Chapter 35: Struggle

Beneath a Fire Cloud, Canyons of Many Voices

There was a moment of utter silence as the winds blew the sand that battered against the faces of all the members of the Flareburn family. The Flareburn Elder raised his fists, and clasped them together for a moment, sending out a shockwave of heat that crystallized the sand particles in the air.

That would've been bad in a normal situation, but for the Flareburn family, whose sole focus in Fire, turning sand to glass was something quite good because the produced by them was infused with their Qi, so Fire Qi spread through the air. It was a nuisance to deal with the annoying shards of crystallized glass flying towards their face at incredible and deadly speeds, but nothing a layer of protective Fire Qi right above the skin can't solve. The simplest technique that every single member of the Flareburn Family was taught was the Fireskin Technique, which as was described before, covered the skin in a thin layer of Fire Qi to protect the cultivator.

Normally, it was used to protect the cultivator from liquid based attacks such as Acids, Water Techniques, and others.

At this moment it was being used to soften the impact of the small shards of glass that the sandstorm had turned into with the Elder Flareburn's Fire King Aura Release Technique that increased the heat and Fire Qi of the surrounding, suppressing the Worm's Earth Qi while also at the same time strengthening his Family's techniques and attacks, which, ironically, also helped them protect themselves from the glass storm that was a side-effect of him using his Domain Technique.

A Domain Technique, as you might not know, is a technique that is made by a cultivator to empower themselves while also weakening their enemies at the same time. This type of technique is very advanced and is known to be used only by the truly powerful or skilled Cultivators.

Being stuck in the Eighth Stage of the Core Exaltation Realm meant that he had to rely on his knowledge, wit, and family to survive for so long. In fact, the strongest cultivators when it comes to the cultivation realm in the Flareburn family, were the men known as Hyun Houn and Heron Houn, both being at the beginning stages of the Third Stage of the Bright Star Core Realm. But one thing everyone in the Flareburn Family had in common was their trust, love, and respect for their patriarchal leader and guide. They all agreed that their Elder's wisdom was above all others, which was why they fervently followed the fleeting fiery fluffy cloud of heat throughout almost all this side of the Omental Continent.

"Flareburns-" His voice called out- Another reason all of them respected him was because of the overpowered and incredibly useful technique called the Fire King Aura Release Technique increased their family's strength by a lot -to the members of his family. They all rose to the occasion, from the weakest - Little Weit Flareburn, being at the 2nd Stage of the Qi Gathering Realm - to the strongest of them - Hyun Houn and Heron Houn, both at the 3rd Stage of the Bright Star Core Realm - in harmony. The beast before them was a well known and extremely deadly creature.

And just standing before it, they could tell- This Death from Below was a monstrosity beyond any they've seen before. It was a Bright Star Core Beast! The Demonic Qi, Earth Qi, and Death Qi created this fog-like sand aura that surrounded the beast, showing just how much power the thing had. To even reach just this realm, this beast must've killed and consumed so many others for at least 10,000 years or even more… And it was just the beginning, because this evolved and more powerful version of the normal Earth Death Burrowing Worm had also a very powerful innate understanding of the Dao of Earth, which made it a very formidable creature to fight… There were countless tales and nightmares told and retold across the land about this type of beast.

"-burn." With a final call and order, Elder Flareburn pushed his Qi and empowered his family's attacks against their enemies that surrounded them. His heavenly golden flames burned away the demonic presence of the enormous Death from Below, because now the priority was to scare the beast away, because they wouldn't be able to easily win. They'd end up winning, but the cost of such a win would turn it forfeit and annulled.

There was only the sound of demonic screeching and death.

Beneath a canopy, green and beautiful.

Year 11, Day 35

With Seedot, Leaf's lesser Seedling sibling and servant, holding a large tray of fruits with his stubby tiny arms, Root stopped and sighed.

"Ahteus, a little more to the left and lower down the Giant Killing Weapon of Murder Death, please." Root ignored how Ahteus grumbled a "I don't wanna…" under his breath as he did what he was told and kept moving his Qi.

What was he doing?

You see, there are these weird ancient earthly things called tapestries, and in them were weaved many stories- And Root is making his own.

Why?

Well, he wanted a "photo" to remember this time, and because he wasn't that good at drawing realistically enough that it looked like a photo, he decided to just weave a tapestry with the faces and current appearances of his children. They all stood beneath his canopy, shaded lights fell upon them as the light that came from above was this small pocket of sunlight that broke through the canopy due to Lumin, who stood floating there. "Smile, Tahsm, I'm trying to make you look good here." In the middle of them all stood Leaf, the elegant nature spirit held both his swords at his side while he faced forward, face stoic. On both left and right side of his shoulders stood Lily and Zylph, with Lily wearing her black robe with embroidered pale red flower petals on them while Zylph worre this beautiful pale silver dress made by - surprisingly enough - Ahteus.

I say surprising because he doesn't like making soft things because he messes up a lot when making them- And he then made an entire dress made out of silver threads made with Silver Qi! So that was why he asked his father to teach him how to weave, he wanted to give his sister a nice gift.

Behind said trio, towering above them, was the large boulder-like Ahteus that held onto this brutal and serrated enormous blade that had a red tint to it. He named the blade he made the "Giant Killing Weapon of Murder Death", because he liked it and Root only cared that he was happy, even if his son's name sense was… shitty.

"-also, Namis, keep your eyes open." Now, sitting on the big boulder boy's shoulder was the dark blue Namis that looked so bored! She blinked before looking back at her father as his Qi turned from black to white to blue to grey to red- Many, many threads of beautiful colors weaved together to make this absolutely astounding art piece that looked like a portrait being painted. "Fiero, stop trying to set fire to Freeze's and Frost's hair." The fiery man simply let out this groan as he stood between Freeze and Frost, both of them using their Ice Qi to make their touch ice cold as they tried to make Fiero squirm, which had him retaliating by trying to set their hair on fire. "You two, stop as well." Chaos floated beside Lumin, them both doing a Yin/Yang symbol mid-air. Lumin wore dark robes to constract with their pale light self while Chaos wore light and gold robes.

Tahsm stood besides Liltih, both stood in front of Zylph and Lilith respectively, seeing as they were the youngests and Root always had been taught that mentality that little ones go in the front and tall ones in the back whenever you take a group photo. In this case, a group tapestry.

[New Item Created]

'Huh, that's a little bit unexpected… No, not really.' With the tapestry done, Root soon realized that he had made a new item. He spread out the long 10 meters wide by 15 meters long (or 32 feet wide by 49 feet long in eagles per shotgun of freedom burger) and saw as his children suddenly moved on the tapestry, doing the same things they were doing as he weaved it. "Huh."

[Tapestry of Recollections - N01

Rank: A

Description: Weaved with love by the hands and Qi of a very skilled artist, this piece of art carries a surprising enchantment.

Abilities -

Recollection of Nostalgia - Rank C: Upon looking into the tapestry, those within it will immediately feel and recall the past with fond memories. This helps the process of soul healing and emotional healing, helping the mind and soul overcome old wounds.

Family Portrait - Rank B: Upon touching this portrait, those who carry the lineage of the Heavenly Spirit Forest Sect on their soul, will be added to the tapestry, which will allow them to be affected by the next ability.

Family Ties - Rank A: By looking into this portrait, all those who belong to the lineage of the Heavenly Spirit Forest Sect will immediately and automatically know of each other's wellbeing. Focusing on a single person of this portrait will send them a special message that they can hear regardless of distance.

Familial Shield - Rank A: Upon wearing this tapestry as a cloak, as long as they belong to the lineage of the Heavenly Spirit Forest Sect, the wearer will receive protection of their whole family.

Commentary: For family ties the boundaries of time and space.]

"..." His children all looked at the portrait, where they moved. Within the tapestry Tahsm and Lumin moved, floating together in a harmonious little dance that seemed more like a heavy banter, because they were clearly arguing about something. "Did we just spend four hours without being able to move-" ah, right… Root wanted the tapestry to be as detailed as he could make it, so he had them stay still for more than four hours- To be exact, they stood still for 4 hours 53 minutes and 23 seconds -so he could weaved their very detail by even changing the colors threads of Qi in the middle of them, making this weird rainbow thread: "-just for the thing to come out moving?"

Root chuckled as his own leaves swayed in the moving tapestry, showing how he was also depicted moving in the item.

"It's so beautiful…" Tahsm sighed softly before his form shifted, he pushed himself inside his father's soul by the connection they shared. All his other siblings didn't comment, for Tahsm had to take breaks too, which was also why they took some breaks too… And that was also one of the reasons it took more than 4 hours to make the damn tapestry.

"We really need a good place to put it on." Ahteus commented as he watched himself in the tapestry. His own wolven self simply moved the Giant Killing Weapon of Murder Death sword around. "Huh, that's cool."

"Hey, father-"

"Everyone." Root spoke before anyone else could tell him anything, making them all stop: "I sense a disturbance…"

"In the force?"

"No, in my forest." Root closed his eyes as his own spiritual form faded back into his tree body. His children soon felt that same safe mental thread that connected them all to their father as they all soon felt and saw what he allowed them to feel and see- It wasn't human, it was an animal problem…

Wait. Animal?

"...are those fucking camels cows?" I mean, it's not every single day of your immortal life that you meet a large camel with black and white spots! "Cowmel?" That sounds like a good name for the thing.

Beneath an enormous mountain.

An enormous black lake stood still beneath a large mountain. In the center of this lake stood a strange black stone dead gray coral, although not all parts of the coral were gray, the large majority of it was.

The coral seemed to slowly, extremely slowly, be consumed and corrupted by the dark ink-like black liquid that crawled upwards. The stone coral simply would flash with a pale, extremely pale light, weak and flickering, that pushed the darkness away.

Oh, the struggles of the weak.

[author] Patreon AN: Thank you Dallas Meck for being a patreon, and welcome jean, you both motivate me.

Patreon chapter later today or maybe tomorrow, dealing with personal things.

Hey, I'm getting better too.[/author]