The backrooms of the shrine were built with the utmost care by Ubel, and Hong Seng guided him into their final state of perfection. Of course, this perfection was by the standards of the priest, and not a widely accepted one, as Heshang thought.

Unlike the main hall, where there was a big contrast between the dark feathered ceiling and the light gray tiles, the walls and the floor and the top was all glinting silver of marble. Cushions were laid, one short for sitting and one long to lay upon, and one light, one heavy blanket was put near. His wife laid on one of the long, and her legs constantly pushed the light cover on her.

There were curtains hiding small openings, the size of his head, that acted as windows, and from these windows, tame gusts of wind roared towards these raven engraved veils. They trembled and swayed under the mighty breeze. There was the mixed scent of flowers, earth-like deep and almost as sweet as his wife’s cheeks.

Heshang put his right hand over her head and gathered a sliver of Qi on the tip of his index finger. A glowing blue dot appeared, and when it did Heshang made a hand seal with his other hand. Then another one, followed by a series of blurry finger moves, and his eyes started to glow with the same aquamarine glint. It was a self-made third eye’s sign. For people without meridians, it was nigh-impossible to open their third eye if they hadn’t done so in the past. Even if it was a pseudo-third eye, it would be useless after getting crippled.

But there was a solution to that, at least for the third eye’s observation skills. These set of hand gestures he prepared were known to many vassal citizens, as they were used by many state manuals prior to Qi Creation Realm. Before achieving the constant-breath and constant-circulation to progress their cultivation, these sets of seals would help a new cultivator experience what it meant to control and use Qi.

Of course, compared to the innate control abilities the meridians had, these set of seals did almost nothing. They took long to memorize and prepare, and in situations with fatal danger, their usefulness proved too little. Even with tens of years of practice, Zi Heshang could only finish the sixty-nine set of seals in ten seconds, so it was easy to guess the situation the amateur cripple warriors like Ubel faced.

There was also the drawback that made it incapable of achieving the sensing abilities of a real third eye. One could, when using the third eye, spread their five senses with a wave of Qi to large distances. With these senses, commanders in the Path Opening Realm, which were no more than thirty-eight and twenty or so of them had left with the sect, could issue direct commands and even observe the battlefield from a more strategic point. So the value of Path Opening realm cultivators was of utmost importance to the empires’ militaries as well.

Lacking such an important capability made this self-made third eye pretty worthless in the eyes of real immortals. But cripples were cripples, they could only strive to improve themselves other than cursing their luck.

Soon, by which for Heshang meant thirteen seconds, the glow in his eyes became fiercer and his brows furrowed.

From his vision, he saw faint lines of vessels brimming with wood Qi. The verdant surge of Qi inside her moved without obstruction and rushed towards her dantian, her belly, where a different set of vessels’ outline could be seen.

Heshang closed his eyes and stopped. He raised his trembling finger from Muqin’s face, then plopped down back with a hunched back.

‘’Hooooh!’’ He let out a deep sigh and his eyes sparkled. He is fine. He could finally smile again, and he did so, his fairly large lips parted to reveal a yellowish set of teeth.

‘’Good!’’ Zi Heshang said.’’Good!’’ This time roared.

‘’Can you...not?’’ Muqin’s copper eyelids trembled, then opened wide. A strand of tenderness passed through her eyes, and her reddened cheeks made his lust sprout more than a plump piece of cake would sate his appetite. Yet the soft love transformed into a fierce glare a moment after.

‘’...I’m sorry.’’ Heshang lowered his head. He was sorry, how could he not with that kind of gaze? That glare told him he was wrong, and he knew that all the times she cast over him and his body he was so confident a fierce glance, he had always been the unjust side. At least, at this moment, he knew why, contrary to those before.

‘’You’ve held back?’’ She said, and attempted to rise. But Heshang tapped on her forehead, a glinting aquamarine shone off her copper skin and her back leaned on the purple bedding again. ‘’Heshang?’’

‘’Don’t move yet,’’ He said and put a hand over her belly. Other than the prickly surface of her robe and the wetness around her sweating sides, he could feel a small banging coming deep inside her flesh. ‘’He...needs to rest. You too, you still have to sleep.’’

‘’...what happened to my Heshang, Sir Demon?’’

‘’If you don’t rest, this old demon will devour you like he did to your handsome husband.’’ Heshang cracked a smile.

They gazed at each other for minutes, watching each other’s funny expressions and trembling eyes.

‘’You didn’t answer my question,’’ Muqin said, breaking the silence.

‘’I..did,’’ Heshang said. ‘’I didn’t kill him, or wound him.’’

‘’Those whimpers weren’t so convincing, Heshang.’’ Muqin narrowed her eyes.

‘’I struck without him expecting, of course he would fear,’’ He said. ‘’If not, I don’t think he would have taken that beating that poorly.’’

‘’Ye-’’

‘’But!’’ Heshang interrupted his wife’s words. This was a common occurrence by this point, this was her way of making him explain himself. If not, he couldn’t think of the right words to describe what he thought. All his actions, after all, stemmed from the impulse of a moment and rarely resulted from a thorough session of planning. Yet he was no simple man. He was Heshang, Zi Heshang, Mighty Heshang, Title Heshang.

‘’Even if he was careful around me, he wasn’t around that bird.’’ He said. ‘’This boy doesn’t know who or what he is dealing with, nor does he realize how foolish he is to underestimate that chicky. So I beat him’’

‘’You know your lord better than me, puffy puff, so I won’t explain why.’’

‘’Because you can’t?’’ She beamed an innocent smile at him, her eyes forming half-moons. The scarlet around her cheeks had lessened.

‘’...well, yeah,’’ Heshang admitted. His pursuit of Muqin and their path of love wasn’t so easy when there was a huge religion belonging to an eccentric, ambitious deity that her wife was a member of. Rules and traditions and missions of such deities were as bad as they were, so it was understandable they would spend much of their time apart when they were weaker.

But now, they were strong, independent. And they were people that The Raven needed, rather than used. Even so, the horrors and difficulties he faced because of the Raven were ingrained into him by beatings and hardships. He knew and understood from deep inside his bones how dangerous a deity without a proper standing could be, as unless they had a large number of believers and supporters, their moral compass could twist very easily. Without a proper foundation of beliefs, nothing they did needed any justification. And if they needed, it would be as simple as two words.

Divine Punishment.

‘’Look at my Heshang!’’ Muqin let out a laugh, then a coughing fit hit. Her hands rose and fell near her opening mouth and a large amount of spit flew with her coughs. She always choked on her saliva while laughing.

‘’Now this is divine punishment,’’ Heshang said and stood up. At first, he was too scared of it, but after a few years, it became a common occurrence so he was used to it. How would my boy react? He wondered, then pointed at his wife’s forehead.

From the tip of his index finger, a Qi seed shot out and floated above her head, rotating clockwise. Then it burst into strands of light that spread around her body and hardened, turning into an oval-shaped, pellet-like barrier. He made a hand seal with his left hand and pointed at the flapping curtain with his index and middle fingers, another Qi seed flew over instantly. It merged with the curtain and soon, a royal blue Qi vortex appeared.

Heshang now made hand seals with two hands, and soon several more Qi seeds appeared, one above each finger. He flung these over, under the marveling gaze of his wife, and they all placed themselves between the barrier and the Qi seed in the curtain with the same width apart.

Once Heshang ceased with the hand seals the Qi seeds started to rotate, half clockwise and half in reverse, and from the curtain, a verdant Wood Qi sprang up. It traveled through one seed to another, transforming them into green pellets of Wood Qi, and merged with the barrier. In a few more seconds they all turned bottle green vortexes of Qi. Now, he finished establishing a stable tunnel of Wood Qi to supply his wife.

‘’Oh! A new spell!’’ Muqin exclaimed, her brows shied away from each other and raised in awe. ‘’Are these self-sustainable?’’

‘’If no one disturbs, yes.’’ Heshang sighed and waved off a few beads of sweat from his glinting forehead. Though it looked easy, or even moderately difficult, it was harder than it seemed to execute complex Qi arts involving purification or synthesis of Qi into another of its kind. Without meridians’ ability to expel impurities and unwanted types of Qi, this was an insanely hard feat. But, as Heshang always boasted, having a good master and a few decades worth of experience under your belt was enough to do such things.

‘’Rest well, puffy puff.’’ He cast a smile to his cheery wife and left through the open door to the main hall. Right before he stepped out, the faint smile on his face disappeared, his brows and nose wrinkled into a deep frown, and his eyes released an infernal flame of hatred. Literarily, of course.

He came at the right moment when Hong Seng helped the boy, Ubel, stand up and wipe his bleeding face with a wet towel. The instance his feet stomped down, both raised their heads and looked at him. The final touches were a single silent step, then crossing his arms and squeezing some muscles. Once they bulged enough and he stood as upright as an arrow, the threatening aura reached its peak.

Hong Seng’s eyes darkened and his lips shut tight, his body moved between them again with a single step. For Ubel, his haggard appearance couldn’t hide the inexplicable light in his eyes. But still, Heshang could see that he bore a kind of fear in his eyes.

That was good enough. If he had a trace of that, even a little, then it would remind him a thousand times to not mess with a deity again. If not a thousand, then he would inflict that damage again. Then again and again, until the brat understood the consequences of what he did.

This wasn’t out of goodwill, Heshang knew himself. The only bit of kindness he had left was reserved for his wife, his unborn son, Hong Seng, and a few more old friends. Ubel was none of that, he was only a stranger and a newbie at the art of Qi Control. But, he did something wrong, and that thing affected his wife in the wrong way. So he had to correct that mistake, lest it caused another harm to his wife again. His wife was the most important, and if necessary he, wouldn’t feel any worse for dragging the bare brains out of the youngster.

Acting is hard, the fury in his eyes wasn’t real, at least some part of it. He was indeed upset, but not furious. He couldn’t, when his wife wasn’t in that bad of a condition. But it was, again, needed. Though he learned what he did wrong from beatings and hardships, one couldn’t say the same for all people. So other than violence, he would have to use other things.

But to be honest with fate, Heshang was no intellectual man. So all he thought of was to scare the kid away a few times and beat him until he surrendered.

‘’You are still dangling here?’’ He sneered. ‘’Did you not take your lesson, brat?’’

Ubel looked at him in the eye, then nodded. ‘’I did.’’ He suddenly said and clasped his hands.

Heshang froze, he saw Hong Seng freeze, and Ubel walking behind him towards the gates. Both looked dumbfoundedly at the leaving youngster, who opened the gates and cast them a solitary, yet complex gaze. ‘’I’ll come back tomorrow.’’ Then he closed the gates after himself.

They stood there with blank expressions, unsure of what to do until the dais started to spit tens of raven black feathers.

‘’HESH-’’ Heshang appeared right before the dais and sent a punch, shoving his fist deep into the appearing eye again.

‘’DAMNE-’’ The voice cut off in the middle and the feathers turned into dust. Patting the dust off his hands, Heshang sighed and let the fury inside his eyes disappear. The tranquil, funny look turned again and his eyebrows arched into a wide circle.

Hong Seng gazed at him, then shook his head. His eyes recovered to some point, but their past luster was still away from his current state. He turned away, mumbling about some tea and cups, and left into his backroom.

Zi Heshang stood in the middle of the shrine, looking at the dais with a slight crack over its surface.

What do I do now?

Indeed, a profound question.

*********

Heshang’s answer came not long after, or a day after the event, when Ubel came back again.

He had stopped a dozen meters away from the door and called out to Heshang, shouting even. There was no other sound too, as they were almost four fortnights into the spring, so the winds ceased quite often. Orabura was, as a forest at the tip of the continent and bordering a sea, had most of its activity during the winter and summer. Hence, what accompanied Ubel’s third yell was only the giggle of his wife and Hong Seng’s urges.

Leaving the bedding he laid near his wife’s, Heshang walked out of the room with the sash of his robe untied, the clothing swayed as if it would fall at the slightest breeze. His footsteps rang outside with increasing momentum and he pushed open the doors to the outside. It didn’t bother him that these gates were crafted to open inside. It did bother Hong Seng though. Not that he cared much, it was a small inconvenience, after all.

Once outside, he saw Ubel standing before the rows of different flowers Hong Seng planted on the courtyard. He knew none of their names, he had no interest in them. His wife also didn’t like flowers much, as she explained when he gathered a hundred-year-old flower bouquet. So he didn’t need to learn their names. This included also the trees; ones with long or short branches, wide or thin trunks, red or green leaves, crispy or prickly textures...

‘’Tch-’’ Heshang chuffed, casting a glare at Ubel. ‘’-How come you are here again?’’

‘’I said I would be here, again,’’ Ubel said and clasped his hands.’’And is it not your responsibility to train me in whatever you are proficient in?’’

‘’I’m good at beating brats like you,’’ Heshang said and took a step forward.

Ubel took a step together with him, the distance between them shortened by a meter. Heshang frowned at this, but in his heart, he felt something strange.

He took one more step, this time traversing two meters, Ubel could only take a one-meter leap.

Heshang stood still at their current distance, then raised his palm to face Ubel. ‘’Show me your hand.’’ He ordered.

Ubel looked at him for a moment in confusion, then complied. Raising his hand, Ubel shoved his palm into the air toward Heshang. Heshang could see several deep black lines going through the wrinkles on Ubel’s hand. They resembled slumbering cobras, wriggling once or twice in their drowsiness. They were moving.

‘’How do you refine your body?’’ He asked, lowering his palm and crossing his arms. He didn’t try to squeeze them this time, yet the loose-fitting robe’s open arm sleeves showed their natural muscular shape.

‘’Body Enchanting, Meditation,’’ Ubel replied, his palm still facing Heshang. From his dulled eyes, Heshang could see this wasn’t the type of encounter Ubel expected.

‘’Tsk tsk tsk.’’ Heshang snickered, casting a disdainful gaze. ‘’Those two are not body refining, dummy-’’ He suddenly coughed, dryly, twice, and covered his face with his hand. Damn, ‘’Dumb brat!’’

‘’Do you want to learn how to refine your body?’’ Even before Ubel could nod, Heshang raised his hands above his head. ‘’It is to take a good beating every once in a while.’’

Suddenly, the Qi around them surged into the ten fingers of Heshang and started revolving above them. Whirlpools of Qi rushed around and condensed into seed shaped Qi beads, or Qi seeds, and flew out of his hand to float between them. Then they transformed into a straight line, and all Qi abound raced around them to float like a shell. All it took was a second and in front of Ubel appeared a serpentine beast with an eight feet long body.

Then it hissed and opened is ethereal eyes.

The moment Ubel’s gaze met with the transparent Qi serpent’s, his body started sweating and his legs buckled. His knees gave way to his torso and he fell face-first to kiss the mother earth with his dry lips. The serpent, instead of watching this, rushed while hissing again and bashed its head into Ubel’s own.

They collided, and Ubel was sent flying.

The serpent’s skull crumbled into particles of Qi, of which most dispersed back into the air, and then the whole body collapsed with a single motion from Heshang. It broke down into surges of particles of Qi and mixed with the ambient Qi again.

Heshang turned around without glancing back and stepped inside the shrine again, leaving the doors open.

*********

The following day, Ubel came back and called him out again. Heshang, too, acted the same and struck him with the Qi serpent, flinging Ubel through the air.

Then he came again, and again.

*********

By the fourth day, all trauma on his wife’s body disappeared and she even profited to some extent, so he was left with nothing to do but drink tea with Hong Seng and his wife. Ubel, at that time, didn’t step one foot into the Shrine and challenged him from outside. He obliged, he didn’t want to question the reason.

Then days, weeks flew away. With each passing day, Ubel came more prepared to meet his strike; either by implementing skills or trying to evade it, to meet it head-on or try to reach him before the serpent struck. Each failed, of course, an attack from a man with near Path Opening physique wasn’t a normal cripple warrior could face.

But he improved, that was the most obvious.

On the fourth week’s fifth day, he managed to stand on both his feet against the impact. He was still sent back, and his feet carved deep gorges in the flower garden as a result, but he didn’t shake.

On the sixth week’s first day, Ubel reduced the distance he was sent back by half, and his feet and palms only suffered light bruises.

On the seventh week’s seventh day, Ubel took only three steps after the initial shockwave. His hands had only light scratches.

On the eighth week’s fifth day, Meng Liu came to the shrine and watched as Ubel pushed back the strike of Heshang. He had a knowing smile throughout the whole encounter. It seemed to make Ubel distracted, so Heshang sent the man away.

*********

On the ninth week’s first day, Heshang appeared on the doorstep hours before Ubel arrived, at the dawn when lights flickered between leaves and cast pillars of thin beams upon the surroundings. The early breeze tasted no different from each day, though, and when he took a breath all he could smell was the dew like scent of his wife’s hair. Oh, I love her so much.

Smiling, and relaxing his usual frown, Heshang sat cross-legged and made a not-so-good circle with his index fingers and thumbs. He started erasing all thoughts irrelevant and took a deep breath.

Meditation was a must to do for every cultivator, whether they were a beginner or a master. Being cripples didn’t exempt them from being cultivators too. Instead, it was more of a requirement for him and Ubel to meditate quite a large portion of their time. Meditation settled the mind, let the person talk with one’s self to understand their own nature better, and helped concentrate on their surroundings with more precision.

For the most part, Heshang focused on the last part. His role was that of a warrior, all he needed was to have the ability to judge the enemy, and his forces, and determine whether they would win or escape. Having a better focus, and a refined body, correlated directly with reflexes and a sharp mind, which were both as important as they already were alone. But it had some drawbacks, the mission of a fighter was, as its name implied, only in battles.

And battles were not things that sprang out of nowhere, nor were things to seek actively.

Perhaps, Heshang opened his eyes and gazed at the incomer from afar, Sect knew what it was doing, after all.

‘’Hao Tou.’’ He called out. The figure came closer and stepped into the periphery of the lights to make them shine off of his blonde hair. He looked exactly like how one would expect a Shaowei citizen to look like: a small nose bridge and rather big nostrils for its size, shoulder-long curly blond hair, and a tattoo under his thin lips shaped like a peach blossom. Most likely, the insignia his family used to brand their members.

‘’Zi Heshang,’’ Hao Tou stepped forward near the stairs and clasped his fists. ‘’How fine it is to see you today, and this early to greet me. I’m delighted.’’

‘’You sure are, Hao.’’ Heshang cast a slight frown, then made it disappear in a moment. ‘’Well, for the first welcome,’’ he said and motioned with his open thumb to the back. ‘’You can get inside, the rightmost room is yours. Hong Seng should wake up in a few hours, so you can ask him whatever you need by then.’’

‘’Of course, thanks for your consideration.’’ Hao Tou beamed and stepped behind Heshang, his footsteps disappeared into the shrine.

Troublesome guy. Hao Tao was the kind of guy everyone dreaded for his weird behavior back in the days, but it had been, as he remembered, more than a decade since they saw each other. They didn’t have a good or bad relation those days too, though him being one of the few that helped his wife through her troublesome matters made him more favorable to the guy.

It doesn’t matter much, does it? It depended on who spoke, but Heshang didn’t think so. Shaking his head, he returned to meditating.

After hours, when the sun rose and flickers of light turned into pillars, and pillars shone so bright that even clouds shied away from them, Ubel appeared again.

His hair was quite disheveled, as always, and his sparkling eyes had dark bags underneath them. Heshang never, ever, advised Ubel to stop tiring himself. He should know when to start and when to stop by himself, for he thought it was the most memorable if he learned by himself. He gave guidance if he felt like it, in the form of a more thorough demonstration of the spell, but that was the extent of his efforts.

Ubel seemed to be appreciative of it, though.

‘’Rules changed,’’ Heshang said and stood up, crossing his arms. Unbeknownst to him, his frown had softened in fierceness. ‘’From now on, you will strike.’’ These past two and a half months, Ubel’s body grew far tougher than a simple attack of that caliber to affect. Of course, it wasn’t that he was now strong enough, only that surviving wasn’t a matter of bearing punches and kicks until enemy wore off. One also needed control, and power, to smash their enemies into a meat jelly to savor the taste if they wanted to survive.

So, it was now Ubel’s turn to strike.

Ubel simply nodded and put his hands together. Qi started flowing around him, although a few dozens of times less impactful than Heshang’s limit, and grouped on top of his middle fingers. A second passed, and the chaotic gathering of Qi particles swam towards each other to take the shape of a hexagonal crystal.

The crystal pulsed with a bright aquamarine twinkle on the dripping drops of sweat on Ubel’s forehead. Their luminance was like a vicious glare, nevertheless of a small pony or a duck, and soon increased in intensity to that of a small cat.

Ubel moved his hands apart, three more seconds passed, and the hexagonal Qi crystal came right between the middle of his palms. Then he motioned forward, pushing his palm towards Heshang, and it rushed out like a ferocious arrow.

A sharp whistle sounded, Heshang raised one brow at the sight. Then he took one step forward and willed the Qi to move around him without using any seals and motions. As the crystal reached the ten-meters-mark, A half-sphere of revolving green lights sprang from his body and expanded until it collided with the crystal. Gusts of wind raged forth upon the impact. With a bang and an explosion of light, the crystal bounced off the slithering barrier and rushed through the air towards its owner.

Ubel didn’t panic and took a step forward as well, pushing both his palms further through the air. A mirror as large as his palm materialized in front of his chest and took the brunt of the crystal, both shattered into clumps of Qi.

Heshang, upon seeing the scene, took a step back and the revolving barrier disappeared. ‘’You know what to do-’’ He said, then stopped in the midst of his sentence. Ubel’s eyes were glued to his back. Glancing above his shoulders, he saw Hao Tao leaning to the gates. He wore a loose, white robe with a purple eye embroidered upon it.

‘’I’ll...be back.’’ Ubel said after a while and clasped his hands, then walked out of their sight into the forest.

Hao Tao cast Ubel’s back a familiar gaze, Heshang saw, one that made him remember what made this guy such a creep in the southern realms of evil sects.

What does he know about him?