Heaven's Laws - Lifestone - Chapter 24

After the recent attack, the town was quick to mobilize at the mayor’s request. It took little more than an hour for everyone including the elderly to come and find a seat. There were only about five hundred of them in total. It seemed many people had already left the town after the attack.

When Huifen asked Chao if he wanted to address the crowd, he asked if she would do it. It didn’t have to be said that what he was about to do was taking an emotional toll on him. He couldn’t help but to think of his mother. To be able to do this for others that had lost loved ones…

He sat on a stump at the front of the sitting area. The girl Yu-yan was sitting at his side on a stump slightly taller than his. Her feet dangled.

He gave her a warm smile. She was still quite distant and lost in herself.

As his wife flew above the heads of all the people sitting behind him and instructed them on what was about to happen, Chao began to talk to the girl in the same way his mother had when he was young. Her repetitive lessens had been so ingrained in his memory that he repeated them word for word.

“Lingering spirits do not possess the souls of deceased creatures as many believe. They’re what is left of the spiritual energy a creature developed over its lifetime. They have only traces of personality and are driven by lingering emotion. As their remaining energy is used up, they lose form and eventually dissolve. Once someone reaches the level of sky cultivator, their spirit merges with their body and they won’t leave a lingering spirit after their death.”

He turned to find her nodding as her lethargic gaze scanned the tree line hundreds of meters away.

“Once I start to play, the spirits will come. I will shield you from my song’s strength. Its influence is powerful. Especially over the spirits. They will be caught up in it and any hostility they possess will be lost in the music. Once they are all here, I’ll change the song and they’ll begin to dance. If the heavens allow it, we will see your parents in spirit form.”

“Will the also dance?” The girl asked, speaking for the first time that night.

“Oh yes. Are you ready?”

She nodded with a bit more enthusiasm.

Glancing back, his eyes met those of his wife. She gestured that it was time.

He didn’t look back at the crowd, for he sensed them as clearly through the sounds they were making as he could with his eyes. He didn’t set a barrier but injected his will into his song as he started to play. Those around him would hear it while remaining mostly unaffected by its enhancement.

“Sorrow summons, happiness tames, and drowsiness sends them on their way,” he said in the little girl’s hearing. “There is a time to cry. If you feel the need, now is one of those times.”

And so, a sad song filled the night’s air. Chao’s emotions empowered it further as they were ought to do.

He soon felt his wife by his side. They shared a damp-eyed smile then looked to the treeline.

There were a few gasps when the first spirit appeared. It was that of a small bird flapping steadily toward them. When the next one came, a few people came to their feet. It was one of the dire wolves common to the area.

Huifen took to the air in warning for them to remain calm.

Chao watched the girl sitting on the stump beside him. There was awe, and a little bit of fear.

“There’s nothing to be afraid of,” he reassured her. “I was much younger than you were when I first did this with my mother.”

Not too long after he said it, the entire forest brightened. Spirits started coming out of the forest in mass, but that wasn’t all. He could hear from the protests of the crowd that they were coming from all directions, including the direction of town.

It wasn’t just protests he heard, but quiet sobs came from every corner of the crowd. He was shielding them from his enhancement, not the music itself. It possessed a magic of its own.

***

From high above them in the night’s sky, a divine being with vivid red hair was staring wide-eyed at the scene below. Her master’s son, Long Chao had tried to play for her often, and it had always been a happy tune. Tonight’s song was something different. It lacked the normal power of his playing, but that didn’t stop it from piercing Billi’s defense.

She’d heard sad music countless times before so why was it affecting her now? Her tears had already soaked her face and left trails down her neck. There were wet splotches on her martial uniform from where droplets had fallen from her chin. Had she simply needed this or was there some hidden power in the young man’s music? Perhaps, it was her new freedom that released some subconscious defense and allowed her to grieve without restraint.

It wasn’t long before she forgot where she was entirely. She let herself remember. To mourn. Upon a soft blanket of nothingness, she pulled her knees to her chest and wailed. There was so much taken from her. She’d had no escape. Childhood, love, fun, sorrow… And there was a lingering feeling mixed with all the others that she wouldn’t fully recognize until later after she’d calmed down. She still had a sense of it. This was what it felt like to be free. To feel what you felt without the accompanied shame from a master’s opinion or having to hide it from others. The closest thing she had to joyful tears joined in with the rest.

Young Master Chao’s words repeated many times that night and into the morning in her mind even after the music had ended. “There is a time to cry. If you feel the need, now is one of those times.”

***

When the time came for Chao to switch to his happy song, Huifen couldn’t hold back her concern. Whether this many lingering spirits had been present during the town’s attack, or her husband’s song had simply attracted them from much further away than ever before, she wasn’t sure, but there weren’t just hundreds of spirits. She’d flown up to get a better vantage. Thousands were in the surrounding area, and more were coming.

She flew down to her husband’s side, ignoring the tentative complaints from the crowd.

As soon as she touched down, he surrounded them with a sound barrier.

“What is it, my Fen’er?”

“There are so many,” she said. “I’m thinking of thinning their numbers, but I don’t want to cause a stampede.”

“Just wait until the music changes. Once they start dancing, you can end them without fear. Just leave the human ones remaining if you can.”

“I will.”

She walked around her husband, passed the now dumbfounded innkeeper, and knelt down at Yu-yan’s side.

“After this is over, would you like to come with me to learn to be brave like your parents?”

The girl looked at her without a sign of tears in her eyes. “What about Uncle Hong. I don’t want to leave him alone.”

“You can always come back to visit. And when you’re grown, you’ll have the power to protect him and this place on your own.”

The girl stared off as she considered it. Her eyes were soon enticed by the milky spirits to watch them as she thought. “Okay, but… Will I really have the strength to protect everyone?”

“If you work hard and develop your martial spirit. Let me show you.”

Looking to her husband, he took it as queue and changed his song to a happy one. As always, he allowed some of his enhancement to seep into the ears of the people listening. She saw it on their faces as well as heard it in their voices. What had been protest left the entire town dazed with delight.

She couldn’t help but to look back at the man she’d married. Why had she ever felt life another way was worth living? If it wasn’t for him, she’d still be living the cold, dull existence of an ice fairy. Now, nothing seemed more bleak to her than that.

She allowed the joyful music to bring a smile to her face, then flew up to hover a few stories above the townsfolk. As she thought of how she should handle so many lingering spirits, an idea began to form.

Taking a seed out of her spatial ring, she coated it in nature qi. Picking her target, she shot the seed toward it. A dire wolf the size of a cow was prancing up and down like a puppy as the seed pierced through where its heart cavity would’ve been. Its well-defined ghostly visage turned to midst. The other lingering spirits were too lost in their own dance to notice or care.

Removing more seeds by the hundreds, she held them off to the side with her qi as she began to pick her targets. As an overlord from the Ice Phoenix Sect, her control was beyond what even the town’s sky realm leaders had seen. Within seconds, it was like a cloud of spiritual energy was blanketing the festival grounds.

Huifen wasn’t just covering the seeds with qi but activating the nature element’s absorbing attribute. The seeds didn’t just disperse the lingering spirits energy. They captured some of it for their own. She’d never met Long An, but after all the stories, and being surrounded my people that had loved the woman, she felt a certain amount of kinship with her. She wasn’t entirely sure this would work, but she intended to leave the town with a little surprise.

Within minutes, hundred of lingering spirits fell, leaving their qi to enrich the ground and blow where it may.

She felt the man’s presence as he approached. She didn’t turn to face him but continued her work.

“Senior fairy,” Bartolomeo, the man that had attacked her began. “Please forgive my foolishness and hotheadedness. I should’ve never challenged you.”

She thought back to her conversation with Chao about mercy. Even before she’d met him, she never would’ve pursued this man’s transgression, but many in this world would have. “Your care for these people is commendable. Just be careful that your zeal isn’t the cause of their downfall.”

“Yes senior.”

The man left when there was a scream from below. “Husband.”

She felt the mayor move to intercept a woman who was up and running toward the field of lingering spirits. The man held her there as she wept.

The woman was just the first of many who began to recognize the spirits of their friends and family in the throng.

Huifen continued her work as, holding back tears of her own. She quickly found Chao and saw what she knew she would find. He was tear-faced and grinning. She knew he spoke with Yu-yan to keep himself under control as much as to comfort her.

Summoning even more seeds from her spatial ring, Huifen took his example and focused on removing any non-human lingering spirits from the field. It was qi intensive since she was making use of her nature laws, but as an overlord it made little difference. Her skill with her ice lotus technique and use of each individual pedal as a weapon translated to the seeds perfectly. It was really just a concentration of qi and execution of force.

“Mama,” a young voice cried. Huifen saw Yu-yan standing. She was filled with the joy of a child and love of a daughter. It took all of Huifen’s strength to keep from breaking down at what she saw. If that wasn’t enough, she spied her husband watching the girl with the same intensity he had when studying the laws.

A few minutes later, the girl spotted her father.

Huifen had cleared the field and the surround forest. She descended, landing next to Chao and placed a kiss on the top of his head.

He smiled.

She spent some time watching the townsfolk. There wasn’t a dye eye in their midst. Many people came up to thank them while the music was still playing. It was their reactions to seeing deceased loved ones that she’d never forget.

“Even in death my husband can’t dance. Not that it ever stopped him.”

“Father.”

“Mother.”

“You stinky old coot.”

“You’re better looking in death than you ever were in life.”

Much of the conversation was sorrowful, but it didn’t stay that way. There was something about the music that put people in a mood. It wasn’t long until laughter was as common as whimpers.

Chao commonly played for an hour. It was all that was necessary to cultivate his mother’s garden, but he didn’t stop that night. By dawn, the remaining lingering spirits were but a wisp of what they’d once been. After all their activity that night, it wasn’t long until the weaker ones simply dissolved into the air.

Some of the last remaining ones were Yu-yan’s parents. Not only were they still dancing, but they were dancing together.

“Does that happen often?” She asked her husband.

“Never, but I’ve rarely seen human spirits. It’s the first time I’ve ever seen it.”

Yu-yan was still wiping the sleepies from her eyes but had awoken ten minutes earlier. She looked over at the sound of their conversation.

Chao explained. “Your parents loved each other very much.”

The girl simply nodded her head as if she never doubted.

“It’s time to say goodbye, Little Yu-yan,” he said softly.

She saw the girl ball her hands into fist and she called out. “Bye, momma. Bye, papa.”

Then her husband, the wonderful man that he was, enhanced the girl’s words and put them right in the spirit’s hearing. The emotion they contained were undeniable. What remained of the girl’s parents stopped dancing. They looked in Yu-yan’s direction as if they recognized her. It was then that they started to dissipate, leaving nothing but a light mist behind.

The girl plopped down in her seat. “I think I heard them say, ‘Bye.’”

Huifen couldn’t take anymore. She’d came around the girl’s log and scooped her up into her arms.

Playing the last note, Chao slowly came to his feet and put his pipa away. She found him watching her a moment later.

“What are you looking at?” She asked, feeling a tinge of embarrassment from the way he was looking at her.

He replied, “The most beautiful thing I’ve ever seen.”

“I’m hungry,” Yu-yan said, interrupting their moment, causing them both to laugh. The innkeeper laughed with them. He hadn’t left the girl’s side all night.

“Follow me to the inn,” Hong said. “I’ll make everyone breakfast and gather her things. Will you depart with her today?”

“If possible, yes,” Huifen admitted, putting the girl down.

“That’s probably best. Come Yu-yan. You can help me in the kitchen one last time.”

She scurried to walk at the man’s side as he headed for town.

***

It was only a few days later when one of the local women happened by the festival grounds and she saw the field had been overtaken by violet blossoms. It would still be a few moons before they started bearing fruit, but once they did the town would have a rich harvest of ample qi fruit. Even the leaves of the plant could be eaten and would help a low realm cultivator.

The town’s three sky realm protectors arrived soon after and were able to identify the flowers.

“Who were they?” Bartolomeo said.

“Sages, at the least,” The mayor replied.

“I was courting death and didn’t know it.”

“Hopefully this time it will sink in.” His admonishment wasn’t without charity. He cuffed the man on the arm in good humor. “Let’s go. We have much planning to do.”

“Lets.”

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Happy Halloween!

Hehe. I was thinking about doing something separate from the main story because of the holiday for you guys, when I realized I was looking for a good character moment for Huifen anyways, and this was the perfect opportunity.

Cheers!