106 — Rings of Cultivation

I stood in darkness, a familiar abyss that surrounded me on all sides. I stepped through the darkness, looking up, and saw one little ring of silver, with a hint of purple, shining like the moon in a starless sky.

Roots spread throughout the ring, woven around its cracks. Essence coursed through them, into the little ring inside here, as the cracks began to fill in, slowly, but surely.

A rumble took my attention to Sheldon, standing next to me in his massive spirit form. So easy to forget that my small playful turtle was an Elder spirit beast, capable of so much destruction.

“Focus. The cycle needs mending.”

Sheldon’s voice echoed in my mind. I nodded. Stepping towards the ring, I put one foot awkwardly in the air, and let Chi pulse from beneath. Then another step, a bit further above. Soon, I was walking high above into the darkness. One that should’ve no depth, yet I knew that if I did not focus, I would plunge down, to somewhere I did not want to go.

Sheldon followed my ascend, water carrying the big turtle as he climbed by my side. We made our way to the circle, a massive, ethereal thing. Yet, I hadn’t expected to notice the ring spinning. It was minute, and only noticeable at my close proximity, yet the circle within Labby’s soul spun, a slow, steady turn.

“Mysteries upon mysteries. And I merely keep being swallowed by them, pushed around and led on wild chases. Never any closer to the answer,” I said, watching the spinning ring.

“The rings of cultivation. But if immortality was merely a lie formed by the Heavens, then what even is the goal? What lies at the end?” I asked, remembering Ki’s words. Immortality came at a price. The price of Gu, and demons. But if the path I walk brings death back into the fold then… What's the goal?

“Paths. Englishtment. A cycle of birth and rebirth. Beyond the mortal world.”

I turned to look at Sheldon in confusion. “Isn’t that what the heavens created? Freedom from the cycle of death of rebirth? You know, enlightenment and whatnot, as you reach the heavens and become immortal.”

Sheldon shook his head. “They create, false life. They fear death. Freedom lies beyond life and death. Beyond the cycle. The cycle is a trap. One to be escaped. That is the purpose of our Paths.”

I heard the turtle’s booming words. Closing my eyes, I focused on my soul, on the golden ring inside of it. The First Law blazed to life, a golden ring manifesting in my eye. I let the Chi from my core flood my body and turn into Qi.

I touched the ring in front of me. My senses expanded, taking in every crack, every break in the ethereal ring inside Labby’s core. I sensed my own soul, tied together with hers, with roots spreading from inside me to her.

Breathing in, I used my expanded senses to guide the Qi swirling in Labby’s core. Crackling lightning rose from the ring in Labby’s soul, flashing and sizzling. I guided my Qi into the ring, guiding my essence into the cracks.

A flood of Qi filled Labby’s dantian from the celestial-dew, and now, under my guidance, it all flowed into the ring inside her soul.

When I saw the cracks had filled in sufficiently, I pulled my hand back. My breath felt short.

“Let’s go,” I told Sheldon, glancing one last time at the ring around Labby’s soul.

Sheldon rumbled, water rising around him in a swirling frenzy before it swallowed us whole.

***

I opened my eyes, and found Labby sitting across me, her eyes pressed shut. I grasped her hand slightly tighter, letting my senses scan her core. The cracks were still there, yet there were new bonds forming in the cracks, mending the breaks.

“How do you feel Labby?”

“Squeak!” Labby hiccuped, before catching herself. “Umm, good! Labby feels better now.”

I laughed, feeling relieved at her response.

“Is it going well?” Yan Yun asked from nearby. The girl had arrived in the chamber somewhere while I was mucking around in Zhang’s core.

“So far, yes. I’m gonna wait a while before asking Labby to use any Qi, but she’s making steady progress,” I replied.

“I still can’t get used to being unable to sense your cultivation. I can tell that it’s there, but I can’t sense what realm you’re in,” Yan Yun said.

Zhang chuckled at her words. “He’s ever the mystery isn’t he?”

“Tell me about it. Like some sort of freak,” Yan Yun said, smirking.

“Hey hey, you’re going to hurt my feelings,” I said, putting a hand to my chest, pretending as if I’d been stabbed. A small chuckle permeated the room, and I gave a very light nod to Yan Yun when I knew Zhang wasn’t looking. She returned it.

I could hear the boy’s heart, beating like a drum. Thud. Thud. Thud. Mine would be too, if I was in his position. Yet the sound of his heart was just another weight on my chest. If I failed, I would have to see the disappointment, the hope that would be crushed on his face. I did not particularly want to.

Zhang sat next to me nervously, Twilight and Silverlight both sitting on his shoulder and playing with his long hair tied behind his head.

I extended my hands towards Zhang, letting him grasp them. “You need to form a bond with Silver,” I told Zhang. He nodded.

“Alright. Twilight, can you tell Silverlight to sit next to Sheldon. I’ll need to take her with me for this,” I said, and Twilight chimed. Jumping off Zhang’s shoulders, she ran up to Sheldon, and Silverlight followed her.

I settled in my place, and closed my eyes.

I reached out to Silverlight with my spirit, beckoning her closer. The little plant’s spirit brushed against mine, as I felt a jumble of thoughts and concepts reach me.

“Chii!” Twilight chimed, encouragingly as Silverlight grasped onto my spirit.

“Chirp!” Sheldon’s voice came, as I felt the tug at my spirit. Carrying the little spirit with him, he took us both away from our bodies, and into the darkness inside Zhang’s core.

***

A lotus tree swayed in the darkness. Which was the only way to describe the tree. It was distant, with streams of Qi swirling beautifully around it. A lake remained in front of it, calm waters lapping at the shore formed of the darkness composing this place. But the light from the tree added something life to the dreary void around me.

“Sii?” I heard Silverlight’s voice. She was seated atop Sheldon’s back, her silvery eyes taking everything in with the same curiosity children had, when taken to a new place, or given a new toy.

I looked up into the sky. The ring in Zhang’s core was shattered. In far worse shape than Labby’s had been. The Gu in his spirit had corrupted the ring. Corroded it down. The lotus tree filled his core with Qi, yet the spirit that was supposed to channel it. The ring, the heart of his cultivation, was still broken.

And it was my task to fix it.

I stepped towards the lotus tree, Sheldon following my lead. The tree was still. No wind rustled its many petals, or swayed its branches as it bathed the darkness in its gentle light. It was like the sole star on a dark moonless night, guiding lost travellers.

I set my palm against the tree’s thick trunk. Qi flowed inside of it, connected to the miniature tree growing inside my soul. I was connected to this tree, and the cycle of Qi it circulated in this dark expanse.

Yet what caught my eye was the lake. Next to the tree, a lake had formed. And what was inside it wasn’t water, but Chi. It was Chi distilled into water, collected together like droplets. It stirred and rustled and crashed at the shore. Splashes flew up into the air and turned to mist that permeated through the core.

“I’m assuming you have no idea what this is either,” I said to Sheldon.

The turtle shook his head. I looked at the crashing surface of the lake in front of Chi in front of me, and had a very strange impulse.

“Wanna take a swim?” I asked Sheldon.

My reply was a jet of water splashing me into the Chi lake, before the giant turtle rushed in besides me, carrying an ecstatic Silverlight on his back.

I gasped for air, before remembering I had no need for something like that hair and rushed back underwater. Little lotus plants grew near the bottom of the lake of Chi, bright and pure white in color, they shone through the dark lake, illuminating the area.

I swam around through the Chi water, letting it flow through my spirit, and soak into me. The water moved around me to my wishes, I could propel it, and control it as I pleased. I used my abilities to thrust me faster through the lake, as I swam around, searching for any hints.

“Got anything?” I asked Sheldon, rising to the surface. The turtle shook his head in reply.

“Oh well, worth a shot,” I said, swimming back to the shore. The Chi didn’t wet my hair or body as I expected it to, sliding right off as if it had never even been there.

I didn’t pay the Chi water mind, saving the discovery of the lake for later. Taking Silverlight from Sheldon’s back, I brought her to the lotus tree.

“Can you bind with this? And then use the Qi to heal that?” I asked Silverlight, pointing my finger up at the ring floating above.

“Sii?” The plant spirit asked, and I explained once more, using more symbols. It took her a bit, but soon, the little plant nodded her head.

Trusting Silverlight to do her job, I set her on the lotus bed in front of the tree and stepped back.

Reaching out with my spirit, I tugged at the spirit anchor in Zhang’s soul, and let Silverlight take the reigns.

The lotus shuddered, lighting up, as the plant spirit began to glow. Qi flowed from her body, swirling through the tree, lighting up its petals as they flew around in a swirling wind.

Tens, hundreds, thousands of shining leaves swirled around the tree. I stood mesmerised at the sight, watching the tree shudder, before it began to grow. The tree spread high up into the sky, branches reaching upwards. Little vines reached out to the ring in the dark sky, twirling around it.

The tree rose higher and higher, encompassing the ring inside Zhang’s core in the bosom of its branches. Silvery light from the ring flowed into the tree, and down into its root, before spreading throughout the core.

I turned towards Sheldon, before nodding. I’d done my job, the rest would be on Silverlight. Now to see if it worked.

With a rumble from Sheldon, water swallowed me, dragging me out from Zhang’s core.