Chapter 22- A Peaceful Life of Cultivation

“So you grow the Red Heartline Grass in rows for easy reaping, but the Coldeye Flowers need to be grown in an array with these other plants?” Tian asked.

“Yes! Well, no, you could kind of grow it by itself or spaced out in rows or something, with enough soil amendments and regularly applying supplements. But it grows much better and much more productively if you grow it in a sect.”

Tian blinked and looked over at the suddenly awkward Daoist Shu. She was blushing and looking away. Why, he didn’t know.

“A sect, Daoist Shu?”

“It’s just what we call it. There are plants that grow better together. Get the light and temperature right, make sure they are oriented properly, the water is right, all that stuff, and once things are planted, they support each other. How to make these… groups of plants… is one of the ancestral teachings of the sect.”

Tian squatted down in the dirt, temporarily ignoring the rest of the tour group. “May I touch it? I will be very gentle.”

“What? Oh. Yes. Yes, please!”

“Sister Liren and Brother Wang are snickering again. Clearly she is saying something funny, but for the life of me, I have no idea what it could be. I should ask later.”

He slowly ran his finger along the stem of the tall Coldeye Flowers. The leaves had been carefully pruned, leaving only an upper story of their delicate four lobed limbs to catch the sun. Tiny buds clustered in their dozens, waiting for the last week or so to pass before they could burst into bloom.

He could feel the wood qi flowing through the plants. The way they seemed to breathe together and harmonized the five elements together as one. It wasn’t as crude as “This flower has that kind of elemental qi, this vine has another,” everything had a bit of everything in it. The effect of the “sect” array was happening on so many layers he was bewildered. Everything from shade and moisture control to the composition of the soil, to attracting beneficial insects. Every plant was contributing and maintaining the overall balance.

“Beautiful. Really beautiful. You can feel them thriving together. I’ve never seen anything related to growing things that remotely matches this. Nothing even a little bit close. What an incredible thing you are doing, Daoist Shu.” Tian honestly praised the work. It was a revelation. It made complete sense, of course. You saw plants and animals cooperating in nature all the time. But to deliberately make such a system in your garden, not for just one or two plants but dozens of varieties?

“Well, I spend all my time working in the garden and it’s satisfying to see everything growing together and you sort of go cross-eyed reading in the library so it just makes sense to get out in the dirt and get your hands dirty. Oh Heavens, are my hands dirty?!”

“Easy, Sister Shu, easy.” One of her older sect siblings patted her shoulder. “Maybe our guests would like to see the medicine halls next?”

“That would be wonderful, thank you.” Tian bowed apologetically. They had been standing around in the field for a while now. He had no urge to be a gardener or a farmer, but it was fun learning something from someone who really loved their craft.

The rest of the tour was pretty interesting too, with the drying sheds, the specialty grinding tools, ovens with such precise temperature controls that Tian genuinely couldn’t sense the difference in temperature.

The disciple operating the oven pulled out two stalks of grass, seemingly identical. He put one in and, two minutes later, it came out as unusable ash. The disciple then showed Tian the control array, and with a single finger, shifted a talismanic character fractionally left. Then they put the other stalk of grass in.

Two minutes later, the grass was fragrant and ready to be ground into powder for compounding. Tian had no idea how it worked, but he was impressed regardless.

“Tsk! Why have I never seen anything so useful in our sect?” He muttered.

“Because we live in West Town Outer Court, and our martial siblings treat making anything more complicated than a fist as darkest witchcraft.” Hong’s voice was as dry as the roasted herb.

Tian’s instinct was to defend his beloved temple, but paused with his finger in the air. Then he sighed and retracted the finger. “Fair. The brothers all had hobbies and things, but other than maybe Brother Wong, I don’t think I ever saw anybody craft anything. I certainly don’t know how to craft anything.”

In other company, he would say he knew a little about making medicinal teas and the like. At the moment, he would sooner be beaten to death than display his slight skills.

“I’d tease you about that, but I don’t either.” Hong muttered.

“You don’t study a craft?” One of the older disciples of the Bamboo Medicine Hut asked. From his tone of voice, it sounded like he couldn’t imagine anything so strange. “Well, I suppose you are studying to become a doctor, Daoist Tian.”

“Actually, it’s pretty common in our sect.” Brother Wang shook his head, big hands spread wide and helpless to make something useful of themselves. “Anyone with an interest in crafting gets streamed into a crafting-focused temple or convent early. Same with making formation arrays, or divination, or any other specialized skill.”

That was the first Tian had heard of it. But then, he had never asked, had he? And thinking back, Brother Wong’s medicine hut was pretty basic. Herbs drying on a string and ground with a mortar and pestle, weighed on a brass scale. Nothing at all like the immaculately clean stone top work benches at the Bamboo Medicine Hut, each equipped with arcane devices he couldn’t identify.

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“So you just work as an orderly all day?” Sister Shu asked Tian. He sighed internally. It’s not that he minded answering, but she kept asking him all her questions. There were four other people here. Spread them around!

“Working as an orderly, studying, cultivating, training, meditating, my tea circuit, more training, more studying…” He smiled. It was a fulfilling life, most days. Even if it was starting to make him feel smothered.