34 Reaching The Floating Continen (1/2)
Sadly, Shin Sumi had no way to really test the different abilities she imagined the Copper Bell would have. As of things were now, she was running alone on the floating island path.
Given the fact that she had been one of the first Honorary Disciples to reach the second stage of the trial and she had passed Tai Bu a few days ago, she was more serene than before.
She didn't go through another cross-roads platform, and she was certain the other light pillar that had illuminated the blood red sky before hers was too far away to correspond to a path close to hers.
Taking short breaks at a time, Shin Sumi didn't dare rest too much.
”I can't let the yellow disciple from before catch up with me. I'm sure he would use any opportunity he gets to take revenge on me. Plus, I didn't even tie him up or anything, I have no idea how long he was out for after I struck him and left.”
Shin Sumi hesitated for only a split second. A flash of remorse showed up on her boy face before dissipating.
It wasn't without reason that she decided to let Tai Bu free of restraints. She had imagined what would have happened if she had left him tied up on a place like the cross-roads canyon. Surely the next disciple to pass through would take advantage of the situation.
Although Shin Sumi had killed before, it was never out of pleasure. But sadly she knew that it wasn't the case for everyone in the Dark Sky Starry Sect.
Leaving Tai Bu defenseless was akin to condemning him to die. Although his blood wouldn't stain her own hands, how could she allow something like that to happen voluntarily?!
”Besides, the whole point of this Rising Star Tournament is to raise the level of the future Liquid Realm Disciples by giving them opportunities and experience. When the war between the Dark Sky Starry Sect and the Sky Earth Sect comes, an asset like a yellow robe reaching the Liquid Realm is precious.”
Only a handful of disciples knew the real purpose of the trial by fire, and Shin Sumi was part of them, due to Elder Zhu's explanations a month before the start of the Tournament.
Shin Sumi let out a long sigh before slipping a Confusion Pill into her mouth. She would do so every day approximately, when she would feel the power of the illusion hiding her identity decline.
”Who would have thought the Immortal World would be so... unholy” she said to herself as she resumed her running along the rocky platforms, ”every legend and myth depicting Immortals praises their holy spirits and enlightenment of the world. But really we are all still humans...”
Humans they were, but there were still perks to being considered an Immortal.
In front of her, Shin Sumi could see the incredibly large and menacing landmass that was the central continent in this blood red world. In fact it was so big that from any point in this pocket of space it still occupied the focus point. For the first time since the beginning of the second stage of the tournament Shin Sumi realized that she indeed had been advancing closer to the landmass.
She had no idea how much longer it would take to reach the central point where, she imagined, all paths would converge, but she was certain it could be counted in months.
A greenish light pulsed slowly on her wrist before the little grey nut appeared, instantly moving to her open palm. Without stopping, Shin Sumi retrieved what the nut had just finished refining and put it in her bag of holding.
”Yellow robed disciples really are something else...” she murmured at the sight of the few hundreds of high grade spirit stones,” his master must have showered him with resources for a good while. To bad it all ended up in my hand hahaha!”
Shin Sumi wasn't stupid. Although she didn't know his name or his ranking, it had been easy to reach the conclusion that Tai Bu had a master in the Elders rank.
The artifacts that she had stolen from him were anything but ordinary, especially that coiled leather whip. Ever since Tai Bu had deflected a full strength sword strike from the Gold Tyrant Flying Sword using the whip it could only be extraordinary.
The black leather seemed completely normal, as would a weapon held by a mortal, but somehow exuded a powerful aura.
By probing the weapon with her divine sense, Shin Sumi suffered a backlash of Shinsoo energy, forcing a mouthful of blood out of her lips.
It didn't take too long to recover but now her face was livid as she started to understand what was going on.
The Flaming Whip was an artifact that could almost be considered on par with the Gold Tyrant Flying Sword and although Tai Bu's master had given it to his disciple, the weapon wasn't made his.
From what she had gathered from her own experiences of bonding with a powerful weapon, there was no way the link between a measly Tai Bu and the Flaming Whip was this strong. In fact, Shin Sumi was certain that during her probing, it was Elder Peng's divine sense that had rebuted her.
”As of now, I can't bond with it and use it as my own. Unless its true master allows me to, the whip can't be mine until I'm strong enough to overcome the previous bonding” she thought while circulating her Shinsoo along her meridians to recover for the losses due to the backlash, ”since its master isn't in this spatial dimension they shouldn't have been able my probe, but it would only bring trouble if I came out of this tournament with the whip in hand. I need to do something!”
Concentrating on the warm power of the Copper Bell gathered inside her dantian, Shin Sumi decided to test something.
Slowly directing the flow of energy along her arm into the Flaming Whip, she felt the weapon change inside her hand.
Just as her own appearance changed when she consumed a Confusion Pill, the whip distorted in a bizarre manner.
The more Copper Bell power she poured into it, the more different the Flaming Whip was from its original state.
Wanting to test the limits of the change, Shin Sumi retracted all the Yang type power from her own body, redirecting all the Copper Bell's illusory Shinsoo to the weapon.
As the name suggested, the Flaming Whip was a strong Yang oriented weapon but now in the matter of seconds, its entire length had been covered in... ice?!
And that was not the end to the change! The whip shrank while emitting a furious whistling that could sting the soul.
In total, no more than four breaths of time had passed and the famed Flaming Whip had turned into something completely different.
Because the weapon wasn't hers, Shin Sumi was still unable to use it, and the Copper Bell had acted only on a superficial level. In appearance the Flaming Whip now resembled an ice spear, even giving off a strong Yin type energy pressure.
On top of it all, the Copper Bell restricted that pressure outside of Shin Sumi's own perception field, allowing the power of the weapon to be completely hidden to any outsider as long as they were probing her with a divine sense weaker than the Copper Bell's capacity.
Shin Sumi once again resumed her progression, happy to have discovered something new about the Copper Bell.
”I wonder who created that artifact. It must have been a really powerful Immortal. The bell's power can completely distort reality to such an extent that even an expert cannot read through its illusions.”
All the while she recalled her features that were that of a young man. Checking her bag of holding with her divine sense, it was an easy feat to count the number of Confusion Pills that she possessed.
As soon as the number popped into her mind, Shin Sumi calculated.
”At this rate, I can easily keep up my disguise for at least three more months” she thought. ”I should be one of the more advanced on the path to the central floating island, so the probability of running into someone else is low as long as there are no other crossways.”
”Maybe I can save some Confusion Pills for the time being. After all no one can see me and - AIEEE!!”
Her stream of thoughts was dispelled instantly by a sharp pain from her arm.
”Little nut, what are you doing ?! That hurts you know!” she cursed out loud.
Ever since starting her cultivation, Shin Sumi's field of perception had been greatly enhanced by her growing capacity to handle Shinsoo. In fact the great number of Shinsoo openings she had unclogged through the use of countless resources had been the biggest factor in that.
Her divine sense was still a bit weak when it came to intensity, but when talking about the radius at which it could be used, Shin Sumi could be considered top grade.
Because of that, during her training in the back mountains of the sect's training grounds, Shin Sumi had felt the little grey nut bite her less and less. Now Shin Sumi would register any source of danger faster thanks to her divine sense than with the nut's warnings.
”There is nothing dangerous around here, no need to bite me like that!”
The circular red dotted line on her fair skin hadn't disappeared yet when another row of invisible teeth pricked her again.
Forcefully stopping, Shin Sumi's face instantly grew serious. Unknowingly, she raised a fist and her other hand came to rest on her bag of holding, ready to take out the Gold Tyrant Flying Sword at a moment's notice.
In the Grand Hall where the Elders of the Dark Sky Starry Sect were gathered, a few pairs of eyes were focused on the red robed boy that had overcame their expectations twice now.