The Laws of Cultivation: Qi = MC^2

Chi flared in my body as I shot forward, heading straight towards the demon. Power swirled within me as I aimed to tackle the demon down into the ground, but the creature was quick, noticing my strike as he spun through the air to dodge.

I turned, following the creature as we clashed once mid air before landing on the ground simultaneously. Yan Yun, Zhang and Liuxiang quickly followed a moment later, all landing behind me.

I had my fists raised, observing the demon. It was humanoid, with dark black skin that had a hint of red in it. Its arms had spectral chains wrapped around him that seemed to fade in and out of reality, and the creature had a sharp face that looked at the rest of us with amusement.

“Quite the gathering you have here,” the demon said, putting the box-like artifact that contained the Azure Dragon in a pouch at its waist. His eyes flickered around before settling onto me. There was a pause, as he recognized me. “You…” the demon whispered, before an unsettling smile took over his face. “I know you. You’re the one we were told to bring back alive, if we could, to meet Yang Shen,” the demon said, looking at me. “Although, alive can mean a lot of different things, and honest mistakes happen, don’t they?” he said, snickering as the chains at its arms began to unwound.

“Sure, I’ll meet him, alive and all. But I’m not sure I can say the same about you though,” I said, as I began to gather my power.

The world swirled around me as I vanished, appearing right in front of the demon with a Step. Harmony hummed in my core, power gathering within me as I struck with a powerful strike of force.

To my surprise, the demon dodged my strike, moving near instantly and reacting with a speed I hadn’t expected to see out of it. Chains swung towards me, like metallic serpents striking at me with potent miasma pouring through them. I side stepped the strikes, dodging the chains. The chains turned almost as if they had a life of their own, swerving as if to encircle me. I got a strange feeling from them, that I shouldn’t let them touch me no matter what.

I jumped back from the chains, landing next to my friends who’d not reacted or stepped into the fight with me just yet, simply observing for now.

“There’s something wrong with those chains,” I said, glancing back towards them.

“Yes. The Azure dragon, no matter what, should not have been captured so easily. Even if weakened, a divine beast is not something a demon like this should’ve been able to restrain alone. There’s a trick involved,” Liuxiang said.

“Let’s not find out what that is,” I added, channeling my Chi around me. There was no need to draw this battle out, the advantage was in the demon’s hands, and if it chose, it could make an escape right now with the Azure Dragon. The only reason I suspected it wasn’t doing so was because the order to capture me was likely less optional than it was letting on.

That was fine, I could make use of that. If it was going to give us a chance then I was certainly going to make sure it regretted doing so.

“I need one minute. Buy me one minute,” I told them, and then I began to gather my strength.

Harmony hummed in my spirit, and I felt Xuanwu rising from within me. Power flooded me, a chill emanating across my body as the Divine Beast’s strength became my own. The skies thundered above once more, a storm brewing as the first drops of rain began to fall down.

My friends moved to strike the creature. Liuxiang rushed in, poisonous phantom serpents swirling all around her as they rushed ahead to strike. Gravity swirled around Zhang, the rocks from the ground rising up at his commands before being swung towards the creature. An aura of strength flowed around Yan Yun, golden and gentle it flowed over Zhang and Liuxiang, bolstering them as she gathered Chi on her own, channeling lightning to strike at the creature.

I stood still, looking at the creature. It moved through the myriad of strikes, chains swerving all around. Zhang’s spear flew across the sky, creating a crater as it struck with terrifying weight where it landed, shaking the very earth around. Liuxiang’s poison serpents constricted the demon, fighting with the chains that moved, trying to grab my friends within them, and Yan Yun helped support them while using her lightning to strike at the demon from afar and throw him off. But the creature was strong, he moved swiftly, dodging strikes with speed and grace I had not anticipated from a demon. Miasma roiled around him like a hissing, boiling thing of anger and hate, spreading outwards as the demon stepped around, trying to move closer to my friends.

I continued to gather Xuanwu’s strength. I had one strike, I had to use one strike to make it count. I’d engaged with the demon once, and he was fast, fast enough that I suspected he would be able to dodge whatever I threw at him, unless I took him by surprise.

And so I continued to observe. And the more I saw, the more unsettled I became. There was an inhuman quality to the way the thing fought, almost like a puppet, like its body was merely a vessel that it was controlling, it moved with swift precision using its limbs in ways that damaged itself before being healed by the miasma that ran through its body. It only confirmed my suspicions.

These creatures, the Deathless, were not alive. Not truly. Merely puppets being run by the soul trapped within, slaves to the miasma and the forces that filled them.

It filled me with distaste.

I felt Harmony settle in, as a resonating humm of power began to ring through my spirit. All three laws within me channeled as one, swirling, and I could see the battle ahead raging rapidly. For a moment, it all seemed to stop as if time itself had come to a grinding halt.

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I Stepped, and appeared in front of it, my hand wrapped around its throat. Genesis rose to power as I pulled onto the miasma within the beast, draining it, Unity flowed that miasma into me, turning it into Chi, bolstering my strength.

The demon’s eyes were wide, surprised for the very first time. I pulled at its miasma, draining it of strength as I tightened my grip around its throat.

“Release the Azure Dragon,” I commanded, the weight of my will crashing down onto the creature. It was not just me speaking, it was my voice giving substance to the will of Xuanwu, the Black Tortoise. The Lord of the North, and a divine beast himself.

The world rumbled at my words, the air itself heeding my command and pushing down on the demon in my grasp, crushing him.

The demon snickered, laughing as if this was amusing. I pulled harder at its miasma but even as its spirit began to drain and crumble, the creature raised its hand towards me and grasped my shoulder.

Chains erupted from its hand and I felt something constricting me. Xuanwu roared as the chains intruded within my spirit, trying to attack the divine beast. I jumped back, pouring out a blinding amount of Chi as I burned the chains into vapor, eradicating them from existence but my hands were off the demon as I stared warily.

What was that? Those chains… I’d felt them invading my soul…

The demon wiped its mouth, black blood flowing out of it. Its eyes focused towards me, a maniacal look more suited to it appearing on its face. “I’d been warned of that- but it is something else to experience. No wonder you killed one of us. You see the truth as well, don’t you?” The demon asked.

I did not pay its nonsense any mind. Reaching out to my waist, I grabbed a void bomb and then threw as hard as I could.

The demon’s eyes widened in shock as he raised his hands. Chains manifested around him, locking the bomb in place, freezing them before they could explode. I threw two more and then rushed closer as the demon manifested more chains, stopping the bombs but it meant he couldn’t stop me.

As I moved in, and even as I’d tossed the bomb, I could tell it knew what the thing could do. What it had been. No doubt, they’d known when Li had died and what had killed him so they’d know this was there. And for a brief moment, I’d seen genuine fear in the demon’s eyes, letting men now that my inkling was right.

Unfortunately for them, these bombs were just tools. Miniature copies of what I could do myself.

I rushed in, flooding with Chi and resonating with Harmony in my spirit. This time, I intended to kill it before it could do anything.

The demon’s turned towards me, chains rising but I side stepped them. It shot forth a wave of miasma moving to dodge the strike but I stepped, grasping for the creature once more but it slipped me at the last second by forming an illusion around its body with miasma as I grasped at nothing. Chains erupting all around the creature, but I refused to let my chance go.

I turned, swiftly burning the chains with overwhelming force. Water rose to my command as I shot a jet stream of it using Xuanwu’s power, the rain itself swirled all around me, turning into sharp needles that I shot towards the demon, before rushing in closer.

Power gathered in my fist as the demon gathered its chain close, but I stepped in, not giving it a moment.

I struck with the power of a Divine Beast in my fists, as the world crackled in fury.

The demon was shot backwards, tearing through the mountain and crashing into a crater that cracked behind it before slowly slinking downwards.

I panted, feeling Harmony slip by me as my body ached from the strain of using so much power beyond my capacity. But I knew I’d missed my chance.

At the last second the creature had gathered its chain around itself to protect its core, and used them to drain the power of my strike.

I watched as the deathless stood back up, its body battered. My single strike to its chest had punched a hole straight through as blood poured out of the creature, but it was alive despite the hole in its chest, and standing with a crazed smile.

I could tell it wanted to speak, but it could not, not without the lungs, and so the voice came through the miasma, echoing in a sickening demonic tone.

“You excite me. But I’m afraid the time for games is over,” the demon said, and I watched it put its hands together, almost as if in a prayer.

“Demonic Domain: Imprisonment”

The world changed, an endless pitch black darkness expanding outwards, all around me. I channeled my energy again as the chains rose, striking them off and jumping back, but the domain constricted around me and my body failed to keep up.

Even as I burned through the chains, more appeared, from the ground, from the air, all around me as they wrapped around my body. I felt a panic as the chains tried to invade but Xuanwu’s spirit rose from within me, and I followed his command instinctively, protecting my spirit against the chain’s influence, but I myself was caught, as I sank to my knees, chains binding me in place.

I could see my friends as well, tied similarly by the chains, their strengths drained and held at the demon’s mercy.

The creature walked closer, a smile on its face. It had never even thought it’d lose. And I was starting to see why.

This domain… it was imprisonment itself. As long as it believed it had me under its control… I had no ability to do anything here.

“Still so stubbornly protecting your soul. But it’s fine, I’m sure Yang Shen will be happy enough to just have you there. Though… he never said he needed your friends,” the demon said, turning sideways.

My heart sank, I tried to call for my Chi but found myself powerless as the demon turned, miasma rising in its hand as it headed towards my friends. I pulled, I tugged at my chains, desperately trying to free myself. I grit my teeth, calling upon the power, for something, for anything.

The world shattered, the domain crackling as a bit of lightning struck down from the heavens. The world itself twisted around me, as if buckling under a new domain and presence and I stared in shock as Elder Yan stood in front of the demon, surging with strength.

He looked at me once, and then towards my friends, before facing the demon. The man looked insane, with his unkempt appearance as he’d simply barged in, but even I could feel it. The power that surged in his spirit.

He stared at the deathless and in that same arrogant voice he spoke.

“You will not be taking my granddaughter.”

I could not believe that I was happy to hear his voice.