6.18 - Message from the Li

He Yu gave the Monarch his thanks once again and bid the great storm eagle his final farewell. When he activated the Sky Dragon’s Flight and set off into the storm, his own presence sheltered him in a way it never could have before his advancement. A pocket of wind and rain and heaven moved within the greater nexus of power surrounding Sky’s Throne. A pocket created by He Yu, and his newly Seventh Realm presence.

As he flew, unhindered by the storm he’d once had for fight for every step, he considered what the Monarch had told him. What he’d learned gave him no pleasure, but it did give him hope. Hope that, somewhere in the Monarch’s words, he could find the key to defeating Jin Xifeng.

Much of what the Monarch of Sky’s Throne had told him amounted to things he already knew. At least, at first. Jin Xifeng practiced ancient arts, one that was just as old as the one He Yu practiced. These arts allowed her to impart a fragment of her own power to others, boosting their cultivation and ability. The storm eagle said the primary way she did this was through a technique known as the Immaculate Monarch’s Boon.

The recipients of her boon drew a portion of her cultivation base into themselves. That was the faint touch of blood and shadow He Yu had felt in the spirits of Wang Xiaobo and Xin Lu. For those with actual talent, this allowed them to fight beyond what their advancement would normally allow. More importantly, it provided glimpses into Jin Xifeng’s insights, allowing cultivators to advance without forming Wayborn Seeds or connecting with their Dao, should they cultivate enough qi to do so.

Such advancement, however, was unstable. How far any one cultivator could go on these stolen insights depended largely on the quality of their cultivation base prior to receiving Jin Xifeng’s boon. At least that explained how Wang Xiaobo and Xin Lu failed to keep pace with He Yu, even with all the advantages they’d gained from service to the Twilight Empress.

What Jin Xifeng gained in return was the ability to draw upon the cultivation of all those she’d granted boons to. That she could draw a far greater measure of power than what she’d given was obvious in its implications. There was no reason she couldn’t grant boons to anyone who wanted one. She was incentivized to do so, as the more boons she gave out, the more powerful she grew. Never mind that anyone who accepted such a boon grew ever more loyal to her the longer they fed on that sliver of power. That after enough time, they became little more than mindless puppets dancing at her whims.

It was a truly terrifying power. Bad as it was, the demon cores were worse.

The Monarch couldn’t say for certain what the demon cores were, exactly. They weren’t a part of the ancient techniques of Jin Xifeng’s arts, but rather a new creation of hers. Designed during her long imprisonment, meant to allow her escape from the Dawn Palace. Beyond that, they determined little beyond what He Yu already knew. That the demon cores fed upon their host’s cultivation like a parasite, and then returned that cultivation to Jin Xifeng when the host died.

He Yu’s own arts were a subject of the Monarch’s wisdom as well. It turned out that when Zhang Lifen had told He Yu that his art was an ancient and primordial one, she’d not been speaking figuratively. The Cloud Emperor’s Heavenly Palace was a creation of an ancient emperor of the Dragon Empire. Or, the Cloud Empire, as it had been called then.

The Cloud Emperor’s Dynasty had been kin to dragons, descended from a divine ancestor that had taken human form. The same kind of dragon, it turned out as Sun Lei, former patriarch of the Cloud Dragon Valley Sect. The Heavenly Palace art had been created to, in part, harness that fragment of divine power the emperor’s bloodline held. All the techniques the art contained were meant to bring out the greatest portion of that divine potential, while also providing the wisdom necessary to rule the empire justly.

He Yu wondered just how much Elder Cai had glimpsed into his nature when he chose the art. Had the elder seen all the wild adventures He Yu embarked on in his own imagination, and decided that he was a suitable vessel for this ancient art? He’d mentioned something about placing a finger on the scales back then, but more for Zhang Lifen’s benefit than He Yu’s own. Obviously Elder Cai knew the Dawn Palace had grown weak, even if he didn’t truly know just how close it was to failing.

At the very least, He Yu could say one thing for certain. The idea that an emperor must have discernment and justice above those of his subjects was true. That an emperor must rule justly and rightly and for the benefit of the ruled was without question. How much of that reflected his Way influencing him, or how much was He Yu himself influencing his own growth—he realized now that it hardly mattered.

He had his Way. He had his Dao. He knew what he needed to do.

As he made his way south once again, He Yu contemplated all this and more. Even though he turned over what he’d learned, examining it through the Peerless Judgment, he couldn’t see a clear way forward. A clear path to defeating Jin Xifeng, except by strength of numbers. But even that, he wasn’t certain, would be enough.

Would the others manage their breakthroughs? Not just to the Divine Body Attainment stage, but beyond. Chen Fei was likely working on her breakthrough with Liao Shan. What of the others? None of them were close when he’d left. Had he been gone long enough? He didn’t have any answers. The will of heaven would do as it pleased, and all He Yu could do was keep pushing forward. To that end, he set aside his worries and simply enjoyed the newfound power that his advancement had brought.

Divine Body Attainment was truly another realm entirely. Just as he’d realized during his breakthrough, this new threshold brought with it far greater power than previous advancements. In under an hour, he’d passed out of the Monarch’s storm, still raging around the lone mountain of Sky’s Throne. As he soared over the steppe, the ground raced by below in a brown blur. Behind him, he trailed a storm all of his own.

A great plume of black clouds covered the sky to mark his passing. Lightning arced all around him, coursing over his body, reaching to the earth below, and tethering him to his trailing storm. The winds curled around him. He could see the effects of their passing below as they blasted prairie grass and dirt into the air. But they left him undisturbed, causing his robes to rustle as if tugged at by a gentle breeze. Rain whipped around his cocoon of wind and drenched the land with his passing. The steppe flooded in his wake.

All this power, all the speed he gathered as he flew—he barely felt the drain. His body, his meridians, his cultivation base, all of it was expanded. He knew in some respect just how much qi he was using to fly like this. But compared to the vast sea in his dantian, it was hardly a drop. If he wanted to, he could probably slam into a mountain at full speed. He was fairly certain doing so would reduce the mountain to dust.

This was just his body and spirit, too. His techniques were all stronger in ways he could hardly fathom. The Empyrean Ninefold Body Tempering now had a seventh pillar. As impressive as the changes wrought by his breakthrough were already, his body enforcement multiplied them even further. When active, he was so fast and powerful that he needed to cycle the Peerless Judgment just to keep up.

Fortunately, the Cloud Emperor’s Peerless Judgment was more than up to the task. Its ability to show him the truth of things and always been almost like glimpsing the future a fraction of an instant before it happened. Now it was almost as if time stopped, and he saw the permutations of every moment stretching out for hours or days. He could examine his own thoughts or insights and arrive at truths faster than it took to blink. And when he arrived at a decision, he knew instantly that it was the correct one.

The Five Crescent Winds gave him unparalleled command of the winds themselves, providing far more than mere support and enhancement to his other arts. They allowed him to shape the storm of his spirit in a way that he’d never thought possible. To reach out with his other techniques and rain down his power anywhere his perception could reach.

The other techniques of the Heavenly Palace art had likewise increased in both their utility and raw strength. Although he had a good idea of what they could do now, he’d have to find a suitable sparring partner to really explore their limits.

In just under three days, He Yu crossed the steppe, the Mountains of Heaven, and the northern White Desert. Jade Mountain Citadel appeared on the horizon, and a moment later he’d arrived. He stopped with a mere thought, a flex of his spirit, and a pulse of qi. A moment later, a deafening boom rolled over the city to announce his arrival.

Formation scripts all over flared to life as the sky turned black. Lightning reached down, and left glowing cracks on the barriers, even as the ancient fortifications of Jade Mountain Citadel strained beneath He Yu’s presence. From the palace, a dark sun limned by a blazing red corona flared to life, and a tiger rose into the air atop a golden cloud.

Tan Zihao locked eyes with He Yu. They were separated by several li, but even without his perception technique He Yu could see the approval. “Your arrival is a stroke of fortune, Lord He,” King Tan said. “But before we speak, allow me to be the first to congratulate you.”

King Tan cupped a fist in his palm and dipped his chin ever so slightly, giving him tremendous face. He Yu returned the gesture, making sure to bow deeply over his salute. It was appropriate, though. Not every day did anyone—let alone someone without even a full sixty-year cycle behind them—arrive anywhere having stepped into the Seventh Realm.

He Yu pulled on his spirit, attempting to restrain it. He grimaced, finding that he couldn’t suppress his presence anywhere near completely as he once could.

Tan Zihao laughed, stepping across the vast distance between them to clap He Yu’s shoulder in a gesture far too reminiscent of Li Heng. “You’ll get used to it. Now, come to my study. There’s dire news we must discuss.”

The Peerless Judgment allowed him to suppress his initial reaction and hurry to Tan Zihao’s private study without tearing apart the palace with his mere passing. For once, the golden tiger lounging outside deigned to notice him, giving a look that showed just a hint of approval. Inside, Tan Xiaoling, Li Heng, and Yan Shirong awaited along with Tan Zihao himself.

“Chen Fei isn’t with you?” Tan Xiaoling asked as he took his place in front of the king’s massive desk.

“She went to go visit her family, then break through. I guess she’ll be along soon enough.”

Yan Shirong merely shook his head. “I suppose I shouldn’t have expected differently.”

Li Heng at least took the news with humor, giving He Yu a smile and a nod.

“Back to our discussion,” Tan Zihao said.

“I’ll have the troops ready by the end of the week,” Tan Xiaoling said, turning her attention back to her father.

“Good. Li Heng, Yan Shirong, I trust you’ll follow my daughter’s lead. I’ll be counting on the both of you to serve her well as commanders,” the king said.

Both of them gave an affirmative answer over a salute and a bow.

“Pardon,” He Yu asked with a frown. “But troops? Commanders? What’s going on?”

Tan Zihao pointed to a bamboo scroll on his desk, written in a familiar hand that He Yu hadn’t seen in decades. One that made his heart and stomach both clench.

“It seems your former mentor dragged an army to Iron Gate City when she took refuge there. Baroness Sha Xiang, who I understand you’re familiar with, has laid siege to the Western Passage, along with an old monster of the Eighth Realm called Long Tingguang. The Li have called for aid. The Jade Kingdom intends to answer.”