Echoes of Divinity: Book 13 of Painting the Mists Read online

  Table of Contents

  Title Page

  Copyright

  Author's Note and Acknowledgments

  Dedication

  Previously on Painting the Mists

  Prologue

  Chapter 1: Three Years

  Chapter 2: Forest of Glass

  Chapter 3: Opposing Runes

  Chapter 4: Delving

  Chapter 5: Realm-Transcending Ba Serpent

  Chapter 6: Consultation

  Chapter 7: Shakkanah

  Chapter 8: Threads of Fate

  Chapter 9: Deal with the Devil

  Chapter 10: Sacred Desert

  Chapter 11: Stowaway

  Chapter 12: Red List

  Chapter 13: Desert’s Blessing

  Chapter 14: Frost Lotus Sect

  Chapter 15: Outcasts of Mendin

  Chapter 16: Core

  Chapter 17: Tax of a Third

  Chapter 18: The Origin of Names

  Chapter 19: Proof of Concept

  Chapter 20: Deterioration

  Chapter 21: Binding and Releasing

  Chapter 22: Echoes of Divinity

  Chapter 23: The Strength of Gold

  Chapter 24: The Worth of Sand

  Chapter 25: Changing the Game

  Chapter 26: Curse of the Land

  Chapter 27: Descent

  Chapter 28: Strange City

  Chapter 29: Instigation

  Chapter 30: Transcending Lifetimes

  Chapter 31: Confession

  Chapter 32: Reunion

  Chapter 33: Recovery

  Chapter 34: Converging

  Chapter 35: Source of Madness

  Chapter 36: Scales of Sanctity

  Chapter 37: Within the Mists

  Chapter 38: Locke and Trevonay

  Epilogue

  About the Author

  A Note to Readers

  Further Reading

  Cultivation Systems

  Echoes of Divinity

  Book 13 of Painting the Mists

  by Patrick G. Laplante

  Copyright © 2021 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.

  Echoes of Divinity 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, 2021

  ISBN: 78-1-989578-21-6

  Other Painting the Mists books:

  Clear Sky

  Blood Moon

  Light in the Darkness

  Pure Jade

  Corrupted Crimson

  Kindling

  Shifting Tides

  Shattered Lands

  Edge of Oblivion

  Words of Creation

  Crown of the Starry Sky

  Claddings of Light

  Echoes of Divinity

  The Pendulum of Balance (Forthcoming, title not final)

  Author’s Note and Acknowledgments

  My vacation lasted a bit longer than I anticipate, so the manuscript for Book 14 isn’t as far along as I’d like. Instead of making excuses, I’ll skip directly to thanks and acknowledgements. I’d like to start off with thanking my wife, my parents, my brothers, my sister, and my friends for moral support.

  Many thanks to this book’s beta readers, Aljoscha Volk, Drew Kennedy, John Wilson, Peter Zandvliet, and Carson Tews. It was a longer book than normal and I gave them little notice, so good job and thank you for putting up with me.

  Crystal Watanabe is thirteen for thirteen on this series, but we have a new cover artist on board this time around. Thank you, Fajareka, for this latest cover. I’m very happy with how Cha Ming’s tattoos turned out, and I can’t way to see how the next one turns out.

  Last but not least, thank you to my readers. I write to tell people stories, and a story is worth nothing if it isn’t shared. I hope you enjoy reading this book as much as I enjoyed writing it.

  Cheers,

  Patrick G. Laplante

  To the faithful, believers in great things.

  Previously on Painting the Mists

  The case is closed, the mystery solved. The Li Clan is no more. Cha Ming has exposed the rakshasa infiltrators in the Burning Lake Prefecture, perfectly resolving his mission for Captain Xing and the Crimson Division.

  The mission is over, but Lord Burning Lake and Lord Dripping Blade still bear a grudge. To protect his friends, Cha Ming has agreed to a death match in half a year’s time. He’s severely lacking in power, and what’s worse, the prefecture lords and Cao Wenluan have taken advantage of the situation to wage war against the demons of Stargazer City and its adjacent lands.

  Cha Ming must close the gap, and fast. To that end, he journeys to Shimmerwing City, the City of Lights. The Iridescent Phoenix’s Clan’s ancestral inheritance blood is the only way for him to advance as a demigod. He is given a chance due to his contributions against the rakshasa and his prevention of a war, but it is a difficult opportunity to grab hold of. In order to participate in the Iridescent Clan’s trial by fire, he must finish as a top-ten contender in Shimmerwing City’s decennial alchemy competition.

  His foundation is lacking, but fortunately, he has something others don’t: Grandmist flames. He finds a strong teacher to instruct him in exchange for assistance in the old man’s research in Grandmist and iridescence.

  Unfortunately, his quick growth is bound to incur jealousy. An influential elder, Iridescent Torch, is determined to make things hard for him. When Cha Ming embarrasses her by winning a runic furnace in an auction, she convinces the other elders to place an embargo on high-quality alchemical reagents. Winning the competition without them is just a pipe dream. Moreover, Cha Ming lacks the Iridescent Clan’s trademark iridescent flames.

  Dejected but determined, Cha Ming resorts to old tricks. He picks up runic alchemy once again and aims to use these skills to surpass the Iridescent Clan’s traditional alchemists. It’s a tall order to fill in just three months, even with the Clear Sky World and time acceleration.

  While Cha Ming busies himself in Shimmerwing, trouble is brewing in the Burning Lake Prefecture. The power vacuum resulting from the extermination of the Li Clan has created both instability and opportunity. Wei Longshen puts his new abilities as a Death Piper to good use and quickly expands his clan’s influence. Unfortunately, this attracts the ire of a mysterious entity.

  Wei Longshen’s acquaintances and allies become the victims of assassination and scare tactics. No one knows who’s responsible. Mi Fei does her best to assist him, but when a shadowy entity begins stalking her dreams, she finds herself too frightened to face reality. Alas, the only man who can console her is busy fighting for the fate of his clan.

  Many weeks pass before Wei Longshen discovers the identity of the killer. It is an assassin hired by the Cao Clan, which has been growing bolder under the leadership of the prefectural army commander, Cao Wenluan. Many more deaths follow before Wei Longshen discovers the killer’s true motive: to deter his relationship with Mi Fei, whom Cao Wenluan wants to marry.

  Wei Longshen confronts the assassin, but he is at a far higher level than Wei Longshen anticipates. His father, Patriarch Wei, intercedes in the battle but suffers a severe wound to his soul. The Ca
o Clan takes advantage of his injuries to pressure the Mi Clan into dissolving their engagement and engaging Mi Fei to Cao Wenluan. Mi Fei herself is placed under house arrest and has no hope of escaping.

  Cha Ming learns of Mi Fei’s situation and wants to rush back to help her. She is the reincarnation of his past lover, Yu Wen, and he can’t bear to see her in pain. He knows that this is Cao Wenluan’s plot, but he can’t do nothing. Huxian volunteers to mount a rescue operation in his place. He journeys back to the Burning Lake Prefecture to collaborate with Wei Longshen.

  Cha Ming’s state of mind becomes unstable, making it difficult for him to participate in the alchemy competition. He leans into his anger until it becomes madness, which he incorporates into a one-of-a-kind alchemical concoction, which he uses to obtain tenth place.

  Only thirty people can enter the Iridescent Ancestor’s inheritance ground. Cha Ming and the others must face three trials. In the first trial, Cha Ming first refines his iridescent spark by facing his most terrible memories. The spark grows to an iridescent flame, which he merges with his Grandmist.

  In his second trial, Cha Ming uses his power over negative emotions to learn the Iridescent Ancestor’s trademark technique, Dazzling Light of the Weeping Flame. He uses his newfound powers in tandem with the Concept of Iridescent Fire to speed through the third trial. Unfortunately, Iridescent Torch is there, and she sabotages him, bumping him down to fifth place.

  There are only three drops of inheritance blood with every opening, and this price is most sought after by all contestants. Upon discussing with the Iridescent Ancestor, Cha Ming trades his prize for a special reward: time. He secludes himself for three hundred days, and in that time, he fully integrates the Concept of Iridescent Fire and breaks through to the peak of the Rune Carving Realm. He then uses the Clear Sky Carving Knife to carve three additional runes of creation, destruction, and iridescence, reaching a whole new level of power.

  With his remaining time, Cha Ming solves the first stage of Fuxi’s Puzzle Box, which was given to him by Elder Ling. Inside is a custom reward from Elder Ling: inheritance blood of the Iridescent Ancestor. He uses the blood to awaken his divinity and reach the peak of the Blood Awakening Realm.

  When Cha Ming emerges from the pocket cultivation realm, he finds Shimmerwing City completely evacuated. Only one demon remains: Iridescent Torch. He easily defeats her and proceeds towards the Burning Lake Prefecture. On his way, he discovers a plot to trap the Iridescent Clan en route to the Star-Eye Clan. It’s a trap for Cha Ming by Cao Wenluan.

  Cha Ming uses his new techniques to create an opening for the Iridescent Clan escape. Cao Wenluan is unable to stop him from reaching the Burning Lake Prefecture. He arrives just in time for his death matches with the prefecture lords, who are significantly stronger than before. Lord Dripping Blade has somehow spliced the blood if the Iridescent Clan through sinister means, giving him a large edge in their battle.

  Cha Ming defeats him by using his new trump card, his destruction domain. Dao Lord Burning Lake is a much trickier opponent. He is a Dao God that cultivates a mysterious burning lake that gives him massive energy stores and an ability to negate most wounds.

  Cha Ming is eventually able to squeeze out a victory by breaking through in his cloning technique, enabling him to safely utilize the five-way fusion technique of the five great demon clans. He defeats Dao Lord Burning Lake, gaining control of the entire prefecture. Huxian and Wei Longshen have taken advantage of the confusion surrounding the match to safely rescue Mi Fei. The cost for Wei Longshen is high—he agrees to marry Cao Wenluan’s sister, Cao Shufen, in exchange for Mi Fei’s freedom.

  Cha Ming and Huxian collaborate to hijack the prefecture’s teleportation formation and return to Stargazer City, which is under siege by Cao Wenluan. They have no hope of winning the war, but fortunately, Clever Dusk has a backup plan. Silver Fish and Serrendil return from an expedition to the Clockwork Clan’s ancestral home. They bring along the remnants of the Runebound Clan, which have been surviving underground.

  The Iridescent Clan joins in, and together, they open a portal to the Starry Road that encompasses the entire Inkwell Plane. The cost is the detonation of every inky well in the demon lands, the Star-Eye Clan’s Tree of Life, the Iridescent Clan’s Five Fire Mountain Range, and the Clockwork Clan’s Gold Spine Mountain Range. They retreat from the Crimson Lotus Empire, ceding the demon lands to the prefectural army.

  The battle is won, but the war is lost. The demons are now refugees. Silver Fish stays behind to harass Cao Wenluan, while Serrendil disembarks in the Slovana Empire with her people. The remainder proceeds to a branch of the Star-Eye Clan in the Mendin republics. Cha Ming and Huxian follow them, only to discover that Mi Fei and Xiao Bai have vanished.

  It’s time for a new beginning. A new land. A new adventure.

  Prologue

  It was just past sunset in Verdant Crossroads. A relaxed time for most, but not for Clever Dusk, who was scrambling out of her room, half-eaten fruit in one hand and a glass of water in the other. Her short hair was in disarray, and her robes were barely fastened. She was late, and being late was a terrible sin.

  Her quick steps tilled the packed earth beneath the roots of the Tree of Life as she made her way to the nearest ladder. She pushed other demons out of the way lest she lose out on valuable seconds. Instead of climbing, however, she jumped, using her strength as an investiture-realm demon, bringing herself up to the next level in just a few seconds.

  Faster, she told herself as she ran. Her handlike feet bounced her from one gnarled root to the next, allowing her to cross the tangle at the base of the Tree of Life and reach its towerlike trunk in record time. Yet despite her haste, Clever Dusk couldn’t help but think of why she was late, in addition to cursing the Thread Seer for placing her residence belowground in the first place. It would have been a simple matter to arrange closer living quarters for her one and only apprentice.

  “Sorry!” Clever Dusk shouted as she pushed through a crowd of Monkey Clan children. The younglings were making their way to a tree-branch obstacle course under the supervision of a teacher. They were too young to be initiates but had been born in human form. As such, they were a bit lacking in terms of survival skills. School to teach what should be learned in the wild—what a concept.

  The power of the Tree of Life filled Clever Dusk as she climbed, feeding the transparent demon armor that could cover her body in plates of star-speckled night at a moment’s notice. It provided her with great strength compared to an initiation demon, in addition to facilitating her new abilities. She could change her environment if she set her mind to it, though here, this ability was useful for little more than creating handholds. This was the Thread Seer’s territory, and the Thread Seer was a mighty fusion-realm demon.

  It took her minutes to arrive at the top of the Tree of Life that towered over Verdant Crossroads. She was several minutes late, so she kept her eyes downcast as she walked onto the flat, glassy surface at the top of the massive tree. It was made up of thousands of rings, each one representing ten years of growth. This tree was ancient, far older than the Thread Seer herself.

  Clever Dusk pointedly avoided looking at the shining leaves and the runes on the Tree of Life’s branches. They were filled with concentrated starlight as well as black leaves that stored the demonic qi delivered by sparse inky rains.

  “You’re three minutes late,” the woman waiting at the center of the platform said. She was old, far older than any other demon Clever Dusk had ever met. Like Clever Dusk, she was also of the Star-Eye Clan, and her eyes shone with a deep and hidden power.

  There were other similarities. Like her, the woman also had a queen’s crown that could protect her from the exposure of starlight and any corrosive effects it might have on her mind. Moreover, she had a different constellation in her eyes compared to the rest of her clansmen. Not the Builder or the Warrior, but the Weaver, like Clever Dusk. She was a Weaver of Fate, which allowed her to see the string
s connecting everyone and the future roads that could be traveled. She was also the strongest in these lands, and therefore the ruler of Verdant Crossroads.

  “I’m sure Master knows why I was late,” Clever Dusk replied calmly. “I am also sure Master already predicted this outcome.”

  “I do, and I did,” the Thread Seer admitted. “But tell me, was this fate set? Were there no roads in the tangled web that could have accommodated your timely arrival? Were you doomed to arrive several minutes late and prompt me to waste several more minutes on this conversation?”

  “You are correct as always, Thread Seer,” Clever Dusk replied obediently. “I had a… project that kept me waiting. An object I couldn’t help but finish weaving before I came here.”

  “Let’s see it, then,” the Verdant Thread Seer said, holding out her hand. The silver-haired woman exerted not a single hint of pressure, yet Clever Dusk felt compelled to obey. She resisted out of principle, choosing instead to walk over and deliver it in person. It was difficult, though this wasn’t because the Thread Seer was trying to make things difficult. The inherent pressure given off by a fusion-realm demon was no joke.

  “I would appreciate Master’s input and advice,” Clever Dusk said as she handed over her creation. It was a set of men’s cultivation robes—a blood-bound item meant for a demigod. Though its defensive capabilities would be useless to an armored demon, its secondary functions would be useful to anyone.

  She’d personally woven the cloth with the leavings of starshine silkworms and had imbued them with her finest red inks. She’d quite literally poured her blood into it. It was this very personal ink that manifested as inky-black runes that ran along the length of the garment and even inside the fibers that made it.

  “The runes need work,” the Verdant Thread Seer said, looking over the item. “See here? The tangle?”