Fatherly Asura

[Falling Emeralds Bastion]

[Winter]

[True Lord Grade] [Treasure Realm] [Trial Realm] [Wood Qi Abundance]

[Celestial Event: Purity of the Cherry River]

How fitting that the enemies of their great Sect fall in this way.

Silent and without worth.

The disciples of the [Cherry River Alchemist], these fools, bled like any others might. Scholars and supposed talents that dared claim they stand at the pinnacle of their craft.

Clearly they had forgotten the immensity of serpents.

Fu Gao strolled throughout their halls as madness claimed them- as [Karmic] cultivators flaunted vast gestures and chants to find the specters in their midst.

Many among them were stained with the [Mantra of Heavenly Plums].

It did not aid them.

Across the lesser refining hall’s vast octagonal chamber there came an orchestration of strings, plum-hued and otherwise, sent forth by clusters of [Spirit Spider] partners. A common enough sight to mark their [Heritage].

A clack came in obscurity, unheard by all but two.

“Insects,” sneered Gao Shuidi.

Her partners shared this disdain, and hatred further sharpened their focus. It was thought that a stronghold of the [Cherry River Alchemist] would be of adequate challenge to temper all that their Master’s gifts had bestowed.

An honor that only true ghosts might know.

[Clouded Ghost Arts] [SkySundering] [Early]

[Control] +450, [Capacity] +200, [Push] +300

[Sky Sundering].

The stage of [Prowess] beyond [Earthly Ascension]. To compare the two was as if a fool tried to measure the distance between Heaven and Earth.

Clad beneath this, and their internalized [Dao of Conquest’s Exhalation], the very laws of this world seemed to bend around him. [Air Qi] and [Water Qi] masked him, indeed, enforced a domain of equilibrium - now for a distance of some untold li - and more so, Bingbai’s gift of knowledge had engraved this as instinct.

Had Fu Gao the need, any particle of Qi in this domain could shift in density, purity or composition, suppressing or appearing as willed.

Yet this talent was a guzheng’s second string against the most prodigious boon.

So entwined did the net of these [Spirit Spider’s] webs become that an oppressive, golden grid raced across all corners of this monastery. Thickened cords in place of gentle silken threads, and these only expanded.

In heartbeats the entire refining hall became drowned in exposed [Karmic Ties], now so vast that no strand would allow even daylight to escape between them.

“They test reactions firstmost. See how the [Karmic] weave only gently consumes that which is already entwined. It seeks external threads.”

Fu Gao remained as the lattice pierced through him.

The [Clouded Ghost Arts] would remove him, for a time. One dependent on these disciples’ talents and [Prowess].

Recall our Master’s words. We cannot mould [Karma’s] strings, merely negate them for a time. No longer than it might take to spill a neck or cripple a [Meridian].

How shameless it would be to remain so.

Of what use were they to the Clouded Courts like this?

Their chain flew with the swiftness of lightning, viscerally removing all above an alchemist’s jawline from the rest of their bones and flesh.

[Half Cloud Step].

These ghosts flew swiftly through marble and wood, incorporeal as they took rest on an errant wind outside the hall.

They returned some half breaths later.

As it had been for the first seven refining halls they had visited this day.

An intensity of [Karmic] pressure brushed Fu Gao’s [Spirit] on each return, and he had yet to steel himself against the sensation. A force he could only liken to ropes crawling across his flesh with the efficacy of insects, scuttling forth to tether themselves or perhaps, simply the notion of a tightening [Spiritual] noose.

Our [Spirit] is the fulcrum. The [Clouded Ghost Arts] now originate here. We must seek to amplify its negation.

Fifteen more disciples fell.

Then eighty seven before they had the good sense to send their lesser talents towards the ornate doors. Already there stood myriad senior disciples there, graduating through their motions of the [Hundred Rhythms of the Golden Needle] - desperate to affect some change on the great [Arrays] that sealed their refining hall shut.

The same locks that denied external influence, detrimental Qi, and lesserly, intruders.

Hushi had long modified their [Arrays] to be unresponsive.

“Take heart, my fellows,” declared a wiser sort among them, warding many back from the doors with a long, crystalline gun. “Those of the Cherry River know well of temperance. What villainous force stirs here is no more than energy! This much we might combat.”

Shuidi sighed. “The sacrificial fools repeat themselves.”

Through the activity roused by this senior’s words there came a deep glow. This light was of bright maroon, emanating both from the pit where he held his [Core] and the rear spinnerets of his four [Spirit Spiders].

“One outcome cannot be reached without one effort. To all forces, there is an equal and opposite. For our venerable Master to be untroubled by such energies we must offer our own to solve it!”

Fu Gao blurred toward the next refining hall just as the remaining disciples and [Spirit Spiders] sent forth their own glow.

The prelude to detonating [Cores].

Again, Shuidi sighed. “It ends as the second and fifth halls did. Blind. Fruitless. This Gao Shuidi holds the Cherry River in less and less regard if their disciples are so swift to cut short their own paths.”

A well-muffled boom erupted within the previous hall as Fu met their wall, moving further to land before several hundred at-work alchemists.

Those oblivious to their coming fates.

Ninety two structures remain. Let us master the triviality of this [Karma] before the end. The Cloudy Serpent Sect deserves no less.

🀩

It was a small span of hours that had passed, leaving the [Mystic Realm] nigh barren.

This realm of the [Cherry River Alchemist] had been but one of some dozen under her personal control, thus, no greater than a single inflicted wound upon the [Cherry River Inheritor’s] vast dominion.

Shuidi was not sated with this.

Tanshuai bid her calm.

The fortune that had this realm appear would pay further dividends.

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Zhu observed the distant [Paifang] as Fu Gao did, unflinching atop the greatest of this alchemist’s refining halls. A resplendent octagonal dome of cherry-pink hue and filagree of their namesake tree detailed across each face.

Garden-isles floated gently in orbit, supporting the ornate stairway that led to this greatest structure.

Neither cultivators nor beasts marvelled at the sight.

“The [Plum Axe] holds unrivalled control. I’ve watched him laugh as beggars moved in his Path, suffering [Karmic] retribution for the slight. He need not will it so, as he’s beloved by it,” explained Zhu. “In a hundred moons you might persuade it to do a fraction of that.”

A whisker was stroked. “Hmm. I would know what the fraction might look like.”

“The archway this beggar scurried under collapsed. A fresh construction that couldn’t have been more perfectly orchestrated. One trist I had ran longer than intended… a bathing attendant of flawless flexibility. The waters ran cold by the time we were done with one another, as did the [Plum Axe’s] patience,” he continued, his eyes glassy.“She tripped upon a drying robe and split her head asunder the moment our limbs parted.”

“Far less than this,” nodded Fu Gao. “For what it is worth-”

Tanshuai moved to the douli’s brim, though his sworn brother only shook. “Needless,” he said, managing a quirk of his lip. “Are you certain your sun-facing twin hasn’t replaced you? The kind and righteous Patriarch of Cloud Dragon Hall. Brothers needn’t be so sentimental.”

“He does not feel any different than I.”

The [Dao of Truth] had Zhu’s eyes flash gold.

Purposefully.

“He?” said Zhu. “And you lie. That’s an oddity, no- a mystery beyond one slip of the tongue. You’d said before you were not in equilibrium. The [Dao’s] influence.”

Shuidi scoffed. “It is no more than this. Was brother Zhu to split himself and stand at north and south, one would be cold and the other warm, no? Once we meet to share our [Season’s] knowledge, equilibrium will return.”

The distant [Paifang] glistened, marking interaction on its other side.

They still had time.

Tanshuai and Zhu looked at one another. “We’d not scoff at a duplicate of your [Constellation Seed], should it exist. The benefits continue to grow. There might’ve been time to finish several bottles after the conclusion of yesterday’s [Beast Tide], no?”

He has acted-

Three figures moved through the [Paifang], but this was not what paused Fu Gao’s thoughts.

I have acted rashly. This [Beast Tide] is not the method of rational ghosts. Let us hope there is no more than the [Dao] at play here, for it was not a route I would have currently considered.

Zhu inclined his head as a titanic flock of emerald wisps lifted into the distant skies as though birds taking flight.

They steamed from the first figure’s palm, becoming a simulacrum of his gesture. Five slender fingers appeared, holding centrally an unblinking eye of tremendous scale.

[Karmic Ties], [Karmic] energy- or simply, a manifestation of [Karma], pulsated there. Borne of the [Cherry River Alchemist’s] personal disciple.

Fu Gao weathered the same sensation as before.

A noose.

Yet from an immortal’s palm it was an abyssal whirlpool. An emerald omen that promised a swift and certain judgement would befall them should they linger for more than one heartbeat. It was only amplified as this enemy’s vast palm spread across the Heavens in entirety.

“His name is Ning of Nine Cauldrons. Chief among the [Cherry River Alchemist’s] disciples,” shared Zhu. “He was chosen personally for his dedication to an ailing father, and many among the Clear Sky’s prospects were spurned by this choice. Should he fall, the chaos of accusation would be spectacular.”

“An answer that shows your dedication,” said Fu. “I expected you to name it a mystery and show disinterest.”

“Hmm. One can’t know truth without gleaning all parts. I’ve yet to learn a love for discovery, but… I’m trying. To cast free the shell of impatience and withdrawal- I’d rather suffer a thousand immortal-grade [Trials],” he continued, and in moments, stood straighter. “Now, don’t withhold your technique. The disciple will soon be upon us.”

The searching pressure tore at the clouds above, widening rays of sunshine to fall near their position, growing the grass beneath greener and having branches sway closer to where the pair now stood.

Such was a [Karmic] cultivator’s gifts, to have the world behave in this way.

As though it were against them… no, as though circumstance and fortune were aligned with the wielder.

Zhu assured there was much difference before levelling an expectant gaze upon him. “Ten heartbeats and he will discover you.”

Just so.

Fu Gao’s [Spirit] sparked with the makings of [Intent], for this is where his path had led.

To a force beyond that of the [Clouded Ghost Arts’s] ability to erase his [Karmic] presence, mastered and assured by the deaths of some thousand alchemists.

Yet a ghost could not rest on so passive a method.

It moved in confluence with his [Dao of Conquest’s Exhalation], combining once more the enormity of range of his [Qi Suppression] with this internalized principle. Having reached [Sky Sundering] with the latter, he could still not control any measure of [Karma], merely… reject it.

The wind, however, was greater. One force of nature to control another.

[Intent] washed forth.

[Cradle of Cruel Fates].

The hand above jerked within mundane affectation. This resplendent grasp of emerald did so twice, hanging limp its fingers as though a child whose teacher had not spared the rod, recoiling with a sudden start.

Shuidi’s [Senses] went to Ning of Nine Cauldrons as he rounded dramatically, scything a palm through the air at his rear.

“What trickery?” he called, legible even some several li apart.

Zhu arched a brow. “Simple.”

“Indeed,” said Fu Gao.

“Father has not yet passed. Silence your words, wind,” called Ning, though his tone was one of profound boredom. “Villain, you hold no talent in [Karmic] techniques. This attempt to forestall your discovery is fruitless. Deliver yourself with dignity.”

Through this domain of [Intent] - his [Cradle of Cruel Fates] - Fu Gao heard how the wind played upon Ning’s ears in whispers. A steam of subjugated breezes that worked in ultimate simplicity.

“You have given too much,” they whispered.

“Why have you not returned?”

“Moons away from home to find a cure.”

“A true son would do better. They would not forget their humble beginnings.”

“The [Cherry River Alchemist] is not your father. I am.”

So came the reaction of Fu Gao’s [Soul Qi] when used on rejected [Karmic Ties]. Mere distractions that targeted the greatest bindings of those within the domain while refocusing any efforts to discover his own.

Futile against those of great [Insight] or [Mind], and yet-

“Silence,” warned Ning, exposing a half-crack in his tone.

It is hard to reject one’s own [Spirit] when laid bare. We must refine this further.

[Art]

[Cradle of Cruel Fates] Infuse your [Intent] with [Soul Qi], [Qi Suppression] and your internalized [Dao] to rebuke the influence of [Karma], muddying your existence whilst predating upon the strongest [Karmic Ties] of given targets.

“Any more would tempt fate,” said Fu Gao, gaze intent on the [Paifang].

Zhu considered this, but relented. “Ning of Nine Cauldrons would’ve been a worthy prize,” he offered, vanishing before anything else might be said.

🀩

Smoke engulfed the skyline of the Heavenly Roaming Prefecture.

Acrid and suffocating.

The outer reaches of Jade Songbird City were pristine beneath these far-reaching plumes, and not even the sky-blotting, darkened mass could penetrate what peerless [Arrays] the Four Tiger Pill Society had erected upon its perimeter.

Fu Gao sensed his twin in its midst.

“This Gao Shuidi would know what course to chart. To reconvene with Wen Pinxui will broaden our insight,” the [Spirit Crab] pondered, if loosely. “Her hand was surely within this [Beast Tide].”

Hushi nodded, directing his impressions elsewhere.

A blind path. That there is an assurance of progress in each whittling of our great Sect’s forces is enough, brother, sister. Pride over challenge pushes us toward greater tasks. I see in us a desperate search for [Tribulation].

“To sow chaos is not enough for duty. The Cloudy Serpent Sect holds no enemies, for none are its equal. All we do is remove the greatest of fools,” said Shuidi. “More considerations rise.”

Indeed, these moon-facing halves had slaughtered the unjust for many [Seasons] now.

Yet it had not been done with ritual or pattern in mind.

To strike incorrectly would wake dragons by slaughtering the carp. Though were they to count the list of felled fools thus far it would reveal only that the Jade Songbird Province, and latterly, Bingbai’s Heavenly Roaming Prefecture was under the watch of a definite force.

“It cannot be questioned that the Clear Sky’s attention is upon this land. Our Master assures us that the Cloudy Serpent Sect will not arrive before the [Immortal Judgement Sunshine Array] activates, thus we might look to those that stake a claim before that.”

“Our domain is the Heavenly Roaming Prefecture. This Gao Shuidi would not act beyond its reaches lest an opportunity is missed. Brother’s thoughts are as clear as limpid water.”

A small vexation given each direction held the means to their ends, but enough to grant such moments of pause as this.

Junctions rose.

Thoughts.

Machinations.

Counters.

And yet, Hushi subverted a thousand plans. For each aspiring tactic he offered a swift and final dismissal, manifesting the rarity of his voice when the edge of his patience began to wear thin. “One task stands above all.”

Both Fu Gao and Shuidi sent curious impressions. “Our Master’s plan stands above all, does it not, brother?”

The [Spirit Octopus] shuddered oddly, and in that briefest of moments there came a great feeling of dissonance between the three.

What sensation is this? Has this new [Intent] taxed our [Spirit] so? It… it is…

Some small pang of pain trickled through the three as their thoughts finally returned to equilibrium, fading at the speed of a hummingbird’s wings. They sat at once, folding into the lotus upon their cloudy perch.

A mantra was uttered, delivering them into the [Primordial Realm].

As if submerged in a roiling sea the surrounding spires rocked and swayed. These were darkened things now, dulled to [Senses] and mortal sight - receding far into the foggy banks behind a greater monolith.

The spire of [Tribulations] towered above them in shadowless grandeur, piercing the unknowable Heavens of this realm. To have claimed its [Primordial Law], even in infancy, demystified its tangible form.

That of turbulent, spirally climbing clouds, oscillating between rage-hued crimsons and radiant yellow.

These [Primordial Lords] however, moved by. They dismissed the urgent rise of [Ink] that detailed all progress towards their [Arbiter’s Soul], and ventured close to the rolling banks of spiritual fog.

“Grandmother,” Fu Gao called, bracing for an ire that after long minutes of shouting… did not come.

Hua’s voice was absent.

Hua’s presence, previously summoned by thought, was absent.

“A silver lining shows today,” mused Shuidi. “This Gao Shuidi desires more time to prepare. The [Cherry River Sage’s] words will not be kind once she discovers how we…”

The words did not finish, only trailed into the foggy aether.

Fu Gao stroked absently at his whisker, inspecting the strange sensation within his [Spirit]. “Forgotten is a strong word, is it not?” he offered. “We have only been diligent in our duties. No less than that is required.”

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