“We warned you you’d suffer,” one of them said.
“You’ll pay for what you’ve done,” said another.
Cha Ming could no longer tell them apart now that they’d shed their deceptive forms.
Think. Cha Ming summoned his Crown of the Starry Skies and Clockwork Boots of the Golden Dragon. His Ink-Splattered Cage shattered, and the three rakshasas dove at him. He could only dodge and use his staff to bat them away. Their demonic powers were too strong for him to resist directly.
Any ideas? Cha Ming asked Sun Wukong.
Nope, Sun Wukong said. I think we’re screwed.
Can you buy me some time? Cha Ming asked. He jumped, barely avoiding one rakshasa that pounced at his feet. Cha Ming returned the favor by unleashing a half dozen late-grade Roaring Inferno Talismans. Their powers joined together, forming a ball of concentrated energy around the lone demon caught in their range.
He expected singed fur. Burnt skin. Perhaps dry eyes. Instead, he got nothing. Only a grinning rakshasa that broke free from the weak flame imprisonment. Seeing that if he didn’t do something soon, he would die, Cha Ming used Words of Creation to make an Energy Talisman. The impromptu version consumed a massive amount of qi now that his soul was an initial-mid-grade-transcendent one, and he was able to create an initial-rune-gathering version without too much trouble. The talisman mobilized all heaven-and-earth energy in the nearest five kilometers and converted it to pure flame, blowing a hole in the rakshasa who’d blocked the Roaring Inferno Talismans. This time, he wasn’t so lucky.
One down, two to go, Cha Ming thought. With one rakshasa gone, it was easier to defend. But he was tired and didn’t have much creation qi left. His other talismans, while useful, were mostly defensive in nature.
He danced, throwing up earthen walls and strengthening his defenses with pre-drawn Matter, Flow, Shape, Samsara, and Energy Talismans. Unfortunately, he only kept one of each due to the mounting costs of their materials.
Claws struck him, tearing off flakes of hardened skin. The air around him congealed into ice, stopping sharp teeth mere inches away from his face. Meanwhile, the inner fire he’d kindled protected him from an ongoing threat: the constant attack bearing down on his soul.
I’m going to die, Cha Ming realized. It was inevitable. He should have known something like this would happen. He’d exposed their plot for the world to see.
He held up his staff, barely defending against a crushing blow as the other two, including the one he’d thought mortally wounded, went for his flanks. He counted the seconds he had left. Then Sun Wukong appeared out of the Clear Sky World and drove his stone staff into the ground. A golden protective circle expanded out from him, encompassing Cha Ming. Golden Buddhist runes formed a protective bubble that sizzled and burned the rakshasa and forced away their invested terrain. There. You have five minutes now.
“Our prey thinks he can hold us back,” said one of the rakshasas. “He knows nothing of our abilities.”
“Tear, tear, tear,” one of them said. She had a more feminine voice than the others. She walked up to the golden barrier and ran white claws across it, and where she did so, cracks appeared. “You are marked. Your life is ours. Pray that in your next life, you do not encounter us again.”
I should have been more careful, Cha Ming thought as he analyzed the situation. I knew the rakshasa would want to eliminate me. I knew Elder Empty Death had marked me. The only reason they hadn’t killed him yet was because he’d been in the prefecture. But here, in the wilderness, there would be no witnesses.
Well, he wouldn’t lie down and die without a fight. Cha Ming summoned the Crown of the Starry Sky again and searched for a way out of this. He ran through his options. There’s no gap in their formations. There is no hidden doorway to a starry road. There is no one out there, human or demon, who can help me. They must have researched him thoroughly to have laid this trap. He’d only fallen for it because of his personality.
It soon became apparent that his protective bubble wouldn’t last five minutes. It wouldn’t even last two. The rakshasas’ strange powers seemed to ignore conventions and erode the plane’s natural energies. When the barrier began to fail, he activated Thirty-Six Heavenly Transformations and his Clockwork Boots. Perhaps with luck, he could kill one of them.
Seconds trickled by, and eventually, the golden dome could take no more. It shattered, cutting the rakshasas as they charged in. To welcome them, Cha Ming became a destructive black blur as he channeled his Concept of Fourfold Devastation through his main body and three Temple Sand Clones that appeared beside him and fought, unleashing the three techniques he’d not been forbidden from using: Searing Sands of the Sacred Desert, Dissonant Sound of the Broken Symphony, and Hidden Might of the Verdant Crossroads.
This was the first time he’d had clones execute them simultaneously, and the results were impressive. They didn’t merely strike at the same time. They amplified each other, creating a devastating attack. These three techniques and the pure destruction Cha Ming unleashed caught one of the two weaker rakshasas by surprise. It shattered his defenses, enabling Cha Ming to pierce him through the heart, though not without taking a claw to the back in turn, destroying half the vitality in his demigod body.
Well, I got one of them. Then he braced himself for death.
Instead, he heard painful gasps and violent slashing and felt slick blood splash across his body. He opened his eyes and saw that his opponents were now preoccupied. A red-eyed lion demon with bloody teeth and five flowing tails pulled a massive saber out from what was left of a rakshasa. He was making a beeline for the next strongest target.
There were frightened yells. The demons that had been assaulting him vanished. For a moment, all was silent, until he heard the screams. They came, one after another, sometimes with human voices, and sometimes bestial ones.
The Zheng appeared like a ghost in the night, slaying, then vanishing once the deed was done. The rakshasa couldn’t run. They could barely scream before he slew them. And when they finally realized they were doomed, they made a final play for Cha Ming’s life. The Zheng responded by appearing in front of him and shielding him with his strong body and powerful armor. A single sweep of his blade reduced them to a blood mist, which seeped into him, healing his wounds.
Then, all was still. The bloody glow faded from the Zheng, who wiped his saber and put it away. He walked to Cha Ming and patted his shoulder with a heavy hand. At first, he’d thought it was a gesture of respect for holding out so long. That is, until he felt an itch on his back where the rakshasa had hit him. The wound faded, Dao scars and all.
“I… thank you,” Cha Ming said.
The Zheng grunted. “I saw that you were marked by their clan. I knew it was only a matter of time before they revealed themselves. The most elusive of fish hide themselves in deep lakes, but it is easy to catch them with the right lure.”
“You could see that?” Cha Ming asked.
“Yes,” the Zheng said. “I see much of their blood on your hands. That is good. They are enemies to all.” Then he turned and walked away.
“Wait,” Cha Ming said. “You saved my life. Would you take anything in payment?”
“No,” the Zheng said, continuing along. “Eliminating that filth is its own reward. And besides, the plane helps those who help it.”
Indeed, Cha Ming could see a massive amount of violet demonic energy flowing into the demon from the land, from the air itself, until the Zheng disappeared from his sight once again.
Cha Ming was alone once more. He shivered when he realized how close he’d come to death. He’d grown complacent in the prefecture. Complacent with his Sage Sight. No longer. Maybe I’ll ask Huxian to come with me, Cha Ming thought. It isn’t safe to travel alone anymore. With that in mind, he pushed ahead, not daring to rest until he was safe and sound in Stargazer City.
Chapter 4: Chased
Mi Fei knew where she was the moment she woke. Perhaps it was the dreary sky that gave it aw
ay, or perhaps the inky rain that soaked her. Or better yet, the empty swings that no longer existed, or the toys she’d thrown away long ago. This was a nightmare, she knew, and while this wasn’t a comforting thought, it gave her a moment to prepare herself for what was to come.
She walked slowly, restraining her thoughts to mundane things, lest her imagination run wild. Can’t think too much, she thought. The rain. Why is it inky? Why does it blacken the skin and clothes it touches but leave no stains? It was a mystery of their world, as no other colored substance did the same.
One mundane thought let to the next. For example, why was the ink one used with a brush so different than the ink in the rain? The same black color would leave its mark, while the inky rain would not. And why was the sky purple, not blue or green or yellow? Why was it pink every morning? On that note, why was grass green, and why was there a single eternal moon across the entire universe? That last one wasn’t a mundane thought, but it did come from her understanding of the Concept of Jade Moon and Starry Sky. It kept her grounded, at least for a little while.
Unfortunately, it was also a question her other self had once asked. It opened the door to an entirely different and dangerous line of thinking in a place where controlling her thoughts was beyond difficult.
Self. What is the self? Who are others, and why are they so mean? The faces of her duplicitous family members appeared around her. They greeted her with smiles, but inwardly, they mocked her. She was a puppet for them, and she could do nothing about it.
But they were not why she was uneasy. In this place, there were stranger things. Thoughts of her family were but a bridging thought to more unwelcome guests. For example, the apple tree that appeared just before her. The dark-violet fruits that grew on it were delicious and entrancing, and when she ate one, tasting its sweet juices, her immersion deepened.
Stop, Mi Fei thought. Stop. Don’t think. Don’t feel. Unfortunately, she’d already tasted the fruit. Its juices lingered in her mouth. These weren’t ordinary fruits, but fruits of suggestion that lessened her inhibitions. In fact, why was she fighting this place? She was here, and that was that. This place wasn’t all that bad. There were many good things to be found in the dreamscape if one was brave enough to look.
She thought of a beautiful lake with all her favorite fish, and there she was, walking beside it. Rainbow fish jumped in and out of its fresh yet inkless waters. Beside the lake, there were woods filled with beautiful trees she’d walked through all her life, with wild animals, and even bestial demons.
Then she shivered, remembering why she didn’t like it here in the first place. The woods were nice, yes, and the lake was wonderful. But there was something else here. Eyes that watched whenever you weren’t looking. Always flickering in the corner of her vision. She wasn’t sure when it had first started, she only knew that whatever it was, it had been with her for her entire life. She’d only been too blind to see it.
Mi Fei caught a flicker of it now, just barely, before it disappeared. Her heart skipped a beat, and she quickened her steps to put some distance between them. Yet she knew, deep down, that she could not outrun this enemy. It walked behind her, stalking her from the shadows. It was relentless, and it didn’t stop when she broke into a run.
Why am I even running? She knew it was silly. This was a dream, and her fear fed the devil that chased her. The intellectual reality clashed with the raw dread that filled her heart, and as always, her rational mind was lost. It’s coming for me. Not just here, but in the waking world. She couldn’t see it there either, but it watched her always. She’d felt its presence before, near this very lake when she was a child. She recognized this moment, the lake, and the trees. Behind them, she saw the shadow that stalked her, barely visible behind a trunk. It was there, just as it had always been, watching her for all these years. She didn’t know what it wanted or why it hunted her.
So she ran, and the figure chased her, its robes flowing and its sinister eyes peering at her from beneath its deep cowl. They were black, but not the same inky blackness that nourished the seas and the rains. They were an empty darkness that ate and devoured. This being wanted her. Craved her.
It spoke, but she heard no words. And when she looked back at it, it flickered away. It lingered in the corner of her eye. She could never fully see it, even after all this time. Before, it hadn’t stalked her. It had only watched. She’d been protected before, but now her protection had ended.
Dao Lord Blackwater didn’t lie, she thought as she ran. Her family’s manor appeared. She was greeted by those familiar fake smiles. The figure was gone now, so she went along with them to dinner. She ate, knowing full well that while she did, someone, something was watching.
And when she finished, she was on the floor. Toys and blocks she’d played with when she was three years old appeared. She grabbed them like a baby would and stuck them in her mouth, remembering. But when she saw the dark thing that played with her, unseen until this moment, she jerked back. The creature tumbled over her towers when she wasn’t looking. It upset her playmates and whispered jealous things into their ears. And if that wasn’t enough, it pushed her over, forcing her to cry to parents who didn’t love her. It was too much. She couldn’t take it. She wanted it to end. But the shadow refused to let that happen, so it held back, drawing out the chase.
Mi Fei ran, frightened and screaming. She was in the woods again, and the creature flickered through her many blind spots. Wolves were chasing her, nipping at her heels. Even then, when she’d been chased, the creature had watched her, wondering when and how they would catch her.
She couldn’t think. She couldn’t breathe. Fear clenched her heart like a meaty hand. She couldn’t escape—not until she awakened. It was with that thought that she brought forth a doom of her own creation.
Fire enveloped her. Not normal flames, but Grandmist flames that took on impossible shapes. Her stalker shrieked in rage, feeding off her fears. Off her lies. It couldn’t accept such a cowardly exit. It reached for her, but when it did, the gray flames burnt it. It was immune to most fires, but against Grandmist, it could do nothing. And neither could she. It took several agonizing seconds for her to burn away. Several seconds of unfathomable pain. Then, and only then, did the last of her consciousness leave her. She jerked awake in her bed, where she looked around, wondering, fearing if it was still there, only to discover that it was gone. It was only a nightmare. She’d dreamed the entire thing.
Xiao Bai lay on her bed, pretending to sleep, but Mi Fei knew she was awake. She was her watcher in the darkness. Her sleepless sentinel, though she would never admit it. It was only a nightmare, Mi Fei thought. She lay down in her bed, her heart still pounding. The dark sky in the window lightened as hints of sun peeked over the horizon.
Well, I’m up, she thought. She fetched her silver sword, put on her training robes, and headed out to the square. Daoist Burning Sword was there as always, bored out of his mind and ready to put her through yet another round of vigorous training.
Does he know about the nightmares? she wondered as she faced off against the weary man. And as she fought, she thought troublesome things. Who was he, really? How much did she really know about him? Could he be the one? Watching her from the shadows? Hiding in plain sight? She banished the thought immediately. It was dangerous to think that way. Better to keep training and let the last of the nightmare fade.
They fought, exchanging near-lethal techniques to hone her instincts. He was the whetstone that sharpened her and ground away her imperfections. How long would it be until her next breakthrough? Weeks? Months? She was a late-rune-carving cultivator now, and every sub-realm took exponentially longer.
It doesn’t matter, she thought. When it comes, I’ll be ready for it.
The rest of Mi Fei’s morning went extremely well. She had a wonderful breakfast before her regular cultivation session using the usual allotment of resources. She did so under threefold time acceleration, courtesy of Xiao Bai and her mastery over time.
Small hills of natural resources, chosen for quantity, not quality, evaporated as she incorporated them into her cultivation base. Such was the power of Grandmist.
“Your pace is frightening as usual, my lady,” said a servant. Peng Xinyi was her name. The woman was new and had been handpicked by her mother.
“It is what it is,” Mi Fei said. “I don’t advance nearly as quickly as I used to. Especially given the sheer quantity of energy I absorb.”
“But you’re so flexible as to what you require,” Peng Xinyi said. “Surely the Mi Clan can afford it.”
“Perhaps,” Mi Fei said. “Is there any news I should know about?”
“Not of particular interest to you, but I can give you the highlights in the prefecture,” Peng Xinyi said. She began rambling off about large business transactions, the ongoing Li Clan asset sale, and naturally, the war against the demon lands. She wasn’t a simple servant, but a high-level one, doubtlessly placed to further her education.
“Three more inky wells have been taken in the past week,” Peng Xinyi continued. “Cao Wenluan is proving himself to be a cunning general, and with the resources he claims with each outpost, our losses are more than made up for.”
“But not the lost lives,” Mi Fei pointed out.
“Not the lost lives,” Peng Xinyi admitted. “Oh, I almost forgot. I received this piece of news just this morning. It seems the Sisters of Solemn Flame have just pledged allegiance to the Wei Clan. Perhaps you can discuss this with Young Master Wei when you meet him? I’m sure many in our family would love to know the details.”
Right. She was also a spy for her parents. Well played, placing someone so useful, Mi Fei thought. Well played indeed.
“I’ll let you know what I discover,” Mi Fei said. After all, she was accepting her family’s aid nowadays. She was now indebted to them and would do what she could to bring them small advantages. Reasonable renumeration for reasonable favors.
Claddings of Light : Book 12 of Painting the Mists Page 7
