Chapter 41- Descending on the Courtyard

The Windblown Manor spent two days flying deep into a mountain range. They had to go slow. There were “atmospheric challenges” presented by the Primeval Giant’s Spine Mountains. Under normal conditions, there were currents in the air, steady streams that flowed in predictable ways and the Windblown Manor made use of them to fly further and faster than it would otherwise. The Giant’s Spine Mountains nodded thoughtfully towards that concept, then made the airflow as close to utter chaos as they could manage.

Daoist Steelshimmer casually mentioned that he should be grateful there weren’t clouds of boiling acid flying around, or particles of ice so cold, they made skin die and rot away almost instantly.

“Does that happen often?” Tian asked.

“It’s happened more than once.” Her smile would have warmed the heart of anyone who didn’t know her. Tian was currently trying to determine which of the six Snow Grace Cranes in front of him was real and which were illusions based on the pressure they exerted on his mind. Of course, since she was an Earthly Realm bird and wasn’t trying to exert any pressure on him, he was failing.

It felt like he was set up to fail, but even if he was, it was still an important skill to learn. He kept at it.

“So how does the Five Elements Courtyard manage to travel through the mountains?” He had been pointedly instructed to respond to any statement with a question unless otherwise directed.

“Geomantic compasses. Swordmasters have swords, beast tamers have beasts, array masters use geomantic compasses.”

“What’s a geomantic compass?” The bird in front of him cocked its head at him. The bright yellow iris was making hard eye contact. He had the distinct impression the bird thought he was an idiot, but then, birds often looked that way.

“Like a normal compass, but with a ton of various geomantic calculations carved into it. What makes the ones used by array masters special is that they don’t always point south. They can be tuned to different locations or features and then, with a skilled user, assist in calculating how arrays should be created or destroyed. They are also used for divination, though at the Earthly Person Level, they aren’t what I would consider reliable.”

“So they divine their way through the hazards, using the compasses to chart a safe course?” Tian tried to make himself as open and sensitive as he could, but he still wasn’t detecting anything in particular from the birds. His sensory art didn’t help with this either- he had checked.

“That’s one way to do it. Another way is using the compass to point directly at, say, the nearest major concentration of a certain highly specific type of qi. It only works if they know exactly what they are looking for in advance, of course, but it’s a powerful tool nonetheless. At the Earthly Realm, they lard them up with extra tools to control basic arrays. Wildly complex, for something a foot and a half across. Incidentally, you might try a bit of lateral thinking here. If her attention isn’t on you, then you should draw her attention somehow.”

Tian thought about that for a moment, then pulled out a fruit and cracked it open. The hard red exterior parted to reveal a wobbly white interior and a floral aroma that shamed formal gardens. The birds crowded in, shoving each other, long beaks stabbing like spears towards the fruit. He danced back, waving the fruit in the air, angry squawks and hungry birds chasing after him. It was hard- they all moved differently, but correctly. They looked identical. They smelled, sounded, and felt identical. But only one of them was real, which meant that only one of them was putting the weight of attention on him.

Using brainpower. Whatever that was.

The second crane on the left felt different. How, Tian couldn’t say. He snaked his hand through the stabbing beaks and offered the fruit to her.

“Well done.” The other cranes vanished in a shimmer of light, leaving only the real Snow Grace Craine to none-too-gently claim her prize.

“That bright red face never looks right. I’m used to it now, but it just never looks right.”

It’s how they are. Lots of stranger things than her living well in the world.

“Like what?”

You know your tea pet? The bird? That’s a real bird. There are real birds that look like that. And they look normal compared to Qilin. Qilin look like someone scooped up all the mountain mammals and at least one lizard, put them in a jar, shook ‘em up, and called what came out a sacred beast.

“Is… is that what actually happened?”

No, but the truth is somehow more unbelievable. Eyes up. You are breaking her rule.

“Does the Five Elements Courtyard favor brain affecting illusions or the ones made from light and sound?”

“FINALLY!” Daoist Steelshimmer didn’t quite throw her hands in the air, but Tian could see them start to rise before she controlled the urge. “Not one of you, literally not one of the five of you, seem at all interested in how the Court likes to operate. You do understand that the more you understand your enemy, the better prepared you are to counter them, right?”

Tian looked directly into the envoy’s eyes, and held them. “Are they my enemies, Elder?”

She held the look for a moment longer, then sagged. “Problem child. No, they are not your enemies. They aren’t your friends either. They really, really won’t be your friends if you do your job this trip.” She waved away the point.

“The answer is situational. It requires less qi but vastly more skill to use mind affecting illusions. What’s more, you can’t use it at all unless you are deep into the Heavenly Person Realm. If you see a place protected by a mind affecting illusion, it’s something or someone a quite senior Senior wants protected. Proceed with all necessary caution.”

“And the other sort?”

“Lower level disciples, or those using premade talismans, will usually rely on light and sound based illusions. The smart ones hide things, rather than try to make you think something is there that isn’t.”

Unlawfully taken from Royal Road, this story should be reported if seen on Amazon.

“So they favor things like concealing that they have drawn a weapon, or leading you into a buried trap?”

“That kind of thing, yes, though true invisibility is very hard and concealing your immortal breath is much harder still. Not strictly impossible, just prohibitively difficult. Duels with people from the Five Elements Courtyard tend to be over very quickly, one way or another. If they can turtle up behind a protective barrier, you are in for a world of hurt. If they can’t, they surrender fast.”

“Why aren’t we practicing breaking barriers then?”

“Because ‘Hit them a lot’ is usually the correct answer, and when it isn’t, ‘Hit them in the right spot’ is what you need to do. And ‘the right spot’ varies between every array, and it can even vary within two arrays of the same type, deployed in different places. Or you can disrupt the energy flow if you have the means to do so and don’t mind risking a catastrophic explosion. It’s an enormously complex field, and usually requires special tools to be effective. No point in learning now. Just hit it a lot.”

“Disciples, gather in the garden in twenty minutes. We will arrive shortly, and I want you all looking presentable.”

Elder Feng’s voice whispered in his ear. He cupped his hands and bowed towards Daoist Steelshimmer. “Thank you for your teachings. I need to go get changed and make sure my hair is fixed up.”