Violet Heart

by Patrick Laplante

  Yue Bing nodded. She retrieved the red slip of paper and poured her incandescent force into it. It glowed with a vivid ruby light and let off the stifling pressure of a core-formation expert. The characters on the talisman burned brightly, incinerating the thin slip of paper. As soon as it disappeared, a large vermillion bird manifested above her. It screeched as it unleashed a cone of golden flame to the leftmost group of devil spawn. Nine-tenths of the murderous creatures were burnt to a crisp, while the ones who survived collapsed to the ground with missing limbs.

  “Defend the doctor!” General Lai yelled as the remaining devil spawn crushed against them. The soldiers adjusted their formation, redirecting their left flank’s forces to reinforce the remaining flank. While the devil spawn weren’t strong individually, their numbers were overwhelming. The initial clash with the red tide caused the deaths of four soldiers. In exchange, they felled only twenty devil spawn, a drop in the bucket compared to the hundreds remaining.

  Thankfully we have General Lai, Yue Bing thought. The grizzled general wielded their sword formation with devastating precision. He focused on impairing the devils rather than killing them, littering the floor with their hobbled bodies to prevent others from advancing.

  Her safety assured, Yue Bing focused on channeling as much vitality and resentment as possible, pitting her will against the black-robed opponent. The pond of vitality shifted back and forth between them, not giving an inch. And as they fought, soldiers died, soldiers she was helpless to save. The moment she diverted her attention to heal the wounded, the black-cloaked man would wrest back control of the blood pond. As though realizing this point, the devil spawn began self-detonating, catching soldiers and devils alike in a bloody explosion. It seemed like a losing trade, but Yue Bing knew the goal was to increase their casualty count as quickly as possible.

  Though her guilt was mounting, she had no choice but to ignore their soldiers’ agonizing pleas. This battle meant more than their cheaply spent lives, thrown away by their general to buy her a few extra breaths in their struggle against the black-robed man. It was a battle for the sake of the thousands who’d died before them, and the thousands who could have died had they not unearthed this enemy life-form.

  A sinister chill ran down Yue Bing’s spine as twelve black spikes appeared around the black-robed man. These spikes were sharp and filled her with dread. She somehow knew that if even a single one of them pierced her body, her life would be forfeit. Her heart clenched as the black-robed man temporarily gave up on controlling the blood pond and formed lightning-fast hand seals. The twelve spikes merged into a single, larger spike that glistened with an inky black substance. Then the man spat blood onto it, causing it to glow with a vicious light.

  “You dare struggle with me over this blood pond?” he said in a hoarse voice. “Let’s see if you dare to hold on when your own life is at stake.”

  The lethal black spike shot toward Yue Bing, piercing through the many swords that sought to stop it. Her heart skipped a beat as she realized that if she didn’t give up channeling the pond and dodge, she would die.

  “Don’t get distracted!” General Lai said before she could retreat. Three dozen golden flashes appeared before him and collided with the black spike. Though each of these swords was a magic weapon, they shattered as they touched the deadly object. The black-robed man had paid a significant price to execute this technique, ensuring that normal means wouldn’t be enough to defend against it.

  I have to give up on it, Yue Bing thought. She prepared to dodge, but to her surprise, General Lai moved between her and the spike. He summoned a golden shield around himself, and his body glowed with a silver hue.

  “Holy Mother’s Silver Body!” General Lai shouted. The faint image of a golden crow shone behind him and caused his skin to gleam. The crow shot toward the black spike, engulfing it in holy flames that wore down its ominous aura and slowed it substantially.

  General Lai wasn’t done. A dozen golden shields appeared around him in quick succession. The spike crashed through them one at a time, slowing down significantly with every impact. He coughed up blood with each collision but stood firm, and when the black spike breached the last shield, he grabbed it with his bare golden hands. The spike pierced six inches into his chest before finally stopping.

  “General Lai!” Yue Bing exclaimed. Others might not be able to tell, but as a doctor, she knew that it had pierced through his bones and into his left lung.

  “Keep fighting him!” the grizzled general said, blood trickling from his mouth.

  Seeing the look in his eyes, she didn’t dare disobey him. She continued her struggle with the black-robed man, who let out a roar of rage and waved his hand toward the blood pool. The red liquid, which hadn’t yet completed its transformation, formed a swirl of bloody energy. It funneled into a jade vial, which the man then stored in a spatial treasure. After it was secured, the black-robed man erupted with a bloody aura. He rushed into another corridor without looking back.

  Yue Bing, seeing that he was about to escape, threw out an inconspicuous-looking talisman. It burst into white motes of light that dove into his body.

  I stopped him, she thought before heading over to the general. Though most of his body seemed intact, the spike had pierced straight into his lung, which was now filled with blood. Knowing that his situation was dire, she yanked the spike from his chest. Blood oozed out from the wound, which she quickly covered in a protective layer of qi.

  “Don’t worry, you’ll be all right,” she whispered to the general. In the background she heard footsteps. Soldiers flooded the room, and to her surprise, medics did as well. The soldiers who’d just arrived coordinated against the devil spawn, who were now in disarray after losing their leader. Meanwhile, the medics rushed to treat the wounded soldiers. A familiar figure kneeled beside Yue Bing and checked General Lai’s vitals. It was Supervisor Meng.

  “Gu Guo tattled on you,” Supervisor Meng said as he inspected the wound. “Seeing that you snuck out, I decided to take our medics on patrol. Once we arrived at General Lai’s camp, the soldiers let us know about the situation, and we rushed down to help along with the second garrison. I sensed a dark presence, but he fled once he sensed my cultivation base.” He frowned as he completed his scan of General Lai’s body. “Unfortunately, it seems I’m a step too late. The spike has been imbued with a sinister blood art that prevents healing. He’s dying, and it’s beyond my skill to save him.”

  Yue Bing’s eyes turned red when she heard this. General Lai had given his all to save her while she fought the black-robed man and had paid with his life. Supervisor Meng might not be able to save him, but she had a card she hadn’t yet played. It was a costly card that could be summoned with the power of her ankh. But cost aside, she wasn’t sure if she could shoulder the consequences.

  Remembering his sacrifice, she steeled her mind and grasped the staff, and its runes began glowing with a bloody red light. She circulated her qi and vitality along a familiar path and began siphoning the white energy that represented her life force. Yet as she moved to use it, she felt a resistance from the ankh.

  Silly girl, the ankh said. I’ve been absorbing vitality and resentment all this time, and I’m so close. Let me devour the rest of it first, and you’ll have no problem saving him. You won’t have to pay any life force.

  She frowned. We don’t have a lot of time.

  I don’t need a lot of time, the ankh said. Now will you release my seal, or won’t you? They’re devils, not human beings!

  Her stomach churned at the thought of siphoning vitality from living creatures, but then again, did they even deserve to be called that? They were creatures of blood and resentment, savagery incarnate. Besides, she’d already revealed her identity to those around her. What did she have to lose?

  Do it, Yue Bing sent back. Do it quickly.

  As soon as she said these words, the red runes on the ankh began to glow even brighter. A bloody cloud, fully visible to those around her
, surrounded her and the general.

  The wounded and dying devil spawn shriveled up as the ankh pillaged their blood vitality. Then the cloud expanded toward the vines. With its seal released, the ankh caused them to wilt and wither until they became nothing more than ash. Supervisor Meng and the others gasped at the horrifying spectacle; it was an all-too-familiar show they’d seen performed by their most hated enemies. And Yue Bing, one of their most talented doctors, was the one using them. A blood artist, an abomination through and through.

  Five breaths passed as she allowed her ankh to absorb all available life force surrounding them. Five breaths passed as General Lai’s condition deteriorated. His heartbeat was fading fast, and in Yue Bing’s experience, he had ten breaths to live at most. And though she was confident in saving him with even the slightest shred of life remaining, even a transcendent couldn’t save a dead man.

  The ankh worked quickly. After five more breaths, the room was fully devoid of blood. When the last wisp of vitality entered the ankh, a blinding red light enveloped Yue Bing. It traveled to her back, where the scripture, which had been growing ever clearer, suddenly materialized in bold red-and-white characters.

  My heart bleeds with kindness;

  Who knows the suffering I bear?

  I’ll burn my life’s flame no more;

  And pay a price with blood instead.

  These were bitter words of resentment, of repressed tears and unrequited kindness. They were words of loathing and retribution. The moment these words were completed, her aura surged. Her body transformed as vitality rushed into her from the ankh. As it did, her inner organs transformed as well; her heart beat faster while her lungs became more efficient.

  The dense vital energy in her body soon reached a point where it burst through a bottleneck. It surged into her bones, creating tiny voids that hungrily sapped up any excess energy. In a few short breaths, she’d become a bone-forging cultivator with no trouble whatsoever. Yet she hadn’t gained their trademark weight-manipulation abilities nor their strength. Instead, she’d become a mountain of life force that had to be stabbed to death a thousand times before coming close to dying.

  Eight breaths had passed since the process started, and General Lai’s heart was still beating, barely. Yue Bing reached out instinctively and placed her hand on his chest, purging out the offending blood energy that prevent her from healing him. Then she injected a pure stream of vitality from her own body, taking the blood of her enemies to heal a better man. The process felt dirty, corrupted. She felt as though she’d lost a part of herself in the process.

  “I’ll burn my life’s flame no more and pay a price in blood instead,” she muttered. Unlike when she’d healed her brothers over a year ago, she didn’t give up her dwindling life force. Instead, her body only weakened slightly as it worked to replenish the spent vital energy from her surroundings. Once the last of the general’s injuries faded, she stood up slowly. Colonel Bai picked up General Lai’s body, carefully dragging him toward the back for a checkup.

  She looked at the soldiers, who no longer treated her with the usual respect. Now, she saw only fear and resentment. Supervisor Meng, who used to treat her dotingly, now looked at her coldly. In his eyes, she was a monster.

  Sighing inwardly, Yue Bing summoned a flat plate of green jade. She then summoned a mark—the owner’s copy of the tracking mark she’d just placed on the black-robed man. It sank into the tracking jade, and a map slowly materialized. A single black dot was moving north toward the Southhaven Wall.

  “What’s this?” asked Colonel Ming, who’d just returned from inspecting his men. As one of those who’d fought alongside her with the general, he was much less suspicious of her motives.

  “It’s the black-robed man,” Yue Bing said. “He’s heading toward the wall.”

  “Why would he do that?” Colonel Ming muttered. “Southern cultivators fear the wall for a good reason. It’s impassable, and we can execute anyone near it with minimal effort.”

  A group of soldiers murmured in assent, though some of them glanced her way suspiciously.

  “I don’t think he cares for common sense,” Yue Bing said, looking at the jade. As she spoke, the small dot moved into the fortress gates. Then, a few breaths later, it was on the other side of the wall.

  “Please tell me it’s wrong,” Colonel Ming said. “Tell me you made a mistake.”

  Yue Bing shook her head. “It is what it is.”

  The mysterious cultivator, who had murdered thousands of trained soldiers, had passed their only line of defense and entered their unprotected kingdom.

  Chapter 12

  A wisp of water qi wandered through the darkness, carefully inspecting its iron prison for a leak or a crack, with little success. As it probed, it passed a wisp of fire qi that was merrily melting its way through an iron wall. It avoided the flame for fear of putting it out. The flame was its friend.

  After passing the red qi flow, it traveled for some time before arriving at a wisp of brown qi that had pooled on the prison floor. It weighed down against the solid obstacle, using its extreme weight to push open a small crack in the floor, filling it with thousands of tiny grains.

  The wisp ignored the brown pool and moved past a mass of sharp golden qi. Despite its sharpness, it hadn’t pierced through the prison walls. Instead, it had wormed its way into the iron formation like a key pressed against figurative tumblers. The lock was picked, and only a final push was required to pry it open.

  Right beside the golden key was a dull spot, worn and cracked from repeated exposure to the elements. It was the victim of a thousand freeze-thaw cycles in addition to thousands of strikes by tendrils of water. The water pooling at the bottom of the prison wall fed a wisp of green qi, which had grown from a single seed in the prison floor and extended roots throughout the entire structure.

  Zi Long took a deep breath and formed a shard of ice with the wisp of qi and drove it into the single spot, where several other wisps had failed. The weakened wisp groaned as it moved toward inevitable failure.

  Just a little more, he thought, willing the wisp to strike again. Again and again it whaled against the steel plate. Again and again it wore away at it, dissipating by just a bit with every strike. Finally, after a few dozen attempts, the wall gave way. The water qi flooded inside it and weaseled its way into vital array nodes and key depressions.

  Having finished his task, he opened his eyes. His incandescent force fled his qi-restraining manacles and returned to his spiritual sea.

  “Done with your latest meditation session?” a voice asked.

  Zi Long’s eyes flickered to Su Shan, who had already woken from her most recent meal.

  Since she’s recovered, it won’t be long before they return, he thought. It should be the eldest brother this time.

  “Do you have any brothers?” he asked Su Shan out of curiosity.

  “I’m an only child,” Su Shan replied. “That’s why I was out inspecting. My cultivation is superior to my father’s, and none of my family members are trustworthy.”

  “You had a bad experience, I take it?” Zi Long said. Family problems weren’t uncommon when money was involved.

  “It was my uncle,” Su Shan admitted. “He owned a substantial stake in the family business. We dealt in elemental wood, and our operation was extremely successful. Yet despite that success, he worked behind our backs and turned most of the company shareholders and employees against us. We drove him out, eventually, but the damage was done.”

  “Doubt is a powerful emotion,” Zi Long said. “You shouldn’t let it fester, or it will only gnaw away at your soul like relentless termites in a dying tree.”

  “Perhaps,” Su Shan said. “But greed is even more powerful. It turns men with large egos and small hearts into monsters, willing to tear apart even family for the slightest gain.”

  “Everyone wants something,” Zi Long said. He motioned to the crowd of devils near the campfire. “Do you know what they want?”
r />   “It seems like they want our souls more than anything,” Su Shan said.

  “It’s true that they want our souls, and our power,” Zi Long said. “But it’s more than that. These creatures are called lust devils. They want nothing more than to use us for their sadistic pleasures. They want us to writhe in pain and pleasure as they unleash their darkest desires upon us.

  “Yet even devils like them still need to show restraint. If they didn’t, they wouldn’t be able to eat every day like they do now. If even devils like them can hold back, it stands to reason that most employees and family members can as well.”

  Su Shan chuckled. “That’s a funny way of looking at it. Too bad it hardly matters now. The way I am, I doubt I’ll last more than a few days.” Indeed, her complexion was pale and sickly, and she was shivering uncontrollably. The repeated damage to her soul had taken its toll.

  “How strong were you before they caught you?” Zi Long asked. Though his incandescent force was free, he hadn’t probed her lest she accidentally alert the enemy. In a way, he felt like a hypocrite for treating her this way, all while lecturing her about trust.

  “I reached middle foundation establishment at the ripe old age of fifty,” she said self-deprecatingly. “Not a legendary achievement, but a respectable one nonetheless.”

  “Specialty?” Zi Long asked.

  She looked at him strangely. “If you’re looking to cheer me up, it’s not working. I was something called a pyromancer. My flame techniques are extremely strong, especially when used in conjunction with an orb focus.”

  An elemental disadvantage, Zi Long thought. But high offense, good area attacks. Very useful in a fight, even without a weapon.

  “I was just trying to have a pleasant conversation,” he said. “Who knows when they’ll decide to give in to their desires and finish us off. I, for one, would rather give them one last fight before going.”

  “I don’t think we’ll even put a dent in them,” Su Shan said. “Let’s get some rest before they come again.”