Chapter 8: Brand, Leaving the Residence
Even the most extravagant sights get dull rather quickly once there was nothing to do.
Li Xiang didn't think such a moment would be experienced so soon, but she really couldn't motivate herself to create work for herself.
Other than sleeping, eating, bathing in the divine fountain in the main foyer, or digesting the massive information crammed into her soul by the hateful Heaven Core, she really wasn't doing much else. Perhaps she could amuse herself in the library, but the mere thought of reading sickened her at the moment. Information, she preferred obtaining it nice and slow, not burned into her mind.
Pulling her lazy body off of the warm bed, Li Xiang made her way to the courtyard.
The scenery didn't change at all from the appearance she observed when she first came into the residence a month ago, yet Li Xiang could be positive that there was no other existence present in the entire compound. She had carefully searched even the adjacent residences, down to the smallest blade of grass, yet how did the flora and herbs remain in pristine condition without anyone taking care of them?
Taking in a deep breath and reveling in the emanated calming fragrance from the spiritual flowers she had transplanted into a small circle in front of the Golden Residence's grand entrance. She had chosen to form a large wreath of begonias, azaleas, and peonies, surrounding a massive, purple lotus flower made of crystal. If any of the flowers consisting the wreath perished, she would create another by condensing divine essence, for the crystal lotus would drain the life of the flowers.
The crystal lotus appeared quite charming with its translucent, purple leaves extending towards the fringes of the wreath. The lotus seeds were akin to gemstones, containing the purest divine essence coalesced into physical form; consuming such a manifestation would arouse the spirits of any immortal being, or cause a mortal to disintegrate from overindulgence on spiritual qi. Each lotus seed was of a different color, and there were thirty of them in total.
Li Xiang enjoyed creating and consuming these seeds. As each lotus seed possessed a unique attribute and flavor, she would snack on them once the lotus had ripened. For example, consuming a blood-red seed would incite a slight, maddening euphoric rush and warmth from her stomach, whereas golden-colored seeds would allow her to attain further clairvoyance when observing her surroundings; observing with the assistance of the golden seeds allowed Li Xiang to immediately analyze and manipulate divine essence without much consideration, but her current mood prevented her from consuming any further than the initial attempt after she had created the lotus.
Possessing a myriad of interesting and powerful effects, the lotus could be considered a treasure in the Immortal World, as the lotus itself was unique, never seen before prior to Li Xiang condensing her divine essence and manipulating the Heaven Core to form a stationary, self-sufficient creation. Created based an a predatorial yet alluring construct, the lotus grew and sustained seed germination by devouring the lifespan of surrounding flora, hence the need for Li Xiang to replenish the wreath's flowers. Though that attribute of the lotus identified it as a demonic existence, Li Xiang didn't mind. After all, these seeds were quite the delicious treat, and consuming tasteless white squares was not her forte.
After consuming her treasured lotus seeds, Li Xiang wistfully stared at the gates of the main courtyard, of which beyond was the Immortal World. If she could just bypass the gates, she would be allowed to explore the boundless world of Divine beings, which was much better than lazing around all day. The only trouble was that she didn't have the courage to open the gates and leave, for fear that she wouldn't be able to return to this residence.
Li Xiang had peered outside of the courtyard on accident while roaming around the residence. In her curiosity and ignorance immediately following her transformation to an immortal being, she had opened the leftmost gate and peered outside, only to be greeted by an empty void devoid of even the smallest twinkle of stars. Having her curiosity satiated in such a malevolent fashion, the depressed girl could only shut the gates and return to the Golden Residence, head drooping.
The only other matter preventing her from departing from this place was that the gates refused to let her leave. Each time in her subsequent attempts to depart, the gates would slam shut rapidly, smacking the poor girl's body back into the patches of flora in the courtyard.
Truly painful.
Giving the grand gates a hateful glare, Li Xiang returned her attention towards the library. Though she currently hated the processing of information, she also didn't enjoy being cooped up in a place without a method of leaving. If forced to choose, she would always pick the former.
Stepping into the enormous library, Li Xiang immediately bypassed the pedestal in the center of the ground floor, instead proceeding to the second level of bookshelves. The second time she had come here, she had managed to memorize the general locations of the categories of books, and the knowledge regarding divine equipment was on the second floor.
Regarding divine equipment, Li Xiang could comprehend a large portion of the topic with mere observation. Divine equipment was created by compressing divine essence into a specified form, and imprinting a main, auxiliary, and critical construct onto the coalesced mass of divine essence. This would allow the material to take form, and possess what mortals called 'spirituality'.
A construct was nothing more than a generic processing unit. Similar to the soul, a construct could execute a specified amount of commands in a determined or random order when supplied with divine essence. The major difference was that for each iteration, the soul would decay, whereas a construct could operate independently without disintegrating if the supply of divine essence was not cut off, or the function of automatically gathering divine essence was configured on the construct. In a way, divine equipment could be considered a sister concept of her cannibalistic lotus.
The sheer ingenuity of constructs was their inbound flexibility and capability to maximize on a configuration. As divine essence responded to roiling emotions and berserk thoughts of the environment and surrounding immortals, constructs could be created with a basic notion of disregard towards crisis, allowing the equipment to operate at optimal condition, or even surpass its limit in certain scenarios. Such constructs could be applied upon mortal worlds.
When applied to mortal worlds, the implanted construct would in turn affect the inhabitants. The construct would mold the generic personality of the inhabitants in addition to moderating how each inhabitant experienced their life. Disasters and fortune, crisis and opportunity, for mortals, everything was determined by an emotionless, unresponsive mechanical structure carrying out a bucket list of procedures. Yet, these foolish mortals called the construct a god, Fate, or some nonsensical deity figure.
Li Xiang figured that the Golden Residence, even the entire compound itself, was a singular unit of divine equipment. Compared to the cold darkness of the void, the compound had sun and moon cycles as observed by Li Xiang over the past month, and even seasonal effects were introduced. Until now, Li Xiang had experienced sunny, windy, and even bizarre cold environments, leading her to guess that a construct was in effect, the compound was a massive piece of equipment, or perhaps both.
Compared to the mortals' flamboyant usage of their technology in warfare, divine equipment was seldom utilized in combat. Created for the general purpose of convenience or decoration, divine equipment contained a 'generator' for divine essence, of which the core of the equipment lay. If Li Xiang could find the core and bind it to her Authority, then she would be able to leave the residence. The only problem was the core's revealed existence.
The cores of divine equipment did not always appear in physical manifestations. They could exist as a standard global mass of divine essence in the center of the construct or hide in plain sight as an insignificant mantra laying around in the divine equipment. In such a large place as the compound Li Xiang resided in, finding the core would take a long time and too much effort, with no guarantee of her even finding it. The only method Li Xiang thought she could take to resolve this problem as soon as possible was to attack the residence, perhaps forcing the core to surface in defense.
Stepping out onto the main courtyard, Li Xiang faced the Golden Residence, which she assumed was the structure of most importance in the compound. With a light release of breath, pale translucent wings of purple, red, and black emerged from her back, gently wafting Li Xiang's hair as they stretched. After a while, she began to accumulate copious amounts of divine essence into her hand, preparing to forcefully fuse them before unleashing it onto the compound.
Staring at the growing mass of divine essence, Li Xiang pondered on what central attribute she should assign to achieve the greatest effect. The manifestations she was most proficient at were centered around emotions of anger and hate, while the others were manageable, but not possessing awestriking devastation like the former two. After light deliberation, she chose to instill an unceasing gluttonous drive towards divine essence as the central mold of the construct. She wanted to see how the compound's core would react when a half-manifested entity desired to drain its divine essence. Imagining the general completed shape as a small Tao Tie, Li Xiang manipulated the Divine Script.
"Form"
The 'Form' character of the Divine Script interjected itself into reality, forcefully rending the air to create a massive 'Form' symbol behind Li Xiang. The introduction of the Divine Script rapidly accelerated the creation process of the Tao Tie, causing a rather loud and ear-piercing howl to ring throughout the otherwise silent compound. Following the howl, a large Tao Tie raised its hound head towards the Golden Residence, and divine essence began to visibly contort as it was forcefully dragged into the mouth of the Tao Tie.
Immediately after the Tao Tie pronounced its form, the Golden Residence responded, much to Li Xiang's satisfaction. A dark figure in the outline of a tall man rushed from the recess of the residence, charging towards the Tao Tie with a sword in hand. With a loud shout, the figure swung its sword downwards with a powerful strike, causing a massive vertical shockwave to pierce through the Tao Tie, making the monster disintegrate into strands of divine essence. Li Xiang pouted.
Even though her Tao Tie was created from a half-assed construct such as Gluttony without even any auxiliary structures, command sequences, or even a computational frame, chopping it in half with a single strike was a little rude!?
Facing the dark figure who seemed to be contemplating over the lack of enemies, Li Xiang lightly pointed with her index finger, commanding in the Divine Script once more:
[Bind thy soul!]
As the Divine Script interjected once more, black chains manifested in the air before rushing towards the dark figure. The figure attempted to resist by swinging his sword at the incoming chains, releasing deadly shockwaves and even launching bursts of concentrated divine essence, the chains remained undaunted and eventually coiled themselves around the darkened figure. Howling manically, the dark figure struggled to escape, causing the chains to bind him even tighter, yet were unable to actually force the Golden Residence's core to submit. Frowning lightly, Li Xiang spoke once more.
[Bind! Brand thy will, and submit! Do you dare rebel against my authority?]
Hearing Li Xiang's words and observing the Divine Script manifest itself a third time, this time with even greater magnitude and an unstoppable divine might, the dark figure immediately ceased all struggling and scrambled to kneel, with an expression of terror perceivable on its blurred face. In an instant, Li Xiang's Heaven Core flashed into existence, and red, chaotic chains burst from the core.
The chains rushed into the dark figure's body, piercing into the deepest recesses of the figure's soul. The terror on its face gradually dimmed into apathy, and the chains of the Divine Script faded away as the dark figure stood, before giving a respectful bow with a ninety-degree inclination. There was no longer any expression of rage or terror, and the dark figure melted into a shadow before merging with the Heaven Core.
Now, the Heaven Core contained twenty-two ridges of scarlet and gold engravings, as well as twelve black inlays of divine essence circumscribing the sphere. The divine maiden figure in the hollowed cross-section of the core was kneeling, both hands holding a crystal ball. Within lay the entire compound that Li Xiang resided in.
Li Xiang displayed a happy smile. Now the Golden Residence was bound to her will, allowing her to travel through the Immortal World and carry the Golden Residence with her, a result she did not expect as she merely desired to possess the ability to monitor the location of the compound. This was asking for a blanket in winter and receiving a bucket of coal, who could refuse, ah?
-
In the outskirts of the Boundless Flame Domain of the Immortal World, a handsome man traveling at great speed suddenly came to a halt and vomited a mouthful of blood, surprising the multitude of troops behind him. Amidst the worried cries of his subordinates, the man had a cold expression on his face as he glared at an unknown region of the Immortal World.
The Heaven Devouring Blade under his possession was suddenly contracted to a person, and now even his private Golden Fragrance Hall was obtained, the central guardian soul of the construct bound to submission. He had to rush back as soon as possible, for he feared that he would lose the culprit.
-
Traveling through the Immortal World truly wasn't as fun as Li Xiang would daydream about. Surrounded by the empty void in all directions, she was forced to realize that the Immortal World was truly massive; perhaps the region that she was traveling in is nothing more than a small grain of sand compared to the whole Immortal Domain. Feeling slightly depressed and simultaneously excited for excitement in the future, Li Xiang accelerated even faster, surpassing billions of zhang with a single step.
Only to collide with a massive wall of divine essence heading her way.
Weekly Power Status
-- Power
Ranking 
-- Power
stone