PtM Book 17 - Chapter 49: Propping the Heavens

2/3 this week.

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It was no longer possible to hide his breakthrough. And as fortune would have it—or misfortune, in this case—his “allies” still needed him. Because the demiplane was no longer collapsing, but he was. His Divine Shell was marred by a giant crack that threatened to tear it all apart. Worse, the wills and laws of his two competing transcendent planes, Flamewing and Claw Vice, were refusing to cooperate.

They’re like unruly children that refuse to compromise, Cha Ming explained to Huxian. Do you have any advice on how to figure this out?

I’m at a loss, Huxian said. All I can do is buy you time. You do realize they’re going to stab us in the back once this is all over, right?

I never doubted their treacherous natures for an instant, Cha Ming said. It was why they’d hidden his ability to consume demiplanes to begin with.

Cha Ming reviewed the assets he had at his disposal. Ninesky had no solutions, which meant that he could only use her forms. All of his preexisting paintings were useless and a liability, so he sent them all out of the Clear Sky World to help Oster. His combat techniques were not very helpful, but Luther, Coral, and Disaster might come in handy.

He sent a transmission to Luther and instructed him to fake their deaths before returning to the Clear Sky World. I knew you cared about us, Master, Luther said to Cha Ming. I’ll see that we meet our untimely end as quickly as possible.

Cha Ming had two unruly demiplanes and their attached canvas laws to draw on. Those were useless as they were, but if he could somehow get them under control, he was very confident in being able to mend the cracks in his Divine Shell.

Out of Ninesky’s forms, the Clear Sky Brush was the most useful, as it could be used to paint laws and formations. The Heartforge Spirit Flame might be useful in resolving the Clear Sky World’s conflicting laws. It could also be used with the Star Void Cauldron to gather planar fragments and make up for his current energy deficiency.

The Clear Sky Carving Knife and Clear Sky Hammer might be useful if he needed to craft something, but not for much else. The same applied to the Yin-Yang Spirit-Threading Needle, assuming there was something that needed sewing or pinning.

The Ninesky Seals could be used suppress and immobilize.

That only left the Clear Sky Staff. Out of all his treasures, it stood out as particularly useless. Only this form out of Ninesky’s many forms excelled at destruction and nothing else. “What’s a staff good for, anyway? Walking?”

“Maybe you’re not being very imaginative,” said Ninesky.

“Maybe,” said Cha Ming. He set it aside as a wildcard for now. Perhaps he’d need to hit something.

Aside from these core assets, he had some odds and ends. The Space-Time Camera might be able to buy him time, assuming the small Dao crystals he had accumulated could power it. By now, he’d only accumulated a few hundred of them, having used most of them to grow his inner world.

Jade Moon Garden was potentially an important asset, despite it having not yet reached demiplane level. The same applied to the water-based and metal-based materials he’d accumulated.

Stabilizing his inner world meant balancing the laws inside it. A formation would be useful in that regard, but he would need one powerful enough to bind these laws.

What he really needed was a higher-level plane to regulate them, much like they regulated the lower mortal worlds. Only with an authority that trumped these two laws would he be able to get them to behave.

Creating an immortal plane was out of the question, but maybe it would be possible to concentrate his energies and create the framework for one?

I could use the Truth of Self-Wrought Existence to create a world, Cha Ming thought. A really small one, because that would take a ton of energy. Moreover, the clashing between Bound Energy and Shattered Form had given him some insights on potential Dao fragments he could use to anchor them.

Runes began to rearrange themselves and recombine inside his spiritual sea. He drew upon his two world sources, as well as the knowledge associated with the three Clearmist runes that had not yet fused with world sources.

These runes are a part of the imbalance, Cha Ming thought. But I can fix the imbalance by creating the embryonic form of three worlds.

He had his water source, metal source, and wood source descend into his inner world, followed by his Combinate Splitting rune, his Assembled Parts rune, and his Modular Life rune. He fused each pair together. Combinate Splitting fused with his water source; Assembled Parts fused with his metal source; Modular Life fused with his wood source.

He then sent his half-formed Modular Life source to fuse with the Jade Moon Garden. Its level inched closer to the demiplane level but could not quite reach it.

The Combinate Splitting and Assembled Parts sources did not have landmasses to fuse with, only demiplane materials. Cha Ming did his best to compress them together and paint something useable. The water-based materials became a colorful utopia. The metal-based materials became a mass of swords and conflict.

It was impossible to overpower Bound Energy and Shattered Form, but by arranging these embryonic worlds in a circular arrangement, he was able to curb their influence somewhat. To the north, he placed Modular Life. To its right, he placed Bound Energy. Next came Shattered Form, then Assembled Parts, then Combinate Splitting, which then fed back into Modular Life.

“Ninesky, I’ll need energy conduits and spatial compartmentalization,” Cha Ming said.

“You’ve got it, boss!” Ninesky said. After absorbing Huxian’s tails, she could easily paint spatial elements.

As Ninesky painted, Cha Ming used the Clear Sky Carving Knife to create energy pathways and runic conduits. He used the Clear Sky Hammer to forge supports out of the metal stores in his inner world. As for the Ninesky Seals, he used them to stabilize the entire Clear Sky World as the laws inside it conflicted and shifted.

Crrrrack!

A second fissure appeared on his Divine Shell, and with it came several smaller cracks, which he immediately sealed to preserve energy. Thousands of mortal worlds broke from the impact, but the integrity of his inner world was maintained.

“I’m done,” Ninesky said. “What next?”

Cha Ming frowned as he inspected the expanding cracks. “This world still isn’t stable enough. I still need to go with the original plan, where I fuse as many Dao fragments as possible to create a regulating plane. It doesn’t have to be an immortal plane. It just needs to keep all my law projections in check.”

He appeared at the center of the Clear Sky World, where his two demiplanes and the three embryonic demiplanes joined in formation. A sea of clear runic characters filled the space in the middle. These characters were loose Dao fragments, some of them copies, but others had simply not yet been incorporated into either demiplane.

Cha Ming urged these characters to merge and fuse together, creating a web not unlike the two laws he controlled. They were the simplest of webs he could imagine and could only be used to control the most basic functions.

Yet Cha Ming had plans for these newly fused Dao fragments. He first channeled the Truth of Self-Wrought Existence to create a few small fragments of higher-order Clearmist, then fed this Clearmist to the runes.

Over nine-tenths of the runes shattered from the influx of energy, leaving a tenth behind that could accommodate it and evolve.

Cha Ming did not have complete control over these runes or even what they did or would become, but he could paint a piece of their future. He envisioned a platform and a temple that existed above his two complete demiplanes and three other future demiplanes, controlling them, regulating them.

He painted this temple in Clearmist enriched by the Truth of Self-Wrought Existence. It was a small amount, but unlike the building blocks of his demiplanes, it was a half step into immortality. By using these higher-order materials, he artificially increased the temple’s level of existence.

It was impossible to build the complete temple he envisioned, but he was able to paint its skeleton. Its details were blurry, and its form insubstantial, but he could feel it in his bones that this was a step in the right direction.

The next step was combining the essence of the two demiplanes and three embryonic demiplanes. They were incomplete, but by creating a stable amalgamation of them, he theorized that he could use it to control the other sources.

He pointed to the Flamewing Demiplane. “Bound Energy, you first!” A steady stream of volatile yet well-behaved energy poured into the temple. This energy was the essence of the Flamewing Demiplane, and by possessing it, the temple would gain authority over it.

“Shattered Form, you’re up next!” A stream of breaking and mending energy poured into the temple from the Claw Vice Demiplane.

The laws conflicted inside the illusory temple and caused it to crack, but not to the extent of his Divine Shell. Fortunately, thanks to the Truth of Self-Wrought Creation, it was made of tougher stuff than he was. “Modular Life, Assembled Parts, and Combinate Splitting, you next!” Three more energies poured into the temple. While they were smaller than the complete laws from the other demiplanes, they mellowed out the conflict between the other two.

“Hm. It’s not very stable yet,” Ninesky said. “But it looks like your inner world is stabilizing.” His Divine Shell was showing signs of healing; all the damage in his inner world was transferring over to the temple.

“Well, it’s a good thing I’m not finished yet,” said Cha Ming. He brought his hands above his head. “Let there be day!”

His creation source fused with the sky and caused all five sectors of his inner world to flourish. Plant growth accelerated, as did flame growth, stone growth, even water growth, however that worked. This growth was rampant and unchecked, necessitating Cha Ming’s next action.

He brought his hands down, and his destruction source fused into the sky. A curtain of night spread across his inner world. Then day came again, and night once more, until they became a cycle, and the uncontrolled flourishing in his inner world came to an end.

“That leaves one final source,” Cha Ming said. “Grandmist, become the core!”

Gray mists descended on the temple, and its appearance caused the other five sources, and even creation and destruction, to be fully suppressed.

Cha Ming’s inner world stabilized, but the temple could not contain such violent energies. Several large cracks appeared upon it.

“Seal it!” Cha Ming shouted. Ninesky flew above the temple and transformed into nine seals. With her help, the damage to the temple stopped in its tracks.

“I won’t be able to suppress it for very long,” Ninesky said.

“Don’t worry,” said Cha Ming. “I’ve got a backup plan. Luther! Coral! Disaster!”

The three bloodstorm elementals appeared around the temple and used their energies to contain it.

“I won’t be able to keep this up for very long either,” Luther said.

“It’s just a temporary fix,” Cha Ming said. “Once you’re all stronger and have your personal energy sources, suppressing the temple will be a piece of cake.”

There was one more thing he could do to make the temple more stable. Its laws were slightly higher than the demiplanes beneath it, but only by a small margin. He needed a way to elevate and support these laws somehow. Something to bear their weight.

“A staff…” Cha Ming muttered. “It isn’t just a weapon. I understand now.”

A staff was a pillar for the human body. It was quite possibly the first tool in existence. Without the staff, perhaps mankind would never have developed buildings, tools, and other technologies. “A staff is for propping up, not breaking things down. Swinging a pillar around is like using a sword to chop wood.”

The Clear Sky Staff was only the embryonic form of the Ninesky’s staff form. It could become anything he wished. “In that case, let it be so. From now on, there is no Clear Sky Staff, only a pillar to prop up this temple.”

By now, the floating temple was covered in cracks, and only the might of Luther, Coral, and Disaster and the sealing power of the Nine Sky Seals could keep it together.

Cha Ming appeared beneath the temple, which only floated three inches above the plane’s center line. He placed his hands on the temple’s base and pushed.

His forged bones creaked as he mobilized every ounce of strength in his flesh, his core, and his spirit. He lifted with the strength of his entire inner universe. He activated Triune Soulburn to the max to tip the scales in his favor.

The temple shook as it moved upward, first by a few inches, and then by a few feet. He heard the masses cheering in countless mortal worlds to support his efforts. For by propping up the heavens, he was relieving their burden and putting an end to the chaos that plagued them.

Cha Ming’s actions did not go unnoticed by the five world sources. This was especially the case with the Flamewing Demiplane and the Shattered Form Demiplane. The disc-like worlds exerted their influence on the temple to pull it downwards, greatly increasing the resistance Cha Ming faced.

“A pillar is a support, and this one will bear the heavens themselves,” Cha Ming said. “Be born, Sky-Propping Pillar!”

An ancient structure rose up from the mists and pressed up against the base of the temple. It was a massive thing, five hundred meters wide and countless meters tall. Its construction was bronze, and its surface was carved with motifs of the twelve year beasts. There were not the tame creatures in Cha Ming’s memories but fierce sovereigns that managed the passage of time.

The pillar could not push upward. It could not force the temple up for Cha Ming. But it could support the temple from falling down. Yet the weight of it all was too much for the pillar to bear; cracks soon began to appear. Cha Ming did not have much time remaining.

Cha Ming started pushing upward in fits and bursts. This temple was a crystallization of all his power, and it could not be elevated without him exerting more strength than he was normally capable of.

He called Luther, Coral, and Disaster back temporarily and pulled them into his blood. His wings burned brightly as he burned Dao essence alongside a portion to break through the limits of his inner world.

They soon reached a barrier, and through sheer force of will, they pushed the temple through that final limit. It broke past the limits of the Clear Sky World and gained a hint of immortality.

Up above the Clear Sky World, another layer of heaven appeared. The temple floated on that boundary, skirting the edge between transcendence and immortality. Cha Ming gazed upon it in wonder and thought, What will it look like up there when the temple is finished? After all, it was not yet fully formed. For that to happen, he would need to elevate the two demiplanes in his inner world and nurture three others to that same level.

“Cha Ming,” Ninesky said, snapping him out of his reverie. “I don’t think it’s going to stay up there.”

“It will,” Cha Ming said. “Sky-Propping Pillar, catch it!” The pillar rose up beneath the falling temple, which was no longer supported by the laws of this world. It was now orders of magnitude heavier, and the pillar strained from the effort.

“Luther! Coral! Disaster!”

The three elementals turned into three balls of energy, one of wind, one of lightning, and one of blood. They pressed up against the base of the temple, barely stabilizing it as it pressed down onto the Sky-Propping Pillar. Three large cracks appeared upon its surface, and many smaller cracks started to propagate outward.

“This world… isn’t strong enough to support the temple,” Cha Ming realized. “The Sky-Propping Pillar is only as strong as my inner world. To hold up the temple, which is keeping this world from breaking apart, I’ll need to reinforce the transcendent portion of my inner world.

The stronger the transcendent portion of my inner world, the greater the load it will be able to bear. Similarly, a sufficiently large foundation of mortal planes is required to support more demiplanes.

Cha Ming took out his mission jade and confirmed that he was no longer at risk of exploding. Each of member of their team had been awarded a large number of points, a total of fifty million each. An additional ten million had also been awarded for the disabling of Zenol’s fiendish fortress. With no suitable demiplanes nearby, it would take months for the fortress to come online, and by then, the war would already be over.

“Now that the points are in, it’s about time for them to make their move,” Cha Ming muttered. “But I still need time.” His cultivation was still unstable, and he would not be able to fully mobilize his strength until he absorbed enough planar fragments to fix his cracked inner universe and strengthen his foundation.

Since he needed to make an appearance, Cha Ming split into two selves. One was slightly weaker than he’d been before his breakthrough, while the other contained the other eight-ninths of his strength. He then manipulated their auras using the Myriad Transformations scripture. His weakened incarnation would go out to join the others in battle.

Since his breakthrough had already been exposed, he would have it project a strong but wounded aura. He would not hold anything back with this weaker incarnation, which would make the act far more convincing than suppressing his strength.

The weaker incarnation stepped out from the Clear Sky World and into void space, looking pale and wounded but functional. He sent out a Clear Rune Field in all directions, filing the entire battlefield with fragments of himself.

There were still many untouched planar fragments held up by Huxian’s spatial scaffolding. His mightiest incarnation took a single Clear Rune Step to penetrate one of the fragments’ planar membranes. The world began breaking apart, but he used a combination of Bound Energy and Shattered Form to keep the pieces together as he absorbed them.

“Cha Ming, you’re back!” Huxian shouted gleefully via transmission jade.

“It took you long enough,” said Cao Wenluan. “How about you don’t secretly break through next time? You jeopardized the mission.”

“Ignore him, Clear Sky,” Oster said. “We received the notification. Good job on preventing the detonation of that demiplane. I don’t want to rush you, as you just broke through, but as you can see, we’re in a bit of a pickle.” Fiends filled up the void as far as the eye could see, and many more were converging on their location.

“It seems I missed quite a bit,” said Cha Ming. “What happened?”

“It appears that the enemy commander, Zenol, has given up on his fortress,” Oster said. “The disappearance of the demiplane took him by surprise. It took me by surprise as well. I don’t suppose you want to explain what happened to it?”

Cha Ming smiled. “We all have our secrets, Oster. Let’s just say my pocket storage treasure is really big.”

“You stored an entire demiplane?” Oster said incredulously.

“In my defense, it took a lot of work to make it happen, and I was wounded in the process,” Cha Ming said indignantly. “I almost failed in breaking through as a result. Thus my injuries.”

“Will you be able to participate in this battle?” Oster asked.

“Of course,” Cha Ming said. “But understand that my participation will have to be limited. It would be best if I can focus on using my law projections and paintings, as I’m not sure I can tangle with rank-thirteen fiends in my current state.”

“It’s better than nothing,” Xing Tianlong said. “Send him my way.”

“I could use support as well,” Cao Wenluan said.

Cha Ming chuckled inwardly when he heard this. Everyone wanted to kill him before he recovered and take his points, but they couldn’t do so until the battle was over.

“Hey, he’s one of us,” Huxian said. “He should clearly team up with me.”

“I think it would be best if Clear Sky stayed at the center,” Oster said. “Close to all our supporting individuals.” Although he would be closest to Oster’s team, he would be far away from both Xing Tianlong and Cao Wenluan.

“Fine,” Cao Wenluan said. “Keeping Clear Sky safe is a priority.”

“Very well,” said Xing Tianlong.

Concurrently, Cha Ming and the others were holding their own conversation in another channel.

“Just so we’re on the same page, do we all agree that they probably have a way to break contract?” Huxian said. No one disagreed, so Huxian continued. “Breaking contract is going to cost something, so it’s best if we let them do it.”

“But that gives them the initiative,” Baleful Vision said. “I don’t like that one bit.”

“I’m in agreement with Baleful Vision,” Petros said. “Since Clear Sky is finished, we should just break contract and run.”

“Running is an option,” Cha Ming said. “I could take you all into the Clear Sky World. There’s no way any of them would be able to catch up.”

“You said its an option,” Jadefall said. “And I hate running. What other options do you have?”

“Isn’t it obvious?” Cha Ming said. “If they want a piece of us, why don’t we let them have it? Let’s fight!”

“Are you not wounded, Clear Sky?” Baleful Vision asked.

“I am,” replied Cha Ming. “But I’m recovering. I just need a bit of time. Also, I think Huxian needs a bit of time as well. How close are you, by the way?”

“I’m just a step away,” said Huxian. “If we can drag this out for a bit longer and make ourselves look weaker than we really are, I might just be able to break through as well.”

If Cha Ming alone could fully recover his strength, no one on this battlefield would be his match. If Huxian also made a breakthrough, there was no telling what they could accomplish. Huxian was like Cha Ming in that he had also suppressed his cultivation. He might not have fully fused energies, but he’d long since exceeded violet-gold standards for the demon, law, and spirit trials.

“Oster’s spent a lot of time weakening everyone, and so has Cao Wenluan,” Cha Ming said. “Xing Tianlong is also a frightening powerhouse, so I understand your reluctance. But I think we can manage to do much better than escaping.”

“We walked into this mess knowing that it would come down to this,” Wei Longshen said. “The plan was always to run once we had enough achievements under our belts. But… I can’t help but feel excited at the prospect of turning the tables on them.”

Petros shrugged. “If you can recover, and Eight Directions can break through, I’m in. Worst case, you can grab us and go, right?”

“I’m in,” Jadefall said. “I want to teach those bastards a lesson for looking down on us.”

“I… don’t like fighting,” Wu said. Then a smile bloomed on her face. “So I won’t fight against the majority. I’m in.”

“If everyone else is in, we can hardly back out,” Baleful Vision said. “Let’s fight!”

“Let’s fight,” White Mirage confirmed.

During their conversation, Cha Ming had already made his way to the center of their battle formation. Undine, Wu, Martin, and Oster were there, as was Violet Rose from Cao Wenluan’s faction.

“This is the safest place on the battlefield,” Oster said. “As long as you remain here, we can all work to ensure your safety.”

“Many thanks, Oster,” Cha Ming said. He turned toward the encroaching fiends and mobilized his law projections. He activated Bound Energy Canvas, then followed up with Shattered Form Canvas. The sky shook and cracked as Cha Ming’s Dao projection encroached on the limit of what the realm could handle. Planar fragments, fiends, and even enemy formations crumbled and fell apart under its influence.

“My word, Clear Sky,” Oster said. “That’s a very aggressive law projection.”

“Not just aggressive,” Cha Ming said. “It’s very versatile.” Each fiend was only slightly damaged, but spread out over an entire battlefield, it was a lot of damage in aggregate. He directed a portion of the energy he pillaged into his allies, replenishing their energy stores.

“Unfortunately, I’m a little short on painting materials,” he continued. “But that’s all right—I can improvise.”

Drops of fiendish blood, planar fragments, and void crystals ran together like tiny streams, forming puddles, then ponds, then small lakes. Heartforge Spirit Flames refined these materials to purge them of their malevolent will. Cha Ming then used these materials to paint seven large paintings. Five of them were likenesses of the Five Point Monarchs, while the other two were painted incarnations of the Flamewing Demiplane and the Claw Vice Demiplane, and even bore a portion of their will.

“I’m afraid I can’t do much more than that,” Cha Ming said, easing himself down. “I’ll be resting for the next little while.” His fatigue wasn’t an act. He’d truly exhausted most of this incarnation’s power. And until it was time to set aside all pretenses, it wouldn’t receive an ounce of extra energy.

“This is more than enough, Clear Sky,” Oster said with an unreadable expression. “Recover what strength you can and contribute as you will.” Having said this, he turned his attention back to the wave of fiends closing in on their perimeter.