Tian’s limbs had gone numb. It was a dreadful, creeping infiltration. He hadn’t noticed the weakness until it was far too late. His vital energy had all been consumed enduring the Null Chamber over three cups of tea. Had his gamble been wrong? Had he misunderstood the requirements of the Cavern?
“I would have thought rooms full of fatal dangers would have been a bit of a hint. I saw you burn yourself in the fire chamber. Very nearly to death. I really thought you had crippled yourself there.” The Saintess’ voice was cold. Conversational, but cold. All the warmth that had seeped in during their chat had vanished.
“Any plan that relies on the kindness of strangers is no plan at all. It is merely begging for humiliation and death. At least your death will be clean and you will leave an intact corpse. I think you know that not everyone is so lucky.”
Tian managed to nod slightly. She was quite right.
“I won’t even torment you for polishing up my bones. Consider it a thanks for the tea. In your next life, do remember to ask before touching someone.”
That’s fair, Tian thought.
“Was that really everything? Did you really think you could bribe a ghost with tea?”
Tian shook his head minutely. “I passed.” His voice was very thin.
“You passed?”
“Yes.”
“Passed what? Passed who? This isn’t a test, it’s a tomb. The fact that your trash sect uses it as a trial ground doesn’t change that.”
Tian shook his head again. It was getting a little hard to breathe now, but Grandpa wasn’t panicking. And if Grandpa was calm, he should be calm too.
“Each chamber collapsed when our understanding reached a certain point. I made tea to show my understanding. Five elements in harmony, Yang to your yin.”
There was what Tian devoutly hoped was a startled pause. His vision was now almost entirely gone.
“Ah. I see. Not so much the material aspects of the elements, but the spiritual. Although a tea session does incorporate the five elements materially too, of course. I can’t say it really demonstrated that much understanding of the elements, let alone finding the core of the maze.”
There was another pause. Then- “I still don’t see why you think you could walk out of here alive.”
“The elders aren’t the only ones who could send us out of the caverns.”
That got a very cold laugh. “I see. Yes, that does make sense. Incidentally, now would be your last opportunity to beg for your life.”
Tian smiled a little. He would if he thought it would help. His efforts would be enough or they wouldn’t.
“Really? You are barely breathing. Your heart is slowing. Even your thoughts are going dim. I could save you. It would be trivial.”
He really hoped she would. But Grandpa wasn’t panicking, so he wouldn’t either. Maybe they would reincarnate together. Into a happier life, next time. He hoped Hong was okay. She always needed so much help. He would worry about her if she was all alone.
He wouldn’t beg. He would insist on his right to live. He gathered the last sparks of vital energy in him, and gently organized them into a five pointed star. Each point an element, generating the next clockwise element and restraining the element across from it. Slowly, achingly slowly, the star turned. Moving, but stable. The elements in balance. The center was empty… but crucial. A void that existed because of the tension between the elements. Without it, the cycle of generation and restraint would simply collapse into an undifferentiated mass. It would return to primal chaos.
“Cheh.” There was a pop. Qi flooded into the room, dense, so thick it was foggy, nearly raining. Tian breathed convulsively, Advent of Spring howling into life and dragging huge lungfuls of air in. His meridians throbbed with the infusion as his Dantian converted the qi into desperately needed vital energy. His body was covered with pins and needles. It was agonizing, but under the circumstances, he was happy to be feeling anything at all.
“That was the strangest way I have ever seen someone clear my trial. I’m not entirely sure I approve. I would have eaten you if you begged. Or gave me any other excuse. I despise cowards.”
The voice was still chilly, but it was the coolness of an autumn evening. Not a killing cold. Tian really wasn’t sure how to reply to her.
“Usually the only reward for clearing my trial is to leave with your little life, your cultivation, and whatever understanding you have acquired. Quite rich rewards, I feel.”
Tian nodded. They certainly were.
“And they hardly cost me anything, between the stellar gathering array and the life essence of all the juniors who die here. To say nothing of the fortune I gather from all those promising dao paths cut short. I did tell your so-called elders, but I really don’t think they understand what they are doing here.”
Well, that sounded more demonic.
“Really can’t imagine where you got the idea I was kind from. I don’t know whether to be outraged by your innocence, flattered, or insulted. I think I may be all three. Mmm. But you did give me some of your treasured tea and gave my pets their first meal in a long time. I could grant you a spell, I suppose.”
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Tian really wanted to say yes, but hesitated. If someone told him, repeatedly, that she was not his friend and considered him food, he should believe her. But if she said she was doing something out of the kindness of her heart, then Tian could only respectfully point out that he could see an empty rib cage.
There was another matter too. Tian started laughing, his throat rasping. “Senior, you saw me in the caverns. Do I seem like someone who is using their spells well? If I have learned one thing here, it’s that my understanding of my own techniques are… trash. Absolute garbage. I don’t dare learn another technique until I can do something useful with the ones I already have.”
The skeleton faintly rocked back. Tian assumed it was an expression of extreme shock. “My word, a self aware junior? How much have things changed in the outside world? Would I recognize this land, or have the seas already turned into mulberry fields?”
“I’m afraid so, Senior.”
“Wait, what?”
“I’ve never seen the sea, Senior, but I’ve seen mulberry fields. So I’m afraid…”
“Not a literary sort, are you?”
“No, Senior. Sorry, Senior.”
The skeleton called a little ball of stone into its hand. The stone slowly reformed into the strangest, oddest looking bird Tian had ever seen. A bit like the Vermilion bird, but five colored and… and it was just a mess. The proportions were all wrong for one thing. Even if it was a magical beast.
“Here. Have a tea pet. Feed it well, and it will repay you in time.”
“Oh, thank you Saintess! That’s very thoughtful!” He probably couldn’t escape this present. If it acted weird, he would toss it deep into the Wasteland.
“It also carries a few of my insights into the five elements. At your level, they will be useful, though they too are a sort of trap. Do with it what you like.”
Tian nodded as he pulled himself to his feet. He tried to straighten his robes and trousers, give himself a little dusting off, but after a month of struggling in the caves, he looked rough. “I will treasure it, Saintess. As I will treasure the memory of our conversation.”
“Peh. Scram. Oh, wait.” There was a sudden malevolent feeling to the skeleton. “As a “kind” senior, I can't let you go looking like a mess. What will they think of my hospitality? I’ll just tidy you up a bit.”
A gust of qi swirled around Tian. He felt his robes being tugged and straightened, his hair piled up into a bun and if he now smelled a bit weird, it was probably a small price to pay. He wasn’t Temple-Tidy, but at least he wouldn't disgrace the sect with his appearance.
“Thank you, Saintess.”
“Mmm.” The skeleton flicked her fingers once more and Tian went rocketing upwards through the roof of the cavern.
Tian landed on the surface, blinded by the blue sky. The hill was thick and lush with green grass, shaded by the softly rustling leaves of the elegant old growth trees. He distinctly remembered… more illusions? How deeply had the sect hidden the caverns?
And why was everyone glaring at him?
In front of Tian stood the cadaver-like elder who had been guarding the palace. Next to him was Elder Rui and another senior he didn’t recognize. The wild, barefoot girl was next to the stranger, looking resentful and increasingly furious. Next to Elder Rui was Sister Hong. And Sister Hong looked like she had just killed her way out of Hell. Her look grew fiercer. It seems she was short one skull to complete her collection.
Torn robes, burnt flesh, dirty, shorn hair marked with long slashes of scabs, blood soaked sleeves, shoes long gone, but her spear was still planted in the ground, spearpoint threatening the heavens, radiating elemental dominance and an unbreakable determination. She had grown taller, and a touch darker, like she had tanned under some underground sun. He had an overwhelming urge to shove her in a stream, just to tidy her up a bit.
He refrained. He didn’t want to get stabbed. He could almost hear a dao chant emanating from her, something deep and reaching, felt more in the chest than in the ears.
“So. Brother Tian has had a pleasant stay in the caverns.” Her voice was prickly. He really didn’t understand why.
“I only nearly died a few times. All in all, I think I will miss it.” Everyone jerked when he spoke. He didn’t know why, his voice sounded the same. He spread his hands helplessly.
“Brother Tian, your hands…”
Tian looked down. He had the usual six fingers. “Yes, Sister Hong?”
“Why do your hands look like that? Why do you look like that? And sound like that?”
Tian had no idea what she was talking about. He looked to Elder Rui in confusion.
“Junior Tian, did you have any… memorable encounters in the caverns?”
“Well, there was a rather odd turtle that turned out to be a tea pet.” Tian nodded. “That was quite odd.”
Oh, he could hear it now. There was a sort of rhythm and undertone to his voice that hadn’t been there a month ago. It felt a bit like when Brother Su would yell “Awaken!” Like every word and breath carried a hint of his vital energy in it.
“Did you meet any humans?”
Tian considered it. “Broadly defined, perhaps?”
“Ah. And… what happened?”
Tian thought about it. They were directly above that unfathomably powerful Saintess, after all, and he doubted that she wanted him to share what she told him over tea.
“We shared some drinks. She taught me a little bit about life and the relations between men and women, then tidied me up and sent me on my way.” There. A complete answer with no extraneous, confusing information.
Yet for some reason, the dreaded coughing disease seemed to have struck down all three elders! The messy girl was looking at him like he was some sort of rare animal, and Sister Hong was pointing her spear at him!
“JUNIOR TIAN! You are far, far, far, far, far too young for such things! Far too young! And with a… a… a…” The cadaverous elder roared, but even he seemed to not know how to speak.
“So. I’m in there fighting for my life, and you find some strange woman to roll around with!”
“Sister Hong?”
“Who’s your sister?!”
Elder Rui coughed. “Junior Tian, might I ask why you have lipstick on your neck, your robes appear to be hastily put on, and your hair, likewise, appears to be done quickly and in the dark?”
“I have lipstick on my neck?” Tian raised his hand to his neck and gently touched. There was something odd there. Perhaps it really was lipstick. “I have no idea. The kindness of a senior, perhaps?”
“And the… rather charming floral perfume?”
“Well, I do naturally smell like lotuses. I don’t really know why I now smell like…”
“Night blooming jasmine?” The messy girl suggested.
“You might know better than I, Sister.” He smiled at her. She rocked back a little. “Sister? Senior Rui?”
“Junior Tian, I would usually congratulate you on finding, and surviving, the center of the Six Turns Cavern. However, as an Elder, as your elder, I cannot… cannot…”
“Surnamed Tian, did you just have immoral relations with a woman down there?!”
“Sister Hong, the only woman down there is a skeleton. I really don’t see how anything I could do with her consent could be considered immoral.”