The First Peak of the Force

by Yuri Ajin

  At the Palace, he learned that Jing Yui had contacted the clan the day before yesterday with the news that she’d be returning soon. Thanking the receptionist, Kai was about to leave when he saw Jiang Yong. Noticing him, the latter immediately approached him.

  “Congratulations on the new level, brother Jiang Kai.” He nodded in greeting and smiled.

  Kai winced on the inside. Having become an elite apprentice, he was adopted into the Jiang family and given their last name, although he asked everyone to call him by his name. In addition, he had to pledge an oath to the clan and swear to be loyal. Fortunately, he could leave at any time as the oath wasn’t hard to break.

  “Thanks. I see that you’re close to reaching one yourself,” he said, having observed Jiang Yong’s energy structure with his special vision.

  “Perceptive as always.” Jiang Yong confirmed with a nod. Gasping as he had remembered something, he beckoned Kai closer and lowered his voice. “I don’t know if you’ve heard,” he whispered, excitement clear in his voice, “but they’ve finally figured out how to use the key. In two weeks, they’ll try to open the Tower!”

  This became known some six months ago, but those news consisted mostly of rumors started by the clan itself since the patriarch and the Council decided to involve not only the Bright Moon and the Sun Blessed Clans, but also everyone else.

  “Really? Interesting...”

  “But that’s not all. The elders have advised that those at the Soul Stage start forming teams of five.” Jiang Yong suddenly fell silent. He looked a bit uncomfortable. “That’s why… I…” he began awkwardly. “I’d like to be a member of your team!”

  Kai stared at him in surprise for a moment and then smiled and nodded.

  “Sure. I’ll invite Lily and Ivsim. You can choose the fifth member if you want.”

  Jiang Yong was momentarily taken aback by the quick response.

  “Thanks! You can rely on me!” he exclaimed joyfully. “Also, do you want to go with me and watch the apprentice exam?”

  “And what’s that about?”

  “Rumor has it that a very talented cultivator has appeared in one of our countries in the Lowlands. The elders were quick to get to him. He’s supposed to take the exam. Though, if you ask me, this is just a formality. He’s only twenty-one and he has already reached the initial level of the Exorcist Stage!”

  Kai’s eyebrows went up.

  Another rising star? he thought.

  One name immediately surfaced in his mind — Shacks. After all, he had amazed the entire Plateau a few months after the end of the Tournament by reaching the Exorcist Stage. As it turned out, he had been preparing himself for it during the Tournament. The only thing he was missing was the Red Star Pill, which the Bright Moon Clan hadn’t been able to create in recent years and which was the prize given to the fourth place winner.

  Having received his prize, Shacks immediately got down to reaching the new stage, which he managed to do a month after his twenty-first birthday, becoming the current youngest Exorcist. Jiang Dao still held the record, being the only one who managed to become an Exorcist at the age of twenty.

  By coincidence or some twist of fate, the same Force Sealing Technique that he used when transitioning to the Soul Stage helped Shacks become an Exorcist so early. He was kind of lucky since this method couldn’t be used to become an Exorcist before. It was only five years ago that the strongest masters of the Bright Moon Clan made this possible.

  It was because of this technique that Shacks surrendered instead of winning. He knew about the Spirit’s presence as well as that he couldn’t deal with it without opening the seal. As he didn’t want to do that, he came up with the plan to poison Fang Bao. He also didn’t want to risk surrendering later as he suspected that someone would die, because of which he’d take the third place.

  As for Fang Bao, he didn’t want to return to the Jiang family. Once he had recovered, he received his reward and left. So far, no one had heard anything from him.

  “I think I’ll pass,” Kai replied. “I should go and practice. You can tell me what happened later.”

  “I see. All right then. Good luck with the training.”

  “Take care, Jiang Yong.”

  “You, too, Jiang Kai.”

  “Just Kai, please.”

  ***

  Two people descended from the sky. By distorting space itself and manipulating gravity, they were able to fly without wings to aid them. Having landed, they looked at the gigantic tower that loomed before them. The ground around it was dead and barren. No animal dared approach it.

  The two stopped before the steel gates that had not been opened for millennia.

  “After all these years...” Jiang Guo smiled, looking at the key clenched firmly in his hand. “The day has finally come.”

  “Where’s the Old Man?” Jiang Dao asked, looking askance at the patriarch, eyes hidden underneath long lashes.

  Jiang Guo chuckled in response.

  “He won’t be coming today... Now, here’s what I need you to do,” he said and turned to him, arm outstretched and palm opened. “Take the key and insert it into the lock. Before turning it, use the Self-Destruction Technique and redirect all the generated energy into the key.”

  Few were those who knew that opening the Tower required not only a key but also a colossal amount of energy, which even the strongest peak Elementalists didn’t possess. For this to happen, it was necessary to combine the power of several masters, but there was one problem — only one person could open the Tower, otherwise the key would again break into three parts. Thus, only those who had reached the next step on the path of development — the Holy Lord Stage — could do that.

  But the Blades managed to find a loophole. If a cultivator destroyed their body and soul and redirected their ki into the key, there should be enough of it to open the Tower.

  Jiang Dao shuddered. His body started to move, obeying not his will, but the will of the patriarch. He came closer, his hand reached out, and then...

  Blood soaked the infertile ground. The tip of a polished blade protruded from Jiang Guo’s back.

  Jiang Dao chuckled.

  “Did you really think that you could deceive me?” For the first time in his life, his voice wasn’t ice cold, but quiet and filled with malice. “Did you really think that I wouldn’t recognize you, Old Man? That you could hide the fact that you’re one of the four founders of the Blades, born over twenty thousand years ago? That you don’t feel the slightest bit of remorse stealing the bodies of your sons so that you could stay alive? Oh, how lucky you were to find the part of the key that affected the soul. That your Sparks faded much more slowly...”

  “How did you... violate the order?” the Old Man wheezed, eyes wide in surprise and disbelief. “How did you... find out...?”

  Although his chest was punctured, the wound wasn’t fatal. Jiang Dao had made sure to avoid the vital organs.

  “Are you talking about the mark you left on my soul? Do you really think that I didn’t know about it? Do you think that High Elder Jiang Sui, who was one of you, really died because of some monster fifteen years ago?” Jiang Dao slowly opened his eyes, revealing empty sockets. “The price was high, but freedom is more valuable. There’s a reason they say that the eyes are the mirror of the soul... I made Jiang Sui tell me about you.”

  He knew that the Old Man and three other elders had witnessed the reign of U’Shor and saw its outcome. He knew that no matter how much his teacher slowed down the aging process, he couldn’t do so forever. He knew that the clan founders even mastered the mysterious Cold Void by stealing one of the scrolls from the Sea Dragons, which also made it possible to partially slow down aging.

  Jiang Dao knew that the life of his mentor was drawing to a close and that the only way to prolong it was to reach the Holy Lord Stage, for which he needed the Tower.

  And that’s why they created him — a protégée above all protégés. With the help of a Key Fragment, they had him reach
their level of power so that he could one day sacrifice himself in order to open the Tower. It was for this task that he had been marked from the day he was born.

  The Old Man trembled with rage.

  “And since you found out, you think you’ve won?!” he yelled, releasing a wave of power that shattered the shackles of the Gravity Prison that Jiang Dao used to capture him. He was gone in the next instant. “I’ll just have to force you to open the Tower then,” he said, reappearing some hundred feet away. Focusing his ki, he healed the wound. A Healing Pill appeared in his hand, which he immediately put into his mouth.

  A wave of incredible power covered everything within a several miles radius around them, killing what little flora had managed to survive in these abandoned lands. Not wishing to waste time, the Old Man immediately merged with two Sword Elementals.

  Since its inception, the strength of the Seven Blades Clan depended on seven unusual Elementals, each of which was distinguished by one of the Forces. The clan’s founders had discovered these creatures when they explored the ruins of the Belteise Empire.

  Before, both the Old Man and Jiang Guo had one such treasure. That is the former now had two, as the body of the latter was now his. The Elementals manifested themselves in the form of two beautiful blades, imbued with the Force of Speed and the Force of Incision.

  The Old Man took one sword. The other started to move as if an invisible warrior had grabbed it. The blades crossed, creating a storm from which emerged a shower of ten thousand blades. Moving like a single entity, they all rushed toward Jiang Dao who just raised his palm to the sky, stopping them at once. The blades melted away, forming a single sphere of pure sword energy, which was immediately sent back to the Old Man. With a swing of one of the blades, he deflected the sphere and glared at his student with eyes full of anger and wonder.

  The blade of Jiang Dao’s sword became covered with strange patterns and enveloped in a mystical aura.

  “An Elemental with the Force of Reflection? But… That one had gone missing ages ago,” he whispered, and his eyes widened even more.

  “That’s right,” Jiang Dao replied with a smile. “Fang Ling’s descendants tamed it.”

  This particular Elemental had once belonged to Sigurd of Alkea and helped him fight against Jiang Dao for as long as he had.

  “Commendable,” the Old Man mumbled to himself and disappeared. “But it’s not enough.”

  Appearing behind Jiang Dao, he swung, sending forth a scarlet wave that cast a shadow on the Tower. A part of the forest that stood in the distance was wiped off the face of the planet. A shadow darted out of the crimson, but the Old Man reacted in time, deflecting several thin energy blades with one wide swing.

  Jiang Dao stood aside, calm and unharmed.

  Did he really handle this attack so easily? Just how strong have we made him? Well, it’s time he felt my real strength!

  Bringing his hands together, he merged the two swords and pointed them toward the sky.

  “Hunger of the Ice Sky!” he shouted and stabbed the blades into the ground.

  The temperature dropped dramatically. The ground was covered with ice, and the air became so heavy with frost that a deeper breath would make one’s lungs freeze.

  This was the effect of the Cold Void, which was one of three parts, along with Space and the Sword Forces that made up this technique.

  A dark red ray shot down from the sky and crashed into Jiang Dao with a strong rumble and loud crackle. For a moment, only two colors remained in the world — red and black, and then the effect of the technique ended.

  The rip in space and time slowly closed as the remnants of the Forces and sword energy continued to rage.

  “Is that all you’ve got?”

  Crashing back into the Tower, the Old Man was pressed against it by an invisible force. In the next moment, he felt the Elementals disappear, and they ceased to obey him.

  Jiang Dao appeared in front of him.

  “I wondered if anyone has discovered the four corpses in the meeting room yet,” he said, opening his hand. On his palm lay seven small scarlet balls, each adorned with a special symbol. These were the seven Elementals that the Blades prided themselves with. Jiang Dao already had one of them. He received four more by killing some of the senior elders. And the last two he just took from the Old Man. “Then again, everyone’s on their way to here. So it’s all right...”

  “Impossible!” the Old Man blurted out, trying to move. “Why did my Elementals leave?!”

  “What do you mean, why? Didn’t you teach me that they loved Forces? And the stronger the Forces, the higher the attachment to the owner. It’s simple.” He smiled. “Seems you didn’t know that if you combine Elementals of the same element, you can make a Holy Spirit, which is similar to the Holy Lord level.”

  “No… Impossible!” The Old Man gasped, piecing the picture together. “A Sword Orb?! The Path-Walker level?!”

  Jiang Dao put the scarlet orbs inside himself.

  “Old man... You’ve been manipulating me from my very birth...” he said coldly. “You wanted to create a warrior equal to you in strength, a scapegoat you’d sacrifice to prolong your pathetic life a bit longer... But you overdid it. You gave birth to a monster that not even you can control.”

  He turned his head to the west. They’d soon be there.

  “The Blades are just a phase,” he said, turning his gaze back to him. “And although you were going to use me, I don’t hold a grudge against it. So don’t hold a grudge against me. I simply must take advantage of your hard work... It’s time to move on, and you’ll help me in this by opening the Tower...”

  ***

  The gates creaked opened. Thousands of people looked down a dark passage. People discussed something among themselves but soon fell silent. A couple of Elementalists, Exorcists, and apprentices at the Soul Stage headed inside.

  Kai was also there with his team: Lily, Ivsim, Jiang Yong, and Jiang Si.

  “It’s the...”

  “Oh, you’ve finally finished your meditation?” Kai asked, hearing Rune’Tan’s voice. “Yes, this is the Indestructible Tower, it has finally been opened.”

  “The Indestructible Tower?” Rune’Tan suddenly turned serious. “Nonsense. These are the Gates of Ecumene. It allows you to travel to different worlds. Wait... If they were closed, that explains the overall lack of prana in this world. Saha is a distant planet, connected to only one other planet, which also belonged to the Belteise Empire. But that world is rather lifeless. Perhaps the System considered it dead and closed communication with it... That’d explain it.”

  “Wait, wait. What?” Kai shook his head. “Gateway, dead planet, source of energy... Is that true?”

  “Do you think I’m lying to you? That I’m inventing fairy tales here?!” Rune’Tan sounded offended. “This is reallya portal, and since it’s been opened, it must lead somewhere. It also means that Saha will restore its former amount of prana, although not in the nearest millennium...”

  “Sorry...” Kai rubbed the bridge of his nose. “It’s just... Too much...”

  The high elders reported that the Tower wasn’t yet fully open and that they needed to perform a ritual. For that, they needed space and time.

  “These lying bastards!” Rune’Tan spat.