Silence.
Dying is one thing. I can risk my life to continue the trial if the risk is worth it, but for now, we’re going in blind. I can’t ask my companions to accompany me, because from what I can tell, advancing means certain death.
This time, a pause. WHAT YOU SAY IS REASONABLE, the Kraken said. AS AN ILLUSORY DEMON, I’VE LIVED LONG AND EXPERIENCED MUCH. IF I WERE TO BRING MY FULL STRENGTH TO BEAR, YOU JUNIORS WOULD BE REDUCED TO NOTHING BUT FISH FOOD IN AN INSTANT. THEREFORE, I PROMISE TO LIMIT MY STRENGTH TO THE INITIATION REALM. THE VERY LOWEST LEVEL OF THE INITIATION REALM. IN HUMAN STANDARDS, THIS IS THE EQUIVALENT OF AN ARMED INITIAL-BLOOD-AWAKENING CULTIVATOR.
BEFORE YOU PROTEST AGAIN, LET ME BE CLEAR: YOU MUST ONLY EVADE AND SURVIVE MY ATTACKS LONG ENOUGH TO PASS THROUGH THE GATE. I KNOW ALL YOUR MEANS, SO ANYTHING YOU USE IS APPROPRIATE. PROCEED AS YOU PLEASE.
The Kraken shut its violet eyes, leaving them just outside the darkness with only the golden gate to illuminate their way forward.
Well, that went well, Huxian said. I no longer feel like prostrating, so I take it he’s already reduced his strength.
But he’s still quite dangerous, Cha Ming said. I’ve never clashed with transcendents before, but from what I know, they’re not just stronger by a single level. They’re at least an order of magnitude stronger.
Not just an order of magnitude, Gong Shuren said. They hold dominion over natural forces. In the Ling Nan Plane proper, the moment a transcendent even tries using this power, whether intentional or not, the plane revolts and attacks them. Very few people can perfectly restrain their powers when exerting themselves, which is why transcendents tend not to fight or craft treasures on the Ling Nan Plane if they can help it.
But this isn’t the Ling Nan Plane, Cha Ming said. He can use his powers fully. Given that we’re now familiar with each other’s abilities, we can only use treasures and formations to tilt the odds in our favor. He summoned a few dozen talismans, a full set of 1,080 formation flags, the same amount of combat sigils, and a dozen pills. The talismans are mostly restrictive, suppressing, and group-healing talismans. I have nothing with much offense save one fire-based talisman, which isn’t terribly useful here anyway. These dozen pills can replenish vital energy, and some can even boost our cultivation for a short time.
At a high cost, Gong Shuren said.
At a high cost, Cha Ming agreed. We’d obtain about a one-minute boost to our body’s strength, but it will take days to recover. I tailored some to Huxian and his friends, and two of them are suitable for humans. Will we be physically safe after this trial?
The next trial is the Trial of Puzzles, so we need not worry once we get to the other side, Gong Shuren said. She summoned five objects, the first one being a small gourd. I have ten drops of Waters of Life in case of serious injuries. If we all take one just before charging over, it might save us from otherwise lethal blows. The second and third ones were a brush and a compass. These two are reserved for the next trial. I’ll put them away if you don’t have a use for them.
We shouldn’t need them, Cha Ming said. He motioned to the last two objects. What are those two talismans? I’ve never seen anything quite like them.
Every participant is given two transcendent-grade talismans from the Sea God Plane, Gong Shuren said. They greatly increase the speed of the user underwater for a short time. It’s another reason why this trial usually isn’t lethal.
But our situation is different, Cha Ming said. We don’t have two people; we have seven. Even if Huxian can use spatial powers to manipulate the location of his friends, and even store them inside an independent space, that still makes three of us.
She nodded and flicked out a blue talisman to Cha Ming. “You’re the slowest among us underwater, so you should have one.” She then looked to Huxian. “I’d offer you one, but it seems you’re even faster than I am.”
Huxian snorted in response but looked at the darkness gravely.
“Cha Ming?”
Cha Ming, who’d just received her talisman, couldn’t help but gaze at it in awe. He was a talisman artist, an elder-level one at that, but he’d never seen anything like this before. It was a simple piece of white parchment painted with blue ink, but the depth and intensity of the lines weren’t like anything he’d ever seen.
“Cha Ming? Cha Ming?” Gon Shuren said.
He heard nothing. He saw nothing. He felt nothing as he was floating in a sea of blue runes that surrounded and shackled him. These tiny restrictions were the essence of resistance inherent to water and all liquids. His Flow Talisman could greatly reduce the effect of these runes, though in these transcendent oceans, his Flow Talisman wasn’t very effective.
But from the talisman in his hands, he could sense a deeper purpose. The characters wouldn’t just influence the runes around them but connect to them, forcing them to change. It was like a law or a commandment that demanded that they budge. He realized that this was what he’d been missing; this was the difference between a transcendent and a mortal talisman.
Cha Ming sat cross-legged and sank to the bottom of the transcendent sea. No demons dared wander so close to the gate, so all that surrounded him were dark and heavy waters. They pressed down on him like chains, as though they were aided by something more powerful, something intangible. He sensed tiny shackles coming from each droplet of water. Each one was nearly insignificant. The shackles were karma, and it was through these karmic connections to something
