Heaven Favors You (1)

A light tension of Qi, and one of the jade tablets gifted to me was already in my hands. It seems he didn't notice anything and continued to approach slowly. No, does he think I'm blind? He even started forming some technique, radiating energy throughout the hold. No, this is definitely not a good Samaritan who suddenly decided to bring me food.

At the last moment, I activated the acceleration technique and ducked. A guy with a scar on half his face jumped out from behind the boxes and shot at me with a laser from his eyes. No, it was certainly some kind of technique, but from the side, it looked like some superhero move from comics. There was a crash behind me. I didn't waste time and activated the amulet.

The jade tablet crumbled to dust, and a blade appeared near my hand, as if woven from black mist. I swung my hand.

The practitioner clearly didn't expect any resistance from me, but even so, he managed to put up a crooked fire shield. Only it didn't save him. As soon as the black mist collided with the fire, the protective technique crumbled into sparks, and the blade went further, straight to the target.

A moment later, the blade dissipated. The body of the would-be assassin was lying next to me, and the sound of approaching footsteps could be heard from all sides.

"Kai Shen!" shouted a man familiar to me. "How dare you damage the cargo!"

I froze for a second. There's a practitioner's corpse lying here, and he's talking to me about broken boxes.

"Reporting! I discovered that this practitioner was trying to sabotage and I protected the ship from his actions!" I improvised.

"Do you take me for an idiot?" I'm saying this only once. If anyone decides to start a fight on the ship, they'll fly down immediately. This applies to everyone! Understood, Kai Shen?"

"I'm actually a peaceful practitioner," I frowned.

"Don't try to fool me, you're all the same here," Who do we have here? Kan O, assassin, marauder, smuggler. Middle sphere meridian. What the hell is he doing here? Borai!"

"What do you want?" a fat man stepped forward. He reeked of alcohol disgustingly. A cultivator-alcoholic? Does such a thing even exist? Moreover, he's even stronger than the local captain. But when I tried to feel his spiritual power, I almost vomited. His Qi had a distinct stench of dirt—I have no idea what one needs to do to get such a thing.

"Check the restraining formation. And all of you, disperse! Anyone who tries to steal cargo will fly down!" he repeated.

After some time, I was alone again and started meditation. With each hour, the air became colder, and there was less and less fire Qi around. At this rate, I won't even have enough to fill my reserve, let alone break through to the next stage. Only now did I begin to realize the full setup of the situation. No Qi—no development. Now it's clear why the elders set such a condition. They simply weren't risking anything.

"We've arrived!" a shout echoed through the voice.

Our flying ship arrived at the top of the mountain right at the fortress, completely built of ice. Even my body, strengthened by cultivation, was shivering from the piercing cold, so I even had to use a flame technique for heating. And there was almost no fire Qi in the air to support it. I understand that a cultivator is a mighty being, but couldn't they have given out weather-appropriate clothing?

"Why so long?" a young guy jumped onto the deck. He seemed to not feel the cold at all, and his Qi differed from everything I had seen before. "The teleport to the Frosty Ridge is about to open!"

"Chief's orders," Borai replied. "Quickly, bring the cargo! You, demon spawn, quickly follow me! Whoever falls behind, pray for a quick death!"

Wait, so he's in charge now? This was unexpected. Very unexpected. But I didn't say anything out loud, I just went forward, into the heart of the ice fortress. It looked strange, as if I had returned to childhood and ended up in an ice town, but I wasn't allowed to admire the beauty. Our not-too-friendly company was led up to the very peak of the mountain, where a spacious stone platform was discovered, in the center of which a circle of runes was carved.

"Everyone stand in the circle!" Borai yelled! "Whoever steps out of it—I'll kill!" While we stood and waited, the cargo was quickly brought to the platform. Three strong practitioners were standing there, only they felt unusual. Like living ice.

It was as if I was being dragged through an invisible tube. My spiritual sense went crazy and at some point, it seemed to me that I lost consciousness, and when I came to, I felt a wild cold. We found ourselves in the middle of a huge icy wasteland. Snow was falling in flakes from the sky, and somewhere in the distance, the outlines of mountains could be seen.

"This is not the Ice Fort. What the?" asked the cultivator-drunkard, and the next moment his body was pierced by a huge white spike that burst out from under the ground.

With the cracking of ice, giant monsters resembling insects began to emerge from everywhere on the surface. They exuded concentrated spiritual power of the frosty spectrum, malice, and hunger. And something told me that one cultivator would not be enough for these creatures.

I activated the acceleration and Pure Flame techniques automatically. My involuntary companions didn't hesitate either, covering themselves with flashes of flame. But for how long will we last? I don't feel any fire Qi around, and techniques don't work on the energy of other elements. I tried to absorb the spiritual power of ice while flying. To no avail. And the monsters feel like something between the sphere of meridians and Qi concentration. Half of those present here are weaker!

"Let's get out of here!" someone yelled, and I saw a fiery bolide rush forward. Not far. Another monster that crawled out from under the ice layer bit him in half, but this didn't stop those wanting to escape. Here and there, movement techniques flashed, but the result was pitiful—not a single practitioner managed to break through the barrier. Damn you, the overgrown insects weren't even in a hurry to attack—the food was running into their throats by itself!

"We need to fight! Together! Individually, we'll just be eaten!" I shouted.

"Die, Kai bastard!" instead of an answer, fire techniques flew at me from several directions.

"Are you out of your mind? Fighting each other now?" I waved my hand, deflecting a fire arrow.

"Haha, the only madman here is you! The sect elders will never let trash like you live!" some girl laughed and then fell silent forever. An ice beetle took advantage of her inattention and struck from behind.

Real madness was happening on the icy wasteland—everyone was fighting everyone. The ice beetles were by no means invulnerable, and meridian stage cultivators were cutting them down by dozens, while simultaneously bombarding me with battle techniques. I never thought that in a battle between humans and monsters, I would be rooting for the monsters.

I wasn't standing still either—beetles continued to press from cracks in the ice. Blue ichor, which replaced their blood, was flowing non-stop, causing a disgusting sweet aroma in the air.

I even took out the sword given to me from the spatial ring—the blade looked extremely simple—a straight strip of steel with a comfortable handle, without decorations or mysterious runes on the blade, but when I tried to fill it with Qi, I nearly died. It required so much energy that it immediately became clear—this gift was far beyond my current capabilities. So I used it as it was. I didn't have enough spiritual power for fire attacks, and the sword, even without magical abilities, remained a sword, and this one was surprisingly strong and sharp. And my body seemed to be glad to remember what it was like to swing a blade. Thank you, Kai, for not sitting idly, but dedicating yourself to training, without this I would have surely died.

At some point, I found myself near the dead Borai and noticed a jade ring on his finger, exactly like mine. The realization came instantly. Darting among a bunch of monsters, I touched the ring and directed a drop of Qi into it. Yes, this is it! Another spatial artifact, though the volume is about ten times smaller than mine. Inside were mainly some papers, a bunch of pills, and bottles of liquor. Many bottles of liquor. A golden scepter stood out separately. The local equivalent of a magic wand?

An attempt to hide one spatial ring in another was unsuccessful. No, I felt that it could be done, but the Qi costs for this process were simply astronomical for me. But transferring things from one ring to another was a piece of cake, so the strange scepter and pile of papers ended up with me. I didn't risk taking the pills and liquor—I didn't trust the wonders of local alchemists. And in general, memories of this guy's dirty Qi only caused me to gag.