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Regressed Master: Raising The Son Of Heaven Isn’t Easy (Xianxia/Progression)
- Thread starter Overload69
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86: One’s Past, Another’s Future (I)
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Overload69
Know what you're doing yet?
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The ship carrying Azure Sky Sect's disciples and Elders reached the outer sect city. The moment of their landing wasn't grand. There weren't any large banners or people throwing flowers at their feet. However, the disciples stretched out and smiled full of heart; finally, they had returned home.
As youths who had spent most of their years in this sect, to them it had become their home, more than their birthplace. Even Muchen, as old as he was, couldn't help but crack a smile when he came back here.
He found peace in knowing that he had somewhere to return to. His home. It was in front of his eyes. And, it would only get better.
The same peak that didn't see anyone else aside from him, his junior disciples, and his disciple, now had torrents of people moving along the lone stairs unwinding down the steep slope. Elites from Lotus Peak and Chrysanthemum Peak carried inscribed wood and pipes made of rose gold metal to one of the terraces on the southern side.
Chen Zhipeng worked on the Heaven's Pond project, calling it Heaven's Spring, or so Muchen had heard from Li Xianquan.
"Why did you leave the naming to him?" Muchen asked the embarrassed Grand Elder.
"I was too busy, and he seemed eager." He smiled impishly; no doubt this was on purpose. Now, the entire sect would call the facility of Muchen's peak by that name. "It's not that bad a name; the disciples think it is domineering."
"Well… let us forget about that." The dice had left the hand. "Any problem during transportation?"
"None so far, rather the disciples seem more eager to share the wonderful treasure with their fellows. I allowed them to have a dip in, and they couldn't be happier to work." Xianquan smirked. "After the spring's construction is done, I plan to let the disciples who participated in the Eastern Martial Meet enter as a training. Once the word spreads enough, we'll make it accessible through the mission hall."
"That's reasonable." Muchen had nothing to add on that front; Xianquan always had an eye for these things.
"Also, I plan to add a few cultivation rooms and a dining hall. I'll leave them under your jurisdiction."
"Now that is excessive." Muchen shrank back; the peace of his peak was threatened.
"Plum Peak needs a revenue stream. You can't keep paying the sect tribute from your personal wealth forever; it will reach 100,000 spirit stones from next year." Xianquan said.
"I actually can." Muchen didn't bat an eye at the increase of 5,000 stones. Xianquan already knew how much he made thanks to Zhipeng. "Even the Elders have accepted defeat at this point, you should too."
"Please do not fight me on this, Senior brother. I do this for the comfort of our precious disciples." A righteous glint appeared in his eyes.
"Sure, Sure." Muchen nodded along. This seemed like a done deal, no matter what he said.
"Well, how is Sister Huang?" Xianquan asked.
"You noticed, huh."
"If the person most strict about her report after every expedition doesn't arrive, even the walls would notice," Xianquan added. "So, what happened?"
"I am surprised you haven't heard about it yet." Muchen smiled, full of pride.
"What can I say, a certain individual worked very hard to keep it a secret." Xianquan's hollow laugh ended soon after.
Once Muchen told the happenings from the Eastern Martial Meet over a bottle of wine, Xianquan sat in his place, fiddling with the empty cup. The more serious the matter, the less he spoke; that's how he was.
"Hua Bo, huh." However, that silence usually carried rage or sorrow. "He was a decent fellow. Too bad how he turned out."
"You aren't that far from him in age," Muchen added. "Stop acting like an old man, you aren't even married yet."
"How can I marry when my Senior brother hasn't settled down yet?"
"Why can't you? Just look at Jiahao."
"Brother Hua is one of a kind."
"That is true." Muchen smiled. That junior brother of his said he wanted to marry Mingzhu out of the blue; none of them saw it coming, not even Mingzhu.
"Go and talk with Huang Bai, take a few mooncakes with you," Muchen added.
"I'll go after Sister Liu is done." Xianquan must've noticed Liu Zhi's movement.
"That brat will use this chance to laze around, shut her down after a day for me." Muchen could see the orders in Osmanthus peak pile up.
"Will do." Xianquan smiled as Muchen stood up, then he spoke again. "Making sister Bai listen, was it necessary, big brother?"
"What have I taught you about wounds, Xianquan?" Muchen asked, forgetting the usual formalities.
"That we have to take proper care of them until they are healed," Xianquan answered. "If not cared for, they fester and make things worse."
"Therein lies your answer." Physical or mental, if wounds aren't taken care of, they both fester.
Before his regression, Muchen was too late to notice that festering wound. A wound that eventually became a rift and broke the Azure Sky Sect, starting from Huang Bai's death.
"As sensitive as Sister Bai is, I can only thank you for the tough decision." Xianquan bowed.
"I hope you do more than thank me for it." Muchen chuckled.
"That's hard to do." Xianquan smiled awkwardly. "Even if big brother changes for the worse, there is only one way for me to move on from you."
Ever since he had assumed the position of Grand Elder, Xianquan had become more diplomatic. He had gained poise and elegance. Coldness and wisdom. However, he had lost the directness from before. So, watching that glimpse return, Muchen couldn't help but ask him the question.
"What would I have to?"
"Kill me. That might work." Xianquan said.
"Might?" Muchen raised his brow.
"Who knows, I might turn into a vengeful spirit and haunt big brother till he straightens his ways."
"That's hilarious." Muchen smiled.
"Isn't it?" Xianquan followed suit; it had been years since he had heard that hearty laughter.
"If something like that happens, I expect you to continue as if I don't exist," Muchen said.
"If it were one of us in Hua Bo's shoes, would you do the same, big brother?" Xianquan looked up, his eyes shining brilliantly.
"I wonder, maybe I'd drink a few cups of wine, remembering the good times." Muchen closed his eyes and took a deep breath.
"Now that's certainly hilarious." Xianquan shook his head.
He didn't look at him, but Muchen could feel the gaze. The eyes filled with uncertainty, eyes searching for an answer.
"You've seen a glimpse of it, didn't you?" Muchen saw the qi concentrated on his little brother's eyes. "The future."
"A little." Xianquan's eyes burned a mystic purple; the Celestial Eyes had worked faster than last time. "The Tiger will descend the Southern mountain."
The Tiger, is it? Muchen took a deep breath. This was much faster than last time. His actions had changed things, but that didn't matter at this point.
"We'd better sharpen our spears then," he said.
"Spears? I thought you'd say to prepare the nets." Xianquan tilted his head.
"Well, the situation has changed, so the method has to follow," Muchen added. "I will be entering closed-door cultivation for a month."
"What?" Xianquan shot up from his seat. "But who will overlook Zhi—I mean, the construction of Heaven's spring?"
"You can handle it, Grand Elder." Muchen patted his younger brother's shoulder and started for the door.
"If you keep pushing things on me like this, I will really just ignore you when you turn evil," Xianquan shouted.
"That's the spirit." Muchen only smiled and exited, ignoring the turbulent qi in the Lotus Peak.
***
The day passed as Muchen steadily handed out tasks to his disciples and prepared for things that'd happen during his absence. It wasn't anything too large, like sect conspiracies or battles, just day-to-day problems and necessities.
Wang Yang did show regret when Muchen told him to get dinner from outside till he returned from cultivation, but he relented soon after. The young boy had more of his focus on the new manual he had found. Muchen had little interest in Shan Dian Martial Manual; he had read it previously after Wang Yang had mastered it.
In simple terms, it was a manual created for the next son of heaven by the previous son of heaven. It served Muchen little purpose to know of the techniques in there, with his body and root, even replicating them was a distant dream. He thought so even now, because those techniques required the usage of all five elements.
However, if there was one thing Muchen had learned about life, aside from the fact that it's a series of trainwrecks, it was the ability to not get hung up on treasures. A treasure he can't use was as good as dirt for him; any time trying to make it work was a waste.
With those enlightened steps, he entered cavern Beta. A series of caverns hidden below the nexus of tunnels he had created along the sect's border. Not even Xianquan knew of these.
The slick floor welcomed his feet, doing everything to make him slip, but unsuccessful. A red iron door, as thick as a bull, slid open with a thud, screeching on the steel rail.
Inside the dusty room was a chair, a man tied to it with qi-constricting ropes and chains. Thin silver needles stuck into his spine and joints to restrict any movement below the neck.
"Finally have time for me, do you?" Gu Changge glared through his disheveled hair.
"Do not act like a disgruntled mistress. I am a busy man." Muchen walked into the dry room that smelled of piss and feces, pushing off the putrid air with his qi.
"If I were a woman, I'd spit on your face." He barked, puke stains running down his neck.
"If you were a woman, I'd pray for your husband to reach heaven; he needn't experience hell twice." Muchen shook his head, looking at the gnashing teeth with a dismissive smile. "Not that you did anything worthwhile as a husband."
"You killed your wife and refined her corpse for cultivation, tried to do the same with your grandniece, who took her first steps. You disrespected your bloodline, conspired against the orthodox sects, and tried to kill young disciples, the future of the Eastern Continent." Muchen could list a hundred more such crimes, but Changge hadn't committed them yet. "Truly, you are a disgrace."
"Why are you talking like that?" Changge spat.
"Talking like what?" Muchen tilted his head.
"Talking like you are the epitome of the righteous path. Be honest with me, you cut a deal with him, didn't you?" Changge asked.
"Him?" Muchen's eyes narrowed.
"What did he not even give his name?" He chuckled. "I am talking about Bai, he provided me with the lamp, sent the Sun Cult to set up my base, and restarted the Heaven's puzzle. Only he knew every detail of my plan, the details you used, only he could tell you about everything."
"So, what is it that you sold your soul for? Power? Safety? Status? Talent?" Changge glared, however, Muchen's eyes only reflected pity. There was no anger, there was no coldness. Just pity.
"I've made no such deal; I haven't even met this Bai yet." Even before regression, Muchen had heard of the name Bai, or better known as White Tiger, but never met the man himself. This Bai and the 'He' Hua Bo talked about, he believed they were the same person.
If so, how would Bai know of the White Demon this world was yet to see?
"No way… You lie. How could you best me like this without…"
Muchen turned to the rambling of the crazed Changge. The downfall of a prideful man was never pretty, but this went beyond ugly.
"You bastard… why did you? Why did you come after me if it wasn't for Bai?"
"Because I am a vengeful spirit." Muchen smiled.
"What?" The gear in Changge's head stopped turning.
"A vengeful spirit, you know? The spirit of the deceased that does everything to get their revenge?"
Muchen would've explained more, but Changge threw a fit.
"I fucking know that you piece of shit!" His voice turned hoarser than his face. "Why the fuck are you a vengeful spirit? What did I do to you? I didn't even know you fucking existed?!"
"That's a pity." Muchen's smile didn't reach his eyes. "You should've kept it that way, and maybe, maybe I would've let you carry out your remaining shit stain of a life in some pig pen."
"Hey! Come back here, you son of bitch! Hey!"
Muchen started for the door, treating his shouts for the buzzing of a fly. The Gu Changge he faced wasn't this pathetic; he didn't show even with a blade to his neck, he never lost his cool, even as a man confined to a chair facing an army. But there was one thing that didn't change in Muchen's mind for this man: hatred.
Changge was the agent of chaos that the Demonic Sects from overseas had planted in the Eastern Continent. A little wound that festered enough to affect the entire land. Muchen lost Huang Bai and Hua Jiahao to this bastard's schemes.
However, when he killed him, that anger didn't die down, because his death served no purpose beyond the surface. Even now that he had stopped Gu Changge before he wreaked havoc, before his endless schemes, that hatred burned strongly in his chest.
What was the truth about his regression? Was it truly a reversal of time and space, or was he thrown into a world that mirrored the one he had lost?
Muchen had never prayed to any god or Buddha, but he prayed that it was the former. Because if it were the latter, everything he did and planned to do had no meaning. That anger in his heart would keep burning bright until the day it consumed him again.
But until he found the answer to that question, Muchen wanted to hold onto that anger. That anger defined him. It fueled him. And he needed that anger to reach the clue that would reveal the secret of his regression.
"Bai, huh," Muchen muttered as the door closed behind him. "I wonder what his next move is."
The time to reset the board had come.
...
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As youths who had spent most of their years in this sect, to them it had become their home, more than their birthplace. Even Muchen, as old as he was, couldn't help but crack a smile when he came back here.
He found peace in knowing that he had somewhere to return to. His home. It was in front of his eyes. And, it would only get better.
The same peak that didn't see anyone else aside from him, his junior disciples, and his disciple, now had torrents of people moving along the lone stairs unwinding down the steep slope. Elites from Lotus Peak and Chrysanthemum Peak carried inscribed wood and pipes made of rose gold metal to one of the terraces on the southern side.
Chen Zhipeng worked on the Heaven's Pond project, calling it Heaven's Spring, or so Muchen had heard from Li Xianquan.
"Why did you leave the naming to him?" Muchen asked the embarrassed Grand Elder.
"I was too busy, and he seemed eager." He smiled impishly; no doubt this was on purpose. Now, the entire sect would call the facility of Muchen's peak by that name. "It's not that bad a name; the disciples think it is domineering."
"Well… let us forget about that." The dice had left the hand. "Any problem during transportation?"
"None so far, rather the disciples seem more eager to share the wonderful treasure with their fellows. I allowed them to have a dip in, and they couldn't be happier to work." Xianquan smirked. "After the spring's construction is done, I plan to let the disciples who participated in the Eastern Martial Meet enter as a training. Once the word spreads enough, we'll make it accessible through the mission hall."
"That's reasonable." Muchen had nothing to add on that front; Xianquan always had an eye for these things.
"Also, I plan to add a few cultivation rooms and a dining hall. I'll leave them under your jurisdiction."
"Now that is excessive." Muchen shrank back; the peace of his peak was threatened.
"Plum Peak needs a revenue stream. You can't keep paying the sect tribute from your personal wealth forever; it will reach 100,000 spirit stones from next year." Xianquan said.
"I actually can." Muchen didn't bat an eye at the increase of 5,000 stones. Xianquan already knew how much he made thanks to Zhipeng. "Even the Elders have accepted defeat at this point, you should too."
"Please do not fight me on this, Senior brother. I do this for the comfort of our precious disciples." A righteous glint appeared in his eyes.
"Sure, Sure." Muchen nodded along. This seemed like a done deal, no matter what he said.
"Well, how is Sister Huang?" Xianquan asked.
"You noticed, huh."
"If the person most strict about her report after every expedition doesn't arrive, even the walls would notice," Xianquan added. "So, what happened?"
"I am surprised you haven't heard about it yet." Muchen smiled, full of pride.
"What can I say, a certain individual worked very hard to keep it a secret." Xianquan's hollow laugh ended soon after.
Once Muchen told the happenings from the Eastern Martial Meet over a bottle of wine, Xianquan sat in his place, fiddling with the empty cup. The more serious the matter, the less he spoke; that's how he was.
"Hua Bo, huh." However, that silence usually carried rage or sorrow. "He was a decent fellow. Too bad how he turned out."
"You aren't that far from him in age," Muchen added. "Stop acting like an old man, you aren't even married yet."
"How can I marry when my Senior brother hasn't settled down yet?"
"Why can't you? Just look at Jiahao."
"Brother Hua is one of a kind."
"That is true." Muchen smiled. That junior brother of his said he wanted to marry Mingzhu out of the blue; none of them saw it coming, not even Mingzhu.
"Go and talk with Huang Bai, take a few mooncakes with you," Muchen added.
"I'll go after Sister Liu is done." Xianquan must've noticed Liu Zhi's movement.
"That brat will use this chance to laze around, shut her down after a day for me." Muchen could see the orders in Osmanthus peak pile up.
"Will do." Xianquan smiled as Muchen stood up, then he spoke again. "Making sister Bai listen, was it necessary, big brother?"
"What have I taught you about wounds, Xianquan?" Muchen asked, forgetting the usual formalities.
"That we have to take proper care of them until they are healed," Xianquan answered. "If not cared for, they fester and make things worse."
"Therein lies your answer." Physical or mental, if wounds aren't taken care of, they both fester.
Before his regression, Muchen was too late to notice that festering wound. A wound that eventually became a rift and broke the Azure Sky Sect, starting from Huang Bai's death.
"As sensitive as Sister Bai is, I can only thank you for the tough decision." Xianquan bowed.
"I hope you do more than thank me for it." Muchen chuckled.
"That's hard to do." Xianquan smiled awkwardly. "Even if big brother changes for the worse, there is only one way for me to move on from you."
Ever since he had assumed the position of Grand Elder, Xianquan had become more diplomatic. He had gained poise and elegance. Coldness and wisdom. However, he had lost the directness from before. So, watching that glimpse return, Muchen couldn't help but ask him the question.
"What would I have to?"
"Kill me. That might work." Xianquan said.
"Might?" Muchen raised his brow.
"Who knows, I might turn into a vengeful spirit and haunt big brother till he straightens his ways."
"That's hilarious." Muchen smiled.
"Isn't it?" Xianquan followed suit; it had been years since he had heard that hearty laughter.
"If something like that happens, I expect you to continue as if I don't exist," Muchen said.
"If it were one of us in Hua Bo's shoes, would you do the same, big brother?" Xianquan looked up, his eyes shining brilliantly.
"I wonder, maybe I'd drink a few cups of wine, remembering the good times." Muchen closed his eyes and took a deep breath.
"Now that's certainly hilarious." Xianquan shook his head.
He didn't look at him, but Muchen could feel the gaze. The eyes filled with uncertainty, eyes searching for an answer.
"You've seen a glimpse of it, didn't you?" Muchen saw the qi concentrated on his little brother's eyes. "The future."
"A little." Xianquan's eyes burned a mystic purple; the Celestial Eyes had worked faster than last time. "The Tiger will descend the Southern mountain."
The Tiger, is it? Muchen took a deep breath. This was much faster than last time. His actions had changed things, but that didn't matter at this point.
"We'd better sharpen our spears then," he said.
"Spears? I thought you'd say to prepare the nets." Xianquan tilted his head.
"Well, the situation has changed, so the method has to follow," Muchen added. "I will be entering closed-door cultivation for a month."
"What?" Xianquan shot up from his seat. "But who will overlook Zhi—I mean, the construction of Heaven's spring?"
"You can handle it, Grand Elder." Muchen patted his younger brother's shoulder and started for the door.
"If you keep pushing things on me like this, I will really just ignore you when you turn evil," Xianquan shouted.
"That's the spirit." Muchen only smiled and exited, ignoring the turbulent qi in the Lotus Peak.
***
The day passed as Muchen steadily handed out tasks to his disciples and prepared for things that'd happen during his absence. It wasn't anything too large, like sect conspiracies or battles, just day-to-day problems and necessities.
Wang Yang did show regret when Muchen told him to get dinner from outside till he returned from cultivation, but he relented soon after. The young boy had more of his focus on the new manual he had found. Muchen had little interest in Shan Dian Martial Manual; he had read it previously after Wang Yang had mastered it.
In simple terms, it was a manual created for the next son of heaven by the previous son of heaven. It served Muchen little purpose to know of the techniques in there, with his body and root, even replicating them was a distant dream. He thought so even now, because those techniques required the usage of all five elements.
However, if there was one thing Muchen had learned about life, aside from the fact that it's a series of trainwrecks, it was the ability to not get hung up on treasures. A treasure he can't use was as good as dirt for him; any time trying to make it work was a waste.
With those enlightened steps, he entered cavern Beta. A series of caverns hidden below the nexus of tunnels he had created along the sect's border. Not even Xianquan knew of these.
The slick floor welcomed his feet, doing everything to make him slip, but unsuccessful. A red iron door, as thick as a bull, slid open with a thud, screeching on the steel rail.
Inside the dusty room was a chair, a man tied to it with qi-constricting ropes and chains. Thin silver needles stuck into his spine and joints to restrict any movement below the neck.
"Finally have time for me, do you?" Gu Changge glared through his disheveled hair.
"Do not act like a disgruntled mistress. I am a busy man." Muchen walked into the dry room that smelled of piss and feces, pushing off the putrid air with his qi.
"If I were a woman, I'd spit on your face." He barked, puke stains running down his neck.
"If you were a woman, I'd pray for your husband to reach heaven; he needn't experience hell twice." Muchen shook his head, looking at the gnashing teeth with a dismissive smile. "Not that you did anything worthwhile as a husband."
"You killed your wife and refined her corpse for cultivation, tried to do the same with your grandniece, who took her first steps. You disrespected your bloodline, conspired against the orthodox sects, and tried to kill young disciples, the future of the Eastern Continent." Muchen could list a hundred more such crimes, but Changge hadn't committed them yet. "Truly, you are a disgrace."
"Why are you talking like that?" Changge spat.
"Talking like what?" Muchen tilted his head.
"Talking like you are the epitome of the righteous path. Be honest with me, you cut a deal with him, didn't you?" Changge asked.
"Him?" Muchen's eyes narrowed.
"What did he not even give his name?" He chuckled. "I am talking about Bai, he provided me with the lamp, sent the Sun Cult to set up my base, and restarted the Heaven's puzzle. Only he knew every detail of my plan, the details you used, only he could tell you about everything."
"So, what is it that you sold your soul for? Power? Safety? Status? Talent?" Changge glared, however, Muchen's eyes only reflected pity. There was no anger, there was no coldness. Just pity.
"I've made no such deal; I haven't even met this Bai yet." Even before regression, Muchen had heard of the name Bai, or better known as White Tiger, but never met the man himself. This Bai and the 'He' Hua Bo talked about, he believed they were the same person.
If so, how would Bai know of the White Demon this world was yet to see?
"No way… You lie. How could you best me like this without…"
Muchen turned to the rambling of the crazed Changge. The downfall of a prideful man was never pretty, but this went beyond ugly.
"You bastard… why did you? Why did you come after me if it wasn't for Bai?"
"Because I am a vengeful spirit." Muchen smiled.
"What?" The gear in Changge's head stopped turning.
"A vengeful spirit, you know? The spirit of the deceased that does everything to get their revenge?"
Muchen would've explained more, but Changge threw a fit.
"I fucking know that you piece of shit!" His voice turned hoarser than his face. "Why the fuck are you a vengeful spirit? What did I do to you? I didn't even know you fucking existed?!"
"That's a pity." Muchen's smile didn't reach his eyes. "You should've kept it that way, and maybe, maybe I would've let you carry out your remaining shit stain of a life in some pig pen."
"Hey! Come back here, you son of bitch! Hey!"
Muchen started for the door, treating his shouts for the buzzing of a fly. The Gu Changge he faced wasn't this pathetic; he didn't show even with a blade to his neck, he never lost his cool, even as a man confined to a chair facing an army. But there was one thing that didn't change in Muchen's mind for this man: hatred.
Changge was the agent of chaos that the Demonic Sects from overseas had planted in the Eastern Continent. A little wound that festered enough to affect the entire land. Muchen lost Huang Bai and Hua Jiahao to this bastard's schemes.
However, when he killed him, that anger didn't die down, because his death served no purpose beyond the surface. Even now that he had stopped Gu Changge before he wreaked havoc, before his endless schemes, that hatred burned strongly in his chest.
What was the truth about his regression? Was it truly a reversal of time and space, or was he thrown into a world that mirrored the one he had lost?
Muchen had never prayed to any god or Buddha, but he prayed that it was the former. Because if it were the latter, everything he did and planned to do had no meaning. That anger in his heart would keep burning bright until the day it consumed him again.
But until he found the answer to that question, Muchen wanted to hold onto that anger. That anger defined him. It fueled him. And he needed that anger to reach the clue that would reveal the secret of his regression.
"Bai, huh," Muchen muttered as the door closed behind him. "I wonder what his next move is."
The time to reset the board had come.
...
Here's the invite link. I hope to see you there soon: Discord
If you have any questions for me, you can ping me on Discord anytime, and I will contact you ASAP.
Want to read chapters early or support the novel directly?
Check out my Patreon
You'll get advance chapters, exclusive content, and help keep this story going strong!
Thanks for reading, and see you in the next chapter!
Lillie Jones
Well worn.
- Joined
- Jan 31, 2020
- Messages
- 9,630
- Likes received
- 21,863
thanks for the chapter
87: One’s Past, Another’s Future (II)
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Overload69
Know what you're doing yet?
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- 4,488
"You certainly took your time dealing with things. Do you not want to cultivate anymore?" Yae snapped the moment Muchen started the stairs to the basement of his estate.
"If I could shut myself in a cave, I would've done that." He rolled his eyes, footsteps echoing in the white hallway. "Just sleep if you are bored."
"Sleep? Do you know what I've been doing in that damned cave for this long?!" Her anger echoed in the hall. "I hate the word sleep, I loathe it! Don't you dare suggest that again."
"Well, we can't have you running around the sect for now, even Plum Peak has become more active now. So, go figure." Muchen shrugged.
"…" Exasperated, Yae narrowed her sharp eyes. "Is it just me, or are you becoming more animated?" She must've found his reactions strange.
"It's just practice," he said.
"For what?" Yae jumped and slapped his cheek with her paw. "As it stands, I find your tone disrespectful."
"Do you want to continue this argument, or do we get to cultivating?" He deadpanned.
"Cultivation, of course!" Yae's tail swished across the back of his head as stars appeared in her eyes.
This fox had a plan of her own. Muchen didn't doubt that. But he had a plan too. The first of those plans was to break through to the Nascent Soul Realm. Because his preparations weren't complete, he decided to stop at the peak of Golden Core.
Changge, weakened from constant usage of Heaven's puzzle, shaken from being shadowed so perfectly, and fearful of the numerous Li Muchen mistook him for a Nascent Soul realm cultivator in that moment.
Muchen wanted that to an extent, because he had to break Changge's will. He had to drill in the latter's head that he had no chance of victory, as he would not stop scheming as long as he saw a sliver of a chance. That man would run away, bow his head, and lick someone's feet if he had to, because as long as he lived, he'd get the last laugh.
At least that was the Changge Li Muchen knew.
"What are you daydreaming about?" Yae jumped down from his shoulder and pointed towards the oak door in front of them, her tail swaying aggressively.
Muchen opened the door that reached the high ceiling, every inch etched with inscriptions and formations of the highest quality. The inside was no different. The bone-colored walls featured formations and talismans, with waves of Qi pulsating through them, all connected to the two spirit stones embedded in the ceiling and floor, positioned parallel to each other.
"Where did you find such big spirit stones?" Yae's eyes had a little surprise; each of those stones was as big as Muchen himself, light fractioning off from their carved and polished faces.
"My Master had them." Muchen was the first to receive his personal cultivation room; the juniors got theirs later.
"That modest-looking one held such wealth?" Yae muttered.
"When you are as old as my Master is, wealth piles up." Muchen closed the door and walked towards the center of the room. "I've already connected the Heaven and Earth Formation to this one; there should be no issue, I think."
"You think?" Yae raised a brow.
"I never tinkered with this before, but I've been told it shouldn't be an issue." Muchen smiled at the unimpressed fox. "What? You scared or something?"
"Scared? You are a funny kid." Yae chuckled, baring her fangs. "I would've long given up if I were one to give into fear."
Muchen picked up Yae and placed her on his shoulder. Although a ticking time bomb and the creature that tore his sect apart, he felt a strange sense of kinship with this hyperactive fox. To the point that he couldn't understand why, or maybe he did understand.
"Yae, do you trust me?" He asked.
"Not one bit." She spat.
"That's great." Muchen smiled, stepping into the air.
In a few steps, he hovered in the middle of the two spirit stones and sat in the lotus position; the ample qi in the room formed a cushion below him, keeping him afloat.
With a deep breath, Muchen closed his eyes. The hour of rebirth had arrived. As if one with his mind, the room whirred itself to life. He could feel, no, see the bright bands of qi rushing through the inscriptions.
Air thinned out, and smog covered the room, smothering him. Soon, only concreated qi entered his lungs, it flowed through his blood and reached every cell in his body. The route of his nerves, the structure of his organs and bones, and the essence of his blood. Everything about him seeped into the golden core before him.
The black lines etched his body on the core, as if a master sculptor with hammer and chisel worked on the details. Each line took time, but Muchen never blinked.
He watched the golden core for days, maybe months. Time became irrelevant. This core housed something important. It was the ground that held the seed. A seed that had germinated and now wanted to break through the first barrier.
Muchen reached upwards in the darkness. His hands clawing at the surface that caged him in.
Solid, but also crumbly. It slipped through his fingers, but Muchen kept clawing away. He dug and dug until his nails fell off and regrew, over and over. It seemed like an eternity, but also a mere moment.
However, the heart in his chest thumped louder with every clump he removed. It grew to the point that it was the only thing he could hear. It told him that he was about to reach it. The end of this road, but also the beginning of a new one. He thrust his hand forward with a silent roar, a roar in his mind.
What seemed like a metal wall as thick as the world, cracked like glass. Shards flew, and Muchen saw the light. The first ray of sunlight kissed his skin. A harsh light, he thought. Almost blinded by it. But the coldness in his body melted under the heat. He turned around, feeling a gaze.
Behind him was himself. The Muchen that watched the Golden Core, and the Muchen that broke through it. They were the same, but also different. One a human, the other a lump of smoke. One had hands and feet, while the other only stubby fingers and a tail. One was a giant, and the other the size of a newborn.
One was the body, and the other, the soul.
That's me. Their thoughts echoed in each other's heads.
They reached out on instinct, like a creature that had seen its reflection for the first time. The warm finger rushing with blood met the small finger made of cold, illusory smoke.
"Don't you…" The little one spoke, his tongue twisting, "dare lose again."
"You don't have to tell me that," Muchen said, his lips forming a smile, mirroring the little Muchen.
The smoke whirled like a tornado and seeped into Muchen's fingers. The sky cracked and fell apart at the seams. He floated above a bronze platform. The sun crashed in the back, sinking into the abyss, but he couldn't care less.
The cold rushed in, but a flame lit up in his heart. A flame so hot, yet it didn't burn him. It only spread. Transversing through his veins and covering his organs, it exited through his mouth and covered his skin.
The pale blue flame burned bright and alone in the dark, illuminating the new world.
Li Muchen finally reached the First Lamp of Nascent Soul Realm, stepping onto the next stage of cultivation.
***
Two months had passed since Wang Yang's Master entered closed-door cultivation. The harsh winter passed, and the first flowers bloomed on the Plum Peak, making the eastern face a sea of vibrance and butterflies.
Along those flowers came a lot of visitors, though on the southern face, away from the Estate, hidden in the northern rocky cliff.
Heaven's Spring, Wang Yang had heard the gossip about it in the small New Year's feast held at Lotus Peak a month and a half ago. The elders who showed up saw Lingling as the representative of Plum Peak, as she was the eldest disciple, leaving Wang Yang to his devices. To that he was thankful.
The few times he exchanged pleasantries, even though with fellow disciples, felt unnatural. Thankfully, Chen Liang came and took him to the corner to talk; there, he found other familiar faces. The Chang twins and even Senior Hao, all busy with small talk and visitors.
However, all they talked about that day was Heaven's spring, not just them, but the entire hall seemed to know no other topic. Wang Yang didn't understand at first; he was only told about the construction of a few pagodas, one of them being a branch of Jade Hall he was to eat at.
Only when the construction ended, and he entered the place, that things click.
To think it was Heaven's Pond. Wang Yang thought back on his stay there; he had so much fun. Sure, he felt terrified when the formation activated, and he found a weird cave with that painting.
But that was part of being a cultivator, or so his Master said. So was being curious, and Wang Yang felt a burning curiosity about how that golden water flowed out when he twisted the cap of this thing called a faucet. The stream ended by itself when the inscribed bronze tub filled around the top line, leaving a few inches from the rounded rim.
He heard that the Chrysanthemum Peak Master had made this system in collaboration with another gentleman, someone he wouldn't name. However, all that curiosity dried up when Wang Yang heard of the price needed for two hours of cultivation in the tub.
"A thousand spirit stones… how many noodle bowls is that?" His brain short-circuited when Chen Liang said the price was fair after he experienced Heaven's spring.
Even that calm senior turned envious when he learned that Wang Yang could enter the place free of cost; the same applied to Sun Lingling. Their master knew how to take care of his disciples; what could he say? Maybe that also wasn't a good thing to say?
Seated on the veranda after a hard day of reading and mock battles with Hua Mei, Wang Yang stretched at the veranda. Butterflies fluttered about the ever-so lively garden, flying about the flowers from all over the continent. Looking at the clear azure sky, he sighed.
"That's a heavy breath for someone so young."
Wang Yang's heart leapt in his mouth; at least it used to whenever this happened before. But he had grown used to Lady Hua's abrupt appearances in the past two months.
"I was pondering over the difference between learning through books and learning through experience." Wang Yang said.
"Were you now?" Lady Hua crossed her arms.
"…I was hungry and wondering what to get for dinner." He admitted.
"Now that I can believe." She smiled, unlike before, her brow wasn't so tense, her forehead less creased, and even her eyes seemed less sharp.
She is very beautiful. Wang Yang never had the leeway to think about this, but he had seen a lot of beauty since he started cultivating.
Lady Hua had a coolness about her, her measured, silent steps, the narrowing of her eyes that never missed a detail, and the subtle movements of her fingers. She carried herself like a gallant warrior, but with the silence of a shadow. A beauty you'd like to know more about, but one that'd always elude you.
On the other hand, Sun Lingling's beauty was cold. From her eyes to her walk, she moved like the blizzard. Approaching her was impossible. A beauty only meant to be admired from afar, get too close and you'd get frozen, or worse, cut down.
Senior Gu Fe, however, was the opposite of Sun Lingling. Aside from the fact that you'd die if you approached her too, however, one couldn't help but dive in because of her allure. That's what Wang Yang felt from their short interaction, and he wanted to do anything more with her.
Then there was Gu Yingyue, dependable, affable, and warm. Like a fireplace on a cold night, you couldn't help but want to get close. Wang Yang wondered how she was doing right now. They had exchanged a few letters before she started her expedition to hunt Gu Changge, which was the last he heard.
"You're thinking of something useless." Lady Hua said, now standing before him.
"Just thinking about the types of beauties in this world." In the many interactions he had with her, Wang Yang understood that hiding things from Lady Hua wasn't possible.
"…"
"…" The two blinked in the sudden silence filled with the chirps of baby birds in the nearby tree.
"That wasn't a joke, huh?" Lady Hua sighed. "You can continue your lovesick thoughts after you tell me where Hua Mei went. It is time for her training."
"I don't know, Senior Hua left hours ago." Wang Yang added. "And I wasn't having lovesick thoughts."
"Is that so?" Lady Hua tapped her chin, eyes digging into him.
"Afraid so." Wang Yang averted the eyes.
"That's a pity. Any changes with your body?" She asked.
"Still stuck at the peak of the Qi refinement realm." A bitter smile appeared on his lips.
"Hmm, if my husband were here, he might've been able to help." Lady Hua added. "Among his fellow disciples, he was the only one to go beyond the 10th refinement." He could hear the pride in her voice. "You should be happy, this is a feat no one else in the sect has achieved after him."
Wang Yang did read a note related to this by the man himself, thanks to Lady Hua, but he couldn't understand a thing. Not because the content was too complex, but rather the opposite. Peak Master Hua had reached the 13th stage of Qi refinement, three more than normal. He compared the feeling to taking a hot bath after ten days of continuous training.
When Wang Yang tried to understand the feeling, doing harsh training for ten days and ending it with a hot bath, all he got was a sore body for a month and second doubts about his own intelligence.
I am already on the fifteenth stage. Am I missing something to reach the Foundation Establishment Realm? Everyone is advancing so much faster; even Senior Sun has reached the second stage of Foundation Establishment. The Chang twins and senior Chen spend their time training and frequenting Heaven's Spring. Wang Yang wondered as a shadow was cast over him. Will I never progress beyond this?
However, the darkness wasn't limited to his mood. The sky followed suit. Surprised by the darkness that only came around at night, Wang Yang looked up as it was still noon.
A sea of dark clouds gathered, shrouding the Plum peak in a thick shadow. Flashes from the streaks of lightning replaced the sun, giving moments of brightness as they ran through the bellowing clouds, kicking up cold whirlwinds.
Are people standing there? Wang Yang could scarcely make out the silhouettes of the three people hovering at the edge of the dark clouds.
Just as he wondered what had happened, Lady Hua yanked him to his feet. Hua Mei, who had hidden herself in the garden, under her left armpit.
"Call your senior sister, this is no time to stay still." She looked at the darkened skies with a grim look. "The tribulation is upon us."
...
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"If I could shut myself in a cave, I would've done that." He rolled his eyes, footsteps echoing in the white hallway. "Just sleep if you are bored."
"Sleep? Do you know what I've been doing in that damned cave for this long?!" Her anger echoed in the hall. "I hate the word sleep, I loathe it! Don't you dare suggest that again."
"Well, we can't have you running around the sect for now, even Plum Peak has become more active now. So, go figure." Muchen shrugged.
"…" Exasperated, Yae narrowed her sharp eyes. "Is it just me, or are you becoming more animated?" She must've found his reactions strange.
"It's just practice," he said.
"For what?" Yae jumped and slapped his cheek with her paw. "As it stands, I find your tone disrespectful."
"Do you want to continue this argument, or do we get to cultivating?" He deadpanned.
"Cultivation, of course!" Yae's tail swished across the back of his head as stars appeared in her eyes.
This fox had a plan of her own. Muchen didn't doubt that. But he had a plan too. The first of those plans was to break through to the Nascent Soul Realm. Because his preparations weren't complete, he decided to stop at the peak of Golden Core.
Changge, weakened from constant usage of Heaven's puzzle, shaken from being shadowed so perfectly, and fearful of the numerous Li Muchen mistook him for a Nascent Soul realm cultivator in that moment.
Muchen wanted that to an extent, because he had to break Changge's will. He had to drill in the latter's head that he had no chance of victory, as he would not stop scheming as long as he saw a sliver of a chance. That man would run away, bow his head, and lick someone's feet if he had to, because as long as he lived, he'd get the last laugh.
At least that was the Changge Li Muchen knew.
"What are you daydreaming about?" Yae jumped down from his shoulder and pointed towards the oak door in front of them, her tail swaying aggressively.
Muchen opened the door that reached the high ceiling, every inch etched with inscriptions and formations of the highest quality. The inside was no different. The bone-colored walls featured formations and talismans, with waves of Qi pulsating through them, all connected to the two spirit stones embedded in the ceiling and floor, positioned parallel to each other.
"Where did you find such big spirit stones?" Yae's eyes had a little surprise; each of those stones was as big as Muchen himself, light fractioning off from their carved and polished faces.
"My Master had them." Muchen was the first to receive his personal cultivation room; the juniors got theirs later.
"That modest-looking one held such wealth?" Yae muttered.
"When you are as old as my Master is, wealth piles up." Muchen closed the door and walked towards the center of the room. "I've already connected the Heaven and Earth Formation to this one; there should be no issue, I think."
"You think?" Yae raised a brow.
"I never tinkered with this before, but I've been told it shouldn't be an issue." Muchen smiled at the unimpressed fox. "What? You scared or something?"
"Scared? You are a funny kid." Yae chuckled, baring her fangs. "I would've long given up if I were one to give into fear."
Muchen picked up Yae and placed her on his shoulder. Although a ticking time bomb and the creature that tore his sect apart, he felt a strange sense of kinship with this hyperactive fox. To the point that he couldn't understand why, or maybe he did understand.
"Yae, do you trust me?" He asked.
"Not one bit." She spat.
"That's great." Muchen smiled, stepping into the air.
In a few steps, he hovered in the middle of the two spirit stones and sat in the lotus position; the ample qi in the room formed a cushion below him, keeping him afloat.
With a deep breath, Muchen closed his eyes. The hour of rebirth had arrived. As if one with his mind, the room whirred itself to life. He could feel, no, see the bright bands of qi rushing through the inscriptions.
Air thinned out, and smog covered the room, smothering him. Soon, only concreated qi entered his lungs, it flowed through his blood and reached every cell in his body. The route of his nerves, the structure of his organs and bones, and the essence of his blood. Everything about him seeped into the golden core before him.
The black lines etched his body on the core, as if a master sculptor with hammer and chisel worked on the details. Each line took time, but Muchen never blinked.
He watched the golden core for days, maybe months. Time became irrelevant. This core housed something important. It was the ground that held the seed. A seed that had germinated and now wanted to break through the first barrier.
Muchen reached upwards in the darkness. His hands clawing at the surface that caged him in.
Solid, but also crumbly. It slipped through his fingers, but Muchen kept clawing away. He dug and dug until his nails fell off and regrew, over and over. It seemed like an eternity, but also a mere moment.
However, the heart in his chest thumped louder with every clump he removed. It grew to the point that it was the only thing he could hear. It told him that he was about to reach it. The end of this road, but also the beginning of a new one. He thrust his hand forward with a silent roar, a roar in his mind.
What seemed like a metal wall as thick as the world, cracked like glass. Shards flew, and Muchen saw the light. The first ray of sunlight kissed his skin. A harsh light, he thought. Almost blinded by it. But the coldness in his body melted under the heat. He turned around, feeling a gaze.
Behind him was himself. The Muchen that watched the Golden Core, and the Muchen that broke through it. They were the same, but also different. One a human, the other a lump of smoke. One had hands and feet, while the other only stubby fingers and a tail. One was a giant, and the other the size of a newborn.
One was the body, and the other, the soul.
That's me. Their thoughts echoed in each other's heads.
They reached out on instinct, like a creature that had seen its reflection for the first time. The warm finger rushing with blood met the small finger made of cold, illusory smoke.
"Don't you…" The little one spoke, his tongue twisting, "dare lose again."
"You don't have to tell me that," Muchen said, his lips forming a smile, mirroring the little Muchen.
The smoke whirled like a tornado and seeped into Muchen's fingers. The sky cracked and fell apart at the seams. He floated above a bronze platform. The sun crashed in the back, sinking into the abyss, but he couldn't care less.
The cold rushed in, but a flame lit up in his heart. A flame so hot, yet it didn't burn him. It only spread. Transversing through his veins and covering his organs, it exited through his mouth and covered his skin.
The pale blue flame burned bright and alone in the dark, illuminating the new world.
Li Muchen finally reached the First Lamp of Nascent Soul Realm, stepping onto the next stage of cultivation.
***
Two months had passed since Wang Yang's Master entered closed-door cultivation. The harsh winter passed, and the first flowers bloomed on the Plum Peak, making the eastern face a sea of vibrance and butterflies.
Along those flowers came a lot of visitors, though on the southern face, away from the Estate, hidden in the northern rocky cliff.
Heaven's Spring, Wang Yang had heard the gossip about it in the small New Year's feast held at Lotus Peak a month and a half ago. The elders who showed up saw Lingling as the representative of Plum Peak, as she was the eldest disciple, leaving Wang Yang to his devices. To that he was thankful.
The few times he exchanged pleasantries, even though with fellow disciples, felt unnatural. Thankfully, Chen Liang came and took him to the corner to talk; there, he found other familiar faces. The Chang twins and even Senior Hao, all busy with small talk and visitors.
However, all they talked about that day was Heaven's spring, not just them, but the entire hall seemed to know no other topic. Wang Yang didn't understand at first; he was only told about the construction of a few pagodas, one of them being a branch of Jade Hall he was to eat at.
Only when the construction ended, and he entered the place, that things click.
To think it was Heaven's Pond. Wang Yang thought back on his stay there; he had so much fun. Sure, he felt terrified when the formation activated, and he found a weird cave with that painting.
But that was part of being a cultivator, or so his Master said. So was being curious, and Wang Yang felt a burning curiosity about how that golden water flowed out when he twisted the cap of this thing called a faucet. The stream ended by itself when the inscribed bronze tub filled around the top line, leaving a few inches from the rounded rim.
He heard that the Chrysanthemum Peak Master had made this system in collaboration with another gentleman, someone he wouldn't name. However, all that curiosity dried up when Wang Yang heard of the price needed for two hours of cultivation in the tub.
"A thousand spirit stones… how many noodle bowls is that?" His brain short-circuited when Chen Liang said the price was fair after he experienced Heaven's spring.
Even that calm senior turned envious when he learned that Wang Yang could enter the place free of cost; the same applied to Sun Lingling. Their master knew how to take care of his disciples; what could he say? Maybe that also wasn't a good thing to say?
Seated on the veranda after a hard day of reading and mock battles with Hua Mei, Wang Yang stretched at the veranda. Butterflies fluttered about the ever-so lively garden, flying about the flowers from all over the continent. Looking at the clear azure sky, he sighed.
"That's a heavy breath for someone so young."
Wang Yang's heart leapt in his mouth; at least it used to whenever this happened before. But he had grown used to Lady Hua's abrupt appearances in the past two months.
"I was pondering over the difference between learning through books and learning through experience." Wang Yang said.
"Were you now?" Lady Hua crossed her arms.
"…I was hungry and wondering what to get for dinner." He admitted.
"Now that I can believe." She smiled, unlike before, her brow wasn't so tense, her forehead less creased, and even her eyes seemed less sharp.
She is very beautiful. Wang Yang never had the leeway to think about this, but he had seen a lot of beauty since he started cultivating.
Lady Hua had a coolness about her, her measured, silent steps, the narrowing of her eyes that never missed a detail, and the subtle movements of her fingers. She carried herself like a gallant warrior, but with the silence of a shadow. A beauty you'd like to know more about, but one that'd always elude you.
On the other hand, Sun Lingling's beauty was cold. From her eyes to her walk, she moved like the blizzard. Approaching her was impossible. A beauty only meant to be admired from afar, get too close and you'd get frozen, or worse, cut down.
Senior Gu Fe, however, was the opposite of Sun Lingling. Aside from the fact that you'd die if you approached her too, however, one couldn't help but dive in because of her allure. That's what Wang Yang felt from their short interaction, and he wanted to do anything more with her.
Then there was Gu Yingyue, dependable, affable, and warm. Like a fireplace on a cold night, you couldn't help but want to get close. Wang Yang wondered how she was doing right now. They had exchanged a few letters before she started her expedition to hunt Gu Changge, which was the last he heard.
"You're thinking of something useless." Lady Hua said, now standing before him.
"Just thinking about the types of beauties in this world." In the many interactions he had with her, Wang Yang understood that hiding things from Lady Hua wasn't possible.
"…"
"…" The two blinked in the sudden silence filled with the chirps of baby birds in the nearby tree.
"That wasn't a joke, huh?" Lady Hua sighed. "You can continue your lovesick thoughts after you tell me where Hua Mei went. It is time for her training."
"I don't know, Senior Hua left hours ago." Wang Yang added. "And I wasn't having lovesick thoughts."
"Is that so?" Lady Hua tapped her chin, eyes digging into him.
"Afraid so." Wang Yang averted the eyes.
"That's a pity. Any changes with your body?" She asked.
"Still stuck at the peak of the Qi refinement realm." A bitter smile appeared on his lips.
"Hmm, if my husband were here, he might've been able to help." Lady Hua added. "Among his fellow disciples, he was the only one to go beyond the 10th refinement." He could hear the pride in her voice. "You should be happy, this is a feat no one else in the sect has achieved after him."
Wang Yang did read a note related to this by the man himself, thanks to Lady Hua, but he couldn't understand a thing. Not because the content was too complex, but rather the opposite. Peak Master Hua had reached the 13th stage of Qi refinement, three more than normal. He compared the feeling to taking a hot bath after ten days of continuous training.
When Wang Yang tried to understand the feeling, doing harsh training for ten days and ending it with a hot bath, all he got was a sore body for a month and second doubts about his own intelligence.
I am already on the fifteenth stage. Am I missing something to reach the Foundation Establishment Realm? Everyone is advancing so much faster; even Senior Sun has reached the second stage of Foundation Establishment. The Chang twins and senior Chen spend their time training and frequenting Heaven's Spring. Wang Yang wondered as a shadow was cast over him. Will I never progress beyond this?
However, the darkness wasn't limited to his mood. The sky followed suit. Surprised by the darkness that only came around at night, Wang Yang looked up as it was still noon.
A sea of dark clouds gathered, shrouding the Plum peak in a thick shadow. Flashes from the streaks of lightning replaced the sun, giving moments of brightness as they ran through the bellowing clouds, kicking up cold whirlwinds.
Are people standing there? Wang Yang could scarcely make out the silhouettes of the three people hovering at the edge of the dark clouds.
Just as he wondered what had happened, Lady Hua yanked him to his feet. Hua Mei, who had hidden herself in the garden, under her left armpit.
"Call your senior sister, this is no time to stay still." She looked at the darkened skies with a grim look. "The tribulation is upon us."
...
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If you have any questions for me, you can ping me on Discord anytime, and I will contact you ASAP.
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Check out my Patreon
You'll get advance chapters, exclusive content, and help keep this story going strong!
Thanks for reading, and see you in the next chapter!
88: One’s Past, Another’s Future (III)
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The Heavens are all-knowing and all-powerful.
That's something Xianquan learned from his Master ever since he could understand words.
The Heavens were the protector and the overseer. The origin of life and the punisher of evil. Everything that ever lived in the mortal world came from heaven.
Heaven knew everything about them.
From their strengths, their weaknesses, their potential, and their limits. An undrawn boundary that always existed, yet wasn't seen. If something crossed that boundary, they'd have to face Heaven's wrath.
Cultivators saw that wrath more than anything else, as cultivation itself went against Heaven's way. From crossing the boundary to every step beyond it, the Heavenly tribulation followed like the reaper.
Xianquan had faced that tribulation using the methods taught by his Master; now his Senior Brother faced the same tribulation.
This is twice as strong as the one I had at Nascent Soul. His hands clenched at the furious clouds. Plumes of violent qi burst in all directions.
It was a declaration, a last warning for the cultivator to face his punishment and survive if he could. But so was it a call for witnesses. And they came.
"Just when I thought I could get some shut-eye." Liu Zhi yawned, a tear forming at the edge of her lazy eyes.
"Senior Brother has really done it." Huang Bai had recovered her calm, but he could see the worry drip from her face, the anxious hands clenching.
They had all faced the tribulation, so they knew the danger it entailed. Without a command, they formed a triangle around the Plum Peak, weaving hand signs. The formation would be weaker without Senior Brother Hua, but thankfully, Lady Hua arrived in time. But before she could join in to form the Four Point Scales Formation, the reason for the tribulation arrived.
With wind as his foothold, he stood right under the turbulent clouds, smiling at the streaks of pure blue lightning running in the middle of that swirling mass. He had reached the First Lamp of Nascent Soul Realm.
"No Four-point scale formation, no Tribulation catching array or lightning rods." Their senior brother declared his intention to face Heaven's wrath with his bare body.
"Peak Master Li, please reconsider." Xianquan hid his trembling hand under his sleeve.
Only Senior Brother Hua had dared to face the tribulation without preparations, following their Master's footsteps. But even he narrowly escaped death because of his Heavenly physique and unrivalled spiritual root.
"Gather the inner sect disciples; they must learn from this opportunity." Senior Brother Li said, dismissing their worries.
"Li Muchen, this is no time to be stubborn." Lady Hua crossed her arms in disquiet.
"That's the only thing I have." Muchen shrugged, strands of his hair standing upright as lightning started to gather. "Get the disciples quick, or it'd be a waste."
"Brother, please, I understand the benefits, but the risk is too high." Sister Bai cried out.
Xianquan concurred. Brother Hua wasn't a fool to face the tribulation by himself just to seek pain. The pain had a purpose. The tribulation carried lightning from the origin of life, a mass of pure, untouched qi from beyond the three worlds. An energy that had formed life itself.
Brother Hua trained to face that tribulation from the age of nine; in return for that pain and near-death experience, he gained a body harder than steel and fists that could crush mountains. But he could've died too.
Li Muchen's bodily condition wasn't a secret; even though he trained hard, he couldn't change the limit set upon him. Maybe that's why he chose such a forceful way. And the one who knew his condition the best, Liu Zhi, remained silent. She only tossed him a jade bottle as white as bone.
"You already created the concentrated blood essence." Muchen smiled, taking a whiff after opening the cap.
"I don't have any plans to attend funerals." Liu Zhi removed the crusts from her eyes, stretching her arms.
Before Xianquan could ask, Muchen upended the bottle. A crimson liquid with the viscosity of honey, much redder than blood, dripped into his mouth. He gulped it down faster than any wine, and then it burst forward.
The dreadful crimson aura. The wave of qi blew Xianquan's long hair back, like he faced a relentless tornado. And in the eye of said tornado was his senior brother. He could not mistake that aura for anything else.
"That's like Senior Hua's release state," Xianquan muttered, horrified at how much it resembled the one he had seen.
Senior Hua had used that aura to survive the tribulation. A secret that only the fellow disciples and the Master knew, but there was no way to replicate it. The effect stemmed from Senior Hua's spiritual root. So, how did his elder brother and Senior Liu replicate it?
By the time he turned to Liu Zhi, she had started to nod off, still hovering.
Xianquan looked below and saw rows of disciples watching from the border of Plum Peak. Hua Mingzhu had left earlier, and the commotion also attracted elders who brought the youngsters. At that point, he could only give up.
Because, as Muchen had said, this would probably be the greatest opportunity for these disciples.
The truth is always before you; how much you comprehend depends on your destiny. His eyes went to Wang Yang and Sun Lingling, the disciples of his brother. They stood at the forefront of the crowd, watching their Master with peeled eyes.
Just as he turned back to Muchen, the first lightning bolt descended.
***
Wang Yang never had a good relationship with lightning. Father said that the day his mother passed, lightning struck the entire night, and Wang Yang cried.
It didn't leave him alone, even when he was a kid, when he went out to collect clothes before the winds took them, lightning struck him. Not once or twice, but four times. Since then, he had made it a point not to go out when it rained, but even when he hid under the eaves of a temple once, the lightning found him.
But the lightning he knew looked like a gentle shock compared to the pillar that his Master faced. The blue line split the sky and clashed against the red aura. Like two swords locked in a duel, each tried to overwhelm the other. The sparks and scorching heat blew in all directions with the messy wind.
"Hold on! Don't be pushed back."
"We must focus! We must grasp the path!"
Wang Yang scarcely heard the desperate shouts of the disciples around him; his senior Sun Lingling sat on the ground, already meditating, unfazed.
The path? Could they truly grasp it from this? He wondered, still stuck in the Qi gathering realm. Rather than closing his eyes, he looked at the ear-rupturing clash in front of him, it was too mesmerizing to miss.
The bolt, previously as thick as a pillar, now looked like a wire. But the aura around his Master burned strong, cradling him in thick wings. It inflated and thrust outwards, shattering the lightning bolt. Sparks rained like shining blue threads, akin to fireworks. Hearing the rumbling thunder, Wang Yang should've stepped back, at least he felt like he did.
Someone called out to him; he thought someone did. But his feet moved forward, under the shade of the dark clouds. His eyes followed the blue sparks, one of them in particular. A wriggling spark that formed words, or so he thought. Maybe his eyes played tricks on him, but he swore he could see a figure in the spark heading for him.
A spark as big as him, he would've run away in fear before. But he stood still, eyes closed. What he expected was a jolt, lightning coursing through his body, charring him maybe?
But the warm spark caressed his forehead, like a mother's tender touch. It spread through his body, coursing through his bare veins, stirring the dormant qi in his Dantian.
His mind blanked for a moment; he was above the clouds, watching the world pass by below. Like a bird. Free to roam, he crossed swaths of land and fiery oceans until he reached a lone peak among the clouds. Atop the green grass on the flat peak stood a man who faced away from him.
Wang Yang had no idea who the man was; he didn't even know why he had arrived here. He didn't even know what to do.
"Who are you?"
"Who I am has little significance." The man replied, his voice aged and distant. "What's important is who you want to be?"
"What I want to be?" Wang Yang looked at the man, his black hair streaked with a grey, a tall and muscular stature with a robust posture.
Wang Yang wanted to be like that, too. A strong cultivator. A famed swordsman. Someone who could protect and help, someone who didn't need saving. But he couldn't even reach the Foundation building realm. How could he dream so big?
"Do you feel inadequate?" The man chuckled. "I felt like that once, but I got over it."
"How?" Wang Yang asked, stepping forward.
"I learned to fly." The man turned to face him. However, Wang Yang could on see the scar running up his thick neck; the smog covered the rest. "Want me to teach you?"
"Yes!" Wang Yang nodded faster than he had ever before.
"Just remember, you asked for this." The man rushed towards him with a smile.
"What do yo—woah!" Before Wang Yang could comprehend, the man hugged him and jumped over the cliff.
Wind blasted past his face as he tore through clouds, his eyes burned, and his throat dried. Unlike him, the man beside him didn't bat an eye; instead it he looked amused.
"Hey man, now would be a really good time to teach me how to fly." Wang Yang said, barely keeping his heart from jumping out of his mouth.
"I can't, you have to figure it out on your own," he said.
"You can take me back to the top if I fail, right?"
"I can't."
"Why not?!"
"Because I can't fly if you don't."
"Then why did you jump?!" Wang Yang held back tears as the ground came into view, inching closer.
"I thought that it might work." The man shrugged before smirking. "Maybe it'd be better if I took the appearance of a lovely maiden?"
"Stop joking, or we'd die!" Wang Yang felt a lump in his throat.
"So, you're saying you can't fly?" The man tilted his head.
"If I could, I wouldn't be crying out like this!"
"Hmm, you are already there then."
"Where?"
"At the door of acceptance." He added. "All you have to do is accept it."
"Accept what?" Wang Yang looked at the strangely calm man and back at the ground. He needed the answer right then, and he got it.
"Accept your inadequacies." He said, "Accept that you will never be perfect."
"Not the time to get philosophical." Wang Yang gulped, but had to force through. "Why can I not be perfect?"
"To live is to be imperfect." The man added. "You've learned many a thing, perfect ways to survive in the wild, perfect methods to perform tasks, how to scavenge for food, how to fight, how to live, but how do they help you now?"
"I never expected this to happen!" Wang Yang didn't know why he was talking to a faceless man while taking a death leap from a peak, but here he was.
"No one can expect what they'll face, sure you can prepare. But the problem won't wait for your preparations, it never does." The man crossed his arms, his long hair fluttering. "What can you do right now? That is what matters."
What could Wang Yang do? He couldn't fly, that he knew for sure. He felt like he did fly when in reality something pulled him to that peak, so high in the clouds.
What pulled him didn't matter. How he fell down the peak didn't matter. He needed a way forward. A way to survive. A way to break the fall. A way to break through.
"Gather." Qi rushed out of his hands, forming a cluster of water near his chest. As a boy who played in the forest and streams, he knew how well water did for breaking a fall.
Though he knew it wouldn't help here much, he at least wanted to go out swinging. He closed his eyes, pouring all his qi into the water ball, using all other elements to enhance it, expanding it in size. It enveloped him whole. Pressing against his skin, sending a shiver down his spine.
However, Wang Yang found himself halted in space. No, when he opened his eyes, he drifted along in a body of water. A lake? A sea? When did he reach it? How did he reach it? He wasn't sure, but the water extended into the darkness above, fingers of light piercing from below him.
The man wasn't there. Wang Yang, unable to speak, swam downwards. A moment ago, he felt drained, fearing a crash, but now vitality burst from his every stroke. Fears disappeared just like the bubbles from his mouth. Like he discovered a well of unending energy and courage.
Finally, he reached the surface of the dark blue ocean. Hanging upside down, he looked over the swaths of land below. The tall trees swayed to welcome him as the five steles of obsidian, each as tall as a pagoda, formed a circle in the never-ending forest.
"You learned how to fly after all." The man, walking on the water's surface, approached with a smile.
"I wouldn't call this flying." Wang Yang sighed.
"Does it matter what you call it?" He shrugged. "Didn't you survive?"
"I did."
"So," The man looked him in the eye, crouching down, "do you still wish to be perfect, Wang Yang?"
He thought about it for a moment and shook his head. What Wang Yang wanted was only one thing, just that he had twisted that desire into something else, seeing others progress.
"I want to be a disciple that can make his Master proud."
"Ho, that'll be a hard task." The man chuckled, but he wasn't dismissive.
"You know more, but I know you won't tell me, right?" Wang Yang could feel it already.
"The Heavens know everything," The man ruffled his black, soaked hair, "soon you will know too."
"Because that is your destiny."
Before he could answer, Wang Yang's eyes closed. The next moment, he found himself standing on Plum Peak. The tribulation still raging above. But he could feel the gaze of his Master, and the quiet approval that it carried.
"I advanced." The handful of liquid qi in his Dantian stayed as calm as a lake. And, Wang Yang officially advanced into the Foundation Building Realm. Taking another step on the never-ending path of cultivation.
...
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That's something Xianquan learned from his Master ever since he could understand words.
The Heavens were the protector and the overseer. The origin of life and the punisher of evil. Everything that ever lived in the mortal world came from heaven.
Heaven knew everything about them.
From their strengths, their weaknesses, their potential, and their limits. An undrawn boundary that always existed, yet wasn't seen. If something crossed that boundary, they'd have to face Heaven's wrath.
Cultivators saw that wrath more than anything else, as cultivation itself went against Heaven's way. From crossing the boundary to every step beyond it, the Heavenly tribulation followed like the reaper.
Xianquan had faced that tribulation using the methods taught by his Master; now his Senior Brother faced the same tribulation.
This is twice as strong as the one I had at Nascent Soul. His hands clenched at the furious clouds. Plumes of violent qi burst in all directions.
It was a declaration, a last warning for the cultivator to face his punishment and survive if he could. But so was it a call for witnesses. And they came.
"Just when I thought I could get some shut-eye." Liu Zhi yawned, a tear forming at the edge of her lazy eyes.
"Senior Brother has really done it." Huang Bai had recovered her calm, but he could see the worry drip from her face, the anxious hands clenching.
They had all faced the tribulation, so they knew the danger it entailed. Without a command, they formed a triangle around the Plum Peak, weaving hand signs. The formation would be weaker without Senior Brother Hua, but thankfully, Lady Hua arrived in time. But before she could join in to form the Four Point Scales Formation, the reason for the tribulation arrived.
With wind as his foothold, he stood right under the turbulent clouds, smiling at the streaks of pure blue lightning running in the middle of that swirling mass. He had reached the First Lamp of Nascent Soul Realm.
"No Four-point scale formation, no Tribulation catching array or lightning rods." Their senior brother declared his intention to face Heaven's wrath with his bare body.
"Peak Master Li, please reconsider." Xianquan hid his trembling hand under his sleeve.
Only Senior Brother Hua had dared to face the tribulation without preparations, following their Master's footsteps. But even he narrowly escaped death because of his Heavenly physique and unrivalled spiritual root.
"Gather the inner sect disciples; they must learn from this opportunity." Senior Brother Li said, dismissing their worries.
"Li Muchen, this is no time to be stubborn." Lady Hua crossed her arms in disquiet.
"That's the only thing I have." Muchen shrugged, strands of his hair standing upright as lightning started to gather. "Get the disciples quick, or it'd be a waste."
"Brother, please, I understand the benefits, but the risk is too high." Sister Bai cried out.
Xianquan concurred. Brother Hua wasn't a fool to face the tribulation by himself just to seek pain. The pain had a purpose. The tribulation carried lightning from the origin of life, a mass of pure, untouched qi from beyond the three worlds. An energy that had formed life itself.
Brother Hua trained to face that tribulation from the age of nine; in return for that pain and near-death experience, he gained a body harder than steel and fists that could crush mountains. But he could've died too.
Li Muchen's bodily condition wasn't a secret; even though he trained hard, he couldn't change the limit set upon him. Maybe that's why he chose such a forceful way. And the one who knew his condition the best, Liu Zhi, remained silent. She only tossed him a jade bottle as white as bone.
"You already created the concentrated blood essence." Muchen smiled, taking a whiff after opening the cap.
"I don't have any plans to attend funerals." Liu Zhi removed the crusts from her eyes, stretching her arms.
Before Xianquan could ask, Muchen upended the bottle. A crimson liquid with the viscosity of honey, much redder than blood, dripped into his mouth. He gulped it down faster than any wine, and then it burst forward.
The dreadful crimson aura. The wave of qi blew Xianquan's long hair back, like he faced a relentless tornado. And in the eye of said tornado was his senior brother. He could not mistake that aura for anything else.
"That's like Senior Hua's release state," Xianquan muttered, horrified at how much it resembled the one he had seen.
Senior Hua had used that aura to survive the tribulation. A secret that only the fellow disciples and the Master knew, but there was no way to replicate it. The effect stemmed from Senior Hua's spiritual root. So, how did his elder brother and Senior Liu replicate it?
By the time he turned to Liu Zhi, she had started to nod off, still hovering.
Xianquan looked below and saw rows of disciples watching from the border of Plum Peak. Hua Mingzhu had left earlier, and the commotion also attracted elders who brought the youngsters. At that point, he could only give up.
Because, as Muchen had said, this would probably be the greatest opportunity for these disciples.
The truth is always before you; how much you comprehend depends on your destiny. His eyes went to Wang Yang and Sun Lingling, the disciples of his brother. They stood at the forefront of the crowd, watching their Master with peeled eyes.
Just as he turned back to Muchen, the first lightning bolt descended.
***
Wang Yang never had a good relationship with lightning. Father said that the day his mother passed, lightning struck the entire night, and Wang Yang cried.
It didn't leave him alone, even when he was a kid, when he went out to collect clothes before the winds took them, lightning struck him. Not once or twice, but four times. Since then, he had made it a point not to go out when it rained, but even when he hid under the eaves of a temple once, the lightning found him.
But the lightning he knew looked like a gentle shock compared to the pillar that his Master faced. The blue line split the sky and clashed against the red aura. Like two swords locked in a duel, each tried to overwhelm the other. The sparks and scorching heat blew in all directions with the messy wind.
"Hold on! Don't be pushed back."
"We must focus! We must grasp the path!"
Wang Yang scarcely heard the desperate shouts of the disciples around him; his senior Sun Lingling sat on the ground, already meditating, unfazed.
The path? Could they truly grasp it from this? He wondered, still stuck in the Qi gathering realm. Rather than closing his eyes, he looked at the ear-rupturing clash in front of him, it was too mesmerizing to miss.
The bolt, previously as thick as a pillar, now looked like a wire. But the aura around his Master burned strong, cradling him in thick wings. It inflated and thrust outwards, shattering the lightning bolt. Sparks rained like shining blue threads, akin to fireworks. Hearing the rumbling thunder, Wang Yang should've stepped back, at least he felt like he did.
Someone called out to him; he thought someone did. But his feet moved forward, under the shade of the dark clouds. His eyes followed the blue sparks, one of them in particular. A wriggling spark that formed words, or so he thought. Maybe his eyes played tricks on him, but he swore he could see a figure in the spark heading for him.
A spark as big as him, he would've run away in fear before. But he stood still, eyes closed. What he expected was a jolt, lightning coursing through his body, charring him maybe?
But the warm spark caressed his forehead, like a mother's tender touch. It spread through his body, coursing through his bare veins, stirring the dormant qi in his Dantian.
His mind blanked for a moment; he was above the clouds, watching the world pass by below. Like a bird. Free to roam, he crossed swaths of land and fiery oceans until he reached a lone peak among the clouds. Atop the green grass on the flat peak stood a man who faced away from him.
Wang Yang had no idea who the man was; he didn't even know why he had arrived here. He didn't even know what to do.
"Who are you?"
"Who I am has little significance." The man replied, his voice aged and distant. "What's important is who you want to be?"
"What I want to be?" Wang Yang looked at the man, his black hair streaked with a grey, a tall and muscular stature with a robust posture.
Wang Yang wanted to be like that, too. A strong cultivator. A famed swordsman. Someone who could protect and help, someone who didn't need saving. But he couldn't even reach the Foundation building realm. How could he dream so big?
"Do you feel inadequate?" The man chuckled. "I felt like that once, but I got over it."
"How?" Wang Yang asked, stepping forward.
"I learned to fly." The man turned to face him. However, Wang Yang could on see the scar running up his thick neck; the smog covered the rest. "Want me to teach you?"
"Yes!" Wang Yang nodded faster than he had ever before.
"Just remember, you asked for this." The man rushed towards him with a smile.
"What do yo—woah!" Before Wang Yang could comprehend, the man hugged him and jumped over the cliff.
Wind blasted past his face as he tore through clouds, his eyes burned, and his throat dried. Unlike him, the man beside him didn't bat an eye; instead it he looked amused.
"Hey man, now would be a really good time to teach me how to fly." Wang Yang said, barely keeping his heart from jumping out of his mouth.
"I can't, you have to figure it out on your own," he said.
"You can take me back to the top if I fail, right?"
"I can't."
"Why not?!"
"Because I can't fly if you don't."
"Then why did you jump?!" Wang Yang held back tears as the ground came into view, inching closer.
"I thought that it might work." The man shrugged before smirking. "Maybe it'd be better if I took the appearance of a lovely maiden?"
"Stop joking, or we'd die!" Wang Yang felt a lump in his throat.
"So, you're saying you can't fly?" The man tilted his head.
"If I could, I wouldn't be crying out like this!"
"Hmm, you are already there then."
"Where?"
"At the door of acceptance." He added. "All you have to do is accept it."
"Accept what?" Wang Yang looked at the strangely calm man and back at the ground. He needed the answer right then, and he got it.
"Accept your inadequacies." He said, "Accept that you will never be perfect."
"Not the time to get philosophical." Wang Yang gulped, but had to force through. "Why can I not be perfect?"
"To live is to be imperfect." The man added. "You've learned many a thing, perfect ways to survive in the wild, perfect methods to perform tasks, how to scavenge for food, how to fight, how to live, but how do they help you now?"
"I never expected this to happen!" Wang Yang didn't know why he was talking to a faceless man while taking a death leap from a peak, but here he was.
"No one can expect what they'll face, sure you can prepare. But the problem won't wait for your preparations, it never does." The man crossed his arms, his long hair fluttering. "What can you do right now? That is what matters."
What could Wang Yang do? He couldn't fly, that he knew for sure. He felt like he did fly when in reality something pulled him to that peak, so high in the clouds.
What pulled him didn't matter. How he fell down the peak didn't matter. He needed a way forward. A way to survive. A way to break the fall. A way to break through.
"Gather." Qi rushed out of his hands, forming a cluster of water near his chest. As a boy who played in the forest and streams, he knew how well water did for breaking a fall.
Though he knew it wouldn't help here much, he at least wanted to go out swinging. He closed his eyes, pouring all his qi into the water ball, using all other elements to enhance it, expanding it in size. It enveloped him whole. Pressing against his skin, sending a shiver down his spine.
However, Wang Yang found himself halted in space. No, when he opened his eyes, he drifted along in a body of water. A lake? A sea? When did he reach it? How did he reach it? He wasn't sure, but the water extended into the darkness above, fingers of light piercing from below him.
The man wasn't there. Wang Yang, unable to speak, swam downwards. A moment ago, he felt drained, fearing a crash, but now vitality burst from his every stroke. Fears disappeared just like the bubbles from his mouth. Like he discovered a well of unending energy and courage.
Finally, he reached the surface of the dark blue ocean. Hanging upside down, he looked over the swaths of land below. The tall trees swayed to welcome him as the five steles of obsidian, each as tall as a pagoda, formed a circle in the never-ending forest.
"You learned how to fly after all." The man, walking on the water's surface, approached with a smile.
"I wouldn't call this flying." Wang Yang sighed.
"Does it matter what you call it?" He shrugged. "Didn't you survive?"
"I did."
"So," The man looked him in the eye, crouching down, "do you still wish to be perfect, Wang Yang?"
He thought about it for a moment and shook his head. What Wang Yang wanted was only one thing, just that he had twisted that desire into something else, seeing others progress.
"I want to be a disciple that can make his Master proud."
"Ho, that'll be a hard task." The man chuckled, but he wasn't dismissive.
"You know more, but I know you won't tell me, right?" Wang Yang could feel it already.
"The Heavens know everything," The man ruffled his black, soaked hair, "soon you will know too."
"Because that is your destiny."
Before he could answer, Wang Yang's eyes closed. The next moment, he found himself standing on Plum Peak. The tribulation still raging above. But he could feel the gaze of his Master, and the quiet approval that it carried.
"I advanced." The handful of liquid qi in his Dantian stayed as calm as a lake. And, Wang Yang officially advanced into the Foundation Building Realm. Taking another step on the never-ending path of cultivation.
...
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Check out my Patreon
You'll get advance chapters, exclusive content, and help keep this story going strong!
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Marchewmen
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So, wasn't there a subplot of 2nd disciple of muchen having to duel someone?
89: One’s Past, Another’s Future (IV)
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The Heavens knew everything. Muchen understood that concept much later in life. Heaven wasn't a creature or a faction, but an idea. A force of nature much like karma. A scale that always hung in balance.
Cultivators viewed the heavenly tribulation as punishment for crossing the line of evolution, but some discovered something else. This was a punishment, no doubt; however, it served more as a test.
A test the cultivator had to pass to show their worthiness to live beyond the line, worthiness to hold more power than the limit of their species. Naturally, if one passed a test, rewards followed.
Heavens may be cruel, but not unfair. Every fortunate incident was followed by hard times, and the sun would always rise after the darkest of nights. Heaven maintained that balance; it was the reason for its conception.
Most cultivators curbed the heavenly tribulations because they saw it as harsh punishment; however, Muchen saw the test. A test that would reward his bravery.
The first reward was Wang Yang's breakthrough to the Foundation Building realm. His disciple reached the hidden layers once again, a pocket between realms only a select few could enter; however, stepping out of that pocket was often harder than finding it. One needed a strong purpose and conviction to cross that threshold; otherwise, they'd be stuck for the rest of their lives. That too was a test.
Wang Yang, from before, had wanted to save Wu Kexin; that was the reason he could break through the hidden layers much faster than anyone else. That motivation fueled his being; it became his reason to cultivate.
But this time, Muchen had saved Wu Kexin for him. The Heaven's son had no immediate purpose. Thus, Muchen wanted to give him one. A grand purpose shown through a grand spectacle.
A Heavenly tribulation.
Heavens maintained balance; Wang Yang's birth signaled the hard trials that the world would face, the trials he had to face in exchange for his good fortune. So, the heavens wouldn't let their child remain purposeless and unprepared. The lighting that fractured upon clashing with the manufactured blood aura found Wang Yang, because fate willed it.
Only troubles lie ahead, so I shan't stay the same. Muchen felt the blood essence he had drunk replacing all the blood in his veins, a savage burst of energy coursing through his limbs.
It was time to reap the second reward.
The blood aura, the very shield that he had copied from Hua Jiahao, vanished. He disabled it. Heaven's lightning targets the life essence of the cultivator, the blood, and anything else counted as collateral damage. As long as a cultivator could keep regenerating his blood, they could outlast the tribulation. That was the only correct way to face the tribulation, shown to him by his Master.
Letting go of the shield of blood, Muchen embraced the last lightning bolt. The thunder drowned the shouts of horror.
Muchen's eardrums burst. The world flipped. His skin cracked. Red flowers bloomed all over his body. The spilling blood evaporated in an instant as lightning invaded his veins, scorching its way to his heart.
His organs exploded within, fractured ribs shooting out of his chest with bits of charred lungs and liver. However, a torrent of fresh blood, created by the blood essence, continued to spill into the veins, forming a sphere around his heart.
A battle of attrition.
But Muchen's victory was written in stone, a fate decided before he even stepped out of his cultivation chamber.
The Heaven's son would only be as good as his master. And Muchen had shown himself worthy to be his master. If Heaven were as all-knowing as his master claimed, then he should survive.
The answer came as fingers of sunlight pierced through the scattering dark clouds. Muchen, with his ribs poking out and spilling entrails, watched the sky. A sigh escaped his cracked lips.
Xianquan, Huang Bai, and even Liu Zhi rushed to his side. All scolding and scared, tears threatening to spill out from Huang Bai's eyes. But he couldn't hear a thing. He only smiled and decided to accept the coming sermon; his eyes still locked on his disciple.
The look of wonder the kid had, the glint that craved strength. The hunger. Muchen had successfully instilled that in his disciple.
Raising the son of heaven isn't easy, he thought, but it surely is worth the trouble.
***
In the heart of the Eastern continent was the stretch of forest named Nightmare Realm. The forever fog-shrouded forest was the closest thing to hell in the mortal realm. At least that was the famous folklore told in the human nations surrounding the place.
Zhi Rou walked on the purple ground patched with yellow grass, careful not to touch the four-petalled purple flowers while keeping track of the pitfalls. Even if resistant to most poisons on the continent, she had to cover her nose to not inhale the pollen from the nightshade flower. Her eyes peeled for any snake or insect skittering around.
If Nightmare Forest had anything in spades, it was poison. From the fog hanging low to the yellow stream running through the land, even the harmless-looking bugs, smaller than nail fillings, every inch of the land had poison. Making it a chore to tread through, but also the perfect training ground for the Purple Cloud Sect.
The deeper one went, the stronger the concentration of poison. It took her a full day to reach the center of this place, even with her experience.
She held her breath as a small hill covered in vomit green moss spewed purple mist over the plain of colorful flowers.
White, green, blue, violet, every color known to man. Each flower had the same thin 14 petals arching upwards, lively with the monarch butterflies and bees the size of human heads. The entranced creatures flew around the flower, excited. Taking the sweet nectar from them, only to fall to the ground. Absorbed by the roots of these flowers that pierced through them.
Near the field of flowers was a boulder, and a woman in black robes sat on it cross-legged. Eyes closed, her calloused hands on the sword across her thighs, vibrant qi bursting from her person. Strong enough to sway her ink-black hair that fell over her shoulders like a waterfall.
If Zhi Rou didn't know that this was her mistress's favorite meditation spot, she would've missed her presence. Taking her for just another deadly flower in the field.
As she came closer, the woman's nose twitched.
"You are back faster than expected." She faced her, eyes as dark as a starless night.
"Yes, Lady Gu. Lady Qian was rather impatient in her attacks." Zhi Rou dropped to one knee, bowing her head. But only for a moment, she soon looked up at the matriarch of Gu Clan, Gu Yue, with a smile.
"You caught me again. I thought I had masked myself well." Zhi Rou grumbled, thinking of the 100 spirit stones she had lost yet again.
"Even Senior Hua Mingzhu can't fool my nose. You are a thousand years too young." Her nose went high with pride, but the merry mood lasted only for an instant. "So, did you see my brother's body?"
Zhi Rou's blood boiled. After everything that bastard put her through, her lady still called Gu Changge her brother. It truly eluded her how these two were born from the same womb.
"I didn't confirm it myself, but Senior Li and Miss Gu Fe say he is as dead as he could be." Zhi Rou explained the incidents as she had heard from Qian Yun, including the poisoned dagger.
"Senior Li, I understand, but Gu Fei?" Pain wracked Gu Yue's eyes. "That child is still tormented by the past."
She looked at Zhi Rou, her eyes softening but also apologetic. "It is my failure that I couldn't give her the closure, you and Yingyue too. If only I had been stronger, smarter, you all wouldn't have suffered."
"Lady Gu, you did what you could." Zhi Rou stood up, but her lady wasn't one to listen.
"Yes, I did what I could, but I didn't do enough, that I know. Even now, I couldn't leave this place when the news arrived; you and Yingyue had to confront your painful past." Gu Yue sheathed her sword.
"I just wanted to try and kill him myself this time, Yingyue too." Zhi Rou smiled, and Lady Gu shook her head.
"Still, it was my failure that resulted in this." She nodded to herself, already making up her mind. "I must repay Senior Li for doing this in my stead, for helping clear Yingyue's biggest obstacle. I can only hope she finds it in herself to move forward."
The true intention reveals itself. Zhi Rou smirked as her lady coughed. But she couldn't help but agree, even though she wanted to thank Li Muchen dearly for ending Gu Changge. Not to mention the help he provided them beforehand. But the biggest help to Yingyue was his disciple.
"Yingyue is exchanging letters with Senior Li's second disciple, Wang Yang." Zhi Rou proudly described the letter contents she had read without permission during transit.
"It seems we must prepare some red rice." Gu Yue chuckled. Yingyue had never shown this much interest in someone else before.
"Already done, only waiting for the confirmation." Zhi Rou actually had it in her ring; she had it prepared for a while.
"But to think she would get close to Senior Li's Disciple, maybe this is what they call fate?" Lady Gu nodded, a gentle smile tugging on her pink lips.
"Umm… Senior Li's second disciple doesn't resemble him in any way." Zhi Rou had the pleasure of watching them up close; that's why it seemed odd. "The first disciple Sun Lingling has his eyes, I think there are even rumors that she is his secret child from his stunts in the Southern Continent."
Gu Yue, standing on the boulder, blinked a few times before smiling.
"Well, you know how unreliable rumors are?" The mask started to crack.
"I believe there is a trace of truth to them." Zhi Rou's smirk widened.
But it froze the moment Gu Yue's eyes turned to crescent moons, hand pulling on the hilt of the blade as dark as the night.
"My My, Rou'er…" The black blade gleamed under the sunlight, "…It's been a while since we have sparred, hasn't it?"
"My apologies, Lady Gu, but there is this sale in the capital that I absolutely can't miss." Zhi Rou bowed and started back.
Just a rumor was enough to turn her gentle lady into a violent warrior; heaven knew what would happen if she learned that Han Yue had spent days with Li Muchen at the Qingliu Mountains. Days where she was all over the man. The thought alone made her shudder.
But more than that, cold sweat slid down her forehead as Gu Yue's fingers grasped her shoulder.
"We must spar after all, Rou'er." Gu Yue's sweet smile didn't reach her eyes; her eyes only had violence in them.
"Wait! Wait! Let me tell you something!" Dragged into the flower field, Zhi Rou could only thrash around like a helpless toddler. "Let me tell you something!"
Two hours later, Zhi Rou sat on the ground bandaging her wounds with a black eye. Gu Yue sat in front of her, not a crease in her silk robes, but her lips formed a cute pout.
"That woman doesn't honor any promises. If only I weren't stuck guarding this place." Gu Yue looked at the hill, then blinked. The moment her fist hit the palm, Zhi Rou knew it was the end.
"Zhi Rou, I have a task for you." Gu Yue beamed.
"What can I do for you, Lady Gu?" Zhi Rou bowed, accepting her fate.
"Invite Senior Li and his disciple Wang Yang for the opening of Purple Cloud Grotto Heaven." She winked. "That hardheaded disciple of mine has finally shown an interest in a boy. It's the least I can do as her Master."
You so smoothly excluded Sun Lingling. Since Zhi Rou valued her life, she kept her thoughts inside. I pray every day that Yingyue doesn't take after you in these matters.
"It shall be done, Lady Gu."
Leaving her enthusiastic lady behind, who started humming, Zhi Rou started her journey back to the Azure Sky Sect. For the first time since the establishment of Purple Cloud Sect, an outsider would enter the Gu Clan's ancestral grounds.
The news alone would shake the sect to the core. However, Zhi Rou didn't give a rat's ass about that.
Please accept the invitation, Senior Li! She only feared the long days of sparring Gu Yue would put her through if Li Muchen didn't come.
...
Hello, dear readers, this marks the end of Book 1.
Yes, Book 1, not Book 2. After rereading from the start, I surmised that there wasn't enough content in Book 1 for it to be marked as such.
At the time, I was rather sick and wasn't thinking very clearly cause of stress. It was just the feeling of ending it there and resting that sort of made me stop there.
Now that I think, that was pretty silly. But it is what it is. I've decided to combine both Book 1 and Book 2 into one now. Aside from the increase in word count and chapters, there's not much change in the trajectory of the plot, just that i think the previous book 1's end serves better as a midpoint than a book's end.
That's enough yapping from me. I want to thank you all, my dear readers, that have stuck with this book through the irregular updates and hiatus. And even the new readers who braved through the rough early chapters. Without your consistent support and presence, I probably would've dropped this novel.
So, thank you. Thank you from the bottom of my heart.
I will be taking a break next week to stockpile chapters for Book 2. Regressed Master will be back on 16th January (Friday) and continue the Fri/Sat/Sun releases as usual.
If you enjoyed Book 1, please don't forget to follow the story.
Want to read chapters early or support the novel directly?
Check out my Patreon to read 10 chapters ahead.
Here's the invite link to Discord
Thanks for reading, and I'll see you in the next one.
Cultivators viewed the heavenly tribulation as punishment for crossing the line of evolution, but some discovered something else. This was a punishment, no doubt; however, it served more as a test.
A test the cultivator had to pass to show their worthiness to live beyond the line, worthiness to hold more power than the limit of their species. Naturally, if one passed a test, rewards followed.
Heavens may be cruel, but not unfair. Every fortunate incident was followed by hard times, and the sun would always rise after the darkest of nights. Heaven maintained that balance; it was the reason for its conception.
Most cultivators curbed the heavenly tribulations because they saw it as harsh punishment; however, Muchen saw the test. A test that would reward his bravery.
The first reward was Wang Yang's breakthrough to the Foundation Building realm. His disciple reached the hidden layers once again, a pocket between realms only a select few could enter; however, stepping out of that pocket was often harder than finding it. One needed a strong purpose and conviction to cross that threshold; otherwise, they'd be stuck for the rest of their lives. That too was a test.
Wang Yang, from before, had wanted to save Wu Kexin; that was the reason he could break through the hidden layers much faster than anyone else. That motivation fueled his being; it became his reason to cultivate.
But this time, Muchen had saved Wu Kexin for him. The Heaven's son had no immediate purpose. Thus, Muchen wanted to give him one. A grand purpose shown through a grand spectacle.
A Heavenly tribulation.
Heavens maintained balance; Wang Yang's birth signaled the hard trials that the world would face, the trials he had to face in exchange for his good fortune. So, the heavens wouldn't let their child remain purposeless and unprepared. The lighting that fractured upon clashing with the manufactured blood aura found Wang Yang, because fate willed it.
Only troubles lie ahead, so I shan't stay the same. Muchen felt the blood essence he had drunk replacing all the blood in his veins, a savage burst of energy coursing through his limbs.
It was time to reap the second reward.
The blood aura, the very shield that he had copied from Hua Jiahao, vanished. He disabled it. Heaven's lightning targets the life essence of the cultivator, the blood, and anything else counted as collateral damage. As long as a cultivator could keep regenerating his blood, they could outlast the tribulation. That was the only correct way to face the tribulation, shown to him by his Master.
Letting go of the shield of blood, Muchen embraced the last lightning bolt. The thunder drowned the shouts of horror.
Muchen's eardrums burst. The world flipped. His skin cracked. Red flowers bloomed all over his body. The spilling blood evaporated in an instant as lightning invaded his veins, scorching its way to his heart.
His organs exploded within, fractured ribs shooting out of his chest with bits of charred lungs and liver. However, a torrent of fresh blood, created by the blood essence, continued to spill into the veins, forming a sphere around his heart.
A battle of attrition.
But Muchen's victory was written in stone, a fate decided before he even stepped out of his cultivation chamber.
The Heaven's son would only be as good as his master. And Muchen had shown himself worthy to be his master. If Heaven were as all-knowing as his master claimed, then he should survive.
The answer came as fingers of sunlight pierced through the scattering dark clouds. Muchen, with his ribs poking out and spilling entrails, watched the sky. A sigh escaped his cracked lips.
Xianquan, Huang Bai, and even Liu Zhi rushed to his side. All scolding and scared, tears threatening to spill out from Huang Bai's eyes. But he couldn't hear a thing. He only smiled and decided to accept the coming sermon; his eyes still locked on his disciple.
The look of wonder the kid had, the glint that craved strength. The hunger. Muchen had successfully instilled that in his disciple.
Raising the son of heaven isn't easy, he thought, but it surely is worth the trouble.
***
In the heart of the Eastern continent was the stretch of forest named Nightmare Realm. The forever fog-shrouded forest was the closest thing to hell in the mortal realm. At least that was the famous folklore told in the human nations surrounding the place.
Zhi Rou walked on the purple ground patched with yellow grass, careful not to touch the four-petalled purple flowers while keeping track of the pitfalls. Even if resistant to most poisons on the continent, she had to cover her nose to not inhale the pollen from the nightshade flower. Her eyes peeled for any snake or insect skittering around.
If Nightmare Forest had anything in spades, it was poison. From the fog hanging low to the yellow stream running through the land, even the harmless-looking bugs, smaller than nail fillings, every inch of the land had poison. Making it a chore to tread through, but also the perfect training ground for the Purple Cloud Sect.
The deeper one went, the stronger the concentration of poison. It took her a full day to reach the center of this place, even with her experience.
She held her breath as a small hill covered in vomit green moss spewed purple mist over the plain of colorful flowers.
White, green, blue, violet, every color known to man. Each flower had the same thin 14 petals arching upwards, lively with the monarch butterflies and bees the size of human heads. The entranced creatures flew around the flower, excited. Taking the sweet nectar from them, only to fall to the ground. Absorbed by the roots of these flowers that pierced through them.
Near the field of flowers was a boulder, and a woman in black robes sat on it cross-legged. Eyes closed, her calloused hands on the sword across her thighs, vibrant qi bursting from her person. Strong enough to sway her ink-black hair that fell over her shoulders like a waterfall.
If Zhi Rou didn't know that this was her mistress's favorite meditation spot, she would've missed her presence. Taking her for just another deadly flower in the field.
As she came closer, the woman's nose twitched.
"You are back faster than expected." She faced her, eyes as dark as a starless night.
"Yes, Lady Gu. Lady Qian was rather impatient in her attacks." Zhi Rou dropped to one knee, bowing her head. But only for a moment, she soon looked up at the matriarch of Gu Clan, Gu Yue, with a smile.
"You caught me again. I thought I had masked myself well." Zhi Rou grumbled, thinking of the 100 spirit stones she had lost yet again.
"Even Senior Hua Mingzhu can't fool my nose. You are a thousand years too young." Her nose went high with pride, but the merry mood lasted only for an instant. "So, did you see my brother's body?"
Zhi Rou's blood boiled. After everything that bastard put her through, her lady still called Gu Changge her brother. It truly eluded her how these two were born from the same womb.
"I didn't confirm it myself, but Senior Li and Miss Gu Fe say he is as dead as he could be." Zhi Rou explained the incidents as she had heard from Qian Yun, including the poisoned dagger.
"Senior Li, I understand, but Gu Fei?" Pain wracked Gu Yue's eyes. "That child is still tormented by the past."
She looked at Zhi Rou, her eyes softening but also apologetic. "It is my failure that I couldn't give her the closure, you and Yingyue too. If only I had been stronger, smarter, you all wouldn't have suffered."
"Lady Gu, you did what you could." Zhi Rou stood up, but her lady wasn't one to listen.
"Yes, I did what I could, but I didn't do enough, that I know. Even now, I couldn't leave this place when the news arrived; you and Yingyue had to confront your painful past." Gu Yue sheathed her sword.
"I just wanted to try and kill him myself this time, Yingyue too." Zhi Rou smiled, and Lady Gu shook her head.
"Still, it was my failure that resulted in this." She nodded to herself, already making up her mind. "I must repay Senior Li for doing this in my stead, for helping clear Yingyue's biggest obstacle. I can only hope she finds it in herself to move forward."
The true intention reveals itself. Zhi Rou smirked as her lady coughed. But she couldn't help but agree, even though she wanted to thank Li Muchen dearly for ending Gu Changge. Not to mention the help he provided them beforehand. But the biggest help to Yingyue was his disciple.
"Yingyue is exchanging letters with Senior Li's second disciple, Wang Yang." Zhi Rou proudly described the letter contents she had read without permission during transit.
"It seems we must prepare some red rice." Gu Yue chuckled. Yingyue had never shown this much interest in someone else before.
"Already done, only waiting for the confirmation." Zhi Rou actually had it in her ring; she had it prepared for a while.
"But to think she would get close to Senior Li's Disciple, maybe this is what they call fate?" Lady Gu nodded, a gentle smile tugging on her pink lips.
"Umm… Senior Li's second disciple doesn't resemble him in any way." Zhi Rou had the pleasure of watching them up close; that's why it seemed odd. "The first disciple Sun Lingling has his eyes, I think there are even rumors that she is his secret child from his stunts in the Southern Continent."
Gu Yue, standing on the boulder, blinked a few times before smiling.
"Well, you know how unreliable rumors are?" The mask started to crack.
"I believe there is a trace of truth to them." Zhi Rou's smirk widened.
But it froze the moment Gu Yue's eyes turned to crescent moons, hand pulling on the hilt of the blade as dark as the night.
"My My, Rou'er…" The black blade gleamed under the sunlight, "…It's been a while since we have sparred, hasn't it?"
"My apologies, Lady Gu, but there is this sale in the capital that I absolutely can't miss." Zhi Rou bowed and started back.
Just a rumor was enough to turn her gentle lady into a violent warrior; heaven knew what would happen if she learned that Han Yue had spent days with Li Muchen at the Qingliu Mountains. Days where she was all over the man. The thought alone made her shudder.
But more than that, cold sweat slid down her forehead as Gu Yue's fingers grasped her shoulder.
"We must spar after all, Rou'er." Gu Yue's sweet smile didn't reach her eyes; her eyes only had violence in them.
"Wait! Wait! Let me tell you something!" Dragged into the flower field, Zhi Rou could only thrash around like a helpless toddler. "Let me tell you something!"
Two hours later, Zhi Rou sat on the ground bandaging her wounds with a black eye. Gu Yue sat in front of her, not a crease in her silk robes, but her lips formed a cute pout.
"That woman doesn't honor any promises. If only I weren't stuck guarding this place." Gu Yue looked at the hill, then blinked. The moment her fist hit the palm, Zhi Rou knew it was the end.
"Zhi Rou, I have a task for you." Gu Yue beamed.
"What can I do for you, Lady Gu?" Zhi Rou bowed, accepting her fate.
"Invite Senior Li and his disciple Wang Yang for the opening of Purple Cloud Grotto Heaven." She winked. "That hardheaded disciple of mine has finally shown an interest in a boy. It's the least I can do as her Master."
You so smoothly excluded Sun Lingling. Since Zhi Rou valued her life, she kept her thoughts inside. I pray every day that Yingyue doesn't take after you in these matters.
"It shall be done, Lady Gu."
Leaving her enthusiastic lady behind, who started humming, Zhi Rou started her journey back to the Azure Sky Sect. For the first time since the establishment of Purple Cloud Sect, an outsider would enter the Gu Clan's ancestral grounds.
The news alone would shake the sect to the core. However, Zhi Rou didn't give a rat's ass about that.
Please accept the invitation, Senior Li! She only feared the long days of sparring Gu Yue would put her through if Li Muchen didn't come.
...
Hello, dear readers, this marks the end of Book 1.
Yes, Book 1, not Book 2. After rereading from the start, I surmised that there wasn't enough content in Book 1 for it to be marked as such.
At the time, I was rather sick and wasn't thinking very clearly cause of stress. It was just the feeling of ending it there and resting that sort of made me stop there.
Now that I think, that was pretty silly. But it is what it is. I've decided to combine both Book 1 and Book 2 into one now. Aside from the increase in word count and chapters, there's not much change in the trajectory of the plot, just that i think the previous book 1's end serves better as a midpoint than a book's end.
That's enough yapping from me. I want to thank you all, my dear readers, that have stuck with this book through the irregular updates and hiatus. And even the new readers who braved through the rough early chapters. Without your consistent support and presence, I probably would've dropped this novel.
So, thank you. Thank you from the bottom of my heart.
I will be taking a break next week to stockpile chapters for Book 2. Regressed Master will be back on 16th January (Friday) and continue the Fri/Sat/Sun releases as usual.
If you enjoyed Book 1, please don't forget to follow the story.
Want to read chapters early or support the novel directly?
Check out my Patreon to read 10 chapters ahead.
Here's the invite link to Discord
Thanks for reading, and I'll see you in the next one.
Lillie Jones
Well worn.
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Thanks for the chapter
Rexygist
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Forget demonic cultivators and raising the son of heaven. Muchen obviously has to get ridiculously stronger than almost everybody. How else he can actually have a harem that won't kill him accidentally due to catfights. All the women crushing on him are country destroying level monsters.
[Book 2] 90: Importance (I)
New
Overload69
Know what you're doing yet?
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Before Li Muchen became Li Muchen, he wasn't sure if he'd reach his thirties. And, as he predicted, he died at the age of twenty-three. Then, reborn as an orphan in a world much crueler than the capitalist society, he once again wondered if he'd live till thirty.
Thankfully, while working as an errand boy at the city lord's mansion, he caught the eye of the Sky Mending Saint. The young man who dreamed of thirty lived past half a millennia. But sometimes he wished he didn't.
The short years he lived on earth were already wracked with problems. Same when he crossed over. Maybe that pain was the price for his second chance.
But the second chance, one he believed to be full of fortune, did give him pain in equal measure. He met his junior disciples and had a kind master. He lived a much easier life than most people in the mortal realm. That was until he took in his disciple, Wang Yang.
Wang Yang's existence flipped his world. He received a lot because of the Son of Heaven, but misfortune came in spades. Muchen had lost count of the times he had got targeted for being Wang Yang's Master, the number of hardships he went through because of that title, and the people he lost.
Was the loss equal to what he gained? Li Muchen still couldn't answer that. He couldn't measure that fortune and misfortune.
However, one thing he knew was that his problems stemmed from the Disaster Gods and their followers. Even when sealed, the presence of these Gods of Carnage had the mortal realm in a death grip.
Li Muchen lost his life battling one of them, Hundun. However, he received his third chance thanks to another Disaster God, Taotie.
A strange connection, a strange balance.
Inside his mind realm, Muchen eyed the Black Lotus. The previous small flower had outgrown the pond it sat in. Its velvety petals increased from 12 to 16, each darker than the night. The mist from the stamen, much thicker and heavier. It washed over his feet like chilly water.
Standing in its shadow, Muchen felt a faint heartbeat inside it. He wondered if it was the Taotie it had eaten. The creature had this inside it, and the Disaster God had an affinity for absorption.
Absorption… Regression…
Muchen couldn't grasp the thread between them. Maybe there was no thread. Maybe it was the Heavens sending him back because they had no other way to save the world? But if they had the power to send someone back, why him? Why not Wang Yang himself?
And, even if they chose Muchen, why does someone else seem to know the future?
The only thread Muchen had at the time was a fragile one, at least regarding the secret of his regression. But one way or another, he had to find Bai. He had to stop him before things blew out of proportion, out of his chessboard.
"Brooding again?" Yae appeared on his shoulder.
"A little." Muchen had allowed her entry only under strict rules. "So, know anything about this?" He signaled at the black lotus with his chin.
"The only thing I know is that it's disgusting." Yae's two tails moved impatiently, her snow-like fur ruffled. "But it suits you, I have to say."
"Very funny." Muchen looked into her eyes. "What do you know?"
"The great famine in the eastern continent, a Black Lotus caused it." Yae seemed to remember it. "It sapped the continent of its vitality by latching onto the main Qi vein and then fed on the hungry souls of the perished mortals."
"The Black Lotus was the cause of that dark period?"
"It's an entity that is only found in hell, only one of its kind, I think. They summoned it into the mortal realm by offering sacrifices." Yae said lazily. "After a century of preparation, the Sun Cult then sacrificed 1,287,678,546 bodies, the century-long famine's victims, and the Black Lotus to summon Taotie. I am sure you know the rest. Your Master must've told you all about the hardships."
"I didn't know they had summoned Taotie." Muchen had read the ancient texts a hundred times; by now, he had them memorized.
"A gag order. Fear of Disaster Gods only feeds them." Yae licked her paws, eyes locked on the lotus. "I know because my father told me, he put the thing in an illusion so your master and others could seal it. If it wasn't for him, the Eastern Continent would have disappeared long ago."
"And he was repaid with a knife." Muchen turned to the emotionless fox.
"Whatever the repayment was, the end would be on my terms." Yae looked at him, eyes burning again. "I will not stop till I slaughter those chickens."
"I am sure you won't." Muchen nodded along.
"With the rate you cultivate, even they might die before I get my chance. Come on, let's get back to cultivation." Yae slapped him with her fluffy tails, eager to go.
How could Muchen explain to this genetically lucky creature that his mortal body needed time to adjust to the new level of power?
Rome wasn't built in one day, now, was it? Besides, he had other matters to attend to.
"We have a feast to attend." He told the grumpy fox.
***
Yae had a few places to rest in Plum Peak. It used to be an empty lot with rough cliffs and forests. The entire place was her garden, but lately one part had become so obnoxiously loud that she couldn't help but growl.
Why did they build that stupid thing along her walking path? They didn't even leave the cave she liked to nap in.
The noise alone pissed her off; she had contemplated torching the buildings a few times. But after taking a dip in Heaven's spring, she decided to tolerate it.
What she couldn't tolerate was the massive waves of people entering Li Muchen's residence for the past three days. Apparently, the sect decided to hold a seven-day celebration for his breakthrough to the Nascent Soul Realm. Muchen said that it was just formality and a normal tradition, since breaking into the Nascent Soul Realm held value now.
Caught between the rush of people, gossip, and performance going through the residence, Yae couldn't even rest in the eaves.
Seriously, a party for reaching Nascent Soul Realm? I reached that before reaching double digits, and all I got was an extra mooncake! Yae hissed in his mind, but she couldn't deny that the mooncake that day was exceptionally sweet.
She only watched as Elders and important-looking people visited each night, gifts and pleasantries in hand. Thick with perfume, their mouths had smiles and sweet words, but eyes as sharp as daggers.
At least Muchen didn't have that mask; he was a scheming bastard through and through.
He welcomed them as the host, looking as princely as ever. Silky black hair with a golden hairpin, pure white robes with a silver belt with black trimming, not to mention he smelled like fresh sunshine and flowers. No wonder the women admired him from afar; it was like he was one, just dressed up as a man.
There were even small competitions in literature, poetry, and sword dances. Giving the less well-off elders and disciples a chance to enter Heaven's spring as rewards.
Yae sat at a table right now, hearing Muchen talk with a powdered, chubby man with a greasy smile. His name was Elder Shen, or was it? Didn't matter. What got to her was that his servants placed a teal ceramic vase near her.
On it was a red bird with a fiery crown of crimson and legs like a swan; below it were people genuflecting.
According to him, this was a treasure unearthed from an old tomb of the Xia dynasty. A vase with the divine bird blessing the Xia royal family to hold eternal power.
I'll kill all these chickens! Yae scoffed, her pink paw smacking the vase off the birch table.
Crashing to the ground, the vase burst into a million pieces, shards sliding across the polished wooden floors. The sudden crash drew eyes, all wide with shock.
"The Resurgence pot! No!" The elder grasped his head, turning red. It didn't take long before he collapsed.
Hahaha! That's what you get for worshiping chickens! Yae's victorious laughter lasted for mere moments.
Muchen's eyes locked onto her, but he simply smiled. She wanted to run away, but the bastard was much smarter and faster.
"Mei'er, I found Yae." He called out the biggest nightmare of Yae's life.
"Yae!" Hua Mei, the little ball of infinite energy, arrived as fast as lightning.
Yae could only stay still as the little girl hugged her, smothering her like a common house cat.
I am a fierce beast. A nine-tailed fox that can wipe out this sect with a swing of my tail! Show some respect and don't you dare pat my head! Yae raged.
But the little fangs and the growl, that even thought of as cute, only fueled the intensity of the Hua Mei's squeals. The ear scratches weren't bad either; even better was the grooming. The kid had a talent for brushing fur. Yae had never felt so thoroughly refreshed before.
"Come, Yae, I saved some rainbow trout for you." Hau Mei broke off bits of the moist white fish and fed her a little by little.
Why does this seem so normal these days? Yae shuddered after eating the third fish. Truly, how terrifying this little girl was.
"Would you like to eat anything more? There are roast fowl, spicy beef, sweet and sour pork, too." Hua Mei beamed.
Yae looked at the table, a polished oak wood standing on six legs. Nine cushioned seats with intricate wooden patterns on the padded armrests. The table had enough food for a party of twenty, but only Hua Mei sat there alone.
There wasn't a single kid around her age, no, not a single youngster in the main hall. Just elders in all shapes and sizes clinking wine glasses over trivial small talk. Most disciples, alongside Wang Yang, were in the lower gardens.
Yae looked back at the expectant Hua Mei, then back at the crowd. Her eyes reached into the garden beyond the hall. Leaping off the table, she rushed through the hall at lightning pace, scaring some elders in the process.
"Are we playing a game?" She heard Hua Mei, the girl kept up.
Sliding under tables and jumping off walls, scratching off heads, they arrived in the back garden. Hua Mingzhu, in her orange dress with white strips, noticed their appearance and looked away from her conversation partner. She smiled at Hua Mei and turned back to the woman from before.
Muchen had explained it to her, but Yae couldn't understand it. There was no doubt in her mind that Mingzhu cared for Hua Mei as much as a mother would for her child, even more so in her case. But every time she arrived, the witch only showed harshness.
Yae pulled the silk dress, her fangs tearing into the golden edge.
"Lady Hua!" The woman in white gasped, eyes on the tear in what seemed like an expensive cloth.
"Yae, you can't do that!" Hua Mei snatched her up.
Look at her, you fool. She's more important than whatever you are talking about! Yae growled at Hua Mingzhu. There was no way she'd understand, but maybe she did understand.
"My apologies, Lady Mu, I will continue the topic another time." With a curt goodbye, Hua Mingzhu took Hua Mei and returned to the hall.
She didn't bother changing her dress and sat at the table with her daughter, talking with the kid while eating. At some point, Yae slipped away from the two. Her usual spot on top of the main western wing's roof looked rather cozy right now.
Most of the hubbub was on the eastern side, so she could have some peace here. Watching the full moon, she curled up into a ball, her tails around her neck on the slightly colder night.
"Why would she leave a child alone? Is that what you are thinking?"
Yae hissed. But Hua Mingzhu sat beside her, a jar of wine in her hand.
"No need to act." She said, cracking open the mud seal. "Hua Mei is already sleeping, if you were wondering, she ate a lot today."
"I don't care about that." Yae raised her head, locking eyes with the woman. "How long did you know?"
"Since I first saw you." Mingzhu took a swig of the wine, a thick, flowery scent wafting over. "Muchen doesn't like pets; he hates burying them."
"If you knew, why act like you didn't?"
"Hua Mei is perceptive; if I treat you differently, she'll try to find out why." Mingzhu rested the jar on her thighs, leaving a stain on her bright dress.
"I… I know I am not the best mother." She started. "I never thought I'd become one, because I wasn't even human to begin with."
"Wasn't human?" What nonsense was this woman spewing? She was a human from what Yae could tell. "Is the wine that strong?"
"I wouldn't know, alcohol stopped affecting me by the time I was 5." Mingzhu chuckled. "I was only born to serve, to follow, and to protect, like a dog. That's all I was trained for. That's all I knew."
"There were many kids like me. I don't even remember them anymore."
"Were they that forgettable?" Yae's eyes narrowed.
"They didn't have any names. I didn't have one either." Mingzhu peeled off the fake skin on her wrist, showing the ugly brand with the number 701. "My mistress gave me one after I came under the service of Frozen Flower Holyland; she thought it was an inconvenience that I didn't have one."
"I've never had a parent myself, so I tried to do the only thing I knew best. Make my kid stronger." Mingzhu sighed. "It's the only way to survive out there."
"Is that all?" Yae turned her head, ready to close her eyes again.
"It seemed you've raised kids before," Mingzhu added. "There aren't many mothers I can consult here, you see."
"I used to have a lot of free time, so I helped look after the clan's younger ones; they weren't that younger than me after all. They loved playing with me, eating too, but the happiest I saw them was when they returned home and hugged their mothers." Yae lay her head on her fluffy tail.
"Giving your child the tools to survive is good, but being around them is much more important." She added. "You may have another child later, but your child only has one childhood. Once it's gone, she won't have another chance."
"I understand." Mingzhu set the wine jar aside. Yae didn't doubt her on that. "I am going back to her. Do you want to come?"
"It's too noisy down there," Yae complained.
"That it is, come by my residence in Tiger Peak. It's the quietest place. I'll prepare some rainbow trout and meat for you."
"I'll think about it if you make mooncakes, the fish better be high-quality too. I don't eat common drivel." Yae scoffed.
"I'll get the best I can."
After Mingzhu left, Yae closed her eyes.
But she couldn't sleep. She could never sleep. She only closed her eyes to recall her village. The high mountains, the clear streams.
Running along the wooden houses with kids, roasting wild game, and picking fruits from Uncle Ping's garden. Memories of her childhood and adolescence. Memories of the cherry blossoms fluttering in spring, running down the stream to catch fish, catching birds, and insects.
And memories of the fire that rained down on them from high above on that cold night.
"Li Muchen, I will not allow failure." Her eyes glowed in the night, locked onto the man she had to sign a contract with. He had reached the Sky Peak, but she knew he could feel the rage in her heart.
It didn't matter if she had to be a docile house pet or the terror of the mortal realm; she'd do anything if it meant snuffing the fire out of those damned birds.
"I will have my revenge." She vowed to the moon, gazing into the far west.
...
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Thankfully, while working as an errand boy at the city lord's mansion, he caught the eye of the Sky Mending Saint. The young man who dreamed of thirty lived past half a millennia. But sometimes he wished he didn't.
The short years he lived on earth were already wracked with problems. Same when he crossed over. Maybe that pain was the price for his second chance.
But the second chance, one he believed to be full of fortune, did give him pain in equal measure. He met his junior disciples and had a kind master. He lived a much easier life than most people in the mortal realm. That was until he took in his disciple, Wang Yang.
Wang Yang's existence flipped his world. He received a lot because of the Son of Heaven, but misfortune came in spades. Muchen had lost count of the times he had got targeted for being Wang Yang's Master, the number of hardships he went through because of that title, and the people he lost.
Was the loss equal to what he gained? Li Muchen still couldn't answer that. He couldn't measure that fortune and misfortune.
However, one thing he knew was that his problems stemmed from the Disaster Gods and their followers. Even when sealed, the presence of these Gods of Carnage had the mortal realm in a death grip.
Li Muchen lost his life battling one of them, Hundun. However, he received his third chance thanks to another Disaster God, Taotie.
A strange connection, a strange balance.
Inside his mind realm, Muchen eyed the Black Lotus. The previous small flower had outgrown the pond it sat in. Its velvety petals increased from 12 to 16, each darker than the night. The mist from the stamen, much thicker and heavier. It washed over his feet like chilly water.
Standing in its shadow, Muchen felt a faint heartbeat inside it. He wondered if it was the Taotie it had eaten. The creature had this inside it, and the Disaster God had an affinity for absorption.
Absorption… Regression…
Muchen couldn't grasp the thread between them. Maybe there was no thread. Maybe it was the Heavens sending him back because they had no other way to save the world? But if they had the power to send someone back, why him? Why not Wang Yang himself?
And, even if they chose Muchen, why does someone else seem to know the future?
The only thread Muchen had at the time was a fragile one, at least regarding the secret of his regression. But one way or another, he had to find Bai. He had to stop him before things blew out of proportion, out of his chessboard.
"Brooding again?" Yae appeared on his shoulder.
"A little." Muchen had allowed her entry only under strict rules. "So, know anything about this?" He signaled at the black lotus with his chin.
"The only thing I know is that it's disgusting." Yae's two tails moved impatiently, her snow-like fur ruffled. "But it suits you, I have to say."
"Very funny." Muchen looked into her eyes. "What do you know?"
"The great famine in the eastern continent, a Black Lotus caused it." Yae seemed to remember it. "It sapped the continent of its vitality by latching onto the main Qi vein and then fed on the hungry souls of the perished mortals."
"The Black Lotus was the cause of that dark period?"
"It's an entity that is only found in hell, only one of its kind, I think. They summoned it into the mortal realm by offering sacrifices." Yae said lazily. "After a century of preparation, the Sun Cult then sacrificed 1,287,678,546 bodies, the century-long famine's victims, and the Black Lotus to summon Taotie. I am sure you know the rest. Your Master must've told you all about the hardships."
"I didn't know they had summoned Taotie." Muchen had read the ancient texts a hundred times; by now, he had them memorized.
"A gag order. Fear of Disaster Gods only feeds them." Yae licked her paws, eyes locked on the lotus. "I know because my father told me, he put the thing in an illusion so your master and others could seal it. If it wasn't for him, the Eastern Continent would have disappeared long ago."
"And he was repaid with a knife." Muchen turned to the emotionless fox.
"Whatever the repayment was, the end would be on my terms." Yae looked at him, eyes burning again. "I will not stop till I slaughter those chickens."
"I am sure you won't." Muchen nodded along.
"With the rate you cultivate, even they might die before I get my chance. Come on, let's get back to cultivation." Yae slapped him with her fluffy tails, eager to go.
How could Muchen explain to this genetically lucky creature that his mortal body needed time to adjust to the new level of power?
Rome wasn't built in one day, now, was it? Besides, he had other matters to attend to.
"We have a feast to attend." He told the grumpy fox.
***
Yae had a few places to rest in Plum Peak. It used to be an empty lot with rough cliffs and forests. The entire place was her garden, but lately one part had become so obnoxiously loud that she couldn't help but growl.
Why did they build that stupid thing along her walking path? They didn't even leave the cave she liked to nap in.
The noise alone pissed her off; she had contemplated torching the buildings a few times. But after taking a dip in Heaven's spring, she decided to tolerate it.
What she couldn't tolerate was the massive waves of people entering Li Muchen's residence for the past three days. Apparently, the sect decided to hold a seven-day celebration for his breakthrough to the Nascent Soul Realm. Muchen said that it was just formality and a normal tradition, since breaking into the Nascent Soul Realm held value now.
Caught between the rush of people, gossip, and performance going through the residence, Yae couldn't even rest in the eaves.
Seriously, a party for reaching Nascent Soul Realm? I reached that before reaching double digits, and all I got was an extra mooncake! Yae hissed in his mind, but she couldn't deny that the mooncake that day was exceptionally sweet.
She only watched as Elders and important-looking people visited each night, gifts and pleasantries in hand. Thick with perfume, their mouths had smiles and sweet words, but eyes as sharp as daggers.
At least Muchen didn't have that mask; he was a scheming bastard through and through.
He welcomed them as the host, looking as princely as ever. Silky black hair with a golden hairpin, pure white robes with a silver belt with black trimming, not to mention he smelled like fresh sunshine and flowers. No wonder the women admired him from afar; it was like he was one, just dressed up as a man.
There were even small competitions in literature, poetry, and sword dances. Giving the less well-off elders and disciples a chance to enter Heaven's spring as rewards.
Yae sat at a table right now, hearing Muchen talk with a powdered, chubby man with a greasy smile. His name was Elder Shen, or was it? Didn't matter. What got to her was that his servants placed a teal ceramic vase near her.
On it was a red bird with a fiery crown of crimson and legs like a swan; below it were people genuflecting.
According to him, this was a treasure unearthed from an old tomb of the Xia dynasty. A vase with the divine bird blessing the Xia royal family to hold eternal power.
I'll kill all these chickens! Yae scoffed, her pink paw smacking the vase off the birch table.
Crashing to the ground, the vase burst into a million pieces, shards sliding across the polished wooden floors. The sudden crash drew eyes, all wide with shock.
"The Resurgence pot! No!" The elder grasped his head, turning red. It didn't take long before he collapsed.
Hahaha! That's what you get for worshiping chickens! Yae's victorious laughter lasted for mere moments.
Muchen's eyes locked onto her, but he simply smiled. She wanted to run away, but the bastard was much smarter and faster.
"Mei'er, I found Yae." He called out the biggest nightmare of Yae's life.
"Yae!" Hua Mei, the little ball of infinite energy, arrived as fast as lightning.
Yae could only stay still as the little girl hugged her, smothering her like a common house cat.
I am a fierce beast. A nine-tailed fox that can wipe out this sect with a swing of my tail! Show some respect and don't you dare pat my head! Yae raged.
But the little fangs and the growl, that even thought of as cute, only fueled the intensity of the Hua Mei's squeals. The ear scratches weren't bad either; even better was the grooming. The kid had a talent for brushing fur. Yae had never felt so thoroughly refreshed before.
"Come, Yae, I saved some rainbow trout for you." Hau Mei broke off bits of the moist white fish and fed her a little by little.
Why does this seem so normal these days? Yae shuddered after eating the third fish. Truly, how terrifying this little girl was.
"Would you like to eat anything more? There are roast fowl, spicy beef, sweet and sour pork, too." Hua Mei beamed.
Yae looked at the table, a polished oak wood standing on six legs. Nine cushioned seats with intricate wooden patterns on the padded armrests. The table had enough food for a party of twenty, but only Hua Mei sat there alone.
There wasn't a single kid around her age, no, not a single youngster in the main hall. Just elders in all shapes and sizes clinking wine glasses over trivial small talk. Most disciples, alongside Wang Yang, were in the lower gardens.
Yae looked back at the expectant Hua Mei, then back at the crowd. Her eyes reached into the garden beyond the hall. Leaping off the table, she rushed through the hall at lightning pace, scaring some elders in the process.
"Are we playing a game?" She heard Hua Mei, the girl kept up.
Sliding under tables and jumping off walls, scratching off heads, they arrived in the back garden. Hua Mingzhu, in her orange dress with white strips, noticed their appearance and looked away from her conversation partner. She smiled at Hua Mei and turned back to the woman from before.
Muchen had explained it to her, but Yae couldn't understand it. There was no doubt in her mind that Mingzhu cared for Hua Mei as much as a mother would for her child, even more so in her case. But every time she arrived, the witch only showed harshness.
Yae pulled the silk dress, her fangs tearing into the golden edge.
"Lady Hua!" The woman in white gasped, eyes on the tear in what seemed like an expensive cloth.
"Yae, you can't do that!" Hua Mei snatched her up.
Look at her, you fool. She's more important than whatever you are talking about! Yae growled at Hua Mingzhu. There was no way she'd understand, but maybe she did understand.
"My apologies, Lady Mu, I will continue the topic another time." With a curt goodbye, Hua Mingzhu took Hua Mei and returned to the hall.
She didn't bother changing her dress and sat at the table with her daughter, talking with the kid while eating. At some point, Yae slipped away from the two. Her usual spot on top of the main western wing's roof looked rather cozy right now.
Most of the hubbub was on the eastern side, so she could have some peace here. Watching the full moon, she curled up into a ball, her tails around her neck on the slightly colder night.
"Why would she leave a child alone? Is that what you are thinking?"
Yae hissed. But Hua Mingzhu sat beside her, a jar of wine in her hand.
"No need to act." She said, cracking open the mud seal. "Hua Mei is already sleeping, if you were wondering, she ate a lot today."
"I don't care about that." Yae raised her head, locking eyes with the woman. "How long did you know?"
"Since I first saw you." Mingzhu took a swig of the wine, a thick, flowery scent wafting over. "Muchen doesn't like pets; he hates burying them."
"If you knew, why act like you didn't?"
"Hua Mei is perceptive; if I treat you differently, she'll try to find out why." Mingzhu rested the jar on her thighs, leaving a stain on her bright dress.
"I… I know I am not the best mother." She started. "I never thought I'd become one, because I wasn't even human to begin with."
"Wasn't human?" What nonsense was this woman spewing? She was a human from what Yae could tell. "Is the wine that strong?"
"I wouldn't know, alcohol stopped affecting me by the time I was 5." Mingzhu chuckled. "I was only born to serve, to follow, and to protect, like a dog. That's all I was trained for. That's all I knew."
"There were many kids like me. I don't even remember them anymore."
"Were they that forgettable?" Yae's eyes narrowed.
"They didn't have any names. I didn't have one either." Mingzhu peeled off the fake skin on her wrist, showing the ugly brand with the number 701. "My mistress gave me one after I came under the service of Frozen Flower Holyland; she thought it was an inconvenience that I didn't have one."
"I've never had a parent myself, so I tried to do the only thing I knew best. Make my kid stronger." Mingzhu sighed. "It's the only way to survive out there."
"Is that all?" Yae turned her head, ready to close her eyes again.
"It seemed you've raised kids before," Mingzhu added. "There aren't many mothers I can consult here, you see."
"I used to have a lot of free time, so I helped look after the clan's younger ones; they weren't that younger than me after all. They loved playing with me, eating too, but the happiest I saw them was when they returned home and hugged their mothers." Yae lay her head on her fluffy tail.
"Giving your child the tools to survive is good, but being around them is much more important." She added. "You may have another child later, but your child only has one childhood. Once it's gone, she won't have another chance."
"I understand." Mingzhu set the wine jar aside. Yae didn't doubt her on that. "I am going back to her. Do you want to come?"
"It's too noisy down there," Yae complained.
"That it is, come by my residence in Tiger Peak. It's the quietest place. I'll prepare some rainbow trout and meat for you."
"I'll think about it if you make mooncakes, the fish better be high-quality too. I don't eat common drivel." Yae scoffed.
"I'll get the best I can."
After Mingzhu left, Yae closed her eyes.
But she couldn't sleep. She could never sleep. She only closed her eyes to recall her village. The high mountains, the clear streams.
Running along the wooden houses with kids, roasting wild game, and picking fruits from Uncle Ping's garden. Memories of her childhood and adolescence. Memories of the cherry blossoms fluttering in spring, running down the stream to catch fish, catching birds, and insects.
And memories of the fire that rained down on them from high above on that cold night.
"Li Muchen, I will not allow failure." Her eyes glowed in the night, locked onto the man she had to sign a contract with. He had reached the Sky Peak, but she knew he could feel the rage in her heart.
It didn't matter if she had to be a docile house pet or the terror of the mortal realm; she'd do anything if it meant snuffing the fire out of those damned birds.
"I will have my revenge." She vowed to the moon, gazing into the far west.
...
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91: Importance (II)
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With the chill prickling his skin, Muchen climbed the black marble steps. Hands behind his back, he took one step at a time, feeling the wind flow through his flapping robes.
Cold on the surface, but something burned deep within his chest. Was it Yae's feelings of revenge, or the rage he felt towards the person he would meet in a few moments? Muchen hadn't the slightest clue; few things could shake the lake-like mind of his. But when it shook, he had a hard time understanding the cause.
Not that the reason was complex, but the fact that he could still lose his cool. It terrified him, but also relieved him.
Passing through the bamboo forest on the western face of Sky Peak, Muchen passed through the main gate of Elder Ling's estate. Wide gates made of obsidian and high walls of black brick, the intricate patterns on the gate showcased every major conflict the continent had seen in the past millennia.
The Purple Tiger tragedy, the Qin revolt, the Corpse King War, and even the Jingyuan pass incident. Muchen had handed the tools to Elder Ling when he carved them into the gate. He had helped design and build this very estate he entered now.
Past the long hallways full of ink paintings and calligraphy from his Master, Muchen followed the scent of the eternal spring. A scent from the incense only made in the Kunlun Mountains. An incense Elder Ling fell in love with. An incense Muchen had given the old man as a gift after his trip to the Western Continent.
Beyond the cream-colored doors, in a room full of vases and statues depicting mythical beasts, Elder Ling sat in a seat reserved for the second-highest honor.
Smoking tobacco through a simple bronze pipe, he looked over lazily.
"The star of the sect shows himself." Elder Ling's voice sounded hoarser than he remembered.
"You didn't bother to come, so I had to." Muchen knew Elder Ling wouldn't attend the banquet. His haggard face said it all.
"Stop the formalities, you never bothered with them before." Elder Ling leaned back into his cushioned chair, eyes on the black hairpin in Muchen's hair. "Get to the point, Shadow."
"I am sure you already know." Muchen took a seat across from him.
Elder Ling had been in the sect for the longest time; he knew the ins and outs, the secrets, and the roles everyone had. Muchen could see it in his eyes from the last meeting they had during the sect trial, and his recent silence only confirmed it.
"Ever since you were little, I was glad that your loyalty was with the sect. Out of all the disciples of Sky Mending Saint, you were the one I least wanted to have as an enemy, I guess. Zhao Jun came a close second." Elder Ling set his bronze pipe on the small stable beside his chair.
"The Heavens always push you to a position you dislike, a cruel and fickle thing it is."
Muchen looked at Elder Ling, his hands clenched under the silk sleeves.
"Do you have to do this, Muchen?" He asked.
"I am just following what you taught me," Muchen remembered it all clearly. "Working with the Demonic sect to incite conflict in the Orthodox Alliance, that's traitorous. Not to mention harming the sect's disciples."
Elder Ling closed his eyes at those words, a sigh laced with anger escaping his lips.
"We needed that. We had to put those bastards in their places. The Saint wanted to make the Azure Sky Sect the strongest on the continent. I just wanted to do that!" Anger bled into his words.
"Making the sect strong and conspiring against others to bring them down are different things. This wouldn't please my Master."
"How do you know?" Elder Ling's voice cracked.
"How do you not know?" Muchen looked into his shaken eyes. This man had followed his master for close to a millennia. A person who respected the Sky Mending Saint above all.
"Is it because you are at the end of your rope?" Muchen already had the answer.
"…" Elder Ling sighed, all external anger washed away. "Did the Saint tell you?"
Muchen could only shake his head; his Master never confirmed it. But he wasn't oblivious to signs. Elder Ling had made no progress beyond the 7th lamp of Nascent Realm for the past century. He could see the peak, but not reach it.
"Does it make a difference?" He looked at Muchen.
"A little." Muchen nodded.
For the first time in years, Muchen saw Elder Ling laugh again. He had watched him since young and felt it himself, so he knew. The pain of stagnation, of not having enough talent, of watching the ones you want to stand with move forward.
"I only wanted to stand at the peak with the saint once." Elder Ling confessed, eyes lingering on the seat of honor. "This was the only way I saw; Heaven had closed other doors for me."
"You can still run away; I am the only one here." He hadn't told his fellow disciples yet; just like him, they too grew up with Elder Ling. Even though he had changed since Muchen's appointment as a Peak Master, they still held respect for him.
Muchen saw his shoulders sag. Elder Ling sighed again before locking eyes with him, a smile on his lips.
"The fact that you've shown yourself means I have no chance, I know that much, kiddo." He shook his head; a thorn still stuck in his throat. The man had aged another decade in mere moments. "No matter where you go, you can never outrun the shadow."
"I am flattered." Muchen gave Elder Ling a black jade bottle. A few spoonfuls of liquid inside sloshed.
"Yellow springs, eh? The poison of the Nameless." He examined the colorless and odorless liquid before pouring it into a newly opened jar of wine. "Glad to know my last toast would be expensive."
Muchen didn't stop him from stirring the rice wine; it was a cheap wine drunk by beggars and peasants, far removed from the luxuries of this estate. A wine from Elder Ling's hometown.
He could see it in the man's eyes. He had given up, maybe long before this confrontation.
"Will you tell the others about it?" He asked.
"Liu Zhi will figure it out. But she is good at holding her tongue at the right price."
"I have a secret cellar below this house. Give the wine there to her, it'll be wasted on the other fools." Elder Ling upended the cup, his face turning rosy as he downed the entire jar.
"If I do that, she won't work," Muchen said.
"Troublesome as ever." Elder Ling nodded; the jar crashed on the marble floor. He looked at the decorated ceiling and asked his final question. "Will you tell her?"
"It's not a matter of whether I tell or not." Muchen glanced at the seat of honor in the hall; a lotus carved into the headrest. "Nothing escapes my Master's eyes."
"That is… true." Elder Ling laughed, the tears he had tried to restrain flowing down his wrinkly face.
He had more to say. Muchen could see his lips move, but no words came. The Heavens didn't allow him the parting words, or maybe they just weren't for his ears.
Walking out of the estate, Muchen shielded his face from the torrent of cold air, tucking a loose strand of hair behind his ears. Under the bright moon, he walked down the black stairs dividing the mountain in half.
The line between good and evil, Elder Ling taught him how to navigate that space. However, he crossed the line himself.
Muchen closed his eyes, coming to a halt.
How much longer could he walk that thin line? At some point, he'd fall. Just like the ones who tried before him. The fall didn't scare him. It was, which side would he land on?
Sitting on the black stairs the entire night, he wondered about the answer.
***
Wang Yang could never hide his awe when he compared his time in the village to the life of cultivators.
The ability to smash a tree with a touch, the wind blasting on your face on the flying sword, pills that could give the taste of delicacies, not to mention the extravagance of banquets that could bankrupt an entire kingdom.
To the average person, cultivators were far removed from the mortals. Like gods, gods you could meet if luck allowed it.
However, today he found one point both shared.
A body rested in a grave; dirt shovelled over him. Inside was Elder Ling, an important elder of Sky Peak who passed away.
The news was as sudden as lightning, but no one looked surprised. His Master and other Peak Masters paid their respects, holding a three-day fast, and finally sealed the tomb on Lotus Peak, his prized possession, a wooden flute, next to the tombstone.
Even though the surface seemed calm, Wang Yang heard that the Peak Masters thought highly of Elder Ling. Hua Mei said that her father had rushed back the moment he heard of the incident, and the peak had been in chaos.
Master must be feeling down, too. Elder Ling was like a Second teacher to him. He had heard from Hua Mei when she came to play with Yae.
Most disciples on other peaks had stopped training for three days; they filled their time with praying or meditating. Just when Wang Yang expected a little break, his Master broke that illusion shortly after the funeral rites ended.
"Forget about no training, it has doubled." Crawling back into his room, Wang Yang ate a healing pill. He had done it every day for the past week, but it only numbed the pain.
Since the tribulation, his master had made a point to look over their training every day. He personally guided them through theory about formations, alchemy, and sparring for martial competence. To say the least, he gave them only enough time to breathe.
Sun Lingling followed along with little to no problem, his senior only had to worry about the sword and cultivation, along with some theory which she could memorize at a glance.
Wang Yang, however, felt like he'd fail to keep up even if he had two bodies. He wanted to learn Sun Lingling's technique, but his mind wasn't as sharp. But what he lacked in brains, he made up for with effort.
It had reached the point that on the one day of the week he got to rest, his body felt uncomfortable. Even sitting still became a problem, as someone poked at him to move.
Maybe I've lost my mind. Wang Yang truly felt so when he walked into the library, shuddering at the scent of dried ink and aged paper.
"Library on a rest day?" His Master, sitting on the windowsill, looked over with his sharp face. Still as fresh as the day he first saw him, Wang Yang looked at his reflection on the polished glass desk and regretted it.
"It felt weird to sit still after constant training." Wang Yang scratched the back of his head, looking and acting like a monkey compared to his graceful master.
"Must be because you are young. I would kill to get some rest." His Master smiled, just like he usually did.
Wang Yang doubted his words. Since he had come to Plum Peak, he had never once seen his master, Li Muchen, rest. Never caught the man catching a wink of sleep. Every day at any moment, he had a task, cultivating, or he was in the library reading or writing.
"It may sound like a joke, but I really do need rest. Everyone does."
And, his Master could definitely read minds.
"I am not reading your mind."
See? There was no other way to explain it.
"I am sure I've told you the reason before." He shook his head.
His Master most likely did tell him, but Wang Yang had no clue. So, he changed the subject.
"If Master wants to rest, you should rest, no?" He came closer to the window, and the cool wind, along with the soft sunlight, washed over him.
"Well, it's never about what you want, but about what you must do." His Master closed the grey book in his hands for a moment.
"Can't they both be the same thing?" Wang Yang tilted his head.
"Life is seldom that convenient." His Master laughed; he never laughed like that. But he should definitely do it more often; it sounded like music.
"Since my disciple wants me to rest, I guess we can arrange that," he said.
"Really?" Wang Yang wondered what the catch was; with his master, there always was one for some odd reason.
"Have you understood the first chapter of the Shan Dian Manual?"
"…" Wang Yang stepped back; he would've reached the library door if his Master hadn't grasped him by the shoulder.
"I'll take that as a no."
Wang Yang had tried. He had tried for days. Understood what the words said. Even memorized them. But he could never follow them.
His master tapped the book on his fair cheek for a moment before he looked over with a smile. Wang Yang felt a pit growing in his stomach.
"If you execute the first chapter by dinner today, I will take tomorrow off. What about it?"
"That's…" Wang Yang stepped back, a web; he had been caught in the web.
"What happened, my dear disciple?" And the spider closed in without mercy, looking as pitiful as one could with that handsome face. "Don't you want your master to get some rest?"
Unfair. That was the only way to describe his situation.
A man doesn't go back on his word. Since it has come to this, Wang Yang could only brave through the consequences like the protagonist of The Valley where two Paths meet.
...
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Cold on the surface, but something burned deep within his chest. Was it Yae's feelings of revenge, or the rage he felt towards the person he would meet in a few moments? Muchen hadn't the slightest clue; few things could shake the lake-like mind of his. But when it shook, he had a hard time understanding the cause.
Not that the reason was complex, but the fact that he could still lose his cool. It terrified him, but also relieved him.
Passing through the bamboo forest on the western face of Sky Peak, Muchen passed through the main gate of Elder Ling's estate. Wide gates made of obsidian and high walls of black brick, the intricate patterns on the gate showcased every major conflict the continent had seen in the past millennia.
The Purple Tiger tragedy, the Qin revolt, the Corpse King War, and even the Jingyuan pass incident. Muchen had handed the tools to Elder Ling when he carved them into the gate. He had helped design and build this very estate he entered now.
Past the long hallways full of ink paintings and calligraphy from his Master, Muchen followed the scent of the eternal spring. A scent from the incense only made in the Kunlun Mountains. An incense Elder Ling fell in love with. An incense Muchen had given the old man as a gift after his trip to the Western Continent.
Beyond the cream-colored doors, in a room full of vases and statues depicting mythical beasts, Elder Ling sat in a seat reserved for the second-highest honor.
Smoking tobacco through a simple bronze pipe, he looked over lazily.
"The star of the sect shows himself." Elder Ling's voice sounded hoarser than he remembered.
"You didn't bother to come, so I had to." Muchen knew Elder Ling wouldn't attend the banquet. His haggard face said it all.
"Stop the formalities, you never bothered with them before." Elder Ling leaned back into his cushioned chair, eyes on the black hairpin in Muchen's hair. "Get to the point, Shadow."
"I am sure you already know." Muchen took a seat across from him.
Elder Ling had been in the sect for the longest time; he knew the ins and outs, the secrets, and the roles everyone had. Muchen could see it in his eyes from the last meeting they had during the sect trial, and his recent silence only confirmed it.
"Ever since you were little, I was glad that your loyalty was with the sect. Out of all the disciples of Sky Mending Saint, you were the one I least wanted to have as an enemy, I guess. Zhao Jun came a close second." Elder Ling set his bronze pipe on the small stable beside his chair.
"The Heavens always push you to a position you dislike, a cruel and fickle thing it is."
Muchen looked at Elder Ling, his hands clenched under the silk sleeves.
"Do you have to do this, Muchen?" He asked.
"I am just following what you taught me," Muchen remembered it all clearly. "Working with the Demonic sect to incite conflict in the Orthodox Alliance, that's traitorous. Not to mention harming the sect's disciples."
Elder Ling closed his eyes at those words, a sigh laced with anger escaping his lips.
"We needed that. We had to put those bastards in their places. The Saint wanted to make the Azure Sky Sect the strongest on the continent. I just wanted to do that!" Anger bled into his words.
"Making the sect strong and conspiring against others to bring them down are different things. This wouldn't please my Master."
"How do you know?" Elder Ling's voice cracked.
"How do you not know?" Muchen looked into his shaken eyes. This man had followed his master for close to a millennia. A person who respected the Sky Mending Saint above all.
"Is it because you are at the end of your rope?" Muchen already had the answer.
"…" Elder Ling sighed, all external anger washed away. "Did the Saint tell you?"
Muchen could only shake his head; his Master never confirmed it. But he wasn't oblivious to signs. Elder Ling had made no progress beyond the 7th lamp of Nascent Realm for the past century. He could see the peak, but not reach it.
"Does it make a difference?" He looked at Muchen.
"A little." Muchen nodded.
For the first time in years, Muchen saw Elder Ling laugh again. He had watched him since young and felt it himself, so he knew. The pain of stagnation, of not having enough talent, of watching the ones you want to stand with move forward.
"I only wanted to stand at the peak with the saint once." Elder Ling confessed, eyes lingering on the seat of honor. "This was the only way I saw; Heaven had closed other doors for me."
"You can still run away; I am the only one here." He hadn't told his fellow disciples yet; just like him, they too grew up with Elder Ling. Even though he had changed since Muchen's appointment as a Peak Master, they still held respect for him.
Muchen saw his shoulders sag. Elder Ling sighed again before locking eyes with him, a smile on his lips.
"The fact that you've shown yourself means I have no chance, I know that much, kiddo." He shook his head; a thorn still stuck in his throat. The man had aged another decade in mere moments. "No matter where you go, you can never outrun the shadow."
"I am flattered." Muchen gave Elder Ling a black jade bottle. A few spoonfuls of liquid inside sloshed.
"Yellow springs, eh? The poison of the Nameless." He examined the colorless and odorless liquid before pouring it into a newly opened jar of wine. "Glad to know my last toast would be expensive."
Muchen didn't stop him from stirring the rice wine; it was a cheap wine drunk by beggars and peasants, far removed from the luxuries of this estate. A wine from Elder Ling's hometown.
He could see it in the man's eyes. He had given up, maybe long before this confrontation.
"Will you tell the others about it?" He asked.
"Liu Zhi will figure it out. But she is good at holding her tongue at the right price."
"I have a secret cellar below this house. Give the wine there to her, it'll be wasted on the other fools." Elder Ling upended the cup, his face turning rosy as he downed the entire jar.
"If I do that, she won't work," Muchen said.
"Troublesome as ever." Elder Ling nodded; the jar crashed on the marble floor. He looked at the decorated ceiling and asked his final question. "Will you tell her?"
"It's not a matter of whether I tell or not." Muchen glanced at the seat of honor in the hall; a lotus carved into the headrest. "Nothing escapes my Master's eyes."
"That is… true." Elder Ling laughed, the tears he had tried to restrain flowing down his wrinkly face.
He had more to say. Muchen could see his lips move, but no words came. The Heavens didn't allow him the parting words, or maybe they just weren't for his ears.
Walking out of the estate, Muchen shielded his face from the torrent of cold air, tucking a loose strand of hair behind his ears. Under the bright moon, he walked down the black stairs dividing the mountain in half.
The line between good and evil, Elder Ling taught him how to navigate that space. However, he crossed the line himself.
Muchen closed his eyes, coming to a halt.
How much longer could he walk that thin line? At some point, he'd fall. Just like the ones who tried before him. The fall didn't scare him. It was, which side would he land on?
Sitting on the black stairs the entire night, he wondered about the answer.
***
Wang Yang could never hide his awe when he compared his time in the village to the life of cultivators.
The ability to smash a tree with a touch, the wind blasting on your face on the flying sword, pills that could give the taste of delicacies, not to mention the extravagance of banquets that could bankrupt an entire kingdom.
To the average person, cultivators were far removed from the mortals. Like gods, gods you could meet if luck allowed it.
However, today he found one point both shared.
A body rested in a grave; dirt shovelled over him. Inside was Elder Ling, an important elder of Sky Peak who passed away.
The news was as sudden as lightning, but no one looked surprised. His Master and other Peak Masters paid their respects, holding a three-day fast, and finally sealed the tomb on Lotus Peak, his prized possession, a wooden flute, next to the tombstone.
Even though the surface seemed calm, Wang Yang heard that the Peak Masters thought highly of Elder Ling. Hua Mei said that her father had rushed back the moment he heard of the incident, and the peak had been in chaos.
Master must be feeling down, too. Elder Ling was like a Second teacher to him. He had heard from Hua Mei when she came to play with Yae.
Most disciples on other peaks had stopped training for three days; they filled their time with praying or meditating. Just when Wang Yang expected a little break, his Master broke that illusion shortly after the funeral rites ended.
"Forget about no training, it has doubled." Crawling back into his room, Wang Yang ate a healing pill. He had done it every day for the past week, but it only numbed the pain.
Since the tribulation, his master had made a point to look over their training every day. He personally guided them through theory about formations, alchemy, and sparring for martial competence. To say the least, he gave them only enough time to breathe.
Sun Lingling followed along with little to no problem, his senior only had to worry about the sword and cultivation, along with some theory which she could memorize at a glance.
Wang Yang, however, felt like he'd fail to keep up even if he had two bodies. He wanted to learn Sun Lingling's technique, but his mind wasn't as sharp. But what he lacked in brains, he made up for with effort.
It had reached the point that on the one day of the week he got to rest, his body felt uncomfortable. Even sitting still became a problem, as someone poked at him to move.
Maybe I've lost my mind. Wang Yang truly felt so when he walked into the library, shuddering at the scent of dried ink and aged paper.
"Library on a rest day?" His Master, sitting on the windowsill, looked over with his sharp face. Still as fresh as the day he first saw him, Wang Yang looked at his reflection on the polished glass desk and regretted it.
"It felt weird to sit still after constant training." Wang Yang scratched the back of his head, looking and acting like a monkey compared to his graceful master.
"Must be because you are young. I would kill to get some rest." His Master smiled, just like he usually did.
Wang Yang doubted his words. Since he had come to Plum Peak, he had never once seen his master, Li Muchen, rest. Never caught the man catching a wink of sleep. Every day at any moment, he had a task, cultivating, or he was in the library reading or writing.
"It may sound like a joke, but I really do need rest. Everyone does."
And, his Master could definitely read minds.
"I am not reading your mind."
See? There was no other way to explain it.
"I am sure I've told you the reason before." He shook his head.
His Master most likely did tell him, but Wang Yang had no clue. So, he changed the subject.
"If Master wants to rest, you should rest, no?" He came closer to the window, and the cool wind, along with the soft sunlight, washed over him.
"Well, it's never about what you want, but about what you must do." His Master closed the grey book in his hands for a moment.
"Can't they both be the same thing?" Wang Yang tilted his head.
"Life is seldom that convenient." His Master laughed; he never laughed like that. But he should definitely do it more often; it sounded like music.
"Since my disciple wants me to rest, I guess we can arrange that," he said.
"Really?" Wang Yang wondered what the catch was; with his master, there always was one for some odd reason.
"Have you understood the first chapter of the Shan Dian Manual?"
"…" Wang Yang stepped back; he would've reached the library door if his Master hadn't grasped him by the shoulder.
"I'll take that as a no."
Wang Yang had tried. He had tried for days. Understood what the words said. Even memorized them. But he could never follow them.
His master tapped the book on his fair cheek for a moment before he looked over with a smile. Wang Yang felt a pit growing in his stomach.
"If you execute the first chapter by dinner today, I will take tomorrow off. What about it?"
"That's…" Wang Yang stepped back, a web; he had been caught in the web.
"What happened, my dear disciple?" And the spider closed in without mercy, looking as pitiful as one could with that handsome face. "Don't you want your master to get some rest?"
Unfair. That was the only way to describe his situation.
A man doesn't go back on his word. Since it has come to this, Wang Yang could only brave through the consequences like the protagonist of The Valley where two Paths meet.
...
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Lillie Jones
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