As Heavens Divide

It was late night as Xin was preparing to manifest the tiger totem once more. This time, however, he was also intending to give it a physical shell, and since the tiger was a nocturnal creature, it was the most auspicious time of day to attempt this. Xin triple-checked every material, and made sure he memorised the ritual down to every little detail.

Xin felt relaxed as he donned his armour and laid the materials out in order. No hint of anxiety, just a light excitement. He spread the qi enhanced tiger organs obtained from the captured tiger style master in the Liao's homestead on a small towel, then prepared a kettle with a boiling spirit leaf extract. He had a long spear by his side, taken from the hunter that invaded his forest — a perfect weapon to keep a beast at bay.

The totem attempted to communicate once again, but Xin denied it — there was no point letting it ruin his concentration. No matter what it said, its only intent would be to shake his resolve and poison him with doubt. Xin deemed it wiser to prevent his willpower from being drained instead of engaging in trouble. 

Xin also prepared his combat medicine: boar hide ointment for his skin, water path qi active paste for his spear, made out of the materials looted from the killed water path master, and a swiftroot elixir, a potent wood path potion, made from leftover wood path materials. This would make him more agile and harder to knock over, as his muscles would be enhanced with wood qi.

Pumping oneself with so much combat medicine had its obvious downsides, but Xin didn't care about his reduced qi restoring potential, as he didn't expect this to be a battle of attrition. Xin prepared a standard set of combat dao shards, then pulled out a bag of holding with white tiger refinement materials and kept it at his belt, as he'd have to start the refinement soon after killing the beast.

Serene. Tranquil. Unbothered. Xin munched on a spirit leaf as he washed his orifices with salted water. This made him a tad tipsy, but the extra spiritual attunement would be well worth it to endure the soul strain, and would aid in the refinement process afterwards. Xin vowed to take a month break from spirit leaves after this refinement, as he felt he was already getting addicted.

He stood up and lit a torch on a campfire he used to boil water, then poured some oil over the tiger manifesting materials to set them on fire. Xin took a step back and closed his eyes, as the materials screeched and howled with eerie sounds.

Tiger spirit manifestation. This time, Xin didn't gradually invoke every aspect one by one, but manifested the tiger as a whole in one precise effort of will. He suspected that this level of attunement was only possible because the tiger totem had nearly possessed him several times, scarring his soul yet sharing crucial knowledge about its own internal nature. You'll pay for what you did to me, creature.

Exhale. It's not even a proper living being, just a human qi and soul essence soaked trinket. Calm down. Let go. Inhale.

The tiger spirit manifested quite fast, then possessed the laid out materials, and, in just a few moments, transformed into an ordinary looking tiger. No ethereal glow, no translucent flickers. The only sign betraying its qi active nature were misty orange Yang qi puffs escaping its nose with every breath amid the night's chill.

"So be it. Come, release me. I'll valiantly leap into nothingness." The tiger proclaimed, his voice solemn. He stared at Xin intently, but couldn't harm his master, as they were still bound.

Xin sighed.

"Sure." He raised his spear, its tip dripping with poisonous water path materials, then threw the totem into the burning fire. Once the totem cracks, the spirit will be free! Its only hope then will be to kill me and possess my body before its soul essence runs out!

The tiger tried to approach closer, but Xin willed it to step away. You're still mine, beast!

Crack! The totem was soon destroyed, and exploded in a potent wave of emerging spirit energy. Xin knew not to stand nearby, of course, as his soul would suffer severe damage. The spirit is free now! But our bond still lingers, and for the next hour or so, it will be incredibly easy for one of us to possess another!

Vine style, expansion jump! Xin sprang and delivered a powerful leap, then infused his arms with wood qi to further empower his attacks. It was unwise to let the tiger take initiative.

Stab! The tiger avoided his spear, nimbly jumping aside and threatening to pounce at him, and was only scratched with a glancing hit on its shoulder. Xin stood guard, his spear pointed down. Come on, charge me, beast!

Roar! Xin's ears rang as the tiger assaulted him with the Jungle King's Roar. His soul was strong enough to resist the strain, but his ears were blocked, and he felt the connection with his dao shards get somewhat disrupted. The beast feinted some more, delivering several false assaults, looking for Xin to overcommit, but refused to launch an all out attack. It's clear now — the spirit is looking to crack my spear! 

Xin moved around some more, deftly infusing his moves with wood qi, plotting his next action. Fighting a tiger spirit like this was tricky — unlike an actual awakened animal, this one also had a boundless well of spiritual energy they could use to heal their wounds, and it wasn't fully reliant on its physical body — sustaining physical damage would cause a rapid essence leak, rather than an outright death. Good news was that the tiger's roar attack wasn't as powerful as expected, and Xin's trained and spirit leaf enhanced soul soon snapped out of its repressive effect.

Xin poked the tiger and injured its chest lightly before retreating, then switched his spear to a closer grip. Both of the wounds he inflicted have closed up now — such glancing cuts were trivial to regenerate for this creature, even soaked in water qi. It's heavy, deep wounds that I should be aiming for, and even if it looks like I have an upper hand, each bout like the last two is risky, as the damage is minimal, but any mistake from my side might soon turn fatal.

I should set up something deadly.

Xin nimbly circled the tiger spirit, his own body far surpassing mortal limits — combat alchemy and physical cultivation took care of it. Still, nothing came out of it, and as he added another scratch to the tigers fur, he saw the qi active paste on his weapon's tip exhaust itself, coated in the spirit's gooey blood.

Yang Tiger Body! Seeing this, the tiger invoked its physical aspect, expunging a sizable amount of spirit essence in the process. Its essence was its life, yet it put everything on the line to go all-in, a move befitting its primal nature!

Growl! The tiger charged Xin in a seemingly careless move. Under the influence of spirit leaves, Xin felt like a myriad spirits, united into one, all rising up to face the challenge. The tiger's plan is clear — now that my spear's coating is exhausted, attack me head on and overwhelm me!

Mercurial greaves! Xin activated his artefact, slightly reduced in power due to his wood path alchemical enhancement. He retreated diagonally, threatening to impale the beast with his spear, yet the creature was faster and stronger, emanating a powerful Yang aura. 

Stab! Xin almost pierced the creature's neck, but it blocked expertly with its mane, all while leaping upwards and raising a paw in a familiar motion!

Paw of Death! A massive ethereal tiger paw formed above its real paw, giving the spirit extra range. Last time Xin faced this attack, he ducked under the opponent's limb to evade the ethereal strike, but this time, this would get him killed.

Springvine technique! Xin jumped backwards, his wood qi in conflict with the mercurial greaves. It was still a good move, yet the opponent anticipated something like that and redirected the ethereal paw to slice at his spear, cutting it in half with just a glancing swipe!

Not a big deal, I still have Reso… Xin suddenly changed his mind.

Snakevine daoshard! As the spirit landed, it was unable to dodge the ensnaring vine, and it wrapped around its front legs.

Springvine leap! Xin seized the initiative and jumped at the foe once more. The tiger stood up on its back legs and snapped the vine in just one spread of its mighty paws, complemented by a short bite, then prepared to match Xin's assault by entering a grapple contest.

Steel Sting dao shard! Xin stabbed the creature's neck with a move that gave him a nickname he resented for its goofiness, then kicked the tiger's chest with a wood qi infused attack to push back and avoid a brawl!

No such luck. The tiger went into offensive, seemingly unaffected by its deep injury! I've got no momentum to retreat, means I only have one option! Xin bent his knees as he landed, then channeled a technique.

My next move…

Tiger Claws! He accessed the spiritual connection they still shared with the totem spirit, and borrowed this move from its clutches, probably for the last time. He felt uneasy, suppressing an instinctive need to activate Resonance Palms, born out of years of habit. Metal path moves would be slightly weaker against the tiger's fire nature, yet his metal qi was also weakened by the elixir he took.

I'm getting hit, that's already determined. Doesn't matter. Xin connected the energy stored in his bent knees, then bounced straight at the tiger instead of retreating! Slash! Once again Xin's hit landed first, tearing a chunk of meat off the tiger's cheek, nailing the bone. The tiger responded with a Yang qi infused swipe of its own…

Iron Lung dao shard! Weakened by his alchemy and countered by the tiger's quasi-fire element, it was just enough to not get his arm sliced in two. He rolled aside, his armor torn, a deep cut on his elbow. Could be worse.

Xin let his instincts guide him. The tiger is injured, I'm still fresh. The tiger's soul is leaking soul essence, mine is just somewhat strained. Everything about my training screams to let the creature bleed out, but I am just one good hit away from victory! My combat instincts say I should leverage the tiger's long-term vulnerability into tempo and seize the advantage!

Snakevine dao shard! The tiger jumped up like a spooked cat and dodged the move, but had to cease its attack, giving Xin a few moments of respite. He swiftly unattuned from steel sting and snakevine dao shards, as he had to free up some soul space for another totemic invocation.

Yang Tiger Body! Xin mirrored his opponent's choice. A dumb name for a technique, but it's exactly what I need right now! Xin felt his soul strain up to its limit, and in exchange his physique became inhumanely strong. This move was fire element in nature, and was thus enhanced by Xin's wood path combat alchemy feeding it.

Inside of his core, the situation turned dire. With some fire element added to the mix, his metal element was repressed, and with conflict resolution materials about to crack once again, his wood element would soon follow.

Doesn't matter, as long as I win!

Xin charged the beast, who was taken aback at Xin's decision. It spent a lot of human qi thinking about how to best counter Xin's fighting style, yet for this fight, the young hunter pulled out something completely new from his hat.

Slash! Slash! Xin delivered two forceful swipes, then prevented a counter-attack by launching a powerful vine style front kick. The tiger spirit recomposed, and charged once again. The young hunter quickly scanned the opponent's wounds — they all seem to be closing pretty rapidly, but the aura emanations of the creature are much fainter now. It seems that its soul is strained, trying to uphold a totemic technique and heal at the same time. If that is the case…

Jungle King's Roar! Xin's face twisted in frenzy as he deafened the tiger, whose assault was stopped in its tracks. It quickly recomposed, but with its aura flickering once again, Xin realised that the tiger chose to stop regenerating its wounds! Good.

Slash! Xin's thigh was injured by a glancing strike of the tiger's front paw, and he quickly stepped back instead of risking exposing himself with a counter-attack. If I commit to being overly defensive or unnecessarily aggressive, the tiger wins. Need to tread carefully. But why is the tiger also so cautious?

Right. Even if the spirit kills me, it will have to heal my body somehow. And since it probably won't be able to activate my healing seed dao shard, it will have to rely on its soul essence healing, which I am not very compatible with. Thus it either has to possess me by crushing my soul, which is best achieved by breaking my soul while I am still alive, or killing me and swiftly expunging my soul, preserving enough soul essence to heal the body. And, since it just stopped healing to preserve soul essence, its next move is probably…

Soul assault!

Witness your mother leaving again! Unloveable! Weak! Pathetic! Just like your father, another idiot who dared challenge nature's primal wrath!

Depressed! Melancholic! Brazen! Insecure! All that boasting, but still ashamed of being weaker than Rui Ming! Even Lei is about to catch up!

Rapist! Cannibal! You are both of these, you just got lucky you haven't slipped just yet! Bailed out by some steppe women! You should just stab Erdeni's belly, spare the world from witnessing your pathetic efforts at fatherhood!

Xin lunged at the beast again. His soul shook and trembled, but in his heart, Xin knew a thing the totem forgot! I am none of these things, I am just a bag of meat swinging blows at you!

Slash! Slash! The tiger counter-attacked and missed twice, but his follow-up bite connected with Xin's arm. Eat this! Xin stuck his wrist, protected by his endurance bracer, further into the tiger's mouth. Its fangs clawed through metal like through butter, then buried themselves into his bones.

Good.

Xin leaned forward, eye to eye with the beast, then raised his other arm. His soul trembling, his mind assaulted with great pain, a whirlwind of ideas surged up despite all odds!

Woodcutter's Downswing is similar to the Paw of Death…

Woodcutter's Downswing breaks down wood qi, just like the Molten Heart breaks down fire qi…

Molten Meteor Drop is based on my technique…

I can't control fire qi, but I can collect and expunge it using the wood qi movement…

Resonance Nails! Xin channelled the move by putting all of his fingernails against his thumb, as if they were a tensed cat paw. The three elements combining created a potent, toxic mix of corrupt qi that would break Xin's wrist meridians, but he didn't care.

Steel Fang Immolation! Xin's burning hand, shaped like a tiger paw, buried itself into the tiger's head at rapid speed, popping it like a ripe watermelon. Most of Xin's fingers were instantly broken, and he felt a severe backlash in his core, as the meridians in his arm were shattered. The tiger fell to the ground, its head steaming and bleeding with a gooey blood-like substance. Xin stomped on the creature's head once again, then took a step back.

Fuck. Need to activate the thing.

Healing seed dao shard. Xin quickly ate it, then dropped on his bum as he stared at the tiger spirit, its body breaking down into the basic materials again. He felt the healing energy spread through his body, restoring most of the wounds, but unable to repair the meridian damage. Twenty breaths later, he cracked his mended fingers in satisfaction.

Not bad, Xin thought. Finally a fight where I don't end up half-dead. Luckily, I fought the tiger valiantly — no tricks, traps, ranged weapons or running away. This should have accrued enough bonding energy to help me refine the totem. 

Xin also looked inwards to check his soul. It was clear that he was hurt, but he also felt… fine. This sort of pain is bearable, I lived through this before. Will probably live through worse in the future.

Xin bandaged his wounds and applied some mortal medicine, then took a painkiller pill. Need to hurry and refine the white tiger, before the essence dissolves!