This is going to take some prep work. The first thing to know is not to lie, but do hint that the toad is the one who told you about this stuff. It can be used to make sutures or, if processed carefully, powdered and turned into a powerful poison for gu. As in, it kills parasitic worms and keeps them from infesting you in the first place, potentially.
Tian didn’t like the idea of lying to Liren, but he had long since thrown away the idea of telling her about Grandpa Jun. It was just too complicated, and even if Grandpa hadn’t said anything, Tian knew the consequences would be disastrous.
The two had run out of the city, and were making for the nearest river. It would eventually take them to a place where they could overland to the Green river, and that was good enough.
There- that pond. That will do. Head over there.
“We aren’t ten miles from a major road, Grandpa, or a hundred miles from the city.”
Tell you what, the river is thirty miles to your right, going cross country. We can do the work once we are almost to the river. Fair enough?”
“Mmm.”
Eventually, they found a spot that satisfied Grandpa’s requirements and Tian’s conscience- a shallow pond about ten feet across, with a reasonably clean surface.
“So… what’s in the jar?” Liren asked.
“Yes, what IS in the jar?”
A surprise. One she will love. Just tell her to watch. Here’s what you are going to do…
Tian followed Grandpa’s process carefully. The jar was submerged, the seals carefully removed, and the top pulled away. A thick black substance started escaping from the jar, tar-like with threads of silver woven into it.
Ooh, aged. That’s rare. Should turn out decent. Now, use your water qi just like I showed you. Stir it up then rake it. Stir, then rake. You want to make sure you get every drop, it doesn’t keep outside the jar for very long.
Liren sniffed, then turned on her heel and sprinted away. One second she was by the side of the pond, the next, she was gone in a blaze of light. Tian could hear the rushing wind of her passing, then a distant splash as she dove in the river a mile away.
“Fair. Very fair.”
The stench had not been overstated. It seemed to combine all the worst elements of rot, sulfur, seafood gone bad, and the most incredible concentration of “swamp.”
I swear, kids these days. You all lack gumption.
“What’s gumption?”
Something the younger generation sorely lacks. Rake, rake! Long strokes. We need to work quickly but steadily. Long strokes. One side of the pond to the other.
Tian let the qi pulse out from his fingers, his hands turning into wide rakes as they flowed through the water. The pond rapidly turned black, the silver threads lost in the mix. Then, as he swept through the pond again and again, it slowly changed color.
The black faded, and silver became more prominent. Then the silver broke apart into long shreds and fist sized clumps floating in the water. The qi kept raking back and forth. The big clumps broke apart and stretched, then broke and stretched again, and again.
Try to push out more qi filaments. The more the better. But steady. Keep it very steady and long strokes!
The water level of the pond was dropping. Tian couldn’t understand what was happening until he saw that the clumps of silver were stretching out into long filaments, which clumped together and bound into thread. Back and forth, and the almost invisibly thin silver filaments kept swirling, absorbing water, merging and stretching, the ten foot pond slowly vanishing into an enormous heap of thread.
That’s as good as it’s going to get for now. You will need to finish the hydrating process in some Heavenly Realm water, but we need to bind the thread quick, quick, quick! Split it into two even hanks, tie the hanks into rough knots, then call Liren over. Quick, you really don’t have much time!
“The smell is gone, hurry over, quick!”
Liren zipped back, looking disbelieving.
“Drip some blood on this hank and send your qi and shen into it.” Tian demonstrated with his hank. The blood dropped on the silvery threads, which reacted almost violently. A wave of gold spread through them all, and there was a sudden burst of fragrance, fresh, cool, and a touch salty. Tian had never smelled the ocean, though one day, he would wonder why the ocean smelled so familiar.
“What on earth is it?” Liren stared at the golden threads, her eyes wide and her mouth hanging open. “It’s so soft! It’s like silk thread, but nicer. I want an underrobe made out of this stuff, and I want it yesterday. And an over robe. Many robes. Me in bright golden robes that feel like heaven. You already managed one miracle, try to do another.”
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“It’s mermaid silk. They make excellent threads for sutures, and you can powder it to make a very effective poison for killing gu. You can also, of course, weave it into clothes. It makes fantastic under-armor, even before enchantment. Or so a certain someone told me.”
“A certain person we know to be water adjacent?”
“I couldn’t possibly say.”
Liren grinned. “So why the rush?”
“Because it’s made out of sea plants gathered by actual mermaids who process it into the liquid if they aren’t weaving it themselves. The liquid is made deliberately smelly to drive away any nasties that might want to come and interfere. The thing is, though, it doesn’t last long out of the water. Minutes at best, and I mean like one or two minutes. That’s why the liquid was sealed in the jar. That and the smell.”
“Got it. So why isn’t it falling apart? The blood?”
Tian nodded. “Our blood and qi stabilizes it and binds it to us. Once it has been woven into cloth and turned into clothes, it will carry enchantments easily. Even without extra enchantments, it will stop spells and turn weapons away, up to a certain point. It remains highly toxic to parasitic worms and poisonous gu. It will also be completely non-functional for anyone else who tries to use it. We should finish it by soaking it in some Heavenly Realm water. It will expand and improve, giving us even more thread to work with. Before you ask, yes, the water we got from Teacher’s pond would work, and no, we shouldn’t use it. It would be a horrible waste of precious water. More ordinary stuff will be just fine.”
Liren couldn’t stop turning it over in her hands. “We need more of this. Heavenly Water? We were looking for qi dense areas with plenty of water already. This is amazing. Absolutely amazing.” She turned towards the mountain, cupped her fist and bowed reverently. Tian thought she looked like she was bowing towards the top of the mountain, as best she could.
“This is turning into a fantastic day. Sudden stench ambush notwithstanding. We got genuine Heavenly Realm silk for less than I earned in a week back when I was working in Depot Four. No wonder the forms all had a box to tick for ‘fortuitous encounter.’”
“Yeah, it’s amazing. Though… I have a suspicion.” Tian scratched his cheek.
“What’s that?”
“Merit.”
“Ah. The more merit we accumulate, the better our fortune, the better random things we find? I don’t think it’s that simple, or the best people would be the most powerful. We all know that’s not how it is.” Liren shook her head.
“I don’t think it’s a straight line connection from one to the other. If nothing else, how much merit can we have left after breaking through? That tribulation wasn’t blocked by good wishes, and even the Grandmaster didn’t think our presence was a coincidence.”
“So why do you think there is a connection?” Liren kept fiddling with the string. Tian couldn’t blame her. It really did feel amazing, and the rich golden color was gorgeous.
“It’s not based on any evidence, I’m just going on a suspicion. This is a pretty neat find, but we still have to turn it into something useful, you know? There weren’t secret manuals or powerful weapons hidden on the tray. Most of it was literal trash. But we still retain a tiny bit of merit, so we have things that maybe we can turn into things, with some work.”
“At what point does the meddling of fate become just how life works?” Liren grinned and Tian could only throw up his hands.
Later, as they were rowing down the river, Tian started carefully splintering the antelope horn. It wasn’t as easy as he had hoped. The material tended to crush, rather than split. Eventually, the best answer turned out to be shaving long strips off and trimming them into shape. He knew there had to be a better way, but… it was a broken cup he was turning into a usable weapon. He would not let perfect be the enemy of “good enough.”
“The river smells different than the Agate did. This is the Longneck, right? A tributary of the Green.” Liren said, seemingly out of the blue.
“That’s what the man said. And yes, you are right. It’s a bit more… farm, I guess? And less stone.”
Liren nodded, polling them along. “I’m a little worried about the boat.”
“Why’s that?”
“Because I’m putting almost no effort into polling us along, and I can feel the pole bending. And the boat is creaking too. This really isn’t going to work if we want to move any faster than we did in the Earthly Realm.”
Tian hadn’t been paying attention before, but now that he was, he could hear the boat creaking and the startled gasps of the other boats on the river. They were moving fast enough to leave a small wake behind them.
“Yeah, this isn’t going to work. Are there any sects near here? Preferably one with a Heavenly Realm person backing it?”
“Not this close to the mountain.” Liren shook her head. “There is the House of Wind about two days from here, near where the Longneck meets the Green.”
Tian sighed and looked skyward. “I miss Burning Heaven. We haven’t seen her in ages.”
“Me too.” Liren sighed with him. They drifted along for a moment, watching the willow-fluff-white clouds drift over the green fields.
“I have an odd idea. Let’s go ashore.” Tian said.
“What is it?” Liren aimed them towards one of the banks of the river. When you are an immortal cultivator, finding a beach or gentle slope is simply irrelevant.
“Well, Moon Crossing the Lake has a water escape technique as part of its second level of mastery. It’s literally going fast through the water, and it’s intended for use at the Heavenly Realm.”
“Instead of flying, we are swimming. All the other Heavenly People get to fly.” Liren grumbled and stowed the boat.
They set up camp by the riverside, deciding it was late enough to stop traveling for the day. “No new tents? I was distracted.” Tian asked.
“Nothing he had was better than what we have, and strictly speaking, they are worse. Ours filters out dust and poison qi from the Wastes, after all, and that’s not exactly standard.”
“Fair. Disappointing, but fair.”
“Cheer up, I did snag this.” She held up a sack of rice. “Your genuine article spirit rice, farmed by the… the hard working daoists of the Verdant Hills Manor.”
Tian could imagine what Liren was starting to say, and grinned at her. “I don’t have much usable Heavenly Water left, but there is more than enough to cook a pot of rice. Let’s give it a try!”
Neither of them were very good cooks, and neither of them had ever cooked spiritual rice before, and it didn’t matter even slightly. Their hands touched gently as they got the pot ready and built the fire. The rice was carefully washed, his head close to hers as the milky white starch floated down the Longneck river, making the fish thrash with mad joy. The fire struggled to boil the water until Tian loudly coughed and wondered where all the fire qi could be. Liren rolled her eyes at him, then grinned as she tried something new. Something that, more or less, wasn’t bad for a first try.
They sat on the riverbank, eating scorched rice topped with roasted river fish, bickering over nothing, watching the sun set and the stars rise, happy just doing what they loved. To be out in the world, free, and together.