An hour passed as Goldenseed inspected and experimented on the half-dead demon, and to Lu’s surprise she took his warnings seriously.
Not that he thought an Elder would be unwise; it was simply outside his usual experience that someone so powerful would obey his council. Her spiritual sense never once touched the thing, or even left the boundary of her body. She took samples of the soil and the air, had Elder Seventh Wheel cloak an area near the excavated hill from spiritual sight, and then set up a large black cauldron and began concocting.
She did not explain what she was doing, and it was so far above Lu’s middling understanding of alchemy that he couldn’t puzzle it out himself – seemingly random ingredients went in along with the black earth and ki-heavy air captured from around the slowly decaying corpse, the cauldron’s glowing soup turning a colour or mix of colours. And then the steaming liquid was discarded, and the process began anew.
A pit was dug with a wave of the Elder’s hand, and as time progressed it was filled to the brim with failed concoctions. Or at least, I assume they've failed. I can't imagine dumping out perfectly good ingredients, but perhaps an Elder's wealth is such that these are only like table scraps, not worth keeping. It was actually quite interesting; Lu’s Comprehension, either his true space-based one or the imparted foundation gifted by the psychic Grandmaster, had never reacted to alchemy before. But the burbling pool of heterogeneous gunk was suffused with ki, and not just the death-flavoured stuff that had gone in.
I can taste stone and wood, air and water. Fire, blood, earth, a hundred other flavours I can’t name… Is the alchemy changing the nature of the ki, or merely breaking down the complex ‘death’ into baser elements? Qi could take on elemental aspects, but these were unnatural states forced onto it by artificial manipulation. Qi in nature was pure and easily moulded into anything.
Ki was not like that; as far as Lu was aware, the closest to ‘pure’ ki was the self-consumption the Joeists practised, and there was no reason to believe that was the actual foundation.
Is it possible to use alchemy to change one sort of ki into another, reliably? Could I do that? If there was a way to get a steady source of spacial ki, he would be able to grow much faster than he could with just the fixed rate of his enchantment.
But eventually Goldenseed was done. The final concoction, a dark brown mixture that exuded an aura reminiscent of lye soap spiced with cinnamon, poured into the pit with the rest. The edge of the deep but small pool was a riot of chaotic ki, different combinations amalgamating and subverting and annihilating each other, and Lu felt like his Comprehension was being expanded just by being near the thing. The black soil where the ki fought had long since lost its deathly properties, taking on new ones or simply sitting inert, full of homogeneous waste.
“I am done.” Goldenseed’s flat words snapped Lu from his focus as she stowed her cauldron away, the interior not even slightly stained by the terrible and myriad things it had contained.
“Ah, did you discover anything interesting, Elder?”
Goldenseed’s eyes, a common brown at odds with her heavy and ornate robes, turned his way. “Too many to name. But not nearly as much as the body itself would provide.”
Around them things were arranging themselves, priestess Song’s eyes turning to molten orbs as she prepared to be the backup plan should Lu fail, Lady Rong positioning herself to the side where she could spring in without interference. Outside the barrier the rest of the group would be preparing their own measures, but those were beyond Lu’s sight.
He swallowed, some anxiety building in his chest. “I’ll try to leave it intact, but cannot promise anything.” Honestly, I’m not sure if I count as a real expert or not – I’m basically just floundering around, but at the same time I legitimately know the most about ki. I have no idea what will happen, but anyone else would somehow have even less of an idea. It would be terrifying if I stopped to consider the implications! “But if there aren’t any other matters, I’ll begin?”
He received two nods from the gold-clad women, while Lady Rong’s attention remaining fixed on the ki-emanating demon.
Alright then. Let’s hope I can actually follow through on my lofty words. Once again he stepped up onto the former hill, drawing close to the corpse. Once again he crouched and reached out, his fingertips nearly brushing against its spongy-looking surface. The splinter was held in his right hand, its connection to its brothers in Salt muted but present. The smallest traces of spacial ki mingled in a miasma of death, tiny pinpricks like the dimmest of stars on the horizon, the remnants of his earlier experimentation.
Once again he washed the corpse with ki, but this time the amount was incomparable. His stomach clenched, expelling almost everything he had into his channels and out from his hands, and within a second the death ki had stopped flowing.
Something moved, large but distant, a buried monster turning over in its sleep. The corpse, and the breach, were his now. For the moment. I don’t have much time. His ki moved into the pattern of Spacial Freeze, and all movement ceased. The corpse, which had been rotting at a glacial pace, was completely halted – where before it could have been called both alive and dead, now it was neither alive nor dead. Frozen in space, it could not decay.
The last of the death ebbed away, but before Lu could turn the breach inside-out and fold it out of reality, his surroundings changed. Gone were the petrified trees, the flat-topped mound, the demon’s body; now there was only a flat plain, and a pile of bones.
But the map, the blue gradient pressed against his consciousness by the splinter, did not change. It continued to show the dead forest – and so Lu did not fall entirely into the dream, able to hold onto that splash of blue despite all of his other senses being subverted. Exactly, exactly. Just ignore, it; it isn't real.
He closed his eyes and continued working, though he could no longer tell what was occurring in reality. The bones spoke, but he did his best to ignore their words.
“It won’t work, you know.”
Turn the Freeze into a Space Ripper, force it to fold inwards. Use the splinter to close it down, push the breach into the liminal space, and leave reality whole. According to his senses there was no ki in front of him to manipulate, but that was a lie. …Probably a lie, anyway. None of Bones or Stingy-Eye’s visions moved me in physical space, so I have to believe I’m still there, crouching over the demon in reality.
“I will simply try again, and again. We have as many fragments of the Rod as you do. Why struggle against the inevitable?”
If I reach the end and nothing happens, I’ll have to move myself away with the splinter and let the others handle things. But that wouldn’t happen, because everything was working. He had to believe it was working, the demon’s corpse being manipulated in reality exactly as he was imagining. Under his hands another corpse writhed, the fake Space Ripper jostling its bones but unable to fold them.
Support the creativity of authors by visiting the original site for this novel and more.
“I know you. I know you claw your way upwards, reaching for a great height – but why? What do you gain from the struggle? You do not desire power or strength for their own sake. You have no ambition – and so there is no need for us to be enemies.”
In his imagination the demon folded away entirely, his subversion of the enchantment letting him mould it like clay. The splinter burned lightly between his fingers, qi disappearing into it to press the edges of reality back together. That should be it. Please let that be it.
There was that feeling again, of something gigantic moving, the enormity of it obscured by distance. “The other Heroes would tear your world to pieces. I have no such desires; the places you call Heaven and Hell would join My innumerable deadworlds, but the Earth would lay untouched. You cannot resist all of us, not forever, so why not aid Me? You would preserve the life you covet, your friends, the things you love. Nothing would be lost to you.”
There was a distinct wobble to the featureless plain, and Lu felt a spike of triumph. The splinter, which had been resonating with the breach like a tuning fork held next to a plucked string, was now becoming quiet. Lu’s eyes opened, acknowledging Oldest Bones at last.
Ah, this might just be the most dangerous moment. If he lashes out like Stingy-Eye did, my soul is in danger… But I don’t think he will. Oldest Bones is too passive to attack. But just in case he held the splinter tight, ready to teleport back to the sect at any hint of aggression. “As if I could take you at your word, senior. How could I believe you, when you stand to gain so much by lying? And even if I could, do you think I care nothing for the souls of the dead? No.” As his surroundings continued to waver, Lu brandished the splinter like a holy talisman. “Return to Salt. You say I have no ambition, but I say you and your peers have entirely too much! You might be right that you can try again and again, but Earth will resist you with equal persistence.”
The black earth fell away, leaving Lu and the bones in an empty void. Then the skeleton itself began to fade, leaving behind only a single echoing sentence.
“Mine is the consumption of death. Do not think you can escape Me, Lu of the Steadfast Heart; your soul is already mine. There is no Heaven in your future, only the quiet sleep of the grave.”
As the last of the vision dissipated Lu waited for something to go wrong, a parting shot or hidden trap. But there was nothing; for once it seemed that everything had gone according to plan, and as the void gave way to reality Lu let out the tension from his muscles.
Ah, magnificent. It seems I truly am the hidden expert I advertised myself as. There was no trace of the demon, only a hole where its bottom had been buried into the earth. Already the ki seemed less thick, though it was probably still self-sustaining to some degree given the sheer amount that was present.
Lu stood, craning his neck around to see that nothing much had changed while he had been… away, for lack of a better word. “I believe that’s that.” Song’s eyes lost that molten-gold look, dialing down to merely radiant. “Did anything untoward happen? How long was I out?”
Goldenseed answered, stone disk once again in her hand. “That was a very interesting interaction, disciple Lu. But no, nothing happened other than what you described.” Unlike before, the disk sat still in her hand. “I am disappointed to be left with nothing to study, but such is life. Let us return to the others; Winding Wind will need to contact the sect again to have a more permanent containment set up.”
----------------------------------------
Tai Sho watched the barrier come apart, one hand on his sword. For a moment he remained tense, but then as the figures of the disciples and priestess resolved themselves, he allowed some of that tension to relax.
Beside him his master did the same, not relaxing all the way, but not remaining poised to strike. Threads of qi wound through the air as telepathic communication flew between Seventh Wheel and the other Elders, the energy made bright and clear in the midnight ambience by divination.
“Is it done?” Master called out, aiming his voice at Lu. The moment the disciple heard him his face scrunched up, completely ruining the refined aesthetic he tried to project with his makeup and elaborate robes.
But the obvious distaste on his features was not enough to keep him from answering. “It is, Elder Seventh Wheel.” Then his scrunched features turned Tai Sho’s way. “…Sir Sho.”
He strode past, giving the barest of courtesy.
He’s planning to kill you, you know.
The voice in Tai Sho’s ear did little more than widen his soft smile a fraction. Obviously. Does that bother you?
Not particularly. You do have a certain air to you; I’m sure a great many people are planning your downfall.
And yet, you mention him specifically. The middle barrier went up, and as it did his master ceased communicating with Winding Wind and turned to him.
“The sect will be sending reinforcements to secure the area. We will remain here until a permanent exclusion zone is put down, and then head further west off the coast. A ship has already been prepared.”
Tai Sho inclined his head. “We’re to wait again? Is that wise, Master?”
Seventh Wheel’s tone did not budge. “Our souls are not fully healed, and leaving this area to be stumbled upon would be foolish.” A way’s away Winding Wind was conversing with Lu, no doubt receiving the exact same explanation. The symmetry was amusing; two potent rising stars, halted by their own personality flaws, now growing again by the whims of fate. Is that why you’re keeping an eye on him, demon of my heart’s troubles? “But yes,” his master continued, “It would be better if we could have closed them all simultaneously. The sect simply doesn’t have the resources to guard the exclusion zones, maintain normal operations, prepare for the coming conflict, and give this matter the attention it deserves all at once. Many are still recovering from the counter-invasion disaster, and some things are falling through the cracks.”
Tai Sho’s smile remained on his face, though he knew it did not show in his eyes. “Some would argue that sending three of our most venerable Elders, two with their personal students, constitutes more than enough attention.” Seventh Wheel did not respond visibly or audibly to his joke, but he could feel the Elder’s spirit smoothing out just slightly.
An itch along his spine made his smile real again, and as the group gathered together to discuss things Tai Sho remained slightly apart.
I do actually want an answer to that question. Why fixate on this one man?
I notice him because you notice him, nothing more. And that symmetry you imagined is nonsense, by the way.
Ah, so quick to point out every little thing these days. Perhaps you’re ready to finally be rid of me?
In response the tingle merely clung tighter to his spine, not responding to any prodding Tai Sho sent its way. But it did not disappear, a sure sign it was maturing. Only when Master led him away to secure the area did it finally deign to respond.
You are a crazed lunatic. A madman. Who deliberately cultivates their Heart Demon? If you want to 'be rid of me' so badly, do it properly.
They split up, each making a full circle around the camp, planting hidden arrays all the while. Then they circled again, checking each other’s work; Master uncovered flaws with three of his flag placements, while Tai Sho only found one mistake the Elder had made. Everything was nudged into place, and the anti-divination wards activated.
All of his divination winked out, not broken but absolutely smothered. The mercurial barriers were a good temporary solution, but these were much better, and would work mostly autonomously unlike a spell. As long as there was ambient qi to draw from, this section of forest would be nonexistent as far as the Heavens – or any other diviners – were concerned. They wouldn’t even know for certain what was missing; it was a perfect counter, a reversal that lifted Earth above Heaven. In the end, even divinity is not absolute.
The thought stirred multiple conflicting emotions in his heart, and as they returned to the sight of the closed breach Tai Sho could not have said what emotions he was feeling.
Only that when he looked at the outer disciple named Lu, he got the sense of an ending quickly approaching. His spine tingled, the not-quite-foreign spiritual sense desperately resisting its own nature, trying to not grind against him and failing.
They passed the night, then the morning, and then the group of scholars and martial artists arrived, White Knuckle at its head.