The Path through the Heavens: A LitRPG Wuxia Series (The Heavenly Throne Book 6)
Page 20
The trio jumped at Kai. The tip of a sword almost reached its target, when it swiftly turned sideways. Kai grabbed the blade again, pushing the sword aside with all his might. The elf was thrown back and crashed into his friend who didn’t have time to react. They both flew back.
At the same time, Kai stopped the dorgan’s hammer with his other hand. The multi-ton weapon collided with the barrier, bouncing back, and threw its owner off his feet.
Too bad I can’t try out my new powers on you...
Kai disappeared. Using the Five Weightless Steps Technique, he headed for the gate. He didn’t want to stay here any longer.
But it wasn’t going to be that easy.
“The amulet has been activated. Consent has been given,” a voice echoed across the floor.
At the same moment, six azure flames flashed to Kai’s right and surrounded him. A series of powerful explosions rang out.
Nitriax had bought a Forced Duel Amulet, which could be purchased and used by those in the top thousand.
“You’ll compensate me for these thirty thousand Coins, human,” he said.
Before the raging fire died down, several scarlet strokes burst out of it. Almost reaching the elf, they were stopped by a wall of azure fire that appeared in the air.
“That ain’t gonna work.” Nitriax grinned. “Do you really think you can defeat me?”
“I do,” Kai replied, emerging from the flames.
A barely noticeable sphere sparkled around him, repelling the fire and hot air. It was the Impenetrable Repelling Field Technique. Given Kai’s perfectly mastered Forces of the Path of Space, it became really powerful.
Seeing his opponent completely unharmed, the elf frowned.
I saw him fight. He’s incredibly strong. But he’s only good in fights without ki. We’re using techniques now. My Flame Crashing Arrow Technique is Gold rank, mastered to the fourth volume... But how was this mortal able to block an entire volley so easily?! Or did he? Why did I think that it was easy for him? Appearances can be deceiving. I’ll wear him down and then use a slave collar.
“Come on, let’s see what you’ve got.” Nitriax grinned.
Stretching out his palm toward Kai, he began to form a stream of arrows of azure fire, continuously firing them at the target. Kai’s ki reserve sharply dropped even though he had already swallowed several Azure Crystals and continued to imbue his Source with energy.
Determining what to do next, Kai activated the Offset Step. A series of spatial jumps allowed him to approach his opponent almost instantly. But when the target was twenty feet away, a dome of azure flame appeared in front of him, surrounding the elf.
“Don’t even dream of getting closer!” Nitriax yelled.
With a wave of his swords, Kai sent several crimson stripes at him. His Blade Release Technique had been strengthened after he finally mastered all seven initial Forces of Sword and managed to correctly add particles of the Yin concept to it.
The attacks disappeared inside the flames, failing to reach their target, destroyed by the opposing Forces. Nitriax had more ki, and he had already perfected the Force of Form, which Kai hadn’t yet achieved.
Continuing to attack from inside the fiery dome, Nitriax prepared several traps for Kai. He was one of those cultivators who became more dangerous the longer the battle dragged on. Few could break through his defense, and during enemy attacks, he had time to prepare his strongest techniques.
Nitriax was beginning to work on one of them when he felt that the fiery shield began to weaken. Kai’s aura disappeared.
What’s happening?! he thought, not being able to sense him. What kind of power is this?!
But before Nitriax had time to figure out what was happening, Kai burst into the dome.
Kai was completely covered in ice, which easily resisted the flame and even destroyed it.
Nitriax didn’t have time to do anything else. Even with the enhancement technique, his physical stats were severely inferior to Kai’s. Also, the arrogant human had the element that was one of the strongest against his flame. Kai turned out to be damn strong in close combat, leaving him no chance.
With one fast movement, Kai ripped off the elf’s hands, together with the artifact gloves that were on them, which Nitriax had been using to assist him with techniques, dispelling the dome and the traps.
However, Kai didn’t stop there. He returned his swords into his Ring, and with one heavy punch, sent the elf flying. Nitriax turned out to be stronger than Kai thought. He opened his mouth to use his trump card — the fourth volume of the Dragon Breath Technique. The azure flame of a truly powerful attack had already begun to rise in his throat. The technique was almost ready, but...
Nitriax was suddenly hit on the back of the head and knocked out.
“Maybe I should’ve intervened earlier...” Shacks said, turning visible.
In response, Kai shook his head and then nodded to the right.
“Let’s go.”
A few seconds later, they were at the gate, behind which the First Guardian’s Test awaited them.
“They’ll be waiting for us,” Shacks said.
“True. But it’ll be too late. The forced duel doesn’t work on those who are on the List, as you know. I guess we’ll have to figure out everything else on the go.”
Both of them put their hands to the gate. A message appeared in front of them.
Would you like to start the First Guardian’s Test?
Yes/No
Shacks and Kai agreed, and the countdown began. After ten seconds, both of them were teleported inside. Each in a separate room.
It was time to stop being Zeroes.
Chapter 17
MEETING AT THE GATES
Kai found himself in a huge empty room. Its floor was paved with massive slabs. Instead of walls and a ceiling, there was a huge dome, decorated with bas-reliefs that depicted mighty monsters and ancient warriors on a battlefield. In the eyes of each of the creatures shone colorful gems, illuminating the hall. Unfortunately, Kai didn’t have much time to admire the art.
Get ready!
The First Guardian’s Test will begin in [60] seconds.
Destroy the Training Dummy.
Your place on the List of Ten Thousand will be determined depending on how quickly and how efficiently you deal with the task.
Attention!
If you lose consciousness or if you are unable to continue the fight for any reason, you will fail. After that, you can retake the test in 100 days. Retrying will cost 1,000 Cloud Coins.
Seeing this message, Kai activated energy vision, wanting to be ready for anything that might come his way. As he expected, flows of energy and Forces invisible to ordinary cultivators immediately appeared, merging and taking a human shape. The Training Dummy gradually appeared two hundred feet away from him, although, at that point, an aura or other senses couldn’t detect anything. The Cloud Abode concealed what was happening almost perfectly.
Kai saw his future opponent and therefore knew where to hit when the countdown ended. His body was still reinforced by the Body Gates, his swords were enveloped with a crimson fog, and two techniques were awaiting activation — Space Destroying Sweep and Gravitational Break Blade.
When there was less than a second before the fight would start, Kai made a move. With a lightning-fast dash, he closed the distance, finding himself directly in front of the Training Dummy. Two swords overflowing with power fell on its stone body.
The first attack was filled with the compressed Field of Superiority. The Blade Release Technique, reinforced with particles of the Yin concept, followed. Together, these two effortlessly broke through the target’s armor, allowing the swords to plunge deeper and deeper into the Dummy.
Instead of stopping there, Kai activated the two previously prepared techniques. Space Destroying Sweep was one of his strongest in terms of damage. He directed it toward the Dummy’s energy core and sent the power of the Gravitational Break Blade over its entire body.
Dust settled. Fragments were scattered on the floor. The echo of the explosion faded.
Only crumbs remained of the Dummy, although the slabs underneath it remained undamaged.
You have passed the First Guardian’s Test!
The Training Dummy has been destroyed in [0.0034] seconds.
Congratulations! You have made it to the List of Ten Thousand.
Your rank: 6,001
You have been awarded a one-time visit to the Second Floor of the Cloud Abode.
...
Attention!
[240] seconds remain until you are teleported from the First Guardian’s Testing Hall. Get ready!
Kai’s Abode mark was now clearly visible. Having glanced at it, he saw that the number had changed from zero to six thousand and one.
He finally made it to the List, immediately rising above at least twelve thousand cultivators. From the ten-thousandth place to the six thousandth, several students could occupy each position at once. On average, there were three cultivators for each place.
That was actually the reason why so many students lived on the first floor. It wasn’t as crowded on the second, where students from the six thousandth to three thousandth place shared their positions with one more student at most. To get there, one first had to climb to the six thousand and first place, which would give them the right to visit the next floor and to try to pass the Second Guardian’s Test.
Apart from passing the Tests, there was another way of climbing the list — official fights. Each student on the List of Ten Thousand had to participate in at least two fights a month with other ranked cultivators.
So, from today on, Kai would have to challenge a lower-ranked student to a duel every month, as well as three higher-ranked ones.
Energy and Forces could be used in these battles and they ended if one of the students gave up or couldn’t continue. The Abode acted as the referee, so such fights rarely resulted in death.
There were two types of challenges. The standard one and one with conditions. In the first case, things were simple — if a lower-ranking student won, then they rose by a quarter of the difference between their position and the position of their opponent. The opponent would drop down the same amount. If a student with a higher rank won, then they’d stay in the same position, receiving five thousand Coins as a reward, and their opponent would drop five positions.
However, not everyone could challenge whoever they wanted. On the first floor, students could use this right only with those who didn’t exceed their rank by more than a thousand positions. On the second floor, this decreased to five hundred. On the third, it was two hundred. On the fourth — a hundred. And on the fifth floor, the students could only challenge the person immediately above them. In this case, victory or defeat meant only a switch between the two involved. Starting from the third floor, only one student could occupy each position on the List of Ten Thousand.
As for the duel with conditions, it was an ordinary duel with pre-agreed rewards. The Abode acted instead of a System oath or a spirit contract, forcing the disciples to fulfill the agreements.
Such a fight had only one drawback — the challenged party had the right to refuse, and then the challenger would immediately lose one of three attempts to improve their ranking. To avoid this, low-ranking students would promise lavish rewards so that their potential opponents wouldn’t refuse their offer.
This was how most of the wealthy aristocrats rose. They chose a student with a higher rank, challenged them to a duel with conditions, offering them something very valuable in return for their position, after which the latter simply forfeited. Since all the duels had to take place on the same floor, the bribed student didn’t lose anything except time. Plus, they’d probably receive a very valuable resource, or, for example, a promise of a prestigious job in the aristocratic family. After all, sooner or later, everyone had to leave the Abode, after which they had to look for their place in the world.
In addition to official fights, there were also unranked duels, where cultivators gave each other permission to use energy and Forces, as well as forced duels. The official ones took place in special arenas, where other students could watch the fight. It was recommended to hold the unranked ones in arenas, as one could accidentally hit someone with energy, thereby breaking the Abode’s Law. Forced duels had no such restrictions. If a third party suffered damage, it was considered an accident. The Abode could read the intentions of its students perfectly well, so it could easily determine whether the cultivator wanted to hurt someone, who wasn’t involved in the duel, or not.
While Kai was thinking about the ranking system, the countdown came to an end. The Forces of Space enveloped him, teleporting him out of the hall.
He returned to the gate and saw about thirty cultivators gathered around it. These weren’t the guards he had defeated, but third-floor students.
Two elves stood out.
“You can quarter him,” Tassarion ordered. Ranmaru loomed behind him in shiny armor.
A dozen dorgans from the Great Pack rushed forward. Fifteen peak Exorcists had been waiting for him. They had gathered here as soon as they learned that one of those responsible for what had happened to their kinsmen on the Ground floor would appear. Then the reinforcements from the third floor arrived, followed by Tassarion himself. So, they had to calm down a bit. Stealing prey from Tassarion was dangerous even for them. Fortunately, he gave them permission to tear the bastard to shreds.
Those who had already activated Partial Transformation approached Kai. And with the third volume of the Explosive Life Force Technique, they reached as much as sixty-five percent enhancement of their physical stats.
But even that wasn’t enough.
Kai didn’t wait for them to reach him. Still armed, it took him almost no time to reopen the Body Gates. The only thing he added was Ultimate Focus, gaining valuable insight into his opponents’ movements, breathing, flow of ki, and much more.
Time seemed to slow down.
The nearest dorgan didn’t have time to react to Kai’s dash. The improved Forces of Space took Kai’s speed to a whole other level. Together with the use of the concept of Yin in the Five Weightless Steps Technique, they made it much easier to bend and distort space.
With one swing, he relieved the dorgan of his hand. And with another, of his leg, making it fly to the side.
Two more students attacked him. They tried to inflict at least some damage but failed to do so. Kai easily dodged their attacks, making a seemingly impossible jump. No living creature could move like that without using special techniques. Kai didn’t even bend his knees to push off the ground, which left the dorgans dumbfounded.
However, they couldn’t imagine that the Field allowed Kai to move his body as he wished. Almost like a puppeteer would move a puppet.
As soon as Kai was in the air, one of the dorgans jumped at him, certain that he wouldn’t be able to dodge in such a position.
But he was mistaken. Kai foresaw his move and chuckled. He couldn’t use the Field against these dorgans, as their will was slightly stronger than his was, but this didn’t prevent him from using the ability on himself.
His body suddenly flew to the side, and then he landed. The Field wasn’t strong enough to allow Kai to fly, but he could still levitate a little.
The nearest dorgan attacked but ended up with his legs cut off. After that, Kai quickly dealt with seven more opponents, relying on his superior speed and strength. Among the attackers, there were only five whom he couldn’t defeat with just several lightning-fast movements.
The strongest dorgans acted in sync, trying to drive Kai into a corner and catch him. And although he didn’t allow himself any mistakes, the onslaught coming from all sides made things difficult. He had to focus equally on both evasio
n and defense. He was thinking about using his trump cards when a thought struck him.
I can subdue them...
Kai remembered the dorgan whose legs he had cut off. They immediately soared up, attacking the rest of the group. With the Field, he couldn’t influence his current opponents, but this didn’t apply to their severed limbs. That was enough to distract three of them.
For a second, their formation fell apart.
Releasing the swords and letting them fly at the first dorgan, he rushed toward the second. His opponent counterattacked, but, instead of dodging, Kai punched back.
He was stronger.
The dorgan’s arm was thrown back, bending unnaturally. There was a cracking sound. His skin burst and the gray fur was covered with blood.
Kai’s hand was only slightly damaged. However, if he weren’t completely sure that his bloodline would restore everything, he wouldn’t have even tried to pull this off.
The dorgan growled in pain and paid the price for letting his guard down. Several powerful blows struck his chest, breaking his ribs and puncturing his lungs. A couple of his other organs were damaged, including the heart and spine.
One down.
The dorgan that Kai had thrown his swords at managed to dodge and attack him from behind, aiming for his legs. But he failed. One of the blades teleported into Kai’s hand. With one quick movement, he cut off the dorgan’s clenched hand from his arm. With a few more lightning-fast movements, he neutralized another threat.
Kai easily defeated the remaining three dorgans. Distract, confuse, finish off, repeat. No high parameters, combat alchemy, or technique could help them.
In just a minute, the battle was over.
Standing still amid a bunch of incapacitated dorgans, Kai looked at his swords. The blades were covered with small cracks.