Heaven's Laws - Lifestone - Chapter 22

Chao awoke with the noonday sun glaring down on him. He examined his body with his perceptions and concluded he’d mostly recovered, but he wasn’t feeling as energetic as was typical for him. It would probably be a few more days until he felt like his normal self.

“Good morning, husband,” Huifen said from a seated position by his side. It wasn’t close enough that it looked like she’d been staring at him as he slept, but she obviously hadn’t wanted to be too far away after what had happened.

He reached his hand out for her to take as he stretched. “Good morning.”

Her hesitation in taking his hand was short-lived. “Let me know when you’re fully awake. I’m ready to talk.”

“Oh?” He said, sitting up and facing her. “Whenever you’re ready, my Huifen.”

She rolled her eyes at seeing his brazen grin. He smiled even wider. It was a good sign. She was in a much better mood than the day before.

“When you stopped me from responding to Ping’s admission to poisoning you, I felt betrayed, not just by her, but by you.”

His countenance fell. He’d known a rebuke was coming, but her words cut deep. “I—”

She held up a hand to stop him. “I understand why you did it, and I must thank you for it. However, if there’s a next time, which there most certainly will be, you have my permission to stop me until my reason has restored, but don’t take it so far. I think the best course of action is for us to discuss such things before any decisions are made.”

He found himself nodding. “I was already planning to promise you as much. Forgive this one for making such a weighty decision without you.”

A hint of a smile tugged at her eyes. “Then this one thanks you, Husband, and all is forgiven.”

He leaned forward onto his knees and craned toward her, kissing her on the forehead.

She let him. “There’s one thing I wanted to ask you. And answer honestly. There is no hidden criticism in my question. If things were switched around and it was Fang who poisoned me, would you have still sought mercy?”

An answer was already on the tip of his tongue, but he held it back, considering what he was going to say before he responded. His ideals on justice and mercy weren’t entirely his own. The mortal religion taught by his mother, and his father’s own teachings often ended with the same conclusions. He wasn’t sure what he believed about God or gods, reincarnation, and the spiritual realm, but certain things were settled in his mind.

“Big Brother Fang was the Sect Master, so I’d have to hold him to a higher standard than Sage Ping. His crime against his own sect would’ve been much worse.”

“But—”

“But,” he said, patting her hand then squeezing it. “If that wasn’t the case, then I do think I would’ve pursued mercy. Pings intentions were always clear from the facts of her crime before we even knew about her connection with the poison sage. With that said, if she had just tried to kill you, I’m not sure I could’ve held myself back. You’re not the only one prone to anger in such situations. That’s one of the reasons I felt I had to act. You are my loving wife. If you wanted mercy for your friend after what she’d done while I was seeking justice, wouldn’t that look like a betrayal on your part? But if I was the one that pursued mercy, then it freed you to pursue the good of your friend.”

“I see,” she replied. “And yes, I understand why you felt you must act. But answer me this. Why pursue mercy at all? You haven’t denied her guilt since the beginning. She tried to kill you.”

He scooched close and held both of her hands in his. “Because I know that the day will come that I do something stupid. One of my mother’s favorite sayings was that ‘mercy reaps mercy.’ The day may come when I’m in need of mercy. How are you going to forgive me if I live a life insistent on justice against anyone that wrongs me?”

“Me? You think I could ever harm you?”

“I’d like to think I’d never do something that would cause you to want to, but... You know my father’s past. I even had him refined Prince Jin.”

Her expression turned grave. “After what he’d did. You did nothing wrong. Neither did Father Zan. And you even returned my virgin yin to me, making it possible for us to dual cultivate. To be together as we are now. Chao, I forbid you from feeling guilty.”

He couldn’t help but to chuckle. “I don’t feel guilty, my silly wife. I’m just telling you that I’ve seen into the darkness of my own soul. I’m capable, that’s my only meaning.”

“Silly?” Her nostrils flared.

“You still need practice, but you’re certainly getting better at it.”

He took to the air before her blast of qi could strike him.

“I take back everything I said,” she cried, chasing after him. Space was limited inside the active array formation, so she caught him quickly.

He let her. All mock hostility was long forgotten as soon as she was wrapped around him. The events of last night were too much for either of them. They’d both secretly agreed with Quinyuan when she’d implied dual cultivation was best done behind closed doors, but last night’s events were too much for either of them. From within the confines of the three-layer formation, they didn’t hold themselves back.

***

With his new pipa in hand and his wife walking beside him, taking one seed at a time from her spatial ring to practice infusing it with nature qi, their journey started afresh. It might have seemed like nothing had changed despite Chao being poisoned the night before, but their pace had slowed greatly and they scanned their surroundings constantly, taking notice of every possible threat. It wasn’t until a second night’s rest that he was finally feeling like his normal self.

They could’ve made it to the monoliths in less than a day’s journey if they would’ve flown, but Chao was insistent they enjoy their trip as they wished, especially after what happened. Huifen believed wholeheartedly in the spirit of his insistence, and she encouraged such thought.

Besides working with the seeds she’d procured at the auction pagoda, she threw herself into the understanding of poison at a far deeper left than she’d determined before after what happened to her husband. She didn’t hide it from him. He began studying the card jade his father had given her as well. It wasn’t as practical as the one Huifen had received from Sage Ping, but Zan’s jade on poison was better at explaining the types and how they worked. It was another stick added to the pile of the countless things he wanted to study.

As they traveled, they called out to Senior Billi often. It had begun when they killed a nascent realm dire beast that was a moose species. It had a nasty temper and he charged them without provocation from out of the brush. The creature was far to large to eat between the two of them, so they took some time to roast it and invited their divine cultivator companion.

“Cultivator’s portion?” The woman replied. “I’ve never eaten so much in one sitting.”

Huifen looked like she was trying to hold back laughter but failed miserably.

“What is it?” He asked.

Their divine guest also looked puzzled. She even gave the steak on her plate a second look.

“This one begs your forgiveness, Senior.” Huifen responded. “There’s nothing wrong with the food itself or Chao’s cooking. When he and I first met, he offered me this cultivator’s portion and I didn’t want to embarrass him, so I didn’t tell him that no one eats as much as he does.”

“Okay.” There guest looked even more confused.

“Are you serious?” Chao said, skeptically.

When she gave him a smirk, his eyes narrowed. “Don’t you always clear your plate?”

She shrugged. “Everyone in my family likes to eat. I’m not complaining.”

He laughed at that. “Even Mother Sya?”

She began nodding and replied, “Especially mother. You’ll see. Her and father should be with Sage Pangfua when we join them. I’ll request she cook for you. I think she would agree with this idea of a cultivator’s portion.”

Just as Billi had said, she only ate half her plate and quickly left them alone. Even though she didn’t travel with them directly, the woman always came when they invited her to a meal.

Chao tried to encourage her by often playing joyful songs. She didn’t seem to be responsive to them. When he asked her directly after dinner one night if she wanted him to play, she replied by saying she didn’t like music and quickly excused herself.

Huifen had suggested she might dislike the lose of control his enhanced sound could cause. Such emotion might be too much for her. She was probably right.

Even if they had slowed their pace, they reached the famous monoliths soon after. When they laid eyes upon the ruins of a building that had been as wide as the joint sect’s arena stadium, there was no question they’d arrived. The foundation looked to still be in place as fragments of its walls still rose up like the broken teeth of a great mouth. There were unnatural boulders of the wall in a heap within its borders. The stone itself looked alien. It was deep blue granite with golden and smokey specks.

“I’m surprised no one has carried this off. The stone itself must be worth a fortune, and it must make a formidable building material.”

“That’s the problem,” Huifen replied. Instead of saying more, she flew forward and found a small pebble-size piece of the wall. She tossed it to him.

Catching it with one hand, he immediately felt the tug of gravity as he had to put effort into holding the small stone. It wasn’t unbearable for one with his cultivation, but it didn’t even make sense something could be so heavy in such a little package.

“How’s this possible?” He wondered aloud.

“Not only is it incredibly dense, but it’s as difficult to manipulate as sky realm ore,” Huifen informed. “People make trinkets with it, and even weapons, but it’s too much for most with the desire to use it in a large structure. This is also just the beginning. Most of the monoliths are made of the same stone so it’s far from being rare. If someone wanted to take it, no one would stop them. Those that could make good use of it don’t belong to this lower realm.”

“So this is why everyone is certain this region used to belong to a divine realm cultivator. And yet something destroyed an entire city made of this stuff…”

“Not just a city, but an entire civilization. Come. There are many places to explore. We could spend all day just digging through this one building when there are thousands in the same condition.”

When he fell into contemplation, she flew over to him and cleared her throat.

“What is it?”

“Husband, you have the same look you had when you saw the inside of the Ice Phoenix Palace for the first time. Next, you’ll be thanking me profusely for bringing you here.”

“Yes. I think I will.”

This time her annoyance was feigned and was purely to tease him. He wasn’t sure if she realized it, but he could easily tell when she wasn’t being serious.

And so, they began to explore. This area off the road had been picked clean of any hidden treasure long ago. There had no doubt been overlords that visited and left no stone unturned. That didn’t discourage their search. Just as in the first store they’d stop in in the capital city, they weren’t looking for treasure, but seeing the world for the first time. Chao was worried Huifen wouldn’t share his enthusiasm. He knew his general level of curiosity for things was atypical. As he was drawn to every uniquely shaped stone, and those different than the main building material, he was careful to gauge her reaction. When they’d moved on to their fifth building and he unwittingly lifted a small boulder with his qi to reveal a cellar of some kind, she was quick to help him move more stones, showing her own excitement.

They explored it with their perceptions first but were soon descending the partially intact stairs. The room was small and smelled of dirt. There was nothing left to really see. Finding the room was a discovery in itself.

“Do you want to see if some of the other buildings have similar rooms?” Huifen asked.

“And leave the treasure?” He said with a secretive grin.

“Treasure?”

“Eatable treasure.”

She began to scan the room again when her eyes landed on a puddle in one corner with mushrooms growing on the floor and wall. “You can eat these?”

“The round ones, no,” he replied, pointing to the ones on the floor. “These, however.” He pointing to the flatter ones with pointy edges. “Have an interesting salty and sweet taste. You can also dry them like fruit, and they become even sweeter.

Rubbing his hands together, he began to harvest.

They spend most of the rest of their day looking for similar little rooms and found a few others. Only one of them had more mushrooms they could eat. With sunset drawing near, they continued down the road and stopped at the first town they came across. Chao had had enough sleep for a while, so they didn’t plan to sleep that night.

The town was larger than many of the villages they’d stayed at. It was more of an adventurer’s hub than anything else. It was commonly the first place everyone stopped when traveling from the south to the monoliths.

They picked one of the smaller inns that smelled of freshly cut wood. The insides were just as fresh, so they thought it might be a new establishment. An older man at the front desk greeted them politely, but he was obviously dealing with weighty matters. He guided them to an open dinning room where they took a seat off to one side.

Chao was just as anxious to examine their surroundings for any possible threats, so they immediately noticed that all of the patrons were just as glum as the innkeeper.

“Husband,” Huifen said, gesturing with her eyes toward a specific table.

Sitting there he found a young girl of maybe nine or ten with dark curly hair and an expression more downcast then all the rest. That wasn’t the oddest thing about her.

“Why is she alone?” His wife added under her breath.

They waited patiently for their food. When the serving woman delivered their plates, Chao asked the woman that very thing.

“Oh, poor little Yu-yan? She’s staying with us for a time. Her family was killed in the recent attack.”

“Someone attacked you? Who?”

Chao shared his wife’s change in demeanor. It was possible an outside force was attacking northern settlements because they thought the Monolith Continent had been weakened from their recent battle.

“It wasn’t a who, exactly, but an army of ghosts.”

---

I meant to have this one out by Halloween, but I got far busier with the kids this weekend than I expected. The next chapter should be up tomorrow.

Cheers!