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

by Yuri Ajin

  In case the team leader dropped out, then the whole team was automatically disqualified. As the currently strongest member, An’na was chosen as the leader of her team, which put a huge responsibility on her shoulders. If she lost, then her entire team and she would probably be expelled.

  There were also a lot of other rules.

  Apart from the possibility of being expelled from the Abode, the main incentive to participate in the event was the opportunity for every cultivator to significantly raise the rank or even finally enter the List of Ten Thousand.

  During the Games, a powerful array connected directly with the Abode would begin to operate in the Aive Hidden Valley that would mark each student who confirmed their participation in the Games. In addition to tracking their team members, the participants would also receive artificial Energy Shells, into which their consciousness, stats, and abilities would be transferred. Instead of their bodies, it’d be these Shells that would receive damage from various techniques, abilities, and blows. The cultivators themselves would be hidden in a special pocket dimension inside the Shell. This way, dying during the Games meant only that the cultivator would be automatically teleported to the Abode, lose their Points, and possibly be eliminated from the event.

  At the moment when the Shell was destroyed, only the token with the participant’s place on the List of Ten Thousand (if they had entered it) would remain in the Valley, available to the student who had killed them. The token would merge with the artificial Shell of its new owner, after which it could be transferred to one of their team members.

  At the end of the event, if a student had any tokens left, they would gain a place in the rankings that corresponded to the strongest token. If a cultivator had “died” during the Games, they’d lose all of their rank tokens, including their own (if they had any).

  If a cultivator had more than one token, they’d receive Cloud Coins for all the additional ones. And the more valuable the tokens, the more they’d receive.

  To avoid cutting the Games short, before the day of the tournament, all students (except the team leaders) could buy extra “lives” for the price of ten thousand Coins a piece. The maximum anyone could buy was five. Once they ran out, the student would instantly be expelled.

  Even with the extra lives, there were still considerable consequences — the first death took away fifty Points from the participant, and the cost of each subsequent death doubled.

  In addition to receiving other people’s ranks, students also had to fight for one of two randomly selected sides: defenders or attackers. The former would be given Rings, inside of which would be various valuables — from Points to rare resources or scrolls. The latter had to take these Rings from their owners.

  The Rings would automatically open at the end of the Games, granting access to their contents. The defenders would lose if by the end of the tournament they had less than half of the original number of Rings. Each member of the winning side would receive one million Coins while all losers would lose five hundred Points.

  In addition to these two groups, there were also the Guardians — fifth-floor students whose task was to defend the specific spots where some rather special rewards were hidden. They were tied to a specific place, which made it easier for other participants to find and try to defeat them.

  Unlike the rest of the participants, the Guardians wouldn’t be expelled if they lost. The Points system didn’t work on them, and although they had no additional lives, death didn’t entail elimination. Such privileges were reserved for the first hundred students on the List and were introduced by Airus who was unwilling to let such talents go because of a silly competition.

  The Guardians still had an incentive to take their participation in the Games seriously. If they successfully did their task, they received the very reward that was stored in the place they were defending. If they held on until the very end of the Games, they received the right to move to the Heavenly Floor without having to pass any tests. The only rule was that they needed to reach the peak level of the Exorcist Stage if they weren’t there yet.

  Of course, there were some who under normal circumstances wouldn’t care about completing their task. However, the opportunity to get to the Heavenly Floor without passing the Test of the Heavenly Guardian was too good to be passed on.

  The Points were one of the most important components of the Games since a student’s stay in the Abode depended on their number. A minimum of two hundred Points was required to successfully complete the Games.

  Points could be earned in different ways. For example, by eliminating other participants, a cultivator would get one Point for killing someone from their side, and five Points for each member of the opposing side.

  Another way to earn Points was to defeat one of the Guardians, which were worth fifty Points each.

  The students also had to tread carefully because every treasure was guarded by anomalies or peak-level Tyrants.

  For the duration of the Games, all participants would be at the initial level of the Exorcist Stage. The event was supposed to last twelve days but it could be completed much faster. To do this, the participants needed to get to the final key point, defeat the final Guardian, and take the main reward. The Games would end at that moment and the side whose members fulfilled these three difficult conditions would automatically become the winner.

  A similar event had already existed, held once every ten thousand years between the disciples of all three Abodes of the continent. To make the Games more suitable for their purpose, the Cloud Ten changed the rules a little.

  ***

  Six days had passed since the Games started.

  In the first days, nearly forty-nine thousand participants flooded the battlefield. The pocket dimension exceeded fifty thousand square miles but the participants weren’t spread evenly throughout the territory. Rather, they were placed along the edges of the zone, assuring that clashes between the teams would begin in the first minutes of the Games.

  In just four days, more than seventy-five percent of the participants were expelled from the Abode. As a result, a little less than twelve thousand students remained in the Games, most of which, unsurprisingly, were on the List of Ten Thousand.

  The surviving teams began to focus on reaching the main reward. Both defenders and attackers wanted to finish the Games ahead of time and ensure victory, rather than relying on other members of their sides to collect or defend the required number of Rings. In addition, everyone wanted the main reward even though no one knew what it was.

  But the Aive Hidden Valley was filled with danger, so they had to move slowly and carefully. Anomalies and monsters littered the area, and the participants had nothing but their weapons to defend with. During the Games, the array didn’t allow the use of any third-party artifacts or even alchemical drugs, forcing the students to rely on their senses, remain constantly vigilant, and often change routes, so as not to become victims of the forest and the rest of the participants. Also, no one wanted to accidentally miss the treasures scattered across the Valley, which also affected the speed of their movement.

  The participants soon discovered a couple of areas with the most valuable treasures — the Hidden Valley Flame Lotus, which was guarded by a Lava Monkey King, as well as the Hidden Valley Swamp Bells, which was guarded by a strange monster called the Mud Lord. Both monsters were peak Tyrants, so defeating them required the efforts of at least a thousand students. However, as they had been killing each other for the Points, they couldn’t unite in order to kill these beasts so they had to leave the flowers behind.

  Some only tried to survive. Some focused on collecting treasures. Some were simply having fun, killing everyone who crossed their path. The most powerful students strove for the main reward, hidden in the ruins of an ancient city and guarded by the most powerful of the Guardians.

  An’na’s team belonged to the latter group. However, unlike most, they were strong enough to split up and look for the treasures and earn Points quickly.
They really needed them because Kai was still missing.

  One of the rules was that if a participant was absent, their team would lose two hundred Points for each missed day. Since everyone started with zero Points and the lower limit was minus four hundred, then from the second day, the penalty for Kai’s absence passed to the members of his team. Thus, each day An’na, Malvur, Shacks, and Ailenx lost fifty Points. The amount was big, and although they could’ve dumped him from the team, no one was going to do that. Therefore, they decided to split up to find more treasures and opponents on their way to the city in the center of the forest.

  As for Kai, if he didn’t return till the finals and didn’t earn the required number of Points, he’d be expelled. Fortunately for him, team members were able to transfer Points to each other at any distance within the Hidden Valley. Therefore, Kai just needed to return and his friends would give him the necessary number of Points.

  Shacks and Ailenx, who stuck together since they were weaker than An’na and Malvur, were leaving a small clearing, leaving behind three dozen corpses.

  “That was fun. I had a great time.” Shacks smiled, counting the Rings he had collected. “What do you have there?”

  “It’s a map,” Ailenx replied, examining the unfolded scroll. “Looks like one of them found it as a treasure.”

  “Interesting... And what does it say?” Shacks merged eighteen Rings into one and put the newly-received item on his finger.

  “It appears to be a treasure map.” Ailenx turned to his teammate. “It’s marked in blue, which means it’s quite valuable.”

  “I see. So that’s where they were going... Should we go find that treasure, or is it too far away?”

  “No, it’s on our way. We’ll get there in half a day.”

  “Let’s go then. Lead the way!”

  ***

  Shacks’ and Ailenx’s destination turned out to be a small but rather deep pond, at the bottom of which the treasure was supposedly located.

  Shacks was sitting on the shore, throwing pebbles into the water when suddenly the surface began to ripple. Ailenx, surrounded by an air bubble, finally emerged from the pond.

  “Did you get it?” Shacks asked.

  “Yup.” Ailenx tossed him a small bluish mushroom.

  “A peak-quality Royal-rank Plant. Not bad...” Shacks said, examining the find.

  “Remind me, why was I the one who had to dive in to find it?” Ailenx muttered, annoyed, as he got onto the shore.

  “Because I had to deal with that.” Shacks nodded behind himself, where the corpse of a monster was.

  Ailenx glanced at the gigantic carcass and swallowed hard, realizing how easily Shacks had dealt with it. He’d have problems going up against such an opponent.

  “And it’s easier for you to navigate underwater,” Shacks added with a chuckle. “How will we divide this mushroom? Shall we store it with the rest of the treasures that we’ll share at the end of the Games, or...?”

  Ailenx understood Shacks’ interest in it. As a Water-based Plant, it fit Ailenx’s element but it also fit Shacks and his Mist.

  Ailenx waved his hand.

  “Later.”

  “Okay... Let’s move then.”

  They were about to leave the pond when they heard a slapping sound. A whole line of circles appeared on the pond’s surface, from which small waves diverged. Seeing that, Shacks unveiled a pair of daggers, barely managing to defend against the surprise attack.

  A blurred figure flashed past him.

  Shacks’ hand burned with pain. A long red streak appeared on his forearm.

  “How interesting...” his attacker said, halting a couple of feet away from them. “More than a second has passed, and you’re not dead yet. But your reaction... And your daggers... Are you an assassin as well? Are you resistant to poisons? I didn’t expect to meet such a skilled assassin here. You surprised me.”

  A pair of daggered peeked from under the sleeves of her dark robes. The girl looked like a human but had some animal features — a pair of small horns, deer-like ears, rectangular pupils, unusual white freckles, and silver hair, tufts of which covered her neck and back of her palms.

  “You’re Mikasa,” Shacks said. “Eight on the List...”

  Technically, she was supposed to be guarding her post but she didn’t care about that. She immediately abandoned it and went on a hunt for other students. She wanted to find Lightus, fight him again, and... probably lose. But she didn’t care about the outcome of their fight so long as she got to fight him.

  Shacks ignored her words, glancing to the left instead.

  “Umm, Ailenx... You don’t look too good, bro...”

  Ailenx’s body was slowly falling apart. He didn’t have time to defend himself so he was killed. Fortunately, he had four extra lives left. In a couple of hours, he’d return to the Valley and rejoin his team.

  Shacks crouched near the upper half of his body, taking the Rings Ailenx had obtained and his rank token.

  “Are you still going to ignore me?” Mikasa frowned, annoyed by his behavior.

  “Leave me alone! Can’t you see that I’m mourning the death of my friend?!” Shacks pretended to whimper and wipe away tears.

  “Oh yeah? Well, get ready to join him!” Mikasa shouted, furious.

  She appeared right in front of Shacks, her foot aimed at his head. He intercepted the attack with his palm, but the force put into the kick was so great that he was sent flying backward.

  Flying over the pond, Shacks felt Mikasa dash after him. She moved so fast that she could run on the water.

  Mikasa caught up impossibly quickly, jumping over Shacks. She didn’t want to kill her opponent with the first attack, deciding to beat him up and then torture him a little.

  And that was precisely her undoing.

  As soon as she was above him, Shacks threw his daggers up, but she managed to block them. She was about to mock him and tell him to learn how to aim when she noticed his triumphant grin. His blades were charged with energy, making them explode and release a shower of misty needles. Shacks turned into fog, but Mikasa didn’t have time to evade.

  A gray mist covered the pond. Using a special technique, Mikasa froze the water and landed on the ice. She managed to protect herself from the explosion, but some of the needles still reached her. Blood appeared on her face and hands but she wasn’t seriously hurt.

  Shacks’ aura had disappeared, and the fog interfered with her spirit scanning, preventing her from finding him. Sounds, smells, and even air currents also disappeared. She swung her daggers sharply, releasing a couple of stripes of darkness in random directions. However, this didn’t bring any results. The fog receded only for a moment before it merged again.

  As if that would be enough to stop me... I didn’t get in the Cloud Ten by doing nothing!

  She spotted a figure emerging from the fog. Turning abruptly, she blocked Shacks’ daggers. But something seemed off about him. The ghostly sparks that appeared on his body indicated that he had merged with his Spirits.

  The force of the collision threw her back. The Mist flew after her, taking the form of a huge shark with open jaws. In response, she waved her blades, freezing the creature and chopping it to pieces. The Path of Daggers was similar to that of the Sword, but attacks based on it were distinguished by higher speed and power. On the other hand, Sword techniques were more resilient and could be used at a greater distance.

  Behind the shark, she saw Shacks’ silhouette retreating back into the fog.

  “You’ve got nowhere to run!” Mikasa sneered, merging with Senior Spirits of Dagger and Shadows.

  Shacks was about to turn invisible once again when she appeared next to him. Emerging from his shadow, she attacked. The blade of her dagger blackened for a moment, and then a peak-quality Royal-rank technique came from its edge.

  Day turned to night.

  With one swing, Shacks was pulled out of the fog and thrown far into the forest. He survived but suffered considerable da
mage. His defense technique and Energy Cover were broken. A diagonal cut appeared on his chest, stretching from his shoulder to the edge of his ribs.

  Having flown through several trees, he fell to the ground and immediately jumped up the next moment to dodge a new attack.

  They exchanged blows for almost a minute, locked in close combat, but barely touched each other. It was relatively easy for Mikasa to dodge his attacks, but she noticed that Shacks always waited until the last moment to avoid getting hit and that he missed some blows altogether.

  He’s worn out... He won’t hold on much longer like this...

  Mikasa bared her teeth.

  Fighting off Shacks’ attack, she hit him in the chest with her knee with all her might. He was kicked off the ground and thrown several feet. Blood spurted out of his mouth together with choking sounds.

  Grabbing the daggers in a reverse grip, Mikasa jumped after him just as he was falling to the ground. She was about to cut off his head when Shacks twisted in the air as if he hadn’t just received a powerful blow.

  Dodging the attack, he tried to drive his dagger into her heart. Mikasa managed to react and the blade pierced her right lung. Shacks vanished into the fog and ran off, retreating just in time.

  Mikasa felt wild pain and a wave of uncontrollable rage arose inside her. Before she had time to reach the ground, her appearance changed dramatically. The horns became bigger, the fur grew, her hands and feet were covered with dark gray armor, and silvery lines appeared on her skin. The wound on her chest began to heal.

  I’m done playing!

  Initially, Mikasa just wanted to play with her prey and punish Shacks for his insolence, but now she wanted to kill him. To do that, she activated not Partial, but Complete Transformation. However, assuming the form of a giant doe didn’t do much for her fighting style, so ten years ago, she learned to use a rare ability of her race to boost her strength without transforming fully.