Chapter 159 (Patreon)

Bao Si was right. The first bite of the Bodhi Pear really was something else….

In that it was profoundly underwhelming.

There was no awakening. No sudden revelation. No grand inspiration bestowed upon him from up on high. Chen Haoran polished off the rest of the fruit but still there was no change.

……is this it?

He’d been expecting a bit…. more from a so-called enlightenment.

The others had yet to react to his sudden reveal of a Bodhi Pear. It was understandable. To them it was inconceivable that someone would keep such an immensely valuable consumable on their person and not use it immediately. That he seemingly pulled it out as an afterthought was probably the most incredible display of excess they’d ever seen. Bao Si certainly seemed to have those thoughts from the sheer confusion on her face. Xie Jin was little better but he’d been with Chen Haoran long enough and seen enough to be used to him pulling out incredibly valuable items on a whim. While he was still open mouthed with shock his eyes shined with racing thought as he re-evaluated what he knew. Based on what he could know it would probably end up being another misunderstanding of Chen Haoran’s background.

Their Gu were living examples of pragmatic greed. Chen Haoran had felt their voracious attention when he pulled out the fruit but the Yellow Dragon had left a strong impression on them and so they gave up Chen Haoran’s delicious morsel and turned their attention to Qiong Qi’s tasty morsel like hungry dogs. An apt analogy given the way their shaman’s qi wrapped around them like leashes.

Pan Gong’s reaction was much like the Gu. Envy, greed, wariness played across his features in a row before settling into depressed acceptance. The kind that came when it felt like life decided to say ‘Fuck you in particular’ and left you no recourse. He still watched Chen Haoran, but it was the way a soldier stood watch for threats. His human side was watching Qiong Qi. His knees slightly bent to instantly propel him as soon as he spotted an opening.

Qiong Qi certainly felt that weight. He kept a tight grip on the storage bag that stored his Bodhi Pear and looked extremely conflicted. He no doubt planned for a long time to get his hands on the Enlightenment fruit but now his perfect vision was meeting reality. Seeing Chen Haoran and Lu Aotian eat their fruits in succession was leaving him with second thoughts and he was forced to stew in them rather than act because there were several starving beasts waiting for him to slip.

The king of said beasts stared at Chen Haoran. It was a bit of a surprise. Chen Haoran had expected him to be the first to attack. He couldn’t really tell what he was thinking. There had been a brief flash of something but it had been schooled to neutrality. Perhaps his shock would have interfered with his enlightenment? Chen Haoran gripped his sword in preparation and spared a glance at Lu Aotian’s monstrous chimera. Clouds of qi roiled around it, slowly seeping into its patchwork skin. His initial impression had been wrong, Lu Aotian did not suddenly take command of the qi around him. Instead, the Chimera did as all cultivators did. Take in the qi surrounding it and refine it into its own. All Lu Aotian did was make external a process that normally took place inside the cultivator.

That’s not to say it was simple. It was fascinatingly complex. Chen Haoran had several ghosts of a thought on how to replicate it but nothing he was sure of. If only the Bodhi Pear could take effect already, he’d….

Chen Haoran paused.

Oh.

So it was working.

His previous thought processes were picked apart and compared to the prior information he’d been given and he quickly came to a conclusion about enlightenment. Based on Bao Si’s few words and his current state, it was wrong for him to expect he’d be given something out of thin air. It wasn’t a gift of knowledge. It was a gift of vision, and if he had nothing to see, metaphorically speaking, then he had nothing to learn or seek answers from. What he had to do then was obvious. He channeled qi to his feet. Red light licked his heels.

One step beyond—

No. A sharp thought cut the Red Step of Good Fortune before it could be born. Was it speed he needed? Yes. Without question. Was this the way to go about it? No. He’d get results but he wanted—needed more than that. He had to approach it another way. Chen Haoran’s eyes fell upon his sword.

The White Tyrant’s Harmonization draped across the blade like a mantle. Beneath its cover, he saw the shadow of another sword and another hand holding it—one smaller and thinner than his own, with fingers more dangerous than any knife. Phantom touches crawled across his neck, and he shivered, dispelling the sight of the familiar hand. His idea wasn’t wrong. Exploring the Harmonization of the Technique would accelerate his understanding but not this way. That way led to the same problem he had with the White Tyrant’s Harmonization. He had to start from himself first. What he had to do next was obvious, though a bit cliche.

Chen Haoran looked within himself.

Turning his sense inward had always felt to him like clicking through the layers of a detailed model. Every blink sent him further down from skin to veins, muscles, organs, bones, and meridians. It was not the first time he’d done it before. He would even be bold enough to say it was impossible for a cultivator to actually cultivate if they never looked within themselves. This time, however, it was like his eyes had been newly opened. He could only liken the feeling to wearing glasses for the first time and discovering just how fucked up his vision had been. He could see the eddies and currents of his qi and how they entered his cells, soaking them down to the nucleus. He could see near-invisible dark clots and cracks spread across his flesh and skeleton. Sequelae of his old severe injuries that had been left deep within his body and beyond easy healing. An errant thought directed his regenerative energy to gather in those places and wash them away. Another thought seized control of his qi and adjusted its flow where he found it inefficient.

They were small, almost unnoticeable changes, but if they could be improved, he would do so. This wasn’t what he was looking for, however. His sense brushed up against the Yellow Dragon in its dance. Swirling qi with every twirl and dive in ways he couldn’t see before. The Yellow Dragon took one look at Chen Haoran, snorted, then leaped out of his meridians. Chen Haoran chased after it from his brain to his heart and from his heart to his core. Then it kept going, past his blood and past his qi. The Yellow Dragon danced into the deep. A place that was close yet seemed so far all at once. Chen Haoran’s sense teetered on the edge of a chasm, and with a final leap of faith, his consciousness tipped over the edge, and he fell into his soul.

Suddenly, Chen Haoran found himself standing on the shore of a yellow river under a yellow sky.

“The Machu?” he wondered aloud. Everywhere he turned was just the endless expanse of the river he once traveled down. He cupped the water in his hand and found it no different from the actual thing. “So this is how cultivation reflects in the soul. No wonder the River liked me.”

Chen Haoran turned around. The island he stood on was the only patch of dry land around, and at the center of it was a humble tree blooming with pink flowers. Once they reached the fullness of their growth, the flowers fell and scattered as a petal rain, and new flowers grew to replace them, yet despite so many falling, none ever touched the ground.

He caught a streak of light at the corner of his eye and whirled around to find nothing. Another streak flashed, and yet again, he was too late to catch it. When it happened for the third time, Chen Haoran caught onto the pattern and, more importantly—the color.

Red, Orange, Yellow, Green, Cyan, Blue, Violet.

After the Violet flash, he couldn’t hope to track the light anymore, but he didn’t need to. He only needed to see the first. He looked left, not because of confidence but because he knew he was right, and sure enough, a red phantom was standing next to him. It was dressed in simple robes, and its hands were casually folded behind its back. It had no face, however, just a smooth, blank surface. The phantom took a step and a red stair appeared beneath its foot. Then it took a second. An orange stair appeared beneath it and the phantom’s color turned from red to orange. Its robes became thicker and well-fitted. So was the case with the next step, and the next. The phantom changed color to match each stair, and its robes grew finer and more elaborate with design and decoration. When it reached the Violet Stair, the phantom wore a luxurious gown fit for an emperor with a crown to match. Alone in the yellow sky, it appeared carefree. Then, with a final step, it shrugged off its finery and appeared at his side once more as a simple red phantom.

From the ground to the sky. Ascending to the peak and growing along the way. Stairs. No wonder he and the others struggled so much to get started with the Technique. They’d been too focused on the rainbow and not the colors. On the stairwell before the steps. Perhaps it was because of their youth. No wonder Xie Jin’s grandfather told him to wear his New Year’s robe while practicing. He’d been focused on the Red Step from the start. Chen Haoran looked down and found himself wearing his New Year’s robe. The one Bao Si had made for him. He thumbed the red silks. Red. The color of good luck. The color people wore when celebrating. He thought of the Basin festooned in red decorations. He thought of his wedding. Of Lan Fen in her red dress and white veil. New year. New wedding. Lucky red. It wasn’t worn just to symbolize luck, now was it? It was worn to welcome it. To bring in blessings on new endeavors. New futures. New beginnings.

Chen Haoran covered his face with his palm and pictured himself over the red phantom. The first step of the stairs. The first step of many. To bless the rest of the climb. A saying from his old life rose unbidden in his mind.

A journey of a thousand miles begins with a single step.

“A journey of a thousand miles begins with the First Red Step of Good Fortune,” Chen Haoran muttered.

He stepped. Red light licked his heels and he was treading water. Red flashed again. He dropped his hand—Red Step of Good Fortune. The world blurred, not with speed but like how scenery passed on a casual walk. Like no time passed at all, despite how far he went. He appeared back on the island. A long, exhilarated breath escaped him and a smile crossed his face.

Red light flashed next to him and when Chen Haoran looked the red phantom was wearing his face. Relaxed, happy, a bit excited. It was an expression Chen Haoran hadn’t imagined himself having for a long time now. When the red phantom stepped into orange it returned to the same blank slate. A sign he hasn’t mastered the Orange Step. A reward waiting for him once he did. What would be be like once his image was imprinted on every step? On the Violet Step? Harmonization? Or something more? What would the Seven Luck Strides of Rainbow Heaven be like? Chen Haoran was eager to find out. Just as he was about to continue observing the rainbow phantom a small splash at his feet interrupted his concentration.

Chen Haoran looked down and froze.

Reflected in the water was not him. It was a young woman. White of hair and gold of eye. Proud like an eagle and stunning the way a polished sword was. She was the very image of a triumphant warrior.

“Lan Fen?” Chen Haoran whispered. Here, of all places? He tentatively stretched out his hand toward the water and watched the image of Lan Fen mirror him.

Just as their fingers were about to touch, the image of Lan Fen suddenly twisted, cool disdain giving way to rage. The water rippled and gold eyes gave way to murderous metal white.

“No moron,” it said with a gruff, man’s voice.

Then the fake punched him in the face.

Chen Haoran wasn’t prepared at all for the attack or the force behind it and was sent rolling into the blossom tree with enough force that it would have surely broken were it a real tree. He clutched his nose and stared in shock as the fake Lan Fen rose out of the water, its face twisted in incandescent rage.

“Stand proud. You have almost restored my faith in Heaven,” the false Lan Fen spoke. It cracked its knuckles, and the sound was like screaming swords. “If only so I could make sure to send you to every single hell for bothering me with that fucking lizard.”

He knew that voice. He knew this person. Hysterical, Chen Haoran could only say his name.

“White Tyrant!?”

The White Tyrant sneered with Lan Fen’s face. “Surprise.”

“What the fuck? Why the fuck? How are you here?” Chen Haoran was horribly lost. Even enlightened, he couldn’t come up with an answer.

The White Tyrant sighed and rubbed his temple. “This is why I hate dealing with ants. You’re so far beneath me that you can’t even begin to understand the basics of just how amazing this is. Suffice it to say this has much more to do with me than it does anything to do with you.”

Chen Haoran’s mind raced. Was the White Tyrant in front of him some remnant personality imprinted when he comprehended the White Tyrant’s Harmonization? Or some special power afforded by his high cultivation base? Both? Was he always here? Aware? But why did he look like Lan Fen? Before he could ponder it further, he was painfully flicked in the head, snapping his head back.

“Fuck!” Chen Haoran clutched his forehead and glared at the White Tyrant. “You ass. What was that for?”

“Stop dawdling on stupid questions,” The White Tyrant said.

“There are no stupid questions,” Chen Haoran automatically countered.

“It’s stupid because I feel it’s stupid, and what I feel is fact,” The White Tyrant casually said. “All you need to know right now is that I’m hijacking your enlightenment.”

So it was thanks to the Bodhi Pear— Chen Haoran flinched when the White Tyrant raised his hand again. Then he got angry. “The hell do you think you’re doing then? I need this enlightenment, you bastard. Don’t interrupt it.”

The White Tyrant snorted. “Oh, you need it all right. But not to waste it on that bullshit. I told you to never forget that Harmonization but what did you go and do? Consider this an intervention because the way you use my Harmonization makes me die of embarrassment.”

Chen Haoran rolled his eyes. “Well, sorry to disappoint you, but I’m plenty satisfied with it. Or are you just salty it’s not as useful to me as a Movement Technique right now?”

“I’m disappointed because I approved of you.” The White Tyrant folded his arms. “Now I’m disgusted I ever had the thought.”

That slapped Chen Haoran like a sack of bricks, and he couldn’t retort. It was just so unexpected to hear from the arrogant White Tyrant and, for some reason, hurt so much worse than anything he’d said thus far.

“Getting rings run around you by an ant pretending to be a lion and a godsdamned Body Refiner. Waving your sword like a stick and being weak as a chicken as soon as it’s taken away. Tell me moron. Since when did you need a sword to use my Harmonization? Is that how you stole the life of Lan Fen’s sworn enemy?”

Was it? He looked down at his hands. It felt like an age had passed since the fight with Lan Yao and Patriarch Lan in the Spa Caverns. He could barely remember how he killed Lan Yao. The whole thing had felt like a dream in the end. Yet the power of the Bodhi Pear made the answer to White Tyrant’s question frustratingly clear. If he clenched his hands now, he could even feel the coldness of the icicle he used to end Lan Yao’s life.

The White Tyrant’s tirade was not finished. “Do you think those fools would have survived what I did to Lan Fen’s worthless grandfather? Do you think some eye fetishist could have weakened it to save him?” He shook his head in disgust. “My expectations were as low as possible, and somehow you still failed. It makes me wonder if your first use of my Harmonization was a fluke.”

Chen Haoran hung his head. As much as the White Tyrant frustrated him, there was nothing he could say when the ghost was right. A fact that only made the point dig deeper.

A point the White Tyrant was all too willing to drive in further.

“That’s right. Wallow in self-hate,” he said. “That’s the least you can do for wasting my time.”

A low growl sounded in warning, and Chen Haoran felt the world rumble. From the depths of the yellow river breached a massive dragon head that made the mountainous Snake’s Mouth look small. Its eyes were like orange suns, and its sinuous body, crusted with topaz scales, extended far into the distance with no sign of its tail in sight. Despite its size, the water was not disturbed in the slightest by its passing. A fortunate thing given that the small island they were on would have been drowned in the waves that something of the dragon’s scale would otherwise make.

The Yellow Dragon looked down on the White Tyrant.

“Don’t think I’ve forgotten about you,” The White Tyrant drawled. “To think this is what you’ve been reduced to. The other four would laugh if they could see you now. I would, too, if I wasn’t stuck here with you.”

Chen Haoran looked upon the Yellow Dragon in awe. It was the same form he seen many times before, accurate down to the whiskers and scales, but the construct made of his liquid qi could never compare to the real thing in front of him. It’s true form. Even if it was just an image made in his soul, it still felt like it was made of flesh and blood. Majesty exuded from it the way heat did from the sun. Though they were in Chen Haoran’s soul, as soon as it appeared, it was as if the center had shifted. It was comforting rather than concerning, however. A pillar of stability that he could lean on. He stood up. Mortal eyes met divine. Chen Haoran slowly held out his hand. The Yellow Dragon leaned its massive bulk forward, and a whisker gently stretched down to touch his hand. Here and now, through the power of enlightenment, they were closer than they had ever been before. Closer than they would ever be for a long time, perhaps. So long as he could take away even a trace—

The White Tyrant yanked Chen Haoran by his collar and threw him to the ground before he could touch the whisker. The Yellow Dragon rumbled with dissatisfaction. The spell that overcame him was broken, and Chen Haoran mourned for it.

Then he got angry.

“The hell do you want from me?” he demanded. “Sure! I fucked up! I admit it! I’ll listen to whatever you have to say about it. Just stop screwing me over. If I can connect with the Yellow Dragon I might be able to copy what Lu Aotian is doing. Or is Harmonizing with my cultivation method beneath you too?”

“Enough yapping. A lesson from me is enough for kings to beggar their planets so shut up and listen.” The White Tyrant hooked a thumb toward the Yellow Dragon. “You could use up all the power of the fruit and not even understand a tenth of that thing, let alone Harmonize with it. That fake predator out there can only grasp the surface because his Technique and Cultivation Method connect and feedback into each other, and he has years of experience over you. Your time cultivating is just too short.”

“Then what do you want me to do?” Chen Haoran asked, frustrated.

The White Tyrant’s smirk was vicious. “Simple. We’re going to cheat like hell and make all the years and effort he spent cultivating worthless. And if there’s anything between your ears, you’ll learn something along the way.” He pushed past Chen Haoran and sat cross-legged at the base of the blossom tree. “But first, we’re doing a crash course in Harmonization. Clean your ears because I won’t be repeating myself.”

Chen Haoran sighed and adjusted himself to a more comfortable seating position. Even the Yellow Dragon curiously leaned in. It was a comical sight, given how much it dwarfed them.

“Harmonization, at its core, is about understanding things. If you understand something completely, then you can manipulate it, draw power from it, destroy it, etcetera, etcetera.” The White Tyrant waved his hand dismissively. “Problem is we have trouble understanding the assholes known as our fellow man, let alone the world around us. Not helping is the fact that unless you’re me, nothing exists independent of everything. The whole world is connected, which made Harmonizing so complex that if a cultivator wanted to understand an apple pie, he’d have to meditate on the universe first. In short, impossible.”

“Sounds ridiculous, yeah,” Chen Haoran agreed.

“Shut up.” The White Tyrant leaned back against the tree. “For ancient cultivators, the universe was like a giant social event with everyone mingling while they were the assholes watching from the corner. Everyone is yapping amongst themselves, and cultivators can’t even say hello, let alone join the conversation. If cultivators wanted to talk to someone, they needed to get some one-on-one time. So they figured out how to drag the people they wanted into private rooms to get to know them better. Thus, Earth and Heaven-Ranks were born.”

“What the hell is this analogy?”

“Shut up.” The White Tyrant snapped his fingers. “Earth and Heaven-Rank are separated by the scale and quality of what they’re derived from. One man could look at an apple and learn how it grows. Another could look at it and learn gravity or sin some other bullshit. Their origin is the same, however. A cultivator watched something for a long time and took its principles to make a Technique or Method, thus isolating it from everything else and integrating it within themselves. Letting them access powerful new abilities on top of making Harmonizing easier. That’s how all this bullshit—” The White Tyrant swept his arm out, motioning to yellow river, the Rainbow Phantom, and the Blossom Tree before pointing at himself “—and this bullshit is here. The essence of greater concepts manifested in the most intrinsic part of a human. Got all that?”

Chen Haoran couldn’t help raising a hand. “What about Mortal and Profound-Rank Techniques?”

The White Tyrant lifted an eyebrow. “What about them?”

“Well—“

“Stupid question.” The White Tyrant immediately declared. “All you need to know is that the better you understand these things the more power you can draw out of them. If you were me then you could ponder the secrets of the universe in an afternoon nap. You’re not me and never will be so you’re gonna have to do it the basic way and imitate these things. Do that enough and even an idiot can learn something about Harmonization eventually.”

“Is it really that easy?” Chen Haoran asked.

The White Tyrant snorted. “Hell no but if you screw this up I’m self-terminating. Now if there’s no more questions.”

“Wait wait wait,” Chen Haoran said. “Just one more.”

The White Tyrant clicked his tongue in annoyance. “What?”

“Why the hell are you only teaching me this now!” Chen Haoran exploded. “It’s not like I left you and Lan Fen immediately. This couldn’t have been brought up at all? You made a big deal of your Harmonization too.”

“Is your name Lan Fen?” The White Tyrant demanded. “Are you the chosen inheritor of my school’s glorious legacy? Is my ghost bound to your person? I told you to not forget that Harmonization because it’s the best damn thing you could have gotten your hands on. Do you think you’re special because you aped a scrap of my power? That you’re the only one in the universe who’s done that? My cultivation is so far above you that I could fart and turn the gas into a sects founding technique. The only thing notable about you is Lan Fen. You think you could ever enter my eyes otherwise?”

“Now that you bring up Lan Fen, you still haven’t explained why the hell you look like her.”

“Congratulations you’ve discovered the first thing in the universe I don’t know the answer to,” the White Tyrant said, sneering. “I told you to pay attention and this is what you imprint? Juniors these days. Letting a woman into your heart will only affect your sword-drawing speed and you’ve gone and let one into your damn soul. No wonder your Harmonization is so shit. Too bad for you the woman inside you is a man.”

Chen Haoran blanched. “Pause. Did you have to say it like that?”

The White Tyrant ignored Chen Haoran entirely and faced the Yellow Dragon. “And you, lizard. That we meet again like this, cursed Heaven surely likes its jokes. I was looking for you when I came back, you know.” The White Tyrants smirk was filled with mockery but something about his expression felt off to Chen Haoran. “I met the Metal one first. That snake was getting uppity, so I cut him in half. It’s a shame I couldn’t find whatever hole you were hiding in to show you. To think you’re just a river now, the irony is endless, isn’t it, Earth Dragon?”

Chen Haoran froze. Earth Dragon? Not water? He had glossed over it before in his fugue state but they knew each other?

The Yellow Dragon simply stared down the White Tyrant. No reaction forthcoming to words that were obviously meant to provoke one. Chen Haoran had worked enough with the spirit by now to realize it was genuine and not a facade of control. The White Tyrant soon realized it as well and a deep frown crossed his face. An expression that reminded Chen Haoran all too much of Lan Fen’s more pensive moods.

“Nothing?” The White Tyrant murmured. “Are you so far removed now? No…. you don’t remember? Just what happened…?” His face smoothed into flat indifference. “Such is time I suppose.”

Chen Haoran hesitated. “White Tyrant? You called it Earth Dragon?”

“Are you worthy of my explanation?” The White Tyrant retorted without any heat. “I grow tired of wasting my time. Clench your teeth ant. I’ll curse you forever if you mess this up.”

With that final warning, the White Tyrant lunged at Chen Haoran, and the world turned white.

———————

It had felt like a long time passed, but when Chen Haoran opened his eyes it was only an instant. The scenery of the outside world remained the same. His allies shock. Pan Gong’s coiled tension. Lu Aotian’s anger and his heaving chimera. The war cries of the Garrison as they pushed the Rattan Vine Soldiers up the terraces of the pyramid.

Chen Haoran was not the same.

And everyone else knew it.

Xie Jin and Bao Si visibly flinched at the same moment their Gu did and backpedaled away. Qiong Qi was later in reacting but even faster in leaving. Pan Gong did not even glance Chen Haoran’s way and shot after him though he did so in a way to never leave his back open.

Lu Aotian growled. “Let’s compare our findings then!”

With a downward wave of his hand the chimera lurched, liquid qi grinding against itself to create the most unearthly roar in hundreds of different tones.

White shadow surged along the length of his sword and spread across his entire body. Covering Chen Haoran not like a cloak but like a silhouette he had stepped into. It did not fit him perfectly. The shade a tad too tall. The arms not quite his length. But it mirrored him and he mirrored it. In sync despite their differences.

Is this what Lan Fen felt like?

A biting voice echoed in his mind, filling his head with white qi. “Of course not. I’m just a shadow of a shadow. That little monster learned my skills and was possessed by my spirit. If you could learn this from watching me use your shitty sword technique what you do think will happen to her when she recovers?”

Right. He should have expected no less.

The many headed face of the chimera loomed in front of him. It’s cavernous maw opening to an endless depth of teeth and beaks of all sizes.

“Pay attention,” said the White Tyrant. “If you’re going to pull out your blade then finish things with one sword. Anything more is embarrassing.”

The silhouette raised its white shadow sword and Chen Haoran’s own blade rose to match the motion. It was an unconscious action. Like a puppet following the pulls of the puppeteers hand. The White Tyrant tugged Chen Haoran along to use his Harmonization without any input from him. Chen Haoran once again had no control of his body.

“As above, so below.”

It was revolting.

The Yellow Dragon roared and his vision flashed yellow.

“You damn lizard. What do you think you’re doing?” The White Tyrant roared.

The Yellow Dragon roared again in response as white and yellow qi furiously battled.

Chen Haoran felt his mind, ever so disturbed since meeting the White Tyrant, clear again as the reins of enlightenment returned to his control. Finally he could think.

“As above, so below,” the White Tyrant declared and struck down Patriarch Lan with a blue-white sword.

“As above, so below,” Chen Haoran said as he ascended to the Liquid Meridian Realm. His sword flashed white and he split Shaman and Gu in half.

Yellow and White mixed and something new arose from the waters.

“As above and so below,” crowed the White Tyrant. He stood atop a single cloudy mountain peak amongst many. His white hair and golden eyes were full of life. His face proud and his smile so carefree and full of arrogance. Opposite him, stretched out over countless more peaks with no end in sight was a yellow dragon. It’s bared its teeth and loomed over the White Tyrant, blocking out the sun.

The White Tyrant raised his sword. “Do you know what that means you dumb lizard? It means you’re facing the universe right now!”

He swung his sword—

Chen Haoran swung his sword.

The world went white like a prism in reverse, all color collecting into white. The only thing left that stubbornly remained was the glow of enlightenment in Lu Aotian’s shocked eyes but even this was rapidly fading.

“No…” Lu Aotian whispered, then more loudly. “No! My enlightenment!”

The field of white shrank with the chimera as its center. Color surging in from the edges like it was rushing in from the outside to fill the absence of it. Red returned to the chimera but it remained frozen as the white field collapsed into a thin white line down its middle. A line that included Lu Aotian.

He stared at Chen Haoran with wide eyes. Five colored light emanated from his chest and surrounded him. “Impossible.”

“Welp,” the White Tyrant said.

The white line disappeared and the world exploded in reaction. Air and qi screamed as one as the chimera was spit in half and turned to liquid qi. The resulting flood then annihilated in the storm that followed as everything the white line had contained was simply gone and the environment rushed to correct. A large crash and deathly screams came from behind. Chen Haoran’s swing was not a short one and the earthen rampart the Garrison had constructed was at just the right height to be hit. It collapsed suddenly and unstoppably and those Garrison soldiers who remained on it suffered a miserable end.

Even the strange stones of the pyramid now had a fine line scored in them. Not deep, but considering how supernaturally resistant they had proved it was remarkable.

The only thing unharmed by his sword was Lu Aotian. A metal lily with five petals of five colors had flown out from his chest. It glowed with five color light and his attack broke against it to no avail. An immense power radiated from it. Far more than anything Chen Haoran had felt from a treasure before and he quickly pegged it as Lu Aotian’s Crystal Transformation Realm treasure. Lu Aotian paled terribly and coughed up blood. Then kept coughing. He fell to his knees and the aura around him disappeared, along with the majority of his qi.

Chen Haoran took a step forward to end it then collapsed as well. His legs unable to hold him anymore. His armor feelings hundreds of pounds heavier. He gasped, breathing in qi and air as he suddenly found himself severely lacking in both. The coursing rivers in his meridians all but dried up. Even the Yellow Dragon looked noticeably starved as it floundered in his core. He quickly summoned a Top Grade Spirit stone and set to work absorbing it while stuffing his mouth with the Paradise Pomegranate seeds at the same time.

“Not quite what I was expecting or intending, but I suppose it will work,” the White Tyrant said, though there was a note of exhaustion that he couldn’t completely hide. “I remain thoroughly irritated either way.”

“What was that memory?” Chen Haoran asked when he found his breath.

“Mine. The lizards. Both. I don’t know. I don’t care anymore. Still, your performance was acceptable this time. Originally there was a hard limit for this Harmonization. What you imprinted inside the Cavern was all it could or would ever be.”

“And now?”

“Who’s to say? There’s a seed now that much is for sure. How it develops depends on you. That’s not my problem though. My work here is done.”

Chen Haoran could feel the edge of the enlightenment begin to fade and sober reality set back in. His mind raced as he thought of what to say.

“You’re the essence of the White Tyrant of that moment,” he finally said.

“Did you need enlightenment to figure that out?”

Chen Haoran could hear his sneer.

“You’re the him that wanted to teach me a better sword. To show me a higher path.”

The quiet in his mind was deafening.

“Fuck you kid. Don’t think you can dare understand me or my reasons just because you got a hit of Heaven’s High.”

Chen Haoran quirked his lips. “Whatever you say, you giant prick.”

“This bastard—” The White Tyrant made a disgusted sound. “This is the last time I ever talk to you. Got it? Even if you die, this will never happen again.”

“Sounds good to me.”

“Ungrateful little shit. I’ll kill you—”

The White Tyrant’s final curse faded along with his voice as the last embers of enlightenment burnt out. The return to his regular mind was a harsh one. His normal thoughts a wagon wheel compared to enlightenment’s turbo engine. There was no time to mourn over it, however.

Silver light settled over his shoulders.

“Brother Chen!” Xie Jin shouted as he raced over. “The teleport!”