Treasures Of Heaven And Earth

Chún used all of his newly acquired Monkey Movement Dao skills to flee as quickly as possible through the mountain forest towards his cave. Thankfully, the tempering he had just undergone back at the snake clearing had not only replaced all of the Essence he had used during the Bear chase and fight; it had also increased the capacity and purity of Essence his body was able to filter out from his surroundings while improving the power and agility of his physical body.

All of that meant that he arrived back at the Heaven and Earth Vine in about a quarter of the time it had previously taken to travel the distance; of course, this time he was mostly travelling in a straight line and not meandering around in frustration or in an effort to throw off a pursuit.

Landing in the clearing with a sigh of relief, he realised that he was barely winded despite the exertion required to travel so quickly and despite his recent brushes with death - or perhaps because of them - he found himself grinning uncontrollably.

He had survived his first real fight; made progress in his Dao, had a fortuitous encounter, learnt his first Dao technique and something that could be considered a martial skill - suddenly he felt like he was really a Cultivator - just like in the stories he used to hear in the village.

"I have not met an arrogant Consumer that needs a good face-slapping yet, though - I can not consider myself a real Cultivator until that happens, right?"

Laughing at his own whimsy, he flinched back as the little silver snake uncoiled from around his neck and lifted his tiny head out in front of Chún's eyes with an irritated expression somehow clear.

"Ah, nèige…" he coughed nervously, eliciting an annoyed hissing, "nèige…well, Welcome to my home! nèige…I guess it is also your home now - although, actually it is her home," he explained carefully, gesturing at the Heaven and Earth Vine as he started walking towards the cliff face, "…I do not think you want to make Her upset - treat Her like you did His Majesty and it should be ok."

The snake bent its head away and rose upward looking at the massive tangle of shifting, misty, vines and leaves fading in and out of visibility up the li high cliff-face; the copious amounts of giant glowing fruits and flowers; the constant swells of Essence and perfume laden mists thick with flickering Dao characters and motes of blue, green and yellow; all contracting and expanding from the Vine like the breath of a giant - and turned back to Chún with a definite look of trepidation in its body language.

"You get used to it… it is mostly because She is going to Cultivate into a Five Elements Tree soon, I think. And it is great for Cultivation and growing Essence herbs and - well, growing anything really. The best part is, nothing else will come into the clearing...I think she eats them… nèige…"

He coughed again in embarrassment as the snake's head swivelled back to him in shock, clearly asking if he was in his right mind. "...nèige… as long as I introduce you to Her - it should be OK… I think."

Reaching the cave entrance tunnel, he rested his staff against the cliff, beside the tunnel entrance and put his sack down; thankfully the sack had survived the days events, although it was starting to look distinctly worn.

Chún cast a resigned look down at his unclothed body. Feeling uncomfortable, but not really having any other options, he stepped forward and placed his hand on a taproot vine, dropping into Essence sense.

"Mountain, could you help me communicate with Her?"

An answering pulse from the link to his locus; and then an Essence image that his friend had shown him only in his mind before suddenly coalesced from the Essence mists slightly above their heads - a figure of a small green human girl her face towards them. She seemed to lay on her side, asleep in the branches and leaves of the Vine.

Both Chún and the small snake reared back in surprise, Chún noticing the image of the girl seemed a lot more solid, than in the Mountain's previous mental image, although he could still see through her.

"Ah..", Hastily, Chún bowed then looked upward toward the reclining figure and spoke carefully. "Your Highness, I am sorry for disturbing your rest. I know you only permit my living here because of the request my Teacher made of you.

I apologise for the inconvenience but… I have been gifted the fruit of a Silver Tree and the request of His Majesty Flood Dragon is to plant it in the cave. His Majesty has sent His subject to guard the sapling directly," Chún carefully indicated the silver snake who dipped its head in a bow.

There was no discernible response from the sleeping girl. Chún hesitated, then continued "His Majesty Flood Dragon also stated that the Metal Essence of a Silver Tree in close proximity, would assist your Cultivation."

"Please allow…" Chún stopped short as one closed eyelid of the image slid up the tiniest fraction to reveal glowing Essence shifting gradually through different colours. A heavy pressure seemed to descend, making it difficult to breathe.

The Essence mists stopped swirling and seem to thicken into a thick fog that glittered dangerously with large amounts of Essence motes and Dao runes. It pressed in around Chún and he felt an intense sense of being observed.

After a long moment, a large leaf shifted outward and came to rest just under the little snake's position on Chún's neck. The tip of the leaf curled and uncurled once in a clear invitation and went still.

A moment later, Chún felt the coils of the snake shifting, then the pressure of the snake's coils left his throat as it moved with dignity onto the surface of the leaf.

The leaf shifted back towards the Essence image, bringing the snake level with the partially open eye. He could see the snake dipping its head in another bow, then a shimmer of Essence motes surrounded it.

A couple of shùn passed. Then the eyelid of the sleeper slowly closed again and the Essence image dissipated, the oppressive pressure lifting along with the fog around Chún.

He watched as the snake quickly undulated down the vines and into the tunnel entrance, turning its head around to look at Chún before disappearing into the opening.

"Guess that means She agreed then," he thought to himself, bowing to the Heaven and Earth Vine in thanks. Picking up his sack and staff he followed quickly after the silver snake, jogging down the tunnel to the main cave.

"Thanks for the help, friend. Ah...do you know how to do what the Flood Dragon.. asked for?" An affirming pulse came from his link to the Mountain and he blew out his breath in relief.

Chún reached the inner cave opening and moved across to his makeshift bedding where he had hidden his coin pouch out of habit, dropping his staff and sack as he retrieved the pouch and tapped out the minuscule ruby fruit into his palm. An excited hiss revealed the small snake wrapped around a nearby rock and Chún closed his hand hurriedly.

"Remember what His Majesty warned you about. Just wait a shùn and it should be growing."

"Ok," he thought to his locus, "where?"

Just around seven arm spans above the mineral spring, a small ledge pushed its way out of the cave wall. Helpful Essence lines pinpointed a route for Chún to leap from foothold to handhold to a point just above the new outcropping.

"Right." Using Monkey Movement, he easily followed the guides and found himself at just about eye-height with the new ledge. From here he could look almost directly down into the hot spring and feel the heat of the mineral laden vapour hitting his face.

The ledge itself seemed to have been almost folded out of the wall, leaving a curved alcove arching behind and above it. He could see moisture droplets already dripping from the alcove onto the ledge. One droplet hit his lips and he pulled a face at the strong metallic taste.

A few Fire Essence motes floating up from the spring dimly illuminated thick veins of rock that shone with metallic ores. Chún thought he spotted silver, iron, maybe even a flash of gold embedded among shiny flints and crystals.

"It is probably a good thing there is to be an extra guard inside the cave, my friend. If ordinary humans learnt of your riches, we would not need the Consumers to come here for you to be hurt," Chún sighed quietly, "Ok, I see why this is a good place. Let me just…" He placed the ruby fruit onto the ledge carefully to avoid the possibility of it rolling off, expecting that the surface would be hard, but was surprised to feel what felt like soft sand.

"Huh?...Oh this is ridiculous," he snapped, annoyed at not being able to see properly. Pushing his Essence out, he carefully constructed a Fire pattern - like he had seen his locus create on the stew pot - in the air. Almost immediately, some of the scattered Fire Essence motes drifting upward from the hot spring rushed towards it and started filing it, which created a small flame drifting where he had put the rune. More motes moved toward the rune as he watched, the small flame growing brighter and slightly larger.

"Not what I expected, but useful…" Thoughtfully, he moved the Essence Rune towards the ledge and the flame followed, as did the fire motes. The firelight glittered off what appeared to be colourful sands that shone with metallic l.u.s.tre, instead of the rock he was expecting.

"Oh, metal sand, instead of soil… you know that most humans would kill to get this sort of thing…?"

A puzzled sensation came from his link and an image of Chún filling his pouch with the sand.

"No, it is no good to me at the moment - I am not strong enough to protect you or myself if someone decides to take it. Maybe someday I will be strong enough and we can use some to trade for things we need."

"Ok, so if the fruit is in this sand…" Chún used his finger to push the fruit into the central, deepest part of the powdered metal grains and covered it as if he were planting a regular seed in soil. Releasing the Fire Dao Rune, he took a deep breath, reached out with his Essence and synchronised with the deep, constant thrum of his locus.

In his Essence sense the ledge glowed with Essence veins that dimmed and brightened slightly in time with the thrum and the fruit was a tiny pinprick of energy in the darkness.

At the next beat of the Mountain's heart, he released a small pulse of mixed Essence into the seed - Earth, Water and Air. The light pulsed slightly brighter in return and then dimmed. Again, he released a small Essence pulse in time with the beat of the Mountain as the Flood Dragon had shown him.

The brightening was larger this time and the dimming less.

Pulse. With each pulse of Essence, the heartbeat of the seed grew stronger, without interrupting its natural rhythm. Chún could hear a small percussion from the seed that slowly grew louder each time, falling into sync with the sound of the Mountain.

This was the method of releasing Essence the Flood Dragon had taught him; the King of Snakes had pointed out that rather than releasing a large amount of Essence at once, it was better to feed the cycle of a Dao, so that it would develop according to its nature - rather than pouring a lot of Essence into it and forcing it to Ignite.

As for syncing his Essence release with the beat of his locus, it was because the closer a creature's own personal Dao was in time with all Dao, the stronger and more connected it would be to everything.

Because Chún's locus was the Mountain, he could hear the Mountain's pulse, which was a reflection of all Dao. This gave him an advantage over other True Cultivators - he could create greater and more powerful Essence Ignitions with less expenditure of Essence and the resulting Essence Manifestations would be of higher quality - as they would be born already in sync with the Dao.

This made a lot of sense to Chún. He suspected he would have eventually figured it out on his own, but the Flood Dragon evidently wanted the new seedling to have the best possible result for the benefit of the little silver snake.

The seed was beating brightly now - he could see it growing brighter with each pulse even without the help of his Essence, setting the sand glowing.

"It is time", he warned the little silver snake urgently. Immediately it moved quickly up the cave wall onto the ledge, curling itself into a ring on the sand, around the edge of the ledge.

Seeing everything had been done as required by the Flood Dragon, Chún leapt from the foot and hand holds down to the ground near his bedding and sat down to Cultivate; a sudden thought had him reach over and grab his staff, holding it at either end across his legs.

In his Essence sight he could see the seed on the ledge above his head flickering continuously now - brighter each time, with the little snake coiled around it and the snake's Essence flickering in time with the seed. He breathed in relief - the little snake was following the Flood Dragon's orders.

In fact, he could see all the Essence veins in the cave were also pulsing - the ones on the small ledge almost as brightly as the seed - to the same beat. As was the Mountain's - who had sped up to match.

Did that mean all the Dao - was going faster? There was so much he did not understand…

Some new Essence movements from the cave ceiling caught his attention. Some roots from the Heaven and Earth Vine - he recognised the shape and colour of her Essence - grew through the rock almost directly above the ledge. They were also pulsing in the same beat.

Chún retracted his sense and sped up his Essence pulse to match the drumming of his locus; it was extremely easy - as if he had jumped into a swiftly flowing river and the pulse of his own Essence was simply pulled along by a stronger current. He could feel his breathing, heartbeat and blood flow surge to match.

With a thought he pushed Essence out his left arm - into the staff, down the length of the staff and back up through his right. After a single cycle, the flow of Essence in his body flowed out through the staff and back without his effort.

In his Essence sense he saw his staff turn from deadwood into a living branch almost instantaneously, pulsing in time with his heartbeat.

All his thoughts fell away into the beat. Everything resonated together in an endless glow.

The ignition was expected. Everything raced outward together into a gentle wave that sounded like the biggest clash of cymbals ever, gently depositing him back in the cave.

Chún opened his eyes. Unlike other times when he had experienced a large Ignition, there was not any pain or disorientation. The black muck was there again, but it flaked off as he shifted, revealing shiny new skin with almost a metallic l.u.s.tre under the… light.

He looked around slowly, blinking at how well he could see inside his cave without his Essence sense. Light reflected off everything, leaving the cave comfortably lit. All the cave surfaces seem to have become almost...gilded.

A sense of agreement came from his link to the Mountain which, he was relieved to note, sounded again like its usual steady heartbeat - and the strange word reminded him of something he had been meaning to ask his locus.

"I have wondered - all these long words and ideas I never knew before, is it because of you?"

Agreement. Also disagreement - and an image of his head growing brightly with Essence - with strands running back and forth and out to through the link and back.

"The Cultivation makes me smarter? I think of the ideas; you are just providing the words?"

Some agreement. "Both? I think of some things, some ideas you pass to me - but the big words must come from you?"

Agreement.

"Not sure I like that having ideas which are not mine in my head."

A helpful and unconcerned feeling came in response. "Hmmm. I may wish to discuss this again at some point. For now, where is that light coming from?"

Chún checked his staff, which now looked like a small tree trunk forged in elaborate detail out of various types of metals - bronze for bark, with silver cracks and fissures, and gold for burls and grain - looking almost like a living tree without branches or leaves. It wasn't glowing, however.

"Oh dear… I will not be able to take this outside again…" he paused as the staff seemed to shrink in width to a normal staff and turned black, looking like it was made out of cast iron, or some dark wood, as it still appeared to have a wood grain. "...or not... ok, that worked even better than I had hoped - hah, let that Bear have a taste of this!"

"So where is that… oh," Chún looked up at the ledge which was glowing brightly and quickly scaled the wall.

A very small sapling was growing from the sand, which appeared much reduced. Like its parent, it was silver, but it clearly was a young tree with only a couple of branches with one or two tiny wide bronze-ish leaves and no fruit. Given its size it was hard to tell what species it was - other than not a willow - unlike its parent.

The trunk and branches were also incandescent - almost too brilliant to look at. Chún suspected that without recent tempering he would have been utterly blinded.

"Aii. It will be interesting to see what you grow into." A sudden thought made him look around ,shielding his eyes with one hand, concerned "Silver snake…"

A hiss, much louder than previous attracted his attention. Chún looked over to see a gleaming silver snake with traceries of gold the width of his arm and at least an arm span in length coiled up in a crevice in the wall near his head, regarding him steadily with glowing silver eyes.

Chún swallowed. "Well. That worked."