A little daoist stood in the yard behind an ordinary inn, in the ordinary town of Three Streams. It was called Three Streams because three streams met above the town before forming into a short river that fed into the Green River. Lots of soft rock in the area meant the Green River flowed through a deep valley, and twisting limestone caves pierced the land. The caves were so long and twisty, the locals called them Dragon Caves, and dreamed about what ancient wonders, or horrors, might have made them.
They would have new horrors to dream about after today.
A little daoist stood on the green grass, one hand bladed in front of his nose, rosary looped around his thumb. Each uttered symbol carried a truth beyond mortal understanding. A statement about the most minute piece of the world, enforced with vital energy of startling purity. Around him horrors shook and thrashed, reaching for him but falling apart before they could.
A little daoist stood on a battlefield, brave Sisters of the convent storming down to protect their juniors. Women with only one arm or leg, women missing a piece of their jaw, or covered in burns, infected with biting insects, burdened by demons physical and mental, returned to their homey Hell and gave the bandits a rich welcome. They had endured war, endured peace, endured dwindling life, but no force in creation would force them to endure this.
A little daoist stood all alone, calling to the world, calling to the vast unknowable, indefinable, unspeakable existence. Each sound was a name and a piece of that impossible immensity. The dao that can be spoken is not the true dao, but so what? Do you have to know everything to know anything? The world around him was full of cruelty and illusions, so he closed his eyes and spoke those truths he did know. He was not afraid. One of the truths he knew was that he was not alone.
What cause for fear was there, when his good sister stood before him?
Hong Liren was not a little daoist, nor did she ever refer to herself as such. Tian had asked about it- he had always understood that it was a nice little bit of humility, and therefore a useful bit of the performative politeness that was so important when mingling with humans.
“Nobody ever was kind to me when I begged. Nobody stuck their neck out for me when I was weak either, except my family and my sisters. And you. You be the humble, polite one. Fake it so hard the world believes it. The world can take me as I am, and if they find my speech too proud, they can speak to my spear. Nothing more humble and honest than a pointy stick. I’m Hong Liren, from sunrise to sunset, my name won’t change, nor will my nature.”
Rigid, unbending, unwilling to accommodate. Yang. Too yang. But fire brought both rage and joy, and the human compassion of a lamp in the dark.
Liren struck out with her spear- the monstrous heretic met her thrusts with thorn pierced arms and mocking laughter. Each thrust was met with lashing limbs, high, low; blows that should have broken bones were softened by suddenly flexible spines. Spines that turned rigid and sharp again when a reaching hand stabbed towards Liren’s heart.
Hard feet slammed into soft earth, tearing up the grass, scattering stones. High, low, high, low, furious focus and mad laughter, the two experts dueled, to the sound of shouting, screaming, and the insistent chanting of a little daoist.
Until something broke, and the illusions began vanishing.
“I see why someone put so much money on your heads. I thought it was just to hurt the boy’s father, but really, both of you are well worth my killing.” The disgusting woman smiled her eerie smile. The writhing things coming up from the ground vanished. That was the good news. The bad news was the whistling cluster of shapes falling from high up. Tian didn’t know what they were. He just didn’t want to be here when they arrived.
“Oh, well, if it’s just money you are after, we can make a deal.” Hong sounded very reasonable. The mad woman seemed to freeze up for a moment hearing that.
“I beg your pardon?”
“Sure. My brother holds all our money. Hey Brother Tian!” The thorn covered woman glanced over at Tian. It was just a momentary glance. It was enough. Hong stabbed her in the head. The spear punched through the skull, and Hong kept pushing, shoving the evil cultivator’s body over and pinning her head to the dirt. Then spinning the spear head and raising it up and down like she was driving an auger.
“Evil witch! Die for me!”
“I… I don’t think she can get any more dead, Sister Liren. Sister, we have to go. Now.” Tian staggered over and patted her arm.
“Right. Yes. Damn them!”
“Sisters, can I ask you to look after the boy and the man under the boat? Some Martial Uncles or Aunts should be coming to pick them up soon. But the bandits are after us, and whatever that is,” Tian pointed at the howling cluster of things leaving white trails high up in the sky, “Doesn’t look like a problem your covenant should handle. Unless you have a protective array or something?”
There was a lot of head shaking.
“Then we are going to run. Sorry. And thank you.” Tian bowed. The crane flew in, landing next to Tian in a hurry. Tian gently caressed her head. “Sister Liren, sorry. But this is by far the best way.”
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“I’m not that weak. Let’s go.” She shook the brains from her spear, and when the crane transformed into her giant size, Liren was the first to hop on her back.
A good rule was to assume anything flying towards you with hostile intent was at the heavenly person level. It wasn’t always true. Lots and lots of demonic birds at the earthly realm in the Wasteland. But this was the Broadsky Kingdom. Tian could feel a certain weight of attention on him. This wasn’t going to end well if a Heavenly Person made a move. Their best play was to fly as far and as fast as they could towards the nearest big city, and hope one of the mobilized seniors was there to intercept.
Brother Fu’s letter said there should be a sky barge with a couple of Heavenly People on their way towards him, moving down the Green River. So all he had to do was move up the river, and he would run into them. Simple. Hopefully.
“Censor, Little Treasure, tell anyone who asks that you are going to Mountain Gate City and are under the personal protection of Direct Disciple Fu. Okay? And if anyone has any questions about that, they are to ask him or report the question to Elder Rui, head of the Outer Court. Nobody else. Not one other person.” Tian spoke quickly from the back of the crane. “We will draw them away. We will see you soon, I promise.”
The Crane stretched out her broad white wings, and pressed down on the air as she leapt into the sky. Tian could never quite believe it when it happened. A bird’s wing pressed the air down and pushed its body up on nothing at all. Wasn’t that the maddest thing?
“Ah hell.” Liren muttered, yanking Tian’s attention back from the wonders of flying. “We left the boat behind. I hope they pack it. I got really fond of it.”
Tian blinked then chuckled, bending forward until he was resting his head on the bird next to where Liren was sitting. “Yeah. Me too.” Then he closed his eyes, and tried to breathe through the pain. He had done his best to go easy on his body. His best wasn’t good enough. All he could do now was get what rest he could.
“I wished I believed prayer helped. I’d pray for a rescue.”
Snow Grace Cranes were famous for their ability to fly for a long time without rest. They were not famous for their ability to fly quickly. The things coming behind them were catching up. They managed an hour’s flight, but Tian could now clearly see what was chasing them.
Nine of the identical bald bandits, and one tattooed woman. Also identical to the one killed by Liren.
“I’m going to say it- that’s not natural. But I don’t know what it is.” Tian muttered.
Hong shrugged. “Don’t know. But what I do know is they seem to be flying under their own power. Either they each have some overpowered flying device fueled by a stack of spirit crystals, or there is a Heavenly Person heretic in the mix.”
“You ever hear of a device that lets Earthly Realm cultivators fly?” Tian asked.
“Nope.”
“Me either. But I had hoped I was just ignorant.”
They fell back into silence. What was there to say? They were already doing all they could. The bandits got steadily closer. Tian idly wondered if he could nail another one with his darts, but decided against it. Petty tricks in front of a Heavenly Person were meaningless.
“Oh. It’s some kind of puppet art.” Hong suddenly spoke. “I was wondering why a heavenly person would set up an array and use those weird identical looking people for an assasination. It's a puppet art. These are some kind of modified humans. Maybe they are being controlled by the thorns or something? No idea.”
“Why use puppets at all? Why not kill us directly?” Tian asked.
“Because how often have we seen True Disciples launch counter-ambushes on Heavenly Realm heretics? It’s practically their favorite strategy. The heretics are evil, not idiots. They wouldn’t keep stepping into the same trap. Better to send puppets to test the water before making a move themselves. Notice that wherever the real heretic is, we can’t see them. Just the puppets.”
Tian grunted. “That might give us… a degree of opportunity. A potential gap we can exploit.”
“Maybe. I’m not going to bet on it, though.”
Tian sighed. He wouldn’t either. The crane nudged him and shared a memory, very slightly adjusting course.
“She found the sky barge! It’s over a waterfall on that tributary over there!” Tian didn’t quite yell. The crane did her best to speed up. It wasn’t much, but every little bit-
“Oh, now that’s no fun. I wanted to run you down slowly, really let you wallow in despair. Maybe see if I could get you to betray each other, that’s always good for a laugh. Ah well. Sometimes murder for hire is all work and no play.” The voice of the female bandit landed in their ears as though she were standing next to them. “Incidentally, it’s not a puppet art. It’s a parasite art. Just something to think about in Hell.”
A black hand the size of a storm cloud formed from the void and slapped the crane out of the sky. She tumbled through the air, Tian and Hong flying off her back. They started to separate, but in a desperate move, Tian threw out his rope dart and lashed it around Hong’s ankle, yanking her closer.
“YOU DARE!” A man’s voice roared, coming from far away.
“Not one of you bird brains comes up with anything original to say. Yes I dare. Who’s going to stop me? You?” The bald woman tilted her head to the side as she sent an enchanted cage to capture the Crane.
“Die for me!” The roar came with a slash of light from beyond where Tian could see.
“Not with that level of Saber Qi I won’t. Oh, that reminds me.” Tian saw one of the bald men turn and dive through the air, falling on them like a falcon after pigeons.
“Too slow!” The man’s voice boomed, a sharp arc of light ripping through the clear summer sky towards the bald man.
“Am I?” The bald man bulged. Then exploded. Thousands of long thorns spewed from the rags of flesh fluttering in the wind. Long, black, wickedly sharp, coming faster than a diving bird. Faster than the rain. Tian understand what he was seeing. His brain locked up. He was helpless in the air, and death was coming. He couldn’t think!
Hong’s eyes had always been faster than his. She yanked the rope and pulled him close. She wrapped her arms around him, and with a twist of her body, put her back to the thorns.
He could feel them slam into her. Far, far too many of them slam into her.
“Sister? Sister?!”
The martial uncle would step in any second now. He would save them now. He could scoop them from the air with a single hand. He would save Sister Liren. He would!
Tian desperately clung to that hope as the ground grew closer. Then he fell into darkness, carrying the weight of his sister upon him.