Chapter 351: Realities

~~~

Su Daji dashes across the Dead Plains.

The sky is devoid of clouds, allowing the sun’s harsh light to blast the land without mercy. There are no pretty flowers to be seen anymore. They left those along with the temple several hours ago. Instead, rust-colored earth spreads in all directions, with barely any hills or slopes in sight. It is as if a giant hand descended from the heavens a long time ago and flattened the land to its satisfaction.

Su Daji loves it. The hot air rushing against her face, the hard ground under her feet, and the vastness of the space around her. All of it makes her heart leap with joy. It doesn’t matter that this desolate wasteland is supposed to bring misery and death to those who dare enter it. For her, this is a place of endless freedom.

A part of her desperately wishes to run on all fours, but she refrains from it. Her ears and tails may have already popped out, but that’s a matter of comfort. She is a lady first, and ladies do not run like animals.

Even if the idea feels so incredibly fun.

…

No! Su Daji shakes her head, banishing the thought to the darkest corners of her mind. The part of her that is Su An blames Daji. The part of her that is Daji blames Su An, which is incredibly unfair. She is not the one whose need to indulge in every debauched thing was so great that it became a way of life.

She frowns.

Things would be so much easier if she could just be Su An. She even feels more Su An than Daji most days. Boss sharing his memories with her only helped in that regard, yet it is still Daji’s name she goes by. The thing clings to her beyond reason.

Once upon a time, the Wandering Wind told her a person’s soul is molded by the choices they make throughout their life, but she wonders if that holds true for someone like her. Before she was herself, she was already two different people, and one of those two souls, though far more faded than the other, weighs on her so very much.

A worm pops out from the ground.

Su Daji easily leaps out of the way, not having missed the beast’s Qi as it moved underground. Its flabby, grotesque body casts a large shadow on the Dead Plains as it rises from its hole. The Spirit Beast turns in her direction with its mouth open, showing countless rows of sharp teeth.

[Ground Contraction]

A burst of speed. A slash of her claws. The massive worm is instantly killed, and its body collapses into countless slices. Su Daji immediately flares some Qi around her hand to destroy any goo that might have gotten on her skin.

At that exact moment, he strikes.

With swiftness one would never associate with something of that size, Soaring Feather descends on the worm’s corpse. Its claws, powerful enough to tear a person in half with a gentle squeeze, glint in sunlight before digging into the spirit beast’s flesh and pulling out a small object no larger than an eyeball, the worm’s core.

A beat of giant wings follows. As suddenly as the large beast comes down, it rises. The whole thing happens in the blink of an eye. Never once does Soaring Feather touch the ground or stop moving.

Su Daji blinks.

Twice.

“You thieving chicken!” She yells, shaking her fist at the bird. “That was my kill! That core is mine! Come down immediately!”

Despite Soaring Feather already being dozens of yards above the ground, Su Daji can still see as the bird turns his head in her direction. The smugness in the overgrown chicken’s dumb eyes is unmistakable.

“I have seniority!” she yells, her tails bristling behind her.

Not as a pet, obviously. That would be ridiculous, but she is the one who has known Boss the longest. Doesn’t that count for something? Can’t this dumb, opportunistic bird respect something so basic?

Soaring Feather’s form descends. Its speed decreases. The claw in which he holds the spirit beast’s core begins to open.

Su Daji’s hand reaches out.

Soaring Feather tosses the core up and swallows it. Despite the limitations of having a bird face, he manages to smile smugly at her.

In the emptiness of the Dead Plains, a hundred ghostly flames howl as they rise to the skies.

~~~

Liu Jin closes his eyes as Soaring Feather squawks while desperately trying to avoid all the projectiles thrown at him. The eagle’s eyes seek his, pleading for his help.

Liu Jin closes the curtains on the wagon.

“…Shouldn’t we… help?” Big Nose Li asks.

“No,” Liu Jin replies, grabbing a pillow and fluffing it. “Soaring Feather brought that on himself. This will teach him prudence.”

“A wise attitude,” Big Sister Bai says. To the side, a sleepy Marrow lets out a low growl, which sounds like agreement.

Ever since Soaring Feather reached his species’ equivalent of the teenage years, he’s had a bit of an attitude problem. It was about time he found out what happened when he crossed the wrong person.

Besides, Liu Jin thinks as he hears Su Daji’s joyful laughter and is reminded of simpler times, who is he to deprive his friend of her fun?

~~~

The Flame-Wheeled Wagons land safely, and all step outside to watch. Big Nose Li’s mouth is hanging open. Su Daj’s eyes have become as wide as dinner plates. Soaring Feather, who sports quite a few bruises, looks like he wants to bury his head in the ground. Marrow has already hidden under Liu Jin’s robes. Even Big Sister Bai radiates noticeable nervousness.

“I believe,” Liu Jin says, “that we found the place where they last fought.”

Su Daji snorts. Big Nose Li lets out a hysterical giggle.

There is a gigantic hole in the Dead Plains. Though they are standing on the edge, they cannot see the other side. It is a black chasm that stretches as far as the eye can see.

Su Daji tosses a stone into it and waits.

Unsurprisingly, they cannot hear it hit the bottom. The hole is big enough to fit an entire province inside it… maybe more than one. It must be miles deep.

“This was done by Elder Brother’s All-Consuming Heavenly Void,” Liu Jin says.

“You sound certain,” Bai Wen says.

“Look at the edges,” Liu Jin says, kneeling down and running his finger over the edge. “They are too smooth for this to be the result of an explosion. I am certain we’d have felt it in our countries if that were the case. However, this type of precision is exactly what you’d expect from the Xiao Sect’s All-Consuming Heavenly Void.”

“No, but that would be…” Big Nose Li struggles and fails to find the words to express himself. As a member of the Xiao Sect, he knows more about the Xiao Sect’s techniques than most. That is why he understands how outrageous Liu Jin’s theory is.

Though made for large-scale destruction, All Consuming Heavenly Void does so in an overwhelmingly controlled way. The technique creates a distortion across a large area, destroying everything within it but no further. No matter where one is standing within the technique, the level of force they are subjected to is always the same. Such precision and potency demand far more energy than more brutish displays of power.

Most of the time, that doesn’t really matter. Actual battles between high-level cultivators tend to revolve around focused applications of Qi and eventually become clashes of Dao. Large displays of destruction are used mostly for showmanship.

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That such a large chasm was made with All Consuming Heavenly Void means…

Liu Jin shakes his head. No wonder Senior Brother Lotus said he had to rethink his ideas about the strength of Emperor Realm cultivators. The technique used by Lord Feng Gui that threatened to destroy Imperial Cloud City now seems overwhelmingly restrained by comparison.

“High-level cultivators are walking calamities. You should already understand that more than most,” Bai Wen tells them. “Each one of you has the power to destroy an entire city and more. You are not ignorant of it, but you have yet to truly internalize that knowledge. Because you have achieved in less than two decades what has taken others centuries, you do not understand the depths of your power. You have never once allowed it to run wild.”

Big Nose Li opens his mouth. At first, he hesitates. Big Sister Bai’s beauty, position, and power all intimidate him.

However, he pushes through.

“How can you say I have never used my power?” He protests. “I have given it my all in battle plenty of times!”

“You misunderstand,” Big Sister Bai says. “I do not doubt you have been pushed beyond your limits. The issue lies in the way we have been taught to use our power.”

She raises her hand. Blue Qi glows around it, and frost begins to form. A sword of ice appears in her hand.

“By carefully flowing my Qi through my meridians, I can empower my body. By molding it, I can give my Qi the properties of ice. We have all been taught similar things. These are all efficient ways to use our Qi. However, as we grow in power, they become bindings. We become so accustomed to always using our energy in the most efficient way, that we become blind to the realities of our power. This is not done maliciously. It is inarguably the best and safest way to learn. A cultivator who cannot control their power is an embarrassment. Regardless, it leaves a blind spot that must be rectified. Observe.”

Big Nose Li’s knees hit the ground.

Sweat shines on his face, and tears fall from his eyes as his entire body is seized by primal fear. His fingers dig into the ground as he tries and fails to pull himself up. He cannot even raise his head. Next to him, Su Daji’s knees are already on the ground. She valiantly tries to keep the rest of her body upright using her tails as support. Soaring Feather thrashes on the ground, trying to take flight and failing to muster the strength. Marrow can only let out pitiful whines.

Big Sister Bai has not used any technique, nor is she aiming any intent at them. The thing responsible for their extreme reactions is nothing more and nothing less than her aura in its rawest form, free of all the restraints cultivators naturally and without thinking exert over their Qi. It is a geyser that erupts without end, spreading her power for countless miles. Her Qi surrounds them. It smothers them and extinguishes their will. All without any action on her part.