I felt my locus resonating with my qi as I activated the core technique. The Halcyonic Elemental Convergence was a technique I hadn’t gotten to show off to anyone since developing it and lightly testing it within my own house on Myriad Petal Peak.
The barely perceivable bubble of my pseudo-domain, as Text called it, extended from my body. It pushed against the similar bubble of chaotic elemental energies conjured by Tang Wei. Where the bubbles overlapped, the chaotic elemental phenomenon that was occurring in the surrounding area calmed before disappearing altogether. The places within my pseudo-domain flourished with life and the natural harmony between the elements. On a path of nearby moss, plants grew and bloomed, a furrow was carved into the wood and a small stream of water rushed into existence. Natural cliffs and canyons erupted and yawned as if just waking up, various flora growing within their rocky exteriors. The sunlight seemed to increase in intensity, but not in the way it did during the hot seasons of the year, but rather in a warm, soothing embrace that made my whole body feel warm. The only outward sign that metal qi was involved in the phenomenon occurring around me was that everything that was created by the power felt more solid like it was more than just what they seemed.
I could sense within the cliff and canyon, small outcroppings of metal sprouted, ready to be harvested by a civilization that would never exist. I felt sad at the notion for some reason, but then I realized something. My thinking was wrong from the beginning. I had practiced this technique, but never given the elements another thought. The whole scene radiating out with me at the center was a simple representation of the natural interplay between the elements. They didn’t exist for humans to use. Thinking about their usefulness to humans at all was walking down a path with no end. We were usurping their natural purpose by utilizing them, but of course cultivation was rebelling against the will of the heavens to begin with.
The elements existed in harmony and the use of any by itself, or even thinking about them as individual elements rather than pieces of a whole was completely incorrect!
I felt something within me resonating with my thoughts and felt I was on the cusp of something important. I could tell that Tang Wei was yelling something at me, but the rush of my own blood through my ears was pounding against my eardrums like a rushing stream of water.
In order to bring out the truly pure meaning of an element, you can’t divorce it from its part in the whole. The fire qi from the sun nourishes the wood qi and heats the water qi. The water in turn nourishes the wood qi and quenches the fire qi. The metal qi strengthens the earth, but the earth qi provides shelter for the roots of the plants that embody the truth of wood qi. Without the wind qi, balancing all of the others in a tenuous equilibrium it would all fall apart. They all had interplay in some way or another, the imbalance exists only where humans have intervened. We cultivate the qi of the world and usurp the nature and balance of the world. Only when returned to true balance can the nature of the individual elements of qi be revealed!
The last sentence I thought to myself sang through my bones and flesh. It resonated not just with my elemental locus, but with something even deeper within me, where I knew Shimmer dwelled within my soul. I was briefly aware that Tang Wei was right in front of me now, striking out with a hand coated in the chaotic maelstrom of qi he fought with. I could see it more clearly now. It was an embodiment of the chaos that cultivation wrought upon the balance of the elements. With my new attunement to the elements I recoiled from the qi, it was antithesis to my whole. A sick mockery of an application of the elements. I didn’t know if there was a way to utilize the elements within their delicate balance, but what Tang Wei was doing was beyond the pale.
Before Tang Wei’s fist could hit me, the resonating within me reached a fever pitch and suddenly quelled for an instant that felt like it lasted an eternity. And then I felt a power explode from within me, but rather than destructive and powerful, destroying all within its influence, it was a calming balm applied to a scratched knee. The power on Tang Wei’s hand dissipated and I easily moved up an arm to deflect his punch. He jumped back and focused on something within himself. I could tell somehow, and I could see wisps flowing around him being drawn within himself. I didn’t know what I was looking at, but I couldn’t stand here forever. I could feel the power flowing through me. Just as easily as the qi left my body, I could tell that my domain was passively re-absorbing the tumultuous qi of Tang Wie’s pseudo-domain even as I plied my own pseudo-domain to calm the damage wrought by Tang Wei in the environment around us.
Finally, my hearing returned to me in time for another tirade from Tang Wei.
“What… What are you?? How did you negate my domain??” He yelled at me, a note of surprise on his voice, but I could tell that wasn’t all. He was nervous. He could tell he was at a disadvantage. Maybe I could use this to stop the fight before it escalated? Then I could return to my teammates.
“I’m not sure what’s changed within me, but you cannot beat me now, not in this fight. Please, let’s go our separate ways, and compete in this game fairly.” I said to him, I could feel my emotions trying to make themselves known, but being tamped down by something within me. That scared me and though my outer appearance didn’t change, panic began welling up within me.
“Never! You cannot be stronger than me! I’m a genius! I’m chosen by the six elements!” He yelled before launching himself at me.
I did my best to calm myself down. Surely this emotional state was due to my immersion with my pseudo-domain. I hoped at least.
We fought while I retreated somewhat. Not due to any difficulty in fighting Tang Wei, his fighting was fervent and he was nearly frothing at the mouth in his rage. It was trivial in this emotionally subdued state to naturally and easily dodge his attacks. I needed to get closer to my teammates though, so I led Tang Wei around until he would give me enough of an opening to dispatch him.
We rounded another section of the tree and I was about to dodge another haphazard attack from Tang Wei when a guttural scream resounded out through the arena. My blood ran cold as thoughts of deep purple flames immolating Fan Chen sprang up in my mind. Then I realized in dawning horror that the scream was from a voice I recognized. My pseudo-domain flickered for a moment before winking out at the same time Tang Wei struck me in the cheek with a punch using his full strength augmented by his spirit cultivation.
I was launched towards the scream and barely had the presence of mind to flip my body mid-flight before landing in a tumble that ended with me on my feet. My cheek stung in pain, but I didn’t have time to worry about that. My emotions all flooded back to me and I nearly doubled over in the rush of worry, fear, and anger warred with my pseudo-domain trying to reassert itself. I canceled the technique and looked around quickly. Not far away from me I saw my teammates strewn across the ground. Lin, Xiaoqiu and Wen Zin looked ragged, but what made me stop in place and ignore the knowledge of Tang Wei rushing at me from behind was the charred body being held up by its neck by the Inferno Scorpion Sect captain. I didn’t see Jiang Lian anywhere.
The Inferno Scorpion Sect captain had red hair styled in a wild tousle as if he had just woken up. But whereas Wei Lin’s was the softer red of a crackling fire in a fireplace, this person’s hair was the red of freshly drawn blood .
Nothing about the rest of him made him stand out from a crowd. He wasn’t overly handsome or beautiful looking, and he wasn’t too thin nor overly fat like some other cultivators I had seen. He was totally average in every way, except his eyes. His eyes were tinged in a purple light and had a manic look in them that sent shivers down my spine.
As he held the charred body of my former teammate I could only watch in horror as the corpse was engulfed in deep purple flames. Demonic flames. They lasted for only a few seconds before the captain dropped his arm, the body he was previously holding nothing but motes of ash and dust on the wind.
“WHY!? Why kill him!? You could have just thrown him out of the arena!” I yelled at the boy. He just looked over at me with contempt before his eyes flicked behind me for a moment. I whirled around in time to bring up a paltry defense against Tang Wei’s qi infused punch. I snarled at Tang Wei. Couldn’t he tell there was something more important going on right now than a stupid fight??
I renewed my fruitless fight with Tang Wei, it being clear he wouldn’t let me go even with the current circumstances.
“Why should I bother keeping an ant alive? It’s not like any of you wi–” The captain started but before he could finish an overpowering aura from the Inferno Scorpion Sect’s part of the stands washed over us, pushing down against the captain forcing him to stop talking. He looked panicked and bowed towards the stands before looking back at me. I was still dodging Tang Wei’s attacks, I couldn’t get enough of a breather from his fighting style to yell back at the captain asking him what he was going to say. I could feel Tang Wei’s pseudo-domain extending outward again, I couldn’t let this keep going, but I didn’t like my chances fighting against both of them at the same time.
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I could tell that my emotions were getting the better of me and made the decision that my best chance of saving my teammates, or what’s left of them, was to activate my core technique again.
I felt the harmony extend from me, resonating with my locus. I felt my emotional state dampen down to an even keel, but rather than actually calming me down, it felt more like I was putting a lid on a boiling pot, stopping my emotions from coming back to my outer self, but exacerbating them inside of me. Cold calculation took over and I struck out at Tang Wei. His haphazard, furious strikes abated as he dodged a horizontal slash from one of my qi swords.
I was aware of the mad cackling coming from the demonic cultivator. I forced myself to look over briefly after a slash of my sword caused Tang Wei to jump backwards again. The demonic cultivator was walking toward the remainder of my team and I felt my facade breaking. Before my emotions could bubble forth, reducing my effectiveness in combat, I forced my body to run toward my teammates. Tang Wei would follow, but dodging him would be simple, I just need to get my teammates to safety. The demonic cultivator was reaching his flame coated hand toward the still unmoving Lin who was staring up at him in horror and grief.
I wasn’t going to make it in time, even flooding my body with my body cultivation’s qi wouldn’t give me enough time. I was going to lose them again. I felt something niggling at the back of my mind as the hand reaching toward Lin inexorably moved forward. A thought was about to break into the forefront of my mind. It struggled against something within me, something begging me not to think it. It was just about to break free from its cage, but before it could, and before the demonic cultivator could kill another of my teammates, a sword sang out through the arena forcing the Inferno Scorpion Sect captain to jump backward from my team. Wei Lin, for the second time, had saved me even though it was my teammates it felt like he was saving me. My heart leapt! Lin and the others! They were going to be fine!
Wei Lin stood above my teammates, his own team next to him, standing off against the Inferno Scorpion Sect captain. For his part, he didn’t look daunted by the reinforcements on my side.
“Ren Zhen! Was killing someone really necessary?? And since when did you become a demonic cultivator?!” Wei Lin yelled at the young man. He merely scoffed before responding.
“I’m not the same weak disciple I was when we were children, perfect little Lin.” He said, basically spitting out the final words with extra venom.
“I joined the Inferno Scorpion Sect because they promised me POWER and boy have they delivered! I’ve trained harder than you could have imagined to harness this power and now I’m going to kill all of you!” He continued, punctuating his statement by flinging his fists to the side, coating them in the abhorrent purple qi.
They began fighting then, but I couldn’t keep watching them as Tang Wei was still attacking me.
Knowing my teammates were safe, at least for now, I immersed myself in my core technique and focused on finally finishing Tang Wei off. I was in a sour mood, and didn’t feel like amicably working it out with him any longer, not while I had a demonic cultivator to deal with.
I parried the haphazard strike thrown at my face, his fervent attacks not having calmed whatsoever. As he punched at me, I put him off balance by creating an earth pillar underneath his foot causing his punch to fly above my head. He was spinning from the momentum of his punch, not having the wherewithal to right his balance. I summoned vines from the ground, myriad blooming flowers sprouting up from below Tang Wei and attempting to ensnare him.
Apparently he still had enough control over himself to stop from being totally immobilized as he used his qi infused hand like a blade to lop off the vines and jump out of the newly verdant circle surrounding him.
He wasn’t going to get away from me, though. I was done playing games. I flexed the control I had over the area around me, the locus behind me thrumming with resonance. Where Tang Wei landed, a small stream sprouted up before growing into a small creek, submerging him knee deep in crystal clear water. Tens of lily pads and orchids flowed from upstream, lazily running into Tang Wei during their path. I directed the root systems of the orchids to wrap themselves around his limbs, and he snarled in pain as they swarmed him. He violently ripped off an orchid throwing it out of the creek before trying to throw himself out of the creek. The roots of the orchid were dripping with fresh blood, the normal fibrous tentacles now armed with metallic spikes that reflected the sun.
I didn’t want to let him leave the water, but I was limited in the choices I could employ to stop him. Disrupting the balance of the elements to alter the orchids was almost enough to stop my changes to the environment altogether. I intuitively understood that I couldn’t make changes that would result in an unbalancing of the elements beyond a certain amount.
He ambled out from the creek and was heaving from anger, his entire lower body covered in various cuts and bleeding.
“Quit it with these petty tricks and fight me directly!” He yelled, and I agreed. I wasn’t sure why I wasn’t just engaging him in close combat and finishing him off quickly. I wasn’t really in control of my body at the moment though, and I didn’t feel well enough to take over control, I was still upset from seeing the charred body of Jiang Lian in Ren Zhen’s hand.
As if spurred on by his words, I coalesced my three qi swords and charged the man. He put up a paltry defense, but another pillar of earth lifting up his foot put him off balance and giving me the chance to strike. He tried to dodge my slash, but due to the injuries on his legs, he faltered in time to take a grievous wound to his side. He fell to the ground in a heap, gritting his teeth in pain. Having dispatched Tang Wei for the moment, I turned to help Wei Lin, and immediately ran toward them. The rest of Wei Lin’s team was on the ground, strewn about like my team had been and Wei Lin was doing his best to hold off Ren Zhen.
I was about to reach them, the edge of my domain barely touching the pair of young men, but I could tell that where my domain touched Ren Zhen, it sizzled and felt wrong, but not like when the balance of the elements was off. Before I could strike out with my sword, a loud buzzing rang out throughout the arena and we were all set upon by tremendous pressure. My pseudo-domain was snuffed out, and I regained control of my body, instantly falling to the ground, tears coming to my eyes. I heaved and heaved, my emotions taking over. I was barely aware of the rest of my and Wei Lin’s teams around. Wei Lin for his part was standing nearby me, breathing heavily and still standing off against Ren Zhen.
“U-uh give it up for all our combatants folks! D-do remember that accidents are bound to happen in the arena. Ren Zhen from the Inferno Scorpion Sect must have accidentally used too much power so the Blooming Violet Sect’s Jiang Lian must have been too weak. It’s a shame to be sure, but we can only move on!”
Too weak?? Move on??? An accident???
I stood abruptly, tears streaming down my face. I was aware of Jia screaming my name from the stands nearby, she must have moved around to follow us because our seating was relatively far away. Ren Zhen was smirking at me and I felt something within me snap.
Before I could even realize what I was doing, I had two qi daggers in my hands and I stepped in front of that bastard. Wei Lin shouted something when he noticed what I was doing. I plied my pseudo domain once again, struggling against the pressure growing in the arena even as I attacked. I covered his legs in vines in a moment, restricting his movements as I aimed one dagger for his gut and one for his left eye. Only the barest twitch of his eyebrow indicated he had a reaction to my attack, but he must have known what would happen. A hair’s breadth from piercing his eye my body was frozen. Three cloaked figures stood next to me, one each holding my arms, an iron grip like an immovable force preventing my arm from moving any further. The third figure must have been behind me, but I could feel the ice cold feeling of a blade’s steel on my neck, ready to finish me off should I make any further moves.
I felt useless. I couldn’t save Jiang Lian, and now I couldn't even avenge him.
The cloaked figure standing behind me whispered into my ear.
“Calm down young one. There is more to this competition yet, and none shall interfere during the final rounds of the competition. As the announcer said, accidents happen within the arena.”
A single sob escaped my throat. It felt raw, even now. I relented, releasing my qi daggers. As they dissipated, the men holding my arms let me go.
“You should be thanking me. It was a fitting end for a powerless worm.” Ren Zhen said. I felt my fury reigniting at his words, but the same cloaked figure who had spoken to me stood in front of Ren Zhen now.
“Get back to your designated seat, whelp.” The final word was intoned with some strange pressure and Ren Zhen snarled.
“You think you can order me around?? My master won-”
Before he could finish speaking. Azoreth of flames was now standing next to him. His hand was placed on Ren Zhen’s mouth and the young man was frozen, his eyes going wide and staring at Azoreth.
“I do apologize for my disciple’s outburst. And I apologize for the accident that happened within the arena. He surely didn’t mean to kill that young disciple of the Blooming Violet Sect. Thank you for protecting him, honored elders.” Azoreth said. Then he looked at me, smirked, and disappeared, taking Ren Zhen with him.
I felt someone bring me into a hug from behind and half turned to see Lin hugging me, tears in her eyes.
Jia was approaching and I looked over to where the Inferno Scorpion Sect’s seating would be. That solidified it. I was going to get revenge for Jiang Lian, one way or another.