THE PROMISED REWARD

Martial Avatars.

How many years had it been since Cheng Hao first had that conversation?

Back then, a young Xiao Lan would listen intently as Xu Ling revealed this ability to him.

Being a Young Master of the Xiao Clan, the mainline successor even at that, Xiao Lan had the birthright to a compatible Martial Way. Though he had the first instance of Triple Qi in the Clan's long history, and as such no cultivator could craft such a Martial Way, he was still entitled to the next best option: three Martial Ways; a Black Dragon, a White Oak, and a Purple Moon.

Even after he was banished from the Clan, that privilege was something that couldn't be taken away.

Left with nought but three Martial Ways, Xiao Lan thus sought Xu Ling's guidance. Under the Great Sage, he came to learn about the cultivation system's many flaws and his many novel theories. Among them, he was particularly enamoured with the concept of Martial Avatars.

At the time, neither Xu Ling nor Xiao Lan himself could have ever imagined that the Brightfolk youth's passion for Martial Ways and Martial Avatars would someday bless him with an impossibly clever epiphany; one that would have shaken the landscape of the cultivation world and propelled it forward by many eras were the land of countless planes not in the midst of dire war.

Martial Ways, their Martial Avatar, a certain Primordial's long ignored practice, and a spark of undeniable genius.

Overnight, Xiao Lan would overcome the gap between Realms.

At the break of dawn, the fledgling Ageless would open his eyes as a powerhouse capable of matching Immortals.

...

At the sight of the hair a familiar shade of purple, albeit with blue highlights at the tip, and of bright, green eyes shining like emeralds, Cheng Hao felt nostalgia threatening to take a stab with his every breath.

The boy's gaze visibly mellowed as Xiao Wu's expression remained pensive.

"Though strange for Xiao Lan's descendant, it's clear you have never witnessed the likes of this technique before. Could it be... nobody has ever shown you the way your ancestor fought his battles?"

"Eh? Showed me?" Xiao Wu, who was lost in her thoughts, was shaken awake at once as her interest was suddenly roused, "You mean, as in, the sharing of memories? Though I know Ancestor and Lord Xu Ling could do it, none of my proctors had that ability."

Cheng Hao raised an eyebrow, "You had no Immortal Realm proctors?"

The girl was a little thrown off by that question. She eyed the boy strangely before shaking her head, "Oh no, I did. At least, a few of them were. Oh, though they are far too young to have been Immortals at the time of the Rebellion. The oldest Ascended as recently as a hundred years back. Was the sharing of memories a fairly common Immortal Method before then?"

"Something along those lines, yes." Cheng Hao rapped his fingers on the tabletop as his smile grew a little cold.

'So no one but Little Lan believed in my return? So much so the newer generations didn't bother treading even the initial portion of my Path? How... lovely.'

"I've never had the chance to see Ancestor Lan at work. Why? Was it important? Because I doubt I'll ever have a chance to anytime soon, seeing as how neither of us is a thousand years old. How could we possibly have such an old memory..." Xiao Wu chuckled bitterly. Then, her delicate brows rose, followed by her emerald-like eyes widening as she saw Cheng Hao's amused grin...

Just then, the grandfather clock in one corner of the hut struck the first hour past midnight.

Cheng Hao stretched in his seat while exclaiming, "Enough!"

"Eh?" Xiao Wu's expression fell.

"It's gotten late. Let's go to sleep. Even though you won't need it as much now that we have a cultivation base's support, it's always better to let the fatigued mind ruminate about the happenings of the day- Ah."

He turned to look at Goldy as a sudden realization hit him.

"Didn't we also just breakthrough tonight? Like, just-just earlier? Couldn't be more than an hour ago..."

Blindlight squinted in visible revulsion, "Did you remember that just now, you workaholic? Are you trying to drown the lass in all that jibber-jabber?"

Xiao Wu felt as if the world was crumbling, "Eh? W-Wait-"

"Mmm, boy have we made progress! Good job, Goldy!" Cheng Hao nodded as he gently pet the dragon's small head.

"I understand you and your fingers had a falling out. I'll be happy to help remove them for you, so do keep playing around with my horns. I insist. Thinking of a Grand Primordial as a pet, dread you not for your appendages? Ah, you move on to the chin now- purrrr- Keep it up, why won't you? I'd like to see how you plan on having little Cheng Haos once little Cheng Hao is gone..."

Unbeknownst to Blindlight, his tail was happily wagging even as he threatened the unspeakable, up to the moment the golden-eyed boy raised both hands in defeat.

"Wait! I say, hold on just a second! Listen to me!!!" Xiao Wu was waving her arms frantically. The young lady seemed deathly afraid that the atmosphere could wash her over and make her forget an important point that had been so easily glossed over, "What was that about just now? You actually have Ancestor's-!"

Pah!

"Eh? Hey!"

Xiao Wu grabbed at her forehead, which Cheng Hao had not-so-gently flicked.

Xiao Wu puffed her cheeks in an adorable pout as she massaged her reddened glabella. Then, a glimmer of faint realization suddenly flashed past her emerald eyes.

"A promise is a promise. Congrats on your quick breakthrough, Little Wu!"

"...I'll be grilling you about it tomorrow, so brace yourself, Brother Hao," bitterly muttered the child whose expression betrayed her excitement.

"Yes, yes. Now, I'm feeling rather tired from the happenings of today. I'll even have to wake up extremely early tomorrow since I'll be teaching you a technique that can only be cultivated at sunrise, cut me some slack and let me rest already!"

Xiao Wu stuck her tongue out as she rushed into the bathroom to wash up before bed.

...

A few minutes later.

"Good night Little Wu."

"Night-night!"

BAM!

Before Cheng Hao could even place wrap his fingers around the handle of his room, Xiao Wu had already barged into hers, slamming the door shut behind her.

Back at the Clan, guards and proctors would flock around her without rest. The only time she could afford some privacy would be at night, in her sleeping quarters. The habit of rebelliously slamming the door shut in the face of her security staff had long been ingrained into her very bones.

'...That wasn't very nice of me, was it?'

Cheng Hao snickered as the young lady seemed to be rethinking her actions, gently reopening her door just enough so that he could barely make out an apologetic smile, before closing it again, this time much more gently.

Cheng Hao entered the room with an entertained smile. He then threw himself onto the comfortable bed, the first one he had slept in in a long, long time.

Before he fell asleep, Cheng Hao grabbed ahold of a strand of Qi in his surroundings with his Authority. The strand of faint, blurry Qi twisted around his fingers, at his beck and call. As the boy wore a complacent expression, the strand bent and turned atop his palm, acquiescing to his will.

Though cultivators could shape the surrounding Qi through their Authority, that was naturally limited to shaping them into strands of their own Sensed Qi.

"Not me, however."

Cheng Hao looked at the Inferior Strand of Black Dragon Qi atop his palm.

The Sovereign Qi was incredibly pure, much more so than any Qi he had ever encountered. The reason for that was that it was the closest thing to a complete record of all possible Qi.

Though it might not hold the answers, it asked all the questions.

Theoretically, so long as one knew which questions to pick, and knew the answers to them, couldn't one derivate all existing Qi?

"Correct. Though many might find such a task arduous..."

The black dragon gave way to a white oak, then a purple moon, a dancing ember, a pale ore, and countless more as glimpses of sceneries, beings, and vague manifestations of abstract concepts, flashed atop the youth's palm in rapid succession.

"I am an exception that is rather open to trying new things."

The Great Sage, whose utmost delight had been to inquire the myriad strands in the World of Qi, naturally held a hefty catalogue of questions and answers. Not to mention the knowledge from the Tower of Babel, and his Path...

"I guess you could say, I know a fair lot."

Goldy looked on from the side. There was a trace of jealousy and even begrudge in his eyes as he watched the youth conjure different kinds of Qi, bending them all to his will.

Alas, with a smug smile still on his lips, Cheng Hao wiped away the apparitions and rapidly fell asleep.

...

Xiao Wu was startled awake by the howling of a strong wind.

When she opened her eyes, she found herself overlooking a tall precipice, many miles tall.

The terrain at its bottom was a barren flatland, with damaged artefacts and shattered weapons laying about on crimson, blood-stained ground. The wind carried the scent of blood and the cacophony of weapons shattering and of men and women crying out.

The true battlefield took place far above the ground where the waste of the fallen had gathered to form hills.

Xiao Wu moved her attention to the distance, paling at once.

Xiao Wu felt her hair raise as she saw cultivators, countless and endless, like ants swarming out of a flooded anthill, charging right up at her from the distance!