Diary, I accepted that cultivation was a brutal, bloody contest over scarce resources. I was prepared to accept that my girls could see me as competition for what little we had. When I slept between them, I always kept one eye open, ready for the knife that may or may not come. That was what put me in this situation.
As an element foundry realm expert, I had nothing to fear from mortals. That mindset carried over even when I had to start over from scratch.
When I saw the boot coming down on my severed lip. Something clicked, and mortals fully entered my notice.
My fist smashed into the man’s knee, and I felt bones separate. With an uppercut, I rose to my feet, clocking the nearest mortal under the chin. I felt my knuckle drag, ripping the man’s bottom jaw off. My hand shot out as the man who ambushed me with fingers and thumb outstretched.
His eyes burst, and my thumb tore through the cartilage of his nose. When I pulled, the man’s sensitive nasal cavity came loose. The helmet on his head held his face together long enough to snap off the top layer of his skull. I turned to the men holding Diego as time seemed to catch up to the men. I kneed the closest one, shattering his ribcage with a single blow. He convulsed as blood blasted out of his mouth, and he drowned. I grabbed the last man as he tried to get away.
“What are you?” I grabbed his neck and snapped it.
Diego looked between them and me. “Go, get some food and a good night’s sleep. Forget about what you saw. This was all a dream. If you see these men again, don’t mention this; they will think you’re crazy.” I said.
“There are more than just them,” Diego said.
“For God, gold, or glory, which one did you join for?” I asked.
“You never ask about me, and I didn’t think you cared,” Diego said.
I took each of their palms and carved a crescent moon. Soldier corpse puppets weren’t too complex to make. The isolation room had a box ready-made with all the arrays needed to raise them as proper tools of war. A mix of spirit water, their blood, and mine splashed on the symbol was enough to create a connection to the sun on the box.
“They aren’t dead. No, they are risen. Christ,” Diego said.
I picked up my piece of lip and pressed it against the wound. The piece of my flesh itched as regeneration forced the part of me back into place. From my waist, I pulled a handful of white powder from a bag and popped it into my mouth.
There is no world where I would let a loose end go. As gently as I could, I snapped Diego’s neck. The man died blissfully ignorant of the world. The parasites fell away from them as their source of emotions was cut.
I carved my seal on Diego’s hand. The corpse puppets carried out the bodies that couldn’t disguise themselves as proper humans. It was night, so hopefully, they could throw the bodies overboard without being seen.
Killing was always brutal, especially when I got to know someone. Diego had to die. He wasn’t a slave that no one would believe. Until I reached Chi Gathering or higher, I couldn’t let my secret go so quickly.
I stared at the newly risen body of my mortal friend. “You know, I remember praising our elders as if they were living gods. Sometimes, if we praised them long enough and gave enough spirit stones, they would give us pointers. Never me. I must not have been worthy. All my friends moved up into the core realm, leaving me behind to travel further into Advent Soul. They each manifested their spirits into the physical realm as guardians, weapons, or monsters. I continued altering our environment, making it easier for those below me to rise higher and faster. But as a sect disciple, I had to remain stoic and never voice my grievances. We are taught to hide our true feelings until it's time to strike. I died trying to move forward. The climb was what I lived for.”
“That’s great, praise Christ.” I nodded at one of the preprogrammed phrases the corpse puppets said when they had nothing substantial to add.
…
I recorded the pattern of the cocoon and recreated it in preprogrammed fear. A pattern that broke down all patterns but its own wouldn’t break down its own pattern. I slipped it in while the cocoon was going through cycling and watched it slip into place seamlessly. The black pattern was molded to the yellow one as if they belonged together.
Seals within the yellow pattern activated, slightly changing the pattern. At the end of this experiment, the goal was to make the possibly newly born spirit beast afraid of cultivators. Adding that fear to their pattern, I hoped to program them to shy away from us. If that failed, I had a few less-than-ideal plans to cope with the new monster.
That’s why I loaded it with us, along with my sealing equipment, on the boat to the shore of the Yucatan. The water was choppy, and waves threatened to capsize us at every opportunity. An arrow speared the neck of the man beside me, a corpse puppet that calmly snapped it and pulled the shaft out.
“Men, armor up. We’re under attack.” I slipped a helmet on just before another arrow dinged off it. Archers on a hill overlooking the beach took shot after shot as slave rowers worked to get us to shore. An arrow took a man in the eye, and he slumped on the oars. We stalled in the water as more arrows came and more Yucatec tribesmen gathered. One man raised a crossbow and fired.
One of the snipers on the hill fell as one of the corpse puppets fired and reloaded immediately. With powerful hands, he fired one bolt after another with pinpoint accuracy. The Yucatec snipers retreated after half their number fell.
“Fine shooting, senor. Where did you learn to fight like that?”
“Praise Christ on his heavenly throne.” The corpse puppet said.
“Ah, I get it. Say no more; I won’t ask again.” The man said.
“Looks like we have some royal killers in our party.” The man mumbled.
When we hit the shore, I had my corpse puppets drag the bodies off after I drew my seals. The native rose and stood on shaky feet. “Praise Christ that I stand here today. It is through his grace that I live,” the olive-skinned native said.
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“I sure am loyal to the Spanish king and no one else.” Another native corpse puppet said.
Cortes stumbled onto the beach dressed in full plate and looking around at the white beach and lack of dead natives. “Where did they go?” Cortes asked.
“The others must have dragged them off for funeral rights or to be butchered for food. We are dealing with savages that pour Balche up their rears.”
“Don’t judge them too harshly. Don’t tell Juarez, but I stuck my cock up a native woman’s butt after she intoxicated herself after her husband passed out.” Captain Cortes said.
Cortes licked his lips.
Someone get the canons unloaded and set up. We need them to send a message. Men mount up; we’re going to give these people a show. Reports from Juan de Grijalva say that they think a man and his horse or one creature and canons are alive. Let's scare these people into compliance, and then we’ll take some of their girls.
“God, Gold, and Glory,” I said.
“What can be more glorious than mounting their tender girls, and Christ would want us to teach them about him. Preferably in bed after the deed is done.” Cortes said.
“Praise Christ, I can’t wait to take a save from behind.” A native dressed in some extra Spanish clothing said.
It was still armed with a bow and arrow instead of weaponry from the ship. Cortes didn’t give the man any attention.
“There is nothing I hate more than brown nosers. Man, where is your armor?” Cortes asked.
“The Virgin Mary is my armor. I love to hide behind her while I commit a war crime,” the corpse puppet said.
Maybe I shouldn’t have rushed the programming for the basic soldiers and focused on the captains. On the bright side, the seals held stable and preserved the bodies. “Soldier, why don’t you go collect your boys before they commit a war crime?” I said.
The order had another meaning. It was a command prompt to go out and hunt down every male member of his tribe and place my seal on them. It was a little invasion of the body snatcher, but they wouldn’t attack any of the women, and I had a special seal ready for chiefs as well. Really, the mortals weren’t my biggest worry.
Cultivators have dealt with mortals for millennia, and our methods have become quite sophisticated. The memories are preserved when seals are implanted while the brain is alive. Those corpse puppets can then act like their former selves and infiltrate their homes. Before we ever reached the village, I planned to overtake it. That’s what they get for proving themselves hostile.
I stared up at what might as well be a god. Camazotz would return at night and make itself a nuisance.
After climbing a bluff and edging toward the forest, something massive caught my attention. One moment, it wasn’t there, and then one of my corpse puppets fell over. Towering above it was the largest cat outside a core realm spirit beast I had ever seen. It was a spirit and it towered over the tree line. Its shape altered until it was a tiny flaming parrot.
I took a step back when the creature’s talons pressed into the flesh of the corpse puppet. The spirit’s pattern spoke to me. Kinich Ahau, the pattern screamed as it slipped into a corpse puppet, and all the controls I had burned away from the creature as the spirit occupied it.
The tiny fragments of my chi burned before my eyes as I heard bones crack and pop. I hit the self-destruct, but the flames overtook my seals before they could activate.
The spirits had adapted to my tactic before it could truly begin.
The creature stretched, cracking its bones as its body warped, attempting to change shape. I heard a sound like someone tossed a body through a meat grinder. “This body’s former owner, who once worshipped me dead and possessed by magic foul, is in my possession again. I, the god Kinich Ahau, can speak with this mortal tongue. My shape is limited. A human that fed me and offered the life of a warrior defeated to me. I use your body to go to the 13 heavens for Kinich Ahau, and I am thankful to you.” I felt a rift in space itself as the small piece of the native's soul moved on.
When the gate closed, I was still aware of its location. Suddenly, a new layer of existence opened to me, and I wanted to plunder it. A heavenly realm existed, filled with all the resources I could ever need in a hundred lifetimes.
The creature turned to me. Another gate opened, and this one felt like it was every hell I’d ever seen or heard about. “Kinich Ahau will send you to Xibalba.” Veins popped on the possessed corpse’s body as a pair of fleshy wings stretched from the entity’s back. Black blood flowed over the possessed corpse’s head, forming into deer antlers. Bones poked through the being’s fingertips, forming sharp claws.
Chi roiled off the entity’s body, but it wasn’t the spirit’s full might. The body simply couldn’t take it. Already, it began, and it fell into a death spiral. I could practically hear the cells within the corpse pop one after the other. The same seals that used spiritual laws to raise a dead body and work it like a puppet were sputtering out. The body wasn’t made to house a spirit, much less one more powerful than the predators.
It lunged because it had no time to probe. I kited the spirit dashing to the side while keeping it in sight. My hand reached for the handle of my longsword, and I pulled it slowly. Rusty metal screeched out of its scabbard as I bore the blade against the unarmored, burning corpse. A tongue of flame leaped from its ribs, lancing out, exposing blackened organs. The smell of pork filled the air as the monster lunged. I dodged while watching the spirit move. It hadn’t adapted to the body. It only further revved up the chi, damaging the vessel further.
“This vessel can not handle the might of Kinich Ahau. I don’t understand.”
I pierced the creature’s heart between its burning ribs. “Talking is not a free action,” I said.
Something split within the creature, and it spluttered before slowly passing out of the body. The flaming parrot rose out of the corpse and flew at me. I dodged and punched the bird. My fist made contact, and I felt the creature infect my hand. Flames that followed independent laws of nature traveled up my arm, burning before I upturned my cup and poured spirit water over the fire. The water smothered them just fine, and I had no idea why.
The parrot turned its head before flying off. I held my cup at the ready and glared the bird down. The creature squeaked and took to the air. Somehow, it forgot it had other forms, or maybe it had a weakness in spirit energy in the form of water. Would pouring physical spirit water onto a purely spiritual fire have an effect.
I didn’t know. These creatures might be something like gods. If that’s the case, then dealing with them wouldn’t be easy.
After drinking my fill from my cup, I felt my arm heal as blackened skin cracked and fell away, revealing new flesh. The creature had burned so hot it killed my nerves before the pain could hit. That pain came roaring back as my regeneration swept through my arm. I could feel it. I crossed the 5% threshold after this fight.
Only 95% more and I could reach chi gathering. All I had to do was hang on. Only some of my cells would be the right kind. Some would have less chi than others. The chaff would have to be cut.
The corpse sizzled under the noonday sun, but not even flies wanted to come near it. It reeked of fire chi, and I felt something within the corpse’s chest. I used a stick to pry open the chest to see two halves of a glass heart containing embers.
That spirit had practically given me my first natural treasure. If one of the spirits could do it, did that make my corpse puppets potential natural treasure factories?
After carefully removing the treasure, I merged it with my sword when I had time to experiment. Who didn’t want a flaming sword, after all? The rapier was a great weapon, and giving it a blazing kiss that would apply continuous burning damage with some modification would be amazing. I needed to find a nice flat place to put my lab. Maybe I could use corpse puppets to carry it like a palanquin. The more I thought about it, the more I liked the idea. I only needed a few hundred corpse puppets to make it viable. Only 20 people can hold it, and the rest could work on clearing the path for it. Unless I go for a more extended design.
In the mud near a tree, I worked on my design while keeping half my attention on the spirits' sudden possessions. Some adjustments would need to be made to prevent unplanned possessions. What are seals for if not controlling the environment, whether that’s an immortal cave or a spirit-possessed corpse?