Foreword: A bit later in the day than I would have liked, but RL took up most of my morning and afternoon unexpectedly.
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"Young Master," Changying looks grim - she and Jian went ahead towards the Misty Lake, and she's just returned at high speed. "Ill news. The Misty Lake Sect moved to investigate the area where the demons are sealed after evacuating the mortals from the area. They found large numbers of lesser demons present that had broken their containment. The Misty Lake Sect is embattled and likely to be overwhelmed if not reinforced swiftly."
I glance at the others - Su Ge took six of her servants and headed to Verdant Hill from the Verdant Blade Sect to meet with Elder Chongyun over the delays the Shrouded Mountain is experiencing in its muster, at a request from the Patriarch of the Shrouded Mountain. "From our assessment, enemies range from the high stages of the Initiate's Realm to the early stages of the Profound Realm. More powerful signatures of demonic Qi were in evidence, however, prior to my return. Jian is engaging the enemy to assist the Misty Lake." Changying's words cause my mind to race as my Senior Brothers and Sisters look to me for orders - I have eighteen of them with me, and that should be enough for this. I had a bad feeling about this day when I woke up, and it seems that said bad feeling was entirely justified. My decision comes swiftly - the demons need to be destroyed before they can break containment entirely.
"Xiulan, Tigu, Yin, Meihua, Bi De, Yuan, follow us at best sustainable speed," I order after a moment of thought. I focus entirely on the coming battle - fear will only reduce my chances of survival, doubt will cripple my strength. "I'm going ahead with my Senior Brothers and Sisters, to assist the Misty Lake Sect."
"Yes, Young Master!" Yuan proclaims with a bow. None of them are beyond the Initiate's Realm yet, and won't be able to keep up with us moving at full speed. I glance at the stone urn being hauled around by Brother Heng - Wa Shi has entered the Profound Realm, verging on the Second Stage. I nod in response to Brother Heng's glance at me, and he secures the straps on the harness holding the urn, instead of handing the urn off to Yuan. Wa Shi might be able to help fight - I've seen him practicing with Tigu and Yin, sometimes. Another Profound Realm cultivator isn't to be turned down.
With that settled, we move. [Clouded Steps] [Pyroclastic Rush] My Senior Brothers and Sisters leave behind expanding rings of clouds, while my own steps carry the roar of a pyroclastic flow, clouds of burning ash billowing from where my feet touch the ground.
The nexus was clearly marked - an island near the very edges of the Misty Lake. We move over wet ground, filled with grass that rises above my head. I take the lead, and my passing causes steam to rise from the ground as it hardens, grass burning away in my passing, leaving behind ash-covered soil. We can feel the Water Qi flaring and let it guide us, the feel of demonic Qi only confirming our course. I've been practicing moving meditation for a while now - and as the battle comes into sight, I'm glad I have. We pause at the very edge of the battlefield to assess the circ*mstances, and I take the chance to down an entire bottle of Spiritual Wine - followed by two more in short order. I feel the Ice Qi entering my system, and push it to the side - I'll need it later, but for now it's not all that useful.
The island has half-crumbled away, and man-sized carp with oily black scales and crests of serrated spikes across their backs are leaping towards the lake. Their scales have serrated edges, and ooze foul liquids into the water.
"Sister Daiyu, Sister Wenqian, Brother Hai, Brother Donghai, Brother Yongzheng, barrier duty! Keep those fish from escaping!" I snap the order, and the five of them move. In moments, a five-point barrier is raised containing the battlefield, drawing on their shared affinity for Water Qi to infuse the barrier formation into the water itself.
There are barges with pavise shields covering their bows and flanks, and large siege bows poking out between the shields - I sense mortals manning them. The siege bows are working steadily, their crews holding to their duty in the face of danger as the carp seek to swarm them and assault the mortals directly, arrows spearing through demonic flesh.
Cultivators are fighting from those barges with swords and spears, Water Qi being used to shroud the platforms in concealing mist. Giant lilypads provide easy ways for the cultivators to move about the battlefield to engage the demons more directly. For my part, I note that there are large protrusions of rock and remnants of the breaking island - I won't need to fear burning the lilypads away with my steps.
Jian is currently fighting from one of those small islands, blades of wind slashing out to carve apart the lesser demons en masse. He's maintaining an island of safety for six of the barges, which are using his protection to let them focus their fire on any swarm of lesser demons that looks to be overwhelming another barge.
The island where the demons are sealed has had one half of it, the one facing towards the deeper waters of the lake, broken open. What remains above the water are spires of broken stone and crumbling earth, forming what look like jagged teeth where the 'shell' of the island was cracked apart. The shore-facing side of the island is still intact - and I see that the familiar golden lake is in that half of the island. The island itself is fairly large - a couple of miles wide and about four or maybe five miles long. Plenty of space to fight. And, unfortunately, plenty of space to contain whatever the f*ck these lesser demons are.
Within the nexus, I see two gigantic demons. One appears to be a massive turtle, at least half a Li long, with its shell covered in spikes. Its mouth is a cruel beak filled with serrated ridges, and it has a ring of horns that looks almost like a crown. Its tail is capped with a spiked club of bone, and its feet sport deadly claws already adorned with the red of spilled blood and ragged scraps of cloth.
The other is much smaller - only the length of an eighteen wheeler. It has a long, serpentine body with four legs, slender and deadly. Scales of gleaming black adorn its form, and it has a mane of oily black fur around its neck. Massive antlers with numerous sharp-edged points are in evidence upon its head, and its maw is filled with murderous, poison-dripping fangs. Its toes boast serrated claws, and upon both its back and underbelly it has row after row of spikes oozing some foul-smelling liquid. A mockery of a dragon - all the nobility turned to a nightmare.
From the second demon's maw is spilling a tide of black-scaled carp, and around it writhe numerous smaller versions of itself. "I will hold off with the primary demons," I glare at the turtle and the 'dragon.' "Brothers, Sisters, deal with the carp and the lesser worms, then move to support me. Brother Heng, release Wa Shi - he will be able to help protect the mortals, at least." In moments, Wa Shi is in the water and jetting towards the barges, the water gathering at his command. Both of the primary demons are at the Second Stage of the Spiritual, approaching the Third - this is a fight where they far exceed my own power.
However, if I took on the hordes of lesser foes I'd need to start using some of my wide-area attacks, rather than more focused strikes. And that would put the mortals on the barges, as well as the weaker cultivators of the Misty Lake Sect, at risk. The primary demons are nice, big targets. And I've had a few ideas about how best to use the abundant Wood Qi of the Misty Lake to my advantage - the fact that Water Qi is plentiful here as well just gave me more ideas. I only need to buy time for my Senior Brothers and Sisters to finish off the lesser demons. The battlefield is swarming with the lesser demons in enough places that we can't spare more than a single fighter to contain the greater demons - and I have one advantage over the others that I can leverage in this fight.
My practice with moving meditation let me maintain the state even while invoking my movement technique, deep in concentration. White clouds coalesce, and descend to cover the battlefield. I let the Raging Cloudy Sword Formation manifest, and I am not there. I manifest instead atop a stone pillar overlooking the remnants of the cavern where the two demons were bound. My Senior Brothers and Sisters have started launching techniques at the lesser 'dragons,' drawing them away from their progenitor to challenge the ones attacking them. Sun Ne is in my hands, and a Qi-restoration pill is swiftly downed to keep my reserves high.
I won't be able to set up the blizzard portion of my volcanic weather techniques immediately - but I won't have any trouble with the lightning portions. [Eruption Plume] Another pair of pillars explode at my touch, the stone fragments being drawn into the clouds of superheated ash starting to billow out from my form, hot winds swirling around me. [Demon-Destroying Terrestrial Fire: Second Form: Volcanic Mantle] I take on the aspect of the volcano, and then pull on the Wood Qi in the environment. [Ashen Sky: Third Form: Forest Feeds the Furnace] The Wood Qi promptly burns away, being fed into my Fire Qi in place of the Wood Qi already integrated into my cultivation.
And that mingling of Wood and Fire causes exactly the reaction I'm looking for - great clouds of burning ash billow into the skies from my body, clear skies turning a deep red as the ash clouds distort the light. The red almost reminds me of maple leaves - the shade is similar. The errant thought brings to mind maple syrup - and how much I miss it. If I live through this, I'm going to visit an Archive and see if sugar maples are anywhere to be found in the Empire. Because there's no way I'm going into another fight with a demon without having had maple syrup and pancakes again.
I focus again on the fight as I sense the charge building up from rock fragments striking each other in the ash clouds. [Volcanic Lightning] Spears of lightning rain down on the foe, guided by my Qi infused into the storm of burning ash. Shaping the charge is simple enough - it just needs me to shape the ash clouds in the right manner to guide the channel through which the lightning travels. The dragon lunges out of the hole, the lightning seeming to glance off its scales - and I am not there. I stand on its head, Sun Ne chopping into its skull - the ridges of bone connected to the horns make for a strong defense against my blows, unfortunately. It thrashes, trying to throw me off as it loses control of its flight, and vile black smoke spills from its scales. The flames around me burn too hot, though, and the smoke is burned away as it approaches me.
[Pyroclastic Lance] Sun Ne's blade is wreathed in a storm of superheated ash as the dragon crashes to the cavern once more, and as the force of impact throws its head back, the blade spears down. The dragon drives its own skull into Sun Ne's blade, which blazes white-hot as it pierces through cursed flesh and bone, the swirling storm of ash grinding and piercing through the demon's brain. Unfortunately, I don't manage to capitalize as the turtle grabs me in its massive maw, seeking to bite me in two - I am not there.
The dragon rises from where it sprawled across the cavern floor, the turtle at its side - both of them with hatred in their eyes. The dragon's maw spews out a storm of electricity towards where I stand on another stone pillar, while the turtle spits out a massive beam of focused water that's mingled with the liquid impurity I've grown used to seeing from these things.
f*ck. If I dodge, those attacks are going to shoot past the pillar - and there's one of the mortal barges in the way now. I can't spare the Qi to get them out of the way. So instead I ramp the volcanic heat up. [Ashen Sky: Third Form: Forest Feeds the Furnace] The heat promptly reaches the point where the stone pillars around me begin to melt. The water on the floor of the cavern starts boiling. Thick clouds of burning ash rise to the sky.
The Qi in the cavern is plentiful - it would be a significant concentration of Qi even in Raging Waterfall Gorge. The demonic Qi…has been tainting the golden lake, but the Earth Spirit here is strong enough to hold their influence back, so there's plenty of pure Qi to draw upon.
There's abundant Wood Qi here - I pull it in. Every last scrap of ambient Wood Qi I can get, I draw upon to heat my fires. There's some Water Qi coming with it, but I already have a plan for using that. [Demon-Destroying Terrestrial Fire: Second Form: Eruption Wall] The stones in front of me and around me turn fully molten and the burning rock heeds my command, surging to form a thick barrier before the oncoming attacks. I hear the scream of water as it boils to steam, thick clouds hot enough to boil flesh from bone in instants rising into the sky.
[Demon-Destroying Terrestrial Fire: Third Form: Geyser Eruption] Part of the floor of the cavern shatters as I pull upon the flows of water, using the Water Qi I drew in with the Wood. Normally, I wouldn't be able to draw in Water at all - but it's so intermingled with the Wood that I can't isolate the Wood Qi without time, effort, and deep meditation. Which is perfectly fine by me - I can treat it as if I've taken in some resource aligned with Water Qi, as my Spiritual Wine is aligned with Ice, and use that for a time. And what Water Qi I don't use goes to nourishing the Wood Qi I've cultivated - strengthening it to help withstand my growing Fire.
The turtle is thrown onto its back, part of the shell covering its underbelly cracked by the force of the erupting geyser, a pillar of superheated water rising high into the air. The water boils away into steam as it encounters the heat I'm putting out - I'm going all-in on drawing in Wood Qi to fuel my flames. Probably too much Wood Qi - I can feel my meridians straining from the demand I'm putting on them to pull Qi in. It's usually not wise to pull in more Qi than your meridians can handle, but I don't exactly have a choice right now. I need the power now, and I'll handle any issues later if I live to have a later.
Adding to my list of problems at the moment, maintaining the Raging Cloudy Sword Formation while fighting and cultivating is a bit complicated - but I've been doing plenty of practice with moving meditation on the road. And the desire to survive makes my concentration really sharpen. So I'll just have to do it regardless of how difficult it is. I can't spare much Qi to regularly render myself Indeterminate - that really sucks up power, and I need to conserve my Qi, even with Qi-restoration pills. So I'll just have to use the Formation judiciously - to keep me alive until my Senior Brothers and Sisters can step in.
The one good thing about this situation is the abundance of ambient Wood Qi, I don't need to risk burning part of my cultivation to keep my fires at their hottest - and the Water Qi that's mixed into the Wood is useful as well. I'm not much for machinery - but I have at least an idea how some things work, even if I couldn't build them. Things like steam engines.
Water Qi comes into contact with Fire Qi stoked to immense levels, and I feel the steam pouring off of my body just as thickly as the ash clouds. [Demon-Destroying Terrestrial Fire: Third Form: Steam Titan] I am not there. I stand before the turtle, and steam roars from my body as an ash-wreathed Sun Ne stabs forward into another plate of the shell. I promptly have to abandon my assault as I feel a claw raking along my back, the dragon lunging at me, but I see the plate crack before I vanish into the white clouds once more. I reappear on the other side of the turtle, and this time [Hammer of the Volcanoes] my fist smashes a section of its armor to pieces, fire lancing into the turtle's flesh, drawing a roar of pain.
The blow also provides enough force for the turtle to roll to its feet again with the momentum - and have the dragon smash into its bulk face-first, rocking the turtle on its feet and nearly toppling it again. A spiked club smacks into my side as Sun Ne spears into a crack in the turtle's armor, flinging me through a stone pillar with a gash across my arm slowly leaking molten rock.
My ranged techniques can hurt them - but not kill them. I don't have anything for long range with enough penetrating power to get through the dragon's scales or the turtle's shell - both of which I've now tested up close and personal. So instead, it's going to have to be close combat. Steam pressure builds up within my stony shell, ready to add strength to my blows. The ash clouds fill the skies above, and I rain down lightning on the carps that try to leap at me, and on the two demons - even if it can't kill them, it distracts them. I have, however, taken blows - and I'll have to take more in any close-quarters fight. I settle my breathing - I'm probably going to die today if my Senior Brothers and Sisters don't hurry up. Their size slows them down a bit - enough for me to avoid any solid blows. However, that just means this is going to be a battle of attrition. Whoever stays on their feet longest wins.
I align my Intent with Sun Ne, the white-hot blade burning even hotter, the only light to be seen as the ash clouds block out the sun. And now the water that's been boiling away has cooled enough for my purposes - the skies might not have hosted a snowstorm, but they're still cold with the winter weather. And I have enough Ice Qi available for my purposes. [Volcanic Hail] The water has frozen, and hailstones fall like bullets, chunks of ice the size of my fists hitting with enough force to crack solid stone. Steam erupts wherever they hit, melting rock vaporizing the water and restarting the cycle. Fumaroles erupt wherever the cavern's stone is intact, spewing out superheated steam that would kill a mortal in an instant.
In other places, where the stone has broken open and the lake has started to make its way into the cavern, geysers erupt, great pillars of boiling water. Steam roars from the cracks in my stony mantle, and the ash clouds grow thicker. It's a hell of molten rock, steam, and superheated ash - the demons are tough enough to bear the heat, and my own cultivation means I find the environment quite congenial. White clouds swirl around the cavern, the Raging Cloudy Sword Formation giving me the mobility advantage I'll need for this battle. My blade rises in salute to the Earth Spirit who held these demons back - and I face my death with my head held high.
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Wa Shi knows his duty in this battle - his Master was clear in his instructions, and Wa Shi will not fail him. These paltry imitations of Wa Shi's form will not trouble his Master as he battles the demons that spawned them. Normally, Wa Shi would not be on this battlefield - the sheer amounts of Qi being thrown around are enough to casually annihilate him in instants. If it were not for his Master's commands, he would have fled instead of fought.
However, his Master commanded him - and Wa Shi is his First Disciple. He may prefer the portions of his duties that involve studying scrolls and cleaning dishes to the portions that involve combat, but Wa Shi is still First Disciple. And if he flees this battle, the cat and the rooster will never let him live it down. And, of course, there is the most troublesome reason to fight - gratitude. Wa Shi, before his Ignition, spent a hundred years as food for anything that could fish the rivers where he dwelled.
And after his Ignition, Wa Shi only became more tempting. Now Spirit Beasts and cultivators considered him to be food just as much as normal animals and humans did. More so, even, for his Qi could benefit them beyond just providing a meal. With his new intelligence, he sought to escape the hunters by leaving his birthplace in Raging Waterfall Gorge. The streams and rivers of the Howling Fang Mountains had just as many hunters, though - so he fled them and entered the Azure Hills. He had peace here, for a while. Then he found that Awakened carp were considered a delicacy by the Blaze Bears here. It didn't take long for him to leave the Azure Hills again, and he returned to Raging Waterfall Gorge. At least there he knew the waters. And the Qi was richer, easier to cultivate with.
True, he didn't manage to advance much - he had to spend his Qi on evading predators. But by the time his Master found him, Wa Shi had reached the Second Stage of the Initiate's Realm, unlike hundreds of other carp he had seen Ignite. When his Master placed the dishes in the pond where Wa Shi was hiding, Wa Shi had been starving - and the cultivators had just eaten, so perhaps they wouldn't make a meal of Wa Shi. So he emerged from hiding and cleaned the plates. His Master had been pleased - and Wa Shi was allowed to live. Over the next few days, that became a pattern. Wa Shi would serve his Master diligently, and his Master would provide him with food and protection. The Master's presence kept the predators that would have eagerly made Wa Shi into their meal away.
And then, one evening, pleased with Wa Shi's service, his Master began to instruct Wa Shi in enlightened arts - he spoke of many topics, and of far away places. And his knowledge helped Wa Shi achieve a greater understanding, bringing him to the Third Stage of the Initiate's Realm in short order. On that day, Wa Shi swore he would serve his Master faithfully for the rest of his life - that he would repay the enlightenment his Master granted him. And Wa Shi began to hunger not just for food, but for knowledge. For it was knowledge that elevated Wa Shi by a full Stage - as his Master said, knowledge is power.
With power, Wa Shi would never be considered food again. He would be able to climb the Waterfall Gate, and finally escape the fate so many other carp had suffered before his eyes. His Master brought him salvation after years of struggle. He filled Wa Shi's belly with food and filled his mind with knowledge. When his Master departed, Wa Shi followed, as a faithful Disciple should. Soon, his Master began more active instruction. Wa Shi grew swiftly, first to the Fourth Stage, then the Fifth. Then his Master found the cat - the Young Mistress.
The cat learned swiftly, and was properly respectful to his status as First Disciple. The Master chose well when he accepted the cat as his daughter once she achieved a human form. She will be a properly diligent scion for the Master's Clan. For his part, Wa Shi will not choose the cat's path - he is the Master's faithful student and companion, not his son.
The rooster learned more slowly - but he is diligent, and respectful. He will make a good servant for the Master, alongside the new human servant, Yuan. The rooster shows promise, though whether that will be realized or not is still unclear. Finally, the rabbit joined their number - and it is clear that she will be the Master's second daughter.
The rabbit was rough in her manner at first - and still is. But she applies herself diligently to learning and practicing her manners, so she does not disgrace the Master - a thing worthy of Wa Shi's respect. As is her determination to grow strong despite her spiritual imbalance. As such, Wa Shi will not hesitate to acknowledge her as the cat's younger sister once the rabbit achieves a human form. Right now, however, Wa Shi is the only Disciple here - and his Master has commanded him.
[Flowing Blades] The water rises at Wa Shi's command, ribbons of water floating through the air - the water appears to be motionless, but in fact the streams are simply moving at very high speed, such that a mortal eye cannot track the movement. Only the ripples spreading out from where the streamers emerge from and return to the lake give any sign of motion. Then one of the ribbons lashes out, separating from the lake's surface and becoming a cutting blade, slashing down through a trio of demonic carp. The blade then splits into many smaller streamers, thinner ribbons of water forming a net-like structure around the parts of the slain demons - and dicing them even further as the net closes, collapsing back into a single streamer which lashes out against another demon fish.
[Pressure of the Depths] Wa Shi's Master instructed him on the ocean, told him how as water gets deeper, it also presses more heavily upon those within it. Wa Shi spits out a sphere of water which envelops a leaping carp, and then within the sphere the water pressure increases. In moments, only a floating mass of black liquid remains within the sphere - and another dozen spheres are already catching more of the minor demons. Two of the barges are sheltering under his protection, his blades and pressure spheres catching every demon seeking them.
With the area under control, Wa Shi turns his attention to the rest of the battlefield - in case any of the stronger opponents around decide he looks like a good snack. All of his Master's Brothers and Sisters are embattled, facing half a dozen or more of the false dragons apiece, along with swarms of the demonic replicas of Wa Shi's noble form. While those lesser foes are no match for any of them, they are nonetheless slowing the Spiritual Realm cultivators down by sheer weight of numbers. Wide-area techniques designed to deal with such hordes had to be abandoned swiftly, as some of the false dragons proved capable of illusion techniques. They used swarms of the fish to bait out powerful techniques - while using their illusions to hide that the fish were in proximity to the mortal barges or Misty Lake cultivators.
The false dragons also possess extremely tough scales, resistant to the Qi techniques even of Spiritual Realm cultivators. With the fish acting as sacrificial shields and their superior numbers, they're managing to drag the fight out - ensuring the Master is left to fight alone. All of the Cloudy Sword's cultivators are fully engaged, and any attempt to break off from their fight is met with a particular focus from the demons. The Misty Lake Sect and the mortals are pulling back to form their own bastion, barges forming a unified platform for the cultivators to fight from against the onslaught coming at their numbers.
Wa Shi doesn't entirely understand why the Cloudy Sword's cultivators don't simply use their most powerful techniques regardless of the proximity of the other cultivators or the mortals. If the demons are destroyed, then the loss of this group should be acceptable - perhaps Wa Shi will have to ask his Master to explain the reason for such behavior later.
"Sister Changying!" One of the cultivators containing the attempts of the demons to escape into the lake calls. "We have identified the properties of the demonic formations within the nexus that you noted as unusual from previous sites. They are bloodline-linked, and spiritual in nature." Wa Shi finds he greatly dislikes the sound of that - especially as he has to cut another trio of demonic fish from the air as they attempt to leap onto a barge and attack the mortals.
"Their exact purpose?" Lady Changying demands as she cuts down two of the false dragons in quick succession, having pierced their illusions. Her sword is wreathed in lightning, and a snarl is on her lips - much unlike the usual amusem*nt Wa Shi sees from her.
"Any cultivator who Ignites within the area affected by the nexus, and who is of a specific bloodline, has their soul captured upon their death and trapped within the array," the other cultivator rumbles in anger. "Their soul is then used to fuel the spawning of one of these lesser demons. We believe that Spirit Beasts are similarly affected - and that both the Keelbreakers and many of the cultivators in this area descend from the bloodline of a dragon, which is the reason for these…forms taken by the demons. Those cultivators who perish in the Initiate's Realm take the form of carp, while those in the Profound Realm take the form of dragons."
"Heng!" Changying calls to the Disciple who carried Wa Shi to this lake. "You have an affinity for Fire Qi - reinforce the Young Master! If he destroys the demonic formation trapping these spirits, it may weaken the demons. Engage the primary demons while he focuses on the destruction of the formation. Take Yongzheng and Jian with you - they should be able to reinforce what he's doing to the weather. I'll cover for your withdrawal from the battlefield."
Wa Shi turns his attention to where the Master is fighting as the three cultivators mentioned begin to fight their way through the hordes of lesser demons. The cracked open island now emanates a sullen crimson glow, and through the holes Wa Shi can see the flows of molten rock left by the Master's techniques. Eruptions of boiling water and steam shoot into the air from cracks in the stone where the rock hasn't melted yet, and great clouds of ash billow forth, the skies turned a deep red as the ash blocks out the sun.
From the clouds, hailstones fall at tremendous velocities, and where they fall, the columns of rising steam thicken. Wa Shi sees one leaping demon fish get caught by a hailstone - it's pulverized in an instant. Lightning falls into the cavern frequently, and Wa Shi reaches out to the clouds of ash with his Qi, seeking understanding.
What he finds astonishes him. His Master's Qi is laced throughout the ash clouds, and as the steam rises into them, the Master ruthlessly tears the heat from the steam, turning it first to water and then to ice. And that ice then falls from the skies as hail. Within the clouds of ash, Wa Shi can see the writhing form of the greatest of the false dragons - scales being slowly broken apart by the constant bombardment of hail. The demon turtle's shell is also slowly cracking beneath the endless strikes. The heat ripped from the water is poured into the stone, turning ever more of it molten. The steam clouds grow thicker, hotter, and deadlier. Geysers gain greater force as the Master shapes the stone to condense the streams of water, increasing their pressure as he taught Wa Shi to do. Turning the geysers from bludgeons to spears.
Whenever the Master is about to be caught by an attack, he simply vanishes into the clouds, his Qi flickering from existence, reappearing to launch another volley of brutal attacks. The demons are roaring in frustration and pain as the Master wears them down. Storms of burning ash are hurled in great tides, roaring forth with crushing force that batters the demons and throws them back from escaping into the lake's water, where the Master's arts would be more constrained. Every technique used by the Master carries enough Qi to exhaust any Initiate - and yet his reserves remain steady, his power flowing seemingly without cease or limit.
As the three other cultivators join the fight, the Master rallies and launches a full offensive against the demons, even as his Qi reaches into the air. He pulls the heat from some of the air currents, pumping it into others - and one of the new cultivators adds their own Qi to the effort. Swiftly, a funnel of air is reaching down from the ash clouds, gathering superheated ash and stony debris within itself - the winds scream as they spin ever faster. The geysers grow more concentrated, and blades of fire fill the air as all four of them give battle as one.
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I'm approaching my limits - my meridians are screaming at me as I pull too much Qi at once through them, and I can taste blood on my tongue. I glance again at my three Senior Brothers - all of them nod to me, and I take the chance for a reprieve. The Raging Cloudy Sword Formation has saved my life at least a hundred times already, letting me evade blows that would have smeared me across the landscape from here to Verdant Hill. I maintain that, but let my other techniques fade as I move towards the demonic formations. Hands of stone wreathed in fire come to rest upon the cursed sigils, and stone melts at my touch. I can feel the foulness of the demonic Qi that has been coursing through these sigils for millennia, and a snarl comes to my lips as I flare hotter for a moment.
I swallow a Qi restoration pill quickly, followed by a pair of healing pills. One for physical injuries, the other designed to soothe strained meridians. Now that I'm not pulling in outside Qi recklessly, the meridian-soothing pill at least eases the agony I'm in, even if it doesn't eliminate it entirely. As for my injuries, they stop bleeding - given that all of them are laced with demonic Qi, I can't hope for much more. Sun Ne is no longer wreathed in flame and ash - the golden blade is practically radiating satisfaction. My Intent grew ever more aligned to the blade's spirit during the battle as everything focused down to surviving just a moment longer.
In order to survive, I needed to cut my enemies down. And Sun Ne's spirit wants, more than anything, to cut. Cleanly, purely - every blow it struck in this battle left behind a straight, clean cut in the hides of my enemies, our building resonance making each strike cut a bit deeper than the last one. My Sword Intent is far clearer than it was at the beginning of this battle. If I survive, that'll come in handy. And my chances of surviving are far better than they were a few minutes ago, given the fury of the battle between my Senior Brothers and the two demons. Slowly, the tide is turning as the injuries I inflicted begin to tell, and new injuries start accumulating.
The demonic sigils are being burned away, and I've started work on the channels for the Dragon Lines while I'm at it - at least getting the preliminaries done. None of my Senior Brothers or Sisters have had much success with aligning the channels correctly to let it flow freely again, so that task has been left to me each time so far. Once I get the alignments made, they can do the rest without issue. My concentration goes wholly to that task, trusting my Senior Brothers to keep any attacks from catching me as I work.
Long minutes pass as I work, and I feel the demonic Qi sources in the lake dwindling in number steadily all the while. The battle continues to rage at my back, and whenever I can I cast an eye to it. The molten rock has begun to cool without me actively pumping heat into it, and the ash clouds are scattering in the winds. The hail is gone as well - replaced with pouring rain that turns to lances of high-velocity water as Brother Yongzheng takes command of it. The tornado is still intact, however - Brother Jian is in control of the winds, and he's using the high-velocity stone debris within the vortex to rip at the dragon's scales, tearing injuries into it with every pass.
Brother Heng is drawing the heat from the molten rock to empower his own fire techniques, dueling the turtle and boiling away the streams of water spat at him. All three of them are managing to blast through the armor the demons possess, far more effectively than I did. As I manage to scorch away the last of the keystone sigils anchoring the soul-imprisoning formation, however, Brother Yongzheng gets one leg clipped by a spray of rock from where the dragon just got slammed into the cavern's floor by a blow from Brother Jian. The rock jolts him from his movement technique, crashing into the floor with a crack of bone coming from the leg that was hit - and the turtle's tail arcs towards him.
The white clouds form around him - my meridians complain at the amount of Qi I'm channeling so soon, my Dantian shuddering at the demands I'm making, my still-recovering reserves not quite enough. I reach for my Vital Qi to give me that little bit more, ready to burn years for this one action. Then Brother Yongzheng catches my eye - and flares his Qi. The clouds are pushed away, and I see the gratitude in his gaze. Then the tail crashes down, and I hear the crunch, see the blood spray from the impact. When the tail lifts, a shattered corpse is left behind.
I grit my teeth - and let my Vital Qi recede, turning my attention back to aligning the channels as quickly as I can. With one of my Senior Brothers dead, the other two are starting to be pressured. Both demons have the advantage of being able to absorb wounds with their sheer bulk and armor, along with massive physical strength. They were once far greater than they are now. They aren't as fast, or as strong, or as heavily defended as they once were. But their physical capabilities aren't as diminished as their Qi. Thankfully, their defenses and physical abilities aren't equivalent to the Earth Realm, or we'd all already be dead. And their speed is only equivalent to the First Stage of the Spiritual Realm, so there's some advantage in that at least. A solid hit on any of us is still going to be lethal, though - I shoot a glance at the lake, where the fight is slowly winding down in our favor.
Two more of my Senior Brothers are starting to fight their way towards us, and Wa Shi is still fine - he's hanging out by the barges the Misty Lake Sect's cultivators brought with them, keeping any of the demon fish from attacking them. The cultivators of the Misty Lake have formed ragged defenses around the barges, numerous holes probably from missing members in evidence. They're fighting nonetheless, keeping the mortals on the barges safe at the command of a Third Stage Initiate - I hear her addressed as Young Mistress, the words echoing over the water. There's no evidence of anyone senior to her among the fighting cultivators - though there are a number of Profound Realm cultivators lying heavily wounded on the barges, from what I can sense, some of whom have slowly fading Vital Qi.
I finish aligning the channels after several more minutes, and the healing pills, along with the Qi restoration pills, have given me a second wind. My meridians will likely be sore for a month, and I won't be able to channel as much Qi as I did earlier without breaking my Dantian. I can, however, rejoin the fight, and I see an excellent opportunity.
[Ashen Soil Yields the Harvest] The stony ground is covered in rich ash, and there's plenty of Wood Qi. The turtle's shell is cracked open in several places along the bottom - my smile is vicious as the familiar thorny vines erupt from the ground, reaching up towards the turtle - and instead of restraining, they surge. The gaps in the shell are found and the thorny vines exploit them fully, growing up into the turtle's body with hungry vitality. I feel the vines writhing through its flesh, the turtle bellowing in agony as it thrashes, tearing some of the vines from the ground. It doesn't matter. New roots have been grown into its body, in the wounds where storms of pyroclastic fury left behind ash deposits.
It's not enough to be fatal - the sheer impurity in the demon's body is already killing the vines, even as they rip into its organs and muscles. I have to force more Qi into the technique to keep them growing for long enough, my concentration on the battle between growing vines and poisonous impurity total. It's enough of a distraction, though, for Brother Heng to cleave the turtle's head in two with a blazing sword. Now we just need to kill one demon.
"Do not try to rescue us with the Raging Cloudy Sword Formation if we are in danger," Brother Heng commands as we take a moment to breathe. "Your meridians and Dantian are in no state to channel the necessary amount of Qi at the moment. Reserve your Qi for keeping yourself alive, Young Master - if we live while you die, you're only delaying our execution. Your father will not be pleased if you are to perish while in the Cloudy Sword Sect's care. Engage the demon with caution." I grit my teeth and nod in acknowledgement as Sun Ne is once more called upon, my Intent focusing into the blade, the sword spirit humming in readiness.
"Sister Changying called for reinforcements earlier," Brother Kang is one of the two who fought their way to us after Brother Yongzheng died, the other being Brother Peizhi. His blade gleams with cold starlight, a legacy from his time in the Starlit Blade. "We got in contact with Lady Liusei and reinforcements will join us from the Isle's Disciples to ensure that the task is fully dealt with - while they're still acclimating, a few can handle the Azure Hills for a brief time. Long enough to finish this."
With those words said, both he and Brother Heng hurl themselves into the fight once more. [Ashen Sky: First Form: Thousand Blades] I rejoin the fight as well, the ash still lingering in the air gaining heat and coalescing as my Qi surges through it. The blades seek out gaps in the dragon's scales, burning their way under its armor little by little. The dragon, however, ignores the attack, instead turning its attention to my Senior Brothers, lightning spilling from its jaws. I see Brother Jian caught by a bolt, causing him to spasm for several moments - long enough that the dragon's jaws snap around him and only his legs are left behind.
Brother Heng dodges the lightning, only to be caught cleanly by a claw which tears his torso apart, leaving pieces falling away from each other. Brother Peizhi, a Disciple born into the Cloudy Sword Sect to two now-dead Inner Disciples, is cleaved in half from groin to skull by the lashing tail. Only Brother Kang and I survive the sudden surge of speed from the dragon, which is now moving far faster than it did…when it was staying near the turtle so they could support each other in battle. f*ck. I knew I had a bad feeling about today.
"A few minutes until our Brothers and Sisters can finish their fight and come to our aid," Brother Kang observes. That area is a knot of intense fighting, our Brothers and Sisters unleashing powerful techniques that carve apart the hordes of lesser demons. The numbers of the lesser demons, however, are large enough that time is still needed to finish the job.
A few minutes are an eternity in battle. I focus my Qi and slip into the clouds. I stand upon the dragon's back. Sun Ne thrusts down into the base of its neck. Cut! I unify my Intent with the blade's spirit and we pierce through the thick fur of its mane, stabbing into the scales and drawing a stream of black blood from the beast. I am not there. The demon is thrashing in an attempt to throw me off - I stand beneath it and let it drag its coils along Sun Ne's rising edge. Cut! Again, a gush of black blood greets me as the golden blade cleaves through scales with ease. However, I pay for my slip into reality as I get glanced by the tail, sent hurtling towards a stone wall at lethal velocities - I am not there. I tumble and roll along the grass atop the still intact parts of the island, bleeding speed in a practiced roll and ending up on my feet. I am not there. I spit out blood as my ribs complain, and I stand again on the battlefield.
I am upon the dragon's muzzle - Sun Ne thrusts for its eye. Cut! The blade pierces into the eye, and then I sweep it across the middle of the eye in an attempt to blind the thing. Instead, I merely get chucked upwards as it tosses its head, bringing its horns up in an attempt to gore me. I am not there. I stand, panting, upon the cavern floor again, a Qi restoration pill already being swallowed.
Brother Kang is busy warding off the demon's attacks on him, his own blade having far more luck in carving deep rents into the demon's flesh. He's focused utterly on his own evasion of the demon's attacks, especially as it starts spewing out lightning again. Those bolts that approach him too closely are cleaved apart with a blade of starlight, while the rest are evaded with a movement technique that leaves trails of glistening silvery light in his wake. Then he gets clipped by the dragon's tail and is sent hurtling from the cavern, though thankfully his Qi signature remains strong. It turns to me - and I don't have enough Qi for extended evasion. My Senior Brothers and Sisters are still a couple of minutes from being able to aid me.
My remaining Qi is mustered - I am not there. I slip into reality right beneath the dragon's jaws.
[Hammer of the Volcanoes] Sun Ne's edge cleaves open the dragon's scales as I pour Qi into the blade. Cut! Then a fist of stone wreathed in flame smashes into the rent and a lance of fire pours into the demon's skull. I feel the fire erupt from the other side of its flesh, entering open air once more. Its head hangs to the rest of its body by a thread, and I leap away as it comes crashing down. My Qi is all but spent. I see the malice slowly fading in its remaining eye - and I feel the Vital Qi of one of the wounded Profound Realm cultivators fade entirely.
A surge of demonic Qi, a flicker of life from the remnants of the demonic formation I crippled earlier - it can't hold the soul, but the dragon spits out a single demonic fish at me. My Qi is all but spent, my injuries are screaming in pain, the Formation is fading as I no longer have the strength or concentration to maintain it. Sun Ne's blade comes up to cleave the fish in two, but not before it latches onto my throat, tearing flesh away with a bite even as it gets carved apart. A great claw thrusts forward, the tip piercing into my chest - agony erupts in my body as darkness fills the edges of my vision.
Great red wings envelop the battlefield. A surge of Qi fills my senses, but I can't tell from where or who - all I can tell is that it's powerful. Darkness fills my senses, and I feel Sun Ne slip from my fingers.
==================
Yin sees her Master fall from where they had just arrived at the edge of the battlefield - not that he likes her calling him that. He's uncomfortable with her calling herself his weapon. Yin wasn't entirely sure how to deal with that when they met - she shoved it to the side to focus on doing her duty. With him so much stronger than her, she couldn't even be his weapon, not like she was for Shifu. And her inability to rise to his level of power left her frustrated - how was she supposed to be useful if he could just wipe her out a hundred times over with barely any effort? How was she supposed to serve him?
Then she realized what the cat thought of her, when they went to that misty mountain - that the cat thought that Yin was supposed to be her new little sister. Yin…for the first time since Shifu died, Yin stopped feeling lost. Yin stopped feeling useless. She had a purpose, even if it wasn't the one she expected. And Yin realized one other thing about being her Master's new daughter. His father is strong, apparently - he has access to things that might be able to let Yin overcome the dissonance between her cultivation and her body. As his granddaughter, maybe the man will give Yin what she needs to rise to the Heavens and carry Shifu's name to them.
And once she's strong enough, Yin can serve as the weapon she was meant to be. It doesn't matter to Yin if she calls him 'Father' instead of 'Master.' Or if he calls her 'daughter.' It gives her a purpose. And with Shifu gone, with Sun Ken gone, with nothing else left, Yin is willing to grasp that purpose. Now, though, she sees him fall upon the battlefield, and Yin knows terror once more. For the loss of purpose again, for the loss of another family. He had accepted her without hesitation - had cared for her, had looked for a way to let her grow stronger.
Yin had felt empty, after Shifu's death - he had given her purpose and a home, had taught her as he did his other Disciples. He had spoken with her, asked her to tell him about Shifu, shared tales with her of his father in trade for her stories of Shifu, of their time together. He had spoken with her about purpose, and lacking it. How he had once thought he would leave behind the path of cultivation, only to embrace it once more for new reasons. He found Shifu's bones, and buried them in the mortal village where Shifu's Master had lived, giving Shifu final rites. It wasn't what she expected - but Yin thinks Shifu would have liked him. And Shifu's last order to her, the one order she hasn't spoken of to anyone else, was to live, to find something that would bring her joy. Shifu said that she could fail to obey all of his other orders - but she was to live, and be happy.
Yin realizes that he had done to her what she had once done to Shifu - found his way into her heart despite her resolve to simply be his weapon and servant. She thinks that Shifu would have enjoyed seeing that - would have used it as a lesson to her. In a single moment, she realizes that some things matter far more than she had meant for them to ever matter.
Yin sees him fall - and she realizes now why Shifu wanted vengeance the way he did for his Master. Yin's resolve crystallizes in a heartbeat. The midday sun looks upon her. Looks upon the land where a demon has been slain. And a blaze of sunlight falls to the earth, enveloping her. Something looks upon Yin in that moment, and she feels herself change. Heat fills her bones, her core, burning and purifying and changing, pushing out the cold darkness that has filled her body since the moment of her birth. In those moments, Yin is remade by that foreign hand, reshaped. Reborn. She isn't fully complete - not yet. But neither is her spirit clashing with her body. One day, she will be more than she is now. For now, this is enough for whatever power is acting upon her. For whatever hand has decided to remake her. A hot light courses through her meridians, and she feels herself grow to the Fourth Stage of the Initiate's Realm.
She looks into the water, and sees herself. Tall, like he is. But far more slender, an elegant body much unlike his. Long silver hair, seeming almost white under the sunlight - but a rich, lustrous silver-white, seeming like fresh-fallen snow under the sunlight. A noble, regal face, but with clear marks of stern nobility to it - strength stamped across the features that would normally belong to a demure woman. Clearly defined muscles rippling across long limbs. Eyes of purest azure, with pale, smooth skin that has a lustrous, creamy sheen to it. And she looks young. About the same age as Tigu - perhaps a little younger. Yin glares at the distance between herself and the island where the demons laired.
Great red wings envelop the battlefield, and the battle is over in an instant. A moment later, the massive woman who commanded the humans in the flying ship stands before them, her face set in stern, uncompromising lines and with him in her arms. A poultice has already been pressed to his throat and chest, and one of her hands is over his heart. Changying arrives a moment later, already removing the formation papers Yin has grown used to seeing from her storage ring, filling a bucket with water.
"Lady Wuting, start circulating his Qi," Changying requests. "We'll need it flowing properly to keep the demonic Qi from getting into his wounds and finishing the job his injuries have started. Kang, you have the recording crystal I saw Heng set up to record the battle so that we could collect the bounties later?"
"I do, Senior Sister," Kang confirms.
"Good. Copy it and take it to Crimson Crucible City. One for the bounty offices, and the other for the mail. The Young Master prepared a letter for his father - if you hurry, we should be able to include a copy of the crystal in the ones going with that letter in the Army's mail for this season," Changying commands firmly. "Lady Wuting, I know you can't remain long - can you remain long enough for us to stabilize him?"
"I can," the giant woman nods. "I will take him with me back to the Verdant Blade - we have medical supplies there which will help treat his injuries better than they can be treated in the field."
"Good," Changying nods, setting the formation papers in place. "He made the right decision engaging the demons - someone had to delay them, and he had the best chance of dodging their attacks with the use of the Raging Cloudy Sword Formation. He also had an environment that was very cooperative with his fighting style. If there hadn't been so many lesser demons to kill before they could escape into the lake and potentially worsen the situation, we would have been able to reinforce him far earlier - as it is, the Misty Lake Sect has been gutted of its strongest cultivators. Their Sectmaster and his wife both died in the battle, as did more than one of their Elders." She grimaces. "They were the first to respond to the threat, and remained on the front lines of the battle until the Misty Lake Sect withdrew to their defensive position."
"Unfortunate," Xiulan grimaces. "Xianghua is not ready to command her Sect - and one of the Elders may try to usurp her while they have the chance." Changying nods. "Are we to support her position then?"
"We will await the Young Mistress' input - we will be contacting her soon," Changying replies as the formation papers start their work. The water in the bucket starts turning black as demonic Qi pours out of…Rou's injuries, his own Qi steadily cycling and helping to push it out. "Lady Xiulan, if you wouldn't mind taking Lady Tigu and Lady Yin? I know the Young Master provided you with plenty of additional silver once the bounties were paid out, and I'm sure that both of them could use suitable wardrobes."
"Of course," Xiulan agrees calmly, even as she drapes Yin in a robe much like her own. The mention of Yin has drawn the giant woman's attention to her - and the woman's eye narrows as she looks Yin over. Her features are slowly examined and considered - and then the woman nods, as if something makes sense to her now. f*ck if Yin knows what, though.
===================
I didn't expect to wake up, but I find myself rising from the darkness into wakefulness. With Xiaobao's hand on top of my chest, her eye looking down into mine, and formation papers plastered all over me. And everything hurts, enough that I'm convinced I'm alive. Being dead wouldn't hurt this badly.
"Young Master," Xiaobao says calmly. "I am circulating your Qi at the moment - with your injuries and strained meridians, it would not be advisable for you to do so." I blush furiously at the implications - circulating someone else's Qi is extremely intimate most of the time. She's right that I can't really muster the concentration to circulate my own Qi in a consistent pattern at the moment, but the intimacy is still extreme.
In these circ*mstances, it's not so much of an issue, but in any others, it would be the kind of thing that conveys serious intentions. As it is, her Qi signature will mark mine for weeks. I'll probably be healing for most of that time, rather than out in public, so that's one redeeming factor. If I was out in public…well, Su Ge made it clear that such marks are how cultivators declare someone 'theirs.' Specifically, by marking my Qi with her own and having mine mark hers in turn the first time we mingled our Qi, and every time since.
Our minglings, though, have been far more shallow. The marks only lasting a day or so, until the next session - diving so deep as to circulate my Qi for me is excusable because it's a medical emergency. Otherwise it would raise serious questions about her intentions. Questions that can have serious implications about a person's reputation.
"Thank you," I manage to get out. My throat feels raw, and my breathing is still labored. My ribs ache, a deep pulsing soreness. "Whatever debt you thought you owed me - consider it repaid. You saved my life." I can distinguish the Qi that fell across the battlefield at the end now - it was hers. She came personally to pull us out of the fire - it looks like the Heavens haven't decided to kill me off quite yet. And the next serious battle of the preliminary campaign is against Earth Realm foes - which means it won't involve me, Su Ge made that quite clear. So the next chance I have to get killed…will probably be my adventures with Brother Sheng in the Sea of Snow.
"Of course I did. Your…father would not have taken well to your death, even if there was no other consideration," I see Xiaobao's eye look somewhere else for a moment before she says 'father' and I feel she wanted to use a different word. "And you have given a great gift to Soaring Heaven's Isle. One of my Sisters has broken through a Stage thanks to your assistance, and looks to be progressing further." Her face hardens in resolve, the air seeming to grow heavy with the weight of duty. It suits her - but I'm also kind of tired of duty at the moment. And admittedly, I've kind of grown to like seeing her blush.
"And the mark on my cultivation? You could have had Xiulan or Meihua circulate my Qi instead - they're more familiar with my Qi, and there would be fewer social implications," I let my respect for her enter my tone - I'm not trying to accuse her of anything. I see Sister Changying's smile - as well as the familiar glint.
I also see Xiaobao's blush suddenly appearing on her cheeks, though her resolve only shifts instead of wavering. "I will take responsibility for my actions, Young Master," Xiaobao states calmly. "During your recovery, given the strain to your meridians, you will need help circulating your Qi in order to maintain the stability of your cultivation. I will assist in doing so." She's practically throwing a gauntlet down there. f*ck. I feel something delicate in the air - just like I did with Brother Sheng. If I answer wrong here, something is going to go very wrong. Something will break that I don't want to break.
"I need to speak with Su Ge, Xiulan, and Meihua, and so do you," I haven't known her for long. But we shared drinks every evening at the Verdant Blade Sect, trading tales of our mutual pasts and some of our adventures - mine far fewer in number than hers. I can also feel her resolve in her Qi, so I don't exactly need to know her better to know that she means what she says. I respect her - deeply. Her work ethic, her care for her Sisters, and her dedication to her Sect is enough for that. I'm not sure about my other feelings for her - but I'm not opposed to finding out. "And with…"
"I approve, Father," Tigu says calmly. She has stepped into my field of vision, and her eyes are filled with relief.
"As do I, honorable father," a flawless, musical voice chimes in. My eyes turn to a white-haired girl who stands at Tigu's side - and wears one of Changying's spare robes. Yin. And apparently, she sees me like Tigu does - which means I have one more reason to live. I'm a father now - and I'm going to be the best I can be for both of my daughters. So if the Heavens want to make another attempt to kill me - just let them try.
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Afterword: For the reasoning behind the tactical choices made this chapter, the conditions were not ideal for Rou to join the battle on the lake itself. He'd either just be one more sword cutting down the lesser demons, and slower than his Senior Brothers and Sisters could, or hurling around his horde-killers. And in an environment with a lot of plants to burn, with his big horde-killers being fire-based, that could be problematic. Except for the water also getting in the way of that. So his techniques weren't suited for that fight.
They were, however, very well suited to the big demon fight. To controlling that battlefield, turning it into an environment where he was comfortable and they weren't, and waging a battle of attrition against them while the lesser demons were dealt with. And the lesser ones, if they escaped, could have been a problem lasting for a
while. There were enough of the smaller ones around that they needed pretty much everyone to deal with the swarms of them - and the CSS Disciples thought they'd be done faster than they were. Which is something of an issue when the enemy has both strong defensive measures nearly, but not quite a Realm above where they should be - meaning the 'dragons' had almost Spiritual Realm defenses, enough to slow the CSS Disciples down. They also had illusions, and the fact that the CSS has a thing about collateral damage.Once the Misty Lake Sect was out of the way, the CSS Disciples started hurling their own horde-killers. But there were still enough of the lesser demons that it took time to finish them off. While they could have started hurling horde-killers earlier, annihilating a Sect that you're supposed to be fighting alongside by accident isn't exactly desirable - so the CSS Disciples waited for the Misty Lake to withdraw to a defensive position, which the lesser demons made as hard as possible.
