Tian felt wronged. Everyone seemed so upset. Grandpa was howling with laughter. And for some reason, everyone acted like his voice had some kind of magic charm to it. Even the movements of his hands caught everyone’s eye. He could understand if they were fixated on Sister Hong. She looked ready to fight ten armies and win.
“Junior Tian, state matters clearly. Did you have immoral relations with the master of the Six Turns Cavern?” The cadaverous looking elder glared at Tian.
“I did not.”
“Then why do you have lipstick on your neck?”
“Because the Saintess put it there.”
This didn’t seem to make anyone happy. Tian was very filial, but he was wondering if “Kicked-In-The-Head-Itis” had reached epidemic proportions in the Inner Court. Why ask if you didn’t want to know? Why ask if the answer should have been obvious in the first place?
“Why… how…”
Tian waited very patiently. This didn’t seem to improve the elder’s mood.
“EXPLAIN FURTHER!”
“I went through the rooms, I found her with her pets in the void chamber, I knew I couldn’t win a fight, but since we didn’t have to fight, I demonstrated my understanding with a tea session. She didn’t like that I called her kind, but other than that, we were able to communicate well. We had three cups of green tea and a chat. She then tidied me up and sent me up to all of you. I’m sorry, seniors but I really don’t understand what all the fuss is about.”
“Wait, what do you mean “we didn’t have to fight?” Sister Hong cut in.
“We didn’t have to fight. We could, but we didn’t have to. We just had to survive and demonstrate our understanding of the elements. Our understanding just had to reach a certain threshold, and the null chamber would open, same as every other chamber. Sister Hong… just what have you been doing for the last month?”
Tian’s heart ached. His poor little sister was a bit slow and a bit of a martial maniac. She must have suffered terribly. He gave her an understanding, compassionate look. This did not improve her mood. Or, interestingly enough, the mood of the other sister there.
“You don’t have to fight.”
“No, Sister… I’m sorry, I don’t know your name?”
“I’m fine with that. What do you mean-”
The conversation was getting nowhere. Tian looked over to Elder Rui for a rescue. The elder, for his part, was giving Tian a strange, and somewhat calculative look.
“He’s right. Each chamber is a challenge to be overcome, and while we usually think in terms of violence, so long as your level of understanding satisfied the master of the Caverns, you pass. Did you say you drank tea with the Saintess?”
“She inhaled the tea qi. I drank the tea.”
“But she sat with you and talked with you.”
“Yes, Elder Rui.”
“About… no, never mind.” The Elder shook his head. “Senior Redmane?”
The giant crane glided in and landed with casual ease. “Hmm. Better than some previous years.”
“Three out of five, a very satisfying result.” Senior Rui’s smile was wretched, if brief. “Come on you two. Or will the Lin clan be joining us in the wastes?”
“We will not.” The senior behind the messy girl had been silent most of this time. Tian got a prickly sort of feeling from him. Not hostile, exactly. Just a sense that he was being carefully watched.
Senior Redmane jumped back up into the sky. Tian felt like he was soaring alone among the drifting clouds. It wasn’t a moment of revelation, so much as everything was just so beautiful. The sun above, the air, the earth below, all the greens and blues and yellows and reds and… and everything. Existence was just so damn marvelous. It hurt. It was scary. It was ugly and smelly and too big for words. All he could do was sit and marvel at it.
He drifted out of the state a little after moon-set.
“The Dao charm is starting to dissipate, though it won’t go away entirely. Very well done, both of you.” Elder Rui’s voice was soft and immensely pleased. “You bring this old man a lot of face. Even if Junior Tian looks like a… young man of dissolute character.”
Tian coughed and quickly straightened himself up. Though the lipstick stain was oddly stubborn. He never even got kissed!
“I don’t think the Saintess liked being called ‘kind.’” Tian muttered.
“No, I don’t imagine she did. Knowing you, you were being sincere. She probably would have taken that as disrespect. Kindness so often being indistinguishable from weakness and being taken advantage of.”
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Tian shook his head. He could understand that, but he would have thought such a being would have the courage to be kind.
“I think I can explain what’s going on with you two, and particularly with Junior Tian. You both absorbed and incorporated a stunning amount of the dao charm of each of those chambers into your understanding of the elements. Which is a good thing. We could only wish everyone did. But you seemed to have absorbed it into yourselves to a highly unusual degree. Which again, is a good thing. But it will seem like every casual act you make is going to seem incredibly significant to the people around you.”
Tian blinked and looked down at his lap. Should he find a private latrine?
“It will wear off. The reason we are willing to gamble with the lives of promising juniors in that place is because that dao charm is so rare. Finding all five elements so clearly exemplified in one place is practically unheard of. I, at least, don’t know of anywhere else like it. I’m sure you have already noticed the improvements in yourself. The improvements in your arts are the very least of it.”
The two juniors nodded. They really could. Tian was privately certain he could utterly demolish the him before he went into the caverns. It wouldn’t even be a fight. Every move just contained so much more elemental essence and contained its own esoteric rhythm. The only way he could think of to describe it was everything was more “right” than it had been before. He, Tian Zihao, was more “right” than he had been before.
Moving in time with the dao.
He instinctively knew that his breakthrough to the Heavenly Person Realm wouldn’t be something simple. It was doubtless still years away, but it wouldn’t be a bad idea to start gathering some information about it.
“Daoists talk about yin and yang, fate, the five elements, the mysteries hidden in heaven and earth, the dao path of various weapons, indeed, the myriad dao itself definitionally contains endless multitudes of paths.” Elder Rui inhaled slowly then exhaled again. “We are like babies, trying to tell our friends what our parents do for work. For immortals, we have cheap mouths.”
He smiled over at Tian and Hong.
“Now you know better. You are a few good steps closer to the truth of the five elements than you have any right to be. Older cultivators will have a more sophisticated grasp of the scholarship around the elements, the product of the diligent work of thousands of predecessors. But you will have experienced something beyond words. More than a single aspect of a single element, you have found the center of the whole system. No matter how fragmentary or incomplete your understanding is, you did find it. Your future is limitless. Truly limitless.”
The Elder lapsed back into silence, as they flew through the predawn darkness. Each lost in their own thoughts, and wondering what the future would hold.
The next morning, they stopped by a riverbank. It was a charming place, with soft grass and fragrant small flowers hiding between the green stems. A broad-limbed tree provided pleasant shade, and the little river made a merry noise as it rattled along its bed.
“I think we could all go for a cup of tea. Tian, you serve.” Elder Rui waved to a scenic spot and flattened the grass with the same gesture. Sister Hong nodded strongly, and even Senior Redmane looked curious.
“Gladly, Senior. Sister Hong? It’s the Cloud Grace tea gifted to me by Brother Long.”
“Oh. I can see how a ghost might like that.” She looked suddenly awkward, but shook her head and firmed her expression. “I’ll still drink it.”
Elder Rui looked mildly curious, but didn’t pursue it. Tian laid out his table and set out his tray. The little tea pet was set on what Tian decided was the southern edge of the tray. He served the tea, making sure to infuse each moment with all he had learned in the caverns. He focused particularly on the fire qi in him. Letting the little candle in his heart shine and inviting everyone to come to the table.
They were all important people to him, after all. He didn’t know Senior Redmane much, but the bird had shown him great care. The same was true with Elder Rui- the senior had done him favor after favor. With hidden motives, true, but they were still great kindnesses nonetheless. And Sister Hong was… Sister Hong. She was always welcome at his table.
“Please, drink.” He offered the little cups to those small enough to drink them. Elder Rui took a loud slurp and sighed. Sister Hong was a little more delicate, but she also sighed. Tian thought she looked like she had been hit.
“Oh Junior, just what did you learn in those caves?” Elder Rui muttered. “No, don’t answer that. Heavens, I wish you were Level Nine, both of you.”
“Elder?”
“Junior Hong, why don’t you run through a spear drill for us.”
“Gladly, Elder.”
“She’s gotten taller since we went into the caves. Not a lot. But I can see it. And yet, I didn't grow an inch. More proof that cultivation is a scam.” Tian was sure he wasn’t bitter. Totally sure. Completely sure.
What made it worse was that she looked good running her drill. Like this was what she was made for. Every movement was filled with dreadful aggression. The spear can be used many ways, but its essence is the thrust. The full force of the wielder and weapon riding on the thin tip of the spearhead. Powerfully yang. But without recovery, without the gathering of strength, it could only exist for a single brilliant explosion.
Hong Liren had managed to find at least a trace of yin in the caverns. Attack like fire, recover like water. Stand stable like the earth, yet constantly advance like wood. And always, always, be fighting to pierce the enemy. It might have started as a fire aligned art, but it was fully five element spearplay now.
“Yes. Yes! I knew it! Hah! Oh won’t those old fossils be livid! I’ll have a word with your Grandmother. I don’t know what is a better role for you, but you are wasted in the Disciplinary Squad. Such work will only dim your dao heart. Junior Tian, your work in the hospital… Does it suit you?”
“I like it quite a lot, Elder, thank you. It gives me a lot of satisfaction.”
“Mmm. It will do for now. We have moved past the initial hot phase of the war, and are moving into the slower, more grinding phase. Everyone’s sacrifices have pushed the battle front towards the sword fanatics and beast tamers. We will see how long it lasts, but for now, Black Iron Gorge is going to be focusing its efforts elsewhere. We have a little time to recover and strengthen ourselves.”
Elder Rui rubbed his slim mustache with a sly look. “Perhaps long enough for us to find you two a better platform to display your talents. I will have to think about this a bit. Right now you are both too weak, and I don’t intend to wait decades before making use of your talents. We won’t rush back, though. Let’s let time take the edge off the dao charm. No sense in displaying your treasures too openly, even if they can’t be hidden entirely.
Tian quite agreed, and the journey back was leisurely. Alas, the Elder’s good intentions were unnecessary. Nobody at the Depot was the least bit interested in two wandering juniors.
Black Iron Gorge had turned their attention back to Ancient Crane Mountain and Depot Number Four. And this time, they sent a whole army.