The Fourth Wall - Chapter 42 preview

Author's Note - Surprise! An additional chapter since I wasn't going to leave you hanging like that from the previous chapter. Granted I did wait a few hours because why not? 😉

Wu Ying had been blind, not just to his own needs but to the world around him He had missed it, his own path because he had rushed, from one fortunate encounter to the next, thinking it was all a matter of fate. Taking the easy path, onwards.

Never creating a stable understanding beneath him, and so, he stumbled, at the final step.

Only now, dying by inches, bleeding out from dozens of self-inflicted wounds could he see the shape of what he had missed. Regret, washing through him, even as he wondered if it was too late. Too late to fix the matter, too late to embrace it.

The wind was everywhere, but it had never been enough.

Understanding had come, in fits and starts, from travel and return both.

Oh, so rarely from the books he had read, from the tomes of wisdom from numerous libraries he had walked. Techniques and masteries, certainly – but enlightenment?

No. 

Traversing the land behind the Sect, meeting the pixiu for the first time.

Stepping into a new land, outside of the kingdom of Shen and receiving the benedictions of the Heavens.

In the north, in lands so few humans had ever experienced, after seeing a sight perhaps a handful of mortals might have ever been graced by.

Returning to the Sect, to the realization that sometimes, non-action in itself was wiser than action. 

In the east, after being thrown from side-to-side by a dozen dragons, thrown aside and tasting freedom and fear in equal measure.

Blades, crossing with figures that blended together - father, master, sword saint.

And finally, in the south. Embracing both rebellion and enlightenment at the same time.

New places, new people, new experiences.

A thousand thousand li he had walked, and in so doing, had grown. Ten thousand thousand li more to traverse, and ever so many more people to meet. He could not embrace the Dao, not in this state, not fully – but the winds had taught him how to expand.

So he did, once more. Allowed his immortal body to disperse a little, parting way as he accepted that immortal soul – all of it that was left, all of it that needed to come in. To rebuild himself, not as a man who believed or embodied the winds.

But an immortal that was still learning, still growing.

A dao of growth and travel, of learning that could never stop.

Greed, much like the hunger hanging over him. 

A familiar hunger, something he had felt once before. He struggled to look up, to see it. 

A creature, bounding across the space, desperate to reach the cultivators. Infinite want and desire reflected in those large pupils, that body that kept coming for them all, never intending to stop.

Staff rising, breaking against it. Sending the body flying, only for the creature to return, bounding forwards. Wu Ying with his jian, thrusting forwards as he fell back, knowing he was dead. Knowing he could not beat it, would be killed and consumed and only trying to buy time. Faced with his own death, he chose not to run.

Faced with a never-ending hunger, he matched it with his own desire.

Taotei.

This one, it was no mere Core Formation creature. This was a fully ripened monster, shackled to the earth, nails the size of a building pillar embedded into the very mountain. Chains, wrapped around the body, around neck and legs and embedded via spikes through its form, enchantments and runes glowing along each link. Forged tight to hold the monster still, to lock it in place.

The only thing able to move, its mouth. Opened wide, consuming - always eating, always drawing it in - again and again. Sucking the world down, sucking existence into itself. Tears gleaming in crazed eyes, tears that disappeared down its own throat moments later as it roared and ate in a never-ending flurry.

A monster whose hunger was legendary. 

Greed to take it all, to grow never-ending.

And there, facing it; Wu Ying found another facet.

Not enough to grow, for himself.

Not enough to rebel, for his own sake.

Not enough to succeed, without his friends.

Growth without purpose, without empathy, without charity and return was but the senseless actions of a taotei. A beast’s success.

He shuddered, as soul and body slotted into place. His existence, solidifying, merging.

Immortal body and immortal soul, no longer separate. 

Portions of the wind, of the needs of heavens or the vagaries of mortal winds carved away.

Portions of a soul, fed on glimmers of universal enlightenment and grown in rebellion to the pressures of existence, pared down.

Fitting together, though gaps still existed.

Incomplete, but whole.

Immortal... but not judged.

Not yet.