Sect Snippets

Lost 3.6
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The image of a square rose in her mind as she started to move, the Eight Trigrams laid out before her. She attuned herself to the Qi around her and her body shifted according. She'd learned how to do this from—someone, at some point, but she couldn't even remember that person's name or face right now. Still, at least her body seemed to remember. Thinking that, she took a step. She made a gesture. She imagined she was preparing a letter, and in her heart she whispered—

  The Gate of Heaven is opened above me.
  The wheel that guides me to heaven

Her heart was hammering. The memory rose without any further context, like it was flying off to Heaven, and she had no other choice but to take another step, continuing. She imagined she was rising up towards a realm above this one, her mind in a higher place, her footsteps marking out holy ground, consecrating this place, and—

  Moves with the speed of thunder and lightning
  Advancing like the wind and clouds.

Another pair of steps and she imagined she was presenting her findings to a court.

  My memorial rises upwards
  To reach the Court of Heaven.

Her body was growing feverish now, the simple motions almost furious. She was almost done.

  My body returns to the Gate of Heaven,
  Where it merges

  And unites in Perfection with the Way.

She completed her dance. In that moment, she was here and far from this place, and the ground she stood on was sacred.

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The Steps for Reaching Heaven hadn't helped her remember by coincidence. It was because those were the steps for delivering word of a crime to Heaven. It was for delivering a memorial to the courts. She'd presented her evidence as best she could. Hundreds of thousands dead, the details she'd been able to find under the circumstances, her speculations. Now it was time for the other half of things.

In that moment, there was no doubt in her or in how or why she acted. Without uncertainty, without hesitation, without even a note of disharmony, she turned to face the Southeast. In her mind, she stood before the Court of the Emissaries of the Five Thunders and presented her case to the Three Monitoring Offices, and somehow recognized them. Her left hand formed the mudra for Becoming Divine. The opposite of the Steps for Reaching Heave were the Steps to Crack the Earth and Summon the Thunders. And the Incantation was—

  Divine Constellation of the Jade Pivot, receive the decree for the King to crack the earth and summon the thunders. Punish and crusade against the wicked. Emissaries of the Five Thunders, hasten to me and comply with my spell and decree to chase away those that bring misfortune. Urge the Five Thunders to let descend their radiance and let it flow into my brush and register to write out the heavenly tracts. Let all monsters perish and all evil ways scatter and vanish. Act quickly, in the name of the God of Law and Order, the General with Silver Teeth!

In the lightning's radiance and her mind's eye, she could see it then—the way her brush could turn and how it could enact heaven's judgement.

Only one interested her.

  With the first stroke of my brush, the six spirits hide. With the second, the four killing forces perish. With the third, the stars tremble. With the fourth, lightning strikes. With the fifth, thunder rumbles. With the sixth, the mountain demons die. With the seventh, those that rebel against Heaven and do not know the Way are captured, to have their heads chopped off and feet severed. Deities and demons that cause misfortune, surrender to the Five Thunders. In the name of the God with Silver Teeth, I write—

  我

Seven strokes for a single word, Wo. Meaning 'Me.'

  Don't enhance a spell. Just give me strength.

She spoke and the words came without her thinking, just like the thunder that followed came without lightning.

  "—Mirror of Retribution."

Cut X.3
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"We're past that," she stated.

We are, Chun Jun said. You, who have wielded the Shadow Sword, know that in all things, there is a flow. Yin in every Yang; Yang in every Yin. The two blend together, giving rise to each other endlessly. Yin becomes Yang, Yang becomes Yin. Each plants the seed that bears the other.

"Where?"

At the farthest extremity, Chun Jun said. At the very limit. So push yourself as far as you can even imagine going—and you'll catch the barest glimpse of it.