Snowdream

The twins stood still for a moment with all eyes on them, and then relaxed and turned to talk amongst themselves, putting their sabers away.

Wei didn’t lose any time. Once the matter of recruiting them was settled, he could begin preparing for the next match. He still wanted to meditate and try to open the second layer of the hand-to-hand combat technique.

“Our team is missing two members. We have three left. An archer, a tank, and a brawler. If you two join us, we will have five.” Wei didn’t waste any time beating around the bush, and immediately made his proposition.

The twins looked at each and shrugged, and then turned to speak to Wei. “What happened to your other two teammates?” The first one asked.

”Our swordsmen betrayed us. He thought he was superior to us four, so he threw our weakest member to the wolves and then attacked us. I fought him off while our archer and tank took down the last remaining enemy. When we returned, he left us to find a new team.”

The twins looked at each other and nodded. “The other three on our team didn’t have any combat techniques. We tried our best to save them, but they ended up dying to the giant before our swords could stab him deeply enough to kill him. We went into the final battle enraged due to their deaths, and ended up killing three opponents on the opposite team. If you would like, we will join you.”

”Very well, two saber users will be incredibly helpful to us. If its okay, you will fight on the front with our tank defending you, while I support our archer from the back. She lacks defense, so without me, she’s a sitting duck.”

”You said you defeated the swordsmen?” The second twin asked carefully.

”Hm, I would say it was a tie.”

”Okay, then we will do as you say, as long as your tank is willing to stand on the front line with us and fight when the time comes, we will land the killing blow. I’m Zack, by the way, and this is Widow.”

”Zack, Widow, nice to meet you. I’m Wei Wang. Our archer is named Leah Levi, and our tank is Aaron Murphy.”

Wei politely brought his hands together, right fist left palm open, and bowed. The twins clumsily mimicked him and bowed, although they didn’t bring their hands together while doing so.

After that was settled, Wei led the twins back to their groups area and began to meditate. He wasn’t sure how much time they would have before the next bout started. He wanted to quickly meditate and build up a spark of origin Chi so he could unlock the next layer of the combat manual, and then replenish the spark he spent on that so that the next time they were in combat he could activate the Phoenix Ascending Hidden Flame again.

He began to meditate, and found his mind cloudy with thoughts of Hui Li betraying them and almost killing Aaron by stabbing him in the back. He was proud that he had defended Aaron, evaded Hui Li’s sword attacks, and even landed a kick to his ribcage.

He was also proud of Leah for having the strength to land the finishing strike on that boy with the lance. If it wasn’t for her, his fight with Hui would have continued, as well as Aaron’s fight with the lance boy, and who knows what would have happened. It was possible the three of them would have died, and Hui would have ended up the sole survivor as he planned.

Eventually, Wei’s thoughts began to calm down and shifted from a raging river to a peaceful pond. At that point, his mantra recitation took on form and began to attract origin Chi energy into his body. The feeling of the energy spreading throughout his body and consolidated in his meridians was refreshing.

After about one hundred more quality recitations, the origin Chi finally consolidated into a spark, and he took out the Basic Hand-to-Hand Combat Technique that he had found in the very first selection stage.

This manual had been enhanced by one of the selection judges as a gift, and he was excited to finally use it now.

Pouring the energy into the manual, he purposely opened the second layer.

Images flooded his mind as the Chi spark leapt from his hands into the manual. Surprisingly, this layer had four more skills. They were the front kick, back kick, palm strike, and sword fist.

With the Chi spark, it was as if he instantaneously practiced each of these forms 1,000 times. The front kick could be used as a follow up attack after a punch from the first layer. The back kick was used to attack an enemy striking from behind, and worked well as a follow up kick to many different forms.

The palm strike was best as a finishing strike. It was not as quick as a punch or as powerful as a kick, but it was the form that later on could be most powerfully fused with origin Chi from cultivation techniques. Because of this natural alignment, it would boost the power of origin Chi strikes by 50%, making them hit for 150% of his normal striking power.

Finally was the sword fist. This strike wasn’t as useful as others, but could be used in special situations to knock an unaware enemy out, or quickly KO a far weaker opponent. It had its special uses, and Wei was glad to have another method of attack in his possession. Perhaps there were times he could disable an enemy without ever having to fight them, saving him and his team from engaging in dangerous combat unnecessarily.

After he learned the second layer of the Basic Hand-to-Hand Combat Technique, he wanted to meditate again to replenish his origin Chi energy so he would be ready to unleash the Phoenix Ascending Hidden Flame at the start of the next round. Unfortunately, at that moment the judges stood up and announced that the second round of the second stage of the selection trial would begin shortly. All teams were to prepare to teleport into the next stage.

Overall, 24 out of 48 teams had been eliminated in the first round. However, that did not mean that 24 teams now remained. There were countless situations where surviving teams had to merge, with the average remaining team member count hovering around 3.5.

Because of this, instead of 24 teams, there were 17, and the 17th team had only three members. That team ended up getting a bye for this round, meaning that 16 teams would compete in 8 head to head matches.

After this round, at least 8 more teams would be eliminated. That would leave 9 teams, but with the additional loses Wei figured only 6 or 7 teams would remain at maximum. It was even possible it would go down as low as 4 or 5 teams.

That was especially the case because everyone left now had already proven themselves multiple times over. The next round was going to be far more fierce than the previous.

In the previous round, many participants still lacked real combat strength. But most of those people were gone now. Everyone who was left had at least some grit to survive, with many having collected new cultivation or combat techniques during the first round of the second stage. That included Wei Wang, who now had his Phoenix Asecnding Hidden Flame to complement his hand-to-hand combat style.

However, Leah Levi still lacked a cultivation method, and Aaron Murphy had no real combat technique. This meant that in reality, with the loss and betrayal of Hui Li, who was previously their strongest ally, their team was now quite weak.

It remained to be seen how strong the brothers Zack and Widow were, but judging by the fact they made it out alive, they were certainly strong enough to carry their own weight. It was just a matter of finding out how strong they truly were. While Eliot had a short sword with him, in reality he had neither a combat technique nor a cultivation technique. This made him their teams weakest link, and that was why Hui Li had gone to such lengths to get rid of him.

The way he did it was not honorable, but Wei could understand his thought process, at least. Still, he was quickly learning that there were many people in this world who wouldn’t hesitate to give up their allies in exchange for better chances for themselves.

Together, the newly formed team of five chose an array formation and moved to stand together on it. Soon enough, bright lights were blaring up from the ground beneath their feet, until they were once again transported through time and space.

Stolen from its rightful author, this tale is not meant to be on Amazon; report any sightings.

———-

Even though he was ready for it this time, the ground beneath his feet was surprisingly soft when he landed, and Wei Wang found himself elbow deep in a snowy field. He let out a breath of air which immediately fogged around him. His cheeks flushed from the sudden cold.

Wet ice and snow dripped into his shoes, pants, and shirtsleeves. He looked up to find a wide open plain. Snow drifted evenly in every direction, and at the edge of his vision massive mountains swept upwards.

They were in a snowy valley.

What was more, just a sporting field’s breadth away, Wei was horrified to see the dark outline of five juniors, all similarly struggling against the ice and snow.

”There’s no maze this time?” He asked in a single breath.

Leah was much worse off, and in response to his question she could only wail in complaint. She was knee deep and had fallen backwards so that her butt landed in the snow. Surprisingly, the twin brothers and Aaron Murphy didn’t really seem to mind.

On the one hand, the brothers were light and nimble enough that the snow didn’t really affect them. On the other, Aaron Murphy was stout enough that even though he sank, he did so with an amount of force that equated to the snow hardly registering. He simply stood there without falling over. If he wanted, moving forward wasn’t too hard.

“There’s quite some distance between us,” Zack, one of the twin brothers, stated.

”Hm, and they don’t look like they are coming over here any time soon,” Widow, the second brother, replied.

”Then maybe we can still take a look around?” Wei said, finally righting himself on the snowy field and turning to pull Leah up with him.

“We can have a look,” Aaron said, “But I’m not sure there’s much to look at.”

He was standing around gazing in all directions. But from the look on his face, it was obvious what he meant.

All there was was barren, flat patches of white snow. Unless they managed to trek all the way to the mountains edge, and then climb the mountains, what else was there to see?

”So, should we just walk over and attack them, then?” Zack was the one who spoke next.

”It’s bound to happen sooner or later,” Aaron replied with a shrug.

Even Leah’s bow was out of range at this distance, and with the snowy terrain, charging forward was too difficult. This would be an awkward and slow trudge, whose humour would only be limited by knowing that murder waited at its other end.

”We can just wait here, and see if they come to us?” Widow offered.

”No, there should be treasures in every stage. Our two teams are separated by this much, so it doesn’t make sense to attack immediately. Even though it looks barren, there must be a key here somewhere.”

As soon as the word ‘key’ left Wei Wang’s mouth, blue electricity split the sky and blue array runes lit up before him. In a split second, however, they were gone. There was a pounding sensation in his head, a pulsing feeling as if the world itself had a heartbeat.

“What was that?” Wei shouted out.

However, the other four could only give him strange glances.

”What was what?” Widow asked incredulously.

“That blue lightning and array formation,” Wei stated.

“Hm, Wei, I don’t see anything. Where is it?” Leah asked gently.

“It’s gone now, but as soon as I said the word ‘key’, it appeared.”

There was silence. Wei had half expected the lightning to strike when he said the word ‘key’ again, but his hopes were for nothing.

“Guess we missed it,” Aaron said after a pause, “Sorry, Wei. We’ll keep our eyes out for it just in case, though.”

Wei Wang could only gulp down his shame. Was he hallucinating? This vision was not the type of thing it was possible to miss. Imagine seeing the most massive lightning strike in your life, and having your friends be completely oblivious to it.

“Let’s just, spread out, and maybe search in the snow. That’s really the only place we can look, right? There could be something buried underneath it,” Wei pushed to move forward, struggling to recover his pride.

“That’s true, buried in the snow! Hey, maybe there are Ice Crystal Flowers?” Leah asked happily.

“Ice Crystal Flowers? What is that?” Aaron replied.

“Didn’t you know? In the Arcane Tower, its not just cultivation techniques we can find. While we are here, there are magical plants we can gather to make cultivation pills, and also weapons and armor of course! Oh, and then sometimes the magical beasts we kill, they might have a special item within them, like a Demon Core or a Dragon Heart or an Elemental Crystal,” as Leah lectured, the five youths had finally spread out and started digging hopelessly in the snow around them.

It felt pointless, but they had to try and not give up hope. They would find something eventually, they had to.

“How did you learn all this stuff?” Wei Wang asked. It wasn’t the kind of thing they taught most 12 year olds.

“My dad, he’s a bit of an enthusiast. He’s a huge fan of the public tournaments the sects have each year. Most people don’t go to them if they’re not martial artists, but my dad is a trader, so sometimes he will try to buy magical plants and stuff to sell.”

“Hm, makes sense,” Wei Wang replied. His parents were just normal upper middle class workers, his father working in government and his mother working as a physician. He didn’t know the first thing about martial arts, and in fact, thinking that he had already come so far, he was slightly surprised in himself.

It had been over a day since the trial began, and not only hadn’t he gone home yet, this was this first time he had even thought of home. Hm, my parents probably don’t even know I’m gone. It’s not like they miss me any more than I miss them, he thought to himself as he scooped one handful of snow after the next.

About half an hour passed, and at this point they still hadn’t found anything. The twins had long given up on digging, and instead were playing around in the snow, throwing snowballs at each other.

Aaron was reluctantly building a snowman, fashioning large balls of snow and stacking them on top of each other. He would be hard pressed to find a carrot for the nose, however.

Leah and Wei Wang alone continued their search, each encouraging the other not to give up. Leah desparately wanted to find the Ice Crystal Flowers to bring back to her father, and Wei was hopeful to help her find a cultivation technique she was still lacking.

However, at that point, Leah looked up and suddenly stiffened.

“Hey, they are coming for us.”

In the search, the five youths had forgotten all about the other team, and completely ignored them. At first, they had assumed the other team would do the same thing as they did, and after a while they simply all forgot to even think about it.

Maybe it was an effect of the endless, white, snowy field in all directions. The fog and ice floating through the air, the feeling of cool cold snow in ones hands made it easy to forget about the world. It was almost like being in a daydream.

Leah’s words snapped them out of it, however. In a split second the twins had their swords prepared and Aaron stood, arms crossed over his chest, waiting for them to come.

In that moment, Wei panicked. He had forgotten to cultivate another spark! They had time, what was he thinking! However, the other team was only half way across the field! Maybe there was more time.

“I need to cultivate,” he said without delay. Then he immediately sat down and tried to meditate.

“Your going to meditate now? Shouldn’t we go out to meet them?” Aaron asked, not allowing Wei Wang to focus.

“No,” Widow said, “He’s right, let them come to us. While he meditating, we can plan how to attack.”

“What kind of plan can we make in this snow?” Zack replied, “It wont be any better than that pointless search we just did. There is snow everywhere, look at how long it is even taking them to get to us. It might be another half hour before they even arrive.”

Zack was right. The other team was struggling to fight through the thick snow and even at this range one could see them slipping and struggling to stand tall. This stage really was a ferocious beast in disguise.

Wei hurried to meditate. If he could just collect a single Chi spark before the other team arrived, he could activate the Phoenix Ascending Hidden Flame, burn away the snow, and torch that other team as soon as they arrived!

He began to circulate the mantra in his heart, but just as he did the wind kicked up a notch.

“Hm, the wind just got stronger,” Widow said.

Clouds above began to form, slowly darkening the pure white snowy plain. Wei Wang fought to cultivate even harder, circulating his energy and doing everything he could to block out the outside world. With all his might, he focused on his Phoenix Ascending Hidden Flame mantra.

The snow around his body began to melt, and as it did the wind whipped even more ferociously. Icy pelts of rain began to fall on their skin. It was as if cultivating was the key to unlocking this stages primordial energy.

‘Key!’ Wei Wang thought again, and suddenly the thunder struck once more. This time the azure array formation remained a few moments longer, and Wei Wang fought even harder to recite his mantra, realizing that cultivation was the key to unlocking the hidden power in this snowy field.

Around them, the snow began to melt until a twenty foot wide space had turned into a puddle of icy sludge. In the distance, the dark figures of the other team could be seen struggling to stand.

The next moment, the ground began to shake. Wei Wang did everything he could to maintain his concentration, and in that moment, even though the snow was melting and the ground was shaking and the sky was storming, he felt entirely calm. Golden bits of energy were collecting in his core, slowly forming an origin Chi spark crystal.

‘Almost… there!’ He thought to himself as he pushed himself relentlessly forward.

The earthquake became more and more violent, and under the icy ground cracks were beginning to form. Just when he thought he could hold out not a moment more, and origin Chi spark formed within his core.

Letting go of his meditation, he looked down to realize, to his horror, that they were sitting on a sheet of ice, and that below that ice was not Earth, but a deep darkness.

The cracks in the ice grew larger instantly with a loud ‘crack!’ And then the next moment they were falling, ice everywhere, tumbling down and down into the darkness below.

A roar echoed through the darkness, some demon or dragon waiting for them as they plummeted. How would any of them survive this?

With that thought, Wei circulated his Phoenix Ascending Hidden Flame technique and activated the Phoenix light within himself. His body grew hotter, energy rushing out from his core into his arms and legs. He began to shine like a light in the darkness, and with that light he caught a glimpse of his four teammates also tumbling, plummeting down to what he could only hope was not their sudden death.

In that moment, he also caught glimpse of five more shadowy figures plummeting down far in the distance. And what was even more terrifying was the massive, snakelike beast that floating between their two teams. It was at least 150 feet tall and twenty feet across. Looking up, Wei Wang could not even see its head.

He didnt have time to investigate further, however, because at that instant an underground current caught him and swept him away.

He tumbled head over heels through the dark cavern air, and as he did caught one glimpse after another of his allies being torn away in all different directions.

Finally he drifted down to a dry and barren rocky ground, but surprisingly, just before he was about to crash into the ground headfirst, the gust of underground current lifted him up like a pillow and stalled his fall, and then deposited him gently on the ground.

He could only heave a sigh of relief, hoping against all hope that Leah was saved by the underground current as well.