The dawn's radiance shimmered off the lake's surface; the songbird's chirping danced with morning mist to form heaven on earth.
Vera sat atop the stone platform; through his lotus stance he could feel the lake's undulations through his flesh.
The world's cadence, tone, intent, and colours can't be described even with a million words. What perplexes me is that they can only be described with no words.
The light of morning was obscured as Vera's eyes were shut; he stood up, his bare feet pressed into the ground beneath him.
Morning mist brushed against Vera's bronze skin; its perfect consistency refreshed him.
I can think of a thousand words that can express this feeling. Yet just this feeling can elicit a thousand words...
Vera's body flowed as the stream that led to the Chongju lake. Within his calloused palms stood the memory of his halberd.
Wind draped Vera's body as fine silks do for maidens. The thought of his blade manifested within the air; even though it was not there, the world made space for it.
Gentle winds followed the blade's edge, unable to keep up.
Rising Crescent
Each movement's name followed at its end.
Descending Cresce...
Thrusting P...
Yet as each movement passed, their names trailed off. It wasn't that Vera had forgotten. Rather, he knew them all; he knew them all too well.
A thousand words can describe the stroke of a brush. Only a single stroke is required to paint a thousand words.
From their stances all the way to how the world reacted to them, Vera knew all of it.
As Vera reached the far right of the stone platform, his steps wavered. Arcs of thunder ripped through his head.
The mist that draped his flesh so gently burst into a turbulent flow, as though the rules that guided it had failed.
The light that Vera's eyes obscured was now visible. A warm sensation ran down his nose.
"I'm bleeding." Vera spoke as he wiped the blood off his face.
A burgeoning warmth pulsed in his chest, as though waiting to be called upon.
A dim streak of light formed over Vera's eyes. The sight of the worthy challengers he had faced up till now raced through his mind.
Vera shut his eyes again; not a wrinkle or blemish in sight.
"Art over life..." he whispered into the air. His words permeated through his surroundings as though he had revealed a divine truth.
His movements flowed through the platform again; blood continued to stream from his nostrils.
Hairs that stood on Vera's skin felt the passing winds. Each hair twisted and turned as the wind pressed against it.
His extremities began perceiving things beyond his body. Without words, Vera began picturing the world around him.
The innumerable currents that rode upon the wind left marks; each mark could be understood through the change in the hairs of his skin.
The arcs of lightning that ran through his mind grew in intensity. Lightning rampaged from the tip of his fingers to the root of his spine.
Nonetheless, Vera continued to move.
As Vera attempted to perform the Rising Crescent, his muscles seized; his body froze in place.
It was not that his body had failed him. Rather, the air was holding him in place.
The chorus of the chirping songbirds was interrupted by a weathered voice.
"It would be best if you stopped here... Any more and you will lose sensation in your body." Ezra remarked as he trod across the lake's surface.
"Grandfather..." Vera's face grew pale. The pain of overwhelming sensation left him trembling.
Vera's fingers bit into his palm.
I almost lost myself... What I had wasn't only a trance; it was also ignorance.
He took a deep breath; the fear in his chest calmed.
"Thank you for stopping me."
The dull patter of Ezra's hooves eased Vera's mind.
"Don't worry about your enlightenment. You already have what you need."
"?" Vera gazed at Ezra; his face bore a confused expression.
Ezra walked beside Vera silently.
The dull shadow Vera had been training with for the past few months appeared at the far end of the platform.
"Stay still and recall your movements," Ezra remarked confidently, as though he knew what would happen next.
After nodding at Ezra, Vera turned to face the shadow.
Before he could spell out his stances, he could feel them.
His halberd crashed into the earth. As it reached the ground, its rampant flow grew steady and flowed into a thrust.
The spin of his blade that cleaved through the wind. The length of the halberd blocked all paths.
Vera's eyes widened as he gazed at the shadow.
"It's moving before I attack this time."
"You are mistaken, Vera. Look closer at its path."
The shadow retreated, its body contorted just enough to escape Vera's Rising Crescent.
It slid to his left to avoid the thrusting point.
Then it ran to the platform's corner to escape Vera's shortened slash.
Finally, the shadow bowed at where Vera should've been before dissipating into thin air.
Vera's breath stilled as he watched this scene take place.
"I've already attacked...?"
Through the hair on his skin, Vera could feel the morning mist follow the path of his stances.
"Vera, do you know why the third rank is more natural to demons than it is to humans?" Ezra asked as he walked to the corner of the stone island.
"No..."
"Beasts without spiritual intelligence never thought in words; they simply 'felt'."
Vera nodded silently as he watched Ezra walk across the platform, signalling for him to continue.
"Feelings carry boundless meaning. Boundless meaning that stands beyond the mind... By now you must have felt the warmth in your chest, right?" Ezra turned to face Vera; his eyes were fixed on Vera's chest.
The dim pulses in his chest grew louder; Vera pressed his palm beside his heart. Guarded by his ribs, hidden by his sternum, stood a grey point. Its likeness was similar to that of the point in his gut.
"The heavens don't respond to emotion or action. Rather, it responds to truth that bears depth." Ezra's words trailed off into the ripples of the lake.
From the top of the point within his gut, a trail of qi slowly climbed to his chest. Words unguided by thought escaped Vera.
"Truth that bears depth... Emotion carries boundless meaning; meaning that is true in relation and infinite in depth."
Tendrils of qi wrapped around the line that climbed towards Vera's chest. The boundary of the streams melted; soon they invigorated the qi that rose to his chest.
Vera's eyes closed as he assumed the lotus stance.
Sound, vision, sensation, smell, taste, and feeling all turned to watercolours. As their edges met each other, their boundaries failed; their unique colours melded into two distinct colours.
Their composition displayed a dichotomy: the colour of existence and the lack thereof.
The drop that represented Yang irradiated his mind; the boundaries of its counterpart were visible, yet it bore no colour.
The line of qi bled into the point in his chest.
Roots of qi bored into the point's dull carapace; light shone through the cracks on the point, forming a viridant blue halo.
His mind that perceived the world beyond receded to his body.
The sound of Ezra's approach faded into silence.
His hoof rested against Vera's back; the mark of the Baize began to carve itself onto Vera's flesh.
The marks of three guardians began to shine over Vera's flesh.
The mist that surrounded Vera began to part; rays of light bathed Vera's body.
The mark of the Bixie erupted in samadhi fire; its divinity burnt all impurities in him.
The mark of the Zhuyan reflected the gleam of thousand-year-old cold iron; its resilience melded into Vera's skin.
The mark of the Baize embodied the depth of the five plains; its majesty embodied mountains within Vera's bones.
Wind began swarming around Vera; its currents grew intense by the second. Loose earth melted to shards of glass.
Beneath each mark, roots of qi grew, soon climbing to the point in Vera's chest; each tendril intertwined beneath the incomplete mark.
The counterpart of Yang grew in detail; its colour still remained hidden.
The blue glow within Vera's chest grew in intensity; its dull husk stood on the verge of death.
However, the remnants of the husk stood unmoved, regardless of Vera's comprehension.
Only three of the five paths were here.
Vera was still incomplete.
The roaring of the wind and the petrification of the earth weakened; soon they halted completely.
Vera's eye fluttered open; the sight of Chongju Lake differed from what it used to be by many leagues.
It wasn't the lake that had changed...
Vera walked closer to Ezra. Reverberations from each step echoed through his body; the cadence of each echo told Vera all things about the ground beneath him.
The world around him grew multiple shades more vivid, yet one sight overwhelmed him more than anything.
The closer Vera got to Ezra, the more he thought about the day he had first met him.
How could I have mistaken him for just any goat...?
A boundless ocean; one that could engulf the night sky itself.
Mountains that touched upon the stars would seem like pebbles if they stood beside him.
A dull weight pressed against Vera's chest; the pit of his eyes grew heavy.
"Grandfather, you are too strong..." Vera spoke; his eyes gazed upon Ezra reminiscently.
The dull patter of Ezra's hooves grew closer to Vera; his eyes mirrored the reminiscence in Vera's.
The months he spent with Ezra seemed to have gone by before he knew it.
"Don't feel too sad. You came here to challenge the guardians; it is only right that you find the last two."
The weight on Vera's chest grew heavier; his breath stilled.
"We will meet again, Vera. Why would I stay here when my grandson has gone to the Greater Heavens?"
Vera had heard these words before...
Memories of Danho, Leng, and Bao came to mind; in that collection Ezra's visage now grew.
The emotions that suffocated Vera eased a bit.
A quiet smile crept onto Vera's face as he walked toward the gazebo.
"Shall we go eat breakfast?"