“Did you find something out on the mountain?” Liren and Tian sat on the edge of the pond, still entranced by the butterflies. Burning Heaven was giddily exploring her newfound consciousness and abilities, and they had silently agreed it was best not to disturb her. Liren was eyeing the toad with both curiosity and skepticism. The butterflies were landing on it, and the toad seemed determined to ignore them.
“You bet! It’s a lucky toad. Look, it does a magic trick!” Tian flicked a brass cash in a flat arc that would pass just in front of the toad. The toad flicked out its tongue, snagged the coin, and promptly swallowed it.
“It ate the coin? Do you-”
“It’s fine, it eats coins. It’s tough enough to stop a blow from a level nine, so coins are nothing. Apparently.”
“And… is that the trick?” Liren probed, her face twitching. Tian turned and looked at her seriously.
“What could be luckier than that?”
Liren started rubbing the spot between her eyebrows. “Right. Yes. You went for gems and found a money eating toad. This is a normal thing that happens to normal people.”
Tian grinned. “Really, though, it’s a magic toad and it’s lucky. Burning Heaven awakened her intelligence with no problems, and she broke through as soon as she watched you arrive. I discovered it likes to eat money and have Heavenly realm tea splashed on it, so it’s not too difficult to keep as a pet. Besides, doesn’t it look good on its rocks in the middle of the pond?”
“Is that really important? No, more to the point, can it even be called lucky if it eats money? Isn’t that the definition of bad luck?”
They got into some very important bickering, which led to Tian giving Liren the whole story, culminating in him and the Toad debating the dao. When the Toad lost under the weight of Tian’s righteousness and logic, it flew into a rage and opted to fight.
Tian and the toad fought a hundred rounds, the toad defending with his Invincible Bronze Toadskin Technique, while Tian was untouchable and fierce with the yin-yang combination of Moon Crossing the Lake and Dragon Suppressing Palms. Eventually, however, Tian discovered the Toad’s weakness for currency when he deployed his legendary coin-tossing technique. In the end, the toad threw himself at his feet and begged to be his pond protecting guardian beast.
Liren nodded thoughtfully, then looked over at Burning Heaven. “Is even one word of that true?”
“Well, Brother did throw some coins for the toad after he seemed to lose an argument with it. I didn’t hear the toad say anything, but I was pretty focused on eating a big snake.”
Tian gasped at the sudden betrayal. Liren just nodded understandingly. “Yes, that sounds more like it. Well, you made it back safely, even if you were bullied by amphibians. And you got the rock too, I assume.”
“It’s with the Wangs, getting stabbed. Burning Heaven, how could you?”
“It’s no disgrace losing to this toad. He is a tough toad.” Burning Heaven nodded her head, which was pretty dramatic looking with her red face and the long beak.
Liren looked heavenward. “It’s hard, being the sensible one.”
“You will learn.” Tian smiled.
“Haaah. What happened to that honest child I knew?” Liren looked tragic.
“Must have fallen in with bad company, I suppose.” Tian sighed with regret. Quiet settled in around them. Not awkward, each just content in their own thoughts.
“Liren?”
“Yeah?”
“You once said you would go with me if I wanted to leave the sect.”
“Yeah.”
“Still true?”
“Yeah.”
Silence settled in again. Tian shifted awkwardly. “Did you… happen to hear about what happened at the big meeting in the Hall of Harmony?”
“No, or not really. Martial Uncle Stormrider said something about “Go get your man, he’s burning down the Ancestral Hall and pissing on the ashes,” but I assumed he was joking.”
Tian nodded. “I would never.”
Silence gathered again. “Because you don’t know where the Ancestral Hall is.”
“Because I don’t know where it is, yes, and I assume it’s pretty big. Even if I drank a lot of water, I just don’t think it’s possible, you know? Here is what happened.”
Tian ran through the whole story, leaving nothing out including his final conversation with Mao.
“I also told you that I would stay if you asked me to. And… I don’t know what the right answer is anymore. One part of me thinks about all those lectures we got about the need to not associate with fools, to meditate quietly in solitude, the virtues of secluding ourselves from the world.”
Tian rubbed his eyes. His face ached. “And another part of me thinks this is the exact same bullshit logic that Heartmend used. It’s not my problem. Just walk on and don’t let it disturb my heart. Be indifferent to all that suffering, and ignore all the goodness.”
Liren looked at him, searching his face. Tian didn’t know what she was looking for. He wasn’t sure what he was looking for in hers.
“You are a lot of things, Zihao, but you aren’t indifferent to pain. Just the opposite, actually.”
“Yeah.”
She smiled a little. “Did your heart hurt when you thought about running?”
Stolen from its rightful place, this narrative is not meant to be on Amazon; report any sightings.
Tian blinked. “Yes, actually. But isn’t that normal when you are sad?”
“Sure, but I think there is another reason. Your dao path. You don’t know what it is, yet, but you know what it isn’t. It’s not a path that would ever let you walk away from your brothers while they suffered. You fight against the pain. So your heart hurt.”
Tian bowed his head. His face really ached. It was strange. Nothing had hit him, so why did his face ache so much?
“I don’t want to manage the sect. I don’t want to be a damned Elder. I just want people to stop being stupid all the damn time and stop making the same stupid mistakes over and over again.”
“Don’t we all?” Liren sighed.
“Should I stay, Liren?”
“I wish you would. It would make my plans for this place a whole lot easier.”
“You have plans?”
Liren nodded. “Big plans.”
“How big?”
“I’m not aiming for an elder’s position.”
“Oh?”
“I already told you once. I’m going to be the Sect Master.” Liren didn’t smile. Tian had to take a moment to process that, watching the butterflies flit around the pond.
“It’s a long way up.”
“Yeah.” Liren nodded. “But I’m not afraid to climb.” She smiled at him, then looked away. “I am so angry, Zihao. I see so much goodness in the Sisters, I remember all the good things they, we, did. And then I remember all the bullshit, I taste the red sands, and all I want to do is start hitting people. Not even stabbing them. Just punching them over and over and over, screaming at them, demanding that they explain themselves and apologize and make it all right. Bring back my good sisters!”
Her hands tightened until the knuckles turned bone white. He rested his cool hand on her clenched fist. Not saying anything. Just being there, until the fist relaxed. When Liren spoke again, her voice was rough, but calmer.
“It’s like a little ember at the heart of me. I think it’s one of the reason we… we work is that you can cool down that heat, level me out. I know exactly why I’m angry, and my kind of angry isn’t the walking away kind. It’s the fix things even if you have to break everything first kind.”
Tian snorted, and thought it over. Absent some absolute calamity, Liren would be a Heavenly Person in the near-ish future. He had to believe between the merit and her immense foundations, she would not struggle too much in triggering a revelation, and it would almost certainly be some truth about the nature of the Dao. There was just too much built up in her for any other outcome. That would make her a direct disciple, and likely a damn strong one once she started gathering strength in the Heavenly Realm. She would have a jump on Shen cultivation too, compared to the others. She would at the very least already be somewhat familiar with the concept.
She… really might climb to the top of the sect. At the very least, she would be in a strong position to do it.
“So what should I do?”
“Aim to be the Grand Elder. Not involved in day to day management, just the hidden big fist of the sect.” She smiled slightly. “It would be quite something if the Grand Elder was also our best doctor.”
Tian nodded, then shook his head. “I like the idea, but hate it too. I want to travel, see the world, go on adventures. I really don’t like feeling stuck. Trapped in a little world that feels smaller and smaller as I grow bigger.”
“Migrate.” Burning Sky decided to chime in. “I assumed that was what you were doing before.”
Tian and Liren looked over at the bird.
“You were on the big flying platform-thing, then you were on the boat, and then you rushed back here to make a nest. Migration. And once you lay your eggs or whatever humans do, and the chicks’ wings harden, you migrate again. Perfectly normal. Why make such a fuss?”
The two shared a look, the corners of their mouths twitching.
“I mean, some of the details are off, but the gist of it makes sense. It’s not like you are going to have your foot nailed to the mountain after you break through, even if you are aiming to run the place.” Tian grinned. “We could start with exploring the mountain more. I want to see what’s higher up. Go as high up as we can stand on the mountain and have a poke around. I guarantee we find something interesting.”
“Yes. Our deaths. Some Heavenly Realm critter will eat us without noticing. Or something.” She considered it for a moment, then smiled.
“Heavenly People are all adventurers. Even the Elders slip away on trips half the time, and Elder Feng travels all over eight kingdoms and the wasteland in her flying manor. Not exactly nailed to the mountain.” Liren’s smile turned into a grumble, but Tian saw her looking up with a calculating expression. Then she shook her head.
“Go back to the hospital. Keep studying and visiting patients. There is going to be fallout coming from the meeting. I don’t know what it is, but it’s going to be something, and you can’t look ashamed. You spoke the truth we all know, and you were told to speak for the future of the sect. What do you have to be ashamed about?”
“Nothing. Alright, I will do exactly that.” Tian felt lighter than he had in days. “What are you going to do?”
“Join the Disciplinary Squad.” Tian jerked around to give her a look. Liren shrugged. “The sect needs to change how it does things. That has to come from the top, but it also needs to be enforced on every level. Disciplinary Elder is a good intermediate step between “Unemployed” and “Sect Master.””
“You already have prior job experience. I imagine that’s a plus.”
“Exactly.” Liren rested her hands on her knees. “I want a bath, then I’m going to call in on the Pavilion of Guiding Righteousness. You?”
Tian stood and dusted off his linens. “I’ll go get changed and visit the hospital. It is… good that you are home.”
She smiled, and the shadows were banished in the light of her. “It’s good to be home.”
Tian returned to the hospital, and a wide range of looks. Most of the looks were cool, some cold, a few hostile. He had thoroughly ripped away a lot of people’s face, and had generally acted like a complete pain in the ass. Some looks were really the least he could expect. Oddly, it was the Heavenly People, the long term patients, who seemed the most laid back about it. Some openly approved.
“It’s pride. The Outer Court is full of heroes, bravely raising the banner of the righteous sects, crossing the land and doing battle against chaos and heresy.” Martial Uncle Gen said, his long mustache flapping. “I confess, I miss the comradery and optimism of it all. Once you are in the Inner Court, you start seeing the ugly heart of the Sect. The Monastery truly did not care about us, so long as we fulfilled our missions and didn’t throw their face.”
He laughed softly, looking out the window at the flying boats and immortal cranes. “You struggle for a mortal lifetime or two, achieve glory, and nobody gives a damn. You are just another laborer in their fields. Do you know how I was injured?”
“No, Uncle Gen.”
“Stabbed in the back by the so-called Dean of the Ancient Pines School, a minor sect in the Kingdom’s west. We were investigating a tomb complex belonging to a certain master crafter. I had my soft armor, naturally, and various protective talismans. He had a cursed dagger of such unnatural potency, it shattered under the strength of its own enchantments as soon as it bit into my skin. He made his move just as we opened the final chamber, but before we saw even a hint of a treasure. I sent his head flying, but the curse was harder to get rid of. Even harder to break than our oath of brotherhood, apparently. I’d known him for four hundred years.”
“One treasure, or four hundred years of brotherhood.” Tian shook his head. “I can’t imagine it.”
Uncle Gen smiled. “Soon enough you won’t have to imagine it. You will live it.”
Tian shook his head again.
“It wasn’t worth it, by the way. I know that’s what you want to ask.” Uncle Gen pulled out a foot tall statue of a fierce deity. “It is a defensive artifact for protecting a cave abode or mansion or something. The crafter poured his whole life and soul into it, a pioneering creation and his most prized possession. Even today, it is still really quite decent. I have only seen five or six better than it for sale in shops.”
The bitterness in his voice seemed to etch the air itself. Tian bowed his head, and spent the moment silently with the old man. Then, when he felt the moment had passed, he pulled out his bamboo flute.
“Martial Uncle? I’ve been thinking about what you told me about music the other day, and I was hoping you could help me with a song I’ve been working on.”