Rivers of the Night

Theron's body shook and two swirling masses took root in his body, one far larger than the other. He realized that his closeness to the violet path of heat had suddenly become far closer than his path toward the blue of cool.

It was odd. Theron had always felt closer to the cooling path, and his experience growing up coincided with that. This was why he had almost always exhaled a cool breath rather than a heated one.

But just now, he definitely grasped the Path of Intensity to a far greater—well… intensity—than the Path of Preservation, and it didn't seem to be just a small margin.

However, because Theron could look into it further and understand where this feeling was coming from, his connection to the Laws flickered out and vanished.

He frowned. He knew that it would be temporary, but it had certainly closed down at a very inconvenient time.

Was it because he had thought of the Law of Intensity in a more emotional way?

Now that he thought about it, both paths seemed to be like that… he always breathed out a cold breath when he took his anger and suppressed it. He always breathed out a heated breath when he allowed his anger and pride to rampage in his heart.

It made sense if the comprehension of the lesser Laws would also require something like that. But how? And why?

It all felt so… peculiar.

It was already so odd that he needed what felt like a scholarly language degree just to get his foot in the door. But to also need emotion as well? It just didn't feel like these things were Laws…

For Theron, who liked to understand the world down to its tiniest of details, this felt uncomfortable for him because he couldn't for the life of him grasp why things were like this.

What could emotion have to do with grasping the secrets of the world? Why would the universe care about language and what words you were speaking?

Weren't the Heavenly Mandates emotionless? Didn't they reap lives without a care, and dole out punishment without prejudice? Didn't everyone face the same hardships on a relative scale?

The Heavens are heartless was a common saying, and one accepted by all. It just didn't seem to make much sense that comprehending the secrets of an emotionless thing would suddenly require having emotions yourself.

That sounded like a recipe for disaster.

When Theron took such a thing to its logical conclusion, there only seemed to be two paths, and only one of them made the most sense to him.

The first and unlikely truth was that cultivators were the emotion that the Heavens were looking for—they were the fillers of the blanks the Heavens held. To cultivate with emotion was what the Heavens wanted of its strongest warriors, and that was why they were continuously challenged in such ways.

Such a thing read like childish fantasies to Theron, and he dismissed it so wholly he didn't even care to give it a second thought.

But then there was the other way things could be taken… the way that made the absolute most sense…

The Path of Cultivation was one of growing closer to the Heavens. The Heavens didn't change; they were already perfect, they were already whole. All of them were just trying to snag little small pieces of it in hopes that they could grow close to as powerful as it one day.

That was real cultivation.

In that case, the real answer was obvious…

To cultivate to the pinnacle was to take these emotions, control them, and then suppress them much like the Heavens did.

'I see…'

Theron exhaled a breath, coming to a conclusion that countless powerhouses had come across in the stream of time. This very conclusion had made many-a-man emperors of entire universes…

'Evolution…'

One thought after another streamed into Theron's mind and he pieced together something that felt so ironclad he took it as the truth.

Humans and beasts alike gained emotion because they were fallible creatures. Along the stage of evolution, emotion became important as a signifier that helped one survive.

It was important in communication, in social cohesion, in helping one to make subconscious, quick decisions. In fact, it even helped with memory. When one had a strong emotional response to certain things, it was far easier to recall them in the future.

It gave one motivation, it created goal-setting and allowed one to grasp the essence of evolution itself on a scale all their own…

To progress, to strive for more for yourself.

That was the importance of emotion.

It was necessary for a fallible creature to use all of these things to their benefit. But if you reached the pinnacle, if you touched upon the truest ceiling of the world…

Would you still need it?

Why would you need to "survive" if you were the strongest? Who would you "need" to socialize with? What decisions would you have a pressing need to rely on emotion to make? Would you even need help with your memory? Would you need motivation to goal set?

Emotion was like a passenger in a cultivator's life for a short time. And when the time came, when you wanted to ascend to the greatest height and step beyond the limitations humans had now…

You would sever them.

Chi.

Theron felt like he had grasped something truly profound, the air around him cracking as though ice was forming.

The Laws of the cooling path seemed to flood toward him and a frostiness spread out from him in a wave, quickly turning the bathing room into a cube of ice that spread out to the bedroom beyond it.

Chi. Chi. Chi.

Theron's brows became white, his hair flowing in the same silky blankness.

Staring off into the distance, he felt that living life like this was truly much more pleasing. There was no annoying gnawing at his heart, no constant rage billowing in his chest, no sadness constantly hanging over his shoulder.

He just felt… free.

Free for the first time in a long time.

And as he sat there in his own chilling cold, news of what had happened to Raan, Monet, and the others spread like wildfire.

The guild's reaction was swift, several of their attendants, dressed as white ninjas, streaking toward the Tyre Palace with haste.