Treasures Of Heaven And Earth

After the Sect leader had left, the two young women investigated the indicated door and found a small sitting room with another entrance opposite, simply but beautifully appointed. There were large floor to ceiling windows overlooking a beautiful view of the mountains, valleys and forests - looking like a blessed land out of a bedtime story.

Dàilán gasped quietly at the wealth implied in being able to use clear glass in a window that large. Clear glass was ludicrously expensive - even with Essence techniques used to help make it. Glass windows back at the Clan were small or if larger, made up of many individual panes.

Most windows were closed with shutters or paper not glass. The larger glass windows in Third House had often been of much envy and discussion among the rest of the Clan. Looking at these, Dàilán suspected now her Mother had helped her Father obtain the glass.

There were a number of comfortable low elaborately carved wooden benches, with thick cushions and a table, but not much else other than luxurious carpets covering the wooden parquetry floor.

The young Heiress stood in front of the window and gazed quietly out the tranquil scene. Her bodyguard and lady-in-waiting stood properly a pace behind her, her hands clasped in front of her robe.

"How do you do it?" asked Dàilán quietly, "I close my eyes and I see them… I still feel the sensation of the daggers…" she shuddered and drew in a deep breath, "I know as Cultivators, fighting and killing is inevitable," she continued, "there are always those who see strength as a mandate to take anything they want, thus there will always be those who seek advancement over the bodies of others and we must kill them, unless we are willing to die."

They young teen shook her head, "We have trained for years to be able to defend ourselves. They would have done much worse to us; and others if they were left alive. It was right to remove them, else I would be responsible for those they hurt afterwards - I knew this and know it still - yet I feel uneasy in my heart. I did…" she lowered her head "...I did not expect that."

"Mistress, there is no easy answer," replied her friend soberly, "I am glad you are unharmed. As time passes you will learn to accept the price that comes with killing. I am glad that it unsettles your heart - there are those whose heart is no longer moved from destroying someone else - they usually become monsters that must be dealt with before they destroy everything they touch."

Dàilán walked over to one of the small seats and sat, stripping off her gloves and handing them to her lady-in-waiting, then put her head in her hands. Chenli slipped onto the seat beside her and put an arm around her as Dàilán's shoulders shook silently.

"I feel as if I have lost something," the heiress murmured eventually through her hands, "and I am angry it is because of such… horrible people."

The two young teens sat quietly together for a few fēn. Eventually Dàilán raised her head and sighed, dropping her hands. Chenli wordlessly handed her a large soft cloth and the Heiress dried her tears, blowing her nose daintily into the cloth.

Chenli took the cloth back as Dàilán pushed some Essence through her hands and brushed them across her face, cleaning off her face.

There was a quiet rustle of cloth and the two of them turned around to watch as a servant walked in from the other entrance, carrying a tray of various breakfast food - congee, pickled vegetables, various fruits and tea.

"Heiress," the servant bowed to Dàilán as he set the tray down, "Sect Head ordered me to bring you and Enforcer Fuan breakfast. He asked me to inform you that he may be delayed."

"Thank you," acknowledged Dàilán graciously as the man bowed and left the room. Chenli immediately got up from the low bench and pulled out her testing kit, Dàilán following her closely and watching she put down a formation plate and several smaller tools engraved with formations around and in the food.

There was no reaction from any of the testing tools so her maid nodded. "Safe."

"Take your gloves off and join me," directed the Heiress. As Chenli followed the order, sitting on one of the low benches to one side of the table, Dàilán frowned. "Do you suppose Grandfather has had some issues with the report? Or the evidence?"

Chenli shrugged. "No idea. Hopefully it will give us enough time to eat and drink comfortably. We did not have a chance to have breakfast before we set out."

"True," agreed the other teen, "This meal is on me then," she announced grandly.

"Funny," answered her friend dryly.

The next Kè or so, the two girls polished off the food. The two of them were sitting back and sipping tea in companionable silence when the Sect Leader appeared at the same doorway that the servant had brought the food through.

"Ah. Good," he said gesturing for them to remain seated as they started to come to their feet. "I apologise for the wait - I contacted the head examiner to take charge of the captain's body. He confirmed that the corpse was one step from Sky level. He expressed admiration at the relatively clean kill of such a high level Cultivator - more so when I told him it was done by the Clan Heiress. He was surprised, he thought it was done by a Master level Enforcer at least though he did ask if the blow severing the neck had been entirely necessary."

Dàilán's Grandfather smiled at Dàilán's flush of embarrassment as he sat on the bench at the head of the small table and poured himself a cup of tea. After a moment, he put the cup down and bowed formally to the two teens. "Both of you have done a service to the Sect today. I apologise for my earlier scepticism." He handed Chenli back her necklace with the tablet attached. "Your soul tablet, Enforcer Fuan."

"It was our duty, Sect Leader," replied Dàilán as Chenli accepted the tablet back.

Her Grandfather nodded approvingly. "As to your other concerns as outlined on the tablet replay - I have made a copy, Enforcer Fuan and it has been secured - I understand and share them. It leads directly to the reason I asked for you to come, Granddaughter."

Dàilán nodded and placed her own cup down. "Say on, Grandfather."

"I need you to formally accept the duties of Sect Heir and start acting as an Enforcer. I was prepared to convince you at length, but," he coughed slightly, "you already acted as one today, which actually makes things a great deal simpler."

"I do not understand..." Dàilán frowned, "I am still Third House Guan Heir - and I believe there would be a ceremony?"

"Actually, Mistress, the ceremony for a Novice Enforcer is to successfully complete a low level execution warrant Order with a higher level sponsor monitoring them. If they succeed they create their Soul tablet when they return to the Sect with the completed Order." Chenli shrugged, "I already told you the rest of it. Quite frankly, what you did today would qualify you as a True Apprentice Enforcer, let alone pass the examination for Novice."

"You did not see me make those kills though," pointed out the other teen, suppressing a shiver.

"It is clear enough with anyone with the right training who views that record what happened," answered the Sect leader, "both myself and the Sect Doctor viewed the report agree with Apprentice Enforcer Fuan's recommendation. You would qualify for a Master's rank based on completing that Order." He paused, "However, you lack the training in examining battle sites for evidence, tracking, investigation and dealing with officials that all Enforcers go through."

"Given the - other - issues Che...Enforcer Fuan and I discussed," the Heir said carefully, "it would seem - risky - to openly declare me as Sect Heir."

The Sect Head's face turned as black as the bottom of a pot and he inclined his head reluctantly. "Given the evidence, I am forced to agree with you." He clenched his teeth grimly and fixed his granddaughter with a penetrating stare, "You are absolutely - certain - the Grass Cult was discussing entering the Sect as if it were a matter under their hand?"

Dàilán blinked. "That was my understanding of what I heard… perhaps you might have a different interpretation…. If there was a way to…" her voice trailed off, her half formed thought jogging a memory loose.

"If you could give me a fēn, Grandfather… there is something I was reading recently... that might help," she said slowly, remembering a passage in that old collection of bamboo strips and combining it with things Chenli had said about the soul tablets. "You… might want to record this… I think I might have a way to show you what happened…" she let herself sink into a meditative state, watching her essence flowing.

The passage had said, "Memories are windows into time and place. If one dwells constantly on a memory, our souls and Essence never move forward. But if Soul Essence is pushed into a memory in the same manner as a Consumer cultivation technique it can be projected it outward for reexamination. This can sometimes allow closure or allow others to examine it with an impartial view."

At the time it seemed an odd observation, but now, she wondered if she could. Focusing her mind on the moment on the trail as Chenli and her were having their conversation about Essence Beasts, she let her Essence flow through the memory - or perhaps her memory flowed into her Essence - while spinning a thread of soul Essence - which was usually only used when one was cultivating, to pull Essence along the specific meridian paths - into it.

There was an odd feeling of dislocation, she felt as if she was watching the memory from outside, herself rather than being part of it. The colours and shapes of the memory seemed washed out - emotions seemed oddly muted too - as if she was watching an opera with actors rather than herself with Chenli.

She was dimly aware of a gasp from Chenli and a hiss of in-drawn breath from her Grandfather. There seemed to be an additional commotion outside the room too, distant shouts. She wondered what that was about, even as she noticed the prickle of strong privacy formations activating and heard the doors of the room close and lock shut.

Most of her attention however, was on the memory as it played out. Looking from that outside viewpoint it was really obvious the attackers were trained Cultivators - beneath the rough armour and tattered wrappings, flashes of Essence runes could be seen - and their boots were glittering with Essence.

Strange she had not noticed it before. Her kills were clean, she noted with satisfaction. It had been a good thing that she had attacked from the top, anywhere else would have probably deflected off whatever it was they had under their disguises - which was odd, neither Chenli or herself had noticed anything when they searched the bodies.

As if prodded by her thought the memory jumped closer as if she was staring with her nose a hair's length away from their skin. A tattoo writhed strangely there, gleaming with Essence, shapes of defence, power…

That explained it, it was not armour. These crazy people tattooed formations into their skin. That was insane. She supposed she was lucky the tattoos did not cover the top of their skulls.

The fight with the higher ranking leader proved her wrong. The man had been shaved bald like a monk, which she had not paid all that much attention to. With this view she could see Essence racing up the tattoos towards his head as he lifted his weapon - only for the activating formation to literally blow apart as her blade hit his abdomen and diantian.

She winced realising that her opponent had basically had his meridians shattered by the collapse of the formation - and if she had hit him anywhere else, the formation would have completed and despite missing a hand he would have been basically invulnerable against her attacks. He probably would have taken her apart once the initial shock wore off. She had been stupidly fortunate - like some heroine from a poet's tale.

The realisation of her near brush with death did a lot to lessen the feelings of sadness, confusion and anger she had been feeling since the fight. At the moment she was feeling mostly grateful she had survived.

Starting to feel lightheaded, she released the flow on her Essence as she raced towards Chenli. The rest would have been included on Chen'er's report anyway.

She blinked and feeling very hungry grabbed some of the remaining fruit on the table in front of her. Looking around as she bit into the fruit she realised that the room was dimly lit, the windows covered with curtains. The air felt tight with active Formations and both Chenli and her Grandfather were staring at her with flabbergasted expressions.

Dàilán looked down, feeling suddenly self conscious. "Is there a problem?"

The feeling of pressure from active formations eased and sunlight flooded the room as the curtains rattled backward on their rods.

"Well, you did activate some sort of high level technique that threw off power like a Cultivator battle in the middle of the Sect Leader's private quarters and set off nearly every defensive and alarm formation in the Sect," remarked Chenli slowly, "but no harm done."

An amused cough from her Grandfather had her turning sheepishly to face him, embarrassed heat flooding her face. "I apologise Sect Head - I did not know that would happen."

"It was most instructive," responded her Grandfather, his eyes twinkling with enthusiasm, "I did not realise that your Mother had mastered the Memory View technique of the Sect Founder or that she had passed it on to you. No one in the Sect has been able to perform that technique since the Founder left us. The soul tablets were an alternate method of examining past events that the Founder provided for those unable to perform the technique."

Chenli blinked in surprise. "Ah…" Should she correct her Grandfather's story? Thinking quickly she decided to not disagree - it might cause even more issues.

"I have never seen you use that technique before, Mistress," her lady-in-waiting remarked, looking at her with clear suspicion in her eyes.

"It… takes a lot of Essence," she said slowly. That was true, she thought, as she brought the fruit up to her mouth to stave off the hunger pangs she was feeling.

"It might have been useful in dissecting some of our spars," said her friend in disappointment.

"Better to save it for examining real fights," suggested her Grandfather, "However, it did confirm your report - you were very fortunate to have beaten the leader, granddaughter," he said soberly.

Dàilán shuddered. "I know. Who the hells tattoos formations into their skin? One mistake with Essence circulation and…"

Chenli shuddered as well, "They are death loving crazy madmen. They probably think the ones who have accidents are lucky to get to feed their precious grass first."

Dàilán's head shot up as she realised something, "Wait, you both saw everything, right? What did it look like to you?"

"Sort of like an illusion from a formation," answered Chenli, "the illusions were semi-transparent and the sounds were oddly quiet, but it was clear and understandable."

"The Founder could project events indistinguishable from reality. Even without having experienced them," elaborated her Grandfather, "the oldest Sect records say the Founder could go to a battle site or a killing and show what had happened. It is how the Enforcer Sect was founded - based on the ability to find and show the truth. The Founder used other more normal investigative techniques as the reason for their ability to discover secrets - to keep the ability a secret."

"Then we should keep this secret too, Grandfather," responded Dàilán quickly, "I feel the Founder was wise."

"Yes," agreed the Sect Leader, "Unfortunately, the alarms and Formations activating have alerted everyone in the Sect to your presence. I reassured everyone it was nothing serious but all the Sect Elders are demanding to have the Sect Heir presented to them."

Chenli frowned, "how do they know we are here? The Senior sent us here directly…"

"The servant knew who we were," reminded Dàilán, "and Grandfather showed your report to the Sect Doctor - if everyone thought something was wrong, they might have been alarmed enough to tell the Elders the Sect Heir was in the quarters as well as the Head."

"Ugh," grunted Chenli, "understandable and not something we can deny - they are within their rights, but given our current concerns - it is bad news. At least one of the Elders - has - to be a traitor."

The Sect Leader's face was like thunder again. "Unfortunately, yes."

"OK. We cannot avoid this," accepted Dàilán, "Can we use it to our advantage?"

Her Grandfather turned to look at her and laughed. "I may have to revise my assessment about your need for more training if you keep this up, granddaughter."

Dàilán blushed and shook her head, "this is just like the stupid Clan Politics and Second Uncle…"

Chenli started. "It is… very much like. More evidence the problems Guan are having and the issues we have uncovered are connected. Grass is everywhere."

"This has been a very long standing plot. At least five years if not more," pointed out the Heir grimly, "they have probably put pawns everywhere to get rid of us once and for all."

"My daughter, your mother - was the first strike," agreed her grandfather coldly, "I could never find evidence… but after you spoke with the Heart of the Sect, we now know for certain - which reminds me, that is also another thing no one has done since the Founder."

Dàilán choked and across the table Chenli started giggling, "It was only the other week you were mocking the idea of believing in stories about Cultivators with ridiculous amounts of fortune."

The other teen waved away her friend's teasing. "I am going to need 'ridiculous amounts of good fortune' to survive this." She turned to her Grandfather as Chenli sobered, her face turning serious at Dàilán's accurate statement. "What are the chances that if I openly accept the position of Heir one of the Elders will try to do something?"

The Sect Leader grimaced. "High. If we keep your abilities secret for protection and to stop Grass knowing we are aware of their actions - then they see a young noble girl untrained and not an Enforcer. There will be question if you are fit for the position - even from Elders completely loyal."

"But a traitor would find a way to have me eliminated, not just removed from succession," pointed out Dàilán, "So we watch for anyone advocating a course of action that might get me killed. Also," she picked up her cold tea and took a sip, "it is well known that Enforcer Fuan has been training me - so I cannot pretend to be an empty vase. I will have to show some of my tiles - act as if I am wanting to prove myself worthy and willing to accept their conditions."

The elderly man sighed. "You know - I called you here to convince you needed to take up your duties as Heir."

Dàilán shrugged, "And I came to convince you to help Clan Guan against whoever was attacking us. Looks like we both want the same thing."

Her Grandfather stared at her for a moment then laughed loudly. "Good. Good. Good! This is how my Granddaughter should be. This is the Heir to the Sect. Truly the younger generation outstrips the old. I foresee a bright future for us with your leadership."

Dàilán grimaced and put down the teacup. "Too early to say that. But we might make some snakes reveal themselves in the grass. Please call a meeting of the Sect Elders, Grandfather."

Her Grandfather stood up and placed a strong hand on her shoulder. "Your mother would have been proud of you today. I know I am." He looked over at Chenli, "My daughter would have been proud of both her daughters."

He released Dàilán's shoulder and walked towards the door that led back into the audience hall. "Wait here. My Head Guard will come to bring you in when it is time." He stopped at the threshold and looked back at them seriously, "Prepare yourselves for a fight. The Elders will not accept you as Clan Heir easily, even with my backing."