Spirit blade mountain.
Legends tell of a mystical mountain. They say, on the mountains breast, legendary blades litter the ground like grass across a field of green. Weapons of much renowned from all over the world can be found there, awaiting the next hero who is fated to wield it. The land where weapons of myths and legends come to rest, that is how they describe the spirit sword mountain.
However, despite there being many claims throughout history that such a place does in fact exist, its location has remained a mystery. No one, not even the ones who have traveled to this mystical mountain, knows how to get there, as any accounts detailing a journey to this place of wonder differ drastically. Some say they had helped a stranger and in turn, they had teleported them to spirit sword mountain as thanks. Others say they had picked up a strange item or artifact and suddenly found themselves there. There are even some who claimed they had traveled there in their dreams. Regardless of how they got there, the one thing that most of the stories have in common is that when summoned to the spirit sword mountain, you will hear a voice in your head, offering you a trial. The trial itself may vary slightly, but it usually involves climbing to the top of the mountain, often carrying something or another. If you fail, you can pick one of the swords from the mountain to take home with you as a consolation prize, but it is not clear what happens should you succeed.
The trial always mentions some kind of grand reward for reaching the peak, but most of the stories tend to end before even getting past the clouds obscuring it. The stories and legends that do mention someone who made it to the top tend to vary greatly. Some say a divine craftsmen's forge is up there, and the trial is just to fetch the last ingredient for his latest masterpiece, which will be your prize upon completion. Some say, it is an inheritance trial of an ancient immortal, and the reward will be the mountain itself. Others say, it is the trial of a god to select a hero worthy of wielding their power. There are also those who simply think the trial is just a trick. That the mountain is just an endless wall of rock and metal, where the true goal is not to search for a peak that does not exist, but a spiritual journey of self-reflection that only ends when you find the sword that suits you best.
There are so many uncertainties surrounding this place, and so few who have actually been there, with many more who spin tales of their own, twisting and distorting the truth for their own amusement. This is why most think the spirit sword mountain is but a myth. However, as a masked mage and the tomato-faced nascent soul chasing after her can attest, it is not.
"STOP RUNNING YOU COWARD!"
Jai, a short-tempered cultivator, enraged not only because she had broken one of his eyes, but also that she ruined his chance at the spirit mountain trial by yanking the stone they had been fighting over out of his grasp, was chasing after Nox with the intent to kill. Nox had a bit of a head start when the chase began, but Jai had managed to catch up once they reached the foot of the mountain.
"I WILL HAVE MY REVENGE OR MY NAME IS NOT JA-! *BANG*" Jai screamed before crashing face first into a stone wall.
Spirit sword mountain is mostly a vertical climb, looking more like a massive pillar than a mountain. It is mostly made of black rocks with countless swords embedded sporadically across it's surface as far as the eyes could see. So, when Nox had reached the mountain, you could say Jai had her up against the wall. Unfortunately, when he lunged at her, Nox had used her superhuman strength to jump up into the air and grab onto one of the swords embedded in the wall.
Normally, this would have been fine for Jai, as he could simply readjust his directional movement to compensate using telekinesis or qi mid-air, but that was no longer possible. When visiting the spirit sword mountain, nearly every form of flight is restricted, whether its telekinesis, qi technique, magic, or just regular wings. Precautions have been made to inhibit such things should one even attempt to make oneself fly within this space, so that one may not cheat by trying to fly up the mountain rather than climbing it by hand. Though Jai was somewhat aware of this from an earlier attempt, he had still not quite adjusted to being without it, as he has grown so used to always having the ability over the course of his life. As such, when Nox jumped out of the way, he ended up charging face first into the mountain's wall.
"I guess, you should legally change your name to thunder-sweat now! Anyways, I'll give you some privacy to continue your rock kissing! Bye!" Nox said before she swung off the sword she had grabbed, hopping on to a flexible jade green rapier which she used like a springboard to jump even higher.
"COME BACK DOWN HERE! IF YOU ARE NOT A COWARD THEN COME AND FACE ME LIKE A MAN!" Jai shouted after removing his face from the wall.
"SORRY, BUT I'M A WOMAN, SO NO CAN DO! NOW IF YOU WILL EXCUSE ME! THIS BRAVE LADY WILL GO FIRST!" Nox shouted back, having reached an impressive height in such a short time.
"LIKE HELL YOU WILL! DIE!" Jai screamed as he pulled out his lightning storm blade and started firing lightning bolts in Nox's direction.
*Crackle**Crackle*
*Boom**Boom**Boom*
However, all his attacks kept missing, not because Nox was dodging his attacks, but because at this distance, most of the lightning strikes would be diverted by the various metal blades between him and her that had been jammed into the mountain wall.
Amongst the nine elements, the lightning element is one of the best for offensive purposes. Its attacks are lightning fast, it can paralyze your enemies while dealing both external and internal damage, and it is great for area off effect attacks, but it has one major weakness, and that is, its accuracy sucks. The lightning element is incredibly difficult to control as it rivals the light element in speed, but unlike a laser that travels in a straight line, a lightning bolt could arch and turn in every which direction. Because of this, lightning element cultivators struggle to precisely hit a faraway target, especially if there are a bunch of pseudo lightning rods standing in between them and their target.
"DAAAMN IIIIT!" Jai roared in frustrated anger as he kept swinging his lightning storm blade wildly, even though he realized none of his attacks would hit their marks at this point.
Infuriated, Jai began climbing after Nox. Even if he couldn't claim the prize at the top of this mountain, he still wanted to kill Nox, or failing that, sabotage her trial as revenge. However, unlike Nox who is an expert acrobat and mountain climber who can maneuver and calculate a viable path with but a glance, Jai lacked the experience and skill to copy her.
*Thud*
"Damn it! I'm going to do it this time!"
*Thud*
Overall, he may be physically stronger than Nox, but unlike Nox who has spent all her life on the road like a wondering hobo with an adventurous spirit, climbing and exploring even the most dangerous of terrains, Jai has very little experience climbing, as whenever he needed to get somewhere high, he could just fly up there. As if that was not enough, he was actively avoiding touching any of the swords.
According to some accounts, once you fail to bring the requested item to the top of the mountain, when you have picked the sword you want as a consolation prize, you will be expelled from spirit sword mountain, never to return again. It is not clear whether you need to physically pull out the blades or just touch them, but Jai wasn't planning to find out.
*Thud*
"Shit! THIS IS SO UNFAIR! HOW IS SHE THAT FAR UP ALREADY? SHE MUST BE CHEATING SOMEHOW!" Jai shouted in frustration after falling off the wall for the umpteenth time while Nox was half-way up to the clouds already.
Though Jai would occasionally make it surprisingly far for someone with so little experience with rock climbing as he did, he would eventually fall regardless, as he would struggled to discern what was and what wasn't stable enough to use as leverage. Though, despite his failures, his luck wasn't all that bad all things considered. Had he been a little more unfortunate, he could have been sliced in half on his way down by one of the swords sticking out of the wall. Each one of these weapons is at least a legendary weapon, many of whom are told of in myths. Even if it was an immortal, falling on to one of these blades could result in a fatal injury, nonetheless.
*Thud*
"TH-THIS IS JUST! IT'S SUCH BULLSHIT! ITS UNFAIR! SHE MUST BE CHEATING! Cheating?" Jai said, looking down at his dirt-covered hands, while a lightbulb went off inside his head.