Of Foxfire and Cultivation Ch.5 (Patreon)

Three days later (Onari age:11)

Onari took a couple of days to simply accustom himself to his increase in cultivation. His Qi reserves had increased 20 fold. His physical body had reinforced itself with the heavenly Qi from his tribulation. His internal organs had been refined, and four points of light -- like dim stars -- now shone in the point that his body met his soul.

The four new points of light represented his four meridians. Each meridian would have to be nourished and fed Qi until they all burned as bright as the sun. Only then would Onari be able to harness the true potential of the Third Stage: the body of the Battle King.

But for once, Onari didn’t instantly rush back into cultivation. His successful pill refining attempt had granted him something he thought was more exciting than pure cultivation. It had granted him a spark of understanding.

During the pill refining, his foxfire had gained purifying and refining qualities for a brief moment at the completion of the process. Through this fleeting change in his foxfire’s nature, Onari caught a glimpse of something greater.

A miniscule slit had opened up in the fabric of reality, and a sliver of the Concept of Fire shone through it. In an instant, the sliver of conceptual flames had tied the whole pill refining process together. The Concept of Fire had simultaneously annihilated the pill ingredients, ignited their potential, and created something unique and new in the final pill.

Though the moment had passed in an instant, the Dao of Fire had begun to burn itself into Onari’s brain. He didn’t even notice the spark of understanding that smoldered within his mind until almost a day later. By then, the Dao of Fire changed from a spark into the tiniest of embers.

Onari didn’t gain any sudden understanding of the Concept of Fire, but now he could at least comprehend how little he could comprehend. But even that little bit of knowledge was intoxicating to the young cultivator. He wanted to understand more. The Dao of Fire wasn’t just about strength for Onari. It was about how he could use that strength for more than just destruction.

And so, Onari memorized the spark of understanding he was given. Within his mind, he repeated the creed of the flaming Dao: Burning Heat, Annihilation, Creation, Manifestation, Virtual Fire, Yang Flames, Starfire, Fire of Nirvana, To Ashes, and Beginning of the Blaze. He only had a very basic understanding of the first three levels of the creed at the moment.

The Law of Burning Heat was the most basic aspect of fire. It laid the foundation for the next nine Laws. A solid understanding of Burning Heat was vital if Onari ever wanted to delve further into the Dao of Fire.

At its core, the Law of Burning Heat was simple. It relied on the movement of particles. The movement of Yin (negatively charged) and Yang (positively charged) particles produced the Burning Heat. The faster the particles went, and the more they bumped into each other, the hotter the fire would burn.

Annihilation was an extremely straightforward Law. It was exactly as the name stated: annihilation. What made it difficult to completely comprehend was the Law of Annihilation’s relationship with its sister Law: Creation. Without Creation, there is nothing to annihilate. Without Annihilation, there would be no more space left for creating.

For the past two days, the Laws of the Dao of Fire had been constantly running through Onari’s mind. Each cycle of the creed, Onari would try to comprehend the Laws’ profound traits and their relationships with each other. And although he was still very much a novice when it came to the Dao, he was already experiencing results.

His body ran hotter and could withstand heat better than before he was granted his spark of understanding. His foxfire burned hotter and felt more… whole. His illusions started to take on a smoky visage, somehow becoming slightly more physical and illusive at the same time.

Considering how much progress he had made since he succeeded in refining his first pill, Onari felt it was only right to return to Da Shuizhi and give him his thanks. His budding friendship with Yu Wu also had something to do with his desire to visit again so soon.

Yu Wu had started to text him almost the instant he arrived back at his home. Unfortunately, he had to postpone any conversation until after he refined his pill, but Yu Wu was understanding. He texted her after he finished his breakthrough, and the two hit it off.

To Onari, talking to Yu Wu just felt so natural and easy. The conversation never really stagnated because Yu Wu would often take the conversation into her own hands and go on ‘young mistress’ like rants.

He found out she was a big fan of Wuxia novels, which explained her outward personality, and that she was surprisingly socially awkward underneath the young mistress act. Eventually he got her to open up a bit more, and she told Onari that he was her first real friend.

She told him about basically growing up in isolation, and he told her about his family and what he knew about the wider world. They steadily got to know each other better over the course of a couple of days. Yu Wu even offered to come ‘show those old bastards their place’ when Onari told her about the slight discrimination he faced in his own faction.

Onari was now able to confidently refer to Yu Wu as a friend, so he obviously wasn’t about to pass up the opportunity to visit her. She hadn’t texted him at all this morning, which was a bit odd, but Onari didn’t tell her he was coming. He wanted to preserve the element of surprise.

He teleported back to China, and easily scaled the mountain that Yu Wu’s home sat on. He didn’t see her out front training, so he let himself in. He didn’t bother to conceal his presence as he walked through the house. If either of its occupants objected to him being there, he would just ask for forgiveness.

He didn’t find any trace of Da Shuizhi or Yu Wu until he entered the greenhouse. Inside the greenhouse, Da Shuizhi was busy doing alchemy. As educational as it was to watch a master work, Onari chose to approach and potentially interrupt him.

Da Shuizhi didn’t look up from his work as Onari walked toward him, “Hello, young Onari. What brings you to my humble home today?”

Onari stopped and gave the hidden master a shallow bow, “Greetings, Elder Da Shuizhi. The purpose of my visit is to give you my thanks for your support and assistance. I managed to take my first successful step into the world of alchemy because of you. Thank you.”

“Hmm… So I see… You seem to have made great progress in such a short time. Congratulations.”

An awkward silence fell over the greenhouse with Da Shuizhi’s words. Onari had already said everything he wanted to the old man, and Da Shuizhi was obviously busy and didn’t want to be disturbed. Onari stood there awkwardly for a few moments before clearing his throat.

“A-Ahem… Actually, giving you my thanks wasn’t the sole purpose of my visit. I also came to see your daughter. You wouldn’t happen to know where she is, would you?”

“I see… Unfortunately, you’ll have to come back another time. She is currently… visiting friends,” Da Shuizhi said in a dismissive tone.

“... I will return again another day then,” Onari said, his voice betraying none of the sudden suspicion he felt. “I will see myself out…”

Da Shuizhi didn’t nod or otherwise acknowledge Onari as he left the greenhouse. The moment he was out of sight, Onari sent a quick text to Yu Wu, asking where she was. He received no response.

He concealed his presence, acting as if he had left the house and compound proper, and began to search for Yu Wu. Considering how isolated she was from the outside world, he suspected that she was still nearby. He didn’t find her in the rest of the right wing of the house, nor in a room that he assumed was her bedroom.

His search came to a head at the door to the left wing of the house. The door was sealed with a small, simple formation. Luckily for Onari, Da Shuizhi’s talents seemed to lie solely in alchemy. The sealing formation was easily countered without the seal being destroyed, and Onari slipped inside.

He found himself in a large open room. It seemed that the entire left wing of the house was just one large chamber. Marks, sigils, and formations that looked straight out of a demonic ritual covered the walls and floor of the room.

The Qi inside the chamber was twisted, foul, and corrupted, reminding Onari of the feeling he got from Da Shuizhi when he looked too closely. The malicious Qi slowly swirled around the room, focusing on a limp, feminine body that laid in the center.

A gut-wrenching feeling appeared in Onari's stomach as he rushed to the body's side. Yu Wu laid sprawled out in the center of all the ritual markings. He let out a relieved breath as he saw that she was only unconscious and not dead. Her breathing was remarkably strong and steady, and her body bore no visible injuries.

Onari directed some of his Qi into her unconscious form, cradling her core in his metaphysical arms. He gasped and his concentration almost faltered at the feedback he was suddenly receiving. It was like a puzzle piece to his soul had finally slotted into place. Something inside him clicked, and he could feel the same thing happening to Yu Wu.

Her body stirred in his embrace, and her mind began to slowly wake up. Onari coaxed Yu Wu from the brink of consciousness to full awareness. Her glazed eyes opened, blinking away confusion as she stared up at Onari.

To Yu Wu’s muddled mind, Onari’s pure white hair spread out around his head like a halo. His ruby red eyes shone with compassion and concern. Strong arms wrapped around her body and soul, and Yu Wu realized she had never felt more at home.

“O-Onari?” Yu Wu mumbled. “You’ve got to stop visiting my dreams like this.”

Onari breathed out a sigh of relief when Yu Wu spoke, “Thank the heavens. You had me scared there for a second. Do you remember anything?”

Yu Wu let out an airy hum as her hands reached up to stroke Onari’s cheeks, “Hmm… You called me your friend…”

“Nothing after that?”

Yu Wu shook her head as sense started to filter back into her dazed mind. Her gears slowly started to turn. She froze, and briefly pulsed her Qi to clear her mind. Onari barely bit back a moan as the sensation echoed through their current connection. His Qi instinctively answered her pulse with one of his own.

Onari’s answering pulse tore a surprised gasping moan from Yu Wu’s lips. It felt like a thousand warm tingles had swept through her very being. Her Qi subconsciously pulsed again in pursuit of the life changing sensation. If Onari hadn’t managed to grab a tight hold of his Qi, the pair would have been thrown into a continuous feedback loop of pseudo dual cultivation.

“What… was that?” Yu Wu gasped, clinging to Onari’s presence in the face of the aftershocks.

“I-I don’t…” Onari shook his head. “Later. Something fishy is going on. I fear your father might not be the man you think he is.”

“A peculiar deduction, young Onari,” Da Shuizhi said, choosing a suitably dramatic moment to walk in and reveal himself. “If I am not the man I seem to be, then who am I?”

Da Shuizhi didn’t give him a chance to respond, “I’ll tell you. I am Da Shuizhi: the Demon of the Deep, the Old Man of a Thousand Faces, the Leech of the Heavens. I have to thank Yu Wu’s mother for that last title. It has… grown on me.

“Now… You think you’ve figured out that something is wrong. Tell me, what is really going on here?”

Onari’s mind flashed back to stories from his old world. Stories about the dark aspects of cultivation. Stories of the fringe sects that lurked in the shadows. Stories about people and beings twisted and corrupted by demonic sources of power.

“... Her cultivation,” Onari grimly mused.

Da Shuizhi nodded, “Very good. It’s a shame you got caught up in this. You would have made a wonderful heir eventually. You just needed a… push in the right direction.”

Onari growled deep in his throat. Yu Wu’s eyes darted between her father and her first friend. She could keep up with what was happening, but her mind hadn’t processed her father’s sudden betrayal. She unconsciously clung to Onari’s presence even tighter, taking strength from the righteous anger that tinted his Qi.

“The ritual has already begun. I’d invite you to try and stop it, but there’s nothing you can do now,” Da Shuizhi said, dismissively taunting Onari and Yu Wu.

Something inside Onari snapped at Da Shuizhi’s utter disregard, and even malice, towards his own daughter. The fire of his emotions caused another piece of the Dao of Fire to slot into place. This Law of the Dao of Fire wasn’t the next stage (Manifestation), but the stage after that: Virtual Fire. The flames of emotion that burned within his mind became real.

This… demon… This… leech… had raised his own flesh and blood for the sole purpose of being cultivational cattle. He had isolated her, causing the lonely girl to form a Heart Demon that he could eventually consume along with her cultivation. He had neglected her on purpose, making sure her destiny as a cultivation resource for a demonic cultivator was set in stone.

Onari hadn’t known Yu Wu for very long, but he was already very fond of her. And that wasn’t even mentioning the unique connection their souls seemed to have. If anything happened to her, Onari would kill everyone responsible and then himself. He owed her that much as her first friend, and the only positive relationship she had in her life at the moment.

Yu Wu felt all of this through their connection. She experienced Onari’s emotions igniting themselves into reality on her behalf. The inner flames crawled their way across their link, leaving Yu Wu’s emotions burning in the wake.

Her hurt from the sudden betrayal was only masked by her rising anger and Onari’s presence by her side. Years of loneliness slowly began to melt away under the heat of the emotional flames. Strength and power flowed down both sides of their connection.

Moving as one, the connected pair rose to their feet. Onari gave Yu Wu’s hand a single squeeze before releasing it. All of her pent up emotion manifested in a sword of fire as Onari took his hand away from hers. Onari’s finger drew a character of fire in front of him, the flames hanging in mid air as his Qi held them together.

“Hmm?” Da Shuizhi hummed. “You still wish to stand against me? I am nearly a whole realm above you. Do you really think you will accomplish anything other than your own deaths?”

Onari didn’t bother with wasted words. His hands clasped together and the character in the air in front of him went up in smoke. At the same time, Yu Wu hurtled toward her father, obviously unused to the power increase that came with her connection to Onari.

Da Shuizhi literally batted Yu Wu out of the air as casually as a cat batting at a feather. She was sent spinning away. She rolled when she hit the ground and was back on her feet in an instant. Her sword flourished, shooting an arc of flames racing at Da Shuizhi.

The old man leaned back slightly, allowing the flames to barely pass over his head. A small expression of surprise crossed his face when some of the flames leaped out of the arc to lick at his facial hair. He patted out the smoking embers in his beard, raising an eyebrow at his daughter.

“Have you been holding out on me? … No, this is because of the boy as well, isn’t it…” Da Shuizhi said, stroking his beard.

Yu Wu’s face twisted in a snarl. She shot at her father again. More mindful of her new speed this time, she was able to actually engage Da Shuizhi without getting instantly slapped away.

Her fire sword burned the air, leaving afterimages with each slice. Da Shuizhi ducked and dodged out of the way of the swings. The expression of surprise returned to his face as his daughter’s attacks grew faster and more violent. He started to have to put in effort to continue dodging.

Yu Wu called upon more and more of her strength. She pulled on the connection for support as well. The feeling of having someone firmly by and on her side filled her with determination. The betrayer would die today, of that she was sure.

Flames began to lap at Da Shuizhi’s robes. The temperature in the air around the two skyrocketed. While Yu Wu was unaffected by the temperature increase, a single bead of sweat dripped down Da Shuizhi’s face from his forehead. His eyes narrowed as he felt the slight sign of imperfection make itself known.

Without warning, Da Shuizhi turned the tables on Yu Wu. She suddenly felt herself getting pushed back. Precise palm strikes probed and invaded her guard. She grunted as one palm strike slammed against her sternum and pushed her back.

Slowly, the palm strikes began to turn into clawed finger strikes. Long tears were torn on Yu Wu’s body and clothing because of the suddenly piercing attacks. Yu Wu lashed out violently after a particularly vicious claw strike. Her sword struck a lucky gap in Da Shuizhi’s defense, cutting through one side of his face and cauterizing as it went.

Unfortunately for Yu Wu, her lucky hit was only superficially damaging. Still, the damage she managed to deal was satisfying to look at. The action stopped for a moment as Da Shuizhi realized she had landed a good hit. His hand reached up to feel his now burnt out eye.

One side of his face was now in ruins. A clean line had been sliced from his chin to his forehead. The skin around the cut was burned and blistered. The facial hair on that side of his face had been completely burned off. And to cap it all off, his eye had been burnt to a husk in its socket.

The remaining half of Da Shuizhi’s face twisted in anger, and Yu Wu couldn’t help but smile at him. He lunged at his daughter. Yu Wu weaved around the reckless attack and ran, kiting Da Shuizhi around the room. A feeling of impending action that built up on Onari’s side of the connection told Yu Wu she just had to keep the old man busy.

While the fight between father and daughter was happening, Onari hadn’t been idle in the background. He continued drawing flaming characters in the air, building up to a formation that could potentially exceed Da Shuizhi’s cultivation advantage.

With a final clap of his hands, the spell was cast. A wave of sparks rolled over the room, pushing Da Shuizhi away from Yu Wu. Fire sprung from Onari’s core. His whole body was lit alight with raging flames.

A scorching pressure settled over the room. All of the ritual markings smoldered and smoked under the influence of Onari’s formation. The air took on a hazy, mirage-like quality and the room’s temperature increased even more.

Da Shuizhi stopped his hotheaded pursuit of Yu Wu. He forced himself to regain his earlier calm and turned to look at Onari. A thick cloud of smoke poured out of Onari’s mouth as he exhaled. The smoke circled his body, eventually coming to rest behind him in the form of fox tails.

Onari’s voice came out as a threatening growl when he spoke, “Your actions have courted death, old man. Your attitude has only sealed your fate. You are a scourge on this world, and I have taken it upon myself to impose judgment in place of the heavens.”

Da Shuizhi scoffed, “Better men than you have tried. If I was really so despicable, the heavens would have struck me down years ago.”

“Then I guess it’s a good thing I’m a fox.”

Onari punctuated his sentence with a sudden burst of speed. Clad in fiery armor, he raced toward the demonic cultivator with his new smokey tails held high. Taking a clue from her connection with Onari, Yu Wu darted in from Da Shuizhi’s other side.

Da Shuizhi raised his hands to meet Onari’s charge. He barely caught a swipe of blazing claws on his forearm, swiftly sliding under the strike so he wasn’t burned. One of Da Shuizhi’s hands warped into claws of his own and stabbed out at Onari’s heart.

Onari’s torso twisted, turning the potentially fatal blow into a hit that glanced off the solid flames that armored him. His tails snatched Da Shuizhi’s hand as he tried to pull it back. He was stuck for only a single moment, but a single moment was all Yu Wu needed to enter the fight.

Her sword’s flames roared as it sliced through the air toward the unwounded half of Da Shuizhi’s face. Da Shuizhi grimaced as he was forced to duck towards Onari to avoid the swipe.

A vulpine grin spread over Onari’s face. His burning rage was channeled from his core into his hand in an instant. An ear-shattering boom echoed through the chamber as Onari’s off hand made contact with Da Shuizhi’s chest. Yu Wu’s eyes squeezed shut to shield her from the bright light of the explosion.

When she opened her eyes, she saw a scene that would be forever imprinted in her mind. Her father was pancaked against one of the room’s walls. He was spread eagle, and hung a couple of feet up the wall like he was stuck there.

Da Shuizhi was dazed for a couple seconds before he managed to shake clear his head and regain his wits. He forcefully pulled himself off the wall, and dropped to his feet. A charred handprint had burned through his clothes and been seared into his sternum from Onari’s explosion.

Obviously pleased with himself, Onari glanced at Yu Wu. Her expression was amused, but he could still feel the anger inside her through their connection. She met his eyes, and after a few moments of unspoken communication, they both nodded.

Onari lowered his tails. Yu Wu stepped on, and the tails beneath her blurred in a split second. She was flung at her father with staggering speed. The flaming blade composed entirely of her internal turmoil was held straight in front of her.

Da Shuizhi barely had time to look up and gasp before he was skewered through the chest. The fires of Yu Wu’s hurt, anger, and betrayal sunk deep into the center of the charred palm print. Da Shuizhi’s insides boiled and burned as Yu Wu gazed coldly into her father’s shocked eyes.

Da Shuizhi couldn’t even force his body to move. His fingers didn’t even twitch as his lifeblood and cultivation was used as fuel for his daughter’s inner fire. His skin shriveled and cracked as he burned to a crisp from the inside.

Many emotions flashed across his face. As the light finally faded from his eyes, Yu Wu realized that her father only felt one thing. He didn’t regret any of his actions or choices. He didn’t regret how he had raised, neglected, and used her. He didn’t even feel pride that she had surpassed him.

No, the only thing the leech known as Da Shuizhi felt before his death was disappointment that he had to die at all. Even in his last moments with his daughter staring him in the eye, there wasn’t a single thought for anyone but himself within his mind.

Yu Wu’s emotions flared. Her manifested sword flared with them, burning her father’s body to ash in an instant. Her eyes lingered on the ashes as she stood there. The sword in her hand slowly disappeared into smoke.

Onari walked up behind her and embraced her. He flooded their connection with support. They stood like that for a long time as Onari helped Yu Wu process everything that had happened.

Without the soul-deep connection she now shared with Onari, a Heart Demon would be all but guaranteed. Even with the connection, Yu Wu would still probably be haunted with trauma for the rest of her life. And she would still have to deal with the almost impossible task of moving on with her life after all of this.

The only thing keeping her from curling up in a ball and breaking down into tears was Onari’s promise and reassurance that he would stand beside her throughout the entire process.