Published at 22nd of August 2026 8:02 am

Chapter 55 Tying Off

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Madness consumed Threadcutter. Tian could see it, see the blazing sin, the crimson clouds turned so black that the only red were the hungry demon faces that rose and fell from the thunderheads around the heretic. The calm, indifferent face he wore when he first arrived was destroyed; his face was now a flesh mask carved to only express rage, and hate, and a desire to hurt others. The cunning and wisdom that let him contend for control of Black Iron Gorge was entirely gone. Tian didnt think it would ever return.

The surviving sorcerer glanced at Tian, looked at Lirens battle, looked at Threadcutter, and sighed. It seemed he agreed with Tians assessment. He lifted an orange stone, and crushed it. The flame array floating above him tripled in size, and sent a blizzard of fire spears at Tian. So many, it was actually blinding, a storm of depraved fire qi, that took Tians full concentration and all of his new staff play to deflect. Not without cost. He could feel his qi deplete by a large measure, and his reserves were far deeper than an ordinary Heavenly Realm cultivator who had only cultivated for a couple of years.

Tian endured the barrage, and when he thought it was reaching its end, he burst forward, ready to take the head off the overconfident sorcerer.

Who wasnt there.

Tian wasnt sure who was more surprised, Threadcutter or himself. The two paused for a fraction of a second, just watching the little glimmer of light that was the sorcerer vanish over the horizon.

One hell of an escape item. Tian muttered.

He can run, but it just means he will suffer longer. Threadcutter snarled, his hands reaching out, trying to clench the edge of the sky.

Tian was about to agree, realized he was about to agree with a heretic, and felt so revolted, the only way to purge the sick from his mouth was to crush Threadcutters head. He circulated his new art, and the space around him grew hazy and uncertain. The white hair fluttered in the blue sky, even as he seemed bathed in moonlight and shadow. The sky turned into water, the staff descending with a trace of inevitability and holy mystery. Threadcutter wasnt too far gone to miss death coming. He shifted to the side, yanking a pair of iron shears from a pouch on his waist.

Four hundred and seventy three years. Thats how long I nurtured the ghost infant. Four hundred and seventy three years. I dont have another four hundred and seventy three years.

The shears opened, corrupted metal qi forming cutting blades tens of feet long. The old heretics hand closed with convulsive strength. Tian slipped to the side, the blades brushing past him without slowing his advance. The next snip missed entirely. Then Tian was on him.

It unfolded like the operation of a natural law. Threadcutter lunged forward with the shears, trying to stab the brilliant boy in front of him. Tian struck downward, determined to crush the sin-ridden heretic. Threadcutter missed, lost in the illusion, trying to cut away the moon from the lake. Tian saw things very clearly. The staff fell like a bolt of true tribulation lightning.

There was a feeling of resistance, as though the sin were so dense, it could block the fatal blow. Or, at the very least, shove away the virtuous qi coming to rectify the sinner. A lifetime of atrocity. A lifetime of evil on a scale Tian could scarcely conceive of. It wasnt enough. The heretic blazed, convulsing as green-gold wood qi tore him apart, and the reddish black sin flames ate up the pieces. There wasnt much left to hit the ground. Tian smiled coldly, collecting the rings of the fallen heretics, and just to be sure, burned and purified the bodies, collecting any hidden storage tools. He didnt rush over to Liren. She had matters well in hand, and he was sure she didnt want him to help.

The four fake Inner Court members were dead, their bodies carelessly heaped on the steppes. Tian had to assume she was kicking or throwing them down that way deliberately. It was working. The Long brothers were sweating. The younger brother was in much worse shape. Liren had started the fight with him, and the damage showed. Robes were torn, defensive tools hung broken, shattered pendants dangled from his waist belt, but he had managed to avoid serious injury. Barely. The older was in better shape, but you could see the losses piling up on his body.

Tian thought they might run. He watched a moment longer, then shook his head. They had a vicious look in their eyes, like hungry dogs fighting. They were pressed, but they didnt think they were beaten. It took more than the usual ruthlessness to butcher a family, then look the survivors dead in the eye with not a hint of shame. They knew that it was her or them, and they had never been willing to pay the price for their greed.

It was odd, though. Where the heretics were cloaked in clouds of blazing sin, the Long brothers were just ordinary. No merit, no sinfire. He felt an instinctive revulsion looking at them, but that might just be personal. Was what they had done too ordinary, or done at too many removes to count as their sin? Or had their centuries of service to the mountain actually accumulated merit? No, sin and merit didnt offset each other. You accumulated both, and paid for both separately. It was something else.

Liren paused for a moment, raising her spear into a high guard. You know how I know all that It was just business business is bullshit? Because you dug up my dads and fed their bodies to hungry dogs. Dogs that you had to bring into the city, just for that purpose. You probably starved them too, just to be sure. You didnt need to break our will, or scare us, or scare others. Two Martial Uncles with a huge family beneath you, endless ties to other Heavenly cultivators, insane income, the backing of the Monastery, who the hell did you need to scare? But you did it anyway.

The brothers didnt say anything, silently raising the tips of their swords with their right hands, while their left thumbs rested on their storage rings.

But after all your centuries struggling, you never even became elders. It took me just twenty years to become a core disciple. I will be a direct disciple, should I ever decide I want a master. I know you know the difference between a so-called core disciple and a true direct disciple, dont you? Its not the Skytreading Art.

You think we havent had enlightenment? Please! Thats just an excuse they use- The younger brothers words seemed to bolt from him, bursting from the tension in his neck and chest.

You are wrong. She shook her head. Its the absolute truth. Its just a nicer way of saying they cant be bothered to teach incompetents, and would be ashamed to let them represent the true lineage of the sect. A sect you arent even part of. You are a servant. Just a slightly larger ant. And in the back of your mind, from the day you stood at the top of the Ascension Steps and looked around Mountain Gate City, you knew it. Now the servant dares dress others in the masters livery, borrow the masters name, disobey the masters orders, and even raise their swords in rebellion against their masters.

Tian could almost see her words worming their way inside the brothers heads. The way their veins throbbed along their temples and foreheads reminded him of the spread of an infection.

A Member of the Inner Court dares rebel, pointing their swords at a Core Disciple, conspiring with enemies of the sect, violating sect discipline, murdering those under the sects protection, disgracing the sect before the world. As a member of the Discipline Squad, there is no need to report and request permission. The penalty is death. See how I crush you ants!

She didnt wait for a reply. Tian knew there was nothing they could say she was interested in hearing. Not even Sorry.

Liren was at the chest of the younger, mouthier, brother, the tip of her spear exploding efensive tools, shattering talisman lights, piercing the soft armor hidden under his robe. Tian blinked furiously, trying to reconstruct how she got there. It was a lunge, but the lunge had always existed, her spear had always pierced his chest and killed him, it was just now that it happened no that wasnt right, but he couldnt even describe what he thought he saw. The Long brothers didnt know what happened either. The long horn of her spear had pierced through the younger brothers chest, and six inches out the back besides. She twisted it as she dragged it out, pulling pieces of his heart out with it.

The older brother roared, furious, flinging out talismans, chains that snaked like vipers, flying axes formed from azure qi and brass hummingbirds that darted faster than even an immortal eye could follow. Liren kicked the younger brothers body down onto the pile below, then turned to face the older brother. There was a blaze of qi, blinding Tian, forcing him to look away and desperately blink the spots out of his eyes. By the time he turned back, it was over. The chains and little hummingbirds were scattered on the ground. The azure axes had shattered, vanishing into the air. The fine straight sword, an expensive, well crafted blade, tumbled from the old mans hands.

Liren kicked him off the spear, letting him land with a thud on the heap.

We picked up all the bones we could find, you know. We are pretty sure we got them all, but really, how could we know for sure? I say we, I mean a few desperate beggars and mercenaries too desperate for their next jar of wine or pipe of opium to care if they lived or died. Im sure they only succeeded with the Long clans kind permission. I thought about doing the same, but I cant. Just stupidly irresponsible to leave Heavenly corpses lying around.

True. But think of it like this. The Long Clan overturned your dads graves. They wont be buried at all. There wont even be ashes left.

Yeah. Yeah. She nodded, swaying.

Tian flew over and wrapped his arm around her waist. Lets get on the ground. Ill tidy up. There is barely a breath of qi left in you.

I did it. I killed those bastards.

You did. Your spear dao overcame all their talismans and treasures. Those thousands of hours spent practicing werent wasted.

Yeah. She curled up, resting her head between her knees. She didnt sound happy. Didnt sound sad either. Just exhausted. Tian left her to it, quickly tidying up the battlefield and collecting the loot. He was an old hand at this. There would be nothing left that could be used by heretics, nor that would harm the mortals. Maybe a somewhat more spiritual patch of grass, but that would be about it.

Yalau came riding over. Dead slavers and the kingdom butchers its own strongest defenders in civil war. Today wasnt all bad.

Tian snorted and shook his head. They werent doing much defending. Hostage? And the guide to whatever you think we are trying to find?

A wolf knows hunger, and the scent of prey being stalked. We have known you were hunting someone, and something, since you first came to the steppes. She didnt quite sneer, which Tian reckoned was wise because, exhausted or not, he was in the mood to knock her clean off that horse of hers and see what Wuusan might trade for her life.

The semi-visible presence of the Wolf and Horse spirits did somewhat discourage the thought. The wolf spirit howled, soft and beckoning. From out of the grass trotted a ghostly wolf.

You have some cursed body that consumes spirits. She burns them. Here. A home for your hostage. She tossed Tian an elaborately carved tooth. If it was from a wolf, it was from a wolf larger than Tian had ever seen. The tooth was the length of his palm. The spirit trotted over and leapt into the bone.

Bind it with a drop of blood.

Grandpa?

Its not trapped, and that is the way to bind it. The spirit is not very powerful now, but they arent screwing around. This is a spirit with a lineage. Its wrong to use biological terms for something that has never had a physical body, but you could think of it as a son of the so-called Great Wolf Spirit.

Tians spine stiffened Unexpectedly sincere.

Not as much as you might think. Remember, the spirits can see the fate dragon and the city god just fine. And who do you think is just about their favorite person right now? From the Wolf and Horses perspective, and their reading of your character, this has only advantages and no disadvantages for the youngster, and is completely in line with how hostages and foster arrangements work in the tribes.

Ill do my best to raise him right. Any advice?

She ignored the question. He will help you find things, including what you are looking for. As for what that might be our divination says north of here, and a good way east. I see you have cleaned up the battlefield and collected all your loot. Let us provide you one final service. A quick trip off our steppes!

And with absolutely no warning, a giant horse hoof appeared behind them. The damned thing kicked them clear over the horizon, trailing profanity behind them the whole way.

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