Heaven's Laws - Lifestone - Chapter 60 - Part 1

Shoi-ming did the only thing he could do. Remain on his feet. He pushed against the impossible weight of an overlord’s water qi. His sword clawed at the ground as he was slowly driven back. Even then, his Burning Cage didn’t fail. It wasn’t just his strong body that pushed, but qi flowed out of him as a combative river of fire. If the gave way, not only would he be forced into the vault’s chamber, but then Sage Harnish could stand on this side of the barrier and take shots at Pangfua before retreating.

He didn’t know if she’d made it, but doubt found no place to fester. He’d grown up in a typical mortal family. They’d been too poor to have many material goods. He never went hungry, though. It was Shoi-ming’s appetite and his body’s response to hard work that caught other’s attention. He wasn’t much taller than average, but he’d been strong even as a boy. He had also been bullied until a local merchant family took him under their wing. Their main headquarters were Phoenix City. He’d been approached by a Fire Phoenix Outer Disciple who he expected to bully him further. Instead, this boy his age had recruited him to his sect. There he found a place that rewarded hard work. His family now lived a life of humble wealth, and the merchant family that took him in had become a larger supplier to the sect. For all that he had been given, he owed his sect.

If he was asked to become a wall, he’d become a wall. If his job was to slow an Overlord, he’d do so with his bare hands if he had to.

Qi surged through his meridians at a dangerous speed. He’d never been good at half-measures. To grow strong required effort. Effort required strength. Sage Fang taught him that all cultivators seek strength, but that is where they fail. To become strong you must cultivate effort itself.

Not all cultivators find success. The talented and untalented that do have one thing in common. Effort. With all things equal, it is the only variable that relied solely on the person wielding it.

Shoi-ming’s double-handed grip tightened on his long hilt. His chest and shoulders flexed, acting like a vice to further secure his weapon. The muscles in his upper body were engorged with blood and qi. They weren’t alone. His waistline wasn’t lean like those of his juniors who sought size and strength but only did enough to look the part. They ate because it would help them grow. He ate because he had no other choice. They carried stones to get bigger. He carried them twice as heavy, and three times as long. They ran for hours without the help of their qi to condition the body. He ran for days to condition the mind.

Few of his brothers understood what it really meant to have a strong body. It wasn’t about looks, size, the weight you could carry, or explosive strength. It was about the amount of effort you could exert and how long you could exert it.

His form might seem deceptive, but beneath the fat of his waist were bulging sinews that even a dire beast couldn’t match. A lesser man might buckle it the middle underneath this burden. He might as well have been made of divine steel.

His upper body and torso were keeping him stable, but true power came from the legs and transferred upward. He was just pushing against Sage Harnish’s assault, but his own Overlord level Burning Cage. Just as his sword’s blade was dragged against the stone of the chamber, so did his cage’s columns of fire against the walls and ceiling. The qi flow between him and his technique was like a river of stone. He pushed against it, and it pushed his cage forward.

Even though he’d been pushed back from the beginning. Not once had he faltered. His legs didn’t lose out to the sage’s techniques. It was a failure of grip between his feet and the ground. But that problem would soon be solved. Once his back neared the entrance to the vault’s chamber, he would shift and use the wall to brace against. Then, Harish would be forced to really go all out. He’d show this frail sage from a weak sect exactly what a cultivator from the Fire Phoenix Sect was capable of.

With a thought, he remembered Sage Fang’s display of his multi layered Burning Cage and how fine its bars of flame had been. Effort wasn’t limited to just the body. A cultivator was made of body and mind.

As he continued to push, he commanded his cage to change. There was little that happened at first. Just a flicker. He envisioned what he was aiming for and continued draw it in to mimic his senior’s efficiency. The same power for less effort. An effort cultivator didn’t reject such notions, but sought out them all. Waste was the greatest heresy.

And so he drew it in, whether it desired to listen or not. When his mind said stop, it’s just too much, he taunted it back. The more you want to stop, the further you will go.

He was just starting to find some success when Harnish’s bombardment stopped. His mind went to the worst place possible. Somehow the murderer knew that Pangfua was dead so he no longer had reason to fight.

All it took was the memory of her kindness and he started to move. His legs drove downward, burning with qi and brutish force. His cage scraped against the walls, ceiling, and floor, but move it did. If he could get it moving at a fast enough speed, he might just be able to give Harnish a burn he’d never forget.

“Brother Shoi-ming, stop,” a voice came suddenly.

“Brother Chao?”

“Yes. Leave the rest to my Huifen. Come with me. Let’s collect Pangfua and the sect.”

He immediately noticed Chao’s tone, or lack of one. This wasn’t the overly considerate and idealistic junior, but the Sage who was willing to do what he must. It was all Shoi-ming needed to believe him. Cutting his qi from his technique, he stood up.