Chapter 51- The Daoists Return to Simplicity

“What the dog fornicating hell just happened?”

“Language.”

“No, Sister Liren, I think I used exactly the correct words. I am keeping my composure, my dignity, and using the appropriate etiquette for both the company I am in, and the situation at hand. Strictly speaking, it’s not even profanity. However, if this isn’t a moment for profanity, I really don’t know what is. I am morally and logically correct in my choice of words.”

“Tsk tsk. The young dragon Tian Zihao, reduced to barbarous language by a mere…”

“Go on. Really. Go on. A mere what? Tell me. I want to know.”

“Yeah, I have no idea what the dog fornicating hell just happened. Glad we lived though.” Hong shrugged, her eyes wide and wild, her lips pulled back into the fakest grin Tian had ever seen.

“I think ‘live’ is the minimum reasonable expectation.” Tian’s fingers looked like they were throttling an invisible throat. He wasn’t aware. “A year and a half. A YEAR AND A HALF our… dearly revered Grand Elder had us running around rather than just telling us something. He could have sent us a note if he didn’t want to visit. The number of times we both nearly died!”

“All so he could have an audience while he killed someone then committed suicide. If that’s what really happened. Although that does seem like, again, the bare minimum we could expect given the whole mass-murder on an unprecedented scale.” Hong was tapping her spear on the ground in a way that suggested she was visualizing stabbing. “Though I am sure that isn’t all that happened.”

“Here is a head scratcher for you- was it mass murder? If he mostly sat around and deliberately did nothing, can it be murder? Or do you have to act? Counter-argument, can a failure to act be murder? Do you have a responsibility to act?”

Liren nodded thoughtfully. “I don’t give a damn what the law says. The most powerful diviner in the nation, older than the nation, commanding the most powerful military force in the nation, who helped create the nation AND raise up thousands of cultivators, damn well does have a responsibility to his creation! I am not interested in entertaining any defense of that…”

There was a drifting silence.

“Can’t think of a strong enough swear?”

“No.”

“It’s a tough one. On a completely related point, where are we?”

“Dunno.” Hong shrugged. “On a mountain?”

Her guess was reasonable, given that on the other side of the road was three feet of grassy verge, then a not quite vertical drop several hundred feet down. You would have a lovely view as you fell. The mountain seemed to be lush with green bushes and sweet-smelling bamboo. Tian thought he could smell pine and cedar somewhere. Perhaps there was a forest beyond the drifting, faintly iridescent mists above.

Or below. There was a remarkable amount of mist, given the patches of achingly blue sky that slipped through now and again.

Tian took a deep breath. The air was humid, but not choking, cool, but not cold, there was a sweetness to it that refreshed body and mind. Wherever they were, it was a good place. Tian inhaled deeply, then started his cultivation running.

He coughed. He had managed to choke on fresh air.

“Brother?”

“The qi. It’s really dense here. Not quite at the level of the Six Turns Caverns, but higher than anywhere I’ve been outside of it. It feels less chaotic too. Purer, if that makes sense.”

Liren nodded slowly. She looked around again, her mouth slowly opening, her eyes widening. “I know where we are. Or… I have a really good guess. Ancient Crane Mountain. I think he delivered us to Ancient Crane Mountain.”

Tian shook his head. He expected to be here one day. This was a bit soon. He looked around. The road snaked upwards and downwards, quickly being lost in the folds of the mountain. A mountain that, from what he recalled, took even cultivators a week or more to circle on foot, and was so tall, the peak couldn’t be seen from the ground.

“Guess we find out what we can hunt and forage out here, because I don’t like our chances of finding anyone.” Tian laughed softly. “Maybe we just need to cross our fingers and pray some core disciple comes rushing out, furious that we are trespassing.”

They paused to admire the birds flying through the sky below them. Tian glanced over at the crane. She looked a little intimidated. Not ordinary birds, then.

“You will have to do the finger crossing, of course.” Tian added.

“Me? Why me? You cross your fingers. They’re all weird and noodly, you will be great at it.” Hong shoved the job back at him.

“You have three more fingers than me, and can’t bear to cross four of ‘em. Of all the wretchedly unfilial behavior…” The two started bickering and walking uphill. The crane, who was used to it, walked beside them. Tian could tell it was unsettled, and wanted to stay close.

The road was steep, and each step was draining. This was balanced by the sweet air, revitalizing their vital energy with every breath. Just living here made you healthier. Tian hopped a little, then did it again. Then a third time.

“Is it just me, or is the ground pulling on us harder than it should?”

Hong gave a little jump. Tian noticed she jumped a bit higher than he did. Presumably for the sake of childish competition. She clearly had a lot of growing up to do. “Huh. You’re right.”

“Must be all the earth qi in the mountain.” Tian nodded. This seemed to confirm his earlier theory about earth qi. He jumped again, just to check. By complete coincidence, he jumped a little higher than Liren. He landed with satisfaction at the experimental proof of his theory, and for no other reason.

“That makes sense.” She jumped again. He couldn’t help but notice she spent almost a second in the air. “I don’t have a better theory.”

Tian jumped. He was good at jumping. “Indeed.”

Liren jumped. The crane gave them both a gimlet stare from her brilliantly yellow eyes, and sat down in the grass. They were still jumping five minutes later when a small group came down the path. There were three women, and one rather large man. Broad of shoulder, profound of gut, with the round, innocent face of a born victim, even his bun bobbed in a way that suggested he would be easy to fool.

“See, I told you I recognized their vital energy. Brother Tian, Sister Hong, you two are a sight for sore eyes!”

Brother Wang, in all his flustered glory, bore down on them. “We were in the Five Elements Courtyard and then we got ripped through the air! Did you know that if you move fast enough, the air starts to glow around you? I swear I saw clouds burst apart as we punched through them. We must have looked like a dragon, brilliant gold and trailing a long streak behind us through the air.”

“I… did not know that.” Tian shook his head, then collected himself. “Forgive me! It is good to see you again, Martial Aunt Mei, Sister Su, Brother Wang. But I don’t believe I know your companion?” The words flowed, just the way he learned them back in the Temple, smoothing out all those messy human relations.

“Oh yes, where are my manners? This is Sister Ming Yu. She… defected. Along with Lil’ Mei.” Brother Wong coughed and looked away. Tian gave the woman a proper look. She was, in fact, wearing the multicolored and embroidered robes of the Five Elements Courtyard. Martial Aunt Mei was wearing a fancier version of the same outfit. Considerably fancier, he was fairly sure there were active formations in her clothes but how that worked, he had no idea.

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“Defected?”

Ming Yu nodded vigorously. Tian quickly noticed a few oddities about her. The first was that she was wearing some kind of device over her eyes. He recognized glass, but the little circular disks held in place on her face with bits of flattened wire and bamboo were… novel. He could see tiny formations carved into them. Perhaps they were enchanted. The white jade pendant hanging from her waist certainly was, as were the brilliant green jade cuffs on her ears. Her robes looked like they were too big for her too, her sleeves were practically dragging, and her hem was muddy. Did she shrink? Tian felt an immediate sense of kinship.

“Yes, we simply couldn’t stay in the Courtyard any longer. No bonds of family or duty could compel me to endure…” Ming Yu gently shook her head and looked away, distraught. Her ‘look away’ happened to look in the direction of Brother Wang. Tian couldn’t help but feel his attention being pulled back to the jade ear cuffs she was wearing, and the pendant hanging from her waist. He had never seen anything quite like them before. The elements moved like swaying watergrass around them.

Could an array or an enchantment have its own dao? It would be the product of a dao, of course, and the crafter’s own conception. But could the thing itself have a dao? Because if everything was part of the dao, then any random rock or tree… no, every random rock and tree had its own dao. All of existence, by virtue of existing, was pursuing a path.