FLOWER OF BONE AND FLESH

As the gates slammed open, light flooded into the first floor.

A convoluted coil unravelled in that sudden daybreak: jet-black scales flowed like rivers of tar as the serpentine creature stood upright.

If not for its thirteen jaws and six malicious, thin eyes, its sinuous body and head otherwise loosely resembled that of a black viper. An exoskeleton extended from each maw of thirteen: still closed, they altogether appeared as a single, long, upturned beak.

At once, the fiend opened its thirteen mouths and let out a loud cry, a sound that was halfway between a roar and a hiss.

With the opening of the fauces, the exoskeletons were akin to the horrid blossoming of a bone bloom, coming together into an abyss of endless fangs. The countless thin teeth would vibrate like violin strings as the beast's cry reverberated from the dreadful depths of that chasm, and a cacophony of ghastly tunes ensued.

The flower of bone and flesh trembled and shifted as the guttural howls increased in intensity and rose in pitch. It extended outwards as it thinned at the stem, shedding its own fauces like dead skin as the cries reached their apex.

At that point, from the depths of the shrivelled, gaping jaws, a cascade of spinal fluids and flesh preceded the appearance of a humanoid torso and head, connected at the waist with the abyss of bone needles below: amidst the vibrating fangs, the torso stood upright as a white-bone cranium with thirteen eyesockets and no jaw emerged from the placenta of flesh.

Thirteen flares lit up in the pitch-black, as the creature's dreadful display came to an end.

"Mysterious space, withdrawn from Laws….. might spare you agony of my gaze….. of Harrowing illusion….."

The cranium in the bone flower cast its thirteen gazes onto the puny boy as its colossal, serpentine body shifted closer to its prey.

"Shan't thwart….. the claws and fangs."

The Harrowing Nightmare Serpent had shed its outer shell.

…

"As charming as ever..."

The boy appeared unfazed even as the nightmare of bone and flesh approached.

"Now, let me help you recall."

Cheng Hao closed his eyes and smiled gently: with his Pseudo-Core of Sovereign Qi as an anchor, he familiarly dove into the depths of his essence, tracing a certain connection back to his fingertips.

He waved his left hand: a stream of white fire materialized and coiled around his forearm.

He waved his right hand: a stream of black fire blazed and focused above his right palm.

Glory and Oblivion.

Dragonflames of the highest order, once plucked straight from Immortal Dragonkins' Long Huo gems. More than a thousand years later, though they had yet to extinguish, the Inferior Stage lacked the fuel to sustain even a portion of their full firepower.

But sometimes, an image would account for a thousand words. That was especially true when indescribable trauma accompanied them.

As expected, after but a glance at the two flames, the gargantuan fiend had come to a swift halt. Thirteen glares flickered, in utter shock and disbelief. And then, as despair filled their gaze, the cranium's eyesockets shily extinguished at once.

Cheng Hao raised his head, his left eye glowing so brightly it quickly eclipsed all colour.

This left eye of Cheng Hao's was a vortex to another world, wherein seas of blood flowed, mountains of corpses rose, and a cold, golden sun shone down eerily...

And then, the Ruler of that illusion spoke.

"Blindlight and I missed you."

".....?"

"It's been a while... Blackie."

He spoke words startling enough to close the gaps between three Realms.

"...hHHHHHHHHHHHHHHH!??!?!??!?"

Recalling the experiences from long ago, the monstrosity shrieked. The cranium dove straight back into the depths of the gaping maws and the bone flower wilted into its reptilian facets. The thirteen jaws snapped shut in unison, and the black serpent turned its tail and fled right back into the first floor. Let alone coming out, the beast had even slammed the gate close of its own volition.

A frail murmur echoed across the enclosed floor:

"...milord, as expected you were alive, how truly delightful! Of course, I missed you too..."

Blackie's voice was now incomparably subservient, articulating themselves more even as every word they spoke hurt their throat. Feeble too, even, as if they had run a long distance away from the gates and were hiding in some remote corner of the tower's floor.

That child looked barely eight or nine years old and it clearly did not match 'that person's age?

'So what?'

The brat was only at the Inferior stage and the gargantuan snake could rather literally dispose of him with but a brush of its tail?

'SO WHAT?'

They would be soon be forced into utter subservience if they acquiesced to the boy's demands?

'SO BLOODY FUCKING WHAT?!?'

"I'm glad you also feel as we did. Won't you come out and greet me then, Little Black?"

"I'm ashamed of my display earlier, I dare not show myself. It'd be better for me to reflect on my wrongdoings. Even a decade wouldn't be sufficient-"

"Come out and greet me, Little Black. Don't be shy."

"Milord..."

A voice on the verge of tears.

"Blackie. Out."

A second one that, even as it was feeling somewhat bad, was rapidly losing its patience.

"....."

The Harrowing Nightmare Serpent had long since forgotten that the person in front of them was but an Inferior stage cultivator, a small child at that: their rationale and thought processes had already been thrown into disarray.

Up until mere moments ago, the gargantuan snake had been basking in the image of the golden-eyed child's bloodstained corpse. Now, however, the only thing they could think about were events from a thousand years prior... memories they had forcefully sealed away to sleep peacefully at night. How could they possibly think straight when, all of a sudden, those nightmares had come back to haunt them?

"It's been twenty breaths, Blacky. Come out and grant me access to your soul. Don't you miss the old days? Or, do you plan on making me come in..."

"...yes, Milord."

...

"Milord Xu Ling-"

"It's Cheng Hao now. Cheng Hao," the golden-eyed boy smiled as he comfortably found his way atop the black serpent's head. There, a single scale had long ago been worn down into a comfortable seat, where he familiarly laid down. More spacious than ever, his spot was even more cosy than he remembered.

Cheng Hao raised his right forearm and amusingly examined a golden illustration hovering around his wrist. The scene depicted a black serpent: an exoskeleton extended from its thirteen jaws, whole its sinuous body had its long coils chaotically entangled.

A Heavenly Beast at the Immortal realm, formerly a custodian of World's End; Tian's dungeon for life-sentenced prisoners.

'Our cute Blackie.'

Blackwort, the Serpent of Harrowing Nightmares.

Cheng Hao watched as the projection of the Harrowing Nightmare Serpent was etched into his skin, scale after scale. By the time that was over, a golden and black tattoo had been engraved around his wrist, like an exquisite chain bracelet.

From then on, the Serpent's very life would rather literally be in his hands. A mere thought would be enough for Cheng Hao to cause unimaginable damage to Blackie, if he so willed.

"...but milord Cheng Hao, you certainly died that day. I witnessed the Fifth drag your soul with him into the yellow springs..."

"Mm... that happened, didn't it?"

"...how are you here then? Has it to do with this wondrous space? It has no World of Qi, and I can't interact with its laws. With what little ichor I had, I couldn't even make use of my Path. I barely had enough to sustain myself..."

"I naturally wouldn't leave you with any more than that. You could have struck me down the moment I approached if I did." Cheng Hao nodded after a short while, "I call it the Immortal Ascension Tower. It'll help me advance quickly... and gather a few people of choice if I so need it."

"...I'm infinitely honoured to have been considered... alongside... Lord Blindlight."

Blackie appeared rather anguished at the remembrance of the Heaven Devouring Dragon.

"...he has Rebirthed, while you won't need to, no need to worry so much." Cheng Hao consoled them, "In fact, I'm in a lowly plane. For you to adapt your body to the limits of this world's Fabrics you'll be forced to hibernate a while. Even once you do get to meet him, you'll have the advantage in terms of cultivation base."

'...I got done in by an Inferior Stage kid just by seeing your Dragonflames, Milord. Evidently, it's not a matter of cultivation base…'

"...yes Milord." Blackie felt shivers run down their spine at the sole thought of the golden-scaled Primordial. Even now, just looking at Cheng Hao's eyes of bright gold was disheartening.

"...you still appear rather out of it. Restrict your form and come outside, quickly. These months away from the World of Qi appear to have taken a toll on you. We'll have plenty of time to talk later."

'...Yes, Milord, the faster I can be useful the better, I understand. No need to spur me on with such a gaze. It's not like I can refuse.'

Seeing that even his look of pity was misunderstood, Cheng Hao could only smile wryly.

...

Alas, it was time to go back. With but a thought, the tower and everything surrounding him faded into black. At once, Cheng Hao felt as if he were falling asleep, and a vivid dream assailed him...

The boy opened his eyes to a Sea of Consciousness eclipsing the standards of any Advanced Stages that hadn't yet condensed their Cores.

He clearly felt an Authority over his surroundings. He felt that he could influence the flow of nearby Spiritual Energy just by willing his Pseudo Core to rotate.

By feeding Spiritual Energy to the strands of Qi, he could make use of their Laws to change his surroundings, to a certain point, up to a certain range. His reserves of Spiritual Energy would be expended as fuel, while the strands involved would build up fatigue and he'd need to let them rest for a while afterwards.

"I wasn't exactly the quickest... I imagine Little Wu would be done by now."

Cheng Hao's body of consciousness chuckled.

Then again, her Path seemed to be...

"...It's falling behind afterwards I should be worrying about."

With a sigh, Cheng Hao decisively rotated his Pseudo-Core once, letting the Worldly Laws pick up on his advancement.

ROAR!

A heart-wrenching, Heaven-shaking outcry could be heard as the complete Pseudo-Core was unleashed.

In the real world, the boy's eyes shot open.

Suddenly, a golden pillar could be seen rising into the sky beside a black-white-purplish pillar. It shot upwards and almost immediately reached the ten thousand feet mark. However, it did not seem discouraged as it failed to progress any further vertically, and instead increased its radius and expanded horizontally. By the time it had stabilized, it became clear that it was even many times larger than Xiao Wu's.

"Phew..." Cheng Hao exhaled and relaxed his body, shrugging his stiff shoulders and massaging his neck. He paused for a second and then raised his right hand.

"Come, my Tower."

Whoosh!

Above his palm, appeared the Immortal Ascension Tower.

The Tower was an exact copy of the tower in his Pseudo-Core. This time, however, unlike when he had first shown his Martial Way to Xiao Wu, the first of the fifteen gates was wide open.

The illusory outline of a black serpent crawled out from behind the giant doorway and began making its way up Cheng Hao's forearm.

At that moment, Cheng Hao's eyes glowed an even brighter golden hue as he forcefully dispelled the golden pillar shooting into the sky and dismissed the Tower before its absence could do his Pseudo-Core any harm.

By then, Blackie had climbed up the child's arm, followed by his right shoulder, and finally wrapped around Cheng Hao's neck like a necklace. They seemed somewhat illusory, but with each moment that passed, they were growing more and more tangible.

At best one month, at worst three or so: by then, they'd have grown genuine from faint and be useful.

At that moment, the sound of a person flailing about caught Cheng Hao's attention.

The golden-eyed youth turned towards the source of the sound: a wide-eyed, slack-jawed Xiao Wu had been staring at him, without daring to interrupt, and her legs had finally given out as she knelt.

Goldy's knowledge of the Immortal Ascension Tower far surpassed that of the young lady, and it allowed him to recover after swallowing a few mouthfuls of saliva.

Basking in the looks of surprise and shock sent his way, Cheng Hao rubbed the bridge of his nose rather nonchalantly as he asked with a smile, "Twelve-year-old, Ageless Realm. What says you?"

Xiao Wu blinked once, twice, twenty times. Afterwards, the emeralds lit up as she felt her confidence and competitiveness rising by the minute.

Her dark purple lips arranged into a spirited smile. Once again, her countenance had been sculpted by Cheng Hao's display of what was possible; of what others had done; of what she could do; of what she would achieve.

"Only if brother falls behind."

And even as her Sky was moved up, her unwavering confidence to surpass every newfound peak only meant her very essence was being elevated each time she was placed before one.

Higher and higher.

Higher than highest.

An unassuming, yet dreadful Path.

Cheng Hao had to prevent the corner of his mouth from twitching as his experienced eyes witnessed the girl's talents soar in real-time as she faced a standard that surpassed her previous expectations.

'Yet again, there goes my spotlight.'