DDD Chapter 129: The Preliminaries End (Patreon)

After my match with Old Man Corvus, and the impromptu gathering that took place afterwards, the preliminaries of the Rising Heroes Tournament continued. My opponents grew more challenging as the days went on, since most of the weaklings had been eliminated by this point. However, all of them were in early Foundation Establishment, so I still won with ease. This left me disappointed, since my match with Old Man Corvus gave me a taste of a true challenge.

Cultivator Vivian didn’t have this problem. She was in mid Foundation Establishment herself, so she faced opponents with the same cultivation base, with one exception.

The day after my match with Old Man Corvus, Cultivator Vivian ended up facing Annoyance Two, the disciple from Myriad Poison Sect that specialized in poison mystic arts. She defeated him with ease. Her most powerful attack, the Celestial Rain mystic art, neutralized Annoyance Two’s poison. Without it, he was no match for her. He ended up surrendering after Cultivator Vivian gave him a beating.

As for my loved ones, they had better luck than me. Both Willow and Harlow often faced mid Foundation Establishment cultivators in their respective arenas, which filled me with envy. A part of me considered switching to another arena. However, when I asked about it, I learned that it wasn’t possible, so I gave up on that idea. Ellen, amused by my childish behavior, soothed my ruffled feathers.

Soon, it was the last day of the preliminaries. I just needed to win one more match, and I’d move on to the next part of the Rising Heroes Tournament. By this point, I was one of the few early Foundation Establishment cultivators who hadn’t been eliminated. Annoyance One, the disciple of Myriad Poison Sect who specialized in using poisoned weapons, was another. This gave me hope. I watched several of his battles and knew that he was a tricky opponent to face. The odds of us fighting one another were high, since we had the same cultivation base.

However, to my surprise, when it came time for my final match, I found out that Annoyance One wasn’t my opponent. Rather, I ended up facing Cultivator Flo. The two of us stood on opposite ends of the stone platform, facing one another. We had the entire stone platform to ourselves. Enough people had been eliminated by this point that the tournament organizer no longer needed to divide it up into smaller areas.

The sky was clear, and the sun’s light shone down upon the world unimpeded. However, it did little to dispel the bitter cold that pervaded North King City. The stands were filled with people, a far cry from how things were at the beginning of the Rising Heroes Tournament. Now that the preliminaries were almost over, the fights were far more entertaining to watch. The crowd’s excitement was palpable, as they waited for the match to begin.

For this match, unlike my other ones, I didn’t use my Wind-Fire Boots. Instead, I had the stone necklace, since it was a defensive magic treasure. It was almost impossible to evade Cultivator Flo’s sound attacks, even with the Wind-Fire Boots. So, I decided it was better to focus on defense this time around.

As for Cultivator Flo, she had her sword-shaped zither and a jade bracelet, which was a defensive magic treasure like my stone necklace. A part of me was a little disappointed that her colorful outfit wasn’t a magic treasure. It was certainly eye-catching enough to be one.

The Golden Core cultivator that supervised this arena floated in the air above us.

“As always,” he said, “You may begin on my mark.”

Cultivator Flo and I nodded, before looking at one another. She gave me a bright smile.

“Let’s both do our best, Cultivator Darian!” She said.

I chuckled, before taking a stance.

“Indeed, Cultivator Flo,” I said, “I shall give it my all.”

“Oh, good! In that case, I won’t hold back at all, even if you cry and beg for mercy!”

I stared at her. However, I was used to her quirkiness by this point, so her words only caught me off guard for a second.

“Begin!”

I dashed towards Cultivator Flo. At the same time, I activated my stone necklace. A yellow barrier sprang into existence around me. My strategy this time was similar to when I fought Old Man Corvus: engage Cultivator Flo in close quarters combat.

Despite being both a sword cultivator and a music cultivator, she was more the latter than the former. During her matches, Cultivator Flo always kept her distance from her opponents and attacked from afar. Whenever they tried to get close to her, she moved to evade them.

As I charged towards her, Cultivator Flo strummed her zither and sent a sound attack towards me, one imbued with her sword intent. It was a fierce and domineering attack. I felt pressured by it before it even reached me.

Well, Cultivator Flo did say she wouldn’t hold back.

The sound attack cut through the air and hit my yellow barrier, riddling it with cracks. I bit back a curse. After experiencing Cultivator Flo’s sword intent a few days ago, I knew it was powerful. However, I hadn’t expected it to be this powerful. My stone necklace was a mid-grade Foundation Establishment magic treasure, and yet it could barely stand up to Cultivator Flo’s sword intent. At this rate, it would only last for two more attacks, three if I was lucky.

Rather than continue forward, I decided to change tactics. I took a deep breath and used Corrosive Cloud. A layer of thick gray smoke emerged from my mouth and covered the entire stone platform. At the same time, I used my Cloak of Dusk innate ability to hide my presence. Hidden from sight and spirit sense, I circled around to ambush Cultivator Flo from the side.

“Oh!” she exclaimed, her voice somewhat muffled. “This is new! You never used this during your previous matches, Cultivator Darian. I almost don’t want to get rid of it.”

Her words gave me pause. That saved me, because a moment later, Cultivator Flo strummed her sword-shaped zither again. A sound attack imbued with her sword intent exploded out of her in all directions, like a shock wave. It pushed back against my Corrosive Cloud and dispersed it, clearing the immediate area around her. If I hadn’t stopped when I had, I would’ve been exposed.

Even so, I still had the element of surprise. I took a deep breath and used Burning Cloud Breath. The temperature around us rose sharply as a cloud of flames rushed towards Cultivator Flo. Despite being caught off guard, she remained composed as she strummed her sword-shaped and sent a wave-like sound attack towards my cloud of flames.

The two met and clashed for a brief moment, before the sound attack overwhelmed my cloud of flames and rushed towards me. I wasn’t surprised. Cultivator Flo could manifest sword intent, while I hadn’t even reached One With The Flames yet. My flames were no match for her sound attack.

Even so, the clash gave me the opening I need. I used Wind Dash Shoulder Slam to close the distance between Cultivator Flo and I. Her sound attack hit me, cracking my yellow barrier further, but it was a worthy trade. I pierced right through and raised my fist to strike her.

A yellow barrier sprang into existence around Cultivator Flo, blocking my fist. I attacked it with a relentless barrage, pressuring Cultivator Flo to keep her from fleeing or using her sword-shaped zither. I couldn’t let her escape me now. Otherwise, she would demolish me from afar with her sound attacks. I needed to finish this fight while I still had the advantage.

However, as I attacked the yellow barrier that protected Cultivator Flo, I noticed something strange. She made no effort to evade my attacks or to put any distance between us. Instead, she stood there and let me attack her. I looked and saw that Cultivator Flo wore a serene smile on her face.

A chill ran down my spine as my intuition warned me that I was in grave danger.

Without hesitation, I stepped back just as Cultivator Flo gripped her sword-shaped zither and swung it at me. In the blink of an eye, it transformed into an actual sword. Her sudden attack, empowered by her sword intent, shattered my yellow barrier and drew a line across my chest. Blood seeped out of my wound and dripped down my abdomen.

I was wrong. Cultivator Flo wasn’t more of a music cultivator than a sword cultivator. If anything, it appeared that the reverse was true. She had been putting on an act this entire time.

Cultivator Flo went on the offensive, forcing me on the back foot. Our positions were reversed from earlier. Now she was the one pressuring me, leaving me unable to escape or retaliate in any way. It took all my skill and speed to try to evade her strikes, with little success. In the end, I used my Armor of the Celestial Warrior innate ability to protect my body. However, while that was enough to stop Cultivator Flo’s actual sword, some of her sword intent still penetrated my armor.

Soon, several small cuts riddled my body. At this rate, she wouldn’t even need to hit me with her sword. She could just defeat me by nicking away at me with her sword intent. Death by a thousand cuts. The entire time, Cultivator Flo wore that serene smile on her face.

Unlike with Old Man Corvus, using divine fire qi wouldn’t help me here. Cultivator Flo wasn’t a demonic cultivator, so divine fire wasn’t any more effective against her than normal fire. Things were not looking good for me.

Despite my current circumstances, I remained calm. While I was in a bad position, things weren’t hopeless yet. I could still win this. Cultivator Flo was powerful and skilled, yes. However, I hadn’t used my full strength yet. If cunning and tricks wouldn’t work, then perhaps brute force would.

I gave up dodging or blocking Cultivator Flo’s sword and let it hit me. Her attack left a deep gash in my abdomen. This caught Cultivator Flo off guard. She stared at me with wide eyes, no longer smiling.

I took advantage of this opening to grab Cultivator Flo’s arm. She slithered out of my grasp and retreated to put some distance between us. This bought me the time I needed to use my Demon Form innate ability. My skin turned pitch black, scales covered much of my body, and a pair of horns grew out of my forehead.

Now in my Demon Form, I roared at Cultivator Flo and attacked her. At the same time, I used the Living Candle technique to boost my physical prowess even further. The two of us clashed, trading blows with one another.

Using both Demon Form and Living Candle evened things between us somewhat. Despite this, Cultivator Flo still held the advantage. Not only was she in mid Foundation Establishment, but she could manifest sword intent. However, I had one more trick up my sleeve.

I used my Resonating Dance innate ability, the one I inherited from my father. This allowed me to sense and resonate with Cultivator Flo’s rhythm, including her weak points. Our fight became a dance, thus I switched to the Dancing Fiend fighting style, which I created by combining aspects of the Frenzied Fiend fighting style and the Dancing Wind Blade fighting style. It focused on aggression, precision, and agility.

The sudden change allowed me to land a few blows on Cultivator Flo and shatter her yellow barrier. However, when I tried to press the advantage, Cultivator Flo responded in a strange manner.

Perhaps it was because she was also a music cultivator, but she became an active participant in our dance. I still led, because of my Resonating Dance innate ability, but Cultivator Flo matched her rhythm to mine. Every move, every attack, every injury inflicted was a deliberate part of our dance.

Music filled the air. It took me a moment to realize that it came from Cultivator Flo’s sword. Even though it had changed shape, it was still a zither. It played the music of our dance, which contained aspects of both our cultivation paths, such as Cultivator Flo’s sword intent and my demonic nature. It was beautiful and deadly.

I smirked at Cultivator Flo, before I upped the tempo and increased the speed of our dance. Cultivator Flo narrowed her eyes at me, before she upped the tempo again and increased the speed even further. She returned my smirk with one of her own. This pattern repeated several times, as we both increased the speed of our dance and challenged the other to keep up. The tension between us grew taut as we danced with fervor and built up to a crescendo.

At this point, I didn’t know who was leading this dance. I didn’t think Cultivator Flo knew either. Perhaps neither of us were. Regardless, I found myself lost in the ever increasing tempo of our dance, pushing myself to the limit.

Our dance reached its climax when we made our final moves. I reached forward and wrapped my hand around Cultivator Flo’s throat. At the same time, she pressed the edge of her sword against mine. The music stopped playing and a sudden silence fell over the stone platform.

Cultivator Flo and I stared at one another, panting. We were both covered in wounds and injuries. It was difficult to tell who was in worse condition. A strange feeling filled me, as if I were on the edge of an epiphany. From the look in her eyes, Cultivator Flo felt the same way. We both needed just one final push to grasp that epiphany. However, it proved elusive.

Just as I was about to despair, a single note played in the air. It didn’t come from Cultivator Flo’s zither. I don’t know where it came from. It didn’t matter, not in that moment. That single note gave me the push I needed. Cultivator Flo’s eyes lit up with understanding, suggesting that she had reached an epiphany as well.

The two of us moved together, as if we had planned it, and rushed off the stone platform at the exact same time. We found a suitable place and sat down. I dismissed my Armor of the Celestial Warrior, and took a Healing Pill to deal with the worst of my injuries, before I started meditating. I wanted to internalize this epiphany while it was still fresh in mind.

A part of me heard the reactions from the other people in the arena. The audience, the tournament organizers, the other participants, and so on. However, I ignored everything else and focused on my meditation. This was an opportunity that I didn’t want to lose. Soon, everything else faded away and I fell into a trance.

***

Interlude: Nova

Nova, with a wine bottle in hand, stared down at her son as he meditated beside the Wandering Storm’s disciple. She hovered in the air above the arena, laying atop a dark and fluffy cloud, which was a magic treasure she refined after capturing a thunder spirit. The spirit proved volatile and difficult to tame, but she succeeded in the end. It helped that she threatened to eat the spirit if it remained stubborn. It became far more obedient after that.

Nova took a drink from her wine bottle, before she glanced at the woman hovering in the air beside her. The woman wore a garish-looking outfit, one stitched together from different colored robes and dressed. To the ignorant, it appeared as if there wasn’t any harmony or pattern to the outfit. However, Nova knew better.

The woman herself appeared rather plain and unassuming, if one ignored her bright and cheery demeanor. Even when facing the greatest of dangers, the woman never lost her smile. Nova found it both endearing and annoying, because not too long ago, she had been one of those dangers.

“That was rather generous of you, Eccentric Aurora.” Nova said, calling out to the woman.

The woman, Eccentric Aurora, shrugged and regarded Nova with a bright smile on her face.

“They were both most of the way there.” She said. “I just gave them a little nudge.”

Nova gave the woman a nod of thanks.

“You have my gratitude,” she said, “My son gained a great opportunity because of you.”

Eccentric Aurora’s smile turned a little sly. She sidled up to Nova, which the latter found amusing since they were both flying.

“Well, if you’re really grateful,” Eccentric Aurora said, “I wouldn’t mind a bottle of your finest spirit wine. You always have the best selection, Big Sis Nova.”

Nova narrowed her eyes at the other woman, before swatting at her. Eccentric Aurora deftly avoided it.

“I never gave you permission to call me ‘Big Sis.’” Nova said, narrowing her eyes at the other woman. “You and I are not nearly close enough for that.”

Eccentric Aurora put on a pitiful expression.

“Aw!” she said. “You’re breaking my heart. I thought we grew closer to one another after everything we’ve been through.”

Nova’s left eye twitched.

“That was all your fault!” She growled. “If you hadn’t been such a reckless fool, none of that would have happened.”

Eccentric Aurora rolled her eyes.

“I can’t believe you’re still holding a grudge.” She said. “That was two hundred years ago!”

Two hundred years ago, a group of Nascent Soul and Domain Creation cultivators explored an abandoned abode that once belonged to Path Seeking cultivator from an era long past. Both Nova and Eccentric Aurora had been a part of that group.

However, Eccentric Aurora triggered one of the abode’s defensive formations, causing the entire place to fall into a spatial rift and detach from this realm. No one died, but it was a near thing.

“You mean it was only two hundred years ago.” Nova said. “To beings such as ourselves, two hundred years can pass in the blink of an eye. There are plenty of people who still hold a grudge over that event.”

Eccentric Aurora sidled up to Nova again with an even more pitiful expression on her face.

“If they come after me, you’ll rescue me again, right?” She asked.

Nova rolled her eyes. After the Path Seeking cultivator’s abode fell into that spatial rift, the entire group of Nascent Soul and Domain Creation cultivators wanted to punish Eccentric Aurora. At the time, Nova had wanted to as well. However, to her shame, she ended up helping Eccentric Aurora escape.

“Don’t push me.” Nova warned in a low voice. “The only reason why I helped you in the first place is because you have a connection to the Sage; a very thin connection. Abuse that, and you’ll find out just what I’m capable of.”

At this, Eccentric Aurora’s expression grew serious.

“Speaking of which,” she said, “I have a message for you from the Sage.”

Nova stilled at that.

“What is it?” she asked a moment later.

“It’s time for you to stop playing around and come back.” Eccentric Aurora said.

Nova snorted.

“That’s it?” She asked with a mocking smile on her face. “I thought it was something serious.”

Eccentric Aurora shook her head.

“I don’t know what your relationship with the Sage is,” she said with a concerned expression on her face, “However, it isn’t wise to speak of her dismissively like this.” She looked up at the sky with a fearful expression on her face. “The Sage is a being far above the likes of you and I.”

Despite Eccentric Aurora’s warning, Nova remained unconcerned.

“You don’t have to worry about that.” She said, before pulling a bottle of spirit wine out of her storage ring. “Here. Consider this thanks for helping my son, and for delivering the Sage’s message.”

Eccentric Aurora took the bottle of spirit wine, still wearing a concerned expression on her face.

“Cultivator Nova,” she said, “I know it isn’t my place, but-…”

Nova cut her off with a sharp gesture.

“You’re right,” she said. “It isn’t your place. Your part is over, now that you’ve delivered the message. My relationship with the Sage is none of your concern. Don’t poke your nose where it doesn’t belong, or you’ll regret it. This isn’t a threat, it’s a warning.”

Eccentric Aurora studied Nova for several moments, before nodding.

“Very well.” She said. “Don’t say I didn’t try.” A bright smile spread across her face. “Let’s move on to a more interesting topic. For example, what do you think of pairing my disciple with your son? They make for a cute couple, don’t you think?”

Nova gave Eccentric Aurora a flat look.

“No.” She said. “Absolutely not.”

“Aw, why not?” Eccentric Aurora whined.

“That last thing I want is to become in-laws with you.” Nova said.

Eccentric Aurora pouted.

“What’s wrong with that? I’m amazing!”

The two of them bickered back and forth for a bit, before Eccentric Aurora left in a huff. After the other woman left, Nova shook her head and let out an exasperated sigh. A moment later, her expression grew solemn as she considered the Sage’s message.

“You may be the wisest of us,” Nova muttered, “But sometimes you can be blind to the obvious. There’s a reason I’m still down here, even though I could’ve returned a long time ago.”

Nova didn’t know if the Sage, one of her main soul’s other incarnations, heard her. After all, the barrier between the mortal realm and immortal realm separated them. However, the attempt made Nova feel better. She took a drink from her wine bottle, before focusing on her son once again.

***

My meditative trance lasted for a full day. When I emerged, everything that I had ignored up to this point hit me full force. The pain from my injuries, hunger, exhaustion, and a myriad other minor annoyances. Despite this, elation filled me.

Thanks to my epiphany, my cultivation increased by a fair amount. At this rate, it would only take me a little over five years to break through to mid Foundation Establishment. Otherwise, it would’ve taken me twice as long, if not longer. However, the increase in my cultivation was secondary to the insights I gleaned.

I gained a greater understanding of the world’s patterns, rhythms, and cycles. While this benefited many of my techniques and mystic arts, my Breath of the World technique benefited the most. So much so that my mastery of the technique increased to the next layer. I was more than happy about this, since my cultivation speed increased with each layer of the Breath of the World technique that I mastered.

Thankfully, no one had disturbed Cultivator Flo and I while the two of us meditated. Part of this was because Ellen and Elliot watched over us, to prevent anyone from disrupting our meditation. Part of it was because the tournament organizers also watched over us. As cultivators themselves, they understood the importance of internalizing an epiphany as soon as possible.

I was grateful for their assistance. It was a taboo in the cultivation world to disturb another cultivator when they gained insights or had an epiphany. However, there were unscrupulous folk everywhere. It reassured me that Clan Black Iron had such thoughtful people serving them.

After we woke up from our meditation, Cultivator Flo and I returned to our respective residences. I had wanted to stay, so I could find out the results of our match. Who won? Cultivator Flo? Myself? Or was it a draw? However, Ellen and Elliot dragged me back to Dragon Palace. After I cleaned myself up and ate a light meal, I went to bed and fell asleep for another day.

Thankfully, there was a week-long grace period between the end of the preliminaries and the beginning of the next round. Otherwise, I would’ve been disqualified from the Rising Heroes Tournament for missing two days in a row.

After I woke up, Harlow examined me to ensure that there was nothing wrong with me. I thought this was unnecessary, since Healing Pills and rest took care of most of my injuries. However, Harlow insisted on the examination. A part of me suspected that she just wanted to ogle my body.

When Harlow finished examining me, my companions and I went to go check out the results from the preliminaries. I could’ve checked my tournament token, but going out as a group seemed more fun.

The results were posted on a stone stele located in a central plaza within North King City. The stele was massive, standing several stories tall. It depicted the tournament results in writing the glowed blue. Each entry showed a participant’s cultivation base, their affiliation, and their ranking within the tournament.

There were a thousand entries, meaning that only a thousand participants passed the preliminaries. However, this included those in both the winner’s brackets and the loser’s brackets. Obviously, the former ranked much higher than the latter. Even so, making it this far was an achievement in and of itself.

It took little time to find everyone’s entry. Every single one of us passed the preliminaries, including Cultivator Flo and I. The tournament organizers deemed our match a draw. So, while neither of us lost, neither of us won either. This meant that while we passed the preliminaries, the two of us were ranked on the lower end of the winner’s bracket.

This disappointed me somewhat, but only for a little while. I still passed the preliminaries and moved on to the next round of the Rising Heroes Tournament. That alone was cause for celebration. While my rank was lower than I hoped, I still had a chance.

After all, my goal wasn’t to win the Rising Heroes Tournament. I knew my limits. While I might be able to defeat a late Foundation Establishment cultivator, I had little to no chance at defeating a peak Foundation Establishment cultivator. The gap was too wide to surmount.

No, my goal was to rank within the top twenty five of the Rising Heroes Tournament. That was a worthy achievement for an early Foundation Establishment cultivator. Besides, I could always win the next Rising Heroes Tournament, after I became much more powerful.

However, while my goal was to reach the top twenty five, that didn’t mean I was going to stop there. I wanted to see just how far I could go. I wanted to discover my limits. Only then could I surpass them and grow even stronger. A wall could be an obstacle in one’s path, or a stepping stone towards greater heights.

There were five days left until the Rising Heroes Tournament resumed. I intended to make good use of them. However, before that, there was some unfinished business that I needed to take care of: Zayne Wind Dance. He owed me a debt, and it was time to collect.