The abrupt nature of this latest turn of events saw this Sovereign shocked into still silence, his words cut off mid-sentence as he gazed into the Void and saw neither hide nor hair of his trapped prey.

Trapped no more, for the lofty and distasteful tower housing Falling Rain’s indecipherable Natal Throne had disappeared in the blink of an eye, but how, this Sovereign could not say. There was no sensation of any soul passing through the barrier formed by his host’s Domain, one which had been configured to remain impermeable to all souls, fragmented or otherwise. A necessary precaution to not only fend off the uninvited influence of roving Spectres, but also to keep his collections of souls from escaping during a moment of distraction. Though most of their Wills had long since been eroded away by the passing of time, each and every last member of his Spiritual Court had once been formidable in their own way, and only a fool would dare underestimate them.

Most were former Emperors who’d emerged victorious against the most talented members of their generations, while others were remarkable Warriors and Divinities whose perspective of the Dao made them unique and extraordinary in their own way. Each one was a treasure trove of Insight, Inspiration, and perspective, but there was great risk in keeping them contained within a borrowed Domain. Any one of them could theoretically overpower this Sovereign and his host to secure the Natal Throne and become the highest Authority within the Domain. That being said, even in this most unlikely of scenarios, the new claimant to the throne would still lack the power and Authority to expel this Sovereign from the Domain, or cause him any real lasting harm, but it was still an inconvenience he would rather do without. As such, the greater concern was that one of his captured souls would escape and pass on into the Cycle of Reincarnation, robbing this Sovereign of his hard-won prize and his chance to plunder their life’s attainments for himself.

This was doubly true for those who’d only recently been claimed, as they represented a windfall which had yet to be claimed. Chief among them was the current host Liang Wu Sheng who had yet to give in to despair and fought him every step of the way, as well as the latest addition Solitary Sword Zhang Jun Bao, who at this very moment was still fighting for all his worth in a futile effort to break free of the illusion meant to keep him placid and content in Empty Balance. As for the most dangerous soul of all, that honour went to Fifth Brother Di Zi, who had been an ever-present concern since they day he first took residence in this Sovereign’s soul, for despite having spent so many millennia as a mere soul and nothing else, he sensed a spark of awareness still left in his Fifth Brother yet, which was remarkable considering their other four brothers had long since dwindled away to nothingness and become mere shells of their former selves.

An inevitable degradation which this Sovereign was helpless to stop, not that he would have if he could. The souls of his four brothers were much easier to control without their own Wills present to resist him, which was why this Sovereign felt confident enough to send them against Falling Rain. It was a matter of Balance, in that one required a body, mind, and soul in order to remain wholly alive, and these souls were obviously lacking the first two. Though it was possible to survive for a time with only one or two of the three, survival was not the same as being alive. In the case of his captured souls, the absence of a body and mind made it impossible for them to generate the vital emotional energies required to sustain them, or Prana as Fifth Brother Di Zi had called it, which he also theorized was the requisite price one paid to harness the Energy of the Heavens themselves. Not Life Energy, or even Death Energy, but rather a combination of the two and something more, an ineffable power generated by every living creature that this Sovereign had yet to isolate and identify.

As such, since these captured souls lacked the ability to generate Prana, any expression of emotion would drain away at their reserves until they became wholly Unbalanced and no different from the fragmented disincarnate Spectre. That is unless this Sovereign stepped in to compel them to complete Empty Balance. The absence of all emotion, as it were, a form of Balance he himself would never partake of, for there was power in emotion once it was controlled and contained, but this flawed form of Balance was suitable enough for the purposes of preserving these most useful souls so that he might slowly study their perspectives. Even then, he was constantly supplying the oldest souls with his own Prana to sustain them, but the losses were more than made up for by the increased growth of his own soul.

And yet, despite all his power and familiarity regarding the secrets of the soul, he was unable to ascertain just how Falling Rain had escaped.

The Heavens were still smiling upon this Sovereign however, for there was fortune to be found in this latest disaster as his anger and frustration gave way to idle curiosity in an instant. Despite having clawed his way back from the brink of Imbalance, this Sovereign had been at grave risk of succumbing to emotion yet again as he assaulted the transmigrator’s sturdy defenses with reckless abandon. Had this continued, he might well have presented his Natal Soul an opening to attack once more, or worse, lost sight of his goals and killed Falling Rain in a rage, but his foe’s disappearance allowed this Sovereign to wholly suppress his unchecked emotions and restrain them once more. How long had it been since he’d come so close to disaster? Too long, to the point where this Sovereign had forgotten the dangers of hubris and complacency, which combined with his Natal Soul’s habit of indulging in emotion had almost ruined everything this Sovereign had built up over so many millennia. Then again, even if he had been forewarned in advance, no amount of caution or vigilance could have prepared him for Falling Rain’s deluge of memories dredged up from a past life, many of which were steeped in the Dao of Artistic Expression and so powerful that even this Sovereign had been swept up by their tumultuous emotional currents.

Falling Rain was no mere boy of twenty, but an erudite master of culture and the arts with a lifetime of experience behind him, which explained much about his unprecedented progress along the Dao and his unprecedented use of Dharmic Icons. If not for his obvious lack of firsthand experience with battle and bloodshed in his past life limiting the power of his Dharmic Icons, then he might well have defeated this Sovereign with little more than a turn of his hand, but the Heavens were still smiling upon their Chosen Son. This moment of unexpected calm allowed him to take stock of his emotions and examine the situation, as the implications of everything he had just experienced were staggering indeed. So far reaching that he could not even begin to guess at where they might lead him, for this Sovereign now possessed proof beyond the shadow of a doubt that there were other planes of existence beyond the Void. A world beyond this world and a Heavens beyond the Heavens, containing an utterly foreign Dao that might well be part and parcel of a greater Dao, the complete and all-inclusive Dao of all the Heavens.

Yes, it explained so much about his failures to perceive the Dao in its entirety, why he could make no sense of the inconsistencies or solve so many mysteries. The Dao of this Heaven was incomplete, a fraction of the whole with the rest obscured by the border between worlds. If the Dao was a cube, then he was only able to see one of its six faces, but he suspected there were far more sides to the Dao than he could even imagine. To think, he’d persisted for so long yet was still a frog stuck in a well, unable to see how vast the Heavens truly were. This Sovereign’s lifelong goal to pursue the Dao was a far more daunting task than expected, but this was not enough to dishearten him. The opposite in fact, for he was more excited than ever to begin his studies anew, but the lessons of the past served him well. Haste makes waste, so take one step at a time, lest he stumble down a dead end path from which there was no escape. Once Falling Rain was subdued and captured, this Sovereign would then possess a transmigrated soul with a perspective so distinct and so alien that studying it would undoubtedly reveal a treasure trove of questions and answers to pore over. There would be time enough to pay Falling Rain back for the shame and humiliation a hundred-fold, but first, this Sovereign would have to retrieve this most invaluable of prizes.

Pitting his Will against that of his unaccommodating host, this Sovereign compelled Liang Wu Sheng to take action in reality. With time enough to spare, he allowed himself a moment to interrogate his host regarding Falling Rain’s inexplicable escape. “You granted him passage,” this Sovereign began, posing it as a statement rather than a question. A habit formed over long millennia, one meant to keep his host souls’ guessing as to how much this Sovereign was aware of, but it failed him here as Liang Wu Sheng’s soul snarled in indignant fury over the unjustified accusation, before cackling in unchecked glee derived from this Sovereign’s misfortune.

“The boy escaped on his own with no help of mine,” Liang Wu Sheng replied, compelled to speak by this Sovereign’s Will, but he was free to choose his own words so long as they held true. “I know not how he managed such a feat, save to say that his Will is unshakable and his Authority unmatched, but I will soon uncover his secrets and break free of these chains which bind me. Wash your neck and wait, monster. Your time draws to an end.”

Paying no mind to his insignificant threats, this Sovereign furrowed his brow in discontent. If only it could be so simple, but alas, Liang Wu Sheng had not intentionally allowed Falling Rain to escape, which made his departure all the more puzzling. For now though, this Sovereign focused on his host’s soul instead, who continued to rant in a hate-fuelled rhetoric that made little to no conventional sense. After nigh on four decades of deterioration from being cut off from his body and mind, Liang Wu Sheng’s soul was short on natural Prana and on the verge of succumbing to Imbalance. This irrational indulgence in emotion only furthered to hasten his departure along, which he himself wholly understood, but even if Liang Wu Sheng was ready to expend the last of his Prana and forever give up his chance at reincarnation to become a disincarnate soul no different from the Spectres, this Sovereign could not afford to lose him just yet.

To think, this young man had seemed so promising at first glance. Named by his mother, Wu Sheng was a homonym for War Saint, and he lived up to it by becoming the True Divine Warrior of his generation. A title he forfeited upon taking the throne, but impressive as he might have been in his youth, his skills paled in comparison to the younger brother who succeeded him, Liang Wu Di who was now the True Divine Warrior and Emperor both. Wu Di’s daughter was even more phenomenal, a worthy claimant to the title of True Divine Musician, but circumstances and politics robbed her of the chance to accept so high an honour. As for Liang Wu Sheng, he’d proven problematic to work with and his perspective offered this Sovereign nothing of note, but the latter was hardly unexpected. Many former Emperors were the same, their perspectives of the Dao too rigid and fixed due to how the Supreme Families were wont to adhere to the teachings of their ancestors, but this flaw was there by design. Only then could this Sovereign ensure that the descendants and successors of his sworn brothers could be kept in control, but this slowed his own progress considerably as well, since it poisoned the pool of souls he used to glean more Insight and perspective on the Dao.

A mistake, and this one not by design, and one he only just realized thanks to Falling Rain’s scathing condemnation. For too long, this Sovereign had sat idle and waited for the Dao to reveal itself in other perspectives, when instead he should have endeavoured to uncover those perspectives for himself, an error he would correct once he had Falling Rain in hand. For the interim however, this Sovereign required Liang Wu Sheng’s soul in working order, so he channelled his Prana into his near-crazed host’s soul and utilized his Aura to stabilize the fool’s emotions. The sudden influx of sustenance followed by the weight of this Sovereign’s Will was enough to still Liang Wu Sheng’s raving madness, but the rage and acrimony was still present within him yet. If only this Sovereign could uncover the means to seize control of an adult host’s body and mind without need for the original soul itself, but even the Spectral Transcendents required the host soul’s survival.

It had to do with compatibility, as far as this Sovereign could tell, a natural binding of body, mind, and soul that made them unique and wholly suited as a conglomerate that would accept no substitutes. If this Sovereign were to supplant Liang Wu Sheng’s soul and wholly take over as the host, then it was only a matter of time before the body and mind rejected him, even though doing so would mean inevitable death. The only way to circumvent this issue was to supplant the soul of an unborn child before it had time to harmonize with its body and mind. A route this Sovereign’s Natal Soul had taken, and he suspected Falling Rain’s soul must have done the same, but the vulnerability and indignity of being a child aside, this Sovereign’s soul was too powerful for the body and mind of a child to wholly encompass, and too powerful even for the greatest talent of each generation.

The Imbalance derived from his powerful soul caused any borrowed body and mind to overdraft its own Life Energy in order to compensate, which would invariably lead to a sudden but unassailable decline in health and function. Add in the fact that he was using his borrowed hosts’ Prana to sustain countless souls as well, and most of his hosts rarely survived to the age of a hundred. In millennia past, his hosts could still go on to live for decades after their rule, puppeted by a sliver of his Will left behind after inhabiting the succeeding Emperor, but as his soul grew in power, the time his hosts could sustain themselves dwindled to the point where many recent Emperors spent their last years on the throne in rapidly ailing health. A most troublesome quandary he failed to account for in advance, and though he did his best to hide the signs and quash all rumours of such a decline, there were clues enough left over the course of several millennia for those who cared to look.

Such as the inquisitive and relentless Liang Wu Di, whose obsessive investigation eventually led to him discovering this Sovereign’s existence at a most inconvenient of times.

The issue of lacking Life Energy and Prana was all but solved however, for the memories of this Sovereign’s Natal Soul indicated that Falling Rain had somehow stumbled across the ability to generate Life Energy using Heavenly Energy, a feat which should have been impossible. There were a myriad of possibilities hidden within the Dao, and this Sovereign had long since been blinded by his own perspective, believing there was no way to generate more Life Energy beyond what one was born with, and thus never bothering to study it. A lesson learned however, and a mistake this Sovereign would not make again, so once Liang Wu Sheng’s soul was stabilized and Balanced, he returned his attention to reality, where he discovered Falling Rain in the midst of launching a devastating barrage of attacks aimed at taking his host’s head. Working through Liang Wu Sheng’s soul to Manifest his host’s Domain, this Sovereign warded off Falling Rain’s flying sword and shield with relative ease, only to sense an inkling of danger as the boy pointed his rifle at Liang Wu Sheng’s face and let loose with a powerful, spiralling projectile of Materialized Energy. Curious as to how much power the boy was capable of compressing into this singular attack, this Sovereign decided against dodging the projectile and Manifested a ten-layered Domain Plated Defense before raising his arms to block, just in case.

As the impact drove him off his feet and sent Liang Wu Sheng’s blood spraying through the air, this Sovereign pursed his lips in sheer exasperation over Falling Rain’s rapidly improving Conceptualization. This Sovereign’s defenses should have been powerful enough to stop even a Runic Cannon, yet after their exchange inside Falling Rain’s Manifested Natal Palace, the transmigrated upstart had learned to harness the power contained within it and make use of it in reality. This single projectile did not seem any different from the projectiles he’d used before, but embedded within the Materialized Projectile was the same conceptual force contained within one of the explosive steel projectiles this Sovereign had seen within Falling Rain’s memories. Not the largest, most powerful one infused with death and darkness, but one of the smaller yet still frighteningly destructive, dart-like projectiles that created small explosions on impact. The magnitude of force was unlike anything he’d ever experienced before, one to almost match the power of a False Divinity unchecked, all of which was focused into a singular, Materialized projectile the size of a grape.

It wasn’t that this Sovereign was incapable of matching such a feat, for he could unleash a similar amount of power with a simple thrust or kick, but Falling Rain had done this with Domain alone. The issue was not raw strength, but the fact that this Sovereign lacked the ability to rationalize how so much power could be contained within so tiny and insignificant a vessel, and thus was unable to Will this concept into existence, yet his foe seemed to almost take the possibility for granted and could do so with little more than a thought. It was similar to how an experienced climber was capable of scaling a sheer rock cliff with only finger and toe holds, whereas a stronger, less experienced climber would either be unable to traverse across the same wall, or would be limited to a much slower pace.

What’s more, it wasn’t just the raw power of this Manifested projectile which took this Sovereign by surprise, but the insidious arrangement nestled within the working which rendered his Runic Robes of Imperial Office inert and useless. Yet another impossible feat made possible by Falling Rain, but a cursory examination of his memories allowed this Sovereign to grasp the crux of the skill. Runes were a means of harnessing symbols and imagery to compel one’s Will to drive Heavenly Energy in a predetermined pattern, but Falling Rain’s ‘Unravelling’ introduced an element of negation that wiped the slate clean, no so much destroying the predetermined patten as disturbing it so that the Energy of the Heavens was no longer impelled to flow in any particular manner. A crude working akin to removing all traces of one’s tracks by dragging a giant plough over them, it would be of limited use against a working driven by this Sovereign’s Will, but against static, unthinking Runes crafted for the sake of ease and expedience, there was no arguing its effectiveness. More infuriating was the unexpected familiarity with this skill, for his Natal Soul had seen it used in Meng Sha, albeit second hand through the eyes of a Transcendent, but it would appear as if Zhen Shi’s futile struggles were not yet done as he continued to conceal and obscure information from this Sovereign’s mind.

How infuriating, to be thwarted by his own Natal Soul, a most humiliating experience indeed. Perhaps this Sovereign would give Zhen Shi his wish and allow him to remain a separate and distinct entity, if only to better punish him for his transgressions.

By the time this Sovereign finished analyzing his opponent’s attack, he discovered Falling Rain was almost two kilometres away with both dog and rabbit in hand, racing towards Shi Bei with all haste. Healing his wounds with little more than a thought, this Sovereign hesitated to mend his robes in the same way, for the expenditure would be costly indeed. Knitting living flesh was one thing, and Materializing inorganic threads another, but even though he’d given up the Jade Throne, he was the Eternal Emperor still yet. While there was little to no chance of anyone seeing him in his current unsightly state, that was not the same as no chance at all, and the mere prospect of being seen in tattered robes of office was enough to set his fury ablaze. Before he could think twice, his golden robes were restored once more and cleaned of blood and sand, a wasteful extravagance given the battle still before him, and one he hoped he would not come to regret. Stifling his rage to seek Balance once more, he Cloud-Stepped after his quarry almost a full three seconds behind, yet he caught up in a single bound thanks to his heightened expertise.

Yes, Falling Rain was full of surprise due to his comprehension of a different world’s Dao, but this Sovereign’s comprehension of this world’s Dao was second to none.

Reaching out to capture his prize in hand, he allowed himself a small smile of satisfaction for a job well done, only for it to freeze on his face as Falling Rain’s Domain Deflection shunted this Sovereign’s arm away. At the same time, the transmigrator utilized the Materialized currents of his Natal Sea to propel him forward out of this Sovereign’s reach. A second Cloud-Step was all it took to catch up with ease, but Falling Rain was a slippery foe indeed, waiting until this Sovereign was almost within reach before propelling himself away again. Not in a straight line either, zig-zagging across the sands in an indecipherable route that would invariably end at Shi Bei.

This Sovereign intended to catch his quarry long before they arrived at the besieged city, but he was so fixated on Falling Rain at the expense of all else he noticed his foe’s scheme all too late. By then, all he could do was give chase and watch as the transmigrator inserted himself into a battle between Divinities. The Ancestral Hare and Ancestral Bicorn Rabbit as it were, facing off against two of Zhen Shi’s Transcendent Divinities, promising creatures of power unrestrained that this Sovereign soon identified as Gen and Goujian. The Emissary and the Confessor as it were, two mediocre talents made powerful through a manipulation of Zhen Shi’s Dao, and though this Sovereign saw the Razor’s Edge as another dead-end Path, he was most curious to see how powerful it could be when taken to the extremes. In the brief moment before Falling Rain’s arrival, this Sovereign analyzed the battle with an experienced eye and saw that the Emissary and the Confessor were powerful indeed, but sorely lacking in comparison to their accomplished foe. Not without reason of course, for the Medical Saint was a talent this Sovereign had long since taken note of given his mastery of Air’s Water. Or Cloud, as the Ancestral Hare Conceptualized it, no doubt on account of his bestial lineage, but not all combinations of Air and Water rendered Cloud and only Cloud.

Even Fifth Brother Di Zi had been at a loss on how to classify the myriad aspects of the Dao, until there came a day when he decided they needed no classification. Labels were a human contrivance, ones necessary for base comprehension, but they hindered one’s ability to perceive the Dao as a complete whole. This manner of thinking had been most intriguing to this Sovereign, but his Fifth Brother had arrived at this conjecture far too late in life to expand on it much, and soon led the other four brothers in their ill-fated rebellion. Unable to further this line of thinking on his own, this Sovereign eventually passed along some of Fifth Brother’s teachings to the masses which led to the formation of the Brotherhood, but the founding Abbot had been too fixated on Fifth Brother’s obsession with the ‘Three Poisons” and his compulsion to do good in the name of Balance to bear any fruit.

Or perhaps not, as more memories from this Sovereign’s Natal Soul became clear to him again, this time of the Brotherhood’s current Abbot wielding Life Energy in battle. Another Talent this Sovereign had taken note of decades ago, but the man had come to Divinity far too late and by way of external help, so he wrote Abbot Akupara as someone who would never amount to much. For once, this Sovereign was pleased to be proven wrong, for even if Falling Rain held all the secrets to Life Energy one could ever need, it was always good to have more options.

A flash of irritation crossed this Sovereign’s mind as he discovered the manipulations of his Natal Soul once more, which combined with the burning rage of his host’s soul meant there were now two opponents contending for control against him. The Natal Soul was of particular annoyance, for he understood this Sovereign in a way no one else ever could, wholly capable of leading his thoughts this way and that with little more than an errant whisper. All in all, this momentary distraction cost him a tenth of a second, which wasn’t much considering even a full second might not have been enough time to stop Falling Rain from meeting up with his allies, but under the right circumstances, a tenth of a second might as well be an eternity if it meant the difference between life and death.

Dragging his focus back out of his thoughts, this Sovereign studied the Emissary and Confessor both. Considering the core of their existence was comprised of fragmented, disincarnate souls joined as one, he found their accumulation in the realm of the soul to be sorely lacking indeed, with too much focus on the body and barely any consideration given to the mind, if any. All in all, these so-called Ascended Transcendents were no different from standard Transcendents, primitive miscreations born of a natural Imbalance made manifest. Albeit on a larger scale of course, for most False Divinities would find themselves outmatched against these Awakened Ascended Transcendents, the Emissary Blessed by Earth’s Fire and the Confessor by what appeared to be Blood. A strange Blessing, all things considered, but in life, Goujian had been the ‘Bloody’ Confessor, though why that would result in his Transcendent form wielding the power to control a blood-like energy was beyond even this Sovereign’s ability to explain. Such was the way with the so-called Esoteric Blessings, named so by Fifth Brother Di Zi due to his inability to categorize them in any other logical manner. In fact, this lack of progress might well be why he gave up on categorizing the various aspects of the Dao in the first place, meaning there might still well be a way to organize the Dao into an easily navigated catalogue of the various minor and major Daos.

Again, this Sovereign’s Natal Soul had succeeded in drawing his attention away, but he would not allow it again. Fixating on the Emissary and Confessor once more, he studied their workings with an insightful eye and saw little to nothing of value. The Emissary was too reliant on base flame and nothing else, all but ignoring his Blessing of Earth save for the strength and durability it offered. Even then, his mastery over his Blessing of Fire paled in comparison to Flame Monarch Yang Kai, this Sovereign’s third brother whose accumulations had long since been studied and exhausted. The Confessor was of more interest, but only due to the unique nature of his Blessing, one which was not actually the control of Blood, but rather a Blood-like Energy reminiscent of both Life and Death, yet inferior to it in all ways. That being said, the Ancestral Rabbit was incapable of defending herself against the Confessor’s tendrils of Blood, which sapped away her strength and stamina with every errant touch. While the flames of the Emissary did little more than charr her skin, the Confessor’s tendrils left behind patches of raw and mangled flesh, leaving her a sorry sight indeed.

And yet, helpless though the Ancestral Rabbit might be, her life was in no danger so long as the Ancestral Hare still drew breath.

In all his long millennia of existence, this Sovereign could count on two hands the number of individuals who possessed a greater mastery of the Dao than the Medical Saint, with six of them being himself and his five brothers. The Ancestral Hare Taduk was a Divinity who had yet to live through his first millennium, younger even than the Zhen Shi persona of this Sovereign’s Natal Soul, and yet he saw in this Ancestral Beast a harmony of body, mind, and spirit that resonated with the Heavens in a manner similar to his own. The Medical Saint pursued not the flawed Martial Dao, but a Dao of the Heavens which he used to nourish his body, mind, and soul, his every action in complete harmony with his surroundings as he fought in his abnormal manner, utilizing a myriad of different ways to draw upon the Energy of the Heavens in a surprisingly effective manner.

The curious shuffling of his feet, so erratic and capricious at first glance, revealed itself as a cadenced dance set to the rhythm of battle, one he set by humming a nonsensical tune beneath his breath which this Sovereign could barely even hear. The movements of his arms resembled the wild and chaotic flailing of a man drowning at sea, yet his hands traced a path through the air which the Energy of the Heavens were all too eager to follow, and in doing so, carried out his Will with only a modicum of effort on his part. A quiet snort interrupted his song, and the jarring disruption was enough to set the Emissary and Confessor both back on their heels to give the Ancestral Rabbit a moment of reprieve, only for Taduk to resume his tune soon after while a stomp of his foot sent the Transcendents back a second step. All the while, his movements gave rise to a vast multitude of nigh indecipherable workings which seemed to happen all at once, a myriad of simultaneous feats which were only possible due to the Medical Saint’s intimate familiarity with the Dao.

Song. Dance. Rhythm. Formation. Much like a human heartbeat, the world and the Heavens both possessed their own intrinsic ‘pulse’, one the Medical Saint was wholly in tune with. Only then could he tap into the vast powers unknown using the aforementioned mediums, perhaps even unfamiliar to him as he wielded them against his foes. Shards of Plated Domain appeared out of nowhere while powerful gusts of Air snuffed out flames and blood both, and darkening storm clouds formed around Emissary and Confessor both which they went to great lengths to be rid of. This was merely scratching the surface, for in the short moment this Sovereign was able to observe of their fight, less than a full second in time, he witnessed the Medical Saint Heal his companion no less than seventeen moderate to crippling wounds, while fending off eleven attacks from the Emissary as he hurled his flames about and nineteen from the Confessor who stuck with the decisive ferocity of a predator born..

If the Medical Saint possessed one weakness, it was his inability to apply his strength quickly and efficiently, as he was too unfamiliar and unpractised with fighting. If not for this glaring yet easily remedied flaw, then this battle would have long since concluded with Taduk’s victory even if he didn’t have an ally to fight alongside him.

Were it not for Falling Rain’s proven and unique perspective of the Dao, the Medical Saint would have fast become this Sovereign’s most coveted prey, but so long as he was here, he saw no reason why he could not simply capture both at the same time. Knowing Falling Rain was likely aiming to Devour the Transcendents in short order and join hands with his allies against this Sovereign, he compelled his host to take action and seal off their surroundings before tapping into the knowledge possessed by his Natal Soul to seize control of the Emissary and Confessor both. It was merely a matter of dispatching a sliver of his Will into the Transcendents and seizing control of their host souls. As simple as turning a hand given his wealth of experience, especially in light of how mangled and mutilated those respective souls were, tormented by the Amalgamated Spectre in control of the Transcendent and kept alive simply to provide the necessary Prana and emotions required to sustain them.

In contrast, the denizens of this Sovereign’s court of souls lived a most fortunate existence comprised largely of nihility and oblivion to minimize their expenditure of Prana. There was even a possibility of rebirth so long as they learned to neither struggle nor surrender to emotion and this Sovereign saw fit to give them new life or even set them free, a reward he might offer to Falling Rain should he retain his sanity after a millennium or two of torment.

For the third time in less than a single second, this Sovereign’s Natal Soul successfully stole his attention away, and disaster followed soon after. The area was sealed, the Transcendent’s controlled, yet he failed to command them to retreat to safety, giving Falling Rain time enough to make his move. Or, more accurately, time enough for the Predator to make its move. While this Sovereign knew of Falling Rain’s ability to Devour Transcendents with a touch, the Predator took this skill to whole new extremes as it voraciously attacked the Confessor’s Manifested tendril of blood with eyes wide and fangs bared. Much like the Medical Saint, there was a familiar sense of harmony in the strange hound’s movements, but there was no resonation with the Heavens as it pursued its goal with single-minded determination. All animals possessed this quality of focused effort, largely due to their inability to be distracted by higher-order thoughts, but while their feeble minds rendered them incapable of harnessing the Energy of the Heavens in all but the most base and primitive of ways, they more than made up for this deficiency with their strength of body and soul.

Or in the Predator’s case, in the strength of its soul alone.

As far as this Sovereign could tell, the stocky, floppy-eared mutt was physically no stronger than any other dog you might find in any corner of the Empire, and in many cases, much, much, much weaker. So weak that there was no doubt in his mind that this tiny dog of less than twenty kilograms would not survive more than a week in the wilds, and that was with a generous margin of error measuring six-and-a-half days. That being said, the strength of its formidable soul was put on display as it harnessed the distilled Energy of the Heavens which it secured from Devouring Zhen Shi’s refined physical body. Even with all his experience, this Sovereign was incapable of identifying all the skills the Predator used in an instant as it dodged, Deflected, and Domain Plated as needed to avoid the brunt of the Confessor’s Manifested tendrils of Blood and the Emissary’s bolts and pillars of flame. There was also a subtle form of Concealment being utilized which made the Predator’s movements difficult to track with the senses, physical or Divine, as well as a domineering Aura of unbridled desire that had nothing to do with lust and everything to do with greed and gluttony, all overlaid an underlying working of Materialized Domain which allowed the hound to move with an explosive speed and agility that even this Sovereign could not match. This much he could identify, but he knew not how the dog was able to seemingly phase through the sand, not burrowing down but disappearing entirely to avoid a pillar of flame only to emerge unharmed a short distance away. There was also another subtle working corralling the Transcendents together, forcing the Emissary to move ever closer to the Confessor when their powers would work better apart, to say nothing of whatever insidious working it was that kept the Transcendents from simply moving away as death padded towards them upon four paws.

For once the Predator was less than five metres away from the two Transcendents, it raised its head, opened its jaws, and repeatedly snaped at empty air, a laughable sight to be sure if not for the fact that the force produced by its actions was capable of pulling the much larger Transcendents into its maw. Not one at a time, but both at once, their chitinous, armoured forms melting away before fang or tongue could touch them. There was no rending or tearing required, no chewing or swallowing necessary, for the Predator hungered for more than the Transcendents' physical forms and had its sights set upon the Amalgamated Spectres hidden inside.

A blink of an eye, and it was all over and done with, an anticlimactic battle in which two Divinity level existences fell victim to a creature which by all rights should never have existed in the physical world, but one Falling Rain had somehow Created. Luckily, Elemental Spirits were not interested in the souls of living creatures and hungered only for the Imbalanced souls of Spectres and the ilk, else this Sovereign might well have already been Devoured in full alongside his court of souls. Even more shocking was how quickly Falling Rain and his allies reacted, for the moment the Predator finished Devouring both Transcendents, Falling Rain cut through this Sovereign’s sealed Domain and led his allies to flee towards Shi Bei.

Uttering a howl of unrestrained fury, this Sovereign bounded after them in chase. The Ancestral Rabbit was the slowest and became the target for his rage as his palm strike ruptured her inner organs and left her teetering on the precipice of life. Or it would have if not for Taduk and Falling Rain’s superlative defenses, the former layering a complex weave of Plated Domain which formed a formidable, multifaceted curved structure. A cursory examination showed it required less overall power than the ten layered defense this Sovereign used earlier against Falling Rain, yet Taduk’s working was capable of blocking a good ninety percent of this Sovereign’s attack, including the Palm Intent infused within it. As for the latter, Falling Rain Manifested his Domain to Deflect half of what remained, while the Ancestral Rabbit was strong enough to endure the rest with her powerful physique alone, especially with the Medical Saint quickly Healing what minor injuries she suffered. This Sovereign was clearly more powerful than all three of his foes put together, and it had been quite some time since he made a move and failed to kill his opponent. To make matters worse, Falling Rain even had time enough to unleash a counterattack with his rifle once more, and this time, this Sovereign dared not receive it.

Only to realize all too late that the energy contained within this Materialized projectile was a paltry fraction of the attack which injured him earlier.

A feint, one this Sovereign thoroughly fell for, leaving him no face left at all. All three of their souls were forfeit, and Falling Rain’s dog and rabbit too, for this Sovereign would not allow anyone who had witnessed his humiliation to go unpunished.

Catching up to his quarry yet again, he attacked the Medical Saint first to keep him contained before parrying the Ancestral Rabbit’s counter punch, one which possessed the barest hint of Fist Intent which might form if given another five centuries of focused practice. Not because she was incapable, but because she had progressed along the dead-end Martial Path and closed herself off to the Heavens and the harmonious unity which came with it. In doing so, she claimed a portion of the Heavens for herself to wield, but a truncated, meagre portion which gave her power without control or comprehension.

Not so for Falling Rain, who deployed his flying sword and shield imbued with Sword Intent while empowering his rifle for another deadly attack, all the while retreating alongside his allies who were desperate to make their way to Shi Bei. Seizing the Medical Saint by the ankle, this Sovereign threw him to the sands below and followed up with a stomp infused with Palm Intent, only to be struck half-way through by an incomplete projectile delivered by Falling Rain’s rifle. The blow possessed power enough to bruise him, which was truly infuriating to the extreme, for this Sovereign was incapable of discerning how powerful each projectile might be before they struck, meaning he had no choice but to treat each and every single shot as a deadly and unblockable threat. Seeing that the Ancestral Hare had already slipped away and the Ancestral Rabbit moving to support him, this Sovereign fixed his focus on Falling Rain and fought back the urge to kill the boy where he stood.

And yet, he still came close as he tore through the Medical Saint’s hasty defensive workings and punched clean through Falling Rain’s Domain Deflection to land a blow on his shallow, scrawny chest. Spewing a mouthful of blood and ruptured lung tissue, the transmigrator stumbled back half a step before this Sovereign struck again, carefully restraining his strength so as only to humiliate his foe with a slap. More blood spewed out, this time accompanied by shards of shattered teeth and broken bone which left his mouth a gory mess, but even this pain and disorientation wasn’t enough to keep him from instinctively Healing his injuries. Not so quickly as to be unmatched, but faster than most even without the Medical Saint’s assistance, and this Sovereign could not help but respect his opponent’s tenacity.

But respect was all that he would have, for now that Falling Rain was at his mercy, this Sovereign would be sure to show none.

Upon seeing the boy captured, the Medical Saint and Ancestral Rabbit both stayed their hands. Though they made their preparations to fight, this Sovereign paid them no mind as he met Falling Rain’s hateful amber eyes. The true mark of an outlander, for the native inhabitants of the Azure Sea had only brown eyes and black hair, with all other variations having long since died out. Not so with these amber eyes, which was impressive to say the least, but this Sovereign hated this transmigrator all the more for being of foreign blood to boot. “Your futile efforts to resist end here and now,” he declared, holding his prize up by the throat with a feral grin stretched across his cheeks. “You are talented with prospects unlimited, but this Sovereign has stood unmatched under Heaven since the day of his birth, and will remain so until he so chooses to ascend, so your fate, little worm is to kneel and serve, or struggle and suffer. Which will it be?”

A single second stretched into eternity as this Sovereign readjusted his perceptions to conform the workings of reality. Not because he had yet to acclimate his senses, physical and Divine both, but because he dared not allow himself even a single moment of distraction so that he might enjoy this moment to its fullest. Another second passed, then another, the long delay only heightening his anticipation of the gratification all the more, until he realized his quarry could not speak until he finished Healing his jaw and teeth. A full fifteen seconds from start to finish, and it would have taken longer had this Sovereign not relaxed his guard to allow the Medical Saint’s efforts to reach Falling Rain and assist him. It mattered not if they conversed through Sending, the pulsating passing of their messages as clear as ripples on a lake, and if he cared enough to focus on them, he could even listen in on their discussion, but a dragon cared not for the plans of mortals, for he would overcome them with strength alone.

More seconds passed in agonizing lethargy, until Falling Rain’s colour turned a dark shade of red that bordered on purple. Remembering that mortals still needed to breathe, this Sovereign relaxed his grip. After a gasping cough which saw more blood and fragmented teeth fly out, Falling Rain groaned once, coughed thrice, and cleared his throat five times before finally deigning to speak. “Sorry,” he wheezed, speaking slowly and quietly while fluttering his feet in the air in an effort to escape from this Sovereign’s grasp. “What were my options again?”

Base mockery, and he cared not for it, yet much as he yearned to tear the loud-mouthed transmigrator’s soul from his body and mind once more and drag him into this Sovereign’s Natal Palace, he dared not do so in the presence of two powerful Ancestral Beasts, for his host’s body was still mortal yet. “What do you hope to accomplish here?” he asked, inwardly grimacing at having revealed his own ignorance. “Even if you should rally all the Divinities in Shi Bei, Imperial and Defiled both, you would still not possess the requisite strength to defeat this Sovereign in combat. The full might of the Five Supreme Families would not be enough, nor would the combined strength of the entire Empire, for this Sovereign’s strength is boundless and his accumulations unfathomable, and you are ten-thousand years too early to challenge me yet.”

“Oof.” Falling Rain feigned a grimace and tried to shake his head, but it came out as more of a slow tremble. “Not gonna lie, you sound frustrated. Rough day? I’m guessing you don’t get out much and spend most of your time with your ass glued to the throne, though I suppose you’ll have to find somewhere else to sit now that your patsies have banded together to kick you off it.” Feigning yet another wince and a look of commiseration, Falling Rain continued, “Sorry. Too soon? Seriously asking, because I still have a lot of failure related material to get through, and it’d be nice to know it’s having the intended effect.”

Giving his foe the lightest of taps infused with the faintest effort of Fist Intent he could muster, he bared his teeth and growled, “Answer the question.”

“What was the question again?” Another tap put an end to this farce as the boy convulsed in agony, but to his credit, he barely even groaned when most would have been breathless with screams by now. “Oh right,” he gasped, taking several slow, deep breaths before continuing, “What do I hope to accomplish. Like here exactly, where we’re standing right now, or like, generally in life and whatnot? Very different questions, so you’re gonna have to be more specific.”

“You are delaying for time.” The answer came to this Sovereign and presented him with yet another question, one he voiced without thinking. “Why?”

“Well…” Even as Falling Rain drew out his words to delay even further, this Sovereign scanned the area for clues. The Ancestral Hare and Rabbit pair had not moved from their spots, and he could sense no other Divinities converging upon their position, meaning none were in range for a Sending which they could not even Send due to this Sovereign’s host’s Domain blocking off all communications around them. Other than that, there was nothing else of note which came to mind except…

“The Predator.” Noticing its absence from the immediate surroundings, this Sovereign tightened his grip on Falling Rain’s throat and asked, “Where is it?”

“Buddy?” Flashing a rage-inducing smile which cast his bloodied features in a hateful light, the boy glanced towards Shi Bei and replied, “Well… I promised him we’d go out for walkies, so I figured now was a good a time as any.”

A baffling answer, one this Sovereign knew not how to parse save to say that it left him with an unfamiliar sense of unease which he soon identified as apprehension. Not without reason either, for all this time, he thought Falling Rain was rushing towards Shi Bei solely to save the Imperial defenders, but now he understood the full scope of the boy’s schemes. The Predator was loose and free to feed upon the Transcendent Divinities of Shi Bei, and he shuddered to think of what one could do with so much distilled Energy of the Heavens, energy which would not recognize this Sovereign’s Authority.

No matter though, for what harm could a mere dog do without his master to guide him?

Chapter Meme 1

Chapter Meme 2

Chapter Meme 3