The impatient reader should set this to down, for what are several [Seasons] against Heaven’s eternity?
From these four seeds, what has grown?
This daoist placed two aside his own [Paifang], nurturing them in [Wood Qi].
One aside the running waters, abundant in [Water Qi] and [Life Qi].
The last, potted, atop the great reach of his pagoda.
The pair were abundant in growth, flowering into juvenile trunks. Their natural elent proved a nourishnt.
Riverside, the [Life Qi] and [Water Qi] mingled, and its growth was vast. The forr [Affinity] spoke to this.
Lastly, the pagoda-potted seed could only wither. A mortal seed of mortal soil in mortal clay, unable to weather the elents before growth could even occur.
Now, reader, take four more.
“Observation of Heavenward Properties, Daoist [Ponderous Carpenter]”
A tree must have roots, and so Yuling’s task had beco.
Through martial trial she gleaned this insight. An understanding of her opposing elent - the hsiang sheng - concerning which Fu ever struggled in comprehension. That the Jianghu abhorred such a thod of understanding was a sentint held for fools.
His pipe fud.
The cloud wisped about an open plain, bypassing the [Trial Guardian] as a matter of face. For all onlookers, the scene was but half obscured.
Cloudy Serpent Sect cultivators - the sun facing - lood like ravening beasts, unsure if they watched prey or sothing far, far worse.
“Honoured guardian, two days have passed. The farce can conclude soon.”
Cowed like an ignoble hound, the great bone serpent stamred its hiss. “Master cultivator, the final stage is not set. To end here is a cruelty.”
“Hmm. Yes, but to end here both spares her from treachery and this realm from a swift collapse. No oath is broken with this, for no true [Trial] was attempted. My daughter has gleaned enough to sustain her.”
The serpent thought better of lying.
“As it is wished.”
A low rumble ejected Yuling from the bone-carved hollow before them, saber in hand. No small mire of superficial wounds coated her flesh, nor that of Nuwang, and yet they lunged readily at the closest figures.
Shuidi stalled the attack between a pincer. “Admirable fire, Gao Yuling.Unneeded.”
The youth’s stare widened. “Father?” she said, then correcting. “Shuidi, Hushi. The [Trial]. It has concluded?”
“It has, daughter,” he smiled. “[Trial Guardian], I extend my gratitude for this opportunity. You may take your leave.”
Yuling bowed. “Your hospitality and instruction are a treasure I will always carry, venerable serpent. This humble cultivator shares her gratitude.”
That so vaunted an existence had been reduced to a daughter’s training implent… Fu word his [Intent] forth, severing any foolish notions this beast might hold. Then they rely parted, crossing the plains.
The regularity of Yuling’s [Three dicinal Migrations] was vastly improved.
Ever had she held grace, and this was a truth unblinded by fatherhood. Now [Might] suffused her; [Control], [Resilience], [Insight], [Sense], [Push] and [Pull]. The untested foundation as crafted by Hua was now a tempered blade.
“Culitvation suits you, Yuling. Have I not said this?”
Nuwang purred pridefully.
An adequate distance from the serpent’s range was t by a stable of crimson hanfu and scaled cousins. The Cloudy Serpent Sect had set careful watch over Fu’s own, descending from their towers now that the odds appeared in their favour.
He noted familiarity upon their fabrics. The sign of military. “Second Officer.”
The cultivator in question was a fresh-faced youth with an amiable smile, and constricted by a aty [Spirit Serpent] at the waist. “Master cultivator, you have us at a loss. These lands are beneath Cloudy Serpent Sect jurisdiction. Vagrants cannot so freely wander.”
An ordered formation of militaristic disciples hung in the periphery, attempting to nace with their combined presence and the vast ring of watchtowers at their back.
“Neither should they,” said Fu. “Foolish are those that trespass where they do not belong. I am Gao Fu, and these are my partners Hushi and Shuidi.”
As propriety demanded, the senior most spoke first. Yuling remained quiet.
“The answer to this will surely sha , though duty demands I ask for your identity. Our realm’s [Trial] is prohibited from attempt. No missives have crossed my desk to suggest otherwise, nor do you bear the open mark of the Wandering House.”
Shuidi scoffed. “The Wandering House. Self-crippling fools? Gao Fu, you hold fondness for these disciples from your ti spent among them, but they must be cautioned. This Gao Shuidi will not be painted by the sa brush.”
Interest more than panic rose on the Second Officer’s face. “To first ta the [Trial Guardian] and second na my Sect’s most prestigious branch as self-crippling fools. More than duty, I would know for myself to whom you belong.”
Beyond [An Elder’s Token], the hierarchy of serpents was a matter of [Dao]. A complexity he might one day understand, and yet one he did not need to in order to utilise. Less than [Intent] fell upon the officer’s [Spirit Serpent].
Both beast and cultivator flinched. “A great gulf,” he exclaid in whisper. “Venerable senior, we apologise for our lack of foresight.”
Discipleship to Bingbai would ever pay dividends.
“Please friends, please, platitudes are unnecessary. My visit here is a matter of great secrecy, and of renowned subtlety,” he laughed, gesturing to the [Trial Guardian]
“Renowned subtlety," ca an agreeing chorus.
“Brothers, sisters,” sighed the officer. “Master Gao is teasing you.”
Fu smiled. “Just so, hah. I an no offence. Those of my station rarely have an opportunity for jokes, and my own hold a rust like forgotten blades. Ah, forgive . These are my daughters, Gao Yuling and Gao Nuwang. The reason for my visit.”
This stoked further interest, if among the rank and file.
“Noble warriors,” she t, bowing to a humble height.
Further face.
Further interest.
“Our accommodations are base, but we of the Twelfth [Autumn] Brigade would be honoured to host the Gao clan for as long as they wish.”
The Fatherly [Asura] stroked his whisker. “Alas, my own ti is limited. Gao Yuling, perhaps you might take this father’s place. Such hospitality cannot be rebuked, after all.”
Yuling bowed. “If it is no trouble.”
“Is it, Second Officer? I fear my daughter’s training regin might prove labourso on your fellows. She requires frequent challenge in order to consolidate her foundations, and I would not intrude further than your mandate allows… although, I would be imnsely grateful.”
Such obvious manipulation should be passed off as the whimsy of an enigmatic immortal, and the opportunity to curry favor was an attractive one.
The Second Officer nodded. “I am certain that can be arranged.”
🀧
[Mystic Realms] of Divine Clouded Mountain were a trivial affair to negotiate, as were the myriad cantons that contained them.
Unauthorized reproduction: this story has been taken without approval. Report sightings.
The insinuation of Bingbai that he might visit ho with greater frequency once the Heavenly Roaming assignnt had begun was only supported by the prodigious range both the [Dao of Four Horizons] and the ridiculous benefits of late [Core Formation] presented.
Yet here and now, the father neglected his instinct.
Grandmother Hua occupied his office, and she alone knew of this swiftest return.
“Gao Fu,” she humd. “Your palm.”
He did as instructed, glittering a starscape across her irises.
“Bah. Who fostered this dramatic flair? Subjugating a beast of Heaven’s will was not needed,” ca another hum, though the edge was withheld. “Yet, you did not spare the rod. Yuling knows cold for it, and these opportunities will hone it further. Do not force more, Gao Fu. The tallest tree does not grow in one shower.”
Fu dipped his head. “I struggled with the depths of it.”
“Hmm. Yes. A rational concern. Surrounding her in the Cloudy Serpent Sect’s talentless balances the previous peril. Even in failure her reputation will grow, though Yuling will find little challenge in those of equivalent [Realm].”
Many matters required discussion.
“This Gao Shuidi asks after the [Cherry River Sage’s] condition. No shore is reached without first wetting one’s legs.”
Hua tsked. “The impatience of youth. First things co first, yes? Leap to the peak and you will find a wind you cannot bear.”
The depths of her reduction were unclear, nor the true nature of her malady. To escape the Hollow Misery seed a formidable deed. No doubt the cost matched it.
“Is there nothing to be done now, Grandmother?”
A simple shake replied. “Not as you are. Five millenia have you to fret this fate- so I will keep mystery as a close companion, stating only that the Fatherly [Asura] cannot begin to fathom the peak of what must be contended. No, no, Gao Fu, this will be revisited in ti.”
Heavens beyond Heavens. She is right, no? It is one thing to know immortals and another to understand them. Ti exists yet, no matter how crippled she has beco.
Hushi erged through the screen, depositing a steaming pot of saffron-scented tea.
After pouring her a cup, Fu asked. “Then what is to be done?”
Gentle wings set down her [Spirit Cuckoo] upon the highest window’s fra, one stylised to represent a softened cloud. The beast within was anything but, possessing such a stare of cold dispassion it could quench fla.
The formalities of introduction had never co to pass, nor had the channel-billed, hue-shifting plud Ershiba ever shown the inclination.
Fu regarded her shift.
From a gentle hop vast constellations grew from her form, shifting and elongating until an ailing crone erged in her space. “Blood of my blood, Gao Fu. You must not listen to Jinghui in this regard. The Jianghu’s secrets are not such a weight for an assassin. Or does your tongue wag to each chard fishwife on the rits of [Constellation Seeds]?”
Shuidi bowed low, enraptured.
“It does not, honoured Ershiba.”
Hua humd in distaste. “We have discussed this.”
It would not be so vast a leap to say the [Spirit Cuckoo] was Hua’s previous twin. A near simulacrum of all she had been as an aged mortal. Their hum, however, was identical despite the current disparity.
“Jinghui.”
“Ershiba.”
The pair scowled petulantly.
“My Matriarchs,” interrupted Fu. “If sothing might be done, I will do so imdiately.”
“He nears it already, JInghui.”
“He is no peerless talent, Ershiba.”
Hushi pounded a saucer atop the desk, using Shuidi’s voice as his dium. “I was not there,” he began. “When Jinghui Hua forged our fate. When Jinghui Hua interceded on Heaven’s behalf, ensnaring [Gleeful Viper]. That day is long in mory. Ever stirred. An affront to natural order, and more boon than curse. To assu the [Karmic Debt] of an immortal- to have it focused that each opportunity gained is a sea where a droplet might do, have we triumphed despite it?”
Both Ershiba and Hua looked affronted. “Do not trivialise so grand a work, youth,” said the latter.
The forr humd. “Yet, this debate is long in the tooth.”
Fu stood taller. “Zhu and I have waxed this for myriad [Seasons]. In the ruins of Thousand Shore City, that is when my Path began. The Heavens and [Boundless Dao] give no charity. Each opportunity we have received was t with worthy [Tribulation]. From my first [Constellation Seed] to the happenstance of myriad [Splinters]. Doors may open before us, but it is we that have bled to cross the threshold. Can we not aid you in the sa manner?”
“These thoughts are my thoughts, Gao Fu,” nodded Ershiba.
“No,” intoned Hua.
Her [Intent] was not so reduced that it went unnoticed. The sound of a slowly filling cup beca all for long heartbeats.
“His [Inheritance] must be claid and consolidated before any further talk. Bah. Ershiba, our mortality should not blind you to this.”
Ershiba rebuffed one ‘bah’ with another, waving her partner away.
“Are these points separate, Grandmother? It is rude to ask on a gift, even one promised, but our cultivation can be much improved even without the addition of an [Inheritance]. The Gao clan is better suited with your talents returned.”
A rarity occurred, for Hua smiled. “Bah. The fool remains polite. Serpents have not clouded this, at least. Na my promise as a toe dipped. Where infants cannot dream of treading. Yes, Gao Fu, these things are linked. Salvation lies beyond a full [Primordial Constellation Gate]. The Fatherly [Asura’s] bleeding will differ to gain it. This [Inheritance] will reap no flesh, but instead seek to sunder your very [Spirit]. Knowing this, will you still cross the threshold?”
🀧
God.
The Jianghu’s words were ever fragrant. Titles, platitudes and complints held a saturation of undeserved furnishings that inflated spirit more than revealed truth.
Fu had chanced upon this term but once.
God.
Again he ruminated.
That the [Boundless Dao] recognized one as God- as a pinnacle existence…
“No. The [Cherry River Inheritors] differ,” offered the Old One. “This… God is a title awarded, not a station into which one might grow.”
Have you any examples, old master? I scarcely recall a to with this as the author’s [Dao Na].
“The [Spatial Array] is prepared,” conducted but one of myriad clerks ahead, welcoming a cabal of three Blatant Hamr Sect disciples atop the formation. In tow were woollen-furred [Spirit Elephants] of vicious looking [Might], which was a credit itself to the vastness of Divine Clouded Mountain.
Lesser cities could not accommodate so space-consuming a retinue. Indeed, prefectures and provinces of less prestige would scarce be able to fit them through their doorways.
To consider the thousand [Spatial Arrays] ordered about this quaint, open-air exchange, Fu foresaw no difficulty but that of an adequate wait.
“Master cultivator,” was called, delivering him hence in re minutes. “Please, state your destination that we might best serve you.”
“Cloud-Reaching Promontory, Heartlands of the Eleventh, Southern Empire.”
The clerk considered this. “The Heartlands of the Eleventh are a seventeen hundred moon journey. Master cultivator, you will have to pay for one of our esteed establishnt’s larger [Spatial Arrays] to cross such a distance. Is this acceptable?”
For the first ti, Fu withdrew a trinket from the Ninth Golden Reserve. A circular talisman of ostentatious gold design hung in his hand, suspended by fine cord of the sa luster. “If it must be so,” he nodded. “Whatever the cost.”
“The identification in your hand, master cultivator. A Heaven tier mbership from the Ninth Golden Reserve? Apologies that I did not notice, those of your status rarely use the main approach.” His hands clapped to beckon a platform from above. “This humble clerk will be but a mont.”
It rose when both n were atop.
“For such illustrious clientele, the Ninth Golden Reserve will waive any transportation fee incurred,” explained the clerk.
From his folds ca a [Spirit Spider], conjuring thirty web-substituted motions from [Hundred Rhythms of the Golden Needles] to prick the platform beneath. Golden light manifested to expand it tenfold, injecting a vitality of characters and diagrams across its surface.
“By your leave,” proffered the clerk’s hand.
Light enveloped the three, and Fu put aside the fresh locale in favor of curiosity. Both platform and clerk had been carried alongside.
“For your return visit, master cultivator.”
Fu frowned. “I have not stated how long I might be away from Divine Clouded Mountain. Surely you cannot be indisposed in this manner for ti untold? Have you no obligations?”
“Master cultivator is kind to ask,” both spider and he bowed. “The Ninth Golden Reserve will renurate any loss this humble clerk incurs.”
“A dry appointnt,” suggested Shuidi. “But a break from the din of cities is its own reward. Let us leave them.”
Naming conventions explained much of the Cloud-Reaching Promontory before any of the three had laid eyes upon it, and the subsequent steps from the [Spatial Array] platform did not reveal any further details on its landscape.
A sky-piercing cliff.
[Senses] revealed twin tides at its base, both at work.
The first was of frigid waters, floe mounted upon the shore. Cultivators comprised the second, marginally less dense than the very sea aside them. All paved the way to an unfathomable ascent against which bodies waited.
An ordered procession of singular steps, hewn into the frosty rockface.
Fu remained purposefully ignorant of those that exclaid at so grand an arrival so he might make progress up the cliffside. “This seems a madness,” he whispered. “Can you glean what lies further above, sister? Few places have so orderly a queue.”
Grandmother Hua told of its location. A shrine at the peak of this trial that holds what we seek. The [Inheritance] of the [Loneso Wind God].
Practice of Qi-ambience spoke of a fair density. [Wind Qi] was abundant amidst the natural elents to be found aside the sea, laced with [Ice Qi’]s numbing bite. An easier task was determining the [Affinities] of all those he had just joined.
A fool guesses, but who else would visit such a shrine?
Several hundred gathered around the ascent’s base and yet the incline was thin of those that dared to climb. It was no difficulty to approach the front, weaving between hesitant cultivators until he caught a threadbare sort by the crowd’s wayside.
Shuidi’s disdain at her [Spirit Rat] partner was barely masked.
Beggar Sect.
He sat to remain cordial, wishing the stench of spirit wine on her robes was not so pungent. “Young mistress,” he greeted, knowing her outward appearance belied this.
The Beggar Sect’s [Qi Suppression] technique is one of physique altering, and hers contains myriad flaws.
“Oh? One of these runts deigns to talk to ?” she no less than croaked, inspecting his douli. “A beautiful hat you have there, cultivator. Care to trade?”
A swift leap took Shuidi to the fore. “This Gao Shuidi despises your lack of discipline.”
Fu chuckled inwardly.
You grow bolder each day, sister. Unrepressed by duty, these [Seasons] must be liberating. I hope it is more… restrained by our return.
The beggar’s deanour hardened. “Discipline? What I lack is libation, cultivator. The cold makes us so very dry. You’ve not sat for nothing, what do you want?”
“Nothing, friend. Only that Heaven must have crossed our paths,” Fu said, unveiling a bottle of middling quality. “For I have wine but no need to drink it, and you surely have stories to tell, no?”
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