v4c50.2: The Lost and the Broken Part 2

Xiulan bowed to the Sectmaster of the Azure Horizon Sect. The normally stern, unflappable man had sweaty palms as he reached for his crystal and was shaking slightly. His finger tapped against it once before he took it fully, holding it like it would shatter at the slightest touch.

 

It was almost amusing to see the state of the Elders Xiulan had once held in such regard. To her, they had once been such powerful, imposing existences. People to aspire towards. She had often wondered if she could be so decisive, so uncompromising, like a true cultivator should be.

 

In strength Xiulan had surpassed all but one, the Patriarch of the Grand Ravine Sect. And in some ways, Xiulan had achieved that old goal. This mission of hers she would follow until the end… but without hardening her heart until she felt nothing at all.

 

Now those same unflinching Elders looked lost and confused as they humbled themselves, bowing politely to Xiulan or one of her companions as they passed out the crystals. Universally, the Elders would delve into the thing, their eyes going blank, just to confirm if what she gave was really what the others had said. And just as universally they would flinch as if struck, their eyes widening further and awe filling them.

 

She could not help but find it… sad. Sad that this act of kindness was something that she knew would stick in their minds for the rest of their days. That this act of kindness was something that would be told of for centuries. She’d likely receive some title for what she had done today. ‘Messenger of the Ancestors’, or something else suitably grand.

 

It did not take very long to hand out the crystals. Xiulan could tell that most of the Elders wanted to bolt away immediately to view their secrets in private, but honour and a certain degree of curiosity compelled them to sit and listen.

That and no one wanted to leave while the Patriarch remained.

 

She could see their curiosity burning at them all, until Ulagan Baatar turned his attention from the crystal back to her and spoke.

 

“How was such a treasure found?” He asked, his voice calm, once Xiulan and her companions were seated again. There was a kind of hunger in his eyes.

 

“Yin knows far more than I about the original crystal’s recovery. She was with the First Disciple of Fa Ram, Honored Bi De, when he retrieved the original record,” Xiulan answered, and all eyes turned to the woman… Or at least most of them did. Her father always twitched slightly when he was reminded that a chicken had found this.

 

Yin raised an eyebrow, but shrugged.

 

“Yeah, he had a map and wanted to see why that marking was there on it. We ended up having to travel nearly a week underground into a really nasty cave to get the original crystal. At the end of it I practically had to carry him out.”

 

Whispers broke out among the gathering.

“A map?”

 

“Of course our Ancestors would wish for us to study the past—we merely failed to find this bounty!”

 

“Master Rou’s First Disciple possesses superlative luck.”

 

They whispered and muttered amongst themselves, and Xiulan saw some minute gestures from the Sectmasters and Elders having a silent, albeit furious, argument over who got to ask the next question.

 

“Such a sublime treasure must have had a powerful guardian?” Elder Sheng of the Azure Horizon Sect asked.

 

Yin shrugged. “There was the whole weird thing Master Jin called the Lotus-Eater Machine that ripped us out of our bodies and shoved us into a memory plane. We had to kick a Temple Dog in the face to get Master Jin back from it, but it was all kinda a misunderstanding and Master Jin calmed him down. I can’t say it was too bad.”

 

It took Xiulan quite a bit of willpower to keep from laughing at the nonchalant way Yin spoke, and the absolute silence that came after her words before the crowd began to mutter again.

 

“‘Lotus-Eater Machine’? Such a terrifying sounding technique!”

 

“It must have been a truly profound one, coming from our Ancestors.”

 

“A Temple Dog?!”

 

“The First Disciple fought a Temple Dog, and his Master calmed it down?!”

 

“Heavens, an Elder of the Cloudy Sword Sect is truly frightening.”

 

“Even if we knew of such a crystal, we would have been defeated utterly by the protections. The Heavens smile upon us that it was Master Rou’s Disciple who found it…”

 

“Master Rou just decided to… gift it to Cai Xiulan?” Elder Xinling asked.

 

“Sounds about right,” Yin said with a shrug. “Not like we had much use for it.”

 

“You had no use for the knowledge of our Ancestors?!”

 

“Ain’t my ancestors,” the woman said and picked at her ear. “I’m from… somewhere else originally. My Shifu and Master Jin took me in. We only knew that it could help Xiulan… And then she came up with this. I thought it was a good idea. We all did.”

 

There was silence once more as they digested her words.

 

“Our means are meager, yet we cannot just accept this gift without giving in return. We shall have to pay our respects to the First Disciple as well as Cai Xiulan,” the Sectmaster of the Framed Sun Sect intoned.

 

Xiulan nearly said “he quite likes worms,” before she restrained herself. It would have been funny… Yet utterly inappropriate. “I shall ask him the next we meet if he desires anything. He is quite busy at the moment, however.”

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There were several nods, and the questioning seemed to be finished… but Sectmaster of the Azure Horizon Sect rose once again.

 

“I shame myself by looking so closely at this gift, but the question must be asked. The original crystal contained all of these memories… Does that mean you have seen everything, Cai Xiulan?”

 

“Yes. I have seen more than could likely be allowed,” Xiulan answered honestly. “But it was not I who sorted through the crystals to find every technique; it was Master Jin and the First Disciple that created the partitions in the original memory crystal so it could be split into the crystals before you now.”

 

That assuaged some fears that it hadn’t been her rifling around and stealing secrets, but a ‘benevolent Master of the Cloudy Sword Sect.’

 

“Cai Xiulan’s gift demands repayment,” Ulagan Baatar’s voice cut through the meeting as the tension rose. “Even if you are an utterly shameless dog, then the act of her bringing you the wisdom of your Ancestors should absolve her of any sin. Cast all dishonourable and unsavoury thoughts from your minds; or I shall take offense.”

 

Xiulan blinked as the man’s intent pressed down over the meeting, but gave the Patriarch of the Grand Ravine Sect a tentative nod as he intervened on her behalf.

 

Nobody spoke or moved as the man’s eyes bored into each and every person there. Xiulan could feel the strain in the room and spoke up.

 

“I think that we should adjourn the meeting here for today. I shall speak of the second reason why I requested this meeting tomorrow. For now… Please, examine your pasts to your heart’s content,” she said.

 

There was a round of agreement. Xiulan wasn’t worried about any of them leaving early. Even the most shameless of them would be here tomorrow, ready to listen to her words.

 

And so they retired for the day, heading towards the inn that they had stayed in last time. Cai Xiulan and her companions sought to rest after such a stressful day, and pondered how the cultivators would react to what was in the crystals.

 

Xiulan was hoping that seeing their pasts would lend her words more weight tomorrow.

 

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What was in each crystal was a prelude of sorts. Cai Xiulan explained that the crystal was from the memories of one man, fragmented as they were—a once king. Images flashed past of cataclysmic battles and of wondrous artifacts as they explained how Xiaoshi and his Dao Companion Tianlan fought and defeated the Azure Emperor, how they crafted the civilization in the Azure Mountains together…

 

Then how they were undone by a demonic invasion and how the province was only barely saved from destruction by his and Tianlan’s brave sacrifice—a sacrifice that broke the province.

 

Xiulan had known it not to be the entire truth when she had told this story, but in the end she and Bi De had agreed to cut out the portions of the provincial formation and of Tianlan’s true nature.

 

Yet, for the first time in millenia, the cultivators of the Azure Hills saw their history.

 

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For some, it was an earth shattering revelation.

 

On Gang of the Rumbling Earth Sect staggered back from the crystal like it had burned him. Blood filled his mouth as he suffered Qi deviation, and his liver ruptured from the force of his turmoil.

 

He collapsed to his knees and vomited.

 

On Gang had always boasted about just how many Wrecker Balls he had killed. It was a test in his sect; a true member could vanquish at least one of those belligerent Spirit Beasts, like their Ancestor so obviously had.

 

“Don’t worry, little ones! Rumblin’ Yao will protect you!”

 

He always knew that weakness was a sin, and a true man stood alone.