“I’m sure you have learned your lesson,” she said. “Repent and help others. Protect them. And if you can’t do that, lay down your weapons and become farmers or pick up a craft. Use your good deeds to atone for your sins.”
The bandits nodded and wept.
Then she looked over in the leader’s direction. Her blue eyes felt like vast oceans filled with light. “Show yourself,” she said gently.
Shivering at her command, the bandit had no choice but to show his true form. His red eyes glowed like blood, and his veins bulged as he held his saber firmly.
“Don’t you feel ashamed at what you’ve become?” she continued.
The other bandits paled when they saw this. Only now did they realize they had been in the presence of a monster.
“I do,” he said, shivering. “However, there is no repentance for me. I can only continue this way. In my next life, I will surely be reborn in Hell.”
The monk smiled and walked up to him slowly, ignoring the saber in his hands. She stopped only two feet away from him. “There is repentance for everyone,” she said. “Allow me to relieve you of your burden.” She laid her hand on his forehead. A red projection appeared behind him, wailing in agony as it was pierced by multiple beams of bright light. Wherever they pierced, whiteness spread. It only took thirty seconds for the red soul projection behind him to turn completely white.
Then it disappeared into the distance, and the man collapsed, dead.
“Was it necessary to save that man?” Gong Lan said as she walked along the dirt road. All of the bandits had chosen to renounce their former identities and spread out in every direction. Some said they would become farmers, others decided to become guards. This she understood. These men were not beyond saving, just like her.
“It is most difficult to show mercy to your enemy, but in this case, it was necessary,” a childish voice said to her. Green tendrils spread out from a locket on her neck that was made with an exceptionally large bodhi seed. “You saved a man’s soul, and while he is not deserving, this is one soul deprived from the devils, one less soul they can use to turn this plane against us. You have weakened the devils in Hell by depriving them of fresh blood. Saving this man hurt the real enemy.”
Gong Lan sighed. “Very well. We will continue doing such things. When must we return?”
“I’m not sure,” the seed replied. “It could be years or decades. Less than a century. However, rest assured that the time will come. When this is all over, you can transcend without worries.”
Gong Lan nodded, and they continued on.
Huxian lay at the peak of the mountain, licking his wounds as he listened to the spirit-tail chicken choir. They sang hymns of praise for him, and before long, they brought forth their latest sacrifice. Soon the chickens left with solemn appearances. The offering was no more.
Huxian sighed, depressed at the failure of their expedition. The beast tide he had been so confident in had ended up floundering at the last moment. The reason behind it was quite simple: walls.
Walls had been an enemy of spirit beasts since ancient times. Despite understanding their construction, and despite having the strength to tear them down stone by stone, every spirit beast held an instinctual fear of walls. Only kings amongst them could urge the lesser beasts forward, and only barely. This crushing blow to their morale had caused countless spirit beasts to fall like flies, and Huxian had no choice but to call them back to the mountain.
Unfortunately, he was now too weak to do much. His fight with the bear sovereign had cost him precious blood essence, and he would need to recover it before making his next move. He glared at the mountain beside them. It had its own sovereign, comparable in strength to the previous sovereign. If he couldn’t invade the humans and their walls successfully, so be it. He would go for the next best thing: annexing the nearby beast territories. He was a king after all, and he deserved his own dominion.
“Are you sure you want to do this?” Cha Ming asked the village mayor.
“Yes, I’m confident,” the mayor replied. Cha Ming nodded and activated a line that he’d drawn. It glowed brightly as it traveled up the stone trail, into the waterfall, and through the tunnels. An incense time passed before a sudden explosion shook the land nearby. Rubble flowed from behind the waterfall in great quantities before finally stopping.
Cha Ming probed the collapsed tunnel before turning to the mayor. “It’s all done. The cave is collapsed, and it shouldn’t be obvious that it’s a spirit-stone vein unless they do significant digging. Not that it matters, since over nine tenths of the mine has already been excavated.”
The mayor nodded. “Make sure you take all of the stones with you. We want nothing to do with them.”
Cha Ming smiled and tossed a medium-sized bag to the man. It jingled loudly. “Here are five thousand low-grade spirit stones. It’s not a vast sum of money, but it should be enough to purchase a currency that the village can use.”
The man was hesitant but accepted it nonetheless. Then he looked at the buildings that were quickly rising from the ashes. The entire town had come together, and soon it would be fully rebuilt. “Thank you. It will be difficult to survive the winter without purchasing provisions.”
“From now on, you won’t have to hide anymore,” Cha Ming said before leaving.
Before long, he arrived at Li Yin’s tent. It was Wei Chen’s old tent, and it had been serving as a temporary hospital. The man smiled when Cha Ming came in. “Is it done?”
“Yes, it’s done,” Cha Ming replied. “Soon the village will be back to normal.”
“As normal as it can be,” Li Yin said. “Mental scars like this stay with people for a long time. We were fortunate, however. It could have been a lot worse. We were enslaved, but our women and children maintained their dignity. By the way, how are your hands?”
Cha Ming revealed a nimble set of pure white fingers that were covered in freshly grown skin. It had been an easy but excruciating process to regrow the lost flesh.
The doctor sighed. “My greatest regret is that my life’s work was lost. How will I be able to teach without those books? It will be very difficult.”
Cha Ming chuckled before sweeping out his hand. A dozen large books appeared on the table. Li Yin looked shocked for a moment but instantly recovered. “I saved them just before the bandits came,” Cha Ming said. “I didn’t think you would want your life’s work burnt to the ground.”
The doctor, who had lost all hope earlier, was now grinning ear to ear. Cha Ming left him to flip through the pages and returned to his own tent. After closing the flap to ensure he wouldn’t be disturbed, he took out a gray candle in a bronze holder. He needed to gain strength as quickly as possible. After all, he had discovered much information relating to the bandit leader from Wei Chen’s bag of holding, and one thing was certain: The leader would come soon, and he would come with a vengeance.
This small village had finally found their light in the darkness. And he would protect it with everything he had.
Book 3 End
The Cultivation Systems
Qi Cultivation
• Qi Condensation – condense the qi of heaven and earth into a liquid in your dantian
o Stages 1-3: form a qi pool
o Stages 4-6: form a qi lake
o Stages 7-9: form a qi ocean
• Foundation Establishment – form pillars from your qi, setting a firm foundation for your future cultivation.
o Traditionally, a cultivator forms between one and nine pillars, which are affixed to the bottom of the qi oceans.
o The liquid qi in this stage is more viscous, its quantity and quality is dependent on the number of pillars.
o Pillars are grown from the bottom up, gradually forming the foundation with which to form your core
• Core Formation – condense your foundation into a core, the basis of your future growth
• Rune Carving -???
Body Cultivation
• Body Stre
ngthening – basic body strengthening and purification. Typically, the body is fed with qi and then refined with an opposing qi, removing any impurities
• Bone Forging – bones are the basis of strength and durability. The strongest body is nothing without strong bones supporting it.
• ???
Soul Cultivation
• Innate Soul – cultivators are born with an innate soul, and it grows as the cultivator advances in qi condensation. Eventually, the soul will make a rapid breakthrough into incandescence.
• Incandescent Soul – the soul begins to shine with incandescent light. Advanced soul manipulation of objects and mental communication is now possible.
• Resplendent Soul – wrap the soul in a resplendent vestment
Note to Readers
If you’ve enjoyed this book, I would greatly appreciate it if you left a rating on the site where you purchased it. Ratings lead to credibility in this competitive marketplace, and by leaving one, you signal to the world that this book is worth reading.
As some of you might know, I release each book as I write it. It wasn’t necessary for you to buy this book, but your support is greatly appreciated. If you are so inclined, you can continue reading as I write at:
https://royalroadl.com/fiction/16320/painting-the-mists
I can’t promise fully edited or proofread content, but I will do my best to continue maintaining frequent and high-quality releases.
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Acknowledgments
As I continue to write, I find that this list of acknowledgments grows. There are far too many people to thank—if I missed you, I’m sorry. It wasn’t intentional.
Just like before, I would like to acknowledge my parents, who continue to encourage me on my journey in writing this novel series. Likewise, thanks go to my two brothers and my sister. More specifically, thank you to Denis, who has finally started reading the series after much persuasion. Levi will fall in line eventually.
Thank you to all my friends once again. I recently took some time off work to focus on writing, and after talking to them, I’m convinced that I’ve made the right decision. Thank you to Dave for once again beta reading Book 2. And once again, thank you to my friend Usama, who is now a recurring character in my prologues.
Thank you to my girlfriend, Xing Wen, who continues to support me as I write this series.
Many thanks to Crystal Watanabe for her excellent support while editing my novel. My writing continues to improve with her help, so I’m glad to have her on board.
Thank you once again to Michael Vasilev for the excellent cover. It far surpassed my expectations.
Thank you to my patrons, who fund me and believe in me. They are a great encouragement as I continue writing.
Finally, thank you to my readers. I write to tell stories to people, and a story is worth nothing if it isn’t shared.
About the Author
Patrick Georges Laplante was born in a small town in the Canadian prairies in 1987. He began publishing Painting the Mists online under the pseudonym RedMirage in January 2018.
An engineer by trade, he graduated from the University of Alberta in 2009 and completed his master’s degree in 2011. While writing and engineering have little in common, he actively utilizes his experiences and attention to detail in fleshing out a vivid world and answering the “whys,” which are often left unanswered in Xianxia fiction.
As an avid vegan, he aims to prompt internal reflection in his readers through various themes like non-violence, choice, and begging the question: Is personhood restricted to humanity? And what is proper conduct, morality, and love?
His work is inspired by a combination of Western fiction, Dungeons and Dragons, Chinese web novels, and various Japanese, Korean, and Chinese comics and illustrated novels.
Light in the Darkness Page 33
