Treasures Of Heaven And Earth

"Son of a Rabbit! Useless..." The young boy was fuming as he looked down at his latest attempt to weave a Dao of Unimportance into an Essence plant.

After the success with the little silver willow, Chún was sure he understood how it was done. At his locus' urging he had waited until the next day to avoid overloading on Essence after being hit with so much after the Treasure had ignited - and that was a new thing, Metal Essence - and despite wanting to go out and try again straight away had spent the rest of that day on chores.

He had gathered more deadwood for the Fire-Pit and fresh grasses for his sleeping spot, ate the wild plums he had found for lunch and planted the pits in his vegetables and fruit patch - adding as well any small specimens of edible vegetables and tubers he had gathered on his hunt.

The rest of the wild food had gone into the now full stew pot along with the skinned and boned rabbits, making the dinner that night very rich and flavorful.

If only the rest of his ideas had gone as well as the stew pot idea. Seeing as the clothing situation might take a little longer than he had hoped to resolve, Chún had made a makeshift loincloth with some large leaves - not from the Vine - and some handwoven creepers. It was an improvement in only, that he was not wearing out his already threadbare clothing anymore, but it was not exactly skilfully made. Weaving had not been a skill he had been forced to learn back in the village - not unpleasant enough, he supposed.

He could patch his clothing well enough with needles made from the rabbit bone - he had the bones drying out in the fire pit for exactly that reason, but he had no cloth - and if there was a Dao of cloth he had not found it yet. Plants and rocks did not usually grow cloth after all.

Chún thought he might have more success with building a kiln, especially with his friend's help to make sure the shape was perfect; digging clay and mud and carrying water for the village potter had been another set of tasks that he had done. Of course, the potter had not allowed him to learn to construct the mud kiln, but he had watched the potter build several, so he knew how it was done.

It would be nice to have real bowls to eat from and pots to carry water in. He might even make some tiny pots to hold soil for herbs and plants that he wanted to trade to ensure they stayed alive during the trip.

But none of those ideas were any point if he could not learn a way to prevent the villagers from recognising him.

Glaring down at the latest patch of grass in the clearing that he had failed to weave the unobtrusive Manifestation into, Chún tapped the clear stalks of grass sourly, wincing as they made an audible crackling sound - like ice breaking on a stream - and then shivered back into regular looking grass.

Clear grass was something like being invisible, he supposed. But it was almost the opposite of seeming unimportant - he shuddered - imagining the reaction the villagers would have at seeing a transparent person walking into the village.

And if that was not enough, as soon as anything touched the grass, it made that sound...and went back to normal… until it went clear again, with almost the same sound, just to let everything know about it

It was not Chún's first failure today. He had woken up all excited and determined to be careful with his study, responsibly ate a Vine fruit to make sure he was not low on Essence and then made a point of picking ordinary items around the clearing to practice growing Manifestations with.

That was the one correct thing he had done. Chún cringed at the thought of Thousand year grass becoming this...cracking ice grass. Or if the rock that now somehow produced the smell of rotting flesh had been an Essence stone instead.

There was also a bit of dead wood that grew a disturbing fur coat. It kept moving, like a caterpillar - would it have been an Evil Essence creature if he had asked to use one of the Vine's branches?

Sighing, he bent down and picked up a yellowing fallen leaf that had been blown into the clearing from the forest. "More practice, more practice," he said hollowly as he walked over to the boulder he usually used to dry out his washing and hopped on top of the rock, enjoying the warmth of the Golden Crow's feathers on his skin.

Dipping into Essence Sense he focused on the leaf in his hand. There was barely anything to see, it was almost completely dead, which was good, less to make a mess of.

A few dim strands of Essence flickered dimly. The few Dao he could see were quiet and sluggish. He recognised parts of unimportance, completion, silence, ending…

Carefully he pushed Essence into the leaf, slowly spinning the fragments of unimportance, silence and completion together to form new shapes of un-remarkability, un-noticeability…

...the completion shape flashed suddenly as it shifted into take its place in the new shape. He could see each of the original Daos making up parts of the new one and felt a rising hope…

...The shape for ending suddenly swelled as the completion rune flared, surrounding the 'unnoticed' rune shape that had just come together…

...The 'unnoticed' shape slotted neatly into the centre of the 'Ending' shape - and almost simultaneously, all of it spun together, shrinking to nothing with a soundless flash - which faded to darkness…

Chún opened his eyes in time to see the leaf slowly crumble into dust from tip to stem; but instead of falling into his hand the dust rose from the leaf like smoke and disappeared into the breeze.

Chún felt the blood drain from his face. If he had tried that on himself…

An image of Chún disintegrating into nothingness was forcefully pushed into his mind from the Mountain and he choked, swallowing bile.

"To Cultivate is asking to die," the voice of the village storyteller in one of his many 'profound sayings' recalled through his thoughts.

"No more practice," said Chún, his voice shaking and body shuddering. He picked up his staff and sack and strode into the forest as quickly as possible, hoping that the exertion of physical activity would drive away the chills that chased themselves up and down his spine.

---

A portion of the forest of the back of the Mountain rang with roars and grunts of exertion. A sudden crash shook a dozen birds skyward with screams of alarm as an enormous forest giant swayed like a reed.

A blurred form raced through the forest, the wind of its passage tearing loose leaves from trees to be pulled along in its wake and setting lesser trees swaying as it leapt like a crazed chipmunk between the giant trunks.

The reason for its haste was revealed a moment later as a massive bear came thrashing through the forest in a straight line behind, obviously enraged.

"Must... you.. narrate like the... Village Storyteller," Chún shot silently back up the link to his locus as he squatted breathlessly on on a sturdy tree limb, watching warily for his pursuer. The Mountain seemed to be deriving great amus.e.m.e.nt from sending elaborate third person views of the situation to Chún as he ricocheted from tree to tree.

A strong sense of assent and amus.e.m.e.nt followed; followed by an image of him throwing a stone at the bear, then fleeing in terror.

"Yes, well, he was going to eat... that monkey! And the whole... troop was about to get themselves killed... trying to save it! I was just trying to... distract the bear so they could get away! I did not... think the son of a... dog would...come after me instead!"

Somewhere during the mad chase, Chún had mastered the art of communicating to the Mountain by thinking at it; noise - like talking aloud - tended to attract the bear's attention; the third near fatal claw swipe had convinced him he had to keep as quiet as possible.

In fact, if it had not been for Chún frantically mimicking the movements of the monkey troop as they initially raced through the canopy, he would have been caught by now.

Instinct had taken over in the first few shùn as Essence surged through his body; he had reacted without thought, following the monkeys into the trees by copying their Essence flows and behaviour.

The Monkey Movement Dao - as he was calling it in his head - let him launch straight off the side of tree trunks and rebound off surfaces at angles to absorb falls and impacts safely; and gave him momentum to launch even higher.

He was even able used to use his staff - frantically reinforced with Essence - to leverage truly incredible jumps off the most unlikely launch points, throwing him much farther and faster than was possible with his limbs alone.

After the first few 'Monkey see, Monkey do' traversals, the Mountain had helpfully pinpointed angles and landing spots - so even after the troop abandoned him to the Bear, he had managed to keep going like - his locus so helpfully described - a demented chipmunk.

Between Essence fuelled jumps and falling he had gained so much speed that he had to keep his eyes closed and use his Essence sense to navigate. If it was not for the crazed death beast coming after him he would have enjoyed the sensation of flying through the air like an Immortal from the stories.

Grabbing the occasional sturdy vine to swing across the occasional clearings had also helped to keep him out of the Bear's reach. This time it had also granted him a breather as the Bear did not seem inclined to rush straight after him. Maybe it had lost the scent?

Chún slowed his breathing and tried to think; he could sense the Bear just outside the small clearing directly opposite his position. It seemed to be hesitant about coming into an open space, which seemed odd - it was only because of the trees that he had managed to keep ahead of it.

On the other hand, he would have a clear shot at it as it came into the clearing. Maybe that was what was bothering it?

Chún passed his palm over his face, feeling his heartbeat speeding up as he realised what he was considering even as he realised he was running out of options; Essence or not he was only eleven seasons old - there was no way he could outlast, outrun or out muscle a Bear - even one that was not an Essence Beast.

He needed to kill it in one strike - or at least hurt or scare it sufficiently that it judged it not worth the trouble to risk further confrontation.

On the tree branch Chún closed his eyes and started channelling Essence as hard as he could, flooding his body. Remembering the feeling of being hit by the little silver tree's ignition wave yesterday, he pushed as much of the Metal Essence left in his body into his staff as he could.

He opened his eyes to see the staff gleaming a silver-golden colour and vibrating slightly.

"Friend, give me the highest and fastest leap-drop that will let me strike the Bear with the most effective force," Chún determinedly thought at the Mountain as he let his Essence shift through the pattern of the Monkey Dao as closely as he could, tweaking it to match his own body as quickly as possible.

A sudden roar caused an instinctive reaction and his body reacted without prior consultation, flinging him upward across the clearing and automatically pushing his body through the movements the Mountain fed him through the link, with a wild battle cry on his lips:

"Taste my Monkey Staff!"

---

A streak of golden and silver spins like a firework as it plummets through the sky;

A mighty monster rears to meet it with thunderous paw.

Mortal enemies collide with a strike that shakes the Heavens,

A white light explodes from their contact,

The world trembles.

---

"Son of a…" Chún struggled to stabilise himself from the aftermath of the two attacks, tumbling with the blast front and plowing a furrow across the clearing with his feet and staff as he slid back on landing. Clearly he had been mistaken about the Bear not being an Essence Beast.

"And, seriously, is the Epic Saga narration really necessary?"

The clear sense of the Mountain grinning and furiously nodding its head was obvious.

"Great, my locus is a clever pants." Chún panted, holding his staff up in a guard as the dust cleared from the now scorched and blasted clearing, looking warily at the Bear who was doing the same back at him.

"Neither of us wants this to go any further. Let us just call it a draw out of respect", Chún spoke to the Essence Beast carefully, watching its movements.

A considering light flickered in the Bear's eyes - and then it tilted its head and made a whuff sound. Then it turned back into the forest the way it had come.

Chún let out the breath he had been holding and collapsed on the ground, exhausted. "I can not believe that worked."

A prod from the Mountain pushed him into Essence Sense and he gasped at the enormous - and frankly dangerous - amount of unattached Essence writhing around the clearing. "That is what happens after a battle? But that was only a single clash. What happens when Consumers have their fights?"

An impatient jab from his locus sent him an image of him channelling the Essence into the floor of the clearing. Chún tightened his fists in trepidation, then opened his senses up and pulled on the Essence.

It felt like being in the centre of a violent storm as the Essence pounced towards him and flooded through him in a massive swirl of power that seem to set him alight from the inside, flash burning impurities as they were forced out of his meridians, marrow, bones, tendons, ligaments, muscles, organs, nerves and skin.

The power filtered through him entered the ground almost gently in comparison, setting off a chain of Essence fountains, ignitions and ripples all throughout the clearing. Grass, plants, herbs and small trees sprouted and flung themselves upward in a blink of an eye, covering the clearing in a massive cloud of Essence motes and swirling Essence mist.

Then it was over and Chún sat in the middle of a clearing filled with precious plants and Essence herbs of incalculable age and strength, potentially thousands of years of Cultivation is a single place. Consumers would kill each other in hordes for any one of the plants here.

"I feel, remade," Chún said in wonder, then glanced down with resignation. "N.a.k.e.d again."

"Well, that is enough exertion for one day...back to the clearing…"

His movements to rise to his feet froze as a multitude of slithering and hissing reached his ears from all directions, fighting not to react as hundreds of Essence Snakes moved swiftly in from the forest from all sides of the clearing

Suddenly deadly serious, the Mountain sent a critically urgent sense of not moving a muscle.