Chapter 36
The Bipolar Dragon
6 hours before the previous events..
Jianyu's sword sliced through the clouds as he descended upon Zhilan. His gaze was an imperious sneer, though he felt no particular disdain for the mortal masses milling about their mundane existences below.
They were simply inconsequential specks, unworthy of much higher consideration one way or the other. Jianyu's focus was utterly consumed by loftier drives - becoming unassailably powerful, rising to dominate the immortal realms.
His gaze instantly found his target - that wretched fat pig Xue Feng skulking through the crowd like the cowardly thief he was. For years the vermin had embedded himself within the noble Southern Edge Sect through disgusting deception and low cunning.
A muscle twinged in Jianyu's jaw as he remembered the elders' wheezing summons. The orders were absolute - execute Xue Feng for the unforgivable crime of stealing the Inner Sect's prized formula scroll. Terminate the filth with extreme prejudice.
Not that eliminating such an insignificant speck required any specific directives. To Jianyu, the rat's imminent demise was merely another tedious distraction cursedly obstructing his total immersion in cultivation.
After this errand, he could return to his true obsession - reaching ever more rarefied heights until he obliterated that infuriating pink-haired monkey from Mount Hua. Jianyu's lip curled as he recalled the burning humiliation of his four consecutive tournament losses to that prancing jackass.
In front of the entire jianghu, that fool had made mockery of Jianyu's peerless talents.
The sting of those public disgraces was the sole fuel driving his punishing four-year seclusion. He'd emerge with power transcendent enough to extinguish Lu Yun's existence from the martial realm once and for all.
But first, this disgusting detour to exterminate one particularly slippery rat from its insignificant hole. Curb-stomping such blind, thrashing filth should have been amusing sport in the past. Now Jianyu felt only bored apathy toward such an easy killing.
He supposed some fleeting amusement could be extracted from unleashing a nameless fraction of his newfound might upon Xue Feng. A dry chuckle escaped him as he pictured the coming terror on his insect face.
As he neared the ground, Xue Feng's beady eyes finally went wide with delicious visceral horror. The pig had finally seemed to catch the scent of its approaching death. Jianyu had witnessed that pathetic look of helpless understanding on countless whimpering faces in the past - just before snuffing out their wretched little candle flames.
When the thief broke and turned to scurry through the crowd, Jianyu allowed a chuckle. How funny. Did the rat truly believe a few futile strides could outpace the rising dragon's pursuit? This would be over in a matter of moments, concluded with brutal finality as per the elders' directive.
This was the natural order - the strong killed, the weak got killed. Simple as that.
But then, something tugged at the edges of Jianyu's awareness, diverting his focus from the fleeing target. A man sitting in a clearly normal way with brother Zhen Wu amidst the bustling crowd, seemingly tranquil on the surface. But Jianyu's heightened spiritual senses detected roiling undercurrents of qi churning powerfully from the man's core.
It should be impossible to channel such profound internal energies without meditating. Yet the faint, unmistakable resonance rippled outward audaciously, each ebb and flow teasing at rarefied forces even experienced cultivators could scarcely glimpse, let alone command.
Even the most untrained cultivator knew to maintain control over their qi flow, suppressing any outward aura that could be detected by higher realms. It was an absolutely foundational tenet drummed into disciples from the first awakening of their abilities. Letting one's energies blaze unchecked in the open was the height of foolishness - practically begging for trouble in this cutthroat martial world.
Yet Jianyu's recently elevated perception, sharpened from finally broaching the meridian gate, could now detect such subtle things. The unassuming man, clearly not at a high realm, fairly radiated roiling internal forces, blatantly emanating in brazen defiance of the most basic concealment principles.
As unfathomable as it seemed, either this nobody courted outright suicide through abject recklessness and idiocy...or he harbored supreme yet masterfully hidden abilities to openly flout such conventions without consequence. Or perhaps more simply, he was new to this path and had somehow unlocked a remarkable insight into channeling qi in unprecedented ways.
Whichever reality proved true, Jianyu could scarcely pull his focus away from studying it. If he could only unravel the mysteries at play, perhaps replicate this spontaneous mastery of Life's primordial energies...
A part of him itched to solve this perplexing riddle first.
With an imperious flick of his wrist, the gnarled talisman from that ancient elder appeared. "Single use only, do not play with it, Jianyu." that relic's scraping drone echoed uselessly in Jianyu's mind. As if the scion of the Southern Edge Sect required any such tedious lectures on caution.
The spirit talisman launched from his grasp, arrowing through the air to embed within Xue Feng's nape, undetected, then disappearing from mortal view while imprinting its indelible signature.
No need for further concern about that pig's potential escape now. The talisman's binding would track him to the ends of existence if required, leaving Jianyu free to temporarily indulge his curiosity regarding this unexpected anomaly.
Smoothly reversing course in midair, he soared down towards the unassuming man. If nothing else, bludgeoning understanding from the ignorant worm could provide some fleeting amusement to pass the time before concluding his obligation.
Soon enough, Jianyu settled across from Zhen Wu, accepting a cup of the local rice wine with a curt nod. The mortals may live fleeting lives, but they knew how to brew a decent drink at least.
He eyed his rival sect acquaintance with faint approval. Zhen Wu had always been a refreshingly grounded sort compared to the usual grandstanding blowhards from Mount Hua. Abandoning his cultivation to dwell among these baselines was a waste of potential, but an understandable indulgence considering the insufferable sect.
At first, Jianyu had intended to simply locate the filthy rat Xue Feng swiftly, then be on his way back to unbroken seclusion. That's why he'd ditched his overly cautious junior Chiaotzu - the man moved at such a diligent yet plodding pace. Jianyu preferred ruthless efficiency.
But then he'd sensed the inexplicable energy nexus roiling from the unassuming man Zhen Wu had introduced as Jon Li. Studying the man closer, he witnessed ambient qi being passively absorbed and cultivated at a rate that should have resulted in immediately fatal qi deviations for absolutely anyone else below 'The Wall'. Jianyu himself included.
Yet somehow this...Jon Li seemed to contain and metabolize the wild forces effortlessly, audaciously. As if he represented some higher comprehension, some hidden insight into the esoteric nature of qi itself that even the greatest cultivators had overlooked.
The implications fired through Jianyu's mind like a meteor burst. If he could unravel this mystery, replicate this spontaneous mastery of Life's primordial energies...the path to true transcendence would be laid bare before him. No more decades, even centuries, toiling through the lower realms.
Perhaps the heavens had ordained this chance encounter as the catalyst for him to finally soar past his ceiling, cutting down that galling pink haired monkey and any who dared obstruct his ascent to true immortality.
Of course, the worm seemed blissfully unaware of the profundities at play. He prattled on obliviously with that strange, irreverent manner mortals often affected before abruptly announcing his intention to retire for sleep. How funny.
Jianyu couldn't simply accost the man and demand enlightment in front of Zhen Wu and the entire crowd. He had a reputation to preserve, certain cultivated decorum that prevented such uncouth actions.
No, he would bide his time, converse with Zhen Wu to maintain appearances for now. Then he would handle the insignificant matter of locating and eliminating the rat Xue Feng swiftly and without fanfare. Once that trifling obligation was discharged...
Sliding a plain bamboo slip from his robes, Jianyu palmed it discretely to etch a tracking talisman with a deft weave of his qi. A temporary marker this one, but sufficient to pinpoint this Jon Li's locale later when it came time to...inquire into the great mysteries he seemed to unwittingly embody.
For now, Jianyu simply raised his cup with an arched brow, riposting to Zhen Wu's small talk with faint amusement tinging his tone. Soon, very soon, the path to true immortal ascendancy would finally be laid bare before him...
*****
45 minutes before the previous events...
The chase had led them deep into the remote mountain trails, far removed from the village and its prying eyes. Xue Feng's qi signature weaved an erratic path, no doubt aiming to lose his pursuers in the rugged terrain.
"Where is he now, Brother Jianyu?" Chiaotzu's reedy voice piped up.
An inward sigh rattled Jianyu's thoughts. The junior's plodding diligence coupled with Zhen Wu's unwanted tag-along were quickly becoming more hindrance than asset. If he was to unravel the revelations promised by that perplexing Jon Li, he needed to temporarily divert these unwanted hangers-on.
"The coward's trail leads further into the northern ranges," Jianyu lied easily, gesturing up the mountain path with a look of dispassionate disinterest. "But I must return to the village briefly. It seems I neglected to procure the required spirit-binding talisman from the elders." he looked back at Chiaotzu. "We'll need that if we are to catch him alive, with no further fight."
Chiaotzu was under the misguided belief that the elders' directive was to retrieve Xue Feng alive if at all possible for interrogation. For some reason, he wasn't made aware of all the aspects of their mission.
Jianyu knew better. The treacherous pig had violated too many tenets, his crimes too severe to permit any potential for leniency or mercy. The elders' charge was absolute- do not, under any circumstance, let him live.
Chiaotzu opened his mouth to protest, but a quelling look from Zhen Wu stayed the words.
"Don't dally overlong," Zhen Wu cautioned with a meaningful look. "We'll want to reacquire Xue Feng's trail before my people awaken at first light and complicate matters."
Jianyu nodded with a tight smile, inwardly gratified they seemed to swallow the ruse so readily. As soon as they departed up the false trail, he pulled forth the bamboo slip marking Jon Li's location per the tracking talisman.
To his surprise, the sordid curiosity burned about thirty li away - Not that far for him at all. How...convenient.
Pragmatic ruthlessness had always been one of Jianyu's strongest virtues.
The narrative has been taken without permission. Report any sightings.
First he would locate and dispatch the thieving pig Xue Feng, relieving him of the formula scroll. Then ample opportunity would remain to ambush this Jon Li and thoroughly interrogate the profound mysteries he embodied before Zhen Wu and that meddlesome Chiaotzu completed their fruitless wanderings.
Two soaring hawks felled with a single well-aimed strike. Jianyu's smile stretched into a razor gash as he followed the opposed trail indicated by the spirit tracking talisman's pull.
Soon enough, the qi resonance blossomed outward with growing clarity, guiding him to a forgotten mountain dell. Xue Feng no doubt hoped the remote location would conceal him, but such pitiful conceits proved risible before the inevitability of Jianyu's pursuit.
As expected, the sniveling coward had dug in for a final stand. Sheer desperation blazed from his eyes, a cornered beast recognizing the spike of its own extinction.
So be it. Jianyu didn't bother speaking, didn't bother wasting words now. He simply moved, letting his sword answer in a blinding flurry of attacks.
It wasn't even a fight, merely a brutally one-sided culling of a sworn traitor too inflated on mortal hubris to heed his inevitable judgement.
For his utter lack of grace, his unforgivable insult in raising a hand against Jianyu...the rising dragon carved off each of Xue Feng's limbs one by lingering one.
As the thief's unrelenting shrieks echoed off the mountainside, Jianyu felt neither satisfaction nor regret. Merely a necessary pruning, the strong separating the withered as was their cosmic duty. Only once the squalling had ceased did he reach down to retrieve the stolen formula scroll from its fallen place beside the dismembered husk.
Tucking it into his robes, Jianyu's gaze turned south toward the village once more. Time grew short before he would need to report back to the others. But first...a certain significant diversion awaited to fully unravel the mysteries of this night's peculiar revelations.
*****
Present time...
The deafening boom of their collision still reverberated through the forest like rolling thunder. Bao cowered amidst the chaos, shielding his head as stinging debris pelted him from all sides.
When his eyes finally cracked open again, the sight before him stole what little breath remained in his lungs.
There stood Jon and Jianyu - the two men locked in an explosive clinch, muscles taut and straining as they grappled for dominance.
Jon's knee was bent near to buckling under the monstrous force emanating from Jianyu's frame. And yet, through sheer bullheaded tenacity, he held his ground - fist clenched in a white-knuckled grip even as it strained against Jianyu's palm with bone-grinding intensity.
For an endless heartbeat, the pair appeared locked in stalemate. Then, a minute shift - Jon's boots inched back half a pace, the gritted line of his jaw betraying the monumental effort it took to maintain his leverage.
"Oh?"
Jianyu's voice cut through the madness - laced with undisguised delight and something far more unsettling. Despite the astonishing force of Jon's counter, the cultivator seemed utterly unfazed - his frame still braced with poise.
The nutjob's really having fun. I can’t believe this. Jon thought.
He grit his teeth against the strain, every tendon standing out in taut relief as he fought to maintain his leverage. Yet even as sweat beaded along his brow, he couldn't deny the electric thrill sparking through his veins.
Maybe it's the adrenaline, he mused. Or maybe I'm just as much of a deranged psycho as this creep.
"Hahaha! Jon Li!" Jianyu's smooth baritone fairly dripped with bemused satisfaction. "How utterly fascinating you are!"
With a subtle shift of his foot, the cultivator altered his stance - exerting even greater, inexorable force against Jon's shuddering frame. The latter’s boots inched back some more, carving parallel grooves in the loam as he fought against being overpowered.
Now would be a good time to get my unique, super legendary technique that was thought to have disappeared in a certain bloodline but turns out I had it somehow because of the plot.
A breathless chuckle, more a desperate exhalation than true mirth, escaped his gritted teeth.
"It's now or never!" he growled. Talking more to whatever or whoever managed this whole mad story, if that's what it was. Who knows, right?
Gritting his teeth, Jon spared a glance over his shoulder. "Hey, kid, are you good there? Nothing broken?"
Bao could only mutely shake his head, eyes wide with awe and terror.
"Go now. Go to your parents." The next words tasted like ashes on Jon's tongue. He felt like a liar. "It's gonna be okay, kid."
The familiar platitude ignited a smoldering ember of rage deep within Jon's chest. He'd heard those damning words before - the last desperate reassurance from his father's lips before...
No. He clamped down on the haunting memories, forcing back the rising tide of grief and self-loathing. Not now.
"Aaaarrrggghh!"
The primal roar ripped from Jon's lungs as he channeled his anguish into pure aggression. His body tensed, every sinew coiling like an oiled spring as he focused his will into a single, explosive burst of force.
"Get the fuck away from me!"
With a bestial snarl, Jon hurled himself forward, slamming his forehead directly into Jianyu's face with bone-jarring force.
What the… For an instant, it felt like he'd cracked his skull against an immovable object - searing pain lancing through him as warmth trickled from his brow.
Staggering back, Jon blinked dazedly, his vision swimming. Had he actually landed a hit? A metallic tang flooded his mouth as he spit out a bit of blood.
“Ha…” Then, incredibly, a rich peal of laughter cut through the ringing in his ears.
"Hahahahahah!"
Jianyu barked with unrestrained joy, seemingly untouched save for a thin rivulet of blood tracing his high cheekbone. His eyes gleamed with an unholy light, fixed unwaveringly on the battered Jon.
"Marvelous!" The cultivator crowed. "Simply marvelous! You continue to surprise and delight me."
Jon grimaced, sweat beading on his brow and mingling with the steady trickle of blood. "Seriously, what the hell is wrong with you dude?"
The words emerged as more of a pained wheeze than the mocking jibe he'd intended. Maintaining his desperate leverage against Jianyu's strength was becoming increasingly futile.
The cultivator's expression, however, only grew more rapturous - an unhinged grin splitting his elegant features.
"Me? Nothing. I am well. In fact, I have not been this well in a long time!" He practically crowed the words, eyes blazing with intensity.
Leaning in, so close Jon could smell the metallic tang of his own blood on Jianyu's breath, the cultivator hissed, "How? How is your body like this? How did you do that to your dantian? How did you survive it?!"
Jon recoiled as much as their inexorable deadlock would allow, utterly bewildered. "What do you mean, how am I still alive?
“Tell me!" Jianyu shot back.
In that instant, Jon felt an otherworldly force behind the cultivator's already staggering might - as if some ineffable dam had burst, unleashing torrents of power Jianyu had been holding back. He couldn’t sense it much, but it was undeniable, Jianyu was using his qi.
The abrupt surge swept away Jon's faltering resistance like a twig caught in a flash flood's surge. One moment he fought with every fiber of his being, the next he crumpled - driven to his knees with humiliating ease, as helpless as a newborn babe in a grown man’s arms.
Why am I even thinking like that?! Jon thought.
"Your dantian..." Jianyu rasped, "I cannot sense it completely, but you have something I never thought possible."
He kept looking at Jon's core. "Tell me what it is. Help me to reach enlightenment, and I shall owe you a debt for a lifetime!"
Jon wanted to recoil from Jianyu's unnerving proximity. But the cultivator's overwhelming power still pinned him in an intangible vise, leaving no room for even the most feeble resistance.
Are you kidding me with this metaphysical mumbo-jumbo? The words curdled on his tongue.
Frustration sparked like a banked fire glowing ever brighter as Jianyu continued obsessing over whatever profundities he sensed rather than addressing the core issue.
"What exactly do you see in my dantian?" Jon finally managed through gritted teeth. "And more importantly, why are you so surprised I'm still alive?"
The questions emerged in a strangled growl. He had already felt something off about his own energy core, something not quite right simmering beneath the familiar rhythms.
Yet Jianyu seemed more entranced by the anomaly than concerned for Jon's continued existence.
Then, as abruptly as a switch being flipped, the intangible pressure subjugating Jon evaporated - the bone-deep ache of the power abruptly lifting like a car being hoisted away.
He collapsed forward, sucking in a desperate lungful of air, every muscle screaming in relief.
When he raised his bemused gaze, Jianyu had retreated several paces, his expression smoothing into one of eerie calm. Gone was the unhinged fervor, the wild glee of a madman toying with his latest obsession.
Looks like he took his meds. The relieved Jon thought.
"I see." Jianyu said.
That was it? That infuriatingly nonchalant statement after all the bluster and grandstanding and...
"Are you fucking serious right now?!" The shout ripped from Jon's abused lungs, anger and no small measure of disbelief crackling in every syllable.
He pushed himself upright, stabbing an accusing finger at the utterly unruffled Jianyu.
"You come out here, beat the ever-living shit out of me, spout reams of cryptic nonsense about my...my dantian..." He sneered the mystical term with no small measure of derision. " and all you have to say is 'I see'?!"
"For God’s sake, at least have the courtesy to explain what brand of crazy a guy has to buy into to make any sense of your ramblings!"
The rage drained from Jon's forehead as swiftly as the blood seeping from his wound. Jianyu appraised him with an air of detached amusement, as if observing some mildly entertaining curiosity.
"Brother Zhen Wu did not mention you being a cultivator," the words emerged smooth as silk, yet carried unmistakable weight. "Does he know the truth?"
Jon's jaw went slack at the insinuation. "Now, calm down...you're gonna blackmail me, man?"
A rich chuckle rolled from Jianyu's lips, all traces of unhinged fervor or eerie serenity banished in favor of mocking glee.
Seriously, this dude has to be bipolar. The thought emerged unbidden as Jon gawked at the cultivator's mercurial shift in demeanor - so vastly different from the manic regression of mere moments prior.
"This is not a threat," Jianyu assured with an indulgent smile, as if finding some private joke in Jon's outburst. "There must be a reason you did not tell him."
The nonchalant statement hung in the air, loaded with unspoken implications Jon couldn't begin to unravel. Unconsciously, he swiped at the fresh trickle of blood only to smear it in a garish streak across his brow.
"But that is not the problem," Jianyu continued in that same infuriatingly unruffled tone. "I will need you to get stronger, little brother. You're weak."
“Little brother…?”
Jon barked a stunned laugh, his battered mind reeling to make sense of it all.
He almost expected Jianyu to start spouting grandiose philosophies of inescapable destiny and cosmic inevitability.
A weary sigh slipped from Jon's cracked lips as he met the cultivator's piercing stare. "What do you mean? You don't understand my condition?."
Jianyu answered "It would be complex to explain. Besides..."
His gaze turned to the crumpled, quivering form of Minghan. The poor man’s body lay broken and limbless, feebly dragging himself through the loam, gurgling and wheezing in protest as he was somehow unable to talk. Certainly a crushed throat.
"I have a job to do," Jianyu finished with clinical detachment.
Jon opened his mouth, some protest burning on his tongue, only for the words to die stillborn as the cultivator moved with sudden, inexorable purpose.
"Pig," he intoned flatly, looking down at Minghan with something like mild reproach. "It seems I let you suffer due to my carelessness. Allow me to put an end to it."
Then, with a contemptuous flick of his wrist, Jianyu yanked the ruined husk of a man up by the scruff until they hung face to face.
Of course, Bao hadn't left yet.
"Don't look at this!" Jon shouted over his shoulder, desperately waving the boy away even as morbid compulsion anchored his gaze.
But Bao stood frozen, eyes wide and uncomprehending, as Jianyu angled his captive's head with an almost idle twist.
A sweep of the cultivator's other hand, inhumanly fast yet excruciatingly unhurried, severed Minghan's skull from his shoulders in a spray of blood. The victim’s eyes bulged impossibly wide, locked in one final rictus of shock as his gaping maw parted in a gurgling death wheeze.