Inhale.
Exhale.
Focus the lake of energy to the tip of the fist, inching from the meridians in the wrist into each of the fingers, reinforce the body with the stuff of creation.
Inhale.
Strike
The stone pillar cracked, shuddering as Rina's fist darted out and slammed into it, rocked back, but unbroken.
Exhale.
She had thought she was coming a long way--her success in the Secret Realm bringing her to the utmost height of power that Essence Gathering can allow for. Indeed! The training methods useful for ordinary scions of this rank had limited effect now, and she had to make use of training facilities intended for those in Pillar Construction--those experts who were the foundation of the Clan's power projection.
And yet, while her physical strength could be said to match those who had already begun assembling their Pillars, she was inferior in virtually every other regard to a neophyte in that rank. She could provide merely thirty full power strikes in a ten second period, to the sixty expected. She could maintain this pace for merely three hours, where an expert could endure for a full day. Her power--while great--was terribly unfocused, without the tyranny of a Pillar to solidify it.
The power of her blood helped, but in the end, the truth was that she could
barely even count as a soldier at this point. Oh, to be truthful, even soldiers had a valuable role to play.
But for all of her efforts, seeking the Four Olympian Keystones in hopes of becoming a Champion of the Clan--a shield against all that would seek its ruination.
She wasn't there yet.
Lady Aikaterine
was there, she
was an expert. And from out of nowhere, a band of swarming barbarians
somehow managed to cast a spell, to slay her where she stood! Through the power of the Hoplite Formation no less! A pillar of the Clan was torn down by murderous thugs with a great spell, that
somehow had not become a rumor!
There wasn't even any excuse about it, the amount of times she heard some snot nosed Young Master ordering their servant to "Investigate their background!" And in literal days, coming up with every known feat of skill and arms that person had ever executed. She could only attribute the
failure of the Clan to learn of a Formation capable of threatening a Nascent Soul with the nature of the world
literally altering itself, solely for the purpose of hurting the Clan.
Hadn't they suffered enough? How many years had passed since the Sea Conquering Army had been broken under the machinations of the Heavens? How is it that their acts, and their mandate was
so much more offensive then the successors of the entity that
murdered the continent?
She had received the letters from her friends in the Battlefield--the Demon-Suppressing War was well under way, and as per usual, the Demonic Altar Sect was roaring from battle to battle, losing some--but then winning enough in other fields that their loss may never have been. What does it say for the world that it's willing to look the other way with destroyers, simply to kick the Invaders while they were down?
"Hiyah!"
Rina shouted out as she struck out at the pillar again. Sending further cracks through it. This strength training exercise wasn't going to be very helpful for her--but it was good to have
something to take out her anger upon. Why were the Heavens so capricious? Was Father's theory true? That the Heavens even favor butchers and atrocities over opposition because at least the former are
doing their jobs?
She had heard the literature of the Righteous Path in her travels with the other members of the Five. The Blessings of Heaven invariably falling on those who follow righteous ways, who protect the mortals under their rule while allowing them to govern themselves. The power of Karma invariably gathers, providing Luck to those who take such a measure.
Then why was it that the Golden Devils--who had made a home in the darkest, most ruined section of the Region--created realms that were no less well governed than those of the Verdant South, despite the great labor and effort required--were still hated by the Heavens? Why were these Karmic Blessings denied to the Clan when they were doled out dutifully to all others?
Why was it that Lady Aikaterine had to die to such a pathetic tactic?!
Her Essence flared with her anger, and the next blow
shattered the training block. Her fist dripped with blood, and she clutched it with a wince. That... Might have been a bit too much.
The evidence though was clear no matter how she looked at it. The Heavens
would never accept the Golden Devils. Even if they had adhered to the dogma of the Righteous Path--such would have been no shield against the greed of mortals, and the Blood Path was ever mighty and willing to take advantage even if the others could not. The game--such as it is--was rigged.
The Heavens allowed only two options, become a monster and be put down like one, or compromise your thoughts and hopes to settle into a slowly declining stasis, until the next great upheaval arrived. It was strange to her--after all--to see how
consistent it was that the older ways were
invariably superior to the ways that were invented more recently. Logically, talent should build on talent, and each generation should be a little better.
And yet even disregarding the death of the continent and the dessication of its husk, it was usually the opposite. Skill
itself steadily seemed to decline over the years. Was it because many elites refused to pass on their teachings and died with their knowledge? That strange obsession with leaving ruins lying around in strange places when one felt cornered? Offering power to the lucky one who stumbles upon it?
Even the Golden Devils were not immune to this--though the degradation appeared to be more in the form of happenstance
invariably denying resources to them.
How were people supposed to break out of this spiral of madness, when the laws of the world themselves seemed to bury any insights over time?
She paused at that point, looking down again at her injured fist. Something about that thought rung true to her. She felt like she was on the cusp of something.
It was the laws of the world, wasn't it?
Her fist throbbed with pain, intensifying as her thoughts began to zero in on the insight. The World
couldn't be better than it was, because it was the nature of the world to suppress learning, to suppress insight. Those who thought to explore the philosophies for their
own sake would invariably be out-competed by those who sought philosophy for the sake of converting it to battle power. But battle is a chancy thing--against any who were remotely capable, one would often die, and the other be terribly wounded, barring extreme power disparity.
And yet,
denying battle was perilous as well, because to do so would be to suggest weakness, which is enough to encourage a foe to escalate in turn--to take
all that they could instead of mere fractions of it.
So, philosophy is rendered subordinate to strength in battle.
"I... I should be writing this down..." Her fist
hurt, but the pain concentrated her thoughts instead of distracting them--the echo of the Ancient One's voice rattling around her heart.
"If the Heavens put a wall in your path, you know that they fear where it is going"
She moved towards her gear, set aside in the grassy field of one of the Dawn Fortress' staging ground, rummaging through her satchel and withdrawing a notepad.
"Oh?" Muqin Guo roused to wakefulness as she percieved Rina's rummaging.
"Struck by an insight?"
"I don't know..." Rina muttered, flipping her notebook open to an empty page, and withdrawing the Ever-Dark Quill from where it was strapped to the binding, sketching out her initial thoughts. "But... It feels like it's important."
Philosophy is rendered subordinate to strength in battle, but strength in battle invariably leads to the loss of life and knowledge. Those who do not take this path are outcompeted by those who do, as those who are not strong in battle are held in contempt by all experts.
It is a... Law... of the World.
"No wonder..." Rina whispered. "No wonder everything is always trending downward."
The Heavens placed a test in the face of all those who ascend, requiring
strength in battle to pass. None are ever challenged to Tribulations of wit and skill, none are challenged to Tribulations that test their knowledge and study. The Tribulation always takes a single form. Lightning striking the physical body, and scouring the will for weaknesses. Those who have not gained a great deal of strength in battle don't even get a chance to test their Path for its integrity--they are simply reduced to ash by the wrath of Heaven.
In short, the only ones who have the time and--to be honest--raw intellectual muscle to truely and genuinely advance the cause of philosophy are those who have already been pre-selected to have weaponized their Path. Weapons can be good to advance knowledge in the short term--but having nothing
but weapons invariably leads to stagnation--and as there is never an extended
break in the struggle, few can settle back and simply take time to contemplate philosophy, law, and how this interacts with humanity.
The Heavens
didn't allow peaceful philosophers to rise in Cultivation!
Whether it through malice, or mere disinterest, the only ones who rise to power are those who have yoked their high ideals to an engine of war!
And...
She was very nearly the same way.
Her fist
seared at that thought, but it felt true to her heart.
"Hah, of course." She laughed. "Tearing down all the walls in my path... Even if I had taken that route, even if I walked it to the end... I'd have just been another warlord, wouldn't I? That wouldn't have made a better world at all, would it?"
She felt a frisson in the air, a crackling of static on her limbs, and she
Knew that this was the way.
"It's got to be the other way around." She shook her head. "Not the ideals subordinate to strength in battle. But Strength in Battle subordinate to the
ideal."
An ideal of a better world, a happier one, where people could be free to explore the wonders of creation without needing to fear being slaughtered by thugs who simply took the fastest, most direct course--and damned be the consequences. It was not something that would come peacefully--the Heavens had declared the rule as the most ruthless were the ones most favored by it, the ones who are most willing to inflict suffering to achieve their goals.
Her Path would be different. To be Good, but not
Meek. To forge an emblem of a World as it Could Be, and to challenge the World that Is with it--to craft it with such peerless skill that all the lightnings and all of the rage of Heaven cannot shake it.
The Olympian Keystones were still a necessity for this matter. An ideal this heavy wasn't one that could be distributed across multiple elements, important things would surely be lost in the transition. But it felt
right, it felt
good.
And judging by the crackling she felt--it was
absolutely the answer the Heavens didn't want to hear from her.
She grinned at that, accepting the pain of their displeasure, and knowing that as cruel and arbitrary as the Heavens were--even they couldn't unleash their Lightnings save in response to the Tribulation. She raised her hands in the air, and felt the weight of expectation fall from her shoulders.
This would not be an ambition wrought in a day, but a saga centuries in the making--if it could be done at all. She would draw the ire of the Heavens at every turn, as trial and tribulation sought to dissuade her from this path. Champions would be directed from all corners of the realm, given cause to strike her down in the bud.
But she welcomed it--because that which must be done was rarely
easy, and overturning an eon of stagnation and barbarity was a feat beyond reason. Some might even call it madness.
But it was said that to Cultivate is to Defy the Heavens.
How could she possibly let herself be swayed by the act being
hard?
For the first time in years, Rina Callista laughed, freely and clearly, tears streaming from her eyes at the wonder of her insight.
"Thank you, Lady Aikaterine" She whispered after she calmed down, content in her heart. "Thank you for supporting me on this path. I'll carry on your work once I've matured a bit more... I'll make a world that's more fair--more just than this one... And there'll be a place for us there. Let the Heavens rage and cast down their fury upon me, for I will stand as guardian over this ideal until my last breath is spent."
It wasn't, perhaps, the most eloquent eulogy to the former Elder. But it was what Rina had to offer.
That would have to be enough.
