The Path of Ascension Chapter 361

Chapter 361

As Sien led them through the floating city Matt got to see quite a bit of sect life. Not the Empire propaganda, not the Sect propaganda, not movie recreations, or anything but genuine sect life.

It was… strange.

He shouldn’t have been surprised, but for the most part Sect people were just… people. They did normal things like anyone else, but there was something Matt wasn’t able to put his finger on that just made everything seem different.

In the end, he tentatively identified it as arrogance.

Everyone was arrogant. At least, all of the cultivators were, and most people on this floating bubble were cultivators, given the entire area was basically just an outpost for mid-Tier delvers clearing the rifts of the gas giant. Of course, delvers brought with them support, and support required personnel. And personnel brought family, so while there ended up being a decent spread of Tiers, the majority were cultivators in some form or another.

Matt was intrigued by the way people seemed to understand who they could be outwardly arrogant towards and who they couldn’t. There wasn’t anything like a CityNet -he’d checked- and very few people were broadcasting their names through their own AIs. His current theory was that it was something in people’s dress that communicated relative social status, given his lessons on Sect culture, but he’d yet to see any noticeable patterns deeper than which sect someone was associated with. He’d also been able to pretty easily glean which sects were local just by watching who was the most arrogant and had the most members strutting around, but there were definitely nuances he wasn’t picking up on.

There were two major sects of the bubble, the Divine Whispering Winds of Human Might, which Matt mentally shortened to the Whispering Winds sect, and their competitor, Earthly Might Overcomes the Dao. Both were feeder sects to a Tier 38 sect known as the Divine Might sect, and had taken their name as part of their own, a common indicator that they’d been founded by disciples of said higher-Tier sect.

Despite ostensibly being in the same organization, the two sects seemed to butt heads at every opportunity in a way that Matt just wasn’t used to in the Empire. If there was an official Earth Might shop, no matter what it was, there was a Whispering Winds competing shop just a building or two away, which often made for interesting interactions.

Just as they were walking to their dinner, they saw an alchemy shop having an open battle between their disciples in the middle of the street. They were each making potions and comparing the results while onlookers watched and commentated. When the Whispering Winds’ shop was defeated, they tried to slink away, but they were instead harangued by both the watchers and the Earthly Might sects people.

It actually got to the point that blows were exchanged, and while Matt wasn’t sure if he’d call it a proper fight, he still kept expecting one of the onlooking higher-Tiers to step in as blood flowed. But they never intervened, carrying on their respective activities even as a man from the Whispering Winds was sent flying through the air. That did seem to mark the end of the scuffle, and the crowd cleared out, but it was still so alien.

Their destination, however, wasn’t involved with either Sect. Their signage proclaimed the restaurant as a branch of the Paradise Bites Consortium, and Sien informed them that the establishment had restaurants all over the equivalent of a kingdom, and were known for only hiring Talented chefs.

The moment they arrived a waiter, a painfully attractive middle aged man in impeccable robes, stepped out and bowed to Sien.

“Lady of Ill Dreams, you honor us with your presence. I trust you will find our humble establishment satisfying, and you may proceed to your dining room as you see fit.”

Sien barely even acknowledged the man, not even turning to look at him as she responded with a simple, “It seems to me as though an appropriate tribute of tea is absent.”

“Of course, Mistress.”

From there, they followed Sien to a secluded room only accessible by a door covered by an obscuring formation that led to a spatially expanded highest floor, not visible to the average customer.

Matt felt like a bit of a voyeur as Sien showed them how they could turn the walls and floor transparent and have an unobstructed view on the lower floors.

Their tea was brought in and served the moment they sat down, and Matt had to admit it was very good tea. His reaction wasn’t as exaggerated as Zack, who promptly bought a fist sized packet of the leaves after his first sip. The waiter simply bowed and said that it would be as he desired, giving Matt the impression he was missing something.

Matt was personally eager to try more authentic Sect cuisine to expand his repertoire.

It took almost an hour, but their waiter came in with a dozen trays floating behind him, and as he set them down, Matt regarded each with curiosity. Oddly enough, he seemed to find information about each dish’s creator, the restaurant’s history for the dish, the cook and their interpretation of the original idea, and finally where each of the major ingredients were sourced appearing in his mind, as though he’d always known. Most of the dishes were placed on the table in what Matt would call family style, with only a few items, such as soups, being given to them individually.

Matt had no problem admitting that the food was better than anything he could hope to make.

But as they were enjoying their food, a show started on one of the lower floors.

A young woman had entered the establishment in the Whispering Winds sect’s robes absolutely brimming with arrogance. A quick inspection of her core told the story. She had just broken through to Tier 7, and based on how she still looked like she was barely out of her teenage years, quite swifty too.

A neophyte had just earned her stripes and had come to strut.

Matt found it adorable, and his attention brought everyone else’s onto the girl.

At the front podium, she loudly proclaimed, “I want access to the Wasteland of Water room!”

Her followers stood clustered behind her like they were the ones to receive great honor, each trying to strike a pose without seemingly like they were doing so, but failing on all accounts.

Allie snickered. “Oh, I hope they come up here and try to kick us out. Can you imagine the look on their faces once they recognize any of us.”

Sien chuckled. “That would be entirely impossible. This room is most exclusive, and even requesting this specific room would result in a denial of its very existence. Nonetheless, this ought to present a good show.”

Matt didn’t stop picking over his food as he watched, but did stop watching to glare at Aster, who had stopped grabbing food off the general plates and had started stealing directly off of his own. As if she wasn’t bad enough, both Lizes had started doing the same. His plate, once piled high, was depressingly empty in just moments.

“Core Disciple Xiao Yun, all of our Wasteland of Water rooms are taken. Core Disciple Junming has already claimed the last remaining room just an hour ago.”

“Core Disciple? Doesn’t really roll off the tongue now does it?” Hearing the title, Matt had to ask, but Liz shook her head.

“Check your translation. It’s one word. Translates rather clunkily though”

Sien shook her head. “Indeed, Empire speech lacks many necessary features. It’s a wonder you can say anything at all within its constraints.”

Before anyone could snark back, Sien added context to the situation they were watching play out. “Now, assuming you weren’t paying attention earlier, given your preoccupation with your dining, Zhang Junming chose that room specifically to spite Xiao Yun in an effort to humiliate her. The pair have been feuding for years at this point, though common perception is that Yun is the more talented of the two, being five years younger yet still Zhang Junming’s near-equal. It has been her public plan to, upon reaching Tier 7, celebrate within a Wasteland of Water room, but Junming managed to preempt her acting upon that, potentially costing her a substantial degree of face should she fail to carry through with her stated goals.”

“Do you come here often?” Aster accusingly pointed a chopstick at their guide.

“Oh, most certainly not,” Sien replied with a smile.

“So then how do you know all of this stuff?”

“I am the Lady of Ill Dreams, dear Aster. All who strive fall within my purview.”

“So why is Junming antagonizing Yun? Is it just their sect’s rivalry feeding the feud?” Zack managed to ask Matt’s question, which he was unable to articulate thanks to a full mouth.

Sien took a moment to chew before shaking her head. “Oh, certainly not. This is almost entirely undertaken by them, though I have no doubts that their families may be fanning the flames in some form. I believe there was some form of altercation when they were both children, but my knowledge does not extend quite so far.”

The six of them watched as Xiao Yun marched up to the room in question and kicked in the door. Splinters flew, and as a Tier 26, Matt watched with a bit of amusement as one of the staff instantly replaced the low-Tier door, merely sliding the replacement to the side as Xiao Yun marched through.

Inside the room, a slightly older young man was sitting there being massaged by two incredibly attractive but scantily clad servants.

Almost immediately, the two started posturing with each other. For most outsiders watching from the common seating area, it must seem like Junming was at a disadvantage. But from their higher view, it was clear he was just trying to lead the younger girl into a humiliating position before revealing his own plan.

“How is this sustainable? I feel like these grudges will fester and turn into blood feuds far too easily.” Allie’s question was almost impossible to understand thanks to her mouthful of food, but they managed.

Sien blinked. “They sharpen one another far more effectively than any external force ever could hope. Despite Zheng Junming’s comparative laziness in the matters of cultivation, he has been forced to advance at an appreciable rate nonetheless, if only to stay ahead of Xiao Yun, and grow his own strengths of information-gathering and manipulation to outmaneuver her. Perhaps some day, one shall slay the other, but do such trivialities truly matter? Their feud would leave the survivor stronger for it.”

Matt could understand that mindset in a vacuum, but he couldn’t quite get himself to agree with it. The Empire allowed fighting between entities, encouraged it even, in the case of guild wars. It was a reasonable way to settle disputes, but this seemed more like throwing hungry animals in a box and only opening it when one was left alive, rather than what normally happened in the Empire.

Even nobles could and did go to war with each other, and the sects were the equivalent of the Empire’s nobility, just larger and not family related. But he couldn’t shake the feeling this was somehow more.

Not that his option mattered too much, all things considered. He wasn’t a member of the Sects, and he couldn’t change their culture. But it was good to get a sense of the mindset he’d be dealing with as they got more planets from the Sects for their duchy.

His musings were interrupted by the young man, Junming, who revealed that he was in fact Tier 8, to the horror of the Yun girl’s followers, who had thought they had them at an equal footing for the first time.

“And thus the crossroad approaches. Will the girl bow, or will she fight?” Sien’s smile was positively devious.

“What would you have done in her place?”

The tale has been stolen; if detected on Amazon, report the violation.

Sien looked towards Aster with a raised eyebrow. “Against someone a single Tier above me? I would have blinded him, cut his tendons, then flayed his arms and hung him on a noose made from his own skin in front of his sect for all to see.” Shrugging, she added, “My capabilities were rather limited at Tier 7.”

Core Disciple Yun must not have felt that confident, because she didn’t immediately throw herself at the stronger cultivator. Instead, she scoffed at his advancement and called Junming out for his scheme of taking her room.

Matt expected those watching the show to look down on Junming for his non honorable move, but Sien explained.

“Quite a good move from Zheng Junming. A triple victory, in strength, maneuvering, and intelligence alike. He displayed utter dominance in all fields the two are competing within by drawing her overcommitting and striking with immense force. Now, he is hoping that Xiao Yun must evaluate her compatriots to determine if he possesses any spies within her inner circle, performing diagnosis and surgery upon her own social might before she can safely engage him once again.”

Nodding, they watched as Junming berated the young girl in a well rehearsed series of verbal jabs. Even the onlookers started snickering and adding their own comments, pilling onto Yun.

Matt was going to ask Sien how long the girl would stand there and take it, and if there was an expected amount she was supposed to take when the girl exploded in fury and started shouting back, seeming to lose her cool.

Seeming being the key word.

Matt and the rest of the high Tiers noticed that her heart rate, steady this entire time, never fluctuated and Sien laughed. “And so the second trap closes. She may have taken a faint blow, to be sure, but if she wins this fight, it will be far more valuable by demonstrating her truly superior strength.”

“I challenge you to a duel. I can not abide you gloating with your non-existent strength any longer Junming. It is time for you to learn your place, one way or another.”

Junming laughed so hard he pretended to wipe a tear from his eye before turning to his followers. “The little Bumble Bee wants to try and sting Granddaddy Junming?” His mocking smile turned vicious as he said, “It’s your death warrant for challenging someone a full Tier stronger than yourself, but I’ll gladly send you back to your pitiful Whispering Winds sect on a stretcher. Maybe my next challenger will be someone of note.”

He jumped through the nearest window and into the open dining hall of the restaurant, where an illusionary stage appeared over the diners heads, ready to both protect the diners and give the fighters room to battle.

Yun followed through the window just a second later, but Matt refrained from inspecting her any deeper so as to keep a modicum of suspense alive. He had a pretty good idea of what was about to happen, but he wanted to enjoy it before the inevitable victory or defeat.

Both were clearly talented, though Junming less so than Yun. But instead of doing something productive, they were throwing themselves at each other with plots and schemes, trying to one up the other. Though, Matt was sure they saw it as driving each other forward instead, and maybe there was a kernel of truth in that, but Matt wasn’t sure he’d buy it. It was all too easy to get lost in the minutiae of such grudges and not actually grow.

The fight however, started out interestingly enough. Even with a Tier disadvantage, Yun threw herself at her larger and higher Tier opponent with a pair of daggers that earned a whoop of appreciation from Allie.