Vindicator’s Wrath - Chapter 16

Yan’s words elated Hong Wu. “Treasure hunting! Fantastic, what other valuables does this forest hide?”

“Who can say? We’ll have to search to find out.”

Stirring herself into a frenzy, Hong Wu breathlessly exclaimed, “What’s inside? Have you opened it yet?”

Hearing this, Yan’s face became awkward. “I can’t open it.”

Hong Wu’s excitement significantly dampened at this, “Then how do we know what we have is worth something?”

“Don’t worry, I asked the Hu guy a few subtle questions. He called it a bag of holdin. Ya need to be able to pour yer divine sense into an item before you can open something like this. I ain’t far away from layer four of Qi Condensation. Should be able to do it by then.”

With that, the girls had a renewed drive to cultivate. Hong Wu and Yan spent the next month relentlessly cultivating to increase their strength.

Hong Wu was able to form her eighth strand of spiritual qi bringing her into the third layer of Qi Condensation. With her newfound power, Hong Wu was able to begin training her second spell, Frozen Blade.

Learning this spell greatly pleased Hong Wu do to its applicability in combat. Frozen Blade was able condense the moisture in the air with the spell caster’s spiritual qi into a short, sharp blade of ice. This blade could be used as a short sword or launched at enemies, but the true strength of the spell lied in its ability to scale with the amount of spiritual qi used. Increasing the spiritual qi output could increase the durability, length, and number of blades that appeared. This gave the advantage of Frozen Blade’s utility increasing with the cultivator’s cultivation base.

The only drawback was its difficulty. Because the spell demanded that cultivators determine the correct quantity of spiritual qi necessary for condensing the water in the air to the desired shape, there was a higher demand for control of one’s power in comparison to Shrouding Fog. Even after learning the method of producing a Frozen Blade, one still had to match the ratio of spiritual qi with the desired density, length, shape, speed, and distance it needed to travel to hit the desired target. Too little and the spell would collapse before properly forming; too much and it would shatter spraying shards of ice everywhere. The danger of injuring oneself when practicing this spell forced novices to slowly build experience, wasting much of their spiritual qi.

By the end of the month, Hong Wu was able to condense a single, transparent Frozen Blade of about a quarter meter in length. Her accuracy in hitting targets was best at about five to fifteen meters, and would often miss if her mark was further off.

In comparison Yan was still superior to Hong Wu. Yan could condense two translucent blades simultaneously. Her blades gave of a dim, white aura; when Hong Wu looked at them she felt a cold, sharp sting in her eyes that made her want to look away. In addition, her range was double that of Hong Wu, and the speed of Yan’s blades was almost too fast for Hong Wu to see.

After the month of arduous training, Yan was finally able to reach the fourth layer of Qi Condensation and open the bag of holding. What emerged from the bag delighted the girls immeasurably. “Spirit stones! And not just a few either!”

In front of the pair was a small mound of gray stones with swirling clouds of spiritual qi inside. “There has to be almost a hundred here! We’re rich!”

“Don get too ahead of yerself, we’re gonna need to trade a lot of this for things we need.”

Trying not to get too enamored by their newfound wealth, Hong Wu anxiously queried, “Anything else?”

Next, Yan pulled out two items. The first was a small, round cauldron, about thirty centimeters in diameter and height, that smelled distinctly of medicine. The bronze cauldron was a three legged basin with tiny runes carved around the side that neither girl could make sense of. The lid was simple and unadorned, but when Hong Wu removed it, she noticed similar runes carved on the inside of the lid.

The second item was a peculiar sword. This strange sword had no hilt and its handle was too short, barely capable of being grasped by one hand. The handle and blade all seemed to be forged from the same ingot of dull gray iron, but what surprised the two girls the most was its treacherous edge. Hidden away after hundreds of years and the blade could split a hair it twain.

The pair marveled at the blade for a long time before turning their attention to the last three objects from the bag. Three pieces of green jade, each carved with different characters, laid before Hong Wu and Yan. “What are these?” Hong Wu asked with mild contempt, picking up the jade slip with the name ‘Combustion Configuration’ engraved into the stone.

After seeing the mountain of spirit stones, mysterious cauldron, and deadly sword, the three jade slips seemed lackluster in comparison. Jade was a precious material for mortals to be sure, but for cultivators, material wealth was meaningless. The only things that cultivators valued were spirit stones, cultivation resources, and cultivator tools like the cauldron and sword.

Yan expression showed her bewilderment as well. Yan picked one labeled ‘Initiate Apothecary’ and inspected it carefully. “What if?”

Yan trailed off before closing her eyes. She showed extreme focus for a moment. After a quarter of a minute her eyes snapped open with glee. “I was right!”

“What do you mean you were right? About what? What is it?”

“These jade slips hold information about cultivation! Ya have to use divine sense to read them. This one’s an introduction to alchemy.”

Yan eagerly picked up the third slip labeled ‘Flying Sword.’ “This one’s even more amazin! It tells ya how to control the sword with your mind!”

Energized by these shocking revelations, Hong Wu held out the jade slip in her hand and passed it to Yan. “What about this one? What does this one say?”

Yan closed her eyes again and tried to read the third jade slip. Yan seemed engrossed in the contents it held. Hong Wu was left on pins and needles waiting restlessly for Yan to come out of her trance. Almost ten minutes later, Yan finally opened her eyes. Her mouth hung open, her gaze fixated upon the jade in her hand. “Well!?” Hong Wu coaxed, losing all patience.

“It is an entirely new way of cultivatin,” Yan marveled, “instead of focusin on spells it’s for pumpin strength directly into the body. This has to be the most valuable thing yet!”

Caught up in Yan’s furor Hong Wu also became quite fervent, even if she did not quite understand everything Yan was saying.

Passion shone in Yan’s eyes. Clearly she had just made a decision. “Forget what I said earlier. We ain’t tradin this stuff for anything. We’re gonna use this to become stronger than all those bitches. Hell, we’ll probably be the strongest Qi Condensation cultivators in the entire sect!”

As always thanks for reading! Let me know what you think in the comments.