The Pinnacle - Day 5

Ze Ting was looking out of a window of the artifact ship that was he, and all the other racers were staying on. The Gran Prix had several categories: land, sea, and air but he was in the finals for the ultimate race. The Pinnacle Gran Prix started under the sea, continued on land, and the finish line was in the air. Unfortunately, it was a complex affair where the racing artifacts were powered by the drivers, and many hazards, twists, and turns would challenge them.

"All finalist are to report to the launch bay", and announcement was made, and Ze Ting checked over himself to ensure he was wearing this suit correctly, an odd set of clothing meant to protect the wearer, but its appearance was much different than his usually robes. Pleased, he left the waiting area and made his way through the ship until he entered a humongous room with a hundred tubes mounted on the wall.

An attendant stopped him before he got far, "Please present your token to verify your identity."

Ze Ling took a token from his sleeve pocket, and handed it to the man. The latter placed the token in an artifact, and a few moments later took it out again.

"Everything is fine, Finalist Ze Ling, you're in tube two and good luck", the attendant told him in a polite manner.

Ze Ling gave the man a slight bow, and made his way to his racing artifact.

'Why did it have to be number two?' He asked himself as he entered the vehicle, 'If I never see the number two again during a race, my life will be complete.'

Whether it was fate, luck, or coincidence, Ze Ling has placed second in every race of this tournament. He sighed and mediated for a minute to clear unnecessary thoughts from his mind before mounting the racing artifact. Though they were in the virtual realm, Ze Ling still went through the pre race checklist to ensure everything worked flawlessly.

The Grand Prix mave have three different stages, but it would be more appropriate to say there are six. Each stage has two phases inspired by the six realms of the samsara, and both the stage makeup and the 'realm challenge' were random. Since the racing artifacts were powered by the drivers, you had to strategically use your Qi and essence to navigate your way through, and replenish your energy to finish the race. When this mode first appeared on the QR Pod interface, a sizable part of the users were upset because they would expend all the energy quickly and lose. But eventually, mostly with help from Wei Huoran, cultivators saw that by controlling their input and output of energy, they could reach the end.

(All finalist, standby), Ze Ling heard from his racing artifact.

The opening in the tube behind him closed as the other side opened, and sea water filled the tubes.

(On your mark, get ready, Go!), the announcer said, and the hundred finalist launched into the sea.

Ze Ling immediately accelerated until he reached his ideal speed, and started pacing himself. It was of upmost importance that he quickly identify the realm of the first half of the sea section of the race. He spread his senses out, and quickly found the area rich in vitality.

'Ah, it's the beast realm', he realized, and increased the speed of his ship and the rate he absorbed Qi.

The beast realm meant that this part of the race would have obstacles in the form of swarms or schools of undersea animals or fish, as well as larger spiritual beast. On the positive side, the richer vitality meant he could afford to move faster. As if on cue, schools of fish began to appear on the sea bed. These schools are dangerous themselves, but they made Ze Long have to decide to cut straight through or go around. If he goes through, he could run into a potential problem that was hidden by the school. Choosing to go around means using extra Qi, and if he has to constantly adjust, the expenditures of energy pile up.

Ze Ling plows through the first school that blocks him, calculating that no big surprises would appear this early in the race. Fortunately for him, his gamble is correct and he continues on unabated unlike some of the other participants. Ze Ling detected the disappearance of a few contestants as large eels rushed for their hiding places to successfully attack people behind him.

Using clues, Ze Ling continues to follow a route that is relatively free of hazards as he sees the entrance to the second half of the sea portion. A large underwater sea cliff peppered with holes is quickly moving closer, and he has to make a choice. The tunnels in the sea cliff never stay the same, so you have to hope you choose correctly. The majority of the tunnels lead to the next section, but a very small amount will end your race early, a tunnel might still have a creature inside, or have a dead end. The tunnels that do lead to the next area aren't equal either, some a longer, or will excessively contain many turns. There is a much more complicated way as well, but most cultivators would not attempt it unless they are desperate. The last option would be to travel over the sea cliff, but the shallow waters are infested with more dangerous sea life than most people would think.

Ze Ling quickly evaluated the scene in front of him, and soon dived into the tunnel of his choice. Once again, his luck was somewhat good as he did have to slow down a bit, but there was not an excessive amount of turns before he exited.

As Ze Ling exited the tunnel, he immediately noticed that the sea was darker and colder, and sign of life had diminished greatly.

"Realm of hungry ghost", he cursed as observe the change.

The name was misleading because there were not any ghost in the race, it just felt that way. With the light gone, lower temperatures, and a strong current that opposed the participants, one could imagine a hungry ghost quickly consuming your stamina.

Ze Ling supplied his racing artifact with more power with the intention of clearing this area as quick as possible.

"This is some bad luck after all", he couldn't help to lament, "If the beast realm was after here, it would have been faster to refill my Qi."

After enduring the raging current for awhile, the pressure finally lessened and Ze Ling could see light from above again. Feeling drained, he knew that he would reach the beach soon and start the first half of the land portion of the race. After ten minutes, he broke the surface of the water and made his way onto the shore before continuing at a slower pace.

'Realm of man', he thought and was relieved, 'As long as I am in this realm, everything cost half the normal amount and I need to prepare for some troublesome realms.'

He maintained the slower pace to recover his strength, and noticed that while most the other challengers did as well, as few took a gamble and sped ahead. This did not bother Ze Ling too much, because he knew they would fail based on the realms left. Once he felt his Qi reserves filled again, he increased his pace so that the amount of energy used, and the amount absorbed was the same. Soon he left the forest, and was climbing the slopes of a mountain as he knew the area after this would be the sky.

Ze Ling immediately feel the change in speed as he entered the second half of the land section.

"Damn, it's the Demi god realm", he really felt his luck as bad, "All that's left for the sky sections are the Asura and God realms, about both are bad or complicated."

Knowing nothing would change, Ze Ling continued as before maintaining his speed while keep his energy levels full. Due to the realm's ability, the climb did not take long and soon Ze Ling could see the entrance to the last part of the race, a sheer cliff.

The racing artifacts would transition after driving off the cliff face, and it would be important to save your energy for the last sprint to the finish. Ze Ling's racing artifact launched off the cliff, and was soon cruising in the air but he felt the influence of the new realm and was distraught.

"It's the Asura realm!", he exclaimed as he looked like he was trying to focus.

Ze Ling was doing his best to follow the course, and monitor his energy levels, but he could not help but remember something from the past. When he first visited Sun & Moon island, he watched a musical group called 'Against the Gods', who played odd instruments called 'guitars', and the drums where different than what they had at their sect. He found their music vulgar and loud, but as he listened he also noticed that his blood felt like it was boiling. This was the almost the same effect that the Asura realm produced, as racers would loose their reason and speed up aggressively. It led many to ultimately losing as they would waste their energy when the lost control.

Ze Ling was doing his best right now to stay calm and focused, which became more difficult if an opponent passed him. He had already seen multiple racing artifacts pass others only to have both accelerate, run out of energy, and fall to the ground. Every second was daunting for him as his blood felt like it was rushing through body, and that 'rock' music echoed in his mind. He slowly felt his will slipping away, and he was about to pour all his strength into the racing artifact when he entered a large cloud. The feeling of aggression slowly cooled off, and he let out a sigh in relief.

Ze Ling exited the other side of the cloud, and saw a terrifying sight. Dark clouds were everywhere, lightning streaked across the sky, and strong winds blew through the skies. He looked ahead and saw that the finish line was not that far away, but based on the weather one could assume that a breakthrough was happening.

"The realm of god", he affirmed as poured more strength into the racing artifact ship.

The finish line might not be far, but he was already mentally drained from resisting in the Asura realm, having to constantly dodge lightning or escape wind gust continued to tax his mind. Ze Ling sprinted forward towards the finish line, and for once he could not see anyone close to him.

He became exited, 'Finally, after all the second place finishes, I am going to take first and be the champion!'

He was hanging on as powerful wind gusts would swirl around causing him to almost lose control, but he found an opening at sprinted forward. Suddenly, he hit the brakes as a massively large and powerful lightning bolt struck right in front of him. As soon as the way cleared, Ze Ling urged the small flying ship forward. He was just about to cross the floating circular finish line, when half a breathe before he reached it, another ship screamed passed him and crossed the line.

Ze Ling looked in horror as he crossed, as he just realized that last lightning strike caused him to come in second place, again.

A man was leading three others through a forest on the eastern coast of the Wu continent. Based on the larger size of the man, and the weakened state of the other three, most who saw it would think that something malicious was happening. Soon, the man reached a place where a collection of large boulders were piled up, and walked around to a certain spot where he pulled out a token. After a few moments, a part of the forest floor collapsed into stairs, and the man roughly dragged them down. The collapsed portion soon rose, and everything returned back to normal.

The man continued to haphazardly guide his captives through tunnels until the reached larger caverns that had the appearance of others living there. Unfortunately, based on what the rooms looked like, their fate would be a grisly one. Wall scrolls were hung, but the ink was slightly the wrong color, a dark red instead of black. Weapons were also on display, but there nature seemed to suggest that they were not used to quickly kill someone. The man walked through the odd room that looked both well arranged, but contained a dark cruelty.

"Sect master, I brought the sacrifices", the man said as he waited at the entrance of another cavern.

"Bring them", a sultry feminine voice answered.

The man proceeded to enter and knelt before a beautiful woman wearing red robes and veil with intricate hair pins arranged in her hair. When she saw the three with bags on their heads entered, she frowned.

"What is the meaning of this?", the woman asked, "You have not failed me yet until now, why are there only three?"

The man visibly shook at her words before responding, "I can only apologize by offering my own blood to you as an apology. Something has changed on the continent, and most of the slaves were bought or freed. These three were the only ones I can take without alerting the patrols the sects send out."

The woman had a scornful look on her face, but she did not make a moves. The last month had been terrible as the orthodox sects had come out in force, and killed every disciple and elder of her Blood Moon sect with only her and an inner court disciple surviving.

"Is there anything else to report?", she asked.

"I was still unable to contact anyone from the alliance", the man reported, "But from the limited information I was able to safely hear, it appears the source of strength that the orthodox sects used to grow is an island in between the three continents."