Violet Heart Read online

  Table of Contents

  Title Page

  Copyright

  Dedication

  Prologue

  Chapter 1

  Chapter 2

  Chapter 3

  Chapter 4

  Chapter 5

  Chapter 6

  Chapter 7

  Chapter 8

  Chapter 9

  Chapter 10

  Chapter 11

  Chapter 12

  Chapter 13

  Chapter 14

  Chapter 15

  Chapter 16

  Chapter 17

  Chapter 18

  Chapter 19

  Chapter 20

  Chapter 21

  Chapter 22

  Chapter 23

  Chapter 24

  Chapter 25

  Chapter 26

  Chapter 27

  Chapter 28

  Chapter 29

  Chapter 30

  Chapter 31

  Chapter 32

  Chapter 33

  Chapter 34

  Chapter 35

  Chapter 36

  Chapter 37

  Chapter 38

  Chapter 39

  Chapter 40

  Chapter 41

  Chapter 42

  Chapter 43

  Chapter 44

  Chapter 45

  Chapter 46

  Chapter 47

  Chapter 48

  Chapter 49

  Chapter 50

  Chapter 51

  Chapter 52

  Chapter 53

  Additional Info

  Connect with Others

  Acknowledgments

  The Cultivation Systems

  About the Author

  Violet Heart

  Book 1 of the Violet Fate Duology

  Copyright © 2019 by Patrick G. Laplante

  All rights reserved. This book or any portion thereof may not be reproduced or used in any manner whatsoever without the express written permission of the copyright owner except for the use of brief quotations in a book. Requests for permission should be addressed to the publisher.

  Violet Heart is a work of fiction. Names, organizations, places, and incidents portrayed in this novella are either products of the author’s imagination or are used fictitiously. Any resemblance to actual, events, locales, or persons is purely coincidental.

  ALL RIGHTS RESERVED.

  Published by: Patrick G. Laplante

  First edition, 2019

  ISBN: 978-1-989578-02-5

  Painting the Mists:

  Clear Sky

  Blood Moon

  Light in the Darkness

  Pure Jade

  Corrupted Crimson

  Kindling

  Shifting Tides (forthcoming)

  Violet Fate Duology:

  Violet Heart

  Converging Fate (forthcoming)

  Dedication

  To those who dare.

  Prologue

  A violet hawk flapped its wings, cawing as it circled the blood-drenched battlefield. It ignored the sea of carnage, choosing instead to focus on a single hand poking out from a mountain of corpses. The hand was delicate, likely that of a woman. Something about it called to the hawk, and it would stop at nothing to obtain it.

  Knowing that time was of the essence, it dove down toward its prey. Its eyes glowed red as it drew ever nearer, not spotting the slight movement in the hand as it did. Still it approached. The thought of failure barely registered as the hand plucked the hawk out of the air like a ripe and bloody fruit, its corpse dissolving into a bloody mist that was absorbed by the skeletal limb. Strength returned to the hand as the demon died. Then to the arm, and to the damaged body attached to it.

  Yue Bing woke with a start. Her limbs twitched violently as her mind and body synchronized once more. Relief coursed through her at having escaped the sweet oblivion of death. She struggled against the pile of corpses that covered her, and it barely moved. Then, sensing the disconnect between her soul and body at having escaped death, she familiarized herself with her body once again before continuing her struggle. A few shattered limbs fell off the pile, lessening the weight that bore down on her just enough for her to wrench free.

  Where are they? she thought, looking around frantically. The woman’s long black hair was matted with blood, and her blue robes looked purple from the battlefield gore that soaked them. Panic set into her eyes as she realized that no one else was moving.

  She ran over to another pile of unmoving bodies and scanned them for any signs of life. Unfortunately, she could see very little in the sea of carnage. The air was filled with remnant qi, blood vitality, and resentful souls that lingered where their bodies had perished. Even a cultivator at her level couldn’t sense a single thing.

  What’s that? she thought, spotting a glint up ahead. She scrambled toward what seemed like the only unbroken object in the area. No, not unbroken. The object’s identity registered in her mind. The large blade was cracked, a large notch protruding from its rune-covered edge. It was her brother’s blade, the blade that had blocked the blow meant to kill her. She prayed to the heavens its owner was safe.

  With the sword as her starting point, she began inspecting the bodies. One at a time, her practiced gaze inspected the wound-riddled remnants, lest she miss the two people she sought. Here and there, she spotted treatable injuries. At least, they would have been treatable if the people in question were still alive. A severed limb, a deep gash to the abdomen. Severed fingers and deep burns. Her medical knowledge was useless in the current situation, but it calmed her mind to process the injuries as she sifted through the seemingly endless victims.

  By the 512th, she spotted her quarries. Her heart skipped a beat as she ran out toward the two bodies, who, to her relief, had not yet cooled. But her relief turned to horror as she realized that death was seconds away from claiming them.

  The larger man was littered with bloody holes that could no longer regenerate. His body was mangled and torn, and nine-tenths of his wounds were on his back, the back that had shielded his weaker brother. Bits of flesh hung off his mangled spine, which was miraculously still unbroken despite the damage his blade had suffered.

  The thinner man was in no better condition. Though the larger man had taken the brunt of the impact, his brother’s violet robes were torn, and his skin was a bloody mess. Half his bones were broken, and not a single organ had escaped collateral damage.

  But they were alive. That was all she needed.

  She summoned a golden ankh affixed to the body of a staff. Twin serpents surrounded the sacred item’s body before converging on angelic wings. A bloody glow appeared on the ankh as she summoned dozens of crystalline needles and infused them with the last vestiges of her qi.

  The needles slipped into their bodies effortlessly and stopped their blood in their veins. Then she whispered an incantation, the incantation she needed but dreaded all the same.

  “Blood to blood,” she whispered, her golden ankh emitting a bloody cloud. The cloud was not unlike the one she’d extracted from the hawk earlier, though its color was richer, darker. It split into two balls of potent energy, one big, one small, before shooting into the two men’s bodies.

  Flesh knit, and bones mended at a visible rate. Their organs recovered, and critical injuries completely healed over. Then their blood vessels mended, and their blood resumed flowing once again, displacing the crystalline acupuncture needles, which were no longer needed. Their bodies were safe, but she knew their lives weren’t.

  “Life to life,” she whispered, causing the ankh to glow with white light. A similar glow appeared around her own body before splitting into two large balls of pure potential. As they left her, two thick bunches of long black hair turned white. Suc
h a result was expected, for the white globes were her life force, the price she needed to pay to save them. She paled and sank to her knees, the two white balls shooting into her two brothers.

  Breathe, she pleaded. Breathe. Her prayers were answered. The men, who hadn’t breathed this whole time, gasped. Their souls, which had left for a brief moment as they skirted the netherworld, jolted back into their bodies. Their eyes fluttered as they began to regain consciousness.

  Exhausted, Yue Bing slumped down. She spotted two figures flying toward them in the distance. Friends, she hoped, as she was in no condition to stand, let alone fight with two cultivators. She hovered on the brink of conscious for what seemed like an eternity before she heard a familiar voice and felt a familiar hand. Then, she collapsed.

  Her brothers were safe.

  In the empty space just outside the Ling Nan Plane, a gray rift appeared in the void. A tall old man in black robes stepped out, his timeless black eyes sweeping over the lesser world with excitement and curiosity. As lord of the Underworld, it was Yama’s responsibility to understand the various planes and how they fit into the cycle of reincarnation. At least, that’s what he’d told everyone before taking off before a very unpleasant meeting.

  Stretching his aged but strong body, he let himself drift off in the blackness of space as he listened in on the mortals down below. Children went to school while parents worked. Cultivators cultivated, and so on. Everything was normal. Mundane. Boring. That is, except for the budding war on the plane’s only continent.

  Angels and devils fought tooth and nail, and this time, the devils were winning. And as much as he disliked those unsavory bastards, he was contractually prohibited from interfering in their strife. More to the point, if he so much as stepped foot inside the unstable plane, it would shatter into countless pieces, ending billions of lives and erasing them from the cycle of reincarnation. Not the best move for someone in the business of rebirth.

  “My lord, it’s done,” a woman said, appearing beside him. It was Han Yu, his assistant. Unlike the gray-haired man, who didn’t seem to care about his appearance, she was the epitome of professionalism. She wore her blonde hair in a tight bun fastened with a black clip that matched her black-rimmed glasses. Her skirt was the same color as her gray suit jacket, a perfect complement to her white blouse and leggings. “My informants have compiled a preliminary report on this mortal plane.”

  “Well? I don’t have all day,” Yama said.

  “Right. In order to expedite your understanding of the situation, I produced an executive summary,” Han Yu said. “Aside from the obvious war between the northern forces of good and the southern forces of evil, the continent hosts a variety of interesting locations to sight-see on your vacation.”

  “Business trip,” Yama said. “It’s a business trip.” It had to be, unless he intended to use his precious vacation time. That aside, he couldn’t exactly take his secretary on vacation, so the classification was vital to his enjoyment of the trip.

  “Business trip,” Han Yu confirmed, adjusting her glasses. “Most of the South is a wretched hellhole, courtesy of the negative karma inherent to the devilish faction. As such, there’s nothing good to see there. In the North, however, there are a few interesting locations. The Song Kingdom has beautiful trees with leaves that show five colors, while the Huoshan Kingdom has the third-ranked volcanic mountain range in the universe.”

  “Third ranked?” Yama asked, raising an eyebrow. “In the universe? Very impressive for a mortal plane.”

  “Right, so we should definitely take a look,” Han Yu continued. “There’s also an underwater city, Haijing City, at the depths of the continent’s massive ocean. If you’re into cultural things, Gold Leaf City has the best courtesans while Quicksilver City is somehow undergoing an industrial revolution, giving it a very steampunk feel in an otherwise very Asian world.”

  “Huh,” Yama said, summoning a bag of some snack he’d discovered recently. Popcorn. He offered some to his assistant, who refused the all-too-expensive snack, choosing instead to drink a sip of the all-too-expensive soda that accompanied it. “Cultivation system?”

  Han Yu’s eyes brightened. “This one’s pretty interesting, actually. It’s very fragmented, as the local people are little better than enlightened monkeys. If not for the respective angelic and devilish factions, none of the local populace would have ever transcended. Basically, most humans progress by either cultivating qi or strengthening their body starting from the most basic elements.

  “Soul is auxiliary, unless cultivated by Buddhists, evil spirits, or some other minor factions. They condense soul force as they cultivate, then develop an incandescent glow, materialize a resplendent vestment, and so on, before transcending. Their souls are so weak the plane doesn’t really notice them—that is, unless they’re part of said Buddhists and evil spirit movements. Here, take a look.” She handed him a tablet containing millions of shifting characters.

  An amused expression graced his face.

  “So you’re telling me that cultivators start off by condensing droplets of qi?” Yama said incredulously. “They don’t just grow runic cores directly?”

  “I’m afraid their plane is much too unstable to withstand such a thing,” Han Yu explained. “This inefficient method is necessary, as it culls cultivators down and limits the production of transcendents. They’re forced to build up a critical amount of liquid qi before they start their first intermediate solid phase, foundation establishment. Then, after they’ve grown enough intermediate solid, they combine it into a larger solid sphere, the most efficient form, which they grow and nurture in core formation. Then, they gamble with their lives and carve runes into their cores using ambient Grandmist borrowed from the plane. The survivors transcend.”

  “What about the body-cultivation path?” Yama asked. “I never liked those qi-cultivating pansies. Strong punches, broken bones, that’s where it’s at. How many gods have come from this plane?”

  “One,” Han Yu said blankly. “There’s only a single royal family with residual god blood to nurture. As a result, body refining is a rarity in all but the deepest oceans. They first strengthen their organs with qi, then forge their bones. After refining their marrow, they transcend by producing trace amounts of god blood.”

  Yama smacked his forehead. “Tell me. Are demons still demons?”

  “Demons are still demons,” Han Yu affirmed. “I’m sure they’ll make for good entertainment.”

  Yama sighed. “Fine. Show me the karmic anomaly you detected. That boy named Du Cha Ming.”

  “Another regretful development,” Han Yu said. “The Jade Emperor nabbed him and sent him to Jade Moon Planet. He won’t be back until our vacation—I mean, our business trip—is over. We’ll have to find a different group to spectate.”

  “Just what I needed,” Yama said grumpily. He scanned the plane and zeroed in on some interesting people. First, he saw an old sword-wielding formation master. The man was a transcendent, a legitimate angel with real wings. “Too powerful,” he muttered.

  He narrowed his search and zeroed in on people who were weaker than mid core formation. One man, surprisingly, looked back with eyes containing burning red pupils. “Too evil, too all-knowing.”

  Finally, he found what he was looking for. A tight-knit group of apprentices setting off on an adventure after a humiliating defeat. Their journey was possible but fraught with danger. They’d die, more likely than not, but Yama liked to root for underdogs.

  “Them. We’ll watch them,” he said.

  “Oh?” Han Yu said. “The karmic anomaly’s disciples?”

  “Just enough karmic interference to keep things interesting, and just enough power to stop them from getting smashed to a pulp when trouble rears its ugly head,” Yama said, nodding. “Much room for improvement, but a story that ends before our business visa expires.”

  Han Yu nodded slowly. “Will you be requiring anything else before I continue preparing for the upcoming election
?”

  “Popcorn,” Yama said. “Lots of it.”

  Chapter 1

  The campfire licked at Ling Dong’s toes as he sat alone. He ignored its feeble heat, choosing instead to focus on his hands. His muscles bulged as he forced a yellow stone inlaid with dull runic characters down a thick, heavy blade. The monstrous weapon resisted as he forced its notches and imperfections back into place, healing the damage to its runic structure in the process.

  Every pass of the whetstone became progressively easier as the blade, which was half as wide as and slightly shorter than his body, gradually reached its peak condition. He nodded appreciatively as he inspected his faithful companion. Yet his eyes lingered on the half-inch notch on its main edge.

  “I’ll fix you soon,” he whispered. “You might be damaged, but I can tell you’re still willing to fight.” He heard no answer.

  Ling Dong’s stomach growled, prompting him to stab the heavy blade into a nearby rock. He picked a giant leg of spirit boar off the fire, shaking off the dripping oil before taking a massive bite. Dense vital energy flowed into his body as he consumed its potent demonic flesh. As a body cultivator, this energy was essential to his progress. Enough food to feed hundreds of lesser cultivators disappeared, bone and all.

  “I really wish they made better maps,” he muttered as he strapped his blade onto his back. He inspected a jade slip that illustrated many nearby landmarks and his current position. The large star, his target location, was prominently displayed on the illusory map. It happened to overlap with a large moon, his current position.

  Sighing, he stored it into his bag of holding and inspected his surroundings. His irises turned violet as he did so. This action caused many nearby demons to scatter in fear. They formed a path where Ling Dong walked, fearing his ire more than intruding on their neighbors’ territories.

  “If I was a beast tamer, where would I live?” he thought out loud. There were many potential locations. Several caves shone with violet demonic light. These could either house his target, or any lord- or king-level demons, for that matter. “No, it must be somewhere noticeable. And somewhere elevated.”