Crown of the Starry Sky: Book 11 of Painting the Mists

by Patrick Laplante

  Mm.

  You don’t think it will work? Cha Ming said.

  Tell me, boy, have you ever tried convincing a demon to do anything? Sun Wukong asked.

  Huxian, Cha Ming said.

  That doesn’t count, Sun Wukong said. Your demon brother is exceptionally malleable for his kind.

  Huxian, Cha Ming said flatly. Malleable.

  Hard to believe, right? Sun Wukong said with a grin. I’ll have you know that the average demon is stubborn. It just so happens that monkey demons are even more stubborn when it comes to war. Maybe their Builder-sign variants would listen, but their brains are fried. You can’t just go there and try talking sense into them. Especially in their condition.

  Please tell me you have a solution, Cha Ming said. You’re the most powerful demon monkey in existence, are you not?

  I used to be, Sun Wukong said. And I obviously have a plan. It’s even a good one. You and I are both going to beat them into submission. A good ole one-two punch. Brute force is the only way to make things happen.

  You and me, Cha Ming said. In their territory. Somehow, I don’t think that’s going to work out.

  I didn’t say it would be easy, Sun Wukong said. We’ll need strong fighters. Your girlfriend is good. Her bunny too.

  She’s not my girlfriend, Cha Ming said.

  Your dearly departed, then, Sun Wukong said. Huxian should come. And either Silverwing or Killjoy. They’re both pretty defensive fighters. Oh, and that dragon. She’s killer.

  She’s weak and wounded, Cha Ming said. And a bit of a liability.

  Not for long, Sun Wukong said. Take a look.

  Cha Ming looked to the seat beside him, and he jumped at the stark change in presence. Her aura was growing stronger, and her ashen hair was turning inky black. Her skin was flushing red, and the determined look in her eyes was growing fiercer. What’s happening?

  Inheritance, Sun Wukong said. Seems the dragon spirit likes the whelp. She’s a sucker for debts and atonement. Anyway, she’s replenishing the girl’s lost power and supplementing her manifestation. She needs time, though. Lots of it. Once she’s done, she’ll be unstoppable. At least at her level. Relatively speaking, of course.

  Where is she getting the metal? Cha Ming asked. I tried creating it myself but couldn’t. Can she?

  That’s too much even for that old bag, Sun Wukong said. She’s just a spirit. But… well, look inside.

  Cha Ming looked inside the Clear Sky World and found what Sun Wukong meant. Inside the Clockwork Ancestor’s personal space, or what remained of it, the Golden Dragon’s Music Box was gone, and only a note remained.

  Busy training junior, it read. Let’s talk soon.

  The music box, Cha Ming said. She’s feeding her the music box?

  Bingo, Sun Wukong said. Anyhow, bring along the ones we need, and we’ll take care of the Monkey Clan. We can deal with the Phoenix Clan and the Li Clan later.

  They soon arrived in front of M&T tailors. The parking lot was empty, and their first customers wouldn’t be coming for a few hours still. Nevertheless, the shop was bustling with activity. Huxian was needed, as was Lei Jiang and Silverwing.

  “Put it on, you stupid unstylish oaf!” Gua shouted as they entered.

  “I don’t like it,” Silverwing said. “The color is off. I want white or silver.”

  “You have silver swords,” Gua shouted. “Purple matches silver quite nicely, and the enchantment wouldn’t take except with purple fabric. We don’t have time to sew you anything else anyway. Take it, or I won’t be blamed if you fail to dodge a knife to the back.”

  “What’s going on?” Cha Ming asked Huxian as they entered. He was wearing new gold-and-black robes.

  “We got new clothes!” Huxian said. “Cut resistant. Resistant to bludgeoning. Resistant to the elements. Here, you got some too. There’s some for Xiao Bai and Mi Fei as well. Clothes for everyone!”

  Cha Ming look to Miyue, who got busy pushing the two ladies into their own dressing room.

  “Who’s she?” Huxian asked.

  “Crazy dragon lady we fought,” Cha Ming said. “Long story. Her name is Serrendil. She’s something they call inkborn. Like the Star-Eye Monkeys.” He allowed Huxian to lead him to the changing room, where Silverwing was being forcefully dressed by Mr. Mountain, who, for once, had taken Gua’s side. Lei Jiang was also helping.

  “So we’re crashing the demons on their home turf?” Huxian asked as Cha Ming changed. “Sounds awesome.”

  “You-know-who has a plan,” Cha Ming said. He shook his head. “Why an ink-cloud pattern?” The robes he was donning were blue with black clouds.

  “Yours are different, apparently,” Huxian said. “They said it would shield your techniques from unwanted eyes. Probably because I told them about your problem with those copycat demons. They thought it should be a priority.”

  “What level is this?” Cha Ming asked.

  “High grade,” Huxian said. “She broke through again. Clever Dusk is growing crazy fast right now. I’ve never seen a demon train so quickly. None of my memories have. It’s like she’s on a permanent quest with bonus experience. As long as she does her thing, she’s being force-fed demon essence. It’s so unfair.”

  “Maybe that’s why they’re after the inkborn,” Cha Ming said. “Either way, it’s a problem we’ll solve after we get the bandits and the Monkey Clan sorted out. Do you think these clothes can shield me from a rune-gathering cultivator or equivalent?”

  “Not a chance,” Huxian said. “But these threads are strong. They’re probably good against anyone not a half step into rune gathering.”

  “Good enough, then,” Cha Ming said. He flattened his clothes and saw that they fit well. The blue-and-black robes were of the common combat style. They were soft, flexible, and when he cut them, they could regenerate damage to some extent. He reached out to them—they were a runic treasure, after all—and sensed their connection could be deepened with blood. He poured a drop from his finger on a sleeve, and the garment adjusted ever so slightly. So they were tied to his vitality stores. They wouldn’t break unless he sustained severe damage. They were robes fit for a demigod.

  “I’ll need to thank her for these,” Cha Ming said as they walked out of the changing room.

  “No need,” replied Clever Dusk, who’d appeared just outside the hallway. She was there with Shallow Moon and the other Star-Eye Monkeys. To his surprise, they, too, were wearing armorlike robes. They’d fastened their black demon staves to their backs. “You’re going to help our clan, and we’ll naturally come to help you.”

  “Clever Dusk, while I appreciate the gesture, I don’t think there’s much you can do,” Cha Ming said. “We have a plan, and you’re in danger.”

  “If we are in danger within our own clan, we are in danger regardless of our location,” Clever Dusk said. “Our clan is going to war. We’ve had time to think it over while under your protection, and we’re in agreement. War has not served our clan. If you are going to convince them against it, we will go there to convince them as well.”

  “But… my favorite employees…” Gua moaned.

  “Are you ready to fight?” Cha Ming asked.

  “We are,” Clever Dusk said. “We’re also ready to die, Cha Ming. Though I hope that won’t be necessary.”

  “Very well,” Cha Ming said. “Killjoy, can you find us a bigger ship? A fast one? Stealth doesn’t matter for this group anymore.”

  “Already on it,” Killjoy answered.

  “We’re splitting into two groups,” Cha Ming said. “You’ll take Lei Jiang and reinforce the others. I need Huxian and Silverwing on my end. And Mi Fei and Lady White.”

  “One rat won’t make much of a difference,” Killjoy said. “We should take Silverwing too.”

  “Who needs that overfed bird?” Gua said. “I’ll go. Take me.”

  “And me,” Mr. Mountain said.

  “Me too!” Miyue said.

  “Guys, the shop…” Huxian said.

/>   “We’ll close it down for a few days,” Gua said. “We’ll let demand build up for a bit. Besides, our favorite fabric suppliers are heading off to war. We need to do our part if we want good deals, don’t we? Who are we fighting again?”

  “Bandits. And potentially demon slavers,” Cha Ming said.

  “Oh,” Gua said. “Let me get my scissors.” He stomped off into the supply room and came out with a gleaming pair of blades longer than Cha Ming’s body. They looked sharp and deadly.

  “How’s that for reinforcements?” Gua asked.

  “They should do the trick,” Killjoy said. “I’ll need your stealth shuttle, though. And Mi Fei’s.”

  “Done,” Cha Ming said. He looked to Mi Fei. “I hope you and Lady White don’t mind crashing Stargazer City with me and challenging their chieftain.”

  “That depends,” Mi Fei asked. “Do I get to fight them?”

  “My dear, there’s no such thing as visiting a demon monkey chieftain without a fight,” Cha Ming said. “They’re like the Phoenix Clan. Strange in their own way.”

  “I guess I could kick some monkey butts,” Lady White said. “They have to feed us before they fight us, though, right? I hope they have good food.”

  “Just don’t eat any bananas,” Cha Ming said. “It’s the most important rule to remember.”

  Chapter 28: Memory

  “Something big is happening,” Wei Yimu said to Wei Longshen as they flew along the high road, the exclusive road reserved for rune-gathering cultivators. “The watch is all abuzz. The people are panicking.”

  “I heard there was a break-in in one of the Li Clan compounds,” Wei Longshen said. “Something about a secret weapon being exposed or some nonsense. Mark my words, it’ll be back to the same old chaos within a day. It’s just big news over small things.”

  Wei Yimu chuckled. “Boy, I’ve seen big things and small ones. You’re young, so you don’t know the difference yet. Trust me when I tell you: this is big.”

  “Either way, does it concern me?” Wei Longshen asked. “I’m more worried about whether or not we can actually do anything here. My abilities are useful, Uncle, but I’m afraid I’ve set my expectations too high.”

  Wei Yimu shrugged. “They’re desperate. Grasping at straws. They have been for the past twenty years. What’s the worst that could happen?”

  Failure, Wei Longshen thought. Another option gone. He didn’t have much time to do something that could impress his father. His greatest hope was a miracle he’d witnessed twice before.

  They weren’t in the city proper but the outskirts that held the clan estates. Major clans had larger estates closer to the city, while smaller clans had been pushed farther out. There were exceptions to this rule, of course. The Yin Clan, where they were headed, was one such case. They had once been a mid-sized clan, not nearly as big as the Wei Clan, but nearing half its prowess at the peak of their power. Their library had been destroyed in an unfortunate incident decades ago. It was rumored to have been orchestrated by the Xia Clan for infringing on their shipping business, but in truth, no one actually knew what had happened.

  Regardless of what had led to their current situation, their clan was on the decline. They had lost their knowledge base, and their younger generation could no longer be trained efficiently. Every loss of a senior member was a huge blow to their strength and earnings. It wouldn’t be long until they were forced to abandon the inner-ring estates and move to the outer one. That or disband entirely.

  “How many clans do you think there used to be?” Wei Longshen asked.

  “How long ago?” Wei Yimu replied. “A hundred years? A thousand?”

  “Since the inception of the prefecture,” Wei Longshen said, gazing at the mixture of ancient and modern buildings that made up the city. “I’ve been told it’s not very old. Fifty thousand years at most. Over half the lifespan of our glorious empire.”

  “That’s tough to say,” Wei Yimu said. “If you study the history, it seems that at any point in time, there’re five great families and five great sects. There’s enough wealth around here to go that many ways. The dregs go to a bunch of lesser clans and sects. Ten to a hundred times as many.”

  “From what I’ve read, only a few names remain unchanged over the span of five centuries,” Wei Longshen said. “And that’s for middling and great clans. Middling and great sects. The lesser ones break and remake every century or so. Why do you think that is?”

  Wei Yimu shrugged. “Cultivators die. When your whole sect relies on one person, it ends when he’s gone. Usually, those are the kind of people who have many enemies. One small mistake and they’re dead. Then again, there are other kinds of accidents. Some stupid junior could go courting death at a bigger clan. Such things are known to happen.”

  “So as many as ten thousand clans come and go every five hundred years,” Wei Longshen said. “Counting the small clans. A constant cycle of old and new. The Yin Clan is just one example in the great cycle of prefectural politics.”

  “They were strong back in my younger days,” Wei Yimu said. “Look down there. See the crypts? Massive.”

  “They’re a corpse puppet sect,” Wei Longshen said. “Seen by many as barbaric and outdated. Blasphemous to the human body.”

  “Demons too,” Wei Yimu said. “They always got into fights with demons about it. With humans, they could only take criminal corpses, or corpses of their sect members. That, or they could buy them off relatives if they were in a pinch. With demons, they never held back.”

  “I’ve heard it told that the Yin Clan members swear to protect their sects unto death,” Wei Longshen said. “They become specters that forever guard their clan grounds. It’s the reason no one has ever crashed their estate and robbed them.”

  “There’s truth to that,” Wei Yimu said. “I talked to their patriarch about it. The specters part is a load of rubbish, obviously. It’s hard to convince ghosts to linger. You need a lot of resentment to tie them down to the plane. They only have a few guarding their crypts. Instead, it’s the bodies you need to worry about.”

  “The bodies?” Wei Longshen asked.

  Wei Yimu nodded. “All their elders and patriarchs give their bodies over to their clan when they pass. They nourish their flesh in life, reinforcing their bones and toughening their skin through great pain. They cleanse their qi pathways with death qi. All to make perfect vessels.”

  “I see,” Wei Longshen said. “They voluntarily became corpse puppets.”

  “The reason behind their current predicament is that they have too many corpse puppets and not enough controllers,” Wei Yimu said. “Corpse puppets are tough to break, and since their library was destroyed…”

  “Can no one rewrite their lost texts?” Wei Longshen asked.

  “Only the most basic ones,” Wei Yimu said. “It’s the advanced ones that are a problem.” He looked to Wei Longshen, appraising him. “Can you do it?”

  “I’ll try,” Wei Longshen said. He’d done something like that before. With Clear Sky’s help. He hoped he could do it alone. “Perhaps I can bring them back long enough for them to read.”

  “Do what you can,” Wei Yimu said. “All we can do is try and hope we get lucky.”

  Wei Yimu took them off the high road and drove down to the Yin Clan estate. There was shouting and chaos on the organized road beneath them. But once they saw the mark of a rune-gathering cultivator on their ship, the ruckus died down. There were benefits to traveling with a clan elder.

  They broke about fifteen other rules before landing on the pristine lawn just in front of Yin Clan gates. A middle-aged man with the best skin Wei Longshen had ever seen was there to greet them. “Welcome, friend. Welcome,” the man said. “It has been too long.”

  “It is what it is,” Wei Yimu said. “One minute you’re thinking about law runes and the like, and the next thing you know, years have passed.”

  “I can hardly blame you for improving yourself,” the Yin Clan Patriarch said. “You were h
ard at work. If only I was fortunate enough to do the same.” He nodded to Wei Longshen and bowed. “Is this the young master from Wei Clan? It is my pleasure to meet you.”

  “The honor is mine, Patriarch,” Wei Longshen said. He bowed back, but to his surprise, the Patriarch bowed lower in turn.

  “Please, call me Yin Zhen,” the Yin Clan Patriarch said.

  “That would be improper,” Wei Longshen replied. “You are a member of the senior generation. I should show you appropriate respect.”

  “A stickler for the rules, isn’t he?” Yin Zhen said to Wei Yimu.

  “Like his father,” Wei Yimu agreed. “Nothing like me, of course. I don’t have a respectful bone in my body, you old codger.”

  “Trust me, we’ve noticed,” Yin Zhen said. “And how about yourself? You looked fine before going into seclusion, but here you are two years later, looking like a shriveled prune.”

  “My skin’s just gotten very pliable,” Wei Yimu muttered. “We don’t all groom our bodies for our eventual death.”

  Yin Zhen’s smile froze. “Ah. Well, there are advantages and disadvantages. For example, my skin will continue to be smooth as a lady’s thigh until the day I die.”

  “If only I were so fortunate,” Wei Yimu said.

  “The price is high,” Yin Zhen said. “My skin is strong, but I have lost all feeling in it since I was thirty years old. If you think the price is reasonable, I can teach you. I believe we could even reverse the horrendous aging near your eyes.”

  “I’m… fine,” Wei Yimu said. He shuddered. “Dead skin.”

  “Dead skin does not age,” Yin Zhen said. “It’s already dead. Likewise, dead bones are not limited like living ones. They can be built like scaffolding instead of living matter.” He shook his head. “It is a pity death magic is so incompatible with a long life.”

  “Are you saying your techniques inhibit your lifespan?” Wei Longshen asked. He’d never heard such a thing. The Yin Clan wasn’t discussed in polite society.