Ubel stuck around for an hour.

He gathered his bow, took his quiver back. His right gauntlet seemed fine, though a small crack appeared on the knuckles. After inspecting for another second, he looked down at the corpse of Sir He.

Ubel leaped down the pit and shouldered the dead body, then leaped again to the surface. Not far from them, he took out Fatty Zhifang’s corpse, too, and put both of them on the ground for the moment.

*********

Once he returned with his hatchet, Ubel saw both men’s blood dried up. He cast a slight glance. Ubel shook his head. Even his tears dried up, how could theirs’ not?

Since he didn’t have his shovel to dig another pit easily, he decided to take out the traps and use another one to bury the two. It was, at least, a decent show of mortality on his part. Even if they intended to kill him, more so than he wished to do the same, in Ubel’s mind he thought they would do the same.

Perhaps not because of moral issues or decency, they would have buried him either way, to not let Death Qi contaminate the surroundings and give rise to an Avenging Spirit. But still, they would. That was the important part. That was all he needed to think now, to make his heart settle down.

He descended into the pit Sir He died and slashed with his hatchet. A sliver of Qi escaped from the sharp edge and two dozen spikes clattered to the ground, each upon the other. The small clattering suppressed the heavy rain for a moment, their dripping on the muddled ground softened. Then once all spikes fell, the rain struck harder.

It hardened, rained fiercer, sounds of thunder boomed and lightning fell to someplace afar.

Ubel suddenly raised his head and looked beyond the forest’s trees, where lay a mountain range. A sound exploded from within and a bolt of lightning fell, yet before it struck the grey mountain peaks something interrupted its way.

Thunder collapsed into thousands of tendrils of lightning, they spread around the air after the collision.

“So, there are some Tribulation Lightning aftershocks! Finally I, Wang, get some good fortune from the Heavens for me!”

The voice faintly reached his ears before disappearing. The thunder growled, angrier, and fell. But nothing interrupted it further. Peaks mounted the burden and soon the rumbling returned to its normal pace.

Ubel cast a long, long glance at the clouds before gathering the spikes. He left the pit, put the spikes aside, and pushed the two men into the pit. They tumbled down upon each other, Sir He landed on Fatty Zhifang’s belly and rolled down with a soft thud. Ubel averted his eyes and sprinted towards the initial location he saw the group.

Once there, he mounted the other two dead men, who died from blood loss. A few minutes walk later he threw them into the pit, again, and watched them embrace their friends. One’s head landed between Fatty Zhifang’s arm and Sir He’s leg, the other’s open arms covered the trio.

Ubel grit his teeth and raised his hands.

Then he slapped.

He slapped with all his physical strength, with his weakened Qi control. He hit so hard that he staggered himself, then tripped into the hole.

He landed on his back to the small pile of corpses, they softened his fall. From his vantage point, now that Ubel looked up, the pit seemed endless. The entrance, and the exit, the mouth of the hole was almost out of reach. As if he couldn’t get out of this place forever.

Did they feel the same?

Instead of wetting his hair, now that his head was facing the sky, the drops rained on his face. The stink of blood infiltrated his nostrils. From his back, he could feel the texture of the dried blood.

They must have felt the same.

The life must have looked so out of reach at that moment.

Standing at the door of death must have been so painful to bear.

It could be, or it couldn’t be. But he felt so right now. How the lives of those whom he took were far away, and how his own sanity looked out of reach at the moment.

Am I the only one that feels this way?

He could be, or he couldn’t be. But he felt that way at the moment. How desolate it was to be confronted with the regret of taking a life, or how much he was torn in his heart to feel enjoyment from it.

Why is life so worthless?

It, also, could be, or couldn’t be.

How precious were the lives of the thousands that died in Yadratafos? To Ubel, they weren’t worth mentioning. He didn’t know them, he didn’t have any favors owed to them, nor did they had his gratitude.

And how precious were the lives of these four in front of him? Less than him, more than the ones’ in Yadratafos. Why? Wasn’t it the same thing? These people, he owed nothing, nor did they have his good-will. They were even here to kill him, and the middle-aged priest Hong. Yet, he felt more torn.

Even though it was only four.

Even though, compared to the tens of thousands, this was such a negligible number.

Just because I killed them? Does it matter who kills who? Does it matter who dies when?

It mattered when it was him killing, or him dying. It mattered when the ones dying was close to him. It was as simple as that.

...hypocrisy...

So what did change, then, if it was hypocrisy? This didn’t make him feel any better.

Ubel rose from his position and sat upright. Crossing his legs, he placed his palms together and started gathering the Qi around him.

Death doesn’t matter, does it?

He would ask it someone else if his answer was hypocrisy.

His hands moved like the wind and he made tens of different seals, each of them he learned from Body Enchanting and Quan’s handwritten books.

These seals helped him move the ambient Qi easier and identify them easier. As if he reopened his third eye, Ubel’s vision changed.

He saw a large gathering of dark, deadly Death Qi all around him. It infiltrated his nostrils, his lungs, his pores, even his broken meridians. And mixed between was a lesser amount of Blood Qi, its amount was negligible compared to the Death Qi.

More than these two were an amalgamation of green, blue, and gold. Green was the nature, Wood Qi, and blue was the rain, Water Qi. Then gold had to be Lightning Qi, Ubel assumed. But he didn’t savor the vision, he had done it many times before. Only, with the help of additional seals of Body Enchanting, he could see them individually with better clarity.

His hands moved again and again as he made more and more seals he memorized with great difficulty, and with the help of his better memory from the Mind Expansion Technique. After half a minute, a dark, swirling vortex appeared in front of Ubel. Without his imaginary, temporary third eye Ubel couldn’t see this vortex. But now he did, and with another set of seals, the vortex grew larger.

It started to absorb the ambient Qi, especially the abundant Death Qi, at a furious pace. Dark waves of Qi rolled in the air into the vortex, making it spin faster and grow wider. Raindrops fell harder to his position, Water Qi dod so too, the Qi vortex attracted all types of Qi without discrimination after all. Then a flow of Wood Qi surged towards the vortex.

Ubel grit his teeth and started a new series of seals, an invisible barrier popped around him. Once the green wave of Wood Qi came near, the barrier repelled it. They continued to surge, however, and more and more of it gathered at the edge. In the meantime, the vortex in front of Ubel continued to grow larger.

After a tense minute the Death Qi grew thinner, the invisible barrier stood at the cusp of breaking, and Ubel’s forehead was covered in sweat. Yet, he could feel inching closer to the spiritual connection he once had with the Embodiment.

And now, the vortex in front of him grew wide enough for him to cast the Embodiment again.

Ubel never tried to cast Embodiment in the past, contrary to his attempts at replicating Depression and Waters Of Netherworld, since he didn’t feel the spiritual connection he had with the Embodiment before. The Embodiment was, as the Death River Manual told, a manifestation of his understanding of death. But Embodiment was somewhat different from a mere manifestation. Instead, he felt like it was something that took the shape of his understanding.

So, without his connection to that thing, Ubel thought something could go awry. Without being able to sense and reestablish his connection, Ubel wouldn’t try it again. But now, it was different. He was looking for an answer, an answer only the shape of the Embodiment could give, and today he had plenty of Death Qi to make the divine ability work.

As his thoughts wandered, from the large vortex that was triple the capacity of what he could control in a stable manner, Ubel felt something reach out to his soul. Something tingled, as if a machine clicked into the right place, then the vortex blinked out of existence.

Ubel halted abruptly. He looked in front. Since he stopped doing hand seals, both the barrier and his vision disappeared. And once the vortex disappeared, the rushing surge of Wood Qi also stopped. All left around him was the sound of the dripping rain, booming thunder strikes, and a faint step.

Ubel tilted his head above and saw a giant tower over him. It had a dark purplish skin and a body so packed with muscles that the six-packs looked like twenty-four of their human-sized compatriots stacked together. Yet, contrary to before, the giant wore a set of overlapped long skirts coming to its knees and a spiked shoulder pad.

And at its chest was the character 誅 stamped like a seal. Around it was a circle, and it was split into eight sections with colored lines. In one of them was...the word Blood, written in crimson.

Then Ubel realized he didn’t block the remaining Blood Qi around him. As the giant descended near him, gazing at him with visible curves of an empty eye, Ubel cast another set of seals and his vision returned. He glanced around and found no traces of Blood Qi, then gazed at Embodiment.

Indeed, as he thought, the character for blood was compiled of a disturbing amount of Blood Qi, condensed into a smaller amount. But it didn’t seem that Embodiment’s body, or the small slot, reached its limit. On the contrary, the amount of Blood Qi it held seemed like only one-fifth of its capacity.

But Ubel, after thinking of these things for a moment, found his aim again.

He sent another slap to wake himself, his other cheek brightened.

As his vision faded, Ubel took a good look at Embodiment. His gaze didn’t leave the giant, who stood there watching him with the blank outline of a dark iris.

At last, Ubel sighed.

What did I hope to see?

He didn’t know. Perhaps another shape, or something capable of talking rather than shielding him from the rain with its three-meter size.

Embodiment tilted its head and kneeled. Its gaze was on Ubel’s shoulder, where a finger size hole could be seen.

Ubel looked down as well, then reached out for something in his robe’s inner pocket. He took out a vial half-full of green liquid. With a swipe of his hand, he opened the lid and downed the contents.

Soon, a bright green aura of Wood Qi spread from Ubel’s body. It concentrated on his shoulder and the flesh around the hole wriggled like tentacles. Then they shot towards each other, tangled themselves and fused. Only a small, red mark was left.

Once he was done, Ubel looked at the Embodiment again.

He looks more realistic. He indeed did. Why a skirt, though?

He didn’t question further. With the appearance of the Embodiment, Ubel felt his heart turn calmer. At least...he made use of these people’s deaths.

My insincerity knows no bounds... Ubel shook his head.

‘’Take me out,’’ Ubel said, aloud. He didn’t need to, actually. With their mental link back, he could give any kind of order or information with his mind. But he felt better this way. As if he didn’t face this challenge alone before. As if he had someone to rely upon right now.

And he did.

Embodiment took Ubel and placed him on his arm, then leaped out.

‘’Bury them, then grab my things. I think...I’ll rest for a while.’’ Ubel gave a few last commands and closed his eyes.

The exhaustion hit him and his eyes felt sleepier. The sound of the rain and thunder, without them raining on him, sounded like a lullaby.

Soon, he fell asleep.

*********

Alim opened the straps around his chin and released the half-plate helmet. He took it out and inhaled a deep breath.

The air stunk of blood.

The main road of the Han Dynasty’s capital drowned in gore.

Pagodas with thirteen and nineteen floors were reduced to scraps of wood and stone by the shots of artillery and divine abilities.

Immortals of the Cindersnow City flew over these ruins with flying swords beneath their feet, donning the official robe of the Cindersnow City’s magistrate; A pure white robe with a blazing ice shield embed on the chest.

Alim exhaled, he spat out a piece of flesh.

Imperial guards have thick necks. They said their skins were thicker, though. Perhaps that was the reason the magistrate ordered the attack on the Han Dynasty.

Suddenly, one of the scouting forces dived down towards him and floated a meter above his head.

‘’Alim Mingzi?’’

‘’Alim is enough.’’ He replied. Bloodlust spilled over the eyes of the squadron of twenty people. But he wasn’t the target of it.

‘’High Commander Jian Fei summoned you and your...’’ The leading officer’s eyes swept the trail of corpses behind him.

‘’I’ll head over in a second,’’ Alim said, clasping his fists. ‘’Thanks, brother.’’

‘’No need,’’ The officer almost muttered and gazed down at him one last time. ‘’But you might want to check over the corpsman, brother, before heading out.’’

‘’I’ll do.’’ Alim nodded and cast a glance to his shredded stomach as well.

‘’Then farewell.’’ Officer bid his bye and left with his squadron to another part of the city. Alim went the opposite way, to the southern gate where the High Commander Jian Fei settled his commanding tent.

A few minutes walk through the corpse-filled, blood-painted streets let Alim reach the slope leading down to the Southern Gate, where he saw a gathering of at least a thousand tents right outside. Only one large tent was inside the gates and near it was a company of two hundred soldiers.

Before the siege, there were booths and huts of the poor there.

Alim shook his hands. Something felt heavy.

Gazing down, he realized that he still held his broken sword in his grasp. It had snapped into half from the attack of a third-phase Path Establishment commander, the same one who tore his belly and almost cut him in the middle.

Alim willed, but his body refused to let go of the handle. His fingers kept trembling and squeezing around the hilt.

Oh well. He sighed and continued. A minute later he came before the red tent with white peaks. He snuck a peek inside to see a few men seated on cushions placed on the ground, all bearing marks of blood wounds like him. Two guards crossed their halberds at the entrance, signing people to stay away.

But his appearance caused the gleaming tips to shy away from his head, so Alim passed through with no trouble.

He took a step inside and a few eyes turned over him. Of the four men and six women inside, half of each gazed on his wound. The other half was too busy meditating and thinking of some matters. The High Commander, Jian Fei, however, wasn’t the same.

‘’Alim,’’ He nodded, his eyes shone with a dull light. ‘’Take a seat.’’ He urged him to a seat at the furthest corner, near the Commander Jian Nuxing. Alim took a seat and unreservedly reached for a bottle of pills in his spatial pouch. He gulped down all four inside and started cultivating to stop his wound from worsening.

He spent five minutes, everyone gave him enough breathing room to work on his injuries. He supposed they did the same, as evident from the lack of bleeding from their wounds. Once done, and he was sure it would hold on until he got some real expert to work on him, Alim opened his eyes and gazed at the commander Jian Fei.

‘’You’ve killed the beast, Shou Ren, they said.’’ Jian Fei said. Everyone cast him glances of approval.

‘’My men, not me.’’ He corrected, Alim lowered his head. ‘’And Shou Ren’s son ran away with two Path Finding guards.’’

‘’A pity,’’ An old man with long beard across him said. His name was Zhize Sha, an able general who joined them from Haishen Empire. ‘’But not something too important. His talent is low, his temperament worse. And other than the mad Shuangxing, no one might think of sheltering him.’’

‘’I do agree,’’ Jian Nuxing said. Her hair was the same with her older brother, the High Commander, but the short brown tendrils seemed to succumb to crimson blood of her enemies. ‘’Shuangxing, at most, will use him to justify his claim over the Tashradag mountains and the Cindersnow city.’’

‘’That much is obvious.’’ Jian Fei sighed. ‘’But do not fret over it for now. Instead, worry about how will we preserve the people here.’’

‘’How long until the rations arrive?’’ Alim asked.

‘’Half of them arrived, you’ve seen yourself yesterday’’ A middle-aged man next to Zhize Sha said, his eyes narrowed.

‘’That was the half? That is only enough to feed the soldiers for half a month, let alone the civilians.’’ Alim said, his fingers holding onto the sword tightened.

‘’Indeed,’’ Jian Fei shook his head. ‘’Magistrate Feng Tian didn’t spare much for us, he fears the retaliation of God Legion.’’

‘’For light’s blessings, how could this man be that much of a fool!’’ Zhize Sha slapped his hand down. ‘’Then does he want to starve the people here? To let them die?’’

‘’...perhaps,’’ Alim muttered. ‘’Letting these people starve to death, then swoop in to rescue them would be better. Or instead, he could move the overflowing population of the Cindersnow city to here.’’

‘’And what good will it do?’’ Jian Nuxing asked. ‘’It had been six hundred years since a mortal starved to death. Six hundred! How good will it be for his reputation to be the first to break the record?’’

‘’None,’’ an elderly woman replied, sitting next to Jian Fei. ‘’And it won’t be good for us, too. But what do we have to do, then? Only a few hundred among the soldiers can endure the hunger for two weeks, others at most a week before falling weak.’’

‘’Pillaging,’’ Alim suggested. ‘’Countryside is open and defenseless, no one will oppose a large army taking a few of their grain.’’

‘’Alim!’’ Jian Fei, together with him a few other commanders cast him disturbed gazes. ‘’We won’t do any raiding or sacking, nor now nor in the future. I won’t starve others to feed mine.’’

‘’High Commander,’’ Zhize Sha spoke. ‘’I know you are an honorable immortal, but even if you won’t do so, I won’t make my people go with hungry stomachs.’’

Jian Fei fell silent. Alim snuck a peek at Zhize Sha who winked at him. The older man had much more influence than Alim, as he had both greater power and greater connections. He also helped them with a brigade of Haishen soldiers to break through the Castle Tashratep before. Were it not for his men and women, they couldn’t scale the fifteen-meters walls between the cliffs of the Tashradag Valley.

The silence continued for a while until a messenger rushed into the tent and kneeled before High Commander, presenting him a talisman with white and red-colored stripes.

Once Jian Fei took the talisman and listened to what it old, his eyes widened and he shot to his feet.

‘’We are returning!’’ He shouted and waved his hand for everyone to stand up. He leaped down his higher cushion and stormed out of the tent, followed by the eleven commanders.

‘’High Commander?’’ Alim inquired.

‘’Good brothers and sisters-’’ Jian Fei transmitted his thoughts through their mind.

‘’Magistrate was assassinated!’’

Alim shuddered.

*********

Ke’ai Huiqing swayed back and forth on her rocking chair.

Two foxes snored in front of her, right next to the cleaned fireplace. A blazing flame crackled, it spread embers every once in a while.

The rain softened an hour ago when she ate her last meal of the day. It consisted of two apples as appetizers, a roasted deer leg, and cheese Ubel brought with him from outside the forest.

They tasted good, as far as she was concerned.

How long had it been since she ate cheese? One made out of goat milk?

Huiqing put her hand over her chin, pondering. Then she gazed at the leather screen shielding the window.

The raindrops created some sort of rhythm on the veil. One, two, two, one.

It had been one hundred twenty-three years. When her eldest grandson was born, Nuwang celebrated with cheese. Though they weren’t of a goat milk’s product, Huiqing closed her eyes.

Oh dear, she blinked again. It was the milk of that Plated Serpent of her. But it was still a cheese.

One, two, two, one.

She kept rocking on her chair. She felt comfortable. Her back still hurt. Living a long time and not getting injured was a miracle in this world, and for her luck, she bore one from her spine.

Like mortal women- she giggled- she couldn’t walk properly without support. She was fortunate, though, her son-in-law made a good cane before he passed away.

May light bless his soul. Huiqing closed her eyes again.

Suddenly, something from the forest called for her.

Listening, her ears excluded all noises around her. The crackling of the flame disappeared, two foxes’ snoring drifted away, The raindrops went mute. Some kind of shuffling sounded in her ears, as if someone brushed past a bush or a branch.

Huiqing opened her eyes. She reached for her wooden crane lying at her feet and, once stabilized, stood up.

One, two, two, one.

She staggered towards the door, her legs were numb a bit. But it wasn’t an arduous road, she reached in a few seconds and opened wide.

At the door stood a three-meter, towering dark giant, in whose hands snored a young man.

‘’Come in,’’ She let go of the gate and walked back in. ‘’Don’t hit your head, dear, or his.’’ She warned, Embodiment lowered his body to force himself in. He couldn’t evade the most walls though, this was not as big as a proper house.

Just a humble hut for a family of two.

One, two, two, one.

She stepped into the bedroom with the Embodiment and pointed at the bed. He nodded and laid Ubel down, he didn’t forget to put a soft pillow there.

‘’Thank you, dear.’’ Huiqing said, smiled, and slumped back on her rocking chair.

Embodiment made a few gestures to her, Huiqing nodded.

‘’Yes, your mother is fine. He is also fine.’’ Embodiment stopped for a moment, thoughtful.

‘’Sit down, you look funny like that, dear.’’ Huiqing giggled again. Embodiment gazed around and made sure he squashed nothing, then flopped on the floor. His large toes nudged the side of the wily fox.

The wily fox gazed for a moment, blinked, then fell asleep again.

Embodiment made a few more gestures, last one pointing at Ubel.

‘’A hundred years at most,’’ She said. ‘’Don’t worry, your brother is not like you.’’

Embodiment shook.

‘’I’m joking, dear!’’ She cracked a smile. ‘’But indeed, he is different. Both from you and your sister.’’

Embodiment patted his right shoulder.

‘’We didn’t have much chance to know your big brother, dear.’’ Huiqing sighed. Embodiment nodded to himself as well. They listened to the dripping rain and crackling fire for a moment.

One, two, two, one.

One, two, two, one.

One, two, two, one.

Once their minds cleared a bit, they continued with the discussion.

*********

‘’There might be,’’ Huiqing said. ‘’But I’ve never seen one myself. How deep did you go into the river?’’

Embodiment was in the midst of telling something when both he and Ke’ai Huiqing shuddered. Some ominous aura spread over their location and locked on them.

‘’Celestial!’’ Huiqing rose to her feet again.

‘’Quick, aren’t you?’’ A voice boomed in. Embodiment shot up and crashed head-on into the ceiling, some parts broke off. ‘’Slow, Guardian. I have no intent to fight.’’

‘’You have some courage to spy on me, you bald bird!’’

‘’You have some courage to tarnish my name, mortal.’’ The Raven answered. Embodiment made a few signs, his barely visible eyebrows’ outline rose in anger.

‘’Talk more, sign less you fool.’’ They could hear The Raven almost spit on their faces. ‘’And before you two pursue a more troublesome argument, let me speak.’’

Huiqing fell silent for a moment, then crouched back on her chair. ‘’Speak, Celestial.’’

‘’I assume you know of the events at the Sect’s city?’’

‘’I do, so what?’’

‘’I chose there as his next challenge.’’ The Raven said. ‘’To spur his growth, clashing with some fine geniuses are far more useful.’’

‘’..good idea.’’ Huiqing, contrary to everyone’s expectations, and by everyone it was only The Raven and Embodiment, didn’t refuse. ‘’With his brother at his side, he won’t be in fatal danger.’’

‘’Good.’’ The Raven’s voice sounded approving.

‘’And with Zi Heshang and his sister, he’ll have quite a hard time.’’ Huiqing smiled. The Raven’s voice faltered, then fell silent.

‘’...I’m not fond of this right now.’’

‘’You can’t be.’’ She smiled and looked at Embodiment. ‘’Ubel will wake up soon, take him to the featherless’ home.’’

‘’The Raven’s Shrine, yes.’’ The Raven corrected. ‘’Since I have your opinion, I won’t bother anymore. Hope you die soon, mortal.’’

‘’My approval,’’ She corrected, but no one responded to her. ‘’Well,’’ Sighing, she urged Embodiment to stand up. ‘’Leave now. And...watch over him, please.’’

Embodiment nodded and shouldered Ubel, then realized the rain didn’t cease. So he took Ubel in his arms and went for the door.

Huiqing accompanied them until the door and opened for them to pass through. As they left, Embodiment cast her one long glance. Then disappeared from her vision.

The rain continued with the same rhythm all day until dawn. Huiqing fell asleep to their sounds not long after.

One, two, two, one.

One, two, two, one.

One, two, two, one.

One, two, two, one.

One, two, t...