Beneath a Fire Cloud

Elder Flareburn looked into the endless green as far as his old eyes could see… He saw the twisting and bending wood of trees that grew freely and wildly, and he could see their happiness. He could see the small spirits of nature floating around there too- A hundred years ago, this endless forest used to be a small kingdom with a cultivation family that sat atop it, ordering around mortals to gather things for them because of their unique method of cultivation… They were long gone now, but Elder Flareburn remembered their rather unique way of cultivating. ‘Bonding with other beings to dual cultivate alongside their spirit…’ It was a very time consuming and resource consuming cultivation, seeing as you were cultivating not only for yourself, but for another being as well.

What Elder Flareburn did not know, however, is that this unique type of cultivation was rather powerful in later stages. You and another being, bonded deeply and would stay side by side for eternity. This type of cultivation allowed you an ally that would never betray you. Thinking about it, that's almost similar to Root and his children…

Regardless, as the Fire Cloud moved forward, its ember ashes fell upon the forest. Elder Flareburn thought that the endless green would be set ablaze like many trees and forests were once before, but to his pleasant surprise, this soft sheen of pale green Qi surrounded each and every single tree, each and every single leaf and branch, easily protecting the various trees against the pale red and orange ambers that befell from above. “Elder?” Beside him, Hyun Yhan the “Heavenly Fire” Elder of the Flareburn family had hope in her eyes. Alongside her, all the members of the Flareburn family hoped that today they would finally stop following this cloud till the end of their days! “March forward, Flareburns, today is the day of hope.” He smiled as his feet touched the first root of the first tree, thus starting their journey towards their final hope.

Meanwhile

Year 11, Day 42

Root watched as slowly, ever so slowly, the Fire Cloud approached from the horizon. It moved slower than he remembered, but he couldn't be bothered to think about this for too long because he knew that a large family of Fire Qi cultivators followed after that cloud- so he prepared. First, he had Namis prepare herself for combat in case such a thing is necessary, then he had Fiero and Leaf all ready to fight too, Ahteus was tasked with attacking from below and aiming for the youngsters, taking out the weak ones first if it was necessary.

It took an entire day for the cloud to get closer. Root was confused- Is it because the Fire cloud was weaker or was his forest so big now that it would take a whole day to cross it? A 123 acres of forest (50 hectares) (500,000 Square Meters) couldn't be that big… right? Unless he made some mistake in his math somewhere, he wasn't very good at math after all.

He always knew this day would come, and a small part of him dreaded this. Why would he? They are Fire Qi Cultivators, they naturally cultivate a destructive type of Qi that doesn't go well with his wooden self you know? As the cloud of flames approached from above, Root sent out his son Fiero to it. He told him to stop the cloud in its tracks, and to make sure he would be alright, he sent Lumin alongside the fiery spirit. He sent out Da Huren alongside Leaf to meet the Fire Cultivators. His consciousness went deep into his roots as he moved to where he could feel his son Leaf and Da Huren-

“We meet again.” Floating softly above them and looking down, Leaf spoke with an imposing voice and a heavy authority: “It is nice to see that your family survived…” He looked at them all, noticing the few that were not there present and a few new children: “Congratulations on finding yourself new members for your family as well… Your safe passage is guaranteed-”

“-Grand Spirit, in fact, is your father awake? I wish to… speak to him once more, if that is possible.” The oldest man of them all spoke, making Leaf frown a little. The big man beside him kept his stoic face, but everyone could see one of his eyebrows just raise a little bit: “What do you wish to speak with my father about?” Words spoken soft like the wind, they moved and every single member of the Flareburn family was able to hear his voice and the mistrust carried within it: “I wish to make a request for the Ancient Grand Spirit of this land…” Being vague, the old man nodded sagely, making Leaf sigh- Root quickly connected with him, making Leaf straighten his back as his voice echoed inside his son's head: “They seem to want something… I allow it. Bring them to me.” Leaf nodded before he sighed- Leaf looked down at Da Huren and nodded.

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Da Huren knew what that meant. He was there to help, after all! “Follow me.” He turned around and walked towards the enormous tree that the Flareburns could see from a distance as Leaf simply was blown away by the wind, vanishing.

-he appeared right by his father's side. “Well done, Leaf.” Root, who sat by the same table beside his tree body he always did, smiled at his first son: “Tell your siblings to be prepared in case of an attack.” Leaf smiled and nodded, taking the offered small and softly glowing green seed that he soon swallowed whole. That was one of Root's Spirit Qi “pills”- He basically would make a seed, fill it with Spirit Qi, and give it to his children. They would use this Spirit Qi to grant their lesser siblings that now lived in their souls more Qi to grow! Leaf's own small soul protector was already at the Qi Gathering Realm, 3rd Stage. And, as it turns out, that was considered an “Excellent Source of Spirit Qi”.

He called upon Andromeda and Elenor, the current Curator family head maid and the next head maid of the Curator family. The two ladies stood by his side as he serenely drank his tea. He instructed them to act like they always did but warned them that they were receiving guests! They nodded and bowed before standing by his side, silently. Root could feel the cluster of Fire Qi above him simply stop as Fiero and Lumin both held onto the Fire Cloud above him, right above his enormous canopy. He had arranged his table and seat so as to be looking directly where the Fire Cultivators came from, so when they broke through the endless trees and entered his canopy, he was looking directly into their faces as he sat by the base of his tree body, one leg over the other. His form softly changed as his spirit willed it to- Blue fire burned where his hair would normally be, it draped down like a waterfall before reaching his roots, where the fire spread out like water before turning green and joining the surrounding roots like it wasn't even there.

“Greetings, Great Ancestor Spirit.” Bowing, the old man demonstrated his respect: “My name is Ránshão Flareburn, I am the leader and Elder of my family.” Ránshão Flareburn lifted his head as Root hummed softly, he looked up and his eyes widened when he saw that their Fire Cloud had stopped moving. “I hope you don't mind, Flareburns, but I think your little cloud can wait while we speak-” Root clenched his fist and the cloud started to be pulled down from the sky, reaching his canopy and forming this bright orange ring of flames that surrounded his main tree body. The heat of the cloud vanished completely, only the light could be seen. His son, Fiero, softly glided out of the circle of red and orange while Lumin simply appeared beside him. “-so, tell me, Ránshão Flareburn, what do you wish to talk about?”

“Ah-” The Elder couldn't help himself. His eyes stared at the ring of fire that surrounded them. He couldn't feel the heat of the flames that he has been following for the majority of his life, he couldn't feel that familiar heat nor see the familiar embers that would fall from the cloud… It was like the cloud of flames he has been following for the majority of his life has changed into a red ring of light. “-...Please forgive my silence… I did not expect this to happen.” Apologizing, Ránshão Flareburn had to think carefully for a few seconds about his words and how he wanted to phrase them. He clearly was before a greater being than himself and all his family, he never even considered or fathomed such a thing happening before in his lifetime. Many Flareburns had tried to pull the Fire Cloud from the heavens, so the family could settle down somewhere and cultivate, but none were ever able to.

The cloud was too much for a single mortal to handle- Not even all Flareburns, working together, were able to pull the Fire Cloud from the heavens. The Fire Cloud was simply too grand to be pulled from the heavens-

Or so it was believed.

What did Root do? Well, that's easy to explain. His son Fiero and his child Lumin were within the Fire Cloud when Fiero sent him a message through their bond: “Uhm, Dad? I think this thing is, like, me?” And that was how Root came to learn that the Fire Cloud was a semi sentient amalgamation of Fire Qi, Wind Qi, Light Qi, and Yang Qi. Somehow the Fire Cloud could absorb the Fire Qi and Light Qi from the sun while burning away the Yin Qi from itself, at night it would absorb the Yang Qi from the moonlight and burn away the Ice Qi and Dark Qi.

It was a giant semi Fire Spirit that was yet to be born. The only reason it couldn't be born was because it couldn't form a mind, it couldn't form a body for itself. It was Qi with a semi-sentience within itself that when it noticed Fiero, it immediately thought him to be part of itself that had sentience, and therefore gave him complete control over the Fire Cloud. And because Fiero had control over the Fire Cloud, Root had control over it as well! It became part of Fiero and Fiero became part of it too. It was like he just got an enormous arm or something similar, it was weirdly easy to control.

“You do not need to be nervous, Ránshão Flareburn.” Root twitched a finger and the fire ring surrounding them suddenly condensed into a single sphere of Fire Qi. It was so much Qi at once that Fiero knew- If he consumed it, his cultivation would soar and he would be able to advance to the 8th Stage of the Core Formation Realm at least! However, such a hasty progress would undoubtedly damage his cultivation, his father also knew this. ‘I am sorry Fiero, but I believe this Fire Qi could be used for something great.’ Apologizing to his son- Fiero understood why his father denied him all this Qi -because he wished to use this Qi for something else, Root looked back at the Flareburns and sipped on his tea: “Let me guess… You wish for me to help your family… You wish to no longer be shackled to this destiny of chasing a cloud… You wish for freedom.”

At that moment, Roots easily saw something that made him want to sigh- A long and shiny golden thread surrounded by a duller yellow thread, a brighter orange thread, and a pale white thread. Joy Thread, Danger Thread, and New Life Thread.

This was already written in the fates, this was destined to happen.

“-I guess I could help you.”