Claddings of Light : Book 12 of Painting the Mists

by Patrick Laplante

  Cha Ming fell into a defensive position, constantly summoning and resummoning Temple Sand Clones to buy himself breathing space. His qi reserves began to dwindle, and Cha Ming soon saw the futility of this battle pattern. He banished the clones and used his assembly domain and the First Word of Creation: Assemble to fight the poorly armed clones with talismans. Meanwhile, he started using enhancement arts on himself via talismans.

  His body strengthened and toughened. He became quicker and more deadly. He began to win more and more exchanges with the prefecture lord by focusing on himself instead of clones. Yet no matter what he did, the prefecture lord won out, while Cha Ming’s soul was steadily burning away.

  Is that all you have? the prefecture lord’s voice came. Is that really all you’re capable of? He teleported behind Cha Ming, and Cha Ming was forced to retract his assembly domain and summon his dismantling domain. The appearance of the domain crushed the prefecture lord’s clones, but the original body’s spear went straight for Cha Ming’s face.

  I can’t keep taking more attacks, Cha Ming thought. He had no choice but to reveal another card he’d kept hidden. He activated his third divine ability, the one he’d gained from fully awakening his blood: Claddings of Light. An iridescent cloak appeared on his shoulders. It blinded Burning Lake, allowing him to dodge his attack and jump away. He then resummoned his creation domain and pillaged qi from his surroundings, forming two more Temple Sand Clones. At this point, they were powerful copies, nearly as strong as the original. At least as far as qi was concerned.

  Together with his copies, Cha Ming attacked the ground itself. A massive serpent appeared behind his main body, and a massive dragon and a massive monkey behind the clones. Together, they channeled wood, gold, and earth. Hidden Might of the Verdant Crossroads, Dissonant Sound of the Broken Symphony, and Searing Sands of the Sacred Desert combined, crashing down into the burning lake. A massive crater filled a quarter of the arena.

  The attack was very draining, but by executing it, Cha Ming had gained some respite. He pillaged qi of heaven and earth as Lord Burning Lake slowly re-formed. There was more than one way to kill a Dao God, after all.

  “Interesting,” Burning Lake said as he pulled himself together. “You’ve already discovered my weakness. Don’t think you’ll get a second chance at trying that.” He attacked again with his clones, forcing Cha Ming to resort to his dismantling domain again. He dodged, ducked, and evaded, shredding the clones as he passed, all the while cursing under his breath.

  It wasn’t strong enough, Cha Ming thought as he ran. As far as he knew, there were two ways to defeat a demigod. The first way was depleting their divine energy stores or vitality. The second one was to deliver a massive-enough blow to overwhelm their inner world with raw power and higher-level laws. Against a normal cultivator, this was difficult, but against Burning Lake? It was actually possible. That was because he took blows head on whenever one attacked his main body, the Burning Lake. It was difficult to miss a target the size of the arena. That thought alone gave him hope.

  Cha Ming had clearly inflicted a grievous wound on the prefecture lord. His burning eyes were filled with malice. Fortunately, Cha Ming’s Claddings of Light made dodging much easier. They concealed his movements and techniques. In fact, he took advantage of this fact to execute Raging Waves of the Inky Sea with his main body. The strong technique collided against the prefecture lord, who once again retreated. Which was fine for Cha Ming, because he summoned three more clones. Four specters appeared this time—the three he hadn’t been warned about exposing Raging Waves of the Inky Sea, which he cloaked using Claddings of Light. He pulled back his staff, but just as he was about to unleash the strike, he felt a hint of trepidation. He canceled the attack and flitted away just in time to see an angry prefecture lord burning away his potential.

  “I thought you said you didn’t have a limit-breaking technique,” Cha Ming said.

  “I lied,” the prefecture lord replied. This was the actual lie. Cha Ming used his Eyes of Truth to discover the origin of this power.

  “Ah, a potential-burning pill,” Cha Ming said. “A strong one. You’ll find it difficult to cultivate after this battle if you survive.”

  “The key is surviving,” Prefecture Lord Burning Lake said. “Unlike Dripping Blade, I won’t hesitate to use my wealth or health to pull through this.” He then summoned a suit of armor, which blasted apart and shot into the lake. The water and the flames solidified somewhat, and the armor covered his main body and his clones. “Urgh. What a waste. Blood-bound armor—unsellable after this.”

  Then the air warped, and Lord Burning Lake appeared just outside Cha Ming’s destruction domain and charged in, spear in hand. He was faster and stronger than ever before. Cha Ming fell leeward almost immediately. It was one against one again, but Cha Ming could only defend.

  Damn it, Cha Ming thought. He summoned three Temple Sand Clones outside his destruction domain’s range. They evaded Burning Lake’s own clones and unleashed a suicide attack using the same techniques as before. The damage was devastating, but it barely caused Burning Lake to pause. The damage regrew without a problem.

  I need to combine them all, Cha Ming realized. All five. Four wouldn’t cut it. Unfortunately, he was surrounded by a huge crowd, and there was no telling who was among them. He’d been warned. He’d sworn not to use those two techniques in public.

  Maybe, Cha Ming thought, if my Temple Sand Clones were different, it would work. But how? He began to think on it. In the end, this was about divine power and divinity. His Temple Sand Clones could only harness qi. Their bodies were only as strong as his concepts could make them. Could he perhaps create a variant Temple Sand Clone with divine power as well as qi? If so, he’d be able to execute any technique he wanted. His main body could divert the prefecture lord’s attention while his clones did the rest. Unfortunately, time was running out.

  He continued fighting defensively as his soul burnt away. Thirty-Six Heavenly Transformations ate at him from the inside. His divine power and qi were also being used at a frightening pace now that he was using all three divine abilities. Claddings of Light was especially costly. It wasn’t just an enhancement ability. It confused and confounded and blinded his enemies, greatly improving his combat prowess.

  This won’t work, Cha Ming thought. Not unless something changes. I’m going to have to take a risk. So, he began to divert his attention. He began to experiment with Temple Sand Clones. He summoned one, and at the same time, he spat a drop of divine blood at it. Then he attempted to merge it with the sand-based clone using all five elements. The end result was a normal clone with a trapped drop of divine blood. They weren’t connected in any way.

  Think, think, think, Cha Ming thought. Assembly is key. He channeled the Concept of Assembly as he tinkered with the technique’s structure, looking at how he could possibly integrate them. Meanwhile, he still fought the prefecture lord, barely dodging as he did. Maybe I could integrate the blood with the fluid components? Energy transfer was an issue, and he had no way to cycle divinity through the clone and activate the technique. Unfortunately, he didn’t have much time to do it, because the sand clone was destroyed by one of Burning Lake’s own clones. He was still fighting, after all.

  Cha Ming immediately summoned another clone, this time deconstructing it partially. It lasted even less time fighting Burning Lake’s clones, but not before Cha Ming could try forcing his divine blood into the clone’s assembly matrix, much like a plumber would rough pipes before fixtures were installed. He tried again and again, knowing full well that he had less than two minutes to succeed. By then, his Thirty-Six Heavenly Transformations Technique would expire, and he’d be stuck with the full backlash.

  “What are you doing?” Dao Lord Burning Lake asked, appearing beside him, spear in hand. “Distracted in battle?” He used his domain to form a massive tornado of ice and fire that he sent crashing down at Cha Ming as he struck. Cha Ming summoned his destruction domain and took care
of it in short order, but doing so required his attention. Burning Lake speared him in the chest.

  Cha Ming died, and it was just one of many deaths. My limit is my soul force, Cha Ming thought. Burning Lake doesn’t have much burst power. The prefecture lord’s strength was great, yes, but his runes and concepts weren’t geared toward offense. So Cha Ming began dying.

  Again and again, he died, all so he could divert more attention to optimizing his Temple Sand Clones. Every time he re-formed his original body, he summoned another Temple Sand Clone and infused it with his divinity and spread it throughout the clone using the Concept of Inky Rain to circulate it via artificial blood.

  He started with arteries and veins, then modified the clone’s heart to better drive the divine power. This allowed him to infuse the divine blood into its artificial chest. With each iteration, he dismantled the technique and reassembled it.

  Slowly but surely, his clone began to show signs of divinity. Faintly at first, but eventually it was able to activate Crown of the Starry Sky, then Clockwork Boots of the Golden Dragon. These brief successes encouraged Cha Ming, who died again and again to Burning Lake’s spear, laughing at his own demise. For it didn’t matter how many times he died so long as he didn’t run out of qi or vitality. What was important was the clones, and perfecting them.

  He delayed. He died. Ten times. Twenty times. Fifty times. Only one or two seconds passed between each death and rebirth. He only stopped when he realized that he could only die ten more times before his death became permanent. From now on, he would need to fight the prefecture lord head on.

  His opponent was ragged as well. He was suffering from the effects of his alchemical pill. Unfortunately for Cha Ming, he’d started his limit break later on in the battle and would outlast Cha Ming.

  “I don’t know what it is you’re trying, but if you want to throw your life away, I’ll take it gladly,” Lord Burning Lake said. “This is the end. You’re almost dead. I can sense it.”

  “Then it’s time for one more bout,” Cha Ming said.

  “Indeed,” Burning Lake said.

  They charged at each other, and off to the side, Cha Ming saw one of Burning Lake’s clones handling an item.

  Crap, Cha Ming thought, realizing he’d brought other tricks to this battle. Some of his clones carried weapons, while others carried talismans and even artifices. Instead of the frontal confrontation Cha Ming expected, the prefecture lord began fighting with his purse, burning away his wealth at will. Perhaps on some level, Burning Lake realized that Cha Ming was close to finding a way to defeat him. He wouldn’t give him that chance. When Cha Ming tried to break away, he summoned a bell. He rang it once, and Cha Ming’s body collapsed. Once more, and it disintegrated. A third time, and the bell broke, though this time, Cha Ming’s body re-formed just a little slower. He was reaching his limit.

  “Die!” Lord Burning Lake yelled, charging with his spear once more.

  Cha Ming grinned and met the prefecture lord head on. He infused his Clear Sky Staff with destruction qi as he split off five large portions of his vitality. Now that he’d fully fused divinity into his clones, at least roughly, he needed to give them enough power to execute their techniques.

  Cha Ming’s qi stores and vitality stores plummeted. He sent every ounce of five-element qi and creation qi into his clones. He then bound their artificial bodies and his divinity together, fusing them tightly with the Concept of Assembly. The five clones flew up and activated Claddings of Light, blinding the audience. Simultaneously, he activated his dismantling domain and charged at the prefecture lord.

  There was no room for subterfuge. This was over and aboveboard. It was impossible to be stealthy with this divine technique. The light it shone with was blinding, making it impossible for them to decipher intents, track techniques, and most importantly, see them properly when executed. Normally, this technique was used to overwhelm an opponent, but in this case, he used it to conceal the execution of two secret techniques.

  The Inkwell Turtle appeared and lashed out with a flipper, sending Raging Waves of the Inky Sea crashing down. The Runebound Python appeared, lashing out with its tail and pelting the lake below with sacred sand. The Star-Eye Monkey appeared, crashing down with a thousand stars that became a thousand roads that channeled the full power of the starry sky.

  The three were joined by the Clockwork Dragon. Her body of golden gears writhed and coiled. She opened her mouth and screamed. The wave of sound shattered eardrums and pierced through defenses. It weakened her target, mollifying it for the final blow. Finally, the Iridescent Phoenix appeared. She burned Cha Ming’s joy, his comfort, his satisfaction. She took away his grit and his perseverance. She poured it all into a massive flame that scorched the entire lake. All five techniques combined, and the result was a massive ball of destruction that spread out from its epicenter.

  “No!” Burning Lake shouted, trying his best to reach Cha Ming on time. He stabbed with his spear, and Cha Ming responded with a destruction-qi-laden staff, executing the First Word of Destruction: Dismantle. His staff shattered Burning Lake’s spear, then proceeded to pierce a hole in his armor. Lord Burning Lake’s body froze as the damage of the combined attack began to set in. Then it broke apart, piece by piece.

  Wind blew away the dust in the arena. There was no trace of Lord Burning Lake. None of his possessions remained—even the prefecture lord’s storage treasures had been destroyed in the conflict. The power of the fused techniques was overwhelming. It had exceeded Cha Ming’s every expectation. Moreover, Cha Ming felt that this was just the beginning. These were only pieces of the original techniques, and furthermore, the fusion was incomplete. There was a way, somehow, for him to integrate them and use them with his main body. Then, and only then, would they reach their full potential. But that was a matter for another day.

  Cha Ming had won. Barely. He was on the verge of death, and just a single well-timed sword strike would end him. This was probably why Captain Xing teleported right beside Cha Ming before announcing the results. “Daoist Clear Sky has defeated Dao God Burning Lake. The Burning Lake Prefecture will now change ownership. As per the prefecture rules, ownership cannot be contested until one year has passed.”

  The crowd quieted. No one knew what to make of it. They waited for Cha Ming to make a big speech, but Cha Ming had no speech to give them. Deep down, he hated these people. Hated them for what they’d facilitated. It wasn’t just the powerful factions in the prefecture that were responsible for this war, but they, the people, who’d given it to them.

  “You should probably say something,” Captain Xing muttered. “At least so they don’t send assassins to hunt you down.”

  “Fine,” Cha Ming said. He projected his soul, speaking into the minds of all those present. I’m exhausted, he said. We’ll speak tomorrow about any changes. I’d like to speak to the most senior administration personnel and those responsible for war immediately.

  “Not quite what I had in mind, but all right,” Captain Xing said. “Here, take this.” He handed Cha Ming three pills, which Cha Ming ate right away. They soothed the aches in his soul and began to heal over his divine energy stores and his qi. They were much more effective than anything he’d ever taken.

  “Let me guess,” Cha Ming said. “They’re expensive, and I owe you.”

  “Mid-grade pills, about ten thousand mid-grade spirit stones each,” Captain Xing said casually.

  Cha Ming glared at him.

  “Come now. You were literally about to pass out while surrounded by people who hate you. You need to be strong for any meetings with them, and besides, the guard is already on it. They’re in the middle of confiscating Lord Dripping Blade and Lord Burning Lake’s assets and liquidating them. They’ll transfer the funds to your guard account, which, might I add, you can access in pretty much any major city across the continent.”

  Cha Ming relaxed a little when he heard this. “I guess there are benefits to killing thousand-year-old monsters.”
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  “Compound interest is a thing,” Captain Xing said. “Now then, will you be wanting to return to the prefectural manor quickly or slowly?”

  “As quickly as possible,” Cha Ming said.

  “Right, then,” Captain Xing said. “This way.” He took a turn in the arena halls and went down a well-guarded corridor. They continued this way until they came to a sturdy gate.

  “Pass?” a rune-gathering guardsman asked.

  “Come now, you just saw the man win,” Captain Xing said. “The pass was destroyed in the battle. We’ll get him a new one.” The guard hesitated. “You do realize this is your new boss, right?”

  The guard begrudgingly let them through.

  To one side, Cha Ming saw an entrance that led to the prefecture lord’s spectator box. To another, he saw a glowing gray circle. They walked over to this circle, and suddenly, they were in the prefectural tower several kilometers way.

  “Welcome, Prefecture Lord,” an old man said as soon as he entered. “I, Chief Administrator Luo, am in charge of most day-to-day matters in the prefecture. I thought it fitting to greet you here as soon as you arrived.”

  “And the military leaders?” Cha Ming asked.

  The man raised an eyebrow. “Out on campaign, of course,” he said. He handed a blue-and-red orb to Cha Ming. “This orb is an encrypted communication device that you can use to contact anyone you like. Is there an emergency I should be aware of?”

  “Please let me contact Commander Cao first,” Cha Ming said.

  “As you will,” Chief Administrator Luo said. He and Captain Xing waited as Cha Ming tried to connect with Cao Wenluan. He didn’t succeed, and after three attempts, he looked up at Chief Administrator Luo.

  “Is there anyone else I can contact?” Cha Ming asked.

  “You can contact his three vice-commanders if you wish to reach him,” Chief Administrator Luo said. “But it is a normal thing during war for commanders to ignore messages until after key battles. As I understand it, they were sieging Stargazer City today.”