“You made the right choice. Nothing good ever comes out of meddling in mortals’ lives.”
Avery whirled around looking for the one speaking to him, only to remember his sphere of perception was perfectly capable of looking behind him, and his actions served no purpose whatsoever. He could turn in any way he wanted, without affecting his vision at all.
“My apologies, I did not mean to startle you. You should really work on your perception and hiding abilities.”
A silhouette slowly materialized besides Avery, slightly beyond his perception range. He could still see it, as his Dao vision was just as capable of interpreting incoming lights into pictures as a normal eye would, but that explained why he had not sensed its presence before.
"Who are you? What are you doing here? And what did you mean about interfering in mortals' lives?”
Avery demanded while instinctively backing up, eyeing the figure of the one who had spoken suspiciously. He was facing a breathtakingly handsome man peacefully hovering in the air without support, exuding an aura of refinement and elegance.
Avery would not hesitate to say it was the most gorgeous man he had ever seen, his eerily perfect features far surpassing any supermodel or their computer edited photographs.
However, Avery barely noticed his immaculate appearance, too surprised by the profound feeling of intimacy and kinship he felt from this stranger, which could have only one explanation. The man was not a human, he was a celestial being, same as him.
Scared by his sudden appearance, Avery closed the distance between them so that he could monitor any movements in his Qi and react accordingly, while stealthily preparing a few sets of runes he believed could help him escape, just in case the man turned out to be hostile. Even if they were both Immortals, Avery had absolutely no intention of fighting back.
Not only was he a brand new immortal with absolutely no fighting experience, there was a high probability that he was also the weakest celestial to ever live. His body had zero offensive capabilities, and while he could use his runes as spells, it was very inefficient.
Runes were never meant to be used in this way. They were meant to act like circuit boards, to channel external energy and synergize with precious materials to produce magical effects.
For example, if he carved a fire enchantment into a blade, a cultivator would still need to fuel it with Qi to get a flaming sword. Runes that had an effect by themselves were actually very rare and were much weaker than their counterparts.
To think of using runes to fight was ridiculous. They would take too long to gather energy, during which they were extremely susceptible to disruption, and they would be too weak to use as a weapon if he only used mana.
Mana was very special, since it was a mysterious mental energy that gained in power and could be controlled by pairing it with intent and a profound understanding of the Tao.
Avery still couldn't see where mana came from, but he suspected that it might be energy he channeled straight from the Tao, because he had a seemingly infinite amount of it. He had been using mana non-stop for thousands of years in the abyss, but had never run out, despite not having access to anything that could replenish it. The only limitation was how fast could channel mana and how powerful he could make it.
However, while its nature and origin were still nebulous, he had a pretty good grasp of its capabilities, especially since it had pooled into the core of his inner world, letting him study it thoroughly.
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Pure mana was very passive and would hardly react to anything. It was only when given a purpose through intent and a form through runes that it would become a physical thing and have an effect on reality. Mana was meant to create runes, not power them. Avery was still able to use mana as fuel, since in the end it was still an energy source, but this conversion needed specially designed runes, and were very inefficient.
His entire body might be made out of such runes, and they were specifically designed to be as energy efficient as possible. They were also constantly gathering energy from the environment to make up for their consumption. At this point, he had enough storage and mana productions that he could survive for centuries even in a land completely void of energy.
However, using runes offensively would be another matter. It might sound like he was casting very powerful spells around at his leisure, but that was only because as an immortal, Avery’s mana was very powerful, and could easily power some low-energy runes.
In truth, he had only used them for tasks that demanded very little energy, and it hadn’t even been enough to cast a simple illusion on the sky, and he had needed to first make his runes gather energy from the environment. If you compared his acts to the legends of immortals moving mountains and seas, there was a huge gap.
His powerful mana, comprehension of the Tao and the versatility of runes let him be fearless when meeting cultivators, but if he was facing another immortal who could use Qi to directly power his attacks, he predicted he would lose instantly.
His defensive and survivability abilities were top notch, but his combat prowess was next to non-existent, and he could only rely on his high cultivation realm to bully mortals, while fleeing at the first sign of a relatively even match.
In the end, however, all his preparation turned out to be superfluous, for the immortal made no move to attack, and only patiently waited for Avery to finish his preparations.
“There is no need for such caution. I am simply here to welcome my youngest brother into the great family of Celestials. You are an immortal now, an exalted being who has found his path to the Tao. This undignified nervousness is beneath you, and so are your attempts to get involved into mortals' fate.”
Avery was oddly trusting towards this stranger, being comforted by his reassurance and ashamed by his admonition. He had enough sense not to let his guard down, but once again, his emotions and rationality were in contradiction.
He wasn’t sure what to respond, so he just focused on the less important details to give himself time to think.
“But they are not mortals, they are cultivators. Why are they allowed to fight when I am not?”
“Don’t quibble over terminology. They have not attained immortality, so they are mortals. Though it is true that mortal cultivators suffer similar restrictions when interacting with pure mortals.”
The celestial looked to the sky and took a more solemnn and dignified tone, almost as if he was reciting a poem instead of explaining something to him.
“It is inscribed in the laws of heaven, that it is forbidden to meddle in the lives of those of a weaker cultivation state than ourselves, no matter what our intentions are.
To preserve the foundation of the world, to prevent the decay of man, and to preclude entropy, all must be governed by the ways and manners of their kind.
In the image of the three worlds, the three realms are separated, each subjected to the rules, obligations and privileges fitting their status. Mortals deal with mortals, cultivators deal with cultivators, and immortals deal with immortals.
Such is the decree of the Heavenly court, acknowledged by the Tao, and enforced by the power of the Saints.”
The celestial settled down, returning to his original air of carefree indifference, and smiled peacefully at Avery.
“Of course, preaching is the only exception, as spreading the Truth is always a great merit. However, be wary that your intentions are pure, for tainting a sermon with ulterior motives is a heavy offense, and there is no hiding the secrets of your heart from the Heavens.
Besides that, the heavenly law only prohibits interference, so if you have family and friends in the mortal world, there is nothing separating you. You just have to know that trying to directly change their fate will only lead to disaster.”
Avery glared at the immortal angrily, despite knowing he was not at fault. He did not appreciate learning that his perceived freedom as an immortal was just an illusion, and that he had only traded the rules of the mortal world for those of immortals.
However, looking at his inner world, and at the lifeless ocean that had replaced the previously prosperous continent of the Sil’piceus, he had to admit these limitations made some sense.