The Energy of the Heavens surges through me as my murderous intent spills over into apoplectic fury, but the subject of my ire remains out of reach.

Balance on Windy leaf into Pierce the Horizon sees Peace plunge harmlessly through the air next to the monk’s bald, wrinkled head, my tried-and-true charge doing little more than bring me face to face with his hateful sneer. Stalk the Dragon into Uplift the Sequoia fares no better as I deliver Tranquility in an uppercut that comes nowhere close to connecting. Standing Fury, Rending Fang, Part the Underbrush, and more, all my devious efforts to end Hideo’s life end in abject failure and my frustration knows no bounds. Snarl in Rage and Throw the Fucking Sword is equally as useless as the old monk smacks Peace aside and sends it sailing off into the horizon, but after twelve equally fruitless exchanges, it makes a grand return to miss Hideo by a metric mile and drive itself deep into the sandy dirt.

All because the nihilistic monk Vyakhya stands in my way, defending the hateful bastard with almost laughable ease.

That’s all the old baldy does however, stand and defend with only one hand no less, while his other hand holds his spade grounded and upright like a flagpole planted in the dirt. Humiliating is what it is, to have my fury thwarted so effortlessly by a geriatric baldy, but all I can do is stew in my ineffective rage and direct all my hatred at Hideo. Envisioning all the different ways I could kill him if it wasn’t for this damnable monk, I redouble my efforts to no effect, but still I press on for my anger knows no bounds. These emotions are not mine alone, for all my surviving Natal Souls are cheering me on in my crusade to see this bastard dead. There can be no mercy or forgiveness for the grievous crime of bullying my dear sweet wifey, and I intend to make an example of this traitor and show the world what happens to those who threaten my loved ones.

There aren’t too many of my Natal Souls left, but still enough to keep tabs on the battlefield in my absence, and their tale is a harrowing one to behold. Since appointing a second General to oversee their efforts, eight more Generals have come and gone, each one dying alongside countless Natal Soul soldiers with only minimal regret to tip the scales of battle in the Empire’s favour. Those Natal Souls who still remain are all frothing at the mouth from what they’ve seen, and I cannot blame them in the least. Mila, Yan, Li-Li, and even Luo-Luo all chose to be here as Warriors of the Empire, but Lin-Lin is different. She’s here because she can’t stand to be away from her friends, family, and hubby, a non-combatant in every sense of the word. Sure, she’s shot a few arrows in the past, but none here in Meng Sha, yet not only did this hulking meathead Hideo dare lay his filthy hands on her, he even had the audacity to lust after her too, and no one lusts after my wifey but me.

…And my Natal Souls, I guess, who are kinda like me, but not, which means I can’t really stop them from lusting after her, but that’s all they’re allowed to do. If I catch any one of them trying to do more, then that will signal the start of the Natal Soul Clone Wars, and I will show no mercy in my wrath.

Focus on the task at hand, stupid. Glancing at Vyakhya’s bored, unimpressed expression as he continues to bar my way, I glance at his spade and spit at his feet because it offends me to see him using the same style of weapon as Mahakala. In spite of all his sins and transgressions, that slovenly drunkard of a Dharma Protector set out each morning with the best of intentions and a dream of improving the world, even if he did go about it in a strange and ineffective way. Vyakhya on the other hand is as selfish as they come, and I hate him all the more because I understand him more than I’d like to. This is a monk whose name means, ‘Clarity of Thought’, a name given to him by the Abbot himself for his logical and analytical nature. Vyakhya never arrives at any decision lightly, always taking the time to argue both sides and rationalize his opinions as best he can, but once his mind is made, there is little anyone can do to change it.

The Abbot spent a lot of time talking about Vyakhya, but not always directly. Most of it was parroting arguments he’d made in the past and outlining the steps he took to reach certain conclusions, though at the time, I didn’t know they all came from him. The Abbot was deeply wounded by the betrayal of a man he considered his friend and confidant, and I think he was hoping I would help him refine his arguments to use against Vyakhya in order to guide him back into the light. What I gathered from all those discussions was that I have much in common with this traitor monk, more than I care to admit. Like him, I too place great value on logic and reasoning when making important decisions, even if I often succumb to pressure and just go with my gut instead. There was a time when I also yearned for oblivion and non-existence, though for vastly differing reasons from Vyakhya, yet I cannot deny that our thoughts ran parallel to one another at some point, both searching for an escape from these tiresome trials and tribulations because we both felt we didn’t belong. Me because of my past memories, and him because he believes there is more out there, a better world and higher existence which the Heavens conspires to keep him from.

In short, Vyakhya reminds me of myself if I had nothing to live for and was selfish enough to want the entire world dead instead of just myself.

Which makes him the perfect person to vent all my self-hatred on. He’s me, but worse, so fuck him.

My errant thoughts fade to black as I fixate on Hideo while hammering away at Vyakhya, my rage burning hotter with every block, parry, and Deflection. Hideo has long since stopped resisting and instead has gone completely slack with fear and resignation, which makes it that much easier for Vyakhya to shift him away from danger with a bump of his hip or nudge of his elbow. The Movements flow out of me as I set myself loose from all constraints and indulge in my rage and wrath, neither giving in to the madness nor seeking to control it as I fight with all my heart. This too is a form of Balance, to revel in emotions as they come until they burn themselves out, for emotions are not meant to be contained and left to fester. A seemingly obvious observation, but one the human race has yet to truly understand as a whole, else we would not be plagued by Spectres of our own devising. Just like medicine, too much emotion is equally as bad as not enough, but the solution here isn’t to ration and dole it out in controlled bits. No, emotions must be spent freely in order to find a natural Balance, not just of the mind, but the body and soul as well.

In JiangHu, I manifested a storm to shed myself of all my unwanted emotions in one fell swoop without having to experience them, but that was a gambit destined to fail from the start. There’s always a reason for you to feel how you feel, even if you don’t understand why, so without treating the root cause, those same feelings will just come flooding back in time. Sometimes it’s better to let yourself be afraid, sad, angry, or however it is you feel, not just because it’s cathartic to express your emotions, but because by expressing them, you can divest them from yourself in a healthy and natural way. This is how animals deal with Balance, by holding nothing back and letting themselves experience the full breadth of their emotions, but humans aren’t so simple. No, we bottle up our emotions for all manner of reasons, whether it be for the sake of face, propriety, shame, embarrassment, fear, or what have you, which again, isn’t the worst thing in the world until you repress so many emotions that it makes you unintentionally use the Energy of the Heavens to forcibly divest yourself of them and spawn a Spectre in the process.

Truth be told, I can’t really say the way animals handle Balance is strictly better, not without any real data or proof. All I know is Spectres are bad, but there’s probably an upside to the human method else Divine Beasts wouldn’t be turning themselves into Ancestral Beasts for no good reason. That being said, I’m breaking new ground here, so rather than swallow my anger and let Hideo’s crime go unpunished, I’m trying something new. I’m going kill him here and now to vent my rage and ensure this will never happen again.

If only this old, bald, ugly monk would just fucking die first.

A thread of fear and caution worms its way into my head, and I rein my emotions in just a little, though on the outside, I continue levying a barrage of attacks meant to claim Hideo’s worthless life. While it’s healthy to express your emotions, I need to be careful not to get too caught up in them, because like I said earlier, too much is just as bad as not enough. No struggle, but no surrender either, that is my way forward, a Path I must keep to lest I share the fate of my first Natal Soul General, who was summarily Cleansed from existence by Blobby. I’m not entirely sure if my watery passenger would Cleanse me if I were to become Unbalanced, since I’m sure there’s some difference between a real soul and a Natal Soul, but I’m also not willing to take that risk either, because there’s no reasoning with an amorphous blob of Heavenly Water, and no mercy in him either.

Two-hundred eighty-seven exchanges and some time later, I step back to take a breather and reassess the situation now that I’ve worked off some of my anger and frustration. All around us, Meng Sha sits silent save for the waves crashing against the docks and the ships swaying in the harbour, so calm and peaceful you wouldn’t think the area was populated if you couldn’t see past the walls, for the eyes of every Imperial and Defiled alike are watching my duel with Vyakhya as they stand in formation and wait for death.

Okay, that’s my bad, but in my defense, it’s not like I didn’t think this through. My bold rejection of the Treaty and subsequent embrace of mutual destruction was too shocking for most to fathom, and they all think I’ve gone mad, including Gang Shu and the Bull Divinity Niu MoWang who won’t stop pestering me through Sending. Thankfully, I have plenty of practice ignoring criticism, but what’s most reassuring is the fact that the Abbot, Guard Leader Hua Lie, and Taddy haven’t Sent a single word, indicating they either stand by my decision or they know me well enough to know I’m not as crazy as I appear. Six of one and half-a-dozen of the other, I assume, but it’s nice to be trusted for once.

See, thing is, I wasn’t lying when I said I’m not a Divinity, because when you get right down to it, Divinity is not a state of existence, nor is it something you naturally become once you Shatter the Void. No, in truth, Divinity is merely a title and power level, a label we humans designate to all those big, bad, dangerous existences who are beholden to their whims and desires. We could have called them anything really, Grandmasters, Apex Predators, Radiants, whatever, but at the end of the day, it’s only a name, and to quote the bard, “What’s in a name?” Divinity is about power, but even more so about control, or rather the lack thereof, because the Heavens are too eager to respond to their Wills in wildly unpredictable ways. Want to break your opponent’s skull? The Energy of the Heavens can help you do that, but the Heavens doesn’t understand scale the same way we mere mortals do, so you might well end up destroying a good chunk of the surrounding landscape in the process.

So really, being a Divinity has nothing to do with Shattering the Void. Being a Divinity means you’ve become a living, breathing bomb that could explode any time you get a little too heated or otherwise emotional. That’s why Vyakhya is only defending, because he’s waiting to see if I’m bluffing about breaking the Treaty before committing to mutual destruction, since even a nihilist like him has something to live for. Words are meaningless when it comes to a matter as serious as a violation of the Treaty, so I need to act on my intent to break the Treaty first before Vyakhya can respond in kind without consequence. Otherwise, the surviving Imperial Divinities will bring word back to the Empire that Vyakhya shot first and he becomes public enemy number one, meaning it’ll be open season on his bald, wrinkled head, making it real hard for him to find the peace and quiet he so desperately desires.

And the old conniving son of a bitch is just narcissistic and jaded enough to believe I would sacrifice everyone in Meng Sha just to implicate him. That’s the way I see things at least, but like I said, I wasn’t lying. I am no Divinity, and thus I am not beholden to the Treaty, but in order to prove this, I need to first show the world what I’m capable of. Easier said than done however, since I’m still a little new to all this, but that’s hardly unfamiliar territory. “Alright you stubborn old bag of bones,” I begin, and in the deafening silence of Meng Sha, there’s no need to infuse my voice with Chi to be heard. “I’m done warming up. If you continue to defend that traitorous sack of shit Hideo, then be prepared to join him in death as well.”

A smirk is all he has in reply, one so faint it all but melts into the folds of his many, many wrinkles, but we’ll see if he can still smile when all’s said and done. I wasn’t lying about warming up, because not only did I need to stretch my body after so many weeks spent comatose, I’m also working with a brand spanking new Spiritual System and needed to take it for a spin to see how things go. That’s why I just went with whatever felt natural, because then there was no need to really think about fighting and I could focus on studying my Spiritual System and making sure my theory about harnessing the flow of Heavenly Energy holds water.

And for the moment, all signs point to yes.

Since Vyakhya shows no intentions of attacking, I take my sweet time preparing for my next attack. Up until now, I was just venting my emotions and doing whatever came naturally, but that won’t cut it anymore. Not if I want to get past this damned baldy to kill Hideo, though I should probably take some time in the future to find out where my deep-seated hatred of baldies first came from. Probably Gerel, but then again, he’s no longer bald and I still don’t like him much, so there’s nothing conclusive there. I’m getting off track. The important thing is, Hideo bullied my sweet wifey, and now he must pay. It doesn’t matter if Lin-Lin isn’t the helpless maiden she so loves to pretend she is, what matters is the principle of it all. My wifey was mistreated so someone must pay, and I will overturn Heaven and Earth to make it happen.

Taking a deep breath, I calm my mind and focus on nothing. In doing so, I become aware of everything. The sweltering heat of the mid-day sun shining down from overhead and the balmy wind bringing gritty sand which works its way into every crease and crevice of my body. The tangy, metallic scent of blood, a keen, stinging sensation that reminds me of how parched I really am, though the pungent and overpowering aroma of the battlefield does much to keep me from wanting a drink. The lapping waves, fluttering sails, waving banners, clinking armour, and more, all of it forms a symphony of sorts, a concert of the world as our ears perceive it, a tense and troubled dirge of death and mourning in reflection of what happened here. All this and more is processed in the back of my mind as I study my foe in depth, not just with my five bodily senses, but with my Spiritual Senses as well.

Visually, Vyakhya is none too impressive with his milky eyes, worn robes, unkempt beard, wrinkled expression, stooped shoulders, and hunched back. All together, this earns him the dubious honour of being the oldest looking person I have ever seen bar none, but looks can be deceiving. This is a Human Divinity after all, a man who has Shattered the Void and stands on the cusp of unravelling the mysteries of Heaven and Earth. Though younger than the Abbot in age and yet to truly comprehend the Dao, Vyakhya is still strong enough to bring down entire cities with a wave of his hand, and I can sense his power lurking just beyond the surface of his outer appearance. Dense is the only word I have to describe the compact and substantial presence he exudes, all due to the condensed mass of Heavenly Energy churning away inside his physical form. Not just his Core and Spiritual System, but throughout his flesh, blood, and bones too, all of it tied together in an intricate weave that seems so natural and organic. Nor is it mere Chi which flows through him, but Heavenly Energy in truth, and I’m beginning to understand why the Abbot called it a distinction without a difference. For Martial Warriors, this isn’t necessarily true, but only because we ourselves must modify Heavenly Energy in order to make use of it. A Divinity like Vyakhya has no need to bind the Energy of the Heavens, for it is all too ready to heed his Will, which as stated before, is the reason we have a Treaty in the first place.

That’s how he’s able to block, parry, and Deflect my attacks with such ease, because he has the Energy of the Heavens helping him along. In fact, thwarting my efforts to kill Hideo is the easiest part of this all, with the lion’s share of his focus devoted to keeping his emotions in check so he doesn’t accidentally overstep. One errant thought, one internalized desire, one moment of anger, and Vyakhya could easily turn me into meat paste, alongside most of Meng Sha in the process. This is the power I face here today, a Divinity who doesn’t so much wield the Energy of the Heavens as much as he unleashes it upon his foes, like a solitary man opening the floodgates to wash away an entire city situated underneath.

A formidable foe, but knowing thy enemy is not enough. One must also know oneself, which is another reason why I took the time to vent my rage and fight without really thinking while studying myself through my own perspective and the perspectives of my Natal Souls. Fighting without restraint allowed me to see how the Energy of the Heavens responded to my unbridled Will, and the results went about as expected. In terms of responsiveness, things are about the same as before, where it still requires an effort of Will to get Heavenly Energy to heed me. Indulging in my emotions makes it easier to get my Intent across, but that’s always been the case since day one. Impressive as the results might be when I wholly cut loose, going down that Path would be a mistake, the same mistake every current Divinity has made. Unchecked emotion offers power overwhelming, but more power will not solve my issues in any meaningful manner. What’s the point of killing Hideo if I also kill everyone in Meng Sha in the process? I am no Divinity, and the Energy of the Heavens will not leap to obey my Will, but I see this as an absolute win.

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Power without control is empty and meaningless, especially if it comes with heavy restrictions on what I can do with it. I seek strength in order to be free, so why would I ever want to become a Divinity?

The corners of my lips trend upwards in a slow smile as I turn my Spiritual Senses inwards and draw confidence from what I see, because as compact and substantial as Vyakhya might be, I am in a league all on my own. I’m dense as fuck, which I probably shouldn’t be so proud to admit, but it works both ways. Where Vyakhya’s physical body has merged seamlessly with his Core and Spiritual System, there is no distinction or differentiation to be found in mine. I am One with the Body, One with the Mind, and One with the Soul, or in simpler terms, just One, meaning when others use their Spiritual Senses to perceive me, they’re seeing more than just me, but also the Heavens in all their unbridled glory.

In more practical terms? My Core sits just below my navel, invisible to the human eye yet there all the same, no longer a gateway to the Void, but merely an object within and without it. There, it exerts a passive and near effortless Devouring force which draws in the Energy of the Heavens through the opening in my pores and sends it flowing out along the established pathways intertwined with my organs and blood vessels to every nook and cranny of my body. Some of the Heavenly Energy stays for the entire trip, while portions of it break off and flow back out into the world through those same openings it enters from, yet the total volume of Heavenly Energy remains more or less the same when considering my physical and spiritual self.

I am not a container for the Energy of the Heavens, because that would imply the ability to… well… contain it. Rather than a cup, bowl, barrel, or what have you, I’m more like a turbine immersed in the ocean, just churning about as the currents flow through me.

And yet, despite this Oneness, which I hesitate to name just yet, I can sense a rhythm to the flow, one tied to my heartbeat and breathing, intentions and emotions. There’s a qualitative change when the Energy of the Heavens becomes a part of me, a tentative give and take to it all which I have yet to understand, one I am only aware of because I know how vast the Heavens truly are. The Energy of the Heavens is still Energy of the Heavens, but while flowing through my Spiritual System, it is also my Chi, the only distinction now being one of location. It’s like light shining through glass or salt dissolved in water, oxygen and carbon dioxide co-existing in air or all matter of particulates in dirt. My Chi is nigh indistinguishable from the Energy of the Heavens, part and parcel of the whole, yet mine to control all the same just like I used to.

Or at least that’s how it appears to my senses, though there must be some other change or distinction. Without one, I would be swept away by the flow of Heavenly Energy to become a part of the whole, or stuck in the same straits as a Divinity and unable to hold back the flow with my Will, but instead, I exist within the flow, yet apart from it as well. My Core contains my Chi, yet there is no Core. My Natal Palace houses Buddy and Blobby, yet there is no Natal Palace. The Energy of the Heavens flows through my Spiritual System, yet there is no Spiritual System, all of which comes together to allow me to do what I do. What that would mean for me as an person is difficult to say, but it does make it easy to posit that the anchor binding me to my current existence is probably my physical body. All this is something to consider in the future, mysteries worth looking into when I’ve the time to ponder and pontificate, but for now, it’s time I made use of my newfangled existence to prove that I’m not a Divinity, and to show them what happens when you bully my wifey.

Releasing my grip on Peace and Tranquility, I toss them lightly aside and set them to floating in the air next to me. A minor effort of Will on my part, suspending my Spiritual Weapons in the air like that, because gravity is merely a downward force that is easily offset. A small magnet the size of a pebble has enough magnetism to counteract the force of gravity from an entire planet for a near infinite amount of time, provided there are no other external factors involved, so in comparison, making two metal weapons float is hardly all that difficult. The exact specifics? I really couldn’t say, not with more detail than most people could tell you how they breathe or walk. The mechanism behind my floating weapons has something to do with Lightening, Guiding, and my Domain would be my guess, but I sense other Chi skills at work here, ones exerting all manner of unidentified forces in subtle and unintuitive ways.

Doing something like this is as easy as turning a hand, but it would take exponentially more Will and effort to send them zipping about. It’d also be a wasted effort considering the compact, multi-layered defenses Vyakhya’s subconscious Will has deployed all around him, one which makes Hideo’s armoured shell of a Domain seem like soggy paper in comparison. Vyakhya’s defenses are not just physical in nature, but also spiritual as well, though my senses have yet to develop to the point where I can make it all out with any useful detail. The important things to note are that these defenses exist, and formidable though they might be, it is quite literally the least of what he can do. Responsive though the Energy of the Heavens might be, there is still a cost associated with using, and Vyakhya would rather not pay that cost to raise a defense against someone who might not even be powerful enough to leave a mark on his skin.

And truth be told? I’m not entirely sure I can. I Shattered my Core and destroyed my Spiritual System in order to rebuild it anew, and considering I’m conscious and able to perceive Heavenly Energy in all these new and exciting ways, I must have done something right, but I’ve yet to consciously utilize my Chi in a deliberate and controlled manner. Everything up to now has been instinct and emotion, but I’ll need more if I want to hurt Vyakhya. Now comes the moment of truth as I test my theory about flow and Heavenly Energy, one I only came up with after seeing Zhen Shi’s foul workings with Spectres in the Void first-hand. Faking confidence with the swagger of a man who’s faked it all his life, I reach out to the side just in time to snag Unity out of mid-fall, as smooth a transition as any which I timed to perfection, but the old monk does not appear impressed at all. To be fair, my little display wasn’t exactly difficult considering anyone with a bonded Spiritual Weapon could probably do the same, but the showmanship alone deserves a quizzically raised eyebrow at the minimum. Instead, he just stands there with his bored expression as if he’s seen it all before, with one hand holding his spade close like a walking stick and the other pressed flat against empty air in supposed prayer.

Yet another facet of Vyakhya which offends me, him masquerading as a man of religion. Mahakala was the sorriest monk I’d ever seen and sinned each and every day of his life, but he was still a thousand times better than the selfish hypocrite standing before me. He doesn’t deserve to wear those robes or carry that spade, doesn’t deserve his title of Wisdom or the name ‘Clarity of Thought’, so today, I will correct the Abbot’s mistake and teach this contemptible nihilist the true meaning of regret.

Bringing Unity about in a grand flourish, I settle into my stance, with the tip of my blade buried in the loose soil behind me and my left elbow pointing forward. A two-handed variation of Tiger Sweeps the Rushes, stolen shamelessly from Li-Li’s quick draw attack and adapted for my own use. I’ve no choice but to draw on outside sources because Unity is the weapon I am least familiar with. A matter of time, or lack thereof, because even though I bound it two years ago, I’m pretty sure I spent most of those two years either in a coma or without a working Core, meaning chances to familiarize myself with Unity were few and far between. Even if that’s not the case, I still don’t have years of daily practice to draw on, not like I do with Peace and Tranquility, years in which I worked out the most effective ways to use them. How to hold, how to slash, how to stab, how to move, how to position my arms or shift my feet, a thousand and one minor details which I couldn’t list out if I tried, but I still possess the knowledge nonetheless. I lack this sort of complete awareness with Unity, because even though I am aware of the details, I have yet to wholly acquaint myself with the knowledge at my disposal to the point where it becomes as effortless as breathing.

That being said, I’ve chosen to use Unity here because it is the most suitable weapon for my intended purpose. A short sword and bladed shield are hardly the weapons one would use to strike down a monster, but the glaive? That’s just perfect. This factor alone is far more important than my lacking familiarity, because it lends weight to my Emotions and Intent. Envisioning the attack in my mind, I make ready to set out and accomplish my objective, for nothing short of success will be accepted. The Energy of the Heavens shifts as it senses my Will, and for the first time, Vyakhya shows a hint of surprise and actively moves to defend himself. Not physically, for he is hunched and motionless as ever, but Spiritually as he sets the Energy of the Heavens to an unbreakable shield before him. Though invisible to the eye, I sense the shield there as plain as day, a daunting, indomitable barrier which covers him and Hideo behind him from all directions. There is little risk in directly using the Energy of the Heavens in this manner, because it’s difficult for the Intent to defend to have catastrophic consequences, and I can already tell my glaive cannot break through Vyakhya’s defenses, for this barrier is harder than any physical object could ever be.

This is a construct of Heavenly Energy, a myriad of forces woven together to work in perfect harmony towards one, singular purpose. To defend, to safeguard, to preserve and conserve, this barrier will stop anything short of an all-out-attack from a Divinity with the full weight of the Heavens behind it, but even then, Vyakhya is strong enough to survive it. Hideo wouldn’t, and therein lies the trap, one meant to bait me into revealing my status as a Divinity so he can strike me down without consequence.

Honestly? He’s kind of an idiot, this so-called ‘Wisdom’. He saw me cut loose earlier and decided that was the full-extent of my strength, a rush to judgement if I’d ever seen one. Though I have clearly Shattered the Void and thus become a Divinity in his eyes, he mistakes my control for weakness and believes I’m still too restrained and detached from the Energy of the Heavens to pose any real threat, and thus he casually seeks to kill me here and now before I have time to familiarize myself with my newfangled abilities. A greenhouse flower, that’s the comparison that comes to mind, for Vyakhya is a powerful Divinity who has spent his entire life in seclusion and thus is a stranger to conflict, but me? I was born into conflict, moulded by it, didn’t see the light of peace until I was already a man, and by then, it was nothing to me but stifling. I love peace and tranquility, yet thrive in chaos and conflict, a contradiction which I fear I will never overcome, but such is life.

The Energy of the Heavens surges around and through me, eager to partake in that which I offer in exchange for this forthcoming effort, but I do not allow myself to be carried away. Nor do I stand wholly firm against it, for this is my Path, one without struggle or surrender, but reliant on control and understanding instead. I seek not to wield the Energy of the Heavens, not directly at least, because in truth, I lack the ability to do so. Only a God can bend the Energy of the Heavens to his Will, and I am far from a god, but who says I need to wield it directly? The key word in Heavenly Energy is energy, so I just need to find a way to tap into that energy and put it to proper use.

The same way we use oil to fuel a lantern, or electricity to power a light. The energy is there, just in a form the human body is unable to directly utilize, but when has that ever stopped us?

Emptiness within and emptiness without, the Energy of the Heavens courses through me in a dizzying pattern moving in every direction all at once. It sinks into my Core, yet there is no Core, passing through my Natal Palace, yet there is no Natal Palace, seeps out into my Domain, yet there is no Domain, for I am One. There is no division between the Void and reality, no separation of Heaven and Earth, no distinction between mortal and Divinity, and no restriction my Will cannot surpass. I am the dam, the wall, the forge, and the drill, a man who has seen human ingenuity unravel the mysteries of the known world and used this knowledge to rise up into the stars, and more to the point, create indoor plumbing so we no longer have to shit into pots. Vyakhya and the other Divinities are living in the past, but now I have come to show them that the future is now.

Directed by my Will and Conviction, the Energy of the Heavens reshapes its flow, and it is this flow which I harness for my own use. Not the Energy of the Heavens itself, but the forces of its movements. There is energy in motion, energy in change, energy in everything and anything we can see and not see. The Energy of the Heavens is what we call it, but only because we lack the ability to perceive and study it in greater detail, else I suspect we would discover all manner of different energies to study and differentiate within this supposedly singular categorization. That being said, I’m not smart enough to do something like that, nor am I patient enough to even try, but while I am lacking in understanding, you don’t need to know much about the wind to slap a sail on your ship, and in this case, the ship is my Natal Palace.

My body performs Tiger Swipes the Rushes, a simple, straightforward slash of the glaive. The tip of the blade drags through the loose soil, adding just the barest hint of resistance to motion which I harness to add more tension to my strike, similar to how you’d hold a finger in place to store up power for a flick. My left foot stomps down and pulls ever so slightly back, while my right foot pushes off without moving from its place. Toes, ankles, knees, quads, hips, spine, shoulders, and arms, all of it comes together in this singular Movement as I bring my glaive up, around, across, and down, a Movement I have practised countless times before with Peace, and one I have envisioned thousands upon thousands of times with Unity. That vision, that image, the confidence of familiarity and the determination to strike, all of it comes together as a singularly focused Will which melds with my Movement to form something far greater than the sum of its parts as the Energy of the Heavens flows through me in a specific pattern, one which comes together to form a metaphysical construct based in the foundation of my mind and soul.

To my Spiritual Senses, the flow of Heavenly Energy looks nothing like a glaive, sword, or even chainsaw, just a seemingly random pattern without any deeper meaning, but I know in my heart of hearts that this construct was created for one goal and one purpose, to cut, to sever, to kill, and nothing else. This is what it embodies, not in so many words or images, but emotions and intent. There was a time when I would’ve called this a working of Chi, or a technique executed with help from a temporary Keystone, or possibly even something like a metaphysical Rune, but now I see the truth as it is, even if I don’t wholly comprehend it. This is just me harnessing the Energy of the Heavens, no more, no less. There are so many ways to do so, but this is the one I know and am familiar with, so I’ll stick with it until I find something better. Dad called my use of Keystones a crutch, but I see it as a tool, one which is wholly natural in the sense that humans are not naturally equipped with fangs and claws like wolves, or the tough hides and powerful frames of bulls, or the power and ferocity of tigers, but yet we stand above them all. Why? Because we use intelligence and opposable thumbs to create tools to help us survive and thrive, tools like the bow and spear, the wall and wheel, the plow and scythe, the Core and Natal Palace, so what harm in there is using a tool to help harness the flow of Heavenly Energy, when we ourselves are otherwise incapable of doing so?

Maybe that’s why Divine Beasts end up taking human forms, because they too are unable to directly harness the Energy of the Heavens, so they set themselves up for future success through a form of controlled reincarnation in order to become one of the humans who have dominated the world around them despite their individual weakness.

Or maybe not. Maybe they just want thumbs. Who knows?

Releasing my right hand from Unity, I follow through with the momentum and swing wide before bringing it back around. That’s all there is to the attack, no flashing lights or explosions of power, no rumbling earth or splitting heavens. A simple downward, diagonal slash, from high right to low left, that’s all there is to see, but I am not yet finished. Slamming the butt of my glaive against the ground, I set into motion the brilliant mechanism which my beloved wife Mila poured her heart and soul into crafting. The blade splits down the middle and parts before sliding down either side of the shaft, revealing the tip of the rifle barrel which will deliver death to my foes. Again, the Energy of the Heavens surges in response to my Will, but there is no need to intentionally harness its flow a second time, for Unity itself also serves as a form of Keystone or Rune, one based on its purpose and physical form while also tied to the concept of guns and rifles I possess from my past life. Power surges through my rifle as I raise it to my shoulder to fire, but hold off as I come face to face with Vyakhya’s helpless chagrin.

“How?” he asks, his tone so meek and confused it turns the question into a statement of disbelief. “This monk has eaten more grains of salt than you have of rice, lived many times longer than you, and yet you have done what so many others believed impossible to accomplish within the confines of this mortal world.” Unable to look me in the eye any longer, he glances down and raises his hand to his chest, not to stem the flow of blood gushing out from the incision running from his shoulder to hip, but in unwillingness to accept the reality before him. My glaive should have glanced off his defenses without him feeling so much as an impact, yet it passed through them as if they were never there in the first place. In truth, they might as well not have been, for they crumbled before Unity’s Honed edge even reached them, coming apart at the seams as the Energy of the Heavens lent its metaphysical weight to my attack. I didn’t direct the Energy of the Heavens, it merely allowed itself to be indirectly directed into helping me cut clean through my foe’s body, mind, and soul to impact the very source of his life itself, churning the waterwheel which was connected to the grindstone, which in this case was my glaive. Maybe ‘allowed’ is the wrong word here, because a river hardly allows itself to be used by the watermill no more than the fire allows itself to be used to heat the cooking pot. That is simply the nature of Heavenly Energy, and I have merely harnessed it for my own use through a combination of flow, Will, temporary Keystones, and more, but it’d be useless trying to explain all this to Vyakhya.

Or anyone else, for that matter, because no one else can truly comprehend my Dao, for it is one unique to my perspective. This is my Path, one which I know will bring me to the Peak, for I have seen first-hand the heights humans can reach with technology alone. There is so much I still don’t understand just yet, so much I still have to learn, but sometimes, you learn more from doing than from trying to puzzle it out on paper. As I am now, I am a man who can’t mathematically prove one plus one equals two, not in a technical sense at least, but I know the math is sound, so I can go from there. Maybe one day, I’ll unravel all the mysteries of the Dao, but for now, I’m mostly just going with what works.

So instead of wasting my breath with an explanation that even I don’t entirely understand, I shrug and say the first thing that comes to mind, which is, “Get good.” And even knowing it’s a mistake, I cannot help but add, “Bitchhhhhhhh.”

The milky coating over Vyakhya’s aged eyes clears alongside his shock and confusion, then darkens into storm clouds as his fury erupts from within. The Energy of the Heaven surges through him in response to his unchecked emotions, and the world ripples and distorts around us as the Spectres seize control, Spectres Zhen Shi planted in Vyakhya’s mind and soul to better influence his thoughts and emotions. Here and now, in his moment of weakness and with his final, dying breath, he rejects reality and willingly succumbs to their lies because it is easier than accepting the truth, a mistake I have made many times before, and will probably continue to make in the future.

Assuming there is a future, of course, and I do my best not to back down as reality ripples around Vyakhya while the Energy of the Heavens pours into his physical frame, breaking him down and building him back up in a process directed by the divided Will of the Spectres. I’ve never heard of a Divinity Demon, but even if I have Blobby deal with it, if it is able to attack a single time, then there is no way this ends well for the people of Meng Sha, including my beloved wives, friends, floofs, and everyone else here at my side.

Someday, I will pull off a real miracle and learn to keep my mouth shut, but today is not that day.

Chapter Meme 1

Chapter Meme 2

Chapter Meme 3

Chapter Meme 4

Chapter Meme 5