“I see that you have a new domain,” Dripping Blade observed. “Commander Cao was only too happy to inform me of it. He said it was quite effective at mobilizing talismans.”
“And I’m sure his ambush was completely unrelated to you,” Cha Ming said. “You were just the beneficiary of unsolicited aid.”
“Should I have had any other intent, I would have suffered the penalty of our contract,” Dripping Blade said. “I specifically discouraged him from interacting with you. He didn’t take kindly to my reprimand.”
“I’m sure,” Cha Ming said. “So. Are we doing this?”
“Let’s,” Dripping Blade said, summoning his signature dripping blade. It was time to bring their drawn-out conflict to an end.
Almost every important person in the Burning Lake Prefecture was present at the duel. It was an important event and would dictate their livelihoods and their future. A good three quarters of the Wei Clan’s elders were there, and the same applied to the Mi Clan. Those of the Cao Clan and Xia Clan not gone to war were also there. The five patriarchs of the five great sects were seated in a special area alongside any elders not engaged in battle.
To most, it would seem like Wei Longshen was also there. His body double, a master illusionist who specialized in such things, had gone through great lengths to replicate his appearance, behavior, and mannerisms. As for the man himself, he was currently lounging in Cao Shufen’s bedroom in the Cao Clan estates. The lady in question did not look happy about him being there, but then again, he was her fiancé. They’d settled the paperwork just this week.
“So,” Wei Longshen said. “Is everything arranged?”
“Don’t worry, I’ve passed on my instructions,” Cao Shufen said. “They’re coordinating with your elders as we speak.”
“Excellent,” Wei Longshen said. “The duel should be starting soon.”
“It started thirty seconds ago,” Cao Shufen said. “You were distracted. Apparently, Clear Sky caused quite the commotion when he entered the city.”
“That’s good,” Wei Longshen said. “More eyes on the contest. No one will focus on where we’re going.”
“We?” Cao Shufen asked.
“I have a part to play in this plan,” Wei Longshen said. “Nothing overt, of course, but I assume you’ll want to make sure I don’t run away.”
“You’re not speaking to her,” Cao Shufen said. “You promised. Never again.”
“I did,” Wei Longshen said. “And the contract we signed will hold me to that promise.” He looked at the clock. “So, are you coming or not?”
“When do we leave?” Cao Shufen asked.
“In about five seconds,” Wei Longshen said.
“I’m excited to see exactly how we’ll do that,” Cao Shufen said. “My family’s wards are nothing to scoff at. We upgraded them since your last visit.”
“Any second now,” Wei Longshen said. There was a breaking sound as the air in the room shattered. A tiny portal appeared and forced apart the spatial interference, widening further. Huxian hopped in, looking a little worse for the wear.
“Who in the seven hells decided it was good idea to put up such a strong spatial seal?” he asked. “What if there was an emergency? You could die!”
“The custodian of the manor thought it prudent,” Cao Shufen said. “When he audited the building’s security and noticed a break-in over two weeks ago. You must be the one facilitating this rascal’s nightly escapades?”
“Yeah…” Huxian said. He looked to Wei Longshen. “Not that it matters much at this point. Are you ready?”
“I’ve been ready for days,” Wei Longshen said. “I poured my heart and soul into this piece. It should have no problem accomplishing its objective.”
“Yeah, yeah,” Huxian said. “We’re on a schedule. Hurry up.” He opened a second door in the room. It opened more smoothly this time. “Go through. You know the drill.”
“You’re not coming with me?” Wei Longshen asked.
“No time,” Huxian said. “Lots of moving pieces. You’d better move because that portal will collapse in about ten seconds.” He jumped through the second portal, and it closed immediately.
“Well? Shall we?” Wei Longshen said.
“Let’s see what trouble you’ve gotten yourself into this time,” Cao Shufen said. She went through the portal first, weaponized brick in hand.
For a minute, they flew there, feeling each other out. Cha Ming instantly fell leeward and was forced to activate the first stage of Thirty-Six Heavenly Transformations. The single pair of white wings boosted his body and qi cultivation, evening out their disproportionate powers. The space inside the arena was massive, and much work had gone into transforming the four-square-kilometer structure into a hundred-square-kilometer battle space.
Fully expanded, Cha Ming’s domain was fifteen kilometers in diameter. As a middle-rune-gathering cultivator, Dripping Blade’s domain stretched out twenty kilometers in diameter. Yet the arena was smaller, so they were forced to compress their domains and fight for the limited energy.
Cha Ming’s smaller domain and high-level Concept of Assembly struggled with Dripping Blade’s larger domain and the runes that hovered above his head. There were three in total, one silver, one blue, one black.
“Not bad for someone who hasn’t even condensed his first rune,” Dripping Blade said. “I can tell your first rune will be very powerful once it takes shape. Much stronger than this poor imitation you gain from your limit break.”
“You’re not bad yourself,” Cha Ming said, keeping his eye on Dripping Blade’s weapon. Lord Dripping Blade wasn’t a normal cultivator—he was a weapon cultivator, meaning that his blade was soul-linked and as responsive as a soul-bound treasure. It was his power. It was his Dao. If it broke, he might even perish.
The man had undergone drastic changes since they’d last met. Appearance aside, his blade was more complex than before. Instead of dripping silvery liquid, it dripped a metallic black ink similar to what Silver Fish used.
“Demonic bloodline?” Cha Ming asked, focusing on the man with his Eyes of Truth. “Inkwell Clan, if I’m not mistaken.”
“You’ve upgraded your staff, I see,” Dripping Blade said. “I heard tell of a new form, but I wasn’t sure if its tier had increased. An early-rune-gathering weapon is nothing to scoff at.”
“Shall we?” Cha Ming asked.
Lord Dripping Blade nodded. Their forms flashed. They met at the center of the arena. Cha Ming charged the man, wielding the Clear Sky Staff in pillar form. The moment he entered the area around Dripping Blade, he was assaulted by black waves that constricted his movements. The dripping blade appeared out of nowhere, piercing through space and appearing just in front of him. Cha Ming swung the staff and hit the blade head on, and the impact sent him reeling.
Heavy, Cha Ming thought. Sturdy. Dripping Blade wasn’t just a qi cultivator—he also cultivated a powerful soul. It wasn’t human shaped but blade shaped, and it was superimposed with his soul-linked weapon, making it much stronger than a normal weapon of its tier.
They traded blows again and again, using a pure physical confrontation to measure each other’s strengths. After a dozen blows, in which Cha Ming had gotten the short end of the stick, Dripping Blade’s domain plunged him into an ocean of darkness. Cha Ming responded by summoning a barrier of talismans. He focused on earth and wood, using others merely as auxiliaries. His runic creation grew as it absorbed the strength of Dripping Blade’s domain, breaking it in short order. He emerged from the waves just in time to see a blade headed for the back of his head, which he avoided by summoning the Clear Sky Pillar behind him. Taking a lesson from Dripping Blade, he didn’t even bother to grab it this time. The Clear Sky Pillar was one with Cha Ming and completely linked to his soul.
Dismantling, Cha Ming urged. He pitted the Clear Sky Brush against the blade. It screamed in pain the moment it made contact and went back into hiding. Though they’d dealt damage to the weapon, the Clear Sky B
rush didn’t feel like it had won out. It had lost energy in the exchange and didn’t want to do that again.
Fine, Cha Ming thought. I can’t destroy the weapon itself, so I’ll need to find the man. Which was a lot harder than one might think. The man wasn’t a body cultivator and didn’t need to physically control his weapon. He could hide, using the ink in his surroundings to cloak himself.
I’ll use karma, Cha Ming decided. The blade attacked again, and the moment it did, he used his Eyes of Truth to grab the thick string of karma connecting it back to Lord Dripping Blade. He then channeled creation qi and some of Huxian’s spatial qi to form a talisman, which he instantly activated to teleport over a larger distance than he was capable of, using his world projection. This surprised Lord Dripping Blade, who’d thought himself safe so far away. The lord resummoned his blade, and they began to fight in earnest once again.
Staff collided with sword. Sparks and droplets of ink flew. Though Cha Ming was physically stronger than Lord Dripping Blade, the man’s Dao runes contained the essence of Dripping, Blade, and Inky Well. Using his control over these aspects of reality, the prefecture lord was able to match Cha Ming blow for blow. They exchanged ten hits before each retreating to their separate corners, panting heavily.
“You’ve outdone yourself,” Lord Dripping Blade said between breaths.
“So have you,” Cha Ming said. “You’re much stronger than a Daoist should be at your level.”
“This?” Lord Dripping Blade asked. “This is mediocre.” The black markings on his skin glowed with a fearsome power then, and the darkness in his eyes intensified. The air around him became viscous and dense. It surrounded Cha Ming and tried to smother him. Cha Ming chased it away with his own domain. “Did you really think you were the only one with a limit break?”
“I didn’t think you’d be so willing to burn the bloodline you painfully acquired,” Cha Ming said.
“I’ll replenish it after our duel,” Dripping Blade said. “There are more than enough inky wells.”
Silver Fish felt a stirring to the south, pulling demonic energy away. The Inkwell Clan was calling in the Dripping Blade Prefecture, and the plane answered its plea for aid. “Dripping Blade,” he muttered. “What a rotten thief you are.” He didn’t deserve that bloodline. He didn’t deserve the plane’s trust.
His blood seethed. His fists clenched. They weren’t far from the Tree of Life. Still, he couldn’t put it out of his mind. Over and over, he thought about the man, and how he had stolen and how it had ruined him. How the man had—
He realized then that he was the victim of a mental attack.
“Dodge!” Silver Fish yelled, summoning his anchor and jumping off Silverwing’s back, just in time to avoid a vicious black strike that cut toward one of the roc’s wings. Silverwing’s body shrank, barely avoiding the thin cut as he once again assumed his human form. A black-armored man stood between them and the Tree of Life, intimidating and imposing.
“Get help!” he said to Silverwing.
The demon hesitated, then vanished with the wind.
“Silver Fish, Silver Fish. How happy I am to see you again,” Cao Wenluan said. “I was so close to catching you last time, and then you slipped way through the cracks in my net.”
“Like Clear Sky did not long ago?” Silver Fish taunted.
Cao Wenluan’s expression darkened. “That was a miscalculation,” Cao Wenluan said. “But I obtained the information I desired. Now I can focus on my duel with you.”
“Duel?” Silver Fish said. “This is a war. There’s no such thing as one-on-one battles.”
“Agreed,” Cao Wenluan said. Rune-gathering cultivators appeared one after another. They’d used teleportation to break through the Tree of Life’s defenses. “My offer for a duel still stands.”
“Numbers aren’t everything,” Silver Fish said. He dove into black waters before the cultivators could lock down space. Their blockades were shoddy nets he slipped through effortlessly. Though the Tree of Life was closer, Silver Fish’s instincts told him a trap lay in the way, so he dove down into the city, hoping to find adequate cover.
Left, Silver Fish thought, dodging just in time to avoid Cao Wenluan’s destructive black blade. Right, Silver Fish thought, bringing up his anchor just in time to block. There was a resounding clank as neither he nor Cao Wenluan won out.
Silver Fish knew the odds were stacked against him, so he fought with hit-and-run tactics, summoning nightmares of ink to ambush his opponents. His dominion was an inky sea that obscured their vision, blocked their teamwork, and choked the life out of them. Still, there were so many, and he couldn’t hide much longer.
He’s here for the fruit, Silver Fish realized. He wouldn’t be here with such numbers in such a vulnerable place if he didn’t know what I was carrying. He needed to get it to the Tree of Life. He dodged, evading swords and flying weapons and talismans. Human cultivators appeared from hiding spots in the demon city, surprising the demons who lived there. They came from all around, swarming Silver Fish until he had little choice but to focus on defense. Despite all efforts, he lost all initiative.
A net of space appeared in the air, locking him away from everything. Cao Wenluan poured qi into his blade, which in turn fed destructive lightning into his surroundings. It broke Silver Fish’s connection to the plane, reducing the area he could hide in. Silver Fish was forced to flit around from pocket to pocket of inky water until finally, he was forced out of it and into the open air.
“So, about that duel,” Cao Wenluan said.
“Have it your way,” Silver Fish said. He charged, and his anchor collided with Cao Wenluan’s blade. Silver Fish immediately recognized the weapon as a soul-bound treasure. His own weapon was a demon weapon, however, and it wouldn’t lose out. He pulled on a thick chain that wrapped around Cao Wenluan’s armor and tightened.
“Conqueror’s Domination!” Cao Wenluan said, placing his hand on the chain. Silver Fish’s mind reeled as Cao Wenluan struggled for control—of his demon weapon of all things. It was impossible to do, but the shock of it was enough to loosen the chain’s grip on him. Cao Wenluan teleported behind Silver Fish, striking down with a destructive slash. He cut through an inky body double as Silver Fish appeared not far away.
“Revenge of the Nine Suns!” Silver Fish shouted, squeezing out all the ink he could and infusing it with anger and frustration. This was the story of Hou Yi shooting down the golden crows, though in this version, they didn’t die, and took their vengeance. Nine black suns appeared, and they became nine inky crows that glowed with inky-black flames. They plunged at Cao Wenluan, who could only passively defend, destroying six while three others found their mark. They broke a pauldron, an arm guard, and put a crack in Cao Wenluan’s black chest plate, which Silver Fish quickly tried to invade with inky waters.
“Wrath of the Scorned Tyrant!” Cao Wenluan yelled. An army of destruction rose up around him. These weren’t imaginary beings, but specters of real men connected to him.
“Support our lord!” one of them shouted. The others raised their spears, and they advanced on Silver Fish.
This is it, Silver Fish thought. He crossed blades with Cao Wenluan once more. This time, however, Cao Wenluan had the support of his spectral army. Silver Fish summoned a black turtle and a sea serpent as backup, but they were hard-pressed to fend off Cao Wenluan’s sentient aid. If no one came to his aid, Silver Fish would die within seconds. He’d been beaten yet again.
Then, suddenly, both he and Cao Wenluan felt something. The army vanished, and they both dove away as a massive ship pierced out of a split in the sky, crashing into the spatial net, instantly slaying two of Cao Wenluan’s elders. A hand pulled Silver Fish out of the way, and the winds pushed them toward the Tree of Life.
“How?” Cao Wenluan yelled.
Silver Fish gaped at the slit that opened up into a massive doorway. A starry road opened, powered by none other than Clever Dusk. She floated there in the air, grinning as elders f
rom the Iridescent Phoenix Clan swarmed out of the ship and began fighting off the human invaders. Other doorways opened, and hidden Star-Eye clansmen jumped out of them and joined the fray.
“Well played!” Cao Wenluan said with a laugh. He and his elders pulled out teleportation talismans. They disappeared, leaving their dead and grievously wounded.
“Your plans run deep,” Silver Fish said, tossing the golden pear he’d gotten from the Clockwork Clan’s vault to Clever Dusk.
“It is simple to plan a journey if you know the destination,” Clever Dusk said. The First Feather of the Phoenix Clan flew over with their other elders. Silver Fish focused on a girl with black hair. He felt a kinship to her. An attraction?
“Cousin,” the woman said, nodding to him and bowing lightly to Clever Dusk.
“Cousin,” Clever Dusk said, nodding back.
“We came as quickly as we could,” the First Feather said. She proffered a crystalline fire dragon fruit that danced with iridescent colors. “I know you asked for help, should we find ourselves in difficult straits. You wouldn’t happen to have room for a city full of pretentious phoenixes, would you?”
“Of course,” Clever Dusk said, accepting the fruit. “As planned.”
The First Feather laughed. “Well played, little girl. Well played.”
A monkey with graying brown hair appeared. He was the previous Stargazer chieftain. He didn’t come out in public often, but when he did, it was in support or protection of the new chieftain, Clever Dusk. “I have taken care of the preparations as requested,” he said with a bow.
“Excellent,” Clever Dusk replied. “Cousin, this may be presumptuous, but I have a project I require your aid with. And you as well, Silver Fish.”
“Me?” Silver Fish said, surprised. “I am no craftsman.”
“It isn’t your skills I require, but your ink,” Clever Dusk said. “The project I am working on requires the power of all five clans. We must not only substitute for the Inkwell Clan, but also the Runebound Clan. If we are to escape this mess, we will need every one of the inkborn.”
Claddings of Light : Book 12 of Painting the Mists Page 59