~~~
Meng Yue and Quiet Shadow fly high above the ground. The area around them is surrounded by a barrier with a perimeter that spans multiple miles. On the ground is the frozen form of the massive shadow that invaded the Storm Dragon Empire. There is no telling how many people are trapped inside it. Behind Meng Yue is the Storm Dragon Palace. Nobles and military officials are watching the battle unfold with bated breath.
Meng Yue has a sword in her hand, a beautiful blade of ice that gleams like a diamond. She assumes a stance, her sword pointed at the enemy, before furrowing her brow as an idea occurs to her.
She throws her weapon like a javelin.
The weapon breaks the sound barrier several times over before it has even left her hands. In the blink of an eye, it is already in front of Quiet Shadow. The blue ogre clad in golden armor swings his golden club and knocks the sword out of the air. It travels multiple miles before cratering into the ground.
Meng Yue narrows her eyes. Most wouldn’t have noticed it, but her sword lost speed and power as it grew close to Quiet Shadow.
“You should not be so quick to throw away your weapon,” he tells her.
Meng Yue shrugs.
“Swords look good, but I have never been fond of them,” she says, changing her stance slightly and raising her fists. “The sensation of someone’s flesh and bones breaking against my own… Wouldn’t you say that’s more satisfying?”
She speeds up.
[Frozen Path]
Particles of water in the air freeze and become a path through which Meng Yue travels near-instantaneously. Her fist blurs as it approaches Quiet Shadow.
It slows down.
The blue ogre clad in golden armor moves to the side, easily dodging her punch, and brings his golden club against her. Meng Yue can see it all happen with perfect clarity. He has not become faster or altered her perception. Her body has simply slowed down for some reason. Even as she tries to block the attack, she is not moving as quickly as she should be.
An impact rings throughout the barrier, but it is not the sound of Meng Yue’s flesh being struck. Ice rose around her to block the hit. It grows angry spikes and aims them at Quiet Shadow, forcing him to back away.
The slowness disappears.
“You are quite the violent one,” Quiet Shadow says, stroking his golden beard. “I can sense the intent in your aura clearly. However, this old man cannot say he has ever cared much for violence.”
“Are those the words someone invading a country should be saying?” Meng Yue wonders.
Quiet Shadow smiles sadly.
“It’s quite hypocritical of me, isn’t it? I am not unaware of it, yet this is the path I chose,” he says. “The young dragon hiding behind you is quite the troublesome lad. If he is removed, the threat of the Death Fashioning Scripture becomes more manageable. I am willing to sacrifice this country for that possibility.”
“That’s normal enough, I suppose,” Meng Yue says, shrugging as though the matter had nothing to do with her. “I hope you do not expect me to smile and step aside.”
“Of course not,” he says, his tone completely apologetic. “Please, forgive this old man for his useless chatter. At my age, one starts rambling about this and that.”
“There is nothing to forgive,” Meng Yue says with an understanding smile.
[Retaliation of the Eighth Frozen Hell]
A mighty glacier appears above Quiet Shadow and accelerates far beyond what normal gravity can accomplish. However, it slows down as soon as it gets close to Quiet Shadow. The blue ogre raises his golden club and brings it against the ice, shattering the glacier into millions of tiny shards that are scattered in the air.
Meng Yue watches it all without showing much emotion. Her green eyes do not miss a single detail. It is more or less what she initially assumed. The old man is not meeting force with force. Anything that gets close to him just gradually slows down. The radius seems to be about fifty yards, but he can probably spread his influence for miles if he is willing to sacrifice its potency.
More importantly, that is definitely his Dao. There was a possibility it might just be a regular technique of the Temple of the Thousand Shadows, but there is a certain gravity around Quiet Shadow that is a telltale sign of someone calling on their Dao. Meng Yue can think of a few possibilities already, but she needs a few more clashes to be sure.
Time stops. Meng Yue dashes. Her fist is aimed at Quiet Shadow’s middle Dantian.
[Fist of the Frozen Hell]
[Divine Smiting]
Meng Yue’s fist slams against the glowing golden weapon, unleashing a shockwave that rattles the whole country despite her barrier’s best efforts. The clash of their Qi makes several people in the palace faint, but Meng Yue has no time to dwell on such things.
The golden club swings through the air once more, just narrowly missing her head. She takes two steps to the right and lands a punch on Quiet Shadow’s side. The instant she makes contact with his armor, Meng Yue feels herself grow slower. The old man brings his club down. Bathed in golden energy, the round end of the weapon almost looks like a miniature sun.
Meng Yue’s Qi flares up. Her time accelerates. A backstep places her right outside the weapon’s range. Ice rises beneath Quiet Shadow and traps his legs. It falls under the blue ogre’s influence, but that does not matter. Ice that has lost all movement gains permanence. Quiet Shadows frowns as he realizes the unfortunate compatibility.
Meng Yue does not waste her chance.
[Opening of the Blue Lotus]
[Sorrowful End]
Meng Yue lacks a Body of Extreme Yin, meaning the technique is not as suitable for her as it is for Xiao Shuang. Nevertheless, it is still a powerful blast of pure Yin Qi that demands a serious response from her opponent. Their attacks roar against each other, making reality itself tremble. The temperature across the country cools by several degrees, and people everywhere feel themselves grow sluggish.
That is all secondary.
Meng Yue has been repeatedly speeding up her time for a reason. Quiet Shadow cannot slow her down to solve this. He has no choice but to allow his soul to roar. At the moment of their clash, their techniques aren’t just expressions of raw power. They are backed by the full might of their souls. Meng Yue’s is naturally hard to grasp, but the same cannot be said for Quiet Shadow.
Stillness.
Meng Yue laughs.
~~~
“She seems to be enjoying herself,” Liu Jin notes.
“Someone has to, I suppose,” Xiao Shuang says dryly. Her worries have significantly cooled now that the battle has begun, and her master’s joy can be felt clearly. “The nobles certainly aren’t.”
Xiao Shuang feels a little bad for them. As strong as some of them are, they simply are not prepared to be near a battle of this magnitude, and they already knew that. However, not a single one of them wanted to be seen as a coward. Their pride demanded they stay by the Emperor’s side.
Foolish.
“They chose what they chose,” Liu Jin says. “Sometimes, pride makes foolish demands of us.’
“It certainly does,” Xiao Shuang says. Her gaze cools as she looks at a darkened corner. “Speaking of foolishness, how long do you plan to remain there? Perhaps you need help in extracting yourself?”
Sharp spikes of ice burst around Xiao Shuang’s body as she speaks. A tense moment of silence is followed by the sound of footsteps.
“Do not be hasty,” Serene End says as she steps out of the shadows. “If I am here, you must realize it is because your husband has allowed my presence.”
“My husband has a kind heart that allows him to enjoy the presence of corpses,” Xiao Shuang says. Her Qi fills the room. “Shall I bring you closer to that ideal?”
“She is not really here,” Liu Jin says. “The body is just a copy sent here to deliver a message. Destroying it wouldn't kill her.”
“Quite right. Quite right.” Serene End nods her head under her hood. “Though perhaps calling it a message is not enough. Maybe… an ultimatum?"
Liu Jin and Xiao Shuang suddenly look at her with hostility. Serene End smiles and holds up her hands.
“I am just a copy, remember?” she says. “Besides, you should not be surprised. You have made things very difficult. You went and told the Temple things you shouldn’t have. They’re arming themselves against us, and the Peerless Heavenly Sword Peak is having a grand laugh at both of us. The Death Fashioning Scripture must be complete, and you’re going to help us.”
“Or?” Liu Jin asks.
Serene End smiles.
~~~
“Forgive me, Elder,” Meng Yue says, trying to get her laughter under control. “I mean no insult. Truly. Life is just so… bemusing.”
Stillness!
Back when she was young, Meng Yue had a difficult time tapping into her Dao. It brought her no end of annoyance, chiefly because Bai Lianshi had very little trouble tapping into hers and wasted no opportunity to hold it over her head. Meng Yue trained and trained and trained, trying her best to match her rival.
That is how Meng Yue arrived at Stillness.
At least, that is what Meng Yue thought her Dao was at the time. It wasn’t that Meng Yue was trying to fool anyone, but how else was she supposed to interpret the frozen world around her? For decades, Meng Yue lived her life under a wrongful assumption. Now, the Dao she once assumed was her own is wielded by her enemy.
What is that if not funny?
“I have lived far too long to take offense at every little thing,” Quiet Shadow says. “Besides, you do not strike me as the type to indulge in petty mockery. In that regard, you are far better than many of my comrades.”
“Thank you,” Meng Yue says brightly. It’d be such a pity if this battle became tainted by wounded pride. “I used to think my Dao was Stillness. I have spent much time dwelling on the subject, so this is a unique opportunity for me.”
“It seems this old man is quite unlucky, then,” Quiet Shadow says. It is weird watching his fearsome visage try to make a grandfatherly smile. “However, there is a big difference between theory and practice, Lady Meng Yue. Allow this old man to show you that Stillness goes beyond mere absence of motion.”
Meng Yue’s aura rises.
“Show me,” she says.
Quiet Shadow is suddenly in front of her. His golden weapon speeds towards her neck as his third eye glows with eerie light. Her body accelerates. Her arm rises. A half formed gauntlet of ice surrounds it just in time. Golden metal strikes white ice, and the impact rings through the barrier.
Meng Yue feels her skin bruise. A wound like that would not normally take long to heal, but Meng Yue feels it is happening much more slowly than usual. She forces her Qi to speed up the process, but finds her Qi is also moving slowly. Despite Quiet Shadow’s words, he is still imposing Stillness over his surroundings.
She sidesteps the next strike of the golden club as Quiet Shadow thrusts it in her direction. Her cold fists try to strike his armor, but he blocks her attacks easily. His third eye glows as he looks at her, somehow magnifying the effect of his Dao. Meng Yue accelerates, moving to his blind spot. A spike of ice grows on her arm.
Something is wrong.
Quiet Shadow is suddenly facing her. His golden club comes down above her head. Her arms barely rise in time to catch it before it hits her, but the ogre simply drives his knee into her stomach. It is a brutal blow, and Meng Yue finally realizes what has been missing for the past few exchanges.
There is no lethal intent.
Regardless of how kind Quiet Shadow is, all his attacks have been full of lethal intent. The same goes for her. In a battle such as this, anything else would be an insult. They cannot afford to waste time trying to disguise their intent. However, Meng Yue can no longer sense any intent coming from Quiet Shadow. There is no warning accompanying his attacks.
“A still mind is not one without thoughts,” Quiet Shadow says as he is about to deliver another knee strike. “Rather, it is one that allows thoughts to pass without attachment.”
That’s not it.
Meng Yue blocks the following knee strike and manages to push herself back as she evaluates the past few exchanges. Quiet Shadow is not lying, but there is something he is not saying.
His golden club strikes her across the face.
“A still body is not one without movement. It is one that moves only when it is necessary,” Quiet Shadow whispers as his strike knocks Meng Yue to the ground.
He has to voice it because she has already figured it out. There is no intent, because he is not thinking until he is. There is no movement, because he is not moving until he is. He is completely still, then he is not. All his actions are happening simultaneously... No, it is not just that. The number of actions he needs to take and the time each of those actions takes are less than they should be.
And if that is the case....
He has not just been making her slower. The number of actions she needs to take has been increasing throughout the fight without her noticing.
However, he has made a mistake.
His hit knocked her too far back. Meng Yue’s body craters on the ground. For those watching in the palace, it must be a cause for consternation. For her, it is a relief. Distance means the hold his Dao has on her weakness, and so, her ability strengthens. For Quiet Shadow, it seems as if Meng Yue immediately rises back into the sky, yet he frowns as soon as he notices all the damage he did is now mended.
It is all a matter of time.
If you don’t have enough, simply make more. The true danger of Meng Yue’s Dao is not her ability to attack within a frozen world. Instead, it is her ability to take as much time as she wants to do something. Attack, think, recover. She can always give herself enough time for everything.
“After Great Mother, I am the Divine Frozen Palace’s strongest,” Meng Yue announces loudly.
Quiet Shadow raises an eyebrow. He feels the weight of Meng Yue’s soul in those words, so he cannot dismiss them as empty boasting.
Nevertheless…
“Some would say that Lady Bai Lianshi holds that title,” Quiet Shadow says.
“My sister is strong, and we have had countless matches against each other. Overall, we are tied. That much is true. However, that’s simply because we have grown up together,” Meng Yue says. “Lianshi knows how to fight against me and has countless annoying tricks to counter me. That’s all there is to it. If we were to meet for the first time, I’d win eight times out of ten.”
That is not an insult to Bai Lianshi. It is simply recognizing how difficult Meng Yue’s skill set is to battle against. Outside of people like Feng Gui, who are natural counters to her without even trying, most people simply lack the ways to deal with someone like her and are forced to develop them on the spot.
“To battle me is to accommodate to my pace,” Meng Yue says. “I do not match myself to you. You are matching yourself to me. That is how it is in all things. That is how it will always be. My own flow will remain uninterrupted.”
Flow.
Quiet Shadow smiles as he feels the full nature of Meng Yue’s Dao hit him.
“What an outrageous thing,” he says.
Meng Yue shrugs.
Really, what else could it be? When she first discovered her Dao, she came across a frozen world, and thought it was stillness. However, that was wrong. The world was not frozen. She was simply moving at a completely different pace from the rest of the world. Meng Yue is, and has always been, a woman who does things her own way, marching to her own uninterrupted flow.
“It is the only way I know how to live,” she says before attacking.
“Bold,” Quiet Shadow says, blocking her first strike. “Admirable.” The second is harder, making him grunt. “Naive!”
[Eightfold Denunciation]
A hundred arms of Qi sprout behind the blue ogre. An instant of motionlessness is followed by multiple simultaneous strikes. There is no time to dodge from such a close range. However, Meng Yue never expected to do so. As she feels pain explode all over her body, her ice is already manifesting.
[Punishment of the Eighth Frozen Hell]
The twin attacks strike both fighters head-on and knock both fighters back. Quiet Shadow’s eyes widen as he realizes the significance of the event. Immediately, he rushes towards Meng Yue.
She has already healed.
“Naive?” she questions as she’s suddenly on him. Their blows make everything within the barrier tremble. Ice rises and falls around her as she blocks the hits from his many arms and counterattacks. “Your Stillness is desperately trying to slow me down so you might be able to fight me. That’s nothing but an admission of your own weakness!”
[Fist of the Frozen Hell]
Her frozen fist lands and breaks Quiet Shadow’s armor, spreading cold throughout his body. However, the blue ogre does not look pained or even inconvenienced by the attack.
“Aye, I am weak,” he says as his Qi arms retreat into his body. “At my age, I have seen too much to believe otherwise. We are all weak. It is because we cannot do all that we want that we must put more thought into our actions, our thoughts, and our speech. All of them must be used carefully. Lady Meng Yue, you are no different.”
He’s in front of her again. Meng Yue tries to attack, but the number of actions she has to take has increased once more. Meanwhile, Quiet Shadow’s movements happen simultaneously. His golden club strikes her face and legs at the same time. Her blood flows. Her bones crack. Quiet Shadow’s influence asserts itself more strongly.
[Frozen Path]
Meng Yue seeks distance, but Quiet Shadow has learned not to allow it. The number of steps he needs to reach her is always fewer than the number of steps she needs to take to depart from him. As long as he keeps her under the influence of his Dao, she cannot lessen her number of actions.
But she never had any intention of doing that.
Quiet Shadow blinks as Meng Yue goes up, then down. Spears of ice manifest above them, but they are never even close to reaching Quiet Shadow. She tries to move around him, but then skips past his blind spot instead of trying to attack.
His fist misses.
The surprise almost distracts Quiet Shadow long enough for Meng Yue to flee from his influence, but he is soon on the attack once more. Arms of Qi sprout from his back once more and strike furiously, yet the longer the fight goes on, the more he finds himself missing for some reason. Meng Yue moves randomly, unnecessarily, but that shouldn’t matter because…
“You’re increasing your number of actions,” he realizes, shocked by the sheer gall of such a strategy.
“Your actions happen simultaneously,” Meng Yue explains as though it were obvious. “I don’t need to be fast. I don’t need to be slower. I just need to enforce my own flow. It is not so bad to take a detour sometimes.”
[Opening of the Blue Lotus]
[Eightfold Denunciation]
His technique misses. Meng Yue’s does not. Quiet Shadow is blown away. A bitter smile appears on his face as he sees Meng Yue has already healed much of the damage. How long has the fight taken from her perspective? Days?
“You truly are formidable,” Quiet Shadow says. “It seems my victory is not assured.”
“Oh?” Meng Yue cocks her head. “Don’t tell me you are going to give up.”
“Nothing of the sort,” Quiet Shadow replies. “I wanted to wait until you were defeated before doing this, but you have shown me that is not a certain path. Tell me, did you know that members of the Temple of the Thousand Shadow prefer to work in pairs?”
Meng Yue’s eyes widen as an explosion force breaks through her ice coffin. Immediately, she realizes what is happening. Quiet Shadow hadn’t been the only one to escape her technique. Someone had only been pretending to be caught and used her coffin to hide his presence!
A wave of Qi spreads throughout the land.
Emperor Realm, Level Nine.
Instead of rushing to aid Quiet Shadow, the Emperor flies into the sky and breaks through her barrier. Meng Yue tries to stop him, but Quiet Shadow gets in her way. The look on his face is resigned.
“I truly wish it didn’t have to come to this,” he says as day turns to night in every corner of the Storm Dragon Empire.
Swords of shadow float above all.
One for every person in the country.
“Hear me, Emperor Qing Jin of the Storm Dragon Empire! I am the Red Shadow!” roars the Emperor. Qi carries his voice across the country. “Surrender yourself to the authority of the Temple of the Thousand Shadows. Otherwise, every single person in this country will die by my hand!”
~~~
Mini-Character List
Liu Jin: Our protagonist. Instinctually realizes he has to phrase things in a way that he is not directly telling Xiao Shuang not to kill Serene End. Most men never develop this instinct.
Meng Yue: One of the Five Fairies of the Divine Frozen Palace. She's a maniac, maniac on the floor! ...On the ice-blue line of insanity is a place most never see!
Quiet Shadow: Member of the Temple of the Thousand Shadows. Be vewy, vewy quiet, he’s hunting dragons.
Xiao Shuang: Disciple of Meng Yue. Her husband is not weird. Being comfortable with corpses is simply a character quirk.
Serene End: Disciple of the Death Fashioning Scripture. Do not shoot the messenger. Even if the messenger is being annoying.
Red Shadow: Member of the Temple of the Thousand Shadows. Like Quiet Shadow, he gave up his seat in the Council of the Hundred. It will almost immediately be filled because there are people who have been waiting centuries to get those seats. Sharpshooting.
AN
The difference between Meng Yue and the Wandering Wind is that Meng Yue always goes at her own pace, but she’s consistent about it. Meanwhile, the Wandering Wind is relentlessly unpredictable.
If you were to tell Meng Yue to do the dishes, two things can happen. One, she does them right away (if told by someone like Great Mother). Two, she ignores the task for the entire day, but when you wake up the next day, you find she did the dishes at 3 AM. Just don’t do the dishes before her because then she’ll complain she was going to get to it eventually.
If you tell the Wandering Wind to do the dishes, you’ll find out that either she already did them, or she’ll say she will but somehow end up in another country or whatever and the dishes will be left dirty forever.