I should probably stop to explain. First, oracles only tell possible futures, through reading deeper lines of qi. But the art is lost, due to the Four Emperors not believing in them. Probably because every oracle that has appeared since they rose to power prophesied their downfall and the ruin of the world so long as they existed.

Some people just won’t hear the truth.

As for the Lost Heirs of Solomon… that legend is a bit murkier. Supposedly, an oracle prophesied to a legendary king that his bloodline would guide the world to an era of great prosperity. One by raising an army that would defeat a great evil, and another by restoring the world after a great disaster.

But it’s all hearsay, as any records that might have existed were destroyed when the Four Heavenly Kings took power, along with any royal bloodline that existed from the era before their rule. Until now, I’d just figured it for a folk tale told by people to give them some hope that things would get better.

But knowing what Li just said, and seeing the army that rose from a hatred for Gin’s heavy-handed and cruel leadership… Well, I’d just have to help that story along. I never really believed in fate or destiny, but it never hurts to have a clear idea of what role you’ll be expected to play in the future. You never know, you might actually live up to it.

That said, Rivermill wasn’t liberated without sacrifice. Bodies lined the main street, and far too many were completely innocent. I could scarcely look at the smaller corpses, covered in blankets. It made me sick with worry for my children, and the kit inside of me was kicking in agitation.

Mistress Fu was weeping over her own losses, which included several of her children… and her husband. I could only embrace her, and let her cry on my shoulder as she grieved.

The price of freedom was steep. And always far too high.

That night, the dead were honored and put to rest, their ashes scattered into the river. We all found our solaces where we could, and prepared to gather at the Black Fortress.

Three days later, every liberated town, village, and city had gathered their best cultivators to the Tortoise King’s residence, the Black Fortress. From a distance, it resembled nothing more or less than a black pustule upon the land, a dome of qi-hardened stone with no apparent exit or entrance. Outside, a thousand black-armored cultivators stood in ranks, ready to face us down.

And this was my fight to start.

Stolen from Royal Road, this story should be reported if encountered on Amazon.

From within myself, a deep brown thread of earth qi shot toward my foot as I stomped it into the dirt. From there it amplified and re-directed, following the paths I’d made for it to open a hole beneath every one of the Tortoise King’s soldiers.

The earth swallowed them all, and roots immediately thrust through each of their hearts as my control over wood guided the land to take back what belonged to it.

And with that, a green meadow rich with clover and fescue now stood where once there was a vast field of barren earth, and the remaining Masters who’d had the strength to resist my attack now found themselves beset upon by the Masters and Experts of our forces.

That battle was not my personal objective, though. The Black Fortress loomed, seemingly impenetrable. It’s said many tried, at first, but even Masters couldn’t break the Tortoise King’s legendary defenses.

But none of them were an irate bunny with a chip on her shoulder. I tapped the dome, confirming what I already knew. Though fed by the vast amounts of stolen qi the Tortoise King had stripped from the land, the fortress walls were mostly fed by earth and wood qi, and designed to be both as hard as diamond and regenerate any damage it might yet take.

I’d trained for years to hone my native affinities, and they were yet my strongest. And though I was still not quite on par with an Elder’s strength on my own… The world moved with me.

And that world put everything it had behind my punch, shattering the dome in a single strike.

I jumped forward, barely missing being a Xiang crater as the Tortoise King slammed down where I’d just stood. He was still intimidating in raw power, and I could sense he’d been in countless fights before he became the orb-shaped pusbag he now was. In his prime, I could never have won against him.

Thankfully, three hundred years of being the top predator in the world had made him soft.

“So the slut’s little pet wants to join her on my wall? And you’re still carrying a brat, I thought I cured you of those inclinations! But then, I thought I’d cured the world of your taint to begin with. Ah well. I’ll just have to remedy that now.”

I wasn’t listening, just stupid drivel. He still saw what he wanted to see, and was simultaneously overestimating his power and underestimating mine in doing so.

Flip up over his lunge, landing on his left flank. His right side as he turns. Good, shock on his face. Dodge his next strike by a fraction of an inch, mind his girth around your belly. Yes, yes. He’s obscenely fast, and can fall on you like an anvil, but his obesity limits his options and forces him to stay in the air. Plus…

I blocked, as it finally hit me. He’s trying to control qi. As if it’s some tool to be used and then discarded. He can hold and command vast amounts of the stuff, sure. But because he can’t and won’t accept that it’s a living thing…

Now it was like he was moving in slow motion. His strikes landed on me left and right, but felt like a soft sponge upon my skin. I reflexively caught his fist as it aimed for my middle, and twisted his arm. He went spiraling away in the air like a balloon that the air was let out of.

And the nexus we stood upon unleashed the fullness of its potential into me.