Epilogue: The Valkyrie/The Swordmaster

Epilogue: The Valkyrie/The Swordmaster

In the middle of a frozen river there is an island. Atop that island is a ruined dome. Within that ruin is a basin lined with the runes of a dead culture. Before it was the sight of a great vengeance fulfilled. Filled with the last essence of a betrayer. Now it is dry. The little white flower had slipped its pot and strangled the garden, supping on their life to bloom anew.

Thunder brewed overhead as dark clouds glowed with hidden lightning that chased away the darkness of the endless caverns. Rain fell in heavy sheets through the hole in the roof of the ruined dome. Not a single drop touched the ground however. The rain hissed and impacted upon crackling metal white qi. The qi arced and scythed, blooming new metal white qi everywhere it impacted. It coated the floor of the basin and crawled up its sides, coiling at the feet of the dead warlord watching a flower become lightning.

The white qi within the basin pulsed. The crawling thunderbolts turned upon themselves, clashing and striking each other to the sound of horrible screeching. The dome glowed white with their harsh light and rang with its screeching thunder, briefly overcoming nature’s roar outside. The storm above seemed to notice this defiance. Felt the flowers beacon of challenge. Reprisal came swiftly. A single large bolt of blue lightning expertly threaded itself through the broken dome and speared the source of the white qi. Booming thunder, that proud herald of Heaven’s punishment, arrived as always too late to warn of the impending doom but just in time to serve as its final bell.

Except now the thunder came and went, but the lightning did not leave. It arced and shifted but its point remained buried within the mass of white qi and its body pillared up into the cloud flew down from. The white qi suddenly receded into the center and the blue bolt became white as lightning struck in reverse from Earth to Heaven, following the same path it had paved. The world turned white and thunder roared as a whole was torn open in the storm above banishing cloud and lightning and rain.

Lan Fen stood and ascended to the Liquid Meridian Realm.

White qi surged in from her surroundings. Covering her in small static as she absorbed it. Lightning raced within her meridians, in such numbers they became a flood. They arced through every cell and flashed deep into her bones. A constant river cycled throughout her body, all centered around the endless storm within her core that hammered out new metal qi with every strike from the raw energy she drew in from the air.

She marveled in silent awe at the power available to her now. Power beyond the wildest dreams of the little girl who wanted to make her father proud all those years ago. With this power she could have slain her grandfather on her lonesome. With this power there would have been no need to resort to trickery and plans. She wondered if she should have waited. Should have bided her time and focused on her cultivation before exacting her revenge on her family. She quashed that thought soon after. The longer she waited the more it would weigh on her. The more chances it gave to those she hated most to flee beyond her reach. Perhaps in another life she would have gone to ground. Silently cultivated and fought for scraps like a dog until she was strong enough. She hadn’t needed to though. She hadn’t had to fight alone.

I wonder if he advanced to the Liquid Meridian Realm yet.

An annoying cough done solely for attention broke her thoughts.

“Well. That was acceptable I suppose,” the White Tyrant said. “A bit weak but I can’t set my expectations too high.”

The rain fell again.

“I am glad you are satisfied, White Tyrant,” Lan Fen primly said.

The White Tyrant scoffed. “Do you think this much is enough?”

A single thought took the storm boiling within Lan Fen’s core and expressed it outward. A white shade that looked like the White Tyrant overlayed her and the surrounding qi flashed into clouds of gaseous white. The clouds rose and spun, growing as they collided and expelled white lightning. Where the lightning struck new white qi festered and the storm grew with each flash, soon engulfing the dome entirely. Every so often an errant lance of lightning would hit Lan Fen, seamlessly merging into her body and joining the rest of her reserves.

She looked at the White Tyrant and raised an eyebrow.

“Now turn it off,” he grunted, unimpressed.

Lan Fen obliged and the qi storm condensed into a single stake of lightning before sinking into her core. The phantom covering her like armor faded.

“Do you see the issue now?” the White Tyrant asked.

“Yes, my Harmonization is that of an old man. Truly a travesty.”

“That is exactly the problem,” the White Tyrant snapped. “Harmonizing with your Cultivation Method isn’t the same as with a Technique. It’s not possible to just stop Harmonizing once you’ve done it. The fact that you can proves your mistake. You haven’t Harmonized with the Method at all. Just with me who uses it.”

Lan Fen looked at the White Tyrant in shock. “Are you... talking down about yourself? You?”

The White Tyrant sneered. “This miserable planet has only ever produced two things worthy of praise in its history. The First Spark of Primordial World, and myself. When I flung myself into the wider Universe I wondered about my place in it. If I would have to give up everything and start anew. I didn’t. Because the countless sages who peered into the history impressed into our species blood created a truly peerless Method worthy of any Celestial Kindgom. Now you’ve screwed up your chance. Congratulations ant. You’ve stepped into my shoes. Now you’ll really be eating my dust for the rest of your life.”

“I can simply Harmonize with both,” Lan Fen casually said.

“Harmonize with both she says,” the White Tyrant repeated, laughing with mockery. “What a joke—” He paused suddenly, frowning.

Lan Fen’s frivolity flew away as she focused. “Is there something wrong? Is something coming?”

“No. It’s something to do with me. A resonance. Somewhere far.” the White Tyrant said, peering into space through senses she still was not able to recall correctly from his possession. He pinched the air with his fingers. A motion she knew to be some sort of trick of higher cultivators to better use their sense to divine things. It was the first time she’d seen it happen outside books however. “South. Doesn’t feel like any legacy or treasure I left. I never left any clone either. And what is this feeling of irritation I have?”

Far South... perhaps?

“It could be Chen Haoran,” Lan Fen said.

“Ah.” The White Tyrant clicked his tongue. “That explains why I’m annoyed. Where the hell did you send that idiot anyway?”

“It seems Chen Haoran followed his Shaman friend to the Southern Region.” That was good. The jungles of the south were a good place to disappear in and hide from searching eyes. He had seemed to hit it off well with the Shaman so he shouldn’t run into too much trouble down there.

“Ah, the bug thing,” The White Tyrant recalled.

“Did you truly not have them in your time?” Lan Fen asked.

“No, we had actual monsters to deal with unlike your generation.”

Lan Fen rolled her eyes. It was a bit interesting that Gu hadn’t existed in the White Tyrant’s era but in the end it was nothing more than a scholarly curiosity on her part. Then again it seemed he hadn’t interacted or heard of them at all after he returned to the planet either.

The White Tyrant snapped his fingers loudly in her face and interrupted her tangent. “You’ve yet to explain what you plan to do now,” he said, ignoring her annoyed glare. “Please don’t tell me you’re going to go follow that moron.”

Lan Fen shook her head. “Chen Haoran has his own path to follow as I do mine.” If those paths were to cross in the future she would welcome it but now was the time to truly spread her wings. “First we will go see just what lies in the frigid center of this Secret Realm.”

She had made a promise to her grandfather, after all.

“Ah yes. Walking.” The White Tyrant sighed. “At the very least grab one of those damn flying creatures like that Moron did.”

Flying huh? The memory of her possession came to mind. That moment when she pulled free her sword and allowed the White Tyrant control over her body. She had been aware of his actions the whole time. Had seen firsthand his killing blow and the ways in which he used her qi. Even now she could see her grandfather fleeing into the air atop a growing branch. She remembered the White Tyrant stepping into the sky after him. The restraints of the world simply sliding off his qi. She was not anywhere near his level yet, but that was fine.

His thoughts must have leaked into his tone because the Queen Mother shot him a penetrating look. “Are you curious about him? Or rather, our relation?”

Jiang Lei bowed even lower. “I would not dare, Master.”

He truly wouldn’t. Even so, his treacherous thoughts rose their ugly head. Who was Chen Haoran? Who was his father? Who was this unknown daughter of the Queen Mother? Even with all these reports he managed for the Queen Mother, the name of Chen Qitao had never appeared, and those of the upper echelons barely spoke more than a whisper acknowledging him.

“Speak Jiang Lei. Others I will have hold their tongues, but your voice I wish to hear. Is it my daughter you wish to know about? Or the father she and that failure share?”

Jiang Lei did not look up. “This humble swordsman dares not overstep his bounds regarding the matter of the princess, Master.”

“Princess....” the Queen Mother mused. “That child does have my blood running in her veins, so you’re not entirely wrong. Do not be concerned with her, however. As part of our cooperation Chen Qitao asked for a child to use in his experiments and so I gave him one.”

That alone was a staggering admission. Jiang Lei had been in shock for days after hearing the Queen Mother had a child. He’d not breathed a word of it to anyone afterward. The uproar would be enormous. How many pursuers did the Queen Mother have in her lifetime? All of those great rulers and mighty warriors showering favor for a chance to court her. Even the Peach River Sword Sect was abound with tales of Swordsmen growing old and dying lovelorn. Their ghosts would be crying blood if they were to hear this.

Chen Haoran is the half-brother of our living legend’s only daughter.

The sound of bells suddenly sounded across the city, loud enough to shake the walls of the building. Through the transparent wall, he could see Reservoir Town thrown into a frenzy as the alarm bells rang.

“It seems that boy Meng Huo finished his meeting with the Pacification Commissioner,” the Queen Mother said.

She stood up from her chair and walked over to the wall, laying a hand on it. For several moments she said nothing and Jiang Lei held his breath.

“Tell me, Jiang Lei,” she finally said. “Were you to be caught between a foreign dragon and a local snake, who would you feel more threatened by?”

The sudden question threw him for a loop. He was familiar with the terms, but the Queen Mother’s use of them was strange. They were part of an old saying: ‘A foreign dragon cannot suppress a local snake.’ It meant to describe the advantages one had within their own field of influence compared to someone outside it trying to fight them. It was a popular phrase amongst the defenders of Zumulu during the Sunset Invasion.

Jiang Lei tried to parse out the Queen Mother’s meaning. She was referring to herself. That much was clear. Who the foreign dragon and the local snake were was another matter, however. He struggled to wrap his head around it. She was Xi Wangmu. It was hard to imagine her feeling surrounded by anyone.

Still, the Queen Mother asked for an answer.

“The foreign dragon,” Jiang Lei softly replied.

The Empire had proven that much.

The Queen Mother chuckled. “You’re not wrong. Perhaps I’m getting caught up in my own age.”

“Master, you will live for Ten Thousand years!” Jiang Lei hurriedly said.

“Perhaps I will. But when I see these burning stars fly past me, I wonder. What of it?” She tapped her fingers against the wall. “Chen Qitao and the Sunset Emperor are men cut from the same cloth. If only they were born in the same era so that they might have killed each other and spared the world from their ambitions.”

A chill ran down Jiang Lei’s spine as the qi in the room began to rise.

“Oh, Zumulu. Could I but draw my sword o’ertopping heaven, I’d cleave you in three: one piece for the Empire, one for the Republic, one to keep in the South. Peace would then reign over the world, the same warmth and cold throughout the globe.”

Both of his knees touched the floor, and Jiang Lei was forced to prostrate himself as the pressure grew. Sweat beaded across his brow and soaked his back as he raised his qi to resist. Despite his efforts, all he could do was raise his head.

The Queen Mother was glowing so bright it was blinding. Fractals of five colors shimmered around her as the qi in the air broke into its component elements from the pressure she emitted.

This was too much. They would be exposed. The concealment formations within the mansion would not be able to hide this. The Garrison would soon notice and immediately surround them.

“Master!” Jiang Lei shouted.

“Since the stage has been so graciously set, I may as well step into the role they’ve made for me. Bear witness, Jiang Lei.”

The roof of the mansion was suddenly gone, evaporated in a single expression of pure power. The Queen Mother soared into the air, the peach light around her growing, intensifying, igniting.

“Master!” Jiang Lei hysterically shouted because what else could he do?

A new sun appeared above the sky of Reservoir Town as the Queen Mother ascended to the Star Core Realm.

The city was scoured by pink light, then by intense winds of pure qi. The intensity of the Queen Mother’s advancement ran unchecked and unrestrained. Jiang Lei was crushed through several floors of the mansion and ended up on his back on the ground floor, staring above. Reservoir Town groaned and screeched under a weight it was simply not meant to bear. Peach petals fell like rain, carrying with them a scent sweet enough to stupefy the soul.

Another sun appeared in the sky. In it was a man he was trained to never forget.

“Foul rebel!” cursed First-To-Kneel Meng Huo, the King of Southern Tranquility. “You harm the city and its people and disturb the Emperor’s peace. A thousand deaths won’t be enough to expunge this crime!”

“And Ten-Thousand will not be enough to expunge yours boy,” the Queen Mother replied.

Both suns shook.

“Impossible,” Meng Huo said. “You can’t be alive. The Imperial Ancestor killed you!”

“Consider me a ghost then. Back from the Green Hell itself to exact revenge on traitorous dogs like you.” A giant peach tree grew from thin air and rooted itself in the Queen Mother’s sun. “Come! Let me see if you kids improved at all in 400 years!”

Amongst rubble and wreckage, Jiang Lei watched the rebellion begin with a war in Heaven.