Chapter 20 Ascend

Chapter 20 Ascend
"My fragile bones are finally gone."
​Ye Chen wiped the thick black sweat from his eyes. He sat completely alone in the damp mountain cave. Fourteen days had passed since he forcefully forged his skeleton into solid iron.
​The cursed lead box sat entirely ignored in the dark corner. The Nine Hells Devouring Art was still too lethal to touch.
​He focused his attention on the three cheap sect manuals resting on the dirt.
​"I need quantity to forge true quality," Ye Chen said aloud.
​He spent two entire weeks performing grueling drills in the dark. He smashed his bare forearms against the solid stone walls repeatedly to simulate the Iron Skin Mantra.
​He ran completely barefoot over jagged cave rocks to initiate the Swift Wind Steps. He drove his palms into solid boulders until his knuckles bled freely for the Mountain Crushing Palm.
​"System," Ye Chen commanded heavily. "Display the active roster."
​The blue interface materialized brightly in the damp air.
​\[Iron Skin Mantra Registered. Status is Uninitiated.\]
​\[Swift Wind Steps Registered. Status is Uninitiated.\]
​\[Mountain Crushing Palm Registered. Status is Uninitiated.\]
​His menu was finally fully stocked. The basic skills were manually forced open through brutal repetition.
​"I cannot upgrade them all at once," Ye Chen analyzed coldly.
​The recoil of three simultaneous evolutions would instantly melt his flesh. His newly forged iron bones would survive but his muscles would liquefy completely under the strain.
​He reached for the heavy leather bag of Spirit Stones.
​He did not sit and meditate to absorb the energy slowly. He grabbed a massive handful of the glowing gems directly from the bag.
​He crushed the solid stones into fine powder with his dense hands. He threw the raw volatile mineral dust directly into his mouth and swallowed hard.
​The Chaos Body Tempering Art roared violently to life. His internal furnace aggressively devoured the raw energy.
​His body swelled with dense power. The energy acted exactly like a battery, It pooled heavily in his muscles to buffer the coming trauma.
​A sharp sound suddenly echoed from outside the hidden cave.
​Ye Chen opened his eyes instantly. His enhanced perception detected heavy footfalls crunching loudly on the dry mountain brush.
​"The Enforcers finally tracked me down," Ye Chen whispered to himself.
​He grabbed his sword. He slipped silently through the hanging vines and melted entirely into the dark forest shadows.
​He moved swiftly through the ancient trees. He expected to find a fully armed squad of Azure Cloud Sect killers waiting for him.
​Instead he saw three ragged men chasing a single youth through a small clearing.
​The pursuers wore the dirty leather armor of common Capital thieves. They carried rusted curved blades and shouted crude curses violently into the night.
​Ye Chen dropped silently from a high tree branch. He intended to interfere simply to test his newly initiated combat forms on live targets.
​The young man suddenly stopped running. He spun around to face his attackers directly in the moonlight.
​"Do not mistake my retreat for fear," the young man stated loudly. His voice was incredibly calm and strictly disciplined.
​The three thieves charged him completely blindly.
​The young man stepped perfectly inside their clumsy guard. He moved with lethal precision. He snapped the neck of the first thief with a rapid palm strike.
​He pivoted smoothly on his heel. He shattered the kneecap of the second man and crushed his windpipe in a single fluid motion.
​The third thief screamed in pure terror and dropped his rusted blade. The young man delivered a devastating kick directly to the thief's chest. The impact caved the ribcage inward completely.
​All three thieves lay totally dead in the dirt within five short seconds.
​"I am a fully trained disciple of the Azure Cloud Sect," the young man boasted coldly to the corpses. "You picked the wrong prey tonight."
​"Your footing was slightly heavy on the pivot," Ye Chen said clearly.
​He stepped out of the dark shadows.
​The young man jumped back aggressively. He raised his fists in a flawless defensive martial stance.
​"But the kill was entirely clean," Ye Chen added calmly. He rested his heavy rusted sword casually on his shoulder. “I am Ye Chen”
​The young man stared at the white porcelain mask and the iron weapon. His defensive stance slowly relaxed into genuine absolute surprise.
​"You are Ye Chen," the young man said in total disbelief. "You are the crippled servant who publicly humiliated Elder Wang at the Grand Assessment."
​"My name is not a secret anymore," Ye Chen replied flatly. "Follow me quickly before the smell of blood attracts something else."
​Ye Chen led the young man safely back through the hidden traps and into his damp cave.
​"My name is Bai Yun," the young man introduced himself respectfully. He looked around the crude damp hideout with deep interest.
​"You claimed you were an Azure Cloud disciple," Ye Chen noted quietly. "Why are you wearing cheap mortal clothes."
​"I dropped out of the Outer Sect three years ago," Bai Yun explained bitterly. "I could not stand the hypocrisy of the righteous elders."
​"Security is a beautiful lie up there," Bai Yun continued. He sat down heavily on a flat rock. "I watched the elders extort the outer villages for protection money. I saw them feed innocent vagrants to their spirit beasts."
​"You decided to play the noble hero," Ye Chen mocked slightly.
​"I decided to stop serving monsters," Bai Yun countered firmly. "I returned to the Capital. I use the martial arts they taught me to break the criminals they secretly fund."
​"Hmm," Ye Chen sighed coldly. "The true rot sits directly on the golden thrones of the mountain."
​"Then we share the same enemy," Bai Yun smiled a genuine smile. "I heard you promised to tear Lady Su Rou down from her pedestal."
​"It is not a promise," Ye Chen replied. "It is an inevitable execution."
​"We should strip the bodies of those thieves," Bai Yun suggested practically. "They usually carry stolen silver looted from the lower slums."
​They walked back to the clearing under the pale moonlight. The three dead thieves remained exactly where they fell in the dirt.
​Ye Chen knelt beside the first corpse. He reached for the dirty leather pouch tied to the dead man's belt.
​His hand froze completely in mid air. His cold eyes locked directly onto the dead thief's face.
​"What is wrong?" Bai Yun asked quickly. He noticed Ye Chen tense up exactly like a coiled spring.
​"Look at his jaw," Ye Chen commanded quietly.
​Bai Yun crouched down and inspected the dead face. The thief's mouth was locked into a rigid unnatural wide smile.
​Thick black blood leaked slowly from the dead man's dark gums. The same horrific expression was frozen perfectly on the faces of all three corpses.
​Ye Chen felt a deep chilling dread wash over his heart. It was the same ghoul smile he had seen on the dead servant boy in the mountain illusion.
​"They are not just common thieves," Ye Chen whispered heavily.
​"What are they?" Bai Yun asked in total confusion.
​"They are infected," Ye Chen replied. He touched the rigid cold cheek of the corpse.
​He stood up and looked down the mountain toward the Capital below.
​"Elder Wang's demonic corruption is evolving," Ye Chen stated grimly. "It is no longer just mutating the wild beasts in the forest. It is infecting the thugs in your city."
​"The sect is bleeding its poison into the human lands," Bai Yun realized in
horror.
​Ye Chen gripped the hilt of his sword. The three month deadline for the Ascension Tournament was a complete luxury he no longer possessed.
​Elder Wang's slaughterhouse was spiraling completely out of control. The entire Capital would be a rotting graveyard of smiling ghouls long before the tournament ever began.
​He needed overwhelming power immediately.
​"Go back to the cave and rest," Ye Chen ordered Bai Yun firmly. "I have urgent work to do tonight."
​They returned to the hidden hideout. Bai Yun collapsed near the cave entrance. The young man was completely exhausted from his long mountain patrol and fell asleep instantly.
​Ye Chen retreated to the deepest and darkest corner of the damp cavern.
​He sat cross legged on the freezing stone. He felt the massive pool of devoured mineral energy burning hotly inside his stomach.
​"System," Ye Chen commanded silently in his mind.
​The blue interface illuminated the dark rock walls brightly around him.
​"Select the Iron Skin Mantra. Select the Swift Wind Steps. Select the Mountain Crushing Palm."
​The digital screen highlighted all three uninitiated skills simultaneously.
​"I do not have time for slow gradual growth," Ye Chen stated with absolute cold conviction.
​" Upgrade all three low tier skills to their absolute maximum limit."
​The blue interface flashed a blinding and incredibly violent white light.
\[Total Upgrade Cost: 30 points\]
​\[Acknowledged. Initiating Simultaneous Evolution.\]
​The agony was absolutely instantaneous
​Ye Chen threw his head back in a completely silent scream. His newly forged iron skeleton held completely firm against the immense crushing pressure.
​But his muscles skin and nervous system were violently torn apart and rewired simultaneously.
​The stockpile of devoured Spirit Stones ignited like a roaring furnace inside his gut. The energy burned aggressively to fuel the transformation.
​The dark cave was plunged into blinding agony as Ye Chen forced his mortal body to ascend.