Chapter 364: Standpoint

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Those who stand in tall places can see further out. The principle applies to many things, and cultivation is not an exception. The more your cultivation advances, the more you can perceive of the world around you. That is why the majority of the Storm Dragon Empire can remain in blissful sleep. They cannot sense the warring energies in the air. They do not realize there is a war happening.

Lei Cheng does.

It is faint, but he can feel it. The vibrations in the air, the odd heat, the echoes in the wind. All of them are aftereffects of countless clashes of Qi along the border. It must be a fierce battle. Emperor Qing Jin and all his military advisors are in the midst of tense discussion, planning, and strategizing.

Meanwhile, he is just here. Sitting on one of Storm Dragon Palace’s many roofs and looking at the horizon. There are storm clouds in the distance, and he wants nothing more than to run towards them. He is the prodigy of the Lei Clan and a veteran of the civil war. Sure, he only fought in the last couple of days of the conflict, but his strength dwarfs that of regular soldiers and even most commanders. He should be out there.

He is not. Even though begged and knelt until his forehead touched the ground, Emperor Qing Jin’s mind would not be swayed.

“You are young. If the country is to have a future, people like you need to survive.”

Being told that by someone whose age is not that different from his is weird, but also oddly fitting. Emperor Qing Jin has always felt like someone far older than the age of his bones. No matter how much he dislikes his judgment, Lei Cheng does not dare disobey. He looks at the horizon once more and lets out a deep sigh.

“You can come out,” he says. “I can almost hear your fidgeting.”

A startled jump rattles the many tiles on the roof. It is a welcome distraction from the battle raging at the edge of his senses. A young boy steps out into the moonlight. His golden eyes almost seem to shine with a light of their own.

“Sorry,” says Feng Hao of the Eternal Flame Clan. “I couldn’t sleep either. I didn’t realize anyone would be here.”

Lei Cheng’s first reaction is to feel annoyed at Feng Hao for assuming the two are in similar situations. His second reaction is to feel annoyed upon realizing that Feng Hao is right. Though very young, Feng Hao is also someone who is more qualified than most to fight.

“It is fine,” he says. “You can sit if you want.”

The child—who has bested him three times already—hesitates only for a couple of seconds before sitting next to him. He says nothing, but his body radiates nervous Qi.

“If you have something to say, say it,” Lei Cheng says.

“How do you stand being… I mean, how do you handle… being here and not there?” Feng Hao asks, pointing to the horizon. “It feels like things are going well, but that could easily change at any moment.”

Lei Cheng stares at Feng Hao for a couple of seconds. It feels like things are going well? How can he possibly know that? The best Lei Cheng can do is feel the echoes of the disturbances caused by the many clashing energies on the border, yet this kid can tell them apart and identify which side is winning?

A bitter smile appears on his face as he realizes the truth.

Those who stand in tall places can see further out.

“It doesn’t matter,” he says. “Not to us. Even if things go poorly, they will never send us out there. You know this.”

Feng Hao frowns.

“Even so…”

Even so, he knows he can make a difference. Lei Cheng does not need Feng Hao to say it because he has been thinking the same thing ever since the war became a possibility.

“You’re not special,” Lei Cheng says instead, both to Feng Hao and to himself. “Do you think that just because you’re a prodigy chosen by two Inheritances, you have a right to enter the battlefield? Don’t be ridiculous. People like General Nie Dan are waiting for their turn, and I hear one of the Five Fairies will be joining us soon enough. Compared to them, why should our meagre strength matter? The Emperor has done us a kindness. Don’t you trust your master?”

He tries to keep the envy out of his voice, but he’s not sure how successful he ends up being. It’s not as if he wants to be the Emperor’s disciple or anything, but the Emperor choosing a foreigner and such a young one at that…It is a little annoying. Luckily, it does not seem as if Feng Hao notices.

“Of course, I trust him,” Feng Hao says.

“Then that’s that,” Lei Cheng says, shrugging. “The Emperor has seen further than us. He has weighed things on a scale and decided that this is the place where we should be. Giants are waiting to take their place on that stage. We are nothing to them, so we must accept the Emperor’s wisdom and remain here, hoping that one day we’ll be able to repay him.”

Feng Hao’s golden eyes examine him in silence, as if trying to find falsehood in him. There is none. He said all the proper things. A man would have to be a fool to have any objections.

“…You hate it too, don’t you?” Feng Hao asks.

Lei Cheng barks out a laugh.

“With all my heart.”

~~~

Serene End is annoyed.

The better the soldiers of the Storm Dragon Empire do against the puppets, the more certain she becomes that she has been used. She needs to do something about that, but killing the Heart Demon and its master comes first.

Her body shifts. Her lower half grows and lengthens until she stands on four pointed ends, almost like a skeletal horse. Her upper body stays mostly the same, but the curved blades on her arms melt back into her flesh and are replaced by two long lances of bone.

[Fashioning Death: Unrivaled Gallop]

The green ogre stands its ground as she charges. Its six mighty arms, armed with oversized cleavers, try to cut her down, but the reach of her lance is far longer. Her weapon strikes the beast, and a mighty impact rings throughout the battlefield. The ogre’s skin cracks and breaks, yet the dumb creature refuses to yield. It digs its legs into the ground to endure and brings down its cleavers.

She pushes.

The ogre is lifted off its feet. The lance digs deeper into its body as Serene End speeds up. However, it is not just the acceleration that is causing damage. The lance is growing, sprouting spikes of bone inside the ogre’s body. The ogre tries to disappear into mist like it did before, but a pulse of Serene End’s Qi denies the puppeteer.

The arts of the Temple of the Thousand Shadows are effective against the Death Fashioning Scripture. That is an unfortunate truth that cannot be denied. Their puppets lack flesh and bones for them to manipulate, and the same is true for their twisted Heart Demons. Even as Serene End’s lance sprouts countless spikes inside the green ogre, there are no organs or muscles for her to damage. The whole thing is just a mass of energy.

However, she already knew that. The Death Fashioning Scripture has had to coexist with the Temple of the Thousand Shadows for four thousand years. That means they have had four thousand years to adapt. When Serene End’s lance pierces the ogre, her Qi resonates with it to keep the beast in place. Then, the beat of her Qi expands.

Heart Demons are more personal creations than puppets. No matter how much the Disciples of the Temple of the Thousand Shadows try to disguise it, they cannot eliminate the link that exists between a shadow and the one who casts it. As Serene End parries the cleavers trying to slash her down, her Qi follows the link to its source.

Immediately, she’s rewarded by a cry of pain miles away. Her lance withdraws from the ogre, and she crosses the distance in the blink of an eye. The puppeteer’s previously hidden Qi flares angrily across the land. Flesh is cut and tossed away before the infection can spread.

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Serene End smirks behind her mask of bone.

The actions of a person dictate the actions of his shadow, but when it comes to Heart Demons, what happens to the shadow can affect the person as well. The moment she found the link between the two, it became possible for her to use it to send her technique through it.

“You dare sully my body with your foul arts!” the disciple of the Thousand Shadows cries. Already, his body is becoming one with his Heart Demon, growing large and sprouting multiple arms.

“Is someone who dallies with Heart Demons really fit to complain about anyone sullying his body?” Serene End wonders.

The Temple of the Thousand Shadows looks down on them for using dead flesh for their arts. However, no matter how much she twists and experiments with her body, her soul remains pure. Meanwhile, those from the Temple of the Thousand Shadows twist their souls with Heart Demons. The thing in front of her is the result, flesh completely taken over by the corruption of the soul.

“We knew your lust for forbidden knowledge would prove stronger than anything else, and we were right,” the disciple says. “You dared to attack me directly. You have discarded our treaties and made us your enemy!”

Serene End laughs.

“Are you really saying that when you are the ones who have started a war with a country on this side of the Dead Plains?” She asks. “How does that line up with your vaunted love for the rules?”

“You’re the ones who infected this country first!” the disciple shouts back. “It all starts with you! You’re an infection!”

“Maybe so, but we have never hidden what we are,” Serene End says. “If you need to be removed to fulfill our goals, so be it.”

“So you admit it,” he says. “You will stand against us.”

“Whether I admit it or not, it doesn’t matter,” Serene End says, shrugging.

Directly attacking a disciple of the Temple of the Thousand Shadows is not something she is particularly happy about. While the Elders are bound to approve of her actions, she doesn’t doubt that they will try to punish her in some way for the sake of appearances. However, there is a very simple way to prevent that.

“If I kill all of you, there will be no one to tell the story.”

“You think you can defeat this Oaken Shadow?”

Serene End throws her head back and laughs.