Heaven's Laws - Lifestone - Chapter 69

Sage Pangfua continued to watch the Morning Midst and Night Pearl Sect Masters carefully after Huifen and Chao’s departure. She’d known that they were close, but never had they shown such public affection. It was almost as if…

Uilleam had a pensive look as he watched the young sages go. Ginevra was instead lost in her own thoughts. She’d attached herself to the water sage at the hip.

Pangfua saw how the sage navigated the man’s wooden armor—she was so practiced that she didn’t have to think about it.

“So it’s true,” Uilleam said.

Looking up at the man, Ginevra replied, “That he killed a divine realm cultivator?” She glanced in Pangfua’s direction.

“It is true,” she answered.

When the two sages turned to face her, she continued. “They both did, although… What Chao did to Prince Rong destroyed him to the point that there was nothing left.”

“Such devastating power. And he’s only in the Sky Realm,” Uilleam muttered. “If you live long enough you see everything.”

“Not everything,” Ginevra said.

“The day is not over.”

As soon as he said it, she scowled up at him. “You think a day can make up for a thousand years?”

“It can’t, but does that mean I should do nothing?”

The moon sage pulled away from him. “Enough of this. Let’s go and watch.”

***

It was Brother Baros that had given Chao and Huifen their tour of the Divine Spire when they’d first arrived. He’d taken them to this central pillar on the first floor and tried to convince them to stop onto the platform so that the Spire’s Blessing could assess their talents, physique, and cultivation.

Chao glanced up at the overhead display that still held the ancient scroll, violet vial, and jade pillbox. They were still there. He had to stop himself from taking them and instead stepped onto the platform. He noticed that people were gathering behind him, but he paid them no mind.

He felt an intrusive presence as it scanned him. It lacked the oppressive intent that usually accompanied the perceptions of a higher-realm cultivator.

The Divine Spire’s spirit appeared before him with a slight bow. “Hello, Divine Master. It pleases me that you’ve come. Give me a moment as the scan completes.”

“Thank you,” was all he said. His mind was too preoccupied to concern himself over what he knew the spirit was about to discover.

When it spoke, it remained respectful. “Divine Master, forgive me, but I must ask you to reveal your cultivation. You are currently only registering as in the Sky Realm.”

“I am not hiding my cultivation.”

The spirit’s ethereal form turned its head curiously. “Then how were you able to control every element, pierce divine marble, destroy my defensive array, and create your own space?”

“See for yourself,” he replied, knowing an explanation wouldn’t be enough. One of each of his awakened creatures of every element appeared. He commanded them to stay still so that the construct could examine them. It didn’t take long.

“The control of concepts. You have mastered these laws.” A grin grew on the spirit’s face. “After scanning your meridians, I’ve concluded your talent is common. Your physique also lacks any special characteristics. Only your cultivation is unique, but too rare for me to assess. This mastery of laws is even rarer. Perhaps to the point of making you the singular entity to every possess such ability. It is my honor to welcome you, Master Chao.”

He got the feeling the spire’s spirit had much more to say. That was a problem. “I’m limited in time. A friend of mine who’s in the Earth Realm has a major meridian severed. I’m looking for any treasures that can heal him before he recovers and it’s too late.”

The spirit bowed his head and replied, “The tower possesses a few treasures that will be sufficient for what you require, however…”

“However?”

“They are the last of their kind, so they’ve been removed from the list of rewards.”

“Then what must I do to get them?”

The spirit spread out his hands regretfully. “Access to decommissioned rewards is only give to the owner of the tower.”

“How long will it take to complete all the trials?”

“With satisfactory results, as little as three and a half weeks and as much as three months.”

He shook his head to himself, preparing himself for his only remaining option. Before that, he asked. “My friend doesn’t have time to wait. Is there any other way? I would rather leave the spire in one piece.”

The spirit showed neither fear nor offense. Instead its face literally lit up brighter as its eyes widened. It was as if he’d been waiting for him to ask. “There is a way. Reach the number one spot on the Trial of Might.

“I must warn you. Emperor Xiahou Tzu, at the top of the Royalty list, is an ancient cultivator who nearly reached the peak of the Divine Lord Realm. You will be facing enemies scaled to your realm, but he will be your opponent. He was once the owner of this tower and easily the most powerful cultivator to ever participate in this tower’s challenges.”

It was enough of a shock to pull Chao from his musings. “What realm was he at when he set the record?”

“He was in the Divine Body Realm. That wasn’t the first time he took first place, however. He’d been in the Overlord Realm at the age of twelve. It’s a little unfair for him. This world contained much richer qi during his life, and he reached the Sky Realm at eight. You have far more experience than he did at this stage of cultivation.”

Chao bit his tongue. It wasn’t to bite back an insult, but because his mind was suddenly swimming. What the spirit was asking might be impossible. He bit even harder until he tasted blood. “Okay,” was all that he said.

Hopping off the platform, he flew around the central pillar toward a slab of stone that reached to the ceiling. The only name he knew near the top was Quinyuan. She was number nine on the overall list and at the top of the Commander rank. Sage Pangfua was sixty seventh on the list and in the Soldier rank. Only Little Genji was a little higher at fifty-nine. Elder Harnish and Elder Alfori were near the bottom, while Sect Masters Ginevra and Uilleam were in the seventies.

At the very top, Chao found the name Xiahou Tzu. Only one other person had even entered the Royalty rank with him. That was his goal, but he knew very little about what to expect.

What he did know was that enemies would spawn, and he’d have to face them. After defeating them, more enemies would come. As he won each round, more enemies would spawn. Before long, he’d be facing an entire army.

He flew past the score board and landed directly on the center platform of the training construct.

“How many do I have to kill?” He asked. “How many rounds?”

The spirit appeared at his side. “The record is one hundred and forty-eight thousand two hundred and forty-three opponents. Xiahou Tzu failed in the eighteenth round where he faced off with one hundred and thirty-one thousand and seventy-two opponents at once. In the end, he ran out of qi.”

“How quickly do the rounds come? Do I have to kill them all before the next one?”

“If you don’t kill them quickly enough, more will spawn. There is also no downtime between rounds unless you kill them in less than a minute. If you want to skip ahead during early round, you can request the next one to spawn, but you’ll have to face the opponents from both rounds at once.”

Nodding that he understood, he plunged his perceptions into the training construct’s platform.

The world became dark. Even as light spilled into the space, it came from no source, simply filling the expanse before him. The ground was dark-grey stone and reached kilometers in every direction. There was no sky. It was pitch black, but there was light filling the immediate area above. If there was a boundary, he couldn’t see its beginning or end. It was like the area was cloaked in impenetrable shadow.

The first opponent began to spawn. It began like an ethereal spirit, but soon solidified and looked human. Its cloak was a lighter grey than the ground. There was nothing about the man that gave away his cultivation.

Chao’s perceptions fixed that. His opponent was a sky realm water cultivator. Lifting a hand, a lightning serpent shot out of it. Within moments the man was curled up and smoking on the ground.

He immediately noticed this training construct was a lot like the one at the joint sect that his father had upgraded. It was simulating him as if his qi were full. He also noticed that the air’s density was at the level or the lower realm. He’d have no problems.

“Send them all,” he commanded.

The spirit appeared before him, wringing its hands greedily. “The next round?”

“All eighteen rounds. They will all share my level of cultivation?”

“They will. Then let me confirm. You wish to face the second through the eighteen rounds at once? That will be a total of two hundred and sixty-two thousand one hundred and forty-two Sky Realm cultivators.”

“Yes.”

The spirit pulled its hands to its chest and made fists before shaking them in triumph. It seemed had been waiting for so long someone with such boldness that it could hardly contain its excitement. “Very good. I must warn you. These cultivators will not be trained solely in singular combat. All of them have knowledge of battle formations. Battle formations that might exceed what are practiced in this era. You still wish to proceed?”

“I do.”

“It will take me a few minutes to prepare,” it said, bowing deeply. With that, the spirit vanished.

Chao looked up into the distant darkness before flying upward to get what he thought might be a good vantage for the battle. The opposing cultivators started to appear by the tens, then by hundreds. More than ten thousand were lined up before him within a minute. That number was only multiplying.

***

Huifen had stayed back as her Chao took the platform of the Spire’s Blessing alone. He hadn’t even stayed for the gifts it prepared for him after it scanned him. She watched the spirit grab the treasures it had prepared and follow after him. It hadn’t just rewarded him with the common qi crystal. She looked up at the overhead display and saw that one of its prized possessions was missing. A violet vial with a sealed top.

It saw the worth in her husband, which brought a sad smile to her face. Everything that had happened during the last weeks and months seemed to have culminated to this moment. Even after their battle with Emperor Sun and his many Overlords, their journey had begun as a happy one. It was as if the heavens were lashing out at them. It wouldn’t let them rest. The attempted assassination on her husband came first, then a village overrun by an army of lingering spirits, Dvora’s drugging of Chao, the murder of one of her closest friends, Eu-meh’s disfigurement, and finally Sage Harnish’s attempted murder of Sage Pangfua and most of their sect in the spire.

She knew Chao wasn’t approaching the Trial of Might as a challenge. His playful curiosity was nowhere to be found. She feared what was going on with him. She feared for what that meant for herself. What it meant for them.

Then as he took to the platform of the trial of might, he conversed momentarily with the spire’s spirit before it left him. It didn’t simply leave or vanish but headed straight for her. Before it reached her, there was a loud click and the scoreboard started to change.

The top ten places remained where they were near the ceiling while the rest of the names fell, receding into the ground. What took their place was an empty flat surface. It seemed polished smooth but didn’t reflect the light as it should. As the rest of the names vanished into the floor, the empty surface glowed with light until an image appeared. It was her husband.

He didn’t even glance at the first opponent. A Sky Realm lighting serpent struck him in the throat before he could move. He asked the spirit a question. She heard it all.

It was then Huifen noticed the people gathering behind her. Sect Master Uilleam and Ginevra approached with Pangfua and Core Disciple Shoi-ming.

Pangfua was at her side in the next moment when the spire’s spirit arrived.

“Greetings Mistress Long,” the spirit bowed, then held out the purple vial to her with both hands. “This is sap from an extinct Lavender Birch. It was also once called honey qi. It can be taken at any time by cultivators at any realm, but it has the miraculous ability to enlarge the meridians for a short period of time. This makes it especially beneficial to one’s breakthrough to major realms. There is enough here for a couple of breakthroughs.”

“Thank you,” she said, taking it and placing it in her spatial ring. “The tower has what we need?

“It was well earned. And it does.” The spirit turned sideways and directed the growing crowd to the image of her husband on the partition.

“You wish to face the second through the eighteen rounds at once?” Everyone heard the spirit ask Chao. “That will be a total of two hundred and sixty-two thousand one hundred and forty-two Sky Realm cultivators.”

“Yes,” he replied.

The gasps came from many including the two Sect Masters and Big Sister Pangfua. Huifen understood their apprehension. During their battle against the Sun Emperor, his army contained thousands of Sky Realm cultivators. But this wasn’t that. He wasn’t just preparing to face tens of thousands but literally hundreds of thousands of cultivators.

She didn’t doubt him. How could she not remember the only time she’d ever seen him genuinely frightened? It was right after he’d first figured out how to summon a vortex and was realizing how world-altering it could become.

She was confident that he had it in him, but fear lingered there in the back of her mind. If he broke and the monster inside him was unleashed, she swore to herself that she wouldn’t abandon him. She didn’t even care if she had to partake in his insanity. She wasn’t going anywhere.

Thousands became ten thousand, and tens reached a hundred. Soon more than two hundred and sixty thousand Sky Realm cultivators were spread out in formation. It was a sea of people. If they used battle formations, this army could easily take over the Monolith Continent. There were strategies an overlord could use to escape, but it was an overwhelming might to face on your own.

With a swipe of his hand, Chao surrounded himself in space, disappearing. Immediately battle formation started to form below. Some of them Huifen didn’t recognize.

“This…” Pangfua started, not daring to say more.

“Is defeating such a force even possible?” She heard Sect Master Ginevra whisper from behind.

Suddenly someone was there, squeezing her hand. “Big Sister Huifen,” Eu-meh said, nodding to her. She didn’t bother covering her scar.

Fairy Zhu pulled up beside her, crossing her arms across her chest.

“I bet it takes him less than an hour,” the girl’s self-appointed bodyguard, Li Qiang, said as he stepped up to stand at her side.

Zhu nodded matter-of-factly.

Huifen couldn’t help but to give them a thankful grin.

“Shall we begin?” The spirit asked. He gave them all a look, then laughed out loud.

A barrage of overlord-killer techniques filled the sky, aiming exactly for where Chao was hiding.

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The end is right around the corner. Thanks for bearing with me. I've been doing a lot of editing while we're at it, so this book should be released right around the corner.