A singular event has overcome Zongyang Feng, the capital city of the Azure Wind Empire.
The event in question has caused almost the total standstill of everything in the city.
From the peasants, workers, guards, eaters, drinkers, and entertainers to scribes, scholars, and even to the nobility that had engaged in everyday banter between themselves that had occupied their whole lives.
All of them had one thing in common as they stopped whatever they were doing and looked up into the sky to see and hear those infinitely small figures that had stolen their attention.
Clang, Clang, Clang echoed to all of them.
Even to the Royal Palace in the middle of the capital city and particularly in one part of the Royal Palace.
In a secluded and designated garden enclosure, two people craned their necks toward the sky and observed the flashes and sounds that echoed to them.
One of them wore a robe with inlaid golden dragons.
If anybody in the Azure Empire saw those robes and the dragons riding the clouds motif on them, all of them would immediately recognize to whom those robes belonged, for only one Clan was allowed to use that motif on their robes.
And only one individual was allowed to wear robes that contained nine of the said golden dragons, the Emperor of the Azure Wind Empire.
" Looks like the rumors are no longer rumors. Go break them up. " The Emperor demanded.
" It will be done. " Replied the man in gray armor beside him.
Alongside a bow, the man jumped slightly and in a familiar motion summoned wind to carry him into the sky.
Seconds later more people in armor followed him into the sky.
Their goal was the sky above the Southern District of the city.
It took them seconds to arrive and it took them a second to realize that a man was blocking their way.
He wore the robes of the Yu Clan, and Qi Jian, the head of the Royal Guards, immediately recognized him as Yu Qiao, the oldest of the three brothers of the Yu Clan in his generation.
" Qi Jian, I will warn you to not interfere with whatever happens. " Yu Qian declared with no room for errant interpretation.
He stood in the sky as if it was land with his arms behind his back. Wore no visible armor at first glance and his sword was still sheathed, but Qi Jian knew that it would not take even a second for the sword to be in his hand.
" Yu Qiao, the Emperor has commanded. This will stop immediately. " Qi Jian declared the intent of the one that ruled everything in the land that they lived in.
" Then you will live with the stain on your carrier because nobody will interfere as this event was long deserved to happen. " Yu Qiao stated with no hesitation. " Look around. "
Hearing the words, Qi Jian observed the Southern District in detail.
He knew Yu Qiao was there to stop him and would not be the one to initiate a fight without them doing it first, but he still paid great attention to his actions.
It took him seconds to recognize what he was seeing.
In alley after alley, he recognized the signs of people staring at each other.
For every Xia Clansman, there was somebody from the Yu Clan or from those affiliated with them blocking them.
On one of the roofs, he noticed a figure that stood out amongst them all with his demeanor that displayed as if none of this was deserving of his attention.
It took Qi Jian a few seconds to correlate the face with his knowledge of Gao Junjie, as he had never met him despite his reputation, but it was the presence that he radiated that caught his attention.
He was a Soul Creation Cultivator and if his presence was any indication, he was beyond any normal Soul Creation Cultivator too, especially a newly ascended one.
Gao Junjie was blocking the path of a Soul Creation Elder from the Xia Clan so when he felt the gaze of Qi Jian he spared him a few seconds but ultimately dismissed him from his mind as unimportant at this moment.
He knew that Yu Qiao would deal with him if the need came for it.
Seeing the way Gao Junjie dismissed him, Qi Jian immediately recognized what was going on. It wasn't even hard to do so with his many years of witnessing political plays between the Five Great Clans.
' This is a show of strength. ' His mind understood for a simple reason.
There was no way only two Soul Creation Cultivators could stop them from interfering fully.
But what it displayed, though, was that confidence that there would be a price to pay if he and his man interfered, especially those that will be initiated as a consequence after today's event.
" I see you realized it. " He heard Yu Qiao say. " We both know the consequences if we go all out between us, especially as the city formation would not be activated due to the cost. It's easier for the Empire to stomach the commoners dying than the resources spent on the activation of the defensive formation. "
" Hmph. " Qi Jian did not comment on that as he knew that it was the truth. " You know there will be consequences whatever the outcome? So what is the play here? "
" As my niece said lovely, minutes ago. My brother is 'Enacting Justice, of course.' " Yi Qiao said with a wide smile on his face as his gaze shifted in a particular direction.
Following it Qi Jian saw the perpetrators.
In the middle of the marketplace that had survived remarkably well, he saw Xia Jingjie laying on the ground with his arms spread wide.
Paying more attention to the young man he saw him breathing, if shallowly, despite the choking marks on his neck.
It took him another few seconds to recognize that the young man had no visible wounds bar the neck but what he did not have either is a cultivation base.
His Divine Sense was telling him that he was looking at a mortal and not somebody who was once designated as the possible heir of the Xia Clan, not that he would have become one with his cousin overshadowing him in the South of the Empire.
Not knowing if it was permanent or not, Qi Jian looked at the people around him and especially at the young woman that was at the center of all this.
He saw her clutching her chest while an old man, whose Qi radiated medicinal herbs, had a hand on her back.
As he saw and recognized her for the first time, the young woman craned her neck at him and winked at him with her right eyelid.
A bit stunned that she had even noticed him, he shook his head and looked back at Yu Qiao before he ignored him and finally focused on the combatants over the Southern Districts.
No longer ignoring the clashing sounds from them, he observed their motions and immediately recognized what they represented and spoke.
" Go and spread out over the district and block the stray attacks that will soon begin. "
" Yes, Sir. " His men declared and spread themselves out all over the place in preparation.
With his man deployed Qi Jian, observed sword and spear clash before he addressed his blocker without taking his eyes off the combatants.
" For all of you to do this, I am assuming there is more to your 'Enacting Justice' than just a young man's cultivation? " Qi Jian asked.
" Naturally there is, but how far it will go will depend on my Second Brother. " The reply came but it left him little imagination.
It could be both nothing since Yu Liwei was a stage lover then Xia Renshu and the death of both combatants as Heavenly Jade Mantra Cultivators are known for punching above their stage, especially those that cultivated the full Mantra.
Qi Jian grimaced at the thought of either one of them dying. " Yu Qiao, please don't tell me that it's to the death? "
" Who knows. " Was all that he heard before another voice interrupted them.
" First Uncle, who's your friend? " The voice was high in tone and that immediately identified the origin as female and young.
In the split second that Qi Jian craned his neck towards the voice, he saw the surprise on Yu Qiao's face.
The next second he saw the originator floating toward them in… quite a unique way.
" Jiao? You ugh… turned your gauntlet into a… floating chair? " He heard Yu Qiao say hesitantly.
' A floating chair was an apt description. ' Qi Jian thought as he observed the young girl and her floating thing with which she had reached them.
The plated Jade Gauntlet was turned upside down and scaled in just the right size for a young woman who was sitting on the two middle fingers while the forefinger and the pinky became the armrest. The palm on the other hand became the backrest on which she leaned on her back.
" Cool, isn't it? " Yu Jiao proclaimed with a small, although that 'Cool' word was unfamiliar to him, it wasn't hard to imagine that it was one that displayed proudness in some way.
" Maybe? I don't know, I am still having trouble with association Cool with anything. " Yu Qiao replied. " Still any way to fly is a Cool thing I imagine. "
" So why did you come here? Oh, and this is Qi Jian, the Head of the Royal Guards. "
" Greetings. " The young girl said to him. " As for why I came here? Well… after beating the shit out of Xia Jingjie, I no longer have to pretend to be a totally weak little girl. And if that is the case I might as well enjoy the privilege of being able to do stuff that other people can't. Hmm… that and I am curious as to how Father is circumnavigating around the Void Step by not being at the Soul Creation Stage, especially since I saw no mention of such a thing in the record I was given. "
" I see. It's similar to what you did, only far more complex. " Qi Jian heard Yu Qiao answer his niece. " The reason it's not in the records is that every Heavenly Jade Mantra user has tried it at least a few times and failed. And it's for a simple reason too. It's useless in combat unless you have an unbelievable amount of control of Jade Qi and finesse with Qi constructs, no matter how temporary. Frankly, I am surprised your Father is able to use it as well as he does now, especially since he has lost his Bloodline Ability. "
' Bloodline Ability loss? Could the rumor about Yi Liwei's injury be true? ' Qi Jian thought but made no conscious effort to pry for more information. Overhearing their conversation was sign enough, that there is a reason they were speaking it now beside him.
" Has he not told you of the things he discovered in his effort to recover from its loss? " The young woman asked.
" He did, but hearing and seeing are two different things. "
" What about the Seed that I gave him? Has he spoken about it? "
' Seed? ' Qi Jian wondered.
" He did. " Yu Qiao answered but strangely he stayed silent for far longer after that.
When Qi Jian looked at him in question for the reason in the hesitance that he sensed, Yu Qiao was staring right into his eyes when his mouth spoke.
" I will be quoting First's words here, so listen well, Qi Jian, as it will answer your earlier question. "
Yu Qiao's words demanded his attention so he gave his attention to him.
" When my younger brother told me of his planned fight with Xia Renshu he told me one simple thing. He said to me, ' I will either take Xia Renshu's head and ascend to Heaven or die trying it. There is no in-between. ' "
When Yu Qiao said those statements, they rang out for everybody to hear but Qi Jian knew they were meant for only one person, his Emperor.
" With that said, Qi Jian, you better pray that it's Xia Renshu's head that flies, or I will make sure this Empire burns in my revenge, with enough corpses for scavengers to finish it off. "
No more words came and silence reigned between them, save for a whisper that arrived with the faintest of air flows carrying his Emperor's commands.
Only for the silence to be broken by the young girl for the basest of reasons.
" Say, Uncle? Do you have anything I can snack on in that ring of yours, while we watch the battle? "
***
" Xia Renshu, come let me show you why the combined might of this Empire failed to get rid of my Ancestor. "
Yu Liwei shouted at his enemy all while summoning his Jade Skin Armor and a double-edged sword in his right hand made out of Jade and dashing at Xia Renshu as the spear that had pierced space was retrieved back.
In a second he reached Xia Renshu, but one second was enough for the spear to retrieve and thrust again at the charging opponent.
Seeing that he was still too late, Yu Liwei, sidestepped the piercing, glowing, and burning tip of the spear that was encased in the extended Blazing Qi construct of the Blazing Spear Art.
His right hand wielding the Jade sword extended forward at the right angle to deflect the incoming spear and vent his momentum into it, instead of going forward.
Jade sword and Blazing spear met and produced sounds that would render the eardrums of any mortal near them into dust.
Thankfully none were near them as he and Xia Renshu had been standing watch on the roofs of the marketplace to observe their respective daughter and son fight.
Sadly, while no mortal was near them the building on which they clashed, began to tremble.
Both opponents realized that if they continued fighting as they did by using the buildings as footholds, part of the city would be destroyed if they went all in.
Few more exchanges between them only confirmed it and while neither cared that much about it there was one thing both of them cared about.
Both of them had a reputation in the city to defend.
That being thought of, Xia Renshu began to vanish and reappear in the sky above the Southern District seeking a distinct advantage by being one stage above Yu Liwei, not that it would be much if his knowledge of him was any indication.
Yu Liwei crouched a bit and jumped into the sky.
When his mentum began to decline a very small Jade platform appeared beneath one of his feet.
Normally even if it was there if he stepped on it it still would not be enough to rival Void Step used by Soul Creation Cultivators.
No, to offset the disadvantage, even more, Yu Liwei used the innate ability of Jade Qi to use all elements to inlay a Movement Art of the Air element to lighten his steps.
It had taken him years and years of practice with his heightened control thanks to his Bloodline Ability or, as he recently learned, thanks to the Jade Authority that he inherited to make this possible.
While he still could not rival the prowess of the Void Step that was natural to all Soul Creation Cultivators, at least he was not disadvantaged, at least that was how it used to be.
Now, without the said Authority he could feel the clunkiness in his steps as he executed it. It was only his insistent refamiliarization of all his skills in the last two years that even enabled him to retain this much.
Within seconds Yu Liwei was in the sky alongside Xia Renshu and once more they began to clash their sword and spear.
Only this time the traditional rules of combat did not apply.
There was a reason why Soul Creation Cultivators were considered almost invincible.
The Void Step that they gain not only enabled them to pierce space and teleport within a reasonable distance, but it also enabled them to treat the space around them as if it were the very ground on which they were born.
Very soon Xia Renshu began to attack Yu Liwei from the front, from the back, from the sides, from below, or above.
There was no limit to the angles his spear traveled or thrust, not to mention the various ways the spear blurred and bent the space to achieve even more advantages against its opponents.
The only counter was constant awareness thanks to Divine Sense and being another user of the Void Step, meaning being a Soul Creation Cultivator.
Yu Liwei had his Divine Sense deployed and tracked every moment of Xia Renshu with it.
With his Jade Steps, he mitigated much of the advantage of free-formed three-dimensional combat, but there was one advantage that he had over his opponent and that was his defense.
With the Jade Skin Armor covering his whole body under the green robes he wore, he advanced aggressively trusting in his protection that they would hold up.
With every contact between spear and sword, Yu Liwei pushed himself towards the inner range of the spear only for Xia Renshu to skillfully retreat those steps and thrust and swept with the black spear that had its tip encased with a Blazing Qi blade.
As the clashes of their weapons echoed in the sky above the Southern District a different sound emerged in their latest contact.
While both opponents heard it, it was Yu Liwei that felt it clearer than anybody else.
With skill, he retreated and created a slightly bigger Jade platform that was big enough for both of his feet.
Not taking his eyes off Xia Renshu, he examined the Jade swords that he had summoned for the battle with his Divine Sense.
' Sigh, I did become enamored with my Ability that I got used to fighting with a Jade Sword construct. Now without the Authority it already became brittle, yet the fight had barely begun. '
Mentally he shook away the thoughts in his mind, as he could not afford the distractions they caused.
With a thought, he used more Jade Qi to fix the cracks on the sword made out of Jade. Once it was fixed another flow of Qi entered the sword, only this one was slightly different.
Using a pre-prepared Spiritual Art of the Cold aspect in the Heavenly Jade Core in his stomach he infused it into the Jade sword.
This was only possible as he was a Dual-Core Mantra user. The Jade Sword was created as an extension of the Jade Skin Armor that belonged to the Body Mantra.
The Spiritual Art gave the Jade sword an icy feel to it alongside the slight color change in the Jade that it was made off.
Not yet done, Yu Liwei used another Spiritual Art that he had prepared and anchored the Art on the outside of the Jade Sword.
Testing it out without taking his eyes off Xia Renshu, he immediately noticed the sound it hadn't produced and the easier passage of the sword through the air thanks to the Air Aspected Spiritual Art.
Noticing the seriousness of Yu Liwei's actions, Xia Renshu spoke. " Yu Liwei, we both know that you can't win. Any advantage you thought you had is lost by being a stage lower than me and by both of us being Dual-Core Mantra Cultivators. "
Shaking his head at the way his opponent rationalized things, Yu Liwei replied. " Xia Renshu, many times we have fought by using our Warriors as pawns in the last two years but the time for logic and tactics is over. Now it's the time for pure combat strength. I hope you have washed that neck of yours as I have prepared a nice little spike on which to hang it. "
" Hmph. Even if I do not like your presence in our Empire, you are here and have settled your roots. Are you going to throw it all away? For what? A daughter that was useless and would and did die from a little breeze, yet is she not better now? After all, she did win over my son. " Xia Renshu rationilzied his view.
Shaking his head, Yu Liwei responded. " Xia Renshu, your calculating outlook on things won't help you now. When the love of my life died I finally understood Ancestor Tian's teachings. "
Yu Liwei turned his head in the direction of Jiao to see her one last time before he gave everything into this fight.
Only when he did not see her on the ground and looked around did he give up. It was only after he took a glance at his older brother that he saw her there sitting on a makeshift chair that was her right Jade Gauntlet.
His gaze remained on the gauntlet chair for a second too long before their eyes connected.
She nodded at him and he smiled but it was a fleeting smile as he focused on Xia Renshu.
" The most important things in life will always be family, the people beside us, in the here and now. I poured my love into JiaoJiao so that she was without complaints because I knew she was not destined to stay for long in my life. " A bit of pain leaked through his voice as he explained. "So when your boy killed my JiaoJiao there was no turning back. The only reason why the Empire is not in ashes already is the unexpected reincarnation of the new Jiao and while she too is my daughter, she is not JiaoJiao. "
" With the Royal Guards protecting the city from our fight instead of interrupting us, it means my older brother delivered the message. One of us dies today no matter the consequences and mark my words Xia Renshu, I am far too tenacious to die. " With that said, Yu Liwei raised his sword above his head and slashed down.
The motion delivered the Intent to the Air Aspected Spiritual Art and a sickle-like wind blade projected itself at Xia Renshu.
It traveled with an unbelievable speed at him and only his familiarity with the Feng Clans Spiritual Arts helped him find the right defense.
Yang Qi exploded out of his body and enveloped his whole body all while a similar thing happened to his spear and the Blazing Qi Spear Art at the top of the spearhead increased in size, which was in return thrust right in the middle of that sickle-like wind blade.
The Spear Art neutralized the most dangerous part of the wind blade and the rest impacted his Yang Qi, enveloping his body, and doing very little.
Nodding as if such a thing was expected, after all, while Heavenly Jade Qi could manipulate all elemental aspects, his wind blades did not carry the strength of dedicated Mantra users in the same category.
Yu Liwei swung his blade a few more times at different angles. The resulting wind blades limited the angles to which Xia Renshu could dodge.
Right after, Yu Liwei charged forward.
His plan was simple. Force Xia Renshu to spend time defending and await his approach in a bad position or ultimately dodge everything by teleporting to a different place.
Both initiatives held advantages for Yu Liwei. In the first, he would hold the advantage of the initiative and in the second he would force the Qi expenditure as he teleported to a better position.
When one compared the Qi expenditure of his simple wind blade with teleportation, it just could not be compared.
They were in different categories and Yu Liwei would take any advantage he could get as Xia Renshu had far more Qi than he did due to his higher stage.
Recognizing the play for what it was, Xia Renshu denied his opponent the pleasure of exhausting him. He skillfully used his enlarged Blazing Qi Spear Art to deflect the incoming wind blades trusting his Yang Qi enveloping his body to deal with the side effects left behind.
Like that the interplay of Yu Liwei taking the initiative continued due to not needing to bother with defense at all, even if they could not compare when he used his Ability, and pushed Xia Renshu in every possible way he could think of.
When he charged, he charged with confidence, no matter the beating he received in return for the damage that he inflicted upon Xia Renshu.
Xia Renshu sometimes dodged, sometimes deflected the wind blades that tried to trap him.
Sometimes he just had to teleport away and every time he did he showered Yu Liwei with explosive Yang Qi bullets as he charged at him like a bull.
The clashing sounds of a sword and a spear echoed in the city as everybody watched the fireworks in the blue sky.
For the mortals whose lifespan barely reached the end of the first century, if lucky, this was a once-in-a-lifetime event, even if they had to scuttle in their hidey holes in the off chance that a stray attack passed by the Royal Guards defending them.
Those courageous found ways to observe the fight between the two people who stood at the top of the Empire, and whose mere words could cause untold suffering among them, much less actively fighting like this.
Those in fear hid, but those that did had one thing all of them were sure of.
No matter the outcome, things would change in the Empire for the good or the bad, and no matter which side won, only one thing was for sure. Suffering was bound to visit them, as they were the lowly beings standing in between the legs of giants fighting for turf and whatnot.
So they did the one thing that those at the bottom of the human food chain always did.
They prayed, as that was the only thing that could not be taken away from them, as it was the only thing that bound them into one community, greater than any other phenomena would.
They prayed for their safety.
They prayed for their family's safety.
They prayed for their family's safety in the foreseeable future.
They prayed to the Heavens and the Immortals that lived in them, as there were no Gods or Devils that were worshiped in the Azure Wind Empire.
They prayed to the Immortals in the Heavens to show them mercy.
They prayed to the Immortals in the Heavens to spare them from the suffering that all of them knew was coming.
They prayed and prayed but what none of them knew was that it was better to pray to Gods and Devils than it was to Immortals.
As no Immortal will ever be able to use Faith, for it is barred to them due to the structure and interaction of their Qi with the Heavens. Oh, they could muck with the rules, even change them at some point, but they could not accept Faith.
For if they accepted Faith, their Path would no longer be their own Path but that of others.
In truth, it is for that reason that the saying 'The Heavens are a fickle thing.' exists. It is for that same reason that the Heavens liked to play the fickle maiden with them and it is for one simple reason.
When there is no outlet for Faith, Faith transforms into Change and there is no greater Change than Chaos itself.
So when the Heavens noticed a blip in the Chaos, in a certain capital, it opened its metaphysical eye to observe the said Chaos, and it wondered what to do with it.
Normally it just shoved the Chaos in the most mundane direction as it mattered not where it went, but this time it noticed something else.
It noticed an echo of an already plucked string of Chaos.
It was faint as it came not from some past event or an event that was already in progress but it came from an event that had yet to reveal itself.
As the common saying went, The Heavens chose to be fickle and picked the echo of the already plucked string and infused it with more Chaos.
With that done the metaphysical eye of the Heavens shut itself and left the events to play out by themselves.
Only two people noticed that something had happened.
One was a young girl, a recently reincarnated being, for her very Power was based on Chaos and as such was the most sensitive to it.
" Hmm. " Yu Jiao hummed as for some inexplicable reason shivers came down her spine.
She ignored the fireworks of her Father and his opponent and glanced around.
" Jiao? What is it? " Her First Uncle beside her asked as he noticed her behavior.
" I just felt a shiver down my spine. No idea why. " Jiao answered, perplexed but with honesty in her words.
Hearing her words, Yu Qiao looked around. Perhaps there was some kind of concealed threat, after all, it wouldn't be the first time this niece of his behaved strangely.
" I sense nothing but just in case be prepared for anything. " He declared.
" Umm, sure. " Jiao replied and proceeded to observe the fight as best as possible.
Unfortunately for her, she was at the beginning of her journey and had no idea what she had felt.
The other being that noticed the shift was a middle-aged man down in the capital.
Dressed in humble robes the middle-aged man behaved quite uncharacteristically compared to the mortals that either hid or partly hid and observed the flickering sky.
He was sitting by a dumpling stand that had escaped the wrath of a young girl's fight.
" Interesting. I just felt the shift of Fate in the middle of nowhere. I wonder if this is why I was led here. " The middle-aged man mumbled to himself before taking out a strange contraption from out of nowhere.
It was a circular disk with strange markings all over it. They were layered with ever greater circles around one another. Then the man began to operate the Divination Compass in his possession.
His goal? Answers as to why Fate had brought him all the way into this backwater little Empire that was left alone by higher powers as it was just more convenient to trade with, than to bother with conquering it, especially with the amount of Qi in the air.
" Hmmmmm. " Hummed the middle-aged man as he pondered the results. He looked up into the sky and pondered once again.
' One belongs to the local powers and while their Mantra is unique it's nothing special even if it's a First Grade one. The other one though? ' The middle-aged man wondered. ' A branch of the Path of Jade in this backwater place? Wonder how that came to be? I should at least give them a warning if they don't know about it. '
Done with observing their fight for the moment his gaze settled on the main cause of today's event.
' To cause Fate to shift should make her a Child of the Heavens. But one that does not hide said fact is very unusual, moreover, why does my compass misbehave when I am calculating her Fate? '
It was in the same moment that he wondered that as he gazed upon her that he noticed her shift her gaze away from the fight, and looked around once more before refocusing in his direction.
Only no matter how her eyes wandered around his position she failed to meet up with his gaze.
Seeing her confused face the middle-aged man only nodded to his deduction.
' An unusual one but definitely a Child of the Heavens. ' At the same time, something else caught his attention.
Focusing on the fight and the user of the Path of Jade, in particular, he noticed a familiar thing but in a strange configuration.
" By my Senior Sister's giant bosom, is that a Domain Manifestation? Out here in one of the most backwater places of all things? " The middle-aged man shouted for none to hear.