Treasures Of Heaven And Earth

Until the sound of the Golden Crow rising set the Mountain vibrating, Chún slept. Thankfully, his sleeping nest was clean of any dirt when he awoke and unlike the previous morning he smelt clean, felt energetic and was only slightly hungry.

Relieved not to have to spend extra time on chores today, he took some time to have a closer look at his new cave as he rolled up is sleeping pad next to his staff and other possessions.

Other than the stream, pool and hot spring, the cave didn't have any other notable physical features besides an opening somewhere above his head that let fresh air circulate through the entrance.

If it was not for the motes of Air Essence he could sense swirling upward or downward depending on which way the breeze was blowing or the occasional draft across his skin, he wouldn't know it was there.

Without his Essence sense the cave would be completely dark other than a faint light filtering in from the tunnel leading to the cliff-side. The old man was right - he would have to ask his new friend to help him make the cave more convenient and comfortable eventually.

Right now though the priority was getting the fur to the village for sale; unfortunately, he had not managed to accomplish any of the tasks he had planned yesterday - and he had several new chores to deal with today before he could get back to practising with Cultivation.

The one good thing that came out of yesterday was that he could now visualise the Natural Manifestation of 'going unnoticed'. He felt he had probably only just begun to understand it, but he could see how he could arrange his Essence to form the Manifestation.

Actually, it was more like finding the parts of his Dao that understood the concept of being left alone and asking them to cooperate so that the concept of 'unimportance' became the central guiding force his body emanated to the environment around him.

Well, really… it was somewhat like that, and he knew what he meant to himself - but trying to put it into words so that he could make himself fully understood to someone else…

It was of no importance. He understood what was involved - although now he grasped what Yijing had meant when he had told him that it was not possible to do more than guide people when it came to Dao - everyone had to find their own. Trying to replicate someone else's Dao would lead to problems as it would inevitably conflict with your own.

Finishing with tidying the cave, he made his way out through the entrance tunnel slowly, giving his eyes time to get used to the light that brightened as he reached the curtain of vines; while he waited for a miǎo or so just inside the entrance as his vision adjusted he took an opportunity to study the closest leaf with a brief touch of his Essence Sense.

The Dao patterns on the leaf had become extremely complex compared to the first time he had seen them; part of his brain insisted that he was not holding anything in his hands even as they cupped the leaf.

The same sense of silence, blandness, inconsequential, unimportant - was still there but now he could also see shapes of concepts of hidden, secret, dangerous, unique, isolation…among others. The patterns looked brighter and more coherent and more harmoniously combined than he remembered. He realised that it was possible to understand and recognise which shape suggested what concept as well, rather than just getting a feeling of it.

Chún shook his head slightly and released the leaf and his Essence sense to step out into the clearing. The last thing he wanted was a repeat of yesterday.

Walking towards the fire-pit, he suddenly realised that he hadn't worn any clothing since bathing the previous night and was still unclothed - he faltered momentarily, then shrugged. There was not anyone else here to care and after having to burn what he was wearing last night he had only two threadbare changes left. He probably should only wear clothing when absolutely necessary to try and keep the remainder intact until he was able to trade for more - especially if he was going to have any more black gunk occurrences.

There was a slight tingle from the link to the Mountain and a strong memory of himself asking to be reminded to refill the stew pot pushed aside other thoughts. Sending back a feeling of gratefulness, he turned towards the stream, and used his Teacher's trick to redirect some of the water into the stew pot. It was a good bit easier than last time - he supposed the experience of the last couple of days had strengthened his ability to push Essence around.

He also used the opportunity to water his fruit, vegetable and Essence herb patch briefly. Pushing his Essence into the soil of the vegetable patch, Chún checked the progress of the various plants. Everything was growing at an amazing rate - the root vegetables had already started to split and the old apples were little balls of energy with Dao patterns circulating in very bright, tightly packed spheres of bright green Essence.

Above the surface of the soil, small fountains of Essence marked the spots where he had planted, particularly larger ones marking the apples. He would not be surprised if there were some fairly serious Essence ignitions in his little patch soon - and the added burst would probably set off the remainder - he wondered if he would get instant produce and full grown apple trees as a result.

The patch did not really need any extra water or Essence - with his Essence sense engaged Chún could sense the clearing was heavy with heavily perfumed Air, Earth and Water Essence mist that soaked into everything.

The mist drifted from the Heaven and Earth Vine's trumpet shaped flowers through the whole area and even hid the edges of the clearing entirely from regular sight, making it impossible to see more than a few arms span into the forest.

Chún had a fairly good idea what had caused that, given that he could sense Dao shapes for concealment and protection in the mists as well - they were a lot simpler than the ones on the Vine itself, but given the mist had not been there yesterday morning - it looked like the Vine had a much greater influence on the clearing now, than before he had channelled Essence through it all day.

Come to think of it, the clearing was probably created by the Vine in the first place since there was no sign of Beasts entering it - it probably killed anything that came within reach and used it for fertiliser - which would explain the richness of the soil. Then Teacher asked it to protect him instead. He hoped he could get strong enough to convince powerful beings like that soon.

A sense of protectiveness came from his locus and Chún smiled, speaking aloud just to hear a voice. "I know you would not hurt me, but the Heaven and Earth Vine is like you - it has its own...consciousness." Chún felt odd saying that - a week ago, he would not have understood the concept - or applied it to anything but another human.

"I guess Cultivating makes me smarter as well as stronger. Makes sense - I'm cultivating my own Dao, which would naturally make me - more - myself. Like repairing a damaged or unfinished house - it improves towards perfection the closer it comes to completion."

Chún blinked as a sudden understanding popped into his head. "Oh, that would mean that using other Daos would be like - forcing on rooms that do not match - and since Teacher said the Consumers do not understand the Daos they use enough to build them correctly... the expansions would be poorly built as well."

He stopped shifting the water out of the stream and went to pick up the occasional fish that had flopped out on to the ground along with the water, still musing aloud, "It would be necessary to keep shoring the building up with more materials to stop collapse - like old fool Zi in the village. He never did listen to anyone who told him he needed to put proper foundations and frames in, and one night - boom - the whole thing...even the original house."

The Mountain pushed a memory of the cave up and Chún laughed. "Yes, my friend - your cave is much better than a house - well, any I have seen, anyway." Carrying the stranded fish towards the stewpot and ignoring the occasional twitch, he bent down and picked up the fish flopping around between the stream and the fire-pit that had fallen out of the water when he had filled the pot.

Other images came through the link. The Vine on the Mountain...and then the Cliff-face without the Vine… and then the Vine alone without the Cliff face or clearing withering away.

Dropping the fish into the opened stew pot, Chún frowned then nodded, "The Vine needs you - not the other way around? So it would not hurt me because that would make you angry with it?"

A smug feeling of superiority filtered through and Chún snorted. "The Vine is part of the Mountain, fine. But this is still its house, so I should be a good guest."

The next images left Chún startled. There was The Vine and then it was shifting and changing - the vines and leaves moving like snakes...flash of Essence and suddenly it was a giant tree…

"Oh - is that the Five Elements Tree my Teacher said it would turn into?" Agreement - and then the Tree shifted again into…

"A girl? What?...." The image was very odd - it looked like a young girl child, but her skin was the colour of the Vine leaves and her hair the same colour as the flowers. Her eyes had no pupils, just shone with mixed swirls of Essence - like the fruits on the vine.

The image shifted back into the Vine on the Cliff, with a very faint green Essence image - like his teacher had used in that last message - of the girl sleeping, overlaying the Vine.

"She's asleep - like you were before we linked? Oh...and you are saying this is HER house."

Another image; Chún holding the sleeping girl's hand as Essence poured into the Vine through his body and into the Mountain. A distinct sense of, jealousy...

"Hey, you have nothing to be jealous about. That was an accident. And could be considered as paying rent." Chún walked away from the stew pot, heading back to the cave, scratching his head in embarrassment. "Do you need more Essence too?"

Another smug series of images, showing a little Essence flowing into the Mountain every time Chún did anything with Essence, a lot flowing through every time his actions caused an ignition - and an enormous amount flowing into the locus from the Heaven and Earth Vine.

"Anytime anything on the Mountain gets stronger so do you? I guess that is why you like me igniting Essence points."

Smugness. Chún rolled his eyes, then shivered at a sudden concerning thought occurred to him.

"Are you a girl too?"

Disdain. Chún breathed a sigh of relief as he ducked gingerly past the vines covering the cave entrance then winced as the leaves slid over his body. "Suddenly, having extra sets of clothing seems a great deal more important," he muttered to himself, ignoring the feeling of confused incomprehension coming from his friend. "Not important, just a human thing," he explained in response as he jogged into his cave, "Let us go hunting!"

---

Chún moved through the forest using his walking staff to probe for anything that could turn an ankle in the leaf litter, following the sense map his friend was supplementing his own Essence sense with, while eating a Vine fruit. Several had dropped as he had left the cave, dressed and ready for gathering provisions - like he had been yesterday, before he had gone and done something stupid - so he had bowed carefully in thanks and put them in his sack to eat while he was moving.

"Half dozen yaro, a few beets, some more wild onions, a bunch of wild plums...two rabbits... Not bad, we could head back now."

Unlike last time, he was carrying the vegetables and fruit in the sack over one shoulder and the rabbits were hanging from his rope by their feet on the other. He'd gutted them same way as the Essence Beast but not skinned them - it was easy to carry them from the rope so he did not need the skin for carrying bags.

A particular point ahead pulsed with some urgency. "Something important.. Or tasty?" Chún slowed cautiously and pushed his Essence sense out - focusing on the location, while throwing away the fruit and grasping his staff with both hands. The animal and bird sounds were constant around him, so he was fairly sure it was not a predator, but it never hurt to be careful.

He was greeted with what looked like a small pile of boulders - almost like a memorial or grave marker. In the dimly lit forest, the rocks seemed to almost glow - actually, in Essence Sense they were glowing with a bunch of different Essences - Chún could see a lot of Earth of course, but there was definitely something sharp there...Metal Essence? And there was something else…

"Lode...stone." A low rumbling 'voice' echoed down the link.

"Of course...wait…"

"Talk, hard."

Chún squatted in place, hanging onto his staff for support. "You can speak."

A sense of exasperation rolled down the link. "Right, obviously. My apologies. Just shocked."

After a moment's silence he asked, "What about the rocks?"

Again exasperation, accompanied by an image of the top of the cairn. Chún narrowed his eyes and then moved over to look closer.

There was a large bush sprouting out from the top of one side of the rocks, roots wrapped tenaciously around them; it blended into the rocks so well, he had not picked it out at first. To look at it was nothing special - small, scraggly, almost brown, but in Essence sight it glittered with a large fountain of motes that Chún had initially thought came directly from the rocks.

"Oh, this is almost ready to Ignite… it just needs a small push." Satisfaction - and an image of mists of the Heaven and Earth Vine curling around the rocks answered his observation. "Ah, practice weaving the Unimportance Dao into it? You want to hide it?"

Agreement came back and Chún grinned. "As you wish. OK, my first - well second - official Cultivator task - just make sure I do not lose myself this time, please." As he spoke, he sat cross legged on the forest floor and placed one hand gently on the rocks, the other holding his staff in his l.a.p.

The bush was already very much of the hiding sort, Chún saw in the pattern of its song. But it wanted to change that - it looked like whatever it was about to become was something very flashy.

Chún thought for a moment - then suggested that maybe only beings who were worthy should get to see it.

It could move all the boring parts outward, he thought. Maybe only people who could get past the disguise would be worth showing off to… and hiding well could be flashy too. Chún spun a portion of Essence into a song that wove the memory of the Vine shifting and disappearing and reappearing like a mirage and released it into the song of the being in front of him.

The bush considered. Then a question...how could it do this?

Most of the parts were already there, Chún could see them in the current song of the bush - if it moved all the parts that said 'boring' into this shape...here he showed the simple Manifestation of Un-noticeability he had built once from his own Dao… see, you just move the pieces you already have around until they slide into this shape… and you want it to be a barrier, right? So only special..beings can find their way in if they are extra clever and not dangerous… so put all of that on the outside like…

Chún helped the bush fold all the bits it didn't like into new patterns, without actually changing any of the individual parts - somehow he felt that was important - and then when the bush requested it pushed Essence into the new pattern.

There was the very bright Essence explosion that Chún was coming to expect from powerful Essence ignitions - a bubble of mostly silver and gold with splashes of red expanded out and slammed into him like someone had swung a large hunk of metal into his body.

Tingling with Essence overload, Chún blinked and looked.

On top of the rock pile was perfectly formed miniature willow tree. Only it looked like a sculpture made by a jeweller, not a living tree, because the trunk was gleaming silver and the leaves diminutive and glowing green and white jade, gold and bronze. Minuscule ruby fruits sparkled gleaming red, in amongst the leaves.

"Wow… you were serious about being flashy. Are you OK?" Chún reached out to touch one tiny leaf hardly believing his eyes.

The pocket-sized willow rustled with a sound like wind chimes, one branch dipping elegantly to drop a minute ruby fruit into his hand. Startled he held it in his palm, as he got up and bowed as best he could

"A thousand thanks - you are glorious - and it was my p.l.e.a.s.u.r.e to help," he paused feeling distressed at his apparent failure, "but, it looks like I was not able to help with your safety. I apologise."

The willow rustled its leaves again, this time the chimes sounding a lot like laughter. The same branch pointed behind him. Chún looked around, but couldn't see anything, so he assumed that he was being asked to leave. He bowed again, picked up his staff, sack and rabbits; after some hesitation he dropped the tiny ruby into his coin pouch, and backed slowly away as if he was leaving a noble's presence to avoid showing any further disrespect.

After the third pace from the rock his vision dimmed slightly and he blinked. There was nothing interesting there, in fact, he was not sure what he had been so worried about.

Chún shook his head. That was not right, there had been a pile of rocks and…

There was a push from his link to the Mountain and Chún's eyes widened. It had worked! Different from the Vine, but of course, it was the little tree's concept of hidden, not his or the Vine.

He could do it. He could do it! He turned and started running back through the forest to the clearing, jumping and hurdling logs in his haste.

An image from the Mountain showed him stumbling around the village trying to get other people to notice him, while they evaded him without ever seeing him.

"Well, yes… it's not exactly how I need to Manifest, but it proves I can create custom Manifestations based on a creature's Dao from the one I comprehended. It works!"

A feeling of dubiousness and Yijing's voice repeating 'Practice' sounded in his head.

"Well...yes, of course. I am not ready yet ...but after a few more times?"

"Tomorrow, do you think? I really need clothes you know..."