Treasures Of Heaven And Earth

Chún walked briskly away from the road, heading deeper into the hills towards the Mountain, letting his Essence Sense guide him through the thick mist while dropping the filter around his mouth and nose to maximise his chance of detecting any ambushes. Behind him - around four li away - he could sense the Essence of his pursuers from the village. They had been hanging back, probably both to avoid witnesses from the village or on the road and avoid alerting him.

With the heavy mist now obscuring everything, they were probably worried about losing him - and less worried about anyone noticing anything as the last direct feathers of the Golden Crow disappeared beneath the horizon and the sunset deepened to dusk.

"Combined with the Essence your Cloak has managed to dump into the immediate area and the general rise in Essence Levels as you grow closer, there is enough Essence to form a short ranged rift," announced his locus as the pursuers started closing the gap. "I can amplify the gateway between Golden Crow Planet and myself to temporarily open at your location; it will only be open for a few moments - empty the contents of the Cloak onto the gliding horse and then send it and the livestock through. They will emerge on our side of the grotto clearing - you can pick them up there after you have dealt with these individuals."

Chún nodded in acknowledgement, "Yes." The young teen instructed the Cloak to deposit its contents on the gliding horse as a flickering shimmer appeared between two trees ahead of him. He frowned as the cart suddenly became overfull with everything the Cloak had been holding, items threatening to fall from the haphazard pile. Carefully he pushed the cart through the shimmer. The goats tried to resist, bleating furiously, but were pulled along with the cart as it vanished.

"What is our next move?" He queried his locus.

"You have to get eliminate all of the threats," responded the Mountain matter-of-factly, "Even if you could easily leave without them finding you - they likely suspect there is a treasure land or ruins of some description somewhere in the area. They will eventually find enough clues to lead to us once they start searching seriously - and given the information the Trader and the villagers hinted at - they may have the backing of considerable resources and higher level Consumers."

There was a pause and then his locus sighed in frustration - which was a decidedly odd feeling in the link, "Several high-ranking Earth or one or two Sky Level Consumers would be able to force their way past our defenses - we do not have defending Cultivators of our own besides yourself," the Mountain reluctantly admitted, "at the least - even if we successfully fought this group off - any report they made or rumors from survivors would start a major regional conflict as various groups fight over access to our resources and lead to ever increasing forces trying to force their way in."

"We cannot afford that," agreed Chún, "and it looks like I should start looking for allies - maybe a Sect or Clan we can come to a mutual arrangement with - sustainable levels of resources for protection?"

"We would need to proceed very carefully," warned the Mountain, "the natural inclination of Consumers would be to take everything they could unless we are powerful enough to stop them."

"We will discuss it later," agreed the young True Cultivator, "In the meantime - can you influence the Essence Beasts to gather near the border in the immediate area? And send as many Crystal Guardians as you can spare? If I cannot defeat them on my own I may be able to lead them into an ambush."

"Yes. But if you can defeat them without ever leading them near us, that would be best," replied his locus.

Chún squared his shoulders then walked back along his previous path back towards town, instructing the Cloak to change to its defensive form. Since these men were going to die anyway, there was no point in disguising himself at the expense of his defense anymore. With a thought, his World Tree Staff materialised in his hand. Leaning on it as if he was an old man, he walked slowly towards the intruders.

Actually, that gave him an idea. His Cloak shifted to match his thoughts, Essence mists drifting off of the Cloak in such a way as to obscure his form and hide his face - except as an indistinct figure. He hunched himself over and stabbed his staff laboriously into the leaf litter as the form of the staff twisted into the shape of a gnarled old length of wood, the picture of an old man stumbling along the road in the mist.

Moments later, quiet thumps announced the arrival of the men who had been chasing him.

"Who is there?" he called out, making an effort to sound old and quavery. The result surprised him with its accuracy - it sounded exactly like an old man on their last legs - then he realised the Cloak was adjusting the sound that left his mouth.

"Have you seen another person come this way, old man?" A rough voice growled impatiently.

"No," responded Chún, "are you looking for someone?"

"Leave him," cut in another voice, "we are wasting time."

"This damned mist makes it impossible to see anything with so little crow-light left" complained another, "we are not going to catch him if we keep stopping."

Another, calmer voice replied, "The old man does not seem to have any trouble," it said thoughtfully. "How do you see where you are going, old man?"

There was a slight shifting as the six men regarded the person at their center.

"I do not use my eyes, young man. This is my home," replied Chún, grinning, "What are you looking for?" Internally, he told the Cloak to spread out around them in Essence Mist form and to trap the men.

"The young man had treasures - we want to ask him where he found them," replied the man smoothly, "he came this way, but you say you have not seen him - and we found you instead, wandering the forest at night."

"Is it night? You should not be in the forest at night, it is dangerous," replied Chún as the Cloak began entering the men's bodies through the seven orifices, especially through the Essence mists they were breathing in.

There was some coarse laughter in response. The same voice responded sleekly, "We can take care of ourselves. But it seems unsafe for an old man to be wandering around by himself. You should come back to the village with us."

There was a quiet grumble from one of the others, "Why do we want an old man for - we were supposed to be getting the location of the ruins from the Relic Hunter - not wasting time on an old relic. Just kill him and we can try and catch up to the treasure."

"Oh, I am fairly sure this 'old man' is not telling us everything," answered the confident voice as footsteps indicated that its owner was coming closer, until the slim man that Chún recognised as the man he had seen earlier in the day with the intelligent, resentful eyes who had come to the stall disguised as a blacksmith's apprentice, appeared out of the mists.

Chún shook his head. "You are not welcome in my home. I am happy here. Soon you will be gone."

Eyes hardening, the man reached out to grab Chún, but Chún had already moved slightly to one side within the mist that obscured his form. The man's hand swiped through the mist with no discernible impact.

There was an unmanly sort of shriek from one of the others, "Hells - it is a spirit…!"

The leader growled sharply as he lunged forward to strike towards the mist, "It is that Relic Hunter playing games, idiot!"

Chún sighed and straightened up as strangled, pained gasps came from the other men. Vomiting blood, they collapsed to the forest floor. The leader froze, looking around in shock as the teenaged True Cultivator let the mist flow away from his face.

"What gave me away?" he asked the last man curiously. The Consumer did not answer, instead darting away at Chún at high speed, back the way the men had come. Chún shrugged and the Cloak flowed out through the forest at high speed looking like thick mist, then coalesced, revealing Chún a few arms spans in front of the fleeing Consumer.

"It is rude not to answer questions," Chún said mildly as the Consumer braked desperately, his eyes wide as he scrambled in a different direction, "especially when you trespass into someone's home and talk about robbing and killing."

The man snarled and released an Essence technique at Chún - some sort of bolt of energy cut through the air like a slash from a sword blade.

Chún allowed it to hit 'him'. In actuality, he had already used the Cloak to move an arm span to the side, while the Cloak projected his figure momentarily in the old position, then absorbed the energy. Then he had the Cloak drop him untouched in front of the man.

"Extremely rude," Chún repeated, yanking the man up off the ground by his clothing, his True Cultivator Body improvements making it as easy as holding a chicken aloft, "You are beginning to bore me." He c.o.c.ked his head then shrugged and dropped him to the ground.

"The others were an adequate sacrifice for the inconvenience - do go back and tell your leader that I will not be so lenient next time." Chún collapsed into Essence Mist and vanished.

---

"Boss! Boss! Boss!"

"Calm yourself! Your behaviour is inappropriate."

"I… that, Boss…! we need reinforcements! Contact Headquarters…!"

There was an artic silence and the rattled man audibly gulped. After a moment, the second voice spoke calmly. "Better. Report, Lieutenant."

The first voice responded, with a forced calm. "It was a trap, Boss. The Relic Hunter… I do not know… I think it might have been an Essence Creature or World level Cultivator in disguise. The others died between breaths... it said they were sacrifices for inconveniencing him… it."

The voice of the leader held disgust, "Did you try to fight it? Or did you just run?"

"I hit it clean with a Sword Grass technique. It did not even leave a mark. It just held me like a farmer about to slaughter a chicken… it was not human. It looked and moved like mist… one of the others said it was a Spirit…" the first voice, obviously that of the leader of the hunter squad that Chún had counter ambushed, trailed off - perhaps aware of how hysterical it was beginning to sound again.

"And yet," pointed out the leader, "you are here…"

"It said it was boring, told me to tell you that we were not to trespass on its domain again."

"And so you came straight here - idiot! You led it straight to me… we have to activate the contingency..."

There was a choking gasp and the sound of a body slumping to the floor.

"Too late for that, I am afraid," remarked Chún as he walked out of a shadowed corner, Essence mist curling around him as it retreated from the twitching body in front of the desk, "I take it you lead this band of criminals."

The man standing behind the desk did not reply, but Chún shook his head, "Your Formations have been co-opted by my friend. I do not suppose you would be willing to tell me what 'Grassfire' refers to?"

The Consumer paled then blurred into an attack - slamming straight into Chún's staff with a sickening snap of bone.

Chún scratched his head, "You seem awfully slow. Are you meant to be strong? Nevermind, my friend will be able to get the answers to questions even if you do not answer." Mist started to pool outward and gather around the Consumer's twitching form.

Chún started poking around the hidden office as the man gasped and started laughing, a horrible sound given the extent of his injuries.

"You… fool. You have no idea… the extent of the destruction… you have invited."

The man gargled wetly and blood fell from his mouth as he twitched in agony, then heaved in mad laughter, "You have eyes… but you cannot… see Mount Tai…"

"Oh. The villain monologue. How silly of me - I did not think that happened in real life," remarked Chún as he prodded various surfaces with his staff experimentally, "You should hurry up if you want to finish before you die - this Staff does not do gentle and I am almost positive everything that requires you to keep existing is shattered. Do not bother trying to channel Essence, I am not an Alchemist or a Healer, but I am almost positive that the damage includes your… meridians as well."

"Grass… always… grows back," spat the broken heap on the ground, then arched in agony as uncontrolled Essence started to flicker off of his skin. The smell of burnt flesh rose.

"My friend says your body's Essence is starting to lose cohesion - whatever that means. And you need to work on your threats - really, I know better than you do about grass and it is not in any way intimidating. Well, not unless you count that ice-crack stuff I made accidently." Chún frowned then made a face of comprehension, "Oh, my friend says Grass is your Sect's name… seriously?"

The man on the floor screamed as massive waves of Essence rose off his body. Chún made a face and stepped towards the door, "Well, looks like it is time to go. Do not worry, I disabled all your Formations so no one got your messages - and that other team of men you sent out after that old trader? My friend says that was a bad move - they will not be coming back either." Chún looked back through the door as he left, "I could have told you that, that old man worried - me - and I killed you out without even needing to breathe hard."

Chún's voice carried over the man's screams as the Essence pulsed faster and brighter, "that takes care of all your group. The Grass will not be growing back around here for a long time…

I will make certain of that…"

A huge fountain of mist erupted skyward. A moment later, a nondescript house on the edge of the village exploded in a massive Essence explosion - erasing any trace of what had happened. The Market Day celebrations in the center square of the village erupted into shouts of alarm and fear - followed moments later by the commotion of people calling alarm and rushing towards the site of the flames that were starting to rise, calling for water and assistance - while others spread out through the village searching for the attackers.

The shouts of people fighting the spreading flames on the edge of the Village were joined by additional shouts of alarm as the bodies of well known bully boys and leg breakers from the crime syndicate and 'Market Patrols' that had been terrorizing the village were found scattered in various corners and streets.

---

"Chún?"

"Yes, friend?"

"I finished removing anyone connected to the Grass Consumer sect from the village; the rest of the villagers will have to deal with sorting things out now that the thugs are gone."

"Maybe now the village will have a chance to improve," replied Chún as he walked up the mountain trail, "I wonder what they think happened."

"The Village Head seems like he was not involved - the Formation in his house was a relay meant to disguise the true destination of the Grass group's messages. Hopefully, it means things will take a turn for the better."

"Well it certainly ended the celebrations abruptly - they were not expecting fireworks."

There was a moment's silence as the Young True Cultivator walked into the grotto clearing.

"That Consumer," said the Mountain tentatively, "What was that mountain he was talking about? He said it was… invisible?"

Chún laughed. "He was not talking about you, friend. It is a very old legend about an ancient and powerful mountain where many great sages found enlightenment - the Storyteller told it a few times - but most people use it to mean that you are missing something big, important and usually dangerous, even though it is right in front of you."

There was another silence. "The land remembers the story - your people were telling it to each other before they came here. It might not have been a real mountain - or if it was - it was some place long ago and far away"

"Oh. I did not know it was that old."

Another silence.

"I like that name. It fits. Call me - Tai - from now on."

Chún laughed. "You are right. You - are - a hidden Mountain. OK, Tai. It is my Honour."