I opened my eyes for the third ti in the cave. I can’t say I felt too happy about being here for so long, but complaining about so stupid assassins wasn’t going to help much either. The spirit sat nearby, a fire still burning near , but it was distinctly starting to die. The temperature had plumted far enough that a thin layer of ice covered the entire surface inside the cave now, and I wasn’t sure the presence of another winter spirit so near was helping with things either.
“What has the Divine One said?” Bai Jing asked, showing a rare display of emotion as concern and hope lingered across her face.
“He’ll help us, but I need to do sothing first before he can,” I said, glancing sideways. The mini version of was still running around, helping take care of . There was a constant stream of Chi connecting it to , but it was faint enough that it wouldn’t hurt , even in my current state. “I need you two to gather so material for . I need to upgrade the doll,” I said.
The spirit looked at in confusion, before looking at mini . Even my own doll looked confused as well. “How is this going to help us?”
“It’s what Xuanwu told to do,” I replied, shrugging.
The spirit looked like she had things to say, but at my words she simply gave a nod. “Consider it done.”
I nodded, grateful to both of them as the spirit and the doll headed out soon after with a list of items to procure for . In the anti I shuffled around looking for my pouch, before grabbing a needle from inside it. This next part was going to suck. I slowly crawled over to the pot they’d used to make sothing that looked like soup. I took the soup out in one of the wooden bowls lying around, grunting with each movent as I felt my wounds aching and starting to bleed once more. Even with a superhuman physique, this much bleeding was going to kill sooner or later, and the poison was dulling my ability to use Chi to heal myself, leaving with just a few good options.
After the pot was cleaned and cleared of the gunk, I transferred so clean water that was nearby in the water gourd I carried for the journey, pouring it in. Next, I grabbed a single strand of my hair, before cutting it clean and put it in the pot alongside the needle. After a mont of thought, I cut a few more strands and threw them in as well.
It was gross, but human hair was great for what I needed it to do, and this was the only good option I had available right now. It wouldn’t do the job completely, but it’d be enough for to not be lying down and resting the entire ti I was here, simply waiting to freeze to death.
After a few minutes of boiling, I replaced the water and repeated the process a few tis, before I figured it was clean enough and grabbed the needle and strands of hair. Keeping them neatly in my hand to not get them dirty, I grabbed my cut up robes, pulling them off. My bandages had already gotten dirty from the blood and salves that’d been applied, and the clothes had never been too clean in the first place. Had I been a mortal, an infection likely would’ve killed by now.
Pulling open the bandages slowly, I let the green paste covering my wounds remain as I grabbed the needle. Threading a strand of hair in, I tied a knot and took a deep breath. Pulsing my Chi around my wound, I numbed the area as best as I could, before I began to work. Stabbing my own skin felt painful and I was no surgeon, nor had I ever studied much biology beyond cursory interests.
So I drew blood and the work I did was ssy. I occasionally stabbed myself too deep, worsening the situation, all while keeping one end of the thread grabbed between my teeth to stop it from falling. It was ssy and patchwork, but after using up two strands, even with shaking hands, I got the job done. Raising my hand, I wiped sweat off my brow, before looking at the cut on my thigh and arm, and one on my back, and grimaced. Now to do it all over again.
***
By the ti I was done, I felt exhausted, but I’d managed to get it done. I couldn’t do much about the wound on my back. I’d need to ask the spirit or mini to help out there, but most of my wounds were stitched close now and should not bleed again, unless I had to run about. And I really hoped I didn’t have to run about for a while. Looking at my torn up robes, I decided I might as well make use of the extra clothing. Tearing the sleeves and so parts of the chest, I managed to pull out enough clothing to make so fresh bandages. It was cold, and I didn’t want to leave myself exposed so I quickly wrapped the wounds back up, rubbing in so of the extra herbs and spirit grass I carried in my pouch after crushing them into paste.
I’d never had to survive a winter storm while injured from an assassin attack before, but I suppose I could check that off my bucket list now.
As I finally completed all my work, I saw figures moving in the storm. For a second, I remained wary, pulling my presence back to hide myself, just in case it was soone I would rather not et, but a second later, I realized it was the spirit and the doll and relaxed.
My doll was shivering from the cold, apparently even being made of clay wasn’t helping in this weather, while the winter spirit looked perfectly normal. I guess that should simply be expected from a winter spirit.
“We found most of what you asked us of,” the spirit said, walking closer to as it set down the bunch of items. There was a new pot, still not a cauldron but with more or less the right shape to be used. I would just need to reinforce it with Chi. It won’t be a perfect job, but these weren’t perfect conditions.
There was also spirit mud, or rather, spirit soil? Given that it was frozen solid, the doll had brought a bunch of herbs filled with earth and water Qi as well. But there was one thing missing.
“You couldn’t find any spirit water herbs?” I asked.
“All water bodies are frozen solid, if there were any around, we could not seek them out,” the spirit replied.
Damn it. That made sense. I’d need to find so other way to get my hands on spirit water, or else I was stuck here without a way ahead.
“What do you require them for?” Bai Jing asked.
“Ah, well. I need to make so spirit water to use for adding onto this guy here to be able to make a proper twin that I can bond with,” I said.
The spirit looked at the doll, and then back at . “Would this work, then?” she asked, raising her hand as a crystal clear shard of ice appeared on top.
I looked at it with wide eyes, before giving a nod. “I think so, yes,” I said, gently taking the shard, finding it extrely cold to the touch and almost burning my hand. Quickly, I put it into the pot I planned to use.
I nodded my head, looking at everything around . I could do this. I just needed to get it right. I looked up at the spirit, before holding out my needle and the one strand of hair I had left. “Could you maybe use these to sew up the wound on my back. To make sure it won’t start bleeding again?”
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The spirit frowned as she saw the items but did not refuse as she picked them up and walked around. I pulled my robes down to allow her to work more easily. A second later, I realized why she may have felt weird, but it was too late to change things now, so I instead devoted my attention to the cauldron in front of , and began to channel my Chi. My body was still incredibly weak, and there wasn’t much I could use of my Chi, but whatever I had, I began to channel it, slowly seeping it into the pot to create a makeshift cauldron.
Normally this process would be done during forging and would be permanent, but doing it this way still worked, the only drawback was that it was temporary and had to be done over and over again. Kinda like oiling and seasoning a cast iron skillet every ti you use it. The layers would build up when done enough, and I knew the old man did this with so of his cauldrons, but I’d never been the type who wanted to bother with anything like that.
I sat with my legs crossed and began to process. The Chi flowed out and started to mingle with the pot. I slowly layered it out, coating the pot with it, letting it soak with the energy and absorb it into the layers. As I did, the spirit completed her work, and a mont later, I opened my eyes as well. A layer of Chi now swirled around the pot, and my makeshift cauldron was ready to be used.
“Thanks,” I said, pulling my robes back up as I looked at the spirit, who returned my needle back to .
She simply nodded back, moving a little further away as she began to watch work. I didn’t mind the attention, as I started the process. I took a deep breath in, and grabbed the frozen piece of ice and began to lt it.
Fire swirled around the pot, and I continued to raise the flas. The crystal remained solid, and so I sent pulses of Chi directly to it to lt it. After enough coaxing, slowly, bit by bit, the crystal began to lt, starting to form pure shimring spirit water. And enough for my purposes. I couldn’t help but smile.
Taking the spirit mud, I skipped one step and directly added the mud into the pan, letting it mingle with the spirit water. Throwing in the herbs I began to leach out the impurities, as the herbs mixed, and the whole solution swirled.
Sweat covered my face, my attention strained and my body in pain from all the injuries, but I continued nonetheless.
After nearly thirty minutes of working with the mud, the process was finally done as I separated the impurities and condensed the mud down to a small sphere and set it aside.
The spirit perked up and walked closer. “Is it done? Are you ready to go?”
I smiled, a wry smile, as I looked at her and shook my head.
“Sorry. I need to do that at least fifty more tis,” I said, and the spirit’s expression fell. Sohow, watching that made both want to laugh and cry at the sa ti.
I feel you, Bai Jing. I really do.
***
I struggled to count how many days had passed since the assassin had attacked . Six? Seven? I could no longer tell. The fire that used to burn in the cave was gone now, the cold outside too deadly to traverse and the snow had already buried any wood I could’ve found nearby that would be usable. If not for lting the ice at the entrance every day I’m pretty sure this cave would’ve been buried under snow as well. I wondered how everyone else was doing. They would’ve most certainly tried searching for once they woke up, and given the assassin was dead, I was reasonably sure they did wake up. But this weather was… difficult. Even soone like the Lord would struggle to find .
I had found my hope growing about that impossible prospect, that by so miracle they would find , but it was ultimately just my exhaustion speaking. I had given more than I had to give and now, only the bare remnants remained. I stood in front of a mud statue of myself now, as I slowly crafted and sculpted its pieces.
After the last batch of items had been obtained by the doll, and the spirit, I had pulled back the pieces of my own spirit from the doll, returning it to mud and began crafting it from the ground up again, little by little adding more of my Chi into it.
I didn’t really know where the strength ca from that kept moving. The cool had sunk into my bones now, the sleepless nights and the poison and injuries all draining in a way that was almost like the world trying to remind that I was still flesh and blood, still mortal. And that I too, could die. Perhaps I’d forgotten that, as my powers had grown rapidly. But not anymore.
With those thoughts in mind, I continued my work. They said art took the thoughts and feelings of the artist and portrayed it to the world. And if so, what did the version of myself that I was crafting have to say? My thoughts were all jumbled now, and even the spirit looked tired. I’d asked her a few tis if she wanted to move on and look for the others, since it was most likely that I would die here.
She had told she would remain till I died at the very least. Or till her sister returned to her.
That felt nice. I didn't really want to die both cold and alone. That would be a bit too sad.
My finger moved, crafting my sculpture’s eyes. Ideally, I would use a mirror, but I’d seen myself enough tis. They said a person’s face is the one they see the most. Or at least, people with easy access to a mirror did. I wasn’t sure about the farrs here. But regardless, I knew myself, and I knew the image I wanted to craft.
Despite my exhausted and battered state as I lingered near the brink of death, my hands were firm and stable now, each motion shaping the lines of the sculpture, carving strands of hair, hands, the face. I moved with a grace that I don’t think I would be able to exhibit in any state but this one, where everything had gone beyond the point of exhaustion and had just turned numb, and my mind had given up on trying to force to find a way to survive and had given in to the task I was dedicating myself to.
This was the last thing I might do, after all. I would rather not make it bad.
There was also a part of that thought I wouldn’t die after all. The spirit this vessel would hold will still be . A different part of , but still my soul. So, in a way, even if I died in this body, I would live on.
And so, I continued, my hands moving like a master craftsman making the work of his lifeti. And the sculpture began to co to life. The Third Law resonated in my soul, and I could feel the resonance of energies bringing the sculpture and closer and closer together. My hands moved across the face, sculpting the eyes. For a mont, I almost saw life in them.
My Chi flowed out, seeping into the sculpture as it ford a core, and pathways began to erge. One by one, I imbued it with each elent there was. Earth ford its body, water created blood, wood grew life into it, and tal ford the bones. And at last, white flas danced at my fingertips, borne from my very soul as I touched the forehead of the sculpture, imbuing it with life.
I felt the resonance, felt it take seed, and form sothing else. The second half began to form, the second half of the spirit ring. To my resonance, there ca another, this ti from the sculpture, and for a mont the boundaries between the two of us broke. Half of my soul flew into the sculpture, fire erupting around its body as wind swirled around us, and I saw the sculpture co to life, color forming and taking over, dark robes covering his body as the silvery flas of Chi birthed sothing anew. The second half within my life, the twin that I was born with, and have carried for most of my life.
Gu Jie— or I suppose that wasn’t correct anymore. Lu Jie stood in front of now, slowly gaining consciousness. He looked down at himself, hands moving slowly as he clutched the fingers. There was confusion in his expression, and yet also… joy. Though we had beco one, I had been the one in the driving seat. He had rely beco a part of my soul, of my identity and mory, but I’d never been able to give him this. To give him life, and a body, to return what in many ways was rightfully his, just as much as it was mine.
“You did it,” Lu Jie spoke, in a reverential whisper. “We did it,” he added afterwards with a smile. I felt the second half of the Third Law shining in his soul. It was there now, the whole piece, everything I needed and more. And yet…
“This feels strange. I haven’t had a body in a while. And yet I’m whole. Do you think we’ll be able to—“
Lu Jie’s words paused midway. But I no longer had anything left to hear them with. I felt the last vestiges of my strength fade as I collapsed, caught by Lu Jie’s arms. The world looked blurry now as I looked up at him, a concern of worry on his face.
I tried to smile, but even that felt too much. Gently reaching out my arm… I touched his shoulder. “Sorry…” I rasped. “I’ll… be counting… on you…”
And with those words, the last remnants of energy faded from my battered body, as I was taken by darkness.
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