Tian and Liren weren’t the only two who had been growing. The Sky Grace Crane had been slowly transforming since they came to the mountain.
“Assuming transformation is the right word for becoming more of yourself, but better.”
Tian sat on the back of the crane with Liren. The crane used to need a week between transforming between her giant form and her more normal size. Now, it was just a few days. Less if she was only transforming for short bursts, like ferrying her human companions around the monastery. Her feathers had become shockingly white, or vibrantly red, or inky black. The same colors they were before, just moreso. She flew a little faster, and claimed she could go for even longer.
She didn’t train. She did spend a lot of time with the other cranes on the mountain. Tian supposed the care of good seniors must be universal. The thought did its usual job tying his stomach in knots as it did every time he went and saw his father.
Brother Fu still looked elderly after his ascension to the Heavenly Realm, but where he was once quite skinny, he had filled out again. “Making my outsides match my insides,” was how he described it. “I got comfortable without all the muscle, but I missed it. And now that I really don’t need it anymore, I have it back.” They had a good laugh about that, as they shared a lively green tea.
The crane circled the courtyard, before landing gently outside. Brother Fu was waiting for them.
“Little Zihao, Little Liren, come in. I wanted to cover some things before you went off on your next adventure.”
The little courtyard was a slightly expanded version of the one Tian remembered from West Town Temple- a little two room house, a pond with koi, a simple garden and parasol trees for shade. There were a few side buildings now, but it was still unaffected and unadorned. Brother Fu arranged them on stools in the garden, then sat across from them. He slowly stroked his beard with a little smile, then began.
“Mind and body are intertwined- to develop either properly is to develop both. The mind, however, always leads. We therefore prioritize the development of the mind, as it will provide more opportunities to develop the body. However, your body is your foundation. Even at the Heavenly Realm, we continue to cultivate vital energy as well as qi. It’s quite simple- the stronger your foundations and the deeper you dig them, the higher you can build on top of them. Well, it’s a lot more complicated than that, but I won’t repeat things you already know.”
The two juniors nodded their appreciation. Tian could feel Grandpa Jun’s firm approval of Brother Fu’s words. “I wish you could speak again. There just hasn’t been many opportunities to do incredible things. Maybe this will be a chance for that.”
“The specific term we use for the body, ‘ming,’ is a bit like the word ‘dao,’ in that it means a lot of things. It literally refers to the body, of course, but also things like fate or the destined course of one’s life. The body taken as a holistic concept from your pre-heaven self until the moment of your death.”
Brother Fu paused on that and made sure the juniors were following. Tian wasn’t, or at least, he didn’t know why Brother Fu was mentioning this at this time.
“The better developed your body, the more robust your ‘fate’ is. Put another way, the deeper and stronger the foundations, the harder it is to knock over the creation built upon them. But a tautology will probably work best for the two of you- the stronger the physique the more you can accomplish and the harder you are to kill. The more you can accomplish and the harder you are to kill…?”
He looked at Tian.
“Then I will have a more robust fate, because I can do the things and survive what I must to achieve it. The sentences go around in a loop.”
“Which is what a tautology is.” Brother Fu smiled. “You can consider the ‘body’ as both a physical and spiritual creation, and much of our cultivation is about bringing those elements into alignment with the mental part of your cultivation. These sorts of esoteric matters are usually not mentioned before the Heavenly Realm, but the two of you are, unfortunately, a lot more aware of them than anyone would like. You two are so far advanced on this path, we are seriously concerned about your breakthroughs to the Heavenly Realm. Your seniors have really let you down, I’m afraid.”
That got silent snorts and more nods. Being led around by Elder Starsieve and his unknowing henchmen had been… educational. In far too many ways.
“We, and by we I mean the direct disciples and the Elders, used the tournament for a specific purpose, namely, supporting a training reform we are introducing. The two of you won handily, as expected. Good. Ambition and hard work are to be rewarded, and our concerns about future challenges should not discourage current excellence. Therefore we are sending you to explore an ancient grotto dwelling of a long dead senior. The seal on the cave has finally weakened enough to let you in, and such caves often have both opportunities and trials. Immortals get bored, especially the very, very old ones facing the end of their lives.”
Tian hid a smile. He could only imagine it.
“There are thousands of caves like it all around the mountain, many of them predating the Monastery. We are low enough on the mountain to be reasonably certain about the level of cultivation of the people who made the caves. That is, they weren’t too strong, though all in the Heavenly Realm. All the unexplored ones are sealed with formations or other barriers, and nobody tries too hard to break into them. Lucky encounters should be saved for those that are fated for them, and, bluntly, most of the caves are empty except for a corpse with a few odds and ends. People going into death seclusions tend to use up or spend their lifetime accumulations before they go into the cave, and what they keep with them often has purely sentimental value. Not always, but often. Still, if their ‘sentimental item’ is their treasured sword that accompanied them for three thousand years, it’s pretty valuable to us!”
Brother Fu paused, then raised a finger for emphasis. “But your reward was the least important thing about the tournament! I would go so far as to say it was the disguise for the true purpose of the test.”
Tian and Hong leaned in.
“You will have noticed your Martial Aunts and Uncles flying all over the mountain, carefully scrutinizing everyone. We, under the leadership of Elder Rui, have been updating our records about each and every member of the Outer Court. Their cultivation, interests, hobbies, skills, personal relations, everything we can learn that might affect how they grow as cultivators. Which is near enough everything. Combat is the absolute least of it, which is why the Tournament was the final piece of our Earthly Realm Survey. We now know where to concentrate our teachings, and where to funnel our resources.”
Kind eyes met theirs, but his voice was unflinching. “The worst fighters, the weakest cultivators, the slowest learners. We will provide our weakest with the most support. Our strongest will get the most opportunities. Where someone stands on those rankings will depend on their performance.”
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Hong’s cheek twitched. Brother Fu smiled and nodded at her. She asked “At what point do you just give up? At what point is someone just not worth the time and resources?”
“Good question, and one we have debated a lot. We would generally be providing the resources we can renew on the mountain, not irreplaceable treasures, so really all that’s being spent is time. Time is something we in the Heavenly Realm have in abundance. What we do not have much of, what we are facing a critical shortage of, is cultivators. Therefore we must make the most of the ones we have.”
That got Tian and Hong both nodding. “The two of you have extremely impressive bodies, and have developed them far more multidimensionally than most of your peers, but there is always room for improvement. You are out of balance, internally. Why, we can’t say without fairly invasive medical testing and the sort of examination of your body cultivation arts that violates the core principle of ‘Seniors shall not covet the fortuitous encounters of their juniors.’ So the best we can do for you is help you solve matters yourselves.”
He smiled kindly.
“We believe the ancient grotto belonged to a certain senior who practiced yin-yang body and qi cultivation arts, though that assessment is based entirely on the apparent age of the seal and the manner in which the ancients tended to cultivate. There is a near certainty that there is something there for the both of you, further strengthening your foundations. This is true even if there is just a good trip, an empty storage ring and the opportunity to explore the cultivation grounds of an ancient senior, though we do believe there will be considerably more in the cave. By the same logic, we are providing food and medicine for your journey, and little else.”
Tian mentally shrugged. He honestly hadn’t been expecting anything else, nor did they need anything. At least not that he could think of.
Brother Fu coughed and looked awkward. “This is the point at which I stop talking as your… hierarchical senior in the sect, and start talking as your father, Zihao. Little Liren, might I ask you to leave the courtyard for a minute? I need a private word with my son.”
Liren smiled, bowed, and went to see what the crane was up to. Brother Fu fiddled with his robe a little, but got straight into it as soon as she closed the courtyard gate. “Sister Bai and I have been respecting your privacy, but just so we know. Are the two of you… intimate?”
Tian sighed heavily. “Not in the sense you mean, Father.”
“It seems you get asked a lot.”
“More like people just assume and look shocked when we aren’t.”
Brother Fu coughed awkwardly again, before pulling back a few shreds of dignity. “Believe it or not, that is more or less what Sister Bai and I expected. Not to put too fine a point on it, but there would be signs.”
The awkward silence intensified. Brother Fu looked away. “We just wanted to know. In case it became relevant. The two of you are a matched set, it wouldn’t be strange. We do have a crucial shortage of cultivators, and alright, I can feel your eyes drilling holes through the side of my head. I’ll drop it here. Do you have any questions for me?”
Tian shook his head.
“Zihao… is there something you are afraid to tell me?”
The birds were suddenly very loud in the trees. The trees were making a racket, the sky and earth were noisy and noisiest of all was the sudden chaos of his mind.
“Yes, yes there is. You approved the order that killed my birth family and saw me burned alive and living in a literal garbage dump for four years. The absolute hell of my early life came with your seal of approval. I know you didn’t know exactly what happened to the boy who died, but you thought it was going to kill him when you permitted it. And still, somehow, I love you. You are the only one I think of when I imagine my father. And I don’t dare to even whisper the truth into a well lest the words reach your ears, because we would never be quite right again.”
“Yes.”
“Is it something you are ashamed of?” Brother Fu asked.
“No.”
“Breach of sect rules or discipline?”
“It’s entirely within the rules, written and not written, of the sect.” And didn’t those words taste bitter in his mouth!
“Something dangerous to the sect?”
“Debatable, but probably not. At least not in the sense I think you mean.”
“Well that’s not very reassuring.” Brother Fu muttered. Then laughed. “I don’t suppose you are secretly involved with someone and hiding it from Liren, are you?”
Tian snorted. “No, not at all.”
“Still not feeling… eh… urges?”
Tian paused at that one and lightly touched his chest. “I feel a sort of gathering weight in me, that I don’t really have good words to describe. Like something is building in me, and when it starts moving, there will be no controlling it. It’s not anger or depression or fear or any of the other emotions I am familiar with, but… I’m looking more, and appreciating more. My eyes linger where they didn’t before, and honestly, it makes me uncomfortable thinking of my Sisters that way. Which, yes, includes Sister Liren. Very much. It’s not lust, the way I hear the Brothers describe it. At least, not yet.”
Brother Fu’s eyes were cool, and suddenly hard to read. Then they warmed again, chased by a sly smile.
“Would you be open to an arranged marriage? I have had several inquiries, but as much as I would enjoy holding a cute grandson or granddaughter, I’m not going to push you on that at all. Nor should you let anyone push you on that.”
“No, thank you. And thank you. I won’t.”
“Good. Good.”
Silence settled in again. The old man rubbed the back of his neck with a sigh. “Really can’t tell me? Did you tell Liren?”
“No, she figured it out on her own and we had a pretty nasty blowup about it. To be clear, she didn’t do anything wrong, at all. We are still working our way through it. We might spend an immortal lifetime working through it. Father… please, don’t dig into this. It’s something I am making my peace with, but it won’t make you happy to know about it. It didn’t make Liren happy, or me.”
“Alright.” Brother Fu sighed. “You are seventeen, and I can feel your body hauling in the atmospheric qi like it was starving. You and Liren won’t set a record for the fastest to the heavenly realm, but you will be in the top few percent. So I’m going to tell you what I should have told Junior Ao all those years ago.”
The old man closed his eyes into a bitter line, then opened them and met Tian’s eyes firmly. “You don’t need to rush. The foundation you build now is far, far more important than breaking through to the Heavenly Realm quickly. One of the reasons I have such a big say in the sect management is because my foundation has been slowly built and improved over two hundred and twenty years. I might not have had the fortuitous encounters others had, but steady accumulation is a fortune all on its own. Don’t rush. Take your time. Improve yourself as much as you can, and keep improving yourself until the very moment you break through. Remember- no one can force a revelation, and a revelation is what will carry you through the barrier between long life and immortality. It will come in its own time. Trying to speed things along will just ruin your years of hard work, and, worse, limit your future growth.”
“I will do exactly that, Father.” Tian bowed with absolute sincerity. He had been improving his foundations since he ate the Stormborne Truffle. Grandpa Jun went on about it endlessly. He was utterly convinced at this point.
“Good! And… No, I won’t say anything more. I’ve already bothered you enough. You and Liren will rise together. I won’t bother you with more advice, beyond this- keep balanced. Know when to speak up, and when to shut up. Know when to act and when to remain still. You tend to silence and stillness. Reach out and speak up more often. It will make the bond between the two of you stronger, and make your dao hearts firmer.”
“This, to you, is not saying anything more?” But he could hear the love in his father’s voice, and it warmed him. Which started the cycle of churning again, but he still managed to say, “I will.”
“And… whatever it is you can’t tell me, just know that I am proud of you. My son is a doctor in training AND he whipped all those other brats to within an inch of their lives when matched head to head. And that was without a proper weapon! Get out there and keep on making me proud. It might not be very enlightened of me, but I’ve developed a taste for bragging about you.”
Tian smiled from his heart, and promised to do exactly that.