Chapter 2: Chapter 1 – Arc 1 – Why won’t your stupid heart beat?

Somewhere in Creation on a planet known as Earth, a boy died. 

 

The boy was young, barely over 16 years of age. He hardly started his life and now it is over, well it is over in this world. 

 

His Destiny was not satisfied with that. Not long after his death, his Soul left his body, and there at that moment, the unthinkable happened.

 

His Soul that should have been attracted to the local Soul River rejected the pull of its current and was instead picked up by a different one. 

 

This one ignored any boundary that tried to define it and disregarded any Law that interfered with it. 

 

For a certain being in the world from which the boy’s Soul came, to understand its purpose and its workings, it defined it as the movement of Chaos, which became Chaos Flow since it sounded much better in its mind. 

 

It was a useless effort, for to define Chaos was a futile effort, and yet there was something to that name. 

 

If there is one thing that is certain in Creation and Outside, it is that Chaos abhors Order and what is Order, but the stagnation of Chaos in a certain temporary form. 

 

And so the being theorized that if there is stagnation, there must also exist a flow. It was through this limited principle of Chaos that the being tried to envision its plans, hence the boy’s Soul and Destiny became part of its plans.

 

Hence, the boy’s Soul that got picked up by the flow of Chaos traveled submerged by its current through Creation, and when Chaos was satisfied, it spat him back into somewhere. 

 

That somewhere was another world, a world similar to the one he left behind, yet different.

 

How different, well that was up to that boy to find out. 

 

When his Soul was spat out, it no longer was under its influence. Thus, it could no longer ignore the local Laws regarding Souls. Still, its journey was not without its merits, for by being submerged in Chaos it gained a certain quality. 

 

Using that quality, it soon found a new host, a recently deceased boy of similar species, gender, and age. 

 

If one could compare this new body and his old one, one would find a few similarities that they had in common.

 

In its new host, the Soul dissolved under local Law. The quality that it carried was absorbed by the body and its state of Death was reversed. 

 

Still, that was expected in some scenarios the being from Earth envisioned, for to it the Soul was nothing but a container carrying its precious cargo, the Consciousness.

 

At that moment when the boy’s Soul dissolved, his consciousness transferred and got rooted into that new existence that would be its life, a small rolled-up golden scroll with black markings flew out of it. 

 

It hovered above the boy for a few moments, as if deciding what to do now that it no longer had anything to hold on to.

 

Once the moment passed, it unfolded and from it emerged two things. One was a small golden ball and the other thing a golden black fountain pen. 

 

In the next moment, the golden ball that in truth was a spiritual egg flew to the forehead of the still unconscious boy that was in the process of acclimatization to its new existence. Once it was there, it entered the boy’s head, and there it found its new home. 

 

After that was done, the golden black pen transformed into another golden scroll with black markings and flew to the same place the egg went. 

 

There, it transformed once again and vanished, but in its place, it left an unknown Power around the egg and the boy’s consciousness that would enforce the bindings the boy had agreed to in his previous life.

 

Like that, the boy’s reward and opportunity were deposited, but there was one thing yet to show its true purpose. 

 

The original scroll still hovered over the boy. 

 

There it stayed for a few moments and closed itself. Next, it transformed into a golden ball itself and gave off a bright glow. From that glow, a voice emerged.

 

~ Where Chaos flows, Destiny follows. ~

 

In a language that was unknown to this world, it carried Power and executed the desire of the one who spoke. 

 

The desire manifested a current of Chaos, but unlike its counterpart that carried the boy’s Soul from world to world, this one was tame and much less ferocious. If one had to define it, one could say that it was a small tributary that branched off of a mighty river. 

 

Here, this river flowed throughout this world.

 

With its manifestation, the river of Chaos picked up the golden ball and carried it off. 

 

Like that, the golden ball left the compound in which the boy reincarnated. Soon it left the city too, and not long after, it traveled over the forest and mountains on an invisible current. 

 

Left and right, up and down, soon it reached a plain. On that plain one could see many tiny little things, and when the current went nearer, those tiny things transformed into an ever-growing battlefield, where men, women, beasts, and other things fought and died in mass. 

 

Through the field of battle and Death, the current powered through, as if invisible to everything. 

 

Alongside it, the golden ball followed and if somebody saw something, like a tiny little golden ball, they ignored it in favor of the battle going on. Even when the current looped around the battle a few more times, as if checking for something, nothing bothered it. 

 

When it found nothing to its liking, it went on. 

 

It continued on and on. Mountain after mountain, lakes and planes after lakes and plains, cities after cities, when it finally came upon something. Sharply, the current changed its course and like a bloodhound that found its prey, it rushed to it. In seconds, a city appeared in front of it, yet it didn’t slow down. 

 

Once inside the city, it curved around the various buildings, and soon it came upon a courtyard. 

 

The courtyard in question was neither small nor big and neither was it plain or magnificent. If one had to describe it one could say that it had elegance because of its nice layout of small bridges that surrounded the small islands on the lake upon which nested lotus pads as it was summer, the prime time for their emergence. 

 

If one observed carefully, one could spot a few carps near the lake bottom. Yet no matter how it looked, it mattered not to the current of Chaos or the golden ball it carried. 

 

No, what mattered to it was the flailing little girl that looked around the age of 13 in the lake. It appeared as if she did not know how to swim and the wet clothes did not help her either. 

 

What could have helped her was the young man that was still not yet an adult, but was very close to it,  that stood still on the bridge near the little girl. Yet he made no attempt to help and if somebody was there and one was very observant, one could see a glint of disdain and hate upon his eyes and face.

 

The curious thing was that despite the girl flailing around and drowning, she did not cry out for help, and neither was there any sound of her flailing in the water. With every flail of her arms, the little girl grew weaker and soon she could not keep her head out of the water and finally gulped on too much water that she finally stopped struggling and sank to the bottom. 

 

The young man observed a few seconds more and as if in shock, his face changed to worry and he shouted aloud. 

 

“ Yu Jiao! ” His shout was louder than it should have been. Backed by his Power and it echoed past the lake and into the inner courtyards. 

 

With his shout, he jumped into the lake and swam towards the little girl. The moment he reached her, he placed his right hand on her back, and through his hand, he pushed his Power into her lungs to expel the water out while still being in the lake. 

 

Next, the same Power enveloped her heart and tried his best to restart it and make it pump the much-needed blood through her body. 

 

At the same time he cradled her little body into his arms and with a mighty push on his leg muscles alongside plenty of his Power, he somehow found a stable foothold in the water and used it to jump out of the lake and onto the small bridge he used to be on. 

 

His action was so swift that it was only when he touched down on that bridge that a reaction was picked up from the inner courtyard. 

 

Placing the girl on the ground, he continued to use his Power to inject her heart, but for some unknown reason, it just would not start its iconic rhythmic sounds that all living beings had. 

 

Hidden in his eyes, genuine concern appeared. It was not the kind of worry that one used for loved ones, but the one that says “ Shit, did I take too long? Hope I haven’t truly killed her. ”. 

 

With every second that passed, his doubt only increased, and it only increased once he heard light footsteps behind him. 

 

‘ Why won’t your stupid heart beat? ’ Shouted the boy in his thoughts when those footsteps finally landed beside him. 

 

“ Jiao Jiao. ” With a male cry and a mighty kick, the foot that belonged to the footsteps that just arrived kicked the boy in the guts and back into the lake. The man that came replaced the boy and in a fraction of a second, his Power saw the problem and went to rectify it. 

 

Yet no matter how much he poured at the heart, it would not start.

 

“ Nooo, nooo, my little girl, don’t leave me yet. ” Again the man cried out, seeing the situation not changing. A few seconds later, more footsteps arrived but the crying of a man for his daughter didn’t stop. 

 

On the contrary, it only increased in disparity. 

 

This time it was 1 female and 3 men. Two of the men were middle-aged and wore what looked like guard armor. 

 

The last one wore a white robe and just from his looks, one could see that he was quite old and yet there was spring in his steps. 

 

The female wore a thin summer blue robe that stressed her blue eyes. She too had a face full of shock but hidden in her eyes one could see some satisfaction that her plan worked, but in the next half a second it vanished and in its place, only shock and concern stayed. 

 

“ Husband, move away, let the healer do his job. Doing it blindly will only worsen the problem. Elder He, please hurry. ” With a voice full of hope, she requested the healer to do his magic.

 

Nodding, the old man went to the little girl. “ My Lord, please stop and let me… ” Yet before he finished his sentence, the Lord of whom he wanted to request to stop what he was doing and move away, jumped a few paces away from the little girl. 

 

It surprised him greatly, as it did the others. The first thought that came to him was that wanted to nod to the Lord’s quick reaction to his presence, but when he glanced at his face, he saw the genuine shock on it. 

 

Not quite understanding what had shocked him, he filed the thought away and came closer to the little girl. It was when he pressed his right palm on her chest and poured his Power inside to do his job that he got disturbed too. 

 

He too, just like the Lord, interrupted his action and distanced himself away from the body.

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“ Husband, Elder, what happened? What is the problem? ” Asked the female again, this time with a touch of confusion alongside concern could be heard in it. 

 

Thunder rattled in their minds as they came to themselves. Immediately, the elderly healer ignored his feelings and approached the girl lying on the cold stone bridge. This time, he was much more cautious when touching her. Again he poured his Power inside and just like the last time he felt it. 

 

His Power was burning inside the girl. ‘ I didn’t mistake it after all. There is a flame inside her and it’s burning my Qi like wood would in a heat stove. No, that doesn’t matter. What matters is why I do not feel any heat. ’ 

 

Withdrawing his Qi from her chest area, he examined the rest of her body. ‘ It’s all over her body and it’s the same flame. When I look at her from the outside, I don’t see nor feel any flame and yet her insides are on fire. ’ 

 

Still confused as to what was going on he examined the girl more physically and immediately noticed an anomaly. ‘ The flame, it’s actually not burning anything physical but if it’s not burning anything physical, then what is it burning aside from the Qi that the Lord and I poured in. ’

 

“ Elder He, do you have any idea as to what is going on? ” Asked the Lord of the healer. 

 

Stealing a glance at the disturbed man, he swung his head in denial and replied. “ No, I am afraid I am not. In all my years of cultivating, I have not heard of a flame like this. Aside from the Qi that we poured in and got burned away, I notice nothing else that is being consumed. And yet? ”

 

“ It has to burn something. It is a flame, after all. Its very concept is to consume something. ” Finished the Lord of the Clan. 

 

Still quite confused by the strange musing of the man in front of her. The female reached out for a much needed answer. “ My Lord, what is going on? Is she going to be alright? I don’t see her chest moving. ”

 

Her words reminded the old man that there was something more pressing than the mystery of the fire that was burning inside the girl.  The healer hurriedly corrected his thoughts and actions. 

 

Immediately, he expertly poured more Qi inside her. The majority of it got burned away, but the part that passed through touched her heart, and it was at that moment that he turned pale from what he saw. 

 

This time the horror was too much for the old man and it showed on his face. Immediately, he retrieved his hand and jumped away. 

 

At that moment, it was as if the pure recognition of such a flame even existing was all the fuel it needed to stabilize its existence and out of the kindling that was smoldering in the little girl’s body, it finally reached outside her body and all over her body it appeared. 

 

Everybody present could feel it, even the young man that was the cause of it all, who had fished himself out of the lake after being hit by the Lord in the guts and took a swim in it, as it sucked out the Qi in the air and burned it. 

 

Yet as they all felt it and its effect, what they could not see was the flame in question. It was invisible to their eyes and the only indicator of its presence was the Qi that was burned away. 

 

Again, all of them were stumped as to the happenings to the flame in question and it was only after the young man came near them and voiced out his confusion, and this time, he was truly confused, without a hint of anything else. “ What is that? ”

 

“ Elder, what did you do? ” Immediately the Lord requested for an answer and one could feel that not getting one was a terrible choice for the old man. 

 

“ I, I, umm, nothing. ” He replied but then continued with a more steady voice. “ Nothing aside from diving deeper through the flame and seeing what it truly did. ”

 

“ Go on, say it. ” Again the Lord requested, but it was not just him that was curious.

 

“ It’s, umm, burning the Roots of the young lady. ” Finally he voiced what he saw.

 

“ Roots? ” Asked the sole female in their presence aside from the young lady that was currently on fire. “ Wait, you are saying that that Flame is actually consuming the Heavenly Roots inside her? ”

 

“ Yes, Concubine Ye. That is exactly what I meant. ” Nodded the old man but added on his inner musings. “ I swear, I have seen people cut and sever roots in all kinds of manners. I have seen them maimed beyond recognition, even if it killed the person in question soon after. But it is my first time seeing them actually burning as if they are the most common wood in the world, much less the Heavenly variant. ”

 

Hearing the healer voicing out his thoughts it finally dawned on them the flame's Power and again as if the flame needed to be recognized more, it gained more intensity and the radius at which it expanded turned from purely around the body to one meter around the little girl. 

 

Concurrent with its expansion, the speed at which it burned Qi from the air only increased.

 

The increased intensity provided less shock this time when the young man spoke. “ It must be because the Heavenly Roots in question are broken that it was possible. After all, without Qi in them, they are not that much different from common ones, honestly, in her case, they are worse than common ones. ”

 

Everybody’s gaze went on him. At the same time, the emotional ride the Lord experienced when he heard, saw, and felt his daughter’s limp body finally found an outlet. “Xia Jingjie, you better tell me right now what happened or I swear, despite being the son of Prime Minister Xia, I will cut you down right here right now if you were the cause of this event. ” To enforce his threat, he used his much higher cultivation to press on him from all sides. 

 

Xia Jinjie felt like he was stuck in a bench press and it was trying to squeeze apple juice out of him. He could not voice out anything in reply, much less resist this pressure from a father fueled by anger. It was only when his guards appeared beside him that he could relax enough to move and reply. He still felt the anger of the Lord of the Yu mansion.

 

‘ Useless guards. Now they appear and not when I received that kick in the guts. ’ Too bad for the young man, the guards in question could not have imagined at all that the Lord would kick the son of the Prime Minister away like he was a common street dog, well... on the street barring his way.

 

Finding his composure, Xia Jingjie replied. “ When you say it like that, I guess I can’t rid myself totally of the blame, but before your anger causes mistakes, let me explain myself first. ” 

 

Not being cut apart on the spot became a good sign and he continued his long-prepared speech, if with a slight correction. 

 

“ We all know that Yu Jiao liked me. After all, is that not the reason you were so adamant in arranging her marriage to Clan Xia in the first place? Especially if one considered her ugh... ” There he stopped for a second to find the right words and not anger the man. “ previous condition. So I flat out rejected her affection by voicing out the reason being her previous condition. ”

 

“ Are you saying that Clan Xia rejected her because of her broken Roots, or was that your choice? ” Asked the Lord. He would not have been bothered as much even if Xia Jingjie used the word broken as he had 13 years to come to terms with that, unlike his little girl. 

 

“ My own, but my Clan has voiced out previously that Yu Jiao did not meet the requirements for a marriage contract, especially not for the position of the first wife. ” Again Xia Jingjie replied in the most neutral wording he could without trying to offend the man in front of him. “ So I flat out rejected her feelings. Umm, I turned away from her as I said all that. I was too late to notice she had already jumped into the lake. By the time I got to her she had already water in her lungs and I tried my best to make her heart beat again, and the rest you know. ” 

 

All of them knew that he didn’t completely tell the truth, especially his guards, that were ordered to silence the girl’s cries and to keep the deed hidden just long enough. Even without it being voiced out, the Lord could already imagine the scenario. 

 

In his mind, he knew best how those in power looked down upon his daughter. Still, that didn’t mean he would swallow it down. “ I see. Since that is the case, then deliver my message to Prime Minister Xia that any and all dealings that Clan Xia had with Clan Yu had will be canceled and any future negotiations will be... thoroughly negotiated. Now, since your purpose here is done, I would like to ask you to leave, immediately. ”

 

Turning away from Xia Jingjie, he looked at the two guards by his side. “ Escort the Young Master out of the premises. ” 

Taking his cue, the young man nodded and made his leave along with his guards, who vanished seconds later.

 

Once he was out of sight, the sole female could only feel disappointment at how the events turned out. At the Lord’s side, she spoke with reluctance in her voice. “ Husband, I fear that... ” There she stopped as if afraid to voice it out, nevertheless the Lord knew what she wanted to say.

 

“ I know. ” Was all he said to her, but his inner voice seethed in anger. ‘ Bastard probably waited and watched my girl drown a bit to let his rejection settle in before fishing her out. To think, I was thinking of marrying my girl to him. ’ 

 

Sighing at the regrettable events happening, he focused his attention on his daughter’s body, which was still cloaked in a flame that could be felt but not seen. 

 

Observing her for a while, he heard the elderly healer speak. 

 

“ Lord, as far as I know, your lineage is associated with Fire, Earth mostly. Is there a chance there is some bloodline hidden in there somewhere? ”  Nodded the Lord at the conjecture and replied. “ Well… the Yu lineage has existed for some time, so I can not flat out deny it. But in my honest opinion, the chance of that happening is very low, especially if we consider that flame. I am pretty sure I would have remembered a flame like that. ”

 

“ How about the late Miss Li? ” Again the Elder asked but the Lord just shook his head. “ The Li’s lineage primarily consisted of Wood with some sprinkle of Water and Earth from time to time. That was how my late wife explained it to me. So I doubt it is from them either. ”

 

“ Then I am truly out of options here. ” With the last attempt at finding an answer failing, the old man was out of options. “ I think we can only let it proceed without interference. Although let me check if we can at least move the young lady. ”

 

With a small conjecture in his mind, the old man went closer to the flame. This time he withdrew every shred of Qi he could inside his body and touched the outer rim of the ongoing flame. 

 

When he finally touched it and didn’t spontaneously combust into thin air, he nodded and found some courage inside his old bones, and plunged his hand deeper. 

 

Still not catching on fire, he went in deeper and touched the young lady. Finally, confirming his thoughts, he picked up the young lady and carried her away from the little bridge she laid upon and into the housing complex. 

 

The Lord and his second wife followed him. 

 

The old man had no trouble finding the girl’s quarters as the Lord had employed him ever since the young lady was born to look after her health. 

 

Nobody knew why she was born with broken Heavenly Roots, and the mother that could have shed some light on it died at childbirth. Ever since then, the young lady had been in poor health and often needed help. Annoyed by the constant calls for a healer, he employed one to look after his little girl.

 

Once they were in her room, the old man placed her on the bed and distanced himself. “ Lord, whatever the purpose of that flame is, it is beyond me. I can not even check if the young lady’s heart is beating without risking going up in flames if I use Qi. ”

 

“ Elder, is there a way aside from Qi that can be used? ” Inquired the Lord of the old healer. 

 

With a slightly stupefied face, he replied. “ Ah, this event must have shocked me more than I realized. Give me a moment. ” 

 

With that said, he took the young lady’s hand and placed his fingers on the inner side of the wrist to check for the pulse. It was an old technique that used no Qi and one just had to feel the pulse, but as it was highly unreliable, it was rarely used. 

 

After all, why bother when you can just touch anywhere and check with your Qi.

 

Nevertheless, using the old analog way he checked, rechecked, and then cursed in his head. 

 

“ And? ” Was all the Lord said to him.

 

“ One second, Lord. ” Replied the old man and stood up. Nearing closer to the little girl, he placed his ear upon her chest and listened as hard as he could. When he finally heard a very weak thump, he rejoiced. “It’s there, weak, but there. ”

 

“ Thank the Heavens. ” With the definite confirmation, relief came to the Lord. 

 

“ Indeed, thank the Heavens for their mercy. ” Came from Lady Ye beside him.

 

“ Indeed. Lord. ” Agreeing with them, he interrupted them. “ While it is comforting, the young lady is still with us, I must say that I don’t know how long this will take, whatever this is. In that case, Lord, I must request that you send some of your servants to the Market and have them buy some food for the young lady. ”

 

“ Food? Ah, are you afraid there would be a bad interaction if we feed her food filled with too much Qi? ” 

 

“ Maybe, I don’t know, but let’s not take the chance and have her starve after this tribulation has passed. ” Replied the old man.

 

“ It will be done, don’t worry. ” Agreeing to the request, all three looked at the young lady of the house as she was clad in an invisible flame.

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