A Thousand Li

by Tao Wong

  To compensate for his current lack of contribution points and coins, Wu Ying took to the lands behind the Sect, the untamed wilderness that so few traversed for gathering purposes. Under direction from an annoyed Elder Li and with a list of herbs required by the apothecarist guild, he searched and gathered. Wu Ying found himself accompanied by Li Yao and, more often than not, a distrustful You Rou.

  Conversations that were at first a little stiff and formal relaxed in time. Wu Ying and Li Yao’s relationship had been brought about by attraction and proximity, but its initial impetus had been friendship. And that friendship allowed the pair to grow comfortable with one another once more, with but hints of regret of a future forsaken.

  Gathered herbs and the occasional demon beast pelt and carcass garnered Wu Ying a small surplus of contribution points. All of which were used to pay for the supplies he needed, including taels and additional materials for his burgeoning World Spirit Ring. Soil rich with minerals and chi, fertilizer from the spirit beast animals, discarded roots, leaves, and other materials from the apothecarist. All were needed, all were added to his ring. All of it expensive.

  And of course, a half-dozen new swords, all of them made from the finest wood available, carved and shaped and weighted properly. Most of them were practice weapons, but the pair of peach wood swords he already owned he had sharpened. Each sword was of a different wood to offer Wu Ying further areas of exploration.

  Preparations, one after the other. Books acquired, notes and requests made to ensure he was allowed to leave on time. Meetings with Master Cheng and with Elder Yang to discuss potential problems and what they knew of the sect he traveled toward. Seals of providence that allowed him to draw upon their own—limited—wealth as needed for his healing. Meetings with Liu Tsong and Senior Hou to discuss his health and his regime to keep the ongoing decline of his body at bay.

  Finally, the day of departure arrived.

  And he was done.

  ***

  The day dawned cloudy, morning sunlight seeping through the mist, a light rain falling on the group as they gathered under the Sect’s entrance paifang. Master Cheng was absent, as were most of Wu Ying’s friends. Li Yao’s request to join had been declined by her Master. Instead, she had been directed toward another event, one led by the newly emerged Elder Dong, to a nearby sect. A contest was to be held, the participants to gain access to a sealed mystic realm. Those who managed to acquire one of the few publicly available spaces could expect to gain much from the realm, for the aura of the immortal who had once resided in the mansion still pervaded the location.

  Standing under the red paifang, staring up at the twin columns and the sign announcing the formal entry into the Verdant Green Waters Sect grounds, Wu Ying could not help but reflect on his previous trips. So many now, both momentous expeditions and mundane assignments. Desperate searches. Gathering trips. Bandit suppressions. Demon beast hunts and deliveries of goods.

  Sometimes, it seemed that Wu Ying spent more time outside the Sect than within it. Other times, he was certain he did.

  And now, there he was with Tou He, his steadfast companion and friend, and a few others, ready to travel again. This time to visit another sect to find a solution for Wu Ying’s deteriorating body and a solution for Tou He’s predicament.

  “So why are you here?” Wu Ying said, turning to an unexpected addition to the expedition. “I thought the point of joining the Sect was for stability.”

  “Har! Resources, not stability,” Yu Kun said. “And I’m rather missing out on contribution points.” At Wu Ying’s inquiring eyebrow, he leaned in and whispered, “I might have gambled away some inadvisably.”

  Wu Ying shook his head while his friend grinned unrepentantly. Rather than chide him, Wu Ying turned to regard the other two unknown cultivators, muttering, “Do you know them?”

  Tou He shook his head, joining the conversation. “Only in passing. Er Gu will be traveling with us most of the way for protection but has another errand.”

  Tou He gestured to the inner sect member in his late forties, who had his nose stuck in a book and was ignoring the others. A quick sense of the others’ cultivation base indicated Er Gu was in the peak of Energy Storage, making him the strongest of their small group.

  “Hao Wan Yan is traveling to the sect for her own reasons,” Tou He said.

  “Oh?” Wu Ying said.

  Tou He nodded. Even a raised eyebrow did not prompt Tou He to divulge further information, making Wu Ying wonder if he even knew. Or was just being circumspect.

  “Small group,” Wu Ying muttered.

  Very small, considering they had no Elder joining them. Still, a group of Energy Storage cultivators was a significant force, even without a Core cultivator. And it was not as though they were headed into the wildlands where Core and stronger Spirit Beasts resided.

  “Big enough,” Tou He said. He gestured to the side, where friends streamed over, saying goodbye to the group.

  Interestingly enough, Er Gu had no one to see him off, while Wan Yan had a large crowd of mostly women. They tittered and gossiped in the corner while a tired-looking Elder watched over the group, looking entirely resigned to his life.

  As for Tou He, his Master beckoned him over, leaving Wu Ying to say goodbye to Sister Yang himself.

  “Master…?” Wu Ying said hesitantly.

  “Busy. As you’re going, there are matters that are moving ahead that we have put off for a while,” Fa Yuan said. When Wu Ying raised an eyebrow, she shook her head. “Here.”

  A small, wrapped package was thrust at Wu Ying. He frowned, feeling the box within. “Sister…?”

  “Nothing like you think,” Fa Yuan said. “You already have the tokens to draw upon us. This is just meat and drink for the trip. A going away present.”

  Wu Ying bowed in gratitude. “You are too kind.”

  “I am. But it is good to have a brother again, one who understands honor and loyalty.”

  Wu Ying smiled, but he caught the darker tinge in her voice. The way she inflected the again and loyalty, as if there was a story there. He wanted to ask, but this was neither the time nor place.

  “You best say goodbye to the others,” Fa Yuan said, gesturing to the group of friends waiting behind.

  Wu Ying made his way to the small group of those he knew. Li Yao, Liu Tsong, even Lei Hui and Wang Min were there. When they were done, Wu Ying paused by Elder Lu, curious if the gatekeeper had anything to say. The old man and Sect Protector just smiled and took Wu Ying’s sect token, imparting a trace of will and acknowledgement into it before doing the same with the rest of the group. A wave of his long pipe sent the group down the mountain to meet their boat and begin their journey.

  If all went well, they would be at the new sect in a few weeks.

  ***

  The first part of the journey was quiet, the trip down the river uneventful. Wu Ying spent the majority of the time on the boat by himself. As the cleansing brews had decreased in effect, his morning purging ritual had been put on hold. Instead, Wu Ying spent the time cultivating, doing his best to use his cultivation manual to cleanse his body.

  Unfortunately, soul cultivation focused upon cleansing the meridians first, then using those meridians and the dantian that grew with each level to form the core. The focus, in the end, was the transformation and storage of chi into one’s own chi to progress in cultivation. Cleansing the body of impurities and thus lengthening life and strengthening the physical form was but a byproduct. While cultivating helped to restore his body somewhat, the blockages he left, the decay in his body’s processes required body cultivation, methods that would focus on the body itself.

  When he was not cultivating, Wu Ying spent his time training and puzzling over the copies of the body cultivation manuals he had taken with him. While neither suited him, the lack of a suitable cleansing method being particularly concerning, they had principles Wu Ying could study. There were also minor exercises that he could practice, testing his body and the
exercises gradually for suitability. These tests helped a cultivator further sense the wood element, not only within themselves but the world around. Wu Ying found the test around sensing ambient wood chi particularly useful, allowing him to expand upon his own sensing cultivation practice and combine the two.

  From smelling to hearing to seeing, Wu Ying’s sensitivity to wood chi grew with each round of practice. And while it was called “wood,” in truth, the chi was a life aspected energy, sensed as easy in moving bodies and his wooden sword as it was in the flowing river filled with algae and the plants that drifted by. Each moment, each gust of wind or creak of the oar helped improve his feel of the chi around, the shift in the chi and the changing position of the world about him.

  Yet as he practiced, Wu Ying could not help but notice a strange disconnect. One that he had noticed earlier, from the very first time he had attempted to cultivate with the body cultivation manual. There was a dissonance in the way the manual required him to cultivate and what his body wanted to do. Instinct warred with knowledge, and even with the gentle test of expanding his senses within his body, he felt the differences. Blockages where they should not be, chi that flowed too easily through certain portions of the body when he had expected diversions or impediments.

  Dissonance.

  Rather than force the issue, Wu Ying let his senses and the gentle flow of chi continue without impediment. Without guidance. Instead, he spent his time studying, letting his body accustom itself to the chi flow in veins and muscles, to manipulating the gentle flow of energy where it had never done so before.

  He took that sense of study to his practice, to the weapons he held in hand. He sat in stillness late at night or during the day, when Yin and Yang aspected chi was most powerful, tainting the natural elements with their own shade of energy. He sat with a wooden sword on his lap, hands on the blade and hilt, allowing it to become part of him as his Sense of the Sword dictated.

  Sat, letting energy flow through him and the weapon itself, focusing on the way his aura wrapped around the blade. Hungered to become part of the weapon, and the weapon a part of himself. He swapped to his spirit-level sword often to test the difference, understand the changes, before he would sit, meditating on the weapons and the chi flows.

  Hard and soft, growth and death. The flow of air across the blade, along their sharp edges as the ship cut through the water. The way his aura wrapped around the blade and his hand, extended it and gained an aspect of the weapon itself. A cutting edge for the sword, an extension of intent and sharpness.

  Eventually, Wu Ying moved to forms. Where change and new senses warred with age-old steps, long ingrained in his body through countless repetition. The wooden swords felt lighter, though they were not. They were longer—because his aura extended the blade, even when he had not chosen to do it. The intent within his aura reacted to the blade, extending the range of the energy that erupted from the weapon, creating a swirling mass of energy that Wu Ying could just barely see with the naked eye but could smell and sense with his extended senses.

  Wood chi, mixed with a little metal and water and air, all of it flowing through his aura and the blade, extending with each surge of intent and will. It was alive and flexible in a way that Wu Ying had never felt before, and the constant change disrupted his forms.

  At least, at first. In time, Wu Ying found himself finding control in both his aura and the forms. He found himself altering his movements ever so slightly. Adjusting for increased possibilities in length and sharpness, the ability to extend attacks or surge chi down into a sudden thrust of sword intent. The aura that he extended grew more solid, a swirling mass of energy that picked at the very environment itself.

  Days on the boat, as Wu Ying grew to understand his new elemental body and its changes on himself and his weapons. He even tested Tou He’s staff, finding his aura wrapping around it just like with his sword, though with less alacrity. That, he could easily ascribe to a lack of familiarity—after all, he’d spent many more hours with a jian in hand than he ever did with a staff.

  By the time they departed the boat and moved on to the horses they would ride for the last leg of the trip, Wu Ying was confident in his ability to wield his new wood weapons if necessary. His attacks were sharper, the amount of energy he could expand greater. In the new weapons, he found a new, greater strength.

  And yet, Wu Ying kept his metal jian belted to his side rather than a wooden weapon. For while he could send chi flowing within the wooden weapon, even using the released sword intent to strike, his body rebelled. Blockages and tainted blood spots grew on his skin, creating unsightly splotches. He sweated and bled during his morning cultivations, the corruption seeping out, his arms throbbing and inflamed. It would take days for the damage to subside, and perhaps, for a short while, the marks on his body would be lessened. The ache in his muscles, the throb in his head would lessen.

  For a time.

  ***

  Midday, a day and a half after they had left the ships, the group was crossing overland on the way to the next city to make their way to the Double Soul, Double Body Sect. Astride horses, they rode slowly, conversations long ago bled out. Yu Kun, Tou He, and Wu Ying rode in a companionable group together while Er Gu and Wan Yan rode separately. One read a seemingly endless stream of books pulled from his ring. The other sat aloof and silent, apparently thinking deep thoughts.

  Attempts at drawing Er Gu into conversation had been met with bemused and indifferent politeness. In a short series of conversations, the younger group of teens learnt that the gap between the older and stymied Energy Storage cultivator and themselves was wider than any goodwill could breach. They were still at the start of their cultivation journey, filled with energy and desire, facing the first of what would likely be many obstacles.

  Er Gu was on the opposite end, having come across an obstacle he could not beat. Or did not desire to breach. With such a gap in outlook and age—not to mention the scholar’s focus upon the written word and his focus on scholarly works, unlike the martial-oriented trio—conversation gambits had died pitiful deaths, whimpering in the dirt, pierced by the shards of indifference and shame.

  As for Wan Yan, the lady’s studied arrogance and disinterest had cut apart any attempt at conversation. In fact, outside of the most minimal interactions, she avoided speaking with the trio at all. Even Tou He’s naïve goodwill and charm had failed.

  Now, as the sun rose high above and they rode down the quiet, trod-earth pathway, Wu Ying frowned. When others spoke of the silence of the forest, they spoke of a silence of manmade noises. The creak of wagon wheels, the shouts of merchants, the clang of metal on metal. For no forest was truly silent. The buzzing and singing of insects, the chirp of birds, the rustle of leaves brought with it its own melody.

  If you knew what to listen for.

  Yet now, the world had grown silent. More, to Wu Ying’s extended and sensitive sense of smell, a cloying and rotten earth tang had filled the surroundings, brought forward by a gentle breeze. Cloying, rotten earth with a hint of heat, spice of dark peppers.

  “Trouble,” Wu Ying called, reaching for his sword and loosening it in his sheath. He considered stringing the crossbow he had brought along, then discarded the idea. Whatever was coming, whatever had quieted the wilderness was near. Too near to be fumbling with his ranged weapon.

  Not so for Yu Kun, who moved with the smoothness of long practice. The ex-wandering cultivator had one leg unhooked from his stirrup, bracing his weapon with one hand while his bow was strung in a smooth motion. A moment later, an arrow was slipped into its resting spot and the entire thing lifted to the left where Wu Ying watched.

  “What is it?” Er Gu asked, kicking his horse away from that side and angling his mare to fall behind the other cultivators.

  Wu Ying kept his hand on his sword, though he debated getting off his steed. While he had gotten better at fighting from a horse, he was still many li from being actually competent. Then again, stopping might make
whatever was coming catch up to them.

  On the other hand…

  “Are the horses a little too calm?” Tou He said, stroking the neck of the animal that trotted along without a care.

  “You want agitated animals?” Yu Kun muttered.

  “No. The monk is right. They should have noticed the trouble ahead of the peasant. This is not normal.” Wan Yan twitched her hand and a spear appeared in it, held easily. “Well-trained or not, they should be more wary.”

  “A spell? A skill?” Wu Ying said, frowning. Something else? He pushed his senses further, trying to tease something from the environment.

  “Innate talent for chi manipulation. Certain wild creatures have learnt to calm other creatures down using their scent and the flow of chi.” Er Gu stared into the sky then at the animals as he continued. “You can see the traces of its chi in the air, if you look.”

  “Why aren’t we affected?” Yu Kun asked.

  “A cultivator’s aura naturally rejects such manipulation. Of course, a large enough difference in cultivation makes such defenses moot, but we are all Energy Storage cultivators. Also, many such creatures are ambush predators. They are unlikely to attack cultivators who are aware of its manipulation.” Er Gu shivered, then kicked his horse to speed it up a little. “We should still move faster.”

  The group nodded, goading their horses to speed up. The animals moved faster at first, then slowly returned to their languid pace. Another kick had them speeding up once more, before slowing down again.

  “Wake up, you lazy, two-faced, broken bag of spare meat,” Wan Yan cursed.

  Tuning out the cultivator, Wu Ying focused on his breathing, drawing more air into his nostrils to further trigger his chi-sensing skills. He teased apart the chi manipulation, the way the creature’s scent worked, but more importantly, he sensed the increasing concentration as the monster approached.