Patience was not one of my many virtues, hence why it may have been a blessing that I was largely in deep meditation when Fang Xu was working on reaching his karmic tribulation. Fifty years is not an especially long time to someone like me, but the wait would still have been agonizing – especially because I’d been looking forward to the reuniting of the two lovers for quite some time now.

  And that moment had finally arrived. My consciousness pulled itself awake just enough that I could observe with a sliver of my waking mind. And in the dark of night, on the third day after Dei had sought to employ Fang Xu, the Shadow began to move.

  You are not the only one to have set plans. It whispered, speaking to me though it could not see or sense me. See how your allies, your favored children turn against each other. See how they run. See what you refuse to see.

  But I remained still. For I was waiting for it. And I trusted my children.

  As an angel, as one of the first angels, Fu Hao had an instinctual connection to the Heavenly Dao in a way that even the Children did not. So she had felt them coming long before anyone else did, and jolted Fang Xu awake with a burst of energy. He twitched in his bed, eyes snapping open as the light that had been building within him for the past three days reached a crescendo, his divine spark roaring to life and setting him to moving before he was even fully awake.

  "Fang Xu, awaken,” she intoned, standing beside him in all her glory. For the second time in this life she let him see her, pulling away the veil of the spirit realm so only he could sense her presence. His eyes fixated on her and widened, mouth hanging open – it was a far cry from when they had first met, and he had been unable to look at her directly. Now he could look at her, unbowed. She smiled. “It is time.”

  “For what?” he asked, though in his heart she knew he knew.

  “Grab your bow. Your tribulation awaits.” She said, nodding sagely. Fang Xu scowled as he rolled out of the pile of furs he called a bed, slipping into his too-tight robes, finding robes that fit his broad stature was difficult in this part of the world, grabbed his yew bow from where it stood in the corner, and followed her out of his house.

  “Now? I can’t get one night’s rest before I have to leave?” Fang Xu complained quietly, rubbing his face. Fu Hao felt a twinge of sympathy for the man – he hadn’t slept well in decades because of the spiritual training his karma had put him through and the following spiritual sensitivity that came with it, but ultimately it was for the best. All this was, of course, made worse by the fact he had removed most of the formations around his house in preparation for leaving at dawn. The energy that flowed through his home pried open his senses, laying his soul bare for the entire world to see – a necessary thing, for the tribulation to come.

  She led the way, spirits of all kinds stirring as she brought Fang Xu deeper into the forest, the tall, dark trees hiding innumerable souls. Most shied away from her light, but a few danced closer – a single glance sent them scurrying away, for their own safety. The die had been cast, and the future hinged upon this one moment. She would not fail her duty. But she had to prioritize Fang Xu’s safety until the tribulation began.

  His silence was telling. The closer she brought him to the top of the nearby hill, the further his mind drifted, spiritual energy and karma dancing together, his qi raging as it begged to be unchained, released so it could rise up to the heights it needed to be. She kept it suppressed, a weight pressing down upon Fang Xu’s shoulders like a dam holding back the tide. Once it was released, it would surge forth greater than ever; but not yet.

  He still had one last trial to overcome. They both did.

  “I will be with you, but this is a path you must walk yourself.” Fu Hao said, emerging from the trees to stand atop the hill. Before them lay the vastness of the forest, both in the Physical Realm and Spiritual. The sky was crisp and clear in the Physical realm, dark from the Realm Sun setting upon this half of creation, yet still light enough one could almost make out the leaves of the Life-Giving Tree overhead, hanging in the sky like celestial objects. In the spirit realm, however, storm clouds were brewing.

  “The Dao can only be lived,” Fang Xu breathed, stalking about the hilltop. Four rocks had been set here ten years ago by the man himself, as this had been, at one point, his favorite meditation spot. He adjusted each one briefly and the formation he had set activated, qi humming as it was calmed and cooled, no longer running so hot beneath the land itself, while spiritual energy, the stuff of the spirit realm, ignited in passion, connecting him to the greater world.

  Fu Hao levitated skyward, gaze fixated upon the horizon. Darkness gazed back at her, and Fang Xu’s soul ignited. Spiritual light spilled forth from him in uncontrolled waves before he had even settled cross-legged on the ground.

  “And what,” Dei’s gruff voice called from behind. Fu Hao did not look away from the storm, having known he had been following since Fang Xu first woke up. “Are you doing way out here, this late at night?” Suspicion swirled in the man’s chest, and Fu Hao rolled her eyes. Now he starts listening to spiritual guidance, and what does he listen to? The dark spirits that have been circling him whenever she or her brother Stilicho aren’t checking in.

  “Dei, calm.” Came Celene’s melodic voice. Much of the ice that had clouded her soul had cracked away now, revealing the purest of frozen crystals lying beneath – yet Fang Xu continued to be wary of her, uncertain as he was by how fast and hard he was falling for the woman. It was fated to be so, though, as the red string dictated. He had no reason to fear. “Fang Xu has his reasons.”

  Fu Hao raised one hand as the storm clouds surged, revealing itself to be a mass of dark spirits intent on swarming the area with sheer numbers. Among them she could sense the presence of a few dark spirit kings – those spirits who had yet to ascend to a higher level, like an angel or god – as well as something…else. Darker. More sinister.

  “What is the purpose of this formation? The spirit beasts are acting up,” Dei snapped, staring out over the forest. This caught Fu Hao off guard, and she looked down at the forest to find that, indeed, the spirit beasts were starting to become more agitated. Was this their plan? Attack Fang Xu with spirits and a spirit beast horde? No...Fu Hao's eyes narrowed as she looked toward the horizon, sensing something off. There was something else moving out there...her eyes widened the moment she spotted them, though there was little she could do at the moment. Fae, with intentions as dark as their thoughts, moved about in the distance, setting up a formation. Foul energy surged as four pillars were erected in each of the cardinal directions, directing the energy of the leyline they sat upon and filling it with hateful thoughts, driving the beasts to madness.

  Fu Hao cursed, but there was little she could do to stop it - ease its power, perhaps, but not stop it - but even she could feel the effects of this devilish formation, driving anger into her. What would the effects be like for a mortal, if someone like her were effected?

  "Look North, Fang Xu. Enemies surround us," she said, steeling her nerves and attempting to cast off the madness that tried to blind her, turning her attention back to the approaching mass of spirits, hurtling towards them like a tidal wave.

  This content has been misappropriated from Royal Road; report any instances of this story if found elsewhere.

  “This formation will protect me during my ascension. My spirit must leave my body to complete it; it was designed to keep things away, not agitate them.” Fang Xu said, brows furrowed as he plucked the string of his bow, looking about nervously. "Someone else is agitating the beasts. I...don't know who, or why, but I think they're setting up a formation around me."

  Power surged through Fu Hao as she slammed her fists together, forced to focus her attention on her aggressors. A golden aegis sprang to life before her, spreading out to encompass the entirety of the hilltop. Dark energy hissed and steamed as it came into contact with her holy power, the dark spirits crashing against her shield like waves upon a cliff.

  “If this is all you can muster, it is woefully inadequate,” she declared as the dark spirits sought to shatter the protective field, yet found themselves wanting. They hissed and screeched, a spirit king striking the shield with all its might only to be sent reeling away by the pure, positive energy that comprised it. And she spared a glance at those beneath her.

  Dei flinched at the sudden burst of her power, somehow sensing a disturbance, while Celene remained calm, nearly blind to the spirit realm as she was. Only Fang Xu looked up at her, eyes glowing with light, the moment fast approaching. Slowly he sat down, crossing his legs and breathing even, body swaying slightly. Celene stood beside him, intention clear. Dei whipped his head back and forth between the two, his brows furrowed and thoughts muddled. Even in the protection of her shield, she could see the darkness of the enemy formation trying to seep into him and Celene, the latter of whom was firm in her standing, while Dei cocked his head, his emotions inflaming, memories of the last spirit beast horde surfacing.

  “Good thing it is not all we can muster,” a new voice said from far too close, and Fu Hao whirled. Two beings of nearly equal power to her floated just inside the golden shield, features largely obscured by the evil that clouded them. Their auras were dark and sinister, plasmatic much like her own, giving the spiritual beings the illusion of wings. Their mere presence was anathema to her very being. But just as they were hers, she was theirs, smoke curling from their forms as their close proximity to her harmed them.

  She scowled at them. They made no effort to hide the nature of their beings. They were beings of chaos and hatred and evil, standing against the very balance Statera Luotian represented - some chaos was to be expected, but there were limits. Dark angels. The Enemy had created dark angels.

  “Look below you, little angel.” One of them hissed. “See what changes we have wrought.”

  Fu Hao glanced down, frowning as a third dark angel that emerged from the ground, just behind Dei. The man was arguing with Fang Xu and Celene now, emotions impassioned by the presence of evil and her own power – he hated the presence of anything bigger than him, more for his own weakness than any rejection of the truly powerful.

  Fang Xu’s eyes widened as he observed the dark angel attempting to enter Dei’s heart, to taint him and steer his spear.

  “Dei, no!” he shouted, and the man scowled at him as he looked up at Fu Hao, wordlessly begging for her to aid Dei against the dark angel. She just raised an eyebrow at him, and turned her attention back to the other angels. What in Keilan’s name did these fools think they were doing? That wasn't even how manipulation worked. They were too heavy handed.

  “Dei will be a great instrument, as he already rejects the divine.” The dark angel whispered, cackling to itself. “After he -“

  “FUCK OFF!” Dei boomed, whirling upon the dark angel, his aura flaring and Dao solidifying. He could not truly see the spiritual being, but he could sense it. And pure, raw anger filtered off of him in waves as he glared at where the dark angel had been tossed, rejected wholly by his entire being, passion enflamed by the enemy's formation and directed at its creators..

  “What?!” the dark angel bellowed, shocked. Fu Hao scoffed.

  “Arrogance. You do not understand what kind of man that is. He resists all guidance, even the spiritual hand of Statera Luotian, seeking only the guidance of his own soul and Dao. How foolish are you to think you could manipulate a man like that? You truly do not know how high the heavens are.” Fu Hao said with a shake of her head. Not like she could really talk, having been rebuked by Dei multiple times in the past. But that is beside the point, and she fixed her steely gaze upon the dark angels once more, cracking her knuckles. “Now that you know such, allow me to educate you on who I am.”

  With a furious cry she launched herself forward, striking with all the power and might she had using naught but her bare fists. Angel clashed with angel, the two before her matching her ferocity with their own desperate struggle. Teeth bared they raged against her, blocking strikes and returning them with blasts of unholy power. Her aura flared as she ducked and weaved, spinning between the duo and unleashing an unrestrained blast of spiritual energy. They went spinning away and she snapped her head around, searching for the third, only to find it too late.

  Celene stood beside Fang Xu, fending off spirit beasts as they surged through the forest toward him, driven mad by dark spirits and completely bypassing Fu Hao’s spiritual barrier. The man himself was sitting cross-legged, eyes closed, his spirit having completely left his body to complete his Ascension. Where it walked Fu Hao did not know, but she did know that his body had to be protected, lest spirits attempt to inhabit it. Meanwhile Dei struggled against the third dark angel, unable to see it as he was, as it worked to undo her shield, cracks already forming in the golden dome.

  “No!” She shouted, hurtling at the dark angel – but her distraction cost her, and a blow to the back sent her crashing into the wall of her own shield, the two she had been fighting converging upon her once more. Panic swelled within her at her own mistake, her shield cracking and crumbling as she watched, the dark angels laughing at her. Spirits from outside battered against the wall, the enemy worked from within…it was too much, and the golden shield shattered.

  Dark spirits surged forward, clawing at Fu Hao and hurtling to Fang Xu’s body in a desperate race – only to be momentarily rebuked by the formation he had set up. It would not last, she knew, even as she was drug down to the earth by the weight of the spirits assaulting her. Her aura surged, limbs flashing out to knock them away, but there was strength in numbers. If any of the spirits reached Fang Xu, they could inhabit his body while his spirit underwent the tribulation. That could not happen.

  “Your gods have abandoned you, little angel!” the dark angels laughed, igniting a surge of anger within her. “You stand alone!”

  “Alone?” She whispered, drawing upon every ounce of her power. The heavenly Dao responded to the weight of her will, strength she did not know she had touching her limbs. As she watched two of the angels rushed forward, Dei leaping toward one of them with spear at the ready – the metal passed through the being, though his soul’s power coated the weapon, piercing the being in a vicious display. It howled and backhanded him, rattling his unguarded soul and making him spit blood – but there was still one more.

  Fu Hao burst forward, light trailing from her as she flew faster than she ever had, tackling the angel away from Fang Xu’s barrier. Ice rushed past her, freezing a spirit beast as Celene continued to guard Fang Xu’s body, the woman herself calling for aid.

  “Alone?! I am Fu Hao, angel of Statera Luotian!” she bellowed, fist finding the dark angel’s face. It was sent flying and she whirled, slapping a palm strike into the closest spirit hard enough it sent a shockwave of divine energy radiating through the skies. Her feet found purchase upon the ground as she stood before Fang Xu’s barrier, blood dribbling from one corner of her mouth. “The will of the heavens is my will! The gods need not be here for I am! Because I am here, the gods are as well!” Each word, each statement was punctuated with another strike, another blow, another burst of power that sent spirits and angels alike flying.

  Each statement was backed by weight unknown. Such was the nature of a battle between spirits – it was as much a battle of wills, as it was power. They would find their will lacking compared to hers, for she carried within her a spark of the divine soul. Her purpose was great, her will greater, and though she was vastly outnumbered she would not give an inch.

  “Let it be known! You know not the height of the heavens! And you will not pass!” She roared.

  And it came to be so.

  For three hours, she battled dark spirits and three dark angels, keeping them at bay. For three hours, Celene and Dei raged against the spirit beast horde swarming the hill, devilish cultivators maintaining the formation that enflamed them, seeking to kill them and the village – only once were they reinforced, by Dei’s own people. For three hours, the Shadow attempted to snuff out a light, while the gods watched on with bated breaths.

  And only once the sun cracked over the horizon did Fang Xu open his eyes, and the world came to know the first Immortal Mortal. And with him came the light of the heavenly Dao.