Chapter [B4] 18 — Rumblings
The sun rose over the seventh peak, marking the first day when I was the acting lord. I sat in the lord’s manor, a thousand thoughts racing in my mind as I worked hard to reign my emotions in and concentrate.
Chi pulsed in my core, swirling around my body and outwards into the world around me as I focused inwards on my spirit, reaching into the piece of the inner world I had formed within me. With a little focus I sank inwards, now standing underneath a giant tree in a valley of grass with a brilliant sky above me.
I looked around myself, and saw flowers blooming and little creatures flying all around me. It was… spring. In the little valley that was my inner world, the seasons had been restored in part and I soaked into the sensation for a long moment, breathing in and letting some of the weight on my back slide off for just a moment of reprieve before I focused.
The two forces of Qi and Gu swirled as the divine beasts appeared in front of me. Xuanwu and Qinglong looked down upon me and I looked up to meet their eyes.
For a moment, silence remained as I simply stood there, feeling their presence.
“So… you guys had time to catch up a bit, I assume?” I asked, looking at the two divine beasts.
“We did.” Xuanwu replied.
“The demon child advances. This war will not be won if you cannot defeat him,” Qinglong added.
“Yeah, in regards to that. I feel like it’d help a little if I could get some help with that. I have both your powers to draw from now, but Yang Shen has had two Divine Beasts for some time now. Not only is he more powerful than me on his own, but he also has two divine beasts and is more experienced with using their power and with combat in general. I feel like it’s a bit of an ask to just ask me to beat him,” I said, being honest with the divine beasts. I’d been thinking about it for some time, but for some reason, there was an expectation that I’d have to be the one to beat Yang Shen. I had two divine beasts so I got why, but even then… there were Divinities around, and I had weapons… I just didn’t see how I’d win against Yang Shen by myself. Even in disguise, he’d managed to hold back a rampaging Xuanwu that had been using my body, and that was without using any of the Divine Beast’s powers.