PtM 18 - Chapter 6: Priorities

And here's second chapter! It's like second breakfast, but way better!

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A glowing brown flask hissed as Huxian brought it to a boil. Volatile alchemical reagents vaporized for exactly seven seconds. Huxian stopped it, when summoned a brown cloud above the flask that snowed brown runic characters into the mixture. It hissed and spit as it turned deep black.

Huxian then used a stir stick to cautiously stir the mixture; his tails were ready to freeze time and space should the slightest thing go wrong. Fortunately, he was an old hand at this. The reaction went smoothly for the next three minutes and twenty-two seconds, at which time he passed a strainer through the beaker, removing any residual solids from the liquid, and preventing further undesired reactions.

He then dumped the hard-earned black liquid into a mug, savored a mouthful of wondrously fresh coffee, and let out a soft groan. The coffee was rich, bold, enough to kick a demigod in the teeth.  Just the way he liked it.

Ordinary coffee no longer had any effect on Huxian, but this new mixture breathed life into his tired body; it sharpened his eyesight, strengthening his law senses, and dulled his general awareness of his surroundings – not a downside, since his friends hadn’t stopped fighting since his return.

“Give it back, you manipulative witch!” said Jadefall as she ran past the laboratory door.

“It’s just a comb! No need to get so angry!” said Miyue, keeping just out of reach of the enraged Fallen Jade Ox Queen.

“It was my mother’s comb, and you have no right to be using it,” snapped Jadefall. “Give it back, or I’ll break every bone in your body!”

Huxian took another sip of coffee and ignored the duo. He shut the door with a snap of his fingers and got in touch with his collaborator, Cha Ming. “I have my coffee, and I have my wits about me,” he said through their bond. “Did you finish the latest batch of runes?”

I’m passing them over right now, Cha Ming replied.

Huxian tapped their link to forge a stable spatial tunnel. Six flasks popped through it, each one half-way filled with a cocktail of alchemical reagents pressed into tiny runic form. The reaction is about fifty percent stronger than last time, said Cha Ming.

“How did you measure that?” asked Huxian. “Autoclave testing?”

“Accidental detonation, actually,” Cha Ming said drily. “Took out a quarter of my Clearmist reserves, and nearly tore a hole in my inner world’s member.”

“But no controlled experiment,” Huxian tsked. “No worries. I’ll retest everything and get us a definitive measurement.”. Huxian was a fan of big explosions. Big, controlled explosions. Definitely not the kind that tore off your limbs and took you months to recover from.

He proceeded to separate tiny portions of each flask into dozens of smaller vials. “It’ll take sixty-four experiments to figure out a direction to optimize in,” said Huxian. “I’ll be running them concurrently.” Clones peeled off him, and each one grabbed a single set of reagents. “By the way, have you given it any thought?”

No one cares about a name, Huxian, Cha Ming sent. Just come up with something and I’ll roll with it.

Huxian’s main body took another sip of his coffee while his clones inscribed glassware with stasis characters. “A name is very important, Cha Ming,” he said. “What do you think of Obliteration Flasks? Or Obliterators?”

… too generic, Cha Ming replied. What about phasers?

“I think that might be copyrighted,” Huxian replied. “How about “Morning pick-me-up? Or morning pick-up-the-pieces?” A predictable groan came across their bond. “See? A name is important.”

Fine. I’ll give it some thought, said Cha Ming. Just let me know how the testing goes. I’d feel a lot safer sneaking into the Realm of Good and Evil with something that can take peak gold rankers.

Huxian rolled his eyes. Cha Ming made it sound so simple. Peak gold rankers were tough as nails, and the same applied to peak demigods, demons, and law stitching cultivators. But dreaming was half the battle, so he didn’t put a damper on Cha Ming’s unrealistic expectations.

“So how’s that ship of yours handling the void?” Huxian asked. “Any malfunctions? Instabilities?”

Huxian, it’s a saint-grade ship, Cha Ming said. What could possibly go wrong?

“Hey, saint-grade isn’t equivalent to quality,” Huxian said. “They just don’t build things like they used to. Built to fail, so you have to buy replacement parts and the like.”

The ship is fine, Cha Ming said. It’s not the most valuable of my three gifts, but it’s already saved my life about three times.

“Transportation is important,” Huxian said, nodding.

… When are you going to tell me what you got, Huxian? Cha Ming sent.

“When I feel like it,” said Huxian, turning his attention to the experiments.

Huxian’s laboratory was composed of many overlapping spaces, each containing a fume hood, glassware, and cauldrons and brushes and the like. Each space was blast proof – which was fortunate, because at this moment, one of his clones encountered a problem. The mixture it was handling destabilized and destroyed the entire spatial compartment.

“It’s definitely got a lot of kick,” Huxian said. “With luck, we’ll manage to get something that can wound a late gold ranker.” He felt a wave of disappointment through their bond. “Hey, you think it’s easy to wound late gold rankers?”

… Salamani didn’t seem so tough, Cha Ming said.

“He’s priest,” Huxian said. “A war priest, but still a priest. And you didn’t exactly wound him, did you? Wait, what’s this?” He reached out into the shattered laboratory space and retrieved a handful of runic characters. They were made of a strange substance that hovered between real and unreal, like a solidified illusion. “Clearmist runes? You never told me you’d spiked the flasks.”

… drat. You found out, Cha Ming replied. I’ll have to do a better job hiding them next time.

Cha Ming didn’t explain what they were, and Huxian didn’t pry. They were non-reactive and wouldn’t have much of an impact on his experiments. And besides, Huxian wasn’t exactly in a sharing mood these days.

“All right, I’ll tell one of my gifts,” Huxian grumble. “Eight immortal-grade demon-Dao cultivation arts, specifically designed to help me cross my tribulation.”

Discontent snuck across their bond. Isn’t Patriarch Heartforge being a bit too biased? Cha Ming said. I get a ship, and you get eight immortal techniques? What else did he give you?

“I’m not saying,” said Huxian. “He told me not to tell you, you know.”

Of course he did, replied Cha Ming.

Huxian naturally couldn’t tell him he’d gotten a rare and invaluable gift: a vision of the most likely future. It was filled with twists and turns that he needed to fix. Otherwise, they were all dead meat. “Anyway, I think your runic flasks idea has potential, but it’s not going to kill late gold rankers. And it won’t even touch peak gold rankers.”

Not enough firepower? Cha Ming asked.

“It’s just not elegant,” Huxian said. “Design isn’t just about stacking firepower, it’s about finesse and things fitting together in just the right way. Remember how long it took you to learn those immortal techniques?”

Point taken, said Cha Ming.

“Now this test is interesting,” said Huxian, stepping into one of the laboratory compartments. One of his clones was watching an autoclave, carefully measuring its energy output over time. What surprised him was that this one was energy neutral. “No, not neutral. Hey Cha Ming, are these devouring runes? Because if they are, they’re super weak. I almost didn’t detect them.”

That’s a secret, I’m afraid, Cha Ming said. It won’t affect your testing, just ignore it.

“It did affect my testing,” Huxian said. “Which is why I brought it up.”

Why don’t you tell me what your other rewards were? Cha Ming asked. Then I’ll tell you about the devouring runes?

“It has nothing to do with these tests,” said Huxian. “Either discuss the issue at hand or butt out.”

Doesn’t it?Cha Ming said. I asked for your help getting into the Realm of Good and Evil, but you said no. You said you had other plans, but you couldn’t tell me what and why. You’ve been obsessed with consolidating your power, yet you’ve been ignoring the Collegium’s attacks on your network. Your actions make literally no sense.

Then there’s these experiments. You say you’re busy, but you can somehow spare attention for these experiments. Yet when I ask you to take a half day off to sneak me past a shield to destroy a nasty tree, you balk. What exactly aren’t you telling me?

This was what made visions of the future tricky, and it was also why Huxian didn’t want to talk about it with Cha Ming. The Cha Ming’s he’d seen in the vision had recovered from his ill-thought-out foray into the Realm of Good and Evil, but he’d wasted available time. He needed a better plan, which was why Huxian had not teleported him across multiple layers of shields as he’d asked. As a result, Cha Ming was now much stronger than he’d originally been, and might even stand a chance at causing some serious damage to both churches.

“I’ll tell you about my gifts when I’m well and ready,” Huxian said.

Promise? Said Cha Ming.

“Promise,” said the fox. “Now scoot. You’re interfering with my work. I have some important things to take care of today.”

And you’re not going to tell me what? asked Cha Ming. Huxian ignored the question and cut their connection.

Huxian walked out of the laboratory a short while later and entered the war zone that was the Shanara Mountain Range. “There you are,” said Gua, appearing beside Huxian. He grabbed the fox’s arm and teleported them into the airspace above the Mount Sky Piercer.

“Holy mother of – didn’t I say no fighting with your dungeon cores?” Huxian shouted.

“Tell that to those two,” said Gua, pointing at Miyue and Jadefall. “Preferably before Mount Sky Piercer gets obliterated.”

***

The problem with visions of the most likely future was figuring out how to act on that information. For example, the situation with the Realm of Good and Evil – it was a dead end, but not a complete rout.

“I’m telling you, I saw the future!” Huxian said to Cha Ming. “Patriarch Heartforge showed it to me!”

Unfortunately, his warning fell on deaf ears. “If the future was set in stone, there would be no such thing as free will,” said Cha Ming. “And I have more reason than most not to believe in destiny.”

Huxian sighed. “At least be careful about going in? I can help you pierce the shield, but after that, you’re on your own.”

Visions of a peak battle followed; Sun Wukong did not manage to escape his confinement, and Cha Ming was forced to sacrifice a portion of his foundation to escape. It would haunt him later on, when he and Huxian tried and failed to transcend their immortal tribulations.

Huxian’s approach to this vision was simple: first, don’t tell Cha Ming the stubborn mule that you’d seen the future and don’t help him pierce the barrier. Force him to get creative and cautious about the entire situation, so that it doesn’t turn out so terribly. As for the tribulation, that was a matter for the future.

“So um, are we just going to while they destroy Mr. Mountain’s Mountain?” Gua asked Huxian. “Because he put a lot of work into growing the mountain range. I’d hate to see him upset.”

“Relax, I’m not going to let them destroy anything,” said Huxian. “Now are you going to help Mr. Mountain stabilize his territory or not?”

Gua sighed. “Fine. One more time. But it’s the lasttime.” He flew into the air and summoned his demon weapon and demon armor. His weapon was a gourd, and his demon armor a chic suit that matched his makeup. Huxian did not approve of the lace.

A projection appeared above Gua as he merged with the land, that of a Three-Eyed Five-Colored Toad King. The projection reached out to his fused territory opposite the Shanara Mountain Range, the Dunara Swamplands. Swamp was the opposite of Mountain on the Bagua, which meant that he could both restrain Mr. Mountain and help him.

The quaking in the mountains stopped. Fissures sealed up and rocks slid back up and reattached themselves to the cliffsides they’d fallen from. “You’re very skilled at this Gua,” Wu said form the side. “We trained ourselves to the limit in the Heartforge Realm, but we never got to fuse a land of our own.”

Huxian’s friends had been productive in his absence. Not only had they cleared out a sacred desert and claimed a dungeon for each of them, they’d even claimed the Kerava Desert and found a dungeon core to link with it. Yet they had not been pleased upon discovering that the Heaven and Earth portions of the bagua had been filled in their absence.

Bifang was on Miyue’s side. She was currently chewing on a piece of jerky that she’d processed with her seven-colored flames. Huxian was specifically not allowed to have any jerky – at least not until she got over what she saw as nothing short of betrayal.

“It was very kind of you all to find a dungeon core for Jadefall,” Wu continued.

“We didn’t find it for her,” said Bifang. “Just whoever else joined the group. And I think some of us are regretting going through the trouble. When did this become a dictatorship? Don’t we get to vet out friends?” A

Wu raised an eyebrow. “We never got to pick you either. Think about our position.”

Bifang’s temper began to flare, but Huxian interposed himself between the two of them. “I swear, if you two start at it too, I’m going to start spanking people.” This did not seem to deter either of them, so he clarified. “I’m going to bundle people up and have Gua flog them publicly. The small blaze of animosity immediately died down, and the two linked arms.

“Don’t worry, we know how to behave,” said Bifang.

Lei Jiang and Silverwing were currently in off in the north helping the Runebound Clan fight a wave of abyssal demons. Jadefall and Miyue fighting was not ideal, but with the help of a few powerful demons to limit collateral damage, it was manageable.

“I’m telling you one last time,” Jadefall said to Miyue. “Give me back my comb.”

“I don’t want to,” said Miyue, fiddling with the small bone comb in her dainty hands. “But if you want it back, I won’t be unreasonable. Beg me, cow.”

“You made me do this,” said Jadefall. She summoned her jade axe and black demon armor. Her ochre horns grew in length and her hair shot down to her ankles. She brought her axe up and back down. Mountains shattered and the earth erupted, swallowing up entire rivers. “You think you can take me on, little witch? Eat hellfire!”

An underworld judge appeared above Miyue. It wrapped her up in a net of hellfire chains before she could escape and proclaimed its judgement. “Guilty!” He then stabbed a finger through Miyue’s chest. Her body shattered into a thousand droplets of inky water. You see? a voice whispered into Huxian’s mind. She’s so violent. Completely unsuitable to join our group. Her body reconstituted itself, showing no signs of damage form the previous attack.

Miyue pointed a finger at Jadefall and spoke a single word. “Kanara.” The Shanara Mountains shook as a seascape appeared overheard. It was none other than the Kanara Seascape, which Miyue had created after their team had taken over the Sacred Kanara Desert in Huxian’s absence.

Miyue was not a powerful demon, as most of her skills were geared towards curses, enchantment, and survival. But what she lacked in offense, the Kanara Seascape she’d fused with more than made up for. Water gushed out of the land, filling the cracks that had opened from Jadefall’s attack. Water crept up the mountains and onto the peaks, where they formed thick black glaciers.

“How high and mighty of you, relying on your fused territory,” said Jadefall. “But that’s fine – I was looking to try wielding mine. Kerava!” Power from a third territory poured into the Shanara Mountain Range, almost overwhelming it. If not for Gua’s stabilization, the city of fifty million beneath them would be no more.

Spatial cracks began appearing on Mount Sky Piercer, but thanks to Huxian’s stabilizing presence, nothing came of it. And thanks to Bifang’s control over luck and a few timely shields from Wu, there weren’t any casualties.

“You’re just as taggalong,” said Miyue. “Someone he picked up while on vacation and vulnerable. You don’t deserve a spot, you dirty cow!”

“How dare you!?” said Jadefall, losing herself in her rage. Her movements grew fierce but predictable. Miyue expertly dodged her while lashing Jadefall with funnels of icy water.

“I can’t hold on much longer,” Gua said to Huxian. “How much steam do they really need to let off? It’s been a month already!”

Huxian massaged his brow. “I was hoping for them to make friends while fighting, but that clearly backfired. Mr. Mountain, Gua, I’m going to need your help. Please suppress the two ladies.”

A sigh of relief came from Mount Skypiercer. The mountain’s energy mobilized from its passive state and bore down upon to the two combatants. “Shanara!” Mr. Mountain’s voice bellowed from the mountain. Both Miyue and Jadefall were cut off from their fused realms.

“Dunara!” shouted Gua. A poisonous quagmire wrapped around them and injected them with a paralytic.

“How dare you use poison against me, Gua?!” Miyue shouted. “You’d better stop right now, or I’ll beat you silly.”

“Sorry Miyue,” said Gua. “Boss’s orders.”

Miyue’s eyes widened. “He wouldn’t!”

She yelped as switches formed from spatial energy whipped her, much to the amusement of Jadefall. But her amusement didn’t last long; just as many switches whacked her with attacks that penetrated her thick armor.

“I think we’ve all had enough of this domestic dispute,” Huxian said, appearing beside the two. “I’m calling a team meeting. How about you two freshen up and meet inside my palace.” He walked through a doorway in space and into a palace of glass. The palace was located on the other side of the planar membrane where the core of the Eight Directions Teleportation Network was located.

There were nine palaces in the void. Huxian’s was at the center and represented Yin and Yang. His eight friends occupied the other eight palaces, one for each of the eight directions.

Mr. Mountain and Gua appeared first. They represented the Shanara Mountain Range to the South-East and the Dunara Swamplands to the North-West. Since Huxian’s return, their cultivation and bloodlines had improved by leaps and bounds. Gua’s bloodline was that of the Three-Eyed Five-Colored Toad King, while Mr. Mountain’s was that of the Myriad Illusions Bone King.

Bifang and Wu appeared next, along with the projection of a Bifang Crane and a Heavenly Xuanwu Turtle. Both of their bloodlines had evolved to the queen level, but only Bifang controlled a territory, the Linara Magma Fields.

Bifang’s evolution was a pleasant surprise. She could now produce seven-colored disaster wheel flames that spun around her enemies, causing escalating amounts of misfortune and damage.  Unfortunately, she was just as childish as before, making her unpredictable and difficult to control. It had taken a lot of coaxing to convince her not to fight Jadefall.

“Are brother Lei Jiang and Silverwing free?” Bifang said. “I heard today was a fighting day.” A gust of wind and crackling lightning answered her.

“It was just a skirmish,” said Silverwing.

“Nothing major,” confirmed Lei Jiang.

The dynamic duo’s power was much improved, and they both still thrived with battle. Lei Jiang’s bloodline was tricky, however, and had yet to evolve. But Silverwing’s bloodline was now that of the Goldfinch Roc King. The territories under their control were the Zhenara Glasslands to the South-West and the Xunara Flute Plains to the North-East.

Jadefall and Miyue were last to arrive. They avoided all eye contact with the others but stared daggers at each other. “Here, take your comb, dear sister,” Miyue said, tossing the contested item to Jadefall.

Surprisingly, Jadefall ignored it and allowed it to tumble through the void. “It was my mistake. I thought you’d taken my mother’s comb, but it was just an old thing that I left lying around.” Their auras clashed once again, but they quickly toned it down upon seeing Huxian’s disapproving glare.

“It must be tiring, drawing on your territories so much at your low cultivation levels,” said Huxian. “How are Kerava and Kanara? And Miyue, how is your progress on integrating the Inkwell Sea Witch bloodline?”

Miyue coughed uncomfortably. “It’s a difficult bloodline to integrate.”

“Of course it is,” Huxian said. “Taming it requires complete control over your emotions. Which you lack. And don’t you dare snicker, Jadefall. Your fusion with the Kerava Desert is progressing slowly, which means you can’t gather nearly as much energy as Miyue can. You pack more punch in a fight, but nine times out of ten, she’ll outlast you. Think on it.”

The inkwell sea collapsed, and the continents shattered. Huxian’s companions were scattered to the nine winds. It would be many decades before they could meet again, and even then, only half would remain. This, among other reasons, was why Huxian had failed his tribulation.

“All right, team meeting,” Huxian said as he pushed that future memory to the back of his mine. “Everyone knows I don’t like meetings. They’re a huge waste of time. Then again, the situation isn’t rosy. We need to talk. We need to plan.”

“Don’t we already have a plan?” Silverwing said. “Expand our businesses? Fight the Collegium? Get stronger? Eventually take the last sacred desert?”

“That was the generic plan that you guys have been following, yes,” said Huxian. “Well, things have changed. Everyone but Lei Jian has gotten the chance to get used to their new bloodlines, and you’ve all gotten your new cultivation arts. They’ll be instrumental in helping me overcome my sure-death tribulation and getting us all to the immortal dimension. We’ve also taken the Kerava Desert. Which is great. But it’s not enough. Not nearly enough.”

“I think we need to talk about our two newest members,” said Miyue. “I refuse to accept these unreasonably attractive demons into our group. It’s not fair. And before you snap at me again, hear me out. Aren’t we good enough for you? I was willing to share with Bifang and that rabbit, but –”

A tail whipped across the void and smashed into her palace, sending half of it spiralling into the void. Huxian’s rage was short and swift. “Sorry about that. I lost my temper. You were saying?” He didn’t often lose his cool, but mentioning Xiao Bai for petty reasons was unacceptable.

“Um… well, I was thinking that two ladies are enough for our group,” Miyue muttered. “And truth be told, Gua and Mr. Mountain sufficiently filled that part. Two more males would have been better.”

Huxian eyed the Mr. Mountain and Gua. “Do the two of you identify as women?”

“No,” said Mr. Mountain.

“Do I look like a lady?” said Gua. To be fair, he was wearing lipstick and the most flamboyant suit one could imagine, but that was irrelevant.

“They do not identify as women, so your argument in favor of maintaining balance holds no ground,” said Huxian. “Moreover, stop being discriminatory. You don’t like Wu and Jadefall, but there’s no need to take it out on the rest of us, and there’s especially no need to bring gender politics into all of this. More importantly, we don’t need balance in all aspects, and diversity is a wonderful thing. I don’t want to keep having this argument. They are my friends and have been through life and death with me, and I’m not cutting them out. Just as I wouldn’t cut you out for any reason.”

Miyue grumbled as she crossed her arms but said nothing else, so Huxian turned his attention to Jadefall. Have you settled your people in the Kerava Desert yet?” asked Huxian. “What level of attunement have you reached with the replacement dungeon core. How can we help you?”

“I’m currently at eighty-percent harmony,” said Jadefall. “I should be at a hundred percent within the week. That’s assuming someone doesn’t keep sabotaging my efforts.”

“Miyue?” Huxian asked.

“Fine, I’ll stop,” Miyue said with a pout. “I was just testing my curses. It’s not that big a deal.”

“Wu, did you look into anti-abyssal wards and rituals like I asked?” Huxian said, turning to the Heavenly Xuanwu Turtle.

“I’ve made some progress,” said Wu. “Miyue helped a bit, and I think we’ll be able to make significant progress together. The only problem is scaling up. Heaven aligned demons aren’t common. It’s arguably the rarest attribute, and I don’t know where to start looking.

“I’ve got Elder Zhong tracking some down, and the Santana Desert has quite a few of them,” said Huxian. “Please keep researching these rituals, as we’ll need them soon.”

“Hey, what about the Collegium?” Lei Jiang interjected.

“What about them?” Huxian asked.

“Well, we kind of just fought them off,” said Lei Jiang. “Last week? And the week before?”

“And we sent them packing,” said Huxian. “What’s your point?”

“So… aren’t we going to get revenge?” Lei Jiang asked. He looked to Silverwing for support, and the demon did not look opposed to the idea.

“They did harass us for sixty whole years,” Silverwing said to Huxian. “Maybe a bit of justice is in order?”

“And you both feel the same?” Huxian asked Gua and Mr. Mountain.

“Eh, I couldn’t be bothered with those losers,” said Gua. “They’re like recurring story villains that never go away. And if we get rid of them, won’t they just get replaced by another random group?”

“I feel like every time we interact with them, their reputation increases for a brief period of time,” said Mr. Mountain. “Sometimes, the best answer to aggression is silence.”

Huxian nodded. “I, for one, am against meting out justice. Not because they deserve mercy, but because we have other priorities. For reasons that I can’t easily divulge, we are running out of time.” If I tell them, it’ll backfire, thought Huxian. They’ll panic and lose focus. Like in my future memories.

“But the Collegium impacts our businesses quite a bit,” Miyue said. “If you’ll just look at the figures – “

“I did,” said Huxian. “They’re responsible for a hugeloss of profits. You could have made double or triple what you did while we were gone without their interference.”

“That’s right,” said Miyue. “Dealing with them will help our bottom line.”

“Well the thing is, I’m not sure our bottom line matters all that much,” Huxian said.

“Of course it matters,” Miyue said, but cut off when Huxian tossed a huge pile of transcendent crystals, and even a few hundred immortal jades onto the ground. “What…. Those are…?!”

“As I was saying,” Huxian said. “Our bottom line doesn’t matter anymore. We’re flush with cash, and we could buy a few countries if we wanted to.”

Gua flicked an immortal jade up with his tongue and tasted it before nodding approvingly. “That’s some good, high-quality energy. What’s this thing worth again? About as much as we made in sixty years while you were away?” And there were hundreds on the ground.

“So you can see why a bunch of wizards trying to eat our lunch isn’t a priority,” Huxian said. “We could give them our businesses if it would help keep them away. Too bad they’re insatiably greedy.”

“Don’t be like that,” said Miyue. “Our businesses are a part of our identity. They feed back to our demonic bloodlines and aid us in fusing our territories.”

“That is pretty important,” Huxian said in agreement. “But what if I told you that we’ll be activating the tribulation protocol in our cultivation arts within a year?”

“What?!” Miyue exclaimed.

“That’s too early,” Silverwing cut in. “We won’t reach peak fusion by then, and there’s no way you’ll be ready to transcend your tribulation.”

“That’s true,” Huxian said. “But I’m privy to some information that you aren’t. We don’t have time to putter around with a bunch of wizards anymore.”

Bifang looked stricken. “So you’re saying I’ll need to shut down all my bakeries? And my smoked meat sandwich stands?”

“You don’t need to shut anything down,” said Huxian. “I’m just telling you they’re currently not important, and I really wish I could tell you why, but I can’t.” People didn’t like it when you told them you’d seen the future. They started resisting anything you say after that.

“Anyway, don’t worry everyone,” Huxian said. “I’m just planning for the worst. I won’t force us down this road unless I have to. The bottom line is, we need get stronger, and fast. A disaster is heading our way. There’s only one way to accomplish our goals: we need to conquer the Santana Dungeon and take its core. In two months or less, if possible.”

“That’s even crazier than everything you said before,” said Silverwing. “No offense, but there’s saint level abyssal demons there. Fragments of the Paper Tiger Emperor’s blood that gained sentience centuries ago.”

“I’m not saying it’ll be easy,” Huxian said. “I’m saying it needs to be done.”

They were too late in expanding, largely because they didn’t take the northern desert early enough. When the land broke, they barely saved any of it.

“So that’s our plan of attack,” Huxian continued. Everything we do needs to be focused on taking that desert. We’ll need consumables, lots of them. And armies. I don’t want anyone wasting their dungeon core’s energy.

They’d squandered their reserves for petty reasons. Miyue was the first to perish.

“What about Clear Sky? Can he help us?” Silverwing asked.

“Yeah, aren’t you guys bros?” said Lei Jiang.

Huxian grimaced. “No, he’s got his own pile of crap to deal with, and he’s lacking manpower just like we are. Besides, there’s something to be said for independence. Unbidden, one last memory came to mind. It wasn’t a future memory, but a memory a memory of the past.

“My second gift to you is the life of your brother,” the Patriarch said, summoning a dagger of sand. “Find another fool to take his place.”

Huxian stared at the dagger for a while before responding. “I can cut the bond,” he said. “But I won’t be replacing him.”

“Be reasonable,” said Patriarch Heartforge. “Do you think your sixty-four-fold tribulation is a joke?”

“I know exactly how terrifying it is, thank you very much,” Huxian said. “That blood memory is the reason I’ve been frantically scrambling since the day I remembered it.”

“Then you should know how silly you’re being,” said Patriarch Heartforge. “Insisting on this point will cost your friends dearly.”

“Brotherhood is not joke to me, Patriarch Heartforge,” said Huxian. “I’ll cut the bond to save his life. I’ll sever our ties so we can both survive. But I won’t dishonor him. I won’t disgrace him. He is my brother, no matter the state of our bond, and I won’t be replacing him.”

Patriarch Heartforge did not seem surprised by his decision. “You’ve chosen a difficult path, Bagua Huxian.”

Huxian shrugged. “I’ve chosen the only path I can.”

So be it, said Patriarch Heartforge. In that case, I’ll grant you a fourth gift. Have you heard of the Door of Life and Death?