The Jade Songbird Province holds no [Paifang], nor do its surrounding areas. For opportunities of a lesser distinction, one must travel to the nearby Twenty Sunrises City, where two differing [Mystic Realms] can be found.
In and of itself, it is a lesser settlement of some sparse millions, and the Fatherly [Asura] would be better served by emissaries from a farther distant branch of our Clouded Courts.
One Elder presides there, and these lacking scribes have already sent missives outlining interest in the area - whilst maintaining all limited details of senior’s involvement at a minimum. Several replies have offered a host of comforts, as well as full cooperation of the Twenty Sunrises branch hall should it be wished.
“Jade Songbird Province,” a collated report.
Yuling hesitated, then planted a soft kiss on Zhu’s cheek. “Uncle. Radiant Tanshuai. May your seclusion prove fruitful.”
The [Spirit Butterfly] landed on the bridge of her nose, returning this affection.
“I’ve more interest in yours, niece,” he said. “Tell me of it on my return.”
Fu’s eldest bowed last among those of the Gao estate and watched as their uncle blurred from whence he stood, vanishing into the afternoon’s cloying mists.
This was not the sole departure.
An, Shaokang, Waipi, Yuqi, Yiji, Feng, Paxing, Jae, Gochi, Yasodhara and Samudra had already exchanged their second farewells.
Grandmother Hua made hers now.
“My diligent Yuling’er. Once, upon distant banks, your Grandmother followed this path. To know all you know: inscribed from my heart to yours, this has promise. Footsteps are the domain of crossroads and you walk where I once did. Bah, see here child, the sentimentality your brilliance has wrought!” offered Hua, stroking the young woman’s hair. “See now the rivers and lakes beyond tome and tale, that you might become one that is asked of the path ahead. Go with my blessings, my grandchild.”
The [Cherry River Sage] shed no tears.
“Greater words than this granddaughter could have hoped for” she bowed.
That is no fault of Yuling’s. Another’s heart is their own, and yet these should not be the kindest words Grandmother has offered to date. In time, perhaps.
“Gao Fu,” she turned, supported by a cuckoo’s caw. “All that you require is in hand. No more need be said until your return. In one thing I trust, yes? That my Yuling’er will not come to undue harm with your care. Beyond that, know the [Cherry River Sage] approves.”
Shuidi bowed first. “This Gao Shuidi’s talents need not be explained. The clan’s future is assured.”
This hum was… complex. Masked.
“My family, we will return before appointment calls. A sweet sorrow this,” called Fu. “My thoughts are with you all.”
[Dao of Four Horizons].
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[Sea of Titan-Mottled Bone]
[Spring]
[Core Formation Grade] [Death Abundance] [Beast Realm] [Martial Profundity]
“Breath,” he calmed. “Cycle your Qi and the sickness will pass.”
Struck by the [Paifang’s] crossing, Nuwang and Yuling turned instantly feeble. A near green nausea coloured their cheeks and yet they sternly held their footing.
Her [Dantian] was quieter than most.
“A credit, father. I had not expected it to affect you,” she said.
Fu stroked his whisker. “In truth, it does. I told you of the Empire of Abundant [Spring]? When each route forward exists beyond a [Paifang], your [Spirit] becomes resilient against it. A small thing, but an advantage.”
Three fresh arrivals emerged from the nebulous gate, skirting around the pair. They were of no plain allegiance, with disparate partners among a [Spirit Skunk], two apes and an ox, set on their daily tasks.
At his bidding, Yuling followed.
As a realm within the Divine Clouded Mountain’s domain, the Cloudy Serpent Sect held clear authority here. Serpentine heraldry wound about a vast roofed pavilion, attended by outer or lesser disciples of Fu’s great sect.
“The security is vast. How impressive a figure these serpents cut,” acknowledged Yuling. Her posture was immaculate, tempered by many moons of a Grandmother’s tutelage. Yet, across the span of several steps she stole minor affectations from the guarding disciples.
An outer display of confidence, purpose in her motion, the grace of clasped hands. Small, but notable. Only her cultivation reveals her identity.
An efficient line progressed through the pavilion’s end.
Fu threaded his [Senses] through the air. Having consolidated his insights of the [Clouded Ghost Arts] and a higher realm, this process had become as natural as his no longer required breath. The aura of suppression he used to meld with the surrounding Qi simply widened, tangentially broadening his awareness even if the far edges were not under his command.
As ever, assassins lined the eaves.
Shuidi glared at the shadowy absences where wonting [Control] created disharmony in the pavilion’s Qi.
“A lecture is in order,” she scoffed.
“A lesson, daughter, or a wisdom,” explained Fu, highlighting the empty spaces. “When all seems settled, do not forget to look up. Something I have found that hegemons, immortals and initiates alike neglect to do.”
Prior to this journey Fu had ruminated on the depths of knowledge to share. What balance to strike, both granting his daughter’s plea for strength and masking the blackest deeds from one who should not know them.
To see her now - in half-averted gaze, uncertainty, and the tremulous front her [Spirit] could not hide from his [Senses] - the latter was required to amend the former.
Fu made himself known with the lift of a douli. His [Elder’s Token] addressed much without words, even if his specific identity was not known.
Ahead the sorting clerks changed position. “You there, honourable guests,” one called, expediting Fu and Yuling’s progress through the line. “This humble clerk welcomes you to the [Sea of Titan-Mottled Bone]. Do you seek access?”
“We do, master clerk,” said Yuling, offering face.
The clerk looked to Fu, then to Hushi’s trailing arms. “The Cloudy Serpent Sect requires small matters of formality, master cultivator. This clerk would not dare assume, and yet the realm itself holds certain qualities that must be managed.”
“Administration and procedure are tasks paramount to stability,” said Yuling. “Please, there is no need to apologise.”
This small pleasantry softened the clerk’s features. “Ah, it is rare to find so agreeable a visitor. It pertains solely to those of [Foundation Realm] and lower [Core Formation]. A record, merely. With an abundance of [Death Qi], any that might suffer accident are to be recorded. No more than this.”
“Then I am Gao Yuling, eldest of Divine Clouded Mountain’s Gao clan.”
Clacking a diminutive brush to his rear, a [Spirit Swallow] inscribed the information.
“Gratitude,” the clerk said, bowing to mark their release.
Interminable greyness spread beyond the pavilion’s final threshold. A sea of anemic grasses, void of nature’s common hue. This comprised the realm’s rolling bulk, between undulating hill and vast, skeletal remains that littered the surrounding skyline.
Yuling gasped.
[Death Qi] and [Life Qi’s] reaction was profound, mutually suppressing.
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“A hostile environment. What is to be done, daughter?”
Nuwang snarled at her shaking legs.
Three heartbeats passed into ten, twenty and thirty. A test stood here for both father and child, for the sight of her rising bile and paling skin went against every instinct he held.
Mist flew at the fiftieth beat.
“Breathe, cycle, and stand when you are ready,” he said, kindly. “Use your own words to explain this. Not those of tomes and histories.”
His daughter’s will impressed him, showing a [Resilience] that was not associated with those of [Foundation Realm].
“The ambient [Death Qi] is too strong against my [Dantian]. It oppresses my [Life Qi], reducing me.” Yuling paused, seeming pensive. “Yet inwardly I see no corruption or damage.”
Shuidi clacked her pincers. “The Qi is not invasive, Gao Yuling, Nuwang.”
“I see that now, Aunt Shuidi.”
“How might it be countered?” asked Fu.
“A [Qi Conversion Array] or similar barrier formation could be used, or an external object such as treasure or [Pill] that might increase my Qi’s purity, and density, that the ambient Qi could not affect it to such a degree. My readings relay techniques, [Constitutions] and [Arts] that would suitably counter this.”
Hushi shook.
“Grandmother’s teachings might differ, and these readings. How your Father and Uncle Zhu train is through a Path neglecting external means. During [Foundation Realm] there is room for leniency, but [Pills] and reliance on means outwith your cultivation will only harm you, daughter,” said Fu, beckoning her to sit. “Adopt the lotus.”
Yuling did. “Father, I would ask a thing.”
“Anything. Those that do not ask about the Path ahead walk blind.”
She gestured to the mist. “Does your technique prevent the [Death Qi’s] influence, or is it a matter of [Qi Purity]?”
“A good question,” Fu nodded. “In truth, the [Qi Suppression] you sought to mimic holds many benefits. As one of air we can attune our breathing. Perhaps a simpler feat to secure our once-[Dantian] than those attuned to [Life Qi]. I have juniors with your same [Affinity], daughter, and I will teach you their methods for stability so this [Death Qi] will not hamper you.”
“Might I know the process behind it?”
Fu smiled, softly, lessening the density of mists to immediate effect. “After, daughter. Better the insight comes naturally.”
The coughing began in earnest and Nuwang weakly snarled.
“Yes…” struggled Yuling. “As you… say, Father.”
🀦
While Shuidi reaped the Old One’s benefits more so than any of the trio, myriad smaller [Arrays] were not beyond Fu’s individual talents. Those of lesser workings had simply become irrelevant to one at his stage, for his individual cultivation supplemented all that these time intensive workings might achieve.
Yuling had no such advantage.
He turned overleaf, having consumed another portion of Bingbai’s suggested reading. “Our Master wishes us to guess at the Heavenly Roaming Prefecture’s main objectives. Tomes on Qi density, purity and phenomena that occur with rising amounts of ambient energy.”
“The expertise of these texts require greater foundational understanding than you possess, youngling. Wen Pinxiu would excel.”
Fu smiled. “Pinxui would excel anywhere she is placed, old master.”
“A truth, yes. Her talent comes but once a generation. Enviable.”
At this, Shuidi scoffed. “Her talent is of tomes, Gao Shuidi admits only this. In martial might she is little more than a hatchling.”
“That may be so, but blades should not chastise hammers simply because they cannot cut,” the father admonished. “All Paths lead forward no matter how much they bend before the peak. Foundational, old master?”
“Fundamentals.”
“With such an array of topics I would not know where to focus… and yet, such a constraint is of mortal concern. There is time aplenty should it need mastered, even if learning is not among my greatest strengths. Where best might I start?”
The catfish hummed in rumination. “‘Observation of Heavenward Properties, Daoist [Ponderous Carpenter].”
Nestled upon a titan’s bone some unfathomable li high, Fu witnessed the dawn. This second day brought a silver light to wash upon the bleached realm and all it held below.
Let us see her progress.
A step sent he and Shuidi plummeting, blurring the landscape until they set down with a simple, soundless step before Yuling, Nuwang, and the spectating Hushi.
The [Clouded Ghost Arts] required fealty and [Dao Oath] to be inscribed upon one’s [Ink]. What he had chosen from the [Intermediary Wisdom’s] vast catalogue was its mirror, if not close to its equal.
Much unlike our own. Old Master, I would suspect it stands at [Middle] within the [Initiate] stage of learning.
“[Three Medicinal Migrations]. Against what metric? In lore, the [White Phoenix Doctor] was no reaper.”
Strands of [Life Qi] were few as Yuling exhaled, as expected of her limited experience. No true [Qi Suppression] technique, Fu had bestowed this as a means of fostering equilibrium between [Dantian], [Channel] and [Inner Qi].
She rose at his arrival, ungripped by [Death Qi]. “Father,” she and Nuwang met.
Fu smiled, tracing a circuit around her. “Well done daughters.”
“Shameful. It is incomplete,” growled the [Spirit Lion].
“How does one climb a hilltop?”
Yuling’s head dipped. “It is not enough. Even this single step.”
Much of the surrounding mists were encased in Fu’s [Dao of Ever Present Whispers], nigh unseeable given the confluence between his [Heavenly Spectre’s Shroud] and [Clouded Ghost Arts]. It maintained a usable shroud of Qi outside his form.
He released these now.
The [Death Qi’s] full weight struck like a well-placed fist.
Yet, they still stood.
“Oh? But it seems enough for now,” chuckled Fu. “Come daughters. The second step will arrive in due course. Let us move deeper into the realm.”
Moments of time together were rarely in such circumstances. To recall his life, Fu had scarcely voyaged with any member of his family. Upon a boat with crew and friend, perhaps, but he had never cause nor need to go further than one district across within Thousand Shore City with family in tow.
How much we have missed. Think, Shuidi, Hushi, that this might be of regular occurrence. No reward could be greater.
Sour fragranced herbs were pocketed about the rolling hillscape. Sparse, as was standard for realms of this [Affinity].
“...a thing must grow first, no?” explained Fu, answering this hundredth small question along their voyage. “Interestingly, Nuwang, my own studies have begun to follow this path. It begs information I do not possess, and might only be replicated by the truly talented.”
A quite stagnant breeze met them at their current hill’s crest.
Yuling rounded. “The truly talented? Father forgets his pride. In last [Season] alone did not the Sepulchral Saber Sect fall to his hand? Was death not conquered? What we witnessed-”
“Hush, my daughter,” smiled Fu. “These are poor qualities.”
The split between disciple and daughter allowed a rest, thus the pair sat so Yuling might recover her energy. Subtle infusions of [Intent] held the roaming [Spirit Beasts] at bay, as did the sporadic disappearance of Hushi - wishing to refine his repertoire of poisons.
“Poor qualities, father?”
“Of all my children, you know best the truth of my vocation. Even then, this is a fragment. But death… injury, pain. I quite despite it. Better that your father had become a scribe or scholar, a man to craft wonders with his hands. Alas, this is my calling.”
With a hand, he bayed her coming protest.
Yuling considered her words. “Father, is the serpent’s debt not cleansed? It does no good to act against your nature! Surely you might follow another Path?”
“Hah. Perhaps, Yuling, perhaps. Eat, and we can speak more on this.”
Four sets of prepared lunches appeared from his storage, spread evenly between all those gathered. He bid his daughter eat to replenish her [Inner Qi], knowing the toll her fresh technique would take.
Those of higher realm were said to read another’s emotion from their [Spirit], scrying through [Intent] or the small vibrations of one’s soul.
The assassin held some small talent in this.
The father did not need it.
Trauma’s mark was plain. Her searching, sallow eyes. How rigid her motions had become, suppressing the occasional tremor. The certainty of her voice had fled, becoming a thing scarcely recognised as her own.
This training should carve a channel through which she might mend, he hoped.
Though of nourishment and not flavor, Yuling showed her lack of appetite. With a delicate touch, she set her chopsticks down. “This daughter would ask a shameless question.”
“Shame? Who could feel shame with a daughter so grand?” chuckled Fu. “Ask what you will, Yuling, Nuwang, though our time has just begun and many things will be broached.”
Her [Three Medicinal Migrations] was unlike the [Clouded Ghost Arts].
A [Life Qi] aligned technique that embodied oneness, radiating one’s [Inner Qi] with the ambient surroundings. For the benefit of gentle acts and promoting cordiality with the natural surroundings.
Her breath came void of it.
“What does it mean to take another’s life?”
Fu stroked his whisker. “Its meaning?” he mused. “That is a question for the Heavens, daughter.”
The answer disappointed.
“But at my hand? Each death holds meaning and does not. A struggle for resources, for ideals, for duty, loyalty, and love. It is struggle, my daughter, as the Boundless Path demands. An unjust thing that should not be glorified, and yet one of the clearest truths within the Jianghu.”
Yuling parsed this. “And my father lives by this?”
“Your father lives by change. By knowing that to move forward, as we must, is to endure strife and peril. He wishes it were not so - that the simplest turmoil to encounter was not also the greatest - Life and Death. A clash eternal.”
Fresh [Profundity] flooded the surrounding hilltop.
That is no deep insight, I should be cautious that her opinion of me does not corrupt what [Dao] might come.
An unsteadiness overcame Nuwang’s stance, defiant against a coming [Epiphany].
“Life and death,” affirmed Yuling.
“Peace, peace. Do not succumb to it, there are greater truths than this. My [Dao] can colour your own in time, but one truth is but one truth. A fish thinks the world wet for never meeting the shore,” said Fu, rising.
Under duress, Yuling met his rise.
In place of words the father gestured, uncertain if her fledgling [Senses] could scry the commotion ascending the hill’s base.
Hushi’s efforts had stirred a lame frenzy.
Few [Core Formation] beasts were suitable for Yuling’s coming practice. The disparity in uncultivated attributes alone would swiftly dominate her talents.
Their [Impending Mortality Dew] remedied this.
“This lioness stands eager,” growled Nuwang.
Impressions shared what Yuling could not see, prompting a hand to fall upon her sheath. An intricacy of teal winds, set with three minor whorls and one large.
From it, a saber was drawn.
Fu kissed his daughter’s brow. “To allow your children a peaceful life, have them suffer a little hunger and little coldness. My promise is thus. No daughter of mine will fall here, but neither will I provide a blanket until the front has passed.”
Monstrous wails carried on the stagnant breeze. The stench of rotted wounds arrived heartbeats after.
“Gratitude, father. This daughter will strive to meet your expectations.” Yuling descended into her first stance, looking but once to the absence where her father had just stood.