Immortal Connections - Chapter 24 preview

Chapter 24 - Wu Ying

The problem with opportunities were that they were fleeting things, a choice that had to be made before being lost once more. If you were lucky, it lasted longer than an instant, the blink of an eye. A few days, a few weeks perhaps if you were truly fortunate. Like making the choice to join the village working on the canals, growing and enmeshing oneself in a community such that you were aided when it came time to plant the rice stalks. 

Smelling the wind, sensing the change in temperature and hurrying out to begin planting, a day or two before much needed moisture would descend, giving birth to the seeds and starting one's spring well. Or, shorter, a small twitch in the shoulder, a drooping of the left arm that had begun such that an opening would appear in the blink of an eye. A momentary wobble as a deck heaved, a blade dipped and a chest was exposed.

Or an offer to leave, without repercussions, without endangerment - held for a few minutes before the doors were closed and auras were snaked outwards, entrapping cultivators in a courtyard.

Sometimes - often - opportunities left, when one was trying to time it, when one was maximising the possibilities, when you were thinking, thinking, thinking... rather than acting.

"Now that unpleasantness is over..." The Grand Chancellor trailed off, he sighed. "Now, we deal with the spies." Tension rocketed higher, surreptative glances thrown all around as suspicion bloomed. Ignoring the paranoia he had just fed, the Grand Chancellor continued. "For those of you with ill intent, I recommend you stand and give yourself up now. Understand that refusing to do so will see even greater punishments." His voice dropped, growing colder. "Remember, immortality does not endless existence. You can and will be slain. It would be a pity to lose your life so soon after achieving your goals, no?"

A hush filled the courtyard once again. The only noise the shift of bodies as heads were turned, side to side, searching for the erstwhile spies. Wu Ying did the same, ignoring the considering looks his companions shot him. He understood their doubts, and a part of him cursed his own hesitation. Yet, he was no spy. He served no one but himself, and though they might find his lack of commitment objectionable, he could not believe that the Jade Palace would seek his demise over minor dithering and a lack of true loyalty.

Or so he hoped at least.

Movement in the corner of his eyes - gross movement - caught all their gazes. A woman, long of limb, sallow of face in a way that pushed it from beautiful to sickly and lethargic stood. She straightened her dress, beautiful in pink and light reds, colored to take advantage of what little complexion she had and lifted her chin as she spoke. 

"What now? Do you kill me before them or will you do so in a prison, far away from sight?" her voice was challenging, her tone cold.

"Neither." A slight gesture from the Chancellor's hands and a pair of guards appeared, passing through the pressure of the encompassing dao with little effort to appear by her side. She flinched only a little as they took hold of her via the elbows. "You will be imprisoned for a period of fifty years and then released, if you behave yourself."

"Death out of sight it is then." Sardonic amusement, and yet she did not fight.

"If you believe you will die, why give yourself up at all?" Shou Ren called out, startling Wu Ying as he drew the attention of all. Out of the corner of his eyes, Wu Ying caught the Grand Chancellor frowning, but the smallest twitch of a finger by the still silent Jade Emperor had him grow silent. Perhaps, like Shou Ren, he too was curious.

Or perhaps he wanted the new Ascendant to dig his own grave too with his impertinence.

"It's obvious, is it not? That they know who we are. This Palace was not just a place of learning - it was a test too. An observational ground for them to pick us out, to watch how we cultivate and grow, what daos we rose from. This, all this theater, is to show you how much they control you," the woman said, a wry smile on her lips. "Well, if it's theater they want, who am I to gainsay them? Let all of you see, how merciful the Jade Palace truly is."

"We are. We offered you a chance, and yet you chose not to take it." The Grand Chancellor shook his head wryly. "Tell me, Lady Su, if you knew all this, why not take our initial offer. Are you that blindly loyal to your people?”

“People?” She laughed. “You think I have a sect, a government, an organization to report to? We are nothing more than disparate people – mortal, immortal and demon alike – all tied together with but one belief.” Her voice lowered, hissing. “That Zhao Zheng no longer rules the Heavens according to the Dao.”

Wu Ying’s gaze turned, instinctively to the Jade Emperor when he was invoked by his given name. It was never spoken, only recorded, though every child knew it by heart. To have one utilize it so blatantly, to his face, was disrespectful to the extreme. To hear the utterly sacrilegious accusation, shocking.

If he had ordered her execution or killed her himself for such words, Wu Ying would not have been surprised. Either one of those insults would have been sufficient to condemn her to death, and yet, what he did next shocked Wu Ying even more.

The Jade Emperor, birth name of Zhao Zheng, ruler of the Heavens and immortal from birth; laughed. He laughed, a loud, uproarious laughter that none dared join. Lady Su’s face grew cold, the quiet bracing for her end growing rigid with rising fury. Before she could act though, he cut off and gestured with his finger, his mouth open only slightly.

A moment later, Grand Chancellor Yi continued speaking. “The impertinent one is stripped of her titles and ranks, of all consideration that her success at gaining immortality might bring. She will be imprisoned for a period of a thousand years, in the depths of the heavenly annex of the thousand hells to serve her sentence. Let His Imperial Majesty’s mercy be known through the lands.”

“Merciful Emperor of Heavens!” roared the guards. This time, no subtle prodding by the dao caused the other cultivators to speak. As the shout faded, the guards holding Lady Su moved, tugging her with them as they stepped through the air, a blast of displaced air stirring robes and hair as they dragged the unresisting Ascendant away.

“Now, anyone else?” Grand Chancellor Yi asked.

Movement, out of the corner of his eyes as a pair on opposite sides of the courtyard chose to act. They did not go quietly either, instead leaping forward in an explosion of immortal chi, feet kicking off bent and twisted shoulders as they rushed the stage. Hands shifted on sword and sheath, energy building up as they attempted a sword draw.

Attempted, for they never managed to clear their sheaths. The guards, waiting for such a movement acted. Only two of them, one each for the traitorous Ascendants, cutting them down with a single flash step and swing of their weapon, reappearing, hovering above the petitioners, the corpses beginning to collapse behind them.

A flicker of energy arising from one of the other Ministers and the bodies, the blood that still hung in the air were tugged forward, disappearing in a swirl of flesh and blood into a storage ring. Leaving no sign of the attack but a pair of open spaces where the cultivators had once bowed.

“How droll…” the Grand Chancellor sighed. “Foolish. Now, the last of you. Choose, or die.”

No more movement. The gathered Ascendants froze in near unison, still somewhat shocked at the speed of the last altercation. Replaying the motions in his mind, Wu Ying could not help but worry – he knew, without a doubt, he stood no chance against the guards. They were levels above him, faster, swifter, more deadly than he could envision, their ability to wield their dao to slow, to hamper their opponent dwarfing his own.

Almost, he chose to give up himself, just on the off chance that he might be considered an enemy. Guilty conscience for doing, nothing. Almost, but then, the moment passed and another nod was offered. Once more, the guards moved and one other fell, his body bisected before he could even retaliate.

However, this time, before the body and blood could be drawn away; a failsafe triggered. An enchantment contained by aura exploded, throwing the guard backwards and harming those gathered around the kneeling bodies. 

Dao understanding, overlaid them all, clamped down and hindered the explosion, containing it such that only those beside the final infiltrator were affected. Other than a buffeting of the body by wind, a tremble in the earth and the sudden smell of blood and death in the air, the others were untouched. 

For those within, they screamed, their bodies steaming, acid blood eating through protective robes and into skin and muscle beneath. Open wounds were the worse, festering and growing necrotic in moments. Xin Heng was on her feet, reaching for her pouch, screaming to be let in as were another pair of healers.

Moments later, the writhing bodies stilled, the entire process of death and dying frozen. One of the Ministers, stepping forward, hands splayed concentrated as he lifted the ground itself and the injured into the air, offering the Grand Chancelor one last nod before they began to float away, deeper into the Palace itself, closely followed by Minister Yu.

“Do not worry. Your companions will be healed,” Grand Chancellor Yi said. “This, perhaps more than anything, demonstrates how far our enemies will go. How desperate they are to infiltrate, to do us harm. They are fanatics and murderers, drawing support from the dark and demonic sects of the Middle Kingdom alike. Though they struggle, they will not win for the Jade Palace stands firm.”

Grand Chancellor Yi said the last words at near a shout. 

Once more Wu Ying felt the tug of dao and found himself screaming, alongside the remaining Ascendants.

“Long live Heaven! Long live the Jade Emperor. May heavens rule last another ten thousand thousand years!”