Savage Divinity

Hooked sword in hand, Goujian strode across the dry desert sand and approached his foe with careless ease. A pretense, of course, for only a fool would dare take a Great General lightly, much less the famed Gao Changgong. Renowned for his part in single-handedly breaking the siege of Luoyang, there would be new songs sung and dramas written about the tenacious Major General should his recent exploits come to light. Evading capture when the Western Bridge fell, Changgong marched his army of fifty-thousand soldiers east to reinforce Shen Sha, where the sixty-seven year old Hero of the Empire held out against the Defiled hordes for two full months. When the gates finally fell, the Defiled found an empty shell of a city waiting for them, with every man, woman, and child having long since evacuated to Heaven knows where.

But this was not the end of Gao Changgong’s epic tale. Two weeks later, the Major General appeared outside the Defiled-held coastal city of Taktala, where he and his army slaughtered the city’s defenders and razed it to the ground, denying the Enemy its massive fleet of ocean faring trawlers and its storehouses pack full of preserved provisions. While not so crippling a blow for the cannibalistic Defiled, this single attack gave Changgong enough supplies to disappear for months, and disappear he did, but not for long. Once word of his daring feats spread, many flocked to his side bringing weapons, provisions, and local knowledge, all of which this Great General of the West used to organize a province-wide guerrilla resistance which proved a thorn in the Uniter’s side for the past year. Based out of hidden military installations, bandit camps, or even secluded villages, these insurgents slaughtered tribesmen and set fire to granaries, stole weapons and sabotaged factories, doing anything and everything they could to spit in the eye of the Enemy even at the cost of their own lives.

While many Imperial Warriors were guided to the Truth in this past year, they could only give up the location of the camps they’d served in. Using a system of distributed organization, each resistance camp worked independently in a certain area, sharing only information and resources through blind exchanges and dead drops, but keeping their identities secret and never sharing manpower to minimize the damage a single traitor could accomplish. This covert, self-reliant style of resistance meant only Changgong’s closest confidants knew his location which allowed him to remain hidden for well over a year.

Until now.

Following their ignoble defeat in Sinuji, Goujian acted on his thoughts and took steps to distance himself from young Gen who’d proven himself an unworthy disgrace. Instead of staying by the boy’s side to watch him devolve into a debauched, gluttonous, reprobate, Goujian put his skills to the test hunting down Imperial insurgents, a task Mao Jianghong was poorly equipped to handle. While the Sanshu native had a few minor victories to his name, Changgong and his guerrillas were running roughshod through the Western Province before Goujian took over, but after a lifetime spent exposing hidden Defiled, finding Imperial soldiers was as easy as turning his hand.

Using skilled spies, experienced trackers, and carefully laid traps, Goujian uncovered no less than eight independent bastions of Imperial resistance in past months, but instead of destroying each nest of Imperials he came across, he kept them all under watch and sent his spies in to infiltrate their ranks. Most failed and were killed outright, but he persevered. After three months, his efforts finally bore fruit when he captured a Brigadier on his way to meet local insurgents, a high-level Officer named Shaoyi who worked closely with Changgong.

That idiot boy Gen had captured another Brigadier almost a month before Sinuji, but instead of questioning such a valuable prisoner, he indulged in his lust and killed the female Officer out of hand. Such a blunder, Goujian must have been blind to think the boy had potential...

It took almost a full week of torture to extract the information he wanted, but all men have their limits and Shaoyi was no different. Armed with the location of Gao Changgong himself, Goujian brought an army of Chosen and tribal auxiliaries to surround the hidden base situated by the mountain passage between the Northern and Western Provinces, cleverly disguised beneath a supposedly abandoned fishing village on the Northwest coast of the Azure Sea. Despite uncovering no signs of life, much less a hidden army, Goujian had an Earth-Blessed Transcendent collapse the escape routes he’d extracted during Shaoyi’s interrogation before offering a challenge to the ‘unknown commander’, hoping to bait out a juicy target and use his improved Martial prowess to catch Changgong off guard.

Until moments ago, he hadn’t even been certain the Major General was even here, but with the Imperials trapped and outnumbered, this Great General of the West had no choice but to come out of hiding and respond to Goujian’s call for single combat, if only to buy time. With his dark skin, strong jawline, prominent brow, and bushy eyebrows, Changgong was a westerner through and through, even wearing standard infantry armour and wielding a typical western quarterstaff as his weapon. Unlike the rattan sticks found in the hands of herders and farmers however, the Major General’s Spiritual Weapon was three meters of steel-encased Spiritual Lead which weighed at least forty kilograms, if not more. A powerful weapon few could wield, but Changgong used it with ease to smash through gates, walls, and Defiled alike.

A fine weapon carried by an accomplished warrior of the Empire, which made him an ideal subject to measure Goujian’s recent progress.

Once only a mere twenty meters separated them, Goujian paused his advance as Changgong raised his staff in warning. “So, the Confessor, finally shows, his true colours,” the distinguished hero said, even sounding like a typical westerner with his slow, ambling drawl, pausing every few words as if to think of what to say next. “Unsurprising to see the Mad Dog, fighting alongside Defiled, but at least this Gao, has the honour of taking your head.” Looking past Goujian, Changgong studied the army of Chosen with a scowl and asked, “Brigadier Shaoyi is dead, I presume? Or has he too, betrayed the Empire?”

Smiling, Goujian shook his head. “Defeat me, and perhaps you will find out.” No sense giving away free information, for if Changgong believed Shaoyi a traitor, then it would exert hidden pressure during their duel and force him to reflect on everything the Brigadier knew and might’ve shared, such as habits and flaws in his fighting style. Taking a step forward, Goujian brandished his hooked sword and said, “Enough of your stalling. My blade yearns for the blood of traitors.”

Letting loose with a booming bark of laughter, Changgong hefted his staff onto his shoulder and said, “Muddle-headed old fool. You fight, for the Defiled, so whom amongst us is the traitor?”

“I fight for –” So enraged by his foe’s ignorance, he almost missed the cues as Changgong’s staff lanced towards his head, the deceptively relaxed pose hiding the Major General’s true intent. Unable to parry the attack, Goujian gathered his Domain to Deflect it aside, and only barely succeeded in keeping his head intact. A single attack was all it took to show the difference between them, and Goujian was sorely outmatched in speed and power. Devoting all his attention to his defences, he gave ground before the domineering Great General and avoided the powerful thrusts and sweeps of the quarterstaff. Round and round the weapon went, twirling about in a hypnotic display of skill and strength, shrieking through air and crashing into dirt while Goujian danced away. Stylistically, this was a poor match-up, but even without the advantages of range and power, Changgong would still be a formidable foe, which was exactly what Goujian wanted.

While he only had a small chance of victory, he was confident he could preserve his life and escape if need be, for the secrets of Heaven had become clear to him. Without a doubt, Goujian was most proficient at Concealment, but it had little use in direct combat as evidenced by his near-death experience at the hands of Twinned Dragon Jukai. Despite hiding within the chaotic melee, the formidable warrior uncovered Goujian’s presence and almost took his life with a single blow, but after less than a dozen exchanges, he turned the tables and beheaded his more skilled opponent. At the time, he attributed his victory to a sudden Insight into the Forms, but upon reflection, he realized it was so much more. As evidenced by the name, Concealment was used to hide one’s presence from onlookers, but why must it be limited to all or nothing? There was no reason why Concealment wouldn’t work on a smaller scale, and if so, then it was easy to imagine what would happen if one lost track of their opponent’s weapon in the midst of a duel.

Which was exactly what happened in his match against Jukai: partial Concealment, a method he instinctively utilized to catch Jukai by surprise with an unexpected offensive.

Rather than Concealing his entire form, which left a large void in his opponent’s perception and all but gave away his true location to a discerning foe, he merely Concealed a few movements which obscured his movements and went largely unnoticed until it was too late. It was a difficult skill to practice, since Goujian’s perceptions remained unaffected by his Concealment, but according to the many sparring partners he’d enlisted and subsequently killed to keep his secret, it was as if he had six arms and three weapons, his arm moving in one trajectory before rapidly switching to another and appearing to strike in unanticipated bearings. His speed remained the same as before, but his partial Concealment clouded his opponent’s perception of his movements just enough to shroud his next move in mystery or even mislead his opponent and force a miscalculation. The skill wasn’t without flaws, because if he tried to Conceal too much, his opponent would see through the overall deception and be on his guard, while too little left his tricks exposed. A game of millimetres, for life and death were separated by a margin of error that small, but after a lifetime spent studying the minds and habits of men, Goujian walked the razor’s edge with ease.

Limiting his partial Concealment to his hands alone, he stuck to jarring, abrupt changes in movements to throw his opponent off. Feint left, move right, fake an attack and retreat. Display an ‘opening’ where he was ready to respond, or launch an obvious bait which turned out to be a real attack, these small tricks allowed Goujian to exchange blows with a Peak Expert unrivalled by any but the best of the best. In fact, this partial Concealment was more effective when used against a skilled opponent like Changgong, for a lesser warrior might not see the ‘weaknesses’ in Goujian’s defences or mistake the ‘feint’ for a real attack. Round and round he went exchanging blows with Changgong, pushing his new skills to the limit to see how far they could bring him. Once mastered, he imagined partial Concealment could even allow him to draw his sword, attack, and sheathe it again without anyone noticing, a true assassin’s technique which suited him well.

Gao Changgong lived up to his reputation however, unravelling the mystery of Goujian’s deceptive movements in less than twenty exchanges, but even then there was little that could be done to counter them. Unable to discern truth from falsehood, Changgong had no choice but to treat every illusory attack or exposed flaw as real, for they very well could be. It wasn’t as simple as ignoring Goujian’s hands and attacking elsewhere, because the Major General wasn’t fighting with only victory in mind. If he were willing to die alongside Goujian, then both their fates would be sealed, but in his arrogance, Changgong believed his life too valuable to exchange for Goujian’s, a mistake which would cost him dearly once this duel ran its course.

Victory had never been Goujian’s purpose here. He was merely using Changgong as a whetstone and keeping him busy so the Earth-Blessed Transcendent tunnelling into the underground base would go unnoticed.

A hundred exchanges passed by in a matter of minutes, then they exchanged two hundred more without uttering a single word, but still Changgong pressed on, wielding his powerful staff with tireless ease while Goujian’s arms grew heavy with fatigue. Twirling his weapon with an audible thrum, Changgong’s expression was unreadable even to an old hand like Goujian, but he knew the Major General’s stamina could not last much longer. Under Heaven’s Impartation, he’d spent the past nine months slowly renewing his aged body, and combined with hearty meals for ample sustenance, he was in peak physical form, so if he was tired, then Changgong was undoubtedly nearing exhaustion.

How much worse off would Goujian be if he tried to match the Major General blow for blow? How did Changgong compare to the other Great Generals of the Empire, warriors’ whose names were known across the lands as the strongest warriors of their generations? By age, Goujian was closer to the likes of Nian Zu, Shuai Jiao, and Du Min Gyu, but he knew he still had a long ways to go before rivalling them, so what of the younger generation? Though unable to match up with the terrifying Crouching Tiger Han BoDing or Sword King Ryo Dae Jung, Changgong couldn’t be too far off, which meant Goujian was only a few steps from reaching the Peak. Once there, with his ageless body warding off the ravages of time and Heaven’s Impartation guiding his steps, he might even one day shatter the Void and become a Divinity himself.

And Gao Changgong believed his life too precious to exchange for Goujian’s. Such hubris to look down upon the Future Emperor of the Azure Sea.

“Your smile,” Changgong said, breaking the silence for the first time since the match started without slowing his attacks. “It offends me.” Then the staff grew large in Goujian’s eyes and he saw his death.

With a thunderous crash, he was thrown almost thirty meters away before landing heavily on his feet, his ankles and knees groaning from bearing the brunt of the impact. A small price to pay, for standing between him and Changgong was a black-armoured Transcendent, a humanoid warrior of Heaven who served as Goujian’s guardian and the Uniter’s mouthpiece. Yellow-green lifesblood dripped from its grievous wounds, its right arm and shoulder lost in exchange for Goujian’s life, a trade which showed just how far he still had yet to travel before reaching the Martial Peak. “You... you were hiding your strength!”

“Hmph.” Planting the butt of his staff in the dirt, Changgong stood tall and sneered. “Appear weak when strong and strong when weak, a classic deception from the Three Hunting Strategies, yet one you fell victim to without a second thought. Steel gates and stone walls, this Gao has brought down, yet a mongrel torturer believes he can stand in my path? Pei. A mad dog you are, and feared you were, only it was not you we feared, but the master behind you.” Holding up four fingers to emphasize his point, he declared, “Forty moves, and not one more, you would have lasted, better than this Gao expected from the cowardly Confessor. No more than ten now, since this Gao has seen through your tricks.”

The pieces fell together. “You’re delaying for time.”

“As are you.” With a mocking smile which cut Goujian deep, Changgong taunted, “Best if you return to your previous profession, for you can only claim superiority when faced with the weak and uneducated. A Brigadier, in possession of vital information, vanishes without a trace, and you expect this Gao to sit and wait for death? A fool thinks he knows all, but a wise man knows he knows nothing. Be warned fool, for should we meet again, this Gao shall end your life, and count it as justice served.”

Taking to the skies, Gao Changgong Cloud-Stepped away, dashing south-west before disappearing into the distance. Still shaking from his close brush with death, Goujian turned to the Transcendent for clarification, and as expected, the Uniter was watching.

Three Months You Toiled, And What Have You To Show For Your Efforts? Nothing. This Sovereign Would Profess Disappointment, Had He Expectations to Begin With.

A stinging rebuke, and not just because of the Uniter’s painful means of communication. Since Changgong expected to be discovered, the other eight rebel camps would have long since been emptied as well, and it would be an arduous task to track them all down again. It went without saying that the Earth-Blessed Transcendent was already dead, alongside the vanguard force of Defiled tribesmen, but those were but a pittance compared to the time and effort wasted here. More than three months of hard work had gone into tracking Gao Changgong down, but now he and his army were in the wind once again, so who knew how long it would take to find them again? “I will immediately set to work following their trail. Changgong escaped to the south-west, but it was an obvious bait. I suspect his people escaped by ship and headed north in hopes of seeking safe passage into the Northern Province.”

It Matters Naught. Heaven’s Net Is Wide And None Can Escape Its Mesh. Return, For This Sovereign Has Another Task In Mind, One More Suitable For Your Skills.

“Understood.” Though it irked him to take orders from another, Goujian had no choice but to swallow his pride and obey. Even with Heaven’s Impartation to guide him, it would take time for him to grow in strength and surpass the Uniter, years at least, if not decades. Until then, he would bide his time and play his part well, which suited him just fine since he had yet to find a suitable Empress to bear his heir, much less gather enough Chosen loyal to his cause. After MuYang’s betrayal, Goujian didn’t trust the handful of agents who stuck by his side, and even his beloved Disciple YuanYin had grown distant of late, but no matter. The foundation for his future Empire would be carefully laid, brick by brick, and Goujian had all the time in the world to prepare.

The next morning, he left his army behind and Cloud-Stepped away with an escort of Transcendents and Peak Experts. When he arrived at the border city of ShiBei, it was early afternoon and the new year’s festivities were still in full swing, a foolish notion put into play by young Gen. Ever since his return from Sinuji, Gen had disgraced himself time and time again, but his erratic behaviour confirmed Goujian’s decision to abandon the boy correct. Having crippled his long-hated foe Falling Rain, it appeared as if Gen had lost all motivation to continue his training and decided to indulge in depravity instead. Caring nothing for age, gender, or appearance, he would gather up a group of playthings and lock them in his room with him for days at a time. Then, after sating his lust, young Gen would turn to other indulgences and feast upon his tired playthings, usually whilst they were still alive. From an outsider’s perspective, he was no different from the barbaric Defiled tribesmen he surrounded himself with, preferring their company to the Chosen of Heaven who retained full control of their faculties.

Disgraceful is what it was, truly disgraceful.

Unfortunately, this reprobate still enjoyed the Uniter’s favour, so there was little Goujian could do but hide his distaste as he strode into the boy’s quarters. More Transcendent than human, Gen lounged shirtless on his cushioned divan displaying his dark metallic torso for all to see, with serving girls and boys surrounding him to attend to his every need. Even Yuanyin was here, shirtless and ashamed while covering his groin with a cushion and unwilling to look his Mentor in the eye. “Goujian,” Gen greeted, wearing a lackadaisical smile. “Do you desire strength?”

Taken aback by the unexpected question, Goujian scoffed and replied, “Of course. What self-respecting warrior doesn’t?”

“Then take this Sovereign’s advice.” The arrogant little shit had adopted many of the Uniter’s habits, including the egotistical manner in which he addressed himself. Pointing at the playthings scattered about the room, all in various stages of health and undress, Gen grinned and said, “Pick a few lambs and indulge yourself, truly indulge. You are a promising subject, but too repressed and restricted by your morals and scruples. Small wonder since you spent a lifetime clinging to misguided Imperial beliefs of honour and ethics blinding you to the Truth, but Balance, true Balance, will only come once you’ve experienced all that life has to offer, including the hedonistic excesses you so disdain. You shouldn’t, because they are so wonderful, this Sovereign almost forgot how much fun could be had.” As if it were an afterthought, Gen added, “The razor’s edge, Mentor calls it, saying too much indulgence is poison, but too little leaves the soul weak and malnourished, and Mentor is a wise and powerful man.”

For some strange reason, the boy found his statement hilarious and cackled with delight, and the playthings around him laughed along so as to please their master. A sign of his declining mental state no doubt, but Goujian cared not one whit. It seemed Yuanyin would also disappoint him, but such was life, so he waited for Gen’s laughter to die down and said, “Sage advice, but this one is here to work.”

“Of course, of course.” Stopping to think, Gen closed his eyes and fell still as if fast asleep, only to come awake a few seconds later. This wasn’t the first time he’d suddenly fallen asleep without warning, but again, Goujian attributed it to his growing insanity and ignored it. “Mentor,” Gen said, giggling once more, “Wants you to use your connections to learn where Falling Rain will be stationed on the front lines and what troops he brought with him.”

“Ridiculous. The boy is crippled. Why would he be stationed anywhere?”

“He will be there,” Gen said, smiling like a child with a mouthful of candy. “Events have conspired against him, and now that he’s come out of his shell, this Sovereign intends to finish what we started. Falling Rain will either join us or perish, for he is too useful a tool to set aside and too dangerous a foe to be left to grow.”

Madness, sheer madness. With three broken Spiritual Weapons, Falling Rain wouldn’t even be able to walk without assistance, but still Gen and the Uniter would waste their efforts on him. “Very well,” Goujian said, flicking his sleeves in wordless displeasure. “Is there anything else the Uniter requires of this one?”

“Yes,” Gen said, tittering at a joke only he understood. “The Uniter wants you to ready your things. You will be joining this Sovereign on the march, but not until everything is in place. Pawns to move, preparations to make. A week or two to be safe, for as you know, haste makes waste.”

“Understood.” Ignoring Gen’s fresh bout of maniacal cackling, Goujian turned around and strode out the room without looking at Yuanyin again. A disappointment and a lost cause, he should have killed the boy alongside his brothers, but it was too late for regret. Best to be done with this foolishness as quickly as possible so he could return to matters of importance, like tracking down Gao Changgong. Even though most of Goujian’s intelligence network had been dismantled by MuYang’s bitter betrayal, there were a handful of Chosen informants still scattered amongst the front lines, not to mention the few contacts he’d made while masquerading as a farrier in Sinuji, so finding Falling Rain’s location should be simple enough, and even easier still to lie to Gen about the strength of Rain’s defenders. The Bekhai proved themselves a dangerous foe, and while Gen was slowly losing himself to madness, his prodigious talent meant it would be best if he died sooner rather than later. In fact, the longer this stalemate lasted, the happier Goujian would be, for when the sandpiper and clam go to war, it is the fisherman who benefits. Let the Imperials and Defiled waste their strength against one another, for once their strength was spent, Goujian would swoop in and help himself to the spoils.

For now though, perhaps a bit of indulgence wouldn’t hurt, because if experience had taught him anything, most of his heirs would prove disappointing, so it would be best if he trained them in batches...

Chapter Meme

- End of Volume 27 -