Brother Fu kept a small courtyard in one of the back corners of the Temple. It was cozy, with raked gravel surrounded by short, wide canopied trees, a tiny pond and a bird bath. The house itself was unpainted wood, weathered by sun and rain and topped with the same black tiles every other building in the temple used. It had just two rooms, from what Tian could see.
The main room had a small bookshelf, a little table, and a few cushions on the floor. The only decoration was a picture of a Crane leaping out of a pond and flying into the heavens. There seemed to be nothing else. It was all the luxury its owner desired.
The two sat on cushions in the main room, and Tian listened attentively.
“I promised you a prize if you could light up the crystal when you took your aptitude test. And here it is.” Brother Fu patted a small booklet, the spine stitched together, and the covers made out of thick paper. “Our Ancient Crane Monastery has a few core texts that belong to the orthodox lineage of… you don’t know what I am talking about.”
“No, Brother Fu.”
“We have a lot of cultivation methods, a few that we really approve of, but not all of them are good for everyone.”
Tian nodded.
“The one I picked out for you is a less popular one, but still considered orthodox- that is, still recognized as part of the essential traditions of the and I have lost you again.”
“Yes, Senior Brother Fu.”
“It’s a good one.” Brother Fu smiled softly as he stroked his beard. “This is important, so just remember what I’m saying even if you don’t understand it right now.”
“Yes, Brother Fu.”
“Your first step towards immortality is to enter the earthly realm through the mortal gate. Basically, you were a mortal, now you are starting to become something else. Not really an immortal, but expect to be called that. You are cultivating immortality, you see?”
Tian nodded.
“The Earthly Realm is the broad cultivation realm everyone in the Outer Court, which is made up of the various town temples and convents, are in. We cultivate vital energy, which strengthens the body as well as other useful things. But everybody is a little different, and different people favor different elements. You therefore need a cultivation art that suits you.”
“That makes sense.”
“That makes sense Senior Brother. The complication is this- Cultivating vital energy never stops being important, even when you become a Heavenly Person Realm Cultivator. You would need a qi cultivating art that works well with your vital energy cultivating art. One of the reasons sects like our Ancient Crane Monastery exist is because we have very well established legacies of cultivation arts. Arts suitable for all sorts of people, at every stage of their development.
“So this is an art that is good for me and has a good next… thing?”
“Yes, exactly. Can you read it?”
“I don’t know, Senior Brother Fu.” His little hands opened the booklet Brother Fu handed him, the stumps of bitten away fingers pressing the thick paper flat.
Advent of Spring- Five Seasons First Law
The tree knows the sun and the moon, the earth and the heavens, and the changing of the seasons. It is of the wood element, rooted in earth, filled with water, reaching for fire and sharpened by gold. All elements can be found within it.
Within you is the tree, you are the tree, you are becoming the tree, the tree that connects the earth and the heavens, the mortal and the immortal, growing in accordance with nature. The tree digs mightily through the earth and reaches effortlessly for the sky. The winds and rain only strengthen the tree, the tree does not fear them.
The tree grows in primordial chaos, bringing order and blessings to the world. Sap does not remain still in the tree, so let your breath be ceaseless as well. The tree is the seed sprouting, the branches spreading, the first leaf accepting the heaven’s blessings. Above all, remember that a tree is Wood and Wood is the transformation of yin Water into yang growth!
“Brother Fu?”
“Yes, Junior?”
“I think the person who wrote this was kicked in the head. Brother Fu, are you alright? Are you choking, Brother Fu?”
Senior Brother Fu banged on the floor, causing his teapot and cups to pop up. He viciously poured himself a cup and slammed it back without the faintest hint of immortal detachment. It took a second, slower cup to steady him enough to look at Tian.
“Boy, I dare you to say that around some of the other Senior Brothers. An Inner Sect disciple might just slap you dead on the spot. I might just slap you dead on the spot! Kicked in the head? Kicked in the head?!”
“I… don’t know what I said that was wrong. He says I’m a tree, and that there is a tree growing in me. There isn’t though. I would know. I don’t have leaves. Or roots. See- I have most of my toes.” He lifted a foot, only to have it shoved back down again.
“Metaphors just don’t reach you, huh?” Brother Fu didn’t quite snarl.
“Metaphors are lies, right? I think I remember- they are lies people tell to make a point.”
That one was a three-cup job, with a refill of the leaves and the water, heated with a firm slap.
“You know, I am now fully convinced you were educated by bums in the jungle. I knew you were feral, but the jungle-bum thing was still a question. Lies? LIES?! Metaphors point to the truth! They are meant to help you see the truth.”
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“But they aren’t the truth themselves, right Brother Fu? And if they aren’t the truth, then aren’t they lies?” Tian tilted his head, blinking.
Brother Fu gave him a hard look, then glared down into his roughly glazed tea cup. “Tea leaves in the shape of clouds, trouble is certain. Naturally, naturally. Ancestors give me strength.” He closed his eyes, took a deep breath and then refocused on Tian.
“The author of the Advent of Spring- who was the venerable Myriad Blessings Child and the first disciple of the Ancient Crane herself, by the way- did not believe that the readers of the cultivation art were trees. He did not expect an actual tree to grow in you. He did not expect your blood to be replaced by sap, that you would sprout roots, or have your skin turn into bark.”
Tian started to ask a question, and was ruthlessly ignored.
“What he did expect was a bit of imagination. He expected the reader to take the tree as a model and grow. He wanted people who cultivated his art to reach for the truth beyond the physical and the mundane. Encouraging them to engage with the art and study one of the core forces of the universe, so that they would have an easier time cultivating the wisp of immortality they would need to reach the Heavenly Person stage. Not to mention all the other benefits this art provides you.”
“A tree, Brother Fu?”
“The Wood principle of the five elements in the form of, yes, a tree. Starting as the tiniest seed, and eventually, hopefully, one day, growing into a divine tree. A tree so big it unites the whole cosmos!”
Tian looked down at the manual. His hands shook. “This can give me cosmos tree powers?”
Brother Fu nearly spilled his tea. “Of course not! It’s a foundational art suitable for anyone with a particularly strong wood essence in their body. It will help you gather your vital energy, refine your physique, extend your life and… Tian, there are a few reasons I asked my master to get this for you.”
“What are they, Brother Fu?”
“In addition to being a truly excellent foundational art, it has two particular characteristics. The first is that it is very stable. It’s not a fast method, nor a slow one. So long as you aren’t using another art, you can run it all the time. Just learn the breathing pattern. Likewise, the vital energy and qi it refines is very calm. The second reason is that it is, unquestionably, the best cultivation method below the Heavenly Person Level for healing oneself. Cultivate it well, and your fingers will grow back.”
Tian jolted at that, immediately looking down at his hands. His index fingers and thumbs were the only complete fingers, Everything else was missing at least the first, and sometimes the second, knuckle. Not tidy cuts- even now, even after some healing during his body reforging, it was clear that his fingers had been chewed off.
“I wonder what that will be like. It will be easier to hold a spear, for sure. And tying knots. It was hard to weave fences with just four fingers, but you have to or the little ones would come and eat you while you sleep.” Tian’s voice sounded a bit absent.
“Do you… not remember how it happened?” Brother Fu’s voice was soft.
“No. I was six when I woke up. I was told I was six, anyway. I don’t remember what happened before then.”
Brother Fu sighed and let it go.
“You did well, little Tian. Incredibly well. You survived and didn’t lose your human heart. Read the manual again, then start trying to feel your vital energy. I will help you cycle it the first few times, just so you learn what it should feel like. Try to memorize it quickly- it’s only being loaned to you for a month.”
Tian obediently did just that. A half hour later-
“Fast! It’s circulating too fast, Brother Fu! The qi is pouring in much, much too fast. I’m going to burst!”
“Hahaha! That’s slow. That’s a nice, steady pace you have there. Don’t worry, your body is processing it all just fine. Feel that qi making its way into the Golden Furnace dantian down by your guts? It’s all working well. Nicely pure qi too. You won’t have so many impurities to clear out when you reach Heavenly Person stage. Makes the breakthrough easier. Lucky you.”
Brother Fu hesitated a moment. “That leads me to a point. No, keep cycling your vital energy. One of the virtues of the Advent of Spring art is that it is steady. Just breathe and cycle, and listen carefully. We need to talk about pills and natural treasures.”
The old man sounded dead serious. “Don’t take any for as long as you can. Your pure qi and low bodily impurities are your greatest capital right now, because your only real goal is breaking through to the Heavenly Person stage and getting promoted to the Inner Court. Any pill that you could get in our little place would ultimately harm you. Don’t let a desire for a momentary surge of power distract you from your ultimate goal- transformation of your mortal qi and flesh into immortal qi and heavenly body.”
“Yes, Brother Fu.”
“You don’t know what those things are.”
“I know some of them, Brother Fu.”
Time seemed to come a bit unstuck in the Temple. He had lessons with Brother Fu almost every day. The two would sit in the elders’ little courtyard and learn about the world from books. Mostly about how to live with other people. When Tian asked when they would study cultivation, Brother Fu would just smile and say they were.
Brother Fu was always like that. He occasionally lost his temper, got frustrated or irritated, but he usually was like his pond- calm, and soothing to be around. Tian slowly got comfortable sitting a little closer to the old man, or even joining him at his little table.
Some days, Tian couldn’t stand sitting out in the open and would lean up against the wall. Brother Fu never mentioned it, or seemed bothered by it. He just patiently sat behind his little table or out on the stones next to the pond, and told Tian about great heroes who wandered the countryside, righting wrongs, making friends and deadly enemies, and always confronting the evil Heretical cultivators wherever they were found.
They sounded completely impossible, until Brother Fu gently pointed out that Three Nights Hwang from the story was actually Senior Brother Hwang, previously most remarkable for his incredibly thin, ratty looking beard. The “Five Blades of the Green Valley” could generally be found loafing by the practice fields, and “Poetry Saint Zhu” was the fussy looking little man who liked to sit in tree branches and write with a long brush.
They weren’t myths. They were his brothers.
Tian often thought about his first meal at the temple when he looked at those senior brothers. Everybody washed up together, then trooped into the dining room in a neat line. They sat according to seniority and some rules that Tian didn’t know. The big rules that were explained to him were this- there was no speaking during dinner, you drank only warm water and ate only from your bowl. Above all, you didn’t ever touch the food with anything other than chopsticks or a spoon.
Tian sat where he was told. Mortal servants came in and laid out huge buckets of rice on the tables, platters of steamed or roasted vegetables, and even some savory smelling meat. Pitchers of water were laid out, and every place had its own chopsticks and spoon. Everybody sat. Tian wanted to dive on the food at once, but not a single person made a move, and he wasn’t daring enough to try and snatch food from them.
Brother Fu said a short prayer, sat, and picked up his chopsticks. He picked some long beans fried with spicy peppers from a bowl, and put them in his bowl before contentedly crunching on one. Then everyone else dove in like they hadn’t eaten in three years.
Tian managed to use the paddle to put some rice in his bowl, but was stuck on what to do next. He had seen people using chopsticks in town, but only his index finger and thumb were long enough to hold a stick. His middle finger was too short. The bottom stick just fell off. He tried holding both sticks in his fist and using them as a scoop, but he barely snagged a single grain.
The brother next to him patted him on the shoulder and pointed to Tian’s spoon. Tian nodded and grabbed it. When he looked back at his bowl, it had mysteriously filled with steaming vegetables and fatty meat. The Lay Brothers all looked at him, and grinned.
Meals were a major part of every day, and soon became one of Tian’s favorite things. Meals were not simply offered, they were mandatory. The silence became comfortable. No one looked unhappy and everyone could fill their bowls with as much of the amazing food on the table as they wanted.
The Senior Brothers liked to flick their food around- stealing from each other’s bowl or delivering a particularly juicy morsel to a friend. Nobody stole his food. He didn’t know how he would act if they did. Instead, they competed to see who could steal a juicy piece of meat from a Brother, and immediately flick it across the room and make it land in Tian’s bowl. The Senior Brothers never missed. Tian ate until he thought he would be sick.
Tian got a little room of his own. The bed was so comfortable he wanted to cry every time he lay down. It was so comfortable, he couldn’t sleep in it. He slept on the floor, under the bed. The rooms had roofs that kept the water out, and walls that kept predators out. There weren’t even gaps in the walls for the little rats and foxes that wanted to eat his fingers and toes and cheeks and tongue.
He was safe, and fed, and, to his surprise, happy. Even if the Senior Brothers insisted on calling his wonderful room a cell. Apparently, all the Lay Brothers lived in cells. Just one more thing he learned at the Temple.
It was three months before he tried to sleep on the bed. He couldn’t manage it. The anxiety kept him up. The floor under the bed wasn’t bad at all, really, especially once he folded a blanket under him.
Grandpa kept quiet almost all the time. Too many sharp ears, he said. Not safe for Tian to talk to him, which meant that it wasn’t safe for him to talk to Tian. That was alright, Tian could still feel Grandpa’s hugs
One ordinary day, Tian was sitting on a rock, watching the sky. He imagined what it would be like to drift between the clouds. To explore them, like they were the huge jungle trees, or the paths between garbage heaps. He felt the Advent of Spring reaching up towards the sun as he cycled his breath and suddenly he was the span connecting earth and sky.
Tian reached up, pulling that intangible earthly energy upwards as his breath pulled the sky down. The qi sank through him, all the way to the root of him, the lower dantian. The golden furnace warmed the cool air, letting it rise again as vital energy. He could feel it warming his body, nourishing his flesh and bones. He could feel it brightening his eyes and softening his skin.
It was a miracle. It was cultivation. Tian stretched the broken twigs of his hands up into the sky, and lost himself in the wonder of it all.