Chapter Two Hundred and Fifty Two - Love's Duality

Grandmother Hua’s [Crossroads] held the heat of the very stars it consumed. A construct of [Divine Qi] and [Primordial Law], employed by the [Cherry River Sage]. Something Heaven-piercing, no, Heaven-defying, given that multitudes were incinerated in its radiance.

But this was no backwater Sect.

Here rose serpents.

The Fatherly [Asura] crippled those that could withstand Hua’s luminance, as did Zhu on his southern flank, and so the Elders of the Cloudy Serpent Sect plummeted from on high- [Constellation Seeds] reaped and cultivations reduced for the attempt. Had the Orthodox and Unorthodox not held such contempt for the other, these brothers knew a different tale would unfold.

Nine stars existed in Hua’s great construct, and already the outline was half filled. Through annihilatory madness could Fu barely glean this; through mythical [Spirit Beasts] and their obliterating [Dao Principles]; the [External Arts] that held power enough to shatter suns; through the pinnacle of Martial [Prowess]; through his grin.

“Hua’s manifestation slows. Had I not ruptured the [Meridians] governing her hand this affair would be long concluded,” he called, nourishing his [Shrine of Final Skies] with some dozen fresh [Constellation Seeds] as the words occurred. “This course calls for more than the simplicity of defence.”

Whispers from Zhu’s lips met his twin axe blades. Whatever unheard [Profundity] occurred took root in both weapons, suffusing both with the might of his Path. Leftmost took a sheen of impossible brightness, aglow with the light of a teal moon. Its twin adopted a depth of black, as though drawn from the night sky itself.

“Speak, and I’ll tell you how foolish your plan sounds.”

Tanshuai beat her wings and [Intent] erupted upon the axes, having them spiral skyward to the space below Ershiba and give sprout to an immense and discoloured taijutu. “When moon masks sun, the cold descends, yet only then might its crown be seen. [True Eclipse God Arts: Extremity of Twilights].”

The taijutu erupted in a kaleidoscope of butterflies. Thousands upon thousands upon further thousands that surged forth as Zhu spread wide his grip, orchestrating them downward.

[Primordial Celestial Qi] and its opposing force, [Primordial Umbral Qi] hummed from these insectoid manifestations, and upon the flesh of all that came…

Burrowed through.

Shuidi hummed. “A pity these weaklings cannot glean your [Art], brother, sister. Such is an assassin’s curse. That none might see our wonder.”

Indeed, Fu half-wondered if these Elders thought their failures a result of Hua’s own power for none could even briefly sense the former ghosts before tragedy befell them.

“Your course, brother?” asked Zhu.

Attention shifted to the Cloudy Serpent Sect’s twinned [Arrays]. To the bloated gullet of each world-ending construct as the two serpentine maws devoured more and more of Divine Clouded Mountain’s range.

Trillions of wisps inhaled amidst the rapidly disintegrating skeleton on which they gorged. [Divine Qi] in such abundance that already one might remake reality with its total.

“Let us reap what they already possess. Loudly. Let us pose a greater threat than Hua’s machinations. [Divine Qi] cannot be cultivated so swiftly. Time exists.”

Zhu shook. “The Cloudy Serpent Sect stands above all. Millenia of treasures can be spent to accelerate this process. Our [Senses] are upon her. She waits. Escalate this situation and her full wrath will be turned on us.”

“Oh? Have we not already reached the highest escalation?”

A reply to this died on Tanshuai’s metaphysical lips, spurring another as an unmistakable presence finally entered Divine Clouded Mountain’s skies.

These cultivators of the Gao spun. Zhu’s axes were recalled.

[Gleeful Viper] emerged without tide or armada, yet the [Summer] night grew silent for her appearance. Atop one vast serpentine partner, the scale of which could not be accurately spoken, her entry was as the quiet promise of doom.

Orthodox and Unorthodox ceased at her steady approach, parting in reverence.

“The [Clouded Serpent’s Mandate] is… untethered,” bristled Shuidi. “[Gleeful Viper] has no ties to her [Array]. For what purpose?”

Within the Old One hummed.

Portentous.

A shift in the Heavens above demarcated [Thrice Clouded Boa’s] awareness, and perhaps this, Hushi offered in musing, was the reason for silence.

These Elders, ancient daughters of [Clouded Serpent Queen], peerless and unknowable, made for one another to settle matters as only siblings might. So it was that the city trembled in their wake, and a great [Spiritual] storm blanketed hundreds of li from their positions to shake the very fabric of where they passed.

Space folded. Echoes reverberated. Scenes played as if fragmented.

And thee former ghosts were caught where impossible force met impossible force, watching as the world tore itself into insanity from the full power of these titans.

Zhu upended a bottle. “Vexing,” he said, casting an eye down its nape. “There are no solutions within.”

“We have, perhaps, three tricks. None you will enjoy,” offered Fu.

All joy was silenced as [Gleeful Viper’s] hands were suddenly there, suddenly upon them, grasping their throats as if thousandfold refined [Constitutions] and ephemeral flesh were tricks for entertainers to perform at Lunar New Year.

Her veil was dewy. The single blemish upon perfection.

“I have no need of you, fallen plum,” she intoned, and between ancient palm and Zhu’s gripped neck burst some hundred formation circles to blast him groundward. “You, my favoured heart. It is you I require.”

Impossible, [Spiritual] gravity bent in the serpent’s palm, and from it no thing could escape. It held in stasis both Hushi and Shuidi, exerting a certain hold upon each of the three’s [Cores] without so much as a grain of effort.

As if a hand had punctured their navel.

[Gleeful Viper] then squeezed.

“The resources I have gathered. Across all corners have I scoured the Jianghu. Incurring [Karma’s] ire and spiting the burden. Is this my recompense?” she waxed, tearing free her veil to reveal slitted, focused eyes. “Mockery.Machinations crossing spans of eternities you could not fathom- dashed. The insight afforded- murky. Why? Why, little serpent. You were mine. Mine. What technique has the [Cherry River Sage] bequeathed that might break my hold? My [Dao Oath]? All that was in your heart was to be me.”

Obsession thrummed in her serpentine pupils.

“[Cherry River Sage],” he managed. “Gave us naught.”

“Naught,” her voice trembled, bursting blood from his once-ephemeral eardrums. “Even now, even when I have swept the recesses of your [Spirit], even against the infallible [Three Eyed Spying Array]- how do you mask this from me?”

Fu had long known her purpose, yet only the mad would grant what she sought.

“Love,” he said. “The love you preach. It is wrong.”

Four collisions further devastated the Heavens above, for there clashed the sisters’ world-swallowing partners at long last. Shockwaves skewed his sight, warbling [Gleeful Viper’s] image as impossibility met impossibility.

Perhaps, it was merely her rage.

“Wrong?” she bellowed. “Speak not to me of wrong! Love is what I decree. The hearts of all, the adulation of every soul, this is mine! I am Nu Wa, [Gleeful Viper], Matriarch of the Cloudy Serpent Sect, and [Primordial Lord of Love]. All matters of the heart are known to me, for all beat with my name in their rhythm.”

Shuidi hummed despite the excruciating clamp upon her [Spirit]. “Therein lies the great serpent’s blindness. Hers is the love known by statues. By laws. By lust. A flood so dense your vessel believes itself full, and this vessel is one she cannot see is fractured and incomplete.”

“I am the [Primordial Lord of Love]!” she cursed.

“You are a child that has only known the love of others. Cursed by immorality and high pedestals. So lofty has your Path been, so high did it begin, that you have only known half truths,” choked Fu. “Love-”

“Love has no conditions,” cut Hushi.

“Love is not for oneself. It is a blessing,” Fu continued. “It is sacrifice. It is kindness. It is vulnerability. It is pride. It is the peace one feels when returning home. It is the forgiving smile granted when one bears witnessed to your imperfections. It is the laughter over burnt food. It is the joy felt when another succeeds. It is all of this, and perhaps, none of this. But what is certain, [Gleeful Viper], venerable one- your love is none of this.”

Stolen content warning: this content belongs on NovelPhoenix. Report any occurrences.

The three felt their [Spirit] crack as [Gleeful Viper’s] hold tightened, and now her fingers punctured the helplessly weak flesh of Fu’s throat. “None of this? By this fallacy you claim to have unmade the [Dao Oath]? Lies. Love is adoration. The worship of others and how far they will bend to support one’s glory. The measure of one’s power. For if their hearts do not beat for me… then I have failed her.”

“Such a love…” Fu spluttered. “Is more akin to subjugation… Terror.”

Her visage slanted in queer regard. “Terror? My domain is its opposing force. Love is liberation. To abandon the self and work only for the betterment of I, the rightful Matriarch. The purpose I grant, my magnanimity, cannot be questioned!”

“Yet here… yet here we are… A fisherman… once embedded with [Arrays],” he spat, torture prolonged by his peak [Core Formation] resilience. “Why else would… you embrace the h’siang sheng… scour mortal hearts for insight?”

[Gleeful Viper’s] eyes widened. Whether in rage or realization, none might say. None were given the chance as [Thrice Clouded Boa] erupted into range.

“Dearest sister-” she commenced.

None of the trio waited further.

It was time.

[Primordial Law of Tribulation].

The Heavens above voiced their queries in space-shattering thunder, birthing columns of lightning so myriad it seemed all horizons bled their power.

What [Seasons] had passed since claiming their roles of [Primordial Lords] were many, and Fu’s ailing [Spirit] became suffused with all that [Immortal Arbiter’s Soul] had gained across them. Thus came the full skein of [Tribulation].

Two dragons of lightning raged from on high with the swiftness of lightning, for this was their very flesh, extending their crackling maws to devour the spilling, abundant [Divine Qi] from the twinned cultivators’ [Arrays], and before a hummingbird’s wings might beat, the first swallowed Fu from [Gleeful Viper’s] grasp.

As did the second swallow his brother some myriad li below.

🀧

Celestial light bordered the realm in which he arrived, and it seemed one torn asunder where flowing cloud met creeping shade. The half of Fu’s residence held similarities only in the forward path, for as he walked forth as did Zhu, side by side yet never to cross the boundary between them.

[Primordial] energy thrummed in the foggy banks at Fu’s feet, as did [Divine Qi], [Profundity] and [Spiritual] pressure arc and leap from the errant bolts, raindrops and trickling waters about and underfoot.

Oscillating light populated Zhu’s own, reflecting from Tanshuai only to vanish in the pitchest depths when oozing shadow returned.

No words were spoken.

No looks were shared.

This Path to Immortality was too hallowed.

Upwards led, it seemed a peak spread before them, and the [Tribulation] to ascend had already put weight upon their shoulders. A mounting pressure, in simplicity, that grew with each subsequent step.

Hushi trailed an arm through the clouds, and freed whispers of things long passed.

A scene of dark pools and lives ended, of futures cut short. Then of change, and fresh beginnings. Of partnership. Flaming [Spirit Apes] and ill-intentioned mortals. Of fresh family, treacherous serpents, lost companions and poisonous blight.

Shuidi’s pincers loosed tides and starlight. A procession of [Spirit Crabs] in colony. Migration. Danger. Death. Of a [Paifang] and eternally twilight skies, reflecting pools and lotus-patterned blades.

When Fu’s fingers whisked the fog, he saw more. Tales of such indescribable loss and equal gain. Of joy. Torment. Pain. Triumph. Scenes longer than any of his companions had lived, but no more important or rich for the time.

Then came experiences that all had weathered together.

Of shadows and spectres, of [Mystic Realms] traversed, and tutelage. Words from Bingbai and prideful thoughts.

[Spring] empires followed.

Of defeat. Of foolishness. Of growth. Of loss.

Ten thousand, thousand realms passed by in this fog, as did the [Trials] of their domain. The [Guardians] felled and the [Constellation Seeds] reaped.

The flourish of their Path.

Then came the joyful lull before their first death. Time spent where their soul desired, ever at the side of family.

What followed then was recent, of times at Cloud Dragon Hall, cherished but an unnecessary reminder of all that was freshly contained in his memory.

Their disciples. Their allies. Their friends.

Truths of the Jianghu and secrets of [Hollow Thrones].

And for each memory gleaned there came a toll. The weight now a sapping force, took much from their [Inner Qi], for this was the barest qualification for immortality.

A stage the uncountable, potential immortals may well fall on. Lifetimes were required to amass such reserves, and record told well of the ruin that awaited those that attempted such an ascension unprepared.

To one with [Primordial Qi] and [Divine Qi] in their [Core], it was trivial. Neither Fu, Hushi nor Shuidi felt lesser for their ascent. They needed not look at Zhu to feel how far ahead he was upon the Path.

One step further and the clouds vanished. Fu held back his foot, seeing below it a great marvel of [Profundity] in raging tides. Waves crashed there that touched the Heavens, displaced by a rapture of typhoons to cage the serrated icicles and blade-like rain cast from their many circular columns.

A sea to cross, brother, sister. A test where past meets future.

Shuidi breathed deep, calling forth insight. “[Dao of Winter’s Seal],” she uttered, and from her wispy breath froze a translucent sailboat of pristine ice. The mast glistened, yet held no sail with which to move.

“[Dao of Eternity’s Tempest],” spoke Hushi.

How gentle their greatest [Dao] came when asked, stealing breath from the violent typhoons off shore to thread across spectral rigging and buffet as each embarked.

The three stood at the bow as [Profundity] assailed them. Composites of their own insight struck as natural force, for in each wave came a [Dao of Water], of [Tides], of [Drowning], of [Lost] and myriad more, either parent or child.

[First Pool], [Second Pool], [Third Pool] and [Fourth]. These waves tried well to wrench the vessel from its course, threatening peril should one hair touch the turbulent waters that angrily tried to drag them beneath.

Fu puffed absently upon his pipe as the next wave lifted their boat skyward, tilting as though it intended to flip it vertically. “[Dao of the Ephemeral Cascade],” he whispered, wresting the wave’s own control so that it parted before them.

A frown crested his face as the vessel broke ground, in time, and but three of their [Dao Principles] had been touched upon.

“Immortality is cheap. These were ever the words of many,” he said. “This is no [Tribulation], but a formality.”

Hushi dipped. “Do not overlook our circumstances.”

“Indeed, younglings. A fall into a ditch makes one wiser. Few are those that seek ditches.”

For all the lightning contained in their soul, this realm had added no fresh bolts.

“No. Our domain is [Tribulation]. To hold this within our sphere, to know this realm is equated with us- it is shameful. Not from pride nor image, but to have this as the bar to [True Lord Realm]. It must change.”

An expansive void dominated all across the boundary, and Fu ruminated on the nature of Zhu’s own experience.

They ascended swifter now, lamenting the insignificant toll on their being as a flattened peak was reached. Golden clouds plumed about it, drenched in Heavenly light. These souls, however, had seen a deeper sheen.

[Ninth Under Heaven’s] reserves shone brighter. [Cherry River Sage’s] manifestations held deeper luster. The lesser strokes of the Lotus Blade Sect held greater majesty.

Fu shook his head, and upon the dusky peak to his side Zhu matched such disappointment.

“It is not earned,” he said.

Tanshaui offered a flutter, impressing two simple words. “Remedy it.”

“As [Primordial Lord of Tribulations] we declare this [Tribulation] unworthy,” sounded his Heavenward call as [Primordial Law] burst from his flesh. “What rests here in obsolescence can be overcome by a [Spirit Core] or a wounded child. This is no test of accumulation, of hardship, cunning or might. Inflict upon us a [Trial] worthy of names, or we shall deliver one ourselves.”

The Heavens were silent.

A small black ribbon entered Zhu’s hand, and with it he fastened his hair. “We are the [Primordial Lords of Days], and this [Tribulation] is meaningless. We exemplify the growth towards a pinnacle, as do we know intimately the hues of all things. This is bland and colourless, covered by a shade when the sun stands lowest. Bah. We care not for it.”

Behind his back manifested a vast circular disk, and about its circumference flared wisps and tendrils of brightest teal.

All gathered spoke as one. “Shatter. No less than this is required.”

So burst the confluence of [Tribulation] and [Days]. A conflagration of lightning and celestial flame that held no origin of movement, no signs but that of the final delivery. The maelstrom shattered all about them, scorching colour and space from the realm until the boundary between them was no more and these cloudy, darkened lands converged into a starscape of such beauty that Shuidi gasped amidst her hum.

Dusty nebula shone and shifted as great spatial storms blossomed and vanished with accelerating pace, blinking until the [Divine Qi] gathered here became something more.

Fu’s heart thundered.

Zhu’s grin widened.

From this cosmic nothing came the dread tone of eight bells. Eight quaking vibrations that hummed in their [Spirit] after their conclusion, yet paltry against that which had tolled them.

The nebula ahead ceased their rhythmic blinking to form the outline of an impossible, spoked wheel, and no sooner was it realized than had the center split in twain. A fissure grew, perfect in white, widened further at the emergence of eighty grasping fingers that served only to splinter and destroy.

A chain lifted. As did an axe.

“Kalpas,” those gathered uttered as one. Yet none knew from whence this name had emerged, only its promise of endings.

In moments the wheel had shattered, leaving the supreme existence to lift the remainder of its titanic gestalt into the surrounding starscape. [Divine Qi] and [Primordial Qi] projected waves of elemental fury from its flesh, and radiated in an aura of shifting [Affinity] down the length of its sixteen muscular arms and to the bottom of its torso where it ended, occupying this realm from some portal unknown.

Few words could be said on its face, which held a [Demonic] resemblance of protruding tusks, golden calligraphed script upon its flesh and a carpet of flawless braids from its almost metallic scalp. Yet in the eyes- yes, in its eyes held a promise greater than endings.

That of eternity’s spectrum displayed in colours Fu held no name for.

[Primordial Law] willed weapons into its sixteen palms, and represented there was each discipline at its pinnacle. Qiang. Jian. Gun. And more so to the cultivators’ shared wonder were the emerging [Dao Principles] that stained each independent arm in turn, fluctuating and shifting if only with a theme to distinguish each.

“Opportunity rides a dangerous wind,” said Zhu. “Of all winds we have faced, I’ll enjoy the dinner you buy after this one most.”

In all its majesty, it did not roar. It did not speak. The Kalpas merely weighed them with those eternal eyes, awaiting its chance to deliver judgement.

“A shame it is alone, no?” grinned Fu.