During the carriage ride, I considered what was about to happen. No matter what the fallout was, my death was guaranteed. I had to prepare for what would happen next.
I emptied my storage space of almost everything. All I kept was a small jade bottle with two poison pills inside, Emperor Li’s coin, and the small bag of seeds SuYin had given me. Each item was tucked into a separate corner of the space, allowing just enough room for me to then place the spherical-shaped seed of the Cold Mountain Fire within.
We arrived at the capital city late in the day, but the prince didn’t even consider resting. He quickly rushed us all deep into the palace complex.
At a large intersection, a team of guards was stopping a small horde of people from entering a blocked-off corridor. The prince advanced and spoke to their leader.
“Guardsman, I am Prince CaoHan, I request entry into the ancestor’s chambers.”
The guard smirked. “You may enter, Prince CaoHan, but none of your… followers are allowed to join you.”
The prince’s upper lip curled in a snarl. “Steward Fang will attend me.”
“That will not happen. You–” the guard was about to laugh, but his voice quickly cut out. A moment later, he looked at me. “Steward Fang, you may enter.”
I bowed my head to the guard and followed after the prince. I was to be a servant here, not a chancellor.
We entered an enormous room where a sizable group was crowded around a large bed. We approached, and I saw that it held a withered old man who looked to be on his last breath. Despite his aged appearance, whenever I looked at him, I felt a deep sense of foreboding, like he could end my life with only a thought.
“Father,” said a man who looked only slightly younger than the one on the bed, “it is time for us to depart. May your journey be swift.”
The speaker, along with everyone else, gave the old man on the bed a deep bow and turned to leave.
The prince, who had just arrived, quickly spoke up.
“Ancestor, forgiveness.” He dropped to the floor in a kowtow. “Please allow my steward to accompany you in these final moments.”
The elderly man who had just spoken was about to angrily chastise the prince, but the old man waved him off and gave me a deep, knowing look.
“Very well,” he said in a soft voice. “The rest of you may leave. Chancellor Fang shall accompany me on this journey.”
My eyes widened in shock that the old man knew who I was, but I did my best to reign in my reaction.
“As you say, father.”
The elderly man gave the prince a stern look and hurried him out of the room with everyone else, leaving me alone with the old man.
I leaned on my ability to know what the slave technique would have me do in this situation and headed to the side of the room where a kettle and teapot had already been prepared. There should be a cup by the old man’s bed in case he needed it. After pouring and delivering the tea, I moved to place myself near the room’s entrance, but the old man spoke up, halting me in my tracks.
“I really admire people like you. I always dreamed of having what you have.”
I turned to look at him. He was staring right at me.
“Sir?”
He laughed heartily. All traces of weakness had left him. “Don’t worry, everyone else is gone. We can speak freely.”
My heart began to race. What was he talking about? What did he know?
With another chuckle, the old man picked up a glass of water that was sitting on his bedside table and placed his right hand over it.
“Do you know what my blessing is?” I could hear a wistful tone in his voice. There was sorrow mixed with acceptance.
He began moving his right hand like he was a puppeteer controlling a marionette. As he did, the water in the glass started moving. It turned into the detailed shape of a small girl in a long flowing dress. The girl gave a deep bow and started dancing to music only she could hear.
As the performance continued, the old man spoke. “This is it. I was given control over small quantities of water. This is the limit of my abilities. To be sure, I have done amazing things with this little trick of mine. It has even helped me climb to the peak of the continent, but that’s my limit. I can’t go any further. People like you, people with such powerful blessings… I really admire you.”
I froze. I could only croak out a single word. “How?”
He gave me a friendly smile, and I felt there was true warmth behind it. “I am 600 years old, not senile. I wouldn’t have lived so long if I couldn’t see through such a simple ruse. Do you know what cultivation technique you were given when you first entered the palace?”
I shook my head wordlessly.
“It is called the Brilliant Sun Servant Scripture. My son, the one who was speaking earlier? Knowledge of this cultivation technique was his blessing. It is at the Divine level. You managed to pass every test we have. Everything says you have cultivated this technique, but you are not bound by it. The only explanation is interference from an exceedingly powerful blessing.”
“Divine level?” I croaked. I had no idea what else to say.
“Yes,” the old man nodded. “Beyond Heaven-level techniques is the Divine level. A Divine level technique is not necessarily any more powerful than even a Low-Yellow one, but they all do something beyond what’s normally possible. They break the rules of this world. You breaking such a technique in turn is very interesting.”
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I just stood there, unable to reply.
He gave me a grandfatherly smile. “We are alone here. Do you know why?”
I had an idea, but I shook my head. I wasn’t certain.
“Your prince is of course hoping that you will be able to help him steal something, though such an idea is beyond folly. The old folks out there, on the other hand, are more interested in finding out who you are and why you’re here. They might not like it, but since I sent the letter to bring you here and I requested this time alone with you, there wasn’t anything they could do to prevent it.”
The old man looked at my face and began laughing. “In any case, they already convinced themselves that your blessing just has to do with blocking the effects of cultivation techniques, so they aren’t worried about anything you can do, especially when I just promised them that I would kill you. Each and every person out there expects that the moment I die, you will follow me on my trip to the Yellow River. The only difference is how they plan to use your death to further their own agenda. This includes your prince, of course.”
I nodded in agreement. “The prince… he is beyond my help. I did my best for him, but I failed. He has dreams of using your death to catapult himself to Emperor, and I don’t know how to stop it. I expected to follow you into death, though now I think I might precede you.”
The old man cocked his head to the side and looked confused. “So, you will die. Interesting. I thought you had a way to survive.”
He lay in his bed studying me for a long time before coming to a decision.
“Tell me about yourself. Why are you here? The prince sent you, yes, but that isn’t the real reason. You chose to be here.”
I felt a shiver run down my spine. ‘Why am I here?’ It was a simple question, but the answer… Could I explain? Even if I could, should I explain?
I was terrified, but looking at the old man calmed me. I could see he meant no harm. He seemed genuinely interested. I had never told anyone about a past life. Would sharing stories between two people who are about to die be so bad? I felt an urge to talk that seemed to come from outside myself.
It might have been a mistake, but looking at the old man on his deathbed, I wanted to tell him. Maybe not the truth, but an outline of the truth.
I walked to the chair next to his bed and slumped down in it.
“Let me tell you about a man… my father, you could say.”
I looked down at my hand as I began to tell my story. “He was from the Wastes, on the western side of the continent. He was discarded by his clan, so he ventured out to learn and grow as a person. In his travels, he… happened to hear a foretelling about the time and location of someone’s death. He was told that this person possessed a valuable spirit fire seed. He made it his mission in life to steal that seed the moment the person died.”
I bowed my head, but out of the corner of my eye, I saw the old man smile and nod at this as if it were expected.
“During this quest, he met… a beautiful fairy… whose blessing was the strongest he had ever heard of. He helped her when she was young, so she devoted her life to him, doing everything she could to make sure he was successful.”
I no longer felt like I was talking. It felt like something was pulling the words from my soul.
“He didn’t value her, though. He was so focused on his goal that he didn’t notice anything she did for him. She began to despair. He didn’t value her like he should have… but because of the bond formed when they were young, she couldn’t leave him. In the end, she committed suicide because that was preferable to being discarded by him.”
As I spoke, tears began to run down my face as the wall that blocked me from memories of my past life crumbled to pieces.
“You asked why I’m here? The truth is… the truth is I’m here to see if it was worth it. Was causing so much pain worth it? I… I don’t think it was.”
Unnoticed, the old man had shifted in his bed and came closer to me. He placed a hand on my shoulder.
“I don’t know,” he said in a somber voice. “I don’t know how to judge the worth of such things. If anyone knows, they never told me.”
I shook as I cried tears I had suppressed for decades.
He let me sit there for several moments but finally had to ask a question.
“How did he plan on stealing away this fire seed you spoke of?”
“He was working to become a Pill King. He believed that with such a title, he would be allowed to tend to the person as they died.”
The old man barked a laugh. “You— He actually believed the imperial family would allow a Martial King to be anywhere near me when I died? Even with my help, the only reason you were allowed to step foot into this room is because it is impossible for a Martial Master to absorb a fire seed. Every Ruler that’s not of the imperial clan was expelled from the capital weeks ago.”
I slumped further in my chair. All my plans, all my efforts, had always been futile.
“You said that this person… that I have a ‘valuable fire seed,’ right? Do you know why it’s so valuable? Do you know why empires would go to war over it?”
I shook my head. Any seed was valuable. This one had importance to me, but I didn’t know any specific reason others would value it so highly.
“As I told you, my blessing is weak, but I used it to climb to the absolute peak of this continent. I am at the limit. It is impossible for me, for any emperor, to take a single step further.”
I listened quietly. I had questions, but this was his story to tell.
“My name is Du XiongMing. I reached Peak Emperor at age 168. Stagnation had already set in, and I wasn’t far from the onset of true calcification of my energy body. I wanted to become a Sovereign, but everything I had learned said that if I tried to do so, the powers that rule this continent would find out and come to slaughter me, likely my entire clan as well. If I wanted to advance, I needed to travel to the Central Continent. Do you know how to get there?”
I shook my head.
“The Nine Rivers Saint. You need him to take you. Only with the Saint’s help can you make the journey, and with my aging body, he swiftly rejected me. I didn’t give up though. I believed, many still believe, that the seed I possess holds the secret to reaching the Central Continent without the Saint’s assistance.”
He began to shed his own tears. “I did everything I could to acquire it. I betrayed friends and killed innocents. I destroyed my entire life in pursuit of my obsession. In the end, after centuries of study, I found that it was all meaningless. The seed doesn’t have the powers people claim. Now, after years of solitude, I’m on my deathbed, and you are the only person here to see me pass. You want to know if it was worth it? All I can tell you is that for me, the answer is no. Nothing is worth that.”
We sat together in silence for long moments, but Du XiongMing made his decision before I did. He used his will to freeze me in place and put his right hand on my chest.
“I’m sorry for this burden, but I don’t believe this is the end for you. If I don’t do this, it will mean the destruction of my entire family after my death.”
I felt a massive surge of power move from the Formation Emperor’s chest, down his arm, out of his hand, and into my chest. It forced open my soul and buried itself deep inside. The Emperor used his strength to seal my soul, not allowing any energy to leak out.
“I expect my death to come within the hour,” he said, looking at me with sad eyes. “You have that much time to make your escape.”
I looked at him as my soul burned. It was painful, but I suffered worse soul pain at the end of my last life, so it didn’t overwhelm me.
“Do you still want to advance to Sovereign?” I asked. “If I could raise you to Sovereign, give you another hundred years, would you want that?”
A faint smile crossed the old man’s face, but he shook his head. “No, this is my time. I’m ready for it. I’m no longer willing to pay the cost of advancing.”
He gave me a long look.
“I don’t know what secrets you have, but if you want an opportunity to become a Sovereign, you have to go to the Nine Rivers Sect. They can guide you, but you may not like where their path leads or the cost you will have to pay.”
I cupped my hands in a martial salute and gave him a deep bow.
“Goodbye, Formation Emperor Du. May your journey be peaceful.”
I walked to the corner of the room and sat down in a kneeling position. I reached into my storage space, grabbed a poison pill, and placed it directly into my mouth.
The last thing I saw was a smile on the old man’s face.
You have died. Calculating…
You died as a Martial Master 1. 1,000 credits awarded.
Total Credits: 125,761,775