Bonded Summoner

Fhesiah gathered her kitsune flames in her tails as they danced behind her, matching the mysterious movements from the vision within the painting. Flames flickered into existence behind her, even as she channeled Qi into the formations of the mystic seal along one of the many columns surrounding the ancient platform.

She moved her Qi with precision, unraveling the seal as the many cultivators did the same all across the strange shrine, though sluggishly in comparison. Fhesiah had finally found a method to the madness, decoding the tapestry of mysterious symbols into a pattern that pierced through the seal’s protections far more rapidly.

While the symbols of the Framework were not demonic runes, they were still a proper codification of the dao. Each symbol had meaning that echoed their truths, and understanding them allowed her to more easily unravel them in the proper order.

Alliance Adventurers faced the spawned creature Challenge on the platform, while cultivators worked to remove the seal on a miniature realm within the portal. Enemies spawned like a Rift wave as they worked to unravel the seals, the difficulty seemingly increasing if the cultivator’s work moved too quickly.

Her flames smashed into the wraith-like monsters, her flames consuming their spectral bodies as the tribal warriors took their attention and dispatched them. She wore her mother’s robes shifted to a deep purple to match her kitsune form, as she kept her draconic form a secret, for now.

Throughout the week since she arrived, they had opened over a dozen of these seals across the vast mountain range which opened portals to special realms. The Battleground was absolutely vast, one that could take months to traverse, even with their flying vessels.

The cultivators hated that they were reduced to merely unraveling seals and ferrying others, but begrudgingly worked together with the Adventurers. After all, within each portal unsealed were powerful caches of resources from a lost time. Occasionally, there were even special chambers for enlightenment, which were perfect for a cultivator forming their core.

Looking over the vast mountain range, she saw a strange patchwork amalgamation of different mountains, lakes, and temples from various sects taken from all over the multiverse. Floating above them were many more powerful mountains covered in clouds and dangerous weather anomalies, rising high into the sky.

The mountain path she stood on was already so high it was in the clouds, and there were over a dozen paths leading toward the main mountain. Like a too-many-legged starfish, she and her forced allies were required to take the path on each of the legs until they arrived at the base of the main one.

At a distance that was difficult to fathom above the highest point of the mountain, was a final building which looked like a floating castle.

But approaching the castle too soon would even destroy a Cultivator Core level cultivator, from terrible storms of dense energies. Each seal unraveled from both sides would reduce the protections, enabling them to rise higher and reach better rewards.

She recalled the prompt from when she first arrived.

[Welcome to the Celestial Nexus Battleground]

[Gathered across this pocket realm are sealed portals to treasure, dangers, opportunities, and enlightenment. Cultivators must work with Adventurers to navigate and traverse the dangerous mountains peaks, while fighting against the enemy in a race against time. Each seal unraveled from both sides will reduce the restrictions above, where danger, reward and providence increase.

Tartarus has teamed up with unorthodox cultivators from this Sector, and to fail in the battle as Cultivators means fates worse than death. Each seal unraveled and treasure collected increases the Alliance or Tartarus score, resulting in a better war outcome.

Theft of storage accessories containing treasures will count as points for your team. Adventurers are tasked with protecting cultivators, but also attacking the enemy.

This is a multi-tier event. All entrants arrived in the first Tier, but those that increase in Tier during event will not be ejected from the Battleground.

The ultimate prize held in the castle is Perfected Core Ascension. Only one slot is available for the top contributor, the victor of the final event.]

Fhesiah finished unraveling the seal on her pillar, and the other groups of cultivators finished theirs not long after. She was alone on hers, doing the work of nearly a dozen cultivators.

All while she also managed to aid the Adventurers in taking out the spawned enemies. The cultivators had trouble doing the same, removing the mysterious seals requiring their full attention and significant amounts of Qi.

The final wraith died, a tribal warrior’s blessed spear piercing deeply into its core. The enemies dead and the seals removed, the portal began to coalesce and stabilize in the center of the grounds.

Fhesiah almost thought the heavens were working against her. First, these tribal warriors definitely came in with plenty of women who seemed interesting. However, they were already paired with their bonded warriors. Then–

A young man’s voice interrupted her thoughts, “Senior Hart, your mastery of heavenly energy is truly sublime. May I have a word with you before we enter the portal?”

Fhesiah inwardly groaned, but she put on a polite smile as she turned to the human man. Like the other men in his all male sect, the Radiant Flame Sect: he wore blazing robes of red, orange, and gold, depicting flames.

“You may. What is it, number three?”

“N-Number three?” He paled at her naming of him. She had burned the first two idiots when they came on a little too strong. Fhesiah told them she was already married to her fated, but that didn’t appear to be enough for them.

It was obvious they were the pillars of their sect, some young masters who were sons of the actual leaders of it. There were a few elders accompanying them, older and experienced cultivators aiding them on their journey. Number three, whose name was actually Xu Weiyan appeared to be the same, but he was definitely more calm and collected.

The man bowed his head slightly, and took on an apologetic tone. “Once again, I do apologize for the…young masters’ behavior. We still endeavor to find a way to earn your favor, but it has been hard to… even the scales. Especially since you denied treasure as restitution. Combined with your talents in finding treasure and aiding us with the great task, this has left us in a difficult position.”

The two still burnt men glowered at her from the background, though she saw an elder smack the back of both of their heads for their actions. She nearly smiled at the sight, but kept her face impassive.

Fhesiah replied, “I have punished them to my satisfaction. So as long as they stay behaved and there doesn’t need to be a fourth, I am happy to work together and hold no grudge against them. After all, we must work together to win against a much more terrible enemy.”

“I… you are right, and we thank our lucky stars to be joined with a hero such as you on this great challenge. You didn’t want treasure as restitution, but would you be open to a trade? We wanted to discuss what you found in the last portal. The Yang Fireblooms are deeply compatible with our cultivation, and we were hoping we could trade for them. Being that your flames are Yin flames, we imagine they are not quite as useful for you…”

Her interest was piqued, and she was surprised they even saw what she had looted in the last portal. While she hid her actions slightly as they explored the ruined temples of a lost Sect, she reasoned that the aura released when she unlocked the chamber containing them was discovered thanks to the same compatibility.

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It seemed that they were learning. The first young master would have merely demanded them, the second likely insinuating something terrible would happen to her if she didn’t.

In truth, the first one wasn’t actually that bad–she was just in a foul mood for being unable to reach Jake for a proper conversation when she arrived. When he insinuated that since her lover wasn’t there she should live in the moment, she covered him in kitsune fire. So much fire.

The entire sect of nearly forty men could not stop her from burning him, and the elders had instead begun to prostrate in front of her. They begged her to stop and leave him with what was left of his burnt life.

She stopped just short of crippling each of them. Fhesiah doubted unless they found special treasures for healing them, or she had mercy on them, that they would be fully healed before they left the Battlegrounds in over a year.

“I am open, should the value be balanced. What would you like to trade for them?”

Number three reached into his cosmos sack, and revealed a mysterious lamp. It was gold with ornate inscriptions of flames covering it, with a large glass cylinder in the center. Fhesiah could feel the item’s aura as it was removed from the sack, its energies powerful in her senses.

“Elder Wang has had this lamp in the family for generations, a mysterious treasure retrieved from a spatial realm. It has the core of a spiritual creature that consumes flames, and it can be attuned to your flames to store them for a special attack. It can also consume flames from nearly any environment, making it safer to travel through difficult areas.”

She smiled. “May I inspect the lamp?”

“Of course, Senior. We still have a few minutes for the portal to stabilize.”

The energies were being drawn from higher in the mountain to open the portal now that the seals were released, weakening the protections further above.

She scanned the lamp with her divine sense, inspecting every detail. The energies contained within were truly mysterious, and the item rivaled the pill furnace she received from the Dusky Sky Sect. She too was capable of consuming most flames now, much like this spiritual creature.

“I like the lamp. All of them, though? I study the dao of alchemy, and they are useful for my creations.”

The man looked shocked, and murmurs spread among the men in the sect. Several of them turned to the idiot young masters to glare at them.

“Senior is an alchemist too? That is surprising because of your flames.”

Fhesiah nodded. She often used her draconic flames primarily for alchemy, but she had found interesting ways to use the consuming properties of her kitsune flames in the past weeks for refining materials.

Yang flames were known to be much more compatible for creation, as purifying flames would burn away impurities. Instead, she would transform portions of special materials that were resistant to this activity, allowing her to make medicines and poisons alike. After all, many medicines were ultimately a poison used in the correct dosages, and to purify them is akin to destroying their efficacy.

Alchemists were probably the most valued contributor to any sect, their creations a requirement for cultivators to increase in power. Often, an entire sect could be slain by an enemy, but an alchemist and his family would be spared. That Fhesiah practiced alchemy just increased her standing several notches in their minds.

“I am. With the right techniques, even flames of yin can be used to make powerful pills.”

“It must be a very advanced technique. Still, Elder Wang wanted all the yang firebloom in return for his ancestral flame lamp. With it, he can create valuable pills for the sect with his alchemy. It is up to you if you would like to trade them or not.”

She pretended to hesitate, but had already decided. Fhesiah would accept the trade, and give one final test to this Radiant Flame Sect. If she had a third attack on her then she would take the tribal warriors and ditch them immediately, and destroy them if they tried to stop her.

Now that she had found the trick to the seals, she could in theory unravel them herself–it would simply take longer. Judging by the Battleground Ladder where she was near the top as an individual, they still had time before she was forced to join others to keep her placement competitive in the race.

While the route they were on was the path of least resistance, it was entirely possible to cross over to the neighboring path. She wagered few tried this, as it was not an efficient use of their time.

This was a race, and the paths only became closer and closer to one another as they ascended. To cross the turbulent clouds would take significant effort, when they would eventually arrive where it would be as simple as just walking over.

It was true that the unorthodox cultivators may want to cross over sooner, but that was a foolish move. Why not continue on your path and wait until your enemy collected all of the goods for you, then kill them and steal them all?

Things would definitely become dangerous once they arrived at the foot of the main mountain, where various floating temples and rocks lingered for exploring, and she’d like to avoid having enemies on both sides. She’d rather know if she could trust them if the going got tough sooner rather than later.

Reaching into her cosmos sack, she took out an ornate glass case, pulling out an item much larger than the sack’s small entrance. The case alone was worth a fortune, a miniature greenhouse that contracted space and held Qi to nourish the plants inside–yet could still be placed inside another spatial treasure.

Rows of yang firebloom sat within, perfect for creating special pills for the cultivators in the sect. She offered it up, and Weiyan grasped it with his Qi and took it with a smile, and floated it over to Elder Wang, who looked on at the blooms with excitement.

“With that, this trade is completed.” She quickly cut her thumb and allowed a drop of her blood to land on the lamp, binding it to herself. The lamp stirred, and she took out a crystal of Fire Qi to test its absorption of the flames. It hungrily drank them up, allowing her to store the flames rapidly.

In all, she thought it was an excellent addition to her arsenal, and would work perfectly with her Hestia’s Torch, which she hadn’t shown them yet.

Elder Wang’s face became stormy, as he inspected the greenhouse more closely. “Wha–what’s this!”

Fhesiah asked innocently, blinking her eyes. “What seems to be the problem, Elder?”

“The firebloom seeds are gone. You removed them, going against our deal!”

“Ah, the seeds that you did not mention in our trade? Just why didn’t you mention them, I wonder? Could it be that you hoped I didn’t know about the seeds, so you neglected to mention them? You made it clear you wanted all the yang firebloom in exchange for the lamp. You’ve received them. Is there a problem?”

The fireblooms would normally only produce one set of seeds in their lifetime. There was a perfect time to harvest them, receiving a seed and the full efficacy of the fireblooms. Nearly all of them were left in this precise stage, the spatial treasure locking them at this specific point in time.

The older man’s expression shifted through several emotions rapidly. Cultivators were known for their control over their bodies, and even their emotions. But yang fire cultivators, their emotions would run hot just like their flames.

Even the elders watching the trade with rapid attention looked cheated, and the younger ones looked outright angry.

However, the elder’s expression evened out, changing to one of loss. He gave a sad chuckle. “It’s my loss. I apologize, Senior Hart. I had hoped to gain a valuable renewable resource for our sect, but I got greedy. If you knew about the seeds, I thought you either would not trade them, or would want even more in trade. Even the spatial greenhouse is a true treasure, I should be satisfied with the outcome even without the seeds.”

Fhesiah held out an information crystal. “The seeds are valuable to me and my arborist friends. But here, Elder. With this method, you should be able to nurture these plants by sacrificing a few of them, to grow more seeds before they expire and start the cycle anew.”

She floated the information crystal over, and the man ran Qi through it, reading through the contents rapidly.

“T-This method!” The man’s eyes gleamed, and Fhesiah could nearly see the gears turning in his mind. His face slackened as his mouth opened in shock, and his breaths were heavy. “Nurturing Yang with Yin…”

“Arboriculture and alchemy are linked. It isn’t much, but you can have that method. In the future, deal with me in earnest and you will not regret it.” She made her voice louder, her words carrying to the rest of the cultivators, “This goes for the rest of you–this is my final warning for future dealings. If you are disrespectful and greedy with me just one more time, losing on a trade or getting a little burnt will be the least of your worries.”

Weiyan looked like he was about to say something and the two burnt in question looked outright wronged, while the rest looked fearful of her wrath, but then the portal opened. The connection to the spatial realm was now stable, allowing for entry.

Scanning through the entryway with her Divine Sense, she could feel the power contained within. This was definitely going to be the most valuable realm they explored so far. Looking at the temple within, she thought these fire cultivators would be very interested in what was contained within.

It was too bad that, as usual, she would be taking most of the treasure for herself. Maybe if they asked really nicely, she’d leave them with something of use.