Chapter 86: The Ash Road

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Fifty miles and thrice as many Spirit Beasts later, Liu Jin comes to a surprising conclusion.

Huang Shing is unexpectedly strong.

Saving him had been an unavoidable impulse. Offering to support each other during the exam, a spur of the moment decision. Both choices went against Liu Jin’s initial intentions. He had not wanted to call any undue attention to himself during the exam. Yet, as Liu Jin watches Huang Shing kill Spirit Beast after Spirit Beast with quick jabs and heavy palm thrusts that crush bones and organs, it becomes clear both choices are not without their merits.

It is not that Liu Jin hadn’t known Huang Shing would be at least somewhat capable. He is, after all, in the Ninth Level of the Nascent Realm, barely a half-step away from the Spirit Realm. While cultivation level is not the only existing metric to gauge someone’s strength, it is by far the most reliable one.

However, Liu Jin had not expected Huang Shing to be quite this good.

Perhaps, he shouldn’t be so surprised. After all, techniques and skill also play important roles in determining a person’s strength. This is something Liu Jin learned as far back as New Moon Town. Even among those in the same cultivation realm, knowledge of secret techniques, access to hidden treasures, and even simple body conditioning will lead to widely different battle performances.

For example, Liu Jin has a wide breadth of medical knowledge, Nine-Headed Snake God’s Inheritance, a knife made from the claws of a Ravenous Silver Wolf, and a few other things. A “normal” cultivator will have access to none of those, leading to a disparity in battle performance. Of course, as one goes up in cultivation realms, any standard of normalcy begins disappearing. High-level cultivators are all exceptional in their own ways. Then there are those who are exceptions among exceptions.

Huang Shing definitely belongs to this latter category.

He tears through the Spirit Beasts as if they were paper, his body dirty with blood and guts. Even though all the Spirit Beasts they have encountered have been in the Nascent Realm, Huang Shing still shows no signs of having trouble. Much like Liu Jin, he is stronger than his level would suggest.

Had it not been Bei Hong and Lu Mei he ran into, Liu Jin probably wouldn’t have needed to interfere. Unfortunately for Huang Shing, those two are similarly exceptional.

“I’m getting tired of-Ack!” Huang Shing starts coughing to the side as they pass through a gate. “Ugh! I think I swallowed some blood.”

“You’ll be fine,” Liu Jin replies, his spear slicing through a Spirit Beast’s throat. Unlike Huang Shing, Liu Jin barely has any blood on his clothes, a few drops at most. “That was just a Two-Headed Lion. It’s not innately poisonous. Should you gather its blood and drink it for three days, it might even improve your cultivation.”

Huang Shing makes a disgusted face as he ducks under the swing of an ape-looking monster and delivers a palm thrust to its chest. Another comes at him from behind. “Gross! If I’m going to eat something to get stronger, I’d rather it be meat!”

Liu Jin shrugs as he spears the ape-looking monster attacking Huang Shing through its back.

“Hey, we must be close to the end, right?” Huang Shing asks as the two keep running. “It’s been hours already!”

“It has not even been half an hour.”

“We’ve killed over a hundred of these monsters!”

“That one is true,” Liu Jin admits, his spear slung over his shoulder as he runs. “And a little worrying.”

“Exactly! Shouldn’t we have reached the next stage by now? The Eternal Flame Clan sure is demanding.”

He didn’t get it. Liu Jin shakes his head.

“That is not what I meant. Think. How many of the people who were transported before us would have been capable of killing this many Spirit Beasts?

Not many. Not even half.

After fighting so many Spirit Beasts, it’d be natural to start getting tired. That would lead to mistakes, which would lead to injuries and then worse.

“At the very least, we should have overtaken some of them by now, yet we have not seen a single one of them.”

No one has caught up to them either, but that is not unexpected. Liu Jin and Huang Shing had been among the last to touch the crystal. Of those who remained, most lack the strength to pass. As for the ones who are strong enough, Liu Jin doubts they’d be able to match their pace, let alone surpass it.

“There’s also the ground to consider.”

Huang Shing looks at Liu Jin as they pass under another gate. “What about it?”

“We have yet to run into a single dead Spirit Beast. Those who came before us had to fight their way here. Yet, there are no corpses to be found, not a single drop of blood on the floor that we haven’t put there.”

Huang Shing’s whole face scrunches into a frown. “So? Is that bad?”

“It could mean we were all transported to different areas of the Ash Road, and the two of us ending together was a fluke. Maybe, we are even inside a different spatial realm within the Ash Road. Or it could be as simple as those who have failed being transported out along with all the dead Spirit Beasts.”

“So? Which one is it? And how does it help us pass?”

“I… don’t know.”

“You don’t know?!” Huang Shing echoes incredulously. “You were being so serious I thought for sure you were leading up to something important! You’re just nervous, aren’t you?” Huang Shing raises a finger at him. “Look, you’re even sweating.”

Liu Jin blinks as he brings a hand to his forehead and ends up wiping a few drops of sweat.

“Anyone would get tired from fighting this many Spirit Beasts.”

Even though he says that, Liu Jin’s gaze remains fixed on his fingers, his mind hard at work as he slowly becomes aware of several little things.

Somewhere along the way, his breathing has become heavy.

And his pace has slowed down considerably.

And his muscles are far more tired than they should be.

He looks at Huang Shing. It is impossible to tell whether he’s sweating or not with all the blood and guts on him. What Liu Jin does notice is that Huang Shing has not pulled ahead of him even though Liu Jin has been slowing down for the past few miles. It might be that Huang Shing is deliberately matching his pace, but Huang Shing does not strike him as being that thoughtful.

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Another red gate appears on their path. As the two get close to it, a sudden thought strikes Liu Jin.

Gently, he throws his spear up.

They pass under the gate.

The spear lands back on his hand.

“Oh.”

This…

This could be troublesome.

“It’s heavier now.”

“What?”

“My spear is heavier now,” Liu Jin explains, testing it out by twirling it a little.

“After fighting so much, it’s only natural. That’s why we need to finish this quickly, Qing Jin!”

Liu Jin shakes his head. “Not what I meant. It is literally heavier. Everything is becoming heavier. The moment we crossed the gate, the weight increased.”

Gravity.

As they pass through the gates, the gravity they are subjected to is increased. That is the conclusion Liu Jin has come to.

“But I don’t feel—”

“Because the increase is gradual,” Liu Jin interrupts him. “It is so gradual that by the time we get to the next gate, our body has already acclimated. However, just because we don’t notice it doesn’t mean it is not taking its toll on us. Take a good look at yourself and tell me you are not more tired than you should be.”

Huang Shing comes to a skidding stop. Liu Jin does as well.

“What are we supposed to do then?!” Huang Shing throws his hands up. As he does, Liu Jin takes a step back to avoid getting blood on his clothes. “If we keep running, we’ll just get tired and be easy prey for the Spirit Beasts! Are we expected to dispel this?”

“I doubt it. This sort of effect has to be layered into the barrier protecting the Ash Road.” Liu Jin certainly doesn’t sense any other barrier nearby that could cause something like this. “If we try to tamper with it, we could bring the entire thing down by accident.”

Or worse.