Heaven's Laws - Lifestone - Chapter 2 - Part b

Chao and Huifen left the older cultivators to fulfill the request of their father and mother. They were to venture out of the Ice Phoenix Palace and travel around the sect grounds to let themselves be seen. Their victory over the overlords was known to all. Much of the last leg of their battle had been seen by the entire inner sect who’d been gathered on the arena’s stage. Its additional barrier had been activated by the elders to help fend against any qi overflow from the main barrier. No one within had been harmed during the battle. It had been a huge boost to morale, but eight outer sect disciples who hadn’t left when asked and remained outside the second barrier had been killed. Showing themselves should improve morale even further. It would also be the first time either of them had made an appearance since Mother Quinyuan had announced their marriage to the sect.

As they walked through the now mostly empty halls of the Ice Phoenix Palace that had been full just days before, Chao watched his wife out of the corner of his eye. He could tell she’d rather drop everything and find a place to throw herself into the first technique of the third pillar of her cultivation tome, but she understood why it was important for them to show themselves. They also hadn’t really had the chance to discuss the battle. He knew there was more than that that she wanted to talk to him about.

He sidestepped as they went to close the distance between them. Holding out his arm, he offered it to her. She took a moment to ponder before looping her arm in his.

“Nervous?” She asked.

“I’d rather face off with a group of overlords,” he jested. “You?”

“Agreed. At least a battle has a sure beginning and end.”

He gave her a surprised look.

“Not lacking the courage to face a group of people and enjoying it isn’t the same thing. I just have more experience than you do so its easier for me, I think.”

“Is this a recent discovery about yourself?”

She nodded.

He reached over and kissed her on the side of the head. “My cute little ice fairy,” he whispered.

“None of that, husband. Let’s go.”

Chao was pleased to see that there weren’t rows of elders waiting for them lined up outside the entrance of the palace as there had been last time. They headed for the edge of the cliff overlooking the joint sect campus. It was at the top of a mountain between two peaks. This high valley held more than a hundred buildings. Those closest to them donned blue shingles and the furthest half red. This was where he had stood when he scanned the fire phoenix fortress on the opposite peak. It had held seven overlords and Prince Jin. He snuck passed them all and taken the prince’s head.

They descended toward the closest buildings and landed near the outskirts. When mother had asked them to show themselves on campus, they planned to do just that and travel from one side to the other. They’d also stop in every major lector hall.

Their first stop on the way was the ice phoenix pill refinery. Like most of the buildings on campus, Chao hadn’t been inside. They walked into a small room with a counter that acted as a greeting request center. This wasn’t the place to buy pills. You could, however, put in specialty orders. While they were there, they did just that.

There was a typical ice fairy of the earth realm waiting behind the counter. She obviously was still practicing heart of ice often, for she had a straight-face reaction to seeing them. Giving them a martial bow, she greeted them. “This one greets sages of the ice phoenix sect.”

“Hello,” Huifen replied, returning her martial bow. “We are here to place some order and do an inspection.”

The girl straightened even if her facial features didn’t change.

Huifen lifted her hand to calm the girl. “We are not inspecting the refinery or the pill refiner’s work. We just want to evaluate sect morale now that the Aureate Empire’s shadow has been removed.”

The girl’s eyes widened in understanding. She fuddled with a few things on the counter out of view and spoke as if talking through a transmission jade.

In a few moments, another older fairy joined us. She tried to put on a smile, even if it was obviously fake. Already knowing why we were here, she took over helping us. It seemed she was one of the elders that ran the place.

“Before the tour, allow me to take the information for your requested pills.”

“Here’s a list,” Chao said, handing her a card jade. And here’s the ingredients. He handed her a lesser spatial ring.

The woman didn’t look surprised to receive the ring. But when she plunged her perceptions into the jade, that quickly changed.

“This…” She held back what she was going to say and gave the spatial ring a peek first. It was like seeing her face melt before our eyes. At first, he thought it was going to be a problem, but then the traces of a real grin reached her eyes. “It will take us a few weeks to be able to complete so many pills. A few of our highest-level alchemist have returned home. I’ll send out transmissions right away to have them recalled.”

“We’re not in that big of a hurry,” Chao insisted.

Huifen squeezed his wrist, pulling his attention. The look she gave him was a humored one.

“I said something wrong?” He said under his breath.

“No,” she replied. “You just don’t understand alchemist.”

He then gave the elder another look and realized this must be what an excited ice fairy looks like.

The woman was soon leading them through a side door and into the main hall of the pill refinery. It was unlike what he had imagined. Instead of a refiner to each individual caldron, there was a team for ingredient preparation and a team running the caldrons. There was also a single high-level alchemist directing the disciples. It wasn’t just ice phoenix disciples either. There were a few fire phoenix disciples who seemed to have no other job than managing the flames.

The woman giving them the tour explained that they were the team responsible for creating recovering pills. On the other side of the hall, there was one for creating blood purifying ones. Because both teams were in the midst of refining, not a single person looked up at them.

There were a few disciples that acted as runners, though, or were between refining. They all had similar reactions and basically froze in place when they saw Chao and Huifen. It seemed the rule of the refinery was no loud outbursts for more than one placed their hand over their mouth.

After exiting the main hall, they passed many smaller rooms with closed doors. The elder explained that those cauldrons were in use. About half the doors they passed were open. Most of them were empty, but a few held alchemists preparing their ingredients. It was when the runners were most needed.

In the back of the building were specialty caldrons that could only be used by the highest-level alchemists. As Chao happened to catch a glimpse of one seemingly made of gold with coiled serpents acting as legs with their bodies extending up the four sides of the cauldron and looping out with four different heads, he caught himself holding his breath. He immediately wanted to try his hand at pill refining. He was a novice herbalist already and could make herbal medicines. What his mother had taught him was a more primitive form of ingredient refinement.

His father had always supported the practice by saying lesser refined ingredients often had milder effects on the body and didn’t pollute it with impurities.

“Regretting starting down the martial path?” Huifen asked.

“No. Just see a shiny toy I’d like to play with.”

“Poor, husband.” She patted his arm.

It was rare for her to tease him, but it had been coming much easier. So soon after their battle was surprising, though.

He gave her a proud grin.

It wasn’t the first building they visited filled with craftsmen. The Weapons and Armor Workshop was the next stop on the list. It was broken up into the tailor and seamstress, dire beast tanner, and forge on the weapon’s side of the high-ceilinged building. The entire building was an open shop with the weapon’s smiths sharing many of the same tools in a row of stations in the middle of the floor. The smiths mostly took up one side of the room. They also had dire beast refining specialists. There were also forgers, handle crafters, and rooms in the back for higher ranked individuals. Just like in the Pill Refinery building, there were many teams.

They received more attention there than in the refinery, but there were high ranked craftsmen ready to keep them on track. They received less greetings there even if more eyes were on them.

It was then that they headed to an area of the campus Chao was familiar with. Then he noticed their possible heading. “Are we?”

“We are.”

He straightened himself and set his mind for the coming confrontation. “I’m ready,” he said.

She patted him again on the arm.

They entered the hall where Elder Wang Li’s law theory class was held and headed straight for her room. Chao felt nervous, but any fear he used to have of the woman had died after he’d killed the prince. He was more worried about letting his anger get the better of him than anything the spiteful elder might do to him.

Stepping into the lecture hall, he found it filled to the brim with students. Not only were the seats taken, but the back wall and sides had inner sect disciples standing. Just as before, they were ice and fire phoenix sect disciples alike.

As soon as Chao saw the Elder Wang Li, he was baffled at her change in demeanor. She flew to the top of the stairs and practically hobbled forward with her hands clapped together. She lifted her voice for the whole class to hear. “Class, greet Sage’s Long Chao and Long Huifen.”

Those seated came to their feet and everyone bowed together.

“Please, please,” the elder beckoned them toward the stairs and the stage at the head of the room. She did so in a delighted subservient manner.

Chao was so taken back, that he followed his wife and descended. As he did, he didn’t feel the classes gaze was like that of dire beasts this time. He could feel the energy in the room and knew why so many were there. They’d heard about his and Huifen’s laws. Now that they had defeated half the overlords on the continent and two tribulation cultivators, everyone knew how transformative the laws could be.

Reaching the stage and heading behind the podium, Huifen stood slightly behind him, giving him the foremost spot. He recognized many of the faces there including Senior Disciple Eu-meh—though technically she wasn’t his senior any longer. Also brother Li Qiang was there and waved at him heartily.

The elder had followed closely behind them. Once there, she spoke again. “This one must apologize to both sages. When Sage Long Chao was last here, I assumed the worse of him and his then master, fearing he was hindering Sage Huifen’s cultivation. It pleases me to learn how wrong I was. Now they are both the pride of our Ice and Fire Phoenix Sects and have lifted the glory of the laws to their rightful place in the heavens. I thank you both, and I’m sorry.”

Chao almost laughed seeing it because the old woman was nearly smiling with every word. She didn’t seem contrite at all, but that didn’t mean she lacked sincerity.

“Thank you, Elder Wang Li,” Huifen said, letting herself smiled back at the woman. “As promised, this jade contains the beginnings of the training techniques for both ice and fire cultivators to advance in the first three laws. I have been developing it with the help of my husband, Sage Pangfua, her personal disciple Genji, and the Sect Master. Great Elder Long Zan and the Divine Fire Phoenix Envoy have also given their input. It also contains the personal notes on the fourth law morph by my husbands and the process he and his mother, Sage Long An, used to unlock Awaken. This is just the first edition. Many more shall follow.”

Hearing his mother called a sage threatened to bring Chao to tears. He hadn’t known to what extent she’d been hated when he’d first arrived, but eventually he’d learned she was called a witch and blamed for the death of many sect disciples and elders. Elder Law of the Divine Fire Phoenix Sect had set that straight with the help of the current envoy.

His wife handed the card jade over, and elder grasped it in both hands, bringing it to her chest. “It has been my life’s work to understand the laws to the fullest that I am capable. I, we, will forever be grateful. If you’re not strained for, would you mind giving the class a demonstration?”

When Huifen nudged him from behind, he realized she’d known something like this would happen. Instead of being upset, he chuckled out loud, stepped forward, and rested his weight against the podium.

He wasn’t a fan of speaking in public, but he’d seen the exhaustion they held just before the battle and the life that had returned to them. These weren’t strangers even if he didn’t know their names, or them personally. They were members of his sect that had just undergone a great ordeal and survived.

He began to speak from the heart. “It gladdens me to see you haven’t lost your desire to cultivate after all the joint sects have been through. I also share Elder Wang Li’s pleasure in seeing so many of you with a new found interest in the laws. I will happily give you a demonstration, but, with the elder’s permission, I see no reason not to have you begin practicing right away.”

When the elder’s head bobbled in the affirmative, I looked into the crowd and called out. “Disciple Eu-meh and Disciple Li Qiang, would you mind helping everyone break into groups of two or three with focus on their element of cultivation?”

They were sitting close by one another and stood when called.

“Yes, senior brother,” Li Qiang called with a martial solute. Even if he hadn’t seen Chao in the last year, the young man was his friend had didn’t fear he would take offense at using familiar terms.

Disciple Eu-meh didn’t respond so casually, but still chose intimate terms. “Yes, Master Chao.”

He didn’t reject either’s choice. “They have both learned the basics already and will come around to show each group the basics of borrow tug-of-war. It might seem like a simple game, but the more you advance your laws, the more complex you can make it.”

“A few guidelines. Ice fairies mustn’t use heart of ice during this exercise. I also recommend not using it while cultivating the laws in a general sense. There is a connection between emotion and utilizing the laws. Try to enjoy the process, but don’t forget to engage your mind. Both are necessary.”

He then turned to Huifen and the demonstrated the basics of the game before the whole room with low rank ice. At their realm, it was actually harder to summon an element below their realm than higher because their qi was purified through their core and inner worlds. Using nascent level ice while at the sky realm for so little qi was impossible for all but those who had a mastery of the laws.

After they’d let the groups try it for fifteen minutes, he decided to give them the demonstration the elder had requested. They still limited their ice to the sky realm but began playing the same game while trying to enhance or reverse enhance it while it was in the possession.

Even though their ice didn’t change color like fire might, every disciple there was familiar with the difference in realms. These fire cultivators had to commonly spar against ice cultivators after all.

They didn’t have all day to stay there, so after they’d gotten things started, Chao called Eu-meh and Li Qiang over, promising they’d meet in the next couple days once things had settled down. With so many people interested in the laws, Chao now had a large enough group to do a serious study on whether his sound laws improved the rate of law advancement or not. He was currently almost positive it did, but he wanted to no without any doubt.

As they left, Disciple Eu-meh started playing borrow tug-of-war with Elder Wang Li. It seemed the old woman really share his love of the laws, she just hadn’t been able to see passed his age and cultivation on their first meeting.

As they exited the building, Chao left the familiar pressure of an overlord cultivator coming at them from overhead. He was still on edge from the battle just days before, so he prepared to surround he and his wife in space. It shouldn’t be anything, he told himself, then spotted a fire overlord he’d never seen before dressed in a fire phoenix uniform followed by another one that cultivated a different element entirely.

Since all of the overlords of the Fire Phoenix Sect had betrayed the joint sects, Chao stepped forward, blocking the path to his wife. His spear appeared in his hand and qi began to cycle. He felt the familiar feeling of his wife’s energy as she spun her core as well, so he knew the threat might be genuine.

As the pair landed before them, he saw the fire overlord had a shaggy head of hair and dirty blond beard. His physique was massive, even for a heavy yang cultivator. He didn’t remove his weapon, however, but tilted his head to the side.

The woman that landed with him stepped forward as Chao had. Her dress was green, and he felt the vibrant energy of nature qi as her overlord aura blazed into life. A staff appeared in her double handed grip, as she lowered herself into a martial stance.

When in the training construct, it had stopped sending him natural cultivators as opponents because they rarely had the speed to keep up with him, but that was when he was facing sky realm opponents. This woman was an overlord. He wasn’t familiar enough with her cultivation art to know what small realm she had reached, but he assumed she was at small success at the least.

Chao observed her balance change to her front foot. She was about to attack. Before either of them did, the fire overlord spoke. “Little Head Disciple, is that you? You’ve become an overlord already?”

Both Chao and the overlord he was facing off with tilted they’re in his direction, but not without taking their eyes off each other. Then Huifen spoke.

“Senior Fang? You’ve returned?”

Without another word, the fire cultivator stepped past the woman in front of him and strode forward.

Chao didn’t feel any killing intent, so he held himself back. Only when Huifen placed her hand on his shoulder did he put his spear away.

The large man stopped less than two meters away, bowing his head while looking her up and down. “I’m pleased to see you’re still in one piece. We heard, well… We heard the entire continent had risen up against the joint sect so Ping and I raced back as fast as we could. What happened? From what I can tell, the sect is completely intact.”

The woman had placed her staff back in her spatial ring and came up to stand at Fang’s side. For overlords they both looked young. That didn’t always mean much, but Chao had noticed his wife had called the man senior and not elder. The woman had the red cheeked face common with water cultivators, silky black hair, and larger-than-life eyes.

“Regrettably, there have been losses,” Huifen admitted. “Almost every Fire Phoenix Sect overlord, Tengfei included. Great Elder Jilpa and eight outer sect disciples as well. As for the story—”

“We should leave it for Mother Quinyuan to tell,” Chao said, stepping up and grabbing her hand.

Huifen looked him in the eye as she thought about it, then nodded.

It was then that Sage Fang took a half step forward and pointed at Chao but stopped himself from doing more. “I guess I should be calling you Sage Huifen now. Uh. What’s going on? Who is this sky realm boy?”

Chao let go of his wife’s hand an issued them both a martial salute. “Forgive this one for his earlier hostility. The battle is just two days passed. My name is Long Chao.”

“Senior brother, I can only imagine how much confusion you’re going to experience over the next couple days because the joint sect is going through a transformative period. This Long Chao is one of the youngest sages in Lifestone’s history, and also my husband.”

The fire sage narrowed his eyes and tilted his head in the opposite direction. His hand fell and he just stood there bewildered. “Marriage? You? And you?” He pointed at Chao again.

“I say it’s a good thing,” Sage Ping said, smiling warmly as she grabbed the fire cultivator by the arm so that he’d stop pointing. “I’ve always told you I thought your joint sect was a dual cultivator’s dream come true if only their doctrine would change.” She then bowed her head to them, greeting them properly. “Well met. I am Sage Ping, the wife of your senior brother here.” She turned a questioning eye on Chao. “Did I hear correctly? You’ve earned the title of sage while still in the sky realm?”

Chao bowed his head in return. “It is as you say. My wife achieved the title before I did because of her mastery of martial techniques and the ice laws, but it had to be kept secret.”

Seeing his wife blush even if she tried to disguise it with ice qi had Sage Fang staring in wonderment again.

“Laws?” The girl started sharing in her husband’s confusion.

It was then that Quinyuan and Zan flew in to join them.

“Sage Fang. Sage Ping,” Quinyuan said cordially and giving them a martial salute. “I only wish it was under better circumstances that we were meeting.”

“Sect Master,” the pair replied as one.

It was Fang that noticed first. “You’re realm. Divine realm cultivator…”

“Yes. And this is my husband, Long Zan.”

As soon as he heard the name, Sage Fang darkened.

“Fang, stay your anger,” Quinyuan commanded. A pulse of aura reminded him what he already knew. “Your Divine Fire Phoenix Envoy is in my Ice Phoenix Palace as we speak. Long Zan and Long An’s reputations have been restored by a divine lord and divine sect elder no less. He is also a member of my Ice Phoenix Sect and a Great Elder.”

Sage Fang simple leaned back and slouched his shoulders, unable to grasped what all had happened. His wife poked him hard on the arm. He glanced at her and gestured that he understood.

“Where do we start?” He asked.

“Come, Junior Brother,” Quinyuan said. “We’ll meet with your envoy and relay to you all that has happened. The Fire Phoenix Sect will need your help in the coming days. Junior Sister Ping, you are welcome here.”

She then turned to Chao and Huifen. “Continue your trip around the sect and join us tonight for dinner.”

“Yes, mother,” they said in turn.

The two newcomer sages said their farewells then followed mother and father.

Offering his wife his arm, Chao said, “Shall we?”

She took it and they were off.