Whenever Fu gained so semblance of understanding, the Heavens sought to make him a fool once more.
Hua had severed her [Spirit].
Her soul.
How such a thing could co to be- it was unimaginable to Fu, and yet, the [Cherry River Sage] had done so.
To free her [Spirit] from its vault, attached or sequestered as it was from the spire of her [Primordial Law], he would need his own. It was rely the how of it all that vexed him, for such things were surely more profound than he might manage.
A night passed, and in the morning the [Primordial Realm] welcod him back.
The spires were as they always were. Shifting titans laden with the silhouettes of those that stood upon them.
Claimants of law.
However, this visit was novel in that he did not need to search for what he sought. It seed that with an affirmation in his heart, he could readily find it. Such was the oddity of this realm of [Spirit] and Heavenly energies.
Hua’s voice ca as a guide, but offered no suggestion. “A [Primordial Law] is beyond the [Dao]. Where individual [Dao Principles] draw from the highest [Pool] of insight, these control the fundantal rules of this reality. A [Dao] is understanding, bent to one’s whim, where the bearers of a [Primordial Law] are those that establish authority over the concept itself. Is this understood?”
All three nodded firmly.
“To reveal Heaven’s secrets this way is distasteful. Bah, a thing of this scale ought to be earned. From what I know of your concept, oaf, this lecture must ring distastefully. Hmm. But no delays must be had when the Gao clan walk blind,” she continued. “Heed this, and commit it to mory. Three forces exist to push against those that walk this path.”
Surely these words were among Heaven’s most hallowed. Indeed they demanded a respect that Fu could not grant. In place of it, he swept aside rising spires that he might better taste their resonance.
Many bodies littered the spire of… weather.
Yes.
The [Primordial Law of Weather].
Beyond that of the [Dao of Storms], or so his [Spirit] sang. To preside over that Law would grant a rule over storm and calm skies both, denying the touch of any others.
“When fresh souls begin their ascent, all upon it are aware. It is the first, mundane danger, for these intrepid talents are no [Karma]-rich fools. Old monsters that escape even the ken of this [Cherry River Sage]. Tiless fiends, millennia old Matriarchs, [Demonic] Emperors and those of an ilk with any Pillar.”
Hushi’s [Spirit] impressed a great unfathomable cold aside the [Primordial Law of Seas]. It yearned to consu them, promising ruin and treasure in equal abundance. One might get lost among its [Spiritual] waves, ebbing around the myriad silhouettes that gathered near the base.
“Second cos the [Primordial Judgents]. Unique to each spire. [Tribulations] for each step, the likes of which are tailored to the Law you will seek. No more might be said without your selection.”
The [Primordial Law of Endings] lood ahead.
Fu and Shuidi held independent thoughts on its use. Half-warring thoughts, for while it promised a definitive strength - the Fatherly [Asura] felt this was no full cycle. A Law of [Beginnings] would bring similar worries.
“Thirdmost is the burden. I know not what intricacies cultivation has revealed. Yet, Gao Fu, how Qi and [Dao] shape the [Spirit] is inconsequential against the impact of [Primordial Law],” called Hua, and on this her words grew quiet. “This blindness cannot reveal to how you have tempered yourself, thus the [Cherry River Sage] will share but one wisdom. A [Primordial Law] must be claid, do not allow it to claim you.”
In the following silence, four spires rose.
Most prominent was the [Primordial Law of Change]. Again it held enough souls that one might assu it could crumble beneath the weight of their bodies, and through so strange resonance his hand rose to touch it.
A prideful thought.
Would this not be a worthy test? It is dense, and unprofound, yet are all things not achievable?
Hushi calmly dissuaded this notion. “The petitioners are too great in number.”
Fu’s hand lowered, and in doing so the spire wisped back into nothingness. He broached the second within monts, feeling there a sensation that held strange connotations.
Joy.
No.
Again he could only parse slivers of its true nature, but he thought it more than this. Not that Joy was re, but it grew beyond that concept. To near the spire brought recollections of sweet monts; of Yuling’s first steps, far swifter than Yuqi or Feng; of he and Hushi’s first equilibrium, wherein they felt the other’s soul with greater clarity than before; i’s first kiss, shared upon the bow of his vessel; the quiet whisper as she announced what she then carried in her womb-
The douli shook vigorously.
“One might get lost in this. Gladly,” he said, his smile bittersweet. “If this Law is not of [mory], it is of [Love], surely. Though foolish, I would stake my heart on it. The [Primordial Law of Love].”
A single figure stood high there, enshrouded by four serpentine partners. That the figure was clear conjured much ponderance, and although this was no ti for such things he promised to revisit this connection later.
He rejected this spire, thus ca the third to be dealt with in the sa fashion.
Easiest of all choices.
For what more could the [Primordial Law of Winds] offer that the [Shrine of Final Skies] could not?
It did not co without consideration, for in their [Spirit] they had warred over thoughts of this ilk since their first venture into the [Primordial Realm].
Wind alone was limiting.
The fourth called out, ecstatic and damning.
One of Hushi’s arms probed its fus, recoiling as if bitten. The sensation was of a dumpling’s burning oil on the roof of one’s mouth; a jian-pierced shoulder, bandaged taught when above the corpse of one’s enemy; cultivation’s pain in [Impurities] and the agony of emptied [Channels].
Three figures crowded the spire’s base, as though no progress had been made in deciphering more than a single step.
“Grandmother?”
“To question is wise,” she humd. “An oddity, yes. The [Primordial Law of Tribulations]. A fool’s choice.”
The smirk that grew upon Fu evoked much of Long then. “A fool’s choice?”
“Ponder the [Worldly Dao], for it is not unlike it in concept. How so, as you have, chase sideward insight. How the [Dao of Reach] touches the [Dao of Gusts], but so too touches your [Dao of Wayward Breezes]. The true [Dao] is not one [Dao], yet [Primordial Law] is solely [Primordial Law]. It does not bend.”
Shuidi clacked. “Those that wield a [Primordial Law] can bend.”
“Bah. Think thus - a [Tribulation] used in fondness becos a [Boon]. Used twice, it is a kindness. The [Tribulation] used in anger becos a weapon, used twice it becos a siege. When granted to an ally, it is a blessing. When withheld from foes, it becos a curse. Is this understood, Gao Fu?”
The three lacking silhouettes upon the spire drew much attention despite their stillness.
“Does the Jianghu’s pride prevent true use? Many would use this for their own benefit, and yet, that cannot be the Path if one is to comprehend it? Selfish use would undo one’s authority?”
Faint was Hua’s surprised twitch. “This son-in-law is far greater than the son-in-law of Divine Clouded Mountain. Indeed, Gao Fu. By the Cherry River… it is as you say.”
“Then we have chosen.”
Hushi and Shuidi beca well poised, eager upon their partner’s limbs.
As one, they reached forth.
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[Imperial Realm 1,542] was of lower grade than those that pierced the Heavenly Roaming Prefecture, but held a danger far greater than any that had co before.
As if a font of unnatural blight, the [Demon Scar] there looked to have chewed the surrounding land and spit it out upon manifestation. Greying tones seized the grassland about it, decolouring- or perhaps paling in vibrancy - as the Gu from this portal eroded Heaven’s bounty.
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Fu Gao’s blade tore the third limb from a lesser [Asura] as his [Dao of Frostfall] erupted a great burst of icicles within the wound.
Trite.
The three blurred distant to see what effect this held on the slaughter at large. On this… rampage of [Demons] as they ground this Blue Imperial City into visceral paste, devoid of life, Qi and any vestiges of hope.
Elder [Gleeful Viper] should not have to trouble herself over the stain of these aberrations. Look how they bring ruin to her lands.
A cloud far above allowed them to hang in obscurity, watching as so thousand strong force erged from the yawning scar. Hosts of [Pischaca] and their prideful [Might] ford the great jaws of this rushing beast, the first, but enough.
Shuidi clacked at the growing sickness.
Hushi impressed a desire to leave this realm to its fate.
For all the myriad [Mystic Realms] they had travelled, sacked and collapsed, a [Demon Scar] was beyond their ken. However, Master Bingbai could not reap a barren realm.
Fortunate that there were those that unwittingly guarded his will.
Banners erged from the realm’s solitary [Paifang] with a leader that cared little for their presence. A cultivator’s [Senses] tempered one’s eyes into that of an eagle’s, and yet Fu Gao did not need them to know the expression on [Dour Faced Strategist’s] face.
Her bellow cut across the vastness of this falling city.
“We are not of Sects nor Halls,” it ca, quaking the very foundations. “We care not for pride. We are the first and final cut of Heaven’s might. Imperial citizens, if you are not of sufficient strength - begone! Those that feed these depraved fiends with their arrogance will be cut down first!”
Divisions of her retinue thundered into the skies, suspending there as they unveiled a sky-darkening quantity of martial weapons from spatial treasures, poising them across the skies. But these were the first among many, and further divisions erged.
[Array Masters] soared skyward behind, propagating such a weaving of [Dao Fields] that the weapon-darkened sky glistened with golden tides of [Profundity].
True martial experts bearing no hint of Heaven’s energy sward the grounds like the guardian lions of a daoist temple, resolute and unflinching.
Not a droplet of Qi was spent save for [Dour Faced Strategist’s] next words, amplified that an entire realm might hear it.
“Descend!”
A mundane marvel detonated across the Imperial Realm.
With perfect orchestration did the sky-blotting weapons fall like the javelins from a thousand, thousand throwers, projected by [Dao Fields] that multiplied, launched, accelerated and grew in concert, and…
To whistle or gasp seed most appropriate. Was Fu Gao’s heart not of ice, he might well have gaped.
“This Gao Shuidi applauds the strategist’s prudence.”
The [Spirit Crab’s] words were a vast understatent. re prudence could not recount the annihilation present across this Imperial city: the pox-marked craters that bit so many li into the earth where a sky’s tide of weapons had landed, nor the rushing of underground rivers broken free from their stony bones, the broken [Arrays] that shattered to produce unprecedented backlashes of Qi and [Profundity] nor-
Hushi spied hands scraping from the wreckage. Eight-a-piece on each of the dozen forms.
[Asura] of the greater realms. Can such an onslaught not end those beasts? Even as an ally of Yongwu Long, [Dour Faced Strategist] cannot be allowed to fall. Her stability ties much of the Phoenix lody Coalition together, keeping the errant factions at bay.
Broken stumps remained of the myriad [Pischacha], and in fresh heartbeats the [Demon Scar] thrumd with the arrival of another erging host.
Our other half plays the martial hero. This cannot be our part.
Still, they waited. [Dour Faced Strategist] would hold ans to seal this looming tragedy, and surely was not in need of a ghost’s intervention.
The three held the [Dao of Four Horizons] upon their lips and an oddity chid throughout their [Spirit].
Fu Gao blinked.
Shuidi and Hushi stilled.
Use of the [Dao] did not spend one’s soul. To call upon insight was an exercise in ntal energy, in how the mind could fathom and translate portions of these boundless [Principles].
Why then, did their [Spirit] now-
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As though a leaf alight, the [Primordial Realm] ashed before them in flas of gold.
What rose from the fus struck the three as if an immortal’s peerless fist had entered their gut.
A still golden sea with a pressure equal to the Heavens.
Fu, Hushi and Shuidi began in the waters and crumpled further. With lungs that held no need for air, they felt themselves drown. Be it Qi-rich organs, epheral flesh or purity of [Core], all suffered beneath a crushing weight of sothing.
The danger to their being furthered by the heartbeat- whatever strained thumps might be managed.
Does the [Primordial Law] manifest itself here? Or is this… is this sothing else?
It was Hushi that acted first, gathering motes of [Primordial Qi] from their [Constellation Seeds] to suffuse their [Channels].
However, they did not hold this in abundance.
[Half Cloud Step] offered no reprise, nor their [Dao of Four Horizons]. The engulfing gold reacted to naught but this trace amount of [Primordial Qi], and Fu pondered if they had indeed embraced this realm too early in their Path.
The profound nature of it was too dense to convert using the [Hundred Immunities Fruit].
And so they gasped.
Sank.
Struggled.
In monts they had reached a depth that promised ruin, although there was a small solace in the steady beat of pressure in that it did not intensify.
Are we to prove ourselves to the [Law]? Or is this rely the stage upon which we must survive to reach it?
“This Gao Shuidi thinks it matters not. To struggle like this is beneath us,” she declared, and sohow found the prescience to sneer.
But more followed her defiance.
In this place of [Spirituality] and aning her will responded to an inner force, shifting her appearance to better reflect who she had beco. From the rear of her hertic shell enlarged a gleaming, granite mass.
One as immaculate as the [Constellation Seed] she demanded manifest.
The [Hollow Ivory Splinter] spread, radiating an aura of what little [Primordial Qi] they could muster. Thus went her legs and claws in this sa fashion, though these implents were slender compared to the mass behind her.
Gentile, and oddly demure in how mists trailed from her chitinous body as if the cladding of a silken sleeves.
Fu and Hushi rose atop her shell, warded by this manifestation. “The [Constellation Seeds] are essential. Treasures of [Primordial Qi] itself, full whereas we might only draw a sliver.”
They followed their sister’s example, and further manifestations rose. Hushi willed forth the [Hundred Immunities Fruit] to dangle from one arm, held as if a beacon against encroaching darkness. Lightning from the [Heartplu of Clouded Schisms] spread thread-like within the fine fibers of Fu’s hanfu.
Now shielded, this realm’s pressure grew bearable.
[Ink] burned.
[Primordial Law of Tribulations]
No more.
The stage nor ranking of the [Ink] did not show. There rose no [Third Pool] as the [Dao] might, nor [Earthly Ascension] for his [Prowess].
[Early], [Middle], [Late] nor [Peak].
Hushi did not think acquiring a [Primordial Law] would be so simple, and simply urged patience.
Around them, the waters were… expectant.
“I do not know who holds you,” spoke Fu. “The Heavens, surely. Law. You are a force of the world. A rule. Thus I do not know who we beseech. I see no shrine to claim, nor treasure to pillage, thus we will present our [Spirit].”
The Fatherly [Asura] lowered until his palm could touch these golden waters, and through it pulsed their [Dao of Coming Tribulations].
What occasions they held for this facet of their cultivation were few and far-flung. It had lapsed since [Spring’s] Empire had required such drastic ans of training.
Yet as a blade, it had not dulled.
Clouds massed a hair’s breadth from the waters, spreading for a range of so few li so that much beca covered before lightning’s first strike.
The three poured all they had into this deluge. A thunderous cacophony ca as myriad bolts lashed the surface, and yet there showed no sign of impact, ripple or destruction as one might expect.
This realm took its taste and no more.
Sothing is amiss.
Be it through expanded [Senses] or an instinct in the rear of their minds, the three felt that this realm was not yet… ready for their presence.
Thunder cracked to their rear.
Ah.
A resonance pushed through his [Heartplu of Clouded Schisms] as Fu Gao and his halves arrived in the [Primordial Realm], bringing with them a tide of change.
Dull gold rose to emanate from the six of their chests, faintly tethering each pair. After a breath, [Constellation Seeds] enveloped this three to match the first and deny what hold the [Primordial Qi] tried to exert.
Once aside the others, the realm’s silence beckoned.
Fu Gao took asure of the situation swiftly, following suit as Gao Fu settled his palm once more atop the golden waters.
But now the waves lurched.
Six tendrils stread about their extended arms, spiralling until they t each [Core] upon each being - and rushed inward.
Fu gasped as the golden waters probed internally, inspecting [Channel], [Dao], [Constellation Seed] and thought, forcing a flurry of mories to flicker to the fore of their minds. It tithed a great emotional weight, parsing both distant and recent history; flashing the trials of [Green Blight Valley]; Thousand Shore City; the Clouded Courts; i; innurable [Mystic Realms]; innurable thrusts of the blade and lashes of their weapons.
Counts of lives taken.
Counts of injuries weathered.
Counts of monts lost.
Counts of…
The [Primordial Realm] stalled upon two great internal chains.
Twinned [Dao Oaths] set about their [Cores]. That of Hua’s enforced promise and that of their duty to the Clouded Courts.
The pair gasped as these golden waters violently retracted, bringing the realm to thunder.
[Ink] burned.
This ti the six beings could not weather it, for a catastrophe of lightning raged across their shared [Spirits], gathering from the once serene waters below. So thousand, thousand bolts ceaselessly surged and scorched every facet of their bodies in sequence, unrelenting and cruel.
No less than this is required.
Lightning reached the deepest part of Fu’s soul, playing upon the unceasing links about his twinned oaths.
Each link beca a conduit for the next arc, shining as if molten gold.
No less than this is required.
Fu Gao winced aside him, bearing his share as the [Dao Oaths] shone with primordial light, lancing bolts betwixt one another in an endless loop.
And then they cald.
This force settled within them, having found what it sought. A shred, or the worthy history of [Tribulations] that were their twinned promises - for these six had bloodied themselves in flesh and [Spirit] in pursuit of both.
[Primordial Law] continued to dance between their chains, aglow where it touched [Core] and soul.
[Ink] burned.
[Primordial Law of Tribulations]
[First Law: Equivalence] comprehended.
[Boon] awarded.
[Arbiter’s Soul] Understanding of [Primordial Law] has tempered your [Spirit], allowing you to see and orchestrate for those in need of Heaven’s guidance.
[Senses] (Law) 1000
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