Heaven's Laws - Lifestone - Chapter 61

Note: Updated full chapter. Next chapter is up tomorrow.

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“You’re leaving?” The beautiful Fairy Eu-meh asked as he turned away.

Baros’s training gave his grin a confidence he didn’t have. “Not everyone in my sect are like Harnish. I have to save who I can.”

“Do you want us to come with you?” The tawny skinned fire cultivator said, stepping away from the mobile palace. They’d just finished gathering everyone on the first floor from the joint sect and they’d piled in.

“No. I’ll be able to move freely alone.”

The blond fairy that had taken the lead appeared at the man’s side. “If you return alone, we’ll grant you entrance, but if you have others from your sect…”

“I understand.” He gave them a martial bow.

“Best of luck, Brother Baros,” Li Qiang called out.

The group he’d traveled with for such a short time returned his salute.

He didn’t waste any more time. What his Dvora had done in insisting she needed to warn her sect had sparked something in him. It was like he finally had the freedom to act as he willed. He wouldn’t hold back.

As he exited the Divine Spire and saw his fellow Morning Midst Villagers surrounding the only entrance, he didn’t feel fear or animosity, but the most potent joy he ever remembered feeling.

To the water cultivators surrounding him it would’ve been almost a substantive thing. He couldn’t hide his smile, knowing that the emotion would help disguise his purpose.

Bowing to the elder in charge, he announced. “The cultivators inside have taken a defensive position. I’m to head to the perimeter.”

The man waved to him. “Go.”

As soon as permission was granted, he sped off to where he knew Renz was positioned. His friend had been given the task to stop anyone from leaving. The extent to which Sage Harnish would harm other sects, he wasn’t sure. He suspected the sage would just want to control the information about Pangfua and the joint sect, but for such a plot to succeed it would just be far safer to kill everyone involved.

There were shortcomings to that as well. Making people believe it had been a great accident would be easier if several of the smaller sects present fully believed them. Pangfua had said she’d keep watch on the vault’s defensive array after all, so the groundwork was already laid.

Glancing back toward the spire, he couldn’t help but worry about Dvora. He inwardly pleaded with the heavens that she’d make it out alive.

His eyes turned to the giant array formation Harnish had set up now covering the entire outside encampment. It wasn’t strong enough to stop stronger earth realm cultivators from leaving, but it would warn those at the perimeter if they tried.

As for the people that had been outside of the spire, Baros saw them all herded together. There was some segmentation in the camp. The Night Pearl Sect was separated and showed a mild amount of hospitality. The Ice and Fire Phoenix Sects were not shown the same kindness. Elder Sya and her husband Brother Tu stood at the forefront of the largest group. The Morning Midst Village faced them with overwhelming numbers. Their main source of power was that his sect had twice the number of sky realm cultivators present than every other sect combined. Many of them had just arrived today.

Renz wasn’t hiding. He was with a group at the gate where they’d normally greet newcomers. They shared a look, and his friend knew something was going on.

Repeating what he’d said to the elder at the spire’s entrance, he took his place at his friend’s side.

After the attention was off him, Renz said in hushed tones, “What is it?”

“We need to leave.”

He felt his friend’s emotion. He was assured—relieved. Renz’s directness in battle had never been a good fit for the sect, but had he been wrong about him? Had he also desired to leave all this time?

“Brother Baros and I will do a quick sweep,” Renz called out, getting a nod from their senior.

They took off at a run, remaining within the array. The gate was near the middle of the perimeter, but Renz only led him halfway to the wall before diverting course and heading inward.  There was one of the more permanent structures in their path, which Renz stopped behind. He was careful as he scanned their surroundings. Glancing around the corner, his friend asked. “What’s this all about?”

“I’m leaving. I want you to come with me.”

His friend still wasn’t facing him. Baros still felt the man’s reaction. It wasn’t as overwhelming as his own elation at final feeling like he was doing what he was meant to do, but it was similar. His friend felt relief at his words.

“Harnish can’t win,” he began to explain.

Renz turned in a relaxed manner. He knew the man well enough to know his grin was genuine.

With a sudden spike from his friend’s qi pain follwoed. He looked down to find a curved dagger piercing him just below the ribs. Its curve was designed for this very purpose, to slide upward and pierce the heart or the lungs.

This was the man he’d grown up with.

Renz’s expression changed. He was scoffing back at him. He’d never seen this from the man.

“As soon as you took Sage Harnish’s mission, I knew you were planning to betray the sect.”

His mouth began to move, but before he could speak, Renz slid the dagger out of his stomach. One word managed to escape his mouth in a mostly intelligible manner. “Friend.”

“You’ve always been a self-righteous fool—too blind to see that I’ve been using you as a whetstone to sharpen my skills all these years. There was a time I would’ve tried to persuade you to stay, but you’ve grown annoying.”

A fist found struck his open wound and Baros fell forward without the strength to catch himself. He felt the cool grass on his cheek. To lose so much strength already, he knew his betrayer’s blade had found its target. The heart wasn’t always a fatal wound for someone in the earth realm if he were able to get treatment.

If Renz had said anything else, he didn’t hear him. Nor did he hear him leave. Baros did the only thing he could and removed the best lifesaving mediation he had then swallowed it. He didn’t believe it would be enough.

There was regret, but there was also a calm that soothed him that he couldn’t rightly explain. He’d been right. Not about Renz. If he’d forced the issue when they were younger, perhaps, but his old friend had given himself over to Sage Harnish’s teaching. He should’ve known better. He had. To be honest is to be vulnerable.

What he’d been right about was following his conscience, even if things hadn’t worked out as he hoped they would. He needed to make sure Dvora knew what he’d tried to do. That’s he’d tried to be a good man, and for once he’d succeeded.

An empty card jade appeared in his hand. With the last of his strength, he began to write.

***

The water chamber had become a cavern of ice. Large icicles stood where her opponents had been. She’d limited her Ice Phoenix’s Breath to the overlord realm since most of them were in the earth realm. Her opponents during the battle against Emperor Sun had been in the sky realm. There were no guarantees that she had just done would work, but she’d tried to save them. It was all she could do.

Instead of a human shaped statue of ice, Harnish had gotten off a technique in time to defend himself. There was a wedge of ice where he’d been standing. She hadn’t gone all out, or even used her hybrid qi, so it wouldn’t surprise her if he were still alive.

She waited.

It was a long moment before she felt a spike of qi.

The ice covering the great wedge began to crack. Water trickled. The cracks widened, then the water sprayed under the increasing pressure.

Huifen increased her defensive aura to full power. Her gown of ice covered her, acting as an additional layer of armor.

The ice crumbled. The wedge was washed away. A wall of water reaching to the ceiling hurled toward her. An Ice Shroud pillar rose up to take the force head on. As the mass of water crashed around it, her aura held. Not even a single drop touched her.

As the water filled the space, she reverse-created her Ice Shroud. Through the turbulent water, she could see Harnish’s form.

The sage’s voice boomed at a much lower octave than his talking voice, but it reached her easily. “Foolish girl. Do you really think your techniques are the ultimate under heaven? Welcome to my Deep Sea Domain.”

Huifen felt the force crash in on her from every direction. The entire room was filled with water under the sage’s control. The power of her aura held it back.

Soon the water stabilized, and they were facing off underwater.

“Is that all?” She wasn’t normally one to mock, but he was trying to kill her Big Sister.

He looked like a dark mass. His voice carried through the water with a deep rumble. “With the qi supplied by this room, I can fight without end.”

He must have been using a technique for his voice to carry as it did. She didn’t need it. Qi empowered the volume of her voice. “You’re a fool. Using the array to kill Sister Pangfua won’t get you into the vault.”

The water let out a deep boom of laughter. “Fool? You’re centuries too young to know what might anger me into giving anything away.”

“You’re too arrogant not to tell me.”

His laughter thundered even louder. “Perhaps. And why not? What I’ve started can’t be undone. It’s not Pangfua’s presence causing the spire’s defensive array to attack but several hidden arrays of my own design. It won’t stop until it’s out of energy. Without qi, destroying the pylon and breaking into the vault won’t be difficult.”

He actually told her. She didn’t know how to respond.

“It’s okay, little one. You’re still little more than a child, otherwise you wouldn’t have let me do this.”

Huifen sensed danger. In the next instant, the water slammed into her from every direction. It came so fast and impossible weight. Her aura collapsed. Then the wet darkness swallowed her whole.