Chapter 14 – The Grand Invitational

  Two months remained.

  Diyuan floated in the air. The robes billowed about, the wind carrying him up obvious to any observer. He teleported to the ground, away from the rune device.

  “It’s too much,” Diyuan said. “It needs to look like I’m floating with my own ability, not lifted up by wind.”

  “Hey, Seventh Seat, are you even doing your job correctly?” The Sixth Seat elder always took the opportunity to jab at the rune device master.

  The formations master and the rune device masters were always going at it. They always took the opposite sides during the debates as well, so Diyuan never knew what they actually believed for any topic.

  The New Years plan was underway. The rune device being built was a platform that was made to lift him up. A formation could do something similar, but there was already an array being constructed for a separate purpose.

  The real spirit stone sink was the talisman creation. High-grade talismans took quite a bit of effort to make, and it needed to produce both visual and sound components, similar to the mid-grade talisman that could issue a command to an entire city. Such as the one that had been used for the Royal Decree. Time was creeping up quickly, so they needed to cut corners in the research to see if they could make it.

  Diyuan figured it was a sort of miracle that he managed to get all these elders here to assist. There were other craftsman and formation experts here under orders from the Twelve Seats, helping the elders build the scene. They didn’t know what the plan was, but extra hands were always helpful.

  He watched from the side as some small bickering and instructions filled the air. Their location was hidden from the outside, with a formation creating an illusion from any prying eyes. Diyuan learned that the City Lords were told that the final day of the New Year would be something different than what they usually did. They couldn’t really complain, not when it was the Twelve Seats giving the orders. They could certainly try, but what city would want to be at odds with the most influential leaders in the crafting scene?

  Probably the most amazing thing was how they were working together to see his vision come true. Each of these individual elders were taking time of out their day, even to the point where they halted the conferences for the time being.

  The epiphany hit Diyuan.

  “This is alchemy,” Diyuan said to himself.

  The Seventh Seat overheard and looked down at his platform in confusion. “No, this is a rune device.”

  The Fifth Seat Alchemy Master was there too, working with the Eighth Seat Talisman Master. He heard Diyuan too and raised a brow.

  “No, this is alchemy,” Diyuan stressed. He took several steps forward, now seeing everything in a new light. His vision was the pill. The elders were the divine herbs. Some may seem like they don’t mix—the Sixth Seat Formations Master and the Seventh Seat Rune Device Master—but they were still able to push past that to work together.

  And how did Diyuan coax them? Anyone else would have offered bribes or flattery, which may work on lesser herbs, but not these divine ones. No, what they wanted was an excuse to start using some of the upper world honorifics, and Diyuan’s youthfulness allowed them the excuse to do just that. He was able to join their exclusive conference club as a result.

  Herbs have personalities.

  Without thinking further, Diyuan brought out his alchemy cauldron and took out the ingredients needed for the Nasal Nectar Pill. Up until now, he had failed to create the perfect version of it, only successfully making two lines on the pill. But he sensed he could make it perfectly with his new understanding.

  Knowing what he wanted and knowing the herbs, he tossed several of them into the cauldron at once.

  “Did our Junior just combine the Sunken Seed and the Blood Petal together with the Flame Moss?”

  Diyuan dismissed their comments. It would work in the same way that the Sixth and Seventh Seats were able to work despite always being at odds. In fact, he knew the best way to handle the opposing herbs was to not pay attention to them, lest they see the attention as an ingredient of its own, spurring it on. He kept at it, throwing in other spiritual plants into the mix as well.

  “Fifth Seat, shouldn’t you stop him from wasting ingredients?” Another elder asked. “At this rate, our Junior will just refine a low-grade pill.”

  “Let’s watch a little longer. I think you’ll be pleasantly surprised.” The Fifth Seat Alchemy Master had an approving tone to his voice.

  Some time would pass before the cauldron began to shake. The power within fused. The top of the cauldron burst out and the pill broke free, hovering in place just above.

  But it wasn’t one pill—it was three.

  How odd, Diyuan only used ingredients to make one pill. How could there be three?

  “A Supreme Perfect Refinement?” The Fifth Seat Alchemy Master said in shock. “I was expecting a perfect Nasal Nectar Pill, but you refined three! I didn’t notice you using a mid-grade Nasal Nectar Pill, was its effects still in place from an earlier use?”

  Diyuan stood and took the three floating pills into his hand. He saw that each of them had three lines, the sign of perfection.

  “What do you mean?” Diyuan asked. “Why would I use a mid-grade Nasal Nectar Pill if only the perfect one changes my body?”

  “That…” The Fifth Seat turned to look at his peers. The other elders made a face of amazement, some murmuring to each other. The Fifth Seat provided an explanation. “A mid-grade Nasal Nectar Pill will also change your body, albeit temporarily. It would give you three days use of a lower quality scent change, which would help you use its abilities to refine the perfect version of the pill.”

  “Ah, that would have been helpful if I knew,” Diyuan said sheepishly. Did he really just waste several hundred thousand spirit stones because he ignored the use of the mid-grade Nasal Nectar Pill? He had quite the pile of them in his storage ring at the moment.

  The Fifth Seat Alchemy Master’s eyes went wide. He approached Diyuan and took him by the shoulder. “Forget martial arts! Forget everything else! You should focus on alchemy alone—your first perfect pill is a Supreme Perfect pill. You’ve created multiple pills using the ingredients of one. That is something that can crash markets. Become my official disciple—I won’t even force you to marry a scion of my house to do so.”

  Diyuan wasn’t sure how to take everything in. “But I only did what all of you said. I treated the herbs like they had their own opinions. So I’m not sure what I did that was so special.”

  “What is special about it is that relying on the Nasal Nectar transformation alone isn’t enough to fully grasp everything about spiritual plants,” the Fifth Seat said. “It’s enough to create perfect pills, but a Supreme Perfect refinement is when the ingredients themselves desire to make the pill you want. You extract out more essence from them, allowing multiple pills to be refined. This is a very rare talent, and even the Lianhua alchemists don’t have many that can do it.”

  After some more exchange, Diyuan stated they could talk more on the topic after the current events are finished. He didn’t want to pull attention away from their current task, which was already up against a deadline. He also needed to focus on the upcoming Carcass Grotto pocket world. It was decided that the Fifth Seat would try to claim Diyuan to be his disciple after everything calmed down. Diyuan wasn’t certain what the future held, but kept quiet for now.

  ***

  The final remaining month.

  Diyuan was starting to feel the need to advance to level 9 Foundation. His spiritual energy control would sometimes wobble. Not enough to matter, but it was the telling sign to enter seclusion. So he returned home to his room and closed the doors. Since he didn’t need to really meditate and absorb spiritual energy, as the vortex flux was doing that for him, he decided to contemplate the things he learned and experienced as of now.

  He had corrected some his flow to better his Bonegrit Dreadflesh internal arte, but he wasn’t finished yet. He knew the areas where some fixing was needed, which had been identified by his father’s ever-loving embrace. He couldn’t continue the correction at the moment, however, due to the destabilization of his pre-breakthrough flow.

  His thoughts would flow from what had happened when he met his father and then to the alchemy epiphany. If had had used the mid-grade Nasal Nectar Pill to help him, he likely would have perfected the tier one pill much sooner. But even the tier one pill had its limitations. An overreliance on the Nasal Nectar Pill would prevent growth in the understanding of spiritual herbs. That was likely why so many failed to ever see a Supreme Perfect pill refinement.

  Diyuan was reminded of the quote the Heavenly Demon had said.

  My interest belongs to those whose strength is their own, before they take hold of treasures.

  He contemplated on those words. There wasn’t anything wrong with using treasures, but that wasn’t what the Heavenly Demon was saying. If two exact people fought against each other, but one was a person who ensured they were strong without needing a special sword and the other only became strong after he obtained a special sword, who would win? It should be the first.

  The difference could be seen in alchemy. Diyuan didn’t realize that the mid-grade Nasal Nectar Pill could be used as part of the process to refine the perfect tier one pill. As a fortunate result, Diyuan became all the more better for it. And now, with the use of the Nasal Nectar Pill transforming his body, he had the benefits of both his epiphany and the perfect pill.

  Unauthorized duplication: this narrative has been taken without consent. Report sightings.

  In fact, it could be said that the epiphany was like enlightenment. If he put himself at a disadvantage, would he have a greater chance at enlightenments? Or simply to grow even stronger?

  Diyuan decided that walking the ideals that the Heavenly Demon set was something he was interested in.

  ***

  The breakthrough.

  Diyuan had concerns that his breakthrough to level 9 Foundation would overlap with the New Years festival week. He needed to be physically present in order for his plan to work out on the final day. On the first day of the weeklong festival, it finally happened.

  Apotheosis had been hinted at in the records as something worthwhile; it was something distinct that deserved attention. Before his research, Diyuan had simply labeled level 9 Foundation as another generic level that would give a little more strength and power to the cultivator’s body, and also open up a new arte slot. Much like any other Foundation level.

  He had even assumed what the breakthrough might be like. For a cultivator to go from Foundation to the Spiritweave great realm, there wasn’t much of a show. Blue energy would burst out, knocking over things that weren’t nailed down. Nothing too destructive like the Dharma breakthrough.

  So what could possibly happen when a cultivator went from level 8 Foundation to level 9 Foundation?

  The Yuhan estates weren’t as empty as they might have been in prior years. There had apparently been a tournament between the larger families for the Spiritweave cultivators and the Yuhan family hadn’t done so well during the group stage; a large part due to Ranxi breaking through sooner than expected and no suitable replacement could fill the gap. Several trainees decided to opt out of the festival, thinking they didn’t deserve to celebrate after losing to another family.

  As a result, they were among the few to have witnessed the event.

  In the calm of the New Year joys, the courtyard sounded with the trainees’ sword and spears clashing, fiercer than they normally would have been. Small wounds bled down their shirtless bodies. They took a small break, to discuss what to improve on next, when—boom!

  An explosion erupted from Diyuan’s room. The residential quarters exploded and shattered, hailing out wood and other materials down. Barriers were automatically activated. Several Yuhan Elite were on scene immediately, weapons out and prepared for combat.

  “Find the intruder!”

  “Protect Young Master Diyuan!”

  The training ground emptied as the trainees ran forward to assist in whatever way they could. Dust filled the air, blocking their view.

  “Diyuan!” Yuhan Rulong, Lady of the Yuhan family, broke through the walls of her building and flew to the destruction, her runic wings out. Fear etched in her face. She sensed only one person alive in the wreckage. If such destruction had happened, it would no doubt be a result of someone trying to collect the bounty of the Nether Mark.

  But the dust settled and it was Diyuan who stood. There was no intruder. He was unharmed.

  Diyuan looked down at his hand, as if he was seeing something strange. But there was nothing strange. He looked around, seeing the destruction, seeing the Yuhan Elite in a prepared battle formation, the trainees, and his mother.

  Then, to everyone’s surprise, Diyuan laughed. But it didn’t stop. The longer he laughed the more concerned they were that he had become deranged. Mother walked forward slowly, uncertain what was happening. She put a hand on his arm.

  “Diyuan?”

  He finally stopped and wiped the tears that was coming down his face. There were several emotions on his face: bewilderment, amusement, shock, and glee.

  “I get it now,” Diyuan finally said. “Apotheosis. I get it. Do you know what happens when someone reaches level 9 Foundation?”

  They were starting to understand that it wasn’t some intruder that destroyed the building, but Diyuan himself. Mother looked at the destruction again and frowned. A low-level breakthrough shouldn’t have caused this much damage.

  “You know how non-cultivators only live to be 100 years old? I think the heavens decided that for one reason alone: to prevent people from reaching the peak of Foundation. Apotheosis.” Diyuan looked at his hand, then at the trainees. “Observe.”

  There were around six trainees, some of them were moving to look at the destruction or to get a better view of Diyuan. But then, suddenly, their movements stopped at all once. It was as if they were synced and decided at that same moment they wouldn’t even breathe. A moment later the movements resumed and they looked down at each other.

  “Was that…Stunlock Bind?” One of the trainees asked.

  That got Mother’s attention. “Did you just use Stunlock Bind from a distance?”

  Diyuan smiled grew. “I’m not done yet. Observe.”

  He held out his hand again towards the Spiritweave cultivators. They were shirtless and had minor wounds that bled down their glistening skin. At that moment, however, one of them had cuts and bruises close and heal at a rapid pace. Diyuan then switched to a second person, healing them one at a time.

  The trainees gasped, examining their body, all minor wounds gone.

  A Yuhan Elite went to one of them and prodded at one of the wounds that had healed. “Benediction Balm,” he said, surprise in his voice.

  Mother stepped forward, her mouth slightly open. She sharply turned to Diyuan. “Did you just use an internal arte externally?”

  “Oh, it gets better, Mother,” Diyuan said. He was starting to understand how this worked. “I have two internal artes, and the Benediction Balm wasn’t the one I’m cycling right now. And did you notice how quick the healing was? It was at max strength, as if I was meditating, not the passive healing.”

  He saw her set her jaw as she considered something. She walked before the group and gave a stern command. “No one is to repeat what they witnessed here. This will remain a secret until further notice. My Elites, check our surroundings and confirm there were no witnesses outside our walls.” She turned to Diyuan now and addressed him privately. [I take it this wasn’t the end of your new abilities? Keep it secret.]

  Oh, you don’t even know the half of it, Diyuan thought, unable to hide his smile.

  And there was a transformation to his Foundation core. There was no new arte slot, like he had originally thought there would be. Experimentations would be needed to see what his new abilities were like, but some things he already knew.

  First, it’s the appearance of his Foundation core. Interestingly enough, it had become more…cosmic? Many cultivators often explain that the second core, the Spiritweave core, could be likened to the moon. It was smaller in size, but drew on a blue spiritual energy. It would be compared to the moon drawing on the ocean of the planet.

  But perhaps that analogy worked better than they had thought. Apotheosis did do something to Diyuan’s Foundation core: it added an atmosphere. It effectively allowed him to use any arte he had again. His Stunlock Bind? It would normally take ten seconds to cycle before another use. But the “atmosphere” usage of it would allow him to use Stunlock Bind from a distance and that would start a separate and new ten second cycle. When he wanted to use the arte through the atmosphere, the atmosphere would hit the core with a blue spark, much like a single lightning strike from the sky.

  But it wasn’t just limited to one arte. He could use another atmosphere-level arte while the ranged Stunlock Bind was recharging. He had already tested it with his healing arte, surprising even himself that it worked at full power without needing to be the active internal arte.

  That wasn’t even the greatest thing Diyuan had discovered, however. His normal internal arte, the Bonegrit Dreadflesh that he was channeling now, gave him a layer of defense and allowed him to reallocate strength within his body. But the atmospheric version would allow him to apply the very same internal arte to himself again!

  His defensive capabilities had just doubled. How that would impact his strength reallocation would need to be tested to be fully understood.

  Was this what happened to those that had their own special physiques? Or did the Fire Body and the Poison Body cultivators have a different ability unlocked when they reached apotheosis? Whether they did or didn’t, one thing Diyuan knew for certain was that his core that came from the Limitless Elixir had provided him with effectively an unlimited amount of spiritual energy to work with, and it must have been for this purpose. If his energy didn’t refresh in the manner that it did, he would have been rather limited with this newfound freedom.

  He thought back to the moment when he battled the other clans at the western plains, where his wounds weren’t healing properly as he continued to be spiritually exhausted the longer the fight went. But now, he could send out an even stronger healing without concern, on himself or others. It made Diyuan understand what his false-physique should be named.

  If others were known as the Fire Body or the Ice Body, then his false-physique would follow based on what his core provided him.

  Diyuan would be the Limitless Body.

  ***

  The New Years festival continued. Before Diyuan left, he told his mother and sister to watch for the final night of the festivities. They knew he had planned something, but didn’t know what.

  People walked around with masks. No one knew or cared if the other person was a cultivator or from a wealthy household. Everyone was here to celebrate. Games, foods, plays, and all sorts of activities filled each of the six cities.

  But it wasn’t just the Zhengyi clan that celebrated. The other clans did as well. The Honglie had their own style of celebration where a combat tournament was held. The Celing clan had a poetry festival, for those that enjoyed that. The Lianhua and the Gu clan were more normal; city festivities had their own fun.

  Only the Zhengyi clan would normally waste resources to put on a large show on the final night.

  And so, on that final night, it was quite a surprise when a talisman flew in the air and hovered in the middle of its city. It glowed brightly and drew attention. But it wasn’t a talisman sent to just the Zhengyi cities, but each city of every clan received one of these talismans. More surprising was the fact that it was a high-grade talisman, rarely used due to the financial cost of it and the limitation requirement of a Dharma cultivator to activate.

  At first, each of these cities would have people on guard, prepared to destroy the talisman before it triggered. But people quickly realized that it was a message talisman, which baffled everyone even more. Why would a high-grade talisman be used to deliver a message? A mid-grade talisman was sufficient to send a message to the entire city.

  In the Zhengyi cities, where the population assumed the last show would start, they waited patiently, keeping an eye on that brightly glowing talisman. Yuhan Ranxi and Yuhan Rulong watched as well, per Diyuan’s word.

  The talisman triggered.

  Everyone’s eyes had already adjusted to the night sky. However, each and every person would need to squint with what happened next. The sky transformed into day. A loud gong resonated throughout the city, reverberating in each person. Yellow clouds burst out swirled. And the sun, which should have set already, shined through the center. The brightened sky widened for miles upon miles. The night sky could not be seen.

  To each and every person, the vision was set just for them. Much like a rainbow that curved to each person, so too was this vision. Everyone saw the same thing. The people in the Zhengyi cities, those in the Honglie cities, the Lianhua, the Celing, the Gu—each and every person witnessed the scene.

  And at the center of the swirling golden clouds was a figure dressed in black robes. His iris glowed white. He hovered without wings, much like how the powerful Zheng Tianhou did not need wings to fly.

  The figure in black looked down upon the world and spoke.

  “I am Fel Yuhan Diyuan of the Zhengyi clan. This proclamation is being heard across every city of every clan.

  “For those of you who do not know, I have a Nether Mark branding me. A bounty of five million spirit stones for those who are brave enough to try. To those who covet it, I invite you. Come for me. In two months, the ban on the Zhengyi clan will be lifted. I will enter the Carcass Grotto alone, unguarded, and unaccompanied. If you are capable, do try to kill me before the miasma strips away your cultivation from the Dharma realm.

  “But know this: should you fail to kill me before you lose your Dharma cultivation, you will have signed your death. I will slaughter all of you, my enemies. I am still the current Fel, and I will become the peerless Fel.

  “To all the clans, I speak not of war, but of righteous vengeance. We have evidence that a member of the Gu clan placed the Nether Mark on me after I defeated Gu Guoxiong, a level 5 Dharma cultivator, in a fair gambit. I will strip away this bounty. In my doing so, I will accomplish my goals with the lethality as taught by my Zhengyi clan. We do not seek to oppress, but will not hesitate to retaliate. Those who do not seek hostility with me are not my enemy; we would rather welcome you as friends.

  “And so, mercenaries, assassins, schemers, and the enemies of the Zhengyi clan: this is my Grand Invitational to you. I do hope you will come, as I will be twenty-one later this year and I’ve yet to kill a Dharma cultivator. I am quite embarrassed by that. Which idiot will be the first to die? See you in two months.”