The Path through the Heavens: A LitRPG Wuxia Series (The Heavenly Throne Book 6)

by Yuri Ajin

  “Huh? What?” The elf asked after a brief pause, still processing what had just happened. He looked at Shacks, and then belatedly nodded. “No... I’d like to live.”

  “Then get ready to take an oath.” Shacks cracked his neck and merged with his Spirits.

  “What oath?” Ailenx asked, confused.

  “That you’ll keep your yapper shut about what you’re about to see. Otherwise, I’ll have to leave you here.”

  “I agree!” Ailenx vigorously nodded. The fact that he saw one of the suicidal dorgans running in their direction helped him decide quickly.

  “Okay. Give me permission to use energy on you and all that. Is he for real?” Shacks mumbled, looking at the approaching dorgan.

  Ailenx did as told without hesitation.

  “Didn’t think they’d make me use the big guns, but here we are...” Shacks whispered.

  Closing his eyes, he outstretched his hand. His face began to lose color as blood flowed from his nose and eyes. Ailenx didn’t feel anything, but Shacks was experiencing enormous pressure because he was going to use a technique that he shouldn’t have been able to use. If his father knew that he had broken the rules, he would’ve gone mad from anger. If that monster could experience any emotions at all.

  “Power of the Bright Moon. The First Order — Reality Cutting Mist,” Shacks uttered and fell to the ground, exhausted and barely conscious. Both Spirits hid inside his soul, having also lost all of their strength.

  Everything became clouded with fog and the world disappeared. Looking closer, Ailenx realized that, in fact, nothing had changed. Everything was the same, but the small area where Shacks and he stood suddenly turned gray and became translucent. He stopped hearing sounds as well.

  And then his gaze shifted to the dorgan next to him. Acting on instinct, he created a barrier, using almost all of his available energy, after which an explosion occurred.

  The shockwave and burst of energy instantly reached them. Ailenx covered his head with his hands, praying to the Heavens that what he did was enough, but nothing happened. The black and white explosion simply passed through them. Like an illusion.

  What he didn’t know was that Shacks had made them invisible to the outside world. There wasn’t a hint of their auras, energy or even wills. And if anyone tried to think about either of them now, they’d be surprised to find that they couldn’t immediately remember who they were. Even if Kai tried to see them with the energy vision, he’d have to peer at this spot for at least a day. And even then, he’d only find a strange two-dimensional energy strip, similar to a cut.

  Dorgans were on their way to Kai and Ranmaru, who were still in the center of the arena. Severely injured, neither of the two had the strength to defend themselves. They could use artifacts, but they didn’t have time to activate them.

  And just as they thought that this would be the end of them, two hooded figures jumped down out of nowhere, creating a small dome on the move, sheltering Kai and Ranmaru. The three explosions that followed didn’t do any damage to it.

  Meanwhile, the explosions spread to other floors, including the fifth, where the Seven’s palace exploded.

  In total, exactly one hundred explosions took place throughout the Abode that day. And the number of victims exceeded two thousand.

  Chapter 22

  SIX MONTHS IN THE ABODE

  A minute later, the series of explosions finally ended. All the dorgans were dead.

  “I’m not even surprised...” An’na said, turning around and taking off her hood. Her partner in crime was Malvur. “When the rumors about a certain mortal who challenged one of the Cloud Ten to a duel reached the Heavenly Floor, I had a feeling that they were talking about you. It’s good to see you again, Kai!” She grinned.

  “Kai.” Malvur nodded in greeting.

  “I’m glad to see you, too,” he replied. “I thought you had forgotten about us. You’ve been gone for almost five months.”

  “Well, getting into the first hundred wasn’t so easy,” An’na said, a bit smugly. Resting her hands on her hips, she leaned slightly forward. “There was no time for friendly gatherings. We strove upward. You could’ve been patient and waited for half a year for us to come and help you rise further. With a patron from the Heavenly Floor, you wouldn’t have to be afraid that someone would interfere with your cultivation. Did you really have to get yourself involved in this mess?!”

  “You could’ve sent a letter or something, let us know you were okay. Also, I’m doing just fine on my own here, as you can see.” Despite the condition he was in and the Cold Void, he smiled. He really was happy to see the two.

  “Is this how you thank people who saved your ass?” An’na grunted.

  “Is that what you wanted me to do?”

  “Of course not. Who needs a thank you…?”

  “Fine, fine.” Kai shrugged and then turned to the giant. “Thank you, Malvur.”

  For a second, An’na was confused, and then, crossing her arms over her chest, she turned away and lifted her chin, offended.

  “We need to leave. Unless you want to stay and hang out with those guys from the Great Pack, who don’t like you,” she said, annoyed.

  “An’na is right,” Malvur added. “We shouldn’t linger.”

  Kai nodded and then turned around.

  “Are you with us? Ranmaru?” Looking around, he saw the unconscious Ranmaru lying on the ground. “Malvur, can you carry him? I’m exhausted.”

  Malvur nodded and easily lifted the guy off the ground.

  “Come on,” An’na said impatiently.

  “Wait. We need to find Elea. As well as Shacks and Ailenx.”

  “Oh, Heavens, he’s here as well?” An’na grimaced when she heard the archer’s name. “Fine. But let’s be quick about it. Where should we look for them?”

  “Follow me,” Kai said and led them to the stands where he remembered seeing Sator and Elea prior to the fight. Having picked them up, the six of them looked around for Shacks and Ailenx. Fortunately, by the time they got there, the two became visible again.

  “An’na...? Malvur?” Ailenx mumbled, surprised. He didn’t remember seeing them in the crowd.

  “Ailenx.” Malvur nodded.

  “Hi,” An’na said shortly, and, poking Shacks with the tip of her shoe, asked, “What’s wrong with this idiot?”

  “He used a technique to protect us. It seems he spent all his strength.”

  “Pick him up.” Kai looked at the elf. “We gotta go.”

  With Shacks flung over Ailenx’s shoulder, the group finally moved out of the arena. Things were still chaotic inside, so, in order to not waste time looking for a way out, they got to the edge of the building and jumped off.

  “We’ll go to my house,” Elea said. “The three of you are badly wounded and in dire need of a healer. I won’t be taking no for an answer,” she added in a tone that left no room for arguing.

  Halfway to her home, Kai broke the silence that fell on their group.

  “Hey, An’na,” he whispered softly.

  “What do you want?” she asked after a short pause, pursing her lips, and glanced at him. She really wanted to ignore him but she was curious about what he had to say.

  “Thank you,” he said sincerely.

  She flinched, blushed slightly, and turned away.

  “Yeah... You’re welcome...” she answered, embarrassed.

  ***

  Opening his eyes, Ranmaru saw a familiar face in front of him.

  “Elea... Are you okay?”

  “Don’t worry. Sator protected me,” she answered him with a slight smile.

  “Where am I?”

  “At our house.”

  “Did you get me out of there?” Grimacing with pain, Ranmaru raised himself a little.

  “No.” Elea shook her head. “Kai and his friends helped. There were two peak Exorcists among them. Judging by the blue marks, they came from the Heavenly Floor.”

  “Really? Are you sure about that?”
Ranmaru asked, raising his eyebrows.

  He knew very well how difficult the Heavenly Guardian’s Test was. Only members of the Cloud Ten, when they reached the peak of the Exorcist Stage, were allowed to reach the next floor without passing it. On average, one cultivator got on that floor every couple of years, making its residents the highest elite in the Abode, comparable to the members of the Cloud Ten.

  “I am.” Elea nodded. “Sator can confirm it. But do you know what amazed me even more?”

  “What?”

  “That all of them looked at Kai as their leader. No one argued with his decisions even though he’s a mortal.”

  “I see...” Ranmaru muttered, habitually touching his neck. Not feeling the collar, he froze, puzzled. The initial shock was soon replaced by a wave of joy.

  “Yes, you’re free now.” Elea hugged him with a smile.

  Tassarion had fulfilled his end of the bargain by remotely removing the collar, thus granting Ranmaru freedom and releasing him from his eternal servitude. No longer bound by Laws or honor, he could finally live his life.

  “Do you know what happened in the arena?” he asked, letting go of Elea.

  “No. I doubt anyone knows, to tell you the truth. Even the Seventh Faction is shocked. They say their leader’s palace was blown up. All floors were attacked, except for the Ground and Heavenly floor.”

  “I see... How long was I out? And where’s Kai?”

  “One day,” Elea replied. “And Kai said that he’ll go to the Development Pavilion, where he’ll focus on healing himself since he doesn’t want to give us any problems. They are still looking for him on the first floor.”

  “What about the others?”

  “If you’re referring to Tassarion’s servants, they’ll no longer interfere with Kai and his companions. It’s his order. The rest of the factions seem to have finally taken him seriously. They don’t want any trouble. So, as long as he isn’t bothering anyone, no one will bother him either.”

  “I see… That’s good.”

  “Right. He also asked me to tell you that he’d like to see you the next time he comes over. The day after tomorrow,” Elea recalled. “And to remind you of his offer.”

  Ranmaru nodded.

  ***

  The meditation session was over. Kai stopped focusing on Elea’s wound with his spirit perception and opened his eyes.

  “We’re done. I think this will be your last checkup,” he said.

  “Have you discovered anything new?” Elea asked, getting up.

  “I think I might know what the problem is. I’ll need some time to work on a solution though.”

  “I believe you’ll figure it out. You’ve already performed one miracle,” she said with a smile and then left the room, greeting her brother on the way out.

  Closing the door behind her, Ranmaru bowed and noted that Kai looked... healthy. As if the duel had never happened. Once his regeneration returned, he didn’t need much time to fix himself up. Unlike Ranmaru, who was still recovering.

  “First of all, I want to say thank you for helping my sister, and for…” He hesitated. “For defeating me. I haven’t forgotten about your offer.”

  “So, what do you say?” Kai asked with a nod.

  “Honestly, after all that happened, I’d like to accept, but I can’t...” Ranmaru sighed, straightening his back. “You see, I never voluntarily followed anyone but my sister. And now, with her condition, I can’t leave her. Sure, we’re all in the Abode for now, but, sooner or later, we’ll leave this place. And then what? If she remains helpless in the world of True Masters, I’ll have to abandon my pursuit of power and knowledge and stay with her. If I agree, I’d only be a burden to you.”

  Kai observed him, surprised by his decision. Then again, he would’ve probably also made a similar decision if he were in Ranmaru’s shoes. He knew how it was to have someone to protect.

  Julie...

  “Actually, I think I know a way to heal Elea.”

  Ranmaru’s eyes widened. He stepped toward Kai but stopped dead in his tracks.

  “You do?” he asked, squinting.

  “Yes.”

  He really believed that he did. In that moment of enlightenment, he managed not only to create Fortified Ice but also finally came to understand the possibility of merging the Yin and Yang concepts, which was precisely what he had been studying for the past three months, including the time spent on the so-called examinations of Elea’s wound.

  “Well, if you succeed... I’ll join your faction,” Ranmaru said. Having been burned once before, he knew that these kinds of offers don’t come without a price. “But what do you want in return?”

  Silently passing by him, Kai went to the door and opened it.

  “Nothing. I don’t need anything from you. It was my decision to help your sister, and I ask for nothing in return,” he said. “Also, I don’t want you to be my servant, like you were to Tassarion. I think you misunderstood me. I don’t need a slave, servant, or follower. I need a faithful companion, ready to give me a hand in a time of need.”

  Having said that, he left the room, leaving the confused Ranmaru alone with his thoughts.

  ***

  The blinding light that filled the room began to fade. Kai’s eyes and hair ceased to shine, marking the end of his preparations to make another step on his path of cultivation.

  This time, his opponent wasn’t a cultivator, but Yang particles that would try to seize his soul. Defeating them could let him finally reach the perfect understanding of this concept.

  It wasn’t just complicated to win this fight, it was tricky to even challenge the inner Yang. For this to happen, a cultivator had to be either in a state of desperation or to have lost control over their emotions, both of which were often caused by psychological or physical trauma. Since Kai had already had a similar experience, as that happened with the Cold Void during the final battle of the Fist Fight in Udin, he made a decision to pass through that again. To do that, he pierced his heart.

  Yang began to act as soon as he lost consciousness, trying to fill his soul. Rune’Tan, who had prepared for this outcome, forced Kai to wake up in time.

  After a long and arduous struggle, Kai pushed the concept out of himself, taking full control over it — his understanding of both concepts reached its peak.

  However, it wasn’t easy to achieve that. He’d been staying on the third floor for a little over a month, contemplating Yin and Yang in the Forces Pavilion. Today marked six months since he got to the Abode. Despite everything, he had never regretted his decision to come here.

  His knowledge of Forces had improved more than he could’ve imagined. Having visited the Abyss under Udin, he picked up the most powerful particles of Yin and Yang, taking the dark heart and sucking out a part of the power of the light one.

  One would think that there was no better resource for contemplating these concepts and that pavilions weren’t necessary.

  However, once Kai visited the Forces Pavilion on the first floor, he realized that this was a much better way of learning.

  The particles he had absorbed in the Abyss were more aggressive and taxing for the soul than those that could be found in the pavilions.

  To contemplate other people’s Forces and to contemplate those that were given to you for study purposes were completely different things. And in the case of the latter, progress would happen much faster.

  Starting from the third floor, the Forces Pavilion opened access to the contemplation of Yin and Yang, and on the fourth, their power became even bigger. But Kai couldn’t get to there yet. Things were tricky with the higher floors.

  Taking the Guardian Test to enter the third one, Kai fought against a copy of one of the students instead of a faceless dummy.

  The Abode gave the cultivators that were between the three thousandth and two thousand and five hundredth place the opportunity to be the guards of the third floor. And when Kai began the Guardian’s Test, a whole list was created for him, starting
with the most difficult opponents. At the same time, they received a corresponding message. Everything was rather simple: if they refused, the offer went to the next on the list, and if they agreed, the Abode used their image to create an opponent for the potential newcomer.

  From that moment on, things could go two ways — the candidate lost, in which case, the student who participated in the test received an award of twenty thousand Cloud Coins, or the candidate won, after which they switched places.

  Unfortunately, since everyone in the Abode had heard about Kai, his potential opponents began to refuse en masse. He had begun to think that he’d have to wait until the Abode reached the last student and forced them to fight him when he finally got lucky. The student who ranked two thousand seven hundred and forty-seventh on the list accepted the challenge since he had just finished his breakthrough and hadn’t yet heard of Kai.

  Unfortunately for him, he lost, giving Kai his position.

  To advance further and reach the fourth floor, Kai had three duels a month, and he could challenge only students up to two hundred places higher than himself. If he won, he’d be given a quarter of the difference in rankings. If someone who was two hundred places higher on the list accepted the challenge, he could climb no more than fifty places. That way, in the perfect scenario, it’d take him a year to reach the one thousand and first place. That is, if he didn’t find a way of bending these rules…

  Considering that he didn’t like to ask friends for help and it was difficult for him to find opponents, once he got to the third floor, Kai went to the Forces Pavilion, where he could finish learning Yin and Yang, instead of wasting his time waiting.

  Having accomplished that, he proceeded with his plan.

  Aside from the enlightenment he had experienced during his fight with Ranmaru, the other important achievement was coming a step closer to understanding the union of the two concepts. This understanding appeared due to his recent study of the topic and his use of soul energy at the final moment of combat meditation, which provided the necessary stimulus.

  When he reached the full understanding, he had his Shell fully saturated with Yang particles, thus burning them into the Shell. The System acknowledged his power over the element, yet this knowledge still needed to be “deciphered.”