The Fourth Wall - Chapter 43 preview

Dark, ominous clouds hanging over the surroundings, shrouding the area they were within in a patch of darkness. The gaping hole, the abyssal portal lay revealed to all, the scooped out center of this reality that had once held a mountain.

Light and air and chi streamed into the portal continually, the shadows thrown by the clouds leaving the surroundings in a twilight. In the distance, the sun bore down ceaselessly, the various cultivators who had contested her having fallen back.

Even now, the formation she had hastily created glittered, the outer layers, hills and streams and gullies torn into the earth to destroy the natural array she had utilized to slow, confuse and hinder their opponents. It continued to collect the world’s chi, manipulating it to form ghostly images and barriers even as the flags utilized broke down.

Hastily created, none of this would last longer than a week at best, a day at most. Already, many had been destroyed.

Now, with the attacks quiescent, now that the Heavens loomed, waiting for his exit; she managed a long breath of relief, hands shaking. Trembling with relief for she could feel it, the difference in pressure and the warping of the gate itself.

“He made it…” Yang Mu scrubbed at her face, though the tears continued to spill out of her eyes continuously. Relief and gratitude, the release of tension and worry that had existed for years brought her to her knees. A knot in her heart relaxed, a twisting in her own dao unburdening itself.

They waited now, all of them.

Even the Heavens.

***

***

The body was heavy in his arms, the quiet strength that had carried the man for so long long fled. Dark eyes, once sparkling with intelligence and intensity, blank now. Thin, stringy white hair lay limp and matted with sweat, light sprinkling of blood and impurities forced out of the body laid across the corpse. Its robes were torn, a sleeve hanging askew and by the barest of threads, both black cloth shoes lost.

One last look, back up the peak. He felt the pull now of the creature distantly. Ever since he found his path, ever since he merged, the pressure had dropped off significantly. It was no longer an imposition to ignore the creature’s hunger. Yet, the chains holding it still were fraying. In a mere half century more, perhaps sooner; the creature would break free.

He could not help but wonder, if it was appropriate to leave it alone. To allow the taotei to grow and not end its existence now. The creature was not a normal beast, not one that could be reasoned with or negotiated if it broke free. It was a calamity in the making, one that would require significant force to end.

Or he could do so, now.

Yet, it would be a poor gift to his hosts, to destroy the mystic realm that they had once used. In killing the taotei, Wu Ying would remove the reason for the realm, curtail the gift giving and payment from other Nascent Soul cultivators seeking enlightenment. He would cut off the pathway he himself had utilized, all for a future worry that might never arise.

After all, these families must themselves monitor the realm and the taotei at the top. Was it his right, his responsibility, to interfere?

In the end, Wu Ying had stayed his hand, leaving the peak with Baba Fang’s body. Somewhere along the way, the old man had expire, only a last moment reaction by Wu Ying sufficient to catch the corpse as it flew by towards the demonic beast’s mouth.

Now, he lingered, staring at the doorway. Like the Heavens outside, he too could sense their presence. 

Once he exited, everything changed. So, for a moment more, he lingered here, before the gate across.

Mortal still, to those outside. 

***

A figure stepped clear of the portal, a small gesture and the portal and the world behind shimmered, the formation hiding it disappearing. Clad in dark green and brown, Sect robes but also not, the figure held another in its arms. An arm, hanging askew and lifeless spoke of the corpse’s state of being.

That figure managed a half-dozen steps away from the edge, before the Heavens above struck. 

***

Wu Ying felt the power gathered above him, the Heaven’s ire and the energy contained. The first lightning bolt that fell he caught on his extended aura, rolling it outwards above himself to blunt the attack. He accepted the energy that roared downwards, channeled it through his aura and grounded it in the earth such that body held in his hands was not marred.

Once before, he had faced the challenge by the Heavens.

That time, it had taken all his will and strength to bear it. Now, this attack felt nothing more than an administrative chop by a bored bureaucrat, forced to certify an action that had already been decided and that could not be changed. 

Setting the corpse aside, floating it away with strings of power, Wu Ying raised his head and asked a question of the winds.

“Friends?”

“Always.”

Question and answer, spoken in a language that was one part intent, nine tenths spiritual and conveyed in a shared dialect of scents, movements and momentum. Moments later, the corpse he had been guiding was taken from him, the winds carrying the corpse aside such that it might be protected.

Not a moment too soon, for the second lightning strike arrived. Wrath of the Heavens descending, this was stronger than before. Wu Ying did not wait for it this time, drawing Ren and swinging his weapon upwards in the same motion, moving so quickly that he struck before the descending attack reached him.

Sword intent mixed with dao inspiration and immortal chi parted the attack, shattering it before it could arrive. Arcs of energy spread outwards, striking the ground all around Wu Ying and washing over his aura, highlighting the area around him.

It burned bright for a moment, heavenly chi intent on dispersing into the air only for aura, swirling around Wu Ying reaching out and dragging it back inwards. It entered Wu Ying’s body, flowed through damaged meridians and muscles, refilled a dantian with the first drops of heavenly chi it had ever gathered directly.

Immortal chi, heavenly chi, it was the same thing and yet different. Like spring water compared to brackish water from a pond, such was the difference. Both might sustain the body, but one was better than the other by far.

His body began to heal, self-inflicted wounds closing.

Heavenly tribulation and test, but also, opportunity. If one knew how to look, if one was meant to deal with it.

A third lightning bolt gathered, high above. This one, stronger than ever; and yet that same sense of intent filled it. Wu Ying understood, as he allowed the winds to bear him upwards, as his senses expanded and the winds whispered the secrets of the world outside.

There.

And there.

When the third tribulation arrived, Wu Ying caught it; not with his sword but with his hand. Absorbing a portion of the energy directly through his aura as it descended, reducing its strength every passing moment and rejuvenating himself.

He caught the attack with his upraised left hand, absorbing it direct. Taking it in, that last impediment, that last wall to the Heavens no more than a simple benediction now. Firm in his understanding and place, immortal soul and body merged together, such that there was nowhere for the tribulation to latch onto before he broke it apart.

A dao of acceptance and learning, of growth by facing trials and tribulations, of searching for opportunities and refusing to turn from calamities had nothing to fear from a mere heavenly tribulation. It was but nourishment.

High above, the clouds dispersed, their fury deposited. A gentle guiding hand now took control, pulling them inwards, filtering immortal chi and sending it streaming towards Wu Ying.

Once, the Never Empty Wine Pot, then the (???) Breath, and now, nothing more than his dao. A technique made conceptual strength.

Eyes closed, he reveled in the energy streaming within, his body healing at an astounding pace. So much energy gathered here, now rededicated to himself. Pain that had lingered for weeks, months, years; disappearing under the onslaught.

Soul and body one, there was no longer a gap between.

He was healed. 

He was whole.

He was immortal.

***

Yang Mu wiped at her tears, stemmed them as they threatened to spill outwards still. Watched as he floated high above, having forgotten her. She could not help but stare at him, her heart filled with gratitude and joy, though a shadow of pain lurked.

He was an immortal now, one of the few that had succeeded. 

He had climbed the highest mountain any mortal could ever face.

And now, Wu Ying leave.

That was the way of the Heavens, the way of such things. Though they had spoken otherwise, immortals had little time or space for mortals. 

Her heart ached for it, though she refused to let him see.

It was his moment of joy, not hers.

So when he descended at long last, she put on a smile and ran to him, wrapping him in a tight hug. Showered him with kisses and let him brush the tears away from her face. Let him kiss her in return, to hold her close till he was ready to let her go.

“You’re healed? You’re good?” she asked.

“I am.” She frowned at him, knowing when he was lying. “Mostly.” He corrected, moments later. “I need more immortal chi. Need to move away from here,” a glance towards where the portal was now hidden, but which still pulled at the chi from all around, even if the gateway itself had closed for the most part, “and find some place quieter.”

“A mountaintop?”

“Yes.”

Obviously, the closest to the heavens. Though… “Not higher, right? Not till you’re healed?”

“Yes.” He hesitated then, and she waited, knowing there was something more. “There’s a feeling, a message if you will, in the last strike.” Wu Ying’s eyebrows crinkled, deepening the crease in his gabella as he frowned. “I’m being requested to present myself.”

“To the Heavens,” she murmured, nodding slowly. “That’s why immortals all leave after they ascend.”

He hesitated, and she glared at him, knowing what he was thinking. “Don’t you dare. You can’t just ignore such a summons, not without rebelling.”

“I know. Of course I know.”

Still, she was doubtful, so she stepped away. He might be more solid, more sure of himself than ever, more real to all her senses, but he was still the fool she knew too. A fool who might spite the Heavens just because they asked him.

“You should go. You can’t make them wait too long,” she said.

“But you…”

“I’ll be fine.” A gesture all around, taking in the surroundings, the lurking cultivators who even now were taking care of Baba Fang’s body. “They won’t bother me. Not after knowing you have survived.”

“Your parents…”

“Will be fine too. They were long before, and you shouldn’t be meddling. Not anymore.”

He pursed his lips and she knew he wanted to protest, so she kissed him. Hard and long, putting all the love and passion and longing she felt into it, such that when they broke apart he was a little breathless and red. 

It still thrilled her heart, to be able to do that to him.

“Go. Trust me.” She used those two words like her fans, cutting off any further objection. Making him choose, even as she lied to him.

“I’ll be back, once I can. I promise.”

“Of course you will.” She put all the trust she had in him into her voice, ignoring the doubts and knowledge that lurked in her mind.

Damn fool still heard them. “I will,” he insisted.

“I know. Now go.”

One last look, before he rose upwards. He made it a dozen feet, before he dropped. She watched as he extracted the jade pendant, the one that etched their names together and handed it to her. 

“I will be back, with a way for you to ascend.”

One last kiss, and he was gone, leaving her to clutch the pendant and the broken pieces of her heart as she watched him float away, green robes flapping around him, taller and more regal than ever. A man who had found his place among the heavens, who had found his dao and stepped into another plan entirely.

Leaving her and his friends and her behind, as he must.

She couldn’t even call it a tragedy, because it was always going to end this way. One did not love a shooting star and expect it to land.

###

The End