Second Trial

The floor began to materialize beneath Wei once more, but this time he was ready for it. He bent his knees slightly in advance and prepared to land. When he finally did, he barely felt anything at all.

His teammates were the same. They were prepared for it by now. Only Leah stumbled slightly, but Wei put his hand on her shoulder gently to help her stabilize.

“Let’s go.” Hui Li said coldly.

They hadn’t even had a chance to look around before Hui strode off into the darkness. Wei didn’t hurry to follow him, however. Instead, he looked around.

They were in a stone room this time, and it quite dark. A single lamp was hung from the ceiling, holding a burning torch in a chain censor. Even five feet away was shadow, and by ten feet, pitch black so deep Wei couldn’t see beyond.

Hui was right, however. There were three walls just ten feet away, barely visible in the darkness, and a single path to follow. Within two breaths of time, Aaron and Eliot had both moved forward with Hui.

Leah, who had been stabilized by Wei already and was starting to feel close to him, turned to him instead. “Don’t worry, with my bow, I’ll protect you. I don’t think Hui will help either of us that much, so we should stick together.”

”Hm,” Wei nodded. In reality, even though Leah didn’t know about his hand-to-hand combat style, he had already decided that sticking with her would likely improve his chances the most.

Hui was obviously strong, but he was also the type of character who wouldn’t pity the weak, and didn’t want to be dragged down by them either. If Wei found himself in a life or death sitatuion, he knew he couldn’t could on Hui.

As for Aaron and Eliot, they would both probably cling as close to Hui as possible, so he couldn’t rely on them for help either. That left only Leah.

Since her combat style was the bow, she would naturally have to stay a bit back away from the others. Because of that, she would be lacking in protection if any enemies got to close. With his unarmed combat style, Wei decided that filling in the gap in her weak point by protecting her if any enemies got too close was probably his best bet for survival. If he squared off with anyone too strong to be defeated by fists, maybe she could find an opening to shoot them with her bow.

“Come on, let’s not let them get too far head, or we will be in danger,” Wei said, and started off without her. In reality, he was just acting strong, but he wasn’t going to let her get too far behind.

The stone corridor went on for about one hundred feet before splitting into two paths at a T-intersection. Hui paused when he got here, and turned to see Leah and Wei so far behind.

”You two take the right path this time, the three of us are going left.” With that, Hui strode off, and Aaron and Eliot bumbled along, glancing backward. All they could give was a look of concern before they had to turn and jog to catch up with Hui.

”So they left us already?” Leah asked in the dark as they stood there together.

“Seems like that’s how it is. We shouldn’t be too close to the other team yet, so I don’t think we are in danger of running into them. Still, there could be vicious beasts in here that could kill us.”

”It’s quite cruel of him to just leave us. I’m sorry, Wei,” Leah looked shaken. She couldn’t believe those boys would just abandon her like that. And from what they knew, Wei was completely empty handed.

”Don’t be, its not your fault. Just get ready to shook anything that moves. If anything gets too close, I’ll protect you, ok?” Wei said assuredly.

”O-ok,” Leah managed a meek smile, and the two set off in the opposite direction from Hui’s party.

They hadn’t walked long before the stone corridor turned left again abruptly, and they found themselves in another stone chamber similar in size to the first. Across from them a circular door was sealed shut, and emblazoned with runes of sealing. There was a stone brazier in the center of the room that was softly burning, providing an eerily green light.

“Do you think that’s another spark?” Leah asked, eyeing the brazier.

”Hm, maybe. But there’s only one,” Wei said, “How do we decide who should take it?”

”Well, you don’t have any yet, right? So in that case, you should,” Leah replied kindheartedly.

She was right, but that was only according to what she knew. Wei felt a bit bad, but he could only mumble, “You’re right,” and then reach out to touch it.

The green flame flickered as his hand approached, and then shot out towards his fingers. It was far more powerful than the first flame, warming his insides and touching his heart. Now only that, but as he absorbed the flame the seal on the door broke, consolidating energy towards its center.

A ray of light burst forth and wrapped around Wei’s body, and then suddenly sucked him in! His body twisted and stretched through the fabric of reality and shrank down to a single point of light, which was sucked straight through the sealed door. On the other side of the door, he rematerialized, now alone in the chamber.

Across from him, a small golden bird idol with long plumes of feathers like stranded dropping down from its wings stood. It had an impressive tail the arched gracefully behind, and a long neck like a swan.

On the table before it, another jade tablet was resting. Excitedly, Wei reached out to grasp it.

It was as if the energy Wei had absorbed from the stone brazier was ripped straight from his body and leapt eagerly towards the jade tablet. As it did, Wei’s mind was gripped with images of a person meditating, and fire like energy creating a vortex within the core of their body. The fire swirled, and then erupted towards their heart and up into their head.

A cultivation technique! This cultivation technique was called “Phoenix Ascending Hidden Fire,” and it was a fire attribute cultivation technique that could rapidly energize the body. What was more, practitioners bodies could become so hot they could melt steel!

This cultivation technique was actually perfect for Wei, who had only the hand-to-hand combat method. But if he combined his hand-to-hand style with this Phoenix Ascending Hidden Fire, his fists could become weapons that rivaled a blade!

And what was more, he suddenly realized that the green flame from the previous room was a second grade light flame, meaning that it contained three divine sparks worth of energy! Unfortunately, all three had been immediately absorbed by the Phoenix Ascending Hidden Fire tablet. Apparently, the cost of learning just the first layer of this cultivation technique was already three sparks!

As he held the cultivation manual in his hands, he heard a stone grinding sound coming from behind. He turned to see Leah timidly entering behind him through the natural method of walking, her eyes a bit pleading towards him. Maybe she was jealous? It made sense that she would be, but this had been her idea to give it to him anyway.

”It appears to be a cultivation art. It’s called the Phoenix Ascending Hidden Flame. It’s a fire attribute manual. If I practice it, it can make my fists as hot as weapons!”

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”Oh, that’s great!” Leah was a bit relieved. At least he was sharing the name and contents of the slip with her, instead of holding it all to himself. Still, she felt a bit disappointed there wasn’t anything for her.

”I would share it with you, but apparently it takes three sparks just to start the first layer.”

”No, that’s okay, I don’t think that kind of technique goes well with my bow. Maybe there will be more chances later.”

”Okay, then in that case, you can have the next chance, since you were kind enough to give this one to me for free.”

”Okay, thank you! lets do it like that then! Aw, we make a good team, actually,” Leah was starting to lighten up a bit now, since Wei had promised her the next piece of treasure in advance, not even knowing what it would be.

They stood in the empty chamber now, not sure what to do next.

”Do you think we should try to catch up to the others? This looks like its a dead end now,” Leah said.

”Yeah, maybe, but, do you think we have time for me to practice this cultivation method first? If I can, then I can use some of the energy to do a better job protecting you.”

”Ok, let’s try it, maybe it will work,” Leah said. “Anyway, we aren’t in danger right now, and they probably wont share their treasure with me, so we can let them fight alone for a little while.”

With that, Wei sat crossed legged on the ground and began to cultivate. Since the jade tablet emerged itself in his mind of its own accord, he naturally understood how it worked already, although that was only the most basic layer. In order to gain more understanding, he would need to condense origin Chi sparks himself, and then inject them into the manual again. In that way, the next layer would be unlocked.

However, he could also condense origin Chi sparks and use them for other things. He could use them to learn the second layer of the combat technique the beautiful female judge had given him, or he could use them as part of the complimentary Phoenix Ascending Combat Style, which would momentarily make his body burning hot. This was what he really wanted, and why he wanted to stall for time. In the up-coming fight, even a single spark worth of extra Chi could end up making him far more dangerous.

As he sat on the floor, the meditation practice for the first layer was surprisingly simple. All he had to do was focus on his core while reciting the secret Phoenix Ascending mantra, and origin Chi would slowly flow from the world into his core.

After about one hundred recitations of the mantra, his consciousness began to become smoother. His chaotic thoughts calmed down, and his breathing regulated itself. And in the center of his being, a small origin Chi spark formed.

He felt satisfied, and also full. Suddenly he realized that with the first layer of the Phoenix Ascending Hidden Flame, he could only have one Chi spark stored within his body at a time! So, in order to store more sparks, he would first have to invest on the second layer of the cultivation technique. But he suddenly realized that the cost to open the second layer was five sparks, and not only that, but they all had to be spent simultaneously!

What! He could only store one at the moment, meaning that it was currently impossible to store five and open the next layer! What was he going to do? Unless he could find a grade three spark in the next series of trials, then use that naturally condensed origin energy to open the next layer.

After he thought about it, he decided not to worry about it further for now. If they delayed any longer, then the others would get too far ahead of them.

”Ok, I’m ready,” he said, standing up from where he was seated.

At that moment, however, before Leah could even respond, there was another grating sound and a beam of light opened from the ceiling, growing larger as a stone slab of wall began to sink down into a gap in the floor, revealing a new passage of its own accord.

As the gap widened, clanging sounds of metal against metal could be heard accompanied by several yells and voices shouting.

“Get it!”

“Urgh, it got me!”

”Shoot, don’t let it step on you, move!”

As the slab moved down to eye height, Wei saw an incredible scene beyond.

A bridge extended out into a vertical passageway that was circular in nature. In the center of the vertical passageway was a platform surrounded by nothing but air on all sides. Below, the chasm seemed to have no end, fading into light that seemed to pulse with energy all its own. If one fell down there, death and disqualification from the trials was certain.

That was not the most incredible thing, however. What was the most terrifying part was the massive, ten foot tall blue humanoid monster holding a great axe in the center of the platform.

Hui Li’s half of the group had already arrived, emerging from a mirror image bridge on the other side. He was holding a sword in his hand, and a bit of lightning crackled along the blade. To his side, Aaron and Eliot were together. Eliot had fallen on the ground, and at that moment Aaron had grabbed his body and dragged him across the floor, narrowly stopping the giant from crushing Eliot’s body with his massive stone like foot.

Eliot had a dagger brandished in his hand, but before the stone giant, that didn’t really seem to matter. Even Hui seemed to be hard pressed to deal with the giant.

”Hui!” Leah shouted, and she quickly strode on to the bridge and pulled out her bow. Notching a single arrow, she shot the giants head without hesitation.

The arrow slammed into the back of the giants head, and it gave an ear shattering yell of pain, and then turned to look at Leah and Wei standing on the bridge.

Wei knew that if that thing came for them, it could sweep both of them off the bridge with a single swipe of its massive great axe. Either they would be cleaved in half or they would plummet to their demise below. There would be no other choice.

With that in mind, Wei didn’t hesitate. He broke into a sprint and quickly crossed the bridge. As he ran, he circulated the Ascending Phoenix Hidden Flame and channeled the origin Chi spark into his body. His skin seemed to glow with an inner light, and his limbs became extremely hot. The rush of energy caused sweat to bead on his forehead, but it also felt incredibly energizing.

As he neared the giant, it turned and brought its axe over its head, preparing to strike.

”Too slow!” Wei yelled, and launched himself into the air. He was surprised how fast he was with the Phoenix Ascending Hidden Flame active within his body.

Practicing the Basic Hand-to-Hand technique, in combination with the origin Chi spark causing his fists to burn with inner light, he slammed his fist into the giants head.

There was a loud ‘crack!’ As the giants ribs broke under the power of the Phoenix Strike, but it shouldn’t have been enough to down it. Indeed, the giant was pushed back a single step, but managed to right itself before showing off an evil grin. It’s axe was still held above its head, and now Wei had just landed on the floor before it. He wasn’t fast enough, he had no time to dodge.

The giant was going to kill him.

At that moment, there was high pitched sound of sword slicing through flesh, and a thin sword blue sword light swept across the giant’s neck.

The next moment, the giant was falling, tumbling down not with his axe but with his body towards Wei. This time, Wei had a chance to dodge. The bigger they are, the longer it takes them to reach the ground, Wei thought with a grin as he danced out of the falling monsters path.

In the air above, of course, was Hui Li, whose sword slash finally cut the neck of the stone giant from behind.

As the monster died, its body began to burn with energy, and then five Chi sparks consolidated from its form as it evaporated. One of the Chi sparks flew to each of the five party members individually, and were immediately absorbed.

”Good,” Wei thought. He had just burned his only spark, and now that they were back with the group, he might not have time to consolidate another one. But now he didn’t need to worry about that. With his level of cultivation in the Phoenix Ascending Hidden Flame, he could only store one, so it would be a waste of time to try to gather a second right now.

For a moment, he wondered if he should try to spend this point on leveling up his hand-to-hand combat technique, but then decided against it. If they had time later to meditate, he could spend this Chi spark then, and then immediately consolidate another one for later use as a flame. Otherwise, it was probably better to keep this spark for now in case he needed it soon.

“So, you two finally made it?” Hui said ungratefully as Leah joined them on the platform.

”Hey, come on, we just saved you! Shouldn’t you be at least a little bit grateful?”

”Saved? Heh, I never asked for your help. Even if we lost a couple people, I would have taken that giant down eventually.”

Eliot and Aaron looked at each other, a bit alarmed. It was obvious who “a couple people” would have been.

“Um, Wei, Leah, thank you both for helping us. And Hui, you too, of course. Sorry the two of us couldn’t be more help,” Aaron said. It was strange to hear his deep, booming voice saying something so submissively.

“Forget it,” Hui replied, seemingly taking all the credit, even though Leah and Wei had been named first.

The next gate was already opening at that moment. To the north, a set of stairs led up to another bridge half a floor higher, where a massive set of double stone doors nearly thirty feet tall were sliding open to the left and right.

Without waiting for anyone else to reply, Hui had already taken the lead towards the gateway. The others could only help but follow.

The next chamber was similar to the first in shape, size, and almost all descriptions. Except for instead of two bridges from the east and west, and a set of stairs leading up to the north, the stairs they were on continued to lead upwards towards the center from the south. Across the way on the other side of the platform, in the north, another set of stairs mirrored there’s.

For now, the second set of thirty foot tall stone doors on the other side of the vertical passageway remained closed. They could only stand on the platform, waiting for the next fight to begin.