Wind tunnelled through thin gaps in the cliff walls, screeching as it brushed against the cliff's rugged edges. Two men stood at the plateaued base of the cliffs.
With his arms raised over his head, Vera's eyes latched onto the other man. His breaths quickened.
Qi rampaged through his meridians, in contrast to their usual steady pace.
"Young dragon, you can't win this fight by only defending." the man said with a taunting grin.
His eyebrows creased at the man's words, soon softening. Vera's eyes frantically darted across the terrain, looking for a way out.
"Aren't you supposed to be the strongest man across the five planes?"
With his legs tensed, Vera's feet pressed into the rubble beneath him. His nails were biting into his palms.
The taunting grin on the man's face disappeared; he started walking towards Vera.
Vera started stepping away from the man, the cliff wall closing in on his back.
For a moment, the breeze stilled, its screeching weakened. The man's body disappeared.
The hair on Vera's nape stood upright. He felt a palm on his back.
How?
His movements froze.
Myriad thoughts ran through his mind blurring together.
The wind started to screech against the cliff walls again.
"You can't space out like this in a fight, young dragon." The man's taunting tone echoed across the cliff walls.
Vera's footing gave way, his body lifting off the ground.
The stilled breeze roared in his ears as his body hurtled to the cliff wall.
A low thrum reverberated through the earth as the cliff shook.
Jagged rocks crashed into the ground, the impact running through the cliff's fault lines.
Vera's body crashed into the cliff wall. Tufts of dust and rock coating his bruised back.
Strings of spit tinged with blood seeped out of Vera's mouth. The man's palm indented his flesh, soon fading in with the rest of the indents the man had left.
Erratic breaths pulsed through Vera as he pushed away from the wall.
What the fuck is going on?
His gaze lost its focus.
His guard rose again as he faced the man.
"Your qi sure is tremendous. To think you're still fine after all the hits you've taken."
The man spoke as he approached Vera. His visage occasionally flickered, covering ten paces in one step.
"Tell me, young dragon, why haven't you sought out the guardians yet?"
"Do you think the land of the ascended is only a myth?"
While Vera heard what the man said, he wasn't processing it. His senses were pushed to their extremes.
His eyes continued to dart across the terrain, looking for a way out.
His stance lowered, Vera aimed at the western end of the cliffs. The weakened rock wall was the best breakthrough point in the cliff.
"Stop trying to run. I can catch you no matter where you run to."
The eyes of a predator latched onto Vera. Absolute confidence in a successful hunt.
The man's gaze unnerved Vera. The tips of his fingers ran cold, faint shivers ingrained in his stance.
Vera dashed to the western end. Cracks spread through the ground where he once stood.
In his blurred state, Vera didn't realise the futility of his actions.
A haunting warmth grasped his collar. His momentum was stifled and then overturned.
"Didn't I tell you running was futile?" Words that shook Vera's very being.
Vera spun back, his fist primed to break the man's grip, but the man didn't just outrank him in speed.
Vera's defensive strike was stifled. His fist was firmly grasped by the man.
His leisurely gaze let Vera understand the situation.
Running was not an option.
All of a sudden, the man let go of Vera. His leisurely gaze turned mischievous.
"I'll give you a chance. Hit me as hard as you can. I won't defend or dodge. But once you take this offer, you cannot try to run again."
Dread filled Vera's body. His knees turned to lead, and his breaths grew unstable.
Just punch him as hard as you can. What are you hesitating for?
You're the strongest in the plains. Most of the top masters in the plains would die if they took a punch from you unguarded.
Thoughts rampaged in Vera's mind, yet his instincts screamed for him to run.
His very being denied the strength he possessed.
Vera, now freed from the man's grip, dashed to the western edge again.
But he crashed into a wall immediately. A wall that would never give way. A wall that stared at him with a chilling gaze.
"Wrong answer."
The man's hand firmly grasped Vera's wrist.
He had not a second to process what was going on, his world flipped over.
One moment he was about to break through the western edge. Now he stood at the centre of the plane.
The man was nowhere to be seen. But his words echoed through the cage of the hills.
Light of day bled into dusk.
"In these lands your instincts never told you to run."
Vera frantically turned his head, looking for the source of the man's voice.
"You probably realised. You can't manifest your qi outside your body here."
"But today is your chance."
"I'll bring you to death."
"And if you survive, you'll cross the wall."
The wind that brushed Vera's back stilled. The grip that haunted him latched onto his arm again.
"I'll start here."
Bones turned to shards. The sound of his very structure squirming against his flesh made Vera gag.
His left arm hung low. Its structure was contorted beyond recognition.
His arm's muscular structure turned to that of a wrung-out cloth.
It was at this moment that he understood what was going to happen.
Am I going to die here?
Vera lashed out at where the man stood. His arm groaned from the amount of qi that flooded it.
But his first attack landed on thin air.
"I know I asked you to fight back. But this isn't what I meant."
"Resolve yourself, fight as you normally would. But understand you will die regardless."
Vera's concealed emotions burst open.
"Fuck you!"
"I didn't ask you to."
The man's visage was nowhere to be seen. His voice echoed from everywhere.
"That's mean. I'm teaching you here."
"Well, it's not like you have an option here."
Vera held up his guard again. His eyes were scanning across the rapidly deteriorating terrain.
Clear imprints marked the rough terrain. The man's feet left a mark from each step.
All of a sudden, Vera's vision was obscured.
A heavy thud resounded as the man's fist shattered Vera's nose.
Before Vera could crash into the cliff behind him, the man had placed his palm on Vera's back.
The muscles in Vera's neck tore open from the sudden jerk. His head hung back from the force of the punch.
The man's countenance appeared in front of him.
Even the wind stood confused; his rapid movements were a challenge for even the atmosphere to follow.
Heavy gusts broke open as soon as they formed.
Spit tinged with blood seeped through the edge of Vera's lips.
This has to be a dream. How could someone like this exist in the five planes?
Vera fell onto the ground as the man's support disappeared.
"Don't feel too bad. I'm not within any scale you could understand."
The man stood ten paces ahead of Vera.
"I'll give you another chance. Come attack me. Same offer as before."
Vera pushed off the ground again.
The boundary between instinct and thought thinned.
Attack. It's the only way.
Legs tensed against the earth, a faint mark forming on the ground. Vera roared as he lunged towards the man.
His clenched fist bit into his palms. Blood seeped into the base of his nails.
A wide swing. Powerful nonetheless.
Wind barely kept up with Vera.
A loud thud resounded through the cliffs. A faint tremble from the ground beneath them.
The impact was clear; the skin of his calloused knuckles tore open, raw flesh exposed.
Vera knew nothing had changed.
Unmoved, the man glanced at Vera.
"Good. But this isn't what I'm looking for."
"You need more."
The tips of his fingers pressed against Vera's chest. His hand on Vera's nape, holding him in place.
Thought bled into instinct.
"NO!"
The man wasn't listening.
His hand tore through flesh, the tip of his fingers peeking out through Vera's back.
Guttural screams escaped Vera. The fear of death overtook the pain he was feeling.
His body flopped onto the ground. A pool of blood forming around him.
His intensity dulled as the blood left his body; a faint cold encroached.
It was now undeniable.
There was no chance. This was it.
In realisation of his death, it felt futile to fight any longer.
In his dying moments, the pain dulled; only thoughts of his past remained.
"Master... I don't think I'll come home for the new year ritual."
The man stood silently, his gaze fixed on Vera.
Time is running out, young dragon. Give me a reason to keep you alive.
Warm blood engulfed Vera's face; his breaths drowned.
"I was supposed to come back home for good this year. Now that I defeated that Danho."
The continuity of his thoughts started to break.
"I remember the joy I felt when I first learnt martial arts. But even that faded away over time."
"Danho was supposed to change that. But in all his sincerity, he wasn't enough."
"Now that I'm dying—"
The blood that was supposed to be within him pooled at his fingertips, the reality of death became clear.
"I'm dying?"
"How?"
Memories of today flooded Vera's mind. Every exchange up to now played over and over.
The truth in his actions became apparent.
"Why was I running?"
"Was I afraid?"
"But I'm the strongest?"
"Futile?"
Blood climbed up to the back of his throat. Speech was no longer possible.
Even if there was no chance, I should've at least tried.
Spasms ran through his extremities.
Am I going to die like this?
Frustration bled into action.
Rejection turned to acceptance.
Vera's hand dug into the blood-soaked terrain beneath him. Actions that started weakly turned aggressive.
His fist that grasped the earth beneath him started to crash into it.
Acceptance turned into mortal indignation.
His face that lay in his blood rose above it. He gasped for breath.
Screams of someone who'd gone beyond death resounded through the heavens.
The blank expression on the man's face broke. His face split into a grin.
That's the way, young dragon. Stand up. Fight me. Act regardless of the outcome.
The cold that engulfed Vera weakened. The blood flowing through his chest grew faster.
The cold wind roared, as though it acknowledged him.
His knees buckled as he stood up. Nonetheless, he got up.
The fear that engulfed his sight was gone.
Thoughts faded to null. He stepped to the man. All the qi he could muster rushed to his fist.
No matter the pitiful strength he mustered up.
Vera struck the man's chest.
There was no resounding wind, no reverberating earth, no shattering cliff. But a smile broke open on Vera's face.
The cold he'd outrun, caught up to him. The seeping blood came to a stop.
His drained self could no longer stand. His consciousness faded.
Just as he was about to fall the man caught hold of Vera's collar, holding him in place.
"Well done, young dragon." His calm tone turned to one of joy and pride.
A warm qi spread through Vera's body. The flesh over his chest started to patch itself together.
Ruptured veins started reconnecting.
Through the lullaby of nature a voice came to Vera.
"I, Vast Heavens, will wait for you. Up there. Challenge the guardians and ascend."
***
The light of a new day, one that Vera shouldn't have been a part of, greeted him.
The pool of blood that stood beneath him had long dried to a powder. Time had passed, but Vera had no clue as to how long. Not that it mattered to Vera right now. His eyes were locked onto his palms.
A faint golden aura ensconced his fist.
The words of Vast Heavens, the ones he didn't process, came back to him.
"Was this what you meant?" His tone ran coarse. Not a drop of moisture left in his body.
"Was the boundary to manifestation action beyond death?"
"A death I could never find here."
His once shattered arm was completely fine. He pressed against the gaping hole in his chest, only to find a faint scar.
His eyebrows creased, his mind in disarray.
He was too aggrieved to be thankful.
The only way to resolve what he felt would be to meet him again.
His eyes lifted skyward.
"Vast Heavens, huh..."
"Are you in the land of the ascended, the mythical greater heavens?"
For now, Vera buried the storm of emotions he felt.
The world he saw, now that he manifested his qi, was completely different. Battle that he had once grown tired of became something he wanted to try again.
"The five guardians..." he spoke with no clear intent.
"I'll try."
In realisation of his hidden fear, Vera understood the falsehood in his path.
The glaring truth.
He wasn't strong because of the path he walked.
Rather, he walked the path because he was strong.
The joy he felt from battle as a child had once died.
But that joy budded today. The today where the lies that guided him died.