PtM Book 17 - Chapter 7: In Search of Origin

As pointed out by others, I accidentally only posted on chapter so far. So I will post 2 now.

As a note, I'm flying in 4 days and so nervous I can't even drink orange soda without getting stomach burn. So don't panic if I accidentally don't get you anything over the next week. I will definitely make up for it after I arrive. 

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Peaceful mornings were hard to come by on the Chasewind Plane during the chaos that followed every fiend outbreak. There was always something to do, whether it be cleaning up the rubble of a small town or purifying stretches of corrupted wilderness.

This applied to demon territories just as much as it did to human ones. Every city in the three demon regions under their supervision was bursting at the seams.

Unfortunate refugees could only choose between returning to broken homes and wasted land or starting a new life from scratch, and it fell to the leaders of each region, and their trusty wardens from the Heartforge Realm, to facilitate this process.

Huxian had worked non-stop for months before finally calling it quits. It wasn’t sustainable to go full-throttle all the time. People needed time to wind down. So it was that he found himself in a resort in the Primordial Gloom Region, visiting an unlikely friend while soaking in gloom salt infused bath water.

“This is the life,” Huxian said, drifting in and out of sleep to the sounds of a trickling creek. “Coffee, relaxing background music, and a beautiful tigress watching us from what she thinks is a good hiding place ten meters away… I really don’t know how you get anything done around here, Baleful Vision.”

It was currently noon, but due to the Primordial Gloom Region’s unique environment, it felt more like sunset. Even during the longest day every year, you didn’t get more than three hours of proper sunshine. Which was great, especially for people with pale skin like Huxian and Baleful Vision.

“Easy… for… you… to say…” Baleful Vision said between gritted teeth. The paper tiger clansman was seated not far from Huxian in the same the same hot spring, but he was not having a good time. One of Huxian’s clawed hands was pressed to his back, sending wave after wave of devouring power through the demon’s body to find hints of corruption or inferiority. Just as he’d been doing for the past half decade.

“Can’t you be more aggressive with your treatments?” the Paper Tiger Clansman said. “It’s not pleasant, going through this every month… argh!”

“Stop being a baby,” Huxian said. “Besides, we’re almost finished. In fact, I think we can finish today!”

“Really?” said Baleful Vision, excited. “Yes, I can feel our sessions have been getting less painful.”

“… Right. About that,” Huxian said. “You’re in for a disappointment, because now that most of the impurities are gone, only the big ones are left. Here, let me show you.” He tracked down a wisp of blackish blood escaping through Baleful Vision’s veins towards his core. It was fast, but with by using a spatial trap, Huxian was able to lock it down before devouring it.”

Baleful Vision’s body spasmed, and White Mirage, who was observing them form not far away, swooped in to catch him. Stripes appeared and disappeared on the Baleful Vision’s skin as his timeline corrected and his body adjusted. His blood, his bones, and his fur changed on a fundamental level. And this was only the least of the blood energy wisps that needed to be eliminated.

“Why don’t we take a break?” Huxian said. “Every wisp I devour from now on will be even worse than this.”

“I can… keep going…” said Baleful Vision.

“You can’t,” said White Mirage, pulling him out of the hot spring and tossing a towel at him. “A break. Now. Or I’ll break your legs.”

Baleful Vision mumbled darkly as he wiped himself off. He accepted the vial of medicine White Mirage fed him, but grimaced as he swallowed. “I don’t even know if this stuff does anything,” he admitted to Huxian. “But I drink it anyway. Because it’s north an argument.”

“I understand completely,” said Huxian. He’d eaten no small number of terrible pastries for the very same reason.

Baleful Vision was much changed since that first time they had met on the Inkwell Plane. What had once been a kingly bloodline was now an imperial bloodline. This was partly due to Huxian’s help, but had a lot to do with natural treasures he’d obtained in the Primordial Gloom Region.

As a Paper Tiger Clansman, he had the natural ability to steal colors from other demons. This was something he’d been forced to do since a very young age, before he even knew what he was doing. Typically, this manifested as bloodline stripes that the Paper Tiger Clan wore on their body. Bloodline stripes bother empowered paper tigers and enabled them to control other demons.

But in Baleful Vision’s opinion, this was short-sighed. By pursuing the color of others, they’d given up on their roots. Everyone believed that the legendary Paper Tiger Monarch was their progenitor, but Baleful Vision felt there was more to his bloodline than thievery.

During the first twelve years of the Heartforge Trials, Baleful Vision had ignored everything else to focus on strengthening his bloodline. His efforts had paid off, and now, he’d moved on to the second phase of his plan: purification and reduction.

Huxian was instrumental to this process, as stripping bloodlines was easier said than done. Bloodline changes weren’t reversible alchemical reactions. They depended on one’s heritage, one’s luck, and yes, timing.

“So, I’ve got some good news and some bad news,” Huxian said. “The good news is that we’re mostly done. There are only three traces of corruption in your bloodline. As for the bad news, the first pieces is that getting rid of those three marks is going to be extremely dangerous.”

“And what about the second piece?” Baleful Vision asked.

“The second piece of bad news is that after I’m done purifying those three parts, there’s nothing I can do for you,” Huxian said. “You’ll need to travel the rest of the way yourself. And you might well lose your life trying to accomplish something that wasn’t possible to begin with.”

“I’m not afraid of death,” said Baleful Vision. “I’ve known this was a dangerous path to tread since the very beginning. I’m ready.”

“The first wisp, the mark on your tail, is from two-hundred and seventy years ago,” Huxian said.

“I got that one on my third birthday,” Baleful Vision explained. “I displayed remarkable talent and was awarded a wisp of fresh ink from a royal inkwell clansman.”

“Do you want to wait for White Mirage to come back or would you like to go ahead?” Huxian asked. “This could well be the last time you see each other.”

“Just do it,” Baleful Vision said. “I refuse to believe that bloodline backlash will do me in.”

“You said it,” Huxian said. He summoned forth a river that marked the many points in Baleful Vision’s life and focused on the point in time connected to Baleful Vision’s tail.

A few millimetres either way could kill Baleful Vision, so he carefully isolated this moment before attacking it with his spacetime energy. He used spacetime devouring on Baleful Vision’s bloodline just as it was fusing with the newly injected Inkwell Clan bloodline.

Baleful Vision began to wither as his body corrected itself according to what his new life experience should be. He suffered many wounds that he should have resisted, as well as damage to his foundation from failing to break through so many times. His vitality withered, forcing Baleful Vision to pull out an expensive flask of medicine to rejuvenate himself.

Huxian paid no small price to meddle with time. He suffered a few serious injuries, but the most serious blow to him was a regression in his foundation. He forgot several pieces of his own Dao, as well as a few pieces of his ancestral memories. They were lost to time and would never recover.

“Time backlash is no joke, Baleful Vision,” Huxian said. “Both of us got unlucky this time, but it’s not the worst that could happen.” He pulled out his own vial downed it. The medicine tasted foul, but it was especially effective against his time-based injuries. As it should be. The white liquid was sap from six-thousand-year-old year tree and had come with a hefty price tag of a million points.

Unfortunately, such medicines could not be used on Baleful Vision without reversing the changes he was after. He could only accept the fact that he’d grown thinner, and that his cultivation had regressed. “I feel… different,” he said. “I feel like I’m not quite myself anymore.”

“Well, you aren’t, strictly speaking,” Huxian said. “I was careful to limit the scope of my tampering to your body, and not the events you went through. That wisp of blood helped you more than you might think. It made your stronger. It made your cultivation faster. You almost fell from the fusion realm just now. If you keep at this, there’s a very good chance that you’ll regress all the way to the investiture realm.”

“It’s fine,” Baleful Vision said. “As long as my bloodline remains and imperial grade bloodline, I’ll recover my cultivation in no time. My goal is to return to my ancestral roots, and for that, I need a powerful bloodline. But above all else, I need purity.”

“And you’re willing to reduce your cultivation by a full rank to prove it?” Huxian asked.

“I’m willing to go all the way down to the initiation realm if that’s what it takes,” Baleful Vision said. “So let’s get this over with. Two wisps of blood remain.”

By now, White Mirage had returned, and she didn’t look one bit happy that they’d done something risky in her absence. “You must promise me not to try again without my supervision,” White Mirage admonished him.

“But-“

“Also, drink this,” she said, handing him another flask of bitter and probably useless traditional medicine.

“The last two will be a trial of life and death,” Huxian said. “It’s not just your cultivation that’s at stake. From what I can tell, your last two stripes are about as old as you are.”

“That’s because the second wisp of blood was fed to be immediately after my birth,” Baleful Vision said. “As for the first, it’s the root of the pollution in my bloodline. I inherited it from my ancestors.” He then did something unexpected. He took out a clay wine jar and broke the seal on it. A heavenly scent filled the air. “This wine is from the same batch I gave out to my friends when White Mirage and I became a pair. Drink it if you dare, because once you do, you’ll be forced to admit we’re friends.”

Huxian had to admit that the tiger had grown on him. He took his glass and drained it. The alcohol warmed his bones and helped him replenish some of his own lost blood essence. “Why do you want to change things in your clan so much, Baleful Vision?” he asked.

“I thought that was obvious,” Baleful Vision said. “I’m a peaceful demon, Huxian. I just want everyone to get along, and I think my clan’s been doing a rotten job ruling the demon lands.”

“I meant the more practical reasons,” Huxian said.

“Ah,” Baleful Vision said. “That story is a little complicated. Why don’t you tell me what you’ve figured out?”

Huxian had given this question some thought in recent years, so he gave Baleful Vision the short version. “To me it seems like the Inkwell Ancestor died, but a wisp of her soul remained. Her corpse became the Inkwell Plane, and some of the Paper Tiger Ancestor’s blood fell in as well. The Inkwell Clan, and probably the other four clans due to a blood or karmic bond, were birthed by the runes in the Inkwell Ancestor’s flesh and blood. It’s the same with the Paper Tiger Clan.”

Baleful Vision nodded. “I can see why you would think that way. Especially given the shape of the continent.”

“Turtle-shape land masses aren’t exactly common,” Huxian pointed out.

“Then there’s the fact that the will of this world is so biased towards the Inkwell Clan,” Baleful Vision said. “The vision we saw when Painted Daoists and Demons appeared was a dead giveaway. At least a fraction of the Inkwell Ancestor’s will exists.”

“So it’s true?” Huxian asked.

“Absolutely… not,” Baleful Vision said. “Tell me, Huxian - if the Inkwell Ancestor perished, wouldn’t her soul be taken by Diyu?”

“That… huh.” Huxian had to admit his point was a good one. Souls, especially powerful ones, were taken to Diyu directly by Yama for reincarnation, as too much of the universe’s source energy was invested in these powerhouses.”

“And here’s another thing to think of,” Baleful Vision continued. “Do you really believe that the Inkwell Monarch’s corpse would be so small and so weak? Transcendent planes are at best large boulders when looked at from the Immortal Realm’s perspective. And those are super transcendent realms, the ones that are a step away from evolving into a piece of immortal territory.

“Then there’s the fact that no one would ever leave the Inkwell Ancestor’s corpse drifting in space. Her companions would definitely try to retrieve it, but even if they didn’t, other powerhouses would wage wars over it. A demon monarch’s corpse is basically the best crafting material you in existence, short of a Primordial’s corpse. You could make a suit of armor for the seven virtues and the seven sins and still have some left to spare!”

Huxian nodded. “Also, a good point.”

“My clan’s current theory is as follows,” Baleful Vision said. “The Inkwell Plane is a drop of soul blood. Quite possibly living soul blood that the Inkwell Ancestor used as a last means of preservation. The plane grew as this drop of blood gathered ambient primal chaos energy to recover.

“As for the Paper Tiger Clan, we’re just stowaways on this plane. The Paper Tiger Monarch killed the Inkwell Ancestor, so it would obviously try to get rid of us.

“But here’s the problem: something went wrong during the Inkwell Ancestor’s recovery. She didn’t recover to her original self, and to survive, she incarnated as a plane. A plane is very restricted in its actions, which is why the Paper Tiger Monarch’s blood is able to repeatedly get the upper hand.”

Huxian frowned. “That’s just far-fetched.”

“But everything adds up,” Baleful Vision said. “And if we’re dealing with a wounded monarch and not just a dead world, all this saber rattling we’ve been doing is little more than a joke. We’re ants, and we’re provoking her!”

“So you’re saying you want to turn over a new leaf so that the Inkwell Ancestor doesn’t stomp you once she wakes up,” Huxian said. “Isn’t that wishful thinking?”

“It’s a better plan than my king’s,” Baleful Vision said. “The Pale King wants to destroy the inkwell plane to finish what our ancestor started. He thinks that if we prove ourselves, our own ancestor will return and bring our people back to the immortal realms.”

Huxian rubbed his forehead. “You’re both stupid.”

“I assure you that I’m very intelligent,” Baleful Vision said.

“He does a smart thing or two from time to time,” said White Mirage.

Baleful Vision cleared his throat. “Anyway, let’s assume he’s right about currying favor. So what? Compared to a drop of soul blood, we’re meaningless. We can’t win, Huxian. It’s impossible. He’s doing his best to dismantle the plane, but all that is superficial. The plane is actually quite sturdy.”

Huxian was unconvinced. “The Inkwell Clan seems to be pretty concerned about the integrity of the plane. It’s the same with my spacetime quests. When you keep getting spacetime quests about planar stability, you know something’s wrong.”

“Quests can be tricked,” Baleful Vision said, “You and I both know this. Moreover, our clan has long since done the calculations. With the amount of energy pouring into the plane, there’s no way it should be falling apart.

The pieces finally started coming together for Huxian. “You’re saying it’s running an energy surplus? That doesn’t make sense. Unless…”

“Unless it’s a wakening,” Baleful Vision said. “The drop of blood that incarnated as a plane has accumulated enough energy. It’s starting to regenerate. And when that happens, we’ll be at the mercy of the Inkwell Monarch.”

“I don’t know,” Huxian said. “I think that’s a little far-fetched.”

“This is all top-secret information,” Baleful Vision said.

“My lips are sealed,” Huxian assured him.

“Let’s get on with it, Huxian,” Baleful Vision said. “Either it works or it doesn’t.”

“Not before I hear the next part of your plan,” Huxian said. “I drank your wedding wine, right? We’re friends, aren’t we?”

“That…” Baleful Vision hesitated before pulling out something from his sleeve. It was a vial. A small vial, barely the size of his pinky finger. Inside it was a single drop of silver-gray blood that danced with primordial power.

“God-beast blood!” Huxian exclaimed.

“That’s right!” Baleful Vision said. “This tiny vial cost me a lot of points. I was only able to get it by finding some important resources in the Primordial Gloom region that one of the three demon king instructors was coveting. And to get that, I fell very deep into debt with Enclave Master Primordial Gloom.”

“Even then, your chances of success aren’t that high,” Huxian said.

“But I need to try,” said Baleful Vision. “Every single point that I’ve spent, every single move that I’ve made, is all for this. I haven’t bothered studying crafts or qi cultivation or anything else. I’m going to evolve my bloodline, no matter what.”

“But why do you think it’ll work,” Huxian said.

“Because I’m not the only one who’s tried it,” said Baleful Vision. “The Paper Tiger Bloodline, when at its purest, is very frightening. Not only can it copy any ability, but its pristine nature also makes it one of the best bloodlines for sealing abilities. That’s why the Pale King is so powerful.

“That kind of power doesn’t come from nowhere. There’s something hidden in our blood that gives us this great power. I’m determined to find out what lies at the origin.”

There was no deterring Baleful Vision, so Huxian could only go on ahead with the next step in the purification process.

Time froze a second time, and Huxian reached out to the two separate points in time and inspected the pre-natal and post-natal blood wisps. As expected, they couldn’t be removed separately because they had accompanied Baleful Vision for his entire life. Without the strong wisp of pre-natal contamination, it’s likely that the post-natal infusion of inkwell blood would be fatal.

As Huxian excised both wisps, he wondered about his own path. Baleful Vision knew what he wanted in life. But what did Huxian want? He didn’t lust for power. And he wasn’t a glutton like most people thought. Baleful Vision wanted to save his people, so he was stronger for it. Huxian needed an equally strong motivation.

Baleful Vision’s aura rose and fell as Huxian worked. Sometimes, his cultivation rose, and sometimes, his cultivation fell. Huxian had to be careful, because devouring the prenatal contamination in his bloodline was the equivalent of forcing a mutation in an unborn child. A single mistake could cripple Baleful Vision. Or worse, kill him.

“He’s not going to make it,” White Mirage said, appearing beside Huxian. She cut her wrist and moved to feed him her blood.

“No,” Huxian said, pulling her arm back. “This is what he wants.”

“He’ll die!” she said.

“I’m not… dead… yet…” said Baleful Vision. His cultivation was still fluctuating wildly, but his body was undeniably in terrible shape. All the muscles on his body had atrophied, and his bones were so brittle that some of them had broken.

“It’s too late to stop now,” Huxian said. “You need to have faith that he can pull through.”

Huxian wasn’t looking too good either, but he was in much better shape than Baleful Vision. He decided to accelerate the speed of his devouring. The sooner the process was over, the sooner Baleful Vision’s constitution would stabilize. The problem with his body was one of superimposition. His blood was alternating between past and present, and neither state would tolerate the other.

Huxian could only burn his blood essence to accelerate the process. It would take him a few months to recover, but it would be worth it if he could save Baleful Vision. His vision darkened as a larger portion of past blood was consumed. It would weaken Baleful Vision in the longer run, but his situation would be more stable.

Cracks appeared on Huxian’s space-aligned core as he pulled away from Baleful Vision and took another dose of time-reversing medicine. The damage to his core healed over, but the damage to his bloodline didn’t.

As for Baleful Vision, his cultivation regressed continuously. It fell down to the peak investiture realm, then continued falling until he reached the middle investiture realm.

But this was a small price to pay for an early end to the transformation. His body was only a bag of bones, and most of his vitality was rotted away. His bloodline had also regressed. It had dropped from the imperial level down to the king level.

But the grin on his face told Huxian that the price was worth it. Vitality could be recovered, and so could one’s bloodline level and cultivation. He would pay twice over if it meant achieving the same result.

He was a paper tiger without stripes, but his blood was pure and free of any contaminants. There was a light inside his bloodline. And it was growing stronger by the second.