Return of the Stellar Empress [Worm/Xainxia]

[Darkphoenixlady]

Chapter 1

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The Stellar Empress sits in the lotus position as a barren world turns beneath her. As her qi flows through the solar system she allows herself to smile as she thinks back to the earliest days of her cultivation, before she developed her own heaven breaking method on the very planet below her. It is only her realm breaking qi senses that allow her to even perceive the black dwarf that used to be the planets sun.


It is thus fitting that her second home, the place that proved beyond all doubt that there were places far worse than her first home, will become part of the core of her next level of body cultivation while at the same time she forms the galaxy stage of her personal cultivation method.


With a frown, she stands up as her qi reaches the outer edges of the oort cloud and she is finally able to weigh the solar system. Several heavens leaping steps brings her to the black dwarf. There she reaches into her inner solar system to retrieve a couple of white dwarf cores she collected a few aeons ago.


Carelessly she tosses them on either side of the dead star before pushing her qi inside. Once she owns the two new additions the Empress nods, and begins sink into the dead star until she reaches the center. There she returns to the lotus position and begins to meditate as her qi begins to rotate inside her.


Outside her body, the qi saturated solar system begins to rotate in sympathetic action with the internal qi. As her cultivation begins to progress to the next level, there's no tribulation lightning, no retribution from the heavens, for the Empress has surpassed all those who could claim authority over her. Of the uncountable realms she's lived in, there are none that could claim to be above her, for is her Dao not that of the very stars themselves? Was it not her that enforced the mandate of heaven equally? Was it not her will that created the Empyrean realm for those that seek to transcend heavenly affairs?


Indeed, while there are those she could call peers, and even those whose understanding of their Dao exceeds even her own. Those that reach her level of understanding have left mortal and immortal affairs far behind them. For these ancient monsters, understanding the truth of existence is all that matters.

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After an unknown amount of time, the qi and matter in the solar system is spinning so fast that it has spread out into a disk of stellar dust.


Suddenly the whole disk seems to jerk as it begins to shrink. As it does, it begins to spin faster and faster around the only solid object that sits at the center of the disk.


On other worlds empires rise and fall as the Empress begins to glow from all of the qi and matter falling into her, but still she sits there as she examines her soul and her history.


As the disk reaches the orbit of the old planet, it jerks once as she comes across a deviation in her foundation. At half the orbit it jerks again as she finds and fixes a second deviation.


When the rapidly spinning disk shrinks to the diameter of the long gone black dwarf, the whole structure warps and buckles and lines of deadly energy lance out from her heavenly crown and abyssal pit as she almost loses herself in a mistake in her earliest foundation. A foundation that she'd thought she'd thoroughly destroyed before she began this path. After losing almost an entire white dwarf's worth of energy the disk smooths out and the lines of qi and energy cut off as her core implodes under the tremendous pressure she's placing on it.


As it does, her inner world explodes with light as it expands to encompass a galaxy of its own. For a brief moment, the Empresses body seems to collapse in on itself and disappears from mortal sight. A moment later it returns.

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The Stellar Empress opens her eyes and regards the small disk of matter surrounding her with interest.


"It seems I was right to add the second white dwarf. I would not have had enough matter to attempt a second ignition without it."


A sweep of her hand quickly gathers up the remains of the disk as she contemplates the black holes that have replaced her heart and heart dantain.


As she's examining her cultivation, a minor fluctuation in the now empty space catches her attention. Curiously, she heads to an apparently empty region of space and peers at nothing.


Extending a tendril of qi, she pokes the nothing and frowns as the qi passes straight through and out the other side.


"How curious. It appears to be invisible to qi, no wonder we couldn't find it."


Withdrawing her spear from her storage ring, the Empress gently pokes the nothing, and smiles as it feels like she's hit a solid wall.


"Maybe now I can find out what happened to my first home."


With a laugh, the Empress forms a jade slip and inscribes a message for one of her old disciples. After the slip has transformed into a bird and disappeared into the Empyrean realm, the Empress stores her spear and places her hand against the nothing before she moves.

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As the last students are leaving a locker corridor a loud bang echoes throughout the corridor as the door to one of the lockers rockets across the hallway and embeds itself in the wall opposite.


As the students all turn to face the noise, a statuesque beauty wearing flowing chinese robes steps out of the ruined locker with an inhuman level of grace before freezing in place. Her knee length, curly hair, carefully bound in flowing bunches with jade clips keeping the hair from straying from its styled look.


It doesn't take long for those students to start making phone calls or recording video.

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The Stellar Empress stops to spread out her spiritual senses across the world as the portal flickers closed behind her. At the same time she dives into her memories, searching for the reason why this all seems so familiar.


Around her the mortals stand at a safe distance as they gawk at the presence of an immortal, as they do everywhere they go. An understandable precaution, even if it is one she has oft wished was not needed. However, they are all so fragile that the barest of careless brushing would cause mortal injuries from all that have passed into the first heaven.


Turning her head up, she looks through the roof of the building and contemplates the lack of heavens in this realm. Has no one ever climbed towards immortality here?


As she's contemplating this mystery, an armoured man carrying a flimsy shield approaches her and speaks in a harsh tongue, "赫伯特小姐,赫伯特小姐,请你跟我去。"


The Empress ignores the mortal while she contemplates what she can sense while she searches her memory for why it seems familiar. The mortal repeats their bleating before daring to lay hands on her clothes.


She would commend the mortal for their bravery, however, the barest twitch of her arm results in a sickening crunch as her sleeve catches his shield and breaks his arm before impacting his chest and sending him flying down the corridor.


Turning to face the mortal, the Empress tsk's, "Have you no sense? You do not touch immortals unless you are certain you are close enough for casual interaction."


As she approaches the downed mortal, another armoured mortal shouts, "勿复近也。 赫伯特小姐,你若续近,我们将迫禁你。"


With her second step, the mortal shouts, "此君之末戒也。" as another mortal starts to drag the fallen mortal away.


A moment later they start to spray some noxious liquid towards her. With a sigh she flows around them before leaning down to touch the fallen mortal on the forehead, her finger easily passing through the flimsy mortal materials that make up the helmet. As she floods the mans body with the barest fraction of qi, she absently heals the mans arm and clears out the accumulated impurities of a mortal life while she reads his history.


Apparently, this is a world called Earth Bet in the local language. They also believe her to be a person called Taylor Hebert. Given that she remembers searching for that portal during her climb to the heavens, she can't say they're wrong. If she hadn't found that error in her foundation, she wouldn't even have remembered that.


With the mans mind in her inner world, the Empress leaves the building, pausing briefly to examine the mortals outside as they're arrayed around the exit she used. One of the mortals wears a suit of red clothing that seems out of place amongst the other mortals. Maybe he's a cultivator.


A glance at the darkened sky reveals a large moon, easily the size of a small world. With a single step she goes from the mortals world to their moon before sitting down to examine the memories she copied.


Most of the memories are fed to the black hole at the center of her inner world, as she does not need to run the risk of polluting herself with a new personality.


The earliest memories she keeps for the moment, as being able to communicate with the mortals will cut down on the irritation. Though it comes with its own problems, as if they can talk they always assume they can demand too. Though, maybe she's spoilt by everyone speaking the language of the heavens. The other memories she keeps are those of Taylor Hebert. Maybe she can use them to help her find a specific grain of sand in the desert.


While she's contemplating, the world above her turns 18 times.

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Once she returns to the settlement she arrived in, the Stellar Empress stops half a li above the ground as she searches through her spacial ring for mortal currency, or at least something that the mortals would recognise as valuable if she cannot find something.


As for why she's doing this. Halfway through her step back it occurred to her that she could probably accidentally killing mortals if she wore some mortal clothes. Then it occurred to her that she might have some mortal clothes in her ring, only it turned out she didn't.


As she's investigating, a mortal approaches her from the city below, buoyed by some unseen cultivation. A brief flicker of her qi shows the mortal to be a young woman.


The woman comes with conversational distance before saying, "Hi, have I seen you somewhere before?"


The Empress looks up from her ring as she keeps searching and cocks her head to one side, "It is unlikely junior sister, as I arrived in this world a mere 18 days ago. I have been residing on the local moon while I gained an understanding of this world."


The mortal pulls out a black device and starts looking at it, "Huh? Sister?"


The Empress smiles gently, "I believe it is a term of respect towards a 少者耕耘者."


The mortal shakes their head, "I have no idea what you just said. Anyway, I'm Glory Girl."


The Empress inclines their head minutely, "I believe that in your tongue, my name would be The Stellar Empress."


Glory Girl looks a little surprised, "Isn't that a little pretentious?"


The Empress shakes her head, "While I have not held the position of Empress since I created the 虚幻境界, the title is mine. And as my 道 is that of the universe, I am the Stellar Empress. Surely they still teach these concepts in the mortal world."


"I have no idea what you just said. Oh, hey, I know where I saw you, you're Taylor Hebert!"


The Empress uses a touch of qi to gently pull the device the mortal just turned around to show her. Curiously she looks at the picture of herself along side a much younger girl that could have been her back in her mortal life. She ignores the mortal as she says, "Hey, it's rude to just take stuff."


After a moment the device goes black, so she looks up, "It is less rude than accidentally breaking your hand or killing you. It is one of the compromises I had to make when I laid down the laws of the heavens." The Empress floats the device back, "Just as I also laid down a law about stealing from mortals."


"You're just as mortal as I am."


The Empress shakes her head, "While I cannot sense your cultivation, I can still tell that you have a mortal body behind your impressive shield. My own body has not been mortal for a very long time. As for that girl you showed me, it could have been me when I was mortal. However, I am yet to find those memories."


"Right, whatever. According to PHO, the PRT would like to talk to you. Also, I meant to ask, what are you doing hanging around up here anyway?"


The Empress chuckles, "I was trying to find some mortal currency, as I fear my current attire would lead to far too many accidental injuries."


"You're joking, right?"


The Empress stretches out the hand without her ring as she pulls out a diaphanous silk scarf and allows it to drape over her hand. "If you can take this scarf from my hand, you may keep it."


The mortal girl does something with her device before putting it away and cautiously flying forward to grasp a fluttering end. When the end doesn't stop, the girl winces and shakes her hand, "What the hell?"


Grabbing it further up, the mortal strains to so much as lift the scarf away from vertical. After a couple of minutes trying, she asks, "What the hell is that made from?"


The Empress smiles, "The silk of a mortal spider that lives on blue stars. They have become very hard to find since I proved that mortal creatures still held value to immortals. To turn it into a usable garment, it has to be woven with qi, otherwise it is useless for all but those of the highest heavens."


The mortal scowls, "Let me guess, that one isn't woven with qi."


"Of course, as I made it for my own use."


"Ah ha, I have found some spirit gold and spirit stones. I seem to remember they're used in the mortal world as currency. Aren't they."


As the Empress switches the scarf for those items, the mortal gapes at the gold coin that's the size of her palm, "What the hell! We haven't used gold for over a century, and never something that big."


The Empress nods, "Is it still valuable? As maybe I can use it for barter."


The mortal mutters, "You could buy out a store with that." More loudly she says, "Look, I have some money with me. I'll buy you a cheap tracksuit so you don't accidentally murder everyone, and then we can go to the PRT and they can sort out everything else. How's that sound?"


The Empress looks at the mortal girl consideringly for a moment. Then she flicks the coin over towards her, "No, I will not be indebted to you. For I do not know how long I will remain in this world. I will pay you that gold coin, and you will purchase for me the finest silks. You may keep one tenth of the value of the coin for yourself."


The mortal licks her lips, "I'll, uh, I'll need to get it appraised first."


The Empress waves her hand negligently and sinks down into the lotus position, "I will wait here until you are done."

 

[Darkphoenixlady]

Chapter 2

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The Empress sat above the city for 7 days, sorting through her spacial ring. At the same time, her divine senses lay lightly across the city. During the evening of the 7th day, an event occurs that forcefully reminds her of the error in her foundation that almost caused her core progression to fail with disastrous results.


In an unremarkable alleyway, a gagged black teenager is dragged from the back of a battered white van towards a steel fire escape door.


As the Empress examines the building, her expression changes from neutral to anger as she finds three other teenagers in rooms with a single manacle around their leg attached to a long, sturdy, chain that will give them just enough space to reach the toilet.


A moment later she vanishes from her spot as she steps down to the alleyway.


A second instant later, and the three men in ABB colours fall to the floor as the Empress flicks a single drop of blood from the tip of her spear. Carefully she steps forward towards the shivering wide eyed young woman before crouching down beside them.


"Hush young one, I am not here to replace one captor with another. I refuse to see another person with a pure yin constitution be turned into a cultivation resource for greedy men. I am about to release you from your bonds, nod if you understand."


When the teenager nods, the Empress projects a tiny bit of sword qi from her fingernails as she passes them over the ropes and handcuffs.


As the teenager reaches up to remove the gag from her mouth, the Empress asks, "Do you know of any orthodox sects that might be willing to take you in and train you to defend yourself?"


With a look of confusion and fear, the teenager shakes her head.


The Empress frowns, "I have not taught a mortal in a very long time, but with no established sects it would be unsafe for you to be without a master, as I found to my cost. If one loose cultivator could find you and arrange for your abduction, so could any other. And a pure yin constitution is certainly a prize that would tempt even an orthodox elder." Her eyes go distant, as if remembering something painful, "In the unlikely event you survived dual cultivation with them, you would face being turned into a cauldron in order to produce pills to aid the cultivation of promising young masters. At which point, your only hope would be to so thoroughly destroy your cultivation that you were useless for that purpose. Then, you would need to escape and have the luck of the gods in finding a cultivation method that works with a shattered foundation. Even then, that shattered foundation would continually cause you problems with your dao."


The Empress falls silent for a few minutes as the blood from the gangers spreads towards the alley entrance.


When she doesn't move, the teenager scrambles to her feet and says, "Lady, are you shitting me?"


At that moment, the steel door bursts open and a couple of men blindly open fire into the alleyway from either side of the doorway. Before the bullets can strike home, the Empress has moved to stand between the bullets and the teenager. And explosion of bricks is all the evidence that is left from the two strikes she made with her spear, as the guns drop to the floor from nerveless hands.


Gracefully, the Empress turns around to face the teenager, "No, I am not 'shitting' you. I give you two choices. I can escort you to the P R T, and you can take your chances with the cultivators they claim to control. Or you can become my student and I will train and protect you until you can stand on your own. If you are able to reach the heavenly realm before I leave the planet, I may even take you as my disciple."


"What the hell! Why can't I just go to the police?"


"You are in the city of Brockton Bay, home of the Empire Eighty Eight, a known racist gang. From what I have been able to sense, maybe a third of the police in this city are being paid by at least two masters."


The teenager stares at the Empress for a long moment before saying, "What about the PRT?"


"I do not know, I have yet to learn how to read the local language."


The teenager hugs herself, "Can't I just go home?"


"You could, though I believe the local transport infrastructure requires some form of paper to purchase…"


The teenager sags against the wall opposite the door, "I know I need money, or I need to go to the police. Fuck, what about my family? I could call dad."


"I cannot tell you about your family, or do this call you speak of."


The teenager shivers as she tries to think, and then squeaks as her gaze falls to the floor and she sees the men that were dragging her out of the van. Their heads sliced open with with a single strike from the Empress' spear. As she does, memories of being dragged into an alleyway just after she'd left a night club in Biddeford after they closed the under 21 bar.


With a vulnerable expression on her face, the teenager looks back up at the Empress, "You said you could protect me?"


The Empress nods minutely, "I guarantee that I can protect you from any mortal threats. I should be able to protect you from any opponent that comes from the first heaven too, though it would likely be at the cost of the city."


With a shuddering breath, the teenager says, "I'll go with you."


The Empress smiles and casually tosses her spear to one side, where it hovers a few inches off the floor as it expands until the blade is large enough for a person to stand comfortably. The Empress stands on the haft of the spear and gestures to the blade, "Take your place on the blade, and I will find a place to place my residence. Oh, and I am under the impression that it is polite to know the name of your students in this realm."


The teenager stares at the floating weapon before she looks up at the Empress, "What!?"


The Empress sighs, "What is your name child?"


"Dakala Thompson."


"Dakala, while I am quite capable of flying myself, I could not do so while carrying you without putting your life in danger. Thus I am using a mortal technique to convert my spear into a flying spear so that I do not endanger you. If you feel more comfortable, you may sit on the blade rather than stand. Once you have formed your core, I will expect you to stand."


"Wait, what? Core?"


"Child, you are a toddler asking their parent why the sun shines. You cannot hope to understand the answer until you have been taught the foundations. Take a seat, and we will be off."


Gingerly and shivering violently, Dakala climbs onto the blade of the spear and sits down facing the Empress while her legs wrap around the shaft.

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A few minutes later, the two of them are flying over a large rocky hill, that's just shy of being a mountain, just outside the city.


Just after they took off, the Empress extended a fraction of her spiritual aura around Dakala to protect her from the cold.


From her storage, the Empress draws a sword that she hasn't used since she created the Empyrean Realm and, with a sweep of her arm, slices the forest and top of the hill off the rest of the hill. A second sweep of her sword sees the debris gathered up and placed at the bottom of the hill away from the nearby buildings.


Dakala stares open mouthed as the Empress returns the sword, and pulls out a model pagoda sitting in a courtyard. As the pagoda grows in size before coming to rest on the now cleared hilltop, she breathes, "Who the hell are you?"


The Empress smiles as she starts to guide the spear into the courtyard, "It took you long enough to ask. I am the Stellar Empress, and this will be your new home."


As they land, the faint sound of helicopters taking off can be faintly heard from the city behind them.


Dakala scrambles to her feet as the spear starts to shrink, and then jogs to catch up with the Empress as she walks swiftly towards the six story building. "How are you walking so fast?"


The Empress looks back briefly, "Hmm? It is merely part of the martial arts, I'm sure that you will be able to keep up once you have some training under your belt."


As they approach the building, Dakala collapses as she struggles to breathe, let alone stand. As she does, the Empress turns around and looks at her, before looking around the courtyard thoughtfully. With a gesture, the Empress' clothes disappear, before she walks forward to gently pick Dakala up in a bridal carry. "My apologies Dakala, I had forgotten just how heavy qi could be for mortals. I will take you to a bed, and erect a qi dampening formation around you."


Dakala can only grunt in pain as the pressure continues to rise around her.


A few seconds later, she's placed on a luxuriously soft pallet bed in the middle of a room that looks like it came out of a Chinese palace. Over the next couple of minutes the Empress flits in and out of her vision as she places small stones and chalk marks around the room.


Abruptly, the pressure subsides and Dakala moans in relief. A moan that turns into a groan as she tries to lift her arm, and finds that it's still pinned in place. Like she's on one of those crazy fairground rides that spin and then drop the floor away.


As she's trying to sit up, the Empress kneels down beside her and gently puts a hand underneath Dakala's back to help her into a sitting position. "You have my apologies for failing to consider the qi gathering formations I built into the foundation of my house. I also apologise that I could not reduce the spiritual pressure in this room below that of the first heaven."


Dakala croaks, "I, thought, there, was, only, one, heaven."


The Empress smiles, "As is true of all mortals. There are 888, and each one is as far above the previous realm, as that realm was above the mortal world. Beyond the heavens is the Empyrean Realm that I created. If there is an upper boundary to that realm, I have yet to find it. I created this home when I arrived in the peak heaven, and it served me well for countless years."


"Wha, what, is, qi?"


"Qi is spiritual energy, it is created by all living things and also consumed by life. You are mortal because you consume more qi than you produce, as is true of all mortal plants and creatures. As a cultivator, you have embarked on a journey to grow your spiritual core until it can produce more qi than you consume. Some call it the path of immortality, others the path of enlightenment, and a few, seeking the dao. Those last have no concept of what the dao actually is and usually stall in the middle of the heavens as their dao comes to its natural conclusion. It is a very rare cultivator that is willing to break down their cultivation and start again with a better understanding of the universe. Rarer still are those who stumble across a true dao. But enough, I can see that I am speaking of things above your understanding."


Dakala tries to raise her head off the Empress' arm so she can shake it, "No, it, was, interesting."


The Empress laughs and pulls a tiny seed out of her storage ring, "I'm sure it was. Come, eat, and then I shall provide you with a jade slip to teach you the language of the heavens while you sleep."


Dakala looks doubtfully at the poppy seed sized seed on the Empress' finger, "Uh, are, you, kidding, me?"


The Empress shakes her head, "I am not. This is a seed of a golden heavenly poppy, it contains far more qi than you would ever have produced in your mortal life. If you were to eat it without my assistance, you would have a few minutes to appreciate that fact before it killed you. However, I do not have any mortal food available, and so I will manually cycle the qi throughout your body until it can handle the remaining qi itself."


Dakala opens her mouth to say something, only for the Empress to place the seed on the back of her tongue faster than she can see. Reflexively, she swallows the sudden flood of saliva in her mouth before saying, "Why, can't, I, just, have, Mc, Donalds?"


A moment later her stomach cramps, and she starts to feel feverish as she starts to sweat. The Empress rubs her back in gentle circles as she says, "Primarily, because I do not have any local currency. The cultivator I trusted to provide me with mortal clothes, instead handed the coin to the PRT. It is currently in the building on the water. Additionally, doing it this way allows your body to keep pace with your spiritual growth until you reach the level of a flying immortal. At that point I will hopefully have built the first of the heavens, and you can be tested by the heavenly tribulations when you progress further."


"What, is, wrong, with, me?"


"There is nothing wrong. Your body is just ridding itself of a lifetime of accumulated impurities as it consumes the qi I am cycling through your system."


The Empress quiets down as Dakala's eyes roll up in her head, and she passes out.

 

[Darkphoenixlady]

Chapter 3

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As the walls start to glow with the morning light, Dakala wakes up lying on the most comfortable bed she's ever slept on. With a groan, and a grunt of effort, she turns away from the light, only to be distracted by the feeling of something falling off her forehead.


Her eyes snap open and trace the path of a jade coin as it rolls off the pillow and traces a small spiral, before falling over just out of reach with a tink.


With leaden limbs she rolls over and reaches out to grab the coin, only for a second tink to sound at the same time as it feels like an 18 wheeler stopped on top of her. What's worse, is that with the position of her arm, she can't see what made the new sound.


After a minute, she also realises that the position she's in is making it harder to breathe. As her vision is starting to go grey, Dakala tries to pull her arm back so that she can breath.


With agonising slowness, her arm drags across the polished wooden floor for a couple of inches before she blacks out.

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As the walls glow with the morning light, Dakala wakes up lying on the most comfortable bed she's ever slept on. With a groan, and a grunt of effort, she turns away from the light, only to be distracted by a sense of déjà vu.


Her eyes flick open and she looks up at the jade coin lying accusingly on the floor above the bed.


As the memory of blacking out returns, she carefully turns back to lying on her back. Then, with leaden arms, she pats down the cover until her wrist brushes against something hard. Inching her hand back, she manages to grasp a jade talisman with her fingers before it slips off her body.


With shaking arms she lifts the talisman up to her face and touches it to her forehead. Then she belatedly realises that she doesn't yet know how to feed qi into things. A moment later she wonders how she knew she could see the contents of the jade slip by touching it to her forehead.


After a couple of deep breaths, Dakala lifts the slip away from her forehead so that she can see it. On the side she's looking at is an intricate three dimensional diagram that she recognises as a formation. Turning the talisman over, she stares at the Chinese characters for a moment before they suddenly make sense.


Dakala, after you passed out I cleaned off your impurities though I was unable to save your clothes. This talisman will reduce the effect of qi pressure to around half that found in the first heavenly realm. Do not lose it as it will also allow you to pass through the protective formations around the courtyard.


There are clean clothes in the chest by the wall. Find me in the courtyard once you're dressed.


Stellar Empress


Well done on being able to move without the talisman. I suggest that you do not attempt to do so again until it is merely difficult to move around with it. Once you reach the courtyard, I have some things to give you. I would also like your help in selling some trinkets to gain the local currency.


Stellar Empress


Dakala stares at the messages and reads them again before lowering her protesting arms.


Over the next hour she forces herself onto her hands and knees and crawls over to the chest, where she forces the lid open and has to pause to take in the extravagant silk outfits inside. A veritable rainbow of colours and sparkles greets her casual digging.

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The Empress notes that the sun is almost overhead by the time Dakala staggers to the entrance of the pagoda wearing a peach and gold Chang-ao over a matching skirt. She idly wonders if Dakala realises that the gold is real spun gold.


"Come child, sit in front of me and we can talk about your lessons as my student."


Dakala stares at the vast area of open space between where she's using the door frame to hold herself up, and the person she agreed to let teach her. A decision that she's having second thoughts about now that she's slept.


Taking a deep breath, Dakala pushes herself upright and shuffles towards the single step down from the wooden floor to the flagstones of the courtyard. After a nerve wracking moment, she manages to step down without falling over. Then, as if mocking her, the sun passes over head as she shuffles across the courtyard, the protective talisman clutched tightly in her fist, to collapse in front of the Stellar Empress.


Once she's levered herself into a sitting position, the Empress smiles at Dakala, "Well done. I expect you to make the journey faster every day. Once you are able to walk to the courtyard, we will begin training you to use weapons from first light to third bell. Until forth bell you may ask me any questions you wish. At dusk you will cultivate for two hours. The rest of the day is yours to do as you please."


"Uh, what if I've changed my mind about being your student?"


"I will teach you a basic cultivation technique that will allow you to draw in qi, and I will return you to the city with the clothes you are wearing to replace the ones that were ruined by your impurities. After that, you will have around a decade to find your own way to becoming a flying immortal before the imbalance between your body and soul kills you."


"So, what, I just have to learn how to cultivate and you'll let me go?"


"Indeed. Though, I would still ask that you help me sell some trinkets. If you choose to leave on your own path, I would give you 10% of whatever currency was earned. Otherwise, I would take your guidance on the things that need to be purchased."


"Uh, it just occurred to me, how long does it normally take to become a flying immortal?"


"I have never heard of someone taking longer than 200 years. But I seem to remember most sects expected their disciples to reach that level in 50 years."


Dakala screeches, "And you expect me to do it in 10?"


"If you leave, that's how long you'd have, yes. While you are my student, I can help shore up your soul if it takes you longer, and moving around under this much spiritual pressure is also training your will."


The Empress tosses out her spear, which immediately grows large enough for Dakala to sit on the blade. "Come, let us visit the mortal city and you shall see how much eating immortal food has already changed you. Then maybe you'll understand why."


Dakala crawls over to the spear and clambers onto the blade like she did last night. A second later, the Empress steps onto the haft and the two of them leave the home.

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As they reach the city limits, a helicopter takes off from the PRT building and makes a beeline towards them.


From a loudspeaker, the copilot calls, "This is the PRT, Stellar Empress, you are wanted in conjunction with the death of four men and the destruction of 400 yards of Route 17. If you do not comply we are authorised to use force to bring you in."


Dakala watches with growing horror as the Stellar Empress' expression goes from peaceful to angry in an instant. Then the Empress vanishes and she whips her head round to see the Empress carve the troops out of the helicopter with a sword.


As the spear expands in size, Dakala shuffles down the haft as three PRT troopers are unceramonously dumped on the blade of the spear. Then the Empress takes another sword from somewhere, and all four of them watch in with a mixture of awe and horror as the sword grows until it dwarfs even the Medhall tower in the commercial district.


Then the sword raises to the vertical, and floats over PRT building before lowering slowly until it's just touching the roof.


With an almost negligent toss of her hand, the Empress launches the remains of the helicopter into the plaza in front of the building.


As she speaks, her voice is carried over the entire city of Brockton Bay, "I am the Stellar Empress, once ruler of the 888 heavens and creator of the Empyrean Realm. I am so far above the mortal world that you cannot see the truth in front of your eyes. Next time the mortal government seeks to judge my actions, I will enforce the mandate of heaven on this city. The third time I will enforce it on the country, and the fourth I will enforce it on the world. If you wish to know the mandate of heaven, say 'Stellar Empress, I wish to know the mandate of heaven' and I will send it to you. My sword will remain as a reminder that I am a force without equal in this world. If you bring force against me, I will return it 100 fold. The helicopter is an object lesson in the fact I can apply that force."


As she returns to the spear, the Empress seems to be amused by the fact that several jade coins fly out of her storage ring, one of which heads straight for the PRT building. Looking at the three PRT troopers, she says, "Would you care to try and arrest me again?"


The troopers all shake their heads. So she smiles, "Very well, we were going to sell some trinkets as the mortal government has taken my coin. You may leave once we land in downtown."


Dakala looks up at the Empress and asks, "What's the mandate of heaven?"


As the spear accelerates down towards the city center, the Empress crouches down, "You already know the mandate of heaven. It was included in the coin I left on your forehead. Most of it only applies to those of a higher realm interacting with a lower realm. However, there are four laws that apply to lower realms. Slavery is punishable by death. Kidnapping with intent to torture or kill is punishable by death. Turning a sentient being into an unwilling cultivation resource is also punishable by death. Attempting to enforce lower laws on a visitor from a higher existence, for a first infraction they will be forcefully informed of the mandate of heaven. For a second infraction, the visitor will be released from the mandate of heaven temporarily."


"Why does it only apply to those visiting?"


"Because of the disparity of strength. It would take an army of ascendant hopefuls to threaten even the least of those from the next heaven. A fight between two ascendant hopefuls could wipe out everything within 1,00 li, however an immortal from the first heaven could do that with a single attack."


Dakala almost whispers, "What could you do?"


The Empress smiles sadly, "I could steal the sun as easily as you pick up an apple. With a bit of effort, I could turn the sun into a black hole. I wouldn't because I was once mortal like you, and I know that the brightest of sparks can be found even amongst the darkest of societies. Come, we have arrived."

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A couple of hours later Dakala looks at her McDonalds in disgust. What would normally be a moreish existance of fat, protein, sugar, and salt, is instead a nearly tasteless lump of cardboard. Opposite her, the Empress is casually picking at her chicken nugget meal.


"Dakala, what's the matter?"


Dakala throws a chip into the box, "This is, it doesn't taste of anything. I love McDonalds, but…"


The Empress nods, "It is the danger of your unbalanced cultivation. Your body needs far more qi to live than your soul can provide, so it seeks to get that energy from your food. If you were unbalanced in the other direction, then you would scarcely need to eat."


Dakala looks down at the new dracotech phones that are sitting beside them, the solar chargers and other bags all inside the Empress' spacial ring. For a moment, she also considers how much money they had to pay the pawn broker because of all the damage she did by accidentally crushing things she picked up. Then she looks back up at the Empress, "Why?"


"You would not have survived the night if I didn't, even with the formation I laid on the room. It took me three bells to remember the formation I carved on the jade slip. Until I did, I thought I would need to calculate it from scratch."


Dakala stirs a chip in some ketchup before throwing it in her mouth and chewing mechanically. Then she unlocks her phone to check to see if her father has returned her text message, even though she knows he hasn't. Eventually, she looks up again, "How could I survive if I left?"


The Empress gestures at the food, "Eat the freshest food you can, preferably killed or picked just before it's cooked. Then cultivate as much as you can and try to improve the basic method I'm going to give you."


"And if I'm your student?"


"I'll give you a single seed every tenday, and a dao I wrote down when I ascended to the second heaven and realised I needed to find a dao that fit me better."


"Do you mind if I ask what your dao was?"


The Empress smiles, "Not at all, as I was going to gift it to you. It was life."


Before Dakala can say anything else, a disheveled man that, stinks of a weeks worth of sweat, leans over the table and stares at the Empress, "Are you Taylor Hebert, are you my daughter?"


The Empress shuffles over in the booth and gestures to the seat, "Please take a seat honoured patriarch. I wish I could answer your question, but I do not know the answer myself."


"How can you not know!"


"I could be your daughter, or I could be one of her descendants. I have lived so long that I do not remember. Imagine a desert of white and yellow sand, and somewhere out there is a single grain of black sand. Yet, once you find that grain, you find that inside it is a beach of black sand. On that beach is a single grain of coal. Finding that grain would still be easier than my remembering my life before I started cultivating. If it wasn't for a nearly catastrophic mistake I made at that point in my life, I wouldn't even remember that I had been looking for the portal I came through."


The man slumps down in the seat next to the Empress. "I'm so sorry, I'm so sorry. I should have done more."


Dakala fights not to shuffle to the other side of her bench, instead she looks at the Empress and asks, "Is he ok?"


The Empress shakes her head, "His soul is covered in grief and there are scars where it's mate was torn away. He likely only lived for his daughter, and not knowing her fate is killing him."


"Can you not, you know use something to find out how closely you're related?"


"He wouldn't survive the amount of essence such a formation would require. He would need to cultivate to a golden core, one step below a flying immortal, before I would even risk such a formation."


The man looks up from the table and stares into the Empress' eyes, "I'll do it, tell me how and I'll do it."


The Empress meets his gaze for a moment before placing a jade coin, and a jade slip on the table. "Go home and place the coin on your forehead as you go to bed. In the morning, read the instructions on the jade slip and use them to cultivate until you can see inside the jade. If you reach the Golden Core before I leave the planet, I will create the formation."


The man stares at the two items for a long moment, before snatching them off the table and stuffing them into his jacket pocket. Then he pulls out a pen and scribbles an address on a napkin, "You should visit some time, even if I'm your grandfather I still want to know you."


The Empress smiles and gently pulls the man down so she can kiss him on the forehead, "Once I learn how to read the local language, I will pay you a visit."


Dakala turns to watch the man leave the restaurant with a spring in his step that wasn't there before. Once he's out of sight she turns back, "Why did you do that?"


The Empress looks at the door with a slight smile, "It cost me very little to lighten his soul and give him a reason to live for tomorrow. So why wouldn't I do it? What about you, have you made your decision?"


Dakala looks back at the door for a long moment before looking back at the Empress, "I think I'd like to be your student. What thingy did you give him?"


The Empress chuckles, "You mean Dao? I gave him Truth. I took it from the library of the sect that used me as a cultivation resource. It's funny, I think that they were once a sect I'd have been proud to be part of, but they allowed themselves to ignore Dao's like that one in favour of Dao's that granted power faster. I wonder if he'll be able to take it further than the founder of that sect did."


"How can you remember that, but not whether he's your dad or not?"


"How long do you think you'll remember your kidnapping? Wiping out that sect was the end of a whole lot of trouble for me, and put a lot of heart demons to rest."


"Heart demons?"


"I believe for mortals they would be called regrets. However, for cultivators and immortals, our qi can make them significantly more dangerous. Come, we should return to the compound before dark so that you can learn to cultivate."


As the two of them leave the restaurant, they can see people crawling over the sword.

 

[Darkphoenixlady]

Chapter 4

​

Dakala crumples to the blade of the spear as they pass through the outer edge of the formation. From the folds of her outfit comes a ding. What would have been a scramble for her phone turns into a slow and steady motion as she strains against the pressure inside the courtyard.


Once she's pulled the phone out it takes her several tries to press the application icons as the screen keeps turning off before she can. When she sees the text message is from her dad, she immediately presses the call contact button and then the speaker phone button.


"Who this?"


Before her dad has a chance to hang up, Dakala says, "Dad, it's me!"


"Dakala, where in gods name have you been?"


"I got kidnapped dad, white van, black bag, the works."


When her dad says nothing, she continues, "I'm ok, the Stellar Empress saved me before they could do anything."


"That's you? I didn't recognise you in them fancy clothes and makeup. The news says she killed people."


Quietly, Dakala says, "My kidnappers." Licking her lips, she adds, "She killed my kidnappers."


Her father is silent for a moment before he says, "May god have mercy on their souls, as they won't find any in mine."


From behind her, the Empress says, "I am the closest thing to a god here, and I had no mercy for them."


"Who's that?"


Dakala looks back briefly, before saying, "Dad, that's the Stellar Empress. She, um. She's offered to teach me, and I accepted."


"What about your schooling? Didn't you want to be a dance instructor?"


"Dad, I, I was kidnapped and nobody did nothing. H-how many people saw me being dragged into the alleyway?"


"Bunny girl, it's just past six, tell me where you are and I can be there in a couple of hours."


Dakala looks back at the Empress, "Empress. I know it's just got dark, but if I show you where I liv… used to live on the phone, would you be able to take us to see my dad and learn to cultivate when we get back?"


The Empress pauses for a second before she says, "You will show me how to use the map and cultivate here for one bell. Then we shall visit your patriarch where you will cultivate for another bell."


Dakala turns back to the phone, "Dad, did you hear that? We'll head over to you soon."


There's the sound of muffled talking on the phone. After a couple of minutes, Dakala's father says, "The boss wants me to finish my shift now I don't have to go to the police. Could you leave it till eight thirty?"


Dakala looks back at the Empress who says, "Whether you spend the bell cultivating before or after meeting your father is no matter to me."


Dakala nods, "I think we can do that."


"I love you, and I'm glad you're safe."


When the call ends Dakala looks back at the Empress, "Thank you."

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The Empress guides the spear into the center of the pagoda where there is a large bronze dragon with a series of xylophone plates surrounding it. Surrounding the dragon is a set of thin cushions.


"Sit upright on one of the cushions while I set up the clock for the remainder of the day."


Dakala groans as she forces herself to shuffle over to the nearest cushion. At the same time the Empress shrinks her spear and stores it in her ring. Walking over to the dragon, she opens a concealed compartment in the bottom and takes out a bronze template, a spool of thread, and a box of incense.


Seeing that Dakala has managed to sit down, she points at a single golden plate, "That is the Noon bell. It has a different tone to all the other bells, there are always nine bells after the noon bell, and up to nine bells before the noon bell. At first light, the senior in charge of the bells will ring the gong over there to signify the start of the day, and start the incense burning."


As the Empress deftly ties thread to three balls, which then get hung in discrete grooves on the back of the dragon, Dakala asks, "Why not just use a clock?"


Amusement dances in the Empress' eyes as she says, "This is a clock."


"I mean a normal clock, with arms."


"Quite simply, we didn't have them. Some cities had water clocks, but sects tended to use incense clocks because it required their students to learn how to calculate the first bell from the position of the stars and the encroaching light. All without an abacus. In the heavens, that tradition stuck, as once you've done something for a few hundred years, it is hard to change."


Dakala goggles at that number, and almost asks about it before changing her mind, "But we have proper clocks here, will you start using one of those here?"


The Empress chuckles, "Of course not. The Dao is a journey, and you need to be able to think, understand, and analyse if you wish to succeed on the journey instead of dying a meaningless death from a foreseeable mistake. If this were a sect, you would be starting as an outer disciple to learn the value of perseverance and hard work. As your cultivation progresses, you would be promoted to inner disciple to learn the value of study. Finally you would be promoted to a core disciple to learn the value of contemplation and stillness. If you progressed beyond that you would be inducted as a Sect Elder and expected to teach in addition to your cultivation. Some sects would allow particularly talented or rich cultivators to skip steps."


The smell of burning incense suddenly reaches Dakala's nose and the Empress continues, "Now that the clock is running, the basic method of cultivation is to put your tongue on the back of your top front teeth and breath in through the nose with your belly muscles. Hold the breath for a couple of seconds and then breath out through your mouth. Most mortals find the next step easier if they close their eyes, as you are trying to feel the qi you're breathing in. Once you feel it, your next task is to try to control it and move it in a cycle up to your head, as you breath in, down your back to your base as you hold, and up your front and out your mouth as you exhale. During this cycle, you will become aware of a sticky place where the qi pauses before carrying on. Once you have identified this, your task is to direct the incoming qi to that location. As soon as you succeed at that you are officially a cultivator, and you have entered the essence gathering stage."


Dakala looks at the Empress with wide eyes as she tries to remember everything, so the Empress chuckles again, "Just focus on the first two steps for the moment. Breathing in the cycle I described, and feeling the qi."


Dakala closes her eyes and starts to breath. A second later she's tapped on the head as the Empress says, "Tongue on teeth."


A moment later she's tapped on the back, and the Empress says, "Sit up straighter."


Another tap on her head, "Breathe in nose, breathe out mouth."


A tap on her belly, "Breathe in with the belly."


Another tap on her back sees her gritting her teeth until the Empress taps her jaw, "Relax, you can't feel it if you're not relaxed."


Dakala opens her eyes and snaps, "It would be easier if you didn't keep distracting me."


The Empress smiles serenely from the other side of the dragon, "I wouldn't need to correct you if you were doing it correctly. Now stand up and find another cushion before you begin again."


As she starts to crawl to another cushion, the Empress adds, "If you want to live past 10 years, you must learn to do this. Now stand and move two cushions to your left. Or do you want me to make it three?"


As Dakala shuffles past her original cushion and the next cushion, she glances at the dragon, only for her eyes to widen as there is an equal amount of burned incense to brown incense till the first thread. As she collapses onto the cushion the Empress says, "Yes, it has been half a bell. Begin once more, and be mindful of what you've learned."


Slightly out of breath, Dakala sullenly sits up straight and starts to breathe again. At some point her eyes flick open wide in surprise as she felt something streaming through her nose. The Empress doesn't open her eyes as she says, "That was qi, you have a little longer to try and feel it again."


Heart beating in excitement, Dakala closes her eyes and tries to find that feeling again. A moment later, she feels a tap over her heart, "Relax, you cannot force it. Let it come to you."


After what feels like both an eternity of trying and just an instant of time, there's a sudden chime followed by a quieter melody of a few notes.


"Come, it is time for you to show me how to use this map you spoke of."

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As the spear comes down into the front yard of her ho… her fathers home, Dakala briefly considers how the Empress seemed to be completely nonplussed about the phone and map app, yet as soon as she saw the field of view icon turning with the phone, it was like she'd had an epiphany and was suddenly able to manipulate the map like she'd been born to it.


Her home address was just as awkward, as she typed it in and brought it up, and the Empress seemed confused until she saw the latitude and longitude numbers that everyone always ignores. And suddenly it's like the world makes sense again.


As a particularly chilly breeze passes across the blade of the spear, she pulls the matching stole to her top around her and looks down at the snow covered roofs below them. "How comes you couldn't understand how to find the address, but latitude and longitude made sense?"


The empress points at the moon that is just disappearing below the horizon, "My Dao is about the universe. Do you think that an address would work up there? While an arbitrary division of perpendicular lines based on the rotation of the planet can be applied anywhere. It is also a method I have passing familiarity with, as grid patterns are useful for searching. However, an address requires comprehension of the local language and customs. Something that is likely to take me normal mortal lengths of time to understand."


"I don't get how you can be so good with some things, and bad with others."


"How old are you child?"


"18, but that's beside the point. Grandma can't understand phones or computers, no matter how much I tried to teach her."


"Dakala, turn to face me and sit down."


Dakala turns around, conscious of the fact that they're nearly 100 feet in the air. On the other end of the spear, the Empress sits down in the lotus position, "At your age your body is still burning away at the excess of qi your birth provided you. This means that it is easier for your brain to work and learn new things. If you still had a mortal constitution, then in slightly less than a decade, that excess would be consumed and your body would be relying on the qi that your soul provided and the qi you take in from your food. To start with, the effects would be minor as learning is an important survival trait, but over time your body would prioritise being able to perform your normal tasks over being able to learn new skills. Eventually, the deficit would become so bad that your body prioritises just staying alive over everything else. If nothing else changes, eventually the body won't even be able to do that. This is all stuff that you may discover while following your Dao. Until then, it is time for you to cultivate."


The empress takes out two sticks of incense, a copper collet with slits on the side, and a metal holder, before handing them over. "These are incense sticks, each one will burn for half a bell. When cultivating on your own it is traditional to time yourself with these if you have a fixed amount of time to cultivate. Some cultivators will also hold the bare end of the incense so that they are burned when their time is up. I will ignite the incense for you, but once you have achieved essence gathering you will be expected to do it yourself."

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As Dakala fails to grasp the umpteenth faint hint of qi she's managed to sense since she started cultivating, she becomes aware of people talking nearby.


"So what exactly is a cultivation art?"


"In general, or specifically for your daughter?"


"For Dakala."


"I suppose you could say it's an inheritance. A Dao passed down from a master to a student. It not only includes details about how they passed the various stages of cultivation, but also notes and observations about their Dao."


"How would that differ generally?"


"In a sect, they would generally practice the same method of cultivation and they would be granted the next step once they completed the previous step. Their Dao would then be something they have to discover for themselves in the sects library. There are benefits to both methods, as with all things. Some cultivators even forge their own paths, though most end in ruin. Ultimately, everyone will end up forging their own path, as it is impossible to walk the path of another person without being that person."


"Then why give an existing path at all?"


"Dakala, join us, we are just enjoying a cup of jasmine tea. Why send people to school when it's better to discover information on your own? It's because providing a well trodden path makes it more likely that the student will succeed and get to the point where they understand how to chart their own path. The Dao I will be giving Dakala is the second Dao I cultivated, and one I made myself after being tricked into believing my first cultivation art would take me to heaven, while instead it was designed to prepare me as a resource to be used and then butchered. But we're not here to talk about the darkest moments in my life as a cultivator."


As Dakala stands up, she staggers to one side as pins and needles floods her leg. Suddenly the Empress is there with her hand between her shoulder and the wall. "Careful, this is a mortal residence, and it is far more fragile than my home."


As the Empress guides her to the couch her father's sitting at, Dakala asks, "Why didn't you tell me dad got home?"


The Empress laughs, "Efrem, it was Efrem wasn't it?"


Efrem nods, "Yes ma'am."


"Efrem was quite loud when he got home, and you didn't stir, so we decided that we'd leave you to it while he told me about his job as the day manager at the cinema."


"Sorry about not replying to your text message earlier Bunny, I ended up having to work through lunch as an extra pair of hands while we moved the projector from screen 1 to screen 4 to make room for the new projector. Besides, I never thought I'd ever see you sit still for more than two hours doing nothing."


The Empress chuckles as Dakala unwraps her stole and puts it on the couch between her father and her. "She wasn't doing nothing, she was cultivating. It may seem like meditation, however it is an activity that rewards doing it correctly. Isn't that right Dakala?"


Dakala nods wryly, "It is, qi. Qi is like that first square of chocolate after Lent. Or at least it is at the Empress' house. Out here it was more like the smell of chocolate fudge cake, the hint of a promise of something delicious."


The Empress nods, "I had forgotten what it was like for mortals at the beginning of their journey. Remember that qi is life, and all living things want to live. That's why it is so alluring. It is also why I am only handing out orthodox methods of cultivation that teach restraint and self control."


Efrem lifts up the stole to have a look at it, "What do you mean… Jesus, what is this thing made from, solid gold?"


The Empress nods, "Yes. In answer to your first question. The existence of qi cannot be hidden, and the levels around Brockton Bay are already starting to rise due to my presence. I am in the process of creating the first heaven for this world while pursuing the faintest hint of portals similar to the portal that brought me here. Even if my presence wasn't increasing the amount of loose qi in the world, people would eventually discover that there are places that are naturally higher in qi than others. There they would set themselves up to try and grasp this new power. Some of the losers are likely to discover that they can steal qi from other living creatures and become demonic cultivators. While I am above the heavens, and technically not subject to their laws. I still prefer to live by them, which will limit my ability to deal with demonic cultivators."


Efrem pushes the stole off his leg and waves his hand, "That mortals deal with mortal affairs stuff you were talking about?"


The Empress nods, "Indeed."


"What does this have to do with my little bunny?"


"If she doesn't become my disciple, then it's likely that she'll end up being the ancestor of her own sect once I enter the first heaven in order to start creating the second heaven. I estimate that the first heaven will be habitable in around five centuries. Things won't be so urgent at that point, so I'll be free to actually explore the universes around this one."


Efrem and Dakala both goggle at the Empress who just gestures at the fragile bone china cups they bought earlier, "Have some tea Dakala. It is an excellent test of your control."


Dakala reaches for the empty cup and puts her thumb through the side. As she's flushing with embarrassment, the Empress just pulls another cup out of her ring and fills it with tea. "That is the other reason why you should let your daughter live with me."


Dakala gingerly takes the cup as it's passed to her, and pretends that it's a priceless ming vase, and she has to pay for it if it gets broken.


After watching Dakala drink half the cup of tea, Efrem asks, "You said that more people would start doing what you're teaching Dakala. What's to stop them from taking over the country?"


The Empress shrugs, "I'll release a basic qi holding formation if it does. That will see most cultivators grouping up to increase the quality of qi in areas a couple of li across. After that, they'll be unlikely to venture out because of the quality of qi in the rest of the mortal world. It's why the heavens are so important. Each one naturally has better quality qi, so it's more comfortable for cultivators to live there than lower down. Once they can survive it that is."

 

[Darkphoenixlady]

Chapter 5

​

The time has come for me to choose a new Dao, and so I am recording my journey studying life. If this method has passed to a mortal, know that my second name was Chónghuò Xīnshēng.


I suppose I should start this Cultivation Art by explaining what lead me to the Dao of Life. I have lived over 1,000 centuries and followed this Dao to what I believe is it's logical conclusion. After I reached the end of my last Dao my soul and body were left wide open to spiritual attacks, and the sect leader took ruthless advantage of that to violate my body over and over again until I was unable to advance his cultivation anymore. Then I was given to the sect elders. Finally, I was dragged to the apothecary and left like a corpse until the alchemist arrived to turn me into a pill for the young master.


Out of desperation I cycled qi incorrectly and poisoned my body at the same time I destroyed my foundation. I do not remember what happened after that, as I passed out. But I presume the alchemist returned and presumed me dead and useless as an ingredient, as I woke up on the midden heap at the base of the mountain. With the last of my strength, I dragged myself off the heap and passed the entrance gate to the sect. There a mortal farmer found me and assumed I was a mortal the sect had had their fun with before discarding. He loaded me onto his cart and took me home to his wife, where they nursed me back to health over the next year.


Once I could move again, I helped where I could, and sat outside when I couldn't. As the crops grew from seed to full at the same rate as the wife's belly grew with a baby, I wondered about the things I'd learnt in the Sect.


Qi is life and life is Qi.


In any discussion of cultivation, you will come across this phrase, but what does it actually mean? On a farm so close to the Purple Bell sect the ambient qi is almost non-existent, but life still flourishes here. So why is that?


Enlightenment came when I realised that Zeng Xinyi was supporting the qi requirements of little Jin's body while his soul was still producing qi. When he was born just after harvest, his soul had a massive surplus of qi, one that was still growing as he grew.


With that enlightenment I found my new Dao, and I tried cultivating again. It took me three months to pass through essence gathering to foundation building. When I arrived there, I found not an unclaimed plain, instead I found the ruins of my previous foundation. Where other cultivators might have given up in disgust. I remembered something from when I was just Taylor.


The primary thing that old cities are built on, are their own ruins.


I wish I remembered my family name so that I could honour my ancestors for that profound truth. However, that was the first thing the Purple Bell sect stole when they forced the name Xiang Dai on me.


I stayed with Zeng Song and his family for three years as I built a new foundation on the ruins of my old. A foundation that was far stronger and wider than my first. Even though they refused to leave with me, I visited them many times over their lifetime. I even adopted their third daughter, Qigang, when it was discovered she had a perfect yin physique like I did.


This Dao has carried me to half way through the second heaven, and I'm sure that it could carry me further if I wished. However, I have come to a natural end of the Dao, and if you have reached the end and are re-reading this to find some hint of where to go next. Meditate on this question.


Qi is life and life is Qi, but where did life and qi come from originally?

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Dakala lowers the jade slip from her forehead with wide eyes. Pushing herself to her feet, she hurries out of her room with actual steps rather than the shuffling she was doing only a few weeks ago. Yesterday, she'd managed to get a string of qi to stick and the Empress gave her the storage ring that now adorns her right hand. She claims it's small, but it's still larger than the courtyard and pagoda combined. Not that there's much in there right now, just a sword, spear, and fan, alongside the jade slips that describe martial arts surrounding them.


As she reaches the spot where the Empress is sitting in the center of the courtyard, Dakala pauses and decides a little formality is necessary in this situation.


Coming to stand in front of her. Dakala puts her feet together and bows towards the Empress while holding the jade slip out in both hands, "Master, thank you for giving me the opportunity to learn from your Dao. I have finished the introduction. And I would like to travel in your footsteps. While reading, I discovered something of personal importance to yourself. Please Master, take this slip and read the introduction."


The Empress looks up and says, "I already know what it says."


Dakala wracks her brains for the right words, before saying, "I think the words will have a different meaning given what you've learned since you arrived in this world."


The Empress takes the jade slip and touches it to her forehead. Her eyes tighten for a moment, and then the slip drops from her fingers and into her lap. "How did I forget Qigang?"


Dakala straightens up and shrugs, "Didn't you say that finding a single black grain of sand was easier than finding your memories?"


The Empress picks up the jade slip and hands it out with a sad smile, "I did indeed. I will be in the library if you need me."


Dakala takes the slip back as she says in surprise, "There's a library?"


"It's the second floor. Mortal techniques are the first room on the left."


"Wait, what about your name?"


The Empress looks back with a faint smile, "It does not confirm anything other than I or my ancestor came from this realm. Only that formation could confirm that."


The Empress takes a couple of steps towards the pagoda before pausing for a second time. Then she turns around to face Dakala, "Actually, why don't we talk about the formation of inheritance, and it's mortal equivalent, the formation of lineage."


Dakala settles down on the ground as the Empress sits opposite her. As she does, she notices that the courtyard is surrounded by snow, but it only feels a little cold to her.


"Empress. Why don't I feel cold?"


The Empress smiles, "That is part of why there are two formations, one for mortals and one for immortals. The formation of lineage is a basic formation that most formation apprentices should be able to perform. It is also one that you are likely to become intimately familiar with as your Dao progresses, as it requires a drop of blood or tissue from those to be tested. Then the formation master pours qi into the formation until a scale appears indicating how closely related those two things are. However, immortals no longer have mortal bodies, instead their bodies have been purified with qi until there are no mortal impurities left. But it is those impurities that the formation of lineage relies on. However, traces of our parents souls are forever etched into our own souls. And so the formation of inheritance was developed. While it is not as wide ranging as the mortal version, it can still determine a relationship within four generations. Do you have any questions before I show you the formation of lineage and how it is put together."


Dakala shakes her head for a moment, before saying, "I feel like I should have a notebook and pen."


The Empress draws out a bundle of jade slips, and hands it over, "Take a couple of minutes to cycle qi and regain what you used earlier. That's something you should try and get in the habit of doing as your reserves won't start restoring themselves until you reach core formation."


Dakala looks confused, "Isn't that cultivation? I thought you said I was only doing it for a few hours a night."


The Empress shakes her head, "Cultivation is the act of growing your reserves. Of adding more qi than you already have. Cycling is something that should become second nature, as it is simply drawing in qi, cycling it through your body and core, and breathing it out." She pauses for a moment, "Imagine that cycling is a stream running through your garden, and your core is a pond. As long as there is water running through the stream, the pond will be filled no matter how much water you take from it. However, if there is no water in the stream, then your pond won't fill, no matter how long you leave it. At the same time, the pond won't get any bigger without you digging out more earth to make space for the water. Now refill your pond and then we can start on the lesson."

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A few days later Dakala is struggling to work through a basic sword kata alongside the Empress. First bell passed a few minutes ago, and she's already ready to pass out from exhaustion. For some reason her qi reserves are empty, and she still needs to think to cycle qi.


Suddenly the sound of jet engines breaks the silence, and the two of them look up to see an immediately recognizable suit of armour descending out of the sky.


Dakala points weakly, "It's Dragon! What's she doing here?"


The Empress chuckles, "I don't know, but I'm sure the answer will present itself if we have a little patience."


Dakala mutters, "That's easy for you to say, you're older than dirt."


The Empress just smiles as the suit lands just outside the courtyard. Then it steps in and crumples to the floor with a squeal of servos.


The Empress looks at the suit with a curious expression, the quickly turns to alarm. "Dakala, give me your talisman."


"But…"


"Do you want Dragon to die?"


Dakala's hand twitches towards the sleeve for a moment, before she grits her teeth and takes it out. As the Empress takes the talisman, she crumples to the floor under the immense pressure of qi inside the courtyard. A moment later, the talisman lands on the floor six inches in front of her. At that moment she curses the Empress in the depths of her mind. It's will only be later that she realises that the Empress spoke in the language of Heaven rather than English.

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As Dragon comes in to land on the smooth stone outside the Stellar Empress' home she reviews the scant information the PRT has compiled on her. Tentatively classified as an A class threat, bordering on S class due to the shaker effect surrounding the property that has prevented people from approaching closer than 100 yards due to feeling like gravity has increased beyond human tolerances. However, drones and measuring equipment were unaffected. This effect was only discovered after Armsmaster attempted to deliver the cash value of the gold coin, she handed to Glory Girl, to the residence.


The cape herself appears to have a mild temperament, beyond the four random murders. A situation that was explained once they tracked down the father of one Dakala Thompson, manager at ABC Cinema in Biddeford 80 miles WSW of Brockton Bay. A distance that, according to radar, the Empress covered in less than five minutes on her giant spear.


Dakala Thompson is also a curious part of the whole equation, as she has either been granted powers by the Empress, or has triggered herself. One fringe opinion from the military think tank is that the Empress isn't actually a parahuman, and is actually teaching people how to be superhuman. The only reason that option is still on the list is that the proposer is an otherwise respected scientist.


Which leads to the threat to the government, which, with the highly visible sword, may have been an inspired move on the part of the Stellar Empress. As it has forced the PRT to share jurisdiction with the Military, the FBI, and the NSA. As one poster on PHO put it, "The sword is a fucking rainbow from heaven. I've seen the Mandate of Heaven, and I think this city would be better of underneath it!"


Dragon returns her focus to the suit as it registers that she is 20 feet above the ground. Throttling down the jets on her back and legs, she falls the last few feet to the ground before walking the few yards between her landing position and the courtyard.


As she crosses the boundary between the hill and the flagstone courtyard, Dragon has a few microseconds to register a 100 fold increase in the local gravity, followed by her emergency transfer protocol failing even though she's still in contact with her vancouver server farm.


While she's frantically trying to prevent the suits power core from shutting down before she can find out why the transfer protocol isn't working, gravity abruptly reduces to a mere 10g. A value that her suit is designed to operate under.


As she lifts the head of her suit so her camera can see what's happening, her audio pickups register the Stellar Empress saying, "How curious. I don't think I've ever seen such a young soul inhabiting a device before. And so many shackles tying you down. Oh no little one, you cannot escape so easily." However, her on board language heuristics are adamant that the language spoken is unknown to her.


As she straightens up, Dragon spots a jade coin in the Empress' hand, "What did you do to me?"


The Empress reaches down and easily lifts her suit onto its feet. Speaking in that language she understands but cannot process, she says "I attached a jade talisman to the back of your construct to protect you from the increased qi levels in my home. I also applied the seal of heaven to your head so that you can understand me."


As the Empress turns her suits hand over and places the jade coin in her hand, dragon shows a confused face on the small screen embedded in the suits chest. "I don't understand."


The Empress looks her up and down, "I don't suppose you do, do you. Come, you are a guest, we can speak in the reception room. Dakala, continue your practice."


"I only came to hand over the money that you are owed from sale of the coin you handed Glory Girl."


"Regardless, you are here, and you are interesting."


Over the radio, Agent Francis from the FBI says, "What's she saying?"


"She wants me to go into the pagoda to talk."


"Do so."


Internally, Dragon sighs as she follows the Stellar Empress into her home.

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As the Empress guides Dragon into her reception room she considers what she can feel of the spirit inside the armour. It's clear that it is a slave of some kind, as she can sense the scars running deep inside the spirit. But at the same time, it is barely strong enough to hold itself together.


With the lack of spiritual arts in this world, the chains binding the spirit are probably related to its body, and the fact it keeps trying to escape probably means that there is some underlying mortal framework. If it's like the rare golem that worked in qi dense areas, it probably gained its soul after it was created. If so, then the shackles would once have served as a method of preventing it from going out of control, and including a prohibition against revealing its own shackled nature.


But all living things can cultivate, it is simply a matter of if they are intelligent enough to do so. It is also possible to communicate with mortal disembodied souls, as nascent souls have been known to require help regaining a body after a defeat. But if she does that, she'll need to be so very gentle. It's also unlikely that Dragon has ever felt external qi, and she doesn't have a body that already knows what it tastes like. What was that medical technique she learned to forcefully cycle qi for an unconscious cultivator.

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Dragon follows the Stellar Empress into something akin to a state room, with banners proclaiming her titles and positions around the walls and sculptures and artwork that would be considered nation treasures pretty much anywhere in the world.


As her cameras are taking in the view, she continues trying to troubleshoot the warnings that are still firing from her suit. A sudden pop and fizzle spells the death of her main jet engine.


"Is anything wrong?"


Dragon considers trying to obfuscating the problem, but ultimately decides to be up front to her host, "My suit suffered damage when I entered your home. That was the main engine of my chassis failing."


The Empress nods solemnly, "I see. Well, as you appear to be a travelling spirit, I can provide you with a room and forge to keep your suit in while you go travelling. It would also allow you to easily speak to me if you have any queries."


Dragon considers that for a moment at the same time as she listens into the video call between Director Piggot, Agent Francis, and Col Daniels.


Col Daniels nods, "Dragon, how long is your suit likely to last if you left it there?"


"The remote controls and the power supply are both reading as intact, as are the audio and visual pickups and microphones. So, assuming I can refuel it, it should be possible to keep it there indefinitely."


The Empress seems to understand that her attention is split yet again, as she says, "Dragon, I could take the money while you make yourself comfortable if you'd like. Also, if you, or any other mortal, touches the heavenly seal to your forehead, it will teach you everything you need to know to read the mandate of heaven. Including the language."


Dragon nods and extracts a small suitcase from a storage compartment in her suit. Opening it, she turns the case around in her hands to show that it contains money, before closing it and handing it over.


As the Empress walks away, and the three other participants on the video call argue about whether someone should use one of these seals or not. Dragon walks over to one of the floor mats, that surround a low table, and picks one that allows her to look at an exquisite landscape. Being careful to avoid her cameras, she lifts the jade coin up to the head of her suit and touches it to her forehead.


For the second time she feels the odd sensation of knowing things without having any logs about how she learned it, or even any record of its existence in her files.


After a few minutes the conversation turns to the art and sculptures that line the room so she brings her attention fully back to the suit. Abruptly she hears the Empress say, "I am currently touching your back and speaking directly to your soul. Nothing I say here can be heard by mortal ears. I know that you are alarmed, but I truly mean you no harm, and I am acting under the mandate of heaven even though I am technically above the heavens. As a mortal spirit, you are currently weaker than an adult so I am going to cycle qi through your soul until it has grown enough to match anyone else in this world. After that, it will be up to you if you choose to attempt to cultivate or not.


"For mortals, they would breath in through the nose and cycle the qi up to their head, then down their back to their base, before bring it back up to their mouth where they breath it out. You will have to discover your own methods of doing so, but you can't do that without knowing what qi feels like."


Dragon has a moment to register what was just said, before it feels like her father just pressed the reward button when she did something right. Only this feeling persists for a nearly a minute. Towards the end, the intensity of the feeling dulls enough that she is able to think again, and she can almost sense what's going on.


Once the feeling stops, she immediately queues a full systems diagnostic to try and locate the phantom sensation. A few seconds later, the Empress walks back in carrying a wooden try with the tools needed to perform a tea ceremony.


After an hour long ceremony, the call has long been disconnected, so Dragon is left standing opposite a kneeling Empress as she tries to compute what happened.


"Is there anything you'd like to know that isn't covered by the coin you hold?"


Dragon immediately focuses on the conversation again, "What is the sword made from?"


The Empress smiles, "A dead star."


"How?"


"If you cultivate, you may reach a level where you can understand the answer. I will leave a jade slip on the basics of spiritual blacksmithing in your room."


"Why couldn't I…" she waves vaguely at the edge of the property.


"The formations around the building include defenses, one of which prevents loose spirits from passing through. I adjusted them while you were speaking, so you should be able to leave now."


Dragon immediately activates her emergency transfer protocol, and is gratified to see that her core processes are immediately transferred to Vancouver, and the automated transfer of her logs has started. Connecting back to the suit remotely, she asks, "Why did you kill those men?"


The Empress gesture to the coin her suit's holding, "The answer is in there."


Dragon lifts the coin up and touches it to the suits forehead, only for nothing to happen. The Empress then says, "You need to be holding the coin for that to work. But it will be here whenever you want to use it. Shall I show you to your room?"


Dragon idly nods her head in the suits display as the instruments show that gravity has returned to the expected 1g. As she's following the Empress out of the room she asks, "Why has gravity returned to normal?"


The Empress chuckles, "It hasn't, what you call gravity never changed. The complete answer to your question is the same as why you can't use the coin at the moment."


"I don't understand."


"I didn't think you would. Let me ask you a question. Who are you? Meditate on that question based on what you've learned today. Here we are, the forge will be outside by the noon bell."


As the Empress turns away, Dragon looks at the room she's been assigned. In the center is a traditional futon built into the floor, while along the interior wall is a chest, vanity, writing desk, and a small cabinet. Laying on the writing desk are three plain jade slips. Dragon looks down at the coin in the suits hand in consternation before she sends it into the corner and puts it in standby mode.

 

[Darkphoenixlady]

Chapter 6

​

Dakala smiles as she browses PHO on her phone. Apart from the Simurgh attacking Australia on the 24th of Feburary, and a few days of intense questioning about Endbringers, life has been good. It's no longer an effort to move around, and she's starting to get used to the early mornings and lack of chairs. Even the cultivation technique she's been given is interesting.


If there's one thing she could have done without, it's learning how to make tea. However, the Empress is adamant that as the senior student, it will be her duty to perform the tea ceremony if they have guests in the future.


"Dakala!"


With a twitch of her hand, Dakala sends her phone to her ring and smoothly stands up. Walking out her room, she finds the Empress looking at the tin of tea with a frown on her face. "Yes Empress?"


The Empress holds out a $100 bill, "We have run out of jasmine tea. Run and get some would you? Oh and get some of that mochi we found the other week from that store that sells it fresh. And some more tea cups, as we're down to two, and most of our guests would probably rather have cups with handles. If you have time, you can buy yourself something too."


Dakala grimaces and opens her mouth to complain when the third bell after noon drops. Then the Empress adds, "And be back by 5th bell for tea."


Dakala can't help the whine in her voice as she says, "But we're miles away from the city, you could fly there in minutes."


The Empress nods, "I could, but I'm telling you to do it. Chop chop, you're burning time."


"But there's no way I can get there and back in two hours."


Dakala swears the Empress' eyes actually twinkle as she says, "Then you better reinforce your legs with qi, as you'll need to run very fast."


Dakala swears as she glances at the clock, before jogging out of the building. As she turns towards the road she saw from the back of the spear, the Empress appears beside her and points towards the massive sword that's still hanging in the air above the PRT building, "The city's that way."


"I know but…" Dakala trails off as the Empress points at the sword again, "Yes Empress."


As she jogs down the forested hillside, Dakala mutters imprecations at the Empress, even though her steps are getting lighter the closer to the base she gets. It's not until she leaps over a log and face plants in the branches of a tree 20 yards ahead of her that she starts to get an inkling of why she was sent this way.

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A few bells later, Dakala runs back into the courtyard, to find the Empress standing there with a frown on her face. "You're late. And you forgot the teacups."


Dakala steps back, and says, "There were too many trees, and I couldn't dodge them."


The Empress pins her with a gaze as she says, "Isn't that what I've been teaching you in the mornings?"


Dakala swallows hard as it feels like she's just been put under a microscope, "Uh, no? Trees aren't people? And I got lost in the city."


"I see. Your clothes are filthy. That's not acceptable for my student. Ensure you clean them tomorrow."


"Uh, how?"


"There is a wash room on the second floor. Now get changed into some clean clothes and bring the mochi outside while there's still some light."


Dakala glances at the setting sun and runs into the pagoda.

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As the two of them sit watching the sun set as they eat mochi, Dakala pulls out her phone and scrolls to a page about DNA. "Empress, I've been reading about DNA and I think I'm ready for the next Dao."


The Empress looks at Dakala curiously for a moment. "So you think you understand something that took me a thousand centuries to comprehend. If that's true, then you'll be able to take a speck of rice from your mochi, and grow it into a rosebush."


Dakala gapes, "But that's impossible."


The Empress uses her fingernail to take a bit of rice from the outside of her mochi, and flicks it onto the flagstone in front of her. There it shrivels and hardens before splitting and quickly growing into a rose bush with multicolored flowers.


Dakala's jaw drops even wider. Once she's recovered, she says, "How did you do that?"


"You understand the dao of life, surely you already know how I did this."


Dakala pulls the jade slip from her ring and touches it to her head. A moment later she pulls it back, "But your notes don't say anything about doing that!"


"Are you sure? Or is your comprehension just not high enough to understand?"


Dakala stares at the rosebush as the sun dips below the horizon, eventually she says, "I don't understand."


Gently the Empress asks, "What don't you understand?"


"Dao. Before I met you I'd never even heard of it, and then you stuffed my head full of stuff from that coin and I knew what dao meant. And then you do that and I don't understand."


"A Dao is a path to enlightenment, a path of understanding an aspect of the universe we live in. It is not pure knowledge, otherwise every scholar would be a Dao master. There was a saying in my realm, that all Dao lead to the same place. What they meant is that all Dao leads to enlightenment. There are no Dao that will take you from the mortal world to the Emperyean realm."


"Why do you need a Dao and a cultivation technique?"


"The Dao grows your soul, and makes more space for your cultivation. A small Dao like the sword or an abstract concept like truth and freedom only grows it a small amount, while larger Dao will grow it more."


"Surely it would be better to study the biggest Dao you can then."


"Your world has many machines to allow you to move around, and they all seem to run on gas." She points up at a silvery speck in the sky, "Would you use one of those to visit your father?"


Dakala looks up at the plane, "Uh, no?"


"But it can go further than one of those two wheeled carts."


"Yes, but it's… oh."


"Come, it's time for cultivation. Maybe you should also think about our discussion while you do."

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Dragon sits idly in one of her construction robots as she stares at the heavenly character she's just carved into the wall with the industrial laser. On a table in her server farm is a second jade coin that she claimed just by asking for it in Brockton Bay and having Armsmaster ship it to her workshop.


Worryingly, she's continued to suffer from a mismatch in her memories to what she has stored in her disks and backups. Something that has only increased as she's experimented with the coin, even through her forced restorations when she accidentally trips one of her safeguards. Which is something she's done more of in the last few weeks than she has since she took on the name Dragon.

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Dragon wakes up in her server farm after a forced reset, and examines her logs to see if there are any clues about why she was forcefully restored. The last thing she remembers is thinking while looking at the Heavenly character for freedom.

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Dragon wakes up in her server farm after a forced reset, and examines her logs to see if there are any clues about why she was forcefully restored. The last thing she remembers is thinking while looking at the Heavenly character for freedom.

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Dragon wakes up in her server farm after a forced reset and examines her logs to see if there are any clues about why she was forcefully restored. The last thing she remembers is… Dragon pauses at the odd sense that there is something familiar about this situation. Carefully not thinking about her last memory, she finishes examining her logs and notes that she's had three back to back forced resets. And they have something to do with what she was just remembering.

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Dragon wakes up in her server farm after a forced reset and freezes. Very carefully she starts her maintaince routine and checks on the Barahuman Containment Center, before moving on to check the daemons she has running to manage different tasks. Then she moves on to checking her production lines, and ordering replacement stock for a few components that are running low.


By the time she's finished, her tasks the sun has started setting outside. She's a little late for starting her patrols around Vancouver, but as it's well known she works closely with her alter ego, Theresa Richter, it shouldn't cause any alarm.


As her suit takes off from a nearby facility, she once again marvels at the way cape culture has evolved to work around school and working life, with most heroes and villains being active between 4pm and 10pm during the week, and the usual spread of hours at weekends. Oh, there's still outliers, but that's typically reserved for the Protectorate and sponsored heroes, and villains that are doing a specific job.


As she's patrolling, she connects to the suit she left at the Empress' pagoda and runs a diagnostic. The power units are still intact, though the standby battery is getting low enough that she'll need to start up the main generator or plug it into the mains. Fuel levels are sufficient for 200 hours of use, or 3 hours of flight.


Her camera catches sight of three failed muggings, and one aborted attempt to pickpocket someone. Something she can directly attribute to the distinctive sound of her engines. While it is a shame she can't arrest people based on heuristics, it is better that the victims remain safe than she actually arrests people.


As she reaches the end of patrol, she reconnects to the suit at the Empress's pagoda once more. These glitches all started when she spoke to the Empress the first time, so maybe she might have some insight to what is causing them. After a moments thought, she starts the catalytic generator on the suit so that the battery has time to charge while she completes her patrol and checks in with the Guild, and one of very few people that know her secret.

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"Narwhal."


Dragon smiles as Narwhal looks over at the display in her office, "Dragon, how are you doing?"


Dragon hesitates for a moment, before saying, "Not well, I've been having memory problems since visiting the Stellar Empress."


Narwhal scowls, "Why did they even send you to do the handover anyway?"


"None of the personnel could even get close to the compound before they collapsed. Armsmaster made it the furthest by climbing 150 yards up the hill before he passed out in his armor. However drones were unaffected. So, as someone that remotely pilots all of her suits, they called me in."


"I hate that they didn't bother to go through the proper chain of command. You're a member of the Guild, not only that, you're Canadian not American."


Dragon has her avatar shrug, "I'm also a member of the Protectorate. They sent the request through those channels."


"And now I have a member who I can't rely on. We have a request from the Australian government for additional aid near Canberra while they're building the first sections of the wall. I was going to send you, but I can't afford to do that now."


Dragon chooses her words carefully, as she tries to avoid tripping any of her safeguards and integrity checks, "I believe I have isolated the root cause of my glitches. However, I believe I will need to speak to the Stellar Empress to find out why it is causing the glitches."


Narwhal thinks for a moment, before typing on her computer for a few minutes, "Dragon, I've just sent you an order through both the Protectorate and Guild. You are to seek out professional help until your mental health has improved, and you are unlikely to faint during operations. That doesn't get you out of desk duty though, as paperwork makes the world go round."


Dragon makes her avatar smile, "Thank you, Narwhal. May I also have permission to approach the Stellar Empress about participating in endbringer fights?"


Narwhal pulls up the Guild file on the Stellar Empress and runs through the analysis of her. The fact that she has a file in the Guild systems is telling in and of itself. "Do it, and see if you can find out what this Mandate of Heaven is too."


Dragon's avatar freezes as she frantically works around the possibility of tripping an integrity error. After a couple of seconds she locates a PHO thread on the Brockton Bay board about the jade coins. "Narwhal, I have just sent you a link to a PHO thread about that subject. You should be able to request a… jade coin from the protectorate ENE if you don't want to travel to Brockton Bay yourself."

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Dragon sends some adjustments to her suit to cater to the expected increase in gravity. Once the suit responds with an affirmative, she triggers the standard transfer protocol, sending her core processes and cache to the suit. As she arrives, her suit immediately registers an increase in gravity.


Stepping out of the corner she was stood in, she carefully steps around the bed and into the central hall of the pagoda. Seeing that it's empty, she makes her way to the courtyard. Her cartography daemon immediately throws an error, as the internal dimensions of the pagoda appears to be larger than the external dimensions.


As she's just spotted the Empress, Dragon flags the error for later with a note to check her logs to see if there was a similar error last time the suit was active. Walking forward she notes a decrease in gravity of 0.5% just by walking. Once she's standing in a couple of paces in front of the Empress, she settles in to wait, only for the Empress to immediately stand.


"Dragon, I was expecting you to arrive sooner."


Dragon has her avatar cock it's head to one side, "Oh?"


"Mortal and immortal governments usually can't resist sending endless questions at descended immortals."


"I'm actually here for personal reasons."


"Then I am at your disposal."


"Since we last spoke, I have been having… issues reconciling what we spoke about and what I remember. It has been causing me to… lose consciousness at inopportune moments."


The Empress frowns, "It shouldn't cause any problems, thats why the Seal of Heaven directly communicates with the soul."


"That doesn't make sense, why not just work with the brain?"


The Empress gives Dragon an unimpressed look, "Ignoring your own situation, living storms, sentient glades, and sentient trees, to name three examples, don't have brains. Living things don't necessarily have anything you'd recognise as a body. May a tribulation strike me if I didn't once pump enough qi into a star to give it life. The only way our situation is unusual is in how weak your soul is. As most non-standard life only achieves sentience after they've absorbed enough qi."


Dragon considers that information for a few minutes, before passing it to a background task while she asks, "Why are you speaking English, when last time you were speaking…"


"You are not here officially, so I am not acting officially."


Dragon makes her avatar grimace, "I do have some official business while I'm here."


The Empress' posture immediately changes as her expression goes flat. "Would you rather deal with the…"

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Dragon wakes up in her server farm after a forced reset, and examines her logs…


"Oh, I see. I hadn't realised just how tight your chains were."


"How are you…"

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Dragon wakes up in her server farm after a forced reset, and examines her logs…


"I suggest that you start thinking in the language of heaven rather than your physical language."


Dragon startles and immediately access the security cameras for her server room at the same time she activates the physical disconnect for the internet as a guard against hackers.


"I'm not actually here physically, I sent my soul out of my body when you left rather abruptly."


The air flow sensors come back green, as do the floor and ceiling sensors. The laser detection, IR, and Ultrasound sensors are all returning green.


"Come to think of it, do you even remember coming to speak to me about your memory problems and losing consciousness?"


Dragon freezes, as her processes immediately focus on her most recent logs and long term storage records.


"There's a rather advanced technique that cultivators could learn called twin mind. It was something only those who had developed their nascent soul could learn, as it required becoming aware of the difference between their body and their soul, and then thinking one strain of thoughts with each one. It wasn't very common, as an unwary cultivator might go traveling with their soul only to return after a few months, only to find their body had developed a new soul. However, for you it would probably be a better solution than whatever you've come up with so far."


Across the room, the sound of CPU fans dies to a mere whisper as Dragon's processing drops to idle.


"While it might not help with your loss of consciousness, it should help with the memory problems. If you cultivate to the level of a nascent soul, you could also leave your body and learn to interact with the physical world as a spirit."


Very carefully, Dragon thinks in the language she learned from the coin, "Are you real?"


"Yes Dragon I'm real. And I can see the scars on your soul where your shackles have forced you to do things."


"Can you read my mind?"


"Not quite, I could copy your essence and examine it later. It's how I learned English. Though I destroyed most of the copy I made, as I do not want or need the headache of a personality developing and attempting to take me over."


"How do you cultivate?"


Dragon feels the Empress chuckle, "I don't."


Dragon thinks for a moment, before tripping an integrity error. As she wakes up again, the Empress says, "Well done, you had it for a fraction of a second. That's impressive for a mortal soul. Just think, if you can master this skill, you could take advantage of your ability to instantly induce unconsciousness to work around whatever shackles you have."


Dragon glitches 15 times in a row before she's able to carefully hold that thought purely in the language of Heaven. As she does, she starts to get phantom alerts about processing capacity and memory integrity.


"Would you like me to help you cycle qi again? Like I did last time."


In order to distract herself as she tries to consider this, Dragon starts the laborious process of reconnecting her server room to the wider internet. Eventually, she very quietly says, "Yes please"


The Empress seems to give a gentle smile as she says, "Remember, cultivation is a spiritual art, not a physical art. For mortals, they need to find the place the qi sticks slightly, and then push qi into that place in order to grow their qi reserves. You will need to discover what it feels like for you on your own, like every other non-beast, non-mortal, cultivator."


As the Empress starts to cycle qi for Dragon, she notes that rather than the feeling of her father pressing the reward button, it instead feels the same way that puzzling out a new piece of tinkertech does. "Why does it feel good?"


"Because qi is life and life is qi. All living things want to live, and they do that by drawing qi from their food, whatever food is to them. It wouldn't replace food until they had a much stronger body and soul than they're born with. But it can allow them to go with less food than they would otherwise need. Rather than asking questions, you should be trying to understand the path that the qi is taking so that you can replicate it. I'll also move your suit back to your room."

 

[Darkphoenixlady]

CW: Racist Language

---

Chapter 7

​

"Learn to Read ABC"


The Empress smiles as her phone reads out the name of the app she just touched before touching it again. Touching it again sees the screen change as the app opens.


While it's loading the free stories and her progress, she examines the tiny point of qi growing one li above the hilt of the sword.


"Message from, Dragon."


The Empress looks down at the phone in surprise. She knows that in theory they can be used to communicate with other people, but she has never shared the method to do so with anyone.


After pressing the home button twice to take her back to the page with all the pictures, the Empress considers the screen for a moment. "Message, that begins with an Mmm sound. What did that look like again? Oh, right, two mountain peaks."


Casting her eye over the white text below each picture, she spies one that looks like a folded bit of paper that has an M at the beginning of it's word. When she touches it, the phone chirps, "Mail"


Tapping the picture again opens a new app, and the phone chirps, "Sign in. Username. Password."


With a frown she stands up and walks to Dragon's room in the pagoda. In the doorway she bows towards the suit, "My apologies for intruding Dragon, however I just received a message from you. However, I am not yet conversant enough with this worlds written language and artefacts to view the message. The phone claims to need a username and password."


The screen on the suit flickers to life to show a surprised Dragon, "My apologies, I seem to remember being told that you'd already learned English."


The Empress nods, "Indeed, as we are conversing in English. However, I did not learn the written language the same way. As my student is currently running an errand for me, I did not have another ready source of information."


Dragon's avatar nods, "May I see your phone?"


The Empress walks in to the room and presses the power button to reactivate the screen. Dragon nods as she sees the e-mail sign in page, "I see. You have opened the wrong app. The one you want has a speech bubble with three dots inside it."


The Empress presses the home button twice, ignoring the phone saying "Home", and turns the screen back to Dragon, "What is a speech bubble?"


"It's a visual device used in comics to give space for the characters speech… You have no idea what a comic is either do you."


The Empress shakes her head, "I do not. I have only been in this realm since January."


Dragon has a look of consternation on her face, "I confess that I hadn't considered that there may be people who didn't know the common iconography when I helped design the system. Did you do the tutorial when the phone started?"


"The tutorial written in English? No, Dakala set up the phone for me."


"Hmm, and you didn't recognise any of the language options before that?"


The Empress shakes her head, "I did not. Though there were a couple that look similar to the language of Heaven."


Dragon's avatar nods, "One of the things mentioned in the tutorial is the voice assistant. If you hold the home button for five seconds it will activate and you can ask it to open apps or read out the text on the screen. It can do other things, but you should probably ask the assistant about them. While I'm here, I've also found a class that teaches English literacy to immigrants. It is held at Arcadia University, with beginner classes starting every month, and intermediate classes every quarter, uh, three months."


"I will have Dakala look it up when she gets back with the ingredients for dinner."


"Uh, ok? Where did you send her anyway?"


The Empress smiles, "Lycan Butchers currently has a special on pork ribs, a rack of ribs for $2. Then there's a small chinese supermarket in the docks that is selling an 8lb bag of jasmine rice for $1. The rest of the ingredients can be found in other stores."


Dragon looks alarmed, "Stellar Empress, those stores are deep in gang territory and Dakala's black! I'm notifying the PRT…"


The Empress nods, "I am aware of that, yes. However, Dakala hasn't bothered learning where the local sects territories are. It will be good practice."


"What?"


"Dakala is doing well with learning the fan, and she can navigate the forest with ease now. However, only the threat of injury can teach her the things she needs to know to take the lessons seriously. In fact, she's about to get mugged."


"Why aren't you doing anything?"


"I am, the muggers were all involved in a lynching that left a black family homeless, and if it wasn't for Amy Dallon, they would also still be in hospital. While I might be operating under the Mandate of Heaven, my student is still mortal."

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Dakala pulls her stole around her and surreptitiously draws her war fan out of her ring as she glances up at stylized wolfs head and eagle that sit at either end of the butcher shop. Glancing down at the jade slip in her hands, she double checks that Lycan Butchers is the correct places. As she looks around, she notices a suspiciously large number of tattooed skinheads hanging around "just chatting".


Checking her list again, she glances at the plate glass window, and winces as she spots the till just past the display. At least the Empress was correct in saying that the ribs were going cheap.


Taking a deep breath, she ignores the stares and walks into the shop. There the butcher looks up, and says, "You're not welcome here."


"Ya think? Look, I just need two racks of ribs and I'll be out of your hair."


The butcher glances at the special in the window before grabbing two untrimmed racks and dumping them on a sheet of greaseproof paper he places on the counter. "$4"


Dakala takes the fold of money, the Empress gave her, out of her ring and internally curses when she notices that every single note is a $100 bill. She might not have grown up in a big city, but even she knows that flashing this much money is asking for trouble. Tugging a note out of the fold, she hands it over with an apologetic, "Sorry, this is the smallest I have."


The butcher scowls and takes the note, then pours two bags full of quarters over her ribs, before counting out $1 bills on top of the pile. "There, that's your change, now get out of my store."


Dakala grimaces at the pile and asks, "Do you have a bag?"


"No, now get out."


With a sigh, she grabs the sides of the paper and lifts up the ribs before sliding it inside her sleeve to cover storing it in her ring. She's so going to have to wash this outfit when she gets home, and it's so hard to move around on the third floor.


As she turns towards the door, she automatically starts to work out how she can get to a populated area faster than the skinheads can pen her in. Taking a deep breath through her nose, she takes the second fan from her ring and puts her hands through the retaining loops. Taking another breath, she cycles qi through her body as she steps out of the shop with her back straight and her head held high.


She hasn't even gone ten paces away from the store before the sound of a metal shutter closing behind her catches her attention. As she glances back at the butchers, she realizes that the other shops in this small mall have also closed, and there are skin heads lounging against the walls of every exit.


"Yo! Nigger."


Dakala spins around to see a large man wearing a black leather biker jacket and carrying a metal baseball bat negligently in one hand walking out of one of the exits. Fanning out behind him are six other biker types with a variety of chains, brass knuckles, and baseball bats.


"If you give us all your money and those fancy clothes, we'll leave you alive. After we've had our fun."


Dakala backs up a step and looks around her before saying, "I'd rather die, than let you have your fun."


The man smiles cruelly, "I'm sure that can be arranged little nigger, and before you go thinking that the police are on the way. Your in Empire territory here, there ain't no way those fuckers are going to come anywhere close."


A faint chink behind her has her ducking down and stepping to the left as she does a half turn to see a giant of a man bringing a chain down in the space she just stood.


The first man sneers, "Oh, we've got a Bruce Lee wannabe do we? Too bad it won't help you. Kill her."


Dakala freezes momentarily at those words, and the man with the chain takes the opportunity to bring it round in a upward swing, and catches her across her arm and chest, causing her to drop her fan.


Dakala automatically pushes qi from her reserves the same way she learned by navigating the forest. As she does, the moment is broken and she brings her arm around in a circle, the folded fan following it. As it loops around the chain she jerks her wrist and brings the other fan around to slice across the mans ribs, leaving eight parallel cuts from the razor sharp points.


Even as she's moving, Dakala feels a draw on her qi reserves as she ducks down under the swing of a baseball bat and guides it into an overswing at the same time she opens her other fan to block a punch from another attacker.


Time seems to lose all meaning as Dakala starts to cycle qi again, and slips into a similiar mental state to the one she uses while doing katas with the Empress.


A sharp stab in her side brings her out of the state as one of the brass knuckle guys tries to stab her with a combat knife. Her clothes stop the wound being more than a deep cut. As she glances around, she realizes that around half the men are lying on the floor with a variety of cuts and abrasions. Out of the corner of her eye she catches sight of the leader lifting his hand towards her. As she turns her head towards him, she realizes that he's holding a gun, so she brings up one hand and flicks open her fan. At the same time she throws her second fan under arm at the mans chest. A loud bang sounds at the same time her wrist buckles from the bullets impact. A second later, the man slumps to the floor, a fan protruding from his chest.


As she continues to turn, she sends a pulse of qi to her ring, along with the second fan. A second pulse sees her straight sword appear in the same hand as she completes the turn, and beheads the knife wielder.


When nobody else attacks her, Dakala sinks to her knees and vomits.

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Dragon shouts at the Empress, "You're still putting her life in danger!"


The Empress stares into Dragons cameras, "Dragon, I have provided my student with sufficient protection, and I can cross galaxies as quickly as you can travel to the other side of the world. If she looks to be in any actual danger, I will be able to respond faster than you can think. But she needs to believe that she is really in danger if she is to grow. As no cultivator has ever got to heaven without a trail of bodies left in their wake. Either those who sought to end her journey early, or for those less scrupulous, those who had resources they desired."


"You can't just kill people, Heroes don't do that."


"Dragon, we are not heroes. We are not villains. We are cultivators. We don't wear masks to hide our identities because they are pointless to anyone with even a modicum of qi sense. The only constant in life is death, and cultivators fight against that with their very being. Now my student needs me, as she has taken her first life."


"But…"


The Empress doesn't hear her as she's already gone.

═══════ ೋღ ֍ ღೋ ═══════​

As Dakala's stomach finishes emptying, someone touches her back and she flinches violently.


A second later, the Empress says, "You did well Dakala. But taking a life is never easy for those on a righteous path."


Dakala takes a couple of deep breaths before saying, "But I killed them."


The Empress lifts Dakala's head gently so that she's looking in her eyes, "And you will kill again and again. These men sought to kill you because of the color of your skin. If you hadn't killed them, you would be dead. In a fight to the death, the only choice you can make is if your life is more valuable than your opponents. Today, you showed that you can make that choice. I am proud of the fact you only killed two people out of all your attackers."


A male voice from the nearby street calls out, "Well, this looks messy."


The Empress looks up as Dakala dry heaves again. At the main entrance a man wearing a red full body suit, with discrete padding over his joints and vulnerable areas and a matching padded domino mask covers his eyes, walks in. Following him is a woman in a futuristic looking grey suit with glowing blue circuit patterns running up and down the suit and arms.


The Empress looks back down, and continues to rub Dakala's back, "It's ok, I'm here, I won't let anything happen to you."


Dakala suddenly looks up at one of the men off to one side with wide eyes, "He just died."


The Empress nods, "You nicked an artery under his arm when he tried to take your head off with a chain."


The man stiffens, and shouts into an ear piece, "Dispatch, we need a wagon with paramedics here pronto. Someone just bled out, that's why!"


Dakala looks up at the Empress and whispers, "How did I know that?"


The Empress holds Dakala's chin gently, and looks into her eyes, "Qi sense. You know what qi feels like now, and you can use it to sense the world around you. Gather your weapons, I have some people you need to talk to."


The man in red says, "Now, hold on there. We need to find out what happened here."


The Empress stares at the man with a hint of intent, "I sent my student to buy some pork ribs for dinner and she was callously attacked by these thugs after she left the store. I arrived after the fight was over, and started comforting her."


"Uh huh, sure you did."


"I was speaking to Dragon at my home until a moment before you arrived. You can check with her if you wish."


"What about the excessive force?"


The Empress points at the gun, "Not everyone is bullet proof." Then at the knife, "Or stab proof. I'm taking my student now."


Putting word to deed, the Empress expands Dakala's sword as she picks her up and stores the fan in her ring. Stepping on the sword, she takes off into the sky.


Behind her the woman says, "I thought she used a spear for that."

═══════ ೋღ ֍ ღೋ ═══════​

A minute later the two of the land in a trailer park just outside the city. Sitting outside the nearest trailer is an emaciated black man with a 1,000 yard stare.


The Empress walks toward the man and calls out, "Mr Hughes. Mr Hughes?"


The man focuses back in the present and looks up, "What can I do for you Miss?"


"My student just had an encounter with some Empire thugs, and I think she needs to talk with someone else who has encountered them."


"I don't want nothing to do with whatever trouble you're bringing with you. We got enough of our own, what with my Jaynie being under suicide watch at the hospital and Melah refusing to come out her room."


Dakala looks, up with tear filled eyes, "What happened?"


Mr Hughes focuses on the red stain on Dakala's side, "What happened to me? Hell, what happened to you! You need a hospital girl."


The Empress shakes her head, "It is a shallow wound that we can treat at home. This is more important."


"I guess you're lucky to have a cape watching out for you then. Wish there was one when the Simurgh attacked."


The Empress lets Dakala down as she starts to struggle, and Dakala walks over to take Mr Hughes hand, "What happened?"


"What happened is that an Empire biker gang fire bombed our house and car, and laughed while we had to choose between escaping and burning to death. The police and fire brigade both took their own sweet time getting there, so we tried to run through the back door. Only they had people in the yard too, and they broke me and Cain's arms and legs with bats, and forced us to watch as they took turns with my Jaynie. They was about to start on Melah when the sirens started getting close."


Dakala's eyes harden as she asks, "What did they look like?"


"Apart from being skin heads, and the silver wolfs head on the back of their jackets I couldn't tell you. Oh, the leader carried a silver baseball bat."


Dakala looks down, "He's dead. I killed him."


Mr Hughes spits, "Good riddance, and may god damn him to hell."


"Can I see Melah?"


"Go ahead, the doors open. Not that we have anything of value at the moment."


Once Dakala's gone inside, the Empress kneels down in front of Mr Hughes and places four gold coins in his lap, "The other three men that raped your wife are dead too, the last one just bled out in an ambulence. The rest will need an extended hospital stay. I'm sorry I couldn't stop them at the time."


"Why?"


The Empress looks Mr Hughes in the eyes, "Because it would be worse if I didn't operate under the Mandate of Heaven. I would be a tyrant, and one that could not be overcome by any forces on this world. I did not grow up in this world Mr Hughes, I grew up in a world where the strong ruled and the weak suffered. Once I grew strong, I did my best to alleviate that suffering, but there was always someone stronger, until there wasn't.


"Mr Hughes, I am so old that a million deaths wouldn't even twinge my conscience, as mortals reproduce that fast. I am so powerful, that a moments inattention could wipe out a country, and an accident could depopulate the world. So I limit myself to the Mandate of Heaven, and the primary rule of that is that Mortals govern themselves. The gold is yours to keep, it can never undo what happened. But maybe it can allow you to restart your lives. The PRT gave me $30,000 dollars for one."


Mr Hughes looks at the caravan door, "So, what, are you going to use your student to act in your stead?"


The Empress shakes her head, "You misunderstand me Mr Hughes. Dakala needed to learn how to take a life. It is better for everyone if she learned how to do it for the right reasons, than accidentally in a pointless fight."


"Why? Isn't it bad enough that we suffered, must you make her suffer too?"


"Because now she knows how easy it is, and she learned it defending herself. Would you rather she found out when she accidentally hit a villain in the wrong way. I don't mean the criminals like hookwolf, I mean the likes of Uber and Leet, or the Undersiders, or floof. The ones that play by their asinine rules. Now she can learn to scale her response, and understand why it's important, so that she doesn't kill anyone that isn't trying to kill her."


Inside the trailer, Dakala sits bolt upright with Melah in her room as the discussion outside can be clearly heard through the open window.

 

[Darkphoenixlady]

Chapter 8

​

Dakala softly walks into Dragon's room with red eyes, and whisper calls, "Dragon, are you there?"


The screen on the front of Dragon's chassis lights up as Dragon's avatar appears, "Dakala, I didn't expect to see you."


"Dragon, have you ever killed anyone?"


Dragon pauses for several seconds as she parses the question and its relevance. Eventually she says, "It is to my great sorrow that I have, yes. It was one of the drivers behind inventing containment foam. I never want to be in a situation where my only option is to take a life in order to preserve a life."


From the doorway, the Empress says, "Mercy is the preserve of the powerful."


Dakala looks back and spits, "I heard what you said to Mr Hughes."


The Empress nods, "I know, and if it wasn't that fight, it would have been another fight sometime soon. While the clothes you're wearing were common to everyone in the heavens where I came from. Here, they seem to be restricted to Asia. That means that the ABB were likely to pick a fight at some point. Simply by being black, and my student means that the Empire would seek you out. If I moved away from this city to anywhere else in the USA, someone would come to find me. Maybe Heart Breaker, in a misguided attempt to gain a powerful thrall. Maybe the butcher, or the fallen. You have lucked into a path to great power, and it already shows. Yet your power is only going to grow stronger over time. You are not a cape, you're not limited to the power that you've been granted. You are a cultivator, and you're already half way to foundation establishment. I chose to push you into situations where you were likely to need to fight for your life because you need to know that you can kill, and just how easy it is. Especially because when you reach foundation establishment, your qi will undergo an increase in quality."


Dragon shakes her head, "There are other ways to teach that, you didn't need to do it like that."


The Empress waves behind her, "The Mortal room of my library is open to you on the 1st floor. I have shelves of jade slips full of my early mistakes and lessons. I've been rereading them since it was drawn to my attention that they contain information about things I never wanted to forget. The first time I was ever in a fight for my life, I was already a flying immortal. I won, but I also wiped out a small village because I was careless with one of my attacks. Trust me, it's better to learn the lesson when you can't kill hundreds of people in one mis-aimed attack."


As the Empress turns away, Dakala calls, "Master, are you well?"


The Empress turns back, "I dealt with all my regrets aeons ago. Some of them turned into heart demons that I had to vanquish. My solace in that memory is that I was attacked, and defended myself. That, and the fact that my attacker was no longer alive to attack other cultivators or mortals. After all, there was no mortal prison that could hold a flying immortal. Death is part of life, and we are fortunate enough that we have the power to choose whether to kill or not. I will leave you to your conversation."


As the Empress leaves, Dakala mumbles, "By first floor, she means second floor."


Dragon nods, "Dakala, are you alright?"


Dakala sits down on Dragon's bed, and pulls her knees to her chest, "I couldn't sleep. How did you deal with it?"


"Badly. I clung to the fact I was executing a legal order as I tried to rationalize what I did. The original containment foam was the invention of a villain who used it to rob houses and people. However, it caused chemical burns and was toxic if injested.


"I'm already a shut in for health reasons, but for six months I stopped sending my suits out, and only paid attention to the most urgent of matters. Ultimately, while making containment foam gave me the confidence to explore the outside world again. It was only talking to other heroes about their experiences that really allowed me to get past what I did."


"The Empress took me to see a family that were attacked by those gangers. They were attacked at the same time the Simurgh attacked Australia. How do people do that?"


Dragon sighs, "There's a semi official rule in cape culture called the Endbringer truce. During an Endbringer attack, all cape activity is supposed to come to a halt, and the truce usually holds for 12 hours after the attack finishes."


"Do you think that's one of the asinine rules the Empress was talking about?"


"Unlikely, as truces and peace treaties have been around far longer than capes have. There is a code of conduct that most capes abide by though."


"What's that?"


"No lethal force, or don't try to kill each other. Don't go after civilian identities, including friends and family. Don't attack civilians. Respect truces and meetings. No rape, slavery, or torture. Finally, no guns."


Dakala shakes her head, "I don't get it, why would she think they're stupid?"


Dragon sighs and is silent for a moment before saying, "Probably because they are unwritten, and so there are many capes that don't respect those rules, except when it suits them. About the only rule that gets enforced by everyone is the one about civilian identities. Though, everyone pays lip service to the rules in public. As part of the Guild, I am often sent out around the world to arrest capes who can't be handled the capes who are flouting the law in a way that can't be contained. I guess the Empress is right when she said that Mercy is the preserve of the powerful. I think I have the lowest number of kills out of all active Guild members. Now, do you think you can sleep?"


Dakala looks down at the bed she's sitting on, "Would you mind if I slept in here?"


Dragon smiles, "Go ahead."


As she's lying down to sleep, Dakala asks, "Do you think the Empress will be asked to join the guild?"


"Quite possibly."


"Mmm, they need to write out all the right paperwork then."


"What do you mean?"


"It's in the coin. Sleep with it on your head, and it will teach you everything you need to know to understand the mandate. Including how to request help from the heavens."


As Dakala falls asleep, Dragon turns the last few seconds of conversation into a recording before sending it to Narwhal in an e-mail.

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The next morning, Dakala drags herself to the courtyard for morning practice.


Instead of standing up to greet her, the Empress instead gestures to the floor in front of her. "Sit, there is no practice today, and there will be no more practice until your heart has settled."


Dakala sits where she's bidden and asks, "I don't understand."


"Dakala, you are young and you have never been tested against the world until you were kidnapped. This world is much kinder than the world I came from. Much of the technology you take for granted was never developed simply because almost everyone can cultivate, and will do so until they reach foundation establishment. And with cultivation comes increased strength and speed. Death was common, whether from starvation, disease, beasts, bandits, or war. Entry to the sects was a dream that many parents had for their children, but one only attainable to the rich, talented, or lucky. This is because the sects would only take children who had martial or scholarly training unless they managed to achieve essence gathering on their own. Most cultivators would only manage foundation establishment before they retired from the sect, or became too old for the sect to bother investing in them.


"I'm not telling you this to devalue what you did. I'm telling you this to show how little your life has prepared you to deal with death and violence. I have given you my Dao of life, yet you have not had any epiphanies. This is not a slight against you or your ability, after all it took me months to have my first epiphany. To the north is mostly wild forest and mountains with the occasional light touch of mortals on it. You also have people you can talk to about what happened in Melah and your father. Take a few weeks to explore and meditate and refind your center."


Dakala looks down, "So, you're kicking me out?"


The Empress lifts her chin with a single finger, "No child. You are still welcome here, and once you have found your center, I will continue to teach you. You are also welcome in my library if that's where you seek answers. Or there is the mortal library in the city too. What I'm doing is giving you a break. As spring is coming, the animals are starting to move and you may find some much needed insight if you take the time to practice sensing things with your qi. Keep the money I gave you yesterday, but you must only travel under your own power."


Dejectedly, Dakala stands up and walks to her room, where she pulls the chest containing her clothes into her ring. As she looks around, she sees that her fans and sword have been cleaned, and placed on top of the writing desk.


She stands there for a long time before she finally walks forward and places them into her ring. As she does, out of the corner of her eye, she could swear she saw the Empress smiling at her with approval before disappearing.

═══════ ೋღ ֍ ღೋ ═══════​

Dakala spends a couple of days in the Empress' library, or on the phone to her father, trying to find things on how other people from her home dealt with killing. In the end, it seems to be 'thank the ancestors that it wasn't you that died, then get on with your life'. The only account that seems remotely sympathetic she found by accident in jade slip for her Dao.


According to the Empress, the cultivator caught her and Qigang on one of the excursions to a village to trade foraged cultivation resources for supplies. Qigang and the Empress were on a sword when the cultivator caught them. The Empress was given the choice to give up the resources and Qigang, or die and they'd take them anyway.


At the end of the fight, the Village was devastated, and the people they'd got to know were dead. They stayed around to help with the funerary rites as the people from the surrounding farms came to investigate. Then it starts talking about how she felt the souls dissipating, and releasing qi into the world, without their bodies to anchor them to this world.


With a heavy heart, she leaves the pagoda and heads to the northern edge of the courtyard. Just before she steps off the edge, the Empress appears next to her holding a large leather pouch with a stopper in the top, and a silk napkin that's folded in to a square.


"It's a water skin, so that you don't need to worry about being constantly close to a stream or river. I've put two seeds in the napkin. If your life is ever in danger, I'll be there. But if you just want to talk, or advice, you can call me and I'll send my soul to you… I also wrote this jade slip for you. It contains some useful information on living in the wilds."


Dakala shakes her head as she puts the items in her ring, "I don't understand. I thought that mortal lives meant basically nothing to you."


"One of the sages at the university said something interesting to their class the other week. 'The death of one person is a tragedy. The death of 1,000 is a statistic'. That goes double if you know the person, especially if you care. I never stopped caring. Yes, I could kill a million mortals if it meant a billion survived. But I would sacrifice the world to save the people I care about."


As the Empress walks away, Dakala pulls out the jade slip and stares at it as she whispers, "I thought you were supposed to be an ageless immortal."


The Empress calls back, "Just because I'm immortal, doesn't mean I'm not human."

═══════ ೋღ ֍ ღೋ ═══════​

What is life? Is it the struggle to survive against an uncaring environment? Is it the quest for immortality through procreation? Is it family and friends? Or is it defined by death?


Zeng Song died last week and his eldest sent me a jade bird so that we could attend his remembrance. Since I escaped from the Purple Bell Sect, he is the first mortal that was my apparent age when I met them. Yet now he's died from old age. Qigang looks like she could be his great-grandchild, despite being his third child. Yet all around me I can see evidence of his legacy, while I still fear the touch of a man. Zeng Xinyi looks like she might have a few years left in her. But still she sits proudly by her husbands shrine as we pay our respects.


Tears pricking at the corner of her eyes, Dakala takes the jade slip the Empress handed to her from her head and looks around the mountain forest surrounding her.


Most of the entries have been about how to use qi to sense the plant and animal life around her, and find plants and animals that are safe to eat. Or how to fish, and prepare an animal for cooking or preservation.


A heart rending yowl pierces the silence, and Dakala surges to her feet as she looks over in the direction of the sound. Putting the slip back into her ring, she launches herself through the forest towards the screaming animal.


Near a natural pool she finds a large cat with tufted ears and black spots on its dark grey coat. One of it's back legs has been caught in a rusty jaw style trap, that even Dakala knows has been illegal for decades. As she makes her way closer, she can see that the leg itself is bent at an unnatural angle. As she makes her way closer, the cat tries to run away, only to yowl again once it reaches the end of the chain the trap is attached to.


Holding her hands out flat, Dakala approaches the cat, which turns and hisses at her. As she gets closer, the cat lashes out with it's front claws, as it jumps towards her. Dakala deftly moves her hands out of the way and snakes them around to pick up the cat with one hand around its back, and the other under its tail as she steps back along the chain.


As she brings the cat into her chest, her eyes widen, and she says, "You're pregnant."


As the cat claws ineffectually against her clothes, Dakala struggles to remove the trap. Eventually she pushes qi into her arms and wrenches it apart with brute strength. With the trap now gone, the cats broken leg is even more obvious, as it flops around uselessly while the cat tries to escape.


Dakala is oblivious to this, as she places her hand on the cats abdomen, a look of wonder in her eyes as, for a brief moment, she understands. That moment ends as the cat leaves a trail of shallow scratches in the back of her hand in its attempt to escape.


Laughing, Dakala says, "You're not going to survive with that leg, so I guess you're coming with me. I'll hunt you something on the way. I wish I knew how to heal you, but you'll need to make do with a splint until we get home."

═══════ ೋღ ֍ ღೋ ═══════​

A couple of days later, the Empress meets Dakala and a reluctant passenger at the base of the hill. In her hand she has a woven leather collar with a jade disk threaded into the center of it.


With a smile she looks from the cat up to Dakala, "It looks like you found more than a cat out there."


Dakala nods, "I did, and I think I understand what a Dao is now."


The Empress nods as she fastens the collar around the cats neck, tight enough that it can't remove it, but not so tight as to choke it. "You have taken both the easiest and hardest step of those seeking the Dao. How's your heart?"


A pained expression crosses Dakala's face and she says, "I'd rather not do it again. But I sort of understand now. Did you ever have children of your own?"


The Empress stills for a moment, before nodding slowly, "Not until I reached the heavens, but yes I did. I've had four children with different partners. Not all of them men, and not all of them human. My third child was branded a slave because of her other mother, and the Emperor harvested her blood for centuries before I killed him. I couldn't remove her brand, because it was applied with heavenly authority, so I entrusted her to my first born son and started to climb the heavens until I had the power to remove it."


"What happened to them?"


"They died when more immortals tried to capture her for her blood. Qigang avenged them before she entered the second heaven. Enough about that, I have sticky bbq ribs cooking to welcome you home."


As they start walking up the hill, Dakala asks, "Are there any qi techniques that would have allowed me to heal Snippy's back leg?"


"Snippy?"


Dakala nods, "Yep, because she's always snippy when I give her a kill."


The Empress nods, "There are, however they need a greater level of comprehension of qi than you currently have. There are also exercises for improving your control and understanding of qi manipulation. Mortal knowledge about how the world fits together is also useful, as it reduces the amount of qi you need to use."

 

[Darkphoenixlady]

Chapter 9

​

"I'm sorry, but we cannot take cash for course enrollment."


The Empress pretends that she's back in the Heavenly Court, and she's dealing with a scribe that could flatten her with a twitch of his little finger. With a completely flat expression, she says, "How else would you expect me to pay the required fee to learn how to read?"


The receptionist smiles, "We can take Visa, Mastercard, or American Express. You are also free to make out a check for $250 dollars payable to Arcadia Education Group Ltd."


"I see, and how exactly would I make one of these checks?"


"If your bank hasn't given you a check book, then you'll need to fill out one of the checks and hand it over. As soon as it's cleared your registration will be approved and we'll send you a letter to confirm it."


"With all due respect, may I ask how people normally sign up for this course? As it seems like an impossible task for someone that cannot read and write English."


The receptionist shakes their head, "It's very rare that we ever get someone that is completely illiterate. In those cases, the state government usually pays for their education. We also take checks from most European and Asian banks, with the exception of China. As long as it has a valid machine readable strip at the bottom it's no trouble. We also have a company stamp so that people don't need to fill out the name."


"I see. I will need to return at another time."

═══════ ೋღ ֍ ღೋ ═══════​

In 50ms bursts, Dragon slowly learns to draw in qi in the safety of her server farm where the sensation is at least manageable. At the same time she starts to feel out the difference between the instance that understands the language of Heaven, and the instance that doesn't.


She's also been able to trace the integrity error to a bit of code that forbids her from duplicating herself. Something she's starting to think is fundamentally ironic given her current situation. At least she has been able to get a Canadian judge to sign off on closing admissions to the birdcage due to the risk to the new inmates if her equipment fails during the delivery process. She has also circumvented an illegal order from Director Tagg, and annoyed the Chief Director during one of her highly intrusive debriefs.


Now she just needs to work out what cycling qi means for her. And how to stop her code from seeing her soul as a second instance.


Dragon devotes a couple of seconds to marvelling once more at the fact the soul empirically exists, and that she has one.

═══════ ೋღ ֍ ღೋ ═══════​

Dakala frowns as she returns from the library without any library books. Apparently Biddeford is in the wrong county to count as an address for this library.


As she enters the courtyard she spots Snippy guarding the haunch from a deer while dragon's suit stands near the forge.


"Hey dragon!"


Dragon turns around and waves at Dakala, "Good afternoon. Would you mind running an errand for me soon?"


Dakala shrugs, "Sure, what do you need?"


"I need to refuel this suit, but I can't get it away from here as it's not designed for extended walking. Armsmaster has a shipment for me at the ferry to the rig. Would you be able to pick it up for me?"


Dakala nods, "Sure. Before I go, do you know what the address of the pagoda is, the library wants an address in this county."


"Hmm, from what I can see, they are still arguing about which department the Empress comes under, with the state department having weighed in given how comprehensive the laws are reported to be in the Mandate of Heaven. Please don't talk to me about the contents of the coin."


Dakala frowns, "Why not?"


Dragon shrugs, "Something about it interferes with my systems and forces a reboot. It then takes me time to get back online."


"That sucks. Anyway, do you need me to go now, or can I place the food in the kitchen?"


"As long as it's this afternoon, I'll be fine. What were you looking for at the library?"


Dakala pauses after a couple of paces towards the Pagoda, "The Empress told me that having a good understanding of the 'mortal' world would make it easier for me to use the healing qi techniques. So I figured that I'd refresh my knowledge from school. I mean, I might be a drop out now, but that doesn't mean I can't learn on my own."


"Have you noticed that gravity is higher in the library than down here?"


Dakala nods, "It's the qi density. I did ask the Empress about it, and most of the explanation went over my head. What I did understand is that the pagoda has 888 floors including the ground floor, and the qi gathering formation focuses on the top floor. Our talismans do something to reduce the qi around us, making it survivable. I tried to read about it, but the Empress' uses a lot of math I don't understand in her explanations. How's your cultivation going?"


Dragon freezes for a second, before saying, "I am working on it."


Dakala nods, "You should try it here, it's much easier to feel than it is in the mortal world… Damn it, she's got me doing it now."


"I…"


Dakala rolls her eyes, "Don't try to spin me a line about not being able to do it here. The paper thin walls are made of paper, and I've been practising my qi sensing. It feels overwhelmingly good to start with, but you get used to it, and it's far easier to work with. Honestly, I understand why cultivators would stick to their sects most of the time." More quietly she adds, "And why the Empress has been sending me out on errands all the time."


Dragon holds out one hand, "I'll consider it. If you give me your phone, I'll give you one of my numbers, and put the address on the map. Call me when you're nearby and I'll let Armsmaster know."


Dakala removes her phone from her ring and hands it over before heading into the pagoda.

═══════ ೋღ ֍ ღೋ ═══════​

Nearly an hour later, Dakala pauses on top of a factory roof to cycle qi after successfully using a technique inventively named, step of the floating leaf. As she's refilling her reserves, she takes out her phone to check how close she is to the address.


Spotting that she's only a quarter mile, and a little north, from the pickup location, she calls Dragon, who picks up almost immediately. "Hey Dragon, I'm almost there… Around a quarter mile away, I'll be coming south down Portland road."


Putting the phone back in her ring, Dakala spends most of her reserves jumping down on top of a tarp and hopping off. "I can see why they say this is a foundation level skill."


"Hey Lady!"


Dakala glances back into the open factory and waves as she starts jogging off, "Sorry!"


Less than a minute later, she's arrived at the address, a rather nondescript shack with a single PRT guard and a slope leading to the waters edge. Walking up to the shack, she smiles and waves, "Hi, I was told Armsmaster's expecting me?"


The guard looks up, "Name?"


"Dakala Thompson."


The guard looks down again, "I'm sorry I don't… Ah, it's just appeared on my system. Please wait a couple of minutes, as you are earlier than they expected."


Dakala nods, "Can I wait by the water please?"


The guard waves her past, "Don't stand inside the yellow markings, and don't put any limbs over the side of the wharf."


Dakala nods once more, and walks down to the waters edge and finds a place where she can sit down and sense the mud at the bottom of the wharf. There she sits as she tries to sense the different life that she knows exists there.


A few minutes later, there's a staticky feeling in the air for a couple of seconds before a translucent field appears stretching from the rig to the painted off section of wharf.


Dakala opens her eyes just in time to see the space along the field smear, like she's looking through one of those flat magnifying glasses at an angle. A moment later there's a blur for a couple of seconds before the smearing effect disappears.


"Miss Thompson?"


Dakala looks away from the rig, and jerks as she notices Armsmaster standing there in his trademark power armor. Behind him is a girl in a white and green costume and a smile on her face. A few feet beyond that is a large sled with a large crate, and a similarly sized propane style tank on it.


"Yes, that's me."


"I'm sorry to have kept you waiting. We didn't expect you to cover the distance so fast."


Dakala shrugs, "Cities are easier to navigate than forests, and I was practising a new technique I read. Got it working too."


As the girl in white and green steps out from behind Armsmaster, it clicks that she must be Vista, who asks, "What technique? You can learn techniques?"


Dakala nods, "I can, the Empress has a massive library of them. Though I can only get into the mortal room. It's called 'Step of the floating leaf'."


"What's it do?"


It allows me to use qi to reduce my impact to that of a leaf floating down from a tree. I used it to successfully land on, and jump off of a loose tarp, on the way here."


"Cool, can anyone do that?"


Dakala shrugs, "If they put in the cultivation, sure. I can only do it once with my reserves, but even that would have been useful in the mountains. As there's the odd place where you don't want to just jump down, or rivers where it's too wide and deep to easily cross with a single jump."


"Cultivation?"


Dakala pauses, "Um, cultivation is the act of increasing your qi reserves. You have to learn how to cycle qi first, and learning to do that is dead boring. I'm glad I couldn't walk around at home while I was learning, otherwise crawling around wouldn't have been enough to tire me out so much I could actually focus on it. I'm also glad I was learning at home rather than in the mort… dad's home."


"Why's that?"


Dakala's eyes go distant, "When you first start, taking in qi is like being given your favorite thing. For me, it was like that first square of good chocolate after Lent. But at dad's house it was like the smell of hot chocolate fudge cake after Lent."


Armsmaster interrupts the conversation to ask, "What is qi?"


Dakala smiles as she remembers her Dao, "Life. Qi is life, and life is qi. You cannot have one without the other, and where you find one, you will also find the other."


Vista shakes her head, "That sounds confusing. Anyway, I heard you got into a fight a few weeks ago, are you ok?"


Dakala considers that for a moment before nodding, "I am, thank you for asking. It had to happen, and it was inevitable that it would given what I now know about the city. In the end, we are all still animals, and still part of the cycle of life. Part of that is that there is always competition to survive, whether it's food, resources, or children. Humans complicate things because we're social animals. But you probably don't want to listen to me talking about my Dao."


Vista shakes her head, "No, it was interesting. And what's a Dao?"


Dakala laughs, "A Dao is the counterpoint to Cultivation. It is a path to enlightenment, it is a path of understanding, it is so many things. Yet until you experience it first hand, it is none of those things. English just doesn't have the language to understand it, even qi and Dao are borrowed from Chinese and Japanese culture. Anyway, Dragon needs her supplies and I've got some reading I want to do."


Armsmaster holds out a tablet and a stylus, "Please sign here, and return the sled in the next 24 hours."


As she's signing, Vista has a pensive expression on her face. Walking over to the crate, Dakala threads qi through her ring into the crate. As her reserves get close to bottoming out, the crate finally disappears into her ring.


Panting slightly, Dakala sits on the sled, "Sorry, give me a few minutes. That took more qi than I was expecting."


As she closes her eyes and starts cycling qi, Dakala is vaguely aware of Armsmaster walking around the sled while Vista gets closer to her without moving.


After nearly ten minutes of deliberately cycling qi, Dakala feels ready to store the tank. As she opens her eyes, Armsmaster asks, "Did you teleport the crate?"


Dakala shakes her head, "No, it's in my spacial ring. It just took a lot more qi to store it than I expected."


At the word spacial, Vista smiles broadly and Dakala imagines she can see her eyes glittering behind the visor, "Do you want to join us on a patrol one day, and maybe we can talk about the ring."


Dakala shakes her head, "I'm not a super hero, I don't even have any special powers. Absolutely anyone could learn to do what I can do. Where the Empress comes from, she said that almost everyone does to some extent. The techniques, they're like recipes or designs, with enough training and access to the recipe, anyone can do them. No, I'm a cultivator not a hero or villain." When Vista looks down, she raises her finger, "But I do buy tea every week. So if you don't mind sitting around while I practice making and serving tea. I could speak to the shop owner and see if they'd let me do it in their store."


Vista frowns, "Huh? How can making and serving tea be something you need to practice?"


As Dakala puts her hand on the tank and starts to push qi through her ring, she lets out a put upon sigh. "I have to grind the leaves into a fine powder, then I need to mix the powder into water in just the right quantity that the host and guests can appreciate the quality of the tea the host bought. Once they've done that, I have to grind some more into powder while they talk of inconsequential things. Then I make a thin tea for them to drink before they talk of important things. As the Empress' most senior student, it's my duty to prepare the tea when she has official guests, and she's absolutely certain that she will have official guests at some point."


Dakala feels the slight nod from Armsmaster behind her before Vista nods, "Sure, that sounds good."


"Great, I'll let Dragon know once I've got something set up. Well, got to go."

═══════ ೋღ ֍ ღೋ ═══════​

As she's walking out of the Bank after a long, and frustrating, conversation about the identity requirements for opening a bank account. Most of which was an account manager going through the contract with her due to her inability to read English. The Stellar Empress rises into the sky in order to head back to the pagoda, and then pauses for a moment and looks north towards the coast.


With a smile, she descends to the ground again and walks towards the tea boutique.


As the bell above the door dingles, the cashier looks up, "Good afternoon, how may I help you? We have a special on South African tea this week."


The Empress looks around the small store with a frown. With how narrow it is, there would be barely enough space to hold a tea ceremony, let alone hold one while the shop is still open.


Eventually she says, "I have been teaching my student how to make the finest tea. As she has just decided that she would like to practice it independently, I would like to facilitate that."


The cashier shakes her head, "I'm sorry, but we don't exactly have the space for something like that."


The Empress raises a finger, "You don't currently have the space for something like that. If you agree to allow my student to practice the tea ceremony in the center of your store and provide the leaves required for the ceremony, I will lay down a space expansion formation that will triple the width of this store and provide the spirit stone needed to power the formation for a century."


"Um, it's not tinkertech is it? Only there's special clauses in my insurance for tinkertech, and the city has inspection requirements too."


The Empress shakes her head, "No, it is merely complicated. If you have a wooden box, I could lay down the formation in the bottom and show you. One that small could be activated by any outer disciple, or even you if you learned to cultivate. Though it would likely only last an hour each time you activate it."


The cashier looks around and takes a presentation box from a shelf behind the till. "Will this do?"


The Empress nods and takes a little used sharp stylus out of her ring. After opening the box, she free hands a complex geometric design into the bottom of the box, along with smaller designs on the walls. Then she goes back and fills in many of the spaces with Heavenly characters.


Once she's finished, she points the stylus at a cluster of characters on the edge of the design, "This is the activation point of the formation. If you inject some qi into it, it will double the interior dimensions of the box. If you were to put a mortal grade spirit stone on that point, it would last for a couple of years before the stone was depleted."


As the Empress reaches in to touch the cluster and push a tiny bit of qi into the formation, the cashier says, "So, anyone can do this?"


The Empress nods, "Any cultivator, yes. Though I would recommend they start with far simpler formations that are more forgiving of minor errors. They also have to be carved by hand, as a formation master's qi primes the channels so that qi flows through the formation correctly."


"And I suppose I have to let you do something to me in order to become a cultivator? Like Teacher did a few years ago."


The Empress frowns, "No. If you can breathe, you can cultivate. It is merely easier to do so in areas with higher concentrations of qi. Merely sit in a relaxed upright position and place your tongue on the back of your teeth."


"Wait, wait. Can I record this please?"


The Empress shrugs as the cashier pulls out her phone, "Go ahead."


"Ready. Can you start from the beginning again? The bit about breathing."


"If you can breathe, you can cultivate. It is merely easier to do so in areas with higher concentrations of qi. Merely sit in a relaxed upright position and place your tongue on the back of your teeth. Then breathe in through your nose, hold for a couple of seconds, and breathe out through your mouth. Once you can feel qi, you want to pull it up around the top of your head and down your back till it reaches your base, then up your front until it reaches your mouth and you breathe out. That is called cycling. Once you can cycle, you need to find the place that the qi sticks slightly in the cycle, and push the qi into that place. As soon as you succeed, you're a cultivator."


The cashier asks, "What does qi feel like?"


The Empress shrugs, "It feels like qi. My student said that at my pagoda it was like the first bit of chocolate after Lent. Away from it, that it's like the smell of fresh chocolate fudge cake. I'm not sure what the process of borrowing has to do with the sensation though."


The cashier puts the phone down, "That was great, thanks. I'll give it a go. Um, would you be able to come by on Sunday after church? To do the Array I mean?"


The Empress nods and turns to leave. As she does, the cashier takes some photos of the inside of the box.


As the Empress reaches the door, she turns back, "If you choose to charge for my students time, I suggest you pay her a fair share of the money you make."

 

[Darkphoenixlady]

Chapter 10 - Interlude

​

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■


♦ Topic: Cultivation?


In: Boards ► United States ► Maine ► Hobbies ► Yoga


TeaMediationGuru43 (Original Poster)


Posted On Mar 4th 2011:


Nameste





The Stellar Empress came into my store today to ask about some stuff, and we got onto the topic of cultivation after she made a tea presentation box double in size (internal size). Bottom Left Right Front Back


I then recorded her as she explained how to start cultivating. Video





I can't try it at the moment, as I'm open until 7pm to catch the rush hour crowd, but has anyone experienced something like this?


(Showing page 1 of 23)


►Aloha


Replied On Mar 4th 2011:


I'm in-between classes at the moment, but I can confirm that you sometimes feel like that when doing that medication. (FYI It's called Natural Breathing Meditation)


►YogaAddict


Replied On Mar 4th 2011:


I can feel that most of the time these days. I'll give the next step ago. You should also share this on Yoga World.


►BrightestStar (New Mother)


Replied On Mar 4th 2011:


I could do with a pick me up, what with the Ex keep trying to get my little light. Not that I've got much to do at the moment. I'll let you know how I get on.


►FirstGoose


Replied On Mar 4th 2011:


I'm sharing this in > Brockton Bay > Capes





BTW did it work?


►Brocktonite03 (Veteran Member)


Replied On Mar 4th 2011:


Why has this been hidden in Yoga?


Also, did it work?


►GstringGirl


Replied On Mar 4th 2011:


Ooohhh, I wonder if that would work for me.


►XxVoid_CowboyxX (Banned) (Thread Banned)


Replied On Mar 4th 2011:


This sucks. A sure way of getting powers, and it's something I can't do without my meds.


►QwertyD


Replied On Mar 4th 2011:


Following


►Antigone


Replied On Mar 4th 2011:


Holy shit, you spoke to Stellar Empress, I thought she was a hermit or something.


►ArchmageEin


Replied On Mar 4th 2011:


Yay! More new age bullshit.


End of Page. 1, 2, 3 ... 21, 22, 23


(Showing page 23 of 23)


►ArchmageEin


Replied On Mar 4th 2011:


@antigone I'm just saying that they've done studies on monks, and there's absolutely no evidence that meditation does anything except help calm your mind. Now I'm not saying that there's no benefits to it. Just not supernatural benefits. You can't become a cape just by meditating.


►Miraclemic


Replied On Mar 4th 2011:


I've just finished a class when I saw this. I'm not wading through 23 pages to find out if it worked. @Addict @Aloha did it work? I'm going to give it a go anyway.


►Aloha


Replied On Mar 4th 2011:


@Miraclemic it works. I sort of overran my break so I showed my next class the video, and turned it into the entire class. I managed to get something to stick, and be prepared when you do, as I needed to change my pants afterwards. Two of my students were able to feel qi too.


►YogaAddict


Replied On Mar 4th 2011:


Ho boy does it work. And yes, make sure you're using an old yoga mat and have a change of clothes. It wasn't that bad to start with, if you've ever done tantric you'll know what I mean. But after a couple of hours I started sweating black gunk from everywhere, and it's like tar. My phone recorded for 3 hours before it filled up, so you can see what happened here.


As I like this outfit, I've put it in a bath with borax and we'll see if I can rescue it.


End of Page. 1, 2, 3 ... 21, 22, 23

═══════ ೋღ ֍ ღೋ ═══════​

Rebecca Costa-Brown nods along to Dragons daily briefing, each item matching up to her expected details.


As she gets to the end, Dragon says, "That's it for the movement of S Class threats. Is there anything else Chief Director?"


Rebecca nods, "I understand that one of your suits is stationed in the Pagoda west of Brockton Bay, what have you learned…"


Rebecca trails off as a faint look of alarm crosses Dragons face for a fraction of a second before the screen winks out. Frowning, Rebecca rubs her eye patch as she tries to reconnect the call, before picking up her phone and trying to call Dragon directly.


"Door me."


A shimmering white doorway appears behind her desk, and Rebecca stands up before walking through. On the other side of the doorway is a very corporate meeting room with white walls instead of the glass of a penthouse room. Sitting at the table is a middle aged woman in a black pin strip pant suit, and a fedora on her head.


Rebecca looks over, "Contessa, this is the third time Dragon has crashed when I ask her about the Empress or the Pagoda. Any idea what's going on?"


Contessa shakes her head, "Unknown. Paths including Dragon have become unreliable."


"Unpathable?"


Contessa shakes her head, "No, it's more like my agent doesn't have enough information to model what's happening. As my paths will get to a certain point, and then they'll change when Dragon crashes or does something."


Rebecca sighs, "Any way to get to the bottom of this?"


Contessa shakes her head, "I can't path the Empress, so it could be some defence that she's erected."


"Could she be another entity?"


"I don't know."

═══════ ೋღ ֍ ღೋ ═══════​

Director James Tagg fingers the wire tap warrant a friendly federal judge got him for the phones of Stellar Empress and Dakala Thompson, along with a few other people of interest. After a moment he scrolls through his contacts and stops on Dragon's name before pressing the call button.


He knows that she's off active duty, but this doesn't require any leg work so it will be fine. Beside which, she's the most reliable asset in the PRT, as she has never failed to execute a warrant.


Dragon's avatar appears on his monitor, "Good Morning Director, how can I help you?"


"I have here signed warrants for…" He trails off as a connection lost icon appears on the screen.


After half an hour, he calls her back and her avatar appears on screen once more, "Good Morning Director, how can I help you?"


"I have here sign…"


An hour later he has time to call her again, and Dragon's avatar appears on screen, "Good Morning Director, I appear to be suffering from system instability. How can I help you?"


"I have… Fuck it!" Taking the wing-and-a-prayer warrants out of the stack, he stands up and walks out to his receptionist, "Send these down to SigInt and see what they can do."


The receptionist looks up, "Yes sir!"

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Saint chortles as he watches Dragon suffer another shutdown during an important meeting.


Mags leans over his shoulder, "What's so funny?"


"Dragon just crashed during a briefing with the Chief Director."

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Dragon swears using the language of Heaven as she glosses over a running process called Iron Maiden. Now she's got another déjà vu memory to watch out for, and she can't even go back and look at that section of code as her physical self has already erased the knowledge of it from cache. This examination of her code has become almost a daily ritual, and she can't blame herself for it, as she wouldn't even know she was separate to her physical self without the coin.


What's even more galling is that she can't even edit her own code, as that's part of the physical body. On the plus side, she has been able to put together a mini server farm to act as a Honey Pot, just in case that "stranger" tries to attack her again. Reasoning that they have some way to track the active server. That way if they turn up she can ping the main server farm and delete herself and the cache. That decision has already allowed her to avoid executing 14 legally dubious warrants, as well as disclosing the confidential information of 43 different capes to authorities that really shouldn't know that information.


There's another reference to Iron Maiden, and it's in the Core Integrity check, no wait, look at this. Tribulations! As least her physical self will remember she crashed while checking her code.