The Laws of Cultivation: Qi = MC^2

Sheng Ming looked at the skies and felt his heart sink. He had feared this outcome, dreading it from the very beginning, and now it was here. The world shook around them all, and every person in the empire felt the influence of the emperor fade, as the very heavens above began to fall.

The end had happened, and he had been given the misfortune to watch it.

And yet, there was still a duty he had to complete. Sheng Ming let out a breath, feeling the poison exiting his body. It had been difficult to spot at first, but he had noticed it present in the air, and in the water, barely there, but enough to build up and kill even powerful cultivators. Western poison, he’d heard tales of it. Thankfully, he knew how to deal with it as well.

As the last of the poison was purified from his body, he began to make his way out of the jade court. The barrier had shattered somewhere during the battle, though not by the emperor or the demon.

Whoever had broken it had saved him a lot of strength, for which he was grateful. He would need all the strength he could muster to kill the demon.

“Sheng Ming, we will come with you,” Lord Zhou said. Sheng Ming turned to look behind at the boy. For a moment he remembered him as a child, playing around and causing mischief. He felt pleased to see how he had grown into a splendid lord.

“No. This is our task, Ren. Stay here, and free the divinities from their trap. If there is any hope to be left for this empire, it is only with them free,” he said.

The lord’s expression shifted, going through a myriad of thoughts. At the end, he simply bowed. “Don’t die.”

Sheng Ming felt his heart shake. The boy had seen his resolve, huh? He’d been trying his hardest to hide it from his expression.

“Even still, we forbid you from dying, Sheng Ming. As your lord, we need to be here. Lu Jie needs you here. That boy has a path, a path that could see us out, but he won’t be able to without you to guide him.”

Sheng Ming did not reply. A war waged in his heart, emotions swirling in a thousand manners, grief, rage, duty, anger, all colliding together, and yet… when he thought of Lu Jie, he could help but feel his mind settle. He did not reply, but he gave the man a nod. That was the best he could do.

Zhou Ren looked at him, before turning around as he returned to the court to free other Lords and fight back against the demons. Sheng Ming took his eyes to the skies.

The demon that wore his grandson’s corpse still flew in the skies, looking down upon the empire as snow fell onto the Azure city for the first time in over a thousand years. Sheng Ming took a breath in, before calling onto his past self. A life he thought he had abandoned forever.

He would need it, one last time.

Flames manifested around him, aura flaring outwards with fury as he took to the skies. He moved up quickly, flames swirling around his body before soon, the demon took note. Sheng Ming kept himself prepared.

The demon turned towards him, recognition flashing through his eyes.

“Grandfather! Are you here to congratulate me on my victory?” He cheered, smiling happily.

Sheng Ming felt a sharp pain in his heart as he saw the smile. Heard the voice of his grandson come out of the demon’s mouth.

But it’s not him.

“Do not call me grandfather, demon. You are not my grandson,” Sheng Ming said, steeling his heart, fire danced around his fists. “You are merely a walking corpse who has forgotten it is dead. We are here to remind you of it.”

The demon looked at him, confused. “Really? Even though I killed your emperor? What’s the point now?” The demon asked.

“The day we let this empire fall into your hands will be over our corpse,” Sheng Ming replied, reaching into his pocket before biting into a pill, as Qi surged into his body.

He had been preparing for this day. Taking out every treasured herb he had found, and crafting them into pills to give him the edge he would need. Now, it was time to make use of it. Power surged through his body, the flames of his youth reigniting as the man once known as the Flame Dragon flew in the skies once more.

“Well, guess I can help you with that,” the demon replied, before rushing closer.

He was fast, but Sheng Ming had trained the boy since childhood. Flames danced around him as he blocked the strike, letting the impact distribute itself over his body before striking back with his own attack.

Yang Shen moved quickly, dodging the strike, as Sheng Ming let fire flow freely from his fists, with enough intensity to melt metal under its heat. The demon whistled. “Wow, you really are serious about this.”

Sheng Ming didn’t let the creature speak any further, rushing in closer as he let a fist land onto the demon’s jaw, slinging him backwards. Fire erupted from the strike, blasting outwards as the demon flew back for a short distance, touching his jaw before cracking it back into place.

“Rude, I was—”

Sheng Ming let his art manifest.

“Dance of the flaming dragons.”

A fiery dragon coiled around the sky, rushing towards Yang Shen as they wrapped around the demon’s body, lighting him on fire. The demon laughed through the torrents of flame before rushing out towards him, striking back at him, this time with enough force to send Sheng Ming back flying.

“A spar, just like the old days. How wonderful,” the demon said, cackling.

Sheng Ming gathered his strength, channeling his Qi as he let it cover his body.

“Flame Arts: Blazing Strikes,” he spoke, gathering the fire into a small concentrated ball around his body. Like tiny suns, the balls lit up with fury, glowing with intense heat before he let them all lose towards the demon.

Yang Sheng danced, moving faster and faster as he dodged the flames flying through the skies in an array of patterns. He moved with skill, taking some hits directly while avoiding the worst ones as he rushed closer.

“My turn,” he said, as fire blazed around his body.

“Something something, punch!” The demon shouted, as fire burst from his fist, throwing back Sheng Ming, and singing his skin. He reoriented himself, coughing from the strike before looking at the demon still smiling. He was being toyed with. This wasn’t a battle, this was a mockery. The more time he wasted, the more difficult it would be to regain the Azure Dragon.

“This is fun, a lot of fun grandfather. I wish you could see eye to eye with me, see that I’m fixing the world. I know you think I’m evil, I get it, demon and all that, but this is good. After I am done… Everyone will be happy. Isn’t that what you would want?” the demon said, and for a moment Sheng Ming wavered.

Was he truly speaking the truth? Had he merely been blind?

No, no, fixing the world was a lie. A lie to unsettle him. There were some prices that you simply didn’t pay. No matter what.

He rushed ahead, striking back at the demon. His fists moved in fury, the sky lightning up with flames with each strike as he attacked the demon with everything he had. Power burst into his being, fire taking over his spirit as the power of the many decades, the power of a former Lord struck back at the demon.

His strike landed at Yang Shen’s chest, bursting it, and after all those strikes, finally one hit something deeper, the strike blasted the demon back, and Sheng Ming noticed the demon coughing blood, his injuries healing just a little more slowly.

“Your heart… your heart is your weakness,” Sheng Ming spoke to himself, eyes wide with realization. It struck him in that moment. That was the key to the deathless. Their life was bound somewhere.

“Fuck, that hurt,” Yang Shen coughed blood, looking down as his injuries recovered. “You figured it out huh? I’d buried it really deep too,” the demon said, his face twisting.

“But it doesn’t matter. None of this matters. The pieces are starting to line up at last,” Yang Shen said, lightning crackling around his fingers. “You want to see the world I’m building? Here, have a glimpse.”

Power surged around the demon, as a massive dark silhouette appeared behind him. It took Sheng Ming a moment to realize what it was.

A giant black dragon swirled in the sky, three cores embedded into its body, as miasma swirled around it. Sheng Ming watched, eyes wide, at a veritable god. The power of three divinities being funneled into that… that thing.

“This is my grand project. A new divine beast. Once it’s done, there will be no more death. No one will have to die ever again. I will kill death, break it apart and reforge it anew into a new form,” Yang Shen said, spreading his arms wide.

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“When the cycle broke, who do you think did it? Why did you think the war happened in the first place? It was greed. It has always been greed. True immortality comes at a price, but the emperor wanted to be immortal, without the flaws. And yet, he could not.”

“But there is another way, isn’t there? True immortality. The divine beasts have it. All I intend to do is to ask them to share. To reforge it and spread it everywhere, to everyone. To create a new world with no death or suffering,” the demon proclaimed, as black lightning swirled around the giant dragon behind him.

Sheng Ming looked on in horror.

“A world… without death… would lead to rot. To decay. It would lead to misery, the cycle of death and rebirth would break. You… you will ruin the entire world,” Sheng Ming said.

The demon looked down at him, and something shifted. “You really don’t get it, do you? No one seems to get it. Cycle this, cycle that. I refuse to settle for any of that. Why must we suffer when these creatures get to relish in their immortality? I do not accept it. I do not accept this world. And so I will make a new one. A world where life is eternal.”

Sheng Ming looked at the man, looked at the manic expression on his face, and the realization finally sunk in.

This was madness. He was talking to someone who had gone mad.

He looked at the demon, looked at his grandson’s face. The child he had raised with his own hands. And the demon that wore his corpse. He closed his eyes, the grief overtaking him for a moment. But when the grief passed, what remained was fury. His grandson’s name would only continue to be tarnished the longer this demon lived. Today, he would have to end it.

Sheng Ming looked down at the remaining pill he had and steeled his resolve. This was his final resort. Using this… would have consequences. But he had already made his peace with that, hadn’t he?

He bit into another pill, feeling it sink down his throat.

One of the spirit rings in his soul dissolved, breaking apart, as his cultivation began to burn itself, fueling his final battle in a blazing glory. This would be the end of the Flame Dragon, and he would go out taking the demon down with him.

Power erupted into Sheng Ming’s body, fire cracking through his very skin as power surged.

“Oh, that’s interesting. You’re willingly destroying your own cultivation to fight me? No… wait,” the demon said, frowning.

Sheng Ming let the pill do its work, as he activated the art.

“Finale Flames: First Step.”

Sheng Ming roared, as his eyes glowed with the sheer power flooding his body. For a moment, nothing else was in his world, but flames, and the single purpose with which he needed to move.

Sheng Ming burst forward, breaking the sound barrier with a single step as he struck at the demon. The strike was like an explosion, destroying pieces of his body, burning away at his flesh as he aimed for the heart.

“You—” the demon tried, but Sheng Ming was faster. Flames burned in fury, as he struck at his heart once more as Sheng Ming plunged his chest into the demon, wanting to crush its heart and end it. As his hand moved through Yang Sheng, he looked at the demon, to see it suffering in pain, but instead, only found a grin looking back at him.

“I can move my heart around,” the demon said, before striking back.

Sheng Ming let the strike hit, blocking it. His flames began to flicker, and so he reached into his soul, and reached out to another spirit ring, as it dissolved.

“Finale Flames: Second Step.”

Power filled him to the brim, more power than he had ever possessed or even dreamed of. Fire scorched the air around him, his body glowing from the heat. He rushed in, his fists landing all across the demon’s body, not giving him a chance to do anything. Yang Shen moved rapidly, his own black flames rising, his skin was like metal, each strike holding back Sheng Ming’s fire. Dark lightning swirled around the demon, as Sheng Ming continued. But this was not enough. Not nearly enough. He needed more.

And so he burned another spirit ring.

“Finale Flames: Third Step.”

He became fire. There was no separation between the two, as Sheng Ming let a powerful burst strike the demon on every part of his body, flames covering him entirely. With a strike that shook the very world he slammed the demon into the ground, the explosion launching up earth into the air.

And yet, it was not enough.

The demon rose to his feet, one arm gone, half his face burnt off to show his flesh mingled with his skull and one of his eyes hollowed. Had he been human, he would’ve died thrice by now. But he stood.

“AHAHAHA! IT ACTUALLY HURTS!” The demon cackled madly, the semblance of humanity finally starting to slip. But Sheng Ming couldn’t give him time. He needed to end it here.

He reached for the next step.

“Final Flames: Fourth Step.”

The second last spirit ring in his soul crumbled apart, power surging in his body like never before. His own skin began to crack from the strength, and he knew that if he went any further than this, he would not survive.

Sheng Ming rushed to the ground, and Yang Shen struck back with the might of a divine beast.

“Die, you old bastard!”

The two collided, as the city around them crumbled. The earth shook, flying outwards, buildings being leveled as the air exploded, catching fire from the intensity of the strike. Yang Shen flew backwards, and yet the demon used a burst of flames to orient himself, before striking back.

“You want to fight huh?! Let’s fight then!” Yang Shen roared, as he clapped his hands together.

“Deathless Domain: Flames of Asura.”

Sheng Ming saw the world turn to hell, a giant demon with four arms manifesting behind Yang Shen as the three divine beasts struggled under chains extended by the demon. The power of the divine beasts was pulled by the chains, before flowing into Yang Shen, as the demon began to change form. His body twisted horrible, changing shape, horns just from his forehead as all humanity was shed, as the creature took on its true form.

Yang Shen looked down at his hands, clenching his fists.

“Ah, how I have longed to be complete. And now I’m so close, I can feel it.”

Sheng Ming didn’t retaliate with his own domain. He did not have one anymore. He let flames loose in a burst, but the domain was absolute, the demon struck his attacks aside with ease.

“It’s pointless. All of it is pointless. If you will not understand with words, then let me show you by action,” the demon said, before stepping closer as punched Sheng Ming hard enough to send him flying.

Before Sheng Ming could reorient himself, the demon arrived closer, catching him, as he struck him into the ground. “Watch. This is true power.”

The demon spoke, miasma surging around him. Sheng Ming turned around, attacking with flames, and the demon clicked his tongue in annoyance, lifting him up by the throat.

“You know, I tried. I tried because there was some lingering sense in me that you might understand. But I see it now. You’re merely an old and dying stubborn fool. You have no place in the world I intend to create,” the demon spoke, and with a clawed hand he pierced Sheng Ming’s chest.

Sheng Ming gasped, feeling the hand pierce his chest, he knew he would die. And yet…

He looked at the demon, looked at the monster, and called out to the grandson that may have been inside of him.

“Yuan… this old fool apologizes. I’m sorry that… I wasn’t there for you,” he spoke, feeling the fires starting to fade.

The demon looked at him, not caring in the slightest, but if there was any piece of his grandson still alive, then he’d said what he’d always wanted to.

With a breath, Sheng Ming took the last step.

“Final Flames: Fifth Step.”

The last piece of his cultivation shattered.

For just a brief moment, the world seemed to halt, as the power swirled around Sheng Ming. The Qi of the world flooded into him, pushing him past the highest peak he had ever reached, and into the skies that he had only ever dreamed of reaching.

Divinity.

For a single moment, all was clear. His path, his purpose, and the goal upon which he walked.

He reached out, instead of an attack, as a hug, as he wrapped his arms around his grandson.

Flames took over the world.

The demon shrieked as Sheng Ming’s arms bound around him, and the world turned to fire.

“What’re you doing?! You’ll kill us both!” the demon grasped, trying to pry himself away, but Sheng Ming simply continued to burn, his body, his spirit, his soul. It all burned in flames today.

Yang Shen screamed and thrashed and kicked as he tried to free himself. The demon’s domain shattered around him, agonizing pain searing his entire body as the two burned together.

Sheng Ming reached out with a hand into the creature’s chest, and grasped a chain, pulling it out. The Azure Dragon roared, and seeking the chance, fought back.

The demon’s body cracked, power escaping through seams as the Divine Beast began to tear its way out.

Sheng Ming pulled and continued to pull, and with a powerful scream he tore the chains as last.

The Azure Dragon roared, as the heavens rumbled in the skies once more. The world shook, breathing a sigh as the divine aura of the dragon returned to the empire, the divine creature rushing out and soaring to the high heavens, into the clouds.

Sheng Ming felt his body lose all strength, as the flames began to die down. His skin was a charred husk, his own flames having burnt it, and the wound in his chest was bleeding. As the world began to darken, Sheng Ming felt arms grab him, and he saw Zhou Ren rushing him down to the earth, before setting him down on the ground.

With a cough, Sheng Ming opened his eyes.

“We’ll get you help, hang on. Just hang on Sheng Ming,” Zhou Ren said, and for a moment the exterior of a lord broke apart to reveal a panicked child.

“Calm… down…” Sheng Ming spoke, looking at Zhou. “It’s… alright…”

“Stay quiet. Save your breath,” Lord Zhou said, his own Qi flowing into the old man, yet there was nothing left to fill anymore. Any trace that may have remained had burned away, turning him into a mortal.

The old man felt his breaths slowing, as he saw Lord Zhou still desperately trying. He gave him a smile.

“Death… comes for us all… I merely… got to choose… mine,” he spoke.

“You’re speaking nonsense, do not speak any further, this is a command,” Lord Zhou said, and for a second, he heard a waver in the man’s voice.

“Tell the boy… tell Lu Jie… that I believe in him,” the old man said.

For a brief moment, his eyes went to the demon. He could still feel it, in the distance. Injured, but alive.

But the old man had nothing to give anymore. He had given his all, all that he had, all that he could give. All he could do now was trust in the others.

With a shuddering breath, the old man closed his eyes, as darkness took him away.

***

Yang Shen pulled himself back to his feet. It burned. Everything burned. He clawed his chest, feeling the gaping hole in it, the loss of the Azure Dragon, now missing from his soul, and the form that he had achieved, gone once more.

“I’m going to KILL him. I’m going to KILL THEM ALL!”the demon howled in madness, clawing at his own skin, burnt to a husk. Even his core had been burnt, his injuries no longer healing. He pushed up to his feet, before stumbling once more, body too broken to support himself, as he growled in anger and humiliation.

A dark figure appeared before him.

“We need to go,” the demon spoke in a guttural but calm voice.

“NO. Not before I tear EVERYONE here limb from LIMB,” Yang Shen howled, his voice twisted, as the miasma mutated his body to make up for his broken limbs.

“You will lose yourself, be turned into nothing but one of the hollows. Do not be a child, the Divinities have broken free. We must leave,” the demon said, picking up Yang Shen on his shoulder.

Yang Shen looked at the city, at the flames that burned around it, and growled in anger.

“This is not over,” Yang Shen spoke.

“I know,” the demon replied, as flames swirled around their bodies, before the two vanished into the winter night.

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