Demonic Tribulations - Chapter 44 preview (Patreon)

Chapter 44 – Tou He

Everything had been going well for a while. The ants had moved along the inner edge of Tou He’s fire circle, piling in slowly. A simple repositioning of Minsci’s discs had allowed them to destroy even more of the ants, though he had only been able to do that once more, before the discs ran out of power. Now, they lay on the ground, inert. The ants had continued to surge forward through the small breach they had formed, gathering in a large swarm before the small hill and trio of cultivators.

Matters changed when three quarters of the ants had managed to pass through the flames. Biamin had been standing ready for more to arrive, intending to unleash her own attack in moments when the ants had chosen to take the initiative.

The first thing to happen as a sharpening of their dao. Tou He’s low-level circle of flames, controlled by an extension of his own aura had snuffed out. The ants aura pulsed and hardened, intensifying suddenly as their queen reached through them and their connection to lend her aid.

“Owww…” Tou He reeled a little, hand rising to the smooth skin around his temple as the backlash of having his aura forcibly suppressed caught him.

Even as he regained his footing, the ants unleashed a second surprise. While one portion rushed across the ground, another larger contingent took to the skies, tiny translucent wings spreading out behind them as they darted forwards.

“Did you know they could do that?” Minsci cried in surprise.

Biamin chose to act rather than answer, throwing her hand forward. A wave of cold rushed forward along with a cold gust of wind, catching the front wave of the flying ants by surprise and freezing them. The frozen corpses rained down on their brethren below, crashing to the ground and shattering apart as the sudden cold front struck them.

Her attack reached the first few ranks of the flying ants before the energy began to peter out. Biamin frowned, lent forward and concentrated, pushing the howling winds and cold forward, only to find herself stifled by the overbearing presence of the queen on the other end.

“What kind of dao is this?” Biamin snarled.

Grief laden voice answered her. “Collective sacrifice. She is spending the life force of her people to enhance them and bolster her attacks.”

Behind, on the ground, behind the line where his flames had marked, he could see the corpses. Tiny, unmoving bodies, their lives snuffed out by the dozens as their energy was drawn into the aura to combat Biamin’s own attack.

How much energy could you draw from a single ant? Not much, not even when it robbed itself of all its vitality, all its hope for the future. At least, it was not a soul sacrificing art, but taking chi instead of the immortal soul.

Sacrifice a hundred such creatures though, many who had broken through a few levels of Body Cleansing and the energy that amounted to began to grow substantial. Tou He could see it now, how they had managed to control so much land, beyond their numbers.

“Well, tell her to go. Away.” Clenching her fist, she tugged at an invisible string. Energy that had been gathering to fight her rushed inwards as she pulled it forwards, and then, the aura overextended, Biamin struck out once more with the cold.

Beside her, her companion pressed its body against her leg, lending emotional and spiritual support, their own aura mixing with hers to bolster her attack. Tou He could sense the way the pair worked together, their souls mixing and bolstering one another.

More ants fell, nearly a quarter of the swarm destroyed in moments. By the side, Minsci glowered at being shown up, his clever little machines having only decreased the total numbers by a small portion. He crossed his arms before his body as he rested on his tail though his mechanical arm opened and closed over in nervous anticipation.

“I will try.” Once more, Tou He sent intent, peaceful and calming energy outwards. At the same time, he spoke, hoping that his words – laced with his dao and good intentions – might reach the queen in her nest many li away.

“We mean you harm, m’lady. I was but curious about your presence and hoped to speak with you. There is no need to sacrifice the lives of your people. We are leaving now, and will not bother you or your people any longer.”

He waited for a long moment, hoping that there would be an answer. There was, but not in the manner that he had hoped for, for a sudden surge and more deaths; enough that it hurt to feel, erupted from the ants. A sweeping surge of force manifested itself and a giant ant manifested itself around the flying column made of aura and intent. It chomped down, and Biamin crashed to the ground, blood spurting from the edges of her arm.

“Oh, that was foolish of you,” Minsci murmured. He had unslung his arms, reaching for the axe by his side but it was Tou He who acted first.

“May you have greater wisdom and luck in your next life,” Tou He said, even as he pushed forth his own aura. Even as he stood there, hands in praying position, a ghostly, glowing hand formed in front of him. It raced forth, slamming the ant to a stop and then rising upwards before striking down, smashing the aura projection into the ground. The flying ant column veered down as well, crashing into the ground.

That was not the end of his attack though, for the ant caught fire moments later as Tou He’s purifying flame raced through the column. It tore through the aura, wielded like a scalpel as the cultivator sought out and found the connections between the ants and the queen. He severed them, burning them up the flame raced along, freeing each of the ants from the queen.

It became a race, between the sacrifice she demanded of the ants and Tou He’s burning flames. The creature thrashed about, growing in size and attempting to free itself and bite Tou He even as the fires engulfed the entirety of its body.

For all her strength and the aid of the ants, she was projecting her aura from countless li away while Tou He was right here. Though she bolstered her own attack with the lives of her followers, he was severing that ability and her connection.

The outcome was never in doubt, not once Tou He acted. However, the victory was not without cost.

“What is going on?” Minsci asked, staring at the pile of ants that still lived that moved around drunkenly, swarming outwards in a circle or in some cases, attacking one another or consuming their recently passed brethren.

“They are freed. Of their bonds to the queen and the hive. They are, for the first time, alone,” Tou He said.

“That…” Biamin, standing up and cradling her newly bandaged arm, shook her head. “They are not meant to live alone. How long can they survive?”

“Not long.” Profound sadness in his voice, as Tou He watched the creatures thrash about. It was why he had hesitated to act, for he had signed their death warrant as surely as he might have stepped on them as a mortal. Perhaps one or two might ascend, consuming the bodies of its brethren, but what short, despicable and lonely lives they would have.

Turning aside, he walked away, knowing that there was nothing he could do. He sought the internal peace within him that his friends had elaborated upon, the casual dismissal of all life as mere straw dogs. To see everything as the Dao itself must, no greater or worse or more valued.

Found, once more, himself unable to do so.

Instead, he whispered a prayer for all the lives lost and that would be sacrificed by his actions as he walked aside, headed to meet another who saw the world as no more than ants to be sacrificed for his own glory.