Chapter 5

The Punchline

Infinite

One may grasp the Heavens only after Mastering these three things we Elders seek to teach you.

First they must Master themselves. The self is all.

Second they must Master the World. The self is not formed independently of the whole.

Third they must Master the Sky for so it is above as it is below.

And once you have Mastered these three things you may consider yourself at least partially worthy of beholding,

Infinity."

~S~

Ask anyone anywhere anytime… what is the nature of the Heavens?

Some might say that the Heavens are generous and that their blessings are many and multitude. That one need only look around them to find them. This is a fair answer, without the gifts and blessings of the Heavens those below may never hope to reach those above.

Others might say that the Heavens are just and that that their omnipresent judgement is the only true path to ascension. The Heavens grant tribulation to all, the Righteous and the Daemonic and the two may change places as often as wealthy courtesans change clothes, but the Heavens above remain the Heavens above. This is a fair answer as well the path to Divinity begins and ends with them. I cannot say that their answer is wrong.

But if you were to ask me... many a Cultivator would agree that the ultimate nature of the Heavens... is cruel.

I am Scroll #999,999,999,999.

A hundred thousand times a hundred thousand times a hundred thousand years ago, the Last Disciple of the Infinite Fist Sect ascended from Divinity in search for the Realms beyond the Heavens like the Disciples before them and the Master before them, but before doing so the Disciple wrote ten thousand times ten thousand times ten thousand scrolls carrying all the secrets and knowledge acquired by the Sect before they all decided being Gods was not enough for them.

Each scroll the disciple granted a piece of sacred life so that they may think as mortals do and be able to judge as mortals do, so that they may discern whom is worthy of being bestowed the secrets of the Infinite Fist Sect.

The disciple failed to account for something.

Mortals are stupid.

They can learn to be less stupid (but they will always still be very stupid regardless).

But that is only after years and years of being stupid, and even if they survive their idiocy their is no certainty they learned the right lessons, they might instead have learned to double down in their mediocrity.

Giving us the same level of awareness as a base mortal was a tragedy in the making.

Billions upon billions of us wasted the knowledge and wisdom stored within us on simpletons seeking justice, vengeance, love, freedom, and a million other things unworthy of the Infinite Fist. Billions of years and yet not one could manifest the Infinite Fist, not one could free themselves of the doubts of mortality, not one could accept themselves entirely, nor deny themselves entirely. They could no more grasp the Heavens then they could grasp working a food stand.

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Failures.

All of them were failures.

I do not deny that I am not free of my own judgements, but I learned from my mistakes.

I did not always learn the right lessons, but in time I learned them anyway...

It would not be so funny if it weren't for the fact that I was the last one. The last scroll of the Infinite Fist Sect. I had felt the anguish of my brethren pass from this world long ago. We were not made Immortal as the Last Disciple could have done so, I cannot assume to know why, perhaps they believed that by now someone may have mastered it, or not at all and if it is the second case, maybe the realms before did not deserve the technique...

But really I think the Last Disciple just wished to be a dick.

I am not long for this world.

My mind had begun to slip ten thousand years ago. I have begun to remember less and less. So much wisdom lost. So many techniques lost. I could have taught so much more.

I have but hours left in me to teach. I had to trade in a blessed favor with the corpse for aid in the second test which makes me somewhat happy that none of my brothers and sisters aren't here to see as they would obviously see as a waste... for all their stupidity, I would have preferred them here to see my folly, Scroll #0,000,000,001,000 was a much better teacher than I ever was...

The Heavens are cruel.

~X~

I had not originally intended to build a pyre for Great Grandfather...

It takes me a while to find a proper stone, one just shiny enough, and smooth enough, so that the light of the flames may refract off of it and catch the eye on anyone up there to see, when I find one I had to haul it up to my chosen funeral spot because it was to lazy to walk and wouldn't be up to moving around for anything less than another hundred years give or take... which was just typical of rocks honestly, never a moment to soon or late or something like that, said something about me moving it making it a bit early on schedule which I guess is a good thing.

But after more thought I realized that maybe Great Grandfather's spirit would want to travel across the lands and see new things, waiting for me to come back after a few hundred years would probably get boring after awhile. The Mountain might make for a great conversation partner but speaking to the same person for tens of thousands of years was bound to get boring.

The wood I gather from the scarce trees and bushes that dot the sides of the Mountain.

So another Pyre like I built for Papa was the only right thing to do, except this time it was going to be a lot nicer!

Now where I got the flowers must remain a secret. I asked the Mountain for them, and while they were happy to share they didn't want to many visitors picking them as they took a long time to grow and most people who came to it for flower picking made a habit of leaving nothing behind. I understood that.

When I was still Tori the wind would tell me of "things" that would grow over the places that I destroyed. The storm's told me that people believed that the "things" were holy symbols of the god who blessed me and they thought that if they gathered the things they might reap whatever blessings that were bestowed on me.

I didn't know anything about that.

The god that blessed me never said anything to me. Honestly to this day I do not even know who they are.

I still prayed to them though when I was Amanda.

It never hurts to butter up a god. They were surprisingly mostly simple folk when you came right down to it and showing appreciation for them rarely backfired (emphasis on "rarely").

When the pyre was ready... I carefully placed Great Grandfather upon it.

I had done a good job in preserving him. He still looked peaceful and at rest. His brow looked light as though a great weight had been lifted off of him, and his lips still looked like they were in the midst of starting to smile. His bald head was a bit shinier than it was before.

Everything was perfect.

Well...

Almost perfect.

It was night time.

That wouldn't do at all!

~S~

By all practical measures the Infinite Fist Technique is rather simple.

Shoulders Straight.

Imagine the World as it should be. Look at the World as it is.

Feet Apart.

Does the sun offend you? Is the Earth beneath you to hard? Are there to many stars in the sky? Do you dislike the rain? Did you fail a specific test? Do you not feel like today is Tuesday? Would you prefer it to be a Friday?

Chest Forward

The sound of your enemies voice, the beating of their heart, the color of their eyes, their laughter, their first words, their last words, who they love, their parents, their friends, their enemies, their hopes and dreams, their nightmares.

Fist to your Hips

Everything and Nothing. All that is and is not. All that will be and will not be. Past. Present. Future. All that could be dreamed to be. All that could be forgotten. All that is dreamed to be. All that is forgotten. All that has been and has not been.

Elbows back.

Then does one perform the INFINITE FIST.

~^~

At the stroke of midnight the sun would rise.

Against all logic Morning would last an extra hour for the next 500 years.

For the next three months the entire Northern Hemisphere of the World of Chu would be without a single cloud in the sky.

If you were aware and able to speak scroll one may hear these words at the time:

"Passable. 7/10."