Heaven's Laws - Lifestone - Chapter 19

Ignoring his assassin’s confusion, he pressed on. “You wanted me dead, Sage. This is the best and the last chance you’ll ever get. I recommend you take it.”

She’d been starting to get up, then faltered. Her gaze returned to the ground. “I don’t want you dead.”

“Are you saying you didn’t try to kill me?”

Her response wasn’t a quick one, but it was more resolute than the first. “I did.”

Before he said another word, he thought of his wife. He didn’t want to keep this from her. The reason he’d acted was because there was too much uncertainty, and it wasn’t how she’d want it to end if she was in her right mind.

He created a small space tunnel joining them with the outside world. It was as small as a reed and something Ping wouldn’t even notice. He set up a sound barrier that would allow sound to exit, but not come in. Then he asked his questions.

“If you don’t want me dead, then why did you try to kill me?”

She didn’t look up at him, but neither did she hide anything. “Honor demanded it.”

His voice took on a darker tone. “My wife is your friend, and I’m the friend of your own husband. How is it honorable to kill me?”

She searched his features. It looked like she was going to say something, but stopped herself and dropped her eyes. “Sage Du once saved my life and had taken me as his closed-door disciple. He was a leader amongst Emperor Sun’s overlords who was killed in battle—by you. I was fulfilling a vow of loyalty I made on my heart of martial arts.”

“But you taught Huifen…” He wanted to stagger backward, but he was too drained for that. Sage Du. He knew that name. He was the poison cultivator. The very one who had arrived in Prince Jin’s room after Chao had taken his fellow disciple’s head. He was also amongst the overlords with Emperor Sun. His father had warned him about how dangerous the man was. He was the first overlord he’d killed during the battle.

“Why? Why go to all this trouble to kill me and yet teach my wife how to undo it?”

“I never wanted you dead. My vow to Sage Du required that I try. So I gave Little Sister Huifen a chance to save you.”

“Little sister?” He stormed toward her, losing his composure. “You dare? One of the few people in this world that she should’ve been able to trust with her life betrayed her. Then you showed up with Brother Fang, and after all this time she finally began to trust someone new. Do you have any idea how badly you’ve hurt her? It would’ve been better for you shoved a dagger into her heart instead of falsely befriending her.”

He then realized he still held his spear in his hand.

Her head was now tilted upward. Her eyes were closed, and tears flowed. “She’s dear to me.”

His grip tightened. The woman that kneeled before him had tried to take his Huifen from him. She’d tried to take his life. He’d never wanted to hurt a woman before, but at that moment he contemplated putting his spear away and beating the life out of her with his bare hands. This was too personal for weapons or instruments.

He did put away his spear. Both of his hands rolled into fists, but he didn’t move. Why wasn’t she fighting him? She just sat there. No further words passed between them. Ping resigned herself to what he was about to do. Some villain she was. He would’ve preferred someone truly wretched.

His fist loosened as a new resolve settled inside him.

“Son,” a familiar voice came from inside this long dome of space.

There was only one person who could enter his dome of space at will. “Father?” He didn’t turn around.

“What are you going to do?”

“Hold Huifen back. She isn’t going to like this.”

“Quinyuan has her.”

He turned just enough so that his father could see him nod. “Thank you. And I’m sorry for what I’m about to do. Once again, I’m going to make things harder on you.”

The space around them began to collapse.

Glancing back, he saw his wife and Quinyuan appear. The Sect Master was holding his wife in an embrace. Huifen’s cheeks were wet. They look past his father to see him standing before Sage Ping.

“Where is Sage Fang?” Chao called out.

Zan inclined his gaze to the sky. It only took him a few moments to find what he was looking for. “He’ll be here soon.”

They waited. Within five minutes, Chao felt the encroaching presence. It was like a molten meteor hurling toward them. He was an overlord of the Fire Phoenix Sect and holding nothing back.

Sage Ping took on a new expression. It was a pleading one aimed at Chao.

“Don’t let him see me like this,” she said feebly. “Please. Kill me.”

He just glared back at her.

Something in her snapped. Her eyes became wild. “I’ll attack you if you don’t. I’ll force you,” she screamed.

He gave her a look of pity. He spoke under his breath and guided the sound to her ears. “Why would I kill you when I seek to redeem you?”

The growing wildness inside her died in an instant. She began to sob uncontrollably, falling over to curl up on her side.

Then, still from a distance of at least a kilometer away, Sage Fang’s voice boomed, shaking the surrounding foliage. “Ping!”

The man touched down beside Chao. He already had a sword out and was ready to cut his wife down.

Stepping forward, Chao grabbed a hold of Fang’s wrist. He didn’t know how much the man had been told, but with Zan and Quinyuan there, he obviously didn’t doubt the credibility of the information.

“Little Brother Chao,” the man rumbled. “If she has done something worthy of death, let the sentence be carried out by my hand. My own wife tried to murder a junior disciple of the sect I’m sworn to protect.”

Seeing the man so quick to stand against his wife was greatly disturbing to Chao. He knew the man to be fiercely a man of conscience, but if anyone should be seeking all the details before coming to a decision, it was him.

“Stand down, Big Brother Fang,” Chao demanded. He had great respect for Fang’s abilities, but he didn’t shy away from issuing a challenge to the man with his tone. He understood the man’s passion, and his Huifen’s. His was also enflamed after what had been done to him. That was also why he was the only one that could do what had to be done.

“Father,” Chao said, looking to him for help.

When their eyes met, his father’s seemed to shine. He wasn’t sure what it meant, but Zan was at Fang’s side and leading him back in the next instant.

Chao then stooped down and firmly grabbed Ping’s hand.

She took it but continued to sob. He helped her back to her knees to give her some semblance of dignity.

He then looked up and found the blood cultivator who’d caught their assassin still floating there in an emotionless haze.

“Senior Billi,” he said, giving her a martial salute. “This one humbly requests that you relay tonight’s events in our hearing.”

She first glanced to his father for approval before descending to stand opposite Ping. Chao stood off to the side so that everyone could see. He felt extremely uncomfortable being so close to the woman but made a conscious effort not to react. He feared she’d be sensitive to such a response and he and his wife and already pulled their weapons on her once this same night.

When the woman began to speak, he couldn’t help but to notice how sweet her voice sounded. It like Little Genji without the exuberance. Her report was thorough and held no opinion of her own. Once she was finished, she just stopped talking.

“Ping,” Brother Fang growled. “Why? And where did you learn to do such a thing? What else were you keeping from me?”

She didn’t respond or try to defend herself. By this time she looked numb to the world.

Then Chao relayed what he’d learned in their earlier conversation. About her vow to the poison sage, how she was his secret disciple, and that he’d once saved her life. He also laid out all she had taught his wife about how to combat poisons. She’d obviously been torn between keeping her vow and saving her friend’s husband.

It wasn’t because of anything noble that she might have done or believed that he did what he did next. She didn’t deserve mercy from him.

“Sage Ping, you tried to take my life,” he said, lifting his voice like he was preparing to declare her sentence. “Since Senior Billi captured you and brought you to this place, your life has been in my hands. Even now, if I wanted your life, there’s not a single person here that could stop me. Do you believe this?”

The woman sniffled multiple times as she made an effort to compose herself. Looking up at him, she nodded.

“Do you believe it?” He shouted.

She flinched, but he wasn’t done. A blue Nascent level lightning serpent appeared awakened a hand’s width from her nose. It was only the size of his index finger. It circled around her head, slowly at first. As it did, it ascended realms. It stopped again more than an arm’s length away as sky realm red. Its size remained the same. This little bit wouldn’t be deadly to an overlord, but if it struck her, it would be uncomfortable.

“Do you believe that if you tried to run from me, I couldn’t catch you?”

The lightning serpent darted off into the forest. Ping’s eyes followed it. Within meters it had advanced to overlord then tribulation gold. Its speed increased drastically. He let it fly out a couple hundred meters before summoning it back. The human eye couldn’t track such speed. It stopped a few meters away. She spotted it again, but she had to rely on her perceptions to follow it now.

“Do you believe you can outrun tribulation lightning? Perhaps you believe you could defend against it?”

He fed a new command to his lightning serpent. It disappeared. An instant later, it returned. It took a second for flames from the new holes in the tree trucks to spread. Soon, it looked like they were surrounded by an army of torch wielding soldiers, for the entire treeline was on fire.

“Do you believe your overlord level plants could endure?”

A hum of sound spread out in all directions carrying his will. As soon as it reached the treeline, the flames were enlivened. There was no slow build up this time. The little flames soaked up his qi and burst into blue tribulation fire. They devour the trucks so quickly that the flames burnt themselves out before they could take more then a few meters of wood from the trunks. The scorching heat was painful even to an overlord, let alone a sky realm cultivator like Chao, but it blinked out as fast as it came.

Hundreds of trees, some centuries old, found themselves without large segments of their trunks. Their upper portions fell, mauling the ground.

“Are you convinced? Or do you believe your nature and poison techniques can breakthrough and shatter space?” He’d already demonstrated his space laws enough when he’d blocked out his own Huifen when he closed her in with him for their earlier discussion.

“Sage Ping, answer me. Do you believe I could take your life and there’s nothing you could do about it?”

Her eyes were glazed over. She answered, “Yes.”

“Your life is mine to take?”

“Yes.”

“Then, just as Sage Du once saved your life, I do the same. I will not take it, and I forbid anyone here from taking it as well. You should die at my hand, but today I have saved you from my own blade.”

He looked around the clearing, challenging his own family and friends to defy him. Billi watched curiously. His father’s face still shone. The side of Fang’s mouth twitched. He didn’t seem to know what to think. Mother Quinyuan’s stare was piercing. She wasn’t upset or challenging him. It was like she simply wanted him to know that she wasn’t missing a single detail. He finally looked at his wife.

Her lips trembled, and her nostrils flared. Her eyes were indignant. This current animosity wasn’t aimed at his poisoner, but at him.

He turned back to the woman he’d just saved. “Not only did Sage Du save your life, but he also took your as his disciple.”

Chao fetched a spatial ring. His wife had taken what she desired from it. He was relieved he was the one still carrying it and not Huifen. Asking her for it now might’ve undermined much of what he was trying to do. He scanned it quickly and confirmed it was the right one. He tossed it to ground where it bumped into Ping’s knee. “Pick it up.”

She hesitated. Of course, she’d seen it before. It was her Master Du’s ring. She reached down and plucked it up with her index finger and thumb like it was something either precious, or loathsome.

“Sage Du’s cultivation methods as well as many instruments and ingredients of his craft are there. Now, I have saved your life and provided you with the legacy of a poison sage. Is there anything else he did for you that I have not?”

It was more of a twitch of her head than a shake, but her meaning was clear.

“If someone else comes along and provides you with more resources then I have, will you once again seek to take my life?”

She trembled.

“Is there something more I must do to guarantee your perverse sense of morality doesn’t send you after me once again?”

When she didn’t answer right away, he began to wonder if she’d gone through too much for one day. Then, showing the first sign of strength since Senior Billi had tossed her to the ground, Ping’s jaw tightened, and she looked up at him. “I vow—”

“Shut up,” he screamed, surprising himself with the ferocity of his reaction. “Your vow, if your words are to be believe, is what got us into this mess in the first place. Why would I want such a thing? Why not stop vowing all together and just do what’s right?”

“I…” She said, deflating.

He was done with her. Turning to the woman’s husband, he marched toward him.

Sage Fang was still fuming, but he’d held his tongue thanks to Zan. Seeing Chao coming, Fang no longer held back. “Little Brother, I’ll find a punishment worthy—”

Chao pushed the much larger man’s shoulder so that he spun, and then grabbed ahold of his bouldering arm at the triceps, which was nearly impossible because of the size. Still, he made do and dragged the man to the side before letting go. “Follow me,” he said, bounding off into the night.

He felt the man follow him. They didn’t go far. Once they were out of sight, he touched down in the forest then turned to face the man. He tossed a sound barrier up.

Ignoring what Fang was spouting already, he went off on him. “Is your marriage to Ping just a familial or political one?”

Fang’s eyes narrowed. “What do you take me for?” He retorted.

“Then why do you seem to hold no desire to find mercy for your wife?”

“She’s guilty,” the sage stepped forward, getting in Chao’s face. His words came out hot, just as his breath. “Do I wish this never happened? Of course, but how can I show such favoritism? Should my first act as Sect Master be to betray the sect I’ve vowed to serve?” His hands shot out to the sides as if expecting an answer. “Should I ignore what she’s done as if it never happened? She’s also been hiding from me that she has a secret master and poison cultivation.”

Chao’s tone matched the fire sage. “Since when does mercy ignore guilt? Is that what you think I just did? She’s your wife. She’s guilty? So what? If you were to act like what she did never happened, that would be extreme, but you’ve gone straight to the other extreme. You want to take responsibility, so you’re willing to kill her yourself. Just like that. You,” he said, driving his finger into the man’s chest, “aren’t even willing to look for a different path? When the entire world is standing against her, shouldn’t you be the last person standing at her side? Especially when she’s guilty or has done something stupid. Did your vow to her not come before your vow as Sect Master? As far as I’m concerned, you’ve already broken your word by placing your vow to the sect above the one you made to her.”

“Boy,” Fang growled. The fire qi inside of his started to quake.

Chao bounded back tens of meters. “If I must fight you, Brother Fang, then so be it. Maybe if I tear down the burning cage technique that you’re so proud of it will open your eyes.”

The Fire Phoenix Sect Master unleashed his aura without holding back.

Keeping his aura in tight, Chao did the same to protect himself from the wave of force.

“Fine,” the fire sage cried. “You want a piece of my burning cage? Take your best shot.”

Unlike Fang’s demonstration at the joint sect arena, it didn’t take him time to summon it, nor did he have to do it one layer at a time. It exploded upward and outward, surrounding the sage.

The trees and foliage close to him weren’t enough to even slow it. The bars of the cage melted through the wood with such heat that the mortal trees remained standing momentarily even after they’d been burned into countless segments. Before they could fall, the green overlord fire caught them aflame, but the heat was too much for any simple burning. It was like a gust of wind had reached them suddenly, and they fizzled into dust.

A great defensive structure as tall as a two-story pagoda towered over all but the tallest trees in the region. This was no four layered burning cage technique. A fifth layer had been added.

“Big Brother Fang, you’ve been holding back,” Chao call out undeterred. As much as he wanted to have a contest between his laws and the fire sage’s will, he couldn’t let this deteriorate into something mundane. His friend had to know how serious he was, so he held nothing back.

As always, it started with a hum. His hum grew. He sought to get the frequency just right as in the stories of the Mad Monk that had once inspired him. Earth realm, sky realm, and then overlord sound filled the surroundings. The instant he found the frequency, Brother Fang’s multi-layered tower began to flicker.

Seeing his flame’s reaction, Fang steeled himself and a snarling grin appeared on his face as his cage solidified with the force of his will. “Come Little Brother. Is that all you’ve got?”

Chao didn’t respond with words. His sound intensified. The cage’s flickering was more violent this time.

The fire sage wasn’t finished. His stance widened and body flexed. The muscles in his temples fluttered with effort. He willed his overlord burning cage to stand against the onslaught of tribulation sound.

It was an impressive feat. Impossible for perhaps every other overlord under the heavens. But his burning cage didn’t block the effect the sound had on his body. Blood started to trickle from his ears. The sage’s grin widened.

Chao spoke aloud to himself. “Friend Fang, I’m doing this for you.” Then he issued a command to his sound, “Bring it down.”

His will traveled through the hum in the air until it reached the imposing tower of fire. If he attacked the wall at one point, Sage Fang likely could’ve fought him off, or at least slowed the techniques downfall. But his command spread wide. He borrowed the man’s fire from every angle. His large success borrow law was formidable on its own. Working with his sound that was already bombarding the barrier, Fang’s will was stretched too thin. No matter how mighty the man was, his cage was ripped from him all at once. The bonfire that was his green tower of overlord flame went out like a match.

The Fire Phoenix Sect Master stood there unmoving in a martial stance. His sleeveless arms were bulging. His jaw was clenched like a vice. Despite that, and the blood tricking down the sides of his neck, his grin remained.

As Chao slowly flew toward him, his friend began to laugh. It was a reckless thing.

Touching down not far away, the sage dropped his arms to his sides. His grin faded, but he was calmer than before. “Thank you, Little Brother, for saving my Ping Ping. Truly. I just—I have no idea what to do now.”

He closed the distance between them and placed his hand on the larger man’s shoulder, which felt comical, but once he committed, he didn’t stop. “I did the easy part. Yours will be the harder. Big Brother, I absolve you of your oath to the Fire Phoenix Sect. From today onward, you’re no longer the Sect Master. I redeem your wife of her guilt from myself, saving her life. Now all that you must do is be there for her until the day her spirit is restored.”

“And by what authority do you absolve me?” His voice had lost its edge.

“By the authority of don’t make me finish on you the job I started on your burning cage,” Chao said, shaking the man’s shoulder.

They both laughed.

“We will speak to Sect Master Quinyuan and my father to make it official. I’m also told I have a martial uncle who is a Divine Fire Phoenix Sect Elder. You’re just a lower realm Sect Master. I think I outrank you.”

Fang grinned again and didn’t object. As much as he’d been acting before like he was ready to do his duty and execute his own wife, it was clear now that as willing as he might have been to go through with it, it was the last thing he really wanted. Besides, Zan had already been backing Chao. “And if it’s a lie? Where there’s one lie there could be more. What if she’s killed many, or has been unfaithful? Where does it end?”

“I don’t have all the answers. You call me Little Brother for a reason.” He chuckled. “But even if she’s unworthy of your care, she’s still your wife. You must give her more grace than she deserves, for who knows if one day you do something stupid and need the same from her? If she’s really crossed every line, then divorce her and do it the right way. But I for one see the vow of marriage as sacred before heaven, even above the vows to sects and men.”

“Do you really believe that?”

“A person can kowtow to their master, parents, and even one’s spouse, but to kowtow to the heavens as is required in marriage, not even emperors and sect masters require as much.”

“Most hold a vow to the heavens as a formality. Cultivators don’t bother. They aren’t ones to submit to the heavens but defy them.”

“Perhaps. Or maybe the heavens issue trials as a good master might. Is it really defiance if the heavens are cheering us on?”

Fang looked on him strangely. “Are you sure you’re a cultivator?”

Dropping his hand from the man’s shoulder, Chao replied. “I said to much. Go to your wife.”

Nodding, the man looked the direction of the clearing. “Okay, Little Brother.” He cuffed him on the arm and took in the air.

Chao followed not too far behind him. When he arrived, Fang had already swept Ping into his arms, and she’d curled up there. She wouldn’t look at him.

“Come,” Zan said. “I’ll take you to your wife’s sect.”

The divine cultivator reached out and tore space. Fang stepped in first carrying Ping, and Zan followed after.

“I’ll return shortly,” he said, addressing Quinyuan as he left. “I know you want to talk to them, but let’s give them a little time. I’ll tell them you’ll meet with them tomorrow.”

“Yes,” she replied. She turned her attention to Huifen, and to Chao.

He and his wife were standing at a distance. She was glaring at him, and he let her. After a minute without a word, Huifen looked up to the sky, then flew off.

“I’ll go talk to her,” Quinyuan said before following.

The uncanny childlike voice of Billi sounded from behind him. “You realize you gave superior techniques and ingredients to a poison cultivator that tried to kill you once already?”

“Yes,” he replied humbly.

“You’re a fool.”

The frightening divine realm blood cultivator flew off and he was left alone.

Still, he responded even if he was the only one to hear his words. “I know.”

Finally allowing himself to feel his exhaustion, he plopped to his rear. Whatever his wife had given him to save his life had worked, but that didn’t mean there weren’t any residual effects. He wanted to sleep. Instead, he began to lazily circulate his mother’s energy gathering technique.

He wasn’t sure how long it would take, or if Huifen would even return to him tonight. He’d completely cut off any say she had in facing the woman who poisoned him. He knew she might hate him for it. But still, he feared that to do anything else would’ve put her in a position that she’d regret later. Both Ping and his Huifen were friends despite what the woman had done to him. His wife had already had enough regret. Hating him for a time was a worthy exchange in his estimation.

Far sooner than he’d ever expected, something shot out of the treeline like an arrow. A gust of qi tossed him into the air and his wife held him there, embracing him around the ribs.

He opened his mouth to speak when she stopped him. “Don’t say a word.”

He enclosed her in his arms.