The Laws of Cultivation: Qi = MC^2

Yang Shen struck first, rushing in with a rapid strike as Gu manifested all around him. The emperor’s presence lashed out, but he was ready.

“Shatter.” He commanded as the space between the two of them cracked, portions of the void sweeping out. Yang Shen jumped into the gaps, pulling the emperor with him as the world swirled around them.

Space moved and swirled in the gap spitting them out into the skies above Azure city, away from his castle.

Good, he’d been afraid that wouldn’t work. The big problem was taken care of.

The heavens above him rumbled, thunder gathering into a powerful storm, Qi swirled all around the man in front of him in a torrent powerful enough to destroy him completely. The lightning from the heavens curled around the entire area, forming a giant dragon’s visage in the background. Winds howled, people screaming beneath as they watched the two of them flying high up above in the skies.

Yang Shen chuckled, feeling slightly nervous about what he needed to do next. Despite having two Divine beasts under his control, this still wasn’t going to be an easy task. The difference in power was still significant when one had spent centuries gathering and soaking strength from the very heavens.

“Perhaps we should be thanking you,” the emperor said, his words booming out with power as the heavens thundered above. “You have made our task a lot easier by arriving here, handing yourself directly to us.”

Yang Shen smiled. “Ah dear emperor. So arrogant. Is that the arrogance of one chosen by the heavens? The beloved son, the one true inheritor. All these grand titles, I’d love to see how much they truly mean.”

“Then watch, demon. You will only get to see it once,” the emperor said, as Qi swirled so powerfully it began to glow visibly. Even a mortal would have been able to see this now. Feel the power swirling around this man.

The heavens roared high above, their power funneling into a single man, as he looked towards Yang Shen and commanded. “Perish.”

The world moved to make his command true, as a powerful bolt of lightning bright enough to be blinding struck out between the two of them in a near instant, striking Yang Shen dead center. A powerful explosion shook the world as Yang Shen’s body burned from the inside, and he began to tumble down. He laughed, feeling searing agony coursing through his body, before he commanded it as well.

“Heal.”

Miasma swirled around his burning body, dark flames rising from inside of him as his flesh began to mend itself and he regained control of his flight, turning upright once more. As even his clothes mended back, Yang Shen brushed the burnt ashes and dust off himself, before looking at the emperor. “That’s it? That’s all the heavenly emperor has to show? I’m disappointed.”

The emperor frowned, changing his stance as lightning swirled around his body once more. With a single step he arrived right in front of Yang Shen, striking with a lightning powered fist that turned the night sky bright for a single moment, as the demon was flung back with a boom, slamming into the ground and destroying buildings on his path.

Yang Shen cackled even as his body was torn once more, before flipping himself over as he dug his fingers into the earth to stop his momentum, the speed of his body lit the earth on flames as he slowed down, smoke rising from him and a maniacal grin on his face.

“Now that’s more like it,” Yang Shen replied, before kicking off the earth. Another powerful explosion shook the ground, the tremor causing an earthquake as he flung upwards fast enough to break the sound barrier, the shockwave of his movement buffeting the city and its denizens below as he struck the emperor.

Lightning swirled, magic flaring all around as the emperor blocked the strike but was flung back above the clouds.

People panicked in the city beneath, the clash of the two divinities’ powers enough to kill many just from its shockwaves, as the very world itself began to tear around the area.

As the emperor flew through the air from the strike, wind manifested around him, slowing his movement back as lightning bolts struck from the skies above towards Yang Shen who rushed closer with black flames burning around his body.

The emperor roared, lightning crackling around his fists as he rushed towards Yang Shen, the two of their fists meeting. Lightning and fire collided, exploding the world around them. The two warriors were sent flying back from the impact, the shockwave of the blast clearing the swirling heavenly clouds in the sky for a moment to reveal the night sky above.

“This is fun, this is fun!” Yang Shen exclaimed, hand broken and fingers twisted beyond recognition as they slowly began to stitch themselves. “Unfortunately I’m on a timeline, so I can’t keep on doing this forever. Let’s get a bit more serious,” Yang Shen said, putting his hands together, as dark miasma began to swirl around him.

The emperor’s eyes widened in surprise, as he immediately recognized what was happening, and put his own fists together to counter.

“Deathless Domain: Flames of Asura.”

“Heavenly Domain: Court of the Azure Dragon.”

The two domains manifested, a dark void of burning flames with a large demonic figure standing with two chains extending out from two of its four arms, tying around a dark miasma covered Vermillion bird, and White tiger.

On the other end, a cloudy ethereal heavenly domain manifested, with a giant Azure dragon towering inside of it, its body swirling through the clouds as it looked back at the demon and rumbled in fury.

The two domains collided, meeting at the center as a battle of willpowers ensued. Reality fractured and repaired itself and fractured again, as the forces behind the both pushed against each other for dominance. The asura shifted its gaze towards the Azure dragon, flames swirling on its body and arms as it reached out an arm outwards.

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A bolt of lightning blasted from the giant dragon, striking it back. After a moment, as reality itself seemed to shudder and cave around the two, the domains found balance, splitting the two in two halves.

“Oh, really? We’re equal?” Yang Shen said, looking on in surprise.

“What… abomination have you conjured,” the emperor replied, watching the demon holding the chains to the two divine beasts, keeping them shackled and bound to death as they struggled to free themselves.

“You like it? It’s the path I unlocked after figuring out the truth. The southern kingdoms had a lot of interesting new ideas that helped me out, but their demons, or Asuras as they called them, man, they’re something else. Way more sophisticated. I was honestly in awe. And they’d even lasted longer than most in surviving against the demons.” Yang Shen replied.

The emperor frowned. “You… What do you intend to do by capturing the Divine Beasts? They will never accept you as a vessel. You’ve forsaken that right.”

“Ah, that’s where you’re mistaken, my dear emperor. I’m not going to be their vessel,” Yang Shen said, a smile rising on his face. “They are going to be mine.”

The emperor stared at him, horrified. “You have truly lost your mind. We will end this lunacy here,” he replied, as the Azure Dragon roared in the background, lightning swirling and crackling all around, before it rushed forward, carrying the emperor’s will.

“Of course. May the stronger one win,” Yang Shen replied, as the Asura moved in the background. Death rose into the chains, the divine beasts shrieking as miasma flowed into them, before they began to morph. The two divine beasts changed, death seeping into their forms. Black and purple flames rose on the vermillion bird, its eyes glowing purple and turning demon, while the white tiger turned black, thick dark metallic armor growing around it with jutting spikes.

Together the divine beasts roared, rushing forward as they met the strike from the Azure dragon, and the world began to shake.

Heaven and Earth began to rupture, the two sides now flowing into two different domains, the shockwaves shaking the entire empire.

***

Lord Zhou watched chaos unfolding in front of his eyes. Demons moved around the castle, the wards set by them chaining people in place, yet, not all had been imprisoned or captured. Some had remained with enough strength to break through the chains as battle ensued on both sides, destruction all around. He himself had taken the chance to shatter his own shackles and break free before fighting back.

He moved swiftly, the demon trying to chain him in place being obliterated entirely within a single strike. It was just a regular beast, and Lord Zhou could handle many on his own. The problem were the deathless. He moved quickly, arriving at the old man and saw him seated silently, and cultivating as he gathered his strength.

Lord Zhou grasped his chains, feeling the Gu sizzle and burn as he tried to break through the restriction. A moment later, the chains shattered, but the old man did not move.

“Sheng Ming, get up. How can you sit at peace in these circumstances?” the Lord asked, taken aback.

The old man opened his eyes, glancing at Lord Zhou, before his eyes went up to the skies. “Sit down, Ren. The food was poisoned. Purge it, if you wish to last.”

Lord Zhou’s eyes widened in shock. “What do you… poison does not harm us.”

“This is not a normal poison,” the old man said, glancing sideways. Lord Zhou followed the old man’s gaze.

He noticed some of the younger lords had started collapsing. At first he had thought the miasma had surpassed and drained them of their energy, but it was only now that he noticed many who coughed to themselves, their skins turning pale as blood came out of their mouth.

His expression began to darken.

***

The divine beasts collided in the midst of two domains, as the world began to crack. Yang Shen watched the battle take place, the domains veering equal, yet, after all that waiting, at last, the poison began to show its effects.

His domain edged closer, creeping onto the emperor ever so slightly, and Yang Shen grinned to himself, walking closer.

The emperor frowned, sweating, as he began to push back even harder. The asura in the background moved, the two demonic divine beasts shrieking, as flames buffeted the Azure dragon, the vermillion bird’s claws tearing at its eyes and the white tiger’s jaw lunging for its maw. The heavenly domain began to crack, as Yang Shen continued to walk closer, his own domain expanding.

The emperor stumbled, breathing heavily, as he stood on one knee. The heavens rumbled in the skies, lighting striking down, as the influence of the demonic domain continued.

The emperor soon began to cough blood, looking up with sweat covering his body. Yang Shen walked up to the man, looking down, as his domain began to swallow the world.

“Oh, what’s wrong? Not feeling very well?” He asked, eyes full of glee.

“What… have you… done… to us…” the emperor asked, body shaking.

“It’s called poison, stupid. Do you know about mercury? It’s a metal, and it can be found in the western continent, where the white tiger was. It’s extremely lethal even in small doses. And traditional immunity to poison doesn’t work on it. But even that alone wouldn’t have been enough to do the job, so I got some help. Turns out you can make it more poisonous and turn into a gas as well with some effort. And a bunch of other ways to get it inside someone slowly enough that they don’t notice. In your arrogance to your absolute immunity to all poisons, you never actually even tried to take any precautions. It was almost too easy,” Yang Shen scoffed.

In the background, the azure dragon roared, as the two demonic beats continued to tear through the divine beast, its domain faltering as the giant dragon crashed down, the heavens in the skies shivering, as they began to lose their influence.

“You… will… regret… this…” the emperor breathed heavily, eyes turning red as he looked up at the demon.

“I’m sure I will,” Yang Shen replied, reaching down.

The Asura moved its third hand out, a chain of death extending from it. The chain spread through the domains, before wrapping around the azure dragon.

The divine beast shrieked, trying to thrash around and escape, but the vermillion bird and white tighter held it in place, as the asura began to pull the creature back.

“Your immortality. The thing you so coveted. The thing you broke this world to obtain, I am taking it now,” Yang Shen said, looking the emperor in the eye.

The emperor looked at the demon with shaking eyes, before his eyelids closed.

The heavenly domain shattered, as the Azure Dragon was pulled in and grasped by the Asura.

Yang Shen grinned.

The heavens rumbled in the skies, shaking with fury, yet their powers were lost. No tribulation came, as Yang Shen began to absorb the power of the Azure Dragon, looking down upon the world beneath him.

He had done it. He had finally done it.

***

Yan Yun looked at the skies, and her heart began to shake. The aura of the Azure Dragon, the eternal protection that hovered over the Azure city… vanished. She saw the clouds in the skies, and felt the world changing around her as the power of the heavens began to fade. The world turned darker, Gu rising from the earth beneath her.

A cold chilling wind swept past her and a moment later, she felt something white falling from the skies. Reaching out her hand, she felt the thing, as it melted into water and realized what it was.

Snow was falling on Azure City.