Chương 10: "He'll burn a thousand villages like this one"

Ch 10: "He'll burn a thousand villages like this one" Even at their incredible pace, the journey across the trees back to their home took several hours. The mid-morning sun slanted through the trees as they approached the final mile. They dropped from the treetops and walked the last stretch. Chul's affronted neigh greeted them from the paddock. The horse trotted to the fence, her ears perked forward with indignation at having been left without her breakfast. Zhen broke away as they entered the house.

"Sorry, girl." Zhen reached up and scratched her between the ears, then filled a bucket with the oats stored in the small shed. As he scooped them into Chul's feeding trough, raised voices drifted over to him from the house. Although he couldn't make out the exact words, the tone was clear. Zhen abandoned the pretense of tending to Chul and drifted closer to the house, his enhanced senses allowing him to make out the words after just a few steps.

"... can't just throw away seventeen years of…" His mother's voice cut through before dropping again.

"... have to face reality..." Shuo's voice. Zhen took another step toward the house, and the voices cut off mid-sentence. Moments later, the door swung open. Shuo emerged, his face set in grim lines. Without acknowledging Zhen, he walked into the woods, shaking his head as he disappeared among the trees. The door banged open again, and Gang stalked out. His jaw was clenched tight enough that Zhen could see the muscle working beneath his beard.

His father's narrowed eyes landed on him with an intensity that made Zhen straighten.

"We're behind." Gang gestured toward the forge.

"Day's half gone with this nonsense. The Ironwood order won't make itself." Zhen nodded, falling into step behind his father, his hammers swinging against his hip. In the forge, Zhen felt the difference immediately. As he moved the heavy stacks of iron ingots he found he didn't need both hands. When it came to striking the metal itself each blow landed more precisely and required less effort than before. Even the heat from the forge didn't affect him the same. His Earth Tempered Body was proving its worth.

Intrigued, now he activated his Eye, and the issues with the heated metal's structure revealed themselves to him. Every impurity, every potential stress line stood out and he didn't even need Elementary Pulse. Just the way he could now absorb qi naturally was enough to replenish what he used. As he worked the iron, his heightened senses allowed him to detect subtle color shifts he hadn't been able to see before. As a result, he judged and reacted to temperature changes with a newfound confidence.

Sweat beaded on his brow, but his muscles held steady and he reveled in the work. Last night had transformed him. He was the same Tie Zhen, but rebuilt from the inside out. As the morning progressed, Zhen caught his father watching. Gang's brow furrowed deeper with each perfect fold and each flawless strike. When Zhen completed a complex pattern weld in half the usual time, Gang's frown deepened to a scowl.

"Too hot," Gang muttered, though they both knew the temperature was perfect. By late afternoon, they were finishing off the work that would normally take until sunset. Even though it was a mundane set of hinges, the pieces were immaculate, far better than anything they had produced in the past. Zhen lifted the touchmark, its familiar weight now seeming delicate in his strengthened grip. He pressed it against the heated metal, leaving their forge's distinctive crashing wave imprinted on the final hinge.

Steam hissed upward as he quenched the piece. Pride swelled in his chest as he examined the completed set. The metal gleamed with perfection, each hinge flawless in its symmetry and function. Despite being ordinary fixtures meant for a village home, they represented the finest work he had ever produced. The subtle interplay of carbon and iron, the precise folds, the clean lines all testified to his newfound abilities. Yet the better the work, the less happy Gang got.

When Zhen caught his father's eye, he saw frustration in his face. Each demonstration of Zhen's new cultivator abilities was a reminder that his son had stepped onto a path that Gang had kept him from. Even having started much later than usual, they were done before darkness fell. Zhen wiped his hands on a cloth, and looked around at the day's output. Despite the tension, they had produced more pieces, and of better quality, than on any single day he could remember.

"Lock up." Gang hung his heavy leather apron on its hook.

"I'll see you inside." His voice carried none of the usual approval that typically accompanied a productive day. Zhen nodded and secured the forge, following his father toward the house. As he walked, the contrast of the smell of lingering charcoal and singed iron, with the scents of moss and loam from the forest struck his newly heightened senses. Stolen story; please report.

Light spilled from the windows of their home, and when they entered, Zhen was surprised to find Shuo at the hearth, stirring something in their largest pot. The aroma of garlic, ginger, and some unfamiliar herb filled the room. His mother sat at the table, her hands folded tightly in front of her.

"Perfect timing," Shuo said without turning around.

"Food's ready." They arranged themselves around the table in silence. Shuo ladled noodles and broth into bowls, then settled into the remaining chair with a creak from the old wood.

"Now that we've all had time to think," Shuo said, "we need to discuss what happens next." He looked directly at Zhen.

"You're a cultivator now. Whether anyone likes it or not." Gang's spoon clattered against his bowl.

"I didn't expect you to reach the first stage of Qi Condensation so quickly, let alone get your Earth Tempered Body," Shuo continued.

"With The Eye of Xiezhi, you'll advance even faster." A cold, hard look crossed Gang's face. Beside him, Mei-Bao stiffened, her lips pressing into a thin line. Shuo glanced between them.

"What? You didn't think I would notice? How stupid do you think I am?" His rasping voice took on an edge.

"Why would you keep that from me?"

"You called it that yesterday," Zhen cut in, "but never explained what that was." Shuo opened his mouth to answer, but Mei-Bao interrupted.

"The Eye of Xiezhi is just a silly name that idiotic old men like to give to something that's totally natural." Her voice was sharp and dismissive.

"You see flaws. That's all. Fools get excited when they hear about it." She threw Shuo a challenging look, as if daring him to contradict her version. When he remained silent, Mei-Bao continued, "That's why we've always told you to keep it secret. Even though you have a name for it now, you should continue to keep it to yourself." Shuo nodded slowly, surprising Zhen by supporting her.

"While we may disagree on a few things, we all agree that no good will come from telling people that you have the Eye." Shuo lowered his spoon and looked straight at Gang.

"Even if we put aside the matter of Zhen's training, he can't stay here. The Folded Shadows were already closing in before last night.

"I've been tracking their movements for months. They've been working their way through this region." Shuo's voice dropped.

"If any of them spotted those signs last night, they're already on their way." Gang slammed his palm against the table.

"No. We're tens of miles away from where Zhen opened his spirit gate. They won't be able to find us. If we keep our heads down and don't flaunt our cultivation, we'll be fine. Abandoning our lives and running will be more suspicious than if we stayed. The reason we've managed this long is because we've been acting like mortals."

"That was before your son lit up the night sky," Shuo said. Mei-Bao leaned forward.

"The problem isn't Zhen. It's you." She pointed at Shuo.

"Your cultivation is so high that you'll draw people to us like moths to flame. You're the problem, not my son." Shuo threw up his hands in exasperation.

"If I hadn't come, the Shadows would already have you."

"If you hadn't pushed him to advance so quickly…"

"Stop!" Zhen's voice cut through their bickering. The three adults turned to him, momentarily startled into silence.

"Do I get a say in any of this? Or are you all going to live my life for me?" The three exchanged glances, looking slightly embarrassed. His mother was the first to recover.

"Of course we care what you think, Zhen." Mei-Bao reached across the table toward him.

"What did you want to say?" Zhen took a deep breath.

"Until a few days ago, all I wanted was to take over the forge one day. Marry a girl from the village maybe. Raise a family." He looked around at the familiar walls.

"That was my future, and I was happy with it." He turned his gaze to Shuo and his voice gained strength.

"But meditating, opening a spirit gate, tempering my body has shown me a different path. I know I can open more spirit gates and take this further. I want to see how far I can go." Gang's expression darkened, but Zhen continued before his father could speak.

"More importantly, if that lightning from the heavens is bringing danger to my family and our village, then it's only right I leave. If I become a cultivator, I can fight my own battles, not just hide and rely on you." Zhen's shoulders straightened.

"This is on me. I need to keep you all safe. So that's what I'm doing." Gang's knuckles whitened as he gripped the edge of the table.

"You don't understand, boy. We haven't been keeping cultivation from you to hold you back." His voice roughened with emotion.

"Just by being born when we were still in the Order, the sect believes they have a claim on you." Zhen looked between his parents, seeing the weight of seventeen years of secrets etched in their faces.

"The Patriarch." Gang voice dropped, as if saying the name might summon the man. A muscle worked in his jaw.

"He'll be particularly reluctant to let you go. He has... plans for children born within the sect." Mei-Bao reached across the table and took Zhen's hand. Her fingers were warm and strong against his with what he now knew was a cultivator's strength, but they were still gentle.

"If we need to, we'll all leave. It's no price at all to give up what we have here and disappear if it will keep you safe."

"But once you step onto the true cultivation path," Gang continued, "you expose yourself to the Order's attention. Mortals are beneath their notice but they'll track cultivators. No sect can stand against them. Even if you train with a hidden master deep in the wilderness, eventually you will have to leave to find your own path, or at some point your power will draw attention." The fire crackled in the hearth, casting dancing shadows across the walls of the only home Zhen had ever known.

Outside, Chul snickered softly in the darkness.

"And if you use the Eye to advance rapidly," Gang's voice dropped lower, "you'll draw attention to yourself that you won't be prepared to handle. To The Patriarch, a child with the Eye of Xiezhi is a tool, not a person. He'll burn a thousand villages like this one just to get a hint of where you might be. Your mother and I can't deal with the forces he'll send after you." Zhen felt his parents' fear. His father was a man who might go an entire day with fewer words than he had just spoken.

That told him everything about how they felt. He thought of the forge, the village, the life they had built. All of it fragile in the face of what he now knew.

"So I'm trapped," Zhen said finally.

"Either I give up cultivation and we still might be found. Or I cultivate to try to get strong enough to fight myself and definitely attract their attention." Shuo had been looking from one to the other as they talked. He cleared his throat.

"Not necessarily. Maybe there's another way."