After he fled from the southern lands of the tiger-headed demons, With-Heaven, being as he was still banished from his father Tengir's country by a divine boundary, had no home to return to, so he wandered the lands near and far, hunting in the forests, drinking from the streams and making temporary homes out of murky caves and hollow logs. He had no way to mark the seasons or otherwise know the passage of time--he only went when the sun was up, and slept when it went down. And everyday he usually would come across bandits, marauders, highwaymen and other criminals, most of them of demonic stock, who would try to rob him. Having no weapon or armor to defend himself with, only a woolen robe on his back, he could not fight back against them but always was forced to flee but, thanks to his divine quick-footedness and ability to fly in midair, he was always able to get away without injury.
Still his heart was never at rest, and he raged at Heaven and at Earth. He cursed the gods and the spirits and denounced his father, his mother, his brothers and sisters. With every step he took, he kicked the dirt. He vowed never to return to the land of Tengir his father, but instead to wander until he found a new land that was suitable and to set up his house there. But seeing as he had no weapon to defend himself with, his mind went to dark corners as he brooded in fear lest a strong enemy should one day appear and kill him.
Then one day as the sun was about to set, he saw a figure approaching him that wore a brown cloak. The cloak covered his whole body except his face, but it cast such a deep and ghoulish shadow that his face was all but darkness. With-Heaven called to the figure: "Hail, who goes there?" The figure stopped and spoke thus: "I am but a man who wanders in search of curiosities." With a scowl, With-Heaven replied: "I was asking for your name." To which the cloaked man: "Then you may call me Inverted-One." "That can't be your real name. You must be a coward to cover yourself up like that and obscure your name." "Believe me or don't, that is in truth my name." And With-Heaven: "Inverted-One, what curiosities do you seek?" "I seek the blood of Lord Tengir, the Knight of Heaven--nothing more." "I would spill a river of it for you if I could." "Come now, I don't need that much. I only need a couple drops." "Then go thither to his house and get some." "Nonsense! For I am a being of a particular nature--you may liken me to the end of a shadow. The place where the light shines--I am connected to it, but no matter what, I cannot go there. The closer I get, the more spurious is my existence, and if I get too close I will disappear completely, like a shadow at midday. I am damned to an eternity of wandering the hem of the tapestry of being. So, I cannot go where he is. But with you here, I need not go there. You seem to be carrying his blood within you. Are you not?" "No fact makes me sicker--would that I never knew! But if you try to take so much as a droplet of blood from me, I will tear you apart with my own two hands." "Perhaps you may be interested in a trade?" And Inverted-One drew a massive double-edged sword from a sack hanging from his belt. When he held the sword up, With-Heaven saw that somehow it was three whole fathoms long. Both edges glimmered like the teeth of an infernal beast, looking to be made of some species of dark metal. Inverted-One said thus: "This is called the Shadowbrand: with its left edge it begets strife, and with its right edge it puts an end to it. It is therefore said the one who holds it is powerful enough to make his own kingdom--or destroy anyone else's. I am happy to part from it, if only you will cut your hand here on either side of this blade (you may pick whichever side suits you most) and give me a couple drops of Lord Tengir's blood that you are carrying." With-Heaven said back: "That blood you speak of is worthless to me. You can have it!" Then he cut his right hand on the right side of the Shadowbrand. Inverted-One had a tiny flask on hand that he collected a couple drops of the blood with, and he gave With-Heaven the Shadowbrand. Inverted-One said: "It was a pleasure doing business with you." Whereupon he disappeared into the young night.
After that, With-Heaven trained every day with the Shadowbrand until he had mastered all of its secrets. He discovered that the sword was made just for him. With it in his hand, he became so feared that no bandit, marauder, highwayman, phantom, mortal or demon dared to go anywhere near him, save for the strongest and bravest few and those ignorant of how strong he was. Anyone who was unfortunate enough to face him in a fight would typically be slain in fewer than three swings of the Shadowbrand, for not only was it sharp, but when it struck the ground it caused flames and lightning to shoot up. And when it came to felling trees and chopping wood, it was likewise superior. Naturally it was very heavy, but its wielder had by now grown very muscular and so he had no difficulty lifting it and putting it to use.
He continued to prance across the countryside with respect for nothing, regarding everything as wretched and all human beings as fools. When he walked through a field, he would curse it. When he waded through a river, he would curse it. When he crossed a bridge, he would topple it as soon as he made it to the other side. When he saw a bird's nest, he would destroy it with the throw of a stone. He lit fires for no reason, trashed roadways, cut down trees, killed livestock and wild animals and left them to rot. And since he was swifter and stronger than any mortal, there was nothing anyone could do to stop him. However there was one day when he was walking past the cottage of an old man, singing curses at Heaven and Earth. The old man heard, and shouted at him: "Listen to you, boy. You curse life yet have the audacity to live! You hurl insults at the very breath in your lungs! Why not just do away with yourself?" With-Heaven heard this, and he was livid. He strode to the old man's cottage while showing off the Shadowbrand, and he said: "Who are you to question me? I live and die on my own terms! A word more and I'll kill you!" And the old man: "No man lives and dies on his own terms. Were it not for Earth, what would you have to eat? Were it not for Heaven, how would you warm your body? And yet Earth could swallow you at any moment, and Heaven could, whenever it might so wish, vaporize you with a bolt of lightning. And you dare curse them? You are angry, that is for sure, but you don't even know Heaven and Earth, so how can you be angry at them? Who is it you are really angry at?" With-Heaven replied: "My wicked father. He wanted to control my life, even locked me in a cage and made me suffer, but little did he know the stormy sea cannot be tamed!" "Be angry at him all you want, I am in no place to comment on that, but why take out your anger on Heaven and Earth, on your fellow men and on the birds and beasts of the forests? What have they got to do with anything? What have they done to make you suffer? And what do you have to gain from spoiling them? Don't light fires for no reason, light them to boil water." With-Heaven did not say anything in reply, nor did he attack the old man, only he reflected on his words. From that day forward, he no longer cursed Heaven and Earth and stopped wantonly killing and destroying things, but he still counted human beings as fools and did not stop robbing them of their possessions.
Eventually his name became so infamous that whenever any travelers happened to pass by him, all he had to do was shout at them, and they would instantly give up all their belongings and plead for their lives. So it was that With-Heaven, the son of Tengir, became a robber. Anything he saw that looked valuable he would use violence to obtain, and he amassed a hoard of precious metals, expensive fabrics, jewels, dyes and fine articles in this fashion. Other men with wicked hearts and even demons flocked to him and wished to join his band that they too might partake of the spoils, but With-Heaven did not trust them and always chased them away. He walled himself up in an impregnable mountain with all his stolen riches. His deeds soon came to the attention of local clans and companies of demons, who combined their forces of warriors and bandits to attack him. Since he was only one and they were many, even though he had a powerful weapon in his hand, he could not stop them from making off with most of his treasure. He was forced once again to flee with nothing but the Shadowbrand and whatever he could carry on his person. He did not stop until he reached the ends of the Earth. There at the ends of the Earth was a great shore, where the Earth gave way to an infinite ocean. There he felled a tree with an the Shadowbrand and made its timber into a boat of four fathoms, then used what remained of his expensive fabrics to craft a sail, which he attached to the boat. He boarded the boat and pushed it away from the shore with the Shadowbrand. Since he was very strong, by that one push the boat went several miles into the ocean before it slowed down, but by then the sails inflated as the winds picked up. With-Heaven let the the god of the wind take the boat wherever he would.
He had no home but the high seas for the next ten weeks. He satiated his hunger by eating fishes from the ocean and quenched his thirst by drinking seawater he had purified using alchemy. But his voyage ended when one day he sailed into a place where thick gray clouds loomed overhead with the promise of a mighty storm. The gales picked up and the sea surged, tossing the ship of With-Heaven up and down, but he sunk his blade into the ship's timber planks and held himself fast, so he did not fall overboard. But soon the leaping waves, ten fathoms tall, were overtaking the sides of his boat, filling it with water until it sank. With-Heaven sank with the ship. He resigned himself to his demise, but even after sinking a hundred fathoms beneath the surface of the ocean, he was not yet dead. Then by a miracle he fell onto the backs of dolphins, and the dolphins took him to the front gates of the underwater court of the Dragon King, which stood at the bottom of the deepest deep of the ocean.
In disbelief that he was still alive and had come to a place where he could breathe, With-Heaven rushed into the pearl-trimmed throne room of the Dragon King and threw himself before the stairs that lead to the King's throne. The Dragon King told him: "Be up and identify yourself." With-Heaven stood up and replied thus: "I am Goes-With-Heaven." The King replied: "That's all? You aren't much more than a lad. What is the name of your father?" Scowling, With-Heaven said: "I have no father." The King laughed: "You expect me to believe that? Who under Heaven has no father?" The King then summoned guards to intimidate With-Heaven, and said: "Tell me who your father is, or I will have you cast out into the ocean to drown." With-Heaven acquiesced, saying: "My father is Lord Tengir." Upon hearing who he was, the King dismissed the guards and called for aqua-robed maids to bring out a cushioned seat and lacquer table, on which a bowl of fruits, a wine pitcher and a dish were then set for With-Heaven's enjoyment. The King then said thus to the guest: "Ages ago, I made a promise to your father, Lord Tengir: In exchange for the seven deeds he did on my behalf that brought peace to the spirits of land and sea, I promised him that seven times a descendant of his would come to my ocean palace and receive a gift from me. It seems that you, With-Heaven, are the first of the seven descendants to walk through my doors." With-Heaven replied: "So you, too, want to give me something in exchange for my blood." "No, the payment has already been made in advance by your father. There is no expense for you." "So you are saying, you want to give me a gift because of who my father is?" "That is it indeed." "Then I do not want it. I have already renounced my father." "My child, a man cannot so easily renounce his own father. Whether you say 'I renounce' or not, these are but words--the same blood will flow through your veins for as long as you live. Things happen, you can quarrel with him, but you cannot renounce him." "Whatever gift you wish to give me, feel free. Whatever it is, I will cast it into the ocean as soon as I leave this place." "That will not do at all. If you did so, then my oath would not be fulfilled, and Heaven would surely punish me. No god ever grants something to a mortal who will not hold it fast. For that, I will make sure the gift is of such a nature that it cannot be parted from you no matter what." And the Dragon King snapped his fingers.
Though the King gave him no weapons, no artifacts, no tools, no jewels nor equipment of any kind, With-Heaven felt a strange alteration take place within the depths of his spirit. He said: "King, what invisible gift is this you have given me?" The King replied: "Behold, I have made your spirit one with the howling winds and the storms of gloomy Heaven. With your right hand, you can summon fiery bolts of lightning, with your left, whirling gales and clouds. Add to that, you no longer need air to breathe, and when you are underwater you will swim like a shark, but when you are in the sky you will soar like an eagle." With-Heaven gave it a try, swinging his left and right hands, and going into the water and into the sky and, sure enough, the Dragon King had spoken truthfully. After he realized how powerful he now was, With-Heaven said thus to the Dragon King: "Now that the power of stormy Heaven is in the palm of my hand and the clouds and zephyrs obey me, what will stop me from making war against Lord Tengir?" The Dragon King smiled and said: "Try if you wish to go to war against him. But a divided house never stays divided for long. Heed my words: the harder you make war against him, the more you will realize he is not your enemy." With-Heaven replied angrily: "We shall see about that." And he vanished from the court of the Dragon King.