cha Ming hadn’t been idling. As they were repelling the initial attacks, he had condensed his understanding of the runic fragments and infused them into his Dao sigils. One by one, the sigils appeared as 333 runic fragments. These included a gray point, a black star, and a white circle. Myriad colors enveloped their group, protecting them just as the fan broke through his companions’ defenses. The transcendent weapon’s attack broke against the protective shield like an egg on a brick wall.
Cha Ming didn’t relax, however. He continued pouring every ounce of his strength into the small defensive sphere. His efforts were rewarded as a gigantic white sword appeared above them, its transcendent might far exceeding that of the black fan. Moreover, Cha Ming couldn’t draw support from his companions, who were already exhausted at having deflected the previous attacks. He didn’t hesitate to throw out Flow, Material, and Shape Talismans. Due to his increased cultivation and soul realm, their power skyrocketed, instantly doubling his already-powerful barrier.
Isn’t this runic circle the epitome of runic perfection? Cha Ming wondered. Are emotions really so powerful that an incomplete set of three runic talismans can overcome a perfect runic circle?
His barrier held firmly against the giant white sword. The transcendent treasure fell toward them and slowed as it hit a viscous layer of air. Finally, it completely stopped as it stabbed through a hard plate of earth in arm’s reach of Cha Ming. Seeing an opportunity, Cha Ming caught the powerless sword and immediately stowed it in his Clear Sky World.
Is it over? he thought. Despite having captured the powerful sword, he was suddenly struck with a feeling of foreboding.
Jin Tian’s heart grew cold as his connection to his transcendent weapon was severed. Unwillingness welled up in his heart as he lost the one thing that allowed him to run rampant on the Bridge of Stars.
“It shouldn’t be possible,” Hei Yin said. “Mere mortals should not have power that exceeds transcendence on the Bridge of Stars. Moreover, I fed ten pieces of immortal-jade core to my fan.”
Jin Tian was trembling with rage. He had spent twenty pieces of immortal-jade core and still hadn’t breached their defenses. “Do I really need to use my trump card?” he muttered. He summoned a black token from his bag of holding before looking at the eight living mountains of moon stones. “It’s you who forced me to do this!” he spat as he broke the token.
Cha Ming’s barrier fizzled out as soon as the attack ended. He was out of energy and out of options. And so were his companions, Huxian most of all. They each ate a moon cake, replenishing a substantial amount of their energy. To Huxian, however, it was a drop in the bucket.
Then a black cloud began oozing from outside the circle. No, that wasn’t right. It was a malevolent ochre so concentrated that even light couldn’t properly illuminate it. Its power far exceeded the limits of the Bridge of Stars, which sought to suppress it with all its power. Millions of stars appeared around the cloud to try and contain it, but they were soon engulfed by it.
A lone figure walked out of the darkness. It wore a black cloak that greatly obscured its features, though some prominent ones could still be seen by Cha Ming and the others. Its pasty pale skin, its skeletal features, and its chalk-white hair stood in stark contrast to its pitch-black eyes.
The figure held out one hand and gathered the power of evil surrounding it. The clouds rushed in on a single point and grew from the size of a marble to a full foot in diameter. The devilish figure disappeared as it threw the orb toward them. Cha Ming instantly threw up a multicolored shield with what little power he had.
Huxian drew from his companions and transferred as much energy as he could to Cha Ming in the hopes of stalling the black orb’s inevitable onslaught. As it struck the multicolored shield, an intense backlash caused Cha Ming’s powerful body and soul to teeter on the brink of destruction.
“Cha Ming!” he heard Yu Wen cry out before losing consciousness.
“Hundreds of thousands of moon stones, and they’re all mine,” Jin Tian said, licking his lips greedily. Cracks appeared on the multicolored defensive sphere, and before anyone could react, it shattered into millions of pieces. “All mine!” he said once more with madness in his eyes.
Time froze. A woman in a jade cloak floated up, and the air around her turned gray. It became a mist that traveled toward the man unhurriedly. He tried to move his body but realized he couldn’t. As the mist approached, a powerful constriction enveloped him. A voice sounded in his mind.
You thought to kill us? Then know the consequences, the voice said. Your soul won’t even reach the Yellow River. It will be decimated for all eternity. The jade-cloaked woman looked at him coldly.
How can she be so powerful? he thought, panicking. He struggled to free himself, but no matter what he did, he couldn’t move. It was as though the space around him had frozen in time.
