The Laws of Cultivation: Qi = MC^2

Zhang moved first. Riding on the momentum from his previous battle, he rushed forward, Gravity Chi flaring all around him. But Li was prepared, as lightning erupted from him in all directions, meeting Zhang’s fist with his own. A blast of energy flared all around the area, as Zhang was blasted backwards, feeling numb from the lightning coursing through him. Reaching out with his gravity Chi, he pulled his spear back into his hand, as he watched Yan Li smiling with a scowl.

Zhang frowned, channeling his own Chi, as he let gravity be altered around him. At the same time, he pushed against Li with his Chi, increasing the boy’s weight, slowing him down.

“Tricks upon tricks. That’s all you have,” Li said, stepping forward from under the increased weight as Lightning coiled around him. “Let me show you what true strength looks like.”

Lightning crackled, as Li rushed ahead in a blur. A loud crackle sounded out, as a bolt of lightning pierced the arena with a boom. Zhang held back the attack with his spear, but the weapon burned, bursting into pieces from the energy as Zhang felt himself being pushed back. Li rushed ahead, not giving an inch, as he struck, hands coated in lightning. Zhang moved, twisting as he pushed on Li with his increased weight to strike back.

Li intercepted the attack, lightning madly swirling around him. “Do you know how long I have waited for this?” Li said, his eyes bloodshot as he held Zhang’s arm, lightning coursing around him in a storm. “All this time, I have been training with a single purpose. I’m not going to let trash like you stop me now.”

Lightning erupted, and Zhang screamed. He grabbed his arm, singed from the lightning, as it hung by his side. Zhang grunted, spitting out blood, as he saw Li walking towards him, his lightning now blood-red, fuming with fury. Fire danced around his body.

“Months you say. I had spent years dreaming of this, having long given hope. You understand nothing about true pain. How could you? You care for nobody beside yourself, not even your brother.”

“Shut your mouth!” Li screamed, as he moved.

Zhang gathered gravity Chi, making Li lighter as his strike missed Zhang, flying above his head. Jumping up into the air, Zhang struck Li in the chest, before grappling the boy. Lightning poured outwards as Li screamed, and Zhang felt his body tensing against the lightning Qi, but he pushed forward, putting his knee onto Li’s chest midair, before he reversed gravity, as the two fell with a rapid thud. Li coughed blood, blasting a burst of lightning that threw Zhang off him.

Pulling himself up to his feet, Zhang wobbled. Li rose to his face, his hair now scattered around his face in a mad expression as it covered his scarred eye. “You understand NOTHING.” He screamed, rushing forward, as a serpent of lightning formed around him.

Zhang jumped back, but the serpent struck with rapid haste, binding Zhang within itself, as lightning singed his body, making him lock up.

“You stole everything. Everything. Now you need to pay for it,” Li said, clenching his fist, as the lightning snake erupted in a burst, throwing Zhang back. Lightning covered the arena, as Qi swirled around in a frenzy.

Zhang rushed out at a rapid speed, his weighted fist striking Li in his face like a crashing boulder as it launched Li backwards.

“It is your actions that did this. There is no one to blame but yourself,” Zhang said, rushing forward, as he lifted Li, raising him into the air, then swinging him through the air, he flung Li across the arena with all his strength.

Not waiting for the boy to recover, Zhang gathered his gravity Chi. Energy boiled in a frenzy as he flew in the air, and a blinding light gathered in his hands.

“It is your turn to understand now. The consequences of your actions,” Zhang said, as a burning heat exploded into the arena. Gravity Chi filled the space, a starry backdrop filling the arena, as the light from Zhang’s hand covered everything.

“Gravity Art: Birth of a Star.”

The world erupted in flames, as a blinding star came into existence, before exploding. Fire and heat erupted, burning the grounds, singeing them black and cracking the floor from the heat.

Zhang felt his strength fading, as he slowly returned to the ground. He stood, waiting as he watched the flames and dust swirling in the arena.

“Heavenly Phoenix Strike!”

Lightning erupted across the arena, as a blinding phoenix of lightning filled it. The heavens rumbled, striking down beneath, as the phoenix grabbed Zhang in its wings. Zhang screamed, lightning coursing through his body as it broke through his defenses. The world crackled with static, as he slowly fell onto his knees.

Li stood, his clothes half burned, his body covered in marks of injuries, as he looked down on Zhang, who was on the ground.

Zhang clawed the dirt, trying to raise his body, but found it refusing his will as strength faded from his limbs.

“That’s exactly where you belong,” Li spat, before turning around.

“And the victor is Yan Li,” Elder Sheng announced, and with frustration and fury in his heart, Zhang felt his consciousness drifting away.

He hoped brother Jie would forgive his failure.

***

I heard the announcement of the end of the match and let out a sigh. I had been expecting this. The battle with Zhou Fang was difficult enough that Zhang would’ve struggled to take out Li. I watched the elder from the alchemy hall pick up Zhang, and I took the boy from him, supporting him on my shoulder.

“Apologies, brother Jie,” Zhang said.

“Nonsense, you did more than enough,” I replied, as I helped him sit down. After making sure Zhang was alright, I spared a moment to check my own spirit. The poison was, thankfully, still moving slowly. A portion of my spirit felt like it had been hollowed out, but there was enough around to serve my purpose. But my time was limited nonetheless. I needed to win quickly.

“Now, it seems the final battle is all that’s left,” Elder Sheng said, looking at me.

I stepped forward at his words, entering the arena. Li stood on the opposite side, injured, but still far from defeated as lightning crackled around the boy.

“Are both participants ready?” Elder Sheng asked.

I gave a nod.

“Since the day I was born,” Li replied, cracking his knuckles as he grinned at me. “I’ll make sure to return the humiliation you gave me that day twice over.”

I ignored Li, focusing within myself. I could not use the first law, not with its obvious usage of Gu as my Chi split itself. I also couldn’t really draw upon the spirit of the tree, or I would just get overtaken and lose control.

Which meant, I had to win this battle with just my own strength, and the strength of my abilities. Wasn’t that just so wonderful?

Letting out a long breath, I took my stance. I did not like doing this very often, but this time I had no choice. I closed my eyes, letting the other half of my personality begin to show a stronger influence upon me.

Memories from Gu Jie’s half began to fill me, as my stance adjusted itself subtly. Wider legs, a firmer stance. Little things that I could not really notice consciously, not until I was in this specific mindset.

Years upon years of training and lessons began to reflect themselves as I stood, ready for the fight in front of me.

“Now, let the final round of the duel begin!”

I moved first. The world blurred around me as I stepped forward, Chi gathering in my palm as I struck at Li. The boy defended with his arms, lightning crackling around as he took the blow, sliding back.

“What happened to those flames? That fire you used? No longer willing to show your demonic abilities?” Li said, grinning, as lightning fathered in his hands before he shot it towards me.

I ducked, barely dodging the bolt before it shot me right at my face. Fucker had gone straight for my forehead. Letting Chi fill my steps, I kicked off, first from the earth, then at air itself. It took a moment for me to adjust but I knew I’d done it before, and I could do it again. That confidence lent itself to the Chi I used as the air firmed against my steps. I ran across the arena, launching myself around in every direction, before I struck Li’s face with my fist, throwing him back. To my surprise, the boy had been ready, and instead of being launched off, he used the moment to grab my hand, using it to sent a flashing bolt of lightning into me.

I felt the lightning Qi burn my arm, but my feet were in the air, and the effect of lightning was weaker. I pulled Li closer, using his grasp to establish mine.

“Even after the last time, you seem to have learned nothing,” I said, bringing him close to me. Lightning continued to flood into me, my hair rising at every inch of my body, but I bore through it as I flew in the air with Li in my arms. Kicking off the air around me, I moved fast, slamming Li into the ground. I felt a crack against my elbow as I struck him down. I’d broken a few of his ribs there.

Li coughed, blood filling his mouth, and I moved back into the air, ready for a return strike.

Yet instead of a strike, what came was laughter, unhinged laughter that seemed to burn with uncontained fury. “Ah… it hurts. As I thought, just a few months had not been enough time,” Li said, looking up at me.

“But it doesn’t matter,” he said, as lightning burst under his feet, before he jumped into the air far faster than before. I moved back surprised, but Li’s strike struck me in my gut, and I coughed, blood pooling in my mouth. I felt my hair tie being undone as he grabbed my hair, before striking with his fingers in my chest. His fingers pierced me, as lightning burned all around him in an uncontrolled storm.

“You cannot hurt me in a way that matters. I will keep coming back, for you, for everyone you love. I will hunt them, and break all of it, piece by piece,” the boy proclaimed, his face splattered with blood as he smiled with manic eyes.

I looked at him, and for the first time since the battle, regretted not finishing what I had started. Chi burst from me, as I pushed myself away from Li, blood flowing from the injury in my chest. The wounds were healing fast, yet the damage had been done. My muscles tensed, as Li rushed towards me, body coated in lightning as he moved far faster than he had before.

I ran, stepping and moving through the air, as I dodged through the bolts of lightning. Moving to the ground I pressed my palm on the earth, as the ground erupted from beneath me, earth rising to block the bolts of lightning heading my way before they crumbled under the strike. Flames gathered on my fist and I let them fill my hands as I sent them towards Li, who rushed me cackling like a mad man as he flew through the fire burning him till his hand was on my throat as he pinned me down, while he struck my abdomen where my dantian was.

I felt the strike, as my core shivered, a small crack forming within it.

“Let me begin by doing what you did to my brother,” Li exclaimed, as he struck another strike. I felt the blow land, as my dantian shuddered, and I felt the poison escape free, as it seeped into my spirit.

I clutched Li’s hands, pulling on them but his grip remained like iron. I pushed, kicking at the boy, feeling my eyes starting to droop from the lack of oxygen. My mind began to slowly sink, and in a desperate attempt, I kicked at Li, pushing him away.

As he lost his grip, I coughed, taking in deep gulps of air. Li stood next to me, lightning swirling all around him.

“Pathetic. You are pathetic. I cannot believe I lost to you,” Li said, as Lightning Qi began to gather on his hands. “Let me end your pathetic suffering.”

I looked at the boy, at the madness in his eyes and found myself giving in. I felt the poison seeping into my body, draining me, and knew I couldn’t avoid it any longer.

“I… have tried so hard. To not let myself give in to anger. Even when you hurt Labby, I felt regret for letting rage make my choices. Because I thought that it wasn’t your fault. But the world you were born in, which raised you to be like this. Lei had been proof of this, his change showed me that I had been right,” I said, looking up at Li, who froze under my words.

“Words won’t buy you any time,” Li spat, lightning crackling on his fingers, ready to strike.

“You still don’t understand, do you?” I said, and laughed. “All this time. I was trying not to repeat my past mistakes. To give you a chance. But you’ve robbed me of that choice now.”

Li did not wait to listen further, as he moved with the intent to kill, his strike launching towards me. I moved, grabbing his hand, as a golden ring manifested in my eyes, burning with the fury I had been holding back all this time.

The First Law manifested itself in the world around me, as I Gu and Qi began to flare around me. But that wasn’t it, was it? No, I had a lot more to give than this. And so, I began to draw on the well of power that rested within me.

Chi began to flow, from the land I was Lord of, from the people who had chosen to walk my path with me. I changed, and the world around me changed as well. I felt my spirit begin to mingle with something greater, as my voice shook the world.

“You are not worthy of this false strength. A gift stolen from us, now we take it back again.”

I put my hands on Li’s face, and then took away the gift that the Heavens had granted him. The false promise that he had built his life around. And just like that, with a single proclamation, Li was a mortal.

I heard screams, shouts, as my eyes moved over to Elder Yan, standing on the other end as he looked at me with a horrified expression.

“A demon… I was right afterall,” the man said.

Lord Zhou shouted, someone screamed my name. I did not notice. I moved to dodge but the man was faster than I could even hope to be. A mountain of Qi erupted in front of me as I moved, and Elder Yan rushed towards me. It took a moment, a bare second as the man’s hand landed upon my abdomen.

“We should’ve killed you the very first moment we’d seen you,” he said, as the Qi in his palm blasted into my dantian.

Crack.

I felt my dantian shatter into pieces.

The poison now flowed freely, as it mingled with my spirit, burning through pieces of it. My vision blurred, as I saw Lord Zhou striking at Elder Yan, but my consciousness did not last.

With a gasp, my mind slipped into darkness, and the beast I held within my spirit roared as it was released into the world.

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