Chapter 7

  The Very Model Of A Faithful Modern Disciple.

  "They who turns the wheel shares the same fate as those who are crushed by it.

  The part left out of the parable is to ask why turn the wheel at all."

  At The Top of a Mountain

  A child stares up into the Heavens. The clear skies are a balm upon her soul as smoke and ashes rise up to meet them.

  The child kneels before the morning sun at midnight. She cups her hands together as one does when they begin to pray. Then she began to pray as was natural when asking for a favor from a God.

  The child will remain in such a way until the morning sun finally sets, then she will release a breath she didn't know she was holding and bid farewell to the Mountain.

  The Mountain will remain silent its time awake done for a few thousand years.

  But the child is polite and leaves a gift for it in the form of one of her favorite candies that she had been saving for a special occasion.

  What more special occasion could there be than this?

  Then the child looks out across the land and considers what she should do next. She could be like Tori in this life. She could set out once again and lay siege to everything.

  She liked being Tori. She still loved killing.

  But she was not Tori her Mother's gifts did not sing at her side anymore and she was not Fae, she was a human again with weak human ears and weak human hearts and a bunch of other things.

  She was also frustratingly still small for a Fae at least but pretty normal for a human.

  She definitely couldn't be Amanda again, this life was apparently a lot more interested in lineage than any of her previous incarnations and she definitely didn't want to marry into power.

  Marriage was sacred to the Fae.

  Oaths had power because they imagined it to be so and so it was. She thought that was silly but she didn't make the rules, well not all of them at least, but she was less a hard law and more an exception to the rules, when her Zaza and Mother swore an oath to each other in this world and the next it was binding.

  If Mother had passed after her then she likely was at Zazas side no matter where, when, shape or form they had passed on to, the rules probably didn't bind her anymore because she was not of the Fae truly anymore.

  The Law was the Law however.

  That in mind without a particular lineage backing her the likelihood of building a power base without to many strings attached were negligible…

  The child pondered her situation as she watched the sky and played with the wind and grass.

  Who was Chao-Xing (Just Xing to her friends she decided) going to be in this life?

  After awhile Xing decided that thinking about the future was too hard for her, when she couldn't relate a subject to killing things she tended to zone out. So she stopped thinking at all and decided to let fate figure it out for her.

  Surely Fate could do all the thinking for her.

  This epiphany in hand the child picks a random direction any direction… then leaps off the Mountain excited to see what Fate has in store.

  Fate was of course less enthusiastic about current events.

  ~SL~

  God Finger City

  Provincial Capital of the God Finger Province

  Grand Qin Dynasty Territory

  Semi-Demilitarized Zone

  Two Years Since The End Of The War Of Three Dragons

  Every morning Shen Long awoke exactly 5 minutes before the rooster crowed. As the rooster crowed Shen Long would depart his apartment clean shaven, clothes well washed without a single blemish but not before loudly announcing his intentions to do so to all his neighbors.

  He quite often had a shoe thrown at him.

  Shen Long would then set forth for the "First Steps" the storied steps that were constructed by the original builders of God Finger City so that no matter what may happen all may ascend the Mountain upon which God Finger City was built upon safely.

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  The exorbitant maintenance cost was also great for justifying increases in the provincial budget to the capital. Shen Long often skipped retelling that part of the story to children. A boring and often disappointing or brutal and quick reality was for when they were adults.

  When he reached the stairs after circumnavigating the maze that was God Finger City Floor 117 his journey truly began to Floor 064 above! It was a peaceful journey as most people took the elevator.

  The stairs were mostly used by monks and a few of the heavier transport vehicles and or creatures. He had made friends with many of the monks who climbed up and down the stairs in search of enlightenment and had learned all the names of the various heavy transports, and made certain to carry an apple or two for the various herbivores and a protein pill for the carnivores.

  Today the stairs were empty except for a few monks but that suited him just fine. When the stairs were empty one may gaze across the entirety of the Southern God Finger Province and it was truly a sight to behold. One could gaze upon the passing clouds like they were slugs instead of bits of condensation, one could enjoy the shifting of the Mountains as some sought to be elsewhere for a variety of reasons ranging from to little sun to not enough bloodshed… speaking of bloodshed if one was lucky they might catch a view of varying demonic spirit beasts in the throes of battle or establishing territory for themselves.

  The displays of might could be felt from thousands of li away and for a Cultivator of his meager might were quite spectacular to gaze upon especially at night. They were as close to the Ten Thousand Trials of the Immortal Tournament as he could get.

  The Elders would be foolish to choose him before the hundreds of others more worthy, but still one could dream.

  Once Shen Long successfully reached the 64th Floor he would have to yet again thread the needle of an ever changing city to reach the Front Gate of the Blessed Dragon Breeze Sword Hall.

  It was an old structure having been built before God Finger City had been established some tens of thousands of years ago. It didn't originally belong to the Blessed Dragon Breeze Sword Hall but as the proverb goes "The vanquished can't argue their innocence."

  Though the buildings that the Front Gate of the Sword Hall defends have changed with time and conquest the Front Gate itself has mostly remained the same says the Elders and while their is no way to know for certain if that was true the Front Gate definitely looked the part. The Ancient Holy Wood Door standing 300 chi tall and 80 chi thick was marked with battle wounds some of which still had the weapons that did them imbedded within them. Some parts of the Gate were still on fire, some parts were leaking water, some parts just randomly exploded.

  If the gate started to try and talk to you it was suggested to not talk back. You weren't hearing things.

  Shen Long found that he considered the Gate his most favorite part of the Sword Hall. It had character and the whispers were quite interesting to hear as long as you didn't make the mistake of trying to communicate back. At some point they had given up on trying to trick him and simply settled with threatening each other over ancient grudges.

  The Front Gate was almost quiet today. Whispers could still be heard but they were muted to a point that one couldn't make out a word they were saying, which was uncommon to say the least.

  Shen inquired with the Guards if they knew what was wrong. They gave him a look of sympathy and said that it was best he head to the Main Hall and speak with the Master Swordsman.

  An Imperial Messenger had arrived and he bore the Flag of Souls.

  ~SL~

  The Qin Emperor called on all loyal sects to arms against the Rebels a month after the formal declarations of war by two of the Great Sects had circulated beyond reasonable doubt.

  The other Great Sects remained neutral in the face of the general call and the response of the lesser sects was mixed.

  The Blessed Dragon Breeze Sword Hall declared for the Emperor as did most of the Sects of God Finger City. The ones that did not, made the wise decision to not voice their opinions.

  The Sword Hall had chosen 2 Elders, 10 Inner Disciples, 40 Upper Disciples and 200 Outer Disciples to deploy South to join the campaign against the Rebel Sun Quan. Among the chosen were his Father Shen Fang and his Mother Shen Li both of whom were Upper Disciples and to his families great pride his younger brother Shen Jo an Inner Disciple.

  Shen Long had remembered promising his brother that on his return they would visit a brothel together. He remembered his Mother being very angry and demanding their Father discipline his sons. He remembered the lecture they had received while he slipped them Imperial Jade under the table as most mortal brothels wouldn't accept Sect Scripts. He remembered his mother pretending not to notice.

  They were all dead.

  In one of the few open battles that the Rebel Lord Sun Quan had committed to the destroyer they were on was caught in one of his techniques the Imperial Army had identified as the Burning Lion's Soul Roar Technique an advanced sound based technique that rendered most defenses as useless.

  His family and brothers and sisters of the sect alongside hundreds of thousands of others were rendered down to little more than base molecules, the technique had not even spared their souls.

  Those were gone too.

  They would not even be allowed the peace of entering the wheel of karma.

  ~SL~

  After that… Shen Long thanked the messenger for delivering the news to him.

  Then he went about his duties of the day to the sect as he ought to do despite the Master Swordsman offer of releasing him from his duties with pay for as long as he needed to grieve and prepare funeral rites.

  He was moved but he declined.

  He went about his day as though nothing had changed. He saw to the maintenance of the many dueling stadiums. He polished and repaired the many practice swords scattered and forgotten by this student and that. He gave pointers to the Lower Disciples that showed promise and even watched the duels of some of the Outer Disciples.

  When the Sun began to set and his duties were complete he said his goodbyes and departed the Sword Hall as he had entered it.

  Through the Front Gate.

  He stands with his back to the Gate for a long time. None of it feels real to him. None of it makes sense. Why was he still here? Why did he not harden his heart and declare vengeance against the Rebel? Why. Why. Why. Why. Why. Why. Why. Why. Why. Why was he still alive?

  Shen Longs legs begin to move. At first at a crawl, then at a brisk walk, until he was rushing forward like a bullet. He doesn't know where he is going when he has reached the Stairs and reaches the lowest floor of God Finger City Floor 1000 and thereby exits the city itself.

  He doesn't really care.

  ~SL~

  He doesn't remember when he finally stopped running. He doesn't remember how far he had run or whether he had made any twists and turns. He only remembered waking up to a clear sky.

  Shen Long picks himself up. His body is exhausted and he can feel his qi dangerously low. He can't bring himself to care.

  His survival instincts however from long years of training kicks in regardless of his input. He observes his surroundings realizing he was unfamiliar territory. He was surrounded by lush trees and vegetation which was incongruous with the Southern God Finger Province which was made up of mostly plains land… which means he no longer inhabited the South but the West.

  A Great Roar fills his ears.

  The West has Lion Goats.

  Over 90 chi tall with fur of a cloud white color. Horns are able to conduct lightning and perform a multitude of such elements techniques from the obvious lighting bolts to more sophisticated feats of magnetism. Skin is battleship grade durable. They are one of a few spirit beasts that can naturally achieve the color of Jade and in some legends the Soul of Gold.

  There are debates on its sapience but most agree that they are intelligent.

  Lion Goats are extremely territorial but are not as needlessly violent as Demonic Spirit Beasts tend to be. If Shen Long backs away with his eyes averted from the Lion Goats peacefully the Lion Goat will likely let him go.

  He stares at it straight in the eyes and draws his sword. He screams at the top of his lungs a single word.

  "Why!?"

  It is the only thing he can think about at first…

  Then the Giant Goat kicks him.

  Then he can only think about his shattered ribs.

  "Why?" He moans out. "Why is this happening!?"

  Shen Long stares up at what is to surely be his death. The Lion Goat taking its time to kill the insect that dared to encroach upon its territory.

  Shen Long does not look away. He simply continues to demand answers desperately hoping for a response.

  "Why am I still here?"

  The Lion Goat raises a single might hoof and then it dies.

  …

  What?

  A little girl her eyes closed, barely half his height, with long hair that looked like it was made of gold and wearing what could only be called rags, lazily sits upon the crushed head of a Lion Goat.

  It's blood sprayed all around as well as on him and the remainder of its body but yet not a drop of it remains on the girl.

  The girls eyes open suddenly revealing twin orbs of grey that scans the world around before locking on to him freezing him in place making him forget everything except what she says next.

  "Is this goat edible?"