Chapter 50- Raising Spears For A Long War

Tian didn’t speak much for a few days. The heretics were pressing in too deep, collapsing the battle line in towards the north. Forward Base Redknife was now the tip of a narrow blister of notionally Orthodox controlled territory, and its position wasn’t going to be tenable for long. The base was evacuated, and Depot Number Four was expanded and re-fortified.

The commanders proclaimed that thanks to a series of powerful advances, the heretics were running like dogs and being slaughtered like pigs. Abandoning the forward bases was proof that they were no longer necessary, and the concentration of forces would allow Ancient Crane Mountain to explode forward and crush the last desperate resistance of the already broken Heretics.

How long you listened to the speeches was generally taken as a measure of your experience. Tian tuned it out by minute seven of his first speech. Most of his seniors were cultivating while they stood at parade rest and listened to all the motivation. Everybody knew they were losing.

The people making the speeches knew what the people listening to the speeches were doing. But what else were they supposed to do? The Outer Court was one thing- they couldn’t run, and they were all obsessed with breaking through to the Heavenly Human Realm. Tian knew from his conversations with Quartermaster Wu that things weren’t so simple in the Inner Court.

To break through from the Earthly to the Heavenly was simply a matter of accumulation and inspiration. To break through from Heavenly to whatever came next required considerably more. Treasures, merit, heavenly opportunity, enlightenment, so many things that could only be chanced upon, not manufactured or willed into existence.

“What comes after the Heavenly Person Realm, Sister Wu? I don’t think anyone ever told me.”

She grimaced. “Don’t worry about it.”

“Pardon?”

“Don’t worry about it. Don’t think about it, don’t try to learn about it. Really. After who knows how many hundreds of thousands of years, experience has conclusively proven that learning too much about cultivation levels above your own leads to cultivation deviation. Basically only bad things happen if you know. So we don’t tell you much. Just know that the Inner Court is a viper’s nest.”

“But why? If things can only be chanced on and not sought after-”

“No, you have that backwards. Let’s say there was a magic pill that let you break through to the next realm. There isn’t, and thousands of alchemists have ruined their lives and the lives of countless others trying to make one. But say there was. That means there would be a recipe, a list of ingredients, a production formula, specified necessary equipment- there would be a model to follow. You would be able to mine the necessary metals, grow the necessary herbs, whatever. It could be manufactured.”

“Metals?”

“Yes. Alchemy, real alchemy, uses things like cinnabar and lead to create a permanent yin yang resonance within the pill and the person who takes it. Very powerful stuff, and managing pill toxins is no joke even at the Heavenly Person level.

Pill toxins? PILL TOXINS?! Fuck your granny and her pill toxins! This is why you got lead poisoning, some dogshit alchemist’s droppings made their way into your mouth! Are you fucking kidding me with this peabrained system of resonances or whatthefuckever they are calling it? DO YOU KNOW WHAT THAT BULLSHIT COST ME?!! Oh hateful Heavens, that I should hear such a thing and not have the arms and bullwhips to deliver the necessary correction!

Tian had to tune out Grandpa Jun. He had no idea what he was on about anyhow.

“The point is, even if this stuff was really rare to mine, or only grew once a century in one specific mountain valley or something, you could make a system. There would be a plan, and a quota and people would figure out all kinds of means to get their hands on the pill. There would be some degree of certainty.

“But there is no pill. There is no single magic treasure that will get you over the barrier into what lies beyond. It’s like inspiration, in that no two people will ever manage it in exactly the same way. You have to go and find your own thing.”

“Adventuring. The only way to advance is to go adventuring.”

“The majority of the Inner Court treats our Ancient Crane Mountain as a sort of home base. A place to come and sell unneeded treasures and to gear up for their next great adventure. A place to learn new spells and arts, to get training, to run a business perhaps, if they are some kind of crafter. But loyalty?” She shook her head.

“I can’t imagine it. The idea of my brothers dying because I was off on an adventure makes me sick.” Tian spoke in a soft voice. He had wanted to go adventuring, before Brother Fu neatly diverted him into being Brother Wong’s herb boy.

“Oh, you’ll go. You will have to. But there is a reason why Elder Rui has so much say in the Inner Court despite being the Outer Court Elder and his mediocre cultivation. It’s only under him in the last thousand years or so that loyal, unified new recruits have been regularly entering the Inner Court. That merit is really down to his work with the West Town Outer Court. The other Outer Courts aren’t showing nearly as good results, and there is real fear about what will happen when Brother Fu and Sister Bai die.”

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“Why hasn’t everything fallen apart, then?” Tian asked, trying not to let the thought of Brother Fu dying knot up his guts. He was a very old man, after all. It would be only natural if he died soon. Tian just couldn’t stand the thought of it.

“Because even the Inner Court isn’t the real Ancient Crane Mountain. That’s the Core Disciples up in the Monastery, and they are unified. They are strong as hell, too. Even within the same realm, they make other cultivators look like sleepy birds. And the Direct Disciples are the best of the Core Disciples, studying directly under the Daoist Masters. They are practically parent and child. Loyalty doesn’t even cover it. That’s the other thing a sect provides- security. Having a safe place to come home to and having people who will avenge you if you die is a huge reassurance.”

She waved an elegant hand, flicking away the tangent.