I opened my eyes to find the world was different around me. Standing up from where I was, I watched the purple grass swaying around me. Yet there was more life in them than there had been before. No longer could I truly call them demonic spirit herbs, as they were part of a greater cycle now.
I glanced back, and saw Ash sleeping comfortably. His wounds healed quickly now, and I had no doubts he would be fully recovered soon.
“Lu Jie… is that you?” Su Lin’s voice called out, hesitant. I turned to look at the boy staring at me in a mix of confusion and fear that I could not understand. “Just what happened? There was this bright light, a flash of something and then… you changed.”
At Su Lin’s words, I looked down and noticed some new changes had arrived within my body. My hair-band had fallen off, letting my hair flow as it reached down all the way below my waist, having grown significantly longer. My skin looked pale, as if it had been formed anew. There was a new awareness around me, and for some reason, I knew what was in this place. Each crevice, each crack, I did not need eyes to see them, they were connected to me as much as my own body was.
“You… you look like some kind of fairy now,” Su Lin said, walking closer. “Your eyes changed too.”
I walked around, trying to find a source of water before an answer came to me. I raised my hand, and the Chi in the world around me swirled, forming water. It happened with ease, an ease I had only experienced before within my own spirit. Now it extended here as well.
I looked at the blob of water, but the surprise I felt did not reflect on my face. Somehow I knew how to do this, and this was merely the surface of it. I let the water settle, forming a mirror as I looked at my own face. Silvery wisps flowed around my body, giving me an otherworldly aura. My hair was let down, its deep black color contrasting with my pure white skin. A bright glowing ring of silver shone within my eyes.
I let the water go, before my senses told me something else. My gaze drifted towards the skies, as I felt the tribulations brewing. But these clouds… they were not for me. No, the heavens intended to strike not me, but everyone else within the valley. Even the mortals.
I felt my anger rising at the tyranny of their law. I had to stop it, before they could kill anyone.
“Stay here,” I told Su Lin, as I walked out of the cave. Zhang remained at the entrance, still standing guard as I walked past him.
“Is something the matter Brother Jie? There was… a lot of light,” Zhang replied.
I did not say anything, simply glancing back towards Zhang for a moment, looking at him. After a few quiet moments, I glanced up towards the sky, watching the swirling storm brewing above Taizhou.
“I need to do something,” I said, before stepping into the air.
It came naturally to me, once again. The air felt solid beneath my feet as I rose into the sky. The world fell away beneath me as I rose higher and higher, until the village was merely a blip upon the surface. The clouds rumbled above me, the skies turning as the heavens stirred.
As my flight took me within the clouds themselves, I felt the anchor beneath me, tying me to the earth. Even here, I was still a part of my home, and it of me. Letting the Chi gather around my hands, I reached out into the skies.
I did not know what I was doing. But I knew this was right.
Little motes of light flew into my body, each living creature that existed within this place, each person that existed within my home, and was tied to me, they now formed a source of energy for me. Every leaf, every flower, every child, man, woman. All that existed under the heavens. Now they were a part of me.
Perhaps it was that. Perhaps I was no longer a person of my own, but also a representation of who they were. Their lives, and the sum of their existence, was now tied within my anchor, contained in the tree within my soul that shone with a light brighter than the very sun.
I drew upon the land and the people within it. No longer was my core limited to my weak shell, now it was tied to the entirety of Taizhou and all that lived within it. I let the light gather, I let it grow, and then, I reached out to the Heavens.
“I am their Lord,” I proclaimed to the skies. “This tribulation is not theirs, but mine.”
The heavens stirred for a moment as if startled. Then, with a powerful bolt lightning lashed out, striking my body. The loud boom rattled the air around me, yet I did not stop. The heavens shuddered and shivered, shaking as I continued to reach out towards them, and I saw something taking shape.
The winds carried me above, my strength failing to resist the torrents as the storms began to swallow me. Lightning struck me. Once. Twice. I let my Chi gather, using it to hold the worst of the blows back.
Three. Four. Five. My clothes singed, burning from the intensity of the attacks. My skin was charred now, blood seeping from my wounds.
I closed my eyes, letting my Chi gather, as the strikes grew in strength again.
Six.
I almost lost control as the lightning tore through my body. My arm rose, blocking the lightning as Chi gathered around my palms, holding the thunderstrike at bay. Smoke rose from my limb, now a burnt husk as it hung limp by my side. The pain was an afterthought, as I continued to rise.
Seven.
I blacked out for a moment, the world vanishing from my sight. Taking a hold of myself, I reoriented my flight; I looked out to the heavens, to the ends in sight and screamed.
Eight.
The world turned golden as the lightning swallowed me whole. My body burnt, broken down by the energy that threatened to rip me apart. I let the energy course through me, but this time, I reached out to it, and grabbed a hold of it.
“You love to use lightning, don’t you?” I said, my voice booming from the Chi present in it and shaking the skies. “Have some for yourself.”
I gathered the lightning as it turned to Chi, letting it build up in my body until I couldn't hold it any longer, then I aimed it towards the skies.
A roaring bolt rose into the heavens striking the clouds as they crumbled and scattered. The world turned bright at the brilliant light, as I rushed upwards into the skies.
My Chi flowed outwards, my remaining hand seizing the air, and I grabbed the thread of the very heavens.
Like strands that flowed all around, little invisible strings of fate that tied this world. Now, I reached out and grasped them. They gathered in my hand, as the clouds swirled around me, ready to swallow me within them.
I held them, these chains that bound the world beneath me. They swirled here, tangible threads of the order imposed upon this realm. So long as these existed upon this place, the Chi would not survive. So long as these chains remain, this world will never heal. No, no longer. I could not let them hurt my home. I grabbed the chains of fire, letting them burn my hand as I pulled them apart.
The skies tore themselves in half.
The clouds rumbled with lightning, separating into two parts, as Chi and Qi exploded within the world. The anchor within my soul glowed like a shining sun within the skies as its light burned through the dark tribulations cloud.
I felt something give, a crack, a fracture that had not been there. I screamed, my body breaking apart from the force it dealt with as I continued to pull.
Crack.
The chains shook, their hold failing to grasp upon the world. The heavens roared, they struck, but it was too late.
With a roar that shook the skies, I tore the chains of the heavens apart, as the world around me shattered into pieces.
The order that broke the cycle, the chains that bound this realm broke from this place. The tribulation clouds dissipated, as I felt the Qi start to mingle into the world. Slowly, it flowed inwards, into this realm tied to my spirit, starting to form into Chi instead.
I panted, watching the world around me from the skies. The sun glistened above me, a clear blue sky gracing me with its presence.
I felt my body changing, the Chi within my spirit fading. My hair grew shorter, my pale skin returning to normal as the step beneath me faded.
Slowly, I fell to the ground, watching the skies hanging above me with a calm look, as the air rushed past my ears.
To my surprise, it was not the ground that met my fall, but hands instead. They gripped me upon my shoulders, breaking my fall, and I looked up to see a familiar face.
“Hold on tight,” Zhang said, as he grasped me, flying through the skies. I felt his Gravity Chi surging as we slowly began to descend.
“You’re too good for me, Zhang,” I whispered, as I watched him sweat, struggling to hold both of us with his new abilities. “But I did it. I freed this place. I feel like I can die peacefully now.”
“Stay quiet Lu Jie,” Zhang said, snapping for perhaps the first time ever. “We need you.”
I looked at the boy, and then gave him a light nod, before closing my eyes.
Though I tried to fight for consciousness, my body gave in to the whims of my injuries and soon, darkness was all I saw.