Clutching the gourd from the side of his belt, Quan gulped down all of its content. He swiped his mouth with the sleeve of his robe and placed it back.

‘’Now, city lord.’’ He turned around to look at Sid, who stood there while clasping his hands for some time. I can’t believe I agreed to do this. He sighed.

‘’I wish you good luck on your quest, master Quan. I apologize for pushing a task like this on you.’’ Sid gave another bow, a junior’s bow. Cole and the entourage of thirty behind him sent apologetic glances towards their lord.

‘’Emperor might not listen to my words, or don’t heed the Cindersnow’s orders.’’ Quan warned again. ‘’And if that is the case, I won’t care about the lives of anyone but my disciples.’’

‘’I understand- that is why I put my trust in you master Quan.’’ Sid rose from his bow and flashed a serene smile. ‘’I know you will treasure your disciple enough to rush back.’’

‘’That is what you do for a family, no?’’

‘’Of course.’’ Sid then took a step back and motioned the guards atop the walls to open the gates. With clicks and creaks the gateway rose, and in front came together with it the now deserted merchant road. Desolate and chilling. Piled up snow at the side of the road did not help to reduce the creeping sensation of loss to the entourage.

‘’May the light be with you.’’

‘’May the light be with you all.’’ Quan responded. With a swish of his sleeve, he mounted the four-legged rhino beast and departed. The entourage of thirty followed behind after bidding farewell to their lord.

As they left the territory’s perimeter, Quan increased their speed. The beast’s speed equaled to a second path establishing cultivator, so it would take at most five days to reach Karnival.

Quan had his own reasons to use the beast to travel rather than flying. His Qi usage put a huge burden on him, even flying for a relatively low span of time, and using a beast would be both more comfortable and easier. Not gathering much attention was another point he and the city lord had to be careful of.

The most important one was, however, the gloomy feeling he felt for some time. The first time he caught the aura traces of the six forsakens, he felt some ominous feeling. A shudder, a primordial instinct of all humans greeted him. None of those six could threaten him so much that his survival instincts would kick in.

That meant something hid from him, and it made so very good.

Fearing from that unknown played most of the role in accepting City Lord’s request. ‘’Barrier is weak-’’ He said, ‘’Weaker than we supposed it to be. We can survive, but not everyone. I need help and your sect doesn’t value us enough to bother.’’

He told the truth. Sect’s whole doctrine was about itself. The Cindersnow comes first, then second, then third. One Cindersnow disciple was worth a thousand members of the other sects and worth ten thousand of a mortal population. Self-preservation and protecting the well-being of the disciples always came before all other priorities of the sect. Sect did not like unloyal or traitorous, yet the sect also did not mind lunatics or slaughterers. All it mattered, in the end, was whether one stood at the side of the sect.

The sect’s biggest enemy in this regard was the empires. In a sense, they weren’t empires too. Being a tributary to the sect leveled down any dignity they had but preserving their honor was an important part of soothing their relationship. So, these so-called fake empires harbored a grudge against the sect as well. This was, however, one of the many things that made the sect a presumptuous organization in the eyes of people who believed they were chosen by the heavens to rule.

And what would you do to someone you hated deep from your bones yet didn’t have the power to defy? You would resist. You would resist with everything you got without warranting instant death, and you would definitely take joy from that. That joy, that spark of happiness inside your heart then would light a fire people called resistance. An unrelenting, hatred fuelled fire of resistance.

So what obvious choice would the sect take when another organization burned with such flames, refused to comply with its will,(Or simply annex and take all its assets in the sect’s own constitution. The sect chose their words carefully.) and put up a resistance? Resilience from the crown, of course, affected the most in the decisions of the sect but general fame and rumors circulating around the citizens likewise decided the course of action. When a ruler couldn’t control their subjects and their mouth, when the sect caught wind of what they had in their sly minds, the process was easy to guess.

The sect would take control of the court, invade the personal space of the emperor, decrease the crown’s control on the populace, and destroy whatever was left of their royal blood. They chose who ruled, after all, and that someone always had to be related to Cindersnow. After that, the competition for the crown prince position turned into a rivalry to see who could seduce the sect as an individual and Emperors hated that. Royal family hated that. Court as well hated that. Countermeasures existed indeed, but how useful were they? None. And the sect couldn’t be barred from storming into the chambers of a rebellious emperor and killing them on the spot.

Outrage? It was not a problem. A few pieces of soulstone and a hanging head at the gates of a capital solved everything.

It was as easy as that.

So Quan sighed. A long, deep, sorrowful sigh he let out of his dry lips. The two-star dynasty was in such a situation right now. Perhaps this year’s frenzy helped them to sit on their throne for a longer time but most definitely, after spring, they would abdicate their throne.

Knowing that, would they really listen to his words? Words of a slave, a slave from Cindersnow, from the damned place they faced suffering for more than millennia.

No, they wouldn’t.

But they would listen to the City Lord’s. They would listen to Sid Starlight’s pleas for help. They wouldn’t stand so heartless against their own blood and flesh, their own citizens. So when Quan drifted in front of the group, forcing the rhino beast to rush amidst the piles of snow with every ounce of its energy, he felt like a villain.

After all, his role wasn’t of an envoy.

He was a threat.

*********

‘’Now watch-’’ Ubel stood alongside Kowalski on the northern section of the walls. They watched the class president move the new product of the city, Spike Cannon, to the small crevice prepared to set up the artillery. She put down the thing and released the two small legs around its round tube. The metal leg like rods planted themselves on the hard surface of the walls with a shake.

‘’This helps them to stay unperturbed even when firing. It doesn’t even tremble!’’ She explained. ‘’You see this handle?’’ She pointed at a small, empty slot at the top of the tube shaped like a hexagon. Some kind of stick was placed inside the slot, and a wire escaped from its middle point into the cannon. ‘’When you pull it up, it gathers the natural Qi around it and cramps it all into a ball of energy. And when you release the handle it flows back into its place and boom! A flash of light then everything is gone.’’

‘’Sounds impressive,’’ Kowalski said as he looked further outside. Both his and Ubel’s heart shuddered at the sight of the once lush forests around the city, now nothing but ash and piles of burnt wood. ‘’These are your works?’’

‘’Of course! You should have seen the sight.’’ She exclaimed with a strange glint in her eyes. Ubel took a step back subconsciously. He got used to taking a step back whenever some strange fellow started to talk.

‘’We had seven of them on the walls. When all were prepared, we fired them on the patches of forest and some hills further on the way of the mountain. They disappeared in a second.’’ A strange smile crept on her face. ‘’I’m sure no beast can handle such power.’’

‘’Consumption must be high.’’ Ubel assumed. ‘’What will happen if they deplete the natural Qi around the city? We won’t have any way to replenish our own reserves. No lone cannon can compensate for that.’’

‘’You say the same thing with the lord,’’ Kowalski said. ‘’He also said that. But...he also said it wouldn’t be a problem this time.’’

‘’This time?’’

‘’They say he dumped every soulstone in his treasury down at the trenches below. Look-’’ Kowalski half-leaned towards the end of the walls and signaled down at the thirty-meters deep pits around the walls. ‘’You see those sparkling blue stones?’’

‘’They are bigger than the normal ones. He is being too generous.’’ Ubel had to commend the man.’’ Does holding them down inside earth help though?’’

‘’It does,’’ Class president answered this time. ‘’Amassed amount of Qi under the earth is plenty. Even more so when you go down further. This is also why volcanoes hold insane amounts of Qi inside their molten cracks and lava. It comes from deep below the earth after all.’’

‘’Well, understandable then.’’ Ubel held no more curiosity on the matter so he simply agreed. ‘’Kowalski, shall we go to the blacksmith?’’

‘’Oh sure. I wonder what that man did to your bow.’’ Kowalski seemed to hold a grudge against the man. Just for a sword-haha.

So they bid farewell to the class president and descended down from the stairs of the walls. Passing through the dozens of tents pitched right beside the steps, all assigned to different departments of the city, they walked for a while until they reached the gates of the smithy. This time Kowalski excused himself and told Ubel to go alone since he didn’t feel so good right now.

Ubel shook his head and stepped inside. The same sight and smell welcomed him, but this time an additional weapon hung on one of the empty holders. It was, as expected, a bow but, unexpectedly, not of steel but wood. He greeted the man working on the forge and came in front of the holder.

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Without any questioning, he reached out to the weapon and took it out of its place. The surface gleamed with a bright white with some thin green plate covering its grip. He touched the bowstring to see its elasticity but to his surprise, the string started to absorb some of his Qi at the moment of contact. Ubel didn’t retract his hands and let the thing continue. After sucking up one-twentieth of his Qi reserves, a dark purple aura spread over both limbs of the bow.

‘’Senior- may I ask what did you make this from?’’

‘’Nothing special,’’ Blacksmith replied without halting his movements. ‘’They brought some resilient wood from the mountain afar, and I used it with green steel.’’

‘’Then can I inquire about my gauntlets and-’’

‘’The halberd of the fellow outside? Sure. Follow me.’’ The man stood up. He led Ubel through one of the doors at the corner of the room into a wide warehouse. Insides were empty, only dust and some occasional webs adorned the space other than two pieces of equipment. One was a bright green glove, with some kind of leather inside the crevices of the fingers. Other a pitch black halberd.

Blacksmith picked them up from the ground and shoved them to Ubel’s face. ‘’Take them,’’ He said. ‘’That’s all.’’ Then left the room. Ubel looked at the man’s back for a moment, then followed him to the forge.

‘’Thank you senior.’’ He gave a bow to the man and took his leave. Outside, Kowalski took his weapon with a disappointed gaze and muttered some random things. Ubel had no interest in the unrecountable vulgar words so just offered to buy one of the pies he bought before to Kowalski. He happily agreed and followed Ubel.

After enjoying a meal and parting ways Ubel came back to their house before sunset.

‘’I’m back-’’ He called. No voice answered back. ‘’-Oh, wait.’’ Quan’s absence showed itself quite clear. Sighing, Ubel felt a bit thirsty and made his way to the kitchen to get something to drink. As he came inside, he found a cup of water on the table with a gourd of wine. Some bubbles formed above it, perhaps it stood there for some time.

Ubel pulled a chair to sit down and grasped the cup. After looking inside for a moment, he gulped down its contents...

*********

It was midnight when he came back to his senses. Ubel looked outside at the city, snow-filled, gloom-ridden. His premature third eye picked up more frequent traces of blood. Some people couldn’t control or postpone their greed and grievances even at the door of destruction. That wasn’t his problem though, it was the problem of whoever caused it.

Shaking his head, Ubel refocused on the internal structure of his body. His Qi flow was smooth, more so vibrant. Revolutions sent a slight tremor through his meridians every time they circled the organs and flesh inside.

Ubel felt something different inside his body while cultivating since he was a path finder. It was a tingling sensation, like an encroaching aura of danger tapped on his nerves every once in a while. It warned him of people, or presences even without opening his third eye or spreading his senses. The most appropriate name would be, if he had to name it, instinct.

They were strong, far stronger than ever. His survival instincts reached to a new height. The desire to live, the will to defy the heavens surpassed the point of ‘I don’t care’ and rose to a ‘Maybe it is worth considering’. It was hard to explain with words, or sounds, or senses. It was something one had to feel, and the only way to feel them were to throw himself in front of the danger he assumed.

This created a question in Ubel’s mind. Why Immortals sought more power? Ubel tried to find the reply by separating his life into three phases. The first phase was him living in the forest, the second one was his life on the mountain, and the third one was his life in Yadratafos.

With the passing of each phase, he spent lower amounts of time in further phases. Yet within those amounts of time, he changed things, many things. That begged another question, what changed? What forced his thinking from Not caring about death, to the I don’t really want to die? Why did he feel like it was more worthwhile to pursue a path filled with riddles and spikes and fires that burned people to their deaths rather than a simple life of a hunter?

First, he changed. His fundamental existence turned into something different. In the sect’s words, he transformed from a Mortal to now an Immortal. All it took for the sect to explain his definition of change was two letters, I and M. But was the reality that simple? It might be since he was capable of talking about those by letters himself. Yet he couldn’t just use two simple letters to explain himself, his thoughts, his examinations. He wouldn’t feel satisfied. It would feel empty, lacking. A half-assed, a vulgar word he chose to recount this time, explanation couldn’t help himself to understand it.

Then why didn’t he get on to that not lacking, not imperfect explanation? Ubel knew he was fooling around in his mind, going in circles. Because he couldn’t find the right consolation to his worries. He was incapable. He couldn’t do the same thing the sect had done with two words even while including possible thousands of words.

This pained him more than anything.

His change was not something he could explain, at least from outside. And inside? Impossible. His mind was his own, his secluded space. Whatever changed there, only he could know of it. And in the case he didn’t know what differed from the past and the future, who could? Some omnipresent omnipotent god?

Perhaps.

It all stemmed from the fact that Ubel was insecure about change, his own change. Immortality and mortality trod on a very thin line, and in between lay an empty space, a mystery. He feared from leaving his mortality, which meant forsaking his memories, yet he also wished for immortality, which meant going on the path of death.

He trod on none of those paths, he was stuck between. To go or not to go? He had to ask this question to himself. And when he asked, he got no answer. He was a forsaken, bereft of what heavens promised to others, lacking what heavens wished from immortals. Yet he was also a human, he certainly had traits the heavens set as a role model, capacity to reach to the point heavens wished its children to be at.

Villainous, one could only name as such. Who would be as cruel as to leave a child between two impossible choices? Only villains, of course.

So he changed, yet did not. He left the path of a mortal, trod on a mysterious domain between Im and Mortal, and stuck there. Left to his own choices, left to his own will. Left inside his personal, stuffed space we called the mind.

Ubel took a deep breath. Listening to his inner voice arguing with no present soul was intriguing, more so disturbing and exciting. It was another thing that it explained some things he wasn’t aware of himself and found it funny that such statements could be made with seriousness. Stuck between two paths, treading on a mysterious domain. Indeed sounds funny.

He chose to stick with it while cultivating, revolving his Qi with precise movements and filling up his cells with energy. For some reason, he felt a great deal of exhaustion while imagining the argument. The voice continued.

Then second, what pushed his thinking? To start from the beginning, a thought like Not caring about death never, ever existed in any human being. Never, there is no exception and it will never be. From the start of the first civilization to the current era, from the Nine Gods Of Deep Seas to the Four Sovereigns of Starry Sky, humanity always harbored that instinct we called Survival Instinct. Among other aspects of humanity, resilience, adaptability, intelligence, and many other fascinating ones, Instincts of survival always hid deeper than others.

Like a jade deep inside worthless soil.

No matter how useful the black earth is above, or how it could help to nurture trees, its value will always falter in front of the jade. Because it is hidden, because it only shows itself when needed the most. Because it is what pushed the first couple of illiterate cave people's illegible art to tens of story high buildings and wooden clubs to Divine Swords. Surviving always came on top, yet never showed its superiority.

This is why death was never left without care. Death garnered detesting, fear, joy, relief, regret. Death gained a multitude of aliases, Curse, God, End. Death presented many things, an end, a new path, a new choice, a despairing reality. Never even once death left itself to be forgotten, to be worthless, to be meaningless. And our survival instincts are what pushed the death to its current position.

These two create a balance, Instincts remind death, death activates instincts. Not perfect like yin and yang, nor a flawless whole like Im and Mortal. Yet it has a quality in it, something many fail to see. Ubel was one such person, unable to realize what it meant.

What helped him then? What was the driving force behind his improved understanding, his understandable accepting of death? It was what we spoke to him before, his treading on the mysterious domain. The reason he first chose to get on that thin line.

Cultivation!

Manuals have an exciting aspect to themselves. They represent a new possibility of reality, something kinds of Ubel perhaps never could have a chance of encountering without fate. Unimaginable power, near to six generations of lifespan, an opportunity to rise in the food chain. These three were the most prominent of realities before the era of Four Sovereigns. When they came into being, when the God Nation collapsed into nothing but fragments, and when, at last, two simple men bearing two elements picked up their leftover inheritance by the wills of heavens. It was then that those three changed.

The first realm of possibility turned from Unimaginable power to Imaginable responsibility. Power had to be constrained, not showed off and used to bow people down to one’s will. Abuse of power meant abuse of soul, and the soul was the foundation of everything.

The second realm of possibility turned from Generations Of Lifespan to Generations Of Generosity. In act and in action, one’s character was shaped by what deed they did and what good they accomplished. Those two men, wronged by the world and betrayed by anyone but each other, showed their own character as examples. The examples, alas, showed themselves not as generous but as callous.

Ubel flinched in his place. He looked down at his neck, at the slightly burning necklace of Evil. It is this thing that is talking? The voice continued without minding to his confusion.

The third realm of possibility turned from Rising In The Food Chain to Protecting The Food Chain. The two people, again, experienced under the cruel and villainous rule of the Nine Gods knew how to rise in such a system. And they rose. They rose so high that there were no more chains binding them, and they made it so that no one could escape like them again. They protected the chain, they kept the balance.

Yet this balance, as one would expect, not a stable one. So they created manuals, things that could flare up the instincts of men and agitate them into protecting each other. Cinder and Snow then broke their first rule, the first act of breaching of universal laws, and abused this aspect of manuals to enslave people.

Then men turned into beasts, capable of nothing but surviving and protecting each other. With this, the gate to the advancement of civilization was barred, and the First World was isolated as a failure.

Cinder and Snow, or Cindersnow, hence were regarded as Evil, or Bearer Of Seals. So Ubel is just another poor soul, on the path to becoming the slave of the Cindersnow.

This is the hidden reason and history behind his driving force, the change in his perception of death.

Ubel opened his eyes wide as a sealing mark seeped out of his glabella and flew on to his necklace, then merged with it. The burning sensation disappeared and Ubel stood rooted in his place, his mouth agape and sweat trickling down his forehead.

‘’The third?’’ Ubel asked aloud and clutched the necklace. ‘’What is the third?’’

‘’What is the truth!?’’ He asked when faced with no response. No ripple, no fluctuation, no trembling. Nothing.

‘’Give me the truth!...the truth?’’ Then he understood what happened.