POV: Dei (That city lord guy)

"Milord, that cultivator we have been looking for reappeared again." One of the city guards said, panting as he threw open the doors to the city lord office. I slowly turned away from the window that overlooked the city, raising my eyebrow and feeling my heartrate speed up. I had spotted her during the ceremony that named me city lord, which I'm still uncertain how to feel about as I never really wanted to be city lord in the first place, as she slipped into an alleyway and disappeared. It had only been a glimpse, but it had been enough for me to realize that she was far and above me in terms of power. After asking the city guards about anyone like her coming into the city (as I would have most certainly seen her before had she lived here), I found out that she had come from the southern gates from one of the gateguards, one with a higher-than-average (at least amongst guards) cultivation base and a blessing from the earth spirits that allowed her to see through the cultivation bases of most people and the illusions of illusion beasts. Among guards, she was indispensible.

The report itself had stated that she let the foreign cultivator in because she was a) not an illusion beast, and b) because the earth spirits were, by a wide margin, in the highest concentration around her than anything the guard had ever seen. She had expressly said that this was a good thing, but she couldn't explain how, simply putting it as an earth spirit thing. I, for one, was dubious of the situation. What reason would someone like that have to come to this city? There could be many reasons, such as having a desire for the illusion beasts themselves or any materials derived from said beasts, but it would be easier to receive those from some of the monthly shipments of materials we sent out to the far-off cities. Everything was done in one big shipment with many guards because of the danger of the illusion beasts. Shaking my head, I forced myself to get back on track.

"Where?" I simply asked.

"The same alleyway you said she disappeared in. Just moments ago a patrol saw her walking out of the alley, and one of them recognized her. He had been at the gate when they let her in, and so the patrol sent a runner straight here." The guard said. I frowned and pinched the bridge of my nose, pondering that. I'd thoroughly searched that alley and found no trace of her, and now they tell me that she just walked out of it? Had I missed something? I have the highest cultivation base around and thus can see through most things, so such an idea is either intriguing or terrifying or mere negligence on my part. It'd be quicker if I just run and try to catch her -at my cultivation level it'll take mere moments to reach the alley and even less time from there to find her. That is, if she hasn't gone and hidden herself again.

"I'll find her. Thank you." I said to the guard before leaping out the window. The wind caught me as I fell from my office, located on the fifth floor of the guard tower, which was closer to the northern gates of the city than where I had my coronation ceremony, lifting me into a sort of pseudo-flight. From there I glided over the dead streets of the city, as no one was out and about in the middle of the night besides myself and the routine patrols, towards the alley. Up in the sky above the leaves of the Life-Giving Tree glittered, looking like tiny balls of light in the cloudless sky. Someday, I'll go up there to the boughs of the great tree itself.

"Ah, greetings to the city lord." The patrol that had spotted the cultivator said in unison, bowing towards me as they stood outside of said alley. Barely registering the greeting I walked past them and entered the alley, expanding my senses to see what I could find. I was met with the energy trail of a cultivator, though it was far more powerful than any other I had ever met. The trail was strangely clear as well, as if she wasn't even trying to hide, and as I backtracked it I found where she had just...appeared. Could this be...teleportation? I asked myself. It was rumored that there were certain artefacts or other objects of unknown origins that could allow teleportation, or that becoming enlightened to a certain degree in the Way of Space-Time. But according to the records of this city (and all twelve surrounding cities that made up the Fae city-states in this region) there has been no one of such level of enlightenment except for in the myths of those from the Church, who said that to the gods, teleportation was a trivial matter.

Shaking my head I turned around and gestured with my hand, using cultivation magic to lift myself up into the sky with a gust of wind. I could easily follow the woman's trail like this, and within mere moments of flying through the streets I found her. She was sitting on a chair on a rooftop, her feet propped up on the stone walls of a lit brazier...and looking straight at me. I involuntarily shuddered when our eyes met, her green meeting my own grey. Even from here I could see that her gorgeous, almost glowing green eyes held a sort of depth to them that seemed to contain the answers to all the mysteries of the world and then some. It was as if she could see into my very soul, stripping away all my defenses to see exactly who I am, who I was, and who I will be. It was a disconcerting feeling, being stripped so bare, and I found myself grinding my teeth. The beautiful Fae woman sitting in her chair was unfathomably more powerful than I, and I hated it. I hated this feeling of being small and helpless. I'd felt it only once before in my life, when I had been faced down by the King of the illusion beasts when I was but a child. It was a feeling I had hoped to never feel again, and the fact that she was so unfathomably more powerful than either I or the King only solidified my own hatred of my own weakness even further.

"How can I help the new city lord on this fine evening?" The woman asked politely, brushing one strand of silky black hair behind her ear, her hair and wondrous grey horns reflecting the firelight emitted from the rooftop brazier. It was a feature most of the buildings had, as the nights tended to get so dark that very few could move about without these sources of light. The woman lowered her feet from the brazier, sitting forwards and cocking one eyebrow, my eyes catching the way her fine purple and silver robes fell about her form...Mentally I slapped myself. Yes she was beautiful, moreso than any other woman I had met, but in my experience such pronounced exterior beauty usually hid the snake within.

"I was searching for you." I said calmly, landing on the rooftop and staring at her. "What brings such a powerful cultivator to my city?" I asked, tightening my grip on my spear. She just smiled and gestured for me to sit in the chair across from the brazier. I paused upon seeing it. Had that been there a second ago? Shaking that thought out of my head, I focused once again on the woman. I had probably just been too focused on her to notice minor details such as that.

"Sit." She said, her calm and half-amused smile still dancing on her lips. Almost instinctively I sat, leaning my spear against the side of my chair where I could easily pick it up. After a moment of silence she gestured over the edge of the building, towards a darkened window in the building opposite the street. "I was looking for someone -two people, actually, and I found them. Unfortunately, the more I watch them, the more I realize that I was being hasty in my excitement. They are not ready yet." She said with a sigh.

"Ready for what?" I asked, leaning forwards and narrowing my eyes. She shrugged, looking directly into the fire pit as if she could see all the secrets it holds. The flames leapt up from the slowly blackening wood, flickering towards her as if it was the one who desired to be closer to her, as if she could stave off the cold, not it. Such strange thoughts I was having today.

"Many things." She said quietly, and for a moment she said nothing further. In our mutual silence I found myself admiring the way the light from the flames danced upon her, illuminating her in equal portions of light and shadow, as if both were vying for her attention and affection. I shook such delusions away, wondering just where all these errant thoughts were coming from. "Fate...how ironic." She murmured, closing her eyes. Something deep in my soul trembled when she looked back up to me, calling out to this woman for reasons unknown. It was a feeling I forcefully suppressed. "I suppose I should thank you. Your being here did help me understand a bit more about destiny and fate."

"Destiny?" I asked dubiously, and she let out a soft chuckle, the sound like the gentle tinkling of those bells the Church of the Mother and Father use in their morning rituals. What is wrong with me today?! I howled in my head, my expression belying none of my inner ranting. Hopefully.

"Yes, yes. Right as I decide not to offer 'help' to those two," She said, gesturing towards the dark window. "You show up looking like a lost child. If that isn't fateful, I don't know what is!" She proclaimed, grinning at me. My entire body tensed at that. Who does she think she is, calling me a lost child?! "Oh, don't give me that look. You're lost and you know it. I know that look all too well -you're at the top, so now what?" She said teasingly, and my body tensed even further. For a moment we stared each other down, until she burst out laughing. "Oh you should see your reaction! It's priceless! I'm just teasing you, no need to get so worked up over it!" Letting out a sigh I closed my eyes, feeling down into my soul for the reason that her statement had rattled me so.

"No, you are right." I said slowly, opening my eyes. I had long since reached the peak of cultivation in this area. The King of the illusion beasts was perhaps the last opponent that I could truly fight, but even he would fall before the power I now wield. Not even the city lords of the surrounding city states are a match for me, as my cultivation base was both more profound and powerful than theirs, and my skill greater. I no longer had a target to chase after. I was at the top -now what? "I have since lost my way. My only desire is to get stronger, but I have no target to chase after. Without a target, what use is a flying arrow?" I asked myself.

"Well, you could always try and reach the realm of the gods." She said, sounding half-serious. I say half-serious because that same stupid grin was plastered on her face throughout the entire statement.

"The gods?" I deadpanned. Was she really saying this to me.

"Yeah. Y'know like Father Luotian, or-"

"I don't believe in the gods." I said bluntly, startling her. She stared at me for a moment, a look of incredulity on her face. "Father Luotian, Mother Statera...I don't believe they exist. There is no god." For a moment silence stretched between us, her look of utter shock meeting my carefully blank expression. Her reaction was just like the ones of those from the churches and temples erected in the name of the supposed 'gods who created the world' whenever I revealed my own beliefs. That is, right before they, and any other person of the masses, began harping on me about not believing. In fact her entire body seemed to be shaking, and her face was getting red. Presumably from anger. "What, is there something wrong with-"

This time it was her turn to interrupt me -with full-blown laughter. "HAHAHAHAHAHAHA! No, no, no, there's nothing wrong with -pffft ahHAHAHAHAHA! Oh, I'm sorry, I just...! HAHAHAHA!" She howled, beating her knee with one hand as she barked out her laughter. I frowned, but that did nothing to abate her shameless cackling. If anything, seeing my face once again just set her off into another laughing fit. "I'm so sorry -pffft- It's just, it's just too rich! That you said that! HAHAHA! TO ME!" She howled.

"I've never seen any of them before. If they're real, why don't they show their faces?" I asked. The response I got was another round of harder, more full-bodied laughter. That's not very lady-like...ah, she's started to hiccup. I noticed as her laughter began to be interrupted by hiccupping sounds. "If anything, we Fae created the gods." I said when she started to wheeze. With that, she started to laugh again, sounding like she was having trouble breathing and shaking her head back and forth. "They're just figments of our imagination." I tested. Another fit of laughter. "I don't see how one being could've created the entire world." She was practically dying with that one. Hey, this is kind of fun.

"No, no! Stop it! It's too much! Too rich!" She gasped, clutching her stomach and weakly holding one hand up as if to stop me from talking after about my twentieth similar statement. Some of the stuff I didn't even see as correct or true, such as the 'created the entire world' statement. If a cultivator got strong enough, I feel that they could've created a world. These statements were just random things that I've thought of before, and then proven myself wrong, so long as they all fit with the no-deity belief. Unfortunately, however, I got bored of making her laugh her ass off, so I let her laughter die down at this point. It still took another five minutes for her snickering to end, after which she wiped a tear of joy out of the corner of her eye and gave me the biggest, most genuine smile I had ever seen in my entire life. It felt as if the entire world had stopped to watch this smile for just a few seconds. "Oh my goodness, thank you for that. I haven't laughed like that in ages. Really, thank you." She said, patting her stomach and leaning back in her chair, a satisfied smile gracing her flushed features. She closed her eyes and shook her head. "I'd even forgotten what it's like to have a normal conversation with someone, much less laugh that hard. I should do this more often." She said, looking up at the leaves of the Life-Giving Tree.

"Who are you?" I asked, confused by her statement. She'd forgotten what a normal conversation is like? What kind of life had she been leading up until now?

"Normally the people I know are all respectful and borderline worshipful towards me, and the only ones I can have any semblance of a normal conversation with are my first children, but even they just get this look in their eyes sometimes, and I just...I don't know." She muttered, shaking her head and ignoring my question. Waitaminute...she's a mother?! She hardly looks a day over twenty! Ah, I guess it's not that surprising, now that I think about it. After a few moments of comfortable silence (for some reason, there seemed to be no awkward silences with her -it was as if her very presence was comforting) I broke said silence by asking the question that had been on my mind for the entire time.

"What stage of cultivation are you in?" I asked bluntly, forgoing all courtesy involved in asking someone about their cultivation levels. For a moment the woman just stared at me, before making an understanding expression and shaking her head.

"Ah, I forgot that you practice cultivation in stages. It's awfully systemized." She said with a sigh. I furrowed my brows, but before I could voice my question, she continued. "Tell me, what are the major differences between each stage of cultivation, and why are there stages in the first place?"

"Upon entering a new stage, cultivators are able to absorb purer and denser Qi, which is also why there are stages. Our bodies cannot handle the completely pure Qi." I replied without missing a beat, not even stopping to wonder about the nature of her question. If she felt like dropping some enlightenment on my ass, then I felt obligated to accept such a wonderful gift. Enlightenment was harder and harder to come by for me, nowadays.

"Right. Basically with each stage you are crafting a 'container' in which you can store purer and purer Qi, siphoning off the impurities as you do so, while the old, less pure Qi merges into your meridians, essentially creating a 'jar' within your body. So tell me...what would happen if someone has a body capable of withstanding the densest, purest, and highest vibration Qi -which, in case you don't know, is another term for exactly how powerful it is -what exactly would that person's cultivation path be like?" She asked. I stared at her for a second before the implications hit me like a thunderbolt from a blue sky.

"They, they would...are you saying...?" I stammered.

"They would only have one stage of cultivation in the Martial Qi path." She answered.

"H-how would you...are you saying that you have...?" I continued to ask, looking at her utterly dumbstruck. She rolled her eyes and looked at the sky.

"Through other styles of cultivation, of course. What else? You and your people focus way to much on the Martial Qi path, and while that's not an inherently bad thing, it's terribly inefficient." She said with a smile, understanding my incoherent ramblings.

"Other types of cultivation...? There are other types of cultivation?!" I asked, leaning forwards, nearly panting with excitement. She hid her laugh behind a cough, apparently finding my ignorance amusing.

"Tell me, what happens to the impurities in the Qi? I mean, it has to go somewhere, and you're obviously filtering it out somehow to get the purer and purer Qi." She asked rhetorically. "The answer is this -they aren't impurities at all. You are training your fleshly body the same time you are training the Martial Qi path, because those so-called impurities are made up of Elemental Essences, which is also why as you grow more powerful it becomes easier and easier to talk to and receive the aid of elemental-based spirits. That's of course, not to mention the little details of absorbing the energy that comes from the Karmic and Spirit realms at the same time, which strengthens your mind and soul, respectively. Of course, that's only at a certain level. You'd need to actually cultivate them to see dramatic changes to any of those things. As far as I can see, your talent does not lie in any of the paths which rely on such energies, however." She explained with some various unintelligible hand-movements. I, however, was too preoccupied in my own enlightenment to notice such details.

It made sense. On the path of Martial Qi, ones body, mind, and soul all grew stronger with each stage of cultivation, though it was very slight when compared to the power of the meridians. I had heard of cultivators focusing on building up their fleshly bodies instead of their Martial Qi, but it was a largely unexplored path because no one understood it nearly as well as the Martial Qi path. But it made sense! Common mythology states that the universe is made up of four Realms, four worlds -the Mortal, Heaven, Karmic, and Spirit Realms, and that the mortal realm was in the center of it all. Even if it's not true, it explains why the energies of the earth can be so 'impure' -because there are so many different types! It's not impure at all, the energies are simply varied! Then, what is the path that she mention I was more talented in than those that absorb those energies? Does that mean to say that there are other cultivation methods that does not absorb energy? I was about to voice my question, but an aura of pure power caused my entire body to freeze up.

A shudder ran through the woman, but this time I did not focus on the way her divine body moved, nay I was too caught up in the aura of power she was radiating to think about such things. It was inexplicably strong, so strong that I felt as if my entire body was turning back to ash and mortal dust from being in her mere presence. I felt as if I was catching but a mere glimpse at what it meant to hold true power, to reach the highest of the heavens...as if I was seeing the Heaven the Covers All. An expression of confusion, followed by complete rage crossed her face, and when she waved her hand it seemed as if the entire world shuddered -nay, it did shudder. It shuddered from her power, and for a split second what sounded like laughter echoed out throughout the city.

"I must go. Prepare yourself for what's to come." She said, each word calling out to my soul, beckoning for it to leave my body. I merely nodded, but she did not even take a look at me as her entire body shattered into a golden, divine light, leaving me able to breath and move once again. The world, however, was still feeling the effects of her rage. Whatever it was that had earned her ire must be trembling with fear for having pissed off such a being. Which just left me with one question -who in the world was she?!?