The heavens roared and the world shook around me. The bolt of lightning crashed through my body, and I could distinctly feel the ground underneath me cracking from the force of the strike, as the power passed through me. I could feel the surge, like a million hot daggers poking in my stomach, all trying to claw their way out. Immediately a powerful pulse of pain shot through me and I found my sense of self separating from myself, watching the events from a distant place as I focused all my attention on absorbing the power from the tribulation lightning before it seeped into the world around me.My core greedily sucked in all the heavenly Qi, feeding onto it, as if it was the nectar of the gods. In some ways, it truly was, and I drew in the golden Qi, pushed them together till they formed droplets of liquid gold that I flowed through my core. The roots of the divine tree sucked up those droplets, a deep seated hunger rising from the tree as it began to demand more and I worked hard to

I took a moment to inspect myself before I left the chamber. I’d changed, and in many more ways than just one. But the most distinct had been the physical changes. My skin had turned pale, but there was a distinct undercurrent of life and power running through it. My body had changed itself a hundred different small ways, adjusting imbalances. I was perfect, a bit too perfect, and it was unsettling to feel like this, it created an inhuman quality. Chi moved through me as easily as if I was within my own spirit. All resistance was lost and I could create anything by simply willing it into existence. And so I did, I called for water as water formed with ease in front of me and I looked at my face.The first thing were my eyes, three silvery rings were beset within my eyes, a faded glow in the back that’d burn with power should I ever wish to channel my Chi through my spirit rings. My hair had also just grown longer and become far more lustrous than before. Every little flaw on my body h

The time of battle arrived soon, and there was nothing left to do but to engage. I sat in the royal palace, the entire place nearly empty except for me. I’d sent everyone away, those who could fight were all stationed to fight. Those who could not were ready to help the injured or give support and protect the children and the elderly. Nearly everyone who lived within the city was contributing in some manner. This was life or death, not just for them, but for the entire empire, and they understood that as well.I remained on the floor of the royal palace, this entire massive place now empty. I’d not set defenses around it. If the army could make it there, the war had already been lost. I had no intention of running away and trying to rebuild, no dreams of such. We won here, or we died fighting. Those were the only two options available to us.I sat in the chamber, meditating upon Harmony, it flickered at the edge of my awareness, not quite present, not quite absent, in a state of in be

This level of violence, this level of senseless and meaningless death, it began to change me, began to alter something fundamental within me. I’d never felt like I had a stake in this war, a war between the empire and the demons. I had simply chosen the side my friends had belonged on. The side that I had felt was mostly right, that had a lot of good people, though maybe not all. But that illussion had been shattered. The empire had caused this.No… not the empire. The divide in the cycle had caused this. The empire had simply continued the trend, followed the path that had been ordained, held onto the nature of the world as had been foretold that one day, when heaven and earth had diverged. A part of me wanted to blame the divine beasts for this. But I knew that part of me was simply angry and wanted a convenient and easy target to direct that anger towards. Nothing was ever that simple, or ever that convenient in life.But I understood one thing now. This war was not just about prot

It was with those thoughts that Zhang moved forward, the deathless sneered, as they always did, they always had a veneer of arrogance. He had wondered why before and when he’d asked brother Yuan, he’d found the answer. They’d been cultivators in life. And whatever process had changed them and turned them into these walking corpses, had not changed their attitudes towards the world around them.The demon in front of him blabbed, announcing his name and something or the other about how exactly he was going to tear Zhang limb from limb. Zhang did not listen, did not pay the demon any attention whatsoever. He simple continued moving, not slowing down as the demon’s blabbing paused, surprise taking over him. Then the creature tried to move out of the way, but it was too late. Zhang’s body was heavy. Really really heavy. He had made it so with the gravity he commanded, and so he struck the creature with the force of a mountain, crashing into it as they both landed beyond the walls, in the m