Chương 30: Soaring Heaven's Isle 30: Song of Tonight, Song of Tomorrow

Liang Daoyi lay in his bed, his eyes closed, and his soul at peace. The final bout had been utterly magnificent. It had been the best fight of his life. Rou had been right. He had so many things to fix, he had so many things to try. He could feel his cultivation pulling forward, like a hound eager for more. He felt he could break through to the next stage, if he had a week or no, even less!

"You have brought shame and dishonour—" The healing herbs were doing their work, and he had to complement the medical pavilion. As always, they knew their blends, and this one was spectacular. The combination of Jade Marrow Flower and Heavenly Renewal Grass was potent. He would be fine in not time at all, not that he was too injured in the first place.

"Our Sect's name, tarnished in such a way, I can hardly believe it—" And he could not wait to leave his bed. He listened to the noise outside the compound's walls from the small work around he had placed into the silencing wards. It sounded like there was a riot, or the greatest party in the world out there, and he wanted to see which it was.

"We will be laughingstocks. You will be a laughing stock! We are going to have to spend so many resources to keep our position—" It was a real shame father had dragged him from the stadium before the award ceremony. He had wanted to hear what Rou had to say—but thankfully Shu Kuang, his dear friend, had stayed behind with a recording crystal… at Daoyi's order. His friend had been worried about him, but a brief conversation had assuaged his worries.

It also meant his friend wouldn't have to suffer his father's ranting. It was all so boorish and tiresome.

"Are you even listening, boy?" His father demanded. Daoyi opened one eye to look up at his father, and a vein bulged in his forehead. His face was a rather ugly shade of puce.

"I am. I just find your conclusions foolish." His blunt words made his father's vein pulse harder, and his face deepened in its red shade.

"This was one of the finest things to happen to me in a while."

"Fi—Finest?!" His father demanded, pure bafflement on his features.

"Finest? Defeat, ridicule, ignomitnity—oh, ancestors where did I go wrong—how…" His father spluttered, his composure completely in tatters at Daoyi's words. He let his father try and gather himself for his next round of shouting, when he felt the Qi pulse that signified Kuang's presence outside the door. He gave the answering pulse, unlocking the door.

It was a testament to his father's bafflement and Kuang's unquestionable commitment to the sect that the man said nothing as Daoyi's friend entered, turning to look out the window so Kuang couldn't see the state of the Sect Master's face.

"Young Master. The item you requested." He said, bowing deeply, and handing over the recording crystal.

"Thank you, my friend." Daoyi grabbed it eagerly, and immediately started playing the recording for himself, the images projected into his mind. Kuang bowed, and made a gesture that meant there was something important on the crystal as well. Daoyi's smile widened. Kuang bowed and retreated…. And his father, finally recovering some composure, turned back to Daoyi.

"Boy, you are young, and you know not what you say. This defeat has clearly not sunk in yet. when Soaring Heaven's Isle decides to use us as stepping stones, that is the best thing? We could have risen again. We could have gotten out of this rut—""By making an enemy we cannot afford making, and starting a battle we are not prepared for?" Daoyi asked, bored of this line of thinking.

"It was stupid from the start. Why would we make enemies of the Falcon, when we can instead be its friend?"

"Freind, is that what you think he is? I have seen this a thousand times before. Whatever he said during your bout was lip service, and now that he has used you as a stepping stone, he will have gotten all he wants from you—" Daoyi activated the external projection function on the recording crystal.

"It is only because my opponent acted with equal virtue that I was able to display such a victory, Your Majesty. Liang Daoyi has my utmost respect, and if my virtue is to be commended, so too should his," Came Rou's voice, so earnest and full of passion. One could literally hear the admiration in the other man's voice as he spoke of Daoyi… and he was saying it directly to Her Imperial Majesty.

He just let the rest of the recording play, while his father just stared at Rou projected on the wall, demanding that every competitor in the tournament get stronger and challenge him again, how he desired nothing more than for Daoyi to get stronger and beat him next time. Something Daoyi would certainly be doing. How could he not answer such a challenge?

"You think this lip service is his true thoughts?" His father asked after a moment, shoving away any evidence that he might be wrong.

"Yes." Daoyi replied. His father's glare intensified, before he looked exhausted, and almost pitying.

"The world is not that kind. I thought you had a better grasp on these matters. You will stay here and reflect on your actions, while I handle the issues this defeat brings." With that, his father turned and left, his glare fixed firmly on his face. The room's seals activated, locking Daoyi inside, so he could do as his father demanded. Daoyi did indeed reflect on his actions. He found them without fault.

With his self-reflection complete, he pressed a finger to the recording crystal, and watched the last part of the recording, the part he had not shown to his father.

"Senior Brother Daoyi, I know you're fine, stop being lazy! Get out here so I can take you on a ride on my ship, and pour you drinks! The party is not complete without you!" Rou shouted, a grin like the sun on his face. His Junior was entirely too cheeky, trying to command him like this, but he was correct. The party would not be complete without the august presence of Liang Daoyi.

He used the hole in the silencing ward he had previously engineered to deactivate the seal on the window from the outside, went and got Kuang, and then set off into the city with a smile on his face, heading directly towards the loudest section. ===== Crowds spilled out onto the streets of the capital city in their hundreds of thousands. The event had gone from a fairly popular tournament into something that had ground the entire city to a halt—and the sentiment of the city was that it had absolutely been worth it.

Already the final bout of Tianzhe Rou and Liang Daoyi was being spoken of in the same breath as Long Taiyang The Golden Sun versus En Yue The Formless Moon, The thousandth bout of the Divine Sword and the Heavenly Guandao, and the righteous Liu Hao versus the dastardly Sima Yichen. But while the fight had been spectacular, there was more to it than that. Tianzhe Rou's speech was halfway out of the city already. His demand for the greatest challenges and strongest foes!

His challenge to his fellow competitors, to dare to defeat him in the ring of honour! It was the confidence! It was the boldness! Even those who declared it was arrogant could not help but admire the blazing spirit within his soul. It was the demand only a true hero could make. It was the kind of thing the people of Phoenix Rest Plains lived for.

There was nothing they loved more than witnessing the birth of a legend; and especially a legend born in the proper place—In the Phoenix's Nest, before the sons and daughters of the Imperial Capital, under the eyes of the Imperial family. And of course, in the face of such a spectacle, with the atmosphere so charged, there was only one thing to do. Get spectacularly drunk, discuss the bout, and gossip about the future.

Perhaps raise a toast to the man of the hour, for the great and powerful cultivator would surely be partying it up in the noble's mansions on the floating islands high above the city. If you spot this narrative on Amazon, know that it has been stolen. Report the violation. They were not expecting a small skyship to exit from one of those floating islands, and descend gracefully from the sky… and then stop over a common food stall.

"Damn, that smells good! Hey uncle, whip us up some of that, yeah?" Tianzhe Rou said to the stall owner, hopping off his ship to rub shoulders with the common folk of the capital. At first they were apprehensive. Such a powerful cultivator there, among them? And escorted by the Storm wings, as well as a Spirit Beast? And yet the son of the legendary icy beauty was… personable. Cheerful.

Warm and open, willing to engage all in conversation, asking what the best places to see in the city were, the best places to eat, which brewers produced the finest wine. It was surreal for even them, the citizens of the most powerful city in the world… but it ignited something in the hearts of all who met him. Tianzhe Rou… was their guy. A man who was blatantly clear about living his life to the fullest. Who would rub shoulders with anyone, and treat them without rancour.

Then, something else happened, that would add to his burgeoning legend.

"Tianzhe Rou." A voice imperiously called out. The crowd around Rou parted, revealing the form of Sima Yichen. Rou's opponent in the semifinals. The man who had burned his vital Qi, who had his maces carved into the face of a deer, and had lost. It was the kind of thing that normally provoked a seven generation long feud. The Storm Wings beside Rou tensed. The crowd carefully backed away, waiting for the sudden explosion of Qi, and of the new declaration of hatred.

"Sima Yichen." Rou greeted.

"This stuff is real good! Have a drink with me?" Rou grabbed a fresh cup, and poured wine for the man he had defeated. For a moment, there was silence, at the sheer audacity of the behaviour. But was more stunning…

"Hm. That doesn't smell too bad." Was that Sima Yichen sat. ===== Tianzhe Rou was right. The food was fairly good for mortal fare. Fatty and rich with flavour. The mortals were staring with shock and awe, slowly slinking back to their seats as Yichen ate with the man who defeated him. They chatted about inane things.

Rou, to his surprise, wanted to know about Yichen's Sect, and looked absolutely enthralled at his description of the Star Metal Forges; The nine great smoke stacks with their white celestial flames reaching into the sky, rendering the metal from beyond into new forms. … it was strange, to be speaking with the man like this. Especially after what he had said. Others might think that Tianzhe Rou's words were idle boasting. But the most galling thing was… his words were not empty.

Yichen's starmetal maces carved into the head of a grand deer, were proof of that. At first, the entire sect had been up in arms about this most grievous of insults. Running a sect treasure, and carving his own symbol into their face? The mood in the sect had been ugly. And yet, when the Master of the Heavenly Descent Forge had examined the weapon, to see if it was salvageable… he had stared in shock.

"It is undamaged." The old cultivator said, his raspy voice full of incredulity.

"Everything he carved off was superfluous; his strikes melded the energy pathways of the original weapons into one cohesive whole. The Shooting Stars are not ruined. They are tempered." Tianzhe Rou had defeated him, and then improved his weapon. At first his shame had been so great he had contemplated going into exile. To be so shameful that one below him in cultivation improved his weapons, and gave them back without a thought… It was the greatest insult he had ever suffered in his entire life.

He had gone to the final bout to see Rou be crushed. He had wanted to see Liang Daoyi rip this bastard's face open, and leave him broken. They knew of the enmity the Sect MAster of the Heavenly Pillar Sect held for Soaring Heaven's Isle. But instead, he witnessed the most high intensity training bout he had ever witnessed. The two men traded pointers in the finals, adapting, and being adapted to in turn. Growing, ascending, on the field of honour, without a single shred of malice in their hearts.

And when Tianzhe Rou won, instead of thinking of all his foes as stepping stones, he said something else. Tianzhe Rou wanted him to get stronger. He wanted to fight him again, as he fought Liang Daoyi, to sharpen his opponents, as they sharpened him. The mace was proof of his message. Yichen had used his vital Qi. He had fought with malice in his heart. And yet his opponent had still extended to him courtesy. Yichen was shamed again. He wanted to hate Rou. He wanted to see him bleed.

But his words and his actions all made maintaining that hate impossible. He had wanted to see if Rou meant it. If he would turn Yichen away. Instead the other man poured him a drink, and gave him pleasant conversation. Until their brief meeting came to an end… or at elast thats what Yichen thought.

"Time to head to the next place." Rou said, standing up and stretching… before jerking a thumb over his shoulder to his skyship.

"You want a ride?" Yichen would need to redouble his training. The next time he and Rou met it would be a battle what would completely and utterly eclipse the one he waged with Liang Daoyi. He would smash Rou into the ground, make him carve his mace into a better form than that deer head… and then show him the sheer wonder of his family's compound in person. He was quite interested to see what the man would carve with a blank canvas of star metal. Yichen boarded the ship, Ningjing was her name.

He was the first of the night to set foot on board. He was not the last. =========== Ningjing departed from above the stall… and just as she did, four other skyships descended. Beautiful fairies seemed to fall from the heavens. They overwhelmed the poor stall owner, money pouring out of pouches as they demanded more of whatever the young master had ordered. The man sold out in perhaps ten minutes, sweating nervously under the hungry gazes of entirely too many cultivators.

He made more money that night than he had in ten years. ======== Tianzhe Rou ate, drank, and made merry with whoever was nearby, and as more and more people figured out his location, that included more and more cultivators. Those who had fought in the tournament were granted places of honour beside him; talking and laughing and boasting, though some were clearly in more favour than the others. Wei Xue Ying of the Star Banner Mountain had a place directly to his left, and her position drew many envious glances.

Some fool made the mistake of commenting on Wei Xue Xing's appearance, and the man of the hour spent ten minutes going through Xue Ying's "charming points", turning the woman's face completely crimson, and making the Storm Wings beside him pout. Yet there was a space conspicuously empty… at least empty, until a voice called out.

"This looks like quite the party, Brother Rou." Liang Daoyi called up.

"Permission to come aboard?" Rou grinned.

"What are you waiting for?" He demanded, a bright smile on his face.

"And somebody hit the music! The real party starts now!" Tianzhe Rou and Laing Daoyi each grabbed a wine cup, then linked arms, and drank. And as the music started to play… his ship suddenly shuddered. The wood that made up her superstructure grew and changed, extending out of her mast. They looked for all the world like a series of horns… and they were. Ningjing let out a whistle, and joined in with the musicians. It was inexpert at first. Nearly cacophonous.

But the ship, seeming to play of its own accord, swiftly improved, matching the others with a joyful lilt, Rou's Rooster sitting atop her crow's nest and singing along, the beast surprisingly melodious. The ships of Soaring Heaven's Isle, that at first seemed to be consciously keeping at a distance, started to drift closer. The fairies upon them started adding to the conversations.

Rou would eat and drink and laugh for a while, and then he would load up onto his singing ship, and head to the next location that had caught his whim. And where Tianzhe Rou went, the party intensified. ============= Rou arrived at the largest producer of plum wine in the city, Wukong's Share, his cheeks red and insisting he had a great idea. Ma Ten, The Master of the establishment was understandably worried, when he was set upon by several skyships, and enough sloshed cultivators to level the district.

"Ah phrom- I promised Bailu somethin' tasty!" the young man declared. He was carrying several hundred pounds of copper on his back. Some things were already formed into what looked like partial storage containers, and then there was a long tube—"Mountain Sculptor!" Tianzhe Rou declared, and his fingers got to work, carving some of the copper into shape.

It took him and a few other cultivators perhaps ten minutes to build a massive copper contraption with a spiral-shaped spigot coming out of it, and two ice crystals wrapped around said spout. They at least paid for the plum wine they poured into it, and then they started heating it and… Slowly, the mortal's eyes widened as what came out of the spigot was a clear white drink more reminiscent of Spiritual Wine than mortal plum wine.

And then the man started explaining it, and Ma Ten had three of his best men recording the half heavenly knowledge and half drunken non sequiturs coming out of the man's mouth on the art of distillation. He paid attention the best he could… mostly because one of the Storm Wings decided that the best thing for her to do was lay under the spigot mouth open, as the most powerful alcohol Ma Ten had seen poured directly into her mouth.

"It'll taste better when it ages, oak barrels I think an… an… oh yeah, could you put that in the archive for me? If you clean things in alcohol that strong it'll kill all the germs, so that'll help people. I think. Anyways, Booze Time!' Tianzhe Rou decreed, sauntering off to go and continue getting drunk. The clear drink disappeared like it was water. Several barrels were filled. They left… and left the still too. Ma Ten fell to his knees and praised the heavens. ===== The songs coming out of Ningjing changed.

Where before they were recognisable just copying the tunes of those around the ship… they turned into things that people had never heard of before, in strange styles… but they were upbeat, and good to dance to, so nobody really cared. Especially when Tianzhe Rou started singing, clearly making up lyrics on the spot, much to everyone else's amusement. But then, he seemed to notice the rest of the skyships, who had closed in so close they were directly touching Ningjing, making a floating platform above the crowd.

Ningjing's upbeat song about Phoenix-pear wine slowly petered out. And then Rou began to sing another song.

"I remember our Master called us away~" Rou began. Every fairy of Soaring Heaven's Isle started screaming.

"From the blood and the fire of those forlorn days~ There she did tell us "you're ragged and spent—""Then at her orders to home we went!" Came the answering shout. ===== They went from the little corners of the city, to the wide central boulevards, then to the floating isles above, and back again. Ningjing flew with joy in her core, bouncing and bumping to the music that was constantly coming out of her. Her deck was overcrowded. It was a little hard to fly with so much weight… but the feeling filled her.

The feeling of joy, of freedom. Passion flowed through her leaves. The burning uninhibited feeling of life. Having so many crew, all feeling like this…? It would be wonderful. She couldn't wait to get strong enough to have this many people all the time! Freedom. Triumph. And as more and more stories filled the air… more and more places to visit and see. She couldn't wait. Ningjing bounced and danced through the air, alongside the quiet ships and the little feathers, who spiralled and gamboiled around her.

They flew though the moonlit sky underneath the stars, and Ningjing knew contentment. =======