Zarthos
patreon
016 - Betrayal on a Mountain Top
🕑 Added 2024-07-03 22:21:01 +0000 UTC"Why ask me when you already know the answer?" Qin Yun said calmly.
Indeed, she knew. She had had an inkling as soon as she had that epiphany as she looked at the sunset. Her previous cultivation was already gone, and the path barred from her. Nothing could be done to walk on it once again. She would have to tread another path through untold obscurity, fumbling in the dark without a guidepost to find her way. Only then could she restart again.
Indeed, she would have to restart from the beginning. Still, this offered some advantages. Qin Yun explained to her that the most likely reason for her accident was a flaw in her cultivation technique. More precisely, her technique was so overbearing that her meridians couldn't sustain the load of her breakthrough and shattered from the intense energy coursing through them as she sought the Void Core Realm.
Qin Yun had some guesses about why her master was able to advance despite using the same technique, but he would have to meet her to know the full extent of what he had theorized. Only through extensive observations and endless examinations could one uncover the truth of any phenomenon. It wasn't in his nature to determine the outcome from circumstantial evidence alone.
While Yun Jingfei longed to know the truth, she knew Qin Yun's caution was warranted. What if he was wrong and her prior state was due to foul play? She wouldn't dismiss it since jealousy was a rampant affliction within her sect. She wouldn't put it past some of her fellow inner sect disciples to plot against her.
As for her broken Qi Channels, Qin Yun had the means to repair them, just as he had done with her outward injuries. Only, it would be much more laborious since they were deeply ingrained rather than surface-level.
Qin Yun explained that, at present, she was much too weak for him to attempt such a delicate procedure. He feared she might succumb to her wounds as he used his Innate Qi to repair her meridians. Besides, his Qi was limited in his current realm, and he had already used a significant amount. Anymore, and he wasn't sure he could perfect the Body Strengthening Realm.
Unless he found a way to replenish it, he would have to wait until he became a proper cultivator and could harness the world's Spiritual Qi. He already had an idea of how to achieve it, yet it would require much more time and research. Still, they had more than enough time and had no reason to rush.
“What about what my family asked me to find? How do you plan to deal with this?” she asked, concerned.
While she had been fully prepared at one point to betray this arranged husband and steal what her family required, if only to feel needed again, she couldn’t bring herself to do it anymore, knowing what this man had done for her. Still, she was under no illusion that they could go against them and renege on this deal, even if Qin Yun had no part in it. They wouldn’t hesitate to use force if it came to it.
Listening to her inquiry, Qin Yun only smiled in response. Then, he pointed his finger forward until a strange crystal object appeared. It was long and jagged, somehow resembling a sabre with a barbed edge. Yet, unlike a standard weapon, it seemed much more natural than something forged, almost as if it had been alive at some point.
Indeed, this was a leg belonging to one of these strange crystal insects. Yun Jingfei squinted as she looked at this peculiar item. While she could barely feel the Spiritual Qi in the atmosphere, she recognized a strange energy pulsating within the transparent object, almost as if it flowed within like Qi in a cultivator's meridians.
Qin Yun waved the limb lightly, and Yun Jingfei noticed space vibrate as it cut through, which she found unexpected. Only a treasure above the Soul Formation Realm could affect the world as this one did. Only through the natural laws can one accomplish such a thing. She held no doubt that this was worthy of what one might call an inheritance. No wonder her family would move mountains and sell her to get their hands on such a treasure.
Looking at her stunned expression, Qin Yun could only smile wryly. This was but a replacement for his non-existent inheritance, only something to get people off his back. As for its worth, Yun Jingfei wasn't wrong. In the right hands, this could be a priceless treasure. Yet, it would only be such if someone could extract that strange energy.
Otherwise, as soon as someone tried to refine it into a personal treasure, it would explode in their faces, most likely killing them in the process. As for what happened to it once it left his hands, Qin Yun couldn't care less. Besides, he had countless amounts of the same material safely stashed away in his black box, ready to be refined into potent artifacts.
“Let’s not be too eager to deliver it to them,” Qin Yun said calmly as Yun Jingfei’s gaze was riveted on the strange crystal limb radiating colourful light. “Besides, I reckon your family should leave us shortly, and my family should come to us fairly quickly to get their hands on it. For now, we just need to wait for the right moment."
Somehow, Qin Yun’s smile felt eerie to her, as if he was a villain with a scheme in mind. Yet, getting even with the family that had sold her enticed her greatly. She couldn’t wait to see their faces once they realized she had recovered from what was an incurable affliction and rub it in their faces that they had lost her for good.
Still, it would be a lie to say she had no regrets. Her uncle had been good to her and did his best to fight on her behalf, even if this fight ended in his defeat. Yet, she understood Qin Yun's intentions with the mask he had prepared for her. Showing her condition now would only result in further chaos, and she would lose her independence. She would probably be caged again, living as nothing more than a puppet, fighting for the family's greater good.
At least now, she was in charge of her life, a life she had chosen even if she was bound to another through marriage. Only time would tell if she would come to view her union with Qin Yun as something she would regret.
******
A long distance away, on a mountain near the continent's core, stood a young man with long, flowing white hair. His black clothes were ragged, with sleeves ripped at the shoulder and bloodstains covering almost their entirety. However, most of the blood wasn't his but of his opponents.
A strong scent of blood and decay wafted through the air, overpowering the gentle scent of leftover nature. Indeed, what had once been a verdant forest upon a mountaintop was now nothing more than a mass grave filled with corpses and broken steel.
Despite the corpses being only recent additions to this nightmarish landscape, they were dried and decayed as if they had been stripped of all their vitality, leaving behind nothing but empty husks and damaged clothing.
Despite his numerous injuries, ranging from benign to life-threatening, the young man stood tall and unyielding, facing the world with a grin laced with insanity. All around him were cultivators sporting various uniforms, denoting the different factions they belonged to.
While conflicts were common, these factions seemed to form a united front against this young man, yet he seemed to prevail against all odds. To the young man's side was a young lady donning a long, light green dress. Although she was injured and her face was marred with blood, her beauty nonetheless shone through.
The man stood before her, shielding her from the endless assaults of these different factions. Despite being heavily outnumbered, the man held his own purely through overwhelming skill and might. Yet, even he was prone to exhaustion as his stamina and mental fortitude weren’t unlimited.
Sensing this slight hint of weakness, a man with a long white beard swung a long poleaxe, wishing to cleave the young man in two with a single swing. Yet, his bravado would come back to haunt him as the young man effortlessly evaded before grasping the old man's throat with his hand and digging his long nails into his skin.
The old man howled before the young man crushed his throat, yet didn't reap his life at that moment. Instead, a black vortex appeared on his palm as he struck the old man at the Qi Centre, ripping through the flesh of his abdomen. Mere moments later, the old man shrivelled and died, leaving nothing but an empty husk, which the young man threw to the side.
Almost instantly, the wounds that seemed fatal began to heal under the naked eye. While they still bled, at least the young man was assured not to succumb to them. Seeing this macabre spectacle, most of the cultivators broke their assault, not wishing to be the newest victim of this fiend, becoming the latest evidence of this young man's might to litter the floor.
"Liao Cheng! Stop resisting and return the Heavenly Bead to us, and we may allow you to keep your life! Otherwise, do not blame us for being ruthless!”
Liao Cheng could only scoff at their futile attempt to persuade him. He knew fully what awaited him if he were to cave into their demands. While they may call themselves members of the righteous factions, they were nothing more than unashamed hypocrites.
“Return it to you?!" Liao Cheng screamed at almost the top of his lungs. His powerful voice rocked the nearby landscape, even producing slight tremors on the ground. Some of the most wounded cultivators couldn't endure the strain of his Qi-laced voice and collapsed on the ground as they vomited lumps of blood. "The Heavenly Bead has always been part of my clan's heritage, and you dare claim it as your own?! You dare call yourselves righteous practitioners? Even pigs have more worth in my eyes than you lot!"
The remaining cultivators surrounding Liao Cheng gritted their teeth angrily at this provocation. Yet, they lacked the courage to repudiate his claims, not wishing to be the next corpse to nourish the soil of this mountain. Still, the allure of that treasure could entice even the most diehards of cowards.
"You demon!" one man shouted as the rain poured, washing the blood on Liao Cheng's clothes. "The world will thank us for getting rid of your kind. Leaving you the Heavenly Bead would only be an insult to it. Only we can harness its full potential."
Liao Cheng's gaze was full of mockery and contempt. He had no need for words anymore as he knew full well the extent of their depravity. Nothing he said could alleviate the fury in his heart. While he knew his chances of leaving here unscathed were slim, he knew he could prevail over them if he were to utilize his trump card.
From the recess of his clothes emerged a small blue bead, gently nestled into the crux of his palm. On the Bead's surface were clouds slowly rotating, producing a slight light and somewhat intense energy. Liao Cheng injected some of his Qi within the Bead, which prompted the clouds to rotate even faster, resembling something akin to a hurricane. The energy produced by the Bead soared, becoming much more than all the energy Liao Cheng had expended during the fight.
As he was ready to unleash that energy toward the men and women rushing toward him, weapon in hand, he felt a sharp, cold, metallic instrument pierce his back. Although sudden, Liao Cheng was prepared for a surprise attack and managed to shift his body slightly, allowing the blade to pierce through but missing his heart by a slight margin.
Still, what hurt more than the blade now stuck in his chest was the person holding the knife. The woman he had protected until now, wagering his life, had literally stabbed him in the back. While his mind refused to accept reality, he knew in his heart that what he saw was true.
Liao Cheng opened his mouth to question her motives, yet the woman's gaze dissuaded him. Her gaze was much colder than he had ever seen, resembling a block of ice. Without a word, she tugged on the blade, retracting it from his flesh, before intending to pierce again. She wouldn’t stop unless he was dead.
With no other choice, Liao Cheng unleashed the full power of the Bead, targeting all the space around him. A shockwave emerged from the Bead, distorting space around him and preventing his assailant from coming any closer. Then, a bright flash appeared, bathing the world in light before receding just as fast.
A few unlucky ones caught in the blast were left with mangled limbs as the space had twisted and severed due to the influence of the Bead, rendering most unable to continue the fight. Yet, it wouldn't matter since Liao Cheng had now disappeared from this mountaintop alongside the woman who had betrayed him. All that remained was a slight vortex of distorted space, which might lead to his location.
