Heaven's Law - Lifestone - Chapter 15

Huifen suggested they take turns training while they traveled. She wanted to memorize the poison tables that Big Sister Ping before she got distracted with learning the Indominable Plumage, the first technique in the third pillar of the Ice Phoenix Cultivation Tomb. Unlike all the others except Ice Shroud, this was a defensive technique. She’d studied it enough to know the basics of how it worked. It used qi to mimic the way Divine Ice Phoenix’s body did to defend. The cost was massive amounts of qi so it would only be useful against the deadliest attacks. The body of a bird was generally considered weak, but this was a divine beast that comfortably manipulated the most potent ice in existence. She couldn’t wait to try it out.

At the same time, Great Elder Jilpa’s ice poison was still fresh on Huifen’s mind. The least she could do was memorize the characteristics of the most stealthy and vicious poisons. There were also similar venoms she should also memorize, but Big Sister had insisted that she memorize the poisons first.

That first day they didn’t travel with speed or distance in mind. They just headed in the general direction they wanted to begin. Huifen didn’t need to see her husband’s excitement for encouragement. There was a true sense of freedom as she allowed the wind to slip passed her defensive aura as they bound, walked, and flew.

Bounding wasn’t exactly a normal way to travel, but Huifen had done it while in the earth realm because it came so easy to her. Running across the ground mind be faster if enough effort was exerted. Bounding had a very freeing effect, though. It was graceful and almost lazy. The average earth cultivator could do it to a certain extent if they had above average qi control. Maybe not as high as they were, but that also depended on one’s cultivation. There were plenty of movement techniques out there that allowed for unique ways of movement.

They did fly periodically, but only when they didn’t sense anyone, and the terrain was difficult. If they really wanted to talk or eat, then would slow down, and walk for a time. If either one of them felt some inspiration, they’d stop all together and allow the person some time to meditate.

The sun was sinking as they flew for a stint over a narrow segment of the path they were following. With the sun setting in a few hours, they’d have to start looking for a place to stay for the night. There were many small villages along this road. Soon they’d have to decide whether to stay at the next one or go on.

Traveling through the night wasn’t out of the question. She almost forgot sometimes that Chao had reached the sky realm. He didn’t need to sleep every night now. She hardly needed to sleep at all. Of course, he’d want to experience staying at an inn, so they’d stop tonight even if they spent most of the night cultivating. She had to admit she did as well if just to try out her new identity.

When the time was drawing near and the sun was starting to set, they spotted a tiny village with a hundred small buildings at most. Before they headed for it, she scanned the area with her perceptions and nodded that it was safe. Flying up over the tree’s canopy hand in hand, they got a clear view of the horizon and hovered there, watching it in silence.

This region had a fairly even split between forested and tall grassy hills. The gold of twilight began its decent on the lushy greenery. It touched down on the tops of the trees and waist high fields of grass, giving it all a gilded glow. It wasn’t the majesty of divine or natural treasures that dazzled their sense, but the more common beauty of nature.

“There’s so much to do, and to see,” Chao said suddenly.

Glancing over, she found him gazing down at her. It was the adoring look he often gave her, but it had a maturity to it that was a more recent development. He had a tendency to revert to his playful side soon after such a moment, so before he did, she kissed him. It was just a little thing, but Huifen’s mother had spoken to her at length of the power of such little things. She’d grown to like his playful side, but sometimes he seemed unable to turn it off. If she rewarded him often enough for doing so, he would eventually do it naturally. Such were the secret powers of a wife.

They returned to the road and walked the rest of the way into the small village they’d be staying in.

“It reminds me of home,” Chao said, eying the construction of the first house they came to along the road. “The lumber is different, oak, I think, but the building’s structure looks the same. I’ve never seen a roof like that, though. Do you think it’s made of straw?”

“Mmm,” she replied in agreeance. “They’re cute and cozy.”

“I wonder how easy it is to keep them from leaking. The maintenance might be too much. Although, it gives me some ideas…”

She didn’t even bother rolling her eyes. When he was in this frame of mind it was difficult to get him out of it.

A man in a dirt-stained tunic and matching pants was coming their way pushing a cart. A girl of five or six with curly brown hair and a cream-colored dress was sitting on the cart’s contents speaking to the man. She seemed to be carrying on and he was just relieved another day’s hard work was drawing to an end.

As they passed the man in the cart, the little girl twirled her head around and gawked at them. Her surprise only lasted a moment before she cried, “Baba, baba. Travelers. Hello, travelers. Hello.”

“Don’t stare Hop’er,” the man rebuked her, tapping her hard on the top of the head. “It’s rude.”

The little girl rubbed the top of her head but didn’t lower her eyes for an instant. Instead, she started waving.

The man looked to give up on chastising her for the moment and bowed his head to the two of them without stopping his cart.

“Hello,” Chao said with similar enthusiasm.

Huifen managed to wave. She was used to having younger disciples around all the time, but not this young. This like station and cultivation obviously meant nothing to the girl. She just saw someone new and was interested in them right away. It was a terribly dangerous mindset, but one afforded to the girl because of her age. Huifen even felt a twinge of jealousy. The girl had no idea how dangerous the world was.

As they neared the largest building in town that was on the side of the road, the number of people they saw grew. There wasn’t enough of them to even be considered a crowd, but the town was definitely alive and well.

Reaching the inn, they found two wide open doors that lead into an open courtyard surrounded by the inn. It was two stories in height and the path led to the biggest part of the building in the back. Once inside the courtyard, they were greeted by a number of merchants who sat up their carts. Some were simple ones a person could push on their own, while others were carriages with displays for good built into the backs. There were only eight merchants in total, but it was livelier than it had been on the street.

Her first reaction was to reject every call and recommendation by the merchants. She’d always been fairly wealthy, but that was only compared to the average mortal. To keep one’s wealth required prudence and investment. Peak cultivators in comparison had centuries to gather their goods, and she and her husband had plundered the goods from ten of them. When she saw Chao began to browse, she allowed herself to do the same.

One thing she’d never had was throw-away money. She was trying to look at it as her husband did. He’d been blessed with abundance. Since merchants needed people to buy their goods to survive, spending their wealth benefited these people while also encouraging them to continue to work hard. So she bought some things that she really didn’t need. She found herself drawn to sweets but knew that would be a bad habit to get into. Still, she bought some in case she saw anymore adorable little children like the girl in the cart.

They finally made their way into the main building at the back of the courtyard. There was a counter with a grey bearded man in a merchant’s cap to their left as soon as they walked in. There were knee high tables and kneeling matts throughout the rest of the room and more than a dozen people eating and conversing.

“Greetings, strangers,” the merchant called cheerily. “There are rooms available, and dinner is ready to be served at any time. How might I help you?”

Chao turned to her. “Are you hungry, Fen’er,” he said, using her fake identity.

“Yes, Husband Tao.”

She had to keep herself from smiling at using his alias. They’d chosen to keep it simple. Fen was a very common name that meant fragrance. It was also one close enough to her original name that Chao should easily remember. He’d always wanted to give her a nickname anyway. Fen, Fen Fen, and Fen’er were all attractive possibilities.

On the other hand, they’d decided on Tao for him. It was just as common and sounded similar to his own name.

There was a place for their shoes at the entrance and slippers were provided. They found a seat near the back of the room so they could take in the setting. The floor was smooth, well-worn wood. The place smelled of an herb mixture and roasted meat. The most incredible feature of the entire establishment was how common it was. There was no dire beast meat, only poultry and beef. Only half the people in the room were cultivators and Chao and Huifen were the highest realm. Despite that, the people there showed no fear of them. The people were kindly and quiet.

The food portions were smaller than they’d have liked, but very few people could handle the ‘cultivator’s portion’ her husband had invented. The normalcy of it was what made it unique to them. It was unlike anything she’d seen in a very long time.

They rented the largest room in the inn. After dinner, they headed there and took it in. It was half the size of their room in the Frigid Moon Mystic Realm, but the bed was a good size and was comfortable when laid on.

Closing the door behind them, Huifen locked it and fetched a one-sided defensive array from her spatial ring. It had a wide base and its flag leaned directly against the wall. It was meant to reinforce walls like this one with qi. If the field it created was breached, there would be a surge and a wall of qi would activate, likely destroying the physical wall in the process. It wouldn’t kill anything over an earth realm cultivator, but it would block them. Its main purpose was to warn and slow down any attacker. The only thing it didn’t defend against was someone attacking at full speed. They’d sense such an attack before the array could warn them anyway.

Chao had a matching flag in his hand. He placed it on the far wall, then they removed others to set up on the sides of the room. This array formation wasn’t limited to square rooms, but it certainly worked the best that way. As soon as all four of them were set up, the qi field flowing through each wall joined at the corners. Qi then flowed through the ceiling and floor.

When her husband had finished, she was already there to help him remove his shirt. “The barrier. You promised.”

He leaned forward, Giving her a smug look. “Do you really think, my dearest Fen Fen, that I’m even capable of allowing the world to hear us? Like I would ever share you with anyone. If I had a secret realm to hide you away in to keep you all to myself then you’d never come out.”

“So you’d leave me alone if you had one?”

“That would be inconvenient.”

“Is talking really what you want to do right now?”

Suffice it to say, the biggest obstacle to get passed to dual cultivate in an inn was a mental one.

***

Chao, or should be thinking of himself as Tao while they were on their journey, found himself watching his Huifen—Fen’er—for the tenth time that night. He was lost in the card jade Big Sister Ping had given her.

After their visit to the Li family’s estate, he was having trouble deciding what he should focus on. On one hand, he had numerous card jades that taught sound and music theory, how to play different instruments, martial techniques derived from them, and new songs to learn. On the other, the laws of sharpness, slashing, piercing, and countless others were waiting on him to discover their secrets. It was more than that really. Seeing what the Li family was capable of opened his eyes to something he thought he already understood. Everything in existence had concepts that governed it. If sharpness and other sword related concepts could be cultivated, that meant literally anything could.

It was an overwhelming realization. It wasn’t just the elements waiting for him to tinker with them, but the whole of nature. This realm and all the others were brimming with things for him to discover. At the same time, he couldn’t neglect the laws he already knew.

His dilemma was evident. He wanted to do it all. What he needed was to come up with a strategy. One he knew needed to start with his sound. As promising as all the other concepts were, his sound laws held even more promise than space after his most recent discovery. It connected him to the other laws, the other concepts, in a very abnormal way. As unconventional as it seemed, there was also something very natural about it. The more he thought about it, the more he was convinced it was because of the emotion causing concepts contained in sound that had made his freakish understanding of the laws possible.

He still hadn’t been able to test his sound’s effects on the ability for others to learn the laws to a satisfactory conclusion, but the evidence was still adding up.

With his new pipa, Breath of Windblown Reeds, in hand, he sat on the bed and began to strum a contemplative tune. It was one he didn’t play often for others, but it sometimes helped him think. The instrument he held was unlike any he’d ever played. Its construction was as precise and materials so sturdy, that he could use it as a sky realm weapon to bash people with. Its strings were able to take even more punishment, for it was a true overlord instrument.

One of the strangest features was its smaller belly. It was light enough that he could play it standing. There was also a leather strap near the end of the neck and at the bottom end of the belly. He’d only seen a lute played once, but it seemed it was designed so that it could be played that way as well. It was just another thing he was tempted to try.

He was still trying to get his mind around using it for combat. To stand before someone with a sword or spear who had every intention of killing him was one part embarrassing, and yet another part fearsome. The gall it would take to face off with a person with a pipa strapped to your shoulder while playing a song sounded childish, but he couldn’t wait until the opportunity arose so that he could try it. It might help sway him if he actually learned a martial technique or two that a genuine sound cultivator might use.

There were also the other instruments he needed to learn to play, but he was in no hurry. Just learning knew songs and perhaps learning to play it while strapped to his shoulder was a good start for him. But what of the other concepts and laws.

He spent all night weighting out what he should do. By breakfast, he had a rough idea how he would approach his problem. He’d begin his night with sound. At first, he’d just play something to allow him to fall into the right state of mind. Then he’d spend time four things with a focus on sound. Reading card jades, martial techniques, learning new songs, and sound’s ability to carry his will.

Next, he would spend some time experimenting with sharpness. The reason he decided to start there was because of the Li family cultivation chamber. He’d seen how they were able to harness blade to surround a person in a concept, and even add fragments of it to the surrounding qi. He wasn’t planning to do something so complex, but he was pretty sure he could isolate the concept in a similar manner. Once he started to have some success with sharpness, he could approach other concepts in a similar manner. If he could begin to unlock laws in such concepts, there was a chance that he wouldn’t lose any martial prowess when they finally went to the divine realm. He might just be able to defend his wife no matter where he went.

And finally, he would return to his tinkering with the elements. He expected his experience with the elemental laws to speed his ability to learn non-elemental concepts, and visa versa. There were also some elements he hadn’t reached large success in enhance in, and others where he’d awakened elements without ever learning to use morph. There was no way he was going to abandon what he started. Now he just had far more things competing for his time.

After dual cultivating and refining an easy to breakdown pill, they had some breakfast and left the quaint little village. Chao decided to strap the pipa to his shoulder and try out the basics of playing the instrument while on its side. There was an instruction manual that explained finger placement and compared the differences between the lute and pipa. After getting the principle in mind, he knew what he really needed was practice. So today, he’d do just that.

Martial techniques were still for the distant future. However, having an instrument so readily at hand meant he could play throughout the day and maybe even made their journey a more enjoyable experience. He could also inject his will into his music whenever he desired. If the road just happened to have random awakened creatures dancing around and getting into mischief, so be it.