Published at 14th of November 2026 9:43 am

Chapter 45- A Sudden but Inevitable Betrayal

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They waited quietly for the heretics to make their move. There was a good deal of irritation on the face of Heavenly Demon, but he kept working on Burning Heaven. It seemed he was making progress, but Tian wasn’t entirely sure how much. Tian kept his impatience in check. The fury was growing in his chest and spreading, raging through him, making his muscles tremble with the urge to dreadful things. More than just righteous outrage at the perversions of the heretics, a killing hate was on him. It was a familiar feeling, sliding on like old shoes, fitting in his hands like his favorite knife.

Tian gently touched his hand over his heart. When he was younger, this feeling drowned him. He had grown rather used to it, now, even though he knew it was wrong. Heart Demon. A madness, sickness, obsession. He truly hated heretics. It was part of him, earned like his fingers. He used to imagine it like a black tar, something that coated him. It had seeped into him over time. It was easy to think himself cured, that his compassion for the sick and wounded somehow canceled out the hate. It was childish, and worse, not properly daoist. There was no ‘canceled out.’ Compassion and hatred; he had to carry both.

“I wonder if I have to purge myself of this hate before ascending to the Perfected Human realm. It seems like the sort of thing you should be rid of, to obtain immortality.”

No comment, but more generally, think about the people you have met who have surpassed the imperfect human realm. Would you say they are emotionless?

“There is a difference between feeling your feelings and having a hateful obsession, Grandpa.”

True, and in some traditions, you would be right to cut away the hatred. Most of them, in fact. But it isn’t the only way, and you have some distance to go before you reach that realm. You will figure things out along the way. You have some time yet.

“Centuries, I would imagine, at least.”

I was thinking more like decades, or even just years.

There was a startled silence inside of Tian’s mind.

“How do you figure that?!”

Your foundation in the Heavenly Realm isn’t the peak of perfection, but with your Dao body, an improved Darknorth Sea art, the Sky Treading Art, all the beast core pills you have been eating, well, it adds up to someone who isn’t likely to struggle to break through to the Human Realm. You have already accumulated more shen than most at your stage. You just need to load up on qi.

“So does everybody.”

Yeah, but you have access to the Northern Expanse, now, as well as an excuse to travel around the Wasteland of Song adventuring and extorting sects for money in exchange for information. Your ability to gather resources is going to be a lot better than you think. Now eyes up, they are sending someone over.

“Any chance we can talk our way out of this?”

None, but you can convince them it’s not worth chasing you once you break through the formation. Besides, you don’t actually want to talk your way out of this.

Tian didn’t smile, but he felt the corners of his mouth tugging. He hadn’t lied. He really did want each and every heretic dead. Heavenly Demon grunted with satisfaction and turned to Liren, his aura forming a shell of drifting stars around her.

A delegation of five flew over, all heretics in the Human Realm, all swirling pillars of fire and smoke and sin in Tian’s eyes. Curiously, or at least unusually in his experience, they all looked rather tidy. Heretics in the wastes tended to look like they had been buried for a week and clawed their way back up. This lot looked like townsfolk. One was clearly dressed as a well to do merchant, another a noble lady, yet another was dressed as a civil servant. Were they trying to send a message of some sort? Or were these the more diplomatic of the heretics available? Also, five Human realm heretics, in one place, openly, working together? That was enough to topple a kingdom… so why hadn’t they? No, there was something very wrong about this. Something he wasn’t understanding. Had he fallen under an illusion?

He couldn’t imagine they were selected purely for sociability. The heretics didn’t want this to end peacefully any more than he did. It was the noble woman who spoke first.

“You wanted to tell us everything? Then talk.”

Tian smiled. “Certainly.” He once again put Qi into his voice, projecting it as widely as he could. “The hidden realm is the ascension ground of Palace Master Song, ruler of the Five Directions Palace while it still existed. His ascension wasn’t successful so it’s a bare mountain in there, but the environment’s the important thing. The environment can pave your way straight to the Human Realm, and that’s the least of it. Palace Lord Song is still in there, and willing to teach. Let me lay out exactly how you get in.”

As he spoke, he let a few of his Heavenly swallow darts fall out of his sleeve. He wasn’t trying to control them with qi, he just let the transparent needles drift downwards from the sky.

“Brat, why did you call us over here if you intended to shout everything to the whole damn wasteland?” The merchant snarled. Tian dropped the qi from his voice and spoke normally.

“I’m famously generous. I just think of it as proper moral behavior, but then, I’ve always been willing to be the odd one out. Anyhow, let me tell you how to get in, and more importantly for you, what he’s offering, and why I think he can actually deliver on his offer.”

Tian kept his voice at a normal level, and laid everything out. He was exacting and precise, neither exaggerating nor underplaying the nature of the mountain, the illusory realm Song showed him, and the strange leaves bearing mysteries growing up those celestial pillars. He took pains to emphasize the environmental hazards, the time limit, the number of people to be admitted, the realm limitations. He could see their faces getting uglier as they worked everything out.

“I always thought the Five Directions Palace was an Orthodox sect. On reflection, I don’t really know why I believed that.” The heretic dressed as a civil servant murmured. “Certainly no one could grow so powerful if they didn’t love power, and were willing to do anything to obtain it.” The civil servant paused a moment and looked sharply at Tian. “Why are you nodding? I can feel your hate. You seem the sort to disagree with anything a heretic says on principle.”

“I am, but I happen to agree with you on that. Nobody becomes strong unless they really can’t stand being weak.” He let his eyes cross the wasteland, picking out the moving pillars of sinfire. He was sure he wasn’t getting everyone, but he could see enough heretics on the move to make anyone alarmed.

“Out of curiosity, how long have you lot been working with the Five Elements Courtyard?” Tian asked.

“Oh, decades now. Same as your Ancient Crane Monastery, everybody made their dirty little connections. You especially, or you wouldn’t be here. It seems you weren’t one of the chosen ones, eh?” The merchant giggled, leering, his eyes turning piggy.

“I am, actually. The ward keeps others out, not us in. The real powers in the sect decided it was time for a purge, and a reformation. Must say it is doing wonders for strength and cohesion. We really were meant to be mountain ascetics, I think.” Tian looked around a bit more, then forced some vital energy into his eyes. “Ah! That’s where they’re hiding. Wouldn’t be an array master if you could get them to voluntarily leave an array, I suppose.” Under his mystic vision, the heretics had glowing collars on, things of metal qi, and fire, and lots of wood for fuel. The leashes led back to a single point, more than ten miles away. And under his golden pupils, he could see they were shattered shells.

“Hello there! I just wanted you to know that Sis’ Mei and Sis’ Ming are doing well. Thriving, actually, the Wang clan grows from strength to strength. I really think they will be one of the pillar families of our Monastery in the future. How’s Daoist Oily doing? I think he was the elder in charge of your diplomacy. Is he keeping well? His grandson, nephew, whoever it was, did get ruined by me the last time we visited, but I expect he’s the sort to not mind the suffering of others.”

There was a disturbance in the air, and a shimmer of spellwork manifested in front of him. “I don’t know you. I know every direct disciple of your monastery by sight. Bounties are available, and it would be a shame to miss out. But I don’t know you. Report your name.” It was a woman’s voice, coming from the spellwork shimmer.

“You wouldn’t have heard of me. If you ask your juniors, perhaps they will remember Heart Killing Sky.” He looked over at Heavenly Demon. “Are we done?”

“This Demon has naturally succeeded.”

“By any chance did you happen to figure out who this tall fellow next to me is? I mean his background, not his name.” Tian asked the hidden expert from the Five Elements Courtyard, directly ignoring the heretics in front of him.

There was silence from the shimmering spell.

“Go ask your Dao Reserve or anyone who has left the wasteland for the Northern Expanse who the Stellar Descent Cult is, and what the status of a Heavenly Demon is in there. Then consider if you want to make a move.” It looked like everyone was in position, but they still needed a push. It was a shame. He didn’t have the knack for insulting people. He’d just have to trust his notes and do his best.

“Obediently scram to one side. Good dogs don’t block the road. I believe that’s the expression, and in any case, your use to me has almost ended. Piss off. You reek of idiocy and inbreeding. Your whole courtyard is nothing but scheming, rapey pricks from what I can tell, and the women are no better than the men. You lot are so filthy, your best go out of their way to betray you, and not a single person thinks they were wrong to do so. Your arrogance comes from the fact that you hide from a fight and think it makes you strong. Well, you will have to fight now, little coward, or you have to run away. Might as well give yourself a head start on running. I know you can’t stand the sight of blood.”

Liren was wearing her usual stoic mask, but he could feel the side eye. Heavenly Demon and Burning Heaven weren’t trying to hide their wondering stares.

“You are standing in the middle of my array. You have removed only the most obvious trap within it, but you are still standing in the middle of an array made and powered by more treasures than you will ever see, and you dare think you are going to leave? You dare speak to me in such a way? Death won’t even be a dream for you. I will bind you, chain you, turn you into a fighting slave for me. You will spend your existence shamed, degraded, and used for atrocity. He has a background? Who gives a damn! Any investigation will turn up the truth: heretics killed him. You will watch them scour the wastelands ‘avenging him,’ as you kneel at my feet!”

By the end, the array master was laughing with anger. The five heretics in front of Tian spread out, lines of qi thick with shifting elements snapping into existence between them. They weren’t just mouthpieces, they were formation nodes, a mobile array for the array master. More arrays sprang into life. A huge, sky covering formation, dotted with spinning nodes of crimson light sealed the heavens, and pressed down with naked malice. The distant dots were stirred to brilliance, building to some deadly effect. Tian’s smile grew sunnier and sunnier.

“It really has to be a defect in your training. It’s one thing for the juniors not to figure it out, but the seniors making the same mistake? I think you better seal up the Courtyard for a century or three. Don’t come out until you fix your heads, it’s too dangerous for you out here. Don’t you know? Our Ancient Crane Monastery isn’t very good at much of anything except survival, and we really only have one trick for that. I’m very filial, you see. I’m using the teachings of the ancestors.”

Tian’s voice was kind, the harsh edge gone entirely. Then he raised his head, and poured qi into his voice. “Got the information and now you want to silence the source? The opportunity is meant to be open to everyone! How dare the Five Elements Courtyard try to monopolize it!”

There was a pause. Tian let his voice drop back to normal. “The oddest thing about you lot is that you refuse to believe something could be exactly what it appears to be, or that someone will do exactly as they said. I told you that I wanted you all dead. Did you think I was joking?”

He called back the Heavenly Swallows needles and sent out the visible ones from his sleeve, ambushing all five of the heretics in front of him from two directions. None were killed, but he staggered them, broke the array they were building, at least for the moment.

“Too late!” The woman’s voice was shrill. The formation in the sky churned, the red lights growing brighter. “Far too late!”

Tian shook his head and didn’t correct her. It was too late, after all. For her. Inky black lances rained down on a point in the distance. Howls of summoned spirits could be heard tens of miles away, and an awl the size of a pagoda slammed down on a dome of glowing light that snapped into existence at the spot where the leashes terminated.

Monopolizing the benefits and silencing the witnesses? How could the heretics stand to let someone do to them what they did to others?

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