Chapter [B5] 2 — The Beginning

Chapter [B5] 2 — The Beginning

The darkness ceased, drifting away to reveal a courtyard filled with flowers that emitted qi stronger than even fourth-realm cultivators. A low hum filled my bones and runes lay half-hidden under moss. Paths were lined with trees whose fruits looked heavenly, nectar visibly beaded on their skin and pooling around their stems. The air ran dense with essence, not wild or oppressive, but organized like a well-balanced formation.

Even though this was just a memory, a recollection of the past, the temptation to grab one of the fruits and bite into it was almost overwhelmingly strong. The nectar smell was clean, a promise of vitality, clarity, and a hundred cycles of cultivation in a single mouthful. My hands actually lifted before I realized what I was doing and forced my attention away and looked around.

In the middle of the courtyard, under a gazebo made of the finest white jade, four men sat around a small tea table. The pavilion roof hung from eight interlocking beams, each carved with the sigils of the four divine beasts.

“The first emperors,” Ki, standing next to me, said. “The first acknowledged and selected by the divine beasts. Shi Yun set the precedent, contracting with the Azure Dragon, and his closest companions soon followed in his path. While only Shi Qing was related to him by blood, the other two, Yao Chuanli and Cai Xiaotong… All four of them were brothers by spirit. It was they who safeguarded the mortals under their care for long enough that civilization could survive the wildness of the old world and build the foundation of the empires that were to come..”

Each of the men sported long hair that reached their waists and wore free-flowing silk robes of pure white. The silk was clearly a step above common fabric, strands of spirit iron woven into the threads. Patterns in the hems shifted with every breath, patterns that subtly displayed the laws they each had comprehended.

Their backs were straight, their wrists relaxed, and their dao pressure bent the grass tips without harming a single blade. They each held small cups carved from turtle shell lacquered with phoenix ash, sipping at the nectar from the garden’s heavenly fruits.

I’d never felt anything quite like it. Even the cups had their own cultivation.

“They were close to building a paradise. If only Shi Yun had not gotten drunk on his own arrogance…” Ki gestured towards the man in the rightmost seat. “If only.”

I took in the four carefully. Shi Yun wore the calm of a mountain prior to a landslide and his hairpin was carved from a single dragon scale. His gaze held constant calculation, not frantic, but weighty.

Yao Chuanli’s qi advanced and retreated in silent cycles, a tactician rotating troops across a border wall.

Cai Xiaotong’s aura was open and bright. He had the kind of pressure that steadied other hearts.

“This is not the start of the fractures, but it is where the unspoken became spoken. And some things cannot be taken back.” Ki closed her eyes and stepped back, head bowed.

Before I could ask anything more, movement broke the peaceful tableau, and I returned my attention to the scene before us.

Shi Yun set down his cup and raised his eyes to his compatriots, then spoke with veiled intensity. “I’ve been thinking, deep and long, and come to this conclusion. We cannot allow the current state of affairs to go on any longer.”

“The current state of affairs?” Cai Xiaotong asked, raising an eyebrow. “Which state is that? This peace and power we have strived for so long?”

“Yes, that is what I would like to know.” Shi Qing set his own cup down without so much as a click. He had mastered even such small motions to the point of absolute perfection. “What do you mean by that, Brother Yun?”

Shi Yun met his brother’s eye. “Do you think the Heavenly cycle is fair?”

“Of course.” Shi Qing frowned in confusion. “Why would it not be?”

“This, this is the problem.” Shi Yun glanced around at the others. “Do all of you believe this is fair? We go through all the effort to cultivate our paths, we learn the truths of the world and strive for the heavens, all for what? When we finally arrive at the cusp of divinity, we are forced to become one with the world. I do not think that is right.”

“It is the way of the world, the cycle of all things. What is fairness but a mortal construct, ultimately meaningless in the face of eternity?” Cai Xiaotong raised his cup of nectar, smiling as though the whole discussion were purely theoretical debate. He laughed softly. “It is not as though our lives are so bad.”

“It baffles me that you think it is an acceptable state of affairs. I cannot comprehend it.” Shi Yun’s voice turned bitter. “Is it not to better our empires that we have worked so hard and so long? To change the lives of our fellow men, to reach a realm of power where we could change this world for the better? We have already done so much, imagine what we could do with the true power of the divine! We could make it so suffering does not exist, reshape the nature of the world itself. But then we are claimed by the heavens at what should be our moment of greatest strength. So I ask you again. How is that fair?”

Silence settled over the courtyard, and stillness. Even the nectar-drops on the fruit seemed to pause on their skins.

The other two seemed to finally see that this was more than a casual discussion of theory, judging by their expressions. Yao Chuanli’s knuckles tapped once against the table, his eyes distant. Cai Xiaotong looked down into his cup, a crease appearing on his forehead as he pondered. 𝖗ãＮ∅ᛒƐṠ

Shi Qing was the one to break the silence. “You believe we are being ‘forced’ to become one with the world? You cannot be serious. Am I truly comprehending what you are trying to say, brother? That ascension is some kind of restrictive obligation?”

“I do not think Brother Yun’s position is all that incomprehensible, if you think about it.” Yao Chuanli leaned forward. “Why shouldn’t we break apart the heaven-and-earth cycle? As it is, Brother Yun is right. If this cycle means we inevitably succumb and become one with this world when there is no necessity to do so, wouldn’t it be better for us to stay, to guide our lands to even more prosperous eras, take everyone toward a better direction?”

If you spot this story on Amazon, know that it has been stolen. Report the violation.

Shi Yun nodded gratefully. “Yes, so you do see it. The long path ahead of us requires more than a single lifetime. It would be a disservice to our people if we let ourselves end. Our rule should continue as long as we are needed.”

“You must sense it too, Shi Qing,” Yao Chuanli pressed. “It is only a matter of time before brother Yun and I will be forced to become one with the world, even with the power of the esteemed divine beasts. You and brother Xiaotong have more time, yes, but what about when we are gone? What do you think the divine beasts will face then, to find new vessels? That would be hard for them too, wouldn’t it?”

“No,” said Shi Qing. “They can manage just fine. Do not use them as excuses.”

At this, Shi Yun chuckled. “You think they can easily find vessels as trustworthy as us? Do you forget all we’ve done for this world, for the betterment of the very cycle you’re defending? Do you not see how we’ve helped everyone under our reigns thrive? Are you insulting our contributions, brother?”

“I’m not, elder brother,” Shi Qing said carefully, almost placatingly. “But it is exactly because of your magnanimous nature and actions that I am troubled by your words. Of all people, shouldn’t you be glad to reunite with the heavens? Return to true peace, watch the passing of the world languidly for the eternity to come?”

“Peace without self is not peace. Peace without will is the same as silence in a sealed tomb.” Shi Yun leaned forward, folding his hands on the table before him. “Why are you so opposed to this idea, Shi Qing? What are we to gain from letting the cycle stay as it has been? You must have gazed into the truth of the world too, as I have. Right now there is so much power pooled within this world that, if we harnessed it properly, we could distribute it to every citizen of our empires—make them all cultivators and spread the heavens’ blessings equally. If we did this properly, we could remain as eternal emperors, guiding all toward an era of prosperity. We might even see what lays beyond this world, beyond all of this—”

“I am opposed because I see your hubris, brother. You think you can split the heavens, properly harness blessings that belong only to the divine, and that you will then lead humanity into an everlasting peace… What is that but hubris, pride and greed?”

Shi Yun scoffed. “You stand at the pinnacle of human capability, bound to a divine beast, and you speak of greed and pride? What of those below us, brother? What of those whose futures will be subordinate to the decisions made by you in the years to come? Should we all surrender our power now, to avoid having too much influence? Is this hubris, to have reached so far as we have? Why would it be any different if we take but another half step farther? Are we unfit to rule, unsuitable leaders of our people?”

“You know that is not what I mean.” Shi Qing kept his tone calm, but his eyes tightened with each exchange. “Are you truly so short-sighted, brother? If you cannot see the consequences of eternal lives, see the reasons why the heavens have formed this cycle the way they have…?”

“You speak of consequences, but name a single code we have broken,” Shi Yun said.

“I will name many. First, stagnation. Even a mind like yours will slow. Without the pressure of the cycle, without the end of a path, comprehension rots.”

Shi Yun’s lips twisted in a sneer. “Yes, better to disappear into the tranquility of dissolution than to risk the dangers of becoming a forgetful old man. Truly your wisdom astounds comprehension. The end of the path that you advocate for is beyond stagnation, beyond regression. It is the destruction of everything I am or could become. I do not accept this argument.”

“Second,” Shi Qing continued as though he had not been interrupted, “ownership. If we hold the flow of blessing, we will decide who receives what. That is a road to tyranny.”

“I must agree with Brother Yun here,” Yao Chuanli interjected. “We have reached this high without becoming tyrants, maintaining our rule in benevolence and guiding our people with wisdom and compassion. Do you see us as tyrants for what we already are? Your arguments are thin, young Shi Qing. If this much power has yet to corrupt our spirits, why should one step farther matter? Why does it change anything if the end of the path is eternity?”

“Listen and you will know. Third, and most essentially, to tear apart the heavens and earth is to disrupt the balance. The divine beasts do not devour mortal faith; they maintain pathways. If we cut the cycle, all the overflow has to go somewhere. The world is not a storage ring. It will rupture.”

Yao Chuanli’s lips twitched. “Then we reinforce the world. My engineers have been layering formations across the northern border for twenty years. A network on the global scale is not impossible. We can build anchors, vents, controlled conduits. There are moons and stars which can be used as well, if need be.”

“The world is not your border,” Shi Qing said, frustration finally beginning to tint his voice. “You cannot set a wall around heaven.”

“Can’t we?” Shi Yun asked. “We have touched laws. We have survived tribulations beyond all of history, undergone trials no records fully describe. I saw a ladder above the ninth heaven when I reached Sovereign. There are steps without end. Why build steps if no one will walk them? The cycle is a bottleneck made to keep us docile.”

Cai Xiaotong spoke up, then, his voice soft. “I want people to eat. I want them to sleep without fear. I want my borders to open routes for trade, not armies. If delaying your unification with the world buys a century for the common folk to live better, I would hear it out. But if breaking the cycle risks their lives, I will not.”

Shi Yun spread his hands. “We will not risk their lives. We can uplift them. Fund academies in every province, standardize manuals for our new cultivators. Issue safe stages of body tempering so farmers do not cripple themselves chasing body-refining methods above their capacity. We will build spiritual wells with formation locks so no clan hoards them. If the cycle breaks, we gain time to implement all of it.”

“Time without accountability turns into indulgence,” Shi Qing said. “Every time.”

“You speak as if you have seen it.” Yao Chuanli tapped a finger against his chin. “Yet do we not have time here and now? Or in the years before we were chosen by the divine beasts, for that matter?” He raised his cup. “Surely this indulgence is within reason, no?”

“I have read it,” Shi Qing replied. “Records from eras before ours. The divine beasts allowed me to read in the dark vaults under the Black Tortoise Shrine. There were chiefs who stretched their lives using stolen rites. They lost count of years and stopped caring about months. They forgot days, decided their problems could be postponed forever, and delayed until the foundation of their own hearts hollowed. Then their clans fell because their eyes were closed. They thought their presence meant stability, yet without the urgency of an inevitable end they did not notice the cracks. They allowed their lives to become meaningless because they no longer had the need to pursue meaning.”

Shi Yun’s mouth tightened. “You speak of weak men with dirty hands. We are not like them.”

“We are still men.”

“Are we not divine ourselves?” Yao Chuanli asked. His right hand opened and qi appeared above it, a light that shaped itself into the sigil of the White Tiger before he let it fade. “We were chosen. Do you truly doubt our capabilities so much, Shi Qing?”

“Yes. Yes, I do. We are not divine, nor are we meant to be. This is the peak of mortal reach, and so it should stay.” Before the others could say anything more, he stood from the table and strode away, his aura tense and more tightly controlled than was normal even for him.

The other three watched him depart, then Shi Yun picked up his glass and leaned back with a smile. “Let him have his time to think. He will see that we are right in due time. In the meantime, we can use these days to better prepare. If we are to divide the heavens from the earth, there is much to be done.”