Fatherly Asura Chapter One Hundred and EIghty Six - To Roam, To See, To Kno

…the formula used previously.

It is always this daoist’s belief that learning is a weightless treasure, thus, endeavour to engrave these workings within your mind.

But do not deny the instinct of it.

Rate. Absorption. Charge. Potentiality. Purity.

[Spirituality].

Terms the heart knows first.

As with the blank canvas of a mortal beast, materia of mortal properties possess the sa broad horizons as any other component.

Know that the mundane carp does not choose to nourish itself on [Flastalk Reed] in hope of gaining its [Affinity] with [Fire Qi], but for simple nourishnt.

The willow does not beco polluted in [Lightning Qi] by choice.

Heaven’s will directs these changes, but does not exclude other thods of manipulation.

To see such workings in action, this daoist tasks the reader to select four mundane seeds, placing each…

“Observation of Heavenward Properties, Daoist [Ponderous Carpenter]”

🀁

“If you wish it, old man,” considered Anfang. “But it’s like treading through thin soup.”

Fu Gao sighed at the disciple’s attitude, “A reminder of propriety would fall on deaf ears, I suppose?”

“What was that?”

The Cloud Gathering Division’s vexation vanished.

Much of the Wisteria Peaks was untad, lousy with a veritable sea of the titular trees upon cliff-face and mound. For all accounts its geography suited Anfang well, for the eddying peaks were a nonsense of extre heights married together- as though a staircase wherein each step did not lead to the next.

“Disciple Fen,” he called.

Tenure within the Wayward Winds granted the woman much benefit, nor did Fu believe in managing a junior’s every breath. Though the moss-haired disciple and her [Spirit Hyena] held their [Senses], and brows, set against an ordinary wisteria vine.

And had done so for a span of minutes.

She retracted at his call. “Yes, senior. My behaviour is shaful, I have not made introductions.”

Shuidi inclined, pensive.

“Introductions? We are not close, disciple, but neither are we strangers.”

As if a pendulum, Fen’s head swivelled between tree and senior. “The wisteria, senior. Alas, she is lecherous and I do not believe the experience would be enriching.”

“The wisteria.”

“The wisteria, senior,” she bowed.

Those of [Wood Qi] held… a reputation. Indeed the assassin held eclectic style, with scentless flowers draped from talisman-earrings and myriad sars of colour aside her moss-green [Ink].

Promise had Fu, if never distracted, then reflective on what was to co.

Arrangents above his station had Bingbai absent for a ti, and matters pertaining to [Sixth Under Heaven] were of paramount importance to those that might otherwise support their fresh endeavour.

The Fatherly [Asura’s] leave was twofold. Halved between Divine Clouded Mountain and opportunity within the Empire of Abundant [Spring].

With all major factions flocking to claim opportunity under the Clear Sky Edict, this course is best. Establish independent roots within the four domains before intervention is needed. To trial Fen and Anfang’s rit as the Cloud Gathering’s core is also of chief importance.

Three wisteria leaves danced on the wind ahead.

At this mont… Yes. My twinned heart stands within a [Mystic Realm]. The arrangents remain, but life will twist the order. What now, I wonder? A move to solidify the Gao clan perhaps. Roots placed, as we do now. Bingbai will hear of it swiftly and I am eager for the news.

Hours later, and Anfang returned to a view of Fu with parchnt in hand. It was mundane papyrus, and as functionally mortal as the density of ambient Qi within this corner of the Heavenly Roaming Prefecture.

“Dull,” ca the first word of her report.

Fu did not deign to answer, lifting a second map instead. “The range of this is quite condensed,” he suggested to Hushi. “In comparison, the Four Corners Prefecture would fit twice within the area of these four provinces.”

“Dull,” Anfang voiced again.

In a manner that he would rectify, the nearby wisteria rustled. A cascade of vibrant petals unfurled, and Fen coalesced from their dance. “Senior,” she t. “The positions as marked show no trace of what we seek.”

“This Gao Shuidi reports the sa. All things within this Heavenly Roaming Prefecture are miserable, drenched in mortality.”

For now, sister. Soon even the water will not recognise its reflection.

WIthout the capabilities of an Qi-inscribed map, three foisted four separate scrolls together with a dusting of [Air Qi] to hold them firm against the breeze. To use Bingbai’s terms- this land was desolate.

From the far reaches of Jade Songbird Province, Wisteria Peaks, and the Chis of Black Serendipity, the ambient Qi was of such scarcity that a single [ridian] would take five moons to cleanse. That differed minutely within the Golden Bodhi sanctuary, but the circumstances around that locale were a facet of their current reconnaissance.

There was much to settle before the [Paifang] arrived.

Much to facilitate.

Old master, might I trouble you?

“As of your return, four hundred and nine.”

Shuidi indented a mark on the conjoined maps, manifesting a mostly harmless poison of ink-like property. “Much remains of our Master’s orders. Each site stands absent, unknowing of what will soon sprout. Be it within a [Season] or one hundred moons.”

“As I said,” sighed Anfang. “Dull.”

🀨

“Myriad techniques. Pointless,” explained the Old One. “So trivial it might be achieved in monts. [Control] is among your talents.”

Fu inspected his arm. “When our [Constitution] was refined it bore no result.”

“Consider its nature. Consider your injury. Disciple Aarushi spoke on [Life Qi’s] limitations.”

A distant conversation aboard the Wayward Winds’ warship returned in summary, recalling words on the nature of nding flesh and returning limbs.

“The [Heavenly Spectre’s Shroud], no, the [Physique of Grey Spectres]. Aarushi stated that her ability to nd was hampered by the difficulty in recreating its composition. As if sewing with her eyes closed, uncertain of what the threads might bind together.”

“Just so.”

While refining his first [Constitution], and from then on, Fu, Hushi and Shuidi were discriminatory in what purity of Qi they allowed to circulate within them. Only that of the highest quality, void of composite pollutants and toxins filled their [ridians] now - and as such his arm had gone untreated until ascension’s transformative force had restored it.

In essence, he was no more than high quality [Spectral Qi] held together by the gravity of his [Spirit].

“Zhu’s [Light Qi] makes shorter work, and yet, vanity.”

The Fatherly [Asura] smiled. “My brother has said as much. With the [Dao of Wind’s Present Whispers], I had neglected to think of applying it myself.”

Simply, he swept a hand across his arm. The mists of his body spun, turning the outward appearance of his flesh into that of a wrinkled length. A deception that began to morph his body into that of a wizened man.

Shuidi conjured a reflective screen of water that he might witness it.

A change that his spine crook, cheeks descend in ripples of sagging flesh and brow beco a mire of intersecting, warm wrinkles. He played with the composition of skin, darkening it in tints until-

“Gao Fu could be mistaken for Udvah’s grandfather.”

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The effort of shifting his [Constitution] in this novel fashion was minimal, thus:

[Art] attained.

[Mask of Pale Changes] Shift the composition of your [Heavenly Spectre’s Shroud] to alter your outward appearance.

That it had beco an [Art] so swiftly proved how trivial the act truly was, having him sigh that he had not added such a tool to his repertoire before now.

Hushi masked himself as a teal [Spirit Peacock], taking several steps before he acclimatised to the awkwardness of two feet.

Shuidi refused, entering Fu’s sleeve.

The screen opened to a prayer hall of so thousand mats, all both of mundane hue and material. Only the hall’s enormity displayed any sign of significance, and even then Fu realised how accustod to peak factions, abodes of True Imperials and repositories he had beco.

Central however, stood an unknown figure. An effigy many tos had long forgotten, sparking the Old One’s interest.

Fu puffed forward, evoking the mannerisms of a [Foundation Realm] cultivator, the aged man whose sleep he had ensured through poisonous ans. It took him beneath the distended earlobes and mirthful grin of a morbid rotund statue.

“Bu Da.”

My history is hazy, old master. But I have read scriptures detailing this figure. To be venerated in a place that may be too backwater to know of the Cloudy Serpent Sect is queer, no?

“There are more mysteries beneath the Heavens than stars above, Gao Fu. You know this.”

Vague recollections of the [Two That Do Not Seek] resurfaced. The One Hundred and Eight Vajra’s peak. Old tos had included this na in their sermons and musings.

The assassins shuffled deeper.

Wild gardens of ascetic monks sat in their search for insight, at peace beneath the boughs of failing growths. Trailing brown ivy, as [Autumn] dictated, or winnowed branches barely sheathed by deadened leaves. Many sat buried in fallen leaf mounds, indicative either of the enlightennt they had found or rely their ti spent in reflection.

He saw no won as he progressed, nor a soul beneath one hundred moons. A strange rule of this Golden Bodhi Sanctuary that did not break as he walked its contextually significant length along several dozen li of tended white gravel.

His [Clouded Ghost Arts] sensed many oddities.

A draw of Qi from the imdiate surroundings, thinning what was already a mortal-grade density towards the Sanctuary’s center. The sacred mountain if daoist tradition was to be observed, although this locale was nestled in sparse bamboo forest and contained no peak.

Second was the lack of [Profundity] or [Array].

“Thousand Shore City was above this.”

Fu nodded.

These lands are truly desolate. A stone with much moss.

In swift order he found himself solidifying this thought, chasing the draw of Qi that weakly blanketed this area. It ca in the form of a wide cultivated space, tended that small pools, lotus patches and sunlight might venerate the treasure in their midst.

Another monk sat reflective at the base of a diminutive, golden bodhi sapling. Outwardly, he was younger than most.

A facet of his middle [Core Formation] talent.

Indeed his middling achievent was more impressive than the tree itself.

Shuidi impressed her desire to move on, having gleaned all they could. Rather, she would turn her attention to the next oddity.

Fu stroked his whisker, but did not stare into the gloom of bamboo’s canopy.

As the only waking ‘monk’, the [Spirit Raven] there would surely have more focus on him than those ditating in alcove and copse.

Late [Core Formation], and yet… unrefined. Few should have the information that Bingbai and our Clouded Courts possess. Why then, is such a beast here? It begs investigation.

🀨

One night transitioned into a second as Fu no less than stepped through the skies. An important lesson for all disciples, initiate or immortal, was that few beings ever looked up, allowing a casual voyage from one end of Bingbai’s proposed Heavenly Roaming Prefecture to another.

Rain fell, lessening the effort further.

Gone was the guise of an elderly monk, leaving Fu to navigate these current passages in his original appearance, if masked by internalized [Dao].

The [Spirit Raven’s] presence had all but vanished into a realm of dark-cloaked mountains. Those nad Chis of Black Serendipity.

Of these four locales, it held value as the vastest. As depths wherein their reach expanded farther beneath the ground than existed above. He knew not the [Array] or natural [Profundity] masking the subterranean caves, only that they existed without the ample supply of Qi they should have required.

Several li within, the shift occurred again.

Fu’s steady gait halted as a singular note chid through the expansive cave. Sothing pure, and shrill, enacting this landscape’s feature.

Before him, the earth trembled. The gloom-soaked walls rolled as if a tide of moving sand, collapsing and converging until all before him had morphed into unrecognisable tunnels, simultaneously closing and opening entrances at east, west and north.

Hushi impressed his amusent.

Our quarry entered here not an hour prior. Unless it has flown from a fresh exit, it should still dwell within. It would take an unusual beast to notice our presence. My thoughts are that it does not flee, but hold so purpose here.

The Fatherly [Asura] dismissed the walls, treading through them until his original path had returned.

[Half Cloud Step].

Whorls of recent air rippled from the movent of walls. A suffusion of Qi stalled this, turning breeze and drift into stagnant ribbons.

His fingers tasted each.

A story told in air, where wingbeats had displaced the light flow.

[Dao of Four Horizons].

“Gao Fu.”

I sense it, old master.

The [Dao] had ventured him to an enormous depth, unfolding on the periphery of an unparalleled formation of [Arrays]. Braziers of fla oscillated within this cavernous space, flickering hues of scarlet and vibrant green before an inordinate seal in the underground’s face.

Brash voices undercut the solemnity of such a sight.

Beneath the ten thousand overlapping inscriptions upon this seal, bathed in the sa oscillating hues, a court sounded loudly. First of owls in parliant, then of ravens, crows, eagles, buzzards and more. Birds of prey in their hundreds, supported by a re clutch of cultivators.

These dust-robed few traded loudest of all.

“...these suggestions are without rit!”

“Cha-ha-ha. The years have not simred sister’s heat,” teased a gaunt, rat of a man, having his crows caw in concert. “Please, do bicker more. Nothing is more cathartic than seeing you all squabble over nothing.”

A prim, middle-aged cultivator addressed him. “One hundred moons have co and gone. Recall my warning then.”

“How you would cut my tongue free and- oh, no, what was the rest?” he gasped.

Third to speak was a woman with the bearing of a weeping statue. Her tone carried great lancholy, brushing against Fu’s [Spirit]. “Why threaten such unspeakable things? Can we not be joyous? This mont is auspicious and overdue, I could not bear it if my siblings ca to blows.”

Proximity was not required for a greater view, but Fu prowled closer to evaluate the gathered group.

The Four Corners held myriad faces, that must not be so within the Heavenly Roaming Prefecture. Whomsoever this faction is, threat or no, all the pieces must be known.

Fresh lands brought fresh characters to stand upon the stage.

Fu wondered if they were worthy pieces to know.

“Yes, yes, but has it been so long?” mused a shrill voice. “The [Boundless Dao] make fools of us all, for this date is not when we were to et again. External changes have forced this early hand.”

The chi reverberated once more, and Fu felt the rockface behind shift into obfuscating patterns.

Footsteps accompanied the change, marching forth in no subtle fashion. Several dozen, by the sound of their weight, accompanied by thrice as many wingbeats.

A matronly woman entered, demanding silence. At a step the bickering ceased as all attention fell to her. However, their eyes road as she paused but one arm’s length from the assassin in their midst.

The [Dao of Wind’s Present Whispers] trembled under her scrutiny.

Intricate, amber [Ink] detailed a pattern from ear to ear, as though lace fabric were draped as a mask upon her eyes. She otherwise held the radiance of cultivators, emitting a sense of true immortality’s cusp.

[Bone Refinent] or [Body’s] completion offered the chance to remould one’s flesh, and here Fu pondered on the mind behind one that willingly chose to appear as forty or fifty moons old.

“Mother,” chanted those collected before the seal. Voiced by all Fu had heard speak and a handful more.

Their retinue stayed silent, rely remaining on a knee.

The Mother walked dismissively, parting these supposed children as if no more than dust against the wind. Scarlet light embraced her at the seal.

“This call cos early,” sang her sultry voice. “My sons and daughters. My virtues. Before I hear of all things joyous, who among you might shed light on this mystery?”

Eager were the young.

To comport themselves fittingly, ten took position before any others. Ten, with a grand array of winged [Spirit Beasts] at their side. A great deal more than might be fitting for those who numbered here.

Cultivators of the swarm variety. That is indeed a rarity. Pinxui has her Muqin and ten thousand [Spirit Ants]. Though long distant, we knew a cultivator with [Ash Qi] of this ilk in [Green Blight Valley], yet that was a lifeti prior.

Two in recent mory, not counting all those he had dispatched across the Empire of Abundant [Spring]. This clan held talent, ans or power to place such as a common [Heritage].

Of the ten - these virtues - none of the forr speakers made address. Seniority dictated the exchange, putting forth she who was most worthy. A cold-gazed jian wielder, sporting a blade of nacing grey at her hip.

“Mother. Our hearts have yearned for you. In sha, we know no more than what our eyes reveal. A shift cos in these lands, defying prophecy. Our hallowed [Bloodline] called this return to roost,”

“You disappoint, eldest. I see one hundred moons have changed nothing.”

The rat-like cultivator sniggered.

With a great flare of her daxuishuan’s sleeves, the matriarch made her priority clear. Light word about the seal’s intricacies. The sa flas of oscillating scarlet-green that [Interdiary Wisdom] could not deduce.

Characters spread in their thousands about the intervening distance as she made manifest an [Art]. It soiled the chamber in bloody tones, drawing a font of darkened essence from the chest of those ten gathered.

Only the eldest did not cry as her knees buckled beneath her.

“See how my essence has festered,” intoned the matriarch, setting a [Dao] upon the gathering energy. “These progeny scramble for power, but squander the barest hint of my gifts. None here are worthy of what flows within.”

Fu’s [Divine Sense] prickled at the heat of her [Constellation Seed].

The disparity of realm masked this treasure. How many more might she hold?

A flick directed the darkened essence forward, illuminating the seal and rumbling out a cascade of malevolent [Blood Qi].

“Further disrespect by my progeny will not be tolerated. Compose yourselves,” she whispered, dancing her sleeve about a fresh set of characters. “The clouds recede. An opportunity rises to hasten ascension.”

“Your will be done, great mother,” bowed the ten.

“Destiny’s thief will soon walk among us. The hated unworthy that holds our [Primordial Law] in filth-soaked hands. Preparations must be made, progeny, my House of Ma will soon manifest their fate.”

Great interest sparked in the assassin.

“A na is all we require, great mother,” ca the concerted reply.

The matriarch turned swiftly, interpreting characters as they flew before her. Prophetic. “[Dour Faced Strategist’s] presence is to appear imminently, freshly invigorated by Heaven’s disaster.”

Heaven’s disaster?

Her eldest gave Fu’s query voice. “Heaven’s disaster, great mother? What being could be nad as such if not any from our illustrious House?”

Silence extended as the matriarch waivered, pained against whatever source this information was gleaned. “Yongwu Long.”