The tiger had lost a lot of blood, which was a shame, but its pelt was almost perfectly intact, which was wonderful. As were its bones, most of its organs, and even the “Tiger Whip,” which Tian wasn’t particularly interested in, but knew had a fatal attraction for some of his more senior seniors. Voidcatcher had spoken often enough of the people he had “assisted” with such medicine, to the point where Tian had wondered if there weren’t celestial tigers after his teacher’s head too.
Maybe that’s why the One Eyed King was so touchy about his little patch of the mountain. He was afraid of Voidcatcher sneaking in and stealing something he really couldn’t bear to be parted with.
“Can all Tigers do that? Trap the souls of the people they eat and use them as decoys, I mean.” Tian asked, as he separated the skin with exquisite care.
“Not that I know of. It was pretty clearly demonic on some level.” Liren was packing the cleaned bones into wine. Neither of them knew what “good” wine was, but putting it in the one with the most yang qi and qi overall seemed like a safe bet. They only made a few jars, saving the rest until they learned more about the process.
“Mmm. Another mystery of the Heavenly Realm.” Tian smiled. He was finding he didn’t mind that kind of mystery. Out in the world, adventuring, fighting strange monsters and gathering treasures, and with Liren. Once they had processed and tidied up, they buried the human bones and set out for the river once more. Tian had the surviving staff in his hands, and gave it a few tentative whacks through the air. It was slightly shorter than he was, and quite heavy. The balance seemed to be perfect, however, and it had a simple charm he quite liked.
“Thinking about taking up the staff? On the one hand, running around and bashing things with a stick doesn’t seem like you. On the other hand, I’m not sure what does. Some kind of poison fan art, maybe?” Liren stroked her chin. “You would look rather charming with an umbrella.”
Liren considered that a moment longer. “Never use an umbrella in public. I will not explain why.”
“Do you have a heavenly level fan? And heavenly level poisons? And an art for using them?” Tian ignored the umbrella issue, even if a rebellious part of him was now determined to find one.
“I do not.”
“But I have a stick. And I can whack things with a stick. I don’t need an art to do it. I just whack ‘em. It is, therefore, an excellent stick, and there is no more godly a weapon than an excellent stick.”
Tian gave the stick a few more experimental whacks, and nodded. “Besides, I watched enough staff drills in the Temple to pick up how I should practice the basic movements, and I’m pretty sure one of those manuals is a staff art. Good enough for now.”
Liren grunted. “Where to next? From what Daoist Wang said, we are probably okay going around pretending to be loose cultivators, so we can try trading away some of this loot. Always expecting treachery, of course.”
“Of course. Isn’t there a city a bit further down the Green River? Nine gates or something?”
“No Gate City. I remember it from the aphorism- ‘Heaven has no gate, and the door of Hell is locked, but you barged in anyway.’”
“Is that really it?” Tian blinked.
“Something like that, yes.”
“Incredible. To think there are daoists that could travel between Heaven and Hell. I can hardly imagine it.”
Liren gave him a dark look. “It seems ascending to the Heavenly Realm can’t fix all your deficiencies.” She tossed out the flying sword and jumped up on it. “Come here. This time, I’m carrying you.”
An hour later, as they sped above the river, Liren finally cracked. “How are you reading? You are being cradled in my arms, and somehow, you are reading.”
“I like being in your arms. I like holding you too, but this is very good.” Tian went back over the passage he just read, making sure he understood it. “Maybe not dignified, but as good-enough ways to get around go, it beats running.”
“No, but how are you reading? I can practically feel your eyeballs moving. You are properly reading, while flying, while being held in a weird way.”
“You just answered your own question, didn’t you? That’s exactly how I am reading.” Tian could vividly remember the feeling of the tiger blowing through his strongest palm art, and ignoring everything he could throw at it. He could feel the weight of the tiger pressing down on him, and that enormous face leering over him. He could smell the stink from that dreadful mouth, rotting meat trapped between teeth that could crush his head like a lychee.
Tian’s breath hitched at the memory, his muscles flushing with blood and adrenalin before he calmed himself down. He turned back to reading, his eyes fixing on every word and committing them to memory. The staff spell was "Transcendentally basic, baby-town frolics levels of insight, but it’s so basic that just a few tweaks will make it both basic and functional,” according to Grandpa. That suited Tian perfectly, as he didn’t have the foundation for anything more advanced. In the meantime, he was memorizing the manual and doing his best to master the energy flow, to minimize the energy cost for Grandpa.
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Liren snorted in disapproval. Now that Tian thought about it, he had never seen her reading when she wasn’t sitting still on the ground. She was always the one rowing the boat, so it had never come up before. Was there more to it?
“What is the name of that art, anyway?” She asked.
“The spell is called “Thousand Mountain Heaven Stamp Spell” by its author, but what I’m calling it is the “Heavy Stick Spell.” Because when you get through all the fluff, that’s what it is. It makes your stick heavier and more durable.”
“Not longer, or make it fly, or drive out demons…”
“Nope. It just makes your stick heavy. I guess all that qi build up in it would do serious damage to ghosts and demons. On the other hand, it is mostly yin qi so what do I know?” Tian shrugged and turned the page. “You fill up the staff with earth and wood qi with minor metal qi, then give it a swing. Yin earth, not yang earth, obviously, so the stick gets heavier. It’s not really suitable for me, but it’s what I’ve got. So.”
Liren thought it over, then grunted. “It actually isn’t the worst for you. If your Heavenly Swallows are fast, piercing, subtle and flexible, then having a steady, crushing, obvious and direct staff art, spell, whatever, fills a gap. It’s also something you can carry in your hands without drawing too much worry. Everyone freaks out when you walk into a room holding a spear, but nobody bats an eye at a staff.”
Tian perked up. “Good thinking! You can also use it as a walking stick, or hang laundry from it, all kinds of good things.”
“Well obviously, those are the most important parts.” She nodded, then laughed. “I still don’t know how you can read while flying. There is just way too much to look at from up here.”
Tian smiled. “I have always said you have better eyes than me. Tell me if you see something good.”
They flew on south, stopping when they came into sight of the city. The two landed on a high branch of a tree overlooking No Gate City, mostly for the novelty of it. Neither mentioned the fact that it felt like a properly “Heaven Realm” thing to do, but it was certainly in their minds.
No Gate City had, in fact, many gates, each with well fortified enclosures, fronted by another gate. The walls were tall, sturdy, thick, and appeared to be well patrolled.
“Burning Flag City was more heavily fortified, and had more soldiers.” Liren tapped a tree branch thoughtfully. “It was also the last city, pretty much the last settlement, before you hit the Redstone Wastes. This has probably eighty percent as much military infrastructure. And we are near enough in the middle of the kingdom.”
Tian nodded, then pointed to the road below. “See that? They are driving their cattle into the city. It’s late spring. Seems an odd time for it.”
“Is it? Beef is beef.”
Tian shook his head. “There are times for harvesting beef, and I can’t believe it’s right when animals are being born. Or have just been born. None of the calves would have had time to grow to market weight, at any rate. See? You can see the calves.”
“Maybe they sell them? They could be for a big sacrifice, that would make sense.” Liren and Tian exchanged long looks. Slaughtering the cattle out of season was rarely a good sign.
“Did you see an army as we were flying over?” Tian asked.
“No, but… there were an awful lot of abandoned farms. Or at least, an awful lot of farms I didn’t see people working. Which, in late spring, now that you mention it, is alarming.”
“Mmm. And I get a bad feeling from the city.” He couldn’t quite put his finger on it. It wasn’t as strong as the revulsion he got from some place like the Red Roof Inn or the hideout of the Yellow Bandana Bandits, but it had that same sickly feeling. It wasn’t an urgent need to vomit so much as it was the feeling that vomiting was coming, and you would be wise to keep a bucket handy.
“Still want to go in?” Liren asked.
“We have too much loot and not enough actual power. Let’s cultivate, recover, and head in after dawn.
They slept in the big two person tent. Liren looked a bit muleish, but didn’t argue. It was a little awkward, sharing a tent this way. Each had grown used to having things just how they liked them. Considering what the other wanted took some adjustment, and made his heart inexplicably flutter. It felt like making their home together, but one step further. Making their bedroom together. It was Tian’s unspoken, but heartfelt, opinion that she blushed spectacularly when she saw him hang his birthday picture from one of the poles holding up the tent.
She blushed again, when she saw him staring at it for five minutes in the morning. She hadn’t realized, even after all this time, just what he was meditating on when he sat in his tent in the morning. In retaliation, she demanded he brew her a cup of tea and play her birthday song. He was happy to agree.
The scene at the city gate wiped the mirth from them. The guards were checking the mouths of every person queueing for entry, then checking their necks. If they passed inspection, they were allowed to pay the one silver entry fee. One silver was a significant sum for a peasant or artisan. As a city entry fee, it was extortionate. And yet, when someone was turned away, they tried to shove the money on the guards. When that didn’t work, they tried to force their way past, screaming that they had to let him in.
The guards cut him down, hacking open his neck and pinning his heart with heavy halberds. Then convicts in rags used long hooks to drag the body away from the gate to a waiting cart, where the body, and the half dozen more like it, was covered with a cloth. Tian could see an empty wagon approaching the gate, pulled by four convicts. He didn’t need Liren’s eyes to see the stains.
“Plague.” The words falling softly from his mouth. “It’s a plague, though I don’t know which one.”
“Should we still go in?”
“Not like it can hurt us.” Tian shook his head. “No, more than that, I want to go in. I can’t cure a whole province, but I can at least see if there is something I can do to help. And I want to know the source of that disgusting feeling. Whatever it is, it shouldn’t be here.”
“Little Doctor Tian.”
“If I can.” He nodded. “I was sick for a long time. People ignored me, or they threw rocks. Grandpa Jun helped heal me, and showed me how to heal myself. I will find some way to help. I am not a rock thrower.”