Failure. Wastrel. Disappointment.

Lies and slander the lot of it, for this Sovereign knew well his own worth and the validity of his Dao, so there was nothing his Natal Soul could do or say to change this. If there was a flaw to be found in this Sovereign’s Path, it would be found in his faulty implementation, for his methods and goals had always been in accordance with his Will. Now he accepted the errors of his past and understood the steps he should have taken instead, but while he acknowledged that he could have done better, could have made better choices, could have been more effective and efficient, this was not enough to deem him a failure, merely someone whose success was less than optimal. Thus there was no sense in abandoning the Path he’d set out to conquer so long ago, for the issue was not with his goal, but rather the means he used to achieve them. A logical and rational argument made which blunted the fangs of his Natal Soul’s verbal assault, leaving it without any ability to shake this Sovereign’s foundation and overwhelm him with emotion, for there was no longer any substance or significance to its claims. All the Natal Soul could do was parrot Falling Rain’s arguments and distract this Sovereign with a deluge of intrusive thoughts and observations, but the subtle manipulation combined with impeccable timing made for a most vexing tribulation in combination with the information he’d gleaned from studying the Predator’s inconceivably powerful Dao.

A far more dangerous tribulation laid out before him, for this was a Dao so simplistic and effective that this Sovereign was no longer so certain of the legitimacy of his own.

Though unable to replicate the Predator’s Dao, seeing it was enough to show this Sovereign a multitude of areas wherein his Dao was sorely lacking. For too long, he’d sat idle waiting for the Heavens to guide him along his Path, to bring him to the answers he sought in the perspectives of others. A mistake, for this passive investigation was based on secrets others had stumbled across, when instead he should have set out in pursuit of the truth so that he could experience those secrets for himself. There was still time to correct the error of his ways, which were understandable considering his love of his Empire. If not for the fact that he’d been too busy protecting the last bastion of humanity to allow himself the freedom to cultivate without care, he would have discovered the error of his ways soon enough and corrected himself without need for an outsider’s perspective, even if that perspective was from his own Natal Soul. Once his flaws were mended however, he expected to reap fortune from disaster and benefit from Liang Wu Di’s well-orchestrated insurrection, one which had set this Sovereign and the Empire both back on the correct course.

For countless millennia, this Sovereign had played guardian and shepherd to his flock, protecting them from the dangers around them and the dangers they posed to themselves, but for what? Nothing but scorn and resentment. The people of the Empire did not appreciate his efforts, nor did they care for everything that he’d sacrificed in their name. One could at least lean upon a shepherd’s crook to rest and recover, but the mantle of leadership weighed heavy on his shoulders, a burden he bore without complaint for millennia untold, yet never once did his people thank him for it. Instead, they coveted his power because they thought they could do better, for they were courageous in their ignorance and knew not how high the Heavens truly were. Though Liang Wu Di might well be celebrating his unprecedented achievement at this very moment, this Sovereign knew full well that the Empire was coursing headlong towards disaster.

In truth, this Sovereign needed only be patient and the throne would return to him in time. Though the Five Families had united against this Sovereign in order to depose him from his throne, this unity would not last now that he’d peacefully stepped down. If one Emperor could be deposed, then why not another? This was the thought plaguing the minds of every prospective heir and Family Head, so it would remain to be seen if Liang Wu Di survived to ascend to the throne he'd worked so hard to claim. Like a stone cast into a still pond, the aftereffects of today’s events would be far-reaching indeed. It would not be long before the foolish ambitions of the Supreme Families came to a head, each one seeking to dominate the others in a war fought in the shadows. From there, their conflicts would inevitably spill out into the light, where they would soon divide the Empire itself in a bitter war for the throne. The once pristine fields of the Eastern Province would be ravaged by war once more, bringing blood and death to the rolling hills and flowing rivers of this Sovereign’s home state of Qin and beyond, lands which had sat peaceful for so long. They knew not the price this Sovereign paid for such peace, knew not the loss and devastation the coming war would bring or the sacrifices such an all-encompassing conflict would demand. It was impossible to claim that they were all entirely ignorant of which way the winds blew, and the Five Families were no doubt already preparing for the coming internal conflict, but numbers on parchment meant nothing compared to the countless lifetimes of experience under this Sovereign’s belt.

No doubt Liang Wu Di thought himself clever and had contingencies in place to see that he would become the next Emperor and reach the Heavens in a single bound, but it mattered not. Whatever schemes he played or tiles he’d hidden away, it was all but guaranteed that he would underestimate his rivals. The Five Supreme Families had prospered since the founding of the Empire, and each had their own hidden secrets just waiting to be unveiled. Countless generations of wealth and nepotism allowed the Liangs to win over the outer provinces, but coin was a weapon far too ineffective and unwieldy to reliably secure the throne for long, for greed would bring about their downfall before long. As for the Yangs, their progress in Runic talismans was far more reliable, having led to the development of cheap and easily produced paper scripts which could be torn apart to unleash a myriad of different and potentially devastating effects. Not quite as devastating as Falling Rain’s Runic Cannons, which the Yang Runic Craftsmen were no doubt scurrying to replicate even now, but the paper talismans had their own strengths which made them useful in other ways. Then there was the Xing Family’s hidden death soldiers, fanatical Warriors raised in secret using forbidden training methods developed by their founding Ancestor, the Martial God Xing Wushen, methods which drew upon one’s Prana to boost one’s strength at a significant cost of lifespan and potential. In manpower alone, the Xing Family was the equal to all four other families combined, yet only a quarter of their strength was visible from the surface, with another quarter subtly hinted at in order to keep others from looking too closely. The Tian Family assassins were another open secret, but little did the other Supreme Families know about the spies embedded within their midst, families of agents and informants who could trace their lineage back a hundred generations within the various Supreme Families themselves. Should any of the Supreme Families even consider turning against them, the Tian’s would know the moment the matter was even brought up in discussion, and in war, information was a potent weapon greater than any sword or spear, to say nothing of all the potential hidden daggers nestled within the strongholds and safeguards of the other Families.

Then there was the Di Family, who appeared like the weakest of the Five Families but wielded political power unmatched. In truth, it didn’t matter what weapons the Di Family kept hidden away, for their coveted ability to cultivate Spiritual Plants and Spiritual Beasts made them indispensable allies to every other Supreme Family, yet the same could not be said in reverse. Should the Di Family ever intend to make a bid for supremacy, they would find allies aplenty outside the Five Supreme Families by simply offering to share their bounty, or possibly even their secrets should circumstances become dire enough to warrant it, and even dragons would eventually fall to fang and fury when faced with wolves in numbers enough.

Yes, this decade leading up to the succession of the throne would be a tumultuous one indeed, culminating in the eruption of a civil war that would sweep across the length and breadth of the Empire and leave peace but a forgotten memory. Falling Rain claimed this Sovereign had lost sight of his Path, that he believed the Empire prosperous only because he himself had never experienced true prosperity, but the transmigrator had similarly never known the true horrors of war. The depictions within his memories lacked the raw authenticity of a first-hand experience, for in those scenes, war was glorious, honourable, and necessary, but humans were creatures of conflict and competition even when there was plenty for all to share. This war against the Defiled was the bloodiest in living memory, yet it paled in comparison to even a minor border conflict between two unremarkable kings in the days of this Sovereign’s youth. There’d been few Martial Warriors then, so armies were largely comprised of callow youths of meagre strength carrying spears they barely knew how to wield, going up against other youths who would much rather be home with their families.

Which made for a bloody, chaotic conflict wherein the victors were largely determined by luck and happenstance rather than skill and tactics, or at least it was so until this Sovereign took to the field and changed the landscape of war.

Falling Rain was outraged by the death and suffering of this Sovereign’s Empire, but little did the optimistic fool know how blessed he was to have been born in this era as opposed to the Warring States. How many conflicts had this Sovereign’s continued presence prevented since he united the provinces? How many lives were saved because fathers, brothers, and sons were free to stay home with their families instead of being conscripted to wars fought by bloodthirsty kings? This was the rationale for his existence as the Eternal Emperor, for others lacked the strength necessary to keep all sides in check, a fact Falling Rain overlooked in his desire to reshape this world into a mirror of the one he’d transmigrated from. Might makes right, so this Sovereign would use his strength to show the world and Falling Rain both that his Path was correct, one which would lead him past the pinnacle of the Dao to ascend to a higher plane of existence.

There was one fact this Sovereign could not deny however, one truth he had no choice but to accept, that he had long since stalled in his Path. Following the successful unification of the provinces and the eradication of the outlanders, he’d grown complacent and was all too happy to maintain the current state of affairs while resting on his laurels and waiting for Insight and Enlightenment to present themselves to him. This would change soon enough, for he knew the error of his ways and had taken steps to correct them, no longer valuing the complete perspective of others as highly as he once had. Though he still intended to uncover all of Falling Rain’s secrets and study them in depth, as well as the secrets of so very many other prospective talents, like the Medical Saint, this generation’s True Divine Musician, the Abbot Akupara, and of course, Falling Rain’s dog, the Predator, this Sovereign was doubtful they would provide him with the answers he sought.

No, the knowledge he needed was most likely to be found in the memories of this Sovereign’s Natal Soul, of this, there could be no doubt. There was much to be gleaned from studying Zhen Shi’s progress and the trials and tribulations he overcame along his Path, for his attainments had been accrued over long millennia of incremental progress with decisions made in accordance with this Sovereign’s own perspective. Though their experiences differed greatly ever since their separation, this Sovereign’s Natal Soul offered him a glimpse at how his Path would have developed had he failed to unite the provinces under his rule. Because of this, he somewhat sympathized with his Natal Soul, for it was indeed true that they had once been one and the same, but their reunion did not necessarily mean the death of the entity known as Zhen Shi. This was not an end, but a new beginning, one they would embark on together as the complete person they always should have been. Not as Soul and Natal Soul, but as the Eternal Emperor who bears the title of Divine True Corpse. All these long millennia of suppression and safekeeping had amounted to naught, so it was high time this Sovereign tried a different tack, one brought to him by his Natal Soul who’d stumbled across potential unlimited and power untapped. This Sovereign had given this Empire countless lifetimes of service, kept his people safe and sound beneath his guiding hand, but he’d gained nothing from all his effort save for the contempt of his ‘most loyal’ subjects. Thus, he would seek to recoup his losses in another way, and take back all the years of peace and prosperity he’d bestowed upon them, for he would be their shepherd no longer and return to his roots as a dragon among men, one who would use his rebellious subjects to fuel his ascent into the Heavens.

Yes, yes, he could see the Path unfolding before him, each step laid out in crystalline clarity as he organized his pieces and arranged them on the figurative chessboard of the world in preparation of taking on the Five Supreme Families, the Imperial Clan, and the outer provinces all at once. Though he’d sworn an Oath to no longer meddle in the affairs of the Supreme Families, this was contingent on the premise that they paid no mind to him and his, yet he was the Eternal Emperor, Heaven’s Chosen Son, meaning everything under the Heavens was his birthright. The moment Liang Wu Di or another rival claimant publicly ascended to the throne, they will have impugned upon that which rightfully belonged to this Sovereign, and in doing so free him from the shackles of his Oath exactly as planned.

Yes, these ten years would be most fruitful indeed, and his patience would be well rewarded. First, he needed to secure Falling Rain, then come back to collect the others who’d caught his eyes, before closing himself off to contemplate his findings and solidify his foundations for what would come next. Then, while the Supreme Family exposed their strengths and expended it upon themselves, this Sovereign would quietly make plans to harvest the lives of his citizens to seek Insight in their torment and suffering, slowly gathering his strength and putting his pawns in place before enacting a massacre unlike anything this Empire had ever seen. Oh how sweet it would be, the entirety of the outer provinces consigned to death and suffering in an orgy of debauched depravity, a ritual of slaughter and sacrifice which would throw back the veil covering the secrets of Heaven for his full review.

This Sovereign would use the blood of billions to cleanse himself of the red dust of this mortal world before Ascending to the next, a world of Immortals within a higher realm of existence which he would then conquer in turn.

The details still needed to be pieced together, but ten years was time enough with the foundation laid by this Sovereign’s Natal Soul. Even as the plan came together in mind however, an obstacle cropped up in his Path as Falling Rain harmonized his breathing with the rhythm of the world and moved forward on his Path towards Nascent Immortality. The Energy of the Heavens surged and swelled like a drunk sailor in the midst of a barroom brawl, leaving this Sovereign no choice but to release his grip upon Falling Rain’s throat. In merging his body, mind, and soul with the Heavens to Ascend to Divinity or Nascent Immortality, the very space around Falling Rain became inviolable to all, a Law even this Sovereign could not breach, leaving him naught to do but stew in his rage while watching his foe Ascend.

No matter though, for even if the transmigrator could mend the flaws of his fractured Path and become a Nascent Immortal in truth, he would still be ten-thousand years too early to defeat this Sovereign, but he had not lived so long by taking risks. Proclaiming his intention to resume hostilities and freeing himself from his Oath of accord, this Sovereign set his Will to Concealing the incident from the feeble mortals below, though no amount of effort could hide this from the Divinities gathered in and around Shi Bei, nor did he try to. The battle between Divinities in Shi Bei came to a standstill, for even the Ascended Transcendents could sense the secrets of the Dao hiding within the chaotic turmoil of Heavenly Energy centred around Falling Rain, a fortuitous encounter for all involved.

Including this Sovereign, but there were more pressing matters to attend to. While the soldiers battled against the Ascended Transcendents for the useless prize of Shi Bei and the gathered Divinities watched the Ascension with bated breath, this Sovereign committed it all to memory while carrying out a multitude of tasks necessary to seize victory from the jaws of disaster. First, he seized control of the Transcendent Divinities with a focused effort of Will, then made contact with the allies gathered by his Natal Soul, organizing them all to ready a barrage of attacks meant to claim Falling Rain’s life the moment his Ascension completed. A precautionary measure, since there was a good chance the transmigrator would fail and die in the process, for his attainments in this life were far too shallow to offer any real hope of success. Since that was the case, this Sovereign no longer cared to capture his foe alive, because much as it would pain him to lose so complete a specimen, Falling Rain’s soul would provide perspective enough to make up for this Sovereign’s losses.

Balance settled upon his shoulders like a cloak draped over his very being, his calm returned to him now that his Natal Soul had been placated and his Path forward made clear, so he allowed himself a small smile of satisfaction in celebration. The plan was coming together and his pieces all falling into place, so this Sovereign readied to act in the moment of Falling Rain’s success or failure, and then move forward from there.

For he was the Eternal Emperor, the Chosen Son of Heaven, a man who would Ascend to True Divinity or destroy the world in his attempt.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

As the secrets of the Heavens unveil themselves before me and I proceed along my Path, it takes an effort of Will not to hide my face in my palms and utter a groan of unmitigated regret.

All this time, I’ve been so close, and yet so far from the truth, the answers all laid out for me to take in hand, except I was never able to put it all together in a way I could understand. Balance is a part of it, but not just the internal Balance of a single individual, for though we each must forge our own Path, we are never truly alone. The Heavens have always been here to guide us, but not in the way I expected, wherein an omnipotent being is sitting on high and doling out hints for us meagre mortals to pursue. No, the information we’ve all needed has been here all along, sitting there right in front of our eyes, only in a form we’ve been unable to make sense of. The secrets of Heaven have been baked into our very existence, waiting for someone, anyone to slowly unravel, and the answers are all made clear as I Refine my body, mind, and soul to completion without having to direct a single action or understand what’s happening.

But this knowing without knowing comes not from the Heavens above, nor is it the Mother’s voice whispering to me from on high or the Father’s minions empowering me to better serve His needs. No, the information all comes from within, from my body, mind, and soul itself, in a form I even recognize and am familiar with. The memories of my previous life tell me that humanity had already stumbled across these secrets and given them a name, the blueprints of life itself. Deoxyribonucleic Acid, or more simply, DNA, but what the people of my past life have yet to discover is that there are counterparts to the mind and soul as well. It's that simple. All the information we could ever need, hidden within every cell and constituent part of our body, minds, and souls. Even in my past life, humanity was a long way away from unlocking all the secrets hidden within our genetic code, and I myself am nowhere close to smart enough to figure it out on my own, but I don’t have to. I have the limited omniscience of the Heavens on my side, which enables me to make use of this information hidden in plain sight to Refine my body, mind, and soul to the pinnacle of human potential. It’s like a cipher to the code which doesn’t really tell me anything in a language I understand, and it is both beautiful and frustrating at the same time.

The tale has been stolen; if detected on Amazon, report the violation.

There are no long, drawn out explanations regarding what I must do, no measurements or ratios to adhere to, no numbers provided to give me perspective on how much I’ve improved, or how the physical and spiritual are able to merge into something that is of both worlds and neither. Instead, there is only a sense of right and wrong as I muddle through this Refinement in a wholly natural and instinctive manner, with my Will providing the impetus, my DNA providing the blueprints, and the Energy of the Heavens doing all the heavy lifting, in a manner similar to how Panacea Heals without any real direction.

No, not Panacea, but stem cells, meaning Heavenly Energy might well be the ‘stem cells’ of the universe. Not electrons, neutrons, protons, or whatever, for those form the building blocks of reality, but the Energy of the Heavens are the building blocks of all creation, which includes the physical and metaphysical both. Hence why I’m able to Refine my Mind and Body as well, but I know even less regarding those subjects and can only watch without any understanding whatsoever. This is how Ping Ping Ascended, how Buddy created his body from scratch, and now I follow in their footsteps to Ascend to Divinity and perhaps become the first Ancestral Human in existence, without really knowing what in the fuck is going on. My connection to the Heavens can’t tell me if there have been others before me, because the Heavens don’t understand what being an Ancestral Human means, which is why I called this limited omniscience ‘limited’ to begin with. It has all the information regarding everything that has ever happened, and could accomplish almost anything with the right impetus, but there is a failure to communicate between myself and the Heavens, a fundamental difference in understanding. I, being a lowly mortal, require structured words and explanations in order to know what is happening, but the Heavens only require incentive. This is a natural force, one I have harnessed with my Will without truly understanding it, the same way you can use fire to cook without really knowing the science of what’s happening.

That being said, as my Refinement progresses, I find myself uncovering the buried memories of the first time I experienced this returning to me in full, and I curse myself for not figuring it all out sooner. I’m not talking about my depressive breakdown in JiangHu, because even though I wielded power unmatched, that was merely a fraction of the power I hold now. The difference lies in the approach, for in JiangHu, I divested myself of emotions and fed them to the Heavens, like a fisherman putting bait on a hook and dragging his line through the waters. Here today in Shi Bei, I have given the Heavens nothing and merely opened myself to them as I struggle against and surrender to emotion in whole, completing the first milestone along my new Path which I started in Meng Sha. This is what it means to Shatter the Void, wherein I lower the barriers between my body, mind, and soul to Refine them all and become One in every sense of the word, merging the physical and metaphysical to create a Spiritual System and open up my Spiritual Senses. One with the Heavens, a big first step to take, wherein you start off as a mortal residing in the physical realm possessing a soul populating the spiritual, linked by a mind that is part and parcel of them both. By Refining these three distinct segments of self into one however, you then become something more than mortal, a denizen of the physical and spiritual realms both, with the foundation necessary to progress along the Path to True Divinity.

And now, with this first step finally complete, I continue to open myself up to the Heavens in a bid to become One with the World, discarding my individual oneness to become a greater part of a whole.

This is the second milestone along my new Path, but even knowing everything I know in this very moment, with the limited omniscience of the Heavens to help guide my comprehension, I still find it difficult to describe the process in a way my mortal mind could fully comprehend. There are just so many ideas and concepts unfolding behind the scenes to make this happen, ideas and concepts which I don’t even have words to define. I understand how my body, mind and soul united as one, became more than the physical or spiritual vessels they previously were, but what is the word to define the process of a metaphysical spirit sublimating to take on physical characteristics? What about the reverse, wherein my physical body takes on spiritual characteristics? This blending of the physical and metaphysical, the material and immaterial, reality and the Void, it all took place once before when I Shattered the Void to Refine my body, mind, and spirit, and now it’s happening again only on a much grander scale as I tap into the cosmos in a way I never knew was possible.

Because before, I was me, Falling Rain, and everything that entailed, but now I am also a fraction of a whole.

Not in the sense of a whole person, or even an entity, but a rather a part of the world. Yes, I was a part of the world before, but this world exists in more than just the physical. Reality and the Void are connected together in more than just a passing sense, but rather they are interwoven together so tightly that they might as well be one and the same. It shouldn’t surprise me, seeing how Zhen Shi was able to dispatch Gen’s Soul to contact me from so far away, and in turn guide my soul over into his Natal Palace after a little bit of trickery and deception, and yet I find it difficult to wrap my mind around the concept. It was easy enough to envision reality and the Void as two separate planes of existence, perhaps even with one layered atop the other like strata in a cake, but now I see that this is not the case, because they are no more separate than my body, mind, and soul, wherein reality and the Void are two separate realms, yet melded together in a way I cannot entirely define.

It's like how everyone refers to ‘Heaven and Earth’ like it’s one thing, meaning everything within this world, a single, interconnected system that appears to be divided in two parts, but the distinction is no more real than arbitrary lines drawn on a map. Buddy gets it, which is how he’s able to move in reality and jump over to the Void without thinking twice to escape danger at any time, and technically, I should now be able to do the same, but seeing how even Zhen Shi and the Eternal Emperor haven’t shown signs of such mastery of space, I reckon it’s a concept far beyond my meagre understanding.

What I do know of this One with the World is that I have now become intrinsically linked to the world around me. Not just the physical world, but the metaphysical world too, as they overlap and come together all throughout reality and the Void at the same time. I am still me, and the world is still the world, and the Void still the Void, yet I understand the part I play in all this a little better. Not enough to even begin to define my purpose or place, but enough to know that I have one, and it is wherever I will make it. If the world were a human body, then I would be one of a bajillion cells, one which has not yet specialized to become a part of an organ, a specific tissue, or any other specific purpose, but that doesn’t mean I don’t have one. I am here to find and fulfil my purpose, and whatever I choose to do will become that purpose, for I am a part of this world and I always have been.

It’s not the purpose I yearned for whilst grieving my lost brother, nor the purpose I questioned while suffering in the mines, but it is still a purpose all the same, one I am free to define. Not right now, and perhaps not ever, if I should so choose not to, but the choice is still mine all the same.

In discovering this Oneness, I harmonize my everything to the rhythm of the world, not just the tempo of my breathing or the cadence of my thoughts, but with every fibre of my being as I meld seamlessly into the flow of the world in a myriad of inexplicable and ineffable ways. Before, I was a ship being cast about on stormy seas, but now I have melded with the currents and can navigate them as I please, able to become One with the World and separate from it as needed. In response to this change, I am more in tune with the Energy of the Heavens surging through me, which is now Cleansing my Refined body, mind, and soul and improving it in every way, widening the channels of my Spiritual System and strengthening the muscles of my body along a myriad of other things, all in preparation of the power I will one day wield.

An effect that is only possible because I have become One with the Heavens and One with the World, for reasons I cannot quite understand, yet make perfect sense to me, like two pieces that fit so perfectly together the appear as if they were made to connect.

As mentioned before, this is the second milestone along my path, one of gathering and amassing not the Energy of the Heavens, or even of emotion to wield it, but of something else, a higher form of energy which I can just barely perceive as it courses through me and enacts changes beyond my scope of comprehension. Though still One with the Heavens and One with the World, I sense a qualitative change in the Energy of the Heavens as it cycles through my Cleansed Spiritual System, through all the minor and major passages I carved out when Shattering the Void. There is a growth associated with this flow, an accumulation and sense of amassing power with each complete revolution, revolutions somehow linked to my state of mind, my state of Balance, and the physical act of breathing which I’ve synced with the rhythm of the world itself. The vast majority of Heavenly Energy passes through me like water through a sieve, yet something of itself is left behind, a miniscule, almost negligible fraction of a fraction which contains unfathomable power hidden within, power which has always been there, yet I have only now become aware of.

Power which might well escape if I do not take measures to contain it, and just like that, the next step comes to mind and I set out to take it in stride.

One with the Heavens and One with the World saw me become part of something greater than myself, but I aspire to be more than a mere cog in the system. That’s how the Heavens sees us mortals and beasts, as beings who play a vital role yet individually are wholly replaceable parts in the all-encompassing machine that is reality and the Void both. For most living creatures, they are born, they live, they die, and little to nothing changes, which is exactly as intended, but humans are unique in that they possess the potential to achieve so much more. For better or for worse, to such extremes that we could very well become world breakers or world creators, wielding the twin energies of Creation and Destruction alongside whatever else lies within reach, but such extremes are too far away for me to consider just yet. Instead, I need to learn how to hold onto this power bestowed upon me, the meagre fractions of unfathomable potential currently drifting aimlessly on the currents of my Spiritual System. Invisible, intangible, and almost indecipherable from the Energy of the Heavens themselves, I nonetheless can differentiate the two and set my Will to gather all this power in one place. Where will I keep it? In my Core of course, a golden orb of Domain condensed from my body, mind, and soul, but not one meant to contain the Energy of the Heavens. No, my golden Core remains permeable to the Heavens and the world around me so as not to affect the flow, yet its borders are impermeable to the nameless power I can only barely perceive. This is only possible because I have achieved One with the Self, to contain without containing in order to keep what is needed and let go of the rest. Within my Core lies a realm within a realm and a plane within a plane, seamlessly divided and connected again to create a Core that is not a Core, a distinct Domain in which my Authority reigns supreme, and my Authority alone, without ever disconnecting from reality and the Void itself.

How does it work? Fuck if I know, but in my Domain, I make the rules, meaning that if I should one day amass power enough, my Core might well transform into a world unto itself, one bound not by the laws of physics, thermodynamics, or any other physical or spiritual laws, but rather by laws set down by my Will.

Not something I can accomplish any time soon, or perhaps even ever, but still a possibility to keep in mind, for I see now that what lies at the end of my Path goes beyond True Divinity, with the potential to become a god myself. Which leads me to wonder if I was wrong. Maybe the Emperor didn’t come up with the Mother and Father. Maybe they did truly exist, though I doubt they care much about the world they left behind. Even if there are deities out there who came from this world, they are not the all-knowing, all-powerful gods I would imagine. They’d just be normal, everyday people who surpassed the limits of mortality to become something more, beings so powerful I can only imagine the limits of their strengths.

Or maybe this universe is merely a world within the Core of a being so powerful I cannot even begin to comprehend its existence, and to Ascend beyond the limits of this world is the process of being born into the next, the world of the existence I cannot comprehend. Who knows.

This is the third milestone along my Path, and for creatures like Buddy, Pong Pong, and Ping Ping, the last milestone in theirs, for though they are capable of taking this step, they lack the ambition to pursue the next. This isn’t a knock at animals, merely an indisputable fact, because why else would so many animals choose to remake themselves in the image of humans if not for this limitation? No, this isn’t right, because all Paths lead to the Dao, so who am I to say there is no Path forward for Divine Beasts? I merely cannot see what it might be, nor am I able to sense the next milestone for me as the surging Energy of the Heavens slows to a trickle and signals the beginning of the end. This is as far as I can go for now, but there is most certainly still a long way to go from here, just as soon as I figure out the right path to take. Even as I resign myself to accepting the facts as they are however, a fire erupts within me and sets the Energy of the Heavens to churning once more, a fire of indomitable Will born of need and desperation for I will need more power still if I am to defeat the Eternal Emperor.

I can no longer afford to simply accept things as they come, for I am fighting not just for my life, but for the lives of everyone near and dear to my heart. For this reason, I draw upon what I learned from Akanai’s Ascension and continue to Refine my physique even further, pushing myself to the very limits of potential rather than accepting those imposed upon me by the Heavens above. There are people down in Shi Bei counting on me to lead them to victory, and I refuse to disappoint them with failure, but I cannot succeed without giving it my all. Even this continued Refinement is not enough, because if I should stop here and now and accept my progress as is, I will lose all the momentum I have already built up, and all that awaits me is inevitable defeat, so it’s high time I looked my fears in the eyes and pushed on through them regardless of my doubts and apprehensions. I am in control here, not my fear, so I will continue forward no matter the cost, because I cannot afford to do otherwise.

Except… how can I seize the power I need if I do not understand how to claim it? Even the limited omniscience of the Heavens is unable to provide me with the answer I seek, save to hint at the fact that it lies in this nameless, transcendent energy which supersedes even the Energy of the Heavens, yet is nothing like anything I understand. It’s not Life Force or Death Force, nothing like Sword Force or any other Weapon Force, lacking even any similarity to the eight basic Chi Skills which I now know represent the fundamental forces of the universe. This is something else entirely, something more, something unnatural and all-powerful, an indescribable, divine energy which I am not qualified to even guess what it might be, except that I know it is not something a mere mortal can wield.

So… Immortal Energy? Though the Abbot would disagree with me and say I am needlessly making the simple complex, I would argue that names have power. Not in the sense of summoning or controlling something with its name, but by bestowing a name upon this nameless energy makes it easier for me to conceptualize and analyze with my feeble mortal brain. It’s the same reason why I feel the need to differentiate between Chi and Heavenly Energy, Water Chi and Chi Tea, and Sword Force versus Spear, Sabre, or any other Weapon Force, because the name helps me keep it all apart.

What’s in a name? Well, a distinctive and hopefully unique qualifier that makes it easier to talk about than simply describing the concept in its entirety each and every time, so Immortal Energy it is.

The Immortal Energy I possess isn’t enough to even fill a thimble, or at least that’s what it feels like to my admittedly untrained Spiritual Senses, yet I trust my gut feelings which tell me there’s something familiar about this Immortal Energy, something I’ve come into contact with before. There’s a short list of possibilities for where I might have encountered something like this, a list that starts and ends with Blobby. Once that connection is made, it’s a simple effort to ask Buddy if he has any advice to share, though it takes some effort to figure out how. As my dog digs his paws in the sand out of utter frustration since the old wolf is no longer willing to lead the charge against the delicious and dangerous Demon snacks just idling nearby, I send him the tiniest bit of Immortal Energy I have to see how he’ll react. Unsurprisingly, my dog’s first response is to ask if I have anything for him to eat, and his second to inquire if I could go get him something to eat, since the food is right there just waiting to be eaten. Not exactly useful, but also not entirely unexpected as I endeavour to struggle and surrender to Balance to keep the torrential waves of Heavenly Energy surging through me.

It appears that Buddy doesn’t really care for Immortal Energy, meaning the same goes for Blobby inside him, or merged with him or whatever. Still not entirely clear on that, and the Heavens have no answers for me, but I have more pressing questions to unravel, namely how in the fuck am I supposed to use Immortal Energy and how do I get more of it quickly? As far as I can tell, the next milestone most definitely has something to do with Immortal Energy, a milestone I hope to achieve here and now, but alas, I am at a complete loss on what to do next. Why doesn’t Blobby care for Immortal Energy? I’m pretty sure there was some scattered within the usable Heavenly Energy he left for me to use, yet why would he discard so valuable a resource? Or am I looking at things from the wrong perspective? Maybe Blobby wasn’t discarding it per se, but rather the Immortal Energy was simply a by-product of the process he used to turn Spectres and Demons into Heavenly Energy, and he shows no interest because he himself is an entity of Immortal Energy and has as much as he could ever need? Yea, that makes more sense, because Blobby’s usable Heavenly Energy was no different from ambient Heavenly Energy, but it was separated from the cumulative ‘mass’ of Heavenly Energy for reasons unknown, so maybe this Immortal Energy is the reason for it, like adding a powder to dirty water to make all the dirt and particulate sink, which is something that happens which I can’t really explain. This means that Immortal Energy should theoretically enable me to wield Heavenly Energy with a higher degree of precision and control than what mere Will can afford me. Course, there’s only one way to prove that theory right or wrong, so I might as well get to it then. I mean, what’s the worst that could happen?

…I am defeated and my soul kept prisoner in a torturous dream world alongside the souls of everyone I love and care about. So yea… don’t fuck this up?

Unwilling to just let go of the surging waves of Heavenly Energy, I set my sights on the battle still unfolding below and sever a whole host of Natal Souls without a second thought before dispatching them to lend aid to the battle below. Unlike before however, I feel no significant drain on my Life Energy and suffer no ill-effect from the severing, though I’m unsure if this is because I was able to gather Life Energy as part of my Ascension and just never noticed, or if Pong Pong gave me so much that I haven’t noticed the loss. I don’t blame the little guy for legging it, and I never have, but his gift of Life Force pretty much cements him as the best bro ever. Pong Pong already went above and beyond in his duties as a Divine Turtle and close friend, so wherever he is, I wish him all the best.

Tearing my focus away from the battle below, I turn to face my foe while wracking my brain for something clever to quip. Round…. Like eight or something now, is a possibility, though the number might be higher, since I stopped keeping track a while ago. Nah, too overused and too indefinite, since I’ll probably die of embarrassment if the Eternal Emperor corrects me. Something about weight classes, or seeing how it is to pick on someone his own size? Nope, too arrogant, and worse, I’ll look so stupid if he immediately smacks me down. How you like me now? I’d probably be met with silence and confusion, though to be honest, even having given the reference myself, I wouldn’t know how to respond if I were in the Eternal Emperor’s shoes.

Things would be so much easier if I had a cigarette, because then I could take my time lighting it while I come up with something to say.

Having settled on a nonsensical statement of, “Yippie Kayaks Other Buckets,” I open my mouth to deliver the line only to suck in a deep breath of surprise as a volley of powerful, reality shattering attacks are directed my way. A welcoming gift from the waiting Defiled and Demonic Divinities, one which takes shape before my enhanced Spiritual Senses to reveal the destructive energies contained within. Dark Domains imbued with lethal intent manifest as glinting claws, shimmering swords, incandescent talons, and other shimmering effects as the attacks converge upon me, none of which are visible to the human eye yet are revealed to my senses in a way my mind can comprehend. There are varying degrees of danger to each of these attacks, and as I seek out an answer as to how to defend myself, I find that the limited omniscience I relied upon to Ascend to Divinity has been lost to me in my distraction, an outcome which should have been wholly expected yet surprises me all the same. Though it all takes some time to describe, and I am able to process it all in extensive detail, there is nothing I can do but stand frozen in shock as my inevitable death draws near, one ensured by the formidably dense, fist-shaped construct launched by the Eternal Emperor containing a myriad of deadly forces that congeal into a deathly, destructive mass just ready to explode.

And the worst part? If I were the Eternal Emperor, this would be the perfect opportunity to make some crack about fisting my opponent. That sounds wrong now that I think about it, but in my head, it’s fricking hilarious, but possibly only because I’m in abject denial of my impending death.

I always knew that people calling me the ‘undying’ would come back to bite me in the ass one day…

Chapter Meme 1

Chapter Meme 2

Chapter Meme 3