Nine Paths of Asura-Original Wuxia

Chapter 42- Daring to Play With Lightning

Back up on the pillar, Lineir was blissfully unaware of the great sects slowly ascending the pillar. Most of them had also followed Patriarch Goldive's examples and given up on bringing the full might of their followers with them. On this pillar... only personal strength mattered, groups would be at a disadvantage!

"Master, is it not odd, there have been no golems or traps for a long while. I almost feel as if I am lost in time, ascending the stairway to the Heavens! Perhaps I really died back there and am now just walking away from the earth?" Lineir mused vaguely as he continued up. His eyes drifted to the sides of the pillar where an awe inspiring view awaited. Clear blue for miles and a light white veil of clouds which seemed like an ocean in the sky, frothing bubbles gently swirling on top.

"Dead your grandmother, take it from one who's come close, you're definitely not." Mei irately said. She was clearly not amused at being reminded of her state.

"Sorry, sorry! I'll keep cultivating for now." Eventually, the fifth tier core ran out and Lineir popped in the sixth tier. It barely fit. He had to cram his jaw open. Moaning, he grumbled,

"My god that was uncomfortable, it felt like my jaw was going to snap!"

Mei had no sympathy at all,

"Please, kiddo, what do you think we have to do to cultivate tenth tier cores, some of the larger ones are as big as watermelons!" Lineir's eyes grew round at the thought of getting one of those in.

"Do you actually dislocate the jaw or something?" he said absentmindedly.

"No you idiot, at that level you just absorb it with your hands... "

A piercing roar growled its way through the skies.

GRAAAAAAAAAWWWRRR!

Lineir shuddered,

 "that sounded almost like... wait... no way... it can't be!"

GRAAAAAAAAAWRRRR!!!!

He paled,

"It is her isn't it..." Mei could only agree,

"Yes... that dragon girl, she's definitely around. Now don't you wish it was still quiet?"

Lineir sighed, fate itself was definitely broken, if he was to meet that crazy dragon girl, who was apparently a princess on this mad pillar to the heavens.

"Tell me Mei, if I come across her again, what's my plan?"

Mei mentally shrugged,

"She's only dragonkin I think. Not as powerful as I first thought, definitely not tenth tier, maybe ninth at best. More likely, based on the evidence I'd say she was seventh or eighth tier. Still enough to easily beat you however. In dragonform she's just too large for somebody of your level to take care of. You need to master the art of authority before you can take on large opponents. Your only hope if she comes is to hide quickly, and then run away when she's not looking. Keep ascending, there's no use worrying about something that could come at any time. From the sound of it, she's not as high up as you."

Lineir sighed. 

"The art of authority, when will I be strong enough to master that?" The art of authority was what Mei called the ability to distribute force. Essentially, if you cut into something, even if your blade was sharp enough, you can only cause so much damage. Take the False Water Serpent for example. No matter how sharp Lineir's blade might be, he could only deal so much damage because the cuts he caused were but a fraction of its total size! However, a master with authority was different. A single cut from them could project the force of a cut far beyond the length of the actual blade. Where Lineir would leave a scratch, the master might completely cut clean through a large enemy. That was why size was not necessarily a good thing at the higher levels. No matter how much girth you had, a master would simply consider that a larger target.

"Damnit it's been a while, that's a lot of golems. And Heavens... they just keep getting bigger!"

 These golems were indeed numerous, a good ten were patrolling randomly in front of Lineir, and there was no clear cut way through without attracting attention. Furthermore, they were enormous, a full half bigger than the already enormous golems before. Additionally... two of them were obsidian instead of silver. Lineir mentally plotted a path around those. They made a shiver run down his spine as something told him to stay away.