A week passed since the tournament ended, but the martial practice square was being used for boxing once again. One cultivator was tall, muscular, manly and valorous, the other short, athletic, and leaning more towards pretty than rugged. Fast steps stirred the sand as slim white palms struck out; the right hand fluttering upwards towards his opponent’s face like a drifting wing, while the right stayed low and relatively close in. There was a seeming slip, a bare half step off balance, but when the strong warrior moved to punish it with a fist to the pretty face, he found the right palm buried in his gut.
Were they on the rivers and lakes, if the tall warrior wasn’t a Level Nine cultivator from the Ancient Crane Monastery, that would have ended the fight. But the warrior was a veteran of the Outer Court. He had killed his way across the red sands of the wasteland, and made a name for himself suppressing villains and heretics from the Wildfang Mountains to the Bourski Steppe. That palm barely made contact before his waist leaned back and an iron leg smashed into the pretty boy’s knee.
The warrior pushed off his planted leg as he retracted his kick, gaining some distance, then closing again with a dashing step and a quick one-two combo towards the smaller youth’s face, followed by a vicious hook to the ribs.
The palms swung out again, the smaller man moving his body like rain drifting on a breeze. The aggressive fists stopped dead in the air, as though they were striking an invisible wall. It was all parrying and positioning, but the audience found it hard to shake the illusion. The drifting palms fell lower as though he were going for another attack on the gut- a feint! They exploded towards the chest and head of the warrior, each strike moving with an obscure tempo, carrying a trace of dreadful power…
The warrior took another dashing step back, then spun around with a roundhouse kick that sent the pretty boy tumbling across the sands.
“Damn! Your bout, Senior Brother. Thank you for the pointers.” Tian picked himself up and bowed towards his opponent, who returned his bow every bit as politely.
“Heh, if this was a bout, I’d be the one flying. I’m happy to help. Your problem is controlling the timing.”
“Yes, that became very plain. Which is driving me crazy, because I swear I had it right. I got you to charge onto that hidden palm-”
“You almost did. It was a good feint, but you extended a half second too soon. I read your shoulder and upper arm and was able to check my momentum. The combo you were setting up at the end had the same problem. You thought I bit on the feint and started your attack a little too late.”
The bigger man wiggled his hand a little in the air, searching for the right words. “I know the move you were going for. It was the twelfth move, Mounting Six Dragons, right?”
Tian nodded. “Right. I figured that since your Mountain Crushing Tactics boxing was so straightforward, meeting it with a complex series of attacks-”
The warrior shook his head. “No, no. The Eighteen Palms of Dragon Suppressing is internal yin, external yang. You have to gather energy then explode at the right moment. If I’m coming straight at you, fast and hard, then counter by retreating, finding the gap, then counter-attack even faster and harder.”
Tian thought it through and reckoned that was right. “Thank you again. I’m glad you are enjoying the Dragon Suppressing Palms.”
“Thank you for handing it over to the Scripture Pavilion! It’s been a long time since I had some new boxing to play with.”
The two walked off the martial practice square, to give some space for the next sparring pair. Tian noticed one or two other people practicing the Dragon Suppressing Palms. It was generally the older Level Nines who were curious. They had learned all the arts that really interested them from the Scripture Pavilion decades ago. It had been a long time since something came along that was worth looking at.
Though the Monastery of the Ancient Crane Mountain was not short of things worth looking at.
Once upon a time, in the old, old days of a year and a half ago, the Monastery was strictly reserved for those at the Heavenly Realm. Or, as Tian learned, what those in the Monastery termed “actual cultivators.” Anything below the Heavenly Realm and you were just a slightly longer lived Mortal. True immortality started in the Heavenly realm. It sounded arrogant, but then, they were literally above others.
Heavenly people dashed through the sky on flying swords. Others bummed rides from immortal cranes, or sat with friends in a little wooden row boat that sculled between the clouds. Others favored ostentatiously humble bamboo rafts, polled through the air. The Monastery was a wild growth on the mountainside, brilliantly painted when it was built on flat ground, painted black with green trimmed eaves when the buildings hung from cliff faces. Tian made a point of exploring it, and he still had only seen a small part. They weren’t hiding things from him. It was just that big.
Immortals get bored. It should have been obvious, but it had never occurred to him. Cultivation helped, but there were few things ancient immortality cultivating daoists loved more than taking on a big project. Building a state-of-the-art alchemy laboratory? Great! But to do that, we will need to make sure the nearby smithies are vibration isolated to prevent the possible disturbance of medicine formation. Which would be a huge undertaking. Which was also great.
They would get right onto it, just as soon as they finished the eight acre underground spiritual plant cultivation fields. The current fields were full to bursting, and it was past time they expanded. Of course, arrays had to be made, the right dirt found, to say nothing of ensuring proper temperature, humidity and light. It was a massive undertaking. Which was great!
Compounding the difficulty was the fact that many of the buildings and fields were not at all near each other… if you couldn’t fly. If you could simply hop on your flying sword, soar a mere four hundred feet vertically and half a mile horizontally in less time than it took to brew a cup of tea, then surely they were close together. If you had to walk, on the other hand, the layout was simply impossible to fully navigate. The earthly, and earth bound, simply had to do their best and limit their range of exploration.
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Tian made his way from the practice fields to the crafting hall Sister Liren had rented. It was a fairly small building, as crafting halls went, and almost devoid of equipment. What there mostly was, was tables, places to hang things, and a good spot to hammer things. Sister Liren was lighting the wick in the last of the bowls, the mixture within them a combination of pine resin, tung oil and pig fat. It made a vile smelling, sooty smoke that was caught by a second bowl suspended two inches above the first. The smell, however, could not be contained.
“I picked the worst time to come by, huh?”
“Nah, I’m done here. I’ll come back in an hour or two for the next step.” She stepped away from the reeking bowls and walked towards the door. Liren had gotten a little taller in the last year, but to her immense relief, just a little bit taller. Still slender, and Tian knew she still thought she looked mannish. Tian thought she was crazy. The last year had been good for her. Almost as good as it had been for him. Why, he had grown a whole two inches in a mere eighteen months!
“How did the spar go?” She rolled her shoulders and stepped out of the hall. Before she put her wide hat on, Tian saw the sun bring out the luster of her skin. It was a rich tan, with hints of copper and gold just under the skin, making her appear lit from within. He wished she would skip her wide hat and gloves, but she never did. She had, however, dropped the veil. In the sect, amongst all these Heavenly Realm cultivators, it was pointless and pretentious.
“Very good! I got killed.”
“You didn’t use your elemental sense?”
“What would be the point? How would I learn?” Tian smiled happily. “My grasp on the Dragon Suppressing Palms is improving, but I swear I didn’t take nearly this long to learn Thunderous Palms. Who would have guessed that a supreme art was hard to master?”
“Everyone. Everyone knew that. It said so on the diagrams. Even I’m struggling with it, and I should be born for it.” Liren sighed. “I don’t know whether I should complement your attitude towards learning, or be sad about the lack of competitive spirit.”
“I love sparring with my Brothers. It’s one of my very favorite things, and one of my favorite things about it is that it isn’t competitive. How is the ink making coming?”
“Dunno. I’m following the instructions, but it takes a year or more to make. Most of that time is spent on the drying and aging, but still. I don’t like that I will only know if I screwed up a step a year from now. Stressful sort of mission.”
“Pretty neat that you are learning a new skill, though.” Tian smiled. It was a beautiful day on the Mountain. Much to enjoy, if you kept your mind focused on the immediate.
The two walked over to a different, far larger and busier, crafting hall. “Tian Zihao to see Martial Aunt Hua please.” Tian smiled at the sister working the counter. She smiled back, nodded, and scurried off.
“Is the new rope dart finished?” Hong asked.
“Should be.” Tian’s voice turned a little bitter. He was very lucky that a Martial Aunt was willing to take on a menial job like making an Earthly Realm rope dart, and luckier still that she only asked for a nominal sum of merits in payment as part of his shared reward for winning the tournament. He didn’t feel very lucky. She was really selling his father a favor. And Martial Aunt Hua, for all her cultivation and skill, wasn’t Crafter Li.
Crafter Li wasn’t called back to the Monastery. Tian heard about the golden dragons that dashed across the nearby nations and carried meritorious cultivators back to Ancient Crane Mountain before the array locked it down. It didn’t mean Crafter Li was a bad person. Just an ordinary one. And ‘ordinary’ wasn’t good enough for Elder Starsieve. Not when he had a sect to destroy and rebuild.
“The Senior will see you now. Do you know the way?” The desk clerk popped back with another smile.
“Could you show us the way, please?” Tian cupped his hands and smiled politely.
“Of course! Follow me, please.” The clerk’s smile got a little wider. “Incidentally, Sister Hong, I set aside something for you that you could consider using your discount on. Come see me after you finish your business with the Senior, I promise it will be worth your time.”
“Eh? Sure. What is it?” Hong jerked back for a moment. Tian smiled a little at her surprise.
“Later, you will want to see it. Senior Hua? I have Tian Zihao and Hong Liren for you.”
“Thank you, Junior Sia. Back to your desk now.”
The clerk bowed and scurried off. Senior Hua inspired scurrying behavior. Something in the way she looked at people suggested she was evaluating their use as crafting materials. She moved with the obsessive precision of someone used to working with components whose periodic availability was measured in intervals of decades or centuries. You couldn’t help but imagine what those fingers would do if they had to scavenge materials from you.
Elder Hua flicked a finger, and a long rope dart pulled itself out of a tank of black oil. Another flick of the finger saw it clean and dry.
“Here. Nine-nail pattern wire woven into rockworm silk rope, which itself was braided around a core of irongrass, starting diameter of a half inch, starting length of fifteen feet, base tensile strength of thirty thousand pounds. The head is made from Deepwater Greeniron, weight, five pounds, flat grind, diamond cross section for maximum penetration while retaining durability and weight. The whole thing has been repeatedly treated with Five Guardians oil to protect against corrosion, water damage, fire poison, demonic infiltration, gu infestation and other common hazards. Lastly, the rope is infused with essence of lanolin and Moonmilk Jellyfish concentrate for a secure, yet comfortable, grip.”
She tossed the hank of rope and its dart over with a thought. “All of which goes more or less out the window as you start running your combat art through it. It’s been optimized to take advantage of the unique aspects of Snake Head Vine Body, and you will find it considerably more capable than your former equipment. Take it out back and try it. Dismissed.”
Tian and Hong slid each other a look, and obeyed.
“How does it feel?” Hong asked, as they walked down the hall.
“Like an extension of me. I’ll try out the new capabilities, but… it really is no comparison.” Tian felt awful for saying it. He cherished his relationship with Crafter Li. But it was the truth. Just touching the hank was enough to make him think he had rediscovered a limb he had somehow forgotten. His vital energy filled the rope dart effortlessly, making a lively circuit within it.
Sister Sia was almost vibrating when they got to the front desk. “A certain senior left this with me on consignment, along with a few other goods. The rest of them sold out immediately once I announced they were available, but I kept the best of them for you. Sister Hong, please, give me your opinion on this spear.” She laid the spear on the table with an excited thud, then started introducing the features.
“Seven foot long shaft made of an alloy of fifteen metals to provide both rigidity and flexibility, incorporating a significant amount of red cinnabar for high conductivity of fire element or other yang vital energy. The head-”
“Yeah, the head.” Liren muttered. “It’s a polearm, and I guess it’s kind of spear shaped, but… can it really be called a spear? It’s more like a snake shaped short sword got socketed on the end of the shaft.”
Sia shook her head firmly. “Still overwhelmingly intended for thrusting. The shape is just to widen wounds, and isn’t particularly effective in the chop or the slash. Speaking of which, while it looks like a metal head, it’s actually Tempered Obsidian which has undergone repeated treatments to ensure its durability as well as reparability. Hence the matte grey color. Knapped so sharp you could line your hair with it, it also has a truly moving degree of compatibility with both fire and earth vital energy. To cap it all off, it is immensely durable. Naturally once I saw it, I set it aside for you.”
Sia beamed. Then added, “You are about to investigate an ancient sealed grotto. You wouldn’t want to chance it with bad weapons, would you?”