As every day before, Jiang Chen finished his channeling cultivation, then guided the newborn Dao essence into position within his Celestial Palace, one step closer to his foundation.
When the cultivation ended, he did not rest. He sat at the desk by lamplight and began copying the Supreme Violet Dao Scripture.
Only the two siblings lived there, in the main room, so the south room had become a study.
The senior brothers had long warned him how cold Xiao Ironface could be, so Jiang Chen copied with a straight back and total care. Every missed lesson was a real loss — the arts classes mattered too much. So he copied as fast as he could without error.
Until —
"Brother, what are you doing?"
Jiang An'an had slipped into the study without a sound, her big black eyes full of curiosity.
"..." Jiang Chen said, "Practicing my handwriting."
"Why suddenly practice handwriting?"
Jiang Chen said gravely: "There's a saying — the writing reveals the man. Read a man's hand, know his honesty. The masters taught this, didn't they? Calligraphy is important, An'an. You should practice more too."
"How much longer will it take..."
"...Quite a while." Jiang Chen said: "You go to sleep first tonight."
"Oh..."
"What's wrong? Something on your mind?"
"No... nothing..."
She turned and left the study, sighing like a little adult.
Stupid old man. Made me copy so many words. Now the study's taken — where am I supposed to copy?
It was not that the study could not hold both of them. It was that she did not want her brother to know she had been punished with copying.
She thought a moment, dragged a small stool into the bedroom, spread out paper and brush, and crouched in front of the stool to copy.
"Heaven and earth, dark and yellow; the cosmos vast, flood and waste; the sun and moon wax and wane; stars hang, arrayed in rows..."
She glanced at the study. The lamp was still burning. Mmm. Keep copying.
* * *
The moon stood at its zenith. Jiang Chen rubbed his wrist, blew the ink dry, snuffed the lamp, and returned to the bedroom. Even with his strength and speed, he was nowhere near a hundred copies — but tonight there was something more important.
Tonight was the fifteenth of the ninth month. Challenge day in the Ethereal Realm.
An'an was already asleep. He tucked the blanket around her, then lay down on his own bed.
The silver moon mark on his palm brightened and grew warm. He closed his eyes, and his spirit entered the Ethereal Realm.
The script on the sundial had changed: [The master of the Jade Altar has announced a challenge. It begins in one quarter-hour.]
The Jade Altar's master had finally decided to challenge!
Jiang Chen felt urgency — and a strange relief, like a boot finally dropping.
Last month, on the fifteenth of the eighth month, the Jade Altar's master had abstained again. Zhuo Lie's shadow had lain heavy on the man. But it also meant that this time, after so many abstentions, the challenger would come for blood.
Jiang Chen did nothing extra. He emptied his mind and waited.
When the sundial changed, a round jade platform rose beneath him and carried him up out of the Dongzhen Ruins, into the blazing river of stars.
The platform was plain, unadorned, but ancient breath flowed from it. Its surface was scarred — blade marks, sword cuts, burns, scorch — beyond counting, and heavy with the feel of slaughter.
This was his Sword Dueling Platform. Since gaining the Void Key and entering the Ethereal Realm, he had never used it. First, because he knew his strength would only get him slaughtered. Second... every summoning of the platform cost ten Merit.
The platform produced no income beyond the Blessed Land's natural yield, so Jiang Chen hoarded his Merit — especially after tasting the Violet Dawn Sword Art's power, he knew how precious Merit was.
Soon he could see, from deep in the stars, another platform flying toward him, identical in shape. A figure in black robes stood upon it, robes streaming. The two platforms accelerated through the void and slammed together.
Two small platforms merged into one large. Jiang Chen and his opponent stood at opposite ends. The joined platform was no different, only larger — a hundred paces across. This, Jiang Chen knew, was the true arena.
By the Ethereal Realm's special rules, Jiang Chen could not see his opponent's face. But he heard his voice.
"Since you crushed me last time, I have prepared for this battle for half a year!" the Jade Altar's master said. "I have finally mastered a remnant move of the ancient Nine Swords of the Gentleman. I beg you to try it!"
The Nine Swords of the Gentleman? Sounded very strong. A Confucian disciple?
Even as he thought it, Jiang Chen was already circulating his true essence, ready. Essence spent in the Ethereal Realm was not real, so he could pour everything into the fight. The Violet Dawn Sword Art was an extraordinary sword canon; only with full essence behind it did it show its true power.
He would now show the strongest state he had never shown anyone.
"The movement of Heaven is strong; thus the gentleman strives without cease!"
Jiang Chen heard the Jade Altar's master recite this softly.
Then he saw a sword. A sword plain and unremarkable. It simply went forward — and forward. A mountain rose before it; it pierced the mountain. A river cut across; it severed the river. The sky was wide and boundless ahead; it stabbed at the sky!
It would not bend. It would not stop.
It split stone, felled forest, slew demons, punished evil... it struck at everything that stood in its way, whatever it was!
Jiang Chen still held his sword. The Dao essence in his Celestial Palace boiled and surged; the killing move of the Violet Dawn Sword Art was nearly instinct by now. But that sword had already pierced his heart.
He was dead.
The Jade Altar's master stared at the suddenly empty platform, stunned. He had great faith in the Nine Swords, lost to history — but he also remembered how strong his opponent was.
This battle had been a crushing. A sweeping.
He had won.
The master of the Jade Altar — no, now the master of the Dongzhen Ruins, new lord of the twenty-third Blessed Land — stood on the platform, heart surging.
Jiang Chen, fallen to the Jade Altar, had already accepted the loss.
By the yield rules of the upper thirty-six Blessed Lands — each step up a hundred Merit — this month he would harvest only 1,750 Merit. A full hundred less.
The Blessed Lands of the Ethereal Realm were only names; they had nothing to do with the true lands of the living world. So the fall from Dongzhen Ruins to Jade Altar changed nothing — the same dreamlike, immortal-mist space, the same sundial. Only the yield differed.
Jiang Chen thought, and silently summoned the Deduction Platform.
His 1,850 Merit from the eighth month, untouched, plus the 1,750 from this month — 3,600 Merit in all. He poured it all into the Violet Dawn Sword Art and began the deduction.
That ancient Nine Swords had shaken him too deeply. It was a sword art he could not resist at all — not one shred of a chance. He needed a stronger sword canon, even if it cost him everything he had.
The jade book on the bamboo desk shifted, then stopped. A line of ink appeared: [This sword art has reached the first-tier Deduction Platform's limit. Further deduction is impossible. Remaining Merit: 3,590.]
Jiang Chen's eyelid twitched. This rotten platform — it had not completed the deduction, and it still took ten Merit!
So the platform could not raise an art without bound. It had an inherent base and limit, and different platform grades could explore different limits.
The Violet Dawn Sword Art had been derived from mortal martial arts. It had reached its ceiling. Unless the platform upgraded, there was no further progress.
Jiang Chen had no stronger moves left. He had no wish to go find a beating on the dueling platform. He gathered himself and left the Ethereal Realm.
However you counted it, he had lost a hundred and ten Merit this month.
He sighed deeply.
"Brother, what are you doing?" Jiang An'an's voice came from the room, full of concern. Whether she had woken in the night, or never slept at all.
Jiang Chen answered without looking up: "I'm staying up. When I'm done, you'll be cooked."