Chapter 19: Book 1: Chapter 14 – “Plots, Ploys, Preparations and Popcorn.”

Lin Weiyua sat at the small jade table and stared nervously at the fascinating but dangerous woman across from him. To most of the "mundane population," those who would never go past {Iron Body}, Cultivators were a mysterious and powerful existence. In many countries and organizations, merely stepping your foot into {Bronze Spirit}, where one could start to sense Spirit Energy, was enough to mark you as an Elite.

To move past that made you a Leader and Powerhouse. As a {Shackle Breaking} level cultivator, Lin Weiyua would have been welcomed with fear and respect in his hometown, the middling sized nation's capital in the east of the Continent. Those who stepped past that, into the ranks of the {Earthly Transcendent: Spiritual Awakening}? They were the figures of renown spoken of in bard's tales; Hero's of old. As for The {Firmament Breaker} beyond THAT? Myths, Legends told around campfires and as bedtime stories. In his Kingdom's 2000 year history, not one {Firmament Breaker} had ever even visited, let alone emerged from within.

It was honestly something that he had never expected to accomplish in his entire life before joining the Origin Sect. But now he knew he would just have been a Big Fish in a small pond. To the Continent's REAL Powerhouses, reaching {Shackle Breaking} at his age was considered barely competent. {Earthly Transcendents}, while powerful, weren't all too rare. His biggest culture shock had been finding out that {Firmament Breakers} wasn't just real but were often the significant players of many of the World's more powerful nations.

But the 'Woman' in front of him? She was an entirely different being altogether.

Jīshí, The Cornerstone.

The Lady of the Grassy Sea

Queen of the Underworld.

Not just an Elder Earth Element, the FIRST Earth Elemental.

There were very few Mortals who didn't know her name, even in his backwater little nation. Hell, in many places, she was worshiped as a literal god. And now he sat face to face with that Being, as she sipped on a cup of steaming tea. What did she want from him exactly? What possible use could he be to the literal incarnation of Stone and Soil?

The Earth Elemental stared down at her cup in bliss before taking another sip and smacking her lips. Jīshí lifted his eyes to her and raise a brow before asking;

[Jīshí] - "Are you not going to drink before it gets cold? Starlily tea may not be the most Spiritual, but I've always found it to have its own unique charm. It's quite good, though best under a starlit night."

Lin Weiyua stared down at his own sparkling tea, mind still blank and unsure. After a moment's hesitation, he raised the cup and took a small sip. His eyes when wide in surprise, then his brow furrowed as he placed down the cup. The 'Tea' was tart-er than anything he'd ever tasted before, and at the same time, it had a strange, woody flavor, that while not unpleasant, creating a bubbling tingle in his mouth.

Jīshí stared at the young man and grinned from ear to ear, before chuckling.

[Jīshí] - "Your teacher, Wu Song, had the same expression the first time he tried it. Though he's since come to enjoy it. I guess it's more of an acquired taste."

Lin Weiyua coughed, trying to clear the tingling in his throat, and pushed the cup away before looking up at the Earth Elemental and asking respectfully,

[Lin Weiyua] - "I am grateful for the opportunity, my Lady, but may I ask why you wished to speak with me?"

Jīshí stared silently at the young man, before sighing and placing her own cup down. She leaned back in her chair and spoke.

[Jīshí] - "No need for the formalities, child, it is just us here. Call me, Jīshí. This tea time has been quite nice, but I guess it's time to get down to business. Let be blunt with you; I need your assistance with a matter..."

Lin Weiyua tilted his head in confusion,

[Lin Weiyua] - "But, My La..."

Jīshí gave the boy a glare that sent chills down his spine.

[Lin Weiyua] - "*Cough* Ms. Jīshí. I don't see how I can be of much help to one, such as yourself. I'm just a Mid-Rank Scribe and..." 

Jīshí raised her hand to stop him.

[Jīshí] - "I know who and what you are, Lin Weiyua. But that is exactly WHY I need you. I'm afraid you're the only one who I can ask this of, at the moment."

[Lin Weiyua] - "B-but I don't understand. Surely someone of your power could ask my Master, or even the Sect Leader himself? Even a higher level Scribe would be of more help, I would think."

Jīshí sighed and closed her eyes, and sighed.

[Jīshí] - "I can't... There is a spy in the Origin Sect. News of the Fallen Star has already leaked to the other Four Pillars, and both the Sect Leader and your Master are scrambling to enact damage control. Until they've rooted out the spies, I can't approach anyone else with this."

[Lin Weiyua] - "Why me, though?"

[Jīshí] - "Because; you were there that day, the Fallen Star escaped. You saw what it was. What it could do. As well as that, you are Wu Song's student, and even the Sect Master has spoken highly of you. You are the best we have at the moment."

Lin Weiyua felt his heart fill with pride that he was spoken so highly of, and shock that the Origin Sect (of all places) had spies among them. Still, he was apprehensive about the whole matter and asked.

[Lin Weiyua] - "So this is about the Fallen Star? What is it exactly you need me to do, Ms. Jīshí?"

Jīshí smiled and leaned forward, placing her chin on her folded hands.

[Jīshí] - "Wu Song tells me you are quite the avid learner. You've spent much time delving into ancient texts, searching forgotten Histories, and learning much more about the World than most Cultivators have ever bothered."

Lin Weiyua coughed in embarrassment and turned his head away.

[Lin Weiyua] - "Y-yes, well, my mother used to always say that power comes in many forms, not just from the tip of a blade. It may not be the most... conventional methods, but I will say that if it wasn't for the things I have learned, I would not be here today."

[Jīshí] - "Your Mother was a wise woman then. Cultivators of this era (and many before it) have a tendency to rely on their fists more than their heads. Quite a shame, really. But then that's a debate that's as old as time itself, and I digress. Let me ask you, little Lin Weiyua; in your studies, have you ever come across what was once called the 'Path of Laws'?"

Lin Weiyua visibly paled, and his eyes widened into saucers.

[Lin Weiyua] - "Nn-No! I-I don't know anything about that! I ne..."

Jīshí once more raised her hand and stopped the young man.

[Jīshí] - "Calm, Child. This is no longer those barbaric times where any threat to the Cultivator's power is crushed without mercy. Your Sect Leader nor I will hold you accountable to any of the Old Pacts. Those Selfish treaties should have been abolished long ago anyway, but Cultivators are nothing, if not stubborn. I simply need to know the Truth. There is more at risk here than you understand. Far more than some old geezers pride." 

Lin Weiyua was silent for a long time and lowered his head before replying in a quiet voice.

[Lin Weiyua] - "Y-yes. I may... have heard of it..."

Jīshí grinned from ear to ear.

[Jīshí] - "And? What did you think of the principle?"

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Lin Weiyua's head shot up, eyes sparkling, before seeming to realize what he had done, and lowered it again. 

[Lin Weiyua] - "It... and Interesting concept. Tools not built by magic or spiritual power, but by mortal hand, created using nothing but the world's rules and laws around us. The mundane people already use this idea to some extent, but the Path of Laws takes it to a whole other level. I can see... potential, in it. But what does it matter? Those on top of this World will never let that potential come to light. They... the things they did..."

Jīshí nodded in understanding, a sad frown replacing her smile.

[Jīshí] - "The City of Gears... "

Lin Weiyua's head snapped up, and he stared at the woman in confusion.

[Lin Weiyua] - "You know?"

Jīshí sighed and looked away.

[Jīshí] - "Of course I know. I was there when it happened. Had I not been a coward in my own right, maybe I could have stopped it. But if we lock ourselves down wondering what we should have done in the past, we can never take steps to do what needs to be done now".

The City of Gears. One of the greatest tragedies the Skybreaker Continent has ever seen, and one of Jīshí's greatest regrets. It had been a large city-state on the northern side of the Continent. Despite its size, the city-state had remained hidden deep underground in the northern mountain ranges. Unfortunately for the City's people, the Spiritual Energy of that place was nearly non-existence, meaning even their strongest warriors were no more than {Iron Body}.

To compensate for this lack of energy, the City of Gears turned to another Path, what they called the 'Path of Laws', or what the Federation might have just called Science. In the span of a few centuries, they had reached what would have been the Industrial Revelation on Old Earth. They had even managed to mix their technology with different forms of Magic and Spiritual Materials and were well on their way to their first Computers. With their Path's power, the people thrived, spreading beneath the mountains and into the Cultivator's lands.

At first, there was peace, and trade between two lands grew by the year. However, soon, the then Four Pillars, the strongest of the Cultivators, began to grow uneasy. They saw how the City of Gear's tools and equipment empowered the mundane people of their land. How they made them become uncontent with their simple life and wish for more. They saw it as a threat to their power and control.

It didn't take long for tensions to ignite and the fighting to start.

When the war broke out, the Four Pillars found that the City of Gears wasn't the type to just sit back and take it. While each city person's individual power might not have been great, their tools and equipment allowed the City-state to drive the Cultivators into a stalemate.

The Cultivators were desperate to end the war once and for all by striking at the enemy's heart. They knew that the City of Gears lied underground, but the City had developed a method of blocking the Cultivators from finding them. That's when the Four Pillars had come to Jīshí.

They had convinced her that the Path of Laws couldn't be allowed to continue. That it was trying to reign in nature, to control and warp the natural World itself. Jīshí, in her youth and nativity, had agreed to locate the City, on the condition that the Citizens themselves be spared. The Cultivators agreed, and the Earth Elemental opened up a passage directly to the City.

However, in what she would come to learn as typical Cultivator (and mortal) behavior, the Four Pillars went back on their word. In less than a week, they had slaughtered every single living being in the City, man, woman, or child. Young and Old, Solider or Civilian, none were spared. So great was the bloodshed that even the mountain atop the city began to seep crimson, the waters of its river turning to blood.

Even to this day, the place was still known as the Bloodriver Mountain range.

Afterward, the Four Pillars had totally weeded out any knowledge of the City of Gears or the 'Path of Laws.' Even in this era, merely knowing of these things was enough for a person to simply disappear into the night, never to be heard from again. But humans are nothing if not a curious creature, and enough bits and pieces have survived the ages in various forms for those with the right eye and right mind to piece the story back together again. 

Jīshí, for her part in the massacre, fell into a mighty rage. She lashed out, dealing each of the Four Pillars devious wounds that would take millennia to fully recover from, including killing their then {Sky Piercer} Leaders. After this, she slipped into a deep depression and disappeared from the mortal world for over a thousand years. She promised on that day that she would never trust another mortal so willingly again.

When she finally reappeared, the Cheerful, Mothering Elder Elemental beloved as a goddess of Heart and Home, had disappeared. In her place was the cold and cynical "Lord of Stone" the World would come to know of.

Jīshí shook her head, breaking herself out of memories Ages old, and turned back to the slightly panicking young man in front of her. 

[Jīshí] - "Now, that brings us back to you, my Boy."

[Lin Weiyua] - "To Me?!"

Jīshí grinned ear to ear once more.

[Jīshí] - "Yes, you. What if I were to tell you that the Fallen Star your Sect has found wasn't an Artifact of Cultivation. Nor one of Mind, Magic, or the Divine."

[Lin Weiyua] - "Y-you mean that thing was a Law Construct?! But that's impossible! Sure, the City of Gears was powerful, but their tools, they were nothing like that... THING. I-if they could build something like that, then how did they even lose?!"

Jīshí sighed and stood.

[Jīshí] - "Because. They didn't build it."

[Lin Weiyua] - "But if the City of Gears didn't build it, then where..."

Lin Weiyua followed the Elemental's gaze as she stared meaningfully into the sky, arms folded behind her back. He tilted his head in confusion before something clicked, and his eyes widened in shock.

[Lin Weiyua] - "Oh... OHHH! Oh, dear Lord..."

Jīshí turned her eyes back towards the young man, her face blank.

[Jīshí] - "I have stared into the Fallen Star's past, Lin Weiyua. I have seen its creators. I have seen what they are capable of and willing to do. And I have seen that they are coming. We can't stop them. We can't even fight them, not any more than the Ant can fight the cruel child. The moment that Fallen Star landed on our World... it was already theirs."

Lin Weiyua covered his head with his hands, slightly panicking.

[Lin Weiyua] - "W-what, do we do then?!" 

[Jīshí] - "We prepare. We do our best to ensure that as many people as possible survive what is to come."

Lin Weiyua stared up at the Elder Elemental, a being to who many on this World was a living god, and for the first time, saw fear on her face.

[Jīshí] - "The Fallen Star, Alpha, is the Key to it all. He alone can ensure we are welcomed by his Masters in peace and not as Pests to be exterminated. The other Four Pillars can not be allowed to get their hands on the Fallen Star. Or in their ignorance and fear of the 'Path of Laws', they will doom this entire world to Extinction."

Lin Weiyua could only shake his head and stare down at the table, trying desperately to process the things he had just learned. After a long moment of silence, the young man finally stood, a look of determination heavy on his face.

[Lin Weiyua] - "What do you need me to do?"

Jīsh's ear to ear grin returned as she spoke, 

[Jīshí] - "You and me, my friend, are going to prepare a distraction for those old Bastards."

 Despite the sun on his back and the determination in his heart, Lin Weiyua couldn't help but shiver as he stared at the Elemental's cruel smile.

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