Re-birth: The Beginning after the End - Chapter 87

Chapter 87: WHO THE FUCK ARE YOU?

The Avatar’s gaze lingered on the three children one final moment, his eyes flickering with something almost like curiosity before he too vanished into the distorting reality. The pressure of his presence lifted like a physical weight, leaving behind only the acrid smell of burning stone where his footprints had marked the earth.

Li Hua felt the invisible essence that had been holding her back finally loosen its grip. In that same instant, she exploded toward the hooded figure, her daggers materializing in her hands as killing intent erupted from her small frame like a supernova.

She moved faster than thought, spiritual essence crackling around her like lightning as she drove him into the frost-covered ground with enough force to shatter stone. The impact carved a crater beneath his body, and before the dust could settle, both of her daggers were already pressed against his throat, their edges hungry for blood.

“WHO THE FUCK ARE YOU?!” Her scream carried thirteen years of shattered peace, the sound raw enough to make even the remaining cultivators flinch. “I COULD HAVE SAVED THEM! WHY DID YOU STOP ME?!” Spiritual essence blazed around her like a storm of razor-sharp crystals, her grief transforming into something deadly and primal. The celestial diamonds in her ears began to resonate with her rage, their chime now a discordant screech that made the air itself seem to bleed.

The man’s response was equally explosive, pressing his throat harder against her blades until beads of blood welled up beneath their edges. “Are you fucking stupid?” Beneath his hood, eyes burned with an intensity that matched her own. “You must’ve thought ‘It’ll only take one strike to end it,’ right? But you are wrong. He wouldn’t have killed your father outright—but if you had attempted to strike the Avatar, both you and your father would be dead in an instant! Is that what you want?”

“Sister.” Li Hao’s hand found her shoulder, his touch gentle despite the tremors running through his own body.

Li Wei stepped forward, his scholarly demeanor giving way to sharp analysis. “He not only held us back—” His eyes narrowed at the mysterious cultivator with suspicion. “—but he masked our cultivation.”

Li Hua felt her anger falter, confusion taking its place as she studied the man more carefully. “How? Why?”

A memory suddenly crystallized in her mind—her mother’s final turn hadn’t been toward them at all. Those tears… they had fallen as her gaze fixed on this hooded figure. Even through her grief, Li Hua’s instincts caught the significance. Her mother, a being so extraordinary that even immortal cultivators spoke of her in whispers, had noticed something about this man that had broken her composure.

“It shouldn’t be possible,” Li Wei whispered, his scholarly mind racing ahead. “Every cultivation manual states clearly that those of higher realms can always sense those below them. It’s a fundamental law, like gravity or—”

“Laws?” The hooded man’s laugh carried a bitter edge. “The laws you learned are what they want you to believe.” His fingers traced a pattern in the air that made Li Hua’s eyes hurt—not because it was bright or powerful, but because it seemed to exist in dimensions her mind couldn’t quite grasp. “Your parents taught you that cultivation can’t be hidden from those above you because that’s what everyone in all five realms believes. They taught you there were only eight elements and six cultivation paths because that’s what everyone knows to be true. But what if I told you there was a sixth realm? One that exists in the spaces between the others? Just as there are elements and paths that exist in the spaces between what’s known?”

Li Hua’s daggers wavered as understanding dawned. “That’s why Mother looked back. She sensed… whatever you just did.”

“The Jade Vitality Grass exists between life and death, between plant and consciousness,” the man said softly. “Of course she would recognize another being who walks between spaces.” His hood shifted away from the light, casting his face in deeper shadow. “The five realms you know—the mystic veil, ascending plateau, profound valley, grand eternal, and celestial plains—they’re like islands in an infinite sea. But there are creatures who swim in the depths between them. Powers that exist in the spaces where reality… bends.”

“Our parents knew?” Li Wei asked, his scholarly intensity breaking through his grief. “About this sixth realm?”

“Your mother did, in her own way. The Jade Vitality Grass doesn’t just bridge life and death—it exists in all states simultaneously. Plant and person, living and spiritual, conscious and dormant.” The man’s voice carried a note of reverence. “That’s why she was so valuable to the Emperor of Tides. She could nurture spiritual herbs that shouldn’t be able to grow in the celestial plains. Because she understood, instinctively, how to reach into the spaces between realms.”

Li Hua’s daggers finally lowered completely, her mind racing with implications. “And our father? The earth dragon essence…”

“Why do you think his arrays could hide you all for eighteen years?” The hooded figure’s voice grew softer. “Normal formations work with known laws. But your father’s earth dragon essence let him touch something deeper—the foundations where those laws are written. He didn’t just hide you from sight; he hid you from reality itself.”

Li Wei breathed, pieces clicking into place. “Father wasn’t just the youngest formation master in a millennium. He was doing things that should have been impossible.”

The man nodded slowly. “And now you understand why they couldn’t let either of your parents remain free. The Sovereign of Flames, the Emperor of Tides—they guard the known laws of cultivation like jealous gods. The very existence of beings who can work between those laws…” His voice trailed off meaningfully.

Li Hao, who had been uncharacteristically quiet, suddenly spoke up. “You said there are paths between the known ones. Elements between elements.” His hands clenched at his sides. “Teach us.”

The hooded figure turned toward him sharply. “It’s not that simple. Walking between spaces requires—”

“Ten years,” Li Hua interrupted, her voice carrying the same steel as before. “I promised them ten years. Whatever it takes, whatever price we have to pay, whatever impossible paths we have to walk—teach us everything.”

The hooded figure studied them for a long moment, his attention shifting between the three siblings. “You can come with me,” he said softly, his eyes moving from one to another as if measuring their worth. “But first, I must seek approval from the Old Tang. Such matters require proper protocol.” He paused, choosing his next words carefully. “The path I offer is not one we share lightly.”