The Laws of Cultivation: Qi = MC^2

I focused my attention, reaching out to both Labby and Ash as they sat besides me. My will met theirs, our bonds shivered before they connected. For a moment, I felt hesitation. There was still a chance that things could go wrong. But in response to my hesitation, I felt resolve, coming from both of them, pushing me forward.

I continued, and reached into my spirit. Chi began to swirl, flowing around my spirit before heading out towards both Labby and Ash. The Chi mingle in their spirit, I continued to process for a while, feeling their spirits reach back out.

Gu and Qi both joined themselves in my spirit, and in harmony, the two combined to form a greater whole, as Chi manifested.

The spirit ring of the first Law shone in my soul, and I began to channel it. From Labby I drew Qi, and from Ash I drew Gu. Together, the both began to mingle, and Chi formed. Then, I began to reverse the process.

From within my spirit, the Chi within me broke down into Qi and Gu, flowing and resonating, shivering with power held in each. I knew if I mingled them now, the two would annihilate each other, and thus I simply let them flow in a cycle.

Slowly, steadily, I began to reach back out, letting the influence of the first law expand. The Chi began to break further, before eventually reaching the cores of my spirit. Lightning began to crackle around Labby, and flames consumed Ash as I did.

Both spirits felt the new kind of energy entering their cores and resisted instinctively for a moment, but I held our bonds strong, slowly having them release the tension, and allow the process to continue.

I could feel their dantians breaking down, the different energies shivering and changing. Ash’s black flames changed, turning white as they began to engulf the wolf, just like last time.

Labby’s lightning changed as well, going from a purple sheen, to a light silver. The marks of the moon shone on her forehead, as powers began to gather.

I simply held the law in place, going slowly and steadily this time, instead of trying to force the change.

And yet, I knew that it was not something I could do, but something they must do instead.

So I simply sat, and waited for the two to walk upon their new Paths.

***

Labby felt the Gu moving into her. It burned and hissed, whispers of the dark energy flowing into her. For a moment she had almost cut it off, put away the while thing and let go, giving up entirely, but she held on.

How could she give up? Didn’t she want to follow her great master? If she gave up so quickly, how would she ever grow?

And so, clenching her fists and bearing through the sensation, she let the energy flow into her. The Gu, the death, it filled her body, like posion it flowed through her, and Labby felt it swirling within her. It untangled her spirit, eroding away at her form as Labby began to feel fear.

Her body began to collapse, formed of Qi, and Gu was it’s antithesis. She almost wanted to stop it, but crushed down on her fear. So what if she returned to her previous form? She had changed once, she had the ability, and the strength. She could do it again, if she so wished.

Frowning and focusing on the Gu, she took a deep breath, before allowing it into her core.

The Qi surged rapidly as the dark Gu entered her body, and her core began to dissolve. Labby could feel her cultivation break, dissolving away with the Gu as the energy lost it’s coherence, turning lose and simply swirled around. She kept her eyes closed, and continued to channel, feeling her connection to her Great Master as her spirit began to change.

This was death, the sensation was unpleasant, and yet, it too was a natural part of life. There would be no death without life. And life would rot without death.

The two needed each other.

Just like how she needed her Great Master.

Slowly, something began to shift, as lightning surged around Labby.

***

Ash could feel the Qi in him. The sensation was foreign, and different. It moved and broke down his pathways, yet the wolf had already been through the ordeal once. He let the energy permeate his body, slowly seeping into his form as it began to change. And yet the question remained… just what did he intend to become? What were his flames meant to be?

He thought of the war, the demons and the Deathless. But that was his old self. So, what was the new something he could achieve instead?

Ash thought of fire, and a different image came this time. Of warmth. Of home. He sat around a flame, his family around him, as they soaked in the warmth on a cold night, feeling it gently burning away. A kinder flame, with just as much potential for death, but also the very source from which life was born.

He sought that flame, sought that strength and gentleness. And the Qi responded.

Silver flames erupted around Ash’s body, altering him and his form as his silhouette began to change, becoming something else.

A new form… and a new home. Ash knew what he wanted to be.

***

I felt things shifting, the two spirits connected to me changing. Both Ash and Labby began to glow, though I did not open my eyes to see. I drew upon the second Law, as it began to humm alongside the first one.

Once again, I could feel my spirit straining, the pulses from the two creating ripples that shivered across my soul, creating a metallic hum.

I felt the shivers rising, the two kinds of powers flowing around me adding up, as if feeding into each other. The world began to tremble, Chi swirling and twisting around the three of us. I simply held firmly onto the two Laws, letting their influence reach my spirits and shape them.

The shaking continued to add upon, the two laws struggling as if straining against once another, and the vibrations rose, threatening once more to tear my soul. I could feel the spirit, watching from inside, almost as if testing me.

I frowned, focusing my will onto the two laws, before focusing on my spirits.

Lightning crackled in a storm around Labby and I let the genesis of chi reshape her core, to form the new shape her path would take. I focused on ash and found white flames flowing all around him, altering his body, and I let the image of his new form be imparted upon him.

The strain in my soul grew, and I frowned, almost letting go. I was about to stop, fearing a backlash just like last time, when suddenly, I felt a pulse returning to me from both my spirits. Their cores, just like my spirit, began to vibrate and I felt the three spirits matching each other, resonating with one another.

The fire and lightning rose to a high around both Labby and Ash.

The Two Laws in my spirit hummed, more powerful than ever, but no longer working against me. Chi crackled in a torrent all around me, a gust of wind flowing as the two figure began to take shape.

The two laws shivered and shook, before they melded into one. I found my mind fixated, watching the Resonance between the two as something entirely new began to form, and the insight I had obtained, revealed itself to me.

Labby’s form changed, her clothes from the lunar court shifted, as her figure grew to be taller. A girl of around fourteen sat in her place instead, the white and purple robes now formed of a pure white, matching the moons upon her forehead.

Ash’s form changed as well, and instead of the wolf, a tall burly man sat wearing silver colored robes with deep black hair that ran down to his waist.

As the energies around the two settled, their forms shifting and adjusting, both opened their eyes.

White lightning crackled around Labby as she looked down at her hands, clenching her fist. “Labby… Labby did it!” She said, proud of her achievement.

Ash opened his eyes as well, his pupils regarding the world from a brand new perspective, before the wolf spoke from his mouth instead, as if testing to understand how his new body worked.

“This is… interesting,” Ash said, looking around.

But both spirits paused, upon noting that I still sat silently. The Chi swirling around me hadn’t settled, and if anything, the storm grew more and more fierce. I didn’t open my eyes, focusing on my soul and the burning ring within it as I began to look at the single ring that rested there, born of two Laws Resonating.

And I found another shape starting to take place.

A storm crackled around me, swirling and dancing as the world shook and shivered. The spirit in my soul, I felt it’s powers reach into me.

The Chi flowed into me like a torrent, changing my soul and a piece of a new spirit ring began to form.

As the storm settled, I gently opened my eyes. The world felt different around me somehow as I blinked, looking at my spirits who regarded me with surprise.

“I… think I just found it,” I said, looking at them.

“Found what?” Ash asked.

I looked at the wolf— or wolfish man now, and then, to even my own disbelief, replied.

“The Third Law.”