[QiB2] 32 — Awakening - I

I walk to a side chamber,  letting the servants and members of the household manage the waves of  destruction that had passed through. As I walked, I saw a couple bow to  me with murmured gestures of ‘greetings my lord’ and it took me a moment  to realise it was the insignia the Lord had given to me. I’d tied it at  my waist without thinking much of it, but this made the realisation hit  me quite hard that I was a Lord now. Not a proper lord, merely a baron  whose child could not inherit the name. But still a noble nonetheless.

It took me some time to adjust to the change  in behaviour, and the new monicker of Lord Jie. Zhou Fang helped,  guiding me on how to behave properly but the proud filled body language  still raised my hackles. I couldn’t bear the stiffness. A part of me had  wanted to stay behind and watch the work of cultivators, given what I  had watched had been rather rapid. With earth walls quickly being raised  and carved with Qi instantly. Magic truly made life so much easier.

But I had a task to do, and so I brought my  focus back on it. Within every person in the room, I could sense the  presence of the First Law. The knowledge of the truth of the Heavens  resonated with my own Chi, as it lingered in each of their spirits,  waiting to be acted upon. My eyes drifted to Yin, a Mortal, and even  from her spirit, I could feel the Law. There was something there,  something within this moment that I knew hid another truth about the  Heavens and our world, but everything in its own due time.

Tension filled the chamber, Zhou Fang’s brows  furrowed with concern. No one had expected this level of power, or the  degree of this truth. But it was here now, and it was time to act upon  it.

“I know this is all a lot to take in. Trust  me, I really do. Even with my spirit aligned in a way that allowed me to  walk this path more naturally than others, it still took effort to  understand and accept everything. So I will not ask of you do that. Not  today, and not so quickly,” I glanced around once to meet everyone’s  eyes. “But I will ask you this. What Path do you intend to walk, now  that you know the truth?”

I could feel the Qi in their cores stirring.  Yan Yun glanced around, meeting Zhang’s eyes, and then Zhou Fang’s. To  my surprise, it wasn’t Labby that jumped in first, but Zhang instead.

“Brother Jie, I have sworn my life to you. To  be the weapon that can protect you, and repay the debt I owe to you for  saving my life. Whatever Path you intend to walk, I will walk it with  you.”

The words were cheesy, like something  straight out of a shounen manga, but I couldn’t help smiling when Zhang  said them nonetheless.

“Labby too!” Labby chimed in with a crackle.  “Labby will follow her Master,” she said, then looked at Zhang with a  competitive glare. I held back a laugh at the sight. Perhaps she felt  threatened that Zhang would overtake her, huh?

“I… do not understand all of this,” Yin said,  in a quiet whisper. “This has all been… so much. I don’t think I should  even be here. Such grand topics, and talks of the fate of the empire  and truths of the Heavens. I’m… I’m just some mortal girl.”

“That’s not true, Yin. Not anymore,” I said,  looking at her. “You’re a key part of my em—“ I caught myself. “My plan.  The first mortal alchemist, the first person to have achieved what no  other mortal had ever even dreamt of doing.”

“A Path is not limited merely to cultivation  either. It is, quite literally, the Path we embark upon to achieve our  destiny, and find our way in life. Though it may not manifest in Qi, you  too, walk a Path,” Zhou Fang said, and I nodded at his words.

“In… that case. Me too. I-I would like to follow you too, Lu Jie,” Yin said, clutching her clothes as she looked down.

I smiled, happy at her proclaimation, before  my gaze went to Yan Yun. The girl averted her eyes for a moment. Her  core was still empty, devoid of any cultivation within it. Even when  someone lost a Path, they could quite quickly chose to embark upon a new  one. It wasn’t common, but it wasn’t unheard of either, especially in  younger and more immature cultivators who had made a mistake in a step  early on and were forced to fix it. The fact that she hadn’t done it yet  meant she had consciously chosen not to.

“I don’t know,” Yan Yun said, looking up at  me. I saw her clenched fists, and the tension in her back as she spoke.  “To tell you the truth. I do not think I can, even if I wanted to. I  have tried to cultivate. Once. The mere act had left me senseless and  immobile from agony within my core. That day… before I came to you. I  cut ties with my grandfather. That very same day, I also lost the reason  why I had ever cultivated in the first place. Until I find a reason to  cultivate once more, I don’t think I can embark upon this Path.”

I nodded to Yan Yun. The sight on the girl’s  face made me want to give her a hug. As I wrestled with the feeling I  noted Yin holding Yan Yun’s hand, and the girl’s expression lightened a  little.

“I, too, am not certain. It… it is what my  father asked you to do, Lu Jie. And a more filial child would’ve said  yes But my Path… I do not know if I can do this.”

“I understand. The path that we say, to take  upon Gu alongside Qi, to unite the two within a single cycle is a Path  that goes against this Empire. In some ways, it is akin to treason  itself.”

Zhou Fang looked up at me, before returning a  nod. “All my life, I have been preparing to inherit my father’s  position and become the lord of the seventh Peak. To walk this Path  could mean forsaking that. I… don’t think I am ready to.”

I nodded once more.

“Very well. It is something to think upon,  and I will always be there to guide and help you, if you change your  mind,” I said, before glancing at Zhang. “I’ll start with you first,  Zhang. Given that you were the first to come up. Could the rest you  leave the chamber, and call Elder Tian Feng? Tell him it’s urgent.

The people in the chamber nodded, leaving one  by one. Labby hung around, standing next to me as if it was the most  natural thing, until I rustled her head. “You too, Labby.”

“B-but Labby wants to stay!” she exclaimed, pouting.

“You’ll get your turn, but right now it is  Zhang’s. Be a good girl, okay?” I said, and Labby crackled with purple  sparks that danced across her gray hair, before nodding.

“Good girl,” I said, patting her head once more, before she walked out of the chamber with a sullen look.

Zhang stood next to me, spear by his side. I’d expect some more nerves from him, but instead a calm expression covered his face.

“Is Silvelight with you?” I asked.

In response, the little silver lilly manifested on Zhang’s shoulder with a ‘Sii!’

“You’ll need to go through this trial with  Zhang. The two of you are tied together, and cultivate as one. So when  Zhang will awaken, you’ll have to guide him. Do you understand”

“Sii!” Silverlight exclaimed, patting her chest as she nodded.

“Good,” I said with a smile.

A moment later, Elder Tian Feng reached the chamber, a frown upon his face. “What is the matter?”

“Is it fine if there’s another tribulation?  I’m pretty sure awakening Chi will end up bringing up. Or will that be  too much? This one shouldn’t be too dangerous.”

“Go outside to the backyard,” Elder Tian Feng said in a few curt words, before stepping away.

“I guess that’s a yes,” I said, glancing back at Zhang.

The two of us made our way out, heading to  the backyard. A servant found us wandering aimlessly and guided us to  the open grounds, where already a few talismans and Qi filled herbs  commonly used during breakthroughs had been placed. A rain storm was  brewing outside, and winds were howling from the tribulation we’d had  prior even now, but the two of us walked ahead anyway, before entering  the circle of talismans that barred the worst of it from reaching us.

In the centre of the talismans, I took a seat, and Zhang followed in front of me.

“Are you ready?” I asked.

“Yes,” Zhang replied, his spear placed upon his lap.

I extended my Chi outwards, letting it form  the ward to drown out sound that I’d seen many times before. It took me a  moment to figure it out, and it was far from perfect, but I managed.

“Very well, then the very first step is to  draw upon your Qi. Take a breath, let it soak into your dantian and flow  into your pathways.”

Zhang followed my instruction, drawing upon the Qi around him and cycling it.

“Now, as you cycle the Qi, extended your  senses beneath you, into the earth you sit on. Feel the death that  permeates it, the insects, the plants, that which forms the soil and  fuels live, feel the bones of creatures from centuries ago that have  turned to rocks. Feel the envelop of the earth, and the energy it  holds.”

Zhang frowned, and Silverlight frowned with  him. It took a moment, but soon, I saw something stir in his spirit. The  way he cycled his Qi change, as a sliver of something else began to  enter.

“Draw upon this death now, let it soak into  you. Do not resist it. It’s merely a part of life, a part of the cycle  that exists in our world. Let it forge your body, and harness it in your  core.”

The thunder clouds rumbled furiously once  again, as golden lightning began to gather in the skies. Zhang  continued, and a moment later, I sensed the Gu begin to flow into his  body.

The dark miasma flowed through his pathways,  turning them black. I sensed the Qi burning him, dark oozing miasma  rising from his body.

He’d been through this before, but back then,  there had barely been any Qi in his body, nothing but a hollow husk,  soaked in spirit herbs to be incapable of feeling the pain.

This time, there was nothing to protect him as the Gu flowed through his body, and poured into him.

“Let it gather in your core, and accept it as a part of you,” I said, letting Chi soak my words and gather.

Silverlight frowned, her petals glowing a  bright light, as her Qi held itself back from vanquishing the Gu. Dark  edges creeped within the silver lilly, her skin cracking in places, and I  felt a pain in my gut, watching them go through this.

But this too was a part of the trial, and after they’d gone through this, they would come out the other end.

As the Gu flowed into Zhang, and began to  erupt in his core, the two energies swirling, and waiting to be  released, I closed my eyes. There had been a thought I’d had for a long  time, regarding the nature of Qi, how varied it could be, and just what  aspect it could truly take on.

Today, I would be finding out.

“Before we proceed, tell me. What is your Path? What ambitions drive you, what hunger lurks within you that pushes you so much?”

Zhang opened his eyes, a darkness creeping in on one as his body transformed from the Gu.

“To… be your weapon,” he spoke with effort. “To be… a protective blade.”

“Very well. Zhang, let me tell you something I  have not explained yet. You may remember a long time ago, I had talked  about the four fundamental forces of the world, and the fifth one in  this world being Cultivation. I’m about to tell you an insight, that one  of the smartest mans to have ever lived had discovered. About gravity,”  I said, feeling the Qi around me vibrate. I felt the energies in  Zhang’s core ready to burst out. Cracks formed on his skin, light  glowing underneath them as the energy leaked from pores. I continued.

“Gravity is the force that keeps us tied to  this earth. It is the force that forms the world, the sun, the moon, the  tides. Our world, and everything in and beyond it would not exist  without gravity. It is what gives things their weight, and it is what I  will you teach you about,” I said, as golden thunder crackled within the  skies.

I continued to tell Zhang about Isaac Newton.  About the discovery of gravity, the planets, the solar system,  galaxies, super clusters, milkyway, the very universe itself and the  sheer vastness that it exists in, where we are a mere blip held together  by this strange force. I told him of black holes, of the death most  powerful within the universe that left a hole in reality itself that  nothing could escape from.

Hours passed by, as I taught Zhang in all the  ways I could. I spoke, and I spoke fast. His mind was sharp, sharper  now than it would be even normally as the energies of Gu and Qi roiled  in his core, flooding his spirit.

As my words came close to an end, I watched  Zhang. His skin was dark, half his teeth now fangs. Talons grew from his  body as cracks broke through his skin, leaking miasma an Qi outside. He  held on, but by a thread. Many would’ve given in by now, the pain was  overwhelming, and each passing second I could feel it as I watched the  boy fight the Qi and Gu’s roaring tides.

But he did not even let out an eep.

And that is why I continued.

As my words ended, and I let out a breath,  Zhang looked up at me. Though his body was breaking down, and he fought  to keep the energy in his cores in check, there was a fire in his eyes  now. Slowly, he bowed his head, and I could feel the new insight shaking  his spirit, as his world was expanded and changed forever.

“Let the Gu and Qi merge, and accept the tribulation,” I said at last, and Zhang nodded, looking up at the skies.

“I refuse your Path,” he proclaimed, his voice was calm, yet it carried through the entire manor, shaking the very air itself.

The Heavens roared, as I watched a bright  pillar of golden lightning strike. My breath rose and fell, as I sat  with baited anticipation. A brilliant crack had echoed as I felt his  core cracking, and I rushed ahead to check on him.

Rushing to Zhang, I grabbed his wrist, and  checked his pulse. Burns marred him, but he still breathed, and I turned  around. “Get the Old Man!” I shouted, as the servents rushed out.

Picking Zhang up, and putting the unconscious Silverlight on my shoulder I rushed inside.

“This way, Lu Jie. Bring the boy inside,” the  Old Man guided me, and I followed along, placing Zhang on the bed.  Quickly, the old man ran his hand over the boy’s body, before starting  to take out some herbs.

I stood, feeling a heavy weight on my chest,  as I watched Zhang sleeping. I could not sense his core, neither Qi, nor  Gu existed within it in this moment.

And there was nothing I could do but wait.