“Spear Of Heaven!” I swerved once more as a massive spear shot through the sky to intercept my path. A glance behind me, under my arm, showed a female immortal cultivator chasing after me with a large ornate spear in his hand.

I swung Chicken around and pulled out my Combat Cylinder. I depressed the firing button. The immortal swung her spear, hitting the attack, disrupting it, and charging forward. I didn’t hesitate after firing and pulled out a gun I had recovered from the winged being.

Bracing my arm with my internal energy, I pulled the trigger. The weapon had a massive kick as a bright white light transversed the distance to the enemy immortal cultivator. They twisted out of the way. I had swapped out guns and fired again. She took a blow in her on her arm and let out pained cry. I had to keep using one hand to control Chicken, one of the downsides of such a vehicle.

I swapped out for the third and last gun I had recovered from the winged being and fired again. My aim was on point and I struck the female immortal in the chest. The attack was too quick for her to easily block. She let out another shout of pain and began to plummet towards the molten ground. I quickly used both hands to reload all three guns. There were only 18, now 15 bullets left. Stupid winged being using up everything on that war machine before donating them to me.

The female immortal touched down lightly and had pulled out a potion of some kind and was drinking it. I flew towards her and fired three times in rapid succession, swamping out guns. She was struck in the head, arm, and chest. She let out a scream and stumbled backwards, sinking into the molten metal.

“AHHHHH!” she screamed loudly and I felt a sense of danger. I quickly retreated as she exploded herself. Her spear went flying off into the distance, impacting into the molten metal, and quickly disappearing. As for the female cultivator there was nothing left except for a large depression in the molten metal that was quickly being filled in from the surroundings.

“Really, you blew yourself up,” I muttered in frustration. That was cheating. She should have allowed me to turn her into a meatball and collect all her items. I looked towards where the spear had flown towards, but it had completely vanished without any trace. I hadn’t been in a good position to intercept it, but it was still frustrating to lose out like this.

She had attacked me first and then lost. Scanning the area, I saw some items that were completely broken, sinking into the molten metal. If she lived, she had given up quite a bit. It would be a pain to recover, and she had taken damage from my weapons. She was most likely dead and gone.

After going around the area two more times and not spotting anything I continued flying towards the battle in the distance. I guess I had underestimated how difficult it was for immortals to manage in this environment and the damage the weapons I had collected did. They were the most powerful ranged weapons I had come to possess. A shame, I only had 15 shots left and then I would be out of ammo.

Confidence surged through me. While I might be weak in certain ways, I was much closer to an immortal in terms of combat ability than I had thought. That was what I got for disliking combat. But it was also having the recently picked up ranged weapons that I could use.

Thankfully there wasn’t some kind of biometric lock or specific energy requirement. Probably due to the being thinking they would never be killed or lose their weapons. A shame that one of the guns they had been firing at the war machine had been lost from the set of four. But just like the spear, once something vanished into the molten metal, there was no point in trying to recover it.

I needed to focus on the next fight. Looking in the distance, I saw a winged dragonoid similar to Hissk, but with blue scales instead of green. They were fighting an old looking male cultivator swinging a sword. Cultivators were clearly the most selected group for the Gu Container. I had no idea if this was on purpose or if cultivators were represented across more super organizations. The two were in close combat, trading blows with their claws and sword.

I stayed at quite a far distance, while looking for any vultures that might have similar plans to mine. Glancing at the two fighters, they were evenly matched as far as I could tell. The fight had a high chance of going on for a long time.

There was no good way to intervene either. Sword slashes and spatial cuts would fly past their opponent, making the surrounding area incredibly dangerous. Even if I got one, the other being would just kill me right afterwards. Even worse, they might even team up to target me. The longer they fought the greater the risk that someone else would show up on their fight.

I kept constantly checking around me, while staying close to the molten metal, so I wasn’t as easily spotted. A shame there was no actual cover, but that would defeat the purpose of this hell environment. I could survive if I landed on the molten metal, but it would be very annoying and I would have to constantly stay on guard and moving so I didn’t sink down into the molten metal.

While Chicken could fly, even at a slower speed, due the spatial suppression. The other beings might not be so lucky. If they had to fly under their own power, they would quickly exhaust themselves. The demonic cultivator was truly insidious. Even the war machine had to constantly stay off the surface or be pulled down into the molten metal.

Immortals and other similar beings could survive quite a bit, being stuck in molten metal would damage anything they were carrying on them. Even if they had high quality spatial storage items and strong defenses, it would be a struggle. Still there were probably hidden beings scattered about, waiting and watching the overall situation. The table people, except now they were the molten metal people.

Most of them wouldn’t act, but there could be immortals like the spear lady. If they saw someone weaker, they would attack, hoping to get benefits. It was a good idea, but I would never attack anyone who was at full strength.

That was the difference between me and the others including Hissk. They thought from the position of ambushes and surprise attacks. They learned the wrong lessons in fighting as they got stronger. With danger sense, it was possible to avoid attacks if the power difference wasn’t too great. But they counted on their stealth and ability to surprise their opponent.

I preferred to be out in the open. Other beings should hesitate about how I was surviving and moving around confidently. They might even suspect me of hiding my true strength. As long as I didn’t get into a drag out fight, they would hesitate. The fight with the immortal woman ended quickly and anyone watching would reconsider after my performance.

Scanning the nearby environment, I looked for any ripples in the molten metal or anything that was moving about. I didn’t see anything, but that didn’t mean that there weren’t hidden threats. Looking back at the fight, it was still going strong.

I saw a person approaching from a distance. Looking closely they had almost no energy and weren’t disturbing the air around them. It was some kind of projection. They were also covered with a dark cloak to hide their actual appearance.

“Greetings cultivator. I am Tal Dor San. I was hoping to speak with you for a brief moment,” they said. This was either a scam or a trap of some kind. I didn’t respond either. What was really scary were the number of esoteric techniques out there. It wasn’t about what I knew, but all the things I didn’t know. If I said a word, could I be attacked through that as a vector? I wasn’t sure, so I chose to remain silent and just waved my hand at this Tal Dor San to continue while I kept checking my surroundings carefully.

There were techniques out there that could get past one’s danger sense. They wouldn’t be common, but they would work very well against cultivators. “I am follower of the Interlink System. Could you spare a moment to here about our glorious savior and perhaps consider joining yourself.”

I was wrong, this wasn’t a trap, it was a sales pitch to convert me to another super organization. I quickly left the area. If they didn’t have anything useful to contribute to helping me get out of this Gu Container, then I wouldn’t bother with them. If this Interlink System was so powerful, then why were we all still trapped inside the Gu Container, why was its follower trapped inside the Gu Container?

Whatever the Interlink System was, it was complete and utter trash in my opinion. I would respect strength, power, and knowledge, but if you are going to make claims, then you better have the ability to back them up. Showing up with a projection screamed weakness. Appearances were incredibly important right now.

Talking and interacting with others without a clear benefit, would just reveal information about me that would inform third parties how capable I was. I noted that the projection had disappeared and wasn’t following me while I circled the ongoing battle at a great distance. I soon came to a stop again.

Blue dragonoid and sword cultivator were still going at it. I considered the possibility that they were faking to draw in other targets, but that was unlikely. They were putting too much effort into their attacks and were exhausting themselves. While they were fighting mostly defensively, that made sense. If you got injured there was no good way to recover.

They were both thinking they could outlast the other was my guess. But I didn’t have enough fighting experience to feel confident about that guess.

Time continued to pass, while I waited and kept checking my surroundings. I spotted another figure hovering off the ground almost opposite me in relation to the fight that was happening. I had competition, which wasn’t good. I also noted that the two fighters had glanced at both of us during their fight as well. They knew we were waiting to pounce, which made them slow down their confrontation a bit more.

This was taking way too long, so I left. Sometimes one just needed to walk away and I felt like it was one of those times. The fighters wouldn’t deliver a crippling blow and there were other beings waiting around.

“Hell, this place is what I would imagine hell to be like if it were real,” I muttered. Molten metal for the ground. A bright star with the ultimate evil hiding inside. Everyone trying to get advantage over each other in some way. There was nothing else. No other structures, points of interest, anything.

I would have thought someone might have tried to connect this place with the ocean of blood, but nope. No monsters set in place by the demonic cultivator. Well, those worms could have been pulled in and survived in the ocean of blood somehow. No need to blame their presence on the demonic cultivator when there was another reasonable explanation.

But that didn’t matter, this place did. I casually traveled around, and there was no change. I had no idea where I had entered from and the remnants of any battles disappeared quickly, since the molten metal flowed back into position.

I occasionally saw another fight happening, but they were far away. Either they would be over when I got there, or too risky to take advantage of. I had really gotten lucky with the war machine crushing its opponent so quickly. Thankfully I hadn’t lost all sense of direction and it was a very big war machine compared to human sized figures.

It was staying in place, resting on the molten metal. If someone got too close it probably got excited and started attacking. So, everyone would stay away. It was also a good place to run to if I wanted to try and create some chaos. No doubt it would figure out what I was doing, but if I was chased, it would be a good way to lose whatever was chasing me, run towards something more dangerous.

This place was also massive, since it was like the Free Port, but one level, with light and heat blasting everyone. If it weren’t for energy strengthening my body, I would have gotten cancer if I didn’t melt first.

What I needed to find were beings like the war machine that were insanely dangerous that would take out their target at range. I had spent days looking around and my eyes were starting to ache from the glare and the star in the sky.

The best option was to be near the war machine and wait. Wait until someone else activated it and then swoop in to take their corpse and items. I could dodge the smaller attacks and I doubted the war machine would waste its huge nuclear beam attack on me. That was the kind of attack you saved as a trump card. Apparently the winged being thought it could whittle down the war machine at range.

The smaller attacks were probably dodged or blocked in some way. I hadn’t seen the beginning of the fight, but that was my guess. Otherwise, there was no need to unleash such a powerful attack. I didn’t dare get too close either, in case the war machine decided to get feisty.

Time continued to pass as I floated there. I rested my eyes, but never truly fell asleep, since I needed to watch out for threats. I was coming to understand why Hissk stayed underground. My scaley teammate wasn’t wrong that waiting might be better. The first couple of battles had set my expectations higher than they should have been, now all I was left with was disappointment.

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There was a massive roar and a shockwave of energy. I turned to look in that direction. About a quarter of the way around the interior of the sphere, a giant dragon burst through the molten metal. This was a massive creature, who was releasing waves of energy.

“YOU ARE DEAD!”

The words hit my very soul, and I almost lost consciousness from the sheer force. Looking at it, made my eyes hurt. It appeared that the demonic cultivator hooked a shark instead of a fish. A very angry, scaley, winged shark.

Glancing over at the war machine it was running away, or flying away with its jets. I quickly began following after it, and overtaking it. Glancing back, the dragon had ripped its way out of the molten metal, with a huge torrent of the red liquid spilling out behind it, creating a massive cloud of steam that was pushed away by the dragon’s wings.

While the hole was a pinprick compared to the overall size of the sphere, I had no doubt that everyone had noticed the new arrival. The dragon was sorting itself out for a bit, before it lifted off the molten metal and flew towards the star in the sky.

Come on dragon, kill the demonic cultivator, and break the Gu Container. I am just a very small and unimportant being, so you can ignore me. The star’s surface rippled. All the plasma spun about to focus on the side facing the dragon. Darkness and cold swept outwards towards the opposite side of the star, which was now revealed to be a giant metal construct under the plasma. The citadel of the demonic cultivator.

I noted several beings flying up towards the citadel from the rear while the dragon attacked from the front. While it was tempting to join them, I was like a tiny minnow, my only hope was no one cared enough about me. This level of fight was far beyond me.

A lance of light and energy struck at the ascending dragon. It let out another roar as its body was slowly vaporized. I glanced back, and it was mostly skeleton by the time it reached the citadel. Just as it brought up a clawed hand to strike, the dragon crumbled to dust, leaving nothing behind.

The war machine fired its main weapon at the citadel. This time there were no shockwaves emitted. The fact that such a thing could control such a powerful weapon to such a high degree was a clear sign that it ranked much higher on the power ladder than me.

The beam struck the citadel in a massive explosion, deforming a portion of its outer surface. But compared to the overall size, the damage wasn’t that big. The star reignited as plasma spread about the surface of the citadel once more. Lances of light struck out, hitting the various beings racing towards it. Demonic cultivator just smacked down everyone down.

I noted the area where the war machine had struck was dimmer, like a sunspot compared to the rest of the star. The demonic cultivator had just slapped everyone down with ease. Before, I was thinking they were more powerful, but I didn’t have a grasp on the enormity of that difference.

The dragon and the war machine were clearly at the top, with the war machine being smarter, or thinking long term. I hadn’t noticed any other sun spots so this was probably the first time it had been able to act. It wasn’t like there were super dragons just roaming around, ready to be pulled into the Gu Container at any time.

The demonic cultivator stood above such powerful figures. While most of it could be due to preparation and planning, I couldn’t imagine the demonic cultivator being weaker than either of the two beings I had already seen. Escaping this place was not going to be easy. The demonic cultivator was hoping to scoop everyone and everything up.

I adjusted my course and flew towards where the falling beings were going to land. It was quite a distance away, almost halfway around the sphere. It was a long distance to fall and Chicken was quite fast. I noted that the spatial suppression had been reduced, since my speed was much faster compared to before.

I reached my first target, and they were recovering slowly. I didn’t hesitate to decapitate the person with the strength of an immortal. I noted other vultures like myself targeting the other falling people who had attempted to assault the citadel during a moment of weakness.

The spatial item was broken and there was nothing else of value I could find, before I turned the corpse into a meatball. Another one or two more, and I would have the strength to break through. More strength would be better of course.

I felt a sudden sense of danger and swerved to the side. A massive slash cut through where I had been, impacting the molten metal, creating a massive trench that had to be miles long. Looking at the origin of the attack, I saw a cultivator with a sword fighting a blue dragonoid. It was these two again. They were back at it. There was clearly some kind of grudge.

The dragonoid looked slightly burnt, while the swordsman was bleeding and missing an eye from his head. Compared to before, they had increased the power of their attacks. I got into position to pounce if I saw an opportunity. If I could consume them both and get that sword, that would be the best outcome.

Looking around, there were no other nearby beings, but that didn’t mean anything. I also noted that the spatial suppression hadn’t come back in full force. Whatever was used to suppress spatial abilities had been weakened by that last attack on the demonic cultivator’s citadel.

Now I just needed a couple more super dragons and war machines to show up and take out the demonic cultivator. That wasn’t going to happen, unfortunately. While I might hope, there was little chance of such an event occurring. Looking over at where the massive dragon had emerged, the place was already being covered by molten metal.

The only sign of the previous battle was the sunspot on the star. There was also the fact that the spatial suppression had gotten slightly worse. That was good news for Chicken’s speed and top altitude.

Seeing the super dragon vaporized was shocking. But it was clear proof that my thought process was correct. Preparation was key and items could be used to enhance one’s combat power. The lance wasn’t just plasma, but a lot of energy was included in the attack as well, while being focused on the dragon. More like a sword rather than a ranged attack, since the attack hadn’t extended to the molten metal sphere beyond the dragon.

That made sense, since the demonic cultivator wouldn’t want to damage his creation. More concerning were those secondary attacks that struck down other beings attacking from the rear. The citadel was similar to the war machine in that way. It made me wonder if the demonic cultivator was inspired or stole knowledge from the war machine’s creators.

If this wasn’t a Gu Container, I would say that just the experience of seeing all these things had expanded my horizons greatly. It was still incredibly dangerous. If one of these super attacks targeted me or just landed nearby, I would be in a lot of danger.

The fight between the old swordsman cultivator and the blue dragonoid was picking up even more. They were pushing up against the limits of their combat ability. The cultivator darted in and cut off an arm and part of a wing of the dragonoid. But it returned the favor, by striking the man’s chest, blood, bone, and viscera went flying. The two combatants went flying apart from each other down towards the molten metal.

Hissk leapt out from the molten metal, grabbing onto the blue dragonoid and disappearing back under the molten metal. Was he rescuing a friend or his next meal? I wasn’t sure. He didn’t share much about his culture or dragonoids.

The sword wielder was suddenly attacked by three cyborgs that burst out of the molten metal. Foolish of them. That old cultivator had a lot of strength left. While he was wounded, he was quite strong and capable of defending himself. The fact he hadn’t let go of his sword was proof of this.

The sword cultivator turned in mid-air and swung. A curved slash shot out, hitting all three cyborgs at once, splitting them in half. Yep, the old man was still strong, despite the wound. That was one of the strengths of immortality, being able to keep going even if your body was falling apart. Losing one’s body was very bad, but it allowed one to fight beyond certain limitations.

Hissk’s people were different. I had observed the dragonoid for a long time. It was highly likely that they didn’t have a second bottleneck. Their physicality would just get stronger along with their spatial ability. They were biological weapons that had been purposefully created. You wouldn’t give your weapons a chance to break free of their physical bodies.

So, while stronger at any given amount of energy, it would be harder to get to that point. The blow the sword cultivator had struck was much more devastating for the dragonoids continued existence compared to the blow the dragonoid had struck on the sword cultivator.

A shame, I wanted that sword for myself. It would have been a perfect upgrade. Unfortunately for the sword cultivator, he didn’t have any friends or companions, and had just taken a heavy blow. He might not be about to die, but his body was struggling.

Another vulture swooped in, while I still kept watching at a distance. Why did these weak beings, think they could win? Two more were cut down and fell into the molten metal. Now the sword cultivator was looking much worse, since his massive chest wound had gotten worse. Blood was constantly dripping down.

Still, he would fight to his last breath. That was why I still didn’t make a move and was content to wait. The sword cultivator then puked out a mouthful of blood and bits of his digestive tract onto the molten metal. He then collapsed to one knee on the molten metal, barely staying above the surface. Looking around, I didn’t see any more vultures moving in and slowly got closer.

“Come to pick this old man’s bones clean?” the sword cultivator said while looking towards me. His words carried across the distance to reach me.

“Yes,” I replied truthfully. He let out a chuckle and swung his sword towards me. I moved out of the way of the slash and he suddenly appeared behind me, standing on Chicken. His sword resting on shoulder, with the blade very close to my neck.

“Foolishness. I am Sword God Feng.” I gulped nervously but replied.

“Cultivator Yuan Zhou,” I declared.

“More like demonic cultivator,” he said and the amount of danger increased. One wrong move and I would lose my head.

“Strength comes in many forms. I refuse to die here in this Gu Container,” I replied.

“Well your determination is good. ACK!” I didn’t move as the Sword God puked out another mouthful of blood. “Do you use a sword?”

I withdrew my sword from my spatial storage. It flew up in the air behind me, close to the Sword God’s face. “A well cared for blade. One Swing To Separate Heaven and Earth. A good phrase to focus one’s intent and energy.” My blade flew back in front of me. The Sword God removed his blade and stabbed. A massive hole was created in the molten metal.

“Fly down there,” he said. I flew downwards into the newly formed pit. We were soon below the layer of molten metal. The Sword God swung his blade a couple more times and removed the chunks of metal, creating a chamber. “Land.”

I landed in the chamber he had created. He then replaced a piece of metal he had cut out of the barrier sphere, stopping the molten metal from flowing downwards. “Any last words?” the Sword God asked as he floated in front of me.

“Just regret that I underestimated your abilities and strength,” I replied.

“A minor movement technique, useless against that lizard unfortunately. What is your dream?” he asked me.

“To become strong enough to decide my own future,” I said.

“Hah. The simplest of dreams are often the hardest. I once dreamed of becoming the greatest Sword God,” he replied before puking out another mouthful of blood.

“You wouldn’t go to all this trouble to kill me,” I stated.

“Observant. Good. Good. I am dying. The cursed energy of this place and that stupid lizard. My soul is damaged, not just my body. The song of my sword is coming to an end,” Sword God Feng declared and then let out a sigh. “I could die, let you consume me, or any number of other fates. But I refuse to submit to destiny.”

“Destiny?” I asked hesitantly.

“Fate, or whatever higher power is hidden within energy. There is a great curse upon sword masters. The origin has been lost to time, but the higher one climbs with the power of sword, the more likely one is to meet a terrible end.”

I frowned at this statement. “Across the entire Firmament?” I asked.

“Across all of reality. To take up the title of Sword God is to fight against such a thing. It is likely a subtle manipulation of some Chaos creature. Regardless, I am refuse to let my knowledge and accumulation go to waste.” My heart sped up at that statement. “It is your lucky day, since you have a sword and your temperament isn’t terrible, I can teach you before I die. At least my a student of mine will carry my strength forward.”

The old man was rambling a bit. Being near to death would do that to a person, even an immortal cultivator. Immortal only referred to protecting one from the ravages and decay of time, not from being killed in combat.

“I would be honored Master,” I said and bowed my head. There was no other answer if I didn’t want to die.

“Good. Good. I need to rest after that fight. You think on what a sword means. Once I wake up I will quiz you. If you don’t match my expectations, it would be better for my legacy to end than be tainted by foolishness,” he declared before collapsing on the ground. I noted he hadn’t let go of his sword and the immense sense of danger was still there.

Sword God Feng was clearly telling me to put in effort, or I would regret it. It was hard to say if he had some ulterior motive. But it was most likely he was dying. His energy was in disarray and the wound on his chest was not getting better. Probably some kind of damage that lingered from the dragonoid. I wasn’t familiar with such techniques, but it was scary that a wound could linger on a powerful immortal like this.

Looking at my sword and the phrase etched onto the blade, I contemplated what a sword actually meant. A sword was a killing instrument, but that was too simple and too obvious. If I said that I would lose my head.

Even with the Sword God resting and trying to delay his death, there was a sense of danger in the air. At any moment I knew he could remove my head from my shoulders. If I even considered making a move against him, it would be only a question of how many seconds it would take for me to die. While I had gotten lucky against other immortals, I had mis-stepped here.

The fact he wanted to teach me about the sword was just another challenge to overcome. Also, I hadn’t attacked him either, which probably counted as good judgement. Being able to teleport through a sword slash, now that was a powerful technique.

I just needed to find the right answer to the question I was given. What does a sword mean? A pointy stick? That would probably see me tortured for disrespect towards the sword. One did not take up the title of Sword God, unless they had a very close relationship with swords. Ah, now things made more sense.

The Sword God was a sword fetishist. He was in love with the concept of swords. So much he had devoted his entire existence to them. It wasn’t like the love between two people, but something just as deep. He wanted to pass that relationship on, for someone to carry on his love.

Now that I understood that, things made much more sense regarding the old man. In time he would be completely forgotten in the passage of time in the Firmament. But passing on his sword knowledge was with the hope that his legacy would continue, his love would endure beyond his death.

Everything about a curse, or a limit, was not something I was concerned about. All that stuff could wait until I escaped the Gu Container. Without being able to escape, nothing else was relevant long term.

Looking at the sword again, I thought about everything I had been through with my sword. Claiming it was a companion might be a bit too obvious and cliché, but it might be what the Sword God was looking for. The question was too open ended. There were too many possible answers and I didn’t know the Sword God and what answer he wanted.

To strive for more power? A man’s romance? A weapon for killing? A companion that would carry one through tough battles? I had simplified cultivation to truths, but I had never considered doing this for a sword. Enlightenment wasn’t something I could just achieve at a whim.

I needed a unifying statement or a couple of unifying statements regarding a sword that would hold true no matter what. They needed to short, insightful, and withstand scrutiny. It wasn’t easy to come up with something, since there were so many situations one could use a sword in. A sword could be used as a tool of flight, not just killing.

Looking at the weapon in front of me. I felt the sense of danger increase slightly. The closer the Sword God got to waking up, the closer I was to death if I didn’t have a proper answer prepared.