Treasures Of Heaven And Earth

Chún casually leaned against the side of the grotto with his arms crossed, keeping his Cultivation base suppressed and running in the false Consumer diantian and meridian patterns he had learnt from Yijing, watching the procession of villagers as the group proceeded carefully up the narrow mountain path. He was hidden from the group by the thick fog of Essence Mists that his Cloak was producing, but he could see their progress easily.

"That path is not suitable for a lot of traffic," the young True Cultivator observed quietly, "Maybe I should create something at the base of the trail so that people do not have a reason to come so far up the mountain - it would not be good if everyone felt they could just wander up here."

"Everyone would be more comfortable I think," agreed his locus, "they are very nervous and I do not want to encourage average mortals to be at risk from Essence Beasts attracted to the increased levels of Essence on the Mountain. The levels may be minor compared to the levels in the Mountain Universe, but they are still significant in comparison to the rest of the wilderness around the mountain on the Golden Crow planet."

"They are close enough," answered Chún, straightening up and releasing the Cloak to reveal his Essence sprite modified but otherwise village purchased shirt, pants and boots as he eyed the tentative group, "I better make myself visible before someone startles and causes a panic. Could be bad if they decide you are evil or something."

"I will work with the cloak as we discussed," confirmed his friend.

"Do not overdo it," reminded the teen, "just a general figure, enough to identify and seem powerful without being threatening." He stepped away from the boulder as the Essence mists started to roll back towards the grotto, clearing the path and letting the morning crow-light shine more strongly on the path.

Chún walked slowly down the trail a few arms spans, sitting himself down on a convenient stump just as the village head came within sight. He made a point of sitting at ease, idily whistling an old farming tune and casually knocking his staff against the stump in time with the beat.

The group of villagers stopped short on seeing him, surprise visible on their faces. A few shouts of shock, quickly muffled, gave Chún the excuse to look up and 'notice' the group.

"Greetings," called out the teen cheerfully, "A fine morning for a walk… though I do not normally see so many people from the village up here."

The village head blinked at him, then squared his shoulders, taking several steps forward and smoothing his jade medallion of office in the center of his c.h.e.s.t.

"Honoured Cultivator - it is good to see you," he answered, relief clear in his voice, "Our village owes you a great debt."

Chún shrugged, "I was fortunate to strike a good find on your Mountain - although all the Essence Beasts and strange Essence twistings makes it a close walk with death sometimes - still, that is what makes Relic Hunting a challenge." He narrowed his eyes playfully, "Are you all planning on hunting yourselves? There are traditions and customs associated with moving on another Hunter's find, you know." Chún let out the merest whisper of his Cultivation Base flow outward as he spoke, maintaining his cheerful expression.

The villagers took a collective step back and the Headman visibly paled and swallowed, although to his credit, he stood his ground.

"N-no, Honoured Cultivator," the man answered bravely, "We are just simple villagers - we have no interest in risking death in Jianghu."

The young teen pulled his Cultivation base in again, "Good, that is good - after all, I need somewhere to sell the Relics I find."

There was a collective sort of shifting forward as the villagers walked forward involuntarily, their interest obvious. From somewhere in the group, a question floated up, "There is more?"

"Forgive a Cultivator some secrets, brothers," replied Chún genially, but the expression did not reach his eyes and the Village Headman winced, twisting back to bark harshly at his fellow villagers. "Be silent, idiots." He twisted back to face Chún with a worried expression, "Forgive my fellow villagers - they are merely concerned for our future…" He took a deep breath, "and… worried, lately things have been - strange here. The Village has sat at the foot of the Mountain for many generations, but now the Mountain seems to have changed."

Chún let an embarrassed expression flow across his face, "Ah, this… truthfully, I could see how the village might consider this Mountain an ancestral ground… I apologise for any inconvenience to the ancestors," Chún inclined his head in respect, "I was merely following the trails of local legends - it is often useful in my line of work - and well, it appears there was… slightly more truth than usual to the stories."

"You woke the Mountain up," came a firm, aged voice from within the group of Elders. The group parted slightly to let an older, wiry man with a disheveled robe and a cloud of grey hair through to the front. Chún did his best to control his expression as the old storyteller that he used to spend hours hiding near to listen to his tales stomped up aggressively and poked his bamboo cane at Chún, "Blasted Cultivators always sticking their noses into things better left alone," the old man huffed, "Now we have to fix the mess you made."

Behind him Chún could see the Village Headman with his eyes raised skyward. With his superior hearing he could also hear him muttering quiet curses and pleadings to various gods.

With a long sigh, he dropped his head and spoke resignedly, "Honoured Cultivator - this is the Village Storyteller; he is convinced that the god of the Mountain has decided to intervene in our village's problems."

Chún shrugged, "It is an unusual mountain - although I could not say that I have seen any god.

Your current position is an improvement though, I am surprised you are complaining," pointed out the teen Cultivator, smoothly standing up and leaning on his staff and looking at the group.

"Of course we are grateful," snarked the StoryTeller, "I convinced all these old turtles to come up and say thank you, did I not?"

"Who are you calling a turtle, you old gasbag?" grumbled one of the other Elders and there was a chorus of irritated agreements from the others. Chún repressed his laughter at the sight of the Village Headman shaking his head into the palm of his hand.

"Hah - as if any of you would have decided to come up here to talk to the Mountain," shot back the irascible old man.

"Maybe we do not need to?" offered one of the others hopefully, "If the Honoured Cultivator is the reason why everything changed…"

Chún laughed as he walked away from the stump and stood in front of the group, "Sorry to disappoint Elder; I am just here to look after my own interests. I would not recommend coming further up the Mountain on your own though - the Essence grows much heavier further up," he pointed up the trail which was still shrouded in heavy mist, with his disguised staff, "which tends to attract dangerous Essence Beasts - people who are unprepared and not Cultivators would likely not return." The odd wisp of color and indistinct shapes occasionally visible through the white mists silently reinforced his point.

The village headman frowned as the other Elders shrank back, muttering to one another. The village StoryTeller looked fixedly up the trail murmuring lines of prose under his breath, Chún thought he might be composing a new story even as he stood there.

"Our hunters spoke of a Shrine at the head of this trail; we came to pray to the god of the Mountain and ask that it protect our village as it did on the... night of the most recent market." The older man sighed, "While the changes on the Mountain could in the long run make our village prosperous, we have no way to stop worse than what we have already suffered from happening again once unscrupulous travellers hear of it."

"A treasure without the strength to hold it is a disaster for those who find it," quoted Chún in agreement, "well, there is wisdom in that. And, yes, there is what seems to be an abandoned Cultivator's cave a little further on - perhaps that is what your hunters referred to. As for protection…" the teen started walking up the trail motioning for the group to follow, "the Mountain protects itself - any Cultivator who came up here seeking treasure unwisely is not likely to return. That would likely discourage the unscrupulous types in the long run."

The village Headman hurried to catch up with the young teen and the StoryTeller as they started walking casually up the trail; the other Elders followed quickly after him, staying warily bunched up as the mists thickened rapidly around them.

"Since you are not here to claim them for yourself, I will say that I found some very ancient creatures and places here," Chún explained casually as he walked, the village Elders hanging on his words, "I was amazed to find such so close to the edge of the wilderness - and then, well, I found out why. There might be some truth in what the respected StoryTeller says about the Mountain - I have barely escaped with my life more than once already."

The StoryTeller gave a satisfied grunt as another villager asked excitedly, "Is the old story about a fallen Cultivator Sect true then? Did you find ruins? Is that where you found all those treasures and ancient herbs?"

"I found a few things - most of it was too dangerous to try and take," 'admitted' Chún, "I sense you would all have better sense than to try and take it yourselves and after all, your village will profit as long as we are careful…"

"If the Mountain allows it," grumbled the StoryTeller a pace behind him as the shape of the grotto loomed out of the now almost completely solid mists. The group halted, staring at the faintly glowing entrance that had seemingly been carved out of the boulder - which was also glowing. Faintly visible with ordinary vision rune shapes and Dao glyphs flickered across the stone surface of the grotto.

Chún blinked then snorted quietly to himself at Tai's theatrics as he slipped off to one side of the old geese pasture. The villagers were so focused on the grotto that they never noticed him vanishing into the mist, although he saw the StoryTeller look around in suspicion a few times, before giving up and joining the others in pulling out bowls of fruits, vegetables, grains, legumes and incense sticks. Mentally, he prodded his link with his locus, "Ready?"

"I am letting them do whatever little ritual they have come up with first," replied Tai in the link, "then I will create the body out of the mist to 'speak' with them. At the end of the speech I will let the mist body dissolve to reveal you."

There was a slight pause. Chún watched the villagers setting out their offerings and bowing towards the grotto while the Village Headman started a plain speech/prayer requesting protection for the village.

"I think you should stand there with your head bowed and then make your eyes glow for a moment with your Cultivation as you raise your head. I will tell the Cloak and Staff how to look," Tai said in a rush.

Chún startled. "What? Why? If we want them to believe I am just a Relic Hunter…"

"I think…" began Tai tentatively, "it might be good if they believe you are actually the Mountain Spirit 'in disguise'. We will say you are just a Relic Hunter, but if they think you are actually the Mountain hiding its identity and they need to keep the 'secret' then they will be invested in protecting the secret they have 'discovered.' More than if we just told them there are two of us."

"This sounds unnecessarily convoluted," grumbled Chún.

"It adds a layer of confusion - if people look to capture me, they will reveal their hand by hunting the 'Spirit of the Mountain'," suggested Tai.

Chún sighed and dropped his head in agreement, "I suppose it will have the advantage of not being constantly asked about more treasures - and it is not completely false - we are linked after all. I just get the feeling that this will cause problems in the future."

"I suspect that would be true of any course of action we take from this point," reassured his locus as the Village Head wound up his speech, "time to reveal 'ourselves'."

The young teen watched as the mists around the grotto swirled and formed into an indistinct humanoid shape, resembling a cloaked figure. The rest of the old pasture remained covered in thick mists, hiding Chún from direct sight.

The villagers broke into gasps and bows as Tai formed the figure. Tai made the figure 'regard' the group for several moments then a rumbling 'voice' echoed around the pasture out of the mists.

"Your request has been heard. I will protect your village and the lands around me from evil, but in return you must obey my orders; do not harvest without restraint - always leave beasts and plants behind for the next generation; keep quiet about me - if thousands of Cultivators come, I will retreat for another thousand years and you will be left at the mercy of your attackers."

The village council broke into bows and rushed assurances that they would keep their good fortune to themselves.

"I will occasionally visit as… send Relic Hunter Lin to trade. Other Ancient Essence beasts may also venture down in the Mountain to experience the world or trade in the future; treat them honourably and they will do the same to you."

"Forgive me, Mountain spirit," asked the Headman nervously, is "Relic Hunter Lin the Honoured Cultivator we spoke with before?"

Tai paused deliberately as he pushed a quiet instruction down the link to Chún, who stepped forward in response to stand just out of sight in the mists behind the figure of the 'Mountain Spirit'.

"Yes. Occasionally I… he will come down to trade relics as well. I will also create a small shrine at the base of the trail for villagers to leave requests…" Tai made the voice lose depth and volume as the mist figure began to unravel, and as per Tai's instructions via the link Chún walked 'into' the mists making up the collapsing figure - still hidden from the others as he felt his Cloak settle back over his shoulders.

The StoryTeller stepped forward, "Mountain, when the Cultivators come, what do we tell them?"

The mists concealing Chún started to fall apart as Chún bowed his head according to the directions Tai was feeding him down the link. The Cloak and World Tree Staff turned silvery white to match the mists dropping around him and Tai's 'voice' trailed off as the remains of the misty figure dissipated away, "Speak the truth - it is… dangerous to seek... answers in the... Mountain - they… do so… at their own risk… and peril."

The last of the words and the mists pulled back into the tree line as thunder rumbled ominously from somewhere overhead to reveal Chún raising his head, eyes glowing dimly in the recesses of his hood for a moment.

The group of villagers looked around at each other, then the Village Headman stepped forward with a cautious bow, "Master… Lin," he greeted Chún uncertainty.

Chún pushed his hood back and smiled, pushing a slight bit of Essence into his throat to very slightly mimic the rumbles of Tai's 'voice' in the undertones of his speech, "Just simple Relic Hunter Lin will do - Headman Wang."

The Village Elders exchanged glances and Chún could see the thoughts behind their eyes as they made rapid bows of agreement, "As you wish... Relic... Hunter Lin. Will you… return to the village," asked the Headman tentatively.

"I have a great deal to do on the Mountain for the moment," responded Chún politely, "I should be able to come with some useful relics soon though. Please take care on your way back down."

"Yes, of course," answered various Elders and the group quickly began walking back down the trail, bowing thankfully as they left the clearing, clearly eager to leave the Mountain.

Chún watched them go, leaning on his staff. "That went well, I think," he said quietly as the group of villagers vanished quickly around a bend in the trail.

"You need to go down the trail and create a small 'Relic' for a Shrine," advised Tai, "We need to increase the strength and effects of the uninteresting, defensive and offensive Dao Patterns as well - you may need to create Essence Spring points towards the village if we want to extend the patterns to protect it."

"That will give you some place to use excess Essence," answered Chún, "as long as we spread it out and blend it in the general increase should not be too noticeable - especially if most of it is flowing in defensive patterns rather than leaking randomly. Lots to do - but I should get started."