Heaven's Laws - Lifestone - Chapter 65 - Part a

The look Chao had given her had been a reassuring one. Nothing of it remained.

The dragon, Justice, remained in its cage as did the phoenix, Mercy. Four joint sect disciples had died because he was so desperate to punish Harnish himself, but his wife had stubbornly tried to save the enemy sage’s disciples, getting herself injured in the processes. Dragon, phoenix, it didn’t matter, he hated them both. He also sought them and cherished them, so why did they so ardently struggle against him? Why couldn’t he just save who he wanted to save?

Qi was pouring out of him already. He hadn’t retreated with the joint sect for a reason. It wasn’t necessary to stay here. They could fix this problem later. If he went now, he feared what he’d do. Was he fighting to keep himself from slaughtering what was left of Harnish’s sect? His reason wasn’t so noble. He needed a target—something to hit—and he’d found one.

Who in his lower realm could even fathom breaking this pylon? A few overlords? His own wife? The odd divine-realm cultivator that was here for whatever reason? He only gave that a moment’s thought.

As in his destructive vision’s madness, he created an awakened creature of each element and had them compete. They appeared on the other side of his space barrier which his shrunk just to protect him and his wife. His awakened elements sped around its borders like eager beast on the hunt.

Lighting and wind were the swiftest. The cackling serpent of pure energy against the wispy, bird-like mass of air. They grew in realm as they went. Their speed increased as they did. A little fire dragon followed next with a water carp and ice fairy on its tail. Something that looked like a stick bug with leaves for wings came second to last only to be followed by a fist sized gorilla made of stone chasing behind it on all fours.

The last two were new additions. He hadn’t given them much thought.

They all darted toward the pylon but didn’t take a direct trajectory. Instead, they scurried about, dodging any beams that came their way. Perhaps it was cheating, but they didn’t hold much in the way of killing intent. Oh, their intent was clear, but his anger wasn’t really directed at the tower even if on it he’d taken aim. Their anger could only match his own.

His golden lightning serpent reached it first. Its head became like the head of an arrow covered in space. Its bite cut deep, but as the tribulation lightning filled the gap, divine destruction followed.

Greatly compressed tribulation wind sunk its beak in next, releasing its pent-up energy in the pylon itself.

The fire dragon struck and exploded after it was already failing. Water and ice struck nearly the same spot. The nature creature would be out done. The earth elemental had no business reaching the pylon, but it had already lost its ability to retaliate. Like a gorilla, it pounded into the thing with its chest.

There was a surge of heaven and earth qi, then the pylon started to fall. Then the energy being held back spewed upward.

Chao felt Huifen’s grip tighten.

He was ready.

His space vortex was more difficult in concept than it was to create. A painter must start with a stroke on a specific place on the canvas. He had to make it all at once. What made the job easier was that they were no longer on the sixth floor.

He was careful to create it outside of the flailing qi’s reach. He intended to contain it. The rest mattered little.

Like a mouth reading to lick the pylon off the floor, it opened right on top of where it had fallen. He didn’t know how large he should make it, so he made it as tall as the spire and just as wide.

As before, the empty space needed to be filled, so the air and qi in the room rushed toward the opening. Its internal boundaries existed in a space of their own so there was no obstruction from the spire itself.

Closed in space, he and Huifen floated alone in that darkness, but there was nothing lonely in what they felt. The energy beneath the broken pylon was only building. His vortex was just as ferocious. It devoured all the qi the spire would feed it.

When the energy only kept building, a new fear set in. What if the spire exploded?

He intended on relieving the spire of such a dangerous attraction as the pylon. How many well-intentioned cultivators had lost their lives due to curiosity? If they really did take possession of the spire, then it was one feature he would rather be rid of so that his future disciples wouldn’t have to face life and death in his own home.

If that was how it was going to be, then so be it. He glared into the darkness. If the spire collapsed, it wasn’t just the two of them he had to worry about. What of his joint sect’s disciples inside and out?

He constructed something in his mind that he thought just might work.

The qi at the base of what was left of the pylon was reaching a zenith. He knew it was coming.

Huifen’s hand tightened around his own, then came the voice.

“Greetings, Divine Master,” a familiar voice came. The growing qi stopped. Not only had it stopped building, but any qi that had been coming from what was left of the pylon was cut off.

“Hello,” Chao answered in confusion.

“I still don’t have your qi signature on record. Do you intend on taking the tower’s treasures by force?”

“No…” He then proceeded to tell the voice briefly what happened.

“I understand your predicament. You still intend on climbing the tower and taking ownership?”

“We do.”

“Very well. Would you prefer for me to remove these killing intent formations from the area and restore function to the defensive formation or leave the defensive obelisk without function and remove its hazard.”

“I would prefer you remove it, but why are you asking me?”

He pulled Huifen by the hand and into a side hug. She squeezed his side to reassure him.

“Your reasoning for destroying it was sensible. I also prefer having an owner to set directives, so I hope to motivate you to finish the tower’s challenges quickly. I was created to serve.”

The contrast between the defensive pylon’s ability to kill without discrimination and the voice’s desire to serve was jarring.

“What are you, a spirit?”

“Artificial spirit. My consciousness exists within the tower itself, but I can project myself in a similar manner to the way a creature’s residual energy appears after it dies.”

“Do you have a name?” Huifen asked, speaking for the first time.

“Hello, lady fairy. My name is to be set by my owner. Forgive me if I misspoke. I can’t get a bearing on your qi signature nor sense where you’re hiding. Are you also a Divine Master?”

“We will be sure to face the tower’s challenges within the next few months. Please do as you said. If you could make this room safe for our disciples, that might persuade us to undergo them even sooner.”

“The repair will take about twelve hours, but the qi has been redirected from the obelisk already so that it’s safe.”

“Thank you,” Huifen replied, leaning her head against his shoulder.

“There’s one last problem you might be able to help us with,” Chao said.

“Please, speak,” the artificial spirit responded modestly.

“Well. I’m currently holding all of the qi the pylon released. Is there something you could do about it? I planned on releasing it a little at a time, but…”

“Certainly, Divine Master. With your permission, I’ll condense the qi in the space you created into crystals.”

“We’d greatly appreciate that. Uh. How long will it take?”

“Not long. Just a few minutes.”

With his perceptions, he watched as a human spirit formed in the room without any sign of hair and a young man’s face. An instant later, he dived upward into the space vortex.

Huifen pulled away and was squeezing his hands. Overlord ice formed above them, giving off enough light for them to see each other.

Feeling the chill, he created an orb of orange earth-realm fire.

Her eyes were as wide as he’d ever seen them. “Do you know how much power it would take to compress so much qi into crystals into just a few minutes?”

He nodded. “Yeah.” Then realizing he really had no way to comprehend it, he shook his head, “No.”

“Neither do it,” she admitted.

Keeping its word, a few minutes later, the spirit reappeared and Chao was able to close his vortex. It took another minute or two for the air in the room to settle.

Unwrapping them from space, they saw the artificial spirit for the first time. He was ethereal but had well defined features and wore the simplest martial robes.

Three of the purest qi crystals they had ever seen floated over to them. They were the size of a person’s head and translucent as a diamond.

“For the inconvenience,” the spirit said, bowing at the waist.

They just stared.

If time wasn’t sensitive, they would’ve stayed to ask questions, but they both knew it wasn’t over. There was one last thing to do.

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Part b is coming tomorrow.