Sky Pride

“What the dog fornicating hell just happened?”

“Language.”

“No, Sister Liren, I think I used exactly the correct words. I am keeping my composure, my dignity, and using the appropriate etiquette for both the company I am in, and the situation at hand. Strictly speaking, it’s not even profanity. However, if this isn’t a moment for profanity, I really don’t know what is. I am morally and logically correct in my choice of words.”

“Tsk tsk. The young dragon Tian Zihao, reduced to barbarous language by a mere…”

“Go on. Really. Go on. A mere what? Tell me. I want to know.”

“Yeah, I have no idea what the dog fornicating hell just happened. Glad we lived though.” Hong shrugged, her eyes wide and wild, her lips pulled back into the fakest grin Tian had ever seen.

“I think ‘live’ is the minimum reasonable expectation.” Tian’s fingers looked like they were throttling an invisible throat. He wasn’t aware. “A year and a half. A YEAR AND A HALF our… dearly revered Grand Elder had us running around rather than just telling us something. He could have sent us a note if he didn’t want to visit. The number of times we both nearly died!”

“All so he could have an audience while he killed someone then committed suicide. If that’s what really happened. Although that does seem like, again, the bare minimum we could expect given the whole mass-murder on an unprecedented scale.” Hong was tapping her spear on the ground in a way that suggested she was visualizing stabbing. “Though I am sure that isn’t all that happened.”

“Here is a head scratcher for you- was it mass murder? If he mostly sat around and deliberately did nothing, can it be murder? Or do you have to act? Counter-argument, can a failure to act be murder? Do you have a responsibility to act?”

Liren nodded thoughtfully. “I don’t give a damn what the law says. The most powerful diviner in the nation, older than the nation, commanding the most powerful military force in the nation, who helped create the nation AND raise up thousands of cultivators, damn well does have a responsibility to his creation! I am not interested in entertaining any defense of that…”

There was a drifting silence.

“Can’t think of a strong enough swear?”

“No.”

“It’s a tough one. On a completely related point, where are we?”

“Dunno.” Hong shrugged. “On a mountain?”

Her guess was reasonable, given that on the other side of the road was three feet of grassy verge, then a not quite vertical drop several hundred feet down. You would have a lovely view as you fell. The mountain seemed to be lush with green bushes and sweet-smelling bamboo. Tian thought he could smell pine and cedar somewhere. Perhaps there was a forest beyond the drifting, faintly iridescent mists above.

Or below. There was a remarkable amount of mist, given the patches of achingly blue sky that slipped through now and again.

Tian took a deep breath. The air was humid, but not choking, cool, but not cold, there was a sweetness to it that refreshed body and mind. Wherever they were, it was a good place. Tian inhaled deeply, then started his cultivation running.

He coughed. He had managed to choke on fresh air.

“Brother?”

“The qi. It’s really dense here. Not quite at the level of the Six Turns Caverns, but higher than anywhere I’ve been outside of it. It feels less chaotic too. Purer, if that makes sense.”

Liren nodded slowly. She looked around again, her mouth slowly opening, her eyes widening. “I know where we are. Or… I have a really good guess. Ancient Crane Mountain. I think he delivered us to Ancient Crane Mountain.”

Tian shook his head. He expected to be here one day. This was a bit soon. He looked around. The road snaked upwards and downwards, quickly being lost in the folds of the mountain. A mountain that, from what he recalled, took even cultivators a week or more to circle on foot, and was so tall, the peak couldn’t be seen from the ground.

“Guess we find out what we can hunt and forage out here, because I don’t like our chances of finding anyone.” Tian laughed softly. “Maybe we just need to cross our fingers and pray some core disciple comes rushing out, furious that we are trespassing.”

They paused to admire the birds flying through the sky below them. Tian glanced over at the crane. She looked a little intimidated. Not ordinary birds, then.

“You will have to do the finger crossing, of course.” Tian added.

“Me? Why me? You cross your fingers. They're all weird and noodly, you will be great at it.” Hong shoved the job back at him.

“You have three more fingers than me, and can’t bear to cross four of ‘em. Of all the wretchedly unfilial behavior…” The two started bickering and walking uphill. The crane, who was used to it, walked beside them. Tian could tell it was unsettled, and wanted to stay close.

The road was steep, and each step was draining. This was balanced by the sweet air, revitalizing their vital energy with every breath. Just living here made you healthier. Tian hopped a little, then did it again. Then a third time.

“Is it just me, or is the ground pulling on us harder than it should?”

Hong gave a little jump. Tian noticed she jumped a bit higher than he did. Presumably for the sake of childish competition. She clearly had a lot of growing up to do. “Huh. You’re right.”

“Must be all the earth qi in the mountain.” Tian nodded. This seemed to confirm his earlier theory about earth qi. He jumped again, just to check. By complete coincidence, he jumped a little higher than Liren. He landed with satisfaction at the experimental proof of his theory, and for no other reason.

“That makes sense.” She jumped again. He couldn’t help but notice she spent almost a second in the air. “I don’t have a better theory.”

Tian jumped. He was good at jumping. “Indeed.”

Liren jumped. The crane gave them both a gimlet stare from her brilliantly yellow eyes, and sat down in the grass. They were still jumping five minutes later when a small group came down the path. There were three women, and one rather large man. Broad of shoulder, profound of gut, with the round, innocent face of a born victim, even his bun bobbed in a way that suggested he would be easy to fool.

“See, I told you I recognized their vital energy. Brother Tian, Sister Hong, you two are a sight for sore eyes!”

Brother Wang, in all his flustered glory, bore down on them. “We were in the Five Elements Courtyard and then we got ripped through the air! Did you know that if you move fast enough, the air starts to glow around you? I swear I saw clouds burst apart as we punched through them. We must have looked like a dragon, brilliant gold and trailing a long streak behind us through the air.”

“I… did not know that.” Tian shook his head, then collected himself. “Forgive me! It is good to see you again, Martial Aunt Mei, Sister Su, Brother Wang. But I don’t believe I know your companion?” The words flowed, just the way he learned them back in the Temple, smoothing out all those messy human relations.

“Oh yes, where are my manners? This is Sister Ming Yu. She… defected. Along with Lil’ Mei.” Brother Wong coughed and looked away. Tian gave the woman a proper look. She was, in fact, wearing the multicolored and embroidered robes of the Five Elements Courtyard. Martial Aunt Mei was wearing a fancier version of the same outfit. Considerably fancier, he was fairly sure there were active formations in her clothes but how that worked, he had no idea.

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“Defected?”

Ming Yu nodded vigorously. Tian quickly noticed a few oddities about her. The first was that she was wearing some kind of device over her eyes. He recognized glass, but the little circular disks held in place on her face with bits of flattened wire and bamboo were… novel. He could see tiny formations carved into them. Perhaps they were enchanted. The white jade pendant hanging from her waist certainly was, as were the brilliant green jade cuffs on her ears. Her robes looked like they were too big for her too, her sleeves were practically dragging, and her hem was muddy. Did she shrink? Tian felt an immediate sense of kinship.

“Yes, we simply couldn’t stay in the Courtyard any longer. No bonds of family or duty could compel me to endure…” Ming Yu gently shook her head and looked away, distraught. Her ‘look away’ happened to look in the direction of Brother Wang. Tian couldn’t help but feel his attention being pulled back to the jade ear cuffs she was wearing, and the pendant hanging from her waist. He had never seen anything quite like them before. The elements moved like swaying watergrass around them.

Could an array or an enchantment have its own dao? It would be the product of a dao, of course, and the crafter’s own conception. But could the thing itself have a dao? Because if everything was part of the dao, then any random rock or tree… no, every random rock and tree had its own dao. All of existence, by virtue of existing, was pursuing a path.

Tian shook his head to drive away the silly thoughts. Then another silly thought intruded, and his head turned, as though on gimbals, towards Brother Wang. Who looked helpless and innocent.

“It’s not what you think.” The big man started waving his hands.

“It’s exactly what you think.” Sister Su corrected, her voice cool, but content. “It is good to see the two of you again. Although, Brother Tian, have you… you appear to be…” She groped for a useful cliche, then gave up. “You shrank. But you look better now. Somehow. Sister Hong did not shrink, but she also looks better. I am happy for you both.” Her voice was as deadpan as her expression.

Hong waved helplessly at the trio turned quartet. “How… why?”

“Well. You know.” Brother Wang rubbed the back of his neck. “She was being bullied terribly, so she just started hanging around our courtyard, and we all became good friends. When Sis’ Su and I started glowing and levitating, Lil’ Mei and Lil’ Ming said they wanted to come with us. That they would rather be with us on Ancient Crane Mountain than stay trapped in the Courtyard. Then they were wrapped up in the glow, and came with us.” 𝘧𝓇ℯ𝑒𝓌𝑒𝑏𝓃𝘰𝘷𝘦𝘭.𝒸ℴ𝓂

Tian looked over at Martial Aunt Mei, who wasn’t bothering to hide her snickering. “Weren’t you in the Ascending Phoenix Aerie, or whatever they called the region for direct disciples?”

“Oh yes. And this cutie was a mortal lock for joining me as soon as she broke through.” She smiled. Then giggled, because some habits are hard to change. “Boy, will her patrons and fiancees be surprised!”

“Fiancees? Plural?!” Hong didn’t quite shriek, but her voice definitely went up a couple of registers.

“It’s a dreadful story, Sister Hong. Horrible.” Brother Wang shook his head and spent twenty minutes recounting a tale of ancient families, of marital arrangements, cruel young masters and uncaring fathers, made worse by conniving mothers. There was tragedy, betrayal, more tragedy, more betrayal, and at the very end, a single place of peace and contentment. The courtyard of one hapless Brother Wang and the brilliant, beautiful Su and Mei.

Also, unrelated, Ming’s fiancees were now financially ruined, morally compromised, and their dao hearts cruelly wounded. Their parents jointly went to explore a cave grotto and weren't expected back for at least fifty years, and her patrons within the sect were always a little too generous with both their looks and comments, which is presumably how they found themselves in such an… unbecoming condition at a very public banquet. Too much wine, and entirely too comfortable making observations about people. It was therefore obviously not suitable for Ming Yu to stay in the Courtyard. Anyone could see that.

Strange coincidences, but nothing to do with Brother Wang. He was just struggling to get by, wishing he could spend every spirit stone like it was ten and sighing at the prices in the shops.

Tian and Hong shared a look, clasped their fist in their hands, bowed, offered their formal welcomes, then firmly strode away without looking back. The crane seemed to get over whatever was worrying her, because she flapped into the air as quickly as she could.

“Vow of chastity. Cave dwellings. We are on a mountain. I bet the caves already exist. We just need to pick out which ones we like.” Tian was firm on this.

“We will want something south facing for the light, near an outcrop where we can get a view of the dawn. So, the south-east face of the mountain would be a decent compromise. There should be a source of water and firewood nearby. Maybe some place for a garden, so we can grow vegetables."

“Oh, you know how to grow vegetables?” Tian asked.

“No, you are the herb boy, you will be growing them. I will be out hunting in the forest where we get firewood.” Hong waved her spear boldly.

“I pick herbs, not grow ‘em. I bet I’ve done more hunting than you, too. Though you are right about the location. I wonder if we should just destroy any roads or paths leading to our cave. It would make it harder to reach other places, but it would also make us harder to reach. Which would be nice. We just need to figure out how to make deadfalls and pit traps in the air, to discourage Heavenly visitors.”

The two carried on, not caring even slightly about the Heavenly Person collapsing with laughter behind them.

They wandered whatever trails seemed interesting, not really thinking about where they were going. It had been a thoroughly unpleasant couple of weeks, and they were happy to just be. They found each other’s company easy. When they wanted to talk, they talked. When they wanted to be quiet, they were quiet, and listened to the world. The wind spoke to them through the trees. The water whispered its secrets from mountain streams, the birds cried, the insects hummed, and the world turned without them. That seemed important. The world turned. They didn’t cause it. They couldn’t stop it. It just was. Days slipped past. They hardly noticed.

There was so much happening. And they couldn’t stop it. They just knew it was going on. Even Tian, for all his complaints of being too yin, felt the urgent need to do something, to make the bad things not happen, or not have happened, or something. Anything. But they couldn’t. Who knew better than them the scope of what was happening? Who knew more of the whys behind the whats?

One day, the crane landed on a rock in front of them and gave them a worried look. It shared a memory- of flying out, far, far from the mountain side and coming to a halt. Something gently turned her around. Every time she flew past a certain point, she found herself flying back towards the mountain again.

“A formation. The whole mountain is locked into a formation. Starsieve did say that, as far as the rest of the world would be concerned, the mountain would no longer exist.” Hong had stopped attaching honorifics to the Elder’s name. Tian couldn’t quite bring himself to match her, but he slipped up occasionally.

“He rounded up all the ‘good ones.’ All the reformers and the people with merit. What do you want to bet an awful lot of the Inner Court is on the other side of that barrier?”

“The Monastery proper too. Can’t convince me that they are all good people.” Hong nodded, looking blankly into a stream racing through the valley they were sitting in.

“Mmm.”

Nature filled the silence with its voice.

“My family is on the other side of the barrier. Why would Starsieve save them? They don’t have any particular merit. Just the opposite, really. Tens of millions of mortals will die, and my parents are already in a… dangerous place.”

Tian nodded. “The Long family is probably dead, though.”

Hong kept her eyes fixed on the river. “Maybe not. Remember what Starsieve said? The worst people will thrive in the chaos.”

“For a time.”

She silently laughed at that. “Brother Tian, all we have is now.”

Tian laughed with her. It was a teaching of the sect. “The past is a memory, and the future is a dream. We can only exist in the present moment. Only now are we free to choose.” He quoted an oft repeated lecture.

“I don’t feel like my choices have counted for much lately. Maybe it’s because I haven’t really been able to choose from things I actually wanted.” Hong dipped a handkerchief into the stream and wiped the back of her neck with it. “What are we going to do? Stuck on the mountain, I mean.”

“Sooner or later one of the Elders or Direct Disciples is going to start organizing things. It’s a big mountain, but given the range of a Heavenly Person’s senses, they should find everyone eventually. Somewhere on this mountain is the Monastery and apparently that is where all the really good stuff is. We should be sitting on a big pile of merits, if those still matter, so we can pick up whatever we want. Weapons, armor, cultivation resources, scriptures. Whatever. I’m going to practice the Dragon Suppressing Palms. We ignite the next sun for you. We both break into Level Eight in the next few months, or in my case, weeks, and we start grinding for Level Nine and the Heavenly Realm.”

Tian rattled it all off.

“And… then what?”

“Dunno.”

“Heh. Me either.”

“Sooner or later, the ward will come down, or someone will crack it. I have to say the thought that I am in a giant, invisible birdcage gives me an itchy feeling.” Tian rolled his shoulders, then stood. “I was joking about the vow of chastity thing, but not about the cave dwelling. Wanna see if we can find a good spot?”

“Sure.” She stood. “What are you going to do when you see Brother Fu?”

“I have no idea.” They started walking, following a trail leading roughly south-east. “What can I even say? What could he say to me? Does he even know what Starsieve did? What he really did, I mean? And…” Tian spread his hands looking at the missing fingers, then turned to Liren. She could only shake her head and sigh.

They walked for two more days, moving towards the southeast side of the mountain. One ordinary day, they found a rocky outcrop wide enough for a camp site. It was good enough for the night. The two young immortals sat through the night, watching the stars. A little before dawn, they began their cultivation and let their spirits rise with the sun. They would find their cave soon enough, and they would make it a good place to live.

The road to the Dao was long and winding, but they were content, knowing they wouldn’t walk alone. Glowing purple and gold in the dawnlight, they couldn’t imagine wanting more.