Three months into his convalescence, he was visited by Brother Fu and a stressed looking senior who practically screamed “Overworked Scholar” with every move. He was introduced as Librarian Yan, one of their few remaining experts on archaic script. Liren was in the room with him, painting as he read his medical books.
“The manuals you brought back have been given a preliminary translation. The language is fundamentally the same as what we speak today, but you already know the difficulty in translating the characters. A direct, literal translation is often intensely misleading, especially since teaching by analogy and metaphor is such a vital part of daoist pedagogy.” Librarian Yan launched into the discussion without any preamble.
“The arts are interesting. While they are clearly out of date, they are also…” He slid a glance at Brother Fu, who rolled his eyes and leaned in.
“They are better than the sort of arts a mere kingdom-dominating sect like ours could expect to develop on our own. While it is true that any art can be polished to a godly level with enough practice and insight, some are assuredly better than others to begin with. Which probably needs some explaining.” Brother Fu smiled slightly. It wasn’t a reassuring expression.
“Eight Directions Palace was a transcendental sect in its era, and its fall is still the subject of much mystery and disagreement.” Librarian Yan jumped back into the conversation. “They occupied, to varying degrees, an area spanning several kingdoms. Which kingdoms, we don’t know, other than our own and a few of our neighbors. They all had different names and somewhat different borders in those days. We are also not the first kingdom dominating sect in this area to emerge since their collapse.”
Brother Fu stroked his beard, the same causal gesture Tian had seen him do since he first stepped foot into the Monastery. Ascension hadn’t changed the habits of two centuries.
“It is one of two major reasons you don’t hear us claim that we are their successors. The second major reason being that nobody seems to have inherited their core legacy. The arts of theirs that we have collected have been the sort of thing we would expect from fairly ordinary disciples. Powerful, yes, but not world toppling, and frequently with drawbacks they could accept but would be unacceptable in the modern era.”
Brother Fu took a deep breath, then forced a smile.
“They are, however, very powerful for the right cultivator. Fair to say that turning them over to the sect counts as a significant contribution.”
Librarian Yan leaned forward, his eyes brightening. “Among the books you turned in, we have found a body cultivation art that improves both strength, durability and longevity, a yang qi cultivation art that is going to make a lot of Heavenly Realm cultivators very happy, and the sword cultivators have set up a rotating stakeout waiting for the sword arts to finish being translated.”
Ah, the Gallant Swordsmen of the sect. They picked a completely nonsensical weapon, and then acted like it was brilliant. Well, they weren’t bad people, and it was nice they had a hobby. Tian approved of hobbies. Librarian Yan gathered himself, savoring what came next.
“You also turned in two shen arts. That gives the sect a new official total of thirty five shen cultivation arts. There are more than that floating around, but generally people don’t submit them to the sect, preferring to hang on to them and treat them like a hidden weapon.”
Tian reckoned that said a lot about the Inner Court, and even more about the Monastery, but kept his mouth shut. Librarian Yan looked displeased by the lack of reaction.
“By comparison, after weeding out what are essentially duplicates, we have six hundred and eleven vital energy cultivation manuals suitable for use at the Heavenly Realm.”
“Wow.” Tian did his best, and Librarian Yan knew when to cut his losses.
“There were also assorted material refining manuals and the like. There were two books in particular that we felt were worth your immediate attention. This includes you, Junior Hong.” The librarian pulled out two books, clearly handwritten.
“A Guide to Heavenstep Mountain for True Disciples, a field guide for Eight Directions Palace disciples stationed here, telling them what resources to be on the lookout for, and where to find them. As you might imagine, it will not be going into general circulation until a complete survey is done based on its information. The other manual is Moon Crossing the Lake. A movement art. I hesitate to call it a light body art, since it incorporates so much more than that.”
That seemed mildly interesting, but not worth the trip. Brother Fu read his expression and explained. “It’s a yin and water aspected art, one that you can start cultivating now and keep on using right through the Heavenly Realm and beyond. And you should start cultivating it now. Daughter Liren-”
That had Hong sputtering and waving her hands, but Brother Fu ignored her. “Cultivating this art will help condense your yang vital energy without dampening it. Zihao, this will help you bring your body under your control. Your yang vital energy is overcondensing in your lower dantian, and not properly transforming into yang qi and perfusing your physique. Hence the yang deficiency. This art will help you control your body even with that handicap, and it is freakishly strong.”
“Oh? High praise." Tian murmured.
“If anything, it’s an understatement. I was unaware it was possible to jump in one pond and emerge from a completely different pond, miles away. But if we have done our translation right, it’s not impossible. Merely very hard. And I know you, son. You aren’t afraid of hard things.”
Moon Crossing The Lake was the strangest art Tian had ever seen, and he considered himself at least a little experienced in such matters. Heavenly Imperial Swallows was a strange art. It required him to turn needles into extensions of himself. Very strange. He had a chanting statue in his belly that wanted to crush all evil while refining his body. It couldn’t get much stranger than that. The author of Moon Crossing the Lake, as befitting some ancient genius of the Eight Directions Palace, disdained the disbelief of ants.
On the inside cover of the original text was stamped the words “Property of the Eight Directions Palace, Heavenstep Mountain, Water Catching Courtyard’s Lower Class Lending Library.” It turned out that Suneater really was trash, at least by the standards of his era. It left the unworthy descendants sighing and muttering about mountains beyond mountains.
As best they could tell, Moon Crossing the Lake was an art that relied on two related concepts- the moon on the waters of the lake, and the lake itself. The moon moved over the waters silently and swiftly, leaving no ripple. Yet when someone reached for it, it could not be touched. Should someone try to pursue it, they would drown. But if that was all, it would be unworthy of the Eight Directions Palace.
“The moon is never in one pond or lake, but rather, it is in all ponds and lakes simultaneously. Therefore, at the highest level of mastery, one can sink into the water and emerge at any of the points where you already are, if you follow me. If we are reading this right, and we may actually not be. I am emphasizing this to you both because, well, we are hoping the two of you will be our pioneers here.” Brother Fu smiled, a little awkwardly.
“It’s like this- the art grows in stages, starting with a simple evasion art and growing in complexity and utility. Almost purely reactive, and without any real offensive capability, it excels in enduring. With practice, your vital energy expenditure should be almost nothing. Effortless as the moon crossing the lake, you see? If you are quick about it, you can even run across the surface of water. But the art grows in complexity. Once you have broken through to the Heavenly Realm, you will have the ability to use qi. This will let you move into the next phase- a water escape art. Traveling beneath the water faster than you could run across land, and far more hidden than trying to escape through the air.”
Librarian Yan started to pick his words carefully. “There is no concern over you learning the first section, the evasion art, at least in terms of your health. We have grasped it thoroughly, and the translation is comparatively straightforward. The rest of the art is not straightforward. That leads us to the… delicate topic of shen. What I understand you two know as brainpower?”
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The two nodded.
“And I do wish you could keep on thinking of it as brainpower, but… anyway. Your body has three fundamental energies, and we develop them in sequence. This is for a few very good reasons, not least of which being that each realm you advance is preparing you for the next.” The two elders tried to control their expressions, but the fact that their necks were redding at all said a lot to Tian.
“The ancients understood that theory, of course, but disagreed with our conclusion. They believed that…” Librarian Yan looked over at Fu. Tian thought there was an air of pleading in his eyes.
“The better of their arts that the Monastery has managed to recover while we held the Mountain all include elements of all three primary types of energy a person can cultivate.”
Brother Fu paused, picking his path through the sentences ahead before resuming. “Before my ascension, Tribulation Lightning had practically become a myth. It was considered somewhat commonplace during breakthroughs in realm back then. More than that, it was the standard.”
Fu paused there, making eye contact with Tian and Hong, before continuing. “To be a cultivator was to defy the heavens and seize fortune in your own hands. The heavens were not expected to calmly accept that defiance. Your quality as a cultivator was measured by how much tribulation lighting came for you, and the nature of that lighting.”
Tian felt that eyeballing your father was probably not filial, but damned if that was going to stop him. Brother Fu didn’t let that stop him.
“Ascension, therefore, required both a revelation on the nature of immortality and having enough treasures, skills and fortune to survive a tribulation. The greater the revelation, the stronger the foundation, the more devastating the tribulation. The increased difficulty of reaching the Heavenly Realm was therefore a way of ensuring both strong immortals, and protecting the weaker mortals. Who would attempt ascension without enough strength?”
Tian started rubbing his forehead. He had a feeling that he would be swearing a blue streak if he heard this before his injury. Liren was biting her lips hard enough to turn them white.
They both already had a foundation that would be the stuff of legends, if they weren’t determinedly keeping their mouths shut about it.
“So they just relied on strong foundations?” Liren asked.
“Sort of. Part of those foundations were merit.” Brother Fu flushed slightly. “It seems that accumulating merit from consistent good deeds lessened the danger of the lightning. Another one of those things people in the Monastery knew, but never saw any need to mention to the rest of the sect.”
There was a moment of quiet contemplation by the juniors. They had watched Brother Fu tossing around the lighting strikes that tried to kill him. It said rather a lot. As did the fact that the Monastery was cultivating merit, but didn’t dare follow their ancestor’s footsteps in cultivation.
“The art requires us to develop our qi and shen as part of mastering it, even in the Earthly Realm. We can only barely contact those energies, never mind make use of them, but training them at all will likely set us up for a tribulation when we break through to the heavenly realm.” Tian was tiring, and decided to jump to the end.
“More or less.” Brother Fu nodded, clearly happy to move the conversation along.
Tian nodded, and slowly closed his eyes. “Why? Why encourage us to study it?”
“Because… I, and several others, have a deep certainty that you both will attract tribulation lightning when you ascend. It should be impossible, but the two of you have a habit of doing the impossible often. There is therefore no additional harm in learning it. More urgently, there is an opportunity here for the two of you.”
Brother Fu opened the guide to the mountain. “The monastery has held the mountain for thousands of years, and you can believe we have explored it extensively during that time. Despite that, it still holds mysteries for us. There are a few natural formations that have resisted our best efforts to break them, or our diviners all agreed that they weren’t worth forcing our way into.”
Tian’s eyes shot open. “The diviners, Father?”
Brother Fu’s mouth twisted. “Indeed. But they weren’t wrong in this case. Look here- the Little Fingers, a series of valleys right at the foot of the mountain. Nobody could figure out why such a robust natural array was formed, to the extent of taking advantage of the geomantic properties of the entire mountain. Well, now we know.”
Tian read the indicated passage. “Mortal Servant Training and Selection Ground: Periodically, attrition requires the replenishment of mortal… Senior crossed out ‘slave’ here and replaced it with servant.”
“I went back and forth on the translation for a while. Context is everything, and the cultivators of the Eight Directions Palace seem to consider anyone below the Heavenly Realm as subhuman, and, possibly, livestock. Primarily useful for farming, resource gathering, and accumulating merits. Breaking through to the Heavenly Realm was, essentially, a way to declare your humanity and your intention to fight for the pinnacle.” Librarian Yan explained.
“That would explain some things.” Liren murmured. Tian resumed reading the description.
“‘Mortal servants, and the Servants Division will need to select some based on their abilities. However, such minor matters must not interfere with your cultivation. Therefore, the Sect has laid down a series of trial grounds at the foot of the mountain. Please note that to ensure impartiality, access to the grounds are restricted to those in the Earthly Realm.
“Disciples assigned the chore of collecting the survivors merely need to wait at the meditation pavilion outside of whichever trial ground is being used. For the sake of efficiency, groups of five candidates should be the minimum, with a maximum of twenty per trial. The trial grounds are Heaven and Earth, Fire and Water, Light and Dark, Virtue and Sin, and the Sword Passage. The latter is only available upon petition to…’ It looks like there are a few pages of notes. I’m sorry, I’m still not seeing the connection.”
“If you read through the descriptions below, you would see the Fire and Water trial has two unique treasures at the end- Ten Layer Condensed Ice, and Heartsear Stonetree Fruit. The tree isn’t a real tree, or perhaps it would be better to say, it’s a rock formation that has been imbued with certain tree-like qualities and produces ferociously fire aligned fruit. Eating the fruit should. Should. Heal your heart dantian.” Brother Fu’s voice turned rough at the end.
Tian nodded softly, then looked over at Liren. “Wouldn’t it-”
“Tian Zihao on my fucking life, if you say it would be more useful for me to have it, I am walking out of this hospital and you are never seeing me again!”
“Noisy. Fine. I suppose the ice will help reinforce your body. That’s not a wasted trip.”
Brother Fu, harumphed at Liren’s display, but didn’t say anything. Tian got the strong impression that his father agreed with her.
“You both need both treasures, and fortunately, there should be ample supply given the tests were open to groups of up to twenty. The doctors will prepare instructions for you, if you need to make use of them in the field, but do try to bring them back with you.” Librarian Yan smiled slightly.
“Fire and water. The Moon Crossing the Lake will be right at home there, I suppose.” Tian stroked the manual gently. He found the image of running over a lake a little charming. Then a thought occurred, perking him up as few things had in months.
“Escape! I can use it to escape the gossip circuit!”
Moonlight Crossing the Lake had high requirements of the people who cultivated it. One’s vital energy had to be quite profound, and their body cultivation had to reach a certain standard. The reason was rather boring- at its most basic level, it put enormous demands on the body to move and react instantly. Precise muscular control, balance, proprioception, awareness of one’s environment and one’s enemies, all factored into even the most basic movements.
Tian found it all rather easy. Liren thought she was going to die.
“No, you are exploding back. That’s not it.” Tian shook his head. “Attack me.”
Liren threw a punch. Tian drifted ahead of the punch as though the wind from Liren’s fist was pushing him back. Then he stepped forward with a lunging palm just as her forward momentum ran out, a beautifully timed counterattack that landed softly but cleanly.
“But we are doing the same things.” She complained.
“We aren’t. You are reading my movements and making an explosive move to avoid it. While retreating is a yin action, you are doing it in a yang way. Meanwhile, I am yielding and accepting the blow as I fall backwards. We both dodge it, but I’m keeping myself in harmony with the art.”
Liren frowned. She was sweating, Tian noticed. He couldn’t remember the last time he saw her sweat. He drifted in his memories for a moment, sifting through his life with his sister. It was after she ignited the first sun in her. That was the last time, he was pretty sure. But now, ten minutes of light exercise had her sweating.
“Your breath is steaming,” she said.
“Is it?” Tian exhaled and watched the frigid breath fly out like an arrow. “Huh. What a thing.”
“I have a sinking feeling.” Liren muttered.
“Good. That means you are more in line with your yin.” Tian nodded approvingly.
“Not what I mean. Very slowly, very slowly, attack me with Proud Dragon Repents.” Liren brought her fists up and set into a boxing stance. Tian shrugged. It was the first move of the Eighteen Dragon Suppressing Palms, and the one he was probably most familiar with.
His left hand made a circular defense as his right palm jutted forward, his legs shifting, his weight moving… he didn’t get past Liren’s guard. At all.
“Damn. My timing has gotten worse.”
“Yeah. Worse. Brother. Brother?! Sit, sit, down on the ground. Easy now. Here, some barley tea. Drink up. Easy, easy now. I have you.”
Tian shivered so hard it hurt. The world had dropped into a frozen Hell, all the warmth fled from his body. A tiny flickering fire remained in his heart, a lantern guttering in the winter winds. He shook hard, but wasn’t scared. It was hard to feel much under all the ice. One thing cut through, keeping him awake. His sister was every bit as warm as he thought she would be.