Treasures Of Heaven And Earth

As usual, dawn woke Chún with a rush of energy, along with the clash of percussion instruments and horns in his Essence sense. By the steadily brightening light of the Silver Sapling, he carefully moved around the cave, collecting those things he planned to trade - the panther fur, boar hide and tusks - and wrapped them into a tight bundle with his old rope.

He carefully dressed in his 'best' set of clothing - but quickly realised that he must have had a growth spurt, as the previously baggy cast offs were now tight around his c.h.e.s.t and shoulders and left quite a bit of stomach showing. The pants were tight around his legs, only reaching to mid-calf and he did not need the rope to keep the previously loose pants fastened around his waist.

"Guess I need clothing for more than one reason," he frowned down at himself. Clearly the temperings had fixed at least some of the issues caused by a childhood of little or no food.

He sighed, resigned to the fact that there was not much he could do about it.

Picking up the sack and his staff he trotted out the tunnel into the morning light. Not being sure how long it would take to ignite, harvest and complete the Dao pattern he wanted to get an early start so that he arrived in the village at a reasonable hour.

As the vines covering the entrance moved aside, a fruit fell towards his head. Chún caught it without breaking stride, spinning around to walk backward through the dew-wet grass towards the edge of the clearing as he bowed, "My thanks for providing breakfast your Ladyship!"

As he crossed into the forest, he squared his shoulders in determination. "Ok, Mountain - show me where to go next."

---

Several shi later, Chún sat with his back against the large boulder in the Geese Pasture where his adventure essentially began, drinking water he had drawn from the stream the same way as the old man had done and munching on the Vine fruit.

"I wonder where you are now Teacher? Wherever it is, I hope you are well." He tipped a little of the water out as an offering to the Heavens to look out for the old man, thankful that he had chosen to talk with an orphan boy.

Finishing the fruit, he sighed and got to his feet. "This is the last one in the pattern, Mountain - ready?"

His locus had asked him to hold a connection to the Essence generated at each ignition point or plant he had boosted until the next point - connecting each point in turn with the next. With each point added the amount of Essence flowing through the connection grew. Chún felt a pressure building in his body as if he was trying to cross a swift river - and by now the weight felt like hundreds of catties trying to break free.

Thankfully most of the Essence was actually going into holding the pattern, the Mountain had explained - otherwise he would have been literally burned from the inside out with the acc.u.mulated energy.

If he had not felt so tired, he wouldn't have stopped for a break. But his focus was starting to suffer and he did not want to go up in a blaze of fire by mistake, so he sat and ate despite the pressure.

As usual the Vine's fruit made a large difference - the pressure was still there - but he felt alert and strong.

The Mountain's response was eager, so he stepped towards the very first plant he had helped directly, smiling at the tall, lush, silvery-purple stand of grass rippling in the breeze.

"Hello, old friend. Ready for a boost?" With barely a thought, he slid into Essence sense and felt for the pulse of the grass, sliding into it with the ease of much repetition.

As his own pulse slowed to match the plant's, he opened the connection to the pattern, pulsing his own Essence into the plant at the same time. The energy from the connection followed the pulse and connected solidly with the grass, which immediately glowed with a searing brightness to his Essence sense, a sound like a roaring wind filing his mind.

Following his locus' guidance, he relinquished the end of the connection to the grass and quickly dropped out of Essence Sense.

There was a soundless 'thump' he could feel in his c.h.e.s.t even without his sense and for a moment Chún could see the pattern flare across the Mountain.

Then it all vanished and suddenly it felt like the Mountain had turned insubstantial for a moment, before his link to his locus stabilised.

Chún sighed in relief as he bent down to harvest a few stalks of grass. "Finally. And my sack is full of of herbs - hopefully someone will be willing to trade for them."

---

Four kè or so later Chún trotted down the main 'road' that led to the village. After some consideration he had decided to not come too obviously from the mountain behind the village and circled around to intercept the main path that the majority of travellers passing through generally used, He was coming from the north path which was generally accepted as leading off into the wilderness. It would be easier to pass as a Jianghu Relic Hunter this way - the wandering Consumer he had once spoken to in the village had been one of these - so he had some idea of what was expected.

Relic Hunters were usually wandering - meaning independent with no great talent - Consumers who travelled the land searching for lucky chances and fortunate encounters that might give them the chance to be recognised or accepted by a clan. In the past, some of these types of Consumers had discovered inheritances or treasures that led to power, wealth or more, especially once they agreed to join a Clan and pass on their knowledge - most of the Established Clans jealously guarded secret worlds or ruins found by relic hunters like this.

Of course, many Clans sent out their own people on Journeys to find their own Dao and so on in Jianghu and they sometimes also found things - but the Consumers who specialised in hunting for treasures tended to have more luck..

Of course most Relic Hunters were unsuccessful and generally survived on trading wild Essence herbs, plants, stones, beast remains and so on that they discovered in their journeying.

It usually took a proficient Consumer to survive in the wild; but skilled experts usually had other ways of making a living. Groups who tried to setup relic hunting teams rarely lasted; mostly because no one could be trusted not to stab you in the back once anything valuable was found.

So Relic Hunters were low to mid level Consumers who generally spent years alone in the wilds and preferred it that way, bringing back resources that could not be grown or farmed domestically. Usually too dangerous for most people to bother and not important enough to attract attention from anyone important - the perfect character for Chún to play; no one would be surprised he had come to the nearest Market Village with his goods to trade rather back into civilisation, that he had no money or wanted to trade low to mid level Essence plants and pelts for basic everyday items - to replace the ones he had lost, worn out or destroyed while out hunting - of course.

Chún had made sure to keep the plants and herbs in his sack alive and healthy by keeping threads of Essence pulsing through them, sustaining their life away from the soil. He would put them in pots next time if he managed to make some, but he could pass it off as a technique he had developed for keeping Essence plants alive.

The Mountain had also reminded him to disguise his status as a True Cultivator, the way Yijing had shown him. His Essence felt odd restricted to his Meridians and Dantians like that. He also noticed the Essence flows were much brighter and more solid than the last time.

Finally, he had applied the Dao Pattern of Unimportance - he still was not sure what to call it - that he had worked so hard on to himself. Hopefully it would keep anyone from recognising him. His wish not to be noticed by anyone he did not want to talk to was so heartfelt that the pattern spun out of his Dao almost without need for his assistance

The village stockade came into view; designed to keep out bandits or the occasional Essence Beast. Chún suppressed a chuckle at the thought of any of the creatures he had run into on the Mountain even noticing the tree trunk wall was there.

Walking confidently through the gate, he was struck with how small the communal/market area seemed - even counting the majority of households living further out within a two li circle it seemed tiny; it also smelt bad. A drawback of bathing daily, he supposed, never having noticed the issue before.

He suppressed the sudden urge to turn around and leave immediately; at least his distaste would fit the general image of Consumers in general and headed for the village well where he knew the town gossips would be found.

"You. Does this town have a furrier? I have furs to trade," he snapped at the first gawker he came across. He took distinct p.l.e.a.s.u.r.e at being rude to people who until recently had bullied and cursed at him.

"Ah..ah - yes, honoured Cultivator.. It is just outside the wall to the east - because of the smell of the tannery…"

"The smell? Ah… truly a wise decision," replied Chún with faux-approval, inwardly wondering how anyone could tell the difference as he made a short nod of thanks and strode off towards the tannery.

He knew everyone would know about the 'Wandering Cultivator with trade goods' within less than a a few kè. Hopefully people would be more inclined to trade with an itinerant person when they might be willing to trade for less than market value.

---

About a shi later, Chún strode off back out through the wilderness entrance clad in a waterproofed robe, carrying an assortment of cooking utensils, spices, oil, eating utensils, some doufu beans, several extra spare sets of basic clothing - used but not threadbare - clean leather foot wraps, basic medical supplies, an axe, shovel and sturdy woodsman's knife.

The furrier and apothecary had been quite impressed with the Panther Essence Beast fur and various Essence herbs respectively and offered what Chún actually considered good prices - they kept mentioning that the village was a Market Town and thus would be the only place for several hundred li able to accommodate his needs - and pointed him in the direction of villagers who did side business as tailors and in sundry goods.

The tailor, a young village wife, had reacted quite strangely when he had inquired about clothing and had seemed to take an inordinate amount of time to take his measurements; before returning with various items for him to try on. Chún had quite forgotten about the whole - undressing in front of strangers - rule despite his shyness around the Heaven and Earth Vine as he had been forced to be without decent clothing for quite a while now and it was only when when he heard a gasp behind him did he realise the lady was still there. He apologised, but oddly enough she seemed to take longer than necessary to leave the room.

The blacksmith had been less impressed with the boar tusks, but was still happy to trade for the metal tools - though he had to pay for the knife. Unfortunately the blacksmith did not have sewing needles - so Chún had placed an order to be picked up next Market Day in a couple of weeks.

He thought the villagers might be more inclined to view him positively if they knew he could be a new source of Essence items, rather than a once off they might fleece or rob.

The thing he was most happy with was that anyone he was not directly conversing with would only react to him in the most basic way - avoiding collisions and so forth; otherwise their attention was always elsewhere - unless he spoke to them - within a few Fēn. And no one made any sign of recognition.

As he turned off the path to circle back to the Mountain, he breathed in the clean air and smiled to himself. He considered this a successful venture, although he thought he might have underestimated the value of some of his items given how much was offered.

He probably should bring less and not as a high quality next time - or some people's greed might outweigh their sense of self preservation.

---

"He left?"

"Yes, boss. Xiao says he placed an order for next Market Day."

"Hmm, leave him alone then - maybe he will bring more without us bothering him."

"It might have been a single lucky kill… the boar pelt was quality but nothing special, according to Gan. And Duan says the herbs are good but nothing he could not find if he was willing to travel a few li outside the village."

"Duan is a liar. Just wants to sell on the herbs himself. It does not matter. Just keep an eye out for him for now. Pity that orphan boy got himself killed wandering off - he would have been ideal to watch for this Relic Hunter."

"You thinking he might have found something?"

"Hmmm. That Essence fur does not have a mark on it - so if he killed it, he must be either really strong - or something else. And did you notice that staff of his?"

"Xiao says it is just wood from some sort of tree - laughed when I asked if it was metal. But boss… no one else noticed anything about him. Even our guys kept insisting there was nothing special about him - I kept having to ask the same questions over and over again."

"And you think so too?"

"Just another Wanderer. Nothing special."

"Maybe."