Sky Pride

Chapter 17- Preparing for the Unknown

Liren met Tian’s smile with her own, the blush rising on her neck. “I’ve been taking the herbs for months now.”

The two walked back to their little cottage, rebuilt to have a bedroom big enough for them to share. They had learned each other’s bodies long ago, praising them and delighting in them, learning all they could about the one they would walk beside forever. It still made their hearts race, their breath quicken. Hands that were so steady holding a scalpel or a spear turned shaky today. They were tentative, then impatient. Then ecstatic. It was a happy way to spend the day. And the night. And the next day.

“I’ve been wanting this since I was fifteen. Don’t even dream you can escape me.” Liren growled, wrapping herself around Tian.

“Who’s running? Weren’t you the one calling for a break? And… fifteen, really? I didn’t notice.”

“Zihao, I could have put up a sign bigger than a mountain and you wouldn’t have noticed. The sign could have been on fire, accompanied by a team of musicians and an opera company and you would just have complained about the noise and gone somewhere else. Which was a mercy. I wasn’t ready, then.”

“Neither was I.” Tian smiled. “Having a body that properly works is amazing. It’s really, really amazing. Though not having those kinds of urges was quite peaceful. It’s not a bad way to be.”

“Would you go back if you could?”

Tian didn’t hesitate to shake his head. “I was happy, but that was because I was healing. I knew that it wasn’t how I was always going to be. I’m just glad my body has gotten back to normal. Other people normal, not me normal.”

Liren laughed. “Your body still isn’t normal, and it’s a good thing. Neither is mine, and… you are persuading me that it isn’t a bad thing either. Though I’m a little worried.”

“Don’t be. I am entirely happy to spend as long as you like showing you just how much I like it.”

Liren grinned at that, then frowned. “Not what I meant. I don’t know about your brothers, but us sisters talk about… this kind of stuff… in detail, and it always sounds full of hidden dangers. We’re having fun, but what if we are messing up somehow? I’ve heard some rough stories.”

Tian shrugged. “Don’t know what to tell you, other than my body is human shaped, correctly sized in all particulars, has all necessary parts, and has been repeatedly refined to be in top condition. And so has yours. And if we aren’t doing sex right, then I am happy to report that, thanks to all the looting we did over the last year, we have a huge pile of manuals, both secular and daoist, we could work our way through.”

“Huh. So we do. Alright, I guess learning a few extra techniques can’t hurt. Probably.”

“Just take it as learning a spear technique.” Tian grinned, and Liren grinned right back. Considerably more malevolently, in Tian’s opinion.

“Sure, let me just grab a hold and spin it around over my head.”

Tian snorted and dumped the books out in a heap next to him. There were always more things to learn, more things to discover. The world was just so big, and so fascinating, and so much fun.

He picked up a book and a stray thought intruded. That “nothing scandalous under the sun” rule sure hadn’t lasted, had it? He stifled a laugh. He’d have to scold her for her lack of propriety later. Much later, though. He was only on page three, and he was seeing lots of things to try.

The months flowed past, carried on the streams and in the breezes flowing from the mountaintop. Tian considered it a period of extended digestion. Liren, loudly, insisted it was preparation.

Preparation took on many forms. There was a great deal of shopping, naturally, endless trades completed, commissions collected, medicines assembled. Tian’s personal library had expanded once again, as he finally collected his copies of the Heavenly Realm spells Suneater used, then expanded once more as he raided the medical library, then the scripture pavilion. Staff spells, concealment spells, palm spells, manuals on boxing, spirit farming, gardening, herb cultivation, cookbooks, dual cultivation manuals, histories of surrounding kingdoms, maps, anything he thought might, conceivably, be useful and that he didn’t already have in abundance.

The benefits of being a Direct Disciple compared to any other rank in the sect was stark. If Tian had any lingering illusions about the rest of the sect being merely servants for the Direct Disciples and the Monastery, they were quickly shattered.

Goods had a price. Heavily discounted when bought through the sect, but they must be paid for in merits, goods or spirit crystals. Similar to how it was in the Outer Court, though the scope of what was available was ten times larger. The Scripture Pavilion simply threw its doors open, handed him a bit of scrap paper, and told him to make a list of what he wanted copies of. Knowledge was ‘free,’ if you were a Direct Disciple. It was understood that the really valuable teachings would come from your master. Everything else was just supplemental, and given the significant power of each direct disciple, they certainly contributed far more than their fare share to the Monastery. The price paid was your fealty, and your filial diligence.

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They also were in a rush to learn all the “common sense” of the Heavenly Realm. The two had picked up some of it in the last year, but there was no substitute for asking their questions directly. They therefore discussed a few things with a trustworthy senior, who quickly had a sickly expression, despite also being proud of them.

Tian had, in the carefully euphemistic words of Brother Fu, made an understandable, but regrettable mistake. Really, about a year’s worth of mistakes, which would have profound and unpredictable consequences for the entire kingdom, for thousands of years. Heavenly People live apart from mortals and Earthly cultivators. Not just because their less enlightened fellow humans don’t have anything they want. The charisma of a Heavenly Realm cultivator was far beyond what most could imagine, most particularly the Heavenly Realm cultivators themselves. The consequences were often disastrous, even if the cultivator in question was acting with the best of intentions. Cultivators usually were informed of these little details by their sects when they broke through. Usually.

This was such a universally recognized phenomenon, even the heretics were generally inclined to draw a sharp line beneath the Heavenly Realm. Though in their case, it was driven by self interest. The utter focus of the heretic upon their own advancement remained almost unrivaled in the world of cultivation. Still, with care, a great deal of self control, and in great moderation, those in the Heavenly Realm could interact safely with their students and servants. The closed eyes, still face, and flat voice were not simply signs of deep cultivation. The cultivator was deliberately keeping their charisma in check.

When Brother Fu heard what they did for, and to, Han, he simply sighed and said it was up to fate.

“Did we harm him?”

“Who can say? You heaped endless blessings on him, and taught him to survive. He was born in interesting times. Whether Heaven throws hardships at him because you made him stronger or simply because he lives in the present moment… The question can drive you mad. It sounds like you taught him well, and a mortal is always doomed to die. Wait a few years, and turn your eye to the course his life took. Only when he is in the grave can you say whether you helped or harmed him. Perhaps there is no difference.”

Tian just shook his head at that. Even for him, that was a bit too philosophical. The question came up because there was one particular junior who he really wanted to see a great deal of. Little Treasure.

Little Treasure initially wanted to see them too, but that changed after their first meeting. Not because he didn’t like them. He revered them, even more so now. It was that they nearly blinded him simply by existing that was the problem.

“Big Sis’ Hong has that big halo and those burning wheels and the spears floating around her. Big Bro’ Tian…”

Little Treasure hesitated. Tian didn’t rush him. His junior was recovering with the cool compress over his eyes. The least he could do is be patient.

“A lotus crown, golden robes that feel more like rough cloth even though they look gold… a holy feeling. Like I am going to be saved. Like I should be hugged… no, like I should expect you to hug me, and kneel down and be thankful forever because you care for me so much and are so much better than someone like me.”

“Junior?!”

“It’s not sensible. I know it’s not right, or what you want. It just feels like you are…”

“A saint.” Liren stood very straight, her voice low. “He looks like a saint, growing from the muck, unstained by the water, healing, guarding, guiding, nurturing, cherishing those around him. A yin saint.”

“I would have said you were the one guarding, Big Sis. Though I guess it seems like a sort of guarding being done by killing all the dangers first.”

“I am suddenly very, very concerned by the state we left Burning Flag City in.” Tian felt his hands clench, and forced them to relax. “If the mortals felt even a little of this, the results will be unimaginable.”

“They did. They absolutely did. You know some of the names they were calling you. The Emissary of Heaven’s Mercy, Scion of the Moon Palace, Salvation White-”

“Guardian Fairie, Valiant Gold, Maiden of Victory-” Tian cut in, feeling suddenly painful. Liren had the decency to drop it without so much as a dirty look. The room turned silent, the weight of it lingering and pressing on them for minutes.

“We can't show our faces in the kingdom. Not for generations. Maybe never again.” Liren’s voice was hard, her face harder. “Whatever the consequences of what we did, us turning up again will only make it worse. When I say ‘can’t show our face,’ I mean that more than literally. We simply cannot speak to anyone, be seen by anyone, touch or affect anyone in the kingdom. I’ll make an exception for honoring the promises we made to Hanshen and Han, but that’s it. As far as the Broadsky Kingdom is concerned, we have returned to the heavens, the deep mountains, anywhere but the Kingdom.”

“Yeah.” Tian sighed. “I guess it’s a good thing we came to see you, Junior. Though I’m truly sorry about your eyes.”

“Don’t be, they are feeling better already. I’m just glad I could be of help.”

“I was actually hoping you would help me refine the staff art I’m working on, but-”

“Oh, don’t worry about it. Once I’ve recovered, I won’t be affected so much next time. I’ve learned how to, I guess squint? I can’t really find good words to describe it. But I don’t know how much help I can be with a staff art. All I’ve studied is the sword. That, and a little boxing, light body arts, the usual sorts of things.”

Tian smiled. “I’m hoping that if you can see merits, you can see the righteousness in my staff play. The mechanics I can improve from all the manuals in the sect, to say nothing of all the brothers and sisters who specialize in the staff. But only you can see merit, so you are the only person I can think of who can look from the outside and see any defects in my art.”

It was a happy way to pass a year on the mountain. They would have lost track of time entirely, if Voidcatcher hadn’t nudged Burning Heaven to remind them.