The Twilight Empire: A Cultivation Progression Fantasy, page 37
But He Yu, at the very least, couldn’t. As he came to a greater understanding of his Dao, he’d also accepted that a clash between himself and Jin Xifeng was inevitable. She was very much the sort of cultivator who his own nature would throw him into conflict with eventually, even if she hadn’t destroyed the sect he’d once belonged to. That he needed to avenge the deaths of his sect siblings and elders—and perhaps his own mentor—was just another reason he couldn’t abandon that goal.
“I’m going, regardless,” He Yu announced. “Maybe it’s a stupid thing to do. I’ve never been one for taking the smart path, or the easy one. I spent most of the day meditating on this, and I think that even if this legend turns out to be merely a myth, the searching will provide insights to my Way. This is what I need to push through my bottleneck. Anyone who wants to come is welcome to join me.”
That was the real reason for the conversation. He’d wanted to ask the others to come. He wanted them to come. He wasn’t surprised when, one by one, they refused.
“I should stay,” Tan Xiaoling said. “As much as I think you’re making the correct choice, my advancement lies here. If anyone can help me advance my mastery of the Golden Tiger Cultivation Law, it’s my father.”
It made perfect sense, and He Yu didn’t blame her for it.
“Tan Zihao’s archives need management,” Yan Shirong said. “Although there’d be secrets aplenty wherever you’re going, there’s just as many buried within the Jade Mountains.”
“I’d like to stay with Tan Xiaoling, if that’s just the same.” Li Heng took a long time to speak. Longer than He Yu had expected, and even as he announced his decision, he still looked conflicted.
At long last, Chen Fei—who’d been quiet and pensively glancing to the northeast as though she could see through the walls—spoke up. “I’ll come.”
He Yu’s brows creased slightly at the way she spoke. She sounded like she did back when they’d first met. Voice small, almost timid. Uncertain. Whatever had been hanging over her spirit since they’d first met had gotten to the point she could no longer ignore it. And it seemed that she’d need to go north to address it.
Reaching across the table, he gripped her hand. “I’d be glad to have you.”
She flashed him a smile and a nod.
Tan Xiaoling’s golden eyes flicked between the two of them. “Whenever you decide to head out, make sure you’re well prepared. The Mountains of Heaven beyond the White Desert bar your way to the great steppe. They’re even more untamed and dangerous than the Jade Mountains. As for the steppe beyond, I couldn’t tell you what to expect there.” With that, she got up to leave, pulling Li Heng after her.
Yan Shirong took the hint and followed.
Once they were alone, He Yu turned to Chen Fei. “Whenever you’re ready, I’m here.” It was something they’d circled around a number of times before. Whatever weighed on her spirit, she knew she could talk to him.
He had a fairly good idea of what it was, though. Whether it had simply been a vision, or something more real, he’d been with her in Patriarch Sun Lei’s secret realm. He’d seen her trial, and her reaction to it. He’d seen the helplessness as she watched those she’d struggled to save die, one by one. Whatever failure she’d never fully faced up to lay somewhere out there to the north.
“It’ll have to come sooner or later,” she murmured.
They sat together in silence for a time. Eventually, they turned to the unavoidable task of logistics. Both of them were laden down with treasures they once couldn’t have dreamed of, but even that wouldn’t be enough for an extended journey far away from support. They took inventory of the things they had, and all the things they yet needed.
Spirit stones and medicinal pills were both high on their list. Neither of them had been able to get any real use out of low-grade stones for a long time now, and even mid-grade stones were barely enough for regular cultivation. They each had a fair stockpile of high-grade stones, mostly gathered in anticipation of their eventual advancement to the Seventh Realm. After trading in some lesser treasures, they more than doubled their supply. They also purchased a stock of medicines, ensuring they could quickly recover during a fight.
He Yu had long since swapped out his old storage ring for a much larger one. He’d also gathered a fairly extensive wardrobe now, at least by his standards. Half a dozen sets of robes sat in his storage treasure, each of them heavily scripted with formations that both provided protection and eased the use of his techniques. Out of fondness, he’d poured a tremendous amount of resources into having his old robe turned into an even greater treasure than when he’d first received it from Yongnian.
His guandao, heavy and laden with significance from his father and Chen Fei both, was still in good shape. The formation work had already been of good quality, and Chen Fei had only made it better as she’d advanced her mastery. Although it would be at least another hundred years before it would begin developing its own spirit, the significance he’d imbued into the weapon as he continued to use it was unmistakable. It now carried its own spiritual weight into the world, warping the very air when he drew it in battle. Channeling his techniques through the weapon had only gotten easier, and he’d even heard that people in the outer villages spoke of it without mentioning him. It was truly growing into a weapon fit for legend.
Aside from her own stockpile of techniques, Chen Fei had gathered her own set of treasures. Perhaps most notably was the bearskin mantle she wore draped over her shoulders. She’d added a bronze plate to the front that covered most of her chest, and she’d added layers of advanced formation scripts to both the mantle and the bronze shield. The bracers she’d been gifted by Li Renshu had likewise served her well, especially now that they were fully aligned with her arts.
Much like He Yu, stories of an expert dressed in the skin of a great spirit bear who could reduce a mountain to rubble with a single punch spread through the valleys of the Jade Mountains. Although Chen Fei was more than a little embarrassed at the attention, she’d also more than earned it. Hopefully, whatever she needed to face in the north would help her accept the praise she fully deserved.
With their preparations complete, they bid the others goodbye in the early morning several days later. This was markedly different from the last time they’d parted ways. He Yu and Chen Fei were coming back—everyone was certain of that.
Li Heng gripped He Yu’s arm before parting. “Be well,” he said, “and whatever you find, may it be everything you imagine.”
Finally, He Yu turned north. “Ready?” he asked.
Next to him, Chen Fei stood atop a flying treasure. A large disk of bronze, like a gong, a full arm span across. She nodded, giving him one of her brilliant smiles.
Together, they rose into the air and set off into legend.
CHAPTER FIFTY-FIVE
Mountains of Heaven
THE SUN HAD just fully crested the horizon when they crossed into the White Desert. With He Yu carried by the Sky Dragon’s Flight, and Chen Fei atop her bronze disk, they soared over the bleached sand. From their vantage, and with his enhanced Sixth Realm senses, He Yu could make out splashes of green against the otherwise featureless wastes. Oases, the sole points of refuge in this desolate place, and the only means by which lower realm cultivators could cross the desert.
He Yu and Chen Fei had little difficulty. Especially compared to the last time. Between their advancement at the peak of Soul Refining and their flight, the qi-leeching effects of the White Desert were far less noticeable than they once had been. Maybe it was an effect of the sand, rather than the relentless sun and the dry, oppressive heat. Maybe it was simply that the desert held little sway over someone who’d reached Soul Refining. He Yu couldn’t have said.
Either way, they made good time. The winds curled around He Yu as he flew, his robe gently snapping like a silk banner in a spring breeze. A convenient effect of the Sky Dragon’s Flight, and one he was thankful for. Although the ground raced by him in a blur, he surrounded himself in a pocket of relative calm as he flew.
Chen Fei’s bronze disk provided no such protection. If it bothered her, she gave no sign of it. She sat atop the disk in a cultivation position, hands on top of her knees and her braid trailing behind her. The fur on her bearskin mantle ruffled in the wind, but her face remained calm. A silver circle of formation characters floating a finger’s width above the disk itself provided her some measure of protection, but nothing like He Yu’s command of the wind itself.
For three days and nights, they raced north. On the dawn of the fourth day, a dark, jagged line broke the horizon, rising ever higher the further north they flew. The Mountains of Heaven. Even from this distance, He Yu could sense the rich qi. The Peerless Judgment confirmed—this was a wild land, teeming with beasts and spirits the likes of which stalked only the most remote reaches of the Jade Mountains. Tan Xiaoling hadn’t misrepresented the mountain range that ran from east to west along the northern edge of the White Desert.
They reached the edge of the desert with the sun still high overhead. After deciding to stop and cultivate before pushing into the mountains, they touched down atop one of the foothills. Still arid, the foothills at least contained some life. Mostly scrublands, with low hardy bushes bristling with thorns and clumps of spiky grasses. A small rodent of some sort rustled in a nearby thicket. He Yu examined it with the Peerless Judgment; it was fully in the Fifth Realm. He shook his head.
“It seems this will be a harsh wilderness,” he said.
“Tan Zihao’s generosity won’t go to waste,” Chen Fei said, still atop her bronze disk.
It was a fitting treasure for her. Much in the way Yi Xiurong’s peacock feather had suited her, He Yu thought. He wondered if she still lived. If any of the sect’s former core disciples still lived. While it was a rare thing that a calamity left no survivors—even one as severe as Jin Xifeng’s awakening—he’d heard nothing of the sect’s former leaders in his time since then. He wouldn’t have been surprised if Jin Xifeng had them hunted down. She wasn’t the type to tolerate threats at her back, and given what she’d done to the sect proper, anyone of significant advancement likely hadn’t escaped her wrath.
He Yu and Chen Fei cultivated through the night, each using a mid-grade spirit stone to restore themselves. Although three and a half days of constant flight wasn’t a serious toll on either of them, they weren’t going to take any chances. Everything they’d been told while they prepared for this journey had said this land was dangerous. Little sense in pushing through the mountains while at less than peak condition, then.
As he sat and cultivated, He Yu poured over the tale Tan Zihao had recounted. It was scarce on details, to be sure. But what it lacked in specifics, it made up for in grandeur. Lands full of spirits and awakened beasts, each strong enough to challenge an expert at the peak of Soul Refining, and push him past the bottleneck. Treasures of mysterious potential, and ancient guardians of the very world itself. The more he considered, the more He Yu became convinced this was his key. Especially since the idea of it seemed to set alight a certain flame within his spirit—as if the very nature of his Way responded to his desire to seek legend.
Of course, this could all be foolishness. He could be deluding himself. Hadn’t that been what he’d done when he sought to break into the Fourth Realm all those years ago, and failed, leaving his friends vulnerable and needing his aid? As the stars wheeled overhead, and the moon silently rose over his cultivation, He Yu cultivated the Cloud Emperor’s Peerless Judgment.
He Yu stood at the top of the stair, the Heavenly Palace rising behind him, its gate open. He looked out over the whole of the land. No. This was not a fool’s errand. Whether it be some forgotten treasure, some ancient teaching, or just some test meant only for those who cultivated arts like his, an answer lay in the distant north.
A primal force, connected to him through his art, stirred. Its attention shifted. He Yu’s eyes snapped open. He stood on a vast plain covered in the grasping dead. To the west, a red sun touched the horizon. A lone figure stood before him, and he recognized her. Even in this vision—surely a product of the Peerless Judgment—he felt her power. It wrapped itself around him like a lover’s embrace, calling to him. He summoned every last shred of his self control, steeling his spirit against her siren’s call.
“So,” Jin Xifeng said. Her voice was eerily calm, and all the more frightening for it. “Cai Weizhe’s heir shows himself at last. Would that I could reach you, child. Would that I could rip your heart from your breast. Would that I could make you mine.”
He Yu didn’t trust himself to speak. Instead, he simply watched, and waited for whatever she had planned. It might have been suicide to do so, but he couldn't stand against her as he was now. She was still too far beyond him.
She regarded him with a gaze so ancient it seemed to stretch back to the beginning of time. Despite her appearance, that of a woman in her early twenties at the oldest, her eyes couldn’t hide the truth. They carried the weight of one who’d seen centuries fade to memory and legend. How old had she been already, a thousand years past, when she’d stood against the empire arrayed against her in all its might, and nearly won?
“Do you know who I am, child?” she asked.
Something let go of him, then. He Yu found himself able to speak once again. “I know you for a tyrant, a monster.”
She smiled, and his heart nearly broke. “You misunderstand me. Do you think I want to destroy? What lies has Cai Weizhe filled your head with, I wonder? No. A broken thing is a worthless thing. My Way is to possess. To rule. What sort of empress rules over ruins? The Dao of Sovereignty is to grasp, not to crush. To hold, not to grind into nothing.”
“I saw what you did to the sect. I saw what you did to Leader Zhou Shanyuan, and Elder Cai.” As he spoke, he drew himself up. For once, he was taller than his foe. If only that meant anything against one such as Jin Xifeng.
Her face twisted, only a flicker and only for a moment, but it became a mask of fury just the same. “I did what I had to,” she said. “They would never relent. They would defy me until the end. I’ll make you this offer. Come to me. Swear yourself to me, and serve me. Your journey will end in failure, but I can lift you up to heights you’d never achieve on your own. I can be as merciful as I can be cruel. Which you receive is your choice alone.”
He Yu’s spirit nearly buckled. It was, perhaps, the hardest thing he’d ever said. “I’ll take my chances.”
“Until you raise your hand against me personally, my offer stands.”
The vision fell away. He Yu found himself on his back, gasping for air and staring at the silver sky of a false dawn. Chen Fei was next to him and they were within a shining formation barrier. He reached out and found her hand, letting his eyes close as his breathing steadied.
“What happened?” she asked.
It took him longer than he would have liked before he could answer. “Jin Xifeng knows where we are. She knows what we’re trying to do.”
The fear that washed over Chen Fei’s face was, in He Yu’s estimate, wholly appropriate.
“Is she coming for us?” she asked.
“I don’t think so. She said something about not being able to reach me. And that I was going to fail.”
“Then what did she want?”
“She wanted me to join her.”
They looked at one another in silence. Although he felt it should go without saying, they had both experienced her presence unleashed. Surely He Yu couldn’t have been the only one to feel the overwhelming desire to pledge himself to her service when she’d attacked the sect. “I didn’t,” he said at last.
Chen Fei visibly relaxed. “But if we fail,” she said.
“I don’t believe her.” And that was the end of it. He met Chen Fei’s concerned gaze, and she nodded. She squeezed his hand, and together they stood. They turned to the mountains, rising jagged and sharp to their north.
The early morning passed quickly. They used technique and treasure to skim over the treetops and up the slopes of the Mountains of Heaven as the false dawn gave way to true, and the brilliant golden sun broke over the land. Birdsongs drifted along the winds, and the familiar woody scents of earth and pine banished He Yu’s lingering uncertainty after his encounter with Jin Xifeng.
However she’d reached into his meditations, he could ponder later. For now, they had a mountain range to cross, and one that teemed with danger. As dire a threat Jin Xifeng clearly posed, she was distant, and for whatever reason she considered He Yu beyond her reach.
They were attacked before noon. A flock of three-legged crows, trailing motes of living flame, burst out from the trees, and drove them to the ground. As capable as Chen Fei’s flying treasure was, it couldn’t match a beast that flew as naturally as either of them breathed the air. She was better on the ground, and He Yu wasn’t about to leave her to fend for herself.
Besides, as capable as his own flight was, it quickly became clear that he was at a disadvantage in the air, too. The crows were coordinated, attacking from every angle. He Yu could call the Bracing Wind, but he couldn’t rely on it alone. He joined Chen Fei on the ground, and together they drove off the crows after slaying half their number.
The crows were all mainly fire-aspected, a poor match for both their cultivation bases. They’d been in the Fifth Realm, though, so the cores would be valuable, regardless. Chen Fei thought they might fashion the feathers into something, too, and Yan Shirong might want to make use of their skeletons. After they’d collected their spoils, they decided to stick close to the ground as they proceeded.
Several more attacks came over the next few days. The higher they climbed, the more frequent the attacks. And the more ferocious. Most were of the Fifth Realm, but as they neared the pass He Yu had scouted and determined their best path over the range, they’d been ambushed by a pack of black-furred wolves with metal teeth and claws that were all equal to early Soul Refining in their advancement. The wolves’ fur turned to iron when struck, and their claws were as sharp as any jian. They proved no match for He Yu and Chen Fei together, and soon they scattered, howling to the summits and trailing sparks as their claws shattered stone beneath their retreat.
