Chapter [B4] 24 — Dire Measures

Chapter [B4] 24 — Dire Measures

Something was wrong. I could feel it as a deep certainty down in my very bones. Something was very very wrong and I’d not been able to shake the feeling ever since the connection to the fourth peak had been stopped. The jade slips had cracked and stopped working all of a sudden, which was concerning enough as it is, but then something had changed with the Divine Tree itself.

I’d felt it more than seen it, the vast presence that had flared for but a moment over the entire world, and I’d found myself unable to understand just what I was seeing but the cycle itself had shifted, I’d felt a piece of it changing, and I did not understand what it meant.

And so now I paced in my own chamber to hear some news, anything, to explain just what was happening.

Mercifully, I did not have to wait forever as I sensed Qiao Ying heading my way. I did not way, opening the door as the man looked at me in surprise.

“Did you hear anything?” I asked the man in a rush.

Qiao Ying recovered quickly, and bowed. “The Divinities have set up a scrying formation to talk with you. I’ve made the arrangements.”

I did not waste any time, quickly following Qiao Ying as I walked into the chamber with the scrying formation. The pool of water sat in the midst of a large but shallow bowl. The formation had been setup in hasty, even I could see that, so the burden of maintaining it would be on the other side, still, I imagine the Divinities would not lack in people capable enough to do so.

As I stepped inside, Qiao Ying bowed and remained outside the door. A pulse of Qi travelled across the chamber as the water rose up into the air and I found tree figures standing in front of me. I gave a small bow to the Divinities, and then waited for them to speak.

“We’ve heard of your accomplishment in bringing back the Azure Dragon. We would’ve spoken of it earlier, but as you know, things have been a little busy with the war. We’ve been trying to track Yang Shen’s movement but the demon has somehow been managing to escape all our attempts to locate him,” the Shie matriarch said.

I nodded, feeling like there was more to be said on the topic but I decided not to comment.

“I don’t like subterfuge and so on so I’ll cut straight to the core of the matter of why we’ve reached out in such a manner. We need you to get back to the capital,” the Yue patriarch said, I could vaguely smell the ocean behind him from the scrying mark, which I found strange.

“Why?” I asked, surprised by the statement.

“Because losing you would mean the end of this war. And the demons have began deploying Divinities of their own. We can’t take the risk. None of us can. We’re all returning to the capital and we’ll make our hold there,” the Yue patriarch said.

My eyes widened in surprise, as a few things clicked together, and I took a long moment to cover everything. The demons had Divinities, which meant we’d have to contest with those. And if the presence I’d felt and the events of the fourth peak lined up with this... I clenched my fist, holding back a pulse of anger.

“It has been difficult to get information from the fourth peak but the Divinity had made its appearence here. By all means the fourth peak should’ve fallen then and there. A divinity is not somebody that you can stop so simply, but your lord, Lord Zhou, was seemingly blessed by the heavens. Accounts are unclear but people had seen a tribulation form, and the Lord and the Demon had fought before both of them had risen to the sky and vanished in a bright flash of light,” the Yue patriarch continued. “It may be that Lord Zhou had sacrificed himself to take out the demonic divinity.”

I listened to their words, but did not fully register them. I should’ve been feeling pain, hurt, loss, so much more, and yet a part of me just did not believe what they were saying. I’d felt that change, felt the... the presence shift and though it was blurry, I could also feel Lord Zhou. He was there, as if hidden outside my senses, but I could feel his presence there, connected to me still.

I let out a deep breath, taking all of that in.

The Huo patriarch continued as I settled my thoughts. “From what we understand, there are three other divinities that still remain. And then there is Yang Shen himself. It is all but inevitable for one of the seven peaks to fall with Divinities on the other side. They could strike any one of them, or combine their strengths to repeat another strike on the fourth peak and there would be little we would be able to do. Doing that would mean certain loss, and a slow and terrible one.”

“Which is why, we think it will be best to reshape the dynamics of the battle. The fourth peak has all but fallen, and so, we’re not going to hold onto a front we cannot truly hold. The lords will defend their peaks, the fourth lord will retreat and we’ll gather our forces around Azure City and let the demons find a way to the capital on our terms, and face them in battle there,” the Shie Matriarch finished.

I simply listened quietly, thinking over everything. I could see the logic, I had a lot of questions and a lot of doubts but I was not experienced in warfare and I was not a strategist, so I did not delve too deeply in those questions.

“How will I get to the capital? It will take time and if the goal is to minimize risk, then a journey will only make me more vulnerable on the way there.”

The Divinities seemed surprised at that, looking at each other.

“What?” I asked, finding my patience running a little thin.

“We’d anticipated you to resist more,” the Shie matriarch said at last.

“Given your temperament so far, we thought we’d have to get most of your friends and such here as well,” the Huo patriarch added as well.

I wanted to be annoyed at that, but in truth that was just my emotions getting the better of me. Their assessment was not wrong. Normally I’d be quite opposed, especially if it really was so dangerous with the demonic Divinities running about. But I knew better than that.

The Yue patriarch, for some reason, seemed to be smiling.

I simply stared, watching Elder Tian Feng standing there. I gave the man a light bow, greeting him. “What’s going on?” I asked.

The Elder looked at me, and then to the other divinities. “There is another option Lu Jie, but it is one that puts you at risk, and why this was the first alternative that was presented to you. You should think carefully—“

“—I’ll do it.” I said, not waiting an instant.

The man paused, and then gave me a nod. “I had assumed you would say something like that. But keep in mind that it is not just your life that is at stake. If you die, someone else will have to hold the Divine Beasts. That is... not an easy task. To hold a Divine Beast, you need to have the spirit strength to hold their power within you. Or if not that, then you need to be heavily in tune with their nature of power. You have both, and it is why you are able to achieve what you do, but even you must know that your vessel is insufficient to keep such power at bay. You must have felt it already,” the man said.

I paused. I had felt that before. A little like trying to cram an ocean into a bucket, it felt like I would explode from the insight if I ever looked too deep.

“The Divine Beasts, no doubt, are keeping most of it at bay. They will have to be working hard to not pressure your spirit too much, and the time you’ve had one divine beast within you means your spirit has slowly but surely grown larger and accustomed to holding such a presence. You do not even realize how special this has made you. People do not simply shrug off the aura of three divinities, my boy. Especially not children who are not even fully grown into their powers,” Elder Tian Feng said, and I paused, realizing the Divinities had not just been insisting but actively pushing down with their auras on me.

I’d just subconsciously resisted it, and not noticed the weight of it. Normally when in the presence of someone powerful, I’d feel it, like a mountain sitting on my shoulders, making me submit, but... this almost felt light. Against the weight of two divine beasts... I felt like my spirit was simply heavier than theirs. Like there was this intangible mass inside of me that determined the weight of my own aura and spirit and it was simply larger than the Divinities.

Elder Tian Feng smiled. “There are many such things you do not know, and that is fine. Not all things have to be named, and set within known standards and convictions. Your lack of knowledge is partly why you’re capable of performing feats of miracles without ever batting an eye. The detachment from the world of cultivation that you’ve maintained has let you do things from a perspective few others can match and this allows you to achieve breakthroughs hardly anyone else could hope to match. But, it also means you don’t understand your own strengths and limits, and the task in front of you... it is not an easy one. And there is a very real chance that you may not survive,” Elder Tian Feng said.

I wanted to simply jump in and say that I’d do it again but I paused and gave the question serious consideration out of respect to Elder Tian Feng. What would happen if I did die? The battle against Yang Shen would prove to be much more difficult for one. Qinglong and Xuanwu would have to find a new vessel to bestow their divine powers onto.

And yet... I did not find that too dire. I had already left almost everything I knew in the five texts I’d written. I would not be able to guide people through those insights and knowledge but it was there to be made use of. Qiao Ying was highly capable and was running the sect and so many other things for me already, and while I knew Labby would be heartbroken and my friends would be deeply saddened, they would not be lost without me.

Neither would the cycle. It would be harder, for sure, it would take a lot more work, and the demons would have a real chance of just ending it all and making things way way worse, but it’d not be the end.

I could almost see it... the people, together, as one, gathering and helping each other. Mortals and cultivators alike, using the knowledge I’d left, using the resources and path I’d shown and walking on it, with or without me.

If a single vessel cannot be found then they’d find multiple. If that cannot be done then the divine beasts can simply help directly, instead of via proxy. But I believed in the human spirit, in our ability to find a way out of difficult times, and somehow, the spark that I’d envisioned lighting, the spark of curiosity, of development, of bringing true change to the world. That spark had turned into a brilliant and blazing inferno that was only going to spread faster and faster.

I opened my eyes, and I almost felt a shift in my core, as if I’d passed some kind of bottleneck I hadn’t known of, and I gave the elder a nod.

“I’ll do it.”

He looked at me, gave me a nod, and then glanced at the other Divinities.

“Very well,” the Shie matriarch said, raising her hand.

“Prepare for the artifact to work. You will feel a little strange, but don’t resist,” she said and I prepared myself.

I felt the Qi gathering... a twisted, strange thing that was a mix of black and blue. It pulsed out of the scrying formation and bound around me, and I could see it, almost as a polar twin to Zhang’s gravity Chi... but a greater representation of such, even if not fully balanced.

But before I could analyze things any further, the strange Qi enveloped all around and I found my stomach lurch as I felt myself being flung at speeds I could not even begin to describe.

The world swirled around me things moved really fast for a second and then slowed down immediately and I collapsed on the ground, doing my best to hold myself back from hurling onto the floor.

After a few deep breaths, I finally looked up and saw Elder Tian Feng looking down at me, Xian Yue standing next to him with a complicated expression I couldn’t quite read.

The elder extended a hand to me, and I took it, standing back up on my feet.

“Welcome back to Azure City, Lu Jie,” the Elder said, and then turned. “Follow me. You have something to see in here.”