Tian kept quite still. The skeleton had cold blue-white fires burning in its eyes. He recognized those fires. Yin flames. He remembered them from the belly of the demonic bird. It was eerie. The scene was jarringly unbalanced. The five elements were balanced between yin and yang, the skeleton was powerfully yin. Where was the yang? Excess yin could lead to… demons.
And nothing strong enough to make the Six Turns Cavern was going to be at merely the Earthly Person level.
Tian’s mind raced. There were no challenges here he could overcome with violence. The guardians were to be overcome with understanding. This… senior… was plainly the guardian of the Null Chamber. The senior could not be defeated by violence. But perhaps this incomplete elemental diagram was a clue.
The master of the Caverns was a yin spirit. Maybe a demon, maybe a ghost like Grandpa. Tian instinctively felt like the “master” of the place must be male, but he really didn’t know. Best to stick to generic honorifics, and attack.
“Ancient Crane Monastery’s Tian Zihao greets the Senior, and thanks them for their hospitality.” He bowed deeply, hands clasped in front of him.
The demon looked at him silently. Tian held the bow.
“Most people are at least alarmed when they see a ghost.” The voice was soft, feminine and cold. It seems all his guesses about “him” were completely wrong.
“Forgive my ignorance, Senior, but, why?”
The skeleton settled into silence again. Minutes passed.
“You are serious.”
“Yes, Senior.”
“No fear of the dead.”
“No, Senior.”
“Or powerful demons.”
“I respect their strength, Senior.”
“Powerful yin spirits that have you trapped in a lightless, qi-less cavern, ready to rip away your pleasantly refined yang-qi to nourish themselves.”
“That would be alarming, Senior.”
“But you are not alarmed.”
“No, Senior.”
“Why?”
“Because you are very kind, Senior.”
Tian had never seen a skeleton stagger before. Even harder to imagine when they were sitting down. But that’s a senior cultivator for you. Always showing their juniors that there are mountains beyond mountains and people beyond people.
“Of the five of you who entered my tomb, one is dead, one has been rescued by your elders, a third never reached the center of my maze and one is currently fighting a clone of mine. She may yet die. And you think I’m kind.”
The temperature of the chamber dropped sharply.
“The one who fled might as well stop cultivating. His path is broken. The one who hammers against the walls might yet ascend, but her dao heart is breaking. She will live knowing that she is inferior to those she once looked down on. It is the sort of emotion that festers and becomes a heart demon. She will likely become a bitter enemy for you and your sect. As for the one battling my clone… she might accomplish something. She is hunting for a breakthrough even now. Her path will be narrow, and she will climb over mountains of the slain as she goes. A miserable sort of life.”
The skeleton leaned in, the flames burning brighter in its eyes. “This was my cultivation cave. It is where I went into my final secluded meditation, and it’s where I failed to break through. I died with regrets and unfulfilled desires. The emotions of the dead are not the same as the living. We hunger for warmth. We hunger for terrible things. All of you have guaranteed a bad end for yourselves because you came here. The only one whose exact fate is yet undecided is you. So, foolish child. Tell me again how kind I am.”
It seemed obvious. Who but a kind person would operate a treasured land like this? Yin spirit didn’t necessarily mean demon. Probably. Maybe.
Tian nodded towards the skeleton. “Would senior care for some tea?”
The cavern got very still and very cold. It was hard to read the expressions on a face without flesh, but Tian had the impression she was seeing if he was fucking with her or not.
He smiled and set out a small table and his tea set. “This is a green tea given to me by a brother. I think it suits the moment. Unless there is a different sort of tea you prefer?”
“Sit at that table, young Daoist, and you may never rise again.”
“Respectfully, Senior, you could say that about any table and any time. I have a little red tea that might be a bit more yang, and some dark dragon tea, but I don’t think it’s quite as good as the red or the green tea. Does Senior have a preference?”
The spirit laughed. It wasn’t a nice sound. The table and Tian both flew over to her and settled down in front of the skeleton.
“Well, now I feel I must try the green tea. I can’t taste it, but I can enjoy the tea qi quite well.”
Tian checked his tools were all present, then softly channeled his fire vital energy into the clay teapot. The water came to a boil, and he poured it over the cups and tools, washing them. The clay tray looked like it had been caught in the rain. He took a piece of split bamboo and loaded it with the tea.
“Cloud Grace Peak tea. A gift from Brother Long. We drank it together as he remembered his adventures on the Green Snake River. I wonder, Senior, does the smell bring any memories back for you?”
The scoop was lifted over to the skeleton and floated in front of the hole where its nose should have been.
“Ah. Spring. I do remember picking leaves from the millenia old tea trees in the back mountain. Bamboo shoots, spiritual rice and the sweet first leaves of the season. The flavors of youth.”
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Tian bowed slightly and accepted the returning scoop. He tipped the tea into the lidded cup, filling it almost to overflowing. He touched the kettle. Too hot. He pulled some of the heat from the clay, accepting the warmth and dispersing it through his body. He poured warm water over the tea leaves, and gently stirred them with the lid of the cup. Just to make sure they were all covered.
“Normally I wouldn’t wash a green tea, but Brother Long insisted that Cloud Grace Peak teas all benefited from a few seconds wash.” Tian moved to pour it out, but the skeleton stopped him.
“Pour it out? How? You have no tea pets.”
“Tea pets, Senior? I’m afraid I don’t know what they are. Please, could you instruct this little daoist and relieve his ignorance?”
“Tea pets. Surely you have seen tea pets!” She sounded quite peevish, as though this was somehow even more unbelievable than a junior serving tea to a ghost.
“I did grow up utterly feral. Sorry, Senior. I really must trouble you.”
“Tea pets. The little figurines that live on your tea tray. You bless them with the wash and any leftover tea so they can absorb the tea qi and grow in spirituality. They can even bring good fortune. Even mortals raise tea pets!”
“I’ve never seen them before. I don’t suppose you have some I could admire, senior?”
She snorted. “I have five.” The skeleton flicked a finger, and the qi spirits condensed into little figurines and landed on his tray. Turtle in the north, green dragon in the east, vermilion bird in the south, white tiger in the west, and holding down the center was the yellow dragon. “A tray your size really only needs two, three at most. My tray is much bigger. I always had to entertain big gatherings.”
Tian smiled. “Well, my tea isn’t as fine as what your pets are used to, but if I may?”
“It’s been a long time since they had a drink. You will need fresh leaves, the wash has lasted too long.”
“As you say, Senior.” Tian poured the over-extracted tea over the little figurines. They seemed to shiver with happiness. They were funny little things. Crude, almost caricatures, but with undeniable charm. Tian collected the wasted leaves into his storage ring and cleaned the lidded cup with a brush before rinsing it with boiling water again. As he cleaned, he offered the lid to the senior so that they could appreciate the awakened aroma.
“Mmm. Your brother was an economical fellow.”
“He claimed the quality for the price was unmatched, but truthfully, I think it was because Cloud Grace Valley reminded him of the city of osmanthus trees and Xiaoxiao playing the zither in the tea house. What tea do you prefer, Senior?”
“How could there be just one tea to rule as favorite? The first green leaves in spring, the silver needles aging and growing richer with the years, the sweet complexity of the reds and the infinite varieties of dark dragon and yellow teas. The various infusions and tissaines that get dismissed as not ‘true’ teas all have their charm and their place. What is my favorite for watching autumn rains could never be the same as my favorite for welcoming strangers.”
Tian gave the skeleton as suspicious a look as he dared. “By any chance do you know a Brother Fu from West Town Outer Court?”
She snorted. “No, but it sounds like he has a true heart for tea.”
“Yes. He taught me, and I have fallen in love with it.” Tian measured out a second serving of tea and repeated the ritual. The wash only lasted a few seconds this time, the tea pets receiving a much thinner drink.
“You treasure your relationship with him.”
“He is the father of my heart. If I may ask, Senior, how did you fall in love with tea?” He gently pressed the lid closed with his index finger, thumb and middle finger holding the rim of the lidded cup. Resonating with the earth. The simple movements adding spirituality.
He carefully poured the tea through a strainer and into the fairness cup, then split it into two small clay cups. Water enriched with the life and meaning he associated with that element. The natural coldness of the element warmed with the fire of compassion within him. Generosity and hospitality were the soul of a tea session. Tian certainly wasn’t lacking in them.
The woody herbal essence of the tea he refreshed with the spring inherent to the Wood Element. The ritual preparation was done with the diligence and focus inherent to metal. It wasn’t merely tea, it was an act of spiritual creation. Each cup connecting its drinkers with everyone else who ever had, or would, enjoy their tea.
Tian gestured gently towards the senior’s cup. “Please.”
The small cup raised up in front of the senior’s face. He could see the faint tendrils of steam flowing out of it and into the nose hole on the skull.
“I suppose it was Sister Wang. She was always a silly creature, bouncing around the sect and dragging us into chats over tea and little cakes. I always scolded her to pay more attention to cultivation, to practice her martial arts. She would always agree, then pour another cup.” The senior sounded a little irritated. “That little fatty was too good at getting her way.”
“Did she drag you into trouble?”
Tian took a long sniff, and he was back in the tent with Brother Long. Watching the disease crawl through his body, as his mind was back on the Green Snake River, carried on the scent of economically priced green tea. He took a taste. It was sweet, and a touch bitter, full of life and grief.
“Endless trouble! She nearly got me married. Ayah! And then she had the gall to tell me I would have been well matched. Well matched! To a saber cultivator! Have you ever heard of something sillier than that?”
“I can’t say I have, Senior. But then, I am rather young.” He poured more water from the teapot into the lidded cup. Tain could only get about three steeps from this tea, but that was normal. Green tea was fragile that way. “I’ve never met a beast tamer, though, and I imagine that could be sillier. Have you met one?”
“Oh them! Smelly bunch, and they all act as though they achieved something wonderful by tricking or beating an animal into submission. Then they bully the poor creature into believing they are inseparable. One idiot, the so-called Prince Shoumesh from the Nihan Tribe, claimed that he was one soul in two bodies, his other half being his tiger companion. Oh he was mad when I pointed out his spirit bond would murder the tiger if it was broken, but not him!”
“You would think a prince would have a steadier heart. And presumably not husband material.” He offered the second cup.
“He wasn’t looking for a wife. Tall, rippling muscles and wild hair over fierce brows and a square jaw. He had lots of my sisters chasing after him. I chased after him too- with a whip! I drove the stinky man off my mountain. Nobody ever mentions the smell. Do you think someone who rides around on a giant tiger would smell nice? They do not.”
The skeleton drank away the tea qi. She didn’t dump the leftover water on the tea pets. She simply made it disappear. Tian more or less understood. Without the tea qi, she would just be getting her pets wet.
“Instead, you pursued the path of the five elements. What led you there, Senior? Sister Wang once again?”
“If only the silly goose spent her time on something so meaningful! No, it was my sect, the Five Directions Palace. A wandering nun found me when I was about… oh, four, I suppose, and brought me back. Even then, my talent was obvious. From the moment I entered the sect, I learned about the five elements. Yin and Yang… lack flavor. They are simply too big, too all-encompassing. But the five elements are the very stuff of life! Each has its own rich meanings, and each interacts with the others in infinite permutations. Infinitely fascinating!”
“To find the Dao through a sincere love of such a supreme law, Senior truly puts this little daoist to shame.”
“Heh. A mere servant disciple of some random little sect naturally cannot compare to the Saintess of the Five Directions Palace!” Tian cleaned out her cup and served her the final steep. The tea was thin, now, closer to water than the rich taste of the first cup. She still lifted it and inhaled the tea qi with every sign of enjoyment.
“A Saintess?”
“That’s what they called me. Saintess Fengua, Chief Disciple of the Five Directions Palace!”
Tian tried to stand. He was ready to say “Junior Tian sees the Saintess!” in a carrying voice. He barely raised off the ground when everything went white. He toppled over sideways, losing his sight in the endless void of the Null Chamber. He could hear the senior’s voice, as though it was coming from a long way away.
“Three cups, and the qi grows thin. Thin in you too, little fool. Did you forget where you are? I have enjoyed my recollection. My pets and I have truly enjoyed the meal, and it’s not done yet. So tell me once again, little daoist, how kind I am.”