[Tian] 1:32 (Patreon)

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LIUFAN TIAN STOOD BEFORE THE PATRIARCH.

Liufan Xiaoming, the Grand Elder of the Liufan sect, one of the few Florescence in all of Jhisie, towered over her like she was an insect. He raised his foot, as if he was about to crush her under his heel.

The girl cowered in fear. Her eyes welled up once more. Her mouth bobbed open like a kai fish, but nothing came out. This was it. She would receive divine judgment. Punishment from the Patriarch himself.

But he did not lay his judgment on her. Not just yet. His voice boomed around the Cerulean Courtyard, a tremor erupting from where he stood, the tiled floor rattling, the earth shaking, and the rain being blown away from his words alone.

“Insolence!”

For a moment, it was like Tian stood in a bubble. Raindrops stopped falling from the Heavens. All that existed was the girl and the Patriarch. It was terrifying. Tian didn’t know what to say. Her mouth hung open as the pattering of rain continued.

“I-I…” Nothing came out.

“You have assaulted a member of the Liufan sect. You. Do you not know your place? You dare?!”

Liufan Xiaoming extended his arms. They were held out to his sides, palm facing out. A green aura gathered around his forearms as he brought his hands back together. A loud clap resounded, and the green aura spread out.

Tian’s ears rang. The Cerulean Courtyard vibrated. And a glow came from in between the tiles. Blue light peaked out. It slowly grew brighter and brighter. Until finally, a translucent shape broke free from the ground.

It tore through the bricks, a creature bent and twisted. It looked like a fox if it had wings, with the tail of a snake. Tian could almost see through its massive body. It stood taller than the Patriarch. An ethereal creature. A Spirit, emulating the shape of a Sacred Beast.

The girl stumbled back, shivering, quivering under his might. This was the Patriarch. She had angered him. He saw what she had done. There was only one thing she could do. She prostrated herself before him.

“P-p-please, Grand Elder, f-forgive—”

“Silence.” His words cut her off. She wanted to defend herself. She wanted to protest. But she couldn’t. There was something about Xiaoming that made her cower, that prevented her from speaking out of line. “Your birth was never meant to be, but I tolerated it. However, you have overstepped your bounds. You have brought shame to your sect. You shall be judged and punished by death.”

The ruckus drew the attention of other sect members. The elders of the Liufan sect gathered before the scene. Those who had been sleeping in their homes peered out of their windows, came out of their homes, hearing the rage of the Patriarch.

Even Lihua, who Tian thought would be looking up in glee, seemed to be afraid of the Patriarch’s wrath. But it was Tian who incurred his ire. And it was Tian who feared him the most.

More people streamed out of their homes. Out of their houses. One of them caught Tian’s eye. It was Xun. She was standing behind the Grander Elder, staring around with wide eyes. She paused as her gaze landed on Tian.

“Be grateful, scum. Even now, I will show you mercy. I will give you a painless death.” The Spirit edged closer to Tian, its snake-like tail rising up. Xun opened her mouth, Tian winced, and—

“Enough.”

A cone of yellow blasted out in the direction of the Spirit. It reeled back, letting out a high pitched chiterring as its body began to disintegrate. Tian blinked. Nothing happened to the girl. In fact, everything else in the Cerulean Courtyard remained unharmed. Only the Spirit was destroyed.

That was… the School of Invocation? It destroyed the Spirit and only the Spirit. That was what the Yellow Essence did.

The girl’s head snapped to her left. Footsteps echoed even through the storm as Liufan Tiao stalked down a tall stairway. Her garbs were wet, the ragged clothing almost completely drenched from being out in the rain for mere moments. Her hair was a tangled mess. But the aura exuded around her reminded Tian of anything but the sickly woman whom the girl knew.

“Grand Elder Xiaoming, you shall not lay a hand on my daughter.”

“Liufan Tiao, you dare stop me?” Xiaoming turned a furious gaze towards her. “Do not forget your place. I am the Patriarch of the Liufan sect! You are but a fallen Cultivator— a shame to our sect!” He lashed out at her with a whip made of flames.

“Mother!” Tian called out in horror.

But Tiao easily stepped around the attack. The Patriarch tried again, this time with two whips, one in each hand. Mother narrowed her eyes. She held her arms out, as if to catch the attack.

It wrapped around her, tangling her with the fiery ropes.

“Do you see what happens when you defy me? I have shown you kindness, now you shall perish with you daughter—” Xiaoming paused as the image shattered. It collapsed like red glass. “What…?”

He couldn’t react in time. Tiao stood before him, her palm already thrust into his abdomen. It plunged deep into him. He let out a cry as he was thrown back across the Cerulean Courtyard. He landed with a crash, sending stone and debris up into the air in a plume of dust.

How was mother doing this? Tian could only gape at the way Tiao moved. And the girl was not the only one. Those who were watching couldn’t help but gasp and look on in awe as the woman effortlessly swatted the Patriarch aside. He was a Florescence.

The only one in the Liufan sect. At least, the only one before Tiao’s fall. But it was never a fall. Not in the way Tian thought of it. Not in the way the others thought of it.

“You never understood, did you, Xiaoming?” She spoke to him casually, dropping any air of respect she previously had. “You always believed that Florescence was the peak of our cultivation. You wallowed in whatever you could scrounge up, never realizing that there was a gulf separating you from not just the Springs above you, but the other Florescences that live. You did not get why I vied for ascension— to become something more. Now you do.”

The Patriarch got back to his feet. He was seething with anger now. He pointed a finger at her, looking at the other elders standing in a circle around Tiao. “She has assaulted the Grand Elder of the Liufan sect. That betrayal— she is no longer a Liufan. Kill her!”

And they moved. Just as they were ordered. But these were Blossoms. They weren’t Florescences. Tiao easily avoided their attacks. She landed her counters, disabling each of the twelve elders with a single strike. There was no need for the Essences. Simple martial arts techniques were enough to deal with them.

“Liufan Sacred Technique: Skysplitter.”

Mother raised her hand, and the clouds above parted. The falling rain was split around the Cerulean Courtyard. And the elders attacking her were thrown back, each of them rendered incapacitated.

“If you shall not offer my daughter and I your protection, then I believe there is no reason for me to remain here, Xiaoming.”

The Grand Elder didn’t give in. He adopted a fighting stance as mother walked up to Tian, picking the girl up.

“You have chosen death,” he said, the elements gathering around him.

“I have chosen nothing,” Tiao said simply. “You were the one who made the decision yourself. My daughter has committed no crimes worthy of death.”

“She laid hands on a member of the Liufan sect.”

“You say that as though she were not one either.” Tiao shook her head and snapped her fingers. Yellow Essence once again spread out from her, and the elements around the Patriarch dissipated. “And not before they laid hands on her first.”

Tian whimpered in her mother’s arms. She looked up at Tiao, almost in reverie. She felt afraid. The power was overwhelming. But mother soothed her, cooing.

“It is fine, Tian. I promised you, did I not? The Patriarch will not harm you.”

The Patriarch roared in the background as Tiao walked forward. Tian didn’t even notice him drawing closer. The girl didn’t see the Essences gathering around him. All she saw was her mother. Everything around them didn’t exist. It was like they were back in their little hut, far from the sect, isolated in their own sanctuary.

Tian smiled. “Thank you, mother.”

Tiao hugged the girl tightly. Tian blinked as she saw the Patriarch lying on the ground, defeated. When did that happen? She didn’t know. But it didn’t matter. Because the pair left the Liufan sect that night.

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“Where are we going, mother?” Tian asked as the rain finally died down, and the Heavens began to grow brighter and brighter. Night was coming to an end. Another day would begin. But things were different, this time.

Tiao didn’t reply. She had carried the girl for a long time, traveling far beyond the Liufan sect, past the farms, and where the Sixth Heaven no longer was directly above in the sky.

“Mother…?” Tian repeated the question, perplexed at Tiao’s uncharacteristic silence. She turned to look at mother’s face— and saw an aged woman.

Tiao had… aged by decades, maybe centuries even. Her body had shriveled up and was now covered in wrinkles. The girl gasped.

“What happened to you?”

“I am sorry, Tian,” Tiao said in a soft voice. Slowly coming to a stop, she placed Tian down on the muddied ground. “But this is where I leave you.”

“W-what?” The girl stared up at her mother with wide eyes. “What are you…?” She didn’t finish. She knew what was being said. It didn’t need to be explained. “But why?” was all she asked.

“I have told you, Tian. I have lived a long life. Longer than I should have lived.” Tiao’s gaze turned to the Heavens. A longing stare. One that told of a tale and more within it. “The only thing that kept me from death’s grasps was my path. I ascended over and over again. I was already a Florescence when the Grand Elder was only a child. I had visited all the Heavens and came back to the Liufan sect. But I never found what I wanted. Not until I met your father.”

“Father?”

“He was a doctor. And I asked too much from him. I asked him to create pills that would help me ascend to Spring. Unfortunately, it did not work. It poisoned my Qi— it forced me to close my meridians. Because keeping it open would force my age to catch up to me. Your father worked very hard to cure me. He experimented on himself as he was afraid of harming me once more. But an even worse fate befell him. And I was forever trapped in this state. The people in the Liufan sect called it a fall. The opposite of ascension. They did not believe me when I told them
I was still a Florescence. Foolish, are they not?”

The girl said nothing. She just looked up at her mother, tears slowly forming in her eyes. “And you’ll die now? Because of me?”

“It was not your fault, Tian.” Tiao placed a hand on the girl’s head, ruffling Tian’s jade-green hair as she smiled. “The Patriarch acted foolishly. It is his fault this has happened. And my own, for pursuing ascension without proving my worth. I did it because I was afraid of losing my life in the Forsaken Palace. It is only fitting that I lose my life to my foolish experiments.”

Tian sniffled. She hugged the woman, not saying anything. Tiao sat down on a rock, heaving a sigh.

“You will be on your own now, Tian. But you do not have to be afraid. You are stronger than me. You will live, and you will surpass all I have ever become. I just know it.”

“No—” Tian started, but was cut off as Tiao’s eyes slammed shut.

“Goodbye, my daughter. I am sorry for not keeping my promise to you. To be with you for another decade. That is my only regret in life.”

“Mother, please don’t go,” Tian pleaded, but it was already too late. Tiao sat there, her eyes closed, an unmoving, cold corpse.

It was too much for the girl to bear. She started crying once more. Tears fell from her eyes as she tightly grasped onto mother’s body. The Heavens shone in their full glory above her, night finally coming to an end. There was a thin sheen on the surface of the leaves— the dew of the morning reflecting the Heaven's light to Tian as the girl fell to the ground, sobbing.

“Never again,” she whispered to herself. Then she said it louder, “Never again.” There was a glow. A light. Not from the Heavens. It came from within her.

The ground beneath her feet began to sprout flowers as Tian stood tall. Fauna flourished on the mud as Tian stood up, her eyes filled with tears, but her heart full of resolve. With a final sniff, she shouted out her path for all the animals and insects in the forest to hear.

“I will become immortal. I will become Spring. And I will never let you down, mother! Never again!”

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