Heaven's Laws - Lifestone - Chapter 51

It was past midnight when the Morning Midst Village elder Baros was assigned to received the message. They had fewer transmissions jades than the Ice and Fire Phoenix Sects did, but they weren’t so poor that their elders didn’t have them. This elder was a portly sky realm cultivator who had a naturally kind expression. His armor pultruded over his gut, downplaying his powerful shoulders. Even now as he called the four disciples, including Baros, to follow him. Even the man’s stern expression was rather genial. It made him a good representative for the village.

They began on one side of the fourth floor and headed toward the stairs to the third. It was open so there were no places for individuals to hide. As they went, Baros was required to approach the cultivators there and ask them to leave.

“Something strange is happening with the energy pylon guarding the vault on the third floor,” he relayed to a mixed group of cultivators that had been sitting in a circle cultivating. He gave them a courteous martial salute. “Please descent to the first-floor while it’s being investigated. I can reassure you that no one has been harmed. Just follow close to the wall as you pass it by.”

There were no elders amongst this group, so they were quick to comply. Baros had a sky realm cultivator backing him, and even after the murderers had been caught, people were still on edge. This group of rogue cultivators didn’t even complain about their limited time to cultivate here.

Deceiving them made him feel dirty. It was made worse because he could feel their concern with help from his water cultivation, but he’d grown accustomed enough that it never reached his face.

Renz, his fellow disciple, had approached a group from a mid-tier sect. Their Elder was near the peak of the earth realm and didn’t take kindly to the interruption.

“This one begs your forgiveness,” Renz said with a bow. “Elder Harnish of the Morning Midst Village will make sure every sect receives fair treatment after safety is restored to the pylon.”

The large group of fifteen ultimately complied.

He and Renz shared a glance. His friend didn’t share the same animosity against their sect’s duplicity, but neither did he enjoy it. He would’ve preferred a straightforward contest, which made him the honorable sort. It was what had made them the closest of friends since their youth.

Baros still hadn’t told the man that he was planning to leave. He didn’t want to put him in the position where he had to choose between a friend and the village.

They soon had every cultivator on the fourth floor moving downward. Once they reached the third floor, they did the same thing. Elder Harnish had already cleared the room with the vault and energy pylon. It was nearly half the size of the floor, so they followed the stragglers along the wall as Harnish set up his array around the pylon.

Clearing the remaining rooms on the third floor was tedious, but didn’t take as long as he thought it might. Even the Ice and Fire Phoenix elders leading their groups of cultivating disciples didn’t resist much. They’d seen Elder Harnish arrived not long before they started clearing floors. It became obvious that the elder’s hidden overlord cultivation was the worst kept secret in the spire.

When it was finally clear, Baros and Renz hurried back to the vault room and took their positions. There were four stations in Elder Harnish’s array formation that were spread out around the pylon. Baros took his place near the wall at the array flag closest to the stairs to the fourth floor. If the pylon activated, it would be too fast for him to escape in that direction, but it still made him more comfortable. With the three other Morning Midst Village disciples in different positions, if he wasn’t the first one attacked then he might just have the time to escape. But escape wasn’t his objective.

“Take your positions,” Harnish commanded. The curly headed man took his own position between the pylon and the entrance to the water cultivation chamber.

As Baros stepped up to place his hand on the array flag, he scanned the device that looked more like a miniature tower than any flag. It’s base was stone and like a tripod in shape. Each contained their own power source. The shaft and flag were metal in nature, but he wasn’t familiar with the kind. On top in place of the flag was a flat platform just big enough for a person’s palm. He placed his on its surface.

“Activate them all at once,” Harnish demanded. “Remember. Focus your mind on a single non-threatening emotion and the device won’t harm you. The array will release a bloodthirsty aura and distribute it throughout the room. If you don’t actively project a non-threatening emotion, it will attack you.”

Not hesitating to go through the metal exercise to prepare his mind, Baros gave his friend Renz a final nod before the order came. This wasn’t a simple request from his senior, but a matter of life and death. There were several stories of cultivators that tampered with the vault door and pylon. If it attacked, survival was almost impossible. Its defensive beam was strong enough to vaporize overlords. What could an earth-realm cultivator do in response? The danger was clear, but that was why Sage Harnish was paying so well. It wasn’t like the man was throwing all the responsibility for the danger onto others either. He was standing there with them.

“Now!”

Baros fed qi into the array flag to activate it. Before his qi even reached it, he was already focused on his emotion of choice. Hope. Even if he wasn’t convince Dvora would marry him in the end, he enjoy daydreaming about such a future. There was much he’d read from her that he knew was true. She hated the deception and wished for a way out. Whether she would love him, or even could if she wanted to, he wasn’t sure. He’d chosen to work toward it anyway. Why? Getting away wasn’t enough. There had to be something more—something better for him to abandon everything.

As soon as the array formation activated, he felt the bloodlust rise in the air. That alone normally wouldn’t be enough. Fights had even broken out in the vault chamber and the pylon never activated. But this bloodlust was directed even as it spread throughout the room at one specific point. The vault.

A threatening sensation rose up in response. The pylon sizzled into activity. It glowed with power.

Baros’s instinct assaulted him, demanding he flee. His mind’s image of Dvora wearing commoner’s clothes with her veil removed faltered, but it didn’t collapse entirely.

Then, before his eyes could register what happened, a beam of energy shot toward one of his fellow disciples. In one moment the man was standing there and the next he was gone.

A part of him swore that Baros should be angry. He should want to avenge the man that had just been killed. But he knew already that this was an enemy they were foolish for even facing. There was no vengeance to be had. His desire to flee grew even stronger. He started to lose his focus and a thought came to him. Should he go now? The distance wasn’t that far. Ten meters at most. Deep down he knew that if he moved he would die.

He did the only thing he could do and closed his eyes. He wasn’t even sure if he loved Dvora, but he wanted to. He’d already committed himself to her, as long as she’d do the same. Everyone in his life, as far back as he could remember, were his competition and people to deceive. Even his friendship with Renz, the purest he’d experienced, was filled with respected rivalry at best. The competition remained, but the normal deception had never existed between them.

That’s what he hoped for more than anything in his relationship with Dvora. Not only would there be no deception, but also no competition. They could set goals and work toward them together.

He could feel the pylon striking out at the room around him. His eyes remained closed, and he wasn’t sure if it hit anyone else. The goal of this formation wasn’t entirely known to him, but he did have a general idea. Elder Harnish’s goal was to create an array that would force the pylon to waste energy until it was out. If it ran out, getting into the vault would theoretically be much easier. That’s why this test was essential. The array formation was designed to spread bloodlust throughout the room. Would that be enough to keep the pylon from detecting the array flags and attacking them directly? It was a question that needed to be answered before Harnish would spend the money and resources to recreate the array that wouldn’t need so many people to activate.

The image that appeared in Baros’s mind was a new one. It wasn’t romantic images of Dvora that captivated him, but mundane ones. Like this one of them both in a small kitchen fixing a meal together.

He wasn’t sure exactly how long the array formation was active for his focus was elsewhere. When Elder Harnish commanded to deactivate it, he simply put his hand back on the small platform and injected his qi. Even then he didn’t relax but continued to keep his focus on Dvora. His friend Renz had to grab him by his shoulder before he opened his eyes.

“Still alive?” He asked.

The man snickered. “Yeah. You?”

“I guess so.” He then looked to find Elder Harnish still standing in his place deep in thought. The third remaining disciple had fallen to her knees at the base of her flag. They went and helped her up.

The three of them stayed quiet until the elder was finished with his thoughts.

Turning to them, a wolfish grin spread across his face. “You three have done well.”

A large pouch shot out at each of them. Catching his, Baros felt the weight before sighing and putting it in his spatial ring. Finally, he had what he needed. He almost wanted to go grab Dvora and leave without delay, but their departure would need to be a stealthy one. One last deception was in order.

---

Sorry for the delay. I didn't want to post until I knew I would be able to do them in consecutive order. Here we go.