- Qi is produced by all living things as a representation of spiritual power, can be used for any purpose, and can be refined into types (e.g., sword qi, light qi, earth qi)
- The Dao is what one’s qi “wants” to do naturally or would do most easily, even if qi itself has no immediate will
- Sword qi (qi that has been refined to have a sword aspect) is therefore predisposed to sword actions (actions a sword might perform or be involved in)
- Ambient qi may have a type or predisposition, but in large cities such as where they were now, these predispositions would typically cancel out
- A cultivator’s dao was the imposition of their will on qi, in other words the push and pull between their will and the world’s. The act of condensation, then, is an act of taking the world into yourself, and the act of refinement is imposing your will on that inner representation of the world
- Sequence 1, the stage at which a normal person becomes a cultivator, occurs when a person is able to condense ambient qi into the body and begin refining it into some type
- The people who failed to condense and refine qi by that afternoon would be executed
They had about an hour or two left after Luo’s blabbing.
Have you completed sequence I? Jiang asked Violet.
Yes! The dark blood returned to me during our contract.
The cultivators who hadn’t yet achieved sequence I were panicking, as they’d all had several days to reach that baseline. Violet sat down and ignored them as Jiang began determining her status and how to take her up to the next stage.
Have you built your foundation?
Yes, but it’s cracked.
Cracked? Jiang repeated.
During the battle at the games. Too much power came in too quickly and I used it irresponsibly.
I see.
We must repair it.
Suddenly the sky changed, interrupting them all as the sun turned green. All light across the complex faded, leaving the world draped in a silhouette, a green cloth, a funeral shroud. A voice spoke in robotic tone, and Jiang knew it was heard through all ears across the face of this world.
The words were slow, robotic, and cold, delivered in a female voice’s monotone, “NOTICE: the prisoner Jiang Guo, also known by such titles as “Red Tyrant,” “Eternal One,” and “The King Below” has escaped from his prison. DO NOT ENGAGE with this individual. He is highly dangerous and may attempt to steal your cultivation. DO NOT ENGAGE with this individual. Turn him in immediately should you contact him. He may attempt to flee. DO NOT ENGAGE with this individual.”
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The voice paused for emphasis, “Your world will be purged once this notice is received. Leave at once. Do not delay. Leave at once. Do not delay. Leave at once.”
It paused again, “If it is determined the tyrant has left this world, we will spare it. If it is unclear we will destroy it. Those who provide information as to the tyrant’s whereabouts will be granted wealth beyond imagination. Those who facilitate his escape or ascent will be punished severely.”
It paused again, and a deathly silence held over all this creation.
“NOTICE: the prisoner known as…”
It repeated the message in full and then added.
“THANK YOU for your compliance.”
“TRANSMISSION STOP.”
Jiang looked out through Violet’s eyes as the crowd gathered in the training hall slowly began breaking their deathly stillness that held as the green light faded. When the funeral shroud was finally removed they began to panic, but Luo stood at the front of the stage and spoke loudly, stopping them.
“DO NOT PANIC.” his loud, stern voice said, pausing between every word.
“He’s just a tyrant. We will find him, and we will stop him.”
Cheering erupted at the words and Jiang laughed loudly inside Violet’s skull.
HA HA HA HA HA
Violet didn’t react as Jiang continued laughing.
AHAHAHHAHHAHAHHAHHHAHAHHA. It was maniacal.
So the prison hadn’t broken, not fully. It had one last failsafe built into the star… a lasting compact no doubt… something that didn’t rely on the fallible inventions of the foolish certain-dead… something that was still there.
Jiang knew the message would be received somewhere, and had no doubt someone would come for him. Who he did not know, why he did not know, when he did not know, but they would come.
Violet finally broke the silence, tears running down her face that Jiang only-just noticed.
Am I… going to live?
Yes child. Jiang answered quickly.
Who are you?
Jiang did not hesitate, I am Jiang Guo.
Once imprisoned for a million years I was once known as the Eternal King, Red Tyrant, and The King Below.
I have returned to claim what is rightfully mine.
I have returned to conquer all creation.
And I have returned to do right by those who support me.
You will live, child, and so will all who embrace my teachings and my Dao. We will conquer the stars and leave everyone else behind.
He knew she was centuries old, but that only meant she knew death better than a truly young woman might. Fools often claimed age made one friends with the inevitable and familiar with death, but Jiang knew better. He knew that age made you fear it more. There was no calm certainty hearing the words that their planet would be destroyed, not for the ancient centenarian on the verge of death, not for the infant only just learning their words, not for the thirty-year-old mortal who may falsely believe in a death long before the date of the end of all things they ever knew.
One and all they feared that certainty. One and all they feared death: certain, uncertain; calm, panicked; known, unknown. Method, time, and place didn’t matter; who else was going with you didn’t matter. When children went to bed at night afraid of the monster beneath their bed they were scared of losing what they had in those days: of losing their parents and warmth and joy and being tucked in at night. For the children without parents perhaps they feared starvation more, but even still, they all feared death.
Jiang would conquer it as he had a trillion times before.