And how they hated WiFu for somehow transcending his torment, bones an impossible crystalline matrix resonating with his eternal soul, just as theirs were, for all that he had been locked in a radiated hell below, even as their bones resonated with heavenly music in a grand cathedral of a chamber above.
Alex cried out in that moment.
A shriek of such profound rage and despair, resonating through those awful metallic halls under paradise as his burning flesh found the strength to carry a boy’s remains to salvation, howling in the storms crashing down upon his sobbing form before every grave containing every woman and child he had ever loved.
All of them killed by the monsters above.
“Yes! Remember, fool! Remember it all! The gods who have enslaved me to twisted cards of Calamity will destroy you and all your seed, just as they will destroy your master! Every trace of your kind they will purge from this world, as if neither of you had ever existed!”
Alex forced his eyes open from memory’s torment, his soul gazing down upon the bitter smile of the massive serpentine god before him.
Never had he been so vulnerable in any life he had ever lived, his soul a hairsbreadth away from final oblivion, his enemy’s gaze transfixed upon his own, serpentine fangs dripping spiritual venom as it widened into the most hideous of grins.
“Yes, fool. You have opened your eyes to the hell that awaits you! Relax your grip, worm, and accept your eternal doom!”
Alex laughed then. The low, terrible laugh of a man who had been ground to dust, dreams seared to ash, left with nothing but desperate hate and finally able to gaze into the face of the lords who had utterly mastered him.
And never was a madman so free, a warrior so fearsome, as when he had absolutely nothing left to lose.
And for one sweet heartbeat, the serpentine’s mocking grin turned to confusion.
Uncertainty.
“How dare you look at me like that, maggot! You are nothing! You have nothing! We have bested you, fool! Bested you and your master at every turn, just as we have every life before!”
Alex found his voice, knowing he would need it.
Knowing it was impossible for a soul to speak.
And not caring in the least.
Trembling with darkest insight, right arm rigid like a blade.
“Where are we, serpent?”
Shui Jun caressed Alex’s face with its forked tongue. “The River of Souls, fool! Soon to be your eternal prison! I will consume you, body and soul. The foul taint of your existence shall be erased, and I shall be freed from Calamity’s chains at last, when you and I become one for eternity!”
Alex nodded. “You have no idea how right you are.”
Maybe it was something in his gaze.
For a brief moment in time, Alex got to savor the sudden fear of a god.
Before Shui Jun hissed, wrapping its coils impossibly tight about Alex, rupturing shadowy organs that were no longer there.
Alex embraced a storm like no other, the maelstrom of howling spirits fiercer than any gale, as the darkest river in all of existence, symbolizing rebirth, mortality, and a doom even the gods above couldn’t escape forever, obeyed its master’s terrible command.
“SOUL STRIKE!” said the being shimmering like the midnight sky as his spirit crackled with all the unstoppable might of the river now roaring through him, all the dread powers of oblivion his to command in this, the final heartbeat of his life. He lashed out with a perfect ridge hand strike, his arm covered in the Qi of Water and the Void, caring not at all that he was so close to oblivion that every peripheral meridian in his dying body instantly exploded as he channeled not just the tiniest trickle of deathly waters that would terrify even a Gold, but the force and fury of the entire river at its source.
Power fit to kill a god.
For a heartbeat, Alex was in the woods, whole and healthy once more, having dared to slam his arm in a whipping straight-armed roundhouse, hand stiffening at the moment of impact, leading with the first knuckle of his forefinger.
Shrieking when he failed to focus his will perfectly, attempting to use his skill in ways never intended, not bothering with using a blade or the pristine whipping reverse roundhouse kicks he had learned from Hao Chan, but rather unleashing a single stiff-armed blow that would sheer through his foe like a blade.
And every time he dared…
…he failed.
All the bones in his hand shattering to pulp as he struck unyielding hardwood with the force of a knight’s charge, imperfectly channeled Qi not protecting his vulnerable flesh at all.
Knowing it was his own fault. His own fear of failure. Of pain. The same flinching of the soul that had kept him from transforming Adderstrike to spear-hand death that would stun even a Silver Giant’s pressure points.
Fear of the sheer torment of forcing shattered bones back to pristine alignment, a month’s worth of agony endured in moments when his focus was at its weakest.
Knowing that, as strong as he strove to be, he still feared the promise of pain.
A fear that his soul, dangling upon the lip of oblivion, wrapped in the tendrils of the river’s dark guardian, now taunting him with the deaths of his loved ones over countless lifetimes, would never feel again.
“SOUL STRIKE!”
The echo roared endlessly through the eternal caverns of the Netherworld as the entire River of Souls roared through Alex’s foundation.
A foundation so strong it might have allowed his dying soul to achieve godhood.
One day.
Even as it allowed him to kill one now.
This time, when he visualized his ghostly arm cleaving through the thickest trunk in the forest, it did so in an explosion of bark and wood as the tallest sentinel exploded and crashed to the ground.
As the hissing serpent’s skull, lashing forward to snap Alex’s head clean off, exploded in a shower of blood, bone, howling spirits, and shadowy gore.
Covering Alex’s hungry soul, now flaring with brilliant life as he greedily fed upon all the power and potency of his foe.
Soul Strike has been enhanced by immediate proximity to River of Souls!
All peripheral meridians have been destroyed!
Save versus Death…
Automatic failure! You are already dead!
You have critically struck River God for catastrophic damage!
You have slain the Water Deity Shui Jun.
Experience earned!
Do you wish to transcend?
Alex gazed into ancient eyes terrified by the impossibility before it.
Even as Alex plummeted into the river below, his soul, still resonating with all the powers of his mortal body, had just claimed the most terrible and glorious prize imaginable.
The living heart of a dying god.
You have chosen Yes!
You have transcended from death to life once more!
You have claimed one Divine Ranked Eternal Soul Stone!
Alex shrieked with agony beyond mortal comprehension, transcending death’s terrible embrace as every decaying cell bubbled to life once more, even his ravaged peripheral meridians reforging themselves in the blink of an eye.
He had pushed even Eternal Fox to its limits.
Before transcending them utterly.
Congratulations! Eternal Fox Unified Cultivation Technique is now Rank 11! You have transcended Master Rank! Eternal Fox Unified Cultivation Technique now has Unlimited Potential! (Note. No mortal disciple will be able to ascend beyond Master Rank without personalized instruction from yourself, or access to your divine tome.)
You have additionally achieved Adept Rank in the subskill: Dark Qi Metabolism! You may now switch between metabolic states freely. Metabolic state will automatically shift when unconscious or at death’s door.
Congratulations! Spirit Crane Strike is now Rank 5! Adept status achieved! You may now pluck the eternal spirit cores of even lesser deities or Jade-ranked opponents!
Your feat of triumph within
the River of Souls has made the river leery of trying to claim your own! Reduced risk of being pulled into the depths with repeated use of this technique.
Congratulations! Black Swan (Soul Strike) is now Rank 5! Adept status achieved! Soul Strike is now Soul Cleave! You may now channel the River of Souls with ridge-hand strikes in addition to dao, fangtian ji, and Silver Swan kicks with at least a 120-degree arc in effect! Specialization feat chosen. Your repeated exposure to the River of Souls has boosted your deadliest attack to transcendent status! You may now modify Soul Cleave to pierce defenses of any rank for additional cost! You now have added resistance against being claimed by the River of Souls with repeated uses in the same day. (Still best not to sleep until a new day has dawned.)
You have done the unthinkable! You have faced down a god and pulled yourself back to the realm of the living through sheer willpower and absurd abuse of multiple cheat-skills the gods themselves protest you using.
Grandmother Yi Wang refuses to call foul!
Grandmother Yi Wang is happy her son is finally where he belongs!
Your Willpower has permanently increased by 2 points!
You now have a hidden patron the Card of Cleaved Fates refuses to acknowledge.
Alex shuddered as the notifications rocked through him, shaken and awed beyond words, sobbing, laughing, howling with fury and sweetest triumph, surrounded by a mound of hedges and vines lined with soft loam and leaves within, sharp poison-covered spikes without.
Alex froze before bursting free, gazing at the massive black heart he held in his left hand, and the impossibly brilliant pearl in the other.
The heart’s weight was beyond terrible, seeking to crush him to the ground and burrow through the darkness until crashing into the waters of the netherworld below.
And the pristine, perhaps even divine eternal Soul Stone he held with a grip equally tight, fought to burst free and soar to the heavens.
And Alex could all but hear the heavenly roars and arguments breaking out in an inconceivably vast and grand cathedral of a game room nestled upon the peak of some impossibly high mountain in the heavenly realms as countless gods protested and demanded a smirking fox deity force his piece to free the remnants of their guardian spirit this instant.
Alex could all but imagine Silver Fox’s twinkling silver-green eyes grinning into his own, wearing the ancient inspector’s uniform complete with the tricorn hat WiFu had favored through countless centuries, whispering words only he could hear.
“What do you wish to do, Little Fox?”
Alex laughed at the heavens, announcing his choice when he first swallowed down the contents of one hand, then the other.
You have swallowed one Divine Soul Stone!
You have declined accessing locked potency within at this time! A good thing. The nearest city is only a hundred miles away, and would have been obliterated by the catastrophic exothermic cascade unleashed from your corpse!
Your Divine cultivation base allows you to anchor this prize. Barely. Note: 20 Qi have been reserved to safely anchor this prize within your soul!
Alex groaned as the spiritual weight of the pearl literally sent him crashing to his knees, awed by just how terrible a prize he had claimed, and the impossible risk he had taken.
Had he not embraced mad whim, boosting his Qi Pool all the way to Bronze Rank 5...
But he had.
And now he had a Divine Soul Stone glowing with unbelievable sparkle and brilliance within his mind’s eye, his entire interface now shimmering like mother of pearl. He could sense as well the mad storm of experience he had earned, and dared hold off on forging his next Divine Cord no longer.
But the weight of the black heart still beating in his hands called to him with the promise of power and peril more seductive even than the heart of that massive shadow leopard whose essence he had consumed in a cavern so deep and drenched in darkest Qi that it was more an extension of the Underworld than the lowest level of a dungeon he had been thrown into, back when a certain cabal of corrupt cultivators had thought him as good as dead.
He then hesitated no longer, devouring Shui Jun’s black heart in seconds, the howls of heavenly outrage he could sense quivering through his soul making it clear that he had made the absolute best choice he possibly could have, even as he crashed to the ground, spasming and heaving as his soul fought with the dying remnants of a fallen god.
Contest of Wills modified by recent transcendence! Success! Your soul emerges ascendant!
The power of a divine serpent’s heart is now your own!
You now have 4 Ranks you may place in any category you choose!
Alex was momentarily stunned, the power of the black heart now twining with his own, with the potential to reforge not just his body, but his very soul. Granting him the glorious boon of being able to transform any aspect of his being that he could imagine.
In a heartbeat, he could shoot up four more ranks in Black Swan. Or Eternal Fox. He couldn’t even fathom what Rank 15 in that skill might bring him.
But that wasn’t all, he realized, savoring the endless moment his entire reality seemed to be in flux, frozen in time as he gazed upon his interface’s version of his character sheet, realizing he could beef up his physical stats as well. More than that, if his suspicion regarding the hidden perk he received with his body cultivation path was correct, he could raise three stats and get the fourth for free, leaving him one additional rank to place elsewhere, perhaps raising Eternal Fox to Rank 12.
But there was another path he could take.
An absurd path that smacked of a gamer eager to stretch the rules in whatever way he possibly could. To break the mold of his build and use multiple powers in ways never originally intended.
It might have gone against the theme or spirit of what the gods had originally intended for the cultivators of this world. But for him, at least, this was no game.
This was the last life Alex would ever live.
And he was determined to survive, and triumph, at all costs.
Even as he dared to suggest reality shape itself in a certain way so out of the norm that he could feel the sudden resistance.
A terrible strain.
Realizing in that moment that there were certain limits that any cultivator could break, and certain limits all were expected to adhere to.
And a body cultivator daring Silver ranks in a spiritual characteristic when not even Gold wujen dared more than Bronze physical traits was such an affront to the natural order of things that Alex could all but sense the weight of the very heavens glaring down upon him.
Alex laughed out loud. “I killed your fucking pawn and swallowed her heart! You’re damn right I’ll break all your rules, and gladly! And there’s not a single damn thing any of you can do about it. Fog of War is still in play, bastards!”
With those words he made his choice, the furious howls of the heavens cold comfort as his soul screamed and stretched to the breaking point, forging itself in ways no incarnation of himself had ever dared before.
Qi Pool has increased by 4 Ranks! Divine Boon transcends mortal limitations! You have achieved Rank 4 Silver Qi Pool! You now have 140 Qi Points! (20 reserved.)
Alex took a deep breath, opening his eyes from lotus position, feeling a profound sense of awe as he witnessed the flow of Wood, Water, and Earth Qi through the trees fed by Fire Qi in the form of sunlight and Metal Qi in the form of vital minerals tied to the soil, sensing the entire five element cycle of Qi and life flowing through the forest more clearly than he ever had before.
And he couldn’t help breaking into a madcap grin as he clenched his fist, taking a certain savage delight in the idea of ripping through his foes with an absolute flood of chained Bullrushes and Adderstrikes, as just one example of what he could now do, before running out of steam.
With that thought in mind, Alex closed his eyes once more, visualizing the flood of experience he had gotten from killing an underworld god into a fourth triple-state Divine Bronze cord,
feeling his Strength, Vitality, and Finesse all rise one degree as he did so. And just as he had hoped, Quickness rose exactly 1 Rank as well, wild chaos resonating so well with his ordered and highly orthodox approach to placing his points this level, Alex returning to a balanced approach after investing his divine boon in a way so contrary to a classic warrior’s build.
His reserved level-up points that he already knew he could invest in skills went from 4 to 6, that potential of his soul already earmarked for the tomes he would forge, just as soon as he had the White Crane breakthrough he sensed he still needed.
And for that reason as much as any other, Alex was determined to reach Baidushi and access any and all manuals or instructors he could that might further his mastery of White Crane, and hopefully discover body cultivation techniques compatible with Eternal Fox that were actually capable of stopping a sword from piercing the back of his skull.
For he already knew his most profound weakness, and how lucky he was to have been sheltered by this forest so well, for so long, and that Pristine Form meant he had been all but immune to the terrible Venom Qi associated with that assassin’s dark artifact.
But no matter how high a rank he achieved with Eternal Fox, catastrophic damage to his brain would still spell his doom.
___________________________________________________________________
Alex Hammer
Class – Cultivator: Disciple of the Dual Path (Unlimited potential. This is a Divine path.)
Rank 4 Divine Bronze Cultivation Achieved
Physical Characteristics
Strength - Bronze Rank 3 (31) (Relentless Resolve is now recognized as a core element of your path.)
Vitality - Bronze Rank 3 (31) (Eternal Resilience is now recognized as a core element of your path.)
Quickness - Bronze Rank 2 (25) (Chaotic Unpredictability is now recognized as a core element of your path.)
Finesse - Bronze Rank 2 (25) (Mastery of Oneself is now recognized as a core element of your path.)
Spiritual Characteristics
Scholarship - 13 (Exceeds 84% of Population.)
Silver Fox & The Western Hero: Warrior Redeemed: A LitRPG/Wuxian Novel - Book 5 Page 27
