Sky Pride

Chapter 37 - Guided by Pushy Ghosts

“My vision of immortality? I conceived of immortality as a moon in the night sky.”

“Truly a Yin man, but no. When you broke through, you had a true revelation of the dao. Don’t lie, boy, I can see it in you plain as day. Any daoist cultivator with prospects has had such a revelation, it’s not special. The girl had one too, and even the bird did in its odd sort of way. Tell me what you saw.”

Tian considered that as he prepared the third cup. He hadn’t spent much time reflecting on what he saw when he broke through to the Heavenly Realm. He could feel his thoughts skittering away from it or sliding off of it, like it was an experience of something his cultivation wasn’t advanced enough to truly understand and endure.

“An infinite void filled with grey mist, and somehow, that endless mist was all that ever was or will be, and yet was emptiness itself. At the core of it all, there was something golden and round. I couldn’t clearly see it. Even now, I don’t know that I really saw it. I just know it was there. That, and there was a beam of light shining through the mist, but what it all meant, I don’t know.”

The third cup flew up, and vanished under the screen. “I do. Should I tell you? Candidly, if that White Peacock peabrain is the most powerful person you know, I’m likely the only person anywhere near here who can. I am certainly the only one who would.”

Tian clasped his fist and bowed at the waist. “The Palace Lord is generous beyond compare. This little daoist wouldn’t dare accept your teachings. We have already unknowingly intruded upon your seclusion, truly, this one does not dare accept, does not dare accept!”

“I wasn’t going to do it for free.”

Tian kept shaking his head and bowing. “This little daoist has already gained too much from this trip. Do not dare to accept, do not dare to accept!”

There was a soft chuckle from behind the curtain. “Little Fengua really fell far, didn’t she? Do you know why she strictly adheres to her rules, willing to take a loss like letting you get away? So that more prey would come back. If there are rules, if people come out of her trial ground and are monstrously strong, then more will come, convinced they will be the ones to make it through safely. I, on the other hand, have no such constraints. If I want people here, they will be here. If I want them gone, they will be gone.”

Tian’s spine was locked straight up. Song was keeping his voice even, almost friendly.

“Yet here we are, communicating well. I’m even going to let you all leave alive and intact. Really. You have been better nourished here than you realize. Those who were once your peers are going to have a very, very bad time dealing with you. But you will be doing my will in the wider world, whether you want to or not. Whether you know it or not. All of you. So. You may drink the toast or drink the forfeit, but either way, you will drink.”

Ask for a shen combat or healing skill. Don’t be too afraid. He really is powerful, but he’s not almighty, especially in his current state. Tian felt Grandpa’s hand settle reassuringly on his shoulder. I know what he’s up to, and he’s a prick, so he’s trying to trick you into something I would be encouraging you to do anyway. Take a big bite out of him, but don’t let him lead you astray.

Tian took a deep breath, then sighed. “This little daoist had a realization recently. To nurture and to kill seem contradictory, but both should be skills used by doctors. Both can heal, in their fashion. Therefore, if this one must receive your teachings, then this little daoist will shamefully request a healing art and a killing art that both use shen and are of a quality not less than that which you would offer to a personal disciple.”

Tian felt a strong slap on his back. Attaboy! Rip him off!

“I don’t recall offering you any kind of art or spell. Incidentally, do you have any idea how precious the insight of one at the threshold of Divinity Transformation is? Just a few sentences, and I can pave you a clear road straight to the Void Piercing Realm. Yet you want a pair of spells that you can’t use now, and once you perfect yourself, won’t use later. You know, even in this pocket world, I think I can hear the howls of outrage from millions of cultivators, clamoring for your blood.”

Look at Liren if you want to see how that works out. His dao isn’t worth a speck of your own insights. Don’t let him trick you into crippling your cultivation!

“Senior has seen this little daoists storage rings. Does he seem like someone who would keep a treasure even if he chanced on it? But a shen spell to heal and another to kill will give me things to study. I will learn a great deal, and be far more prepared for the Human Realm when I reach it. They might not be worth as much to the rest of the world, but they are far more valuable to me.”

There was a drumming of the fingers upon the throne. The Palace Lord hummed, then said “It is curious that you are so fixated on shen. Jing, qi, and shen never cease to be relevant to your cultivation. It is simply the methods and scope of using them that changes. This palace can be said to be both a triumph and a failure of advanced shen utilization. This Throne has made a detailed study of the subject, as have all cultivators who have obtained the right to speak in the broader world. Your choice has more wisdom in it than you think, even if you are behaving as an ant trying to escape my hand by cunning.”

Tian bowed, and stayed bowed, waiting for the ancient monster to say his piece.

“This throne room is also a treasury. Each of the leaves on the vines on the pillars represents a spell, art, law, sutra, skill, technique, manual, method, recipe or diagram. Most of them are petty things, of course, but everything has some use at the right time and to the right person. Particularly examples of what not to do. The imperfect human realm records are closest to the ground. Their organization beyond that?”

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There was a distinctly wicked chuckle that made Tian involuntarily think of Grandpa. “You want two spells, one for healing and one for harming. Go find them. I shall give you thirty minutes to pick two leaves. Whatever you pick, you shall keep as your ‘reward.’”

Tian stood and quickly turned his head from side to side. By his quick count, there were eighty eight pillars scattered around the room.

“Your time starts now.”

Tian bowed and stepped quickly to the nearest pillar. The leaves were densely covered in an ancient script. Tian could recognize a few characters, but not enough to read them. They were hugely context dependent, too. As obscure as modern writers could be, ancient writers were, by all accounts, infinitely worse.

“I can see you don’t understand. That’s not surprising, I imagine the characters have been changed several times over the years. You will just have to leave it to fate, I suppose, and think how valuable they will be to you as you learn a whole new language. You will be far better prepared for higher realms, and for going on adventures.”

“Is it just me, or do old folks take people not wanting to learn directly from them very personally?”

Grandpa just snickered. Focus your vital energy on your eyes. Not your qi, your vital energy. Visualize it flowing up and slowing as it passes through, flushing the eyeball. Then look around again.

Tian did so, and the room changed subtly. He was hard pressed to put his finger on it, but some leaves started looking better than others. The best of them looked too precious to touch, while others revolted him. There seemed to be no rhyme or reason to it either, as they were all mixed together.

“Grandpa, what is this?”

He’s strong enough to keep this illusion up even with your special eyes, and he’s playing games with fate, a subject miles and miles beyond you. Not only do you have your fate, these records have their own fates too. Some terrible, some glorious, most indifferent. Before you start reaching for the shiny ones, remember you are a daoist.

Tian thought about it. “Yin has no beginning, and Yang cannot long endure? Just because it’s a good fate doesn’t mean itʼs a long one or suitable for me.”

Yup. Not to worry, we can narrow it down further. You aren’t likely to get dizzy spinning around, so just toss a stick in the air and walk in whichever direction it points.

“Grandpa?!”

He wants to play games with fate? This prick might know seal script, but he doesn’t know how “Death” is written. Alright, I’m being overly dramatic. He could probably write it if I spotted him the first five strokes. Chop chop, time’s a-wasting.

Tian shook his head and pulled out his finest sticks. He carefully examined them, ultimately choosing one that was both reasonably straight and had a little broken off branch near the base. When held from the other end, it looked a bit like an arrow. He tossed it over his head, making sure it spun in the air. It landed pointing to the left. He scooped up his sticks, and off he went.

It took him three tries to settle on a pillar. His body felt oddly weak. The power in his eyes had been steadily growing, but his body seemed to be paying a price for it. The leaves had a depth of luster to them, now. They caught the light of this strange place in shimmers of color, soap bubble rainbows or cheap dyes caught in the rain. They had texture to them too, not just rough- the rough of a cat’s tongue, or of coarse sand, or loose woven palm fronds. Smooth like glass, like silk, like soap, like skin, like springtime leaves.

He was getting tired now. The rate of exhaustion kept speeding up. Tian peered closely at the leaves he could reach, trying to decide what felt the best. In the end, he knew he was overthinking. He had let fate bring him this far. One leaf seemed to have a brilliant fortune, but not the most brilliant. It was smooth as an evening breeze, and shone with sunset rainbows. The other was a bit more ordinary. Tian picked it because out of all the leaves he could reach, it was the one that seemed to make no effort to be anything at all. It was a leaf with squiggles on it. A bit smooth, a little texture, some color from the green and gold but there was a complete absence of mystic rainbows or a feeling of ancient horror. It just was, without fraud or pretence.

“Now that’s a properly daoist leaf.” Tian muttered, and picked it. “I have made my selections, Palace Lord. What are your instructions?”

He turned and faced the throne, bowing as he did. There was a long moment’s silence, before Song spoke again.

“You said that girl is your Dao Companion.”

“Yes, Palace Lord.”

“Interesting. And you clearly have a heavy connection with the bird, and your ties to that little demon are still new, but growing thick.” There was a drumming of fingers once again. “Very interesting. I’ve changed my mind about how to use you all.”

Tian felt his guts freeze.

“You will all have a chance to recover, the little demon certainly needs it. Then I’m sending you out. I’m changing the lock, by the way, so the entrance token your dao companion ate for some reason won’t work anymore. You will be attacked by ambushers waiting outside the entrance. Such things are inevitable, and welcome. It will be a desperate fight. Don’t run. Kill them all. Then once you are free and safe enough, circulate an announcement, as far and as wide as you can. Certainly everywhere my Five Directions Palace once ruled, and beyond for choice. Tell them everything about this place, taking special care to describe the pillars.”

Tian’s guts unfroze, but unfortunately they took the opportunity to fall hard. He had a horrible feeling he knew where this was going.

“Ten years. In ten years, I will open the gate and admit one hundred to use this place as a trial ground. It is only open to those at the peak of the Heavenly Realm, the Human Realm, and Perfected Humans. Hmm. I don’t think you can reach anyone higher up the cultivation ladder than that, except maybe the peabrain. Tell him he can come in ten years too, and bring any guests of his “holy land” that want to come along. I’ll open a special gate for them. But only in ten years.”

“And the Heavenly Demon Cult?”

“The boy can tell whoever he likes. They won’t care. They really do have better trial grounds. If some of their juniors want to come and try their luck, they are welcome to join the general queue with everyone else.”

Tian could see it now, could see the bloodshed, could see the enormous war that would break out, with just a few words from him. It would be a fresh storm that would flood the redstone wastes until everyone drowned in blood. Only this time it wouldn’t be the weakest cultivators. It would be the strongest, most accomplished, most ambitious in the Wasteland of Song who died on the red sands. The wasteland created by the man in front of him, and his ambition.

There was a ghostly chuckle from behind the curtain, as the magical palace vanished. “Fengua was always a diligent student, but she never really understood the deeper meanings behind the skills. Master will demonstrate one more time, what it means to walk in the fifth direction.”