The Laws of Cultivation: Qi = MC^2

Something had changed. And I wasn’t talking about the Azure Dragon. I’d felt it while on the way back, the change in the world around me. I hadn’t truly understood what it had been, but it filled me with a bad premonition nonetheless. I’d had a thought gnawing at my chest for some time now. If the demons had known the Azure Dragon would be in the Cradle, and had even managed to get there before us, then why had Yang Shen himself not arrived there to get the Divine Beast? I would not have had a chance against him, and the entire idea had been to get there faster than him. Even with Xuanwu’s help, things would’ve been difficult, but sending one of his demons instead… It left me with a bad feeling.

Just what was he doing instead?

The carriage thudded around us as we arrived back at Seventh Peak city, and I found the air filled with a buzz of energy. But not in a good way. There was anxious nervousness filling the winds, whispers flowing through the air, something had happened and whatever it was, it was not going to be good news.

As we arrived at the Lord’s manor, a servant rushed out in a hurry, looking incredibly panicked. Before I could even ask, the servant bowed. “The lord is requesting your presence immediately. Please head inside.”

I glanced towards my companions and then gave a nod as we headed inside.

***

“Heavens damn that demon!” I heard Lord Zhou cursing as he slammed a fist into his desk and for a moment I was afraid it’d shatter into a million little pieces. This was the first time I’d seen him lose his cool like this.

I stood there, bowing my head, waiting for him to get his calm as we all arrived.

The lord finally noticed us, raising his head and then sighed, nearly sinking into his seat. “Apologies, Lu Jie. There have been… changes while you were gone,” the Lord said.

“What has Yang Shen done?” I asked, not wanting to beat around the bush any longer.

The Lord looked at me, and then glanced down at his desk, clenching his fist. “He massacred the Tu clan. All of them, including the patriarch. The ancient formation that had been holding the demons from burrowing through the earth and striking directly from underneath is now gone and almost every place in the empire is vulnerable to an attack from the demons now,” the Lord said, an incredibly exhausted expression on his face.

“We’re receiving news of skirmishes on all the peaks, and the fourth peak where the army had been making its way in from, is on the brink of collapse. It’s only thanks to some of the early shipments of weapons we could send in with your help, that they’re still standing at all. It is… chaos,” the Lord said.

My expression turned grim, as I heard the news. The Tu patriarch… the old monk who had guided me? I had not known the man, and I did not particularly feel strongly about his death, but from what I’d seen, he’d seemed like a wise and kind figure, instead of the arrogance and power that was often seen with cultivators of that rank.

To have one of the great clans just be wiped out entirely… I could hardly imagine it.

“How did Yang Shen manage to do that?” I asked.

“He’d invaded their secluded monastery. The Tu clan has always been the most secretive of all and their true monastery had been in the mountains, in a forest cut off from the rest of the world. They practice monkhood and it was part of their practice to give up worldly desires and connections. Yang Shen somehow managed to find this location and then invade it… and then single handedly took out the entire clan,” the Lord said, a tinge of hopelessness lingering in his voice.

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“All it cost him was an arm. An arm for one of the five great clans,” the lord said, shaking his head, clearly deeply upset.

I understood that. And it was likely that the Lord would have known people from there, but I found my mind racing with possibilities and thoughts. I was fully in crisis mode and found emotions to be a distant part from me, separate and not a leeway I could give myself.

“What do you intend to do now, my lord?” I asked, looking at Lord Zhou.

Lord Zhou thought over it for a moment. Though he’d shown weakness for a moment, he was far more experienced than me, and a powerful man, and I quickly saw him shifting gears as well, as he began to put aside his distress and emotions to come up with a plan.

Losing was simply not an option. Either we won or we died fighting. There was no time to wallow over defeat. There would be time to mourn later.

“We must head to the fourth peak. There is no other good option,” the Lord said. “The demon army has to be held back, and we’re the only ones who can leave without worrying about the safety of our own people. The rest of the lords will be tied down fighting demon incursions and keeping their people safe,” the Lord said.

I thought over the issue but there wasn’t much else I could point to logically. For me to walk to the front lines, with two divine beasts within me, was just going to be a vulnerability.

While I was within True Harmony, I was quite sure I could match up to even Yang Shen. But it was not a state I had practice in and the risk of losing all Divine Beasts would be far too great to make that worth it.

I clenched my fist, and then bowed, putting my fist against my palm. “I’ll keep the seventh peak safe in your absence, my lord.”

Lord Zhou nodded and then smiled. “We have faith in you, Lu Jie. And you have an important role to play here as well. Those weapons of yours are part of the key if we wish to fight back against the demons. They’re part of what is letting us hold on, with even mortals able to fight back and give demons trouble. We can’t even imagine where we’d be without them. We need them, as much as we can get and more, and we’ll need you to make sure that the production of those does not get disturbed,” the Lord said, his expression turning serious. “Unlike any battle before, this time… the demons are intelligent. They have a leader, one capable of morphing them into these immortal caricatures in the form of deathless, but more so than their immortality, it is their intelligence. So far, we’d won against demons because they had been mindless things… but with Yang Shen leading them, they’re a threat far too powerful to ignore. As such, we have no doubt that they’re going to target this place and the supply chain running from here. If the seventh peak falls… we may very well lose this war,” the lord said, looking me into the eyes to make sure I understood the weight of what I was carrying.

He did not need to tell me. I understood far too well. Better than I wanted to, at many times.

I gave him a nod, putting a hand on my chest.

“The Azure Dragon is with me, my Lord. And so is the Black Tortoise. If the demons know what’s best for them, then they wouldn’t dare step in this direction,” I said. Anger surged as I bared my teeth. “I’ll tear each one of them to shreds. One deathless at a time.”

That was a promise. Both to myself, and to the Lord.

The Lord nodded, getting up. "We believe in you,” he said, walking up to me as he put a hand on my shoulder. And then I saw something I hadn’t noticed up to now.

The anger burning in the man in front of me.

I had been blinded by my own emotions that I had failed to notice the Qi surging around me with shivering, palpable rage that burned with a simmering promise underneath. I looked into the eyes of Lord Zhou and found a cold flame there, that made even my body freeze for a moment.

The Lord paused, glancing towards me as I noticed, and for a moment there was a sense of understanding. He knew what I’d seen. And I had to wonder just how he stood here, with so much rage pulled inside of himself, unmoving, cold, waiting for the right moment, for the chance to unleash it.

This place had been my home. But I forgot that it had been his home for much longer than me.

The demons, if they knew what was best for them, may just have to come to me. Because while I had no mercy in my heart for them… my wrath would be nothing compared to the man in front of me.

“We head out at sundown, and we’ll be leaving you in charge of the seventh peak in our name” the Lord said.

I simply bowed my head, accepting that responsibility as Lord Zhou turned and headed out of the chamber.

A swirl of emotions pulsed in my chest as I watched him leave.

We all had our roles to play in this war. I’d need to make sure I played mine well.