Heaven's Laws - Lifestone - Chapter 5

As a good hostess, Huifen started out by showing Sage Ping what she’d learned with the nature laws. She was more proficient with the second law create than the first one borrow. The reason for this was because the scope of nature was vast. She could create lilies and lotus flowers, but if she tried to borrow from a plant new to her, it would be difficult. Borrowing from the water lily that she practiced so much with was easy though. Then there was the third law enhance. She wasn’t sure she’d know if even if she had touched upon it.

She started out by showing Sage Ping the borrow game as they sat across from one another. It was as much a test for Huifen as it was the sage. They sat in an overlord training room of the ice phoenix palace. The walls were like semitranslucent ice, except they had an emerald-green tint.

“So it’s a battle of wills?” Sage Ping asked as she touched on the lotus follow with her qi.

“Yes and no,” Huifen replied. “The winner will most often be determined by whoever has the strongest borrow law. My Chao used to be able to take ice’s control from my grasp with barely any effort, and that was when he was in the nascent realm, and I was in the early stages of the sky.”

“Such ability… How?”

“I’m still trying to figure that out myself. So is he.”

The older sage pulled back her qi and gave Huifen a hard look. “I can understand feeling like you owe him, Little Sister—after all that’s happened. I’m all for dual cultivation between the Ice and Fire Phoenix Sects, however, marrying someone to fulfill one’s debt isn’t a good reason to marry. Especially for one with your talent who is all but guaranteed to ascent to the divine realm. There’s much more that needs to be there for a marriage to work. Don’t let him bully you by holding this debt over your head.”

As Huifen listened, she was at first dismayed, but by the end had to hold back a chuckle. “Chao, bully someone?” She lowered her hand and let Sang Ping see her grin. She then told her of how their engagement had come about. Chao hadn’t believed Huifen either. It was the night of their wedding, but he saw it only as a formality to protect her. When she’d sprung dual cultivation on him, he’d very nearly rebuked her. “The last thing Chao would ever do willingly is bully me. If anything, before marriage, he was too careful. I originally thought it was due lack of confidence, and in part that was true, but his mother was a believer in the mortal’s religion and much of her beliefs rubbed off on him. He puts great emphasis on selflessness, so it sometimes seems like he lets people take advantage of him.”

“You should’ve seen him after I rebuked him for acting as one without honor in the early days of our master disciple relationship. Even then, he didn’t care what people thought of him, but when I described honor as a shield to protect his master and himself, it was like he became a different person. Despite that, after defeating a cultivator a full realm higher than him, he gave the man a pricey recovery pill. Those that don’t know him might think he’s weak, but that doesn’t mean he doesn’t have a reserve scale. He keeps it hidden better than most, but, if touched, I don’t think there’s a cultivator in his realm that could resist him.”

Sang Ping seemed to fall into serious contemplation. “If he’s not ruthless, how could he have slain so many overlords?”

“He is ruthless, but only when necessary. It’s true that he’s far too willing to take a loss, which is one of the reasons I believe Father Zan is so insistent on sending us out into the world to explore. Chao agrees that he needs the experience.”

‘So you didn’t marry him because he retrieved your yin and killed the prince?” Sage Ping eyes went wide. “Sorry. I’m so sorry, Little Sister. I shouldn’t—”

“It’s okay. And no, I didn’t marry him because I felt I owed him for that. I would’ve found a way to pay him back either way. I committed myself because I grew to understand that he controls the ruthless side of himself, not out of weakness, but because he tries to do what he believes is right. He fears the monster inside himself as much, if not more, than his enemies. He is a true cultivator.”

Sage Ping seemed conflicted. “So it’s his character…” She mumbled to herself.

Huifen sat there patiently, giving her some time. She wasn’t sure what the woman was struggling with.

It was more than a minute when Ping seemed to come to a decision. “Thank you, Little Sister. You mentioned you wanted to see my martial technique again, but there’s something else I want to show you.”

Huifen happily nodded her on.

“Nature is unique amongst the elements because it has almost infinite practical uses,” Sage Ping began. “Martial techniques are just the beginning. The technique I used in the arena used force, but also the ability to drain qi from its target. Drain is one of the primary attributes unique to nature cultivation, but it’s not alone. It’s opposite, bestow, or to give, does just as you might think. It allows a nature cultivator to give qi to another. But its not just a way to funnel qi to someone else. You can inject nature’s vitality into your target. This can help their body heal wounds, recover from exhaustion, and even outlast the effects of poison. Water and earth cultivators can also do this to a lesser extent, but nature cultivators reign supreme in the healing arts.”

A green card jade appeared in Ping’s hand. She gave it to Huifen.

When she took a glimpse inside, Huifen quickly removed her perceptions and gave Sage Ping an uneasy look. “Senior Sister, this is the cultivation method of your sect. I can’t take this.”

“Am I not an overlord and elder of my sect?” The woman gave her a thin smile. “I am also a wife. I want you to have the chance to save your husband or yourself, if misfortune should fall upon you.”

“Senior, thank you.”

“Now take some time and give the first section a read. I’ll answer your questions when you’re finished, and we can get started.”

***

Brother Fang and Chao may have headed to the hot springs together, but they weren’t alone in conversation for long. At first, other guys were tiptoeing around their intentions while drawing close without coming out and saying anything, but Fang had been an overlord long enough to know what they were thinking. “In the hot spring status doesn’t exist. Come on over. As long as your questions aren’t too demanding, you’ll receive your answer.”

The first man to take advantage of Fang’s words was a young cultivator. He asked about the sage’s burning cage technique. Many of the others seemed to be wondering this same thing, so soon they were surrounded by the curious. It wasn’t just fire cultivators listening in, but male ice cultivators as well. Who knew when an overlord might say something that could inspire someone that hadn’t traveled as far on the martial path?

Chao sat back and relaxed as he listened to the sage’s responses. That didn’t last long. Fang nudged him with his elbow and asked, “What do you think, Little Brother?”

It was a question about a Fire Phoenix technique, so he wasn’t the best to answer, but he relayed to them the observation he’d made about Fang’s qi control in comparison to getting the same effects with the laws. When even Fang curiosity was stirred, he showed them his original fire dragon’s design. It was a little nascent level figurine that had difficult to make out features. There were many reasons for this. Fire liked to move and grow. So Chao used morph and stilled the flames.

The crowd grew tighter when Fang reminded them to keep to a polite distance.

He then showed them different iterations of his figuring as his skill and cultivation had improved. He kept the dragon the same size and fire the same realm, but its detail increased greatly.

“One of the reasons I was able to improve the detail was because I had more qi when I advanced in realm. But also, the better I understand fire’s nature, the easier it became to work with. Sage Fang’s approach is different than mine but has amazon results. It’s the force of his will that helps shape his fire techniques. In this I’m lacking.”

The large sage shook in laughter. “Well said, Little Brother. And my knowledge of the laws are lacking, so we both have areas to improve on. Such is the life of a cultivator. Learning never ends.”

They continued to answer questions when Chao spotted Brother Li Qiang and waved him over.

“Make some room,” he commanded and was still surprised to see how quickly people obeyed.

Before he sat down, Li Qiang bowed to Sages Chao and Fang, but didn’t interrupt the man talking. Li Qiang was about the same age as Chao with dark sable skin that was mostly foreign to the Monolith continent. His physique had doubled in size since Chao had last hung out with him. He’d also been invited to the inner sect after reaching the earth realm. He’d reached small success already and was nearing large. Just like his cousin Fairy Daiyu, he was very talented.

After a few follow up questions, Li Qiang asked one himself. “What advice do the sages have for finding a wife?”

Chao knew the man well. He should’ve expected the question as soon as he saw him. When they had first explored the joint sect together, Li Qiang had expressed his interest in fairies almost to Chao’s discomfort. There was an ongoing ranking system that many of the male cultivators discussed often.

Thankfully the steam from the hot spring had already given Chao’s complexion a reddish tint. His embarrassment wasn’t without mirth and compassion. He smiled broadly.

“This one is a friend of yours, Little Brother,” Fang asked.

“Yes, this is Brother Li Qiang. He is cousin to Fairy Daiyu, a long-time friend of my wife, and was one of the first people I sparred with at the sect. We became friends right away.”

“Ahhh. So it’s Little Brother Li Qiang. To answer your question on how to win the heart of an ice fairy, I’m afraid Little Brother Chao will know better than I will. I’m still trying to get my head around the Ice Phoenix Sect’s fairies going without heart of ice. As for fairies outside the sect, well now, that’s something I can speak on at length.”

Once Sage Fang began, it was many minutes before he finished. “You see, the fairies of Phoenix City, and even extended to the Aureate Empire, are far more polite than fairies in the outer parts of the empire and other continents. Here it’s taught that men and women should traditionally fulfill their roles, but outside Monolith, women seek different things depending upon what they and their culture holds dear. Some sell themselves to powerful cultivators so that they can rise with them, while other collect husbands like merchants might collect coins. If you can imagine it, it’s likely out there.”

“My own wife, Ping, is from a middle-high tier sect on the Land Bridge continent. It’s more traditional like our own, except it lacks much of the formality we’re used to. There is no, ‘this one’ this and ‘this one’ that. They call each other by given names and hug neighbors in the streets. It was very shocking when I first visited, but it was also one of the most attractive things about the place, and my future wife.”

The sage continued by telling stories of some of the more disturbing places he’d been. There were places where prostitution was legal, and some women, depending on status, were even treated like slaves. Slavery wasn’t limited to the women, but the further north you went in the world, the more common slavery became. There were even places where marriage was rare, and women sold their virgin yin for a profit. Most relationships there were temporary.

Chao’s own disgust was mirrored in Li Qiang’s face. From the way his friend talked, he wouldn’t have been against having many wives, but it seemed that wasn’t necessarily the case.

After the topic was breached, it was a long while before another question on cultivation techniques. Li Qiang wasn’t alone in his interest. How couldn’t he be. These men learned just days before that the infamous ice fairies of their joint sect would be taught to stop using hearth of ice as often and even be allowed to marry.

They spent a few hours in the hot springs before Senior Fang suggested they get something to eat. When the laws were mentioned, Chao suggested they bring Li Qiang along since he’d been training in them for over a year now.

The three of them dried off and left the hot spring, then flew toward the Ice Phoenix Palace.