Sky Pride

Chapter 11- The Burden of Treasure

A day off has a way of clarifying certain things. You step out of the immediate, exhale the confusion, and can face what was causing you to lose track of things in the first place. Tian was a little grumpy to discover the thing that was jamming him up was the thing he was assiduously not thinking about. The loot. The real loot. It’s all very well being frugal, but a degree of common sense must surely apply. What should a little daoist do when he’s sold off two fortunes’ worth of loot, and still has more than his pockets can safely hold?

Tian offloaded entire racks of mediocre weapons, armor and equipment on the Mission Hall, who had the decency to look enthused because it was new to them, not because it was anything special. It might have fired the blood of Heavenly Realm cultivators elsewhere, but this was the Monastery. They’d seen it all before. Sometimes literally. A few of the recovered pieces were ‘coming home’ to where they were crafted.

He only handed over the goods after equipping Liren and himself with a truly eye watering selection of defensive tools, escape tools, stored healing spells in rings and the like. It wasn’t great stuff, but it existed, and it was miles better than nothing. Still, it wasn’t transformative, and twenty years of Grandpa’s unsubtle propaganda had left him contemptuous of ordinary goods. If it wasn’t transformative, it was disposable. If it was disposable, it was probably dispensable. If it was dispensable, why were you dragging it around? Was it even as useful as a good mushroom, or a bit of wild lettuce? Those were free, and you could eat them.

No, the real loot came in four broad ‘pots.’ The first pot was the spirit crystals. They had what Tian considered a life threatening quantity of wealth on hand, vastly inflated by what they obtained from the Mission Hall. They took some compensation in merits, but since they didn’t have much to spend merits on, spirit crystals were strongly preferred. Which created a new problem. Too many crystals, of what they now knew were low quality.

A great deal of effort went into figuring out Jin’s crystal refining method, with no luck. Creating and controlling aura wasn’t so easy to learn. Likewise, they ransacked the library for any similar crystal refining arts, and while there were formations that could replicate it, they required specialized ingredients and tools to create. It was no different than simply announcing their wealth to the world.

Tian made a point of publicly grieving over the loss of the sky barge, which he strongly hinted contained most of the treasures. Possibly someone believed him. Possibly.

The second pot of loot was what Tian broadly called Strange Devices, and made Grandpa rub his ghostly hands with pleasure. Tian couldn’t really understand why an orb that made a bit of air fifty feet above you colder was worth all the fuss, until Grandpa helpfully pointed out the seemingly simple spell that accompanied the orb. “Little Rain” did exactly what it said on the cover. It created a little rain. Fractionally more spiritually rich than ordinary rainfall outside the mountain, but it was hardly worth the effort for any but the most committed gardeners or spirit farmers. Combine the orb and the spell, however, and the rain was intensely spiritual, dense with nourishing yin. Their vegetable garden was coming in mighty strong, and the tea tree practically purred with satisfaction. He half thought about starting to grow medicinal herbs in serious quantities, purely because of the strange orb.

All the treasures in this category were like this. A spade and bucket that, when used with the right spell and the right ingredients, formed a truly spectacular cement. A forging hammer that seemed no different than any other to Tian, but had Grandpa Jun practically shaking his shoulders and insisting that he only show it to a blacksmith he intended to exploit ruthlessly.

It is an adjustable weight forging hammer that also has a vibration elimination function. Do you know how massively this will improve a forger’s quality of life? AND there is a grinding wheel in there that is self driven, has an adjustable grit, and best of all, it automatically removes all the load from the grinding surface. Let me tell you, if the crafters on the mountain knew you had such an item, you would never know a moment’s peace until it left your hands. Hide it well. Hide it very well. When you are out in the world, you can swap it for at least a first rate weapon or piece of armor. Or both.

Others were a bit less practical, like the miniature brass qin that played music when you flicked one of the strings, or the incense that triggered the mechanical birds when lit. It was rather incredible, when you thought about it, even if it was ultimately a one-time-use item. Other things were more prosaic, like a little bell covered in snarling demon faces that rang when evil spirits were near, or a tea cup that kept your tea warm for you, almost indefinitely.

Tian didn’t think for a moment about keeping that one. The outside was glazed black, but on the bottom of the cup was a scene painted in lurid colors. The young man appeared to be in no condition to object to what the older man was doing to him, even if it seemed like he really, really wished he could. It didn’t feel quite right smashing an otherwise useful item with a hammer, but it didn’t feel right to keep it either. He dithered over it for almost an hour, until Liren reached over, glanced inside the cup, flung it up into the air, and shattered it with a single spear thrust. That was the end of that, though it did point to the third bucket- the personal equipment of Threadcutter and the Long brothers.

These were considerably awkward treasures. All their defensive items had been ruined or were so utterly heretical, Tian had sent them for instant incineration. What survived and was notable was largely their main weapons. The swords wielded by the Long brothers were genuinely excellent, imported across the Redstone Wastes from the Sword Sect. Both were light, exquisitely balanced, and even Tian’s inexpert eye could see they were made with superb materials.

Brother Wang’s discreet appraisal, which he repeatedly emphasized was not to be considered definitive, was that they were made with heavenstrike cloud iron, refined heavily through a process he wouldn’t even speculate about, forged with what he thought was a form of thousand layer fishscale pattern, then finally handed over to an enchanter. One blade favored earth, the other metal, though exactly what the enchantments were or how they were to be best used… the big man could only shake his head and hand them back over.

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“Too rich for me, too good for the Mission Hall. Give up on the staff, and persuade Sis’ Hong to give up on the spear. You will be the White-Gold Yin-Yang Sword Cranes, bright swords singing in the sunlight, proclaiming your glorious name through the Wasteland of Song.”

“Swords are an idiot’s weapon. Denied.”

“Doesn’t stop anyone else, and these are good enough that it might be worthwhile… fine, fine. I wouldn’t be caught dead waving one around either. You are heading off the mountain again? Somehow? For a second time? Auction them.”

“Where? What auction house in the kingdom would dare handle that business?” Tian asked, throwing his hands in the air.

“None of ‘em. But that’s in this kingdom. Others might be different, and the world outside the Wasteland certainly is. You are in the Heavenly Realm, brother. Expand your vision.”

Tian reckoned that made sense, and somehow was less of a headache than Threadcutter’s shears. Those were almost laughably evil, the sin flames on them roaring fit for a furnace in hell. They were also, in Grandpa Jun’s estimation, the single most profoundly enchanted weapon Tian had yet come across, the horn spear gifted to Liren included.

Her spear is made with remarkable materials. The enchanting itself is well done, but nothing special in and of itself. These, on the other hand, are made with bog iron, a particularly crap sort of metal, and then refined through absolutely diabolical means to be soul attacking weapons. More interesting than that, it was made to be a surgical tool. You can not just cut away the soul entirely, you can trim off bits of it.

“Grandpa… this is beyond cursed. Just by possessing it, I feel tainted.”

True-

“GRANDPA?!”

But, if you will just let me finish, it doesn’t have to stay that way. The sin on it was accumulated by the ways Threadcutter used it, not something inherent to its nature. Diabolical refinement not withstanding. If there is one thing a monastery doesn’t lack, it’s the means to purify wicked things. Usually that means destroying them, but a young man who had a great deal of self revelation specifically regarding purifying heretics and corruption might just take this as a learning opportunity. Hint, hint.

The shears were shoved way down in the bottom of the storage ring he had mentally marked as quarantine, wrapped in yellow talisman paper. He reckoned it was anybody’s guess whether he would find a way to make use of it before figuring out how to use that thrice damned mushroom they found in the demonic tiger’s lair almost a year ago. Every now and then Tian would take it out and just stare at it, hoping that inspiration would strike. He wasn’t even sure he had the identification of it down right. It seemed to match the description of a dozen or so tubers. Which led to the final, and most useful, of his pots of good fortune. The body refining treasures.

The Long clan and Threadcutter agreed on one thing- you couldn’t have too strong a foundation. They also agreed that, be it for commerce or personal use, there was no such thing as too much of a good thing. Good was relative- most of what they acquired was simply not able to improve on what Tian and Liren had already managed for themselves. There were, however, a few items that made even Grandpa smile. For one thing, while Threadcutter might have been lying about how much money he was carrying, he wasn’t lying about the Earth Milk. And Earth Milk was a natural treasure with a market, but no price.

It is one of the very, very, very best body refining treasures for yin body types, which you have. Used right, and sufficiently old, it’s even a first rate treasure. This stuff isn’t quite that good, but I’d put it towards the top end of second rate, and ten drops is a crazy amount. You find it in very deep caves, ones carved by water. You need a deep, deep concentration of yin earth and elemental water, more the former than the latter, with a bare hint of, for lack of a better term, vitality. Water dripping inside a cave is normal- that’s how you get stalactites and stalagmites. However, under extremely rare circumstances, over thousands of years, some caves will form little puddles of what looks like milk, but is actually condensed qi. The mix has to be just right, or it’s essentially poison. Even if the mix is right, it is poison if you use it wrong. You can’t just drink the stuff.

“So how do you use it?”

The best way, given your circumstances, is to mix it with some yin oils- toad oil would be a good choice, and reasonably available, then yin aspected natural treasures should be added to form a complete elemental cycle. Puree, boil, let cool into a paste, then apply thoroughly. I mean every single scrap of you, from the soles of your feet to the tips of your hair.

“The recipe doesn’t cost too much?”

What recipe? “Take the yin treasure, mix with other yin treasures, and apply?”

“Fair.”

No, the part that is actually going to be hard is getting all that goodness into you. It requires both internal and external pressure for maximum effect.

“Can Liren do it?”

Not effectively. This is a little tricky to talk about, both because it involves concepts you aren’t yet familiar with and because it could get expensive. Very generally, the daoist universe can be thought of as a sort of well made top, right? Everything is constantly spinning, but also balanced.

“I’m following you, I think.”

Related to that is the concept of “As above, so below,” at least on a metaphorical level. The body contains an elemental cycle, the planets influence when it’s a good time to harvest medicine, and so on.

“Sure.”

Heaven, earth and man, another sort of cycle in balance. Vital energy, qi and shen.

“Earth Milk being a body refining treasure, fair to guess it’s related to the ‘Earth’ part of that cycle.”

Correct. The stronger your body, the stronger the foundation your qi system can build on, and the stronger your shen becomes when you finally start using it directly.

“But the key is balancing it.” Tian got it. “If the body becomes too strong, the qi system can’t support it, and the shen becomes degraded with it.”

More than that, Earth Milk would only be third rate if its reach was so shallow. It affects what daoists call your po souls, the part of your soul that is tied to your fleshy body. Hence the need for a powerful helper. You need someone who can guide your body through all phases of the great imperfect-human cycle to safely take advantage of the truly comprehensive power of the treasure. Now, Voidcatcher could do it for a price, but…

“But. One of the doctors?”

All Heavenly Realm at best. Fortunately, you did just make an important connection in the Human realm, one whose cultivation art is very directly connected to cycles. She’s even culturally required to support your growth!

“Ah.”