Heaven's Laws - Lifestone - Chapter 68

Even though her Chao and Sister Pangfua were with them, Huifen place herself between Dvora and the descending overlords. She held up a cheap card jade, drawing their attention.

“You don’t have to worry, Little Sister,” Pangfua assured her.

Chao didn’t stay there but hurried over to stand by Huifen. He placed his hand on her lower back. He was examining her with his perceptions she realized.

“I’m fine,” she insisted.

“Well met, Sage Huifen,” the Sect Master of the Morning Midst Village addressed her. “As I was telling your husband, we were looking forward to meeting you both—just under better circumstances. If you’d allow, it’s been said that I’m a gifted healer and would be more than willing to help correct your condition. Especially knowing our son Harnish was the cause.”

She looked to Chao and found the revelation that they had such a close relationship with the sage she had killed didn’t surprise him. Then she looked to Pangfua. Her Big Sister nodded that it was true.

Hesitating as she sat the information aside for now, she replied, “Greetings, Sect Master Uilleam. Sect Master Ginevra.” She saluted them both in turn. “My injuries are not serious, and I’d prefer to allow them to heal naturally so that I can learn from my mistakes.”

The water sage saluted her. “Understood.”

Ginevra closed her eyes and sighed. “I am sorry for what my Harnish has done today, and thank you for trying to spare members of our sect.”

As soon as she said it, Huifen couldn’t look at the women. Our sect? And she believed she spared them? She’d left them in pieces…

Chao’s arm slipped around her back. He took her hand.

“Little Sister,” Pangfua said, drawing her attention. “What’s the significance of this card jade?”

Thankful for the change of topic, she tossed it to the ice sage. It only took the sage a moment to scan through it. Her eyes narrowed. Turning to Uilleam and Ginevra, she offered, “You should read it for yourselves.”

Uilleam took it and handed it to the moon sage to read first. After a moment, the woman cast her gaze downward, and she shook her head to herself. She handed the card jade back to the man who began to read.

It was only a few seconds before the water sage began exuding power. Ginevra snatched the card jade from his grasp before he could crush it. “Harnish,” Uilleam growled. “His pollution has corrupted the whole. I’m a blind fool.”

The moon sage tossed the card jade to her Chao. Then she saw the woman float up until she was level with the enraged Morning Midst Sect Master. Huifen had seen how familiar they were after their fight, but now the fairy took it even further.

The fairy looped her hands around the back of his neck and leaned in until they were forehead to forehead.

Chao moved.

She turned to see him stride past Dvora to the dead body. He called out, “Is this man Disciple Renz?”

He bent over and grabbed the corpse by the back of the neck, lifting him for them all to see.

She almost flew forward to stop him, but something stopped her. It wasn’t just some thing. She felt the same as he did. She’d read Brother Baros’s card jade as well. He’d warned Dvora to avoid Renz at all costs, not because he wanted her to seek revenge, but because the man was dangerous.

“He is,” a disciple close by answered without removing his face from the grass.

“And did any of you witness him stabbing Disciple Baros in the back?”

Hushed whispers spread throughout the crowd of kneeling Morning Midst disciples.

“Answer him,” Sect Master Uilleam commanded.

One young disciple shot to his feet and bowed at the same time, making him look like he was sticking his rump in the air. “I—”

“Speak.”

“Uh. I didn’t see it, but Brother Renz was bragging about it.”

A disgruntled groan escaped from a nearby disciple.

She watched Chao glance back, but Sect Master Uilleam was already moving. The murmuring man flew upward to hover upside down before the water sage. “Are you dissatisfied that your fellow disciple confessed first?”

The man had tensed up as if the slightest movement might summon his death. “No,” the guy said subdued. He then corrected himself. “Er, yes.”

“So you witnessed Disciple Baros’s murder?”

“No. M—Master. Renz was bragging. He believed Sage Harnish would reward him for killing a traitor.”

Uilleam’s aura intensified and the man hanging upside down fearfully added, “Of which Baros wasn’t.”

The man began to fall as the Sect Master released his qi. He let out a startled yelp before crashing shoulder first into the ground.

“Bring me to this Baros,” the Sect Master demanded.

Many of the Morning Midst disciples jumped to their feet, but Huifen called out, “He’s over here, Sect Master.”

When they arrived, a sky realm water cultivator was kneeling over him. With a swipe of his, Uilleam literally tossed his own elder into the air and took his place at Baros’s side.

The man was caught off guard, flipping awkwardly before catching himself high overhead.

Huifen trained her focus on the water sage. When the man had said he had some talent in healing, he was just trying to sound modest. Besides nature cultivators, water cultivators were commonly known as the best healers. She wasn’t sure if Uilleam was at the same level as Sage Ping, but he was still one of the greatest natural healers on the continent. Possibly better.

The Morning Midst Sect Master lowered his palm to his dying disciple’s sternum with force almost equal to a weak attack.

Her initial reaction was to stop him, but then she sensed the control of his qi. It didn’t enter Baros violently. The robes covering his upper body were deconstructed as if burned up by overlord flames, then the qi entered every meridian on his chest like a pillow of air. The precision of force was at a level she’d rarely witnessed.

The water sage worked quickly. Within a moment, he growled at what he had found.

Dvora then appeared across from him, kneeling on the other side. Elder Alfori appeared next to her. She was starting to pull her away, when Uilleam bellowed, “Don’t worry, little one. He will not die while under my care.”

It didn’t take long before the sage removed his hand and stood up. Ginevra was at his side in an instant. Her arm looped in his.

Brother Baros was seemingly glowing with vitality. He suddenly lifted his head off the ground only to rock sideways as if tossed about by the waves of the sea. His eyes opened but remained unfocused—rolling about—unsure.

His fiancé didn’t move in a panic, but with relieved grace, she lifted her hand in hers and bent forward to give him something to focus on.

He found her looking down at him a moment later. Sitting up looked painful, and rolling over was just as difficult, so he managed to scoot closer to her.

“You are out of danger, but it will take a few weeks before you’re in fighting form. Also,” the water sage hesitated. “The damage is already done. A primary meridian was severed, so certain martial techniques and advancing your cultivation any further will be impossible.”

It wasn’t despair or regret that crossed Baros’s face, but acceptance. “Take this.” A weighty money pouch appeared in his hand. He struggled to hold it there but pushed it closer.

Surprisingly, she took it, placing it in her spatial ring. But then she did something that one simply didn’t do. She removed her spatial ring from her right index finger.

Despite his look of horror, Baros didn’t stop her as she first tried to fit her ring on his index finger. The ring was far too small. It ended up just fitting on his pinky finger. She gave him an amused look as she slid it on.

“We did this,” Sect Master Ginevra whispered where Huifen could barely hear.

“Yes,” Uilleam agreed.

Then her Chao interrupted. He was no long holding the corpse of their friend’s would-be killer. “Sect Master Uilleam, is there no known resources that can heal him?”

The man gave her husband a contemplative glare. Only after a few moments, he shook his head. “Not that his earth realm cultivation could handle. Or those that could are so rare that they’d be worth a small sect.”

“What are their names?” Huifen said, suddenly hopeful that one of the countless natural treasures they’d won in their battle against Emperor Sun could be of use. She had their names memorized while Chao didn’t.

The water sage rattled off four different ingredients known to repair meridians. “There’s another problem. We only have a week—two at the most—before he’s healed enough that any such resources will have limited effect. They must be administered before he recovers. As for heavenly treasures that will restore his meridians after he’s healed, they’re unknown to me. It might even be impossible.”

Huifen found Chao watching her. She knew what he was anticipating. Her eyes met his as she gave him a mournful look. She shook her head.

He didn’t resign himself to the inevitable, but it seemed to provoke him. He glanced over at the Divine Spire. She knew exactly what he intended to do.

“My Huifen, I must ask you to wait because of your injuries.” He looked back and gave her a remorseful look. “We can compete later.”

“Go,” she said decisively.

He launched himself into the air and didn’t hold back as he shot off toward the spire.

“Young heroes are the most admirable,” Sect Master Uilleam said. “Perhaps we should try our luck again, Ginevra. The more of us that try, the better chance we have for good results.”

“Mmmm,” the Night Pearl Sect Master replied.

“Seniors,” Pangfua said, bowing respectfully. “That’s unnecessary.”

“Oh?” The water sage replied.

Huifen was feeling annoyed by the foreign sages’ lack of faith in her husband even though she knew she was being unfair to them. At least she controlled her tone. “Chao couldn’t find Sage Harnish’s array formations. Instead of deconstructing them, he attacked the vault’s defensive pylon and destroyed it. If he can’t win the resources we need, then he’ll take them by force. I just hope it has what we need.”

She couldn’t hold herself back any long. She flew up, following her husband.