Sky Pride

“Blackwater Willow is an excellent source for Earthly tier medicines. Why is that, Junior Brother?” Senior Brother Wong was reclining on a blanket, happily eating a small bowl of lychees. There was a calabash of peach blossom tea by his hand, and a small selection of nuts. He had picked the perfect spot where he was shaded by the willow but not laying directly on roots.

“Because it produces many good things, and it regrows quickly, Senior Brother.” Tian’s voice came as a muffled grunt. In a wonderful demonstration of the infinite complexity of yin and yang, he was simultaneously hot and freezing. The sun was brutal and scorched his head, but the waist deep pond was cold enough to make him shiver. It was certainly the coldest thing he had ever felt.

“Exactly. And what are those things?”

“Erm. Well. The roots, obviously.”

“All the roots, Junior Brother Tian?”

“The wet roots of the Blackwater Willow are Yin water herbs, Senior Brother Wong.”

“Better. And what else?”

“The bark is Yin, wood herb, good for pain. The leaves are Yin, wood, and can be added to hair medicine.”

“Shampoo. Not exactly medicine, but related. You can also harvest the whips to make baskets and things, but that’s not really relevant. Willow wood can also be used to craft magical tools, but the Blackwater Willow is simply too low-level an existence to justify the effort. Maybe for some evil or heretical arts.”

Tian kept trying to dig underwater, straining to clear out as much dirt as he could from around the roots. In a moment, he was going to have to duck under the water and saw the root off. It was the only way he would have any chance of harvesting it.

“Yes, Senior Brother Wong.”

Harvesting the bark had been easy- barely three minutes of work with a curved knife to cut away big pieces. You just had to make sure you didn’t take too much, and then apply the protective paste to the exposed wood afterward. No sense in letting the tree pick up a disease or get infested with insects.

It wasn’t easy trying to shovel and saw underwater with only your index finger and thumb intact, but he managed. One key was that the saw was actually a sharp bit of chain with ring handles on either end. Tian didn’t understand how it was made, but there were teeth pointing out of the chain. You looped it under or over whatever you wanted cut, and pulled back and forth. The chain just ripped through wood. He’d never seen anything like it.

“Brother Wong?”

“Yes, Junior?”

“Could I make a rope dart with this chain?”

“Many have. This exact type of saw is a little too rigid- you see how the rivets are attached? But variations on this do exist.”

Tian kept scraping, forcing the shovel into the furiously resisting dirt.

“Although once your fingers regrow, you are probably going to want to change to a different weapon.”

“Why is that, Senior Brother?”

“Because sooner or later you are going to start fighting people or demons who are wearing armor or have hardened their skin somehow, and the maximum amount of force you can transmit through your dart is limited. It’s going to bounce off of them, is what I am saying.”

“A sword would bounce off too, wouldn’t it, Senior Brother?”

“Yes, but you are much more likely to force the blade between a gap in their armor to make the kill. Also, there are zero legendary rope darts, and uncountable legendary swords, sabers, spears, staves, maces, halberds and even axes.”

He’s right, you know. Grandpa Jun sounded like he was grinning. And he hasn’t even mentioned bows, knives or needles. There are legendary cauldrons, furnaces, hammers, even stamps, stele and tablets, but not a single legendary rope dart.

Tian grunted and kept working. It wasn’t like he wanted to dedicate his life to the rope dart. He just felt a lot of fondness for it. It made him strong enough to protect himself, and that counted for a lot.

“I always favored a pike myself. Hint hint.”

“Isn’t a pike a long spear? Does he think I should take up long spears?” Tian wondered.

There was a sudden feeling of movement in the water. Tian jumped straight up, tucking his knees up all the way to his chin. A bright flash of silver speckles passed underneath him, brilliant against the murky green water of the pond. Tian slashed down with the chain but it sprayed the water without coming near to the fish.

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Tian came down with a splash and started wading for the shore. Brother Wong shook his head and pointed back at the pond. “Don’t run away from lunch, Junior. Those are good eating. If a little aggressive.”

What followed was a chaotic mess. The fish blended perfectly with the water plants and attacked explosively. It had figured out that Tian was about the same size as it, and clearly liked its odds. Tian figured out other things. Things that did not spark joy. Things like “The water slows the thrown dart to the point of uselessness after a couple of feet” and “The water stops both the rope and chain when it comes slashing down.”

He also learned that fish that size are extraordinarily strong and slippery. Trying to grab it just wasn’t going to happen. By painful process of elimination, Tian figured out a plan. First, he stood in the most shallow water the fish was willing to swim in. Then, he crouched low, with his head just above the surface of the water. Then he waited, dart in hand.

It was impossible to detect the fish’s movements until it was almost on top of him. It was a pure test of reflex and awareness. Tian’s reflexes were decent, but his awareness? That was very good indeed.

The fish darted for his leg in a flash of silver in twisting green waters. The dart stabbed in, catching the pike in the gills, letting the big fish’s own momentum drive the metal spike all the way up to Tian’s knuckles. He lifted the fish up by the spike just a little, enough to let him duck under and get a shoulder under it. Then with an explosive push, he launched the big fish clean out of the pond!

Onto Brother Wong’s blanket.

“OI! Junior!” Brother Wong kicked the fish onto the grass, the rope dart trailing behind it.

“Sorry Senior Brother! I don’t know how to aim a fish!” Tian yanked the dart out and flicked the gore off.

The fish at issue was thrashing and bucking wildly on the grass, silently fighting against the air. Tian didn’t quite know how to finish it off. He knew it was drowning, though, and that was a horrible way to die. He was still holding the dart, so he didn’t slap his forehead. Instead, he spun the rope dart a couple of times to build momentum, then smashed the dart down on the fish’s head. He managed to kill it in one blow, tearing the back of the fishes’ head open and dumping the brain onto the grass.

“I… got stronger.” Tian couldn’t hide the surprise in his voice.

“You are Level Four. Many times stronger than even a strong mortal.” Brother Wong rolled his eyes. “Jump.”

“Pardon?”

“Jump. As hard as you can. Straight up.”

Tian shrugged, crouched down, and jumped.

There was a coiling of strength, starting from his toes, filling the arch of his feet and fortifying his ankles. His slender calves swelled and the sharp lines of the muscles suddenly appeared, as though carved from ironwood. Then his thighs tightened, filled, tendons stretched bowstring-taut. His back, his waist, his glutes, tight as he could.

With a swing of his arms all that energy exploded upward and he was rising high over Brother Wong’s head, high enough that he was worried about the landing. He reached the apogee of his leap and hung in the air for a long moment. Tian lost himself in the wild blue of the sky. An eagle turned high above, and for just a second, Tian thought of it as a brother. Then he landed, absorbing the shock without the faintest hint of pain.

Brother Wong didn’t say anything. His smile looked a little sad, and a little wistful.

Between the dead fish and the eagle. Tian stood still, still lost in the wonder of it all. The life and joy of it, the terror of going from the garbage dump to the endless heavens. Knowing that one day, he would be up that high, never returning to the earth. Unless there was something down there he wanted, of course.

“Senior Brother Wong, I think that eagle wants our fish. It’s getting a lot bigger.”

“Mmm?” Wong turned and looked up. A red tasseled spear appeared in his hands. “That’s not an eagle. Run Tian! Run back to the Temple! I’ll try to slow it down!”

“Brother Wong?”

“RUN!”

Tian turned and ran. They were only half a day from West Town at a casual “stroll.” If he didn’t give a damn about mortals seeing him, he could run back in two hours. Brother Wong’s face looked white, and there was something dreadful in his eyes. Something Tian had never seen before. He got his head down and ran.

He hadn’t made it very far before the bird struck.

There was a scream. A hawk, a falcon, he didn’t know, the scream of a predatory bird announcing its kill before the blood sprayed. Then Tian was hit by what felt like a board the size of his body. It smacked him through the air then dragged him tumbling through the dirt. Rocks tore up his skin, smashed off his head and hands and knees. Something in his brain felt wrong. He puked, still tumbling, the vomit spraying everywhere and still carried away by the wind.

It was just the wind, driven by mighty wings.

Tian came to a stop against the shredded remains of a tree. His back pressed painfully into the smoking wood, broken ribs jabbing his lungs. A hawk twice as big as Brother Wong had landed on the fish and was tearing into it. Brother Wong was bleeding badly, battered, bruised, but he still held on to his spear. He kept the spearpoint aimed at the hawk as he retreated back towards Tian.

“It’s a beautiful bird,” Tian thought. “Shiny gold feathers mixed in with the brown. And those yellow eyes are amazing. Huge.” His thoughts were vague, blurred like his vision. The bird didn’t seem to share the sentiment, or maybe it just thought Wong was still too close to its food. Tian saw it flap a wing towards them and then-

A ripple moved through the air. A glassy, almost invisible wave of pressure. It smashed the Senior Brother off his feet and drove him tumbling backward. It hit Tian like a wide hammer, falling across his whole body. Blood gushed into his mouth and poured down his robe. His eyes were dim and fading.

“Heavenly Person realm. The bird is using qi externally. It’s a Heavenly Person… bird. Hah.”

Hang on, Tian! Don’t give up! Keep breathing, you aren’t out of it yet!”

“Heavenly Person realm, Grandpa. No chance. No chance.” Tian’s voice was lost in the bubble of his blood and the wheezing, tiny breaths that were all he could manage.

Cycle your cultivation art! It can help keep you alive. Now, now, now!

Tian tried to smile, and sluggishly prodded the vital energy inside him to move. The notion of deep, meditative breaths under the circumstances sounded crazy. Verdant Spring might be steady, but nothing was this steady. Grandpa Jun was rarely wrong. Tian tried his best.

Brother Wong wasn’t getting up. The bird was ripping enormous strips of meat from the fish and swallowing them whole. Would it still be hungry after it finished the fish? Tian thought that he wasn’t much bigger than the fish. Brother Wong, skinny as he was, must be packed with qi. Better eating than the fish for sure.

There was a soft crack like distant thunder. Then like lightning from a clear sky, an arrow struck.