Demonic Tribulations - Chapter 27 preview (Patreon)

Chapter 27 - Yin Xue

“Focus, little one. Focus!”

Yin Xue felt his irritation spike, his mind drift as the words from the great dragon broke through his concentration. Admittedly, his focus had shifted, but it had been weeks of this already. Legs crossed, breathing slowly as he churned the demonic energy through his body. Sharp jolts of pain as the soul portion of the great Cai King within fought to escape.

Escape the confines of the heart itself and escape the soul formation that the dragon had carved so easily into the air and then embedded within his body. That was the only thing keeping the Cai king from breaking free and taking over his body.

After weeks of battle, one where the king fought with an arm and a leg tied behind his back and yet, was still managing to push Yin Xue to the utmost, his own concentration and ability to stay focused was flagging. There was only so long he could hold his focus after all, being human.

It was already a monumental thing, he thought, to have been so dedicated for so long. Then again, complete and utter eradication had a way of concentrating ones mind.

“Stay focused. Your enemy is tiring! Soon, your opportunity to grasp victory will occur.” Bianhualong trumpeted, its giant snake-like body swaying in the air as dark eyes regarded the inner workings of his soul. Strange, to feel it stripped bare so easily.

“I. Know.” Yin Xue grated out. “I am holding him down. You telling me to stay focused is not restful, especially when you just told me to gather myself.”

“I said gather, not rest,” Bianhua huffed, the dragon looking affronted. “How could you rest, when your existence is right on the edge of destruction?”

“Because that is the normal state of affairs for a mortal, Honored Great One,” Yin Xue snapped, lacing the honorifics with sarcasm. Weeks of being abused by the other had worn his respect and fear away, inch by inch such that only a nub remained behind. “Unlike you, us mere mortals might fall over at any moment from a fatal case of death.”

“At least you know when you’re reborn you could not fall much lower,” Bianhua said.

For the first time, Yin Xue heard a touch of uncertainty in the arrogant dragon’s voice. He looked up, only for the towering dark dragon to turn aside, as though finding something in the swirling hurricane around them more interested to see.

So, the dragon did have fears. Mostly of being reborn a mortal or lesser beast which was appropriate, but he did have fears. Something deep within Yin Xue stirred at the thought, a portion of him that was both the greedy king and the weary cultivator. He did not know what that piece of information might do, if it even mattered, but it was noteworthy.

“You never told me why you chose to help,” Yin Xue said, deciding that the increasingly uncomfortable dragon needed to be diverted. Better for them to think about something else than the fact that they had revealed something human to the mortal. A revelation that could be taken back, by the simple expedience of lying down on top of him.

“What is there to say? You have an interesting dao – the two of you.”

“I have an interesting dao?” Yin Xue said, surprised.

“The dao of broken nobility?” Bianhua sniffed. “Not many out there with it. Though, I fear you’ll need to change it – are in the midst of changing. If not for your dao’s natural arrogance, it might have been overwhelmed already by the king’s, but it is not enough as you are experiencing.”

“You said I need to change, but to what? What is safe?”

“A compromise.” The dragon rumbled, softly. “You sense the soul struggling in you, you can feel the way it tears at the world and tries to consume it all. That is not a safe or good dao, for it is guaranteed to lead to tragedy.”

“Only if one is not strong enough,” Yin Xue said. “And what is good? Who are we to put such judgments on the Dao?”

“The Dao is balanced, boy. Do not try to quibble meanings with me, when your Dao would consume everything. There is no balance within it, no controls. A taotei might be part of this universe, a necessary bottom feeder to cleanse the world of corruption and diseases, but the creature is still a pest, vermin that should be exterminated when found.”  Bianhua spat. “Tell me, boy. Are you vermin?”

Yin Xue gulped, the sudden fierce and intense focus reminding him that perhaps he should care about this creature’s opinion a little more. Also, that his habit of arguing to justify his position, a habit he had developed after so many years having to deal with those who had scorned him for his demonic eye, his arm, it did little good for him now.

“Now, listen. There is nothing wrong with ambition or the quest for power.” Bianhua sniffed. “Many creatures of nature follow such instincts, when necessary. Knowing that strength is how one survives is important, but so is the cunning to know when to yield. The wolf knows to work in packs, and its place in the hierarchy. Even the tiger will be wary of a wolf pack or watch a doe pass, if it is not hungry. And both avoid humans, especially in large numbers.

“The world is all of balance. A dao that has not that ability will make you nothing more than a ravening demon.”

“Are we not in the demonic realms?”

“Do you think the demons that live here, that exist among their kind do not understand the onus their own pathways places upon them?” Bianhua said. “They walk more treacherous paths, each and every one of them. To safeguard themselves, to safeguard their families, they have enacted a variety of methodologies, a slew of cultural and legal options.”

“Like what?” Yin Xue asked, curiously. He knew little about the societies of the demons. Like any proper orthodox cultivator, he had little enough truck with them before he had been forced to take on his arm and eye. Since then, he had to be even more careful about the types of questions he asked, the research he undertook less he be called a traitor.

It left him, ironically, extremely underprepared for his current circumstances.

“Some are loners. Others value strength – of mind, of heart and honor – above all. They place the ability to control themselves above everything, beyond honor, beyond mercy or kindness. Rigid control, because to succumb to darker impulses would be wrong.” Bianhua sniffed. “Others isolate themselves, stratify their societies and create caste systems, allowing only certain demons to rise. There’s even a realm where the demons seek to control who can rise, by gifting their energies to the one who most exemplifies themselves and their society. These leaders watch over their people, going to war with other immortals in their realms.”

“Sounds little different to the hodgepodge in the Middle Kingdom,” Yin Xue replied.

“Mmmm, where do you think some of your people get the ideas for? Or vice versa.” A long, low rumble that shook scales and caused the very wind to vibrate. “You’d be surprised how many terrible ideas have been adopted either way, because one party or the other felt it was best to test it out on someone else.”

“So what? Demons are like humans? Just with darker inclinations?” Yin Xue said, wryly.

“The Jade Emperor would say predominantly darker inclinations. Like the heavens and the immortals who exist on those planes are the brightest forms of the Dao, the demons are the shadows, the darkness that it must have to balance.”

“How convenient, that the immortals above are the light. I assume they also believe that light means good?”

“Many advance that theory, though the official line is that it is no more right or wrong than Yin or Yang can be.”

Yin Xue sighed. “And you want me to integrate that kind of dao, let it consume me and finish the transformation I have begun.”

“Was that not your plan in the beginning?”

“Before I learnt there was a soul in the heart! Now, it feels like a terrible decision.”

A long sniff. “Oh, relax.” Yin Xue brightened and Bianhua continued. “It was always a terrible decision, but now you’re committed. So it’s time to stop whining and take action!”