Ch 68: Freedom

Sylvie’s view

Free! Finally free! I can’t believe they bought that excuse! They’ve never let me leave unattended before! Hahaha! Free!

“Can we go visit my old home?”

“Sure, Alice. That sounds great. Feels a little weird that you’re asking me though. You’re my teacher!”

“Well, this is your first proper trip out. You should be allowed to go where you want for once.”

“I am really curious to see the place you used to live. The stories from there are pretty wild. A second battle between the sects and the beasts that ended with the beasts being forced to retreat. The land getting covered with a black fog at night that’s known to sometimes kill people! Except for some reason, every dead body seems to belong to someone that has killed many. Even powerful cultivators end up dead sometimes! It’s like the curse of the dead has come alive in that place!”

“I’d say that’s impossible, except I really have no idea what effect my old corpse would have on the ki there.”

“Maybe it’s your grudge, Alice.”

“I don’t think I’m that vengeful, Tessa.”

“However, if your only power was death, you might use it like this. Hunting down those guilty of the most needless killing?”

“I can’t deny that.”

Ch 69: Cultivation

Over time, I managed to cultivate the doll itself, and make it grow, integrating myself with it over time, until the doll and I became one. My jade body remains as the heart of my new body. A core that all my ki moves through. It doesn’t generate any ki itself, but it will refine my ki naturally, making it easy to cultivate anywhere. 

Despite me reforming my body and gaining a human appearance and size, I’m still not really human. I’m really more like a human shaped plant of sorts, and as my stone heart got more and more refined, it started to look less like jade and more like the mystic stones people slay mystic beasts for. Have I become a mystic beast?

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Tessa’s view

When I tried to understand how cultivation worked in the upper realms, it seems most believe there are laws that govern the world, and mastery of these laws will grant mastery over the world. However, the laws that are described are often so arbitrary that after discussing it with Alice, we’re pretty sure it’s no more accurate than the ki element labels are, and may even be less so. While space law and time law make sense, sword law is weird. Plus it seems many sects have their own secret laws they study. If this were really about knowing the universe, surely there’d be less difference in what people study?

After Alice explained what she knew of the laws of physics, I began to understand a little of what this law mastery meant. What I understood most was momentum. It was what I used most in my attacks. It was the real power behind my meteor attack. Now, as an ascended being, I could directly alter momentum in ways that would normally be impossible. I could redirect it, reduce, increase it, and store it to later unleash it. This wasn’t something that relied upon ki. It used something else, something others call: divine power.

It’s weird though, Alice has used divine power as a tree without realizing it. Apparently Ms. Bunny Emperor’s lessons didn’t explain divine power at all, just how to use it, so I had to be the one to explain it to her. Perhaps it’s an instinctive thing for the mystic beasts.

Ch 70: Home

I’m glad to see my tree still stands even if it’s dead and blackened. I’d made an effort to prevent it from collapsing when I died, but I wasn’t really sure if it’d work. If it had collapsed, it’d have been a disaster.

There were few mystic beasts still around the tree. Most had either left due to the tree becoming useless, or been driven off by humans. 

“You’re back!” A familiar woman suddenly hugged me.

“Catherine?”

“I didn’t really think I’d miss you so much, but when you died I just couldn’t stand it! It wasn’t so bad when I ascended without you. I knew you were safe and well. When I heard you died though, my heart, it ached! I’m so glad to see you again! … Did you become a dryad?”

Sylvie’s view

Do they really think they are being at all secretive when they send me off to play with others outside? It’s obvious why those three want to be alone. It makes me a little envious, but I know Alice and I are a bad match. Someday she’s gonna settle down and stop moving around so much, while I’m never gonna want to do that. A tree and a cloud are just not a match for each other. Plus, Alice clearly still thinks of me as a child. I’m almost a thousand years old already! 

Maybe someday I’ll find someone… ah who am I kidding? In this world? Full of battle-crazed maniacs? Not likely.

Ch 71: Death Fog

The fog investigation ended with the conclusion that people living here mostly didn’t want the fog to go away. The ones who hated the fog mostly seemed to be people that wanted the freedom to kill without fear of repercussions. I’m fairly certain the fog is a side effect of my former body being quite dead. Feels like some kind of death ki, not something normally found outside of a mass grave. I do worry a bit about demonic sects eventually finding a way to safely harvest the death ki for their own use, but so far they haven’t figured out a way, as it seems to actively try to kill them.

The death ki has made the land worse for cultivators, as it’s a bit harder to get just the ki types they want, but for everyone else, it seems to be a safer land than usual. The fog will just as readily kill beasts who kill others as it does humans. As a result, many cultivators and carnivores have left for other lands. Ordinary people seem to be enjoying their lives though.

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Eventually we left, and after Catherine had gotten her fill of time with Tessa and I, she went back to the home she had in beast lands. One interesting thing she told me about in the beast lands was that due to our descendants, there were now a number of human cultivators living in the beast lands. It seems our children had managed to form a sect that lived peacefully with mystic beasts and now worked together with them to create better lands for everyone to cultivate in.

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As I continued to gather any information I could on cultivation, I slowly came to a conclusion that concerned me: no one actually knew how to cultivate in the upper realm beyond Ascension. Every sect had developed their own laws or truths that they studied and mastered, but none had actually established a clear path forward, or reached the end. There was no record or even a legend of anyone successfully reaching the final stage.

I also learned that the upper realm had once been much, much smaller. It seems that each time someone ascends from a lower realm, that realm gets closer to joining the upper realm, and eventually when enough ascend the entire lower realm will rise up to join it, adding another piece. Our realm is the most recent addition to the upper realm, and the strangest it seems.

How can I write books on cultivation if no one knows how it works anymore?

Ch 72: Sylvie’s Journey

Sylvie’s view

Travelling the world was fun, but after a while I got annoyed at how similar everything was. Everywhere we went, it was the same old story. Deities and cultivators fighting over treasures and valuable land. Even the ordinary people seemed to live the same way everywhere, growing crops and living simple lives with very few luxuries unless they were lucky enough to be born to a noble family or rich merchant house. It’s like someone took a single idea of how life was and just copied it over and over. 

The one big change was Alice’s land. Her home had much more vibrant life, with people playing sports games and reading newspapers. Everywhere the people of her land went, such things spread with them. It would likely be a while for it to spread across all of the upper realm (it’s seriously huge!), but it definitely helped make things more interesting.

Eventually Alice decided to settle down in a tree with the bunny emperor. For some reason she started hosting tea parties there. The way she smiled always made me think there was some sort of secret joke involved, but she never explained it.

I hung out with Alice for a while, but she’d long run out of new things to teach me, and was busy herself, trying to learn about deity cultivation from the beast emperors. So, one day, I left. Said goodbye, hugged a few dozen good friends, and maybe a lover or two (I neither confirm nor deny having had relations with those people ;). Then I began a new journey alone. I wasn’t someone who’d ever set down roots like Alice does. I will float through the skies of the world, and maybe someday, even go beyond the skies.

… I did discover this world actually has a skybox like Alice’s lower realm did. It looks like a real sky, but when I went high enough, I hit it. Pushing through seemed like a bad idea, so I didn’t. I’m not ready yet.

Ch 73: Science!

Since I don’t actually know how deity cultivation works, and no one else really understands it either (the mystic beasts just advance instinctively, and none have gotten any higher than the humans have), I decided it was time for science! I started writing books on the scientific method, and even did some science experiments myself, publishing the results.

I managed to even convince someone to create a library for keeping all the books I’ve written, as well as all the scientific records people make, so people can visit and look up information.

Then I started trying to replicate random things I could remember existing on earth. Like vacuum cleaners, carbonated beverages, coffee, chocolate, and microwaves. Anyone that has trained a little with the books I’ve been giving out should have enough ki to power such things. Though the food and drink was mainly about figuring out how to grow or create the right plants for it. 

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Oh, and I learned that the wife of Betty, the bunny emperor, is named Jane. She’s a doe. She’s a Jane doe.

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Betty’s view

Oh, this is so great! Alice is so much fun! Those other emperors like to fight all the time, but not Alice. Alice keeps making all sorts of games and toys and ways to play! Lots of neat foods to try too. 

There’s also a series of fiction stories she’s written that all take place somewhere called Earth. A place that has no ki! Where does she get these crazy ideas?

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Teacher’s view

Hah! Good riddance! Sylvie has been gone for so long, I think the elders have finally accepted that she’s not coming back! Unfortunately, while I don’t have her to deal with anymore, my newest students seem uninterested in learning our sect techniques and actually dare to argue with me. They’ve been getting their heads filled with stupid ideas because of some books circulating outside. 

Cultivation isn’t about improving anything, it’s about domination and power! What’s this know yourself nonsense? You need to mold yourself into a proper steel sword! Only then can one truly find the freedom of power! When one has enough power that none dare oppose them, only then will one be truly free.

Ch 74: Ooops 

Random civilian’s view

As I got home from work, put a frozen meal in the microwave, and turned on the TV, I found myself wondering: why do cultivators work so hard? Sure, they live longer, but what kind of life is it if they spend most of it in meditation or isolated training? My old friend kept talking about the wonders of sealed room training and how Alice had developed a technique that ensured anyone could cultivate easily in a sealed room if they kept at it long enough. How is that a good life?

I haven’t seen my old friend in ten years. He’s probably still in isolation. I don’t know how he can stand it. I’d probably go mad if I had to be alone for a month. No way could I stay isolated for years.

… eh? Sudden news?

“It seems there’s been a massive explosion over in the fusion research lab. Luckily the emergency barriers kept damage and casualties low, however, the personnel inside the lab remain unaccounted for. Perhaps when the smoke clears, we’ll have a better understanding of how bad the damage is.”

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Tessa’s view

Alice… please stop doing stupidly dangerous experiments. I know you are curious and really like doing such things, but I’m kinda getting sick of watching you die.

God’s view

*sigh* I thought I had it. I thought I’d gotten Alice to do what I wanted. Except Sylvie fled the sect. She was supposed to become the new sect leader and lead that sect to greatness. Sylvie never did go back after leaving though. Every time I tried to get her to return, she somehow evaded it. It’s like nothing can tie her down anymore. Not old friends, not family, not her teacher… it’s like trying to grab a cloud, only harder. I’ve grabbed clouds before.

As for Alice… I’m not sure what to do. Do I just give up? I feel like she has more influence on the world now than I do. It’s starting to look a lot like Earth, with cars and television. It’s just missing the internet and computing now. Oh, and those TVs are 3d holograms. Better than anything on earth, thanks to illusion trickery.

Normally I’d be upset about how fewer people seem interested in cultivation now than before, but since people who dedicate themselves to cultivation seem to be doing better now than before, the heights of cultivation are actually growing higher now. Though none have managed to get anywhere near the genesis stage yet.

Feels awkward when I get a compliment from another god for the advancement of civilization in my world, when I wasn’t really responsible. Sure, I sent Alice there, but she’s the one who did all the work.

On the plus side at least, deity level football is great entertainment! I helped them out a bit with developing a ball and net strong enough to survive it. Totally worth the effort.