60- The Art of War

Mason did not break through that day, unfortunately. Nor did any Sorcerer teleport to him in a panic about an attack. No, Mason simply spent a day meditating, unaffected by the outside world. And through it, he could feel it. The way forward, and how close it was.

He could now confirm that it did indeed have to do with his Breath, and more specifically, the Dao. Of course, all Three Treasures would be involved in the transformation, and quite possibly equally so.

It had puzzled him at first, since the Spirit appeared to be the strongest of the Three Treasures, and the next realm would be the transformation of the Essence. So the Breath stood as the least likely treasure to drive the breakthrough.

And it was indeed the case. Although the Dao was felt by the Breath, it was in fact something much larger than the Breath, or man himself. Mason suspected this was also why this breakthrough had stumped humanity for so long. The Dao was normally only felt and manipulated through the Breath and Divine Sense, but this break through required one to evoke the Dao with their whole being, instead of just the Breath.

Feeling the Dao was already considered a semi-legendary feat among cultivators, manipulating it even more so, so this was all simply far too distant from their expectations. Even those who did manage to feel the Dao usually only did so for ‘lesser’ Daos, like that of the Sword for Izo.

To be clear, Mason did not actually believe there were lesser or greater Daos, but the Dao of the Sword certainly was more mundane than an elemental or conceptual one, which limited the scope of their imagination.

It was only because Mason had brought his understanding of the Dao to its limit that he could feel the way forward. But like many things, it was not something that could be forced, and it would happen when it was meant to happen.

So even though he had not broken through, Mason descended the mountain in a happy mood, jogging all the way back to Kamar-Taj.

The fortress had been cleaned since the day before, the demon corpses disposed of and the few unfortunate casualties taken care of. It would have almost looked like it was a regular day, if not for the dozens of Sorcerers posted all around, guarding the fortress. They also had their wards raised, ready for battle.

Mason actually looked slightly out of place as he swaggered inside, where he went to join the Ancient One. She was with Danny when he arrived, who was dressed in his full Iron Fist regalia, and smiled at his approach, greeting, "Even after spending so much time up there, you remain so pale. I’m afraid you won’t ever get a good tan again."

Mason rolled his eyes; his skin was not that pale, and rebutted, "Just say it if you’re jealous of my perfect skin, woman."

Yao smiled, and Danny interjected, "So, no attacks. No attempted breach. There’s definitely something odd at work here."

Mason gave Yao a glance for her insight, and she offered lightly, "I’ve been thinking about it. The Beast’s corruption is an invasion of the psyche, so it can be resisted by a Sorcerer. Maybe not well enough to regain control, but enough to hide some things. Maybe Izo managed to hide his plan from them, and so they don’t know we have discovered their headquarters’ location."

Danny frowned, arguing, "But Izo is not a Sorcerer. Not only that, he despises them. You can’t be saying he learned some magic to protect his memories?"

Yao looked back at Mason meaningfully, making him snort, "Knowing the old man, he could absolutely learn magic if it were to spite in someone’s face. Even more so in the Beast’s. But really, it does not matter. Since they’re not taking action, we’ll attack ourselves."

"And you are certain this is still what you want to do? Understand that Kamar-Taj won’t be able to assist, so there would only be two of you."

Mason narrowed his eyes at Yao, feeling suspicious. "I know that already, and yet I feel like there’s a trap somewhere in your words. Are you hiding something from us, Yao?"

She remained unperturbed. "A great many things, but nothing that pertains to your plan. I simply have my reservations. The attack yesterday was something beyond the scope of the Hand alone, and it is strange they have not acted yet."

Mason looked at her for a moment longer before chuckling, "So that’s the problem. Tell me, you have the Time Stone, right?"

Her expression did not change, but she stared at Mason for a beat too long to feign indifference as she replied, "We all have secrets. Curious you would feel something hidden from Chi Sense."

"Divine Sense, not Chi Sense. The point of it is to feel the Dao, first and foremost, not Chi. And it is a little hypocritical of you to speak of secrets when you’ve been using that stone. Speaking of which, that’s the problem, isn’t it?"

She said nothing, so Mason turned to look at Danny, who was confused about what they were talking about, and asked, "Danny, tell me, assuming there is a virtually endless amount of paths the future could branch into, would you like the power to be able to look into the future?"

A glimmer of understanding flashed on his face as he muttered, "Sounds tedious."

Mason grinned, "Tedious, yes. And exhausting. Imagine seeing a million ways something could go wrong, I’d wager it would result in some hesitation to act, wouldn’t you?"

Danny smiled back, nodding, apparently unperturbed by the revelation.

Yao stared at the two before sighing, "And why do you think a woman capable of seeing the future would care to listen to your opinion, if not because she understood the limitations of her ways?"

Mason grinned, "Then let me teach you, Little One. Things will go wrong, no matter what you do. All you need to do is to accept that fact, and deal with it."

"Oh, Wise One, are you proposing to go in without a plan?"

"Of course not. Plans don’t work because the other side always has a plan. Not coming up with one only means leaving yourself to the whims of your enemy’s plan. The real point of your plan is to fuck with theirs!"

"So what is your plan, Wise One?"

"To crush them with overwhelming might, of course!"

Danny stepped in, "Not as stupid as it sounds. We know for certain that their ritual of resurrection can only be performed in their headquarters, so as long as we destroy whatever it is that they use, we turn infinite numbers into a few thousands. Moreover, we will only have to eliminate a single one of the turned Immortal Weapons to ruin their plans. Besides, their inaction implies they are planning something, so a likely unexpected, and definitely overwhelming frontal attack will most certainly throw a wrench into their plans."

Mason blinked. "What he said."

Yao still seemed unsure, and she eventually said, "I think the Beast is interfering with the timeline, interfering with my sight. I won’t stop you if you truly wish to go, but know that it is most likely a trap."

"Of course it’s a trap, I’m not daft. But they can open the door at any time, so I’d rather spring their trap than wait passively. If you ask me, they are most likely have already deserted their headquarters, and the moment we get there, they’ll seal it off. If it works, it would effectively take Danny and me out of the equation, leaving only Kamar-Taj for the defence of the door to the Eighth City."

"So you don’t think they can successfully trap you?"

Mason gestured at Danny. "Me? Maybe. Chi counters magic, so I think I could get out, but I don’t need to take chances. His control might be questionable," Danny protested. "Hey!" only for Mason to ignore him. "But at the end of the day, he remains the single greatest source of Chi on the planet, including the Immortal Weapons. Against a set, immovable barrier? They’re not trapping us."

Yao still pressed, "Energy barriers are only one type of seal among many. They could send you to the Mirror Dimension, or any other dimension for that matter, and there would be nothing you could do once there. Not to mention, this is all just a possibility among others. Maybe they don’t want to trap you, and instead have gathered all their forces to kill you."

"Well, there’s only one way to know, isn’t there?"

Yao looked exasperated, but in the end, she did not stop them.