Chapter 29- The Difference Between Heaven and Earth

The arrow fell with a whistle and landed with a sharp crack! It bit into the raptor’s back, drilling towards its heart. It must have caught on a bone, because the bird screamed and tried to limp into the sky.

“Tch!” A second arrow pierced the bird’s neck. It fell limply on the ground. Tian saw that it was dead before it touched dirt.

A woman flew in on a sword, bow in hand.

Tian had never seen someone from the Inner Court. Outer Court disciples wore robes of light blue silk and white linen trousers with soft black shoes. The robe was tied shut with a white belt, and that was that. The lay brothers wore their hair long and pinned with carved wood, the lay sisters cropped their hair short and neatly shaved patterns into the sides and back. Tian had always thought they were the most splendidly dressed people in the world. Even the soldiers in the town couldn’t compare.

The True Disciple from the Inner Court blew all that away like dandelion fluff in a hurricane. Her hair was different from the lay sisters- she let her hair grow long, but sharply cropped the sides of her head. It gave her a wild, savage look, despite her beautiful robes. The robes were also blue silk, but they shimmered like light hitting a bird wing. Dustless, immaculate, her white silk trousers didn’t have a single crease or blemish. The shoes were unstained by the red dust of the world.

Senior Brother Fu had teased Senior Sister Bai, calling her a fairy. Tian could see it now. Descending from the heavens on her flying sword, long bow in hand and robes fluttering around her, this Heavenly Person from the Inner Court was nothing less than an immortal fairy.

The fairy descended to the grass with a featherlight step. Tian couldn’t make out much anymore, blood was starting to fill his eyes. The last thing he saw was the True Disciple frowning, like there was something she couldn’t quite remember.

“Drink, just a little. Come on. Head back. Do I really have to touch you? Eeh, maybe if I just… nudge your forehead with the bottle a bit… nice.”

Tian felt something trickle into his mouth. He tasted spicy, warming heat, bitter herbs, and the smell of something strange. The warmth built and banked until it was a raging fire in his throat. He coughed, spilling blood over his chest.

“Lucky I’m quick. Okay, now drink a big mouthful. It’s that or die, so let’s not waste time.”

Tian drank. This time he managed not to cough. He could feel warmth radiating out from his belly, stretching into his body. Tian knew this feeling. It was when his body was being magically healed. It only lasted for a few seconds this time. He pushed Advent of Spring as hard as he could, trying to stretch the healing out. There were an awful lot of things broken in him.

He could hear loud coughing. “That’s it Junior. Drink up. A bit more. Alright. I’m going to check on your junior now. Hey kid, can you talk?”

“Yes, Martial Aunt, I can talk. Thank you.”

“Wipe the blood out of your eyes.” Tian obeyed. They were still sticky, but he was able to open them enough to see his savior.

“Mmm. I don’t recognize you, but you are using Advent of Spring. I recognize the wood qi movement. You don’t resemble any Inner Court Disciples I know. How did you get that art?”

“My Senior Brother Fu gave it to me, Martial Aunt.”

“Fu?” She frowned. “What temple?”

“West Town, Martial Aunt.”

“Old guy? About so tall, always looks like he’s about to fall over and die?”

“Everyone in our Temple is old, Senior, except me. Senior Brother Fu is the oldest. And he is about that tall.”

“I vaguely remember seeing someone like him around.” She looked away and muttered to herself “Where the hell did he get the merit points from? And how did he even borrow it?”

The senior sister shook her head and looked back at Tian. “Alright, I’ll leave the wine jug with you. I broke a healing pill into it, so if you and your senior brother over there take little sips and share it, the medicinal power won’t overwhelm you. You should even have plenty left over after you heal. Consider it my compensation for letting the Dawnlight Hawk nearly kill you.”

The True Disciple walked over to the corpse and waved a hand over it, collecting the hawk into her storage ring. The sword reappeared, and with an effortless hop, she was floating on it. Without another word, she vanished into the sky.

Tian took another small sip of the wine. Lots more to heal, but he thought he could move now. He tried to stand. His legs gave out before he was halfway up. He crawled over to Brother Wong instead.

“Here, Senior Brother. Drink up. I don’t know how much is too much, so you will have to let me know.” Tian let it trickle into his mouth. After just a few seconds, Brother Wong turned his head away. Tian drank another tiny sip. The stuff was powerful. He thought he was more than half way better already.

“Damn. Damn. Damn. Damn.”

Tian didn’t quite know how to respond to that. The hawk had come like a sudden storm, and like a storm, they could only try and run from it. Can’t fight it, so hide from it. And when they couldn’t hide, they could only endure it. They lived. It sucked. Not much else to say. But Brother Wong looked really upset.

“It’s alright, Brother Wong. We lived.” Tian tried to pat the old man’s shoulder. It felt awkward.

“Level One. That hawk was fucking Level One!”

“Err… it could use qi outside the body so…”

“Level One of the Heavenly Person stage! Idiot!”

Tian nodded. That made more sense.

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“I’m at the peak of the Earthly realm. The very, very peak. And I couldn’t last one move. Not one move.”

Tian was really lost now. Of course he couldn’t last one move. It was like asking a toddler to fight an adult.

“For what it’s worth, Senior Brother, you are the very first person to put their body between me and death. So. You know. Thank you.”

Brother Wong laughed, covering his eyes with his arm. Even Tian knew that wasn’t a happy laugh. It was a miserable, broken noise. “You are welcome. You are very welcome. It would have been okay if I died protecting you. It would have been completely fine. A good death. Just leaving a little earlier rather than later. In eighteen years, I’ll be a good man once more. Maybe a man with better fortune.”