CH4: The 5th Lock

I stood in the Thunder Eagle Sect's Martial Pavilion with more spirit stones in my soul space than ever. There was almost nothing to buy. Scrolls upon scrolls with different tassels to denote price dangled on great spirit cedar shelves to keep the artifact worms away. I found scrolls on air pressure in the air sections, but they weren't right. Pressure could be water, air, fire, earth, and metal, but in my case, it was soul, particularly my soul. That was the solution I chose instead of something easy like a lift fragment.

All because I had a moment of hope. Sage art was beyond my reach, and I knew that. Even the founder of the Thunder Eagle sect failed to sever his last ties to mortality and was unable to ascend. How many people ascended?

Soul wasn't really something I cultivated. I infused my soul with energy and held it together with a mold. There were no breakthroughs, just a linear path, more like a slight incline than a mountain filled with sheer cliffs, like cultivation.

Through my new fragment, I could feel my pressure grow a little at a time. The soul produced pressure, and I could already manipulate it. The fragment gave me power over how my soul pressure behaved.

It was also dangerous. I could alert someone to my new potential if I made one mistake. What would happen if I did that?

Questions would be asked, and an investigator would be dispatched. Every secret would be forced out of me before the inspector crippled me. That's what happened with innovation here. Those who don't give it up to the sect and don't have the power to keep their secrets are forced to give them up one way or another.

Having a Thunder Eagle Sect Martial Pavilion-approved technique would go a long way toward blending in. I moved to the yang section, where powerful formless techniques existed based on fragments. I searched for anything that was similar to my own fragment. Even a chi fragment might work if I could manipulate my pressure and fragment enough to blend in.

I pulled a 50 mid-grade stone scroll down.

A heavy-set cultivator stuck in the core realm approached me. "Ah, customer. I've heard of you. Atom Newman, the foundation lifer." The man slapped his thigh like he had said the funniest thing ever.

Only by facing Lightning Tribulation could one ascend to the nascent soul realm. The more powerful the lightning, the more powerful the nascent soul's potential. While the tribulation didn't actually ascend the user, it primed the body and soul for the next stage.

"I've heard stories of you as well, Sales Representative Meng Hao. Dragon Trance Steps would pair well with my spirit art, Dragon's Body." I said.

"If you had the fragment for it. Otherwise, the force from the turns will liquify your brain. Only by training with an atmosphere pressure fragment can this technique work. Like a dragon, you will soar through the air. What kind of fragment do you have that is atmosphere- or Pressure-related?" I gave him a questioning look. "If you had an atmosphere pressure fragment, you wouldn't go for this. Cloud Treading is best for that fragment. Customers only look at Dragon Trance Steps if they are young or trying to make an unruly fragment work."

"I can't get past you, can I? I chewed on my lip." Meng Hao mastered getting customers to buy things they never planned for. "Yang Pressure is my new fragment. I can't afford Pheonix Reign 200 mid-grade spirit stones, which is outside my budget." I said.

"Can you put a price on advancement? The older you get, the harder it will be to break through. Trust this poor old man."

Core realm cultivators lived for 500+ years. Meng Hao was 90 but didn't look a day over 25 despite his bulk adding to his age appearance. The man was a known planner and used a technique that increased his defense depending on how much weight he put on.

"I understand your pain. I'm not getting any younger, either. Is there anything that could help me break the 2nd lock?"

"Locks, I never liked that name. Pressure fragments are all similar. The most dangerous part about them is that they can damage the body if used improperly. It takes a carefully crafted technique and ten thousand hours of preparation to begin using one. Have you heard of the Yang Star Siruis technique? It uses pressure like lift only 20 mid-grade spirit stones," Meng Hao said.

"I'm guessing it's weak."

"Quite the opposite. It's strong and can be used with any pressure fragment. It will also kill you without some of these." The man slammed a case of pill bottles on a nearby shined cedar desk. 100 spirit stones a case. "Pop one of these before training, and for 5 minutes, you will be protected from your fragments' pressure. With your talent, you probably won't need many pills. Have a bottle on the house with your purchase," Meng Hao said.

The man's grin was overbearing as hell. How many people had he conned into buying a powerful and inexpensive technique? How many fell into bankruptcy or, worse, debt to the shop from buying these pills? The first bottle was free, which meant he knew I would be back.

"Sure, it sounds like a great deal." I exchanged the stones and took both.

"Be sure to take the pills before you practice that technique. We don't want any accidents. They are bad for business," Meng Hao said.

…

I read the scroll in the putrid flesh pits atop a great mushroom. Gases rose and fell across the fetid land as large eyes stared at me from brackish waters. Hungry ghosts passed in clusters as more bodies rode the slide down to the pit where resentment lived. The scroll's words bunched together on my third read. Iron Crows swept in to get their fill on the bodies of gifted experts that shined a little too brightly to live on Honor Mountain.

A smile graced my lips as I threw back a pill to increase focus. The technique was about gathering pressure in the body and then moving it and the body with it. Like the brightest star in the sky, the user would shine among other disciples.

It was an enhancement technique masquerading as a movement. It would finish the job and break the 3rd lock while I was at it. There would be no fast movements from the technique. That was for sure. I sucked in a breath and released it.

I stared at the hungry ghost in the core realm. On the one hand, I practiced the soul arrow technique. Forming it took around an hour, but I hoped that if I continued to create and release it, eventually, I could lower the time to seconds.

When I focused, I felt my fragment burn chi, and the arrow formed faster. It was like a small part of the rules had changed. My fragment could make it easier to manipulate pressure and ease the strain on my soul.

That possibility led me to a choice: Do I continue to make it easier, or do I hasten my progress? If I used my fragment to make it more difficult to manipulate my pressure, wouldn't that strengthen my ability to manipulate pressure? It was like going to the gym or slowly feeding my soul. At first, it would be hard, but if I kept at it and held my discipline, I could become quite powerful.

With all my focus on my fragment, I made it a little harder to use pressure, turning my one-arrow-per-hour rate to 4 arrows per hour.

I decided not to go for the core realm yet. Lui Fang needed to have her moment ascending to the Nascent Soul realm. If I reached the core realm, it might look like I was stealing her thunder, and my girlfriend was a prideful woman.

…

The night of the new moon was soon arriving, and Elder Yu had not given her any more spirit stones. Did he know Atom gave her 1000 and punished her for accepting them? That wasn't fair. Her family needed them. She needed them. Her duel core raged and flooded the room with hungry phantom chi. Rare birds fluttered from their roots and hid in the corners of her hidden realm as she struggled to reign herself in. This was all Atom's fault.

He hadn't seen her in 5 days, and only seven left.

A bell rang, signaling a visitor. She constrained herself.

The last person she expected stood outside her door with a beautiful bouquet of blue spider lilies. Atom Newman stood at the edge of the dimensional door dressed better than he had in a long time. Despite giving her 1000 mid-grade spirit stones, he looked like the hit didn't cost him much.

She assumed he had met another generous tipper or found an additional income stream. His black silk Taoist robe with tiny stars on its sleeves gave him an incredible appearance. For once, he looked more like a sect member than a servant.

There was light in his eyes, hope that wasn't there before. She allowed him entry.

"Were you successful?"

"I broke the second and third locks. Two more, and maybe I will look like my old self again." Atom's smile was contagious.

She smiled gently at him.

"How did you manage that?" Liu Fang asked.

"Meng Hao swindled me in a way that cost me little." Atom said.

She knew what he meant. That man had led more than one Dao Seedling to financial ruin. It was good to know her boyfriend sent him on a trip instead. How didn't matter? Atom didn't look like he was buried under a mountain of debt.

"You look beautiful this evening, like the antidote to a poison I'm dying of."

She understood, but his words were a little off. He was like raw materials, unrefined. Without a firm hand and a fire, he wouldn't amount to much. The irony wasn't lost on her. Days were all he had left, and then she would turn him into a pill to protect her from lightning tribulation.

Tribulation Peak, the highest point on Honored Mountain, was where she had gained the qualifications to reach the nascent soul realm.

He reached out and took her hand in his rough, calloused paw. Lui Fang struggled to keep the cringe off her face. Core realm cultivators didn't develop callouses; there was no need. Mortal weaknesses disgusted her, like his grey and white hair and too many wrinkles. At 35, Atom was already much too old looking for her. Once she reached Nascent Soul, her body would change. She might appear as her 11-year-old self.

The thought of Atom defeating a core realm monster or cultivator never crossed her mind. It was impossible.

"I plan to hunt a core realm hungry ghost tomorrow."

"You can't. What if you died? Where would that leave me." She stood up and felt distraught.

Atom chuckled at her like she was 11 again. "I chose my target well and a long-range technique." 

That was only a part of the problem. There was more to fighting core realm spirit beasts. Each had an inborn technique and had to rely upon it for survival. If Atom found a defensive or revenge type, then even if he killed it, he would be hit back with deadly force. Didn't he value his own life?

"I wanted to tell you I'm about to go through my Lightning Tribulation. When I reach the nascent soul realm, I will have the power to subdue a core realm beast for you to slay."

He nodded his head. All she needed to do was turn her hand, and any core realm beast she desired would bow its head. It was expensive, but clans could proposition core elders to subdue core realm monsters.

"I understand the tribulation is hard on even Dao Seedlings."

"Even among the gifted, I am superior and have Elder Yu."

Being in the Nascent Soul realm automatically puts a core disciple on the path to becoming a Pillar Elder. All she needed was a way to handle the lightning. Elder Yu had been a popular Core Disciple and used many girls as pills to shield him from the tribulation. She had only Atom Newman, an outer disciple who was either foolish or optimistic enough to believe they would fall in love.

His expression was the opposite of hopeful. "Do you have any lightning sealing formations? They are hard to make, but I can get you 10 by New Moon. That's when you plan to go through with it. How will the smog affect the lightning if it's below the alchemy labs?"

She shook her head. "That's where we will meet before it begins. I don't have the stones for them."

"I've been saving up to buy you from your father." Her eyes widened.

Depending on her clan's price and state, he might buy her for as little as 40,000 mid-grade spirit stones. Her father had other daughters and sons in the Blazing Phoenix and Ice Crane sects. Their clan needed the spirit stones, and Lui Han would sell her off without a second thought. Her only hope to marry someone of status and not a mere wealthy man was to ascend to the next realm and consolidate her position as a once-in-a-generation talent. Nascent Soul before 20 was a feat.

"He would not accept someone weaker than me as my husband, even if you agreed to the shame of taking the Lui name instead of me taking your name. Newman Fang doesn't sound right, I'm afraid," Lui Fang said.

"In my culture, it would be Fang Newman, and most would refer to you as Mrs. Newman," Atom said.

On the inside, she cringed. "Thank you for the flowers, but I must concentrate on my upcoming tribulation. Please don't contact me until the new moon. You already know where to go," Lui Fang said.

His brows wrinkled, but she ignored them. Now was not the time to focus on him when his job was nearly done.

…

My feet left the ground under pressure, taking me to the flesh pit. I floated down upon my mushroom in the dark of the night. The moon was waning. Soon, it would be time to meet her again. My soul arrow formed and spun to my control in only an hour.

I pointed at a tree, and it flew fast enough to appear to be teleported. Wood exploded, and the tree's life was snuffed out. Something fundamental within it had been attacked directly.

Sweat poured down my face at the strain. All things being equal, I should be able to get an arrow off in 15 minutes without restraints. I sucked in a breath and exhaled, staring at my target.

This would either spell my doom or open the way to the core realm. After this, I would see Lui Fang's tribulation, and then I could finally move forward. After a decade trapped in the same realm, I could leap forward.

I let my focus land on the creature and slowly formed an arrow. The creature was on the other side of the flesh pit, so I should be safe.

Chi filled my soul space instead of going back into the either. The space almost imperceptibly expanded a little every second, but it was there. It was a building reserve in case, for whatever reason, my chi generation wasn't enough. 3 days since I began it, my soul's space had increased by square kilometers. When I looked into the expanse, I saw clusters of chi crystals. Chi from my fragments lingered there, moving through the space.

Soul cultivation kept giving. I had a larger space than ever and immense reserves. Everything looked up, so why did I feel like darkness was approaching? My mind said things were great, but my gut said prepare for impact.

The hungry ghost moved into position. It saw the spirit of some poor guy dumped not long ago and began chowing down on his resentment. Numerous ribs-turned mandibles held the corpse in place as the soul tried to escape the grasp of the monster. Black guts spilled up from the monster's gaping maw and wrapped around the soul of the poor bastard.

I watched the spirit struggle and the black guts tighten around their prey. The guts began to creep back into the body of the hungry ghost, taking the poor spirit with them. I sucked in a breath and then released it. My arrow spun as all three rings lifted to empower instead of merely stabilizing. The arrow flew at incredible speeds and pierced the monster through the head.

Like throwing a rock at a mirror cracks, it appeared in the image of the hungry ghost. It remained frozen, cracked, but still in one piece until the spirit struggled again. Pieces fell and broke into more pieces.

The fifth lock vanished, and my path to the core realm became clear. I held back out of respect for Lui Fang and her upcoming Tribulation. There was no need to appear like I was out-staged the woman.