Note: Part 1 has also been updated and cleaned up a bit.
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“A cultivator, however… Most cultivators, even the most powerful, retain a certain level of humility because of the older, more powerful cultivators around them. For you and your wife, that is nearly nonexistent with your father gone. Now that he is, what’s holding you back?
Leaning forward with unexpected sw...
2023-02-06 14:13:20 +0000 UTC View PostOutwardly Huifen was as being as soft and longsuffering as she knew how to be, but her spirit was disquieted, and her trepidation only grew. As they played, Chao came out of himself and even seemed to enjoy it at times. She didn’t let up or let him go off and do his own thing. Never had he put himself in danger during his cultivation until now. He was the most careful, mindful person she’d ...
2023-02-03 19:23:29 +0000 UTC View PostThe next chapter should be up tomorrow. I've been doing some landscaping/gardening and breathed in too much pollen/dust. I've had the chemicals in store-bought soil do me in before, but I just dug out a garden bed. Left me a mess. It's like giving yourself a sinus infection. fever included. Blah.
The next few chapters will follow Chao's recovery/reaction to what happened so I'm making s...
She rarely slept, and Chao knew she wasn’t sleeping now, but he was just as gentle as if she had been as he lifted her off his chest and laid her down on the matting they’d placed on the ground.
“Where are you going?” She whispered without opening her eyes.
“For a walk. I’ll stay on this floor. I just have some thinking to do.”
“Okay.”
He did as he said...
2023-01-27 01:51:15 +0000 UTC View PostThey returned to the sixth floor of the Divine Spire in their own little quiet corner of the world. They’d both wished to be the ones to catch the murderer, murderers in this case, and now they both regretted the circumstances in which it had happened.
Neither one of them had spoken since they arrived. They sat facing each other. Chao didn’t seem to notice her presence and Huifen was ...
2023-01-26 20:34:19 +0000 UTC View PostEven after his Huifen had arrived and he’d given Sage Pangfua his preliminary telling of events, Chao struggled to banish the dark thoughts from his mind. He’d seen death and tragedy. He remembered his mother’s broken body with vivid clarity that few of his other memories carried from that time in his life. It was natural to do so. Heightened emotions focused the mind in a way few other t...
2023-01-25 18:02:07 +0000 UTC View Post
Here we go!
Narrated by: MacLeod Andrews
Release date: 03-07-23
Length: 17 h...
2023-01-24 19:12:16 +0000 UTC View PostHuifen studied the demoness’s qi as they faced off. She’d called it death qi and there was certainly something corrupt and fading about it. Much like decay. As furious as she might be, Heart of Ice stayed her hand. She was far too familiar now with poisons not to treat this woman like a true threat. Who so easily traded their own lifespan for power.
The masked woman slashed o...
2023-01-24 17:46:09 +0000 UTC View Post“Divine Master? This voice called you that?” Sage Pangfua asked.
“Yes,” Chao replied.
The three sages and Mother Sya sat face each other in the middle of the Ice Phoenix Palace’s mobile cultivation chamber.
Pangfua remained statuesque as she contemplated their story and the translucent card’s information the voice had called a ticket. “When will you take possessi...
2023-01-23 17:58:36 +0000 UTC View PostChao made it a habit to meet with Father Tu once a week to go “treasure hunting” with the man. It was within the Divine Spire, so much of their time was spent on the first and seconds floors exploring the different trials. Tu’s favorite stations were the puzzles, however.
If someone thought less of his father-in-law because of this, they could only find out the hard way if the sough...
2023-01-20 15:44:42 +0000 UTC View PostJust as they spent some time each day playing for the cultivating disciples on the third floor, they spent time with their chosen group of disciples on the second. As they did, Huifen spent much of her personal efforts on trying to better understand the nature laws.
The more time she spent trying to understand nature, the clearer her water and ice laws became. She was beginning to think t...
2023-01-19 18:05:39 +0000 UTC View Post“Do you think I should consider Fairy Eu-meh my disciple?”
Huifen gave her husband a suspicious look from where she sat in the nature meditation chamber on the second floor. He’d already played his music for the Ice and Fire Phoenix disciples this morning. It had been nearly a week since Dvora of the Night Pearl Sect had drugged him, but the pang of jealously still stung. She was te...
2023-01-18 16:09:25 +0000 UTC View PostThey next saw Dvora the next day sitting on the bench in the fire cultivation chamber with her face veiled. She didn’t make any movement in the presence, even after Chao began to play. He had to focus extra hard to keep the feelings of anger out of his music. Thankfully he’d already played in the water cultivation chamber, so his heart and mind were in a good state to face her.
How lo...
2023-01-11 15:58:07 +0000 UTC View PostChao’s symptoms were starting to clear half an hour later. It was a potent drug, but not long lasting. His desires weren’t a good gauge to use since his Huifen often inspired such feelings even without the drug. He could tell he was almost back to normal when his breathing started to slow and he cooled down.
Even though he’d pulled back from his possible seductress, his guilt was as...
2023-01-09 16:37:35 +0000 UTC View Post“Brother Tao. Sister Fen,” Core Disciple Shoi-ming greeted from where he sat.
“Senior Brother,” Chao replied, saluting him. Shoi-ming was the current number one disciple of the Fire Phoenix Sect and nearing the peak of the Sky Realm.
Li Qiang hopped up from his seat and ran over to him. “Brother,” he said, then leaned close and whispered. “I’ve let everyone know what...
2023-01-07 18:15:38 +0000 UTC View PostChao played a new song as he descended from the fourth floor. It was a little suspect that an earth realm cultivator and his wife had been spending so much time in the higher floors, but both of their cultivations looked abnormal at a glance to this part of Lifestone so they made a show of ignoring their onlookers. Chao’s golden core was obviously unique, but Huifen’s glistened unlike any i...
2023-01-06 15:20:34 +0000 UTC View PostFinally, Chao had reached his peak. His Huifen had started circulating his mother’s old medically inspired, qi-gathering technique before he had. They’d both made a practice of it because it cleansed a person as much as purifying pills if done consistently. He also knew Huifen just liked the way it made her feel.
He committed himself to circulating it for a quarter of an hour. It was ...
2023-01-04 15:40:26 +0000 UTC View PostThey appeared in the vacuum of space. Quinyuan felt her husband’s perceptions scan her before quickly moving on. He’d trained her in what to do to survive open space. Breathing was impossible, so it required one to rely solely on their qi to sustain them. The only real difficulty was learning to breathe without breathing. It was not pleasant, especially the first time. She turned and found ...
2022-12-28 16:53:07 +0000 UTC View PostWhat's up with the delays, man?
For the last six months or so, I've been secretly working on extending the Heaven's Laws universe. I've already mentioned that I was considering doing an Avengers-esque mashup with multiple characters. I can tell you now that eventually, I mean years down the line, that will be a reality. I have much of the Heaven's Laws series major events plotted out.
They set up their arrays on the sixth floor between murals in the most unassuming spot they could find. Very few people came here in the first place other than peak sky realm cultivators and overlords. Besides Pangfua, Elder Harnish was the only sage in the spire, and there were a few sky realm cultivators that might come. The fifth floor was more attractive because of its trials and similar qi...
2022-12-20 15:36:41 +0000 UTC View PostThey made their way to the third floor without any incident, passing more than ten people at the middle trial station. Chao lowered his sound barrier so that their conversation would carry. He doubted whoever had attacked their people would be foolish enough to attack again so soon, but he certainly hoped he was wrong.
The third floor was different than the first two. Like the second floo...
2022-12-19 16:12:31 +0000 UTC View PostAs they ascended, Chao surrounded them all with a sound barrier. “We should probably keep any discussion about Huifen and my identity to a minimum, but its safe for the moment to ask us any questions,” he sounded.
“Thank you, Brother Tao,” Fair Daiyu replied loud enough for the other fairies to hear. She was purposely setting the example.
A fairy of the Fire Phoenix Sect he ...
2022-11-29 21:54:54 +0000 UTC View PostThey were soon given a full telling of what had happened. Huifen caught the detail that all of the disciples attacked had been females. It wasn’t just the four from their joint sect either. There had been seven attacks all together. Including a Fire Phoenix Sect disciple, three disciples had died. All of the others had also been female.
The question was, why did they discriminate? At lo...
2022-11-28 17:49:54 +0000 UTC View PostSya continued squeezing them both for a long moment. She stepped back and took them in. Her gaze landed on Chao and he saw what remained of the woman’s icy demeanor melt.
“Son-in-law, this one is pleased to see you in good health. Are there any lingering side effects from the poison, or have you completely recovered?”
He bowed deeply to her. “This one is pleased to see you, ...
2022-11-17 13:11:05 +0000 UTC View PostThey drew near on foot, and the sheer size of the tower became clear. It was a round building, as wide as all but the Ice Phoenix Palace. It was one of the few remaining structures left from this ancient civilization. No other place was more visited.
“It is called simply the Divine Spire, for no one knows the name of the sect or cultivator that it belonged to,” Huifen said to Yu-Yan...
2022-11-15 20:08:59 +0000 UTC View PostWe're back from vacation and I got a lot of writing done. What I didn't have is a secure way of uploading, so I'll be doing that over the next few days. There should be a chapter out Monday - Friday this week. Possibly Saturday. Just uploaded the next one.
Cheers!
Happy Friday!
It's that time of the year again where I go on vacation. It's more of a work-cation for me, so you can still expect chapters. I'll be working half days most likely, so I'm guess I'll get about three chapters out between now and next Friday. I'm sitting on one right now that I'll probably get out tomorrow.
Cheers!
2022-11-04 14:11:28 +0000 UTC View PostAfter the recent attack, the town was quick to mobilize at the mayor’s request. It took little more than an hour for everyone including the elderly to come and find a seat. There were only about five hundred of them in total. It seemed many people had already left the town after the attack.
When Huifen asked Chao if he wanted to address the crowd, he asked if she would do it. It didn’...
2022-11-01 18:05:09 +0000 UTC View PostWhen his wife looked at him, he knew what she was thinking. This army of ghosts must have been lingering spirits recently killed by cultivators visiting the monoliths. “Why are there so many?” His Huifen asked.
“Who’s to tell,” the waitress replied. “Someone in town may have scorned a traveling group of adventurers and they sought revenge, or someone was just being careless....
2022-11-01 14:26:15 +0000 UTC View PostChao awoke with the noonday sun glaring down on him. He examined his body with his perceptions and concluded he’d mostly recovered, but he wasn’t feeling as energetic as was typical for him. It would probably be a few more days until he felt like his normal self.
“Good morning, husband,” Huifen said from a seated position by his side. It wasn’t close enough that it looked like s...
2022-11-01 01:26:21 +0000 UTC View Post