The Laws of Cultivation: Qi = MC^2

Chapter [B4] 21 — Gratitude

Battle raged amongst the fourth peak with a renewed vigor. Men cheered and roared as they poured over the demon armies, cultivators swept across, mystic arts exploding with power while mortal men and women rose to the occasions, firing with their rifles and using the new supply of healing pills to take care of the injured in the camps.

Lord Zhou watched all of this happening from the skies. In his long life, he’d had to face against demons many times, and there had even been time when there had been battles and armies against other lords. He’d seen many conflicts, many wars, they were never good things. To the men and women who fought in these wars, they were simply being told to risk their lives for the battle between lords that likely did not even know their names, and would not care for a moment should they perish.

That was the weight that war carried. The death of innocent men and women, the death of people who had no stakes in the war being fought, a terrible thing.

And yet… right now he saw something else entirely. He saw rallying cries from the soldiers, he saw them carrying each other, fighting side by side, and he saw the fury. The fury of their homes being invaded, the fury of these creatures trampling on all they loved, the fury to come for their way of life.

In just a few days, the fourth peak had come alive. From the edge of defeat they had been given a chance and he saw the despair give way to something else, something far more powerful that made his own heart pulse with vigor and strength.

They’d been given a miracle. And the winds of the battle had decidedly began to turn.

It made him itch to kill some demons with his own hands. To unleash that fury building inside of him, to let it find a target and burn them to ashes, smother their very souls and leave no trace of them behind.

He was far too controlled to let such rage control him, but it was there, burning in the background. It had been far too long since he’d let himself lose, far too long that he’d been Lord, but before being a Lord, he had been a warrior, and that warrior wanted to be let lose.

But now was not his time, and this was not his domain, and so he simply watched the battle continue.

His eyes drifted across the battlefields, and he saw the Fourth Lord leading the charge against the demons. He had not seen the Lord battle in decades. Of the seven Lords, Zeng was one of the oldest, and the most peaceful. He behaved much like an friendly uncle to almost everybody, to the point that other Lords called him unfitting for his position.

But they did not know the man like he did. They did not the warrior that resided within the man, underneath all that kindness, at the core of it was an iron will and the sure belief in his own power.

And now the demons witnessed that man. Witnessed the Zeng Shanyuan that few others had ever seen, and they found themselves crumbling.

Lord Zhou smiled, descending back from the skies as he headed to one of the war camps further back. At his waist was one of the jade slips that Lu Jie had gotten made for him. A convenient thing that let him communicate with them easily without having to setup a scrying formation art, and he kept reading their reports.

It was not just the fourth peak, the other lords were starting to receive the aid from the seventh peak. The pills and weapons had begun reaching, alongside the jade slips and the fire arrows and more, and the tides had began shifting in this conflict.

But a part of him also was afraid.

Things were going good… almost too good, and their enemy was not the mindless thing they had once been. They were clever, and they had to be prepared for a counter attack.

As he returned to camp, Mei Mei bowed to him.

“Lord Zhou,” she said, and he gave her a nod as she rose her head and turned towards the map. “We’ve managed to push back the demons for the first time, their lines have collapsed and split in two groups. As per the information via the jade slips, we’ve began digging trenches and laying explosives in the grounds and deploying archers to monitor the skies at all times to make re-capturing the land that much more difficult,” Zeng Yanmei said, almost breathless. The young woman had not stopped working for a second since he’d arrived, though given what he sensed of her cultivation, that would not be much of a bother for her, but her enthusiasm was infectious.

“These tactics took me some time to understand, but they make perfect sense given these weapons, and these devices—“ the girl pulled out her jade slip, which was still glowing, the words on it changed. “These things are changing the way war looks entirely. All of this is. These tactics are genius. We had not known how the demons were sustaining themselves, they did not seem to eat or drink or sleep or have any needs like a human army, they had been this relentless thing but it turns out that they’ve simply been moving underground and have been burning and destroying a lot less of the food than we’d originally anticipated,” Yanmei said, her voice quivering.

“They had wanted us to think them immortal, inhuman, creatures of ruthless savagery and strength. That they were this unstoppable force that could not be stopped. But no, they eat, they sleep, they rest, and they die. We’ve been using all the explosives you’ve supplied to collapse all their underground tunnels, storages and the demons are starting to panic. In a fell swoop they went from this undebatable enemy to… just creatures. And all of this…” she clutched her hand, looking down at the jade slip in her hand. “All of this was done by one guy? This is a strange question my lord but... is he truly real?” she said and then paused as if realizing what she’d just said and felt embarrassed and gave him a bow. “Apologies, that was a foolish thing to say.”

The lord heard Yanmei and couldn’t help but laugh. “Sometimes we wondered that too.”

“You did? Forgive me for saying this but the more I see the more I do not understand. I know of the auction, I’ve seen Lu Jie himself too. And he looked… unremarkable. He seemed rather shy and withdrawn, and mostly stayed out of sight. The show of all the things he had brought out in the auction had been a good spectacle, but ultimately it had been just that, a spectacle, a show for the people. And yet, uncle told me that the five families had entered a secret deal with him and that the boy would likely be the next great name in the empire.

I had struggled to believe him then but it was clearly true. Though this war began… if we survive it and come out the other end… he is going to be the name that would go down as the one that led us to victory. And my heart beats with joy. I see it right here, all that he’s doing, all that he’s bringing to us and all that he’s doing for us but I cannot make myself believe that it could be true, that he could be anything but a great spirit playing tricks. Even for that, this seems… almost too much,” Yanmei said.

Lord Zhou nodded, putting a hand on the young woman’s shoulder. “We understand what you’re feeling right now. In truth, we felt much the same way when we first starting seeing all he was doing. It was strange and hard to believe and we found ourself wondering just what the truth was about the boy. We grew suspicious at times too, and doubted our decision to trust him. But if you ever meet him… you’ll understand one thing. He may not make a lot of sense to you, but he is a simple boy with a simple heart that he wears on his face. He does not have guile, he does not hide his thoughts, he does not play politics, and he will often act in really stupid and childish ways. And he has nearly no regard for stature, it will not matter to him if you’re a mortal on the street or the emperor himself, in his heart, he will treat you the same way as he will treat anybody else,” Lord Zhou said, thinking about said boy in question.

Ah, just how he’d grown used to this all. This was how one was normally supposed to react to these sights weren’t they? Lu Jie had corrupted him as well, made him used to all the strange miracles he did seemingly every day. And yet… that was not a bad feeling at all.

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“But that…” Yanmei trailed off, and continued in a quieter voice. “That sounds too good to be true.”

Lord Zhou looked at the girl and then asked in a quiet voice. “You must be aware of what has happened to the emperor.”

Yanmei’s face turned dark, but she gave a nod. “Uncle told me some days ago… but I’d gotten a feeling when the demons first attacked the capital. Somewhere deep in my heart I’d felt it happen.”

“We all had. A terrible loss that we still haven’t even gotten the time to process, to grieve or morn, such are the desperate times. The world does not even realize how deeply and terribly it’s already changed, and how much more it is to be changed still,” Lord Zhou said, then glanced towards Yanmei. “How old you are?”

“My Lord, I’m twenty two years old right now,” Yanmei replied with a light bow.

“You’re young and talented. Quite a bit so. But when you live as long your uncle and we have, you start to see things in longer terms, in longer moments and periods. You likely understand this but we imagine you can’t feel the scale of all that’s happening right now. But there are… these periods of time that are linchpins. These defining moments that shape the centuries to come and alter the path of the world forever. This is one of those moments. And… in truth, we believe this moment is the greatest there has been since the birth of the Azure-Jade empire when the emperor first took his throne,” Lord Zhou said, thinking of the many decades he’d seen and the changes across the empire. The machinations of fate, or perhaps simply the will of the world itself, but Tian Feng had known for some time that this was going to happen. He could not have anticipated in what way or form, none of them could’ve without outright looking into the future which was unreliable at best, the future was always an uncertain thing. But in all those futures, he’d seen the boy involved in things. In all of those futures, from the bleakest of them to the best, the boy had played a significant role in the empire and its future to come.

“We believe Lu Jie is going to be the next emperor,” Lord Zhou said and Yanmei’s eyes went wide in shock.

“He already has not just the Azure Dragon but also the Black Tortoise. Two divine beasts… his legacy, should the empire survive this war, is going to be greater than what the emperor had formed this empire on. And yet, it is hard to even imagine what kind of empire it would be with him as emperor. The boy would not want to do it, he hates every bit of responsibility and authority put onto him, it is almost funny in a way, he will try and run from it at all moments and then jumps right into it when the moment calls for it anyway,” Lord Zhou said, and then chuckled.

“We believe in him, in the path he’s shown, but it is one that needs help. We need to stand behind him, to support him on this journey. He puts on a brave front, he takes on heavy burdens, but he is still just a child, a child handed the weight of an empire. We understand what that means, we had taken on the burden of our lordship in a distressful and unwilling manner too, but his weight is so much greater still, and it is why we wish to help him guide us to a new future. And to be there to guide him, when he is lost, as his elder,” Lord Zhou said.

Yanmei was silent for a long moment before she finally replied. “You speak of him quite fondly my lord.”

“True. It is not like us to do so. We would never say any of this to his face but we feel a sense of pride. We know he thinks of Shen Ming as his grandfather and rightfully so, but we find thinking of ourself as a sort of teacher to him as well and feeling a sense of pride at all he’s done and accomplished. We hope you can forgive a bit of indulgence.”

“No such thing my lord. In fact… this is highly motivating to hear for me. For all of us. At this point, many have heard the name of Lu Jie. Lu Jie the prodigous five-fold sage. Lu Jie the youngest Elder. Lu Jie the baron of the seventh peak. There are many myths on him, but having heard so many of these stories… each one painting him as a separate myth, as an entirely separate legend, I had not been able to understand who he truly was. But now, I feel like I understand him better, and I’d like you to give him my gratitude. No, the gratitude of all of fourth peak. His work has given us hope, given us a chance at survival. Whatever may come of this war, we will not forget that debt, that you came to our aid, and that he came to our aid,” Yanmei said, bowing her head deeply.

“We will let him know,” Lord Zhou said, as the girl finally raised her head. “But it will likely be better if you tell him yourself, after all of this is over.”

She gave him a nod.

“Now, let us not waste too many hours. The battle is still ongoing, and our work is not gone,” Lord Zhou said as the two resumed their work.

***

Jinhai Stepped through the world, reality obeying his command as he arrived upon the fourth peak. He was high above, beyond the clouds and nearly touching on the edges of the sky, he could feel the primordial Qi from the beyond seeping in this high above. He decidedly did not look at it, or engage with it whatsoever. The world of the beyond was one thing even he did not mess with.

His eyes focused, five divine demonic spirit rings glowing with the authority of Divine power as his vision pierced the clouds, looking down below.

It had taken him a few days to make the journey, which was an annoyance. He did not think it’d be necessary to step out just yet, before the empire had brought out their divinities.

He’d been looking forward to get to fight the Huo Patriarch. He was told the man was the fiercest of all of them, and Jinhai had wanted to make the man plead and beg as he corrupted his body till it crumbled apart in front of his eyes, to break that twisted pride the cultivators had held onto and show them the hubris that would cause them to crumble apart.

But alas, he was here now, at least things would wrap up quickly now.

He took a moment to assess the situation, watching the battle taking place. The cultivators were just as expected, they alone would not be able to take down his armies.

Instead, it was the weapons from the seventh peak. They’d found their underground tunnels and were blowing them apart, collapsing places. Most of the deathless had been killed and the ones that remained seemed to be hiding. Cowards. He’d make sure they all died at his hands later on.

He observed the weapons. Strange things, they blasted little pellets. But when he saw what they were made of… a smile came upon his face.

Metal. That just happened to be his specialty.

But just destroying all their weapons won’t do. The cultivators would still be able to fight back. No, he needed to crush this momentum of their for good, once and for all. He needed to cut it off at the roots and then burn what remained and the dying flames for good measure.

He scanned the fourth peak till he found it. The man leading the charge. Fourth advancement. Or tenth realm as the cultivators called it. So likely the lord of this peak.

That would do.

Jinhai smiled, yellowed teeth showing through cracked lips as a manic energy ran across the demon’s body. He reached into his core, letting power surge forth as he stepped once more, arriving in sight and shooting range of the archers they’d stationed.

Before they could notice, he called upon his domain.

“Corrupted Domain: All is Dust.”

The domain expanded in an instant all around the fourth peak before the cultivators could react, a wave of panic spread around the soldiers but he did not give them any time as he let a torrent of miasma pour forth.

Corruption rose from the entire domain, his power surging. The metal they held began to corrode visibly, rust grew and brittleness rose as their weapons all began to crumble into red dust.

Their explosives crumbled to dust, some exploding amidst their own ranks, killing dozens in an instant.

But it wasn’t just the weapons. Those directly in the domain found their bodies coming next, their skin cracked, their hairs dried out, life faded as the men collapsed one after another, withering in matters of minutes.

Hundreds died in seconds. Others who did not wished they were dead.

As that happened, he felt the fourth lord head towards him in a rush, his own domain starting to expand as it pushed back on his, he simply grinned.

He’d wanted to use this on the Huo Patriarch, but he supposed this man would do as well. It was the trick he’d learned from how the boy killed the deathless. Yang Shen had forbidden him from doing it, because it could kill him and all that nonsense but he did not care.

He took out the alchemy pills he’d stolen, one of the exploding ones and then he let it explode, timing it just perfect as he mixed his own miasma with the explosion. The two energies mixed, and Jinhai felt the skin on his arm burn away from the knock back but the method worked, as a beam of energy shot forward.

And it shot through the lord’s shoulder and chest, evaporating entire sections. He clicked his tongue, he’d been aiming for his heart but the lord had sensed it at the last moment and saved himself. He took out another pill, letting it explode but this one blew up around his arm as he missed the timing, taking out half his arm. It would take nearly a whole minute for his arm to return. It always took so much time if the damage was by this method.

He needed to do some more practice with the technique and get the timing of it right.

Fortunately, he still had a lot of practice targets to play with.

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