Echoes of Divinity: Book 13 of Painting the Mists, page 66
Murderer…. a voice whispered in her ear.
Kin slayer… it taunted.
She couldn’t refute the voice since the evidence was right before her. She was covered in their blood from head to toe, the only exception being her mother’s jade blade and her father’s jade cloak. He’d lent it to her since it was cold outside.
Yu Wen’s stomach heaved. She wanted to empty out what little dinner she’d eaten. The place reeked of metal, and she wanted nothing more than to escape.
Soon, her parents and relatives would find her. A massacre was inevitable.
It had all gone according to the dream. There was no avoiding it. Only a few things were different, notably the absence of her demon companion. Where is Xiao Bai? Yu Wen wondered. Then she remembered that she’d not yet met her lifelong friend. These were events that predated their meeting.
Should she run? With her father’s cloak, no one would find her. With her mother’s sword, no one could kill her. Still, she hesitated. She missed her parents. She wanted to see them again.
No, she realized. If they see me again, they’ll see a monster. Just as they had so long ago. Even now, she could remember their looks of disappointment, despite their words of consolation and encouragement.
So she left.
Yu Wen’s life changed from then on. She became a wanderer, hopping from one realm to the next. She never stayed in the same place for too long, because inevitably, she encountered misfortune. It didn’t take long for her to realize that she was, in fact, cursed. Someone was out there to get her, and he made her feel helpless.
Eventually, she found Xiao Bai. She agreed to become her demon companion, her protector for eternity. Together, they traveled the immortal and transcendent realms, sticking to the latter rather than the former.
They were safer.
Still, she missed her family. She thought about them every day. Despite this, she never saw them again. She refused to face them with so much blood on her hands. She was a failure. A kin slayer.
Whenever she felt lonely, she would return to Jade Moon Planet, where her father had made her a garden when she was younger. She felt safe there. She returned every hundred to a thousand years. Hundreds of thousands of years passed in this way, and life was never boring.
One day, everything changed. She met a man in Fuxi’s Library. He was beyond weak, but his eyes shone with innocence and his aura with potential. Most importantly, however, she found that he was a karmic anomaly. Not in the conventional sense of the word, but in a way that was far more important to her: The curse, which had affected everyone close to her to this day, did not affect him. It treated him like he didn’t exist. It was the first time she’d ever seen such a thing. Therefore, she decided to get close to him, just in case they were to meet again.
His name… was Cha Ming.
The fox did not kill Cha Ming, and neither did their contract, but in the end, he didn’t last much longer. They said he died of boredom after refusing to eat or sleep. A beacon guided him into his next life, where he encountered things that were vaguely familiar.
Cha Ming grew up poor. He encountered a mysterious brush when he went to school. He met friends and found a small fox that looked an awful lot like the fox he’d met. It still had four tails, but unlike the first one, it was quite friendly and quite cooperative.
They went through many experiences together. They fought devils in a small village but were ambushed soon after. They faced a tribulation but were split apart. It was many years before they reunited again in a place called the Silverwing Mountain Range.
What followed was a series of unfortunate events. He fought a seer and an evil spirit and was forced to wound his foundation. As a result, he was forced to journey to Jade Moon Planet.
On the Bridge of Stars, Cha Ming met the love of his life, Yu Wen. They traveled down to Jade Moon Planet and entered Jade Moon Garden. It was a struggle, since Cha Ming had a lot to learn. He couldn’t give up, however, since the Monkey King’s soul was at stake.
The decade proved to be the happiest in his life. Unfortunately, fate refused to let him be happy. A dreadful existence known as the Curse Sovereign infiltrated the shield on Jade Moon Planet. He was after Yu Wen, and this was something Cha Ming couldn’t tolerate.
Wake up…
Cha Ming saw Yu Wen turn away from him with a firmness in her eyes. She offered herself up to the Curse Sovereign to protect him.
Wake up.
He couldn’t let her do it again. He charged in front of her and placed himself between her and the blade. The Curse Sovereign roared in anger, but before he could strike a second time, the barrier he’d erected shattered, and an angel defended from the heavens and chased him off.
Wake up!
Yu Wen caught him as he fell to the ground. He coughed up mouthfuls of black blood and smiled at her. “This time, it’s my turn,” he said. His body stiffened as his life left him. His soul drifted away. The Yellow River took him.
Aw crap. Wake up, you stupid idiot. I didn’t bring you all the way here to die.
Leave here.
What? Who the hell are you?
Get out. He’s mine.
I’ll fight you.
Cha Ming didn’t know who the voices belonged to, but the older of the two voices let out yelps like a wounded cat. Cha Ming’s soul was confused. He drifted and didn’t enter the cycle of reincarnation. Instead, he entered a place that existed between time and space. It was a world of gray he’d never seen before, and inside it, he heard a voice.
“The fox is right,” the voice said. It was the voice of a little girl. “You really should wake up. Without him, you’d be dead.”
Who is this person? Cha Ming thought. He wondered why she sounded so familiar.
“I’ve been waiting a long time for you, Cha Ming,” the voice continued. “As for who I am? I’m not so sure. For now… call me Ninesky.”
In the end, time proved Yu Wen’s naivety. She thought it was finally time to settle down, but in the end, he’d betrayed her and allowed the Curse Sovereign to enter Jade Moon Planet.
“How does it feel?” Cha Ming asked her from his vantage point above the bloody battlefield. “Does it hurt?” His smile was wicked, and any semblance of kindness was absent from his eyes.
Everything she’d experienced, everything she’d thought was real, had just been a great deception. All along, he’d been a minion of the Curse Sovereign, a pawn of her eternal nemesis.
She wanted to run, but this time, there was no escape. She was surrounded and had nowhere to run. Fortunately, her end came swiftly. A single sweep of a wicked scythe ended her life.
Her spirit left her body and entered the cycle of reincarnation. This time, she was reborn as a gifted girl in a wretched family. She was Mi Fei, the girl they abandoned for failing her awakening. She encountered Xiao Bai and regained her talent, only to find herself face-to-face with someone she recognized.
Cha Ming, pawn of her eternal nemesis.
She wasn’t sure if he recognized her, so she played it safe. She tried distancing herself, but it didn’t work. She tried avoiding him, but she couldn’t. Every step of the way, their paths collided.
For a time, they didn’t see each other, until they were reunited again under the guise of rescue. She knew better than to believe him this time. She escaped by jumping off the Starry Road when he wasn’t looking.
“I’ve found you…” Cha Ming said in a hauntingly familiar voice. It was as dark as the presence of the Curse Sovereign that possessed him. They were here in the Cursed City of Kerava.
“I won’t let you win!” Yu Wen screamed out. “Not this time!” She summoned a silver knife and plunged it into his chest. “Die! Die! Die!”
Blood spurted from Cha Ming’s wounds. Surprisingly, she’d overwhelmed him with just that.
He’s dying.
Yes, she’d finally killed him. She’d gotten her revenge.
I had you save him. Why did you kill him?
Yu Wen shook. She looked down at Cha Ming, her killer, and for the first time, she was uncertain. What was this voice? What was this feeling?
I see. You were tricked. Wake up.
Wake up! This time it was Xiao Bai’s voice.
Wake up!!! the two voices said in unison. A beam of jade shot into her, and suddenly, she realized what she’d done.
This was Cha Ming. He was bleeding out. He’d never been possessed in the first place. He’d never betrayed her. She’d been tricked by the Curse Sovereign, and once again, misfortune had taken their toll on those close to her. He’d loved her, and she’d stabbed him in the heart. He was dying. All because she couldn’t resist a dreaded illusion.
Wake up!!!! the voices said again, and she realized that this wasn’t real either. She was in a dream inside the dream. Another terrible reality.
“This isn’t real,” Yu Wen said. She gathered her soul, which was now glowing with a jade light. She lashed out at her surroundings and saw them collapse into nothingness. Everywhere around her, she saw gray-white mists of madness in the smoky shape of a stripeless tiger.
“Oh? You resisted?” the tiger said. His voice was lazy and mocking.
Yu Wen stood up shakily as she assessed her opponent. It didn’t take her long to realize who this was. It was a remnant of the Paper Tiger, who’d slain the Inkwell Ancestor.
“Go back to sleep and enjoy your painless death,” the Paper Tiger said.
“Oh,” Yu Wen replied. “You think the mere remnant of a demon emperor can overpower me?”
“You barely woke up, little girl, and even now, you’re drifting away,” the tiger said.
“My father would eat you for breakfast,” Yu Wen said.
“Your father isn’t here, little princess,” the tiger said.
“You’re a shadow of your original body,” Yu Wen continued. “If it was your true self, I’d be scared, but this much? Don’t insult me.”
Formations lit up all around her. She wasn’t the best with them, but at the same time, her uncle Fuxi was a master. He’d never have allowed her to leave without a few tricks to protect herself. She cultivated the formation art of the Jade Moon and the Starry Sky. Tiny pinpricks of light appeared in her spiritual sea.
“Break for me!” Yu Wen shouted and slammed her palm down. A massive Bagua seal formed overhead and slammed down on the white-gray mists engulfing her. The shadow of the tiger trembled and scattered.
“You can banish me, but do you really want to wake?” the tiger whispered as it vanished. “I can make you dream. You don’t have to wake.”
“And why would I want to do that?” Yu Wen asked.
“Let’s just say you like sleepwalking…” the tiger said.
Yu Wen was struck with a sense of foreboding. The tiger cackled as it disappeared. When the last of it vanished, Yu Wen’s eyes opened.
There were bodies everywhere. They were all asleep in varying states of hallucination.
I’m awake, Yu Wen thought. I made it. Then she froze as she realized that two things hadn’t changed since her awakening. For one, she held a dagger in her bloody hands. Cha Ming’s body lay in front of her, and it was riddled with wounds that wouldn’t stop bleeding.
She pressed her hands against his chest to stop the bleeding. She tried using qi to close his wounds, but to her surprise, they didn’t heal. She even tried using Grandmist to slow down time, and while the flow of blood stopped, she sensed something else: His spirituality was bleeding out, and she could do nothing about it.
“I’m sorry,” Yu Wen whispered, her tears splashing down on his face. “I didn’t mean to… You need to wake up, Cha Ming. You need to believe that you can heal.” She ignored the sealing area and the curse, and everyone else around her.
Right now, no one else mattered.
Cha Ming found himself floating in an empty space. There were no lights here. No feeling. No sound. There was no wind and there was no earth. Only a world of gray mists.
In this world, there were only two people. Cha Ming himself and a girl who seemed ten at most. “I’ve been waiting for you,” she said. She was the one who’d called herself Ninesky.
Cha Ming had never seen the little girl before, but Yu Wen had described her. Even then, it was difficult to do her justice. She was completely gray from head to toe and nearly transparent. A small puffy dress billowed around her as though a constant wind was blowing.
“You’re the spirit of the Clear Sky Brush,” Cha Ming said, walking toward her. The mists beneath his feet formed a solid surface as he wished them, though his footsteps made no sound. This place was like the Clear Sky World. Everything here could change according to his imagination. “You said to call you Ninesky?”
She nodded and gave him an innocent smile. She had a playful look about her that couldn’t be replicated. “I’ve been waiting to see you for a long time, Cha Ming. Far longer than you can even imagine.” Her eyes might be clear, but within them, he glimpsed eternity.
“You don’t look so good,” Cha Ming said, noticing the condition of her body. It lacked substance, much like Sun Wukong’s had years ago when he was on the verge of disappearing. “Is something wrong with you? Can I help you?”
The girl shook her head. “I wouldn’t have appeared now if you weren’t in danger. With the Monkey King’s spirit occupying my place and Guanyin’s seal suppressing me, it’s difficult for me to act.”
“This place…” Cha Ming said, walking up beside her. “It seems familiar.” The mists were whirling about wildly, bringing shapes and matter and energy into existence. If he were to use layman terms to describe it, this place was a Grandmist sandbox. A playground. An artist’s paradise.
“Perhaps one day we can play here again,” the Spirit of the Clear Sky Brush said.
“Again?” Cha Ming asked.
She didn’t answer his question but held out her hand. He took it, and she pulled him down to one knee until they were eye level. From her, he felt nothing but goodwill. Endless trust. Patience.
“One breath,” she said. A stream of mist blew out of her mouth and entered his mind and soul. “One breath so you can catch yours. You’re lost out there, Cha Ming. Your mind is broken. You’d best piece yourself back together. Otherwise…”
“Otherwise…” Cha Ming said, but gasped as a wound appeared on his chest. Then another, then another, until he resembled a spiritual pincushion. These weren’t just wounds to his body, but to his soul. Moreover, he began bleeding spiritual blood that wouldn’t stop no matter how much he willed it.
“Better hurry up,” Ninesky said. She laid her hand on his chest and pushed. He flew backward, traveling hundreds of thousands of miles in an instant. The gray world was vast and endless. If not for traveling so quickly, he would have never escaped it.
After taking a hesitant glance behind him, Cha Ming left the gray world behind. If his soul was in danger, he needed to journey to his spiritual sea. He was a soul projection, so getting there was easy. Cha Ming vanished and reappeared in what should have been his safest place. What he found shocked him.
What had once been pristine was now a broken mess. It was even worse than the time he’d purposefully shattered his mind. Not a single thing lay unbroken, and not a single thought lay uncorrupted.
Within this place of spiritual madness were thousands of copies of himself, muttering beneath their breaths. These thousands of voices infiltrated his soul the moment he landed, driving him deeper and deeper into madness.
His knowledge was splintered. The only thing that remained intact was the very core of his spiritual sea, that place of gray where the Clear Sky Brush and Ninesky existed. It took the shape of a small bead that hovered at the center of the pool of Grandmist he’d collected, alongside his concepts and their spiritual representations.
Speaking of concepts, he now noticed that they took the shape of distinct rings. There were two full rings, one white and one black, as well as two incomplete rings of the same color. The two complete rings were formed from five concepts, and at the center of them lay two clear runes, one black and one white.
Well, she wasn’t wrong, Cha Ming thought, walking up to the concept rings. It’s a good thing I’ve done this before. He looked around for a good moment and noticed that this place was broken for a reason. He’d been driven to madness by a large amount of white-gray mist.
Cha Ming summoned the Ninesky Seals, summoning the Spirit-Banishing Sky. His spiritual sea took on a blackish hue that chased off the gray-white mist. They tried to retreat but discovered that they were unable to do so. The Spirit-Banishing Sky was a wolf, and the white-gray mist was prey.
It took a few minutes to fully absorb the mists, and in that time, many of the cracks inside Cha Ming’s spiritual sea mended. The wounds on his soul also began to heal, but this wasn’t enough. He was still bleeding out. The madness had damaged his mind too badly. Every self in the spiritual sea was actually a fragment of his soul. Only by uniting them with his main self would he be able to recover.
Cha Ming began expanding the area of influence of the Ninesky Seals. As he did so, he dissolved scars and assembled broken pieces. The process was much like the time he and Yu Wen had pieced his broken limbs back together. This place wasn’t a tangible place, but that didn’t mean it couldn’t be fixed. Anything that was broken could be mended.
Is this really a bad thing? Cha Ming asked himself as he worked. Dozens of his selves folded into him as he did so. My body was broken, but now it’s better than ever. In a sense, this was an opportunity. Cha Ming would normally never tamper with this place, but since it was already broken, he might as well mess around with it. Why merely heal it? He could instead reassemble it so that it was stronger than the original.
Cha Ming paused for a moment before continuing. He’d learned an important lesson while healing his body, which was that the body wasn’t just a circulatory system—it was a runic system. In a sense, his spiritual sea could be thought of in the same way. There were currents of energy inside it, and there was a tangibility to it. The structure controlled how well his concepts and spiritual energy flowed. Since he had reorganized his qi pathways, could he not do the same with his spiritual sea?
