Liuxiang plucked at the strings of a Zither, feeling the harmonious tunes calm her spirit. She sat, hair let down, relaxing for the first time in a while. Ever since she had been elected as the heir to her grandmother, each day had passed in training, lessons, or some task or another, with far too many clan members trying to suck up to her, or gain her favour to be able to gain favour in her grandmother’s eye.

Foolish, to think her grandmother would be swayed based on her opinion of all things. But even so, this was a task she had to deal with, and so she would.

Her nails plucked the strings of the Zither, the melody playing serenely in her chamber when, with a sudden stroke, she found a string clipping her nail, as the string cut through skin and drew blood.

Liuxiang pulled back her finger, regarding the bright red droplet of blood swelling upon it, as she saw the broken string of the Zither.

Ominous. That had been a new Zither.

“Perhaps the make had been faulty,” Liuxiang commented, sucking the blood off her finger as she wrapped the broken string and broke it off the instrument. Her hand hovered over the zither for a moment longer, but the desire to play had fled by now.

Does Liuxiang feel the disturbance in the Qi?

Liuxiang nodded. “Perhaps some cousin of mine has finally become an Elder,” she commented, tilting her head.

Unlikely. This seems… much much further.

Liuxiang raised her head to the skies, feeling the unsettling energy permeate her. The Heavens were restless today.

Distantly, she heard rushing footsteps, as her handmaiden rushed into the chamber. Liuxiang inclined her head, curious as to what brought on such urgency.

“Forgiveness, young mistress but… the great eldest has… summoned you,” the handmaiden huffed between pants.

“What happened?” Liuxiang asked, an uneasy feeling in her chest.

The handmaiden looked up, and then spoke, in a horrified whisper. “There has been a divine tribulation on the seventh peak!”

***

A storm brewed over the seventh peak, winds and rain tearing through the lands. Spirit beasts ran wild, as if scared of the wrath of nature that would show no mercy for any that come in its path.

“Has the Lord truly no sense?” Elder Yan said, watching the skies rumble. “Even if he’d meant to attempt ascension, courtesy would deem he let the Jade Court know of his intentions, and make preparations before entering closed door meditation. To just abruptly embark upon this path without so much as a notice… he has either gone mad, or that demon boy has corrupted him too.”

Shadows stirred behind the elder, as one rose and handed a scroll to the Elder. “Hmph. As we’d expected. There was something wrong with the entire situation. Has the alchemy halls replied yet?”

“They have, Master. An Elder has departed, and will be arriving soon to meet with you,” another shadow spoke, its head bowed.

“Good, see to it that their travels go smoothly,” Elder Yan commented, eyes still at the skies. “Whatever it is you’re planning, demon. We won’t let you play your schemes so easily.”

***

A storm brewed through Taizhou, as Su Lin stood inside, watching the skies with unease. It's been years since something like this had brewed within the skies, like the world itself was furious, and even cultivators stood like mere mortals, watching nature sweep by and even all forces, and return them to their humble roots.

“Bah. Those kids, spitting in the face of the heavens. Now they’ve well and truly incurred its wrath,” Granny Lang said, taking a puff of her smoking pipe before letting out the cloud as she walked up to stand next to Su Lin.

“Do ya think they’ll be alright?” Su Lin asked, feeling concerned. He knew Lu Jie was smart… but this… this felt like playing with forces greater than human means.

“He’ll be fine. A dragon must ride the stormy waves, and rise into the skies, only then will it truly ascend and reach where it must. This merely means that our boy has very high places to go, and the trials he must face will be greater than others.”

“That isn’t very reassuring,” Su Lin replied.

“Good. I didn’t intend to. The boy will survive, and so will the rest. I have faith, and you should too,” Granny Lang said, turning away. “Now shut the doors and windows, this heaven cursed rain will drench all my herbs.”

Su Lin nodded, closing the windows and gates, as he began to sort all the herbs. One by one, he moved them over inside to a dry location, but found his mind returning to what was outside.

“If you’re so worried, go help Cao Chen and the turtle. If this rain continued, the river will flood, and that’ll be a much bigger problem than heaven tribulations,” Granny Lang spat.

Su Lin nodded, rushing out the door. The rain pelted him like little pebbles flying at him at great speeds, but he pushed through undeterred. Walking through the village, he quickly found Brother Chen working near the river to secure the banks, and make sure the water doesn’t overflow into the village directly.

Xiao Don, the turtle spirit, seemed to be doing most of the work, as brother Chen helped out. Su Lin noted a few miners and farmers carrying logs to create an impromptu bridge to cross the stream, as the river water flowed faster and faster currents through the village.

“Su Lin!” Cao Chen exclaimed, waving.

“Is everything alright?” Su Lin asked, concerned by Cao Chen’s expression.

“We’re fine here. Xiao Don has been able to keep the water flow in control. But there has been some problems in the Qi vein, the miners have mentioned a strange spirit beast walking out from within. We need someone to go take a look,” Cao Chen said.

“I’ll do it,” Su Lin replied.

Cao Chen nodded, before glancing back to one of the miners who dipped his head lightly to Su Lin in acknowledgement. “Follow me please,” the man said, guiding the way.

Su Lin followed behind, crossing the river on the small bridge made of logs to the other side. Walking through the pelting rain, they made their way into the forest, as Su Lin felt a dreadful sense of unease.

“There, that’s the entrance. A few miners collapsed there, finding it suddenly hard to breathe. I was there, and felt it too. There was this strange shadow… like an evil spirit that was crying. We haven’t been able to get closer.”

Su Lin narrowed his eyes at the entrance. “Stay here,” he told the miner, walking closer. Reaching towards the Qi vein, he saw an odd darkness permeating through the cavern. Covering his nose, as he felt his breath constrict from the sensation, it took him a moment to place the source.

“Miasma… this is Gu,” Su Lin murmured, eyes widened in shock. Moving closer still, he tried to walk to the source of the miasma, as much as he could.

Within the darkness of the caverns, a figure stirred. Two dark red eyes looked up at him, stopping him in his tracks, as they glared. Black flames flowed around the creature, the beast almost the same height as Su Lin despite being on all fours.

Terror flooded Su Lin, the onslaught of miasma making him freeze as he realised just what kind of creature he was face to face with. Trying to keep himself centred, he reached out to his Qi, when the creature moved closer.

Su Lin’s heart leapt into his chest. There was no way he would survive a demonic beast of this size. And here, this deep into the empire, all on its own? His luck had to be truly abysmal to encounter something like this.

Yet, instead of teeth or claws, he saw the beast sniffing him, as if searching for something. A moment later, the flames settled, as the creature moved closer, and pressed his head next onto Su Lin’s shoulder.

“Ho…me…”

The beast spoke in a warbled tongue, voice horribly mutated, as he collapsed in front of Su Lin, purple blood flowing freely from wounds.

Su Lin slowly opened his eyes, watching the giant black wolf sleeping in front of him, before the tension made his legs go weak, as he collapsed on the ground as well.

“Just… what in heaven's name happened?”