Tian made his way home, ducking under the rocks. He liked the ritual of it. He had flown in through the hole in the roof with Burning Heaven a few times and it was always thrilling, but it wasn’t the same.
“I’m home.” He didn’t have to speak loudly, and didn’t wish to. He didn’t want to disturb the butterflies. Birds flew in to eat the butterflies now and then, but somehow the birds always wound up looking confused, or even a bit drunk. Sometimes they would bash into the wall of the cave, or even drown in the pond.
Tian didn’t leave the dead birds in the water. The lotuses wouldn’t mind, but he would. Tian and Liren drank the water that flowed out of the downstream end of the pond, and after passing by the Dustless Lotuses, it had a charm that he wouldn’t want to see tainted.
The white petals had long since fallen away, the green pads now floated empty. Tian wondered when they would go to seed. It was hard to say- the more spiritual a thing was, the slower it was to reproduce. Usually. The Dustless Lotuses were still in the Earthly Realm, but they, too, gathered the energy of Heaven and Earth, striving and growing with everything else on the mountain.
Old Toad was much the same as he ever was, sitting unmoving on the rocks in the middle of the pond. Tian limited his food to one brass cash a week. It was the damdest thing. Tian had asked a brother for a bit of light forgery work, and he knocked out a decent die. After that, the moulding process was straightforward, and all that was left was the trimming and polishing of the newly minted coins.
Except the blasted toad refused to eat them! He would eat one of Brother Wang’s bent coins, but refused to eat the bright, shiny forgeries. There was a limited amount of actual legal coinage on the mountain, so Tian had to stretch what he had. In occasional fits of madness, he thought about feeding Old Toad spirit stones. It was probably for the best that Liren held their purse.
Tian went to their rice bucket and scooped enough for dinner. They could have kept it in a storage ring, but there was something to the rhythm of it, the mortal joy of the practice. Neither Tian nor Hong could articulate why it mattered to them that they scooped the rice and washed it in a clay bowl and poured the starchy water onto their vegetables. It just did. Same with collecting and burying the vegetable scraps, or how they laundered their bedding. Each corner of their little cave was slowly filling with rituals and memories.
“I can flee the Monastery, but not the Temple.” Somehow, the thought had lost its sting. He was getting through to Elder Rui, and he suspected he was getting through to whatever Daoist Master was eavesdropping. The thought made him pause for a moment. This last conversation felt… odd. Things he hadn’t caught in the moment now snagged his attention. Elder Rui had always cared about filial piety but… Tian shook his head. Even if it was a Daoist Master in disguise, he heard what Tian had to say. It might not be all Tian wanted, but it was better than he might have expected.
“I’m home!” Liren did speak loudly. She didn’t shout, now, but she did project, making the butterflies flitter before settling down again.
“Welcome home.” Tian looked up from washing the rice and smiled. “Is it your birthday yet?”
“No, and you know it isn’t because it isn’t your birthday for three days. I’m honestly amazed you remembered this closely.”
Tian nodded and pointed through the hole in the ceiling. “The weather seemed right.”
Liren looked at the sky, snorted, and said “I’ll take it.” She pulled out some vegetables from her storage ring- leafy greens just didn’t keep, and were only in season for so long. That was okay too, Tian reckoned. It was another way to mark time. You had cabbage season and carrot season and pear season, apricot season and cherry season. Wonderful things.
“So, there is a new rumor running around the sect.” Liren had her own separate gossip circuit, one that heavily featured her sisters from West Town Convent.
“What did we do this time?”
“It’s not about us, for once.”
“The mountain must be collapsing. I’ll grab the toad, you get the bedding.” Tian shook his head.
“Not as far wrong as you might think. Something big is happening way up the mountain. Word hasn’t made its way down this far yet, but it sounds like some kind of trial ground or ancient grotto is opening. One significant enough to get the Elders and Direct Disciples moving.”
That made Tian open his eyes. There couldn’t be many things like that.
“Any clues?”
“No, but that didn’t stop my Sisters guessing. So far, the most popular theory is a Ten Thousand Demon, Million Devil Killing Array, and you have to slaughter your way to the core to accept the Demon Slaughtering Physique Bodily Rebirth Stone. You have never seen them so cheerful. One sister I bribed with some candies revealed that she was making a sort of rope harness to go on over her shoes. For better grip. Just in case.”
“I think your sisters might be a little bored.”
Stolen novel; please report.
“A little bored, yes.” Liren nodded. “I did say it was the most popular theory, not the most sensible.”
Burning Heaven came gliding through the ceiling. Tian and Liren had wondered if she would find her own place, now that she was at the Heavenly Realm, but apparently there was no need. This was cozy, protected, had ready access to water, and only lacked a good food supply. Which, at the Heavenly Realm, was no problem at all. Most importantly, she was near her people. And that was that.
“Have you heard the news?” She asked, landing soundlessly next to the pond. “The rumor going around the flock is that a certain senior is opening up one of their garden valleys as a trial, with Blue Luan Jade Fruit as the reward. They say a single Blue Luan Jade Fruit is enough to cause a bloodline atavism.”
“Ah. Good?” Tian asked, his hands hovering over the mortar he was grinding ginger and garlic in.
“It is. It’s a significant path of power for cultivating beasts. Our ancestors were mighty, often godlike, beings. Humans can do it too, I hear, but the results aren’t great.”
“It doesn’t work?” Liren asked.
“It does, it just doesn’t make a big difference, and people don’t like how they look. Or so I hear, anyway.” Burning Heaven glanced away as her words trailed off. Tian and Liren shared a glance, concluding that there was massive Bird Slander at work, and let the subject drop.
Dinner was simple but flavorful and warm, tender greens steamed with garlic, vegetables with ginger and a little cooking wine, and just the right amount of fragrant white rice. Nothing that would impress even a moderately skilled home cook, but heart warming, and another memory made by the two of them.
After they had washed up the dinner things, they sat out by the pond facing each other, and smiled. That, too, was part of the ritual. They smiled, and joined their hands, weaving finger between finger, each feeling the other. Slowly their breaths fell into sync, and they cultivated.
They had never needed a dual cultivation manual from the sect. The Supreme Virtue Hell Suppressing Body Refinement Sutra was more than enough, deepening their foundations, strengthening them, improving durability and resilience and esoteric strength to crush curses and demonic influence. Condensing and purifying their vital energy.
Strictly speaking, their progress through Level Eight had slowed by a hair, but neither would stop using it for anything. It was only by a hair, and even that was falling away. Once one’s internal energy reached a certain standard of density and purity, it started having an attractive force, making their ordinary vital energy cultivation even more effective. In the long run, they would reach the peak of Level Nine faster, and would be far stronger when they arrived.
The long run wasn’t going to be that long. Level Nine was just a few months away. But that wasn’t important. What mattered was sitting there, with each other. Feeling the flow of life, of vital energy and qi flowing through each other. Deepening their daos, finding their paths with the one they would walk besides.
The long run wasn’t something to fear. Their faith was an eternity together, whatever that meant. So all that mattered was now, together, in the garden they called home.
The next morning came with an announcement pinned to the notice board next to the Mission Hall and an immense amount of feminine profanity. Dark mutterings of “Sham,” or “Cover up” or “Naked graft” were undisguised, as spikey iron maces were sullenly shoved back into belts and glaives got their blades covered with surly oiled cloth.
The men weren’t much better. “I heard it was the legendary hook swords of King Ming.”
“Brother, who lied to you? It was a sword grave, holding the ninety nine blades of the disciples of Wanderer Zhu, with Zhu’s Broken Snow Sword interred at the heart of them. Each blade would only respond to a sword dao that matched their own, the whole grave a test of the heart and fate for pilgrims.”
“And they are hiding it? Disgraceful!”
The sign seemed momentous enough to Tian.
“Expedition seeking volunteers. Recent information has come to light regarding the possibility of acquiring Nine Colored Plumage for cultivating birds, and potentially associated treasures for those with bird companions. There is certain to be a significant degree of risk, and the expedition’s duration is unknown, but likely long. The expedition is primarily open to cultivating birds, but if they wish to bring along human companions, they may.”
That got a grin from Tian, but then a wry shake of the head as he walked off to the hillside. Nothing to do with him. He wasn’t a bird, and if it was written in human words, then it was for birds at the Heavenly realm.
“What are you doing here?” Burning Heaven descended on the kiln in a flurry of feathers.
“You know what. Making charcoal.”
“Why? That’s silly. You should be ready to go on the expedition.”
“The job isn’t optional, Sister Heaven.”
“It is when Elder Deepwalker pecked Elder Rui and got him to agree. Come on, we need to collect Sister Liren.”
“You want Nine Colored Plumage? But your feathers are so pretty now.”
“It doesn’t mean what you think it means. Come on, we have to hurry or that old thief Northwind is going to lard up the expedition with his useless human cronies.”
As opposed to your very useful human cronies? But Tian didn’t say it out loud. Making charcoal really wasn’t that bad a chore, but it was a chore. Anything that got him out of the Monastery and moving around was welcome. He looked at the state of his work. The pile of wood he was splitting could keep. Nothing was burning. He didn’t even dust himself off before he leapt onto Burning Heaven’s back.
The expedition assembled on a ridge north of the monastery. Tian didn’t know many of the people he was traveling with. Many were heavenly realm seniors, at most known to him on sight but not in person. He was quite interested to see Uncle Gen from the hospital up and moving, resting his weight on the shoulder of a swan. He was in the majority- it seemed that all the humans were next to a bird.
“Did they all foster bird companions?” Liren asked.
“Yes. And… keep it quiet but Senior Deepwalker gave me a hint. The place where the White Peacock will be testing potential disciples is a miniature holy land of cultivation. If your foundation isn’t strong enough, you can’t even stand in it. It’s not at the level of a forbidden zone, but it makes the lower middle part of the mountain feel like the base of the mountain, or even the low country!”
“Wow. But why keep it a secret?” Tian asked.
“Because if you can stand it, there are fruits in there that can help you absorb qi very, very fast. Between the qi in there and the fruit, you will be at the peak of Level Nine in a couple of weeks, not a few years. If you can snatch them.”