Chương 67: B2 Chapter 27

As soon as Xiao Shulan sat down to cultivate, orange-crest got up to explore. The monkey felt a little disappointed in Xiao Shulan, that she so easily bought the suggestion that he'd been laying around in indolence after being the first of their party to make it to safety. Formless-gleam was probably well on her way to gone. Orange-crest did not know whether he hoped that she stayed near them, or fled far away. Whichever she chose, orange-crest had no doubt the fox would not be seen again unless she wished to be.

Mayhap his master could spy her, but he was not so arrogant as to think he'd have a chance of it. Not without some clever trick involving spraying dust or water everywhere, or baiting her into revealing himself. Orange-crest was already thinking about how he might reveal the fox if he needed to. It was a great distraction from other subjects. Their short conversation had left him with much to very carefully avoid thinking about. Formless-gleam had never hidden that she'd hated humans.

But orange-crest oft spoke of leaving the sect, at least to her and his master. All those words, and he'd not yet even tried to flee. Though the bounds of the mountain sometimes chafed at him, the limits to the horizon he could tread, the expectations that bound his tongue, there was always more to learn and see and do and become. Books to read, friends to make, techniques to learn. He felt a little ashamed that he'd thought her fury as small a thing as his sense of confinement.

A part of them that did not fit into man's world, a thing that they buried deep as the price they paid to stand this close to it. Orange-crest was far better at reading between words than he'd been when last he spoke with the fox. The sect was hunting her, yet she did not flee. Formless-gleam had not remained on the Azure Mountain in an attempt to find a place within its existing order. She was hunting them in turn. He wondered how many lives she'd already taken. One? Six? More?

The monkey hated to admit it to himself, but he did not know what he would do if he found himself standing between the fox he considered a friend, and a disciple he did not particularly care for. Like Xiao Shulan. He very carefully did not think at all, about what might occur if Yang Wei or his master chose to prove his promises of forbearance false. Orange-crest shivered. There was a strange feeling upon him. Not the stomach-sink of man-fear, or the prickling-stillness of a predator's gaze.

He felt like something massive loomed over him, found himself peaking back over his shoulder out of reflex. There was only Xiao Shulan, eyes closed, hands interleaved, thumbs touching. The monkey could not shake the feeling that something was there, lurking beyond the cavern's stone ceiling. Pulling him, or waiting for him to pull upon it? He felt like he stood at a cliff, like the massive thing was waiting for him to decide to leap, or climb. He wondered if it was a cultivator-sense he did not know of.

Then he put it in a corner in the back of his mind, and went back to searching for an open cabinet. Anything the Patriarch of the Azure Mountain had found and considered worth setting aside for later was almost certainly good enough that orange-crest wanted it on principle. Unfortunately, the Patriarch was much better at securing his pantry than Daoist Scouring Medicine was. That was the second thing orange-crest looked for, once he confirmed that there was nothing to be found in the forge itself.

But he couldn't even find a way into the main building, the one that looked like a combination of storehouse and living quarters. Even when he climbed onto the second story, he found that every window had a beautiful carved lattice of wood set within it. He could stick his fingers inside, but no matter how he pushed, he could not budge the thin strips of wood in the slightest. Elder Xun had told Yang Shui that the patriarch's forge was impossible to loot.

Or, rather he'd said that a Core Formation cultivator could not do it, and that a Nascent Soul cultivator ought not try, lest they rouse the Patriarch himself. But orange-crest still held out a bit of hope that he'd succeed where men had largely failed. Qi was a dead end too. Orange-crest couldn't even feel whatever the Patriarch had done with his divine sense. There was no wall to push against, no knot to unravel. His qi seeped into the building, but there was nothing to be done with it.

He could no more will the window open than he could will a mountain to move. It didn't resist him. It just existed. Smugly. He even tried immobilizing a windowpane, uncertain what he was even trying to accomplish, but all that did was make the wood glow orange. Ensorcelled or not, it was immovable either way.

The monkey was sitting on the first story's roof, considering whether it was worth getting drunk enough that he forgot exactly where he was, so he could form an illusion inside the building, when the others finally arrived. The first thing he noticed was that Yang Wei was drenched. No, not just drenched. His robe ripped all over, and stained in places, pinkened by splotches of blood that had seemingly half washed out before they'd had a chance to dry.

"Your commentary is unnecessary, Li Hou." Yang Wei said before the monkey even had a chance to open his mouth.

"Wasn't gonna say anything." Orange-crest shot back mulishly.

"I'm wet too." It was true. He was. But he wasn't bloody. And he had no robe to damage. Yang Wei's face darkened. Orange-crest just smiled toothily at him. Yang Wei silently stepped past him, making a beeline toward the forge. Li Shuwen followed behind him, still damp, but far less bedraggled. He leaned down as he passed the monkey, whispering loudly enough for everyone to hear.

"There was a second bat, while I was climbing down. He tried to replicate your leap. His spear found the target. He didn't. The bat landed on him, instead of the other way round." Orange-crest did not laugh.

"Li Shuwen, come! Tell me what you make of this!"

"Li Hou." His master greeted. Like Xiao Shulan, he'd somehow climbed down a waterfall without even getting wet. Nor did he show any signs of his previous battle. As expected of his master.

"Master." Orange-crest greeted, bouncing over to his side. The monkey turned to the last member of their party.

"Yingjie the Ogre."

"Furry bastard."

"Yep. Is me." Wu Yingjie was nursing a broken arm. A patch of skin near his wrist was horribly discolored, like someone had smeared a bunch of wildflowers across the night sky, then painted his flesh with the pigment. Orange-crest had forgotten just how clearly bruises showed on humans, they usually drank down healing pills like water. Wu Yingjie pushed past him, making a beeline for the sole visible chair.

"He fell." Orange-crest's master explained tersely. The monkey nodded. He stared at Wu Yingjie. He had not asked for assistance. He must have taken a pill. But it was slow, slow enough he could not see the wound visibly healing. Orange-crest thought back to the offhanded comment his master had made weeks ago, about how the rapid healing he'd become accustomed to was the product of healing pills made by alchemists above his realm.

The province of young masters, and monkeys whose masters made more pills than they knew what to do with. He wondered how many of those Foundation Establishment level pills Wu Yingjie and Li Shuwen had on them. The monkey turned away, and raised his voice.

"Patriarch made it so we can look, but not touch. Well, touch but not move. Careful with small things. Little logs. Sides of doors. Fabrics. Nothing moves." He received a pair of nods, but most of the disciples didn't acknowledge his words, already engrossed in their own investigations or recoveries. Orange-crest grabbed his master's sleeve and tugged, and the human indulgently followed the monkey along as he narrated his own impressions of the forge.

"Can't break anything. Can't even mark. Can't feel any qi to fight against." His master nodded, then hummed.

"Divine sense is mysterious like that." Li Xun explained.

"Mere qi cannot usually interact with it, let alone contest it. I can sometimes feel its presence, but I can only contest even the least of it's effects by relying on my innate qi."

"Innate qi?"

"Sometimes called true qi, or essence blood, for bodily cultivators. True qi is probably the more correct name, as some refer to prenatal qi as innate qi. It is the stuff of which our cultivation bases are made, the qi we have integrated into ourselves with our cultivation methods. Some hold that true qi is in fact the product of merging innate and gathered qi, but I am not convinced of the universality of innate qi among cultivating beings." Uh oh. Orange-crest could feel a lecture coming on.

Out of the corner of his eye, he noticed that Li Shuwen was drifting over toward the pair of them, abandoning his young master. Yang Wei had sat down in front of the door to the main compound, and was just staring intently at it. Orange-crest wasn't sure what that was about, but given that it was Yang Wei, he was probably visualizing cutting his way in.

"I have not spoken much of it to you, because it is not a matter Qi Condensation cultivators usually need concern themselves with. You could use it, with the appropriate technique, but using your innate qi in any capacity would damage your cultivation. For that reason, such techniques are generally forbidden for outer disciples of the Azure Mountain to study at all.

That risk remains even in Foundation Establishment, though the chance of outright regressing one or more stages, or killing yourself, is greatly diminished. Only Core Formation cultivators produce enough of it to use innate qi as anything other than a last resort." The tale has been taken without authorization; if you see it on Amazon, report the incident.

"That is way too many names. And a lot of information. Also, why would I use it if it is bad?"

"Best you hear it now. I should have taken some time to explain the matter in more detail, but truth be told, I half expected this mad expedition to fall apart at the first sign of resistance." Orange-crest shrugged.

"Things trying to eat me feels like home. Don't know about the others." Daoist Scouring Medicine coughed in amusement.

"To answer the question you posed, true qi has several qualities that 'mere' qi does not. It is not innately more powerful, but changes wrought by it upon the world are deeper and more enduring. Some forbidden techniques leverage this quality to allow cultivators to release attacks of last resort that can damage even foes full realms above them by bypassing the innate defenses their greater cultivation bases provide.

But more importantly, this quality is what allows Core Formation cultivators to create sealed spaces like hidden realms and inheritance grounds. By remaining in one place for years, they can expend enough true qi to bend spatial laws themselves to create a place that exists outside of the world as you know it."

"Oh. So, true qi is heavy, like Nascent Souls."

"Heavy?"

"Don't you feel them? They are more real than us. The world shivers, when they walk."

"More real." His master repeated, tasting the words.

"I think I know what you mean, but I am not certain if that is how I would describe the spiritual primacy they possess."

"Words are words. Things are things." Orange-crest shrugged again, then changed the subject.

"I wonder what happens if I find a cabinet filled with powder and flood it with water. Could I lick it up, as it came out the edges?" This time Li Shuwen was pretending to cough along with his master. Orange-crest didn't think it would work. The powder probably wouldn't move either. But it was funny to think about the patriarch coming back years later to find his drawer filled with water. Or, maybe not. He'd need a really tiny funnel to get water in through the keyhole.

"I see you are not content merely being a menace to Daoist Enduring Oath's metalworking supplies." Orange-crest turned to stare at the house at the center of the compound. Li Shuwen began drifting away, as if worried about being tarred by mere association with such heretical speech.

"It might be funny." Orange-crest mused.

"If the patriarch came back to find his house filled with water. No walking. Only swim. Is big house. But we have a river. Buckets are no good. But can you fill a whole storage bag with water? Empty it through a window? Can your bag fit water? It has holes in it." Li Xun closed his eyes and sighed.

"You are a menace sometimes, my disciple."

"Thank you." Li Hou chirped happily.

"Let us refrain from doing that. I feel something strange from that central building. Sealed spaces distort the world around them by virtue of their existence. The fluctuations it emanates are similar."

"Its bigger inside?"

"Probably. But there's something else..." Li Xun trailed off for a moment, before continuing.

"I have never met the Patriarch of the Azure Mountain. But something about that building feels somehow... Familiar."

"Yang Wei is staring at the door like it can bleed." Orange-crest noted.

"So he is." They spent a few more minutes inspecting the forge. Li Shuwen handed orange-crest talismans, asking him to poke them through the second story window, before shaking his head when the monkey returned. Wu Yingjie spent the whole time nursing his slowly healing forearm. Orange-crest's master simply walked the grounds, occasionally running his hand along the immutable wood of the building walls and humming solemnly.

Orange-crest wanted to know what he was noticing, but his master would tell him when he was ready. The others would notice, if his master cast a privacy spell. Wonder what they discussed.

"We should move on." Xiao Shulan said suddenly, rising to her feet, her patience apparently exhausted.

"The inheritance grounds await."

"We should." Daoist Scouring Medicine agreed.

"I believe the way forward is clear to me."

"It is?" Orange-crest's master had been clear he wasn't sure exactly how they would find there way after the patriarch's forge.

"Space is strange here. Even stranger than I expected. I am not yet certain in my deductions, but I think I can feel the three inheritances, even from this distance."

"The nearest of them." Xiao Shulan sounded confident.

"That is our destination. The resting place of Grand Elder Shen." Nobody gainsaid her, but orange-crest could feel the tension rising among them. Nobody really knew exactly what to expect when they arrived. But there were five disciples and one daoist here. Rumor suggested it was rare to find the inheritance that could be split two ways, let alone six. They had not exactly discussed how such benefits would be distributed. They all had honor enough not to make promises they knew might not be kept.

Orange-crest was confident he could take any one of the other disciples in a fight. But he was not at all confident he could take any two of them, if he were separated from his master. He seriously considered telling them about formless-gleam. Speaking in generalities, about how they ought not fight any talking spirit beast they encountered. That it would show mercy, if they did not start the fight. But he could find no way of broaching the subject that would not compel the others to question how he knew this.

Why he was saying it. Faced with the choice of either breaking confidence, or holding his silence, he chose to trust. And so, they all gathered behind Daoist Scouring Medicine. All except one.

"Yang Wei." Xiao Shulan called brusquely.

"We are moving on."

"Leave me." Yang Wei said simply. Yang Wei had his spear across his lap now. He was still sitting in front of the door. His eyes were closed.

"You will not be able to cut through the patriarch's seal." Daoist Scouring Medicine said, frowning.

"You are not the first disciple with spear or sword intent to descend this far." Yang Wei did not answer, except to gather spear qi about himself. The daoist turned to look at Li Shuwen.

"You heard Young Master Yang." Li Shuwen said firmly, sounding more certain than he looked.

"Leave him." Daoist Scouring Medicine nodded, and left him. Orange-crest paused at the edge of the next tunnel. The way was narrowing again. He did not like that. But he'd come too far to let something as small as fear hold him back. He wanted to see these horizons beneath the earth. To grasp what human legends had left behind. He'd changed his fate once. From an unremarkable monkey, to a cultivating one. He did not see why the heights monsters like Elder Lu and Yang Shui had reached should be beyond him.

"Don't die, human." He called back to Yang Wei.

"I still need to take your belt." There was no reply at first, as the five of them began to descend further into the dark"Don't die, monkey." Came the eventual reply, so distant it was hardly audible. Xiao Shulan sighed.

"He didn't tell you not to die." Orange-crest whispered smugly to Li Shuwen.

"I don't need continual reminders." Li Shuwen whispered back.

"You two are the ones who blindly jump into deep chasms." Orange-crest looked over at Wu Yingjie. He could barely make him out in the dark. They'd set no light this time, only the dim azure of the glowing lichen illuminated the tunnel. Wu Yingjie seemed like he was the one who needed the reminders. But that felt cruel to say. So orange-crest fell silent, and pricked up his ears for danger. Wu Yingjie might be a lodestone for ill fortune, but he soldiered on anyway, and that was worthy.

Orange-crest hoped one day he would call him a friend too. More than any of the other disciples his age, he felt like Wu Yingjie might fit in upon Mount Yuelu.

"This doesn't seem normal." Orange-crest whispered to his master.

"Spatial fluctuations. Far more than there should be. Something is afoot."

"More like underfoot." Orange-crest joked under his breath, taking another step. The ground wobbled beneath him like it was made of soft cheese, then stabilized. It felt almost like the stone wasn't quite sure where it was whenever someone wasn't standing on it.

"Silence." Xiao Shulan hissed. The five of them froze in unison, as something slithered through the darkness just ahead of them. The sound was oddly wet, and orange-crest had no idea if that was the creature, or the strangely malleable stone. They'd been lucky so far. Despite several close calls, nothing had accosted them on the second leg of their journey. The noise quieted, and they moved deeper. The tunnels here were flat and wide.

Space enough they did not need to walk single file, but a ceiling low enough that only orange-crest and Xiao Shulan did not need to stoop their heads to avoid brushing it. The flat chambers were connected to each other by short tunnels that were more like holes in the ground than anything else. Orange-crest spent the walk wondering how such odd caves had come to be. He wondered if an animal had carved them out. He imagined bees the size of bears, carving out tunnels they could hardly fit through, and smiled.

Then he wondered if you could make wine from honey. It was sweet like fruit, after all. He should ask his master about that. The monkey's thoughts really ranged far and wide in the silent darkness. It was easier to think about distant things than how very far they were from the surface. If his nerve broke, if the press of the stone all around him grew too much, orange-crest would need to climb for hours to reach the open sky. So he didn't think about that. They were so close. Half a li.

It was impossible to ignore the oddities in space now. The way their bones shook with every step, the way the ground was never quite where it should be. Orange-crest had never realized that 'space' was a thing that existed in itself, instead of just where objects were. Having never thought about it before made it easier to accept that it was a thing that could move and shift, like the surface of water. Just another thing he'd once thought constant and eternal he now discovered to be subject to the influence of qi.

There was a light in the distance now, dimly filtering through half a dozen chambers and short drops. A light that was neither the blue of lichen, nor the yellow-orange of torches. The crisp white of sunlight. Sunlight, half a dozen li underground. Another impossible rumor proven true. Orange-crest could feel a strange qi emanating from the tunnels, but for the life of him could not have named what it was. All he knew is that it made his heart soar, and his fingers twitch covetously.

One by one, they hopped down through yet another short tunnel. Orange-crest was second, just behind his master. Xiao Shulan touched down weightlessly behind him. And then he heard the crunch of crumbling stone. The dull impact of flesh upon it. A man's groan. The rush of scales across stone returned in an instant, from somewhere behind them. A sibilant hiss accompanied it, steadily growing in volume.

"Idiot!" Xiao Shulan hissed, ignoring her prior command. Weapons leapt to hand as they all prepared for battle. Qi flooded out from behind them, heralding the serpent's advance. A power cold and clean, a venom that promised eternal sleep. A painless end. Orange-crest felt his fingers begin to grow numb under the first hints of its influence. Mid Foundation Establishment at least. And then the tunnel shook with an unearthly howl, a roar that sent shivers down all their spines.

It sounded like a monkey with the head of a tiger, a guttural ululation that no earthly throat should be able to produce. The serpent fled. Other things in the distance fled too, rustling through the azure dark. Men, woman and monkey cowered, still as statues. Nothing approached them. There were no heavy footsteps to follow that terrible cry.

"Lucky." Li Shuwen exhaled, the words almost inaudible even in the perfect silence. Orange-crest did not feel lucky. They began to move once more. They dropped through four more tunnels. The light grew brighter each time. Orange-crest felt as if they'd somehow been turned around, or descended all the way to the far side of the world. The call of gravity still pulled downward, but he could not shake the sense that beneath them lay the surface.

The five of them dropped through one more tunnel, and found themselves standing around the edge of a pit. And at the bottom of that chasm, blindingly bright in the depths of the earth, was the sky.