Sky Pride

Chapter 19- Propping Up a Future Sky

“I still say we should have special hats,” Tian had folded his arms, resolutely unwilling to look at Liren. “Nothing says political advancement like a special hat. Civil Servants get to put fancy buttons on their hats, princes get one kind of crown, kings get another. Hats matter.”

“They do, which is why I’m keeping mine. You can get your own big hat if you like.” She considered it for a minute then shook her head. “I can’t really decide if it would look good on you or not. Normal straw hats look good on you, but proportions matter.”

“Peh, to limit ourselves with mere practicality… oh, speaking of the impractical. It is good to see you again, Heavenly Demon Heavenly Demon. Is Lord Jin with you?” Tian ostentatiously buffed his new pin, then leaned in with a leer. “I want to boast about my promotion.”

Tian felt a blizzard of moth-wing blows landing on him, and grinned.

“This Seat is genuinely amazed that someone like you exists, and has, somehow, gained insight into the so-called ‘Great Dao.’ Truly, alchemy can achieve miracles. Though it is plain the disgusting quackery of this hole means whatever noxious drugs you took have left irreparable damage.”

“Haha! You flatter me, you flatter me. Do you think this little daoist could afford some kind of medicine to break through? I couldn’t even afford Teacher’s price for some herbs, let alone an actual pill. No, us two dao companions just lived a while and thought about things, and let events take their course. I imagine it was similar for you, right? A more advanced cultivation system surely requires fewer artificial means to forcibly elevate its users.”

“No, a more advanced system uses more sophisticated means to accelerate development and provide better results. You think this Heavenly Demon’s physique is something you can just meditate and get? Tsk! Such arrogance.”

“Ah, I have learned something.” Tian nodded. “With sufficiently advanced means, one can justify any amount of inefficiency. Speaking of, we are to accompany you to some hidden realm, but no one told us where it is or anything about it. Could you kindly relieve our ignorance?”

“Ineffi- Khem!” Heavenly Demon breathed deeply, forcibly calming down. Tian had the urge to put his hair up in a bun for him. The way it kept flying out and settling down again was fun to watch, but it must be exhausting.

“We are going to the cultivation chamber of a certain ancient cultivator of immense power. The ancient was powerful enough that their cultivation chamber became a secluded realm, and he used it as his ascension platform. He failed his ascension, dramatically. There will be no treasures surviving, though the environment in the remnants of the cultivation chamber should be unusual enough to give rise to minerals of rare or even unique properties. It will also be filled with deadly amounts of Stellar Energy, as well as stranger, more unique, cultivating conditions. The latter is what this Demon is there for- with his sufficiently advanced means, this land will serve as the site of his next body refinement.”

Tian blinked, wearing his surprise openly. The Heavenly Demon struck him as paranoid, unwilling to permit someone to even be near him when he cultivated. Telling them that the environment was deadly and he was going to risk a body refinement seemed an unlikely degree of trust.

“And we are to escort you to the entrance and help you open the realm?” Liren asked.

“That is your arrangement with Venerable Voidcatcher. This Seat will offer you a second arrangement.” His face, perfect in its symmetry, sublime in its form, twitched with equal parts irritation and resignation. “This Seat does not know what dangers lurk within such a strange realm. Chanchu was to be my guardian, maintaining a formation array and guiding fate. However, he is in the midst of his own good fortune, and this Seat cannot pull him away from it. You, therefore, stand to inherit a unique opportunity, invaluable, and unique in the wasteland. Why are you two gods of poverty looking at me like that?!”

“The second to last time someone made us an offer like that, we wound up in the middle of a siege and altered the whole destiny of the kingdom.” Liren answered, none too friendly.

“So?” Heavenly Demon shrugged, his incomprehension plain. “It’s barely a kingdom, who cares of some mortal lives go one way or the other? They aren’t yours to command in the first place. The opportunity to serve a Heavenly Demon, to guard them during a moment of extreme danger, that is a blessing tens of millions would kill for. A blessing that falls, unearned, into your laps.”

Tian considered that for a moment, then nodded lightly. “You couldn’t hire anyone in the Holy Land to come and do the work, could you?”

“This Seat was forbidden to even meet them! One day-”

Tian raised a silencing hand. “We are still on the Mountain, and within the Myriad Colors Holy Land. Have a care with your words if you wish to leave the ward at all. Have a care with your thoughts too, for that matter. Burning Heaven here is the youngest disciple of the Grandmaster who rules the Holy Land by appointment from the Human Emperor. I don’t know exactly who that great one is, but given the circumstances, I wouldn’t go around trying to ruin their arrangements. Also, for what little it’s worth, the Grandmaster has gone through some trouble and expense on behalf of us two dao companions. We would be… disinclined… to provide any support to anyone who disrespected him.”

Heavenly Demon glowered at Tian, but brought his irritation under control. “This Heavenly Demon heard that with debts and fleas, once they reach a certain quantity, one does not care if there is one more or less. It seems that, in your case, even debts are precious treasures.”

If you find this story on Amazon, be aware that it has been stolen. Please report the infringement.

Tian nodded lightly. “They are. You know it too, or why would you say that the opportunity to guard you in your hour of need is our fortune?”

Heavenly Demon searched Tian’s face, looking for something. He gave Liren the same look. The strange killing intent, aura, settled around them, not probing this time, resting on them like the desert sun.

“Speak, then. You envy This Seat’s treasures, but do not truly desire them, nor are there any I could truly part with. The arts and methods of the Stellar Descent Cult cannot be spread outside the cult. This Demon has yet to collect a spell or art worthy of the name in the wasteland, nor any truly valuable treasures, no matter what the locals might think of them. Nothing that would be worthy of the service he demands of you. So what, then do you wish from this Demon?”

Tian shared a quick glance with Liren, then smiled. “One day, we will venture into the wider Northern Expanse. We heard that the Stellar Descent Cult is a significant force in the region. We won’t ask for much, just a token of yours.”

The Heavenly Demon’s eyes went wide.

“We have become persuaded of the need for backing, you see, and what better tall one to hold up the falling sky than a Heavenly Demon?” Tian’s smile was innocent as could be, but the look on the Heavenly Demon’s face said it didn’t look that way from his perspective.

“That is a… bold request.”

“One you can meet.” Tian’s smile didn’t shift.

“Who died?” Liren asked. Heavenly Demon seemed almost relieved to look away from Tian.

“Who died?” He asked.

“Who’s cultivation ground are we intruding into?”

“Oh. Old Freak Song.” Heavenly Demon flapped his hand. “This Seat would have thought he had made that plain.”

“Song. As in the Wasteland of Song?” Liren asked, peeling each word like an unpleasant grape.

Heavenly Demon blinked slowly, then shifted slightly back. “Surely it is common knowledge in the Wastes. His cultivation ground was located in what is now the desert region in the middle of the wasteland. You all live here. How could you possibly not know that?”

Tian and Liren stood in stunned silence for almost a minute. The notion that the Redstone Wastes, as well as the eight kingdoms around it, were merely the mystic blast crater of a failed attempt at ascending, needed to be slowly picked apart.

“You know, that’s actually a good question. Why didn’t we know?” Liren asked.

“You are asking me, but who should I ask? I didn’t know there were immortals at all until I was ten or something. Heavenly Realm people were basically a myth until I met Elder Rui.” Tian spread his hands helplessly. “Either our elders didn’t know or it just never came up. I’d bet on the former.”

“But shouldn’t it be… no, hang on, how long ago was this explosion?” Liren asked Heavenly Demon.

“This demon didn’t say it was an explosion, it was a failed ascension. The after effects damaged the Dragon Veins or whatever you call the flow of geomantic energy through the region, causing it to die out almost entirely in some places, and become tainted and chaotic in others. That’s why the energy is so thin, and why it’s called a wasteland.” Heavenly Demon spoke slowly, using small hand movements, an overwhelmingly “kind” expression on his face. “And this Seat didn’t bother learning precise dates, but it would be fairly recent. Some time within the last fifty or sixty thousand years.”

Tian and Liren exchanged a look. “Figure the average Heavenly person lives around eight hundred years, a thousand with luck and the right foundation. Human Realm people live some number of thousands of years, at least six thousand, but they aren’t immortal. Dynasties change every- what, twenty thousand years or something?” Tian stroked his chin.

“More often than that, I’d expect, but you have read more histories than me. I see what you are getting at. No one who knew is still alive and living in the wasteland, and any knowledge that was held in various monasteries or sects has been lost over time. Or buried. I do know that mortal kings are notorious for ‘editing’ histories they don’t like.”

“Enough with the irrelevancies. Will you be serving this Heavenly Demon or not?”

“No, of course not.” Liren slowly, using small hand movements, an overwhelmingly “kind” expression on her face. “We will be guarding you inside the hidden realm, but serving you? Dreams are for when you are asleep.”

“That is, provided you give us your token and your oath to be our backing in the Northern Expanse. This includes your influence within your sect, the mortal world, anywhere your name carries weight. In addition, we are agreeing to guard you, not die for you. You go off and do something dumb that is likely to get us killed, we will watch you do it, then try and remember when you fell so your death anniversary can be observed.” Tian pitched the ‘added benefit’ with all the grace of someone who refused to enter shops.

“Picking up your bones would naturally incur an extra fee, payable in advance.” Liren followed Tian’s words without breaking the rhythm or flow.

“As would informing anyone who might care enough to rescue you if you become trapped somewhere too dangerous for us to risk rescuing you. Expedited service is available for an additional fee,” Tian came in with the closer, freshly memorized from a recent exchange with the Wang family. The sight of Sister Su mechanically rubbing her fingers and thumbs together, clearly imitating Brother Wang, was seared into his memories.

“Why are you- This Seat demands that you explain why you are rubbing your fingers and thumb in that manner!”

“Ah, that is a level of development that really moves me. I had no idea that the Northern Expanse had progressed beyond even the concept of money. This little daoist has much to learn, much to learn.”

Heavenly Demon slowly turned and faced the sun, closing his eyes and forming his hands into a strange series of mudras before resting, palms outstretched, catching handfuls of sunlight.

Tian waited silently, a polite business smile never leaving his face. Liren pulled out a book. Tian was interested to see it was on painting. Was she planning on advancing her skills? He glanced at the spirit wolf hiding out in his stone. The little fellow was playful, and had enjoyed running around their cave, but didn’t seem to like Heavenly Demon much. It was glowering at him, unwilling to stir out.

Heavenly Demon didn’t move for a full hour. Neither did Tian or Liren. Tian watched the muscles on Heavenly Demon’s neck twitch, to say nothing of the faint stirrings of the tips of his long hair. Admittedly, it was a little irritating the way he had to tilt his head back to do that, but he didn’t mind. He was quite used to waiting, and to doing irritating things. It took a degree of courage, if not insanity, to try to out wait an immortality cultivating daoist.