Violet Heart

by Patrick Laplante

  A half hour passed. Finally, the eldest brother stood up from the campfire and made his way over to them. It was the third time he’d come, and amongst the devils here, he was the greediest and strongest, his every feeding taking a few more hours to recover from than others. Though Zi Long had wanted to wait longer in the hopes of getting their guard even lower, Su Shan’s weakening willpower worried him. She might not last past this feeding.

  The gate creaked open, and the blue-haired man entered their prison. He moved toward Su Shan, as was his custom.

  “It’s always ladies first, isn’t it?” Zi Long said casually as the devil’s hand reached her shivering throat.

  “Aren’t you the gentleman today?” the devil said, grinning. “I’ll make sure to treat you extra tenderly after I take care of her.” He moved to tighten his grasp and begin his feeding.

  “No, I just think it’s a pity that you treat her so roughly every time,” Zi Long said, causing him to pause once more. “Look at her. She won’t last more than a few days if you keep treating her like this. I might be helpless, but as a man, it’s difficult not to be concerned.” He coughed weakly. “Why don’t you give me a throw first, spare her a little pain?”

  The devil turned. He looked at Zi Long with a cheerful expression. “I love volunteers!” he said, rolling his shoulders and cracking his neck. “The taste of a self-righteous soul is to die for. I’ll tell you what, you can go first, but I’ll take extra. If you show any resistance, I’ll be twice as hard on her. She might not even last this session.”

  “Sure,” Zi Long said. “You’ve got yourself a deal.”

  Su Shan shot him a worried glance as the eldest devil walked over to him. He stroked Zi Long’s jaw with his pale hand before grasping his throat. A force suddenly dove into Zi Long’s spiritual sea. As agreed, Zi Long let him suck away without any resistance. Instead, he focused on his dantian, where his five qi flows were in position.

  He usually reaches peak relaxation ten breaths after starting, he thought. That’ll take away a third of my excess soul force, which isn’t too much to sacrifice. Not for an extra helping hand. He waited until the devil was overcome with pure ecstasy, his shoulders relaxing and his eyelids drooping. As they did, Zi Long counted.

  Endless moments passed before the devil’s eyes fluttered, a telltale sign of fatigue. The moment they did, Zi Long urged the five qi flows into action. Fire qi ravaged the formation inside the qi-binding manacles while metal qi flicked key points open like a lockpick. Wooden vines entangled moving parts while sand obstructed the manacles’ function.

  Finally, water poured through the mechanism and applied pressure. The manacles struggled for a brief moment before finally bursting open. Qi filled Zi Long’s body, and his eyes glowed with jade light as he poured his Devil-Sealing Intent into a single palm and struck the shocked devil in the dantian.

  Zi Long’s fingers turned to iron, piercing through the devil’s unprotected flesh and digging out a blue crystal, which he crushed without any hesitation. This was the source of the devil’s power, its one true weakness. As the crystal turned to dust, he melted away, his body immediately replaced by an illusion courtesy of Zi Long’s illusory qi.

  “The illusion won’t hold long,” Zi Long said as he rummaged through the devil’s bag of holding. He tossed out an orb to Su Shan and pulled out a ring of keys, unlocking her soul choker and qi-binding manacles. “We only have a few minutes before they realize what happened.” He pulled out a set of twelve magic daggers and tossed them to Su Shan. “Can you use these?”

  “I’ve dabbled,” she said. “What about you?”

  “I don’t like daggers, and besides, I need you to protect me while I set up a trap,” Zi Long said. “We need to move.”

  “What about them?” she asked, pointing to the other prisoners.

  “We need to leave them for the time being,” Zi Long said. “We can’t take them until we kill every last one of these bastards.”

  “Kill all the devils?” Su Shan said. “Are you crazy?”

  “Do you trust me?” Zi Long asked, his eyes gazing into hers. She hesitated for a moment before nodding. “Then follow me,” he said.

  They moved through the woods around the clearing while avoiding formation lines and trigger points. Su Shan moved as he instructed, and it wasn’t long before they arrived at a small blue flag. “First things first, the illusory formation.”

  “You’re a formation master?” Su Shan asked.

  Zi Long nodded and directed his incandescent force into the flag. He worked away at the nodes, linking it to a command key, and before even five breaths had passed, it was wiped clean. He established a command protocol in a fraction of a second and split his soul force into streams of fire, water, and wood qi. A strand of water qi remained at the original point, and the others moved into the other formation flags. Thirty breaths passed before the air shimmered slightly, and Zi Long took full control over the illusory formation.

  “This way,” he said, bringing Su Shan toward the campfire, not caring about where they stepped. The devils heard nothing, saw nothing, only complained about how long it was taking their eldest brother to feed. Zi Long placed a formation flag he’d obtained from the eldest brother’s bag of holding and proceeded to the next location. After twelve flags were placed, he dropped a pile of high-grade spirit stones next to one of them.

  “I’ll need you to protect me,” he said, sitting cross-legged.

  Su Shan nodded and brought out the dozen magic daggers. The illusory formation shuddered as its lines were suddenly disrupted by Zi Long. Although this only happened for a brief moment, it alerted the crowd of devils.

  “Intruders!” one of the female devils said. Their motions were awkward, as they clearly couldn’t make out which direction Zi Long and Su Shan were in. “Attack random directions to catch them,” she shouted, realizing their enemies had hijacked their illusory formation.

  Zi Long allowed her comment to go through to the others but cut away any other communication. The area was filled with ice magic and corrosive sprays. Magic weapons flashed through the air, and screams rang out, as two of the devils had “accidentally” attacked each other.

  Seeing that things were going badly for them, the female devil Zi Long liked to call “Second Sister” and three others suddenly erupted with a strange illusory power. Their skin turned deep blue, and in this strengthened state, they were finally able to detect Zi Long and Su Shan. They had activated their consumption ability, a limit-surpassing ability with a time restriction. Four magic weapons headed their way, but they were deflected by Su Shan, who infused fire into her twelve daggers to deadly effect.

  “Just the amount of time I needed,” Zi Long said. He stamped his foot, and the formation in the middle erupted. Their surroundings changed, and the clearing became a frightening sea of ice. A gigantic dragon emerged from the depths of an ocean of qi. It roared ferociously, causing the devils to cry out in shock. Two of them collapsed to the ground, as their minds couldn’t bear the assault. Others ran away, but walls of ice diverted their steps, bringing them into contact with the many traps they’d laid around the camp.

  “Stop moving!” Second Sister shouted. She looked around worriedly and used her weapons to deflect the giant beast.

  The dragon sneered and spread out its angel-like wings. The Devil-Sealing Intent it emanated struck fear into their hearts and caused them to freeze in their tracks.

  “We have ten seconds!” Zi Long yelled. He knew it was only a matter of time before they unravelled his formation and attacked his key nodes.

  Su Shan nodded and sent out tongues of flame. They flew out to the lesser devils that had finally transformed. Their skin bubbled and hissed as the fire melted them. Within two seconds, they collapsed in steamy puddles of water.

  “Keep them busy,” Zi Long yelled once more.

  Su Shan directed the flow of fire toward the stronger devils, who’d already realized that they were caught in an illusion. Tho
ugh flames licked their skin, their elemental advantage allowed them to ignore the brunt of her attack. At most, it disrupted their concentration, robbing them of precious seconds as they struggled to escape the illusion.

  Seeing that they were properly tied up, Zi Long retrieved a purple staff from the eldest brother’s bag of holding. Luckily, the eldest brother had been greedy, and his staff and sigils were conveniently placed in the same bag.

  Zi Long wasted no time and sent out thirty-six sigils and poured brown qi into them. Brown lines spread out and connected to each other, forming a complex formation just as the illusion shattered and the icy landscape and dragon dispersed. Having destroyed this obstacle, waves of corrosive water shot toward Su Shan, who could only throw up a feeble qi shield to fend them off.

  Fortunately, the brown formation was an easy one. Zi Long controlled the earth to shift as he jumped to the nearest devil. He struck it with a Vibrational Staff Art, an earth technique that proved extremely effective against the water-aligned devil. Meanwhile, the earth heaved behind the unsuspecting devil and encased him in a deadly coffin of sand. The dreadful creature burst into a puddle of corrosive water as its life left it.

  Having taken care of the first enemy, Zi Long formed rapid hand seals and slapped his hand on the ground, pouring green qi into the muddy earth. A massive growth of vines sprung out and entangled another devil.

  Realizing that the purple-robed man was the deadliest threat, the devils shifted their offense. This allowed the weakened Su Shan to finish off the entangled devil while Zi Long brought his worst to bear against the two remaining devils. He made quick work of them by opening a fissure in the ground. An earthen dragon sprung out and coiled around the male and female devils, crushing them until they reverted to their base element: water. Devils left no corpses, only elements.

  Only the ragged breaths of Zi Long and Su Shan could be heard in the silent clearing. Having secured a difficult victory, they rummaged through their enemies’ bags in a search for soul-healing medicine and other useful objects.

  It wasn’t long before Su Shan found a communication jade and alerted her family. She cast a giant torrent of flame into the air, sending smoke up to alert the authorities that were rushing in to rescue them.

  Soon, cultivators flooded into the clearing.

  Chapter 13

  Ling Dong took in a breath of fresh air as he stood on a small stone patio, enjoying the cool air from the oasis while they relaxed in the bright desert sun. Lan Yin sat down beside him and served two cups of bitter tea. They drank the concoction with sugar while watching Drakey harass Huoying in the distance.

  “What are your thoughts on the taming process?” Lan Yin asked.

  Ling Dong took a moment to mull over the tricky question. “All in all, Drakey’s behavior is quite good,” he said carefully. “He doesn’t bite me, and he does his share of work now. I can’t find anything to fault him on. According to what you taught me, he’s behaving exactly as he should.”

  “I’m waiting for the but,” Lan Yin said.

  Ling Dong scratched his short hair, unsure on how to elaborate. “It just feels off,” he said. “While on the surface, it looks like he’s tamed, it just doesn’t feel right.”

  “Your instincts are correct,” Lan Yin said. “Beast taming is half scientific and half feelings. You always mock your own intelligence, but you know the result instinctively. This is a textbook example of behavior without essence, a shell of the result we’re looking for.”

  “Behavior without essence…” Ling Dong said, savoring the thought. Everything had gone just as planned, but essence was something difficult to gauge. Only an expert could make an accurate judgment on an ephemeral thing like essence. A junior blacksmith might think he’d forged a mighty weapon, but it took a master to truly understand the metal and birth a spirit in the weapon. Likewise, two musicians might sound identical to an amateur, but an expert would think they were worlds apart.

  “Drakey has learned to coexist and cooperate with you,” Lan Yin said. “He shows proper behavior out of courtesy and respect. But this isn’t the submission we’re looking for. If you ask him to stay with me, he may listen, or he may not. But only for a certain amount of time. The respect he has for you is shallow, easily forgotten.”

  Ling Dong nodded slowly. “Our relationship is more like a friendship or a partnership. He doesn’t even consider me an elder brother, let alone a leader.”

  “It’s my fault,” Lan Yin said, sighing. “I didn’t listen to Huoying’s advice when we started. I was arrogant in thinking my fifty years of beast taming experience would be useful. The way of humans isn’t suited to your Demon-Subduing Eyes; only the way of demons remains.”

  “I confess, I don’t know much about demons,” Ling Dong said. “Could you teach me?”

  Lan Yin pondered for a moment and looked toward Huoying. The large bird batted Drakey away as they conversed telepathically. Finally, Lan Yin stood up. Huoying got up in sync with her and shrieked at Drakey. The small drake scampered along obediently but indignantly.

  “Let’s take a stroll,” Lan Yin said, jumping onto the large eagle’s back. Ling Dong hopped on as well, and soon they were a half mile in the sky. Drakey flew beside them, flapping his much smaller wings with all his might to keep up.

  They coasted in the skies for six hours, crossing large swaths of forest in the process. The demons in the forest were scattered and disorganized, choosing to associate in packs to fight for resources. Humans occasionally wandered in these wild lands but mostly kept away for fear of being singled out by its savage inhabitants. As they flew, Lan Yin briefed Ling Dong on a variety of demons and their behavior.

  “Demons are like people but more extreme,” she said as they approached a large mountain range in the distance. “They’re born from the purest natural energy, and for the most part, they’re honest. They value honor and dignity, power and might. They are naturally stronger than humans and have longer lifespans. And while their deductive abilities are somewhat lacking, their intuition and inherited memories more than make up for it. Humans need to train techniques and manufacture weapons. Demons don’t need to do any of this. They figure out techniques on the fly, or they are born knowing them.”

  “It hardly seems fair,” Ling Dong said. “Humans need to work so hard for everything.”

  “Yet humans are still the dominant force on the continent,” Lan Yin said. “Although beasts are naturally talented, their progression is also limited by resources. The main resource is demonic energy, with natural herbs and plants serving as auxiliaries. Other than that, they must consume other demons and cultivators. The amount of energy they require compared to us is astronomical.

  “Further, they are very dependent on their bloodlines. Some might be born with the talent of a monarch, reaching core formation with surprising ease. Others might be born with the talent of a spirit beast, never able to rise to a title in their thousand-year lifetime. Most of them exist as food or as subjects. Not only are their lives dependent on their superiors, but they would gladly offer themselves up as a meal to those with superior bloodlines. This is called bloodline suppression, and their hierarchy is very dependent on it. The only thing keeping them from devouring every beast on their mountain is their strong innate sense of honor and face.”

  “That sounds like a very bad wuxia novel,” Ling Dong said jokingly.

  “You’re not far off,” Lan Yin said. “You need to remember that hierarchy and honor are everything for them. And hierarchy is largely determined by power and potential.”

  Huoying slowed as they approached a large mountain. It was flanked by two others, and the trio of peaks seemed to pierce into the cloudy sky above them. Upon reaching an invisible boundary, he hovered in the air as though waiting.

  “I sincerely hope that you can master your Demon-Subduing Eyes,” Lan Yin said. “But it’s not something that can be taught. It can only be learned through blood and claw.”

  “Do you have a
method?” Ling Dong asked. Then, seeing Lan Yin’s awkward expression, he was struck by a strange premonition. The ground below suddenly seemed so far away, and the trees so small. It would be a shame if he fell.

  “See you when you get back,” Lan Yin said, her voice laced with regret. “Don’t die.”

  Her palm struck out at the surprised Ling Dong. It knocked the breath out of him and caused his qi to stagnate. He fell off Huoying, who looked on impassively as he fell. Drakey screeched loudly and dove after Ling Dong, the duo accelerating as they approached the trees down below.

  At one point, they seemed to cross an invisible threshold. Hawks, eagles, and crows flew out of the trees and swarmed around them. Drakey bravely dodged them and summoned black metal shields to chase away the invaders. He resisted their barrage as he dove below Ling Dong to slow his rapid fall. The pygmy drake and Ling Dong disappeared into the woods, and the absence of a thud was the only indication that Drakey had succeeded in catching him.

  “I sure hope you’re right,” Lan Yin muttered while petting Huoying.

  When have I ever led you astray? The large eagle said. He turned around and flew back, carrying the trembling woman as her tears watered the forest below.

  Ling Dong. Ling Dong. A voice echoed through his mind as he woke. Ling Dong’s eyes fluttered lightly as he took in his surroundings—trees, a small stream, and a large drake hunched over him. You’re finally awake, the voice said. If you’d have taken any longer, I’d have left you to the crows.

  The large man sat up and felt his head, which was wet with blood. He’d struck his head while landing and lost consciousness.

  You can talk? He asked Drakey. How long have I been out?

  I’ve been able to talk since I reached the purification realm, Drakey said with a scoff. But it was much more fun pretending otherwise. Unfortunately, we don’t have that luxury anymore. You were out for a half hour. Just enough time for every crow on the mountain to surround us.