The Fourth Wall - Chapter 12 preview (Patreon)

Author Note: Preview chapters are rough/first drafts. These chapters have not been edited, expect that there may be errors - however, feel free to point out consistency issues!

 Clouds gathered high above, dark and foreboding. Wu Ying could feel the wind pulling against his robes, playing with his hair, old friends that had grown distant but back for a few moments. He felt the chilly disapproval of one of the winds, the way it pressed against his aura, putting a strain upon his still cultivation base as he stood upon the rocky outcropping. He knew he should not be here, not drawing attention to himself after so recently casting aside and defying the heavens. The wise would lower their heads and be small.

Of course, he would not do so. In the end, Wu Ying figured, he was too much of a swordsman. Though he might be less direct and ferocious than a dao wielder, elegant and filled with tricks and feints that a jian might be; int he end the sword was a weapon. There was only a single purpose that it was - ultimately - built for. In tht sense, he was too direct, too unlikely to do more than bend a little.

Nor could he face himself, if he turned away now. Though there was little enough that he could do, he could still offer support. He could still witness his friend's attempt at ascension. 

He just wished that his heart was not filled with trepidation and worry, that the gnawing void in his stomach spoke of confidence for what Tou He chose. He knew, of course, that part of this was entirely his own experience speaking, his own worries after failing so badly. But this step, this final gap - even for a normal cultivator, even for those who were not rushing it - was a major step forwards.

The wind howled, as a storm gathered high above, and his friend sat upon a rocky outcropping near the peak and crushed the core that he had built with so much care. They waited, for when the new immortal soul emerged, then it - and Tou He - would be tested. THey would rain their vengance and lightning upon him.

Hand on the hilt of his sword, Wu Ying forced himself to breathe. To trust that his friend knew what he was doing. That his choice was not driven just by anxiety and desire to aid him. All around, the crowd that watched the storm and his friend were  silent, witnessing the event with the appropriate level of reverence. 

No enlightenment seekers in this crowd, or at least, not enlightenment in the same way. These monks were witnessing the danger and praying for his friend, but they were not cheering him on, for while they understood their path; it could not be said that they agreed with it.

After all, their sense of heaven or nirvana, of the world they lived in; it was not the same as the heavens that Wu Ying and Tou He sought. Immortality was but an extension of a painful existence, rather than a transcending of it. Heaven was not nirvana, not a peaceful realm of understanding and compassion and mercy.

Funny, how standing with these monks, it was all the more clear to Wu Ying.

The heavens were the best mortal - or immortal - hands could shape. Yet, they were not the Dao, not paradise. 

Watching the clouds gather, he could feel anger and ire grow within his breast and Wu Ying could not help but ask.

"How do they know?" 

"Who? Know what?" Yang Mu, by his side, watching him as much as she did Tou He's silent form.

"That someone is ascending." He jerked his head upwards, indicating the clouds and those above as answer for the rest of her questions.

"Dao. I can see it..." She raised a hand, almost as though she would touch it, before she continued. "Connections, of course. My own, his, yours. But different. Not human connections, not threads of companionship or humanity but rules." She lowered her hand, shaking her head and sounding almost disappointed. "It's a dao of rules and binding, a sense of laws created being broken. That's how they know, how they are able to bring the clouds so fast."

He was curious, wanting to ask her; wanting to know why she sounded so disappointed. He opened his mouth to do so, when a crack that was felt deep within their souls rather than heard resounded. Attention was drawn back, as the Core broke free fully. Wu Ying watched, for the second time in his life, the ascent of another cultivator close to him.

Or at least, the attempt.

His friend blazed, like a formerly covered fire released; wind fanning the blaze such that he was brighter than ever. Wu Ying found himself squinting, unable to see clearly; spiritual and mortal sight unable to pierce the brightness. He saw it though, the bolt of lightning that spiralled down from the heavens into the center. He felt the thunderous response, shaking flesh, bone and spirit alike that staggered him back.

He swayed, body and spirit jarred apart. As he tried to recover himself, a hand was placed behind him, holding him straight. A warm energy poured through him, reinforcing the wound, aiding him in standing still. It protected him, as it seeped into his aura as well as another thunderous bolt crashed into the center of that blaze where, maybe, the shadow of a figure still sat, cross-legged.

"Tou He..." Hand tight on his hilt, he wanted to move forward. Wanted to aid the other, but also, he knew that it was impossible. He could not even stand here, when lay monks and mortal servants alike could watch unhindered. If not for the aid of the senior monk, he would have been injured further. 

For what? His foolish pride? 

Ashamed, Wu Ying turned away, releasing his sword to thank his savior. To see an older man, eyes narrowed with amusement watching him. Of all those here, he was the first to wear robes of a different colour, darker and more worn than the senior monks, and the laypersons who filled the other two ranks within the monastery. 

This, of course, was the Abbot. Who else, when else, would he turn up? 

"Thank you, Abbot Ann." 

"No matter. I but saw you struggling a little," the man smiled, in so doing deepening the wrinkles around his face. It was clear, he smiled a lot, revelling in the joy of life. Though he was old, at least in his eventies, liver spots even on his bald head; he seemed very healthy, his chi strong. "But watch. Perhaps you might see more of your path in your friend's own journey."

Wu Ying hesitated, then nodded. When an Elder mentioned watching something like this, it behooved the wisde to watch. Anyway, he would rather pay attention to Tou He's own struggle, for the gnawing concern for his friend continued. Another lightning bolt came down, striking against the flames, growing stronger.

That was the tempo of these tribulations. It started easy, the attacks less powerful and grow in strength over a period before they began to die off, the last couple of strikes seeming almost desulotory in the end. There was only so much environmental chi that the even those from the heavens could pull from the surroundings, such that each tribulation always had an end. Some, Wu Ying knew, had theorised that with sufficient numbers of individuals going through tribulations at the same time, those at the tail end might  suffer the least. 

He even knew of a few scholarly articles detailing such tests. Done mostly by government agencies, nobles and royalty attempting to work their way around heavenly rules. More common were the folk tales, some of them warped with time and retellings; of how such individuals attempted to cheat their way through. Eventually though, the heavens had their way - though the stories differed on the results. Some indicated there was a lessening in the tribulations, only for a second one to occur later; or a more powerful tribulation later. Others spoke of the arrival of angry immortals to ensure that the rules were not broken, bringing with them a fresh amount of heavenly chi, sometimes even wielding their immortal weapons to destroy those below.

The scholarly articles that Wu Ying had seen and noted in passing were not much better; the research mostly conducted at the Core Formation stage. In those cases, either the number of individuals involved were insufficient that any lessening in the tribulation was so minor it was impossible to judge or the cultivators involved in such things were so weak, it was impossible to judge. After all, it was not as though one had a gauge for the strength of a lightning tribulation that could easily be recorded; just the experiences of the surviving cultivator.

Another crash, and the light around Tou He brightened. Wu Ying frowned, seeing the tendrils of smoke rising from the cliff face, the way the wind brought with it the smell of burnt grass and damaged robes, of melting sand and shattered rock. Dust and dirt, but...

"No flesh?" Not that Wu Ying would want his friend to be burnt alive, but the searing pain of the lightning bolts were something that he recalled all too well.

"Your friend merged with the blood of a fire dragon, a rather powerful one at that. On top of that, of course; his element is that of fire. And, most recently, at his last tribulation; the lightning of the heavens filtered into his very cultivation base. Even if he, like you, have rejected certan strictures of the immortals above, the scars of the past have not left him." the Abbot replied to Wu Ying's rhetorotical question gently. "Of all those we have seen attempt to ascend, your friend is perhaps the best place to weather their trials. At least at this level."

"And it will be worst, the next time?" Wu Ying said, softly.

"Of course. Was yours not?"

The former wind cultivator could not help but shudder in recollection. The pain, as his body was shocked and burnt and torn apart, his very skin and flesh boiling away. The only defense, his own aura and the greater healing effect of his immortal body, injury and agony joining together. His own conflicts, his inability to merge everything together to provide that final, necessary, defense.

If he had been even a little weaker, a little less stalwart, if the heavens had been an iota less conflicted and angry at the King Cai...

Luck and fortune, that he had managed to survive so long. To avoid death and further injury. 

"The heavens are jealous of their pregoratives being taken by others. Their burden is great, even if they have taken it up themselves." The man sounded sad, as he spoke. "Their efforts are often thankless and unpaid, and in time it creates great bitterness. An ossificiation of rules and viewpoints, as those in charge grow old." A thunderous rumble, a twitching of the energy. Wu Ying felt it, as though something high above objected to such characterisation and was expressing their displeasure. To little effect. The aura of the Abbot did not even waver as the pressure increased around them, though Yang Mu carefully took a step away. "It would be better if they spent less time on governing and more on contemplation the Dao or the greater path."

Wu Ying opened his mouth, then frowned as a thought struck him. "Is it not hard, to change ones Dao upon ascent? For we hew so close to it, in the development of our immortal souls."

The smile he received was from a beaming parent or proud teacher to a particularly slow student finally solving a nagging problem. It made Wu Ying feel both proud and foolish at the same time. Yet, he could not help but notice that something shifted within him, as that realisation filtered deeper past his conscious mind to his unconscious. 

"The Dao, as you term it, exists in all things. Though you immortals might seek a small portion of it to understand, there is no reason to believe that you cannot, in time, expand upon that understanding. After all, is not the mortal condition one of growth? Without that ability, transcendence is impossible. One must, however, first accept that is possible."

Wu Ying found himself nodding along, the words striking a chord deep within him. Yet, before he could pursue that conversation further, another crack and roar of thunder rolled through the surroundings, brighter and loud than ever. He jerked his head around, seeing that the cliff his friend had been seated upon smoked heavily now, the flames that had engulfed it fading.

"Tou He..." Wu Ying stepped forward, breaking contact with the Abbot's hand. Almost immediately, the overwhelming pressure of heavenly chi rushed over him, causing his feet to buckle. He refused to kneel though, to step away and he straightened, aided moments later by the expanding aura of the Abbot behind him.

Relief surged through him moments later, when he realised that the fading flames were not because his friend was injured; but because he was withdrawing the energy. Consolidating the fire within himself. From this angle, Wu Ying could only see the upper portion of his friend, but though he smoked and looked to have spent too much time in the sun; his flesh glowing an unhealthy red; he seemed overall uninjured.

Quietly, he cursed the man. If his own transition to Nascent Soul had been this easy...

Well, perhaps it had been. Not this easy, but certainly overall it had not been that difficult. The winds had been part of his dao, or at least a part of it. If he had taken only the five fold mortal wind path, perhaps he could...

"Ying." A single word, cautionary. He shook his head, turning to offer Yang Mu a smile of thanks.

"I apologise. I was... "

"Dwelling." She smiled. "It's okay. But now is not the time, yes?"

"Yes. I should..." He hesitated, remembered the conversation. He turned around again, expecting the Abbot to have disappeared, like those who preferred to act like the mysterious masters out there. He had done the same himself, after all. So he was surprised to see the old man still standing there, a patient smile on his face. "Thank you, Abbot. I..."

"Have more to ask. Though I fear I have less to offer than you might imagine. But later." A nod to Tou He, who had finally pulled the flames to himself fully and was in the process of getting dressed properly. "This is not my moment. Or yours. See to your friend. Our conversation will keep."

Wu Ying bowed again in thanks, then turned around, a grin blossomg across his face. Relieved about the upcoming appointment, he turned instead to the rather important task.

How best to tease his friend about his earlier worries.