Cultivation System: Elder Edition

Chapter 448

Tales of Blood (XIII)

Though she could not see it, she felt it--the deaths of hundreds, their souls crying out into the void. With each fading gasp of the living, she felt her soul grow alight, more and more, as though chains were being undone, rattling her free.

How long had she breathed with a hum? How long had she stared at the apathetic skies and begged them to be accepted? She'd long since lost the count of years.

It wasn't that long ago that she had fully surrendered to her fate--she reared a new Maiden, young Xinya, retreated from the public eye, and settled herself into meditation in preparation for one thing she'd spent her life fearing: death.

If even mortals, she thought, could accept it... it would be unbecoming of her, a cultivator, to fear it. But, try as she may... the fear would not go away. Rather, it was as though her thoughts were feeding it, and it was growing larger and larger, a looming cloud overtaking her heart and mind.

Bit by bit, she developed a Heart Demon, one she was very much aware of but wasn't particularly worried about. After all, she would never attempt a breakthrough, as it was hopeless, regardless.

Until, one day, a man, a figure, a thing, came to her. They slid past the many defensive and concealment arrays of the sect and even the ones guarding her personal isolation chamber and easily appeared in front of her like a phantom. She thought for an embarrassing amount of time that it was a manifestation of her Heart Demon, as they occasionally did do that, but then it spoke.

It spoke of her heart's innermost wants and made promises no one could keep. Rather than a Heart Demon, they sounded like one of those fabled court jesters from the ancient stories who came to humiliate her during her last breath.

... but that was not the case.

The phantom showed her the vision.

It showed her the truth.

Beyond this place, beyond the safeguarding membrane of Dao, there were two leviathans, two incomprehensible creatures that even Dao itself could not compete against--and that phantom was serving them.

It was no wonder, she knew, that the figure could so easily sneak into her chambers. It would be akin to her sneaking into some mortal den undetected--the easiest thing in the world.

And the figure spoke of the two leviathans and all the gifts they'd given.

The gift of eternity. The gift of youth. The gift of power.

Stolen story; please report.

And most important of all: the gift of becoming unbound from Dao. The judgmental, restrictive, unfair Dao. All living things had to bow to this ephemeral notion, this vague visage of something, and try as they could to seek answers from it... it would never reply.

It breathed potential in all things born, and if one could not understand it or see it or grasp it with that potential, then they never would, no matter everything else.

The leviathans--or Voidforged, as the figure called them--however did not judge merely by the birthright. No, they gave chances even to those Dao deemed 'unworthy', a chance that she was afforded. A method she was bestowed.

A way she learned.

All she had to do was kill a few thousand people. For someone who had spent a better part of ten thousand years slaughtering and fighting until her throne was made of bones, killing just a few more thousand was nothing. Even if it was her own kin, even if her actions would condemn her sect for all eternity... she did not care.

All she had to do was sit here, within the circle, and absorb the converted Life Qi--she could sense her meridians beginning to pulsate as though awakening from a long, long slumber.

But the true magic, the true genius of it all, was that she wasn't being corrupted. Anyone and everyone could kill somebody and consume their Life Qi, but there was not a method that she was aware of that could prevent slow but inevitable corruption of the Heart, Soul, and Mind. It was forbidden by Dao itself, a law that cannot be outdone.

For those who consumed the force of Life would all inevitably feel the untimely grasp of Death.

But she did not feel it.

She was free.

"Grandma, are you feeling better?" a tender voice came from the back as she turned her head and saw the young girl peeking from behind the doorframe. That gullible, stupid, little thing who truly thought she was a better Maiden than Xinya. Well, in a way, she thought with glee.

"Much, much better, sweetie," she said. "Why did you come? Are you worried for me?"

"A-a bit," the girl nodded.

"He he, how sweet. Not to worry; your Grandma is recovering quickly. Before long, it will be as though I had never aged."

"Good!" the girl squirmed in place, showcasing rather clearly that wasn't why she came.

She was truly a stupid child--though perfect for what they needed her for.

"Worry not, little one," she said. "Just like everyone else, Xinya will not return. The role of a Maiden is well and truly yours, for now and for forever."

"O-okay," her worries assuaged, she seemed to relax ever so slightly. "Let me know if you need anything, Grandma! I will go get it immediately!"

"Hm."

**

"Master, is this truly the best option? We are letting her have so much Life Qi."

"A small amount, all things considered." Two men chatted on top of a clocktower overlooking a hazy, misty square below. Both wore simple, gray garments and had somewhat similar, lanky, destitute builds with sunken cheeks and protruding jawbones.

"Hm," the other, younger man still seemed unconvinced, his blue eyes sparking with a sudden burst of color. "Hm? The veil... is growing thicker?"

"It is only natural," the older one said. "Death Qi is one of the strangest things to exist, if not the strangest. There exist no arts under heaven capable of seeing through it, not even ours."

"Isn't it too early to be so thick, though?"

"It is probable that there were larger groups that started closer to one another," the older one replied. "I've not known you to be such a worrier, Wuh'ye. What is it?"

"... I'm not certain myself, Master," the younger one replied. "Something in me is oddly... unsettled."

"Don't worry," the old man said. "Even if it all fails, and even if she fails, that was never the goal."

"It... wasn't?" the young one exclaimed.

"No; while the whole world is watching what happens there, who will be watching what happens there?"

"Aah! So, it truly is time? At last?"

"Indeed it is. Let them play at being of import; we shall do what truly matters. Resurrect the World."

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