STNS: Chapter 462 (Patreon)

This was not Wu Jian’s first time witnessing someone refine a pill, but it was the first time he had seen a platinum rank alchemist do it.

Master Yun Chi had taken out a cauldron, smaller than the one Wu Jian had seen in his office. This one looked to be made of jade. Its pure white color made it seem almost translucent. Vents ran along the sides, intricately sculpted into the surface. There was no lid. A cap near the top opened up so Master Yun Chi could place ingredients inside.

“I demand absolute silence while I work. You must also be sure to protect me. Do not let those soulforge replicas anywhere near this place,” Master Yun Chi had said.

“We’ll scout the perimeters to make sure they don’t come near you,” Tang Tiantian said. She gestured toward the last two members of her party. “Come on, you two. We’re going to check the area.”

The three left, leaving Wu Jian and Lili Ling alone with Master Yun Chi. The old man had already begun the refining process. He placed each ingredient inside one at a time and refined them all separately before adding more. His manner was very methodical. In that regard, at least, he reminded Wu Jian of Zhou Lihua. However, there were several key differences between her and him.

Zhou Lihua’s mannerisms were a lot more elegant. By contrast, Master Yun Chi’s movements felt rough and uncultured, but there was a confidence to them that Zhou Lihua lacked. Every move he made might have been rough. However, he knew what he was doing and had complete confidence in himself.

There was also his control. Refining an alchemy pill took incredible chi control. Zhou Lihua was good at controlling her chi, but this man was on another level entirely. Wu Jian had never seen someone with such precise control over their own chi. Even the most minute fluctuation was carefully regulated. How many decades did it take for someone to reach this level of control?

“Come on. Let’s not disturb Master while he’s refining,” Lili Ling said. She gestured for them to leave too.

Wu Jian had been hoping to watch a platinum rank alchemist while they worked, but he supposed that was asking for too much. This man wasn’t Zhou Lihua. It was already quite strange that she enjoyed it when he watched her.

They left the little area and traveled further up through the hallway, eventually catching up to Tang Tiantian and her two comrades. It looked like they were waiting. Tang Tiantian waved when they arrived.

“Good of you to finally join us,” she said.

“What’s the plan?” asked Wu Jian.

“We’re not going to stray far from here. This is far enough away that we won’t disturb Master Yun Chi even if we enter combat, and we don’t want to be too far in case a magical beast slips past us.”

“You seem confident we’ll be attacked,” Wu Jian observed Tang Tiantian.

“It’s guaranteed we will be attacked,” Lili Ling said. “Master is refining a tier 5 pill. The waves it will emit while it’s being refined will draw magical beasts to it.”

Magical beasts had incredible senses, and Master Yun Chi was refining a tier 6 pill, which emitted chi and a strong medicinal scent. It was all too obvious they would be attacked. Now that he was thinking about it, Zhou Lihua had refined a tier 6 pill during their trip to the Zhou Kingdom. That had also invited some trouble, though it had been in the form of humans.

Just like she predicted, they were indeed attacked by several magical beasts. Most of them were armored dillos, but a few of them were sand wyverns. Wu Jian fought those. His powers over space gave him an edge in combat against foes with tough armor. He created spatial blades to cut straight through their bodies as though they were made of mud.

[Cleaving the Heavens]

Wu Jian held Pale Moon within his grasp as he swung it at an incoming sand wyvern. It had tried to burrow its way toward them through the ground, but he had forced it out by manipulating the space around it. Now he ejected a massive crescent blade of chi that tore through the creature’s body. A normal Cleaving the Heavens wouldn’t have done the trick, so he layered the Dao of Space over the attack to increase its cutting power.

The sand wyvern groaned in agony as it collapsed. He had severed its legs. Leaping onto the ceiling, Wu Jian swung Pale Moon again, releasing another blade that tore into the sand wyvern’s neck.

It wasn’t just his battle that was progressing well. Tang Tiantian and her comrades were doing a good job defeating the armored dillos. They used teamwork to take everything down, while Tang Tiantian herself made excellent use of a wide array of techniques and her bo staff to deal debilitating damage to any magical beast she came across.

Just as the battle appeared to be over, Wu Jian’s senses alerted him to new danger, and he looked in the direction of the tunnel’s exit to see replicas of themselves traveling toward them. He clicked his tongue.

“Tang Tiantian! More enemies!”

“I see them! Jian Wu! Can you deal with them? You don’t need to win, just buy us enough time to defeat the last of these magical beasts!”

“I’ll see what I can do!”

Wu Jian quickly used Teleportation to appeared before his own replica. It had already raised its sword to block his swing, so he used Nihility to make his sword intangible. Pale Moon went straight through its replica, became tangible again… and passed through his clone’s body. He grinned. Of course, it would do that. That’s what he would have done.

His replica attacked him with a swing of its own, Wu Jian teleported away. The other replicas tried to move past him while he was engaged with his own. Wu Jian swung Pale Moon in an arc around his body, sending a circular spatial tear that ripped apart the area around him and forced the other replicas back. His replica tried to interfere, but Wu Jian created a spatial tear in front of himself. If his replica struck it, it would be teleported somewhere else entirely. The coordinates he set were random.

That didn’t happen, sadly. The clone created a spatial fold in front of itself, and when the two techniques clashed, they repelled each other. Space was torn, cracks forming in the air, and then a powerful rush of chi swept over everyone and forced them back. It wasn’t just Wu Jian and his replica, the other replicas and his own companions were struck and forced away.

Wu Jian glanced at the walls, floor, and ceiling with a grimace. Cracks were beginning to form. If this kept up, there was a very good possibility that the ceiling would collapse on them.

The replicas soon recovered and attempted to attack their counterparts once more. Wu Jian teleported in front of Tang Tiantian’s replica with the intent of forcing it away, but a spatial blade tore through the spot between them, forcing him to back off. He wasn’t one to just stand down, however. He swung his sword and created his own spatial attack, which the Tang Tiantian replica was forced to dodge.

Unfortunately, the two other replicas had come up behind him. Wu Jian sensed them, but he had been unable to do anything because all of his attention was on Tang Tiantian and his own replica. 

[Nihility]

Wu Jian activated Nihility a second too late. He flinched when the attack still bit into him, though he was able to avoid the worst of it. He backed off quickly and deactivated Nihility, then threw a kick that caught the man right in the face. A loud snapping sound echoed from the replica’s neck. The man’s head came off with a satisfying pop. While Wu Jian made great use of spatial magic, his true strength had always lied in his extreme physical strength. That hadn’t changed since he was a child.

While he’d been able to take care of one replica, the other three were still around, and they weren’t about to let him go. Wu Jian found himself fighting a three-way battle. Tang Tiantian used her bo staff to keep him occupied, while her companion snuck up on him from the other side, and his own replica provided support with ranged spatial attacks. Wu Jian prided himself on his strength and martial prowess, but he was quickly being pushed back.

Several bruises appeared along his arms, legs, and torso as he was struck by Tang Tiantian’s bo staff. He was too busy avoiding his own replica’s Pale Moon to avoid every attack, and he couldn’t concentrate enough to use Nihility whenever he wanted. They were constantly keeping him on the back foot. He flinched as several strong attacks struck him in the side. If it wasn’t for his strength and durability, those would have put him out of commission.

A portal appeared right where his arm would have been. Wu Jian countered with a portal of his own, but the resulting energy once more caused damage to the surroundings, and Wu Jian was knocked off his feet because he was right next to the resulting discharge. He landed on his butt but quickly tucked into a roll. His replica was already in the process of attacking as he landed on his feet. However, Tang Tiantian’s replica and her companion were gunning for his comrades.

“Not on my watch!!”

[Teleportation]

Wu Jian teleported toward the replicas, but his own followed him, and he was forced to constantly teleport away as it tried to attack over and over. It was trying to prevent him from aiding his companions. Wu Jian knew what it would do, since he would have done the same thing, but that was also why he knew how to counter it.

Immediately after teleporting to a new location, his replica appeared before him, Pale Moon already swinging. He hadn’t used any spatial magic this time. It was hard to activate a new technique immediately after using a different one. That was one of the few weaknesses of spatial magic. There was a pause between attacks, though it was so negligible most people couldn’t take advantage of it.

Wu Jian raised his hand and braced himself. He flinched as the sword bit into his flesh. Blood sprayed from the wound as the sword went down all the way to the bone. However, he had reinforced himself with chi, which allowed him to withstand the blow without losing a hand. He clenched the Pale Moon replicate and exerted all of his strength, shattering the blade.

The only way to beat yourself was to do something that you wouldn’t do.

“As I thought… these replicas have all our powers and strengths, but there are some things that can’t be replicated.”

Pale Moon was a near legendary profound weapon with more power than any greatsword he had ever seen. He couldn’t imagine anything being able to perfectly replicate it. Certainly, the Echoforge Essence shouldn’t have the power to do that.

With the sword destroyed, Wu Jian kicked his replica back, then turned to the other two replicas. He waved his hand and created two portals just before the replicas could reach his comrades. He lacked the power to teleport them far, but even a few chih away was enough. Tang Tiantian and her guards were just finishing the last magical beast. Once they finished, they turned to their replicas and began attacking.

I made it in time… thank goodness.

That had been cutting it close, but now that they had finished off the magical beasts, he could focus on fighting his own replica, who was now at a disadvantage. Pale Moon was one of his greatest assets aside from his strength and control over the Dao of Space. Half of his arsenal lay in his sword techniques and those were now gone.

“All right. Let’s get this party started,” Wu Jian muttered as he ready Pale Moon for combat once more.