Chapter 9 – Weak, yet Absolute

  If there were 100 floors in the pagoda, one might assume they would need to reach floor 50 within six months, and floor 25 within three months. That would be the pace to clear the Reflections Pagoda in the year’s timeline.

  Diyuan had reached floor 27 within two months, an entire month ahead of that presumed timeline. However, the higher he climbed, the slower the advancement came. As of the fourth month, Diyuan was still stuck on floor 39. This was still ahead of “schedule,” but he had a major problem.

  The demonic beast, which Diyuan would later learn was named the Emerald Armored Krocsaur, was an unrelenting beast of nature. It had a dome-like shell that covered its back and could not be penetrated. Its stubby legs were short pillar-like things that ended in clawed feet, ripping up the ground as it stampeded through the bamboo trees. Despite the short feet, it was capable of great speed after its acceleration was completed. Nothing could stop it.

  Its head was crocodilian, which retracted into its armored shell whenever Diyuan got too close, unwilling to directly confront anything itself. Its hide was green and scaley, which Diyuan assumed was supposed to be easier to penetrate than the armored shell, but he couldn’t do that either.

  The long, thick tail swung back and forth to keep its balance as it charged through. The powerful movements ripped up and tore through the trees and everything else that might get in its way.

  Unsure what he was supposed to do, Diyuan stood atop its shell and simply rode it until it reached the clearing on the other side of the bamboo forest. When that happened, the trial ended in his failure. And so far, he had failed five times.

  He had tried a few things. He brought out throwing daggers outside his storage ring before starting a new round, since his storage ring locked up on this floor for whatever reason. But those weapons disappeared entirely until the trial failed, where he could then find them on the floor. It seemed like the pagoda wanted him to do this with just his sword.

  He assumed maybe a soft spot at the belly of the demonic beast, but he had no hope of tipping it over. Diyuan tried standing in front of it and blocking it that way, but found out quickly that he didn’t have the leverage to resist.

  He figured creating a formation might help, and he could leave the pagoda to gain knowledge with those manuscripts. However, learning how to apply it without using items like flags as anchor points was going to consume time on its own. It wasn’t going to fix the current wall he was facing now.

  Diyuan then attempted to cut several bamboo trees for a makeshift wall—one easily broken, ten unyielding, or some nonsense like that. However, he found he couldn’t even cut one of them down before the demonic beast ran past. So that idea was a dud.

  He had used his Yuhan family’s Stunlock Bind, but that also didn’t do anything, showcasing the beast’s inherent resistance.

  Which was what led Diyuan to come to the conclusion on how to face this floor. He decided he would take a break from the pagoda and instead use this time to fully absorb the remaining spirit stones he needed to breakthrough to level 6 Foundation, the prestige level.

  He had slowly been applying spirit stones here and there, not enough to destabilize his flow, but enough to keep him moving along this path. But the road to level 6 was long and inefficient. Based on his current progress, it would take maybe one to two million spirit stones and perhaps a total of two months just to finish absorbing all of it and stabilizing his energy flow again.

  It would put him halfway through the year, but he would gain the internal arte: Bonegrit Dreadflesh, Mugong’s arte. The defensive sharing and the strength reallocation could help resist the demonic beast’s onslaught. And if that wasn’t enough, two months would finish the black cold steel sword that was being forged for him. The sword itself wasn’t going to be sharper than what Diyuan had now, but it would act like an absorbent shield, something that could fit perfectly with the new internal arte.

  And so, Diyuan found himself sitting alone in the pagoda’s chamber, surrounded by piles upon piles of spirit stones. Two million in total. The walls reflected the shines of the spirit stones.

  Two months would pass as Diyuan absorbed a million, leaving the other half unneeded. The energy fed directly into the Foundation core. The breakthrough to level 6 Foundation was similar to level 5. Pulses of air shockwaved out consecutively, six in total to represent Foundation level 6.

  The core got denser. His body got stronger, giving him additional defense and strength, though nowhere near enough to match a level 1 Spiritweave cultivator. When that was completed, he stabilized his flow and added the new internal arte, making the jade tablet vanish into the air.

  Once done, the now 18-year-old Diyuan stood up and left the pagoda. His black cold steel sword should be ready.

  He went to the dojo and got more stance lessons from Uncle Xunran, to the gratitude of the Watchers once more, who were allowed to participate. Diyuan swapped his borrowed sword for his new black cold steel weapon. The first thing he did was test it out.

  He held the hilt between the tip of his finger and thumb. Using his other hand, he pushed on the black cold steel sword. As normal, it moved with the touch. Next, he picked up a rock and threw it at the sword.

  The rock bounced off. The sword didn’t even vibrate.

  Diyuan punched the sword with his knuckles, but it felt like hitting a solid wall, rather than a loosely gripped hanging weapon. The way it absorbed impact was fantastic. Like water on a duck. And it could do it to cultivator’s artes as well. Black cold steel should normally be forged into a defensive armor, but Uncle Xunran wanted Diyuan to have it as a sword, so a sword it was.

  When he was done with that, he returned to the pagoda.

  Diyuan only had one goal for floor 39: stop the demonic beast from reaching the end of the forest. He meditated beforehand, switching his internal arte to Bonegrit Dreadflesh instead of Benediction Balm.

  The trial started and Diyuan stood in the path of the Emerald Armored Krocsaur.

  Diyuan watched the beast hide its head into its shell as it was about to hit him. Using Bonegrit Dreadflesh, he took the brunt of the hit against the black sword, where the flat of it rested on his shoulder as he leaned into the hit. Due to the new internal arte, instead of his upper body flying back from the force, it kept still. Diyuan was still forced back due to the demonic beast’s power, but the ground cracked and tore from his feet, slowing it.

  It continued to slow, despite its tail creating the last bit of force to keep its momentum forward. Diyuan was able to see the edge of the forest, but never reached it. The beast came to a halt. Diyuan backed up to see if that was what was needed to clear the floor.

  It must have been, because the world changed. Instead of going back to the pagoda and climbing up to the third tier, the world shifted and transformed into something else entirely.

  “Welcome to the upper world,” the warped and distorted voice said.

  Diyuan turned to look and saw Zun Ji sitting atop a floating rock. All around Diyuan was a world of color and something fantastical.

  A small stream of water lifted off the ground and flowed through the air. Transparent fish with wide wings would travel together in the sky, not needing water at all. Butterflies would change color with each flap of their wings. Rocks and boulders floated, where some trees and its roots tethering some of them together. A flower, near Diyuan’s foot, leaned in and rubbed itself on his leg, as if it was an affectionate animal.

  “This…I’m in the upper world right now?” Diyuan asked, soaking in the sight. He had heard how hosts in the upper world would all appear as divine beings, shining in glory. The current view now made that description all the more plausible.

  “It’s the dreamscape,” Zun Ji said, swinging its legs back and forth, looking down from the floating rock. “The place where her happiest memories exist. This is likely what she dreams of as she sleeps.”

  “Who sleeps?” Diyuan asked.

  “Who else?” Zun Ji pointed upward. “The divine artifact. The pagoda itself. The reason why you all think this place is a training ground rather than a desperate crawl to reach the top and be rewarded.”

  The plants seemed to be listening to their conversation, turning to face the speaker.

  “Aren’t you the pagoda, though?”

  Zun Ji jumped from its rock and landed on the soft grass. “I’m the guardian of the Reflections Pagoda, a reflection of you with a hint of her. My duty is to find someone worthy, then find reasons as to why they’re unworthy.” It smiled and slowly started clapping. “The Emerald Armored Krocsaur, for example, was me giving you a trial that I knew not how you would pass. I am, after all, everything you are, and I was quite certain I couldn’t accomplish the task. It was designed to make you fail. If you could find a solution to it anyway, that shows you might be able to win her favor should you succeed in waking her up.”

  Zun Ji began walking through the mystical garden, to which Diyuan caught up and joined him. The lower world wasn’t ugly by any means, but it certainly wasn’t this.

  “Why are you talking to me now, but not before?” Diyuan asked.

  He shrugged. “Because I couldn’t. The higher you climb, the closer she is to waking, and the more awareness I gain. I don’t even recall what the fifth-tier test is yet, since we need to climb some more. The first two tiers of the pagoda have been streamlined in a way that could benefit anyone that joins, without a guiding hand to it—as I would essentially be running it on autopilot. But this idea you have that there are 100 floors? That is not true. If she was awake and full of energy, you probably would have seen something different than the 39 floors you’ve experienced, something that could have benefited you even more.”

  Diyuan was shocked to hear that. Everyone, including Uncle Xunran, was under the impression that it was 100 floors total, split through the five tiers. When Diyuan mentioned that, Zun Ji simply shook its head.

  “The test should vary between each great realm, whether it’s something as small as the Foundation level, or the realms you aren’t aware of in the upper world. Sometimes individual testing segments worked, other times you might find something entirely different.” Zun Ji paused and motioned around him. “For example, you won’t fight a single enemy in the third tier. There is no floor 40 to 59 here. Your trial is this dreamscape itself. This is a zone that begs immortals to be enlightened. This place is based on a real place in the upper world, called the Promise Land. What you see here a reflection of the real Promise Land, just as all things are in the Reflections Pagoda. If you fail to achieve anything here, you may as well off yourself. Once you are done, then we will move to the fourth tier. That one is the most fun, I think.”

  Zun Ji had no interest in continuing any conversation after that. He vanished, telling Diyuan he would check up on him at times.

  Enlightenment wasn’t something someone could do just because they willed it. Diyuan had heard how some people created artes by looking at the things of nature, but they also needed to sit for hundreds of years, staring at the sunrise, or something. That’s what they say, anyway.

  This dreamscape upper world changed as he walked through it. The flow of the stream would shift here and there, the floating platforms would hover and glide, but never colliding with anything sharing the sky with it.

  The problem was…he didn’t know what to do. Sure, the place looked nice, he didn’t deny that. But unlike everything up until now, this wasn’t really a puzzle; it was just nature. Was he supposed to figure out why the fish can fly? Or go dive and swim in the stream?

  Whenever he had a desire to step outside of the pagoda, a tug pulled him to not do that. He was being soaked in this so-called Promise Land. Soaked with that, though? Hallucinations? Were those plants really looking at him?

  He wasn’t sure how long he wandered around, or simply sat staring out into nothing. The stream in the distance did look quite refreshing, though. Diyuan figured he’d see if it tasted as good as it looked. The problem was, however, that the stream would always move away from him when he tried to approach. Odd. When he stopped moving and just stared at it, it didn’t shift around haphazardly anymore. But when he turned his body, the distant waterflow moved with him.

  The stream, for whatever reason, used his positioning to determine its own shape. The more he looked at it, the more familiar it felt. It was almost as if…

  The tug pulled at him again. The longer he viewed the stream, the more fulfilling he felt. It was like he was meditating without actually meditating.

  But of course! He was meditating! Or at least, this land was meditating for him.

  The stream in the Promise Land had mimicked his own energy flow cycle, but on a much grander scale. It was rather difficult to see the whole picture when he was in the midst of it. He soaked in the sight, realizing how the stream contained its own density, but also where he lacked. It wasn’t exactly being subtle; it was like his mistakes had magnified for him to see. He sat and meditated.

  Time would pass as he gained more proficiency. The Foundation core would cycle the energy flow automatically, refreshing and renewing his strength. Certain active artes, like the Stunlock Bind, exhausted its use within the core, requiring a certain amount of time and energy circulation before it could be used again.

  After his previous year long seclusion, his Stunlock Bind had a cycle time of 50 seconds, reduced from the original 5 minutes. The small corrections he was making now to his energy flow shouldn’t reduce it by much, but it ended up dropping the longer he sat. 40 seconds, then 35, then 30. It was like his stream had switched from being a roadblock to instead being an accelerator. However, despite feeling like the 30 second cycle could drop even more, he felt like he was missing something.

  Truth be told, his current cycle time was far beyond anyone near his level. And yet, it didn’t feel like greed to want to see it improved further. If anything, it was like the Promise Land dreamscape was shaping itself to him, wishing to be discovered. An ache in his Foundation core rose up, wanting to drink in something, bit Diyuan wasn’t sure what yet.

  When his eyes landed on the flying fish creature, that ache seemed to soothe. He kept watching, seeing the flight pattern. The more he watched, the more the other objects in the area vanished. He stood and walked straight into and through a boulder as he followed the fish. Was it an illusion or did it change its properties to allow him to finish his task? That didn’t matter to him as he kept following the flying creature. Soon enough, he began to feel what the winged fish felt. How it pierced through the sky, carving the air to each side, yet not weakening the sky.

  Then it hit him. His Foundation core realized something with that insight. Diyuan sat and meditated. Yet, when he did so, he was no longer on the ground, but floating in the air. That didn’t matter as much as the enlightenment he had just received.

  His Foundation core absorbed the realization. Stunlock Blind, an arte that required a lengthy cycle time and could only affect one person at a time, had evolved.

  Much like how the Foundation core could simply absorb artes and understand them, it was also possible for the core to absorb… “something,” was the best way Diyuan could put it. It had absorbed something and advanced his stunning arte, where that something came from his understanding by watching the fish.

  His Stunlock Bind arte had reduced its cycle time from 30 seconds to 10. Not only that, he now had the ability to stun multiple people at once without negative side effects.

  He had went from stunning one person every five minutes, to stunning anyone who touched him, or he touched, every ten seconds. Not even a level 5 Spiritweave cultivator could do that.

  Enlightenment wasn’t something someone could do just because they willed it. An understanding on the way of the world could help advance a Foundation arte into something more, as he had just experienced. In fact, once he was capable of putting artes into jade tablets, his evolved stun would be what was copied, not the original standard version that his Yuhan family used.

  The Promise Land truly was a treasure. Diyuan could see why the upper world cultivators would desire to enter it. And this was only a reflection. Did the real version have greater benefits?

  When he was done, he opened his eyes to find Zun Ji’s face inches away from his own. He flinched before he collected himself, then patted his inverted reflection on the cheeks.

  Zun Ji swatted his hand away and stood up straight. “I’m glad you enjoyed your enlightenment. I thought the year would end before you came to.”

  “Oh, how much time passed?” Diyuan said as he stood and stretched.

  “You are now on your tenth month,” Zun Ji said casually. “You have two more left.”

  Diyuan froze mid-stretch. “I have how much time left?”

  Zun Ji didn’t seem bothered at all. Rather, it seemed like this was what it expected. “That’s how enlightenment goes.”

  Even so, he had just lost four months simply meditating and understanding the ways of the world. “But I still have two tiers left in this pagoda, right? Is that enough time to reach the top?”

  Zun Ji waved his arm, making the dreamscape world disappear. They both were now in a world of just pure white. There was no ground to hold them up, but Diyuan still felt something solid beneath him.

  “This is the fourth tier,” Zun Ji said, the reflection’s white iris looking at him. “Once you’ve enlightened yourself from the third tier, you would automatically move on. And you are allowed to move on again from this tier whenever you want. In fact, if you tell me now you want to go to the final tier, I will allow it.”

  Diyuan looked around the white space. “So…what’s the purpose of this tier?”

  “Anything you want,” Zun Ji said. “All of the tower’s functionality are now at your fingertips.”

  He then explained the rules of the fourth tier. Diyuan could repeat any floor he wanted, or create his own floor to test himself. If he so desired, he could recreate the Promise Land and continue to find enlightenment, but to do that would surely take the remainder of his time.

  Truth be told, Diyuan was tempted to do that anyway. It might be possible for him to evolve Benediction Balm, or maybe even Bonegrit Dreadflesh. Or what about his teleporting arte, Emperor’s Rule? If he tried to do another enlightenment, he wouldn’t be able to continue climbing the pagoda, as time would likely end when he was comprehending something new. Regardless, it was tempting. How might his artes evolve? Would the passive healing increase tenfold? Would the defensive arte make him invincible? Could he teleport without restrictions? Such a change would dramatically alter how he did combat.

  Zun Ji continued his instructions. Diyuan could call forth any demonic beast that the pagoda was aware of—which could include upper world demonic beasts as well. He could even summon reflections of people he had fought or seen fight before, where the pagoda could assume what abilities they may have at certain points in time.

  So if Diyuan wanted to fight against Uncle Xunran at level 3 Spiritweave, he could practice here with just that. It may not be an accurate representation of reality, but the pagoda would create something based on the knowledge of what Diyuan knew, and a mix of what was plausible, using the divine artifact’s knowledgebase.

  It was essentially a free-for-all testing environment. Diyuan could stay here as long as he wanted.

  But Zun Ji had a warning. “Know this: you have lived and died as many times as you wanted in this pagoda, and you were able to retry any test you wanted. However, the fifth and final tier is not like that. You can only attempt it once. To fail means removal from the pagoda, or death, depending what appears for you. And, now that we’re that much closer to waking her up, I do remember one thing: if the final floor doesn’t risk death, it will most certainly cut your cultivation path short. I recommend doing whatever you want until about a week remains; then you should move on if that’s what you decide to do.”

  A permanent danger existed in the final tier? To fail it was to end the cultivation path? Why would anyone want to go there when a place like the Promise Land existed?

  Zun Ji left and allowed Diyuan to experiment all he wanted. He spent some time debating if he should go back to the Promise Land, and debate he did.

  The whisper of the Promise Land’s secrets and its enlightenment shined, tugging his being to return. But the tug was not a temporary one: it desired to live there, removing himself from reality all together. Why live anywhere else when the Promise Land shaped to your own will?

  As much as he wanted to go back, it also went against his own philosophy. There was a phrase that Diyuan had come up with: catastrophe begets creation. Some of Diyuan’s best growth happened when it seemed like his life was in turmoil. Opportunities came when he stepped out. And because of what happened after his brother’s execution, he knew this better than most. The Promise Land might be someone else’s path, but it wouldn’t be his.

  The decision was made. He would not go back to the Promise Land, despite its promised enlightenment. He would climb.

  He knew this was the right path for him. He might have evolved his artes further if he went back, but then he would always wonder “what if” when it came to the final tier. On the other hand, when he challenged the final tier, he would not regret it no matter the outcome.

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  And so, he used the fourth tier to continue strengthening himself. He redid some floors to see how he measured up compared to before. He retried floor 20, the multiple waves trial, and was capable of reaching the seventh wave. His 10 second stun arte played a huge role in that, considering that he could use it in every wave. Not to mention the new black cold steel sword he was using. But he simply couldn’t kill seven people within the time limit of 10 seconds.

  He lifted the self-ban on Emperor’s Rule, since he considered himself skilled without relying on it. From this point on, he would allow full usage of that arte and his spirit artifact dagger where it made sense to do so.

  Then, he recreated the battle at the western plains. He called forth the two Honglie clan members, the two Celing clan members, and Gu Mugong. He set it so that they each would be level 2 Spiritweave, while he himself remained at level 6 Foundation. In this fight, he would use the Bonegrit Dreadflesh arte instead of the Benediction Balm healing arte.

  The battle setting was different, where there was no Lianhua clan member to throw them pills, and no Yunya to need protection. The pagoda gave new and unique abilities for each of the enemies, now that they all were past the Foundation realm.

  Unlike at the dojo, where he had a friendly tussle against level 2 Spiritweave trainees, these enemies were using their full arsenal in an attempt to kill him. A simple cut at the neck didn’t make them “out” like it did in the dojo. Diyuan needed to understand what his strength was truly like against proper foes.

  Reallocating strength from one arm to the other really helped boost his combat prowess. He was still swift and lethal with his one-hand sword style, which now held the power of using two hands. This would allow him to pierce through the defense of a level 1 Spiritweave cultivator with a single strike. For those at level 2 Spirit, he needed two consecutive strikes at the same spot to be lethal. If he waited too long, then the power of their cultivation would rebuild their defenses, making his next strike weaker against their body.

  Plenty of back-and-forth and teleporting was needed. The battle was severely unfair in ways that would never happen in reality. The way this false Mugong would use an arte to suck him in with the fan’s wind, alongside the Celing Needle-nose guy attacking at just the right way with no explicit coordination needed, meant Diyuan would die several times. It was like fighting one mind that had split their body into five; the organization between them was flawless.

  After several attempts, he did eventually win. While he did not expect a combat like that in the real world, it did comfort him to know that he could deflect Mugong’s fan with ease as he was now. A fact he reminded himself of as he touched the scar on his neck.

  He did other tests, where he fought against his sister Ranxi, a level 5 Spiritweave cultivator. He died rather quickly and never stood a chance no matter how many times he tried.

  Knowing that he had a Nether Mark on him and that Dharma cultivators would target him, he decided to try something new. He would set up multiple level 1 Dharma cultivators to attack him, where his goal was simply to run away and survive. During these test trials, he gained a good understanding on the limitation of Bonegrit Dreadflesh’s defense and the kind of things his black sword could deflect.

  He ultimately determined that the highest-level cultivator he could bring down was a level 3 Spiritweave, but that required no other interference, the use of his Wind’s Edge, near-perfect play, and some matter of luck, else he wouldn’t be capable of inflicting any serious wounds. And if not for the Bonegrit Dreadflesh, a single misstep would result in his death. The passive healing of the Benediction Balm couldn’t keep up with the damage sustained due to the great realm difference, so he would never use it if the level was too great—but at the same time, he also had no need of his healing arte if his opponent was at the same level now. It seemed like his healing internal arte would be sidelined for the time being, if not permanently. That was just how it was with Foundation artes.

  But winning against a level 3 Spiritweave cultivator did feel quite nice. If a level 2 Spiritweave cultivator was equivalent to two level 1 practitioners, then a level 3 Spiritweave cultivator would equal to three level 2 practitioners.

  The power spikes were indeed vast. There was a reason why cultivators started to experience a bottleneck beginning at level 3 Spiritweave, and those that could “punch up” against higher level cultivators usually only referred to the first three levels. Those at the top two levels of Spiritweave were different beasts entirely.

  Of course, this understanding of levels was an easy way to teach the difference in powers, but it did not take into account the artes or any other training. However, it did give rise to an unspoken approval that ganging up on the higher levels was acceptable. Afterall, if Diyuan fought a level 3 Spiritweave cultivator, that was effectively fighting six level 1 cultivators at the same time, in the same body. A tad bit unfair.

  He then trained against different demonic beasts, as that was an area he lacked experience. He left the pagoda to find Uncle Xunran for advice on what types of things he should try out, but the dojo was now completely empty. After eating a proper meal and visiting the Records Hall to check out the bestiary book on demonic beasts, he returned with the intent to face off the various creatures it had listed inside, where he would fill in the blank knowledge spots after facing them. He didn’t always have ways to win, but he did always learn and recorded any new information.

  It would be nice if they rewarded him for his contribution.

  ***

  At the council room of the Palace Hall, three figures sat in their respective chairs. Patriarch Tianhou, Grand Elder Huizhong, and Grand Elder Xunran. Grand Elder Yifan was still in isolation himself, and will likely remain so for the next year as well.

  Xunran tapped his finger anxiously on the chair.

  “How certain are you?” Patriarch Tianhou asked.

  “Quite certain,” Xunran responded. “Apparently, he disappeared months ago, along with the unconscious Gu Mugong child. They are trying to keep the news from spreading and instead are just saying he went into seclusion.”

  Huizhong rubbed his chin. “That Mugong boy was effectively dead. Unless they had their own upper world elixir, he wasn’t going to wake up from his coma and walk out.”

  Patriarch Tianhou nodded. “Gu Guoxiong will likely see the saving of Gu Mugong as another way to rival me, after seeing Yuhan Diyuan come back to life because of me. But now that both of them have gone missing, I cannot help but wonder what he plans next.”

  The three of them were meeting now since Xunran’s men had discovered several key pieces of information. He had his own spies in each clan, and the Gu clan especially needed to be watched out for. But the disappearance of Gu Guoxiong and Gu Mugong wasn’t the only thing he needed to bring up.

  Xunran cleared his throat. “Great Uncle, you also gave me a task to look into Gu Guoxiong’s domain. Based on what you said, in order to create that field, he needed to comprehend aspects of the upper world that shouldn’t be available down here. Well, I found a strange coincidence that could suggest how it might’ve happened.”

  Patriarch Tianhou nodded for him to continue.

  “Do you recall how the Ember Crucible pocket world collapsed several years ago, killing non-cultivators?” Xunran asked. He didn’t wait for a response. “Apparently, three decades prior, that pocket world was rented out entirely by a foreign merchant group. We learned it had been used as a cover for Gu Guoxiong to enter secretly. Shortly after, we’ve witnessed how that pocket world destabilized throughout each cycle, eventually collapsing with people still inside. It’s possible that he comprehended the little bit of True Fire that he needed by destroying a pocket world.”

  Which made sense to Xunran. A domain was something only upper world powers had, as it required comprehension of upper world things. True Fire was one such thing. The normal fire-resistant items would not work against True Fire, and it couldn’t be trained to become stronger—only more comprehension and enlightenment could increase its power.

  It was also known as the Law of Fire to some. The Laws were a power that could reshape reality. According to what Great Uncle had told them, if someone comprehended the Law of Fire, they could change how fire worked in their region. For example, fire could be changed to suck in heat, rather than produce it. Or it could set afire the person who said a forbidden word. Or even conditions could be added, like a fire starting if five pieces of wood overlapped one another in a forest.

  To comprehend a Law was to become a true deity.

  Gu Guoxiong’s comprehension of it would be incredibly weak, to the point where if Xunran decided to bathe in that fire, it would require a thousand hits before it could kill him—and that’s assuming he was sleeping inside. And yet, despite all that, that fire could not be put out by anything a level 5 Dharma cultivator could throw at it.

  It was weak, yet absolute.

  That also begged the question of what Diyuan’s teleporting arte really did, since it could cut through True Fire.

  “Wait a moment,” Huizhong said, realizing something as he gripped his chair. Xunran already knew what he was about to say. “Wasn’t the Ember Crucible the same pocket world where…?”

  Xunran nodded. “That was where our little Miss Jia Yunya’s mother died.”

  Patriarch Tianhou narrowed his eyes. “So, Gu Guoxiong likely destroyed a pocket world to comprehend True Fire, which resulted in the deaths of non-cultivators.” He looked straight ahead at no one, contemplating something. “It is a good thing he is missing, then. He was eager to face me for little cause nearly two years ago, no doubt to strengthen his domain. If he returns with it complete, there will be great destruction.”

  Patriarch Tianhou closed his eyes now. For all they knew, Gu Guoxiong might have gone into a pocket world and let it close with him still inside. That was the current theory as of now. If he was able to continue his domain comprehension when he returned and then declared war, even if Patriarch Tianhou could defeat Gu Guoxiong, it wouldn’t be before the domain effectively destroyed the rest of the remaining world.

  “I have decided,” Patriarch Tianhou started, “in less than 5 years, I will enter a long-term seclusion. I shall attempt to create something new myself, and I don’t expect to come out anytime soon. Unless the heavens are falling, I do not wish to be interrupted. Jia Yunya will remain in your care. She must be kept secret until she is ready.”

  Xunran nodded. “And speaking of Miss Jia Yunya…she may be a little soft hearted now, which could cause problems in the future. However, if we play our cards right, we can help shape her personality by using the knowledge of her mother’s death and reframing it as a murder.”

  Huizhong didn’t like the idea of that. “You mean to manipulate her,” the healer said, displeased.

  Xunran casually leaned on the armrest of his chair. Huizhong may be a healer and understood the wounds of war, but when it came to killing, Xunran was the expert. “And what do you think will happen to her after we ask her to commit mass slaughter? And when the clans find out we have a renegade cultivator, do you think they’ll be kind simply because she’s a woman? Do you want to shatter her unprepared mind only after she annihilates entire armies? We need to make her ruthless before it comes to that.”

  Anger and revenge were good tools to use. If Jia Yunya was left to her own devices, she would fight until she believed the Zhengyi clan was protected, halting her wholesale slaughter. Yet a shattered foe was never truly vanquished. Desperation breeds gambits, and not all gambits fail. Leaving a lone orphaned young cultivator alive after the carnage of their kin could be the seed of future disaster.

  Offering mercy to your enemy was to curse your household with calamity.

  Both Grand Elders faced Patriarch Tianhou for guidance. He simply shook his head and said, “I will leave the matter to your wise hands. But do ask Yifan his opinion. I imagine he may be upset by the suggestion.”

  ***

  The final tier.

  When he was ready to move on, Diyuan simply called it out. Zun Ji wasn’t physically present to hear it, but was always listening. The trial room misted for the last time.

  Once it settled into a tangible room, Diyuan was froze in surprise.

  It wasn’t a dreamscape world, with fantastical elements of the upper world. It wasn’t a strange test to try his mettle. It wasn’t an unfair and unrealistic battle scene. It was a familiar room that he had seen in his mind many times over, despite only visiting it once.

  The courtroom of his brother’s death.

  It was empty now. There were seats for the onlookers to view the trial. The defendant and the accuser were set apart from the rest. There were seats on a raised platform for the higher rank members of the Zhengyi clan, representing the 14 council seats, and the center throne-like seat for Ancestor Tianhou.

  Diyuan knocked on the wood of a seat as he walked towards the center of the trial area. The place his brother had stood in defense of his actions. He walked up to where he remembered his brother had been. But nothing happened for this pagoda’s test. No voice spoke out in condemnation, like he had expected it to. There was no outcry for injustice. No one to shout at him that he had taken the law into his own hands.

  He found it strange how comfortable he was. Diyuan looked around. He remembered how he was too fearful to look at anyone’s face. As a strange juxtaposition, he had boldly looked at Ancestor Tianhou and his bother both, the two people that everyone else in the room had pointedly avoided eye contact with.

  And he had done all that at 10 years old.

  Diyuan looked at the spear that was set horizontally on the raised judge’s platform. The Thousand Soul Spear. It wasn’t a spirit artifact, and yet it could pierce through great realms in a way his own Wind’s Edge couldn’t. How did it work? It’s just another one of those things that Ancestor Tianhou owned and just did what it did. How else could Diyuan take that spear and thrust it against his brother’s heart, his brother who was at the Dharma realm?

  Diyuan sensed a presence. He looked around to see what was different in the room, but there was no one. Zun Ji still wasn’t there, and no one else from this moment in his life had appeared either.

  Then a voice echoed in his mind.

  [How strange,] the feminine voice spoke. It was ethereal and authoritative. [Why does this test not begin?]

  Mist filled the ceiling of the courthouse and spiraled towards the center, forming into a figure twice as large as Diyuan. A woman appeared. Her long silver hair flowed, untethered by gravity, and eventually vanished into mist at the tips. Her sleeves and robes were far too long for reasonable wear, but it didn’t matter as she floated in the middle of the room, never touching the ground. Her skin or appearance didn’t have inverted colors like Zun Ji; instead, she had a flawless look to her, a beauty unmatched by time. Her veil covered the lower half of face, but it was thin enough to reveal that she had no mouth.

  The divine artifact had awakened.

  Diyuan didn’t know how to act, so he simply saluted with the customary fist-in-palm salute and bowed. He had the inkling that she was capable of destroying him with just a thought.

  She looked around the courtroom as if seeking something.

  [Guardian,] she called out. In an instant, Zun Ji appeared in Ancestor Tianhou’s seat. [Has my pagoda failed due to my slumber?]

  “Not at all,” Zun Ji said, his voice distorted. He sat disrespectfully, with his foot up on the platform before him. “Everything is up and running.”

  She then looked at Diyuan for the first time. He felt a warm caressing sensation across his mind, the same as the one he felt when he had placed his hand on the pagoda’s doors at the beginning.

  [You are not capable of receiving a heart demon,] she said. It was simply a statement of fact. Diyuan had not heard that term before, and apparently she knew that as if she was reading his mind, the warm sensation still touching. [Heart demon is a common term, and should be common among each and every lower world. Strange that you do not know it.]

  “What’s really strange is how I’m a reflection of him, but I’m more handsome,” Zun Ji added in casually.

  What interested Diyuan the most was the fact that she had said regarding the lower world: each and every lower world. She had just casually confirmed that there were multiple lower worlds. As far as he or anyone else knew, this destroyed world he lived on was the only one. There were others?

  [If my tests are still true, then to null a testing of your heart to deliver you a heart demon can only mean one thing.] She leaned in, her twice-height body now inches from his face. [You must have received a luminary enlightenment.]

  Diyuan took a step back. He also felt like he might not need to act all worship-like, considering Zun Ji’s casualness.

  “I don’t know what a luminary enlightenment is, Lady…Pagoda?” Diyuan cringed as he said that. The sensation in his mind, her light touches, withdrew.

  [You may not know the term heart demon, but its concepts are not foreign to you.] She distanced herself and hovered back at the center of the courtroom. She never corrected his chosen name for her. [To make a vow and break it halts your cultivation path; you know this as breaking the law of the heavens. That is one form of a heart demon. If a man goes against his own creed, even if he does not say it aloud, this can hinder his cultivation and stop his path. That is also a heart demon.] She looked at him, as if trying to understand something. [A divine heart is the opposite of a heart demon. Only those who have obtained the luminary enlightenment can have a divine heart. This room was when you were enlightened. What happened here?]

  Ah, so she wanted him to relive this moment. Most people walked on eggshells when it came to the topic of executing his brother. But that was because they didn’t know what really happened.

  Diyuan explained the situation. He told Lady Pagoda about how his brother was put on trial for the deaths of non-cultivators, and how there was a split in thought within the clan. Some viewed that finding him guilty was a form of injustice, as members of the Yuhan family claimed that his brother was set up by another party—one whose involvement could not be determined to be factual.

  “And so, while they were talking, I took the spear and stabbed him,” Diyuan said, matter-of-factly.

  Was that enough to give someone this so called “divine heart”? Plenty of people followed the vows they gave, regardless of how difficult it would be to do so. Would all of them have this luminary enlightenment, or whatever it was?

  As if reading his thoughts, despite not touching his mind, she answered. [That would not be enough to be enlightened. What else was there that you have not said?] Her thought-voice was gentle, but also demanding. If she wanted the answer, she probably could probe his mind and get it that way. The fact that she was allowing him to answer, even if he really didn’t have a choice, at least gave him some sense of control.

  “Correct, something else did happen,” Diyuan said. “I have not told anyone else this, so you’ll be the first. You see, there was a risk of separation in the clan regardless of what happened. If my father executed my brother, then the branch families would split off, claiming injustice. If someone in the Zhengyi clan executed my brother, more of the same would happen. If we did not execute my brother, other problems would arise due to not following our religion. So what could end this stalemate?”

  He paused, as if he actually expected the Lady Pagoda to answer. Was she aware that their religion protected non-cultivators to the point of executing the cultivator? She didn’t speak.

  And so, he finally said his secret.

  “My brother asked me to execute him,” Diyuan said. “He sent me a sound transmission and told me to take the spear. He claimed that if even a 10-year-old knew what to do, then it would shame everyone to silence. And who would argue against the innocent mind of a younger brother, one who so loved and looked up to his older brother?”

  Diyuan simply shrugged after that. He couldn’t recall what the conversation was like after the execution. The courtroom wasn’t even an execution ground—the spear was simply there as an intimidation thing, or a deterrent. But did Diyuan hesitate? No. Despite being a young child, Diyuan had known that regardless of what happened, his brother would be in pain for the rest of his long life. Diyuan knew he could trust his brother, and he knew deep inside that this was something only he could do. It was his responsibility to fulfill the act. There were other thoughts that had flowed through him at that time, but those were now jumbled.

  Lady Pagoda nodded, like she understood something. Zun Ji took his foot down, now acting respectful in this hallowed place.

  [While I was not expecting a victory of this type, you have indeed cleared my trials. Congratulations, you have done that which many a king and emperor would wage war for. Unfortunately, I do not have the power now to grant you the reward so many seek.] She hovered as if he understood the magnitude of his accomplishment.

  He didn’t.

  “So…I don’t even know what that reward is,” Diyuan said.

  Lady Pagoda waved her hand and the room blurred and transformed into white. Two figures appeared, both an identical copy of Diyuan. No inversion or color changes.

  [I am the divine artifact of reflections. At my full strength, I can create a singular clone of anything you wish. Should you so desire to duplicate your body in its entirety, then you will have control of two beings. Should your main body die, your life will be saved by moving it to your clone body—which would have no weakness or distinction from the original. However, as beneficial as that may sound, that would not be enough to tempt immortals that can avoid true death through other means. Let’s look at another example.]

  She waved her hand again, the two duplicates of Diyuan blurred away and a new painting-esque view appeared. Diyuan was now standing in the sky with two layers of clouds below and above him. Breaking through the clouds was a black scaled primordial beast of a size he could not comprehend. It was not flying, but standing; it was simply large enough to reach the sky. Attacking that beast were flying beings—immortals, all without wings. They had a strange circular hollow disc that followed behind their head. Some of it shined like the sun. Comparing the beast to the cultivators, Diyuan saw that a single fingernail of its eleven-finger hand was the size of one of the immortals. Each of its four eyes zoned in on one of the four immortals that waged battle against it.

  They were far off. It was like looking at short blades of grass from this distance. Attacks and shots of light would rip through the sky, disintegrating the clouds around it. Some figures created a colossus transparent figure, much like Ancestor Tianhou’s palm, but this was different. It wasn’t golden, but a different color. And it wasn’t fully human either: it had four arms and swords growing out of its back. Another created a different titan body, with a full set of armor and wielding a bow. The titan of a being pulled the string back and shot an arrow at the beast, while the four-armed titan took hold of the beast in a grapple. Air itself twisted and warped against the power.

  The beast opened its mouth, revealing two layers of teeth, and gathered power. The arrow pierced through its head, exploding half of it. The power it called forth continued to gather. The scene faded to white.

  [One of the Primordial Sovereigns, the Primordial Sovereign Devourer. If you desire to duplicate a body of a being not your own, you will need its corpse. Even if it is a great a threat as the Devourer, I could still make a clone of it, but with your mind in its place. You would have freedom to control both yourself and it with full capacity. Be cautious, however. One false step and you would easily become the enemy of all life.]

  The scene changed again. This time it brought him to a scene of a simple tree in a garden. The tree’s canopy covered the field for miles. Every now and then, a liquid would drop from the canopy. The plant beneath would grow at a miraculous pace in an instant.

  [The World Tree. No need for a corpse. A copy of it would still be connected to you; all spiritual energy drawn in from the heavens and the earth would be given to you, removing the need for you to ever cultivate again. You could even drop its elixir liquid from your own blood when you so choose, allowing its effects to take place wherever it lands.]

  Lady Pagoda waved her hand again. This time everything misted and they returned back to the first floor of the Reflections Pagoda.

  [As you can see, wars would be waged to obtain me. Emperors would send armies. The things you call domains are far more abundant than us divine artifacts, and even among the divine artifacts, I was a rarity.] She looked up, as if to see the sky through the ceiling. [As such, I was hidden in this lower world, unknown to us that the connection to the upper world would soon be cutoff.] She paused, perhaps lamenting her situation. She focused back on Diyuan. [I have long since been drained of power. Without returning to the upper world, I cannot gift you your just reward.]

  Diyuan saluted her and bowed. He wasn’t sure how to take in all this information. Not having access to the upper world was just the way of life, so it wasn’t like he felt he missed out on anything. But boy, did the scenes she showed him look like fun.

  Then, when she spoke again, it felt like it had a tone of amusement. [Ironic, that of all the powers in existence, mine should belong to a child of the Foundation realm. I cannot make a pact with you until you reach the Dharma realm, but know I will not change my mind unless you have experienced true death. However, I do not wish for you to leave empty handed.] She held up her hand and pointed at him. [I will create an easier trial than that of the heart demon. If you can pass it now, I will gift you something generous.]

  She pointed down.

  A force pushed Diyuan to the ground. Its power pulsed, much like when Gu Guoxiong had used a force to push him down at the western plains before Ancestor Tianhou showed up. He was already on his hands and knees, his arms straining to keep up. But the force increased, desiring to have the floor meet his face.

  Diyuan used Emperor’s Rule and teleported away from the force. He was able to breath for a split second before Lady Pagoda simply moved her hand, causing the force to push him down again. Diyuan, once again on his hands and knees, waited for the pressure on his core to lift before he tried to carve the tunnel to warp. But the tunnel wavered under the pressure, eventually collapsing as if it had hit a solid wall.

  But the way it collapsed was interesting.

  Instead of trying to carve a tunnel to the side, Diyuan activated Emperor’s Rule tunnel carving, but didn’t move it away from him. Instead, he focused on himself, where it was a barrier of empty space wrapped his body like clothes. The pressure tried to force it back down. However, as long as Diyuan kept the arte active, the pressure on him lessened. He slowly began to stand as the Emperor’s Rule tunnel acted like a barrier against Lady Pagoda.

  When she noticed her force was not sufficient, she decreased its radius and increased the power. The floor began to groan in protest. The air distorted, much like it would from the heat of a fire. Yet, oddly enough, Diyuan did not feel the change in pressure. While the barrier around him couldn’t carve out a tunnel due to the pressure, the pressure also couldn’t force the barrier to shrink any further. The Emperor’s Rule barrier-like action was both weak, in that it couldn’t force a way out, but it was also absolute: the pressure from Lady Pagoda, no matter how great, could not win against it.

  Lady Pagoda stopped. Everything settled back to being normal. Zun Ji stood at her side and nodded with a look that said impressive.

  [Since you are capable, kneel not to anyone unless you do so willingly,] she said. [On your path to immortality, your existence is an act against the heavens as is. You have the ability to break free of this prison should you choose to do so.] Diyuan tilted his head in confusion. What prison? He could break out? Did she mean he could ascend to the upper world, or what? [My gift to you is the one you have named Fel Zun Ji.] She motioned to it.

  “Looks like you and I will meet once more,” Zun Ji’s distorted voice said. His existence abruptly ended, forming into mist, which moved and surrounded Diyuan before vanishing entirely.

  Lady Pagoda noticed his confusion and explained. [For a single time only, you may call forth Fel Zun Ji to reality. He will be a perfect reflection of you in all but color. Should you own a storage ring, he will also own it and duplicate the contents within. Should you possess an artifact, he will also duplicate it. Even if an item can only exist once in reality, it will be duplicated. Nothing will be missed during his temporary existence.]

  “It can duplicate everything I own?” Diyuan said in surprise. “So if I have a rare pill or something, it can copy that and I can use it twice? And is there a limit as to what kind of spirit artifacts it can’t copy? Or a one-time use jade tablet with an arte skill?”

  Diyuan sensed that Lady Pagoda wanted to roll her eyes, though she didn’t. [Frog in a well. Even as weak as I am now, there is nothing in the lower worlds that I cannot copy. But the copy will be exact; if a tablet is bound to you, the copy will also be bound. Now go, your time here is at an end.]

  “Ah, wait! What did you mean about the prison!” He called out as her figure began to transform into mist.

  [Are your prison bars not called Tribulation Shroud?]

  And with that finale, she misted and disappeared.

  Diyuan stood there and blinked a few times. Her words echoed in his mind. He could sense a dormant Zun Ji within him, able to be called whenever he wanted. But that would be a trump card he would save, when he wanted to copy a treasure. For now, he decided on his next course of action. He would finish any outstanding errands he had and inform the Grand Elders or whoever about his experience in the pagoda. They wouldn’t be able to do anything with this information, but it might be fun to know.

  When that was done, he would return at last to the place where he would advance to level 1 Spiritweave.

  It was time for Diyuan to go back home.