The Laws of Cultivation: Qi = MC^2

I rushed through the gardens, Chi swirling around my body as I swept through the demons. My focus remained on my spirit, connecting me to everybody else. I’d been concerned about Labby, but she seemed fine. My fear came from Yan Yun now. I’d felt something burn as the tree of rebirth had reacted strongly to something trying to worm into Yan Yun’s soul. With a slash of my hands powered with Chi I cut a demon in half with a slash, dark blood spraying over my clothes before sizzling away in smoke. I did not slow down on my path.

My feeling of concern grew even further when I sensed panic flowing from Yan Yun towards me. Unlike my spirit, I didn’t have a direct bond to Yan Yun, so the fact that I felt something was really concerning. I put further force into my steps, each one blasting Chi off my foot as I rushed forward in a blur. Moving around the inner garden, soon I began to reach around the area where Yan Yun was. A figure moved towards her rapidly, a demon, and a powerful one. I moved without thinking, rushing in to intercept the monster, my hands blocked the strike as Chi swirled around my body, before I struck back with my fist. But the demon was fast, fast enough to block my strike, and simply be pushed back.

It was only after I had landed my hit did I notice who the demon was.

“What in the…” I mumbled, staring at Li standing in front of me, Gu swirling around his body, as claws formed on his hands and his eyes darkened and turned pitch black. I knew the form very well. It was the exact form I took on in my own demonic form before I had reunified. My gaze traveled to beyond Li and I noticed Lei bleeding on the ground, on the brink of death.

“Ah, the hero arrives. I’d thought I would need to kill her before you took note,” Li said, seemingly rejoiced by the current circumstances. “Well, this saves me some work.”

I frowned, glancing towards Yan Yun. “What happened?”

Yan Yun looked at me, before replying. “Li… he, he arrived out of nowhere, before attacking Lei… I… I couldn’t stop…”

“Ah look at her, mumbling and acting like she actually cared. How sweet,” Li spoke, chuckling to himself.

“Go help Lei. I’ll look after Li,” I told Yan Yun before I turned to look at the boy, raising my guard. Something about him was off, even beyond just his demon transformation.

“What happened to you, Li? I thought you despised demons,” I said, trying to draw the boy’s attention. His eyes flickered, as Yan Yun moved towards Lei, trying to help the boy.

Li sneered at me. “Your obvious attempts at buying time mock me,” he said, Gu swirling up into a rising tide around his body and I clicked my tongue. Unfortunate, but I was fairly confident I could beat him.

“But, I will indulge you. Why not? There is nothing you can do to beat me anymore. After all, I’ve learned the truth now,” Li said, smiling at me. Somehow, that unsettled me more than his anger or arrogance ever did.

“Sounds like some cult stuff. You should think clearly about the Path you are walking on, Li. It is still not too late. I’ve been there, been in your exact position, and I’ve stepped out of it. Don’t give in to the whispers the Gu speak to you,” I said, trying to reach whatever part of him may still be listening.

Li started to laugh, cackling as if I’d just told the most amusing joke ever. “You don’t understand, do you?” he said, before Stepping towards me fast enough to catch me off guard as his fist struck, sending me skidding backwards. I managed to block the impact, but the strike still hurt. I felt my ribs aching painfully where his hit had landed. A few weeks ago that would’ve broken my bone.

“I did not give in, I did not let myself break and dissolve into the miasma. I am not you, I am not pathetic,” he hissed at the word, as if offended at the mere comparison. “I chose for myself. Because I finally understood. Power is only given to those, willing to sacrifice everything,” Li said, as his power surged and I raised my guard. But instead of moving towards me, he rushed towards Yan Yun.

My eyes widened in surprise and I moved with everything I had, tackling his strike and protecting Yan Yun and Lei, as I struck at Li. The boy had clearly anticipated that, striking back at me with a powerful hit that sent me flying into the dirt. I picked myself up in haste, spitting blood from my mouth.

Li was laughing.

“See? You have too many things to protect. Too many things you care about. You cling onto these things and it makes you weak,” Li said, amused as he rushed towards Yan Yun once more. I intercepted him, striking back at him, and pushing him behind. The boy’s smile didn’t slip.

“I had been a little afraid, you know?” Li told me in a voice as if talking to an old friend. “I’d wondered if I would still care if I saw Lei again. If a part of me would still be clinging on to him. Still weak. But you know what I felt?” Li’s smile widened nearly all the way across his face, his eyes manic. “I felt disgust. How could someone so weak be my brother? How could I let a miserable creature like that exist and have ties to me? It’s why I killed him. And I felt good.”

I finally realized what was wrong here. This was not just someone who’d been taken by miasma. No, this wasn’t even Li. What stood in front of me was a demon. A demon holding Li’s soul and body. The boy was long dead.

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I understood what the Old Man had meant all that time ago.

We cannot save them. We cannot help them. When they let go, they have already died. All that remains is a walking talking corpse.

The realization helped me. A part of me had been hesitating this entire time, afraid to kill a child. I’d still maintained hope that I could save him, to bring him back. I knew I had the ability. After all, I’d changed Ash.

But I was wrong. I could not save him. The only mercy I could give him was death.

“I need to thank you. I’d thought you were Li and had been hesitant to kill you. I’d always been of the opinion that there was some humanity in you. Especially after seeing your brother, I’d been hoping you would change. But now I know that the boy who could’ve changed has already died. And so, I don’t need to hold back anymore,” I said, raising my fist as Chi swirled around my body in a torrent.

Li’s face morphed, joy and anger swirling in his expression. “I am going to tear you limb from-”

I moved in closer, Chi gathering in my fist as I channeled the First law, Qi and Gu mixing into an explosive fusion. I pushed it even further with Dissonance, as my attack struck, blasting the demon backward and slamming him into the wall. I didn’t wait, using stepping again as I rushed closer. The demon rose to his feet, face half torn but visibly repairing as Gu swirled around his body. He was fast, fast enough to dodge my strike and attack back with his own.

I channeled the second law, pushing it further with Resonance. The Qi in the air itself shook as I drew on the power around the world, drawing it into me. I intercepted the demon’s attack, my fist landing into his chest as I blocked his dark lightning with my arm, sending him blasting as he crashed through trees and boulders, smashing them apart.

“Yes. That’s more like it!” he cackled in the distance, a dent in his chest as blood poured from his mouth. His arm lay limp by his side.

I didn’t want this any further, and so I decided to end it with the next one.

The Third Law manifested, as Harmony reached me. The Chi in my soul reverberated with the world around me, but I made sure not to draw on Xuanwu’s power. I did not want to expend myself completely. Using Harmony completely on just myself, I moved ahead in a single step, arriving in front of Li. The demon clawed at me, miasma blasting around his body and I kicked him, breaking his other arm as I sent him flying once more till he crashed into the barrier on the palace.

I walked closer, looking down at the broken Li in front of me, still grinning as if he had no care in the world.

“You cannot hurt me. You cannot kill me. You are afraid of what I am. Afraid of my—“

“Goodbye, Li,” I said, raising my hand, as I let a concentrated blast of harmonized Chi loose, blasting his head till nothing remained. The demon’s body slump, the miasma fading as the creature died.

I let go of harmony, feeling a heavy weight on my shoulders as I looked down at Li. I felt… regretful. He had been a painful part of my life, but ultimately he had still been a child. Twisted by the world, by his grandfather and by circumstances, he had let go of everything. If someone could’ve reached him… perhaps things would’ve turned out different.

I turned around, making my way closer to Yan Yun. She sat on the ground, her Chi swirling around her hand brightly, and I could see her straining to do more. Tears flowed down her eyes.

As she noticed me walk closer, Yan Yun’s eyes begged me to do something. “Lu Jie.. I… I can’t… he’s… ”

I touched Yan Yun’s shoulder, before shaking my head. “You did your best.”

The girl looked at me, her face twisting in grief and pain, as the sobs broke out.

I felt my heart sinking as well, as I looked at Lei. Two brothers… both gone within a single day. What an awful fate.

Yet, a part of me knew what I had to do here. I reached down towards Lei’s body, and felt the tree in my spirit glow brightly. Chi swirled in my soul as the divine tree manifested, and ethereal roots burst from the ground, before they started to bind around Lei’s body. A moment later, the tree’s roots covered him entirely.

I touched the roots, letting them wrap around Lei before I felt them pull out something from within. Little glowing lights flowed out from the roots, before reaching towards me, as they sank into my soul, and then deeper still, into the tree itself.

The roots soon dissolved into light, leaving no trace behind of the boy’s existence anymore.

And yet… I knew he wasn’t gone. I could feel him, resting inside my soul. Waiting to be reborn into a new life.

I turned towards Yan Yun, trying to console her, and yet, I had no words to offer. She was closer to them than I had ever been, even if she did not like them much. But it was not just grief that caused her to cry.

It was guilt. The guilt that she had failed him. Failed them both.

There were no words I could offer her for that.

I paused. I could not say anything… but Lei could.

“Yan Yun. There is something Lei wants to tell you,” I said, as the girl looked up at me.

“I know how this might sound… but his soul was connected to mine. He’s with me, with the tree. And I could feel… his thoughts. He wants you to know that it’s not your fault. That he doesn’t blame you,” I said, finding my own voice wavering, before the next words came to me.

“He says thank you for being there. And that he’s sorry for being so awful to you.”

Yan Yun looked at me, blinking the tears through her eyes, her lips quivered in pain, and yet, instead of a haunting memory of guilt, just that alone had saved her too. Saved her guilt and misery, and now, she cried once more, but this time, in the grief of a lost brother.

But before I could give her any time to process, or even have some time myself, I felt a pulse of miasma from behind me. Turning behind, I saw Li’s corpse rising, miasma rapidly flowing around his body as his face reformed.

Li blinked his eyes, looking down at his hands, and touching his face, before his face twisted as he burst out into laughter. “AHAHAHAHA. You CANNOT kill me!” he laughed, and laughed, as miasma continued to swirl endlessly around him.

And then as if a switch had been flipped, he stopped, rising up on his feet.

His body was changed now, more twisted, with a horn jutting from his skull and his skin turning a deep black. Not even the facade of humanity was remaining anymore.

My expression darkened as I raised my fist, the one fear I’d held coming true.

He was Deathless.