Kindling, page 37
part #6 of Painting the Mists Series
“It’s the Greater Friendship Circle, and that’s final,” Huxian said. “The newest feature of this circle is limit breaking. Through the Greater Friendship Circle, we can transfer our strength beyond our normal capabilities. Because that’s what friendship is—making each other better by being present, raising each other up as a group.”
“That sounds incredibly corny,” Lei Jiang pointed out.
“It’s not, it’s a great name,” Huxian said. “As I was saying, we’ll be able to better utilize our strength to defend the mountain elemental.” Then he shouted toward the rapidly approaching rocky creature. “How long until you’re finished?”
“Three days, perhaps,” the mountain elemental said. It glowed with purple light that spread out toward its smaller selves. These clones suddenly melded together and formed spiky walls that strategically blocked off several access routes. “This is the last help I can give you. You’ll need to defend me against any attacks until I’m finished.”
“Leave it to us,” Huxian said. “Xiao Bai, I need you to do something for me.”
“And what’s that?” Xiao Bai said.
“I need you to cook more moon cakes,” Huxian said gravely. “As many as demonically possible.”
Cha Ming sat cross-legged in the woods, his body looking like nothing more than a desiccated corpse. He trembled as he circulated qi throughout his body, bringing the medicinal components to selectively destroy all traces of poison.
This scene continued for three hours before he sent out dozens of herbs and prepared them with his resplendent force. He minced and cut, mashed and spread, powdered and juiced. Finally, he applied each of them to his ailing body, which rapidly recovered to his original appearance.
Having completed the treatment, he inspected his body before grimly concluding that the solution had failed. “It’s like a cancer,” he muttered. “The last two solutions were the least aggressive of the bunch. It seems as if to kill this poison, I’ll have to nearly kill myself. I’ll have to destroy my own vitality to starve it out.”
A decisive gleam appeared in his eyes. Over a hundred medicinal ingredients appeared overhead. Each of them was mundane in nature, but when combined, they either made potent tonics or vicious poisons.
I’ll lose some effectiveness by preparing them beforehand, but I can’t afford to be distracted in the final moments, he thought. This was the last solution he could try, and the riskiest. If he failed, he might well die.
After a few moments of preparation and mixing, he stored half of the resulting ingredients in a contingent formation. Should the formation be triggered, it would immediately release the medicinal ingredients on his body. Then he looked at the other half of the ingredients solemnly. He lay down on his back before manipulating them with his resplendent force then injecting their juices into his veins.
Pain seared through his body as he forced the juices into every nook and cranny. The poisons coursed through his body and ravaged everything they touched. They doused his fires of life. They withered his lively cells. They stagnated the flows that sustained him. They dulled his vital senses. And finally, they crumbled the supports in his body.
His bones, strong as they were, shattered into tens of thousands of pieces as he withdrew his life force from them. The rest of his body put up little resistance as he retreated every ounce of vital energy into the voids in his bones. He screamed as his flesh dissolved and his bodily fluids evaporated.
Then the screaming stopped. Cha Ming lingered on the edge of consciousness. He waited for his fires of life to reach the critical level that would trigger the contingent formation. The moment it opened would be the most vulnerable in his entire life.
He struggled to maintain consciousness, hoping to see the formation open. Yet try as he might, he finally succumbed to his own medicinal concoction. What remained of his heart stopped beating, and the world went black.
Hong Xin dismissed her class as the lesson finished. “You’re almost there,” she said to the former sword dancer. The crimson runes on the flute showed hints of gold. Unlike the rest of the students, a small amount of fire remained in her disposition. But it wasn’t hope. No, it was something all too common in the Red Dust Pavilion—ambition.
“Many thanks for your tutelage,” the student said, taking back her flute. “I won’t disappoint you.”
“All of you should go to bed early tonight,” Hong Xin said. “The annual performance is tomorrow, and your senior sisters will be displaying skills unlike any you’ve ever seen before. It will be an emotionally draining but eye-opening experience.”
“Yes, Mistress,” the students intoned. None of their initial zeal and enthusiasm remained. She looked on as they left the classroom. Once this batch was finished, the next would arrive. By then, with any luck, she’d be giving an entirely different lesson.
“Look at those sheep,” Mistress Huang said, walking out from behind a dark curtain. “Only one of them has any ounce of ambition left, while the others are subservient. They’ll at most be suitable for mundane tasks and assisting other sisters.”
“Their luck was bad, and their talent poor,” Hong Xin said. “As I’ve said countless times, if you disagree with my methods, you can talk to the headmistress.”
“And spoil all your hard work?” Mistress Huang said. “If I know anything about you by now, it’s that you hide yourself deeply. I doubt this batch of students is as simple as they appear.”
“Hiding is also a strength,” Hong Xin said. “Do you have any instructions, or are you just here for your usual banter?”
“I’m just checking if you need anything from me,” Mistress Huang said. “Tomorrow will be an eventful but very stressful day for you. How do you feel about your closest friends graduating and sharing your fate?”
“It will be useful to have them with me,” Hong Xin said. “They’re stronger, much stronger than the other students I’ve seen. And I relate well with them.”
“Do you now?” Mistress Huang said. “In secret, they tell me they hate you. They loathe you for what you did to them. You’re directly responsible for their fate.”
“I don’t think you know what directly responsible means,” Hong Xin said. “Their fate was a consequence of my behavior. In the end, the mistresses are the ones to blame for all this. Therefore, it’s not surprising that they lie to you.”
“Impressive,” Mistress Huang said. “I felt doubt for a moment there. You almost shook me. But let me tell you, you’re a hundred years too early to do anything to me.”
“I have five hundred years,” Hong Xin said. “I’m not in a hurry. Eventually, you’ll get what’s coming to you.”
Mistress Huang shook her head. She walked over to a pile of black instruments in the corner of the room. These were enchanted items for the new students that would be coming shortly. “Your anger is misplaced, you know,” she said. “I’ve only ever tried to help you. I’ve always had the best of intentions—within the strict framework of the headmistress’s orders, that is.”
“And why would that be?” Hong Xin said.
“Because I see a lot of myself in you,” Mistress Huang said. “We had the same teacher, and the same talent for kindling. We’re neither the most beautiful nor the most graceful. But we both have something the others don’t have: hope.”
“What hope could I possibly have left?” Hong Xin said bitterly.
“Where there’s a will, there’s a way,” Mistress Huang said. “But no matter. Tomorrow will be a busy day, so you should rest. But before you go, I want you to remember one thing. If things get bad, and all hope seems lost, I’m the one person in the world you can count on in this cruel pavilion. Because like you, I also hide deeply. Like you, I also resent the headmistress to the core. And like you, I also haven’t given up.” She walked out of the classroom, leaving a perplexed Hong Xin alone in contemplation.
After some time, she left, but before leaving the locked door, she left a note on it. It was covered in three layers of glamour concealments using pass phrases known only to her closest friends. She then returned to her quarters and adjusted her condition. Tomorrow would be the day she risked it all.
Chapter 36: Heart of the Mountain
The first thing Cha Ming felt was an inhalation. It was painful, ragged, but a breath all the same. It filled his body with blessed air, enlivening his newborn cells as his bodily functions slowly resumed. At the same time, his heart started beating. His blood spread oxygen to every part of his body. His cells warmed his cold body as they shivered with excitement.
It worked, Cha Ming thought as he methodically took control of his sleeping body. He first moved one finger, then another. After all fingers were moving, he moved a full hand. An arm followed, and then another. He then flexed the muscles in his legs before activating his core.
Finally, he opened his eyes. Exhausted, he circulated his qi without sitting up. His life force gradually recovered as he replenished it with the energy of heaven and earth. Then, after confirming that the poison was completely purged, he tapped the voids in his bones, urging them to deliver the locked-away vitality back to his body.
His muscles and joints crackled as they readjusted. His bones let out crisp snaps as they mended back together in their gray, rune-covered structures. Cha Ming stood up. He summoned the Clear Sky Staff and executed crisp strikes and footwork, reestablishing the nerve activity he’d lost since being poisoned.
“Could you have made the test any harder?” he said.
“In all fairness, the test was never meant to be passed in the strictest sense,” the elemental said, appearing behind him. “Yet while everyone else succumbed to the poison, you actually managed to cure it. I confess myself impressed.”
“What are the odds that it gives me extra time in the library?” Cha Ming said.
“Zero,” the elemental replied. “The access time has been limited by the Jade Emperor. What I can do is give you directions to the content you desire. But be warned: What you are looking for exceeds the boundaries of mortality. As such, it will be very difficult to memorize the pill recipes presented. You’ll be able to retain three transcendent recipes with the current strength of your soul. Even then, you’ll only be able to memorize things you understand, and that’s something I can’t help you with.”
“When can I enter?” Cha Ming asked.
“As soon as you activate this token,” the elemental said, handing him a slip.
Cha Ming didn’t hesitate to pour his resplendent force into the token, causing a gray portal to appear in the woods. He stepped into it decisively.
“I wish you the best of luck,” the elemental said softly. “Now where did that Yu Wen sneak off to?”
“How much longer?” Xiao Bai said as she bit through a demon’s head. Her sharp front teeth shattered its core and converted it to pure energy. She then kicked out with her legs and pushed back a fiendish bull, sending it tumbling back down the mountain.
“Only a few hours,” Huxian said. “There’s not much we can do about it. We need to find a way to stall for time.”
“You’re on your own there,” Xiao Bai said. “I don’t have any more tricks up my sleeve.”
“How about you guys?” Huxian asked his friends.
“I’m doing everything I can,” Silverwing said. “And Lei Jiang too. We’ve been pinballing ever since we got moon cakes for quick recovery.” He was currently floating in the skies, scouting while devouring pastries. Lei Jiang was a blur of activity. Ever since they’d resorted to this ultimate move, their kill rate had increased threefold.
“How about you, Gua?” Huxian asked.
“Is it my turn?” Gua said excitedly.
“You mean you’ve been holding back?” Huxian incredulously.
“Do you want me to act or not?” Gua said indignantly. “One shouldn’t easily reveal their trump cards. Especially when it’s as shocking as mine.”
“You said that two trump cards ago,” Huxian scolded.
“Being beautiful isn’t a choice, it’s a way of life,” Gua said defensively. “One must wait for the most opportune moment to act in order to maximize their appearance.”
“Please just do something, anything,” Huxian said, moaning.
At his signal, Gua put a finger in his mouth and blew. He inflated like a balloon and floated out over the opposing forces, who looked at him strangely, stopping to cautiously observe him. After experiencing his trickery may times, they were careful not to trigger his deadly traps.
“Behold!” Gua said, shouting down to the mass of fiends. “I am your savior. For too long have you been relegated as disposable beasts of burden. For too long have you been enslaved under a devil sovereign’s thumb. No more. Today, I will allow you to gaze upon my wondrous figure. My beauty will set you free.”
Gua exhaled, regaining his original toady form. His face distorted slightly before revealing his usual ugly mug, with added rouge and red lipstick.
Huxian smacked his forehead. “What the hell is he doing?” he said. “He’s asking to get hit. They’re all furious down there.”
“He’s really good at playing the part,” Xiao Bai remarked.
“What part, the joker?” Huxian said disdainfully.
“Bait,” Xiao Bai replied.
As if on cue, the fiendish demons unleashed a flurry of attacks. Claws blades, needles, and spines flew toward the ugly toad before Huxian could react. Yet to his surprise, Gua’s form vanished. It appeared slightly to the left, completely avoiding the various projectiles.
“You’ll have to be faster than that if you want to catch Papa Toad,” Gua said, laughing. He turned around and shook his butt. Contrary to their usual determined behavior, these beasts seemed less like controlled fiendish demons and closer to the original demons prior to their devilization. He’d slapped their faces, and they wanted nothing more than to smash him into pulp.
“How is he so fast?” Huxian asked.
“How are you so blind?” Xiao Bai said. “It’s simple, really. What you see up there isn’t Gua.”
“It isn’t?” Huxian said. To confirm, he reached out with his link to Gua. To his surprise, he discovered that the toad was currently ten feet underground, carefully observing his face in a mirror. His movements reflected those of the illusory body above. “Well, I’ll be damned,” Huxian said. “He’s using a mirage to distract them.”
“He’s also using a subtle poison to influence their behavior,” Xiao Bai said. “Effectively, this is a struggle for control with the devil sovereign. We can’t attack now, or we’ll waste his efforts. Any aggressive actions on our part will blow his cover.”
Silverwing and Lei Jiang floated over beside Huxian and Xiao Bai, confused. “Why have they stopped attacking?” Silverwing asked.
“Gua is apparently a miracle worker,” Huxian said. “He’s even more infuriating than he lets on. He’s actually modest when he talks to us.”
“No way,” Lei Jiang said. “Then what should we do?”
“Now?” Huxian said, thinking for a moment. He glanced at Xiao Bai before breaking into a grin. “Now we eat.”
Two hours later, Huxian gobbled yet another moon cake, slightly enlarging his bulging belly. “This is the life,” he said to Silverwing and Lei Jiang.
“I feel like I might just get taller if I eat more of these,” Lei Jiang said. “It won’t be long before I’m as tall as I am wide!”
“What a goal,” Xiao Bai said sarcastically, stowing away her furnace. “Most people aim for a slender figure, but you aim to become a perfect sphere.”
“A sphere is the perfect shape for combat,” Lei Jiang said solemnly. “Your whole body becomes weaponized, and the muscles around your core become an impenetrable armor.”
“Lei Jiang, that’s not muscle around your core, it’s fat,” Huxian said. “But fat makes good armor all the same. I approve.”
“It’s muscle I tell you! Muscle!” Lei Jiang said.
“Guys, Gua’s finally reached his limit,” Silverwing cut in.
One by one, the fiendish demons began breaking away from the encirclement and abandoning their chase. Their eyes, which were previously covered in a muddy glaze, had now returned to their original pitch black.
“It’s time for the final push,” Huxian said. “Mountain elemental, how much time do you need?”
“Only a quarter hour,” the mountain elemental’s voice rumbled.
“A quarter hour? Easy,” Huxian said.
Yet as he spoke, he heard a soft rumbling noise. The jade clouds below them suddenly shifted and revealed tens of thousands of forms that had finally ascended the mountain. The moment they arrived, Gua was forced to withdraw his mirage and huddle in the muddy ground. A large black hound walked at their forefront; its aura was suffocating and far exceeded that of a core-formation cultivator.
“How capable, forcing me to divert a portion of my devil seeds to cope with you,” the hound said. “Your father would be proud,” the hound said. He looked to the ground and slammed his paw down. Gua, who’d been hiding below him, suddenly squeezed up through the muddy soil and appeared beside Huxian. His body was covered in cuts and bruises.
“You really need to come up with something more original,” Huxian said. “Do you remember the first time I met you? You talked about my father and then told me I’d get what’s coming to me. And what did you do the next 100 times I killed some of your devil seeds? You did the same thing. Now tell me, what would you like today?”
“You’d better move out of the way and scram off this mountain, or—” the black hound started.
“Or I’ll get what’s coming to me,” Huxian said. “Anything else?”
The hound bared his teeth. “I’ve wasted enough mental effort freeing myself from that hideous toad’s mirage,” he said. “I’m not about to bicker with you about a villain’s presentation.”
“Too late,” Huxian said. “We’re already bickering, and you started it.”
