Chapter 38

Enlightenment

Soon enough, Zhen Wu and Chiaotzu arrived.

Zhen Wu's gaze quickly landed on the scene. Bao, shellshocked and hollow-eyed, clinging to Jon's tattered form like a lifeline. Jianyu, resplendent in his casual insouciance, idly caressing the severed head of the butchered Minghan.

His face darkened like a storm cloud on the horizon.

"Jianyu," the chief ground out in a tone dripping with ill-restrained menace.

The younger man offered a serene smile, sharp features arranged into an inscrutable mask of politeness that somehow seemed more unnerving than overt aggression. "Yes, Senior Brother?"

Plumes of vapor vented from Zhen Wu's nostrils as he visibly wrestled with the raging torrent of his temper. When he at last spoke, each word carried the measured weight of an axe-strike.

"What is the meaning of this?"

Jianyu's expression didn't so much as flicker as he tilted his head in an exaggerated pantomime of consideration.

Caressing Minghan's head, which he was holding at his side, his tone was light, almost playful, as if he were recounting a minor inconvenience rather than an execution.

"Well, as you can see, I managed to track and catch the pig while I was joining you earlier."

At Zhen Wu’s side, Chiaotzu pinched the bridge of his nose and heaved a weary sigh - clearly no stranger to Jianyu's mercurial antics.

Zhen Wu, by contrast, looked utterly apoplectic - the vein throbbing in his forehead growing increasingly pronounced as the color drained from his face.

Utterly unfazed, Jianyu continued with a hint of wry amusement quirking his lips. "So we fought...and I killed him."

A muscle jumped erratically in Zhen Wu's jaw, grinding teeth audibly as he fought for composure. "You know that is not what I was talking about," he bit out with evident strain.

"Oh?" Jianyu arched one elegant brow in an exaggerated display of curiosity, as if the gory scene spread out before them were little more than an interesting piece of avant-garde performance art.

"Well," he drawled after letting the pause stretch into pregnant silence. "I also retrieved the formula scroll..." He paused once more, gaze drifting toward the severed head.

"Though I suspect he might have made a copy of it and sent it somewhere. Or perhaps he hid it here."

Zhen Wu looked as if he were on the verge of spontaneous combustion, fists clenching and flexing in dull percussion against the swell of his rage. Once more, Chiaotzu's broad palm found its way to his face in a beleaguered show of exasperation.

"You insufferable, sadistic little pup..." the man growled in a basso rumble just audible enough for Jon to overhear.

Just gotta admire his commitment to being an absolute troll, I suppose. Jon thought.

An oppressive silence hung thick as a shroud, broken only by the taut rasp of Zhen Wu's labored breathing as he wrestled to maintain his composure.

For several protracted heartbeats, the chief simply glowered at Jianyu - eyes narrow and jaw clenched until the tendons corded taut as steel cables.

"This man was my guest, Jianyu," he bit out at last, each word clipped and precise in a blatant attempt to mask the simmering fury roiling beneath. "By our traditions, he could not be treated like this without proper investigation and a trial."

A smile curled Jianyu's lips as he produced a tightly folded piece of parchment from the folds of his robe and presented it with an indolent flourish.

"I think this is proof enough of his deeds," the younger cultivator countered in a tone dripping with sardonic nonchalance. "Plus, when we saw him earlier, he attacked us first without even saying hi."

Jon couldn't help but rolling his eyes. Jianyu had killed Minghan, and was now lying on the poor man. This was the best way to prevent any suspicion but still, he thought, how cruel.

"He was in the Southern Edge Sect as one of our contracted merchants," Jianyu pressed on. "I saw him once or twice there. I know him… well, knew him.” he said, a chuckle briefly escaping his mouth before he continued, “I don't really see any reason to drag this out for a trial here."

The words had scarcely left his mouth before Zhen Wu simply...disappeared. One moment glaring apoplectic fury, the next replaced by a faint distortion in the air and a muted sonic boom.

Jon's eyes barely had time to widen before the cultivator re-materialized in Jianyu's face - a blur of monochrome motion punctuated by the sudden, oppressive weight of spiritual force bearing down like the depths of the Mariana Trench.

What the fuck?

Thick, cloying power shuddered outward in rolling waves, the ambient temperature plummeting several degrees as reality itself seemed to warp and distend.

The sheer corporeal weight of Zhen Wu's aura lashed out in a rippling shockwave, flattening the grasses and cratering the very earth around him and Jianyu, where most of the force was concentrated.

Jon staggered, nearly bowled over as gravity itself redoubled - every gasping breath a Herculean effort against the sheer, overwhelming immensity. Clutching Bao's limp form tightly to his chest, the young man fought simply to remain upright amidst the metaphysical onslaught.

Heedless of the strain, Zhen Wu seized Jianyu by the collar - his broad palm closing around the vainglorious cultivator's throat in a white-knuckle vice. Leaning in until their faces were mere inches apart, the chief of Zhilan snarled in a tone dripping with lethal menace.

"Are you done making a joke out of me, Jianyu?"

Thankfully, before the situation could deteriorate further for them, a massive silhouette interposed itself. With a subtle application of force, the hulking Chiaotzu rebuffed Jon and Bao, keeping them separate from the imminent fight.

Of course, Jon realized with a resigned internal sigh, that was probably for the best all things considered. The last thing he needed right now was to get steamrolled by some cultivation beatdown between the two posturing guys squaring off like a pair of territorial baboons.

Forcing his focus back to the confrontation at hand, Jon watched as Jianyu raised his hands in an exaggerated placating gesture - the elegant poise of his form undisturbed despite Zhen Wu's crushing grip and the pervading psychic crush of ambient energies swirling about them in frenzied gouts.

"Calm down, Senior Brother," the younger cultivator murmured, a thin smile playing at the corners of his mouth. "No need to get so tense."

Impossibly, the force weighing down upon them all intensified - the ground cratering in a widening cone of compacted loam as Zhen Wu extended his will outward in an unmistakable display of dominance.

Even from his relatively sheltered vantage point, Jon could more or less sense the rime of ambient spiritual force crystalizing in the air.

This is gonna go bad real' quick, he realized with a fatalistic sort of inevitability. This wouldn't end well...for anyone.

As if sensing the rising tension, Jianyu quirked a single brow in a subtle challenge.

"Tell me, Senior Brother," he all but purred, utterly unruffled by the oppressive onslaught bearing down upon him. "How come you were not aware of a cultivator as your guest in your village? Not even...suspicious?"

Zhen Wu’s eyes narrowed. "What are you insinuating?"

"Oh, nothing much," Jianyu replied, his tone light and mocking. "I am just curious as to how, as the chief of the village, you would just welcome anyone in without proper investigation. I mean, look at where it led you."

In that moment, Zhen Wu froze - the thunderous miasma of his wrath momentarily stilled as realization slithered beneath the bluster. Slowly, almost reluctantly, he swiveled to fix Jon with an utterly scorching glare.

Oh, so that's how it is, huh? jon thought.

With a low, rumbling chuckle, Jianyu's lips peeled back in a wolfish grin that somehow managed to be both disarming and utterly punchable in equal measure.

"Haha, Senior Brother," he purred in a tone dripping with exaggerated deference, "you'll scare the boy if you look at his hero like this."

Zhen Wu's glower flickered momentarily, the hard line of his jaw twitching almost imperceptibly as he processed the barbed implication. When at last he spoke, his tone carried a distinctly wary edge.

"What do you mean?"

Unfazed, Jianyu simply widened his smile a fraction before gesturing expansively toward Jon's bedraggled form with one elegant sweep of his arm.

"Well, Li tried to save the child from the pig's attack, as you can see from his state."

As if on cue, both Zhen Wu and Chiaotzu swiveled to regard Jon with nakedly assessing stares.

Ah, I see what you're playing at here, you clever bastard.

Jianyu, the insufferable, chaotic-neutral wildcard, was manipulating the very situation he'd exacerbated barely moments before.

In one deft rhetorical stroke, the mercurial cultivator had redirected the narrative towards a far more...expedient outcome. One that cast Jon squarely in the role of dashing hero valiantly defending the innocent against nefarious forces.

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Still, that didn't make the duplicitous prick any less of a bipolar, borderline psychotic madman in Jon's eyes. Just a damn useful one when the situation demanded it.

"I came just in time to save them both from an unfair death," Jianyu continued, his gaze flickering to meet Jon's with the barest hint of a conspiratorial wink.

All business once more, Zhen Wu turned his attention fully towards the two disheveled figures, face set in an inscrutable mask of severity. "Is that what happened?" he demanded, voice low and even.

For a heartbeat, Jon allowed the question to hang unanswered in the humid air -- considering his response with careful deliberation. Every nuance of body language and vocal tone would be scrutinized with forensic intensity, he knew.

Best to play it cool. Straightforward but unembellished.

"Yes," he replied at last, holding the chief’s gaze without flinching. "That's what happened."

A beat passed before Bao gave a solemn, shaky nod of confirmation.

Thank god, Jon thought, almost sighing in relief.

Jaw clenched in a tic of effort, Zhen Wu held Jon's stare for several protracted seconds before exhaling a gust of pent-up exasperation.

The tension in the air eased, and the heavy pressure lifted, making everything feel lighter.

Jon watched as the tension in the air dissipated, like a storm cloud parting to reveal the sun. Zhen Wu's stern expression softened ever so slightly as he regarded Jon.

"Brother Jon Li, you saved the life of a child under my protection. You have my gratitude," Zhen Wu said, bringing his hand to his palm in a solemn bow.

"No worries," Jon replied casually. "Just did what I had to do."

Then, ever the instigator, Jianyu chimed in once more. "Well, now that we have what we came for, Chiaotzu and I will be taking our leave. We’re already past our allowed time out,” he said looking at Chiaotzu who looked irritated, then continued, “I'll see you next time, right, Senior Brother?"

Zhen Wu scoffed, a flicker of exasperation crossing his features. "Try to be less impetuous, Jianyu. It had a certain charm when we were younger, but we are no longer children."

Jianyu merely smiled, unperturbed. "I'll try." His gaze then shifted to Jon, a hint of mischief dancing in his eyes. "If your travels ever lead you to the south, pay me a visit, Brother Li. I enjoyed our time together."

Somehow, I doubt that, Jon thought, but returned the smile with a nod. Probably best if I steer clear of this one's shenanigans in the future.

"I'll remember that," he said aloud, his tone carefully neutral.

Chiaotzu then stepped forward, offering Zhen Wu a respectful bow. "Apologies for Jianyu's behavior earlier. We'll be on our way now."

The hulking man turned to Jon, giving him a solemn nod before following after Jianyu, who was already calling out for him to fetch his horse.

Chiaotzu mentioned that he had left the horse at the village's entry.

"Did you carry him again?" Jianyu asked. "You know he gets motion sickness when you do that."

Chiaotzu rolled his eyes good-naturedly. "Well, you did take off for Zhilan without me. What choice did I have?"

Meanwhile, Zhen Wu turned his attention to Bao, his brow furrowing with concern. "Are you alright, child?"

Bao said nothing, his eyes distant and glassy - the eerie calm of someone who had witnessed deeply traumatic events.

Jon spoke up hesitantly. "He...he saw it all. Every bit of it."

Zhen Wu's jaw tightened as he regarded the boy. Gently, he reached out and stroked Bao's head in a paternal gesture. "I see..."

His voice took on a reassuring tone as he addressed Jon. "Brother Jon Li, I will take Bao to his parents now. They must be frantic searching for him." Zhen Wu paused, weighing his next words carefully. "I would ask that you not discuss what happened here with others for the time being. This situation needs to be handled discreetly."

Jon could see the Chief's mind already working through contingencies and damage control.

"Of course, you have my word," Jon agreed with a solemn nod.

*****

A few moments later...

The winding mountain trail stretched out before them, flanked by towering peaks that seemed to pierce the very heavens. Jianyu and Chiaotzu made their way back, the sound of their steps mingling with the distant rush of a river stream.

An hour had passed since they had set out of Zhilan, Jianyu insisting on a detour for reasons unknown.

Chiaotzu, ever the stoic observer, had remained silent - studying his senior's nonchalant demeanor as he walked.

Jianyu tore off another strip of dried meat, chewing lazily. His fingers toyed with the reins as he glanced sidelong at his junior. "I've seen you calm before, brother," he remarked, a hint of mirth in his cultured tones. "But even for you, being this boring is a bit too much, don't you think?"

Chiaotzu exhaled. His footsteps crunched against the rocky path as he matched Jianyu's leisurely pace.

Arching one immaculate brow, Jianyu issued a sardonic chuckle. "Aah, you've made the dry meat go even dryer in my mouth. Why don't you ask your questions now? Let us be done with it."

Chiaotzu's gaze was steady, barely flickering as he studied his senior's inscrutable countenance. "You called him Brother Li."

Jianyu feigned confusion, tilting his head fractionally. "Hmm? What was that?"

"You heard me." Chiaotzu's voice remained level, though a glimmer of something akin to curiosity kindled in his eyes.

For a heartbeat, Jianyu said nothing - merely offering an enigmatic curve of his lips as he stroked his steed's powerful neck.

At length, Chiaotzu pressed on, unfazed by the silence.

"I have known you all my life, senior brother. Better than Brother Zhen Wu, better than the elders." A faint crease appeared between his brows. "I know you enough to know what you think of mortals and how you never called one 'brother'."

Still, Jianyu remained unruffled, that subtle smile playing about the corners of his mouth as he continued caressing his mount's sleek coat.

At last, Chiaotzu voiced the question that had been brewing all along. "What really happened in our absence?"

Jianyu's gaze drifted lazily towards the colossal peak looming before them - Cloud Peak, the highest mountain in the Mǐ province where Zhilan belonged. A faint smile played upon his lips as he looked at Chiaotzu once more. "We have arrived."

Confusion creased Chiaotzu's brow.

They were in the middle of nowhere, the only remarkable feature this desolate stretch of rugged terrain offered was the immense, cloud-shrouded mountain itself.

He had known Jianyu his entire life - the capricious cultivator who had taught him the sword and shown him a world beyond the mundane.

But he also knew Jianyu's fickle, unpredictable nature all too well. The thought that the man might cut him down without preamble, for some obscure, esoteric purpose, was not beyond the realms of possibility.

A bead of sweat trickled down Chiaotzu's temple as his muscles coiled taut, every instinct screaming at him to be on guard.

His palm inched towards the hilt of his blade, fingers grazing the worn leather wrappings. His spiritual energy stirred, a hairline fracture spreading across the veil of forced calm as his heartbeat thrummed like a war drum.

One wrong move, one false inhale, and this serene mountain trail could erupt into catastrophic violence.

A low chuckle rolled from Jianyu's throat, as if he could sense the sudden, taut wariness radiating from his protege. "Calm down, calm down, little brother."

The words carried a dulcet, disarming lilt, at harsh odds with the lethal grace coiling beneath Jianyu's nonchalant facade.

Jianyu's smile didn't falter, though something indiscernible flickered to life in his piercing gaze as it met Chiaotzu's. "There's no need for unpleasantries between us."

Feigning hurt, he asked. "You think I would be so casual if I wanted to kill you?"

Chiaotzu's stoic mask didn't waver, his gaze level and utterly serious. "Yes."

A tense silence stretched between them before Jianyu's lips twitched in a wry smirk. "Well, you're not wrong." He let out a low chuckle, shaking his head. "But still, I am quite hurt by this. I am a caring senior brother, you know?"

With an audible sigh, the tension seemed to slowly bleed from Chiaotzu's frame. His hand drifted away from the sword hilt as he regarded Jianyu with a measured look.

Sliding from his horse's saddle with practiced grace, Jianyu turned his attention to the towering peak that dominated the horizon. "Hmm, I always despised that mountain," he mused idly.

Chiaotzu watched him, brow furrowed slightly. "What are we doing here, Brother Jianyu?"

A strange glint entered the cultivator's eye as he extended his palm, concentrating his qi into a condensed point. "During our little travel in Zhilan, I had an enlightenment."

The air around them grew thick, heavy with a simmering, electric charge as Jianyu's spiritual energy coalesced. "I witnessed a very interesting pattern in qi, thanks to someone."

He frowned faintly, as if struggling to put the ineffable into words. "It functioned much like...a powerful vortex, drawing qi inward with immense gravitational force. No matter the amount, it kept absorbing the energy. It was beautiful."

Chiaotzu remained silent, sensing there was more to come as the atmosphere grew steadily more charged and oppressive.

"It gave me an idea," Jianyu continued, his voice dropping to a murmur as the concentrated qi in his palm began to visibly distort the space around it, warping the very air.

The ground beneath their feet trembled ever so slightly as that singularity of pure energy seemed to swell and grow denser with each passing heartbeat...

Jianyu's voice took on a hushed, reverent tone as his eyes glittered with the spark of epiphany. "What if I could condense and curve the qi flow itself?"

He flexed his fingers slowly, the roiling vortex of energy in his palm beginning to warp space in tighter, faster oscillations. "Much like the dantian gathers and focuses our spiritual reserves...but taken to the utmost extreme."

Chiaotzu instinctively stepped back, one hand moving to soothe the increasingly agitated horse. He could feel the air growing heavier, saturated with the overwhelming potency of Jianyu's spiraling qi.

With a sharp inhalation, Jianyu closed his palm into a white-knuckled fist. The gravitational singularity compressed further, the blinding light it emanated bordering on sublime.

For a cultivator to witness such a breakthrough technique taking shape was rare enough to be considered a once-in-a-lifetime event. Yet here was Jianyu, blazing a trail into uncharted realms through sheer force of will and insight.

Sweat beaded on Chiaotzu's brow as he struggled to withstand the oppressive thickness saturating the air around them. The very rocks seemed to groan and shudder with each pulse of Jianyu's spiritual force.

And yet, the man wore a look of utter serenity, his lips curving in a small, triumphant smile.

"Yes..." he breathed, oblivious to the strain rippling through his surroundings. "This is it."

The blinding light in his fist had taken on an almost tangible, elastic quality - compressing space itself into finite, unstable curves as it continuously fed upon Jianyu's inexorable qi.

Chiaotzu could only watch, eyes wide, as his senior trod into territory uncharted. Just what unimaginable forces was Jianyu unleashing?

Then, Jianyu's arm lashed out, fist aimed squarely at the towering peak - and he released the cataclysmic force contained within.

In that instant, the entire world seemed to inhale a shuddering breath. The air itself became a shrieking vortex as the compacted singularity in Jianyu's palm detonated outwards in an incandescent beam of annihilating light.

Chiaotzu threw up an arm to shield his eyes, the sheer concussive force of the erupting torrent nearly blasting him from his feet. The ground itself quaked and buckled in utter defiance of the cultivated maelstrom unleashed upon it.

The beam's searing radiance carved through the immense mountain like a blazing spear of the gods, parting rock and steel as easily as bamboo stalks beneath its impossibly concentrated onslaught.

Then, as abruptly as it had manifested, the torrent dissipated - leaving a punched void through the very heart of Cloud Peak in its wake. Towering geysers of shattered stone and debris rained down in a deafening din, the echoes of that cataclysmic strike reverberating across the valleys.

Chiaotzu could only gape at the smoldering, cavernous wound gouged into the mountain's breast. His throat worked soundlessly as he turned an awestruck look upon his senior.

Jianyu, for his part, wore an expression of utter, serene satisfaction. A faint smile played about his lips as he flexed his fingers, basking in the aftermath of his breakthrough.

"This was only possible thanks to a certain someone," he mused softly, almost to himself. "A glimpse, a simple look at his potential was enough to make me realize this."

His piercing gaze found Chiaotzu's then, glittering with inscrutable designs. "What if I let him grow? He will help me ascend to the highest realms."

Inhaling deeply, Jianyu seemed to revel in the destruction he had wrought, a master craftsman admiring his work. Only then did he turn to face his junior fully, that same enigmatic smile curving his lips.

"I will call this..." He extended his hand once more, fingers splaying to mimic the form of his earth-shattering strike. "'The Rising Dragon Fist.'"

*****

At the same moment, in the imperial capital...

Void.

Absolute void enveloped him, a vast, serene nothingness washing away all sense of self. It felt...peaceful, a surrender into oblivion's warm embrace. There were no anchors - no conception of where, when or even who. All that remained was peace itself, a formless, timeless existence devoid of questions or concerns.

Yet even that pure, ineffable state of tranquility held murmurings of the subliminal. Faint ripples in the void, alien concepts stirring just beneath that placid surface. Feelings? What strange disturbance was this that crested in ghostly echoes? And how...how did utterances, these indistinct reverberations he somehow grasped as 'words', slip into the infinite? What were words? What was...everything?

Who was he?

The void fractured, yielding to fragments, disjointed impressions bleeding through in kaleidoscopic shards. Memories? Pain lanced through spectral arms, legs - fleeting sensations of a corporeal form long departed. Jon? Jon Li...sect... Meaningless phrases adrift in the maelstrom.

Then, a rush of imagery, lucid and visceral. A cerulean-haired figure, hand slashing in an arc as reality itself pivoted sickeningly. Ah...comprehension bloomed, searing away the disorienting murk.

He had been killed. Xue Feng. Yes...that was his identity. The name carried weight, the first tendril of tethered recollection in this roiling vacuum.

Xue Feng...yet the revelation brought no clarity, only a profound sense of loss and dislocation. I...I...

Another alien impression intruded - a tactile one this time. Silk, undoubtedly the finest quality, caressing his...form? Yes, a body, foreign yet somehow his own. Sightless, he could feel himself move, twitch with life in the encompassing void.

What was happening?

Mustering every iota of determination, he forced leaden eyelids to part, revealing a blazing world of crimson at first. The light scorched, reflecting off the bloody array of his eyes' inner veils.

Blinded, he slammed them shut again, only to rise once more - slower this time. Allowing his vision to adjust through stuttering gasps, at last the blurred, dazzling chaos coalesced into tangible shapes and hues.

Opulent sheets of silk and lavish, palatial fittings greeted his stunned gaze. Yet that disorienting luxury paled beside the stark truth now searing his consciousness.

His body...smaller, softer - the form of a mere child.

Then he heard the sound of porcelain breaking on the ground. He looked and saw a woman, she seemed shocked.

By her clothing, Xue Feng recognized it immediately - an imperial servant. But it was the words she uttered that were so disorienting.

"M-my prince!" she screamed, then ran away screaming. "The prince has woken up!"

"Prince?" Xue Feng said, noticing his child-like voice. Just what in the nine hells was going on?