Chapter 11 Discussions of Sky and Soil
Having throttled the strength of cultivators willing to come after me directly with City Lord Huan's aid, and having demonstrated that I could handle anyone who could afford the Face to come at me, the subjugation war went relatively peacefully on my end.
It would have been unnervingly peaceful, even, if not for the mortals that I had to warn off from identifying me as a Heavenly Spirit as they insisted on worshipping me after I dealt with Xue He.
It was hard to blame them, but I managed. I was very specifically initiating a war that would absolutely wind up killing a bunch of them and trying to deter threats to my own life. Not show off for them to fixate on and venerate me.
I particularly hadn't been aiming to discover a feature of my Identity Core that was dependent on perception of others by discovering that I had a budding foundation that I didn't set in motion. Qu Mo Shi.
Exorcist.
I wasn't opposed to the foundation. I rather liked the concept of being able to fight against forces that destabilized and consumed souls. But I hadn't put it there. I wasn't feeding it with my labor.
The mortals had titled me thus. The mortals were feeding it with their worship.
It was slower than even the normal cultivation rate of my followers now that it had levelled off, and the creation of it seemed to require the massive and pure initial surge of faith, because I hadn't yet developed one for a 'protector' face despite the populace having taken to offering me tribute under that title too.
Really, the only reason it bugged me was that I had been blindsided by it.
So I was meditating on it in particular as I cultivated atop a tree while keeping an eye out for anyone trying to take a shot at me. Trying to suss out how the hell the process even worked.
"You are Guang the Unaligned?" a voice out of nowhere nearly startled me.
I opened my eyes and found another man casually standing in the air in front of me wearing robes much like a city or family administrator, but in colors that I couldn't match to any faction I knew of.
"I am Guang of the Yellow Fang." I answered politely but neutrally.
The man blinked, then nodded "I misspoke. You are the first ascended mortal I've spoken with in quite some time. I am Nan Feng, an administrator in the court of Fengbo, Count of the wind. There was an incident that I am in the process of investigating some months ago that several local spirits name you as a key actor in. May I ask your perspective so that reprimands can be doled out appropriately?"
"I'll gladly help your investigation. Though I imagine I might take reprimands poorly, myself."
A small smile curled his lips. "Rest assured, you are beyond my remit to issue reprimanding even if you were found to have acted wrongly. I am charged only with keeping the winds in line."
"My sympathies." I offered. "I can't imagine that is in any way easy."
"I appreciate your understanding." he sighed. "The incident I am interested in is the demonizing of a cultivator in the local arena seven months back. Do you recall the event?"
"I do. I'm even still dealing with the effects of it."
"Excellent. All I require from you is what you observed during the event, particularly about the wind's behavior."
"Ah! The technique I cobbled together!" I grinned and explained the observation I had about the wind blades sacrificing force to disperse the miasma, how I repurposed my smithing technique's principles as an armor, and then how I wove the principle into my thrust hoping that it would work because I was running out of stamina and space even with the armor. I left out the detail of the helpful spirit entirely.
"That lines up with most of my findings." Nan Feng nodded. "You say it was a strike of desperation against the demonized man?"
"Indeed. It took me most of a month to figure out what exactly I'd done, and most of another to develop it as a proper technique that I could use on command."
"I see. That does account for the last of the discrepancies in my investigation." He'd taken out a clipboard and was finishing recording my side of the story with a slight frown.
"Suboptimum findings?" I asked sympathetically.
"No, quite the opposite, actually." he shook himself and put on a polite smile. "It seems everyone stuck to their duties properly, even taking the initiative to respond to your talisman in a way to inspire you instead of trying to handle the demon themselves. I'm actually surprised at the lack of overstepping they committed."
"Ah. Superiors are likely to find the report suspicious because they stayed in line this time." I nodded with an understanding smile.
"Precisely." he sighed. "There's nothing to be done about it though. Wind spirits are notorious in their disregard for restrictions. I shall hope I have been thorough enough that my superiors will accept the apparent truth."
"Would you like a comprehension scroll as additional evidence that the winds had good reason to expect to get what they wanted from within their stations?" I offered, figuring I could ease the guy's suffering a little by taking some of the heat I'd created.
"Comprehension scroll?" He tilted his head slightly.
"Yes, they're a cultivation aide I devised to grant myself additional perspectives. As I use the same principles as for empowering the talismans that spirits respond to, inspecting one may convince your superiors that the spirits had good reason to believe they could attain the result they desired from the fight while avoiding reprimanding."
He leaned back slightly in surprise. "You would part with a treasure to ease my task?"
"I create several every month." I smiled and extracted a scroll reading 'Wind' from my ring. "This one is redundant to me. Parting with it will not weaken me at all, and it can do some good for you, I suspect."
"And you seek nothing in return?"
"I am sacrificing nothing of note. Naturally I would not seek returns on it." I insisted. "If anything, I count it as payment toward the debt of having instigated your task in the first place."
His eyes sparkled slightly as he relented and accepted the scroll. "The rumors of your manners do you justice, Guang. Whoever schooled you in them should be honored to name you as a student."
"I am glad my mother's teachings earn such lofty praise." I smiled. "I do hope my life is counted as a merit when she is assigned a rebirth."
"I am sure it is, from what I've heard." he chuckled. "I thank you for your cooperation. If you find yourself working with the Wind Count's court in the future, do ask after me. I would be happy to lend you some insights."
"I will be sure to do so, Administrator Nan Feng. May your report go well." I waved as he left and then noticed wisps of confusion from near the trunk of a tree nearby.
"Senior Ling! If you're going to eavesdrop, at least join me for tea!" I laughed, eliciting a spike in frustration and murderous intent.
I pulled out a balancing table and a pot for tea with two cups by way of insistence. It hadn't worked yet for any of my watchers, but I knew it pissed them off something fierce.
So I legitimately had to double-take when Ling Huyin, Bronze core beauty and pride of the Ling family, was abruptly across from me.
"Drop the pleasantries." she snarled as I was about to welcome her. "Who the hell were you just talking to?"
"Must we be discourteous just because you're going to rip my head off once the schism war starts?" I sighed as I poured the tea. "I certainly don't hold it against you."
She scowled at me even harder, reminding me of memes of a godslayer.
"That was a Heavenly Administrator, if I understood correctly. Investigating my tactical error to make sure I was the only one to blame."
"Why couldn't I see him?"
I blinked. That was good to know. "Probably because he only chose to present himself to me. You know how loathe Immortal Spirits are to be spotted if it's not absolutely necessary."
"How many of them are around for you to be talking to them?"
Oh the temptation to bullshit her.
"That have spoken back, he was the first. The Earthly spirits that respond to my talismans are quite abundant, to the point of being literally everywhere, but they have not taken my open invitation for conversation." I resisted the urge and took a sip of tea.
She tch'd and took a sip of her tea while she thought. I looked at the situation from her perspective and realized the new threat she was probably concocting.
After all, I was famous for speaking to heaven, and she now had confirmation that that was a literal matter.
"They've been protecting you this entire time." she finally concluded.
"I cannot say they haven't, but I do doubt that would be within their permitted duties." I answered calmly. "After all, even my being inspired by the wind spirits caused an investigation for the sake of censure."
She glared at me, drained her tea, and vanished.
I smiled. It was nice to see homicidal maniacs learning to take tea. There was a good argument to be made for tea being the foundation of proper civilization, after all.
---
"You are rather calm for a man who knows his days are numbered." Raka smiled as we sat for tea. "I cannot imagine what inspires this confidence in you."
"I have known my days were numbered from the day I learned of the schism." I answered warmly. "I've had more than enough time to come to terms with my death, however it comes to me."
"I see." he hummed, then he actually saw and failed to keep his pupils in line. "No longer shall I need to wonder how you saw your moves so clearly."
"Indeed. Though I rather thought I'd left that answered in full these past years."
"In plain sight, no less." Raka's sigh was a subtle thing, but no less rewarding than Master's temple vein. "Buried amidst your decoys and other admissions."
I kept my smirk small and polite. "I do hope Elder's enthusiasm to thwart my countermeasures remains as brilliant as yesterday. It would be a sadness upon disciple's soul to die to bare pragmatism."
His eyes glinted with malice and what I'd learned was respect. "Fear not disciple Guang. Ending your life will be among my most treasured accomplishments for the rest of my long life. Though the world will be less vibrant without you, we sit upon too many offences to reconcile with as little as your clear vision."
"I count my fear assuaged." I sipped my tea and shared the calm antagonism with him.
It really was a shame he was born to xianxia politics. He'd have done so much better in a corporate environment than anyone else I'd met in either life.
"On the matter of ploys on my life, was it your insight to offer me to the Master of the fist if he managed to defeat Master Kong?"
"No." he let his face relax in earnest surprise. "Someone thought to betray the sect Master so brazenly?"
"So it appears. My spies among their servants report that the Master of the Fist is disgruntled to an extreme about being promised my deployment to his lines if Master Kong is indisposed properly."
"Truly? And our traitor thinks Master Kong would fall to a Demonic cultivator?"
"Or that he can similarly entice the Master of the Spire. Though I've not yet heard with what."
"Ah." Raka nodded. "So they are among the few competent schemers of our ranks."
"That is my thought as well." I admitted. That's why ruling him out was worth anything.
"It may not be one of your enemies." he said after a moment of contemplation. "One of your allies may be trying to entice the enemy Masters to fight disharmoniously."
"The same occurred to me. Rushing the Master of the Fist into a battle that Master Kong can recover from before meeting blades with the Master of the Spire is a stratagem I myself considered, but discounted as I've found nothing to indicate the Master of the Spire to be fool enough to fall for it."
"Are you certain of your allies being as wise?"
"Not in the least." I admitted, to his mirth. "But I also doubt that they could cause the Master of the Fist to believe that they'd betray me with the lines as well-reported as they are."
He acknowledged the point and swiftly came to a recognition that eluded me. "I shall have to commend them if they survive to be executed for treachery."
"Wonderful!" I let him smirk over having beaten me to identifying the culprit. We both knew that his knowledge was a tool in my arsenal even when I didn't know what he knew.
It was easily the most enriching part of our relationship.
"I finally figured out why your talismans work the way they do." he gloated. "Your supposition was close, but missed the mark."
"Oh? Shall yours be under your own authority as well, then?"
"Indeed. It is a tidy freedom from your insolence chaining my growth, even."
"Disciple is earnestly happy to hear of Elder's fortune!" That would make two of my enemies who would ever be able to cultivate again. Provided someone else killed me.
He let his lips curl ever so slightly into a wry smile. He'd remarked in the past year that it was disconcerting that I could share joy in his victories despite us both acknowledging that we were enemies. Disconcerting, but no less pleasant.
And him being able to call forth the spirits of the earth to enact his will without stealing Heaven's authority to order it meant that it wasn't a matter of me being an immortal spirit or a candidate for such.
"So it is the moving nature of the poems themselves, then. Alongside the invitation placing responsibility on oneself." I deduced aloud.
"Precisely. Accepting responsibility upon my own head and inspiring them to obey. That you stumbled upon such a method with only a disdain for invoking Heavenly rulers remains impressive."
In the midst of being proud of the Elder who most politely wanted me dead, I caught what I'd been flubbing on inviting the spirits to dine with me if they wished.
"Disciple thanks Elder Raka for the insight."
He shook his head, evoking dozens of laments that I was everything a dutiful disciple should be in his eyes, and that I felt the need to destroy the foundations of respect that culture itself -as he understood it- was built upon.
"In case you die before I kill you myself, I have enjoyed matching wits with you. If it were feasible, I'd have considered alternatives." he confessed as we finished our drinks. "Alas."
I smiled, he really was too kind. "I've enjoyed trading pointers with you as well, Elder Raka. I fear that if I survive you, I shall find future opponents unworthy in whole."
The slightest tensing of his eyebrow as he heard -correctly- that I counted him unworthy in large part was my personal reward for the tea, on top of the information exchange.
I reviewed the discussion as I walked to my own house. I was only afforded one day every other week to not be visibly available for anyone seeking to harm the Fang's morale, so I was making the most of it with my contacts, friendly and not, and my garden.
I could maintain Duanzhou, Moshui, and Wancan with ease with only equipment I could carry myself. But Nongmin required me to work the land. And I didn't have land to work at the Weapons Pavilion.
The idea to grant me a portion of the grounds had been floated along with the idea to change the actual name of the pavilion from Silver Tiger Pavilion to something declaring it my personal property, but common sense had overcome the silly hero worship for now.
Rightfully so, given that a portion of every waking hour was dedicated to trying to find a way to vanish despite damn near every eye in the region being on me.
Because while I hadn't lied to Raka about having accepted that I would die eventually, but I was still unfond of just letting it happen.
If nothing else, it'd be embarrassing to have attained proper longevity-style immortality and then die a mere year and change later.
Funny, but embarrassing.
I stepped into my writing room first, having failed to draw further actionable insight from the review of the discussion and pulled out a small gold-edged scroll, fit for standing declarations and orders, and cleared my mind.
By Invitation and Authority of Immortal Guang
Called Wancan, Duanzhou, Moshui, Nongmin, Fei Jiao, and Qu Mo Shi.
Within the space that this declaration is displayed:
Any spirit of the Earth or of the Heavenly Bureaucracy who is not occupied with their duties and who wishes to reveal themselves and share in conversation with Immortal Guang may do so.
Returning to normal thought, I nodded at the simple alteration to my pre-existing standing invitation. Formalizing it as a declaration under my own authority would give the spirits who wished to take the invitation someone to blame if the regulations of Heaven bristled at them revealing themselves.
After all, if leaving Raka with the bag for stepping outside their normal duties worked, leaving me the bag for breaking whatever policy obligated them to stay hidden was entirely feasible.
Then I swapped my finery for my gardening clothing and went to my garden and posted it on a simple wooden stand.
A mere three minutes later I felt a shift and turned around to see a man with a similar administrator's uniform to Nan Feng, but in 'earthier' colors, wearing a scowl.
"Does my invitation transgress my position?" I asked politely.
"Ah, no. Not as such." he sneered. "I am Shiban, Administrator in the court of Shegong Maori. Out of courtesy, given your respectful history, I feel it appropriate to ensure you understand the responsibility you are taking on with this invitation."
"I thank you greatly." I bowed politely. "I am Guang, as I'm sure you're aware, and I appreciate your indulgence."
His face didn't turn any gentler, but he laughed earnestly enough. "The injunction against revealing ourselves directly to mortals and cultivators is a matter of maintaining the peace of the world. Cultivators in particular, but mortal men in general, lust after power and authority that they do not have the temperance to handle appropriately. Exposing them to the truth of Earthly spirits tempts them to devise all manner of demonic means to claim the world's forces for themselves."
I nodded that I understood the reasoning. I hadmet humans before, after all.
"The punishment for revealing oneself to a mortal without explicit direction from one's superior or critical need, then, is typically a year or more of torment, to deter the recklessness that many spirits exhibit. By inviting them to reveal themselves to you, you are accepting responsibility for their safety while they are exposed. Should one be harmed while exposed under your invitation, you will face similar punishments to those inflicted on Heavenly Administrators who allow their charges to be exposed and come to harm. Said punishments are more severe than for personal recklessness by no less than seven fold."
"And I assume that my lack of submission to Heavenly authority myself will only result in armed forces coming to deliver me to said punishments?"
"Indeed. So it would be wise of you to exercise your authority to invite spirits to reveal themselves sparingly, and only when you are sure no demons or cultivators are watching."
Concern over the assassins, right! "I thank you deeply for the advice, Administrator Shiban. Are Earthly spirits adept at only revealing themselves to select targets?"
He barked a laugh. "They are indeed. And you shouldn't have any difficulties in the immediate. Spirit Hunting arts haven't been reported in the area for centuries, and their wielders have all moved on. I am simply telling you of the risks you are accepting as a return of courtesy, not warning you off as yet."
"And I am dearly grateful for it." I bowed again. "I have cause to believe that it will eventually save my life if I last the year."
"Indeed! I've heard of your methods!" he laughed, scowl not lessening in the least. "It would be a shame for your path to be cut short by a misstep against Heaven's regulations!"
"I must agree." I chuckled. "Though there is a poetry to the possibility that I cannot deny."
"That there is. One last point of advice before I'm about my other tasks. Some of my charges have reckless ideas about how their relationship to you can be altered. Do think cautiously before accepting any of their suggestions. Even the most benign of what I've caught them scheming would require more paperwork than I'm sure they grasp."
"You can rest assured that I will not agree recklessly. And that I'll insist that they handle what they're allowed to of the paperwork themselves instead of dumping it on you."
His eyes widened just enough that I swore I saw his furrowed brow crack. Then he recovered his composure and nodded. "As always, it is a pleasure working with you, Guang Nongmin."
"May your work be light and rewarding, Administrator Shiban." I bowed as he stepped away and vanished.
"I see that your constant tea taking has shaped you well." a woman's voice laughed, and I marvelled politely as the soil in front of me seemed to rise as a stunning, sturdy female form dressed in courtly robes. "I'm glad the rumors got that correct."
"I am glad to hear my efforts pay off to your liking. How may I address your magnificence?"
She threw her head back in a laugh that rumbled through the ground. "I am Shegong Maori, of course! When Shanshen Rangtu sent a messenger that the resident aberrant was finally inviting conversation properly, Old Shiban and I came as fast as we could to get a proper look at you!"
I put on my best pleased-neutral expression as I tried to come up with a way of not offending the highest ranking Earthly spirit of the land in the area. "I am deeply honored to have your interest, great Shegong. Though I confess to having no rightful idea how I garnered it."
She chuckled again, giving every appearance of genuinely enjoying the interaction if I trusted my human-trained social cueing -something I was pointedly trying not to do on principle as she was not a human. "Word circulates, Guang the Independent, Guang the Poet." She smirked. "And with so many of my subordinates reporting a Cultivator, of all things, tidily sorting out his own impact on them with trial and error, I was bound to notice, even before your antics after your ascension."
I gulped. "Was that a poor use of the power I was granted, then?"
"Reducing the need of the mortals and reinvigorating my subordinates? Hardly!" She laughed as I dared to relax. "From the ocean to the Tang mountains, you'll find nothing but positive reception among my subordinates and the Heavenly Administrators we work with after such a selfless display of the power. I expect the other Earthly courts are coming around to similar conclusions as well, after your latest display!"
My stomach started dropping as she spoke. I couldn't pin down a reason, but I could feelsomething hiding in the praise.
"The fight with the demonic cultivator?"
"Indeed!" she beamed. "I don't know how much your Cultivator cohorts have bothered to explain about demonic qi, but demonstrating that you're not only crazy enough to fight it head-on, and skilled enough to disperse it properly like a Wind Governor and accidentally implicate him for it? There have been suggestions to help you grow strong enough to rid the land of demonic cultivators at large!"
Oh.
Oh, that... That wasn't great.
"Something about my position as an independent entity allows for me to be useful in such a way?"
"Oh, Guang." she smiled with way too many teeth. "You explicitly stepped outside Heaven's dominion and ability to restrain your actions, and you didn't realize what a power piece you made yourself in doing so?"
Shit!
Okay, I'm in a free-to-act blindspot in Heaven's restrictions. Dispersing demonic qi 'properly' is a big deal, even bigger than the sect Elders let on, and they pointedly don't enrage Fist cultivators to deviation.
"You imply that I could be of service in a mercenary fashion? Addressing matters like demonic qi poisoning the land and other disturbances?" I asked as I began to understand the sinking in my gut.
"I do." she nodded. "I even imply that this could become a deeply rewarding relationship between you and whoever you choose to offer services to. A man of your skills and interests could build a reputation with Earthly spirits of every domain, making yourself an incredibly wealthy and respected force where your Cultivator peers can only conjure fear."
Oooh boy. I'm going to pretend I imagined that shift of her dress and not think about the relationship she might be suggesting.
The surface suggestion was interesting though. Speak to Earthly spirits, see if they're being bothered by something, see what they call a fair repayment for resolving it if it's within my power. For that matter, I might even encounter Heavenly spirits who need something done 'off the books'.
It would see me self-managed, as I need to be for my sanity. I'd be expanding my networking in directions that normal cultivators couldn't. The spirits of the world probably had much more interesting ideas of what constitutes a 'treasure'.
"It is a fascinating suggestion." I admitted as I pondered. "And you say some have run so far ahead as to propose strengthening me so I'm capable of handling the tasks?"
"None with power to do much for you, but yes. It has been suggested by several that you might be able to at least learn techniques from some of our more skilled number, or granted treasures to similar effect."
"Even if they are the spurious musings of those without standing, I must admit those are flattering thoughts. Certainly more tempting than most concepts of wealth that I've heard, at least."
"Oh?" an eager smile split her face, revealing that I'd misstepped. "The rumors are true then? You value power beyond coin and pleasure?"
"Coin does serve many purposes, though most of them are only viable with interaction with others who value it more highly than I. Pleasure enriches life in great and small ways, but is ultimately fleeting, so the pursuit of it holds no priority for me. Power, meanwhile, especially power I can make my own, is as enduring as I am, and makes for a far better target of pursuit." I confirmed, quietly hoping that I wasn't offending.
"I see." her smile relaxed and worried me further. "So your interest is, in all ways, to stand without dependence on others."
It wasn't a question. It was a declaration that she'd sussed out how best to manipulate me if I took the idea of mercenary living.
Chilling, and largely accurate, but not half as dangerous as it could have been.
"I have never phrased it so well, great Shegong. Your understanding is awe inspiring." I bowed in admission of the defeat.
"It is a necessity of the position." she acknowledged with a small nod. "And now I can correctly guide my subordinates to a healthful and fruitful relationship with you whether you elect a mercenary course or not."
"I humbly look forward to such opportunities to forge good relations. And I thank you deeply for informing me of the interesting position I put myself in."
"You are welcome, Guang Moshui." she smiled with a glint in her eye. "Do please have wherever you are standing report your decision regarding it when you come to the decision. One thing I shall personally praise the Bureaucracy with is teaching me the value of communication."
Noted. The Lord of the Land for the entire region my life has been spent in has eyes anywhere my foot could fall.
Terrifying.
I bowed again as she sank back into the ground and focused on regaining my breathing.
"Wow." another female voice arose from the ground. "I am so sorry about that. I thought she just wanted to send a messenger, not arrive herself."
I steeled myself and looked up, seeing a woman in simple, practical clothing with her hair done up in a bun.
Something about her felt familiar, and that distracted me enough that it took me a moment to realize she'd already told me who she was by admitting it was her that reported my invitation.
"Shenshan Rangtu?" I ventured.
"That I am." she smiled earnestly. "But please, don't stand on formality with me. I've had little enough to do that I know you don't like it half as much as you pretend."
I chuckled at the understatement. "I thank you for the consideration. And for being such an accommodating host these past two years."
She giggled and handed me my watering can. "Having a resident who bothers to talk like he's glad to live on me is novel enough to accommodate. Having a proper garden tender, even more so."
"Oh? The garden has been appreciated?"
"You bet it has!" a little mud gremlin piped up as it stuck its head out from under a leaf. "You know your stuff!"
I blinked and looked around as the sentiment was echoed by other minor Earthly spirits similarly revealing themselves.
"In fact," Rangtu grinned. "The most valid gripe I've had to put up with is from the spirits who want you to expand the garden to cover all of me."
I proceeded to start my watering pattern while rolling with the oddity I'd literally invited. "That is a task I would gladly undertake if I expected to last the rest of the year."
"Or if you escape and return." she smiled cheekily. "Your disciples would appreciate it, I imagine."
I shook my head. "If they survive, sure. But being honest about the way the war is going, the Elders that would support the Sect Master are suffering more losses than our enemies."
"And you're not allowing yourself to rise to take the balance into your own hands." she nodded behind me. "After all, that would tie you down and make your disciples dependent on you despite your best efforts to teach them otherwise."
"You sound like you've got an idea in mind."
"Oh, just one of those reckless ones that requires Old Shiban and his attendants to file paperwork." she answered coyly. "Though I can't imagine what paperwork would be required to gift us talismans and bid us to only read them when your allies are threatened."
I let myself freeze as I thought through the implications of the idea. It wouldn't be of much use in wider application without arranging friendly ties with Earthly forces, but simply asking the spirits of light, lightning, fire, and wind to act independently of discrete cues could be a war-changer with the right planning.
With the same level of planning, the far subtler spirits of earth, wood, metal, and shadow could be territory defining for centuries if I wished.
The world itself would seem to be fighting my enemies. And for how little most cultivators study the natural world's governing structure, Raka might well be the only one to understand why and how.
"That is certainly worth asking one of Administrator Shiban's attendants what manner of paperwork it would demand." I nodded to a chorus of cheers from the tiny goblins and butterflies that I had to surmise were wind spirits who'd likewise taken my formal invitation. "If enough of it can be handled ahead of time that the Heavenly Administrators aren't put upon for the sake of a sect civil war, it would ensure that I have reason to return if I escape properly."
"I'll find one of his attendants and ask myself, then." Rangtu audibly grinned.
"Oh! I'll go check with one of ours!" one of the larger wind spirits offered before vanishing, earning a laugh from the mountain spirit.
"I'll make sure he actually has the answers or send him back." she shook her head. "I imagine you intend to post the invitation again at supper?"
"Indeed! I only posted it here to confirm that it works and check on whether mortal food is nourishing to any of you."
"Excellent! The food itself does rather little, but the way you dine is nourishing by itself. And I'll confess that the aroma of some of your roasts has distracted me more than is proper."
"Then I am obligated to tempt you to try its flavor if you'll join me tonight." I turned to shoot her a grin and realized that I might have an entirely different matter to handle as she smiled back eagerly.
"I'll look forward to it!" she accepted the invitation and vanished. Leaving me to wonder at the folly of offering to feed a mountain.
Chapter 12 Running a War and Running Away
Dinner with Rangtu was enlightening and more than a bit revealing. She was happy to catch me up on several groundwork matters regarding existing as an Immortal Spirit, from the theory of how to weave my own path among the mortals, the explanation of why I would be unable to hide myself from mortal eyes like Heavenly and Earthly spirits could, to what I quickly realized is the origin of Face culture.
The relation Immortal Spirits have with consciousness is such that, unlike mortals, they are defined in small part by the way they are perceived. Specifically, like my Qu Mo Shi identity, they could be 'Given a Face' by others acknowledging them, and strengthened in that identity by further earnest acknowledgement.
Rangtu cackled heartily when I explained my guess that early interactions with Immortal Spirits had given mortals the impression that this 'Face' was a source of power for them as well, and had wound up creating a massive weakness for themselves by trying to emulate it.
Not being a historian, she had no idea if that was what actually happened, but she declared it her new favorite explanation for the state of things.
She also found it amusing that, even though I now could draw power from what Face Culture wanted to be, I still found it distasteful.
The discussion turned at one point to gossip of relations, which I largely took note of to compare to the mortal and semi-mortal relations and amuse her with the correlations between Immortal Spirits and the mortals they resided near. Some were strong correlations, some were inverse, most were weak. But all were funny.
And then the Wind spirit who'd confirmed with the wind administration that the paperwork Rangtu's suggestion would create was immense, but manageable with some elbow grease and bribery, brought up the fact that Rangtu and I had a correlation as well. Namely, that from his perspective, both of us were either oblivious or skillfully pretending to be as potential courtships circled us.
Thanks in part to my calming aura as Wancan, we were both able to process that he wasn't actually offending us, even accidentally, and allowed him to explain the ridiculous claim.
On my end he named Ling Huyin, who he insisted hadn't stalked a target for half this long before in her life, several martial sisters who had joined me over the years and -in his eyes- had a far greater interest in being social with me than studying or cultivating, and Master Ho, who he was certain was planning any day to try to coerce me into proposing despite our pre-existing relationship.
On Rangtu's end, he had a litany of Earthly and Heavenly spirits who visited her more often than they visited her more distinguished neighbors and whom had each found themselves a reason to do so that he insisted made more sense replaced with "thin excuse to court her."
When she turned to me to ask if men were really so shallow, I politely put my foot in my mouth and replied that while yes, they absolutely are, the discussion up to that point indicated that if the Wind spirit was correct, each of the named spirits had wonderful taste in women.
"Oh right! That too." the wind spirit had chimed in to break the stunned silence. "The way he flirts without trying is also part of it."
From there the conversation swung toward concepts of relationships and how differently people viewed them, the commitments involved, and the frustrations that arise when the relationships are not clearly understood by both parties. With examples drawn from the gossip we'd been derailed from.
During which, Rangtu wound up consuming nearly my entire store of meats and booze, as made sense for a mountain dining on mortal fare. I didn't mind at all, as she properly savored the meal, and it wasn't like I was hurting for funds.
We'd parted with her confessing that the idea of an nonbinding intimate relationship sounded worth pursuing, to snickers from both the Wind spirit and the House spirit, who'd joined for the novelty of the meal, but largely kept to himself.
I admitted the appeal of having such a lovely woman's company more often and promised to consider the appeal of more at length while I was away.
Then I set about drafting my end of her cunning battle suggestion's paperwork. It was a multi-stage process to get everything sorted ahead of time, but what wasn't with a bureaucracy?
First, I had to file for temporary Rank within each court I wished to weaponize, because my 'rankless immortal' status allowed me to make invitations and accept consequences for them, but it wouldn't allow me to conscript the spirits directly into my conflicts. In order to do that, I had to be formally recognized as having the temporary position of 'Provisional General'.
In order to be allowed that rank, not only the administrators, but someone of superior rank had to sign off on it, for each Earthly court I wished to mobilize. That part, Rangtu assured me, would be trivial.
Then each spirit I wanted to conscript had to be formally conscripted. Traditionally this was done by just demanding their obedience as a general, but my methods called for each of them to submit their own volunteer paperwork, get approval, and present themselves to me with their token of assignment.
Then I had to create talismans that bore my seal as provisionary general and held explicit orders to be obeyed, as opposed to my normal methods.
Then I had to distribute the talismans, along with any standing orders, and file them as military orders, allowing the spirits to hold onto them and act on them under appropriate conditions.
All while accepting full consequences for anything that happened to any of my subordinates during the war that I was specifically aiming to be away from.
No pressure.
When I'd finished drafting my requests for temporary Rank to the myriad courts, I turned in for the night, as sleep helps my thoughts despite not being strictly necessary, and awoke to my drafts missing.
Asking each of my servants if they had seen anything caused them to tremble despite knowing that I knew they were not stupid enough to touch my work. Working with me for a measly few years wasn't going to overcome the completely justified fear of cultivator ire, after all.
Then, as the mortals hadn't seen anything since the feast that had confirmed to them that I was truly beyond their ken, I hung up my invitation to appear and was greeted by a small blob of what appeared to be ink bowing before me.
"Forgive me, Moshui." it began. "I failed to ask if you wished to file your papers yourself, and took it upon myself to deliver them to the administrators you addressed them to, as you gave indication of wishing to have the process completed expediently."
"Ah! Okay!" I sighed in relief. "My concern was over not having been informed of what happened, not anger at you for helping out."
"I deeply apologize for my negligence!"
"A simple oversight when you are otherwise correctly intuiting how to be helpful is nothing to debase yourself over, my friend." I cut it off. "That is what mortals call a learning curve. And now you know to leave a memo on the desk if you make such an intuition again, and I know to invite you to present yourself to offer your aid if I have cause to ask it."
Little shimmers approximating tearful eyes pointed at me. "It would be my honor to attend you, Moshui!"
"If it will not interfere with your other duties and you help me file whatever paperwork is required, I suspect I'd be happy to have such an eager attendant." I chuckled. "Just make sure the terms of the arrangement are clear. I'm a bit of a stickler for that."
"Of course, Moshui! I'll spend the day with one of Shuixing's attendants getting everything sorted out."
"Sounds like a plan. Here, let me pen you and whoever else needs to speak to me about it an invitation to appear later so that you only need to wait until I'm alone instead of waiting for me to post the wider invitation. Have you a name?"
"I do not."
"Alright. I'll likely give you one so I have something to call you, so go ahead and check for paperwork regarding that too." I smiled as I wrote a much narrower invitation for it and any administration staff that needed my direct involvement to appear while I was at my writing desk.
It seemed appropriate, given the thing's nature.
It accepted the permission seal graciously and folded in on itself to vanish and be about the task of finding the paperwork it needed, and I gathered up my open invitation, reassured the mortals that the matter had been clarified properly, and headed off to the Pavilion.
If this all worked out and Raka and I both survived, I'd have to thank him profusely for the insight again. I might just manage to kill him with blood pressure by telling him it was his fault I was able to make proper contact with the spirits of the world.
I arrived to see about half the squad sparring with each other. It was actually kind of impressive. Kesa had accosted a Soul Core Spire disciple stirring up trouble early in the war and, when the punk refused to back down, had declared that the Spire brat wasn't worth wasting my time with, and managed to wear him down enough that he retreated despite his victory.
This started a pattern of enemies who recognized that they were not my equal coming in and challenging 'my' disciples for significantly less prestige than I was personally worth.
When my crew started winning without caveat, the prestige of beating them went up enough that at any time the two medics we had on hand were flushed with practice themselves.
All without actually bothering me directly. I still shared pointers with them about how I could see their styles having room to improve, of course. But most of my time was spent pissing off people by smugly hiding behind the City Lord's implicit threat to impose sanctions against the first sect to throw a proper threat at me, because said threat would need to be stronger than him, and that would constitute an act of war against the city.
Sweet heavens do I love technicalities.
The morning was thus spent giving pointers to my peers as they sparred and trying not to think too hard about the idea that sister Fu was improving so fast out of a misguided effort to be worthy of courting me.
Because that would just be self-defeating. That level of dedication was neatly within the 'obsession' category, and thus neatly beyond my interest in relationships.
After they dispersed for lunch, I went to the forge that the pavilion had graciously set aside for my use and found Master Ho waiting for me, looking positively radiant despite her trained neutral expression.
It took me a moment to realize that it was a literal radiance. Her shen, specifically, was brighter.
"Disciple is overjoyed to see Master's good fortune!" I bowed and considered whether a celebratory meal was in order for her having escaped her restriction.
"Ha!" she barked. "A single glance! Here I thought I was being subtle about it!"
There really was no polite answer for that, so I chose the shameless one. "Disciple's eyes have been said to see things mortal men cannot. Your subtlety is not impugned in the slightest, Master."
"Don't worry about it. Here, a show of my gratitude." She pulled out a sheathed blade. "For setting me on the right track to resolving it."
Alarms started sounding, and I could see the trap clearly. Ho marriage rites included crafting a piece of their specialty during the months leading up to the wedding and gifting it to their spouse.
Having had no-one of note around for the past several months, me openly carrying a new blade while her cultivation increased for the first time in at least a century would absolutely convince her family that we were wed. Likely enraging them even more than I had by revealing their incompetence.
And as my Master, she had the standing to insist that I carry it openly and make sure that they gather that misimpression. They would assume that she'd selected me explicitly because I was scheduled to die as soon as the Fist and Spire finally buckled under the weight of the war, and thus free her from the obligations that they imagined were her objection to marriage, preventing her need to explain the truth of the situation or the fact that she'd successfully wed herself.
"You've elected to keep them separate, then?" I ventured a guess at her ploy with a resigned sigh.
"Indeed." she revealed a fiendish grin as she insistently gestured for me to take the blade. "And, as you've noted, my family's best efforts to end you are drops in the lake for you."
"So they are, thus far." I dutifully accepted her trap and marvelled at how it thrummed with power. "I appreciate your effort to keep the task of surviving balanced, however."
"Draw it. Run your qi along it." she insisted with a proud smile.
I did so and stared as it melded almost flawlessly with not just the essence of my Fei Jiao face, but with Qu Mo Shi.
"You named it?" I gaped. Properly naming a weapon -rather, crafting a weapon and its name as a deliberate process- was a technique that so few smiths had the skill to manage that the Fang apprentices were convinced that it was a mythical technique.
"Jinghua Feng Ren. Yes." she answered with all the humility I displayed on a daily basis.
Several more things clicked into place, not the least of which that she expected me to be fighting more demonic forces before I died.
"Ah, no wonder I couldn't place the schemers for that." I muttered as I continued to marvel at her handiwork. Then I felt my eyes widen. "You wantthem to disown you now that they've made that decision."
"That too." she admitted. "It will also help fend off any questions about why I stab future suitors if you die."
I failed to follow for a moment, eliciting a chuckle.
"You set a high bar at everything you do. My future stabbing victims will accept that a lot more easily than my complete disinterest."
I nodded. It was still an additional layer of drama that I didn't really want caught up in, but the compensation for it was awe inspiring and the results weren't strictly objectionable.
"And if I manage to survive?"
"We can put up appearances if you wish, but nothing binding has happened." she shrugged and stepped away. "And I will still stab you if you suggest that it should."
"I'm not possessed of that particular insanity." I assured her. "Disciple..."
I reconsidered my word choice. If her ploy required appearances, then declaring the master/disciple relationship to still be in place would be a hole in it.
"I thank you deeply for the blade, fellow smith."
She smirked. "Go ahead and call me Yin. It'll piss my family off faster."
"Very well, Yin. Thank you for the sword, I'll likely make great use of it."
She stepped out and I chuckled at how close the Wind spirit had come in his estimation while missing the mark.
---
"Shame we're ending this today." Yang Zhao grinned eagerly as we looked out upon the blighted mountains of the Red Fist sect.
"They're that much better a fight than our peers, then?" I quipped.
"That much more lethal!" he laughed. "Bastards have laid me out half a dozen times! I finally owe our medics the respect I make everyone else give them!"
"Let's hope our peers can entertain you better without restrictions, then." I grinned, eliciting howling laughter.
Two months had passed since I received Yin's gift, and the frenzy of activity had only been getting more and more intense with each day.
From her family almost literally self-destructing over whether to disown her and kill us both themselves or to calm down and try to avoid 'my' ploy that I'd 'obviously' cooked up to punish them for their attempt at betraying the Sect Master, to the administrators and generals of the Earthly courts very politely coming in and specifying what bribes I needed to provide for my ploy to be approved, to the ink spirit - now named Wuhen, to his great amusement - gaining what he described as an 'incomparable' mobility increase so that he could handle the bulk of my paperwork deliveries for me, to the fact that once I was done cleaning the mountains in front of us, I'd very temporarily be one of the highest ranking spirits in the land for the duration of the civil war by virtue of breadth of command.
And the nights with Rangtu, of course. I owed her my confidence that I'd survive to flee. Not to mention the confidence that I could properly exorcize entire mountains.
In fact, today's marching orders were for me to lead the way, exorcizing as I could, and for the rest of the mobilized forces -a reasonable mix of each faction, skewed toward my allies- to intercept enemies so I could work.
I'd proposed the idea myself after refining a variation of my Flowing Dragon Realm for the purpose of taking both ki and qi and using them to fuel the exorcism art that I learned from Wind Governor Zhengfen.
His was better at area effect than the one I'd devised off of it, after all.
To best manage this, I was dressed in formal invitations to spirits of each court to provide energy that they had to spare layered over top of my robes, as well as a staff with writs of authority to exorcize from several administrators and court rulers who were elated that I was willing to stand against demonic energy.
It was actually worrying how quickly the writs were assembled. I was assured that taking on this task did not obligate me to anything further during a lunch discussion, and the writs were in Wuhen's hands that evening.
"Everyone's ready, Guang!" Yin called out. "Master Kong should be engaging the Spire master any minute now."
"Wonderful!" I hopped down with brother Yang and took my place at the head of the assembled force.
Then I intoned my replacement for a normal exorcist's prayer.
"Hear my call, Hear my command! I am Immortal Guang Qu Mo Shi!
Where my feet fall today shall be cleansed as new earth!
Where my breath flows today shall be cleansed as fresh breeze!
No stream or pool my eye falls on shall harbor demonic taint this day!
No plant along my path today shall bear the poison of demons!
Where I pass, the world is made pure again!"
Raising my staff, writs of authority rising as if declaring my validity to everyone, I felt my flesh shift slightly as my artificial Exorcism Aura flowed out of my soul, gathering volunteered energy and stabilizing it.
Then, path for the day set, I started walking.
"Well?" Yin's voice rang out behind me, revealing that the display had stunned my peers. "Now you know he is a god! Follow in the plan with confidence!"
I felt my still-weakest 'face' strengthen as the assembled force fell into place behind me, drawing the faintest hint of a wry smile to my otherwise firmly determined face.
Reaching the foot of the Fist mountains, I felt resistance from the faint demonic qi that had infested them, and as I continued moving, I felt my Qu Mo Shi face strengthening further, and could feel the awe of my peers that I wasn't bluffing.
And then I felt the terror of someone else that I wasn't bluffing.
"Enemies have detected us!" I declared, despite only being several dozen meters up the mountain.
"Excellent!" brother Yang and others of his family cheered as some of the others were looking around trying to detect the enemy.
They didn't need to look for long, as cultivators capable of flight rose from the higher peaks and bore down on us.
"Two and one! Intercept!" Yin yelled, and charged upward, followed beneath by two lesser disciples as other Silver and Gold core disciples copied her, each with their own support pair.
I kept walking with the rest of the landbound force behind me and only spared a little attention to note how ecstatic Master was to be able to cross blades now that the promise of growth was returned to her.
"Hell," brother Yang commented. "Now I know why Uncle Laba calls her 'Dancing Rage'. No wonder you improved so much under her."
I shot him an approving smirk as we continued upward.
Half an hour later, the ground forces were finally able to come within range and the landbound Yangs were off without a command, followed by longsuffering medics who were trained in extricating them from the bloodshed.
Leaving only two Gold Core Elders calmly keeping pace with me to offer a measure of defense against the Jade Core Master of the Fist, if he decided that I was a higher priority than joining combat against Master Kong.
As I reached the first peak, I felt the deep gratitude of the Shanshen as it offered what it could spare to my aura as I started running down the other side to blitz as much of the tainted territory as I could before the enemy sect master showed himself.
After all, now that everyone else was occupied, there was no point in holding back the purifying wave I now embodied.
I was halfway up the third mountain when he finally made the decision that Master Kong could wait and a massive blood-qi fist formed above us.
The Elders both threw up barriers, one of a massive lotus of light, the other a denying palm, and I drew Jinghua Feng Ren, now tassled with a writ of invitation to Wind spirits who wished to empower my strikes, and fired a purifying Air Slash as the fist descended.
The fist, gouged by my strike, failed to break the barriers, but both Elders buckled under it's weight.
As they took up defensive stances, a crimson skinned man with a hideously distorted face calmly stood above us and sneered.
"An exorcist. How low the Fang have stooped to pretend superiority to us."
I grinned. "You are mistaken in your vision! The Fang is here at My behest!"
The Elders, having been informed that I would say whatever I needed to in order to throw him off his game, still balked that I'd claim that level of authority.
"You expect me to fall for such a base lie, exorcist?"
"Who provoked your disciple into beginning this war?" I countered. "Who dealt the killing and purifying blow to him to destroy your veneer of invincibility? Who inspired Kong to stand upon a war footing in the first place?"
He started to sneer, but then caught the Elders exchanging looks of shock and fell for it.
"That's right!" I laughed. "Every step of the way, I've guided the Fang to where they would support me in destroying you!"
His composure cracked and we were treated to a scowl. "No matter, then. Die!"
A pair of purification blast talismans were in the air and activating as the second fist started forming, weakening it enough that the Elders were able to block it without collapsing.
"Wily Rabbit time." I announced with a grin and started running. The Elders, even all the Elders that had been deployed here combined, weren't a proper match for the Master of the Fist, and we all knew it.
But as I'd been demonstrating for decades, one didn't have to be a match for an enemy to defeat them. One only needed to wear them down by making them waste more effort than you did in the same proportion that they were your superior in matters of strength.
So as I started my run, the Elders split up and readied disruption techniques to wear down the man that none of us could compete fairly with.
A third fist formed above me and I saw a strike from my left rise to meet it and swerved left at full speed, barely escaping the crater shockwave thanks to the destabilization weakening it on the side I ran through.
A fourth formed, and the other Elder's strike from my right saved my hide as I ran right and made it far enough that the mountain itself blocked his line of sight as I cackled like a dead man.
An easy thing to do, given the circumstances.
The wannabe demon repositioned so that he could see me rushing along his territory, deleting his blighting claim as I went, and the sky above him darkened with his qi as his dread Demonic Realm technique clawed its way across the area.
Lesser demonic cultivators relied on the miasma. He was strong enough to force the matter more directly.
Provided he was allowed to focus. Which both Elders made profoundly difficult by firing upon him with Light and Water techniques that boggled my mind in sheer might.
The partially formed hellscape faltered, but didn't collapse as he snarled and turned his attention to one of the Elders, at which point I fired a trio of Wind Blades at him to do my part in keeping him from killing any of us.
The first two disintegrated to uselessness, purification nigh useless against his Realm's pure demonic Qi, but the third was just a normal attack that caught him off guard and spoiled his aim from surprise that it reached him more than the scuffing of his robes.
"How long do you expect your cheap tricks to save you, Immortal?" he taunted as he swatted one of the Elders' attacks out of the sky.
"Are you really sure you want my mouth running?" I laughed as I dashed across the barren mountainside. "That's a good way to be eaten by your hubris!"
In truth, there was hardly anything I could say that would meaningfully impact his self-control. Especially not compared to the implication that I was toying with him instead of barely keeping my ass alive.
After all, today's strategy was just to keep him busy long enough for Master Kong to finish his much more straightforward fight with the Spire master while wearing him out a little, and then to finish the purification work that would pay the bribes that had been demanded of me for my paperwork.
Instinct honed by assassins saw me flinging a purification blast before my senses registered the rain of demonic needles, sparing me from being murdered outright by them, but I still looked like a hedgehog as I kept moving and internally swearing.
Not that it wasn't a lifesaving matter that my faux aura was purifying them down to nothing, but that would consume my limited reserve of energy in a way I really didn't want to spend it.
"I see," the jackass snarled behind me. "Any move strong enough to harm you is slow enough to disrupt. Any move swift enough to hit you is too weak to overcome your purification. Clever, for an exposed spirit."
Killing intent alarms screamed through my head and my recently reforged and renamed Flowing Spirit Path rippled into being and I slid right as hard as I could, only to be thrown through the air by something slamming into the space my foot should have landed like a meteorite.
"However, you overlooked the matter that you are pathetically weak, and even an amateur's Meteor Blow is enough to kill you."
"Oh? I did?" I bluffed with a face-splitting grin. "Or did I want you to debase yourself by admitting your demonic arts aren't good enough?"
Seeing his scowl darken as we briefly locked eyes, it occurred to me that pissing off an old monster who was not only free to, but actively trying to kill me was about as valid as enraging a noble by calling out their manners as far as 'causes of death' go.
Then I flung myself backwards as more demon darts started flying at me and resumed my mad dash for survival.
Hearing the Elders' techniques harrying the monster as I ran gave me a bit of confidence that I was doing more than wasting my energy. After all, the more energy he spent trying to kill me and the more minor damage the Elders could whittle into him, the better chances Master Kong would have when he got here.
Reaching the tipping point on cleansing the diffused demonic qi in the mountain, I cackled as the shanshen started circulating its energy to stabilize itself and allow me to draw fire away from it.
A deep growl emanated from the sect master and another of his signature techniques started forming, causing both Elders to frantically throw everything that would reach him in time as I hopped on a jagged outcropping and prayed to myself that my answer for it would work.
The Ravenous Demon Blood Dragon technique was one that everyone feared with complete justification. Enough so that I bothered to remember its name, even. Formed of Blood and Demonic qi and given a superficial mind so the technique itself could adapt to its target's movements, it was well accepted that the only answer to it was to kill the user or meet it with a similarly overwhelming technique.
Neither of which were available tactics, for evident reasons.
So I readied my sword and my Flowing Spirit Path as I watched the kilometer-long dragon of energy form. My terror, instead of causing my face to fall, locked me into a nearly rictus grin that the Fist Master clearly took as a taunt.
One advantage that the Flowing Dragon Realm had that I'd sacrificed was the way it filled out an entire space, allowing the user to shift and slide freely without planning out their motions. As the Dragon technique bore down on me, I counted that a fair sacrifice for the extended range I'd gotten in return.
Its jaws opened wide and I slid to the side and down its length, Jinghua Feng Ren coated in nigh-futile purification winds as it scraped against the outer layer of the technique as I traversed the 100 meters I could cover in the same instant it crashed into the outcropping.
Was it a beast that I could wear down with damage? No.
Was it a technique I could theoretically destabilize using the same methods? Absolutely.
Running down the mountain as it recovered and came at me again, I was struck by the fact that I might wind up demonizing the guy just by being hard to kill as his anger started feeling more palpable.
The jaws once again came within arm's reach and I repeated my audacity on the other side, leaving the faintest of scratches in the qi-form of its scales before continuing my run.
"You cannot escape forever, Immortal!" he roared as he swatted another Light Tiger out of the sky.
"Who's escaping?" I laughed. "I'm working here! You're just trying to slow me down!"
Fortunately, while he could defend himself from the Elders with frustrating ease, he could not utilize any of his more worrying techniques while his Dragon was chasing me, so I only had to worry about zigging and zagging properly to navigate the land that I was purifying while not being eaten. The Elders could keep themselves safe from his available means, even if they couldn't properly harm him.
Naturally, I made a point to pause my run in front of each of the buildings atop the mountains, causing the Dragon to smash them as I sidestepped and gouged a little more off it. Not because it actually mattered, but because it was funny to me. And when running for my life, keeping morale up was crucial to keeping running.
Incidentally, the similar destruction of Array anchors made the resistance I was feeling from the demonic qi lessen, and I had to shake my head at the obviousness of demonic sects reinforcing their best weapon and defense. And at the recklessness of making a technique that took up so much power and combat focus that it lowered a Jade Core's available might to mid Gold Core, and not making an emergency termination feature.
Because that was the only real 'weakness' of the Ravenous Demon Blood Dragon. The user designated a target and the technique would chase them to the ends of the earth if it needed to, but it couldn't be recalled until it had slain at least the first target.
So as long as my decades of practice keeping ahead of my death remained sufficient to outsmart a particularly persistent beast, the Fist Master was offensively crippled. And even if he had the wits left to realize that I was using his technique against him, he couldn't stop me without closing to melee and holding me still.
And if my theory was correct, managing to wear it down enough that it collapsed from the twin gouges on its sides meant that he'd be without that power for at least a day.
If I died, however, the dragon would then wreck our entire invasion force with ease, simply because it was that much more powerful than anything we could present, and I was the only one with half my expertise at dodging. Which I'd thought would have been a non-issue, but the damn thing was adapting to my timing and making last-moment swerves that had me sucking my teeth dry as I barely got past them.
But I kept going, the skin of my teeth and the hair of my chin protesting the abrasion, driving the dragon into whatever I could to buy me precious fractions of seconds to find something new to slam it into.
Then the moment I was dreading came, and the volunteered energy for my exorcism started running dry, forcing me to count the mountains left to clean and being relieved that my frenzied run had made it onto the second to last one.
Fei Jiao, indeed.
I maneuvered to the top, where a pavilion was seated, and felt the reserves finish draining as the dragon leveled the building, leaving me with only my own qi to handle the last mountain.
The same qi that I'd been spending for the past few hours to keep me alive and whittle at the technique chasing me all across the mountain range.
My confidence faltered for a single breath, and my speed did as well. The fangs that had chased me relentlessly bore down again, and I accepted that I'd fallen short of my task.
Spite drove me to fling my last dozen purification blast talismans at it even though I knew it wouldn't help. Any little help I could lend to the people who were about to die because I failed as a shield was something, after all.
And honestly, just fuck this stupid ass dragon.
The pure white of my blasts was joined by a massive golden blur and I was suddenly staring at clear skies as the abruptly headless dragon broke apart into swiftly dispersing qi while I stared dumbly.
"Guang! My boy!" Sect Master Kong clapped me on the shoulder as I started catching up to what happened. "I feared I'd been delayed too long by those Spire bastards, but you actually did it!"
"Sect Master has impeccable timing." I answered without trusting myself to bow and remain on my feet. Instead I pulled out a qi recovery pill now that I had time to process it. "Disciple cannot thank you enough for your arrival."
"Ha! I should be thanking you for surviving so much longer than we planned for! As a mere Stone-" he paused and stared at me. "How did you step into Stone Core without provoking a tribulation?"
"Heaven and its servants have no dominion left over me." I answered while trying to figure out when I'd taken that step. "Even my agreement to purify the mountains is simply an arrangement of mutual opportunity."
"Ah," he nodded before starting to laugh. "So even our mightiest displays of defiance are truly nothing to your path!"
"Indeed. Though it is a bit of a shame. Sharing tea with the administrators and rulers under Heaven is wonderful, but not having the cause to share a discussion with Heaven itself is a sadness."
"With your audacity, Guang, I have no doubt you'll find new cause just to confound us all!"
Scanning the mountains, he finally picked out where the Fist Master was and nodded grimly. "I will kill the demon, rest assured of that. If I do not survive the process, please promise me you'll treat the sect kindly."
"Sect Master is too confident in my own survival. The most I can promise is that I shan't treat it cruelly." Cunning jerk, trying to bind me with my own word at the last opportunity.
He sighed and accepted the substitution before donning a grim face and taking off for the final deciding fight of the war.
And likely the first of our next, frankly.
I, meanwhile, began the trudge down the mountain, toward the final one of the domain.
It was kind of silly, really. Exorcizing the mountains while demonic qi was still being produced. Cruel spirits would arise from this range for decades, at least, just from the unpurified deaths of the demonic cultivators. Hell, the death of the master would probably invite a proper demon to manifest and attempt to conquer or destroy the region.
But, as Shegong Maori's messenger explained, the difference was between 'new corruption' that could be fought and purged by Earthly means without objection from the bureaucracy, and 'established' corruption that Earthly courts were explicitly forbidden from engaging with to prevent its spread.
So once I finished prying out the old stuff, there would be a period of several months where the Earthly courts could -with extreme care, because the spread issue was real- clean up at the edges of the blighted lands while the reigning bureaucrats caught up on the paperwork of the purification and the recorruption.
A small victory, but a worthwhile one. Which contributed heavily to the sheer magnitude of support I'd received. Enough that I only needed to provide the raw qi for the last mountain's Shanshen to be able to survive the cycling process.
A cycling process that they were only allowed to attempt with demonic cultivators so close because, in my Command at the outset, I demanded that they succeed.
Something I was allowed to do as an Immortal Exorcist, apparently. Not without consequence, sure. I'd spend centuries being tortured if the Hell Realm technique, for instance, caused one of the recovering shanshen to succumb and start forcibly spreading it. But Maori's messengers had all provided me writs of assurance that they had measures in place to prevent that today, as a concession during negotiations that I had adamantly insisted on.
I reached the junction of the mountains and prepared myself mentally. Everyone of threat was occupied. Everyone who'd come to kill me once the first threats were dead had agreed to let me finish cleansing the mountain. I could do this. Maybe not the next part, but I could do this.
The shanshen made itself known about a third of the way up, thanking me in faint flickers of shen as I climbed.
"Hey, an exorcist has got to exorcize, y'know?" I chuckled at it. "Good for the body, good for the soul."
It seemed to chuckle and signalled to the side, which I took to be a request for me to walk somewhere either easier to circulate or similarly useful to the task at hand, so I obliged and followed the signal.
Reaching an outcropping, I felt relief like an itch or a cramping tension point was finally addressed and had to chuckle. "Happy to help, mighty Shanshen."
It motioned me to three more similar crux points of its surface before showing me a cave and bidding me enter.
"I cannot thank you enough, Qu Mo Shi!" it spoke almost as soon as I was inside. "Not just for myself, but for all my brethren here."
"I am honored by your gratitude, but should you be speaking yet? I would hate to see your health fail now."
"Further in, I've sealed most of my poison with a technique I stole from the demonic cultivators. Giving me a little leeway and having the worst of it in one place. Now that you've cleared those chakras for me, I can help you finish up swiftly enough to escape. I hope."
I grinned and dashed down into the cave. "I like the way you think, my friend!"
In the chamber it guided me to, I found a massive chunk of Spirit Stone, easily 100,000 pieces worth in volume alone, oozing demonic qi.
I stared in bafflement for a moment at the how and the why before it clicked.
"Turning the stone into a vessel by exploiting demonic qi's consumptive nature! Clever!"
"Exactly. Clear it up enough, and the rest that's plaguing me should move toward it for cleansing. Freeing me to work at it as well."
I nodded at the sense it made and stepped forward so that my purification enveloped the stone and swallowed another pill. This was going to be much more intense, but much faster than just walking over the surface.
The demonic qi within the stone was dense enough that even sitting and putting my full attention on the exorcizing I was only able to wear away about a millimeter a minute. However, true to the shanshen's prediction, it was only about twenty minutes before the cleansed shell of the stone and the technique being used on it started drawing diffused demonic qi from the rest of the mountain, which had it being cleansed to nothingness as it tried to enter my aura.
Another ten minutes and the shanshen spoke up. "Excellent! I can finish up if you need to flee. There was a massive clash a moment ago, so I fear the battle is done."
"The sooner you're completely cleared, the better my allies' chances of making my flight successful. I'll help until Wuhen can file your exorcism and then be on my way."
"I understand. I'll direct it all toward you while I work, then you can take the stone."
"You won't need it?"
"Not at all, I actually hate using the technique, and cleaning the stone myself would take centuries."
"Then I'll thank you for the gift and the understanding." I grinned. It may only be a massive spirit stone, but it was still a massive spirit stone. I was bound to be able to find a use for it later.
Another twenty minutes and two more qi recovery pills as the flow of demonic qi was accelerated by the mountain's ki, and Wuhen appeared, out of breath, and offered up a stack of writs.
I accepted them and felt the strangest sensation of True Authority fill my being and flow outward, presumably legitimizing the orders I'd spent the last month and a half giving out to the Earthly spirits that signed on with my ploy.
"Wonderful, thank you Wuhen!" I grinned and stood. "And you, again, my mountain friend. I'll get this stone out of your way and be about my escape."
"Come by again sometime!" the shanshen laughed, tone revealing exhaustion "I could use pointers on growing things again after so long!"
"Sure thing! I'll bring some seeds I think you'll like!" I answered as I sucked the massive stone into one of my backup spatial rings where the demonic qi wouldn't impact anything else and started running again.
One never gets lucky without trying, after all.
---
Sect Elder Raka Shetou had been having a good day.
The war that had disrupted the peace of the land was finally ending. The Sect Master and the upstart behind it had agreed to nearly suicidal tasks in the name of ending it. He had a detailed list of everyone that needed to be executed to bring the sect into proper harmony.
Sure, boorishly fighting and killing Silver Spire Elders was a distasteful necessity, but it went well enough. A whispered doubt amplifying their already dissonant techniques into as much useless noise, and their famous curses faltered against him. Another whisper and their false strength faltered as well.
The reinforcements that they called on from the island sects they ruled over were irksome, but after dealing with Guang for so long, the fools who needed taught how to spell death were a welcome breath of mundanity.
Sect Master Kong and his closest allies faced off against Spire Sect Master Yuni and were stymied by the latter's clever use of the Ho traitors' information for a full three hours. During which time, the conspicuous absence of Fist Master Fennu indicated that Guang was likely earning himself a slow and painful death.
Yuni finally fell, and Kong chose not to delay long enough for his supporters to recover before rushing off, leaving the last of cleaning up of the Spire to the assembled Elders.
Raka arranged for his old friend Tong to be in charge of sorting out the corpses, slaves, and treasure once the enemy Elders were all dead, and set off with the remaining Fang Elders to clean up the messes at the Red Fist.
Upon arriving, he'd thought his good day was going to be pleasantly better, as they arrived just in time to watch the Fist Master activate a suicide technique while Master Kong, visibly exhausted, tried to protect the rest of the Fang forces instead of himself.
A nod to Elder Ling She, and everything looked to be going correctly.
And then it wasn't.
Their ambush of their exhausted peers went off flawlessly, blades and poisons striking true. And then the poisons were extracted by an unseen force. Like the poison itself refused to kill its victims.
Battle was joined for the civil war, and Raka's calm composure was tested to an extreme as the light tried to play tricks on him, making sure strikes look guarded and ready guards look shaky. The winds he stood upon shifted underfoot, giving him the illusion that he was being attacked from angles reserved for the Ling.
Glancing around the battlefield, he watched his allies and subordinates making blunders that were far beneath them. The exhausted, half-dead disciples and Elders that should have been falling like cattle were surviving with lucky slips and-
The stone under one disciple rolled, spoiling his finishing blow on another.
Raka scowled, and the fool he'd been fighting froze in justified terror.
"I don't have time for you." Raka announced. "Ling! Where is Guang?"
"Last sighting was atop that mountain, heading to the north!" Ling pointed as his opponent evaded a liver strike. "My daughter is tracking him!"
"Good. He needs to die first." Raka nodded and flew off, ignoring the protests of the man he'd been fighting.
A scan of the mountain revealed none of Guang's energy, but he did detect the Ling Heiress and moved to intercept her.
"The world itself is hiding his path." she announced as he arrived. "But I'm reasonably sure he's gone this way."
"Lead. I'll deal with the spirits. You can even have his head."
Guang was not going to survive the day and lead the earth itself to defend his impudent nonsense. Not if Raka had anything to say about it.