Book 6: Chapter 48: The Ruins (3)

Book 6: Chapter 48: The Ruins (3)

All throughout Sens training, Master Feng had instilled in him the need for control. Hed striven for it at first because he trusted Master Feng. Then, hed gone out into the world and witnessed firsthand the destruction that uncontrolled techniques could unleash. Hed even been the cause of some of that destruction. A loss of control had the potential to end lives by the hundreds or, as a cultivator advanced, by the thousands. It could level homes. It could level nations. Those experiences and realizations had reinforced his belief in the absolute need for control. Sen could count on his fingers the number of times hed truly lost that part of himself. Even when the heart demon was at its worst, Sen had rarely fallen prey.

Of course, he had also rarely been in a position where a loss of control stood to harm so few and destroy so many that deserved it. Nor had he ever been as powerful as he was at that moment, recent trauma aside. It would be so easy, he thought. Keeping a tight hold on techniques was the challenge. Letting them fail, well, that was childs play. A heavens rebuke like that one I set off back in that abandoned town, perhaps, mused Sen. It would likely wipe away every devilish beast rushing toward them. Any it didnt kill would likely be horribly injured by that detonation of qi. The idea seemed to take hold of Sen with a will of its own. He had already drawn his jian and started pressing lightning qi into it before he realized what he was about to do.

He truly had no idea what that technique or an intentionally flawed version of the technique would do at his current level of advancement. Yes, it would kill the enemy, but it might also wipe away half of the ruins or kill them all. He withdrew the lightning qi from the jian and decided that something else was more appropriate for these creatures. While his memories of why he performed the technique remained hazy, the mechanics of Heavens Shadow remained burned into his mind. Just as importantly, it wouldnt bring about mass destruction in its wake. Sen pulled on the shadow qi inside of him, frantically mixing and matching the other kinds of qi it needed, before he drew on that helix of divine qi, just the tiniest thread, to bring it all together. Then, remembering that he had inflicted his grief on those other cultivators, he picked something else he was all too familiar with to infuse the technique. Fear.New novel chapters are published at novelhall.com

He had spent most of his early life in a constant state of fear. Fear of starvation. Fear of beatings. Fear of death. His ascent into the ranks of cultivator hadnt freed him from fear, just given him new things to fear. Sen drew deep on those experiences and distilled that fear into something more basic, something purer, something primal. He squeezed that fear the way he might squeeze qi to condense it. He took that fear and shoved it into the technique. There was a moment of resistance before the technique let him add this other element. He glanced over at Misty Peak.

Get ready to follow me through, said Sen before shooting a look at the spider. That goes for you too back there.

Misty Peak was staring at the jian in Sens hand like it was made of death. What are you going to do?

Sen gave her a smile. Im going to share.

Where hed almost instinctively limited the technique the first time hed done it, Sen put no such restrictions on himself this time. He swept the jian before him and a casual, almost lazy arc. An avalanche of shadow, divine qi, and the essence of fear rolled across the land in front of him, spreading out and crashing over the devilish spirit beasts and restless spirits alike. There was a hush as that technique inundated those fell creatures, seeped into them, and afflicted them. The avalanche thinned as the technique took root in every living and unliving thing within its range. His mind a little more settled, Sen returned to pressing lightning qi and his killing intent into his jian. Right around the moment Heavens Rebuke coalesced and purple-hued black lighting started to crackle around the blade, the part of the horde that had been racing toward them quite simply went mad.

He would have liked to stay and experiment, but he barely dodged a foot-long spine that something in the horde had fired off. He wasnt even sure that it had been aimed at him. It could have been aimed at something else, or nothing at all, or simply fired in some creatures death throes. He gave the spider a baleful glare and the creature flinched back from it. They couldnt stop moving or theyd get bogged down in the horde.

Lets go! ordered Sen, knowing that it was too late.

Misty Peak had been flittering around the edges of their fight with the human-faced spider things, but the horde had shifted, bringing fresh monstrosities into their vicinity. The horde wasnt targeting them specifically. They were still caught in the throes of the panic that Sen had induced. Unfortunately, the devilish beasts were so thick on the ground that they didnt need to target Sens group specifically. Misty Peak was frantically battling with three fear-crazed things that Sen didnt look at too closely. He needed to make them a little breathing room. He started cycling for wind. It normally wouldnt be much of a challenge, but maintaining Heavens Rebuke had never really gotten any easier. It still demanded most of his attention. He also wasnt prepared to release it yet.

Instead, Sen did what he knew best. He pushed himself. He forced his mind to find what it needed to cycle the amount of wind he needed. Then, he crafted wind blades. Except, these werent the small wind blades that he normally preferred. These wind blades were massive things that were close to thirty feet long. With an effort of will and qi, he started to spin those wind blades like they were attached to an axle with his small group in a tiny safe zone at the center of the carnage he was about to unleash. It took almost five seconds, a long eternity in battle, for the wind blade to reach the speeds he wanted, but the effect was almost instantaneous. There was a hellish shriek as the wind blades cut through the air and dangerous chaotic winds hurled some of the lighter devilish beasts away. As blood started trickling out of his nose, Sen smiled and was certain he must look slightly mad. I did say someone was going to pay, he thought.

Misty Peak! Fall back! shouted Sen.

She didnt hesitate. She flung herself toward where Sen was standing. As she did that, Sen pulled those massive spinning wind blades down to the earth. He didnt have the words to describe the carnage he unleashed with that decision. Weaker devilish beasts were simply disintegrated by the blades, while stronger beasts were flung away in pieces. The bone shrapnel from the beasts that were somewhere in the middle caused a wave of death that radiated outward from where Sen stood. There was also a great wash of black blood that covered everything within sight. Misty Peak stared at the destruction with her jaw slack. Sen knew better than to waste time. He grabbed her arm and started dragging her toward the ruins. After a few steps, she shook off her shock and started moving under her own power again.

The path to the ruins was more or less clear, and Sen found it interesting that the barrier that kept out the horde had also kept out the blood, bone shrapnel, and dismembered bodies. It also let them move a lot faster. It wasnt fast enough. A massive devilish beast slammed down between them and the ruins. It might have looked like Boulders Shadow if Boulders Shadow had leathery skin instead of soft fur and stood ten feet tall. Misty Peak started to slow down but Sen was tired and hurting. He didnt feel like bantering with whatever that thing was. He simply pointed his jian at it and unleashed Heavens Rebuke as a consolidated strike. He was interested to note that another little thread of divine qi jumped into the technique right as he launched it. The devilish beasts eyes widened as it saw the iridescent bolt of lightning streak toward it, and then punch straight through it.

The lightning hit the barrier protecting the ruins. There was a moment of infinite horror inside of Sen when he thought hed made a lethal mistake. If Heavens Rebuke damaged the barrier, it might spell all of their deaths. Instead, it was as if a great hammer had struck a bell. A pure note rolled away from the barrier like a physical presence. Sen braced himself for the blow, but it passed through him. He spun to check on the spider, but it was just standing there and giving Sen a look that made him think it was confused. Sen turned to look at Misty Peak and froze at what he assumed was her actual appearance. No, he chided himself, thats an inside-the-ruins conversation.

While that sound had left them unharmed, it was less kind to the devilish beasts. Some of them were ripped apart, some of them melted, but it seemed like all of them were hurt in some way. Sen knew enough not to waste that bit of good fortune. He activated his qinggong technique and raced toward the ruins. He flinched a little as he passed through the barrier, but nothing happened. He turned to watch as Misty Peak pulled something out of a storage ring and activated it. She looked incredibly uncertain as she passed through the barrier. Her eyes darted around like she expected something terrible to happen and only relaxed when nothing did. The spider raced up to the barrier and passed through it without so much as a twitch in its steps. Sen let himself sink down to the ground and flopped back. We did it, he thought. Were inside. I just wish I thought the hard part was over.