Heaven's Laws - Lifestone - Chapter 43

Even after his Huifen had arrived and he’d given Sage Pangfua his preliminary telling of events, Chao struggled to banish the dark thoughts from his mind. He’d seen death and tragedy. He remembered his mother’s broken body with vivid clarity that few of his other memories carried from that time in his life. It was natural to do so. Heightened emotions focused the mind in a way few other things could. And his heart was currently inflamed.

He didn’t shy away from peering down at Daiyu’s corpse. Her parents wouldn’t have a presentable body for burial. To treat the human body like a butcher does meat…

He was surprised when Fairy Zhu cried out first. Why it surprised him when she had been the girl’s best friend struck him as odd, but she’d shown a strong front through the whole ordeal. She finally let go.

Diu didn’t hold back either. Only Eu-meh beneath her veil didn’t make a sound, but it wasn’t because she didn’t care. She’d been a husk of herself since the fighting was over.

“Heart of Ice. Now,” Huifen commanded. It wasn’t because she didn’t want to let them grieve. There were disciples standing guard at each entrance, but they’d only be able to keep back elders of the other sects for so long.

When he was still his wife’s disciple, she had taught him this lesson well. Showing weakness, even amongst the disciples of your own sect, could spell disaster, and the joint sect was one of the safest places on planet Lifestone. They were currently surrounded by numerous sects. Many of which weren’t happy with their return to the Divine Spire. There was also the question of why these two murderers were wearing the martial robes of some of the sects present.

Chao was already convinced by the man’s story. That they had stolen the garments. But questions needed to be asked, like how two Sky Realm cultivators were able to stay hidden for so long. He and his wife’s own situation might allow him to glean what others may not. It was something he didn’t want to think about though. For once, he wanted to leave it for somebody else to discover.

After their fairy disciples had calmed themselves and were circulating their technique, they readied to leave the room when there was a commotion.

“You have to let me in.”

He knew who this voice belonged to. Li Qiang. The man’s cousin had just been murdered. Chao should have want to save his friend from seeing what had become of her, but he was more than just his friend. He was his master.

“Let him in,” Chao commanded.

“Chao?” Huifen questioned.

“He’s a cultivator.”

He saw his wife out of the corner of his eye fall into a contemplative state. She didn’t question him further.

As soon as Li Qiang had made it into the room, he saw the group first. He moved to bow to them when he saw the corpse. He completely forgot they were there and marched across the room. Stopping over what was left of his cousin, he just stood their staring.

They’d all stopped and waited.

Li Qiang fell to his knees. He was quiet. There were no sobs, crying out, or vows of vengeance.

Chao readied to go to his friend when Fairy Zhu stepped out. When she reached him, she didn’t seem to know what to do, so she took to her knees beside him.

He glanced over to see who it was and didn’t say a word. He turned back to the pile of bones, flesh, and blood that had once been the older cousin that looked out for him.

Huifen slipped in under Chao’s arm and embraced him. It wasn’t for her. She had Heart of Ice circulating. She was concerned about him.

Sage Pangfua appeared in the doorway a few strides away from the two kneeling disciples. She assessed what was happening in an instant and stood there quietly.

She was the fairy that most baffled Chao. After a year of going without Heart of Ice, she still had the most frigid of personalities. A true ice fairy, but it would be wrong to say she lacked compassion or care. It was just the opposite. In contrast, Quinyuan and Huifen had seemingly come alive and as their personalities were revealed, while Pangfua stayed the same. He wondered if she’d ever needed Heart of Ice at all.

She gave them a full minute before she spoke. “It’s time to withdraw.” The body disappeared into Pangfua’s spatial ring.

There was still so much blood.

Fairy Zhu got up first. She waited at Li Qiang side. He took a moment longer.

It felt like a mournful parade they were unwittingly forced to participate in as they reached the first floor. There was always a crowd at the Trial of Might, but too many people had been requested by their disciples to return to the first floor.

Chao and Huifen had taken a place at the back of the group. Most of the attention was on the bound woman being dragged in the air by Sage Pangfua’s qi. Everyone else was looking at the veiled Eu-meh. Most wouldn’t be able to tell who it was, but too many of the male cultivators had been trying to court her for them not recognize her outward shape and demeanor.

As soon as he heard the first whisper, Chao banished every voice from reaching her ears. He wanted to do more. To reveal himself and shut their mouths, but too much was already being done for he and his wife’s sake.

Once they’d all entered the Ice Phoenix Palace’s mobile cultivation chamber and the phoenix wings had closed behind them, the fairies stopped circulating Heart of Ice. The sobs started in hushed tones. It was Fairy Zhu who lost control first. She found a place on the floor, took a seat, and covered her face with her hands as she began to heave.

Chao watched his friend Li Qiang walk over and sit down silently next to her. Embracing wasn’t common in their culture, even amongst friends. Even between spouses it wasn’t common, but acceptable as long as not done so in public. Just as Zhu had done for him, Li Qiang was doing for her. It was the ultimate show of compassion between friends.

Fairy Diu wasn’t far behind in her sobbing, but she was too far gone to find a place to sit. Eu-meh remained silent but stayed with the girl.

Pangfua soon returned from a chamber near the back. Their prisoner had been placed there. Chao realized it was a room he never saw utilized in all his visits there. Its purpose was clear.

Mother Sya and Father Tu soon arrived. Huifen went with her mother and was soon speaking with the fairies one on one.

Tu stood at Chao’s side. His father-in-law showed just how much wisdom he was hiding under his friendly exterior. He didn’t grab or embrace him as usual. He didn’t even ask him any questions. They shared a few looks and stood ready to do whatever was needed of them.

Not long after, Tu removed a tray and a kettle from his ring. Upon the tray’s surface was a small array. As soon as the kettle was placed upon it, the array was lit. He removed some tea and herbs. It brewed quickly and the smell was a soothing one.

Knowing his father-in-law, it wouldn’t be a cheap tea he was using even though no one could rightly appreciate it just now. Soon he joined the man in handing out mugs. Sya saw what we were doing and joined them. After handing a cup to Pangfua who gratefully accepted it, his mother-in-law returned and kissed her husband on the cheek.

Lastly, Tu poured a mug for Chao and himself. Handing one to him, his father-in-law said, “It slightly numbs the senses without dulling the mind. Drink.”

He took the man’s offer and did more than sip it even with it was still hot. He’d moved beyond being burned by such a low temperature long ago.

Before she’d entertain the elders of other sects, Sage Pangfua heard the story from Zhu, Diu, and Eu-meh.

Zhu began by saying Daiyu was ambushed by both of the masked Sky Realm cultivators at once. The attack had come from behind while they were leaving the room. Fairies Diu and Eu-meh had already stepped through the doorway. The burst of qi from their attacker’s assault pushed Zhu the rest of the way through it behind them.

Eu-meh had met the man head on as he tried to follow them into the next room where the woman remained behind. She’d used Ice Shroud to manage the space and hold him back. He’d was too strong.

When he burst through, Eu-meh was pushed back. Diu jumped forward with a large Springtime’s Frost crescent she’d been holding for that exact moment. The man crashed through it with the strength of his physique and sent her flying across the room to collide with the wall.

Zhu summoned Ice Shroud to block the man’s path as he raced across the room to finish her.

It was then that Eu-meh cut him off and faced the man in close quarters. Zhu praised her swordsmanship. “Sister, I’ve never seen such skill.” It was in that desperate exchange that her sword was broken.

Seeing the opening, he’d struck at Eu-meh’s face.

With the three of them with their backs to the wall, Eu-meh and Zhu took turns unleashing martial techniques to keep him at bay and Diu safe. Eu-meh had faltered first. Zhu had the highest cultivation, so she was the last one standing.

“If Daiyu wouldn’t have been ambushed first, we could’ve taken him with her help,” Zhu insisted.

Li Qiang gave a sharp nod as if of course it were true.

“Thank you,” Pangfua said when their tale was over. “I’d like you three to wait here together. I’ll do my best to not make you repeat what happened again, but if there are questions, I might call on you for answers.”

They were led to one of the side rooms by Mother Sya.

“Little Sister,” Pangfua said from where she sat in the middled of the domed room.

Huifen was seated at her right hand, facing her. “What would you have of us?”

“I have no intention of revealing your identities, but I’d ask the same of you as I did of your disciples. Brother Chao, can you make sure you and your wife can hear today’s conversations? I’d like to have your opinions once these meetings are over, and having you nearby just in case there’s some hidden danger we’ve miss would give me peace of mind.”

“Of course,” Huifen replied.

“Of course,” Chao repeated.

“After today’s events, I know you need time to process what happened, but this is the price paid by those in authority. I’d keep you from it a little while longer if I could, but I fear that that time has passed.”

“Do not worry about us, Big Sister Pangfua,” Chao said in place of his wife. He knew she’d agree, but her worry for him would make her regretful. Speaking up was the least he could to do alleviate her worries—at least for the moment.

It ended up being more than eight hours before the meetings with the other sect elders were complete. The Night Pearl Sect swore the woman was not associated with them in any way and they’d find out where she’d gotten ahold of their martial robes.

Elder Harnish of the Morning Midst Village was the biggest pain to deal with. However, he was also the most help. The man and woman both had tracking talismans in their spatial rings and the hidden sage was able to confirm they’d arrived as the leading elders of a middle tier merchants guild called The Treasury of Earth and Sky. It was located nearby on the Monolith continent.

“It seems I must give this guild a visit,” Pangfua responded.

“You have nothing to worry about in your absence,” Elder Harnish reassured her. “I won’t be admitting any new cultivators to the spire, including those of your own sect you understand, but I’ll make sure things continue as they are. Once you return, there can finally be some normalcy here without the threat of these murderers skulking around.”

“Then I must thank you beforehand.”

When they were all gone, Zhu, Diu, and Eu-meh were given sleeping arrangements in Pangfua’s cultivation chamber. There were enough side rooms for the three of them. Li Qiang was sent to his own quarters since he hadn’t been directly involved in the incident.

“They can stay here as long as they like,” Pangfua said once it was just Chao and Huifen remaining with her in the room. “With the significance of Eu-meh’s injury, I fear asking her to stay while letting the others go will only make it harder on her.”

“Can her face be restored?” Chao asked.

“There will be a scar.” Pangfua didn’t hide it. “It looks worse now than it is. The cut was straight and clean. In a week we’ll see how it heals. She’ll receive the best medicine to make sure the healing is even. Reaching the sky realm will help. If she can reach the Overlord Realm it will be even better. It’s not until she reaches the Divine Body Realm that it will be completely restored as it was, and that’s if she survives her Divine Tribulation. Who’s to say she will advance far enough to even get the chance?”

“She will if she wants it,” Huifen said as if she would personally guarantee it.

When she looked at him, Chao knew she was saying it for his sake as much as for Eu-meh’s. He’d made things hard on her.

“How are you both doing?” Pangfua asked.

Neither one of them wanted to be the first to respond, so ultimately, he gave a non-answer, “I’m just glad that it’s over.”

The Sage nodded that she understood. “Then that should make what I ask of you next that much easier. When I leave the spire to confront this guild, I want you both to stay here and secretly keep an eye on things.”

When Huifen was about to speak, their senior held up her hand to stop her.

“I know what I’m asking is unfair. This is personal to you, but I think we can safely conclude that this merchant guild had no idea the type of people they were in business with. This death qi you described, I’ve seen it before. It is unquestionably the art of the asura sects, and one often forbidden even by them. And if my memory serves, I already know the woman’s motive.”

“There’s a motive?” Chao asked. He knew it was unwise to separate blame from a person’s actions no matter how crazed they seemed, but he’d been sure this woman had just given herself over to her internal darkness.

Pangfua was silent while she gathered her thoughts. “There was a fairy in the Ice Phoenix Sect four decades ago now. She had just turned sixteen. She met a young man in Phoenix City and fell in love with him. She was caught sneaking out without a pass multiple times. She was made to leave the sect. It wasn’t a punishment as much as an acknowledgement that she was more interested in marriage than cultivation.

“She returned a year later and seemed repentant. If she had gotten married, she would’ve been allowed readmittance as long as she started in the Outer Sect and proved she desired to cultivate. From what I remember, the man no longer wanted to deal with her once she’d left the sect, so she’d come back on her own.

“She was diligent for a year and got promoted. She’d never lacked talent. It was after she entered the inner sect that she began to spread a slanderous account of what had happened to her. She said that we had paid him off. I had personally handled her case and never even met the man.

“When called out, she seemed repentant once again, and was given two more chances before she was removed from the sect for good. In the end, she was claiming we were actively breaking up marriages and stealing women away from their families. Her name was Nang.”

Huifen’s cheek found his shoulder.

They sat that way for a long while before Pangfua spoke up. “You should both get some rest. Brother Chao, do you mind if I borrow your wife for a few minutes before you go. It’s a personal matter.”

“Of course,” he said, coming to his feet and stretching. “I’ll be just outside.”

***

After the young sage had left the small building and the doors had shut behind him, Pangfua addressed her. “He’s going to need you now as you once needed him. Are you of the right mind to do what you must?”

“I am,” she replied, without much thought. He was her husband. She would do what she must.

“Your husband just tortured a man to death who had murdered and mutilated two of his few close friends. Are you sure?”

She blinked at her Big Sister’s use of imagery. Considering herself, she weakly shrugged. “How can I be?”

Pangfua nodded firmly as if that’s what she was waiting for. “I’ve watched your husband closely since my mistake with him in the mine. Your Chao is not a man who finds solace in duty or following others. You and Quinyuan are his connection to the sect, as well as those he calls friends. He follows his heart and conscience, which is why he doesn’t hesitate to do foolishly heroic things like spend four months in a mine out of spite of the person that put him there or sneak into the midst of seven overlords and kill the prince they’re protecting.

“What might make him a questionable recruit to sects seeking obedient disciples, also makes him a much better man because he won’t follow some senior into do something he believes is wrong. But there’s also a downside to such independent thinking. Once such a person goes against their conscience, they don’t have the excuses of duty to fall back on. What others won’t lose sleep over, he’ll agonize over for days, weeks, and years. This act in particular might ruin him from ever wanting to face a similar situation again. You can’t let that happen. It’s better to be ruthless and wrong than to face life as a coward.”

“You think him a coward?” She replied with more bite than she intended.

Pangfua smiled broadly. “It has never crossed my mind. I’ve lived longer than most mortals dare to hope. If I hadn’t seen it multiple times already, I wouldn’t have mentioned it. If you have trouble talking with him, send him to me. There’s an old friend of the sect that has much experience in this very thing.”

“Thank you, Sister,” Huifen said, bowing her head.

“You are very welcome. And if things become too much for you, don’t hesitate to contact me.”

***

The two young sages left, and Pangfua was finally alone. There was only one more thing to do before she could return to her own cultivation. Standing before the rarely used doorway, she commanded the icy panel to open. It slid up from the floor to the ceiling to reveal the still tied up woman who’d murdered the young fairy that still laid dead in her spatial ring.

“Sister Nang. Oh how far you have fallen.”

The shriveled elderly looking woman was bound, but her mouth was uncovered. Her laughter came out as a hiss. “You remember? To think the Ice Phoenix Sect’s century old witch would remember one such as I. Your guilt must still gnaw at you.”

Pangfua tossed a pill to the floor not far from her mouth. “I feel guilt, but not for how I handled your case. You shift blame on everyone but yourself. Today you murdered and desecrated the disciple of a sage and I have delivered you out of their hand. This is the last act of mercy I’ll show you. Take the pill.”

“The inhuman savage that ripped my husband apart? Yes. Pretend you and he aren’t the same as I am. You can give your shame another name, but that doesn’t change what you’ve done.”

Pangfua laughed at the absurdity of the woman’s claims. “That inhuman savage has never harmed an innocent soul. Your husband was the first to earn his cruelty. In my estimation, Sage Long Chao is too kind for this world, but he just so happens to have the courage to face it. And it isn’t his hand I saved you from. His wife would be far less forgiving for she’s known the girl who died most of her life. Now swallow the pill and die. I might be too charitable to let my Junior Sister and her husband face their own cruelty while its still in my power to shelter them, but I’m not against revealing my own. One more word and I swear that I won’t let you die until morning.”

She took little solace in seeing the woman come to terms with her end. Humbled, Nang licked the pill off the floor. It wasn’t a painless poison, but it was quick. Within a minute, she was dead.