by Rick Scott
“Kenji, don’t say that.” Shinoto tugged on his arm. “You’re not going to die.”
“I’m just being realistic,” Kenji said, sitting upright. Surprisingly there was less pain now. “But…I do think it is healing my body as well as damaging it.” He flexed and the wounds on his shoulder and leg were nearly healed. “The doctor said it’s changing my body.”
Olja nodded. “I’d say so. For you to be able to do what you did was extraordinary. But then… you always were. Tell me, what do you remember of who you are. Do you remember anything at all? Do you even know that you are Li Wan Fu?”
“Li Wan Fu…?” He scoffed at the name. It still felt like a foreign language on his tongue. “I understand that as a fact, but I don’t claim it. Trust me…I’ve met Li Wan Fu and I am not him. And on that, we both agree.”
Olja blinked at him, confused. “What?”
Kenji released a long sigh. “There are perhaps some things about me that you should know first, Olja. But after I tell you, I must know completely why you have come for me as well. Can we agree to speak openly now?”
Olja nodded. “I won’t admit to knowing everything. The Holy Seer only shares so much. The same as she does with everyone. But what I do know, I will share freely.”
Kenji nodded. “Sounds like a deal.”
“Very well then,” Olja said, folding her long legs into lotus position and she began to channel her Qi and heal her wounds. “Start talking…we have much to discuss.”
Chapter 44 – Emergence
“Curse the fates…” Amikazu seethed.
Before they had even reached the sloop, he could see clearly that no one was aboard. The boat was anchored to the riverbed, its sleek hull swaying to and fro with the flow of the river.
Amikazu glanced over his shoulder downstream. They could be miles away already. Anger rose in his gut like bile, mixing with the strange Qi that was already present there. He glared at the three sellblades sat in the belly of the small junk behind him.
The incompetent fools. Had they not attacked the village early it would never have come to this. He felt like cursing them aloud, but he needed them more than ever now. So close. He looked at the box about his neck and cursed it as well. If not for it, then he could have left the sellblades behind and Windwalked to find the boy much faster. But now he was so weakened he needed them just to row.
You’ll never reach them, Amikazu. Not now.
The voice was right. How could he reach them now? But he had to try. He had to find them again. Had they gone back to the village perhaps? Downriver? There was only one way to know for certain.
“Follow the demon again,” Amikazu said. “You still owe me that boy.”
“What about what you promised?” the Badger said.
“You’ll get nothing until I get him! Understood?”
They will fail you again.
Be silent!
Perhaps they would. But what other choice did he have? At least the demon was still alive and would be able to find the boy again eventually.
You have no time. You’ve caused too much damage now, Amikazu. You’ll be branded a traitor. Word from the village will spread. Your life is over…your plan…is over.
Amikazu fell to his knees as the reality sunk in. He would soon lose it all. His advantage, his opportunity. All because these fools let the boy get away. Because they attacked the village too soon. Because they were the useless sellblades that they were and not the Iron Queen he had wanted. And because the Iron Queen herself had betrayed him—right from the very start.
“Curse my fate…”
There is another way, Amikazu…
“What other way?”
The Badger looked at him oddly. “We won’t know ‘what other way’ until we find the creature again. Then we track it. It’s what we’ve done for weeks!”
But Amikazu wasn’t listening to him anymore. Instead he heeded the voice calling to him from within the box. He stared at it as it throbbed against his chest.
Yes, Amikazu. You need no demon to find my body… not when you already possess my mind.
It was true. With the power of the mind stone he could track the boy himself, drawn by his own connection and power.
No…I can’t risk it.
You must!
He would soon lose everything. The voice was right. He would have to risk it now.
Amikazu removed the box from about his neck and set it on the belly of the boat.
“What are you doing?” the witch asked.
“What I should have perhaps done before resorting to the likes of you.”
He opened the box and a violent surge of Qi resonated with his doma. The gem gleamed with fiery red tendrils, licking like flames into the air. He cried out as the voice touched his mind.
Yes….yes!!
“What is that?” the Badger bellowed. “Get him away from it.”
Do it now…! Before the fools convince you otherwise! The weak will never understand the strong!
“Yes,” Amikazu said, grasping the gem. “It must be now!”
It burned hot like a coal in his hand, but he ignored the pain and forced it into his mouth. He nearly choked, but his concentration overcame his body’s natural rejection of it and he forced the jewel down his throat.
The world spun and darkened.
Oh thank you, Amikazu…
His heart sped with fright as his limbs began to move of their own accord. “What in the hells?”
Thank you, Amikazu…for your sacrifice.
* * *
Chow Meugo eased away from the general as Dark Qi erupted from the center of his body, swirling outward in a radiating spiral, like a growing storm. He glanced at the witch and even she seemed fearful for once. The boat rocked and swayed with a violent pulse of Qi and then suddenly all went still.
Purple Leaf looked down upon himself as if inspecting a new robe. “What a decrepit vessel this is.” He then looked up and regarded Chow Meugo with a smile, as if somehow seeing him for this first time. “And who might you be?”
Chow Meugo summoned his Qi. This was no longer Purple Leaf. Whatever foul soul stone he had swallowed had possessed him now. “Stay back, demon!”
“Demon?” The man laughed. “I am no demon, boy…”
The man continued speaking, as if having a conversation with someone else. “…Ah, I see. I have no need for their skills, unlike you, Amikazu. I told you I can find the boy on my own. And now I shall.”
Chow Meugo didn’t like the sound of that. A quick glance with Li Wei and he could tell the Dao master was thinking the same thing. They’d just become expendable. The boat shifted in the river current as a deathly silence took hold. Chow Meugo slowly reached for his claws.
“Now, Meugo!” Li Wei shouted, drawing his blades, surging forward with a burst of Qi.
The cry came too late as Purple Leaf jumped, leaving Li Wei stabbing air where the general had once been. Five mystic blades then emerged from the Dark Qi swirling around his body, fanning out in a pentagonal formation as he hovered in midair. With a blur of his hand, the blades flew towards Li Wei. The Dao master parried the first, but the rest punctured his chest in quick succession, pinning him to the side of the boat.
Fates alive! Chow Meugo quickly donned his claws.
This boat would perhaps become their tomb, but he refused to die a coward. He looked to Zhe Ahn as the witch summoned her Dark Qi to form a shield. They nodded as one. He then jumped off the side of the boat with Qinggong to lash out at Purple Leaf with his claws. But before he even reached, a long, western-styled blade appeared in the man’s hands and parried his attack, knocking Chow Meugo back into the belly of the boat.
He crashed onto his side and immediately Zhe Ahn fell to her knees.
“Have mercy, great lord, whoever you are!” She lowered her head to the floor. “We are but lowly sellblades and seek only to serve you as our master. Our payment will be our lives.”
Chow Meugo leapt to his feet, not sure whether the woma
n was attempting some ruse or simply trying to save her own skin. In either case, it caused Purple Leaf to pause. The man that was once the general regarded Zhe Ahn with glowing red eyes.
“And how will you serve me, witch?”
She looked up at him with desperation. “Any way you wish.”
The stupid wench… Ire burned in Chow Meugo’s gut, as he looked to Li Wei, now dead and bleeding against the side of the boat. His pride strained against his instinct to survive, but eventually his instinct won out. He lowered his claws and bowed his head. “I too will serve you in whatever capacity I can.”
Or at least until I can get off this damned boat.
The former general scoffed. “You do well to call me lord. For indeed, it is your lord who speaks to you now.”
Chow Meugo raised his eyes to the man now hovering in the sky. “Who are you then?”
“You have the markings of the Tsu, my chosen tribe within your lands.” He lifted a hand towards Li Wei and a wave of dark tendrils extended outwards, enveloping him.
A sickly feeling entered Chow Meugo’s stomach as he witnessed the man’s life force being drained out of him—Purple Leaf feeding upon the man as easily as one would channel Qi.
The dark arts…
Whatever strength Li Wei once possessed was absorbed by the black tendrils and transferred in pulses of Dark Qi. Purple Leaf inhaled deeply, a satisfactory smile upon his lips. “A shame he saw it fit to die so hastily. But his sacrifice shall not go to waste, even if it was worth but a few measly Dan.” He then lifted his open palms towards Chow Meugo and Zhe Ahn. “But you, my friends, shall have the honor of being the first to rebuild my great army. Welcome, proud Tsu warriors, to the ranks of the Bloody Duke.”
Chapter 45 – Darkness Comes
As the boat drifted downriver, Kenji told Olja everything he knew about both himself and Li Wan Fu. Mostly he recounted what he’d been told by Waru and then went on to explain the Han arts and how the ropes were used to turn the body of Li Wan Fu back into a newborn babe again.
“Being raised by my father in Han Village is all I ever knew,” Kenji said, sitting opposite Olja in the belly of the boat, while Shinoto remained perched on the stern, guiding with the rudder. “I have no memories of a previous life. Li Wan Fu is a stranger to me. Although when I see him in my visions, he does look like me. But older perhaps.”
“Visions?” Olja asked.
He explained that part next, about the black beach and the towering demons with throats made of fire. “I see him clearly there. And can speak freely to him too. But he seems to be trapped there somehow.”
“So you’ve seen the celestial realm already,” Olja said. “Fascinating…”
“If that’s what it’s truly called, then yes. It’s happened a few times now, when I tax my doma, I think.”
He rubbed just below his navel, feeling for the soreness. Part of him wished that Master Mei Ling were here to check upon him again. Although, if he were to gauge the pain for himself, he felt far better than the first time she had cracked open his doma. Perhaps cracking it further had relieved some kind of pressure. He tried channeling his Qi through his meridians and surprisingly found it much easier to control. It was as if before, the small crack was releasing his Qi too fast and erratically, like a narrow split at the base of a dam, spitting water uncontrollably. But now, it felt stronger, like a floodgate being opened, but with far more predictable control.
A bit of hope and excitement rushed through him. If he could do this, then he could perhaps imbue now as well. Perhaps this was some kind of improvement after all.
He then thought further. If he could release Qi more steadily now, then perhaps he could store it more easily as well. He considered trying to channel his Qi towards his doma to test the theory, but decided against it for the moment. He’d just been through something highly traumatic and without knowing exactly what had happened, he didn’t want to risk making things worse.
He was no doctor, after all.
“A vision of the celestial realm?” Shinoto said. “That sounds like what happens during ascension. Although I never saw anything as vivid as that when I ascended through the tiers. Just colors and sounds.”
“It sharpens the higher the Dan you reach,” Olja said. “Kenji, if you were able to experience all that, then you’re still linked in some way to the higher Dans of ascension that you once obtained.”
“How do you mean?”
Olja pressed her palms together as she released a long breath, steam pouring from the wounds on her body as she completed another healing cycle. She had recovered far more rapidly than he would have imagined possible. Even now he could barely see crusted scars where deep wounds had once been. “You said your doma was returned to its normal size by the Han arts, correct? It may have compacted your doma, but your celestial progression still remains. Or perhaps you’re still linked to Li Wan Fu as to why you both appeared in the celestial realm together. Although you do seem to be a completely different person now, a new soul. But you still have the body of Li Wan Fu.”
Kenji released a long sigh. “Yes… so he keeps reminding me every time I see him.”
Olja chuckled with her deep voice. “I can see now why you were kept a secret. Even from yourself. With what’s been done to you, you can perhaps double the strength of what you once were. This is incredible.”
“I’m not so sure about incredible,” Kenji said with a frown. “It might have come at a heavy price.”
Olja arched a brow.
He then told her of his last visit to the celestial realm just a few moments ago, and described the huge flying creature he’d seen in the dark sky. “The Duke said that I’d summoned it by committing some sin and that now I’d be tested or judged by it.”
Olja’s eyes snapped open. “You summoned a Bakunawa?”
“Apparently,” Kenji said with a shrug as he recalled the exact name. “I’m assuming it had to do with that spell I used to freeze time just now.”
“By the fates…” Olja said, her eyes darting back and forth in thought. “A Bakunawa already…and you haven’t even reached first Dan!”
Shinoto looked nervously between them. “What does that mean?”
Olja’s brows set with a look of determination. “It means we need to get started much sooner than I’d thought.”
“Get started with what?” Kenji asked.
“Your training.”
* * *
Chow Meugo clung for dear life as he struggled to remain balanced upon the raging cloud of Dark Qi. His heart thundered within his chest as his feet sank into the cloud like a rain-soaked bog. Below him the ground flew past at a speed unimaginable, the winding river twisting and turning below him.
By the gods…it was just like the stories of old. As a child he’d read the legends of great mystic warriors, travelling thousands of miles upon the backs of clouds of condensed Qi, but never would have dreamed that he would one day be doing so himself.
And that it would be so terrifying.
The cloud roiled beneath him, flashing with lightning and thunder. The man who was once Purple Leaf, and who now claimed he was the Bloody Duke, sat within the center of the dark mass in lotus position, his palms pressed together as he steered them through the very sky, following the path of the river.
Across from him, the witch, Zhe Ahn, cackled with glee, her eyes black and filled with dark energy of her own. But perhaps even more disturbing was what lay between them. Li Wei, or perhaps what was once him, clung to the surface of the dark cloud on all fours. His back was arched like an animal’s and his lifeless white eyes stared into nothingness ahead.
A cold chill ran down Chow Meugo’s spine as he struggled to stay both on the cloud and as far away from the dead man as possible. Dark sorcery. No amount of silver was worth this price. But he had to follow through with it now. Bloody Duke or demon, this new Purple Leaf was a far more brutal taskmaster now.
He glanced again at Li Wei and shuddered.
He would not become that.
Whatever he needed to do, he’d do so…and prayed he would not become that when he died.
* * *
“So you came to train me to become this Templar?” Kenji asked.
“That is my main duty, yes.” Olja nodded as she inspected the wounds on her arms and legs. “I’ve travelled over a thousand miles, from deep within Xjian territory to find you. Now that I have, I need to prepare you and to take you back.”
“Prepare me for what?” Kenji asked. “And take me back where exactly?”
“Perhaps I need to start from the beginning,” Olja said, flexing her arms in a new cycle of healing. “The world is much bigger than you perhaps think, or know. There are realms within realms and realms above and realms below.”
Kenji chuckled. “You remind me of my friend Waru…always the poet.”
“Not trying to be poetic here,” Olja said with a smirk. “These are simply the facts. This realm is what is known as a realm of ascension, a primordial realm where all Qi and life essence originates. From there, those within the realm either progress or decline.”
“You mean either ascend to heaven or descend to hell?” Kenji asked, recalling the Duke’s words.
“Yes, something like that.”
“And so we’re the 8th realm?” Shinoto asked.
“Yes,” Olja said. “The 8th Realm of Celestial Ascension. The Holy Seer often refers to it as Bangōr. Although I’m not certain if that’s its true name or not.”
He’d never heard that name before.
“Who is this seer?” Kenji asked. “And why is she interested in me becoming this Templar?”
“Well she isn’t necessarily interested in you, really. No offense, Kenji. She doesn’t even know you exist, I don’t think. It’s Li Wan Fu she’s interested in, but since you possess his body now, I guess you’re going to have to fulfill his duty as well.”
Kenji didn’t know whether to feel offended by the statement or not. “So I have to become this Templar now, because of him?”
